Category Archives: Uncategorized

I know. I’ve been AWOL.

First, I had company. I think. It was a long time ago. Then there was the Bastrop County fire. My parents and youngest sister and her family live in Bastrop County. The fire was mostly closer to Bastrop, but it got pretty close. That’s the view from Baby Sister’s back yard during the fire.

And since the fire was between them and our brother’s house up north of Austin (it’s closer), and the kids were out of school (well, the nephew who’s a freshman at Texas State was sent back to San Marcos), it seemed like a good time for a road trip to the beach. So they checked Daddy out of the nursing home and everybody came to Galveston, including Lucy the cranky old lady terrier mix and Flash the fish. (He’s a Siamese fighting fish, and came in a canning jar.)

We had a really nice time, believe it or not, even though we spent a lot of time watching TV and online looking for news about the fires. Since there was a fire north of Houston at the same time, most of the local news was about that fire, but we did get the Austin stations on the internet.

We worked Daddy about half to death. Tuesday, we walked him and Mama around the block. Then in the afternoon, we made him walk down to the beach with us. It’s not but about 2-1/2 blocks, but this is a man who gets up in the morning, eats breakfast, takes a nap, eats lunch, takes another nap, eats dinner, and goes to bed after watching a little TV. He’s still skinny as a rail. And he took a nap on the beach. (We had some big beach towels spread out, so he didn’t get too sandy.) I went out in the water with the kids. Laura and her 21-year-old daughter Molly hung on to Mama so she could stand in the surf without getting knocked over–that surf just washes the sand right out from under your feet, besides being surfy and shoving at you.

We went out to good ol’ Shrimp ‘N Stuff for supper and Daddy missed the step as we were leaving, and fell and skint his elbow all up. (Ack!) (also, sigh). He got blood on his shirt–just a scrape, but sometimes they will really bleed. The fella got him all bandaged up, and he went to bed fine, but the next morning, I had to make him go change his bloody shirt, because he put it on again. You kind of have to take away his dirty clothes to keep him from wearing them again. (sigh again) Anyway, they all left to go back home Wednesday afternoon, except for Molly, who gets migraines from smoke. It was really smoky back in the fire area. She stayed with her boyfriend, who lives somewhere in the area–but there are a lot of south-of-Houston suburbs…

That’s pretty much all the excitement we’ve had. I’m trying to get some writing done. Trying to get my “independent publishing” stuff set up. (Argghh!) Every time I think I’m ready to upload a story, I realize there’s something else I need to get ready first. I keep backing up, and backing up… It’s just craziness.

Now that the heat has finally sort of moderated (It’s still reaching the high 80s to low 90s pretty much every day), I’m walking more. I even have gotten myself back into decent enough shape that I took the Dolly-dog out for a walk yesterday. She’s put on a little weight, gotten herself out of shape, so that her tongue was dragging by the time we reached the halfway point, so she wasn’t dragging me so much. I also found a whole angel-wing shell, about 5 inches long (okay, maybe only 4-1/2), out on the beach, and I’ve seen some new birds out fishing. At first I thought it was a snowy egret that was just silhouetted in the sun. But when I got a better angle on it, it was pretty much the same color as the sand. And it was jumping around and raising its wings and–well, dancing in the surf as it fished. I think it was a reddish egret, going by the color and behavior mostly. Its neck wasn’t that red, and I don’t remember the pink on the beak–but I think the young birds aren’t as red as the older ones, so maybe it was a teenager reddish egret.

So, anyway, that’s all the news that’s not too boring. I’d swear I’ll keep up better here on the blog, but I hate to swear to things I’m pretty sure I will eventually do, or not do, as the case may be. I do think about posting. I’ll see something pretty, and think–“Ooh, that would be cool to share.” And then I don’t. Sigh, yet again.

It’s been a lazy day, and will continue to be, I imagine. I’m going to get up in a little bit and go wash the knives in the kitchen. I’ve written the day’s pages (DAY 18!!) and I am now posting a blog stating that I have written my day’s pages.

I do still have a little laundry to fold for the week, and probably have a couple more housekeeping things to do, but yeah, it’s a lazy day. I don’t have anywhere I have to go. Nothing I have to do. I’m actually thinking about heading out to the big mall to do a little shopping, because the end of season sales have started. Or maybe I’ll sit around the house and read. I did go get all those library books after all.

The books on my list of “read” books are starting to back up. I’m getting them slowly into my GoodReads list, but I’m slow. They keep getting backed up because I try to write something about them, and that takes a bit of time, which makes me slower. And then I do things like read 3 books in a day. (I read Amazon Queen by Lori Devoti, A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh, and Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery all yesterday.)

