"Murphy's Law" for Writers

The last couple of days since Mason has been off school for the summer, I've been pressed for time to write. Most of that is a problem of my own making, because, since he only has a month off in his year-round school schedule, we've been making the most of what we have by going on "adventures" to the local wildlife parks, etc. It's been great fun. Tiring, but great fun.

I haven't written much of note, however.

So what happens? The last few days my brain has bombarded me with ideas for short stories! My friend Sean M. Murphy came over a couple nights ago and we thought up an awesome first contact story. Yesterday, my brain went off on a tangent about the crazy things we're willing to do to stay thin and beautiful and I crafted a whole story arc around that... and this morning I woke up with the thought that's over in my Twitter feed.

Gah! Why does this always happen when I have NO time to write the projects under deadline, much less the ones that are bubbling to the surface!!!???

Hello, Monday

It's Monday, do you know where your motivation is?

I don't.

Once again, I find myself sitting at home waiting for a repair person to show up. This time the drier croaked. It no longer heats. We've been hanging our laundry on the line outside, which has been kind of cool, but a bit tedious, honestly. How did those Colonial women do it??

Also, my son is now officially on summer vacation. For those of you who have tuned in late, he has a year-round schedule. He still gets three months off, just not all at once. It's a schedule that's perfect for ME, because it means that my writing goes fairly well uninterrupted for months at a time. But now we're both rattling around at home. I should be writing now since he's occupied watching TV, but... you know, the internet is so SHINY!

It's suppose to get warm today -- in the upper 80s (F), so maybe after the repair person goes, we can hit the beach.

Need to find that motivation. Where did I put it? Is it here in this coffee cup, I wonder?

An Interview with Moi

LoveVampires did an interview with me, which you can check out here: http://lovevampires.com/thallaway.html Probably my favorite question to answer was the last one: "If the Garnetverse were real and you had to be one of your characters, who would you be and why? My answer might just SURPRISE you....

General Grumpiness

I have to shake this grumpy mood that's settled over me. I'm not sure what's going on, because today is absolutely beautiful. It's sunny, in the seventies (which, in my world, is damn near ideal) with a cool breeze, and I have good food waiting for me for lunch, including homemade French bread that I made yesterday.

I think it may just be a let down after the awesome that was yesterday. I had two wonderful friends to hang out with in my backyard yesterday, and a lot of good conversation, laughter, etc. Now I need to put nose to the grindstone and that's always difficult after such a fun day.

Plus, my editor was only lukewarm about the beginning of my YA novel, and that's definately cast a pall over everything.

*sigh* I just want to be recognized for my genius. I don't want to have to actually WORK for it.

Ugh... Is the Weekend Over Yet?

Strangely, I'm HAPPY the weekend is finally over.

My son turned six this Friday, and somehow his birthday managed continued non-stop until five o'clock on Sunday. Friday it was presents and swimming at grandma and grandpa's hotel until late (for a six year old, anyway;) much of Saturday at ComoTown, which is an amusement park attached to our local zoo; and then Sunday a backyard party involving ten three to six year old boys (well, one was a girl, who held her own nicely,) who tore up the yard and generally had an awesome time splashing in the pool, squirting each other, and getting hopped up on birthday cake and Popsicles.

Whee.

Actually, given that there were only a few head injuries on Sunday, I think things went pretty well. I know that the kids had fun. And, despite our specifically asking for NO PRESENTS, Mason got overloaded with gifts of all kinds. At least the grandparents stuck to the rule, because they chipped in to help buy the LEGO Star Wars, Millennium Falcon. Which, btw, is awesome to behold... even in it's current state of a zillion pieces and ginormous box.

I'd been hoping for a respite from the chaos this morning, but the first thing that happened was that Mason forgot his glasses, and I spent nearly an hour searching for them at home before returning to his school to give them to his teacher. (Yes, he's still in school. It's a year round program. He'll have August off, as well as two other months, just not all in the summer.) Then I got an e-mail from my agent for me to send copies of my novels to the German publisher who wants to publish them... and a number of students in the last I guest teachered in last Wednesday would love for me to review their work -- oh, and a local author is looking for a blurb... and... and...

