Undercover Writers

Do you know any undercover writers? I'm going to bet you do. You're probably one of them yourself. Someone who, like me, not only has a day job, but a day job that has very little to do with writing or the genres they love. People who write over their lunch or late at night, people guiltily scribbling away during meetings and never taking "notes."

Have you ever noticed that when you catch some one (or are caught yourself) just how many other people out themselves around you as someone who does the same?

It's funny, really.

And encouraging.

Inspiration from Abroad

I've been pretty much non-existent on this blog (and my other blog, too)--I've been out of town for the past six weeks. I've spent time in London, Paris, the Netherlands, Prague and Vienna...but my mind was never very far from my book.

I don't go on vacation specifically to get inspiration. But it tends to come where I least expect it. I found it hiding in the shadows in the catacombs beneath Paris. I found it walking next to the Seine and the Thames.

My main character sees things others can't. She can see ghosts. She can walk down a street in contemporary (well, contemporary to HER) London and suddenly be standing on a street in Roman London. When she crosses London Bridge on a clear spring day, she can smell the smoke from a bridge fire that killed 200 people, 200 years ago.

So as I walked through these haunted cities, I kept thinking of how she would see them. I thought of the ghosts that could still be floating just below the surface of these famous rivers--maybe they're rising from the shadows now, trying the light, and the only reason I can't see them myself is that I wasn't built to. I thought of the things she would see walking down a typical street in Paris. Or near Notre Dame.

One thing's for sure: she'd stay the heck away from the catacombs.

So now I'm waiting for revisions back from my first draft of the story--and I already have plenty of ideas for how to make it better. How do your travels inform your writing?

Yo-Ho-Ho and a Bottle of Rum

On topic with a post I wrote back in February, a trip to the bookstore a few weeks ago provided me with a myriad of new reading options playing off of the world, characters, and life of Jane Austen, up to and including a book where Jane is residing in modern times -- as a vampire. We'll see how that one turns out.

I am currently about half way through the madness and mayhem of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. And I'm enjoying the trip.

I picked it up after having enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

And Zombies??? You ask. Yes, and Zombies. And Ninjas, too.

I enjoyed it so much that when Quirk Books released Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, I figured, Heck, why not.

They aren't written by the same author, but both are irreverent takes on classic books, which, in my mind really only heightens the enjoyment. I love recognizing things you liked about the original story combined with something completely different.

Makes me wish I'd thought of it first.

53 Stitches at a Time

One of my (many) hobbies is knitting. Right now, it's the only one other than writing that I'm consistent about (with the possible exception of singing, although I don't think I can count "in the shower" or "with the radio" as practice, even if those are the only places I perform in these days). And that's because I can do it on my commute to my day job.

The project I'm working on right now, I'm getting in about 53 stitches at a time when I sit down. Which would be great, except that for what I'm working on each row is 103 stitches. And the pattern involves 7 repeats of 72 rows, two sets of 12 rows, and one set of 41 rows. Before placing it into this context, I thought that I was doing pretty good.

At this rate, I'll be lucky to have it done for Christmas, let alone Mother's Day (sorry, Mom!)....

I need a little more time and a few less hobbies (don't get me started about the list of "hobbies" I fuss with)... ;)

But really, it is the story of my life. In the last few years I've gotten a lot better about my writing my putting it into a "small, regular goals reap large, long-term rewards" format. But, it can be a little disheartening to see a couple hundred words, knowing that to get to a full novel you need to get near 50,000 words.

But, everyone needs to start somewhere. And every project needs to start somewhere. Who knows, I've picked up the pace writing before, maybe I'll get faster with the fine yarn and tiny needles.

I'm sure as heck not giving up yet. (This pattern is way too pretty to give up on!)

*Pattern is from 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders.

Don't ask me. I'm new here...

When we first started this blog, I admit, I attempted to adopt a tone that was not my own, one advised by one of my compatriots. You may have noticed that when I do post of late, it's been something completely different. The reason being: I really don't have anything I can teach or preach about. I'm still too new at this. This doesn't mean that I don't write or that I don't work on perfecting the craft every day. I do.

But, I'm not a professional writer. And, right now, I'm not likely to be one.

I write because I enjoy it. Not because it's going to make me rich or famous.

I'm not particularly literary. In fact, I've had a teacher despair that I'm “too clinical” for fiction writing, while a professor of biology claimed I was “too emotional” for science.

So why am I here?

Good question, and one I've been asking myself often of late. I've been starting blogposts that I've never published. Why?

Because, I really don't know what to say.

See, unlike writing fiction or poetry, I blog because someone else thought it was a good idea to talk about what it is we were doing.

But for me, I'm afraid it sounds more like what the bard wrote: A tale told by an idiot. All sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Anecdotes, random stories. Thoughts on a book I've read. Really, that's all I've got. And that's not a voice of a teacher. That's the voice of a friend, talking to you about what she's got going on. And hopefully, it's enough. Because that's what I have for you. My unprofessional, random thoughts.

I just hope you don't mind hanging around and letting me know a little about you and your random-and-professional-or-unprofessional thoughts. Talk with us. Genn and Jenny and I would be more than happy to hear from you.