Favorite Enemies
- A Little Sisterly Advice
- Cheeky Reads
- DRD aka Donna's Blog
- Gunner Marnee's Blog
- J.K. Coi: Living with Immortals
- Just Janga
- Killer Fiction
- Kimberly Killion
- Maggie Robinson
- Maureen O. Betita
- Megan Kelly
- Pam Clare
- Renee Lynn Scott
- Romance Bandits
- Romance Dish
- Scapegoat's Blogspot
- Smartass Romance
- Terri Osburn Writes Romance
- Tessa Dare
- Vauxhall Vixens
Blog Archive
Powered by Blogger.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sometimes I Forget To Vomit
Hal posted an awesome blog yesterday which I highly recommend checking out if you missed it. Due to some technical difficulties (meaning due to us never updating the software that runs our blog in two years of having it), she got off to a late start.
Everything Hal said was spot on and will go a long way to making that final draft more powerful. Unfortunately, it’s the exact kind of information that has tied me in knots for more than a week.
You see, I know I must vomit out this first draft. I have to spit the words onto the page, get the story out and not worry about finding the perfect words or the deepest POV. But this week, I forgot.
I think of it as getting off track. My writing train pulled into a station and took the wrong track out. How did this happen? Good question. And if I had an answer I’d write that book and make a fortune.
Deep POV is what hung me out to dry. Which is funny because it could have been a host of other things. All my action takes place in empty rooms. All my characters hang out pretty much naked. My hero is a eunuch. (That last one is a real problem and Nate (the hero in question) is NOT happy about it.)
Can you put parenthesis inside parenthesis? Is there a plural for parenthesis? Word suggests parentheses so maybe that’s right, who knows.
See how easily I’m sidetracked?
Back to the story. So I googled deep POV and found this great ten part series on everything you needed to know about the topic. Ironically, around about part nine, the author says something like “by the way, don’t try any of this in your first draft.”
Duh.
FOCUS is what I need right now and I need to focus on vomiting this story out. Since I’m the only person here who doesn’t have at least one MS under her belt (bed?), what I want to know is, does the vomiting come easier the more you write? Do you have the confidence that you can fix anything in revisions or do you get tangled up thinking you needed to do better the first time so revisions are less painful?
PS: I wonder if people would be offended if we gave out little black barf bags with the skull-n-crossbones as decoration? Wouldn’t that be a great reminder? We could sprinkle them with glitter.
Everything Hal said was spot on and will go a long way to making that final draft more powerful. Unfortunately, it’s the exact kind of information that has tied me in knots for more than a week.
You see, I know I must vomit out this first draft. I have to spit the words onto the page, get the story out and not worry about finding the perfect words or the deepest POV. But this week, I forgot.
I think of it as getting off track. My writing train pulled into a station and took the wrong track out. How did this happen? Good question. And if I had an answer I’d write that book and make a fortune.
Deep POV is what hung me out to dry. Which is funny because it could have been a host of other things. All my action takes place in empty rooms. All my characters hang out pretty much naked. My hero is a eunuch. (That last one is a real problem and Nate (the hero in question) is NOT happy about it.)
Can you put parenthesis inside parenthesis? Is there a plural for parenthesis? Word suggests parentheses so maybe that’s right, who knows.
See how easily I’m sidetracked?
Back to the story. So I googled deep POV and found this great ten part series on everything you needed to know about the topic. Ironically, around about part nine, the author says something like “by the way, don’t try any of this in your first draft.”
Duh.
FOCUS is what I need right now and I need to focus on vomiting this story out. Since I’m the only person here who doesn’t have at least one MS under her belt (bed?), what I want to know is, does the vomiting come easier the more you write? Do you have the confidence that you can fix anything in revisions or do you get tangled up thinking you needed to do better the first time so revisions are less painful?
PS: I wonder if people would be offended if we gave out little black barf bags with the skull-n-crossbones as decoration? Wouldn’t that be a great reminder? We could sprinkle them with glitter.
Labels:
Bo'sun's Babblings (Terri),
focus,
vomiting,
writing,
Writing for Rum
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Books by the Crew
113 comments:
I had this set to go just after midnight last night. No idea why it didn't work. *sigh* Looks like the updated version of WP does not like me.
Morning!
I'm trying to remind myself everyday about just vomiting out that first draft.
It's like my mantra is - "The first draft will suck, just write anything."
BTW Terri - I read a very good book with a eunuch (not a romance) as the hero and there is a romantic element. I highly recommend the book. It's the Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin. I really loved the hero Yashim and the settig of Constantinople. Jason does an excellent job of making a eunuch a charismatic man.
