Writing Alive!

I’m sitting on an airplane writing a blog after putting aside a novel about a writer obsessed with writing (John Irving’s LAST NIGHT IN TWISTED RIVER). Once I’ve composed this entry, I’ll return to revising my last novel. The snippets I write for Facebook, Twitter and general e-mail add up to a lot of words per month; the character and plot profile I’ve created for my newest novel is already thirteen pages long.

I look at the computers and e-readers in the hands of my seatmates and I see the truth. Writing isn't dying. It might exist in new formats, but it’s still very much alive in our work and in our hearts.

Truth be told, the unwritten protocols of social networking are boosting writing output instead of killing it. “Netiquette” cautions us to show in writing that we care about each other first..to carefully establish by-the-word relationships, before we sell our ideas and our products. We ‘approve’ our followers and control our ‘likers’ so we’re comfortable writing to an ever-growing circle of friends and acquaintances. We're a gigantic group of international Pen Pals who get to talk to each other in real time.

No, I’m not worried about the death of writing. My biggest concern with all the composing going on is whether I can beat out the crowd and create an original phrase or two. I better hurry up and write…or all the fresh wordings will be taken!

The Reluctant Extrovert

I was going to post today about how much fun I had at the RT Booklovers Convention that took place last week at the Los Angeles Bonaventure Hotel but I think I'm going to post about something else instead. Not that I didn't have a good time. Heck, I had a fabulous time as you can see in the picture here. That's me dancing with my eyes closed and a huge grin on my face, picture courtesy of Sheila English (http://readersentertainment.com/2011/elloras-cave-party-at-rt-booklovers-convention-huge-hit/).

But what I really want to talk about is something that happened after this party as I was making my way out of the ballroom. You see as part of the proceedings of the Ellora's Cave party, the authors published by the company who are attending and willing to be introduced get led across the stage and their names are announced. When it is my turn I make a point of turning to the audience and waving at everyone. This is because I want people to know I'm happy to be there and like them knowing who I am.

So on the way out of the ballroom a couple of ladies were smiling at me and one of them said "you must not have a shy bone in your body." Alas, I had to admit, I am far more shy than they might expect. If I go down to the bar and I don't see anyone I know, I will find a quiet corner rather than join a random table. When I don't have a fixed place to be at a convention I am likely to be in my room decompressing. Go in front of a big crowd and wave or curtsy to them? No problem. Talk one-on-one to someone who doesn't approach me first? Not likely.

Mind you I did go down to the bar one day during the convention when I had no one to eat lunch with only to find that everyone I knew was already eating with no empty seats at the table. So I wandered the room a little more until I made eye contact with a perfect stranger who, when I admitted I was looking for anyone to eat with, asked me to join her. Turned out she was a lovely lady, a newbie author who was somewhat overwhelmed by the convention, and she was a journalist with a small local paper up in my neck of the woods. She and I discussed the small press publishing world, and the book she was writing, which was quite interesting and if done well could be a very solid story. We had a lovely time and I might even feature in one of her articles. I ended up very glad I hadn’t opted for the crackers and canned tuna I would normally have eaten in my room that day.

So I guess here is the point of my entry this month. Most authors are by nature a solitary sort, not terribly outgoing, and with a tendency for shyness. Which only means that if you meet someone at a convention the chances are they are probably as unsure of themselves as you are. There is nothing to fear from these people. If you have to go on stage, treat it as a chance to catch people's attention and draw them to your books. If you find yourself eating crackers and canned tuna in your room because you don't have someone to eat with, go down to the bar and see who is sitting by themselves.

Chances are they'll turn out to be as happy to meet you as you are to meet them.

De-stressing

Sunday was my anniversary. After a year of ups and downs and some major stress, this year's anniversary was especially special for me. We spent the day at my favorite place to de-stress -- the ocean. As a child I visited this beach along Maine's coast all the time. As a teenager, I continued to go there and now as an adult I find that through stressful times, this is my spot to de-stress.

The sound of the waves is therapeutic for me. Over the years I have dealt with all kinds of curve balls into my life and yet through it all, I am the calmest when I visit the ocean. So much that the Maine coast has been in every one of my books that I have written. And so much like me, it is a de-stressor for my heroines.

There is nothing like clearing your head, or finding clearer thinking, as you walk along the edge of the water, the waves gently lapping the sand at your feet or sitting on rocks listening to the waves crash over the rocks. I have found peace through tough challenges, great story lines and just a sense of well-being while at the ocean.

So as you journey through life, ups and downs, where is it that you go to de-stress? Does this place enter into your writing?

Do You Suffer From PCD?

