Years ago, I went to my local library, as my family did every week, and skimmed through the spines of the YA fantasy books. Many caught my eye, including one called, "So You Want to be a Wizard," by Diane Duane.
I read that book, maybe the second or third, and enjoyed them. It started off in a way that really made the reader feel the same could happen to them. Nita, the protagonist, finds the book with the same title. At first it just seems like a kid's book, but then turns into a real manual for wizardry.
In February, I turned 28. It's been a number of years since I last picked up that book, even though I have a friend who is a huge fan of the series. I see his enthusiasm and have thought on multiple occasions that I should revisit the first book. But I never did (the silly funk I was in). Until I went to the library a few weeks ago to meet with someone about a collaborative story. Of course I couldn't leave without looking at the books and on a whim I picked up books one and two.
Reader, I cried. A couple of times. And then I borrowed books four and five (they didn't have number three), and cried during one of those as well.
I didn't expect it, and I didn't remember being that affected by the stories when I was younger, but I felt encouraged by how deeply the story pulled me in and connected with me, and I have been devouring every book I could get a hold of.
It's also helped, I feel, get me thinking of stories and new plots and characters.
Ayway, if you, dear Readers, ever get the urge to reread something from your youth, I highly encourage you to do so. It won't always be the same experience, but you will learn from it.
Happy reading, everyone.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
The Path Ahead
Moving forward can be a scary thing. Sometimes the fear of moving forward hits you when you reach the end of one phase and have to start a new one, or the next one. Other times, it's frightening because the way ahead isn't the one you expected, or it was the one you wanted to avoid.
It can be scary, or perhaps nerve-wracking, worrisome, uncertain...we don't know where that path leads, or we think we won't like it, and where we're at right now--hey, it's familiar, why change it? But the path ahead is just that, a path. And when you step off of one and onto another, it's still there. But we won't reach our destination if we stand still.
This post was inspired by Terri Windling's most recent post, "The Path Forward." I read the title--by chance, I found it while thinking about some different paths my life and work can take right now--and even though the details between her post and mine are different, they both felt worth sharing.
I think I've been standing still for too long. Oh sure, I'll go back a ways, retrace my steps, see if there are other paths branching off of the one I'm on, I'll even take a few steps forward, but I'll always go back to that last step at the end of the path. And it's fear. Not just related to writing, but I don't want to be rejected, I don't want to fail, I don't want to put my time and energy into something that won't succeed. And I need to reverse all of that thinking. I need to take the risk and move forward, move past the possibility of failure.
Don't be afraid to take the next path, even if the one you're on right now is really nice, great scenery and no little rocks to get in your shoes. The next one, a new one, or a branching off of the one you were on before--you never know how much better that could be, whether it's the path itself, or the destination at the end, or an even better path at the end of this one.
Near the end of her post, Windling mentioned the term "self-fullness." Not so much being selfish, but being mindful of your own needs. So I encourage anyone feeling that fear of the path's end, feeling uncertainty in the unknown: be mindful of what you need, and make the time to give it to yourself. Then face the end of the path again, and move forward.
Happy writing and happy living, everyone,
Sabrina
It can be scary, or perhaps nerve-wracking, worrisome, uncertain...we don't know where that path leads, or we think we won't like it, and where we're at right now--hey, it's familiar, why change it? But the path ahead is just that, a path. And when you step off of one and onto another, it's still there. But we won't reach our destination if we stand still.
This post was inspired by Terri Windling's most recent post, "The Path Forward." I read the title--by chance, I found it while thinking about some different paths my life and work can take right now--and even though the details between her post and mine are different, they both felt worth sharing.
I think I've been standing still for too long. Oh sure, I'll go back a ways, retrace my steps, see if there are other paths branching off of the one I'm on, I'll even take a few steps forward, but I'll always go back to that last step at the end of the path. And it's fear. Not just related to writing, but I don't want to be rejected, I don't want to fail, I don't want to put my time and energy into something that won't succeed. And I need to reverse all of that thinking. I need to take the risk and move forward, move past the possibility of failure.
