Haus of Rhi

I read a book! It's amazing, actually.

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 13:27:00 +0000

I have this enormous TBR list, and I don't find much time to read anymore. Between the day job routine, writing projects, and general boring mundane stuff like finding time to eat, do yoga, and keep the house from looking like a landfill, reading is rather low in clout when it comes to prioritizing.

It's taken me months to finish a single book, in fact. I've been reading Meyer's Into the Fire since last fall when I received a complimentary hardback copy. In that time, I've added another five books to my pile.

Meyer's book has left me with mixed feelings. I knew writing a review for this one would be difficult. Just reading it has been a roller coaster of emotions for me. Over the months, I've shared quotes from the book on #soldierporn [you can find them by scrolling through the Reading List tag, here]. But even those don't convey what it evoked as I read it.

I need to figure out how to describe the impact this writer and his story have, after reading of his failed suicide attempt with a Glock. A weapon he kept loaded in his glove compartment; a weapon which has no safety.

Click.

A weapon unloaded by someone else.

Who saw him sliding down a spiral toward that moment.

It drives home how epidemic the issue of veteran suicide truly is in this nation.

Hopefully I'll do a better job of describing my thoughts on the book after I've left it seep in for a few days.
[ETA: My review can be found over here on Goodreads.]

HAHAT Blog hop winner :)

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Tue, 28 May 2013 11:49:00 +0000

Thank you to everyone who participated in the HAHAT blog hop, and especially those who stopped by and took the time to engage in some conversation about personal identity.

The winner of my HAHAT giveaway is...

Andrew J. Peters!

Please contact me at rhianon.etzweiler@gmail.com with a valid email address for your copy of "Blacker Than Black."
If I don't hear from you within 24 hours, I'll select an alternate recipient.

It's about time.

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Haus of Rhi!

Today we're joining in on a blog hop that's raising awareness about a very important subject.

Today we're all dedicating blogspace in recognition of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. And Haus of Rhi is joining in. This week I'll be giving away an ebook copy of "Blacker Than Black." Leave a meaningful comment on this post with a valid email address before midnight on May 27th to enter the drawing. Each comment will be counted as a separate entry (so if you leave more than one comment, each one will be a separate drawing entry). One winner will be selected via randomizer and announced here at Haus of Rhi on May 28th.

It's about time.
It's about losing the labels that discriminate and delineate.
It's about accepting that not everyone's identity will fall neatly within the definitions you create in your unique perspective.
It's about realizing that you have the right to not align with someone else's definitions.
It's about acknowledging that the boxes are illusions, that they don't exist. Just because everyone once believed the Earth was the center of the universe, or that the Earth was flat, didn't make it so. Our abnormally spherical planet continued orbiting the sun as it always has despite the proliferation and power of their belief.

Nobody--not the patriarchy, nor the feminists or even the misogynists and misandrists; not the homophobics nor the transphobics or even the cisphobes and heterophobes; not the male identifying individuals nor the female identifying individuals or even the non-binary identifying people--nobody has the right or privilege to dictate how you should see yourself.

Nobody has the right to attack you for how you see yourself, whatever your self defining labels might be.
Nobody has the right to classify you with their personal definitions. Nobody has the right to reject your self perceptions. Nobody has the right to clobber you with biologically determined veto power. It's a thing they'll try but it doesn't exist and holds no power over you.

Acceptance. Acknowledging that others are different from you and they've a right to be, and don't deserve your hatred because of it. Acknowledging that others are not less than you, nor are you less than them, simply because of those differences. Acknowledging that others should not be treated differently just because of the differences that exist--nor should you.
Tolerance. It's a thing, and there needs to be more of it.
It's about time.

How do you balance your freedom to define yourself against the recognition that another's definitions will not match yours? Have you ever felt like that difference created a disconnect? Has it ever led you to revisit your own definitions or redefine yourself in some way? Do you think it was a positive or negative influence?

Moving on, then!

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:36:00 +0000

April's editing pass went better than I expected it to. Cleaning up prose and addressing a couple consistency issues I stumbled upon, that was the worst of it. Since Piaffe sits at 80k it was no small task, but thank fuck I can call it done.
Done enough that I need a break before tackling the completion of Levade, the second volume. I know I struggle with writing short stories, or even shortER stories, but really, there comes a time when one must stop and breathe or it becomes downright arduous. So, with that first volume of Dancing Circles wrapped up rather neatly, I'm shifting on to the second project on my 2013 To-Do List.
Finishing a half-complete project, Fang and Fire.

