writing

June 3, 2013

Weekly Writing Challenge: 1,000 Words, 10,000 Thoughts

The assignment: write 1k words about this photo.

The assignment: write 1k words about this photo.

HER: “Did you set the timer?” Did she see me? I don’t think she saw me.

HIM: “Ten more seconds.” Gwen is so withdrawn tonight.

HER: “Oh now I hear it ticking. I couldn’t before.” I think she recognized me.

HIM: “How’s the glaze coming?” Is Gwen angry with me?

HER: “Almost there.” She kept staring at me like she was trying to place me.

HIM: “I couldn’t find the cinnamon.” I should have let Gwen finish the custard. I know how much she loves using the torch.

HER: “This place gets so disorganized on our days off!” I should never have let the blonde grow back, she wouldn’t recognize me brunette.

HIM: “Tell me about it.” It’s not just tonight, let’s face it.

HER: “I prefer the nutmeg anyway.” But my God it was five years ago.

HIM: “Let’s hope they do too.” She’s been distant lately.

HER: “They won’t know.” It was a thousand miles from here.

HIM: “I haven’t seen them in here before, have you?” Or maybe she hasn’t been.

HER: “No. No I haven’t.” I thought I was safe.

HIM: “I think the guy at table 5 writes reviews.” Ever since I bought the ring I’ve been second guessing her.

HER: “Really? Reviews where?” Of all the French joints in all the towns in all the world Gary’s sister had to get dinner in this one.

HIM: “‘Chez Le Monde’.” Second guessing us.

HER: “Wow. ‘The mousse of the century’? That review?” Maybe she’s not in touch with Gary nowadays either.

HIM: “I think it might be the same guy.” I’m afraid she’ll turn me down.

HER: “In that case let’s use  fresh fish for a change.” After all, I wasn’t the only one he hurt.

HIM: “Always thinking.” There I’ve said it.

HER: “What did he order besides the trout?” She hates Gary.

HIM: “The tomato aspic, the cold potato leek, and both kinds of mousse.” Stop examining everything fool.

HER: “If he’s not sampling for a review, that is a scary combination.” But she hates me more.

HIM: “Oops. Can you grab me the parsley?” I need to lighten up.

HER: “What am I, your sous chef?” I know her. Even if she doesn’t tell Gary, she’ll ruin things for me here.

HIM: “I’ll be yours if you’ll be mine.” Nothing looks normal under a magnifying glass.

HER: “Deal.” Robert is such a good man.

HIM: “You about ready with the glaze?” I love her so much it’s terrifying.

HER: “Yeah here it is.” Maybe he would forgive me.

HIM: “Mmm. You’ve outdone yourself.” Maybe I should cancel our trip tomorrow.

HER: “I like the mint from the Thursday market.” For years of lies?

HIM: “Are you shaking?”That’s the beauty of a surprise hotel stay. She won’t know to be disappointed.

HER: “Cramp from stirring.” And what happens when he hears the truth?

HIM: “That’s dedication.” After three years together, what’s another few days?

HER: “Or a slippery spoon.” Could he forgive me that too?

HIM: “Trout smells ready.” Or even months.

HER: “I’ve got the butter going.” I’ll bet he could.

HIM: “I like the quality of the new lights. How about you?” Robert you’re a chickenshit.

HER: “Me too.” If anyone could.

HIM: “Forgot to warm the platter.” I could wait forever to ask if her answer is no.

HER: “I remembered.” But what if he can’t?

HIM: “You always remember.” Maybe she isn’t your woman of mystery.

HER: “I do. It’s true.” I can’t take the risk of losing him.

HIM: “I’d like to reinstate the brioche for Sunday brunch.” Maybe that holding back you always feel isn’t because she has secrets.

HER: “This early?” Maybe I’m overreacting.

HIM: “You’re right, last year we waited until July.” Maybe she’s holding back from me.

HER: “I need a new egg. This one is too light.” Maybe it’s not her.

HIM: “Hurry, please.” I can’t wait forever. I’ll drive myself insane in the meantime.

HER: “Hurrying. Without running in the kitchen, of course.” I think I can see her if I look out the window.

HIM: “Of course.” I’ll ask her tomorrow as planned.

HER: “Aaagh.” It’s her. Oh no Oh no what am I going to do?

HIM: “You okay?” Then we’ll know.

HER: “Lot of leg cramps lately.” I can’t go out there again.

HIM: “Should I worry?” She won’t even look me in the eye.

HER: “Only if you need to.” I need the right excuse to stay back here.

HIM: “That egg a keeper?” She is so beautiful.

