Crafting the Cake (Or, How Baking and Writing Should Be Compared)

Recently, I've come to term with a few facets of myself.

To begin with, I've finally realized that I need to bake. Just like I need to write. Perhaps not with the same soul-pinned need to string words together in the right sentences, phrases, paragraphs, sweeping tiers of meaning and warmth and the sense that what I am becomes that much better when it is put down on the blank page.

But at least with cake, I can eat my feelings and I don't have to look them in the eye while weaving them into dialogue and description. Also, it tastes better.

Anyway, I've also realized that the whole thing about baking and writing - "writing is like baking, you need the right ingredients and you have to be ready to wait, the raw material doesn't taste as good as the end result" and so on and so forth - is not...actually legitimate. At least, in regards to me. Probably because I just tugged a chocolate cake out of the oven and I can actually see the end results as pretty and don't actually find the in-process results of baking too bad even if they are rather messy and require a lot of scrubbing afterward.

Yes, writing requires the right ingredients. But the right ingredients vary. You can't always check your way down a list and go, "Oh, I've got my love thread right where I want it, so I'm heading to Aisle 12 to toss in a few thematic elements and maybe a little comic relief."

Yes, writing requires waiting. But at least with a cake, I know that within a good thirty minutes, I'll be heading in there with my gloves on and a toothpick ready to test that ooey-gooey middle - and, unlike an unfinished draft being carefully avoided in the writing program of choice for the week, that middle will settle itself in with a little heat and careful footsteps.

Yes, the raw material is no way reflective of the results. But at least you know what is coming out and you don't necessarily have to toss the entire middle of the cake and pour a new batter around the scorched edges in order to make progress. Well, not always. Okay, maybe that one still works.

I think you get the general idea. And I hope this doesn't sound like me whinging and whining about how hard writing is. Yes. It's hard. Yes. I do it anyway. Yes. I love it and this is my community and I wouldn't trade it for anything because this is such a gift and such a remarkable place to be and know that I am part of it and I contribute to it.

But. For all that baking has made me realize about the frustrations of writing - the unavoidable hiccups and fallen middles and sickening realization that somewhere along the line, you turned the heat too high and didn't stir enough and have to start a new batch (and yes, this totally does work as a comparison for writing) - I did have one important thought pop in my head when I was first sliding in that chocolate cake cooling on my counter:

Baking and writing both do require faith and patience...for you.

In you.

If I can hold a hand mixer in my aching hand and stir a thick batter for two long minutes and be confident that I'm doing the right steps, I should be confident when I'm writing down notes on a love list or starting a new synopsis or feeling that sickening ride-took-a-quick-turn lurch of new inspiration and rushing to take notes on it.

If I can grease a pan and set an oven and feel that I've given my cake the environment it needs to grow and reach its full, delectable, soft and fluffy potential in, I should feel just as secure in my mind's ability to add a creative flair to my own thoughts and imaginings.

Of course, thanks to the mind's impeccable ability to focus on all the wrong steps you take and the pancake-flat ambition of your ideas (or maybe that is just my mind, always snapping at my heels and making me question everything), it is not that easy.

Of course, even if I followed all the instructions in a recipe I'm using for the first time, there's still that nervous feeling of, "This can either be really good or a big waste of my time and flour."

And I don't really have answers for that, still. I would probably write faster if I did and spend less time deleting and tearing up and just...questioning everything. Which I don't do while I'm baking. Which probably says a lot.

Anyway. I think the moral today is create with confidence, create with self-assurance. Create with the thought that you are giving your work the environment and exposure it needs to grow and rise and reach its full, engaging, exciting, personally stirring potential.

And maybe put a cake in the oven so that when the self-doubt strikes, at least your mouth will also be full.

Every Face Lit Up: Kweli 2016 and All That It Was.

For the past few weeks, I've been at a loss.

The semester has long since lost its glossy sheen of expectations, seemingly light assignments and attainable syllabi goals. If, you know, it ever had any of those. I was physically ill, mentally worn out and withered, and reaching down into my creative well for any hope or love or light brought up a bucket of wall scrapings: what I should have been doing, what I should be writing, paltry, painful words that made me wince to type out and made me scratch them out and away like unsightly scabs.

