Once, a long time ago, I thought it would be fun to attend a writing convention every weekend for an entire year. Shortly after that, I realized conventions are a business in themselves and I’d never feel good about giving up that much of my money, even for that much fun.
So I found a few conventions in my region that I came to love and looked forward to attending every year. I had a “convention season” in that the few all seemed to take place within a few short months of one another. I would prepare myself, mentally and physically, and sometimes I’d actually have new writing material to bring along.
I love two things about conventions: The people and the panels. Networking is my biggest joy. Learning all I can from attending panels is a close second if I had to choose. I owe everything I know about writing to those two groups. It’s been a terrific ride.
But this year, due to job changes and unexpected travel plans, I’m forced to bow out of attending a favorite convention next month. I haven’t missed this one in years and I am very sad.
That said, I also feel somewhat excited to have the time to complete a few projects I’ve been struggling with. And I have begun attending a novel writing class. I’m not sure I like this feeling of change and excitement outside of attending a favorite convention, but it’s there nonetheless. I’ll make the most of the time and hopefully next year, things will go differently. read more…
Am Writing. Sort of.
Last week, I did a little freelance work, emphasis on the “free” part, to set up a couple of WordPress sites that may end up not being worth the time they will require but may provide me an additional outlet from life’s little dramas. You know the kind of sites I’m talking about. Yep, cats. The other is just a collective spot to keep track of all that resides under our umbrella domain.
Neither is fancy, just the facts, ma’am, though I am tempted to add amazon.com market place ads like I have on an unknown and unvisited fitness site I maintain and my car’s web site. Did you know my car has it’s own web site? How goofy is that? You might be surprised to learn that it has quite the following on Facebook even though it sits undriven in my garage ninety-nine percent of the time, and through my fingers on the keyboard, whines about sitting in the garage ninety-nine percent of the time. The car site has market place ads but to date, no one has ever bought a thing through it. I don’t push my sites. Bad me. I’m just not a salesperson, so lucky you.
There are hundreds of cat sites out there. Why create another one? Because like most parents, I think our cats are special.
That statement has probably got more fib to it than not. They are cats. By the very nature of being cats, they do cute things now and then. I simply want to honor my companions in some small way. Lord knows I should have done that a long time ago with some who have already passed. By plastering their photos all over the Internets. Good thinking there.
Sometimes I think there’s something odd in the water here. Don’t mind me.
It’s been a trying weekend. I know I should be more upbeat. That’s not going to happen today. But there was a couple of good things that happened yesterday so let’s touch on those first, shall we?
- Read a Hugo nominated story that gave me the courage to continue writing despite someone implying I might want to stop trying to be a writer.
- Read a different story that sparked thoughts of how to end (OMG, an END!) to a story I began three years ago (and stopped because see reason above).
- Thanked someone who helped me see a huge hole in The Car Novel, which is now mostly fixed.
- Made up a ten-day menu with meals that don’t sound half-bad from the few items left in our cupboard and freezer.
On the trying side:
- I tried to make flour tortillas and failed. Lucky for me, the Man ate them anyway.
- Was invited on a long driving trip with my car friends to the east coast in 2014. Can’t go, not because of finances but because the Man’s mental health won’t be in any better shape than today, not to mention his MS which prevents him from all travel. Friends not at all pleased. I feel I can’t win on this issue.
- Had a long discussion with the Man about my writing and tax implications. Turned into a big discussion about him. Again.
- Discovered something has been going on that makes me question someone’s judgment. I had to shut that down. I’m going to be questioning a few things for months to come and unfortunately, that will make me look like the bad guy in all this.
I’m the immovable boulder in the stream, the boulder in the stream, the boulder in the stream. Must remember this.
[personal] Outside Interests: Blooming.
Only the middle of January and already I’ve accomplished something I questioned I ever would. I got an orchid to bloom a second time.
I hadn’t grown orchids since the late 1970′s, and that didn’t go so well (An ex hated them). Last fall, I bought myself five…which turned into six when one Phalaenopsis, ended up being two crammed into a pot. All were in bloom at the time. That was important to me.
Two have rebloomed since with a third red variety, an Oncidium, currently sending up a very tall spike. This one, a Dendrobium, is a favorite because I like the lime green color. Is it sad I don’t have names for them? Perhaps it’s better that way. I’m a plant aficionado, not a plant talker.
I don’t have much room for these; they reside in a northeast-facing window on a wide fireplace mantle and other than the extra tall flower spike of the one, all seem to do well with that light. During the holidays, I moved them to my bedroom where they got a bit more light through the skylights but I could tell they weren’t terribly happy there.
Anyhoo, someday I wouldn’t mind owning one of the fragrant vanilla or coconut-scented foxtail orchids, if for no other reason to prove to myself that I can grow and get that to rebloom too.
After five days of thick fog here in east Vancouver, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself squinting in bright sunshine yesterday afternoon on my drive into Portland for a Tuesday writers’ write-in (at a charming, new venue called The Hazel Room on Hawthorne). There I spent a very productive few hours writing up my first ever novel proposal based on Jay Lake’s exciting and fantastical blog-posted example back on January 4th. During my creation for the novel I’m currently muddling through, several breakthroughs made them selves known regarding character motivations, and I found a hero in a lesser character who steps up when a main one can no longer carry the torch.
I was so excited that when I completed what was meant as just an exercise to see if I could do it, I shared the success with a few writer friends who asked all the right questions about character background and clarification. And then I drove home and read my proposal exercise to The Man who mustered up his best, “Yeah. Okay.” And because I know better than to push that any further, I left it there.
Now I have a few edits to incorporate into The Car Novel. I know to most of you this will sound so basic and fundamental but to this struggling writer, the exciting part about working in these edits is that now the actions in following chapters make sense! The motivations are no longer in my head but on the actual page. I shouldn’t have to explain why so and so thought this and did that.
Look out. I think I’m finally getting parts of it.
I’m sticking to writing one thing at a time at the moment but in the back of my mind I’m wondering if using the same proposal model wouldn’t work for “plotting out” a new short story, or for one of my countless dead stories that I can’t find an ending for. I’m sure the example wasn’t intended for such but why not, especially if it yields good, in-depth points that I too often forget or lose track of? I might even find an ending.
