Writer In Progress

Autumn arrived...and virtually overnight all the trees changed their coats, and began to drop their leaves. The long grasses along the pastures and roadways changed to a dry yellow or gold.
Yep, it is fall.

It is a time of mixed emotions for me. I think autumn is lovely. I love the harvests, the colors. Halloween. All Hallow's Eve.

I hate that here autumn is cut so short it is really a tiny bridge of "Almost Winter" before the actual main event arrives.

Still, I have my porcelain pumpkin strands on either side of the front door. I'll add some fall leaves soon. We have a huge bright yellow mum with tiny copper eyes that now occupies the corner of the fence. I will add more between now and Halloween. Oddly, there were none here when we moved in late last year. I like that our mums return bigger and more beautiful year after year.

Moving back to the writing world, the computer was out of commission and that threw my schedule off. Getting back into the flow is proving distressing, but I am sure when he is ready Khyr will make his presence known.

Now I pray that autumn will be gentle and keep the kids occupied so I can get some decent hours of writing accomplished!

How swiftly it is past. I miss it.

Even more so, as we really had very little 'summer'. It was wet, cool, springish right up until it became fallish. I miss summer. I miss summer the way it is meant to be...long, hot, filled with golden days and beaches.

Tomorrow autumn begins.

Here, that means the prelude to winter.
Here we have four seasons...almost winter, winter, still winter...and the 4th of July.

I want the 4th of July back. FOREVER.

The kids have end of summer/back to school madness. The kind that makes them want to spend EVERY waking moment cramming as much into these last days as will possibly fit... and then some.

Being a person who despises fall and, especially, winter...I support this plan. However the result has been a week of intense insanity around here, LOL. Add to this the joy of having only ONE working car for a family of nine and the madness multiplies.

Good news? This evening we got back from the shop the now repaired car number TWO! Hooray! The logistic nightmare is now cut by 25%. Why not more? Because that still leaves me and the other college age driver carless. AND the other two drivers (hubby and Caitlin) do NOT pull their fair share of the mom-taxi duties. However, I am accustomed to this problem and can work around it. It is a definite improvement.

On the writing front? Not much to report. The summer madness has driven me to very late hours since the kids don't want to waste a moment of summer in something as pointless as sleep. (Again, I totally understand this since I don't want to miss it either...besides what else is there to DO in winter besides sleep? Stupid excuse for a season...grumble growl) I was 'stuck' for a time, not in the sense that one says they have writer's block, but more a matter of knowing where I was, where the story was going, but somehow it didn't feel 'right' as I attempted to continue on. Finally resolved that by changing the troublesome scene to Khyr's pov. It is now moving along much more smoothly. If I can find a few things for him to kill soon, he should be good to go clean into the next plot twist. Yay!

Currently finishing up chapter 49 even though I have half of 50 written. Not quite sure how to plug the small plot hole that will complete 49. Hopefully tomorrow.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Made the return trip to NY to get Ashley, and since then have not had a moment to catch up even on breathing, LOL.

The trip was great. AJ (my 9 yr old)came along to keep me company, a totally last minute decision. As in, as I was putting the suitcase in the trunk, LOL. Still more monsoons in PA. Having learned my lesson on the first trip, I ignored the silly map and took the lower level of the bridge and cut my arrival by 2 hours.
We arrived early enough for a nice visit with Lorien and Judah and Ashley, and stayed the next day as well since it was the Fourth of July. Lorien took Ashley and I to the Hamptons to see where she is working this summer at the WaterMill. It is an amazing facility. Then we drove around for a bit just to sightsee, went to a tiny town in the South Hamptons and walked around (a homesick story for another day, I promise) and then drove out to the winery at Duck Walk Vineyards. Ashley enjoyed a wine tasting and we picked up a bottle of wine for Caitlin's birthday.