So, just to make that clear right at the beginning: I was living scantily, and with the little energy I had, I was living for Kweli.

I seized on it - the idea of this conference within reach, for people like me, on a weekend when I could actually attend and not glance down at my watch every few minutes, worrying if I'd be missing another commitment.

So. It happened. And I went.

Which really are the most anti-climatic, poorly chosen words to encompass all of what I felt yesterday, and today, and hopefully for the rest of this week because I am still soaking it in and thinking it through and just...being glad and grateful for the rightness that it pretty much was.

My friend Patrice Caldwell really put it best. You walk into this room, and it is full - brimming in every corner and seat and smile - with your people.

My people.

Usually I'm one of the only POC at publishing events and writers conferences, being at #Kweli16 is like home pic.twitter.com/8dR7g0Qexz

— Patrice Caldwell (@whimsicallyours) April 9, 2016

Your shields came down. You code switched right back to your natural default. The slang and the sly asides and the playful ribs during the day just gave me life right back where it was suckered out of me by weekdays filled with casual racism and subtle sneers.

I beamed. Inside, I felt like I bloomed. My very heart was giddy.

And then, right when I'd managed to find a last minute seat, when I'd thought I found a moment to catch my breath and stop appearing so flustered, Edwidge Danticat stood up - and declaimed an incredible keynote that had tears swimming in my eyes, Does Your Face Light Up?

My face lit up. It felt like the entire room, in that moment, reached down inside and held onto their own deep spark. It was a reminder I needed: why we do this, why our voices matter - why my voice matters, even on the days when I droop low and I have to dig deep for the moments Ms. Danticat described, the moments when my heart first opened, or closed, or was battered or bitter or bruised, in order to draw them out onto the paper.

It is because we light up. It is because we feel that rightness.

It is because this story, our story, needs to be told.

Words have wings. Words have feet. We don't know where they will travel, where they will land, who they may comfort...or save. - Edwidge Danticat, Kweli 16

I rarely attend conferences with both the benefit of marginalized focus and discussion on craft. I have to admit, right here, that I ended up spending most of the time meeting with people I adore and only half an ear for some admittedly amazing panels, but the union was there nonetheless, and it was incredible.

Words of truth at #kweli16: When someone lifts you up, you have to open your wings and make room for others. @djolder

— Leah Henderson (@lfhwrites) April 9, 2016

I feel like I will be talking about this for weeks. I will be thinking about it for weeks.

I will hopefully be beaming and blooming for weeks, enraptured by this new sense of self: being part of that large room of belly laughs and cheeky rejoinders and hard-hitting truths and realizing that I am part of this world, I can hang with these incredible people, I was literally in the room where it happened and new talent walked away inspired to wield their gifts and everything pulsated with one beat:

Your story matters. Your story matters. Your story matters.

At the heart of everything we do is storytelling...telling each other difficult & beautiful truths-@djolder #kweli16

— Samira Ahmed (@sam_aye_ahm) April 9, 2016

I'm not sure what else to share. There are little moments, funny and sweet moments: hugs and first meetings and being applauded while my mouth was full of a bagel and I hardly looked anything professional.

Oh, and going out to lunch and getting pancakes.

Because that did happen.

Today, my heart is hopeful. My mind is teeming over. Today, I feel my worth. I feel the weight of my responsibility and the memory of the girl I was, the girl who others currently are, who wanted mirrors and windows and hope and love and light and winged words to land in her lap and console her with their well-timed wonder.

"Be gorgeous. Be courageous. Be present." Also "write for the life you have." #kweli16 #keynote

— Nisha Sharma (@Nishawrites) April 9, 2016

In that moment, in that room, every face lit up.

And it happened and it was everything and I hope I experience it again soon.

story begets story. [1] - jewel-toned: the genre.

(i feel the need to type in lowercase today. just roll with it.)

so, i formerly used to file any ruminations on my writing under "as i #amwriting." however, after quality time spent with creative luminaries and dear bookish friends such as miriam weinberg, i decided to rename the feature/series/what have you and segue into a more personal approach.

which is hard because...i'm me. and when we put the words personal and writing together, i feel the need to run for the hills or crawl beneath the bed or sit on top of my printed outlines and notes like a child wanting to hide that incriminating chocolate bar wrapper.

but i'm trying to work through that. so here we are.

so. the theory of "jewel-toned" as a genre is all thanks to activist and friend heather ure, who presented it in a conversation we were having the other day about sarah mccarry's recent interview with online teen girl magazine and fount of inspiration rookie.

