In Which We Remember

Happy Memorial Day to all my U.S. Pals. I'll see you again on Wednesday

Friday Fun

Hi Everyone! Yvie's back, to send you into the long holiday weekend, loaded with some fun and laughs.
Because I'm generous like that.




Kinda a slow week for me. Lots of naps, a few walks. You know, dog stuff. So onto the fun!

In Which I'm In The Wrong Genre?

I was thinking the other day that maybe I'm writing in the wrong genre. I mean, not really. I love fantasy and I don't see that changing in, like, ever, but this idea comes to me often when I'm watching TV.

Why, you ask?

Because when I watch TV, I watch a lot of true crime TV. I mean, a lot.

And we're not talking fictionalized stuff like Castle, and CSI and Bones (even though I watch all of those too)










We're talking 48 hours Mystery. I could pretty much watch 48 Hours Mystery like 8 hours a day. No Joke.






I'll also sometimes round this out with medical shows, like Dr. G, Medical Examiner, and Trauma, Life in the E.R.





So whenever I'm on a True Crime binge, I wonder why I don't write it. Clearly I enjoy it, so why doesn't it ever occur to me to give it a try?

I think it may because that, even though I enjoy it, I'm not very good at making it up on my own. I think if I did, the killer would be obvious (though, to be fair, most of the crime dramas on TV are ridiculously predictable. I still love them, though).

What about you? Is there a genre you love but never write?

In Which I Draft After Revising

I had a realization the other day that one of the hardest things about starting a new project, is switching my mindset from revising back to being creative again. I know it will happen, but writing those first couple thousand words are always painful. Things don't flow right away, even though I want them to.





I remember I had this problem with Glimpse. It took me a few days to start feeling the book. Once I hit some unplanned action at the end of chapter one, though, the book suddenly came to life.

I'm hoping the same will happen with Break Free. Right now, it's pissing me off. But I know I'll be hitting a lot of action pretty soon and I'm sure that will help zazz things up.

I just think it takes some excitement in the draft to fully and finally shake off the revising mindset, which we all know is less creative than actually writing.

What about you? Does it take you some time to warm up to a new draft? To shake off the doldrums of revisions?

Friday Fun

Hi Ape-friends! How have you been? I've been pretty good. This week was finally sunny and warm so I started to work on my doggy tan. Also the grass is coming in nice and long this year and I've been snacking. Delish!




Anyway, onto the fun!

In Which Starting Can Be Hard

How do you handle beginnings? I mean, the very beginning, the first words you put down on a blank document (or a blank sheet of paper if you hand write like a freak of nature dedicated old-schooler).

Do you know what your first sentence is going to be before you even start? Or do you just start writing and see what shows up?




I'm a bit in both schools. I've definitely had first sentences planned before I started the draft, and I've also just sat down in front of a blank document and typed something out. The only issue is, if I don't have a beginning planned, my gut instinct is to always start with dialogue and we all know that's not the strongest beginning. Even though it can work and I see it frequently, it's still frowned upon, and, in my opinion, for a good reason.

I really like my opening for Glimpse (which starts "There should’ve been a party for my brother. Or at least a good-bye gift. It should be a big deal when you ship off to war.
Instead, Mom looked up from the fish net she was repairing and said, “Try not to get killed.” ") I feel it has a nice little hook, especially compared to a lot of my other stuff which just starts. Also, this one came about by just diving in.

But now, in starting my new WIP (tentatively titled BREAK FREE), I keep comparing any opening I think of to my Glimpse opening. Which means, they fall short. I've never really had such an issue starting something before. Most likely I'll just have to put something down, see how the rest of the draft plays out, and adjust it later during revisions. It's not my optimum sitch, but what can you do?

So anyway, I was just wondering about everyone else's practices. Are you a "dive right in and see what happens" person? Or are you a "plan the first sentence before you draft" type?

Interstingly enough, I'm an outliner and yet I generally dive right in. How about you?

