This week the topic for the circle is: writer’s block.

This isn’t a topic I’m good at talking about.  My problem more often than not is having too many ideas, not enough of them.  There have been times my motivation to write has dwindled, but even then I’ve been able to crack the proverbial whip and get it done.

The best writing advise I ever got, came from my sound design instructor at Media Tech.  Sound design is a lot like writing or any other creative profession; using raw elements you craft something new and never heard of before.  But when the creativity leaves you and you just don’t “feel” like it – you still know the mechanics of putting the elements together to make it happen.  I’ve lived by that.  The prose I write during those times of perseverance aren’t always the best, they might be cut out entirely, but I still pressed onward!  It’s not going to work for everyone; I know I have a peculiar tendency to latch on like a pit-bull until I’m done with something.

However, when I feel like combating my hard times, there are a few places or activities that always seem to help me get the ideas flowing.  If I’m wanting to be creatively inspired and need a kick-start, I’ll do one of these!

1. Take a Shower. It seems like as soon as I’m in the one place you really can’t do any writing, unless it’s with those awful shower crayons, I have a load of ideas.  There have been many times when I’m mulling over an issue I’m having and when I hit a road block – I go take a shower.  Maybe it’s because I know I can’t do anything with what’s in my head but let it ferment until I’m done with my shower, but ideas roll off of my brain a little easier and seem a little fuller and more developed when I’m finally ready to jot them down.  The problem is that I often forget bits and pieces because my brain has the tendency to be like a colander at times.
2. Go on a Driving. I grew up traveling and driving.  I “wrote” my first stories in my head while on long road trips.  In many ways, driving is like returning to my original source.  There’s something about the open road that opens my brain to ideas.  I do some of my best thinking, plotting and creating while behind the wheel of my Jeep.  Unfortunately it seems to take a lengthy drive for my brain to kick up into a high enough gear to really break down ideas or weave something new, so I don’t often indulge in this one.  I do, however, take advantage of it when I can.
3. Change of Venue. Sometimes it just takes shaking up the normal routine.  Going somewhere new that gives my brain a little push can be a big help.  Also, going to certain locations where I know the purpose is to write makes my brain behave.  Setting up shop at a Barnes & Noble or a Starbucks or MacAllister’s puts my brain in writing mode and most of the time it listens to me and gets the job done.

So now I’m off to Barnes and Noble because I need to make myself UBER productive today.

Okay so I have six days off of work that make up this years big vacation.  Originally I was supposed to go to Dragon*Con, but things fell through with the group so it’s being postponed until next year.  Sad – but it meant I got to go to my brother’s surprise wedding.  It’s also means several days of working on revisions.

After Armadillo*Con I put the breaks on writing any more of My Personal God because I really wanted to work through my world building issues.  I thought it kinda important that I do that now rather than work it in later.  Granted I have no doubt that I’ll be working on that aspect later as well, I just want to get an anchor in place before that happens.  So I’ve worked through three chapters, both adding in stuff and cleaning up what’s already there.  I should be back on track for writing tomorrow.  I think having to pause to work on the world building really killed the ‘fire’ to work on this, but I’m hoping that once I get going again, I’ll be just as excited about it as I was.  I can hope, right?  I do have seven to eight chapters I wanna finish writing this month, so I’ll need that motivation!

I’ve been doing a lot of work on revising on Abs.  Currently I’m about a third of the way through the completed draft.  I’m going through right now and hitting things that are glaring errors, highlighting passages and things that look problematic to me and working on some plot ideas that cropped up when finishing the novel.  I’m reservedly excited about this project.  I’m hoping to start asking for critiques later this year and send it out probably late winter, early spring to see what I can do with it.  If nothing else, I like the story and the characters and it’s a great learning experience.  It wound up being unintentionally funny for the most part, which considering me is odd.  I’ve done a lot of work with it during the staycation so I’m really excited about that.

