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Thursday, March 11, 2010A Thursday Check-In
Just a quick check-in...have been slammed with non-fiction, but managing to get a solid hour or so on the book every day. Which is progress! Added to that we're headed out of town for the weekend and I'm also slammed with laundry, packing and the various things you have to do to get a 20 month old out the door...yeah, you can imagine my life right now.
But I'm sticking with my schedule...and that is huge progress. Yay!!
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Tuesday, March 09, 2010A Bad Book is Like a Bad Song...
it can turn you off the artist...for life!
I just finished what was a very bad book for me, anyhow, it's actually gotten really great reviews from all the 'right' sources. What killed it for me? Too much information too soon and absolutely no information about the actual plot of the book. For example, I knew everything about the main characters' history, actions likes and dislikes (Hero, Heroine, Best friend, Business partner) within the first four chapters. But I knew nothing about the premise of the book...so for four chapters the author wrote about the past...which is good information to have. But it was a little much for me. I didn't care that the Heroine won her 7th Grade Spelling Bee, that the Hero always wanted to be a sports hero, that the business partner has always had a way with numbers or that the best friend has had jealousy issues since, well, birth. BLEH!!
I wanted to read about the story from the back of the book - not the pasts of the characters. For me the actual story didn't start until about 3/4s of the way through Chapter 7. Way too late. Because at that point I was done with the book. What happened from chapters 4 through 7? Nothing really. A few conversations at the local Dairy Barn about the weather, a shopping trip for something, meeting several more characters that may or may not hold importance as the book goes on...You get the picture. When the 'real story' didn't hold my interest for more than 4 pages, I dropped the book. It's now back on the TBR pile. At the very bottom.
The bad thing? I have three other books from this author which have now moved very far down the TBR pile, too. In fact, they may never get read, that's how annoyed I am at this point. This particular book has turned me off the author, an author I've read a lot of in the past, an author I've wanted to be able to write as well as...and now I'm just bummed about the book and wondering what the writer and editors were thinking. Because this book broke every rule about writing I've ever learned.
So, what about you guys? What do you do when you begin a book that has promise but quickly gets weighed down by the weight of the past, detailed descriptions of everything including the scarred sink? Have you ever left an author on the shelf because of your experience with a prior book? What made you (if you have) try that author again?
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Monday, March 08, 2010Making Progress
I posted about writing processes a couple of weeks ago over at WordWranglers, and that got me thinking about goals. Then, at church last week, our minister talked about resolutions and goals and I had one of those "ah-ha" moments. Goals and desires are not the same thing; desires we have no control of but goals we do.
For example, I want (desire) to be a published author...I can be even more specific and list the houses I'd most like to be pubbed with but that's another post...However, I can't control becoming published. That is in someone else's (the editor's!!) hands. How my manuscript affects them, how it is presented by my agent, how they're feeling the day of the story meetings. All of those things are out of my hands. Therefore, actually becoming published is out of my hands. But, there are still things I can do: I can make my manuscripts the absolute best they can be. I can study the market. I can write the book of my heart. I can write 1000 words each day, I can turn off the infernal internal editor...and on and on and on. So, while I'm striving for publication, the goals I'm actually trying to reach aren't publication - they are writing the best book I can, editing it and getting it out to the CP's/agents/editors in the best shape it can be.
I'm not being a fatalist here. I believe I will be published one day and hopefully that one day is coming up in the near future. What I am saying is that focusing on the desire isn't going to get me there because I can't control anything once the manuscript is out of my house. I can control getting it written/finished, getting it edited, making it the best it can be and getting it out the door...so those are the things I'm going to concentrate on this year. And I'm going to leave the worry over there in the corner...at least for today!
And speaking of editors, the eds over at Editorrent had a great post about editors and critique groups (thanks to my pal Liz for passing on the link) and why they don't think the same... go check it out!
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Thursday, February 11, 2010I'm On iTunes!!
So we've been (me and my oh-so-fab web designer guru...yeah, aka The Husband) creating podcasts for a little over six months now. And I'm on iTunes! How cool is that? We, of course, had to submit to get them to actually put my romance writing 'casts on, but they approved - that's a little validation, huh? - so now you can subscribe to my podcasts through iTunes and get 'em on your iPod! Yay! Just click the link on my front page to sign into iTunes and subscribe.
By the way, coming up on the next podcast in April (wow, is that really only about six weeks away?) we'll be talking about the heroine's journey and the dual arcs of her story - the external and the internal.
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010When The Writing Stops...Does It Really Stop?
Question for the day: When the writing stops do you blame the muse? Seems like a lot of the people are talking about writer's block in articles and blogs...overcoming an uncooperative "muse", not being able to write/getting back into the habit.
When I first started working toward fiction publication, I blamed not wanting to write on not being able to write. The muse wasn't with me was a favorite response. Instead of going through the manuscript to see what was stifling my creativity, I'd just throw up my hands. Can't write today. No muse.
When I began taking my chances at publication seriously, I had to stop that. I mean, I couldn't just not produce the 5pm news (back in my television news days) because The Muse Wasn't With Me. Why was I using as excuse on writing that was just as important to me as my paying job? If I wanted publication I had to become better. To become better I had to write. So, I began to look for reasons, actual reasons, that the words weren't coming. And doing that changed my writing process.
Instead of just sitting down to write, I sit down to prepare to write. I make notes about the manuscript throughout the day when I'm working on other things. Then, when I'm at a stopping point with the nonfiction assignments, I read through the previous chapter. That helps me get back into the manuscript groove. From there, I start writing. Now, the process isn't fool-proof. Some days are good writing days and some are bad, but I've found when I'm stumped, when the words just won't come there is a reason. Maybe I've written myself into a corner, maybe the GMCs of the major players have changed or aren't clear enough or need to change. By reading previous chapters, I can find those little threads that can stop my writing dead in the water.
