Category Archives: Writing

Can’t Sit Still

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Apparently, over the last 11 months, I have lost the ability to be on the computer and not on the internet. Finding this makes me think I need to pull the connection. Also, the ability to write. Really, I can’t sit still. I thought a new place would make me comfortable in spending hours at the computer. I’m getting up earlier than I ever did in Seattle. But I can’t relax. There’s too much to do.

Well, there’s not, but I keep finding things. I can’t decompress and get out of this world long enough to write anything coherent. It’s supposed to just eventually happen, but as we all know, I don’t have forever. The deadline is the point. I wish that would register in my busy little brain.

But nooooo. I’m making new friends, reading new blogs, playing Scrabble. Failing at time management. Becoming easily distracted. Busy bee.

hamster wheel
www.jupiterimages.com

If husband were to give me a performance evaluation, it’d go like this.

“Well, you’re making dinner – check, going to the gym – check, so well, the whole real reason I let you quit working was to get famous. How are your books coming? Oh really? FAIL.

You’re fired from not working. Get off your blog and go get a job.”

NANO TOTAL: 4283 words.
NaBlo Day 8: Check.

If I Knew This Last Year

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The book totally would have been done by now!! Right…

How To Write A Book

This is Millie Von Kruesenstein, Y.P.R.'s typist.

  1. Do absolutely nothing until you can see the whites of your deadline’s eyes.
  2. If you’ve got cowriters, try to disagree as much as possible. If you’re of the same opinion regarding a section of text, bicker about dinner choices.
  3. Criticize what little progress you’ve achieved and doubt what little talent you possess.
  4. Do not write any new words when there are still old words that have only been rewritten twelve times. No sentence is complete until it’s lost all traces of your original thought.
  5. Complain about the pressure of a looming deadline to everyone you know. This will ameliorate the jealousy and bitterness felt by friends without book deals. It will also put an end to social invitations that may hamper your writing progress, as your former friends will now hate you.
  6. Stop sleeping. Complain about how tired you are too.
  7. Never have a mental breakdown before 11 p.m.
  8. Do not postpone other projects so that you can focus on the current one. It’s better to spread yourself so thin that you produce an evenly distributed amount of complete crap.
  9. If you’ve gotten this far without a single technical foul-up, now’s a good time to download something viral.
  10. Make a schedule for yourself, but do not even remotely follow it. Instead, continually do some mental math that divides your remaining pages by the rapidly dwindling number of hours.
  11. The best writing is that which is compiled from dozens of different documents, including things you’ve e-mailed or text-messaged to yourself. Try to create separate documents on as many different computers as are available. Some things will be irrevocably lost, and hours will be spent cursing. Learn a lesson about orderliness, but do not act upon such knowledge.
  12. Some terribly constructed sentences always make good low-hanging fruit for your cowriters to edit, thus protecting your awful idea from their meddling.
  13. Were you napping? Stop that. It’s 11 o’clock already. Start freaking out, hard.
  14. If you’ve worked hard three days in a row, take a hard-earned day off. And it looks like snow tomorrow, so you might as well take the whole weekend. But a day off from writing is not a day off from complaining!
  15. If you haven’t drastically gained or lost weight, you’re just not writing well.
  16. Assume your sources are reputable. When some accidental research reveals the source that serves as foundation for your work to be as reliable as grandma’s memory, briefly consider the amount of work it will take to correct things at this late hour, then fuck it and move on.
  17. Pick up any book on your bookshelf, skim a few pages, and admit that it’s a terrible book… but better than anything you’ll ever write. Cry.
  18. If one of your cowriters is something of an optimist, steal his hat.
  19. If you’re not panicking, call your agent and request they he or she panics. You’ll have no problem panicking afterward.
  20. Call your mom.
  21. Your time is more valuable than your money. Spend as much cash as you’ve got in your pockets.

via yankeepotroast.org

Fool Me Twice…

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This seems like a bad idea. Last year, I discovered NaNoWriMo. Then I signed up.
Then I spent a month writing, in between all other events. Here’s that month in case you weren’t with me for it.

Am I crazy enough to do this again? My plan was to be finished with the first one before starting the second. Not gonna happen. Trying to publish a book is hard. Even for an extraordinary writer like myself…

I’m not even halfway through professional editing. But that’s the rough part, right? And if I’m going to be famous, I’ll need to write more than one book – if I want to be rich I need a thousand…

NaNo got me going. The deadline, the camaraderie, the force to write, the adventure. So yes, it’s a crazy, incredibly nerdy, unrealistic thing to do. And I just signed up.

