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Last one at the dayjob, anyway. I have enjoyed working at The Daily News. Of course, I’m such an introvert, I haven’t really got to know everyone as much as I might have. And I’ve really missed the Brit since he got laid off in January. Since he left, it’s just been easier to wrap myself up in the job and the Internet and not mingle so much. Of course, these days most of the reporters, etc. are 30 years or more younger than me, so… And yeah, most of the stuff I do doesn’t show up online, since “Applause” is so photo-heavy. I’ve spend half my days putting pictures of people donating stuff and/or getting awards into the computer system, and most of the other half cleaning up letters to the editor and thinking up snarky headlines (most of which get used, to my amusement) as part of putting things into the computer.

It won’t be a whole lot different, copyediting for Carina–except the grammar and punctuation should be a whole lot better. I don’t expect that Carina Press accepts much that’s been written in all caps. Or without any caps. Or punctuation. Or things with two periods here, and none on the next sentence–because, hey–there was an extra on the last one! Or anything that has “leopolds” that “don’t change their strips.”

Tomorrow, the fella and I are going to Marble Falls (that’s in Texas) for a conference of his–which is why today’s my last day–so I think I’m going to try to get extra words, in case I don’t get any written tomorrow. But tomorrow might not be my day off. I might need to take Thursday. I’m making contingency plans to take one day or the other off. I’ll have to work really hard this next week to get my 100 words done every day–because the grandboys are coming the day we get home, and Pirate Week at SeaCamp starts Monday. However, there IS the time they’ll be at SeaCamp. That said, I did get up to

DAY 5

Yes, I wrote my 100 words yesterday. I probably could have written more, but there was a lot of other stuff I needed to do in my office (which did not include cleaning it up… sigh), so I did that.

Okay, gotta run.

This morning, someone said that it takes about six weeks to thoroughly establish a new habit, which is why most people don’t manage it…because they don’t make six weeks. I made about two, so I’ve got a ways to go. Still, I wrote today. I made it to DAY 4.

And today, I wrote actual words on my story. I wrote the opening scene. My Post-It Note scene board is kinda thin–but that’s okay with me. I’m writing a novella. If I filled it up, I’d have a novel. I’m really good at expanding on what I have. I am a “taker-outer”–amongst all the other divisions in the writing world, like plotter and pantser and puzzler, someone has divided writers into “putter-inners” and “taker-outers.” A taker-outer writes long, then cuts to size. Anyway, I wrote actual words. So I’m good.

Now, on to more interesting stuff… or other stuff that’s interesting to me, anyway…

I went out walking yesterday morning. Shoulda probably gone out this evening, but haven’t yet, and the sun’s going down. Anyway, I was impressed by all the umbrellas they were putting out. The past couple of years, they only put umbrellas to the left of where I reach the seawall. Saturday morning, they put a double row to the left, but they had a whole row off to the right. Not sure you can see them in this picture, but there’s a row of little blue dots just past the lifeguard stand. More folks have been coming to Galveston this year.

So have the pelicans. I know I’ve talked about how many pelicans there are…but this time, I’ve got proof! And I forgot to share it back when I got it.

While we were sitting out on the seawall on July 4, waiting for the sun to go down, the pelicans were flying out to the Gulf from –I think Deer Island is where they nest. I can point to it from the causeway, but am never sure of the name. They really come out in force at dusk and dawn. So they were flying over in big numbers.

Pelicans like to fly in lines. Usually, they’re in straight lines, not the Vs like geese, but if enough of them line up, sometimes, they’ll make a V. And most of the time, they’re in lines of three or four up to about 15 pelicans. Being such big birds, and flying in straight lines like that, they’re fairly easy to count, so when I saw a Big V of pelicans flying by Monday night, I counted them. And wow! That line had 24 pelicans–a full two dozen! I counted several other lines of 10 and 12 birds, and several of one or two. Then came the big momma V… 45 pelicans. Forty. Five. All in one bunch. I’m pretty sure these were all different pelicans, not the same ones circling round, because they were all–every single one–flying west to east, heading up the island and gradually out over the water. Like they came out one way, and went home another. It was soooooooo cool!

Now this picture, I took yesterday in hopes that y’all (and me) could see the color change in the water. It goes from greenish to blue a ways out there… but it doesn’t really show that well, does it? Oh well. Still, it’s pretty cool that this is just a block or so from my house…

Oh! And one more bit of news. I mentioned, didn’t I, that I had received “signs from the universe” and that I’ll be leaving the day job? (Two more days, and I’m heading to Marble Falls with the fella for him to go to a conference, and me to go…write.) I applied to do some freelance copyediting with a publisher but hadn’t heard if I had it for sure, when I resigned. Well, I got the job. I will be doing copyediting for Carina Press, which is the e-first publisher for Harlequin Ltd. Contract’s signed, “preference” list is turned in (I turned down horror and thriller and things like that, because I am a wimp), and I’m all ready to go. I’m excited.

