The first few months of this year have been extraordinarily busy. On top of all the busy, I had an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. So, I took it. Plans change, but I didn’t expect my plans for this year to change quite so much, or quite so fast.
And yet, here we are…
I have a new job. I think it’s going to be pretty awesome and I’m very excited about it. And yet, all those goals I had for this year are probably going to need a serious overhaul. I am so far behind on all the things I’d hoped to accomplish this year that part of me wants to just scrap my 2014 plans and just start over.
I’m going to try to resist the urge to scrap everything, but I’m definitely going to scale back my expectations. For example, right now I’m averaging about a book and a half a month (half my usual reading pace). I may have more reading time on my new commute, but then again, I may use that time to work. As for swimming, with my new schedule, my weekday morning workouts will need to be much shorter. I think I will be able to be more consistent about them, but it will still be difficult to hit my 400 mile goal for 2014. And as for writing… I am so far behind what I had planned for 2014 that I’m just hoping to finish one of my already in progress drafts (“Falling,” most likely), and to participate in NaNoWriMo again this year.
So, things are changing around here. But that’s what keeps life interesting.
I like Chuck Wendig’s idea of doing an annual evaluation of myself as a writer to see how I’m doing (see his blog post survey for more info)… So, I’m going to take a stab at answering the survey questions, below:
What’s your greatest strength / skill in terms of writing/storytelling?
I mostly write sci-fi / fantasy stories and, based on feedback from workshops and my critique group, I think my greatest writing strengths are: creating unique and interesting worlds, creating characters people care about, and slowly revealing what’s going on (the opposite of a massive backstory and world encyclopedia dump at the start of a book).
What’s your greatest weakness in writing/storytelling? What gives you the most trouble?
Finishing things. I am terrible about finishing things. But since that maybe doesn’t count as a storytelling thing, I’ll give you another one…
Sometimes I forget that the reader can’t see what I see inside my brain. It’s hard for me to remember that what the reader knows and what I know are two different things. So I get feedback and then I have to go back and add details and descriptions without damaging the pacing.
How many books or other projects have you actually finished? What did you do with them?
I’ve finished one (short) novel draft. But I’ve not actually finished anything to the point where I feel it’s “polished” and ready for submission. My goal is to have at least one finished and polished novel ready for submission by October. Why October? Some agents I want to query close their inboxes in November / December. Also, I want to start something new in November during NaNoWriMo.
Best writing advice you’ve ever been given? (i.e. really helped you)
“It takes the time it takes.” Most of that post is him telling his story of how he got where he is today. However, the last bit, where he talks about how a writing career isn’t a short game but a long-con really helped me. On the one hand, I know it’s going to take a lot of work to get where I want to go. But, on the other hand, I’m constantly getting frustrated when I feel like I haven’t made enough progress. I try to remember this advice when I start freaking out about how I didn’t meet the milestone I wanted to meet (like not having my novel done for Pitch Madness) because life got in the way (as it does). As long as I’m making progress, as long as I’m moving forward, I’ll get there eventually because it takes the time it takes.
Worst writing advice you’ve ever been given? (i.e. didn’t help at all, may have hurt)
“You’ll never make any money as a writer. You need to be practical.” Yeah. I get it. Starving artist and all that. Get a real job, etc. But don’t ever give this advice to someone who loves to write stories (or sing, or act, or dance, or make any kind of art…). Just don’t. Instead, give them the tools they’ll need to support themselves and the encouragement they’ll need to pursue their dreams. Specifically: time management, organization, business and finance (or sales and marketing). Encourage them to keep writing (or making art) AND have a back-up plan, something that will put food on the table and a roof over their head.
One piece of advice you’d give other writers?
Get on Twitter! Connect with other writers, with agents, with editors. Listen and learn. You don’t have to actually tweet. You can tweet when and if you’re ready. But don’t miss out on learning how to use this resource. It’s a gold mine of information about the publishing industry and will help you feel less alone when you’re sitting at home, alone, writing. Just remember to shut it off and write, too.
By rough count I watched around 55 movies and/or TV or web series in 2013.
In an attempt to select my “top five” movies of 2013, I decided to only consider movies (not TV or web series), and only movies that I watched for the first time in 2013. That brought the list of contenders to just under 50 movies.
Picking my “top five” movies from that list of 50 was not easy. I ended up with eight favorites and considered making this a “top eight” list instead. But, after careful consideration, I realized that three of these movies were not like the others. You see, sometimes I really enjoy things because they are cheesy, fun, feel-good movies. Other times I am blown away by a more serious or tense drama because of an excellent story and/or casting and filming.
