Productive Day

I wrote today, but not on Falling Short.

Not on a short story, either.

No, of all things, I was besieged by the voice of Rebecca, the character in the murder mystery I got all tangled up in a year and a half ago. The one, you may have heard me mention, that was going to take an act of God to untangle the plot lines. I was writing The Art of Deception when I got frustrated and switched gears last October and started writing Falling Short. Rebecca had a lot to say. Apparently, she wanted me to add to chapter one. So I did.

Now I am working on two novels at the same time.

If I seem a bit off, it's only because my brain is trying to listen to too many characters at once.

Personality Memes

I saw this on CJ's blog and had to give it a try. Thanks, CJ!

The Recipe For Jane

3 parts Superiority2 parts Vitality1 part Mania Splash of Happiness Finish off with an olive

What's" the Recipe for Your Personality?

Me? Superiority? Vitality, Mania and Happiness, yes. Hmm. I'll have to work on that Superiority thing.

December

Wow, December flew by in a flash! I've been neglecting my blog. Shame on me.

I received my copy of the anthology yesterday and I sat down and read every story. I needed a day of R&R so it arrived at precisely the right time. It felt wonderful to be holding a book in my hands that contained one of MY stories. I read Devil's Breath again, but it didn't feel like reading a story because I'm (obviously) too close to it. It's still too fresh in my writer's mind for me to have any perspective.

On Thursday, I received a very nice rejection letter from Story Quarterly. It's time to put "Not Your Average Joe" aside for a while - let Joe sit until I can look at him objectively and figure out why he didn't win anything more than finalist status in the Lunch Hour Stories contest.

This December, I enjoyed time with family and friends. I didn't hover over my keyboard. My ISP helped: we've had intermittent connectivity problems for months and in December we rarely had any internet access. But stepping away from my story was good for my family, for me, and for my characters. Guess what they did while I was making merry? They GREW! Isn't that amazing? I'm so proud of them. Now they're ready to pounce back onto the page.

Holiday tidings

I'm a bit late with this but the holidays aren't over yet, right? If you want to participate, copy the questions and delete my answers. It's fun!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Usually wrapping paper.
2. Real or Artificial tree? Artificial (stupid allergies)
3. When do you put up the tree? After my husband brings it in the house.
4. When do you take the tree down? I try to resist taking it down the day after Christmas.
5. Do you like eggnog? Love my eggnog lattes!
6. Favorite gift you received as a child? A doll that was almost as tall as I was. I don't remember her name.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, it's crystal and beautiful, but it's in storage this year.
8. Hardest person to buy for? My husband.
9. Easiest person to buy for? My kids
10. What was the worst Christmas gift ever received? A stuffed reindeer that sang "Grandma Got Runover By a Reindeer"
11. Christmas Cards? Love them. Used to do them every year. Now I send a New Year's letter.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? White Christmas.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? It depends on the year. Once, when I was young and full of energy and enthusiasm, I started on Dec 26th. Most years, we choose a Christmas project by Thanksgiving and start making our gifts.
14. Have you ever 'recycled' a Christmas present? See #10 above. Dunno who has it now, but I imagine it will find its way back to me.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My husband's breakfast quiche. Yum!
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored.
17. Favorite Christmas Song? Oh Holy Night. Martina McBride's version makes me cry.
18. Travel at Christmas or Stay Home? Home.
19. Can you name Santa's Reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixin, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.
20. Do you have an Angel or a Star on top of your tree? A star that my husband made.
21. Open the Presents Christmas Eve or Morning? In the morning, after Santa's been here.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? I live near a major shopping mall. Getting out to do my errands is stressful between November and January.
23. Shopping...Mall or online? I detest shopping malls and the mass consumerism they represent.
24. Do you decorate outside for Christmas or just inside (or at all?) This year, we barely even got the tree up because all of our stuff is in storage due to the addition we're constructing. But usually we decorate inside and out.
25. Favorite Christmas cookie? Boy, it's tough to choose one. Gingerbread cookies? No; chocolate crinkles? Sorry. Too many choices.
26. Do you own Christmassy clothing or jewelry? Yes, both, but couldn't get to them this year (see answer to #24).
27. Do you believe in Santa? Duh.

Preorder Heat of the Moment

I know you've all been waiting for the release of the anthology that contains my short story, Devil's Breath. THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT is now available for preorder on Amazon.com. Order your copy today and help support the San Diego County Fire Safety Council and the families who lost so much in the recent wildfires.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590805968?tag=myspace08-20&link_code=xm2&camp=2025&dev-t=D2WQY839001DMT

"Devil's Breath" in PRINT!

My short story "Devil's Breath" will be featured in an anthology titled THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT. The anthology will be available in print! I will post as soon as it's available on Amazon.com.

Your purchase of the anthology will directly benefit the victims of the San Diego wildfires.

With one e-mail sent by publisher Karen Syed to 21 authors, "The Heat of the Moment" was developed. Each of the authors involved in this remarkable collection of short stories, the youngest being sixteen years old, has made a pledge. Contributors, authors, editors, and artist; all have committed their royalties to benefit the survivors of the San Diego fires of 2007.

"The Heat of the Moment" is a compilation of twenty short stories with one common theme—fire. From fantasies to tributes remembering historical catastrophes, chilling and moving, the stories will tap human emotions with their overwhelming credit to survival.

The Fire Safe Council of San Diego County (FSCSDC) was formed in 1997 and is comprised of a 15-member Board of Directors (voting members). The Board consists of federal, state, and local agencies and stakeholders as determined by the FSCSDC. The FSCSDC is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, is incorporated under the California Franchise Tax Board. The FSCSDC is a member of the California Fire Safe Council, a non-profit corporation, and is authorized to use the name "Fire Safe Council" and the FSC logo. All FSCSDC Council members have common goals of fire safety education and pre-fire management, attend meetings, and participate in SDCFSC programs and activities.

Echelon Press, LLC, is an independent publishing house based in Laurel, MD. With ninety authors in their three divisions, Echelon Press has spent nearly seven years cultivating a stable of authors ranging from beginners to national award winners. Echelon authors are located across America as well as in New Zealand, Australia, Israel, and Canada.

Look for my story, titled "Devil's Breath". It is the story of a struggling blended family that finds a connection in the grasp of raging chaos.

More info:
http://www.myspace.com/heatofthemoment2007
www.echelonpress.com/heat.htm

The Last Day

I started this month with grand ambitions. I didn't meet my goal. At this stage, I could offer up excuses to myself but I won't because of the most important thing I did this month was make progress. I completed 10 chapters of my novel that need very little editing.

This has been a very full month:

• The first week of the month I submitted a short story to an anthology.
• Last week I submitted a short story to a contest.
• I spent a week with my mom.
• We got our long-awaited building permit for the addition to our home (yes, we put the cart before the horse)
• and somewhere in there was all that family stuff, like homeschooling lessons, attending classes, Thanksgiving, etc.

My son turns 13 tomorrow. Wow. Allow me to just stop and think about that for a minute....

Yeah, I can't get my mind around that concept, so, moving on...

I'm disappointed that I didn't get to "win" NaNo and cross that 50K finish line, especially having started off with so many words. But I'm also happy that I don't have another 50K+ word story that needs serious editing. NaNo is fun. It's a rush. But I already know I can produce enough words that, fully assembled, resembles a novel. The question is, can I write a novel-length story that will sell? I think I can, and I'm working hard to make Falling Short the best it can be.

Mexico Slideshow

Long story, but I'll make it short. I made a beautiful slide show in Windows Movie Maker. It wouldn't work on Blogger. But Blogger of course has their own slideshow program, which I used to create the one below.

A note on the photos:
All of these were taken at Haciena Las Moras, about a 30 minute drive inland from Avenida Del Mar in Mazatlan - or Cameron Sabalo - both are roads that run parallel to the beach and most touristas know where they are so I use them for reference. Hacienda Las Moras is an old ranch in the hills, now used solely as a restaurant and hotel. It's far from the beautiful waves but worth the drive.

