Category: awesomeness

Avoiding Cliché

So, I got feedback from my other essay yesterday, the one I was wondering about while waiting for feedback from the first free-form essay. It was highly favorable. The professor loved it, except for my next-to-last-sentence, which was, he said, the only one he would change. That sentence was a cliché, which slip into my writing without me even noticing.

Should I have caught it? Definitely. Was he right? Absolutely. Am I upset about the feedback? Are you kidding me? I’ve learned a lot from this class, especially from his comments. I got very detailed feedback, several paragraphs long, on this essay. He took the time to tell me how much and why he liked my voice, my setting, my characters…and what I did at the very end that erased all of that hard work. Knowing the positives about the essay, and what negated them, allows me to actually learn this lesson, instead of just getting the grade.

The point of his feedback:  cliché= laziness. Laziness is bad and undoes all of your hard work. So….don’t be lazy:  avoid cliché!

The Wicked City, by Megan Morgan

The Wicked City, by Megan Morgan (Courtesy of Lyrical Press).
The Wicked City, by Megan Morgan (Courtesy of Lyrical Press).

Megan Morgan writes fantasy and paranormal romance. She’s an airport lounge bartender as well as a writer, and knows a thing or two about people. Her latest novel, The Wicked City, is the first book in the Siren Song series.

June Coffin is tired of the jokes about her name. She’s tired of people judging her for her tattoos and her smoking habits. She’s tired of being judged for being a Siren, able to influence people with her voice. But when her twin brother, Justin, is kidnapped by Chicago’s Institute of Supernatural Research, her attitude has a whole new focus.

Desperate to rescue Justin, June takes a walk on the dark side. To oppose her powerful enemies, she’ll need some powerful friends, so she teams up with a non-paranormal man who’s always supported paranormals. Too bad his wife just died, and June accidentally erased his memory. Oops. Her other teammate is a troublemaking paranormal leader who wants a little publicity for his cause, and isn’t afraid to go to great lengths to get it. With friends like these, what could possibly go wrong?

The Wicked City is a gritty paranormal romance with an intriguingly different premise. June is feisty and foul-mouthed, full of attitude, covered in tattoos and piercings, but she has a good heart and will stop at nothing to save her brother. The setting is dark,and the novel is steamy and sassy, with a twist.

(Galley provided by Lyrical Press via NetGalley.)

Hidden Deep, by Amy Patrick

Hidden Deep, by Amy Patrick (Courtesy of Oxford South Press).
Hidden Deep, by Amy Patrick (Courtesy of Oxford South Press).

Amy Patrick is the author of several contemporary romance novels. Her first young adult fantasy novel, Hidden Deep, is the first book in the Hidden trilogy, and is available now.

Ryann Carroll and her mother have just moved back to the small Mississippi town her grandmother calls home. After her father’s affair, they needed a change. Ryann loves the change, and the deep woods surrounding her grandmother’s home. Ten years before, she became lost in those woods and almost froze to death, but a mysterious boy saved her life. A boy that everyone convinced her never actually existed.

Which she believes, until he shows up out of the blue one day, while she’s skinny dipping, naturally. All grown up now, Lad is the most attractive boy she’s ever seen, and Ryann is drawn to him more than any boy she’s ever met. But there’s something different about Lad. He says he’s home-schooled, but Ryann suspects something a little more…exotic.

Lad has thought about Ryann for years, even though he risked his life and those of his people when he saved her life. Now she’s back, and Lad is torn between his love for Ryan and the safety of the people he’s sworn to protect.

Hidden Deep is a young adult fantasy novel set in steamy rural Mississippi, and the steam spills over to the attraction between Lad and Ryann. The characters are great, and the unique setting comes to life on the pages of this engrossing read.

(Galley provided by Oxford South Press via NetGalley.)

A Little Bit of Inspiration

So, I’m taking a short break from writing because of work and school. This session, I’m taking American Lit (blech) and The Art of the Essay (required for English/Professional Writing majors). I was not thrilled to be taking the class, as I’m really more into fiction writing than anything, but it hasn’t been so bad. We’ve read a few interesting selections, including “How it Feels to be Colored Me,” by Zora Neale Hurston, whom I’ve never read before. (No, not even Their Eyes Were Watching God. But guess what’s on my Kindle now…)

Obviously, we have writing assignments every week in this class. The normal, literary analysis-type assignments I don’t stress about, but a few weeks ago, the assignment was to write a short essay, emulating the style of one of the writers we’d covered. Suggestions for topics included issues in popular culture and natural disasters. My Muse grabbed onto that idea, and since I’ve lived near New Orleans, naturally Hurricane Katrina was my topic of choice.

So, I wrote my short essay about two brothers who didn’t evacuate before the storm, and who are now trapped in their house, listening to nature rage outside. I was pretty happy with the essay, but completely unsure what the professor would think of it. I’ve been waiting for the grade for two weeks, and I finally got it back.

I made a fantastic grade, which is awesome, but the professor’s feedback was even better. He said, “My goodness this is great. Homerun! What a terrific writer we have amongst us. Again, you have a unique ear–an ear that all great writers need to have. Nice pitch, tone, vocab decisions. Impressive. ” And, also, “Wow! impressive opening. You really have an ear for narrative voicings.”

