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Grumbling and Conflicts

June 6, 2009 by in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as , ,

Last month I blogged here about so many writers events, and so little time. More on that theme today!

As I mentioned in that posting, I won’t see you at OCC this month. Instead, I’ll be at the California Crime Writers Conference in Pasadena, a joint program between the local Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime chapters.

The Los Angeles Romance Authors meeting, which is usually the third Sunday of the month, was moved to the same weekend, since it otherwise would occur on Father’s Day. That means I’ll miss another meeting I’d like to attend.

I blogged a few days ago for the Mid-Valley Willamette RWA Chapter’s blog site. My theme was my multiple personalities, which I cultivate because of writing in two very different genres: dark paranormal romance and light cozy mysteries. And then there’s my lawyer side.

There are times, like the second weekend of this month, that I wish I didn’t only have multiple personalities, but that I could clone myself, too, and participate in more than one event that I know I’d enjoy.

Okay, I know I’m grumbling. Part of life is having to make choices, and I’ve done so.

But I’m going to miss my romance writers’ meetings, especially this month when my Silhouette Nocturne BACK TO LIFE has been released! It’s definitely a romance, although there’s a mystery to it, too. And a very special K-9 cop heroine who has Valkyrie powers that allow her to bring some people back from the brink of death… people like the really hot SWAT-team member whose life she saves at the beginning. She becomes romantically involved with him, then realizes she might have inadvertently passed some powers along to him, too.

I’ll be at the July OCC meeting before heading to RWA National in Washington, D.C., and hope to sign BACK TO LIFE and my latest Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery NEVER SAY STY at the meeting.

I won’t be grumbling then!

By the way, today is D-Day. My hugs and kudos to those who were there. My dad landed at Normandy Beach a couple of days later.

Linda O. Johnston
http://www.lindaojohnston.com/
http://www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com/

Linda O. Johnston is the author of 16 romance novels and several novellas, including a Nocturne Bites, with at least one more Nocturne upcoming. She also writes the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime.

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Chapter Meeting Information for June

June 4, 2009 by in category Archives tagged as

General Meetings are held the second Saturday of the month at the Brea Community Center, 695 E. Madison Way, Brea, CA 92821. For a map and directions, click here.

Meeting fees are $10 for Members and $20 for Non-Members.

Meeting Schedule for June 13, 2009

  • 9:30 am: Doors Open / Ask an Author

    Volunteer Ask an Author/s for June: Susan Squires and Jennifer Haymore

  • 10:30 – 10:45 am: Announcements


    Morning Speaker: JENNIFER HAYMORE: Is E-Publishing Right for my Writing Career?

  • 11:50 – 1:00: Lunch Break (Lunch Orders available)
  • 12:45 – 1:00: New Member Orientation
  • 12:30 – 1:00: Book signings
  • 1:00 – 1:30 pm: General Meeting and Announcements

  • Afternoon Speaker: CHRISTIE RIDGWAY: Beyond the Beach: Using Setting to Create Character and Plot

  • 3:00 pm: Meeting Adjourns


Attention: OCC Members Attending the Meeting–Monthly Critique Drawings! Volunteer Critique Author for June: Patricia Wright (w/a Patricia Thayer)

Important 2009 Dates to Remember:

  • June 15, 2009 – July 11, 2009—Online Class–Is That Hollywood Calling? with Cindy Carroll. For information click HERE
  • July 13, 2009–OCC Monthly Meeting (Brea CC)

  • July 13, 2009 – Aug 8, 2009—Online ClassWriting Cozy Mysteries with Cheryl Arguile (w/a Emily Brightwell). For information click HERE

  • August 8, 2009—OCC Monthly Meeting (Brea CC)

  • August 10, 2009 – September 5, 2009—Online ClassUsing Body Language and Vocal Gestures to Create More Believable Characters with Bill Edmunds. For information click HERE
  • August 22, 2009—OCC Special Event #2: Character and Conflict; Point of View and Dialogue–An all-day workshop with Debra Mullins and Charlotte Lobb. For more details and registration, visit www.occrwa.org.

