Habitually YA

Er-I'm now convinced I'm stuck in the ninth grade. Okay, so here's the story. I go to Sam's, ya know the buy 2000 rolls of toilet paper in bulk store for those of you who may not have one. My husband headed for the tire department and that brought on a bout of clairvoyance for me. I just knew I'd be bored to tears but I blamed it on the smell. Always stick to the nausea claim when looking at tires. It'll get you out of there every time. So, I ended up in the book aisle. No surprise. I grabbed two immediately, one that was on my to-read list, and one that just looked good. Covers do sell. Then I oohed out loud when I spotted the fluffy little flip flop bedroom slippers on aisle 74 (it felt like 74). But that's neither here nor there. We all know how that ended. I made it home with my new treasures, propped up the toesies and began reading my finds. Book one, awesome. It was SHIVER. Loved it. Book two, I'll not mention and that's not because it's a bad book. It's me not the book. I opened it,  read through ten, twelve pages, flipped back, read a word here and there, flipped forward. Sat straight up in bed, searching "what the-." There wasn't a single young adult word anywhere. Then I discovered the problem. It was an adult paranormal romance. Oh! Shakes head. I'm not old enough to read those. Apparently.

I used to read adult everything, even (whispers) non-fiction. I don't even know how this happened but I no longer enjoy much of anything unless it's YA. Well, I do love the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. There's a lot of history and smut. I'm a sucker for both but YA just has a lighter feel. It takes me back to the day, the discovery of new things, all of it. This new read actually mentioned like bills and stuff. Ew. No. So that's it I guess. I'm all YA and I doubt I will ever cross back over. How about you?


 Update for Word Weight Wednesday.

I completely skipped out on Word/Weight Wednesday. Why? Well, I'm up two pounds and down on word count. It's my husbands fault. He wanted pizza for his birthday. Come on, it's pizza. It was good. I'm not even gonna lie. I've been swamped with work. That's the good news and I'm totally grateful for that. So many are struggling in this economy. It's a scary time for all. So if the worst of it is not having the time to exercise occasionally, visit my story, or even  my blogging buddies, whom I miss so much, then I guess I can accept all that while I'm blessed with work. Will be stopping by as soon as I can. In the meantime, tell me what you've been up to.

Um. Owner has been walked.

Okay, so I haven't been posting much the past few weeks. Work has been crazy hectic,which is a good thing and I've been trying to devote my time to characters and revisions. I'm cool with the whole character thing. I feel like I'm dating them half the time, and so far, none of them have broken up with me or even begun that whole its me not you conversation. I'm totally grateful. I mean, when you're own inventions ditch you, things are bad. Like go ahead and fill up the bathtub bad. It's the revising part that makes me cringe and I don't get it. It's not like I'm heading into the office for rectal surgery. It's my story. I know what's going to happen. Er...so most of the time I think I sort of know. Basically the same thing.

So I've been trying the whole outlining thing. Most of the time I write by way of disorganized, chaotic little notes written in various places throughout a spiral notebook. It's always worked for me. Until now. I think I need a better system. And this weekend I wrote a little, pondered a little, and decided to take the dog out at the wrong time. Neighbors were out in their backyard doing the whole family bonding thing on the playground with about 8 or 9 kids. At least it looked like that many. Kids see 150 pound dog. Kids love 150 pound dogs. Dog loves kids. Dog thinks he's more like 10 pounds. Kids run at dog. Dog runs at kids. Dog begins to leap into the air in six foot strides. Kids freeze. Owner of dog rides dog. Owner runs with dog. Owner gets pulled by dog. Picture villains being tied to a horse in one of those old westerns and that was basically me. Owner has no muscles left in her body. I can now hardly hold my arms up to type. Kids? Fine. Dog? Fine. Owner? Not so good. So I thought it would be a great time to hear your strategies for organizing your story. I know some of you have posted about this before. I've read lots of great ideas in the past. Forgive me, but the pain just won't let me remember who, what, when, or where those ideas were. Shrugs. Owe!

Word/Weight Wednesday

Well, I'm down about 4 pounds and I'm seriously considering filing attempted murder charges against Jillian Michael's. The woman is a pit bull with barbells and that shouldn't be possible considering she shouldn't have any thumbs. I purchased her Thirty Day Shred video and began level 1 about 5 days ago. Holy Cow! By day two, I couldn't even sit down without looking like I'd had a stroke or something. I thought about having those handicapped hand rails placed along the walls of the bathroom but I suffered through it. I laughed at those burning quad muscles, actually, it was more like a sob, but hey, I kept moving. That was level 1 people (still sobbing). LEVEL 1! Ack! To be real to you and to myself, I feel so much better, burning muscles aside. It's twenty minutes a day that I can spare and it makes me feel more with it. Alert. And the kids are so impressed when I come stumbling up the stairs after a good workout, looking like a melting ice sculpture. So, if you're exercising, keep it up. If you're not, get up and do it. Just a little a day goes a long way. You'll thank me after day three. Do not address me at all on days one or two. I'm sensitive and I'm not sure I could take what you'll want to say to me.

Now onto words. I've come to a reckoning, a little crossroads in my writing. I've had to admit, out loud, what I did not want to admit. My revisions are not revisions. Nope. Not even close. I'm rewriting and that is a far cry from revising. No wonder its taking me so long. I keep going back into the older version of my story and I'm shocked by how much of it will not transfer over to the newer version. I guess this happens when you change things up a bit, grow a little as a writer. I keep waiting to grow a lot but its not happening yet. It will though. I'm going to shrink my body while I fatten up on skills. I have a feeling one of those things is going to take longer than the other. My husband keeps asking when this story is going to be finished. My reply is usually a snort, followed by spasms of laughter. That seems to be the question I can never answer. How about you? What have you been up to?

