May Goals

Still in that poor me phase. Just found out that I'll be on this bland diet at least through the middle of July. Oh boy! At least I've found a couple more canned veggies I'm allowed. And frozen spinach is okay. I've now added a dark green (the spinach), an orange (carrots) and a red (beets) to the repetoire along with a new light green (asparagus). Dropped the peas--those things have way more calories than their size should allow. And I'll be cutting back on the fruits. Again with the calories. The up side of all of this is that I've joined myfooddiary.com to track what I'm eating so I know that I'm getting my nutrients without too much fat, cholesterol or calories. This may be what I needed to jump start the weight loss process.

So how'd I do with my April writing goals? Not so hot. Not much with actual revision on MMG, although I did work on it in my head. Check out Kristin Nelson's recents blogs about back cover copy. The idea of the 'plot catalyst' that should happen within the first thirty pages helped me solidify what actually is mine. Not Kitty's mother dying--that happens before the book starts. Nope, it's the first haunting of her brother that really sets things in motion for her. Duh! And I worked a little bit on Vesta. Picked up some more books for research on Tarot and crystals, which will both figure in the story.

New goals? Actually write the first ten chapters of revisions on MMG--that's one per weekend. Type up what I have so far on Vesta with the few changes I've decided will put her in more peril. Peril=conflict=good. Continue research on metaphysical themes.

That's fairly ambitious, but I've been a slacker for way too long. Time to Cowboy Up as the amazing Jenny says.

Thankful For Small Blessings

I got back to work Wednesday morning. When I came in my to-do list had 4 things on it from the previous week. Not too bad. By the end of the day I'd completed 8 items with 7 left over. Thursday I completed 10 items and had 15 left over. Yes, I'm moving backwards this week. Watch me defy the laws of physics soon!

This morning while I was getting ready I started feeling pretty sorry for myself. I'm on this icky diet, I'm exhausted and I have 15 things to try to check off my list along with anything else that might just land on it. Poor me. So I pull out the new bottle of makeup I bought yesterday. The brand is called Boots and it's sold at Target. One of the reasons I picked it up was because they actually have testers in the store. No guessing at whether it matches or not. Cool. Usually you can only test makeup at boutique stores or department stores. I'm not big on shopping (except for books and craft supplies) so I hate going to the mall to do that.

Then I started thinking about the first job I had when I moved to Colorado. I worked at May D&F department store in the Women's Better Sportswear Department. Yes, I got to deal on a daily basis with just the type of women that description brings to mind. Most were okay. Some were just over the top. On Christmas Eve day they pulled me over to the perfume counter to help out because a lot of men wait to the last minute to shop then have no idea what to get so they go to two counters--perfume and jewelry. By the time my shift ended at 6:00 p.m., my head was splitting from having dozens of different perfumes sprayed at me and on me so they could be tested.

So today could be worse.

Time To Read

I've been down sick for a week now. I won't bore you with details--they aren't particularly pleasant--but once I quit sleeping most of the day I realized I had time to read. I've been slogging through Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Now don't misunderstand. It's a good book, a very good book. But it's long. Over 800 pages long. And the chapters are long. So when you pick it up, you've committed yourself to a bit of time. It's a book that's hard to put down once you start, but hard to pick up in the first place.

The book is a best-seller so I don't think the length was a huge turnoff. However, how many people who bought it have read it? Would it matter to you? I mean, she's got the money. So what if no one really got past the first hundred pages? Some authors would be okay with that.

While, yes, I do want to be able to make a buck from my writing, I also want my words to mean something to others. Maybe over-reaching in the long run, but what can I say? I'm a dreamer.

So what motivates you to keep going? Is it the bucks? You can be honest here. No judging. Or do you want to make an impression with your words? Or both?

Southern Gothic--Or Why Do I Keep Setting Novels in Florida?

Vesta is turning into a Southern Gothic novel. I wasn't going for that, but that's where it's going none the less. This will be the second novel set in central Florida. One might deduce from that that I like Florida. Nothing could be further from the truth. I lived in Florida for several years and, other than being excited to wear shorts on Thanksgiving the first year, did not like it at all. For many reasons. But here I am having set my first two novels there. And the next one? Plans are for that to be set in Florida as well. Hmm.

The rule is "Write what you know." It's not "Write what you like." Do I know Florida better than anyplace else? No, I lived in Michigan longer and in Colorado longer than either. And I liked them both better than Florida. So why Florida? Maybe I'm working out something. Maybe it feels more menacing to me so I feel comfortable having bad things happen to my characters there. Again I say, "hmmm."

Where do you set your stories? Is it somewhere you know? I realize the answers will be very different for SF/F writers. But do the places feel familiar? Do you like the settings? Does it make a difference?