So yeah, things are pretty much the same as always. I’m writing, but the rest of life is slow.

Six years ago, less a week, I wrote a blog post titled “Protect the Work.” It’s all about how, once you decide what story you want to write, you need to protect it from outside influences.

It’s an important concept. One new writers tend to have trouble with. It’s more “You don’t like that? Fine, I can change it!” Of course, there are some new writers for whom their every word is golden and should never be touched by human hands (or pens). Both attitudes create problems.

I firmly believe a writer should protect his/her work. Know the story you’re writing–what kind of story it is and what you want to say with it. What it’s about. And protect it. Write that story.

But be prepared to follow the story where it goes. Down whatever path it might wander.

Stories do that, you know. They’re flighty creatures. They tend to take it into their heads to go see what it might look like over here. Or, what about that? What if that happens instead? Plotters do all of this wandering about during their plotting phase, before they really get started with the writing. Pantsers do it while they’re writing, in the midst of the writing. Those of us who fall somewhere in between–the story can make us crazy. But we do have room to follow the story where it leads. ‘Cause it’s going to lead you.

In the Rose books, I really had no intention of Torchay being a major character. The two main characters were going to be Kallista and Stone. And Stone IS a major character. But Torchay…just sorta — happened. The plot’s still the same as the outline I came up with. But the story went entirely astray from my original ideas. And it’s the better for it.

Writers need to be able to hold two contradictory ideas in their heads at the same time. Because we DO two opposing things at the same time. We know what the story is. But we have to be open to changing it as we go along, as the story unfolds.

I am currently writing a steampunk novella. I’m trying to make it erotic, but don’t know how successful I am at that, because it’s not going exactly like I thought it would. It’s still a steampunk novella–though the steam and the punkness hasn’t quite kicked in yet–but it’s veering. Or maybe it’s taking side trips. I’m not driving straight ahead like I thought I would.

Maybe it’s the novella bit I’m having trouble with. I have always had trouble writing short. I’m always coming up with this cool bit, and that great character, and this other neat story angle. This is why I need a road map, and a ruthless red pen. So I can keep myself on the proper path, and then cut out all the extraneous foliage–er, verbiage–when I get to wherever it is I’m going.

That said, I came up with a fabulous detail for the ending of this story yesterday. The story still ends with the sacrifice ending, with the hopeful twist–but there’s a twist to the twist that I really like. And I can’t tell you what it is, because that would be a spoiler.

So I’m on DAY 17, and I went to the dentist and got the chip on the inside of my lower incisor filled in and smoothed out in just 30 minutes! And I need to go beat the boy about the head and shoulders. He’s still asleep, and it’s 3 p.m. Shame on him! I am reading too many books today.

Okay, it’s not much like wandering if you’re just driving around town, but it feels wander-y. And I did drive up to League City. Of course, it’s only 20 miles away–when we lived in the Panhandle, I drove to Amarillo once a week–60 miles one way. It’s nice when you only have to drive 20 minutes to get where you’re going. And sometimes less.

This is another week of appointments. Yesterday, I went back to the dermatologist, because they didn’t get all the spot on my forehead the first time. And I decided I wanted the wart or whatever on my nose gone. But the open appointment was in League City, not Galveston. So I drove up there, they froze my forehead again and shaved the whatsit off my nose, and then I went to lunch and went shopping. The scab is tiny, and if it makes a scar, that will be tiny too. Less noticeable than the thingamajig that they took off. But I am wearing a bandaid for the next week. I may wind up with a round un-tanned place on my nose. (I plan to stay out of the sun, though.)

Today, I went to the library this afternoon, and on the way, I drove by the eyeglasses place and decided to stop and order some prescription sunglasses. I’ve needed a new pair since December or so, but put it off for a while. They will be cute. They are aviator-style but with turquoise/navy earpieces with hearts on them. Very cool.

We have a visitor for a few days–friend of the son’s who needs a place to stay while she does interviews. I’m having to figure out meals adaptable to a vegetarian diet. It’s been kind of fun, but really different. We’ve had black beans & rice, stuffed baked potatoes and maybe taco salad, or tacos, tonight. Taco salad is probably more adaptable. But I’m still writing.

Today is DAY 16. I’ve slowed down a bit–yesterday, because I had to leave the house early to go to my appointment, and today, because the boy got a phone call, and while he doesn’t talk quite as loud as his father, he’s plenty loud. But I’m still getting well over 100 words.

