167 posts tagged “writing”
I've finished my edits and e-mailed the new draft off to my agent.
And I'm already uneasy that she won't think I made the changes she wanted the way she wanted.
That feeling should fade once I start doing all the fun things I've been putting off while writing this book. And if she sells it, some publisher is probably going to want more (or different) changes, anyway.
I'm taking an extended break in my 25 minutes-on 5 minutes-off schedule today to post an FSotD to prove that I have been writing today!
With the goatee grown in, David now looked like his own evil twin.
(I stole this from real life -- the same is true of Cappy when he has one.)
Okay, break over, back to it.
A couple of hours in a coffee shop this afternoon got my mojo going on these polishes to my current novel manuscript (especially by having no free wireless internet accessible -- boy, does that help my productivity). Here's my first FSotD I had this afternoon:
Jane being crushed low was like the felling of a great redwood.
Then there's one that's an in-joke. I have a pitcher character (as I commented to cranky this week), and my agent wants me to put more physical descriptions of characters in the book (something I'm remiss on), so here's a line about him:
Stash was too busy checking his ego in a mirror, along with the progress of his most current misguided facial hair configuration—a straight stripe of goatee down the middle of his chin.
Yes, cranks, I decided in my mind's eye that this character, even though he's a pitcher, looks like Jayson Werth. I was inspired after reading today that Werth has recently changed his walk-up to at-bat song from "Heavy Metal" by Sammy Hagar to "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon. Very much aware of our pull with the ladeez, aren't we Jayson? I couldn't resist, because I agree he's hot -- all except the facial hair. All the Phillies except Chan Ho Park have very bad beardage and should shave them off now.
By the way, when I was checking the available networks on my laptop (a girl can hope), there was one labelled CrankyPants. But it was secured, so I couldn't snoop and see who in downtown Toronto has stolen our cranky's handle.
Okay, back to it. Gotta get more done before game time. Go Phillies!
Usually I use Saturday for yoga and chores, and write on Sunday, but my yoga class is cancelled till we get out indoor space back again, and I'm going for a bite and a movie with Patricia tomorrow, so today's writing day by default. I'm pleased to say I was at the computer, actually working, not surfing, by 10:07 this morning. Go me! And I already have a Funnest Sentence of the Day, to wit:
Valeria had been the most productive office employee on the planet till David taught her to play Solitaire on the computer and stop bringing down the world average on time-wasting.
My task today is working up more detailed backstories for the characters in the novel I recently gave my agent to read. She likes the manuscript a ton, but wants the characters, who are mostly only seen in their shared workplace setting, to have a little more grounding, so I'm going to massage in more details from their backgrounds and home lives into the narrative. Once I work them out. This means I'm not racking up big word count, just conceptualizing and adding dribs and drabs here and there, like a painter adding highlights to a landscape.
I'm also trying to fight distraction, or more importantly, distracting myself from the job at hand. Which means not baking the cupcakes I want to, not reading my new library book, not watching the TV show I recorded last night, limiting the Internet, getting off this Vox post kind of now-ish...
Today I went to my good friend Patricia Storms' book launch at a downtown library. Patricia has been making her living as an illustrator for years now, including for a number of children's picture books, but this was the launch of the first picture book she has authored AND illustrated. It's a "Prince and the Pauper" type story about being true to yourself. Here it is:
There were also some other colorful characters ready to be put out to help point the way to the back where the fun was.
One of Patricia's friends who came is Sandra Bell-Lundy, who has a syndicated comic strip, "Between Friends", which I like, and I got to tell her so. It was great ftime, with plenty of people and kids. And grand to see a friend celebrating an accomplishment. So if you know of any tykes that like a good read (or to be read to), check Patricia's book out on Amazon.
From the critiquing sessions at my writers retreat (this is a great group for critiquing, very smart and incisive and constructivie), these were the "we need that on a t-shirt" lines.
Rob, yesterday, on Madeline's partial novel: "It seems odd that there's no repercussions to being eaten."
Me, yesterday, also on Madeline's plot points: "This character doesn't just break Asimov's First Law of Robotics, she Michael Bays it out of existence."
