writing

Writing Proces Blog Hop (on one year time delay)

annabowling 2 Comments

Oh the things we find in our drafts folders. About a year ago, I was tagged by the lovely  Bonnie J. James, Bonnie gave some interesting questions, and I was delighted to answer them, but then domestic tornado chains ripped through and the draft got buried. Since I am not currently at RWA Nationals, where I can blabber about the writing process with any random person within my line of sight, I can do the next best thing and post my answers here.

1) What am I working on/writing right now?

Totally different answers on this question, one year later, which is as it should be. Currently,  I am working on three projects.

For Her Last First Kiss, K.A. Mitchell suggested the tag line, “My Best Friend’s Mistress,” which really does fit. When a neglected and misunderstood second son of the aristocracy with a talent for pleasing older women finds his soulmate in a practical minded mistress who is more than she seems, he must choose between the love of a lifetime and the respect of his only true friend. This Georgian historical is taking me on quite the wild ride, and I think I like it.

I am co-writing a novella with longtime critique partner and perpetual conference roommate, Melva Michaelian, which I can best describe as historical romance adjacent. It’s been a long time since I’ve collaborated with another writer, but it’s a whole lot of fun. Details coming soon.

Third project is something I’ve been debating for quite some time: an ebook version of my From Fan Fiction to Fantastic Fiction and On Beyond Fanfic workshops. Early days on that one, but I love presenting the workshop, both online and in person, so this feels like a natural extension

2) What have I learned about my writing process over the years?

Oh so very much, and it keeps on going.  Most importantly, that it’s going to change from time to time, and that’s okay.  I’ve learned that there are some constants, though, and that’s okay, too.  I compose best in longhand. Sitting alone in an empty room is not for me. I’m a talker, so if I’m stuck, blabbering about the stuckness to some obliging soul, writer or not, will usually loosen the clog. Focusing on hitting a word count is sure to give me a muscle cramp, but if I focus on telling the story, hey, look at all those pages with squiggly lines on them. I’m learning to trust my own voice, and that writing from the heart works a lot better for me than writing from the head. I’m more of a puzzler than plotter or pantser, though I do like to puzzle my way to a detailed outline that turns into a first draft. I go scene by scene, and if one doesn’t flow into the next one, time to go back and figure out where somebody made a wrong turn. Finding and correcting that wrong turn can be the difference between a finished novel and a partial one.

I love  having sensory input when I write, so I usually have music playing, or sometimes white noise, and I like to make Pinterest boards for various projects so I can refer to visuals. I’ve found that it works best when I keep the board private, so that’s a new thing I’ve learned as well. Mixing images and videos that all relate to the story at hand gives me a boost and keeps things fresh.

Now that I am moving files over to a new computer, I’m pretty much one hundred percent converted from Word to Scrivener, which I once thought I would never understand.

Ask me again next week, and there may be a different answer. Change is a constant.

 3) What is my writing schedule like?

I like to write uninterrupted by domestic tornadoes, so I like to get out of the house for at least two hours a day for concentrated writing time, usually in early afternoon, at a local coffee house or park. I’m a morning person, so getting up before the rest of the household works very well, but if I’m the last one up, I can squeeze in some time there, too. I’m a writing nomad; in a given day, I may work in my office, at the kitchen counter, in the living room, park, coffee house, whatever feels right for the day.

4) What is my favorite book about writing?

The Care and Feeding of the Girls in the Basement by Barbara Samuel. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Warm, wise and challenging, the prolific Barbara Samuel asks us to examine the facets of our individual voices and make sure the girls in the basement have what they need to keep sending up the great story stuff. This book is equally good for a pick-me-up or swift kick in the pants. I love, love, love her idea of Sunday Books, secret projects for our own pleasure, and found that extremely helpful.

For those keeping up with my Not at Nationals whines, here’s day number three:

In case you missed day two, it’s here:

i1035 FW1.1

Putting books I already own on my own chair doesn’t quite have the same effect as finding a new book on my seat at conference meals, but on the other hand, it might be time for a reread….

Typing With Wet Claws: Post-People Vet Editiom

annabowling 2 Comments

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. It has been a week of changes here, and the humans are still figuring out what some of them mean. If they are not sure, you can only imagine how it is for a kitty, but here is what I  know so far.

  1. Uncle is going to be home all the time for  a little while, while he gets better. This is good because I get to be with him all the time (I like that a lot) and he does not smell as sick as he used to smell. Kitties pick up on these things. Uncle’s regular people vet helped him figure out some of the things that made him feel really really bad, and he is doing a lot better already. It will take a little more time, but not very much, as he is learning how to take care of himself and Anty is making sure that he does.
  2. This also means that Uncle is home during Anty’s writing time. She says she can feel it when people are breathing her air. She loves Uncle and she loves the stories she is writing, and sometimes, it is a lot to juggle, so she is figuring out how to do that, especially when she is getting used to new technology.
    new computer in action

    new computer in action

    Merely because her tablet and new laptop are both pink does not mean they automatically share everything, and some files are still on the old laptop, like her Sims. It is complicated, but she is learning. The fact that the tablet and new computer are very portable is a big help. The fact that she cannot pick up Wi-Fi in the park is not that helpful, but there are ducks.