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Sproing

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 19:05:00 +0000

I should make an update, shouldn't I?
Especially since it's been over a month since my last post, and my self-imposed deadline has expired.

I bought seed starter kits and entirely too many packets of seeds, all of them the same thing: sage. I decided, back at the beginning of March, that since I buy so much of it to dry and burn, that I should really just grow my own.
My seeds are actually sprouting! I have a tray of them in the kitchen window, and they are happily doing their thing. The packet said they needed to germinate for a few weeks, so imagine my surprise when I noticed them popping out after only a week. I will have a LOT of sage to plant outside in May. If I don't manage to kill the seedlings somehow, between now and then. I'm not ruling it out. After all, I do have a black thumb, haha.

On to the latest writing news.
That last push through the end of March actually went well. I won't pretend that I'm exorbitantly satisfied with the current state of affairs that is the end of the manuscript, but that's redundant since, you know, hello editing that is what you are for, yes?

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The Tortured Writer Flogs the Whip

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 15:35:00 +0000

I was strolling along quite innocently through this forest of a story, rather certain that I had all the characters figured out. Or that I was in the very least intimately familiar with all of them.
After all, this WIP I'm working on currently...this one has been with me for decades, not just years. I know this forest well. We've forged a few new trails over our time together, but the views are much better along these newer routes. I'd finally reached a place in my journey as a writer where all the pieces had begun coming together. An awareness of self that let me truly see what the story had been whispering all along.

So not really expecting any surprise confessions from characters, right? Dude, come on. I've known y'all longer than anyone except my siblings for fuck's sake. Nope, they've managed to catch me completely off guard. And all the sudden I'm tackling a character who's physically abusing their significant other--because it's the most efficient means of communication and they heal almost instantly.

Just to be clear, I'm finding this disturbing and had no awareness to this particular facet of this character or the relationship. Although it really does...explain a great deal about how little I've cared for this person ever since the outset. The evolution of this story has been a long and decidedly meandering one, yet at no point along that trail have I liked this individual. And to be quite honest, they were one of the more solid creations from the outset. They have undergone the least amount of character alterations, although there has been some evolution in keeping with the rest of the story and world-building.
I'm not sure how I feel about this little development.
There's already so much going on in this WIP that it's likely to end up being two books once I hit completion of the plot arc. I can deal with this too. The details might need addressed in the spring editing I've planned, but this detail of the character feels very much like a piece of the puzzle that I've been struggling for blindly. Groping around in the darker recesses of my mind, batting away dust bunnies and cobwebs.
Alas, here's another story that won't be for the faint of heart.
If I ever write one like that, you should probably take it as indication that the Zombie Apocalypse is imminent.
Damn you, I didn't need this. On so many levels.
These weren't demons I wanted to dig at.
Guess my muses have different ideas though.
Time to crank the "Rocker Monster" and get back to it...

And...we have a winner!

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:35:00 +0000

The winner of the "Fragile Bond" promo tour giveaway contest is....

Nikyta J.!

Congrats! Watch your email inbox, I'll respond to your winning entry with a request for postal address.

And a warm thanks to all of you who followed along on the tour!

Book Bling & Milestones

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 07:57:00 +0000

It's here! Starting on Monday, I'll be tromping about for guest appearances at various blogs to pimp out Marc and Hamm. And the book bling from f.Inguz, which you'll have a chance to win. A gorgeous little bookmark trinket. The contest will close on Sunday, 24 Feb, and the winner will be announced here at Haus of Rhi next Monday. The full list of promo appearances is here on my website, starting with Cup O' Porn on release day, where the complete details of the contest will be available. Along with some porn, of course.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank the #soldierporn followers who are now four thousand strong. Curating it has kept me going strong through a number of dry spells with my writing over the past eighteen months or so since I started it (#soldierporn turns two in June). It's kept me focused and researching instead of getting lost in fruitless procrastination when the muses are uncooperative. And I'm grateful to everyone who's shown interest in its content, for whatever the reason; it's been my way of sharing knowledge, perspective, and insight to which most people don't have access or exposure. The followers of #soldierporn aren't necessarily my fans or readers, but that's never mattered to me because it wasn't why I started it in the first place. Still, without that interest I probably would've stopped maintaining it some time ago.