I just want to nap.

How about you? How's your Monday shaping up?

Life, with Interruptions

Today I'm stuck in the house while an electrician messes about with, well, electricity, I suppose. We're removing a few wires that are kind of frayed and dangerous over our backyard, as well as having a few outlets installed.

I've also put my young adult project on the back burner momentarily, as I'm kind of waiting to see what my editor, Anne, thinks of the first sixty pages that I sent her. I won't hear back until sometime next week, as she's currently off whooping it up at ComicCon in San Deigo. (I'm deeply, deeply jealous.)

Instead, I've returned to my alter ego's small press project, which is finally, FINALLY picking up steam (or so it seems THIS TIME, at least.) I think my new infusion of excitment has to do with a great conversation I (uh, she?) had at a reading club that was discussing Messiah Node and J. Michael Straczinski's SPIDER-MAN.

Well, since I don't know what might happen with the electrical power, I'm going to sign off for now and actually get back to said project.

See ya on the flip side!

Getting My Geek ON

Sorry I haven't been posting here, but I've been getting my geek on elsewhere. I've been slowly catching up with the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN titles from several years ago, and now a whole flood gate of life-changing stuff has been poured into my brain. And honestly? I'm still trying to cope.

Meanwhile, I hope have some official teasers for the new books up in the next couple of days.

The Pressure is ON

My editor and I were chatting on-line this morning over the back cover copy for my two up-coming releases, and she casually mentioned that she tweeted that my new young adult book, ALMOST TO DIE FOR, could be described as Twilight meets The Princess Diaries.

*gulp*

No pressure or anything.

Ironically, I had been planning on working on my alter ego's small press project today (it is Friday after all) and now I'm looking at my young adult, thinking: "Is it funny enough?" Aaaaargh!

Fixed!

The plumber arrived yesterday only an hour later than promised and did the work in about two; everything was fixed by three o'clock. The bill was not astronomical, either. Love my handyman service. I kiss them.

In other news, you might notice on the sidebar that I am now Twittering. I tweet. I hear all you kids are into it. Please feel free to follow me or friend me or whatever.

Today is promising to be very busy. After I pick Mason up in a couple of hours, I'll be headed off to Barnes & Noble to pick up a book of weird hauntings that I put on reserve on Tuesday. Mason also wants to check out the Star Wars section, since we didn't get to it during our last visit. (He got stuck in the humor section, reading GARFIELD.) Then, it's off to pick up our CSA (community supported agriculture) box from Driftless Organics, and then a little cat herding as we try to get Ms. Deliah (the cat Barney is largely based on) into her carrier and off to the vet for shots and "animal wellness" check-up.

I think Mason gets another fast-food dinner, which is only ironic given all the farm-fresh, organic produce we'll have in the car.

Wednesday Suckage

I recently read an article in the Star Tribune that Monday is no longer the number one day of the week to commit suicide. Now, it's hump day: Wednesday

Today has been one of THOSE days, and if I wasn't a naturally cheerful and zen-like in my approach to certain areas of my life, today's events might, at the very least, cause a serious ulcer.

My partner is off to Seattle today for a conference for work. Consequentially the household was awake by 5:30 am, which is a time of day I consider quite despicable for a variety of reasons. Not the least of which is that most of the time the sun isn't even awake yet. So why should I be, I ask you! That was, it turns out, only a minor inconvenience.

After doing her usual getting-ready morning bits, Shawn came upstairs and sat down on our bed. Her face looked ashen. She said in a solemn tone: "Bad news. Really, really bad news. We have a leak."

I don't talk much about them on this blog, but I own several fish in large tanks, and my first thought was, "Oh no! Not the fish tanks." So I was actually strangely relieved when she explained it was the kitchen ceiling. Oh, I thought, just the kitchen ceiling.

Wait. The kitchen ceiling? That's not good.