In Which I Return

Yay! I'm back from my week long hiatus! I'm excited to take some time today to catch up on everyone's blog. Here are the things Twin and I accomplished this week with no work and very little internets (even though it rained every day but 2. Sigh)

Went to the hardware store like 15 times. Serial.

Planted the veggie garden (veggies include: carrots, spinach, eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers, white onions, green onions, cantaloupe, peas, cukes and zucchini. Also included (though we didn't plant them this year) is asparagus and garlic)

Installed some pavers on a high traffic area of our yard

Repotted house plants

Got the composter started

Stained our bay window which was installed before Christmas

Played board games

Saw Thor and Priest. Watched Tron and Easy A (omg, LOVED Easy A!)

Read 2 books and started a third

Played discgolf

Hit the dentist (boo) No cavities (yay!)

Entertained some guests

Celebrated mother's day (since Mom was out of town on the actual day)

Oh also I called 911 for the first time ever when the neighbor's house caught fire. Again. (2 times in 3 days is more than just a little suspicious, so says the arson investigator)

We still have a few more things to finish up, like spraying the weeds in our yard, fixing the lawn mower, installing edgers around a tree and adding even more extra boards to the fence, but all in all I'm quite pleased with all we got done.

It's kind of a bummer to have to go back to work, but I'm also looking forward to getting back to my schedule of things. Like querying. Haven't messed with that for almost a whole week.

So tell me, was there anything exciting I missed in the blogoverse?

Friday Fun

(Just another reminder that we will be unplugged next week. Cross your fingers for some nice weather for us for a change)

Hey Ape friends! It's frenchie diva Yvie here to get ready to slap the work week in the face before you run off with the sexy weekend!

Yeah, that's right.






Anyway, it snowed a bit again this week. Can you believe it? Snow in May! When will it be warm enough for me to sunbathe?

Anyway, onto the fun!
































PSA for Twin's Job

In Which I Bring Bargains Back

(quick note: next week I will be unplugged. Twin and I have the week off from work, and we will be spending it outside, landscaping and gardening. Internet useage will be limited)

Do you remember when Deals with the Universe used to be stylish? Maybe like 1-2 years ago?

In case you don't, or it was before your blog community time, A Deal With the Universe is when you tell the universe "if you give me What I Want (typically a book deal, or something), then I will do This".

The "What I Want" and the "This" are tailored to each individual person.
Example, when Natalie Whipple got her agent, she died her hair (Purple, I think. If I recall correctly).




I always thought the Deals looked like a lot of fun, so now that I'm at the query stage, I've decided to try to bring them back to popularity.

The only thing is, I need some ideas about what I will do, if the universe come through for me.

So I'm taking some suggestions.

If I ask the universe to help me out with something rhyming with "boffer of bepresentation" what should I offer in return?

I am taking any an all suggestions (though, keep in mind ideas that require me to embarrass myself in public may meet with less favor)

So give me your ideas! I'll announce the deal when I'm back after my unplugging next week.


How about you? Make any deals lately? Care to try and bring them back into vogue with me?

In Which I Start Again

So now that I'm querying, I've found that I have some more free time. The time that used to be spent editing. Cuz querying involves moments of work, followed by long stretches of waiting.

I needed something else to do. I did some CP work, I read some bookage, but neither of those were cutting it. Then I realized, what I really needed, was a new WIP.





Did I want to start something new, though? I have plans to participate in NaNo again this year, and I worry that if I start a new novel now, it may interfere with NaNo (or, more specifically, NaNo would interfere with the new WIP)

So I did some maths. I wrote Glimpse in less than 2 months. Then I revised and edited for about 4 months.

If I started a new novel in May, and I more or less followed the same timeline as Glimpse, I could be done with it by November, in time to start something new for NaNo 2011.

I've been brainstorming on two new ideas, so I think I'll use the more developed one for my new WIP and the other one for NaNo 2011.

At the very least, a new WIP will hopefully keep my mind off of checking my email so much.

Now I've got to mess around with the steps of the snowflake method I use, try to come up with a working title (so hard) and figure out if this story needs to be told in 1st POV or 3rd.

How about you? Started anything new lately?