Aggresive About the Passive

I found myself pondering today - why do people hate the passive voice so much? It's legit grammatically, and not every action in life is proactive.  Sometimes stuff just happens.

So why do people "correct" for passive voice in creative writing?

Impact of Reading on a Kindle

I started thinking about books I've been reading lately, and as I have moved towards using my Kindle more, I found it impacted my recollection of books.

In general, I am someone who reads very quickly, within a week remembers only key points, but as soon as I start to re-read the book I then remember every detail.  A few books are an exception, but this is my general experience. I don't know if there are others who experience this as well, but that's how my brain works.  I think that's why my writing is very fast paced and very visual - it helps people like me retain more of what they read.

Anyway - here is a quick list of the benefits and negatives I have found by going e:

Benefits:

• You can start reading as soon as you even hear about a book - love the immediate gratification
• You can bring a ton of books with you on a trip - I have been known to pack over 10 pounds of books during travel
• It's physically easier to read - not having to adjust positions because a book is getting heavy in the hands is definitely a positive
• I can mark areas of interest and find them again easily without using so many post-its that my book looks like it is fringed

Drawbacks:

• I am having trouble remembering the titles of the books I've read  - I have no visual of the cover art to keep reinforcing the title in my head
• I am having trouble remembering the authors - the above point impacts this, but also I didn't have to force myself to remember both the author of interest and to get my backside to the bookstore
• The social activities of reading are diminished - hey, I work in publishing. I get why sharing books is not a positive from a business perspective and deprives authors of well earned royalties. However there is a communal aspect in showing and sharing your library, of taking a beloved book out and discussing it with a friend.
• There isn't a special way to store, and keep seeing, such a beloved book - I like looking at my bookshelves, seeing a book I enjoyed and remembering the experience.

I'd love to hear to here people's experiences with their e-readers!

It's Do or Whine

Not to sound like a major drama queen, but I am at a pivotal juncture in my life. 

For the past several years I have trying to strip away the distractions, the mind games, the emotional vampires, etc. which were keeping me from doing what I feel impelled to do.  I have finished removing a major one today.  (Although I have somehow managed to book up every weekend for the rest of the summer, which is not helpful)  Now it is up to me; thus today's title.

Until I started writing I never had felt a calling for anything.  I felt driftless, in fact.  Now I have this drive which wont release me.  I must see this to its natural conclusion.  It's what I'm meant to do; I don't know how to describe it any other way.

I am obsessed, to a degree I have never experienced before.  I'm not sure I want to experience this again, either.  It's like a vortex building inside of me and I'm desperate to get the rest of this story out.

But I have to let go of the obsession for me to finish the last step.  The intensity of the energy of obsession in itself, has become a distraction.

Ironically I keep thinking of St Catherine of Siena.  She espoused that if you wanted to commune with God, then you needed to want it with every fiber of your being. Then, as you get really near that mindset where you can almost feel the connection, then you must let go of your intense desire to commune with the divine.  That last step requires just letting yourself be and having faith in the process.

Although I am trying to connect with my inner Greek Muse more than God, I figure my subconscious is telling me something for this to keep popping in my head.

Two Nights in Dublin Makes a Hard Woman Humble

I've been here two days, and my world has changed - not to mention my book.  I'm mentally and physically exhausted yet exhilarated.  Here are the major changes:

1. Better understanding of the oral tradition and storytelling
2. Better understanding of beliefs in the fae
3. Seeing the layout of Dublin and how the areas interconnect
4. Connecting with ancient sites I have been researching for years but had not been able to see
5. Being part of a tour group and the realities of trekking a crew of people through these ancient sites
6. Connecting personally with a culture from where some of my ancestors came

It's after midnight here, and I have no ability to properly express everything I am thinking and feeling.  So I will share a key picture or two and then sign off until tomorrow.

From inside Fourknocks

The Stone of Destiny, where this High Kings of Ireland gained their king-hood.  A pivotal place in my book.

Fabulous tree from the churchyard outside of the Hill of Tara.  This is where I gained a deeper understanding on the belief in the fae

Crazy Week Behind Me With Adventures Ahead Of Me

So it's been a week since I last posted.  I've been a bad, bad blogger; I know.

It's been a crazy week in terms of work, and I've had time for little else.  Now I am caught up with my work,  volunteer work and my e-mail, so I am free to write in my blog and work on my book.  (insert deep sigh of relief)

So I have some exciting news; I'll be heading out to Ireland soon and will be seeing in person many of the places I have written about.  Once I'm there I will be sending pictures of the places in the book and blogging about them as they really are.  I'm also bringing my computer in tow to update my book the same night as I see the places to give as much accuracy as possible into the descriptions.

I can't even express how incredibly excited I am.  I've never been to Ireland and it's a place I've always dreamed of seeing.  From a more objective standpoint, I'm also really curious to see how much these places match how I've envisioned them.

If anyone has recommendations on a sacred/interesting/fae place to see, I'd love to hear them!  These are the places I'm going to which are also currently mentioned in my book:

Hill of Tara
Newgrange
Knowth
Jameson Distillery
Trinity College/Book of Kells
National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology
The Secret Book and Record Store
Dublin Castle

I'm sure more will be added - or at least incorporated in the next 2 books.  That's right, The Children is actually the first of a trilogy.  (The number three is a sacred number in Celtic cultures and it works well for this story).

