Torn Between Two Loves: ROW80 Check In

Yesterday, I wrote a post comparing writing to love: Falling in Love with Writing. In it, I compared my writing to falling in love. I didn't address the obvious, though: what do you do when you love two projects?

I have two novels I'm working on right now. The first, a follow up to Depression Cookies. For this, I'm teaming up with Mom again. My other one is a departure for me--a young adult novel with a touch of fantasy.

I'm committed to both of these projects, but I'm at a different place with each of them. I find it hard to juggle two books, even though I feel strongly about both of them. I don't even read two books at once. I'm a one book at a time type of lady. Although I admit I'll dream about other books sometimes. ;-)

I see potential in the second story idea, so I'm taking notes and doing some plotting. But every time I sit down to write, the characters from Depression Cookies invade my brain and take over. Then, when I'm working on our follow up, characters and ideas pop into my head for the young adult story. I'm confused.

For those of you who work on multiple projects, how do you keep the characters and stories separate? Can you truly love two projects at once and give enough of yourself to both?

Or maybe I need to love my projects with a mom's heart. Lord knows I manage to love these three equally, wholly, and even when they test me.

Onto ROW80:

A Round of Words in 80 Days, headed by the lovely Kait Nolan, is the writing "challenge that recognizes that I have a life I can’t ditch, but still provides a challenge and the support of a community of others who are working alongside me with their own goal, their own lives, learning to juggle."

My Update

Writing: I've worked a total of four hours on my WIP since Sunday. Everything from planning to writing (and I admit, a bit of editing). I'm excited to see it coming together. Our last book was 176,000 words, and I'm determined to bring this one in under 100,000.

Blogging: Daily and a review on Mom in Love with Fiction. Tomorrow, I'm featuring an interview with Jessica Therrien as well as a review of her debut novel, Oppression. Please stop back by. I met Jessica during the Third Writers' Platform Building Campaign. A great gal.

Editing: Slower progress, but progress. Sometimes I need to step away from sections, to get a clearer perspective. But then I need to reread from the start to truly get back into it. Often it's one step forward, two steps back.

Reading: I've read some great books lately. It's inspiring, but I do wish there were more hours in the day.

Diet & Exercise: Doing better. I need to sign up for more races... it's so motivating, mainly because I don't want to fall on my face.

Round 1 is almost over, so I hope everyone is writing, writing, writing.

Falling In Love with Writing

I read a great post by Ainsley Shay, do you LOVE your book? Ainsley described the process she goes through when writing. Thinking about my own writing process, I realized it's like falling in love. A relationship is formed over time and goes through similar stages.

Love of Books, by Jiri Hodan

First Spark
In the beginning, I'm taken over by the euphoria of love. The idea pops in my head, and I am infatuated. Each day I wake up thinking about it, wondering how I can get through the other parts of my day to spend more time with it. Like any new relationship, it's exciting and makes me feel all gooey inside.

Most projects make it past this point.

The First Fight
At some point, you have your first fight. He wants to go to his mother's for the holidays, but you've already promised your family you'd come there. Or, in the case of writing, a pivotal paragraph you need to sing is whimpering.

The love is still there, but the real work is beginning. For this piece/relationship to mean something, you have to commit to it. Remember what made you fall in love in the beginning.

If you can't remember, this piece may need to be put away for later so you can move onto the newest infatuation in your head.

Finetuning
Or, in the writing world, editing. No matter how great the project, it needs some fixes along the way. Somewhere in the building process, there's room for improvement. The initial love has grown into something deeper. Hopefully, it's strong enough to survive finding a few flaws.

If you survive finetuning, the odds are in your favor.

Commitment
Love. Check. Survived some bumps in the road. Check. Now it's time to commit knowing full well that nothing's perfect. There's no backing away once you've put in this amount of time and energy. You have to trust it, believe in it wholeheartedly.

But like any relationship, sometimes you don't get past the first spark or the first fight. You have to know yourself and trust your heart and instincts. And you have to be careful not to stray to the next pretty thing/thought.

Of course, it's okay to dream up new ideas and take notes. You just can't act on all of them at the same time. *wink*

I recently ran across this quote:

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.

Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum"

Remember, pace don't race. Yes, the euphoria will give you a great headstart. But it's the sweat and tears that make it truly special.

Of course, I'll be rereading this when I have my next fight with my WIP.

When you doubt your relationship with your work in progress, where do you turn?

Introducing Guardian by Rachel Morgan: Debuting Today, March 5, 2012

Today the Creepy Hollow series kicks off with the release of the first story, GUARDIAN!! GUARDIAN introduces readers to the magical world of Creepy Hollow, a realm where fae creatures — both safe and definitely-not-so-safe — dwell. Things are cool as long as the fae stick to their own realm. It's when they find their way into the human world that things start going wrong...


