Writing with Zette

Hello!

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:42:12 GMT

I have spent most of the last few days adding books into the LibaryThing database. Today I added in the Analog, Asimov and Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazines and that brought the total listing up to 3315. I still have a few hundred more books (mostly Russ's history collection) to enter. I think we are going to hit 4k. I made it a goal to have everything but Russ's done by the end of the year, so I'm well ahead of the game. Yay! I feel like I've breathed in several volumes worth of book dust, though! However, all most all the boxes of books are emptied, and I can finally get to the shelves of a lot of my history. The shelves are a mess -- everything out of order -- but I can get to them again! Yay! My new story idea is moving along really well. I have a lot of it worked out. I know how my MC got himself into the situation. I know about his past. I know about his friend and about the team he now works with. I have a good background for the novel, too. I'm really looking forward to getting going on it. I'm not entirely sure where it's going... but it should be a fun ride! So, back to work on it I go. This has been a nice, relaxing few days, though it's going to pick back up again soon! Happy Holidays to those who celebrate. With luck, Russ will be home the day after Christmas (though the weather is looking iffy), so I'm looking forward to it!

Wish lists, stories, etc.

zette@longlines.com — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:27:45 GMT

I had an odd epiphany the other day. It was when I was looking at wish lists over at amazon.com and thinking about starting one....

But then I realized that there was so little I would put on one that it wouldn't be worth it. The things I really want can't be had from a wish list -- like a job closer to home for Russ and 'the big sale' of a novel for me. In both of those cases, it's something Russ and I just have to keep working at achieving.

Oh sure, there are the odd things that I'd like to have. The Poser 8 upgrade, the latest version of Painter upgrade, a nice little mini-computer -- but in the scheme of things, those are just fun little items that that I can think about wanting, but not getting isn't going to be a huge disappointment or problem. (Though, I admit, I wouldn't mind having all of them for various fun reasons!)

Books? I actually have a huge collection of books that I love and haven't read all of yet. Sure, if Cherryh comes out with something new, I always leap at it. I try to buy books by the Forward Motion authors, too.

So wish lists just aren't for me because I pretty much have everything I want, and the real things I still want ... well, they're achievements, not something that can be given to me. Which means -- yeah -- I need to work harder.

It's amazing sometimes how my mind works. I went from 'what do I want on a wish list' to 'I have to work harder' all in the same set of thoughts.

Oh, now there is weirdness. I had some cat food coming from PetSmart (they take PayPal, by the way), and I checked the UPS tracking. Said it was delivered on porch. Went to check. Yup. That's just odd -- that I didn't even hear them deliver it! But now I have food for strays and birds again.

Oh, now there's a wish list idea! A credit at Petsmart so I can keep feeding my little friends would be nice, though I'm managing okay anyway. No one has starved yet, and I have some the plumpest little sparrows in three states. (grin)

I have a new story for pounding at me. I'm getting all kinds of notes down and I can't wait for January 1 to get started on it. Oh sure, I could leap in now... but it won't hurt me to have a few more days to sort things out.

And that reminds me of something else -- the 500 word-a-day story I did last year. Draw the Line -- remember that one? The one I started grumbling and growling about at one point, certain that limiting myself to 500 words was not the way to go, that I was rambling and losing focus and all kinds of things. I had finished it back in August and September and put it aside.

I finally read the story.

It's a lot better than I expected. Not really intensely different from anything else I've written, and there were quite a few places where I saw that I was repeating the same info that I had written probably a day or two before, so that's going to need sorting out. I was right about one thing I noted part way through the book, and that was that I'd resolved one conflict far too early. I wrote the rest of the book as though that conflict had not been resolved, and it worked MUCH better. I bounced around too much on one character's motivations. But overall, it's not all that bad for a first draft.

So, I'm going to try another version of it next year. This time, I'm going in without much of an outline and just see where the story goes. It will, as far as I can tell right now, be this new story. So this is something to look forward to next month. I just have to survive these last few weeks of 2009. And get things done that need to be done before then.

I guess that means it's time to get back to work!

Waiting on the Storm

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:18:47 GMT

I'm waiting on the storm. We had a little bit of now today, but not much yet. Enough to have to scoop and dread the next round, which should be the big one hitting in about ten hours. I'm having doubts that it's going to get us, to be honest. And that would be just fine!
I'm doing very little writing this month. I'm writing about 1k a day and working on other things. Last night it was a painting in Painter. I haven't done that in quite a while, partly because of tablet problems (my own fault -- didn't think to look for a new driver. Duh...) and partly because of the graphic card problem. The replacement is here, I just have to get up the nerve to put it in. And that's going to happen soon, because otherwise I'll go nuts with the problems.

Today I've been looking over various programs like Liquid Story Binder, StoryBox, StoryBook and YWriter. I looked at YWriter years ago, and it wasn't quite what I needed. Well, my needs have changed and the program has changed quite a bit -- and I think I'm going to like it for background work. I'll still do my writing in Word, but I think the organization is about the easiest to understand and use of any of them.

