writing tips

Random tips I learned about writing today from other authors websites & blogs (listed on my sidebar):

• if you're not writing, you're not a writer
• read your dialogue out loud
• don't be cliche in your plot line
• don't give too much background in a dialogue- people don't bring up old stuff in every day conversations very often
• 10,000 hours of doing something will make you pretty good at it. nothing can make up for those hours
• send off a manuscript, not when its perfect- because it never will be- but when you are ready to take some criticism
• you dont need to listen to anyone else about their process- do it your own way and don't tweak it if its working
• write. even when you dont think its good or when its not coming to you
• only one "coincidence" is allowed per book
• writing is rewriting

One thing I've learned from my writing practice is that once I start, I usually get on a roll. Part of my process is sitting there, staring at the blank page and then just forcing myself to write. Sometimes what I write works, and sometimes I end up taking it out, but for me, half of the battle is just STARTING along some line of thought.

I've decided not to be afraid that what I'm going to come up with is the wrong direction. I will just write it and then if I decide its not the way I want it to go, I will just go back and start that part over. I feel like my characters are taking it how they want it to go anyway. So what if I have a couple of alternate ways to go. I think that's how I will find out what works the best, since I think I do my best work when I'm IN it, meaning that I feel like its a story I'm discovering with the audience (assuming of course, that I'll HAVE an audience at some point).

So Im going to take my own advice, and go back to my chapter. Someone is about to come to Ryker's house... and Im not sure who yet....

pause button

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So you know how when you are watching a movie and maybe you are too tired to make it through, or you get a phone call and have to leave, and you have to push that pause button?

Well, the strangest thing is happening since I've started writing again. I decided to begin the book from a different characters perspective, and much earlier in the story. It's like my character is an actual person. His name is Ryker, just for a little teaser. Anyway, when I started writing this part, I had a general direction of where I wanted to go, but Ryker totally took control, and led me somewhere else.

I realize I am talking about him as if he is an actual person. I know. It is kinda freaking me out because he seems like it. You know how you get attached to characters in movies or books? Well Im attached to Ryker. Which is funny because he wasn't even really in the other 135 pages I'd written. He was a pretty minor character at that point. It was all about Maya and Carter, my other two main characters.

Anyway, I was so involved with the story last night that I was writing until late at night. When I finally stopped, because I got to the end of a chapter, I couldn't stop thinking about what was happening. I was wondering what he was going to do now... like I'd pressed pause on a movie! It's so funny because I was thinking about it as if I WASNT THE ONE MAKING IT UP, but as if I just couldn't wait to see what happened next.

Anyway, Ryker pretty much kicks ass and Im so curious what he is going to do today....

lock down and bringing down the wall

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I had a self-imposed lock down today. I really really really needed to figure out a big part of my plot for my book because I am driving myself crazy trying to figure it out! I told myself that I was not going to come out of my studio until I had it brilliantly storyboarded on my wall.

Yes, that was my planned solution. The outlining... not really going so well! Im NOT an outliner. Pretty much suck at coming up with ANYTHING concrete that way. Soooo my brilliant plan was to cover the wall in my studio with my plot. I got bright colored notecards and some snazzy looking push pins (thank you office depot) and some yarn and viola! Insta-storyboard.

So I worked on that all morning, and it was coming along.... but then I was stuck again. Im trying to figure out WHERE in my story to START the book.

I know that must so really ridiculous... seeing as the BEGINNING sounds like a good place to start, but hear me out. The beginning could be at a couple of different places with what Im writing, and Im just trying to figure out which character's storyline is the beginning. I had two different beginnings so far....

So today when I hit a wall.... I decided to MOVE THE WALL. Why was I thinking I HAD to do it one way or another? Just because I've already written parts of something before doesn't mean I have to use it at all.

SOOOO (I promise the end of this rant is coming) I did what I do best and stopped trying to PUSH myself to do it another way. I just decided to write. I wrote the beginning from a totally different character's storyline just to see where it took me.

THAT is how my PROCESS goes again!! I just need to WRITE and I will figure out the rest along the way.

Don't know if I'll end up using what I wrote today, but hey, it was a great learning experience and I finally removed that freaking WALL I've been staring at for weeks.

Whew. Feeling so much better getting that out!

what?? I've been on lockdown for HOURS! :)

shamrocks and such

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Inspired by the "luck of the irish" to write this morning... I even posted a profile pic with my St. Patty's Day get-up, complete with a shamrock hat!

Sooooo the green (see how I like to be festive???

) skinny of what's been going on lately:

went to vegas, ate more than I weigh

had unspeakable amounts fun with my crazy partner in crime

revamped beginning of my book... again

tried to convince the world that it is summer by wearing a tank top, painting my nails a bright color while discretely keeping the fireplace on inside my house

started a diet... which i refuse to blog about because- how boring... but im down 8 lbs :)

finished a book- the great and terrible beauty, libba brey...

started hunger games

got food poisoning and subsequently watched almost an entire season of rescue me in a day

got asked by a door to door salesman if my mom or dad was home... come on REALLY? Im almost 30! (don't ever speak of this again!)

survived a power outage this morning, and for hours was soooo happy I hadn't gotten into the shower I had turned on

successfully discovered whose cat keeps leaving pieces of DEAD MOUSE on my front porch... apparently to "welcome" me to the neighborhood

learned that i think about food all the time when i cant have food

wants a green beer more than anything in the world right now

happy st. patty's to everyone!! bottoms up!

and then she said "I DO"

My little sister got married recently! For her wedding gift, I painted them a picture from one of their engagement photos.