1. Receive assignment.

2. Save a life.

3. Sleep.

4. Repeat.

Protecting humans from dangerous magical creatures is all in a day’s work for a faerie training to be a guardian. Seventeen-year-old Violet Fairdale knows this better than anyone—she’s about to become the best guardian the Guild has seen in years. That is, until one of her assignments—a human boy who shouldn’t even be able to see her—follows her into the fae realm. Now she’s broken Guild Law, a crime that could lead to her expulsion.

The last thing Vi wants to do is spend any more time with the boy who got her into this mess, but the Guild requires that she return Nate to his home and make him forget everything he’s discovered of the fae realm. Easy, right? But Nate and Vi are about to land themselves in even bigger trouble—and it’ll take all Vi’s training to get them out alive.

Buy from Amazon US

Buy from Amazon UK

Buy from Smashwords

The Creepy Hollow Series

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer

Author Info

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+

To find out more about the series, the author, and the characters, check out the blog tour that’s happening over the next two weeks.

Click here for the blog tour schedule

And there is a GIVEAWAY going on at Rachel's blog!

Ready to Mingle: ROW80 & #writemotivation Updates

Mom and I are going to Miami in November! Last year, our novel, Depression Cookies, was awarded the 2011 Reader's Favorite Silver Medal for Realistic Fiction, and the award ceremony is in Miami. We are so excited to mingle with other authors. I'm sure we will walk away with new writer friends and a much longer to-be-read list.

I love my writing communities, but nothing beats being surrounded in person by writers. I haven't been to a conference yet this year, although I'm hoping to remedy that, so I'm especially looking forward to some writer hobnobbing.

Now we just need to get a ROW80/#writemotivation Mix and Mingle scheduled.

Wishing aside, it's time to check in for A Round of Words in 80 Days and #writemotivation. I decided to post my #writemotivation weekly updates on Sunday along with ROW80. I do love efficiency.

First #writemotivation (which is also my "test mile" for ROW80).

1. Work on my WIP for an hour every day, except Sunday. --- DONE+
2. Do client editing work an hour a day, except Sunday. --- DONE + Sunday
3. Read and review a book every 10 days, minimum. --- DONE

Now, ROW80:

Writing: I worked an hour a day on my WIP, if not more. Mom has the chapters (we trade back and forth), so I'm planning and using my note cards. I'm finally finding a system that works... writing first thing.

Blogging: Daily. Didn't mean to, really I didn't. And I posted a new review on Mom in Love with Fiction. Another one is already written and scheduled for Tuesday!

Editing: I'm learning, slowly but surely... writing first, then editing work. It helps me keep the editor turned off during my writing time. Once I'm in the editing groove, it takes over. I'm still behind, but I'm catching up. Barring any new sickness, I should be caught up by the end of the week. (I know, I'm playing with fire by even typing that sentence.)

Social Media: Still getting around to campaigners. Limiting my social media time has done wonders for my productivity, but I admit it... I miss it.

Diet & Exercise: I ran 4 miles yesterday. Plus, I signed up for an 8K next Sunday. Wish me luck! The problem with exercising more, I'm hungry. I have to figure out some good, low calorie snack options.

Speaking of conferences, anyone know of any good ones coming up in the Washington, DC area?

Saturday Snippets: Around Blog World

Happy Saturday! A couple of snippets from our week.

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On Wednesday, February 29, I was interviewed on AuthoPublisher. Please pop over and leave a comment: Up Close and Personal with Tia Silverthorne Bach.

A highlight:

How do you handle negative feedback from critics?
I am an avid reader and have been a dedicated book club member for over ten years. Rarely does my book club agree on a book. It’s a nice reminder that people like different things. If you set out to write a book everyone will like, odds are you’ll write a book few will like. “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” Bill Cosby

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Yesterday, our blog was featured as the Editor's Pick of the Day on Bloggers.

From their site: Bloggers.com is dedicates site for Blog Authors. Blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is Web site with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

Bloggers.com categorizes and highlights Blog Authors' profiles by their interest and contribution - for example some Bloggers publish commentary or news on a particular subject; others maintain blog for personal online diaries. In this site we encourage Bloggers to tell about themselves, share own pictures, share their blog links. We encourage authors of any type of blogs including Textual, art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting), which are part of a wider network of social media. They can also discuss on Micro-blogging sites, another type of blogging, one which consists of blogs with very short posts.