Don't be afraid to take the next path, even if the one you're on right now is really nice, great scenery and no little rocks to get in your shoes. The next one, a new one, or a branching off of the one you were on before--you never know how much better that could be, whether it's the path itself, or the destination at the end, or an even better path at the end of this one.
Near the end of her post, Windling mentioned the term "self-fullness." Not so much being selfish, but being mindful of your own needs. So I encourage anyone feeling that fear of the path's end, feeling uncertainty in the unknown: be mindful of what you need, and make the time to give it to yourself. Then face the end of the path again, and move forward.
Happy writing and happy living, everyone,
Sabrina
Friday, March 23, 2012
When you feel like it, and when you don’t
In many writing blogs and books and advice, people say to make a schedule. 4 hours a day writing, or 5 hours in front of the computer, or 2000 words, or 10 pages... The exact kind of schedule varies, and should, depending on the writer--what they are comfortable with and what works for them.
This is good advice.
It’s important for someone who wants to be a writer to sit down and write regularly, even when they don’t feel like it.
But I know there are days when writers don’t feel like it.
I am having one of those days today. Technically, I am grading today, not writing, but I don’t think I’d be able to write even if I wanted to. I am dealing with a frustrating situation, and it’s making my headache worse, and I don’t even feel like grading right now, but like a writing schedule, it is something that has to get done.
To me, the goal is not always to plow through a bad mood and force oneself to continue writing (or grading) no matter what. Sometimes that can just make things more frustrating. On a few occasions when I’ve done that, I still get little to nothing done and end the day feeling as bad or worse because I put aside the time and still didn’t accomplish my goal.
On those days, I think the solution isn’t to plow through the mood block, it’s to fix the mood.
Take a walk, watch a funny movie, take a nap, call up a friend, play a computer game (just for a while, not all day; the cheapy computer games you buy for 5 or 10 bucks work well for this), but do something that helps you get away from the thing causing the frustration, or change the scenery to escape the other cues of your bad mood.
That is what I should do, too. Which I guess means that I should end this post now.
Happy writing, everyone.
This is good advice.
It’s important for someone who wants to be a writer to sit down and write regularly, even when they don’t feel like it.
But I know there are days when writers don’t feel like it.
I am having one of those days today. Technically, I am grading today, not writing, but I don’t think I’d be able to write even if I wanted to. I am dealing with a frustrating situation, and it’s making my headache worse, and I don’t even feel like grading right now, but like a writing schedule, it is something that has to get done.
To me, the goal is not always to plow through a bad mood and force oneself to continue writing (or grading) no matter what. Sometimes that can just make things more frustrating. On a few occasions when I’ve done that, I still get little to nothing done and end the day feeling as bad or worse because I put aside the time and still didn’t accomplish my goal.
On those days, I think the solution isn’t to plow through the mood block, it’s to fix the mood.
Take a walk, watch a funny movie, take a nap, call up a friend, play a computer game (just for a while, not all day; the cheapy computer games you buy for 5 or 10 bucks work well for this), but do something that helps you get away from the thing causing the frustration, or change the scenery to escape the other cues of your bad mood.
That is what I should do, too. Which I guess means that I should end this post now.
Happy writing, everyone.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
An Observation After a Week of Progress
So for all the stories in various states of undress, I added a new one in recent months, a collaboration urban fantasy. Since it's a collaboration, most of the work on it has been relegated to the meetings with my fellow writer. But that means I have about three to four stories currently running around in my head (four if you count one that I have completed but am not actually working on except in my head).
Now lately, my focus has been on editing Hounds, one of my urban fantasies, since the clockwork ghost story has been so tricky.
Here is my observation:
As I make progress on one, I am motivated to (and actually do!) make progress on other stories.
Although I'd been spending my free moments trying to rearrange and rewrite Hounds, as I found scenes to drop, or chapters to rewrite and combine, I had realizations about scenes and chapters for these other stories. As I edited that more, I wanted to write more, and spent more time on the bus writing the opening chapter of the collaboration...instead of listening to music and zoning out.
So my advice (as always, take with a grain of salt and "to each their own," since everyone's process differs), is that if you are stuck in one story, try switching to something else. It may help break through the block, and you can return to the first story with rejuvenation.
