I’m shifting gears in my current manuscript, and I feel like I need a mental break. What a great time to write a blog post, right? I think so. Over the years, I’ve purchased many journals. Some are leather, some bound in corrugated cardboard, but my favorite journal has been the Moleskine. Moleskine journals are expensive, but I like the cream colored paper, and the paperboard cover feels less intimidating than leather. Leather feels more permanent, and I often feel as if I need something really important to say before I can write in one. In fact, most of my journals are still blank, aside from the Moleskines. Until now.…
I have some tools of the trade most people don’t think of as writer’s tools, but when I sit at a computer for extended periods of time, I find I need some things to keep my butt in the seat. That usually means comfort items. So here’s a list of some unconventional tools of mine: A footstool – I use a footstool to elevate my feet when I sit at my desk. It’s comfy and it also reduces swelling if it’s hot outside. A nursing stool – What?!? Yes, for those times I don’t want my feet up or on the ground, I rest them on an angled nursing stool. It…
A few weeks ago, my friend J.P. Barnaby shared this cartoon with me on Facebook and tagged me in it. Yes, I’m that blonde lady wanting her manuscript back for just one more read through. It’s sort of an illness, I think. 😉 Perhaps not an illness, but it sure does slow down my submission speed, and all because I think that one more tweak of a word or phrase will solve everything. Sometimes that’s true. I’ve improved some stories on that last read through or I’ve found a tiny plot hole I didn’t see before. The number of times that has happened compared to not is quite small though.…
I’ve been wondering as of late if I needed to get permission to use business names or use the little ® symbol in my fiction. I ran across this article today and thought I’d share it with you. It’s always good to have the information we need when we need it. Use of Trademark Names in Fiction.
I write down the movies I see in my head because… I never see the types of relationship I want to see on the silver screen. When I do see gay men on the screen, they’re often cardboard cut outs rather than real, deep characters. on my computer screen, I can see sex, but I don’t ever see love. kissing never lasts long enough in movies or porn. there are some things that will never be filmed in mainstream movies. while I got to see Ryan Gosling going down on Michelle Williams, I doubt I’ll ever see Zachary Quinto rimming Chris Pine no matter how many letter writing campaigns or…
I’ve been an emotional wreck for days. I think it’s because I’m in that awful place between projects. My story is with an editor so I can’t really do too many changes even though I read through it yesterday and made notes on things I need to consider or fix. But I’m not ready to move on to a new project yet. I get suck like this. It’s almost as if I have to mourn for my characters and their book being done before I can go on and open myself up to falling in love with new characters. So maybe it’s more like a break up. And break ups…
I know one thing that would make Scrivener an even better writing tool. A character tree! Sort of like a family tree but linked to the character sketches and flexible with relationship statuses like lover, son, father, cousin, best friend, enemy, and the like. I’m drooling just thinking about how I’d use this because the family tree website I’m using is highly inadequate. There is no BFF relationship so I can connect Summer and Hugo together forever!
I’ve been thinking a lot about names today. This morning I wrote about how horrid I am at recalling them on sugarsnaptastic.com. But I love naming characters. I get to finally use all those names I was never able to use because I couldn’t possibly have that many babies. I even get to use names that were vetoed with a knee jerk response of “Oh, ish. Pee-eww.” (That’s my mom, by the way.) Olive is the nickname of one of my characters in North Star. I love that name. Nature names just make me happy, which is also why Olive’s real name is Brooke. I have a Summer in this book…
I’ve spent nearly all my time in the last several weeks dealing with one family crisis after another. Just when one fire gets put out, another seems to start. I’m quite good in crisis mode. I lived in it for the first year of my daughter’s life as she struggled for her life, while she had to endure numerous operations, and also while our schedules were almost entirely dictated by physicians’ schedules rather than our own. The last few weeks have made me very grateful for the 9 year reprieve. I’m good at this, but it sucks. I’m ready to get off this roller coaster so i can live and…
