In Your Write Mind 2017 - Highlights

In Your Write Mind (which going forward will be referred to as IYWM) 2017 was a blast! It had been four years since I'd been able to attend - far too long.

Now, I know I should be going to things like this with the sole intent of propelling my writing career forward, but I have to be honest, I mainly attend IYWM to reconnect with a great group of writer friends. Many of us consider fellow Writing Popular Fiction students and alumni our tribe. Though most of us are introverts and uncomfortable in social situations in general, when we're at IYWM we feel like we belong. Seton Hill is our home away from home.

And of course it's sad when the few days we have to spend together fly by too fast! We can still reminisce and remember the fun times, though - the social aspect as well as anything learned and taken away regarding our writing careers. So, here goes. Shoving many memories into one blog post!

I took the train out, and though it was mostly overnight, I did manage to get a few words down (and even some on the way back... but we won't talk about the last few days after I got home - heh). Thursday was the official start of IYWM, and I took advantage of the Write In. Progress on Hell On Wheels (Devil made Me, 2)!

As a matter of fact, even a couple of the classes I attended helped me with the novelette. Friday, the true classes started, and the first I went to was Back-Cover Copy. And we had a chance to draft a blurb and get some feedback! Yup, the Hell On Wheels blurb is at least now partially done. Plus I attended the Food and Writing class, which was awesome (not only because we got some tasty food), but because I wrote about how Moira missed food. And then I realized I was right at the point in the first draft that if adjusted, the snippet would fit perfectly! Got to love when things work out like that.

Of course the highlight of Friday was the book signing. Unfortunately, with flooding and tornado warnings in the area, the signing didn't attract as many people as it could have. I was also insanely nervous, but I calmed down a bit as the night wore on - I actually couldn't believe how quickly the time flew! I sold a handful of copies of both Mind Behind the Mind and Dreams in Shadow (and did a couple swaps as well with some of my fellow authors). Lots of compliments on the Mind cover, too. Think I'll be less nervous the next time I attend a signing? Probably not - lol. The pic below is of me at my table.

Onto Saturday, I attended the guest author's class as well as the author luncheon. Diana Rowland was the guest author this year, and she was great. Though I am a self-proclaimed zombie disliker, I ordered a copy of the first novel in the White Trash zombie series once I got home. OK, maybe I only hate the "Braaaiiinnns," kind of zombies. Ones who think and have personality are more up my alley. I mean, I do enjoy watching iZombie. Oh, and she showed us a few gruesome morgue pictures - I'm always up to learn about and see new things!

The costume ball was on Saturday as well. This year's theme was International Persons of Mystery. Spies! I didn't plan a costume to fit the theme, but I did get myself a new dress with little skulls all over it. And alicorn hair clips. I went with the whole the hair clips are mini daggers thing as an explanation. ;) Do you want a picture? I can do that. Here's a great one of me with a few of my fellow crazy writers.

Finally, Sunday was a bit of a blur (probably because I had like three hours of sleep), and far too short. We celebrated the new graduates of the Writing Popular Fiction program at a luncheon to cap the day off.

Here's hoping I can make it again next year. It will all depend on money and if the hubbie has any conferences for work around that time. I'd also love to drag the family along, especially since the costume ball theme will be Storybookland! I'll be thinking about my costume for that one over the next few months. Any suggestions are welcome!

In Your Write Mind Book Signing

My apologies, this post has been delayed! I kind of fell into a black hole last week - I'd intended to take a week off from writing and revising, but not the rest of my writing to do list. Oops. At least my brain feels a bit less crispy after playing some Diablo III.

So, I'm back at ticking things off that list, including starting the rough draft of Hell On Wheels, the second story in the Devil Made Me series and the sequel to Hell Hath No Fury.

Which brings me to this blog post. Nope, not about the Devil Made Me series...

In Your Write Mind! (Also known as IYWM going forward in this post.) IYWM is the writing workshop run by many awesome alumni of Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. I haven't been able to attend for a couple years due to kids and money. But I'm going this year!

