Monday Musings on Nano, Dust, and Prophets In Their Own Land

So, fine. I didn't earn all my swell Nanowrimo badges.

I did write a swell beginning for the next novel in my series and hash out an outline for that book as well as the next book. And I earned the Creative Nonfiction badge by placing barely disguised friends and family members into my novel as characters. Although, if I'm being perfectly honest, I earn that badge everytime I write. Sometimes, I even earn a few good-natured threats to sue me if I don't remove certain things about certain characters in my novels.

Next, I learned a little thing or two about cleaning, due to the fact that I spent Thanksgiving, as well as the weekend, with a throbbing sinus headache. Thing One is that I disturbed the perfect balance of dust and germs in my home, thereby releasing said dust and germs into the air and straight up my nose into my brain. Thing Two is that I always harbored a sneaky suspicion that cleaning was highly overrated, and now I have scientific proof that dusting and such will make you sick.

Finally, one of the Junior Halls shared that a college friend visited my blog. The conversation went something like this:

JUNIOR HALL: So this friend said she checked out your blog. She was like, "Hey! Do you ever read your mom's blog? 'Cause she's really funny!"

ME: Why, thank you! Do you read my blog?

JUNIOR HALL: Um, no.

ME: Not ever? At all?

JUNIOR HALL: Do you want me to say yes? 'Cause I sense that you want a certain answer here.

I'm putting that in my next novel. And I'm not even bothering to cleverly disguise it.

A Blogger's Thanksgiving

Five years ago, I didn't really "get" blogs.

Now, I have three of 'em, even though mostly, I hang about the Hall of Fame. And I'm ever so thankful for my blogs and the friends they've brought my way.

Friends who live miles from Georgia--yet I feel as connected to them as I do to friends who live down the street. Donna, Becky, Linda, Madeline, and Stacy, too. I read their blogs and expand my world, not just with writing tips and treasures, but with their wit and perseverance, their kindness and encouragement.

I love when my local buddies drop in, because life gets busy and I don't get to spend nearly enough time to catch up with all their local happenings. Friends like Lisa, and Debra, Tanya and Cile, Vicky and Anita, too. When I see their comments, I zip over to visit their blogs, quick! And in just minutes, I'm reconnected, even if it's virtually. That will have to do until we can grab a lunch or cup of tea together.

And I so enjoy when a new blogger joins into the conversation! Before long, I've made a new friend in the blogosphere (Hi Clara! Hi Arlene!). Oh! And I enjoy my followers who drop in every once in awhile, like an unexpected visit from that relative you love but never get to see often enough (Hi Karen! Hi Kelly!)

I know there are many folks who drop in here to the Hall of Fame and never make a peep. I appreciate you, too, because I know you took the time to read a few words, silly or serious.

I SO get blogs, now. Happy Thaknsgiving to you all!

Ooooh! A Baby Bobcat! (Or How I Found a TON of Stuff, Writing and Otherwise)

Isn't that the cutest bobcat kitten? I took this picture at a state park, a year or so ago. Now the little kitten's all grown up and back in the wild.

Now, I hope you don't think I've gratuitously posted a kitten picture just to pique your interest. There's a writing tie-in. Eventually.

So, last week, I decided to get my carpets cleaned. Not the way I usually clean them, with my steam cleaner mostly smashing dirt and such back into the carpet. Oh, no. I contacted Super Cleaner Guys who will move ALL your furniture and leave your home spic 'n span.

That was Mistake Number 1. Because one has to get super-prepared for Super Cleaner Guys. I moved TONS of stuff out of rooms, into bathrooms and shoot, I said to myself, might as well take this stuff down to the basement rather than lug it back into the room where it's just hanging out, collecting dust.

That was Mistake Number 2. Because everytime I moved something, I found more dust. Goodness, I said to myself, that's a lot of dust. Actually what I said was more like, "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! IT'S THE ATTACK OF THE GIANT DUST BUNNIES!

I survived. But I still had to move all the stuff back. Well, I said (and really, it was more like a growl) I should go through all this stuff before I put it back in the bedrooms and the offices.

I found quite a bit of stuff, writing and otherwise:

*My Michael Buble CD (Oh, Michael, I missed you and your honeyed voice!)

*The remote so I could turn on the CD player and listen to Michael Buble (Whew! I'm not gonna lie-I had a hard time figuring out how to operate remote-less.)

