In search of a book...and finding more...

Needed to return stuff to Target, checked their book section (where I found the first in the series). Not there.

Decided I needed to stop by Victoria's Secret to see if they had my favorite sports bra back in stock, checked the bookstore on my way. Going out of business. (And VS didn't have the the bra.)

Discouraged.

Figured I should check B&N before actually going in, they had it in stock. Success!

After I paid for the book, I realized B&N is now offering a second part to their receipts: a "B&N Recommends" list. If you like this book, you may also like...[list five titles here]

Very cool. :thumbs up:

University, here I come!

First day of school! First day of school!

Need. Help. (Or just drop the idea altogether?)

It seems apropos that while I'm trying to figure out how the hell to write something longer than 100 to 5,000 words, Chuck Wendig over at terribleminds put together a post on creating a novel. Unfortunately, I'm stuck between numbers one and two...and it goes all the way to 25. Gulp.

Mulling over the possibilities: Unrest

This week's F3 challenge deals with the theme of "Unrest." I am surprised to discover I am having difficulty with this. Isn't "Unrest" pretty much the underlying theme of every story? Every life? There's always unrest, fear, tension, anxiety. Shouldn't I be able to translate the general anxiety of my everyday life into this? (Is my anxiety the reason for this "writer's block"? I fear I'm worrying too much about it...oh, the irony....)

I did manage to craft this, though. At least the imagery made me laugh (before I discovered that many, many others came to the same conclusion; damn you, Google, for popping my bubble).

I don’t watch the news anymore. Murders. Mayhem. Wars that don’t cease. That, or the fake-pretty anchors—robots?—talk about debt ceilings and S&P and recession 2.0, all stuff I can’t quite grasp. They are telling me I need to be afraid, but afraid of what? What does it mean for me if the government raises some ceiling? You're telling me I need to about the bureaucrats jumping around in Congress, raising the roof to some gansta-wannabe beat with their hands in the air, like they just don’t care?

Goal: Write Today

I suppose this is a form of procrastination. I want to write a little bit before school is back in session (Aug. 22). So I decided I'd use my self-help book, You! Can! Write! A! Novel!

Instead, I'm cruising Facebook and writing a blog post. Hey, a blog post is still writing, right?

Hmm, I don't think I'm buying that.

Writing a novel: How does one even begin?

I have this idea. Is it enough to write hundreds of pages about? I've only ever tackled short stories. They are so much nicer, neater. Quicker. Succincter. (Is that even a word?) (You know you have problems when you start using non-existent words.) (And multiple parentheticals.)

There's this book. A cheesy book. A do-it-yourself-and-get-rich-quick kind of book. It's called something like "You! Can! Write! A! Novel!" Okay, maybe I threw in some extra exclamation points. Whatever. You get the point. (Points?)

At the bookstore, I picked it from the shelf. My cheeks burning, I read the back cover. Intrigued, my eyes darted around the bookstore to see if anyone was watching as I furtively opened it to read a few lines. It was interesting. Interesting enough, anyway, that I snuck it between the other few books in my arms as I strolled--ever so nonchalant--to the checkout counter. I tried reading it that afternoon, but soon tired of the Take Action! Now! Pick Up Your Pencil! And Write! exhortations.

But that was before my idea. Now I actually have something to write about. (Maybe.)

I'm thinking about picking the book up again to see if its exercises and exhortations will actually prompt me to DO something with this possibly novel-length story. (Maybe.)

How about you--have you tried writing something novel-length? How did you do it? Did you use a cheesy self-help writing book? If so, which one? If not, why not?

Vacation

It's a little cliched, but I could use a vacation from my vacation. My son and I joined my significant other's extended family for a vacation in SoCal that included Disneyland, downtown LA, the beach, a wedding and a brunch at a beach house. Time to get back into the groove: I didn't write a single drop this summer.

"Helen..." has arrived!!

WOOO HOOOOOO!

Find her story here.