I might have mentioned this project.  It’s a few short stories, all dealing with paranormal races and how the characters struggle to tell someone in their life they’re not human.  I’m bouncing off of the idea of post-segregation America, only with paranormals.  I’ve completed one short story, did my revisions and I emailed it off to my friends to read through and critique when they have time.  I have a few epubs earmarked that I’ll probably send it out to, but if nothing else I’ll post them here.  I’m ideally going to have them each at 5,000 – 6,000 words.  The emphasis is on cute stories.  I wanted to write something that made me smile and go, “aawwee”, so there’s no dark and gritty here.  Just warm fuzzies.

So that’s what I’m working on!  I’ll have a post-staycation update in a few days, once, ya know, I’m back into the normal swing of things and all!

I’m not totally sure what happened to August.  I think I spent it with my nose stuck in a book.  That’s not a bad thing – by far – but I really can’t say I did much writing.  I even struggled to do the Inky Girl’s 1K a Day challenge for the year.  I’ve pretty much fallen off of Candice Haven’s Writers Workshop loop.  Oh well!  Lets get on to accounting for myself.

My goals for August were set in with the anticipation I needed room to be lazy.  So here they are:

• Write 3 more chapters for My Personal God
• Get through the draft of Abs and prep it for critiquing in September
• Have a good time at Armadillo*Con

What I did:

• Wrote Six chapters of My Personal God – love them, need to go back and work on the world building.
• I’m nowhere near being through with the first draft of Abs.  I’m bummed, but I’m making good progress.
• Had a blast at Armadillo*Con!!!

So two out of three goals successfully completed.  Go me!

I’ve been rolling around in my head what I want to try to do during September.  It’ll be my big push before October and gearing up for NaNoWriMo 2010.  I don’t want to push myself too hard, but I also want to get stuff done.

Goals for September:

• I would like to write between 7 and 8 chapters for My Personal God.  It’s a big goal, but having the first draft done before NaNoWriMo would be great.  In order to do this I need to write 7 or 8 chapters during both September and October.  It’s do-able!
• Revise through the first draft of Abs.
• Inventory the ideas I’ve jotted down and decide what priority they have.  NaNoWriMo is going to be about fleshing out some of these ideas into novellas, so I’d like to have a list of stuff to work on.

And that’s it!

I really intended to post from the convention, but you know how those things go!  The best intentions and all that jazz.

Armadillo*Con was an adventure.  From the moment of getting up at 3am to leave Suz’s place by 4am, only to get trapped because all the freaking highways were closed, to guzzling Dr Pepper to stay awake and playing with ^cling wrap.

Friday was the workshop and after a little introduction and a lunch that included getting *peanut butter all over myself, we settled into our critique groups.  I didn’t think I would be nervous, but the lack of sleep, too much caffeine and realizing that **one of my critiques just didn’t make it to Austin with me set me on edge.  It was really cool to bounce stuff around with strangers, especially Matthew Bey and Martha Wells who led our group.  I got some really cool ideas for My Personal God that I plan to work on this coming weekend.

We really meant to go to panels after the workshop… We really did!  But… we did other stuff, like going to eat with the awesome Rosemary Clement-Moore.  Unfortunately everyone was tired enough they just let me jabber on.  #I can talk to a brick wall and be entertained.

Saturday was my big day for panels.  Suz, Carolyn and I went to a lot together, and some on our own.  Here’s the list of panels and readings I attended between Saturday and Sunday:

