blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
Tuesday night, my dojo secretary called to say she'd be in late because police had blocked off her street, big-city media was clogging everyone's driveway, and a helicopter was circling overhead while a forensics team and cadaver-sniffing dogs stood by waiting to excavate a neighbor's yard in an effort to find the body of a woman who'd disappeared years ago.

Yeah, pretty unique excuse for being late.

Well, as of yesterday, that neighbor confessed to strangling that woman (his girlfriend at the time) and burying her in his backyard. For this town of population 18,000--where the majority of the 40-something population went to high school with this guy--it's been quite a shock.

With my women's class last night more than a little thrown by the whole thing, I opted to work with them on what to do if someone is trying to choke you. The short version: don't waste time trying to pry their hands from your neck. Go for the eyeballs first, kick knees or groin next, and if those fail and/or are out of reach, rip off the fucker's pinky finger. Longer version: you'll have to come to class for that.

This is the weekend for editing and nitpicking, which is a good thing. Were this the weekend for spending money, I'd be out of luck. That said, I've just enough my pocket for Dev and I to see Guardians of the Galaxy, and I deeply and truly need to see a badass raccoon today.

And right now, I'm writing this while looking out my living room window--I just washed them inside and out, so it's worth looking out of now--at a stunning blue sky, dark green trees and bright green fields, and there's a touch of white cloud just peeking over the treetops. Really beautiful. I should wash my windows more often.

I suppose I could stretch that into some life-defining metaphor but, really, who has the time for that?
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
It’s coming, my darlings!

I have my first blurb!
“Searingly vivid, and grittily realistic, Sand of Bone slams the reader into a harsh desert world full of complex people, tense moral dilemmas, and an exhilarating jet of the weird. Do not start this one late at night!” — Sherwood Smith

This makes me incredibly happy!

This weekend is for final corrections, proofreading, and the like. The cover design is in progress, and I’ll give you a look when it’s ready.

The tentative release date is August 20… though I’d love to have it up and ready by GenCon!

And you did sign up for my newsletter, didn’t you?

Now I must undertake the part I most dislike: writing the sales copy. There shall be much teeth-gnashing and hair-rending and midnight wailing, to be certain.
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)

Sand of Bone heads off to its editor and final reader tonight, so I'm taking a little break in order to let me brain think about something else for a bit.

I am not a structured worldbuilder. Before writing, I do not sit down to answer a hundred questions about culture, religion, navigation, textiles, government, livestock, gender relations, history, trade, exploration, child-rearing, and economics. That's not my process. (For that, check out this post, wherein I discuss altering my worldbuilding to fit the plot rather than the other way around.)

That doesn't mean I don't care. I deeply care. I don't expect to get everything right, but I want it to be right enough to keep the reader with me.

There's a great deal of writerly talk about educating ourselves on history, government, economics, and culture. That's absolutely necessary. But what hangs me up more often than not is geology and botany. Certainly I could just make everything up, but constructing properly integrated flora and fauna and climate and geography from the ground up is beyond my ken. So I do what most of us do: attempt to match my world and plot needs to a Real World equivalent, and adapt within parameters broad enough to be flexible yet narrow enough to avoid (as much as possible) Flying Snowmen.

Read more... )
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
So I am now, officially, an active member of SFWA, which feels totally weird and unreal and unexpected in so many ways.

Revisions for Sand of Bone are still progressing merrily. Really, I feel merry about them. I've reached my favorite stage--the place where I can hold the entire novel in my head, when I can see it as a whole rather than individual chapters and characters and plot points. If I make a change to Chapter 32, I know I have to tweak something in Chapter 3 and Chapter 25. When I reach the last few chapters, I know the words or phrases that'll discreetly connect with earlier scenes. It's the stage where everything in the novel becomes a remembered experience rather than a created story. It's when everything feels more than real.

Should my plan hold true, I can come within a handshake of finishing revisions this weekend. Then it'll need a last straight read-through to make sure I actually accomplished what I think I accomplished. And then it'll be off for a proofread and cover creation.

The nice thing is I've already started the sequel -- it was my project while awaiting beta feedback -- so I can dive right in the moment I hit the "Publish" button. (I'll also be pushing through the last of the StoryBundle selections with the intention of finalizing the bundle by the time August opens.) August and September will be time-rich months. This makes me happy beyond measure!

I'd love to do a little revising tonight, but I'm feeling just icky enough to make that a non-option. I think I'll continue cuddling with the bull-boxer-rotty instead. I've three days of writing time ahead!
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
I was tagged bt the smart, talented, and generous writer Janice Smith to answer questions about my projects and process. If you haven't already, go read her answers first!

