So Viable Paradise was everything I had hoped it would be. Supportive. Creation of a peer support group. Being taken seriously when you start talking about your faerie story. I've been working on my VP short story, "Paper Dream" in the two months since. Today I finally submitted it to Clarkesworld. As Uncle Jim said at VP,
"submit it 'til Hell won't have it!"
Well, OK, then.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
VP - 20 days and counting
Okay, so since I got into Viable Paradise, I've not added anything to what I've written. I think I've been more freaked out by the knowledge that I'm going than I thought. It makes me hesitant to write anything else.
With 20 days left, I'm down to the wire. There are certain scenes I wanted to have written before I went. Even though we will not be workshopping those, I wanted to have additional material ready to go. I just need to buckle down.
With 20 days left, I'm down to the wire. There are certain scenes I wanted to have written before I went. Even though we will not be workshopping those, I wanted to have additional material ready to go. I just need to buckle down.
Holy Moley
I'm alone in the house for the first time in a long while. I can't decide whether I should sleep or write.
Will decide and fill you in later.
Later update - Sleep won out.
Will decide and fill you in later.
Later update - Sleep won out.
Viable Paradise
Earlier this year, I set myself a goal to submit something to the Viable Paradise writing workshop. This was a big step for me. I talk about writing but it's hard to set time aside for it. I suppose a therapist would say that I don't treat myself as important or I don't value putting time aside for me. Anyway, I set out to finish three novel chapters, 8,000 words, by June 30th and submit them for consideration to Viable Paradise.
And yesterday, I sent it off. Honestly, it was a weird emotional high. I think I really believe that something was going to happen at the last minute and I wasn't going to finish, I wasn't going to get to the post office, the post office was going to explode... I don't know.
Thanks to S_ and to L_ for reading the first and second drafts. I cut a lot to fit it to 8,000 words, but it is much better and tighter for the cuts.
I don't really, or can't really to be more honest, imagine myself actually at the workshop, hobnobbing with John Scalzi and Elizabeth Bear and other luminaries. I'll have to deal with that if it comes to it.
And yesterday, I sent it off. Honestly, it was a weird emotional high. I think I really believe that something was going to happen at the last minute and I wasn't going to finish, I wasn't going to get to the post office, the post office was going to explode... I don't know.
Thanks to S_ and to L_ for reading the first and second drafts. I cut a lot to fit it to 8,000 words, but it is much better and tighter for the cuts.
I don't really, or can't really to be more honest, imagine myself actually at the workshop, hobnobbing with John Scalzi and Elizabeth Bear and other luminaries. I'll have to deal with that if it comes to it.
Daily Writing Exercise
So in conjunction with Mur Laferty's I Should Be Writing blog and podcast, I have decided to follow along with her walk through of The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I've danced around this book f or a few years but I finally checked it out of the library so I could follow along.
Cameron's big idea is that man is an inherently creative being, but often blocked by his own fears and doubts, the mundanity of daily life, etc. You need to open yourself to the creative spirit of the universe, and the book talks about how to unblock yourself. It's a little new age-y, but I can run with that. Cameron advocates writing three pages daily - not actual creative writing, per se - but literally, let your hand take a pencil and write through three pages every morning. It's an exercise in getting the negativity out of your head and onto the page - a venting of emotional bile and vomit onto the page in written form. I'm going to give it a try. Daily writing is something that I've tried before, but I'm going to give it a go again. At the very least, I believe that putting myself in a position where I am writing as a structured exercise rather than waiting for creativity to strike will be good for me.
Cameron's big idea is that man is an inherently creative being, but often blocked by his own fears and doubts, the mundanity of daily life, etc. You need to open yourself to the creative spirit of the universe, and the book talks about how to unblock yourself. It's a little new age-y, but I can run with that. Cameron advocates writing three pages daily - not actual creative writing, per se - but literally, let your hand take a pencil and write through three pages every morning. It's an exercise in getting the negativity out of your head and onto the page - a venting of emotional bile and vomit onto the page in written form. I'm going to give it a try. Daily writing is something that I've tried before, but I'm going to give it a go again. At the very least, I believe that putting myself in a position where I am writing as a structured exercise rather than waiting for creativity to strike will be good for me.
There and back again + sickness
Went to Atlanta this past weekend for work. I had to attend the American Association of Applied Linguists convention for a recruiting event on applied linguist careers in the federal government. The event went well. We actually do hire applied linguists where I work and will be looking to hire a few this year. I was in Atlanta for less than 24 hours, but did manage to finally eat at the Varsity, after all the raving gtchaos has done about it over the years.
I had been sick before I left and felt even worse when I got back. I decided to take some time off. I'm just feeling very worn out right now and as much as work need me, I feel like I'm just at the breaking point at the moment. If I don't take some time off, I'm just going to get sicker and sicker. I have some work I can do from home, so I'll just work on that for a few days and take some of my built-up leave.
