Six Random Words

For some holiday fun Michelle started the blog chain off with a creative writing assignment.

In 100 words or less, write a story using the words ride, post, soulless, local, dehydrator, girdle. Your story may take on any form you wish. The only two rules are 1. you can't simply list the 6 words; you must actually craft them into something creative, and 2. you must use ALL six of them.

Okay, I am going to admit right off that I could not stick to the 100 word limit. In fact, I went 88 words over. Whoops. So, here is my little story using all six words and 182 other ones as well.

*********


"Smart car," she harrumphed, all three of her chins wobbling. "I'm gonna need a girdle if you expect me to ride in that sorry excuse for a vehicle."

"Ma'am, this is a mail truck, not a smart car. And when I suggested you take your complaints to the local post office, I wasn't offering to give you a ride."

Only twenty-five more years until retirement, he reminded himself. Of course, between the old ladies and the dogs he'd be a soulless husk by then, but they said the pension was worth it.

She pushed her false teeth out with her tongue, then with a great slurping sound sucked them back into place. "Well, how 'bout you just take me down to the 7-11 for a Big Gulp? This house is nothing but a big ole dehydrator, and if I don't get myself some Dr. Pepper, I'll be turned into beef jerky. You want that on your conscience?"

In answer, he turned away, trudging towards the next house. The trio of nasty little ankle biters began yipping in anticipation.

Only twenty-five more years.

He'd never make it.


***********

Okay, now I challenge you to use these same words to do some creative writing! And also to keep following this chain. Check out the Daily Pie Shannon served up yesterday, and then head on over to Amanda's blog tomorrow to see what she posts!

Books Are...

YEEHAW! That's right I just said YEEHAW! Why? Well,

1. because every so often I like to channel my inner cowgirl.
And 2. because it is my turn to start the blog chain! So, YEEHAW!

Okay, inner cowgirl, that's enough.

So, now for the question. Actually, instead of a question, I'm going with more of a fill-in-the-blank style approach. So, here it is - fill in the blank.

Books are ______________________________.

Yep, that's it. Pretty broad, topic, I know, but sometimes that's the fun of it. And as far as the blank goes that can be one word or a whole ten page essay. Now, I know that I usually tend more to the long-winded ten page essay end of things, but right now I am in the midst of Nanowrimo-ing (which I am technically "losing" because I am wwaaayy behind on word count, but I've been writing almost everyday, and have added almost 50 pages to my WIP, so it kinda feels like a win to me.) and am trying to conserve my wind for that.

So, here is my answer. Short. Sweet. Simple.

Books are EVERYWHERE.

Now, I am not presenting this as some deep universal truth, but rather my own very personal one. And I have pictures to back it up.

**WARNING: Some of these pictures contain very graphic scenes of mess, disorder, and disorganization. Proceed at your own risk***

This is pretty self-explantory. It's my trusty old overloaded Ikea bookshelf. If this bookshelf were a dog, it'd be Old Yeller... well except for the whole (SPOILER ALERT!) dying at the end thing.

And this is my bedside table. Note the pile of books I am currently reading or planning on reading soon on the table. The bag of books under the tab are my latest takings from the library. And the "What To Expect" book, well that was from a few weeks ago when I needed to find out if my daughter's rash was eczema (it was) and I haven't gotten around to putting it back yet.

My husband's bedside table with his soon to be read/currently reading/have no intention of reading but will leave it hear to appease my wife pile of books.

Books piled on the kitchen table. Along with some toys, and the Target toy ad that my son has been obsessed with the last few weeks.

Cookbooks. And cooking magazines. And other assorted clutter that just makes home feel like home.

This side table in the family room is where the books that were read to the kids before bedtime get piled. There is also more assorted clutter on display. Yes, I could've cleaned before taking these pics, but that would've felt like censoring, which I don't believe in. Also, I didn't much feel like cleaning today.

The path of destruction leading to the children's bookshelf.

And a close-up of the bookshelf itself, along with the books behind being used to prop the lamp up a bit. Books are excellent multitaskers.

The bookshelf in my son's room. Yes, we have A LOT of children's books. It is pretty cool, because it gives us a great selection to choose from, and if you've ever read to children every single night, you know that having a good selection if key to retaining one's sanity.

Some more books on the desk in my son's room.

And finally, a stray book that I use for naming characters, sitting on the kitchen counter where I left it the night before.

So pretty much every room and every surface has some kind of book on it. And that's pretty much the way we like it here.

Well, that's it for me. To find out how the rest of the chain fills in the books are blank, head on over to Sandra's blog next and follow along.

Characters Popping Up Everywhere

Our new blog chain question started off with Abby who asked:

Where do your characters come from? And once they've been introduced to you, how do you get to know them?

For me everything starts with character. My characters tell me what the plot will be, where the story will be set, and even what genre I'll be writing in.

I'm not really sure where these characters come from - I just start writing and there they are. And to know them better, I simply keep writing. And as I write even more characters emerge.

