C. L. Norman

“We regret to inform you . . .” 

Hands waved wildly in the air. Long low groans fill the air. Head hits wall or computer or desk repeatedly. “I need ice cream” is said and followed through on.

Sound familiar?

Everytime I tell someone I’ve received a rejection letter I think they expect that reaction from me. They are surprised by my happy face and how excited I am. In other words, I’m weird. (Not big news to anyone who knows me)

Admittedly I don’t have huge amounts of rejections yet but I am starting to pile them on and I love it. Well maybe love is a little strong. But I do relish them. For, you see, I don’t see rejections as dead ends. I see them as stepping stones.

The stones lead to my goal and I can’t bypass them. I also have to keep an eye on each one as it comes or I will slip. I have no idea how many stones are on my path, the end is shrouded in mist. I am happy to be on the path though. Writing and submitting is enough for me right now.

I know that not everyone will love my stories and even if they like it, there may not be a place for it with them. And so I keep going. Skipping from stone to stone, excited to see the view from each new one. Writing more stories to send out so I can get more rejections to pave my path with.

        

Salutations, friends. Hope your week went well, mine did.

Graduation

My littlest sister has graduation Magna Cum Laude from WSU with a Psychology degree. We are so proud of her and I had the pleasure of watching her walk the walk and hide from the cameras after as much as she could. I am so excited for her future and where it will go from here. So many possibilities.

Writing

I am still feeling my way to a process for the novel I want to write. I have a protagonist I adore speaking incessantly in my mind’s theater. He struts about ranting and bragging and occasionally revealing bits of his story to me. I see a little bit of a couple subplots and the start of the main one but the rest remains shrouded. This time I won’t give up. I will write and finish a novel no matter how much it sucks.

Write on the River

I attended the Write on the River writing conference for the first time yesterday and I am very glad I went. Terry Brooks was the keynote speaker. I have adored his work since I was 13 years old and I am so glad I had the opportunity to speak with him face to face. He and his wife are wonderful people.

Samuel Ligon hosted a workshop on Novels: Launches and Landings and while I have never heard of him before I greatly enjoyed learning from him. One thing that I took away from his lecture was the idea that writers need to maintain a balance between ego and failure. Ego so we have the confidence to submit and keep writing. Failure so we realize that we need to keep improving as nothing is ever good enough. I myself have a healthy dose of the failure side of things, I am working on the ego part.

Randall Platt workshopped on Character Etching. She handed out a nice poem about all the wonderful things that are accomplished only after a lot of failures. She also handed out the interview sheet she uses to get to know her characters and in the workshop we created Wendell Hopscotch, age 37, born in an abandoned fish hatchery to unwed teens. From there he only got more interesting and real and he touched something in all of us.  She also posed the question “why spend your life fighting for other peoples dreams?” A question that I feel in my soul and am looking forward to acting upon.

The last workshop I went to was given by Anjali Banerjee about Avoiding the Pitfalls of the Middle Grade novel. She taught about having your protagonist “save the cat” in the first few pages to make them redeemable and sympathetic to the reader. She also highly recommended finding a mentor that is further up the trail, they will teach you so much more than writing groups.

If things work out right next year, I hope to return. It was a wonderful experience and I recommend it to any writer, aspiring or not.

        

Good morning all. Another week is drawing to a close and it is time for my weekly post.

Happy Mother’s Day

Today is mother’s day. A day for spending time with your kids and the mothers in your life. My grade school kids have special things they have made for me and my teen daughters will hold in their attitudes long enough to mumble “happy mother’s day, mom”. It is a family day. Hope you enjoy yours.

Reading

This week I read Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris as I promised I would last week. I have to say I enjoyed it. I have heard some people complain that it is slower paced than the previous novels. I agree with this but it felt right for Sookie and Co. to have that breather. To me it feels like the lull before the storm. This book is all about family. Sookie and her brother get close again. Sam is still worried about his family and their reaction to the Great Reveal. Even Eric has some relatives come to town. There is still a lot going on but more of it has to do with relationships. There is even an appearance by Russian nobility. Fun.

I also read The Sweet Scent of Blood by Suzanne McLeod. I can’t rave about this book quite as much. It is the first in the series and all the different things that were introduced in this book were confusing in places. I did enjoy most of it and found it interesting take on vampires and fae. Also the character of Finn is a satyr and you just don’t see many satyrs in fiction these days. I like him. The vampire nobility that involve themselves with Genny’s life are darkly mysterious and their motives remain in the shadows. That said I will be reading the next one in the series. Now that I understand (or think I do) what is going on with Genny and her past, I am ready to dive forward in her world and see where things go.