A few tips to help you navigate the video:

• If you would like to turn off the music, simply click on the little volume button.
• If you would like to see the pictures without the fade in, click on "View all pictures".
• If you would like to see Andrea Bocelli's music video (in Barcelona, I believe), you'll see a link right next to the little photo in the bottom left corner of my slideshow.
• If you'd like to buy me tickets, I will gladly go back and take more pictures.

Mexico

What? It's almost over?

It was so cold today. Boy was I wishing to be back in Mexico! The hubby and kids and I launched rockets today. Great day for launching except for the fact that it was 35 degrees. It was so cold my extremities were numb for an hour after we got in the nice warm car.

I'm finally hitting stride again on the writing and November is winding to a close.

You know, I was just thinking...

As we've labored over the addition to our home, we've watched a professional developer erect houses in the lot behind us quickly and (for the most part) with great efficiency. Every step of the way, those construction crews have run circles around us and made us feel like our progress was slow. But we have done it ourselves (and with the help of a truly wonderful neighbor). We know that each step of the way, we've built a good, solid house and we've learned a lot.

I think my progress on Falling Short v4 is like that - good, solid characters and plot - and during this past year of working on the story, I've learned a lot, too.

Despite the tendonitis, it feels good to be buried in my story again.

I'll post the slideshow tomorrow. I hope. I still don't know how to get it from my files to the blog...

Word count: 17,351 (I promise I'll try to turn off my inner editor tomorrow)
Conference fund: $189

Hola

A special note to Mom and her friends:



Thank you for making my week in Mazatlan so enjoyable!

Back home

After a week in Mexico, reality hit before the wheels of the jet touched down at SeaTac. My word count is depressingly low. In order to hit my initial goal of 80,000 words by November 30th, I need to write 6,400 words per day from here on out. (Insert hysterical laughter.)

I think it's time to redefine my goals.

I started the day wondering why I even thought I should write this novel in the first place. I ended it by recalling the fact that I am a writer and I love these characters.

So what if I didn't get any writing done in Mexico? So what if I'm behind on my NaNo word count? Tomorrow I'm going to dive right back in.

Tonight, my nine year old daughter is teaching me how to make a slideshow of my Mexico pics to post on my blog.

Middles

Conference Fund: $165

House: a total disaster. I struggled to keep up with homeschooling, errands, music lessons, writing...so the house suffers. My loving husband picked up dinner, bless his heart.

NaNo Word Count: 15,811

Not spectacular progress, but I worked on a short story submission today as well. It seemed to take me all day to write a dedication and a bio, and make a few small (we're talking one word here and there) changes to the short story. The story has been submitted. I'm done. Woohoo!

The slow progress on NaNo isn't bothering me too much. I like the structure of what I have so far, which cannot be said for previous years and the blustering cacophony of words that poured forth. I've been keeping a chapter outline as I write - about a paragraph describing each chapter. I think the next order of business will be reviewing that outline and deciding what needs to be set up next or if I've missed setting something up. It's important for me to weave in all the threads of the story within the first 20,000 words or so. That way I won't run into any of those, "oops, shoulda mentioned that sooner" kind of surprises in the busy, bulky middle.

I love and hate writing the middle chapters, so I approach this 4th rewrite with a small amount of trepidation. The middle is the best part of a novel (who doesn't love being in the middle of a thoroughly engrossing read?) and it can be so much fun to write, but it's also tricky and sometimes exasperating. In my first completed novel, Among Friends, the middle was confusing and muddled. In my second, not-completed novel, The Art of Deception, I seem to have lost a few threads along the way. I never got to the end because I simply got lost in the plot.

So this middle, which I have written three times so far, should be a piece of cake, right? What I noticed from my last version is that it's too easy for me, as a writer, to interfere and manipulate when I know what's coming next, but as a reader, I hate it when I notice the author manipulating the characters. It kills the momentum of the story. This time, I have to find balance: rising conflict, continuing story goal, and a reason for the reader to actually care what's going to happen.

I might spend a bit of time tomorrow reviewing character goals and story goals, too.

Can you tell I suddenly have mixed feelings? I started this post off saying I was feeling good about my progress, and now I'm thinking I should re-examine the entire concept of the story. Argh! I love writing. Really, I do.

I'm J Latta

Phantom Squirrel reminded me of this. In case anyone wants to find me on the NaNo site, my NaNo ID is J Latta.

Conference Fund: $160

Word count: 15,060

I've finished the short story I was working on. Did I mention it's titled "Devil's Breath"? Readers who live in Southern California will understand the reference in the title. I'm not shopping this one around because it's already spoken for. I will post publication specifics when I know them.

Day - what? Oh yeah. 6

The days and nights have lost distinction, one from the other. Sleep happens whenever I can't keep my eyes open. I put food in my mouth when my stomach growls. I think I took a shower yesterday. The dirty clothes are spilling out of the laundry hamper. And my family has to go to great measures to get my attention.

Yep, it's definitely NaNoWriMo.

I'm getting sick of keeping track of how many words I have for NaNo versus how many on my novel, so I'm just going to go with my overall number. Cheating? Only if winning NaNo is my goal, which it is not. Finishing the novel is my goal. And right now, I'm feeling good about the story. I had to drop the first person POV (one of my multiples) because it wasn't working with the rest. But that's okay. It led me to the multiple third, which is working very well. I left off yesterday in mid-action, which is one of the oldest tricks in the book to keep the writer motivated. Funny how those old tricks work so well. Why are there so many writing books that try to reinvent the wheel?

Though my word count is low, I am significantly pleased with the progress I've made so far. My words should begin piling up from this point, now that I have the pacing and structure I want.

Back to it. I'll post my word count at the end of the day.

Day Three

I finally surpassed the 10,000 word mark on the rewrite of Falling Short. 10,000 words isn't a big deal since I started NaNo with 8900 words, but the way my November has gone so far, it's a milestone worth noting.

My word count is now 11,234 making my NaNo tally 2,334. Lame, considering I should have over 7,000 by now, but at this point I'm happy to have forward progress.

And the story! I'm pleased to say that it's surprised me already. Remember the narrator idea? I changed it slightly. And it's working! Multiple POV isn't gimmicky, new, or trendy. (Multiple POV is where the author shows a different character viewpoint each chapter - the multiple referring to more than two character viewpoints - and so far I have 5.) It's been used a lot for a reason. Yes, I know it will drive some people batty, but it's brought the characters, and the story, to life.

I also made notes today on a few changes to the short story I recently finished, the one I titled "Devil's Breath."

Hoping to bring my word count close to 15,000 tomorrow.

Day One

In years past, I have produced some stellar first day word counts.

Not this year.


I spent 7 hours on the telephone with various IT support techs who helped me sort out why I had no internet signal (stupid IP addresses), why my wireless print router wouldn't communicate with the new modem/router (IP addresses that don't like other IP addresses), then why my laptop wouldn't communicate with the printer router, etc (let's all cheer for Windows Vista!). It was a nightmare, and the last thing I want to do tonight is sit at my computer and write.


My "zero" for NaNo is not the 10,000 as I had hoped before I dumped coffee on my laptop and lost 800 or so words. As of 12:01 am November 1st, I had 8900 words written on Falling Short v4. So that will be my zero. The NaNo norm is to try to write at least 1667 words per day. My personal goal is 80,000 by Nov 30th, so that means I need to write 2370 per day, and if I don't write that many today, I'll have more to do tomorrow.


I'm setting the timer for 30 minutes and I'm going to write like mad.


* * * * *

Well, that did not go well at all. My word count is 369 for the evening's work. Phooey.

I have a lot of words to write tomorrow!

November = NaNoWriMo

It's NaNoWriMo time again! 30 days of writing until my eyelids feel like sandpaper, my butt goes numb, my fingers cramp up, my back and neck ache, and my family wears dirty underwear. (I swear, no amount of laundry piled in the halls will compel any member of this household besides myself to run a load. They'd as soon wear stinky clothes than wash and fold.)

