linkatopia

February 22, 2009 1 Comment

I’m late getting this out. Had a really busy weekend, and now my husband is sick, poor guy.

Onwards:

Kelley McCullough on Waiting for Godot Inspiration, a play that is considerably shorter and less frustrating than the Samuel Beckett one. I laughed out loud at the moral lesson at the end. It just might become my new mantra.

David Coe on the different ways creativity manifests itself in his life. I love how different artistic and creative endeavors inform and interconnect with each other.

Marie Brennan likens writing flash fiction to building an arch. A timely post for me, since I was bludgeoned over the head with an idea for a short-short two nights ago. A spooky scary idea that I don’t like to think about in the middle of the night because it still gives me the shivers.

Tia at Fantasy Debut announces a weekly Discovery Showcase for self-pubbed and unpubbed writers.

Agent Nephele Tempest has been keeping an eye on the controversy over Facebook’s Terms of Service.

Filed Under: linktopia

playtime for the muse-brain

February 20, 2009 3 Comments

Yesterday I did a fun thinking exercise that netted me a couple of story ideas. It’s been a while since I let my muse-brain out to play; there was no pressure, just plain old fun.

Here’s what I did:

I spent a couple of minutes scribbling down words as they came to me, mostly nouns, mostly names of items that were lying around the room, like a toy giraffe the kids had left on the floor and the Cinderella book I’d been reading to them earlier.

After I had my list, I asked my muse, “How are two or more of these things connected?” My muse started giving me images (it likes pictures). The giraffe was suddenly transported to a Brothers Grimm forest, stepping through snow, frost on its eyelashes. Sleeping Beauty appeared in a cave. Cottages were festooned with dozens of flickering lights in clay pots.

Once I’d written a sentence or two down about the images, I started asking questions like, “How did the giraffe get into the Germanic forest? How did Sleeping Beauty get into the cave? Why did the villagers light all those candles?” One thing led to another, and I got a pretty cool idea for a story.

Strangely enough, it does not involve giraffes.

It was a fun exercise. If you try it some time, let me know how it works for you.

Filed Under: creativity, inspiration

ninety nine failures

February 18, 2009 Leave a Comment

A snippet from the book I’m currently reading:

… I defined creativity as a willingness to come up with and pursue one hundred ideas knowing that ninety-nine of them are stupid. (Coloring Outside the Lines by Roger Schank, pg. 33)

The debris of my writing endeavors is chock-full of broken stories, unfinished stories that fizzled out on page two, competently-written stories that lacked spark, stories that I thought were pretty good but never found homes. A few times I’ve gotten lucky enough to find a market for a piece, but that number is nowhere near the number of stories I’ve written (much less started!).

What do you think of this definition of creativity? And how do you distinguish it from bullheaded stubbornness? *grin*

Filed Under: creativity

midmonth thoughts

February 16, 2009 Leave a Comment

So far this month, I have:

  1. Got a total of 9K words on the new book
  2. Revised and submitted a short
  3. And am in the process of revising another short

My plan was revise and submit three shorts this month. One was to be the latest Elinor story, but I think I need to write a prequel first. The story I have just doesn’t have the high stakes and desperation that it should. I know, I can’t give Elinor a break. Things have to keep getting worse for her.

I went back into the vault and dug up a short I wrote a few years ago (titled Glider World: A Story; intriguing I know). I’ve always liked this story, but something about the way I resolved the plot bothered me. I thought up a fix, but that would mean gutting the story, changing the locale and throwing out most of the 7K words I’ve written on it. Worth it? I don’t know. I see short stories as one-shot things; either they work or they don’t, moving right along now.

My next contender I can’t find a good market for.

It’s not been the best writing month for me. My constant companion has been this niggling little voice whispering and whispering, “Why bother? There are so many better writers out there. Just sit back and enjoy their books. Why bother? There are so many books in the world already, more than anyone could possibly read. Why bother?” I’m ignoring it, but I’d be lying if I said that it hasn’t negatively affected my motivation.

This is not a very cheerful post, is it? How are you doing?

Filed Under: goals, kai, motivation, short stories

kids in the wild

February 14, 2009 2 Comments

In my dark moments (usually when lying awake, unable to sleep, in the middle of the night), I’ve questioned our decision to keep the kids at home instead of sending them to preschool. Can I, I wondered, really compete with trained teachers, playground equipment, and tons of art supplies, manipulatives and educational toys? Then I read this in Your Child’s Growing Mind by Jane Healy and felt better about raising the kids in the “wild” so to speak, instead of an enriched school environment:

Neuroanatomist Marian Diamond, a pioneer in studying the effects of environmental enrichment on brains, is a living example of lifelong creativity. In her career analyzing the brains of laboratory rats, she realized that seeking out and pursuing interesting challenges is the brain’s natural mechanism to keep neural connections exercised–and growing. For rats, “enrichment” consisted of interesting “toys” and exercise equipment that was changed often enough to provide ongoing challenges. The more active and curious the rats, the larger their brains grew. Nonetheless, rats in laboratory cages never reached the level of those raised among the natural challenges of their unartificial wild environments.