Movies

I saw Iron Man 2 on Friday with my husband and two boys and I loved it. My 7 year old has dubbed it the third best movie of all time. Tony Stark has more snark than can fit in that suit and Vanko was sufficiently smart and creepy to be a worthy adversary. The action was eye-popping and fun, the way superhero action movies should be. I recommend this movie to comic fans, action fans, and comedy fans. It even has a bit of something for fans of romance.

Writing

I am still working on that “sitting down and writing everyday” thing that I need to progress further in this dream of mine. I have a conference coming up on Saturday where Terry Brooks is the keynote speaker. I have been a fan of his since I was in high school. In particular I have a soft spot for his character Allanon from the first Shannara series. Allanon had that black cloak that obscured his features and his motives wonderfully well. The first time through the books I didn’t know if he was just pretending to be a good guy or not.

 I also will be heading to a convention and participating in a writing workshop May 28th through the 31st. I found out who is critiquing my submission and now my husband is begging to pretend to be me and go. I will share with you who it is after I hear what he has to say. I can say that I am totally looking forward to hearing what he has to say.

How was your week? Are you enjoying your Mother’s Day?

        

Another month has gone and a new one has started. May always feels like the beginning of something to me. The flowers are blooming, the weather is changing and warming up, and school is wrapping up. Everything is transitioning and in some ways this feels more like the start of a new year than January 1st.

Reading

I read Bewitched and Betrayed by Lisa Shearin. It is the fourth in the series and it just keeps getting better. Raine is the perfect protagonist who keeps landing both feet in a lake of trouble and sinks fast. Mychael, the perfect paladin, reveals that he has more than a touch of the rogue in him. Tam, the dark mage goblin, has a fairly small part in this book but a memorable one. Lisa also has a talent for writing in a traditional fantasy setting using modern language that pulls the modern reader in. I am already having trouble waiting for the next one.

Charlaine Harris’ new Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead in the Family, is out this Tuesday so you know what I will be reading when I get out of work then. The combination of the humor, the complicated love life, the who-done-its, and the ever growing cast of characters keep me coming back for more. I am very excited for this one.

Writing

I proved I could write a short story in a few hours Monday. I found out the deadline for a workshop I wanted to participate in was the date received by not the date mailed and suddenly I lost two days. I could have sent in one of the stories I have out in submission but that felt like “cheating” to me and so I wrote something. I read the first six pages on Wednesday night for the Open Mic Night at B&N and everyone seemed to enjoy it. However as I was nearing the end of what I was writing, yet again it seems that I am not writing a short story. I am writing either a prologue or the first chapter of something much longer. This is just further proof that I need to start writing (and more importantly finishing) novels.

Thursday I tried to start and finish my #flashfriday submission because I worked on Friday. All I managed was an intoduction to the protagonist. And then he wouldn’t stop yammering in my head. I have never had that experience before and it was almost unnerving and definitely distracting. After a particularly irreverent comment on a magazine I was putting out at work, I firmly told him to be quiet until I could sit in front of a computer. Since then he has been unusually well behaved for him and I need to smack him until he goes back to normal. Normal for him that is.

Writing Events

Saturday night, Patricia Briggs was in the store for a signing for her latest Mercy Thompson book, Silver Bourne.  I spent about 20 minutes chatting with her husband, Mike. He gave great insights into a writer’s life and especially their beginnings. Nap time will never sound the same again. I will be seeing them again at the end of May at convention in Missoula. Hopefully I won’t be so in awe of her writing that I can’t talk to them both as friends.

That was my week, how was yours?

        

With my top hat (10% off) on my head and a clean cup for tea in front of me, let me ask you a question:

Why is a novel like a child?

Answer: Neither comes with an instruction book.

I have always known this in a vague, intellectual way but that didn’t keep me from sitting at the back of writing panels and hoping that the authors let loose the secret method for writing a novel. I took notes and studied what they said, how they said it, and even what they wore, hoping that I could glean that little thing that would lead me through the door into novel land.

One of the things I want to hear the “right answer” for is when to do the research and/or worldbuilding for a particular project. Raising my children I wait until something comes up before doing the research. When my second daughter developed allergies to tomatoes, potatoes, and peanuts, I researched into how to help her and what to cook for her. When my youngest son took an interest in trains, I spent some time learning about trains to help him out.

