Revisiting the Making of a Goal Sandwich

Last December, I did a Toastmasters speech about setting goals, and I thought, as the year winds down to a conclusion--and won't we be glad to see the back of it?--that I would reprise this entry from last year and expand upon it a little.

To recap that post, a goal has three parts, and those parts can be equated to the making a sandwich.

First, you set a goal. This is equivalent to deciding you are hungry and NEED a sandwich.

Now, you may not NEED to set a goal, but if you WANT to focus your efforts, it is where you start. You can see from that earlier post that my goal in 2015 was to submit something everyday for the year. In 2016, it was to make $5000.

Your goal can be simpler: write 100 words a day; submit to 5 new markets; find a writing group.
Or, it can be even more ambitious: get a New York publishing contract; land an agent; write 5000 words a day.

The important thing is to set a goal in the first place.

Secondly, you work to make that goal happen. Make the sandwich.

It was hard work to make that submission a day goal a reality--but I did it. In fact, I actually made over 400 submissions that year. Some days, it was a tiny submission--like a haiku sent to Haikuniverse. Some days it was a novel. The important thing was to submit something.

Getting to $5000 this year...didn't happen. But I got to over $2700...which was over a thousand more than my best year since I started keeping track.

Pushing for a goal helps you focus. It can increase your output. It gives you an amazing sense of accomplishment as you hit milestones. And, even if you don't reach the goal--working toward it makes you feel in control of your work.

The third section of the process is to reward success--eat the sandwich.

This is not a step you can skip. If you don't reward a successful goal's completion, you have given yourself no incentive to set another goal. However, make sure that your reward doesn't sabotage your NEXT goal.

For example, when I completed the submission a day goal, my reward was a few days off...and that really destroyed the goal to submit one thing a week that I made this year.

And, don't beat yourself up if you don't complete a goal. No, I didn't make my goals this year. However, I worked probably harder than ever to sell more books at conventions, to find new shows to sell at, to submit to higher paying markets. And next year, I will try again.

If you don't make your goals, adjust the next year. Build on what works. Re-evaluate what doesn't. Next year, I will be trying to write a piece a day--this is building on the submission a day goal of 2015. I will be shooting for $3500 in revenue. Still more than I made this year, but a more realistic advance on 2016's figures.

What are your goals? How will you accomplish them?  I'd love to hear from you. :)

Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines!

One of the hardest parts of being a writer is sticking to the deadlines. And, when they are stretched out before you, several months out, it is easy to ignore them.

"I'll get to that tomorrow...I have time."

Until tomorrow IS the deadline, and you still are no where near the Finish Line.

Procrastination is one of a writer's biggest foes. It is so easy to put things off, and so hard to focus on getting them done now. That is why I am struggling with three books to finish by the end of August...

That old saying "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today" is really good advice. But you can't do everything in one day either. Make a list of everything you need to do and prioritize it to get the big stuff done first. And it is best to write this list down, as checking things off or crossing them out is a great incentive.

Mix in a few quick and easy tasks here and there so you don't get completely discouraged, but keep your eye on the Big Picture so you don't run short of time.

It is okay to focus on one project at a time, but it is equally okay to do something from several projects in a day, as long as they all get completed on time.

Give yourself a workday. "I will write/edit/promote/clean house/etc. from 9 AM to 5PM" (if it is your entire job...) or "I will write two hours a day." (if that is all you have available.) And limit distractions for that time-frame. But don't work straight through on one project for eight hours without a break, because you stop seeing what you are editing, or miss things in your proofreading, etc, if you don't get up and at least circle the living room now and then.

And one of the things of extreme importance is reward yourself for milestones. (Even if it is something as simple as watching a rerun of America's Next Top Model...or catching Pokemon.)

If you can't tell, I am codifying this for myself as much as you, Gentle Reader! ;)

It's December! Let's Talk About Goals...

I am giving a speech tomorrow on the importance of goals, so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and give you my thoughts on the subject.

Goals. That's a scary word sometimes. But setting goals can really change your life. I've talked enough about my personal challenge goals, but I think something similar is a great things for anyone to do. If you are on the writing side of the table, your goal can be something similar to those I've talked about:

1) submit X pieces in the coming year.
2) get X acceptances (or rejections) in 2017.
3) write X number of pieces next year.

or some other goal focused on whatever aspect of your career you want to improve in the New Year. My goal next year is to increase my income to $5000 from writing/selling books. It's a big goal, but go big or go home, they say.


If you are on the reading side of the table, you can do a goal based on that activity. For example:

1) read X number of books next year.
2) read X number of authors you've never discovered before.
3) read every book in your favorite series (if you haven't already done so -- or find s new series of you have.)


Having a goal gives you something to shoot for. It's like making a sandwich. You decide you are hungry so you want to make a sandwich. That is your goal. Actually making the sandwich is the steps to accomplishing that goal. BUT HERE IS A REALLY IMPORTANT PART. When you finish your goal, reward yourself. If you make a sandwich and set it on a shelf somewhere, the goal may have been completed, but it really isn't finished. Finishing the goal is eating the sandwich.

