sboman

You guys, you have to read this post on my non-writing related blog about a freaky thing that happened to me.

My last post truly was an affirmation.  I do believe it will happen someday.   It has to, I spent many hundreds of dollars for a website  :  )

Srsly, I have a completely new outlook.  I know it's just a matter of time.  I know I am still growing as a writer and that every day that goes by that I continue writing I am getting stronger, better.  I also know that someday my prince (aka the right agent) will come.  We just haven't found each other yet.  He's just being held up by a dragon or something.

Revising is going well.  Lots to do but I'm up for it.  My sabbatical helped a lot a lot a lot.  Thanks for all the support guys, as well as the inspiration of your successes.

you know, someday...

I created another blog because I thought my non-writing related posts were best shared elsewhere.  So take a look, because I know you don't have near enough blogs etc. to follow.

When I have something writing-worthy to share, I'll do it here, and I am still reading your posts.

I have been preoccupied and therefore absent from LJ lately.  Not that it's such a big deal that I haven't posted (I am acutely aware that the world can survive without my brilliant navel-gazings), but I'm sorry I haven't been commenting on your posts.  I read snatches though...

I've been refilling the well in other ways.  All the social networking has (how do I euphemize on the off chance an industry person's reading this?) been slightly less than sustainable as of late.  I am needing to focus on one thing at a time right now.  Which is not to say I can't handle many projects at once with aplomb, but at this stage of my career, which would be "the beginning" still, even after three years, I need to focus on creating the best writing I can.  Maybe I stepped into social-networking and platform-building a trifle early.  It is important, but a challenge to establish a presence, and doing so can also become distracting - that is, if a lesser person were to attempt it.  I, of course, am not that person.  I am Mighty Writer!  However,  Mighty Writer believes that for the good of all man kind, and a certain unnamed writer's sanity, manuscripts deserve the most attention at this juncture.

Enough of the psuedo-legalese/quasi-pc talk.  I'm here, just busy.

After reading some things on the web recently I just wanted to say...

I love very agent I've ever had contact with, and even the ones I haven't.
Writing is easy, the words fly off my fingertips.
I have no personal woes whatsoever.
I would never divulge anything personal online, anyway.
I have nothing bad to say about any book I've ever read.
Rejections?  What are those?
I also shop in a dress and heels, keep my voice perfectly modulated when I speak and live in a neighborhood called Stepford.

As anyone can see, I am the ideal client.  Not that I suspect agents are reading this or anything...

So I decided to check into a hotel for a writing weekend instead of traveling the six hours to and from the cabin.  We got a deal, it would cost less than gas for the trip.

BIG MISTAKE.

When I got there, I thought it was okay... postage-stamp sized and far from luxury, but decent enough for me to work in undistracted.  I start writing and before long the housekeepers are outside my door hosing off mini fridges (it was a Crosslands extended stay place).  Forty five minutes of water splashing and housekeeper banter.  I try to concentrate, telling myself it's not nearly as distracting as trying to work at home with all the fam clambering for my attention and it wouldn't last forever.

Typing away and I notice a small black fly buzzing around.  I ignore it, but it's a really small room and it ain't big enough for the both of us.  I use a dish towel and after twenty minutes or so I finally nab it.  But wait, there's another one.  And another one. And another one.  I've checked into the Housefly Holiday Inn.  I call the desk and tell them I want another room, mine's infested with flies.  They are full up, but the way he immediately offers me a can of bug spray makes me think he's gotten this complaint before.  Ew.  I spend over an hour killing the four flies and pray there aren't anymore, 'cause despite my new adeptness at swattin' them in mid air, I'm seriously wigged out by the wee winged beasties.

I've been walking around the place for a couple of hours now and I start to notice how dirty the strategically patterned commercial carpet looks.  I pick up my feet.  Black as a frying pan.  I swallow my disgust and wash them, wearing my flip flops from then on.

I notice one of the towels has gunk stuck to it.  I glance at the bathroom floor and there are long black hairs in the corner.  I'm already realizing I'm not going to be able to take a shower here.

Someone mistakes my room for a friend's and pounds on the window before ambling down the way to where several unsavory looking guys are hanging.

