I started the cabbage soup diet this morning by grieving over what I was going to miss because of the cabbage soup diet: Halloween. Last night, I’d committed myself to starting this seven-day torture today—just four days before the biggest chocolate bonanza of the year. Could I be any stupider?
Moving on… Continue reading
What would you do if you had an hour all to yourself tonight? Read a book? Soak in the tub? Take a leisurely stroll? I’d shave my legs. With a full-time job, kids, a three-legged dog and an old house that’s mid-reno, by the time I get to my legs, I need a weed wacker. Continue reading
If you’ve read my blog posting, The Day Marsha Skrypuch Whipped My Butt, you might be assuming that I’m a newbie runner. You’d be wrong. In my much younger years, I ran almost every day. I ran on the streets, in the parks, even up and down the stairwell of our apartment when we lived in a rough neighborhood. I ran to burn off lots of energy, so I could feel calm—and to burn off lots of calories, so I could eat like a pig. When my house started filling up with kids, I bought a treadmill so I could keep moving.
A few years ago, I celebrated my midlife crisis by signing up for two marathons that were spaced several months apart. Continue reading
Okay, if you’ve ever wondered if you might be an introvert, here are five key warning signs:
1. The thought of spending an entire day at home in your PJ’s gives you a thrill. Because a PJ day is the Best. Day. Ever.
2. You’d rather have an enema than get dragged to any event requiring audience participation. Continue reading
I’m delving into more serious material with my new book, Home. It’s a young teen novel about three kids who’ve been placed in a foster home in the country. The problem: Allie—the oldest of the three—is determined to reunite her birth family, at any cost.
My own family was enriched—but also turn apart—by the experience of fostering high-risk kids like Allie. I wrote this book to honor the struggles that these children face.
Home is free through Story Cartel until August 3. If you’re interested, Continue reading
I’ve been a devoted Marsha Skrypuch fan for years (in a Healthy, Well-Adjusted Adult Fan kind of way, not in a Perhaps It’s Time For a Restraining Order kind of way). My post about her athletic prowess—The Day Marsha Skrypuch Whipped My Butt—will give you some hint as to my level of admiration for this woman.
Marsha writes historical fiction—books that I love to read, but if I actually tried to write one I’d turn into a raging alcoholic within 48 hours of starting the literature search. And I should stress that Marsha’s books aren’t just good—they’re award-winningly good. She’s received over 50 awards and nominations for her work, including two Ontario Silver Birch Awards. Her 19th book, Dance of the Banished, will be published in August.
Marsha—who appears to have found some way to clone herself—also teaches at the Humber School for Writers, runs book camps, and oversees an online critique group for writers. I’ve also discovered that if you throw yourself at her feet, look pathetic and whine like a baby, she’ll offer you extremely valuable—yet completely free—writing advice to post on your blog. Here’s what she gave me to share with you. I wouldn’t do this for just anybody, you know. You’re welcome.
Like a thousand novels or more. You’d be amazed at the number of people who want to be a novelist but hate reading. Being a voracious reader is the single most important attribute of successful novelists.
“When I retire, I’m going to be a novelist.” Just like you can’t suddenly run a marathon, you can’t suddenly write a novel. Muscles need to be trained for both activities and that’s where the ten minutes comes in. Give yourself ten minutes each day even if you have no idea what you’re going to write. Give yourself ten minutes a day even if those ten minutes are the commercial breaks for So You Think You Can Dance.
The first few days that you’re confronted with your ten minutes, you’ll probably stare at a blank screen (or page) and sweat. But after a while, you’ll develop writerly habits. You’ll eavesdrop on the next table at lunch, not for the gossip, but for the nuance of speech. When you read the paper, your mind will spin with story potential from the various little tidbits. Your mind will wander with story ideas on the way to work and you may even end up missing your stop. As this begins to happen, you’ll barely be able to contain yourself until you get to your precious ten minutes. Once you’ve been writing enthusiastically for about a month solid during your ten minutes a day, you’re ready to start on your novel.
This is the beginning of a novel. As an example, my WWII trilogy
Stolen Child/Making Bombs for Hitler/Underground Soldier
all started with this question: “What would happen if two sisters were kidnapped together by the Nazis in WWII yet both suffered completely different fates?”
Once you’re brainstormed your core story question, you need to brainstorm your characters. For each key character, sketch out this:
*What/whom does my character want? Love? Need? Be very specific.
*What quirks and habits does my character have?
*What could get in the way of them achieving their wants/loves/needs? Think of the interaction of characters and how if one person gets their goal, someone else won’t get theirs.
Not to eat—to grab a job application form. Make copies. Fill one out for each of your characters.
Begin at dawn. Be careful to note each action, and also the physical space, right down to what their sleeping area looks like and what they break their fast with. Depending on whether they’re in a space ship or medieval England it will all be very specific to your story. You’ll be amazed at how much you learn about your character by following them for 24 hours. And if you listen closely, you’ll find out what your story is really about.
Is there a scene vivid in your mind but you don’t know the before or after? Awesome! Write it. Keep on writing these scenes that are vivid. Once you have a critical mass of them, you’ll see that they practically self-organize, sort of like how raindrops form a puddle.
Once you’re plunged into your story, you’ll be writing far more than ten minutes a day, but stop writing before your brain is completely empty of story. Stop partway through a paragraph, even partway through a sentence, and go out and do something physical. Everyone has their own creativity limit. For me, it’s three hours. Anything written beyond the three hours a day is trash.
In other words, write what you can while in the heat of it, leaving blanks and XXXs for spots that you’ll fill in later. Do research as you need to after you’ve done your daily writing but don’t use research as an excuse not to write.
One of the best revision methods is to delete the first 25% of your first draft. Now that you know this, don’t angst over every word. You’re going to revise, delete rejig down the line, but right now you’ve got to get the story down in first draft.
We moved into my dream home — a beautiful 1834 farmhouse — in March. My mom was away the first week after our move, and I decided to surprise her by painting the front entryway, hallway and stairwell before she returned. This seemed like a good idea at the time. The previous owner had painted the walls a bright, blood red color — it looked like someone had stabbed a vampire to death. Not. Mellow. Continue reading
I love cats—they make me happy. But I limit myself to two indoor cats at any one time, because I know I’m unstable and could quickly turn into one of those Crazy Cat Ladies. I love dogs, too—but since I’m the one who cleans up the yard, I’m never tempted to get a second (or third, or fourth) dog. Cats? Gotta watch myself.
So the biggest dilemma I’ve ever faced (cat-wise, at least) was the day my daughter found a dead cat, I accidentally set it on fire, brought it back to life and then gave it up for adoption.
Let me explain… Continue reading
My heart goes out to people who need to lose a lot of weight—and I have the utmost admiration for anyone who successfully loses 50, 70, 100 pounds or more. What makes me feel this way? Probably the fact that I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to lose the same eight pounds for the past 18 years. Yes, you read that right. Eight pounds, 18 years. Apparently, my motto when it comes to portion control is “I don’t wanna.”
I used to be able to use the excuse that it was baby weight. Not anymore. Although some of my kids are still young, those are the adopted ones. The last time my uterus actually grew anything useful was 18 years ago. I wanted to find some way to take off that weight—some way that didn’t involve portion control. Continue reading