I think the vomiting does get easier, the more you write. I think the revising gets easier, the more you do it.
I also think you get more efficient about both parts, since you learn things during the process, so you don't have to do them (or at least, not as much) the next time.
The crazy maddening thing is when my brain decides it's ready to move up to the next level, without letting me know! LOL It's like it decides, "Okay, I figured out THAT stuff -- now I'm going to try a story that's just a leetle outside my current ability."
So then I have to learn a new way of well, vomiting. LOL
So it gets easier. . .and it gets more challenging!
*LOL* I think you are distracted!! I love the vomit pirate bags with glitter though. Very good promo item!!
I can't vomit out this book either. In fact, I hate vomiting PERIOD, so vomiting virtually where this book is concerned is a problem for me.
In theory I have 2 other manuscripts and for some reason, I think the other two came easier than this one. This is a lie. They've all been painful. Mainly because I'm a perfectionist and I know they stink...and agents and editors have confirmed this for me.
Again, I am sorry for not updating for 2 years. I don't know how to do that crap. Which is clear because all I can do is download worms to my computer.
Sabrina - Just write anything! That's what I need to post somewhere. In bold letters where I can see it even without my glasses. LOL!
Because he is screaming in my head, I should clarify my hero is not really a eunich. (Now stop yelling at me!) But he reads that way since he NEVER thinks about sex, even when talking with his heroine. It's like the glittery hooha is not affecting him.
This is completely my fault, not my intention, and I'm working on it. Stupid men have to be thinking about sex all the time when they should just be having a damn conversation. *grumblegrumblegrumble*
Donna - Way to make me feel better then shoot me down. LOL! And I should probably apologize for using a title that gives such an unattractive image first thing in the morning. :)
I tell myself, and I truly believe, this will get easier the more I write. Or at least I know I'll get better. Provided my brain stops panicking long enough for me to move forward.
At least your brain is keeping things hopping. LOL! Never a dull day!
I'm going to guess, parentheses... LOL
Sometimes I think everything will be fixed in revisions... haha, jokes on me says she who had to REWRITE the whole dang book again!
If writing was easy, more people would be doing it.
Hellie - Worms are very close to snakes, I'm surprised you keep inviting them in. LOL! Seriously, you need Super-Norton or something.
The vomit it out thing is supposed to shut the perfectionist up. I'm not even a perfectionist! But I'm short on patience these days. It's like "If I can recognize what I should be doing, why can't I do it?" At this point, I think I'm going to love the revision stage. LOL!
And I'll explain how Emily told me to update the blog. It's actually one little click and the blog tells us when it's time. Who'd a thunk?!
LOL -- I kinda wish I hadn't brought my bagel over to the computer, to munch on while reading this!
And sorry for giving you hope and then snatching it away -- LOL -- it was actually something I realized the other day, when I was struggling with something, wondering why it wasn't a skosh easier. Then one of those *headslap* moments: because you haven't really DONE this type of thing before.
Maybe we would get too bored if we knew it would be easy!
Tiff - Thanks for the clarification. LOL! Never easy, but perhaps "less difficult". Maybe?
You'll pull it off! With your work ethic and all the writing you've done, you're a pro now, right?
As Tim Gunn would say, "Make it work!"
So we torture ourselves so we don't get bored.
That's a depressing theory. LOL!
Calm down Hells. You act like you've contracted the worst STD known to mankind and will never be rid of it. The worm is more like the clap. You'll get some PC penicillin and everything will be better in the AM.
I adore the idea of vomit bags with both skulls and glitter. I would seriously carry that around.
I think the vomiting does get easier. At the very least, you have get a solid sense of what you know you can leave for revisions and what you need to fix now, so there's less stress on that front.
I think the other thing that happens after a few manuscripts, at least for me, is that you know what *you* need to move forward, and what *you* can leave. For instance, I need that deep POV in my first draft, because if I don't get it, then I don't know what the character's going to do next, so I sit there and stare at a blank page. Whereas, if I've really hit that particular character's voice, I can just kind of slide into it and let it take me.
Of course, that means I end up wasting a lot of time free-writing in one character's POV (usually random back-story) that will never go in the first draft. But it puts me in a place where I can vomit out that first draft.
Of course, that totally throws a wrench into your plan....so.....yeah, sorry :) I'm not helping today!
(and thanks for the shout-out on yesterday's blog)
I am my own worst enemy when it comes to writing. Sorry that I don't have any advice, Ter.
Sin - You ARE helpful. I can always tell myself, "At least I don't delete everything I write." LOL!