Do I smell pot?  Nah...then I turn on the bathroom fan and whoosh!  Down comes eau de mary jane through the vents.  It's late now, though, and if the sheets look clean I decide I'll stay the night and take off in the morning.  Luckily they seem to be freshly laundered.  I turn out the light and listen to the giggling above me, pretending it's white noise.  Unfortunately I drank a Coke in the interest of keeping me going while cranking out some serious word count, but ended up being too groggy to write anymore, and now, too caffeinated to sleep.

I wake up every time the air comes on (which I have to have on because there is NO way I'm opening my window).  In the morning I head to the front desk and tell them I want to cancel my reservation for the next night and check out early.  No questions asked, the guy doesn't even bat an eye.  He promptly refunds the next night's stay back to my card.  Just how often does this happen, I wonder?

On my way bak to the room I notice just how trashy the grounds actually look.  Good grief, this place is just down from the Marriot.  How could it be so bad?  It wasn't like I was checking into a back woods motel, it was on the same block as several nice hotels.  I guess I should have realized it was too good of a deal.  That and the fact they don't have a picture posted of their rooms on their website should have tipped me off.  Funny how we ignore all these little red flags when we are so determined to have things work out the way we planned them to.

There is good news: the hours I was there writing I focused and actually made some headway.  I have chosen a project and dove into it.  I came home this morning, worked out, showered, and headed to the library where I made a skeleton outline, but outline nonetheless, of the rest of the story and wrote another thousand words.  This evening I went to Panera and got some editing done on Esther (yes, revising-we-will-go).  So all was not for aught, though it wasn't the writing weekend I had envisioned.  I have to be thankful that I am much more focused than before, and newly committed to my MG story.  And I got this funny story to share with you to boot.

The isolated writer is an iconic image...just think of Emma Thompson in Stranger Than Fiction (which depicts all writerly angst quite well) sitting in that big, empty, stark apartment waiting for inspiration.  I often muse why writers have to be so isolated, and I know my family certainly wonders, too.  Does the general public understand the writer's hermitage?  Behold, I bring you...

The Top Ten Reasons Writer's Need to be Alone

1.  Let's just get to the pajama thing right away.  Until opening the door to the UPS man at three in the afternoon in Hello Kitty jammies becomes an accepted social norm, it's best we hide it from the public view.

2.  So no one sees our surreptitious snacking habits.  Oreo Bites.  Skittles.  Jelly Bellys.  Insert bad food of choice here.

3.  Because others already think we're strange, we don't need to provide more evidence as we try out gestures, facial expressions and sounds (what exactly would an alien chortling in a wind storm sound like?) to see if they ring true.

4.  So our true work habits aren't discovered, ahem, including all those quick trips to FB, email and You Tube we make during "writing time".

5.  Because professional help would be sought if they really knew how much crying goes on.

6.  So no one sees us head banging the keyboard, thus discovering the real reason why the Q through P keys are always going wonky. 

7.  B.O.

8. Hair freakier than a porcupine with a perm.

9.  For the Sounds of Silence.

10.  Because the deal we made with the devil gave us great imaginations on the condition that the fruits thereof could only be brought forth in solitary confinement.

Did I miss any?

Al Capone Shines My Shoes is the sequel to Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko.  Choldenko has such an authentic 12-year-old boy-living-in-1935 voice.  I've met her at a conference, and seriously, I don't know how she channels this voice.  The language and slang is perfectly done - not too much to be distracting, but enough to make it realistic.

Moose Flanagan lives on Alcatraz where his father works.  The story is about his struggle to keep everyone happy, including his autistic-acting older sister.  Choldenko does a superb job of getting in a boys mind and letting the story unfold, as well as his actions, logically.  Every single character is distinct.  She creates this cornucopia of young children, prison workers, wives of workers,  and inmates, imbuing each with unique speech, mannerisms, thoughts and actions.  I loved both of Choldenko's books.  They are true to their period and true to their story.

Once Was Lost is another Sara Zarr novel.  This one is about a gal named Sam who is struggling with her identity, specifically as it relates to her faith in God and family.  The reader is taken on a whirlwind of a journey when a kidnapping in the town rocks Sam's world further.  This novel was not preachy - it didn't have to do with a specific religion so much as a teenage girl defining her beliefs.  I thought the voice was authentic, and I liked the character development over the course of the story.  Sam deals with some pretty heady issues and there aren't easy answers...but somehow the ending feels exactly right, even after the messy trials she's gone through and the major transformation in Sam's life has taken place.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.  I knew before I even finished the first book in the series, The Hunger Games, that this was going to be huge.  My husband devoured both books and that is saying a lot for a guy who NEVER reads YA. Collins takes us further on the journey Katniss has embarked on.  Now, however, it's not just about Katniss, it's about what she stands for and means to the people of the Districts.  The book takes on a broader scope in that way, but of course it is always Katniss that is the protagonist, so everything hinges on her decisions and actions. 