I’m trying to decide whether I’m going to drag you through it with me.

national-novel-writing-monthcopy.jpg

The Thief Maker

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Publishing a book is hard. And it’s a big deal. I had no idea where to start once I stopped writing. I really like the idea of publishing the book through a self publishing company rather than dealing with stress submission and rejection. I have talked about iUniverse with David, you’ll even find him in my blogroll. He was honestly great at giving me personal feedback and talks about his experience on his blog as well.

I’d been meaning for a while to get his book, and it arrived in the mail from Amazon the other day. I didn’t put it down. It was super interesting to be reading a 9/11 related book this week. It does serve as an important reminder. I thought everything looked and was laid out great, and loved the story. I definitely suggest that you check it out!

Better Bother You

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If nothing else, this article might shock you. I don’t really want you to leave somegosoftly.com in search of greener pastures, but maybe you should pick up a book once in a while. And no, Harry Potter DOESN’T COUNT. I mean, I’m sitting here working on a book and trying to get it published, but this makes me wonder a little bit if there’s any point to all my efforts. Well, besides the bragging rights and notoriety and world tours I’m imagining in my dreams.

I personally discovered who I was through my reading, went to college to seek out those who inspired me and learn more about them, and have put my career aside to attempt the artistic feat of having an impact like that on someone through my words. Now I’m afraid it’s all for nothing.

One In Four Read No Books Last Year

large library of books
www.eximiousbooks.com

Great Marketing

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Find the time to click this link, and tab through all the pages on the bottom right. (About 30 or so.) Miranda July does a hilarious job of making me want to read her book. I love it and wish I could think of something half as creative.

Oh, but I need to have a finished book first.

That part keeps messing with me.

book cover
www.fictionfactor.com

Too Easy Not To

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According to Litlove, I can say whatever I want in this ’7 things about writing’ meme.

  1. I first decided I wanted to write a book in Mrs. Thompson’s class. I won the spelling bee, and my prize was a copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Not only was I Francie Nolan, but I could write like that book was written, I presumed. I’ve since read that book at least a dozen times. For inspiration. And because it’s a freaking good book.
  2. I wrote for the high school poetry club, and also was the editor of whatever you call the dumb excuse for a paper they had. My prized editorial was about drunk driving, my Mom might have it somewhere. NOT quality.
  3. I was published in the local paper as well, in an editorial. (This is practically chronological). Seeing my name and written words in print gave me a feeling it’s not appropriate I blog about.
  4. I believe wholeheartedly that Emerson is the best writer I’ve had the fortune to read.
  5. The hardest part of the 60,000-some words of my novel wasn’t getting it all down the first time, or even making concepts clear, but knowing what to cut and what to keep. I can edit with the best of them, but it’s hard to know when to let it go sometimes. You can’t be too obvious, but you can be redundant. What a fine line.
  6. Other art inspires good art. Listening to music is key in my writing process, to inspire.
  7. It follows that writers also inspire other writers. Writers on writing is food for my soul as well as my fingertips. Listening to those with past and present success convince, teach, and persuade me to have my own.

blogging your novel
www.bimages.blogspot.com

Library Funnies

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Having not been to a library in quite some time, this has been a source of constant sillies for me. First, I forgot that I’d have to order and wait for certain books that I wanted. Writing down titles from my amazon wish list and trying to scoop them up wasn’t working… so I’m on the internet looking at holds lists. Some of these things might not be available in my time here.

Also, I forgot that you can find funny stuff. People leave things in books all the time. I’ve found flattened gum wrappers, receipts, and even a stress brochure used as a bookmark. I’m not sure if they go through the books and these things get missed, or if you could use the public library system to market things to people by stuffing the books with paper, “Read somegosoftly.com” or “Vote for Fred Thompson”… I’ll admit it’s crossed my mind.

Also, I’ve forgotten how to pick out books. What do you like? How do you find it? I wander around the place, not being able to read without my head crooked to the side, trying to find something that would interest me. Half the time you can’t read the title and author’s name because of the stickers on the spine, so I’ll pick it up. I read – I don’t know what you call it. I read books that happened now. Or in the past, but aren’t too dated. Or crazy. No sci fi, no stories of hardship, just stuff. It’s hard to describe. But it really takes me a little while to pick something out. I like the staff picks, they’ve been pretty good so far, even reminding me of things I’d read and forgotten that gave me the warm and fuzzies. So far I’ve only picked out one I couldn’t possibly read.

I have also, believe it or not, been making progress on my book. Things get me thinking, and I apply what I’ve read to how I can develop and improve my story. It’s still going awfully slowly, since it’s hard to force myself to concentrate, but it’s getting there. I’m hoping to get a smaller laptop soon to make my work more portable. I could write in the library.

seattle library floor
www.richardsnotes.org