Category: current projects

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The Writing Room

  By current projects, personal & miscellaneous, writing life

Yesterday I happened upon this video, wherein writer Laurie Halse Anderson chronicles the building of her writing cottage. Wow, it’s beautiful. And she quotes Viriginia Woolf, who said:

“…a woman must have…a room of her own to write fiction.”

Note that I don’t think it’s only women who need a dedicated writing space. I think all writers deserve that spot where they can go and feel that they are in “writing mode”. It needn’t be a room, if space constraints don’t allow it–but it should be a place where you can get away from distractions and know that it’s time to write. (If you Google “writing room” and choose images you’ll find some lovely inspirational rooms to look at.)

I’m lucky enough to have had a “writing room” since we moved into our house fifteen years ago…it was a different room at first than it is now, but I’ve always had the space. I’m grateful for that.

But as I look around it now, I’m not sure that I’m being the best caretaker of that space. It’s pretty cluttered and messy and probably dirtier in the nooks and crannies than I would like to think about. So I’ve decided to overhaul it, clean it up and make some changes that I’ve wanted to make for a while.

Now, this decision makes me nervous, because I know my brain. I have a lot of writing and writing-related projects on the go, and my brain often chooses these times to cunningly push me into some big project that isn’t writing, because it doesn’t want to work that hard. So rest assured, I am not going to drop everything and start my office overhaul. I’m going to use it as a reward motivator instead. For every hour spent on writing, I will spend half an hour on the office. It will take longer to get it done, but I think it’s the only smart way to do it.

So now I’m going to go and take some pictures of it in its current pathetic state. These “before” pictures will not be revealed until I have the “after” pictures to go with them. By that time, you’ll all have forgotten about this project, I’m sure. But don’t worry, I’ll remind you.

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BICHOK

  By current projects, writer development, writing life

The main way to get started as a writer is to write: apply the seat of the pants firmly to the seat of the chair and just get down to it. Having a thousand “good ideas” in your head is no good; you have to get them on paper. Just sit down and do it.
~ Marion Zimmer Bradley, “Advice to Young Writers”

You know, my first story sale was to Marion Zimmer Bradley. My first encouragement as a writer was a postcard from her FANTASY magazine, telling me that my story was “on hold.” As some of you might know, I have a very unreliable memory, but the moment I held and read that postcard is indelibly inked in my mind. I immediately went and read every bit of her writing advice that I could find, and the quote above was part of that.

I don’t know that she was the first to impart that advice, but over time it’s been distilled down to the title of this post: “Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard.” The distillation makes a handy acronym, sure, and makes non-writers look at you askance when you use it, but every once in a while I like to go back and read MZB’s full quote. There’s a certain simple resonance in her words that you don’t get from the combination of six letters into an unlikely “word.”

I have a good writing friend, Chuck Heintzelman, who is living that advice right now. He has challenged himself to write fifty (50!) new stories this year. (We are not going to talk here about my sad little goal to write five new stories this year. No, we’re not.) And he’s on a roll–as he completes a story he posts it on his website where you can read it for free until the next one goes up. They’re definitely worth checking out and I advise you to click on over and enjoy some while you can.

I’m inspired by Chuck’s project. I absolutely do not have his courage to post new work before it’s been thoroughly vetted by my first readers. I don’t seem to be able to find his drive to write so consistently every day. (Why I can do it for NaNoWriMo but not the rest of the year remains a mystery.) However, his project is making me want to resolve to write more, and more consistently. I need to get my BICHOK.

To make a start, today I did an exercise from my 2011 Working Writer’s Daily Planner. The exercise is to write fifty first sentences without stopping. (Dovetails nicely with Chuck’s fifty stories, no?) I set a timer to see how long it would take me, sat down, opened a numbered list, and started writing.

Thirty-three minutes later I had them. Almost a thousand words. Sometimes I wrote the first two sentences instead of just one. My rebellious side showing there, I guess.

The second part of the exercise is to choose twenty of those sentences that you think have promise, and write a first paragraph to go with them.

I’ll let you know how that goes.

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Organization Quest 2011 (Part 2)

  By current projects, personal & miscellaneous, software, writer development, writing life, writing log

After getting my submissions in order, I decided that the next thing I had to organize better was my time. This is a big issue for me as I have a lot of family demands on my time that I don’t really have complete control over, and I need to be flexible. However, I also need a sort of guide to come back to, so that I know what I’m supposed to be doing when time presents itself.

I started looking for organizer programs, then realized that I already had one on my computer that I use every day, just not to its fullest capacity. My mail program, Outlook, which also has a built-in calendar, with the ability to schedule repeating tasks and appointments, reminders, etc. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. It was right in front of me the whole time.

