Story Leads

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about story leads and the advice everyone dishes out, "write what you know." Except, you might ask how someone could possibly know about space invasions and after death experiences since today's writer couldn't possibly have those experiences.

Here's the scoop: any story, whether it's set on earth or another planet, in the past or the present, or in your own home town has something that relates to the human experience. A good story pulls on the heart strings, tantalizes the senses, and pulls from core human emotion. Basically, if you can find something from your life that another person could relate to (whether he experienced it or not), you can use it to build the foundation for a story.

Great places to get ideas for stories:

1. the news
2. conversations you may overhear
3. life experiences
4. dreams

Now go plant a story seed and see what sprouts.

Sleepless in Rochester

Family Stuff
The kids are home and going a little stir crazy with all the wet weather we've been getting. In order to squeeze some editing in during the day, I've allowed them to have zombie time, watching TV and playing video games. But seriously, I did have bigger plans for the week.


Monday, we traveled out to Hope Farm to meet with a couple former classmates from the UofR. The kids loved meeting all the animals: the alpacas, horses, chickens, ducks, cats, and a very woolly dog. We planned a summer get together for fellow sci-fi enthusiasts from our college days. It should be fun.


Writing
I'm still on task to finish my current WIP before May. All three of my critique groups have been very encouraging.


Editing
Two of the books I've edited for Double Dragon Publications are now available as ebooks: YVEN by Jessica McHugh and UNFAMILIAR CHRONICLES by Patrick Welch.


In July, MuseItUp Publishing will be releasing another novel I'm currently editing a science fiction/thriller, SPECTRA by Joanne Elder. In memory of her father, a World War II veteran, Joanne is donating fifty percent of all her author royalties to Alzheimer's research. 


In August, MUIP will release a historical romance, REMY by Tricia McGill.

Woo hoo!

I've had several woo hoos in the past week.

Writing:
I've entered a pact with one of my local writing groups. We vowed to finish writing our current WIPs by April 2011. All three of us are working on YA novels. Two of us are writing dystopian futures and the other critique member is writing a fantasy.


Illustration:
I'm continuing to study children's illustration. My current effort: studying individual illustrators. I'll study their process and design.


I also found out that a local writer/illustrator, Sheila Jarkins, teaches a children's illustration course. I plan to take it.  http://tinyurl.com/2dhs8ky


Job Front:
I recently received an editing job (proofreading fiction manuscripts) for a company that publishes trade and e-books. The best thing about it is that I can: 1) work from home and 2) read (one of my favorite things to do). My first assignment is a fantasy novel. Wish me luck.


Family:
My read-a-holic 10 year old won the Barnes & Noble 39 Clues Summer Reading Program. 
On Wednesday, a representative from Barnes & Noble came to his classroom last Wednesday where she presented my son with a signed set of all of the 39 Clues books and a 39 Clues backpack. He was surprised and very excited about it, so he asked if he could hang onto the books so he could show them to the kids in his class. Unfortunately, one of  his classmates damaged book #10. He doesn't seem to mind as much as I do.

Summer Ho!

Everyone in the family is staying up later. The hubby is staying up till 1am each night, seriously eating into my writing time, and last night he actually let the kids stay up until 11pm. The kids are all out of school, and those of us fortunate to be home with them are scrambling to schedule in “me” time. But how do you do it if you don’t want to pay a babysitter while you write or draw?

Unfortunately, I’m not the kind of person who tolerates the average Joe watching over my shoulder when I draw or write. Believe me, I’ve tried to sketch during my kids' karate lessons, but someone always ends up watching over my shoulder. I’ve tried to read, but there are always one or two very loud parents that yap incessantly. Getting real work done at home while the kids are conscious… rare.

My plan was simple. The town I live in has this great summer play program. You drop the kids off at 8:30am and then pick them up again at 2:30pm. The program has three two-week sessions. I signed my kids up for one session, and I thought I’d sign them up for and additional week in a sports camp. The sports camps cost a little more, and the kids are busy for two to three hours.

Okay, so the hubby vetoed additional camps since we’re also going to Cub Scout Adventure Camp this summer (think lots of $ even though we sold popcorn to lessen the price). I have no hope of writing time then.

What plan to do? I’ll squeeze it in. I can revise with kid prattle as long as it’s not kid fighting, so if they’re occupied I try to steal some time for myself. I’ve started making the kids work on their writing skills. While they are working on their stories, I will be working on mine. We’ll work on the art skills together. 