We live in a house that is approaching its hundredth birthday. There are any number of things we look at and think, "We're going to have to replace that one of these days." Most of those things obligingly chug along and we never have to worry. We've always KNOWN that these pipes are a problem. They're probably some of the last remaining lead pipes in our house *and* we had our handy-person gerry-rig a connection to the upstairs faucet because they were rotted. We were just doing that homeowner finger-crossing dance this whole time, waiting for... I dunno, a lottery win or something.

Alas, I'm now awaiting a plumber, and probably a huge bill. But, as we like to say in Minnesota, it could be worse. We have a working downstairs toilet (thanks to the same people who are coming today, and, really, someone could come TODAY. That's huge.)

I haven't gotten a lot of writing done yet today, as I spent this morning moving breakables and furniture out of the kitchen, since, watching the spreading water stain, I suspect much of the ceiling will have to come down for the repair.

Wish me luck... or maybe don't. Maybe break a leg or pipe or something.

W.I.P. and Reading

I finally handed out the first fifty pages of my newest work-in-progress (the young adult vampire/witch series) to Wyrdsmiths last week. I'm now trying to untangle their comments, my thoughts on them, and do some revision. Interestingly, some of the issues people had were with "world-building" (something I pretended to be an expert on yesterday), and, thus, I spent a good deal of last night talking to my partner about the world of these novels and my vision for them.

And now there's a psychic cat... or maybe it's a ferret.

That part is still undetermined.

Also, sometime last week I got my latest (and last) issue of TALEBONES (issue #38, Summer 2009). I started reading it right away, and, because I'm kind of pedestrian, I started at the beginning with Mary Robinette Kowal's "Ginger Stuyvesant and the Case of the Haunted Nursery." (Nothing about her story was pedestrian, I only say that I'm kind of pedestrian because I think it might actually be wiser to skip and jump through any collection of short stories.) The story takes place in that time of the "Spiritualists" in 1920s in a British manor. Our heroine is an American medium who can see and communicate with ghosts, and has a strange sort of desire/affinity with the otherside (in that without the anchor of the seance circle, her spirit wants to just leave and follow the spirits.) The ending wasn't incredibly "ah-ha!," but it was an engaging, well-told story none-the-less. I was particularly enchanted with how the medium interacted with the ghosts (and the ghosts with their obsessions), as well as the sub-plot that involved a non-believer husband. A good, well-told story. I'd recommend it, particularly if you like ghost stories.

Me, Elsewhere

Today, I'm guest blogging at Victoria Janssen's blog and talking about World-building. Come by and check it out if you get a chance.

A Tradition of Reading

In the years B.C. (before child), my partner and I had this wonderful habit of reading to each other during the performance of arduous chores, particularly she would read to me while I was doing the dishes. We recently resurrected this tradition. Now, not only is the kitchen cleaner on a more regular basis, but I also get the pleasure of hearing various horror short stories in collection (the book we chose for this time.)

A couple of days ago, she read me “Sredni Vashtar” by Saki (H. H. Munro.) If you are a fan of horror, you may know the author from her/his more famous “The Open Window” (not to be confused with the movie classic “Rear Window.”)

“Sredni Vashtar” is the name of a weasel that a young, sickly British boy discovers caged in the back corner of a mostly-forgotten garden shed. There is also a hen living there, upon which the boy lavishes attention (because, in the way of British boys in novels and short stories, he doesn’t get much love from his nanny or completely absent parents.) But, it’s the ferret/weasel that he *worships.* Literally. On “holy” days or days to celebrate certain personal victories, the boy brings Sredni Vashtar delicacies which he places lovingly and with much ceremony in front of the weasel.

Creepy right?

What’s kind of interesting about this story? It kind of plays with your horror story assumptions. You know something bad is going to happen involving the weasel, but I, at least, was totally routing for the boy to get his way over the awful nanny, especially when she decides he spends too much time in the shed and is determined to sell off the beloved hen and… kill? (it’s implied, but not really stated) Sredni Vashtar.

I don’t want to give away the ending, in case you decide to look it up for yourself, but let’s just say I was deeply satisfied by the ending even though part of me knew it was morally wrong to feel that way.

A very worth while short. And it sort of makes you ask yourself: do people make their own gods? Did this boy invest Shredni Vashtar with magic powers simply because he BELIEVED, or… is everything that happened just coincidence???

