Roses for Me

I'm sending myself (and you) roses today -- because I rocked my WIP yesterday. I wrote 20 pages Courier, a complete chapter! I didn't even stop to work on the oh-so-tempting Fun Proposal.

All this writing and still managed to work in a walk with Boonie and Katie, and a long lunch watching Michael Chiarello's Easy Entertaining show. (He was making Vampire Blood Punch and Slimy Green Fondue -- I'm totally carving Boone's pumpkin tonight!)

Anyway, today's goal is ten pages again. I only have half a day to write, since I've got appointments this afternoon. But after yesterday's push, I'm motivated to finish this pesky first draft.

Only 18,000 words to go... that's like 72 pages or something. The end is near.

Bouncing Baby Boone

Whew! Tuesday morning and I get to sit down in front of my laptop and work on my new proposal and WIP.

So, question -- is it bad while I was checking my email this morning, Boone jumped on the couch and slurped up the rest of my carmel latte?

Yeah, that's what I thought. He should be bouncing around the house for the rest of the day. Great.

Wait! Just went to check on my breakfast and totally soaked my socks. Boone played fountain in his water bowl again. Java officially kicking in. Heather's writing morning officially in jeopardy. Must find chewies!

Officially entered the Golden Heart 2006 today. Hard decision. But I have made so many improvements to AMBER, especially in the full manuscript, I owe it to her to give her one more shot.

My YA paranormal, though I may finish it in time, will probably not be polished enough to enter. Unless I amaze myself and kick out the jams within the next few weeks, that is.

But, unfortunately, I'm in the second act "doldrums".

The beginning of act II is always fun for me. I'm fresh into the meat of the conflict there. But as I go deeper, I find myself having to push. Really hard. I know, having completed many manuscripts, that things will naturally fall into place in the third act. But the middle to end of the second is always a hard slog for me.

I'm a natural reviser -- I enjoy it immensely. Taking everything apart, cataloging it, and evaluating the structure of the scenes/plot -- I love it all. I set up a spreadsheet with all the scenes labeled and see where the holes are. Total revising geek.

Now, I just have to get to that part.

Writing goal today -- a balanced diet of 10 pages WIP, 5 pages fun proposal. Sort of like eating your spinach before you go for the brownie sundae. Willpower, woman. Willpower.

Test Anxiety

Okay, I just did a quickie IQ test that I found a link to from Stephanie Rowe's super cute blog http://stephanierowe.blogspot.com. Then I screwed up posting the results here. Hmmm... what does that say about me and my intelligence???

Anyway, interesting results:

Below average logical ability? What? Who writes these tests?
I mean really....Heather : logical : Hemmingway : wordy

Now you know why I flubbed that section of the test. Apparently, I am lacking in the logic department. Stupid logic question.

But then it says I'm a genius in other departments - like verbal ability and general knowledge. Hey -- this test must be accurate.

See, it's only logical.

Off to ponder my story world with my genius brain...

Flashbacks Kill Story -- Film at Eleven

Obviously, I'm treating you to a picture of the fabulous Orlando Bloom, but he's not there just for his good looks. He's in a great movie just released on DVD - Kingdom of Heaven.

We watched this epic over the weekend, and when compared to Domino, which we saw on Friday in a *theatre*, KOH has a definite leg up in the storytelling department.

Domino, about a woman bounty hunter, is muddled by odd timing. It starts near the end with a crisis, then skips back to the sort of beginning of Domino's bounty hunter career, and pounds us throughout with disjointed flashbacks of Domino's childhood --- STOPPING THE ACTION!

Duh! In an action story, readers/viewers expect action. Don't halt the action to show me grainy images of a child on a beach narrated by a bored-sounding heroine. Give me the story. Show me how she became the way she is, instead of telling me through lazy flashbacks.

*Whew* Ranting. Sorry.

But during these annoying and uncomfortable flashbacks, people coughed. Dudes looked away. My husband rooted around under the seat for his popcorn bag. So, keep it moving people.

Kingdom of Heaven, on the other hand, is a linear story which begins in the middle of the action. Orlando's ordinary world is a blacksmith's shop. He's just lost his wife in dramatic circumstances. Enter Liam Niesen, his long-lost father, who offers redemption through a journey to the Holy Land. Orlando is forced to choose what to do and bang -- we're off.

We learn things about him through dialogue and through his subtle performance. We aren't bammed on the head with clunky flashbacks. In the end, I think the screenwriters trusted Orlando's character more than they did Domino. Weird, huh?

