bookmark_borderPutting it Together

I’m still keeping the BG books aside. I need to distance myself for a bit because…well, just because.

What I am doing is looking at my fantasy manuscript(s) and trying to put them together.

What a mess! Simple Sarah is written. Long Lea is written. But now I need to edit and make sure they jive and then expand on the ending (which was really lame). The problem is I’ve scenes that are fantastic, but were written after the SS/LL was finished. I need to integrate them too. Then there is the whole Good vs Evil thing going on. All that is going to change. Then there is the character changes since I’m seriously considering dropping one. Oh, and name changes (that God for ‘search/replace’, eh??).

Where was I? Oh, yes, the problem is where should I start? Start all over? Go over them and paste it all together? Hack it into little pieces? Do an outline (gasp!)? Work out the philosphy first then hack? Eat more chocolate? Eat less chocolate? And what about Naomi??

So, there. Well. Hmm. Eeny meeny miney mo, catch a tiger by the toe. If he bites you let him go, eeny meeny miney mo.

Sigh. One potato, two potato, three potato, four…

I was always chosen last ya know.

bookmark_borderYesterday

Yesterday was Errand Day.

Lorna took the day off because she had stuff to do about the accident last week. We left the house here at ten-ish (yes, I was up but not very “at ’em”) to get into town to meet the Geico adjuster (the kid’s insurance co.) at some repair place. The estimate is going to come out to almost $3000 dollars! I am still afraid the frame may be compromised, but we’ll see when they get in there.

After that, we went to Weaverville to an ins. place then went home for a short bit so she could make some phone calls. We then went back into town to another ins. place (meanwhile, I’m doing a lot of sitting in the truck and reading magazines and drooling in the Cyberguys catalog).

After that, we went to Kmart. Big mistake. All Lorna wanted was one pair of jeans. But she insisted I go in with her. We found me a motorized chair and headed to the men’s department. She has found that most women’s jeans just do not move enough for her job so she wears men’s relaxed fit Wranglers.
Continue reading “Yesterday”

bookmark_borderToday’s Progress

I’ve been doing some thinking.

I’m going to set BG2b aside for a bit and wait to see what Robin comes up with when she finishes the line edits/content analysis on BG1.

Today I cracked open part 1 of the Trilogy. I was totally not into it so instead I started writing a scene for it. I think I got well over 1K.

See, I got this book. It’s about this heroine, see. You know, the sword-swing, goddess-blessed, glow-in-the-dark heroine. I wanted to write about the side to it that few other writers get to: reluctance to be one. Heroes and heroines seem to be so gung-ho to do their job. To save good from evil and to rid the world of some sort of something. Right? But what about those who wanted to do something else? You know, like, have a life that doesn’t involve blood or weapons.
So, would you, the reader, want to know more about a heroes childhood? Or more on how they handled the job they were forced to take given?

bookmark_borderPlaying with Plug-ins

I am avoiding writing (different from procrastination) so I am playing with the plugins available for WordPress. And there are a few.

I have a list of the plugins I use for this site. I’ve not updated it yet with the ones I started up today.

I tried several different ones but only had success and/or use for a few.

I am now using the wp-Define plugin by Marios Tziortzis. It is like an automatical acronym thingy. Usually, if I needed to name a mass of letters, I had to enter in the acronym: acronym title=”Really Simple Syndication”. I left off the < and the >. But now, with this plugin, I ‘define’ RSS head of time and it automatically defines it each time it is used. Way cool and groovy, eh? So as I go along, I will enter in more definitions. Such as BG1, BG2b, etc etc.

I am also using Search Meter plugin by Bennett McElwee. This one you won’t see the result of since it is an admin thing. It keeps track of everything that is entered into the little search box in the upper right sidebar. So if I have a lot of people coming here to search for ‘toads’, then I’ll know my toad article was a big hit. (I don’t have a toad article, btw) (hey! another definition to enter!)

Another new one is the Official Comment plugin by Brett Taylor. This is basically for my ego benefit since I am the only active user. Anyway, this plugin recognizes the person making the comment as either a logged in user or a non-user. If logged it, it then highlights that person’s comments.

I’ve had Head Meta plugin for a while but for some reason never activated it. So I upgraded to the latest version and viola! Dougal Campbell is a cool fella so I figured it must have some purpose. It does, but again, it’s not anything you will see. It uses the keywords for the posts and adds a doohickey meta thingy to the header. I am not quite sure what a meta is but I do know they are important.

The next is Database Manager by Joe Newing. While I don’t think it is exactly working right now, I think this is a fantastic idea. It is basically “one-click database backup”. And, when/if it works, sure beats the heck out of the other way!

And then there is the Ajax Spell Checker plugin by zz85 & m0n5t3r & emil & broken-notebook. Not only will you now get spell-checked posts to read, by you can spell check your comments too!

Okay, well, it is after 2 and I reckon I need to hit the proverbial sack.

bookmark_borderLabels vs Self-Identity

Labels are used to contain something, to identify something. Nutritional labels, price labels, geographic and racial labels…the list is endless.

Self-Identity is how we see ourselves, or, rather, our Self.

I am labeled disabled. I self-identify as crip.