Things to Ponder.

I have just cheated my own blog. I've revised yesterday's post and thought I'd throw in something a little more important like what I just found. Our awesome blogging buddy Madeleine Maddocks is hosting a Blogfest over at Scribble and Edit. It sounds like a lot of fun and a little bit of a challenge when you think about it. Head on over there right now and sign up.

Then I found this. It's a great place to go for free exercise videos. Yes, I decided to throw a little aerobics into my mundane life of power walking. You gotta mix things up a bit, and as writers, exercise can fall by the wayside when we're working towards our writing goals. But it's so important that we take care of ourselves. So, with a little help from a free cardio workout in the comfort of your own home, pushing that chair back for twenty minutes is not a big deal. Er, okay so maybe it is. I think I pulled something in my armpit. There is a muscle there. Who knew? My brother suggested I join the gym for support and take a few classes. "In public?" I said. No, no, no. Nobody needs to see me in an exercise class. I have no rhythm whatsoever and I am so glad I took my own advice and stayed in my office. Now I can look like a wet, wounded bird trying to take flight in the privacy of my own home. Thank you little brother. And now you can too. I think we should support each other with our writing but how about our health too. I'm thinking about launching a Biggest Writing Loser group right here on the blog. Once a week, we can share and lean on each other. You can even email me when you're in a drive thru and I'll talk you out of there.I will make you order the apple dippers. I swear I will. What do you think? Word/Weight count Wednesday anyone?

Status

Its nearly the end of yet another week. I've just finished reading City of Fallen Angels. Thought it was the last book in The Mortal Instruments Series. Guess what, its not. Imagine my surprise as I got to the last page. Now I only have to wait about a year for part five. Gah!

I've been writing a lot. I need to take a break and visit everyone's blog, see what you've all been up to. Other than that, I've got nothing. What about you?

One Eye Open.

This is not a book review. Promise.

I'm still in revisions. Most of you already know that. As I've gone through my WIP, yet again, I've been trying to ask myself certain questions. One of them is always about conflict. Is there enough of it? Is it in the right places? Will anyone care? And lastly, will it make a readers mouth drop or cause them to lose sleep? No. No. Maybe. And no. So, now I'm in the masterminding process but I'm not sure I'm being fair to me. You see, several weeks ago the unimaginable happened. (I may have already mentioned this) I had just finished a great book, headed to the bookshelf to put it away and grab one off the to-read shelf when I realized I had no more. GASP! Nothing! Panic button, Hello. Then I remembered the City of Bones (Clare) book I'd bought my daughter for Christmas. After inquiring on its location, I found myself digging it out from under her bed. I blew through it. Moved onto number two and now I'm nearly done with book three, City of Glass. I'm literally walking around my house in a zombie like state with one eye open and have been for the last few weeks now. I'm up half the night reading these books. Funny thing is I never really thought I'd like them. Wrongo. Isn't that how it always is. You have no interest in a book then you read it and it becomes one of your favorites.

Hold on, this is not a book review. I promised.

I've lost sleep because there is so much conflict. Sure, some of it is predictable. Some. But for the most part, I go to bed swearing I'm just gonna read one chapter and the next thing I know its 3 a.m. You should be around when the alarm goes off in the morning. Not pretty. The conflict is on nearly every page. You can't look away. It is that good. So it makes me wonder, could my characters and my story ever hold someone like that? I want to keep people up at night. Its part of my diabolical plan. I want someone to roll out of bed, stare at their disheveled reflection in the bathroom mirror and say, "you're weak Mckee" (hopefully they'll insert their name here instead of mine), because they should have put the book down and gone to sleep. They just couldn't do it. This puts a little more pressure in this whole book writing thing doesn't it? I think I can handle it. Flings self from computer chair, careful to fall on dog bed, then stares blankly at the ceiling, waits for death. Out of coffee, heads to kitchen. Coffee in pot has been depleted. Nooooo.....How about you? Is there enough conflict in your writing? Are you throwing everything imaginable at your characters?

 

Progress...

Ever feel like Captain Jack Sparrow when it comes to making progress? I generally do. An entire vicious tribe of revisions just chasing you down.  I wish I could run like that. Totally  hilarious. At the very least, my lot of revisions could be entertained while waiting on progress. I think I could watch him run all day. A true work of art. In case you haven't guessed, my daughter and I went to see the movie last night. Wonderful. If you haven't seen it already, get on that. You'll be glad you did.

In all seriousness, I've been making some real progress. The revisions are running along at a much faster pace than usual. I don't know what's up with that, but all of a sudden, I'm zipping through chapters, well, maybe its more of a stroll but you get the picture. I wonder sometimes if I'm controlling this whole writing thing at all. I mean, sometimes I think I'm at the whole proverbial wheel, but other times I'm not so sure. I bet you've been there in those moments where you just stare at the computer screen and drink cup after cup of coffee only to produce half a word. Then a day or two later, you sit down in your creative lab and the words shoot out of your fingers like flicks of fire from your wrist. My husband usually looks up from his computer to inquire about what on earth I'm writing, to which I reply, "I have no idea, Silence!" He then shakes his head and goes back to ESPN news. Oh, but I'm weird. Honestly though, where does all that come from? How can we be completely blank one second then bursting brain cells the next. Are we normal? If not, we're at least cool, right? So, how about you and your progress this week? Do tell.

Happy Weekend.