(sarah mccarry is incredible. so is rookie. just putting that out there.)

see? my kind of people.

there are certain authors with works that i cannot help but refer to in the language of gemstones.

and, it should also be noted, they are all women because i'm here for women writers first and foremost and always and i'm not afraid to admit that i read stories about girls all the time and have little to no interest if a story involves a man's voice or a man's point of view or a man sorrowfully declining into middle age because the girl of his dreams couldn't take his continuous self-pity and attempts to deny her own agency.

i will add the caveat that i do know several male authors who have works coming out that might very well be deemed jewel-toned later on in and around the premises of this blog and i'll be very happy to promote them, too. but ladies first and always.

now, i've been a snarl of tangled, knotted creative inactivity this week. which is inexcusable. i'm out of school. no papers pending. i'm a summer child and the temperature is climbing and i've had ice cream today and frozen yogurt yesterday and worn my favorite set of flowery sandals. and yet, the magic is not happening.


and this, in a roundabout way, is actually why this is now story begets story.

it'd been so long since i could read something in my category (which, of course, is first and foremost ya and then fantasy and possibly magical realism) without it devolving into self-flagellation and the firm decision that i cannot, will not write anything as beautiful and thus, i should not write, and thus, i should instead devour my weight in chocolate and mope and act miserable, since, i am so therefore i write and not writing may well be the same as not drinking the right amount of water.

and then, while waiting in the line for these shallow graves with my dear miriam, she happened to notice the poster for uprooted by naomi novik.

"it's very much a kaye thing!" she said.

"you won't regret reading it!" she said.

and though i was quite sure that yes, i'd be entirely immobilized in terms of creativity for perhaps years afterwards because naomi novik is one of those luminaries you always hear about and tread about carefully for the sake of your own floundering aspirations - i believed miriam.

(as one always should.)

and i read it.

(as one always should.)

and thus, i remembered that to write stories, you do have to read them, too - even the bad ones, though uprooted certainly isn't bad by any means, and, if anything, was refreshing to read through as though it were a one-woman writing course i was taking, routing out plot twists and making note of foreshadowing and the magic system.

so, now that you've suffered through all that, back to the actual theme of this post.

which is, jewel-toned.

and yes, i think it does stand as a genre - if anything, perhaps a genre within certain genres. you probably know what i mean. have you ever read a work and felt that the author just knows the right way to handle words, how to string them together and bring tears to your eyes from the beauty, or perhaps sucker-punch you in the gut because of the world and humanity and goodness knows how uncomplicated this premise sounded until you actually opened the cover?

that. yes, that.

sarah mccarry's first two ya novels (of which, i'll confess, i've only read the first one) focuses on breathing fresh life into ancient greek myths. under the framework of a dead rock star's enduring empire and mother-daughter relationships, there's the familiar underwire of orpheus and eurydice. i mean, i went through an entire greek myth binge in like fifth grade so this shouldn't be entirely surprising, but it's not just the story line and the unique edgy flair.

it's the texture. (thank you, dear creative writing professor, for leaving that word firmly planted in my head.) it's the way the words just jangle or slide together or lead you downward like an elegant spiral staircase, one rung after another, because if the stairs themselves are lovely, elegant, velvet-encased marvels, what is waiting for you at the bottom?

indeed, jewel-toned, hued, encrusted marvels.

i think i must be a dragon at heart. because looking at these gems make my heart race. 

bonus points can and are always given for stories lovingly told about girls and women - from the hearts and hands of girls and women. there is nothing like being a teenage girl, sprawled out in the middle of a trampoline with a popsicle on one hand (yes, this image is autobiographical) and reading a story that celebrates you and girls like you and encourages you to keep on keeping on.

it can be an epic road trip novel (and as i'll write later on in the week or possibly next week, when i have a smorgasbord of summer reading posts planned, road trip novels are my kryptonite, right after feminist young adult anything). it can be a deep, dark fantasy.

but if the words are lush and lovely and the story rings true, i think it should qualify as jewel-toned.

