Picnic Magic

We all know what happened when Alice fell asleep on the river bank following a picnic with her sister.  There's something magically about the entire idea of a picnic be it on a riverbank, a favorite spot in the woods, in the park, or on the beach. You're packing up and 'escaping the normal.'  All the items purchased and placed in the picnic basket are meant for this adventure. Gone are the rules of sitting at the table, of using china, and silverware – it's time to step outside the box.

Writing is like going on a picnic. You start with a basket – there is an endless variety to style but the purpose is the same – to hold your picnic items.

A plotter's picnic basket...

 What type of basket are you?

Tradition outliner....

A blender of methods...

A panters....

What type of pinic is this going to be? A gathering fo friends and family? Some downtime? What type of story will it be? Will it be a mystery if so will it be blood or cozy? Or will it be a romance?  A science fiction or fantasy? Etc. Whatever the type it's meant to give life to the contents inside.

Once you have decided on the type of story you want to write, you have to decide who your characters will be. Characters are the food for your basket. No two people pack the same items like no two writers create the same characters.  

When you look into your empty basket, your mind races with ideas of what to place in there. It disregards possibilities as quickly as they form until finally you've decided on what you want to take. Will it be a simple sandwich and chips picnic or a chicken and pasta outing?

The spot you've selected for your picnic is as important as what goes into the basket. The same is true with your story's setting.  Once you arrived at your selected picnic destination a special feeling fills you.

Only your imagination will limit the possibilities of a picnic and the same is true for your story. So this summer pack up a basket/bag/cooler and head out for a couple of hours. Take a notebook/Ipad/laptop and create. Let the magic of the picnic seep into your story….

Tasarla

Here is a recipe for a peanut butter cookie I always make regardless for the type of picnic...

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter or margarine, 1/2 cup peanut butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add egg and beat well.
2. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir. Add oatmeal and stir.
3. Drop by teaspoons onto greased baking sheet, and press each mound down with a fork to form 1/4 inch thick cookies. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or until cookies are a light brown.
4. To Make Filling: Cream 3 tablespoons butter or margarine with the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, and the cream. Spread filling onto half of the cooled cookies, then top with the other half to form sandwiches.

Catching Up

Well, it's been a little while since I posted. Life gets in the way a lot these days. However, I have been able to get some work done!

The first three books of the Hell House series are back up at Amazon - YAY! The whole entering the self-publishing world has been nerve-wracking and exhilarating at the same time. But I wanted my books back out there so that readers could continue to enjoy them. Now I need to get hard at work on the next one! (tentatively titled A Little Bit Zombie, BTW)

I've also been busy with my adult writing, getting a contract for a release this summer. Edits have me pretty wrapped up, along with the day job. Never enough hours in the day!

Managing to squeeze some reading time in there as well. I've read the first two books of Amanda Hocking's Trylle series, and just finished The Hunger Games. Probably will plan a blog about those guys in the near future.

So, what has everyone else been up to?

Swift Inspiration

You’ll often hear about music inspiring the writer. Stephanie Meyers wrote Twilight with the help of a steady stream of musical tracks that accompanied not only her books, but the movies too.

My teen daughter is the same way, musically shuffling her way through mountains of daily homework with the help of her ipod. I tried it myself, but found I’m just not hard-wired that way. My music is silence, and through it I hear my muse best. All else is simply a distraction for me. But I do so admire those artists who can absorb every note and give back to the world something equally artistic in return.

Taylor Swift, a gifted young singer who writes her own music, recently accomplished the reverse. She was asked to write a song for the upcoming movie, Hunger Games, so she voraciously read the novel in only a few short days. Swift grew inspired by Collins’ words, much in the same way that Meyers’ literary efforts were inspired through song, and the result has produced a new single of exquisite ethereal quality never achieved by Swift before. Safe & Sound sounds nothing like Swift’s previous tunes, and that’s what I love best about it. She nails the paranormal vibe like she was born in a graveyard and her video mirrors her song perfectly too.

In a recent interview Swift said she sat on the gravesite of a couple who lived and died in 1853 and began thinking, “What were their lives like?”

I’m not Swift’s mom, and yet I feel proud of the way her career is evolving. To give yourself over to the muse and bravely create something out of your comfort zone is an act of courage to be admired. Kudos to Swift on her eerie new song. Hope the movie will live up to its soundtrack.

Skiing Is Like Writing

I'm actually off on a ski weekend with the extended family right now, but thinking about the trip the other night got me pondering all the ways that skiing is like writing.

Yeah, it kind of looks like that.

Anyone can get to the top of the hill, strap on some skis, point them down the slope and go. No lessons, no skills. They just barrel down, screaming their heads off until they fall, collide with someone else and fall, or (miracle of miracles) reach the bottom... and fall. See? Without knowing how to stop, falling tends to be how it happens. That doesn't make them "skiers," it makes them fools who fall down. It's sort of how anyone can sit down at their laptop and "write." Now, I won't argue that they aren't "writers" in that if they make it to the end (the bottom), they might fall down, but they still made it. But it doesn't make them "authors" (aka for the point of this post--"published writers").

