Writing Mistake #1

OK this may be a shocker...

Writing mistake #1 is: NOT WRITING.

Now I knew this already, but silly me, I decided to take a break over Christmas.

Let me tell you, bad idea. I left off in a place I was having trouble with and instead of pushing through and just getting it done, I avoided it.

And what happens when you avoid something you don't want to tackle?

It gets worse.

So this week my Mom took the boys so I should have plenty of time to catch up on writing.

Wrong.

Monday I avoided writing (pleasant side-effect: the kitchen stayed spotless all day).

Tuesday I sat down to write and got only 124 words, and it was pulling teeth to get that.

Today was a little better, so far I've written 387 words and the going has been slightly easier.

The moral of this story is: don't stop writing!

Ode to Calvin and Hobbes: Death of a Snowman

So we are snowed in.

Really snowed in.

In an area where 2 inches is a blizzard, we got over a foot.

So Danny and I went for a short walk and I was... well... inspired!

What started as just one quick snowman turned into seven (one is hiding from the camera), which turned into a whole scene inspired by Bill Watterson's Snow Goons from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.

I know I haven't talked about writing very much lately, so you'll just have to be content with a literary reference and an update on the Snoy-man.

And by the way, Merry Christmas!

Our Day in the Snow

Here's what we did today...

My husband Danny, of oycomics.com, had the wild idea to make an Oy snowman. If you don't know what an "Oy" is then check out the link above.

We both built it up, Danny did the eyes and I did the coloring job, snow cone style. I used food coloring and water in a spray bottle.

Isn't he cute?

More pictures here.

Watch us build it here.

Legend of Bill Guest Comic Strip!!!

Hey all, check out Legend Of Bill today http://tinyurl.com/4oaa69, you know who drew that comic? Huh? Huh?

That's right it's me!

A while ago LOB cartoonist David Reddick sent a call out for people to submit guest strips and I decided to give it a try. Anyway, how hard could it be, right?

Well, pretty hard actually.

This was my first comic strip EVER and I'm very proud of how it turned out, so please check it out and while you're there go ahead and read through the archives. LOB is a top notch comic by the professional cartoonist/comics creator: The Trek Life,Gene's Journal, RodandBarry, Reddickulous and Garfield. So here's the link again http://tinyurl.com/4oaa69 check it out!

Fayre Tales Excerpt #2, What Do You Think?

Faeries are a kind people. Rumors to the contrary are merely rumors, nothing more. Though, as a people it is hardly fair to expect every individual to be entirely good, just as it is unfair to assume any one individual to be entirely bad. The good have bad in them and the bad have good in them, for each individual has his individual temptations. But suffice it to say, Faeries are a kind people.

Fayre lived with such a people. It had always been painfully obvious that she was not one of them, most obviously, she had no wings. Gran Melia had never been able to explain why; was something wrong with her or was she even a Faery? No one seemed to know. They did their best to help her, though, they made stairs up to their village among the branches, and bridges here and there. But while she was thankful for all their kindness, with every step up the long stairs her heart sank lower in the knowledge that she would never truly fit in.

I Left My Grasp of Punctuation in the 6th Grade

Sometimes I feel like writing with no punctuation whatsoever and letting Danny (darling husband and editor) fill it in later.

My main problem seems to be commas. Sometimes I sprinkle them on, a, bit, too, liberally. Other times I hold back and for fear of putting them in the wrong spot omit them entirely.

Then there are the semi-colons; ugh.

When is it a semi-colon and not a normal colon or a comma? Whenever you see a semi-colon in my writing you can be pretty sure it's Danny's doing; I am truly hopeless with the darn things.

I've gotten so bad, I've started second guessing every mark of punctuation on my page: quotation, apostrophe, even periods

I like punctuation, I do. It can make a piece sparkle, used just right.

So enough with all the punctuation doubting. I'll sprinkle it here and there in the hopes that with time and practice, it loses a bit of its ominous-ness.

No Charge

So for a quick overview of last week's progress, I managed 3,382 words and the total elimination of what was supposed to be a decent chunk of the story in book two.