When I am writing I waffle back and forth between researching before or after. If I research before, I’ll have the information that might help shape the story. If I research after the first draft is done, I won’t be researching things that I won’t need.

I am heavily influenced by school and my attitudes towards school when it comes to writing. I am determined to be ‘right’ and follow the directions and get that A. The A in this case standing for an Acceptance letter. I need to treat my process more like raising children; spend time with it, guide it in the direction I want it to go, and have fun doing it.

I am attending two conferences this month; Write on the Rivers and MisCon. I need to go into the panels looking for advice on the craft of writing and use them as opportunities to network. It is a time to make friends with my co-workers (at least someday I hope to be their coworker) and not a time to grill them about the how-to’s of writing novels.

Even if there is an instruction book out there for writing a novel, it won’t be written with me and my ideas in mind. I’ll have to write my own.

        

Howdy friends. Just a quick drive-by post to keep you up to date.

Writing

Why is it a drive-by post you ask? Because I am a ditz apparently. About a week ago my husband came down with the announcement that we were going to go to MisCon after all. I pointed out that I didn’t have anything written for the workshop and the deadline is April 28th and he says “Write something.” Then last night I was looking at the guidelines for the workshop and saw that the submission must be received by the 28th. Arrrg! There goes my only other day off this week. So that means I have tonight and tomorrow morning to write and revise a couple thousand more words of a short story.

If you want to know why I don’t have a short story ready to send off it is because I have all my other completed ones in circulation and I feel it would be a cop out to use one of them for the workshop. My focus lately has been on attempting to finish a novel. Finish being the operative word as I have trouble with finishing anything. I wrote several short stories to prove to myself that I could finish things and now I need to move on to the long program.

Reading

Not a lot of reading this week that I wish to share. I did just finish a book that drove me crazy and so I won’t name names in it but I now have a good example of a protagonist who whines and does nothing to change her situation. I found this main character irritating at first and then annoying. Unfortunately for me that isn’t always enough to make me stop reading and so I finished the story but I sorta hate the MC and her twin sister too. Grrr.

I’ll leave you now. I hope you have a marvelous week ahead and I will talk with you again soon. Drop me a note and let me know how your week went.

        

I attended a funeral today for a grandmother I will miss terribly. I gathered together with family I hadn’t seen in ages. Isn’t it funny (and not in a good way) how the passing of a loved one can bring folks out of the woodwork to gather together? My grandma would have loved it.

After the service I was talking to my grandfather and discovered that this particular cemetary holds the graves of a lot of his side of the family. I loved hearing him talk about it. So very interesting and almost old world feeling. A family cemetary.

Of course there are a lot more than VanHorn’s here but still it felt like I was a part of something and that was neat.

The pictures I took and am including here are of the older parts of the graveyard. There is a newer section with the flat (can I say boring without offending?) headstones. Headstones which are easy to step on as you walk through the grass and give my sisters the heebie-jeebies when they do (have to tease when I can, it is my job as a sister). These older sections with the worn stones of all shapes are sizes always capture my attention.

I look at them and I think of history and all the people who have gone before. I wonder about their lives and their deaths and who they left behind. I wonder about their stories. I wonder if anyone knows their stories still or if they have been forgotten and all that is left to remember them in this world is the stone at the head of their grave.

Morbid, much? It may sound that way but to me it is more like seeing a shelf full of dusty tomes with faded writing on the covers. I want to know what is on the pages and learn the stories contained inside. I want to know who last read and loved the story.

A stone with a name or two carved on it with some dates, maybe a caption as well, is a story waiting to happen. Of course it is also a story that has already happened but unless it is someone I know, chances are I will never know it. This is when having an imagination is a wondrous thing.

I make up stories for the cluster of stones over to my left. I see ghosts of people walking and talking for the stone standing lonely to my right. To quote a movie, “I see dead people.” And at the risk of sounding morbid again, I love it.

If I could find the time to grab my notebook and/or my laptop, I would head to the nearest interesting cemetary, one with stones old and new, standing up and flat in the grass, and use that as a place to write. Time to write in which I think of heading out to the cemetary. I would have a ready supply of names for my characters. The tactile sensations of the grass and stones and trees to ground me in the world-building. The weight of history around me to pull the stories from my soul and write them down to share with the world.

        

Happy Sunday, folks. I had some sad, sad news today. Our cafe no longer carries the dark cherry syrup for my hot chocolate. I nearly sobbed at the news and regular hot chocolate doesn’t taste nearly as good. Alas, this is a pain I must bear alone. And now on with my week.