In other news, I am working hard on preparing a sample to send to Viable Paradise for submission. I'm writing more than I have been for awhile, so that makes me feel good. I have to send them 8000 words, which is not that much; moreover, it needs to be the first three chapters, not 8,000 words from the middle of the work. My goal is to have something to them by the end of April, so I feel good at this point, that I will have something ready.
I had been sick before I left and felt even worse when I got back. I decided to take some time off. I'm just feeling very worn out right now and as much as work need me, I feel like I'm just at the breaking point at the moment. If I don't take some time off, I'm just going to get sicker and sicker. I have some work I can do from home, so I'll just work on that for a few days and take some of my built-up leave.
In other news, I am working hard on preparing a sample to send to Viable Paradise for submission. I'm writing more than I have been for awhile, so that makes me feel good. I have to send them 8000 words, which is not that much; moreover, it needs to be the first three chapters, not 8,000 words from the middle of the work. My goal is to have something to them by the end of April, so I feel good at this point, that I will have something ready.
Writing Goal
I am going to try to submit something for consideration to the Viable Paradise writing workshop. The deadline is June 30. I thought about doing it last year, but spring was really crazy with I_'s surgery. This spring, we have no surgery scheduled (a first!) so I'm going to try to get something together for submission. I will consider it a success if I can actually do it.
I've been working more on Oberon's Heir lately. I feel good that I'm actually feeling creative. It's been a struggle for so long to even open the notebooks and read what I've written before. I have about 50 pages of hit and miss so far. I need to keep going and fill in some big holes. I'm not sure some of the sections I've written belong in this book either.
I've been working more on Oberon's Heir lately. I feel good that I'm actually feeling creative. It's been a struggle for so long to even open the notebooks and read what I've written before. I have about 50 pages of hit and miss so far. I need to keep going and fill in some big holes. I'm not sure some of the sections I've written belong in this book either.
Mental Health Day
I took a mental health day today. I really needed a break. Even then, I still had to participate in a conference call this morning.
Finished reading The God Engines by John Scalzi. That man is deeply disturbed. It was good, but I noticed that there was a character about whom he deliberately avoided using pronouns. I got that the gender was meant to be ambiguous, but why he made that choice I'm not sure.
Opened up my own novel after a few months away from it. I'm going to try to work on it a little bit more often. I need to do something with it and I just don't want it to sit there. lurking on my laptop, like some kind of literary monster under the bed.
Finished reading The God Engines by John Scalzi. That man is deeply disturbed. It was good, but I noticed that there was a character about whom he deliberately avoided using pronouns. I got that the gender was meant to be ambiguous, but why he made that choice I'm not sure.
Opened up my own novel after a few months away from it. I'm going to try to work on it a little bit more often. I need to do something with it and I just don't want it to sit there. lurking on my laptop, like some kind of literary monster under the bed.
Some Late Thoughts on 2008
Been awhile since I posted, so I will just do some bullets on the biggest, most interesting or notable events of the last few months.
* Isabella saw a Magic 8 Ball for the first time. Once she understood she had to ask it a question, she asked (completely unprompted), "Magic 8 Ball, is true love real?" Sitting in the other room, I thought "Man, am I f***ed..."
* In November, I went to New Zealand to visit gtchaos. He has been keeping track of his year abroad in his blog, Grabbing Life by the Kiwis, including his extremely popular post on the culinary merits of brains in parsley sauce. Highlights of my trip included sea kayaking, hokey pokey ice cream, and learning that the call of the morepork is best described as plaintive. S_ stayed home to be the single parent in return for her own trip to the "En Zed" which is where she is right now.
* In December, I published my first article! I wrote a business case study for Associations Now, the magazine for the American Society of Association Executives. The article, called "More than Muffins", is about how you handle the really nice employee who is terrible at her job.
* For Christmas, we went to Disney World with the girls and my mother-in-law, the gracious underwriter of the trip. The trip was great, but a study in near-miss disasters, including waiting an hour in the wrong airline's line, a lost and then found blankie blankie, and missing the flight on the way back. The weather was good and the girls had a great time, even with all the near misses. As crowded as it was, Disney does make the vacation process nearly brainless.
* Oh yea, and when 2008 was almost out of sight, I got in a fender bender with two other cars. Did I mention that one woman was a teacher at my daughter's elementary school, the other woman didn't speak English, and I left my cell phone at home that day?
Looking forward to a new year in 2009.
* Isabella saw a Magic 8 Ball for the first time. Once she understood she had to ask it a question, she asked (completely unprompted), "Magic 8 Ball, is true love real?" Sitting in the other room, I thought "Man, am I f***ed..."
