An Explanation

I'm starting to get phone calls, e-mails, and FB messages from friends who've been concerned by my absence, and I'm thinking this blog is the best venue for an explanation. Ben was in an accident at work three weeks ago, and life has been hectic. It was scary at first, but he's recovering. Aside from some interesting scars, there shouldn't be any lasting damage, and I am SO grateful for that.

He managed to lift 50 pounds with his left arm in physical therapy today (which is a big deal for someone who couldn't even lift his arm a couple of weeks ago), so the doctor has released him to return to work. 

For those of you who already knew and are just reading this for an update, thank you for your prayers and your help. I have the best family and friends. I really do. 

And that goes for those of you who are just finding out as well. It's not your fault it's taken me this long to say something. If it makes you feel better, you can still pray for him. I'm sure that would make him feel better. :o)  

Seriously, though: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

Choosing Happiness Over Money

When I was at BYU, my favorite writing professor and I debated this topic more than once. He believed that most people live unhappy lives, trapped by their circumstances. I would concede that everyone has to deal with unfavorable circumstances, but that (in our country, at least) our happiness or lack thereof is determined by our choices.

I still believe that. Envy, guilt, fear, loneliness, anger, habit . . . there are probably more bad reasons to make a choice than there are good ones, but I don't think it is ever too late to choose compassion and courage, to lift others, to find something you are passionate about and throw yourself into it. I will probably never have a lot of money, but I am happy. When I was younger, I wanted to be a mother, a teacher, and I wanted to be a writer. There were a lot of other things I wanted to be and do, but those three were important. So, I made choices that lead me to a place where they would always be important.

I have this amazing critique partner named Adam Heine. Adam and his wife foster orphans in Thailand. She teaches dance, he while writes novels and is a designer/writer for computer games. They are making a huge difference in the lives of the children they love, and I believe they are happy.

Actually, all of my critique partners are people who have chosen happiness over money. It's one of the things that drew me to them.

I came across this video earlier today, which was the catalyst for this post. It's pretty awesome.

In the comments, if you'd be willing to share a choice you've made that is still making you happy, I'd love that. And if you'd like to share more than one, go for it!

Fairy Tale Variations

Over the course of the last several months, I've been outlining a fairy tale retelling. It had been a long time since I'd read the fairy tale, but I thought it was a little known variation of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Nope. With a little help from my mother-in-law, I discovered that the tale is actually called The Unusual Nightingale. And while there are quite a few retellings of East of the Sun, West of the Moon, I haven't been able to find one for The Unusual Nightingale.

Yes, this makes me happy.

Why did I make the mistake in the first place? There are a lot of similarities between the two fairy tales. The Unusual Nightingale begins more like Beauty and the Beast, but the ending is more like East of the Sun, West of the Moon. And the story that I've been outlining isn't really any of them. It has bits of a nursery rhyme and an old story that inspired Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, and I'm searching for a historical culture that I can anchor it in. I don't know how much of the fairy tale will be left when I've written and revised it, but it's a good place to begin. How many variations of Cinderella are there?

Do YOU have a favorite fairy tale?

Elizabeth Gilbert's Take on Creative Genius

This TED video isn't new, but it was exactly what I needed this week. If you have a little while, it's worth watching.

I don't talk about inspiration on here often, because I worry that someone who hasn't experienced it will think I'm being weird. When I write poems or picture books, they tend to come all at once; if I don't write the idea as a whole, I can't go back and capture the unfinished part. That doesn't mean that I'll never have a chance to capture that idea again, but if I'm to get it right, I'll have to start over; it won't be the same.

But when you have children and friends, you get interrupted. And I love my husband, but he is more likely to interrupt my work-in-progress than to protect me from interruptions. *waves to husband* And this is okay. It just makes capturing those fleeting ideas more challenging.

Writing a novel is a more forgiving process for me. I can stop in the middle of scene and come back to it, though it's still easier for me to write from the beginning of a scene to the end. I know that not all writers are like this, though. Some leave scenes unfinished so that they'll have something to work on when they come back. And in theory, that's a great idea. It just doesn't work as well for me.

What about you? Do you have something that's hard to finish once it's been interrupted?

Revision: Going from Blah to Hilarious

I'm just going to let you watch the video. This episode of Studio C shows how throwing something unexpected into a story line makes it funny. And let's be honest, we all like funny.



Happy Wednesday!