If you go to all the work to accomplish and complete a goal -- not a little one, like get out of bed in the morning...unless that is something you don't normally do, in which case, it deserves a reward -- you owe yourself some recognition of that accomplishment. You better believe I will somehow celebrate if I make it to the 31st without missing a submission. :)

Three P's of Success

People are always making tip lists...well, here is another. The three things that will best help a writer in my opinion.

1) Prioritization -- Decide on your goals. What do you want to accomplish most?

Is your writing goal to write a novel? Okay! That's not hard. (Not promising that it will be a good novel, but you can write one.) Make a daily goal. Put it on the top of your To Do list -- Write 1500 words a day (or 1667, and you can get in shape for next year's NaNoWriMo...or start in late on this one--you can catch up.)

Want to write a poetry collection? Make a daily goal. Put it on the top of your To Do list -- Write a Poem a day. Baby steps.

Whatever you want to do is possible. Prioritize it along with the rest of your must dos for the day. Make it a daily habit, and you will be surprised what you can accomplish.


2) Perseverance -- Stick to the goals. It isn't always easy, but nothing worth doing is.

Do that daily goal first thing in the morning. Or last thing at night, if you work better then. Some days, you won't feel like it. Those are the days it is most important to get it done.

If you do miss a day, don't let it get you down. But don't let it slow you down either. Make up the missed day as soon as you can. The whole is greater than the some of its parts, remember. ;)


3) Persistence -- It's similar to Perseverance, but to me, it's not the same. Remember my personal mantra from Galaxy Quest -- "Never give up. Never surrender." Where perseverance gets the work written, persistence is what gets it out there. Once your work is finished, send it to potential markets, self-publish it, whatever you want to do--but get it in front of people.

Remember that sometimes you don't get a homer on your first at bat. You will get rejected. It's part of the business. Don't let it get you down.

I highly recommend the immersion therapy of sending things out until rejection is just another email. You get to the point where you say, "Oh well." But you send it out again. Sure, there will be some rejections that sting more than others--mourn and go on. Send it out again by the end of the day if you can.


So, there are the Three P's for you. 1) Prioritize; 2) Persevere; 3) Persist.

Go forth and write!

Unusual Settings in Horror: Making Weird Work for You

Like so many people during this month, I'm in the mood for horror and spooky stories. Don't get me wrong, I love the traditional stuff - haunted houses, cemeteries, empty countrysides, creepy small towns, and desolate, winding roads. Sometimes, though, a change of scene can be nice. I love the thought process that Alien was a haunted house movie set in space. Although we're used to the trope of bizarre things happening in modern settings now, Poltergeist was creepy because the hauntings took place in a brand-new subdivision. Look at the diversity in the haunted house industry: there are mazes set in gothic settings and woodland paths, sure, but let's not forget the evil circuses, bogeyman-infested bayous, sinister swamps, macabre meat-packing plants and minimarts, and any other setting you could think of. If it exists, it can be made creepy, I can tell you that from personal experience. Not only does it give a person pause about what's safe and what isn't (which is a huge purpose of horror), but it also makes you appreciate all that can be done with the genre.

I love working with time periods and places that people may not expect the horror genre to touch. What's great about writing is that what seems obvious to me may not be obvious to Fred down the street, or vice versa. All our different interests and experiences lead to some really different, interesting titles. And if they're creepy as hell, even better.

I grew up near the woods. Either I had friends who lived on a decent amount of land or we were near enough to always be hiking through different state parks, and it wasn't unusual that evening drives took us down winding roads where trees looked like they wanted to tear right through the guardrail and get at the cars that passed them by. While forests are peaceful, there's also something inherently claustrophobic about them, especially at night. It's easy to get lost in the trees, and also very easy to be taken unawares, especially by something stronger or more animalistic than you are.

I'm also a history nerd, and I love tales of pioneer America, people working hard to survive and care for their families, doing what they can to stay just a little bit ahead. Their sense of community, faith, morals, and family could be unshakable. At the end of the day, though, they were at the mercy of nature or whatever else life threw at them.

Naturally, that combination just made me want to mess with fictional pioneers and see what would bring a hearty cast to their knees.

Yeah, I wonder about me, too.

Essentially, it's the same kind of logic that made War of the Worlds so terrifying at the time it came out - what if there was something that you just couldn't fight? Remember, the original wasn't the Tom Cruise fest with modern, easy outs. There was a much bigger gap between alien technology and everyday people. In my own work, I wanted to play with people's natural superstitions, and something that might actually be found in the woods, which can be a dangerous and creepy place, anyway. I've also always been interested in lumber culture because I have weird interests, and the term mooner took me by surprise. It's not used often, and I've not seen it filled out very much, other than to allude to some mythical creature that haunts the woods.

Bingo.

That could be a lot of things, and I suppose the obvious choice would have been werewolves, but I really liked the idea of mooners as vampires. After all, in a time period where you're forced to depend on those around you, what happens when your neighbors aren't exactly trustworthy and there's no one else for miles, and travelling miles could take days?

At the end of the day, setting and time period don't really matter. Our fears are primarily the same, we're still wired the same as humans, and react the same way to fear. The fun comes in the research, when you can find specifics to a time period or place that you can play with in your story, making things even harder for your characters and fun for your readers.

