Poetic Friday

Yes, I know, this is such a cop out on actually taking the time to write a post. I am deeply ashamed.

And frankly my dear, I just don't give a damn!

Okay, I do, but my brain is so fried, I'm having a hard time typing, let alone thinking of something to write about. So yeah, here's a poem I wrote over ten years ago.

Again, accept my deepest apologies.

Always Ever After

Once and always ever after your sleeveless heart,
Frail men commit countless dire deeds.
I cannot say it is such a shame for us to part. 

Please love with your neck and head apart, 
Maybe then to the breast the brain concedes. 
Once and always ever after your sleeveless heart. 

The many contours of my life are still left to chart.
Will I not leave before my very soul bleeds?
I cannot say it is such a shame for us to part. 

Clawing their way over your high rampart,
They seek in the dark that which none else precedes. 
Once and always ever after your sleeveless heart. 

A future of plans that only one could thwart,
Are thrown in the wind and fall to dead weeds. 
I cannot not say it is such a shame for us to part.

Torn between two- the ignorant and the smart, 
One must succumb so the other succeeds.
Although once and always ever after your sleeveless heart,
I cannot say it is such a shame for us to part.

Terrible Twosday

Someone should have warned me sooner that terrible twos stretch out into terrible three, four, and five.

My little one will be three soon, and I was all excited, talking to my sister, telling her at least the terrible two phase will be over.
She laughed.
And five minutes later, after she composed herself, she basically told me I was an idiot. Yeah, I should have known it wouldn't be that easy, that three wasn't some magical age of perfect behavior, but damnit, I was in delusional bliss.

I used to shake my head at those people on Nanny 911 and all those other shows, wagging my finger and thinking they should be ashamed of themselves. Now, I'm not saying my little one is a plague upon my household, but I totally understand now. I GET it.

What I also get: It's totally my fault. Yes. It sucks.

I spoiled and coddled and cooed to my heart's content, and now, I'm paying the price.

So now I'm going to go chase him around, pick the things out of the toilet, and for dessert, get a toy chucked at my head and a penny shoved up my nose while I'm sleeping.

And I wouldn't trade it for all the chocolate in the world.

I'm Baaack! Motivational Monday

Hello all!

It's nice to be back blogging. I didn't think I'd like to blog, but I figured I should learn the ropes, along with Twitter (which btw, I'm up to 58 followers!). I still find myself having no idea what to say on Twitter, not knowing if I'm overstepping any bounds if I just hop into someone's conversation, so it's still kind of awkward for me.

But blogging is different. Just me and my thoughts. It's nice.

Anyway! WriteOnCon! Awesome! So sad it's over! Okay, I'm done, but seriously, it was pretty cool. This was my first year checking it out and I learned so much. One of the "speakers" I found most helpful, wasn't about queries or pitches or anything technical. It was about walking.

Yes. Walking.

 

CC Image Courtesy of Loop_oh on Flickr

Okay, it wasn't only about walking, but about people watching, and realizing no two people walk the same. So why should any two people write the same?

Check it out. Jocelyn Davies is one clever cookie. Writing and Walking

This piece not only spoke to me, it screamed, calling me and pulling me out of a major funk. We all have moments (at least I hope I'm not the only one) when we think our work sucks. When we think we're not good enough. Well, I was going through one of those periods and it didn't help I was reading The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson. It's beautifully written, the protagonist is uniquely loveable and strong, and well, I'm love, love, loving it.

But as I was love, love, loving it, it made me reevaluate my own MS. Did my protag. have enough of a voice? Were my sentences too clunky? Did I include enough emotion to break through and touch the reader?

I was in a funk people. It was so stinky, I was about ready to hurl my MS into a fiery abyss (send it to the trash file on my laptop)!

Then I read the article by Davies and it was just what I needed.

I shouldn't feel the need to live up to someone else, some other book. I should write what I'm inspired to write, how I'm inspired to write it. Is it some epic, world-altering masterpiece? No. Is it something I would enjoy reading and am proud of? Absolutely.

Don't get discouraged. Don't pull out the yard stick and measure yourself against anyone else. Do you. Be you. Stay true to your vision. Don't be afraid to go your own unique way.

