Category Archives: mermaids

The Writer’s Epitaph? Suck it Up, Lest Ye Be Judged

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I’ve been thinking about how we take criticism.  We all get treated to other people’s judgments, deserved or not.  Sometimes we ask for a critique.  Other times we don’t – and we get it anyway!

I’ve been seeing a lot of postings on the Net about critiques and what people consider harsh reviews.  There was the episode, earlier this year, of the writer who committed review-icide over what she thought was unusually harsh criticism in a blog.  Which touched off a firestorm of argument over three days and forced the entire discussion to be closed.

Mostly, writers post more gently, asking the usual why?  Why me?  Why this work?  What do they not get about my writing?  And, since I’ve recently enrolled myself in a website for receiving advance copies of books, and another website where I can post my thoughts on them, I have to consider how a book gets reviewed.  What’s fair?  What isn’t?

Even more important, how would I want MY book to be reviewed, when that happy day arrives?  What does my writing say about me, since a person’s writing is inevitably a window on the writer?  What do I want it to say?

What will your writing say about you?  And how do you want to be remembered for your work?

Which brings the ultimate question:  What is your writer’s epitaph?

 

(PS:  The title for this blog post is the three titles hammered out on my weekend trip to Vermont.  If I can’t decide, why not use all three?)

How My Obsession with the Not-so-Impecunious Robert Pattinson Has Made Me a Better Reader (and therefore a better writer!)

mermaids, Motivation, ,

My age is swirling around in a little filter-like funnel cloud above me right now reminding me that at thirty-six, I am a grown woman and no longer a Bop reading young girl.  I should not be obsessed with teen idols. 

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out, let me say it…who cares?  He’s cute and interesting.  No biggie.

But I do want to give credit where it is due and so here is why I feel compelled to admit to you all what my brain does when I find something or someone fascinating.  It goes into absolute devouring mode. 

I’ve been like this as long as I can remember.  At ten, I fell in love with Sal Mineo’s Plato and read Susan Braudy’s 320 page Who Killed Sal Mineo?

Can obsession really be that bad if it’s motivated me to become an avid reader? 

Here’s what I know.  Today I read a page in Guy de Maupassant’s novel, Bel Ami, where I stumbled over a word I was unfamiliar with.  Impecunious.   Had to look it up.  Turns out it means penniless. 

Have you ever heard that phrase, “There’s what you know.  Then there’s what you don’t know.  And then there’s what you don’t even know you don’t know?” 

Well, today the obsession that sometimes leaves me questioning my own sanity knocked a little piece out of that “what you don’t know” stuff. 

Today, this blog is a spin zone.  I’m inviting you to come out and 1) admit your own guilty obsession and 2) explain (fabricate) how it has made you a better person! 

 

My Robert Pattinson Reading List:

Twilight, Midnight Sun, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer.  Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.  Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant.   Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo.  Doomed Love by Virgil. The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers.  Maniac Eyeball by Salvador Dali & Andre Parinaud.  The Bad Mother’s Handbook by Kate Long.

Ain’t Nobody Gonna Mess With My Nora Roberts!

Kerri Carpenter, mermaids, , ,

The Setting: A Barnes & Noble in Southwestern Pennsylvania
The Characters (emphasis on characters): Me, My Mom & My Dad Driving the Getaway Car 

I attended my first RWA Nationals this past June in New York City. Many, many things stood out to me but one thing that really caught my attention was the use of Nora Roberts. Nora was mentioned in almost every workshop I attended. People brought her name up at lunches and dinners. She was quoted left and right.

Annoying? Hardly. I know you all say you’re Nora’s biggest fan. But you are not. I hold that title and here is why.

About seven years ago, I was visiting my Mom and Dad in Pennsylvania. As with most visits to my parents’, we ended the night at a Barnes & Noble. If we’re in a Barnes & Noble, my Mom and I are in the romance section. And if we’re in the romance section, you know we’re checking the Nora Roberts section within the romance section … on the off-chance we haven’t read every title.

We have.

What should we find on this particular night? The Nora books were NOT in order. They weren’t even alphabetical. No, they were just sitting there all willy-nilly. Trilogies weren’t shelved together. The Stanislaski’s were miles apart. The O’Hurley Triplets were practically in different zip codes. And do not even get me started on how Cameron, Ethan and Phillip Quinn from the Chesapeake Bay series were placed between various single titles.