We envision this site like a big cafe where authors can meet each other, send private message and invite friends and relatives.

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Have a lovely weekend!

Celebrating Dr. Seuss & Read Across America Day

It's Dr. Seuss and Read Across America Day!

According to Wikipedia: Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children’s books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone.

Geisel's birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association.

I love Dr. Seuss. Always have.

My daughters and I are celebrating today! First, each daughter will pick their favorite Dr. Seuss book for a Bach read-a-thon (they only have a half day of school today). Then we are going to see The Lorax.

Find some time today to appreciate Seuss and reading in general!

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I wanted to show a little Seuss love by sharing an earlier Seuss post.

From my 11/9/11 post.

"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.

Some come from ahead and some come from behind.

But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see.

Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"

 

In a moment of creativity . . .  I wrote this little diddy with Dr. Seuss still in my head:

Come on, life, throw at me what you will.
My bat is ready and with it my skill.
I will focus on the words and my story to tell.
All of your attempts to stop me, well, they can go to hell.

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What's your favorite Seuss book?

Lessons from Obituaries: Guest Post from Mom (Angela Silverthorne)

Mom's back!!

Several weeks ago, I asked Mom to write a post explaining how she uses the obituaries to find character names (because I've always found it fascinating). I had to twist her arm a bit, okay a lot, but here it is. Enjoy.

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Mom/Nana with Sydney
(Granddaughter #8)
Kate Gresis: Photographer


Obit Primer Reader and More . . .

It’s awkward when your children notice oddities about you that aren’t oddities at all. And then you have to give an explanation to all their whys. And explain what seems strange to some is perfectly normal to others. Then they ask you to blog about it, adding insult to injury. But, I ain’t too proud!

I admit it. I read the obituary column daily. It’s as natural for me as flipping over the newspaper and reading it back to front, the same way I do magazines. The only reading materials I don’t approach this way are books. (Thought I’d head off some dang fool that would inadvertently ask about this one, giving that hawked expression people get when they want to prove you to be slightly off.)

As a child, my Papa would pull me up in his lap every morning and we’d read the newspaper, back to front, ending with the obituary column. This was my daily reading lesson. I only had to read the headlines, but I struggled with foreign names and countries. Papa helped and pushed. I knew if I balked or whined a little, he would excuse me and move on.

The obituaries were always near the front of the paper and undoubtedly my favorite column. As soon as he turned the page to the obits, he announced, “Well, let’s see who died today. That way I’ll know which hadyah (hellraiser) I’ve got to deal with at work!” Then he’d let out a hearty laugh.

I didn’t understand it, but it always sounded upbeat, not morbid at all. After I read the deceased name, I would always pause, waiting for Papa to share something about their life. We lived in a small town in Georgia and Papa knew everyone. Most of the time he started with something positive, “Poor Mae, she tried, but couldn’t win for losing. Had three husbands and not one of them counted for chicken shit.” Then he would apologize for spilling out a bad word, reminding me he wasn’t being discourteous to the dead.

That’s when he’d remind me how the truth can hurt. One day I read off the name Emmitt Grundy. This time, there wasn’t one pause. “Damn fool finally died. The saints rejoice!” Then Papa grabbed the paper out of my small hands, pulled it up close to his spectacles and growled, “Half crazy, hadyah! The batard!”

My eyes were huge, hanging on everything he said—and believe me, when an Acadian-French gets riled up, you better listen close. English vowels and consonants don’t have a chance to come out in any natural linguistic inflection. Rather, his first language erupted in guttural tones, and flailing arms.

By now, I had been expelled from his lap, and he was pacing the floor. I never knew what the ruckus was about, and it didn’t matter. To me, the world had opened up into a giant movie screen, and I had a front row seat!

Years later I asked him about his reaction. He repeated the same thing, this time in English, “Half crazy, hellraiser! The Dog!” But that’s as far as he would elaborate on Emmitt, except to say the sorry SOB was in hell.

The obits were my primer reader, but looking back they became more. When I began writing, character’s names flowed from an arsenal of saints and hooligans taken straight from the obituary column. Names of people I never knew were resurrected into a new life of experiences. Emmitt has had at least three other lives to his credit. And Quillie, from Depression Cookies, claimed another life years after her passing.

During the 15 years I volunteered with Hospice, patient names, personalities and life stories became interwoven into a lot of my writing. In some ways, it makes me feel as if I’ve given them another chance, another round at another life.

So . . . always remember “good men must die, but death cannot kill their names.” (author unknown)

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What are some of your favorite character names (from books or movies)?

Mine: Daisy Fay (Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man) and Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games). Worst: Renesmee (Breaking Dawn).