A woman bounty hunter is a cool character to begin with. Why did they think that we wouldn't understand her need to kick ass without the flashbacks? It may be a sexist thing -- that in order for a woman to be strong, something *dreadfully wrong* must have happened in her childhood and needs to be explained to the delicate viewers, again and again. Puh-leese. Did they not see Kill Bill? Sometimes, girls just wanna kick ass!

Sorry not to love it, because I do like the actress and I even liked the sexy anti-hero in the movie, but the storytelling killed me.

In fiction and in film, the audience just wants a good story. To pelt them with boring flashbacks is eeeeeeevil. Give me hints, mini-flashes, and the like -- in small doses if you must, but never stop the action long enough for the guy in the seat next to me to yawn.

Or the reader to click off the light and let the book flop to the floor.

Okay. It's safe to come out now. Rant officially over. Trust your characters. Be careful with your flashbacks. Enjoy Mr. O. and go rent his movie.

Conference Gems

Just returned from the Emerald City Writers Conference in Seattle. Three days and two nights of chocolate, conversations about writing, hotel food, and missing my dogs and okay...my husband, too.

Writers' gatherings are always a little overwhelming, but I generally take away something great. Two things stuck out for me this year:

1) I can sing Karaoke. Who knew? And that tipsy guy from the bar was a great back-up singer. Another nugget of wisdom -- avoid photographers when you're wearing a blue fuzzy cowboy hat.

2) The Chick Lit heroine is very heroic. Just as heroic as any hobbit. I gleaned this fact from Eileen Rendahl's workshop on the Chick Lit heroine's journey. She took the basic structure most writer are familiar with (a la Christopher Vogler) and applied it to a genre where often, the quest/journey is an internal one. I'm totally posting her handout beside my computer this week to help keep me on track. And I need to buy her new book -- she rocks.

Also, got thinking about Feng Shui this weekend. (A character in Eileen's debut/Rita nominated book Do Me, Do My Roots arranged furniture in a fit of Feng Shui.) So when I got home, I moved my lucky bamboo plant into the Southeast corner of my desk and created a "water feature" (okay, it's a crystal bowl with rocks and sparkles in it) on the North side. Supposedly, this is going to help with my career. Hey it couldn't hurt.

But then again, I could just get to writing my good book. :)

Dusting Off my Ruby Slippers

Today I'm getting ready to head over to the Emerald City Conference in Seattle. This is always a fun, regional gathering with the best chocolate desserts in the freaking Northwest. I'm super excited to hear Katie MacAlister's welcome on Friday night and to see the chicks that are flying in from other places to attend the conf.

The dogs know something is up. They're both hanging out near the suitcase looking very suspiscious. DH definitely knows something is up. Looked a bit panicked as I informed him of the frozen lasagna and the dinner possiblities in the fridge. Most likely, he'll end up eating PBJ sandwiches all weekend. :)

Got my business cards (left over from Nationals), surveyed my cute outfits (the ones that still fit) and am printing out photos from Reno.
Still to do: Laundry. Ugh. Packing. Double ugh.

Have a new haircut with.... bangs! I was really going for the Jennifer Love Hewitt bangs, but kinda got a hybrid bang instead. Blocky, yet pointy, er... it's really hard to describe bangs in a blog.

Oh, but I did get carded at the store right after my haircut. Bangs = youth. Write that down.

Well, back to packing...

Inspiraton

Is it sad to be inspired by an animated movie? I think not. When my DH and I got married in our twenties, we both owned copies of Peter Pan. What are the chances we'd both believe in Neverland?

Needless to say, animation is not just for kids (or puppies) in this house.

So, over the weekend, the DH and I watched the animated film Robots. I learned two important things:

1) You can shine no matter what you're made of.

2) A dream you don't fight for will haunt you for the rest of your life.

It's amazing how the themes of many beloved movies are applicable to the writing life and to most other artistic endeavors. I love movies about following your dreams. Crap, I even loved Field of Dreams. "If you build it, they will come."

Can't that be said about any dream? Of course in writing, it's more like, "If you write it, they might first reject it, but keep improving as a writer and heck, then they might just buy it." The bottom line is first you have to build, write, paint, create it. It starts with action. Not wishing or hoping, as much as I'd like that to be true.

Speaking of writing, I'm also listening to an audio version of On Writing by Stephen King this week on my commute around the valley. I love this line -- "Write with your door closed; edit with your door open."

Have you ever gleaned a good mantra from a book or movie?