Obviously, I’m happy with the grade, but the encouragement I got from the professor’s comments is even more valuable to me. I’m totally inspired now!

Vacations are Good for the Soul (and the Muse)

You know how I’ve decided not to worry about writing at all for the next four weeks, until the semester is over, so I don’t risk a brain meltdown? Turns out that taking an “official” break from writing has my Muse playing with story ideas.

Yep. True story.

Apparently, my Muse can’t wait to get back to work on Witches–which I haven’t looked at in years, and Chasing Shadows, which is more recent, but still not something I’ve thought about in like a year. Looks like I’ll be taking those two stories apart and revising them this summer. Plus working through HTTS with The Fall. I’m actually really excited about working on Witches. It was the first thing I started writing. I love the characters to pieces. I love the world. I love the plot. I even have the first draft of the second book written as well. I think the draft of Witches I have is over 300,000 words, though, so clearly there is a lot of work to be done, sigh.

But the Muse is stoked, and already at work in the back of my mind.

I can’t wait for the semester to be over!

Two is Better than One

Good morning. I’m just working through Holly Lisle’s How to Motivate Yourself workshop a bit this morning. She always has such interesting videos, like the one I just watched about communication between the right and left brains (and what happens when that connection is severed). I think my right brain influences me a lot. That would be my instinctive reactions, my desires, my hunches. My more introspective side, if you will.

Two people I’m close to are strongly left-brained, though. One of them…I don’t think his right brain gets much say in his life at all. The other, well, I think her right brain holds some sway. It’s interesting, actually, considering the differences. It’s like having two different people in your head.

I’ve always said I had two personalities.

Now I’m off to ponder my results from this morning’s exercises. And see if I can strengthen that connection between my brains.

Kissing Frogs, by Alisha Sevigny

Kissing Frogs, by Alisha Sevigny (Swoon Romance).
Kissing Frogs, by Alisha Sevigny (Swoon Romance).

Kissing Frogs is Alisha Sevigny’s first young adult novel. Ms Sevigny’s website says “A shameless romantic, Alisha and her husband have travelled the world together. On a trip to Panama Alisha fell in love with the country, culture, and their national emblem, the Golden Frog.” The result of that trip is her first novel.

Jessica Stone is popular: she has lots of friends, a hot boyfriend, and plans to hit the beach for Spring Break. But Jessica wasn’t always a cool kid. She used to be a really smart, goody-two-shoes type of kid. None of her new friends know about her past, and Jessica intends to keep it that way.

But Jessica’s Spring Break plans come to a screeching halt when she finds out she’s failing Biology. Her only chance to pass: a trip to Panama with the Conservation Club to save the Golden Frog. Like that’s not bad enough, one of her partners on the trip is Travis Henley, who knew her back in her nerdy days.

Except Travis has changed. Oh, he’s still the annoying prankster Jessica remembers, but he has depth. And Jessica finds herself wondering if she still has depth, or if her obsession with popularity has changed her beyond recognition. Soon Jessica finds herself on the adventure of her life as the group fights to save the Golden Frog before it’s lost forever.

Primary Concerns (Or What You Give Your Time To)

So, my writing has been slipping, as usual.  But I think I figured out why:  writing is a me thing. It’s something I do just for me.  That means that I feel like other things are more important than writing, because those other things have value to other people.  Make sense?  Example:  school is important to me, but other people also see it as important, therefore it takes precedence over writing, even when I’m caught up on school stuff and have the time to write. Obviously, I need to train my brain to view writing as a primary concern.

I didn’t come to this realization on my own.  I am taking Holly Lisle’s How to Motivate Yourself class, and this is the point of lesson one.  I’ve read through this lesson twice, and it’s just now starting to sink in.

So what am I going to do about this mindset of mine?  Change it.  The first way I’m going to do that is by putting writing first, literally. Instead of doing my homework first on my days off, I’m going to get in my page goals.  First part of the day = writing , writing = most important thing.

I’m not sleeping much, so I have plenty of time to put this plan into action.  And I’m going to continue to work through this class, too, and see what else I can overcome.

Write on.

Happiness Is…Words on Paper

You know what’s awesome?  Writing.

Do you know how long it’s been since I wrote anything besides random emails and interminable school papers?  At least three months.

Do you know how happy writing again makes me?  Extremely.

Granted, I didn’t write much.  But school started again this week, and I decided that, in addition to my piles of school work ( I feel like a fifth year at Hogwarts), I would make time for writing.  And blogging.  No exceptions.  No more procrastinating.  Just me and my characters and heaps of trouble.

And you know what?  Once I made myself start, it felt fantastic!  I’ve missed writing so much.  I can never not write this long again.  It’s unacceptable.

How else am I going to capture the magic around me, if I don’t write?  Besides, I have to keep my characters safe from the zombies.

 

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,000 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 17 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

…I obviously haven’t blogged in months. No particular reason except laziness, I guess.  That is going to change.  This week.  No New Year’s Resolutions for me.  Just Things I Intend To Do….