I know it probably seems like lately all I have been doing is playing with our new kitten, Gretel. Well that would be pretty accurate, but before our new little fur ball arrived, I did complete a story which is going to be published in the debut issue of the Edible Raven magazine. The story, The Curious Curse, is heavily influenced by my love of Edward Gorey. It is a short little ditty about a curse, a town, and a Finn written in rhyme.
I noticed today that the illustrator and graphic artist, Pamela McCarville, has posted the cover of the magazine on her blog, Stealing Shadows...LOVE IT!!!!! If you like to take a look yourself, you can view it here, http://stealingshadows.blogspot.com/2009/05/edible-raven.html.
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Friday, October 31, 2008
Happy Halloween!!!
The Night of All Hallows Eve
by IHN
Twas the night of All Hallow’s Eve, when all through the cemetery
All the creatures were stirring, and all quite merry.
Shrunken heads were hung on tree branches with care,
In hopes that a great demon would soon be there.
The witches were starting to rise out of their beds,
While visions of spells and magic danced in their heads.
The mummy was nestled all snug in his wrap
As he began to awake from his eternal nap.
When out by the crypt there arose such a clatter,
They all hovered over to see what was the matter.
When, what to their demonic eyes should transpire,
But a flying black hearse and a very well dressed vampire.
With a skeleton driver, so lively and quick,
They knew in a moment it must be Vampire Nick.
More rapid than vultures his bats they came,
And he moaned, and wailed, and called them by name!
“Now Dagger! Now, Slasher! Now, Lasher and Scratchen.
On, Blade! On, Spade! On, on Slicer, and Gashen.
To the top of the tombstones! To the top of the cemetery walls!
Now hunt away! Hunt away! Hunt away all!”
Then like those bats that vampire did fly
Like a soaring eagle against a moonlit sky.
So up to the crypt-top he flew
With his undead driver and his bats too.
They landed on the crypt in a furious gale
And you could hear the screeching of each little nail.
As the shrunken heads screamed and turn around
Down the crypt Vampire Nick came with a bound.
He was dressed in black from his cape to his shoes
And on his spiked collar dripped liquid red ooze.
A bundle of oddities flung on his back,
And he looked like a wolf just about to attack
He reached is long fingers into the pocket of his suit
And his hand reappeared holding fresh eye of newt.
The witches were thrilled as they grabbed their brooms.
They chanted spells as they danced on the tombs.
The zombies started to arise from their graves
And the night dwellers emerged from their caves.
A banshee played harp and began her song
As a trio of bridge trolls sang along.
Then he presented the werewolf with a giant bone
And the mummy a purple velvet lined casket of his very own.
The cemetery was filled with eerie laughter and shrills
All the creatures of the night were getting their thrills.
They shrieked and danced and partied away,
The zombies all got new limbs for the ones lost from decay.
All the undead received brand new toys
And one was given a couple of obnoxious teenage boys.
Then Vampire Nick reached into his cape and without a word
Pulled out an extraordinary beautiful raven black bird.
You could hear it call as it flew into the moonlit sky out of sight
“Happy All Hallows Eve, and to all a very frightening night!”
by IHN
Twas the night of All Hallow’s Eve, when all through the cemetery
All the creatures were stirring, and all quite merry.
Shrunken heads were hung on tree branches with care,
In hopes that a great demon would soon be there.
The witches were starting to rise out of their beds,
While visions of spells and magic danced in their heads.
The mummy was nestled all snug in his wrap
As he began to awake from his eternal nap.
When out by the crypt there arose such a clatter,
They all hovered over to see what was the matter.
When, what to their demonic eyes should transpire,
But a flying black hearse and a very well dressed vampire.
With a skeleton driver, so lively and quick,
They knew in a moment it must be Vampire Nick.
More rapid than vultures his bats they came,
And he moaned, and wailed, and called them by name!
“Now Dagger! Now, Slasher! Now, Lasher and Scratchen.
On, Blade! On, Spade! On, on Slicer, and Gashen.
To the top of the tombstones! To the top of the cemetery walls!
Now hunt away! Hunt away! Hunt away all!”
Then like those bats that vampire did fly
Like a soaring eagle against a moonlit sky.
So up to the crypt-top he flew
With his undead driver and his bats too.
They landed on the crypt in a furious gale
And you could hear the screeching of each little nail.
As the shrunken heads screamed and turn around
Down the crypt Vampire Nick came with a bound.
He was dressed in black from his cape to his shoes
And on his spiked collar dripped liquid red ooze.
A bundle of oddities flung on his back,
And he looked like a wolf just about to attack
He reached is long fingers into the pocket of his suit
And his hand reappeared holding fresh eye of newt.
The witches were thrilled as they grabbed their brooms.