IYWM is next week already. And not only will I be going to the whole 4-day workshop, I'll have books for sale (and signing) at the book signing.

Friday, June 23, 7:30pm-9pm at Seton Hill University's Performing Arts Center in Greensburg, PA.

I will have limited copies of Mind Behind the Mind (Trinity Torn, 1) and Dreams in Shadow (Fortunes of Fate, 1) for sale. If you want to be sure you have a copy for me to sign, you may want to order paperbacks before coming, since I'm taking the train in and number of copies will purely depend on my condensed packing abilities. ;) Links to purchase paperbacks are below.

Oh, and I will have bookmarks! I made some for Mind Behind the Mind and the Fractured Fairies series. Plus postcards for the Fortunes of Fate series - I loved making these, and I think they turned out beautifully.

So please come visit me, and I'll do my best to not hide in my shell (because social situations scare the crap out of me sometimes). Plus there will be so many other awesome authors there. You're bound to find other books you'd love to read!

Places to Purchase Paperbacks

Mind Behind the Mind

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Createspace

Dreams in Shadow

Amazon
Createspace

NaNoWriMo Fail - Lead Is Not My Friend

November always seems to end this way, doesn't it? I have the best intentions for NaNoWriMo at the beginning of the month, but then life explodes in my face. I never reach that 50k word mark.

Am I a little sad and disappointed? Yes.

However, some things just need to come before NaNo. This month we received blood lead level test results back from our 1-year-old, and the level was elevated. We live in a crappy, old house. One which has some peeling and cracking paint--lead paint. The health of my children is very important, which is why NaNo fell to the wayside. We're currently dealing with the health department, inspections of the house, and figuring out where we're going to find money to fix stuff. I'm supposed to be diligent with mopping and wiping down services, as well as her toys. Needless to say, my stress level is through the roof.

The good news is, she had another test done this weekend, and the results came back with a much lower blood lead level. We even questioned the huge gap, since lead has a really long half life. We were told that the test can be highly inaccurate. Great. Just what I needed. More stress and questioning. But I'm taking the lower number as a good sign that her blood lead level isn't going up. And what we've done so far for precautions is working.

Now to find some money hidden under a rock so we can rip out the kitchen. And sadly, due to the money issues, I'll no longer be able to go out to the In Your Write Mind retreat in June! Ugh. I needed a weekend of writer friends.

Anyway, here's hoping next year I'll have better luck with life remaining quiet in November. I'll hit 50k for NaNoWriMo one of these years!

Also, I'll be taking a bit of a blogging break, maybe for the rest of the year, just so I can get ducks in a row and still make some time to dig back into revisions of Dead As Dreams. I promise come January I'll be back to posting. Have a wonderful holiday, everyone!

NEXT UP: Nothing planned at this time. If I don't blog until January, it'll likely be the yearly goals post!

In Your Write Mind 2013

I know it's been a month since the In Your Write Mind retreat, but I'm finally getting around to posting a bit about it. My apologies.

And as a side note, I will likely be taking a blogging hiatus for a while (undetermined amount of time), until I can get some other things in order. This doesn't mean I won't be writing! Revisions of Dead As Dreams are on my list. I did manage to write 2,600 words on another humorous fantasy short story in July, and that rough draft needs to be finished as well--those things and house stuff (before baby comes) are my high priorities, so that's why my blog will need to take a back seat! Writing Quest will still be run every month, unless an emergency arises. Don't fear, though, my blog will not die. ;)

There were a lot of fun modules I attended at In Your Write Mind: Things That Go Bump in Your Prose, Public Speaking for Authors, Cutting and Tightening Your Novel, Fabulous Beginnings and Unforgettable Endings, Self-Publishing, Time Management for Writers, The Promise and the Payoff, Women's Undergarments through the Ages, Working Magic and Religion in Fiction, The Best Time to Read Your Contract, Short Stories, Cracking the Code, Adding Emotion to the Page, World Building, More Stuff Tim Is Tired Of, "Wet Cement": Transgression and Risk in Fiction, and Young Adult (YA) Voice.

