Month: December 2012

Thank you all for the good hopes. I probably shouldn’t have written about it at all, but I was scared. My doctor was very sober about it, which didn’t help. As I mentioned, intellectually I was pretty sure we weren’t looking at cancer. Breast lumps that are cancerous are like little marbles, today’s doc told me. I knew that. And my background was in my favor. Still, the human imagination is an incredible worrier, and we artistic types are quite neurotic already.

Now, a word from the medical establishment: if you notice ANY bump, or you have any suspicions at all, it’s best to get these things checked. Just because it’s not cancer, you could have some other things going on, and it’s better to know the terrain of your body. Also, that reassurance that tells you that things are normal is worth WHATEVER it costs. Believe me. Today I believe I can function. Yesterday, not so good.

So, what is my problem? Same old. I’ll put the wimmin’s stuff under the cut for those of you who might be delicate flowers. 🙂

Continue reading “I’m Okay!!!”

Let’s do something fun for a few moments. Let’s talk about what things I’ve read this year that I’d recommend to you. These are a wide variety of lengths in a wide variety of format. The only requirement for making the list is that I read the thing this year, so that makes it a haphazard list indeed, but…well, I like doing it. This year seems particularly comics and graphic novel heavy, but there is a fair mix of fiction and non-fiction as well.

Cool things to read under the cut. In no particular order but alphabetical, then…

Continue reading “Writer Tamago’s Top 15 Books for 2012”

Tomorrow, bright and early. An ultrasound. Should the masses (turns out there are 3) be suspicious, there will be a biopsy, although I do not know if that will be tomorrow. So, if you have a moment to send me positive vibrations, that would be awesome.

Intellectual woman knows that the chances of this being serious is slim to none, given her genetic history, etc, etc. Uncertainty, however, is the domain of Emotional woman, who is unhappy at this turn of events. Because you know, it’s finals week, and that’s why it had to happen this week, to distract me from being a lean, mean checking machine. And because you know, breast lumps. Scary.

Back to being distracted and trying to check things until my two o’clock appointment. Woo.

Do you see that cloud of word exhaust? I’ve been getting a novella into shape for a beta reader thing, and that’s where I’ve been. Oh, and folding up the semester, working with students and getting ready for the next semester.

This Saturday is the deadline for the beta reads of Abigail Rath, so I’m going to roll up my sleeves and begin revising along those lines, in ultimate preparation for release into the wild. I am going to spend some time each night revising an element and working on synopsis documents, etc.

So, I have been trying to conquer the forces of biology and losing. I started some strong medicine for ringworm, and had some success, but then I had an allergic reaction to it. Not a big surprise. People who are allergic to penicillin sometimes have this happen. I stopped it on Saturday, and we’ll be talking to the doc about alternatives today, as well as about a spooky lump which I suspect may be a cyst from the way it behaves and is painful. No cancer scare here, so don’t worry about that.

Bryon and I are steaming the house. We are steaming all the rugs and upholstery, and then I will be doing my level best to make sure not to expose my skin to any of it, because it’s winter, and sleeves are good. This way, hopefully, we can make our home contagion free. Most people can wear the ringworm virus and are immune, but I’d hate to set anyone up for this.

The cats don’t seem to have it, and I’m the one staying away from them. 🙂

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So, good writing news. Inconvenient physical annoyances. There are a few links that I’ll put up tomorrow that have come to my attention as of late. I have an author interview to post–Merrie Haskell’s writing process interview, and you can look forward also to the annual Writer Tamago Best of 2012 lists. So it won’t be quite the ghost town that it has been around here. That’s the plan anyway.

Cath

Here’s an interview with Sara Mueller, whose taken a few moments away from working on her fantasy/historical Bone Orchard to answer a few questions.

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Tamago: Tell me about when you knew you wanted to be a writer.

Sara: I don’t remember when I didn’t enjoy telling stories, but I didn’t really set my sights on writing a book until twelve years ago or so.

Tamago: What is your composing process usually like?

Sara: I come up with a character and situation. Once I have those, I tend to write Chapter One more or less immediately because the first inklings I have about the world are part and parcel of the character and situation.

Then I stop and think about a rough plot, and write on from there. I write in a sort of spiral process, with dialogue and a few very rough descriptions, then the next day I go back, fill in the descriptions, tighten up the dialogue, and go on from there.

I run my work past some prereaders or my writer’s groups as I go along, so I have continuing feedback to keep me going. I find well done critique extremely inspiring while I’m in process.

At about three quarters of the way through, my original ending will implode and I write a better one than I planned on.

I usually compose on computer, but if I’m not at the computer and have a notebook and writing instrument (which I try to always have) I often rough out scenes longhand. And if I’m really stuck, I go back to longhand and no matter how bad it is, I can usually get some momentum again there.

Tamago: How do you know when a project is working?

