Statistically Speaking (Or Something Less Dull-Sounding)

Very first, thank you to Eric W. Trant for playing my game yesterday. While he was the only person who humored the whim, I also really liked what he wrote. Now I have this image of these two very different characters in my head and their interraction and...none of that stuff that happened when we did this in high school. So as thank you and an award for an awesome contribution, I will tell you go read and follow is blog (if you don't yet). I'm pretty sure I've already learned three new cuss words today, and that they will come in handy on Monday. But it's good reading aside from that, too.

So, I wrote that subject header up there like five minutes ago, and I honestly have no idea what I was going to say. My idea has completely poofed and evaporated and I am without witicism. I know that I'm running statistics at work right now. That's what I do. I poll the numbers to see what people's shopping habits are and to help companies figure out how to get them to spend even more.

Which reminds me. My Hansel and Gretel story will be up in Enchanted Conversation by the end of the month. My second (and highest) ever paying published short story ^_^ I'm pretty sure I can't retire off the profits, but it does mean I can splurge on coffee and dinner over the weekend.

Oh, here's a statistic for you. I heard this the other day. Supposedly, there are only 250 authors in the US who make their living writing only fiction novels.

I suspect there's more to the story than that, there's always more to the story when it comes to statistics. Did you know you can tell fascinating stories with numbers? It's true. But only if you're a good story teller. Which reminds me...I should see about finishing my edits on my novella today. I would love to call it 'complete' before November ^_^

Anything you'd like to wrap up before November comes and your new shiny consumes your soul for the next month?

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Turns Out I'm Self-Published

Let's play a creative writing game, shall we?

When I was in high school, my friends and I came up with a silly - but entertaining - game to keep ourselves from getting bored in class. Keep in mind, we were the brainy kids. Well, they were. I was the kid who was 200 out of 300 in my class, and my grades would have gotten me kicked out of the advanced and AP classes if it wasn't for the fact that my standardized test scores were consistently in the top 1% in the nation. (What can I say? I test well).

Anyway, this game. One person would write the beginning of a story. Not a lot. Half a page of handwriting. Then the story got passed to another person, whomever liked the game and was sitting next to you in class. That person had to finish the story - except they had to finish it with a 'twist'. If the prince and princess were falling in love, perhaps in act two the princess would turn out to be a chainsaw wielding psychopath. If the teenage boy was contenplating serial killing, in act two he might take up ballet instead.

At the end of my senior year, I had all of these stories in my posession. I suspect it's becasue I was the instigator and was almost always the writer of one half of the story. I typed them up, giving credit where credit was due, printed them out, and bound them. I even drew a cover that was hot pink cardstock (I didn't draw that bit) with a foot print on it, and the collection was called "Just Because". I gave it as a graduation present to everyone who had contributed over the last four or five years.

I still have one or two copies of that anthology sitting around, ensuring (in someone's mind, I'm sure) my place in published history for the rest of eternity.

So...wanna play a game? The rules are easy. I will post my opener below, you finish it. Except, your ending has to have a twist -- kinda like I described above. Post it in reply, or create your own blog post and post a link in your reply.

Why would you do this? Mostly because you want the challenge. It's not a formal blogfest or anything like that, just a way to pass the time if you've got a few spare moments. Make it as silly, immature, or goofy as you want. This is all about self-amusement.

The beginning (if you post a response in your own blog, feel free to copy and paste):
Once upon a time, there was a girl. She wasn't an ordinary girl, she was a faery-muse. When she fluttered to school in the mornings, the sun struck her wings, casting a reflection of rainbows off the irrdescence.

As fall approached the mornings were no longer bright enough to light her wings, leaving the whispy feathers dim in the pre-dawn. She was out and about on one such morning when the sound of silk flapping in the breeze caught her attention. Following the noise, she found herself hovering in front of a tend with more colors than her feathers in the most sparkling sun, and bigger than her house. Sleeping in a seat near the entrance was a boy about her age. He didn't have wings, but he had the blackest hair she'd ever seen.

Have at it. *Wanders off for more coffee*

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The Muse Has Left the Building and is Playing On the Tire Swing

I've mentally started this blog entry about ten times since yesterday morning. One draft is still sitting in my 'posts' list with no title. I don't remember any of those ideas now, but I do remember it felt like I'd be reaching to associate them with writing.

