Morrill's Monday Morning Mashup - 1/9/12

MASH-UP

A creative combination

or mixing of content

from different sources.

We are into the second week of 2012. How's it going with the goals you set for 2012? Or, are you like me -- still in holiday mode, with an elusive cloud of possible goals floating around in your head?

This post on Bob Mayer's blog, Write It Forward gives a broad overview of goal-setting, though it's primarily an introduction to his book:

https://writeitforward.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/goal-setting-for-writers-for-2012/

A detailed "how-to" on setting goals appears on the blog, Writing-World.com:

http://www.writing-world.com/basics/goals.shtml

So, here is my strategic goal:
I would like to have Broken Dolls published by a major, traditional press by 2013.

Here is a long-term goal:
I will have edits completed by June 30, 2012.

Here are a couple of short-term goals to work toward my long-term goal:
1) I will work at least two hours per day, five days per week, in my Internet-free zone.
2) I will send 15-25 edited pages to my editor each week.

What are your goals for 2012? Did they change after reading these posts?

This New York Times post, "Why Authors Tweet," discusses why many authors tweet and why some don't. It's a subject many of my writer friends and I have debated. Author Jennifer Gilmore states: "On Twitter, I have a sense that people -- those you know and those you don't -- read your work in a way I have not always felt in the world."

However, Jeffrey Eugenides says that tweeting and other social media is "toxic to the kind of concentration fiction writing requires."

And therein lies our dilemma, fellow writers. Do you tweet? If so, leave your tweet handle in a comment and I'll follow you. I can always use a new challenge in balancing my social media time with my writing time. (Refer back to my short-term goal #1.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/books/review/why-authors-tweet.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1

There are certain words which by their nature, arise often in my writing. A few that I can think of off the top of  my head are talk, walk, smile and look. DailyWritingTips.com posted 75 synonyms for "talk." That's right, 75!

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/75-synonyms-for-talk/

And of course, thesaurus.com is always an excellent source of finding alternatives for oft-used words. Here's the link for "look":

http://thesaurus.com/browse/look

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:


When I'm writing, I'm listening. -- Madeleine L'Engle





Now that I've completed my Mashup, I'm off to "listen" in my Internet-free zone. See you next week!

#FlashFriday #Fictioneers: Home

T.G.I. Flash Friday! Here's this week's photo prompt by Madison Woods. It made me shiver, but it also made me warm. :) Thanks, Madison!

Home

     
     My bones are weary from being on the road again. My shoulders tense, my eyes weary.

     When at last, I turn onto my road, there's Skipper—waiting patiently, as she always does. Our eyes meet. Her ears perk up, and when I see she is certain it is me, her tail wags. She skips to greet me.

     Ah, home.

     We rush up the drive together. Inside, Our Miss will greet us with a bowl of food. One for Skipper. One for me. Once sated, we shall curl up by the warm fire.

     Skipper. Me. Our Miss.
     Home.

Cup Half Full

Well, last night was a real disappointment. The headline to the article that inspired me--to set my alarm for 1:30 a.m. this morning, wake from a sweet-dream-deep-sleep, drag myself out of my warm bed and go out into the frigid night--had read "Strong Quadrantid Meteor Shower, One of 2012's Best." Two words in the headline flashed like a neon sign: STRONG and BEST.

Wrong.

At 1:30 a.m., I pounded the alarm off and threw back my covers, then put on my bathrobe and wrapped myself in two blankets and headed outside. I was filled with anticipation, remembering a "strong" meteor shower I'd seen in my teens. I'd been awed by the majesty and beauty of one star after another streaking across the sky and over the horizon and remember feeling like an insignificant being in the universe. (Something I think it's good for all of us to feel at times.)

Okay, I'll admit it. I always make a wish on a shooting star, too. How could I not, when one of my favorite songs as a child was Jiminy Cricket's When You Wish Upon A Star?

When you wish upon a star

Makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires

Will come to you.

I figured if this Quadrantid meteor shower was going to be strong, well, heck, I'd get to make dozens of wishes. What a way to start the New Year, right?

So, I looked. And looked. And searched. And searched. And froze. Nothing. For a half an hour.

I started to go back inside, cursing the astronomers who made such a disappointing promise. Yet I still looked up at the sky, lest I miss even a single star.

And there it was. Streaking across the western sky. A single bright light followed by an impossibly long tail, appearing on its heavenly stage just long enough for me to make a wish.

Author intrusion note: Sorry, I can't tell you what my wish was. Mom always told me if I disclosed that little secret, it wouldn't come true.

Well, feeling wish-greedy, I stayed out for fifteen more minutes, looking and searching. Nothing.

But, I did enjoy the sound of the wind in the trees, the tinkling of wind chimes, the clicking of leaves blowing across the yard, even Michel, our rooster, revving up with a cock-a-doodle here and there, preparing for morning. I marveled at all the twinkling stars against the dark sky and wondered what was going on way up there in the very big universe.

Then, I gave up and snuggled back into my warm bed and quickly fell back to sleep. I dreamed of the most spectacular meteor shower, with enough shooting stars to fulfill the wish of every person who had a wish to wish upon a star.