Of course, I'm going into National Novel Writing Month with a backlog of work to be done on a handful of short stories. What else is new? I have this insane optimism that I'll be able to fire off my NaNo daily word quota and then spend the rest of the day polishing my short stories. Please don't burst my bubble. I'm a professional writer, after all. I work best when I'm up against a deadline.

Quit laughing, Mel.

Okay, so now that Happy, Too and I are acquainted, I have had a quarrel with my ISP. I am going public with my rant. VERIZON DSL SUCKS! How's that for eloquence in writing? The basic problem is that my Internet access is spotty. My husband has threatened to go broadband and I've been encouraging him to follow through on his threat. Really, Verizon has done nothing to help. They refuse to send out a technician to check the service, although my IT-wise friend said that is the problem. Verizon says I don't have a Verizon-approved modem/router and therefore they swear it isn't configured properly. I don't know enough about IT to argue properly, but it would seem to me that if the modem/router combo was at fault, it wouldn't work at all, would it? They claim it doesn't have the right setting in order to communicate with Verizon. So why does it communicate sometimes and not others?

And these machines are supposed to make our lives easier!

On the positive, compared to computer problems, writing a story is easy.

Oops

This morning I tossed a cup of coffee onto my new laptop. It immediately shut down and no amount of CPR from the Geek Squad would bring it back to life. It happened so quickly, but there was a moment that, in retropsect, seemed suspended in mid-motion, like a stop-action television commercial: The telephone rings, my hand reaches for it, the coffee tips. If only I could have that moment back! Thankfully, I invested in a protection plan which, evidently, guards against stupidity. I have a new laptop just like the old. My daughter and I christened (sorry, yes, the pun was intended) the ruined laptop as he went off to the computer graveyard. His name was Happy. I am writing to you now from Happy Too.

Besides Happy and my pride, I lost all my emails and the writing I did on Wednesday. The rest of my documents are scattered about on thumb drives. If I had saved Wednesdays work.... Ah, well, no use crying over spilt coffee.

Word count, narrators, NaNo, friends

Final word count of the day: 9314

I think my last word count was around 8500. So it wasn't a great day, but not a bad day, either. To be writing at all felt like a major accomplishment, but once I got rolling, it was easy and fun. I'm still toying with the narrator and the tone and pacing of the opening chapters. By NaNo in November, I should have at least 10,000 words. Assuming the 10,000, my NaNo goal would then become 60,000 in order to make the 50,000 word minimum. However, I hope to have 80,000 words by the end of November, the last two being The End.

Haven't worked on The Painting in a while and I'm okay with that. I'm letting the feedback settle in around me, digesting it, deciding what I want to do with the story. I respect the feedback I receive and like to give it the deliberation it deserves, even if I don't always use it.

I had one of those long talks last night with a friend I've known practically my entire life. We haven't actually seen each other in years, but lately we've had reason to talk on the phone a few times a month. Our spirits are connected (seriously - I'm not kidding) so we can chat comfortably any time at all, even if it's been months since we last talked. But I'd really like to make the time to see her soon. Ellie helps me see myself. I don't know why, but she does. Sometimes I miss my horse days because we were together often - riding, sharing tack, having a beer after a hot day at the stables. Funny thing is, our relationship has been seasoned by experiences, both mutual and individual, and yet here we are, still connecting through it all.

Just thought I'd share that.

A modern writer's lifeline

A bit of an absence there. Sorry.

Remember the troubles I'd had on my laptop? They got worse. I got the blue screen of death - more than once - and my confidence in its ability to retain what I'd written was shaken. Modern writers depend upon computers. And thumbdrives. And notebooks filled with random thoughts. But it was simply unforgiveable for my laptop to let me down that way.

After the breakup with my Dell, I found new love with this zippy little HP. We're getting better acquainted (read: Vista is a new experience) and I must say that all my files look so sparklingly new here! It's rather inspiring.

I haven't written one word on my novel in almost two weeks and now I'm eager to get back to it. I actually had a dream about my characters last night. Get this: they were in my house! Dogsitting of all things! It was a clear sign that I need to get back to writing. Or that I need to arrange for care for my old Sadie-dog while I'm away to see my mother in November.

Scattergories

SCATTERGORIES... it's harder than it looks!
*Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...
*They have to be real places, names, things, nothing made up!
*Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial.
*You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question

What is your name? Jane
4 letter word: Joke
Vehicle: Jaguar
City: Jacksonville
Boy name: John
Girl Name: Jennifer
Alcoholic drink: Julip
Occupation: Job Cost Analyzer
Something you wear : Jeans
Celebrity: J-Lo
Food: Jelly beans
Reason for Being Late: Just being me :) Okay, okay...jack-knifed
Cartoon Character: Jerry (of Tom and)

Narrators and characters

Yesterday, I played with the idea of adding a narrator to my story. Actually, the voice and the words came to me late the night before last. I jotted them down in the notebook I keep beside the bed and now the narrator won't shut up. This narrator, by the way, is talking to another character about the story. So if you ask me a question and I don't answer right away, it's probably because I'm trying to listen to three people at once.

Here's what I found out through my "play" time:

1. I didn't know enough about this secondary character who wants to do the narrating.
2. I'm distanced from this character for personal reasons and there's just no room for that in novel writing.
3. The narrator wants the reader to discover his/her identity. In other words, I'm not supposed to say who it is. Wants you to believe it's for modesty's sake, but it isn't. This character can be dramatic and self-centered.
4. Making a seamless transition from narrator to story isn't as easy as you'd think, especially when said character is in the story and doesn't want to say "I" in the scenes pertaining to him/her.
5. The narrator sets the tone of the entire novel.
6. I don't like fiction gimmicks, so where did this one come from?

My official word count remains the same since these words are not on the manuscript yet. I haven't determined if the narrator stays or if I'm just using an unconventional method to find out more about the character.

Beyond the narrator thing, I had some fun: I cut out pictures from catalogues and magazines that reminded me of my characters. So far, I have Heidi, Dave, Scott, Lynette, and Kirsten. I have a *maybe* on Sophie and a tiny picture of Cortanie. I'd still like pictures for Brady and Bill, Grandpa, Cecelia, Claudia, John and Suze, and some of the minor characters like Sunflower and Rich. Unfortunately, catalogues and magazines aren't ideal places to find your characters' faces. I don't envision models when I'm writing a story.

I also read through a good bit of the last manuscript and while there are some entertaining and well-written scenes, it reads like a warm-up to the story I'm writing now. It's like I have this 300 page outline, much of which is background information and side notes.

A Good Day

Final word count of the day: 8528

I just had an awesome, productive writing day. I copied parts of several of Dave's scenes from the previous draft and had a blast making the changes and turning them into one chapter. It wasn't a lot of writing, but it took some creativity and I snuck in some writing when I got the characters to open up a bit more. I really like writing Dave's POV. Plus, I went back (yes, again) and made some changes to a few scenes with Heidi.

I also went for a good, long walk today, enough to be feeling it now. Homeschooling lessons with my daughter were rather fun. My son was selected as one of the 10 students in his school to be on the Lego Robotics team - something he really wanted to do. I tried a new recipe. Had dinner on the table earlier than usual. AND the family gobbled it up, evidence that it was pretty good.

All in all, a pretty darn good day. That I got one load of laundry done on top of all that other great stuff was just icing on the cake.

Word Count v4

New word count at the end of today:

4557

I've dubbed this version of Falling Short "v4" until I make a decision on the title.

A productive detour

I worked on the 500-word version of "The Painting" yesterday. What I found the most challenging was retaining the story, keeping the descriptive element, and providing tension, all within the 500 word constriction. I hope I've told a story beyond the words on the page. We'll see. Now it has to sit for a while before I do anything else with it, plus I'm awaiting feedback from my WIP group.

Goal for today since I spent yesterday working on a short story: 1500 words. I'll come back later to report my progress.