I’ll let you know how it works.

Productivity or Random Stupidity

Holy Productiveness Batman
I lost most of the evening yesterday because I had fallen asleep before the kids' storytime, but at 11pm I woke up and started working on my never ending "to do" list.

So instead of going to bed like a normal person, I decided to get some stuff done. First, I worked on revising my resume since I'm applying for a professor position at a local community college. Yay me! I believe I have the resume the way I'd like it. I still need to do some more tweaking on the teaching philosophy statement, though.

I fought with my scanner for a couple of hours while it wheezed and protested. I think it's dying. Mid-scan it would freak out and make clicking and buzzing noises. After a while, I found out that it was much happier on a completely flat surface instead of a pile of papers. Who would have known?

I did a little shopping. It wasn't the fun fun type. My older son's class is behind, so I went online to buy one of his textbooks and a few workbooks. Since I was on the education kick, I looked online for more resources for boy #1 and emailed the links to another parent of a 4th grader in a class that is lagging.

Then, I realized boy #2 has a spelling test that he hasn't studied for and frantically searched the house for his word wall words. One hour later (with all the kids papers sorted), I've only found weeks one through ten. I can't imagine they're only on week ten, so I'm hoping this week's words are easy.


Here's the stupidity:
I stayed up all night. I'm more awake than if I had actually slept eight hours, but I'm going to pay for it later.

Oh well...
Since I'm up, I cleaned in the kitchen a bit, ran the dishwasher, and started making picky boy's lunch (that's boy #2). He's getting a burrito and a carrot. Boy #1 is buying (not a picky boy and basically a bottomless pit when it comes to food).

Writerly stuff...
I'm dissecting one of my finished novels... again. .

Blogmania

It seems like almost everyone has a blog, and a lot of people post regularly. I’ve been, um, posting something like once a month. I guess I’m not on the blogmania bandwagon.

I do like to read certain blogs though, but it's difficult to keep up with it all. Here are my favorites for certain topics:

Editor and Agent Advice
Nathan Bransford has lots of great information regarding the submission process, publication, and writing in general.

Jill Corcoran Books has submission advice in addition to industry news.

Tracy Marchini has a lot of great information on her blog too regarding submission and the writing process.

Cheryl Klein not only has great information on her blog, she also has a wealth of information on her website: Talking Books.

Writer Blogs
Writing for Kids While Raising Them

Haunting the Broken Tree

NaNo What?

Well NaNoWriMo was a bust, but there’s always next year, right? Seriously, I don’t work well that way. I still haven’t gotten last year’s NaNo novel in readable shape, though I do believe the story has promise.

What I want to know, is who thought November was a good novel writing month? You have Thanksgiving and other pre-winter holiday activities.

NaNoWriMo

Okay, so my friends talked me into doing NaNoWriMo again, and I’m miserably behind in the word count. I’ve decided that I just don’t work well in the NaNoWriMo state of mine. I can’t regurgitate words that will be tossed aside once the NaNo-insanity is over. I’m one of those “revise as you go” kind of gals.

All isn’t lost though. I have started another science fiction / mystery novel, and I’m hashing out the plot. If I can get a general framework of the book’s direction, maybe the writing and revising following NaNoWriMo will go smoothly.

55,000 words of dreck in a month – I don’t think so. But I'll be insanely happy if I can cough up 35K.

NaNoWriMo

Am I a glutton for punishment. Seriously. I signed on as a NaNoWriMo participant, and I'm behind already. My brain just doesn't work that way.

On the brighter side... my house is a little cleaner.

Kids, kids, Kids...
Tonight's reading selections:
a Magic Tree House Book
Geronimo Stilton
Axle Annie and the Speed Grump

My Time

A Writing We Will Go...
In the past weeks, I've been crazy busy with doctor appointments, volunteer stuff at the school, and Cub Scouts. I have done some new writing, but mostly I've been revising my YA dystopian WIP. I just hope dystopian is still in by the time I'm finished polishing it.

Scouts, Scouts, Scouts...
During the first couple weeks of school, Scouting programs really start up. I don't know about other packs, but we have a great program for the boys.

Back to the Grind

I’m a Newsletter Editor!

I now am the newsletter editor for RACWI Reports, the newsletter for the Rochester Area Children’s Writers & Illustrators. Some of my friends think I’m crazy for taking on yet another responsibility, but I’ve done this before.

Yes. I used write and edit a newsletter for the MOMS Club for a couple years before my children aged out of the activities, and our schedules no longer meshed.

