Author Archives: Amy Jane

Compiled Mom Advice

Posted on by

When the poignancy of my “last” baby phase finally reached me it was nothing like I’d imagined.

No craving a baby to hold, no wishing for more of my own.

Mostly, I’m pathetically disappointed that my acquired skills in that area are now obsolete.

Isn’t that sad?

Anyway, just because I can I have here a compilation of all the RAFTS I’ve offered to moms that visit my blog.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[The original post included a giveaway that is now closed.]

Whew.

Posted on by

(I wonder how many of my posts have that title…)

Just finished section 34 and 35 out of 40.

34 was quite the feat, integrating two previously-separate scenes and “adding” over 3,000 words.

Just in case anybody wonders, my husband built a home-server that (among other things) backs up my computer regularly.  My laptop gets creaky often enough I’d have the heebee geebees about losing these years of work if it weren’t constantly being backed up.

~

As it is I plan to keep this laptop till it finishes dying or until I sell a book and can use that most-appropriate income stream to upgrade.

Need Ideas for Generic Gifts

Posted on by

I’d like to offer “prizes” of sorts to the table hostesses that bring the most new people to the event.

I had initially thought of a gradient of four different awards, based on the number of new people, but all I’ve been able to think of so far are votive candles and potted plants (I am *horrible* at generic gifts.  Maybe because they’re near-meaningless to me?)

So all you random visitors (I think you’re out there– at least, my hit-counter says so) if you can mention your favorite thing to give or get, I’d be grateful.

Smallish things would be the best– this is supposed to be a fund-raiser, so I’m trying to spend as little possible while keeping it “nice.”

Thanks!

Beginning Book Reviews

Posted on by

Since last year’s blog party I’ve been following Teen Lit Review in my Bloglines.

This year’s party I found out I joined a couple months late to know they invite regular contributors.

Since I’m already making a special effort to read a bunch of YA this year, I figured anybody might be welcome to my opinion and checked-in with the coordinators.

They graciously allowed me to join the blog and my first review is now up.

Stupid Choices

Posted on by

I have no problem throwing my characters into… challenging situations (purple blood, anyone?).  The problem I have is letting them make stupid decisions.

As a young (as in, new-to-this) novelist, I can see I have a hard time separating myself from my characters at times. Writing advice encourages me to get my characters into bigger and bigger trouble–preferably by hard choices backfiring and making worse what they were supposed to fix.  Since that’s the exact thing that would curl my toes in real-life, I find I’m not even sure how.

I’ve been griping wondering for a while how to work past this, and really appreciated a suggestion that is much more usable for me: put the characters in a situation where they must make a decision quickly.  In that context bad decisions would have less shame.  And, to me at least, be more believable.

I mentioned a while back my list of favorites and antitheses when it comes to stories this was one thing on my *dislikes* list.  That is, if I know better how to behave in the world than the character who lives there… well, I have decidedly less patience for events that happen (in my interpretation) just to rack up the tension.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[The original post included a giveaway that is now closed.]

 

Saying What You Mean (and a giveaway)

Posted on by

At a McDonalds Playland about a year ago, my then-3-year-old carefully tipped her tiny cup of ketchup on its side, explaining, “It’s not much left, and this is how you do it.”

“Mine’s almost gone, too,” Jay said. “Would you like a refill?”

“No,” said Melody, focusing on her ketchup. “No,” said Natasha, waiting her turn.

“Maybe you should tell them what a refill is,” I suggested. And after he did, and repeated his offer to refill the answer was a chorus of Yeses.

“It’s all about definitions,” I said. “Everything in life comes down to definitions.”

I say this all the time, like it’s profound or something.  But, as Jay pointed out in that moment, it’s not really the definitions, it’s the whole process of communicating and how you choose to respond to it.

Yes. God created the perfect man for me.

It makes me think about how we can do “everything” right without being understood, because it’s not just about us, the senders of the message; it’s also about the receivers.

Years ago I was riding with a lady who’d been married just a few months. As we conversed I was vaguely aware of the conversation moving slower than I was used to, but I hadn’t pinned the feeling yet on anything specific.

“I’m so sorry!” she said suddenly. “I’ve been talking this who time like I was having this conversation with my husband.”

She went on to explain that she had used the (frequently useful) tool of “reflecting” in our conversation– the practice of rephrasing what she’d heard to verify she understood.

