writing

To NaNo or Not to NaNo and Happy Albanyversary to Me

annabowling 2 Comments

 One of the questions that is probably troubling you at the moment is this: How do I know whether I’m a writer? And the question can only be answered with another question: Well, do you write? If you don’t, you’re not. If you do, you are. There’s nothing else to it.
–Nick Hornby

This is one of my all time favorite quotes, but one of my all time favorite writers, and, this time of year, it’s especially apt. We’re ten days out from the start of National Novel Writing Month, and I am not signed up for it yet. I don’t know if I will be, and I may not know until the starting pistol has indeed been fired. This is not entirely a bad thing.

I love the support in NaNoWriMo, love my local group, have met friends through last year’s journey…but the book? Well, I wrote it. Did I make 50K? I don’t think so, but the truth is, I don’t remember or feel like going back to check. The whole thing felt and feels as appetizing as a snack of wet cardboard, so that’s a sure sign that something about that whole particular endeavor was not right for me.

This year, I want to have a different emphasis. Not so much focus on word counts, but on what counts. For me, that’s telling the story, and listening to the story so that I can tell it. Does that always conform to hitting a certain amount of words on a particular day? No. Does that mean the story moves forward? Yes. Are those always the same thing? Not always.

I did Camp NaNo this year, and won that. Had fun doing it, too, and I suspect being able to set my own word count goal helped somewhat. Confession: I am not a word counter. I can tend to obsess if I do keep that in mind, and end up in a fetal position under the dining room table, clutching a stuffed fish (plush) and muttering something about Zwieback. It’s not a fun place to be. In the end, I suspect I will do what is best for me at the time I need to make the decision. In either event, I will be posting and documenting here, because pretty much anything is more fun for me if I can blabber about it.

Washington Park sunset

Washington Park sunset

Two years ago today, my family packed up our entire lives and departed the old country for the brave new world of Albany, NY. My only regret was not being able to convince all our beloved CT and MA friends to move with us (or for that matter, FL, CO, MI, etc; if I could ever have everybody I love in one huge room, that would be paradise.) I cannot say how good it feels to be home. I want my writing and the books that come from it to be home as well. Same with this blog.

It’s all a process. It’s also a journey. Some twists, some turns, some whoa-what-is-thats, but I have to trust that it’s going to take me where I need to be.

Typing With Wet Claws: Skye’s introduction

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Skye O'Malley, the kitty, not the book.

Skye O’Malley, the kitty, not the book.

Hello. I am Skye O’Malley, the kitty, not the book. My friend, Bailey, helps out his mom, Sue Ann Porter,  with her blog, so he thinks that I should do the same thing. My mama does not write books or have a blog (she plays with strings that turn into sweaters and things,) but my Anty Anna does, so I will help her.

Most days, my mama and Uncle (Anty calls him Real Life Romance Hero) are out hunting, so Anty hunts from home. Usually, she’s on her glowy box, which looks like this picture below now, because she killed the first keyboard and then had to get a second one. That second one sits on top of the first, and sometimes tries to type things on that first keyboard on its own. I do not think she wants it to do that, but her characters do not always behave themselves either. Writers must be used to disobedience.

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In case you want to know what it looks like where I work (I am a professional mews) this is what Anty sees when she looks away from her glowy box.

Workstation of the mews

Workstation of the mews

Anty says not all of those notebooks are there all of the time, and they really are not. She does use a lot of paper, though. If I am a really good kitty, I get to play with some of it. I like to stay close in case Anty needs some inspiration, or wants to pet a kitty with her foot. In case she wants to feed a kitty, I am one, so it’s only considerate that I stay close by so she doesn’t have to go far. I like to think of myself as a very considerate kitty, so when Anty is home, I make sure to stay as close to her as possible. Unless it rains or I  hear the cat zamboni (the people call it a street sweeper, but I know better) – then I am under Anty and Uncle’s bed.

Typing with wet nails, really...

In case you are wondering if Anty really does type some of these entries with wet nails, she really does. Her trick is to use only the pads of the fingers and not the actual nails. She says she learned that in high school and it still works. I love the smell of nail polish, so if she really is typing with wet nails, I am sure to be extra super close. I am calling my posts Typing With Wet Claws, but if my claws are wet, it is because I licked them. I am a very clean kitty.

Is that good for our first time together? Bailey said that first impressions are important.Hopefully, my posts will help Anty. She says if she sells a lot of books, I can get more toys. My favorite toys are Post-It notes that Anty is done using. I don’t think she is being entirely selfless by promising to buy more Post-Its, but it is worth a try.