Doing the Happy Dance

Don’t get me wrong. I love my children, but they really, really needed to get back to school. It wasn’t until the end of summer that I realized just how dependent on routine they are.

Now, I push the kids out the door as soon as we hear the school bus round the bend. Time to write and draw!

Desperately Seeking Sleep

I sit at my computer type, type, typing away. Before I know it, I’m tipped back in my chair with my head resting on my shoulder and a crick in my neck. “Go to bed,” you say. And I do. I drag myself up to bed and lay down. Then… I’m wide awake… for another two or three hours no matter how hard I try to sleep.

Tried exercise – just made me achy and awake

Tried reading – got too involved in the book and stayed up until 4am

Tried a warm glass of milk – just gave me nasty breath in the morning

So, I either get sleep sitting in an awkward position (wake up in pain), or I lay awake until I eventually drift off.

This has been my week. I guess all those thoughts sucked out of my brain through kid prattle have come back to haunt me as soon as my head hits the pillow.

Contest Alert - Free Book!

If you kids are between 8 and 13 and love to read, there is a contest to win a free signed copy of Donna St. Cyr's debut novel The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate at http://community.livejournal.com/classof2k9/.

Still Going...

I’m still plugging away. In anticipation (hoping) of more educational writing gigs in the fall, I’ve been thinking about stories I could write and submit. I’ve started a few, but they are just festering ideas right now.

Most of my writing time has been spent in revisions and reading. I’m sprucing up one of my novel’s characters and polishing picture books.

Great Reads…

I just finished reading The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. And wow! I had bought the trilogy at a Scholastic Book Warehouse sale out of curiosity. I had seen the movie and wondered if the book deviated from it much. They seemed to follow the book pretty well, but I need to watch the movie again to be sure. Setting aside the religious controversy surrounding the book, it's a well crafted story, thick in plot and intrigue, and an excellent study for novel writers.

Illustrating…

In the past week, I’ve been drawing in my head. Okay, that sounds weird, but if you can write in your head, can’t you draw in there too? Eventually, I hope to start journaling some of my sketches.

No more teachers, no more (text) books…

My kids are living it up since school let out last Tuesday. They’ve been watching movies, playing games, and reading lots and lots of books. If only they weren’t sick. Yup. We’ve been shut up in this house since last Wednesday. Sickie boy number two spiked a fever of 104 degrees on Wednesday, and he’s been battling the little cold beasties ever since. I only hope I don’t get it too.

The kids’ school has a summer reading contest, and both boys are determined to win the top prize this year. We have a little competition between the kids, even though I told them that the school awards the prizes based on grade level. Boy #1 (9 yr old) is mad that the boy #2 (6 yr old) is reading mostly picture books and easy readers.

What are they reading this week?

The 6 yr old:

1. Geronimo Stilton
2. Dr. Seuss
3. Berenstain Bears
4. Magic Tree House

The 9 year old:

1. Geronimo Stilton
2. Animorphs
3. Series of Unfortunate Events

I love having a couple of little readers in the house, but if they keep going at this rate, they will have read our whole collection of children's books by the end of summer.

Wall of Shame and other things

I’ve continued on my weightloss efforts, and I managed to squeak off a few pounds, but not as much as I would like to. My weights are posted, and I’m very thankful that the woman managing the blog didn’t post my last name along with my weight. Is that shameless?

Since I’ve taken on the job of Cubmaster, my exercise regime has really faltered. Laurie Halse Anderson, in two speeches she gave at two different conferences, stressed how exercise helps a writer focus and write constructively. I did notice a difference when I was exercising, and even though I have tons of time conflicts that keep me from the gym, I have no excuse. I need to resolve to do something again. The weather is nice. I have a bike and exercise equipment collecting dust in the basement.

Time to Make a Change

Change is good, right?

We change our underwear. That’s good. We change our toothbrushes. That’s good too. And sometimes, we change ourselves, for better or worse.

I decided I need a change of body. Since I can’t trade in the parts that don’t work quite the way I’d like them too, I need to trim down so people can’t say "this or that" is a weight issue. It’s a little difficult when you have BIC (butt in chair) disease, a condition that you have willingly inflicted upon yourself in order to hone your writing skills. But who says a person needs to give up the life of a writer to trim some fat.