They chanted spells as they danced on the tombs.
The zombies started to arise from their graves
And the night dwellers emerged from their caves.
A banshee played harp and began her song
As a trio of bridge trolls sang along.
Then he presented the werewolf with a giant bone
And the mummy a purple velvet lined casket of his very own.
The cemetery was filled with eerie laughter and shrills
All the creatures of the night were getting their thrills.
They shrieked and danced and partied away,
The zombies all got new limbs for the ones lost from decay.
All the undead received brand new toys
And one was given a couple of obnoxious teenage boys.
Then Vampire Nick reached into his cape and without a word
Pulled out an extraordinary beautiful raven black bird.
You could hear it call as it flew into the moonlit sky out of sight
“Happy All Hallows Eve, and to all a very frightening night!”
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest
On the Monster Librarian blog they announced a contest from GUD (Greatest Uncommon Denominator) magazine, who I had recently added as a friend on Goodreads. What a small cyber world we live in. GUD magazine is full of entertaining stories, art and poetry. The Issue 3 Pre-launch Buzz Contest is basically what I am doing here. You post about their contest with a link back to the GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest post, then leave a comment on the GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest post that you did in fact post on their the GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest, then you will be entered to win a full set of GUD, Hardcopy Issues 0-3.They are also offering 2 bonuses. Bonus #1 is the first 10 entries win a PDF of Issue 3, and sorry, but my guess is that train has long since taxied and taken off the runway. However, Bonus #2 is if you create an account by signing up you get a freebie from Issue 3. Hopefully I will not get in trouble for this, but my freebie was a short story The Dragon’s Thorn, Sword of Kings [& Fred]. I am currently reading The Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and I thought this story had a bit of that Pratchett humor in it. The story was a fun and amusing quick read. But, here is where I let the cat out of the bag or should I say bat, and how they are going to lure you in. Oh yes, that cool looking cover you see above...is a diagram of a steam bat model! And they say they have instructions on page 205 of the magazine. If that doesn’t cry hours of electrifying entertainment I don’t know what does?
Please go take a look at their site, if you don’t want to take part in the Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest, you can still sign-up for an account, read your free sample story, get hooked and then back for the full issue (which is also available in a PDF downloadable format).
Hmmm, wonder if there are any steam bat races? Because I am sure with a few minor tweaks, steam bat model could easily be turned into the super turbo steam bat model. Though I am sure liability waivers would have to be signed.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Misc. Stuff
Is it me, or do the days in November and December travel at warp speed? I can’t believe it is already mid-November. Am I at all ready for the holidays? Nooooo waaaaay, noooooo hooooow. I am in my complete denial stage at the moment even though the approaching season is hard to deny when my Starbucks has exploded in holiday décor. Sigh.
My partner in macabre and I have been toying around with and working on a little side-project. At the Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival book launching party, Pam printed out a bunch of coloring sheets of characters from the book, and they were a huge hit. Everyone said we should do a coloring book, but then we decided to take that one step further and create an activity book with mazes, word searches, jumbles, and matching, fill-in the blanks, connect the dots, how to draw, paper rat dolls, carnival crafts and recipes, and of course, coloring pages. Like I said, just a small little side-project, but I am sure our publisher AUATT Publishing will be all over it once they see our spectacular proposal.
I am also trying to squeeze in some writing. I have a glimmer of an idea for Willow May’s next adventure. She seems to be excited about the concept, but we are still in negotiations on her side-kick(s) and supporting cast. Then I have a couple of other vague story ideas floating around in my head that I am trying to get a better grasp of to at least jot down a few notes. For me, the longest distance in the world is from my mind to the keyboard; I swear I must have a lot of road construction and detours going on inside there.
On top of all of this, my little writing buddy is under the weather. She has an aural hematoma in her ear flap which was caused by an ear infection. We have been having to give her eardrops twice a day which does not go over well at all, not even remotely. Then we were also having to give her antibiotics but they started to make her sick and she wasn’t able to keep her food down. She lost over ½ pound which was 10% of her body weight so now we are having to try to fatten her back up for some other procedures we found out she is needing. She is on my lap sleeping as I write this and not that my universe wasn’t completely centered around her before, but basically for the next few weeks my life will be totally dictated by the whims of a little 4.5 pound calico.
My partner in macabre and I have been toying around with and working on a little side-project. At the Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival book launching party, Pam printed out a bunch of coloring sheets of characters from the book, and they were a huge hit. Everyone said we should do a coloring book, but then we decided to take that one step further and create an activity book with mazes, word searches, jumbles, and matching, fill-in the blanks, connect the dots, how to draw, paper rat dolls, carnival crafts and recipes, and of course, coloring pages. Like I said, just a small little side-project, but I am sure our publisher AUATT Publishing will be all over it once they see our spectacular proposal.