Until next time,

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

Every Keyboard Tells a Story

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i1035 FW1.1

That’s the keyboard on my actual laptop right there.  Note the missing H key, multiple keys where the markings were rubbed off, fingernail marks carved into the key that used to say “N.” We won’t discuss things periodically cleaned out from in between the actual keys, or things spilled on them and hastily wiped away, usually accompanied by fervent prayer.

This keyboard (and the laptop it’s attached to) has seen three different states, two different homes, been my companion through three distinct phases of my life (before, during and after the bottom dropped out of my world and I went from writer to caregiver to last family member standing to writer once again.) It’s been dropped, fallen from improvised “desks” made from overturned wastebaskets, balanced on knees sweating in summer heat or swaddled in hand-knit afghans (or my special snoflake fleece blankey nobody else is allowed to touch) and seen a plethora of libraries and coffee shops.

It’s seen the starts of novels, completion of a few, fiery deaths of others, while still others slipped into quiet comas. Some of those will come back, some will sail off into the sunset without me, and I am okay with all of that.  Yet more stories are still to come, and I am looking forward to meeting them all. How many more get to be on this particular keyboard or laptop, I’m not sure, but I’m looking forward to the adventure.

There have been games played on this computer; three different iterations of The Sims franchise, four if we count the Sims 4 demo, and a couple of forays into Second Life. Movies watched, countless YouTube videos, episodes of favorite TV shows, pictures composed and edited. New friends met, final farewells said, willingly or not, when certain chapters closed. New hellos yet to say to what’s still ahead of me.

It’s been a wild ride these last few years, and, in a way, it’s fitting to see the machine that saw me through that much coming to the end of its own journey. Not there yet, but the time is coming, and I’m okay with that.  New adventures are ahead.

One of which is blogging. I’ve had this blog for a while, in various incarnations, but I’m still getting the hang of it. While I do blog elsewhere, it’s easier to write about an external topic. Writing about me, about my own writing, that’s a whole different story, pun intended, but I’m here, and I have a brand new keyboard, so we’re good to go, this old friend and me.

i1035 FW1.1

 

The Story of H

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i1035 FW1.1

I think I’m holding up fairly well, all things considered. The saga of my Not a Cance in Ell adventure is now complete. Parts one and two are here and here. Over the weekend, after slicing my finger on the prongs of the now long-absent H key, the whole key stopped working. First, it took four or five pounds to get one H, which could as easily be a whole line of them: hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Which then needed to be backspaced or deleted, which was annoying because I would want them later. As I’ve said before, H is a very important letter.

There’s personal pronouns: she, he, him, her, them, their, all in heavy demand when writing stories about relaitonships (another H) word. Home, heaven, hell, hurt, help, hover, and several hundred more. Though I do my best composition in longhand, smushing the handwritten pages up to the screen doesn’t work. I worked out time share with both hubby and housemate (more H words) on their computers, did some work on the old desktop and started pricing towers. For personal emails to friends, I substituted an * when I needed an H, so thanks to all who put up with me during those days. I don’t know why it took me a couple of days to figure out I could get an external keyboard, but one quick trip to Staples and then I’m back in business.

Putting a regular keyboard on top of my laptop keyboard took some getting used to at first, but now, apart from portability, it feels very natural. I like the click of brand new keys, no prongs to pierce my fingertips, no crumbs (as of yet) to get in the way. Nothing sticks, and I can keep on going without having to pause to  insert an asterisk. Small things make a big difference, and losing the use of a single key brings that to light in a very big way.

Having a new keyboard is also exciting because it makes me look forward to starting over with a new computer. A recent discussion with a writer friend about clearing the decks resonated. When I set up a guest account on my housemate’s computer, it was a fresh start, literally no old files under my name to clutter the current work, no pictures, however lovely or inspirational, to distract me from my work. All I could do, with a limited amount of time I could use that machine, was set up the bare minimum and get to telling the story. Which, after all, is the point of this entire endeavor. Tell stories, because that’s what I love to do best.

The last few years have been challenging, and in many ways, I’m not the same person I was when this much-loved laptop was shiny and new. There have been many goodbyes, many hellos, a change in geographical region that was, at once, taking a leap and coming home. So, it makes sense that new stories would come, and the thought of telling those new stories on a new machine, unencumbered with the past, excites me in a way I hadn’t expected. I do have to thank that dearly departed H for helping to bring me to that point. The key itself now sits in a place of honor on the desk I coveted since childhood, a reminder of the past to make a bridge to what is yet to come.

The adventure is only beginning.

