Tag Archive for: #amwriting

Too Hot

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by Linda Rodriguez

The temps were 102°
today with a heat index of 110°.
I spent the day as I have this entire week, working in a local Panera
all day, even though I have a nice big office with spacious desk and
comfortable desk chair.

Our
big old house, like a lot of older homes, does not have central air
conditioning, and when the temperatures outside hit the high 90s and
triple digits, those poor window air conditioners just can’t keep up.
So I decamp for the nearest Panera. This happens every summer in
Kansas City, where weeks of triple digits aren’t unheard of and where
humidity is incredibly high. (I once visited San Antonio during one
of these times while San Antonio itself had temps of 103, but found
San Antonio much more bearable because the air was so much drier.)

The
manager and staff at my coffee shop know me and ask how the latest
book is coming along. I also head there when I have copy edits or
page proofs, in order to stay focused, so they see me at times other
than just the hottest days of summer. I hear them explain to new
employees–”She’s a writer, and sometimes she comes here to work
all day.”

The
first day or two that I head out to the coffee shop, if I’m writing
new work rather than dealing with copy edits or page proofs, is
always slower and harder. I have a rhythm established at home where I
usually work, and that rhythm gets thrown off by switching locations.
I’ve been working away from home all miserably hot week long. The
first couple of days were awkward and disappointing, but by today, I
was cruising along at the laptop, fingers flying.

I’m
nearing the end of a book I’ve finished and revised completely, only
to realize that I needed at least two more chapters at the end. Those
chapters are what I’m writing now, and I’m pleased to say they’re
coming right along after an initial loss of momentum when I had to
change location of my daily work. I’m at that stage where I greet my
husband when he shows up at the end of the day with excited babble.
“It’s going so well now!” “ Yay! 4,000 words today.” “I’m
getting really excited about this as I close in on the end. I think
it’s turning out great!”

I’ve
moved into that end-of-book momentum where it becomes almost
impossible not to write and where my brain stays awake into the
night, running through various scenarios and possible alternatives to
planned scenes. This is one of my favorite times in writing a book.

So,
yeah, it’s miserable outside, but I’m in all day where the air is
cold, the music is classical, and the coffee is hot. Sometimes you
just have to move to a different space to write.

Behind the Scenes

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by Sparkle Abbey

Every author works differently and so we thought it might be fun to take you behind the scenes in our work space.

Tech
Most of the authors we know write on a computer. Some desktop, some laptop, some tablet. Others write long-hand on a note pad and then transcribe to the computer. That’s not for us. Though we don’t think of ourselves as fast writers, that two-step process would make us very, very s…l…o…w… and drive us crazy. So, we mostly write on a desktop or laptop. Lately we’re trying out standing while writing because we’ve heard too much sitting is not healthy.

Attire
We’ll bet you think we look better when we’re writing than we actually do. Perhaps you think we actually put on real clothes and make-up. Some days we do. And then there are other days when comfort is key. Let’s just say, in some cases we really have to think about whether it’s wise to answer the door.

Surroundings
Because when we’re writing we are creating an alternate world, where we work can be really important. We both have busy families and not very quiet homes so an office with a door is essential. And noise-canceling headphones are our friend.

Music can be good, but it depends on what type of scene you’re writing. Dark intense music isn’t helpful when you’re writing a light-hearted scene. Some authors create playlists for each book which sounds like fun, but for us that could easily be a distraction as we hunt to find just the right songs.

Reference books on shelves or in stacks are a part of any writer’s décor and we’re no exception. Although we have the Internet at our fingertips, there are simply times when you have to have that book in your hands. Usually it’s a well-worn favorite with highlighting and sticky notes.

We are planners which is especially important since we write the Pampered Pets series together. We get together and plot the books, but then we write them individually. So, we’ll start with a fairly detailed story grid and then we work from plot points. So our offices have white boards and post-it notes. And also pictures of places, people and pets that help to keep us grounded in the story.

We hope you enjoyed the tour. It’s what we’ve found works for us and it’s how we’ve written our most recent books, DOWNTON TABBY and RAIDERS OF THE LOST BARK. Just like the characters in our books change, the process and the environment changes a bit depending on what other craziness is going on in our lives. But for now, we like the process we’ve landed on and we hope you enjoy the stories we create.

Sparkle Abbey is the pseudonym of two mystery authors (Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter). They are friends and neighbors as well as co-writers of the Pampered Pets Mystery Series. The pen name was created by combining the names of their rescue pets–Sparkle (Mary Lee’s cat) and Abbey (Anita’s dog). If you want to make sure you’re up on all the Sparkle Abbey news, stop by their website and sign up for updates at sparkleabbey.com.

