Sunday after a Light Snowfall.

Jeff's back from Jersey and has taken our critter shopping so that I can have a bit of time :) Woohoo! So I've done dishes and some laundry and am doing the bathroom in pieces in between all this. Just swept the kitchen floor. Not ambitious enough to wash floors today but I'll do it next week.

So I'm dropping in to do a kind of fly-by post. The Collectors has taken such hold of me that I'm now dreaming of scenes. This is both good and bad. It means that I'm ready to continue writing the story, but I'll be obsessed with another story again.

December is coming fast. Those of you who've been hanging with me here for a while know that I'm not a Christmas person. I'm trying. Really. Not trying to be a downer. It's just a bad time of year for me. However, I'm making a concerted effort for my little guy, who is really into the Christmas decorations and lights. He sings Jingle Bells out of the blue and makes me smile, and actually feel in the Christmas spirit when he sings Christmas songs.

Something struck me recently. It's strange. Something so obvious that I think we take it for granted in our lives, really. You get what you expect. People will treat you with as much respect as you project that you expect. There have been a couple of recent instances that have left me rather disenchanted, disappointed and kind of pissed off, truth be told. But I then realized that people will only treat you the way you allow them to treat you. Most people are great. Doesn't happen very often. Every now and then, though.

What are you willing to put up with, and is it worth it at the end of the day?

Right?

I'm a giver and pleaser. I gain satisfaction from making people happy. However, sometimes people get used to that and take it for granted.

I'm not moaning about this. I'm actually kind of freaked about how true it is. You hear it all the time. But it really is true. You get what you project.

Do you expect the treament you deserve? Or do you expect to have to settle for less respect than you deserve?

On another note, it snowed a little yesterday. Went out with my little guy and played in the snowflakes. He kept jumping up, trying to catch them. So much fun.

Back to the document for me.

UPDATE:

Jeff took the bean to the museum. Woohoo! Baked a chocolate cheesecake as I thought of The Collectors. Have discovered that baking relieves stress. Practicing for Christmas. Jeff is my pigeon. He's a good pigeon. Says he won't fit into any of his clothes by the time Christmas comes.

Now knee-deep in The Collectors. Yeah!

Puttering

Working on the website today and having fun doing it. Thinking of changing the colour scheme. It's time consuming but my little guy is napping and I'm just taking my time.

It's looking mighty dark and gloomy, so I think I'll get into The Collectors and see what I can dig up.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I just pulled my blueberry and apple pies out of the oven. They look nice. Not sure how they'll taste. Watching the Thanksgiving Parade on tv. Trying to get my little guy to nap.

Going to open the document and mind map for The Collectors and see what's what. Have a great day!

Saturday Morning in the Autumn

Sitting downstairs in a rocking chair with my legs propped up on my little guy's bean bag chair, facing the the glass doors that afford a view of the back yard. The leaves are all dried out now and the trees are looking mighty bare. Grey day, too. Perfect for tackling the synopsis!

So here I go!

Update:

I think I've finally got it. Thank Christ. Now I just have to polish it to a high shine and get the query letter done.

Update: Query letter, DONE!

Now to spell check the book. Just realized I haven't done that yet. Ooops.

Sunday Night Ruminations

Worked on the synopsis for a while but the bean didn't sleep for long so it was cut short. Had all kinds of time when he napped for 3 hours yesterday, but slept so little the night before because he was up all night coughing, that I just kept nodding off and my brain was all fuzzy.

It's coming along, though. Slowly but surely. No synopsis before it's time!

Went to see the holiday parade this afternoon. Gorgeous day. It was nice to get out and just breathe in some fresh air. My little critter is feeling better and had a great time. It was a fun day.

Finally hooked up the printer I asked Jeff for last Christmas. It's been sitting in a box until tonight. Haven't had a need for it up until now. After the spell check, Dirty Business is being printer on actual paper! Woohoo!

Got my copy of Moonlight Mile yesterday! SO damned excited about that! I caressed it and murmured sweet nothings to it all day. Yeeeeesss Preeeeecioussss! It's MINE! All MINE!

In bed early tonight. Back to the grind tomorrow.

