Sloth?

Hi! A fun thing. With 11 million views on youtube, you've likely seen it already but I hadn't, and it is the cutest thing. If you didn't already adore Kristen Bell, try not to now :-)

All Work and No Play

HI!

So, I was going to just put up an "All work and no play" post a la Shining, but I am not feeling dull, so that wouldn't be right. The above is more accurate. I'm not handling #5 so well right now, but soon. I am on a very tight turnaround for draft 2 of Days of Blood & Starlight, and it sucks because second drafts are my favorite part. It is so exciting for me to have a clean fat printout of a full draft on my desk with a couple of colored pens and pads of post-its beside it. THIS IS THE BEST PART. I have so many ideas for how to take this draft farther than the last, make it closer to what I dreamed this book to be, and tighten, expand, clarify, intensify, all the wonderful things that happen at this stage. Including play. Sigh.

But it sucks not being able to go to bed until you physically can no longer stay awake, no matter what helpful caffeinated beverages you have put into yourself. (I have #6 above down to a science!) I am not my healthiest self right now. No exercise, not enough sleep, no lolling. I haven't even been able to see The Avengers! Appalling :-) I miss normal life. It feels like this has been going on forever. But it will be over soon. 

Deep breath. 

Random niceness, some girls and their friends: 

Eye Candy Breakfast -- Color

Color feeds the soul. Some random images.

(Good morning!)

(More pretties here.)

Greek Daughter of Smoke and Bone!

Look! Another edition of Daughter came today! GREEK! Cool graphic cover art.

(Can anyone tell me what the title says?

Something + Something.

Is it Angels and Devils or something?)

This is so cool. I love foreign editions, and different alphabets are best of all.

Check it out:

In hearts, of course, Akiva and Karou :-)

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL

(hello! I was just going through the archives of my olden times blog, and came across this, written after the experience of having finished my first novel. Thought I'd share :-)




HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL


1. Daydream. A lot. (required)

2. Get a notebook that’s just right, with good paper that won’t curl and that you can’t see the ink through, but that isn’t so precious you’ll be afraid to “mess it up.” This is for ideas.

3. Think up stories until you’ve got an idea you love, that sets your mind on fire with possibilities. 

4. Take that idea and cross-examine the bejeezus out of it. In your notebook, ask it EVERYTHING. WHY and WHO and HOW and WHEN and REALLY, ARE YOU SURE? And again HOW and WHY and HOW and WHY. Think and think and think. Think way past the borders of your idea, so that the world you dream up is like a big huge trampoline you won’t fall off the edge of if you jump too high.

5. Do some research on things that come up in your brainstorming. You’ll find out marvelous marvelous things that will make your story richer, and that can give you a missing puzzle piece that pulls everything together.

6. Write.
7. Write.
8. Write.

9. Learn what you need as a writer and develop your own rhythm and routine. Routine is good. Like a just-right notebook, find a just-right place to write. A haven. 

10. Write.
11. Write.
12. Write.

13. When you get to a place where the story halts like a stubborn mule and just won’t go anywhere, resort to daydreaming mode. But not some wishy-washy namby-pamby brainstorming: ferocious, knife-strapped-to-your-thigh brainstorming! List every possible damn thing that might happen, even if it means carrying that mule over your shoulder back several scenes and taking a different turn in the labyrinth. Open your mind. Write down everything, even if it seems stupid, and keep thinking, keep asking yourself questions. Sometimes drastic measures are called for, like erasing a character who isn’t really pulling his weight, and replacing him with somebody who will give your mule just the kick in the ass it needs. Don’t be timid.

14. Keep writing until you’ve got a first draft, then celebrate your deep genius and tell everyone you’ve written a book! Gloat!

15. Wait a while. A few weeks, perhaps. Then read your draft as if it was something you’d picked up at the bookstore. Figure out what you love and what you don’t. Be absolutely honest with yourself about the boring parts, and about the parts where the author is clearly forcing the characters to do things, where motivations don’t ring true, where it rambles. Think how to fix it.

16. Rewrite.
17. Rewrite.
18. Rewrite.

19. Gloat even more with the completion of the second draft. Get people to read it and give your compliments and pour champagne over your head.

20. Repeat steps 15 - 18, as many times as needed. 

Yes, I know it’s steps 6 - 8 and 10 - 12 that are the hard part, but the thing is, there’s really nothing else for it but to just do it, even if it’s hard and even if you’re sure it’s horrible as you’re doing it. This is a place where reading how-to books can’t really help you, so don’t take a break from steps 6 - 8 and 10 - 12 to read Bird by Bird AGAIN and drink wine. It’s like with weight loss: whatever advertising might tell you to get you to buy a product, there’s really only one thing that works -- healthy eating and exercise. With writing a book it’s -- sitting down and writing. Keep in mind that people all over the world have been managing to do it for ages. People do it every day, and there’s no reason why you can’t, too!

New frontiers?

I think the Universe is trying to tell us something. These are from three separate batches of fortune cookies over the past month or two. Actually, these were all Jim's fortunes, so I guess the Universe especially wants HIM to travel. But I think Clementine and I will tag along :-)

Not yet. Not yet. But soon.

The first draft is done, woo hoooooooo! And now? 

Dum dum duuuuuuuuuum ...