PCD, also known as Post-Conference Drop, is that feeling you get about a week after you come home from a writing conference. It comes from missing your friends—some of whom you only see in person once, maybe twice, a year. It comes from missing all that buzzing, creative energy that swirls around these conferences. It comes from having to leave the safe-haven bubble and going back to the DDJ, the Dreaded Day Job.

Many of you are returning from the RT Booklovers Convention in Los Angeles, and many are preparing to attend RWA's National Conference in New York. I don't want to talk about the conventions/conferences today - instead, I'd like to find out what you do to "recharge" after one of those conferences.

Let's face it - conferences can be one of the biggest best experiences of your life! You realize that you're really not alone with those voices in your head - other people have them, too! You realize there are people who understand you when you say things like, "I just got to the BBM and I made MYSELF cry!" You know how to talk to an editor and/or agent, but doing so "in the flesh" still makes you shake. Maybe this time you were the one to shore up your fellow shaker before their editor/agent appointment.

But what happens afterward? There's that immediate RUSH of giddiness - you write up a storm, every word that comes out of you onto paper is BRILLIANT! You either start your next opus or you dig out that “novel of the heart” to work on. You're going to write the next bestseller, then a week goes by and what happens? You run out of steam. The juice dries up. The computer screen glows back at you mockingly.

How do you recapture that feeling of wonder, that surprise, that awesomeness of being at conference? How do you go about recharging your batteries? What do you squeeze for more creative juice?

One way is to look at all the promo or SWAG you brought home. What about it inspired you? Why did you select that particular "goodie" to put in your tote? What about that tote? Who advertised on it? Does one of those authors truly inspire you? Do you prefer to sit in solitude for a day or so after one of those conferences, just getting back into your own space or do you seek out crowds to give you that "conference" vibe again?

How do you recharge those creative batteries a few weeks after a conference?

Mythbusters for Writers: Do We Really Need to Write Every Day?

“Write every day. Writing is like a muscle. If you want to maintain your writing skills, you have to exercise them every single day.”

Take any writing class, and you’re likely to hear some variation of this advice. Time and time again, our workshops stress the importance of writing every single day. Most writers believe this is the only way to improve as a writer, but is that really true?

I will be the first to agree that no writer should sit around waiting for a “muse.” Writing is a job like any other. Once a deadline or a goal is set, it’s important to do whatever it takes to meet that goal.

But write every day even when you’re not on deadline?

In every other discipline, vacation days are considered necessary to renew and reenergize. No one tells a brain surgeon, “Uh, sorry, you can’t take a day off. We don’t want you to get rusty.” No, we want our professionals well-rested, alert, and enthusiastic. Even professional athletes schedule days of rest.

Why should writing be any different? Do we really believe our writing will turn into incoherent blobs of gerunds and passive verbs if we go away for the weekend?

After years of judging contests, critiquing chapters, and generally reading everything I can find, I’ve come to the conclusion that burnout is a greater problem for writers than they like to admit. How else to explain that disastrous third book in an otherwise brilliant trilogy or the rare lackluster chapter from a genius critique partner?

Is it possible the difference between crisp and clichéd is simply a weekend away from the computer?

I used to feel guilty about taking time off from writing. I’ve written in hospital waiting rooms, at my kids’ soccer practices, and while waiting for my car to be repaired.

But the one place it is impossible for me to write is on family vacations. Oh, I’ve heard all the recommendations: get up an hour early, go sit in the hotel cafe, “make” your husband take the kids for an hour. With four kids in a crowded hotel suite, none of that really works. Besides, this is our vacation. I don’t want to miss a minute of it.

During a recent week-long trip to San Francisco, I did not write a single word. I did however, choose my next project, plot out an entire novel, study hundreds of characters while on a ship to Alcatraz, and come up with at least five novel-worthy story ideas, all without turning on the computer. Reinvigorated, I returned home, excited to get back to work and enthusiastic about my new manuscript.

So write every day?

Not me.

No more guilt on those days when I can’t squeeze in a thousand words between catching a shuttle and catching a plane. I’ve come to appreciate the change of pace, the pause for reflection, and the life experience that only comes from stepping away from the computer. From here on out, I’ll be scheduling regular no-writing retreats to freshen up my perspective.

There’s more to writing than simply putting words on the page.

I would love to hear your opinion on this topic. Do you write religiously every day or do you intentionally plan days when the computer’s off limits?

Dave Barry and naked women

Hi Everyone,
This month, I’m sharing a hilarious Dave Barry column on . . . naked women!
Enjoy!

“My advice to the editors of Cosmopolitan is: Stop obsessing about men. Stop trying to figure out ways to drive them wild in bed. Just drop this subject for a while. Trust me: Even without technical advice from you, your women readers will have no trouble getting men excited, as long as the men are aware (and believe me, they are) that the women, underneath their clothes, are not wearing clothes.”