For current Online Class Schedule and registration information, please visit http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html.
For more chapter meeting information visit OCC’s website at
http://occrwa.org/meetings.htm

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June Prez Message

June 1, 2009 by in category Archives tagged as ,
May 23, 2009

When did you first begin to write?

Were you composing songs or poems in kindergarten or grade school? Scribing short stories in middle school? Outlining your first novel by high school? Me neither. Well, except for the songs, poems and short stories part. Writing and reading were the soul of my youth. At that time, there was a voice in me that was unique, with a narrow but colorful perspective, rich in my limited history and micro view of the world. I wrote ghost stories. Composed poems then set them to music on my ukulele. Entertained my adoring fans (family) and received pretty decent grades in my elementary English classes. (Okay, maybe not for the grammar part, but for the creative part!)

Wouldn’t it be great if we could travel back to that time, when our minds were uncluttered with the many issues and experiences that mark our existence today? When most things were simple black and white? Somehow my writing seemed more …pure… at that time. Certainly it wasn’t challenged by the need for someone else to read and like it!

Although today I can create much more complex characters, layered with the hues of the life of my past, I miss the sheer joy of writing for the fun of it. Maybe some of you still feel that. Fantastic! But for many of us who are struggling, perhaps it’s time to get back in touch with that inner child who wanted to write in the first place.

How do we tap that voice (Short of seeing a therapist?J) Perhaps we can through quiet meditation or by taking a walk on the beach? Maybe through rediscovering something you had done as a child and truly enjoyed, like riding a horse, playing badminton or ping pong, or going ice skating? (Personally, I skate on my hind end) Maybe another way is to go to the children’s section at the library and pick up a book that you loved when you were 10. Why was it special to you? Was it one of the tales that called you to write?

I know that I need to work on that side of me. I’ve lost some joy in recent years and some of the writing fun has gone with it. I want it back. I want to drag out those novels from under the bed and shape up those which should be returned to circulation (and quietly re-file those that shouldn’t!) My own voice is special and unique, but I’m sure it could use a jolt of positive memory of where it was when I was 10. I’ll bet yours could too!

Let’s drop $2 in the Write for the Money jar at the meeting and set a goal to do something childlike and fun. And a second one to write a paragraph or two soon afterwards! For those of you who can’t attend the meetings, perhaps create your own Write for the Money jar, and reward yourself for having a little fun and the quality work that follows!

Randi

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The Artist’s Way

May 29, 2009 by in category The Artist Way by Gillian Doyle tagged as ,

“During a drought, the morning pages seem both painful and foolish. They feel like empty gestures — like making breakfast for the lover we know is leaving us anyhow. Hoping against hope that we will someday be creative again, we go through the motions. Our consciousness is parched. We cannot feel so much as a trickle of grace. . . . And yet we write our Morning Pages because we must.” – Julia Cameron, THE ARTIST’S WAY.

It is closing in on midnight. My blog entry here at A Slice of Orange is due to go up in a few minutes. But instead of writing it, I spent the evening at my mother’s bedside, trying to help her comprehend what is going on while her muddled mind repeats the same questions over and over. You see, she thinks she is dying. Maybe she is. My brother and sister-in-law are convinced she is. Though the caregivers and doctors disagree. However, I do believe that a person can will themselves to die . . . or to live.

My eyes are burning. My brain is throbbing. But I can’t stop thinking about my commitment to write this blog. To tell you the truth, it’s the only thing keeping me connected to my writing at this time. I haven’t even been able to keep up with my own Morning Pages. And yet I write my blog because I must.

Is that too much honesty? Shouldn’t I be burning the midnight oil to finish my proposal promised months ago to an agent? I know a writer who came home at 2 A.M. from the ER (after her mother was finally admitted), and sat down to write her daily ten pages. I thought, “Is she insane?” I admire her dedication. But she probably welcomed the chance to escape into her writing and forget about her real world for a while.