By no means will I be discussing everything I listed above. If many of the topics you see interest you, I highly recommend considering attending In Your Write Mind next year! There were many other topics as well which I didn't or couldn't attend.

Before I mention some great key points about the modules I attended, I did want to mention some of the presenters. The special guests this year were Lucienne Diver (agent), Laurie J. Edwards (editor), Treva Harte (editor), and D. Harlan Wilson (author). Other presenters included Tim Esaias, Mike Arnzen, Maria V. Snyder, Scott Johnson, Diana Botsford, Lawrence Connolly, Shelley Bates, Heidi Ruby Miller, and Jason Jack Miller. And that's not even a full list!

Onto the good stuff, right?

One of the modules I desperately needed and I think any writer could take from, at least one or two tips, was Lawrence Connolly's Time Management for Writers. The most important thing I took from the module was to find your best writing time. Many of us are busy, so our choices for time to write are limited, but if we take a step back and look at our schedules, we should be able to find some small chunks of time to write. During the module, we had to write in our daily activities into a schedule. For me, this was very much what felt like what people call an Unschedule. You fill in those hours with things that need to get done--work, getting ready in the morning, eating, etc. Then you see what open spots there are. For those open spots, you consider what the best time for you to write is. Are you more alert and awake and focused at a certain time? Do you have a one hour long lunch hour at work but don't take that entire time to eat and still have enough energy? You can find time to write, and if you look at your full (or not so full) schedule, you can analyze when you have an open slot and when your most productive writing time would be in those open slots.

The other big tip for time management that we all know but I think we need to remind ourselves constantly is that when you sit down to write, just write, allowing no other distractions. Don't check Facebook or e-mail--don't even open an internet browser! The phone rings? Leave it, if the call is important the person will leave a message. Door? Ignore. Significant other wants you to look at something not terribly important? Yell at him/her that you're writing and will look when you're done. Unless it's an emergency, don't let anything interrupt your writing time.

If you want to read more about this topic, Lawrence Connolly actually wrote a blog post on his module: Time Management for Writers.

I also enjoyed the World Building module presented by Lucienne Diver. There are so many things to consider and balance when building your own world (or when using our own world). Here, I wanted to at least list the 7 things she suggested you should consider when world building: Environment, Technology, Religion (especially importance of rituals), Politics, Family Unit, Economy, and Language (cursing shows what a society holds sacred or profane). All of these things should be taken into account when world building. Of course, not everything you know, as the writer, will make it into your novel, but it's important that you know all the facts.

Since this post is getting rather long, there is one more module I wanted to touch on--More Stuff Tim Is Tired Of. Tim Esaias was my mentor when I was in the Writing Popular Fiction program, and if anyone knows how to find inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and clean up prose, it's him! I won't go over everything he mentioned in his module, but just a few tips. One that made me cringe, since I have it in my original thesis novel, The Mind Behind the Mind, is the overuse of the name Haven for a city or town. If certain names are used too often, they become cliche, so try to avoid using ones you start to see often when you read.

Some silly stuff that doesn't make sense: ritual slicing of palm (you then deny use to that hand for quite a while and could hit many nerves), talking through clenched teeth (try it), tightening grip on a sword when it's about to be used, and characters who don't actually suffer the ill effects of wounds and illnesses. Tim is a fount of information, and I have a full page of notes from his 50-minute module, as well as some handouts he sent to the participants. If you see him listed as a presenter or panelist at a convention or workshop, don't hesitate to attend!

Again, I'm sorry for the delay of this post. I hope the information I imparted was worth the wait! I can't recommend enough actually attending the In Your Write Mind retreat, especially if you are serious about your writing.

NEXT UP: Hiatus. Length to be determined.