You see, an author has gone through the lessons (learning craft). They've fallen down over and over again (written a lot, and even failed a lot). But they don't quit getting better. Mastered the green slopes? Awesome, move on to blue. Feeling good there? Let's try some blacks, maybe with moguls. Authors are the ones that strive to reach the double blacks. And sometimes, when things are good, they'll be able to hop on those slopes and hit ever curve and jump and land every trick.

There's no feeling like it.

But sometimes they'll still fall.

There will be some literary patch of ice or a broken binding on a boot or... something that gets in the way of that perfect run. The thing they don't tell you about those harder hills is when you fall there, the wipeout tends to be more extreme than anything but those crazy point-your-skis-down-the-slope-and-go falls.

I had a little tumble recently. One that knocked my skis off. For a little while, I sat there on the writerly slope, looking at my skis and the hill and wondering if it was worth trudging back up in the uncomfortable boots to get my skis and finish the run. After all, that rock that made me fall wasn't going anywhere. There's nothing quite like freezing your butt off while sitting in the snow and trying to convince your brain that you should move.

But if you want this gig, if you want to be an author, you have to finish the run. And then you have to get on the chair lift and do another one--if only to prove to yourself that you can. It's not about how spectacularly you fall. It's about how stoically you get back up again.

Smart man that Bon Jovi guy ;-)

So, while I'm on the slopes, I'll be planning for my next literary run, and damn it, this one's going to be clean and beautiful. And that little tumble? It won't be forgotten, but it won't matter anymore.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

To Finish is To Win

I used to do a lot of endurance racing with my horse Sabaska. For those who don’t know, endurance races are really long trail rides in short periods of time. For example 50 miles in twelve hours. They are organized by the American Endurance Ride Conference or AERC. The motto of endurance racing is To Finish is to Win. Essentially, as long as you come in under the time limit with a healthy horse you’ve won. (Note they don’t worry about the condition of the rider too much. LOL).

Training for endurance takes hours and hours and more hours in the saddle. They say you should ride the number of miles in a week that you intend to ride in a competition. For example if you are training for 50 mile rides, you ride fifty miles in a week. If you’re training for 100 mile rides, you ride 100 miles in a week. Some of this will be on flat land, some steep, some will be at a walk, some at faster gates. Sometimes you’ll get off and run with your horse or walk behind them as they go down very steep terrain.

There is a lot to learn when you start out racing. You have to learn how to safely condition your horse, how to shoe your horse, what kind of tack to use, the different tricks and practices that help you and your horse make it through long distances in short periods of time safely. You study books, you talk to more experienced riders and you get your butt into the saddle and you ride. Your horse has to learn a lot too. She has to learn to drink whenever water is offered, eat often (this one isn’t hard) and to expect long hours of trotting with very brief rest periods. She also has to learn that just because you’re back at the trailer resting, it doesn’t mean you are done for the day.

It is a hell of a lot of fun.

Writing is a lot like endurance racing. Can you see how?

Training to write takes hours and hours in a chair, staring at a computer. You have to write, read books, do research and practice, practice practice. Your subconscious also has a lot to learn. It has to learn that just because you’re done for the night, doesn’t mean the story is over. It has to learn to concentrate for the entire story and help you get the novel out. The writer has to learn those skills too.

It’s also a hell of a lot of fun.

Both take discipline. You can’t finish a fifty mile ride without practicing and you can’t finish a novel without a lot of work.

The great thing about endurance? You get a lot of time to think about novel ideas.

And the most important similarity. If you finish a story you win. :)

Taming The Muse

Jumping into this writing thing was a bit overwhelming to me a few years ago. I'd somehow managed to get my first complete manuscript published, and had a huge learning curve to overcome. Edits were brutal and had me in tears. (I've gotten MUCH better at that) Promo was a mystery to me. And after all the chaos was over and I had a book out, relief was short lived, because everyone wanted to know "what's next?"

Focus has always been an issue for me. I get distracted easily and my brain wanders. Part of that is just that there's so much I want to do, I can't settle on one thing. That has probably been the hardest thing for me to deal with in my writing life. There are deadlines, and contracts, and you have to keep writing so that you don't get lost in the shuffle.

But my Muse, well, she's temperamental. She doesn't always want to write what needs to be written. And new ideas get in the way of finishing old ones. I have learned that I sometimes have to appease her by switching projects frequently in order to keep the words flowing. Even so, it can be difficult to focus when there's always a new idea on the back burner.

And she likes to give me great ideas when I'm trying to sleep. Don't know what that's about, but I now keep a notebook to jot things down so I don't forget them later. I suppose I should be grateful the ideas keep coming, but some sleep would sure be nice!