Okay-okay, so I AM burning the midnight oil to finish this blog. As much as I would love to escape reality and write a few chapters of fiction, my brain cells are begging for some snooze-time. Though I must admit that, lately, my sleep has been disrupted by the most bizarre and disjointed dreams. I suppose all that unexpressed creativity has to find a release somehow.

I opened this entry with a quote from Julia Cameron about going through a drought. Is this a drought? Not exactly. But I am trying to keep my writing alive, and that’s what is important. Some writers might disagree and consider me a slacker. That’s okay. I’m the tortoise, not the hare.


Oh, one last thing — Check out Dr. Bruce H. Lipton‘s, THE BIOLOGY OF BELIEF: The Science of How We Create Our Lives. I heard his lecture a year ago at a conference. He’s amazing. We really ARE what we believe.

And now I believe I am very tired and I’m going to bed. ‘Nite all!

– Gillian Doyle
http://www.gilliandoyle.blogspot.com/
http://www.gilliandoyle.com/

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How to Cure Writing Avoidance

May 28, 2009 by in category Archives

This Memorial Day weekend should have been very relaxing for me. I was off from my day job, and I could spend the day writing if I wanted to. So that’s what I tried to do. However, instead of popping out ten or twenty pages today, I found myself practicing Writing Avoidance.

It wasn’t a severe case of Writing Avoidance. No, the symptoms of that are the sudden need to clean out the refrigerator, basement or attic. I was only suffering from stationary Writing Avoidance, where I remained in my desk chair but found myself doing things other than writing.

For example, I would write a sentence or two, then check my email. Then come back and write a couple more sentences, then check my Twitter. Write a couple more sentences and start surfing the web for American Idol interviews. Change a couple of sentences, then realize there is a Bones marathon on, so maybe I should check out a couple of episodes (even though I own all of them on DVD).

This, dear readers, is Writing Avoidance.

I knew something was bugging me today, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. And because I couldn’t put my finger on it, the doubts crept in. I am on deadline with a book. Will I finish it in time? The editor recently read my first few chapters to better design the cover copy, and it was a nail-biter while she was reading it. But she gave me the okay to keep going. I should be over the moon, right? But the doubts had already sunk their claws deep into my psyche.

The market is tight. What if they don’t like the book?
What if they want me to rewrite the book?
I can’t seem to get those first chapters right. Why is that? Is the magic gone?
This book seems harder to write than all the others. Maybe I’m losing my touch.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Writing Avoidance or not, I needed to get pages written today. My deadline looms before me, and I pride myself on turning in my manuscripts on time. But how to get past this funk? How to convince my muse to stop sulking and get to work?

The best cure for this is to call another writer.

So I did just that, called my friend Susan Meier, who talked me off the ledge and reminded me of all the important answers to those questions.

The market is tight. What if they don’t like the book?
The editor already read it. She likes what you’re doing. Next question.

What if they want me to rewrite the book?
See #1. Also remind yourself that this is your twelfth book for them, and your last book required minimum revisions.

I can’t seem to get those first chapters right. Why is that? Is the magic gone?
This is your process. You do this with every book. You hammer at those first chapters, looking for the story, and then when you find it…ZOOM! The book spills onto the page at warp speed.

This book seems harder to write than all the others. Maybe I’m losing my touch.
Every book is harder than the last because you grow as an author with each one. If it were easy, everyone would do it. You’re not losing your touch; you’re just experiencing growing pains.

Only another writer could understand the frustration of Writing Avoidance, especially one who is familiar with your patricular process. It’s not just that the work is not getting done; it’s also that there is something interfering with your creativity. However, once you understand what is bugging you (such as, say, tension from feeling overwhelmed), you can work through it and get on with business.

This is why writers need other writers. Sometimes there is no one else in the world who could possibly understand. And it’s amazing how ten minutes on the phone with another writer can do more to cure your Writing Avoidance than an hour talking to anyone else.

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