For two people who discuss Nora characters more often than some of our relatives, this is NOT okay. In fact, I dare say it was disrespectful.

So we did what any fan of Nora would do. We took every book off the shelf and re-shelved the entire section the way we felt it should have been. The way a reader needs to experience Nora.

Now don’t get your panties in a bunch. We did mankind a favor. Just think of the poor virgin Nora reader who could have possibly gone into that store and picked up Amanda Calhoun’s book and read it before knowing what happened in her sister C.C.’s book. What the hell kind of world is that? Certainly not one that I want to live in.

Of course, halfway through this little escapade my Mom and I looked at each other and just lost it. That’s right, in case the massive mounds of books all over the floor weren’t telling enough, my Mother and I were cackling like crazy people (or “laughing like loons” as Nora always says) in the middle of Barnes & Noble while my poor Dad just rolled his eyes and went on to buy a Venti Caramel Macchiato from the in-store Starbucks and pretended not to know us.

So take that supposed fans of Nora. While I may never be a speaker at RWA Nationals, I feel better having shared my story with you.

And yes, I fully intend to smile pretty when the cops show up with my restraining order about two hours after I post this. Viva la Nora!

A Place To Write

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You may remember that back on June 6  I posted about my task to get back on track with my writing and to start putting together a do-able schedule to ensure that I could have time to write and to balance my other duties as a wife, mother, attorney and friend.  So, I read this book:

It was enlightening and helped me focus on my writing style and a realistic set of goals for myself.  I’m an “after-hours/any time opportunity” writer – meaning that I write when everyone else is down for the night and also when I can snatch time during the day. So, I’ve a whole new set of goals and a schedule posted on the fridge and it appears to be working. I’ve met and exceeded my daily word count of 1000 words for the past two weeks and it feels great!

So, the next thing I need to tackle is where I write. Right now it is anywhere I can grab a quiet place and take the laptop.  Usually that’s the sofa in the sitting area in my master suite or down in the “grown-up” living room. But, my husband pointed out that I need a dedicated space where I can go and know that it’s “writing time” – what a guy, right? (Actually, he said, “I’m tired of watching you wander around the house like a homeless Stephen King.”)

So, we have new project – Operation Bestseller (catchy, huh?).  We’ve identified the location and what we need to do get there.  Here’s the location:

That’s my closet. It is 19 feet long –  yep, you read that right. It is the result of adding a third bay to the garage when we built the house and the last 8 feet is going to my new writing space. It will have a small lounge chair, bookshelves and PRIVACY. Aaahhh . . .

And – here is the change:

A closer view. I opted not to have a desk – it felt too much like being on the day job.

I track contests, deadlines and plots on this board:

My wall of inspiration:

Inspiration up close:

I made this – isn’t it cute?

I already need another bookshelf. These are black cubicles from Target.

Part of my Harlequin Blaze collection:

I can feel the creative juices flowing just thinking about it! It so quiet and secluded and I can go in there and focus – What. A. Concept.

Where do you write? Do you have a special place?

Robin

Sex, Sex and More Sex

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I love Tina Fey.

(I know, probably not the first words you expect when reading a blog titled Sex, Sex and More Sex, but I swear it fits in.)

In her movie Date Night there is a scene at the beginning when she comes to bed wearing a ratty old T-shirt and her retainer. Her husband (the adorable Steve Carell) looks at her and says, “I guess were not having sex tonight.” This leads to a discussion of whether they can rally, i.e. change their mindset and get up the energy for sex.

This scene made me laugh out loud. Not because it’s a situation my characters Claire Layton and Jake Warrick encounter in Up a Dry Creek. No way. Those two are so attracted to each other they have to practically sit on their hands not to touch each other. However, as the chronicler of their story, I had to rally a time or two to get in the mood to write hot sex scenes. Face it, even we writers get headaches.

So what do I do to rally? How do I get in the mood to write a sex scene?

Music. I break out the old school Prince. Slow Love is at the top of my list for great songs to write sex to, along with Adore, Soft and Wet and When You Were Mine. Some sample lyrics from Slow Love, “U can see through race car drivers / Let me show U what I’m made of / Tonight is the night 4 making slow love.” The man cannot spell to save his life, but oh can he write a damn good rally song.