So my Muse and I have learned to strike a shaky truce. Mostly. As long as I promise to be grateful for the ideas (even at 3am) she gives me and never let her get bored, she seems happy to help me keep on this writing path. But I have learned that you never really know what's around the next turn, even with the best plans. But that's ok. It's part of what keeps her interested and me on my toes. (and perpetually sleep deprived)

Stay inspired and Happy Writing!

New Beginning for a New Year

Well, Christmas has finally come and gone. The presents were opened, the feasts enjoyed. And now a the world prepares to usher out one year and welcome in a brand spankin' new one.

With this comes the idea of new beginnings. Folks resolve to make changes and start new projects to celebrate the start of a new year. Typically I don't make New Year's Resolutions at all, but this year I've been forced to consider a drastic new path for my YA writing career.

You see, Sapphire Blue Publishing, the publisher of my YA Hell House series, decided rather suddenly to close its doors December 1st. The news came as a shock to all of the authors, especially those of us who'd been with the company since it began in 2008 (like me). The company wasn't in any kind of peril, but there were just things outside of the scope of control of the authors that led to the closure.

I, myself, was devastated. I felt like the proverbial rug had been yanked out from under me. However, the publisher was speedy in returning the writes to us authors for our works, and even threw in the rights to the wonderful cover art as a way to sort of take the sting out of what was happening.

Which left me with a predicament. Do I begin the entire query process again, or should I take the leap into the world of self-publishing? I mean, I had completely edited stories and cover art at my fingertips, so why not?

That being said, I took the plunge and decided I was going to take control of the situation, and put my beloved stories back out there myself. After a crash course in formatting and cover art editing, the first book in the Hell House series, Holiday Hell House, is back up on Amazon and All Romance eBooks. It's definitely more work, and in no way means I'm through with querying publishers, but I am proud to have taken charge of my path and excited to see what new things lie ahead in this new year. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the next two books back up and available soon, and move on with writing even more stories starring this great cast of characters.

Until then, you can purchase Holiday Hell House with a sneak new preview of Fairy Fury at Amazon and All Romance eBooks published by...ME!

And it's only 99 cents!



Have a fabulous New Year!

How to Know You're Meant to Be An Author

One way to know you were meant to be an author is you go crazy like Daffy Duck  when you can't write on a story.  Ever watch the old Looney Tunes cartoons?  It's great having children, because now I have an excuse to keep watching them!  I love those shows.  In my normal state of being, I like to think of myself as the suave Bugs Bunny  totally on top of things and always whooping the bullies.  Take away my stories though and I go nuts!

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I remember going on a romantic stroll with my husband once.  A story popped into my head and I had to jot it down.  So, I whipped the tiny notebook out of my purse and discovered, to my horror, that my pen was missing!  I just about lost my mind!  My poor husband didn't have one.  I was like a junkie or something.  "We gotta stop in there and ask if I can borrow a pen now!  Now!"  We couldn't snag a pen anywhere and it was a half hour before we could get home and find one there.  What a nightmare.
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Actually, it's pathetic, I guess.
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But, that's one way to know.
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What other ways are there?

I'm Just Along For The Ride

Happy Fourth Wednesday, Peeps!

Fall is here, and that change in season always leads me down a pensive path. I find myself lurking inside my head a lot, sorting things out. Mental fall cleanup, so to speak. And while considering blog topics, I realized something very specific.

Though I tend to be mostly a plotter when it comes to writing, for my YA series, the characters are totally in the driver's seat this time. It was a bit unnerving at first to have these fictional people vie for my attention, demanding their stories be told. I mean, I'M the author, I'M supposed to be in charge.

But as I've come to realize, that's just a bunch of hooey.

Somehow, these characters have come alive to me like no other ones I've written. I'm not sure if it's because I get to tap into all that teenage angst of my childhood, or if I'm just having fun creating them and their world. But as I write my Hell House stories, I find that I honestly don't always know where the story is going to take me.

As a plotter, this really freaked me out.

A bit of a control junkie, I even tried to force the flow of the words, to carve out a storyline that I thought would work. But each time, Sora Starwind or one of the other Hell House residents would pipe up and take me on a detour, which led to another detour, so on and so forth, until the words on the page resembled nothing at all what I originally had in my head.

After a few deep breaths and much internal dialog, I came to the conclusion that I was, in fact, not going crazy, but that I had stumbled into the world of the pantser, and that even though it was scary and unexpected, there was something freeing in giving up control to the characters and the story.

So I sat back, flexed my fingers, and braced myself for the ride. I still like to plot, mind you, but with Hell House, I've decided that I'm just going to let these guys take me where they want to. The life of a teenager is one big roller-coaster of emotion, new experiences, and tough choices. They never know what might happen next, so why should I? It only seems fair that I go on the same journey with them.

I'm just along for the ride. And hopefully, you will be too.