Back at the house I mowed the backyard for Lorien and Judah's barbecue. They have a wonderful BIG backyard overlooking the golf course. Lorien and Judah cooked madly, with Ashley's very able assistance. I silked the corn on the cob and prepared it for grilling. At dusk there were fireworks which we sat in the front yard and watched over the trees. A perfectly lovely evening. And afterward, while I helped clean up in the kitchen, Judah and his friends all gathered in the living room and had an amazingly good time watching AJ play Indiana Jones (the Lego Version) on the XBox. They sure had fun.

The next day Judah and Lorien took us all to the shore. Just a brief moment, as they both had to get to work, and we had to head back here. Sigh. But it was heaven just to TOUCH the ocean once more. Even for an instant. I can't thank them enough for that moment.
The trip home was too fast, and less rainy. AJ is a joy to travel with, never asks how much longer or 'are we there yet', or whines to eat. And, of course, I was happy to have Ashley home once more. I do so miss that girl when she is gone.

And now, here I am again.
Still no summer in OH (apparently up here it is the year of the unending spring...just rain, cool, cold nights, more rain. Oh how I miss SUMMER!)
Ashley and I managed to catch and cage (we used the three level ferret condo, so they have lots of room to play) five of the six kittens, and the long process of turning feral to pets begins. They litter trained quickly, but the taming is a little slower. They'll make it. They no longer run when I reach in the cage to feed them, and a couple can already be handled.

Ashley moved, for the most part, to her friends' house and is only an occasional visitor here. I miss her so much.

Writing progress is slow but still progress. Working on chapter 48 now.

Have edited a good half dozen articles for various magazines. Not sure how I got tagged for editing, but it is enjoyable (usually) and nice to be able to help other writers reach publication.

And that is the end of this story. Hope you summer is blessed, beautiful, and HOT!
Have fun...these days are fleeting, and all too quickly passed.

I had a lovely trip to NY to drop Ashley off with Lorien and Judah. Even got a chance to stand for a moment and see the inlet, the sailboats, and smell the blessed scent of the sea. It was all I could do to tear myself away and leave it once more behind.

SUMMER is here! That alone makes everything wonderful. I love summer. The sounds, the scents, the fireflies, the HEAT!

The book is now at least 3/4 completed and I have a clear map to the end. Details, however, continue to plague me. So many details and tweaks that need to be inserted in chapters already written, in addition to the remaining 12 or so chapters. Still, I am encouraged that it WILL see completion. And soon, hopefully.

Meanwhile, Amy is asleep on the sofa with the pit. The baby is asleep in his vibrating chair. The hubby is asleep on the couch. And AJ is watching Avatar: The Last Airbender.

It's a good night.

...what comes next. :) It is a busy time here. Kids have spring fever. Animals have spring fever. I am indulging mine in rampant yard work whenever it breaks 60 and the sun shines. Today I weeded the long flower bed beside the garage, weeded back the garden plot (not yet turned under), dug and pulled out the old tree stump that took up almost a third of the garden, and edged the fences. It was great therapy.

Tonight I argued...umm discussed...heroine names with my friends. I have a heroine with a horrid (muse induced) 'place-holder' name and I want desperately to find her 'true' name. This has been more than slightly frustrating as the name I felt was right for her is, sadly, the name of a heroine in a very well known paranormal series. Grouse, grumble. Now searching for a new name...which must be 'soft' (as in feminine and appropriate for murmuring in a moment of passion) but not at all 'foofy' or weak (she is a heroine after all). Add to that it needs to be a fairly 'normal' sounding American-type name (she is contemporary human). Not as easy as it sounds. If you have a suggestion (current top runner is Emelia) PLEASE let me know. I am certain she would be most grateful, ha

...slowed even more by a few incidental life moments...like the first truly wonderful SPRING weather. Spring fever beckons me to abandon my keyboard and come play in the yard, get my hands dirty...have FUN! I yield to the temptation. Secondly, in laws arriving this weekend. Spring house cleaning is now in order.