Madeline, today, on the main character in my missing kid novel: "Outside of suspecting everyone of child molestation and avarice, this character doesn't seem to have a hobby."
The funnest sentence I wrote today:
A widescreen picture of the little boy’s vitals wasn’t much to munch popcorn to, though they were as white-knuckle as any movie climax.
Other creativity in the halls of the Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts:
That's a scale model of the ferry that usually takes us to this end of the Island (when there's no strike on), and a painting in which the main subject bears an uncanny resemblance to one of the Centre staff.
Here's the "library" in the Centre, full of arts publications and copies of books written by people who worked on them here:
And thanks to the author copy I brought and inscribed for the Centre, Godblog now joins the ranks of those works.
(just e-mailed to the editor of the Toronto Star)
Vit Wagner's article on the new Winnie-the-Pooh sequel brings conflicting emotions. One, I want to read the book, because Milne's original continues to delight me even as an adult with his masterful use of language in such seemingly innocuous stories. Two, as a novelist myself, I seethe at the insult in Wagner's choice of words: "David Benedictus, who provided the text for the new book". Benedictus *wrote* the book, like Wagner wrote this article. Creative writers struggle enough without being denigrated as mere "text providers", and worse yet, by another writer.
Laurie Channer
author, Godblog
(I could have gone on at length, but I've found they almost always print my letters if I keep them short and pithy.)
I've just finished (I think) an under-2000-word short story, done over two weekends. Here's an FSotD from it:
When your “tattooing” is done with a gunshot, the untidiness of the art is really the least of your problems.
Now I can go off to the barbecue, guilt-free!
I use short stories to as writing craft exercises, a smaller space to try something new, like a new voice or narrative style. That's what I wanted to do today. As of 3 p.m., I've spent several hours struggling to get a grasp on the style I want to write this particular tattoo short story in. The style I'm after is that of Tom's stream-of-consciousness Mental Chex Mixes. See, the very idea of "stream-of-consciousness" is that it flows out naturally, that you can't "work" at it.
Or can I? One of my strengths as a writer is the ability to change the style or voice I write in with different pieces. Other extremely talented writers I know can't do that. So I'm going to continue this challenge for a while more.
First the news. Finally, it can be told. I've been sitting on this because it's been in the works since early April at least, but now we're down to the short strokes, and I announced it publicly at the reading last night for the first time, so...
I'm about to sign a contract for the film rights to Godblog with an independent Canadian production company.
Can I get a YAY? The screenwriter who'll be adapting the book is a friend of mine, and he has my trust. He brought this producer into the project, and will be a co-producer himself. We've already talked a little about creative direction, because some things will have to be changed for a film, and I'm not alarmed by anything they're thinking about. In fact, I even gave them some ideas for changes.
Film development takes time, so "when is it going to be shot?" and "when can I see it?" are not questions for now. Not every film that starts development gets made. So for now, I'm just celebrating the fact that there's an option on the book, that lets them start developing a script and looking for funding, and I get a fee it. But mostly, I'm jazzed about the idea that there are people out there who are so enthusiastic about my work, that they are now putting their professional time and energy into it.
Now, the reading. It was great. Small, iconic Toronto independent bookstore with a 30-year history, and 20-some people on folding chairs filled it. Despite the credentials of the other authors, at least half the audience was from my invite list. I read first.
Michael Wex did an amazing performance, not a reading because he did it from memory, sort of a beat-poet thing on Yiddish that was hilarious. Mark Leiren-Young read from his book Never Shoot a Stampede Queen, and was hugely funny, too.
Here's me and Mark, who had also introduced me as a "superhero" in my day job protecting screenwriters and "fantastic" person and mentioned my cat rescues and everything.
And here's the piece of cake I had with Mark and his girlfriend at about 10:45 p.m., after the whole dealio.
This was my first food since a few carrots at about 4 p.m. I didn't get home till after midnight. This week has been such a whirlwind with chores and cats and obligations and all and my mind is still going 90 miles a minute with all I have to still do before getting on a plane tomorrow. But last night was huge, huge fun.
