Category Archives: Kabobbles on Writing

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May Maybes

I have things I’d like to have done this month. I’ve got quite a bit going on this month, so I’m going to call this a “maybe” list, kind of like how I hate using the word “plan.” This is what I’d like to do, but time and unforeseen occurrence will dictate what actually happens. Maybe by the end of May…

 

  • The Not-So-Super Superhero will be fully edited and transformed from a once-a-day blog story to a cohesive novel. Wave one of the edits are complete, and I have all the pieces I need otherwise. It’s just the edits holding it back. As always.
  • The cover art and divider art for Any Other Reality will be done, I’ll have the edits complete, and that can be put together in a nice ebook for publishing as well.
  • All the Men in My Life will finally have its cover. Then, from cover, divider art. Then I can get edits done and back from a couple people and not only do an ebook but also attempt to make an audiobook of it. I need the edits first, though.
  • We will have the custom page and cover art for The Memory Collector and the first bit of it completely ready to be posted to the website.
  • I should be launching the Kabobble’s Choice excerpt section of the website with a story suggested for the picture in this post. I am still open to getting more stories for the picture. I haven’t actually had a chance to put the ideas rattling around my brain on paper yet, but I will. Soon.
  • I’d like to have the issues keeping me from finishing The Monster in My Garden Shed and Criss-Crossed Paths resolved so they can be moved to the only needing edits state, and then, of course, I must edit them.
  • I need to finishing figuring out createspace and get print versions of the already published titles.
  • I would like to have summaries for all the stories that I have completed.
  • Have more research done on my new historical novel.
  • On a more personal note, I think it’s time I start acting like something other than writing matters.

 

Well, that’s probably plenty for May, and I think it’s a good thing those are all maybes because I don’t think I’ll get to half of them, unfortunately.

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Some Things to Stop Doing, Some to Start

Sometimes, when I’m not absorbed in my own fiction and that need to flip windows is strong, I head over to a blog that I was first introduced to by a friend on livejournal. The blog, deanwesleysmith.com, is one I have been extremely grateful to have found. I don’t think that Just a Whim would be published if not for articles there, the new world of publishing ones and killing the sacred cows of publishing.

I happened to go from there to an article that he’d linked to, 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing.

I read over the list, finding things that yes, I have done and sometimes still do.

 

So… What did I do on the list?

1. Running Away? Did that for most of last year after completing Just a Whim. I didn’t want to edit it, didn’t want to fix the issues that were pointed out, and was scared to publish it. Well, no more running. It’s out there. It’s done. Ha.

2. Stopping? I had quit All the Men in My Life for a while. I put it away, did other things, pulled it back out, and then I put it away again until November, and then it took off and got done, mostly because I was supposed to be working on Any Other Reality. I have other stories that are still stopped. Can they be restarted? Maybe. Or maybe they should stay right where they are.

3. Writing in Someone Else’s Voice? To my knowledge, I do not and have never done this. I write stories like other people’s stories, maybe, or you might call fanfiction someone else’s voice because I make sure the characters are true to what I’ve seen/read, but I always thought there was enough of me coming out in it.

4. Worrying? Yeah, I’ve known about this one for a while, and yes, I still do it. I can’t stop. Or so I keep saying. I’ve been working on it, though.

5. Hurrying? I know I’ve felt like time is getting away from me and that all of these books that I’ve finished lately need to be published right this instant. Not true, of course, because they need edits and cover art and other things, but I still want them done, now, and out there. I also want to get through more stories because I’ll never have the time to do all the ones in my brain and I keep getting more ideas.

6. Waiting? Well… Waiting has to happen, in some things. I am waiting for other people to give me edits. I am waiting for cover art. Am I waiting for writing? No. I write daily. I have The Not-So-Super Superhero, The Monster in My Garden Shed, and the second novel in the Nickel and Dime series, and more that want to be written that I might just give into.

7. Thinking It Should Be Easier? I have a fairly natural gift for writing and the stories just come sometimes. Not always the case with editing. Not easy to find readers. Not easy to get feedback. Not easy to make changes. Not easy to make art. Not easy to promote. Not easy to make money. So I’ve learned these things. I have started to accept them, too.