Oh, I still love SuperNotecard from Mindola.com, but I like to see what other programs can do. If you aren't willing to try new things, how are you ever going to change what you're doing? This is really true of writers. Even something as simple as looking at a new program can spark a change. I am working up some material for a novel next year. I think I might have to wait to start it, though. There's too much going on with it, and I can't see the path yet. Maybe that will change as I keep writing the stuff up. I have seen a lot of pre-story material -- so much so that last night I almost thought I should write that instead, but it doesn't really call to me. So I have to look at what happens NOW not in the past.
So, I'm going to take all my notes and drop them into YWriter and see what I come up with this time. I think it's going to be interesting.

What else?

Waiting for the snow. I mentioned that, right?

And a bit of work I did the last few days:

Created in Painter IX using a photo from last October as the base, and then a bit of adjustment in Paint Shop Pro.

The Last of NaNo09

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:42:27 GMT

Hello!

Yes, we are down to the last few hours of NaNo. I am pretty much done. I'm hoping Russ will turn up on Skype and I will write the last couple lines then so he can be 'in on it' when I'm done. He spent a lot of this month cheering me on, setting up half hour writing sprees while he worked on something and I wrote, and generally just encouraging me to get the work done.

I have three novels -- Silky 4, Wildlands and Autumn Storm. Wildlands is the worst. It's going to need a lot of work. Silky 4 went very well. I finished it first. Autumn Storm is the last one, and I'm just finishing it up now -- and it's been a lot of fun to write. I can't wait to edit it and the previous book in the series. I have some better idea of what I need in the first took and going into the second. It's the real win of this NaNo because I had no real idea what I wanted from the book when I started. I had part of an outline.

I'm really happy with the result.

And I'm over 200k for the month. It was a difficult push. I had things going wrong on all sides. My eye has been really bothering me. I had water problems in the kitchen. One of my cats got very sick. My computer needs a replacement part, which just arrived a couple days ago. I've been hoping it will hold up until December so that if I screw up replacing it, I'd still be through NaNo.

So that's it for this year! Now on to get the FM stuff done and then head into December feeling like I don't have much to do at all. It should be a nice, relaxing month.

The last week of NaNo

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:22:41 GMT

This has been a frustrating, annoying month -- but not because of NaNo. NaNo has once again been the bright spot as winter starts making inroads and closing in. I've had trouble with one of the novels, but it is still moving (quite well today, in fact), and the work on the other two has been really fun. I finished the first draft of the final Silky book last week. I can't decide if it's #3 or #4 -- I might merge those two because I just wasn't happy with three. Or it maybe that since I now have #4 done, I can better see what I want from #3

That's for later. Right now I'm working on finishing Autumn Storm and getting Wildlands up to at least 50k so I can count it. I think I can finish Autumn Storm, even though I still can't quite see the ending. I am over 50k on it anyway, so I'm not too worried. It's just a personal goal.

It's all about personal goals.

But let's talk a little bit about Harlequin. What, you thought I was going to ignore the whole mess?

First you need to understand the difference between self-publishing as a whole and vanity publishing. A vanity presses requires money from the author. While self-publishing can be done through a vanity press, many self-publishing places like lulu.com do not require any money up front from the author. That's a huge difference. So vanity is a subset of the self-publishing world, and the worst way most writers can go -- and this is what Harlequin is setting up.

SFWA and RWA both have rules that no vanity press can be recognized as a legitimate publisher and be counted for membership by authors. This was in the rules long before this problem started, and when Harlequin straight out said that they were putting their 'Harlequin' name on the vanity press AND that they were going to list it with rejection slips....

Well, that's where all the problems began. RWA and SFWA had to drop them from the list of approved publishers. This is a scam, people. Ignore that it is by one of the most well known names in publishing, it is still a scam. They're saying they will reject your book, but if you pay them enough, they'll print it for you anyway. (And if you are wondering why SFWA would care at all, think about all the fine Luna books, which is a Harlequin imprint.)

If any of us saw this listed from some upstart company with no background, we would have been all over them as scam artists. Harlequin found out they are not above being called out for the same reason.

Harlequin is taking the name off the vanity press, however if they are still listing it with the rejection slips, is that really going to matter much? Will they run ads for it in the backs of their books? Will they hope to snag all those women who have never read anything about publishing but believe that they can write a Harlequin romance?

The real question is who is behind it? Is it the people running Harlequin, or the company that owns it? If it is people higher up than the publishing house, then they might not really care about RWA and SFWA the way the publisher and authors do. They might trade the loss of status (and awards) for some easy money.

And if they go ahead and do it, will other companies decide to do the same? Very likely.

How will these books be distributed? Will they be in the same place as the regular books? I would think not, and that might be all that saves the reading publish from turning away in disgust.

It's going to be a long time before this one is fully resolved.

Slight update on Yesterday's 'Was' stuff

zette@longlines.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:37:40 GMT

I should have gone and hunted down the article, because it does change a couple of the numbers I used:

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision38/was.htm

'Was' every 32 words is a problem. Keep in mind that this little post is all of 40 words.

When good advice turns bad....

zette@longlines.com — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:32:25 GMT

I followed a tweet to this wonderful post:

http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com/2008/10/on-good-advice.html

It's amazing what some people will tell other writers!

