Lynn Raye Harris

There are tons of books for writers on the shelves today. You walk into B&N or Borders, and you’re inundated with how-tos. You want to write a fantasy novel, they got a book to tell you how. Mysteries? Yep. Romance–oh yeah. There are creative writing kits in a box, books of writing exercises, prompts, inspiration, etc. You can find out how to write poetry or how to write articles. There’s even a book on how to write in Paris.

The variety’s amazing, really, and I always get stuck browsing those shelves and deciding if there are any books I’d like to take home. Many of them are duplicating the same information, quite honestly. Some are a waste of money. I leave it to you to make up your own mind.

Here is a book I didn’t take seriously at first:

Why not? Well, you open it up and it’s full of graphics. In one case, there’s only one word on that fancy page. It’s silly almost. And yet, this book is fabulous! It took me a while to realize that, I admit. It also didn’t hurt that Professor Goldsberry is a local author and that he came to speak to our RWA chapter. He is a literary author and a University of Hawaii creative writing instructor and he did not, for even a second, look down his nose at the romance writers. I was impressed, not only with his attitude, but also with his no nonsense approach to teaching (and he didn’t like all those graphics either, but it wasn’t his decision).

The 101 rules are golden. It’s a fun book and it’s full of good advice. In light of the debate on suspense raging elsewhere (here and here), here’s a rule I stumbled across while rereading just today that made a lot of sense to me:

Rule #53: The first duty of the writer is to entertain.

An excerpt from the rule: “Readers lose interest with exposition and abstract philosophy. They’re here because they want stories. They want to see things. Be entertained. But they will feel cheated if, in the course of entertaining, you haven’t taught them something. Remember the great dictum of Horace, who said writing must ‘delight and instruct.’ But delight first.”

This is one book I keep close, if only for the inspiration that reading the rules provides. Check it out for yourself.

I’d rather be the windshield, but today has been a bug day. And it started out so good too! I was at my computer at 6:30AM, coffee in hand, ready to check out the news and some blogs, tidy up my inbox and answer some email, and then I was going to dive into my WIP.

It’s nearly 5PM and I haven’t even looked at the WIP. What the hell happened?

Other things, that’s what. First, I got sucked into the comments trail on a couple of blogs. I really should know better, but hey, sometimes you just feel like you have to say something. Then there was a question of grammar in the newsletter I edit, which entailed an email conversation discussing the finer points of forms of address.

Oh, and let’s not forget the rude moron with a complaint about the newsletter. Nothing to do with me or the content, but irritating enough to tick me off for a couple of hours.

Then there were the emails I had to answer, the ones I should have written and didn’t, and my column for the Aloha Chapter’s Words of Paradise. The column is due in a few hours. I finished, but it took longer than I thought because of the aforementioned distractions.

Best part of the day so far: when Mike walked in the door and hugged me. Think I’ll go read a book for a while. Maybe I’ll have a few minutes to get to the WIP later, but right now I’m just not in the right frame of mind.

Alison Kent has a great post today. What are you willing to sacrifice to write? Can you put in the 18 hour days that are often required, or would you feel deprived because you had to give up television or going out to dinner and a movie? Are you willing to devote your life to the dream, or would you regret the lost time?

It’s an interesting thing to think about. When I’m into a story, I can hole up like a hermit in a cave and be perfectly happy. I detest distraction. I don’t want to leave the house. I shower because my husband would protest if I didn’t. I get dressed, even though I could stay in my jammies all day. I get lost in the fictional world I’m creating.

One thing I absolutely stop for, even though I don’t want to: exercise. I am committed to jogging and lifting weights to stay in shape. It takes time out of my day, up to 2 hours when you consider warm up, cool down, and shower. But I keep doing it, knowing it’s good for me.

What have you given up to write? What do you refuse to give up? Think about it. The answers might surprise you.

[Forgot to say that R.J. Baker has been talking about the same thing over on his blog. The man just turned down a 6 figure day job offer to keep writing full time. Now that's dedication.]

North Shore waves. Tiny ones compared to what they can be in winter.

I used to have a lot of respect for Oprah. I used to think she was this extraordinary person with lofty ideals. Today, her image is a bit tarnished. Now I know she’s as motivated by the almighty dollar as much as the next person. It’s disappointing.

In an extraordinary reversal of her strident defense of the author whose book she catapulted to the top of the best-seller list, Oprah Winfrey said today she believed that the author James Frey “betrayed millions of readers” by making up elements of his life in his best-selling memoir, “A Million Little Pieces.”