  3. Grandma’s people vets say that Grandma can go home this week, so my Mama is going back to where we used to live so that she can help Grandma get settled. Anty says she is turning Mama’s room into an art studio. That is fine by me, as long as my food bowl stays in the same place. (Sorry, Mama..) Anty could really use a room for her art, but I think she will miss Mama while she is gone.
  4. There are a lot of outside noises, and they are scary. Uncle says the city is making the street nicer, but all I can tell, because I am an indoor kitty, is that there is a lot of noise all day. Lots of loud machines and the ground shakes sometimes, and they took out all the trees on our street. Uncle says the city will put in new trees, and the birds will come back (I really like to watch birds in the morning) but that changes the light that comes in the living room window when I hang out with Anty and Mama at breakfast time.
  5.  Here is a picture of Anty’s latest library haul, except for the bottom book.
    one of these things is not like the others

    one of these things is not like the others

    That one is on the bottom because the cover curled back on itself during the really humid days last week, and she wants it to be flat. You will note that all of the books, apart from the bottom one, are YA, not historical. Anty would really like to be reading historical, but she says her brain will not go there right now, and that bothers her. She likes these books, but misses historicals. She has had a sneak peek at an upcoming historical by Kate Rothwell, whose books she really likes, so that is one thing. Anty thinks there should be more historical romances set in New York. Maybe she should write some. Well, some more. She already wrote one, My Outcast Heart. It was her first book, and there are kitties in it. I was not born yet, so none of them area based on me. The cover is not on Goodreads, which Anty will need to fix, but it does have one.

  6. Anty has discovered a new site for writers, called The Fearless Writer. They have also discovered Anty, and include some of these blog entries (not mine, so far, but maybe they are waiting for The Fearless Writer’s Cat to start, but then again, I am not exactly fearless) in their newsletter so that more people can find this blog. There are other things in it, too, but none of those people feed me, so I do not have to mention them. Put some treats in my bowl, and we’ll talk.
  7. It seems like there should be a seventh entry, because there are seven days in a week, and I blog once  a week, unless Anty needs my help more often, which she might, because of above reasons. Anty is hoping to get to watch Poldark this weekend, because it is set in the same era as Her Last First Kiss and she would like to soak in some atmosphere. If any of you know of other movie set in the 1780s, please leave them in the comments and I will tell Anty to watch them. That might help her not be so cranky about having to give season two of Game of Thrones back to the library before she has seen all the episodes.

That is about it for this week, so until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Until next week...

Until next week…

In the Pink

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I didn’t set out to have pink electronics. Strictly speaking, the notebook, made of paper, is not electronic, but it does live the same tray with pink laptop, pink tablet, pink camera case (camera itself is silver, but case, not pictured, is pink. Okay, the jump drive stuck into the new laptop is orange (conference freebie, much appreciated) and the mini-mouse that’s out of frame is metallic red. Pink and orange fit under the red umbrella (yep, artist’s kids learn color theory early on; thanks, Dad.) This post isn’t about pink, though.

New laptop has joined the family, an HP stream. She’s light, she’s portable, she swims in the big blue sleeve that I always had to fit the old laptop into, and her new sleeve, when I find it, may very well be pink, though a skull or two couldn’t hurt. We’re still getting acquainted, she and I, and it’s a different experience from having to juggle a bigger laptop with an external keyboard. She starts and shuts down without a complaint, has a battery that isn’t dead, is, so far, bug-free, and despite the fact that we’ve been working together for less than a week (she came home on Wednesday) I think we’re getting along fairly well.

Not that there aren’t adjustments. She doesn’t have a CD drive, for one thing, which had me blinking in surprise for a moment. Time does move on, and so does technology. That’s fine. I can still Sim on the old laptop (though I did accidentally delete a huge chunk of custom content and then empty the recycle bin before I’d noticed what I’d done) and I have the DVD player for watching movies. I’m good there. What gave me a slight case of the heebie-jeebies was the lack of Word. Eep.

I’ve written in Word forever, ever since WordPerfect stopped being a thing. The mere thought of writing without it brought some uncertainty, but now, less than a week later, I can safely say I have almost entirely switched to Scrivener, the same program that had me turn off the tutorial after two minutes because it was too scary and complicated. Go figure.