So I spent an afternoon deciding how much time I had in the run of a week, and how I should apportion it. Other writers dealing with the same time issues might find this useful, so here’s what I did. First, I made a list of all the things, writing and writing-career-related, that require some of my time. Then I thought about how much time each one of them requires if I were addressing it on a weekly basis. For instance, publishing The Scriptorium. If I worked on it a bit at a time, instead of frantically trying to put together an issue in a day when the deadline hits, how much time would it take per week? How much time should I spend on the business aspects of writing? How much on Third Person Press? And so on.

Then I filled in a weekly calendar with all my non-negotiable time committments, and looked at what was left. Working back and forth this way, changing things around, and thinking about what times of day are better for me to do what sorts of tasks, I filled in the time slots. This gave me a baseline calender or schedule. It may change as I apply it to the real world, but it’s a starting point. Color-coding the chunks of time also lets me get an overview of how I’m spending the time.

I also made a second calendar, on which I can add one-time events or appointments. I can overlay this calender with my baseline calender to see a week at a glance and know what’s coming up that will interfere with my baseline schedule, and decide if I need to move things around just for the coming week.

I am just beginning to put it into practice, but so far it’s working well. If you’re having trouble fitting writing into your schedule, you may want to try this kind of strategy and see if it helps you apportion your time more productively. Although I’m using Outlook, find a calendar program that suits the way you like to work, and whose appearance and functionality you like. You’ll be a lot more likely to use it consistently if you do.

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Ask a Librarian

  By current projects, writer development, writing life

The other day I discovered a very cool program offered by the Halifax Public Library system–Ask A Librarian. You can email the research librarians there and ask a basic question. Within a day or two they will try to get back to you with an answer, links to further information, or suggestions for where you should start research for a more in-depth or complex question.

I thought this was a great idea, and I discovered the service precisely because I had a question. I wanted to know if there was a library in Halifax during the time period in which my novel is set (1901). Although I am writing alternate history and don’t have to have all the facts right, I like to be able to integrate some factually correct details along with things I’ve…er…tweaked. So I emailed them on the spot.

The next day I had my answer! A very nice email arrived to tell me that there was indeed a Citizen’s Free Library in Halifax in 1901, housed on the second floor of the City Hall building on Duke Street. The librarian told me the names of the Head Librarian and Assistant Librarian, and sent me a link to the actual catalogue, which I could read online.

I think that’s a fabulous service. I was telling my son and daughter about it and my son said, “Wow, are they Super Librarians?”

Maybe so. :)

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The Waiting Game

  By current projects, publishing, writing life

old typewriter keysRome wasn’t built in a day.

Good things come to those who wait.

A watched pot never boils.

These are the things we tell ourselves as we wait for our manuscripts to be read, evaluated, and (we hope) accepted by editors and publishers. One of my novel manuscripts has made another jump up the ladder, an email today informs me.

{happy dance, happy dance, happy dance}

Okay, back to the waiting game. I’ll try to put it out of my mind again for another little while.

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Jutoh Ebook Creator ~ For the Win!

  By current projects, ebooks, publishing, reviews, software

I’ve just finished creating the e-versions of Third Person Press’ new anthology release, Airborne. While I was at it, I created new formats for our first anthology, Undercurrents, which previously existed only in .pdf format. I did that because with Jutoh from Anthemion Software, it was so easy.

I’ve spent some time experimenting with, and ultimately being frustrated by, other ebook creators (this over a period of several years). I’ve tried some that were proprietary and some that claimed to handle multiple file formats, but it seemed to me that all of them were difficult to figure out, required enormous and time-consuming amounts of hand-correcting, or simply did not produce properly-formatted, readable output in a reliable way. Then I was fortunate enough to stumble upon Jutoh.

I was already a fan of Anthemion’s Writer’s Cafe, which I know I’ve spoken of here before in glowing terms. I don’t tackle any large writing project now without using its Storylines feature to keep track of my…well, storylines. I rarely write a short story without using it, either. I can see after using Jutoh for just these two projects that it has also become an indispensable tool for me.

My other reason for heaping praise on Anthemion is the absolutely superlative support offered. Questions are answered promptly and personally, and guidance is always close at hand when needed. Their software is also extremely reasonably priced. Writer’s Cafe is $45US and Jutoh is $32US…although buying both together nets you a deal on Jutoh. As a registered WC user already I inquired about the Jutoh discount and was promptly afforded it. I really can’t say enough good things about the support!

As for usability, with Jutoh I was able to take an already-heavily-formatted, multiple-chapter document and convert it with only a minimal amount of hand-formatting into epub, mobipocket, and Smashwords-ready formats. Other formats are also available, as well as export as an .mp3. I expect that the program would have dealt even more handily with a document that was not already extensively setup for its print format. Next time I will create the ebook version first and then do the formatting necessary for print, and see how that works.

The user interface is easy to understand, and upon launching a new project, a wizard walks you through the process of getting started. I particularly like this feature, as opposed to some software programs that seem to sit smugly waiting to see if you will be able to figure them out. In addition, Jutoh has an excellent help file which opens in the workspace, so that you can read instructions and carry them out without a lot of switching back and forth between windows. A sample file is included if you need some visual cues to get started with the program. A built-in “check” feature also reviews ebook files after they are compiled, and offers warning and error messages when problems are encountered. A cover designer with several templates lets you create a cover easily if you don’t already have one.