No Distractions. Most of the time my house is a zoo with animals, children and a husband wandering through my office (I swear one of these days I’m putting in a door.). This is not conducive to writing a love scene. So I save them for mid-afternoon when everyone has wondered away or late at night when they’re all sacked out.

Motivation. Not my motivation, the characters. In Up a Dry Creek, Claire and Jake are attracted to each other from the get-go, but when they finally make love it’s not just about sex. It’s about that connection they have forged with each other that is expressed through what their bodies do together. Like in real life, plain sex is good but emotionally-charged sex is amazing.

A glass of wine and a back rub sure help too, but those are my top three requirements for writing a sex scene. I’m tempted to say a visit from Mark Wahlberg (who plays the hot security expert in Date Night) would help, but I can’t imagine I’d have any energy left over to type. 🙂

Opening Salvo

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My boyfriend Joe (whom some of you may know as The Fairy GodBoyfriend) and I were talking in the car Saturday morning on the way home from the Adam Ezra concert in Lancaster, PA. Thanks to a considerable lack of both sleep and caffeine I can’t remember what got us onto the particular subject, but Joe made a comment about how he’s not a real talkative fellow. He’s just not the kind of guy who goes out of his way to introduce himself to everyone at the party. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Like everything men say, Joe’s statement is true…to a point. Joe has no problem talking to strangers. None at all. In fact, he enjoys it. If I ever leave him by himself at a party–or a line at Best Buy–he will inevitably be chatting with the person next to him upon my return. He’s not antisocial; he just doesn’t make the first move.

Joe has two major advantages: 1.) He recognizes and accepts that he is not the kind of guy who makes the opening move and 2.) He has an incredibly dark, sharp, and dry wit. So here’s what Joe does. He stands alone, aloof, watching the world around him. Inevitably something happens, about which Joe makes a fabulously snide comment that would have Lewis Black and Denis Leary fighting for a pen to write down. Someone within earshot hears this comment and laughs. Nine times out of then, this person comments back to Joe.

And lo, the conversation has started.

As I write this now, it occurs to me: I’m not even sure Joe realizes that he does this. It’s just second nature to him. People all over the world wrestle every day with how to start a conversation–whether it’s with the cute girl at the bar, or the electric company representative on the phone. I grew up in a clique of nerds and continue to frequent science fiction conventions like they’re going out of style. I am constantly surrounded by the socially awkward (and I treasure every single one of them). If these folks only knew Joe’s secret! (Many of them do–they’re just not as witty as Joe.)

As writers, some of us struggle with dialogue. What’s the first thing your character says? What is she reacting to? What is he wondering about? Is it something important, or is it just there to move the plot along. Is there more story being told between the lines, or is it just a bunch of lame tagging? (I hate “stage directions”.) Worst of all–is it there at all, or are you just telling us that someone spoke? (Show! Don’t Tell!)

For some of writers, dialogue is second nature. It flows off the tongue like water off a duck’s back. (Granted, those of us usually have issues elsewhere–like with descriptions. Oh, descriptions, how you are the bane of my existence!)

Dialogue is the lifeblood of your story. It tells the reader what your character sounds like–the cadence of his voice, the tone she uses, the slang words, the colloquialisms. Dialogue tells us how your character feels about other characters, and about the world in general. It tells us how your character would react given a certain situation. (Don’t go for the obvious reaction–go crazy! It’s more fun!) Dialogue makes your character allies and enemies. It burns bridges and mends fences. It is–usually–where we fall in love.

I fell in love with Joe, after all.

But every conversation has to start somewhere. What are your opening salvos? What do they say about your character? What’s your favorite snappy bit of dialogue?

FIVE MONTHS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

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Deadlines can be disastrous.  August 2 for Congress.  September 1 for School.  December 25 for Naughty or Nice!  No matter what project is at hand, any deadline can be gracefully accomplished, or utter disaster.

I wish this post could be about the Great Debt Ceiling Feud of 2011.  I have plenty to say about that little shootin’ match going on in Washington this week.  But that’s for other blogs.  No, my own personal deadline has been on my mind lately.  You see, I promised myself that I would finish my book this summer.  And I’ve cobbled together all the bits I’ve written on my current WIP into a “master file” document.  It currently stands at 42,000 really messy words.  Am I pleased?  No!