So, a warm thank you from Rhi and all the muses. Fragile Bond doesn't officially release until Monday, but you can download it now if you purchase it directly through Riptide, here.

And yes, this entire blogpost was born purely of insomnia and procrastination, fueled by caffeine and ice cream...how did you know?

A Whisper of Spring, and Other Things

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 06:42:00 +0000

The sun was actually out the other day.
Not in that dreary-gray winter sky overcast sort of way, but like that new neighbor who seems fascinating and friendly at first and quickly becomes annoying with the late partying and still managing to be up at the ass-crack of dawn on your days off. As though the sun's giving fair warning that we'll be sick to death of it in six months.

However, it's winter right now (though the thermometer totally had me fooled today) and so when the sun was out, I opened all the curtains and let it come streaming through the living room window.

I was not the sole beneficiary.
Because it seems as though my wonderful writing mascot, Iron Mike, has developed some decidedly feline tendencies.
I mean, yesterday I surprised him when I came home from work at an abnormal time. Surprised him so badly that he fell out of his bed into his food bowl, and scattered dry dog food across the kitchen floor. How'd he manage that? Well, his bed might actually be a gigantic dog pillow stuffed into an Adirondack chair. He might actually sleep on his back with his legs in the air, too. So falling out of bed is not unheard of.

The pool of sunshine was definitely less of a mess to clean up. I can only hope we get more before March... Sunshine, not dog food. Jeez.

Though to be fair, despite the fact that it took him until the age of six to stop acting like a puppy, he's finally starting to get old and I can absolutely sympathize with the relaxing quality of radiant sunshine. He also hangs out over the heat vents all winter long, too.

Someone once informed me that my lovely companion has no idea how to be a dog. To which I retorted, "that's fine, because he isn't, not really."
No, Mike would never be able to survive on his own in the wild if civilization as we know it came to a screeching halt. (Few of us humans can claim that ability, though, so the lack is hardly concerning.) He wouldn't be able to interact with other dogs very successfully either, I don't think--but that's fine, because he and I are pack, and I'm not a dog. He doesn't need canine interaction skills, but human ones--and he's developed them in spades. He doesn't have voice commands or formal obedience training, but he doesn't need it. He's always been responsive to my communication, voice fluctuations, body language and gestures. They're a language he's learned to speak fluently enough.

He's become a great source of research material for my writing. Animal behavior, the power of instincts, nonverbal communication, interspecies relationships, and a host of other subjects as well. Okay, yep, probably too many psychology electives in my post-secondary education, but whatever.

Oh yeah, I got sidetracked and forgot why I'd meant to make a blogpost in the first place.
Blog dates and locations for Fragile Bond's promo tour are up over on my website. I should be writing blogposts for it. So I'll get back to that now that I've rambled about my writing mascot as a means of procrastination.
Spring cannot get here fast enough. I'd love more sixty-degree weather, myself.

Bronze Beaus and Bonds

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 02:43:00 +0000

The holidays and I have had a hardcore love/hate relationship for many years, so I tend to stay low-key from All Hallow's Eve through the beginning of the year. Sometimes it strikes an ennui in me that causes a creative lag. Not this time.
It seems I've surrounded myself with enough protective energy and positive thoughts to ward off the worst of it.
This beauty here is part of that! No, I didn't even wait until Yule to open my present, either. (Rhi must really learn to turn the date-stamp off on the camera so that it's easier to falsify improprieties such as this.)

Bronze Dragonscale

It's always a struggle for me to find pieces of jewelry I'll willingly wear. Naturally, this means the probability of finding things I don't ever want to take off is virtually negligible.
Yeah well...I'm totally besotted. Meet my new beau; the dragonscale is inextricably adhered to my wrist. I'm even sleeping with it on.