When it came down to it, five movies stood out as the “best” movies I watched this year, and the other three were good, but I realized that I primarily liked them because they fell firmly in the feel-good camp. So, I dropped those three movies from the list (as painful as that was for me).
But, before I give you my “top five” list, I want to highlight the best TV and web series I watched this year…
I don’t watch actual TV. I don’t have time for it and I don’t have the patience to tune in every week to catch the next episode. I really only watched two TV series in 2013: Season 2 of Game of Thrones and Season 1 of House of Cards. As much as I like Game of Thrones, I’m going to have to give this year’s win for best TV series to House of Cards. (Season 2 comes out on 2/14/2014!)
The best (and only) web series I watched in 2013 was The LIzzie Bennet Diaries. This is a modern “video-blog” version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and the creators / actors just nailed it. Check it out if you haven’t already.
Now, what you’ve been waiting for… here are the “top five” movies I watched in 2013 (with the reviews I wrote in previous “By the Numbers” monthly update posts):
Argo — How did I miss this one when it came out? This movie was so good. I absolutely loved it. And now that I’m thinking about it, I want to watch it again.
Much Ado About Nothing — Just watch this. Shakespeare’s words in a modern day setting. It’s so good. And I’m not just saying that because Joss Whedon made this.
Winter’s Bone — resisted watching this for a while because I wasn’t sure I would like it, but boy was I wrong! This was a really good movie.
Star Trek Into Darkness — You have to see this if you like “Space, the final frontier.” It is a really good movie. And not just because brimming with hotties. I love space. The effects in this movie are so good. We saw it in 3D which made it even better.
Salvador — (for some reason I never posted about this movie and Hubby had to remind me of it… this was a mid-eighties movie that Hubby and I were too young to watch at the time it came out, so it was new to us…)
And, in case anyone is interested in the three movies that were left behind as close runners-up to my “top five” movies… they are: Galaxy Quest, Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Pitch Perfect. The funny thing is, even though the movies on my “top five” list were better movies than these three, I’ll probably end up re-watching these three movies more times than any on the top five list (except for Star Trek Into Darkness).
I like lists. Especially “top five” lists (like in the movie High Fidelity). So I thought I’d do a “top five” list of my favorite books I read this year.
I only finished five non-fiction books this year (and abandoned two other non-fiction books). Most of those were writing craft related books. So, I’m not doing a “top five” list for non-fiction (but I am making a mental note to read more non-fiction in 2014…).
However, the book that was possibly my hands-down favorite book I read this year is non-fiction. That book? Swim: Why We Love the Water by Lynn Sherr. I bought and read this on my Kindle, but I think it is a book much better suited to hard cover / print edition. So, I’m thinking about buying myself a really nice hard cover edition of this book. I did this last year with my favorite book of 2012 (The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern). It’s a sure sign that a book is one of my favorites if I feel the need to own a print edition *and* the ebook edition.
So, given that my favorite book of 2013 was a non-fiction book, here are my “top five” favorite fiction books I read in 2013:
I know, there are two books by Rainbow Rowell up there. I have a feeling that she could write grocery lists and I’d find them lovable. But, in case you want a little more diversity in your top five list, I also loved Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith (consider that an alternate, or runner up for my top five list).
I know that technically there are a few days left in 2013, and I will probably finish at least one more book before the year is over. However, I think it is unlikely that I’ll love anything in my TBR pile more than I loved these five books this year.
So this is the end of year post where I reveal my unsophisticated, white-suburban tastes in music…
I never really talk about music on this blog even though music has always been a big thing for me. It all started with those CD music clubs that allowed you to order CDs for discount prices. That was back in the day when Tower Music and mix tapes were still a thing, before most of the Millennials were even born. By the time I graduated college, when we were partying like it’s 1999 (because it was), I had hundreds of CDs.
My taste in music usually leans to bands with that “Seattle” sound. I’ve loved the Pacific Northwest music scene since the days of punk and grunge. It’s not really a conscious thing. I just hear a band and like it and later learn that they hail from Seattle or they were signed by Sub Pop Records. Either that or they end up being from the UK / Australia / NZ. Typically, I listen to the handful of albums that I am currently in love with until I get sick of them. Then I cycle those out and find new ones that I love.