What am I working on?
Right this moment, I'm finishing revisions for Sand of Bone. It's the first in a desert fantasy series centered around a woman seeking to escape her wasteland prison, destroy her brother's conspiracies, and reclaim the elemental mastery the gods took from her bloodkin three generations ago. It's also about civil unrest, savage rivalries, and a dynasty clutching after the power of their ancestors. Some characters fight because honor won't permit them to ignore wrongdoing; others pitch in because they're bored with everything else. And there are caverns with lava tubes, people with eyes that glow and shimmer in the dark, and souls wandering the sands in search of redemption.

How does my work differ from others in the genre?
Umm... Actually, I think the search for novelty within the genre is highly overrated. I've never put down a book I loved reading with the thought of finding something completely different. I've never loved a story because of its niftiness alone. Novelty of technique or topic is a one-off, and the genre now too wide and deep for anyone to even know if what they're doing is totally unique. So rather than seek ways to be different for the sake of being different, I'd rather develop skills that – when used over and over again – make readers want more of what I do.

(Consistency is all I ask. Immortality is all I seek.)

So what do I strive to do well? Characters – strong, weak, whatever – who have presence on the page regardless of the size of their part or their role in the story. Dialog readers can hear as they read. Pacing that moves rather than dallies, that holds tension behind even the quietest of moments, punctuated with a touch of humor. Prose that flows rather than clunks. Fight scenes compelling enough I can include the details I want. Worlds in which a person's competence and integrity – not gender – determine how the person is viewed.

Why do I write what I do?
I write the stories I'd like read.
I write to explore ideas that trouble me. My stories are, in a way, conversations with my own conflicting views.
I write to entertain myself, and love it when I'm also able to entertain others.

How does my writing process work?
Every project is different, but most incorporate plotting and pantsing. A huge amount of writing takes place in my imagination long before words arrive on the page, and I tend to envision them as if I'm a director rather than a writer. I'll run key scenes through my mind – adjusting dialog and tone, blocking, backdrops, and so forth – then remember I need to remove some of those details when committing the scene to paper.

Most of my process has evolved to include Magic Index Cards. I make one card for each scene (NOT chapter). Each card includes the following: POV character, setting, date scene occurs, the number of days since the story started*, primary events, primary character interactions, dialog, realizations or discoveries (if any), key symbolism and/or foreshadowing, and anything else I want to make sure appears in that chapter. Eventually I'll set all the cards in their proper order and number them. When it's revision time, I use the backs of the cards for notes. Yes, it's messy and manual, and I'm sure folks do indeed find the Scrivener option to be awesome, but I get something intangible out of the kinetic process so I'll stick with it.

I rarely go back to revise before finishing a project, though I will toss notes onto the index cards at any time. I'd rather remodel a finished project than rebuild. It's a preference requires me to really think through my choices before putting them down. (That, and the fact I once killed off a character early in a story that could have really used him later on.)

When I'm pretty happy with the novel, I'll send it off to beta readers. I have the most awesome of beta readers, truly. They're smart, talented, creative, open to possibilities, and damn fine writers. And I never forget how lucky I am that they share those things with me. That's not to say I use every piece of their feedback (for one thing, they rarely agree on everything!). But they always give me things to think about and consider. It makes for a novel written with awareness of choices rather than plain "instinct" or whatever.

Once revisions are done, off it goes to a copyeditor. I strive to submit as clean a copy as possible to my editor who is, for the duration of the project, my contract employee. And making life easier for my employees is, in my opinion, a matter of good ethics. (Now that I think about it, I'd likely put greater effort into keeping my house tidy all the time if I'd hire a housekeeper. Hmm.) Besides, producing a clean manuscript is just as much a skill as storytelling. It's worth doing well.


And there you have it – my answers to the questions.

I've tagged three marvelous women to pick it up from here: Casey Blair, Tam MacNeil, and Alena McNamara.




*Remember when I mentioned wanting to do pacing well? Tracking the number of story-days is critical to my ability to do that as I tend to write multiple viewpoint, multiple location, multiple storyline novels, and I tend to cram a great deal into a small amount of time. Sand of Bone covers a long time, by my usual habits (four entire months!). Sword and Chant, on the other hand, all took place in less than a single month's time.