Again, the author is unflinching in the scenario she has created, what must happen and the detail in which she describes it.  The world she's set up is amazing, bordering on what you'd find in sci-fi, but completely unique.  I've heard they're turning this into a movie - and I don't know how they are going to be able to portray kids killing kids in gruesome ways.  Some things are best told in books and imagined in a person's mind.

The Queen's Soprano by Carol Dines is a book in one of my favorite genres: historical fiction. It is set in 17th century Rome, when the Pope has declared singing to be a sin. 17-year-old Angelica has the voice of an angel and must find away to live the life she wants, including singing as well as matters of the heart.

A good historical fiction takes me right out of this modern world and I love every minute of the journey. The Queen's Soprano transports the reader into Rome of old. The details are well done, but you don't feel like you're being hit over the head with imagery of the day. The pacing is quick. I liked how the protagonist figured out what she wanted and how to get it. Strong female mcs in historical fiction are the best.

Tithe: a modern faerie tale by Holly Black. Black's writing talent is well known. What I liked about this book was how she chose a character and world and stuck with it no matter how gritty it got. And it gets gritty. Kaye lives a nomadic life with her rocker mom and Black does not shy away from portraying what that kind of lifestyle would be like. The tough, rawness combined with a tale of Fae, which has it's own raw ugliness, is excellently done. The creatures and courts are clever and Roiben is hot. I totally love the dynamic Black created between him and Kaye.

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr. Zarr is fast becoming one of my favorite "problem novel" (or whatever the term is these days for straight up angsty stories about being a teen) authors. Deanna is trying to escape a life defined by her past while dealing with a dysfunctional family life that isn't doing anything to help matters. Zarr has made the setting a character in this small coastal California town, I could really see the surroundings and how they were a part of the story. I liked the predicament Deanna finds herself in and the realistic way she goes about trying to find and define herself, complete with mistakes and all. Well done.

1. New LJ layout.  Check it out!  It's just a template - not custom made - I've reached my limit on moneys for custom mades - but it will do, eh?

2. New 'puter.  I am typing this on my new Mac Air.  This baby is sweet at 3 lbs.; uber-thin.  No moneys for this either, but they got that great interest free for twelve months thing and it's refurb-ed, so I think I can swing it.  Waiting ten minutes for the Toshiba to let me use the "a" key after turning it on was getting a little old, along with other signs of aging.  I hope I don't get traded in so easily.

3. New writing program.  I'm going to try Srivener y'all.  I'm a little hesitant, worried that I'll be wasting time dinking around with a novelty that I won't actually end up using, instead of actually writing....but I can't resist novelties.

4. New show - The Vampire Diaries!  I LIKE!  Boy, I'd be pissed if I was LJ Smith about Twilight.  I didn't know there were so many similarities.  I must say, the show's female protag is much more appealing than KStew.  I find I can sympathize with her.  Heck, the fact that I can look at her without laughing is a vast improvement over Bella.  The moody broodiness is there - and not one, but two hunky main vampires to watch (no, Jasper and Emmett don't count as MCs...srry E). I'm stoked!

5. My house is clean.  That's definitely something new.

6. Eight new books to review from the ARCS latteya  loaned me.  That will be in another post.

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

...many times, but not retained: put bra on by eight o'clock in the morning when staying home, whether you're expecting company or not.  The not invariably shows up, catching you off guard in your free-as-you-please glory.  You will often have to converse with delivery/maintenance/service man for a length of time, hoping arms crossed on your chest looks like your natural stance. 

Brushing your teeth wouldn't hurt, either.

Berating of husband will ensue this evening for allowing this scenario: me standing in rolled-out-of-bed attire (the girls unrestrained) in front of a rather handsome young man, ignorant of any issue with the surfacing on our pool.

No soup for YOU!

Woke up this morning to find this guy in my courtyard. Eee-yugh *shudders*.  I think walking leaf and stick bugs are fascinating and abhorent at the same time.  This sucka was huge - 5 inches!

