Happy Less than Three Day!

That's <3 for the uninitiated, heeheehee!

Hubby bought me chocolate, of course. What cracks me up is that instead of buying the heart shaped box of Ghiradelli chocolates for $10, he bought the regular old bags and got twice as much chocolate for the same price. Smart man, well trained.

So here's the lowdown on how Write 1 Sub 1 is going for me. I was falling slightly behind during the last week of January because I was frantically making some mini bear nuns and priests as gifts for the hard working crew people in our Nunsense II production. If I could have, I would have made one for every person in the show, but my fingers would surely have fallen off. As it was, I got no writing done that week.

I've caught up now and I'm right on schedule. I've had a couple of rejections and an honorable mention for one contest I'd entered. Out of 366 entries, one was the winner, and ten others (including mine) got the honorable mention. I was bouncing off the walls the rest of the day when I read that. I mean, someone read my stuff and noticed it! Not only noticed it, but liked it enough to give it a mention! Woohoo! It's a little like gambling: you may only be getting nickels, but the fact that they're pouring out of the machine is a total trip. Not much but it's something!

My husband was reading over my shoulder while I was working on a Japanese monster hunter tale. He actually looked surprised with what he read. He always though of it as a hobby for me, that I wasn't really serious about it, but he really liked what he read. He was impressed. Now I know there are professionals out there that would say it doesn't matter if your husband likes it because he's your family. Of course he wouldn't really criticize it. But anyone who knows my husband would know what a big deal that reaction was to me. He inspired me in a way nothing else could have.

I just submitted that story today. I also made a Resubmissions spreadsheet so I can keep track of what stories are already out being considered, and what has been rejected so I know I can send it somewhere else. Sure, some places allow multiple submissions, but most don't. So I'll just do them one at a time.

I'm really enjoying this writing journey. I mean, the story that got honorable mention, I thought it was bad. I didn't like it much. But I could spend eternity rewriting something and never be happy with it. That taught me something about my abilities. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad story! I gotta keep going, keep trying, keep learning.

Okay. Back to writing.

Lookie, lookie!

I'm blogging on my Nook. Just because I can. And I'm blogging while sitting in bed. Again, just because I can. Wi-fi at home is a wonderful thing.

First week down, 51 to go ...

Posted my progress on the Write 1 Sub 1 blog: finished one story and submitted it to a contest. Finished writing a second story, but it needs revising and cutting down, since it's 17 words too long for the contest it's intended for.

Writing in the short story format is proving to be quite difficult. Normally for novels, I get a single burning great idea, and I can spend years on that one novel. (Heck, make that nine years. That's how long I've been working on Sparkless!) With Nanowrimo, I now have at least four novels that need finishing/revising.

I decided this "write one, sub one" idea was the perfect thing to get me to sit down and just WRITE. Something different every week. Something that I can sit and read through in a small amount of time and quickly revise. It's so hard not to spend days or weeks revising something I've written. I know I'm impossible to please with my own stuff, so the "submission" part is helping me with that. My main goal with this is to learn how to write good short stories and get some great feedback from publishers in the field in the process. If I get published along the way, that's a bonus.

But coming up with ideas is hard. I usually get my novel ideas from dreams, but I don't remember my dreams often enough to do a short story a week with it. Nor do they always make enough sense to lend themselves to story writing. These first two stories I've written I think I've made as interesting as I could, but there's nothing really new about them. One is based on a newspaper article I read about a local woman who killed her husband. The second is based on a theme for a contest about something important being lost and then found by someone else. Again, the same problem: I think I wrote it well, but the idea isn't new.

I think I'm frustrated by the constant pressure from the outside world to write "new" stuff, ideas that haven't been done before, concepts that haven't been explored. But is there really anything left in the world that's new? For heaven's sake, we've come to sparkly vampires as popular entertainment. I got really ticked off when I read "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." I mean, if all I had to do was take an old novel and thrust a few zombie scenes into it, then why didn't all those books on writing say so in the first place?!