I've always preferred silver over gold, but have recently found that copper and bronze resonate even more strongly with me. I was rather curious as to why this instinctual skewing was taking place... so I went digging and found some intriguing information about copper, and as an alloy offshoot, bronze:

On a physiological level, copper promotes the absorption of iron, a deficiency I struggle with constantly. My I Ching coin bracelet left a fist-sized bruise on my inner forearm not so long ago, for instance... because I slept on it wrong, I'm guessing. So you can imagine that this benefit alone would drive a subliminal craving to have copper against my skin. But the influence of this metal goes beyond that: it increases dream activity, develops creative imagination and dissolves confusion. It creates neutrality and balances moods, promotes free emotional expression.
Tin controls the sense of taste and harmonizes the nervous system; this latter is an aspect I find especially important since the contrast of my day job and moonlighting as a writer means I have to switch gears from left brain to right brain on a regular basis multiple times a day. It helps transform emotions into concrete form, and also has inspiring effects--encouraging the development of inner talents and abilities. [I found all this, and some other interesting reading, here.]
So, yep, my copper and bronze bracelets and cuff just became a permanent fixture on my body. As though they haven't been for the past few weeks, already.

In other happy announcements with which to ring in the Year of the Snake (unofficially, since the Chinese New Year isn't until February 10th) my boys are slotted for release on February 18th. What a way to ring in the official new year, and a celebratory birthday present from me to all of you! Yep, Hamm and Marc are coming your way! (Gratuitous cover art under the cut, along with a run-down on plans for the rest of the year, bloody fuck I'm rambling again...)
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WIP Wonders Never Cease

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:31:00 +0000

I have been trying to stay unplugged today.
My writing related efforts have been limited to WIP research in the form of a series of tarot spreads that demanded exhaustive interpretation. Not that it was much of a demand; I looked at the cards and the meaning just flowed from me onto the pages, fitting into the characters and their situation and struggles as easily as though I'd deliberately chosen which cards went where. It's going to fill the last pages in the first giveaway notebook, and begin the second with another.

Fang & Fire, Animal & Element

I'm saving a blank page at the end to write a personalized note to whomever the recipient ends up being. This journal is very much a collection of tarot spreads, interpretations, discussions of the finer points of the main characters, exploration into their deeper motivations, and a smattering of raw, unedited prose -- scenes that may or may not end up in the final version of the novel when it's published. Plus a few random snippets of descriptions and lines of dialogue, standing alone without reference or orientation.

Outcome and Avatar, The Moon on Water & The Journey

A story forged from tarot cards was birthed on these pages. I truly hope readers find both as much enjoyment in it, and characters with whom they can sympathize and relate, as I have while creating them and following their journey along the labyrinth. It's been a joy getting to know these two main characters intimately as I did each tarot spread for them, listening to what they thought the cards were saying, and how they chose to employ the wisdom found.

And like anything else, the end of this story won't be the end of their journey, but a rest-stop. The Moon on Water is the still point of potential; they'll have other stories to tell and a hundred other adventures. I wonder if they'll let me tag along when this one's done...
Mind you, this one isn't quite done being written just yet.

The Writer's Process: Losing Sense & Increasing Sensitivity

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 23:17:00 +0000

One of the things I've learned to do as a writer is to make use of all the various senses while using descriptive prose. It drags the reader in completely, lets them submerse and engage.
I've also toyed with, in certain scenes--specifically in "Blacker Than Black"--leaving out the engagement of a specific sense for a reason. It's a short sequence, and I recall a discussion with the editor who felt the need for there to be some type of description of visual cues to ground the reader.
"No," I responded. "The narrator's eyes are closed."
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The Writer's Process: Mapping Out An Emotional Journey

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 05:42:00 +0000

I spent a good chunk of my meal hour at the day job writing out a scene in the latter half of my WIP. The MC has begun feeling detached and withdrawn, at least emotionally. It could be that Zhar comes to life a little more in the process of rewriting from my notes.
But something felt... not exactly off, I guess. Given events thus far, I don't think I would fault my MC for being slightly detached or emotionally withdrawn. But I needed some clarity and some structure to what is going on.
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The Writer's Process: Goals and Deadlines and Nano, Oh My!

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:49:00 +0000

No, I'm not doing Nano.
Not really.
Okay, well, maybe I sort of am.
But it's not like I'm going to hit 50k for the month. That hasn't happened in a long while.

I am, however, not at all above shamelessly using the deadline to churn out the second half of the WIP on my desk. It's still not hit 50k yet, hovering just below that point. I'm not entirely certain what the final wordcount on it will be. Not 100k ...I don't think. One way or another, though, my goal is to have a complete first draft to edit and polish in December.

