I'm writing again...

...and that's all I can say, so far. No promises, I'm promising myself. Too much pressure. Plus, I've been in a slump this summer. No excuses but the sun and mykidswereoutofschool.

I'm starting something new. My characters will have their own chapters, their names at the top of the page. I've seen this done before and it was inspiring to think of them talking in their own voices. Maybe different fonts for each.

First person is most interesting, survey says.

My character is Andee. I also have Paul. They seem to be interesting people so far, but we'll see. I'd hate to leave them stranded somewhere, but I might have to if they don't keep up the pace.

Night Passing

Was it more than what I heard
Filling the page
ending the story here
in still soft whispers --
the absense of nothing
heavy in the air between us.
Was it only me in that place?
Or was that you there,
soul and soul
desperate heat
holding on -- for just one moment,
life lived in a breath;
now passing;
now disappearing away;
now saying good-bye.

I am officially AGENTED

Yes, that belongs in all caps, especially after that last blog post! (Incidentally, I grew fonder of my little "p word" as the project wore on.) I signed the agreement last night and am meeting the new member of my alliance, Les Stobbe, this Saturday at a writers' conference here in Anderson. Unbelieveable, really, the sheer coincidence of that. In fact, it is unbelieveable -- and I don't believe it is coincidence at all. No, this thing is planned by my wonderful, masterful, Worker of the best surprises. My one and only Jesus! Thank you, my precious Maker, Redeemer, and Friend. Only You can truly understand my heart in this, after all we have been through together.

Pray for me, any and all of you who follow this little blog of mine. And rejoice with me in the things He has planned for us! He is up to something in the lives of us both!

Proposal

Proposal. Use correctly in a sentence:

I was impressed by his proposal, or at least the left side of my brain was.

The proposal assignment was bitter abuse.

I have found that writing a proposal could actually kill my desire to write anything else.

The thing is, proposals are supposed to be cut and dried, aren't they? This is the thing I have to offer, now you decide. But oh no, oh no -- I must jump through hoops, I must dazzle and entertain, all before you actually READ what I have written. I must walk through the burning ring of fire we call "marketing" into the dark side where business is clunking and churning -- like I would ever, EVER want to go there. In fact, this thing feels like a treaty between the two worlds, me in my optimism and them in their obvious pessimism, or otherwise, why would all the convincing be necessary? At this point, I am not even sure it would all work out.

I feel like every bit of my creativity has been counterbalanced by writing this malarky. Isn't that a conflict of interest?

One thing is for sure: I am conflicted and completely disinterested in this part of the process.

If only it were true...

I did this blogthing....thing....and although some of these statements could be accurate in certain contexts, I wish they were more accurate in more contexts...and that at least my writing would reflect this person a little more :) And then I would, of course, I could make that "person" my pseudonym, which would really work out...hmmmmmmm.

What Chanda Means

You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace. People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Reading stuff

This month I haven't done an awful lot of writing for my WIPs, but just a little awful writing. However, I have been reading quite a bit.


So I came across this book list, which I love and it gives me direction in the library, as I have two toddlers in tow and must accomplish my mission with stealth and speed. Btw, have you read anything lately? Anything on the list I haven't read, especially?


I'm such a nerd for doing this.


1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.

2) Italicize those you intend to read.

3) Underline the books you love.

4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated.

5) Reprint this list in your own blog.




1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4. The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling

5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6. The Bible

7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14. Complete Works of Shakespeare

15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (I've started this one, but put it down)

19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20. Middlemarch - George Eliot

21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34. Emma- Jane Austen

35. Persuasion - Jane Austen

36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (likewise, started and put down)

40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41. Animal Farm - George Orwell (ditto)

42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50. Atonement - Ian McEwan

51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52. Dune - Frank Herbert

53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (also started...you know)

66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy (I believe the point of this one was so obscure I missed it entirely)

68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding (why is this on the list?)

69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville (I guess I have to read this one)

71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72. Dracula - Bram Stoker (but I have read Frankenstein)

73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75. Ulysses - James Joyce

76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78. Germinal - Emile Zola

79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80. Possession - AS Byatt

81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White

88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94. Watership Down - Richard Adams

95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98. Hamlet- William Shakespeare

99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100. Les Miserables– Victor Hugo

Thoughts on thoughts

Okay, now I am officially writing or editing 3 different stories. Plus my blog. What in the world?

But you know, that just about sums up the state of my mind lately -- a million direction without a good fix on anything. It's frustrating, but I guess I shouldn't allow it to be. Just like a good beginning without an end yet, it's still......a good beginning. Some thoughts, however unclear, are better than no thoughts at all, right? Because then I really would be vegetative.

But vegetative seems so restful to me. Maybe because I have never seen very many vegetative people, but the ones that I picture have that half-asleep smile on their faces. And you know what? What if they do have all kinds of thoughts, but aren't having to work on solutions because of, you know, their state. Although a life free of problems would really have no plot, would it? Where would the excitement, the climax, the thematic elements be? That is what makes a story a story, right. Even a story with no end yet. The end is implied, but there's no hurry to get to it.

And so I must get back to my 3 stories and work towards at least one implied ending. Good thing I have no implied deadline to go with it.