And so much of the post covers things I've been telling people for years. It's fun vindication.

However, there is something important not covered in this wonderful post or the notes added to it and that is when good advice somehow gets changed from the time it is given to the time it is passed on to someone else.

I saw the bit about 'was' and it drew my attention, of course. This is something I tell people to watch out for all the time. I have never said to wipe it out completely, but I've had people tell me that's what I said. No, it's not.

I have had submissions of novels where there have been four or five 'was' in the first paragraph. I've had them where a check shows that 'was' and 'were' turned out to be used about once every fifty words.

That's when you need to start doing a reality check. It has nothing to do with passive voice (though most of them will be passive). It's overuse of an easy word we rarely think about, and which can often easily be replaced with something stronger.

Mary was walking down the street when she saw the alien land at the corner.

Or

Mary walked down the street and looked up in shock as the alien landed at the corner.

Neither of those are particularly great lines, but you can see how easy it is to change a was line to one without the word.

When I first started reading submissions, I also admitted that I really, seriously dislike first person present tense novels. If the person had written one, it was no good to send it to me, but I gave the email of someone else in the company who would read it.

I was told, later, that I said first person present tense stories would not sell.

I am often amazed, in fact, at the number of things I've been told that I've said. Lucky for me, most of my advice is in article forms for Vision: A Resource for Writers so I can send people in that direction. Sometimes my advice may not be the best.

But it's not as bad as the advice I've heard I gave -- and never did.

Honestly, there are times I think that people purposely give bad advice just to mess with new writers. I really can't believe that some of them are really, honestly that stupid.

And now... back to NaNo!

Monday stuff

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:15:11 GMT

I have a bit of a fever and a sore throat today, so everything seems slightly off. I'm getting things done, but it's like I'm half asleep as I do it. Not a good combination.

I am so grateful for outlines on a day like this. They allow me to do something I really enjoy -- writing -- without having to tax my poor quivering brain too much. I've been working on a couple fun scenes, and that helps too. I am going for a couple thousand more and then, with any kind of luck, I'll fall into a nice warm bed and sleep for a few hours. Last night, already starting to feel awful, was not so good.

I hope all the NaNo people are doing well!

And that's it for me for this week! I must get other things done and then rest!

Monday and NaNo

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:08:33 GMT

Oh yes, the insanity is well and truly going now. I've written over 17k spread over three different novels. It's a new approach for me. Normally I would start one and go to the end, then do another... but this time I couldn't decide what I wanted to start with. So I decided to do a little on each one until I could see which one called to me the most. So far, all three of them call to me. One is over 6k and the other two soon will be.

It's been fun and odd. I have outlines. I write one section from each outline (about 350 words each) on a story, and then go on to the next one. Two of the outlines are somewhat short -- about 185 entries -- and they'll probably come in around 60k. The other is 250 entries, so it's going to go on even when I finish the others.

Russ left early yesterday morning. He's now in New York again. We talked a little bit on Skype and now we're both back to work.

So, that's my news for the day. I need to get back to work so I can get to 20k by the end of the day. I don't know how long I'll be able to average 10k a day, but it makes a nice start.

Back to the fun....

Quick Entry!

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:22:54 GMT

Russ is home for the week, but he's VERY busy. Right now, he's over in the other house working on his project. I am here working on mine. We use Skype to talk, just like when he's on the road. My life is odd.

I'm trying to get things done in time for NaNo and November in general. I don't think I'm going to make it. At this rate, I might not even survive to make it that far. I feel like everything is piling up here and I'm having a horrible time trying to get caught up. I also have a final outline that is moving ... but not moving particularly well. There are some fun bits in it, and I think I finally see the ending, but I'm not particularly certain how to get there.

But anyway, this is short because I want to spend time with Russ!

Next week, I'll be in the depths of NaNo Madness!

EEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

NaNo Ready?

zette@longlines.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:37:49 GMT

It is getting far closer to NaNo than I like, considering how unprepared I am this year. Not completely without a clue -- I hve two outlines done and part of another, and a fourth that I've had for a few years, just waiting to be written. I'm not sure my attitude is in the proper place, though. I keep looking at the date and shaking my head rather than getting excited. That might have a lot to do with the work I need to get done -- none NaNo work -- before November 1. And also knowing that the insanity will barely be started before I need to leap in and do more work for other things again.

I'm sure I'll do fine. It's not like it starts tomorrow. I still have time to get other things done, like Vision and all that. So maybe I should get to it and not mess around here?

Or go work on that final outline for a while. That should be fun.

I'm back!

zette@longlines.com — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:39:10 GMT

Hello!

I was away last week. It was the first time I left home for more than a few hours in the last few years and was a much needed respite from work. Not from writing -- I refuse to allow writing to become just another job -- but from some of the other stuff. Now, of course, I'm behind on everything. It was worth it, though!

Here is a link to some pictures from the trip:

http://www.zettesworld.com/minnesotatrip.htm

I spent a good amount of the time in a self-imposed writer's retreat. Nice hotel room, pleasant view (I loved the red tree), and VERY quiet. I worked on outlines for NaNo, and I now have two completed plus part of another one. There is an older outline I still have sitting around that I can throw into the group, too. That means I have several too choose from at the last moment. Always fun!