It's a lot to think about and a lot to work with. At the end of the day, I'm happy with how the story turned out, but whether it's effective or not is ultimately up to the readers.

So how bout you? What are your favorite unusual settings or time periods in horror?

Historical Horror/Vampire

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Like many young men at the end of the 1800s, Bill signed on to work in a logging camp. The work is brutal, but it promised a fast paycheck with which he can start his life. Unfortunately, his role model is Big John. Not only is he the camp’s hero, but he’s known for spending his pay as fast as he makes it. On a cold Saturday night they enter Red’s Saloon to forget the work that takes the sweat and lives of so many men their age. Red may have plans for their whiskey money, but something else lurks in the shadows. It watches and badly wants a drink that has nothing to do with alcohol. Can Bill make it back out the shabby door, or does someone else have their own plans for his future?

The Truth About Being a Writer

All my life, I wanted to be a writer. I'm not sure why the child me decided that was what I was going to do when I grew up, but it did. Almost from the moment I knew what books were, I wanted to write them.

The magic of words! Putting them together to create stories that other people would find interesting. It would be awesome!

But the reality of the profession is not all glamour and accolades. It's not easy, and writing the book is the least of it. After the book is done, there is finding a publisher. After you find a publisher, or decide to publish it yourself, there is marketing/promotion. There is always something else to do. But don't let that fact scare you away.

If you really want to be a writer, you will do it, no matter what the deterrents--but you need to go into the profession with open eyes.

Where do you start?

Sitting at your notebook, or computer, or typewriter and beginning to put letters together into words. Yes, it is that simple.

But that doesn't mean that the words you come up with will be a masterpiece out of the gate. When you finish your first draft, the party has only just begun. Then you need some real, critical beta readers to give it a look. You need an editor who will tell you what works and what doesn't.

Then, once your work is as polished as it can be (in your opinion), there are query letters or submission guidelines to check out. Submission packets go out. The WAITING begins.

When you are finally accepted, then there is the editorial period with the publisher. After the story is finally COMPLETE, and published, then you will be pushing that book from now on.

But don't despair. There are places to go for help.

Writing: Writer's Village University -- online classes
               Writer's Cafe -- challenges and feedback
               NaNoWriMo -- 50k words in 30 days -- good way to push yourself forward

Submitting: Writer's Market -- online version of the best list of mainstream markets
                    Ralan.com -- best list of speculative markets
                    several Open Call groups on Facebook (just ask to join.)
                   
Promotion: Great challenge for building platform going on this month at Writer's Digest (still time to catch up)
                   CafePress -- marketing promotions
                   VistaPrint -- business cards and promotional items
                    4Imprint --  marketing promotions


Of course, that is only the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands of websites that can help a beginning author get started. Just go into the profession with your eyes wide open. :)

             

Writing Characters I Don't Like

I don't always like my characters.

Is that weird? I don't know how it is for other authors, but I tend to go where the story is, and sometimes this leads me to share headspace with some people who are just irritating or downright offensive. I'd like to think this helps me cultivate empathy, but it's also really, really annoying. It can also be difficult to try to wrap my mind around a viewpoint that's far, far removed from mine. If that's part of the story, though, that's my job, so I do my best and let the chips fall where they may.

The Other Man is a title near and dear to my heart, though I can't say I'm overly fond of Andrew, the main character. He's blue collar working man and I've grown up in a family of those, so you'd think that'd give him some leeway with me. Nope. His desire to conform, his hunger for the typical, apple-pie American dream, his constant excuses for why he's the victim in his situation, his condescension of others - even his own family, and his paranoid worry about people who aren't like him...it was hard to write, to say the least, especially knowing what was coming with the ending and how it could potentially be viewed.

 The idea of a man unnerved by his wife liking a particular rock star actually came from personal experience - I've known a few people who have actually had to end relationships because their significant others didn't agree with their taste in something or other. One in particular actually broke up with their significant other because of a singer they'd never met, never interacted with, but happened to like a lot. It wasn't to the point of being unhealthy of obsessive, but their partner made a constant deal about feeling like they were living with the singer and didn't measure up. I showed my friend the manuscript before I ever considered publishing it, and thankfully they have a sense of humor and loved it, even if the overall situation was far different than theirs. Still, what the ever-lovin' heck have we come to if we have to bully a person over their musical tastes? It's still a surreal thought to me.

 I've had the experience where I felt like I was being changed or encouraged to change so the other person would be more comfortable, to the point where I just didn't feel like myself anymore. It's a horrible feeling, one I never want to revisit. I really wanted to play with this overall idea, but I also didn't want to make it a gag or a gimmick or some punchline at the end. There is a twist, but hopefully the reveal is  a release of tension and a moment of epiphany and not a gimmick. I'd hate for it to be viewed that way, because at the end of the day, I think we all hide parts of ourselves. Andrew just does it in a very vehement, spiteful way.