Sin - A metaphor fit for Hellie right there. LOL!
Hal - Nice anti-vomiting comment. LOL! Everytime I've had to delete a page (or 7!) in the last couple weeks I've wanted to cry. But I do think I'm going to have to do some free-writing for Nate. I can't get into his head at all. I finally figured out scenes in his POV are what stump me. It's like the dude has no issues, when I KNOW he has issues.
Dang closed off man. As if I don't have this problem enough in real life, must he be difficult too?!
I really feeling like saying *oh snap*
(re your comment to Sin)
LOL! We're pirates, we love being the bad example.
Yes, stuff them in the bags. And throw extra glitter inside with them, just to piss them off. That shits impossible to get off, you know.
I'm not very good at "vomiting it out." I can sometimes muffle my internal editor, but I have never succeeded in silencing her. But the more I write, the more convinced I become that all any of us can do is try all the strategies until we discover those that work best for us. And since we are different, what works best for us is different.
I'm going off topic a bit, but it's still relevant, I think. I loved what Lauren Willig said in her Word Wenches interview last week:
"Time management is one of those things I still wrestle with, but I think what it comes down to in the end is being aware of your own work patterns. When I started at the law firm, people gave me all sorts of earnest and well-meaning advice about waking up early every morning and writing for two hours a day. Two problems: (1) my brain refuses to kick in until sometime after noon, and (2) I am incapable of writing in two hour chunks. I made myself miserable for about a month, wrote the worst prose I’ve ever produced (and, yes, that includes the imitation Barbara Taylor Bradford novel I tried to write in eleventh grade) and then came to the blinding realization that, hey, I’m a fits-and-starts writer; I’ve always been a fits-and-starts writer. Therefore, I was better off giving up on the two hour a day plan and locking myself up at home on weekends when I could write for forty-eight hours straight. Learning how you work most productively and finding creative ways to implement that around your other obligations—without beating yourself up about what you could, would, should be doing—is about fifty per cent of the battle."
what an excellent quote Janga!
(though I did think, "What? Everyone writes best for two hours super early in the morning!" LOL! Obviously, that's entirely untrue, but it works great for me)
It was a really great blog yesterday, Hal. I just had a chance to read it. I think I need a minute to digest it and apply it to my own writing.
OK, everyone knows that ta win a marathon, all ya have ta do is run fast for a long time. But...ya have to be able ta walk first.
So, ya may know about deep POV, and everythin' else, but...ya have ta walk first. Or, in this case, vomit a lot.
I've got 3 million words written...it isn't all that easy ta just vomit them out now... I have ta remind meself ta just get the story out there, stop fiddling with it! But I sure the hell ain't runnin' any marathons! and I sure the hell ain't writin' picture perfect...or editin' that way either. I reminded meself yesterday... "Three chapters edited. Done! Uh huh, you're gonna have to edit them again, you know. Probably a few more times."
I opened a new doc and played with my new WIP. To cheer meself up.
Put one a' those glitter bags next ta yer laptop ta remind ya...
Janga - I think I needed that quote today. I was thinking last night that one of the wonderful things about finishing school was the elimination of that voice in my head that was always saying, "You should be working on school stuff."
But now the voice is saying, "You should be writing." Only she doesn't stop there. She throws in "You don't really want to do this. You're never going to finish, you know. If you did, you'd be writing."
I need to accept that I write when I write and that's enough! (And I am making progress, no matter what this little bitch in my head says.)
Bo'sun? Ya need ta channel yer inner man. Sit down, set yer hand at yer crotch and fiddle with yer imaginary mighty mast...and think like Nate. He been sublimenting (oooh! Impressive word!) all his sexual thoughts inta coaching? I bet he's frustrated and wondering why he's thinking about first downs and not her ass... Let him question it. Might help ya find it, fer both of ya!
(thanks Sin - I hope it helps!)
And I am making progress, no matter what this little bitch in my head says.
Yes!! Ignore the bitch!
One of my friends has a signature line in every email that says, Self-doubt is the bane of writers. Strangle the little squeaky voice.
I do think the vomiting becomes easier too, or at least we become more efficient at forcing ourselves to get our words on the page.
Revising was easier this time around too. WHich isn't to say that it was easy, just not quite as horrible.
I found, as I went along, that I'm better to edit as I go. I write, the next day I edit what I wrote the day before, then I get going again. I don't think I knew that about myself the first time around.
Chance - There are no first downs in baseball and he hasn't started coaching yet, but I get what you mean. LOL!
