Remodeling the Cave

One can only hide in one’s cave, living in denial, for so long. It’s time. I’m being rousted from my quiet, extremely cluttered office in order to replace the last bit of carpeting in our house with the new wood flooring.

I’ve been dreading this. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love my new floor in the rest of the house and I know I’ll love it in here, too. But it’s the process.

My office/cave is small, yet it contains some of the biggest furniture in the entire house. Namely my computer desk, a set of bookshelves, and two sets of cabinets, courtesy of IKEA. There’s also a table that’s supposed to be my writing desk, although I can never find space on it. I started de-cluttering it yesterday and still don’t have enough clear surface to so much as write a check. There’s a small metal file cabinet and a stand that hold sentimental knickknacks and photographs, too.

And there are a LOT of books. How to write books. Writing market books. Crime writers’ reference books. Grammar and style books. Books on editing, revising, querying, freelance writing, and formatting. Plus a couple of shelves of yoga books.

Packing all those books and all my writing files will be a pain. Unloading my cabinets filled with writing supplies will be aggravating. But none of that is why I’m resisting the job.

The real issue is my computer. I have to disconnect my computer, my two printers, my modem, and my router and move everything into the living room while the work is being done. THEN I have to move everything back. And remember where and how all those wires were connected before. AND pray that once it’s reconnected it still works!

I don’t know why I’m so worried. It wasn’t all that many years ago that we transferred all this stuff from a corner of the living room (my former workspace) into this office. I had to disconnect and reconnect everything then, too, and it was fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine this time, as well.

I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine.

If I say it often enough, maybe I’ll believe it.

In the meantime, be forewarned. I may drop off the face of the earth on Saturday. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep the modem and router up and functioning so I can at least use my laptop to stay in cyberspace during the down time.

Of course, if the computer doesn’t go back together the way it’s supposed you, I won’t NEED the Internet. You’ll be able to hear me screaming without it.

Veteran's Day

It's my day to post over at Working Stiffs and I've gone all sentimental on Veteran's Day, remembering all heroes, especially my dad.

The Definition of Tinkering

Lately, I’ve been using the word “tinkering” a lot. Tinkering with chapter 18. Tinkering with the article I’m working on. This morning, I started wondering about the word. I remember my grandfather used it a lot. He tinkered with his tractors. He tinkered with the farm equipment. He’d go out to his workshop and tinker around a bit. My dad was a great tinkerer, too. He tinkered with his car, his truck, and his lawn mower.

So I feel like I inherited the term and the practice. But what exactly IS tinkering anyway?

I looked it up.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary on my desk, to tinker is to repair or adjust something in an unskillful or experimental manner. A tinkerer is an itinerant mender of household utensils or an unskillful mender. Or a bungler.

Hmm.

I was good with the repair and adjust part. The mender part, too. But I don’t much care for that unskilled bungler thing.

Grandpap kept his tractor and other farm equipment in pristine condition. So did my dad. I would never think of either of them as unskilled. And definitely not bunglers.

As for tinkering on my writing? Gosh, I hope I’m neither unskilled nor a bungler. Am I repairing and adjusting my words? Definitely. Mending a broken sentence? Absolutely. I’ll even accept that I might be doing so in an experimental manner. Writing is rewriting, after all. Experimentation is half the fun.

For the sake of clarity, I’m keeping the term “tinkering,” but I’m editing the definition. Tinkering with it, you could say. Because I like the link to my grandpap and dad, even if the focus of our mending is quite different.

So I’m spending this week tinkering on my first draft and on the Fire Truck Pull article. Honestly, to use my own personal definitions of the writing process, I’m pretty much done tinkering on the article. I’m at the polishing phase with the intention of having it submitted by Friday. But I consider my work on the first draft of the novel to definitely be mending, repairing and adjusting.

And my plan for NEXT week involves beginning the SECOND draft. What’s the difference between tinkering on the first draft and working on the second? In my mind, the process of creating a second draft involves going back to the first chapter (which sucks) and rewriting. Where I didn’t linger on the sucky stuff that ended up on the page for the first three chapters of the first draft, now I’m trying to get it down. I’m filling in gaps and tying up loose ends in the rest of it. Replacing adverbs with stronger verbs.

In other words, getting the thing ready for my first readers.

Tinkering. Polishing. First draft. Second draft. Sucky stuff. Perhaps I should consider writing my own dictionary with my own definitions of writing terms. It’s an idea.

I think I’ll tinker with it a bit.

Photo Friday: Tiny Hunter

Within the last few days a family of stray cats including this kitten have moved into our barn. I've been trying to capture some photos of them and yesterday afternoon, I found this little tuxedo baby hiding under the Farmall tractor with a mole. It gave a tiny little growl to warn me off, as if I might want to steal it's prize. No thank you.

Kreativ Blogger!

I owe a big thank you to my fellow Guppy and critique buddy VR Barkowski (I know what the "V" stands for, but I'm not allowed to tell) for honoring me with a nomination for the Kreativ Blogger award. VR's blog chronicles her journey toward publication, from the manuscript onward and entertains its readers in the process. VR is also participating in Nanowrimo this month. You go, girl!

Now comes the fun part. I get to nominate seven other worthy bloggers (who must nominate seven other... and so on and so forth). Here are the rules:
1) Copy the pretty picture and post it on your blog.
2) Thank the person that gave it to you and link to their blog.

