… to be dressed in fairy princess costumes by their older sisters.
it is the fate of younger brothers all over the world
Aug 31st, 2010 by Rabia
Normally, I approach Mondays with all the enthusiasm of a patient about to get a root canal. Not this time around. I’ve had a full and busy and social three-day weekend that kept me out of the house almost all day. I got barely five pages into my typein. My house is a mess. My kids have hardly seen me in two days. I had fun, but I’m glad to be back to the (somewhat) quiet and (occasionally) orderly routine of school, housework and writing.
Quartz awaits!
How was your weekend?
organizing your novel notes
Aug 28th, 2010 by Rabia
Two nights ago I sat down to begin my typein (yay!). I brought out my scene cards, my story notebook, my story binder, and the first chapter of my marked-up ms. After looking at the sorry state of my worldbuilding notes—loose sheets of paper higgledy-piggledy crammed into my binder, scribbled lines amidst the plot details I had worked out (and abandoned)–I decided to collate them into a master document to have as a handy reference.
I used the Excel spreadsheet David made up for his NaNo project last year as a template. I divided it into several worksheets–People, Places, Time, Terminology, Artifacts, and Miscellaneous. Month names and the details of my weird lunar orbit went into the Time category. Places include all the district names I made up as I needed them; once I have them all I can come up with rough maps of the cities. Terminology is all the Quartz-specific words and expressions—kayan, roh-kayan, shah-kayan, and the like–with definitions. I’ll put descriptions of important items under Artifacts.
My plan is to plug in the worldbuilding details into the spreadsheet as I encounter them in the typein. The categories are flexible since every book requires me to keep track of different things. Season of Rains, for example, had a whole pantheon and many historical documents to keep straight.
How do you organize your worldbuilding notes?
Diana Pharoah Francis has some tips on keeping track of these kinds of story details.
serial reading
Aug 26th, 2010 by Rabia
I’m feeling a little antsy about having so many half-read books on my nightstand. Usually, I only have two books going at the same time (one fiction, one non) but a quick glance through my pile of bookmarked volumes gives me:
NurtureShock and How Children Learn–about child development, one a classic and the other a current controversial read
Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock that Shaped the World–started to read this one as research for Kai’s book, but I’ve gotten past the part that was most relevant and haven’t decided whether I’ll continue or not.
Flesh and Spirit–first of a duology by Carol Berg. It’s a slower-paced read, but I really don’t mind taking my time over it. I feel so busy juggling balls these days that I can’t afford to lose hours at a stretch to a book right now.
Word Painting–a book about writing description; I’ve been reading this off and on since March? April? I’ve also been meaning to do some blog posts on this topic. I really will get to them. Some day.
Worlds Next Door–Jo sent me this anthology of Australian YA specfic; it includes her story “Graffiti”. Great for when I have time and mental space for only a short self-contained story.
And this list doesn’t even include the books I haven’t cracked open yet. Like Maria Snyder’s Storm Glass, Diana Pharaoh Francis’ The Hollow Crown, Trudi Canavan’s trilogy whose name escapes me…
What’s on your reading pile these days?
encouragement for the aspiring writer
Aug 24th, 2010 by Rabia
Emerging from Post-Revision Haze to provide you with this public-service, link-heavy post for unpublished writers:
Celebrate your rejections. Really. Because getting rejections means that you’re completing stories and sending them out. Congratulations. If you’re getting rejections, you’re doing the job of a professional writer.
Still not convinced? Got the rejection blues? Tired of always being aspiring? DGLM’s Michael Bourret on enjoying the pre-published stage. And here’s a light-hearted look at the perks of being unpublished. Having seen books get savaged by Amazon reviewers, there are many days that I am grateful to be on this side of the Great Publishing Divide.
Here’s (upcoming) YA author Jodi Meadows on not giving up.
If you’re not interested in waiting for the Publishing Fairy to sprinkle you with gold dust, you can bypass all the gatekeepers, and go indie. There’s even a blog carnival for indie writers (via JA Marlow)!
Seth Godin on hope and the magic lottery. I love this bit (which I think writers looking to build their fan base will appreciate):
If your business or your music or your art or your project is truly worth your energy and your passion, then don’t sell it short by putting its future into a lottery ticket.
Here’s another way to think about it: delight the audience you already have, amaze the customers you can already reach, dazzle the small investors who already trust you enough to listen to you. Take the permission you have and work your way up. Leaps look good in the movies, but in fact, success is mostly about finding a path and walking it one step at a time.
(Speaking of Seth Godin, here he is again talking about moving on from traditional publishing.)
69 scenes.
372 pages.
46K new words.
1 wrung-out writer.
The Manuscript Cut and Write-in (aka Lesson 17, for all you fellow HTRYN sojourners) for Quartz is done.
*insert small triumphant squeak because I’m too tired to do anything more*
Dear Body,
Point taken.
I will stop trying to train you to function on less sleep, and you will cease to afflict me with stabbing headaches and an inability to keep my dinner down.
Truce?
Love,
Me
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
~Douglas Adams
Dear Brain
Aug 18th, 2010 by Rabia
Dear Brain,
I’m very appreciative of the fact that you took time out of your busy schedule to plot out the last three scenes of Quartz for me. I thank you for all of the cool new insights into the magic system and the nifty little plot details you put in. I’m also really grateful that you mapped out that Rapunzel short story I’ve been stuck on for months.
For future reference, though: Could you please not do this in one massive planning session at midnight when I’m *trying* to fall asleep? I do have school the next day, you know. Feel free to ignore this request on Friday and Saturday nights.
Again, thanks for all your help! You rock!
Love,
Me
maine pictures
Aug 17th, 2010 by Rabia
as promised, all these eons ago:
Here are my people on the first day of vacation: Miss M. out front, Sir I., Grampa, David with the Baron in the backpack. They all look chipper because they *think* they’re going on a “very easy” one-mile walk. In reality, they’re doing the “moderate” 3.2 mile loop around Jordan Pond (the one they were going to be careful not to do!) . But that’s okay. They don’t know that yet.
Look! An interesting dead tree by the side of the pond. One or both of the mountains in the background is called Bubble:
Can’t go to Maine and not visit a lighthouse. Here’s the view from the Bass Harbor Light at the southernmost tip of the island. Nice day for a sail. 
Look! Something shining comes from the west.
We saw these beach roses all over the place:
Miss M., rising out of the waters of Echo Lake