* In November, I went to New Zealand to visit gtchaos. He has been keeping track of his year abroad in his blog, Grabbing Life by the Kiwis, including his extremely popular post on the culinary merits of brains in parsley sauce. Highlights of my trip included sea kayaking, hokey pokey ice cream, and learning that the call of the morepork is best described as plaintive. S_ stayed home to be the single parent in return for her own trip to the "En Zed" which is where she is right now.
* In December, I published my first article! I wrote a business case study for Associations Now, the magazine for the American Society of Association Executives. The article, called "More than Muffins", is about how you handle the really nice employee who is terrible at her job.
* For Christmas, we went to Disney World with the girls and my mother-in-law, the gracious underwriter of the trip. The trip was great, but a study in near-miss disasters, including waiting an hour in the wrong airline's line, a lost and then found blankie blankie, and missing the flight on the way back. The weather was good and the girls had a great time, even with all the near misses. As crowded as it was, Disney does make the vacation process nearly brainless.
* Oh yea, and when 2008 was almost out of sight, I got in a fender bender with two other cars. Did I mention that one woman was a teacher at my daughter's elementary school, the other woman didn't speak English, and I left my cell phone at home that day?
Looking forward to a new year in 2009.
Writing Practice
I sit down at my computer everyday and look at the link to this blog. Everyday, I think of clicking the button on my tool bar and adding a new entry. Looking at the date of the last post, obviously that has been a less than successful strategy.
I've been reading Heather Sellers' Page after Page about how to get off your ass and actually write, not just talk about it. She talks about creating a writing life where the rhythm of writing, of putting words on a page is something that becomes ingrained in your daily habit. This struck home with me. I do feel like I'm out of practice. I also feel like I have nothing to say, but I realize that I need to write for myself, not for anyone else who may be reading this blog.
With that in mind, I'm going to try to use this space as a place where I can do my writing practice. I've always written a lot of ideas down - I have notebooks and notebooks full of them. I want to do more than just talk about writing. Heather's point of view about rejection (think of it as a contest. 100 rejections gets you int he writer's club, essentially) and carving out personal time for yourself to write (be selfish, say no) immediately spoke to me.
I commit to at least four blog posts a week. I will not only discuss my writing, but I will post ideas and things I want to write about and have written. To whit, here is my current list of story ideas.
1. Oberon's Heir - multi-novel story, with maybe a couple of framing short stories
2. Fifth Force - I have an idea for a short story that I want to use to start this series
3. Something with Violet - not sure what to do with her. Maybe I will just explore with some vignettes or short stories.
4. Beckett and the ghost - short story, cozy series?
5. article about employee knowledge - maybe for Government Executive magazine or something similar.
6. employee vignette piece - crazy stories
7. something based on the Days of the Dead - even though this was a joint creation, I feel like there is something excellent here.
8. The Great Tooth Fairy War
9. Iris short story
10. Who is Bleu Fontaine? - I don't know.
Those are the ideas floating around my head right now. I know there are more ready to pop up. I am going to keep a log here whenever I get new ones, but I am heartened by the fact that I was able to roll off a long list of story ideas. Maybe I can do this after all.
I've been reading Heather Sellers' Page after Page about how to get off your ass and actually write, not just talk about it. She talks about creating a writing life where the rhythm of writing, of putting words on a page is something that becomes ingrained in your daily habit. This struck home with me. I do feel like I'm out of practice. I also feel like I have nothing to say, but I realize that I need to write for myself, not for anyone else who may be reading this blog.
With that in mind, I'm going to try to use this space as a place where I can do my writing practice. I've always written a lot of ideas down - I have notebooks and notebooks full of them. I want to do more than just talk about writing. Heather's point of view about rejection (think of it as a contest. 100 rejections gets you int he writer's club, essentially) and carving out personal time for yourself to write (be selfish, say no) immediately spoke to me.
I commit to at least four blog posts a week. I will not only discuss my writing, but I will post ideas and things I want to write about and have written. To whit, here is my current list of story ideas.
1. Oberon's Heir - multi-novel story, with maybe a couple of framing short stories
2. Fifth Force - I have an idea for a short story that I want to use to start this series
3. Something with Violet - not sure what to do with her. Maybe I will just explore with some vignettes or short stories.
4. Beckett and the ghost - short story, cozy series?
5. article about employee knowledge - maybe for Government Executive magazine or something similar.
6. employee vignette piece - crazy stories
7. something based on the Days of the Dead - even though this was a joint creation, I feel like there is something excellent here.
8. The Great Tooth Fairy War
9. Iris short story
10. Who is Bleu Fontaine? - I don't know.
Those are the ideas floating around my head right now. I know there are more ready to pop up. I am going to keep a log here whenever I get new ones, but I am heartened by the fact that I was able to roll off a long list of story ideas. Maybe I can do this after all.
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