like i already said, i don't think sarah's the only one who has a knack for this. like she herself says in that magnificent interview, "...i am one tiny strand on this huge gorgeous messy jewel-bedazzled web of girl genius."

note to self: take up cross-stitching this summer for real, so you can make that into a sampler or something.

anyway. jewel-toned. authors i already know and love. got it.

if you've familiar with this blog - with me, at all - you know how i feel about nova ren suma. imaginary girls gives you complicated sister dynamics and haunting magical realism. every time i talk about this title to someone, i have to admit that from the cover inward, it gives every sensation of being submerged underwater. today is incidentally its debut anniversary, which makes it all the more wonderful to mention it.

i didn't properly review it when it came out - which i ought to, as it gave me such complicated feelings - but also, nova's newest, the walls around us. a toxic friendship. murderous ballerinas. a dank prison. it's incredible and if it wasn't awesome enough being from nova's hands, it's also from the hands of the lovely people at algonquin, which might be my favorite young adult publisher.

along with macmillan.

and scholastic.


i feel sometimes that laura ruby and nova go hand in hand - perhaps because i love them both and they always have good things to say about each other and they are just both sweet, honest-to-goodness supportive people in general? but bone gap. bone. gap. it's another title that i received last year and was super excited for and didn't get around to reviewing...soooo i'll just have to indulge in a reread at some point this summer so i actually can.

laini taylor is another given, and it's funny because i used to read her stories just to lament the fact that i'd never, ever be able to write like her, while adoring her for being so entirely honest and sweet about her own struggles with anxiety and imposter syndrome and such. (if you haven't read her static writing advice blog, not for robots, take this as your reminder to do so now.)

but a few nights ago, i was re-reading spicy little curses such as these and besides being rather disillusioned with the colonialist-centric twist on indian culture and lore, i was relieved to realize that i could read it exactly as i read uprooted - enjoying the language and the structure, but not demonizing my own creativity.

(and, as a note, criticizing the world and the decisions made in spicy little curses does not mean that i am degrading or dragging laini as a whole. every time i've interacted with her, she's been very personable and kind. but, authors grow and so do readers and it's nice to realize that i can see that, even if it's subtle and likely drawn from research rather than personal viewpoints or beliefs, and know that i want brown girl, jewel-toned luminosity.

also, a general desire to write brown girl, jewel-toned luminosity.

more on the former in a few.)

this post would, of course, not be complete without reminding you that fantasy is and always will be my first love, and when we talk fantasy, we have to talk about victoria "queen of awesome" schwab. the near witch. the archived. vicious. she is one of those authors that only gets better with every new title and she's incredible and also delightful to talk to and i don't think you could regret reading her at all.

now, moving on to people i've heard write around this sort of theme or with that flair and i haven't read yet, or mean to read in the name of restoring my creative well. which are actually a lot of people, but before i get into it...i've been sitting here, wracking my mind, to think up diverse, jewel-toned young adult novels.

the first person who came to mind was jackie woodson, who is rightfully lauded for brown girl dreaming, which is most definitely on my reading list this summer but is actually considered a middle grade, i think? i've also heard good things about padma venkatraman and a time to dance.

to me, when i think brown girl, i think the jewel-toned genre. not in the name of isolation or barring anyone, because every girl needs to be applauded and loved and emphasized with. perhaps it is more recently amplified because of my wondrous friend shveta thakrar, who i fully expect and anticipate to be gracing shelves as the desi answer to holly black very soon (note: holly is another edgy, luminous author whose works i've only dipped my toe into, but i do have the darkest part of the forest sitting here, so more on her very soon).

shveta takes the theory of jewel-toned in language and legacy so very much to heart. i read her poetry and her short stories and i feel that brown girls have beautiful faces, warm hearts, bravery down to our marrow. i feel we can stand head-to-head with any other heroine in any other fantasy. 

without breaking down into a discussion of just how and why diversity and representation matter, to me, shveta just exemplifies the "genre" and what it means to me and what it does to me when i read it.

i'm also thinking of pointe by brandy colbert and the little i read of that (and must return to), and alaya dawn johnson's love is the drug that i snagged last bea and unfortunately misplaced but am determined to find and take up properly.