The Bag of Tricks

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By Bethany Maines
On my last blog I discussed how I
keep the fictional worlds of my books organized (answer: spreadsheets and
lists!), but recently I gave a talk on writing to a local high-school and they
wanted to know the more nitty-gritty details. Since they are at the start of
their writer journey they have yet to discover that many of the struggles of
writing are shared by all writers. 
What’s that? You have two great scenes, but you’re not sure how to
connect them?  You have half a novel
written, but you don’t know who the bad guy is yet? You really need the hot guy
to land in the heroine’s life, but you don’t know how he gets there?  These are all questions with many possible
answers, and like common core math, many possible ways of getting to the answer.
I thought Kimberly Jayne’s recent
post about Mindful Daydreaming was a great way to answer many writing
questions.  And yesterday’s post from Sally
Berneathy’s post about “pantsing” vs. plotting a novel showed how she dives and
discovers her book as she goes along.  I
have discovered that being a plotter is usually a faster more efficient way for
me to write.  When I have all the answers
before I start writing, I can write even when I’m not feeling very creative or
if I only have five minutes.  But
recently, I found myself stuck on the outline. 
I stared.  I hammered.  I picked. 
I ignored it.  Nothing
happened.  And at some point I decided to
start writing because you know what happens when you don’t write? Nothing.  So I wrote all the way to where I had
outlined and I was just as stuck as I was on the outline.  I was back to being a high-schooler – how do
I connect those two scenes? How do I get the hero from point A to point B? Dear
God, what happens nexxxxxxxt????
Which is when I decided to take my
own advice.  I grabbed a notebook and a
pen. Changing the medium can sometimes change my perspective.  I wrote a synopsis of the story from the
villain’s point of view.  I wrote a
synopsis from the love interests view point. I drew little diagrams about how the
storylines connect. I wrote a few paragraphs about the villain’s history and
motivation, really diving into what he thinks about the events of the story.  It’s an old saying that each of us is the
hero in our own story, and that goes for villains too (see the great post from
Jennae Phillippe about A Villain’s Voice). 
How does a villain think that his actions are justified? As I answered
that question, I discovered more and more about how my story moved
forward.  Which is when I put down the
pen and typed up my scrawling notes. 
Organizing a novel isn’t just
about filing systems; it’s about herding all your characters and ideas into a
coherent plot and making sure that everyone gets to the end (or the right end
if they happen to be the designated dead body) in a satisfying manner.  But sometimes a writer needs to reach into
her bag of tricks and try more than one technique to get the job done.  As I told my room full of high-schoolers, when
in doubt…  try, try something else.
*** 
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie
Mae Mysteries, Tales from the City of
Destiny and An Unseen Current.
 You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

The Unseen (Forget Unsung) Heroines

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I had this great post planned. J
 
Bethany inspired me so much with her “how I organize my
corner of the universe,” I intended to admit to uhm… less organization. And no
spreadsheets.

I’m more along the lines of J.M. Phillippe’s “winging it.”

I even took a photo of the messy pile of notes and ideas
stacked up on my desk (and the bedside table, the countertop, the…err…you get
the picture).  Really, all those snippets
do turn into a first draft. Then there’s the tri-fold board with color coded
Post-its (aren’t Post-it’s the best?), broken out by Act and Turning Point, for editing and organizing. (The color coding matches each Point of View character. See? Really. I can be organized.)
(Surely I have a picture of a story board somewhere…) 
Instead of writing about my writing process, every spare moment has been dedicated to the
Daphne. That’s the Daphne du Maurier Award
for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense contest, sponsored by the Kiss of
Death. Great contest. Wonderful
entries/contestants and judges.
I’m all for volunteering although clearly I had no idea what I’d
agreed to do. You see, coordinators are the unseen people behind the scenes who
make sure the entries meet the requirements and work with the judges to get the
score-sheets and manuscripts turned back in. They “unch” (that’s the polite word for politely pester) and hold people’s hands while figuring out technical troubles. They keep lots and lots of records
and cross check everything. Basically it’s a paper chase, or these days, an
electronic chase spread across four desktop screens.
But the best part of being a coordinator will come in a few
days when I have the privilege of calling the finalists. There’s nothing like
telling someone how much strangers enjoyed their stories and that their
manuscript was voted “best in the group.”
Bring on the coffee and the spreadsheets. I have entries to
manage.
Cathy Perkins loves writing twisting plots and relationship
chemistry. She  

especially loved hearing from the Award of
Excellence coordinator, who told her strangers liked her novel.

