Wednesday Writer Workout Wii Tip

It's Wednesday. Are you moving? Everyday? Ok, me neither. But I'm trying. I aim for 4 days a week so that I move more days than I don't. I am noticing small changes. The pews at church don't hurt as much. I can stand more comfortably for longer periods of time. And I'm getting this little bump above my elbow that the doctor assures me is a triceps muscle. Now I'm focusing on the great divide, the ponderosa spread, the wide load – what I affectionately refer to as Writers' Butt. Believe it or not, I can minimized it, and maximize it, in all the right place with a simple step added to the Wii workout.


TIP: This tip works best when playing 9 holes of wii golf. In between holes, do 10 deep knee lunges, five on each leg. By the time you get to the last (ninth) hole, you'll have done 80 lunges! Believe me, you'll feel it the next day. And the next time you do it, it'll be worse, but I promise it gets better after that. You'll work muscles you didn't even know you had! Don't forget to stretch.


Now if I could just stop eating the kids' leftover pizza crusts.


¡Buen Provecho!

9/11

I remember.

Submit for Crit: Ms. Snark's

This is only a (beta) test :)

If you're looking for feedback on your work, here's a call for some of your more dialogue heavy words (250 to be exact) courtesy of the fabulous Ms. Snark's First Victim. If you haven't checked out her blog, get over there now. Many a writer has been picked up by an agent here, so polish up your WIP. Submission open tomorrow (9/7) at 9am EST. Here's the skinny:

Call For Submissions: Beta Testing Round

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 05:55 AM PDT

Okay, this is going to be fun!  (No, I promise!)

Michael Extraordinaire wants to be sure that everything's running smoothly by the time the Baker's Dozen submissions open (next month!).  So we're running a live test right here on the blog.

Best part?  It's still going to be a real critique!  So please only enter work on which you would like to receive feedback.

FUN THING NUMBER ONE:  This round is going to be a LOTTERY!  That is, everyone who submits will receive a lottery number.  Once the submissions close, the bot will randomly choose the winners.  These winners are the ones whose entries will be included in the crit round.

FUN THING NUMBER TWO:  Our submission web form is ALIVE AND WELL! So for this round, you will have the option of using email or the web form, whichever works best for you.  (We need to test widely, so please don't feel compelled to only use the web form.)

FUN THING NUMBER THREE:  Plain text in emails is no longer necessary!  When you receive your lottery number, you will also receive a link to preview your entry.  So you'll get to see exactly what it will look like BEFORE it goes live.  (If your entry is chosen, naturally.)

FUN THING NUMBER FOUR:  Italics will work in the web form!  Instructions are included in the form.

SUBMISSION ADDRESSES:

Email:  authoress.submissions(at)gmail.com (same as always)
Web form: msfv.thoughtbin.org

With me so far?  Yay!!

Here are the submission guidelines:

1.  Submissions will open tomorrow at 9:00 am EDT and will close at 3:00 pm EDT.  All entries will receive a lottery number.
2.  At the close of the submission window, the bot will choose 10 winning entries.  All winning entries will receive email notification.  Winning numbers will also be posted on the blog.
3.  The crit:  Talking Heads!  Please submit a 250-word excerpt from your novel (completed or in progress) that is heavy on the dialogue.  Please include a BRIEF lead-in sentence to help drop us into the scene.  (You will be allowed 30 extra words for this.)

The format:

EMAIL:

SCREEN NAME: (type it here)
TITLE: (type it here)
GENRE: (type it here)

(type your lead-in here IN ITALICS)

(type your 250-word excerpt here)

WEB FORM:

Follow the instructions on the web page.

So there it is. Go for it - you have nothing to lose and lots to gain. We'll talk more about the importance of critiquing, both giving and recieiving, another time. Until then...



¡Buen Provecho!

Wednesday Writer Workout: Wii!

Now that the kids are all back in school, and the lazy days of summer have come to a screeching halt, it's time for me to get moving again. Yes, it's so hot here in Phoenix, that we move as little as possible June through August. Sometimes into September. But my on-the-wrong-side-of-forty writer's body can't wait. So move I must.

As much as I believe in walking, the air here is awful. This summer's haboobs (it's a monstrous dust storm, but much more fun to say haboob) didn't help. And with high gas prices, driving to the mall just to walk is not doing my wallet any favors. Neither does the gym. My solution: I head to the Costco, stock up on AA batteries, and plug in the Wii.

You'd be surprised at what a good workout you can get from a video game. I prefer the original Wii Sports, which you can buy separately now for $20. First, I use my right hand to play Wii fitness, then a best three out of five tennis match, power hitting baseball, and finish up with a round of golf or ten frames of bowling. Next, I switch to my left and start all over again. The whole thing takes a good hour, and for the first week, my arms kill me. But I'm moving and feeling better. And discipline in one area (working out) spills over into another (writing). Now I'm ready to sit and write.

TIP: do not measure this workout on the scale. Muscle weighs more than fat. Use a measuring tape or how your clothes fit. I can tell it's working for me because now my shorts no longer cut off the circulation to my brain. Another writing plus!

Come move with me. If you don't feel better, I'll treat you to a zumba class.

¡Buen provecho!

¡TMI ay ay!

I've come to conclusion that my novel is a bad first date. You know, that date that gives way too much information up front and sends you running from the restaurant? The one you follow up with an uncomfortable text a few days later, if at all? I've been on that date. Heck, I've been that date. These days that text has been replaced by the rejection letters I've received for my book. Thankfully, that can be fixed.