• Promoting Your Work (and Yourself) – G. Faust, S. Wedel, P. Kitanidis, R. Eudaly*, K. Hoover, L. Antonelli
• Online Publishing – E. Burton*, A. Simmons, K. Hoover, L. Thomas, P. Jones
• The Trials and Tribulations of the Short Story – M. Bishop, H. Waldrop, L. Carl, J. Blaschke*, L. Antonelli, S. Allen
• Steampunk: Literary or Social Movement? – G. Wilhite, J. Blaschke, R. Kelley*, M. Dimond, Mi. Finn, P. Jones
• Crossing Genres: It’s Like a Western, But in Space, with Victorian Overtones – L. Carl, K. Hoover, S. Cupp*, M. Bishop, L. Antonelli, D. Webb
• Urban Fantasy/Editor Guest Meet and Greet – I. Andrews, G. Andrews, A. Sowards
• Reading – Matthew Bey
• Better Writing through Mythology – S. Leicht, K. Beutner, M. Bey, R. Caine, N. Holzner*, S. Swendson
• Steampunk Required Reading – Mi. Finn, K. Kimbriel*, G. Wilhite, M. Bey, L. Person, A. Martinez
• Signing - I. Andrews, G. Andrews, A. Marmell, S. White, S. Brust
• Guest of Honor Reading – R. Caine

Steampunk Panel

I think I’m missing some of the sessions.  Regardless, I went to a lot.  Some of the panels got so off topic we barely touched on the title topic, but they were still good.  There were a lot of people who spoke from years of experience and trial and error.

And what would a convention be without the shopping?  Yes, I bought stuff: books, fun jewelry, and a hair flower for my brothers wedding because he requested me to wear some orange. It was a great time, I learned a lot, and I hope to go to more conventions and workshops next year!  Unless Armadillo*Con moves dates I won’t be able to go next year because of the PBP trip to Paris.  I know, I’m like uber sacrificing here!!!

—-

I’m using footnotes…. Dear Lord.

^Cling wrap.  This was something that happened at the Space Squid party where we saw this random roll of cling wrap – we later found out it was used to make the clay tablets Matt did.  Very cool.  But it reminded me of this horribly inappropriate story from this one time I visited Texas A&M.  It snowballed until it because a short story collaboration between Suzan and I.  We will probably never admit that we wrote it to anyone else besides our own circle of friends.

*So Peanut Butter?  Yeah!  We had the idea that since we had so much to do and not a lot of time to go get food we’d bring stuff to make peanutbutter & jelly sandwiches.  Great idea, huh? Guess who forgot to bring a plastic knife!  ME!  After searching through the room for something else to use – I washed my hands and spread it on using my finger.  Suz did the honor with the jelly; somewhere there ARE pictures.

**I cannot describe to you how terrible, horrible, so very no good, failureish this made me feel.  I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.  ;__;

#Seriously, I need to enforce the whole people-tell-me-to-shut-up thing.  Rosemary will probably never speak to me again.  I’m surprised I have friends.

Other random story not included in the above.  So the man with the steampunk stuff and the woman all dressed up?  Yeah, they knew my mom.  We never really figured out if they were around when I was little or not, but it was really funny that of all places I meet someone else that has a connection with me or my mom, lol.

More pictures up on Flickr!

So I completely forgot what today is, so I’m uber late with this post! Sorry guys.

This week we’re hashing out cliches, like ohmigawd!  I’m really bad with being scatterbrained sometimes so just that we’re all clear, a cliche is defined as:

1. a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse, as sadder but wiser,  or strong as an ox.
2. (in art, literature, drama, etc.) a trite or hackneyed plot, character development, use of color, musical expression, etc.
3. anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse.

Well, cliches happen for a reason.  At some point in time, something occurred to make these cliches new and edgy – and ya know what?  They worked!  But then they were over used.  It’s kinda like vampires right now; when Twilight came out they were the newest, coolest kids on the block.  Now?  If a book has a vampire featured in the main story arc, I’m probably not interested.

