The Difference Between Lonely and Alone

Currently reading - Poison Kisses by Stephanie Draven

Since the boys left for the snowy North, I've been beseiged with offers for company.  Apparently my friends and neighbors feel I will wither and die without companionship.  Make that human companionship.  Wonder Dog rarely let's me out of his sight with the other male members of the pack currrently absent.

My house is quiet for the first time in years, and I thoroughly enjoy the lack of extraneous noise.  The blasts and booms of the Xbox, the constant ringing of DH's business line, the whining over schoolwork.  Nope, don't miss the noise at all.

Here's the thing--I like being alone.  I can live quietly in my own mind.  I think most writers can.  It's the rest of the world that can't.  They believe lack of noise means lack of existence.

I believe the opposite.  I'm most lonely when I'm in a room full of people.  Too many people with too many agendas, and if they can't use me to fulfill their agendas, then I don't exist to them.

So I'll putter in my house with my projects, living grand adventures and passionate romances in my head before committing them to the computer screen.  After I feed Wonder Dog.

Character Growth

Currently reading - Poison Kisses by Stephanie Draven

I have the house to myself for the month of December.  Well, except for Wonder Dog, the only male member who did not head to Nana and Papa's for the holidays.  Since I don't have either a ten-year-old or a husband's uncomfortable laughter to deal with, I've been enjoying a Sex and the City marathon.

Viewing all six seasons back-to-back, I can revel in the memories and the humor.  But what I loved most about these stories was never the dating fiascos or sex-capades.  It was watching the girls grow, and grow up, leaving behind their preconceived notions of Mr. Right.

Instead of the perfect WASP marriage with children, Charlotte found her bald Jewish attorney with puppies.  Miranda finally admitted she was passionately in love, not with a high-powered business man or a celebrity doctor, but with Steve, the nerdy, sweet bartender.  Samantha discovered her soul mate in Smith, her waiter/model/actor boytfriend who taught the really sick pleasure of. . .just holding hands.

And then there was Carrie and Big.

Maybe that's why I wasn't as pleased by the girls' first theatrical movie and haven't bothered to watch the second one.  It seemed like all four took major steps backwards in their character growth.

And that's the important thing in your stories as well.  Your characters need to be moving forward.  Without progress, all you have left is rehash after rehash of scenes.

When an Idea Just Won't Go Away

Currently reading - Poisoned Kisses by Stephanie Draven

What does a writer do when an idea refuses to let go of the brain?  I understand not all stories are meant to be written.  There's enough detrius in my wake to show that not every germ of a plot can make a satisfying read.

There's the sweet erotica.  (Yeah, I'm not sure how that happened either).  There's the amnesiac heiress and the poor, but sexy, artist that rescues her from a boating accident.  (Can you say '70's soap plot?  Really bad '70's soap plot?)  There's the veteran helicopter pilot faced with her ex and his love child in Hawaii.  (After watching the first eleven episodes of the new Hawaii 5-O, I may dig that one out from under the bed.  *grin*)

But lately, there's this particular idea that just will not release its clutches on my gray matter.  I've made two starts on the novel.  One made it to sixty pages.  The second made it to one hundred.  I'm not happy with either version, so I laid aside all writing for the last three weeks trying to give the conscious mind a rest.  Well, all writing except for the blog.

Maybe the rest will do my creative side some good.  And maybe, just maybe, when I sit down to work on this idea the third time will be the charm, and not a strike.

When Fear Rules

Currently reading - Poisoned Kisses by Stephanie Draven

Skip on over and read Bruce Schneier's blog on terrorism and security.  I'll wait.
...

I agree with Bruce.  In my opinion, the terrorists have already won.  They've forced us to do things that are totally against our ideals.

So what does this have to do with writing?

We let other people's fears affect us.  "What makes you think you can write?"  "Do you know what the odds are of actually getting published?"  "Why are you wasting your time with that bullshit?  Get a real job!"

It takes a lot of courage to write down your ideas.  It takes even more courage to let other people read your words.  And you don't have to worry about swinging from the end of a rope for your writing like Thomas Jefferson did.  Remember that little thing he wrote?  The Declaration of Independence?

My greatest worry in today's current atmosphere of fear is that I will have to be concerned about the hangman's noose.

Not to Leave Out Those Who Celebrate Hanukkah. . .

Yes, I do have a weird thing for Adam Sandler and his singing.

A Little Caribbean Holiday Music

Just don't tell Miss Piggy what's in real fig pudding. . .

May John Denver and Jim Henson Rest in Peace

I still play this tape/CD/MP3 every holiday season.  Of course, Miss Piggy gets the five gold rings.  How could it happen otherwise?

The American Taliban

The United States was founded by a bunch of radical young men and woman (and Ben Franklin, an ornery old coot) over two hundred years ago.  They proposed some concepts that, if they'd lost the Revolutionary War, would have resulted  in them swinging from trees.  Ideas like democracy, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press.

But today, there's folks who want to go back to Medieval times.  Several extremist Christian movements want to turn back the clock to when women are the property of their fathers or husbands and should not be educated.

Excuse me?  How is that any different than what the Taliban does in Afghanistan?  Where women are raped, tortured and killed for daring to open and read the Koran, much less the latest Nora Roberts?

This kind of stuff scares me more than fighting the actual denizens of Hell.


*** Thanks to Tobias Buckell for the link.

Ignorance

Sophie Jordan (Firelight) mentioned this video courtesy of dwkazzie. I laughed so hard both DH and the Wonder Beagle gave me funny looks.

The really sad thing is I've been on both sides of some version of this conversation.

Some Advice from a Contest Judge

I've judged RWA contests for the last four years.  I see writers making the same mistakes over and over again.  And I often wince because I made the same ones.
So how can you increase your chances of getting a high score and subsequently the attention of an agent or editor?  Avoid these five common problems.

1)  Drop the tropes.  They're tropes for a reason; people are writing the same thing over and over.  Figure out a twist to the old trick.  Anne McCaffrey made her dragons the good guys.  Joss Whedon made his blonde cheerleader the one the monsters fear.  Stephenie Myer made her vampires sparkle.

2)  Infuse your story with your voice.  Voice is a reflection of your passion for the tale you're telling.  I can tell when you've committee'd your manuscript to death.  It's got to have a spark of life or it's boring as hell.

3)  Have someone proofread your manuscript before you send it in.  Otherwise, you may have your teen heroine pick up her boobs from the table and head for school.

4)  Watch out for point-of-view problems.  Your POV character cannot know anything that his/her normal five sense or special abilities haven't detected.  EXAMPLE:  The hero saw the bad guy on the other side of the door.  But the door is closed , there's no peephole, and the hero doesn't have x-ray vision.

5)  Read your dialogue aloud, have a friend read it, or download and use a text-to-speech program.  Do the words sound like a real person talking?

Anybody else have some tips they want to offer?