Camp NaNoWriMo - July 2013

Wait, what, you were expecting me to keep to my word on exactly what I intended to blog about today? Maybe I would have if I haven't been dealing with getting my luggage back from the airlines for two days straight. My trip home was hellish. It will be vented in a brand new Grinka and Syndago story.

And...that is the first thing on my list for Camp NaNoWriMo. I'll be getting started a few days later than originally intended, but the goal I've set is 25,000 words. Totally doable. Especially since the morning sickness is pretty much gone and my 5-year-old will be spending a week with my in-laws! After I finish the super rough draft of the new Grinka story, I'll work on the super rough draft of Into the Ash, the first novel in my Elements of Anian series.

Yes, I have revisions to do on Dead As Dreams, but since I haven't touched anything for a few months, I don't want to worry about perfection for a month, and then my gears should be well oiled.

I promise, next post will be about In Your Write Mind. I just need a few days to organize things and figure out what specifics I'll post about. A lot of great workshops (and a lot of fun socializing). =)

Don't forget about Writing Quest - July! Of course my goal this month is simply Camp NaNo.

So, anybody else diving into Camp NaNoWriMo this month? It allows you to key in your own word count goal - no need to aim for the usual 50,000 words!

NEXT UP: July 10 - In Your Write Mind 2013 (I mean it this time)

June? Where Have You Gone?

So, this post was originally supposed to be a Magic Is Reality, Reality Is Magic post, but my house is such a mess, I don't think I'd easily be able to find all the books I'd like to refer to for the post on Summer Solstice. That post will have to wait for next year! But I hope everyone has a happy Solstice today!

My evil morning sickness has pretty much passed, but I am still not feeling the best in other regards. My plans for revisions kind of went down the drain, but at least growing another human being is a good excuse, in my opinion. To ease back into writing, I'm actually hoping to do Camp NaNoWriMo in July, and since the In Your Write Mind retreat is next week, that should feed the writing itch in mass quantities! It's much easier for me to pump out rough draft material than it is to revise (although I'm going to aim for 25k and not 50k so as not to kill myself - lol), and then the pump should be primed for August, which is when I'll dive back into revisions of Dead As Dreams.

Not to mention I have a house to get in order. I am NOT going to be hard on myself over the lack of writing, as that will just put up more roadblocks. Sometimes you just have to accept that life gets in the way.

I'm still running Writing Quest on a monthly basis, and you can always find those events over on my Facebook page. Also, I'm hoping to build up more consistency with the blog posts. I won't be posting next week, since I will be traveling, but the following week should bring a post about this year's In Your Write Mind retreat!

So, what does everyone think are valid reasons/excuses to interrupt writing? Do some of you think nothing should? I'd love to see others' opinions!

NEXT UP: July 3 - In Your Write Mind 2013 Actually, Camp NaNoWriMo

Fun With Words

Yes, I realize I'm nearly a week late in posting. As it stands, better late than never the way I've been feeling.

I haven't made any progress with my writing projects, although I did complete a critique for someone. And I've been reading a lot.

I'm starting to feel a little better, though, and I'm hoping I can start chipping away at revisions for Dead As Dreams either later this week or next week. I'd love to get a full revision done by mid-June, since I plan to go to the In Your Write Mind retreat, and I'd like to be able to pitch. We'll see how things work out.

Since I've been dealing with morning sickness, though, I thought it would be fun to examine the term. Morning sickness is a true misnomer. For most women, morning sickness doesn't just happen in the morning (mine is actually worse at night). So, why is it called morning sickness? From some of the stuff I've looked at on the internet, my guess is it's because most cases doctors observed happened in the mornings.

But since my brain doesn't like to shut off, I thought of another interesting way the word "morning" could be perceived. Pregnancy is divided into three trimesters. The first trimester could be considered morning, the second afternoon, and the third evening. Most morning sickness (except for some extreme cases that can last the entire pregnancy) happens during the first trimester. So, it's during the "morning" portion of pregnancy.

Do I think too much? Maybe. But it's still fun to consider, in my opinion.