***

I did not meet my goal. I actually slid further behind because I edited the first three chapters. I rearranged a bit, deleted a paragraph or two, and wow! Did that make a difference. Now I'm ready to move on with confidence.

So I came up with a fantasy writing routine:

• 3-4 days novel writing
• 1-2 days short story writing/review/revision
• 1 day novel review and revise (previous 3-4 days' worth)
• 3-4 days novel writing
• 1-2 days short story writing/review/revision
• 1 day novel review and revise, etc.

That sounds like a perfect schedule to me. I wonder if I can make that work, even if only for a little while.

Step by Step

What to leave in, what to leave out...

Some parts of my novel are staying the same from the previous draft, but a lot is changing. Therefore, I have decided to do a complete rewrite and only copy over the scenes that work in this final revision. What's nice is having a blank slate to work with. What isn't nice is saying goodbye to the 73,000+ words I already wrote. Plus the over 100,000 words in the first two drafts (combined).

I suppose I resisted a complete rewrite because I was already on my third draft. And I asked myself, before starting a fourth draft, why I thought rewriting would be any easier than revising what I had. I couldn't come up with an answer, so I did what all writers do: I just started writing.

With any luck, I'm learning from this process and when I get back to the other two novels I've written, I'll be able to rewrite those with confidence, right?

Word count of Falling Short, take 4:
4795

NaNoWriMo

Best Stressed Woman
Internet Affair
Falling Short

Whatever I end up calling it, I'm going to be calling it finished by the end of 2007. Instead of waiting for NaNo, I'm starting right now. What if we're back to working full-tilt on the home addition by November? The timing is right. I have to strike while the story is rewriting itself in my head.

Word count today: 945

My goal is to write 1,000 words per day, give or take. At that rate, it will take me 75 days to complete my novel. A writing friend of mine made that her goal, and she had sound logic. Anything over 1,000, she said, and she started wandering aimlessly away from the plot. I've had some awesome 5,000 word days. I've loved those days. I've even written a few good scenes on those days. But without the word-count desperation of NaNo, I'm free to have 5,000 word days only when the story is coming down fast and furious.

30 Minutes

I am determined to get at least 500 words written in the next half hour. My characters have been hounding me for days. I can't seem to shut them up! In an ordinary world, I'd be locked up for saying that. In the world of writers, it's a good thing.

Saving draft of blog until I'm done with my half hour.... time, 2:36PM.

I'm back. It's 3:06PM and I reached 432 words. Not quite my goal, but it feels so good to be working on Falling Short again. I used to like these characters. Now I love them.

Off to take the kids to piano lessons, then it will be time to cook dinner. Maybe later tonight I'll get a chance to write a bit more.

I did! I was able to write at piano and then this evening and I ended up at over 1o00 words for the day. AND I finished chapter 1 which was all new material. I finally figured out where this story should start, which means I'll be revising much of the 73,000 words I already have, but that's okay. This is my third time through, I think. After this revision, I'll pass it by a trusted friend or two for feedback.

I started this novel in October of 2006. I outlined using Karen Wiesner's First Draft in 30 Days. It was my NaNo novel and it used to be titled Best Stressed Woman. Wow. It's come a long way in one short year.

No writing today. Or yesterday.

The water pump on my van broke yesterday, which caused the car to run out of water and overheat. Thankfully, it happened close enough to home that I didn't burn up the engine. While I was contacting my mechanic, I spent 4 hours on the phone with my ISP and the manufacturer of my wireless router because we couldn't get online. According to said personnel, both our modem AND our router quit working! Limped the van over to the mechanic and while my van was being fixed, I borrowed my mechanic's car and bought a new router/modem combo, which was hard to find because I'm on DSL, not broadband. Over $100 at Best Buy, but hey, it's Internet access we're talking about here.

The new router/modem would have fixed the problem. If my keyboard for the desktop hadn't chosen that moment to die. To further aggravate matters, my debit card was declined because the equipment rental company charged me for equipment that we still have in use for our remodel and, not being able to go online, I wasn't able to transfer funds to cover it.

As soon as my son was off to school this morning, I went to Staples and bought a new keyboard and saw that the price on the router/modem combo was $20 less. I hadn't even opened the box from Best Buy yet. Plus, with my contract discount through my husband's business, I was able to buy a cordless keyboard PLUS the router/modem for $10 more than I bought just the router/modem at Best Buy. Cool beans, right?

I got it all hooked up. It worked great. Got my funds transfer done. Problem solved. Or so you would think.

And then I noticed the router/modem from Staples wasn't wireless. Grrrrr!

Got the router/modem switched out with the wireless one, then spent all day on the phone with the router manufacturer, my ISP, and the print server manufacturer. Returned the non-wireless router to Staples. Everything is up and running, but the signal is weak on the wireless, rendering it practically useless.

Comcast, here we come.

Heidi and Dave

I spent a little while with my characters today. I only got 500 words written, but it felt good to be working with them again. Curiously, what I wrote longhand is not what ended up being typed in. I edited as I copied it over. It just didn't sound like the right narrator for Heidi and Dave. I think my editing got me closer, though. I know a lot of writers think editing while writing is taboo, but often I find that if I don't have the right voice, my inner editor actually blocks my path. I can't go on until I figure out what's wrong.

Heidi's loosened up a bit in the time I've been away. I think that will be good for the novel. She's more approachable.

Very, very short stories

Wow. I have renewed respect for writers of flash fiction. It's difficult to tell a complete story in 500 words or less. A beginning, a middle, and an end within the boundaries of an estimated 166.67 words per section. Without sounding choppy or abbreviated.

Since I love to read flash fiction, I thought I'd try it. I trimmed "The Painting" yesterday. At 1200 words, it seemed short to this writer who loves to indulge in a good, long chapter. But an interesting thing happened when I was trimming: I had to weigh every sentence against the major dramatic question. Yep, back to the basics.

I wrote "The Painting" from a contest prompt, so my first step was to eliminate the prompt but retain the story. It's amazing what happens when you get caught up in following a prompt. My next step was to dissect every sentence for the following:

1. Usefulness in moving the story forward
2. Mood
3. Aesthetics (how the words look, visually, on the page, and how it sounds to my ear)
4. Characterization. To me, a story is nothing without a strong character to pull me in.

Now I'm ready for the ultimate test: run it by a few brutally honest friends.

Not Your Average Joe

Joe didn't win the Lunch Hour Stories 2007 short story contest, but it was mentioned.

http://www.lunchhourstories.com/contest_winners.html

Of course, now I'm wondering a few things, such as how many entries there were. 10? :) (Hey, I'm being honest. My immediate reaction was to count the honorable mentions and notice "Joe" was at the bottom of the list.) Do I email the editor at Lunch Hour Stories and ask them to use my pseudonym on the website or just leave it? I'm free to send "Joe" elsewhere. So does it even matter that they used the wrong name?

The Dakota Family?

Most of you know my real name isn't Janelle Dakota. That's my pseudonym. But it's so much fun to have an online persona. Freedom! I can be Janelle, the author! I can indulge in my first love: writing.

But the majority of my heart belongs to my family: My husband of almost 19 years, my 12 year old son, my 9 year old daughter, and my old dog, Sadie. Of course, what person doesn't have extended family and the obligations therewith? And let's not forget to add homeschooling to the Dakota family recipe and the addition we're building on our house. All in all, I have the usual amount of distractions that any writer has to attend to.

My children love to write. They love to read. What more could a writing mom desire, besides a little writing time of her own? I am thrilled whenever I see my kids catch the writing buzz and really get into their stories. My children and I often read the same books and the discussions we have are enlightening for me as a writer.

But this year, I am missing my son. He started 7th grade at the local school. I know he is well-prepared and a great student (Honors! Proud Mom moment!) and my daughter and I are enjoying the one-on-one time, but...I miss homeschooling my son.

Lyrics

Where has the time gone? While I've been busy with renovations to the house, bloggers have been running circles around me. I can't possibly bore you with the details of my life since my last blog, so instead I'll offer up an exposition.