(Finally! LJ let me post something that wasn't a total mess!)
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
First: A very nice review of Sword and Chant from Marissa Lingen. After our conversation on this post on the visibility of women writers and reviews of self-published works, I queried her about reviewing Chant. I'm beyond delighted she had nice things to say about it. Really, there's always that voice in the back of my head telling me I should be grateful if I get feedback more enthusiastic than, "Well, it doesn't completely suck." And that voice natters at me even when I love a story and am confident others will, too. So the fact her review includes the word "recommended" without the word "not" in front of it had me singing. (Yes, I truly sang. No, you wouldn't want to hear it.)

The publisher side of me is just as jazzed about her acknowledgement of the good production values. Reviews of traditionally published books wouldn't make mention of such as thing unless it was truly awful, but it's so important for reviewers to include at least a passing mention of good production in self-published works. We all know there is crap out there. Reviewers do all professional writers a service by acknowledging decent work.

(And if you haven't read that post of women and reviews I referenced above, I recommend taking a look if for no other reason than it'll link you to Marissa's comments on her own review policies.)

Second: Revisions of Sand of Bone are still progressing despite the distractions of spring fever. There is still one plotting issue I'm not certain how to fix. I'm letting it simmer in the background while working on other sections in the hope a solution will reveal itself. If a solution doesn't spring from my brow fully formed, I'm not certain what I'll do.

Third: It's official! I am curating a fantasy bundle for StoryBundle.  I had such a positive experience with them on the author side, I'm excited to be working on the curating side as well.  We've talked about tentatively slating the bundle for a fall release, and I've already begun to screen submissions. If you're interested in submitting something, cool! Later today I'll put up an overview of what I'm looking for and how to go about submitting.

And a couple personal things:
One: I booked Dev's flight to and transportation in Italy yesterday. I'm grateful EarthWatch provides solid briefing material on what to expect every step of the way since I haven't been overseas in the last twenty years, and have never been to Italy. The next step is to coordinate his travel from Indy to JFK. We might opt to drive out together, if I can pull the time away from the dojo, and have him fly back at the end of the trip. Yesterday was the first time I felt nervous about sending him off -- which I don't think is unreasonable, even though he'll be less than six months from eighteen. If anyone has any additional do this/not that advice, I'd love to hear it. And I'll likely beg for it again as the date creeps closer!

Two: And yesterday I wanted to call my friend Patricia just to tell her how much I miss her. It was one of those weird moments of the grieving process. I didn't forget I couldn't really call her; I wanted to call her specifically because I couldn't.
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
Just a quick update of dubious interest to most.

I've been growing more and more pleased with the beta-feedback I received for Sand of Bone, increasingly appreciating the notes and directions as time lets them sink in. There are, alas, two places where beta-readers seemed to quite disagree. I'll have to make a judgment call and hope readers -- including my beta readers! -- are happy with the final results.

I've not touched the manuscript yet. Like the last round, these revisions are less about tearing out whole sections and more about placing a line or two here and there. By making chapter-by-chapter notes, I'm able to see the overall picture. To start making those changes as I go along would pretty much ensure I lost track of everything somewhere along the line. :)

So the plan is to finish up my detailed notes by tonight, then spend next week and weekend putting all the pieces in the right places.

And then... we shall see. :)
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)

Now that Serpent Heart is up, my attention turns back to final revisions for Sand of Bone.

Celebrations—when, how, and why—are fantastic worldbuilding tools that can give depth to a culture, move the plot, and reveal character.  The longevity of the celebrations, and how the celebrations have evolved over the years, inform us of the culture's values.  Whether characters partake in, shun, or are indifferent to the festivals tells us how well characters are integrated into the larger culture.

In the desert and delta of SheyKhala, where the upcoming novel Sand of Bone takes place, festivals mark the turning of seasons primarily through focus on close kin, neighbors, and the greater community.

The year ends and begins with the Feast of Kin -- the midwinter festival of family. Though jokes are often made about the different ways one could serve one's family members at a feast, the festival is critical for maintaining good will among kinship groups as they head into that time of year when close quarters and limited food supplies can raise tensions. For the days leading up to the feast, family members do favors for one another, and the most secret favors are considered to be the ones performed with the deepest love and respect. The feast itself, though, is geared toward indulging the children in all possible ways. Grandparents say the focus on children ensures young adults consider carefully what their nighttime cold-weather activities might engender.

Promise Days happen in the spring, when the seasonal rains provide the low desert just enough moisture to coax short and spiky grass to cover the sands between brush that blooms but once a year. The notion of promise-keeping is incorporated into the river levels as well, since the season's rains promise to flood the delta once the water rushes down from the high desert. It's also the time of year consorts decide to make new vows, renew their existing ones, or part ways. It's one of two festivals that include the ceremony to brand women and men as full Blades in service to the ruling Velshaan. (The other branding takes place during Shades.)

