An Excerpt

This is from my NanoWrimo PepTalk Email...and I just really liked this bit:

I live in Barre, Vermont which calls itself the "Granite Capital of the World." Outside our town are enormous quarries, so when I speak in local schools every child has a mental picture of a granite quarry. "You know how hard it is to get granite out of the quarry," I say. "You have to carefully score the rock and put the explosive in to make the great granite block break loose from the face of the stone. Then you have to attach the block to the chains so that the cranes can lift it slowly out of the hole a nd put it on the waiting truck. That’s the first draft. It’s hard, dangerous work, and when you’ve finished, all you’ve really got is a block of stone. But now you have something now to work on. Now you can take your block down to the shed to carve and polish it and turn it into something of beauty. That’s revision."

But first you’ve got to get that block of granite out of the earth, friends. You won’t have anything to make beautiful until you do that. Now go back to work. That means you too, Katherine.

Best wishes,

Katherine Paterson

I really love the image of a giant block of granite, as this first draft of 'garbage' I am creating.  I also realized the last time I wrote 30 pages of something it was my thesis paper...so now I am about to strike out into more unknown territory...out beyond the thesis paper zone!!!  I'm plowing ahead...still behind but not giving up!!

[Heather if you read this, I really think it could be helpful.  Sometimes you have to just go out on a limb and write some crap and then go back and make it better!  Love you!]

full PepTalk can be found HERE

Pep Talk

Dear NaNoWriMo author,

You've started a long journey. Congratulations on your resolution and ambition! And the first thing you need to remember is that a long journey can't be treated like a sprint. Take your time.

The second thing you need to remember is that if you want to finish this journey you've begun, you have to keep going. One of the hardest things to do with a novel is to stop writing it for a while, do something else, fulfill this engagement or that commitment or whatever, and pick it up exactly where you left it and carry on as if nothing had happened. You will have changed; the story will have drifted off course, like a sh ip when the engines stop and there's no anchor to keep it in place; when you get back on board, you have to warm the engines up, start the great bulk of the ship moving through the water again, work out your position, check the compass bearing, steer carefully to bring it back on track ... all that energy wasted on doing something that wouldn't have been necessary at all if you'd just kept going!

But once you've established a daily rhythm of work, you'll find it energising and sustaining in itself. Even when it's not going well. This is a strange thing, but I've noticed it many times: a bad day's work is a lot better than no day's work at all. At least if you've written 500 words, or 1000 words, or whatever you discover is your most comfortable daily rate of production, the words are there to work on later. And when you do visit them in a month's time, or whenever it i s, you often find that they're not so bad after all.

The question authors get asked more than any other is "Where do you get your ideas from?" And we all find a way of answering which we hope isn't arrogant or discouraging. What I usually say is "I don't know where they come from, but I know where they come to: they come to my desk, and if I'm not there, they go away again." That's just another way of emphasising the importance of regular work. 

You know which page of a novel is the most difficult to write? It's page 70. The first page is easy: it's exciting, it's new, a whole world lies in front of you. The last page is easy: you've got there at last, you know what's going to happen, all you have to do is find a resonant closing sentence. But page 70 is where the misery strikes. All the initial excitement has drained away; you've begun to see all the hideous problems you've set yourself; you are horribly aware of the minute size of your own talent compared to the colossal proportions of the task you've undertaken. That's when you'll want to give up. When I hit page 70 with my very first novel, I thought: I'm never going to finish this. I'll never make it. But then stubbornness set in, and I thought: well, if I reach page 100, that'll be something. If I get there, I reckon I can make it to the end, wherever that is. And 100 is only 30 pages away, and if I write 3 pages every day, I can get there in ten days ... why don't I just try to do that? So I did. It was a terrible novel, but I finished it.

The last thing I'd say to anyo ne who wants to write a novel is not actually a piece of advice, but a question. It's this: are you a reader? Every novelist I know—every novelist I've ever heard of—is, or was, a passionate reader. I don't doubt that someone with determination and energy, but who didn't read for pleasure, who only read for information, could actually write a whole novel if they set their mind to
it and followed a few rules and guidelines; but would it be worth reading? Would it give any pleasure beyond a mechanically c alculated sort? I doubt it. Novels that last and please readers are written because the novelist is intoxicated by the delight and the endlessly renewable joy that comes from engaging with imaginary characters—with story; and that engagement always begins with reading; and if it catches you, it never lets go. Write a novel if you want to win a competition, or impress your friends, or possibly make some money—do so by all means. But if you're not a lover of stories, a passionate and devoted reader, don't expect your novel to please many readers.

On the other hand, if you do love reading, if you cannot imagine going on a journey without a book in your pocket or your bag, if you fret and fidget and become uncomfortable if you're kept away from your reading for too long, if your worst nightmare is to be marooned on a desert island without a book—then take heart: there are plenty of us like you. And if you tell a story that really engages you, we are all potential readers.

Good luck!