I am also trying to squeeze in some writing. I have a glimmer of an idea for Willow May’s next adventure. She seems to be excited about the concept, but we are still in negotiations on her side-kick(s) and supporting cast. Then I have a couple of other vague story ideas floating around in my head that I am trying to get a better grasp of to at least jot down a few notes. For me, the longest distance in the world is from my mind to the keyboard; I swear I must have a lot of road construction and detours going on inside there.
On top of all of this, my little writing buddy is under the weather. She has an aural hematoma in her ear flap which was caused by an ear infection. We have been having to give her eardrops twice a day which does not go over well at all, not even remotely. Then we were also having to give her antibiotics but they started to make her sick and she wasn’t able to keep her food down. She lost over ½ pound which was 10% of her body weight so now we are having to try to fatten her back up for some other procedures we found out she is needing. She is on my lap sleeping as I write this and not that my universe wasn’t completely centered around her before, but basically for the next few weeks my life will be totally dictated by the whims of a little 4.5 pound calico.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Web Domain Blues
Pam and I are going to set up an author and illustrator web page to help promote Willow May Goes the Midnight Carnival.... and future books. First thing we needed was our domain names, and from my knowledge of SEO, I chose icatsnitram.com for mine, but of course pamelamccarville.com would not do for the illustrious illustrator, please, how plain and boring is that. Thus the quest began for the perfect website name. After a couple of angst full days, she asked if she could have the weekend to mill it over. On Tuesday, she begrudgingly, as she felt rushed in her decision-making, gave me the chosen name, shadowpainting.com. Excellent, I could now purchase the domain names and get started on setting up the web pages. Not so fast as shadowpainting.com was already taken (shockingly, icatsnitram.com was available). Back to the drawing board, I looked up several alternative name such as sketchingshadows.com, which she reluctantly said she would go with, but I could tell was not overly thrilled with it, and if it is one thing that I have learned, it is to constantly over thrill your illustrator. Then out of the blue a name came to me (actually thought it would make a good book title), but I offered it up for her site. Coming soon, author’s website icatsnitram.com and illustrator Pamela McCarville’s site, stealingshadows.com.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Word Popularity
Came across this link from one of the writing list that I belong to that I thought was cool. This all sparked from a conversation of over using that word “that”. Turns out that “that” ranks 7th in 86,800 frequently used words in the English language. Needless to say that there went a few minutes of my life typing in words to see where they ranked and to see if that I could come up with that one word that fell out of the 86,800. Not sure if that is a writer thing, or if that is just a me thing. What was that word I came up with that is not one of the 86,800 most frequently used words you ask? And you probably really did not ask that, but here that word is anyway: Coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. Came up in an email exchange that I had with my sister the other day, don’t ask.
For hours of word entertainment here is that link to that site:
http://www.wordcount.org/main.php
For hours of word entertainment here is that link to that site:
http://www.wordcount.org/main.php
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Promote that Book!
One great thing about my sister, well there are several great things about my sister that it boggles the mind to decide which sheer genius aspect to reflect upon at any given moment; however, at this moment I am going to reflect upon her amazing design and creative talent when it comes to promotional materials. That’s right we are all about the Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival bling! We will have bookmarks, buttons, magnets and posters, perhaps even t-shirts and Willow May calendars. Okay, maybe I am getting a bit a head of myself here, but I have been keeping an eye out for promotional opportunities.
I jot the ideas down in emails and send them to myself to put in my Willow May promo file or if it is from an article in the paper or magazine I cut it out and drop it into a file. I also picked up a couple of books on marketing your book, 1001 Ways to Market Your Book by John Kremer and The Frugal Book Promoter, How to Do What Your Publisher Won’t by Caroline Howard-Johnson. They both list valuable promotional tips you may not have thought of and provide a wealth resource information. Caroline Howard-Johnson also has a great newsletter, Sharing with Writers, that comes out weekly with lots of promotion ideas and inspiration too. You can sign–up through her website, http://carolynhoward-johnson.com/. Another helpful book for online marketing is Plug Your Book, Online Book Marketing for Authors by Steve Weber. In addition, I stumbled across a Yahoo Group that also provides an overwhelming wealth of information. The group is mainly for those who are starting up their own small publishing companies, but I have found they give a lot of promotional and marketing advice, book signing tips, as well as providing a ton of resources. The group is http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Self-Publishing/. You might want to sign-up on digest mode as they are a very active list. Let’s see, oh yes, one more for those of you who are not the sister to the illustrious illustrator and designer, Pamela McCarville, the book Book Design and Production: A Guide for Authors and Publishers by Pete Masterson. This should be required reading for all involved in the book publishing process whether directly involved or not with the actual production and designing process.