In midsummer, everyone takes part in Givings, which the cold-hearted and tight-fisted call the Mis-givings. Able-bodied folk provide service and work for the neighbors, preferably those less fortunate. (As you can imagine, there can be a snark-fest in determining who among one's competing 'friends' is more or less fortunate.) In larger settlements, Givings is the day set aside for civic duties such as field maintenance, road and wall repair, and sewage care. Moreover, every person must pass their evening meal to someone less fortunate, and will not eat unless someone more fortunate takes pity on them. The two groups most likely to go without an evening meal are the middling poor and the ruling Velshaan bloodkin. In fact, the Velshaan absolutely refuse to eat on Givings Day because they have only the gods above them.  Why the gods don't provide the Velshaan with their own meals is a subject of speculation only among those who wish to live a life of hard labor in Salt Hold.

Lastly, the welcome cooling of autumn leads up to Shades -- three days and nights of honoring and remembering the dead, and (supposedly) spiritual visits from dead ancestors or notable figures. It's understood ghosts don't really show up every year to everybody, just like we understand Santa Claus doesn't really visit every child's home on Christmas Eve. Shades is instead a time to reflect on past losses. It's considered wise to think of what you'd say to loved ones if you were a mere ghost able to communicate but once a year, and wiser still to say those things while living. But, as with our Christmas traditions, parents take advantage of the festival to instill behaviors and beliefs in their children. Parents will sometimes leave small notes or symbolic gifts from "ghosts" for children to find, and the final night of Shades is marked by costumed folk going door-to-door masquerading as prominent figures from SheyKhala's history dispensing advice and warnings.

In addition to the large festivals, smaller celebrations are more often either observed within families or smaller groups, or confined to certain occupations and such. There are feasts on the Dark Moon, when the nightsighted folk see the undimmed beauty of the stars. (It's a favorite among young people looking for excuses to spend the night away from family.) More ritualistic celebrations occur around the first pressing of olives for oil, the training of horses, the welcoming of new Blades into the ranks, and thanksgivings for salt and iron.

In more recent years, remembrances for the Woes have been added to the festival calendar. Officially, they are held to acknowledge the losses and destruction caused when the Velshaan warred among themselves. But they are really intended to both remind the people of what power the Velshaan can (or, more accurately, could once) wield, and remind the Velshaan bloodkin of what fate they could meet if they stand against the wishes of their family.

How much of this will make it into the final version of Sand of Bone? Only bits and pieces mentioned mostly in passing. Half the story takes place in settings removed from the usual cultural constructs. The sequel, Breath of Stone, more tightly entwines the cycle of celebration and remembrance, and the third (yet unnamed) novel downright depends upon them to trigger... well, to trigger happenings. (Shh, can't tell!)

But I know the festivals are there -- why some people choose to ignore them, why others anticipate them, and why still others will seek ways to use them. It's another valuable tool in this writer's Swiss Army Knife.

blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
I just put my father on a plane for home. He stayed an extra day to help Dev tinker with the car and to take him out practice-driving a little more. (The car is a manual.)

Dev's new car is now fully operational, and he drove it to work on his own for the first time. We are both excited about the freedom this gives us. No more are we forever tied to the intricacies of each other's schedules! No more will we miss our individual events because the car must be used by another! No more will I be paying for his gas! (Okay, so that one makes only me happy, but hey.)

Here's the pic we took last week:

100_2487

In other news, almost no progress was made on the writing front since Thursday. There were simply too many other things to do, including spending time with Dad. But the novella shouldn't take more than a couple days to get into shape, as I've had plenty of driving-hours to think through the changes I want to make and how I want to make them. Not enough time, though, to come up with a new title...

Once the novella is out to betas, I'll start working through beta-feedback for Sand of Bone. And when that's done, I'll send it off for proofing and start on Breath of Stone.

Speaking of beta-readers... I feel bad asking those who have just finished/are still finishing the beta for Sand to pick up yet another piece. If you're up for it--cool! If not--that's cool, too! :) So if there are folks out there who'd be interested in beta-reading a 23K fantasy adventure novella that's fairly traditional, set in a desert culture, let me know.

But now, I've thirty minutes before I head out for tonight's teaching. It's women's-class night, so I'm looking forward to it.
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
100_2469 nnmnm

Once upon a time, I wrote two to three thousand (sometimes four thousand!) words a day, in four to five hours, routinely. I thought nothing of it. I wanted to write. Stories poured through my thoughts. And my time was severely limited by caring for my infant son, managing the family business, and teaching the occasional class. So when I had a sitter for the afternoon, or an evening free of responsibilities, I wrote like mad.