My goal for NaNo is, as always, to write a completed first draft novel. I usually do more than one, but that is not my goal. That's just additional fun if I get a chance at it. It's hard to say how well I'll do. The work for DAZ takes longer these days, and since that is a weekly newsletter, it does cut into my time. On the other hand, I've written more this year than I have in the last couple years. So who knows?

The problems with my sight have not completely cleared up, but I am more able to deal with it now. I've gotten back to reading a bit more as well. I've upped the viewing size in IE so that all of you who insist on writing in the smallest print possible are no longer going to blind me. Come on people -- larger print. It's not going to cost you anything. And even those without site problems get tired trying to read tiny little words. I use small print for links on FM -- it does save space in cases like that -- but there's no real reason to use it for pages of blog and LJ entries. Yeah, I've done it myself by accident, but I don't try to purposely blind all of you!

Ah, and back again. I've been jumping in and out of this all day. That would explain why the subject is bouncing all over the place, too!

I'm having fun working up the material for NaNo. One outline is giving me fits, though. I'm not certain what the problem might be. I think I haven't defined the opposition well enough yet to make the tension high enough in the story. Once I get that worked out, the rest of the outline should go together without much trouble. I just hope that it happens before November. Well, if not, I have plenty of other stories to choose from. And I will need things for 2010. Oh yes, the new year is coming very quickly, isn't it? Time to start thinking about what new things to do and how to expand into new areas. I see so many writers stuck in the same routine, the same stories -- I like to expand at least a little when I can. It doesn't always work, but it's at least fun to try!

And now it's time that I really get to work. It looks as though I might have a bit more to do than I thought. Eeek!

Good Monday!

zette@longlines.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:58:06 GMT

I have finished The Servant Girl!

Yes, I'm happy to have it completed. After some writing, erasing, and rewriting, I even came up with an ending that I like. That's often a difficult part for me. I can often 'see' the end, but getting that last page or so right often takes me several tries. My first version last night had the focus in the entirely wrong place. I felt like something was missing. Then I realized that while the scene performed and important function, showing an essential change in the story world after the climatic battle, it did not show my MC as anything more than an observer. Bad way to end. I reworked it so she has an action at the end that shows her own, personal changes as well. Much better.

The novel now goes into the 'sit for a few weeks' pile. Then I'll do the final read-through and line edits. I really don't expect the final step to be too difficult. In fact, I am so convinced of it that I will likely start working up the query letter and synopsis so that they can be ready to go out soon, too.

After I finished the novel I wrote a short story. I hadn't done a 'one sitting' short story in quite a while, and I really enjoyed it. The setting intrigues me. I may do more set there. Sometimes that is my way of testing a new 'world' to see if I want to devote more time to it. This is a near future setting, which I don't do very often. Testing the now-world against some slight changes for the then-world is an interesting game. It's far harder to imagine a world that is so close to what we have now, and yet has to be slightly different. Most of the near-future stories I've done have been after a catastrophe; far easier to imagine total destruction than to manipulate what we have and change it a little.

Well, at least for me.

So that's my big news for the week. I'm really happy with the novel. It's good to have it finished though. NaNo is coming and now I have to get to work on my outlines!

Weather Change

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:20:25 GMT

We have a frost alert for tonight. Sure glad I figured out what was wrong with the house furnace since the space heater died. Eek. Winter is coming!

So is the end of the month. It's not a Vision month, so I'm okay with it. I won't have The Servant Girl done unless I make a big push. It's possible. The problem is that I am still considering how to do the ending. At the very ending, there are at least two possibilities for how the story could go, and I can't decide quite what I want. This is incredibly unusual for me. I almost always have a clear vision of what I want from the end of the story. I think I need to make a list of possibilities and then see what I think works best, rather than bouncing them around in my head without any real focus. I'm close to the finish, and as soon as my characters cross the next border in the book, I will need to focus on how the story ends.

I intend to use October to work on outlines, queries and submissions -- oh, and a short story. I've done at least one a month through the year. Then November is NaNo. That's always fun. December is my 'clean everything off the plate' month. January is start new. Hard to believe that we're so close to the end of the year that I can already start thinking about January and what I want to do next year. I hope to write enough outlines that I'll have something to start January 1, in fact. I have four good, solid ideas so that shouldn't be too hard to do. Lots of research still, though. But I have October for that!

So my focus is on finishing The Servant Girl and getting it edited. I don't think the editing will be bad. Finding the right market -- that might be more difficult. It's long. But we'll see. I have faith in the novel.

Work, work, work

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:40:39 GMT

Let's see. Problems with my DAZ mailbox, so I'm having trouble getting that work done. It's bound to cause me real problems later. I am trying to arrange to have a week off, and that's not working out well, either. Ugh! Work!

But in the world of writing, everything is going along very well. I have two short stories and one novel going. The outlines aren't moving along very fast, but I suspect I won't have trouble with them once I'm done with the novel. I have created an Access Database to track things related to my writing. I started it thinking I was just going to list characters so that I could track names. I tend to like the same sorts of names, and with so many manuscripts, I found I was reusing ones I didn't want to use again, especially in cases where they are in the same story universe. It grew. I now have forms for place names, miscellaneous items and a story description section as well. Two reports, two queries, a few pop-up forms....