I jot the ideas down in emails and send them to myself to put in my Willow May promo file or if it is from an article in the paper or magazine I cut it out and drop it into a file. I also picked up a couple of books on marketing your book, 1001 Ways to Market Your Book by John Kremer and The Frugal Book Promoter, How to Do What Your Publisher Won’t by Caroline Howard-Johnson. They both list valuable promotional tips you may not have thought of and provide a wealth resource information. Caroline Howard-Johnson also has a great newsletter, Sharing with Writers, that comes out weekly with lots of promotion ideas and inspiration too. You can sign–up through her website, http://carolynhoward-johnson.com/. Another helpful book for online marketing is Plug Your Book, Online Book Marketing for Authors by Steve Weber. In addition, I stumbled across a Yahoo Group that also provides an overwhelming wealth of information. The group is mainly for those who are starting up their own small publishing companies, but I have found they give a lot of promotional and marketing advice, book signing tips, as well as providing a ton of resources. The group is http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Self-Publishing/. You might want to sign-up on digest mode as they are a very active list. Let’s see, oh yes, one more for those of you who are not the sister to the illustrious illustrator and designer, Pamela McCarville, the book Book Design and Production: A Guide for Authors and Publishers by Pete Masterson. This should be required reading for all involved in the book publishing process whether directly involved or not with the actual production and designing process.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Time Management
Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival is running a tad bit behind schedule and needless to say tension, anxiety, and stress levels have elevated slightly, okay extremely. I don’t think my sister and I look alike, but complete strangers guess we are sisters, and we have even been mistaken as twins a few times. I think it is because we act alike. We have the same mannerisms, same sense of unusual dry humor, and for the most part, the same tastes, opinions, and outlooks. It is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because our ideas feed upon one another leading to this fantastic metamorphosis of creation on a colossal scale greater than we could have ever imagined. A curse because our ideas feed upon one another leading to this fantastic metamorphosis of creation on a colossal scale greater than we could have ever imagined OR allowed time for.
This is the case with the Willow May illustrations. Like on the one-eye clown illustrations. She would send me a sketch and I would go “you know what you could add to this...” then she would go “oh, that is a great idea, and then what I could do with that...” I would continue “oh, that is genius AND you could then carry that over to page 27”. This goes on for several more minutes until we have surpassed that of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. We don’t want to tone down this process, as we want our readers to experience the full effect of The Pam & Icats. It is a heavy burden we have to bear...and learn to better time manage.
This is the case with the Willow May illustrations. Like on the one-eye clown illustrations. She would send me a sketch and I would go “you know what you could add to this...” then she would go “oh, that is a great idea, and then what I could do with that...” I would continue “oh, that is genius AND you could then carry that over to page 27”. This goes on for several more minutes until we have surpassed that of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. We don’t want to tone down this process, as we want our readers to experience the full effect of The Pam & Icats. It is a heavy burden we have to bear...and learn to better time manage.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Editing and Illying
Working through a few more painful tweaks on the text and Pam continues to sketch and paint her fingers to the bones on the illustrations for Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival. We have but one preliminary sketch left (whoo hoo!!!!), and I am tickled purple with what has been done so far. My sister’s artwork has always been amazing to me, but I swear, she has raised it 5 notches with Willow May. The clown illustrations took my breath away, the attention to detail and the acrobatic positions of them with the intricate work on the costumes...my mind is officially blown away.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Neil Gaiman’s Coraline
Pam forwarded an email to me listing two recent books from Neil Gaiman. Pam hooked me on him last December with Neverwhere, and then I read the Anansi Boys. In the few books of his I have read, his openings seem so effortless, casually leading you in and then before you know it, he has you locked in his world. I love how he does that. The new books were InterWorld and M is for Magic. I went online to see if the library had them available. No such luck on InterWorld, but they did have M is for Magic. I am 8th on the waiting list. As long as I was online I perused some of his other titles. They had Coraline available, and my sister had suggested that book to me a while back as a great guideline for darkness level in children’s books. I checked it out along with a couple of his children’s picture books, The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Gold Fish and The Wolves in the Walls (cool titles!), and then Smoke and Mirrors, Short Fictions and Illusions. Side note: I LOVE the Douglas County’s Library system. I go online, check out my books, they let me know by email when they are ready to pick up, I drive to the library, walk right inside the door to a shelf, grab my books, go through their super easy electronic checkout, and I am on my way to Starbucks...pretty sweet deal.
