September 2009
I can’t believe I just wrote an entire blog post about my hair
31 August 2009
So I’m being influenced by my own characters. Which is a little pathetic seeing as I’m the one who created them. The main character I’m working with now, Gabby, has hair she doesn’t know how to manage. (And, yes, that I borrowed from my real life.) So for as long as Gabby can remember, she’s just tied it back in a slightly messy knot.
Uh, guess what hair style I’ve been sporting for the last couple months?
Unless it’s a day that I’m on TV, meeting with a business contact, or having my picture taken for the local paper (which you can see here, by the way), my hair is up in its knot. And my thought process literally is, “Well, Gabby does it.” It’s sad, scary stuff when you start making decisions based on whether your main character would approve or disapprove. Although hopefully it comes through in the writing and makes Gabby live and breathe.
Or maybe it doesn’t, and I’m just a combination of lazy and crazy.
Writing Wednesday—How Do You Come Up With Characters?
1 September 2009
The short answer to this is: I don’t know. If you’re satisfied with that, you may stop reading now.
If not, here’s my attempts to answer.
How I come up with characters is often similar to how I come up with ideas. I’ve talked somewhere about how full books come to me in snatches. Like the one I’m working on now, my first “snatch” of the idea occurred as McKenna and I were leaving the grocery store. I spotted a vanity plate that said, “Buffy.”
My basic thought process was this: Oh, like Ryan Buffington (A boyfriend in 8th grade.) Huh, what if Ryan was here? It’d probably be kind of weird to see him again. I wonder what would have happened if Ryan moved in 8th grade, and I never met Ben. What if I carried a torch for him for those years he was gone, only to have him randomly return to school junior year or something? And then he’d be really surprised that I still liked him … and he’d probably think I was pretty crazy.
By itself, this is barely an opening scene. It has to be pieced together with other “snatches” to become a full book. And characters are the same way.
Like the first thing I knew about Skylar was that I didn’t want her to be anything like me. I’d tried that a few times, writing about quieter girls, and they were just too me. It didn’t work. So I made Skylar the opposite of everything I felt I was. I wrote a draft this way and then realized Skylar had almost no motivation for being the total snot I’d created. And my guess is that she needs motivation to be snotty same as I need motivation to be not-snotty. So I worked on finding motivation for Skylar.
Usually I spend the first draft figuring out what makes my characters tick. Lots of people have created “character worksheets” in which they interview their characters. I know that works for a lot of writers, but for me all that’s worked is spending time with my characters. Pushing them into situations that challenge them. (Poor Skylar really got worked over as I tried to figure her out.)
The fabulous thing about writing primarily teenage characters it that it’s a time in life where all of us are trying to figure out who we are and where we fit into the world. So for me, it’s been very natural that as I discover things about my character, they’re discovering them about themselves as well.
The only other insight I have to share about characters is that they need to have a past. (I’m speaking primarily to aspiring writers at the moment.) One of the biggest things that makes characters read flat is how they seemingly appeared in the world on page one of the book. It’s not enough to just say that Jane and Sally have been best friends since the first grade, the readers need to be able to feel that. They need a history as complicated as yours would be if you were still close with your elementary buds. And this isn’t just something newbies do. I’ve read published books where I’m like, “Okay … why doesn’t this girl have any friends? She’s lived in this town her whole life, she doesn’t have a single friend?” Sigh.
Okay, that’s all for today’s installment of Writing Wednesday.
Can I have my comfort zone back?
2 September 2009
Yesterday I was a guest speaker for the Johnson County Regional Prevention Center Youth Leadership Conference. They asked me to speak for 10 or so minutes about … well, kinda whatever I wanted. They thought my story of publication—that I started sending in manuscripts to publishing houses at 17—my age, and the topic of my book would be very applicable to what they do. When I agreed to it, all I saw was a wonderful opportunity to hang out with teenagers and get some publicity. It wasn’t until later that it occurred to me that 1. 200 teens qualifies as a crowd. I’m not a big fan of speaking in front of crowds. 2. I haven’t written, memorized, and delivered a speech since my senior year of high school. In which I preformed it for the 7 girls in my class. 3. I could really screw this up.
