Punctuation is important.
I have to start taking the camera with me when I drive to town. I want to get a photograph of this one truck I see sometimes. On the side it says, "Ham Produce & Seafood Inc." It makes me wonder what the heck ham produce is. Or seafood inc, for that matter.
My daughter came up with another example of punctuation power earlier today. She was so proud of herself that she ran downstairs with a whiteboard and marker to show us:
No more than that.
No, more than that.
One little comma. A world of difference.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Pre-Flight Safety Checklist
1. Chapter Breaks
Are the chapters numbered consistently? When I begin each chapter, do I have the same amount of space at the top of the page? And most importantly, did I end each chapter with a good hook?
2. Punctuation Dialog
Yes, I know the rules. Tags get commas. Beats get periods. No good telling that to my wild horses of creativity as they gallop through a first draft. Instead, I check every line of dialog just before I submit. This is a good thing. It gives me a chance to make sure all the dialog snaps and sparkles.
3. Word Abuse
I've got some words I like to use too much, so I have to go back through my manuscript and look around for them. Like, back, look, and around... about half the time these are filler words that don't mean anything. They bog down the prose. Out they go.
4. Grammatical Tics
It's/its, try and/try to, there's/there are, and putting an s on the end of words like toward and anyway. I'm blind to these things when I read through, so I have to use the "search and destroy" feature on my word processor. I love that thing!
5. Final Read
I have to read the whole manuscript one last time. Just so I know exactly what I'm sending out.
Safety check complete! Time to taxi down the runway.
What's the last thing you do before you submit?
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
How to Make Cheese
This morning I unscrewed the cap on the milk jug and took a whiff. A certain sour tang told me it was past its prime. You know what that means.
LASAGNA!
I'm serious.
I learned this trick back when, as a young mother with a husband in graduate school, I signed up faithfully each year for the WIC program. I always appreciated the cheese, juice, and breakfast cereal, but they practically drowned us in milk. My children simply didn't enjoy drinking it. Though I tried to keep up, there was often a jug at the back of the fridge that went a little bit off before we opened it.
So I decided to make it into cheese.
It's totally easy. People used to do this in their own homes for centuries, before they invented Walmart and Costco and things like that.
1. Pour a gallon of milk into a big pot. Add a teaspoon of salt (the salt is optional).
2. Heat the pot on the stove until the milk is not quite boiling.
3. Take the pot off the heat and add a quarter cup of vinegar (you can use rennet if you know where to find it. I sure don't).
4. Stir the pot until the curds separate from the whey.
5. Pour the contents of the pot through a sieve lined with either cheese cloth or a flour sack towel.
6. Put the curds, still wrapped in the cloth and sitting in the sieve, in a larger bowl. Put the bowl in the refrigerator and let the curds drain for a few hours.
Now you have a nice lump of crumbly cheese that makes a great substitute for Ricotta. I'm using it for lasagna tonight.
LASAGNA!
I'm serious.
I learned this trick back when, as a young mother with a husband in graduate school, I signed up faithfully each year for the WIC program. I always appreciated the cheese, juice, and breakfast cereal, but they practically drowned us in milk. My children simply didn't enjoy drinking it. Though I tried to keep up, there was often a jug at the back of the fridge that went a little bit off before we opened it.
So I decided to make it into cheese.
It's totally easy. People used to do this in their own homes for centuries, before they invented Walmart and Costco and things like that.
1. Pour a gallon of milk into a big pot. Add a teaspoon of salt (the salt is optional).
2. Heat the pot on the stove until the milk is not quite boiling.
3. Take the pot off the heat and add a quarter cup of vinegar (you can use rennet if you know where to find it. I sure don't).
4. Stir the pot until the curds separate from the whey.
5. Pour the contents of the pot through a sieve lined with either cheese cloth or a flour sack towel.
6. Put the curds, still wrapped in the cloth and sitting in the sieve, in a larger bowl. Put the bowl in the refrigerator and let the curds drain for a few hours.