Okay back to Coraline, which was fantastically fiendish. Like his other books I have read, he lured me in and next thing I know, I can’t put the book down until the end. Since I have started writing again, I have discovered how good writing inspires writing. A story has been milling around in my head for the past month. Similar to his book with a little girl who finds a locked door in her apartment leading to another dimension, the one that keeps coming to me has two sisters who find a hidden door in a cemetery leading to another dimension. The premise is quite vague (i.e., really hasn’t been formed yet), but more details and a few random scenes have started to materialize to me, I decided I better start jotting them down before they become another fatal victim to the bright and shiny object syndrome that plagues my mind. Not sure how the dots will connect together or if they even will connect. I have two other writings that are nearer completion I would rather be working on, but they do not seem to be cooperating at the moment.
Any hoo, I highly recommend Coraline, in fact it is now a must to add to my own personal library.
Okay back to Coraline, which was fantastically fiendish. Like his other books I have read, he lured me in and next thing I know, I can’t put the book down until the end. Since I have started writing again, I have discovered how good writing inspires writing. A story has been milling around in my head for the past month. Similar to his book with a little girl who finds a locked door in her apartment leading to another dimension, the one that keeps coming to me has two sisters who find a hidden door in a cemetery leading to another dimension. The premise is quite vague (i.e., really hasn’t been formed yet), but more details and a few random scenes have started to materialize to me, I decided I better start jotting them down before they become another fatal victim to the bright and shiny object syndrome that plagues my mind. Not sure how the dots will connect together or if they even will connect. I have two other writings that are nearer completion I would rather be working on, but they do not seem to be cooperating at the moment.
Any hoo, I highly recommend Coraline, in fact it is now a must to add to my own personal library.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Editing and Illying
Working through another set of Willow May revisions. Still in talks with the one-eyed clowns and joining them this time is the vampire. Even though a smaller group this time around, it doesn’t get any easier. Oh, but I wanted to let you know that the Ringmaster who has been refusing to give me his name...is still refusing.
On a happier note, or at least for me. The illustrations are coming along fantastically! One character in particular my sister totally nailed. He is a reoccurring key figure and he is absolutely perfect in every scene!!
Oh, I am in my happy place now....
On a happier note, or at least for me. The illustrations are coming along fantastically! One character in particular my sister totally nailed. He is a reoccurring key figure and he is absolutely perfect in every scene!!
Oh, I am in my happy place now....
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
What’s in a Name
One of the main characters in Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival, the Ringmaster, is sophisticated, intelligent, cultured, a classy dresser, yet, has a mysterious and foreboding air about him. In fact, he is so mysterious...he refuses to give me his name. Does not matter how politely I have asked him, he will not give it up.
I am getting ready to send off another draft to the editor and am still having to use a placeholder for him, Corbin Barnabas. Nope, that is not his name, way too Dark Shadows for me. I am started to get concerned. My sister tells me not to stress about it. She says the name will come to me when I least expect it. One day I will be standing in line at Starbucks and blurt out, “Yappernettle Squashernot!!” In this particular example, it is somewhat of a relief that has not happened, as the Ringmaster would not approve of the name Yappernettle Squashernot, and the Starbuck baristas would probably not appreciate me spontaneously shouting that out while in line.
My sister thinks it will mystically appear to me some night in a dream, but so far no late night visitors. I have been reading the obituaries as well as surfing the net and finding sites such as:
http://www.babynames.com/Names/spooky.php
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-char.php
http://www.behindthename.com/
But alas, still no name.
I am getting ready to send off another draft to the editor and am still having to use a placeholder for him, Corbin Barnabas. Nope, that is not his name, way too Dark Shadows for me. I am started to get concerned. My sister tells me not to stress about it. She says the name will come to me when I least expect it. One day I will be standing in line at Starbucks and blurt out, “Yappernettle Squashernot!!” In this particular example, it is somewhat of a relief that has not happened, as the Ringmaster would not approve of the name Yappernettle Squashernot, and the Starbuck baristas would probably not appreciate me spontaneously shouting that out while in line.
My sister thinks it will mystically appear to me some night in a dream, but so far no late night visitors. I have been reading the obituaries as well as surfing the net and finding sites such as:
http://www.babynames.com/Names/spooky.php
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-char.php
http://www.behindthename.com/
But alas, still no name.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Editing and Illying
Received the first Willow May draft of the text back from the editor and have been busy working with the one-eyed clowns, zombies, and moon these last few weeks. I also need to have a discussion with one of the skeletons and see if perhaps the Ringmaster would be kind enough to give me his name. Meanwhile Pam is busy sketching away. One of the clown revisions required a change to the illy, but then Pam came up with the cutest idea that I know everyone is going to get a kick out of. She excels at enhancing the experience by adding these little eye-catching nuances, subtle but yet so impacting. I don’t know if illustrators realize the goddess-like power they possess when making stories come alive. In total awe right now.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Ringmasters, Carousels and Werewolves
Finally had to let go and send the first draft of Willow May to the editor. I think I was driving my sister crazy with the pre-editor revisions. I am still wrestling with one of the character’s names, the Ringmaster. Up until now the name has been “need-a-name”, but I am not liking the sound of that and it was not flowing well with the passages. The name I have in this draft, Art McNapal, is sooooo not his name, but may fit well in another tale, so it will go in my name file, but needs to come out of this story.
