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Lying in a Ditch

I could watch Walk the Line with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon over and over (and have), but it’s the one scene before John’s break with the record guy that always sticks with me.

If you was hit by a truck and you was lying out there in that gutter dying, and you had time to sing *one* song. Huh? One song that people would remember before you’re dirt. One song that would let God know how you felt about your time here on Earth. One song that would sum you up.

This is what I ask myself before I begin any project.  Is this really the story I want to work on?  What am I going to be able to say in it that hasn’t been said a hundred times already? 

But more, I’ve been using this to help me make choices about what else I do, both here online and in my personal life. 

For instance, last year (or maybe even the year before) a well-published author I’d been following for awhile really got into online marketing.  I joined a bunch of lists at her recommendation, and downloaded some stuff about building lists and targeting audience. 

But in the end, I didn’t use any of it.  As a consumer and reader myself, that kind of advertising turns me off quicker than Data’s sleep switch in his neck.  Do I want people to find me because of some marketing gimmick I used, or because of my stories?  That was easy for me to answer.

As Lynn Viehl has said, don’t do any promo that you don’t ENJOY doing.  I don’t enjoy all the online marketing ploys, and so I will not do them.  If I’m lying in a ditch dying, I don’t want people to remember that I scammed them into joining all sorts of “buy me!!” lists.  I’d rather people remember that I sent them a free book, or wrote a funny tale about the monsters, or better yet, wrote a damned good story that kept them up all night. 

I had a project a few weeks ago that I was working on for an anthology call.  I thought it was hitting all my buttons.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it didn’t fit me.  It wasn’t a “lying in a ditch dying” sort of project.  So, I cut it.  I hate giving up on a project, but I don’t have the time to work on things that don’t really, really move me.

If you were lying in a ditch and could only show your current project, whatever it is, does it truly say what you want to be remembered for?  Do your resolutions or goals for this year back that statement up?

For me, this means I’m working on Return to Shanhasson (nearly ready to submit), Victor, and the new SFR world that’s been building in my head.  They are stories that move me, and hopefully they’ll move you too.

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One Last Day of Holiday

The monsters don’t go back to school until tomorrow.  That Man and I both took today off from our jobs, because we had planned Thanksgiving/Christmas at my mom’s with my beloved sister, but snow has forced us to reschedule.  Tomorrow is Princess Monster’s 11th birthday, so we’ll probably take everyone to see Princess and the Frog today since she’ll be stuck in school.

Needless to say, I’m having a hard time getting into my goals for the week and month.  It’s too hard to concentrate with cartoons playing endlessly in the background and another load of soggy coats, gloves, and clothes thanks to playing outside in the snow.  Don’t even ask me about the dishes.  Gah.  It’s amazing how many more dishes I have when everybody’s home all day!

So I guess I’ll continue to ruminate about my plans and goals for this month.  It’s too hard to concentrate much, let alone get any real work done.  All of my beta readers have replied back with a few corrections and ideas for things I might need to tweak or fix.  I also need to get cracking on Victor.  I think I’ll start with the dreaded synopsis and get a first draft of that beast out of the way before I go back to revisions.

And to keep my head from imploding in Revision Hell, I’m going to play around with a side project that just came to me this weekend.  I think the “pleasure” writing of a small new project will make all the revisions a little more tolerable!

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2010: the year of movies?

They say what you do on the first day of the new year is what you’ll do the most all year.  If so, we’re going to be movie-watching fools!

So far, we’ve seen Terminator 1, 2, and 4 (let’s just forget 3 ever happened, okay?); Jet Li’s Fearless; GI Joe; and G-Force.  GI Joe and Terminator Salvation were on our new Blue-Ray player.  Call me a heathen, but I really can’t tell much of a difference between DVD and Blue-ray.  I splurged on Constantine on Blue-Ray, and I just watched it a week or so ago on DVD, so I’m hoping I’ll be stunned and amazed at the difference when I watch it again.

GI Joe was a sad disappointment — we didn’t even finish it.  We’ll definitely be taking it to a trade-in/used shop.

The monsters loved G-Force but I had my headset on through most of it.

I enjoyed Terminator Salvation, although #2 is still my favorite.  I loved how they brought the traditional lines back with new life.  When John Connor said “I’ll be back” I had to laugh, and we all cheered when THE Terminator we all know and love made a brief appearance.  The overall plot was a bit expected.  e.g. the “surprises” weren’t really surprises at all.  But we still enjoyed it.

Still on the upcoming list to watch are District 9 (blue-ray) and Resident Evil. 

Tomorrow we were supposed to go Granny’s for Thanksgiving/Christmas, but we’ve had several inches of snow and we’ve decided to reschedule for next weekend.  Since I already took tomorrow off from the Evil Day Job, and Princess Monster’s birthday is the 5th, I think we’ll take the monsters to see Princess and the Frog.  That Man and I are wondering if we could sneak out to see Sherlock Holmes, but I don’t think the monsters are quite old enough for that yet.  Le sigh.

I haven’t read anything in 2010 yet and stil have several from 2009 I really need/want to read.  Have you read a great new release in 2010 that I should put on my list?

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Project Management: Cleaning the Desk

Hope you’re all having a wonderful New Year!

Today is a day of planning and thinking for me while we watch movies.  (The monsters are watching Forrest Gump yet again – I think I may scream.)  This is the time to look back over the past year, see what projects were finished, what went well and what didn’t, and decide how to proceed into 2010.

Rather like cleaning off my desk and preparing for a new year.