Hate house cleaning.

Love the in laws.

It all works out.

Chapter 47 is (roughly) completed. 48 is in progress. Slowly.

...and the snow we had the beginning of this week. Tuesday we had white outs it snowed so hard in places. Today, while still cold, the sun shone and the snow stopped. Now we anxiously await the arrival of SPRING!

Spring brings its own challenges. In winter the gloom, lack of sunlight, and flat-out depression, makes motivation problematic. The angst and 'darkness' helps me write some quite nice battle and fight scenes.

Then Spring comes. And with it the urge to abandon the computer, at least for a bit, and go revel in the sunshine. At the moment, the promise seems to lean toward romantic undertones. A nice change of pace.

Reading today (as I frequently do, being a writer is naturally secondary to being a reader) and this quote (not credited) struck my fancy: "Plot is a literary convention. Story is a force of nature."

There we go. I want Khyr to be "a force of nature"

This came up in a discussion this weekend with another writer, a topic not covered quite as thoroughly as many and of tremendous import to those whose genre (fantasy included) lend themselves to series.

It is a bit of a ticklish area...how to make each and every book in a series function as a stand alone, so a reader can pick up any book and the story be fulfilling in and of itself, and yet fit into and 'grow' the overarching plot that propels the series. In order to accomplish this the author has to provide enough backstory to integrate the reader into the world, the conflict, and the characters without the dreaded infodump.

The more I consider the difficulties of accomplishing this, read books that attempt it (more or less effectively), and try to imagine how this can be done in my own writing (Khyr is definitely going to be a series), the more I need to learn.

What makes a series work? Knowing the mechanics isn't enough...what is needed is the ART.

Thoughts, word warriors?

Okay, so the economy bites. Got it.
And publishing is not what it used to be. Okay. Fair enough.

But doesn't anyone ever have anything GOOD to note these days? I am sooooo over going to writers workshops/chats/meetings because everyone is constantly in a state of gloom and doom. No one will ever get published. IF they do, it will be e-publishing that saves the universe (sorry, but NO)
Bookstores might as well be dinosaurs; doomed to extinction. If you can't place your books with WalMart, well forget you.

I am done with it.

Life is too short to be so totally obsessed with the negatives.

Yes, I know hubby isn't working enough to buy tp. But he is still kicking. GOOD news.
Yes, the housing industry is a mess. It needed the reality check. And because some of us 'lost', others I know can finally afford the home they could only dream of a couple of years ago. GOOD news!
Yes, it costs a weeks' salary to feed the munchkins. But they are a lot more interested in the vegetable garden this year. In fact, a LOT of people are rediscovering growing their own. Self-reliance is a VERY good thing. More GOOD news.
Yes, I know no one may ever read Khyr's story. But I have the distinct privilege and joy of writing it. Again, GOOD news.

Not saying everything is sunshine and lollipops. Can't even claim you won't catch me here sobbing and bemoaning how desperately I WANT to make things be different. Just saying, once in awhile let's all step back, take a deep breath, and look for that rainbow. Leprechauns can be so much fun :)

((((HUGS))) Keep smiling. It makes people wonder what you've been up to!

Stood on the porch this evening. It's been unusually, wonderfully warm yesterday and today. Almost like Spring is coming...though, I know it is months away. Daylight savings has returned. The only 'real' time, when it is daylight as it should be, and time returns to its proper order.

Surprises me yet how much I love this old house. I stood and envisioned the handmade porch swing we are going to bring home from my husband's family this spring. His father made it for their first home. It will be a wonderful place to sit, rock, enjoy being outdoors on pleasant days like today. A place to write.

There's not much to see from my porch though. Not like the old place. Here I look across and there is another old house, not so different from ours. Lines of homes, each with their big tree along the street. A pleasant street in a quiet, small town neighborhood, but a city street nonetheless.

