April #WIPMADNESS Week 3 Check-In: Legacies

I've had my head buried in the day job and in some serious revisions all month, but I came out of the hole this weekend long enough to enjoy a little Native American culture. At times, I get so frustrated with this crazy passion that has me bleeding in pixels and slaughtering my darlings on a daily basis. Nevertheless, I cannot keep myself from it. I must write. And occasionally, I must find inspiration in diversion.

As I arrived at the festival Saturday morning, a Cherokee man was telling one of the great stories of his tribe. Lessons of compassion and violence and justice and tradition. A little while later, a family raised in the Aztec tradition danced a welcome to the day. Among them, two little girls who shook their rattles and blew the wind whistle right along with their parents.

As the young father spoke his invocation and taught us about the significance of the dance, he also spoke of raising his children in the Aztec culture and keeping their traditions alive through the generations. The most beautiful moment came as he referred to his two young daughters and how he wanted to teach them the ways of their ancestors, a task which required a lot of patience from the whole family. Then, with the youngest fussing a bit behind him, needing something at that moment, he calming explained, "She is instructing us now...."

Perfect. We often forget that children teach us. If we listen, if we watch closely, we can learn volumes from them. As a writer of fiction for young readers, I often struggle to remember what it felt like at their age. I try to draw on my own experiences and relive those tangled emotions. At best, success comes sporadically. If I watch my son and daughter, however, I read the emotions in every word, every little gesture, every exasperated sigh and crazy riff of laughter. Even those moments of conflict can teach us if we remember to look at with the eye of a student rather than a dictator.

We often think they just don't get the world as it is. This is just a phase that will pass and we all just have to survive it.

It is so much more. I hope that I am awake enough and thoughtful enough to keep learning from them, to see the world as they see it. To see the world as it is and give them what they need.

So how about it, Wipsters? How are your April goals going? Any epiphanies or fabulous diversions that got you back on the writing track this week?

Identity Crisis #2

As I wait [impatiently/anxiously] for my agent to pass judgement over the latest revision of book #2, my newest project is struggling to be born. Like Yeats' "rough beast," this one seems both elusive and menacing, but inescapably exciting because is quite the departure from my previous work.

First, it is not historical. This one just needs to happen here and now. But does that mean that I am a fraud? My niche seems to be the historical ghosty fiction, but this particular project is screaming from a different place. Inspired by someone near and dear to me, it is also a rather bold experiment both for me and my potential readers. This MC is not your average clairvoyant. She has a few other exceptionalities that will remain a secret for now.

Second, it is far more character driven than anything I have written before. Of course, now I find myself wondering what the hell is the plot, but I'm pulling on my tall boots and wading in. I have to admit I'm a little scared. How much plotting do I really need to do before I jump in and just start writing? I made a royal mess of my first go round of the last novel, but I think I have ironed out some of its worst faults. But this new project has many, many layers. More complex characters. Delicate issues.

Third, I'm going to attempt a first-person narrative. There is really no other choice. We need to be inside the MC's head for this one and live inside her skin. Can I do it?

In light of all these innovations, I'm wondering if I am in the midst of another identity crisis. My confidence has been shaky many times...well, pretty much always. There is part of me who had sort of branded herself as the historical ghost fiction chick, but can I just be a writer? I'm still swinging the big ghost stick, but it has a very different place and purpose this time around. Is that wrong? Is it doable?

I guess the only way to find out is to take the leap. Let's hope my boots are tall enough and I don't spring a leak...and that this crazy beast won't jump up and bite me in the ass, either...

Visual Inspiration

As #wipmadness continues, our fabulous host Kip Wilson Rechea blogged about visual inspiration for this week's reflection. She shared a few snapshots of the visuals that keep her inspired and fill her WIP with authentic setting details.  I have always used visuals to feed my WIP-ping heart and create atmosphere and inspiration as I plow through each draft. Sadly, I spend most of my days in a lab at the university, so I'm not really free to paper my walls with all the cool photos and bits of flotsam that drive my writing. So, I have papered my Scrivener bulletin board with them:

Of course, my Project 365 blog as well as my new adventures in Light and Shadow have helped me fine-tune my senses to those amazing little details of the world around us that bring my story to life. I just hope I am doing it justice when I write. Through these bits of setting or hardware or direction, I'm pushing to create that world, to make it real enough for the reader to embrace. Shapes, textures, light, and shadow—it's all essential.