She wants to publicly thank the judges and
coordinator again for all the volunteer time and efforts they put into that
contest.

Winging It

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by J.M. Phillippe

Earlier this month, fellow Stiletto Gang author Bethany Maines posted a great blog about how she organizes her novels using spreadsheets and graphs — all online! I was super impressed. And then intimidated. Because my organization of a novel looks a lot more like this:

Images of writing notebooks
Sometimes I can’t even read my own writing.

 I don’t even remember to put all my notes about the same story in the same notebook.

I do start out trying to be super organized. I spend a lot of time procrastinating…er…pre-writing by creating elaborate systems and files that some part of me knows I will never maintain. I understand that that the more up-front work I do, the less back-end work I’ll have to do. And yet, inevitably, at some point during a writing project I find myself digging through various notebooks and poorly named Word files, trying to find that one piece of information I need to complete whatever section I’m working on. I have to scan first drafts specifically for continuity errors (like the spelling of a name), and if it wasn’t for eagle-eyed readers and editors, I’d miss small changes I made in even basic descriptions (did that room have a brown leather chair or a burgundy leather chair?).

Vader is not impressed with me.

I also only ever make it half-way through a novel outline before the drafting process takes over, and characters and plots move in totally different directions. It’s a little bit because I find outlines kind of boring, and a little bit more that if I get too detailed and figure out how it will all end, I lose interest. Generally, I never start with more than a vague sense of where I want to end up, and I find drafting it out so much more satisfying. And yet I know that an outline would probably make the entire process a lot less messy — and faster — if maybe not as spontaneous.

Of course, come revision time, I then I have to backtrack and do all the work that I maybe shoulda coulda woulda done in the pre-writing process. I create a reverse outline of my chapters and sections. I make a style sheet and finally decide on a single spelling of a name (the search and replace feature in Word is very much my friend). Changes are always intentionally planned. I invest heavily in the revision process, and the story can change dramatically from draft to draft.

In many ways, starting off by winging it and then going back and organizing what I’ve written lets me discover the story in two different ways — as I write it, and after I go back and read what I’ve written. That process of discovery keeps me interested in the story, even if it is very labor intensive.

Still, I can’t help but look at the ways other writers organize themselves and wistfully daydream about my own set of spread sheets and graphs. Sometimes though, I’d settle for remembering exactly where I put that really great breakdown of the third act I thought of while on the bus two months ago. All I have to do is figure out what notebook I had with me that day…

***
J.M. Phillippe is the author of Perfect Likeness. She has lived in the deserts of California, the
suburbs of Seattle, and the mad rush of New York City.  She worked as a freelance journalist before
earning a masters’ in social work.  She
works as a family therapist in Brooklyn, New York and spends her free-time
decorating her tiny apartment to her cat Oscar Wilde’s liking, drinking cider
at her favorite British-style pub, and training to be the next Karate Kid, one
wax-on at a time.

Organizing My World(s)

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by Bethany Maines

An author’s job is not just to tell a story, but to decide how a story should be told. Is it better
in first or third person? Is it told in one long march of words or are their
chapters? We have to decide genre, tone and feeling. And once those decisions
have been made an author must create and track the main plot of the story – the
one that we struggle to capture in the blurb text on the back cover – as well as
the sub-plots, underlying themes, and finally, the characters themselves.  All of those pieces require not just the ability
to write, but also the ability to track information. Because, as any serious
reader will tell you (sometimes at great length), consistency and details
matter greatly to a well written book, and while we can rely on an editor for
some items, they are only human and can only catch so much.  It is in an author’s best interest to provide
the cleanest manuscript possible.
I’m currently working on two vastly different stories: the
fourth Carrie Mae Mystery Glossed Cause and a Romance Horror
novella Wild Waters.  Each story comes
with an array of characters, research and plot twists that to be perfectly
honest I can’t hold in my brain. 
Possibly pre-production of a toddler I could have kept hold of all the
details, but no longer. Now, to keep all my worlds organized, I must rely on a system of notes, plot outlines and
spreadsheets.