Springtime In The Rockies

I've heard many people say that there is no spring in Colorado. That we just go from winter to summer. But I disagree. Today is a perfect Colorado spring day. When I left for my lunch break it was in the mid to upper fifties and sunny. No jacket needed. By the time I returned to the office less than an hour later, I had to pull on the jacket I keep in the car for just these instances because it was snowing.

Maybe these people come from someplace I've never been in the spring. Because Michigan had vastly changeable weather in the spring, and fall. Florida was just more or less hot, as was Arizona. But this is spring the way we have it Colorado. And I rather enjoy it. Nothing at all boring about it. Summer here can get a little monotonous. "Mostly sunny to partly cloudy, highs in the eighties with a 30% change of late afternoon or early evening thunderstorms." Forecast 1A for the better part of June and July. Substitute nineties for later in the summer.

I've been feeling pretty monotonous myself lately. Not taking my cues from Mother Nature. So I'm thinking about changing it up a little. I've felt myself drawn to do some things other than writing. "Drawn" is a good word because I've felt like drawing again. Maybe trying watercolors. And the banjo is calling to me as well. And the books that have been piling up on the nightstand really want to be read. I'm thinking the balloon needs a bit of air, the well a little water.

As wise woman--okay, it was Jenny paraphrasing Ali--said to focus on what I've been getting done and not on what I haven't. Good advice. I think I was starting to fall into my April habit. Worrying about how much I'm not ready for the conference. Except there's no conference for me this year. Just for this reason. So time to lighten up.

And the spring days are getting longer so I have more light to play by. Yep, gotta love spring.

A Tale of Two Plays

It's taken me a week to decide whether to post this or not. Not that it's particularly controversial, but because I was seriously doubting my own opinion. Theatreworks at UCCS just finished their season with two plays about the Middle East done in repertoire. They are meant as a means to better understand cultures that are quite literally foreign to most of us. Both plays received rave reviews locally and from the Denver Post arts critic. I agree with one, but not the other.

Nine Parts of Desire is a one-woman play featuring Karen Slack as nine Iraqi women. She moves from one position on the stage to another seamlessly, changing character as she goes. With the help of a black piece of cloth used as everything from a shawl to a head scarf to a skirt, Slack also physically transforms from a preteen girl to an elder woman to a fat Bedouin divorcee to a hip London intellectual to a twenty-something Iraqi-American. Over the course of the play, the tension and pathos build until the actress and the audience are emotionally drained. This was a moving, visceral experience. Bits of it still come back to me a week later.

Dar al-Harb, the other play, keeps coming back to, but not in a good way. It is based on the true event of Egyptian Sayyid Qutb. He came to Greeley, Colorado, in 1949 to attend what was then a teaching college. He left a short time later so hating America that he is now known as the father of Islamic radicalism. Murry Ross, Artistic Director of Theatreworks, wrote this play as a way to explain what may have happened. At least that's the story in the program.

Let me say that I like plays that combine a lot of things. Last year's Wonderland, a reimagining of the Alice story, was great. And Something's Rotten had three actors trying to do Hamlet with a narcoleptic lead. Since they were short on cast, Teddy Ruxpin played Polonius--brilliant. But this felt more like Ross couldn't decide what kind of play he wanted to write so he threw in a bit of everything. There is a video screen behind the action that shows 1949 pop culture pictures, often in concert with radio ads or popular music. One of the musical numbers I enjoyed was Qutb and a co-ed lipsyncing to Baby It's Cold Outside.

There are moments when Ross touches on things that may have upset Qutb and caused his low opinion of America. Churches that promote fraternization between young people through socials and dances, co-eds in revealing clothing, a culture of consumerism in the post-war boom, students making fun of his differences. But then he mixes it up with a jinn whose name is John Lee Hooker, a woman who pretends to be Muslim and wears a burka in an attempt to seduce Qutb, and three clerics who act as a sort of Greek chorus. I'm not Muslim, but I was offended at several points.

Their hearts may have been in the right place, but the outcome of their intentions was definitely mixed. Maybe next time one of their own decides to pen a screenplay, they'll send it through a critiquing process before producing it.

March Recap

The only one of my goals that I actually finished was the vacation in Phoenix, which was a good one to finish. My last post pretty much sums up the rest of the month of March. It bit.

So, what will make April different? I will. Not that I have any more control over the things that crop up that you never saw coming. But I do have control over what I plan for myself and how I react to those pesky pop-up issues. I have a couple blocks of time that I'm protecting rather jealously. And a third that I may be able to reclaim. We'll just have to see how things progress this month.

Another difference? I've eliminated page counts from the goals. They just say "work on." When I set word and page counts, I tend to feel that if I sit down to write I HAVE to write a lot in order to get to the count. If finishing is the goal, then I have to write even more. If I only have to work on it, then a paragraph is gold. I still feel like revisions work better with more time, but I'm going to try to be flexible about that one, too.

April has always been my month. There has been some dread of it the past few years because of conference. I don't have that hanging over me this year and I don't want to hang anything else in its place. Let's see if lightening up helps.