Somewhere along the way, those thousands of daily words began to sound immense. Part of it was the paralysis of acquired knowledge—that second guessing of every phrase because you're thinking of what the story ought to look like after it's been edited and polished rather than thinking of just writing the damned story. Part of it was the internalization of the "appropriate" writing schedule as slow and measured. And part of it was the increasingly complicated life and schedule before me. A thousand words a day? Damn, that became a stretch.

Here is the contradiction I face today: I don't have time to write slowly—not only because my writing time is slim and often broken, but because I can't build the career I want on one book every twelve to eighteen months. But unless I quit all other work, including parenting and homeschooling, I couldn't see how to make that happen. I just couldn't get any umph in my productivity.
Read more... )
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
After a stumble-start last fall, my experiment with a women-only karate class is off to a fantastic new start. The first class was on Tuesday, with seven women in attendance.

Most uncomfortable moment: Making it clear to my own (male) teacher that he needed to leave the dojo before we started class. I'd made it clear to the women there would be no men, no husbands, no children in the dojo at all.

Most awesome moment: When everyone walked out the door saying, "See you next class!"

Once upon a time, I was uncomfortable with offering a women-only class. I'm a staunch believer in men and women training together, and see huge benefits come from that. Then I chose to listen to the women who expressed a passing interest in karate, but never actually took a class.

Body image. Fear of judgment. Fear of failing. Fear of being the worst one in class. Discomfort with a physical sport. Discomfort with being seen enjoying an aggressive sport. All those reasons and more, I heard over and over from women who murmured their interest in karate to me when no one else would hear them.

I pride myself in creating a safe and supportive environment for new students who are, more often than not, nervous stepping on the mat. I've had kids cry crocodile tears at the start of class, and beg to come back for more by the end of class. I've had adults hesitant at the beginning because of physical limitations realized at the end that I'll work with them to reach their goals. But whatever atmosphere my methods and personality create, it wasn't safe and supportive for a subset of women who wanted karate training enough to mention it, but feared it enough to never try.

So I set out to create that environment. No men. No witnesses. That was a big deal for all of the women who committed to showing up. Then we talked about the physical stuff, and I shared my Ultimate Karate Dork stories as well as the problems my hip dysplasia caused. We talked about things women don't often discuss with men: boobs that get in the way, post-pregnancy body problems, hitting other people.

On the mat, we not only worked hard on technique, but we laughed. Laughed and shared and enjoyed everyone's company. We started on the basics of dojo etiquette, chatted about the boundaries of Sensei-In-Dojo and Blair-In-Supermarket, and acknowledged that it feels very strange to say "Yes, Ma'am/Yes, Sir" at first. We worked up enough of a sweat that everyone was at least a little sore the next day. And we spent time listening to one woman sharing an issue she'd been struggling with all day, and we offered support.

Unlike six or seven years ago, when most women I spoke with wanted "self-defense" without all that "karate stuff," these women want the whole thing. They want to earn the black belt. They are working hard, asking questions, making mistakes and corrections.

Three to six months from now, I suspect they'll all be ready to transition into the standard classes at least once a week. By then, all those preliminary fears will have been encountered. Best of all, this group of women is helping me refine these ideas by giving me honest feedback.

...and I have to back up, because my hopes are running away with me. :) The true test will be how many of those seven women commit to a longer-term program. The decision point will be this coming Thursday.

In the meantime, I am thrilled with the two classes we've had so far. I come home happy, energized, and grinning. It feels like the beginning of a community.

And in the writing news, I suddenly wondered if I should end Sand of Bone 20K words deeper into the larger story. This is not all that helpful to my stress level, alas.

blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
The changes made to Sand of Bone were extensive enough I didn’t bother editing an existing digital version. I opened a new Word doc, set my handwritten scribbles of chapter overviews and notes and index cards on one side (more on those later) and a well-flayed printout covered in black Xs, arrows, and circles on the other. Then I started typing from word one.

To my great happiness, past feedback on the partially-revised chapters I’d sent to beta readers months ago was mostly positive, though some of the same going-forward questions were asked by more than one reader. First was the concern for the number of viewpoint characters. Second was my choice to open the novel with a certain viewpoint character.

Both are quite valid. I use seven viewpoints to tell this story. That’s plentiful indeed, and took much shuffling of Magic Index Cards to balance timing and interactions. But with a story that has five factions trying to meet different goals—and with those five factions rarely in the same place at the same time—five viewpoints would be the absolute minimum. A sixth viewpoint better defines what is at stake overall. And the seventh? Well, I could make an argument to cut it, but that’s the viewpoint bridging Big Plot with Internal Plot. And that character becomes very important in the next book, and the character is one of my favorites ever.