I grabbed Wee One's camera that she just got for her birthday to take it.  It's always around because she has to take pictures like this about five times a day.
That's Petey sleeping on Pink, Wee One's lovey doll.

Okay, freak out moment: one of Wee One's friends has the flu.  Here in Cal we are getting the brunt of H1N1 since it popped over the border from Meheeco.  Now it's not necessarily what this little girl has, but I'm so worried because it's supposed to hit kids hard this year.  I am this close to snatching Wee One out of school and keeping her home until flu season is over.  She catches everything.  Every year I get those red truancy letters saying I'm going to jail for keeping my kid home so much.  It's not excused without a doctor's note.  I'm not going to shell out for a copay to hear my doctor say she's sick, take care of her.  The threatening letters irritate me, because the school district's biggest concern is the funding they get per every child attending.  So should I send her vomitting and make the whole class sick?  That would really wipe out their funding.  Gah.

Speaking of Wee One, she has discovered Broadway.  She saw Cats and has since watched the movie, or at least the songs she likes, three times a day.  If I have to hear Rumtumtugger one more time... What has been fun is listening to her sing, she's got a great little voice.  She's already picked out which cat she wants to play when she grows up.

I am procrastinating.  So hard to feel motivated without any encouraging signs re writing.  I sent another batch of queries out with no response.  I'm thinking I probably should have waited till after labor day...am also thinking I need a miracle.

Have a great Monday, my friends.

The kids are off to school, the dishes are washed, the sun is shining and the birds are singing...it must be a sign that I am to begin WRITING!  Finally.  For serious.

I'm having some sort of allergy attack  - nose is tickling me to sneezes and all that. Gugh...distracting.

Gotta turn off the smooth jazz before anything.  Anyone else with an eleven-year-old that likes smooth jazz in the mornings?  Makes me giggle.  But the saxophone is definitely not conducive to WRITING!

Darling Daughter's Macbook arrived.  It came, I saw, I bought.  Heh, heh, maybe.  Have to play with hers for awhile, and old Toshi here just got new memory and battery recently, so...it's probably adequate for WRITING!

Oh, BTW, new navel gazing at my website.

Coming 12/22/09 from Bloomsbury...

Nimira is a music-hall girl used to dancing for pennies. So when wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to sing accompaniment to a mysterious piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it will be the start of a better life. In Parry's world, long-buried secrets are about to stir. Unsettling rumors begin to swirl about ghosts, a madwoman roaming the halls, and Parry’s involvement in a group of corrupt sorcerers for whom the rules of the living and dead are meant to be broken for greater power. When Nimira discovers the spirit of a dashing fairy gentleman is trapped within the automaton, she is determined to break the curse. But even as the two fall into a love that seems hopeless, breaking the curse becomes a perilous race against time. Because it's not just the future of these star-crossed lovers that's at stake, but the fate of the entire magical world.

Want to win an ARC with original sketches from the author inside? See http://fabulousfrock.livejournal.com for details!

Maybe I should digest before trying to capture my 20th high school reunion weekend in writing.  

Nah...

It was surreal.  What I found was that we are all still exactly the same.  Take away the aging, kids, and careers and we could  easily be back at old North Bend High School circa 1989.

I guess I had thought people would change, even though I never felt like I had.  I feel like the same person inside, just with a few more experiences under my belt.  Maybe a little more confident and content...but  overall I still feel like I did when I wore pegged jeans, belted cardigans and Sally Jesse Raphael-sized glasses.

I loved seeing old friends I'd been close to, aquaintances who kindly acted like we'd been close, and getting to know people I never knew at all.  Most special were the two or three comments that a few shared about how they felt about me then and how they saw me now.  These were precious gifts they have no idea will be treasured by me.  It tells me I made an impression, that I meant something to someone, that I was remembered.  Don't we all want to be remembered?

The one thing I regret is holding on to some grudges I had all those years ago.  They were born of insecurity from twenty years ago, and though I didn't act outright rude, I am slightly disgusted with myself that I didn't rise to the occasion and act more mature, reach out to every person there, whether there were good or bad memories there.  My life is good now, why would I harbor petty feelings? 

I also regret there wasn't more time to get past "so where are you living now?"  There were several people I would have liked to chat with longer, and people that I didn't get beyond more than a smile and hello.  It all went so fast and was borderline overwhelming.

