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Today’s entry on the Mahabharata is an important one, but a short one.

As you know, all of the Pandavas are descended from different gods, and as such, have amazing gifts. One of the gifts of the third brother, Arjuna, is fantastic skills of archery. Arjuna was known for many mighty feats of manly warrior skill as well.

One day, in an archery contest, Arjuna won the hand of the beautiful princess Draupadi as his prize. Thrilled, he rushed back to his brothers and his mother Kunti.

Kunti had a rule which she abided by for all her sons. If one son wins something, it must be shared with the other sons. She does not make an exception for Draupadi, so Draupadi becomes the wife of the five Pandavas, and she has children with each of them.

The stage is set. Next, we see the rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas reach its zenith, and Draupadi is at the heart of it.

Catherine

If I could tell you all the cool things that Catrina Horsfield and I are planning for our as yet unnamed serial/website, you would think groovy. With tentacles.

But for all of you who are curious, I want you to know that I am still staunchly non-Cthullu, in spite of what this is going to look like.

***

We wend close to the end of Blood is Thicker than Water, with this week’s brief installation. There are 3 installations left!

What has Catherine done that’s writerly today?

A couple of things.

1. I am scheduled to speak to a local writing group, The Noble Pen next Thursday. We’ll probably talk about adventures in publishing in small press and submitting to agents.

2. I’m working on a writing/art project with Catrina Horsfield to replace my weekly installments of Blood is Thicker than Water, which is over in about a week. I’ll also be meeting with Catrina about the aforementioned project later on tonight.

Now, I suppose I should write on that troll story some more.

ETA:

33888 / 60000 words. 56% done!

I have salvaged all I can from the zero draft. I spent most of the night outlining, and I know that chapter six is boring, so that must change.

Time to chat.

Catherine

Turning off the internal editor can be a challenge. Facing down the blank screen can make me cringe. I always feel better when some words are in the file I pop open.

I have a stretch of time to write today, and I’m doing it. I’m taking a small break right now to cleanse palates between scenes. I just finished a scene that is going to take some serious revision, if it doesn’t get cut. I’m not happy, but I decided to move forward, because again, it’s time to shut up and write.

A lot of writers get hung up on how their prose sounds. If you’re like me, you know you want your prose to come onto the screen pristine, witty, and well-formed. Since I’ve been revising a lot of material, I’m getting some of that. However, I’m into new territory, and once again I’m at the fertilizer stage.

Bob Boston, this awesome screen writing teacher I had in college, taught us about the fertilizer stage. The lecture’s logic was this: All first drafts are shit. But from fertilizer, good things grow. The trick is, you’ve got to spread the fertilizer around first.

Boston was correct. I forget that every time, EVERY TIME I write something new. I’m always comparing myself to the previous finished product, and not the previous product’s origins. I always forget that the previous finished product took several months, maybe even a year or so, to author. My memory is faulty, and I always have to rediscover this. You’d think I’d get it, but there’s a mental block or something.

My hopes for The Winter the Troll Danced with Old Nick is to have it finished by Halloween, out to readers in November, and polished in November and December, in order to start playing agent roulette again in January 2010. To get there, I have to cross this bridge, write at the stinky stage, and then really let my novel develop from the stinky stuff.

My motto, then, must be that even if it’s not working right now, even if I feel like I’m not happy with dialogue or plot direction, it’s time to shut up and write. Because I can revise and make it better, and I do, every single time. Writing a novel is not like watching Aphrodite emerge from the waves, or seeing Athena leap out of Zeus’ headache. It’s more like watching Hephaestus’ beard catching on fire at the forge as his arm swings back for another stroke. And another. And another.

Oookay. Yes, yes. Shut up and write.

Catherine

Seven hundred words, up hill all the way. I’m in the heavy revision zone. I’m sure that I’ll buff it up in the rewrite.

I really miss the release time I had during the HH:PW writing. You’d have a few hours, rather than an hour at the end of a long day. Yeah, yeah. Whine, whine.

At least we’re still moving forward, even if I did cut words tonight.

26492 / 60000 words. 44% done!

Somehow I missed it when it came out in March, 2009, but here’s a link to that wig article I wrote for Ani-Coz last year. The one you want to download is volume 3, issue 2.

There’s a little nonfiction for you, then. In case you want to design your own hair.

Catherine

I’ve been thinking about the future.

Currently, I am receiving laudits from the college because of all the growth and new curriculum in the ELA program. They’ve let me have new and exciting software for the language lab. They’ve expanded our number of sections, and I’m hiring like mad. All is well in the ELA universe.

So well that my dean is going to ask for a couple of full time positions for the program next year, besides mine. There is no guarantee that the college would approve the positions, but if so, that would be great.

It would also be my chance to become a teacher again, rather than a teacher/administrator. Don’t get me wrong. I love my job, even though there are times when it is really difficult and overwhelming. I generally plow through, so it’s nothing I can’t handle.

The issue is the writing. I would have LOADS more time to write if I were a teacher, rather than a teacher/administrator. Scads more. Oodles. I would be a fool, as someone who wants to publish and write books, if I passed up that opportunity.

I’m not going anywhere this year. Nothing can change until May for sure, or when the board decides how we’re going to budget for next year. Really, though, it’s not a hard decision to make. It sort of makes itself.

It’s nice to think about the future. It never does anything but surprise you. I’m listening, powers that be. Send me your cues.

Catherine

Courtesy of Jay Lake‘s Link Salad, I give you a very good journal entry by Caren Johnson on word count.

I have a few things to say about this, but I’ll keep it concise, because, you know, word count.

1. Do what they tell you for the first book. You can be all special later, when and if they let you. Your goal is to break in.

2. Caren says, “I think writers with those long sprawling manuscripts should rethink their word count. Look at the writers you admire and those who you’d like to compare your work to (another reason why I ask who your contemporaries are; those who don’t know better start reading to find out). Are their books longer or shorter than yours? Are you making yours longer because its essential to tell your story or because you’re trying to match their writing style? Think about all this before you submit that 100,000 plus word manuscript to more agents. It could be the difference between getting an offer or representation vs hearing that your story took too long to grab them or sagged during the middle and that’s why they’re passing on your book.”

Food for thought. I am always on the other end of the spectrum. My initial manuscripts are short, and I usually plump them up with more details that are essential to the story. I envy those of you with words to spare.

***
Catherine

Rather than writing a post about my feelings and this issue, I’m going to do something fairly educational. I’m going to recommend some books which I have taught over the years that are from authors whose background is not mine. Sometimes the authors handle the issues of racism seriously, and sometimes humorously. Occasionally they do both at the same time. All of the books I’m recommending are by authors from the ethnicity written about in the book.

Let’s start with Reservation Blues, one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. Reservation Blues focuses on the brief rise and fall of the rock band Coyote Springs, and features famous guitarist Robert Johnson, two dead US army generals, and life on the reservation. It’s a funny book and it’s a serious book, which is Alexie’s way. The book is a great study for fantacists as well as lit students.

More book recommendations follow.

Continue reading “International Blog Against Racism Week: Book Recommendations”

Here’s this week’s Blood is Thicker than Water!