Hal - "Strangle the little squeaky voice." That's brilliant! And usually, I keep the voice muffled pretty good. But she broke free last week. I must have let my guard down.
*giggle
I thought he coached football. I have no eye for details!
Marn - You're making me feel better! I mean, ten years from now, we'll all be going, "This is a piece of cake." Right? Anybody?
If I edit as I go, I never move forward. Because I didn't plot and storyboard until after I'd written a good bit, I had to go back, add/change/alter things to fit the storyboard. That little bit was enough to get me caught up in completely fixing what's there.
Someone (I'm too lazy to page up and look, sorry) said it's a matter of knowing what we need in order to move forward. The gist of a scene has to work for me. I must know it's in the right POV and feel like I got the overall purpose in there. Then I can move forward.
None of this I knew a year ago, so I have learned something.
Nate was a 3rd baseman in the Majors but only for less than two seasons. He blew out a knee. Now he's come home to coach. And he better get in touch with him inner demons soon, or I'm going to kick his sorry ass back to Tampa.
Is that what he calls 'is might mast? The demon? Might be some interestin' history back there... He the son of a preacher man?
Sorry. I'm feelin' impish today. Must be all the rain...
Yes, the STD metaphor is apt. Esp since I had a computer STD just a couple months ago, and voila, I have something else, something worse yet again. Which is like how real STDs work isn't it? Once you get one, even if you clean it up, it's just too easy to get the rest?
Dan Dan the Computer Man was very nice though. I was frightened though when he said he was directionally challenged and I had to give him directions to me--and I have construction going on two sides of my building. The two sides of my building where there are roads, incidentally. But he found me and we made a trade off.
Hmmm. Gonna share what you traded with Dan, Dan, the Computer Man?
(Chancey - you're not the only one feeling impish today)
Damn! Hal beat me to it. LMAO!!
Chance - Have you missed the idea I refuse to consider your "mizzen mast" advice. LOL! There are lines I will not cross, people! LOL!
Apparently I don't have the typical things I can offer in trade, so I will have to work in cash.
Would be nice if I could spell.
Did Hellie just implie she's a eunich?
Actually it's eunuch. I shouldn't have gone against my instincts.
No, I just think his wife would make him a eunich if I offered anything other than the cash. That's all. *LOL*
I meant I spelled "imply" wrong. LOL! I looked up eunuch for my blog and still spelled it wrong in the comments. LOL!
I'm on a roll!
oh jeez that was long! sorry!
Ter, several of my husband's friends went pro in lacrosse straight out of college. I was surprised by just how much it affected these guys when they had to stop playing for whatever reason.
The hub's best friend, Josh, was the absolute star in college, total big-man-on-campus thing, super popular. But when he went pro, he suddenly went from being a super-star to a nobody. I remember the first time Josh had to come sit in the stands with us, instead of on the bench with his team. It was utterly heart-breaking. And for him, there was a level of humiliation too. Not that any of us thought less of him, but he thought less of himself.
Several of his friends went through this same thing where they couldn't play at the major league level, for whatever reason, be in injury or skill or whatever, and that just kills part of their identity as a person. There's such high expectations, especially if they went through all the hoopla and excitement of the draft. Josh was drafted really high, and there was all this excitement plunked on him, and then it was all just ripped away.
There's also a whole element of the pressure of playing a major league game. Rob (my hubby) didn't go out for the draft the same year his friends did, but he still talks about the national championship games in college. They played those games in front of 20,000 or 30,000 fans. He was the goalie, and for him, his favorite moment was when there was a shoot out. It was just him and one other guy, and the whole stadium would go dead silent, and everything rode on whether or not he could make the save. And he said the explosion of screams in the stadium when he made would make that save is something that can never be re-created. It's the ultimate proof of who's the better athlete, or (in macho guy speak), "who's the man and who's the boy".
So.....all that very long rambling to say, of course he's not thinking about sex! His entire masculinity, rightly or wrongly, has been snatched away from him. And he's going to have to find a way to come to terms with that, and to prove to himself that he's still the man he thought he was (or better yet, that he's become a better man than he was before).
Hal - Next time I see you, I'm going to kiss you. LOL! That's exactly it. This whole town thinks he's a freaking hero and he thinks he's a failure. He even says something like "I can't do the one thing I've done my whole life." He's floundering and trying to act like he's fine.
And when Emma realizes it, her view of him is twisted all to hell. LOL! Which is when the sexual tension picks up. That's how it's turning out anyway.
This might be another difference between men and women. I never played any sport to that level, but when I was on the radio I was talking to thousands of people every day. Listeners would stop me in Walmart to say how much they loved listening and ask about my daughter. I was basically famous in a small town.