On the last day my family was urging me to hurry up and finish.  Apropos, I suppose - the here and now pulling me away from the then and there.  I wouldn't get to relive all the memories I would have liked to - and I don't know why I felt such an urge to do as much as possible.  Maybe some day I can return to my home town and drive around by myself, noting the houses of old boyfriends, places where I had after-school jobs, sites of special occasions, parks I'd parked at...the streets I walked.  Maybe I'll be able to put my past to rest.  But until I get my turn to go back in time, I'll be happy living for today.

It is time to move some "read and need to be reviewed" books to the regular library shelves...As always, you can click on the tile or book cover to purchase most of these books.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale was one of those wonderful fairytale stories.  Something about other times, other places that really lets you lose yourself and forget about modern day problems.  I had noted before that one of the things I was most impressed with in this book was the character's growth through the story.  Ani starts out as a girl who things happen to and by the end, she has taken charge and is a girl who makes things happen.  Really, I've never seen such a fine example of a relatively helpless, coddled girl transform into a courageous independent one.  Excellent.  Read it!

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff was the book I picked up in England for one pound (about a dollar fifty, score!).  The voice and style really put me off at first.  The MC talks directly to the reader in an obvious "I'm talking to the reader" way, which is not common, so I had to get used to that.  And she uses that capitalizing device: "and the rest...made clucking noises and said How Awful It Was," which is totally cool.  Once in a while.  Not on nearly every page.  It seemed a little too blatant an attempt at establishing a quirky voice.  Then there was also the fact that I had no idea when this was supposed to be taking place or what exaclty the circumstances were that she found herself in.  It's set in modern day, but shortly after Daisy comes from New York to visit family in England trains are blown up and London is occupied.  It's never clear who the attackers are...the closest I could figure was terrorists.  So okay, I guess that's not the main point of the story, and it's just to set the scene for the ensuing chaos that allows Daisy to have this life-transforming experience, but that sort of stuff bugs me.  I don't like things to bug me when I'm reading.  That all said, I really liked the book overall.  The actual journey is fascinating; the author sure knows a lot about surviving off the land.  Wee bit of a let down at the end, but I'd still recommend it as a very original read.

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.  I really don't have to review this - the whole world has read it, right?  If not, they should.  It is a precious book, in that it paints a poignant picture of a girl and her life that is so real you just want to hug it.  One of Wee One's friends said she didn't like that the MC used bad grammar.  Wow, I thought, what sort of stuff does this girl read?  Because this is so authentic sounding, so believable, that I felt privileged to be given a glimpse into the lives of the characters.  I have to admit I was very surprised to realize that this was the same author who wrote Despereaux, which has it's own place on a child's shelf, but is nowhere near as amazing and perfectly written as this one.  I absolutely love the voice in Winn-Dixie.  You will, too (if you don't already), I don't doubt it.

If You're Reading This, It's Too Late by Pseudonymous Bosch will appeal to middle grade readers.  I personally thought it tried a little too hard to be like Lemony Snicket in creating a mysterious narrator, and some of the devices were distracting (the chapters are in reverse order, starting with chapter thirty-three).  But the characters were well written.  If readers liked the first book, The Name of This Book is Secret, then they would no doubt not be disappointed in this installment.

The Ashleys Jealous? by Melissa de la Cruz.  I have put off writing this review...I can't find much to redeem the book, other than to say I finished the whole thing.  This is Gossip Girls for tweens.  I kept thinking there must be a message in here about how money, looks, and popularity aren't the most important things, but there wasn't.  Sure, once in a while we are thrown a bone to the effect that maybe all's not perfect in the plastic world and that even popular girls are real people, but it's drowned in so much designer label, exotic vacation destination, expensive interior design name dropping that it might as well not be in there.  I cringed about a thousand times reading this thinking of the messages it was reinforcing that young girls get from other forms of media already.  The themes of expensive clothes, hot boyfriends and exclusive parties are not, in my opinion, what eleven-year-old girls should be reading about at this age (or ever, preferably).  Sweet Valley High is one thing, but taking it to the next level where middle-schoolers are dating prep-school boys, backstabbing "best" friends, and dissing each other with online rankings is a whole new level of trash young girls don't need to have pushed at them.  de la Cruz is a snappy writer, I just wish she'd choose a subject with a little more depth, but why would she when these are selling like hawtcakes?