Breakfast of Champions

I just wanted to take a moment to give a shout out to Marjorie M Liu.  She is an author whose earlier work was one of my biggest inspirations for writing.  As a matter of fact the first book of hers that I read had me running into the other room to tell my hubby that this author is already writing almost exactly how I'm going to write!

Once I even had breakfast with her, just the two of us.  We met at a reader/author conference thing in Cincinnati and I tried my hardest to play it cool.  Apparently I played it cool enough that she was willing to meet for breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  It was a huge moment for me, one that I will always remember.  We talked about writing and publishing but also about life and family.  Turns out bestselling authors are regular people, and that was the coolest thing of all for me.  She was normal and I'm (relatively) normal so what is there to stop me from being a writer?  Nothing!

So thanks, Marjorie!  Someday I intend to dedicate my first book to you (and my family, of course).  You may never see it or know it but it will be there.  Because sometimes it only takes some eggs and toast to provide a life changing perspective.  

The benefits of structure.

I've been thinking a lot about structure lately. Being one of those people who are not dominant on either side of my brain I both crave the beauty of balance and symmetry and cannot follow a detailed plan for my time to save my life. Visual structure, yes. Lifestyle structure, no. I have no concept of time and am incapable of fooling myself onto believing that following a schedule is important.

Well, unless it is following my autistic son's schedule, then life depends on it! But even that is only important because of the effect that ignoring the schedule has on him and therefore the rest of us. No one cares if I waste hours of my day and I can't seem to care either, even if I have a detailed schedule sitting next to me on my desk. As a matter of fact, I can waste lots of time making schedules and plans. I feel very mature and proud as I gaze upon my list of intentions but ultimately feel irritated as soon as it begins to try to dictate my time.

I like to follow my muse as much as possible when the kids aren't around. So much of my day is spent taking care of them and seeing to their needs and the needs of the house and such that when they are not home I want to do what I want to do. It seems like the structure that I tried, with good intention, to put into my day is demanding that I give up more of my time instead of helping me to manage what I have.

I think that this is the artist in me, the part of me that wants to follow the flow of the universe around me and see what I find. It's easy and fun, relaxing and refreshing. As a matter of fact, I think that spending some of my time this way is very healthy for the mind, body and soul and highly recommend it.

But I have noticed that no steadily published author does what they do without structure. As a matter of fact, they all say that until you find a structure for your day, the way that you pursue your career as a writer and for the writing itself that you will never succeed.

Damn, but I think that they are right.

Case in point, I have a tendency to sit and write whatever is in my head. Most of the time I sit down and wonder what I want to write about at that moment. I have paragraphs and pages from all kinds of stuff on my laptop. Now that's okay, but how many of those have I finished? One. How many times have I approached an editor? Once. An agent? Once. This is not how a career is started. I am just way too scattered.

Luckily I consider two wonderful authors to be mentors to me. They are both extremely generous and have talked with or emailed me and I kind of hang on every word that they say about writing. The coolest thing about this is that they seem to represent the two sides of my brain. The first is Marjorie M. Liu, she is the creative side. She comes up with a situation or a great first sentence and then follows the story from there. Organic, she calls it. This is wonderful because she writes with the same process that I do and is so good at what she does. But she is able to sit and write in the story that she is working on. There is method to the madness in the fact that she does what she needs to do and finishes her stories. This is what I learn from her - to allow myself to write the way that I do but to temper that with just enough structure to be dependable as a writer.

The other author is Lynn Viehl. She is so structured that it's almost a military operation, which is fitting since she used to be in the military. Lynn likes to make a notebook about her characters, their world, pictures and plot. As a matter of fact she has even done posts about how to log what you do in a day, figure out how much time you spend on what and then make a schedule for the day, week, month and year to maximize your writing without taking too much away from the rest of your life. I confess, I didn't even read those posts too closely since being that detailed about that much structure made me bored. That is probably a large part of my issue with structure, I don't like to be bored. Structure is sooo boring! But Lynn is a prime example of why structure can work, she has a full and seemingly happy family as well as work life - a goal that we all strive for.