in terms of poc men authors, i'm very, very excited for daniel jose older's shadowshaper, which features a heroine and a gorgeous cover. i should have an arc of that winging its way to me, courtesy of the already mentioned and praised and still utterly wonderful miriam weinberg, so more on that soon-ish. 

i am still trying to think of others, but let's just continue with this already ridiculously long-winded post with what we've got.

i've heard very good things, for years and years, about francesca lia block. i've only just picked up my first by her, love in the time of global warming (that title. that cover. and, as an added bonus, more greek mythology renditions!) and will taste test for myself, while keeping in mind what my dear friend debbie reese has analyzed about native american representation in her books, particularly weetzie bat.

nova has also always had good things to say about kat rosenfield. i've got my eye on inland, in particular. (i must be some sort of water baby. those blue-hued covers just get to me.)

speaking of people whose recommendations i always, always, always trust, my lady kelly jensen has had good things to say about the spaces between trees, the in-between and without tess for those dreamy, discordant imaginary girls feels.

honestly, i have a whole list of titles and a pocketful of crumpled library lists and i'm sure my cup runneth over in terms of recommendations and a selection to feast upon over this season. and it's wonderful. i'm glad that i can write a long post like this dedicated to books that i feel have always warmed and inspired me from the inside out. i'm glad to be looking forward and seeking out more like them.

and even if i still can't seem to settle down to write, i'm glad that these books give me hope that i can.

now. do you think "jewel-toned" as a genre - or even just a theme - makes sense? do you think it might just be an offshoot of that particular feeling you get from an incredibly woven magical realism? (which, as you can probably tell, is another of my particular kryptonites.) what authors or titles fit in this atmosphere for you?

and, most importantly, any recommendations you're willing to share? (spill, spill, spill! particularly if it's magical realism. or horror. or both.)

a side note: if you know me and i know you and i haven't mentioned your wonderful writing or your wonderful self, it is totally okay to remind me of your existence in the comments. really.

(and just this side note reminded me of another person whose stories have heart and beauty: claire legrand. middle grade. young adult. yes, yes, yes.)

okay. i'm done. 

{as i #amwriting} Bootcamp Update #4...and #5

Just...I know.

Don't look at me that way.

{as i #amwriting} Bootcamp Update #3

Mara is making me eat humble pie today, because she said that if I kept updating late, I would enter a loop and slog hopelessly behind the rest of the team every week.

Well, this is me admitting it: Mara was right.

But I'm going to make sure she isn't next week.

{as i #amwriting} Bootcamp Update #2

 
Last week it was Tuesday, this week it's Wednesday...

What can I say, guys. Genius just can't be rushed.

(Or maybe I just wasn't sure if I'd have enough interesting things to pad this with.)

Moving on...

{as i #amwriting} Bootcamp Update #1

So apparently accountability is a bit too heavy of a magic word for me, in some circumstances. Yesterday, I was so desperate to be able to post some concrete updates that I missed posting on Monday entirely!

So, this post is late. I have no good excuses for that, except my own neurotic tendencies.

In any case, though, updates are updates, and I have quite a few!

{as i #amwriting} YA Buccaneers Spring Writing Bootcamp

From one writing challenge to another, it seems!

I am grateful to keep catching news of these awesome events. Yesterday, my friend Dahlia posted about the YA Buccaneers Spring Writing Bootcamp she was planning to join in. I checked it out and decided, "Hey, why not?"

I didn't finish Writer Recharge at my personal writing best, but hey, I didn't crash and burn, either. And if you know me, you know that there is one thing I need when I'm writing:

A - C - C - O - U - N - T - A - B - I - L - I - T - Y.

(Yes, I probably didn't need to spell it out. But when have you expected me not to add a little pizazz to a otherwise boring PSA?)

Like Dahlia did - since this challenge spans three months instead of just one, I'm going to try and put down an approximation of what goals I'd like to knock out per month.

Inspirational GIF at the ready...

{as i #amwriting} Writer Recharge Update [3]

Want to know what Writer Recharge is about? Click here to look back at my initial post. 

Wow...are we really on our last week of updates? February, I think you are too short for your own good.


And too busy.


And too snowy.


And it wasn't even a leap year to toss us for a loop.