I think I made all seven work together. I think the story is better for each one. If I’m wrong, I’d rather work to find solutions than cut any one of those viewpoints.

That second concern… I struggled with it. I really did. Then decided to leave it as-is for this round of beta feedback. I’d like for it to work for readers because I like the way it works. But I’m probably the odd one out. We’ll see.

My real challenge in this round was integrated changes in world building. To me, some of those changes look as obvious as neon green patches stitched onto lavender calico. Is it because I’ve lived with previous versions so long that any change sticks out, or is it because my revisions skills are inadequate for the task?

And, of course, as I was falling asleep last night, I came up with a couple tweaks I could have made before sending for beta feedback. Notes have been written, but I’m determined to leave the danged thing alone until I hear from readers.

So… now what? Notes for the next book! Unlike Sword and Chant, which works as a stand-alone (though I’d like to write its sequel someday), Sand of Bone was always meant to be at least a trilogy, if not a five-book series. Plot and revision changes make it simple to edit and squish what was Book 2 and Book 3 into a single volume, but those same changes opened up the what-comes-next possibilities. Ideas I’d long ago set aside are now in play—not only for this set of characters, but other characters in the same world. I have my son to thank for that. He’s very good at listening to me lay out complicated plot and world building issues, then tossing out a simple, “What about this?” solution.

But first, I’m going to do the spring cleaning, and the spring seedlings, and the spring garden prep. After the winter we’ve had, I’m ready to air out the house and grow things.
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
Today, I completed the deep revisions for Sand of Bone.

Pause for extended fanfare of trumpets...

I'll have to wait for beta-reader feedback to know how close the novel is to the proofread-for-publication stage, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

Currently, the novel comes in around 128K words. Somehow -- despite the fact I completely altered and expanded the worldbuilding, and let myself play much more with dialog -- I cut nearly 30K from the previous draft. Thirty thousand words! I don't know where they went. I feel as if I'm actually telling more story than before those words disappeared.

I had all sorts of things I wanted to say about revisions, and writing, and writing as a form of reading, but I'm honestly just too danged tired. So off to bed with me, so the brain shall function tomorrow.

And I'll play that fanfare again. I earned it.
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
Other than Dev's so-minor car accident, things have gone well.  Not flash-bang-gee-whiz awesome, but well enough I'm ending the week with a feeling of contentment and relief rather than the usual exhaustion and guilt.

First, I called in a favor at the dojo and had another teacher take all my classes Tuesday so I could have my prime writer-brain time for revisions. I've never done that. I felt guilty for about an hour, then I got over it. The gains in revisions were huge.

The days I did teach were awesome. Sometimes good classes suddenly click, teacher and students all in sync, and that's what it's been.

Remember some time ago, when I mentioned my karate classes had nearly reached a 50/50 female/male ratio? Well, that balance took a bit of a tumble when we moved to the new location. But as of this week, I'm closing in on a 60/40 split. All four new students I signed up in the last two weeks are girls. Next week, I start up my women's only class again, and have five women already signed up to try it out. This pleases me immensely.

(Shihan, who partners with me to teach at my dojo when he can, mentioned the sudden influx of females. I smiled. "Welcome to the matriarchy, sir!")

And the revisions are going swimmingly. The novel doesn't suck. I think it's really holding together--surprising to me, considering how much I thought this story felt like a patchwork quilt assembled by a platypus. I've a third of the novel yet to tweak and two new little scenes to write. My original goal was to finish by midnight. A more realistic goal would be to finish by tomorrow.

Tomorrow night. I've a karate tournament to attend for much of the day. Five of my students are competing. I am not. Both of those facts make me happy.

Sunday will be my entire weekend. I plan to clean house, fill at least three large bags with stuff to donate, and start my seedlings.







blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
By the time I head off to bed tonight, I’ll have completed upwards of a third of the revisions for Sand of Bone. Other than a thousand words or so of a new scene I’ve decided to add, the rest of revisions should move more quickly. Fewer alterations, fewer reorganizations, fewer new elements to entwine. That’s a symptom of how I wrote this novel: it took me fifty thousand words to figure out why certain pieces of the plot could and should happen the way I wanted them to, so I had to go back through to make the beginning a better set-up for the middle and end.