So I've been thinking about what structure can do for me if I find a way to make it workable. A way to combine Marjorie and Lynn's philosophies, as it were. For me, it seems to boil down to daily and monthly goals. One or two of each only - let's not go crazy! I want to blog daily and write for 2 hours on non-work days. There, daily goals that are accomplishable. Monthly goals will be set monthly depending on my status and involve the business side. Since there are only two weeks left in the month and it's the holidays, I've set my goal for the end of January. Right now it is to finish revising my book and send it to the Knight Agency. That means I need to do a whole new synopsis and query, so the monthly goal does have some writing to it but will involve submissions and followups.

There! I feel more organized and structured already. Success is mine. For today.

In the queue...

Well, I have finally finished switching offices with the hubby.  My crafting and sewing is still in the attic but he now inhabits the little office nook.  I had been so excited about it until I tried to write in it.  Turns out I don't like to be boxed in and I especially don't like looking at a wall.  I need windows and light, lots of it.  

Hubby is a pack rat when it comes to offices so the transition took awhile.  But now I have my space and look forward to using it.  In that vein, I have been making plans for the blog through the second half of the month.

First of all, I am working on reading an electronic ARC (Advanced Reader Copy - that means the book hasn't hit the shelves yet) of Lynn Viehl's new book Shadowlight, expect a review when I'm done.  Also, there will be a review of The Fire King by Marjorie M Liu.  That book is already out but I'm hoping that as I do more reviews I will eventually be able to get more ARCs.  Lastly, I will be posting short stories and/or chapters on Scribd.  An excerpt will be posted here on the blog along with the info to get the entire story.

I'm looking forward to rounding out the blog and beginning to work with Scribd.  Eventually I'll add interviews but I think that my plate is pretty full for now.  If anyone has any other suggestions of things that you would like to see here on the ol' blog, just leave a message in the comments and let me know.  I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Enjoy the picture of me being happy in my new office digs!   : )

Overload!

Short post - I forgot my power cord for my laptop. 

To sum up on two minutes:  Awesomeness abounded.  Marjorie M. Liu is even cooler than I had dreamed.  There are niches in the romance market that I was unaware of - 'nuf said.  I can survive on much less sleep than I would have thought.  Conferences are rarely introvert friendly.  I made soooo many newbie mistakes and hope that not too many people noticed.  The trip was a success writing wise because two editors want a partial and synopsis.  I need to pursue an agent.  There is no bounds to my nervous energy in the face of my author heros.  Last, but not least- always bring your power cord.

The picture is for Marjorie.  You rock.  Seriously.  : )

That just blew my mind!

Okay, so there I was taking a little break to read up on the two blogs that I follow, and what do I find?  One of my favoritest authors of all time, whose career I desperately want mine to be like, is going to be in Ohio in a week in a half.  Why?  Because another author that I looove is holding a Reader and Author Get Together.  It's like a romance writer star studded event!  In my little world, this is like some preteen getting to go meet the cast of Twilight.  I was so excited!  But then - the deadline to register had passed about a week ago.

I may have used some power words while sulking and fighting tears.  Then the hubby suggests I email Lori Foster, author hosting the event and romance writing goddess, and ask if she'd let me go anyway.  So I did, not feeling hopeful.  Thinking that it would be awhile for a response. About three minutes later I got a response and she graciously gave the okay.  Then I cried just a little because THE Lori Foster had just emailed me!  Shut up!  

Jumping around at the idea of meeting Marjorie M Liu, Lori Foster and the rest, I provided much entertainment for my family.  The kids thought it was great - Mommy's insane.  Hurray!  

After I settled down a bit, I read through the rest of the information for the event and found that I can make an appointment to meet with an editor or agent.  Twelve minutes to network and pitch my book.  No way!  This sent me into another tizzy of jumping and screeching before I realized that they wanted a finished manuscript and I have not finished my book.  Just the four chapters necessary to enter the writing contest.  So.  I need to finish a novel in eight days.  Eight days to write about 70,000 more good words.  *gulp*

Okay, I can do this.  The story is there in my head but getting it out is still a skill that I'm working on.  Maybe I can look at this like some sort of advanced or honors class where they expect a whole lot of good stuff in a short time.  No problem, I usually thrive in those classes.  I also usually get little sleep and forgo personal hygiene if necessary.  Rising levels of crankiness is pretty much a given, but I do have a very understanding family.

So that will be the focus of my posts for the next eight days.  Updates on my honors writing class and deteriorating levels of hygiene.   God help us all.