I suppose if I papered my little corner of the lab with all my scraps and photos, security might think I was a psycho or something, building my little WIP/stalker shrine. Ah well...I suppose it would just keep them guessing...

#WIPMADNESS Final April Check-in

As I am sure many of you are doing, I'm scratching my head wondering where in the world did April go? I hope it was productive for all you wipsters, out there.  I just got word that my agent is done reading the WIP I finished in March and is in the process of writing up her notes for me. It looks as if the May Madness will be all about revisions.

April was a good month for pre-writing and I accomplished a lot. I spent time thinking about my characters and the plot while I researched some critical elements of the story. Journaling through it brought me that beautiful "Aha!" moment when I discovered my main character's emotional arc for the story. Now I have something more concrete to shoot for when I start the actual writing.  While I have no word count for the month, I do have a hatful of magic to launch me into the next leg of the journey.

Thank you all for sticking with me through the madness and I look forward to keeping it all going with you over on Angelina's blog throughout the month of May.  Rock on, Wipsters!

#WIPMADNESS April Check-In Week 3

It's another morning-after-insomnia Monday and I'm running character sketches through my brain.  That may be why sleep eluded me last night. Too many ideas that would not take a break. As I'm scurrying about trying to lay out the details and backstory of my main character, one question nags me:  what is this book going to be about?  Seriously. What is its final raison d'être?

Have you ever launched into a project with a wisp of a notion but had no idea where it would end up? I don't know that I would say my current predicament is quite that extreme, but I am wrestling with two different possibilities and finding it hard to reconcile them. It is a ghost story, as mine tend to be, but this one is going to be more than that. This time I really want the character to drive the story in a way I haven't developed before.  How do I do that?

That's what all the research and sketching is for.  I've written about how every story finds its moment. It will be told when it is ready.  The problem is I'm just a little too impatient about this one. So it is back to the journal and the preliminary doodling for now.

How has the madness treated everyone this week?

#WIPMADNESS April Check-In Week 2

Week 2 took me all over the place, figuratively and literally. I started the week with a few good days in my WIP journal, working out the main character and some logistics of this new project. I think I have a name for her and some deep backstory details. I'm chipping away at the surface and digging deep.

The best and hardest part of my week took me on a journey north. All the way to Pennsylvania! Coming from southwest Georgia, that's quite a haul. But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.  My not-so-angsty teenage son and my tween daughter really needed a visit to our old home town outside Lancaster, PA. So a 15-hour drive on Thursday (starting at 3:00 am) got us there just in time to start spring break with the best friends who have never been replaced. Watching my kids shine with their old buddies totally made the 30+ hours of driving I've done in the last 4 days worth it. Plus, I got to take in some of my favorite natural sights, like this little gal up here. (I'm pretty sure it's a gal, considering the subsequent photo frames and the mystery dance her partner did with her!)

That's the WIP journey, too. Finding my way through research and soul-searching those characters and ideas will eventually uncover something golden.  

So where has your WIP journey led you this week?

Gray Matter

Adolescence is a time when what should be and what is come crashing together in a world flooded with swirling hormones and shifting perceptions. That is the challenge of writing books for teenagers. As I look at my characters, I am constantly asking questions like:

• What does she expect?
• Why does she expect that?
• Is it fair?
• What does that mean?
• How does she rationalize that?
• How does it affect her?
• How does it affect other characters?
• Why is it different?
• How would she change it?
• What difference can she make?
• Where is the justice?
• Why is it important?

If the answers are too easy, then I'm not sure I'm doing it right.

I finally figured out that the hardest part of being a teenager for me was the barrage of grayness that came the minute my hormones were launched. No longer were the big questions a simple matter of a black or white answer. Suddenly my moral and social landscape had gone all gray.

