I'm a winner!

Happy Monday, all. Did you have a nice weekend? It was a lovely, albeit slightly blustery, weekend here in MN. Basically this just means I spent all day Sunday raking and bagging leaves (10 bags total) and capped off my efforts with a yummy pot of turkey chili, a horrendous Vikings game, and an early trip to bed.

Right now, I'm planning something for next week and it's going to be big. Epic. So amazing that I'm already kind of freaking myself out, but that's okay. It will all be worth it. All will be revealed in time. But you know how the Muppets would run amok, waving their hands above their heads while screaming AAARRRRGGGGHHHH? Yeah, that's me right now. In a good way. Stay tuned.

On Saturday, I attended the Twin Cities Book Expo. It's in its 11th season but clearly I wasn't paying any attention because this was the first I've heard of it. My writing group met at the ungodly hour of 8:30am for breakfast, then carpooled to the expo.

Some highlights (more to come on these, hopefully soon):

• A mystery writer's panel including Erin Hart
• Oodles (and I do mean oodles) of hand outs from small publishers
• A jolt of creative writing time while shoving a string cheese and chocolate chip muffin down the hatch for lunch. (What diet?)
• And last, but not least, seeing this guy speak:

source

Why yes, that is Kevin Sorbo, aka Hercules. And no, thankfully he did NOT wear that ensemble to his talk. 

All jokes aside, I was impressed. I went into the little auditorium unsure of what to expect. Was this going to be some arrogant actor telling us how his life was so hard? 

Well, color me a fool. He was there to promote his new autobiography, "True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal--and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life." You can learn more, here.

Not only was he an articulate and down-to-earth speaker, he was likable. He was funny. And yeah, he's not unattractive, either. :) If the book wasn't so expensive to buy on site and the line so long for an autograph, I would've considered it. Who knew? I'm a closet fangirl!

But Trish, I can hear you asking. What did you win?

Ah, yes. I happily registered for any drawing I could enter since I think the idea of free books is pretty darn cool. Today I had an email from Llewellyn|Midnight Ink|Flux. Looks like I won a set of TRUE GHOST books along with THE GHOST HUNTER'S FIELD GUIDE.

Just in time for Halloween, sweet! Um, maybe here is where I should mention that I really hate to be scared. I'm not sure if these books are the right fit for me, but I did just say I liked free books. I'll try to read a bit of them and report back, but only until I have my first scary dream. Then I'm out.

And sad... I just found out Brian Selznick is speaking around here at 6pm tonight. I have no chance of making it even though I am fascinated (and slightly intimidated) by his new book, Wonderstruck. If you've read this, please let me know what you think. The book is STUNNING and makes me want to read it immediately.

Link insanity

(Right now I'm listening to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue on Classical MPR and couldn't be more pleased. What a great tune for a Friday morning!)

For those of you that use Google Reader or some other service to see all the new posts of blogs you're following, what's the "magic number" of unread blogs that stresses you out? For me, it's anything over 300. If I have over 300 unread blog posts, I know I have a serious problem.

That was my deal yesterday so instead of chatting on gchat or playing on Facebook, I simply started reading my unread blogs. And wow--so many interesting posts!

Here are some cool things I read/learned...

Blogging in General

There have been many posts recently discussing blogging in general. Has blogging peaked? Is there blog fatigue? Do you blog for your potential readers or do you blog about the writing process? Or both?

Anne R. Allen's post has great links to some big industry perspectives including Janet Reid, Kristen Lamb, and Nathan Bransford, whose blogs I strongly recommend clicking through to read.

One of the better posts I read on the topic was from Roni Loren over at Fiction Groupie. You can read her awesome response in The Post In Which I Rant About Blogging, Platforms, and the Pressure on Writers. Can I get an AMEN!?

If you're like me, you'll want to arm yourself with a bag of peanut butter M&Ms as you gnash your teeth trying to figure out what to do next. Personally, I really like what Anne Allen said:

"If you're blogging because you like it and you enjoy connecting with other writers and potential readers, then by all means keep it up. And don't listen to marketing experts or worry about your stats."

To wrap up blogging, I also enjoyed (and highly recommend) (and may or may not be guilty of the 3rd point) Sophia Chang's Top 3 Things Well-Meaning Bloggers Do That Drive (Me)Readers Nuts. Word verifications drive me banana crackers, people. I bet they do the same to you.

Character "stuff"

• 14 Do's and Don'ts for Introducing Your Protagonist by Anne Allen
• Seven Character Types That Build Your Story by Adventures in YA and Children's Publishing
• Janice Hardy has some massively handy-dandy links on the left side of her blog. But her post on Do You Feel It? Plotting With Emotional Layers is equally helpful if you're in the character doldrums like yours truly. 

Writing and NaNoWriMo-related posts

• How to Make Magic Real by Cheryl Reif. Something about this post really resonated with me. It seems so simple, and yet, it isn't (at least for me).
• To Plot or Not to Plot -- this is an 8-part series on plotting and story structure written by Ingrid over at Ingrid's Notes. Very helpful and easy to follow, possibly because there are pictures. 
• My friend Zeki (check out her new blog, Unique Ink) pointed me to this Narrative Structure Cheat Sheet by Alexandra Sokoloff over at Murderati. Right click, print.