Now you have a nice lump of crumbly cheese that makes a great substitute for Ricotta. I'm using it for lasagna tonight.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Okay, So I Lied
I promised myself that I'd be ready to submit after draft 10, but I should have known better. In draft 6 I extracted a 20,000-word subplot. It takes some time to recover from that kind of major surgery.
But I did achieve something in draft 10. I got the story right where I wanted it.
This is my favorite, favorite part of writing a book. All the tears, pain, and frustration are behind me, and there's nothing left to do but polish the prose. Shine every sentence. So I'm sharpening up my blue pencil and reading each word aloud.
No, I am not stalling. Yes, I will submit soon.
But first, I get to spend some quality time with my manuscript.
But I did achieve something in draft 10. I got the story right where I wanted it.
This is my favorite, favorite part of writing a book. All the tears, pain, and frustration are behind me, and there's nothing left to do but polish the prose. Shine every sentence. So I'm sharpening up my blue pencil and reading each word aloud.
No, I am not stalling. Yes, I will submit soon.
But first, I get to spend some quality time with my manuscript.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Writers Club Wednesday: Pitches
Today at our Laie Young Writers meeting, we'll be talking about pitches. This will be the first in a series that covers two vital weapons in an author's arsenal, the pitch and the synopsis.
A pitch is a few short paragraphs that are meant to leave an agent or editor dying to read your book. The pitch doesn't contain the whole plot, but should take the most fascinating elements of your book and put them on display for all to see. It's like a shop window, meant to lure prospective buyers inside. You'll use a pitch to interest an agent, and then if that agent represents you, she will probably use that pitch to hook an editor, and the editor will need that pitch to convince the editorial department to take a chance on your book. So a good pitch can go a long way.
But how to write one?
It isn't easy. A good pitch is like poetry. Every word counts. And how can you boil down an entire novel to less than half a page? But this is what makes the pitch such a great writing tool. It forces you to decide what's most important about your story. In fact, I like to write my pitch before I begin drafting a new book. It keeps me on track as I go.
According to Elana Johnson's excellent guide, From the Query to the Call, a pitch needs four things:
1. Hook
2. Set-up
3. Conflict
4. Consequence
This afternoon we'll take a look at a successful pitch, analyze it, and then try writing our own.
From the Query to the Call is free for download from Elana Johnson's website. Those of you who are serious about publishing should definitely read it for yourselves.
A pitch is a few short paragraphs that are meant to leave an agent or editor dying to read your book. The pitch doesn't contain the whole plot, but should take the most fascinating elements of your book and put them on display for all to see. It's like a shop window, meant to lure prospective buyers inside. You'll use a pitch to interest an agent, and then if that agent represents you, she will probably use that pitch to hook an editor, and the editor will need that pitch to convince the editorial department to take a chance on your book. So a good pitch can go a long way.
But how to write one?
It isn't easy. A good pitch is like poetry. Every word counts. And how can you boil down an entire novel to less than half a page? But this is what makes the pitch such a great writing tool. It forces you to decide what's most important about your story. In fact, I like to write my pitch before I begin drafting a new book. It keeps me on track as I go.
According to Elana Johnson's excellent guide, From the Query to the Call, a pitch needs four things:
1. Hook
2. Set-up
3. Conflict
4. Consequence
This afternoon we'll take a look at a successful pitch, analyze it, and then try writing our own.
From the Query to the Call is free for download from Elana Johnson's website. Those of you who are serious about publishing should definitely read it for yourselves.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Where Are You People?
I co-mentor a teen writing club with one of my neighbors. One phenomena associated with this venture is the excessive amount of e-mail all these verbose teenagers pack into my inbox. Sometimes they have six or seven e-mail conversations going at once.
But today, there weren't any e-mail messages. None at all. Very strange.
It worried my daughter, so she wrote this poem:
Where are you people?