Something that’s started to bug me about Christian fiction (and yes, this does tie in!) is when a character is facing something challenging/scary, after they pray about it or realize it’s part of God’s plan, they feel a sense of peace wash over them. This certainly happens, but it doesn’t always happen. In the last month, as I’ve dwelled on the three things above (1. 200=lots of kids, 2. I have zero experience. 3. I could really screw this up) I’ve wrestled with bouts of nerves. Even though I prayed A LOT. Even though I knew God created this opportunity for me.
Tuesday night, I took my Bible and The Signature of Jesus up to my room for an extra quiet time before bed. I prayed for a long time and joked to God, “Is this why you keep creating these kinds of events for me? Because I always talk to you more?” As the words left my mouth, it occurred to me that all this—the speaking gigs, the television time—is really an answer to prayer. Not about promoting Me, Just Different but about increasing in faith, something I’ve been asking for these last couple months. My faith won’t grow a whole lot while I’m in my comfort zone—behind my computer, working with my characters, and doing blog interviews where I just write out responses to the questions. My faith grows most when I’m being stretched. When I find myself in a situation where I need more than I have—more confidence, more poise, more talent.
So while I can’t say I knocked ’em dead yesterday at the conference, I do feel like I gave 100% of what I could, and that now it’s about trusting God to take care of the rest.
Book Friday – Miss Fortune by Sara Mills
3 September 2009
Miss Fortune by Sara Mills is one of those books I kept hearing other writers talk about. I finally ordered myself a copy because I was tired of being left out. When it arrived, however, I was in the midst of judging a contest so I asked my mom, who loves mysteries, if she wanted to borrow it.
When Mom returned a few days later, as she walked up the grass to my front step, she held Miss Fortune in the air and declared “loved it, loved it, loved it.” And in the last week, I’ve finally been able to experience it for myself.
What I love about Miss Fortune is that I’ve never read anything else like it. It’s written in a film noir style. The closest thing I’ve read to it is The Maltese Falcon, and that certainly isn’t from a woman’s perspective. I’ve also never read a historical set in the 40s, so I enjoyed all the period stuff in there, such as hat pins and formal dinners. (Some of the dinners read like scenes from Gilmore Girls. Anybody else feel that way? Dad’s nose in the paper, Mom’s nose in her daughter’s business…)
The other thing that really stuck out to me was how light the spiritual stuff was. Even lighter than Me, Just Different so I’m curious about complaints Sara might have received. But—and bear in mind that this is coming from a girl who often thinks less is more with spiritual storylines—when you’re reading a page-turning mystery, you really don’t want your heroine kneeling to pray before she shoots the bad guys. You want her to just, you know, SHOOT.
The second in the series, Miss Match is on my shelf as well, so I’ll be interested to see how Allie Fortune, P.I. develops in the coming books.
I’m out of style with the foodies too
7 September 2009
So there’s a reason I don’t subscribe to Jane or Vogue. Okay, there’s lots of reasons, but one is that I know I’m not on the edge of style, I don’t care enough to change this fact, and I don’t need to feel bad about it when I’m trying to unwind with a magazine. Although more and more it seems like my magazines just pile up until I decide to clean out the magazine rack, and then I race through them in search of interesting recipes.
But anyway. The one magazine that I’m pretty consistent about reading is Everyday with Rachael Ray. A couple nights ago, I was perusing a recent issue while McKenna played in the bathtub and came across an in and out list for FOOD.
Clothes, fine. Décor, sure. Music, okay. But food??? Don’t you just like what you like?
The first thing that’s out is artificially flavored coffees, like hazelnut or Irish cream. Now, I don’t use creamer in my coffee, but as a seasoned coffee drinker, I feel like it’s a very personal drink. When I’m enjoying my first cup of the day, I don’t want to have the thought, “But it’s so last year to drink coffee black.” (What’s “in,” for those who are curious, is quirky tea flavors.)