She added that she believed “I made a mistake” when she said that the truth of the book mattered less than its story of redemption.

[...]

“I gave the impression that the truth does not matter,” Ms. Winfrey said. “I made a mistake.” To all of the viewers who called and wrote to her telling her she was wrong to allow Mr. Frey to maintain that his book reflected the “essential truth” of his life even though substantial details were falsified, Ms. Winfrey said, “You are absolutely right.”

Well, yeah, people complained. They emailed her, they wrote articles about her, they objected to being lied to. They objected to her defense of the liar. So now she has to reverse course. Her empire won’t collapse because of this. Hell, it wouldn’t have collapsed even if she’d continued to defend him.

I’d have been more impressed if she’d have confronted him on Larry King. Now, it smacks of backpeddaling. Damn, another icon ruined. I’ll just file her away with Santa and the Easter Bunny….. (And yes, I know I should have known better.)

These tips come from a book called The Pocket Muse by Monica Wood.

1. Don’t wait for inspiration; establish a writing habit.

2. Take time off.

3. Read voraciously.

4. Shut out the inner critic

5. Claim a space.

6. Claim some time.

7. Accept rejection.

8. Expect success.

9. Live fully.

10. Wish others well.

Which of these do you have the most trouble with? I’m working on incorporating them all, but I think I have more trouble with getting over rejection than with accepting the idea I got rejected. When writing, I probably don’t read as voraciously as I should. This is because I’m staring at the screen and trying to figure out what comes next. I’ll start reading many books, and won’t finish half of them.

And, oh my, number 9. I forget which day of the week it is when I’m into a manuscript. I’ve been known to lose an entire week (just ask my friend, who I briefly had convinced that he’d rushed a week when in fact I’d lost one). I’ve also been known to shed dress sizes during the manic phase of writing (I don’t mind that one).

Any other commandments you’d add?

We’ve all seen the quotes that tell us success in this business is about persistence:

What’s the difference between a published writer and an unpublished one? The published one didn’t quit.

Never, never, never, never give up. (Churchill)

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. (Edison)

Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent. (Sophia Loren)

I could go on and on with those, and in truth I do love to refresh myself from time to time with why it’s important to have strength of purpose. But, today, via Booksquare, comes an article on grit as a factor in success.

Young Tom Edison didn’t start out a superstar. His early teachers called him “addled.”

For decades, laws, governments, even popular will were stacked against the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. No way, people thought, would they ever change the way things were.

And so it was for Sister Mary Scullion, the scrappy nun from Northeast Philly who had a radical idea 30 years ago. In a nation as prosperous as ours, she thought, it was unacceptable to have even one homeless person on the street. Today, the programs she developed are a national model.

Is it all-brains-all-the-time that separates these achievers from the pack? Or is something else at work?

The difference likely is something Angela Lee Duckworth calls “grit,” which she defines as “tenaciously pursuing something over the long term.” That “something” can’t be something easy. To pass the grit test, the thing being chased must be “the highest challenge.” It’s all about passion.

Read the rest of the article here: Got grit? A Penn researcher who studies high achievers says it isn’t I.Q., grades, or leadership skills that leads to success. It’s good, old-fashioned stick-to-itiveness.

I’m reading some contest entries this morning, and shaking my head at some of them. Do people really not know this is a business? It’s about marketing, baby. You can’t suck me in with a good first sentence and then expect I’ll keep reading for 40 pages while you set up the background for me. None of us deserve to be published just because we write lovely prose.

And, oh yes, pot, kettle, black here. I have been guilty of this myself. Entice the editor/agent in with a good first page or two, even a first scene or two, and then when you’ve got them hooked, give ‘em all that backstory you’re just dying to tell. They’ll keep reading, right?

Wrong-O.

Here’s what I’ve read so far: a technically perfect first chapter, with beautiful turns of phrase and gorgeous prose–but NOTHING is happening! Nothing! It’s backstory, framed in one character telling the other one what’s happened and why. No hint of a conflict, no idea why I should care.

Next, a flawed first chapter with some really amateur grammar mistakes (misplaced modifiers, which can happen to the best of us, pronoun confusion, fear of commas, run ons)–but this chapter had conflict! It had drama. It rocked. I was totally willing to forgive the writer the mistakes because the idea was good.

And, an unbelievably good prologue and first scene that had me excited to keep reading. The prose in this one was the best of all. The story was awesome. Then, we change POV to another character and the bottom drops out. The author knew the character in the 1st scene so well, but doesn’t know the other character nearly as well. And it shows. We went from rocking and awesome to boring and plodding while I got an infodumped backstory as the character walked around. After that, I stopped for the day.