Meanwhile, Pam did a rough layout of the story to begin the illustration process. I had a different vision of the first page, but she showed me the errors of my way, and I am quite happy now with the introduction of Willow May. There were two illustrations that I wanted to have their own spreads, the carousel and the werewolf band with the dancing witches. That required a bit of finessing, especially with the carousel, but we figured out how to do it. Pam is starting on the sketches for the first few pages. I think I mentioned before about working on having more patience...but I can’t wait to see them!!
Meanwhile, Pam did a rough layout of the story to begin the illustration process. I had a different vision of the first page, but she showed me the errors of my way, and I am quite happy now with the introduction of Willow May. There were two illustrations that I wanted to have their own spreads, the carousel and the werewolf band with the dancing witches. That required a bit of finessing, especially with the carousel, but we figured out how to do it. Pam is starting on the sketches for the first few pages. I think I mentioned before about working on having more patience...but I can’t wait to see them!!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Book Decision Made
My timing has never been the best and this was no exception. I finished the initial draft for Willow May at the end of August right in time for the retail season rush, which meant the web work took over again. Pam was also tied up at that time with illustrating and designing a cookbook for Gail Riley the owner of the award winning Highland Haven Inn. The book project plus holiday designing consumed her for the rest of the year. By the by, the cookbook, Colorado Cravings, turned out gorgeous and has been a huge success.
In January I completed another story draft from an idea based on a love one’s phobia of snowmen. The story had been milling around in the back my head for a few years. It came out in first person like Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart, and I am not one for first person, but that is how it came out. I went ahead and sent it to my sister to give her another story option for our first book. She claimed to struggle with the decision between the chilling snowmen and Willow May. She could draw from her past experience of snowmen illustrating from her holiday line (even did a rough sketch of one sneaking through a bedroom window, she captured the frozen horror of it perfectly), but it was Willow May’s creatures of the Midnight Carnival that were whispering in her ear to bring them to life. We made the final decision over lattes, as important decisions should be made. The birth of Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival began.
In January I completed another story draft from an idea based on a love one’s phobia of snowmen. The story had been milling around in the back my head for a few years. It came out in first person like Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart, and I am not one for first person, but that is how it came out. I went ahead and sent it to my sister to give her another story option for our first book. She claimed to struggle with the decision between the chilling snowmen and Willow May. She could draw from her past experience of snowmen illustrating from her holiday line (even did a rough sketch of one sneaking through a bedroom window, she captured the frozen horror of it perfectly), but it was Willow May’s creatures of the Midnight Carnival that were whispering in her ear to bring them to life. We made the final decision over lattes, as important decisions should be made. The birth of Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival began.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Writer’s Block Break Through – Kind of
It had been almost a year since my corporate exit, and still no complete story. My sister and her husband had planned a long weekend road trip coming up in a few weeks. Besides always packing her art supplies, Pam also packs plenty of reading material when traveling. My goal was to have a story completed in time to send with her on her trip.
Every time I mentioned writing a book, the immediate response was I needed to write one about my little calico. I couldn’t really argue because she is Miss Personality Plus and my world pretty much, okay completely, revolves around her. A small stray that found and trained me well. I tried writing a story about our garden strolls and then one about her and one of Pam’s beagles, but both seemed forced and contrived. Then I had a series of short stories started, but I needed at least three more to give it substance. I started writing one, then deleted it, then started it again, then deleted it, and then just stared at blank screen typing and deleting random letters. After the several starts and deletes, I decided to turn to Willow May. The little girl who was the catalyst to this whole adventure from the beginning.
Willow May had teased me off and on during the months after I quit my job. She started out more as a poem about a little girl going to a carnival. The first few lines came quickly until we got to the carousel. I just could not get past the carousel. I would try to skip ahead, but no matter how I tried, I ended up back at the carousel. Willow May and I would play for a while, and then I would close her back up for another couple of months. I was wanting to write her in a Tim Burton fashion frosted with Gris Grimly and a sprinkle of Dr. Seuss on top all placed in a deep dark Poe crust. I don’t know why I would have writer’s block?
