Tree Climbing and Novel Writing

My daughter is up in a tree. She can't figure out how to get past this one spot. She refuses to back down, and thinks through the problem, determined to go up and up until she reaches her goal.

I'm high up in word count, revision status, etc. I can't seem to get past this one spot. I refuse to go back, because I've done it too many times before. I think through the problem, determined to go up and up until I've reached my goal.

After my daughter can see over the roof of our house, and she climbs high enough to see Puget Sound (actually on of the bays), she asks if I can see her waving at me. I see a golden halo of her blonde hair against the branches of the tree and a flicker of movement. She starts to carefully climb down.

I'm nearing the end of my 100 Days of Revision. I'm not as far as I want to be. I have to get past through the last through rough branches in my story so I can see the horizon line at the end. Afterwards, I plan to ask for some editorial help for that careful climb down through the last bits of story.

My daughter is exhilerated from her tree climbing, and I hope I'll feel that way soon about my writing. At the moment, I've got tree sap and bits of bark clinging to my clothes, and I'm fighting a tangle of branches.

Ever climbed a tree and gotten stuck? Been in a sticky place in your story?
Do you refuse to back down or keep climbing?

Oh, and I'll only be around this morning early and maybe late tonight - it's my tree climbing daughter's birthday today. She's 11 and full of adventure.

Distracting Characters 2 - Backstory for Captain Wrath

One of my biggest distractions these last three months (or is it more) is a space captain by the name of Captain Wrath. Only that's not his real name, because that's just a part he plays for Galaxy Cruise Lines. His real name is Captain Doug, and the whole reason he had to get a job with the cruise line is that he got kicked out of the Space Navy due to an incident with a Leprecharian . . .and I got to wondering just what happened (I didn't really know when I wrote the first story). So here's the start of that distracting story:

          It all started innocently enough, with a card game in the barracks during off hours. Doug was winning. His side of the table held a dozen credit cards, and a few watches. Doug loved card games. His Grandad, Commander Cranton the first, had taught him all the tricks before he even started standard school. He knew that some people felt that counting cards and reading player’s faces was tantamount to cheating, but he figured that if they all played to their fullest ability, then he shouldn’t have to hold back. Besides, it was easy. Any fool smart enough to make it into the Spacy Navy should be able to do it.

          Unfortunately, the Space Navy admitted even bigger fools, like Reynad from the Eutrope Moon Colony.

          As Doug won another game, sweeping up the cards from the table, Reynad stood up, and knocked the whole table onto Doug’s lap.

          “You’re cheating, Cranton, just like your Grandad!” shouted Reynad. He clenched his oversized fists in Doug’s face.

          Reynad’s buddies, Lewis and Zib, stood up to grab Reynad’s shoulders and hold him back.

          If Reynad had simply called Doug a cheater, he would have let it go. But Reynad had maligned Grandad. Doug stood slowly, put all of his winnings into his zipper pocket on the inside of his vest, and rolled up his shirt sleeves slowly. “Would you like to air your grievances outside, Reynad?” he asked quietly.

          “You bet I would!” shouted Reynad. He seemed to have only two volumes for his voice, oily and snobbish, or loud and boorish.

          “Would anyone care to wager on the outcome?” asked Doug, looking around the crowded barracks.

          “You’re going to bet on your own fight?” asked Wistar, his Elvanen friend, who stood taller and leaner than the rest.

          “Well, that would be cheating,” said Doug slowly, “so of course not.” He smiled at Reynad. “But if you,” now he looked at Wistar and their other friend Smith, “would like to place a wager on me, I’m sure you’ll get your money’s worth out of it.”

          Smith chuckled darkly. He always seemed to find grim humor in every situation. It had made him a fast friend in their first few days in Space Navy Scrub Camp.

          “I’ll place a bet,” said a high pitched voice.

          Doug, along with the rest of the barracks, peered around for the speaker. He didn’t recognize that voice.

          “Ahem,” said the voice. “Down here by your boot. No, don’t step on me now!”

          Doug finally saw the little man, dressed in a violent shade of green, standing by his right calf. “Who are you?” he asked curiously. “I don’t remember seeing you in our unit before.”

          “As if a leprechanarian could be a Space Navy Captain?” guffawed Reynad, insensitively.

          The little man drew up himself up proudly, sticking out his tiny chest. “The Leprechanarian Space Fleet is the finest in the Universe, and I am Captain Elwy Eurion Maddox of the Star Voyager.”

          “Sure, and I’m a fire breathing draconian if you’re the captain of anything larger than your silly hat,” Said Reynad.