“He really needs that, but with you I’m basically repeating exactly what you said. It’s so different to talk with someone who says exactly what they mean!”

When I told my mom the story she agreed that was the way she talked too (I come by everything honestly), and a that her pastor’s wife, a counselor and therapist, had complimented her on it.

“Everybody knows right where they stand with you,” she said. “There’s no ambiguity or insecurity and people are so comfortable with that.”

Mom pointed out that she had plenty of examples to the contrary, and the woman amended that the positive response was the more logical.

I agree with the pastor’s wife, but take this as yet another example of how many people in this world aren’t logical.  A surprising number of people are not content with getting “The Golden Rule” (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.), they seem to expect some kind of platinum rule (“Do unto me as I would have you do.”)

`

This is much harder to apply, for the simple reason that unless I really know you I have no guidelines other than my own preferences.  And like my mother I have plenty of experience with people who don’t want to be treated the way I do.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[The original post included a giveaway that is now closed.]

 

Progress

Posted on by

Finished 28, 29 and 30 this weekend.

28 and 30 were *total* slogs. I’m going to have to add a question to my pre-readers questionnaire: Do any chapters make you more tired than others. . . ?

Because they surely did for me.
So glad they’re done.

Finding What Fits

Posted on by

To finish a thought from yesterday’s post, I’m not trying to be critical, or imply that true artists won’t doubt themselves.

I’m feeling the odd security of coming at this from the “other side” as someone who’s been *good* at a number of things, and only have this one where I can’t stop.

(From another conversation, I offer a this:)

The story goes that there was an aspiring young musician who cornered a world-famous violinist and begged the master to listen to him play. If the master was encouraging the young man would devote his life to music. So he played and when he finished the master said: “You lack the fire.” Decades later, the two met again, the young man now a successful business man. “You changed my life,” the man said. “It was a bitter disappointment, giving up music, but I’ve had a good life in the world of commerce. But I’ve always wondered, how could you tell so readily that I lacked the fire?”

“Oh, I hardly listened when you played,” replied the master. “That’s what I tell everyone who plays for me–that they lack the fire.”

“But that’s unforgivable,” said the younger man. “I could have been another Kreisler, another Heifitz–“

The old man shook his head. “You don’t understand,” he said. “If you had had the fire, you would have paid no attention to me.”

Just in the last few months I have become more and more at peace with writing as my vocation (the timing made me think of my friend’s comment about entering my 30s).  And as I’ve shifted my thinking from the many to the few I’ve felt an increased peace.

A lovely Boundless article about dreams and calling has this wonderful definition of vocation from Frederick Buechner:

“[It is] the intersection of your own deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger.”

I don’t think we need to feel gladness every moment we do this (I don’t think I’ve yet dredged up joy while I’m mopping vomit in my mother vocation) but having no joy, constant annoyance, or even sorrow, should be clues that something is missing.

I’m a pretty steady believer in the concept of a hierarchy of needs (though mine doesn’t line up exactly with Maslow’s), so I’ll back up a moment and say that this seeking vocation is basically more detailed work than is even relevant without first having peace with God through submission to Jesus Christ.  That is the place to begin if you lack peace in your life.

~

Here I must repeat one of my *favorite* quotes from C.S. Lewis that was so useful to me when I first entered this stage of awareness:

God makes each soul unique. If He had no use for all these differences I do not see why He should have created more souls than one. Be sure the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you.

There are those who think Christians should never be unhappy if they really have a correct relationship with God.

There are those (not religious at all) who believe the right soulmate will make them fully happy (and any evidence to the contrary is generally taken instead as evidence they have not yet *found* the right soulmate).

I believe there is a happiness and delight that can only be found in right relationships, but I also believe there is no shame in seeking out what your own “differences” are. Like Lewis wrote, If [God] had no use for all these differences I do not see why He should have created more souls than one.  

Since we’ve experienced more and less happiness, we know degrees exist, and so it is entirely reasonable to assume some things can make us happier than others.

In the same way that I could adapt to being a firefighter but don’t think I’d ever be a really good one, I could pursue another vocation, and learn contentment from God within that less-comfortable situation.  But thanks be to God, He has not asked me to do that.  I can be true both to God and the nature He put into me, finding greater joy in that than (I believe) I’d ever find as a firefighter, or anything else God didn’t make me to be.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[The original post included a giveaway that is now closed.]