In my battle for self-discovery, I was an unarmed civilian stumbling through a dusty minefield of choices. There was no map to me. No schematic with neat little dots marking where all the bombs were buried so I could navigate my way safely to adulthood, which to most teenagers means freedom.

(Who am I kidding? After the hormones kick in, there is no safety, ever. Of course, I didn't realize that until I reached about...40.)

As I read some tween and MG novels to my 11-year-old daughter, I see her perception struggling to hold on to the black and white. Allie Finkle isn't always right, but my daughter is outraged when other characters are so clearly wrong. Her sense of justice is still holding out for the clear answer. But I see the color wheels turning and those answers are a little bit harder to find.

My almost-15-year-old son, on the other hand, crossed that valley quite a while ago. He is painting his social consciousness with a much more nuanced brush and is cautiously stepping into the arena of boy-girl relationships. He has no map. Just a vague destination. But he marches onward with amazing determination. He is one of those rare kids who has decided very early that he and no one else is going to choose who he is.

As I revise my latest WIP, I need to remember to pay attention to the gray matter, to leave some things unanswered, to let my characters choose badly sometimes. Adolescence is not devoid of conviction or even lacking in direction (for some, anyway). Teenagers are not the clueless wanderers so many stereotypes try to portray.  They are just us...at our most human.

All My WIP Children

As authors, we often refer to our books as our children.  At conception, those little babes fill us with joy and anticipation.  We imagine their future in every detail and nurture the concept until it is fully formed and ready for the real labor.  Oy!  You think 15 or 20 or 30 hours of labor is tough, try two years!

As each WIP grows, it takes on a personality of its own.  You love them all, but you can't help but compare them sometimes and realize that each one needs a very different kind of discipline.

One WIP has you running non-stop right from the start and you're always excited to see what he's going to do next.  He takes risks and isn't afraid to get a little dirty or scuffed up.  Blunders are just another nugget of gold waiting to be mined.  And he does not like to wait...for anything.  He's that child of wonder who is always discovering some glorious secret that he can't keep.  He inspires you and sucks the life out of you at the same time, but you always know that eventually he will "wow" the world if he gets the chance.

Your next WIP is not so gregarious.  This shy little bud needs more coaxing.  She is brilliant, but hyper critical of herself and afraid to put a foot wrong.  She becomes fixated on some ridiculous detail and can't move on until it is just right.  Yep.  This is your perfectionist.  Completely obsessed with the details. And though you try to hide it, she knows you expect more out of her than the others. Before you know it, those unspoken expectations have spun out of control and cranked up the pressure until performance anxiety almost cripples her.  The best thing to do is take a spa day (or two or three) and have a make-over.  She'll need a heart-to-heart reminder that she is just as awesome as your other WIPs. She's just different.

And somewhere there is that sweet, quiet, parent-pleaser who is just waiting for her chance to shine.  This was your first.  She had to be the test subject, the kid who got to endure all your early parental mistakes and experimental discipline.  There were no hand-me-downs, but her hand-made clothes were a bit cheap and unfinished. You hadn't quite learned how to cut the patterns and sew yet. Amazingly, she still has her dream intact.  She just waits patiently to see if she'll get another chance to go to the ball or the parade or whatever it will turn out to be.  No judgement.  No grudges. Just hope.

It's the shy one who is giving me fits now.  I'm hoping that she is a gifted child in the end, and that these are just her perfectionist growing pains.  That I'll be able to unlock her inhibitions and give her a little more faith in herself so she can really take off.  After the first spa day, she is starting to loosen up a bit.  She is still a little afraid of the big finale, but I think I can get her there.  Soon.

A Letter to my WIP

Dear WIP,


We've been together for a while, now, and I've come to know you pretty well. You are bold and interesting and not afraid to take some risks.  I always liked that about you.  Sure, you say some stupid things now and then, but who doesn't?  Lately, though, you have been so hard to talk to, afraid to open up.  You're holding back, showing me only the tiniest bits of your world where you once wore your heart on you sleeve and felt free to gush.  Is it something I said?  Have I offended you?  Did I give you bad advice? Are you having mad hormonal surges or something?  