Granted, I'm not writing because I want to be a famous author or make tons of money from it. Heck, if I wanted to be famous, I probably should have run off to New York and tried to make it on Broadway. I think I'm a better singer than I am a writer.

I want to entertain people. I want people to love what I write, what I sing, what I make as much as I love other writers' work, other performers' songs, and other artists' creations. I don't want to write like Tamora Pierce, I just want to make others feel the way I feel when I read her Tortall novels. Performing in Nunsense II this weekend, I was exhausted to the core, but I relish the laughter I get from the audience and the fact that some of them are crying as I sing my goodbye song. The moment I step on stage, the energy comes racing back. (Though it does desert me once more as soon as I step off the stage!)

Whew. Okay, that was kind of heavy!

I know one of my faults as a short story writer is that I've read very few short stories in my life. Most of them were read in college in English classes. I'm not sure why I can't get into reading more of them. I love novels so much, why not shorter versions as well? Maybe I just haven't tried hard enough. Maybe I need to put down "The Count of Monte Cristo" and read some shorts instead. (On page 508 of 1,058 of that, BTW.) There are just so many, it's hard to wade through the info and find a place to start.

Starting to get the desire to revise my second short story. Please excuse me.

First Write, First Sub!

So my first week of Write 1 Sub 1 went pretty well. I wrote a story, spent a day polishing it, and finally submitted it to a contest yesterday. My reflex is to spend weeks polishing a piece, but I know myself; I'd find something to change every single time I read it, and it would never be good enough. So this time I reigned myself in. I won't really learn anything until I start putting my stuff out there for people to read. I keep telling myself that, anyway.

Nunsense II opens tonight. Eek! We had our first audience last night (preview), and it went fantastically well. A lot of laughter and people joining in and having a good time. My biggest panic was the bingo game. I had to cover my mouth when the whole audience started murmuring, and then everyone yelled "Bingo!" at the same time. I had a hard time holding back a smile. When I got off the stage, I started dancing like a loon, pumping my first in the air. I got huge laughs for some of my lines, again trying to keep a straight face. At the end of the show, several people came up and told me I was their favorite character. I was also told of several audience members who were seen crying during my sad song. I love entertaining people.

I was thinking maybe I should write a series of short stories based on my theatre experiences. I mean, small town theatre presents a lot of entertaining moments that the audience never gets to see. Could turn out to be an interesting string.

Anyway, I'm still half asleep after a very full day yesterday. I've got a long night ahead of me, and another long day tomorrow. I think I better get a nap in.

And we're off with a bang - a lot of them

Last night sounded like a war was going on - so many explosions, pops, and bangs going on for hours. Fireworks started going off as soon as it got dark (around 5), probably because the Borough allowed the use of personal fireworks in town this year. At least, that was what I heard. We didn't get any, but we stood outside and watched the mayhem in the sky, listening to people scream and shout and shoot off guns. We simply stood and sipped our sparkling apple cider like the simple squares we are. :)

And so the new year begins by doing exactly what I wanted to do - spending some quality time with my husband, and sleeping late. Now I'm fighting the urge to clean the place since it's my only day off with hubby, and we were talking about going out for a drive or something.

Today also marks the beginning of Write 1 Sub 1. So I definitely plan on planting my butt in this chair later today and getting started on that. I've been researching newspaper articles and blog reports, and I have two different story ideas I'm kicking around. I think the hardest part of short story writing is finding ideas. I think my little notebook will come in handy for daily inspiration.

For now, my next question is: what do I want for breakfast?

I know I just posted, but I got nostalgic ...

... and decided to go back and see what I had resolved to do for 2010. I wanted to see how I did as far as completing (or at least making a dent in) those resolutions.

Here's a copy of that list:

1) Stop biting my nails. (I know, I know. EVERY year the same thing. I'll do it for good one day.)
2) Finish working on my novel Sparkless and start shopping it around as I move on to revise Summerland's Savior.
3) Read as many books from that list of 100 books everyone should read. At least I'll try to get to the classics.
4) Perform in at least ONE show this year!

