I was going to share photos of my little part of the world today, as it is all snowy and pretty (my tramp to the Library on Monday was through knee-high drifts when I crossed the field), but I think I will forgo that and simply write about what’s been going on overall.

You see, this has not been a great week. It started out okay; the snow meant the buses weren’t running on Monday, but I got some exercise walking to the library. But on Wednesday I noticed that one of my guinea pigs, Isabella, wasn’t looking too well, and I began Thursday by holding her as she passed. Then yesterday, the cat proceeded to leap onto a hot burner on the stove.

The cat is fine, but we’re down to one guinea pig.

I hope you understand, then, when I tell you that I haven’t gotten much writing done this week. It’s too bad, too, because I’m at the point in We’ll Write You an Opera You Can’t Refuse where the whole thing becomes really interesting and we start to see how things got to the point they were at in the opening scene.

I did begin the first read-through of Tumbling, which is the YA novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2008. This is the one that’s about a 14yo autistic girl who has to testify in the trial of the man who sexually abused her. Fun times all around. No, really, I quite like this character. She’s sarcastic and has a solid idea of who she is and what she needs, and she’s not afraid to tell her friends when they’re being stupid. I am doing this read-through in Word with Track Changes turned on. I’m also putting in little comments here and there about things I need to change, things I’m questioning, and what I need to research. When I’m finished with this, I’ll do my research, and then I’ll open the yWriter file and the Word file and start going through the yWriter file, making full changes, rewriting things here and there, and incorporating the information I’ve gleaned from my research.

Oh, and before I started working on Tumbling, I did an edit of Creation. Now I need to get some thoughts on it before I can do the second edit. But I’m not in a hurry with this; I like to space out my edits so I’m not too attached to each version.

I haven’t heard back yet about Fortresses Crash to the Sea. I will be posting when I hear back, for sure. I have started to look around for a market that might be interested in The Sacrifice of Isaac, but I’m a little concerned that my retellings of Bible stories may not find a home outside of a collection of my short stories. We shall see.

So, I can’t show much progress with my writing this week. But some things have progressed, nonetheless. And other things will progress more this week. Life just gets in the way sometimes.

Alas,  my little story was not accepted. I did receive a personal note from the editor, though, and it was, overall, a positive reaction – the story was just not right for that market. I turned around and found another market that looked promising, taking a hint from something the editor said in her kind rejection note, and sent it off. Still waiting to hear back on that one.

In the meantime, I’ve finished the most recent edit of The Power and sent it off to a few friends for review. I warned them that it needs a lot of work, that it may not make tons of sense, and that while there are strong evangelical Christian overtones to the story, I took a lot of theological liberties. I asked them to let me know what they like and what they don’t like, where they get confused and need more information (plot holes, ahoy!), and which characters need to be fleshed out more. After working on this thing for over ten years, I can’t tell anymore.

We’ll Write You an Opera You Can’t Refuse is coming along slowly. It started out well, but then I hit a wall. I know what’s supposed to happen in the scene but I can’t find the words. That is so frustrating! So right now, scenes that normally would get written in one sitting need at least two. This means that the story is probably not going to be finished before the end of the month, and it is putting me behind on my stated writing goals for the year. Already, I’m behind, and I’ve barely started! (Not helping matters is the fact that the next story on the list is also at a difficult-to-write place.) I will press on, though, and hopefully I’ll be able to catch up later this year.

I keep track of all of my writing projects in a table in a database my wonderful fiance made for me using MySQL. Hooray for free programs! I note the title, genre, hoped-for word count, and then the date I start writing, the date I finish the first draft, and the word count of the first draft. I also track the dates and word counts for two edits and the final draft. I have my original list in a spreadsheet in OpenOffice… and while I was updating it last week, I discovered that I had missed adding a couple of pieces to my database.

This means that I have a short story to edit into final draft this week. I’ve also moved up the next piece on my list for first edit from February to January – might as well keep working on these things. If all goes well with the final edit story, I’ll have another piece to submit next month.

So I keep working. Pushing through writer’s block isn’t easy, but it’s not really all that bad. Basically, I just keep trying. I sit down day after day, read over what I already wrote, remember what I planned to happen next, and try to find the words I need. If I write just one word, I’ve succeeded.

First, the big news: I actually submitted Fortresses Crash into the Sea to a journal. I will report back on that when I hear from the editor. Forever Yours is going to be incredibly difficult to find a market for. I have a suspicion that it’s too religious for some markets and too controversial for others. That’s what I get for following ideas.

Following ideas has gotten me into some hot water in other ways, too. Remember that story I wrote about last week, We’ll Write You an Opera You Can’t Refuse? Well, I’m not done yet, but it’s turning out to be quite the ride. I’ve had to research Italian first names, Italian first names, and Italian operas and composers. I’ve had to research timpani music. Did you know that there are actually concertos and symphonies written for solo timpani with orchestral accompaniment? Some of them require seven or eight timpani to one musician! Of course, I’m no percussionist – the closest I’ve come is playing shakers and tambourine in band for church. This could cause a problem, if I let any of the scenes be about the playing of the instruments. So far, so good.