Music. Have you ever taken music lessons? My son is taking piano and my daughter is taking flute and piano. Weekly lessons, new songs, practice, practice, practice, right? I have never taken lessons for a musical instrument, but in my youth, I sang. I had voice class every weekday morning from the 4th grade to the 12th, vocal competitions, concerts, music camp, performances, even road trips with the jazz choir. As with playing an instrument, to achieve optimum performance, I had to practice daily. I had to warm up. I had to run through all the songs I was learning. I had to practice each song until I got it right. I had to work at it.

Why is it we writers expect to write a novel without daily practice? Shouldn't we warm up our instrument? Run through the scales, so to speak? But we don't: we sit down at the computer or with our pad and pen and expect an optimum performance of ourselves. We expect that if we start writing the lyrics, we'll find a song.

Just a thought.

Four of my...

Four places I have worked during my life:
1. Sears gas station, as an attendant.
2. Wendy's: first, in the restaurant, and later as a payroll clerk in the main office.
3. My illustrious accounting career where my jobs ranged from G/L entry to internal auditing.
4. Real estate sales.

Four places I have lived during my life:
1. Bellevue, WA
2. Redmond, WA
3. Bothell, WA
4. Lynnwood, WA (I don't get around much)

Four TV shows I like to watch:
1. Um...I don't watch too much TV. I can't think of one TV show I'd be sad to miss.

Four Vacationed Places:
1. Lincoln City, OR
2. Mazatlan, Mexico (to visit my mom)
3. Las Vegas, NV
4. Orlando, FL

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Does espresso count?
2. Buttered popcorn - yum!
3. Tortilla chips and FRESH salsa. Homemade, of course.
4. Anything with cheese on it.

Four places where I would rather be right now:
1. Signing a contract with a publisher
2. Sitting in my FINISHED house addition
3. On a romantic weekend away with my husband
4. At the beach, watching the kids play while I read a good book

Four friends or relatives I think will respond:
1. Anyone who feels like procrastinating

Four things I'd like to do:
1. See answers to "Four places I'd rather be"
2. Finish writing all 3 of my novels
3. Get over my irrational fears (heights, flying, large crowds, and all those fears that go hand-in-hand with being a mom)
4. Um...can't think of anything else. I'm basically pretty happy.

Now, IF YOU FEEL LIKE PARTICIPATING, here's what you're supposed to do...Copy and paste this to a new email, delete my answers, and type in your own. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know INCLUDING the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about those who know you.

House vs. Muse

Two months into the remodel and my excitement for the project is dwindling rapidly. I'm distracted, tense, sore, and I can't seem to sleep through the night. I think it's a classic case of a woman who likes a tidy house but is forced to live in chaos.

After discovering that I cannot attend to writing and remodeling simultaneously, I sent my characters, Heidi and Dave, on vacation. I occasionally hear snippets of scenes from them in the wee hours when I'm teetering between awake and asleep. It's then that I wish I had a method for capturing thoughts because by the time I get to pad and pen the snippets are gone. Anyone know where I can get my hands on a brain recorder? REM transcriptionist? Sleep slate?

Meanwhile, back to the remodel. I finally chose windows only to find out that my husband disagrees with my choices on window placement. Fine time to tell me. More than one friend has commented that a certain percentage of remodels ends in divorce. No kidding. I love my husband very much, but I wish he'd voiced his opinion some earlier time during the two weeks I spent trying to decide on what windows to buy and exactly where I wanted them.

I need to find a way to relax and enjoy the home makeover experience. We have this wonderful neighbor who comes over every day and works on the remodel. Seriously, he is a nice guy who enjoys the work and wants to help out. There's no way we could do this without his assitance. My husband isn't an outgoing person, so it's been interesting to watch as he and the neighbor form a friendship. My husband's younger brother has come over a few times to help, too, especially when there has been heavy work. I pitch in where/when I can, but a lot of the heavier work falls to the guys, thanks to my health issues. All in all, I have a lot to enjoy. Friends, family, progress...and let's not forget the (eventual) end result. If anyone has remedies for the stress that goes along with remodeling, clue me in, because I'd rather not wallow in tension!

And no, I am not going to write a story in which my characters are remodeling. Nuh-uh. No way. There is no drama in waiting for a sales associate at the home improvement warehouse to answer your questions about galvanized nails.

Blog for all ages

My site is rated G! Thanks to http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com/ for the idea and her friend http://justlikethenut.blogspot.com/ for the link.

Mingle²

Point of View

What's your favorite viewpoint as a reader? Do you prefer first person ("My knees shook as I stood to ask the group a question") or third ("Janelle tried to hide her nervousness when she stood to ask the group a question")?

I prefer to write in third, but for some stories - no, some characters - first is the only way to capture the voice. This presents a challenge to me as a writer; I am limited in how much I can show the reader about what is going on with other characters. Alternating first person viewpoints can be done, but I've only read a handful of books with an alternating first where the author employed the technique well. One such example was a novella where the chapters alternated between the husband and the wife from a first person perspective.

No matter if it's in first or third, nothing frustrates me more as a reader than when an author alternates viewpoint and goes back to show me events I've already read about but from a different character's perspective. It's fine if the author moves the story along and reveals the different perspective of past events in context of the story as it progresses, but please don't backtrack!

I suppose these are the reasons why my favorite point of view to write from, and to read from, is third. Sure, third doesn't allow the reader/writer to get as close to the character as first, but it allows the author to move around, zoom in, zoom out, and even alternate characters without jarring the reader.

But first person sure can be fun to write!

What Movie Is Your Love Life Like?

Your Love Life is Like Pretty Woman

"I want the fairy tale" You believe that love is truly blind, unpredictable, and surprising. Two very different people can easily find true love. (Yes, my marriage is proof of that.) At least, that is how it will happen when you marry a gorgeous billionaire someday ;-) (My husband will be sad to hear that!) Your love style: Sensual and flirty Your Hollywood Ending Will Be: Surprisingly happy (Click the following link to try it yourself)

What Movie Is Your Love Life Like?

Meme tag

Elysabeth Eldering from http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com/ has tagged me for my blog's first ever meme!


The ground rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.


I was told to come up with facts about me that aren't widely known. Here goes:

1. My biggest regret: that I didn't do anything with my singing. From 4th grade to 12th, I participated in vocal competitions, attended an exclusive music camp, performed countless solos, and gave voice lessons to younger children. I sing in the car now and with the kids, but that's about it. Singing is my number one way to feel good on a down day. I miss it.



2. I wish my family - my parents in particular - had attended more of my singing performances. It's one part of the mosaic of my life that is so very solitary.



3. My career before having kids was assistant comptroller, and I loved to chase down errors and perform accuracy audits. Currently, I enjoy helping others gain control over finances by writing budgets for them or giving them advice on how to live well on less income. Some people would say I'm slightly obsessive about orderliness. I think the exacting habits (everything balanced and accounted for) that I learned early in my career have stayed with me. I can't stand to go to bed with dishes in the sink; I like things arranged a certain way; uneven lines bother me on an unhealthy level, to the point that I'll not be able to do anything else until I correct them (like I have to fix a crooked picture on the wall no matter who's house I'm in); I can live with clutter so long as I feel it's controlled clutter; I can't think clearly when I feel like I don't have control over my environment. It's just a quirk about me that most people don't notice.



4. I married a racecar driver. He's retired now, but the restless spirit is still in his blood.



5. One of the most rewarding experiences of my life has been homeschooling my son (12) and daughter (9). My son will be attending public school this fall for the first time in his life.



6. My husband is my best friend. He's my split-apart, the voice in my head when I'm alone, and as vital to me as the air I breathe.



7. I was born with adrenal insufficiency, and spent the first 6 months of my life mainly in the hospital. At 6 months of age, my adrenals decided to wake up and work. Then on my 40th birthday my adrenals began to fail again, only we didn't know that's what was happening. I spent my 41st birthday in the hospital. The last two years have been a roller-coaster ride of doctors, tests, and medications.