Something else that’s out is “sweet and sour.” Which is a real shame, because I’m a big fan of sweet and sour chicken. Instead, what’s in is sweet and salty. A flavor combo I also really like. Especially in the form of Caramel Pretzel Crunch Concrete’s at Sheridan’s.
Another “out” is long-cooking, heavy, carb-rich casserole cuisine. Instead those who are worried about being a fashionable foodie should eat vibrant asian flavors in dishes like tangy curries. I’m not entirely sure why these two were placed in juxtaposition, but Rachael says.
This is the one that made me roll my eyes: Out- Supersized meals served family style. In – Tapas-Style meals with lots of small dishes. Okay, you know whoever came up with this doesn’t do dishes in their house, and doesn’t understand the benefits of having leftovers in the fridge.
So there you have it. Hope you all fared better than I did and don’t walk away feeling like not only do you not know how to dress yourself or style your hair, but you also aren’t even “with it” when it comes to dining.
Writing Wednesday—It’s not just about writing
8 September 2009
So, I’ve been totally thrown off by Labor Day. I had a whole blog entry written up before I realized it’s not Tuesday, it’s Wednesday. Sheesh. Anyway. On with the show.
One of the things I was naïve about in first grade when I decided I wanted to be a writer is how much more it is than writing. (Although at age six, speaking for a crowd would have delighted me.)
When you start pursuing publication, you quickly learn that the quality of your writing isn’t the only thing that matters but your “platform” as well. Any name recognition you have is good. Like if you’ve written a book about a woman who loves to garden, and you’re the president of the gardening society in your town, that counts as a platform. My friend Roseanna runs Christian Review of Books and has created an amazing platform for herself by becoming a name in the industry. I routinely see her name featured on the endorsement pages of books.
It’s not impossible to get published without a platform, which I’m proof of. But it happens so rarely that even my agent was shocked. I think she said to me about ten times, “I just can’t believe we got you published. You have no experience, no platform, you write an unproven genre…” My road to publication is a constant reminder to me that God is bigger than the publishing industry.
The really difficult thing for me has been that because I have no platform, I also have no experience at promoting myself, talking in front of large groups, designing marketing campaigns, and so on. Basically the only thing I’m good at is writing, and it’s what I’ve been primarily focused on for the last eight years.
My mother-in-law has talked with me about the book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, and I feel like even the title applies to my situation. My narrow focus got me to where I am. I worked as a full time writer for three years before we had McKenna. But now that I’m an author, it doesn’t get to be all about the writing anymore. I line up speaking engagements and book signings, both of which terrify me. I print postcards to promote said engagements, I keep track of all my writing expenses for tax purposes, I give interviews and solicit opportunities for more, I follow industry trends as best as I can, and the list goes on. Sometimes it’s very overwhelming, and I would like to go back to the days where I could devote my allotted work time to writing.
But then I get a piece of fan mail from someone who read my book because they heard me speak at an event. Or, while I’m nervously spitting out my spiel in front of 200 middle and high school students, I notice two friends exchange a look and smile at something I say. (Or maybe they were smiling because they noticed my hands trembling, but I’ll assume the smile was in regards to my actual words.)
It goes back to what I talked about on Thursday. The “platform things” pull me out of my comfort zone and stretch me. The writing rejuvenates me. If you’re pursuing publication, be prepared that it’s not just sitting in front of your computer, drinking coffee, and cracking yourself up with your own brilliance. If only…
Happy Wednesday everyone!
Reader e-mails
9 September 2009
I had a darling e-mail from a girl named Hannah. If you happen to see this, Hannah, I tried e-mailing you back but it kept failing. I’m not ignoring you!
I don’t know how possible it really is, but I hope I’m always able to respond to every piece of reader mail I receive. Even if there were days where all I did was e-mail (a person can dream about that much fan mail, right?) it seems like it’d be worth it to me. It’s so nice to hear from readers and know what aspects of your book particularly touched them. Receiving those e-mails makes me a better writer.
