The White Honeysuckle

Let’s Talk Goals, Rejection, and Control

I have become a person who plans for failure. I’m a pessimistic optimist–or is it an optimistic pessimist? Either way, I’m surprised when things go the way I want, because I try to keep my head down as I work.

If I told you what my ultimate goal is, you’d probably ask for updates over the next five years and I’d have to repeatedly say “ask me in 20.” So I’m not gonna share that one right now.

The…

…guys I have an agent.

I am blessed to have a family that supports my writing. My husband says when you write a best seller instead of if. On his days off he takes our son to the grocery store so I can edit another chapter. My parents let me monologue at them about some new and exciting story idea. Every holiday at least one cousin or aunt or uncle asks how it’s going. I don’t always know what level of update to give,…

I won NaNoWriMo! 50,296 words in 30 days. Celebration mode activated. To those who didn’t get to 50k this year, everyone wins if they play it right. And I don’t mean participation ribbons and a half-hearted hurrah. NaNoWriMo is like golf. (Didn’t see that one coming, did ya?) You’re a lone athlete, always trying to improve your swing and put under par. It’s a mental game and, no matter how much…

Brilliance, Stupidity, and Lemons: It’s Time for Free Writing

I am raising a toddler. He switches from ABC to 123 to twinkle twinkle as stream of conscious ramblings lead to an ocean of discovery, and eventually a nap. He plays with sounds, saying “car, caaaar, cart,” just to feel the difference. He has linguistic freedom that few adults still possess. It’s the freedom to make mistakes: moco-bycicle (motorcycle), gump (jump), and pintable (pineapple). In…

Character Flaws & the Election: A Lesson in Empathy

I’ve always had a hard time writing flawed characters. Flaws were, to my goody-two-shoes brain, hard to write in a genuine way. I’ve rammed against this door, but I was never clever enough to pick the lock. The election picked the lock for me. I’m not going to make any statements about particular policies or politicians. I’m thinking about the citizens who strongly believe in their causes. There…

A Surprisingly Fond Good Riddance to 2016

I’m sure most Americans will agree that 2016 was crazy. Stressful. Jaw dropping. Anger inducing. On the political side of things, we can barely cope right now. However, the state of politics, government, or our favorite social justice moment doesn’t have to dictate how our year went on a personal level. While everything around us is crappy, we still can grow. This year was a big year of growth…

On NaNoWriMo, Productivity, & Anne Lamott

I hit 50k last week. I did a fist pump or two and promised myself that I’d keep writing 1k a day until Christmas. I’d have a full 90k draft to celebrate on Christmas morning, in the midst of stockings and cinnamon rolls. Guess what? I haven’t written anything since then. (I spent a week editing on super speed for a client and, despite the super speed, it was super fun.) Even though I’m a little…

NaNo Day 2: Face That Monster

It’s only day 2 and I’m already seeing some discouragement in some WriMos. Maybe that’s the fate of a pantser (says the perfectionist-overkill-planner) or maybe that’s just life for you right now. It’s busy! There are many obstacles between you and 50k: time limitations, mental distractions, unclear writing goals, underdeveloped characters…etc etc etc. Your job is to realize what your obstacles…

NaNo Day 1: Loving the Process, Hating the Gross

I had a hard time getting to sleep last night. Hubby and I watched the 2016 Ghostbusters that evening, and the movie romped about my head, along with all the jokes, the characters, and the plot points that rattled like loose change if you shook them too hard. Ghostbusters, however, was only background noise. NaNoWriMo was really what kept me up. In only a few hours I would join thousands in the…

POW: Time for the Macro Edit

The baby will wake up any minute, so I’ll make this quick and messy. I wasn’t able to edit this summer. I had goals, I had plans, but none of them really panned out. That’s life. I simply need to adjust my expectations and move on. To look on the bright side, this gives me a fresh start. I got stuck last time in chapter 7. I had to rewrite most of the chapter, yet for some reason I was far too…

Clarity for a Scrambled Brain

A writing groupie considers what jumble she can jive by shoving symbolism into the crannies.  At some point, we all forget how to word. The verbing goes wonk and we gnarl the parcels. Meaning gose blurr-lick.   My brain scrambled last week and I found myself asking, how does writing work again? That’s an awful question, but sometimes it’s necessary to admit that I need perspective. This morning I…

When Dinosaurs Attack: On Writing and Motherhood

My baby is much more independent than he used to be. He’s on the verge of walking, and is quite capable of playing by himself. He folds the board book covers back, scoots random objects across the floor, sits on his musical toys so that they play the same song over and over, and as soon as I’ve decided that it’s safe to start writing, he appears at my knee. “Ai-ya-da! Umma-ma-maaaa.” He whines…

Drowning in the Ocean of Writing Advice

A surplus of writing advice floats about the internet. Even if you separate the good from the bad, you’ll still be flooded, drowning in opposing voices that support a variety of tactics, mindsets, and organizations. You’d think that good advice would be more unified, but legitimate methods have as much diversity as personality types. I am currently working on my characters, thanks to the insights…

A Novelist’s Guide to Goals

Don’t get tangled up like these crazy succulent vine things. You might have to hack your way out with a machete. Setting personal goals is all about knowing what you can do and then pushing your limits. You don’t want to push yourself so far that you flop over in defeat, but just enough that you learn more about yourself and about your craft.   Years ago I would set arbitrary deadlines: “I will…

Why I’m Outlining my Next Novel

My first novel, Bloodstone (working title), which is currently in its 2nd draft (more like 7 or 8, if you count the early attempts) started with a raw outline. But I was a teen when I started it. I didn’t know how stories work or how to create realistic characters, so the outline broke down very quickly. I spent most of high school and college reworking the story in my spare time, teaching myself…

The weekend is coming, which means more Appa-Eigi walks in the park! Friday afternoon, with a mocha, Disney music, and a sleeping baby. I rest. I work. With my MS 2nd draft handed out to my writing group, I’m detoxing, scrubbing it out of my skin and, well, planning a new novel. It has been years (and years) since I started a new novel, but my characters are already rounding out and demanding…

Breaking Down the Publishing Process

Since I’m nearing the end my YA/NA urban fantasy’s second draft, a couple of people have asked me “Do you have a publisher yet?” At first I was taken aback; I feel a million miles away from publication. But the question makes sense, especially coming someone who doesn’t know how traditional publishing works. Here’s a basic breakdown: Write a book: It can be anywhere from 60,000 words to 110,000…