I actually struggle with a perpetual character overpopulation problem. Minor characters - like a waitress or a next door neighbor - meant to have one line, get greedy. They're not content with merely bringing more coffee or asking about their missing dog. No, they have to become complicated people with their own thoughts and problems. And they want to talk about these problems, and make the main character care about these problems.

Sometimes I let them. Hey, sometimes it works out and the waitress is suddenly the main character's best friend. Sometimes though, it's just a distraction. A tangent that leads nowhere and means nothing except more words on the page. That's when it's time to kill the next door neighbor. Their missing dog probably gets whacked too. Writing can be a bloody business.

And that's pretty much it from me, but don't forget there is more blog chain goodness out there! You can find Shannon's post from yesterday here, and then go look for Sandra's blog post after that!

Talking With Dead Authors

The blog chain has swung my way once again and this time Michelle H. asked the question.

If you could dine with any author, and I do mean any whether alive or dead (yes, we're going into the realms of time travel - but hey, we have science fiction writers on this chain so we can always ask for them to write up the time machine specs), who would you want to dine with? And if you can ask them for advice on one writing element you feel you might be struggling at, what would it be?

The first thing I knew when I read this question was, of course, I was going with a dead author. There's really no contest here. Call your friends and tell them you had dinner with JK Rowling. They'll be impressed. A little jealous. But tell them you had dinner with Jane Austen... in that case, well in that case they'll probably think you've lost the little bit you have left of your mind. However, if there was some way to prove that you are not insane, then they will be totally and completely amazed. It's not just anyone who can raise the literary dead, and have dinner with them.

As for specifically which dead author I would choose, well, I honestly think several would be more fun. Make it a party, you know? I've already mentioned Austen, so she would definitely be on the invite list. Georgette Heyer, the Bronte sisters, Sylvia Plath, Louisa May Alcott, LM Montgomery, Francis Hodgson Burnett, Betty Smith - and there would be men too. Shakespeare, Salinger, Mark Twain, Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Lord Byron, and really any other dead author who wants to take break from the grave for a night would be welcome.

Of course, you might have guessed from my picture at the top that I'm defining the term "dine" a little loosely. In fact, my first thought was booze cruise. You know Hemingway would totally be down with that.

And I'm not just thinking liquor because after years in the grave someone would probably prefer a good stiff drink to a fancy french dinner, but also because I want more than writing advice. I want the dirt. I want gossip. And lots of it. It's a weakness, I know, but I just love hearing those behind the scenes stories of feuds, fights, and long-held grudges. And a little author-to-author trash talking would be pretty fun as well.

So, there's my answer. Want to know how the rest of the chain answered? Shannon posted her answer before mine, and Sandra will be next.

Guest Post with K.M. Weiland!

K.M. Weiland, from the blog Wordplay, is here today with an awesome guest post concerning a very awful problem - writer's block. Keep reading to find out six simple ways to overcome it, and don't forget to also check out her CD - Conquering Writer's Block and Summoning Inspiration.

Writer’s Block Busters

Writer’s block is that hairy beast that lurks beneath every writer’s desk, growling ominously, and threatening to steal our joy at any moment of any given day. Right?

Actually, as I discuss in my recently released CD Conquering Writer’s Block and Summoning Inspiration (http://www.kmweiland.com/books_CWBASI.php), writer’s block is only a monster when we let it become one. The surest way to best this beast is to send him packing before he ever gets a toehold in that lair under your desk (you can find lots of prevention techniques on the CD). But what happens on those occasions when he gets the best of us and stakes out his territory right in the middle of our latest manuscript? Following are a handful of surefire writer’s block busters:

1) Just start typing. Writer’s block feeds off our inertia. If our fingers are moving—even if all they’re creating is dreck—we’re one step closer to winning the battle.

2) Grab a book off your shelf, open it to a random page, select a random line, and use that as the next line in your story. You may have to change it later to avoid plagiarism, but for now just focus on getting your creativity jumpstarted.

3) Write yourself a letter. Pretend you’re a bestselling author who knows all the tricks of the trade. Now write this super-writer persona a letter, explaining all the problems that are keeping you from moving forward in your work-in-progress. That, by itself, may be enough to get you thinking logically about your plot holes. If not, switch roles and have Super Writer respond with an encouraging letter of his own.

4) Throw in a plot twist. Kill off a character, introduce a wormhole, reveal a secret identity. Even it makes no sense in the story, just let your hair down and start writing something deliciously unexpected. An object in motion in much more likely to stay in motion—and you may come up with a killer new idea.

5) Take a break. Sometimes writer’s block is just burnout in disguise. Our creative brains are like rubber bands: they can only stretch so far. Instead of obsessing over what you’re not writing, give your imagination permission to go on vacation. You may be surprised with what your subconscious comes up with when you’re not paying attention.

6) Give yourself permission to break the rules. Sometimes our obsession with crossing every T and dotting every I can knot us up into nervous wrecks of perfectionism. Forget all those rules that tell you to show and not tell, to avoid lengthy descriptions, or to forego info dumps. This is the first draft; all that matters is getting those words down on paper. You can perfect them later.