For me, Nano stopped being about wordcounts a few years back. It evolved into a concept of setting a goal for myself for the month, and then reaching it. Regardless of what it is. November is probably the only month that I actually engage in this sort of structure. Mostly because attempting to force the structure of a solid story doesn't have a very nice outcome for me. I've been sitting on the same scene for a week now with the WIP because I couldn't come to terms with the direction I saw it going. My subconscious was whispering one thing, and my conscious was thoroughly at odds with subjecting the characters to that level of distress.

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The Writer's Process: Learning Curves Like Kentucky Hills

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:24:00 +0000

I spent a handful of my formative years in Kentucky. Rolling hills lush and green, thick with wildlife and the endless white fences of horse farms.
And beneath those hills, I also learned, lurked some of the most majestic limestone caverns in the world. Frozen Niagara is a sight everyone should get to experience once. (I'll be geeky for a moment; Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world. There's a photo gallery there.)

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The Writer's Process: Totally Pantsing It

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 01:44:00 +0000

So... update!
Ah, this feels so strange.
I've only been working on this WIP for, what, five weeks? (I suck at updating regularly, and it shows.)

And while I haven't hit 50k yet, which would be like a NaNoWriMo all on my own and would be all kinds of impressive, it's sitting at 36k and feels like it might be the halfway point.

Alas, alack, I really have no idea. But I've written roughly 10k in the week of vacation time I've had from the day job. For me, that's better than a good solid pace. Usually it goes slower than that. I even had some lagtime in there where absolutely nothing happened for a few days. I've tried pushing before, nothing good comes of it. Whatever I push ends up needing hacked and reworked. I've learned to let things stew until they feel right. It's what works for me.

At best, I've only a tenuous and vague notion of where this is going and what will happen next. But then, that's a fitting description for how this entire story has gone thus far, so I'm trying not to be too terribly nervous about it. I made a skeletal plot sketch back at the beginning of September when I started, and the lads haven't entirely veered off course yet, so there's still hope for me to make a strong finish with this and wrap it up by the end of November.

I refuse to let another Mercury In Retrograde put me in an artistic funk. It will not happen, damn it.
The drawback here? At the rate I'm going, I'll only use a single notebook for the longhand portions of this story. I haven't even managed to fill this one to the halfway point yet.

If it means I only have one notebook to give away this time, I'll just have to use the other two for other stories. Sequels, perhaps. Which is increasingly plausible, because I stumbled into Z's family in this last scene, and the entire clan is grinning at The Writer and waving their stories under my nose.

This makes me want to cry or something.
One at a time y'all. My gods. Now I have to come up with a series title as well as one for this book? Guys! You're killing me.
Apparently the notice about me sucking at titles got lost somewhere.

The Writer's Process: Intuition & Art

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 12:45:00 +0000

I have a number of "tools" I use to focus my energies on developing the plot and characters of a story arc.
Scrivener is one of them. I honestly don't know where I would be without it--no, that's a lie. I'd still be one clusterfuck of a disorganized writer who trembled in fear at the thought of forming an outline.
Not that I really "form" one in advance of writing. But I get a general concept in my head, and though it is often too ethereal to go down on paper or screen, it's there and Scrivener is great for creating a visual of the outline forming as I write. I am learning to see where I need to pick up the pace, and where I can spend some time drawing things out.

[Side note to any of my betas who are reading this (ahem, especially you, sis, since you dabble in tarot): please do not freak out or hyperventilate.]

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The Writer's Process: A WIP is Born.

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 03:23:00 +0000

I've been sneaking around a great deal lately, under the radar and such.

I blame my betas.

In the general course of perving #soldierporn on Tumblr around the beginning of September, I stumbled upon an inspiring photograph. While it's one I've seen before, my admiration for it has many layers. Mostly for the body language of the individuals who are the focal point. The communication taking place is decidedly...intimate, although that's not unusual for military types and even less so for battle buddies.

I don't have a source or credit line for this photograph. I reblogged it on Tumblr with the simple caption of ....

[Body Language.]

There is undeniably a great deal of that going on there.

Certainly a story wanting told.

Or a few, because the story that *I* have pulled out of this photograph has been rather loosely translated and thoroughly removed from the assumptions one would make looking at it.