Five Quick Questions With E. Catherine Tobler

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I said I wasn’t done with E. Catherine Tobler‘s Watermark, and the madness continues as E. joins us for a quick chat about her latest release and more…
ecatherinetobler

1) How did Watermark come to be?

I wanted to set a story somewhat local to me and loved the idea of the Rocky Mountains. What could I do in a small mountain town, I wondered. I began to look at my favorite mountain towns, and then came across mountain lakes, of which Colorado has many. They’re all so beautiful on the surface, but what might lurk beneath? This turned my mind to Loch Ness, and thus to water monsters. This led me to kelpies, and that’s when Pip was discovered. But why would a kelpie be in a Colorado mountain lake? This was the mystery to solve.

2) Pip and Finn’s story will leave readers hungry for more…and flat out hungry. What role does food play in this story?

Food plays an important role in Watermark. There is a long-standing legend that bread is protection against fairies, but I twisted that a little in this book, saying that bread is actually what helps anchor fairies in the human world. Naturally, this meant that one of our fae needed to be a baker! Food also plays a part in rituals for our fairies, as they can entice their own kind with it. There is also the notion that if a human eats fairy food, they’ll be trapped in the fairy world, losing their interest in anything but that world. Food is both attractive and repellent over the course of the book, as fairies themselves are.


3) How would you describe urban fantasy to those who have yet to dip their toes in the water of this genre?

Urban fantasy is often defined by the “urban” part, in that it takes place in a city, and that city becomes as much a character as the walking and talking characters are. I wanted my cities to be worlds, the human world and the fairy world, both at odds with each other, but each containing something the other needed. My actual city is fictional; Peak, Colorado was, however, absolutely based on Estes Park, Colorado, that beautiful small mountain town that exists quite well outside tourist seasons, and probably has an entirely secret life no one knows about.

4) Appearances aren’t everything, and in this story, there’s a lot beneath most every surface. What one tip would you give writers interested in going deeper with their characters?

To definitely remember that surface largely doesn’t matter. Certainly our first impressions of characters will be tied to what we see, but that doesn’t have to be physical appearance. “She was beautiful” are the three words I am most tired of seeing when a writer launches into a description of their female characters. You can show that beauty in another way; what is beautiful about her beyond her looks, too. “Her fingers were as a tangle of yarn over the markings when she studied star charts.” That’s beauty without saying it’s beauty.

5) What’s next?

All the things! This fall, I am starting a new book, because apparently that’s what I do in the fall (just about the time of Nanowrimo, hmm). I have new stories out, too: readers can find “Pithing Needle” in the October issue of Clarkesworld, and “Honey in the Lion” in Betwix #5 . And I’m still dreaming all the Egypt dreams, too.

Watermark-Cover

Want a chance at winning a copy of your very own? There’s still time.

From Fan Fiction to Fantastic Fiction

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FanficFantasticFic

It’s now officially September, and once again, time for From Fan Fiction to Fantastic Fiction over at Savvy Authors. I’ve always loved back to school season, even when I’ve been out of school for quite some time. Discounted school/office supplies (notebooks, notebooks, notebooks) are always welcome, but if I’m teaching my favorite online workshop, it’s even more appropriate. Even though it’s only the first of the month, and temperatures here in Upstate NY are going to be flirting with 90 for the next few days, I cannot tell my brain it is not yet fall, my most productive season, so when the chance to teach aligns with Back to School, I’m a happy camper…er, teacher.

It’s kind of funny calling myself a teacher. In another life, I did study early childhood education in college, but the most important thing I learned from those studies was that I didn’t want to pursue that profession. Nope, writing was going to be it for me, and really, I should have seen the signs. The way I couldn’t wait to run home from class and bang out a few pages of an “epic” historical romance novel on my electric typewriter. Dating myself here, I know, but that was state of the art back when the dinosaurs roamed. Diana R, wherever you are, I will always remember standing in the grocery store parking lot in Montpelier, VT, and feeling warmed down to my frozen toes when you told me how badly you wanted to visit the fictional European country in said manuscript (which now resides in a storage unit, where it cannot hurt anybody.)

That first novel was written before I even knew what fan fiction was, but in retrospect, the influences were clear to see. The story structure came from a favorite author whose epic historicals still hit the bestseller lists today. The hero was inspired, physically, by an actor on a show I wouldn’t miss for love or money, and the heroine had her start as a character I thought would be an interesting match for his character. Everybody got transported into a very vague version (alliteration intentional) of Tudor England (and fictional European country) and I threw absolutely everything I loved onto those pages. Angst, pathos, intrigue, star crossed lovers, and a love that would not bow, no matter what life threw at it.