I’m terrified.  And my writing has slowed even more than usual (and I’m not a high-output writer in the first place).  My personal deadline when school let out was to have a 90,000 word rough draft by September 1.  Realization: ain’t gonna happen.  Maybe I should run for Congress!  Wait, I’ve already said that’s a topic for other blogs..  So, I have to accept where I am (not good at that) and reframe my ambition (definitely not good at that!) or abandon the effort altogether (never).

But, as I fussed about this last night, I commented – “I remember when I first started writing full time, I started the day by ‘going to work.’  I wrote from nine until twelve every day.  Then I had lunch, and the afternoon was for the home-improvement projects in the house.”  And that realization, that long-buried memory, was very freeing. I’d had the discipline to write, and I’d been successful at completing a book and seeing it in print.

So today is calmer.  Once I post this, I’ll set a time limit for how long I’ll be at the keyboard today, working on my book.  Once that’s over, I won’t go back.  I won’t dwell.  I’ll certainly think about my writing.  I might scribble some notes.  But I will NOT obsess about that deadline.  It’s history.  I’m not going to make myself sick over it.

So – do you obsess over deadlines?  How do you handle the stress of these demons?  Avoid?  Negotiate?  Reframe?  Or embrace?

And remember:  Christmas is just 5 months away.  Start those shopping lists now!  Every minute counts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wizards, Witches and Muggles, Oh My!

Dana Rodgers, mermaids, Motivation, Writing,


I woke up at four-thirty in the morning the other day with an idea for a scene and instead of rolling over and going back to sleep like any sane person, I instead rushed out of bed and down to my computer to spend the next two hours writing. Why you ask? Because I’m a writer and that’s what writers do. We take our thoughts, ideas, dreams and musings and transfer them to the page, hopefully, creating dynamic characters, witty dialog and conflict along the way.

But why lose sleep? How important could one idea be anyway? I mean really, people have hundreds of ideas everyday. Is one idea really so important that you should stop every thing? Roll out of bed to get it down before it evaporates into the floating mists of dreamland? Can one idea for a book or a scene or a character really change the world? Heck yeah! Some people would disagree with me, but for those people I have only two words: Harry Potter.

Think of how many millions of fans on continents around the world have been affected by the Harry Potter books and movies. None of that would have been possible without J.K. Rowling taking the time to get her ideas down on paper.

Joanne Rowling first conceived Harry Potter in 1990, while on a crowded train from Manchester to King’s Cross station in London. She began writing the first story longhand in 1991 while teaching English as a foreign language in Portugal. Fighting depression after a failed marriage, she returned to her native Scotland in 1993 with suitcases half full of different versions of Harry Potter stories. Struggling to support herself and her daughter, she continued to write the books in Edinburgh cafes during her daughter’s nap times when she wasn’t working. In 1995 she finished the first book, typing it out on an old typewriter and submitting it.  It took six years for Joanne Rowling to bring that first glimmer of an idea to the published page, but she didn’t give up, even after being rejected by several publishers. Can you believe it? I bet those other publishers feel pretty silly now!

Her first manuscript, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was released by Bloombury in June of 1997 winning several prestigious awards. When Bloomsbury released the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in July of 1998 it went straight to the number one slot on the BookTrack bestseller list. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released in the United States in October of 1998 and Warner Brothers, recognizing a huge opportunity, paid a seven-digit sum to secure film rights for the first two books. With the wild success of the first two books and movies, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in July of 1999 and became the fastest selling book, topping book lists and selling 64,000 copies in the first 3 days.

Beginning with the 2000 release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, booksellers around the world began holding midnight release events with games and live entertainment to coincide with the release of Rowling’s books. Anxious fans would line up around the block, some dressing up like characters from the books, to be the first to get their copies. This was the first time in history where people would line up around the block to get a copy of a book! To bittersweet fanfare the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was finally released on July 21, 2007. It had taken 17 years to bring her original idea, thought up on a crowded train, to fruition and get the whole story on the page and into bookstores around the world. And a record number of fans lined up for it…Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold 11 million copies in the first twenty-four hours. As of June of 2011, the book series had been translated into 67 languages and sold over 450 million copies. The world built throughout the Harry Potter book series has even been turned into a theme park in Orlando, Florida.
And all of this stemmed from one woman’s idea. So let me ask again—how important is an idea?