On a seemingly unrelated note, I finally ran out of space in my Moleskine notebook. It took six months to fill, and it's crammed with scrawled notes of about five different stories. I went shopping for some notebooks. Picked up a couple replacements, but also nabbed a set of three thinner ones, eighty pages each.

Their covers screamed for Sharpie markers. I had difficulty getting a clean shot without the matte surface refracting a glare, for some reason.

WIP: Fang & Fire

Not to get ahead of myself since the notebooks are still completely blank on the inside...but these three thinner ones will have nothing in them but notes and scribbles and doodles for this one story. Nothing else. We'll see if I actually use all three, but from what I've outlined of the plot thus far, they should fill up rather swiftly. My day job means that I often find myself fleshing out scenes in longhand and transferring them to Scrivener in marathon sessions. It's the front line editing process, you could say. Going from raw stream of consciousness writing, to the "rough" prose of the first draft.

And once this project is finished and off my desk, I have every intention of sacrificing these now "one of a kind" beauties for a promo release giveaway. A little piece of the process, and the art, that few ever get to see. Little bits and pieces that are shaved away, remolded, or discarded in the journey to the final product.

Although I have become increasingly averse to sharing intimate details of plot, characters, and world-building on public venues over the past couple years, don't worry-- I'll be sharing the process. And maybe even some shots of the pages as I fill them. My handwriting varies widely depending on my energy level and artistic focus. The font I use ranges from Typewriter to Prescription Scrawl.

So there you have it: a WIP is born.

Who knows, maybe the final cover of the published book will have the same title and artwork.

More Adventures @ Haus of Rhi

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:00:00 +0000

This one is safe, I swear.

The weather was beautiful Tuesday afternoon, the sky a clear vivid blue.
The temperature was perfect and a brisk breeze was blowing.

I had a short dayjob shift thanks to my inability to say "no" when they asked me to work a release event Monday night. And so I got home at the perfect time to snap some pictures...

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Adventures @ Haus of Rhi

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:00:00 +0000

So. Umm.
This happened yesterday...
And I decided it was the perfect thing to share on a Monday morning.

You should probably set your morning coffee down--and swallow--before you click past the break.

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Editing: The Evolution of a Story

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:56:00 +0000

I've spent the past few weeks under the radar for various reasons, but edits have had a great deal to do with it.

Trapped between the grindstones this month, a novella that has a relatively shallow past with me. It hasn't been around all that long, I didn't play around with it much before I just churned it out.

That's not my modus operandi, to be blunt. I don't do my best work that way. Thus, the edits are exhaustive, and have resulted in the story's growth, on a number of levels.

Yeah, the word count swelled with every page I edited.

But it was more than just fluff. In fact, a good bit of my efforts have involved cutting back and tightening the prose where I can. And yet the length increases.

I think this quote from Stephen King doesn't just apply from a reader's perspective. As an artist, writing is much like any other medium. Some stories aren't just all there from inception, adhering to the predetermined outline. Certainly mine are not.

Instead, my stories evolve as they're written. As the characters flesh out, they take control and make their own decisions, dictate what they'll say, what they do, how they do it. Toss a couple of those on the page together, and a writer (well, this one at least) swiftly discovers that the story being told isn't at all the one that they started out telling, and in fact may bear little or no resemblance to its predecessor.

All the sudden the story is whispering things, themes that weren't even planned now echoing through the subtext. Monsters lurking in the shadows, and wraiths in the basement. Don't go down into the cellar alone, and make sure you knock first.

In the initial editing round, I doubled the length of the story, from a short to a novella. One of the secondary characters I introduced in the newer text decided that their sex/gender was irrelevant, and presents as neutral. This is very challenging in a third-person construction, limiting referential options in the prose. On some level, I dislike it. And yet it won't slide past unnoticed by the reader, which I feel makes a crucial statement. Here I go playing with the reader assumptions and perspectives again. Just a little bit. I swear.

I just find myself wondering what else this story will decide needs saying before I'm done with it...
And of course, that's half the adventure. Discovering the story as I write it, following along on the adventure every bit as much as the reader eventually will. Actually, I get more adventure than the reader does, because I get the fun of exploring all the options that don't end up in the final version as well.

Sadly, there's little room for actual sex in this novella. Too much blood spatter, arterial spray and close quarters combat...