The Book: Kraken by China Mieville

The Particulars: Del Rey books, 2010, hardback, in print and available as an e-book.

Why was it in my TBR pile? I used to belong to the Science Fiction Book Club. Last June or July or August or so, the book turned up in my mailbox, and when I opened it, thinking it was something else, it looked intriguing enough that I kept it (and paid for it). It only took me a year to get around to reading it. 😉

The Review:  This was an interesting, but weird, book. It’s about the end of the world, how it comes about because a preserved giant squid is stolen from a museum. Or does it? It’s about belief, and magic, and things like that–how they feed off each other. About noticing things, and about trust and evil and–oh, all sorts of things. It’s funny, and scary, and it took me a long while to read, because I could put it down–but I always had to pick it back up again. Very interesting book. A good read.

Yes, my TBR book for July was about a giant squid. A dead giant squid, causing the end of the world. A truly strange read–but oddly fitting for what apparently was July’s theme: Fairy tales. Okay, I can’t think of any fairy tales about giant squid, right offhand, but it sounds fairy-tale-ish.

So. There is my review. Yes, it’s short, but Kraken is almost impossible to boil down to anything longer than a paragraph. You either have to re-tell the whole frickin’ story, or you have to just… boil.

And now: DAY 13!!!! I wrote enough I can take tomorrow off if I need to–which I probably will, but might not, since the story is really starting to percolate in my head. We will see how it goes.

And I have counted up–so far, I have read 31 books this month. Have not put them all into GoodReads yet, but I’m working on it. Just so I can whittle the 600+ books on my TBR list down a bit.

Today was a lazy, reading day. I finished Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, and also read A Lady’s Lesson in Scandal by Meredith Duran and Red’s Hot Honky Tonk Bar by Pamela Morsi. I liked them all, but really liked the last two a lot.

Well, looks like Tropical Storm Don will be heading to Texas south of Corpus Christi–or thereabouts. However, we have benefited a little. It rained really hard for about 20 minutes this afternoon. And sorta hard for about 5 minutes this morning. Yeah, I know Corpus needs the rain as bad as we do. Pretty much ALL of Texas needs the rain as bad as we do. (I think there are about 5 counties north of DFW that are only in a mild drought, instead of extreme drought, like the rest of us.) But we really want more rain here, and 60 mph winds? Pfft! We used to get 70 mph straight-line winds on a regular basis up in the Panhandle. Tropical storm-strength winds aren’t going to raise many roofs.

Yeah, you know the drought’s bad when you’re hoping for a hurricane. (But only a level 1.)

I did get my pages written this a.m. I’m still on track. If I’d started earlier, I might’ve gone more than 3 pages. But I did get 3, so I am on DAY 12.

I will take Sunday off from writing this week, I think. A friend of the boy’s will be here Sunday night to stay for a bit, so I need to clean up the office, etc. Find a place where she can put her suitcase… That sort of thing.

Oh, I remember what else I was going to say. I missed my TBR review this month, because that was the week the grandboys were here. I did read a book for the TBR: KRAKEN by China Mieville. I shall do a post for it tomorrow.

This past week, I’ve read several books. I am currently reading CLOCKWORK ANGEL by Cassandra Clare. It’s interesting. I’m enjoying it so far. Otherwise, I’ve caught up on Eileen Wilks’s series by reading both Blood Magic and Blood Challenge, so I’m ready for the new one this fall. I’ve read both THE HEIR and THE SOLDIER by Grace Burrowes. Liked all of them. I’m just trying to make it to the library before my books are due. Sometime next week, I think. Tuesday? The Clare book is from the library…

Need to go catch up on GoodReads. I keep getting ahead of myself.

Okay, so yesterday was Day 10, when I got myself back into double-digit writing days again. But DAY 11 is still double digits. My goal is 100 words for 100 days, but my new interim goal is Day 20. I aim to make it there, because I haven’t yet done 20 days in a row without missing one. (You know the deal about taking a day off–I can count ONE day off a week as a writing day if I designate it ahead of time, and I write 200 words the day before.)

I am also writing more than 100 words. I’ve made it to 3 pages for 3 days in a row, and I’m actually breaking the rules, because I’m not supposed to brag about how much over the 100 words I’ve gone–but I’m going to do it here, because I’m just bragging to y’all. And there was a time I could write 6 pages a day. I am trying to get back up to that point–and hopefully build beyond it.