8. I miss my grandmother, Bernice Dorothy Hackett Green, lovingly known to all as Bunny. She died on Christmas Day, 24 days after the birth of my first child. Twelve years later, I still wish I could visit with her. She would invite her grandchildren over for afternoon tea, so we all have fond memories of tea with Gramma. Each year on her birthday at the end of February, rain or shine, my sisters and I, and occasionally my brother, meet at her gravesite to have tea with Gramma. We pour a cup for her and set it on her grave marker. Gramma could whistle a bird's song, do a Tarzan yell, painted in oils (though she had lost most of her sight to glaucoma), and when she read to me, she used a different voice for each character. Gramma remains the most influential person of my childhood.

Now I'm supposed to say who I'm going to tag. How very sad that I can't think of 8 people with blogs. Well, I know lots of people with blogs but they don't know me! Let's see, I can tag Melanie, Ellie, JC, Beth. Hmm. Does it have to be a blogger? I haven't come up with 8 yet....

The Things People Do

The story below is something I've been meaning to post from my pre-blog days. The kids and I talk about this story often. The lesson we learned that day was so valuable! Just today, when I found an open, shady parking spot, my daughter said, "I want that spot!" So, guess what? We left it for someone who needed it more than we did.

September 2006

Thought I'd share a recent experience. The kids and I were out on errands one day last week. It was fairly hot and we were hungry so we stopped at a deli for sandwiches. I drove the van to the far side of a parking lot - far away from the department stores and shops - and parked in the shade of the small trees lining the lot. All the parking spots along there were available because no one wanted to walk that far, in the heat, to the store and back. So I parked sideways, taking up 3 spots with my minivan, to make the best use of the shade. As I said, all the spots were open. There were at least 20 shady spots surrounding me, and a dozen more about 30 yards away across a median. We took out our sandwiches, rolled down the windows, and tried to enjoy a few minutes in our busy day. It wasn't an ideal place to eat lunch because we were parallel to a busy street, but you take what you can get, ya know?

A woman pulled up in a blue sedan and started honking. I mean, Toot-toot! Toot-toot! Toot-toot! My son looked out his open window and the lady said, "I want that spot."

I looked around, ahead of me, behind me - there was no one there. Not one car. All the spots were open and available. A car came along behind the blue sedan, went around, and then came back to park, crookedly, about ten slots behind me. I could see she was there to talk on her cell phone, drink her iced coffee, and smoke a cigarette.

The lady in the blue sedan was still there. She LAID on the horn. "Move your car!" she shouted.

I started looking for a sign that said Employee Parking Only or something to indicate that I had committed a violation. I had a deli sandwich on my lap - a messy veggie sandwich with avocado - and I had the driver's seat pushed back. Whatever the inconvenience, I thought I should move the van because obviously there was a reason. Why else would the lady be so upset? So I started the car and very carefully pulled forward far enough so that I was occupying 3 different stalls. This gave her room to pull in behind me.

She followed me and laid on the horn again.

I said to my children, "What? I thought she said she wanted that spot?"

My son said she was waving at me to pull forward. So I did. And she pulled forward. So I backed up, thinking maybe I had the wrong spot or something. The whole time I'm thinking, Why can't she take one of these other spots? Why am I moving around like this, when she could have any one of these? Where the heck does she want me to go?! There were at least 20 spots available and we played this twisted game of tag for a few minutes. I looked around thinking maybe she was meeting someone, but no, there was just that one car further down: Smoking Woman on the cell phone. If Blue Sedan was meeting Smoking Woman, then she'd pull closer to the other car, right? And no one was standing in the parking lot or on the sidewalk waiting, there wasn't a bus stop...nothing! So I pulled forward again and put the car in park and said to heck with it. She'd just have to deal.

I shut the car off and started eating my sandwich again. The lady revved the engine and pulled right up to my back bumper but didn't hit me. Next, she threw her car in revers and sped backwards at an alarming rate just as a car was coming along to get to the main road. I watched in my side mirror as they almost collided. Blue Sedan woman then pulled into one of the slots that we had been occupying when she arrived. Get this: the woman got out of her car and went to my SON'S side of the car (scary) and started to tell me off!

She said I was hogging the shade. Well, first of all, I was there first so neener-neener (I didn't say that) but my gosh, there were like 20 other shady parking spaces! All with the same amount of shade!

My response was a smile and a sweet, calm, "We're just sitting here for a few minutes to enjoy our lunch."

She said it was against the law for me to take more than one spot. Um, no, it isn't but I didn't say that. What if I had an RV? Or I was driving my husband's tool truck? Besides, the parking lot is private property and I don't believe traffic laws apply. (Are there traffic laws that state how many spots you can take up in a half-empty parking lot?) I told her there were plenty of other shady places for her to park. She said wanted to shop and she didn't want her car to be hot when she was done and I was not the only person in the world.

And she walked off.

I shook my head and laughed, and then I called my husband and told him about it. He told me all the choice things he would have said to her and pointed out that - first and foremost - he would NOT have moved the car. My husband was amazed at my attitude about the incident, that I didn't tell her off right there in the parking lot, that I wasn't sitting there thinking of what I should have said to the woman and most amazingly of all - he was amazed that I wasn't angry.

My thought about the incident was this: How pathetic of a person do you have to be to go out of your way to do that to someone? To physically antagonize and intend to intimidate? I felt pity for her. Her life must be a lot worse than mine if that's what she chose to do with her time. She was going shopping for new clothes - a privilege many don't have. Her actions were a reminder that nothing in life is so bad that you should go out of your way to try to hassle your fellow man. It was a good lesson for the kids, too. I don't know what bug crawled up her butt and made her so cranky or so violent, but her display and antagonism toward me for taking up three parking spots was so unnecessary that it was obvious she had bigger problems than needing to chew someone out. It was oddly...reassuring. Comforting. She made me see how stupid it is to get worked up about things you can't control. Her little temper tantrum had the exact opposite affect on me that she was aiming for. I was thankful that my life wasn't like hers, thankful for my wonderful husband and great friends. I hope the memory of the incident will make me think twice about my reactions, or actions, toward others.

Writers should see humanity in all its facets. Blue Sedan woman was one bizarre facet of humanity. I wonder if her day got better or worse after that?

Not The Average Weekend

I wrote another short story. I should have been working on my novel, I know, but with all the activity in my life, my brain didn't want to wrap around the width and breadth of a novel. A short story, however, seemed within my grasp. So I heeded the call of another Echelon Press short story contest: Fast and Foreign.

It won't be a surprise to most of you that I wrote about Mexico, as it has been on my mind much these days. (I'm trying to determine a time in the remodel schedule when I can go visit my mother.) The fun part about writing this story was that my character, Rachel, was a woman who looked good in a bikini. On the eve of her vacation, she finds out her lover has more than one identity.

The whole story was fun to write, actually, and not just because of my characters. I wrote with friends. Elysabeth, Batya, Chai, and a new edition to the word-war club: my daughter, Hannah. Funny thing, it is, to be in the midst of a scene and to have your nine-year-old ask you a way to turn a phrase. My son is also a writer, and quite talented if I do say so myself, but he didn't feel the need to write a Fast and Foreign contest story. He's been working on a fantasy novel for the last year.

In the eleventh hour, my daughter had one of those contest moments that we writers all have. She decided the only way to fix her story was to completely rewrite it. She came up with a different plot for her beloved characters. She learned a valuable lesson in that she didn't get her story done in time to submit, but she did write a great story, and I'm proud of her.

Writing with friends is a singular experience. We logged on to conference chats, brainstormed, swapped stories, gave each other feedback, and generally encouraged and motivated one another. Elysabeth's character, Marie, faced a ghost from a past life at a chateau in France. Batya's character, Sarah, unearthed more than archaeological relics in Israel. Chai's character, Aleida, was caught in a flood in Holland. And Hannah's characters, Adamo and Allgeria, got lost on their vacation in Italy.

