This is a public service announcement. (I always like saying that!).

Many if you may know that I’ve gone through Holly Lisle’s novel writing course, How to Think Sideways. The course runs for six months, guiding a writer through the novel writing process from conception to revision in weekly lessons. It also includes access to forums and workgroups and tons of bonus materials.

I’ve always considered Holly to be a great writing teacher and she has lots of free how-to articles on her website. I took her course at a point when my motivation was really low, and it was a  bridge through that dry land. It brought fiction writing to the front of my mind a few times a week, at least! Like with all courses of this scope, there are certain things I liked, some things that made me go wow! (like the sweet spot maps) and some things that made me go “nehhhh” (book math, too much fussing with index cards; I love index cards, but RB considers it pure drudgery to write out one-sentence summaries of all my scene–and so do I!). Overall, though, this is a fantastic course, and there’s at least one video that I’ve listened to a dozen times because of how powerful and sobering and inspirational it is. Holly’s personality–enthusiastic, funny, down-to-earth–shines through her material.

And after noon this Friday, she’s closing the course to new students until at least spring of next year. So if you’ve been waiting to take the plunge, now might be a good time to join in.

I took last week entirely off because friends were visiting. I’ve spent the last few days catching up with housework, getting back into writing, brainstorming a story and getting back into school. I’ll be back soon, with a reading roundup for September.

How are you all?

Anthology Clockwork Phoenix 3 (“new tales of beauty and strangeness”) is open for submissions from October 1st to November 15th. Guidelines here.

Heard today:

“Mommy, Baron is lucky because he bited a book and got thrown in jail, but he escaped from jail and that’s why he’s lucky!”

Personally, I think it’s pretty darned UNlucky to get thrown into jail for biting a book (hmm, I wonder what would happen if someone broke into a museum and took a huge chunk out of an important document–like say, the Constitution–with their teeth?). But anyhow. Sir I. stands by his definition.

Speaking of Baron, the following exchange made me realize just why my kids are so loud. They can’t get attention any other way.

Me: *pours milk for older kids*
Baron: Me, too? Please?
Me: *pours milk for quiche*
Baron: Milk, mommy? Pleeeeeassse?
Me: *puts milk away in the refrigerator*
Baron: *ear-splitting train-whistle shriek* *agitated flailing of limbs*
Me: Oh? Did you want some milk, too, sweetie?
Baron: YES!

My peas are flowering!

Here are my pea plants. They’re in rather a sad tangle. I planted a variety that supposedly didn’t need support, but I should’ve run chicken wire on stakes between the rows. I did put in sticks here and there to try to support this mass of vegetation, but it was too little, too late, I think. I’ll know better next year.

My beans sprouted. Here are the best-looking specimens. One of my rows was attacked by slugs and overbearing pea plants and looks rather sad. I replanted a few seeds in that one today.

My holey lettuce. It’s been raining a lot and the slugs have been out in full force. I have been able to harvest a lot of lettuce in spite of the sluggish depradations. More than enough for our admittedly small needs. The kidlings are not especially fond of salad, but lettuce is nice and easy and very gratifying to grow.

One of the very few carrots to survive, in spite of repeated seedings. I have horrible luck with carrots. Any tips?

My one complete and utter failure. This barren patch of earth is supposed to be growing pumpkins. I’ve seeded this area twice and the pumpkins are a no-show. I thought pumpkins were easy kid-friendly plants to grow? Sir I. is taking the disappointment with fortitude.

Today, I transplanted four tomato plants that my friend Emily gave to me. I have two more that ought to be put in the ground soon, but I’ve run out of garden space (unless I give up on the pumpkins). I’m going to buy some containers for them tomorrow. They really are running out of room, poor things.

How are things growing in your gardens?

February’s reads were:

• Assassin’s Quest (Robin Hobb)
• The Magic Thief (Sarah Prineas)
• The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
• Drowned Wednesday (Garth Nix)
• Sir Thursday (Garth Nix)
• Coloring Outside the Lines (Roger Schank)
• Boys Adrift (Leonard Sax)

Whew. I sure managed to cram a lot of books into a short month. I really should stop reading so much. It makes the monthly reading roundup so much more work to write up than I’d like it to be. Hee.

On the fantasy front, I finally finished the Farseer trilogy. No spoilers, but I was driven almost mad by the random meandering journeying in the first third (?!) of the book. It took Fitz far too long to get around to doing what he should’ve done by page 50. Harrumph. I also would like to express my disappointment in the ending. Of course, now I’m going to read the Tawny Man trilogy so that I can be further disapproving and critical. Really. *grin*

Finally got ahold of a copy of The Magic Thief. Quick, fun and entertaining, though the plot felt slight. One major plot point could’ve easily been resolved a couple chapters in, but instead Evil Almost Triumphed because Good Was Not Listening. Overall, though, a thoroughly enjoyable MG-level read with one or two absolutely hysterical moments (if you read it, you’ll know what I mean ).

The Keys of the Kingdom continue to enthrall me, but I’m trying to pace myself here. The stakes have been upped, the Nithlings are more organized, powerful figures are making a bid for sole control and Arthur is in danger of losing his humanity the more he wields the Keys. Great fun.

My classic read was The Good Earth, a novel that I liked and loathed in turns. The loathing, alas, increased as I got towards the end because, really, the characters did fairly loathsome things. Which, perhaps, was the point of the story: more wealth leads to more disconnect from the earth which leads to overall loathsome-ness. Or something like that.

Coloring Outside the Lines and Boys Adrift were my two education-related reads. I liked the latter better. I agreed with Coloring Outside the Lines for the most part (yes, yes, formal schooling turns children into unmotivated uncreative automata), but I found the attitude of the writer to be… overly smug, maybe? He made a lot of statements that were backed up by personal anecdotes, not research. Boys Adrift was better researched, and quite a bit more worrisome and thought-provoking.

What did you read in February that you loved or loathed?

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?

My New Year’s resolution last January was pretty simple: survival. Barring any unfortunate occurrences in the next 12-ish hours, I can say that I was pretty successful at that.

This year, my resolutions are more ambitious, and can be summed up as more. This year, I want to do more of the things that uplift me, that challenge me, that make me a better person. More prayer. More writing. More spending time with my husband and my kids. More reading (or at the very least, not any less reading than I’ve done this year!).

In order to accomodate these ambitions, other things are going to have to give, the prime example being mindless Internet surfing. I’m going to try to be more efficient with my housekeeping (and use child labor to help me out a bit, heh). And, oh yeah, I’m going to learn to live on a lot less sleep.

*pause for mocking laughter*

Okay, maybe not the less-sleep part.

And finally, I’m going to enjoy life. My life. Not someone’s life or the life I wish I had, but the life I have now. My life at this moment, which consists of a two-year-old “sleeping” in a makeshift “boat”, a drooling but happy baby, a four-year-old attempting a 100-piece puzzle by himself, and a charmingly messy house (complete with piles of laundry to fold).

Speaking of which, I should probably get out of my pajamas, too.

I live you with links:

JA Konrath has resolutions for writers.

PBW has more links.

See you next year!

(Hat tip PBW)

TV Reviews

Is my kids at play category dragging down the intellectual level of the blog? Unsurprisingly, one need only have an elementary education in order to read my LJ. I talk about my kids a lot on there.

I wonder if posting snippets of my college papers (resource dependency in Mongolia anyone?) would improve the intellectual tone around here? Perhaps if I’m really, really stumped for blogging ideas. Not.