Lately I’ve been finding most of my new music by streaming KEXP (especially John “in the Morning” Richards and his Music That Matters podcasts). Or by listening to the yearly Sub Pop Sampler (2013’s is called First Losers) until some songs stick in my head and I seek out more by that artist. When I first listened to the 2012 sampler (Loss Opportunity), I didn’t like it as much as the 2011 sampler (23 This Year). Now, going through and trying to pick my favorites from Loss Opportunity, I realize that I like almost all of them. These samplers take more than one listen and they definitely grow on me. If forced to pick, off the 2012 sampler the following songs were my favorites:
The albums that I bought this year and couldn’t stop listening to:
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist — This is pretty much my favorite album purchased in 2013. Sure, basically everyone is a Macklemore fan by now, but from his heartfelt, straight-edge lyrics, to his Seattle flavor, he’s kind of my artistic hero. Of course Thrift Shop was my first favorite, and Same Love and Can’t Hold Us are great. But I’d also like to shout out Make the Money (don’t let the money make you) and Ten Thousand Hours. And one of the my favorite lines in a song this year, “rather be a starving artist than succeed in getting fucked…” (Jimmy lovine). I could go on and on about the awesomeness of this album and these guys, and how I respect their efforts to make a stand about social issues (which Alyssa Rosenburg wrote about here). If you haven’t listened to the album, go now and listen to it. Seattle #represent!
Parov Stelar, Shine — Someone at work got me hooked on this album by introducing me to the title song, Shine. That song may still be my favorite on the album, but Lost in Amsterdam is definitely a close second. The sound is slightly haunting and moody. It’s become a go-to soundtrack for working or writing.
Pride and Prejudice Soundtrack — I just bought this in November, towards the end of NaNoWriMo, but it’s excellent writing music. I’ve always loved that first song on the album, Dawn, that plays at the opening of the movie, and that melody seems to repeat a lot through the album. I haven’t played it more than a few times so far, but I’m pretty sure this one will end up on steady rotation.
Florence + the Machine, Lungs and Ceremonials — I’m kind of late to the F+tM party, but WOW, love these albums. Loving F+tM is probably in some way equivalent to the college-girl-angsty-love of Sarah McLachlan and/or Ani DiFranco, right? Sigh.
Fleetwood Mac, Rumors and Greatest Hits — I’m kind of cheating here because I didn’t listen to these albums nearly as much as the other five listed here, but I wanted to add an honorable mention since these made a huge comeback this year. I searched through my ripped CDs to dig out these albums and added them back into circulation on my shuffle. These are Classics and pretty much the definition of Timeless music.
I usually don’t listen to a lot of pop music, but electronic / dance stuff is great background music for work, and my niece introduced me to a few new pop songs this year that kind of got stuck in my head on repeat. The year in terms of pop singles for me comes down to these five:
The last three on that list are all favorites of my niece who turned two this year. The first two are ones that my husband discovered on Spotify while blasting electronica as background music while he’s coding / hacking. Oddly enough, the combined lyrics from these five songs (as few and repetitive as they are) form a solid representation of my year — and not necessarily for the obvious reasons.
I’ve sort of stopped going to see live music. It’s sad, but true. I did get out to one show this year, The Infamous Stringdusters. They played at Terrapin Crossroads in Marin. The venue was small, like watching a live band in your friend’s basement. It was the second time I’d seen them live and they put on an energetic show. Their music is good, but it’s so much better live.
And that pretty much covers what I was listening to this year. Thanks for reading my little time capsule blog post. Let me know in the comments if you have an recommendations or albums you loved this year (or link to your own 2013 music post).
At one point this year I tried to write a post about feminism. The post just sat in my drafts for months and months and I couldn’t find the right words. I’ve been thinking a lot about feminism this year, mostly because at some point early in the year I realized that my years of being “one of the guys” and rolling with the raunchy / sexist jokes just didn’t feel right anymore. But I’m still trying to come to grips with where I stand on this issue.
In my youth I struggled a lot with calling myself a “feminist.” Mostly because the term “feminist” was tightly linked in pop culture to man-hating women such as those portrayed in this classic clip from the movie PCU (kind of like a mid-nineties version of Animal House).
However, I don’t think it’s worth denying any more. I’m a feminist, because at the end of the day I think it all boils down to this (buy the tote bag here):
My feelings on the topic are still very mixed and I’m sorting through where I stand on many issues. So, instead of using my words, I think I’ll just link you to a bunch of articles I read this year that got me thinking more and more about feminism and what I think about feminism.