I am labeled homosexual. I self-identify as lesbian.

I am labeled unemployed. I self-identify as domestically challenged.

It is this difference, this label vs idenity, that makes a difference between a character in a story and a person in a story. We want our readers to believe this person could be them or someone they know. If we label our characters then they become too generic and therefore unbelievable.

While we do need to label our characters to some degree (male, female, strong, weak, tall, short) it is how we expound on those labels that make the identity. It is even how we string the labels together that can further add to the identity. A minor character important to a scene can be labeled in a certain order and the reader automatically can relate. A short man. We all know, or should know, about the ‘short man syndrome’. A blond woman from California. A hyper child.

Self-identity is how we see our Self. What happens to that Self identity if we take away one of the labels? Would I be ‘me’ if I weren’t a crip? What if my disability was more recognizeable by the general public? How would that affect my attititude? How would that attitude affect my Self Identity?

What if a character lost one of his/her Self Identities? A phyiscally strong warrior is disabled permanently or long-term? A painter goes blind? A bright intelligent woman develops amnesia? A magician who speaks his spells loses his voice? A Type-A business man gets a major migraine? A Southerner is forced to move to Russia?

What happens to that character? What happens to their Self identity when the labels are shifted or changed?

Ever read those statistics that say ‘the average American…’? Do those people really exist? (Who is eating my portions of steak?? And whose chocolate am I stealing??) Why should we make our characters average? That is why we are encouraged to give our characters some sort of something, a quirk of sorts, that pushes them off the average platform. A Type-A businessman who has fish at home that he likes to sit and stare at. A big butch lezbo collects unicorn figurines. A veterinarian with cat allergies.

Some of these thoughts can be plots to themselves.

bookmark_borderPracticing Safe Editing

Get to know your Manuscript first. Sure, you wrote it, but do you really know all about it?

    Ask where your Manuscript has been and who else has edited with it? Has it been sent too many times around the crit circle?

    Don’t jump in with your red pen as soon as you meet your Manuscript. Let it sit for a little while. Let that editing tension build up between you.

    Wear your thick skin as protection against the diseases transmitted by editing:

  • Low Self-Worth as a Writer – initial symptoms range from locking prior Manuscripts into a literal or virtual trunk to the intense desire to hit the delete key;
  • The overwhelming desire to hack and slash through the manuscript without regard for its well-being, you just want to purge it of any signs you may have been up too late writing it;
  • The worst case scenerio: the belief the manuscript is just fine the way it is and you print it out to mail to agents and publishers.
  • Never edit while under the influence of such things as a ‘i-like-it’ from your mother, best friend, or spouse. You just never know what such statements can do to you.

    And if you stop editing too soon, or can’t finish with the edit, don’t worry. It happens to some writers all the time. It is nothing to be ashamed of. Spend time with your manuscript or perhaps try another one.

**

Anyone have more to add? 😉

bookmark_borderQuery Feedback

Asked (okay, bribed) an on-line friend to read the query I had spit up.

She had some excellent comments! You know the kind, the ones like you go: duh! Why didn’t I see that? or: duh! Why didn’t I think of that?

Her suggestions are great, gives me a chance to look at it from a different angle. I proceeded to start again, putting down the key conficts in the manuscript. I didn’t get very far tho. Real Life had the ovaries to happen and I haven’t had much time to work on it since.

But, tomorrow is a brand new day! Yeah, that’s it.

So, no progress in BG2b, some progress on the agent query, great strides in quality time with Lorna and success on doing file arranging on the laptop.

Oh how excited I am.

bookmark_borderHalfway Mark!

After a couple of dry days, I joined a series of ‘word wars’ at the FM chat room. Spun out over 2500 words on BG2b!!

That felt good. Mostly dialogue, but I got two characters who need to talk some things over so it is appropriate. This manuscript is going to need a big rewrite but over all I think it is a good one.

Didn’t get the short story sent out, but I do have the entrance fee and the envelope. I’ll print it out tomorrow when I am more alert.

bookmark_borderReal Life

Lorna, my partner of 15+ years, works for the post office. She is a rural mail carrier which means she has to provide the vehicle. She’s gone through a lot in the years she’s had the job. Her latest, a ’94 Chevy Blazer, died last week or so. Actually, it has been like Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones: dead but too stoned to realize it.

As a result, she’s been driving My Truck, an ’03 Chevy S10 CrewCab (the name of the truck is My Truck). Yesterday, Thursday, she was rear-ended. Luckily, Chevy made a great rear frame and while My Truck is drivable, the kid’s car was not. Went right under the truck. The bumper is hanging down but is high enough it is not dragging the ground. The passenger side rear panel is wrinkled beyond repair.

But the absolute good news is that Lorna is fine! She’s a little sore today, which is to be expected. Her route, while rural, is off and on a road that is used by logging trucks. We are just thrilled it was not one of those idiots. She had stopped and had her left turn signal on to turn into a driveway for a woman’s ‘hardship box’ (which means the person is unable to go to the mailbox so the carrier takes it up to the porch or some other pre-designated spot). The dumbass kid thought her turn signal meant she was telling him to go around her. DUH!