Monday, October 18, 2010

My own private Idaho - er - blog

Some things.

First, I've been reading blog advice lately, and one of the key things that successful author bloggers say is not to blog about yourself all the freaking time if you want to build a readership. LOL.

I have a million blogs and sites out there on the internet, including my main one, and many of those are diverse, with larger readerships, or hits from google. This blog is mainly for myself, to track my own writing progress (or lack of it), and for my fellow writing group members/friends to check in on to help keep us motivated.

So sadly, I probably won't be getting many readers to this particular blog, since it's a giant whine-fest. LOL. And that's okay. In fact, maybe that's a good thing. Maybe I need a semi-private corner to vent and angst and kvetch in.

Last Thursday night at my weekly writing session, I was able to get the first scene of Chapter Two drafted. Oh, it stinks, and I have a feeling it will continue to stink until I finish the book and go back with 70,000 more words of character and world building at my fingertips before I'll be able to turn it into a decent scene. I just don't know enough about the two characters yet and their dynamic to really get it out of generic blah land and into a tense, zippy phone call. I need to accept this and move on.

Which is terribly hard for me to do. Not only do I want to pick at it to death NOW until it's "perfect", I can't move forward because I didn't know enough about what was going to happen in the next scene. Like, nuts and bolts stuff, like details about the setting, the name of the joint the MC is heading to, etc.

I had some vague ideas, but they didn't seem fresh. But last night I spent some alone time thinking, and I think I solved the problem. I just need to flesh out some more detail and then hopefully the next scene will start playing in my head.

Lastly, I caved in and checked out a library copy of THE HUNGER GAMES, a dystopian YA novel which apparently is super popular. For those of you who haven't heard of it, here's the School Library Journal blurb about it from the book's Amazon page:

In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins's characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will definitely resonate with the generation raised on reality shows like 'Survivor' and 'American Gladiator.' Book one of a planned trilogy.


 I'm not a fan of dystopian anything, so I'm very reluctantly reading this book. I had it sitting around on my kitchen table for a few days, and finally cracked it open this morning. And so far it's living up to the buzz. Despite myself, I was drawn into the story in the first couple pages. Maybe not page one. But when author Suzanne Collins described Prim's cat, and the MC's history with it, I got interested despite myself. (I don't want to give the details here in case you haven't read it.) It's a short bit of reaction and exposition, but it surprised me, and made me very interested in the MC and her world. Which is a bummer. I was really hoping to dislike it. Sigh. We'll see if my interest holds through the rest of the book.

k.

3 comments:

  1. You just keep writing about yourself. :) I like following your journey. My goal in starting my blog was more or less the same thing - writing for myself and the critique group. There'll be time for more public blogging when we're published, right??

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  2. So nice to hear your thoughts. Keeps me moving.

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  3. It's heartening to see others have the same issues all us busy, creative moms have...and for pete's sake, we need to have SOME outlet to indulge in a little self-examination! That's the beauty of the internet; it's cheap (if not free!) to set up all kinds of 'store fronts' to market ourselves. Some can be public and purely commercial; others can be less formal and more intimate. So, write on, lady! Write on...

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