It’s funny because reader e-mail is something I always knew would make me feel good about myself. Something I never anticipated making me feel so good is my daughter brushing my hair. Over the weekend, McKenna discovered my brush and thinks it’s tons of fun to have me sit on the ground while she brushes my hair. For her age, she’s surprisingly gentle, but even on the occasions that she hits a knot or smacks me with the brush, there’s still something wonderful and refreshing about the experience.
Parenthood, while fabulous, is draining. McKenna doesn’t tell me she loves me or appreciates me. Heck, McKenna won’t even kiss me. And it’s rare that she initiates a hug. So even though brushing my hair was just a fun game to her, to me it felt like a gesture. Like she was doing something to show she cares about me. Even with the occasional clunk of the brush against my head, the experience was spa-level relaxing.
I often notice parallels to writing and parenthood. In both, there’s a ton of investment up front with no guaranteed return. When you’re writing a book (or when I’m writing a book anyway) it’s a closed-door process. I may talk about it with writing partners or my husband, but no one sees the book until it’s been edited a couple times. For a very long time, all I focus on is what I did wrong, what needs to be fixed. It’s a lot of work, and I’m never really sure it’ll turn out the way I hope and imagine. When I receive fan letters, I get this sensation of, “Ah. I did something right.” So thanks to those who have taken the time to write.
Hope everyone enjoys their Thursday.
Book Friday – Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
10 September 2009
I can’t believe it’s Friday already. When Ben works a shortened week, it totally throws me off. (But I’m not complaining!)
So Ben was gone all last week on a camping trip and I read Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer as intended. I didn’t do the listening-to-Muse-while-reading thing because I was too tired to do anything but flop on the couch and read. And even though I knew everything that happened, there were still nights that I had a tough time closing my book and going to sleep. Even when I did close my book, I was thinking through the whole Bella/Edward/Jacob situation.
I’ve put a lot of thought into why I like the Twilight Saga so much. Probably more thought than is healthy. I always come back to the same conclusion—I DON’T KNOW. But I already feel like I could reread books one through three again. I’ve even thought about rereading Breaking Dawn, which I swore to Ben I would never do. (The book wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t what I wanted.)
I often get asked why I write for teenagers, and my answer is pretty similar to the one regarding Twilight—I don’t really know. They just happen to be the stories I have inside me. And I know it’s a good fit for me because teen fiction is what I latch onto in my pleasure reading time too. I’ve loved a lot of books written for adults, but other than Jane Austen, I haven’t reread any of them. But I think I’ve read This Lullaby about five times. I’ve read the first three books of the Twilight Saga twice just in the last six months. And—this is a little embarrassing—I watched the movie twice while Ben was gone. Two nights in a row. I’m crazy excited for the release of New Moon. Not so crazy that we’ll be at a midnight showing, but crazy enough that I think about it embarrassingly often.
Oh, wait, I’m talking about Eclipse.
And this is why I’ll never be a fabulous book reviewer. My official stance on Eclipse is that I don’t know why, but I love it.
Enjoy the weekend!
Unexpected and much-needed fan mail
13 September 2009
So one of the semi-awkward moments in my life has always been when people asked, “So where did you go to college?” and I get to do the whole, “Oh, I actually didn’t go anywhere.” Depending on the relationship I either tack on, “I stayed in Kansas City and worked instead,” or I also go through a spiel about not being able to find the right school. Since getting published, this conversation has become remarkably less embarrassing. I have proof that I wasn’t partying away the last eight years and that the college degree wasn’t absolutely necessary for me.
When I made the decision to forego college—although saying that makes it sound like it was one decision rather than several spread over varying semesters, but anyway—I received a mix bag of reactions. Some were silently displeased. Others were quite verbal. Many were supportive, but in that, “Okay, if that’s what you really think is best…” kind of way. And I understood, because me not going to college was a huge surprise even to me. I had been groomed for college. Growing up, the college talk always went like this in my house, “When you go away to college…” It was a given that I would go somewhere. And then I didn’t. I remember the August/September when all my friends scattered to their various schools, and I felt like everybody else was surging into adulthood, and I was still living in inbetween-ville.