I love this house, but I miss my old yard. I miss seeing the creek out back with all the ducks arriving now. And I miss the dark. It is never TRULY dark here. Too many lights. No wonder cities use so much power; no one taught them to turn off the lights when you go to bed. I miss the deep peaceful silence of night. The darkness with nothing but the song of nightbirds, the call of an owl, the sweet harmony of spring peepers. I miss stars.

Someday I would take this beautiful, quaint, old house and move it. Take it away from all these lights and people and houses. Give it a few acres of elbow room. Room for more trees. For ducks and deer and frogs to sing in the darkness. And I could sit on that lovely porch and watch the fireflies in the dusk, the bats over the creek...and count the stars.

In fact the way the wind is howling, and bitterly cold, everything is fairly well quaking tonight. Spring is a distant dream, buried beneath the blankets of snow and ice.

Still, I pay it some homage each day. Yesterday I considered what crops might grow in this postage stamp I now call a yard. Today, I focused on fencing. I need sturdy fencing, open enough it won't 'shade' my plants, tall enough the dogs will realize it is a barrier. We have to protect not only the vegetable garden, but all the flowerbeds that line the fences.

I finished three crits for three very different books. I never cease to be amazed at the diversity of talent among the writers I am blessed to know.

Also completed a chapter since last I popped in here. And putting the finishing touches on one I need to slide in between chapters 35 and 36. That closes a small plot 'hitch' (not really a hole, per se, as it didn't affect the storyline so much as a small 'logic' point that niggled at me, and perhaps no one else would ever notice, but I did...sooooo

Once this chapter is completed, the remainder should fall into place with only a few tiny tweaks. YAY!

Now to turn up the thermostat, get another blanket, and see how far I can get with this battle tonight.

Write on.

2009 got off to a hectic beginning, and even though it was in some measure anticipated, its impact on everyday life was immeasurable. A couple more weeks and hubby's daily interferon treatments will be over. The four hour round trips, made all the more exciting by one of the most 'snowy' new year's on record for this part of the country. Snow banks in front of the house are chest high on me (and I'm a good 5'10") Flat fall, even allowing for the compacting effects of melt and ice, is above my knees.

I hate winter. Just in case anyone didn't know.

Writing has, obviously, taken a hard blow by current life circumstances. Nonetheless, I am bearing down on completion of a new chapter and excited to be able to see, albeit distantly, the beginnings of the actual climax.

Climaxes?

Odd, but I can rarely point to a precise moment in my books and say 'that is THE climax'. There is the clinax of the actual battle; certainly this is a point the entire story has driven toward, and yet, not necessarily THE moment. There is, as both hero and heroine insisted, a romantic climax (ha! get your mind out of there), but since the book is fantasy not romance, that isn't THE climax. And then, the moment when the hero's most private dream/goal is realized. Hopefully it will be dramatic. That is def a climactic moment. Maybe I'll call that one 'THE climax'...then again, maybe not.

Someday, if you get to read it, be sure to let me know.

Here's to a brilliant and exciting February! Write on!

Leaving the old. Bringing in the new.

It was a busy year. I didn't accomplish my writing goals, and yet I had a good writing year in many regards.

So...for tonight?

homemade pulled pork BBQ
homemade tortilla chips, vegies, and dip
smoked variety of seafoods, and cheese, with crackers

of course the sparkling fruit juices

Best of all, the company of my family in our cozy little century home

And...a complete set of notes for what remains to be written for Khyr!
Which means I can begin 2009 with a roadmap that should allow me to pick up a little SPEED (fingers crossed)

A happy and blessed New Year to you all, my friends.

...of the year. But not the novel.

Still, making good progress compared to the previous four or five months. And I hope to continue this forward motion into the new year. If I can hold to writing just a chapter a week I could get this finished in six months. And that isn't much writing at all!