Cool premise, don’t you think?

More Comic Book Talk

Over the CONvergence weekend, I house sat the kitties of a fellow Wyrdsmith, Bill Henry. He's also a comic book fan, and on his living room table was a set of steampunk graphic novels: Freak Angels by Warren Ellis.

I have to say, I haven't read much steampunk but I rather enjoyed this, though I only got through the first volume and a half before Bill returned from his trip, and I had to leave them behind. The world isn't your typical (from what I understand, anyway,) steampunk, in that it's a fantasy future in which London -- much of the rest of the world as well? -- has been flooded and some other incident (which our heroes may be at least partly responsible for) ended civilization as we know it. There are eleven odd young adults, the Freak Angels, who are psychic and who are running White Chapel or one of those other neighborhoods in London. There's a mystery involving a rogue member who is misusing his powers and some people from over yonder who come in by boat and get their a$$es handed to them by the Freak Angels.

I'm actually uncertain where it's going or what it's about, but it's very compelling writing despite all that, and I'm going to have to lean on Bill to fork over the next issues. Or heaven forbid, go out an buy my own dang copies.

Is that a recommendation? I don't know. I haven't had enough coffee yet to be be more coherent.

666th Post

I feel like I should probably say something vaguely EVIL since this is my 666th post, but really I just wanted to say: "Whoot!" because I wrote 2,000 words today. Yay! Go me! Hip, hip-horray!

I'm particularly pleased since I decided to skip working out today to try to get a jump on my writing, since I'm going out tonight. There's a reading group that's going to be discussing one of my alter ego's books tonight at 7:00 pm at Turtle Bread, 4762 Chicago Avenue, Minneapolis, and I'm going to listen in. Hopefully they'll have some nice things to say.

Also, I just wanted to share an image from this morning: A bunch of kids all decided to walk down the hall holding hands with one of Mason's best girl friends, Ava. Most of them were all kindergarten girls, and I noticed one young lady had a Hannah Montana backpack and in one corner? A NASA sticker! How awesome is that?! Talk about girly girl-power!

Speaking of school, I'm off to go pick up the little darling!

Yesterday the mail carrier delivered Mason's Marvel Adventures All-Ages SPIDER-MAN #52, "No Substitutes" (Mark Sumerak).

As usual, I brought it to school and Mason devoured it in the back seat. The nice thing about this routine? On the days I bring comics, Shawn and I can have a mostly-interruption free conversation about her day. Mostly because Mason will still sometimes blurt out with, "Shhhh, I'm trying to read!"

I ended up reading the issue myself, and I want to make one comment about it. First of all, I love the all-ages titles, and I'm only bummed that they stopped producing Fantastic Four All-Ages, because those were Mason's favorites. My theory? FF is too science fiction, even for comic books. I mean, they go into space on a regular basis. I'm not sure a lot of kids these days find that plausible... I mean, unlike, say radioactive spiders giving you super powers.

Anyway, in Spider-Man All Ages, Peter is still a high school teen at Mid-town High or wherever. In this issue, he's leaving the public library and, thanks to his Spidey-senses, stumbles across a secret cabal of villains (psuedo-"Hydra" types). Anyway, he accidentally leaves his biology report on at the scene of the crime after beating up the baddies, and picks up their top secret plans (conveniently in a similar manila file folder) instead. The next day, Peter is mortified to discover he doesn't have his homework. But thinks it's going to be okay when there's a substitute teacher, Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman to those in the know.) No, she comes down hard on him and puts him in detention, which Spidey is kind of grateful for because he's realized that maybe the bad guys might now know his secret identity thanks to his mix-up.

Little does he know that Spider-Woman has his biology report which she found at the scene, and she thinks he's an agent of not-Hydra. At any rate, adventures ensue and, of course, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman end up defeating the evil not-Hydra's plans to blow up Times Square.