An Option Failure Is Not.

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:23:00 +0000

Camp Nano had actually been chugging along reasonably well through the middle of the month. Halfway through June, I managed to stay on track and broke the 25k barrier only a day or so late. And I did hit 50k... for the year.

The irony is that, well, the day I broke the halfway mark? I received an email from my Riptide editor. Yep. I am wading through edits, my focus on a completely different project. And switching gears between them doesn't happen easily enough for me to try finishing out the month goal of 50k. Especially not when all my creative energy is going into polishing. It takes a lot of elbow grease. Can I count the 2k+ that I've added in the edits?

So! August Camp Nano it is, then! I'll take the year-milestone of 50k as a technical victory, putting me at the halfway point for that. I set an annual goal of 100k for this year for a couple reasons -- the greatest being a matter of quality over quantity, but editing processes contributed heavily as well.

I knew coming into this year that I'd have one official pub to edit, and the intended completion of a very large and substantial rewrite on another project would require at least two thorough editing passes as well. That completion is my major goal this year, word count be damned, to be honest. Which is why I engaged in Camp Nano this month, will do so again in August, and have every intention of participating in NanoWrimo as well.

Forcing the creative focus is crucial for me. I have very close blood relations who have diagnoses of ADD. Some are medicated. Some aren't. I share a lot of the symptoms, have known it for years. Coffee helps. So do externalized deadlines and goals (like Nano). The rest of the time? I manage it by understanding my limitations and accepting that I work slowly as a result. I don't beat myself up about it.
(Okay, not too often, anyway.)

I may have left camp early and hiked off into the wilderness on my own, but it's hardly been a failure. I have 25k on a project that I didn't have before, and it helped push me part of the way over a plot obstacle I had.

I'm about a third of the way through the edits, roughly. I'm being horribly thorough. Which is the way I prefer to do it. Rhi, the Editing Masochist.

Struggling With Theoretical Implications

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 11:45:00 +0000

Earlier this past week, I grabbed a special collector's edition of Scientific American Mind titled "His Mind, Her Mind: How We're Different" off the magazine rack.

Because, in all seriousness, I wanted to see how they tackled a headline I caught on the contents page.
An article titled, "The Third Gender."

I'll admit, though I had high hopes, just seeing that title gave me a queasy feeling. I knew deep down that it was going to be rough reading before I even started. Guess I'm a masochist, because I read it anyway.

And you know what? I was right. I realize that Scientific American isn't a scientific journal where the foremost minds in their fields publish those papers that you need a comparable doctorate to parse through. That being said, the author of this particular article still contradicted himself so often that I began to suspect he was confusing himself. Or perhaps was confused himself already, and it simply presented that way in the writing...

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A Letter From A Nano-Camper

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 02:44:00 +0000

Dear readers,

Hi! Send Twizzlers and black licorice jelly beans please? Oh, and more coffee of course. Not that I don't have plenty, but one can never have enough.

The weather's great, sun's warm, and the occasional glimpses of Black Hawks and Chinooks are just enough to be a timely distraction. I was sorely tempted to go sit and watch the #soldierporn flying around all afternoon, but that sun-so warm and lovely in an indirect way on my front porch-promised the murder of a thousand lobster-burns if I dared neglect my day's task. So I saluted the Chinook with my Moleskine and went back to writing.

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I Dreamed A Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Rhi Etzweiler) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 13:55:00 +0000

I rarely recall much of any detail about my dreams anymore.
They dissipate the moment my conscious awareness reboots and comes back online.

This morning was different.
In living color, playing out before me as though I were an actor in a lead role of a theater production.
The edges of the stage, the curtain, invisible.
Immersed, I experienced every emotion, every touch, heard every word and musical note, with clarity and realism that I cannot begin to describe. I think I might have even experienced a few smells, too. Talk about engaging all the senses.

I know it was a dream.
But it didn't feel like one.
And the words came pouring forth from my fingers before the fuel of caffeinated beverage was past my lips. I rarely write 600 words in ten minutes. Hell if I didn't this morning.

Good morning, new muse. Go sit in the corner and strum your guitar and keep all the other muses in some kind of passive state of non-frenzy while I finish this other project. And then I will play with you. And you can channel your rage into your riffs and scream of wrong-doing, or whatever the hell this story is you want to tell me.