I had only a few weeks before my sister left on her vacation to persuade Willow May to let me get beyond the carousel. She was a stubborn little girl and I cannot say I ever had that break through moment where my fingers could barely keep up on the keyboard with the over flowing of passages. But she did let me finish, yes, I had a finished story! Did it have gaps? Oh my gosh did it ever have gaps, but unlike my other writings, these gaps weren’t like the first half, middle, or last half of the story. I had passages that I had alternatives lines out to the side, passages that were totally misbehaving and I knew needed discipline, and a main character who refused to give me his name, BUT the storyline was complete. I emailed it to my sister on the eve of her trip, I think the email was as long as the story.
That weekend seemed like an eternity waiting for her response, and then when she got back, she made no mention of it. I took no reply to mean she hated it and was trying to figure out how to tell me without hurting my feelings. She finally emailed me, then called, she said she enjoyed the story, and one particular character highly amused her. I will admit, I was hoping for a little more, you know, “OMG! I love it! I laughed, I cried, I laughed again, I reached a higher spiritual plane and I am an overall better person now for reading it.” Okay, that probably was a lot to ask and should be happy with the enjoying of it and being highly amused by one of the characters. Anyway, one major step...actually having a completed story.
Every time I mentioned writing a book, the immediate response was I needed to write one about my little calico. I couldn’t really argue because she is Miss Personality Plus and my world pretty much, okay completely, revolves around her. A small stray that found and trained me well. I tried writing a story about our garden strolls and then one about her and one of Pam’s beagles, but both seemed forced and contrived. Then I had a series of short stories started, but I needed at least three more to give it substance. I started writing one, then deleted it, then started it again, then deleted it, and then just stared at blank screen typing and deleting random letters. After the several starts and deletes, I decided to turn to Willow May. The little girl who was the catalyst to this whole adventure from the beginning.Willow May had teased me off and on during the months after I quit my job. She started out more as a poem about a little girl going to a carnival. The first few lines came quickly until we got to the carousel. I just could not get past the carousel. I would try to skip ahead, but no matter how I tried, I ended up back at the carousel. Willow May and I would play for a while, and then I would close her back up for another couple of months. I was wanting to write her in a Tim Burton fashion frosted with Gris Grimly and a sprinkle of Dr. Seuss on top all placed in a deep dark Poe crust. I don’t know why I would have writer’s block?
I had only a few weeks before my sister left on her vacation to persuade Willow May to let me get beyond the carousel. She was a stubborn little girl and I cannot say I ever had that break through moment where my fingers could barely keep up on the keyboard with the over flowing of passages. But she did let me finish, yes, I had a finished story! Did it have gaps? Oh my gosh did it ever have gaps, but unlike my other writings, these gaps weren’t like the first half, middle, or last half of the story. I had passages that I had alternatives lines out to the side, passages that were totally misbehaving and I knew needed discipline, and a main character who refused to give me his name, BUT the storyline was complete. I emailed it to my sister on the eve of her trip, I think the email was as long as the story.
That weekend seemed like an eternity waiting for her response, and then when she got back, she made no mention of it. I took no reply to mean she hated it and was trying to figure out how to tell me without hurting my feelings. She finally emailed me, then called, she said she enjoyed the story, and one particular character highly amused her. I will admit, I was hoping for a little more, you know, “OMG! I love it! I laughed, I cried, I laughed again, I reached a higher spiritual plane and I am an overall better person now for reading it.” Okay, that probably was a lot to ask and should be happy with the enjoying of it and being highly amused by one of the characters. Anyway, one major step...actually having a completed story.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
A Writer’s Block cont...
I had been doing a lot of web work that involved writing web copy so I would tell myself I was really writing, just not stories. I convinced myself other tasks were more important, more tangible, and more directly related to earning a living. It is a mindset I feel both my sister and I struggle to over come. With my sister, I think it is the concept that one cannot enjoy their job, and since she enjoys illustrating our story, it can’t be a real job. Getting to redraw a tractor or set up a brochure, that is a real job, but creating and painting dragons and gargoyles for a living, please that’s fun, so it can’t be a real job.
For me I think it is the radical shift of change from number to words. Analytical problem solving with numbers is a breeze compared with writing a story. Building a model to take net revenue down to a factory widget level to forecast needed resources based on productivity metrics and system enhancements, then determining cost reduction and avoidance benefits as well as DMOQ impacts, piece of cake. Putting a string of words together to make coherent sense in addition to being entertaining, not a piece of cake. Perhaps it is because with numbers there is usually a right and wrong answer, but with words it is more subjective. I know there are rules of grammar, proper sentence structure and the avoidance of my greatest vocabulary adversary...adverbs.