They are all entertaining stories and I hope to see them all in print.

Summer!

School is officially over for us homeschoolers, which means the long, lazy days of summer have arrived. Hours at a stretch with no lessons, no errands, just me and the kids and nothing to do but enjoy the great outdoors, a good book, and all that time to write....

Only this summer, due to our remodel, we won't get long, lazy days; we'll get long days of hard work. I'm already obsessing over the constant clutter, feeling the walls closing in around me as more "stuff" ends up inside our tiny house. Even bringing in the mail can send me over the edge, or the little pieces of broken up asphalt that stick to shoes. My idea of remodeling involves a daily clean-up session and on-going organization of the waste to be removed or tidying up the debris. To everyone else's tired bodies, these are not good uses of our time and energy.

I get very tired keeping both the house and the demolition in order.

On the up-side, I'm developing my arm and back muscles. I'm hoping all this demolition will slim my backside as well. And more good knews! As those of you who have read my 9 year old daughter's blog (cortanie-animallover.blogspot.com) know, we are an environmentally-conscious family. Ridden with guilt, I loaded up the pickup with the the lumber we couldn't reuse, the gutters that we tore down, and pieces of the concrete slab - and I headed to the dump. Looking at that mountain of waste was depressing - more so, as I contributed to it. Expensive, too, as it should be. It shouldn't be cheap for people to be wasteful. Then along came my brother-in-law with a solution: he found a place that will recycle the pieces of our concrete slab AND they'll recycle the asphalt, too. Hooray! I feel much better now, though I still feel guilty about my contribution to the landfills.

On the writing front, I'm discovering a "morning" phase. I usually write at night. When I'm in the throes of a new story I can write through anything and at any time of the day. I'm in the process of analyzing my novel, Falling Short, moving scenes around and deciding what needs to be changed or deleted in each scene. This analytical process only seems to work for me in the daylight hours. Perhaps when I get to the crafting side, the rewriting of the scenes, I'll once again be able to burn the night oil.

You'll hopefully - soon - be able to read more of my short stories on Echelon and Fictionwise. I'm expanding "My Dearest Julianne", "Duty", "The Painting", and "False Idols". I'll be submitting these shorts to Echelon in June and July. "Hear The Wind Blow" isn't at the #2 spot any longer but it was great to be up there for a while!

I made the bestseller list!

The bestseller list on Fictionwise, that is. I'm still waiting to find out if I'll be the first author of a short story ebook to make the New York Times bestseller list ;)

In it's first week on Fictionwise, "Hear The Wind Blow" made it to number 4 out of 509 fantasy short stories, and number 40 out of all 5,167 short stories. Woohoo! That news is motivating. I appreciate the sales. THANK YOU!

If you bought my story through Fictionwise, will you do me a favor and rank it? There's a choice on the left sidebar of your 'bookshelf' for ranking the stories you've purchased. It will help me in the long run if my readers add a favorable ranking. Thank you, again! (Echelon purchasers please post a review on Echelon. I'd like to use them in my promotional booklet.)

But...on to other writing projects.

I finished printing my manuscript. I simply must have a hard copy in my hands at this stage. I said that on the last post, didn't I? And I said I was making changes, but I wasn't very specific. Currently, I'm in the process of updating my summary outline so that it matches my manuscript because I deviated a bit and then I changed the whole story goal (the latter was in my mind, not on the manuscript). Next, I will use the summary outline to look at each scene. From there, I can edit, delete or add to fit my new story goal.

For some reason I can't do this manuscript review phase from the computer screen. (How many times have I said that?) I don't know why I need a hard copy. Maybe I need the reassurance that I've actually accomplished something? Looking at 300+ pages of printed manuscript and knowing I wrote it sure feels like an accomplishment. But, like all writers, I look at it and wonder if it was just a colossal waste of time or if it can be made into a story. This motivates me to work harder, to make sure those 300+ pages are worthy of the time and attention I put into them.

My optimistic goal is to have this draft completed by May 31st.

Beyond the novel.... Short stories seem so quick and light compared to the heavyweight, the novel. I don't have a specific goal in mind, really; I just found that working with a short story is a useful way to take a break from the novel and still keep my writerly mind agile.

Be sure to check out my Fictionwise page if you haven't already!
http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/JanelleDakotaeBooks.htm

Fictionwise

Great news for those of you who had trouble purchasing my e-book on Echelon Press: Hear The Wind Blow is now available at http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/JanelleDakotaeBooks.htm. Fictionwise has secure payment options of Micropay, PayPal, and credit card.

To everyone who has purchased a copy, thank you! I'd love it if you could post a review on Echelon.

Falling Short is going through scene revisions. My trusty old HP printer died. I sure hope my backup printer holds up. I don't know why, but I cannot do revisions without having a hard copy in hand.

I'm looking at attending a conference in October - in South Carolina. That's a long way from home, I know, but I'll have friends there.

Seems everyone I know is making the most of the shorts they've written, so why haven't I? I've decided to revise several of my short stories and send them out. My short story file is bursting at the seams. I just have to remove all traces of the prompts, bring the word counts up over 2500, and they'll be good to go. Piece of cake, right?

Acting Out

I talk to myself when I write. I get up and walk around or try to envision an expression, a movement, or a body language. Sometimes I use props or crayons so I can see a setting or gauge an action. Many writers do this, but most writers write in their jammies in the privacy of their homes. The bulk of my writing is done at home, too, and my family is used to my antics, but my children and I are out and about several days a week to group classes or music lessons. I have blocks of time when I'm waiting...perfect opportunity to write, right?

I get strange looks from people.

How else can I put the reader in the scene if I don't use these visualization skills? Visualization can be most effective. I use music to get me moving along on a scene, to get the mood right, or to find the right tone for the narrative. I try out different laughs to see which one fits my character. I read sentences aloud that aren't working, and try different inflections or words to get the sentence to flow. When I'm stuck, I really get vocal: I talk to myself and try to look at the plot point from all angles. If a scene is flat, I'll have my main character narrate what happened, past tense and off the page, speaking my character's dialogue as if I were him or her and I was relating the events to a friend. (It works - I can see what's missing or if the scene needs to be omitted.)

I try not to do these things in public, which is my point. If I'm in public, I try to work on editing or revisions. But when I'm getting the novel down or adding/replacing scenes, I'm in the creative process, hence the full-action writing.

At least, I hope it was my antics that caused the strange looks....

Tendonitis Frustrations

The tendonitis has been a deterrent to my writing. I have thoughts, ideas, even whole scenes coming to me (with dialogue!) that I can barely scratch out on a pad of paper. I've made cryptic notes in my manuscript file on the computer. Typing left-handed only? Well, that had to stop. My south paw is too slow and I end up getting frustrated and typing with both hands, hence, the continuation of the tendonitis.

Preparing for home renovations hasn't helped much, either.

Tendonitis aside, the story must go on or I'll go crazy. I love my family - my husband and children come first in my life - but even they are aware (perhaps the most aware?) that I must write or lose my sanity. So I have tried everything: writing left-handed (like deciphering a physician's scrawl), left-handed typing (argh!), and even a typing schedule of 15 minutes on/15 minutes off (apparently, 15 minutes rest isn't enough). And slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y, despite the tendonitis, I am making progress on my novel.

But I'm excited about the story and I want to be able to get it all down! This is very frustrating.

From breakthrough to setback

Tendonitis in the wrist has a way of hampering noveling progress. Could there be a better form of torture for a writer than the physical impairment of her writing hand, especially when the story is flowing?

Due to the inability to type, I have been spending mental time with my characters as I go about the necessary tasks for remodeling preparation. I think brainstorming and daydreaming are vital to my writing: without them, I don't have the zest for the story or the infatuation with the characters. Sorting and classifying household items that I haven't used in a decade is a good exercise for pondering plot lines and character sketches, story arcs and titles. The beautiful 70+ degree weather we've had here in the Seattle area the past two days has made the task of culling the useless accumulation in my garage much more bearable, but I admit to wishing we were out enjoying the day at a park or the beach. And speaking of beaches...