Maybe he irritates me because I can understand being disillusioned. You know how it is, we're filled with all these notions as kids to the point we think we can conquer the world as teens, and then we have the rug pulled out from under us. Maybe my discomfort is that I have to acknowledge that I get Andrew's general frustration, even if I don't agree with his motives. I think that helps, though, it keeps him entitled but not a complete monster, or at least hopefully helps the reader look at him with disappointment rather than all-out hatred. He's a good talking point for a character: at what point do we have to get over our life frustrations and try to do the best we can, to what point do we have a right to be disenchanted with how our lives have gone?

His family doesn't make it easy on him, mind you. Granted, they're not terrible, but young kids are weird, and I may have based some of their behavior off mine as a kidlet to make things extra weird. You're welcome. His wife is Ivy League but opted to be a stay-at-home mom, a decision he never quite stopped resenting, because his own background is somewhat less in his eyes. It's an interesting dichotomy, he sees her as above him, worries about what secrets she may harbor, but also knows how to press her buttons, even though everything seems to press his. He's interesting, Andrew. He's irritating and I disagree with his fatalistic attitude, his black-and-white clear cut view of the world, his judgment of people. I disagree with him and he angers me at times....but oddly, I'm glad I wrote him, because he's also, hopefully, a character that will leave people thinking and talking.  If he got me thinking about how I could be a better person and how I can better channel my frustrations, hopefully he can do the same for others. Plus, his kids are hilarious and amazing, so there's got to be some potential in him somewhere.

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Persevere!

Today, I am going to show you something that might seem a bit off topic. And, frankly disgusting...I admit that. But in the end, you will see how it relates to writing, and never giving up on the dream!

Okay, so our bathroom shower has a textured floor. I could NOT keep it clean. Finally, I gave up. After straight bleach didn't work, I despaired of ever getting it clean again. At the worst, it looked like this:

I warned you...disgusting! (I know, you want nothing to do with me ever again, now...)

But I kept trying. I tried EVERYTHING I could think of. And I finally hit on the trick. Dow Scrubbing Bubbles, left on for hours before rinsing. (They say a few minutes, but hours work better. I have been spraying them on in the morning after our showers and leaving them till bedtime.)

Little by little, it began to get better. Last night, when I rinsed the floor, it looked like this:

As you can see, there is still work to be done, but the difference is AMAZING!

But what does this have to do with writing, you ask? It's a metaphor, son...

A lot of times, our first drafts are like the Before picture. Nasty, ugly, wretched things that you feel a bit embarrassed to show your best friend, much less the world. You feel like giving up. It's too much work to figure out a way to fix it. You try everything, and nothing makes it better.

But somewhere, underneath all that crud is something clean and lovely. "Never give up, never surrender!" as the Galaxy Quest cast would say.

Keep trying things. 

Maybe you need a new point-of-view. Try rewriting it in first person instead of third.

Maybe you are telling the story from the wrong character's perspective. Try rewriting it in another character's voice.

Polish and elbow grease are the best tools for success. Tweak one aspect of the story and send it to a pair of fresh eyes. What does your new beta reader say?

Don't forget the rich tradition of rejection after rejection until an author hits the right editor at the right moment and becomes a Household Word. :)

And don't forget that crucial step of letting a project rest for awhile before doing more clean-up. It can save you a draft or two. ;)

Above all, persevere! 

July Snuck Up on Me!

Did I get my June ambition met? Nope. How about you?

I got a bit of writing done, but no cleaning. That seems to be my lot in life.

Maybe this month I will do better, but don't hold your breath. Too many exciting writing things to do! Will have at least one, if not two, books debuting at ArmadilloCon at the end of the month.

Have hit and passed the two hundredth submission for the year.

But I can still be brought up short by the power of someone else's work and say "Why can't I write like that?" We can all keep learning, striving, and improving. No matter how many books we have written or submissions we have made.

I finished The Grave Tender this morning. If you haven't read it, do so at once. It is a wonderful example of craft. I had to immediately write the author an email and tell her how humble it made me feel. I want to write like that.

I know an email like that would make my day. I hope it made hers.

Then I started a book on How To Write Horror and Dark Fantasy. Not because I never have--I just finished a dark short and sent it in--but because I know I can always do it better.

If you are a writer, you can never stop learning your craft. I don't care how many publications you have under your belt, you can always do better. If you forget that, you are doing yourself an extreme disservice.

Keep writing. Keep learning. Keep growing. It keeps you young--and humble. ;)

Summer Challenge for You

You have heard a lot about my challenges. Now, I have one for you! I'll even join you.

Let's do some Spring Cleaning this summer...okay,yeah--technically, not spring. But I want to inspire you to go to those files on your computer and take a look at them. Are you a writer too? If so, there are probably at least a few WIPs somewhere on your hard drive.

Let's revisit them. Are they something that you can finish? If not, are they something you can re-purpose? If not, are they something that you really need? If not--use that little key up in the corner, and delete them. (I know...that's very hard to do--if you can't quite bring yourself to delete, move them off the computer onto a flash drive. If you still haven't looked at them in six months...revisit deleting them.)

Next, does your office look like this? (This is one of the reasons I do my work on a table in front of the bigscreen instead of in my office. Another reason is...bigscreen.)

I am going to be working on cleaning this too this summer. Let's get our offices in shape for NaNoWriMo in November. That gives us a goal, and a deadline. I'll tell you how far I get, you tell me your progress. :)

Do we have a deal? 