Also, I’ve been on a bit of a reading binge. (I did go to the library.) I finished NATIVE STAR by Hobson. I have read DREAMS OF A DARK WARRIOR by Kresley Cole (good), and THE BIKINI CAR WASH by Pamela Morsi (good), and HARD FALL by James Buchanan. I may have read something else in there, but I don’t remember, if I did. I’m started on both SILK IS FOR SEDUCTION by Loretta Chase and JUST LIKE HEAVEN by Julia Quinn. I think I’m more in a Quinn mood, so I’ll probably finish it first. And with the trip to Marble Falls later this week, I ought to be able to read more.

I’m going to have to plan out my “no writing day”–see which day I’ll have more busyness…

Holy crap, y’all– I have used Tarot cards in my writing before. A lot. I use them to do character readings, so I can look deeper into my characters. I use them for GMC (goal, motivation and conflict–but y’all know that, right?). But I do not think they have EVER done such an amazing job for me.

See, after I wrote on Thursday, I took a hard look at my story thus far, and realized it sucked. I have a great premise, but I really didn’t have an actual story. No plot.

So I pulled out my Blake Snyder Beat Sheet–which first I had to find in one of my backup hard drives, then had to adjust so I could get it to fit all on one page again–and realized I hadn’t plotted anything in so long, I couldn’t remember what all the beats meant. So I had to hunt up the book, which I had loaned to the son who is doing some writing, and he had to hunt it up from the depths of his desk. I re-read the Beat Sheet chapter, then I re-read the rest of the book, kind of in reverse order. Then I looked at the sheet I’d printed out again, and realized that I really and truly did not have any plot at all whatsoever, because I had NOTHING to put on the sheet. I had my premise, and my characters, and beyond that? Nada.

I mean, I knew where I thought the thing should start, and I kinda had an idea of a couple of things that might happen, but where exactly on the beat sheet should they go? Were they the ‘break into two’ or maybe the B-Story, or what? No clue.

I stared at that sheet for a while longer, before it occurred to me that maybe the Tarot cards could help. They certainly couldn’t hurt. My main deck is in my red bag in the living room and I didn’t want to go get it, but I have a duplicate deck (I use the Shakespearean Tarot–those cards in the image above are some of them) on a shelf in my office, so I grabbed that one. And wham!

Opening image was the 8 of Sceptres/Wands. Things are changing quickly, good things coming. Okay. That will work. Then the theme–which I did not have a clue about– And up comes Strength. Which totally suits the story as well–strength of character is more important than strength of body… Then for the set-up, I got The Empress, Reversed. The Empress is all about being a woman. A woman of authority. (It has other meanings too, but…) And since my main character is a woman whose very womanliness has been taken away from her at the beginning of the story… You see where I’m going here?

Okay, as I got further into the Beat Sheet, some of the cards weirded me out. For instance, the Final Scene card came up as the 5 of Orbs/Cups, which is all about loss and grief. I’m writing a romance–we don’t do sad endings. But, on the other hand, I’m plotting a novella, which I plan to be one of a series which will make up a larger story. If I make the ending about loss, but make it optimistic–a “this is bad now, but it’s not the way it will stay”…maybe it will work.

And the happy thing for me is, if the market I’m writing it for doesn’t work, there’s plenty of other places it can go. And I can always draw another card, if I don’t like the one I got. Or just change the ending. But I kind of like it now … the ending I have in mind.

So, I am up to Day 3, since I’ve actually written a lot of words today. They may not be part of the actual manuscript, but I wrote them, and they progress the story, so I’m gonna count them!

Or “trying again.” ‘Cause I’m not real sure what “redux” means. (Wait–let me go look it up…)

Redux means “brought back” so it fits. I’ve brought the topic back. Because I didn’t get around to coming back and writing about it yesterday. See, I had the dayjob till almost 4 p.m., then I had to drive to the medical school health clinic for a dermatologist appointment, then I had to get my head examined (literally) and my brain frozen (sorta–it was a spot on my forehead they froze), and then it was time to change to go downtown to sing. I sang till 8:30 p.m., got home at close to 9, went out with the fella and the boy to Salsa’s for supper–it was mariachi night–the mariachi band was playing, and they were good! (I had Pollo del Mar–chicken with a seafood sauce that had crab meat, shrimp and crawfish in it–YUM!) Anyway, by the time we got home, I was exhausted, and I just didn’t make it. I didn’t get any writing done, so I have to start over on my day-counting, and I sure didn’t get back here to write anything on what I wanted to write about.