Writing

A little of this and a little of that. I didn’t quite write every day this week but I came close and some days were better than others. If you haven’t seen it, I wrote and posted a short story, Initiation, for #fridayflash. I had a lot of fun writing it and yes, I know it seems like the beginning of something much longer. I’ve been hearing that a lot lately with regards to my short stories. It is why I am trying so desperately to learn to write a novel. I have more to say just don’t have the skills and discipline yet to say it all.

Speaking of novels and writing, writing group was this week. We always have a 20 minute sharing time in the middle of the meeting. This week one of our member shared some ideas on outlining. One of the things she shared is an article on the Snowflake Method. I had, of course, heard of this method before but had never pursued it. After reading through the materials she handed out, I am going to give it a go and try it out. Other outlining methods haven’t worked out for me and this one might not either but I haven’t given up on finding a method that works for me. So I will try this one.

On TV

Watching Bones this week made me smile. The nod to Nightmare on Elm Street was very well done. Robert Englund was just the right amount of creepy to remind us of Freddy Krueger and yet be a fun childhood friend to Brennan.

Around the Web

Alan Rinzler posts a fun and informative bit on Shelf Wars. Even though I work in a bookstore I learned a little something from his article.

Discovered a new blog, Magical Words, that is for new writers. Several writers I admire and am a fan of post the entries on it.

In case I wasn’t sure I read this blog post You Might Be A Writer If . . . and yup, I’m a writer.

How did your week go? Discover any goodies you’d like to share with me?

        

I grew up with five sisters and two brothers. Alone time was at a premium but I managed. In fact it is probably why I read so much. My loud and raucous family couldn’t follow me into the world I dived into between the covers of my book. I also walked to and from school every day (up hill, both ways, in the snow) and used that time to daydream. Daydream about the things I wrote about; princesses, unicorns, forced marriages, pick-pockets, etc.

These last several months as I have been struggling to write I have forgotten a key element of the process. The dreaming.

Writing is easiest when I use driving time to try out different plot ideas for my stories, when I use repetitive tasks at work for listening to dialogue between my characters, and when I use the time in the shower to figure out the minutiae of my protagonist’s daily life.

I’ve been using that time lately to worry about responsible things like the bills, and what’s for dinner, and what the kids need for school. In other words, thinking about practical real-world boring stuff. No help for writing there.

So I have to go back to daydreaming in class (if I was still in school). I need to use my alone time to dream and work on my writing. I have forgotten that using a pen and paper or keyboard isn’t the only part of the process. Dreaming and imagining is just as important.

        

Happy Sunday folks. Another week over and we are back together to talk about it.

Reading

D. D. Barant’s book, Death Blows, was released this week and I had to pick it up. This series starring Jace Valchek, FBI profiler from our world, stuck in an alternate reality where humans are only 1% among a population of vampires, werewolves, and golems, is a delight. This sequel is a fun continuation of the story that began in Dying Bites and delves into comic book history. The world of superhero supernaturals is explored and is very enjoyable. I recommend this series to fans of the urban fantasy/who-done-it genres.

Writing

Still struggling with bad habits. Remember back in November when I was so excited to be writing daily during NaNoWriMo? I am working on getting back to that and shutting my inner critic up. She has gotten very noisy lately, jabbering non-stop from her position behind the driver’s seat. Rude, much? Compliments on my writing has given her permission to try to take over the steering wheel. I am working on tying her up and throwing her in the trunk. If you have a spare roll of mental duct tape, I could use it.

Gaming

We started a new Pathfinder campaign this week. I am running the Kingmaker adventure path for a group of seven friends and family. This adventure is fun and different. It is a fairly open field for the characters to roam in. The quest structure is very free form, in face it reminds me a lot of Everquest 2 or World of Warcraft. Wanted posters, NPCs wanting favors, and location discoveries yield quests that award traditional loot and experience. I fully expect to have fun running through this campaign.

Other Tidbits

Dean Wesley Smith popped the myth that writer’s don’t need to practice here.

Barnes & Noble Explorations tells us how to know if you are a SciFi/Fantasy geek here.

The NovelDoctor has some advice for getting through those troublesome middle sections of our novels here.

Romance Writer’s Revenge has a case for pantsters here, not that I need convincing.

How wondrous fine was your week? Anything new happen? or was it the same-o, same-o?