And when I say all my friends, I mean all my friends. Because I didn’t go to a regular high school, I went to Notre Dame de Sion College Preparatory School for Girls. (Affectionately called Sion because the full name’s a mouthful.) It was a school designed to get me into college. It’s in the freaking title. I spent senior year watching my friends fall in love with their future schools while I kept looking at brochures and feeling more and more scared.
Fear is a lousy excuse to not do something, though it’s worked out fine for me. I wouldn’t trade a single thing in my life, and because of that I can’t bring myself to regret any of the decisions that brought me here. But something in the back of my mind that’s always nagged at me was that I let my school down. (Had my parents acted like paying for a college prep education that didn’t end in college, I’d have felt bad about that too, but they’re fine.) My English teacher and college counselor told me not to worry about it. That’s not exactly my style. I had chalked up Sion’s potential disappointment in me to being one of those things you just have to deal with when you follow God’s plan for your life. Where people don’t really get it, they might never get it, and you just have to tell your ego to be quiet.
And then on Friday night I opened a piece of mail from Sion. They often send notices about fund raisers or events going on at the school. But this was a personal letter from the head of the school saying how she’d seen my article in The Star, that Sion was proud of me, and that she was excited I was coming to speak for Career Day. I was super impressed that she’d addressed it to both Mrs. Stephanie Morrill and that she called me Stevie, my high school nickname.
It’s funny, I didn’t realize how big of a deal it had been to me that I’d let down Sion until Ms. Munninghoff wrote about how proud they were of me. My eyes misted, and I started blubbering to Ben about who-knows-what. I wanted to go put on my uniform and belt out “Vive Sion” for a bit. (I did neither. Instead I wrote a response and stuck it in the mail.)
Happy Monday everyone. Vive Sion.
The Resistance
14 September 2009
Today the new Muse album, The Resistance, releases. I’m heading to the store to buy it, and hopefully it’ll go better than the last album I tried to buy on release day, Jimmy Eat World’s Chase This Light. We’d lived in Kansas City for literally a day, and I stopped by Wal-Mart on my way to somewhere. I thought it would take two minutes to grab the CD off one of the end caps (or however you spell that), and then I would be on my way.
But I couldn’t find the CD on the end cap. And when I went to the Pop/Rock section, they didn’t have any Jimmy Eat World CDs. Not even their self-titled with The Middle on it. Positive that this was a mistake of mine (8 months of pregnancy does something to your brain, I swear) I stopped an employee to ask where the Jimmy Eat World CDs were. He gave me a blank (stoned?) look. I said, “Jimmy. Eat. World. Their new CD comes out today.”
He scratched his head. “I don’t think we have it.”
“You don’t?”
“Nah. We got Toby Keith’s Christmas album, though. That came out today.”
Talk about not knowing your audience. I would venture to guess only two or three people purchased both Chase This Light and Toby Keith’s Christmas album.
I went down the road to Target, who had them stacked on their new releases shelf. And that’s where I’ll be starting my search today. The funny thing is that I’ve already listened to the album about twenty times through MySpace. Which is so different than even two years ago when the only song I knew off Jimmy’s newest was Big Casino.
Okay, time to go shopping. Happy Tuesday everyone!
Writing Wednesday – A Stretch
15 September 2009
My regular Wednesday routine is to talk about some aspect of the writing life. Today the title loosely applies. I’m leaving for the American Christian Fiction Writers annual conference, so this will be the last blog entry until Monday. If you’re in the Denver area (or willing to travel, I suppose) there’s going to be a monstrous book signing on Saturday the 19th from 4 to 5:30pm at The Denver Marriott Tech Center.
I’m crazy excited to go, although this will be a very different conference for me. At previous conferences, I’ve always been stressed about pitching projects and knowing nobody. (Okay in 2006, I knew Erica Vetsch.) This year I know tons of people, and have nothing to pitch. I’m just there to soak up knowledge, network, and sign books. It’ll be a good time.
Below is the list of authors who will be signing. Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!