I don't switch from one to another every few minutes, but as I work on one, I keep the others in mind, and make notes of changes and new things that can help those others for when I do work on them, later that same day, or maybe the next.
Happy writing, everyone.
Now lately, my focus has been on editing Hounds, one of my urban fantasies, since the clockwork ghost story has been so tricky.
Here is my observation:
As I make progress on one, I am motivated to (and actually do!) make progress on other stories.
Although I'd been spending my free moments trying to rearrange and rewrite Hounds, as I found scenes to drop, or chapters to rewrite and combine, I had realizations about scenes and chapters for these other stories. As I edited that more, I wanted to write more, and spent more time on the bus writing the opening chapter of the collaboration...instead of listening to music and zoning out.
So my advice (as always, take with a grain of salt and "to each their own," since everyone's process differs), is that if you are stuck in one story, try switching to something else. It may help break through the block, and you can return to the first story with rejuvenation.
I don't switch from one to another every few minutes, but as I work on one, I keep the others in mind, and make notes of changes and new things that can help those others for when I do work on them, later that same day, or maybe the next.
Happy writing, everyone.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Beauty and the Beastly Boyfriend
I am looking forward to tomorrow night. For as long I can remember, I have enjoyed and then become enamored/fascinated/obsessed with fairy tales, and my favorite has always been Beauty and the Beast.
Although I read many different versions when I was a kid, the Disney film stuck with me because you had a young woman who was smart, bookish, and frankly, a brunette with a ponytail [as a kid, I was always on the lookout for characters I could identify with, not only in character traits I had or wanted to have, but physically as well, and there just weren’t a ton of brunettes that weren’t passive and mousy (I was already mousy enough)]. Anyway, Belle became the starting point of transitioning my love stories into a far too in-depth fascination.
So tomorrow night, Sunday. ABC has a new show called Once Upon a Time. Since they’re owned by Disney, they can use as much or as little of the animated films’ influence as they want, but in an article (with either Sci Fi magazine or Entertainment Weekly, I don’t recall which but they’re the only ones I read), one of the creators said they were trying to stay away from the Disneyfied tales. At most, they have only used a few names, like Pongo and Jiminy.
Now, as much as I love Beauty and the Beast in any form, the more I think about, the less I like the premise. This is a bit heartbreaking for me.
But when you deconstruct it, you have a beautiful girl, essentially forced (because she loves her father and would do anything to see him not die, what choice does she have once he asks her?) to leave home and go to the home of a man monstrous in appearance, sure, but also a monster in character. She must fall in love with this monstrous (in every way) person, so that he can be beautiful again. In the process, she changes him, he falls for her, and she for him, before she realizes she should never have left his side (despite her father dying, usually from illness). It reeks of Stockholm syndrome and/or an abusive boyfriend.
Although she tends to be a more active participant in her life (she has more agency than a girl relying on a fairy godmother/dead mother in a tree, or a girl sleeping through most of her own story, or one who doesn’t know not to buy from door-to-door creepy old sales-ladies), she gets swept up in her father’s mistakes and then “makes the best of it,” and never tries to find any way out of it.
Plus, who hasn’t heard a woman say at some point, “I can change him,” only to have that end badly? He may love her, but that doesn’t mean he won’t continue to be a jerk. And does it mean she loves him, or the person she’s turned him into, and is that true love?
So on this episode of Once, the Beast is played by Rumpelstiltskin. As soon as I saw the promo for this, I was intrigued, because it seems like it’ll play right into the idea of Beast as abusive boyfriend. Interestingly enough, the commercials never show Belle in the modern world, only in the fairytale land (looking a lot like her animated counterpart, for no discernible reason when Snow White and others get a drastic makeover), so I wonder if that’s just to keep part of the story a surprise for viewers, or to suggest something more sinister. It would be interesting to see if one version strongly played up that abusive relationship aspects of the story.
Although I read many different versions when I was a kid, the Disney film stuck with me because you had a young woman who was smart, bookish, and frankly, a brunette with a ponytail [as a kid, I was always on the lookout for characters I could identify with, not only in character traits I had or wanted to have, but physically as well, and there just weren’t a ton of brunettes that weren’t passive and mousy (I was already mousy enough)]. Anyway, Belle became the starting point of transitioning my love stories into a far too in-depth fascination.