Don’t do this to yourself. Don’t set up that chapter, work so hard on the opening, and then think you can be a slacker once you’ve got the editor hooked. Ain’t gonna happen. Get the party started and keep it rolling deep into the night!

Guess I better go take my own advice…..

My poor honey was exhausted last night. He went to the set at 9 and didn’t finish until nearly 7. He had lots to share, but I’m not sure I processed it all correctly. Basically, they arrived, got into costume, got dusted (literally) and smudged up by the makeup people, got driven up to the set, and spent the rest of the day filming and refilming and refilming again. Every scene has to be filmed from several angles, so there was a lot of redoing the same things over.

But, he isn’t a medic. They took one look at my 6’2″ hubby and decided he’d make a good prison guard. So, he shoved people and looked menacing. He got called back for four scenes, so maybe one will make it into the show. In one scene, he said he’s coming down a tunnel, his prisoner in front of him, and behind him is Naveen Andrews (it’s pronounced Na-vaughn, apparently). In other scenes, he’s walking toward Naveen and they pass each other. I told him his back will probably get on tv.

They had a good time though. Naveen is a nice guy and posed with them for a group shot. Now, I have admitted to not watching the show. Mike doesn’t watch either. When his coworkers were pointing out the star, Mike had no clue who it was. When he showed me this photo, however, I said, “Wait a minute, that guy looks familiar.” Sure enough, he played the part of Kip in The English Patient. I LOVED that movie! I loved the romance between him and Juliette Binoche. When he takes her to the church and pulls her around on the ropes–ohmigosh! Love that.

Mike has watched that movie with me more than once and he still didn’t recognize Naveen. Sheesh. And I thought I was bad.

L to R: Mike Landry, Mike Harris (who is not standing at his full height), Naveen Andrews, Pete St. Luce, not sure who this guy is but I think he’s one of the cast members, Tony Audrey (kneeling)

Okay, maybe starred is the wrong word. In truth, the man has a walk-on as a medic. He is at the set right this instant, hobnobbing with television stars and learning why they are lost in the first place while I sit here with my morning coffee and do the usual. Blogging seems so, well, boring compared to the excitement going on over in the vicinity of Diamondhead.

It began like this: someone he works with has a daughter. At the daughter’s school one day, a few months ago, was an announcement about a casting call for LOST. They needed Nigerian soldiers. So the guy went. He got the part. They kept him on file.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. He tells my husband, “Hey, they need some white dudes in uniform.” So Mike and two coworkers head to the casting office during lunch one day. Apparently, they look the part, so the casting agent gives them a green light.

They get a call to come in on Wednesday for a fitting. Originally, Mike was going to kick down a door. It got changed to medic. Though these guys have their own uniforms, they cannot wear them on the show (official rank and command patches). This is a gov’t rule, not a television rule. In uniform, they represent the US Govt. The US Govt does not endorse products or tv shows. Not officially, anyway.

So, yesterday at lunch, Mike and his coworkers toodle off to the costume shop. They fill out forms that have their names, height, weight, shoe size, shirt size, pants size, etc. Then they are led through a maze of clothing. Mike said it was colorful, but messy. Washers and dryers along a corridor, racks and racks of clothes, and even the obligatory little lady with a tape measure around her neck.

My very WASP husband gets a uniform with the name Mendoza on it. His other coworker, equally as non-hispanic, gets a hispanic name too. The third coworker, the guy they are going to carry, actually got a uniform with his real name on it. (Our name is Harris; you’d think that would be common enough. But no. His coworker’s name is Landry–and they had a uniform in his size with his name. Too funny.)

They tried on the togs, everything was fine. Except Mike had to take his own combat boots today. Apparently, the ones in his size are being used already. And did I mention they got paid to try on clothes? The going rate is $124. How come no one ever pays me to try on clothes, huh?

I think the whole thing took less than an hour. They received a map to the set, were told to call between 8 and 9 last night to make sure they’re on for today, and that’s it (they were also told not to shave–they need to look scruffy). He called last night and was told to be there at 9AM. I’ve been having lots of fun teasing him about being a star. He told me not to talk to him, his people would get back to me. Ha!

There’s no guarantee that the scene he’s in will make it into the show, but if it does, he’ll be told which night it will air. (Is this the point where I confess I’ve never seen the show?)

Check in tomorrow for a behind-the-scenes report!