But, I shouldn't complain. I still like 2014 a lot more than 2013.


So, my final updates for this challenge...


I was not able to write every day last week. Homework...is homework. I made so many excuses about this last week, but the truth is that being a college student isn't often good for the word count. Technically, I did write here and there - snippets of dialogue and setting notes in the good ol' story notebook - so I guess I shouldn't count myself completely out of things. Still, I managed to get enough out of the way that this week looks very promising - so I'm chugging on!


I have not finished this draft, and that's okay. I'm nearly there, which to me, is all that matters. In addition, my lovely critique partner Amparo (also known as PURE UNADULTERATED AWESOME) sent me an e-mail of encouragement, pointing out that there is a reason why I don't want to part from this protagonist, and reasons why I feel like this draft is not ready to be over.


I'm taking it one day at a time and letting the story weave its way to the ending as peacefully as possible for the both of us. I've found in the past that trying to force an abrupt end leads to unhappiness (mine) and stubborn unmoving wordless blankness (the document).


We still have a few days left in February, and I'm planning to reward myself tomorrow by putting writing first, and homework later.


I am still working out this new WIP. This story has many tangled roads and different voices all clamoring in my head to be heard - but the protagonist herself is very tight-lipped about most things. Still, I am fortunate to have a lot of support behind me, and I'm determined to get through this!

How was your week of writing? Any updates to share?

{as i #amwriting} Writer Recharge Update [2]

Want to know what Writer Recharge is about? Click here to look back at my initial post. 

Update #2, here we are! It feels like I've hardly had a chance to properly breathe over the weekend, with outside classes, homework obligations and just a muddled mind trying to figure out where to even start on my growing to-do list.


Well, let's see how I scored this time.


I did not get to write every day, but I tried my best to. I cannot get to sleep if I feel that I didn't write anything at all, so even if it was a few plot notes in my notebook, I got that down and out of the way.


Fortunately, this week is already off to a more promising start - my WIP draft is actually open today! Ironic that it's a Monday and I feel productive and energized.


I did not finish that draft yet. Please don't look at me. Endings are awful for me, particularly when I really like the voice I'm writing and, possibly in my subconscious, don't want to part from it. But, then again, there's always editing to look forward to, right?


I started the new WIP - that is not so new - on the 12th, as planned. This WIP is an adventure on its own. Remember how I mentioned crossing swords with it the last time around? So far, it's still in a fighting mood and has gotten a few scrapes in - but don't worry, they are only flesh wounds. I'm doing my best to keep an open mind and ignore the mistakes in the previous draft.


On Twitter earlier, Blair Thornburgh mentioned a recent approach to fresh drafting she learned: delete your old draft and start again, and you'll be sure to remember only what's important. It sounds scary, but also effective. Maybe I should try that.

How was your week of writing? Any updates to share?

{as i #amwriting} Writer Recharge Update [1]

Want to know what Writer Recharge is about? Click here to look back at my initial post.

So, we've come to our first update day in the Writer Recharge challenge! I was hoping to steam right into this date like the Little Engine That Could. Well, I have chugged up to the pit stop, but not with streamers and garlands tossed around my neck.

But, it isn't over until it's over, and the 28th is still some ways away.

I have definitely written every day. Since I'm a college student and have other obligations, sometimes - well, most times - it's around the 100-500 mark. The past few days have been particularly dismal in their word count, but as long as I've opened my draft at some point in the day and tossed something in, I don't feel like a complete failure.

I also started up a new notebook for my upcoming WIP, and write a few notes down about it every night - whatever comes to mind and might seem useful later on while I'm elbow-deep in the draft!

I...have still not finished this draft. I am super unhappy about this, particularly as I've passed by my second deadline on this monster. However, like I said before, February isn't over yet, so I'm keeping myself cheerful and just working toward that finish line. I think my protagonist is as fatigued as I am.

But, taking a page from Sara's example, I'm going to indulge everyone with a tiny snippet of what I managed to get in there this week:

If there’s something you should know about the quilting bees, it is that it is very exclusive. You are part of the quilting bee? You are the very inside circle of the gossip mill. Everyone else gets the quilting bee’s leftovers, unless they can help it.
 

Everyone else looks at whatever house a meeting’s being held in, and salivates in the hopes of getting a royal, gold-inked invitation to talk about others – and not be talked about themselves.

