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Do you remember?

5/28/2015

A friend posted online this library card from Ragersville elementary school, where I went as a kid. Her daughter is attending kindergarten there now. The first six names on the card are kids from my class, probably about 37 years ago. You can see my last name, written in my Mom’s handwriting the third row down, probably during a time she volunteered. It brought back such wonderful memories.

Do you remember your elementary school library? I can picture it clearly, and the once-a-week library hours were some of my favorite times as a student. It was one large room with bookshelves from floor to ceiling on the sides of the room. In the back, under the windows, were the picture books like this one. On the left side were the chapter books, on the right side biographies and nonfiction. Every week a mom would volunteer to be the librarian and read a book to us. It was a squirmingly proud time when my precious mother would be the librarian.

My friend Rachael and I competed to see how many books we could read in a week. In 4th and 5th grade we loved the biography section because there was an entire series of books on girls who turned into famous women. Maybe that was the start of my desire to be someone, do something with my life? We read bios on Marie Curie, Maria Mitchell, Pocahontas, Sacagawea, Clara Barton, Hawaiian princess Kaʻiulani, and many others and acted them out at recess and with our dolls at home. I know I read a variety of books from that tiny library – but that series is the one that stuck with me the longest. I think that tiny library in Ragersville elementary school began my love for libraries. I served as an aid in the high school library, then at Otterbein Collage my work study was as a library aid. After college I worked for six months at the Tuscarawas County Library before moving on to better paying desktop publishing job. We have a tiny library here in Pataskala, and I’ve read much of the fantasy fiction they offer so don’t go to the library as much as I used to – but I still love to wander in and go through the stacks and seeing those awesome tall bookcases. I’ll be doing a program and book signing at my parent’s library in Dover in September, after my second book comes out. I'm not a children's book writer - so I won't be in the Ragersville library - but the head of the Dover library told me Desert Rising is in the Dover stacks, ready for a girl like my teenage self to fall in love with feli and imagine herself in a distant land.

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OT Copyedits in, Back to book 3.

5/26/2015

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Sent in the copyedits for The Obsidian Temple – the last time I’ll have my hands on the manuscript before publication. Was extra-vigilant because I guess some typos were found in Desert Rising and I didn’t want that to happen with The Obsidian Temple.

Novels published by Harper Voyager go through many rounds of edits. The first are line and structural edits, which are done by a main editor at Harper Voyager – in this case, my awesome editor Rebecca. In the Obsidian Temple there were several storylines that needed tightened up, and some rearranging of chapters to make a cohesive whole. I spent a month on those edits, and then another couple weeks going back and forth with Rebecca to tighten up the changes I made. When Rebecca is satisfied – it is sent to the production department, and they put in formatting scripts. Then it is sent to a copyeditor outside of Harper Voyager, who has not seen the manuscript before. She is the detail master – tightens grammar and punctuation, finds timeline errors and corrects to Harper’s “house rules.” Every publishing house has its own rules for times where there are several options. Often what a reader thinks is a typo, is actually a choice by the publisher. An example – “blonde” or “blond” for golden hair? I tend to write “blonde” and that is incorrect for US Harper Collins. Various ways of hyphenating and how words come together (super villains or supervillains? Mid-meal or midmeal?) are often laid out in the publishing house rules. My brain tends to skip over words and I rarely notice typos in books I read unless they are really, really bad (there, their, they’re) so I am impressed with the detail orientation a great copyeditor has. One nice thing – because this is a digital age, even once the novel is published I can submit requests for corrections if I find glaring typos. My editor has already done that for a couple of Desert Rising misses.

Now I am back to book three, somewhat titled Prophet’s Legacy. You’ll notice the word count meter went up, and then stalled. That’s because beginning the book sent me a cascade of images and scenes for farther into the book. I’m writing those down in a separate file to feed in as the timeline catches up. Once my brain is totally full and all the characters are speaking (or deliberately not speaking) to each other, the book will take off and my fingers will fly trying to capture the story!

Oh, and Desert Rising is out in paperback today!