I did encounter a slight error when using the “find” feature, however, the program automatically generated an error report which was submitted to the developer, and I had a reply to that report in short order. That’s what I mean about the superlative support–they’re actually paying attention to their customers’ experiences with their products. I have seen this in action before with the mailing list for Storylines, where there is a lot of interaction between users and the developer so that everyone’s experience of the program is improved.

If you are interested in creating ebooks of any sort in multiple formats, I recommend Jutoh very highly indeed.

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Today’s Press Release

  By current projects, Third Person Press

Thought I’d share the press release I just sent out this morning:
________________________________________
Local Publisher Announces Book Release and Launch Party

September 15, 2010
Northside, Cape Breton

Third Person Press announces publication of its second release, Airborne, Volume 2 in The Speculative Elements Series. The launch party will take place Wednesday, October 6, 2010 from 6:30 to 8:30 at the McConnell Library, Sydney.

Complied and edited by Third Person Press founders Sherry D. Ramsey, Julie A. Serroul and Nancy S.M. Waldman, with an Introduction by Afra Kavanagh, Assistant Professor of English at Cape Breton University, Airborne contains fourteen stories and three poems written by writers with connections to Cape Breton Island. The tales include stories of cyber-crime, journeys of planetary colonization, malicious music, messages and visits from those who have passed on–including a tale from the Scottish Isles–rogue helicopters, romance that defies time and space, enchanted creatures, virulent vampire viruses, and a mysterious white stone with inexplicable properties.

The contributors to Airborne are Donna Troicuk, Ken Chisholm, Katrina Nicholson, Meg Horne, Chris Benjamin, Theresa Dugas Mac Kay, Sue McKay Miller, Peter Andrew Smith, Kerry Anne Fudge, Krista C. Miller, Donna D’Amour, Bruce V. Miller, Jill Campbell-Miller, Nancy S.M. Waldman, Sherry D. Ramsey and Julie A. Serroul.

The launch on October 6th will feature readings from Airborne, refreshments and music, and signings by many of the contributors. Airborne and Undercurrents (Volume 1 in the series) will be on sale at the launch and available in local books stores soon. All titles from Third Person Press are available online; please see thirdpersonpress.com to purchase copies or for more information on these releases. Third Person Press is currently accepting submissions of stories and/or poetry for its next book: Unearthed. Guidelines are available on the website, and the deadline for submissions is December 31, 2010.

_______________________________________________
Woohoo!

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The Chain Story

  By current projects, publishing, reading, writer development, writing life

A while back, I wrote here about The Chain Story Project, Michael A. Stackpole’s ongoing online anthology. Today my own story in the chain, “The Longest Distance,” went live.

You can reach it from the main project page at http://chainstory.stormwolf.com, or since you’re already here, from the link in the right-hand sidebar. :)

It’s been an interesting process and fun to participate. It helped me finish a ten-year-old story, and creating the “cover” artwork was cool. And much, much easier (and faster!) than writing the story itself!

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Vacation Notes

  By current projects, personal & miscellaneous, Third Person Press, writing life

As some of you may know, I’ve been on vacation all the past week. I brought along lots of things to keep me busy in case the Muse had an opportunity to visit, but the chances of that happening were severely curtailed when my laptop screen died the night before we left home. I brought it along anyway–since there was some work for Airborne that had to get done, vacation or no–and a small external monitor allowed me to use it. However, after consulting with my resident computer expert (hubby), we decided that probably it would be expedient for me to shop for a new laptop. With some trepidation, I did so, with the result that I’m typing this now on a new HP ProBook. I’ve spent quite a few hours copying and moving things from the old machine to the new one, and I think I’m pretty much there. It’s a nice fast machine with a pretty sweet keyboard, so I think I’m going to like it, although I wasn’t really ready to part with my old one.

In writing news, Airborne is done to the point that we’ve ordered the proof and it has been shipped, so if there are no problems with the proof when we get it, we’ll be ready to order copies. Whew! I feel a bit nervous calling it “done” until I’ve seen that proof, but it does feel like we’re almost there.

Two other writing notes–I’ve realized that one of the characters in the novel I’m writing requires a change of gender (not as part of the story; I mean I have to go back and rewrite him as a woman). And I’ll have more writing news come Monday. Stay tuned!

*Photo: Cavendish Beach, from peionline.com. Yes, I’m on Prince Edward Island. :)

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Absurdist Shakespeare

  By current projects, personal & miscellaneous

Well, well. Isn’t this strangely appropriate? (Since I do my editing with a red pen and all?) Of course I plugged in the word “edits” since getting back to them after this brief break is on my mind…

William Shakespeare

Will all great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood
Clean from my edits? No, this my edits will rather
The multitudinous seas
incarnadine.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:


Click over yourself for some weekend fun!