So lets take a look at my top ten – because Alice did it and today’s all about cliches…

1. The Alpha Male. You know the kind; tall, dark, handsome, dominant, possessive, a natural leader, he’s going to protect you, save you, ravage you, and keep you forever – because that’s how all alpha males are.  Ideally these are our White Knights; you see them everywhere.  In fact, most of the books I’ve read recently feature prominent Alpha Men.  But these men in real life are also the kind of men who could just as easily be violent, terrible human beings.  But.  But!  We continue to hope that there really are good ones out there – and I’m holding a ticket to that party, so while sometimes I’m going to roll my eyes, I’ll still snuggle up to read about my latest Alpha Male Hero.
2. Prodigy Heroes Who Suddenly Don’t Have IT All Together. This one is on the road to flat out bugging me.  You’re presented a hero, male or female, who is the baddest bad ass around, no one messes with them!  But suddenly something happens, they’re thrown a slight curve ball and now a toddler is making them weak in the knees.  Yes, I think it’s cool to show character development this way, but it’s just getting to be too much to ask me to believe that this character is all that bad ass and a bag of chips – when they’re unable to subdue a kitty.
3. Sex. Okay, taking off the lace gloves here – do I really believe all that oral sex and the man wanting the woman to “find her pleasure” first?  Um, no.  Doesn’t mean it’s not a nice thought, I’m a big fan of consideration, but it seems like the sex in books is either all about the woman getting what she wants or being totally dominated.  And it’s sort of like we know how it’s going to go before the book starts, kinda like a three act play.  I’ll stop there.
4. My Whole Family Died!  I’m From A Broken Home! Yes, people lose their entire families.  There are terrible situation that break apart a home so it’s more of a war zone than a reality.  But as heart breaking and on the rise as that is – what about a semi-functional family?  A character who has to balance a needy mother, an overly inquisitive set of in-laws, and extended family responsibilities – AND – save the world?  I’d like to see that woman’s schedule – or man’s.
5. Bad Ass Chicks. I love them.  I guess I sort of fit this category – guys tell me they’re scared of me often enough.  BUT!  They too often don’t seem like real enough people.  Women have freaking emotions.  We get hormonal.  And bodies aren’t always perfect.  What about a protagonist who is chunky or isn’t model thin?
6. Finding Your Soulmate Via The Sex Line. Okay, some of my favorite paranormal series stomp on this, so I’m careful about what I pick up that announces this plot device.  I’m sorry, but knowing your soulmate by who you screw is kinda gross.  I mean, just think about the number of people you’d have to go through to find The One.  Give it a twist!  Tell me a reason why this is the only way it can happen, make me believe!
7. The Reformed Playboy. This trend disturbs me.  It’s the Bad Boy, who just needs the right love and he’ll be a Good Boy.  If you’re going to love someone, love them for who they are – not who they will be.  Because what happens if the Bad Boy doesn’t want to stay the Good Boy?  What if it’s too hard?  No one is happy, least of all him, and certainly not the woman he’s going to leave.
8. Revenge. Yes, stuff happens because people are dumb, but revenge as a plot device just doesn’t work with me.  Finding justice?  Yes. I can fully support that – but revenge?  That’s a lot of time and energy spent carrying around a useless weight.
9. Terrible Monsters That Can’t Be Killed Easily — Dying All Around You. Yes, I want that Alpha Hero to save the day – so you need something for him to go up against.  Those terrible monsters in the corner!  Go!  These creatures in the beginning of a book are usually only one or two in number and will take out a whole party of people.  Somewhere in the middle of the book something happens and one person is taking on a whole herd/flock/gaggle/pack/group of them.  Seriously?  Usually there’s something much bigger and badder that they have to face now, but what about how bad-news-bear these other guys used to be?
10. FBI Agents/Secret Ops/Some Other Shadowy Profession. How about a hero that saves the world at night and by day is a stay at home mom?  Or something else.  I duno, I’d like to see some other twists on the hero’s profession.  Yes, I know it’s a door into the plot, but what if they’re retired or something?  More tension because there’s more going on!

And now I’ll stop – and hand it over to the other girls.

Yes, I made it home! I tried to blog from the con, but there was just too much going on and I was too tired and – it was my vacation!  I’ll do a con recap – with pictures – tonight.  Lots to report on!