What I like about Scrivener is that I can work on each scene in its own document, and still have them be part of the whole. Discovering, through my own poking around, the document note and sratch pad features, was something akin to magic. Finally, a screen divided the way I blabber in my head, where I can look at what I blorched out and make notes about what works and what doesn’t. I didn’t know I needed that until I got it, and now the thought of working without it makes me nervous. I love that I can label and color code text so that I can see at a glance what’s a draft (and what number,) what’s notes, where the character notes are, etc. So far, I have not used any pink backgrounds for full screen mode, but that all depends on the individual story, so it may yet happen.

I’d been feeling weary at the thought of migrating all of my Word files over to new laptop, and to Scrivener, which was a sign. I didn’t. Only active projects made it over, which brings a sense of relief. I don’t have to haul the corpses of dead novels around while I’m tending the new babies. It’s easier to focus, especially for my maximalist magpie brain (and the backgrounds in full screen are paradise for those of us who need something besides a blank page to look at.) The others are still there, waiting for their turns, and it’s okay if some of them don’t get turns after all. Not every story start makes it all the way, and some were started by people I no longer am. That happens.

Learning a new computer, and new writing software, goes a long way towards relearning how to write. With learning how I write now.  We learn a lot about ourselves when we pack to move, be it physically or virtually . That’s certainly true here. Spotify had to go on this computer; that was one of the first things, as my playlists are part of the process. Pinterest, too, for the inspiration boards. Sims are probably not coming to this laptop, as it’s for work, but a new/used gaming computer can come later. Photoshop Elements, too, is staying on the old computer (again, no CD drive, so that took the decision out of my hands.)

This one is for writing. This is where I will rip the guts out of what I have on Her Last First Kiss and rebuild it because now I have the technology and know the story better. This machine, not puddle jumping from semifunctioning laptop to semifunctioning desktop via flash drive, is where the novella will be written and two voices smoothed into one. She’s a lean, mean, romance writing machine, and that feels right. Writing is my happy place. I want to concentrate on that and do it my way. Much easier on body and brain than switching around and making do. Getting to know a new computer helps me to better know my own process. What do I naturally do with a fresh start? Sometimes I surprise myself, and that’s a good thing

Typing With Wet Claws: Posting Playdate With Bailey Edition

annabowling 6 Comments

Hello, all. Skye here for another Feline Friday, and my very first posting playdate. That is where I talk to other pets and find out what it is like for them to live with their writer humans. For my first posting playdate, I am talking with Bailey, who lives with my Anty Sue Ann. Her readers know her as Sue Ann Porter. Bailey inspired me to start blogging in the first place, because of how much he helps Anty Sue Ann, so it was only polite to ask him first.

Bailey is not a cat. Bailey is a dog. That may be why all the questions are numbered one, but that is okay. He looks like this:

Smiling

My friend, Bailey

  1. How did you and your human find each other?
Mom and Dad had just moved into a new house, and decided that the backyard needed a dog. Dad called a dog breeder who specialized in Short-Hair Collies, (also known as Smooth Collies) –which is what I am. She had one puppy left-me! I was 12 weeks old, so Mom and Dad thought maybe I was the runt of the litter. But that’s ok. Dad drove way up by the Canadian Border to get me. I am a Rock Star. Wherever I go, people stop and say, “What a pretty dog!”
He does look comfortable...

He does look comfortable…

  1. What sort of writing does your human do?
My human likes to write Flash Fiction, although if I can tell you a secret, most of the stories are not fiction. But they are entertaining. She also likes to write memoir, stories that really happened. My human also writes a blog at sueannporter.com where she likes to write about Bible stories. Sometimes she also writes about kitchen disasters, life disasters. Never a dull moment in the Porter Household. Of course *I* am the Star of the Show. Mom says so often.
The nose knows. (Anty really likes Bailey's nose)

The nose knows. (Anty really likes Bailey’s nose)

  1. What things does your human use to write? (computers, notebooks, etc)
My human likes to start writing in a notebook. Mom likes to be able to scribble and cross things out. Then she goes onto the computer and inputs it. She also has a computer that is not hooked up to the internet. Mom uses that one when she has some deep writing to dig out; she plays Solitaire in one window and writes in the other window. It has something to do with right brain/left brain.
Bailey is very good with layout, but not the computer kind.

Bailey is very good with layout, but not the computer kind.

  1. How does your human get ready to write, and how do you get their attention back on you?

Well today, when my human started to answer these questions, I grabbed my rawhide bone and mad a lot of noise. My human was forced to pay attention to me then.

Recharging batteries...

Recharging batteries…

  1. What kinds of treats do they give you for being such a good helper?                                          I have little yum-yums that have like 20 calories in them. I used to get bigger treats, but I started gaining doggie pounds. I have to keep my physique in tip-top shape.
He woke up like this

He woke up like this

Thank you Bailey. That is all very interesting. I think you should get treats for being such a good guest. Helping a human write is very hard work for a pet, but it is worth it in the end, because writing makes our humans happy, and we like it when they are happy. It makes them more likely to play with us. Sometimes it gets them more money to buy our food and treats, and that is good, too. I hope you will come and visit here again. This was fun.

