Genre Indecision

So it is time to begin again. Time to get back on the horse and write, write, write…

So which genre should I try this time?

I had a lot of fun writing about a nine year old boy being flushed down a toilet into another world, but I want to try something new.

I could write a Mystery full of twists and turns and drag some poor unfortunate down a path of horrid events only to have him “save the day” at the last minute.

OR, write about an awkward teen distraught by love and social angst. Ooh…not sure I want to re-live my youth.

OR, write about a torrid love affair between two people, but they are torn apart due to dysfunction and stupidity. But love will conquer all and they will live happily ever after… Hahahaha, maybe I should write the story about what happens after the “happily ever after part”; kids, dogs, house, mortgage, chaos, etc.

OR, maybe a drama? Take an unsuspecting character and drag her through a bunch of horrible events until she has a mental breakdown and takes her revenge, but then emerges from the ashes a stronger better person despite being wanted by the FBI.

Decisions, decisions, decision…

New Love

Sending out Query letters is a lot like the excitement of a new love.

You send out query letters with a mixture of hope, giddiness and doubt. You spend time trying to make it as perfect as possible, then you get to a point and quickly hit the send button before you change your mind.
Then you refuse to admit to anyone but you obsessively check your email. Is there a response yet? How about now? How about now? Hope fills your heart, “this could be the one!”

Then it appears! The response to your query. You pause before you open it, hopeful and excited but prepared for the worse.
Then the standard letter begins and you feel your heart sink. You tell yourself, “it’s not me, it’s them.” But you’re not really convinced. You stare at the email another moment and then file it away. With a big sigh you pick your ego off the floor and start researching who will be the next.

For every rejection letter received, send out another query. For every hope dashed a new hope is created.

The Huldufólk Are Coming…

My husband is half Icelandic and there is a folktale about the Huldufólk. There are many versions of this folktale but his family’s version goes something like this…

At the start of a new year, you must clear the clutter from your home.
If you don’t… then the Huldufólk will come for you.
They will tie you to the bed and steal your stuff.

Sounds like a good reason to me to get de-cluttered and organized, starting with my very un-organized writing files.
Was this the last version of that short story or is this one?
Where did that article go on the 12 points of a hero’s journey?
Why am I still holding on to this ten year old first draft of the worst novel ever written?

But I expect the first victim will be my son. He may have his XBOX stolen from Icelandic Elves soon if he doesn’t pick up his room.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulduf%C3%B3lk

New Year’s Resolution

It’s that time of year again.
A time of new beginnings, new hopes, new dreams and new goals.

What will be my goals for the year…
Exercise more?
Eat healthier?
Do better at keeping the house clean and tidy?

As much as I enjoy getting up at 5:15am every morning to start my day with torturous exercise and a unsatisfying piece of fruit, it will be the writing goals that will extract me from my warm bed each morning.

I am still working on the writing goals I am willing to admit to and commit to paper, but I do know one thing for sure… This is going to be a great year!

Psst…wanna hear a secret?

Do you wanna know my biggest fear?  My biggest scariest fear?

It’s to find out that I’m not meant to be a writer., but instead,  meant to do my “day job”.

I’m meant to be…(gasp) an accountant.  NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!

12 Step Program for Writer’s

(Borrowed and tweaked from A.A. 12 step program)

Writing is a constant process, not one that you finish after the 12th step.

Step 1 – Admit you are powerless over your need to write and that your life will become unmanageable if you do not write.

Step 2 – Come to believe that a power greater than yourself drives you to write.

Step 3 – Make a decision to turn your will over to the desire to write.

Step 4 – Make a searching and fearless inventory of what keeps you from writing.

Step 5 – Admitted to yourselves that you are a writer therefore, you must write.

Step 6 – Accept your good and bad traits of being a writer.

Step 7 – Accept your shortcomings as a writer and strive to improve in those areas.

Step 8 – Make a list of all people you have annoyed with all our talk of writing.

Step 9  – Apologize to those people you have annoyed, especially the friends and family members that support you in your writing.

Step 10 – Continue to watch your writing habits and patterns and continue to strive to be a better writer.

Step 11 – Continue to strive towards your goals as a writer.

Step 12 – Whether you write once a day or once a month, remember you are a writer, heart and soul.

The writer’s 12 step program has helped many writers face their annoying writing habits and have helped them to “shut up already” and write.

I’ve read it, read it, not read it, read it…

It is a sad state of affairs when you go to the book store, walk over to the “how to write a book” reference section and discover you have read most of the books in the section.

Can you guess one of my favorite forms of procrastination?

Spousal Abuse

Carolyn See wrote a book on writing called, “Making the literary life”.

Chapter one…”Keep it to yourself”. She goes on to explain, as much as your friends and family love you, they really don’t want to hear all about the great American novel you intend to write, the plot of this book, the fascinating characters you have created and the torments of being a writer.

I would just like to say, “Where were you 10 years ago Ms. See, when I had the great idea to write a novel?”  It’s too late now!

I have been torturing my friends, family and especially my poor spouse for years and years now. I have drug my family through the tortures of 5 incomplete novel, several unenthusiastic attempts at article writing and countless attempts at writing different genres that crashed and burned in the early stages.

I can see the wear and tear on all the people that are exposed to my writing dreams day in and day out.  When I swear this is the year, I get a smile, a pat on the shoulders and a, “Yes, I bet you will finish this year for sure.”  But behind the weak smile I see it, the thought of, “Yes good gracious finish a novel already, because I can’t take another year of talking about a book I’ll never get to read and hearing all about the lives of made up characters that have nothing to do with me.

So yes Ms. See, your book is  a little late to the party, where were you when I had this hair brain scheme to be a writer..hmmm?

Habit Forming

According to books on creating a habit (I believe “7 habits of highly effective people” is one of the them), a habit is created in 21 days, if done every day.

So to create a writing habit I should write every day, whether it’s 1,000 words added to my novel, morning pages (as mentioned in the book-“The Artist’s Way”) or a  blog post and if I do it every day it will become a habit.

It should be easy, right? (hahaha…ok… hahahah… wait…hahahaha)

I mean it’s not like trying to develop a habit of exercising or eating healthy after all!

Writing is something I love to do, it should be super easy, right?

It’s All About Me

So many of the “How to write a novel” books contain a warning label, “as an inexperienced and newby novelist, what ever you do…NEVER EVER EVER write a novel in first person.  Then the books drone on and on describing the insurmountable difficulties that will come with this viewpoint.

With this wisdom, every novel attempt of mine has been in third person.  Writing the life and experiences of this complete stranger, trying to care how she takes her coffee or how she is insecure because her dog doesn’t love her.

But in the end, I feel nothing for this flat uninteresting character.

Ok, so there, I admit it…I am a narcissist!

I’m self absorbed and only care about my point of view! So with this, I will attempt the unthinkable first person and then maybe just maybe my writing will go from suckish to “hey that’s not completely awful.”

And maybe when I’m done, I’ll switch it to third person to protect the innocent.