C. L. Norman

Hey guys. It’s been a while and I thought I’d drop a line and let you know what I am up to.

First off my writing. I am so far behind on NaNoWriMo this year that there is no way I am “winning”. Things were rolling along quite nicely until I got really sick and then the rest of my family one by one fell to the illness as well. When that cleared up and I was finally able to get back to my writing, I found I had slipped back into my procrastinating ways. I am working on getting out of the gutter and on the road again but as is usual at this time of year, work is getting crazier by the day. The kids school activities are getting crazier by the day. Holiday activities are getting crazier by the day. I am getting crazier by the day. Anyway, it is all a bunch of excuses but they are a roadblock to the kinds of habits I am frustratingly unable to cultivate in regards to my writing.

And yes, I am my own worst enemy. I have a cartload of hang-ups and bad habits that stop me from doing what I want. I’m working through them but it is a very slow process.

Good news is I have a short story mostly done so I should be releasing that soon. I started this one after a particularly odd dream and I call it a cross between Hansel & Gretel and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. I know it sounds weird but I think you’ll like it.

If I can find some spare time, I’ll also be updating my short story blurbs. I think time has given me insights on how I can make them better, clearer, and I want to include the information that they are short stories directly in the blurb. I have seen and heard a lot of frustration from readers about the length of the stories they think they are buying. Making sure up front that folks know my stories are short and not cut off versions of a novel is only fair.

I also want to work on my website. Include some free samples of the short stories. Add my cover images to the front page. Add “Contact Me” options. I am not sure when this will happen though as I am not extremely computer savvy. I have a copy of WordPress for Dummies and a very busy friend who acts as my webmaster when he can. When I can get the two together, we’ll see what happens.

I hope you are all having a marvelous week and if I don’t get back here before then, Happy Thanksgiving!

        

A couple of weeks ago I saw the trailer for One for the Money starring Katherine Heigl and Jason O’Mara and I fell in love. Or maybe I just got really excited and added One for the Money to my must-see list of movies. In addition to the stars (Katherine Heigl I’ve adored since Roswell and Jason O’Mara was super fun in Life On Mars), the story and pacing and the humor hit the spot with me. All-in-all this movie appears as if it was written exactly to my tastes. I’m just hoping the actual movie holds up to my expectations.

Now that I am so excited about the movie, I decided it was finally time to break down and read the books. Customers have been recommending them to me for years and for one reason or another I kept putting off actually reading them. No more delays. I got out my trusty Nook and bought One for the Money and sat down to read it. The next day I bought Two for the Dough and I would have bought Three to Get Deadly (my finger was actually hovering over the “buy” button) but I had to wait for payday.

Payday has come again and I just finished Three to get Deadly and I really want to get the fourth book but alas! I must wait for another payday. (Two daughters heading to Homecoming this week and two boys want Halloween costumes the next sure bites into my book buying budget) While I wait for the money to roll in (as if) I thought I’d share all the things I like about Stephanie Plum, the protagonist of this fun series.

• Her voice. Reading through these stories I hear an accent that is different than my own and distinctly New York-ish. When the voice in my head takes on an accent that only adds to the ‘atmosphere’ of the story, I consider that a success.
• Her stubbornness. A lot of protagonists have this trait—it helps them through all those pesky obstacles writers throw at them—but Stephanie makes it look fun. She keeps going when every part of her body and psyche is bruised, most of the time after a much needed junk food break. Which brings me to. . .
• Her appetite. Stephanie eats like a real person does. She thinks about dieting occasionally but as soon as things go wrong she is back at the donuts and burgers again. I totally relate to her battle with eating healthy, the battle that she (and I) are losing.
• Her relationships. Her relationships and interactions with her mom, her grandma, her co-workers, Ranger—her mentor, Joe Morelli—her ex (sorta) and rival (sorta), and Rex—her pet hamster; all are unique and un-interchangeable. I love the scenes she has with these folks, each one for different reasons. All of these give the books different emotional beats and expectations that make for a robust reading experience.
• Her love of her job. Stephanie is a bounty hunter (a cool job in and of itself) and is barely qualified for the occupation. Does she let that stop her? Heck no. She is out there working hard for the money to keep her car working and her fridge full. She is out there because she loves the challenge of the job and really gets a kick out of bringing in those FTAs (Failure To Appears). And I get a kick out of reading of her adventures with it

There are a ton of other nuances about these books I enjoy (I’ve mentioned before my love of whodunits) and I can’t wait for next payday so I can read the next book.

Have you tried Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels? What did you think of them?

        

The countdown as begun. Only two weeks to go until NaNoWriMo* begins. That 50,000 words in 30 days frenzy that is otherwise known as November for the non-writing part of the population. It is fun and frustrating, satisfying and nerve-wracking. And after succeeding last year at the challenge, I have been looking forward to it all year.

So now you ask; if you succeeded at last year’s challenge, where’s your novel?