My Anty also prefers to start writing in notebooks. That is one of the ways Anty and Anty Sue Ann first became friends. Now they meet at the coffee house to write in their notebooks together, but sometimes, they just talk. Maybe that is because Bailey and I are not there. I stay home because I am a kitty, but the coffee house says dogs can come inside, (sometimes, the owner brings his dog) so, technically, Bailey could.

A canine and a gentleman...

A canine and a gentleman…

Another thing Anty and Anty Sue Ann have in common is how they play a game and write at the same time when they need to figure out something. Anty does not play solitaire, though. She plays Sims 3, which is basically writing, but not with words. I will explain in another post. Anty also likes to have more than one window open, so she can look at pictures or notes as she writes.

Anty wanted me to talk about computer things, too, but unfortunately, we have run out of time and it is now time for my breakfast, so that is about it for this week. Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Until next week...

Until next week…

On Jumping Through Flaming Hoops

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Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.

E. L. Doctorow

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/writing.html#p4fWBLssxDJjokCS.99

Today, I am borrowing Housemate’s laptop, which is also currently Real Life Romance Hero’s laptop, as his gave up the ghost before mine did. I am writing this at Real Life Romance Hero’s desk, with the earbuds from my tablet, which is really more like earbud, singular, as only one works, because RLRH needed my laptop earbuds for his smartphone. His earbuds died before my earbuds became earbud, so I was happy to share the wealth.

On the way to the desk, I dropped the camera I needed to take today’s picture. The battery compartment sprang open, and I thought, for a minute, that the camera had breathed its last. Thankfully, I’d only put the batteries in again backwards. I have no idea how to use the camera on my tablet, so most of my use of that now consists of chasing Skye around the living room, asking her, “where’s your face?” Okay, question is really for the tablet, so that I can figure out where the darned camera actually is aimed. I have room for vast improvement in that area. So far, I am really good at getting blank walls in my view. I don’t think that’s exactly how it works.

I have one of two jump drives stuck in the USB port, the other one soon to go in alongside it, providing they fit. This excites me more than the average bear, because I can’t use them both on my own laptop, as one port is permanently occupied by the external keyboard that I am still convinced had some role in shutting off my internet from that particular computer, and if this is an easily fixable thing, I am going to have words for  myself, and not the fictional kind. New laptop has, according to tracking, left the warehouse and is on the way to a local big box store for pickup. Could be there as soon as tomorrow, could be as late as the weekend. Until then, it’s jumping through flaming hoops to do things that ought to be easier.

To write a long overdue post for another blog, I need to do some research on this computer, then write that down longhand and take it to my office at the other end of the house and write it on the desktop that has Word (this laptop does not, as it does not belong to a writer) then save to jump drive. Then jump drive comes back to this laptop so I can send it in at long last. Similar hoop jumping needs to happen for critting two friends’ manuscripts and work on one of my own, so I can send pages to this project’s critique partner.

Working on the desktop, which is older than Skye, and probably still has Olivia hair in the keyboard somewhere, means that I need to bring the tablet into the office as well, since I write best with music playing. I still have not yet found the ideal configuration of working at my desk with the current machines. Working on manuscript will mean working on non-internet laptop, as that’s the one that has Scrivener on it, which I am only now learning how to use for my particular purposes (as a kinesthetic learner, my best route is to jump in, muck about and find my own way; this is usually messy and results in a lot of things that don’t work, along my way to finding what does.) Using my current laptop at my desk means either having the external keyboard in my lap and head tilted at an interesting angle because earbud cord and charger cord for tablet are only so long, or having tablet ,in my lap and balancing external keyboard over laptop keyboard. That second option means that the external keyboard will randomly turn my laptop’s sound off and on, remind me I have no bluetooth devices (thanks, I knew that already) and/or that I am not connected to the internet. (Again, got that.)

This is not my ideal working environment, especially on a day that is so hot and sticky that the only thing I actually want to do is take a nap, which would make up for the too-humid-to-sleep night. Still, there is nothing that I would rather do than write in and about my favorite genre (time for reading it later) so, if jumping through the flaming hoops listed above is what I have to do to get there, then fine. I will do that. That’s the best thing to come out of the robot uprising attaching itself to multiple family medical emergencies in the last two months.

After two months of hands on caregiving, things are looking different. The theoretical schoolbus has dropped me off again, in front of whatever institute of learning is involved in this whole writing thing. As with improving one’s physical self, I’m going to consider that resistance builds stregnth. I’m inspired by a former student of mine, from my From Fanfiction to Fantastic Fiction course, a session a couple years back now, who wrote of how she would dismantle her entire desktop system, back when this was a Big Deal, load it in the back of her car, every weekend, so she could drive two hundred miles to the house where her collaborator lived. Once there, she’d put the darned thing back together, they’d spend the entire weekend writing, only to dismantle it, make the long haul back home and do it all over again the next week. I am still in awe of that sort of dedication, and, now that I do have to jump through hoops, I get it. It’s worth it.