I am also trying to get two to three additional things done per day from my list of “things to do.” Like going by the optometrist to order a new pair of prescription sunglasses, or get stinkin’ Comcast to fix my e-mail. I had trouble getting it set up on the last computer, called and worked with them for about an hour when I got this new computer, and it still doesn’t work. It’s an alternate address, but it’s an important alternate address, and I really need access to it. Sigh. I just know it’s going to take HOURS on the phone with them. I haven’t done those things yet, though. (sigh again)

Today, I took care of my Target list and ran by Marshall’s (It’s so cool that there’s one on the island!) to see if I could pick up a few things without having to drive all the way to mainland stores. I needed a new purse. I’m one of those who carries the same purse until it falls apart–and the purse I bought sometime around Christmas was reaching that point. Usually they last me a year or so, but that one closed with a magnetic snap that was attached to fabric, which meant that eventually the fabric would tear from the stress of being yanked open all the time–which it did. I also needed new houseshoes and another round tablecloth for the breakfast room for similar reasons. (Things falling apart.)

I found houseshoes for $4–they’re white and will probably be instantly filthy, but hey–they cost $4! (And they fit and are comfy. Sometimes it’s nice having big feet.) Found a tablecloth for $10, a pair of cute and comfortable sandals for $20 (Cute and comfortable shoes are always on the “to buy” list, right?) (And these were actual leather!), and a turquoise purse for $14.

I had admired another woman’s aqua purse while I was at the junior college conference in Horseshoe Bay, and thought I could carry one that color, because it would go (more or less) with everything I own. I do not change purses, except when one dies and I get a new one, because inevitably I would forget to put something important (like glasses or wallet) in one, and get myself into trouble. Tonight is the Purse Transfer moment, as it is still empty–even of the paper stuffing. I will put that on my list, so I can cross it off. I get all excited when I can find what I need for cheap prices. Don’t you? Found any bargains lately?

I have an editing job to do by next week. My first official copyedit from Carina Press. I’m all excited.

Have to go up to the mainland to the dermatologist on Monday (I’ll drive up there so I don’t have to wait till September), so I can shop up there without having to make a special trip. That will be fun too. I no longer shop till I drop (or maybe it’s just that my drop point hits sooner), but I do on occasion enjoy it.

So. It’s Wednesday, and I was going to post a blog on a writing topic. I have a draft saved in my draft folder titled “POV, etc.” Problem is, I don’t remember what I was going to say about POV, and I didn’t leave myself any hints in the draft file.

When I was out walking this morning, I was thinking about POV and what I might have wanted to say about it. Like: “POV is a very useful thing.” And: “Here’s a slick way to change from one POV to another without the reader noticing–I figured it out on my own, but I learned later that it’s the same method Suzanne Brockmann uses.”

And I will share that with you eventually, but not today. Because that got me to thinking about all the articles and workshops and books and software that are all intended to teach people how to write. There’s a buttload of it out there. And most of it is good stuff. There are little tricks and techniques that can be learned. I’ve learned a lot of them, but when you’re in the flow–when the story is really coming and you’re getting it down easily and your characters are talking to you and doing their own thing–a lot of times those techniques fall by the way, unless you’ve internalized them. Unless they just come automatically while you’re “blowing and going.” And that usually doesn’t happen until you’ve had a lot of practice in writing stuff.

The thing is–there’s a million ways to write. Some people plan everything out ahead, some plan nothing, some fall in between the two extremes. Some write a single draft (or nearly) and others write multiple drafts, adding in layers every time. And they’re all right. And it’s hard for the people who write one way to explain how they write to someone who writes another way.

I have a dear friend who is also a writer, who is often telling me “You have such great characters. How do you come up with characters like that?” And I have no idea how to explain it to her. Because I don’t actually “come up” with them. I get to know them, like I get to know people in real life.

I use the Enneagram with my characters, because it’s such an in-depth system. But I don’t select the type and then construct my character to fit. I get to know the character, and then decide what type best fits them. Many times, I’ve thought a particular character was one type, and discovered later they weren’t any such thing. I can’t push a character into a mold I’d like them to fit. They just won’t go. But when I tried to explain this to my friend, she couldn’t quite get it. This is because–in the Meyers-Briggs system–she is a sensor (senser?) and I am an intuitive. (We’re opposites, except that we’re both introverts.) I do a fair number of things without quite knowing how I do them.

So, I guess what I’m saying here is that you never know what kind of writing advice / technique / knowledge will or will not work for you. Just because someone is a fabulous writer who’s sold a bazillion books and made bestseller lists, it doesn’t mean that they can tell you how to write. Nor does it mean they can’t.

