Book 'n' a Mug

NanoWrimo 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 23:44:00 +0000

I am sorry to report that I will not reach the 50,000 word finish line today for NanoWrimo 2010. I could say that work was absolutely insane this month, I've been too tired to write everyday, and my Thanksgiving feast claimed my attention, but those all feel like hollow excuses.

I am surprised by how disappointed I am not to reach this goal. I did start, though. I did write a lot of those days when I didn't feel like it, too. Currently, I'm sitting at 25,025 words. My husband suggests that I give myself an extension until December 15th, which I think I will do. But I won't be able to upload my document to the site and get that awesome certificate that tells me I am a WINNER!

I guess I have learned my lesson. Next year I will take it more seriously.

In the meantime, I am back in the habit of writing regularly, which is one of the goals I hoped to accomplish this month. I also have another really fun novel in the works which I will continue to work on until I get to the end. And to me, that's something.

Elevator Enlightenment

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 23:49:00 +0000

I walked into my office building today and for the first time I was able to go right through security with my new badge. I got to the elevators and walked right in before the doors closed. There were about 7 other people in the elevator already and as the doors closed I stood carefully avoiding contact with any of them. Personal space, you know.

In the few seconds it took before the elevator stopped on my floor I had kind of a funny thought.

"This is like a scene in a movie."

I haven't had too many moments like that, where I felt like my life mirrored something I had seen in a movie, so it made me smile.

Have you ever thought that before? Or have you ever seen something in a movie that had actually happened to you?

James Joyce: The Dubliners

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:49:00 +0000

I have a 20 or 30 minute shuttle ride for my new job. I'm really enjoying it because it's the perfect opportunity to do a little reading. I stopped by the classics shelves the last time I was at the library and picked up this collection of short stories. I had never read it before and always heard good things.

I really liked this collection. They were lovely snippets of characters and little stories. I liked how each story was just a glimpse and didn't really have a beginning, middle, or end. I, as the reader, was left to make my own decisions and conclusions about the characters. The short stories were also perfect for my shuttle ride.

Have you read this collection? What do you think?

New Life

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 01:05:00 +0000

I got a new job - I really like it and I'm making new friends.

I have a new apartment, a new place to live. It finally feels like home.

I am living in a new part of the country, a beautiful part. The Washington D.C. area is amazing.

Life changes so quickly and sometimes it's difficult to adjust as fast. Things you value might move to the back burner for a while. Now that I'm adjusting, I am excited to get back to my writing and reading. I wish that it was already a solid part of my life that didn't fall through the cracks so often, but I guess that's part of being a writer. I have to choose to write and keep making time to write even when there is so much going on.

New life is good.

Inspire the Imagination

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:00:00 +0000

About a month ago my husband and I visited the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. They have a beautiful facility and it was extremely busy, probably because it was also a holiday weekend. But the hangars are so spacious I didn't feel crowded at all.

The first thing you notice when you enter is the SR-71 Blackbird. It's sleek, black, and impressive. You can tell right away that it's something awesome. The fastest jet in the world travelling at 2124 miles an hour. Just cool.

They have some other really fun stuff on display. They have the space shuttle Enterprise, one of the Concords, various other planes of historical significance, and lots of missiles and rockets. We spent 4 hours there and I can't wait to go back for more.

I walked away with my imagination effectively sparked. And I was ready to sign up for flying lessons.

The point is, your imagination needs nourishment. Your mind, like other parts of your body, needs food and exercise. Your imagination should have a chance to soak in some things from the real world. So, get out and have some fun!

Shannon Hale: Forest Born

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:00:00 +0000

It has been a while since I read the third book in the Bayern Series, River Secrets, but I got right back into the magic. All our favorite characters were back along with the new main character Rin.

It's been a long time since I got to read a novel, so I was really excited to go to the library. This was the first book I requested and the first one I read. It was a fast read, but so enjoyable. It also wrapped up the series quite well.

I loved this series and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun read. It's clean, it's fun, and it's engaging.

What did you think? Have you read any of Hale's other books?

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:47:00 +0000

Whatever I do is done out of sheer joy; I drop my fruits like a ripe tree. What the general reader or the critic makes of them is not my concern.

- Henry Miller

All Settled

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:09:00 +0000

My husband and I have moved from Arizona to Virginia over the last month. It was fun and scary. Now that I'm all settled into my new apartment, life is starting to feel more normal again. I have one more box to unpack and then it will feel like home. I have also been hunting for a job. I've had several interviews in the last few weeks, but no solid offers yet. I should be using this time to write, but I've been enjoying my time off too much.

Meanwhile, I submitted my NanoWrimo project to CreateSpace for a proof copy. It was really exciting to get it back, but only highlighted how much more work it needs. There is still some major editing to do before I'll really put it out there.

I also redesigned the site - let me know what you think.

So, it's back to normal life and back to writing.

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:43:00 +0000

Above all, have a good time. If you aren’t enjoying writing it, you can hardly expect someone else to enjoy reading it.

- Tom Robbins

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Only the person who has experienced light and darkness, war and peace, rise and fall, only that person has truly experienced life.

- Stefan Zweig

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0000

I had become, with the approach of night, once more aware of loneliness and time - those two companions without whom no journey can yield us anything.

- Lawrence Durrell

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0000

It is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one's own personality. Good prose is like a windowpane.

- George Orwell

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 01:14:00 +0000

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Endings, Beginnings, and In Between-ings

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

I've had some major life changes the last month that got me thinking. My husband graduated with his MBA in May and took a job on the east coast. We took a month off to do some traveling and see family and friends before driving across the country to our new home. Now we are in Virginia and mostly settled again. He's finishing his first week of work today, and I'm in the thick of job hunting.