When I moved and it went away, I didn't miss it like I thought I would. I'm thinking a guy would have a harder time giving that up.
The word vomit has me going in different directions... What about saying you need to excrete the first draft? Yeah, it's a sh***y word but somehow excreting the book as a first draft doesn't sound nearly so ... well, bad.
Anyway, I do not think the excreting (or vomiting) gets easier, but most of the time the revision does. (I say most of the time because I just finished "revising" for a hellish 7 weeks.)
And, I have to say, I think the revision gets easier when you have others helping with ideas or praise. So write something--it doesn't have to be the whole book--and send it to your critique partner(s). Or an interested party with whom you meet some Saturdays. (Mentioning no names.) :)
Personally, I think guys have a harder time giving up fame and recognition than women do.
Wow, Hal, that was a masterful description!
This whole town thinks he’s a freaking hero and he thinks he’s a failure. Yes! And every time someone shakes his hand, or wants something autographed, or says how proud they are, it just pours salt in the wound.
And I can totally see how that would increase the sexual tension, because she's seeing a deeper part of him, part that no one else gets to see. It's intimacy, even though it's not the sexual kind.
(I would adore being famous in a small town. I'm such a whore for attention :) )
Well, between what you and Hal have been discussing, it sounds like he's completely off his game and feeling miserable, so it's almost like he's got ED anyway...so he's not going to be thinking about sex except to think how he has no follow through because he's a failure. Works for me why he's not thinking about how hot she is. When you're DEPRESSED, you don't think how hot someone looks. You think "I want to curl up and die. Alone."
And, I have to say, I think the revision gets easier when you have others helping with ideas or praise.
It does. Which is why you guys need to move here to Columbia so we can do our meetings again.
Dee - That's a toss up. I'd rather vomit it than shit it out. LOL! No idea of the thinking behind that.
And you will be getting pages! (Makes note to print the first chapter.)
Hal - He keeps saying things like "I'm just a coach now, nothing special" and yet people fawn over him. He tells himself he's fixing up his grandparents' old house because he needs something to do. But he's really putting down roots for the first time ever.
And it depends on the small town. LOL! It's very odd to have strangers talk to you like you're old friends. And know so much about you. (Totally my fault for being a Kathy Lee on the radio.) But you also lose your anonimity which is weird. I don't know how people on the Brangelina level live with it. It's not comfortable.
hen you’re DEPRESSED, you don’t think how hot someone looks. You think “I want to curl up and die. Alone.” Amen, sister.
And thanks, Dee :)
Hellie - There are two of us and an ocean over here. There is one of you and no ocean over there. Now, who should move again? LOL!
And this is so helping. I mean, he notices her looks. Likes her hair and how she looks in jeans opposed to the browns she's always wearing to teach. But little Nate is not coming up to bat everytime they meet, if you know what I mean.
Ter, did you read SEP's "What I did for Love"? Her newest one? It was totally a cop of Braneglina, but I was floored at how much the paparazzi ruled their lives. To the point of knowing that the tabloids would only pay for one group of pictures per outfit, so the more they changed their clothes, the more they would be photographed (or vice-versa). The constant publicity was just insane.
I'm really liking this guy, Ter :)
How could would it be to do critique groups in person? We could totally go to the beach, sit and read, talk about plot.... (and Hellie, I lived in Missouri for 22 years. Nothing on earth could make me go back!)
uh, that was supposed to be, "how cool would it be." Yikes.
There are two of us and an ocean over here. There is one of you and no ocean over there. Now, who should move again?
Uh...YEAH. Although with my track record I can't swear I'll still be here next year. :)
We actually have colleges here, too, you know.
OK, he's depressed. His libido was all tied up in the game and now there is no game, so no libido. I still say he'd know that this was missing. He'd look down at the mighty mast and wonder what the hell was going on. He wouldn't tie it to the loss of playing baseball. He might consider that putting down roots was giving up...
But! He'd still be wondering where the 'thrill' went. And he'd know it was missing. Even if he don't get a rise, he'd think about what was missing.
Even if all you do is touch on that fact, you'll resurrect him from the idea of eunich (curse the spelling!) and give hope to your readers that he'll rediscover the magic. With Emma!
Men with ED think about it all the time!
And Ter - Imagining yer own might mast can help ya connect with the men in yer novel...and provide some real hilarity...
Yer a writer, ya can imagine it and not be breaking any rules...they be guidelines anyway!
That's right, there are THREE of us over here! LOL! CP meetings at the beach. How can you beat that?
Dee - Don't make me tie you to a chair.