This morning I got up early
And checked my email, because
I knew that I would surely
Have fifteen messages
But to my shock
To my surprise
I'd an empty inbox
Where are you guys?
Ok, I thought
No need for alarm
They've probably not
Come to any harm
But I checked again
At a quarter to ten
And to my shock
And to my surprise
I'd an empty inbox
Where are you guys?
My face went pale
My heart filled with dread
If they're not sending emails
They must be DEAD!
Ever since the day
We started this
Not a single hour
Have I missed
Without getting an email
Or two or three
But now there's nothing
Where can you be?
It's four forty-eight
And getting late
And I'm getting worried
Oh cruel, cruel fate!
Could I be the last living
Writer's club member?
Of the dying fire
Am I the last ember?
Are you all dead
Are you all gone?
Where are you my friends?
What's changed? What's gone wrong?
Did your characters come alive
Like we joked they would?
Did they kill you all
Did they poison your food? (because that would rhyme with would... ish)
I just checked my email
And to my surprise
I've an empty inbox
WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?
But today, there weren't any e-mail messages. None at all. Very strange.
It worried my daughter, so she wrote this poem:
Where are you people?
This morning I got up early
And checked my email, because
I knew that I would surely
Have fifteen messages
But to my shock
To my surprise
I'd an empty inbox
Where are you guys?
Ok, I thought
No need for alarm
They've probably not
Come to any harm
But I checked again
At a quarter to ten
And to my shock
And to my surprise
I'd an empty inbox
Where are you guys?
My face went pale
My heart filled with dread
If they're not sending emails
They must be DEAD!
Ever since the day
We started this
Not a single hour
Have I missed
Without getting an email
Or two or three
But now there's nothing
Where can you be?
It's four forty-eight
And getting late
And I'm getting worried
Oh cruel, cruel fate!
Could I be the last living
Writer's club member?
Of the dying fire
Am I the last ember?
Are you all dead
Are you all gone?
Where are you my friends?
What's changed? What's gone wrong?
Did your characters come alive
Like we joked they would?
Did they kill you all
Did they poison your food? (because that would rhyme with would... ish)
I just checked my email
And to my surprise
I've an empty inbox
WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Between Drafts
When I write, I write hard. So what to do with all that energy when I finish a revision and need to wait for the dust to settle in my brain? I put the passion into a project! Or two... or maybe three.
This time I'm going to:
1. Clean the living room carpet (by hand)
2. Clear ground for a little vegetable garden in the back yard (also by hand)
3. Read a lot of books:
-A Million Suns by Beth Revis
-The Rex Zero series by Tim Wynne-Jones
-Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge
-Revision by David Michael Kaplan
-Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
-From the Query to the Call (again) by Elana Johnson
4. Write a few random scenes from other books I'm thinking about, plus a chapter of a group story I'm writing with my daughter's teen writing club
5. Outline my next book
6. Work on my query letter
7. Sew the patches on my new Cub Scout Committee Chair uniform. Did you know that Robert Baden-Powell was a British spy? So awesome.
8. Arrange a harp duet with my daughter (she's already written her part) so we can perform it together in March.
There, by then I should have forgotten everything about my last draft and be ready to read it with an objective eye.
This time I'm going to:
1. Clean the living room carpet (by hand)
 |
| Isn't it lovely? |
 |
| Almost done! |
-A Million Suns by Beth Revis
-The Rex Zero series by Tim Wynne-Jones
-Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge
-Revision by David Michael Kaplan
-Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
-From the Query to the Call (again) by Elana Johnson
4. Write a few random scenes from other books I'm thinking about, plus a chapter of a group story I'm writing with my daughter's teen writing club
5. Outline my next book
6. Work on my query letter
7. Sew the patches on my new Cub Scout Committee Chair uniform. Did you know that Robert Baden-Powell was a British spy? So awesome.
 |
| Proudly wearing the Aloha Council patch |
There, by then I should have forgotten everything about my last draft and be ready to read it with an objective eye.
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