Me again: LOL! Gotta love Dave Barry!

Research: Up Close And Personal

I know authors who travel to Scotland or Ireland for inspiration when writing historical novels set in those wonderful places. Others spend vacations in cities like New Orleans, New York, or San Francisco to gain insight while writing urban fantasy.

I'm not claiming you need to visit a location to write about it. There are other ways to learn the particulars of a place. Books, videos, travel guides, and internet sites contain a plethora of information.

But…

Visit a place. See the people. Hear the sounds. Smell the scents. Taste the flavors. Touch the very fabric of the place. Close your eyes and allow the essence to seep into your bones. Your creativity will soar.

For my paranormal Sea Panther, the initial inspiration came from viewing the movie Pirates of the Caribbean and from reading the book The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodward. The plot morphed after I visited several port towns along the Atlantic coast including Annapolis and St. Mary's City, GA. Places where my hero and heroine stop as they sail south, along the coast.

Sea Panther's plot morphed again when I took a trip to the Florida everglades. Some scenes take place in a South Florida swamp. On my recent trip to Florida, I got up close and personal with some of the critters that make an appearance in my story--small deer, armadillos, snakes and...yeah...an alligator. Unfortunately, the ever-elusive Florida panther remained hidden.

The story is mostly finished now. Just a bit more polishing. I didn't get to visit Jamaica where some scenes take place, but I watched video travel guides and read about the colorful place. Maybe I'll visit while writing the sequel.

What locations have you visited and included in your stories?


Dawn Marie Hamilton

Visit me at Castles and Guns every other Tuesday starting May 10.

Contests

Contests are a way to get your writing out there for others to see, not just your friends, family, and critique partners. It's hard to get your entry back and not have a great or good score and still feel good about your writing, what's even harder to bear is to see that your score is darn near at the bottom of all the scores. It actually hurts to know that at least three people hated your writing.

I remember once, when I was in 8th grade, one of our neighbors had a baby. My mom took me and my sisters to see the little guy. I thought he was a cute little thing and told his mother that he looked like Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I'm sure the neighbor felt like I'd insulted her precious baby boy when I was actually saying he was cute.

This may be what some judges do when they give us comments we find offensive. As a judge, I can say that I try to be nice but I know that I'm a blunt person and there are times I'm not exactly the most tactful person in the room. Diplomacy is definitely not my strong suit.

I can still remember the comments from some of the first contests I entered. The ones that didn't make any sense. However, the ones that really got me going, ranting and raving and making my husband laugh, ended up being on the money once I realized that writing romance wasn't the same as writing papers for nursing school and college.

I can't remember those comments but the ones that confused me, that didn't make any sense--those idiot comments I now laugh about because I know those judges were reading something that wasn't even in my entry.

For example, I wrote that my hero worked on his ranch all day and then took care of his other business interests at night on his computer. One judge told me that no one wanted to read about the hero looking at smut on his computer. What? Huh? Where in the world did she get that? My husband laughed at this one and said she must be living with a man who only used his computer to look at porn. Think Denise Richards accusations of this about Charlie Sheen. Do you think Denise Richards read my entry?

One final judge, I can't even remember if she was an editor or agent, told me that there were only so many words in the English language. I had entered a paranormal. To this day, I have no idea what the heck she was talking about. I had used some mythological characters from the Polynesian Islands.

Now, one entry I remember judging was about wine. As a nurse I had a hard time with the entry because the heroine wanted to stash her wine and drink it when she was alone, this made her heroine sound like an alcoholic in the making. Okay, so I know many people do this but when the author wrote that there was no reason a pregnant woman couldn't drink wine--I had to take issue. Hadn't she ever heard of fetal alcohol syndrome? Hadn't she ever seen the effects? Was nine months so darn long to give your child a healthy start in life? Honestly, this entry bugged me. I didn't mark her down for this but I did point out that many readers may believe her and she was giving them advice that went against what their OB-GYN would tell them. What's even worse, some of them would believe her and not their doctor.

Why did this entry stick with me? Because she and a few other writers wrote an article for their chapter newsletter about the horrid judges they had gotten. What she wrote about one of her judges saying her heroine was an alcoholic wasn't exactly what I wrote and she totally ignored the issue about the fetal alcohol syndrome. I did ask her to please look up the signs and symptoms of an alcoholic and to do some research on fetal alcohol syndrome.