Stephen King’s writing book is holy writ for some people. Didn’t do a thing for me. I don’t write that way, and I absolutely do not buy it when Stevio says that people who write differently are somehow hacks or lesser beings. (And if that’s not how you interpreted what he said, fine.) What works for you is what works for you.

And how are you going to know what works for you if you don’t try it?

Maybe King’s method does work for you. Give it a whirl. Try it all. Just remember that trying it means WRITING. You can’t know what works if you’re not writing, and writing and writing.

I know that I hate multiple drafts. I’d rather write it all in one big swoopy slog. Once. Other people can’t do it that way, but I hate doing it their way, and the One Time works for me.

I also know that it’s not technically one draft, because I write my first draft in longhand. So my second draft is when I type it in. I don’t make a whole lot of changes when I type it in–mostly I cut out chit-chat and make a lot of notes for later of things I need to add or cut out or clean up, and then when I print it all out, I make those cuts and corrections. I like hard copy because then I can look at multiple pages all at one time, without going blind. (Every time you add a page to your screen, the type gets littler–and I’m kinda blind to start with.)

I know that I have to have a minimal outline–a one-page Hero’s Journey or Beat Sheet with the main plot points on it. But it makes me crazy to go into more detail than that. Which makes me fall somewhere in the middle on the plotter-pantser scale.

I know that notecards and storyboards usually don’t work very well for me. I’m apparently not that visual. (I don’t do those really cool collage boards either, though I’d like to.)

I’m a linear writer–I start at the beginning and work my way through, so having notecards with story scenes that I’m moving around makes no sense to me. The scene happens in that spot because of what’s come before, and it can’t happen anywhere else. I can’t even outline out of order.

This is how I work (and I’m not even talking about characters, here, which is a whole other thing)–and if that helps you in any way–if it allows you to say–“Oh, I get that!” or “So it’s okay that I don’t get storyboards?”–then I have accomplished my purpose. Which has been to say–look at all the writing helps out there, AS LONG AS YOU KEEP WRITING. That’s the main thing. Keep Writing!!!

That said, I did get my writing done today. THREE pages!! (which is … hmm, 100 words is about half a page, so that makes 600 words?) Go me! DAY 10!

I’m late for getting downtown to sing with the band, so I’d better run.

Oh–the picture is from Stone House Vineyard in central Texas. I think the address is Marble Falls, but it might be Spicewood. Not sure. Anyway–I was there on a royally hot day, so I thought I’d share the picture with you.

The grandkids were here. I just did not make it to the computer to type in a blog. I also did not take many pictures. (sigh) (That picture is of the view from our hotel room in Horseshoe Bay, which is where we went the day after my last day at work.) (I know. I am a bad blogger.)

I did write–most of the days. I forgot Saturday, last week. The day the boys arrived. I actually did write on Thursday–Schlitterbahn day–and on Tuesday, when we went up to Houston to the Children’s Museum (TOTALLY worth going to, but from here, you have to plan at least a whole afternoon, because it takes an hour to get there) (and an hour to get home again). Tuesday was also my RWA chapter meeting day. I left from the museum to drive there. It went really well. (Whew!) Meetings can be a little stressful when one is the program person.

The boys went home Sunday noon. I am now officially self-employed, and I need to get busy on that employment. The writing is a large part of it, and I’m doing pretty well on the writing. I am on DAY 9! (Go me!!)

I also need to do things like build a new website for my editing, and learn how to format books and make covers and stuff like that. It’s going to be a busy few weeks, I think.

Tomorrow, I’m going to write a blog post about writing. I am going to try to do writing posts on Wednesdays, because the Ws match. The rest of the time–it’s going to be about stuff.

Like the drought. It’s bad. I know it’s been up in the 100s over most of the country, which is horrible. It’s been that way here in Texas since–oh, May or so. Everything is drying up.

On the way to Horseshoe Bay, we crossed the Pedernales River (which is pronounced Perdnales, for some reason–probably that we’re ornery Texans). Those are not houses down in that “pretty valley.” Those are boat docks. On the bottom of the river. I imagine it’s as green as it is, because that’s the river bottom, and there are a few puddles down there… Now, Texans have a persistent habit of looking to see whether there’s any water in the river any time we cross a bridge (I sometimes even catch myself looking even when crossing the causeway over Galveston Bay). But usually–unless it’s the Red River–they don’t look like that. This is a really bad drought, y’all. We’re thinking it’s going to take a serious tropical storm to break it. Pray for rain, y’all–but not too much of it.