Yes, it is growing. And it's great fun, too!

I'm going to get back to The Servant Girl in a couple minutes. I'm about half way through the book. I think I have an idea for a spectacular new ending, too. I'm starting to take notes and get ideas on how to handle it.

Oh, and I put together a list of critique-related articles from Vision. Here they are, if anyone is interested:

Anatomy of a Critique (This one is just fun!)

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue18/advanatomycrit.htm

But I Don't Know How to Critique!

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue%205/butidon.htm

Confessions of a Blunt Critiquer

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue9/Blunt.htm

A Confidence of Vision:

Criticism and the Writer's Response

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision44/ConfidenceofVision.htm

Workshop: Creating the Useful Critique

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision22/workshop.htm

Critique:

Pitfalls, Spikes and Ropes (Part 1)

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision49/Critiquepart1.htm

Critique:

Pitfalls, Spikes and Ropes (Part 2)

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision50/CritiquePitfalls.htm

Critique:

Pitfalls, Spikes and Ropes (Part 3)

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision51/critpitfalls.htm

Dealing with Criticism

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision22/themedealing.htm

Developing a Thick Skin:

How to Accept Criticism

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision24/developingthickskin.htm

Do You Know What You Want From a Critique?

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue36/doyou.htm

Dragons, Sorcerers, and Mis-Capitalized Words:

How to Properly Critique a Work of Fantasy

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision22/themedragons.htm

Giving and Receiving Critiques:

An Exercise in Objectivity

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue9/giveand.htm

Handling Criticism Gracefully

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue%205/handling.htm

The Importance of Self-Critique

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision22/themeselfcrit.htm

In Praise of Praise--

A Second Look at Critiquing

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue%201/Critzette.htm

The Other Voice:

Learning How to Give (and Handle!) Critiques

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision22/themeothervoice.htm

Workshop:

Set up an On-Line Critique Group for 2008 (or any other year!)

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision42/Workshop.htm

What are Crit Circles?

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue%201/critjim.htm

Workshopping and Critique

http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue30/workandcrit.htm

And that's it for this week! Actually something helpful for a change!

All those wonderful projects

zette@longlines.com — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:03:10 GMT

I have a number of projects going right now. Some of them are rather odd projects (is anyone surprised?) and others are preparation for NaNo projects. The main work is The Servant Girl, though. I'm about half way through the book and the new additions and changes have worked out wonderfully. This is a great story. Very different for me. It even includes a romance! EEEK! (grin)

The biggest problem I see is that I don't think the ending works and I'm not entirely certain what I want to change about it. I think, though, that the ending I have doesn't work because it doesn't settle the final problem. I had thought I would write more in the series ... but I'm not so certain about that now. I'll just have to look at it when I get there.

I am also working on a Twitter story. I've been adding to this a little at a time to see if I think it would work. It's now up to about 1200 words in 54 lines and it's been interesting, looking at how to say what I want in such a limited space. I suspect it's going to help me cut down on 'useless' words if I keep at it.

I think I might post ten entries a day with an 'end' tag first, and then work up to the top one for the day, and then a 'start' tag. Then I would take the work for the day and put it on a 'The story so far' page on my site, making it easier to read or catch up. I'd likely put it into actual paragraphs and such there, too.

I am not going to post anything until I'm farther into it. Several hundred entries? He entire story? I don't know. I don't quite see the end to it yet, though I know some of the spots along the way. Hmmm -- I think I see a pattern here with ending problems lately!

Which brings me to the other projects. I am working on NaNo outlines. I have two that are going along quite nicely and two that require a lot of research and I probably won't really get to this year. I love doing the outlines and background work for the books. Everything seems to lead to a new idea.

My last fun project is an Access database for names -- character names and place names so far, but I think I'll add in a miscellaneous section. Eventually, I'll be able to pull up reports on various things, like a list of all the characters in a book (great for sequels!), location names, etc. This is not a particularly fancy database, but I think it will help me track things a bit better. I can also continue to add in new tables and make new connections as I see a need for them.

Oh, and I ordered in a lot of tea for the winter. I can't wait for it to arrive -- several flavors, types, etc. I'm really looking forward to it. I've cleared a little cabinet to set up for nothing but teas.

And that's my week. I have outlines enough to keep me happy for quite a while, a novel that is going along wonderfully, another story that is a wonderful experiment, and tea on the way. I guess I'm about set!

Holiday Monday

zette@longlines.com — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:29:29 GMT

Not that it really makes a difference in my world, it being a holiday and all. However, it is interesting to note. Things are remarkably quiet in the neighborhood. I think most people are using the last good day of summer to get out and see things. Winter is coming. We've already had near freezing weather at night, so I think it's going to be a long, rather cold winter. I can't say I'm looking forward to it.