So tomorrow night, Sunday. ABC has a new show called Once Upon a Time. Since they’re owned by Disney, they can use as much or as little of the animated films’ influence as they want, but in an article (with either Sci Fi magazine or Entertainment Weekly, I don’t recall which but they’re the only ones I read), one of the creators said they were trying to stay away from the Disneyfied tales. At most, they have only used a few names, like Pongo and Jiminy.
Now, as much as I love Beauty and the Beast in any form, the more I think about, the less I like the premise. This is a bit heartbreaking for me.
But when you deconstruct it, you have a beautiful girl, essentially forced (because she loves her father and would do anything to see him not die, what choice does she have once he asks her?) to leave home and go to the home of a man monstrous in appearance, sure, but also a monster in character. She must fall in love with this monstrous (in every way) person, so that he can be beautiful again. In the process, she changes him, he falls for her, and she for him, before she realizes she should never have left his side (despite her father dying, usually from illness). It reeks of Stockholm syndrome and/or an abusive boyfriend.
Although she tends to be a more active participant in her life (she has more agency than a girl relying on a fairy godmother/dead mother in a tree, or a girl sleeping through most of her own story, or one who doesn’t know not to buy from door-to-door creepy old sales-ladies), she gets swept up in her father’s mistakes and then “makes the best of it,” and never tries to find any way out of it.
Plus, who hasn’t heard a woman say at some point, “I can change him,” only to have that end badly? He may love her, but that doesn’t mean he won’t continue to be a jerk. And does it mean she loves him, or the person she’s turned him into, and is that true love?
So on this episode of Once, the Beast is played by Rumpelstiltskin. As soon as I saw the promo for this, I was intrigued, because it seems like it’ll play right into the idea of Beast as abusive boyfriend. Interestingly enough, the commercials never show Belle in the modern world, only in the fairytale land (looking a lot like her animated counterpart, for no discernible reason when Snow White and others get a drastic makeover), so I wonder if that’s just to keep part of the story a surprise for viewers, or to suggest something more sinister. It would be interesting to see if one version strongly played up that abusive relationship aspects of the story.
Monday, January 30, 2012
"Don't You Forget About Me"
No, no, no, no.
Heh, sorry. Far be it for me to avoid the call of the wild 80s tune, sprinting into my thoughts and then gone again.
Originally, I was just going to say "Happy New Year", seeing as it was 2011 the last time I posted. This time I don't even really have the excuse of being too busy. Yes, there were a great many things to do before the new year, and before I knew it was back to work to finish one quarter, then starting the next, and an almost-week-long cold in between, but I had plenty of time to rest, unlike most breaks.
All I can say is that I felt I didn't have much to contribute to the internet-y world of writing and publishing.
My life the past month:
1. "Clockwork Seams" hit another snag, again, some more. It sits there in my mind, waiting, but I don't know for what.
2. I have begun editing "Hounds" again. I am learning that I am far too likely to focus on the details and miss the larger (rewrite that scene, and Character X can no longer exist!) sweeping edits. I am forcing myself to focus on the broader changes. Then I will try to talk to someone who's read the whole thing and run a few ideas by them.
3. I also realized, though this has been said to me once before, and is not a new observation of my own, that I love to complicate stories. I love to hint at and tease out past bits of history that have a bearing on the current situations, I love adding another character to throw a wrench in. My protagonist is being pelted with wrenches. Wrenches hurt.
4. As I edit "Hounds" (I keep three chapters on me when I go to work, so I can read large chunks and scribble over them when I have free minutes), I am realizing things to fix with other stories, like the short story which led to someone telling me the plot was too complicated for a short story.
5. Sleep. I have been trying to sleep more, because...
6. If I don't sleep, the last, fitful dregs of this cold will never go away. I can't not work, so the sniffly-ness lingers, as does the plugged ears, and a weak little cough.
7. And as of last night, I am watching "The Pirates of Dark Water," a cartoon I loved when I was younger, and the complete series of which I received for Christmas. And I realized, amid fairly rampant whitewashing in many shows for many years, "Dark Water" boasts a central cast of only COC. I also realized that it was science fiction, or at least science fantasy, because the premise of finding the 13 treasures would restore a city to a rather modern style. Maybe it'd by dystopic?