Being a REAL Writer is Tough Work!

That title might annoy some people...but it says what I want to stress. Being a real writer isn't as easy as writing a book. And I am not saying that it applies to anyone but me. However, since I am the only person I can speak for, it is true for me.

I started calling myself a professional writer in 2000 when my first novel was published. I was quite proud to finally be able to claim that title after all the years I had wanted it.

For the next twelve years I considered myself a professional writer...

But it wasn't until three years ago that I actually started acting like it.

I have talked about this before, but it bears repeating, because it is a lesson that can't be stressed enough. You aren't a real writer unless you write.

And it isn't enough to write. You have to do something with what you write. You can't just pop it in a drawer and expect to be famous someday.

I've told you about my rejection challenge. First year three hundred rejections, last year two hundred.
Trying to meet this challenge gave me incentive to write more than I ever had in my life. It taught me that the more you write, the easier it is to be polished, and the quicker a polished draft appears.

This year, I've upped the game. It didn't start out to be a thing, but after I got started on this year's challenge, it has become a point of honor. This year, I have challenged myself to make a submission a day.

Now, I know what being a writer really is. It's exhausting. It means writing a LOT. It means making connections. It means perseverance. It means not letting a rejection bother you--but looking at it as an opportunity to get another submission out the door.

And, as a side benefit, the piece you get rejected today might be perfect for the next market you send it to. I've almost hit the absolute bottom of my orphan pieces. Stories that had been out four, five, six times finally found the perfect home.

Set what looks/feels like an impossible goal. Work to achieve it. Nothing feels better than making that goal. And even if you don't make it, as long as you are working to achieve it, you are working. And that is what makes a REAL writer. :)

If you want to see how my personal goal is going this year, follow me on Twitter at @RieSheridanRose and #howlongcanitgo

So far, I've made 62 submissions this year.

It's Beginning to Look Like the End of the Year...

Alright then--NaNoWriMo is over. Did you participate? It was a heck of a ride, but I made it. I even got to take most of Sunday off.

But now THAT'S over, what next? It's December, and it is time to take stock of the year. It hasn't been quite the whirlwind of activity last year was--but it has also been a bi less exhausting.

And it isn't quite done. There is still time for you to add a few credits to your resume. There are quite a few anthology calls still looking for contributors. Including ours. Have you submitted to Avast, Ye Airships yet? My friend Diane Jortner just recently made a blog post with a number of anthology calls collected together. You still have time for most of them. ;)

And even if you don't submit anything new before the end of December, take a moment to take stock of what you have managed to accomplish this year. Whether you submitted once or a thousand times, take this chance to make a list, set a goal, write a blog post--somehow chronicle your year, and look forward to what you will do next year!

Last year's goal proved impossible for me...300 rejections was a bit much for anyone...

This year's goal wound up sidetracked by a lot of things--like being burned out from trying to get 300 rejections!--and I didn't get terribly close to my 200 rejections.

Next year, I am going to shoot for 100 rejections. If I push myself, that should be possible. (Especially with my new Dragon Speaking Naturally which should be here any minute...)

What will your goals be for the new year?

December can be an end or a beginning. You get to choose which.

Autumn Thoughts

I love fall. It's probably my favorite season, and it never lasts long enough for my taste. Besides Halloween, there's just something nice about the gradual progression of the changing weather, the changing scenery, the changing attitudes. The full stress of the holidays isn't upon us yet (unless you pay attention to store displays), and the full drag of winter isn't upon us, either. Fall is almost more of a New Year for me than Jan 1. There's something to be said of shedding away the old before the barren season begins to make way for spring. It's the perfect time to embrace getting older, to appreciate all that's around you, all that you've gained and lost.

Weights and measures, balances and scales. Gain and loss. Harvest and reaping.

I could ramble about the crisp weather and how I love walking through it, my love of Halloween, my new appreciation of Thanksgiving as I get older and know I won't see every face around the table for one reason or another with each passing year. I could talk about the leaves and the impending holidays and sweaters and spices and all the usual stuff. And they're all great, don't get me wrong, but I think there's a deeper reason why I connect with autumn.

I'm a fairly emotion-based person, though I try to temper that down in my daily life. For me, autumn is a swirl of feelings as much as it is the rattling of leaves on the whispering winds. It's one of those seasons that I'm so glad to experience because it brings to mind all that happened over the summer, all that needs to happen before the winter, and all that I'm lucky enough to have in my life, whether it's people, things, experiences, responsibilities. But it also brings to mind those that I've watched leave within this past year, and those that are a memory from long ago. And while I miss them, there's gratitude there too, a thankfulness even for the disappointment and loss and shadows. How would I be the person I am if it wasn't for those experiences? How would I write what I do if I didn't have them? It's a season of emotional warmth and chilliness, but it's one I welcome.