Another entry that still sticks with me was one where I had to judge the hero. So, I did. Then I read the synopsis. The hero hadn't even entered the picture by the end of the entry. Now, what the heck was I supposed to do? There was no way I could give her the highest score like I wanted because the guy who romped through those first pages with the heroine wasn't her true love. I had to go back and knock off all those darn points. I was so upset. She had a wonderful entry but due to the score sheet I couldn't give her the score she deserved.

This is why reading the score sheet before you enter a contest is of the utmost importance.

Read your judges comments with an objective eye. You're not always right and neither are your judges but complaining about the scores you receive sure isn't going to change them. However, it just may scare off some judges who do give a huge portion of their time to volunteer with very little positive feedback.

Another tip for your writing--judge. If you are entering contests, which you have to pay for, then you should be judging contests too. You pay to take classes to learn your craft, or you buy books about it, or you go to conferences. However, judging a contest is free and you will learn from it, maybe more than taking classes, reading books, or attending conferences.

Denise

Writing, the lost art

The End of Cursive Writing
The death knell has been sounded: cursive writing is done. Kaput. Over.
The majority of states in the United States have made the decision to cut cursive writing from their curriculums. Who needs it? Everyone has a computer now--no one takes notes by hand or writes to each other anymore. It's a lost art/subject, like the old educational requirements that everyone take Latin, that simply don't make sense anymore.

Is this going to be a case of unintended consequences?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for computers. In fact, over the last year, I've started moving into the ranks of independent authors who published e-books, rather than going the "old fashioned" way of traditional publishing. The poster child for indie publishing has been Amanda Hocking, who made over $2 million (yes, that's 2 million) on books she independently published through Amazon.

But wait! Amanda now has signed a contract with a traditional publisher because...here's the thing. You can't just walk into a Target or Wal-Mart and buy an e-book off the shelf. But you can walk in and buy a paperback (or hardcover). So at least for the time being, traditional publishing matters.

What does this have to do with cursive writing?

Well, Amanda made the decision to do both traditional and indie publishing, because she can reach a wider audience.

This is going to be hard to believe, but there are some people who do not own computers! And even if they owned computers, they don't have and can't afford access to the Internet!

But schools are making the determination that, well, everyone has a computer with access to the Internet so there is no need to teach cursive writing because everyone communicates through the Internet! If not by computer, than by smartphone.

Is this true? Before this, the ability to write a letter to someone was one of the few unifying facts in Society. Rich and poor, over-educated or 6th grade education only, most people were literate and could write. (Obviously, there were some who had difficulties with writing, but there were more people who could write than currently have computers. And if you're illierate, I can't see how the emphasis on computer skills is going to help you.)

According to some statistics, 76% of U.S. citizens have a computer or have access to a computer. I think that latter bit is what makes this statistic a bit misleading. Have access to a computer could just mean, well, you can go to the library and use the computers there.

Fine, but that is fairly inconveniant. It means an awful lot of people out there could be squeezed out and marginalized. More than are marginalized now, at any rate.

I don't think the inability to read or write using cursive script is going to affect the underlying factors that contribute to this, but I do believe it is a symptom of our increasing focus on the computer as our major means of communications. I'm not sure that's a good thing. And don't get me wrong--I love computers. I've worked in the computer industry for over 30 years as a programmer and enterprise administrator. I adore technology.

But I also live in rural America where Internet costs are high and computer usage is low. So this shift worries me.

The one big "unintended consequence" that I see right away is: how are kids going to write a check?

Okay, so they can pay bills electronically.

Okay, how are they going to sign the back of their credit card?

Maybe signatures are obsolete?
Could be. But then, I'm working on a project at work involving certificates and identity proofing, so maybe instead of signatures, we'll all just go through an identity proofing system (e.g. obtaining a driver's license) and get a certificate or even a smartcard (e.g. driver's license with a certificate embedded) and that will be our proof of identity. No more pen-and-ink signatures.

It will certainly be a different world and it pains me to think the kids of today won't be able to read their great-grandmother's letters.

April Fool's Day

Happy April Fool's Day From Wikipedia: April Fools' Day is celebrated in the Western world on the 1st of April of every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a legal holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day which tolerates practical jokes and general foolishness. The day is marked by the commission of good humoured or funny jokes, hoaxes, and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, teachers, neighbors, work associates, etc. Traditionally, in some countries such as New Zealand, the UK, Australia, and South Africa, the jokes only last until noon, and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool".[1] It is for this reason that newspapers in the U.K. that run a front page April fool only do so on the first (morning) edition.[2] Elsewhere, such as in France, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Russia, The Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S., the jokes last all day. The earliest recorded association between 1st April and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392). Many writers suggest that the restoration of the 1st of January as New Year's Day in the 16th century was responsible for the creation of the holiday, but this theory does not explain earlier references. What is the best (harmless) prank you pulled on another?