Conference Month!

Hey, it's RWA National Conference month over at the Wet Noodle Posse. Follow my link directly to your left for some first hand, first rate, been-there, done-that advice from some really wonderful and generous writers.

I thought Dallas was amazing. I learned so much by just listening to everyone around me, fellow unpublished to fan-girl worthy pros. One of my favorite moments was sharing an elevator ride with Teresa Medeiros. She is the sweetest person ever!

I'm not going this year--ah, the economy has struck again!--but I know a bunch of you are! Very excited? Pitches polished? Comfy shoes shined? Seat at the bar already reserved? :)

Seasoned veterans, what's your favorite thing about Nationals? Newbies, what are you looking forward to the most? Any good stories of your own to pass along?

Where did the month go?

Good grief. I cannot believe it's the last day of June. Of course, I've been having all sorts of bizarre conversations with people for the last two weeks in which I cannot remember which day of the week it is, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. We're on summer time now, and it's hit hard. Up very late (for us), up late in the mornings (for the girls, the dog waits for no one :) ), and doing all sorts of normal summery things.

The fireworks are going off like crazy around here already! So let me sneak in an early Happy Fourth of July, since on the fourth I'll be running around like a crazy person, or dozing in a lawn chair. No in between for us around here!

What do you do for the 4th?

Tagged!

I've been Tagged by Alice to sum up my life in six words or less.

Yikes! The switch from non-stop school activities to summer sloth has melted our brains around here, but I'll try . . .

Embrace the Chaos, Treasure the Now.

That's nice and Zen. :)

Now to tag others that I love to read--

Terry Jo, brilliant researcher of all things western, and Marnee Jo, slaving away over a wonderful WIP with the rest of us.

What about the rest of you? Could you sum up your life in six words or less? Or if not your entire life, what about your life right now?

Prince Caspian

Well, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian released last night at midnight, and my two oldest were there to watch and pass judgment. They liked it well enough, but the oldest confessed to being a tad confused . And they were surprised by the low turnout at the theater.

I'm not. It's graduation time and finals week around here. Next week, the movie theater will be full.

I'm looking forward to the second Hellboy. What are you going to see this summer? Will any of us be able to afford to drive to the movies? (We are at 3.79 a gallon as of this morning...)

The Day After....

One minute your small town is busy with normal Saturday afternoon tasks; mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, a quick trip to the grocery store. . .


The next, most of what you know and love is gone.



This isn't our town. The tornadoes missed us--again, by only ten miles this time. But several of our neighbors to the south and east suffered heavy loss of life and property. It's Kansas, and that's how it goes, and someday we might not be so lucky.






These were our friends and neighbors, and we don't have to know them to grieve for their losses, while trying to find a way to help them rebuild and move on.

On this Mother's Day, I honor their loss and wish you all a peaceful holiday with those you hold dear.

A Picture's Worth . . .

. . . a thousand words? Maybe. Perhaps a hundred or so is a bit more on the mark. Really, how often have you seen a picture of a person or location and then experienced the real thing, only to think "Oh! Not quite what I had imagined."

A picture can give you the visual within a limited framework. But you're missing out on the sounds, the smells, the feel of a place. I do believe certain places (and heaven knows, people) give off a feel that is unlike anyplace else. Certain holy places have it. Jo Beverley talks about it at the end of To Rescue a Rogue as the "chi " or pure energy of Brideswell. (You haven't read the book? Go read the book! You will love it.)

So those of us who choose to write about places we've yet to experience face an interesting challenge. We need to get across the essence of a place (and time) that helps the reader immerse themselves in the story--and we need to avoid sounding like a travel log. It helps to key in on the sense that's most affecting the character at the time and focus on that. And there is nothing like reading first hand accounts of natives and visitors. Natives can let you know what it is about their home they value and dislike the most. Visitors can express what most struck them when they first arrived, and what was the most last impression when they left.

I like this bit from Luck Be A Lady by Betina Krahn:

"Now, the damp earth chill of the thick stone walls and worn oaken pews carried the forlorn mustiness of age and disuse. Forgotten, she realized; it smelled forgotten."

Betina's descriptions are lush. We have the visual, and we have the smell, and we know how these combine to create the feeling of this place for this specific character.

This bit from Ten Big Ones is a great example of Janet Evanovich's voice:

"He's an oily little guy with slicked back hair, pointy-toed shoes, and a bunch of gold chains hanging around his scrawny tanning salon-tanned neck."

Janet's descriptions are stark, vivid, and simple. We know enough to fill in the gaps. We're ready for the story.

This is a bit from my work. The hero is concentrating on the food, and the fact that he's never been in this particular room before:

"Low, angry voices drifted from the far side of the room, beyond a rough-hewn table strewn with an assortment of copper pots, a large plucked chicken, and several root vegetables. The tangy scent of rosemary and onion suggested all hope of food had not yet been abandoned. "

So how do you approach description? Is it something to draw out and revisit, or do you stick with just enough to ground the dialogue? What strikes you about the forest picture (above): the light, the shadow, the stillness, the early morning foragers skittering through the fallen leaves, the damp smell of last night's rain? Could it be Oregon, New Hampshire, Scotland, Columbia? Go ahead and try to describe it based on your frame of reference.

Writing and Reading

Writers love to read.

Writers need to read.

Writers hate to read. . . .

Writers love to read because the reading came first. No chicken or egg confusion; most likely their adoring parent/sibling/caretaker was reading to them before their own little fingers could grasp the page. Then a magical bit of prose was read that captured their attention, along with an especially brilliant illustration or photograph (Long Live Picture Books!) and they were hooked.

Writers need to read because it's not a self-sustaining craft. You only get better at writing if you consistently write. . . but you must read, read, read in order to grow, as well. You can read books in your most beloved genre. You can read craft books, research books, peer blogs, magazine articles, critiques of work you both love and hate. But you have to read.

Writers hate to read because writers can appreciate, perhaps more than anyone else, how a well written book captures and holds your attention, usually to the detriment of everything else. Captivating. . . we all want our work to be captivating.

The problem is, I've yet to meet a writer who's satisfied with the number of hours in her day. We need to think about our story, research our story, write our story, talk about our story, tear apart our story and write it again. The last thing we need is some new ( to us) , simply amazing author coming along with her expansive, wickedly compelling backlist which seduces us into abandoning our own manuscript in order to lose ourselves in her amazing characters.

So thanks a bunch, Suzanne Brockmann. Is it not enough that you were friendly, genuinely charming, the consummate professional while you signed a mountain of books for wildly adoring fans? Must your writing not only live up to, but wildly surpass my expectations as well? I held off reading Hot Target as long as possible, but a thunderstorm and no computer did me in. Now I hold Breaking Point in my hands, and there's really no hope of working on my own projects today.

What about you? What author has everyone read but you? Have you discovered an auto-buy in an unexpected place, or a genre you didn't even expect to like? Who else do I need to read NOW?