Friday (Is It Friday Already?) Four

1. 48,000 words and counting on NaNo. In the midst of the climax and so close to the finish line I could spit over it. Why is THIS the hardest point to keep going?

2. American Thanksgiving has me thinking of all the many things I'm thankful for. Right now I'm thankful for mandarin oranges, cold mornings where I get to stay inside, and my blog and book readers. In no particular order...

3. I'll be raising the price slightly on my nonfiction book, WRITING WITH A HEAVY HEART. I admit, before I published it, I hadn't done a lot of research into pricing. I just knew that $2.99 was the threshold with Amazon to put me in the higher royalty-earning bracket for ebooks. I've since done more research and found that most writing craft books are priced significantly higher. WRITING WITH A HEAVY HEART will still be very much still on the low end, and I'm okay with that because I'm not doing much marketing, hoping the low price will make it appealing, and also it's not a terribly lengthy book.

But...if you are a blog reader of mine and are still wanting a copy (or want to get a copy for a writer-friend for Christmas), click the link above to get it at the lower price before it goes up.

4. My son turned nine while we were away on holidays. People say it goes fast--raising children--but holy cow! I'll be spending my time this weekend trying to keep my sanity around a group of nine year olds. Any ideas for indoor party games for this age? So far I have them building and decorating marshmallow men and playing pirate charades, but it's supposed to rain, so I'm open to other ideas.

Happy weekend, my friends!

Wow, It's Been A While...

I guess I've kind of dropped the ball on blogging lately, huh? I have a few decent excuses.

First, I'm still working hard at NaNoWriMo. Since November 1st I have written just over 47,000 words on a new YA novel! I don't like to talk about my novels too much before they're written, but since this one is close to being done, I'll tell you a couple little tidbits. It's tentatively titled TENT and it's about a girl named Delaney who gets caught up in the world of religious tent meetings and unwanted miracles. I'm having fun researching this one, and especially researching the location. It's set in South Carolina. My fingers are crossed that I'll get a chance to visit there at some point during the writing/revising process.

Secondly, we took a family vacation this month to Florida! I've been looking forward to this trip for a long time (years) but we ended up booking the actual dates very last minute. And yes, I kept writing on my NaNo project every day on vacation. At least a little.

I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan (*cringes away from all the people who want to hit me*) but I must say, the Harry Potter ride at Universal is probably the best ride I've been on. That, or Expedition Everest.

They really do things up big in Florida (besides the ride, the Harry Potter castle was quite amazing.)

We spent all of our ten days away pretty much walking. And walking. And more walking. My feet and back are tired, but it was a very satisfying and fun vacation.

Then on the way home we had something really cool happen. We had a 3 hour layover in the Dallas airport. None of us were all that happy to be stuck there, but we chilled out in the little food fair in the airport terminal. My husband kept saying that a guy at the table behind us looked like Toby Mac - who is my son's favorite musician. It turned out it WAS Toby Mac, and not only that, but he came over and complimented my son on his shoes.

My son told us later that in a group class he goes to each week, his teacher asked everyone what they would wish more more than anything else in the world. My son said he wished he could meet Toby Mac!

So right up until the end it was a fun and exciting vacation for us. Life is always busy getting caught up after being out of town, but I hope to be around more on the blog in the next while. I'll also be holding some upcoming giveaways and such once I get organized.

Hope everyone else has had a great November!

ETA: Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends!! Please enjoy an extra serving of stuffing and pumpkin pie for me :-)

#Nanowrimo Tips

The question I get asked beyond any other at this time of year is this: How the H E Double Hockey Stick do you write a book so fast?

Well, I've done this for a few years and seem to get faster and faster each year, so I do have a few tips.

1. Write before you do anything else each day. Once your brain gets busy with other things, be it making your kids breakfast or getting dressed or even making coffee. When your brain is still hazy from sleep, it is much closer to The Creative Zone. Use that time to your advantage. And then come back later and write another chunk of words. And maybe one more. Make these junks manageable--something you can do in 20 minutes to half an hour. Then it won't feel like such a burden or obstacle to your day.

2. Make a plan with your family. Once my family understood how important to me it is to write before I do anything else, they started to back off from talking to me or asking me for things. If you involve them as part of your plan for writing your novel, they may be more receptive to helping you.

3. Don't say you can't think of anything to write. Try not to even think those words, but above all else, don't say them. Even if you really CAN'T think of anything to write, make yourself a deal that you'll sit down and start anyway. You'll be amazed after typing a first sentence (even if it's "I don't know what Character is going to do now, but it's sure to be something!") I guarantee, your second sentence will come easier. And the next one, easier than that. The act of writing, whether by pen or computer, gets the brain to hand connection going. It's like opening floodgates. Only a little water gets through at first, but if you keep going, soon it's gushing through.

4. Jot down scene ideas when you're not writing. If you at least have a scene in mind that you want your character to head toward, it will help keep your momentum going and won't leave you staring at a blank page, wondering which direction to go.

