Pop on Over

I'm headed to the airport in a few minutes for the Virginia Festival of the Book, but wanted to direct you to my post over at Mid-Century Modern Moms.

See you back here Monday!

One Year Old

One year ago today, I debuted as a blogger. I had no idea how the whole blog world would work out, nor did I have any clue as to how much I would love writing each post (well, maybe not every single one, but 99% of them).

I worried that no one would comment. I worried that I'd run out of things to blog about (yeah, right).

Let me just say, I'm having a blast. I've chatted about my kids, my worries, my dad, my WIPs, revisions. I've been able to recommend books and writers. I've been able to mention causes that matter to me. I've found support in the face of tragedy. I've found friends.

One year ago, I was blathering about my upcoming trip to New Orleans (which totally rocked!); I'm now getting ready to head out for the Virginia Festival of the Book where I'll finally meet--face to face-- my blog pals Carleen and Therese and Jenny. It doesn't seem possible that I haven't "officially" met them, and lots of others, before now because, through this whole cyberworld of e-mails and blogs, and through good old-fashioned phone calls, I already feel as though I've had coffee with them. As though we've commiserated over a carton of good ice cream, celebrated with some good Chardonnay.

In looking over all 75 of my posts in the past year, I think the one I wrote in July about my dog who howls expresses it best.

I want to thank all of you for stopping by, for joining the conversation, for leaving your comments, for letting me know you're out there. The world might be vast and sometimes crowded, other times isolating, but, because of all of you, it rarely feels cold.

So, one year down, many more to come!

Novel 101--Prep Work

So, I've spent the past week working on my next novel. But I haven't added even one word to the document. No, I'm not outlining; I haven't gone over to the darkside or anything, and I am thinking about my characters and their story (because, that's who it belongs to. Them not me.). But, I'm trying to do some prep work, so that when I do sit down with a new pen and a stack of fresh, crisp yellow legal pads, I can leap into the ZONE.

So, with no further ado . . .

1.) Planning Backwards. In my previous life as an English teacher, I learned to approach each new unit with the main question: what do I want my students to know/understand/be able to do at the end of this unit? And once I had that answer(s), I knew where to start and how to plot out my lessons. When I started All the Numbers, I knew I had to get Ellen to that dock at the lake, tossing James' ashes into the wind and letting go of her grief and rage. So, I've spent lots of time thinking about my main characters--where do I want them to be at the end of the book. I'm not worrying about the nuts and bolts of how I'll get them there, that'll happen as the journey progresses, but I want an image to write towards. Last night I came up with a "controlling question" which is, Who are Maggie and Jim and Grandma Foley going to become in a world without Rosie? As I think about that in the days to come, I have to believe their characters will fall into place.

2.) Taking my Waking Slow (with apologies to Theodore Roethke). Some of my very best writing comes when I'm still in bed and barely awake. I love it. I'm still in somewhat of a dreamlike state and my mind wanders freely. Total stream-of-consciousness. And I've learned to embrace that time--whether it's 5 minutes or a half hour. It's a time when an idea will pop up and I'm able to let it float to see if it has legs. This morning the image formed of Jim walking the dark streets when he can't sleep, walking for hours in the middle of the night. And I realized that Maggie had been adopted and suddenly is curious about her birth mother. Now, I'm not sure where these musings will lead, but I've jotted them down in my notes. And in mornings to come I know these snapshots will either become more fully developed or fade away. But I get to practice before I sit down to write. And because of it, when I do put pen to paper I'll much more easily slip into the zone, that wonderful rhythm in writing when the story and characters lift me up and take me to their world and I'm simply recording their story rather than directing it or forcing it.

3.) Starting at the Very Beginning. In July 2004, I attended a week-long workshop on "Your First Twenty Pages." Along with directly leading to my being offered representation and ultimately selling my manuscript to Random House, I finally understood the importance of those first pages, that all-important first chapter. Amy made mention of this when she commented about my last Novel 101 post. This is your reader's entry into the world you've created. Characters are introduced, conflicts are hinted at, voices are established. If your reader, reviewer, editor doesn't make it past the first chapter, your book is dead in the water. With that in mind, all week I've been pulling books off my bookshelves and reading first chapters. Reading slowly. Reading to take notes. These are all books I've read and know and love. So I'm looking to see what is suggested or insinuated in those first few pages. How am I pulled in without my even knowing? And how might I do the same in my first chapters. What needs to be told? What can wait?