And, save for a few sycophantic daughters I doubt were missed, it seemed like the usual round was all present and accounted for.

I am still planning to start my WIP on the 12th. That is Wednesday, I believe. The notebook, near-complete playlist and bursting-at-the-seams Pinterest is really helping to keep my spirits up and make everything feel very fresh and official. This idea and I have crossed swords before, but I'm hoping we are preparing to meet on better terms, and all this good mojo around it this time is assuring me that we will!

How was your week of writing? Any updates to share?

{as i #amwriting} Writer Recharge Challenge

I was fortunate to be on Twitter yesterday in time to catch a tweet from Katy Upperman, in which she described a group challenge for writers that she and a friend would be hosting through February. Pretty much, Writer Recharge is an amazing, month-long motivational event, featuring set goals, accountability and social connections.

That's nothing I can complain about. Often, I feel that writing is a very lonely and solitary business. At heart, that is what it should be - you are bringing the words to the page, and no one else - but it's nice to have company while you do it, right?

That being said, here are my goals for this February:

* Write every day. I want to make 1K my daily minimum. Even if I'm away from the computer, I'll cart a notebook with me and get a head start on those words.

* Finish the current first draft I'm still carting behind me from 2013. I have ten chapters left, as I write this post.

* Start my next WIP by February 12. (I chose that date because it sounds like a pleasant one, for February, at least.)

I'll be posting every Monday, along with the rest of the Rechargers (is that a thing?), up until the 28th. If you're part of the challenge, or just want to hear what I'm up to, I love it when people check up on my writing and keep me accountable.

What are your writing goals this February? Care to share?

Writing Through Wednesday [1]

This is a personal meme I've created based off Sarah at Confessions of the Un-Published (thanks goes to Writer Quirk for pointing me in the right direction). I'd been looking for a way to implement my writing into my blog, so here's hoping this is the way to do it!

Where I am in the writing process:

I think that's pretty obvious. In a rut. I'm pretty much on the last lap of The Novel (90% done = about five more chapters to go). Now that summer's here and the sun is shining pretty much all the time, I tend to put aside the draft for more interesting things *coughcough* library books *coughcough*. I definitely need to change that, because I'm hoping to be done and working on the next idea for Camp NaNoWriMo next month.

My current problem: 

It's a matter of knowing where I need to go, but not having the motivation to go for it. Wait - maybe that's the wrong wording. It's more like knowing where I need to go, having the motivation (a publishing contract) and just getting frustrated with myself for not being able to work things out and get it on paper faster.

Sarah's question. How do you make time? 

Right now, I don't, and that's part of the problem. I need to just sit myself down and start typing away. The problem with that is that it's summer and there are weddings to attend and extra-curricular activities for the brother to tag along to. I've been planning to make two specific days of the week my "no excuses, just write" days - probably Wednesday and maybe Saturday night.

Shalena's question. Any secret/weird spots that you write in?

Not at the moment. My sister and I are working on making a little getaway in the backyard though.

My question for any followers interested to answer:

If you've finished your novel already, how do you feel? Liberated? Despondent? Is writing the next draft easier for you?

If you haven't finished yet, what are you doing to keep yourself going?

A Happy Medium.

So recently I've been going through some uncertainty about what I should be reading - as in the constant advice more experienced authors give younger, fresh, hatchling writers (such as moi), which you might have heard yourself before: "READ A LOT."

But my question has always been, okay, you want me to read, but READ WHAT?

Ms. Wood suggested that I stay with the classics, such as Jane Eyre or works from Jane Austen, to achieve that moral-boosted, happy-ending sort of writing that I've always enjoyed. Anna Godberson pretty much said the same thing, suggesting that I stay away from current YA chart busters - coughcoughVAMPIREScoughcough - so I don't get inflicted, er, adversely inspired by them.

But, I think I have finally found which section of the library is safe for me to graze in without catching the unpleasant aura of Stephenie Meyer and those of her creed.

The Childrens' room.


Now, before you start laughing, hear me out. First off, the YA Room - at least in our library - really creeps me out. There's no more happiness in here, if you get what I mean. It's always blood-soaked fangs or some dead-eyed girl staring out at you from the shelves, and it just really gives me the heebie-jeebies to spend more than five minutes in there nowadays. Of course there are some goodies that I browse there for, and the fact that the manga section just got relocated there makes it pretty much unavoidable.