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Meditation and Writing

5/12/2015

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This post was to run on the blog The Revolving Bookshelf in April. Somehow we missed connections and they ran a post that had already run on a different blog, oops. So here it is.

Why Meditate?
Meditating and quieting the mind is an important part of Desert Rising’s temple and magic system:

I use meditation in Desert Rising to help acolytes’ minds become one-pointed so they can either use their natural magic, or channel the deity they are pledged to.

Did you know that humans have between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts a day? That’s 35-48 thoughts a minute! As I write this, my mind is noticing, singing, hearing, formulating, worrying and wondering...all at once. Quieting the mind through seated meditation, and moving meditations like Yoga and Tai Chi, has become an important part of my life, and has focused my writing.

We often aren’t aware of our mind’s chatter until we sit down to meditate. When I sit to meditate I feel as though my brain is spinning constantly. It is rare that I empty my mind completely. But slowing the thought process and noticing what arises again and again can show me patterns of worry or fear in my life. Uncovering those unconscious thought patterns helps me conquer depression and negativity. Noticing and quieting the chatter of my mind creates ease when I want to focus on just one thing – such as writing. If it is a good day, I can snap right into creative mode. If it is a bad day, I can understand why and meditate or do yoga to control my thoughts and emotions.

Meditation can be done anywhere – you don’t need special pillows or a quiet room, though those can be nice as you lengthen your practice! An easy beginning is with your own breathing, because it is always with you. I like to do this meditation when I’m in a long line, feeling impatient: I count my breath, until I reach 10, then start over. In and out – one breath. If I lose track of what breath I’m on, I start over at one. Counting focuses the mind, and the natural deepening that occurs by paying attention to the breath relaxes the body. When I reach the front of the line, I am peaceful. Another easy breath meditation – sniff in eight short breaths to fill the lungs, then release in one long exhale. Do for 3-5 minutes to create a relaxed focus and relieve worry. When you get more experience with breath meditation, simply immerse your mind on the in and out breath, without controlling it, from 5 to 30 minutes and beyond.

Finding the meditation style that is right for your life, whether seated, or moving like yoga and Tai Chi, will help you fit moments of peace into your life. Remember, even meditating once or twice a week can lift your mood, quiet anger and create a feeling of peace and calm that will help you feel more grounded in your everyday life.

The Counselor lifted a wooden stick and ran it around the lip of a beaten copper bowl the size of a serving crock. A tone sang out, full and rich in the echoes of the One’s altar. Sulis gasped at the clarity.

“Still your mind,” Counselor Elida advised. “Bring it back to the music. If your mind wanders, don’t give up; just bring it back to the note, letting it fill the space with clarity, with light. Allow your mind to be free of the distractions of the world around it.”

Sulis closed her eyes, refraining from looking around at the other students. She knew from the past few mornings what they would look like, since she’d studied them while pretending to focus her jittery brain. Jonas would be sitting stiff with his eyes closed, his face strained as though with the heavy effort of forcing his mind to obey. Lasha and most of the others were more like Sulis, shifting in seated positions that got more uncomfortable as they sat still, their brains untamed by their will—all except Alannah. She alone looked like she understood.

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A lot can happen in one year

5/5/2015

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Last year on May 5th, I came home from a tiring night at the studio after teaching Beginning Yoga and staying for Tai Chi. I checked my email and opened an email titled Sand Sifters. It said "I just finished reading your novel, THE SAND SIFTERS, and I really enjoyed it! Sulis and Kadar are great protagonists, and you’ve built an incredibly rich, original world. I’d love to set up a time to chat with you about this book and your planned sequel, as well as the Harper Voyager Impulse program."

My husband was taking the trash out and I ran outside with the laptop and made him read the email.
"Is it real?" I demanded as we looked wide-eyed at each other. "It can't be real. I thought I was rejected last year!"

I spoke with my editor on May 9th, my 16th wedding anniversary and it did become a reality. Much happened since - the name changed to Desert Rising. We kept the Yoga Studio going through a lawsuit and loss of popular teachers, until the lease was up in March. I wrote The Obsidian Temple as a sequel and did professional edits on both novels. The digital version came out and I went to C2E2 in Chicago to promote it.