Over the last week, I've been playing with outlines for novels as well as working on The Servant Girl. TSG is going nicely along. The outlines are going well, too. I'm having fun with all of them, in fact, and I can't even decide which one I might want to work on next. Or maybe I'll hold them until NaNo and have an entire herd of stories to choose from. However it goes, I've been adding little bits and pieces to the various outlines and worldbuilding and I see some wonderful stories starting to grow. Two of them require some extensive research which -- because my eye is still bothering me -- is proving difficult to do. The other two are mostly out of my head stuff, and one is an unexpected sequel to another book. Unexpected because when I started to see the story, I had only a couple scenes and some trouble. When I started to think about where to place the story, it suddenly exploded into SEQUEL ideas. I'm still working out the logistics of it, but I think it might work.

And that's it for me for the holiday. I'm going back to work now! I'm about 30k into TSG and the story is really going wonderfully!

On the Edge of September

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:17:18 GMT

This is a busy day. Far too many things are due in the next few hours as September looms far too large on the horizon. Eeek!

Once I'm done with the work, though, things will be much better for a while. I'll be able to turn almost all my attention to the new projects I want to work up and to writing The Servant Girl. That one is going very, very well. As long as it keeps moving like this, I'm going to be a very happy person.

New stories are pouring in on me at every turn and I'm starting to work up material for one or two. That's been fun and unexpected. I have two projects that require massive amounts of research and note taking, and two that are going to be relatively easy to work up without much background research.

Oddly, I miss my 500 words on Draw the Line for each morning, so I'm going to come up with something to fill that spot. It might be research and outlining in general. That would be very helpful, actually. I might try that in September. (Which, I remind myself yet again, is only a few hours away.)

Must get back to work!

Word counts and work

zette@longlines.com — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:09:01 GMT

I have this little Favorite's Bar up there with a link straight to this LJ. I thought I would give it a try. It might start me posting more here with news about various things. Or not. You never know with me! It's not like I don't have enough to do anyway! I thought about doing this for my blog, but I always use Picasa to get to it so that I can easily add a picture.

With Draw the Line completed, I've turned my full writing attention to The Servant Girl. This, obviously, was the time to rewrite it. I feel as though I've made one of those rare 'next step' moments in my writing. I suddenly understand a bit more of the missing link between what I see in my head and what I write.

We had an interesting conversation on FM Chat last night about how we work. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized some of the people probably had a strange idea about the word count process and me.

With the exception of NaNo, I rarely worry about word counts on a day-to-day basis. I set an arbitrary number that I would like to hit sometimes, but it's not reason I actually write those words for the day -- the story is. No number is going to make me write something if there is nothing in the brain to work on. The numbers are just casual goals that I use because I find numbers fun. I look at them, I count them, etc. -- but they are not the driving force for my writing. The word counts happen, and would happen, whether I kept track of them or not. The reason I do keep track is because I think it is fun to have the record. I like to see numbers adding up over the days and now and then I parse them out into various little number-trick games. I sometimes make graphs on how I've done from year-to-year, or figure out my average per day for the month. None of this has anything at all to do with the writing itself. They're just numbers that inspire me to work. Others have different ways that inspire them.

Sometimes the numbers can inspire me to try a little harder, which is far better than being complacent and lazy in my writing. However, they're auxiliary to the real thing, which is the story. For me, once I get into the story, it flows. I write for as long as I can. I (usually quite quickly) finish the first draft and then let it sit for a long while as I work on something else. This makes it far easier to go back to the earlier work with the story cleared out of my head so I can see what I wrote, and not what I think should be there.

Some days the work is better than other days, but I don't let that discourage me. By having a regular writing system, I am more in touch with my material than most people seem to be and I can recognize when something isn't as good as other days. It doesn't matter in the first draft. I wish I knew which author it was who said that when he works he has good writing days and bad writing days, but still works through them all. And then, looking back at the manuscript, he can't tell the difference.

There can be rough spots on good days and good spots on bad days. The trick is to just write the material. Get it done. Don't let yourself be side-tracked by negativity because that's just letting yourself be lazy. Don't constantly complain about the work -- though we all whine a bit now and then. Don't let 'this is too hard' become your mantra because you'll believe it after awhile, and that won't help the work. Besides, if you don't love what you are doing, why are you doing it at all? It doesn't mean it will be easy, but the way some people talk, they absolutely hate the entire process. I don't see how that can help them. They need to find what makes them happy about the writing and focus on that. Make it a goal.

That doesn't mean anyone has to work like I do. I have my own madness, and it suits me, but it won't work for anyone else. Even those who are superficially working the same way I am are not doing what I am doing. We just use some of the same tools and names to describe the process.

I can fall into the stories because I'm used to doing it. It's fun. The first draft goes quickly and afterwards I have the framework and much of the details in place. The editing may take considerably longer than it took to write the first draft, but I don't care because I equally love this part of the writing process. I adore picking at the lines, changing things, reworking this to make it all clearer or even adding in new directions entirely.

On one level, I understand why some people work so hard on the writing/editing at the same time since they don't want to have to go back and work on the story again. On another level, I can't understand how they could write something they don't love so much they would want to go back and work on it some more.