Carolyne Aarsen
Diane Ashley
Ruth Axtell Morren
Rick Barry
Christina Berry
Lauralee Bliss
Diana Brandmeyer
Sandra Bricker
Margaret Brownley
Candace Calvert
Robin Caroll
Jeanie Smith Cash
Colleen Coble
Brandilyn Collins
Mary Connealy
Shirley Connolly
Margaret Daley
Susan Page Davis
Mary Davis
Janet Dean
Megan DiMaria
Lena Nelson Dooley
Wanda Dyson
Leanna Ellis
Pamela Ewen
Miralee Ferrell
Linda Ford
Tina Ann Forkner
Judy Gann
Jeff Gerke
Rhonda Gibson
Debby Giusti
Sandra Glahn
Elizabeth Goddard
Winnie Griggs
Cathy Marie Hake
Lisa Harris
Mary Hawkins
Roxanne Henke
Cynthia Hickey
Patti Hill
Denise Hunter
Annette Irby
Myra Johnson
Liz Johnson
Jenny Jones
Eileen Key
Laurie Kingery
Kathleen Kovach
Harry Kraus
Jeanne Marie Leach
Tosca Lee
Julie Lessman
Loree Lough
Elizabeth Ludwig
Richard Mabry
Debbie Macomber
Joyce Magnin
Gail Gaymer Martin
Judy/Jude Martin-Urban/Urbanski
Debby Mayne
Aaron McCarver
Vickie McDonough
Dana Mentink
Robin Miller writing as Robin Caroll
DiAnn Mills
Stephanie Morrill
Janelle Mowery
Jill Elizabeth Nelson
Kevin Parsons
Golden Keyes Parsons
Donita K. Paul
Tracie Peterson
Allie Pleiter
Cara Putman
Tara Randel
Deborah Raney
Sandra Robbins
Kim Sawyer
Marc Schooley
Michael Sheehan
Shelley Shepard Gray
Ann Shorey
Beth Shriver
Sandra Lee Smith
Virginia Smith
Betsy St. Amant
Therese Stenzel
Stuart Stockton
Alison Strobel
Michelle Sutton
Camy Tang
Donn Taylor
Janice (Hanna) Thompson
Missy Tippens
Pamela Tracy
Carrie Turansky
Deborah Vogts
Jenness Walker
Dan Walsh
Susan May Warren
Michael Webb
Kit Wilkinson
Lisa Wingate
Beth Wiseman
Kimberley Woodhouse
Lenora Worth
Cheryl Wyatt
Kathleen Y’Barbo
Home from ACFW
21 September 2009
I returned home yesterday from the ACFW conference, I’m not exactly in the swing of things. Part of my brain appears to have been left in Denver, the part that normally answers the question, “Now what should I do?” My conference time was packed, which was good in that all I had to do was look at the agenda in the program book to know where I needed to be next. But as I settle in to get some work done, I realize I’m having a tough time knowing what to do first, and it’s because I haven’t had to think like that since Wednesday night.
Enough of that. One of the things I learned at the conference was that the most effective blog post is a short blog post. I have 100 words left before my time is up. It’s amazing the amount of things you learn you’re doing wrong when you go to one of these things. I well remember how overwhelming it was as a semi-new writer, but even this time I can home with a whole notebook full of things I want to improve on. Now if only I could look at a schedule and have it tell me to write that new scene from 4:30 to 5:00, and then head for the dining room where food would magically appear before me…
For those interested here is a handful of pictures from the conference. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!
The Weather Channel
21 September 2009
Well it’s quite clear to me that what little cool I had in my youth has begun to fade. I know this because when I want to check the weather, I turn on the Weather Channel. I think I’m supposed to have a phone that can tell me the weather, or maybe that I even care about the weather is a sign of waning coolness.
Sometimes I turn on the Weather Channel when I don’t even need to. In Denver, some of us were going to walk a couple blocks to Wendy’s. I turned on the TV and spent three-ish minutes hunting for the Weather Channel. When my roommate, Roseanna, saw what I was doing she gave me a look and said, “Why don’t you just step outside and see what it’s like?” Oh. Right.
But I haven’t started enjoying the Muzak TWC plays during “Local on the 8’s.” Surely that means something, right???