For the Carrie Mae books I track characters with a spread sheet
that notes who they are (name, basic role, job or company) and also what book
they have appeared in or if they have been deleted or omitted from a book.  I also have a rather extensive style sheet
that helps me keep track of how certain things, such as chapter headings are
formatted and whether or not I’m consistently formatting things like “AK-47”
and “INTERPOL” the same way over multiple books.
For Wild Waters I’m writing in two
different time periods – WWII and Vietnam ­– and they each use distinctive
slang that I organize in a couple of basic lists.  There are
also multiple character points of view and it is important to keep track of
what characters know and when they know it, so that each plot point is revealed
at the correct time. Tracking character
arcs are more difficult and sometimes require multiple ways of
visualizing.  I will frequently write out
the plot from each characters point of view or I will graph it out on a virtual
whiteboard, utilizing the main plot points.

There is no perfect system of course, and each author must
work the way that works for them. But when examining a well-written book, I am
frequently in awe, not just of the beautifully constructed words or strong turn
of phrase, but the underlying construction of a book.  Sometimes, I find it amazing that any books
get written at all.

***
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie
Mae Mysteries, Tales from the City of
Destiny and An Unseen Current.
 You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

A Working Writers’ Retreat

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by Sparkle Abbey

What do you think of when you think of a writing retreat? Do you imagine exotic locations? Maybe a mountain escape? Or a beachside resort? Or maybe an isolated lake cabin? We found some wonderful ones listed in this article from The Write Life. All incredible places we’d love to visit, but we’d argue exotic is not necessarily required for a successful retreat.

Writing Retreat Websites
http://thewritelife.com/writing-retreats/

We recently did a weekend plotting retreat with three other writers who are members of our long-time critique group. And it was a bit different than the ones listed in the article.

Our purposely not exotic location was a nearby town. We had adjoining hotel rooms, a breakfast bar, and restaurants in the area that delivered. We know our limitations and just how easy it is to get distracted if we leave the retreat. (We also brought way too many snacks, but that’s another story.)

We had white boards, flip charts, post-it notes, plenty of markers and this time we also brought magazines and poster board. It can be extremely hard to switch off the day job work week mind and move your brain to creative thinking, so we decided to start the retreat with vision boards.

Each writer chose a particular project (story) to focus on for the retreat and with stacks of magazines by our sides, scissors and glue sticks in hand, we dove in. Each of us created a vision board of images related to our stories. For some it was a story not yet started and for others a story in progress. The main idea of this exercise is not to over-think the selections. To pick out images or words you’re drawn to. As you sort through them you may discard some, add others, move pictures and words around. And through the process, you may discover some new things about your story. Things that may have been lurking in the back of your mind.

The next morning we hit the breakfast bar and then we begin the hard work part of the retreat. Each writer (or in our case writing team) gets a two-hour time slot for plotting. We need to add here that some in the group are hardcore plotters and others, well, not so much. So each writer starts their time with setting the boundaries on what kind of help they’d like during their time slot.

We work. We brainstorm and eat snacks. We take notes and often photos of the notes we’ve made on the white board. And then we move on to the next writer’s story. With a break for lunch, we begin again. Brainstorm, notes, snacks, photos. Then dinner is delivered because we don’t want to change from our yoga pants and sweatshirts. And then…repeat.

By Sunday morning we’ve covered a lot of ground and after hitting the breakfast bar for a dose of energy and much needed caffeine, we’re ready for wrap-up. Each writer gets an hour of clarification or additional brainstorming time because sometimes after you’ve slept on that brilliant idea you find that it’s full of holes.

Other writers’ groups do retreats in different ways, but we’ve found this to be a productive and fun way to work out the kinks in a story idea and to support each other. We’ve done this for several years and it works for us. Still..the beach or the mountains would be nice, right? Maybe next time.

Have you attended a retreat and, if so, what type? A writing retreat? Something to do with your job? Or perhaps something creative like a quilting or scrapbooking retreat? We’d love to hear about your experiences!

And for a little creative get-away at home, we’ll draw from all who leave a comment for this great Cats & Dogs adult coloring book.

Doesn’t it look like fun?

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often write at ML’s dining room table or at the Starbucks up the street. If they could write anywhere, you would find them on the beach with their laptops and, depending on the time of day, either an iced tea or a margarita.

They love to hear from readers and would love to connect with you via their website at: sparkleabbey.com or on Facebook or Twitter.

The latest book in their mystery series is Raiders of the Lost Bark.

A Re-Awakening

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by Marjorie Brody

The New Year arrived for me in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. A live band, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries accompanied a balloon drop at midnight. The cruise allowed me to escape telephone calls and the demands of emails, meetings, and deadlines. I took a speed boat ride

through the rain forest, climbed Mayan ruins, and swam in gorgeous blue, calm water. I relaxed and gained a fresh perspective on my goals for the coming year. As a guest on a cruise ship, I was treated like royalty.