Philip Pullman

I like that very much...helps to know I don't have to have 17 or 20,000 words right now....I can just plod along at my 1667 words a day and that's ok-more marathon running than anything else.  I need coffee...

Just checking in!!

I am actually pulling ahead on my NanoWrimo Novel: Children of Destiny.  I have broken  the 10,000 mark!  This is just to let the world know I am still alive!

At writing 1667 words a day I have already reached the goal for today which was 10,005 and am still going...I've hit a mini wall that I hope to overcome soon so I can get more writing in before I have to leave for work...

More later!

WORD COUNT: 10,122  Woot!!

Re-Post

This is re-posted from my livejournal...just wanted to share!

According to Wikipedia:
"An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, althoughdiary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents", such as blogs and e-mails have also come into use. The word epistolary comes from the Latin word epistola, meaning a letter.

The epistolary form can add greater realism and verisimilitude to a story, chiefly because it mimics the workings of real life. It is thus able to demonstrate differing points of view without recourse to the device of an omniscient narrator."

Heather and I talked a few weeks ago about writing  tTHoHRatAP into a novel of sorts, and that conversation wound its way around several other topics and came back on the subject of blogging.  Heather said I should turn tTHoHRatAP into an online blog told from the point of view of Spencer through a Captain's Log...

Well I pondered on this...and pondered....drove back and forth to and from Atlanta while still pondering and finally came up with the idea that tTHoHRatAP could work as a novel-AND a blog, in the form of an epistolary novel.  I already have the seeds of that with the play through Henry's journal, and Heather said Spencer should have her ships log, Aicilla should have bizarre book lists and letters to siblings, and other characters could talk through letters.  I've gotten very excited, and if I didn't already have the novel I was going to write for NanoWrimo I'd write this one!

Here's how it would break down....

Henry:  writes about happenings on the ship from his point of view
Spencer: writes about happenings on the ship from HER point of view [aka Henry is exaggerating] as well as accounts of what really happened between her and Fioni
Aicilla:  writes about things in a neutral voice as well as giving hints of backstory, she also has humorous lists, grocery lists, book lists, and letters to siblings 
Jax/Mishi/Smith/Gizmo: random lists/letters
Illira: memos, and journal entries after she meets Henry [he gets her interested in that.  She begins journaling/letter writing while Fioni has captured her...] She also writes about her and Vin's conversations
Fioni/Morgenstern: letters back and forth
Vin: perhaps a few letters at Illira's encouragement

The bulk of the story will be told by Spencer and Henry's journals with the other stuff supplementing.  I think it also might be fun to throw in faux newspaper articles and whatnot to make it more interesting...We'll have to see if I survive NanoWrimo with my sanity intact first...or at least partially intact...it could be fun to write while semi-sane....enough of that!
That's all for now...I'll post NanoWrimo results as they come and or I get brain block/procrastination...my hands are very very cold.....

T'yar!!

I had two days off... I:

1: Read an entire 400 page book [granted it was a children's book so it was sort of easy...but on the other hand Peter and the Starcatchers is fabulously tragically adventurous, she says creating adjectives where needed!]

2:  Halfway outlined my NanoWrimo project: Children of Destiny [Saturday is closing in!!!!!]

3:  Had wonderfully fun snuggle time with Kalin!

4.  Piddled around the house [haven't done that in ages!]

5:  Had lunch with me Da!  [That's just a fun phrase!]

6:  Feel utterly refreshed for this work week!  [Speaking of which I should go work now!]

Coming soon:  A full review of Peter and the Starcatchers!!!

                          A list of my favorite fight scenes ever!

                         List of favorite secondary characters [starting with Mister Gibbs and the  firstmate from Stardust!]

More random Randomness! WOOT!

The End...there isn't anymore...

Strange Jobs...

So...I have this real desk job type thing at The Academy Theatre...which has the usual desk job type things that need to be done.  But today I had a much more interesting time at 'work' as it were...

Today I was NOT Lainey Elise Welsch aka The Dread Pirate Lainey Marketing Director and Production Assistant at The Academy Theatre.  Today I was Nell Manchester, good friend of Mister Charles Dickens " 'ere to tell ya a wee bit about a play they is goin' t'be a'doin' up at th' Academy Theatre!"

In other words I got to dress up like a British street person and hawk our play and let people know about our theatre.  I learned several interesting things today:

1.  People will listen to you talk about just about anything if you have a British accent!  [There were literally people staring at my mouth while I was talking!  It was sort of weird...]

2.  Part of the marketing problem for The Academy is that a lot of people think we are Push Push theatre-and while they do good work too- WE ARE NOT THEM!!!  So it was a great opportunity to actually tell people face to face where we were, which I think will help things tremendously.

3.  It is physically exhausting to be another persona for more than two hours!!!  

4.  [Although is more an aside than anything else.]  Turkey club paninis from Urban Grounds and Vitamin Water are LIFE SAVERS!!!

That's all...there isn't any more!

Radio show tonight!!  WOOT!

Two down one more to go!!