Happy Tuesday everyone!
Writing Wednesday – When do you find time to work?
22 September 2009
This is the question I get asked second most often, which doesn’t surprise me because it’s often something that befuddles me. The technical answer is I write when McKenna’s napping, plus I have helpers two days a week who watch her in the morning. But the answer to the underlying question—how do you get everything done?—is that it’s a miracle. Even though there are often days where McKenna doesn’t sleep as long as I feel I need her to, I have so far managed to get everything turned in by deadline.
I think my writing is like anything else I feel needs to get done. Being a mom certainly makes it challenging, but I still need to shower and eat. Even though it doesn’t always look like it did before kids, somehow it gets squeezed in. It just takes focus and creativity. And, in my case, lots of help.
The odd thing about focus is that I always saw it as a purely good trait. It wasn’t until recently that I realized how problematic focus can be. It helped me get to where I am now, which is good, but during occasions that I need to be flexible (a friend needs me, other things besides writing need to be done during nap time) it’s a real struggle for me to cheerfully give of my time. That’s a balance I’m still learning, that I’ll probably always be learning.
Hope everyone has a good day!
I'm a total baby
23 September 2009
So, I’m afraid of my backyard.
Or afraid isn’t the right word. I’m leery of it. I avoid going back there.
The wariness began in June with the mosquitoes. I’m a mosquito magnet, even with bug spray. I’ll cover every inch of exposed skin only to have them swarm around my hair, looking for an area of weakness. I don’t know what it is about our backyard—the shade, the bird bath—but we have tons of mosquitoes.
Last year, when McKenna wasn’t walking yet, she didn’t care where we were outside just so long as we weren’t in the house. We spent a lot of time on the front lawn where for some reason the mosquitoes aren’t as bad. This year, however, McKenna has definite opinions that she wants to play in the BACKyard. She doesn’t care about the mosquitoes; she cares that the tomato plants are back there and that’s what she wants to see.
Most of the summer, I’ve loaded us up with bug spray, sucked it up, and taken McKenna out back. But a couple weeks ago, the cicada shells began littering the patio. I’m sure there are more disgusting insects on the planet, but I hate cicadas.
Then last week we headed out to see the tomatoes and a huge spider had made a home out of one of our plants. Like one of those big, meaty ones with a web that spans half the side of the house. I was so nervous that I explained to McKenna the big spider freaked me out, and wouldn’t she rather come inside and have a cookie?
Ben took care of the spider while I was out of town (could I love him more?), but today when McKenna and I headed out there, I realized that being in my backyard this time of year really spooks me. The cicada shells, the spiders, the mosquitoes, the overgrown plants that remind me I didn’t do as well with the yard this summer as I intended.
Basically, I realized, I’m a huge baby, and I need to get over my bug fears and act like an adult.
Then I convinced McKenna to grab a couple tomatoes and return to the front yard. Maybe by next year I’ll be an adult.
Book Friday – Over Her Head by Shelley Bates
24 September 2009
When my book club elected to read Over Her Head by Shelley Bates, I was really excited. I’ve exchanged a few e-mails with Shelley over the last couple years, and she’s such a sweet woman. The books I’ve read of Shelley’s have all been part of her YA series, All About Us. The All About Us novels are light, funny, chic-lit reads for teenagers. So when I picked up Over Her Head and saw it was about a woman dealing with her daughter being a murder suspect, I was like, “Oh … this will be different…”
I was impressed from the first line: “Even in November, when the trees were skeletal and the ground covered in dead leaves and puddles, the jogging trail by the river was still Laurie Hale’s favorite place to run.” Skeletal? Dead leaves? Talk about some awesome foreshadowing that all is not well on the jogging trail. Barely three paragraphs later, Laurie discovers the dead body and sets the story in motion.
For those who like a mystery where the blood and horror takes place off-stage, one that focuses more on the relationships of the people in the aftermath, this is your type of book. My only complaint is I would have liked to have known was going on in the head of Laurie’s daughter, Anna, during the whole ordeal. But that’s the YA writer in me.