Bo'suns gettin' kinky... Ties and a chair, eh?
True, true, you guys have the ocean. Plus you don't have EITHER of my siblings living there, so you're right, I should move there.
Not that anyone would hire me at the local college, Dee. Nice try though.
dude, hellie. they were just hiring for the position you do a few months ago here. I should have totally sent you the application! Next time, next time....
Nate does NOT have ED. Now you people have him screaming again. LOL! He's attracted to her. He knows it. Not a problem there. But getting her into bed is not dominating 99% of his brain waves. That's all I'm saying.
Chance - lalalalalalalalalalalala
Don’t make me tie you to a chair.
Oooo!
Having him temporarily unable to bat in the majors can be used to make him more appealing. Though he would worry about it all the time, his lack of ability frees him in a way to become friends with Emma. He'll avoid situations that lead to sexual possibilities so they have time to spend other avenues of getting to know each other. The more he gets to know and like her, the more agonizing he'll become over his other problem--and his loss of stature and the feeling that he doesn't deserve the town's adulation.
Plus, Hellion, your skills translate into more than working at colleges. Expand your horizons, woman!
Yer makin' me chuckle wit' an evil tint ta it and the other folks here at Starbucks are lookin' at me funny. Stop it!
Course he don't have ED, but he might as well have ED the way ya talk about him. So, he don't have problems with his attraction ta her...ya have problems writin' it?
Well, get in touch wit' yer inner might mast!
I can say it louder, ya know! Break through the lalalalalalalalas
I'm only a couple hours from Hal too, so I can totally get in on that plotting.
:)
Granted, I need a few months to evacuate the small human currently living in my body. I suspect any plotting session among the pirates will require alcohol and well, I'm out of commission on that front for the moment.
Whoa! I cannot catch up with all the comments! But I'm putting in my vote for a glittery barf bag. They would be so much more pleasant with glitter.
I'm in the same boat as you with this WIP. My new phrase is "Finish the damn book, damn it!" I made a sign with this phrase in big red letters and it hangs in my line of sight when I'm writing.
Are you a Burn Notice fan, Ter? I'm convinced the reason Michael and Fi aren't together is because Michael doesn't believe he has anything to offer right now. He loves her, but he's not going to touch her (apart from a few glorious episodes) because he has nothing real to offer her. He doesn't have a job or a home or even an identity anymore.
I think (and I may be wrong - tell me to STFU if I'm annoying you, Ter!) that Nate's kind of got the same problem. Sure he's attracted to her, but she's a good girl, and no decent guy is going to touch a good girl if he doesn't have something to offer beyond sex. And I'm not talking about marriage, but any real emotions or real relationship seems beyond him right now (at the beginning) until he gets his own shit straightened out. And of course, Emma will lure him into bed anyway, and then help him get his shit straightened out, but men can be hard-headed *g*
It's kind of the "you're worth more than I can give you right now, and I would never expect someone like you to settle for someone like me" mentality.
Hal - Just two more days ta go and new Burn Notice! Yippee! Good evaulation, by the way. I also think he's sold on the idea that he will be moving on and doesn't want ta start something since he is sold on leaving...while she's ready to stay put. And he still wants to save the world via being a spy...
I bet Bo'sun's head be spinnin'...
Marn's excreting a child.
LOL! Don't start on excretions, sister.
sorry, Dee brought up the word excretion, and then Marn said evacuate, and then I just took it too far :)
Chance - two more days!!!!!!! I can't freakin wait. I'm watching back episodes on my computer to get ready!
Hal - I own season one but was thinkin' a' bitin' the bullet and buying season two fer a personal marathon ta get ready. Without commercial interruptions!
does it have an eye patch?
Ok, ok, you're right; it's Dee's fault, she started it.
I was thinkin' more long the lines a' Alien... Vision a' this mini pirate poppin' out, brandishin' a cutlass...
What did they put in this coffee anyway? ;)
which season did Michael think Fi died in a house fire? I need to watch that episode again. You don't get a lot of good angst on TV, but this show...man! I love it!
I was thinkin' an eye patch and a sash! With pistols!
What channel is Burn Notice on?
Maybe a little parrot on his shoulder. LOL! Or is it a dead monkey?
wait, that last one just sounded wrong....
you know this is going to be the first you get now when you give birth. "Does he have an eyepatch? What caliber of pistol? How big is the cutlass?"
LOL!! Let's just say he wasn't exactly shy about showing off his cutlass this morning. Kid flashed us in the ultrasound room four or five times. The tech didn't even have to tell me what he was. I was like, "it's a boy, isn't it?" And she was like, "Oh yeah." LOL!!
