Incubating and the Writer’s Cave
October 28, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as deadlines, writing processI tend to be reluctant to sit down in front of the keyboard to write until the deadline is breathing down my neck. I always thought this was procrastination, but I read an article a little while ago that makes me realize that I’m not a procrastinator. I’m an incubator.
What’s an incubator? Someone who thinks about the story for a long time—incubating it—until it’s ready to come out in one huge burst. My subconscious works on the story as I go about my ordinary life, as if I’ve put a stew on the back burner to simmer and am adding ingredients to it all day long. Then suddenly the stew is done and the story needs to get on the page. That’s when I crawl into my writer’s cave, sit down and start writing. Am compelled to write, just like contractions compel a mother to push during childbirth.
The writer’s cave is more mental than physical, though it does help to have a physical space where you can retreat to get the work done. This might be an office or corner in your home or maybe somewhere like Starbucks or the bookstore or wherever works for you. It helps if the cave is the same physical space every time, signaling your brain that when you go there, it’s time to write. I also end up clearing my calendar of all optional social engagements so I can just crawl into the cave without fear of interruption and give birth to my story.
I would love to be one of those people who plot out a book and then sit down every day and write X number of pages or such-and-such a scene, but that isn’t how I work. I need all those weeks to let the story form in my mind so it comes out organically in one long burst. Once I reach that point, I am able to accomplish a substantial amount of pages per day. Since the story is fully formed, I also tend to do very little rewriting before I send in the book. This is what works for me. It’s my process. What’s yours?
A Fantasy Life by Janet Quinn Cornelow
October 28, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as Janet Cornelow, Janet Quinn
I would like to say that I have been writing and working on my new fantasy romance. That would be stretching things. I had planned on writing last Saturday because I had cleared everything that needed to be done. Then my youngest and his wife showed up. That ruined the rest of my plans. I ended up fixing the dinner and settling some other problems. Needless to say I got no writing done.
Life has been a bit upside down, so I don’t know how much writing I will be getting done. My day job that I have had for 12 years has gone bankrupt and we will be closing December 18 unless someone buys my boss out. That probably isn’t going to happen. It is really sad. I really like my job and will miss my babies (my students).
I have been teaching on line for the last three years and have found a second place to teach. Of course that means training for four weeks. It starts November 1 and goes into December because we get Thanksgiving week off. That will take the up any extra time I have because I still have to show up at work and teach my other classes. I figure the training won’t be that bad since it is basically the same thing I do now. The polices are a bit different, but the actual teaching is the same.
The good news is that Michael, my middle son, and his wife are having a baby, so I will finally be a grandmother in May. The baby is due around Mother’s Day so I figure I won’t be seeing them this year, but that is okay. I’m excited about being a grandma. Of course, I won’t be taking the baby around since I don’t carry too well, but I figure by the time the baby’s walking, I can get seatbelts installed on the walker so he or she doesn’t fall off.
Everyone have a great Thanksgiving since this is my last blog until then.
OCCRWA November 2011 Online Class — “The Tiny Art of Elevator Pitches: Making Every Word Count!†with Carrie Lofty
October 26, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Online Class********** permission to forward **********
Hi everyone! Check out the exciting online classes offered by the Orange County Chapter of RWA!
“The Tiny Art of Elevator Pitches: Making Every Word Count!†with Carrie Lofty
November 15 – December 11, 2010
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassNov10.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com
ABOUT THE CLASS:
You have 30 seconds to make an impression. But how do you reduce tens of thousands of words down to 30 or less? What to leave in? What to ignore? How to give those 30 words punch and drama?
An “elevator pitch†can be defined as a bare-bones summary of your novel – but it is really something much more. This succinct distillation can help not only in query letters and networking, but in finding your hook and focusing your writing before you even start!
Author Carrie Lofty will share the elevator pitches that got her in the door, along with her techniques for making them concise and effective. She will look at the four plot arcs of any romance novel—hero, heroine, external, and romantic—and teach you how to weave all four into the most powerful elevator pitch possible.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Since completing her master’s degree in history, Carrie Lofty has been devoted to raising two precocious daughters and writing full time. Her historical romances have all received four stars from RT Book Reviews, which declared: “Lofty writes adventure romance like a born bard of old.”
In addition to two new historical romances coming out in 2011, her “Dark Age Dawning” trilogy of hot-n-dirty apocalyptic romances, co-written with Ann Aguirre under the name Ellen Connor, will kick off with Nightfall from Berkley Sensation in June.
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassNov10.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Coming in January 2011–
“Going the Distance: Goal Setting and Time Management for Writersâ€
with Kitty Bucholtz
January 10 – February 5, 2011
Every New Year’s Eve, as the fireworks explode, we try to figure out how to make our goals into our reality. But what will work for you? In this class, you will be presented with a variety of ways to look at goal setting and time management specifically designed for the writer. Whether you are a plotter or a pantster, this interactive course will help you design a personalized game plan.
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Check out our full list of workshops at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html
Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
********** permission to forward **********
Learning from one of my favorite things–Isabel Swift
October 24, 2010 by Isabel Swift in category From Isabel Swift tagged as reading, teaA visit by an avid tea drinker gave me the excuse to expound on my fondness for my Alfi. In assessing my tea drinking habits, I realized there were many similarities with my romance reading habits! Like many romance readers (and tea drinkers), I have specific tastes, likes and dislikes. Some I can be quite intransigent about, others more open-minded.
As a romance reader, I connected, then expanded my reading in the genre in a similarly tentative manner–first Austen, then Regencies, then a fearful exploration into historicals and contemporaries when demand far exceeded supply.
Thinking about the visceral and physical aspects of tea helped me understand my (and perhaps other reader’s) reading process. Sometimes trying a new tea opens a whole new world–but if you’re conservative, it takes being forced to try something new in order to get you off the tried and true. For me with tea, it was being served a delicious new type at a restaurant. With reading, my reading world has been expanded by gift books, a friend’s vociferous recommendation, or a desperation buy when travelling….
A new format–tea bags, a thermal pot–opens up a new drinking experience and new opportunities. I think of audio books, eBooks, mobile and eReaders in that vein. And sometimes the issue is expectations: if I don’t think of this drink as tea, but open my mind and consider it just as a hot beverage–does it taste good? So for me, I’ve been able to explore Chai (a bit). And to connect the tea/reading experience, to enjoy urban fantasy and other relationship novels that include romance, but are not Romances.
What–and how–have your horizons been expanded?
The day Stephen J. Cannell talked with Jina Bacarr at OCC
October 11, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as A Writer's Life, author, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, novels, Stephen J. Cannell
Stephen J. Cannell talks w/ Jina Bacarr
Uploaded by Jina_B.
Everyone who attended the OCC Meeting back in 2007 when Stephen J. Cannell was our main speaker will never forget it.
I still have the notes I took that day…
And I have the video. So as a special tribute to Mr. Cannell who passed away recently, here is the video I did with him that morning after the Published Authors Workshop.
He was a great friend to OCC and to all writers everywhere.
Best,
Jina
The Blonde Samurai: “She embraced the way of the warrior. Two swords. Two loves.â€
Jina Bacarr is also the author of The Blonde Geisha ,Cleopatra’s Perfume, Naughty Paris, Tokyo Rendezvous, a Spice Brief, and Spies, Lies & Naked Thighs
visit my website: http://www.jinabacarr.com/
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