How’s Your Book?
24 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Writing Tags: conversations, writing
“How’s your book?” This is a question that I get a lot, mostly from acquaintances. (They remember that I write, and it’s an easy small talk type of question.) The actual query itself isn’t strange, although the wording is a bit odd. It’s not “how many have you sold” or “how far are you on your manuscript, just “how’s your book?”
The vagueness makes sense for people who don’t know me well, however, and I generally know what they’re asking. My current answer is “My first book has sold over 30 copies as an e-book, and I’m about to send out queries for the second one.”
Since this is usually part of a simple conversation, that’s about all I say. People who are really curious will ask further questions, and people who are just being polite are happy to move on to another topic.
Isn’t it interesting how writing can be a conversation starter?
The Benefits of Sleep
23 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Adventures Tags: dog, sleep, work
It’s amazing how you notice something when it’s missing more than when you have it.
Last night, I got very little sleep. First because I was fired up last night (and not in a good way, which is why I didn’t blog) and it took a while to fall asleep. Then, once asleep, I only got a few hours before my sweet old dog woke me up because he didn’t feel good.
That’s right, I got to be dog nursemaid for about 4 hours last night instead of sleeping.
It’s amazing how much I notice the lack of sleep, and mostly in ways that are not related to being tired. I was antsy at work today, and overly stressed about a program this morning. Parts of me, like my shoulders and ankles, are sore in unusual ways. I’m more scattered than usual, and easily distracted.
To be honest, I am a diurnal person, and I require my sleep. Tonight I think I’ll turn in early, to see if I can recover from my nocturnal adventure last night.
Perhaps tomorrow we can get back on track with writing-related posts. 
Writing Like a Scientist
21 May 2012 3 Comments
in Writing Tags: science, The Dragon Pendant, writing
You have to be in the right frame of mind to write scientifically. When someone is writing up a thesis or dissertation or scientific journal entry, they usually have a lot of material to review. That tends (at least in my experience) to get your mind in the right place for the scientific language and concepts to flow.
When you are faking a scientific paper, however, you have to find an interesting balance. You need to write scientifically, but make up everything you are writing at the same time. Thus, you must tap both the creative and the logical parts of your brain simultaneously.
I started writing a fake scientific article to accompany Dragon back when I first wrote Dragon, but never finished it. Somehow (I’m going to blame it on my reading science non-fiction a lot lately) I managed to find the balance. Tonight I finished the draft of the excerpt of an article that I want to include as an appendix to Dragon.
It was actually kind of fun. Want a sample? Here you go:
An excerpt from “Genetic analysis of the lack of hybridization in interracial crosses of Khai” by Spencer O’Neal, Ph.D. (Columbia University)
“This characteristic of the Khai genotype to remain intact between generations may also shed some light on the handful of documented cases (Rams and Rams, 1994; Reyes, et.al, 1976; Barnil, 2004) of interspecies breeding producing viable offspring.
“The mechanics of the interspecies breeding have not been studied in great detail, but Petri and Frees (1981) did an extensive review of the known literature of these crosses. Any offspring of a Khai/human cross would be given a haploid chromosomal set from their human parent and a diploid chromosomal set from their Khai parent.”
That’s just a little taste, but it gives you the flavor. What do you think?
Consolidating the Bookshelf
20 May 2012 3 Comments
in Reading Tags: books, reading
Awhile ago I did some purging of my stuff. I felt the need to simplify my life, so I got rid of a bunch of stuff, including books. I ended up with enough books left that I still needed both bookcases to hold them all, albeit with a few empty shelves. Most of what I kept were books that I figured I would read again.
I reconsidered that statement last week. If I was honest with myself, I realized that many of the books I kept were not going to get read again any time soon, if ever. So I went through and pulled a bunch more books off the shelves. I’ve even picked three to read a second time with the intent of getting rid of them once I’ve read them.
I’m glad to say that, with the exception of my school yearbooks, every book I own now fits on one bookshelf, with a little room left for a few additions.
Getting rid of books is never easy, but I’m glad that they all fit in one place now. 
Splitting Chapters
18 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Writing Tags: chapters, revising, The Dragon Pendant, writing
Most of the expanding that I did in Dragon ended up in one new chapter and two existing ones. The new chapter meant re-numbering, which wasn’t a big deal, but the existing chapters are presenting a small challenge.
They got longer. One of them gained over 2000 words! I’ve decided that these long chapters need to be split into smaller chapters, similar in size to the rest of the book.
The shorter of the existing chapters was easy to split – there was a natural spot in the action that allowed for a brief, intriguing pause. (I always like to leave the chapter so the reader wants to move on to the next one.) I haven’t taken a look at the last (and now much longer) chapter, but I know that it will probably end up being at least two chapters when I’m finished. Again, there are some natural pauses in the story that allow for an easy split.
Revising is always so interesting.
Just Get Up and Do It!
17 May 2012 2 Comments
in Writing Tags: characters, NaNoWriMo, writing
Recently I’ve been considering starting a workout routine. (By considering, I mean giving it a passing thought every 4 or 5 days, but still.) I am usually a planner, and I tend to put off working out because I need to find a good potential routine, set up a schedule, etc. and so on.
When I got home from work today, I decided to forget that mess and just go work out. I took a lap of my (long) block, mixing jogging and walking, and it felt good.
Why does this apply to you, you ask? How is this remotely writing related? Pause for a moment, and you’ll get it.
A lot of people spend a lot of time planning to write. They work on involved character descriptions and backgrounds. They research or create technologies, magic, places, and things. They outline the entire plot before they start. These are all great things, but they can bog you down and keep you from the actual writing.
Today’s moral, lovely readers? For just one day, stop talking about writing. Stop planning to write. Stop developing. Just write!! It might not be good, it might all need to be heavily revised or even trashed, but it can be liberating to simply put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and get some story on paper.
This is also the idea behind NaNoWriMo, but it bears remembering throughout the year as well.
Query Letters
16 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Writing Tags: Leigh Townsend, novel, query letters, The Dragon Pendant, writing
Last night my brain started drafting the query letter for Dragon.
This is a big deal, because for Butterflies, I agonized over the query letter. Granted, the part I was working on is the easy part about my writing experience, and not the hard story summary section. Either way, it means that I’m getting to a point where I’m ready to start sending Dragon out into the world.
The editing is not quite done, of course, and I won’t actually be sending out any queries until the second draft is finished. There’s no harm in getting the letter ready, though. I’ll also need to sit down with my Writer’s Market book and start selecting agents to query, but that comes later.
