January 30, 2006
Interesting Reads, Part 2
My writing energy has returned! I might owe my inspiration to the purple pen and fresh notepads.
Perhaps the box of bargain books from Daedalus did the trick.
Nope.
I haven't written a single purple word. I haven't cracked a single $2.98 spine.
But I have been reading a draft of a book. It's difficult for me. It deals with hard emotions.
It dredges up painful memories. I didn't write this draft.
Good Morning, World! is the work of
Deana Hoover.
Deana and I met about a year ago in an on-line horror writing class. We hit it off right away--our monkeys make
us do similar things. We've spent hours on the telephone and even more hours furiously typing instant messages across
the cyber miles.
We brainstorm. We work through finding the perfect phrase or word that will make or break our work in progress.
We whine and complain. But most of all we support one another.
We each wrote a short horror story that is published in Adumbra. We collaborated on another. Our alter ego
is Dean Master. (Don't even ask about that monkey!)
While we're both a tad warped, we do take our creative efforts very seriously.
Deana is a visual artist as well as a writer. (The painting on the cover of Adumbra is hers.)
While I see Deana's words in black and white, they register as an entire palette of color.
We've all pondered paintings in a musuem. We walk straight toward a painting and assess it head-on. We move
left or right to capture the light. We tilt our head. We zoom in for detail. We step back to take in the
big picture. We shuffle on with the crowd, casting one last glance over our shoulder before we consider what might come
next.
That's how I read Deana's writing. She never broadsides me with an emotion. Rather, I'm responsible for pondering
what Deana writes.
I hope that you'll experience Deana's writing, too. "A Cabin on the Bayou" is available
here in Adumbra. Her award-winning novel,
Sing to the Moon is coming soon to ePress. And I'm hopeful that
Good Morning,
World! will find a publisher when it's finished.
Till next time,
Jill.
January 24, 2006
A Week in the Life...
...of a writer who needs just a quick kick in the pants.
Is it just the weather, or is everyone going through some ups and downs?
For the last couple of weeks my writing energy drove me to finish a tough round of edits on two manuscripts. I
even wrote a crack query letter (I hope) and submitted it to an editor who, from what's written in her bio page, may actually
find my book of interest. The other manuscript is out with reader and I'm eagerly awaiting his feedback so I can do
one last round of edits and submit the book to a publisher I have my eye on. (I'm a bit superstitious, so I won't mention
titles or publishers yet.)
So, full of energy, I launched headlong into some hard research on the Black Horse Pike in hopes of finding a few historical
photos that would give me the confidence to move forward with the formal proposal to Aracadia Publishing. Alas!
I ran into one stone wall after another.
This failure seems to have slammed on the creative brakes. I've been through this kind of phase before.
Ideas are there, but they're just not making their way through my fingers and to the keyboard. Maybe it's the weather.
Maybe it's coming up empty on the Black Horse Pike. Maybe I just work in bursts of a couple of weeks and then need time
to regroup.
Whatever it is, I know I will work my way through it. I have to break out the notepads again.
I keep a notepad on each project I'm working on. It seems a strange way to work for someone like me who's addicted
to the computer and has highly organized files on my C drive and back-up CDs. But it really does work to keep a physical
book of project items. I like flipping through the pages and re-reading my handwritten notes. As the notepad fills,
I gain confidence. I can see progress! I know I'm working and moving toward a goal.
Besides, working with notepads allows me to indulge my childlike fetish for office supplies. I just love
a new pen, a fresh pad of paper, colorful sticky notes!
So, fresh notepads at my side, a fresh pen with purple ink atop the stack, I will move on. My goals for this week
will be accomplished!
Oh, yes. And I have to start bugging that reporter who said she would write a story about the White Horse Pike.
She seems to have disappeared--with a copy of my book!
Till next time,
Jill.
January 16, 2006
Interesting Reads
I've been having trouble lately finding books that capture my attention from start to finish. I wonder if I'm getting
too critical since I've been writing for a few years now and know how books "should" be written. That really can't be
the case since I've been reading voraciously since the age of 4.
Maybe I've just made some poor choices lately. I am getting down to the dregs of my "to read" shelf, and perhaps
there is a good reason why I didn't choose to read these books earlier.
But really, I think it's more a matter of having so little time to read for pleasure that I have no patience for a book
that doesn't grab me by the throat and keep me glued to the pages.
Lucky for me, I've had the pleasure of meeting an author whose novels and short stories do hold my attention. He's
Frank Zafiro.
We met at an online writers group and found we have several things in common besides the urge to write. This
led to my exploring his web page and following a lot of links to a lot of published short stories. They're terrific!
Frank writes compelling, gritty crime-related stories featuring a cast of characters who populate his fictional town
of River City. When I read his work I'm reminded of both Ed McBain and Walter Mosely. Matter of fact writing with
enough detail to make you cringe, enough real-life to make you understand police work, and enough character development to
make you love or hate, jeer or cheer.
I'm glad Frank is as prolific as he is, because I know I will have something good to read when I need it. And when
his novel "Under a Raging Moon" is published later this year, I will be among the first to purchase it.
Till next time,
Jill.
January 9, 2006
Happy New Year!
Those who know me also know that there is definitely a different drummer drumming in my head. She keeps really
good time, but not too many other people can feel the beat. (Some of this might have a bit to do with my teenage
obsession for the way Captain Kirk eschewed Starfleet's Prime Directive at every opportunity.)
So, in keeping with being me, I choose not to celebrate the start of the new year on January 1. I wait until January
9. Why?
It's my birthday!
I get to start my own new year. There won't be any fireworks at the local park, but I will probably indulge in
a glass of champagne. And to kick off the celebration in grand style, I choose to launch my blog.
It's the first of several goals I have outlined for myself this year. Others include submitting some completed
manuscripts that have been collecting dust (while I'd been sapped of all my creative energy by a volunteer organization
to which I no longer belong) and getting down on paper the two novels and perhaps some short stories that are running loose
inside my head.
I hope you'll visit again. I will update you on any publishing successes I might have and post tidbits I think
would be of interest.
Thanks for stopping by!
Jill.