Oh, except the one about doing my hair. I could totally associate that with the craft :-P

A couple of days ago, some guy spammed a bunch of literary agents on Twitter with a link to the chapter of his first novel. Most blocked him as far as I could tell - you could visit his page and see that he'd spent the entire morning sending these links out. One was kind enough to reply and tell him to please query first and wait for a request for a partial. He said 'Okay, thank you very much!'

1. How many people did you just alienate in spamming them with unsolicited material? Publicly? So that everyone could see you were doing it?
2. The agent who replied - that wasn't an acknowledgement that you did it right. She didn't ask you do to any more than she asks of anyone who wants to query her.

I've heard lists are good in blogs. Things that are easy to scan for the distracted reader. I prefer a fast moving voice that's easy for me to follow, but that's just me. I've also heard that you should always end with a question, because readers like talking about themselves. I dunno...how you do you feel about the whole question aspect of things?

My thoughts are all a flutter this morning. It's a nice feeling. Yeah, having my brain go haywire is nice ^_^ If I could find a drug - you know, anti-depressant or something - that would make my brain go-go-go during the day, and then just shut off from around 10 pm to 6 am, I would be a happy Loklette.

Like it? I just came up with it. If I still think it's clever this weekend, maybe I'll do something with it. (Update: Five minutes later I no longer thing it's clever. Back to the religion drawing board)

What does any of this have to do with writing? My brain wants November to get here. My imagination can't believe I make it wait to spew itself onto paper. I mean really, who waits to write an idea just because it's not November yet? My thoughts and feelings and mental images are screaming at me "GO PLAY!". But I'm relishing the next (checks calendar) 11 days as day dreaming time. I get to play mentally before I write. And hope that it looks at least a quarter as good on paper as it does in my head ^_^

I'll finish with a list (because all the 'how to blog' sites tell me I need lists. Bullet points. Things that stand out. And I like ul and ol tags). And the questions to these answers have been sealed in a mayonaise jar on the steps of Funk & Wagnalls since noon today.

• Caramel Machiato
• Evanescense
• Too many data base queries
• Sexy male gaming avatars
• Playing mind games with gods and angels.

What's got your mind in a flurry?

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Media Fast

I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to do NaNo next month. Two jobs ago, I never had a problem finding time to write. I went to work and during my lunch hour or down time, I typed stuff out. Working at home kind of killed that for me. I got tied to my laptop and Blackberry and couldn't pull my gaze away from work, even after hours.

Not that there technically were after-hours. Three months later I'm only just recovering from emergency in the middle of the night syndrome. And this isn't like a doctor or something being on call. This is like working with insomniacs that expect people to be awake when they are and answer their e-mails at 1 am. But...different rant for a different blog ^_^

Anyway...I've had a hard time getting back into the habit of writing again now that I have free time again. And I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to motivate/force myself to do this. And then on the way to work I had a thought, and when I stumbled on this blog post, I decided I must be on the right track.

My brilliant idea/decision? Well...I wake up early most mornings. Not like uber early, but I'm usually up before six. I don't have to be to work until 7:30 or 8. You might think that's not a lot of time, but I don't have kids. I don't have to get anyone ready for work except me. I have to refill the food and water bowls for the cats and make coffee. Work is ten minutes away.

That means I can spend up to an hour just sitting around staring into space each morning. I disguise this by refreshing Facebook and Twitter every thirty seconds, and playing solitaire. I call it my 'wake up' time.

It might be a perfect time to write, except...did I mention the website refreshes? My solution. Instead of sitting around in a daze for an hour every morning, I'm going to get off my butt, drag my laptop to the coffee shop, and write for that hour. If you're thinking "But most coffee shops have wi-fi, not exactly a media fast" - I have that bit figured out. I'm too cheap to pay for wi-fi ^_^ So I just won't go somewhere that it's free.

I have my headphones, my laptop, and my Open Office...and I'll write my new shiny out. Maybe I'll even start doing the same thing during lunch breaks.

How do you find the time and space to focus when you need isolation in order to write? Or are you one of those fortunate few who can write regardless of surrounding?

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