I confess, I had no earthly idea until I read Stephen King’s Memoirs on Writing, how quite hideously vulgar these monstrous modifiers really were in writing. After finally finishing Mr. King’s book on his harsh view of these loathly despicable words, I slowly started to really notice when writing emails, posts, and manuscripts, I certainly quite especially liked using these dreadfully submissively nemesis of words. Truthfully, I don’t really particularly remember adverbs having such a very bad rap when I was going through school, but I am sure they probably did. I should actually research to see when exactly adverbs became such a rather large nuisance to the literary language. When did humans stop shouting and start shouting angrily? When did we stop whispering and start whispering quietly? When did we quit slamming the door and start slamming the door loudly? When did I totally go off in a tangent and start sarcastically babbling on about adverbs? I will stop instantly.
For me I think it is the radical shift of change from number to words. Analytical problem solving with numbers is a breeze compared with writing a story. Building a model to take net revenue down to a factory widget level to forecast needed resources based on productivity metrics and system enhancements, then determining cost reduction and avoidance benefits as well as DMOQ impacts, piece of cake. Putting a string of words together to make coherent sense in addition to being entertaining, not a piece of cake. Perhaps it is because with numbers there is usually a right and wrong answer, but with words it is more subjective. I know there are rules of grammar, proper sentence structure and the avoidance of my greatest vocabulary adversary...adverbs.
I confess, I had no earthly idea until I read Stephen King’s Memoirs on Writing, how quite hideously vulgar these monstrous modifiers really were in writing. After finally finishing Mr. King’s book on his harsh view of these loathly despicable words, I slowly started to really notice when writing emails, posts, and manuscripts, I certainly quite especially liked using these dreadfully submissively nemesis of words. Truthfully, I don’t really particularly remember adverbs having such a very bad rap when I was going through school, but I am sure they probably did. I should actually research to see when exactly adverbs became such a rather large nuisance to the literary language. When did humans stop shouting and start shouting angrily? When did we stop whispering and start whispering quietly? When did we quit slamming the door and start slamming the door loudly? When did I totally go off in a tangent and start sarcastically babbling on about adverbs? I will stop instantly.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
A Writer’s Life...A Writer’s Block
The first few weeks after I gave noticed the goddesses were courting my writing muse and me every night. In fact, on that infamous plane trip back home, a character came to me. She openly gave me her name, Willow May, and shared a little about herself, but not her story. However, I did have a story that had been lingering around in the back of my mind. It had been there for some time, ever since my sister and I caught Bedazzled one late night on TV. Not the recent version, but the original with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. That movie sparked an idea for a story. It did not have to do with selling your soul to the devil, but more with death and how to bargain your way out of it. However, what I thought was just one story, ended up being a series of short ones, and did not follow my initial plot line at all.
Then when it was official and my day job became my writing job, do you know what happened? Those goddesses with their dark and fickle sense of humor left. Can you believe that? Not only did they leave, but also they took my writing muse with them. I have the up-most respect and admiration for the Universe and the messages she conveys. It is that sometimes, okay, most of the time, I just don’t get them. What is she trying to tell me?!?
Staring at a blank screen with the appearance of doing nothing was excruciating for me. I came from a corporate background where you had at least 2 conference calls going at once while responding to emails, working on 5 spreadsheets, and answering the questions of 10 different people on 10 different subjects who have wandered into your office within 10 minutes. I needed to be writing, writing, writing, like the wind, fingers unable to keep up, 80,000 words in an hour, an epic series of novels in a week, writing, writing, writing. I tried several free writing exercises, but the concept was difficult to grasp. To write non-stop for 30 minutes for no reason and it doesn’t have to make sense because it never has to be used...what?!? I mean please, I was a productivity manager for goodness sake, every second has to count for manufacturing that widget, or in my case now, that story. Hum, perhaps having a little more patience may be something I need to work on too.
Then when it was official and my day job became my writing job, do you know what happened? Those goddesses with their dark and fickle sense of humor left. Can you believe that? Not only did they leave, but also they took my writing muse with them. I have the up-most respect and admiration for the Universe and the messages she conveys. It is that sometimes, okay, most of the time, I just don’t get them. What is she trying to tell me?!?
Staring at a blank screen with the appearance of doing nothing was excruciating for me. I came from a corporate background where you had at least 2 conference calls going at once while responding to emails, working on 5 spreadsheets, and answering the questions of 10 different people on 10 different subjects who have wandered into your office within 10 minutes. I needed to be writing, writing, writing, like the wind, fingers unable to keep up, 80,000 words in an hour, an epic series of novels in a week, writing, writing, writing. I tried several free writing exercises, but the concept was difficult to grasp. To write non-stop for 30 minutes for no reason and it doesn’t have to make sense because it never has to be used...what?!? I mean please, I was a productivity manager for goodness sake, every second has to count for manufacturing that widget, or in my case now, that story. Hum, perhaps having a little more patience may be something I need to work on too.
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