          “That’s enough, Reynad,” said Doug. “Just because the man wants to bet against you, doesn’t mean he deserves an insult. In fact, I think he deserves commendation for having a sharp eye.” Doug reached down to shake Captain Elwy’s hand in his fingers.

          “Nice to make your acquaintance, Captain Elwy,” he said.

Obviously things will get worse from here because Doug eventually blames the Leprechanarians for losing his place in the Space Navy. In the far future - beyond the snippets I've written, I have a half-notated scene about an eventual peace between Doug and some of the Faerie Galaxy - and a reason they're in space. You see, the idea is that all the myths, faeries, etc were all space-faring races that visited Earth before we become space travelers in this quirky scifi fantasy.

100 Days of Revision, Day 50
 I changed a few little things again, and I think it's making the story stronger, it's just taking me longer to get it done. Here's a bit of dialogue between Clara and Stelia (one of her favorite teachers) on a trail away from Skycliff:

Stelia looked down at the sand path, strewn with dead sea grasses and tiny rocks. “That will depend on Sihrqayya’s plans, although I’m sure that if we are allowed to escape here, she will be waiting for us later, depending on how far we go from Septily.”

          “Does she normally set traps?”

          “She loves to play with her prey, once she sure she has them in her grasp. It is one of the trademarks of all the Dark Sisterhood. They enjoy inflicting pain on others.” Stelia’s stomach muscles clenched remembering old tortures, and the things she had done to avoid them.

So, what are you working on today?

Flash Fiction Blogfest: Lighting Flashed!

Last year in May, Cherie Reich hosted a Flash Fiction Blogfest. She enjoyed it so much, she decided to host it again this year.

Here are the rules:

1. Entries must begin with the two words: Lightning flashed.

2. Entries must be 300 words or less and be in prose. I'm not versed enough in poetry verse to judge it properly.

3. Entries must be posted on your blog between May 21 - 23.

4. You must sign up in the linky on her site.

On May 25, she will announce the six finalists and open voting through May 28th.

On May 29th, Cherie's third year blogversary, she will announce the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners as well as a random winner selected from the participants list. All ties will be broken by Random.org.

Now what are the prizes?

First place - $25 gift card from Amazon
Second place - $20 gift card from Amazon
Third place - $15 gift card from Amazon
Random prize - $10 gift card from Amazon

My entry: Captain Wrath Goes Camping

                Lightning flashed. Captain Wrath, aka Douglas Cranton, cursed loudly to satisfy his paying passengers, and then stumped over to his tent. Galaxy Cruise Lines had decided in their universal wisdom to add an overnight excursion to the Western Edge tours. In addition to the garish costume, foul makeup and other discomforts lavished on Douglas by his employers, the whole Smuggler’s Cove Excursion on the newly synthed Looter’s Island had nearly forced Doug to break his employee contract.

                Thankfully, Doug had wrangled a few perks out of management, like his Captain’s tent placed on the best campsite under a large canopy tree. In rotten weather like this, he could slip into the large tent and hope that the company didn’t spring any surprise excursion adventures upon him.

                A shrill scream interrupted his momentary hope.

Doug drew his pistol-blasters and threw open the tent flap. The lanterns in the camp were all out, and only the wind driven rain greeted him. With the moon hidden behind the thick clouds, he couldn’t see anything.

                Doug stepped away from his tent, not wanting the light to make him a target. In the shadows of the canopy tree, he listened carefully for sounds of his crew. A silky murmur emanated from the tree behind him, and slender hands ran down his back.

                “What the devil!” Doug shouted, jumping away from the hands.

                A beautiful Dryadarian barely covered in brown bark smiled seductively at him. “Don’t you want to have a little fun, Captain Wrath? Your passengers are all taken care of . . .

                With a flick of his thumb, Doug changed the cartridge in his pistol, and shot her with universal sleeping gas.

                She crumpled to the ground, and he stepped into the dense foliage.

Time to rescue his passengers again.

               

author note: I had so much fun with Captain Wrath for a previous blog challenge, that I decided to use him again. If you want to read my original Captain Wrath story, go here: The Identity Crisis of Captain Wrath

100 Days of Revision, Day 21

Had a bit of slow down this weekend - my Sundays have been incredibly fun and busy lately, but I'm back into it today. This process isn't quite what I had planned for it to be; I'm spending a few hours at it on some days, and short bits of time on it on other days, but I'm trying to keep this in the forefront of my writing time.

