Sci-fi. Science? Okay. Fiction? I Think Not.

Science fiction, as quoted by Wikipedia, is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible (or at least non-supernatural) content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities.

It’s in the stories and movies we know, love and sometimes fear. From Spiderman to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Alien and beyond evil-doers and organisms steal a person’s entity or intelligence. They burrow their way into one’s flesh and mind to feed.

Run. Hide. Scream. Still, life will never be the same.

Fiction is the part I disagree with, since I currently have a being growing inside me which feasts daily on my energy and brain cells.

That’s right! I can run, hide and scream. Still, life will never be the same.

My husband and I are happy to announce our science fact. We’re having a baby and making our precious three-year-old a big brother in the month of December!

Narcissistic Much?

Writing, for me, began randomly one day with a spark of idea and the fire to create. In the blink of an eye, it seemed, my story was finished and my brain overflowed with ideas begging their due attention. With all the excitement of my new found passion, I decided to become an author. I wanted to see my stories published and shared the world over.

Little did I know, writing was the easy part.

After loads of research and boring, yet helpful, reads, I found there was a staircase before me. The top high in the distance and many steps in between, some massive and some small.

So, as I often do to keep my self on track, I made a list that went exactly like this. Write, become member of writing associations, write, find local editor, write, create website and blog, write, research agents, write, write query letter, write. I’ve managed to cram other steps along the way, ones I picked up from writer friends. Such as tweet, take self editing class, plotting class and join a critique group.

In all of my plotting and planning I never thought of my self as selfish, self centered, or egotistical. It was work. Work I loved and still do. But when I started tweeting and went live with my blog and website, whoa, it creeped me out.

I was at the beginning of my journey with no fancy book covers to flash over my website. I commissioned two friends to create my logo and take my fancy pictures to decorate my web spaces. And I loved them, until I went live. After, I felt uncomfortably narcissistic because I shouted to the world, “Look at me!”

“Look what I can do!”

I hope you enjoyed the Ode to Stuart!

Now, I focus on the goal, the publication light at the top of the stairs, and don’t fear I’m going to fall in love with my refection and die from the inability to leave it. Neither am I going to cringe every time I see my reflection hoisted on the web for all to see.  (Haha, such a nerd. It’s the title of the first novel I wrote.)

With our lives, even as non-writers, on the sticky web for the world to see, have you ever felt a tad narcissistic? Uncomfortable with the public light, no matter how dim?

DSRA Spring Retreat

Check out my new post on the Diamond State Romance Authors’ Blog about our spring retreat into the mountains.

How Old Are You?

Don’t answer.

It doesn’t matter.

That’s right, there’s another reason to love writing. A writer’s age is inconsequential. Sure there are prime numbers large publishers like to see. But from eight to eighty and below and beyond those ages people’s stories get published.

Children are writing children’s books. Teens are writing thousand plus page masterpieces. Senior citizens are writing the gambit from murder confession memoirs to high paced thrillers from the nursing home.

Years ago, one of my high school students sat huddled in the back of the classroom intent on the pages of his book for the few precious seconds he could steal between the end of the assignment and the bell to change classes. Curious I made my way toward him to see what was so enthralling. The book was Eragon. It later dawned on me, my student was the same age Christopher Paolini had been when his first novel, Eragon, was published.

A favorite author of mine, Jack Higgins, is in his eighties and still rolling out the new releases, A Devil Is Waiting. Thanks, Jack!!

So, breathe easy. Your age is just a number. Work on your craft. Write your story, no matter how young or old you are. Clear your path. Who knows where it will lead.

Main Characters Aside…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “I love nature.” For me, there’s nothing more beautiful. Yes, old buildings are enchanting. A couple holding hands is sweet. But few things are as awe inspire as this…

 

No, pictures don’t do justice to the diverse spectacle that is nature. I hope my words do.

Aside from the main characters’ love story and the turmoil and detours which stand in the way, nature is my favorite thing to write into a novel. I want my readers to feel the wind on their face and the sand in their toes. I want them swept up in the storm or chilled by the first winter snow.

What is your favorite thing to read or write in a novel, aside from the main characters’ story?

Necessary Evil

Until two weeks ago, I had been running from critique groups like they were the villain in my first book coming to pillage, mar and finish me off by hanging. Scary stuff, right!

A writer’s manuscript is like a mother’s child. We know they’re not perfect, BUT don’t you dare talk bad about my baby.

We pour our heart and soul into our manuscripts. Spend our days, hours, months, even years building a world outside the one we live in. The characters we create become people with emotions and pasts. People who grow a voice and demand the story be written the way they want. They care not about the writer’s storyline. It’s their life on the page, the only one they may ever get.

In the last three months, I’ve learned SOOO much about writing through the self-editing class I took, reading published novels like a writer, and my DSRA author friends. This is a good thing! But the novel I wrote a year and a half ago, the one I’d “edited” twelve times over when I didn’t know squat, needed work. I knew this, but I needed a kick in the behind to get me going.

Critique group to the rescue. I worked up the courage, registered, held my breath and submitted the first fifteen pages of my first novel manuscript, a.k.a. my baby on Thursday. The moderator collected all submissions and divided them up among the participants; some seasoned authors, some new authors, some newbies. Each participant critiqued three works and received three critiques on their work by Sunday.

The process was painless. Reading the critiques on my work was not. The poor thing dripped red with suggestions and corrections. BUT (there’s the but again) they were supremely helpful. I didn’t get shipped off the island, booed off the bus or laughed off the stage. Quite the opposite. My story was, “compelling and chilling” and they were ready to read more. My writing was amazing, for a beginner.

So, in the warmth of a critique group as opposed to the darkness of a trashcan in a publisher’s office, I found the things I need to correct and remember for future writing.

My advice to you writers: Find a critique group. Critique with people better than you. Intimidating? Yes, but it will make you a better writer.

Question: Do you use a critique group? If yes, what has been your experience? If no, why not? 

Besides Books

Perusing my past posts, looking for something to spark a new post topic, I found little to nothing under the heading My Life. It made me think. There’s more to my life than reading and writing, right?

Of course, there is. So much more, I’ve hardly got room to fit it all into a single post.

First and always foremost, there’s my precious family. My hottie husband, Jonathan, who’s both a genius (engineer) and too athletic for words (former college pitcher), is my wingman on this crazy ride called life. My three year old son, Summit, is the life of the party, always keeping us on our toes or on our backs rolling with laughter. Next are our furry children, an allergic to everything german shepherd, River, and play obsessed labrador, Lincoln, who keep it real.

Then, there’s Mom, Dad, and my brother, the best anyone could ask for! (Warning: We can’t take a serious picture to save anyone’s life.) And don’t get me started on the extended family with twenty seven first cousins on one side. My family is massive and Catholic, and I love them!

If you couldn’t guess from my blog and website pics, I love the outdoors!!! Hiking, biking, horseback riding, canoeing, kayaking, running, camping, swimming, wake boarding, sailing, mud running and even a little mountain climbing. If it’s outside, I’ll probably do it!

Twenty seven miles in and around the Grand Canyon with a forty pound pack. Oh yeah, I’m hard core!

Seven degrees and a foot of snow, not what we had in mind when we planned this trip.

Tango, the best horse in the world!

Our first Mud Run! We’re doing our fourth this weekend!

I also love Halloween!!

By the way, it’s really hard to hold your golfball baby when you have an alligator head on and your golfer husband is missing an arm! And I couldn’t find the picture of Summit’s first Halloween. He was a, one week old, Dalmatian sitting with our two other dogs.

There you have it, a little glimpse into my life. It’s pretty darn good!!

What are your non-book hobbies?