Also enjoying some minor distraction in the form of research today since this chest cold has me a bit 'zoned'. I am going to blame it on oxygen deprivation, ha. Have a new story idea, so the research (while by no means urgent) was interesting. Also edited echoes from another two chapters.

It was a pretty day, sunny for a change, although cold. Yhe little Christmas tree is still a joy to behold, glowing with its blue and white lights against the dimness of the room. I shall miss that lovely little tree.

Time now to reconsider what writing progress has been made this year and what I want from the approaching new year. And how to attain those goals. A difficult assessment given my life's current rather nebulous pattern. For certain I can't afford to waste a moment that can be dedicated to completion of this story. It is time.

Write on.

It has been a busy two weeks. Getting ready (on a tight budget) for Christmas for a rather large family. Fixing up this lovely old house, for the very first time, for the holidays. Found a wonderful little Christmas tree, managed to dig out a box of ornaments and lights from amidst the jumble of packing boxes, and it is soooo pretty in the corner.

On the up-side, a wonderful and blessed celebration. On the down-side, the minor (but so disappointing) failure in getting the 'family' computer up and online so I could get the router working and escape this "hub" of family activity.

Looks like a few more months of late (VERY late) night writing and poor production until I can figure out how to get McAfee to uninstall from the old computer. Apparently the file is 'corrupted' and there is no way to remove it without a special disk. Which, of course, since AOL loaded the stupid thing, I have NO disk. Very frustrating.

I did so want to blaze through the remaining chapters the next three or four months of winter.

Hope your holidays were beautiful and God poured out the blessings of Heaven upon you and yours.

Write on.

...in the weather. Rain all day and 40s. Soooo nice. But tonight we are already back in the 20s and tomorrow the snow and ice return with a vengeance.

A break in my schedule would surely have been welcome. Began at 6am, and with running at the last possible minute to Staples so Ashley could get her original music composition "bound" for her music final tomorrow, I didn't even SEE the computer till 11 tonight.

Tomorrow is another crazy day, but I have hopes life will settle to a dull roar by late afternoon.

Is 'sigil' really a weird word? It is a word I have known virtually all my life and I used it in the description of a couple of Khyr's 'marks' (tattoos) to signify the ones that are more than just skin painting :) It says exactly what I want to convey: the special magical attributes that bind him. I had a comment from a reader that it was too abstract. But it says precisely what I want. Grrr.

Too late to worry about that now. Time to walk the dogs and head to bed.

Hope your week is flowing more smoothly than mine.

More snow. LOTS more cold. And a full schedule made even more complex by dd losing her purse at school. (shaking head) Praying it is locked in the classroom where she took her piano final.

After a lengthy discussion in writing workshop, the primary question taken away was: Why do you write?

Because I have to. Because these are stories I feel passionately about, and hope readers will in turn also feel passionate about. Because, for better or wrose, I am a writer.

That wasn't so hard, now was it?

Be afraid...be very afraid.

After the insanity of hubby's surgery. AJ's surgery. And the weather has gone to heck in a handbasket. WHERE is global WARMING when we need it? Not up here, that is for sure. We are a foot of snow over the average and 10 degrees COLDER than normal. Uh huh. Some WARM spell.

Meanwhile, some minor hitting the 'wall' combined my over-stressed and way over-booked life (allowing greatly diminished time/ability to write...which always depresses me. I need to write!) clashed head-first into the very depressing news of how the economy is tearing the publishing industry to shreds, leaving rapidly diminishing options for new writers. Hard enough to be fighting an uphill battle to finish a book I love passionately against all the usual obstacles...but then to see there may not be a market left for it by the time I finally can send it into the world... very disheartening.

Still, you can't let the devils get you down.

So, we plunge onward into the abyss. There is a lot of excitement to be found in the unknown and unexplored. Part of the reason I loved spelunking. It is just a matter of transferring that attitude to a different kind of challenge.

How can I help but be excited at the prospect of seeing Khyr to the end of his journey?

Let's go!