I can only wonder if this new wrinkle in our relationship is because you are growing up.  Believe me, I've been there. One day you are doing your own thing, oblivious to the existence, let alone the opinions, of anyone else.  Then "Bam!" You realize that you're not alone.  That others are watching you.  Maybe you start watching them.  Before you know it, you are constantly comparing yourself to others or worried about being left behind or making the wrong choices.  All of a sudden you are aware of what's out there and it scares you.  That's growing up.  I won't lie; it ain't always pretty.  And it definitely isn't easy.  You will be judged, rejected, deconstructed, and made over.  But that's life. That's how we become our best selves.


Or maybe it's me.  Maybe I've made all the wrong choices for you. Maybe somehow I've lost touch with the real you.  Have I stifled your voice or failed to listen closely?  Maybe I've been the one who's afraid.  So scared to get it wrong and send you out there unprepared that I become overprotective.  After all, you are my responsibility. But maybe it's time to let you have your head a little more.  Drop the reins and let you run.  It's hard.  You'll never know how hard. I just wonder, have I given you enough direction to keep you from dashing head-on into catastrophe?  I guess it's time to find out.


So here it goes.  I'm letting go and letting you lead the way now.  I'm right behind you.  Just remember, don't be afraid to show yourself as you really are. Make no apologies.  Just put yourself out there.  


One last thing.  When it's all said and done, I, and a highly qualified team of specialists, can always give you a kick-ass make-over, so be bold, be sassy, and run like hell!

#WIPMADNESS Final July Check-in

How did everybody do?

Today, I will break the 46k mark, which is a little short of what I wanted, but it is progress.  This last week has been rocky...meetings that barred me from the WIP and potential upheaval that was eventually abated. But if nothing else, I got even more clarity in the development of the story.

What have I learned this month?

I've learned that I need to move around, to get up and stretch and think and direct my brain in different directions more often than I do.  I've learned how much I miss writing at home.  I've also learned that tension and romance can be hard to do without a major cheese factor killing your momentum.  The "go big or stay home" mentality doesn't work quite the same way in that case.

Goals for August?

1.  Finish the WIP!  (HA!...I can try!).
2.  Take at least one weekend and lock myself away to write.  (That might actually happen)
3.  If all else fails, just keep making forward progress.

Major goal — to have something workable for my agent to review.  Then...the revisions.

Thanks for hanging with the madness everyone!  Good luck in August and don't forget to check in with Angelina!

#WIPMADNESS July check-in #4

It's a real jumble this week.  Ghost Girl and Son have driven north to Wilmington, NC to meet Ghost Friends for a mother/son retreat at the beach.  That means a lot of crazy 14-year-old boy antics, sun and surf, and very little writing.  But I wouldn't trade this week for anything.  (I might postpone it for a book deal, though...just saying.)

One thing that nudged me along was a great critique from a writing buddy.  We exchanged 3 chapters a few weeks ago, and she sent me my notes yesterday.  (Big thanks to @bkslinda)  As can often happen in a first draft, part of the story was still in my head rather than on the page.  You know those clever little bits of information that you mean to lead somewhere, but somehow you didn't quite get the "somewhere" down on the page?  Yep, did that a little bit.

The good news is, revision is my bag.  I'm slow on the first draft, but fast and efficient on revisions.  By that time, my vision is more complete and the holes are more obvious when I go back over everything.

While my progress wasn't what I had hoped this week, it was what I expected (only about 600 words).  Maybe I'll still get in a few hundred while the boys are swimming...

How did everyone else do?

#WIPMADNESS July Check-in Number 3

It's Harry Potter day at last!  I'm not sure how much writing I will get done today, but I am outta here at 2:00 to meet Ghost Son for our standing HP date.  Aside from that distraction, it has been a pretty decent WIP week, especially since I broke the 44k mark and am officially building the climax.  I continue to have little epiphanies along the way (yay!) as well as those moments of doubt.