8. Deprioritizing Your Wordsmithy? Nope. Not guilty of that. Ever. Sorry, but if all I do is write (and that’s pretty much true) how could I possibly be deprioritizing it? Even the stuff I have to fight to get out is better than it was years ago, I know that much. I am improving with everything I write.

9. Treating Your Body Like a Dumpster? Well, yeah. I have depression, too, and there are days where I don’t care about taking care of myself, don’t even feel like eating. So, yes, guilty. Part of the reason for the Great Hat and Hair Experiment of 2012 is to make sure I take care of myself and pride in my appearance for change. Oh, but I did somehow lose ten pounds last year, so I think that’s something.

10. The Moping and the Whining? Haven’t quit that yet. I was doing it this morning. So that’s something to work on, too. On the other hand, I have made great strides in moving past that. I pulled out the file for the Not-So-Super Superhero and I wrote on it and cleaned a bit and worked with my cover artist. So there.

11. Blaming Everyone Else? I admit, it has been convenient for me to put the whole editing thing on everyone else. I didn’t have edits back, so I could pretend I didn’t have to work on them myself. My cover artist was busy, so I didn’t have cover art. Does that mean that I shouldn’t have done anything? No. It also doesn’t mean that I didn’t do anything. I wrote. I keep writing. I keep creating ideas. I keep blogging and updating the website and the facebook. I’ve done pretty good, but I did blame a few things on other people, yes.

12. Shame? I don’t know that I’ve ever been ashamed to be a writer. I’m sick of getting asked if I’m doing homework when I’m writing, since I am not in high school and haven’t been for a decade, but hey, I look like I’m sixteen, so it’s awesome being mistaken for a student all the time. Not. Am I hesitant to share things with people? Yes. But I’ve been kind of burned before, so that’s why. I’m paranoid about people taking my ideas, too. I don’t know why, but I am.

13. Lamenting My Mistakes? Oh, that’s something I’m still working on. Yeah, I can’t seem to let go of those old ones. As far as writing goes, I’m getting better at fixing them. In real life? Not so much.

14. Playing It Safe? Hmm. Well, I am a coward by nature, I admit that. I’m not sure that I’m necessarily a coward when it comes to fic. I am trying to break free from my “types” and likes and have a whole list of things I’m not allowed to do in the next new things I do because I’ve already over done them, but that’s more of a part of number sixteen instead.

15. Trying to Control What You Can’t Control? Guilty. Yeah, I would love to control it all, and I get frustrated when I can’t. I’m working on accepting what I can and cannot change, though. It is an improvement from years past, but a lot of work to go there, too. Right now, I don’t look at reports or traffic and just try and keep my mind on writing.

16. Writing One Thing? I’m worried I’m writing the same characters over and over. Not that they’re all alike. That’s not what I’m saying. But I have a type, that’s true, and I’m trying to break free of that type, give myself some new changes, though I’ll always love those types. As far as variety, I’ve got science fiction and mysteries and even a bit of fantasy, so I don’t think I’m limited by genre by any means.

17. Writing for the “Market?” Um, no. Don’t think I’ve ever done that. I write for me, to tell that story I want to tell, and while it still stings and hurts if no one wants to read it or it doesn’t sell, I still enjoyed it. That’s okay by me. I still stick by that advice I read long ago: “write what you want to read.” And I do.

18. Chasing Trends? Okay, I snorted when I read that. I do maintain that there is no such thing as a completely new idea, just new spins on them. So, I admit that nothing is completely my own, but you sure as hell won’t find me doing any sparkling vampires or writing for teenagers.

19. Caring About What Others Are Doing? Again, a bit of laughter. My friend had a hard time convincing me to look at other authors’ websites to see what I could do to improve mine. My reasoning? I didn’t care what they were doing, and I wasn’t going to copy anyone.

20. Caring About the Publishing Industry? I think I know enough to know what I’m doing, hopefully, and that’s all I need to know.

