So many books, so little time

I'm going to start posting here again...I've made the mistake of sharing my other blog address with a boatload of folks and some of my older posts have come back to bite me on the ass. Yep, I'd made a few innocent comments related to a variety of family and friends topics and after reading my trip blog, they dug deeper and found them. So, this is now my private thought, venting, bitching blog.

So, do not share this with anyone....Kim and Kristi, if you read this, remove this blog from your blogroll lists...you can still read here, dears, but don't share the addy with ANYONE!

Nothing to vent about today....all is well in Casa Rozanski, for now!

I just about fell off the kitchen chair when I realized just how long it had been since I last posted on this blog. Months and months. Shameful.

What has happened in the last bit of time? Well, the bookstore opened and is running smoothly and bringing in mucho dinero for the Friends. It did suck a huge amount of time out of my life for the first two months, but it is now a much more reasonable time commitment. I started edits on Maddy Blue and ground to a halt about November. I haven't written much in the Lani wip either. I have been reading quite a bit, but my writing has suffered.

The fam damily is doing well and things on the home front are just peachy.

I have posted to my blogger account on a much more regular basis and have toyed with the idea of letting this account die.

Not sure why I am posting today, other than the fact that it had been so darn long since I had. Perhaps I'm just trying to get those typing fingers warmed up and the writing juices flowing. I did toy with both wips yesterday off and on all day.

So, little blog, don't go away just yet. I may have a use for you after all.

We always talk about how time flies. Well in the case of this little old blog, time has stood still for several weeks now. I've been posting daily on my other blog, and while I used to cut and paste the entry, for some reason I stopped.

Poor little LJ account:(

To sum up what has been happening since my last post....

I finished round three edits on MB.
I wrote a short story.
I started to work on the bookstore manuals.
I'm back in my school year routine.

That's it. My life in four sentences. I won't be writing much if at all over the next 60 days. The bookstore is the largest time demanding entity in my life right now. I figure, if all goes well, I should be able to come up for air by November.

Up and moving....dishwasher unloaded, laundry started, paper read, blogger account updated. Still hotter than hell outside. I worked on a ton of Friends stuff yesterday and the next two days will be devoted to Maddy Blue. I'm going to finish the latest round of edits/revisions and plan my next phase. I promise:)

I'm not one to just jump in the pool. I'd rather wade in one inch at a time. Today is the first day of school for the kids. It is a jump in and swim sort of day. The older two will be fine. My youngest got the one teacher I'd heard several complaints about. Oh joy. We really need a good year, so I'm going to have to make a judgement call this week over whether to leave him in the class or to raise hell and get him moved. I didn't want to break out the 'don't mess with my kid' artillery this early in the school year.

On the writing front......the Internet is abuzz with news of the huge, gigantic, enormous book deal for the latest vamp story/author. Of course my hubby said, "Get your ass upstairs and fire up that damn computer." My crit buddy said the same thing, but without the profanity.

I do need to hit old Maddy hard this week. It won't be today though...I have a list of things to do for the bookstore and the Friends. Those items come first and I should be able to put the mess in order and finish my list today. Maddy is on line for tomorrow.

It is now or never. I'm jumping in.

Crafty tip for the day...watch those words spell check won't catch. For example, the whole 'there-their-they're' problem. If your piece of writing is short enough, read it aloud. Another trick is to edit backwards...word for word.

Off to the library today to help shelve books. Summer Reading really put them in a bad spot with books stacked in the return room a yard high in places. Unreal. Took oldest kid with me yesterday and will take the middle kid today. Their reward is lunch out with me after.

Tomorrow we are off to see the Pixar rat movie....if anyone can make a rat look cute, they should be able to.

Still hot, but I did read a book this week. I picked up "The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc" a while back at Sam's. Not a thumbs up...not sure if it was an attempt to cash in on the success of the Ya-Ya book by giving us another quirky southern neurotic woman, but the bright moments were dulled by some plot/conflict choices I just didn't enjoy.

Just finished reading one of the blogs I frequent. Several of the comments to yesterday's topic included reasons why that person wrote. A few honest souls admitted they write because they want to be 'known' and they want to make some money to boot.

Every so often I sit and stew over why I write. I've always written and have hand scribbled ramblings from grade school to prove it. Yes, I have stories knocking about in my head and I enjoy putting them down on paper. That doesn't mean I'm good at it. It doesn't mean I'll ever be published. So, what does it mean?

