Author Archives: Amy Jane

Welcome to the 2009 Blog Party!

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Every year I meet new neat people, and I’m so happy you’re stopping by to visit.

This blog is about stories, writing, and ideas.

It’s also the story of me writing my first novel.

Based on a little-known folktale, it’s the story of a young woman who risks marrying a “beast” in order to escape her abusive step-mother.  She disenchants a good man, but her happily-ever-after is interrupted when her new husband must undertake a quest, leaving her alone to face new monsters.  

I’m fascinated with getting inside other people’s heads and figuring out how they think; it’s one of my favorite things about noveling.  Perhaps as a result I am very transparent with my own thought processes and that’s what ends up on this blog: “Thinking out-loud.”

This week I’ve got a line-up of posts to  give you a survey of how I think, a bit of the variety I cover, and a book or two to sign up for each day of the party.  (I collect and share books constantly.)

  • Writing advice for the beginning novelist (and did you ever wonder the difference between blogging and writing a book?)
    • Giving away Bird by Bird
  • A question I had to work out for my own novel
    • Giving away two of my favorite fairy tale novelizations
  • A comparison of old and new tellings of traditional tales
    • Giving away a book of tales and a small folklore encyclopedia
  • And more– (including my favorite advice for moms)– something new each day with a corresponding book giveaway

So if a patchwork of ideas interests you (and/or you want to check out the daily posts for a new book or two) stop back by.

Sign-ups for the giveaways start Saturday the 21st: I was initially allowing four days to sign up for each selection, but a friend more experienced in giveaways said I ought to allow at least a week, so that’s what you’ll have:  One week to sign-up for each book (I’ll post the winner at the bottom of the comments when each sign-up closes.)

The links along the top and sides will tell you all you need to know about me and Untangling, and give you a fair idea of the forest you have stumbled into.

I hope you enjoy your time here,

I never lose a book (but I might lose me…)

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That is, since I re-did my bookshelves, I’ve always been able to find whatever book I’m looking for.  If it’s mine.

You see, if it’s mine it finds a home among other books of its type so I always know where to go when I’m looking for something.

But library books are another issue altogether.

Library books have no definitive home– because even when I put them dutifully away on the “library book shelf” in the living room their proximity to the ground seems to translate them, substantially, from Something-To-Be-Read (and let alone until read) into Things-To-Be-Carried.

Like all books in our house they are treated with utmost respect, but it is the respect Eliza Dolittle would get from Col. Pickering: genuine, but oblivious.

So I’ve lost the book I meant to finish next (A Curse as Dark as Gold, that I quoted from here), and it’s really annoyed me.  I’ve checked all the usual places and now all that’s left is to wait till this bug finishes its sweep and we dig out the corners again.

~

In the meantime I’ve dabbled with the idea of helping to organize a fundraiser that should take place in about 2 months.

The impossibility of this is emphasized on at least one web site: Nine women working together cannot produce a baby in one month! it insists. In the same way you cannot expect to put together a fundraiser faster just because you have more people.

But I have to wonder about the doom and gloom.

This particular event has been in place for more than 5 years, and involves (in an original stroke of genius) each hostess supplying both the food and guests for her table, so I think what’s left to us would be venue and program, mostly.

I said keep me in the loop, because I want to help the cause (our local CareNet Pregnancy Center) but when I shifted off my brain-storm document and back into my re-write I felt such a distinct chink of a fit it made me nervous.

Not about the fit of the writing, but about the fact that the other work was not.    With my life wound so tightly just now I wonder (almost fear) if I’ve stepped into a tripwire.

~ ~ ~

Found a redundant scene to cut. I’ll work the best parts into the later confrontation. Finished clean-up on 26 and 27.

More Than Half-way

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Novel status report:

Finished cleaning up scenes 22 and 23 (out of 41)  last night.   They went much smoother than I’d expected, and instead of cutting half of one and rewriting the whole of the other (what I’d been expecting) I massaged in a twist I’d been playing with and it made everything work.

Amazing.

Since this is my first novel everything feels new.  I’m the puppy, spinning about wildly, seeing spring for the first time and not wanting to miss any of it.  I have to wonder if I’ll end up some mellow, staid breed (once I grow up) or if I’ll be more like Joule, perennially excited at each new glimmer, change and opportunity.

~

The latter sounds like the better path for an artist, but just now it also sounds very inefficient and exhausting (did I already say we had our first winter bug sweep through the house this last week?  I was blessed to escape with only a headache, but everyone else has had it worse.)

I had a spike in my sense of urgency to finish this animal, but realized it doesn’t make a lot of difference in my time available.  I’m choosing to be content with regular progress rather than moving toward hand-flapping urgency that can’t accomplish anything anyway.

Wow, that sounds mature.  (Right?  Right?)

Does this say something about me?

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I hit my favorite used book store’s annual 50%-off sale yesterday.  Came home with 40 kids books (picture books, schoolbooks and YA novels) for 25-cents apiece, and just over a dozen grown-up books for a dollar each.