Maybe it's morbid, but one of the reasons why Halloween and Thanksgiving are so great for me is that they're similar in an odd way. With Halloween you're remembering in a backwards way that you're still here, still safe, still able to see the sun come back around, even though the shadows are out there. And Thanksgiving you embrace all that you have around you, no matter what your situation. It's a getting ready time, and those times are always really exciting for me. Things may not be fully developed, but to know there's potential waiting under the piles of leaves, that's awesome. Although I find the season relaxing, I always start getting a little twitchy in the fall, and the sensation meanders around through the spring, because that's usually the idea formulating time for me, the percolating time, the fermenting thoughts time. It's frustrating that things don't always go quickly enough, whether it's a writing project or something else, but I always, always trust the ideas I get in the autumn. Things happen in the shadows, under the leaves, down under the ground, and they grow into beautiful things later on. I love that early anticipation.

Because what's thankfulness and memory without a sense of something happening and something to look forward to?

One, Two, Three...Write!

It's that time again -- Halloween has come and gone, Christmas is still around the corner, and in between? National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.

November is officially a time for writing, even if you never have done so before in your life. Thirty days, fifty thousand words. It comes out to 1667 a day. They don't even have to be good words. The point of the exercise is to get yourself used to the idea of everyday commitment to writing something on paper.

I have been participating since 2000 or so. No, I don't always manage to finish, but when I do, it is a feeling of amazing accomplishment. And it can also lead to something actually publishable. One of my NaNo projects was published several years ago. Another took two years of trying, but is now in edits.A third led to the start of a series--and this year's project is Book Two.

So, even though the month has started, it isn't too late to sign up and join us! It is easy to catch up this early in the game; just a few extra words every day will easily bring you back to the necessary total.

And don't forget--we are still accepting submissions for the Avast Ye, Airships anthology through the end of the year.

Going Collective

I have always been fascinated by the fact that a group of crows is a murder. Who first decided that this was the correct name for a collection of the carrion birds? I don't know, but their imagination was so spot on.

We know--and expect--certain collective nouns. A herd of horses, a school of fish, a pride of lions. But you can really spice up your writing with some of the more unusual ones. It is always easiest to find the animal congregations. A good list can be found here. But animals aren't the only groups of nouns. There are also names for groups of people and things. Some of those more uncommon nouns can be found here.

Let's have some fun. Can you match the group to their collective noun -- without looking?

clowns                                                                    blush                                                                          
bishops                                                                   field
doctors                                                                   bench
zombies                                                                  mutiny                                                                    
boys                                                                       stench

or what about these?

baboons                                                                 romp
cats                                                                        mob
geese                                                                     tribe
otters                                                                     clowder
kangaroos                                                              skein


But not all group nouns have been given names yet, and you can have a lot of fun with those. For example, in one of my short stories, I had a group of cheerleaders, and I wanted to refer to them with a collective noun. They became a "giggle of cheerleaders." I was extremely proud of that one. ;)

Remember, a little goes a long way--especially with some of the more esoteric combinations, such as an "implausibility of gnus." This is a spice to use sparingly, but it can really add something to the mix.

(I will give you the answers next time. ;) )

Damn, I'm late

I totally forgot my spot on the 21st but I have a good excuse...life. I was in the middle of traveling for work and it's as if my brain goes on hiatus when it comes to things not work related. Although I have a largish head, it can only house so much at a time. I think that's the crux of the parttime writer experience. I'd love to be able to devote all of my time to writing and the little extras that go along with it being my full time gig, but I also love paying my mortgage and eating three meals a day (okay several meals a day because food is life!). So I'm late, but I'm not absent, and know that while my brain is bogged down with the many intricate details of my non-writer life, my imagination is patiently taking notes for when it has free reign again.

Sexy is as sexy does

I've been contemplating what makes a person sexy. I've gotten a rush of inspiration that has seen me crafting contemporary romances that are short and sweet. Yet, I find myself with a particular conundrum when it comes to writing sexy characters in this genre of romance. 

Let me explain. When I write paranormal romance I feel as if "sexy" is right out there in the open due to the nature of the character. If the person is outherwordly, their sex appeal can be tied in with that aspect of the character. A male wolf shifter can "prowl", "growl", and do a whole host of things that are indicative of his animal half that position him within the archetype of a sexy "alpha". My female characters can exhibit a type of sexuality that is more visceral than what I feel a regular mundane woman is allowed. 

In a contemporary romance I feel I'm always working against what the preconceived notions of appropriate sexual expression is for the gender of my characters. I want the same sexy alpha for my hero that doesn't sprout fur and claws, without him appearing like a creepy batterer. I want a female heroine that owns her sexuality and exudes sex appeal without getting locked into the dreded "promiscuous" box that women of the "real" world often get put into.

I want sexy to not just be about the "sex" of the sex appeal. I want sexy to be about the witty mind and clever conversation of my characters. I want it to be that thing that is hard to describe but you instantly know it when you see it. I want it seems, the intangible quality that one experiences when all those factors come together without explanation or purpose. I want it all, in a finite amount of words, and I want it to be believable. 

It's a large task, and I'll confess I'm missing my characters ability to flash a little fang, or have a growl of desire rumble up from their chest, but I'm determined to make this happen. After all, the norms can be damn sexy too.