*A note with the words: Psalm 51 ( I think because "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew in me a steadfast spirit." is within that psalm. It's a very moving psalm. I'm glad I re-read it.)

*Notes from a talk that editor Cheryl Klein gave, almost three years ago. (She discussed the theme of the Harry Potter books and stressed how important it is that your plot support your theme. What lesson does your character learn through the plot?) But I wouldn't have checked out her swell website today and found that she has a forthcoming book! On plotting, revising and publishing for children and young adults. Wheeee!

*Issues of Writer's Digest from 2008 and other outdated kid's magazines (which I recycled to friends). Amongst the WD articles I skimmed before recycling(because there's always a few you don't get to), I read one about giving critiques and the do's and don'ts of critique etiquette. Which brings us to kittens.

Say there's a member of your critique group who shares a piece of writing wherein you are so offended or so confused or so non-plussed, that there's simply nothing on the positive side to say.
Give 'em a kitten.

Are You on the Prowl for a Place to Publish?

I am such a sucker for alliteration. I'm also a sucker for short fiction and getting my stories published in fun anthologies. Maybe you are, too. So why don't you write something for A Shaker of Margaritas: Cougars on the Prowl?

Mozark Press has just released A Shaker of Margaritas: Hot Flash Mommas, but apparently the editor's hungry for more stories of romance, mystery, suspense, humor, well, any genre, really, as long as it's set in modern times and has a "woman of a certain age" prowling about. And FYI: that age is a Baby Boomer, born between 1946 and 1964.

Start writing your 1,000 to 3,000 word story now and you'll be ready to submit when January 1st rolls around. And you know, you don't have to be a cougar to write about 'em. But why let your characters have all the fun?

(Find more info about the contest and compensation here.)

Looking for a FREE Writing Class?

I'll just cut to the chase here, because I know everybody's busy writing, writing, writing. But maybe you'd like to try your hand at writing something a little different? Maybe you're an essay writer who'd like a few pointers on fiction writing? Or a short story writer who'd like to try poetry?


You can take writing classes from top colleges and universities for free. Um, let me repeat that, just in case you weren't paying attention to the free part. YOU CAN TAKE WRITING CLASSES FROM TOP COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES FOR FREE. And you can take them online, in the privacy of your own little home, in your own little pajamas.


And while I'm mentioning free college courses, you might be interested to know that in many states, folks over 65 can take ANY class in a state college or university for free. In fact, the qualifying age varies from state to state, so check your hometown college and university for more information.


So, if you're looking for a sweet writing class, for FREE, here's a great site to get the information all in one place. And won't you feel grand when you tell your friends that you're studying poetry at Yale?


(See Junior Hall? He's smiling and pointing at Juniorest Hall. He can smile because Mom and Dad paid for his college degree, the one he got in creative writing, penning a ton of poetry. Pffft. On the other hand, Juniorest Hall, sitting around in pj's all day, is not a pretty sight. So I guess it all works out in the end. Except that I still don't understand his poetry. Maybe I should take the Yale class.)

Finding Something Friday on The Moment

So, I'm zipping through my inbox...delete, delete, de-wait. Read that one.

I comment once in a blue moon over at She Writes. I might comment more but I can't remember my login. Anyway, I noticed an email from She Writes (I get daily updates) about The Moment.

From the website: "Everyone has a moment. What's yours?"

Hmmm. Those folks make a good point. And here's the best part. Your moment can be an image, a few words or lots of words. It can be a note left in a bar or a banner over your bedstead.

Think about it. A moment that changed your life. Silly or serious. Then check it out here at Smith and send it in. Maybe you'll be in the 2011 book.

There's a moment right there.

Earning NaNoWriMo Merit Badges

I know I usually do my horn tooting on Tuesdays, but I'm just so proud of myself for earning these swell badges that I had to share!

First, of course, I earned the Procrastination Badge. According to the little pamphlet thingie that comes with the badges, one can earn this cute vacuum cleaner badge in a variety of ways:

a. skip writing for more than three days in a row

b. spend over 30 cumulative hours on the forums

c. clean your home instead of working on your novel

Guess how I earned it? Keeping in mind that dog hair is swirling around the keyboard as I type. And that I don't even know how to get in the forums.

But one badge is never enough, is it? So I went for two. And honestly, I'm really thrilled over earning the Word-Count Padding Badge. I mean, this badge requires mad writing skills.