My writing seems to serve a purpose in my life. It is like the cliched faithful friend. Most people have one. The person you can go years without seeing or chatting with and when you bump into them or call them, the years disappear and you pick up right where you left off. My writing has always been there, but I began writing in earnest after my third child was born. When I put him down for his naps, I'd fire up the computer and write for those few hours. It gave me a respite from my two older kids and gave them some time away from me. They'd watch some Disney movie and I'd venture back to medieval Scotland.

I wrote commercially and made some pocket money in the newsletter business a friend and I started. I sold an essay to a nationally published magazine. However, I've never queried my fiction. I'm not sure if it is fear or sheer lack of motivation that keeps me from trying. It isn't easy to get published and I'm not at all sure why I want to be.

Do I want to be 'famous'?
Do I want to make money?
Do I want to see my name on the spine of a book?
Do I want to entertain people?

Writers harp about the importance of GMC (goal, motivation, conflict) in a well crafted book. What about the GMC in the writer's life? If/when I start the query process, I need to understand my own GMC. I may be approaching that point.

The heat up here in my writing room has addled my brain. I meant to post this Thursday and for some reason, I never did. So here it is, along with a few updates as to how the rest of my week went.

Crafty tip for the day: avoid category nouns.

Simple, right? Yesterday I sat down with my oldest two offspring and presented a thirty minute workshop on how to construct an essay. I threw in some information on what words to avoid and why. I described category nouns then used one of their favorite songs, the Carrie Underwood saga about unleashing some revenge on a cheating boyfriend, as an example. The song does a wonderful job of not using category nouns. When I pointed out all the specific nouns, I saw light bulbs go off over their heads. Nothing like the specific images of a Louisville slugger, leather seats and souped up 4wds to make a point.

Not sure if I've helped their future writing attempts, but after learning they'd never been taught how to construct a classic essay complete with a thesis statement and supporting paragraphs, I had to take matters into my own hands. The book they are writing about: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

Yes, I did manage to get back on track and wound up calling it quits at page 206 yesterday in Maddy Blue. Sixty pages and then some....also polished the short story. Today we have the oldest child's music lesson and soccer conditioning. We will also have a new addition to the family appearing today. Our neighbors, off to Utah on a family reunion, farmed their greyhound out to some church friends. Said church friends are now passing the dog to me as they are headed off to a reunion. Those LDS folk sure like their reunions.

Quite the potpourri of info today, I could write on and bore you with details of my 90 minute Friends meeting yesterday, but I'm still digesting the possible implications of our last minute discussions about funding staff development. Can't quite go there yet.

Friday brought a trip to Target for the final back to school purchases. Never will I forget how important the three ring binder is and the huge decision to be made over a zipper or velcro. Other than that, took the oldest to see the new Bourne movie with a friend. Watched a bunch of crappy shows on the Sci-Fi channel and then wound up watching Fallen...that was fairly entertaining.

No writing...no reading. It is just too damn hot.

Polished up the short story today, thanks Kaycee for the read and the comments. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but it was fun to write something new instead of rewriting something old.

Speaking of rewrites, I'm up to page 206 in my revisions. So, yes, I did manage to get caught up with my schedule for the week. My head hurts, I'm hot and a tad grumpy, but I'm back on track.

I've been a busy girl again today. Took the oldest offspring for the before school starts hair cut....fabu!

Hit the store, came home, ran hither and yon hauling friends of the offspring over for lunch and a swim.

Finished the first draft of the short story.

It is now 3:00 and I'm too pooped and hot to work anymore. The a/c isn't keeping up with the temps in the attic. I'm off for the lower level and a cool drink.

Will have to work on MB revisions early tomorrow if I want to get back on track with that. Can I do 60 pages tomorrow morning? Stay tuned.

If the rest of the week falls into place like today, wowsa.

Edited 30 pages on Maddy
Wrote 2000 words in the new Maddy short story
Did all the laundry, folded it and put it away
Made dinner
Ran my errands to the church, Goodwill, the post office and the grocery store
Supervised my kids while they cleaned house


I'm giddy:)

Yep, I'm on a mission. I've been a total slacker this past month and now I'm faced with finishing round two of my revisions on Maddy Blue. I also have a short story idea rattling around in my head and the noise is getting louder. School starts in just a few weeks for the kiddoes. The book store is becoming a real presence in my life and of course all the other normal daily grind stuff needs attention.