RAOK and a simple poem

To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are hosting a Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. There are industry giveaways, and cool prizes, but I think the best part of this Blitz is simply the act of sharing kindness. Kindness rocks!!!

Think about the writers and bloggers who have kindly shared their wisdom, thoughts, enthusiasm, and encouragement with you.

Think about the writers and bloggers who are newer to this whole blogging world.

Think about a post you've read that made your day, or a tweet you heard that made you want to reach out and encourage someone else.

Then . . . spring a Random Act of Kindness on those bloggers. Write a post, share the love. Encourage, give thanks!

For starters, I would like to say that if you are reading this, consider yourself a recipient of RAOK from me and if I could link you all, I would.

However, there a few bloggers that I'm going to highlight, just because they've stood out to me in some way:

Karen Lange at Write Now has shared kindness, wisdom, and encouragement with me from the beginning days of my blog. I really appreciate her, and give thanks for her.

Alex J. Cavanaugh walks the walk every day with encouragement and kindness. He gives shout outs for new bloggers and new authors every day.

Angela Brown is a blogger I met recently through A to Z, and I think her writing is stellar, and her kindness is obvious in all her posts.

Tara Tyler at Tara Tyler Talks and Unicorn Bell makes me laugh, inspires me with her fun posts, and always gives an encouraging word when she stops by a blog.

Laurel at Laurel's Leaves writes beautiful, thought-provoking posts.

Carol at Artzicarol Ramblings gives helpful insights into writing and editing.

Emily at Get Busy Writing makes my day with fun, and thoughtful posts on writing and life.

Angie at Notes from the Writing Chair has been an encouragement to me many times, and she is currently touring her book!

Susan Kaye Quinn is an awesome resource for writing encouragement and a look at the whole portfolio of the writing industry: indie, big pub, and small pubs. Plus, her new book, Closed Hearts is being released 5/23!!!

Between Burgers and Writing by Jeffrey Beesler is the BEST post I've read all week. Really. It is an awesome tribute to burgers and writing. You MUST read it. And I just randomly found it.

I could go on, and on, blogland is full of amazing, kind, encouraging bloggers!

100 Days of Revision, Day 18 Update
Writing is awesome!!! Revision is awesome too! I'm really getting my WIP whipped into shape, and although I still have major work to do, and I've made some mistakes in my revision process (you'll see my overworked first page at Artzicarol Ramblings next week), I'm still excited and feeling good about revision this time around. I'm also taking some time to scout out publishers, and agents, and research indie publishing too. It's an exciting time.

Changes in my Upcoming Posts (there's a lot going on)
Flash Fiction Blogfest on Monday (the same as before)
Critique at Artzicarol, and Closed Hearts Celebration for Susan Kaye Quinn (new Wednesday)
Wise and Beautiful Editors Who Say No? (moved to Monday)
Wise and Beautiful Editors Who Say Yes (same on Wednesday)

Oh, and I planned a poem today (previously on my facebook page in a moment of whimsy)

Waterfall

standing on my deck

 with my eyes closed, I can
almost imagine

 I'm standing

in the midst of
a waterfall

 the sound of rain on leaves all

around is almost the same

The Most Beautiful Words and the Hardest Words

Some of the the most beautiful words to find in the morning lurking in my inbox:

“Dear Tyrean Martinson,

Congratulations! We are happy to tell you that we have decided to publish your story/poem . . .”

Some of the hardest words to find in the morning lurking in my inbox:

“Dear Tyrean,

Thank you for your submission.

Unfortunately it has not been successful on this occasion and we will not be using it.”

The question is:  do I let words like these affect my writing, or my day?

Well . . . yes, I do. I can’t seem to help it. The best words fill me with a sense of elation and excitement, happiness, giddiness, the desire to shout from the rooftops, or at least from a facebook post. I carry the words around with me all day, and rejoice over them, again and again.

The worst words are the ones I try to shrug off and say don’t matter. Or I try to tell myself they don’t matter with things like . . . “Oh, well, I didn’t really work on that story that long, or that much. I didn’t really expect it to make it. So it’s all right. No big deal. Another day, another story, I can submit something again soon.” But still, lurking in the back of my mind is . . . “They didn’t like my writing. Does my writing suck? Is my writing good enough? Should I have spent more time on that piece? How much time is enough? If I can’t sell a short story, will I be able to sell my novel?

Thankfully I received these two letters in reverse order, with the rejection letter first - one week ago, and the acceptance letter second, yesterday. So, for the moment, I'm flying on elation and excitement, and these words keep looping in my head:

“Congratulations! We are happy to tell you that we have decided to publish your story/poem . . .”