Typing With Wet Claws: Back on Our Feet Edition

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Hello all, Skye here for another Feline Friday. I am blogging on my computer today, with Anty’s brand new stylus. It is tricky to use if you have paws, which I do. Still, it leaves fewer prints on the screen, so I thought I would give it a try. If I make a lot of mistakes, please remember I do have paws. Also, I am very cute.

This has been a challenging week. Uncle had to go back to the people vet, this time because his paws were sick. He had to get some rest and take different pills that would not hurt his paws. Uncle was very brave, and did not have to wear the cone of shame. We are all very proud of him. He is much better now and can go out to hunt for cat food and other necessary things.

This means that Any does not have to spend as much time taking care of people vet things and can focus more on her writing. This is good news because she tends to get crabby when she does not get to write. Also when she does not get to sleep. She has not been doing a lot of either his week, come to think of it. She has been pretty crabby. That is all about to change, though, since Uncle has gone back to hunt. His paws are better, he is in a good mood, and they had a nice time together after he helped Anty put away her hunting (she hunted a lot of groceries with Mama, who had to go out and hunt some more.) With Mama and Uncle both out of the house, that means that Anty can use the internet computer all she wants.

She first thought she could be okay using only her tablet, Robin Sparkles, and sending files from there to other computers, but it did not work out as easily as she had hoped. Also, one computer shared among three humans takes more planning than a tired brain can handle without somebody’s schedule colliding with somebody else’s. Then there is the fact that three people using one computer all that much means it is getting pounded on far more than one computer should. This means that a new computer will probably come into the house soon. That means change. Have I mentioned kitties do not like change? Maybe the box will be nice. I do not climb, so I will probably not get inside it, but I might like to lean against it. I like leaning.

Anty does like working with Robin Sparkles, though, because they can go to the mall lots of different places. One thing Anty had always wanted to do with a tablet is get on Instagram, and, today, she did. Right now, all there is, is a picture of me, but that is a very good start. If you are on Instagram, Anty is annacarrascobowling on there. She will probably have lots of pictures of me and ducks, but not in the same picture, because the ducks are in the park and I am at home.

Anyway, Anty is getting ready to move files onto the new computer when it arrives. She can still use her old laptop for writing and playing The Sims 3 (she does not have 4 yet, but tried the demo and thought it was fun, so someday, she will get that game also) but it cannot use the internet any longer. Maybe the computer vet can help it do that again, but we will not know that for a while. If the computer vet is really good, maybe they can even fix the H key. Uncle knows a good computer vet and we will take Anty’s and Uncle’s old laptops to them soon. I expect there may be bad words, but on the other paw, that might mean more working computers. I do not know how it works when there are more computers than humans. Maybe they will need to get another human? I like the humans we already have and do not need any more. No offense.

Anty likes the idea of starting over with a brand new machine, even though that will mean a lot of work getting things set up. The new computer will probably not have Word, but she can put Scrivener on it, and also Zen Writer.  She likes Zen Writer because it is pretty and she can hear typewriter key sounds while she works. I think those key sounds are very interesting. She knows that it will take a long time to install Sims 3 on a new computer, but the up side of that is that it will be able to handle the expansions she has and maybe a new world or two. Then she can actually play instead of sigh when the drivers fail and the screen goes black. She is much less crabby when she can play Sims. If she can write, sleep and play Sims, she is a lot easier to live with; take my word on that one. I could tell you stories, but then she might not let me use the computer as much as she does now, so I will not do that.

Not all of the files will make it to the new computer, and that is all right. Stories that she has decided she will not be writing after all (we will not talk about the vampire historical, for example) can stay where they are. She will probably not delete them, but maybe save them to disk instead, where they cannot hurt anybody. Keeping only stories she is currently writing on the new computer will cut down on mental clutter and help keep her focused. I could point out that inspirational picture files take up a lot of space, but I also know where my treats come from, so I will not do that, either. She can look at me and Uncle. That should be enough.

This week, the coming soon announcement is mine. I have lined up my very first Posting Playdate guest, Bailey. Bailey lives with my Anty Sue Ann, who blogs at SueAnnPorter.com. That is very exciting. I have never had a guest before, but I have read Anty’s interviews, so I think I have a good grasp on how that goes. Watch this space for more details.

That is about it for this week, so, until next week, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Until next week...

