Something in the Water

Some writers have a variety of ideas swirling around their brains just waiting to be developed into their next novel.

I’m not one of those kind of writers.
I focus on one idea, brainstorm, and if it has potential, I outline and begin writing. Sometimes the idea takes off and sometimes it dies out. Well, it’s happened again. I’ve been hit with an idea for a new novel and I’m noticing a pattern. My lightbulb moments seem to revolve around water. Weird, huh?

The initial spark that turned into my current WiP struck while rinsing my recyclables and carrying them to the garage. My next idea, which is on hold for now, came to me while doing the dishes. This week while washing my hair another idea started taking shape. I was thinking about a friend who’s daughter missed the cut off birth date for moving up to the next soccer level, my mind began to wander, and before I knew it I had a rough skeleton of a YA dystopian before I had rinsed the conditioner out of my hair.

This is crazy! I know nothing about world building. I love to read dystopians, and in fact, have 2 on reserve at the library, but never in a million years did I ever imagine I’d write one. Even though dystopians are the new vampire novel – very hot in YA right now – there are indications that that trend is passing. That doesn’t matter so much to me since I don’t write to trends. Dystopian writing is so outside my comfort zone and I admire those who write them well. Contemporary MG/YA fiction is what I like to write.

I tried to shrug off the idea, but it keeps returning to my head with more details.
My next step will be to brainstorm and write down whatever comes to mind, then maybe a rough outline. This will be another backburner project – one to simmer while working on Nitpicky. And if I get stuck, I can always take a shower, run through the sprinkler, wash the car...

Where do your ideas come from?

Victorious!

(photo credit)

The sun is shining a little brighter,
Bostonians are walking a little lighter (though our eyes are a little tired)
It’s a beautiful day!

Congratulations to the Bruins who won the Stanley Cup last night after an exciting 7 game final series against the Vancouver Canucks. One of the great things about living in Boston is how passionate we are about our sports teams. And there’s nothing sweeter than winning a championship. After 39 years, The Cup returns to Boston!

How sweet it is!

Q. Which Book Are You Embarrassed to Admit You've Never Read?

(And do you plan on ever reading it?)

A. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Last year I read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee for the first time. I know! I was never required to read it in middle or high school, but it was one I always wanted to read. For one reason or another I just never got around to it. Same with the *list below. Although I majored in English and read many classics, we (obviously) didn’t cover every work by every author.

After I graduated, I gravitated to the authors I enjoyed studying such as Dickens and Forster, and later Tolkien, but that was it. As a teacher my focus shifted toward children’s literature as I searched for authors I could introduce to my students. One of my goals was to inspire a love of reading in them which I hoped they would carry with them. I read them James and the Giant Peach (Roald Dahl), The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett), Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Richard and Florence Atwater), Ramona Quimby (Beverly Cleary), Chocolate Fever (Robert Kimmel Smith) among others.

When I had children of my own, again, I read to them in the hope that they would become readers as they grew older. Now that they've passed the infant/toddler ages, the last few years have been wonderful as I’ve turned back to reading for my own pleasure. So many books and so little time. As a writer I try to read as much in my genre as possible, but not exclusively. It’s important for me to read in different categories and across genre lines. And I’ve realized that there are many classics that I’ve never read and feel that I should read.

But why? Where does the guilt come from? I claim to love literature so much that I sought a degree in it, but have neglected to read and study certain novels that “everyone” else has read. If I’m so well-read, why haven’t I chosen to seek out the classics that I didn’t read as a student? And if I’m a writer, shouldn’t I read from the masters – the ones who have stood the test of time? This last question is one that haunts me every so often, and so I try to make a point of choosing a couple of these novels a year. Since I have summers off and more time to read, I try to mix up my reading material: more MG and YA, adult fiction, and classics.

As I mentioned above, last year I read To Kill A Mockingbird. Loved it so much that it’s now one of my top 10 favorite reads. Two years ago I read The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood), a powerful dystopian from the 80s that floored me. Three years before, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – another classic, never read before, that I ended up loving.