I love, love, love those words.

The moral of my story is: I wouldn’t receive those wonderful, glorious, beautiful acceptance letter words if I didn’t keep submitting my work time after time, month after month, determined to find a market for my poetry and short stories.

I have to write, revise, and submit my work on the days that I find success.

I have to write, revise, and submit my work on the days that I find rejection.

I have to write, revise, and submit when my inbox is full of chatty letters and advertisements and I’m still waiting to hear back from publications.

Write, revise, submit. Repeat x infinity.

News in Blogland

RAOK - Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are hosting Random Acts of Kindness this week. Check it out to celebrate kindness in the bloggy world. Two Kindness Gurus I want to highlight for just a moment today: Karen Lange at Karen Lange, and Alex J. Cavanaugh. These two bloggers have encouraged me and many others. (more about them and their rockin' kindness on Friday)

Flash Fiction Blogfest - Cherie Reich is hosting her second annual Flash Fiction Blogfest on Monday!

Upcoming Posts :

Poetry and Thankfulness (Friday)
Flash Fiction Blogfest (Monday)
Wise and Beautiful Editors Who Say NO? (Wednesday)
Memorial Day Post (Monday the 28^th)
Wise and Beautiful Editors Who Say YES! (Wednesday the 30th)

100 Days of Revision Day 16 Update

I've made changes, and keep making them, but I am very happy with my novel at the moment. I know it's not perfect, but I'm loving my characters right now, and revision is going slowly but well. Yesterday I think I only worked on four paragraphs, but I think I fixed some character issues . . .so it's good. Today maybe I'll get through 1,000 words or so . . .I hope.

Oh, Those High School Dances!

Oh, Those High School Dances! Blog Hop is the brainchild of hosts Kelly and Emily, and looked like too much fun not to join.

Here are the rules for participation:
1. Post pictures of your high school dances. (Make sure you tell us which one is you if they're group pictures.)
2. Share with us your funniest high school dance story.
3. That's it!

There are three categories to win prizes.

The three categories are:
1. Best Dressed
2. Funniest Dance Story
3. Cutest Couple

A little heads up before you dive into the photos here: I had a hate/love relationship with high school. There were moments I hated, and moments I loved. One of the many reasons I homeschool my kids is to protect them from the seriously painfully boring moments of public school, and from the trials of bullying (which I feel is a byproduct of public school's "lord of the flies" social system).

However, I loved school dances. Not because I often had dates. I usually didn't. I went to all the "non-formal" dances with my friends, and even sometimes all by myself - usually I ran into someone I knew who I could hang out with. I just liked to jump up and down to music. Seriously. I was that nerdy kid who stood right next to the speakers, and danced all night long and considered the slow songs to be a perfect opportunity to take a restroom break. When I did want to dance during a slow song, I asked guys to dance with me. Some of them said no. Some said yes. But I didn't wait for them. If I had, I wouldn't have danced. Sorry, for you guys out there, but some of you are too slow, or too picky in your dance partners. 


 A few weeks before my senior year Homecoming, sulking because the first guy I asked said no, I was stopped in the hallway by my friend Gabe, who was determined to break me from my poutiness. She knew that a mutual friend of ours, and a guy that I had always admired but was "just friends" with, had also been rejected by the one he had asked. So, Gabe pulled me along the hallway until we met up with Tor, and said something along the lines of, "Tor, Tyrean has something to ask you about Homecoming." (I did? Oh...) and I can't remember what I actually said, but it was a pretty bad invitation, in the midst of which I realized I was actually nervous and his answer mattered. (Maybe I liked him more than I previously thought?)

His answer, "Yes, but I'm not renting a tux," with a mischevious smile.

(Hmm, what did he mean by that? )

No matter, I was giddily happy, and when the night arrived, I was nervous. Very nervous. I went to pick him up (yes, I did the driving), his dad sat me down on the couch and proceeded to ask me questions. His dad happened to be the assistant football coach at our high school, taught martial arts, and was generally intimidating even on his nicest days. I was terrified. "Oh, yes, I'll have him home by midnight," I promised. Then his mom came in and rescued me with a laugh, and welcoming smile, chiding her husband for bothering me.

Then Tor came into the room, and wow, he looked sharp and handsome!