21. Listening to What Won’t Sell? I had someone ask me to collaborate with them on a script project a while back. I learned the technique, the formula, and I said, no. He wanted me to follow what worked for the network, and I agree, it works. For them. Not for me. I don’t write that way. I would rather sell nothing at all then try and force myself to write what supposedly will. I’ll write the story I need to tell, nothing more, nothing less.

22. Overpromising and Overshooting? I don’t think I’ve done that. I’ve set some goals that I missed, particularly in publishing Just a Whim, but I have learned from them. I have never been big on making promises because I know I’m not good at keeping them. I just set somewhat realistic challenges. I knew I was capable of Nanowrimo, knew I could maintain a daily blog story, and so far, I have. Overshooting? Maybe with the three novel completion in November…

23. Leaving Yourself off the Page? Not a crime I’m guilty of. Every character has a bit of me in them, even if it’s only my love of coffee. The places are based off where I’ve been. I mean, the garden shed story started because of the garden shed incident (more on that later) and so I don’t think I’ve left myself out of any of my original stuff. Even some of my not-so-original stuff had me bleeding on the page. Oh, and my stories made me laugh and made me cry.

24. Dreaming? Do we count story dreams in this? Not going to stop them, but I do think I’m doing a lot more than I used to, putting it down on paper, sharing it with others, and taking those steps toward publishing.

25. Being Afraid? I said before: coward. Still, if I could overcome the fear of getting that first book out there, and I did, then I’m not only way past where I was two years ago, I know I can handle doing the next one and so on. Publishing doesn’t terrify me anymore. I want to publish. I want to write–that hasn’t changed, but I know I can do the rest of it, too.

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The Necessity of Computers

A writer’s most important tool is the computer.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. You don’t have to have a computer to write. You can picture scenes in your mind, perfecting the dialogue and the characters’ movements. You can use any phone that has note taking capabilities to make notes. You can record scenes like you’re dictating to yourself. You can also use the old tried and true method of a pen or pencil and paper. You don’t even need large sheets of paper or notebooks. A few small scraps, and you can still continue your writing no matter where you are.

For a long time, I didn’t have a computer, and certainly not one of my own. Did that mean I wasn’t writing?

Absolutely not. I’ve got stacks of notebooks, folders, and loose sheets of paper that show just how much I was writing when I didn’t have a computer. I have shelves full of these stacks. Drawers of them.

So why is the computer so important?

Because it allows the stories to be shared.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. People can, assuming they can get past my unique handwriting, read the stuff I write by hand. They just have to be here, in person, to do so.

So the paper part limits things considerably, especially when the bulk of people who give me comments on my stories are not here in person. They’re across the country or across the world. Without a convenient way to type them up and share them, it’s harder to make progress.

Transferring the handwritten notes to typed documents is not something I’ve been all that good at in the past, as the years worth of untyped stories would attest.

It used to be that I was extremely against the idea of typing. I did not write anything on the computer. I didn’t like the way things looked on a computer screen. It didn’t seem the same, not like “writing” when it wasn’t done by hand. In fact, I used to say that it was only “writing” if I did it by hand. If I was on the computer, that was “typing.”

I must, I think, credit my change in attitude to the years I spent writing fanfiction. Say what you will about it, the experience I gained there helped me in a lot of ways (giving me a place to share my stories and receive criticism, that sort of thing) but also in the fact that I actually had to overcome my stubbornness when it came to typing.

Now, typing is the same as writing, and the computer is essential. It is as much of a necessity as coffee.

Naturally, this makes my laptop’s recent issues with “oh, look, I have a loose connection so I shall pretend to die” very distressing. I’d say I have fallen behind schedule, particularly with the editing, as the computer becomes inaccessible for days at a time. I still write, but it’s not as easy to do when borrowing a computer. Then I get mine working again, and it suddenly quits again. This has been rather a technological nightmare, and the ups and downs of it are extremely stressful. Picture me, ready to curl up in a ball and cry because my computer will not turn on.

It was only because I’d been in the middle of a scene. I swear.