I woke again at 6:00 this morning, grateful for the continued darkness. Again, I donned my bathrobe and two blankets and went outside to see if any shooting stars from my dream had spilled over into morning. Within a minute I saw a flash across the sky. Another wish.

I listened to early morning sounds as I walked to the other side of the deck to see the sunrise. Michel-the-Rooster waking the world, a crow cawing, Spookie and Spade meowing that it's time for breakfast.

And as I watched the sunrise, there was another shooting star, just above the horizon, in the darkness that the sunlight had not yet touched. My third wish.

That's when it struck me. Though the "strong" Quandrantid shower may have been a disappointment, the experience certainly was not. To sit with enough quiet to enjoy the night sounds, the morning sounds, to watch stars twinkle in the heavens and to see enough shooting stars to make three wishes . . . how could I ask for more?

Telling Tuesdays 1/3/12

Welcome to Telling Tuesday, a day reminiscent of those in school when I looked forward to seeing what everyone brought for show and tell. This weekly feature was inspired by an article on WriteToDone.com, called "How to Show (Not Tell): A Writing Lesson from John LeCarre."

It is one of the best articles I've seen on the rule all writers know--show, don't tell--because it doesn't just tell us how not to tell, it shows us some of LeCarre's very own examples.

" . . . descriptions can set the scene, convey the inexpressible, and turn the reader into a witness, instead of remaining a mere bystander." -- Mary Jaksch, author of the article

Each week, I'll give a "telling" prompt, and invite you to show us, to make us a witness, not a mere bystander.

THIS WEEK'S "TELLING" PROMPT:

The dark road was scary.

This week's prompt was inspired by my drive home from Tulsa last night. There's something about driving along on a dark and windy road. Here's my "showing:"

     How dark the night had become since turning onto County Road 256, as if all color had been sucked from the world. The blackness surrounding her was like a monster, devouring all but the small patch of gray left by her headlights.

     Nothing felt lonelier than being on that road. Seemed like hours since she'd seen another car. Maybe the blackness had swallowed them all.

     Then, headlights in the distance. Thank goodness. She wasn't alone after all. She smiled. Funny how two lights in the distance--stranger's lights--could bring a little comfort.

     But even welcome light can become too bright. She flashed her high beams, but the stranger didn't heed her request.

     Closer. Brighter. Closer.

     She turned away from the blinding beam as the stranger passed.

     Jerk.

     Then again, at least for a moment, she'd had a little company. And the return of a void felt even emptier.

     Returning to darkness left spots in front of her eyes. She watched them dance on the center line that zipped past her car as she tried to focus on the road ahead of her. Anything for a little entertainment.

     But one spot quit dancing. It grew larger and larger as she approached.

     She blinked.

     It wasn't a spot. A deer?

     A man!

     His eyes widened.

     She slammed on the brakes.

     Someone screamed.

I know you have some dark road stories to tell. Show me?

As always, feel free to leave a link to your blog with your comments.

Morrill's Monday Morning Mashup - 01/2/12

MASH-UP

A creative combination

or mixing of content

from different sources.

Happy New Year! Something feels good to me about writing 2012 instead of 2011. I don't remember feeling that way about writing the new year before. Usually it takes me a month to transition, but I must have been ready for the change this year.

Hope your holidays were happy! Ready to get back into the mashup? I am, and in my holiday internet perusing, I found lots of good information.

Linda C. Apple posted an excellent blog on the difference between resolutions and goals. Too often, we set resolutions, which, in Linda's words, are "determined thoughts that weaken over the months. They lose their freshness. Then life takes over and chokes our good intentions for the remainder of the year and our gasping resolutions hold on to enough life to make us feel guilty because we have failed--again." Wow. Now, don't you want to read more?
http://lindacapple.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/get-a-goal/

DailyWritingTips is an excellent resource for writers with a variety of useful pages including Word of the Day, Competitions, and Book Reviews. But the link I'm sharing this week is "The Best of DailyWritingTips in 2011," which includes the most visited posts for 2011 and includes such interesting tidbits as "7 Grammatical Errors That Aren't," and "50 Redundant Phrases to Avoid."

 http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-best-of-daily-writing-tips-in-2011/

Chuck Sambuchino (remember, Chuck is a speaker at the 2012 Oklahoma Writers' Federation Story Weavers Conference in May!) has an excellent blog, Guide to Literary Agents. A feature of that blog is "7 Things I've Learned So Far." This week's post is by author, Miranda Kenneally, and I found myself reading each one say, "Yeah! I like that one!" My favorite, however, was #4: My truth isn't everybody else's truth.
In the editing process, when someone questions something I've written, often my first thought is, "But that's really what happened." Seeing Miranda's #4 was like putting glasses on. It made me see more clearly, perhaps because it was through another author's eyes, that it doesn't matter if "it really happened," if I haven't made it convincing with my story.

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/7-things-ive-learned-so-far-by-miranda-kenneally

There's something about the new year that refreshes and inspires. I hope the links in this week's mashup help you get off to a good start in 2012!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

If you wait,

the only thing that happens

is you get older.

-- Mario Andretti