Another POV

I was a boy crazy fiend as a teenager and I have many journals to prove it. I won’t embarrass myself by revealing any of the content here, although I shudder just thinking about what a total psycho I was when it came to boys. I constantly tried to figure out what they were thinking. Does he like me or not? I over analyzed the way a boy looked at me or his tone of voice when he said hi. As I look back at my relationships over my teenage and young adult years, clearly, I did not have a handle on how boys think. 

Now that my son is fifteen it’s been quite interesting to watch the other side of the gender. Last week he caught a girl writing his name in hearts. He told me it totally creeped him out. All I could think of was, I wrote guys names in hearts, did I creep guys out?

After reading through my journals, I probably did.

Most YA books are told from the girl’s perspective. What I wonder is do I have an accurate account of how the guy would act in a relationship. I just read through my journal when I started dating my husband and there were many ups and downs. The whole time I kept wondering what he was thinking. Sometimes I still wonder that. I’m hoping that by having a son whose entering those teenage years, I can get a glimpse that will give me a heads up on my male characters, which will come in handy as my next book is told from a male’s POV.

Is your MC male or female and if male what are you doing to make sure you create an accurate depiction of the male psyche? 

Dieting

Hey there, remember me.

I know it's been a while, but I've been doing kind of an experiment. I've been on a diet of sorts. A diet from social media. I haven't done any blogs or very many facebook updates to see if I can be a more productive person.

And the results of my experiment. Utter failure.

I may not have blogged or facebooked, but I found other things to occupy my time. TV shows, sports, entertainment websites, netflix. It seems to me that I did everything and anything except social media and write.

So I've come to the conclusion that my problem is not social media like I had originally thought, but procrastination. That dastardly foe. The thorn in my side. My complete undoing.

I know it's procrastination, because as soon as I had a deadline, I finished editing my chapter.

So, I'm back to posting twice a week.

How about you? Do you suffer from procrastination and how do you defeat it?

PS
While I was gone a few exciting things happened:
Kasie West's book came out.
Christina Lee got a book deal.
Jessie Humphries got a book deal.
Melissa Hurst got an agent

Any other news I missed??

I am not a size 8

Sorry I've been MIA lately, we are in the grips of basketball playoffs and with two boys in the mix, it's kind of crazy. Things should slow down in April

Anyway, back to the title of my post....

Here's my confession. I am not a size 8. A few years I was, but that was only for a day when I didn't eat very much.

The thing is I've gained weight back since then, but in some stores I'm still a size 8. Although this makes me feel good, it does nothing to motivate me to exercise and eat less, because on the tag of my jeans it says I'm a size 8.

I feel this way with critiques. I remember my first real critique. It was a writer in residence at our local library. I went for our appointed time and before I saw him, I could see him looking at my pages through the window. They were loaded with red ink. I had to take a deep breath and prepare myself, but I did it. I learned to take the constructive feedback and i think I've become a better writer because of it. Sometimes, it's not easy receiving a critique, especially if you have a lot to learn like I did and still do, but they are necessary.

So I'm grateful to all the people who have offered feedback on my writing and not making me feel like I can fit into a size 8.

Brain Time

There's not enough time in the day. I don't have any time. Time goes by so fast.

These are all sayings that most of us say everyday, but I'd like to offer a new one: I don't have any brain time left.

What does that mean?

Well, I have to say that I'm not as busy as I might like to think I am. Yes, I have the usual dishes, laundry, three kids to feed and clean up after. I work three days a week, and I am now in the throes of basketball playoffs. Even though I'm busy, there is still time to sit down at the computer and do a bit of editing. There's time to take a notebook with me to practice and jot a few notes while I try to remember which kid I'm watching play. I could sneak in a half hour here or there to write something new.

The thing is, by the time I get to these moments, my brain is done. I can't think anymore. I can't decide where the proper place to put a comma is. I miss spelling mistakes, and character development gets the shaft. Thus my new saying: I don't have any brain time left.

Am I crazy or does anyone else feel this way? Do you try to push through or give up for the day?