Until next week…

Roadblocks and Detours, pt 2

annabowling 2 Comments

I’d had a plan for this entry, and had hoped to post another video blog, which will happen, but not today. After yesterday’s chaos, which Real Life Romance hero summed up as a “crawl underneath the covers head first and pretend The Walking Dead is real” day, I was looking forward to getting everyone off to work, so I could get down to work. Blog, scene due to collaborator, desperately yearning to get out plot board and fix my historical outline, long-neglected emails that have had only a series of “I’ll get to you ASAP” promises because domestic tornadoes keep swiping through, but today…today was going to be The Day To Get Stuff Done. Laughing yet?

Anyone who has been a caregiver long enough knows the “we’re going to the hospital” feel in the air. Easier trip this time than most, quickly seen, quickly sent home, well medicated, hospital-goer now resting and fed, me settled in with Housemate’s computer (aka the family computer until we can remedy the situation) and a cup of tea, because what else would one be having on the last day of June? Ready to write, but what? It’s another unexpected turn in the road, to be home this early on a hospital day, a very good thing, but goes to show how quickly we can become accustomed to routines, even stressful ones.

I’ve told Real Life Romance Hero that I don’t know if I’m going to know what to do with myself when I’m working on a computer where everything works, nothing has to be switched around, and I do not have to rest the keyboard on my :ahem: self when I need to access the touchpad. Actually write books and posts, one would hope. At least that’s the plan, but if I’ve learned one thing about plans, it’s that an old favorite Dutch proverb is of use here: Man plans, God laughs. I’m also reminded of a favorite Polish proverb, “Not my circus, not my monkeys,” which origin story I would love to find out from someone who was there at the time, but I digress.

Digression fits with the whole roadblocks and detours theme. Roadblocks are those things that plop themselves down in our way, cutting off the progress we thought we were ready to make. Detours are the ways we get over, under, around or through them. When we meet a roadblock, we have two options; turn back and end the journey right there, or find a detour. We can choose to get where we want to go by taking another way there.

Sometimes, we learn things by taking a different way there. Maybe we find a better route, or a more scenic one. Maybe we find that the route we never thought we would take is the one we’d like to make the regular one from then on, but never would have even known it existed if the roadblock on the route we always took wasn’t there. Roadblocks aren’t always bad. Sometimes, they’re a clear sign from something/someone bigger than ourselves, saying, “no, not this way,” and sometimes we grouse and kick and scuff our shoes in the dirt, because, dammit, we wanted to go that way.

When I first knew I was a writer, I honestly thought that the only genres open to me were mystery and hard science fiction. Neither are a good fit for me. Romance, though? That’s my home. But I didn’t think it was “allowed.” So I tried and tried and beat my head bloody against a mental brick wall, trying to drum up some enthusiasm, but nothing. So okay. Not those things. Romance. Romance, good. Romance natural. Historical romance as natural as breathing. Even though a good chunk of my current reading is realistic YA, every single time, there’s a part of my brain thinking “this would be amazing set in Prior Era; how would that affect Plot Point or Character?” That’s how I’m wired. So, that’s what I do. Pretty much anything I take in is going to get filtered that way, and I am fine with that.

When I first knew I wanted to pursue writing as a career, I honestly thought there was One Way to do it and it was some trade secret, accessed only to a privileged few. Time and experience taught me that was about as well informed as the only two genres rule above, which is to say, not at all. Must pants, because that’s true creativity. No, must plot, because that’s the only way to have structure. Must count words because that’s what Real Writers Do. Must write linearly because, well, just because, all right. That works for some, but if it doesn’t work for an individual (like the individual writing this blog post, for example) then that’s a big ol’ “detour” sign. If X doesn’t work, try Y. As K.A. Mitchell says, change your seat. Do something else.

If one computer doesn’t access the internet, then that isn’t the internet computer, easy as that. If there’s no H key, get an external keyboard (or only use words without the letter H, which I am sure can be done, but not by me.) Real Life Romance Hero said earlier today that he’s proud of me for slogging through when getting the job done means jumping through electronic hoops, and I am grateful to him for that, but I think the explanation is easy. I don’t have give-up in me when it comes to this writing thing.

My original plan for writing Her Last First Kiss was to make an outline, write the scenes, get a draft done by Date X and…well, no. Man plans, God laughs. Instead, I learned how I’m not really a plotter or a pantser, but a puzzler, and a layered one at that. Find a new thing about story or characters and go back and factor that in and that changes this, which changes the other thing, and that only proves that the story is alive. I can’t drive it to the end, like I’d planned to do, and I can’t let it drag me behind it, but we can work together, this living story and I, going over, under, around and through whatever life throws at us.

Roadblocks and Detours, pt 1

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I’m intoxicated and turned on by people who are really honest about themselves. 

-Neil Patrick Harris

This is not the entry I’d originally planned on, which fits the theme rather well. I am writing now on Housemate’s laptop, because mine now flat out refuses the internet except on increasingly rare occasions. I wrote the actual entry for today on that computer, put it on jump drive and planned to to a really easy copy and paste, only…there’s always an only…there is no Word on this computer. Wordpad refuses to cooperate, and there’s gobbeldygook before and after the actual document. I know when to give up on things like this, because I have enough crazy in my life and want to save some brain for actual writing.