I had my main character study for a World Geography quiz and added about 30 countries and their capitals. Isn't that brilliant? I think I may have earned bonus points for choosing countries like Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo. And the best part is that I can always go back and add more!

And last, but certainly not least, I earned the Nano Socializing Badge by dragging a few friends into Nano with me. Friends who have tons more words than I do.

But do they have any badges? Hah.

Tooting My Horn Tuesday: Hot Flash Mommas!

You know how your stories are sort of like children? You're proud of them when they go out in the world and do well. And you love each and every one of them, exactly the same.

Except sometimes, you like one a little better than the other. She makes you laugh, or she makes you smile, or maybe she makes you sigh. But mostly, there's just something there, close to your heart, that makes you like her just a teensy bit more than the others. Not forever, of course. You know that tomorrow, your heart will be pulled in another direction.

That's just the way it is, with stories and kids. And that's the way it is with my story, "The Funny Thing in The Bathroom at Casa Del Rio." You can read it in A Shaker of Margaritas: Hot Flash Mommas. This anthology has just come out of Mozark Press, and it's brimming with wonderful stories about the forty or older woman and her search for happiness, or love, passion, or perhaps revenge.

I'm not sure what each character is searching for because I haven't had time to read each and every story. But I've enjoyed the ones I've read so far. And I'm so glad that this story of mine found a home there. There's a little piece of me in that forty-something woman who bumps into a long-ago lover in the Senoritas.

Makes me feel twenty-something again when I read it. And for just a few minutes, that's a fine thing. Might make a fine gift for the woman of a certain age you know. That's all I'm saying.

And that I really love "The Funny Thing in the Bathroom at Casa Del Rio." I'll keep smiling... until the next special story grabs my heart.

Finding Something Friday Looks at NaNoWriMo (And That's a Good Thing)

Since November 1st, I've found more than a few articles out there bashing National Novel Writing Month. Participants are wasting their time, writing drivel. Would-be novelists don't want to do the hard revision work-they just want to send out NaNoWriMo-produced 50,000 words to over-worked agents and editors. A non-profit industry has sprung up from the Nano foolishness. Etc. Etc. Etc. And now I feel compelled to say a few words about that...

I'm not sure why it matters to some folks how I, or any NaNoWriMo participant, chooses to spend writing time. Maybe we'd be writing drivel whether we're participating in a novel-writing incentive program or not. Honestly, quite a bit of what ends up on my pages starts out as drivel.

Which leads me to my second point. For me, the hard work of writing does begin with revision. But I can't revise if I don't have words on the page. Banging out a skeleton of a novel is a good starting point. On the other hand, some folks just want to write. Maybe they've got an idea in their head that needs a little fresh air. Maybe they just like a challenge. Maybe they're writing "Mary had a little lamb" over and over and over again. SO WHAT? We live in the land of the free and the home of the brave writers, willing to risk finger cramps and butt flattening to bang out 50,000 words. I don't care what they do with their words. That's their business. I am kinda sorry for agents and editors who may be inundated later with very bad NaNoWriMo prose. But that's what delete buttons are for, right?

And finally, I cannot understand how anyone could complain about an industry, non-profit or otherwise, that supports writing. Last night, when checking out the NaNoWriMo forums, I noticed that lots of the writers in my region were young. I mean, high school and college-aged young. And they're challenging themselves to write 50,000 words? That's AMAZING. When I was college-aged, I challenged myself, too. But um, those contests had nothing to do with words.

So, let the hackers, the would-be-novelists, and the high-school dreamers write their 50,000 (or 5,675 or 37,587) words in peace. And that, as Forrest Gump would say, is "all I have to say about that."

What Not To Do Wednesday on SPAM! (And a Birthday Winner!)

So, grasshopper, we meet again to discuss the perils of the writing world. And by perils I mean SPAM. But I'm afraid that whenever I hear the word SPAM, I must hie away to Monty Python and watch this video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE

Or play this SPAM game here.

Hahahahaha! Okay, enough SPAM. Down to email SPAM business.

One of my wonderful writing friends, whom I sometimes do writing business with, recently hopped over to my bad side when she didn't respond to an important email. Totally not like her, so I sent a follow-up. She responded promptly and we got back on track. Or so I thought.

Until I sent another email. Again, no response. Grrrrrr. It turned out that, for reasons only the email gremlins can answer, some of my emails were sporadically zipping into her SPAM file. Naturally, she was upset. I mean, I'm not that important. But who knows whether someone truly adorable, like Tony DiNozzo, senior agent on NCIS, had emailed her?