New Bloggers on the Block
Four writer friends of mine have started new writing/life blogs. If you have a moment, please stop by and share some love!

• Crit groupper, wine provider, and friend Eromese Joyce has started a new blog called Erojoy's Writer's Block. He latest blog on why we write stemmed from our crit group last week. What a discussion...
• YA writer and fellow road trip partner in crime, Adrianne Russell has a new blog called The Writer's Republic. And she jumped right into the blogging world--look for her upcoming MonsterFest (hosted by none other than Sommer Leigh at Tell Great Stories) post on Oct 27!
• I mentioned Unique Ink above, but I'll do it again here... Zeki is a sci-fi/fantasy writer and zombie lover (who I think has a penchant for Steampunk, as well) who is quite possibly the most excited person for NaNo that I know. Read some of her earlier posts for an idea of her world building!
• Luke Nolby is a fellow critique partner and if he wasn't so dang nice and smart, I'd kinda hate him for being only 20 and already having a story that is ready to query. Luke is currently spending the semester in Africa and blogs about his experiences at This Is Africa.

And finally, because I could always use more hope, Natalie Whipple's post on hope made me happy. Thank you, Natalie, for the authorial warm fuzzy.

And finally, I like to blog, but I don't like the look of my blog. Maybe it's the blue. Maybe it's the font. Maybe it's the layout. I'm not sure. But I do know that I'm open to suggestions and tips! Bear with me over the next few weeks as I try out some new things.

19 more days!

Holy moses... 19 more days until NaNo!

I've been so busy shopping planning for my IRE trip that my book outline has been lovingly placed on the back burner. And that doesn't bode well for this plotter. I need to have a better idea of what is going to happen and when so I can add in the proper clues and hints and foreshadowing where needed.

(Sidenote: I just love how I made that sound like I've perfected the art of foreshadowing... HA!)

I mentioned in a previous blog that I was trying to do this year's NaNo with Scrivener. So far, that's been working. Last week, I sat down with index cards to order the scenes I've been flirting with. I listed the scene in one sentence and at the bottom of the card I wrote SETS UP: xyz, where I listed what each scene or information revealed.

I then sat down with the cards and laid them out on my desk in a somewhat logical order. A large part of me wanted to pull up a Word doc and begin the outline process there, but I remembered Scrivener had a feature specifically for the index card process called the Cork Board.

I typed up all the cards I had, using the colored tacks to designate if the cards were points of conflict, scene ideas, or questions to consider, first.

Once I got all my cards entered, I kept making new ones. Adding cards was a breeze and I was soon on a roll. I especially enjoyed having a color (green, I think) specifically for questions that I would need to answer or situations I would need to introduce before the next plot point. And if something needed to move? No problem, I simply dragged the card to its new spot in the story.

Scrivener is pretty easy to use, but I am by no means a pro. I'm still fairly confident that I'm only using about 30% of its power, but each time I use it I become more comfortable. 

Next on the to do list? First, find an ending that I'm happy with (though I know I'll likely change it later). Then I need to do some real character development. I might interview them. I might just fill out questionnaires about them. Or I may mine through Margo's now dark Urbanpsychopomp blog or the ever-informative Wicked & Tricksy blog for past posts on how plot your novel before you write it. Like this one. Margo, FTW!

What If?

Well, now I did it. I pulled the trigger on a big trip.

Not just a long weekend, but 9 days alone in Ireland to explore the far reaches of the northwest.

This trip will likely cost a little too much money. And maybe it was a bit reactionary. And yeah, I'm scared as hell that I'm spending all this time and money to go somewhere drastically far away to find something within me and that I might come back as emotionally lost and confused as I am now.

But What If...

What If I go and ignore my fears?
What If I park myself on a rock overlooking the Atlantic Ocean without another soul in sight, and write? Or laugh? Or cry? Or do it all at once?
What If I'm lonely?
What If I need my friends or someone to talk to and share my adventures with?
What If I want to stay and never look back?

What If 9 days in Ireland is exactly what my soul needs to remind myself that once I get out of my own way, anything is possible?

And what if it's awesome?

Okay, yes, I am perhaps a bit too ambitious because this lovely 9 day extravaganza just happens to be in November, when I'm supposed to be furiously writing for my life. But who likes to find a challenge and then up the ante? This girl.

I'm planning on 3 nights in Donegal and another night or two in Sligo/Yeats country. (C'mon, inspiration! Don't fail me now!) The other nights will be on a wing and a prayer, ending wherever the road takes me.

I'm eager to check out the NaNoWriMo threads to see if there are any writing groups in Donegal. I realize it's a stretch, but again--What If?

If anyone know of bloggers or writers on the northwest coast of Ireland, please let me know. I know getting my story written while relaxing on vacation will be a struggle. I'd love to find fellow writers, if only for an afternoon of camaraderie!

In the meantime, it's back to the WIP outline and character sketches. I have 5 weeks from today (holycrapfreakout) to get my story as prepared as possible so when I'm sitting in the airport or kickin' back in my not-so-comfy coach seat in my metal chariot in the sky, I will have my story map ready to tackle.