Not much has changed in that last aspect, because writing those early stories, both fannish and not, taught me a lot about what elements go into a story that is mine, not anybody else’s. Tropes, types, and techniques are all useful tools, but the heart of the story comes from the writer’s loves. People, places, things, scents, sights, sounds, music, favorite books, movies, TV, even the whole shipping culture is a natural breeding ground for great romance stories. Sharing this journey with others always fills me with an extra dose of enthusiasm to put ink on paper and tell another tale.

Seats are still available, so hop on over to Savvy Authors and settle in; I’d love to see you there.

http://ce.savvyauthors.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Calendar.eventDetail&eventId=1938

Ten Questions With E. Catherine Tobler

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 ecatherinetobler10 Questions With E. Catherine Tobler

 I first met E. Catherine Tobler in another life, or so it seems. We bonded,via paper letters, in a prior century, over a love of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Highlander, historical romance, and writing. Both at the time aspiring novelists, we encouraged, supported, and critiqued each other, and if we haven’t scared each other off by now, we probably aren’t going to, which is a good thing, because I love her work, especially today’s new release, Rings of Anubis, which Kirkus reviews dubs “deliciously fun.” 

Rings of Anubis combines several great tastes that taste great together: history, romance, intrigue, fantasy, adventure, steampunk, mythology, faith, addiction, recovery, a wounded hero and determined heroine with a past of her own. I am delighted and honored to have read this in manuscript form, and now the rest of the world gets to come along for the ride because this fantastic tale is now available in a bookstore near you. Pull up a comfy chair, pour your beverage of choice and let’s play a round of Ten Questions with the author who made this amazing tale possible. 

  • When did you first know you were a writer?

There was no moment on the mountaintop where sunlight broke rainbow-bright through clouds and I was spinning about, saying “Yeeees.” I can remember experimenting with short fiction for the first time in high school (though I wrote a novelette in middle school–“The Metal Zone,” which involved my bestie getting sucked into The Metal Zone, aka The Twilight Zone, where she met a hot guy, ha!)

But, in high school, I was behind in my history class, and got assigned a story for extra credit, which I dearly needed. I wrote a short story that completely freaked the teacher out and I appreciated that reaction to something I’d created. I sent one of my early attempts to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy, and that entire process–printing the manuscript, mailing it, waiting for a reply–certainly had me feeling like something of a writer.

 

anubis_paper

  • How did Rings of Anubis first come to be?

In the beginning, it started as a highly misguided distant future piece, wherein Eleanor and Virgil traveled from a Blade Runner-like world to ancient Egypt. Balancing the distant future with the distant past ended up being something I was not a) skilled at or b) just not ready for. I examined the parts I really loved and wanted to keep and then looked at how I could make them work; turns out, the late 19th century was a perfect fit, given technologies I wanted to play with, archaeological discoveries that had and had not happened, and well, airships. I wanted things that fly.

  • What are the best and worst pieces of writing advice you’ve ever heard?

For me, “write every day” was disastrous advice. It’s not how my creative brain is wired; I have a brain that fills itself up, explodes on the page, and then needs refilling before it’s ready to explode again. Writing just doesn’t happen every day if I’m refilling–through research, brainstorming, artwork. Once I stopped trying to hit X pages or words a day, I was a much happier and productive writer.

I think the best advice is still out there and will contain the phrase “eat gelato.”

  • Why are romance and speculative fiction two great tastes that taste great together?

Who doesn’t love a mash up? It’s fun to take two seemingly unrelated things and press them together until you have something entirely new.

  • How would you define steampunk to someone who has never heard of the term?

Is there such a person left in the world? (There’s a story in that.) We should meet and have a fantastic tea! Simply put, steampunk is a genre within SFF that features steam-powered machinery. Think H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley, Jules Verne. Wild, Wild West, Metropolis.

  • Let’s talk about Virgil and Eleanor for a moment, a couple that is very dear to me. What makes them perfect for each other, and what’s the biggest obstacle standing in their way?

I’d say Eleanor and Virgil are very much not perfect for each other. They’re both stubborn and independent and selfish. They discover they’re each the means to an end–but also something more in the long run; Eleanor is exploring something her father has asked her to leave behind while Virgil is trying to unravel the puzzle of his late wife. I’d say the biggest obstacle is the pyramids at Giza (one of which they get to climb), but it’s probably Anubis, who embodies the unknown, trust, and the need to be exactly who (or what) they are.

  • Then there’s Cleo and Auberon. Will we be seeing more of this fascinating secondary couple’s love story?