5. Do something else creative. Creativity breeds creativity. Whether you paint or draw or dance or sing or write a poem or act out charades for your friends, if you do something else creative, it will help get the juices flowing.

That's just a few tips for today. I admit, I also type very fast, but that wasn't something I was born with. Ten years ago, I pecked with two fingers. I practice.  A lot.

If you have other Nano tips, I'm always excited to hear them. I want to grow better and make this less and less painful each year!

Friday Four!

1. Check out my Nanowrimo widget! ---------->
So far, so good! As I think of little tidbits that help me along the ways, I'm posting them on Twitter under #nanowrimotips.

2. We gave up on toilet training our cat. At least for now. She found her litter pan stashed in the basement, and has been using that exclusively. She's such a good kitty that we don't want annoy her by forcing her out of her toileting comfort zone. Plus, on the bright side, we have our second toilet back!

3. If you're around the Vancouver area, I'll be part of an AWESOME teen author event at the North Vancouver Public Library tomorrow, including Eileen Cook, Mindi Scott, Catherine Knutsson, and Joelle Anthony. Check out this link for more info.

4. I posted a few of these on Facebook, but I wanted to share some pictures from an amazing local pumpkin artist. Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween (and my heart went out to all those in New Jersey who were/are still without power. I hope you are finding ways to stay safe and warm!).

Ready for #NaNoWriMo ?

I should probably be thinking about getting my son's Snake Eye's costume ready for Halloween. But no. My mind is on NaNo. I plan to spend the day reading through my outline, crossing my fingers I'll actually like it (I haven't looked back at it in several weeks). At this point, I don't remember the names of most of my characters.

I'll have my handy word count widget in the sidebar, if you want to keep track of how I'm doing. My goal is 60,000 words. Last year I blew on by my goal and ended somewhere around 93,000 words. I don't expect anything like that this year, as I'm going to be vacationing in the midst of NaNo.

How about you? Are you ready? If not, what are you doing to get ready?

If you're signed up on the NaNoWriMo site, my username is denisej over there. Happy writing, friends! And for those who are not doing NaNo, well, happy living, I guess.

Friday Four

1. If you missed my highlights from the Surrey International Writers' Conference, you can find it here.

2. Our bathroom now looks like this:

Toilet training a cat is a bigger and messier job than I anticipated. Plus, as my good friend Angelina mentioned, Indy seems to like to do her number 1's in the toilet, but number 2's in another place entirely (thankfully she has discovered that I stashed her litter pan in the basement!) She's a really great kitty, and we definitely don't want to do anything that will change that. So I may be giving up on this venture. Unless anyone out there has some great advice on how to make this work?

3. We're in the midst of planning a family vacation to Orlando. But I just heard that there's supposed to be some big east coast storm that we should be concerned about. Regardless, we're still excited. My son is spending all his time on YouTube these days, looking up rides and deciding which ones he might be daring enough to try.

4. I'm trying not to think about NaNoWriMo, because as it happens every year, I'm so close to starting and I'm suddenly terrified that I won't remember how to write. Or won't be dedicated enough. Or the story idea I had will clearly suck by chapter two. Am I alone here?

Today I'm having a Nano prep class with my 8 year old and a  group of his friends that are participating this year. So I guess I better pull myself up by my bootstraps and start pretending that I have complete control of things like motivation and inspiration.

Happy weekend, everyone! Anyone dressing up for parties? I still need costume ideas...

Highlights From #SIWC2012

I had a FABULOUS time at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference last weekend. I always do, and yet every year I seem to debate whether or not I’ll be able to go again. I get so much out of this event, I NEED to go, even if it means sacrifices. Somebody please remind me of this next July.

So much inspiration. So many new tools for my writerly toolkit. I wanted to share a smattering of my favorite bits from workshops and keynotes over the weekend, but this is by no means comprehensive. Many of the workshop notes will be available through the SIWC blog or website, or through the individual authors’ websites, in case you were unable to make it.
Here are a few of my favorite snippets…

The Room Party
We started meeting with our made-of-awesome Calgary friends a few years ago in one of our rooms with several bottles of wine. It has become an event, and it seems to grow each year. Here’s a little snapshot (thanks Trish Loye Elliot) from this year’s get together:

Yep, we can pack a lot of people into a hotel room!

Pitches and Cardiac Arrest
During my early years at the Surrey conference, I spent at least half my time in the “pitch room” giving pitches of my projects to agents and editors in 10 minute spurts (this is how I actually met my editor, the fantastic Anica Rissi, for Losing Faith) or sitting in terrified silence as published authors read and dissected my work during Blue Pencil appointments.