Now, I know this writer probably gets a ton of SPAM. Me? Not so much. So it's no biggie for me to check my SPAM folder regularly. 'Cause about once a week, an email will pop up there that should be delivered to my regular inbox. Who knows why? I'm just glad that I don't get a ton of SPAM. It makes checking the SPAM folder easy.

So, two things, grasshopper. Oh, make that three. First, consider setting up another email account. If I need to provide an email address, say for a restaurant promotion, I use the non-business account. Then when the advertising starts pouring in, I don't have to worry about it clogging up my inbox.

Secondly, don't assume that everything in your SPAM folder is SPAM. Check that SPAM once in awhile. And finally, don't knock Spam, Spam, bacon and eggs and Spam until you've tried it.

(P.S. Almost forgot the Birthday Giveaway winner: Becky! Though I could never forget scathingly brilliant Becky. Send me your email and I promise, I'll respond!)

A Little Inspiration with Coffee and May

The entire title of this post should read "A Little Inspiration with Coffee House Fiction Anthology 2010 and May Kuroiwa."But that's rather long for a title-and May knows a little something about titles.

May Kuroiwa is visiting here today on the WOW blog tour as one of the judges for the Coffee House Fiction Anthology. This anthology is made up of the winners of the fifteenth Dame Lisbett Throckmorton Fiction Writing Contest. These short stories are the best of the best, a variety of genres and subjects sure to inspire you on your own writing journey.

And May is sure to inspire you, too. She's stopped in to answer a few writing questions, on a variety of different subjects.

1. May is currently pursuing an MFA in a low-residency program offered by Warren Wilson College. What influenced your decision to take on an MFA program when you were published and already enjoying literary success?

If my final measure of writing success was to be published, then seeing one of my stories in print would have been enough and I'd have moved on to other easier projects--like learning how to firewalk. But I want to tell stories and do my best at making them accessible to readers. That means pursuing craft by attending conferences and workshops and taking classes, being willing to experiment with genres and tools like point of view, and searching out excellent mentors. Pursuing an MFA was the next step.

2. What's a low-residency program and how does it differ from other programs? How do you know what's best for you if you're considering an MFA?

To decide whether a full-residency or a low-residency program is the best fit, consider these questions:

Do you live within commuting distance, or are willing to move close to, a full-residency program? If not, investigate low-residency programs. You only have to attend 8 - 10 day residencies twice each year.

Are you willing to build one on one mentoring relationships, and to receive your instructor's feedback on your work by e-mail, snail-mail and over the phone? Or would you prefer a traditional in-classroom setting?

If you must continue working and have family obligations, are you disciplined enough to dedicate 25 hours minimum each week to schoolwork? Low residency semesters are six months long; you won't get summer or winter breaks.

Can you afford the tuition? Some full-residency programs offer complete funding but it's rare to find financial aid in low-residency.

3. May has also judged literary contests, so can you share with us what catches your eye immediately that makes you think a story or a poem might be a winner? And what makes you say "No" at first glance?

As a judge at Coffee House Fiction and for high school scholarship contests, I must say that although the first sentence is important, and that first paragraph, many writers neglect to carefully construct their titles. A story that opens with an authoritative line contained within a beautifully written paragraph, and which then fulfills on the promise of its title, just might be a winner.

First glance no-nos: colored ink or paper, strange eye-bending fonts and formats, and cute illustrations. My advice is to allow the story to stand on its own merits.

4. I've been watching Hawaii Five-O (the new one, but okay. I'm old enough that I watched the first one, too) and I find the island culture so interesting! I know you grew up in Hawaii and wonder how much of that culture finds its way into your work?

I watched Hawaii Five-O while growing up too.

The act of writing is revealing. My cultural background and the way life is unfolding and what I've been wondering about all influence my work. Some of my short stories include surfing, discovering the bones of ancient warriors in beach sand, and Hawaiian chants, but all my stories are about relationships. I write about that intersected space between family and friends, between a character's self-image and the story's reality, and the past and the present and what sort of future that relationship promises. I hope my stories can transcend cultural barriers by dealing with the issues of being human.

So now you should be good and inspired. Or should it be well and inspired? May can let me know. She'll be dropping in today to answer any and all writing questions. Oh, and don't forget to check out Coffee House Fiction to find out how you can order the latest anthology!