He didn't rent his tux, he owned one! (passed down to him from his grandfather)

And I'm not going to get into the details of the evening after that, but I will say it was the best date I had in high school. Tor and I didn't become an item, mainly because I was completely clueless, but we did have one wonderful evening. (and it wasn't the best date of my life, just high school - added for the sake of my green hubster)

Plus, we had an awesome group of friends to hang out with for most of the evening. Please note that the two girls in red weren't dating each other, but they had dresses and no dates, so they came along for the fun (the rest of us wouldn't let them stay home that night and feel sad). Oh, and yes, I'm really short, and I generally had tall friends.

So, next up, Senior Prom. Again, I asked someone, and again I was rejected. There were four other guys I almost asked, but didn't . . . including Tor. (long story of somehwat painful cluelessness there) But my friend Gabe, the same who induced me to ask Tor to Homecoming, told me in no uncertain terms that I would be going to our Senior Prom, no matter what. It turned out that our friends, Trina (in the white dress) and Liza (in the black dress that you really can't see here) both had guys stand them up at the last minute. Seriously, guys who said they would go, and then backed out! The nerve!) Anyway, Gabe and her date Greg (who I knew well since he was one of my neighborhood friends), shared their evening with the three dateless amigoes, and for that I will always be very, very thankful. You see, even though I had a rebellious streak, I couldn't see going to the Senior Prom all by myself. I just felt that would be too hard, even if I did already have tickets. (I was determined to go, even if I was scared of going alone.)

Part of my high school counter culture rebellion included wearing my black high tops everywhere, with everything during my senior year. Why? Because I liked them, and no one else did. I know that in the 80's they were featured in magazines, but trust me when I say that at my small town hick high school, girls did not wear high tops with dresses. Well, except for this girl.

Yes, I had a super bad perm, and I look pretty dorky, but I still love this picture. I love my beautiful friends, and my shoes, and the attitude I had that night. I was going to have fun, no matter what. And I did. I had an awesome time. I danced until the dj packed up his gear. Two guys that seemed far out of my league danced with me because they liked my shoes. When a couple of people verbally harassed me (yes, I was insulted and bullied at every high school event) I laughed at them. I couldn't believe they thought they could hurt my joy.

Even on Monday morning, at school, when a girl walked up to me and streamed obscenities at me and then proceeded to tell me that I ruined her senior prom with my shoes, I couldn't help but smile.

For me, going to Senior Prom, in those shoes, with my awesome friends, made me feel like I had conquered all that was bad in high school. I felt invincible.




Day 9 of 100 days of Revision Update
I admit it. I got up late and scoured my house for pictures for this blogest, and I haven't done any revision today. Aaah! However, yesterday I had met my word count revision goal, and I know I can do the same today. It just might not be until tonight when my kids are in dance class. I did do something I hadn't planned though - I changed the first three chapters (again). However, I managed to do it in a way that will coincide with chapter four pretty nicely. From here on out, it's just polish time.

IWSG and Day 2 of 100 Days of Revision

Many thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh, the super ninja captain of the Insecure Writer's Support Group!

The reality is, many of us, would not have the encouraging support group of blog followers we have, if it were not for the amazing efforts of Alex, and those like him . . .like Arlee Bird and his fantastic team from the A to Z Challenge. They aren't just blog hosts, they are super encouraging blog buddies and supporters of their fellow writers. I know A to Z is done, but I am still feeling incredible thankful for their efforts.

Another blogger that I am thankful for is Karen Lange from Write Now. One of my first followers, and one of the first encouagers I met in the blogging world, I am super excited to have her guest post tomorrow. Please stop by and see what she has to say about the Great Blogging Adventure!

The reality is we all need encouragement. Although we may have some romantic idea of a starving novelist in a garret room with just a small slit of a window writing the world's best novel on an old typewriter, or with pen on scattered sheets of scrap paper, the reality is, we need each other. We need encouragement, feedback, and support.

So I highly encourage you to go and be an encouragement to your fellow writers with IWSG, or through your blog!!! and I highly encourage you to keep writing, keep revising, keep building a foundation under your dreams!

And for fun, check out Nate Wilson's Robot Haiku Contest!

100 Days of Revision Update
What is 100 Days of Revision? It's my personal goal to finish revising The Crystal Sword, and have it ready to go out into the world of beta readers, and query letters.
I started May 1st, and I'll finish on August 8th.
I'm not going to post every day on my progress, but when I post, I'll include my progress so far.

Day 2 Progress: 1,600 words in, and I've revised the first three scenes at least three times. I think they are "worthy" enough to be put aside, so I can move on to chapter 2 or . . .possibly skip to the end. I feel like I need to get my bookends in place before I can straighten and polish the vast middle.