These are entirely different approaches using different mindsets and different things that inspire people to write. Word counts do not inspire me to write, but they might sometimes push me to write a little more. Every time I write a new story, I learn something more about writing in general and about my writing in particular.

So, it's not the word counts that I'm aiming at when I write, it is the story. The word counts are just a little extra.

And now, back to work on 'work' stuff so I can go on and write for the day.

Draw the Line is done!

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:23:08 GMT

I just finished Draw the Line a few minutes ago! Yay!

This was the experiment book. I started it on January 1 with the intention of writing about 500 words (never as much as 600) a day. I did about 2400 on the last day because I just couldn't quit that close to the end.

Some of you will probably remember how annoyed and frustrated I was with the book, probably somewhere back around 50k. I swore it was the way I was writing it -- the 500 words a day. I'm not so sure that was the problem, now that I'm at the end. I think the trouble came from my general mood. Once I started feeling better, the book went better. Amazing how that works.

It will sit for a while and then I'll read it. No editing yet, though. I need to let it clear out of my head, then read it and get the feel for what I want to change. Do a few notes. Then put it away again and get to it when I think the time is right for an edit.

I don't rush it. I know that the longer it sits, the less I'll remember of it as a story, and the more I'll see it as what it really is, flaws and all. The longer it sits, the more apt I am to see the real problems.

It's good to have the first draft done, though. I don't want to think about leaping into more work with it just yet!

Instead, I'm working on The Servant Girl, which was one of my 2006 NaNo books. The story was a fantasy novel without magic (make believe country, that kind of thing). This time, I'm working a bit of magic into it. Not anything overt, but it is enough to not only change some very basic plots, but also some aspects of the culture. So it's an interesting rewrite with a lot of change right from the start.

I'm also wrestling with details, which I really have to watch and be aware of in my writing. It's remembering to be more than just looking through the character's eyes and living in his or her head. We walk through the world and rarely make note of as much as our characters need to see. Finding the right balance so that the character isn't walking through a gray, but not so much that the reader gets bored, isn't easy of course.

But if it was easy, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

And now it's time for me to get back to work. Or maybe have a little ice cream in celebration of finishing the book!

Hello!

zette@longlines.com — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:40:41 GMT

Russ was home for two days. We went down to De Soto Wildlife Refuge -- twice -- and generally just had a good time talking. We even have an idea about a possible new on-line store with perhaps an invitation only publishing company to go with it. That's a long ways off, even if we do decide to do it. I think the fun was just in discussing what we would and wouldn't do in a 'what if' situation. It sounds intriguing, though.

We always did come up with fun stuff to discuss and do. You never know when you might just hit on the perfect idea -- or, if not perfect, at least something fun!

Speaking of fun -- despite the problem with the eye and the fact that the regular doctor put me on a second medication -- the writing is going very well. Oh! The good part of going to the doctor was learning I've lost 14 pounds. Eating better and even limited exercise is paying off! (Why am I nibbling on cheese and crackers?) (I put them away. I can always nibble more later!)

I am nearly done with Draw the Line and I might finish Rat Pirates tonight. Yay! I am going to do some worldbuilding and research for a while, I think. I have two big ideas brewing, and both require a lot of background work. Unfortunately, with the eye problem, I fear that it will take me a long time to even read the stuff that I want to get through. I think I can have at least one of them ready to go for NaNo, though. And maybe the second will make a good January 2010 story. I always start something new on January 1 -- a way to start the year out right. Back a couple months ago, I was having trouble with Draw the Line and the 500 words a day experiment. Now I'm not sure if that was a real problem or a general attitude problem I was having with everything. I'll be able to tell more when I'm done with the book and go back to read it. I will not read until I've completed it, though.

This year has been exceptional for writing, but mostly because I've done a number of rewrites from very old novels. It's amazing how much fun that can be. I still like the stories, but the writing skills were lacking twenty years ago. Using the originals as sort of fancy outlines allows me to keep the lines that I do like and fix the rest of it. It's also turned into a great learning experience because I've started seeing some of my weak spots a bit more clearly. It's always good to at least try to learn from past mistakes. I see a lot of people who say that once they finish the story, that's it -- and if the story isn't right, it's never going to get any better. I have an entirely different approach. I want to learn from my mistakes and see if I can make the story better -- that particular story, as well as new stories in the future. If I wrote something at all, it was because I liked it and wanted to tell the story. Why not try to make it better after I've learned a way to improve my writing?

I've written 12 new short stories so far this year. I am so glad to get back into the habit of doing those.

And that's it. Time to get back to work on other things again!

I love writing.

Monday Report

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:11:04 GMT

I am having eye problems again today. I think it's mostly strain, so I'm going to be doing less work over the next few days. It's okay -- I finished a short story yesterday (yay!) and I'm doing fine on Rat Pirates. I still need to do my 500 words on Draw the Line, but other than that... I think I can pretty much skirt through the rest of the day.

The aspirin seem to be kicking in, too. So that's good.

The writing is going remarkably well, all things considered. And Russ is supposed to be home for a couple days this week, so that will be nice, too. I hope the weather isn't too horrible! And I hope that I have gotten past the worst of this trouble, too! I would like to go out and, well, see things.