It was such a fun project because I have just started painting in the last few months and I had really been wanting to try to do something in black and white.

I am happy with how it turned out and my sister LOVED it.

I am having so much fun exploring things on a more creative level! Gotta run for now... working on the book!

the butterfly effect

The weather is doing funny things today. This morning was sunny, bright and warm, and now there is a storm rolling in. The temp dropped and Im bundling up. I went from a tank top this morning to finding my fuzzy socks and a sweatshirt. I think its easier for me to write and read when its cold outside. Something about cuddling up by the fire in comfy clothes and just getting lost in what you're doing.

This morning my hubby and I were talking about the "butterfly effect" (not the Aston Kutcher movie, which for some reason I never saw), which basically is meaning that everything in the universe is intricately connected-how every decision you make could completely alter your path, who you meet, and opportunities that come to you or that you miss out on. It's basically the "what if" game.

Wikipedia explains it as such:

The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornadoor delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different. While the butterfly does not "cause" the tornado in the sense of providing the energy for the tornado, it does "cause" it in the sense that the flap of its wings is an essential part of the initial conditions resulting in a tornado, and without that flap that particular tornado would not have existed.

Looking back on my life, I can pinpont a few things that I think have significantly altered my life, and led me to be who I am today.

Some of the pinpoints I would look to are:

• My very strong religious upbringing, which I am no longer affiliated with (another story entirely)
• My family- I come from a large family and we are all really close- I think a lot of who I am was built around the ideals taught to me by my parents and siblilngs
• An X who treated me very badly (something I choose to not think about, having hopefully learned enough lessons)
• Working in the financial industry (something I would not have chosen, but ended up working in for 10+ years)... which is also how I met my husband
• Marrying my husband- I think I have changed quite a bit since I met him 7 1/2 years ago, hopefully for the better...I know he helped me to get my confidence back after the X, then furthered my boundaries helping me to questions things to reach my own conclusions.

Then there are those things that could have happened, that you may never know about. Like what if I wouldn't have worked in the financial industry and not met my husband? Or if my family hadn't moved my junior year, or if I wasn't a member of that church all growing up- how would things be different for me now? What if I wouldn't have gotten out of that detrimental relationship? What if I had ended up at a different college? What if I wouldn't have had the time available, or the thought process to think- I should write a book!

Even the the house you choose to live in, or the people you interact with at your place of employment, or school. I met my best friend in vegas when I lived across the street from her for 6 months. What if I would have just lived in a different house? Would I never had met her?

When I was in high school, I remember my dad, who I have always been very close to, was supposed to go out of town to Korea on a business trip. He traveled there a lot and so it wasn't out of the ordinary. He was feeling like the company they were trying to sign a deal with was not quite ready, so he decided not to go on that particular trip.

Tragically, the man who DID go on that trip, was mugged and stabbed to death in their 5 star hotel. I cannot even tell you how that HAUNTED me forever, just thinking about what could have happened to my dad, had he just made a different decision- a decision that at the time, didn't seem to have very much significance.

I also wonder, if you could somehow SEE all of the tangents that your life could take, and could choose, how you would even decide! Because if you did one thing, it my not have led you down a path where you would have learned something significant, or met someone special to you.

This is definitely a concept that could drive you crazy!! I remember reading a series when I was younger, where there would be a question posed and two alternate paths. If you chose A, it would take you to page XYZ whereas if you chose B you went to a different page.

I think it would be interesting to do a spinoff of that concept and write a book that consisted of several different outcomes, depending on the choices made.

For the book I am CURRENTLY working on- as an update, I made a lot of progress on the tentative outline, with the exception of the brilliant and captivating ending that I have not come up with yet. I have begun the editing of the first chapter, infusing what I had before with a new portion. My goal is to get through one chapter a week of the rewriting. I had 12 chapters before, so Im hoping in 12 weeks, I am writing all new material.

As for the books I am currently reading... (why Im not just reading and finishing ONE at a time is a little bit of a mystery to me) they are: On the Brink (the "heavier" book that is thought provoking and I need to not be sleepy when Im reading it), Bright Lights Big Ass (perfect for right before I go to sleep cuz its silly and entertaining and if I miss something cuz Im trying to stay awake took long, its ok), The Shack (I was really liking the book and now Im feeling stuck. I didnt know the plotline very well, and Im not sure how Im feeling about it yet now that Im in the middle), and Im starting Hunger Games and A great and Terrible Beauty (the last one was the subject of a new book club I just went to). I know I had others on my list too, and I have put down Lovely Bones for a bit.

Soooo that's where I am with my writing. I think it helps me to have to verbalize where I am and what I've accomplished. By the way, D and I moved Famous fridays to be Writing Wednesdays. Ha ha I know we are ridiculous for naming them like that. Its fun to write along side someone else that is trying to do the same thing- only completely different genres.

Here is what I am NOT going to do anymore today: think about the butterfly effect. I wonder what effect not thinking about it will have.....