Going to be a busy week. Look for a rough draft of the short story. I've set a goal of editing the next 150 pages in MB. Also, get the marketing plan polished for the book store.

I'll keep ya posted.

This tidbit has nothing at all to do with the craft of writing, but has everything to do with inspiration.

I've always had a fertile imagination and can daydream and imagine with the best of them. As I've gotten older, the time to sit and let my brain wander has dwindled. The vacation we just took afforded me the opportunity for some 'down' time as well as some great opportunities to people watch.

Life is so hectic and busy and for me so filled with the seemingly same sort of cookie cutter suburban people that I tend to forget how varied folks can be. Traipsing through Arkansas was a great reminder of the amazing quirks, stories and personalities out there to mine for my own fictional fun.

Not sure where I'm going with this, but I guess my point is, take a minute to step outside your 'zone' and look at what is around you with new eyes. You might find inspiration in an unexpected place or person. I did.

If it takes growling at the kids, the dog and any plan foiling goblins, I will revise MB this afternoon.

After I get home from hauling oldest offspring to French horn.
After I get some laundry going.
After I start to pack for our getaway trip.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

My big plan for the day was to revise Maddy this morning. Of course my plan fell apart once the kids got up and I realized I needed to take the oldest to the doctor. So, I spent the morning between the doctor's office and the pharmacy. THREE HOURS!!

Now that I'm home, I'm behind the eight ball trying to get dinner cooked and more laundry done because the kids are starting soccer tonight after they do their volunteer time at the library.

Why is it that every day I think I have 3-6 hours open to write or work on a WIP something happens to foil my plans?

So after I ran errands this morning, I plopped in the chair and revised the next 15 pages. Yep, I'm now up to chapter eleven and page 115 in Maddy. Yeah me.

Other grand doings this weekend included visiting with K and solving all of the publishing problems in the world, reading "Nefertiti" by Michelle Moran (awesome), and hitting the theater for the latest Harry Potter movie (very fun).

I hit page 100 yesterday in my first round of real revisions. I also deleted a character and have a strong feeling I've increased the level of conflict in the book. I'll know better when I go back to the beginning and start round two, but I'm plowing ahead for now.

Ah crap, how did it get to be Thursday already? Guess I'll put down a thought or two on POV as I've noodled over voice, POV and word choice this week.

Whichever POV you choose, stay consistent. Unless you're Nora R. don't head hop, she's a master at it, few others come close to how she can juggle multiple POVs. Make sure your characters 'think' in an authentic way. Have them use the right words. Don't stick SAT words in a character's mouth who has never cracked open a dictionary.

That's it for today.

Voice. Everyone has one and it never fails that a writer wishes his/her voice was more of SOMETHING. More lyrical, more gritty, more sexy, more real. We are never happy with what we have and we always want what someone else has.

I've read three different YA books this week. Each had a different voice and not a one had a voice that resembles anything like mine. Like my buddy, K, this eats at you. I wish I wrote with a more lyrical voice. I love when I read a sentence and think, damn, that is poetry.

It was funny she posted about that today, because honest to Pete, I was thinking the same thing yesterday after I finished reading Martine Leavitt's "Keturah and Lord Death." Her prose is so lyrical and so beautiful, it soars off the page. Amazing story and incredibly written.

Guess we need to be happy with what voice we are given. Yes, I do believe you can groom your voice. Writers grow, our voice will change, but like personality, some things are just 'there.'

I didn't even open the WIP Saturday or Sunday. Instead I read two books. Very different pieces of YA fiction. The first was "Wildwood Dancing" by Juliet Marillier. I've read her adult fiction before and have loved the way she expands an ancient fairy tale into a new creation. This latest book takes what seems to be several Romanian fairy tales and combines them into a decent book. It isn't my favorite of hers, but it was a satisfying read.

Then on Saturday the kid and I stopped in at B&N while we were out shopping. Because as she said, a trip to the mall with Mom isn't complete without a stop at the bookstore. Boy is she glad I'm such a creature of habit. We picked up the latest Georgia adventure by Louise Rennison. "Love is a many Trousered Thing" is a hoot and a half. I LOVE these books and so does the kid. In fact, Rennison is totally responsible for my kid becoming an avid reader. If I could buy the woman a cake, I would.

Today I have lots of ground to make up, but seeing my kid lay on the couch, read and finish a book in one day was worth not working on my writing.