I also picked up a crate of nice books that were individually priced because they were “special” and among these were

  • The complete Burton translation of The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (6 volumes in 3 fat books) for $5 on-sale– awesome score for my collection, and
  • Dragons: a natural history
    • Mentioned because this one has already made me start considering whether I ought to change my lindorm’s appearance.  I’ll do a separate post about that when/if it’s confirmed.
      • What’s in question is whether the monster will have two limbs or none.  I have to work the math and see what side is better for the story as I can find either type useful.

Putting all those books away was plenty fun, and I had to laugh when during the process I noticed the audio course Argumentation, Part 1 was right next to an unread copy of Making Friends.

Two Randoms

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I *loved* this part in the dedication of the book A Curse Dark as Gold:

And lastly to my husband, Christopher, for always being there.  If I wrote you into a story, no one would believe you were real.

The problem with finding something that expresses your thoughts so perfectly is knowing you can’t use it yourself. . .

~

Has anybody told you about what to expect in your thirties?

The question came from a person who is very positive, so I didn’t fear the answer as much as I would have from another source, but still I felt myself bracing for what would come next.

It’s *fabulous* (she said).  You’ve got all this stuff worked out and foundations settled in your twenties that you can just use and enjoy it all in your thirties.”

And while I have an inherent mistrust for the exaltation of any age (after all, it will eventually be over), I can certainly see this “best of the thirties” being rolled into the forties and beyond.

So I’m thankful for the encouragement and the timing.  It will be at 30 that I truly have to knuckle down to an actual teaching regimen.  The implication (and growing evidence) I could be at a “cruising” stage in my thinking and functioning takes a huge load off my mind.

RAFTS

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What do you call that texting shorthand that relies heavily on abbreviations (RU OK?) and initials (BTW/KWIM)?

I just came up with one I think is original, and whether or not it is, it is supremely appropriate for me: RAFTS

As in, Random Advice From a Total Stranger.

The internet seems made for this: we’re all throwing out RAFTS at some time or another, me (I suspect) more than many.

So there you go.  If it’s new and spreads across the net (“Hope you don’t mind RAFTS, I was just hoping it might help”), you’ll know where it started.

Or you’ll laugh at how slow I am to catch on. {shrug} As long as it’s not in my face…

About Ballooning

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When I started preparing for NaNoWriMo the first time I conceived this novel project, I mapped out my expected plot on (virtual) 3×5 cards.

Just checked back in the old folder: 153 of those cards.  Thank God I didn’t try to do that with real cards.  I would have gone crazy before I ever started.

When planning, I padded the story with (optional) stories-within-story, making several characters storytellers with a habit of explaining things through application of traditional tales.

Very soon into the process (not long after I wanted desperately to quit, actually) I realized those stories, while potentially interesting, were less than unnecessary to reach word-count.

~

As I was writing, working hard to “make time” and complete word-count by deadline, I did not write chronologically.

Any time I got bored with what I was writing I jumped to another scene that was more exciting.  When Jay read the whole thing at the end of the month he commented on the breakneck pace of it all, and how much he wished for white-space and breathing room.

Then when I went back to finish I found I had to fill in all sorts of holes.  When I started doing that I realized I wasn’t clear enough about my goals and where I was going, so everything I added felt like mere fluff.  Filler.  Pointless word-count when what I wanted was a coherent story.

My word-count would creep up and I’d instantly mistrust it.  It’s sprawling; growing too fast! and I restructured and re-visioned it, choosing to make these big changes mainly on the insecurity I felt in the story.

And now, with more words than I’d imagined spending on one story, I finally know exactly where everything is supposed to be and how it should turn out.  It makes all the difference in the world in terms of confidence.   I’m getting to the place where actual length means less to me then the quality of the story.

That is, when I’m writing I have no measure of anything other than word output.  Now I’m in wow.

Current scene-count is 42.  Nuts I know.  After the current pass through I’ll go back with the red pen and see what we might do without.  But maybe it’ll all belong.  I’m trying not to think about that now.

One of the things I’ve been working at through this noveling process is maintaining a larger view of reality (whole novel, needs and writing process) while focusing enough on the small bits that I don’t get overwhelmed.

And I got to apply it to living today: did stuff with my sick kids and absolutely *nothing* on the house.  And it all felt okay.  Especially when after they were all in bed I got to watch Chuck with Jay and still clean up two more scenes.

Oh, and I hate DST.  In case anyone is wondering.

7 Quick-Takes (Vol. 8)

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~ ~ 1 ~ ~

I’ve specialized.

It is a recent realization, and just now that feels a great deal like saying I’ve “settled.”

I’m beginning to understand that 50-, or 70- or 80- year old who says they still feel like they’re 20 (or 40).  I feel like I know things.  And on some level I always will.  But I’ve got to realize I’ve gotten beyond being equally wonderful at everything I do.