I’m going to try to make Wednesdays about Writing. But if you’ve been following my blog for very long, you probably know that I’m not very good about being organized. I do pretty good for a while, then something happens (like getting my head frozen) (The spot’s not cancerous or anything, it’s just big and brown and scaly and itchy, and I want it gone.), and my good intentions fall completely apart. I will do my VERY best, but… It’s me.

So. Have you ever gotten one of those rejections? The ones that say “I just couldn’t connect with your characters”? If you’re a writer, I’m sure you’ve received rejections, but if you’re lucky, yours said something besides “Thanks, but no thanks.” Because then you can do something about it–for the next submission, because unless the rejection says “I’d be happy to look at this again, after revisions,” you don’t send this same thing back to the editor. You’re better off writing something new anyway. But you’re also better off writing characters your reader can connect to. How do you do this, you ask? Well…

I’m sure you’ve heard “Your characters can do anything they want, as long as you motivate it.” Right? The problem is, sometimes that motivation doesn’t come through on the page. Writing classes usually say “Less is more,” and “Show, don’t tell.” And yes, that is important. But sometimes, less is just less. And you’re showing all you can, and the reader just can’t see. Because there’s nothing really there to see but words. Little chicken scratches on paper.

This is where what I call “The Novelist’s Secret Weapon” comes in. See, today’s writer of fiction is … yeah, I think the word I want is handicapped. So much of the entertainment we consume is visual. It’s movies and video games and television. Yes, it’s all stories, but the stories are acted out. We’re seeing the story, and yes, hearing it too. And writers tend to write their novels almost as if they were screenplays. Oh, they’re in a prose format–but all you get is action and dialogue. Or maybe the action stops for some backstory or other exposition. Problem is–movies and television have actors, and we’ve been reading body language and facial expressions for thousands of years longer than we’ve been reading words. So you need more.

The Novelist’s Secret Weapon is that you can give your reader more. We can crawl inside the character’s head and share what they’re thinking and what they’re feeling and how they react to the events in the story. If you’re not giving us something from inside your character’s head every few paragraphs, you’re not giving us anything to connect with. We need that thought and reaction and emotion in order to connect.

Here’s how I did it in my first book with Tor, New Blood:

“I want to do it today,” Amanusa said. “I want you to take the blood and put it in the porridge pot, and in the tea kettle. Those who don’t eat porridge drink tea, and those who don’t drink tea–”

“Yes, Miss Whitcomb.” Jax waited, bent over in the doorway.

“Can you do it without anyone noticing?”

“Of course. Yvaine often had me deliver the blood to the vessel.”

“Don’t stand there blocking the light,” she snapped, irritated for no reason and annoyed because of it. “Come in or go out, but don’t stand in the doorway.”

“Of course, Miss Whitcomb.” He left the tent.

“No, come back.”

Obedient as always, he returned and waited for her command. Amanusa wished she knew what to ask of him.

“You think I’m wrong, don’t you?” She didn’t know she was going to say it until the words were out. “You don’t think I should do it.”

 I highlighted the internal things, so you wouldn’t miss them. You don’t have to put the thoughts/reactions in every paragraph. It’s better if you don’t, in fact. But whenever something happens your character would have a reaction to–show their reaction.

Here’s a short excerpt from China Mieville’s Kraken:

“The boy peeped. He looked at the bone apatosaurus that Billy had seemed to greet. Or maybe, Billy thought, he was looking at the glyptodon beyond it. All the children had a favorite inhabitant of the Natural History Museum’s first hall, and the glyptodon, that half-globe armadillo giant, had been Billy’s.” 

The blue is direct thought. The green is narrative that conveys something only the character would know. But you need to keep it up, connecting the reader with the characters through their thoughts, knowledge and emotions, the way they react to things. Here, Mieville shows Billy connecting with the little boy at the museum, and that makes us connect with him, at least a bit, by showing Billy as a little boy himself. One who liked dinosaurs.

Do you see? One way to help the reader connect with the character is by showing what is going on inside the character–who they are deep down inside. We can’t see, literally, what the character is doing, but we have that Secret Weapon. We can show what’s inside their brains. And if we don’t use it, we’re going to lose–not the weapon, but the reader.

Now–it may be that you have plenty of thought, emotion and reaction, but the reader still can’t connect because, well, your character just isn’t coming off as likable. *raises hand* Been there, done that, wore out the T-shirt. And I know how to fix that too. But that’s a topic for another day.