I arrived at this year’s conference knowing I didn’t need to pitch anything, but thinking maybe I should make a Blue Pencil appointment for one of the many works in progress I have on the go. I arrived at the table outside the pitch room where you make appointments, and my heart started to beat faster. It wasn’t really fear, but the memory of fear. And it also had this addictive quality. I felt like once I booked my first appointment, I’d probably end up standing in lineups and booking ten more. This year I chose to walk away and try to get the most out of the workshops instead.
It was a good choice, because there were some AMAZING workshops. But...I have to admit, my pitch addiction didn't go completely unused over the weekend. I ended up sitting with an agent during one of the lunches, and though I have an agent I'm thrilled with, I couldn't seem to help from pitching my friend's book (and getting a request from him to see her manuscript (!!!)

The Workshops
Here are a few of my favorite snippets…
On Writing Dialogue, with brilliant Eileen Cook:

“You can’t un-know what you already know. The author knows it all, but to a reader, it may just seem like random clapping.”
“In fiction, dialogue needs a purpose, or even better, multiple purposes. It should advance the plot, reveal characters. What people say or don’t say gives us a lot.”
“Avoid adverb overload. “You bitch,” he said angrily. – How else would he say it?”
“Think about how upbringing and social status affect your character’s word choice. How does a low income person express anger? How about a British high roller?”
“Is this dialogue happening at the worst possible place or time?”

On Inspiration in Writing with the Ultra-Inspirational Tanya Lloyd Kyi:

One of my favorite things from this workshop was a writing-prompt type exercise. Tanya handed us each an envelope and three slips of paper. We wrote a character name and description on the first slip, then put it in the envelope and passed it to someone else. Then we wrote out a setting, placed that in the new envelope and passed it to someone new. On the third slip, we wrote a problem, then passed the envelope along.
Then we wrote a scene based on the envelope we were each now holding. Some of the scenes were hilarious, and really wonderful! I hope to use this interactive exercise when I’m giving workshops in the future!
She also had some wonderful bits of advice. Here are a couple:
“To nurture creativity, we have to maintain a sense of childishness and play.”
“Start your day with writing prompts instead of Twitter.” (easier said than done, Tanya!)
“Our eureka moments usually come when we’re generating or combining other ideas.”

On Standout Characters with deep-thinker Donald Maass:

One thing I always love about Don Maass’s workshops is that he always asks lots of great questions that really help me get to the depth of my characters and their situations. What’s their best quality? What’s the opposite of that quality, and how can you show it? What’s an injustice in their world? What would make them react strongly to that injustice?
Plus, here are a few great quotes:
“How characters are when they are at their best is what we care about – brave, funny, good, principled.”
“We back away from suffering. We don’t back away from hope. Readers are drawn to hope.”
“Find a way to make your character strong, real, and filled with hope. This is how to make our readers care about our characters right away.”

On Advanced Social Media with tech-savvy Sean Cranbury:

“The main things you need are Twitter, Facebook, a blog, and Google Analytics connected to your blog.”
“Iterate, Share, Measure, Learn, Connect, Repeat.”
“It’s not either/or anymore. It’s either/and.”

On Writing Teen/Tween Mysteries with sleuth-smart Linda Gerber:

“In a mystery, what will happen if they don’t find out the answer? It has to be a personal thing and it has to matter.”
“The hero is only as exciting as your villain. (An exciting villain will push your hero farther.)”
“In teen novels, you can plant unreliable witnesses all over the place. Teens will often say things that aren’t true for their own benefit.”
“Things to avoid: The clue that changes everything, deus ex machina, schizophrenia, stupid characters, adult intervention, clichés.”

On Pacing with the quick-thinking Boyd Morrison:

“Leave out the boring details. Describe a character with one very distinct characteristic – a scar above his lip tells a lot with so little. You can imagine the whole character.”
“A thriller should be like a roller coaster. Build suspense to the first hill. Release and exhilaration on the fall. The biggest hill should be the last one. Without the quiet in-between scenes, you can’t build up the energy and adrenaline.”
“Dialogue speeds up the pace – especially short and snappy dialogue. Your eye moves quickly down the page.”
“Enter late, leave early, or the Law & Order technique. Leave out the transitions, travel, and boring details.”
“Leave the reader wanting more.”

The Keynotes
ALL of the keynotes were awesome, but I didn’t pull my laptop out and make notes for most of them. So here are just a few short snippets…

From the fabulous and funny Jane Espenson:

“When characters are filled with emotion they get very, very simple. So much more is said by what they’re not saying than by what they’re saying.”
“You don’t have to look good or smell good to be a writer.”

From the forward-thinking Donald Maass:

"New York is like a fortress and your catapult might seem small" but "these are exciting times in publishing."
“Dig deeper. Go further. Change the world.”
“I think the destination ahead is a place we are going to like.”

As I said, this is only a very SMALL amount of what I took in this weekend. This conference is so worth the money, and I think all writers need to find some yearly thing to rejuvenate them. I’m so glad I found the Surrey conference. I hope to see YOU there next year (and make sure to find me and ask about the room party!)