Conquering the Blessed Beast

Just an update on my last post. . . I said that I was going through a “Revising a Chapter in my Novel War”. Well, I conquered the blessed beast. It bent to my will. Perhaps, I bent to its will (Hmm, a thought to ponder. Maybe I was getting in its way). Sometimes you need to step away from a difficult revision, come back later, and then typically it will come together beautifully and better than it would have been otherwise. I love it when that happens. I win! I win! I win! Well, I won nothing but the reassurance that a chapter is better than it was, and I can move on to the next chapter.
So, I feel like I have so little time to devote to editing with working full-time and taking a class. I can’t wait to be out of the class, I’ll have more time to devote to editing. Praise the day when I'm done with class. French is way tough (ie: I despise masculine and feminine words). Just beam the language into my mind, please (said with a pouty-puppy-dog-you-can’t-deny-my-wish-face). I audited French because my novel is set in Paris. I thought it would be helpful for the writing process. It has been helpful, but honestly, I’m so done with school. I have my degree and that is so enough for me. What the devil was I thinking taking a class again? Remind me never to do that to myself again. NEVER!

Weekend Work, Isn't that Contradictory?

Today has officially been too exhausting. Started off the day feeding the neighbor's dogs (I have been dog sitting for the last few days), getting a really intense massage (I almost cried), helped clean a building, mowed up the leaves in my parents yard because my dad is out-of-town, played with the said dogs for a bit (oh, how do I love dogs, let me count the ways. JK), did my laundry, and ordered some new tires for my car so I don't die on the snowy and icy roads this winter (tires won't be in until Tuesday or Wednesday). Wow, that was a ridiculously long sentence. Need to go to the store soon and just maybe take a wee nap. This evening is devoted completely to editing. I really tried to edit last night, but my mom and I started watching a movie, and editing flew right out the window. We watched "Trapped in Paradise." Such a roll on the floor and bring me to tears funny movie. How could I pay attention to anything else? Really. Plus, I am in a pickle. The part of my novel I'm revising is just fighting with me. It just does not want to polish. Don't know what to do with it. I will force it to comply though. It has to bend to my will! Wish me luck. Anyway, I hope that everyone is having a splendid autumnal weekend. It sure is pretty outside with the leaves changing colors. Ciao!

Song for the Day

Imogen Heap's song "First Train Home" came up on my Pandora station today. I pretty much fell in love with it. I know I've heard it before and know she played it at her concert I went to a few months ago, but just don't remember the song. It was like I had heard it for the first time. Its like when you haven't watched a movie for years, and you can't remember it at all. This is how I feel about this song today. Listen to it, and love it. Enjoy!

Giggle for the Day

This is something I hope you'll get a kick out of:

Go to Google Maps

Click on Get Directions

Search directions from Japan to China

Now for the punch line - Look at direction point #43.

Tehehe! Hope that got you giggling!

New Mantra

"A published author is an amateur who didn't quit. Don't quit."
I found the quote on author and agent Mandy Hubbard's website:

http://www.mandyhubbard.com/

This is my new mantra. Thanks, Mandy for such a great saying! BTW, her books look really good. Check em out!

Dreams to Ideas

As a prelude to this post, an explanation must be given. I have seriously twisted, vibrant dreams. They sometimes stick with me for days; sometimes I wish they wouldn’t. Occasionally my dreams make me exhausted all day. Sometimes, they are all about me being a character in “24” (yeah Jack) or “Stargate SG1” (yeah Jack). Wow, both those TV shows have a Jack as the lead character. Tangent, anyway…
Having expounded upon that, my novel was inspired by a dream I had back in December 2009. I couldn't get the dream out of my head for weeks. I told my parents and sister the dream’s content, saying I would like to write a novel about it. I didn’t think I actually would start writing it. One night, I was trying to sleep, but my body would not succumb to the rest I desperately desired. The dream popped back into my head as it had numerous times over the past couple of weeks. I gave up on sleep to start formulating the plot. That sleepless night, I had the end of the novel completely outlined in my mind. The following day, I turned on my bright green Dell laptop and began the eager process of typing away the idea that had plagued me for some weeks. The idea still plagues me—the gift of being an author. I wrote the end first, then the beginning, and then filled in the rest as I wrote. It took me five months, some writer’s block, and long evenings and weekends to complete the rough draft. Now I’m working on the technical process of editing.
I tell the background of how my novel became a reality in order to offer you a way to come up with writing ideas. Pull from your dreams. Really. Sometimes the oddity of dreams can become great ideas for writing material. I have another book idea that derived from a bunch of my reoccurring dreams. Just last night I had a dream that I have toyed around with today for another book. Keep a notebook by your bed just in case you wake up from a dream that is brilliant, so you can jot it down. You don’t want to forget it.
I hope that this will give you a way to get ideas for writing. Welcome to the world of an author—in that world you just need an idea you can run with. Make sure you run with it, otherwise, you’ll never know that 300 pages later you’ll have a novel. Of course, a novel that needs lots of tweaking and editing, but hopefully in the end, you’ll have a finished product. I am eager for that day to come very soon!