CC Image Courtesy of mhumphrey on Flickr

 And that my friends, is how I stayed motivated.

New Posts Next Week

Not sure if anyone reads these, but just in case, I thought I'd let everyone know I won't be posting again until Monday (19th).

Lots of work + Under the weather + Hyperactive two-yr-old = No time for blogging.

Boo! I know, I know. But I'll return Monday, better than ever, and maybe even sharing some awesome info I glean from WriteOnCon!

Write on, in the writer-est, writer way you know how!

Poetic Friday with a Twist

Instead of posting a poem, I decided to write a quick post on the importance of rhythm. Of course it's a critical component of poetry, but also in prose. Things have to flow, have to come together in a way that doesn't trip up the reader.

So what should you do to make sure your writing has rhythm? READ OUT LOUD. Okay, you can whisper too, just as long as you can hear yourself. Don't cheat and read it in your head, because trust me, it is not the same. You'll catch all sorts of things, and notice when the natural rhythm is thrown off. This is especially important in dialogue, so even if you don't want to commit to reading your entire MS aloud, you should definitely take the time to do it with your dialogue.

I wrote a lot of dialogue I'd considered well written, but when I spoke the words out loud, some of it was awkward and unnatural. So go shout, and let it all out. You'll be happy you did.

Okay that's it. Back to editing. Oh, and WriteOnCon is almost here! Woot!

Motivational Mondays

This is going to be a rather selfish post.

I just finished my first draft of my WIP! Woot! My goal was to finish yesterday, but since that didn't happen, I'm one day over the 4 month mark. But that's okay. I finished 89k in 4 months! *Pats myself on the back*

Okay, now that I'm over that, I can let the truth sink in-my first draft is a rambling hot ass mess, but, luckily for me, I love editing. It's the part I really get excited about. The correcting. The cutting. The making sure my characters stay true to themselves. The making sure I don't have any plot holes. Oh yeah. I'm stoked.

I know some people hate this stage, and I completely understand why. It's when you get up close and personal with your MS and after awhile, it squeezes you so tight, you can't tell up from down. You've read the same typo over and over again and guess what, you still haven't caught it. Oh, and that awkward sentence that tells the reader absolutely nothing? Yep. Makes perfect sense to you.

This is when you have to take a step back. Put it away for awhile. Work on something else. If you're going the traditional route, work on your query. Come back to it in a week, or hell, even a month. If you don't have fresh eyes when you read your MS, you're going to miss a hell of a lot of errors. The truth is, you'll always miss something (that's what professional editors are for...or a kick ass CP), but with fresh eyes, may the odds be ever in your favor (sorry, couldn't resist)!

I know there is a ton of stuff I need to change without even needing to reread, such as, one of my characters motives completely changed about 20k in so yeah, unless I want her to look like a psycho, I need to change all that. I'll edit things like that now, and after, I'll stash it away and come back to it.

I have plenty of things to keep me busy, like WriteOnCon! So excited! This will be my first year participating and even though my MS isn't ready to see the light of day, some awesome members of AQC convinced me it will be well worth it!

Oh, and I have some books I need to brush up on (also recommended by AQCers [Agent Query Connect - check it out if you haven't already!])- Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King and The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass (who is also an agent).

Awesome books, go check 'em out!

OK. So I guess this was kind of motivational, right? The name of the game is "Get 'er done!" and "Fresh eyes are the best eyes!"

Now go write. Yeah, I'm talking to you. 

Poetic Friday

I so was supposed to post on Wednesday, but I figured I could let it slip since no one is reading this anyway! LOL

I've been so busy with my WIP The Oath Taker, then I got side tracked with The Way You Look Tonight by Bella Andre, so my post got pushed to the side. Putting up old poems of mine don't take too long, so I may as well do my Friday post.

Happy Friday everyone (or no one)!

I Do

Break into me
Shatter my eyes
Pry open my mouth 
Slither into my belly
Up my spine and crawl
Into that space behind
My ear

You've grown too fast
I've become
Your second skin
I'm paraded around, stretched
Out of shape

I've grown into you
I climb out
When you speak
I stare at you, laugh
At the sight of me
And by mistake
Swallow myself