It is working now, by the way. We shall see how long this lasts.

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Suffering for the Art

Today gives a bit more meaning to the words because there I was, heading down the stairs and doing my usual multitasking thing, getting my new iphone set up so I could work on The Not-So-Super Superhero.

Before any comments about texting while walking, I was really only holding onto the phone when my slipper went loose, I slid down a few stairs, and I hurt a few things.

I noticed I pulled a muscle in my arm trying to stop the fall, probably a part of what made me skin my arm, but that reminded me of my old familiar pain.

Carpal tunnel.

Yes, I have carpel tunnel syndrome, in both hands. It is more pronounced in my right hand, my dominate one, and it is partially inherited–my mother has it as well–but also it’s because of repetitive motion, of writing. Typing.

There are days when I have pushed myself so much with the writing or the typing that I can’t hardly feel my hand anymore.

It doesn’t stop me from writing. Not because I’m a masochist, but I love writing. As much as I used to need to get to the next section of a book I was reading, since I started writing, I need to get to the next part. I love spending time with the characters, almost like being with a friend or watching a really good movie.

A little bit of pain is worth it to spend the time I can doing what I love and enjoying the stories and worlds that I help create. The characters choose their path, they lead the story where it’s going to go, so they have half the credit, at least.

My arm hurts even now, but it is time to go back to the world beyond the garden shed, and I’m looking forward to that.

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What to Do When the Ideas Won’t Stop Coming

So, I already have four stories on my plate at the moment. I’ve got The Monster in My Garden Shed, The Not-So-Super Superhero, the second in the Nickel and Dime series–this needs a name, but I’ll figure that out later, it’s one of those books–and another one.

Why then, with all of these stories going, do I have to have a bunch more ideas come to me? I’ve already got more than I can work on at the moment, and I’ve got notebooks and folders and files full of things I’ve started and not completed. One of them I picked up late last night and read over, realizing that, aside from the one part of it, there is absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t be done. I’ve got the beginning written and typed, most of the middle is handwritten or in notes, and the tail end is written as well. This thing should be done. No excuses, really.

So now I find myself wanting to do that.

I also want to start a brand new one that has a very fascinating (to me, at least) concept. Involves aliens and memories and was probably partially inspired by stuff from The Monster in My Garden Shed. This idea is dying to be written.

I don’t have time to do all of these things, though. I barely have enough time to write on the three major pieces, so I need to clear my plate a little before adding in something new.

I sometimes allow for rotation when I have a new story, but as I’m already in a rotation with stories, I can’t add a new one until one of the others completes. The Monster in My Garden Shed doesn’t want to cooperate with me on that, since it keeps adding in something I have to deal with before the end of it can come, and it’s still not clear what that end is. The Not-So-Super Superhero is in its second act, where Clayton is trying to make use of his power and make a life for himself instead of fighting it, and now he’ll have to fight against other people instead. That may mean it’s closer to a conclusion, but I’m not actually sure how long it will take to resolve all of that, either. The second Nickel and Dime is coming along, but it’s not ready to conclude yet. The other story is done, but can I really add another one in already? I don’t get to the ones that I’ve got enough as it is.

And what of the one that should be complete and isn’t?

And all the ones that I should type?

Well, I have some options. I write the idea down, and I might come back to it later. I might give it a scene or two, thinking I’ll get back to it in a while. This usually doesn’t work. If I don’t “run” with the story when it’s fresh, it doesn’t usually happen. Any Other Reality is an exception to this. It was put off for months, not started, and written in less than a month. Still, it’s an exception, not a rule.

The other option, and I do this with stories I know I don’t want to put down on paper, is to picture it in my head over and over until it’s done. I can “watch” the movie of the story and I’ve seen it. If I’ve gotten it to its conclusion, there are very few stories that I’m willing to write after that point. I’ve seen all the interesting parts. It’s done.

This new idea is not one to give to a mind movie, though, so it just might have to find a way to be a part of the rotation.

Not enough time, and always too many stories. That’s the nature of a writer, though, right?