Good question. December is an insane month for me. I have four children, my birthday and Christmas and Christmas break fall within those 31 days, and I work retail and I shouldn’t have to explain what happens in a retail job in December. In other words, as soon as November ended, I took a break from writing. As soon as I did the critical voice in my head was given room to speak and she is even more of a talker than I am. I’ve tried and tried to pick up the story again with no success. First I worry that I started the story too early, then I think I didn’t start it early enough; then I worry that I need to spend more time with one character and less time with another one. And all that is on top of the word by word criticism I give everything I write. And the next thing I know, I am screaming at the computer and slamming it shut. And not writing another word for weeks.

This year I am going to try to get all the way to the ‘actual’ end of the story and not just the 50,000 word mark. With that in mind, I am going to try to get 100,000 words done in 30 days. It is a big goal to set but I know I can do it, if I can just get out of my head and write the story as it flows through my subconscious.

Keep up on my progress on my NaNo profile page here or on Facebook here and let me know what you think.

*For those not in the know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month

        

A new story is available electronically through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords for 99 cents. This one incorporates a character from a recurring nightmare I had when I was younger and has some elements of horror. But it is still a fantasy short story. I hope you enjoy it.

Sacrifices must be made to protect this small coastal village from an annual danger. Can Nisbeth and her family survive the night?

        

Back in high school, my sophomore year, I had a secret admirer. Maybe I should say I still have one since it is still a secret who it was. He or she left me a white bear on one occasion with pastel paws of many colors. I kept it for the longest time and only lost it after I gave it to my first child. Another time, my secret admirer gave me some candy in a brown paper sack. So sweet.

The secret part of this whole thing drove me crazy with second guessing. I became an amateur sleuth trying to put the clues together to figure it out. They left the gift on my front porch so that means they probably lived within walking distance—at no time did I think my admirer might be someone older than me, older as in possessing a driver’s license. Also as they left the gift at my house, that meant they knew where I lived. When I was 15, I thought of only a very few people who knew where I lived but looking back now, I realize the phone book could have told anyone my address. I kept circling around those two conclusions, hoping that they would shed some light on who this mysterious admirer was.

There were a couple of people I hoped it was, but I had no indications from those around me that they were harboring such a secret.

In the years that have passed, I have come to accept that I will never know who it was. And I kind of like that.

Not knowing the facts means I can imagine them anyway I want to.

Are there any mysteries in your life? Mysteries which are fun to fill in the blanks to and wonder if you are getting close?

Did you ever have a secret admirer? Did you find out who it was/is? And were you happy you found out?

        

My birthday falls exactly fourteen days before Christmas and I have some things to get off my chest.

• I hate getting presents wrapped in Christmas wrap. Really? If my birthday were in July, you wouldn’t give me presents in paper covered in flags would you? Take an old newspaper and wrap my gift if you have to, keep your wrapping paper for the holiday.
• Worse than Christmas wrap is the “Go-With” gift. Please don’t do this to me. You know what I am talking about. “Here’s a small gift now that will go with the gift I got you for Christmas”. Ugh! And if I can’t use the small gift until I get the other gift? Double Uggh!
• My birthday should be a separate entity. Not a part of the holiday season. Growing up, my birthday marked the day we would get our tree and put it up. The day usually went like this. Get out decorations. Head to the tree lot for tree. Sing Happy Birthday and eat cake. Put up and decorate the tree. See how the birthday just got squeezed into the middle there? Those of you with birthdays on the actual holiday. <shakes head> I do feel sorry for you.

Now for the benefits:

• My parents got divorced when I was very young and so we did everything twice. Once with Dad and his family and again with Mom and her family. December rocked. My birthday twice (sometimes three times if I had another party with my friends) and Christmas twice. Dude! That was a lot of family time in a mere three week span. More family time than the whole rest of the year. Twice over!
• I get a lot of cold weather clothes. Not a lot of swimsuits and shorts available in December. And I get cold easily. (Just ask my husband when I am rubbing my ice-cold feet against his legs to warm up) I am in no danger of freezing when the temperature drops.
• A lot of smiles get passed around at this time of year and I can pretend every smile is just for me. It makes for a lot of happiness for my birthday and that ain’t bad. Not at all.

        

Great blog by Kevin J. Anderson on the productivity of writers here.

I am no where near this productive however this has been my goal for a long time. Ever since I started writing ‘seriously’ I have realized that the one novel a year thing for an experienced writer was…well, silly.

I can write over 500 words in an hour when the words are slow, 1000 words when they run fast. I haven’t been able to maintain that pace because of my complete lack of experience with writing a novel length story and my aforementioned lack of discipline.

It is something I am working on. I haven’t completely drafted my new years resolution for 2011 yet but I am planning on setting a goal of a certain number of short stories finished a month and hopefully finishing up my NaNo novel and one other novel.

With practice things get easier, and I am determined to practice until I can write as quickly as I know I can.

        

Week two of NaNoWriMo is winding down and I find myself behind. I knew this would happen and yet, last night, I let it get to me.