The best part of this issue, however, is that the author, Sumerak, finally punches through one of those superhero tropes I hate. The trope (or maybe it's better defined as a crutch) is that people can spend all day with the alter ego of the superhero, talking to him/her, and somehow not recognize their mannerisms and/or voice behind the mask ten minutes later when the hero comes to their rescue. I roll with that because it's so common that I tell myself that the Marvel Universe is populated with people who either chose to ignore the obvious (in the case of Aunt May and MJ "denial isn't just a river in Egypt") or are merely, in the words of my favorite Lois & Clark episode, "galatically stupid."

In this issue, however, at the end when Spidey says he has to leave before the not-S.H.I.E.L.D agents arrive to debrief the heroes to protect his secret identity, Spider-Woman lets him ago with a "you've helped tremendously--" (then, after he's swung a good distance away she says in smaller letters, thus quieter,) "Mr. Parker."

And he never notices. I think it would have been even more awesome if she had just said "Thanks, Mr. Parker," and for him to go, "You're welcome" and zip away, and never notice that he'd answered to his real name, because don't you always figure that might happen some day? (And actually Bendis plays with that in the New Avengers when Daredevil accidentally calls Spider-Man "Peter" in front of Captain America and then stops and says, "Uh, you know Spider-Man is Peter Parker, right?")

I love stuff like that.

It's very Joss Whedon-esque. By that I mean, for a moment, it steps out of your "comfort zone" if you will and says, "why do we roll with that crutch/trope, anyway?" It makes you realize how much wider the world can be if you play with the established "rules."

It's a good lesson in writing, actually.

The Con and Stuff

I had a great time at CONvergence. If you didn't see me, it was because I was in disguise as my alter ego. If you're so inclined, I wrote a bit about my experiences (and other stuff) over at her LJ.

I forgot to mention that on Sunday, Lynne Thomas and her husband Michael came over to our place to finally pick up a box of my papers for her manuscript collection at the Northern Illinois University. I sent a long a box of unpublished writing, including some dorky stuff I wrote in high school that I'd saved... well, probably just for this moment. And after she and Michael left, of course, I found a whole other box of stuff up in the attic, which includes a bunch of really awesomely dorky children's stories I wrote while board at my job at Pillsbury.

But the thing I realized going through that "extra" box last night is that I have really quite consciously lived my life as though I hoped to be famous one day. I saved every bit of writing, no matter how bad. I organized it (loosely) and put it somewhere for THE FUTURE.

I can't decide if that makes me forward-thinking or totally narcissistic.

Conventions 101

I'm off to CONvergence this weekend, and that got me thinking...

When I occasionally talk about self-promotion there's usually a very quick, off-hand, "Oh, and go to conventions."

Most of the time, that's excellent advice. But not all science fiction conventions are created equal, and what you get out of a convention is really dependent on what you're looking for and, potentially, what you're willing to put into it.

You have to ask yourself: what am I looking for?

If you're looking to connect to other fans of a particular genre, TV show or movie, you can attend nearly any science fiction convention and not be disappointed. If you're not sure your particular "fandom" (area of obsessive interest to the layperson) is represented at the con you're considering attending, most cons post a sample, thumbnail, or even complete programming schedule on-line several weeks before the start date. If you feel you have something new to contribute to the discussion of your fandom, most con coms (the guys and gals in charge to the layperson) are more than happy to consider you as a panelist, but to do that you often have to get in on the programming process a lot earlier, like in the idea generating stage, or be in the know with someone on the programming committee.

Why do this if you're a as-yet-unpublished author? Won't showing off your inner geek bust the whole professional image you've been so carefully cultivating?? Well, depends on your area of fandom, but one of the best panels I was ever on was my very first where I got into a heated discussion about the movies of Ripley Scott. I didn't even have a story published, but I ended up making really great connections with the other panelists, one of whom later brought me into her circle of friends that included some movers and shakers in the publishing industry.

You never know who knows who, and even if nothing comes of it having fun is always good, you know? (People can tell if you've come to a convention just to "work," too.)

And that's the other thing. It's never too early to cultivate a fan base. If you are well known and well liked in the science fiction community (or even just someone that triggers a "I think I remember liking her/him on a panel...") it's more likely that people will want to buy your book when it comes out. People like to support friends. They like to be able to say, "I knew her/him then!" (I know *I* do at any rate.)