I am mostly a recluse. I like my time alone, and I don't mind going days without contact with anyone but those on the Internet. I would rather have Russ here, but if he can't be, there is no one else I want to spend time with. So, for the most part, the time alone does not bother me that much. It is just that it goes on for far too long and because I don't drive, it leaves me trapped in this little house for far too much time. I need to get out more often. We had hoped that Russ could start coming home at least once a month this summer, but things did not work out well for it. We'll just have to see how things go this fall and winter. Winter is the worse time, of course. Weather keeps him trapped in the east, or weather makes it impossible to land in the Midwest -- more often ice rather than snow.

But on to other things of the writerly-type. I have a new story idea that I am going to work up for NaNo. It's amazing how soon that one is heading our way! The new novel is going to require a bit of research and I hope that my sight is up to it. If not, I might end up writing the plot and filling in some of the details (which, I think are going to be Victorian) a little later. I have pulled three great books from my library already, though -- so we'll just have to wait and see. The story has me intrigued. I have five characters sketched out -- two of them minor but important off the start, two of them taking the place of those two later, and being somewhat more important, and my main character. Oh, and I think a very large, rather strange dog. Maybe that's too Dresden-like? Maybe a small, very strange little dog that is far more dangerous than he seems? That might be more fun. I could make it a cat, of course -- but I write a lot of cat characters, and I think a dog might be good. I don't add as many of them.

I do need some Victorian Age historical events to play off of and to decide if it is going to be Victorian London or somewhere else. Or some other age. Or....

I love it when everything is so wide open and there are so many opportunities for telling something new and different.

Eye problems

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:27:23 GMT

I had an emergency visit with the nice eye doctor people today. A problem with my right eye turned bad over night, and they had to do test and scans and tests (and drops, and drops and drops) to make certain I didn't have a retina tear. I don't, but I have to watch because I do have a problem that could lead to one.

My eyes are dilated. I'm wearing sunglasses in my office at 8 pm. I have done a little writing -- white letters on a black background. But I'm going to quit soon and just rest some more.

Getting Bored with your Writing?

zette@longlines.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:47:22 GMT

Well no, not me -- but I have always loved the creation of stories. I don't think I've ever written anything that actually bored me. Sometimes the stories frustrated me, and sometimes they didn't turn out the way I wanted, despite all the care in the world -- but never bored.

However, I've noticed some obvious signs in others. It isn't always lack of production. A lot of times they'll keep putting out material, but it will be lackluster and repetitive -- and they'll suddenly talk about anything but writing.

If the author is bored with the writing, it shows. It shows in actions and in work, and that's when it's time to try something different. Unless, of course, you have material you have promised to produce and have contracts, in which case you have a much harder job. Readers can tell when the author is no longer engaged in the material.

Taking a break is always good if you can afford to and time constraints aren't going to make that even more of a problem. This is a good reason to work ahead on a contract, so you have some break time to fall back on if you need it. That's where having easy goals, and sticking to them, can be a real help, too. If you have six months to write a novel of 100k words, and you write 1000 words a day, you're going to have about 80 days -- more than two months -- extra to play with. Of course, this doesn't take into account any pre-work -- but since agents sell stories based on that material, you should already have the majority of it done before you start.

So, if you get bored with the story, figure out why. I've seen some writers get complacent and lazy. They won't take the time with their work that the readers deserve. Sometimes they're so egotistically certain of their own ability that they really don't think about the readers at all. Eventually, that catches up with them. That's not the same as being bored, though. That's being smug and blind, and it can happen to any writer. The good ones pull out of it.

There is something that can help in both cases, though: Be willing to learn new things. Be willing to experiment. Any author who decides he or she is too good to improve or try new things is a one-trick pony. After awhile, the trick gets boring, both for the reader and the writer.

So don't be afraid to step out of the lines now and then. Try something new.

And that's why I'm never bored with writing. I try new genres, new themes, different types of characters -- I try not to write the same story over and over again. I'm also more than willing to try new approaches and to new learn things.

Never trust a writer who claims to know everything. They're lying to their readers and themselves.

Late!

zette@longlines.com — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:21:13 GMT

EEK! I wrote this hours ago in Word and then just must have thought I was done, and never uploaded it!

Okay, here we go:

I've had a couple really good days on writing. Today, not so much. Other things on my mind, but I'm getting ready to leap in and get to work tonight. I've done a little bit of writing prior to this, but I really need to get some focus and get back to work on Rat Pirates. It's been an incredible amount of fun. A horrible amount of work, too -- but fun as well. The story itself is very old, and my writing ability has improved an incredible amount over the years. It's fun to see the change, and it's fun to make something work far better than it had.

There's also a lot less 'angst' in this version. I must have been in 'teen' mode when I wrote this story. If my MC has one more angst-fest over his past, I'm going to pick him up and shake him by the ears. Even I don't care anymore! I'm about half way through the beast, and just having a great time with it. Everyone should have this much fun with writing.

It has been raining and cool all day today. That was okay except that I had intended to walk to the store for some much needed supplies. Maybe tomorrow! But now -- well, back to work and then back to writing!