OK, enough about silly words. It's still not too late to join Writing Quest - May for those interested!

NEXT UP: At this point, no clue! Some time in June there will be another Magic Is Reality, Reality Is Magic entry, but I can't promise exactly what I'll post before then. ;)

Residency Redux - June 2012

I still have a "residency hangover" (no, this does not involve alcohol, but spending a whole week with my fellow crazy writers and then NOT being around them anymore, well it does something similar to the body), but I promised a post-residency entry, so here it is!

I thought it would be nice to post some highlights with interesting tidbits. I'll touch briefly on three classes--Warfare for Writers, Map Quest, and The Fire In Fiction.

Mind you, all of the classes were a great help, but I figured touching on only three would give everyone a taste at least. =)

Warfare for Writers was taught by my awesome mentor, Timons Esaias. He is a fount of information, especially when it comes to the technical side of things. He did not disappoint. I took four pages of notes, and I still feel like I missed some important things he discussed. He is also writing a book on this very subject, so keep an eye out for it if this is a topic you're interested in!

So, I give you four of Timons Esaias's sword no-nos (yes, I have accidentally broken at least one of these rules in the past): NO swords on backs, NO swords in the sun, NO tensing on the grip of a sword, and NO flipping and rolling the sword for show, especially on horseback. If you think carefully, you'll understand exactly why these are no-nos.

Do you know of any other mistakes writers make when dealing with swordplay?

The lovely Maria V. Snyder taught Map Quest, a class I sorely needed. First rule of creating your world: no square maps! Oops. She offered many other helpful tips, and I will be referring back to my notes soon when I map out the world of Bodhira for Dead As Dreams.

One thing that we fiddled with during class was creating a map from scratch without a story in mind already. The resulting map may or may not actually give ideas for a story or novel. I know when I wrote my will-never-see-the-light-of-day novel in high school, I created a map of my entire world (yes, it was square, well it was 8 1/2 by 11), even though the novel only took place in two of the kingdoms. By drawing out all thirteen kingdoms of Chyraine, though, the map itself spawned two other short stories, and maybe more in the future. It's amazing what a single map can kindle. ;) If you'd like to try the exercise we did in class, you can visit Holly Lisle's website.

Also, a few tools for map creation were discussed, including the Civilization games. Sure enough, my husband's copy of Civilization III has a random map-making tool. This could be useful for me. Then again, I could get sucked into playing the game!

Do you have a hard time creating maps for your worlds? What do you find the most difficult?

Finally, I wanted to give a mention to our guest speaker, Donald Maass. He spoke in connection with his book The Fire in Fiction. And he made us work! We had two sessions with him, totaling around four and a half hours, and he threw tons of questions at us. I couldn't have been more pleased with what he was asking. His main focus was on bringing our characters alive to tell a good story. Those questions he threw at us were about our characters and our worlds, challenging us to dig deeper, explore further into the stories we've created. I wrote down all the questions he asked, and I intend to use them with every novel I write. You want to create depth? Well, if his book is anything like his talk, buy it!

Here are four of my favorite questions: Can the protagonist want the opposite of what she usually wants at the same time? What would it mean for the protagonist to fail in the story (what would be unredeemable and permanent)? What will the protagonist do to keep her big secret? Who's the person the protagonist most needs to forgive, and why is it impossible to do so?

What questions do you think should be asked of every protagonist or every story/world?

Overall, I learned a lot during this residency, and I am sad that it was my final one. However, I do know I'll have the chance to learn even more at the In Your Write Mind Retreat every year!

Please note the questions I asked throughout the post. I look forward to seeing what other people think about these subjects. Happy writing, all!

NEXT UP: Monthly Update

She Lives!

Did you think my class work had chewed me up never to spit me out? Well, almost.

I'm still reeling from it all, but I am done with the term! One last residency in June, at which time I will graduate with my M.F.A. Woo hoo!