Wall of Shame:
Okay, at first glance, people don’t guess how much I weigh, and it’s not a bit of information I care to share. So, in the interest of keeping myself motivated to lose those extra pounds, I’ve joined a contest along with a friend and a bunch of her family members to lose the biggest percentage of weight by December 31st. Every week, I report my weight and pay $5. Fun Fun.

My first week was sabotaged by a wonderful writing conference with lots of food and chocolaty desserts. Luckily, I didn’t gain any weight. I didn’t lose any either. My weights for the first two weeks are posted (with my name) on a blogger’s wall of shame. Sorry. I’m not sharing the link either. Wish me luck!

Now for the Creative Part:
Before the summer is over, I plan to add the special something to my middle grade novel that an editor recommended during my one-on-one critique at the NJ SCBWI conference. AND… I plan to use it as a learning experience in my study of children's illustrations.

My other goals include polishing and revising two picture books based on the recommendations by Cynthea Liu (thanks to her Red Light Green Light contest) and completing an illustration portfolio (and posting it on my website).


So, ready, set, here I go!

Busy days

Illustration attempts…
I did it. I cleared off my messy art desk in the basement, where the creepy spiders like to lurk, and I sat down to work. It only took a couple minutes for the cats to notice I was downstairs, and they mewed and rammed the door until I opened it. Only Penny, my long-haired cat came out.

She sniffed the floor, rolled around, tried to hop in the puppet theater, and then decided to check out what I was doing. I would have loved to hold her, but then I wouldn’t get any work done. So, she hopped down and explored while I worked.

Before I started getting pinged by Cub Scout emails, I managed to get 3 pages of a book dummy and part of a storyboard finished. I was hoping to do more, but I guess I need to think in small steps. Tomorrow, I’ll try to finish the dummy and the story board (after my library work). Then, I’ll take a stab at illustrating my cousin’s chapter book.

I love black and white illustrations. Last year, I took a chapter book / middle grade novel illustration workshop with Patrick Collins, Art Director for Henry Holt. It was fabulous! I am hoping to build a small portfolio before I go to the NJ SCBWI conference in June. Wish me luck!


Weeds!
If the weeds didn't choke anything I placed in the garden, they'd be kind of pretty to leave in there, especially the ones with the yellow flowers.

I love gardening (the veggie kind), but I really hate the weeds. They have invaded and taken over my garden space, and I dread the task of clearing them out. On the brighter side, my chamomile is up and there is a lot of it. Tomorrow, in my spare time, I’m going to harvest some of it.


Scouts scouts scouts…
I am up to my ears in Cub Scout stuff. I get at least five scout related emails a day now and at least one phone call. Now, if only they could make a flattering uniform for women that stayed tucked and buttoned… it would be nice if I didn’t need to wear a shirt underneath during the summer.

Scouts, Writing, and Frogs, Oh MY

A Scouting I will go…


Did you know that the Boy Scout program was modeled after The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling? I didn’t before my kids joined.

When my boys asked to join Cub Scouts, I was thrilled. My husband—not so much. The Cubmaster at the time convinced me to be a Tiger Den Leader. It was a scary idea at first, but it grew on me. I’ve been a den leader for three years now. The boys know me and sometimes joke around as if I’m not there. (excellent opportunity for story fodder) One of my scouts even called me “dude.” I’ve never been duded by a kid before.

My older son is now a Webelos, and my little one is a Wolf. They love Cub Scouts. So, when we found out that nobody wanted to be Cubmaster, and the pack would fold without one, I made a decision. Some may call me crazy, but I volunteered to be Cubmaster. Wish me luck. I have big shoes to fill. (My Webelos are very excited about it, by the way)


The Writing Life…

I will be stubborn. I will not give up. And I’ll revise until my fingers lock up or fall off. Then, I’ll type with my nose.

After the incredible responses from my local MG/YA critique group, I have redirected my writing focus. I’m working on my YA science fiction novel again.


Frog…

The frog is making croaking sounds. He is definitely out of hibernation, and I’m thinking about buying a few friends for him.

Cynthea Liu's Library Lovin’ Challenge

Do you love libraries? I do. I buy a lot of books, but I also check a lot out from the library. When I didn’t have money to spend on books as a kid, I could always rely on finding something to read.

Cynthea Liu is participating in the Library-Lovin’ Challenge organized by author writerjenn. As a thank you to the libraries, she is donating 10 cents to for every comment made on Cynthea's blog up to $100. So, hop on over and make a comment. She is giving away signed bookplates and a couple of lucky people will win a signed copy of her newest book, Paris Pan Takes a Dare.