A big part of our lives ended when we left Arizona. We were there for 2 years, and although we knew we were eventually going to leave, we got pretty comfortable. We had a fantastic group of friends, which made it feel like home more than anything else, and I had a great job. When the guys graduated everyone took jobs in different places, though, so even if we had stayed it wouldn't feel the same. There were a lot of goodbyes and lots of promises made.

Then we had Summer of Road Trip. We drove from Arizona to Colorado to Utah to California and back to Arizona. Then we flew to Virginia and back. We packed up all our stuff and hit the road again stopping in Texas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. It was a lot of driving. And while it was awesome to see friends and family in all of those places, it felt like limbo. We didn't have a place to go back to and no emotional attachment to our destination. I don't think I could ever be a nomad.

Now we are making new beginnings. We're making new friends, finding new places, and generally having adventures. We're figuring out this new life and looking forward to what comes next. It's nice to be out of limbo, and all those goodbyes feel like forever ago.

These experiences over the last month were a little sad and stressful at the time, but I think that it will be good to reflect on for future writing. We have to have these personal experiences in life so we can understand what our characters are supposed to feel. My life makes my characters more genuine.

Do you have any life changes or experiences that have helped, hurt, or influenced your writing?

Coming Back

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:04:00 +0000

I have been very out of the swing of things recently. For a while there I didn't read anything, write anything, or blog anything. But I'm coming back. I've read 4 books in the last month and I'm starting to think about my WIP more frequently and I'm posting this.

When I go through these phases I realize how much I really enjoy reading and writing. When I don't make a point to pick up the next book or pull out the writing project I start to feel a difference in my life. I miss it. So I plan a trip to the library or remind myself to keep working on that novel. Soon life begins to feel balanced again.

Do you go through these phases, too? How does it change your daily life?

Michael Gruber: The Book of Air and Shadows

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:37:00 +0000

I picked this one up cheap at a Borders before Christmas and my husband gave it to me as a gift along with another one. He was disappointed when I kept going to the library for new books without reading the ones he had given me so I finally cracked it open.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It has a great mix of character development and thrilling action. Plus, it's all about Shakespeare and lost manuscripts. It has a bit more adult content and language than I usually prefer but I got really attached to a couple of the characters so I kept going. By the end I really didn't like the main character, which was weird for me, but was satisfied with the story nonetheless.

In conclusion, it was definitely worth the couple of bucks I paid for it and the couple of days I spent reading.

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.

- Victor Hugo

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:00:00 +0000

If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water.

- Ernest Hemingway

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Gardens are not made by singing "Oh how beautiful," and sitting in the shade.

- Rudyard Kipling

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Men think highly of those who rise rapidly in the world; whereas nothing rises quicker than dust, straw, and feathers.

- Lord Byron

When Do You Give Up?

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:33:00 +0000

I've been reading The Third Translation by Matt Bondurant for almost a month now and just cannot seem to get into the story or the characters. Usually I give it until 100 pages before I make the call and I'm at 102 right now. I was expecting more action and adventure but it's more a careful product of some intense research into ancient Egypt. The subject does interest me, but I wish I had more realistic expectations at the start. I think I'm going to put it aside.

At what point do you decide to stop reading a book? What does it take for you to give it up? Have you ever been glad you kept reading when you almost didn't?

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Every man's memory is his private literature.

- Aldous Huxley

What's in a Title, Anyway?

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:44:00 +0000

After a couple rounds of edits on my work in progress I decided it was time to work on an acceptable title. 'NanoWrimo 10' was just not going to cut it if I'm going to really put this one out there.

The trouble is that there is so much pressure to have an amazing title. You want it to be clever, engaging, memorable, and preferably related to your actual book. And one that hasn't already been taken.

Fortunately, we have the internet. Not only can you search for already published books to make sure you're not duplicating a title, you can find great articles on titling. For example:

Rachelle Gardner wrote an excellent post about How to Title Your Book last month. She puts some emphasis on considering your genre, something I hadn't even realized might be important. I like her suggestion about giving yourself a lot of options, putting them away, then coming back 24 hours later to see them with fresh eyes.

Jacob Appel gives us 7 Tips to Land the Perfect Title for Your Novel over at Writer's Digest. I liked #5 about giving your title some depth, although I don't know how I'm going to do this with my own title. I thought #6 was important, too. You don't want to give away too much before the reader even cracks open the cover.

How do you title your work? Any additional suggestions that might help me and others? What are some titles you think are absolutely brilliant?

Life Distracting

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 03:29:00 +0000

Well! Where have I been!?

I'll tell you... life sort of got in the way of life. I do event planning, among other things, for my job and I had a huge event last weekend. It was a big deal and ridiculously stressful to the point that I was completely engrossed for two weeks straight. I thought about it all day at work, worried about it all evening at home, dreamed about it a night, woke up nervous in the middle of the night, then started worrying all over again. I am pleased to report that it went really well and all my superiors were happy with the results. I'm just glad it's all over. And I'm happy it went well.

So then it took me an entire week to feel like myself again. Now it's been three weeks that I haven't hardly thought about my novel. I was good in some ways. I emailed it to some trusted readers so they had time to read it without me pestering for feedback. I also had a great break from it all so I can come back with fresh eyes. The problem, however, is that I'm having a difficult time getting back into the swing of things.

I have decided to start today. I am posting here for the first time in a while, besides my Monday quotes, and I'm going to pull out my manuscript again.

Gotta start somewhere, right?

Monday Quote

noreply@blogger.com (RZStoryLove) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:00:00 +0000

The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth.

- WB Yeats