New Playlist

Little guy has another ear infection so not much time but I have another playlist up.

The Holidays are Coming Up . . . Sage Advice

Got this in email today and it cracked me up.

Moonlight Mile - Finally!

Moonlight Mile is almost in stores! I pre-ordered my copy from Borders, and can't wait to get it in my hot little hands. I've been waiting for this book for about 5 years, since I read the last Patrick/Angie book in the series.

Here is an interview with Dennis Lehane on Moonlight Mile. I'm so STOKED!!!!

Synopsis Stuff

Snuck downstairs to work on the synopsis. This thing is kicking my ass. Had it way too long, and trying to trim it down to three pages. *Sigh* It's a nightmare doing that with my books, because they are so jam packed with action. It's hard to choose which are the most important highlights to include.

Made a pot roast and blueberry pie trying to figure this stuff out yesterday. Finding that cooking helps me sort things out. Might have to do more cooking today.

Not much else to report. Little guy doing better.

Back to work for me.

Nathan Bransford's Post on Conflict

My little guy has been sick pretty much non-stop for two months with chronic ear infections, and a bout of strep. It's taken up any extra time and energy I have, so I'm re-posting something from Nathan Bransford, which I think is excellent. Here he writes about conflict:

Thursday, March 19, 2009

On Conflict

When I said I was going to blog about conflict on Tuesday, I'm sure at least some people assumed that I was going to say that you need conflict everywhere in a book: on every page, from start to finish, in every scene, passage of dialogue, etc. etc. etc.

I don't actually believe this! Sometimes a character needs to just stare at the water and contemplate the meaning of life and other great imponderables, like stock derivatives. Novels have quiet moments where there's not a hint of conflict that are serene and beautifully written and I wouldn't ever urge a writer to rip those out to introduce a gun battle.

But conflict is essential. I think of conflict sort of like a book's oxygen:

1. Your book needs it to survive. It doesn't need it constantly, but a book without conflict is pretty much DOA. It's not even really a book without conflict. It's just paper with words printed on it.

2. If any stretch your book goes too long without it it will also die (or rather, your reader will die of boredom).

3. You can use a lot of conflict to create a bright flame of a book that is relentless and charged, or you can create a slow burn that is more muted. You can also vary the degree of the conflict to do the same thing.

On this last point, some might also say that thrillers and other genre novels tend to put a lot of intense conflict on the page and the conflict comes fast and intense, whereas literary fiction tends to have less conflict. As a general rule this may be so, but it's not always the case. When you look at Ian McEwan's books, for instance, ENDURING LOVE in particular is a book where every word, exchange, moment... everything on the page is intensely filled with conflict. The characters are constantly in conflict with each other and with themselves, and it's an extremely intense reading experience as a result.

Now, there are two types of conflict in novel. There's conflict that happens above the surface, demonstrated through the actual actions and thoughts of the characters, and then there's conflict beneath the surface, which is more implied and unsaid. By way of example, there's the gun battle that happens above the surface, but there's also the character who is, say, freethinking in a 1984-type world. Even when he's not explicitly thinking about the world he lives in he's in implied conflict with the rest of that world.

So. Does your novel have enough conflict?

I personally feel that unless you are intentionally and specifically choosing to have a quiet moment you should always look for ways to introduce some degree of conflict. A character at peace with their surroundings and the characters they're interacting with is, well, completely boring.

A lot of times in novels it becomes necessary for things to happen that connect Plot Point A to Plot Point B, or to otherwise provide background information or motivation. Sometimes Character A just has to have a conversation with Character B where a certain thing happens so the rest of the book makes sense.

Too often though, writers focus on connecting the dots in a way that gives the reader the information they need to know without trying to tie the threads in a fully-realized scene that's interesting and engaging. Almost always it's best to try and introduce conflict to a scene in order to make it interesting and advance other aspects of the plot.

Ultimately, conflict is the reason we read novels. It forces characters to make decisions, it tests their strengths and weaknesses, it reveals what makes people tick. Conflict, ultimately is revealing.

A man serenely walking down the street is not a story. It only becomes a story when he is captured by space monkeys who try to force him to root for Duke. Now that's conflict.