I guess I should update everyone on my writing progress and goals. *rolls sleeves up*

I am currently through 55 pages of revisions for Dead As Dreams, and my goal is to complete the first round of revisions by the end of September. Even though I had an amazing amount of class work last term, I am fired up with my writing. The momentum I have is great, and I intend to keep it going. Dead As Dreams needs to get to the point where I can start querying agents!

Speaking of queries, this month or next, I'll be sending out one last round of agent queries for The Mind Behind the Mind. Then it gets sent to a major publisher to sit in a slush pile for a while so I can worry about other projects, and perhaps a few years down the road I'll write both of the sequels and consider indie publishing them. But I have plenty of other writing to keep me busy before then.

I've also started a new project. This is a majorly long term project. I'm working with a friend to create an online creature collectible game, similar to Magistream. The site will be called Elements of Anian. I'm currently developing the world of Anian, and I intend to write some novels based in the world as well. I've actually written the first chapter of the first novel, Into the Ash, already. It's a young adult dark fantasy. I'm quite excited about all of this, and I hope the website does get off the ground, but if for some reason it doesn't, I'll at least have novel ideas lined up. ;)

As you can tell, the Daina's Dance progress bar hasn't moved. I don't know what it is about that novel, but I am having some major issues trying to figure out what to do with it. So, I'll be experimenting a bit with it in the next few weeks, changing the tense--re-writing versus adding new writing. Progress is progress, even if it is experimenting!

Oh, were you wondering when I was going to start blogging more consistently? Was that the news you were actually waiting for? Soon! I need to map out my battle plan for the rest of the year, but I do hope to start posting once per week again by the end of the month (maybe even next week), and then I intend to up my posts to two or three times per week. I just need to make sure it's not cutting into my writing time a lot. I can't rein in the momentum! Writing is more important than blogging, although I have a bunch of fun blogging. I do have a couple new blog series ideas, which I hope people will enjoy. =)

I just wanted to mention a couple more things in this post:

First, there is still time to sign up for the In Your Write Mind retreat! You won't be disappointed. Please visit the website to at least see who the guests will be.

And Writing Quest - May is of course underway, and many of us have made tons of progress on our goals. Don't be afraid to join in even if the month is already halfway over!

Also, I'm still looking for any feedback for what you'd like to see me blog about. Feel free to fill out this Survey!

Happy writing, all! =)

Update from the MFA Trenches

Aside from my couple SFFS posts, I know I've been on the silent end, but as mentioned at the beginning of the year, I have a lot on my plate, and I am attempting to plan and restructure things for when I finally graduate.

I figured I was at least due for an update, though. =)

My classes are as crazy as I thought they would be. Between my toddler and all the class work, I am exhausted! I'm not even halfway through the term and I am burned out.

So, where does this leave me with my writing? I'm still making progress on Dead As Dreams - I estimate about 5-6 chapters left to write in the rough draft. I have yet to get a handle on the Write Every Day goal, but I'll get there, I'm sure. Baby Steps. ;)

I did make the time to participate in two things this month, which were great experiences!

I was part of a podcast for Broad Universe's monthly podcasts, Broadly Speaking. February's is about romance in speculative fiction, so feel free to have a listen if you're interested.

Then I guest blogged at Heidi Ruby Miller's blog for her Secret Writers series. That was great fun as well!

The couple times I participated in Science Fiction and Fantasy Saturday (SFFS) was a blast too - I hope everyone liked the snippets I posted.

Also I have a couple reminders before I wrap up this post.

Writing Quest - March starts tomorrow, and the event is already posted on Facebook, so feel free to join us and tell us what your writing goals are for the month.

And I can't forget to mention the In Your Write Mind Workshop that's coming up in June. I'll be at the residency this year, but since they coincide, I'll be around. In Your Write Mind is a great retreat run by the alums of Seton Hill's Writing Popular Fiction Program!

That should do it for now. It's time to convince myself to work on more class work instead of giving into the desire to take a nap. Happy writing, all!