I was humming along writing the lead-up to a trial that was supposed to span at least two chapters, when I suddenly realized I had no charge. You can't have a trial without some form of charge and for it to carry any weight, any significance, it can't be a weeny charge.

All I had was a politician lying, whoo-hoo. That's so... um...

So, the trial was dismissed and I was left with a gaping hole; I had to go back to the outline.

I think the new version is much stronger and I'm kind of glad the trial didn't work out as planned; I was really dreading it.

Time (Initiative) to Write

Wow, 865 words!

Almost sounds good when you say it that way, but really, that's only about three pages. Kind of pathetic, but I won't bore you with lame excuses.

How do you find the time to write?

As a home-school mom, there is no time without the kids, unless my Mom takes them for a day or a weekend (thank you, Mom!). I've tried writing whenever inspiration hits, but when you're doing nothing but waiting, inspiration barely ever does hit. I've tried writing at night after the boys go to bed, but I never seem to be able to focus very well, and if I do hit a good groove I end up staying up 'til 3am! Lately, I've been trying to get up earlier in the morning, but not ten minutes after I get up, two obnoxious boys are up and bouncing off the walls! The duct tape is looking more and more tempting every morning!

Then there's the "compound effect": the less writing I get done the harder it is to write!

I started this morning with 323 words so hopefully that will compound into a more productive week. Wish me luck!

If you have suggestions or ideas for finding time to write please comment! I would love to hear your ideas!

Post Numero Uno

Welcome to the Fayre Tales blog!

Wow, my first blog! isn't that super duper fantastico!

Hey doods I'm writing a book, but it's not out yet so I'm gonna bug you about it every week or so until it, like, is out, yeah...

Is there an un-corny way to start this?

My husband's advise: You're the writer.

Thanks dear.


Here goes...

Fayre Tales is my first book, my first trilogy actually. O.K. insert elevator pitch here:

Fayre Tales is about two societies, Inches, who are forced to live underground by an evil dictator, and Faeries, who don't believe in the existence of Inches. When Fayre (an Inche) is born in a Faery village events are put in motion that may cause the two societies to collide... again.

Ooh! Are you interested yet? Still working on the elevator pitch.

Here's some more about me: I only ever wanted to write one book, I had never even entertained the idea of being an author full time. Someone should have warned me that just like potato chips you can't have just one book. Guess I probably wouldn't have listened though.

At the moment I am about half way through the first draft of book two and continuing work on editing book one. Like many writers before me I am discovering the thrill of getting to know the characters I am writing about. Even with a basic outline to work from it is so exciting to get to see what's just around the next bend in the road, the next page in the book, it's both exhilarating and terrifying!

My goal here is to update about once a week or so with insights into my writing process and maybe an occasional excerpt from one of the books. Speaking of excerpts, here's one to get you started:

     Gran was busy making plans of her own, she stopped to visit Jolly. He shouldn't be too hard to convince, she would just need to make it seem like it was his idea. Of course that's not an extremely difficult thing for a female of any species, but she didn't want the council to know that she had any involvement in it or they might forbid him to go.
     Jolly was sitting on the front porch dangling his pudgy feet over the edge, “Hi, Gran, it's a lovely evening, isn't it.”
     “I'm sorry to say, I hadn't really noticed, Jolly.” She said sighing.
     “Come sit, Gran, tell me what's the matter,” Jolly was always such a nice kid, thought Gran with a smile. She sat down next to him dangling her feet too.
     “Fayre came back today,” Jolly looked at her with surprise and couldn't hide the smile on his face, “She said she found something, she's determined to go and search for her people.”
     “Her people?” Jolly asked surprised, “then she's not a Faery after all?”
     “No, Jolly, she's not,” she paused and sighed, “I have to say I'm worried about her.” Well, she wasn't lying. Hopefully he'd catch the bait.
     “She's going by herself?” he looked worried, good, “but that's dangerous, she can't go by herself!”
     “There's nothing I can do, Jolly.” Gran tried not to look at him, it was working well. Who knew old Gran Melia could be so devious! She tried not to laugh out loud.