*Here’s the short list of books I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never read. My plan is to cross off at least a couple this summer.

The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
The Great Gastsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
Frankenstein – Mary Shelly
Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Middlemarch - George Eliot

Okay. I could add more but my face is properly beet red at the moment.

Is there a book(s) that you're embarrassed to admit you've never read? Do you plan to read it?

Don't worry. I won't judge. Feel free to leave a pseudonym if you don't want to leave you're real name. *wink*

A Friend to Follow

A quick plug for my friend, the lovely and talented, Donna Hosie. If you’re not following her blog, Musings of A Penniless Writer you’re missing an up and coming YA writer who has more drive and determination than anyone I know.

When I’m feeling lazy, I read one of her posts in which she gets an idea for a plot and writes an 80,000 word novel in 3 months or changes her whole novel from third to first point of view. And that’s while she works full-time, raises her kids, tends to her garden or yard or whatever you like to call that big grassy space surrounding your house. Oh, and she’s probably planning her next trip to Hobbit Country as well. Whips me into shape in no time, she does!

No challenge is too daunting for my supportive, hard-working friend and I know it’s only a matter of time before an agent snatches her up. She’s 1 follower away from reaching 200. So what are you waiting for?

She lives on the Aussie side of the world so (hopefully) she’s sleeping right now. Unless she decided to get up early to revise her ms. Wouldn’t it be great if she woke to see 200 followers? You could be the one!
Now shoo! Get going!

Good News!

I love sharing good news, but first I’m going to be totally lame today and point you to another post.

After meeting with some of the big names in publishing, agent/author Mandy Hubbard, generously shared some valuable information on her blog in her post, The Epic Post on Trends (YA & MG). For kidlit writers who have high hopes of being published this info is invaluable. I suppose if the genre you write in isn’t included on a publisher’s wish list, then it would be simply “eh” news. Not necessarily bad, but not good if you just typed the final period on your epic high fantasy novel about an alien merboy and the girl who loves him. Personally, I don’t believe in writing to trends, but when my ms seems close to hitting one of the desired targets I can’t help feeling encouraged.

On to the Good News:

Ms. Hubbard's post was relevant to me because MG may well be the new YA and I’ve been plugging away at an upper MG contemporary for over a year. Just the incentive I need to finish this novel.

My “on hold” project is a YA ghost story that I’m dying to explore.

I’m not sick anymore!

The Science Fair is over! (3 kids + 3 projects/papers + 1 computer = too much tension) My life will finally start becoming my own soon.

The sun broke through the cloudy gray drizzle for about a half hour today!

And, it's Friday!!

Meet you on the other side....of either the weekend or in the Great Beyond.

What good news do you have to share? Has this song been stuck in anyone’s head besides mine this week?

Oh Blogger, You Devil!

Thought you'd be tricksy on Friday the 13th, did you?
Well, I'm on to you.

Thought you'd wipe out yesterday's brilliant *cough* post?
Well, I'm 2 steps ahead of you this time, even though my mad tech skillz are usually 5 steps behind everyone else.

See, because I'm so anal efficient, I wrote yesterday's post in Word and saved it. Pretty smart, eh?

So today when I discovered that you had a craving for clever writing, or maybe just writing, I was able to retrieve my words and voila!

Mwahahahahaha! Foiled again, Blogger!

(Even though I was able to repost below, the comments by the lovely Donnas were gobbled up. Sorry gals. I invite you to recomment if you'd like to.)

Did Blogger's meltdown create havoc with your blogging? Do tell!

You Know It's Time to Work on Your MS When...

You open Word and the title of your WiP isn’t listed under “Recent Documents” anymore.

You can’t remember what chapter you’re on.

You have to scroll back to remember the names of some of your minor characters.

You can’t remember what your last scene was about, so...

You have to go back and read several chapters before continuing.

You don’t know the word count of your ms (especially if you’re obsessed about this while writing like I am).

You miss your main characters.

You miss writing.

How do you know it's time?