I’ll have to write something in a little bit, so I can start over on Day 1. I wrote enough on Tuesday that if I had decided beforehand to take Wednesday off, and it wasn’t too close to the last day I took off, I could have… but I didn’t decide beforehand, and it’s less than a week, so I have to start over. Ugh. Yeah, I’m all whiney. I’ll come back and add to this after I write.

DAY 1

Good thing I don’t really care for a lot of the television shows the fella likes to watch. I got my words written. Let’s see if I can make it to 20 this time…

Yesterday was the Fourth of July–America’s Independence Day. I had a holiday, and I was extremely lazy.

Well, I felt lazy, anyway. The fella went downtown to ride in the parade–too hot for me–and I put some pork on to barbecue, and mixed up the potato salad we’d boiled potatoes and eggs for the previous night. I did some other stuff too, but can’t remember what it is now, because by the time the fella got back from the parade, I was goofing off. And I did that most of the day. I’m very good at goofing off.

The boy and a couple of his friends came down about 2 p.m. and we all had lunch, then they went out to the beach–taking the doggies. (The friends brought a friend for Dolly the princess pitbull to play with.) They all exhausted themselves–humans and doggies alike. Somewhere in there, I took a break from goofing off to take a nap.

Then we had supper (the barbecued pork and potato salad), and went down to the seawall for the fireworks. You can see the edge of the boy, and the jetty from which the fireworks were shot off beyond him, out in the Gulf. There were a lot more people on the beach by the time the fireworks started. Also, it was dark. You could see the lights from all the boats out on the horizon, waiting to head into port, not to mention the sport fishing boats that had come way inshore to watch the show. But I didn’t take any pictures after dark. Because it was dark!

It was a good show. Not as fabulous as the one for the Hotel Galvez’s 100th birthday, but a good show. I was just glad they actually had a fireworks show. All home fireworks got banned, because of our extreme drought. However, I figured they wouldn’t stop Galveston’s fireworks, because they set them off over water. It’s the cotton-pickin’ Gulf of Mexico. Then there’s sand, then the concrete of the seawall and street. A long way before any sparks reach anything that might burn.

There were more people at this year’s fireworks show than in all the previous years since Hurricane Ike. It was a really big crowd. And the kids saw “The Little Couple.” The one from the TLC TV show, who apparently live in Houston, and came down to Galveston for the  fireworks. Or maybe for the whole weekend. I didn’t see them, so you won’t see me on TV, but hey–I was there!

And today is DAY 15. (Yesterday was Day 14. I wrote double on Sunday, remember?) I didn’t want to watch whatever it is the fella has on television, so I came back and downloaded pictures from my camera, and I wrote. I had to stop, though, because I need to figure out the rules for my society. There is magic–but does everybody know about it? Do they all believe in it? I think it’s fading, but just how open is it? Yeah, I know. I should have decided this stuff earlier. But I didn’t, so…

I am still reading THE NATIVE STAR by M.K. Hobson. I also went to the library this afternoon (took all the books back on Sunday) because hey, it’s only about 3 blocks from the post office, and I had to go get the mail. So I also started DREAMS OF A DARK PRINCE, or DARK DREAMS OF A PRINCE, or … what is the name of that Kresley Cole book? DREAMS OF A DARK WARRIOR! Yeah. I started it and I’m still reading the other book. I got two books off the “new” shelves, so I’ll need to read them next. But maybe I can finish the Hobson book first.

Five more days at the newspaper. I need to write an item for the newspaper’s newsletter… Hmm.

They changed the Tuesday night band concert to Sunday this week, in honor of the Fourth. Galveston Beach Band performs every Tuesday in summer–except this week, they had their band concert on Sunday, and invited our church choir to come sing a “Salute to Armed Forces.” (Yes, this is the band, at it’s previous performance.) Fortunately, we sang the medley in church this a.m., otherwise I’d never have known how the Coast Guard Marching Song goes. But I know now. They lined us all up in front of the band shell, put those of us who usually sing in the church band in front–and then put the  mike in front of us. Made me nervous. Anyway, it went pretty well, though my voice decided to be a little wobbly. Oh well. It was fun.

We waved at the duck tour when they went by, and watched the kids play maracas and ring the bell they’d salvaged. The trombones and tuba came forward and played “Them Basses,” which is a very cool march. (If you can play a scale, you can pretty much play that march–if you can play it fast enough.) The beach band uniform is Hawaiian shirts–tonight’s trombonists didn’t have the guy on the left, but the tuba player came up front with them. He’s good.