Ah yes, those moments of doubt.  With Harry Potter stalking me in the background and my rabid reading of the Hunger Games series, I find myself making far too many comparisons which is completely counter productive.  I keep thinking, why can't I write like that?  Or, I'm doing it wrong. My style is so different and that gestational stage of my WIP has me feeling bloated, unattractive, and downright cranky at times.

I keep telling myself that what I'm reading is a finished product that has gone through its share of fits and starts and revisions, not to mention the number of books Suzanne Collins wrote before this and all her television work.  What I'm writing is still in its prenatal state.  It's bound to be a little wrinkly and funky-looking. It might even smell bad at times.  I'm not sure that pep talk helps, though.  In the end, I feel like a teenage mom compared to all these wonderful writers I know and read.  Everyone is staring and pointing and judging, dismissing me as unworthy to bring life into the world because I don't even know what it means yet.  As uncomfortable as that analogy is, you know what I'm talking about.  Then I realize, no...that is not everyone...that is ME.  I'm judging and pressuring myself to be something else. I'm the one ready to dismiss myself as a kid who has no business bringing this life into the world because I couldn't possibly have what it takes...yet.  

I think I need a Moonstruck Cher to smack me in the face and say "Snap out of it!"  When I go back and read some of the earlier chapters of my WIP, I realize that there is a plan here, a voice, a style.  It's just not like the dystopian stuff I'm reading for fun, nor should it be.  After all, I'm not writing about teenagers fighting to the death in some crazy post-apocolyptic world.  I'm writing about ghosts and life in 1850 and a teenager kicking some pre-Civil War ass.  It ought to look different.  Right?

So what has been your biggest personal challenge with your writing this week?

#WIPMADNESS July Check-in Number 2

Where did the week go?  Well, I think I almost have the WIP plan marked out enough to write these last chapters with some direction.  The Ghost-in-Laws were in town from Saturday to Wednesday, so my writing week was a little slim this time around. Somehow I managed to get in about 2,000 words in the few days I had.  I will take that.

One fabulous revelation I had came through a number of influences.  First, I'm reading CATCHING FIRE, which has inspired a few motivational choices and made me think hard about teenage angst.  Second, I had a heart-to-heart with my son about why he continues to read a book.  What pulls him on page after page.  Of course it was one of those "depends" answers, but still informative.  Then I mulled over consequences.

I have to really map out the consequences of each character's choices if the climax is going to carry any umpf.  Thus I have begun to build the fire and hope that I can stoke those flames nice and hot. I keep reminding myself that there has to be a clear price for each choice a character makes and I think I'm starting to figure out what they are.  It's all about how high the stakes are, right?

So how high have the stakes been for you this week?

#WIPMADNESS July Check-in and Introduction

I don't know what happened to my June #wipmadness check-in with Erin Bow on her fabulous blog, but somewhere I just lost track.  But July has arrived and I promise I will be better about posting the progress, or lack thereof, and offering a little inspiration wherever I can.

Today, I am sharing an insight.  One of those little bolts of lightning that zaps you at the core and makes you feel like an idiot before you realize what a treasure it is. And her it is:  my muse is a ghost.

As I have struggled through the middle of my WIP and stopped to re-plot and explore where the hell I intended to go in the first place, I have wondered where she was taking me. Sometimes I wondered was she was at all.  I knew she had a plan, but she was absolute mud at revealing it to me.  I tripped over the holes in my story and got stuck in the trench somewhere, but today my muse snatched hold of my hand and yanked me up and back onto the path.

What did it?  What slap in the face woke her up? The spooky side of my book.  Yes, as you know I am the Ghost Girl and I guess that's what my muse was trying to tell me.  Quick mucking around with all the psychology and character exploration and just jump in with a ghost again.

So, today's 1,061 words centered on a ghosty scene and it came pouring out in all its luscious creepiness.  Finally!  It felt good.  Like a big cool drink after a month in the desert.  So, that will be the order of July.  Plow ahead and let the Ghost Muse lead me.  I can muck it up with character development and all that jazz later!

What revelation is launching you into your July #wipmadness?