The Next Big Thing

Two of my critique partners (Adam Heine and Krista Van Dolzer) tagged me last fall for The Next Big Thing. It's taken me a while to put it together, but here it is! :o)

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:  (Has anyone else noticed there are eleven?)

What is your working title of your book?   The Binder's Web

Where did the idea come from for the book?    A dream

What genre does your book fall under?     YA fantasy

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? I'm not a movie buff, and I wouldn't actually want to cast my characters. I'd want someone who knew what they were doing to cast them. That said, I put a lot of thought (more than I should have) into choosing the following actors. I didn't just choose them because they looked like a certain character, though that certainly played a part. I've never done this before, and I don't know if I'll do it again, but this exercise did help me see which characteristics were essential.

Casting:                        Actors:                                   Roles I've seen them play:
Princess Caryn:           Jessica Brown Findlay          Lady Sybil Crawley (Downton Abbey)
Thea:                            Amanda Seyfried                   Cosette (Les Miserables)
Brasil:                           Charlie McDonnell                 Not really an actor, but so much like Brasil
Prince Lael:                  Aaron Tveit                            Enjolras (Les Miserables)
First Captain Evan:       Martin Freeman                     Bilbo (The Hobbit)
King Caradoc               Gerard Butler                         The Phantom (The Phantom of the Opera)
Queen Meriele              Robin Wright                          Princess Buttercup (The Princess Bride)
Prince Gwain                James McAvoy                     Max (Penelope)
King Rian:                    Sean Bean                              Boromir (The Lord of the Rings)
Queen Artis                  Catherine O'Hara                   Mom (Home Alone) (Penelope)
Yenifer                          Nicole Kidman                        Where would I start?
Yenifer's assassin       Jamie Campbell Bower           Gellert Grindelwald (Harry Potter)

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Caryn, Princess of Glenwys, needs to enlist the sea serpents and unite the four kingdoms of Serpent Isle against the coming invasion fleet, but her plans go awry when the serpents refuse her and a family ghost reveals its alliance with the enemy.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?  I will query agents with it.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?  About six months

May we see an intro?  No.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Tamora Pierce's TRICKSTER'S CHOICE, Sarah J. Maas's THRONE OF GLASS, Robin McKinley's Damar books, and Shannon Hale's ENNA BURNING

Who or what inspired you to write this book? It started out as a story inside Star Swans, but it kept growing. The story inspired itself. It came as a dream, and once I started writing it out, it wouldn't settle for being a little piece of a larger story.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest? Hmm. The Drowned Caverns look like the islets in the top picture of Wikipedia's Phang Nga Bay entry. However, the isle itself started out as an old map of Wales that I amputated from Great Britain. It's changed since then, but I kept some names.

Now for the fun part: You're it!

Kristin Gray
Amy Sonnichsen
Jackee Alston
And seriously, if you're reading this and would like to participate, consider yourself tagged. Please leave a link to your answers in my comment section! I want to read them. :o)

***
Rules of The Next Big Thing:

*Use this format for your post
*Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
*Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:

What is your working title of your book?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? May we see an intro?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged. Be sure to line up your five people in advance.

A Little Success, A Little Failure

So on Friday, when I went to the post office to get my mail, I had something exciting in my box.

Yes, that would be my sixth contract with Highlights for Children. :o) Yes, I am totally smiling right now. I actually wrote "Apples" a couple of years ago, but at that point it didn't feel finished. I set it aside. I set a lot of things aside, some big, some small, hoping that at some point I'll figure out how to revise them. I'd picked it up several times since then, but it wasn't until this past November that something clicked. I submitted it and waited.

During the time that I waited, I revised TBW two more times and sent it out to a couple of my critique partners. In my last draft, I moved the beginning (again) and used flashbacks to convey backstory. I cut a lot of old stuff, added a lot of new stuff, and moved large chunks around. I went over and over it to make sure the pieces fit, but it ended up not working for either of my readers. And going back over the beginning with their notes, I agree with them. I need to put the story back in chronological order, but there are quite a few changes that I want to keep from the same draft. Huge changes. Sorting out the first half of the manuscript won't be easy, but hopefully my next draft will be a thing of beauty and coherence. ;o)

Little successes. Little failures. They're all learning experiences, and I'm thankful for the feedback my editors and critique partners give me. They (and experience) are my teachers.

Thank YOU for reading my blog, for your encouragement and discussion. It helps. :o)