Here are the books currently stacked next to me on the sofa--Judith Guest's Ordinary People, Elizabeth Berg's True to Form, Anna Quindlen's Blessings, Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, Kaye Gibbons' Ellen Foster, Anne LeClaire's Entering Normal, and Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried.

So, that's where I am right now. Planning, reading, and falling in love with these characters.

New Blog for Your Perusal

I'll be back later today with my next installment of Novel 101, but I just wanted to announce the official launch of Mid-Century Modern Moms, a group blog for moms of teens and beyond. It's an eclectic group of ten women, all moms, all in the "prime of life" (sounds so much better than middle-aged!), all wending our way with kids who are savvier, taller, and more challenging than we ever imagined. Some of us are novelists, some not. Hop over and check us out.

Wanna Read Like a Pulpwood Queen?

Since I love passing on book suggestions, and since I had such a blast at the Pulpwood Queen Girlfriend Weekend in January, I'm tickled to be passing Kathy Patrick's Pulpwood Queen picks for the next few months. Grab a book and start reading!

January 2008
The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara-Wearing, Book-Sharing Guide to Life by Kathy L. Patrick, Grand Central Publishing

*Bonus Book
The Stylist: A Novel by Cai Emmons, Harper Perennial
From the Heart: Seven Rules to Live By by Robin Roberts, Hyperion

February 2008
Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home by Kim Sunee, Grand Central Publishing

*Bonus Books
The Sweet Life by Lynn York, Plume
The Big Beautiful by Pamela Duncan
March 2008
The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson, UnBridled Books

*Bonus Books
God Said Yes by Heather Hornback Bland, Berkley
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs, Simon & Schuster

April 2008
Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West, Harper

*Bonus Books
One Fell Swoop by Virginia Boyd, Thomas Nelson
All the Numbers by Judy Larsen, Ballantine Books

May 2008
A Model Summer by Paulina Porizkova, Hyperion

*Bonus Book
the memoirs of a beautiful boy by Robert Leleux, St. Martins Press
Women of Magdalene by Rosemary Poole-Carter, Kunati Inc.

June 2008
The Schooling of Claybird Catts by Janis Owens, Harper Paperbacks

*Bonus Book
My Brother Michael by Janis Owens, Pineapple Press
Myra Sims by Janis Owens, Pineapple Press

July 2008
The UnLikely Lavender Queen by Jeannie Ralston, Random House

*Bonus Book
Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag by Michael Tonello, William Morrow

August 2008
Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall & Denver Moore, Thomas Nelson Publishing

*Bonus Book
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafo'n, Penguin

Real Quick

I posted today over at my group blog Mid-Century Modern Moms. Stop in for a visit.

Novel 101

I'm going to try something new here. In my last post, I chatted about starting a new novel. And it occurred to me that it might be interesting to "track"the process every week. Not just word count but explore what I'm doing and why. It's also a distinct possibility that it will turn into sausage. You know, the whole idea of everybody likes it but no one wants to see how it's made. Time (and your comments!) will tell, I guess.

See, with All the Numbers, I had the whole story arc in mind before I even started writing it. I knew Ellen so well because she was quite alot like me. I stole people from my own life to use as characters. So, even though the first draft was only about 1/3 of what it would eventually become, I had all the bones.

I thought I knew how to write a book. Ha.

Then I sat down to write Unexpected Grace. I had a general idea. Told as almost two narratives, through two different voices, one worked from the start, the other was much tougher for me to discover. I finally realized why--with one, I felt like I was bubbling up out of her soul. The other one, I knew what happened to her, but I was always outside of her. That one didn't work. It wasn't until I'd crawled inside of not only her world, but her skin, that her story became compelling.

So, with each book I'm learning.

With Spinning (the working title for my WIP), as I mentioned in my last post, one of the characters nagged at me until I started writing her story down. But before I dove in any more, I've spent the last few days thinking not only about Rosie, but her mom, and Jim and Maggie. I've thought about how I want to tell their stories. I've identified the focal point, the pivotal event that sets their stories in motion. This week, I'm going to try to write out a very loose outline or synopsis. I find that if I know what I'm writing toward, it's much easier for me to get in the zone. The characters seem to let me in more if they know I'm listening.

So, that's my plan for the book. We'll see.