Today was a very lazy day. I took a nap. I also wrote. Enough that I can take tomorrow off. Tomorrow is the holiday, and we have company coming, so I thought I might not have as much time to write then.

DAY 13 is done. I had a good time singing, had a good time at the concert. I enjoyed my nap, too.

I’ve read UNLOCKED by Courtney Milan, & enjoyed it. I read MAGIC SLAYS by Ilona Andrews (didn’t know IA was a writing team…), and I’m now reading THE NATIVE STAR by … I forgot. I’ll have to look it up. by M.K. Hobson. I was remembering the initials right, but not the last name. So, there’s the list.

And I’ve made it to Day 11 and Day 12.

I’m through the “opening” and to the explaining part. Exposition is always boring, but maybe I can figure out some action to go with it.

Yesterday, I barely squeaked in under the line, but still got my words written and a little more. Today, I woke very early with a headache, and went ahead and got up. Then I went out for a walk on the seawall–Folks were already filling the beach up. I’m wondering if there’s a beach volleyball tournament this weekend, because I saw a women’s team of some kind working out on the beach, except the balls didn’t look like volleyballs. Water’s still green all the way inshore, and the wind is minimal, which means it’s perfect for swimming. I’ll have to see if I can drag the boy out to swim with me.

Anyway, after I got home and cleaned up, I sat down to write, and I’ve got enough I can take tomorrow off again.

The fella has started cleaning house. He’s already brought two stacks of things into the office…which is a huge mess, but who knows when that will be amended. I think I’m going to catch up on the sleep I missed this morning so we can go see a movie this afternoon. I’m still wanting to see Super 8. And yeah, I’ll have to kick in on the cleaning too. Sigh. It’s kinda like “When Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy,” except it’s “When Dad’s cleaning, everybody’s cleaning.”

I guess I ought to pitch in and clean…I need to find my camera. I did figure out how to turn on the phone’s camera… But in celebration of actually writing a blog post on my home computer, where I have pictures. here’s the picture the older son made me take in Pittsburgh of him with Heinz Field in the background. It’s the yellowish bit above the yellow arch of the bridge. This is the son who wants to be a coach. He’s into sports, just a little… 😉

And yes, we’re planning a very lazy holiday weekend… About all we really have planned is going to the fireworks show Monday night. They shoot them from one of the rock piers out over the Gulf of Mexico, so there’s not much worry about fires in our drought. All other fireworks have been banned.

Oh, I’m keeping track of books here too. This morning, I finally finished REBEL by Zoe Archer. I bought a couple-three or so e-books last night. Need to put them on the reader so I can read them. And maybe go to the library… I’ve read all my library books.

Can you believe it? I’ve actually made it 10 days, writing every day. In longhand, the way I write fiction.

Yesterday, it was iffy. I went to the grocery store after work. (And actually topped $200 in my grocery bill!) (I don’t go very often, because I don’t like to.) By the time I got home and unloaded the car (mostly–left the cokes for the fella to bring in), and cooled off (Boy! it was hot yesterday!!) and put the food away, and decided what I wanted to think about maybe cooking for supper, the afternoon was gone. Then it was time to actually cook supper.

I did a Thai-style beef stirfry with snow peas & red pepper & a peanut sauce that could have used more hot sauce, with noodles. I’d bought the snow peas after I made this the first time, and needed to use them and the fresh cilantro before they got old. Cilantro really has to be used fresh. A lot of herbs still have flavor when they’re dried, but not cilantro. Parsley is probably the same way–except I’ve never really been able to taste much besides “green” when I taste parsley.

Anyway, after supper, I was sitting around reading about the Best & Worst Legislators in the Texas Monthly (where politics is a spectator sport), and it got later, and later–and finally, it was to the point of: “If you do not go in there Right Now and write SOMETHING, you will have to start over again, counting your days.”

So I went. I wrote. At least 100 words. In my rather small and crabbed longhand, 100 words is about half a page, if there’s not too much dialogue. I had dialogue, so I wrote more than half a page.Yes, I’m still in the middle–well, more the beginning–of the love scene. But people talk then, too, you know.

I also read a book yesterday: finished A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY by Libba Bray. I’ve pretty much been trying to decide what I think about it since.

I work at keeping up with the books at GoodReads, but I’m usually 4 to 6 (or more) books behind, there, because I try to write a little something about the book so I can hopefully remember it when I look it up, and remember that I’ve read it. Maybe I’ll just list them here… Some of my books are on the little widget in the sidebar, but they’re more random, not necessarily the most recently read. I don’t know how to tell it to show the recent reads. Sigh.