HER: “Best egg of the week.” I can’t say I’m sick – I just prepared all their food.

HIM: “Okay. Showtime.” She’s a better chef than I am too.

HER: “Wait. Coconut shavings.” I’ll have to cut myself.

HIM: “How could I forget that.” It’s amazing how humble she is.

HER: “Table 5 has given you nerves.” Not bad enough to need an ambulance.

HIM: “Tonight he gets the mousse of the millenium.” When she says she doesn’t deserve me she sounds like she believes it.

HER: “That has a ring to it.” Just bad enough we don’t want the customers to see me.

HIM: “We’ll each deliver a mousse to him. He’ll love it.” You see there is every reason to expect she’ll say yes.

HER: “Here, let’s send some samples to the foursome.” Oh Robert someday I’ll tell you.

HIM: “Brilliant marketing.” I’ll ask her tomorrow.

HER: “You never know who’s at your table.” Please forgive me until then.

HIM: “Gwen! My God, you cut yourself!

HER: “It’s nothing. Throw me that towel, will you?

HIM: “That’s a lot of blood!”

HER: “Stopped now. But it’s all over me. You’d better deliver the mousse without me.” 

957 words. This piece exists because of this Weekly Writing Challenge.

March 31, 2013

Better? Worse?

Someone I Love Dearly (SILD) is a heroin addict who has recently entered treatment. SILD is doing great, on a tremendous voyage of self-discovery and new beginnings. Meanwhile I seem to be in the throes of some kind of PTSD and all my initial work in discovering codependence and in recognizing changes I need to make — all of that overwhelms me, saps me of energy, and really pisses me off. I just want to live my frigging life. I already did therapy back in my 20s and 30s. I don’t want to go to more meetings. I want to wake up having learned what I need to learn, adjusted what I need to alter. However, that approach never worked for learning Spanish so I assume it won’t be effective here, either.

I keep thinking about all the ways addicts seem to have more energy and fun* than those closest to them and in my darkest moments I imagine addicts as vampires of the spirit. In my self-sorriest moments I see the codependents as second-string sidekicks, leeches who latch on to give themselves purpose.  In more open moments I look around me in the meetings and see the addicts and the loved ones united by a drive to improve, to not waste another hourdayyeardecade of our lives.

Curiously, of late I am learning a lot from a character in my novel Scar Jewelry, Heather. “Curiously” because I don’t entirely like Heather. But lately I keep thinking about back in her wild younger days, when she was Heater, and her husband died in a motorcycle accident, and her friends feared that her devastation would provoke suicide. When they voiced their concerns, her reaction was No way! I’m not done yet! Lately when I spiral into the darkest or self-sorriest  moments I find myself repeating that phrase.

*After all, as Neil Young first pointed out, “every junkie’s like a setting sun.”

March 3, 2013

Spread the Word: Free eBooks! (thru March 9)

Until sometime on March 9, 2013, you can download a free digital version of either Scar Jewelry or C.R.I.M.E. Science. 

Here’s how:  click on the title, which will take you to each book’s download page at Smashwords, where you will find formats for every common ereader. Use the code RW100 to get your free copy of each.

If you are an especially cautious individual, you may first want to read free excerpts of either or both, available under the Novels menu on this blog.

This giveaway is part of the annual Read an EBook promotion at Smashwords.

Please help spread the word about this giveaway.

Brief descriptions of each book follow.

Cover for Scar Jewelry

Cover art by Lars Huston.

Scar Jewelry

What do we really know about our parents or the ways they shape us? For twins Deirdre and Langston, 20, the answer is: not enough. With their father long dead, and their mother now in a coma, they realize they don’t even know whom to notify. In fact, they understand almost nothing about their mother. They delve into her life and uncover secrets that revise the past and transform the future.

====================

CRIMESCIENCE_cover

Cover art by Lars Huston.

C.R.I.M.E. Science

A misfit group of scientists and tech whizzes form a detective agency in order to solve crimes and right wrongs. In this, the first book of a series, they investigate the death of a renowned volcano scientist. He dies in a volcanic eruption in what everyone considers a terrible accident. Everyone except his widow, who insists he was murdered.

 

February 21, 2013

Writer’s Block: The Freedom of Chains

I’ve been reading what a great variety of writers have said about how they approach writer’s block, everyone from Norman Mailer to Maya Angelou. The sentiment seems pretty evenly divided between chain your butt to the chair and get the damn job done and when I can’t write it is my subconscious sending me a message.

Many writers have a hybrid perspective and that is the one that resonates with me. I need discipline to get beyond rote results: chain your butt to the chair so that your subconscious can soar free.