On one level that should be a good thing– because it illustrates that I have committed to and developed something, that I’m no longer a “jack (Jane) of all trades master of none.”

I see I have a distinct edge in writing over all these other areas, and the (should be) obvious result means I need to expect not to be as good everywhere as I am in my best subject.

But I still feel like that 50-something guy who, from his 45-degree angle of pain, was advising my 30-something husband: “Once you hit 50– don’t try to keep doing it all.”

And I keep thinking, I ought to be able to do all this.

Sorry, Mike, if you’re reading this.  That low-ceilinged room with its mediocre florescent lighting *really* sapped my confidence when it comes to being a good photographer.  I can’t help thinking if I did pictures like I do writing I would have figured out some solution.

~ ~ 2 ~ ~

Finished an absolutely perfect-for-now book this week: The Healer’s Keep.  The reasons I liked it are listed on my reading page.  (If you’re not following the progress of my novel those specific details probably won’t interest you.

I’ll take no offense ;) .

~ ~ 3 ~ ~

We are looking at a record-breaking snowfall in the last 24/36 hours.

I know 9-inches isn’t much compared to what has been happening elsewhere, but Fairbanks is essentially a semi-desert in terms of precipitation, so this is unique for here.

And maybe it counts as unique that there’s no such thing as a “snow day”  here; no days off of school or work because of the snow, even today.   (Though we have had ice days in the past.)

~ ~ 4 ~ ~

I got to hold a little baby last Sunday.

I wondered if I’d get “baby fever” or feel sated in some way, but neither happened.  I got to enjoy a little person, give Mama’s arms a break and was ready to return him when Daddy came to collect.

I was surprised to think it was the first baby I’ve held for long since Elisha was born, and this sort of makes sense; I would have been holding (or resting from holding) him up till now.

~ ~ 5~ ~

My novel wants to grow again, but I’m trying to be very selective about how much I allow.

I told Jay I was uncomfortable with 87,200 jumping so quickly to 96,000 and he blandly observed that “It’s gotten long enough to be a real novel now.”

~

My background in journalism makes me inherently mistrustful of increasing word-counts.  So this has been an. . . interesting process

I cut more than 1,000 words last night, and felt relieved to do so.  It was growing too fast with all the storylines getting added back in.

That said, I’ve just remembered another section that will (in some form) get added back in.  A useful “misunderstanding” scene (in the RomCom tradition), that is resolved before the end of the scene but creates more problems even as it’ s resolved.

Worth keeping according to my math.

It’s funny, too (at least to me), and I should snatch up anything I can in that department.

~ ~ 6 ~ ~

My home has been maintained in remarkably good order for more than a week now, but I felt very tired yesterday and almost couldn’t do the upkeep.  My own desk area is totally trashed– books and papers piled everywhere– and I’m finding that very draining.

I like having books to hand (there’s a whole shelf six inches from my left elbow), and looking at a cover while I type about the book is only natural, but I have always derived a sense of calm from open spaces and my perfect nook begins to feel too small in this state.

~ ~ 7 ~ ~

This week I’ve talked with the kids about definitions.

  • Like the term help, as in, “Can I help, Mommy?”

We have completely different understandings of that word.

To them it means, What you’re doing looks like more fun than what I’m doing.  I want to do it too.

To me it means I expect to get something useful out of your action (Even if it’s simply a teaching opportunity).

~

So when they say “I want to help,” and I say, “Great, you can do X,” they might fall apart with, “But I want to do Y!“

If it’s not time for Y, or Y is distinctly too complex for the askers, they’re not willing to hear it; and I won’t budge for whining.

  • All their lives I’ve used the phrase Low voice to convey what I want from them audibly.

That is, I don’t just want an “indoor voice,” I want to train them to speak also with a lower pitch.  Well, somewhere along the line our expectations have missed each other, and they’ve stopped hearing the bit about pitch.

And when I’d say quiet, they’d translate that as quiet*er*.  The whole thing was making me nuts, really.

I’m not on the phone much, so when I am, I expect the kids to let me talk and save their non-blood issues till I’m off.  I’ll say quiet, and while they’ll stop shouting at me, they’ll not quit talking.

So finally, today I lined them up, made them keep all eyes on me and I catechized them on the difference between Low voice and Quiet.

Haven’t had opportunity to test it yet (like I said, I’m not on the phone much) but I expect we’ll review today– along with pitch.

It is a bit embarrassing to be constantly reminded that, well, constant reminders are useful.

One theory I have on this is that every time something is repeated or reinforced, it’s digging that synaptic path a bit deeper into its groove, making more and more likely to stick.  I hear (read) this is what happens when a kid is learning to walk: they do the same thing over and over and over until the brain takes over and just does all the complex work so well  the walker no longer remembers how complex the process of upright movement really is.

~

I am really looking forward to the times when certain elements of behavior are blessedly thoughtless.

For me and the children.

For more 7 Quick Takes visit Jen’s Conversion Diary

Other 7 Quick Takes on Untangling Tales