Last night a dream came true for me - I held my own paperback book in my hands and riffled through it. My name was on every page. The Dedication and acknowledgements pages were exactly as I had envisioned them on those lonely days when I was only writing for myself, without hope that anyone would ever read my wondrous tales. The digital version came out April 21st, but having it download on the Kindle did not provoke the same visceral satisfaction that holding the paper copy gave me.

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What if your novel is stalled blog post

5/4/2015

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So, for some reason only one of the guest blog posts I did got posted - over and over on three different blogs! No idea how that happened, but I'll post here what I was going to guest post on my blog tour!

This post was written for the I'm Shelfish blog.
Three things to ask if your novel is stalled.

I often hear “I’ve been writing a novel for decades. Somehow I just got stuck and can’t finish it. What is the key?”

Some writers have dozens of novel beginnings that they never finish. These writers lose focus, or did not have a clear focus to begin with. Then the writing becomes difficult, right about the middle, and they abandon the novel, waiting until they unlock the secret of finishing. But the key to that middle ground is really simple – keep going.

But you’re stuck, right? It isn’t fun any more. You’d rather watch NCIS than stare at a blank screen, as your insecurities rise up. I get that. I’ve been there with every one of the novels I’ve written. Here are some things to ask yourself when stuck.

Do you have a clear idea of how the book ends? Often, the direction isn’t clear. I tend to be a “pantser” instead of an outliner. But once I get stuck, I have to plot and plan to find where the plot is going. I have to settle on a vague ending. It will probably change as the writing picks up again. But clarifying your end, knowing where the plot is heading, will spur imagination. It gives you a dot to connect your wonderful beginning to. The brain likes to connect things – it will imagine the possibilities in between those dots and creativity will follow.

Are you sitting down to write on consecutive days? Related - Are you sitting down at the right time for you? Writing on consecutive days spurs creativity. The first day is for fidgeting and despair (nothing will come!) and writing descriptions of what to write when inspiration strikes. The second is for writing the novel itself. Days 3-6 are when I hit my stride. Some writers sit everyday, but I find I need a day or two off occasionally for the creative well to refill. Also, think about the time of day you sit down to write. You may feel the only time is after the workday, in the evening. But if you are a morning person, it might be best for your imagination to get up early. Or during a noon lunch break. No specific time will be best for every person. Simply changing what time you write could give you the breakthrough you need.

Are you editing too much as you write? Or not enough? Every writer has a different style of getting the words to paper. You need to find what keeps yours moving. Natalie Goldberg advises to put pen to paper, and never look back at what you are writing – just keep moving. Others outline completely and edit as they go, their imagination spurred more by organization than intuition. Outlines stifle my writing, but writing by keeping the hand moving ends up in a jumbled mess of thoughts rather than a novel. So I find a happy medium. I write until I am done for the day. The next day I read over what I wrote the day before, make edits, and then continue the story. This reminds me of what I was excited about yesterday so I can move forward, but gives me enough structure to get a good first draft. Perfectionism can stifle your imagination; but sloppy organization can create novel-killing frustration.

Writing consistently is about knowing where your sweet spot is. Once you understand where your story is going, sit down consistently at the time that is right for you and get your level of structure – you will conquer the dreaded middle to finally finish your novel.

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Author

I am a writer, with a three book contract with HarperCollins Voyager Impulse for my Desert Rising Fantasy novel series. I also teach yoga and give yoga workshops and sing kirtan with my husband, Brian.

Links

Links to other great writers.
Bishop O'Connell - Harper Voyager Impulse Colleague

A.F.E. Smith - Harper Voyager Impulse Colleague

Andy Livingstone - Harper Voyager Impulse Colleague

Katherine Harbour - Harper Voyager Impulse Colleague

Nancy K Wallace - Harper Voyager Impulse Colleague

Lexie Dunne - Harper Voyager Impulse Colleague

Ingrid Seymour - Harper Voyager Impulse Colleague

Do you remember?

OT Copyedits in, Back to book 3.

Meditation and Writing

A lot can happen in one year

What if your novel is stalled blog post

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