3) Write 7 things about yourself we don't know.
4) Choose 7 other bloggers to pass the award to.
5) Link to those 7 other bloggers.
6) Notify your 7 bloggers.

Let's see... Number one done. Number two done (thanks again, VR!). On to number three. Seven things about me that you don't know. And probably don't care.

1) One of my many past jobs included working in a kiosk where I pierced ears. I hated it.

2) I'm allergic to wooly caterpillers. Do NOT put one down my shirt. If you don't believe me, ask my husband.

3) When I was a little kid, I had an invisible pretend collie dog named Lassie. Yeah, I know. Not very original.

4) I'm a pretty good quilter.

5) I'm also pretty good at basketball.

6) I can't hammer a nail to save my life.

7) I can't swim. I can't even float. I sink really well.

Thank goodness THAT is over. Is anyone still awake out there? Good. Here comes my list of nominees.

We Love It, Don't We? My friend and neighbor Sara Bedillion may not be a professional writer, but should be. Her blog follows her farm family's adventures in life, running a farm market complete with bees, and raising three fantastic kids. There are also horses, cattle, chickens, dogs, cats, and pigs. What's not to love???

Bird Photography, Bird-watching, and Bird Gardening Doris Dumrauf is a friend and fellow Pennwriter who writes historical fiction as well as articles for Pennsylvania Magazine. AND she's a fantastic photographer. Her blog includes photos she's taken and tales of nature and wildlife. If you're looking for a peaceful quiet escape into the wild without leaving your computer, give this blog a try.

Sasscer Hill I didn't mention in my seven things about my love of horses and horse racing because EVERYBODY already knows that. Lynda Sasscer Hill is a fellow Guppy who is seriously into the sport of kings. Her blog follows that passion. If you love horses (and animals in general) you must check this one out.

A Million Blogging Monkeys Confession time. I've only recenty discovered Alan Orloff's wonderful blog, but it's quickly become one of my "must reads." Alan's book Diamonds for the Dead is coming out in April 2010 from Midnight Ink and his blog is a ton of fun. One might say as fun as a barrel of blogging monkeys.

The Blotter My friend, Sister in Crime, and travel buddy Joyce Tremel is a fantastic writer in search of an agent. I've been fortunate enough to have read one of her manuscripts and I have no idea why it hasn't been published. Anyhow, Joyce is also one of the group bloggers at Working Stiffs and has her own blog, which she doesn't post to nearly often enough (hint, hint, Joyce!) It's a bit eclectic, subjectwise, but always interesting.

Write First, Clean Later The name of the blog is my words to live by. Author and editor LJ Sellers (who I met in an elevator at Bouchercon last year!) has two fabulous books out: The Sex Club and Secrets to Die For. Her blog includes wonderfully informative pieces on the craft of writing.

Mystery Writing is Murder Elizabeth Spann Craig's wonderful blog on writing and life is another one that is new to my radar, but has become an anticipated part of my day. Elizabeth has written two cozy mysteries for Midnight Ink titled A Dyeing Shame, Death at the Beauty Box and Pretty is as Pretty Dies (to be released August 1) and is working on a three-book series for Penguin/Berkley Prime Crime under her pseudonym Riley Adams.

And that makes seven. I strongly advise you to check them all out. You'll be glad you did.

Working Stiffs Wednesday

I'm at Working Stiffs today talking about bringing back the dead. Not really. But I do included my grandparents' old house and bring a few of my deceased pets back to life in my fiction. Come over and join in the discussion of Sentimental Settings.

My First Editors

My “finished” first draft has been sitting quietly in its computer folder. I’ve been told to leave it alone for a couple of weeks. Of course, I’m itching to get back into it, and I really haven’t completely kept my hands off it.

I’m not sure what your definition of a first draft is. I think we all have different ideas on the topic. For me, just because it’s a first draft doesn’t mean it hasn’t been retouched a bit. I tinker with chapters as I go. And that’s why I put “finished” first draft in quotes. It isn’t. Finished, that is. I’ve typed “The End” but I’m not satisfied with it, even as a “shitty first draft.”

Right now, it has a total of twenty-nine chapters. My tinkering is taking place back in chapters 17, 18, and 19. Here’s why:

My critique groups.

I love my critique groups. I belong to three. Well, two and a half.

The first eyes, beyond my own, to see a chapter is my face-to-face group. Four or five of us get together and present a chapter. The author reads their own work out loud while the others follow along on their copy and mark it up with thoughts, suggestions, and observations. The feedback is immediate. Plus there’s the added benefit of reading it out loud. All sorts of boo-boos jump out at me when I hear my own words coming out of my mouth.

I should mention this group is multi-genre.

I bring my chapter home from the group and make the fixes needed.

The next eyes to see the chapter is my online mystery writers group. I post a chapter there and receive at least three critiques of it. Here’s where it gets interesting, because what one person loves about a scene, another person might hate.

The “half” part of the critique group is also online. It started out with four members and now there’s only two. But we have a nice back-and-forth commentary on our chapters.

At the moment, I’m receiving feedback from my online group on chapter 17. I’m meeting with my face-to-face group this morning to present chapter 19. They’ve already seen chapter 18, which happens to be my least favorite of the entire manuscript. I’m struggling to fix the problems sufficiently to submit it next to my online group. And to my online half-group/critique buddy.

If you’re writing a novel and don’t belong to at least one critique group, I strongly advise you to look into finding one. They’re my first editors.