For the last month, I've been slogging through first round revisions for my self-dubbed "light and fun" YA contemporary, and it's been hell. The revision process has been so bad I recently had a weekend-long panic attack. While I'm known to tweet/FB things like "Revisions. Grrr...," I'm not opposed to the process. It's an accepted fact of the writer life. So the fact I struggled for breath just thinking about my WIP caused even more anxiety. I didn't think too much into the why of it all but over the last few days I've come to the conclusion that most of my recent tweaking is due to unrealistic expectations I set for myself. Despite what I said publicly , internally I kept my goal of revising this project in 31 days while working the day job and querying and handling life. The truth is, I couldn't. No matter how much I wanted it, I'm a 2-4 month revision girl. Because I set down something I couldn't realistically achieve, ...

There's nothing better than getting advice from professionals in our desired field. Sometimes it's even important to get advice from something that doesn't involve our field at all. This is the case with this snippet from the television show Extras. This clip makes me laugh every single time. I hope it does the same for you. Ian McKellen on Extras by Victor_Bugle When Sir Ian says acting is all illusion, he's right. This also holds true for writing. When we write, we're creating our own universe. As a writer, our job is to make sure that we don't shatter that illusion.

This weekend while we were supposed to be ravaged by Hurricane Tropical Storm A Lot of Wind Irene, I spent more time hammering out my latest WIP. I got tired of watching bad 90s television for background noise and decided I would see what entertainment On Demand had for me. Don't judge The first two movies in the Step Up franchise are among my guilty pleasures : awesome dance sequences, decent enough plots, and predictable love stories totally rock my world*. Step Up 3 (as my On Demand called it) is part of a series of loosely-linked movies. It's also one of the first dance films using 3D technology, the first (as far as I can tell) is StreetDance 3D , released a few months prior. Today I'll focus on both aspects and how this applies to writing. Whose story you're telling might change. You start your current WIP talking about Hunky Henry and his love of metal sporks, but somewhere in your drafting process you find out that Ginormous Jennifer is involved wit...

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday. Today's Topic : How do you beat writer's block? Sometimes I think the ladies at YA Highway read my mind. I'm beginning to burn out from my frantic writing pace for Camp NaNoWriMo* and the other night I started five separate scenes before I found one that I could actually write. I can feel the writer's block creeping upon me. Here are three things I do to trick writer's block into retreating. Free Write. I open up Write or Die and set the timer for at least fifteen minutes. During the free write I examine why I'm blocked, what directions the story can potential go to, and use the word "cheese" or "blah."** Fifteen minutes is usually long enough to clear out whatever is trapped. Exercise. If the free writing doesn't work, an...

We all have those moments where the ideas/words/brilliance don't come. If you're like me, these times when nothing ends up on the page mean a lot of bitchy behavior until the block passes. If you're also like me, you like to expedite that process. The question is how? I've talked about this before , but that was more geared to when your brain entirely too fried to do anything. This is just about getting those juices going. Music. Sometimes a song's lyrics is all I need to get a shiny new idea. In fact, I have a few kicking around the ole noggin that have yet to be developed. Books on craft. Believe it or not, a lot of scene ideas come to me when I'm reading a how to book. When I was revising Phoenix Rising, I was also reading Writing the Breakout Novel. While the things that popped up didn't tie into what I was reading, the nonfiction allowed that other part of my brain to relax from the super tight hold it's usually in. Exercise. Not that I've...

The Room is our generation’s Rocky Horror*. It’s at best a D-List movie with horrible stock footage and acting right out of a CCD production of Best Christmas Pageant Ever. The writing is Nemesis-worthy. Basically, if The Room was being graded for actual artistic merit, it would beyond fail. However! The Room is a great learning experience. Tommy Wiseau’s “masterpiece” is a great example on what not to do in writing from character confusion, sloppy dialogue, poor pacing, and more.

It's kind of hard not to get good advice when you're at a conference for three days. Even at the crappiest of conferences, you should be able to take back one nugget of information. Since I'm an avid note-taker, I have pages of information. Unfortunately, I can't share everything with you. But I can share a few thoughts. After reviewing my notes* from the weekend, I found some of the most memorable bits of information could be broken down into three main groups. Plot and Subplot "When plotting, list all possible assets, obstacles, allies, and rivals as they relate to your protagonist--you never know what can be used." -- J.L.Bell "Subplots come from your primary characters' secondary wants or your secondary characters' primary wants." -- Sarah Aronson Critiquing, Rejection, and Distance "Listen with 'elephant ears' when being critiqued. This helps you be more open-minded." -- Lin Oliver "It's important...

Go to Paper Hangover . Go! When I saw this topic last week, I huffed and sighed. There's no way I received five pieces of advice as an aspiring writer. I normally don't talk about my craft with people*. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I've blogged about this not once but twice in the past year. Read a lot of everything. Believe it or not, I got this advice from Madeleine L'Engle**. First and foremost, write for yourself. I've heard this a lot, but couldn't remember who said it recently until I saw Erinn's post today . Thanks Scott Treimel. Never give up . This I got straight from Jack Ketchum*** along with some other jewels . There ain't no road too long . There is nothing chocolate can't fix. Okay, so I might have just made up that final one, but it does hold true. Right? Also, if you're about to start querying, wouldn't it be awesome to have seven people crit your package AND manuscript? Of course it would! Go to Hel...

"If I just keep on going, everything will turn out fine." - Big Bird, Follow That Bird I loved this movie growing up. Big Bird is sent off to live with the Dodo family in Illinois and far away from Sesame Street, but he doesn't like it there. He's homesick. He takes it upon himself to go back to his real home. It's a simple premise, but it's old school Sesame Street and created for little kids, not us big ones. The best part of the movie are the songs. My favorite is the song with Waylon Jennings* and Big Bird called "Ain't No Road Too Long." If your firewall's blocking the video, go here for the lyrics. ** The song speaks a lot to anyone on the journey to publication. At first you know nothing about the journey and think it will be super fast, then someone with more knowledge tells you how long it really takes. You think, "Crap. It'll never happen." Then Waylon Jennings breaks into song. When he tells you "...

Everyone in The Lurkdom has received some form of advice over the years: boring, needless, obvious, or otherwise just stupid. Yours truly isn't the exception. I've heard advice that I could have gone without knowing*. My favorite piece however, I received from an acquaintance in high school. Think about it. What's the best piece of advice you've gotten? * Like which performance enhancer is best to use. Thank you, but no. ______ Last.fm hit of the day : Friday I'm in Love by The Cure

While at Rock and Shock on Saturday, Hubby and I met Jack Ketchum.You might not know who this guy is. The only reason I do is because of Hubby. From all accounts, Ketchum writes horror that borders on "graphically violent" side of things. Hubby calls it "unflinching." At any rate, it's a safe bet I'd wet my pants reading his stuff. If you want to learn more about Jack Ketchum, you can here . You'd think if someone is that graphic in their imagination they'd be freaky in real life. That's not the case with this guy. He was down to earth, friendly, and funny. I didn't make an ass out of myself while talking, something I'm chalking up to the fact he writes and I write. He answered the questions both Hubby and I threw at him honestly. He talked about how many drafts he goes through on short stories (two only) and on full-length works (varies per project). Each day, he edits the previous days work before he starts writing new material, s...