This was a big year of articles about women in technology. Mostly it was all about the Adria Richards thing (this Forbes article has a good summary and a ton of links to more info). And *maybe* that was what got me thinking about all this to begin with. But I think it started before that.
I read a lot of scifi / fantasy / fiction. I always have. It’s great that there is a proliferation of “strong” female characters popping up in all types of genre fiction lately. And while more stories with heroines are great, I worry that we’re moving in the wrong direction with this whole concept of “strong” female characters. Several articles have written about this lately, most notably, this article about Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) from Entertainment Weekly , and this article entitled “I Hate Strong Female Characters” by Sophia McDougall for the New Statesman.
The stand-out quote from Joss in the Entertainment Weekly article I link to above, the thing he said that had me thinking, YES! That! was this (emphasis mine):
The thing about Buffy for me is–on a show-by-show basis–are there female characters who are being empowered, who are driving the narrative? The Twilight thing and a lot of these franchise attempts coming out, everything rests on what this girl will do, but she’s completely passive, or not really knowing what the hell is going on. And that’s incredibly frustrating to me because a lot of what’s taking on the oeuvre of Buffy, is actually a reaction against it. Everything is there — except for the Buffy. A lot of things aimed at the younger kids is just Choosing Boyfriends: The Movie.
And, basically Ms. McDougall’s (long and thoughtful) rant boils down to this:
Are our best-loved male heroes Strong Male Characters? Is, say, Sherlock Holmes strong?… It’s not just that the answer is “of course”, it’s that it’s the wrong question….
A better question would be – “What is Sherlock Holmes like?”
He’s a brilliant, solitary, abrasive, Bohemian, whimsical, brave, sad, manipulative, neurotic, vain, untidy, fastidious, artistic, courteous, rude, polymath genius.
Adding the word “strong” to that list doesn’t seem to me to enhance it much.
And I can relate with a lot of this article in Rookie, especially this: “I built my feminism Lego-tower-style, brick by brick, adding, removing, and changing components as I went along.”
So, 2013 could be said to be the year where I got a little more in touch with my feminist roots. Or the year that I added a bunch of bricks to my Feminism Lego Tower. It’s not done yet, but it’s definitely a stronger tower than it was last year.
I honestly can’t tell you the last time I read a pure “romance” book… Urban fantasy with romance? Check. Sci fi with romance? Check. Post apocalyptic romance? Double, triple, most definitely, check. Hell, I’ve even read mysteries with romance in them this year. But romance for the sake of romance? Not really my thing. Except, then I go and read three of them back to back in the course of a week and now I don’t know what to think. Because they were good. Surprisingly good. Not formulaic bodice rippers. Not the kind of romance with long-haired, shirtless, hairy chested men on the cover, brooding beneath puffy, swirly book title fonts. So indulge me while I gush a bit about these three books (or two books and a novella, but let’s not get too technical…).
The first book I picked up after NaNoWriMo ended was Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase. I saw it listed on a book blog’s “best of 2013” list and I decided to check it out. Also, the ebook was cheap. I love finding good, cheap ebooks. Especially because I devour them… like I did with this one… Now, I will be the first to admit, this is pure, ooey gooey romance, and checks all the standard rom-com / chick lit boxes. Girl finds out she’s actually descended from royalty (in this case, she’s s duchess of some tiny European country). Girl falls in love with a Prince. Prince falls in love with the girl. Girl gets to wear lots of amazing dresses and tiaras and other “royal” nonsense. Girl ends up marrying Prince. Happily Ever After. Awwww. Except… two amazing things that blew me away and made me love this book. 1) the girl is SMART not ditzy (grad student in wilderness biology) and takes her studies / work seriously. And she doesn’t become ditzy once she finds out she’s “royal,” either. 2) the Prince loves her first and stays loving her for the entire book. He’s supportive without being smothering. He’s romantic without being creepy. He’s dependable and loving and respectful and basically the exact opposite of all those broody, self-absorbed Edward Cullen types that are so common in many of the genre fantasy books I’ve read recently. I wanted to scream “Girls! THIS! This is what boys are supposed to do when they like you!” (Except, reader beware, there are some relatively graphic sex scenes in this book… you know, graphic in a good way… just, maybe not a good choice for a less mature audience…)
Then, last night I read Night of Cake & Puppets by Laini Taylor. This novella is a little back story, or side story, or out-take, or what-have-you, from the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, meant to be a little something to hold fans (like me) over until book three in the series comes out in April (I’ve already pre-ordered it and will be re-reading the first two books in the series before April in preparation). I absolutely LOVE the world and the characters that Laini Taylor has created. This story gives us an inside peak into the romance of an orchestrated “cute-meet” between two of the peripheral characters to the main story (Mik and Zuzana), told alternating between their perspectives. The romance makes you feel all warm inside, even as you are immersed in cold, snowy Prague, lined with rivers spanned by stone bridges, and peppered with hidden cafes and magic. I read it curled up in front of the fire. It was perfect.