If you're going to connect with other writers or to learn about the interests of various agents/editor/etc., find a convention with a strong literary track (using the above methods.) These kinds of panels are sometimes more difficult for a beginning author to get on because the competition at this level is more fierce. But you can still attend as an audience member and take mental (or real) notes. But whatever you do, don't rush the editor/agent after the panel to try to press your business card into their palm. I was once at a WorldCon panel where it was a mob scene after the "Meet the Agents" panel. I'd hoped to say hello to someone, but it was pretty useless... and you can always see if you can find yourself in a conversation with someone later on at a party. (Although I try to never mention that I'm a writer or hand off business cards at parties either, unless asked. Thing is? Editors and agents often come to parties to relax, not do business. It's good to respect that.)

Even if you never press palms with the person you've been hoping to meet, you can always start that query letter with "I saw you on the [fill in the blank] panel at [fill in the convention]..." they might not be impressed, but they will recognize that you're an active member of the community and have at least potentially learned a thing or two about how the business works.

It's always a question about how much that sort of thing works, because, of course, in the end it's the story that sells itself. You can sell without ever attending a convention. I know plenty of people who avoid conventions like the plague and still sell quite successfully. However, I also know from personal experience that there are times when meeting someone gives you that two extra seconds to help sell your story.

And when you're published, of course, whatever panels you are on help introduce you to your colleagues and potential readers... just make sure, ehm, that dealers' room actually sells books....not to mention YOUR books. (Not that THAT's every happened to me, no sir!) Similarly it's always good to stop by the dealers' room and say "hi" to those hardworking booksellers and offer to sign stock.

At any rate, you never know. Whatever else, conventions can be a great deal of fun. For me, that always makes them worth attending.

See you at CONvergence.

Scottish History On-Line (For Writers)

WORKSHOP: Highland Clans from Medieval Times through the Clearances

Date: July 13-Aug 31, 2009
Workshop Title: Highland Clans from Medieval Times through the Clearances
Instructor: Cindy Vallar, author of The Scottish Thistle and an associate editor for Solander magazine (http://www.cindyvallar.com/)

Workshop Dates: Tuesday, 7 July through Friday, 28 August
REGISTER: www.celtichearts.org

Description: We often assume the Highland clans of Scotland have always been. In reality, they evolved. This workshop explores the origins of the clans in general, then examines the history and development of clans from four perspectives: Western clans, Central and Eastern clans, the Lords of the Isles, and clan wars. Other lessons will cover Highland land and settlements, the Highlanders' year and the customs that influenced their lives, the structure of clans (surnames, law, fosterage, traditions, succession, etc.), occupations, and clothing.

About the instructor: A retired librarian, Cindy Vallar is the Associate Editor of Industry for Solander, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society, and writes the "Red Pencil" column where she profiles authors and compares a selection from their published historical novels with an early draft of that work. She also reviews for their journal, Historical Novels Review. She is the Editor of Pirates and Privateers, a freelance editor, a content editor for Pyrates Way magazine, and a workshop presenter. She belongs to the Historical Novel Society, the Red River Branch of Clan Cameron, the Scottish Clans of North Texas, the Laffite Society, the Louisiana Historical Society, and the National Maritime Historical Society. In 2005 at the Clan Cameron North American Rally, Cindy received the first Friend of Clan Cameron Award. She is the author of The Scottish Thistle, her debut historical novel about Scotland's Rising of 1745, and Odin's Stone, a romantic short story of how the Lord of the Isles settled the medieval feud between the MacKinnons and MacLeans on the Isle of Skye. She invites you to visit her award-winning web site, Thistles & Pirates (http://www.cindyvallar.com/), to learn more.Workshop Duration: 6 weeks Eliza KnightCHRW PresidentAuthor of sizzling historical romance. Bringing passion to life, one love story at a time...www.elizaknight.com / www.historyundressed.blogspot.com / www.mamawriters.com

Buffy vs. Edward

This is a must see (sent to me by my friend and fellow writer, Naomi Kritzer):