As I said in my earlier post, I've accepted the fact that I'm a nail biter in the hopes that through that acceptance I will finally give it up. (I know, twisted, but hey, it might work!)

I did finally finish my first major revision of "Sparkless," which I am most proud of. I'm not sure if it's ready to be sent out into the world again, so I will consider that as the 2011 wears on.

I tried to read one book that I borrowed from the library on that list: "An American Tragedy." I was interested in it, some of the writing was delightfully terrible, but it was taking so long to finish it, and I was tired of renewing, so I finally returned it to the library half read.

And I did perform in a show this year, "Pride and Prejudice," and made new friends and had lots of fun. I also auditioned for and got into another show, "Nunsense II," which will open in January 2011, so that will count as my show for next year. I don't think they're doing any shows that I'm interested in until 2012, so it will have to do. Unless I get up the guts to audition for something in Anchorage.

So after reading that list and seeing how much I really accomplished, here is my "To Do" list for 2011:

1) Get my dojo going
2) At least finish my 2010 Nanowrimo novel. I'm nearly done, so that won't take too long. After that, finish "Summerland's Savior." If there's still time left in the year, begin revising it.
3) Complete "Write 1 Sub 1." Don't be afraid to do the submission part.
4)Somehow get up the guts to try auditioning for Anchorage theatre. (I'm still wobbly about that one, but a friend of mine told me about it and thinks it would be fairly easy for me to get in. I'm just still not sure if I want to put in the time to drive there and back.)

Some of those are close to being completed already, which is a bit like cheating on my resolutions since they're easy. But it's also easy to put things on the back burner until they become a lot more difficult to complete, so I want to avoid that.

And if I run out of resolutions before the year is out, I'll just write some more.

New Year, New Challenges!

One of my friends just turned me on to this writing challenge that goes on all year, called Write 1 Sub 1. It means you write a short story each week, then submit it for publication as you write the next story. Apparently Ray Bradbury used to do this. I need to read up on this challenge a little more, but as I've always wanted to tackle the short story form, and several of my writely buddies are considering it as well, it sounds like I'm gonna jump in with both feet! I'm terrible at this form, but that's because I avoid it, I'm sure. Besides, my full novels can't be much better!

This is day three of my three days off for the holidays. A friend of mine was not only kind enough to invite me over for Christmas dinner last night, but she stuffed a stocking full of candy for me too! She also told me about getting to play elf for some local kids who weren't getting Christmas this year. I left her house with a full belly, a full heart, and over-full eyes. There need to be more people like her in the world.

I got to Skype with my family on Christmas Day. They set the computer at the end of the dining table. It was almost like I was sitting there and eating with them (except I didn't get any food. Sigh.) I opened a couple of my presents, and got to watch when Mom opened the box from me and passed out the presents to the cousins and my Aunt. There are times I absolutely love modern technology.

Progress on our little garage dojo is slow. We finally found the manual for the gas heater on the wall, so I'm going to start it up today. With an extinguisher nearby just in case. First, I need to finish sweeping out the snow that collected on the wrestling mats. The wind storms we've been having drove the snow through the door cracks and even through the window, leaving piles of it all over the place. I have to sweep it while it's still frozen before I can start the heater.

Nunsense II is shaping up nicely. Hard to believe we've only two weeks left before opening. I'm panicking ...

New year's resolutions? I'm giving up on the biting nails one. I'm just going to accept the fact that I'm a nail biter. Maybe then I'll stop doing it, eh? So I think maybe this Write 1 Sub 1 challenge will help me write more, which is something I want. Can't really think of anything else.

My husband thinks my aunt and uncle's tradition of sending a letter of our year to our family and friends instead of Christmas cards is really cool. So I may send a New Year's letter out this year, then do it for Christmas from now on. Maybe I'll convince him to let me send a picture of us along, too!