Greater minds than mine have said that the first fifty pages of a first novel are more for the author than the reader and usually can be cut.

:::hanging head, raising hand:::

My bad habit tells me I have to give my reader all the information upfront so they can understand what's going on, why it's so important, and what to expect next. But half the fun of reading is DISCOVERY. I'll say it again: DISCOVERY.

Harry Potter wouldn't have been as satisfying if we knew that Snape (SPOILER ALERT) had loved Lilly so much that he was really protecting Harry all along. Nor Star Wars if we had known from episode one (the REAL one - for you youngsters, that would be episode four) that Darth Vader was Luke's father. Ok, that one's a movie, but it still works.

So I'm taking a good hard look at my first fifty pages. Maybe the history of the breaking of the world doesn't need to be there. Or how Wind, Water, Heat and Cold came to be. Or my main character's lineage. Yet. Giving all your information up front, while important for the writer to know, makes for a boring read. I not only want to hold the attention of my reader, but my agent, editor, and pubilsher as well. Even more so given that this is my first book.

But I got better at dating. So if I can get married, I can get published.

For more information on better beginnings, check out:
HOOKED by Les Edgerton, and
THE FIRST FIVE PAGES by Noah Lukeman

¡Buen Provecho!

Book Review: OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy. Mazel Tov to a wonderful read!

First of all, welcome back after what I hope was a wonderful summer for all! Be glad you weren't here: we are still hitting temperatures of 115 this week. Where ever you are, enjoy the weather - its got to be better than the Arizona desert.

Back to business.

I have a wonderful debut novel from a Phoenix author to recommend. Highly. OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy is about fourteen-year-old Ellie who was born to argue, especially with her beloved Zeydeh (Jewish grandfather). So speech and debate became her likely passion, until she meets a young man at speech camp with her same gifts and talents. Did I mention he was hot? Complicating the issue of first love is that she is at a Christian speech camp. As her Zeydeh says, "We've been arguing with Christians for two thousand years. You have to go to camp to argue more?" Furthermore, she's competing for a scholarship to a prestigious high school she desperately wants to attend and cannot afford. But when the scholarship's benefactor, the hot young man's grandmother, makes it clear that being Jewish is certainly not going to help her, Ellie must decide if she's willing to hide her Jewish identity, and outspoken Zeydeh, in order to get what she wants. Oy vey!


I loved this book! Amy Fellner Dominy captures the realistic casualness of having parents from two different backgrounds, when you don't strongly identify with one side over the other. I didn't have a Zeydeh, but I had a Tata (Mexican grandfather). I wasn't half Jewish like Ellie, but half Mexican. So, like Ellie, people couldn't always tell exactly who/what I was. Dominy expresses precisely what can happen when people assume you're something you're not, and how easy it is to allow them to, especially when you're afraid that you may be something they may not like. Or hate. The pressure, and temptation, to conform is so strong in teens (and, let's admit it, in adults, too) that this story is a tale for everyone. There are no stereotypes here, just complex characters interacting with one another. Ellie is a wonderfully realistic young teen. She knows what she wants and how to get it, but eventually realizes she can't live with that. And she shouldn't have to. I cheered for her at her big moment as will everyone reading it. OyMG is faced-paced, well told, funny, and poignant. And while you're being entertained, you just might learn a thing or two without even knowing it. So don't be a meshuggina, go get yourself a copy today.

Enjoy!

Choices: Death and New Life at Comicon

We make choices everyday. And each time, a little piece of us dies. Take heart: that death always results in new life. A small sacrifice so that another part may live and flourish. And no death is ever permanent. I learned that at, of all places, Phoenix Comicon.


Fifteen years ago, when my first child was born, I chose to quit work and devote myself to raising my new family.  No matter what choice I made at that time, some part would have died - if I'd chosen not to have kids, it would have been a different part; or chose to work after having kids, RIP to another part. There's no escaping death in choice. So with this huge decision came the unavoidable death. However, this part of me died not with sadness, but relief. For this part was tired, and it embraced, even celebrated, the rest.


For years after, this part of me, the social, working, adult-interacting, feedback-receiving part, laid so low, I forgot it was there. Until I worked Comicon.


The minute I donned the business casual, did my hair, put on some makeup, and reported for duty, this part roared back to life. It felt good, too, better than I can remember feeling in a long time.


Not the same 'better' as holding a newborn, or even cuddling with hubby on the couch watching our favorite show, but an older, different 'better'. A 'better' that everyone, especially a mom, should never feel guilty about enjoying. For one weekend, I did something I loved and was relatively good at. I was complemented, thanked, and asked to do more. I wasn't somebody's mother, somebody's wife, somebody's cook, laundress, driver, etc.


I was just.


Somebody.


These are the type of choices we all make, not just in life, but in writing as well. For us, for our characters. Our/their choices define who we/they are. And that's what's going to keep your readers interested. Don't be afraid of the hard choices: they're the most entertaining. Yes, you will lose something, but you may gain something else you didn't even know you wanted. A new life. And like notoriously back from the dead comic book characters, nothing dies forever.


I don't know if that part of me will ever get the chance to be revived again, so I'm just going to choose to be grateful that it happened at all. Thanks, Phoenix Comicon Guest Relations crew!


And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

PS Comicon was also a great workout - I lost five pounds! Now to keep it off...

PPS No were-jaguars spotted at Comicon. Maybe in the years to come :)