I’d thought of bringing up the window and retyping the original post here, but I’m not going to do that, because, well, I don’t want to. This is my space where I can talk about what writing is like for me, and right now, it’s aggravating. I don’t want to retype what I already wrote. Going over and over and over the same thing because I once put those words on the digital page and therefore am obligated to…no. Not doing that. Well, maybe in part, but I’ll paraprhase, because I am cranky.

Paying attention, this year, to my own process, not what “should” work or what others think I “should” be doing, but what actually works for me (and by that, I mean gets and keeps me writing) has reminded me that, when something doesn’t work for me, that’s because it’s not right for me. Not that it or I am wrong or bad, but merely that square pegs do not fit in round holes, and no amount of pounding and cursing and forcing is going to make that happen. Put the square peg in the square hole, round peg in round hole, and we can all get on with our days, happier and more productive, and with a lot less cursing. Probably.

There’s a new session of Camp NaNo going on (coming up?) and…I will not be camping. Am not camping? Either way, for me, it’s a no this time, because Her Last First Kiss needs me exactly where I am, on the floor with my legal pads and sticky notes, elbow-deep in the guts of a story and cast of characters that are taking me on the sort of adventure I’ve wanted to get back into for years. Breaking up the fallow ground of what a story “should” be and letting the characters lead me. Taking a shovel to that ground and digdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdig until I hit the vein of the story, of the characters, of the journey we’re going on together.

It’s an interesting one, to be sure. Wrangling domestic tornadoes and dealing with persnickety electronics remind me how much I want this, and exactly what I am willing to do to get this story, and the novella, all the way to The End and out in the hands of readers. Some of those things are things I didn’t expect.

I’m not reading a lot of historical romance at the moment, which bothers me, but doesn’t. I am inhaling a ton of realistic YA, my story brain craving the deep emotions and intimate voices. I’ve seen four episodes of the first season of Game of Thrones, which makes my heart sing and do happy dances from the sheer beauty, the high stakes, the fact that nobody is safe and nobody is nice and the story world is wide, wide open for anything to happen. I still prefer my romantic couples not to have met in the womb, but watching this gets me excited and invigorated. I want that energy to carry over to historical romance, those rough edges, the sense of high emotional stakes and a grand scale. This morning, I finished reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, and wow. Brilliant, brilliant book, and, though it absolutely has its feet in a contemporary setting, it read like a historical, a little brown about the edges. GoT has the same feel for me; yes, it’s fantasy, but it “reads” like historical for me, and that’s where I’m watching from when I go into it.

All of these things go into the idea soup that feeds what I’m working on now, and what I’ll be working on after that. I need to take in what I mean to put out, easy as that. Trying to please every reader is not going to work out, but pleasing my readers? That, I can do. So I do what I know works for me. I write in layers. I talk. I have big furry messes of sticky notes and legal pads and cross things out and write things in and oh no, well, that changes everything, let’s backtrack and get it right…and that’s where the magic happens. I’m not beating my head bloody against a brick wall, but telling my stories, my way, and that’s actually fun. Even if I have to jump around among four machines to get a single document into gear. I know why I’m here; I’m  a storyteller, and the stories need to get from my head to readers’, so that’s going to happen, whatever roadblocks present themselves.

I like to write a lot about identity, about characters who get to a place where they don’t let others tell them who to be, but find confidence and strength in who they actually are, who they actually were all along. Works for me.

Typing With Wet Claws: Adjustment Edition

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Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. The cat zamboni is outside, so I am writing today’s blog from under the bed. That seems like the safest place for a kitty. I have been under the bed and also behind Mama’s bedroom door this past week. There have been some adjustments, which is a fancy human word for changes, and kitties do not like changes. We thrive on routine, and when that routine is different, it takes a while for us to get used to it.

Uncle is back home from the people vet and did not have to go back or wear the cone of shame, but he will have to see other people vets to make sure he stays healthy. Anty is helping him with some of the adjustments, and that takes some time, but she is figuring out how to make that work along with writing. Sometimes, writing things pile up while she is taking care of other things, and then she has to deal with the writing things that have turned into a big jumble while she was away.

I am not allowed to say some of the words she says when she makes lists of things that need doing and finds the time in which to do them. She likes it that organization requires lists and planning and she can use things like sticky notes and highlighters, but it is daunting (fancy human word for scary) to look at the whole big mess of stuff. Probably, that is why she likes to break things down.