Have a great weekend everybody!
Puppy Planning
27 September 2009
My parents were nice enough to preserve all my childhood books. When we moved back to town, they happily handed over the boxes, and I put them on the shelf dreaming of the day McKenna would be old enough to enjoy them. A couple days ago, McKenna wanted to read The Mysterious Tadpole, which was always one of my favorites. I opened the book and out fluttered a piece of paper, leftover from the days when all I dreamed of was having a dog of my own (and occasionally marrying Joey from New Kids on the Block):
Dog planning:
Gold color – Penny
Black and White – Tuxedo
Red or Brown – CinnamonNotes:
I want a smaller dog.
I want a friendly dog.
One that doesn’t bite.
One that obeys.
One that stays with you.The Catch:
Talking to Mom and DadI’d guess I was about 9 when I wrote this. We already had one dog, an Old English Sheepdog. I think that’s where the “smaller dog” thing came from, because Trevor weighed 60 pounds, and I’m sure I didn’t weigh much more. I was petitioning for a dog around my size who I could play with more easily. That didn’t work out, but what occurred to me is that I ended up getting what I wanted. His name isn’t Tuxedo, but KC is black and white, he’s only 35 pounds, he’s a nice dog, and—especially for the first couple years of his life—the expression about following someone like a puppy makes complete sense to me. I think 9-year-old me would be pleased.
Even without Joey.
The Office
28 September 2009
I have been addicted to The Office for a few years now. And not just, “Oh, yay, it’s Thursday. The Office is on tonight!” kind of addicted, but watching episodes over and over, watching deleted scenes on the web site, reading bios on the actors and writers, and so on.
I don’t know what happened last season, but it just wasn’t… I don’t even know how to explain. It wasn’t doing it for me. I can’t pinpoint exactly what it was (too relationship-y? too many continuing storylines? the division thingy?) but I went from LOVING LOVING LOVING The Office to simply enjoying it.
So maybe it’s my low expectations, but these first two episodes have been really good. Like the-good-ol’-days kind of good. I don’t know what they changed this season, but good for them. It’s really rare that I feel like a show dips in quality and then comes back just as strong. Usually when it starts to suck, it’s a steady decline until it hits rock bottom and they have to add some lesbian storyline to boost ratings.
I’m back to anticipating Thursday nights. Just two more days…
Writing Wednesday—Why do you write Christian fiction?
29 September 2009
I assure you, it was not planned.
For one thing, I wasn’t even aware it existed. When I realized it did, I picked up a few Christian YA books that shall remain nameless and … let’s just say I knew I wouldn’t fit in. I felt I wrote more like a general market author. But as I toyed with writing for the general market, I felt very strongly like I needed to write for the Christian market instead. That I was meant to.
You might ask, “Why do you have to choose?” The thing is, it’s all about where bookstores shelve you. It’s the same reason why every book is assigned a genre—romance, mystery, young adult, speculative. If you’re looking for a Christian YA book, you want to be able to walk to the Christian YA shelf. If you’re not, you don’t want to accidentally buy one.
But what really pushed me toward writing for the Christian market was being around other Christian writers. My first writers’ conference was a “regular” one, and I didn’t make a single friend. I know this isn’t an absolute truth (I eventually did find community in a general market group called Teen Lit Authors that was started by author Alyssa Day) but at the general market conference, I felt like the other writers were my competitors. We were all competing for the same agents, the same editors, the same release slots.
Not so when I attended the Florida Christian Writers Conference. It’s hard to feel competitive when you gather in a room every morning and worship God together. I felt a sense of community, and that continued when I joined American Christian Fiction Writers.
And thankfully I found Revell, a Christian publisher who accepts the realities I talk about in my books (roofies, teen pregnancy, falling in love as a teen) alongside the message of hope we have as Christians. Zondervan is another excellent house. They actually have plans to create what we call “cross-over” books that are clean enough to fit in the guidelines of the Christian market, but don’t’ have the religious-speak that would keep them off general market shelves. Very exciting stuff.
Happy Wednesday everyone.