What about you? Do you have any tips for getting the words to flow again?
Posted By: Kristina Knight @ 4:08:43 AMTop
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Thursday, February 04, 2010Wisdom Teeth - Revisited...
No, I'm not gonna cry on your shoulders any more about the pain of having 5 wisdom teeth removed at the same time (who knew you could even get 5 wisdom teeth?!?). I'm all better. Seriously, no pain and everything is healing nicely. It's weird, though, because my tongue keeps seeking out the places where the teeth used to be. I know, a little toooo much inflomation. I'll shut up.
In the midst of the wisdom-tooth debacle I had a little bit of inspiration on the meet-cute for Santos & Esme's story...based on how I reacted (wrongly) to the pain meds. The dentist prescribed Vicoden, which is basically supposed to kill the pain and knock you out, right? Well, it killed the pain but it didn't knock me out. I was giggly and silly...and foggy. Everything that was funny was funny 10 minutes later. We were watching as re-run of The Office (the one where Jim makes a wrapping paper desk for Dwight, who tries to sit on it)..the credits rolled, a commercial started...and then I got the joke and started laughing hysterically.
So I started thinking, what if something similar was going on with Esme? And in a very serious situation she just couldn't stop laughing at the hero...and then another possibility...and the brain was off and running. Need to run the new beginning past the CP's but I think I may be on to something.
Do you ever find inspiration in the silliness of real life?
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Tuesday, February 02, 2010Huh, Was That My Inspiration Rolling By?
First and foremost, so so sorry for baling on you guys the second half of January... we had a crazy end-of-month here: bebe's baptism/christening, a big adoption to-do, the in-laws left on a cruise, we finally got started on the kitchen reno. Yeah, I'm still reeling. Add in bebe having the flu, me getting it and you see just where I've been the past couple of weeks!
For my first February post do I have succulent words of writing wisdom? Nope. I have wisdom teeth. Or, rather, I finally got rid of my wisdom teeth (what can I say, I'm a late bloomer!) and am now wondering if they held my inspiration.
Why? Because I had an extra one. Yep, five wisdom teeth while most humans only have four..the fifth was a little tiny baby tooth that the dentist kept saying was 'cute'. I, meanwhile, just wanted her to get on with pulling the other four. Yeesh! That lidacaine stuff is good but it doesn't last forever! Anywho, back to the point. Since the extraction and mind-numbing drugs needed to overcome the pain, I've been seriously lacking inspiration. For both the non-fiction and the fiction, which has never really happened to me before. Sure, I've had down times, but never just...nothing.
Do I really think that fifth wisdom tooth was the thing that made me special? Not really, I'm being kind of silly. I think it's the drugs that are still coming out of my system that are keeping me from being truly productive. But I also see where sometimes 'inspiration' can become a stumbling block. Just because I haven't been 'inspired' to write a scene it doesn't mean I didn't write it. I did - haven't read through so who knows if it's any good - and I'm proud of myself for pushing through. As The Great Nora once said, "You can't edit a blank page". So inspiration or not, I've been writing through the pain and weirdness that pain drugs bring to my brain...and we'll see how things shake out once I'm truly back to 'normal'!
Posted By: Kristina Knight @ 8:40:46 PMTop
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010New Podcast: Female Archetypes
Hey everyone!Just a quick drive-by post to let you know my latest podcast is live. This time: Female Archetypes; we covered Male Archetypes last time. If you have a favorite/least favorite Archetype to write (or read) drop a line in comments, would you? Would love to hear your thoughts.
Me? I love to read boss-types (both male and female) but I hate writing Boss-types. Go figure!
For more on Archetypes check out Tami Cowden's website.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010Sad News - Robert B.Parker Dies...
The writing world lost a great talent recently. Robert B. Parker, the author of those great 'Spenser' novels (the books which launched the Robert Urich TV series) died just a few days ago. He was 77. Read more about that here.
I've loved Parker's work since I was in junior high - probably long before I should have been reading about Spenser, Hawk and the crimes they fought. Those books took me to exotic places - like Boston! - and at the end, the hero always won. It wasn't always pretty, but Spenser and Hawk won. I think that is the beginning of my love of romance novels.
Although Parker wrote crime novels, there was a thread of romance between Spenser and the DA..or Spenser and whatever femme fatale he was saving that book.
In my own books, I try to write strong, feisty women and strong, clever men...although many times the hero does come to the rescue, usually my hero's and heroine's rescue one another. I have Parker to thank for that because he wrote strong women in a time when many writers were writing wimpy, running-from-trouble-in-stillettos women.
I'm sad today that I won't get lost in a new Parker world now...but revisiting those old worlds will lighten the sadnes...just a bit.
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010Confessions of a Sudoku Addict...
I came to Sudoku late in life...okay, just late in the Sudoku craze. But I love the game. I've finished something like 12 books and DH even bought the computer game, filled with limitless puzzles.
My name is Kristi, and I'm a Sudoku addict.
The funny thing is, I've learned things from the game, and reinforced other firmly held beliefs. Like not giving up, that thinking outside the box is a good thing and that the best feeling is fitting that last piece of the puzzle in it's slot. It's also taught me a few things about writing. Things like...
Okay, read the full post over at WordWranglers where I'm guest blogging today... http://www.wordwranglers.blogspot.com.
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