Last year, I managed to mostly keep up and get to 25k words by around the 2 week mark and then the holiday shopping season hit full force and I lost all energy to keep going. I just stopped. Never to continue on with that story. I work retail and I have large family and I lacked the oomph to keep going, in spite of all that.

This year, I find myself tempted to do the same. “I’m slipping behind and so I won’t ‘win’ and what’s the point”, were the main points of a conversation I had with myself yesterday as I lay down for a nap.

Then that part of my soul that wants me to become a writer spoke up: Writing every day, getting that discipline, and finishing the story is the point.

Who cares if I win NaNo? Bragging rights would be nice but it won’t help me for the other 11 months of the year. I have to remember that I am using November’s events to prove to myself I can write every day, despite how hectic my schedule gets.

In essence, I need to develop my sense of stick-to-it-ness. I’ll do it. You just watch and wait. You’ll see.

        

I’ve been co-running the local writing group at Barnes & Noble for a year now and have learned a thing or two. Things that help when the time comes for 2 to 8 faces, with high expectations for themselves and for the group, turn towards me for where we will be heading tonight.

I have learned that being prepared with notes and possibly handouts is a must. Preparation in general is key. Some nights I am tired and a little frustrated with how things are going and I don’t prepare as well as I should. These nights usually turn into social hour. Not productive and it adds to my frustration.

Read and critique sessions are all very well but when you have an open attendance policy it leaves new people out in the cold. They haven’t had a chance to read the pieces that are up for discussion. It leaves them feeling left out and I hate that feeling and don’t want to inflict it on others. Writing prompts and discussion of different writing techniques, markets, and events are much more successful. Everyone can contribute and join in on the fun.

A note on read and critiques: If you do them be careful not to let any one person monopolize the speaking time. Then it becomes a lecture and that is a whole different kind of meeting.

Forums for the group are only handy when used. If traffic and posting on the site is sporadic at best, the tool gets rusty and no one wants to use it.

Come early to set up the space but not too early or you end up alone with passersby staring at you. Having the space ready for the members is nice as they can come in and set down their grande/venti mocha-whatever and start catching up on the news. This allows for gossip and the like to get out of the way before the serious business of writing discussion begins.

Be open to new events around town and share, share, share, with the members of your group. Open mic nights, writings conferences, lectures; all of these things could be of interest to one or more of the group. Sharing with them encourages them to share back. The group learns more and bonds more over these kinds of events.

In general the most important thing is to be willing to learn and change your mind as things go along. Open attendance combined with once or twice a month meetings that last for barely more than an hour means things can’t always go the way you want. Being flexible and ready to go with the flow, as long as that flow is towards better writing, is a good thing.

Note: I have also learned I ramble.

What have you learned about writing groups? Have you any suggestions for me?

        

This week started off with a lot of cleaning. And when I saw a lot, I mean A LOT. The store has a tradition every year following the holiday crowds, chaos, and general emptying of the shelf of all books that anyone could possibly want. This tradition is affectionately known as “snap-back.” Snap-back is not unlike spring cleaning. It is the time when the store needs to go from dingy and disheveled to shiny and sparkling. The amount of dust bunnies I made friends with this week were so many I lost track of some of their names and developed a close friendship with others. (Fifi, George: Remember we have lunch scheduled next week)

Tuesday is storytime day and I had a lot of my little friends show up to hear me read. It is my favorite part of working. Those shining faces waiting anxiously for me to start the stories and more importantly to finish them so they can have their cookie. Never underestimate the importance of cookies.

Also learned of a writer’s workshop at our local con that I hope very much to participate in. I am working furiously on birthing the character who I hope will carry me through the story I want to submit.

Writer’s group this week had very small turnout but a lot of ideas and momentum were generated. I hope we can keep that energy going throughout this year.

I also had a good laugh when I discovered the 5 Star Wars Facebook updates via a blog I read regularly.

I read two books in the Once Upon a Time series for kids, the retellings of the Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty fairy tales by Cameron Dokey. I love fairytales and have toyed with the idea of going for a degree in Folklore but money and location become a problem. Instead I settle for reading a lot of versions of the fairytales. I also read Tempted by PC and Kristen Cast and was slightly disappointed. This book felt very predictable and more as if it were a transition book than a fully realized plot of its own. It felt like it was bridging what had gone before with what will come after.

I had a birthday party for my older son who will be 9 this week, a birthday party/baby shower for a very close friend who is expecting in a couple weeks. She almost didn’t show up for her party but we had a load of fun when she finally did.

Today we went and saw Leap Year together and I was right. I loved it. A wonderful romantic comedy with the funny and sweet spots all in the right place. Though I felt the symptoms of not writing enough keenly as I found myself analyzing the formula of a romantic comedy during it. As each scene started I was thinking “This is one of those kinds of scenes that reveals this kind of information to the audience or to the protagonists.” Ah well. I enjoyed it and that is all that matters. Right?

How was your week? Did you have a good one or do you just want to forget it and move on to the next?