The vacation reminded me of how fortunate I am—purely by accident of my birth—to belong to the privileged of this world. Even though I have at times experienced religious prejudice, my life is blessed. I live in a country where, even as a female, I can receive an education, earn a living, marry the person of my choice, and raise the number of children I choose. My cruise experience, and the countries I visited, reinforced my awareness of the difference between the haves and the have nots. Years ago I wrote a poem about the divide between the privileged and underprivileged classes in our country. I pulled it out to reread and I’m sharing it with you below.

The New Year and its tradition of making resolutions coincided for me on this cruise and I decided that this year, my commitment wouldn’t be to write more regularly or submit more often. My resolution wouldn’t be to lose weight or exercise three times a week. My resolution would push me to think outside of my own little world and do something to make the world a better place for those less fortunate than I.

May the New Year be good to you.

SIDE-BY-SIDE IN AMERICA: THE PLAYGROUND

Twisted gray weeds wrap around
rusted spikes
                                                      Manicured grass, plush, green
                                                      and well styled
where once the swings stood
                                                       under brilliant colored poles
Rats and roaches scuffle
among bottles, cans, and paper
finding their way to
                                                      Children laughing,
                                                      singing rhymes and shouting,
                                                      playing tag and statues
Termites on an endless feast
gorging themselves on
                                                      “See-saw Margery Daw”
Mosquitoes and flies hovering
around excrement and vomit
                                                      Uniformed nannies strolling flowered paths
                                                      pushing their carriages,
                                                      and gossiping sweetly
                                                      And the friendly policeman
                                                      tips his cap as they pass
a drunk beaten and robbed
lying under the bushes
blood inching down his mouth
and ear—his temple pulsing
                                                       the heavy thunder of roller skates
                                                       on cement
its redness turned brown by
an equal part dirt
                                                       “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
                                                       Humpty Dumpty had a great . . .”
“Help me,” faintly come
                                                        babies cooing as they have their
                                                        tummies satisfied with
                                                        bottles full of warm white
clouds turning black
as the chill of night sets in
                                                        And as the sun seeks the horizon
                                                        the nannies call the children
                                                        home
                                                        to an unappreciated dinner
                                                        and lush, warm beds
                                                        And the children laugh, and
                                                        run
                                                        “ . . . all the way, all the way home”
with the faint voice calling
                                                        “three, six, nine, I resign.”

Marjorie Brody is an award-winning author and Pushcart Prize Nominee. Her short stories appear in literary magazines and the Short Stories by Texas Authors Anthology and four volumes of the Short Story America Anthology. Her debut psychological suspense novel, TWISTED, was awarded an Honorable Mention at the Great Midwest Book Festival and won the Texas Association of Authors Best Young Adult Fiction Book Award. TWISTED is available in digital and print at http://tinyurl.com/cv15why or http://tinyurl.com/bqcgywl. Marjorie invites you to visit her at www.marjoriespages.com. 

Me Time

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by Bethany Maines

The problem with releasing books on a schedule is that now
I’m writing on a schedule. But you know, not actually. Because actually writing
would require me to solve the plot problem that I’m stuck at, stop this
blogging nonsense and get back to writing the novel, for work to stop coming
along like a freight train, and for my family to stop wanting to see me. Except
for the plot issue, none of that seems likely to happen.  How do you write when life is full of
time constraints?
I have one author/mom friend who stole an hour to go write
at the library only to discover it was closed and instead of going home again,
she sat in the parking lot and sucked their wi-fi and worked on her
laptop.  And I’m typing this from
the couch as I woke up an hour early to sneak time to write before the wee
monster (aka the lawn ornament aka Salazar the Destroyer aka Zoe) wakes up.
Writing was so much easier when I was single and living in my parents upstairs.
I would sneak down, get food, and retreat to my computer to make up an excitingworld about a girl who becomes a spy when she can’t find a job in her chosen field.  Not that anyone ever had
that daydream.  Ahem.  Moving on. 

My point is, I may be a happier, more well-rounded
individual with family and what not, but all those pleasant mental-health
balancing things suck up time (with little adorable faces). Now writing is
something that I have to fight for. 
It’s a new and somewhat uncomfortable position to be in, because writing
was always something that I did for me. But now “me things” are taking up time
where family and friends and work things also need time. It’s hard to find the
right mix and it’s almost impossible to keep everyone happy.  But I still keep trying because I think
that me things are what make me who I am. 
Now if only me could come up with a solution to that stupid plot
problem…
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, Tales from the City of Destiny and An Unseen Current.  You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.