My Muse is Back at Work

The Read: The Golden Age of Steam by Dean Server
The Write: still working on that April exercise
The Gleaning:

I've been AWOL from the page for a while now. Nothing seemed to be working. I wasn't even in a creative state of mind, let alone putting words down. I think my Muse took an extended vacation and didn't take me with her.

But apparently even a muse can have one too many pina coladas. She's back. I can feel the words on the move again, and I have a fist full of new characters ready to come out and play.

See, little miss Muse? Work ain't so bad.

Should Characters be Sensible?

The Read: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Write: April exercise for Books and Writers (Thanks, Ron & Claire!)
The Gleaning:

A character that will really drive a story had better not be sensible. A sensible character will tend to avoid the dangerous, the risky and the just-plain-stupid decisions. A sensible character will sit at home, painting her toenails and watching When Harry Met Sally for the 17th time rather than meeting the flame from her past at the motel on the highway, and setting off on a cross-country trek that involves bank robbery and the occasional murder. Smart, sure. Interesting, keep-the-reader-up-too-late, fast-paced story, not so much.

So I'm off, to knock some sense out of my new MC.

Full Steampunk Ahead

The Read: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

The Write: Library Staff Newsletter Update

The Gleaning:

Thanks to the Boneshaker, I've fallen head over heels in love with steampunk. Steampunk just may be the bridge I have been seeking.

Ya see, when I read, I read a whack of historical fiction, peppered with contemporary fiction and some non-fic bits. When I write, out pops unexpected sci-fi elements. I don't tend to read sci-fi. Research, as a pre-requisite for writing, slows me down, either because I don't find what I'm looking for, or find too much of it.

That's where steampunk comes in.

Steampunk has a dollop of history, a dab of sci-fi and drop or two of fantasy. Just the thing to get my gears turning.

March Break Madness

The Read: 1984 by George Orwell
The Write: Minor hockey article for local paper
WIP: Fireballz -- an upper middle grade novel about Fred O'Connor, who liked the game so much he really got into it. (Considering steampunking this. Seriously.)

I'm here in the trenches, battling for screen time versus two tech-savvy and game-hungry manipulators -- I mean children. It's bad enough trying to fight my own writing inertia without having other people around who try to convince me to just walk away from the keyboard. Oh well. There's always pen and paper, right?

Happy March Break to all!

Trying Something New

What I'm Reading: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
What I'm Writing: 20 minute practice session featuring Esther and Hammond, a married couple with varying degrees of wanderlust.
WIP: Fireballz -- an upper middle grade novel about Fred O'Connor, who liked the game so much he really got into it.

Today begins a new format for the old blog. Quick and dirty and then on to the important business of fiction.

Back to the page...

Writing Prompt Thursday

Today, a little something different. I went to my handy-dandy Field Guide to Weeds by Lawrence J. Crockett. Weeds can have picturesque names. Here are three to get you started:


Creeping Jenny

Cheatgrass

Devil's Bootjack


Really, I'm not making any of these up.

Writing Prompt Thursday

I feels the need to share some prompting joy. So here goes. Start with one of these. Give it at least 17 minutes. Why 17? 'cause I said so, that's why. (Yes, I am a mother.)

1. What's worse: public speaking or a chocolate shortage?
2. If you had to leave the country -- for good -- what would you pack in the one suitcase you're allowed to take with you? (You can do this one for a character.)
3. What if you (or your character) could save someone (stranger, friend or family member), but to do so would cause the saver to become disfigured in some way. Would you (or your character) choose the someone's life, or not?

Happy paper trails!

Writing Prompt Thursday

I'm inspired!

Check out the latest innovation (tongue firmly in cheek) -- Flutter!



Now write down one verb and one noun for each letter of the alphabet and execute a mix 'n' match. Or, try writing a story in just 26 words. Then tweet it (because, sadly, we can't "flap"). Too much challenge? How 'bout a Twitter tale? You can have 140 whole characters!

3 Writing Prompts

The Better Blog task for yesterday was to write a list post. (I signed up in the final hour, so I seem to be getting my tasks a day after the sell-by date. No matter.) I thought I'd start a little tradition and build on last Thursday's Writing Prompt post. So here are your Three for Thursday:

1. Write outside. Yes, go out into the great outdoors and do some scribbling. If it's cold where you are, how does that affect what you write?

2. Turquoise. Write about the colour turquoise. What do you remember that was turquoise? What smell do you associate with turquoise?

3. Tell the story of a painting. Check out that painting on your wall, get an art book from your shelf, coffee table, or library or look up artwork online. Choose a painting and write about what is happening in it.

Build a Better Blog

I blog, but I know it could be better. I don't have wads of time to work on it though (I do have to get some writing done, sometime). So I've taken the plunge.

I signed up for 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.