In a few hours I’m off to attend the 2010 Armadillo*Con in Austin.  Yeah, we’re leaving at like 4am so we can get there for the 9am workshop.  Wish me luck!  I’ll blog if I have internet, but don’t hold your breath.  ~__^

Last week the Blogging Circle (yeah, we’re still stuck on that name) tackled what we liked about characters.  This week, Alice has kicked us off with what we don’t like.  She touched on one of the things that’s a biggie for me; lack of character.

I’m a people person, so it’s nor surprising that when I get into a book, I want to get into the characters as well.  That is almost impossible when your ‘characters’ lack any sort of personality.  Seriously.  I’m probably going to get an angry comment for this, but Millennium Trilogy author Stieg Larrson’s character Mikael Blomkvist is one of those.  The character literally had nothing about him that I could point at and say, oh – that’s who that is.

This also brings up another one of my axes I like to grind.  I know as authors we often live vicariously through our characters.  They do things we could never hope to do and they can say things to that certain someone we’d crawl into a hole and die if they even thought we were thinking about saying that.  But when I can read something and tell that a character is simply the vehicle for another person’s fantasy… I get annoyed.  The character doesn’t come across as a character, a person, they seem more like a white-washed wall that’s being used as a projector screen with ghostly shadows of someone else playing with their limbs.

Now that I’ve beat that horse to death….

I know as writers we often have a set of actions that we fall back on; giggling, sighing, looking, etc.  Spice them up.  Have characters cycle through a series of nervous ticks.  Do not, for the love of all that is holy, have a character put their hip against the windowsill or the table or a chair every 250 words.  I have read that.  I remember wanting to rip that book in half; overused ticks annoy the crap out of me.

Usually I don’t find cliches to be all that annoying so I’m staying clear of them and sticking to more practice of writing things.  You can take a cliche and put them in an interesting circumstance and they become new.  And cliches are just derived from the real world anyways, so I don’t see as much of an issue with getting annoyed with them, unless they’re played like shadow puppets.

Well, now that I’ve probably made myself the Wicked Witch of the West, so, Linda, what do you think?

Okay, I have started a whole new section of my website that will feature blurbs on my current works in progress; both manuscripts I’m working on and things in revision.  I’m going to post short stories I’m writing mostly to entertain myself and so there’s more content here.  It’s all in the works so far, so feel free to leave me some feedback, as I am very much still learning all of this.

So, The Blogging Circle started out – on twitter.  One friend asked us what our favorite somethingorother was and the answer just wouldn’t condense into 140 characters.  So we figured why not do a weekly blog tour?  We’ve each drawn a day to tackle the weekly question.  The first question posed to us via twitter that could not be answered in 140 characters was: What are some of your favorite character quirks?  Alice blogged about what she likes yesterday, and today it’s my turn!

I think the quirks that I find most endearing are flaws.  A soft spot for chocolate, an overprotective nature where a little sister is concerned, things that normal people do.  In Crazy for Love there is a character who has a social disorder that makes him feel as if he has to protect everyone and everything around him.  I loved him.  In Going in Circles the female character deals with all of her flaws, which are at times very difficult for her.

Believable characters are often favorites of mine.  Characters who react like every day people.  It helps the story be just a little bit more believable and realistic.  Their personalities dictate that like in the Maggie Quin books, Maggie replies without intention usually in some witty, sarcastic remark.  In the Succubus books there is a character who is painfully shy, and he doesn’t want to be; he wants to be the kind of man who can claim the woman he might love.

It’s the quirks I fall in love with.  A character who is a little too stubborn to admit they’re wrong, a character who is quick to forgive, a character who laughs in the face of danger, a character who has to touch a light switch every time they see one – those are the traits that make them memorable because they stick out, just like that quirky waiter you remember or the person you met hanging out with friends that you can’t quite remember their name, but you remember their impressive knowledge of card trivia or something.

Our differences make us uniquely special.

Tomorrow Linda takes the reins.  Then Suzan and Carolyn will wrap the week up!

Next week: What we h-a-t-e to see in characters.