Back in the Saddle

Image: Witthaya Phonsawat / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I began January by submitting the beginning of a YA set in the Old West. I love how my projects dovetail with each other and with my life. The first connection is that the heroine falls in love with a boy who was adopted into the Shawnee tribe. So how perfectly does that fit with the project I just finished–the 5 vol. Encyclopedia of Native Tribes?

But the connections don’t stop there. My father bought a house in an Arizona ghost town near the Sonora desert. That mining town is now being rehabbed, but I got to see it before it came back. The heroine lives in on a ranch outside town, so I feel I know the area. Walking with forked sticks while watching for rattlesnakes, the scorching sun, the saguaro pointing like fingers toward the sky, the smell of mesquite rising from an open fire. I even spent time on a nearby reservation learning to make pottery. It’s wonderful how life experiences can filter into fiction to make it come alive.

Can’t wait to sit down and finish this one. So many ideas are running through my head. What projects have you started for the New Year? And how do they dovetail with your life?

Ship Ahoy!

Hard to believe it’s been so long since I’ve blogged, but a five-book contract with deadlines a month apart has been grueling.

But I just received word that Pirates 
Through the Ages  is on the way. Yay!! Can’t wait to see how it looks. The editor said it turned out terrific, so I’m excited about holding it in my own two hands. Here’s a mock up of the cover.

Looking back, I wondered while I was immersed in it if I’d manage to get it done by the deadline, but I did. Now I’m wondering the same about my latest assignment. What is it about writers that they’ll put themselves under this much pressure and agree to practically impossible deadlines, then slog through long hours day after day to produce a book? What is it about this profession that’s so compelling? It’s obviously not the money. As most writers discover, this isn’t a lucrative profession. So what do we get besides the pleasure and excitement of holding a book in our hands?

Making Time for Writing

I stumbled on a new blog today that has some great tips for writers. Called Literary Crush, it’s by a fellow Vermont College (can’t help plugging my alma mater) grad, Bethany Dellinger.

I particularly enjoyed her Guiding Principles. If you’re struggling to find time to write each day, you’ll want to check these out.

Are You Feeling Depressed?

I love Eureka! moments. And I had one today. I’ve been sailing along, thinking of how great things have been going.

I’ve tackled lots of projects weighing on my mind by setting aside a Procras- tination Day once a week. I’ve felt lighter and airier without all that guilt holding me back.

I completed a huge assign- ment of 133 articles a week before they were due. (Anyone who knows what a procrastinator I am will realize this was a major victory.) And I completed the art for two book projects within the past two months.

I’m excited about the way my business is going, and I just returned from a terrific conference with Donald Maass that energized me. So why was I feeling so down?

Sure, the weather’s a bit rainy, so it’s dark and depressing outside, but what does that have to do with my internal landscape? Wallowing isn’t usually my nature, but I couldn’t shake this depression that gripped me. I do find, though, when I ask a question out loud, I always get an answer. (And that includes those “Why me,Lord?” ones I sometimes utter.) I don’t necessarily like the response, but it’s always apropos.

Today I asked, “Why am I depressed?”, and got my reply a few minutes later. My Google Alerts, which often drags in many unrelated items, did so again this morning. But I couldn’t resist taking a peek at The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. I’m so glad I did, because I ran across the following sentence:

“I manufactured the stream of painful images because I was feeling good! Some part of me was afraid of enjoying positive energy for any extended period of time.” ~p. 5-6

Talk about a Eureka! moment. I decided to let myself enjoy my successes and positive moments. Not sure if it was coincidence or the power of positive thinking, but the minute I did, the rain cleared up and the day became sunny.

Off into the Wild Blue Yonder

Flying off to PA tomorrow for a conference with 2 CPs. Last year I was speaker. This year I plan to soak up some wisdom and tackle revisions on one of my many manuscripts.

I spend so much time helping other people get their mss in shape, now it’s time to concentrate on mine. Hope to come out of this soaring.

What moves faster: a snail or a glacier?

Do you know? I didn’t. Here’s another fascinating fact I learned as I was researching one of the 266 articles I promised to write by the end of next month. (Yes, I’m certifiably crazy!)

Snails move waaayyy faster than glaciers. The average snail can run rings around a glacier. A snail’s easily more than a hundred times faster…

Now that you know this, don’t you wonder who spent their time conducting races for snails and glaciers? And how long did it take to do the research? If an average glacier moves 6 feet a day, how many glaciers did they have to time and how long did they spend studying each one and averaging the results? And even though snails move faster, conducting snail races to get an average would be time consuming. Bet those researchers got government grants.

Exploring Your Creative Gifts

As I said in a previous post, I’ve heard that the number 11 symbolizes creativity. If that is so, then this year is a year for exploration and creativity. I’d like to focus on ways to open up the creative mind. And what better day to start than 1-11-11? I’ve done a great deal of reading on creativity — my master’s thesis was on stimulating creativity in art education. My premise was that everyone was born an artist (and I believe that applies to music, writing, art, and all other creative endeavors), but that early experiences stunt creativity. In addition to ways to improve art education for school students, a portion of my thesis focused on helping adult regain their creativity.

As a writer and an artist, I surround myself with creative, talented people. And one thing I find is that most of them do not lose their childlike engagement with the world. That, I believe, is one of the most important elements in stimulating creativity—a sense of wonder. A willingness to suspend disbelief, to explore with an open mind.

That is the gift I’d love to give everyone this year.

Ghostwriting

I began a totally new project in December–ghostwriting a romance. I’ve ghostwritten nonfiction, but this is my first attempt at working from someone else’s synopsis. That’s been a challenge.

I find that my brain starts popping out kernels of ideas until I have bowls full of popcorn, but I have to sweep more than half of it in the trash because it doesn’t fit the outline I’ve been given. I’m convinced that my additions would make for a better, stronger story, but they’d take the book in a totally different direction.

I guess writing to a preset outline is good discipline, as is setting aside several hours a day to work on fiction writing, but I wonder if my creative brain will suffer if I constantly ignore its ideas and directives. Any thoughts?

I’m Jealous of Snooki…

Seeing Snooki publish a book with a big New York publishing house when she only read her first book less than a year ago, has me green-eyed. To be truthful, though, I’m not envious of her publishing deal–although I’d love to snag an advance like that, of course.

I’m actually jealous of her prose. In this excerpt, for example, she’s describing a guy’s toned abs: “She could pour a shot of tequila down his belly and slurp it out of his navel without getting splashed in the face.” Wow! Talk about creative. Never in a million years could I have come up with a description like that.

OK, so most of my books are for kids or teens, which means I probably wouldn’t even be thinking along those lines. But it does inspire me to come up with unique twists and turns of phrase for my works in progress. Maybe I could beat Snooki at her own game. One of them, that is.

New Year, New Projects?

So the new year has begun. I once read that the number 11 signifies creativity, so this should be a great year to work on all my creative projects. Just wish I didn’t have so many going at once. Dreaming of babies is also connected with new projects, and I’ve been dreaming a lot about babies too.

I managed to finish my WIP on December 30, which means I can get started on a new book. I also have plenty of manuscripts languishing in the To Be Revised drawer, but a new year seems to call for a brand new start. I have lots of ideas hopping around in my head. It’s just a question of getting them down on paper. And how do I choose which one to start on first? I have several ideas for a romance series and a few for YAs. I also want to tackle a totally new genre–writing a thriller that’s been nagging at me for several months–but am not sure it’s quite ready to be born yet. Or is that fear speaking?

Anyone have any advice on how you choose new projects?