The cures for writer’s block are as multitudinous as the malady itself. Just remember that you don’t have to succumb to this foul-breathed dragon. He’s just a pitiful little lizard next to the awesome fury of your fingers pounding away at a story. Keep writer’s block in perspective, and he’s not likely to bother you!

K.M. Weiland writes historical and speculative fiction from her home in the sandhills of western Nebraska. She enjoys mentoring other authors through her writing tips, editing services, workshops, and her recently released instructional CD Conquering Writer’s Block and Summoning Inspiration.

My Legacy!?

Shannon started off the blog chain with this question:

Imagine this: when you're gone, readers will remember your writing most for just one of these things: your characters, your plots, your settings, or your style. Which one (only one!) would you prefer over the rest? Why?

Okay, wow.

Right?

I mean any question that begins with "when you're gone" is a pretty big question already. But then even once I've wrap my head around the whole dead and gone thing, I also have to imagine that at some point before I've shuffled off this mortal coil - not only will I be published, but that this book or books will also be remembered as being good for something other than lining the bird cage.

I gotta say this question makes all the self-doubt parts of my brain light up like a pinball machine.

But let's put that aside.

And let's also not think about the fact that no matter how much I love books, (so much so that once again - after I'm gone - if someone did the math they would calculate that I'd probably spent a good quarter of my life inside of them) I am not very good at specifically remembering each individual one. The ones I love - I remember bits and pieces. The ones I really hate - I remember bits and pieces. Most though fall into the middle, and those I pretty much forget completely.

But (not to get all philosophical on you here, I mean really, this is a pretty simple question and I'm here turning it into this whole existential what's gonna be left of me after I die whole big dramatic thing. sorry, i get that way sometimes.) maybe it's more than what's remembered or forgotten. And more than writing a book that's treasured instead of sold at the next garage sale - or in this new digital age - maybe it would just be deleted out of existence (deleted out of existence? that's a bit much, right? I know, bring mortality into the equation and suddenly it's all over-the-top statements and quoting Hamlet. again, I apologize.)?

Maybe it's about what Shannon (who I would not blame if she is right now rolling her eyes and saying a heartfelt "oye" at where I have dragged her truly excellent question.) wrote about in her post about getting lost in books. And getting lost is what I love about reading. For Shannon it was setting - being able to take someone to another place. But for me, I need to get out of my own head. My own head gives me headaches (if you are still reading this post, you might be getting one too.). Books put me in someone else's head. In someone else's life.

And I guess that after all this my answer is actually quite simple (it usually is once you dig past all the nonsense). Characters. I want my characters to be my legacy. Even if they're not really remembered at all, in the moment, when the words - whether on paper or screen - are in front of your eyes, I want my characters to be alive... even after I'm not.

So what about you? Ready to contemplate your own epilogue? What would you have your written legacy be?

And to keep following this blog chain (which if it's true what they say about things you post on the Internet being there forever, this chain will still be here long after we're gone. geez talk about a legacy.) please check out Amanda's blog next.

Genre Jumping

This time on the blog chain Margie started off with a question about genres.

How did you come to write your YA genre (e.g. contemp, fantasy, etc.)? AND (yep, it’s a 2 parter), if you weren’t writing that, what genre would you be interested in exploring?

As I've mentioned before, I've already played around with a few different genres.

My first novel was a contemporary romance. Why? Because I've been devouring romance novels since eighth grade. The biggest influence in writing my contemporary romance was Susan Elizabeth Phillips, a contemporary romance novelist whose books I re-read on a regular basis. Also, at the time I was also reading a lot of chick lit, and elements from those books worked their way in as well. Unfortunately, I think my influences sometimes manifested themselves as imitation - and this ultimately hurt the book. However, I have two other contemporary romances that I began and abandoned in a file folder somewhere. Someday I'd like to hunt them down and give this genre another go.

My second novel was an urban fantasy. And genre wise, it's actually not that big of a change from contemporary romance. Like my contemporary romance this book had romantic entanglements - just no happily ever after. And the setting was the same modern world... except with a few demons thrown in for flavor. My biggest influence here was Buffy The Vampire Slayer. And all things Joss Whedon.

And now, I am working on a young adult urban fantasy. Again, not that far of a jump. Still in an urban fantasy world, just with a younger protagonist. It was really the idea I had for this one that demanded the young adult genre. For me, it wasn't Harry Potter or the Twilight series that brought me back to the YA genre as an adult (I'm actually not a huge fan of either of those series). I actually found my way back to YA in my early twenties, when I was in that section of the library picking out a book for my youngest sister. Turns out, she have any interest in reading the book, but I did. The book was, A Killing Frost by John Marsden - the third in his Tomorrow series. I ended up hunting down the entire series at the library, and then everything else he had written, and after that YA books were regularly rotated into my reading queue.

As for other genres I might write in... well, I don't know. I'm actually pretty happy with these three, but I also wouldn't rule anything else out. Who knows there might be a Western lurking somewhere at the far reaches of my mind... but I doubt it.

What about you? Are you true to one genre, or do you also like to play the field?

And make sure to keep following this chain. Shannon's daily pie post was before mine and Amanda will be up next.