That does not, however, include computers. They break down on their own. Here is a list of the machines on which Anty currently works:

Robin Sparkles

Robin Sparkles

Robin Sparkles is Anty’s tablet, and my computer. The port where the cable goes that connects the pink keyboard to the actual computer came out with the cord, and she has not had time to fix it, so she can only use the touchscreen keyboard. She is getting rather good at that, but it is not ideal for writing big chunks of text. She has, though, but it’s not her first choice.

Dahlia

Dahlia

Dahlia is Anty’s very old desktop. It has a nice big monitor, so Anty can make the text big and not strain her eyes. It is older than me, probably still has Olivia (kitty before me) hair in the keyboard and does not connect to the internet, and it is in her office, which I still have not gone into, because I am still not sure about the carpet in there. When Anty writes on this computer, she needs to save to a jump drive and then take it to another computer and access or send the file from there. She has not yet figured out how to make the jump drive work with Robin Sparkles, although she is sure there has to be some sort of adapter somewhere.

Jack

Jack

Jack is short for Union Jack, because this laptop was supposed to have a Union Jack skin on the cover, but Anty never got around to that. Jack is also older than me and he is showing his age. He is on his second battery (it is dead now, so he may get a third,) third power cord and second keyboard. Anty says that working on Jack is like a mini workout, because she has to put the external keyboard on top of the keyboard she cannot use but has to move it when she needs to use the touchpad to put the cursor where she wants it.

Before you ask why she does not use a mouse (I am all for using mice) even that cannot be easy. There are two ports where she could put a mouse, and they are both on the left hand side of the computer. One of those ports is for the external keyboard. The other could be for the mouse, but it is on the left side and Anty is right-pawed. That means she would have to put the mouse in on the left side, and bring the cord around the front or the back of the laptop in order to use it with her right paw. This is where things get tricky.

Anty already has earbuds plugged into the left side of the laptop, and there is a cord for those. The power cord (if it comes out, then the computer has no power and she will have to restart it) already comes around the back of the laptop. The cord for the external keyboard goes either over the top of the laptop keyboard or behind the screen, but then it can get tangled with the power cord and, well, you can imagine what happens then. So, Anty is not very keen on adding another tangly cord to the whole mess, especially when the cord can snap back (it is on a stretchy wheel kind of thing) at any time, which is not good for the cords, or Anty’s sanity. Probably not for my vocabulary, either. Sometimes, when none of the above computers do what Anty needs, she borrows Mama’s computer (he is Jack’s identical twin brother.)  I think this is one of the reasons Anty likes notebooks as much as she does.

Even so, Anty worked with Anty Melva on their book, and they are now two chapters into it. That is rather impressive, considering Anty had to do a lot of switching around between the above machines. That is the important thing. When a human wants something badly enough, they will find a way to get it done. Especially writer humans. The stories are in there; it is only a matter of how they get out. When a kitty wants something, we find a human and stare at them. Speaking of which, my food bowl is empty.

Until next week, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Video Blog Q & A

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Monday’s post on Tuesday again, small (very small) improvement on camera technique (hey, I’m still learning, but at least no big giant head this time) and my first time answering reader questions in video form. The most common questions I get asked are:

  • What are you writing?
  • What are you reading?
  • Do you keep a journal?

First two answers are pretty straightforward, the last one less so, and answer number one is actually more what I write in, but it’ll do for now. I am trying to be more conscientious with updating my Goodreads currently reading list, but it’s usually fairly accurate.

“What are you reading?” is an interesting question to ask someone who reads a lot, because that doesn’t always only mean books from a bookstore or on Kindle. I am also beta reading a historical romance by a wonderful author I am honored to know personally, and critiquing a futuristic romance for another writer friend. There’s also First Look assignments for Heroes and Heartbreakers. There are magazines, notably RT Book Reviews, Romance Writer’s Report, and Art Journaling for me. There’s first time reading, rereading, skimming, planned reading, reading that just happens, looking over my own older notebooks or files for bits of tid I’m going to need, or for a boost when I see how far I’ve come. There is a reason my first ms lives in a storage unit in another state.

If I’m watching a movie or TV episode on my laptop or the DVD, I like to have captions on, and there’s a fair deal of reading even when I play Sims 3. Reading blogs, reading email, reading Facebook posts, reading instant messages, reading pretty much anything that comes into my field of vision. Street signs, pizza boxes, anything. It’s an occupational hazard for the reader/writer, so narrowing it down to only books makes the answer a lot shorter, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Hauling out the notebooks in which I am writing is about as close as I’m going to get, right now, to talking about what I am writing in them, at least here. I do need to talk about works in progress, but selectively, to one or two writer friends. Then I babble, sometimes incoherently, they listen, and reduce all that babbling to the root of the matter, or ask questions that help me figure things out.

Did I mention I love questions? Questions are the best, often unlocking doors I not only didn’t know were locked, but didn’t know were there. So, questions are fun, and always welcome.

Maybe next week, I will have the camera at a non-funhouse mirror angle.