As you know, Bob, I have written another book set in this universe, which involves Cleo and Auberon. It goes into Cleo’s history, she of the mechanical arms, and pushes Eleanor and Virgil against some boundaries they first discovered in Rings of Anubis. Like RoA, the book moves in a couple of different directions at once, and this time includes a correspondence between Cleo and Auberon, helping to tell the past and future of their relationship.

  • Though Rings of Anubis is your first published novel, (or novels, for those who read the e-release as Gold & Glass and Silver & Steam) you’ve also written short stories and novellas, and been nominated for a Sturgeon Award. What are some similarities and differences in writing short and long fiction?

Obviously a bigger canvas gives you more space to expand characters and plots; sometimes you want that, sometimes you don’t, so learning how to tell how much room your story wants is an important trick in any writer’s bag. I’ve seen countless stories in Shimmer submissions where a writer tries to pack a novel into a two-thousand word short. Some stories need to breathe; others like being tied up like a guest star in Fifty Shades.

  • What is the most important thing you’ve learned about your own writing from editing Shimmer magazine?

 

Whatever story you’re telling, it starts on page one. No matter how long the work, a good deal of the overall story is right on page one. Page one needs to pull your reader in, needs to anchor them in the adventure you’re about to take them on. Start at the beginning, don’t introduce your people or conflict on page thirty (or page three for a shorter work).

  • Finally, what can readers look forward to next? Is that some faery sparkle I see in the distance?

September will indeed bring Watermark from Masque Books, a story set in the fictional Colorado town Peak. We meet young fairy Pip, who has been expelled from her homeland for Reasons She Can’t Quite Remember. (Funny, me writing an amnesia story, as it’s a trope I don’t tend to enjoy!)

Short fiction on the horizon includes my first story in Lightspeed Magazine, “A Box, a Pocket, a Spaceman.” A novella set in my traveling circus universe will be out next summer…but I’m not sure if I can say where yet! Suspense!

Thanks, E, and do drop in again in September to talk Watermark. Fans of inventive urban fantasy with romance, baked goods, and a touch of faery magic won’t want to miss this one. How about you, dear readers? Do you like a thread of fantasy mixed with your romance? What’s your favorite flavor? 

So. This is me.

annabowling 8 Comments

authorphoto

It’s been rare, in recent years, for me to like any picture of myself. Which is okay; it’s been a funky few years, filled with changes, some welcome, others very much not. Life will do that, and when life does do that, it affects the writing life as well. Maybe I’m not cut out for this, we think. Maybe all of that writing stuff is behind me and taking care of family/doing the day job is where it’s at from here on out. We’ve all had thoughts like that, I’m guessing, from time to time. It makes for a disconnect of sorts, between the worlds in our heads and the world that everybody else can see. Tricky, to say the least. 

This doesn’t apply only to the face in the mirror, but the words on the page as well. It’s a weird place to be, yourself but not yourself. Things should work, but they don’t and it isn’t that the voices in our heads aren’t talking, because they are, but they somehow found a secret language they don’t feel like teaching us for the foreseeable future. It’s the same as looking in the mirror, understanding that yes, that’s what others see, but it’s not us. It’s not real. The problem is, getting the real of the insides of our heads out into the everybody-else-can-see-it world. 

For the physical, this is easy. Take better care of self, learn a new updo, swap out clothes of displeasing colors for those that make us happy. Try a bright/dark lipstick, play with accessories, dress the body you’ve got instead of a past or future one, learn what makes you feel and look good now. For the writing, there’s no foolproof plan. I wish there were. The closest I’ve been able to come is “read, read, read, and write, write, write.” There’s still a part of my brain, equipped with a bullhorn, screaming, “no, you can’t talk about this. You’re not successful enough. You’re not allowed.” This voice needs to be quiet, because this voice is wrong. This voice is looking in the wrong mirror. 

Yesterday, I spent some time with Sue Ann Porter and another friend, in Sue Ann’s beautiful front garden. I needed an author photo for my upcoming From Fanfiction to Fantastic Fiction workshop at Savvy Authors, and I didn’t have one. Well, I did, but it’s old enough to get married or join the military without parental permission. That wasn’t going to do. To quote a sweatshirt marketed at drill sergeants, “sweat dries, blood clots, bones heal; suck it up, buttercup.” I popped my camera in my bag and surveyed the perimeter. 

Fountain, good. I like fountains. Sue Ann and I roped another friend into being my stand-in so I could check the composition, then we took pictures. This picture, I like. This is me. This is a woman who writes romance and writes about romance. This picture can be attached to the work I am doing now, because when I look in this mirror and on these pages, what i see fits.