Realistic Goals

It's been beautiful up here in the Great White North. 5-10 ºC or 40-50 ºF, so I decided to take advantage and go for a walk. I've always loved going for walks because that's when I think, plan, and set goals then hope that I remember it all for when I get home and can write it down.

What I need to do is follow my friend Stina's advice and take a pen and piece of paper with me.

In the past I've made very ambitious goals. I'm going to edit a chapter every three days then do a major revision in a week and have it ready to be sent out in a month. Totally unrealistic, at least for me. I like my sleep too much.

On Friday, I went to get some Vitamin D and the whole time I thought about my book and what would be a realistic goal to get it query ready.

And here's what I came up with.

I've got ten chapters left to revise (some are small edits, lots are total rewrites).

So if my math is correct, and lots of times its not. If I do two chapters a month (including this month), I should finish by June. I'll spend the summer editing, revising, making everything as good as it can be before I send it to betas in September. Hopefully I get it back in a month, make final edits, and have it ready to query in November.

Sorry, you probably weren't interested in all that, but I'm hoping by making it public, I might have a better shot at completing it. At the end of every month, I'll update my progress.

So how about you? Made any realistic goals lately?

The Rules of Seven

For some reason when I think of sevens, it reminds of me of how many times we are suppose to forgive someone, so please forgive me for the words that I'm about to show you (sorry self-deprecating moment).

I was tagged by Struggling Writer to go to either page 7 or 77 of my manuscript, count down 7 lines, then copy the next 7 lines into your blog.

So here it goes.

Lind leaned his cane against the railing and lowered himself down beside his brother. “Oliver you take everything so literal. Of course you can tell your family. We’re all Defenders.” Unlike his brothers and father, Oliver refrained from reminding Lind that he was only an Honorary Defender, since there had been extenuating circumstances regarding his last task, circumstances that had resulted in a lost limb and a burnt face. Oliver had never been privy to the details and knew better than to ask.

“Then why didn’t anyone tell me about their tasks?”

“You weren’t a Defender yet. When you complete your task, we can tell you what we had to do.Come 

on Ollie, everyone’s waiting.” He grabbed onto the railing and pulled himself up. 

Sorry, you got an extra line, but I didn't want to leave you hanging.

Actually this exercise got me thinking. So many times, I've flipped a book open and read an excerpt as though reading one paragraph will entice me to buy the book. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

How about you? Do you read a part of the book before deciding to purchase it?

It's back and ready to do some training

It's back and I'm not talking about me, although I have been gone for a while due to illness, but I'm better now. Thanks for asking.

No, I'm talking about Ali Cross and her dojo.

The Writer's Dojo is returning to its roots and invites you to join in on the fun!

To quote Ali:

When I first started the writer's dojo in 2008, I did it as a way to keep the glory of National Novel Writing Month alive all year long. I loved the camaraderie and support I received during the month of November and desired that same feeling of community every month of the year, in every aspect of writing--not just the drafting.

Beginning February 1st, 2013, the writer's dojo returns to its roots and ushers in a new age of ninjawesomeness.

Each month there will be three training rooms at the writer's dojo website. A room for drafters (Writing Month, aka WriMo), a room for revisers (Revising Month, aka ReMo) and a room for those querying (Querying Month, aka QuMo).

Set your own goals, whether it's to write a thousand words a day, revise ten pages a week, or submit twenty queries in a month, and register your goal in the appropriate training room.

Every Monday a leader will be posted for the previous week, and at the end of each month those who met their goal will be able to post the coveted Writing Ninja Warrior badge on their blog or website. And you know accomplish their writing goals.

There will be chats, twitter encouragement, google+, and a newsletter. All in an attempt to help those who are struggling to meet their goals.

I absolutely love this idea. Right now my lack of motivation is at an all time high. The only time I've been writing is to try and meet my once a month in person critique group, which means I'm writing or revising at a snail's pace. This might be just the thing I need to help me cross some stuff off my list.

So if you need a little push, check out Ali's blog for more info.