Chance - Yes, *I* have the ED. (There's something I never thought I'd say.) Nate operates just fine. Maybe he's thinking about in the times he's not on page?
Hal - You've hit it the closest. Nate totally thinks of her as the settling down kind. Sweet, single-mom, HS English teacher. Never left their hometown other than to go to college, then came right back. Though she has a wild side to her (which is how she ended up married to a musician and eventually a single mother) and Nate will find that out eventually.
Fixing up the house turns into creating a home for Emma. Wait until you see (read?) the library he puts in for her. LOL!
Why no, this book has nothing to do with what *I* fantasize about...
Dee - I knew as soon as I hit send that was the wrong threat. LMAO!!
Did Marn just volunteer to give birth to an undead monkey along with her little life form? I thought the excreting thing, but Hal keeps beating me to the punch lines today. LOL!
Damn, need a new shamwow!
I think that's in the second season...not sure. It was great angst though, yer right. Burn Notice is on USA.
This is the third season starting, right? I swear, I'm losing track of everything!
Yay!! Leverage last week and Burn Notice this week!!
I agree with your evaluation of Fi and Michael, but I don't think Hero is in quite the same boat. He has a goal and a reason for being in town, and that's getting the team to be the best it can be. I don't think he feels worthless in that sense, just that he doesn't see himself the way others do. To me, he's finding his own path within himself and isn't ready for Emma, not that he doesn't feel he's worthy of her.
Awh! I want someone to build ME a library....
Ladies, I finished Chapter 4 of a new book while visiting with you, but now I have to go to the post office. Blech!
Steph - I can't keep up either! But I need one of those signs. Since I write on my living room couch, I need to hang the sign over my television. LOL!
Marn - It's a boy?!?! (Doggone it, I really thought it would be a girl.) You are going to be totally out-numbered in your own home. LOL! And the brandishing during the ultra-sound proves he's going to be a great little pirate.
From what ya've told me, Dee is right. Nate has a real goal. That line ya sent me? About when he asks her which kid he should figure doesn't have a chance to make the majors? (something like that...) shows that he has a 'worthy' focus.
The only cure for inner ED is what I'm proposing. ;) I like the idea he's thinking about it off page...hee, hee.
Yep! It's a little boy. We just found out this morning. And yep, I'm going to be completely outnumbered. It's ok, though. I'm fiesty. I can hold my own. There's no doubt who the strongest personality in our house is (and it ain't anyone with testosterone...).
To me, he’s finding his own path within himself and isn’t ready for Emma,
That makes total sense to me. All I know about Nate is what we've talked about today, so I'm just throwing out ideas. Sometimes an objective opinion helps, sometimes it just adds to the clutter *shrug*
And I would kill for someone to build me a library! I adore the idea of him creating a home for her. It sounds like the perfect way to pull their story together (at least, from the parts I've heard *g*)
Enjoy the weather, Dee. It's gorgeous here right now. (In the 60s! Whoot!)
Yeah, I don't know that it's worthy issues. He's just trying to find his footing. He's been on the move since going off to college. Ten years in the minor leagues and then two in the Majors. He's not used to sitting still, though likes it better than he expected.
He's a total flirt and has flirted with Emma from the opening scene. It's just my problem of not taking his internal thoughts where I should.
Hal - Dee helped me plot the story, so she's heard more about him. LOL! And she asks the damn hard questions. You have no idea how many times I just freeze and go, "I don't know that yet." You've been a great help!
As much as I work with mostly men, they're no help. Your insight is great.
Chance - He does shift all his playing energy into the coaching and the kids are what's important, not creating his own little dynasty or anything.
It's a shifting of identity. In this last scene, he says, "I'm just a ball player" then realizes that title doesn't apply to him anymore and changes it. "Was. Was a ball player."
That's tough for a guy to process.
I like! So, he doesn't really know what he is right now...good place to start building...
Hey, Terrio...100 comments!
I know, can you believe it?! I told Hellie it's because I took over her timeslot. LOL! She has everyone trained to come looking for her brilliance every Tuesday. I can't match her for brilliance, but the glittery barf bags gave us something to talk about. ;)
Hellie will be up next Monday, BTW.
Bo'sun, I told you it isn't me. It's because I didn't update the blog for 2 years and it crashed Monday--and everyone was going through pirate withdrawals from not being able to comment and stuff.
Although should my post post correctly on Monday, it does feature eye candy. Just saying.
Yeah, it sounds to me as if identity is the issue. And for men generally, identity is tied into what they do; for women, it more often tends to be tied into relationships.