Practice Makes Perfect, or How My Daughter Made a Swimmer out of Me

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I’m the first to admit, I’m not good in the water. You know that little girl who sat on the sidelines clutching her stomach so she wouldn’t have to take the swim test? Yeah, that was me. Only I wasn’t faking. I was so nervous I literally was sick to my stomach. And then there was the time I went to beautiful Cozumel with my then-boyfriend, now-husband. We paid hundreds of dollars to go scuba-diving… except I never made it past the training exercises. Yep, me again, sitting on the sidelines, tears rolling down my face as I waited for my husband to come back from his underwater excursion. I had nightmares about drowning for six months afterward, no joke.

Fast forward a whole bunch of years, and imagine my dismay when I have a couple of children who love being in the water. This summer, in particular, my daughter begs me to take her to the swimming pool nearly every day. So what do I do when she looks at me with those pleading eyes? The answer, as every parent will attest, is simple: I grit my teeth and take her.

Now don’t get me wrong. I do know how to swim. I’m just not particularly good at it, and I never understood how I was supposed to get a good work-out when I was gasping for breath. But because I was already there, wet, and in a swimsuit, I found myself swimming laps during my daughter’s swim lessons. Day after day, I lugged myself across the pool, and then, a funny thing happened. On these scorching hot summer days, I actually found the feel of the cool water sluicing over my body… refreshing. Dare I say… enjoyable. What’s more, my stroke improved. Without the benefits of lessons or pointers or even conscious thought, I am becoming a better swimmer just by practicing. Imagine that.

Of course, I immediately drew the parallel to writing. How many times have we moaned about how we suck at writing synopses or plotting or revising or networking or (fill-in-the-blank)? How many times has this belief turned into an actual writer’s block? We may not have the guilt of parental obligation to prod us into action, but if we can get our butts in the chair, day after day, and practice the thing that we hate the most, we may surprise ourselves. We may find our abilities improving, and gasp!, we may even find that we’re actually enjoying ourselves. That’s the hope, anyway.

After all, if my daughter can make a swimmer out of me, then anything’s possible.

What is your Achilles’ heel (or swimmer’s ear, ha!) when it comes to writing? How has your ability progressed with practice? Have you ever found yourself enjoying something you were “supposed” to hate? I’d love to hear your stories, in writing or otherwise, so please share your thoughts!

A Little Reconnaissance

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Lately, I have become obsessed with book reviews. Not in terms of what I should read, but what I should (or shouldn’t) write.

The whole thing began when a writer friend of mine, who is very much published, lamented about stinging reviews. As a very entrenched NPI (non-published individual), my only concern with the other side of the fence (getting published) is how to scale it. I never once gave thought to what I would do if.. gasp!.. I’d ever make it over the hump. But being able to perch on my friend’s shoulder as she navigates through this publishing maze has opened my eyes. And those eyes went straight to reviews.

As I scour through the reviews, I’m fascinated, riveted and scared witless. In many instances, they are like a bad car wreck (i.e. carbeque). And even though I know I should look away, I can’t turn my head away from the good, the bad.. and the, oh, holy moly, OUCH! And there are many ouches out there. From Smart Bitches to Mrs. Giggles, these folks don’t pull any punches. They throw them down, one after the other.

I keep telling myself that I’m performing an epidemiological study into the mind of a reader and reviewer. It’s fascinating to understand what people liked or didn’t like and why. I’m hoping, through this exercise, it will trigger an a-ha moment for my own stories, although, I can’t help but feel like a grave robber – trying to steal gold nuggets from the coffins of writers who were trampled by bad reviews.

At times, I do wonder if I’m using this voyeuristic journey as a way to stymie myself, through fear, into a writing corner. It’s not as if the pontifications of some nameless web weenie will have any bearing on floppiness regarding my own story. But as much as I’m kicking and screaming that bad reviews of other writers have no effect on my own writing, in reality, of course they do. Beyond the floppiness, I think it eats at the core of my desire for perfection and if every part of the story isn’t perfect, it might as well be trash.

The big question is whether I have scared myself to write, or, if by reviewing the possible mistakes of others, I’m realizing and understanding my own mistakes. Right now, the ONLY upside to being unpublished is that, unlike the published writers, I can go back and re-do portions that don’t work.

I’ll probably wean myself off these review drive-bys, but I won’t entirely forget them. In a world where anyone with a keyboard and an opinion can electronically transmit their thoughts to zillions of people around the globe, the question of when to listen and to whom becomes greater. Although in the end, we can do all the reconnaissance we want, but after all the research, you gotta go with your own gut.