2009 was the year of Revision Hell, including major revisions to the Maya story, Arcana, and Return to Shanhasson.  Arcana didn’t go so well, and I shelved it again (I hit 50K and hadn’t even touched 25% of my outline.  Ooops!)  The Maya story was arguably one of the toughest projects I’ve ever tackled, and I’m hoping for good news on it in 2010.  *crosses fingers, prays, throws salt over shoulder, knocks on wood* 

Return to Shanhasson is in the final stages of submission and will go to Deena in the next few days.  Arcana?  Not sure yet.  I’ve done so much work on that story it would be a crying shame not to finish it in some manner.  I just can’t figure out what to do with it.  It *may* end up in the SFR world of Deathright.  Perhaps.  Possibly.

Along with Arcana, I’ve had a few other projects I had to clear off my desk.  One of the hardest things of project management for me personally is eliminating a project.  I wish I could do everything, but it’s just not humanly possible.  I had planned to write a Christmas novella set at Beulah Land over the summer, and I just couldn’t pull it off.  I wanted to write a short story in December, but just didn’t have time.  I’d love to write something for the erotic fairy tale antho at Samhain, but ditto. 

I *have* to finish Victor’s revisions in January.  I just don’t have time to pull off a 20K novella at the same time.  I had a pretty cool idea for it, though, set in the same SFR world as Deathright.  Perhaps I’ll write it anyway, later in the year.  Victor is my #1 priority in 2010, followed by Deathright.  Anything else will be gravy.

So what are you planning to work on this year?  Any major projects?

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Find Gregar Contest: Update

Wow, the end of the year is just around the corner.  It slipped up on me with all the holiday preparations.  Have you been looking for Gregar?  So far, I’ve only had a few people send me ideas, so your chances of winning the $20 gift certificate are very very good!

Here are a few of the ideas I’ve received.  What do you think?  Do you see Gregar in any of these?

Photo1 

Photo2 (I don’t know that I’ll be able to use this one, but like the kilt!)

Stefan Schwarze (see him on a Christine Feehan cover)

Personally, I don’t think these are him, but if one calls to you, let me know in comments!

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Revision Hell: Like an Onion

Last night after work, I finished the last revision to Return to Shanhasson, at least until my beta readers sign in with any confusion or holes they find.

Hopefully I’ve conveyed to you that for me, revisions are all about the layers, and so I stole that reference from Shrek where he says ogres are like onions.  I’ve read Holly Lisle’s one-pass revision article, but that just doesn’t work for me.  I do some of her techniques, but I need more than one pass.

Each book requires a different amount of work.  Return to Shanhasson really didn’t have that many significant issues that I needed to resolve.  I had two major scenes I wanted to rework, and I thought the end was a little rushed, but otherwise, I thought the story was pretty solid.

In this case, my first pass was smoothing; watching sentence and paragraph structure; correcting typos, run-on sentences, and fragments; expanding emotional and non-verbal communication; and fleshing out the easier [notes to myself]. 

I made note of a few things I wanted to resolve or address, and I fixed those things as I went.  However, if those things had been significant enough — like a new subplot, as I did for the Maya story — then I would have done a revision pass just for that change.

After that first pass, I went back through the manuscript searching for the last [notes].  These required me to pull up not just the first two books in the series, but also the two Keldari novellas.  I had character names I couldn’t remember, and I also needed to name a ruined city on the edge of Far Illione.  That required googling and research to find just the right name.

Yesterday, I made another full pass.  This one was more delicate.  I savored some passages, rewording key phrases to make sure they sounded right and had the rhythm I was looking for. 

I also watched for any dischordant words.  The right word is so important.  In this fantasy, no character should ever say okay.  Mykal would never say pool, but he would say well.  A Sha’Kae al’dan warrior will say “Forgive me” but never “I’m sorry.”  Rhaekhar always gripped Shannari’s chin, but Gregar always danced his ivory rahke up her neck and cheek. 

These are all little things, little layers, but they’re so important.  It’s part of my voice, and part of each character’s voice.  It’s the little phrases that tie Rose to Road to Return.  Remember when Rhaekhar says “run to me” in effort to get Shannari to ride straight to him near the endof Rose?  That phrase is significant.  Reusing it not once but several times helped me bring the entire story arc through nearly 1000 pages full circle.

Finally, I had to remember the theme song, Faith of the Heart, and make sure it rang true and strong throughout the story.  I believe it does.

It’s been a long, long road, but what an incredible journey.

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Call for Beta Readers

If you’ve read The Rose of Shanhasson and The Road to Shanhasson, and have some spare time on your hands this week, I’d love to have a couple of beta readers grind through the third and final book of the trilogy, Return to Shanhasson, before I send it to my editor.  I have one more dream sequence to write, but then I’ll be ready to let new eyes take a look. 

NO ONE HAS READ THIS MANUSCRIPT YET. 

I’ve deliberately kept it very private.  Not even my Beloved Sis has read it yet.  Needless to say, I’m a bit nervous.  If you’ve read Road, you know how evil I can be, and this book is no different.  It might even be worse.  However, I promise a wondrously happy ending that brings the trilogy full circle.

Warnings: Explicit sex, violence, torture, dragons, bad guys who won’t stay dead, and menage a trois quatre neuf oh hell I lost count.

Of course I’ll be sending it to my Beloved Sis and my dear friend Wanda, but I don’t know that they’ll have time to respond before the end of the year when I plan to submit the story.  If you have the time and interest and could possibly read and get back to me quickly (by 12/31), I’ll be forever in your debt. 

I’m not looking for a critique, but general responses and feelings.  Did any part seem confusing?  Did anything seem too contrived (Vulkar I pray not)?  Are there any major holes that never made it from my head onto the page?  Is the emotion powerful enough?

If you’re a writer, I’ll exchange a full read of your manuscript, or I’ll ensure you receive a finished free copy of the e-book when it’s released.

Drop me a note in comments or to joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com if you’re interested, and I’ll get back to you in a day or so once this last scene has been added.  Thank you!