Brought to you by ProBlogger, each day you get a bit of teaching and a task to help make your blog better. Today it's the Elevator Pitch.

kc dyer, James McCann and Lee Edward Fodi Signing on Sunday

If you happen to be in or near Surrey, BC, Canada this Sunday, April 5, be sure to head over to the Strawberry Hills Chapters.

kc dyer, James McCann and Lee Edward Fodi will be signing their latest tomes. There will also be prizes, giveways and cupcakes.

I mean really. How could you miss any event that involves both books and cupcakes? Well, there are the trifling matters of airfare and family obligations for me. But if you don't have those issues, get thee to Strawberry Hill. Have a cupcake for me.

Writing Prompts

It's Thursday, the sun is shining, and the phrase, "butt in chair" seems a bit menacing. Time for a few writing prompts to get those fingers tapping.

1. Try opening with this: "The last time I was here..."
2. Type with your eyes closed. Become one with your keyboard.
3. Write down the first line you wrote yesterday (or whenever you wrote last). Now continue, but turn a different corner. If your character turned down the job offer, let her accept it. If your character broke her arm, let her leg be broken instead. See where that line takes you today.

Keep writing for at least 15 minutes.

Darby Interviews Diana Gabaldon

Don't miss Darby Christopher's interview with bestselling author Diana Gabaldon tomorrow.

I'll definitely be dropping by Darby's blog. Diana Gabaldon writes the Outlander series, featuring Jamie and Claire Fraser. She's a preeminent storyteller, a wizard of words and one really smart (and funny) woman.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Birthday

Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar has turned a big, fat 40. Catch a video of Carle speaking about his classic picture here.

TV Interview Tips for Writers

Writers take note: Amy Baskin has an excellent post up on the PWAC blog about doing TV interviews .

Amy Baskin is the co-author of More Than a Mom—Living a Full and Balanced Life When Your Child Has Special Needs.

Happy St. Pat's!

Top o' the morning to ye!

The sun is shining, the mercury's rising and the likelihood of my butt staying in the chair today is dropping. Fast.

In the spirit of going green, here's what I do to write green:

• Get my ink cartridges refilled, instead of replacing them.
• Do the majority of my editing on-screen.
• Meet with clients via phone or email, rather than face-to-face. (Though sometimes face-to-face is necessary.)
• When I do print, single space on recycled paper.
• Use online resources whenever possible.

How do you write green?

Deborah Kerbel on Blog Tour

Head on over to The Story Siren. Deborah Kerbel riffs on the best things about being a YA author. There's a contest, too. Be sure to check out the guest post before Thursday, March 19. You could win a signed copy of Kerbel's novel, Mackenzie Lost and Found.

Well, if I don't win.

Getting Started

The blank page.

Those have to be the most beautiful -- and scariest -- three words in the writer's lexicon. Depending upon my mood, the blank page can be anything from a delectable expanse ready for creation to a very smooth, slippery wall of hard plastic that will not take ink no matter how hard I try.

Luckily, there are ways around the latter. Here are a few of my favourites (in random order, because I'm a random kind of gal):
a. Pick a colour. Write from the colour.
b. Snatch up a book like Room to Write: Daily Invitations to a Writer's Life by Bonni Goldberg. Find it here. It's stuffed from cover to cover with writing starters. Another of my faves is Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. Find it here. (Why are they both Goldbergs? Is there a genetic predisposition to inspiring writers?)
c. Take the words out of someone else's mouth. Open a book you haven't read to a random page. Write down the first line. Then continue. You can start with this one: "It was even more money than he had delivered the time before." (Daughter of War, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, p. 56. Get it here.)
d. Take the words out of someone else's mouth, part two. Sit down in a coffee shop and write down the first sentence you hear. (Be sly about this one.)

Now, go fill a page!

Character Enters Blogosphere

kc dyer has a brand-new book out: A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW. She's started up a nifty-cool blog "written" by the main character, Darby Christopher. Check it out. (kc dyer blogs as herself here.)

I think this is just about the neatest way I've seen the blogosphere used by an author. kc has just set her character loose from the book's bindings.

In order to allow a character to have her own blog, I think she must have enough life that she can leap off the page. Now, is that literally, or virtually?

Salt Mining

Over at the Compuserve Books and Writers forum the other day, Diana Gabaldon mentioned that she was "Back to the salt mines..."

As usual, she has the exact way of it. Writing fiction is an awful lot like mining. Salt, in particular.

First, there's the descent into the deep dark, tools at the ready. Everything from hand tools to heavy machinery is involved in getting the raw material loosed from the earth around it.

And what do you get? Those fine crystals that add spice and flavour to narrative. The gifts of an unseen primordial sea of the imagination.

It's hard work. Every day you must turn your back on daylight.There's the heft of tools, the muscle-popping business of digging. Creating your own space to work, chipping away until there is enough space to swing your pick. It's a daily grind to free the salt from the earth. Then there's the tough job of getting it up to the surface. To say nothing of the packaging.

Worth it, too.

Diana Gabaldon's An Echo in the Bone (7th in the Outlander series) is slated for release September 22, 2009.