Now, of course we aren’t rats, and we certainly won’t be dropping the kids off in the middle of the woods and leaving them to fend for themselves (tempted though we may be sometimes, heh). However, there is something to be said about parents and children living and learning along side each other, of integrating kids into lives of purpose, instead of sequestering them away with others of their age, doing meaningless busywork. I’m not at all saying that free-form painting and building with legos are bad; in fact play is work at their ages, and developmentally appropriate. But I do want my kids to be involved in the small but important processes of life; cooking with mom, holding the hammer for dad, sowing seeds and picking green beans, folding and putting away laundry, learning to play with their baby brother. Early school, to me, seems more about training for more school, and less about training for real life.

Filed Under: creativity, guilt, kids at play

linkatopia

February 10, 2009 Leave a Comment

This is the SF&F writer edition, apparently:

Author Jay Lake on staying the course.

Agent Kristin Nelson’s assistant, Sara Megibow, is now acquiring books. What caught my eyes was this:

Science Fiction and Fantasy = This is probably my all time favorite genre. For me, it is important to create a vivid, intense world that is incorporated seamlessly into an engaging story with complex characters. No big deal, right? Here are some recent reads which I feel capture these qualities: OLD MAN’S WAR by John Scalzi, THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA by Scott Lynch and HIS MAJESTY’S DRAGON by Naomi Novik. I also love everything written by Robin McKinley and Carol Berg.

Best Colleges Online list of the Top 100 Creative Writing Sites (via Maternal Spark)

Recently discovered blogs: Science Fiction & Fantasy Novelists (am I learning from the pros or Internet stalking? you decide) and Fantasy Debut (found while doing some market analysis).

Filed Under: linktopia

snitch-snatching

February 9, 2009 Leave a Comment

I’m always looking to learn from other writers. On Friday evening, I read Sarah Prineas’ The Magic Thief in one long sitting (okay, maybe I moved between rocking chair and futon a few times). One of her stylistic devices that I rather enjoyed was the use of hyphenated verb or adjective combinations: the “black-dark” night, the “step-tapping” of the cane-carrying magician; the “dash-flashing” of magic. It could be annoying if overused, but it suited this particular book’s voice and added an appealing rhythmic quality to the prose.

It’s something I can see myself trying out in a short story or two.

Writer folks, have you picked up something new from a published novel to add to your craft recently?

Filed Under: Uncategorized

ah, yes. i write. some times.

February 7, 2009 4 Comments

It occurs to me that I have neglected to report my writing progress of late. Not that there is much progress to report. Cold-suffering kids, cranky kids, cuddle-wanting kids; evening time brain numbness; the siren-song lure of fantasy novels and my own lack of self-discipline have made the progress slow.

However.

I did finish tinkering with that synopsis.

And I took advantage of D. being home on weekends to disappear into my room to write. I’ve got 6,410 words on Kai’s book (title, please?) to show for it. This is my How to Think Sideways novel and I’ve had success using some of Holly’s tricks to come up with plot goodness. Clustering, character and world worksheets, and the Law of Unintended Consequences have been my friends. My Muse (or subconscious or brain or spleen or whatever part of me that does the creative thing) is keeping about two scenes ahead of me, which is fine. It’s a bit boring to have the whole book charted out ahead of time. I like my unexplored off-the-edge territories and the parts labeled Here Be Dragons. Specifically, I like throwing my characters into those areas and seeing what they can scare up. Heh.

My goal for the month is to get my wordcount for this book up to 12K.

Filed Under: kai, writing process

handmade

February 7, 2009 4 Comments

I crocheted this scarf for my daughter a few weeks ago. I had last crocheted over four years ago (BC = Before Children). I wanted an easy pattern but couldn’t find one for a scarf. So I adapted a pattern I had for a (don’t laugh) crocheted dishcloth and went on my merry way.

I found that, as usual, I started off tight and loosened my stitches as I went along. I was also unable to get the right number of stitches row after row, so I had to adjust by adding and subtracting stitches. The scarf is not of uniform width, so it’s a good thing I wasn’t trying to create a sweater or hat where keeping good count of the stitches is actually important.

But, as D., said “handmade is supposed to look handmade”, and my daughter does not disdain it. Sir I. has also requested a scarf, in blue. He’ll have to wait until the fall, because I’m not going to jinx the coming of spring by making more winter items.

This time around I actually finished up the project by tucking in the ends of yarn. I don’t have a yarn needle, but I made one out of a baggie tie and it worked just fine.

I like crocheting, but I don’t think I’ll ever be more than a scarf-and-blanket-making dabbler. If I have to give myself a repetitive stress injury, I’d rather it be through writing than crocheting, hee.

Have you done any yarn projects lately? Do share.

Filed Under: handmade

linkatopia

February 3, 2009 Leave a Comment

Agent Nephele Tempest discusses simultaneous vs. multiple submissions.

Changes in publishing? This Time article speculates.

My friend Cat (who is a writer and musician), has started a series on her blog about The Life Artistic. I love her idea about every artist creating a toolbox:

Fill that toolbox, even if it’s with things you think you’ll never use, because an artist can learn something from everyone and everything. And, without a strong foundation to stand on, an artist can’t make informed choices, and without informed choices, we’re always at the mercy of others’ taste and experiences.

Finally, a porridge that might actually go over well in our house: Cocoa-Peanut Porridge.

And, lastly, my friend Emily made this lovely double-pointed needle case. Functional and beautiful. I love the colors. It almost makes me want to haul out my sewing machine and (re)learn how to use it. (But I know my limitations, so I won’t).

Actually, one more link, for laughs: Churches or prisons? Take a look at these architectural monstrosities and decide.

Filed Under: linktopia
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