Better late than never

It seems I was so wrapped up in Summer Solstice that I forgot to blog yesterday. My apologies. I'd promise I won't do it again, but I've learned to never make promises I can't keep. ;) I can say I did have a lovely day yesterday that resulted in a few tears. Now I know that may seem odd but these were actually good tears and I have Selah Janel to thank for them. She posted about the character Susan from the Narnia books on her Facebook wall and a dissatisfaction with the characters story progression that echoed one I'd always held. Awhile back I'd stumbled upon this post that took all of that dissatisfaction and gave it an outlet to be reborn into something beautiful.

I think that's what I enjoy about being a writer. I can take narratives of women's experiences and give them the endings I feel most connected to. They can be strong, vulnerable, sexy, virtuous, and any other host of things I find appealing. I can make them imperfectly perfect, the way I'd always viewed Susan. It's a heady sensation and I'll confess that I do let the power go to my head. Because, if I'm not retelling the stories of women's experiences the way I want, I leave it to other's to write more Susan's.

Getting Ideas From Real Life

My husband recently spent a week in the hospital with an infection in his right leg. It was an ugly abscess below the skin. The doctors have no idea where it came from although the nurses suspected a brown recluse bite. He had cellulitis and the wound was slightly necrotic. It was a stressful week but I got something good out of it – a story idea.

I've gotten story ideas from many experiences. I stayed in a haunted bed and breakfast decades ago that influenced my novel "An Unexpected Guest". It was a lovely little place on Maryland's Eastern Shore right on the Sassafras River. I stayed on a Friday night which also was ½ off dinner night. I'd heard the stories about the ghost of the proprietress wandering the halls, checking on the guests to make sure they were comfortable. The original owner was rumored to be a madam, and the house was a Revolutionary-War-era brothel. British soldiers came up the river and tossed torches at the house. The proprietress swept the torches off her porch. When the soldiers arrived at the house, she made a deal with them. They wouldn't burn down her house if she let them use it and the services of the women inside, for a fee of course. This house was one of the only homes remaining standing in town by the end of the battle. The story influenced my novel.

In a similar fashion, my husband's hospital ordeal influenced a brand new story I'm about to begin working on. I can only imagine what kinds of critters could come bursting out of that wound in his leg and wrecking havoc in the hospital. I remember the sights, the smell of disinfectant, the sight of that gaping hole in his leg. The nurses were competent and very friendly. I might even create a character based on one of those nurses – and kill her. LOL That's one thing that's fun about being a writer – putting real people in your stories and doing horrible things to them.

Now that my husband is finally home and things are beginning to wind down around here, I can begin working on my story. I have no idea where it's going to go, but it's going to be one hell of a ride.

Here's where to find me on the web:

Elizabeth Black - Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/elizabethablack

Elizabeth Black - Twitter

http://twitter.com/ElizabethABlack

Elizabeth Black - Amazon Author Page

https://www.amazon.com/author/elizabethblack

Lumberjacks, Vampires, and Writing What You Know.

'Write what you know' has to be one of the most-given pieces of writing advice in the entire history of the craft. I remember really hating this as a teenager. I mean, what had I done in life? All I wanted to do was crank out some story so I could pass some class or another, and they wanted me to write what I knew and slant it to some theme or assignment that I couldn't even choose? Bleh. I knew nothing in the scheme of things except living in what I perceived to be a boring town and going to school. As I grew I still remained somewhat ruffled about this piece of advice, even as I wrote for fun, because I liked writing speculative fiction and there's no way you can "know" that sort of thing, right?

Yeah, I can be an elitist idiot that takes things literally at times. 

Now, I realize how lucky I've been to have the experiences I've had - no matter how mundane. Every little interaction, every emotion, every experience is fodder for something and has the potential to be magic. Plus, I consider my insatiable curiosity one of my better traits. Both come in handy when I'm writing fantasy and horror. Don't believe me? Let me explain (Come on, you had to be expecting this, otherwise it would be a very short and pointless blog entry).

As a kid I harbored a deep and burning grudge that my parents got to pick our summer vacation choices. I was convinced I must have been a serial killer in a past life. As we cruised down the American highways I would always collect brochures at rest stops and dream of what it must be like to have parents who loved me. After all, only heartless maniacs would pass up waterparks, amusement parks, giant malls, pointless roadside attractions, and other obvious vacation spots for every historical site that could possibly enrich my mind and raise my history grade (that didn't need raising, thanks). I would sigh and fondle over those brochures and hope against hope that Gettysburg was closed during the week or maybe every worker in every historical site in Philidelphia would go on strike or something. 

To be fair, this resentment usually lasted a couple of days until we were actually well into our vacation. It probably didn't help that we were crammed into a small tent trailer and at least one of my parents has an overpowering sense of humor that does not do well in enclosed spaces, especially when paired with a kid who wants to read or listen to music or sleep and dream about whatever power ranger is dreamiest or something (Who knows. That was ten million years ago). 