Here, have a blurry picture of the three main characters, Ioz, Ren, and Tula (apparently from a time when Cartoon Network ran episodes in syndication).
Heh, sorry. Far be it for me to avoid the call of the wild 80s tune, sprinting into my thoughts and then gone again.
Originally, I was just going to say "Happy New Year", seeing as it was 2011 the last time I posted. This time I don't even really have the excuse of being too busy. Yes, there were a great many things to do before the new year, and before I knew it was back to work to finish one quarter, then starting the next, and an almost-week-long cold in between, but I had plenty of time to rest, unlike most breaks.
All I can say is that I felt I didn't have much to contribute to the internet-y world of writing and publishing.
My life the past month:
1. "Clockwork Seams" hit another snag, again, some more. It sits there in my mind, waiting, but I don't know for what.
2. I have begun editing "Hounds" again. I am learning that I am far too likely to focus on the details and miss the larger (rewrite that scene, and Character X can no longer exist!) sweeping edits. I am forcing myself to focus on the broader changes. Then I will try to talk to someone who's read the whole thing and run a few ideas by them.
3. I also realized, though this has been said to me once before, and is not a new observation of my own, that I love to complicate stories. I love to hint at and tease out past bits of history that have a bearing on the current situations, I love adding another character to throw a wrench in. My protagonist is being pelted with wrenches. Wrenches hurt.
4. As I edit "Hounds" (I keep three chapters on me when I go to work, so I can read large chunks and scribble over them when I have free minutes), I am realizing things to fix with other stories, like the short story which led to someone telling me the plot was too complicated for a short story.
5. Sleep. I have been trying to sleep more, because...
6. If I don't sleep, the last, fitful dregs of this cold will never go away. I can't not work, so the sniffly-ness lingers, as does the plugged ears, and a weak little cough.
7. And as of last night, I am watching "The Pirates of Dark Water," a cartoon I loved when I was younger, and the complete series of which I received for Christmas. And I realized, amid fairly rampant whitewashing in many shows for many years, "Dark Water" boasts a central cast of only COC. I also realized that it was science fiction, or at least science fantasy, because the premise of finding the 13 treasures would restore a city to a rather modern style. Maybe it'd by dystopic?
Here, have a blurry picture of the three main characters, Ioz, Ren, and Tula (apparently from a time when Cartoon Network ran episodes in syndication).
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Happy Holidays!
I don't know how many people will be online today, but I wanted to send out a warm "Happy Holidays" to everyone. Whether you are with family on Christmas, about five days into Hanukkah, gearing up for Kwanzaa, or just enjoying some time off, I hope the time is well spent and filled with laughter.
You are all wonderful people, who I am happy and proud to know. May the new year come with more happiness than ever, and great things around every corner.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, everyone.
And especially to the writers out there...
Happy writing, may your stories be complete and your characters unique.
You are all wonderful people, who I am happy and proud to know. May the new year come with more happiness than ever, and great things around every corner.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, everyone.
And especially to the writers out there...
Happy writing, may your stories be complete and your characters unique.
Friday, December 2, 2011
A Fluttering of Wings
I was thinking about...I don't actually know. I got up, had my coffee, sent a few emails, then picked about online for a while, visiting a few blogs. The last blog I looked at was about writing/editing and a few words snagged my attention. Not in the way you usually think of that phrase--they were so striking I will remember them forever, or at least long enough to write them down.
Instead, they were words that immediately, almost before their meaning sank in, sparked something else.
But spark is the wrong word.
Have you ever watched something, or been having a conversation, and go, "That reminds me," then switch to a seemingly unrelated topic? The commercial, show, or conversation before that point actually -did- remind you of something, but not in a way that you could have clearly drawn the lines from one to the other?
The connection is hard to grasp, hard to perceive sometimes. Like an invisible bird, taking flight beside you. You can't see it, but you can hear the fluttering of its wings, feel the wind kicked up, react to the brush of a wing tip against your chek, but when you look, you don't know where from it came.