It’s a tedious process, incorporating all the little pieces I missed the first time around. Certainly I could just dump in a new scene to introduce and explain most of the pieces I want to slip into place. But taking plot points and worldbuilding from mere scaffolding to breathing story requires a more holistic approach. A shift in cultural expectations affects not only the plot, but what idioms characters toss into conversation. Historical references carry different weight and meaning. One assumption about another’s motivations will alter every subsequent interaction in ways large and small.

Despite the tediousness (and I’ll spare you the logistical process of making and tracking those changes!), I’m enjoying revisions immensely. The world and its characters have always felt real to me, but now I can see it gaining substance others can experience. And as much as I love being a storyteller, I get the biggest kick from knowing my readers are looking forward to turning the next page.

So. I’ll be wrapping up revisions by Friday, then sending it out to my fabulous beta readers. We shall see if my opinion of revisions translates into an enjoyable reader experience. Then I’ll make changes based upon beta feedback, and get the whole thing off to an editor. Based on the last year’s ups and downs, I’m hesitant to give a definitive publishing date, but I’m shooting for the first week of June.
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
Wordle is fun. No doubt about it. Your text-chunk of choice, arranged and colored and sized by most-used words, in a format you can alter and edit and shape to make it most pleasing to your eye.

But it's also a cool little pre-revision tool. Here's why I like it:

First, take a look at the Wordle for Sand of Bone.

WorldeSand

Much of the Wordle looks as I'd suspect. Names of viewpoint characters are prominent: Syrina, Pyrius, Raskah, Shella. But I didn't expect secondary characters to show up as such large pieces. There isn't anything wrong with that, but it did surprise me.

And that word in the middle--Velshaan--should indeed be as large as it is. I like that.

So then I look at the other words, and it's there clues of my writing style--good and bad--expose themselves for interpretation.

The high occurrence of Blade and Blades--no problem. It's a title and an occupation at the heart of the story.

But what's up with one, back, hand and hands? Just how many ones does a single manuscript require? And is that back as in the body part, or returning to a former state/location? As for hand and hands... Let's lump that together with some slightly smaller words. Head, feet, eyes, fingers, chest, shoulder. Smaller still and you'll find lips, arms, mouth, chest and knees. Then you can add in words that refer to what all those body parts do: turned, looked, see, smile, nodded, stood, gaze, shook, held.

Am I obsessed with how the reader sees what my characters are doing? Maybe. As an actor and director, I learned to convey emotions and thoughts through visual cues. It's natural that carries over into my writing. Is that a bad thing for the reader to experience? I don't know. My readers will have to tell me. :)

Then there are words that look suspiciously like fillers: enough, now, around, another. Those show up with frequency enough (see that?) to merit a word search and replace consideration.

Some words surprise me by not showing up as often as I expected. Sand and sands are awfully small, considering the location, the beliefs, and the slang. I honestly thought the words showed up much more often. Ditto for blood, hopefuls, gods, and Katsa. I wonder if, out of concern for too obviously pushing an idea, I actually gave each appearance of those terms a weightiness out of proportion with its prevalence.

A few words surprise me by showing up at all. Really, help? I can't even think of where help would often show up a couple times, let alone enough times to be considered a top 200-odd words in a manuscript exceeding 135,000 words. That's a problem. And why is time so large? I don't recall considering time to be an element critical enough to merit as much "screen time" as the Wordle implies.

And I find it a tad amusing that Yes shows up often enough to make the Wordle. It makes me wonder if my characters are asking too many questions everyone else already knows the answer to. Yet one more thing to keep in mind as I head into revisions.
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
I'm happy with this exchange from near the end of Sand of Bone -- a snippet that, no matter how much I like it, might totally suck out of context. Or in context, for that matter!

Minorly spoilerish but not really... )
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
For weeks, Dev and I have been scheduling--and having to cancel--a trip to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Today, we finally made it, and I definitely needed the break.  For writer-me, it was a research day as well.  For Dev, it was a school day.  We win!  :)

The museum is both restful and stimulating. We spent a huge amount of time appreciating the African Art galleries, but somehow completely missed the North American collections. We wandered the galleries of European and Asian art, sometimes with great seriousness, and sometimes laughing as we created dialog between the paintings.
Pictures and Chit-Chat )

Then, on the way home, Dev asked about Sand of Bone, and helped me talk through a solution to a long-standing issue. It'll make revisions a tad more complicated on one hand, but it does indeed solve the issues while at the same time enhancing the story and opening possibilities for future storylines beyond this and the sequel. I have such a cool kid!
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
I'm nearly finished with the rewrite of Sand of Bone. Hmm. Rewrite sounds to small. It's turned into more of a total remodeling--the kind that involves stripping off three layers of disgusting wallpaper so the walls can be patched, ripping up tattered carpet so the original wood floors can be restored, replacing the windows, putting on a new roof, and upgrading the plumbing and electrical. Then I'll set to revisions--new brass hardware, intricate moldings, so on and so forth. By the time it's done, about the only thing I won't have done is jack the novel from its foundations to put it in a new location. (Been there, done that, see Sword and Chant.)