Eventually, though, I would lighten up and enjoy myself. Truth be told, we probably shouldn't have done most of the Revolutionary and Civil War battle sites in the same trip; to this day I still tend to get a lot of them mixed up. There is also the story embedded in family folklore about the time when I was like four and we went to Mesa Verde and somehow everyone thought it was a good idea to go on a tour that involved actually climbing ladders and hand and foot holds up the canyon walls and across the pueblos. (Also to be fair, these were fenced in and I was flanked by both parents and the park guide. Still, retelling this story is guaranteed to give my relatives heart palpitations). There were other adventures I was probably guilty of - the same trip out west might have involved a trip to the dinosaur museum in Utah that featured a dig site at the time and because I saw it on Reading Rainbow I may have tried to make a break for it so I could climb up to the fossils and be at one with the dinosaurs (hey, they let Levar Burton do it on TV...). There may have been one museum visit in Peoria where we stayed right up until closing and I may have been almost locked in with an exhibit of an exposed burial mound that revealed hundreds of exposed skeletons. To this day I remember the panic of trying to find the door as the minutes ticked down until five, caught between the vertigo of an outdoor balcony that was fairly high up, and the madness of having to walk right by this gigantic room full of exposed full skeletons. I was eight. When I read the Bradbury story "The Next in Line" I actually broke out in a cold sweat remembering my own experience. 

By the time I was a pre-teen, though, I began to get fascinated with some of the mundane aspects of history. I really liked hearing about what it was like in the everyday life of different Native American tribes or the colonists before the Revolutionary War. I liked learning about miners, and to this day some of my favorite books are by Laura Ingalls Wilder (including her journalism collection and her diaries). Admittedly, though, my mind tended to wander and I was always adding my own flair to things. I remember distinctly during the Philadelphia trip wondering what it would be like if the displaced ghost of Benjamin Franklin was the one giving us the tour, and I probably added my own flair to many other trips that I'm not remembering. There was at least one trip I spent sketching disturbing looking trees that Brian Froud would be proud of. Still, there is something to be said for the hardcore lives these everyday people lived. The adversity they had to put up with is incredible. When I read about pioneers, the Dust Bowl, or any number of hardships that make up American history, I'm humbled. I mean even back as a teen I recognized that I was a huge wuss. It also doesn't help that part of my family history has had books written about it, which just goes to prove that I am a definite wuss and a disgrace to all those that came before me who could survive in the wild in subzero temperatures without even a blanket and walk away like it was nothing.

So it probably isn't a huge surprise that I would still be fascinated with reading about the everymen of American history: the miners, farmers, pioneers, laborers, and lumberjacks. I remember reading the books of Lilian Jackson Braun, who also tends to gravitate to similar topics (though without the ghosts and evil trees), in my adult years and really began to wonder if I could do something with that particular interest of mine in a speculative sense. But what?

There are many elements of speculative fiction I "know," not because I've lived them, but I am a huge geek and darn proud of it. I was perusing different educational sites about lumber camps and came across the entry "mooner." While not really defined, it referred to a supernatural creature that haunted lumber camps.

This fit in nicely with the speculative things that I geek out over...specifically, vampires. I love vampires. I love reading new takes on them, I love the movies, I love the folklore. Not everything vampire is good, and I appreciate when people know the mythos and work with it instead of against it. Barring this, I like when people use vampirism as a metaphor or backdrop for something else. I'm not one of those who outright prefer evil vampires over vampire romance or urban fantasy smooth criminal vamps over mindless feeding corpse-like vamps or old school Dracula/Gothic types. If it's done well, if it works, then I'm willing to give it a chance. Still, I like my vampires to use their teeth, and I think playing the moral grey area is always interesting. I think there can be romance mixed in with bloodshed, there can be mindfulness mixed in with a hunting mindset. It's the contradiction that makes things tense, and it's the knowledge that you're never going to win against something like that that makes the genre so full of possibility.

While maybe not an obvious choice, I like the use of vampires as metaphor, the thought of them being like Nietzsche's superman, but with teeth. I also like thinking about what happens when a normal person is tossed into that type of lifestyle and has to make reason of all the horrible things they're expected to do to survive (or is it any worse than any other pioneer trying to survive in an unsettled country?). 

That time period and life in the lumber camps was hard enough as it was...what if there was something bigger and badder than the strongest lumberjack? What if there was something to balance out all the shenanigans that tended to go on in the saloons during the weekends? What if there were motives bigger than the obvious, a subtle game being played, although it could never be won? It was an intriguing thought, and when put together with the historical aspect, I suddenly had a really interesting concept. Not only that, but the blend of bad boy lumberjack, innocent newcomer, well-meaning townspeople, and this sense of "other"...well that was too good to pass up.

Now I still had to look up things, I still had to do my research. Still, I can't help but think this story would never have come about if I hadn't gravitated to my own love of history and tendency to warp things to my whim (As you can imagine, my parents just love knowing what was in my head during all those family trips). 

Curious to see how all of this could come together? Well you'll just have to read the book to find out!

Kindle    Mocha Memoirs Press

Like many young men at the end of the 1800s, Bill signed on to work in a logging camp. The work is brutal, but it promised a fast paycheck with which he can start his life. Unfortunately, his role model is Big John. Not only is he the camp’s hero, but he’s known for spending his pay as fast as he makes it. On a cold Saturday night they enter Red’s Saloon to forget the work that takes the sweat and lives of so many men their age. Red may have plans for their whiskey money, but something else lurks in the shadows. It watches and badly wants a drink that has nothing to do with alcohol. Can Bill make it back out the shabby door, or does someone else have their own plans for his future?