It's inspiration, or something akin to it. You can't predict it, you can't always trace it back to its origins, but it does something for you, something that leads you down a new path, throws a few breadcrumbs for you to find. That fluttering draws your eye, your attention, and you look at a place you didn't notice before.
(Photos are by Russ Hansen, Allison Trentelman, and wikipedia, respectively)
Instead, they were words that immediately, almost before their meaning sank in, sparked something else.But spark is the wrong word.
Have you ever watched something, or been having a conversation, and go, "That reminds me," then switch to a seemingly unrelated topic? The commercial, show, or conversation before that point actually -did- remind you of something, but not in a way that you could have clearly drawn the lines from one to the other?
The connection is hard to grasp, hard to perceive sometimes. Like an invisible bird, taking flight beside you. You can't see it, but you can hear the fluttering of its wings, feel the wind kicked up, react to the brush of a wing tip against your chek, but when you look, you don't know where from it came.
It's inspiration, or something akin to it. You can't predict it, you can't always trace it back to its origins, but it does something for you, something that leads you down a new path, throws a few breadcrumbs for you to find. That fluttering draws your eye, your attention, and you look at a place you didn't notice before.
(Photos are by Russ Hansen, Allison Trentelman, and wikipedia, respectively)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Magick for Terri--Giving Thanks
Terri Windling is a name that pops up a lot when I think of fantasy. She has a blog I enjoy reading and am inspired by, I've read some of the anthologies she's been a part of, and through knowing of her work, I've found countless other writers. Terri an artist, a writer, and an editor of fantasy, bringing us (with others), the Year's Best Fantasy series, Bordertown, and a number of other anthologies. She is part of a huge community of writers.
And now, she needs some help.
Magick for Terri is an auction-based fundraiser for Terri, who is having some financial difficulties, and offers books, perfume (BPAL), site designs, cookies, and a whole host of other goodies from fans, friends, and fellow writers, including Ellen Kushner, Wendy and Brian Froud, Tamora Pierce, Pamela Dean, Nalo Hopkinson, Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, Charles Vess, Charles de Lint, and so many more your mind would be blown.
Tons of auction information at the LJ page, so if you want to show your thanks for everything she's done for the genre or for you, you can visit Magick for Terri and you can like it and get updates on facebook.
I also hear a certain writer with a charmed bracelet is offering up ginger jack cookies. And if these are the same I've had, you'll want to start bidding now.
And now, she needs some help.
Magick for Terri is an auction-based fundraiser for Terri, who is having some financial difficulties, and offers books, perfume (BPAL), site designs, cookies, and a whole host of other goodies from fans, friends, and fellow writers, including Ellen Kushner, Wendy and Brian Froud, Tamora Pierce, Pamela Dean, Nalo Hopkinson, Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, Charles Vess, Charles de Lint, and so many more your mind would be blown.
Tons of auction information at the LJ page, so if you want to show your thanks for everything she's done for the genre or for you, you can visit Magick for Terri and you can like it and get updates on facebook.
I also hear a certain writer with a charmed bracelet is offering up ginger jack cookies. And if these are the same I've had, you'll want to start bidding now.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The Month of Writing Novels
Well, 50,000 words worth of one, at any rate. I've known about NaNoWriMo for a long time, but this is the first time I've actually signed up for it. I have started writing as of today, but my goal is really just to 1. type up all the hand-written scenes for this story, and 2. finish the zero draft before Christmas. 50,000 words will get me most of the way there, if not to the end (I have no idea how many words are written on the story at this point, though I think even 10,000 is still a low estimate).
I call it a zero draft because I know trying to finish it in a month, well, it's gonna be pretty rough, too rough to even fairly call it a first draft, and I'm okay with that. But I need the words on the page before I can do anything else.
So is anyone else doing NaNo this year? If you are and you want to connect for encouragement's sake, I am SabrinaV there.
Happy writing, everyone.
I call it a zero draft because I know trying to finish it in a month, well, it's gonna be pretty rough, too rough to even fairly call it a first draft, and I'm okay with that. But I need the words on the page before I can do anything else.
So is anyone else doing NaNo this year? If you are and you want to connect for encouragement's sake, I am SabrinaV there.
Happy writing, everyone.
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