Stuck Like Chuck

What do you do when you get stuck on a scene?

This weekend I learned something about myself.  If I were a full time writer, my house would be immaculate.  Seriously.  It would seem my defense mechanism for being stuck on a scene is to clean something.

I spent most of the weekend at home, outside of grabbing some groceries and getting my haircut.  (The haircut was an experience from HELL.  Why must my hair stylist have moved away and left me?  I mean, I'd followed her from salon to salon for years.  *wails*  Okay, I'll stop now.)

I sat at home for hours on Saturday with the intention of writing my little heart out.  So naturally I spent hours updating my website instead.  lol  But it's new and improved and live now!  Go look at it and let me know what you think!  www.hddodson.com  I was trying to build a wordpress site and, yeah, I'm just not smart enough to do that.

Back on topic, Holly!

So, once I finished my website I wrote.  And then I pulled out all our winter clothes and boxed up Super Spawn's stuff that's too small for charity.  Then I wrote some more.  Then I did laundry.  Then I wrote some more.  Then I washed all the sheets.  Then I wrote some more.  Then I reorganized my desk.  Then I wrote some more.  Are you seeing a pattern here?

It went like that all day Sunday too!  I'd finish a scene, or get to a point in the scene where I wasn't sure how to move forward and I'd go clean something.  It always works though.  I always come back to the WIP with enough gusto to get me through another scene before I have to find something else to clean.

What do you do?  What's your stuck-scene coping mechanism?

Friday, Friday

Thank goodness it's Friday!

Super Spawn went to school dressed up as a fireman today.  He was so stinking cute!  Their school has a new theme every week, and this week's theme was fire safety.  So they've already had a visit from the local fire station, learned to dial 911, and to stop drop and roll. 

Today they're having a fireman parade, so they all came dressed as firemen! 

I adore his new preschool. 

Anyway, I've made good on my writing goal all week this week!  I'm so proud of myself!

I've also been working on gathering things to revamp my main website.  So if you travel over there, it's just a very generic setting right now without any real information.  I plan to get that back up and running this weekend.

In other news, make sure you tell Susan a big CONGRATS for some exciting happenings this week!!!  (I'll let her share said happenings if she wishes.)


What's going on for you guys this weekend?  I'm still gearing up for my conference and pitch session.  It's only two weeks away!

                                                          

#amwriting Thursday

Admittedly, I haven't read a book to review for you this week.  I've set a lofty writing goal for myself and am determined to meet it.


I'm writing at least 1,800 words a day on my WIP.  That's a LOT for me.  My time is very limited between the day job and being a single mom, but I'm making it happen. 

Why?  Well, my WIP is so exciting and so fresh I just can't wait to finish it!  So, I set a goal -- finish it by the end of October.  The only way to accomplish that is by writing about 1,800 words a day...I did the math.

It's kind of like my own NaNoWriMo in October!  With an idea I started months ago.

*shrugs*  I'm excited, and that's what counts.

What are some of your writing goals right now?  Sometimes making them public knowledge is a push to actually do the work and get it done.  So let's hear it! 

Writing, editing, reading -- what are your goals?

Road Trip Wednesday

It's Road Trip Wednesday, and you know what that means! Jump on the YA Highway and join us for a blog trip around the YA author haunts.

This week's topic:

You're packing for a month on a deserted island. What, as a reader and writer, must be in your backpack?

Because this says as a reader and writer, I'm going to skip the basics (food, water, etc) and assume they are being provided. Cheating? Yes. More fun? Totally.

1. I'm gonna need a laptop with a solar powered battery (They make those, right?)
   
2. One of those cell phone wifi hubs
3. My Nook
4. My debit card (to pay for whatever I buy online)
5. A nice, thick notebook
6. A fresh pack of pens
7. Post-it notes
8. Sunglasses
9. A big blanket to lay on
   

I'm thinking that's a pretty good list! I can write as much as I want, read as much as I want, order more supplies, keep up my blogging and networking, email agents (and a rescue chopper), and not have to worry about squinting or getting sandy.

Yep, I'm set.

What would you bring?

A Moment of Silence

A year ago today my world turned upside down.

In a freak accident, under circumstances that could never be replicated, my nineteen-year-old brother was killed.


Mandy, the main character in Emerald's Keeper, relays the sense of loss best:

"The loss had left her empty, like a shell of her normal self. None of it seemed real. The shock of losing him so suddenly made it all like a dream -- hazy around the edges, slowly being washed away by the ebb and flow of time. Her mind was consumed with thoughts, memories, and emotions all vying for her attention. It seemed like a lifetime ago, yet in the same breath, it had just happened.

Mandy’s thoughts snatched her back to the hospital where she looked frantically around for her mother. She would never forget Mom’s eyes, full of grief.

Mandy lost her breath all over again. Her heart felt like it was clawing itself to pieces, and her mind screamed in refusal to accept the truth. The familiar pain in her stomach threatened to overcome her as she fell to the sand.

Tears glistened on her face as her mind made her relive that horrible day moment by moment, breath by breath, in excruciating detail. She put the heel of her hands over her eyes and pressed hard in an attempt to stop the flow of tears. To block the memory. The tightness in her chest constricted and threatened not to let go."

I miss him more than words could ever express. I wrote this scene shortly after he died. His death really changed the shape of the story -- of my life -- forever. What started as a for-fun-fanfic turned into something so much more because of him.

Here's a poem I wrote for him. Don't laugh, I'm no poet. I just couldn't keep it inside.

I have a story in me,
And it's because of you.
My sight, my way, my passion,
You brought it all to view.
A clearer light has never shone,
These words I wrote, they flew.
Without you there to guide me,
I'd never see it through.
My brother, though I miss you,
We'll meet again some day.
Until then I'll leave you, with these words I say:
Forever in my heart, forever in my mind, forever in my words.

JK Rowling on Oprah

So did you guys watch the interview of JK Rowling on Oprah last week? I watched it online once I got home from work.

Seriously, I cried.

I never realized how many parallels there were between my life and Rowling's. She was a single mother, escaped from a bad marriage with a tiny baby. There wasn't always enough money.

Then there was an idea -- a spark that set a flood loose in her mind. And so came Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Six months into writing, Jo lost her mother. In the interview she says that her mother's death is reflected on every page of the Harry Potter series.

I found the interview so incredibly inspiring.

I'm a single mother who escaped an awful marriage with a two-month-old baby. I moved in with my mother because I couldn't afford to support us on my own.

Then there was an idea. A light bulb came on. I started writing Emerald's Keeper long-hand in a $0.10 spiral notebook.

My younger brother died a month after I started writing. And on every page of Emerald the way his death affected me is reflected.

It's so hard sometimes to be positive in the face of so many challenges. But thanks to Jo's interview I feel a new sense of invigoration. Determination.

She reminded me that through hard work and perseverance, anything is possible.

So I'll keep my chin high and one day, someday, everything will look a lot brighter.

Inspiration for a Friday

Well, I was trying a new feature to post for today, but I'm not thinking it's going to work.


Here's what I want to know: What keeps you going? What inspires you to hit send one more time for yet another query? What keeps you writing when the going gets tough?

I'm preparing myself...the rejections are bound to come. That's just part of being a writer.

But I want to make the best of it. I don't want to let it get me down.

What are your tips, tricks, and ideas?

I'm planning to dive head-first into my next WIP. That alone is inspiring.