In editing news, I’ve now got two picture books that need a final edit and an illustrator. Or maybe an agent. Whatever. I need to figure out what to do with them. And The Power is going apace. I deleted a whole bunch of scenes out of it today, and that could easily cause problems for people, but this edit is primarily about making sure I get rid of the stuff that’s really bad. Once I’m done, I’ll have to find someone to read it and tell me where they need more information and where things don’t make sense, so I can make sure I add the right scenes.

I say that following ideas causes problems, but really the main problem is needing to write the stories based on the ideas. Ideas niggle and wiggle and want to come out. And trust me, come out they do. Each of the four named stories in this post was borne of a different idea:

1. Fortresses Crash to the Sea is based on a song of the same name, by a now disbanded Christian rock band based out of Calgary. The imagery evoked by the music and the lyrics gave me the idea for the fairy tale I wrote.
2. Forever Yours is, at its most basic, about what people do when the foundations of their lives are shaken in some way. The triggering idea was the question of what would happen if the Roman Catholic Church decided to allow priests to marry.
3. We’ll Write You an Opera You Can’t Refuse is about the musicians’ mob, which, to my knowledge, doesn’t exist. The conversation that gave me the idea was actually about moving a set of timpani from the concert location back to the rehearsal location after Remembrance Day, but something in the way things were said made me think of contraband timpani, and, well, the rest is history.
4. The Power is basically about finding oneself and refining and depending on one’s faith in God. The idea behind it has to do with the power of Holy Spirit, the reality of the supernatural (i.e., angels and demons), and how people respond to the gifts they are given. I definitely take liberties with accepted theology in this story, but there are reasons for those liberties, and I made each choice purposefully.

Stories start with ideas. I dare you to follow those ideas and see where you end up.

Maybe fingers to keys?

I am going to try to update here weekly with information about my current projects. Not too much information – just enough to whet your appetite.

Currently, I am attempting to write the first draft of a short story called We’ll Write You an Opera You Can’t Refuse, which is a farce about the musicians’ mob. The idea was born at a band rehearsal back in November 2009, and the title came from a fellow Municipal Liaison (ML) over on the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) web site after I shared the idea with them. All I can really tell you right now is that it involves a valuable set of timpani, and I may have to listen to an opera before I finish writing the story.

I am also working on the “first” edit of my YA novel The Power, which is about a girl who can see angels and demons. This book may never be finished, but I refuse to give up on it. I wrote two of the chapters as short stories when I was in high school. Then, in university, I fleshed out the characters, added a whole lot of story, and wrote a 98-page novella. (I forget how many words it was then.) It’s been edited before, but this time I’m really having at it, cutting scenes and laughing at the tragic parts as I read them and tighten the prose. When this draft is done, I’ll have to find some poor soul to read it and tell me where I’m missing information and where the writing and/or plot is weak. Right now, though, I’m enjoying getting to know my characters again.

I just finished my second edit of a picture book called Lullabye. It’s very short, just a sweet melody to use to sing a toddler to sleep at night. There’s a tune, and I’ve written that, as well. Once I’m sure the text is in final draft, I’ll try to find an illustrator (I do already have someone in mind, of course) and a publisher. Or maybe an agent first. We’ll see. I need to research how to break into children’s books.

The next second edit will be Ryan’s Song, another musical picture book. I wrote the first version of this one way back when I first started working with autistic children. I’ve fleshed it out and written out the melody. I need to have another pass at the words, then it’ll be at the same stage as Lullabye.

And, finally, I have two short stories that are ready for submission. Yes, that’s right, people, I have writing that might get published! I just have to do my market research and gather my courage and send things off.

Forever Yours is a 3,000 word story about the decision of the Catholic church to allow priests to marry. The main characters are a young Catholic priest and the woman he would have married had he not been destined for seminary. It explores their emotions and reactions to the news.

Fortresses Crash to the Sea is an original allegorical fairy tale about a princess who shuts herself away from the world in order to avoid being hurt.

I am hopeful that I will finish the first draft of We’ll Write You an Opera You Can’t Refuse this week, and when I write next week’s post I will be able to tell you all about the next project I want to finish. My goal this year is to finish the first drafts I’ve got sitting on my hard drive, so that next year I can start working on the other ideas I have waiting in the wings.

I also want to keep working on my editing; I want to get as much as I can done so that I have more finished pieces to submit.

And, of course, I am going to force myself to submit my final drafts. If it’s done, it needs to go out into the world. I am really hoping that 2010 will see me adding at least one fiction publication credit to my resume.

How did you discover your favourite author?