Sara: I know it’s working when the characters are really alive in my head.

Tamago: Do you prefer working with the initial draft, or do you prefer the revising process? Why?

Sara: Drafting is great in the early going, because it’s so organic and I’m really excited about the story. Theeeeen at about three quarters of the way in, it starts to be work because now I have to make it all come to a satisfying end. At that point, revising is my favorite thing, because it gets me excited about the particular story again and how to tell the story in the best possible way.

Tamago: Your novel The Bone Orchard is set in a steampunk universe, but seems patterned on European history. How much research do you do for your fantasy work?

Sara: Depends on the novel, really. Bone Orchard was a lot of research into dissociated identities (multiple personality), but on the research scale I didn’t need to do much more because I was pretty familiar with the period I was borrowing from.

For my alternate history, Lily Crown, I ended up doing masses of historical research because while I do have a pretty solid grip on English history of the 16th c., my story was set in France during that period. I knew a little, but as it became clear that the story needed to center in France I had to do a LOT of reading up.

Tamago: Which writers are your influences?

Sara: Oh good heavens, lol. Honestly the list is endless and depends on what I’m writing. For Bone Orchard it was obviously Frankenstein, and a lot of other Victorian work. Edith Wharton and Anthony Trollope, for two.

Tamago: How did you come to apply to Taos Toolbox?

Sara: David Levine talked about it, and I was looking specifically for a novel workshop. There are plenty of short story workshops, but Taos Toolbox is aimed specifically at novels.

Tamago: What advice would you give to a writer who might be considering a workshop?

Sara: Read up on it, check out blogs written by participants, and if you can, correspond with them politely and ask questions. And when you go, leave your ego at the door with the hat check lady. You’re there to make your writing better. It’s not about you, it’s about the writing.

Tamago: What are you working on right now?

Sara: I have two projects running. I’m working on another book in the Bone Orchard universe, and an urban fantasy. I haven’t written urban fantasy, but I had a character, a bad situation, and a world in my head so…

Tamago: Given all the obligations in your life, how do you balance, family, work, and writing?

Sara: I’m extremely fortunate that my husband and son support my writing. I write while I’m waiting at my son’s fencing lessons, I write in doctors’ waiting rooms, I’ve been known to jot down notes at the dinner table. Writing is the thing that’s always cooking in the background.

Tamago: What advice would you give to people who would like to write?

Sara: Write. Helpful, right? But seriously, the best way to learn to write is to DO IT. Read your work out loud, even if it’s just to the cat. You’re going to fail, and make a lot of beginner errors at first because beginners do that. The manuscript you end up with my look nothing at all like the one you started, but if it serves the characters and the story it’s because you learned how to do that better along the way.

Tamago: Where can people find your work?

Sara: Heh. Toughie, as I’m not a prolific short story writer and don’t have a book out. I cowrote a story with David D. Levine that appears in his anthology ‘Space Magic’. I have another in ‘Healing Waves’, which is a charity ebook for tsumani victims in Japan.

Steven Gould, new book coming out early next year, was kind enough to talk to us about his writing process. Another unique style, Steven writes and revises AT THE SAME TIME!

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Tamago: Do you have a regular drafting process, or does your drafting process vary from book to book? (If it varies, please keep one project in mind as you answer these questions.)

Steven: I am very much a “pantser” as they call it. In other words, not a plotter. My drafting process is a rolling churn. As I write I revise on an ongoing basis. If something needs to be set up in the current day’s work, I go back and set it up first. While this is not a fast process, it does result in my finished first draft being very close to my submission draft.

Tamago: Which part of writing–drafting, revising, critique from others–do you enjoy the most? Why? The least? Why?

Steven: Drafting is best but as I said, revising is pretty much part of this process. I REALLY like finishing. However, I have been fooled by this desire to finish to declaring a book done when it still needed several thousand words.

Tamago: What is the longest time it’s taken you to complete a project? The shortest time?

Steven: I’m going to talk about novels. I was writing REFLEX, the sequel to JUMPER, when 9/11 happened. JUMPER had scenes of terrorism and several scenes at the World Trade Center and this really interfered with my ability to go forward with the book so it was finished for another two years (three and a half in all).

The quickest thing I ever wrote was the tie-in for JUMPER the movie. JUMPER: GRIFFIN’S STORY was written in 9 months but the destination (leading up to the events before the movie) was defined ahead of time so that helped.

Tamago: In what ways has your writing process changed over time?

Steven: I’ve always written books like I read them: To find out what is going to happen. (The pantser thing.) This continues to be true. I’ve found, over the years, that I can’t really workshop incomplete books as the critiques seriously delay my already slow writing process. I would like to say that I’ve become a better writer, but I’m not sure. The process feels the same inchoate horror that is has always been and my first book remains my most popular.

Continue reading “The Writing Process and Steven Gould”