That means I'm not really updating anything else online right now. Other than playing on Twitter--where I can drop in and out of chats when I have the time--I've gone a tad quiet.

What's quite wonderful is I have in hand a novel written by one of my Viable Paradise classmates. That means I have the perfect bridge between my own writing sprints!
blairmacg: (FeatherFlow)
On this snowy day, I'm taking a break from Sand of Bone revisions.  My darlings, I know the revision process has gone on far too long--so long that it feels quite irresponsible to take a break of any sort.  But, well... Here we are.

I've been reading and muchly enjoying Kate Elliott's Spiritwalker trilogy.  I could go on and on about how much I enjoy the characters and their interactions, or how tickled I am to see the insides of a revolution amidst a realistically convoluted world.  But one of the other things Elliott has done beautifully is measure her characters against the immutability of core morality—but never confuses morality with affiliation.  With our own current political climate utterly polarized by affiliation, it's refreshing to watch characters find their allies, question their choices, and make externally-conflicting-but-internally-consistent decisions that are adjusted based upon new information.  I haven't finished the trilogy yet, and so look forward to reading the last third of the third that I find myself purposefully slowing my reading so I don't reach the end so quickly.

Not too long ago, I finished Pen Pal by Francesca Forrest, recommend by Sherwood Smith.  This, too, deals with revolutions and revolutionaries.  One central character finds the strength she needs to endure and succeed by holding more and more tightly to narrowing set of goals.  The other central character finds her strength though asking tough questions and adjusting her goals and perspectives.  Neither is more right or wrong that the other.  The challenges the characters face, and the settings in which they face them, require wildly different approaches even though their goals are essentially the same.

Between those two novels, I've tried repeatedly to sink into Ancillary Justice.  It isn't that I haven't liked it—I've really been taken by the concepts, in fact—but I haven't found it as compelling in terms of story.  I'll likely return to it after I finish Elliott's trilogy in the hope the story will catch me.

On the nonfiction side, I've been reading The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Pushes Back.  It's as long and detailed as an epic novel, and I've been very pleased with the data used to back up the claims and proposals, but is too much for me to read and process all in one fell swoop.  Even so, I'm repeatedly struck by how we continuously make programs and policies bigger and more complicated in an attempt to make life simpler and easier.  It's essentially investing millions to teach people to do more with less, rather than investing thousands to ensure there is more to do more with.  Forex, when I was living on a thousand dollars a month, I didn't need an expensive training program to help me land a new job.  I needed six hundred dollars for new tires so I could drive to the job I was already trained to do.  Alas, I qualified for a training program, but there wasn't even a "buy new tires" program to which I could apply.

Next up on nonfiction is How Can You Defend Those People? recommended by Nancy Jane Moore over at Book View Cafe.  The work of criminal defense attorneys fascinates me.  (In fact, when I looked into law school, it was with the goal of working as a defense attorney.)

And now, for a few links:

Hackschooling Makes Me Happy is a TEDx talk from teenager Logan LaPlante.  I love what this kid is saying, and adore the "structure" of his education.  If I had to do it all over again, I'd have homeschooled more fully along those lines.  Really, it wasn't until this year that I completely let go of the curriculum-driven mindset.  Would that I had dumped it two years ago!

Fit and Feminist on the neurosis that has permeated The Biggest Loser.  I can't tell you how many folks I've seen who are so obsessed with the notion of "healthy weight" that they're driving themselves into illness to get it.  An extra ten or twenty pounds is not nearly as unhealthy for a person as a sedentary life or a diet devoid of essential nutrients.  And people look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them that, if they eat stuff like "healthy" granola and yogurts, they might as well chow down on a candy bar.

Over at Books by Women is an article on coming to writing with a theater background.  I love and can relate to her discussion of using the tools of compelling theater to write compelling fiction.  There is cool stuff there that made me think more about how I use my own theater background.

Lastly, there is The Destructive Power of Publishing.  I've never been one to completely and utterly dismiss all that Big House publishing is and can be, but I think I've made it clear why Big House publishing is not for me.  For more on that, check out Judith Tarr's series on Escaping Stockholm.  This article speaks to those reasons.

I like getting my validation directly from readers.  Every sale is an acceptance letter!

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