I found Robin McKinley when I borrowed Deerskin from a friend. I wound up keeping her copy for so long that I eventually just bought her a new copy.

I found Orson Scott Card when my aunt, who was living in Salt Lake City at the time, gave me Buffalo Girls for Christmas. It took a few years, but I did eventually read it, and I followed that up with Song Master and Ender’s Game.

But Charles de Lint… that was a roundabout discovery, to be sure.

What I recalled, until I started the search today, was that I had read Tam Lin when I was a young teen. I loved that book. I read it when we were on summer holidays, visiting my cousins in Ontario. They were in Canada on furlough; their parents are missionaries in Africa. We went to the library at some point, and one of them let me use their library card to borrow the book. I did finish it before we left, though it was a very thick hard cover.

All I really remembered of the book was that I found it in the ‘D’s. That and the cover art.

Until today, I was convinced that Tam Lin was the first de Lint novel I read. I was wrong.

As it turns out, Tam Lin was written by Pamela Dean. Now that I know the name of the actual author, I’ll have to see if I can order it in. The book is, however, a part of the Fairy Tales series, edited by Terri Windling. Each book in the series is a retelling of a fairy tale, written by a different author. Given my fascination with fairy tales and their retellings, I am somewhat enamoured with the whole idea. I found some others in the series via the cover art, and I own both Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose and Patricia Wrede’s Snow White and Rose Red. Eventually, I will locate and purchase a copy of each book.

But I digress.

Apparently, in my search for another book in the Fairy Tale series, I happened upon Jack the Giant-Killer, by Charles de Lint. It makes sense that this would be the next I found, given my certainty that the author I was looking for would be housed with other ‘D’ authors on the library shelves, and this makes clear my assumption that it was de Lint who wrote Tam Lin, as well.

I’m not sure what I read after Jack the Giant-Killer. I know that I have made it a point to seek out de Lint’s books in libraries and book stores (both new and second-hand), and I am currently reading The Little Country, having just finished Spirits in the Wires. I’m not concerned with reading the books in chronological order; I read Widdershins before The Onion Girl, and was pleased with myself when I figured out that Spirits in the Wires falls in between the two latter books, chronologically.

Charles de Lint is counted as one of my favourite authors because he is so good at drawing me into the between – that world that exists just on the edge of consciousness, where the fey live. When I am reading one of his novels, I believe that what I am reading is true – that it is real. I suppose I must halfway believe it anyway, or I wouldn’t write fiction myself.

But being able to make it real to someone else, if only for the time they are reading the work…

That, my friends, is the goal of a true writer.

The sound of the syllables
as they fall onto the page,
the phrases turning perfectly
in beautiful rage.

Writing words as music,
music as words.

Thoughts sound in my head
and drop from my fingers,
the words creating
a mood that lingers.

Writing words as music,
music as words.

Creating something from nothing
and putting it out there,
hoping that others
will truly care.

Writing words as music,
music as words.

I love words. I have, in fact, loved words for as long as I can remember – probably longer.

My mother says that, when I was two years old, I got up on a stool at a party (clergy parties at the bishop’s tended to include children, for whatever reason) and recited a poem about my new baby brother.

When I was three years old, my mother taught me how to read using those Ladybird readers about Peter and Jane and their dog, Pat. It was sight reading; phonics came naturally to me.

Before I knew how to form letters myself, I was “writing” stories in the little notebooks my parents kept me supplied with. It sure looked like handwriting to me! Never mind that the story changed every time I “read” it.

I was a voracious reader, and when I ran out of “age-appropriate” reading material, I would raid my parents’ book cases. I read parenting books at the age of eleven, which happened to be the same year I read Jane Eyre, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Gone With the Wind.

These days, I raid the library when funds are too tight to allow me to feed my habit at the book store. I toe the line and will never attempt to have more than the allowed 50 books out at one time.

I read practically anything. My tastes are diverse. Give me a well-written story, with characters I can care about, and I will devour the words as fast as I can.

I have my favourite authors, of course: L.M. Montgomery, Orson Scott Card, Lurlene McDaniel, Robin McKinley, Margaret Atwood, Charles de Lint, Jane Yolen, and Ursula K. LeGuin are mainstays in my collection. They are the authors I look for in a book store – their presence on the shelves (all of them) tells me I am in a quality establishment, for it stocks the authors from whom I take my inspiration.

I read Young Adult novels (and I write them). I read science fiction novels (and am working on a science fiction screenplay). I read fantasy novels (and I write them).

I also read non-fiction, more than I do fiction, at times. I got into the habit when I was in University all those years ago, and it never quite faded. I read biographies, autobiographies, books by psychologists, books about writing, books about philosophy, about creation, about religion. I read to learn, to educate myself, to build the foundation for my fiction – and, more importantly, my life.

Though, I suppose, words are my life. I live in them. I move in them. I breathe them in and I breathe them out.

Yet, oddly enough, I sometimes think in pictures.