My friend Jillian is blogging today here about naming characters. One of the hardest things can be getting that character name just right. Sometimes the writer has to change that name mid-book if the character just isn’t responding. How many times have you had to do that as a writer?
Sorry I’ve beem MIA. I’ve had a lot going on with my mother being ill and in and out of the hospital. I’ve also had to travel quite a bit recently and have been working diligently at the day job and the evenings writing. I also had edits on a pretty long novel that my alter-ego has coming out on September 9, 2012.
I’m over here today to announce that I got an acceptance for a Halloween story to be published by Whortleberry Press in September. This will be my fourth year in their Halloween anthology and I’m super excited to be back. I absolutely adore the fall season and all the holidays therein.
This story I wrote was so fun. I woke up on a Saturday morning with the first paragraph in my head, fully formed. I jumped up and grabbed my iPad to jot it down. The next paragraph came right away and every time I thought I’d stop working on it, more came. I didn’t get up for two hours and it was done. I was still in my robe and was shocked when I looked up to see it was two hours later.
I edited it that night and sent it in. It’s a really cute little story if I do say so myself. It’s in first person but you know, it really called out for that perspective.
The name will be changed from what I had but that’s cool. I’m awful at titles so I’m always open to changing them. LOL! Of course, I’ll post when it’s available for purchase.
I’ve been back from my trip to New York to see Seminar for a while now and wanted to post this review but life has been getting in the way. On top of work at the day job and trying to finish the first draft of my latest novel, I’ve been sick off and on, but here we go with the long-awaited review.
First and foremost, Alan Rickman was spectacular. I have long admired his work and was a bit fearful that seeing him at long last in person would be a disappointment. I’m happy to say he is all I imagined and more in the flesh. He’s so relaxed and confident on stage. He doesn’t seem to be acting; rather, he seems to be having a real conversation with the other characters. So natural and unaffected. I’ve been to many plays over the years and believe me, I’ve seen some actors who are not as at ease on stage as Mr. Rickman was in this role. The only other actor I’ve seen that has this same quality to the same extent onstage is Richard Griffiths.
The rest of the members of the ensemble cast were well-chosen by the casting director. Jerry O’Connell seemed a little rushed in his first lines, but he soon settled in and did a wonderful job. Hamish Linklater was spot on in his role – he was one of my favorite people in the play with his understated angst. In fact, no one in the play over-emoted which can sometimes be a distraction.
As to the women in the cast, Lily Rabe was wonderful as the hostess of the writing class. When she grabbed all the snacks after the first session, that hit home. As a writer myself, I’ve indulged in those binges of rejection-eating. Ms. Rabe carried herself well.
Hettienne Parker was very natural in her role. There were several times she interjected comments into the group that seemed like they were off the cuff and real. Knowing they were lines she’d spoken many times, I was impressed at how fresh and new they sounded. Bravo for her.
Theresa Rebeck has razor-sharp wit and I enjoyed her writing very much. My seventeen year old son also thought the play was wonderful and he enjoyed the wit as much as I did. The references to Tin House and The New Yorker were appreciated by this writer.
I love the tag line on the sign outside the theatre: Young writers are like good books, you can’t enjoy them until you’ve broken their spines. I believe there are a lot of agents and editors who believe that and there may even be some truth to it!
In short. if you can get to New York while this play is showing, do it. It’s worth the trip. If you’re an Alan Rickman fan, this is a must see.
So, the crazy story continues and segued again last night. I think I’m going to say it’s a romantic comedy because it really doesn’t fit any other genre. It’s weird because I usually have some element of suspense or a theme of that nature. I do have a dead body and the heroine is a medical examiner but I find myself not really caring if the case is solved because I’m having so much fun with the dialogue between the main characters. I may just call this a writing exercise and never submit it anywhere- it has at least amused me and kept me out of trouble for a couple of days. Always a plus.
I’m gearing up for NaNoWriMo beginning in November and don’t really want to start anything new writing-wise until then as I don’t want to get wrapped up in characters and then change gears in two weeks.
I had nothing to read in my car yesterday so I took my alpha writer to lunch and started a short story, thinking I was going to submit it to a place looking for fantasy romances. I wrote 365 words with a plan (sort-of- not really) for a fairy to be part of the story.
So, today, I picked it up and worked on it at lunch again and added about 700 more words. It has now turned into a sort-of-not-really Valentine’s Day story.
I have no idea where it’s going and when the hero asked the heroine if she knew who the murder victim was, she said no and asked him to tell her. I was just as eager as she was to know the answer.
Hurry up, November, so I can focus. Please.
The best news I could receive now is an acceptance of one of my novels out on submission. I’ve had four submissions out since the end of January. I think it’s already good news that I haven’t gotten the fast turn-around rejection so I’m hopeful. Or it could be that the four publishers are so jammed with submissions that they have just shoved me to the bottom of the pile. Guess I’ll find out sooner or later!
PUBLISHING GOALS
I’m proud that my second novel (under my pseudonym) was published in February and that the third will be out in July this year. I’m also proud that I’ve also recently finished the first drafts on two mysteries.
I hope that two other novels I have out on submission get accepted and published soon. My other goal is to polish the two manuscripts I recently finished and submit them.
I’m up to 18,065 words now as of 7:40 pm CST on November 9, 2010. I have 31,935 words left to write and 21 days to do it in. That’s 1521 words a day. I can and will do this.
Getting ready to write the first love scene. Am starting Chapter Six. Wish me luck.
got to 13,697 today on my NaNoWriMo novel. It’s a romantic suspense called Obsession. I had a hard time getting a handle on my female protagonist until I changed her name. Once I got the right name for her, she came together in my head much easier. This happened on another story, too.
It’s funny how my writing process works. I get the hero first. Always. His name and his back story come easy to me. Wonder why the women are so much harder for me? Guess it’s like real life. I have male friends and female friends and the male ones are much easier to get a handle on. Simpler needs, I guess. Life imitates art? I think so.
That’s the question of the day for me. I am a writer. Part of that process is rejection. Duh. I know that. But each one I get makes me think I’m a hack. Why is that? The funny thing is, I know I’m competent and capable. But send me a rejection and I think I’m horrid and worthless. I’ve sold numerous short stories and two novels and just started a quest for an agent about a month ago. I got two agent rejections yesterday. And on Monday, I got two short story rejections. It was like a quadruple whammy.
And no, I wasn’t arrogant enough to think that the first agent I queried would fall in love with me but I did at least think I’d get a request for more pages. One of the agents said my writing was very strong but she wasn’t captivated by the first 5 pages, which was all she had. The other one blew me off completely. Short, terse, nothing.
So, determined not to give up, I sent out two more agent letters and I sent the short stories out again. This morning I woke up to a contract in my email for one of the short stories- It was accepted by a children’s magazine (for ages 14 and up). So, what a difference 14 hours makes. I went from Gloomy Gus who thinks she can’t write to Delighted Debbie, the master story teller! Until the next rejection, that is.
What a crazy industry this is. And me, too. Crazy, that is.
Ramblings of a Writer 