February 14, 2013

Sequels and Missed Opportunities

Some of my readers have requested a sequel to my recent novel Scar Jewelry. While I am thrilled that they care enough about the characters to want a part two, I suspect the requests come from desire to witness certain conversations and interactions that, well, frankly, won’t ever occur, even if I were to write a sequel. Such additions would make the story more tidy, maybe – but no longer right.

Here’s the bottom line: at any moment, life stretches in all directions and sometimes the options feel endless. But most of those options are fleeting opportunities and it can really be too bad if we don’t say something or do something or change something when we have the chance.

If this is a spoiler it is an enigmatic one that shouldn’t harm the reading experience.

January 29, 2013

Plots and Characters in the Raw

Typically, plots of my novels start with a collection of images, moments, vignettes, and other idea snapshots that feel related to me, although I do not always know why. Gradually, I discover the connections as the planning and writing evolve. During that evolution, there will always be ideas that turn out not to fit, after all, and I have to scrap those.

Similarly, my characters start as a pastiche of attitudes, actions, and problems, which may be drawn from people I know, situations I have experienced, or stuff I’ve overheard in passing. (Beware discussing your life while standing in a grocery store line. There may be an eavesdropping writer nearby.) As the book progresses, I inevitably discover that multiple characters have conflicting traits that all belong to me. Real humans tend to be more contradictory than even the most complex of characters. Perhaps on certain levels I use the characters to work through some of my contradictions.

January 28, 2013

21st Century Notecards

Warning: I really geek out during this post! But I supply these details in case they help another writer who wants to leave notecards behind.

When I first started writing, each novel would have an inches-thick stack of notecards. I taped cards to a wall and removed or X’ed them as the writing advanced. The advantage of notecards, of course, is that it is so much easier to add, reorder, and scrap when a single idea exists on a single page.

Even though I was an early adopter of computers for every other stage of writing, for a long time I still needed the heft and tangibility of the note cards for planning.

I wanted to switch to digital planning long before I actually did so. I tried a number of apps and softwares designed for organizing ideas (mind maps and stickies and To Do list kinds of things). They didn’t work for me.

Then I tried presentation software, and that has allowed me to replace notecards with slides. Nowadays, I plan my novels on Keynote on my iPad… unless I need to do wholesale reorganizing. When that happens, I convert the file to Powerpoint and work on my computer, because if I need to move a lot of stuff around, I want a mouse and Microsoft’s “light table” features (where all the slides can be seen at one time) are more versatile than Keynote’s.  I adore my iPad but editing on an iPad induces pain.

P.S. To plot the bigger, broader, arcs and trends of a novel, I am fond of a software called Popplet, which lets me put ideas in small color coded boxes, move them around, and connect them.

January 27, 2013

The Subconscious as a Collaborator

How do you come up with your book titles?  Asked this recently, my answer came quickly: At some point I just know what the title is. Which means I’ve been working on it subconsciously. Which makes me realize how essential my subconscious is to the writing process:

  • Stuck? Set it aside and come back to it tomorrow. Usually when I wake up I know what to do — my subconscious figured it out.
  • Sudden discovery, typically while brushing teeth or gardening, of a plot twist that ramps up the tension and surprise? Thank you subconscious, you are always on the job.
  • Realization, as the book nears completion, that details have coalesced into a united theme? My subconscious knew from the beginning what this book was about; the conscious mind is always the last to know.

My principle motivation to write is a desire to connect with other people, but a secondary motivation is to connect with myself and see what will next emerge.

As I write this I find it difficult to say “I figured it out subconsciously” rather than “my subconscious figured it out”.  It doesn’t disturb me to feel that I contain these separate entities.  Should it? 

January 22, 2013

Retirement Party Postponed…Indefinitely

So. When I was young I kept changing jobs and taking time off to do one thing or the other. I’d work on a novel. I’d do some traveling. I did a lot of worthwhile things and I pretended I agreed with Cary Grant’s character in HOLIDAY, who wants to have experiences while he is young then work later, after he discovers what he is working for.  (Pretended because I knew all along that what I wanted was simpler. I wanted to skip the day job thing entirely.)

I have friends and coworkers who chose less circuitous paths and a number of them have retired, or are considering it. So. I tried one of those on-line retirement calculators, and the results are in.  For the next decade, I only need to save 87% of my pay and then I will have enough saved to live at 22% of my current income level.  Of course if I could save 87% of my pay I probably wouldn’t need a retirement calculator.

Looking for a bright side – after living on 13% of my pay, my retirement income would really feel luxurious.

Overall, just one more indication that the kittens need to get jobs.