And with athletes, their identification with their sport is built over a long period. With football, baseball, and basketball, for example, it's often a huge part of their lives from childhood through adolescence through young adulthood and maybe beyond. My brother was an All-SEC offensive tackle thirty years ago. He still gets requests for autographs in the mail from UGA fanatics. They see him as part of a proud history. But he doesn't like talking about his glory days because he was cut from the pro team who signed him. The coach told him, "You have the talent, but you're just not mean enough." Three decades later that "not enough" still colors his view of who he is.
Gah!!! i type so slowly that by the time I post, the conversation has changed directions--sometimes more than once. :(
Janga, don't worry, we're so ADHD around here, the conversation will return to what you're posting anyway.
Janga - Jump in whenever and whereever you want. You know there's little rhyme or reason to our threads over here.
And that's exactly it. Baseball has been a part of Nate's life almost since he could walk. He knew he couldn't play forever, and always planned on doing the coaching thing when his playing days were over, but he thought that day would be his decision. Not something uncontrollable and especially not his body failing on him.
Did your nephew ever try for another team? Sounds to me like he just ended up with the wrong coach.
My brother, Ter. Even I am not old enough to have a nephew who signed a pro contract thirt years ago. My oldest nephew would have been playing Little League then. LOL!
My brother turned down several offers after that. I'm not sure about all his reasons, but I do know he shares his sister's regional chauvinism. :)
I should add that although brother was wounded, he was not devastated by the cut. He and another good ole Southern boy cut at the same time felt good enough to take the long way home, partying at every vacation spot between PA and GA.
Excellent post. Does vomiting get easier? Well, the first one I vomited, but it kind of went all over the place, and what I mean by that is that even though the hero and heroine were the same there was no connect between anything else. I mean even the villain changed from chapter to chapter. (Part of the learning process I guess) It took me two years to vomit that one.
The second I vomited in a more linear fashion there was no disconnect, or at least nothing that couldn't be fixed. It took me about four months, and after a long hiatus, I'm revising. And it is very workable.
The third I vomited in a total linear fashion in under two months 63,000 plus words. I can't wait to get into revisions because I think it will be a total breeze compared to anything else I've worked on.
So my thoughts are that if you've done all of your pre-planning (yes you can move from it while writing) then vomiting gets much easier as you go along.
Janga - So sorry! I'm just so used to talking about your nephews. I think a little part of my brain went, "Are you sure that's right?" and I ignored it. Good to know they didn't suffer overly much. LOL!
Renee - You're like a machine! So basically, I just have to plant my ass in the chair and do it. I thought this might be the case. But it is much easier with the plotting done. The only reason this current scene is hanging me up is because it was a last minute audible. :)
Good luck with the revisions!
No way I can read all of these learned posts!
I only have time for a quickie.
Skimming over more than 100 posts I pick up vomiting and excreting as the way to generate first drafts.
You guys never heard of hard work. How about sweating that first draft. *grin*
The computer guys say 'rubbish in, rubbish out'.
Might the reverse apply to writing? :shock:
I can't believe that vomiting or excreting is going to produce diamonds! They are generated with great heat and pressure.
Perhaps you need to generate heat and pressure to succeed.
Just trying to help. :wink:
How about sweating blood? I'm sorta with Q here. I neither want to vomit or excrete this thing. But sweating blood seems apt.
I don't know about you people, but vomiting is neither an easy thing to do nor is it pleasant. And if you do it long enough, blood is sure to be involved.
I realize I just made the graphic visuals of the day worse, but still. You don't create a diamond in the first draft, you're sifting through piles of black grit trying to find something to work with.
You don’t create a diamond in the first draft, you’re sifting through piles of black grit trying to find something to work with
LOL I would hope that you get ROUGH diamonds first time round. You then have to cut and polish.
At least that's my theory! :D
I know, let's look fer a metaphore everyone can agree with! Should take...oh...about 50-60 bazillion years!
Hey, fer some it's a mining project, fer some it's a canoe trip and fer others, it's a barfest. And a dozen other visions.
Let's see, I'm been in the rain all day, so I say first draft be like a downpour. Most a' it goes down the drain straight ta the sea, but if ya built yer dams well, and yer fields are ready fer it, a good potion goes ta nurture crops, fill swimming pools and quench thirst.
If the cloud, be it grumpy or not, waits until it's poised jus' above the field, pools or reservoirs...it might wait a long, long, long time.
So, let the rain fall where it may...it's all good.
And it occurred ta me, Hel's got a slutty computer. ;)
Post a Comment