More Writing Advice (getting started)

Posted on by

Aren’t forums great?  I’ll have nothing to write one moment– no burning desire to put any words down, then a simple, innocent question will spark a whole essay I didn’t know wanted out.

~

Case in point: A question recently from someone on her first book, claiming no training in writing, and wondering how she can compete with the mass of work “out there.”

After re-reading I think my response sounds rather tart, and maybe I should have let it sit an hour before posting… but by then I was afraid answers like, “don’t give up” and “you can do it!” would have been par for the course, then I’d really look snarky.

One of the most liberating things I ever read was a woman describing an author’s pannel she’d been on where another author gave permission to a WWII survivor not to write her story.

Everyone keeps telling me I should write a book, the old woman said nervously.

Think long and hard before you do, the writer told her.  Writing a book is hard work, if you don’t love it you’ll never make it to the end (and might feel like you failed in something important).

I’ve thought of that exchange a number of times when listening to other people talk about the book they want to write, and that’s what I think of first when I hear someone new doubting him/herself.

Self-doubt is not always a bad thing.  Sometimes it is entirely reasonable and accurate. . .  This is a good place to apply discernment in personal interaction, and I beg you other writers to simply ask for encouragement if that what you need!

Of course, a bit of my annoyance may be unfair; some people just don’t know themselves well enough to know which they need: encouragement to go on or permission to let go.

~ ~ ~

Especially with your first book I’d say just enjoy the journey. Because if you can’t, you shouldn’t expect to make a go of this writing thing.

You don’t need “formal training” but you do need to read about writing, and learn from people who know the difference between good and bad writing.

**One thing that really bothers me in/about the arts is the illusion some have that that getting “good” on your own is somehow more worthy or perfect or “pure”  than learning from more experienced people.**

Setting yourself under those who know is quite simply the most efficient way to get bast the basics and begin growing truly innovative because the artist no longer has to design the foundation on which he will build.

Don’t be embarrassed to seek instruction– whether in person or from books.

And if you lower your expectations on this current work of yours, say, to “practice novel” rather than “publishable novel” you’ll get the chance to learn the most important (I’m told) lesson about noveling (*finishing*) without the extra pressure of will anyone buy this?

I’ve read that most published authors did not publish the first book they wrote, so we should check our expectations against that.

Just write. Put words down without trying to look perfect– that comes later.

So here’s the quick version of my advice (as unqualified as I may be to offer any):

  • don’t keep writing if it’s not enjoyable/fulfilling (there’re too many fun things to do to waste time on something you don’t enjoy),
  • actively seek to improve yourself through outside input (don’t assume you have everything you need inside you: no one does), and then
  • just sit down and write without expectations until you can (because of your research and reading) begin to evaluate the quality of your writing.

Then keep going.

**Eventually you’ll also have to get up the nerve to show your work to other writers and see how accurate your perceptions of your own work are (and be willing to be wrong about yourself– in either direction).

But that’s not something you have to do from the beginning. Start with enjoyment. If that’s there, the rest will come more naturally.**

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today’s give-away was for Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

 

WIP

Posted on by

If I have to restart my computer (because it got gummed-up again), when I go to restart work on my novel it takes a short check-list.

Normally I leave everything open so I can just sit down I work without digging for my place again

  • I open Excel with all my scenes, so I can keep track of where I am, then
  • Three Word documents:
    • The actual story: Let Evening Come,
    • my “progress report” document where I make notes about how word-counts, chapter movement and where more background is needed (it’s my way of preventing my “inner editor” from interrupting the putting down of words.  I remind myself I’ll work back through during my final edits, so get the silly thing finished first).
    • my “cut bits” document
      • At least one writer I know says she just cuts and throws away everything she’s not going to use, but I don’t trust myself enough to do that.  (Or maybe it means I think too highly of my work?)

Anyway, I opened the “cut bits” doc last tonight and yanked the scroll-bar to the bottom like I always do (ready to drop the latest cuts from this read-through).  Then I looked at the page-count and nearly spit out my milk: 104 pages.

Of cut stuff.

And that doesn’t even count the cut-stuff from the first couple revisions.

So I’m feeling a bit less-guilty now about the length.  At least I’m making a good-faith effort, right?