Our passports arrived and I am waiting to hear from my mother on the date of her upcoming surgery. A trip to Mexico is not far off. Undoubtedly, I will be taking my laptop, hoping to find some quiet moments while I'm away to write the scenes I've been daydreaming about, though my experience has been that if I'm not writing daily at home, I won't be writing daily away from home.

Still ruminating on a title, as well. For now it is still Falling Short.

Breakthrough!

An exciting morning: I had a major breakthrough on Falling Short!

Backtrack: Falling Short is a complete rewrite of a project from last May. I hit it with Karen Weisner's First Draft in 30 Days and titled it Best Stressed Woman for NaNo in November. After finishing NaNo, I began the process of filling the holes in the plot - little things that came up as I wrote that needed to be filled in earlier. Then I set the story aside, unable to put my finger on what the story needed. More tinkering prompted a title change. Still more tinkering resulted in a few characters being omitted. And today...

I GOT IT! I figured out what the story needed!

On The Home Front

Distractions abound. If I need a ready excuse to shift my focus away from writing, I can find one within arms reach. I share an office with my husband, my two children, the dog, and my daughter's clothing, toys and books. The office is listed on the plans as "bedroom 3" but I once saw it's dimensions listed in a home magazine as a small closet.

We've lived in this 900 square-foot house for 9 years. We had a toddler and a newborn when we bought it - our first house. With each passing year, the house shrinks exponentially. My son is taller than I am now and grudgingly tolerant about sharing a room with his little sister. The time has come to either move or remodel.

Many a writer has continued to pound away on his or her novel amidst carpenters and buzz-saws, so I won't be the first to write with earplugs or iPod if we choose to remodel. Nor will I be the first novelist to steal moments at the computer when I should be unpacking boxes of kitchen utensils, should we decide to move.

What's wearing me down is the indecision. There's a constant buzz in my ear and it's coming from my conscience, not my characters. I haven't determined why the decision is weighing heavy on my conscience, but it is.

So...to get back to my point about distractions. I hit a snag in my writing - a difficult sentence, the inability to spin a story from a prompt - and it's too easy to let my mind drift to distractions. An email from my mother, a call from a realtor, or a glance at the Turbo Tax awaiting use, and my attention shifts away. Next thing I know I'm back at the computer and the whole day is gone, lost in distractions, and the writing snag is still waiting in front of the blinking cursor. Have you ever noticed that the blink of the cursor is the same tempo as the Walk/Don't Walk signs?

Publications to check out

A few publication updates from my writerly friends. I highly recommend these reads.

You can see the work of Melanie Meadors in the Spring 2007 issue of Circle Magazine. Here's the table of contents: http://www.circlesanctuary.org/circle/ Her short story is titled, "Turtle Child" and I love how she put me on that beach along with Kameko!

I just read an excellent story by Batya Deene in The Magazine of Unbelievable Stories, the self-proclaimed home of the best modern pulp fiction. Go to http://www.quill-pen.net/ (or you can find it on Amazon) and look for Batya's story titled "Little Girls" in the April 2007 issue. Don't let the 'pin-up girl' look of the back issues scare you off. Batya Deene's story is worth the read and I won't soon forget her character, Dylan Holter. I will be posting a full review of the April 2007 MUBS issue on Amazon.

I have had the privilege and the experience of writing alongside these women. They both have a unique style and genre, and I think you'll enjoy them.

The world of online publishing

So, I'm learning a lot about e-books and downloads and how the whole Internet-as-a-marketing-medium thing works. There was a log-in issue on Echelon but they're getting it sorted out and ordering my e-book should be easier next week.

One thing I'm really looking forward to is being able to find my e-book on Amazon. That will be a thrill.

However, it isn't the same as walking into a Barnes & Noble or a Border's and seeing my book on the shelf. Which brings me back to where I want to be: writing! Heidi has been lazing around in my manuscript, twiddling her thumbs, waiting for me for far too long. She keeps asking me questions like, "Why can't I find a decent job?" and "What's really keeping me from meeting Dave in person?"

I know: there are medications for that. But we writers actually enjoy hearing voices. It means our characters are real for us. Now it's my job to make Heidi real for the reader.

E-book on sale at Echelon

My story is up but the publisher hasn't had a chance to put the link on the front page. To find my story, go to www.echelonpress.com and click on "Web Store" on the left side bar. The first story on the top left is my story, "Hear The Wind Blow" by Janelle Dakota!

Hear The Wind Blow

If the wind blows in the right direction, my e-book will be available for purchase and download either on Thursday, March 15th or Friday, March 16th. I think. I'm still a bit fuzzy on the logistics, but this link should take you to the main page: http://www.echelonpress.com.

The price of the download is $1 and you can pay via PayPal or with a major credit card by using Linkpoint Basic. If you experience any problems purchasing with Linkpoint Basic, click on "Privacy Notice" on the left side bar (warning: it's in tiny letters). Follow the directions to allow session cookies.

Hint: there's a link for you to leave a review of my story.

Echelon Press

I've been working with Karen Syed at Echelon Press to get my short story Hear the Wind Blow ready for publication on March 14th. What a thrill it was to see the cover art for the first time! And a bit unnerving to go over my story for errors, knowing that any errors will be seen by all. Thanks to my wonderful WIPAsylum friends and Elysabeth, I've had an easy time of spotting those mistakes.

Family issues are presently taking center stage and I'm trying to get through the days with eyes open, alert and sensitive to the needs of my family and the inevitable changes that occur with all major life events.

Concurring with the joyous publication at Echelon Press is the end-stage of my mother's breast cancer.

There are moments when I long to dive into the pages of my novel and ignore reality. It would be so much safer for my heart! And then there are moments when I wish I could halt the furious beast we call time, reverse it even, so that I could pay attention this time and perhaps better understand my mother. Given a chance to go back, would I make any corrections? Would I change any words in the story that is my relationship with my mother? Would she?

There are no answers to those questions, so I continue to keep my eyes open and lean not on my own understanding. To experience life - to be wholly present in it - is to feel it, from the joy of winning a short story contest to the pain of my mother's final preparations.

The Thursday-Friday Blog

One of the decisions a blogger should make is how often to blog. I wish to remain consistent so Thursday-Friday it is...for now.

Joyous news to report this week: I won the Echelon Press Fast & Fanciful fiction contest! My short story "Hear the Wind Blow" will be published as an e-book on March 14, 2007. See the link below.

Curious thing about Echelon is that, although the prize is nominal, the process is priceless. As a newbie writer, one of the most important things I can learn is the publication process. The contest is worth entering for the experience.

After taking this detour into short stories, I'm ready to dig into my novel again. I started outlining Falling Short in October 2006, just five months ago. I don't know why I expected to have a completed first draft by now. It was probably residual NaNo delusions.

Short stories

It isn't long before the writer, having poured her heart and soul into the width and depth of a novel, is craving simplicity. All it usually takes is a hiccup in the noveling progress.

I've had a severe, recurring case of the hiccups since I began this novel in October.

Perfect solution: the short story! Here, I can visualize beginning, middle, and end. There are no tricky sub-plots to work in, no minor characters coming to steal the limelight, no derailment of the major conflict. I am in love with my work: here, I can write, frenzied, and see the immediate results! All works toward a climax, building and exposing, focused and determined.

But then I am done and I'm not in love anymore. It was a tawdry affair, a one-night stand. The limits of the short story don't allow for the pull and purpose of my novel. Suddenly, my novel is more meaningful.

First Blog, Stardate 1 March, 2007

Empowered by the transitive power of procrastination, I have embraced the dogma of author blogging. Thank you, Phantom Squirrel, for the weak push. I dare not resolve to update daily, weekly, monthly or otherwise as this blog is an experiential endeavor, but I will proclaim this space as an outlet for writerly frustrations and exultations.

On with the show!