But the Children's section...that's where all the hidden gold is.

An example (and yes, there's nothing better than combining a random post with a promised review, is there?)

THEODOSIA AND THE SERPENT OF CHAOS by R.L. LaFevers  (as seen below)

I always have a weakness for a strong heroine, even if she is rather young, still is attached to her pet kitty and despises her pest of a younger brother. R.L. LaFevers delivers in a delightful, vintage tone that doesn't sound forced and feels authentically English (which, coming from a Californian, really shows that she did her research).

Theodosia's father might be the head curator of the museum, but it is young Theo who is able to sense - and neutralize - the ancient evils that still cling to the statues her adventurous American mother brings back from Egypt. Her little routine is abruptly thrown, though, with her mother's latest treasure: the Heart of Egypt, bearing a strong curse that can bring about the end of civilization.

And who do you think is going to have to save the world as we know it?

Not everything I find in the Kids' Room is as well-written or entertaining for a larger audience. There are the mundane, the childish, the unnaturally attached to fashion and a bit obsessed with pink. It's all about focusing on what you like - and what reminds me of those idyllic days a few years or so back in elementary school when I curled up in the yard with a good book and lost myself in times long past - and ultimately, the type of writing styles and subjects that I myself enjoy writing.

Someone Needs a Shove Off Her Chair, or, Why I Am Not Working on My Novel Like I Should

This is an exercise I've heard lauded by many famous wielders of the pen - most recently Libba Bray, who wrote a long rambling post on her LiveJournal about exactly why she had writers' block and was avoiding her computer like the plague.

So *deep breath* here goes.

Why I haven't written for the past few days, or, if I have, not much more than a little spoonful of words into the pot here and there. First of all, I, the commitment-snatching masochist that I am, signed up for the LJ Icon Challenge Disney 100 - to make 100 icons off Disney's concept art, which is my new addiction to search for/gawk at for hours on end. I mean, who knew that they were going to make Aladdin a little kid at first, or that Eugene Flynn Rider was this big friendly giant named Bastian?

And this one is priceless:

 

...Yes, that's the Beast.

Doing an Irish jig.

It seems like I'm too easily distracted these days, and in the last third or so of the draft too. I've started voraciously reading again - a hobby I thought had disappointingly slipped away from me at the advent of high school - and right now am working steadily through First Test by Tamora Pierce, as well as that oh-so addictive manga series Fruits Basket.

What?

There's just something about a smart-mouthed cat boy that makes my sides ache.

I need to write. I know I do. Maybe I'm getting tired of the dystopian genre - which has never been one of my favorites - and steampunk is calling to me, and it's beautiful outside and I want to go out and take a few rides on the swing in the fresh air, and there never seems to be enough time to get what I want out (even though it seems like I have endless time to browse through Tumblr).

And we don't have any tea left in the pantry.

I can't focus without my tea.

Maybe my problem is less of a writer's block and more of being hopelessly spoiled.

When Education Actually Is Fun: Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose

Okay, so I must admit that sometimes, it's hard for me to enjoy my favorite subject (coughliteraturecough) when faced with the dull possibilities of a textbook. I usually skim the passages, re-read when I realize my attention's been lagging, get up to find a snack - the usual procrastination techniques perfected by students everywhere.

However, I do make an exception - or at least try to - when it comes to writing books, and since this particular title was highly recommended by a respected author in the business (Maryrose Wood), it wasn't actually that hard to make myself get past the first few pages.

The thing is, Ms. Prose doesn't make it hard, or dull, or preachy. You can tell from just reading her book that she loves reading, writing and everything relating to it - even stuff that another writer would feel trivial, such as sentences or the length of a paragraph.

Not only that, I could really see the difference for myself right away. In case no one looks at the little GoodReads box on the side, I just started Persuasion by Jane Austen (one of my great writing heroes), and I could understand her intricate layers of characterization - using just one or two paragraphs of description - just from reading that chapter of Ms. Prose's book in which she points it out.


So yes. Really good stuff here, and definitely helping with some of the questions that were bothering me.