Mik and Zuzana had my vote for sweetest romance / first meet / first kiss / first date story… until I read Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Eleanor and Park’s romance takes place in high school in the mid-eighties. Ms. Rowell’s pop culture references to punk bands and comics and old TV shows made this the perfect teenage misfit love story. I didn’t stay up all night reading this (like I did with Fangirl), but I started it last night (after I finished Cake & Puppets), and spent most of today reading it, even when I knew I should be working on other things. I just couldn’t put it down. Even though I couldn’t shake the worry that something horrible would happen and ruin the sweetest love story ever (sorry, Mik and Zuzana…), I wouldn’t let myself skip to the end to find out what happened. I made myself deal with the tension and worry and, when I finally finished it, I was happy I didn’t spoil the end. I would also like to note that this story, as in the other two, featured a boy who is madly in love with the girl and, even though he is awkward and young, treats her with love and respect and doesn’t try to push her away or act all stupid and brooding… he is another anti-Edward Cullen. I am choosing to take this as evidence that we may be moving on from the creepy, bad-boy boyfriend epidemic, and maybe showing young girls that #TeamPeeta is way better than #TeamEdward any day of the week.
So, now what? Since I’m apparently on a romance kick this month, and have, so far, gone three for three with excellent examples of the genre, I guess that means the only thing left to do is finally read The Fault in Our Stars. Bring on the tissues.
I’m sick. I’ve been moving fast, but the cold that has been chasing me finally caught up to me. And I’m hopelessly behind in my word count. But it’s okay. Since I’m sick I’ve got nothing better to do then sit here in the comfy chair and alternate between writing and watching movies. And drink all the tea. Not a bad way to spend the weekend. Luckily, Greg got his cast off on Thursday, so now it’s his turn to take care of me. More tea please! And now back to the noveling…
I finally let someone besides me read that pile of crappy writing that I’m trying to shape into a novel. My husband, Greg, is almost always my first reader, and even though this isn’t close to being done yet, and it’s totally not the genre he prefers reading, it was time to let him read it. I need to hand in the first (or any) twenty pages to my class tomorrow so they can read it and critique it for our workshop session next week. I’m really nervous about this and I wanted Greg’s opinion first.
I’ve done workshops before, and I find them to be very valuable. The feedback from other writers and readers that are learning to think critically about the craft of writing helps me figure out what’s working and what’s not working in my stories. Usually I learn that worlds I can see perfectly in my head are not coming across as clearly to readers who’ve never seen them before.
But this time I find myself dreading this workshop and regretting that I chose this story to work on during this class. Still, I won’t let myself back down and change gears. I already committed to completing this one. Besides, the reason I’m dreading feedback on this story is because there are some very obvious flaws in the beginning of my story. It gets better. But those first chapters are rough. Or they were rough. I spent today overhauling the first twenty pages and arm wrestling them into something that I feel a little more confident about sharing with others.
So I let Greg read the first twenty pages of my raw first draft, almost all of which was written almost three years ago. He sort of puked all over it. The story is very squarely in the “YA” fantasy genre which is most definitely NOT his thing. YA SciFi or YA post-apocalyptic is more to his liking. All three of the other stories I have started are more in that genre. Of course I had to pick the one that he would hate to start with. But his feedback was exactly what I would have told myself, and what I knew he would say.
So I’ve been tearing things apart and putting them back together again. I added a new first chapter which works way better. I edited a ton of the whiney teenage girl romance crap (there’s still some, but it is YA…). And I ended up with something I feel much better about. Greg, after reminding me that the genre was still not his thing, admitted that he was actually curious to find out what happened next. Score! Outside of my own head, he is my toughest critic, by far.
Feeling pretty good about where I landed, I saved off my excerpt to send to my class and then checked my total word count. I mean, I’d done a ton of work and added a whole chapter. That had to count for something, right? The final net increase was only 24 words. Awesome. An entire day’s work and I only increased my word count by 24 words. Sigh. I think this is why authors write a first draft before they start trying to edit their work. It’s too depressing to take two steps forward only to find you actually went one step back.
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