The second draft. Yep. This month will be a killer too, but getting the first draft done is the hugest of huge hugenesses and I am so happy. And tired. And happy.

Okay. Back to work!

XO

Hotel Daze

Hi all! I'm back from my two-night in-town hotel writing spree! It's good to be home and cuddling my people, and also it was really good to be totally in the book for that time. I've never gone to a hotel to write before. It was very productive!

I stayed at the Ace Hotel in downtown Portland, and it was completely perfect: inexpensive yet cool, filled with art, and the location could not be better. Stumptown Coffee accessible through the lobby, and so many eating options within blocks, including a Whole Foods. Powell's Books is only a block away too, and I did get my late coffee there, but it was not the time to shop! If you're coming to Portland for whatever reason, I would totally recommend the Ace Hotel.

My room was very simple, but it had a nice plank desk. Pretty much all I needed. The giant Tunnel of Love poster? Just a bonus. There were three magazines in my room. One on skateboarding culture, one on beer, and one on female drummers. How great is that?

Really good continental breakfast only $8, including Stumptown French press coffee and local organic cheese and charcuterie, pain au chocolat and many lurvely jars of fresh relishes and jams.

Leonard Cohen on the wall.

Cool lobby, plus cool bikes for borrowing. So Portland.

All right. There you have it. Successful hotel writing getaway at the tail end of writing this book! I am still not quiiiiiiite finishes, so away I go, back to it, 

See you soon!

XO

A Few More Days

*gasp gasp type type fret fret*

Oh man.

See you in a few days. Possibly.

*gasp*

Manic End-Is-Nigh Energy!

Hee hee hee. Clementine's sandwich today. 

When I posted this on Twitter it was suggested that I might be procrastinating but it isn't so! I had gotten home from writing at the cafe, high on a 2200-word morning, and Clementine was still napping. So I cleaned the kitchen and made lunch. Including the above. 

Our friend Chary arrived to hang out with C for the afternoon, and they made SOUP so halleluja there was dinner taken care of, and I wrote another 800 or so words, of which two selected at random are: neuter and apocalypse. Then dinner, then hide-n-seek, during which Jim took the art of the "bad hide" to new highs, then teeth-brushing (Clementine wanted to brush her teeth like "three nice monster sisters"), then bed which involved finishing reading OUR FIRST CHAPTER BOOK. It was Clementine and was Clementine's choice. We didn't expect her to want to keep at it but she loved it and we read several chapters a night and, you guys, she's 2-1/2! Holy attention span!

I'm on such a weird end-is-nigh HIGH right now. I love writing endings. Maybe because I spend so god-awfully long on beginnings, and also middles, and take so much time setting everything up and thinking everything through, my endings (*knock wood* SO FAR) have this momentum that makes them sort of roll downhill gathering speed, three 3000-word days in a row and no anguish or despair in sight. I feel wonderful! 

Or, I WILL feel wonderful once I write this New York Times book review that is due on the same day as MY BOOK. Ha ha! When I got asked to do it, it was sooo exciting, but the timing was so bad I actually wrote a "thank you so much but I can't" response but I could not make myself hit send. It's the New York Times! And it's a book I wanted to read anyway! So. I am going to try to pour some of my manic end-of-book energy into the writing of this book review. I am also going to pour some coffee into it. 

How was your day?

*kiss!*

Dispatch from the Deadline!

Hi world! Above, presented by little friend, the days remaining in April to finish writing Days of Blood & Starlight, with two May days (mayday!) graciously provided by Alvina who will not begin editing until then. This is one of my tracking devices. I also have a print out of the sections remaining to be written, each assigned a day, with some grace days and a few days at the end for tightening before sending it off.

Right now I am in REALLY good spirits about the whole thing because the last few days have been great. Two 3000-word days in a row (a VAST LOT for me!) and the realization AT LAST of the scene that was the A-HA! moment for the whole book, way back when it was first germinating in my brain well over a year ago. And yesterday I was so ahead of my schedule I was able to take Clementine on secret errands for Jim's birthday and then go to bed at 10. Like, three hours earlier than usual.

Maybe I should have used the time to get ahead, but I don't like starting new scenes at night with muzzy brain. Also, Clementine was showing signs of a cough coming, so I thought I might need the sleep. Bless her, she slept the WHOLE NIGHT. Kiss kiss.

So, today back to the work schedule, another big scene to tackle. Here's been my plan of attack to try to avoid my usual pitfalls (of writing too slowly, working at a kind of sentence-level that should be reserved for revisions):

APRIL 23 (for example)

beginning word count: 

final word count: 

goal: 

goat met? 

1st: write a plan for the day’s writing; get my mind around it.

2nd: write a 15-minute zero draft of the entire thing; don’t read, just highlight interesting things

3rd: get to work. Write the scene for real.

To tell the truth, I haven't been seeing (2) through because what's been happening is I start the zero draft thing then find my way into (3) and just go with it. Usually the zero draft (so rough it doesn't even get to be called a first draft) is an unsticking mechanisms, for idea generation, but if I don't need it I don't do it. Because it is no fun to write such unrewarding mess!

Okay. To the scene at hand, then. Here's me on the walk to the cafe this morning. Tall:

Portland thinks it's summer, but don't be fooled. It's a trick of spring meant to break our hearts when the rain returns. As it will.

Happy day!