Update you soon!

Twas The Night Before Midsummer

Twas the night before midsummer
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring,
not even my spouse.

I had gotten caught up
in the bustle of life,
and I had not prepared,
for the day of most light.

I did not let go
of my daily travail,
but the shock of the date
had let balance prevail.

It made me just stop,
and then take up stock,
of the way I was going
and why I felt blocked.

I had gotten so focused
on the musts and the don'ts
that I had forgot my passion
the and joy I had known.

From writing and researching
my joy had once come,
and from playing with my website
and connecting to some.

I've been going back to basics
but now I see clear,
that those musts and those don'ts
were not really here.

It's what I have been doing
for all these years hence,
but my mindset had changed,
making the pressure immense.

So for tomorrow for solstice,
my plan is quite clear:
live my life as I want,
without focus on fear.

And I plan to enjoy
the longest day of the year.

How do you do it?

I'm having a difficult time trying to balance blogging, tweeting, working on my book, my volunteer work and my job.  So many people seem to have managed a system to be able to balance these parts of their lives. I just feel like I'm shorting myself on the quality of everything I am doing outside of work.

 If anyone could share their recommendations I'd really appreciate it!

Influences In My Life

Yesterday on his blog, Nathan Bransford posited the question: who have been the most influential people in your writing life?  Many people responded with authors.  For me, it's a balance between family, friends, and a few writers. 

I'm not going to list out everyone like some grand online academy awards.  I just have to say that my family and friends are wonderfully supportive, and I appreciate them every day. After the last 24 hours, I appreciate them even more.

I have 3 managers in my own career, two present and one past, who have been really influential as well.  They have all managed to live their personal lives to the max, while moving their careers forward.  When I think that I can't manage both, I think of their examples and soldier on.

Now for writers: 

• Many years ago I admired how Anne Rice had fused fiction and fact together so seamlessly that many people  I knew truly had trouble distinguishing which was which in her vampire novels.  I have aimed to do the same in my own work.  I have also re-read her earlier works when I need to revisit telling a story within a story.
• When I need to get my creativity going about the more fantastic aspects of my book, or need help with a sex scene, I read some Shana Abe or Nora Roberts' more Celtic/occult type works.
• When I need to lighten my mood, add a bit of quirkiness or levity, then I tend to read Madelyn Alt or Christopher Moore.
• When I'm getting a little creative with known facts and theories, it's Dan Brown that I turn to for help.

Now there are many other books I have read along this path, all with ties which in some way relate to my own book, although I have never seen anything very close to mine (phew!).  I read thrillers, fantasy, mysteries, Celtic themes, magical themes, mythological themes and anything else I think is even tangentially similar.  I'm actually a little concerned about how limited I have made my personal reading for so long.  I'll hopefully be able to expand my interests again but I'm not going to worry about that until I finish writing this work.

Eliminating the Weakest Link

So I've done an assessment of the parts of the book I haven't been happy with; the parts of the book which feels like it's not ready yet.  I narrowed it down to a  22 page section which has 22 different scenes which can be elaborated on significantly.  These are all cases of telling and not showing. 

There is a key difference in this section, one which makes it easy to fall into that basic writing trap. It is the only part of the book where I don't introduce a character, foreign setting, folklore or ritual/magical aspect. I guess without these components I didn't feel the importance of this part of the book, which is the preparation of the protagonist for the climax of the story.  This is going to be tough, but I feel like when I get through this I will have seriously improved my writing ability.

A Weekend of Laughter and Lager

So this weekend was a raging success! 

Saturday morning my husband and I went to the Rhode Island Scottish Festival and we are definitely going again.  Everyone was incredibly friendly and there was a lot going on.  As a Spence, I knew this name was associated with the Clan MacDuff, while my husband's family is Clan Cameron.  Coincidentally, the tents for the two groups were right next to each other

If you notice, Clan MacDuff's tent is bigger.

Well, Mike and I went to our respective peeps, and we both ended up walking in the opening ceremonies!  (Another complete coincidence was that the MacDuff's were the Clan of Honour for the day - a sign of good things to come!)

All playing aside, the people we met in both tents were wonderfully funny, warm and in the MacDuff tent a bit sarcastic.  These are people I hope to meet again.

I couldn't resist the "pet haggis" and Nessie on display in the MacDuff tent.

Overall we talked, we shopped, we jumped when the cannon went off and listened to some great music. (I fell in love with a band there named MacTalla M'or - I have got to download their albums)

We left early due to rain and the graduation party.

After celebrating much of the night, we managed to still get up early for Sunday's adventure - the Worcester Irish Music Festival.  I even managed to work in another 2 pages of manuscript that morning, still riding high from Saturday's adventures.

The music at the festival was good, and there was some really great genealogy information from the people of The Irish Ancestral Research Association aka TIARA .  The highlight was truly the O'Lympics.  Competitors had to first pour a can of Guinness, after it had been shaken and then run an obstacle course with the the beer in their hands.  In the obstacle course they had to kick a boiled head of cabbage through some pylons

They threw snakes into a basket a la St. Patrick

They also had to bob for potatoes in the baby pool

So, did this weekend do what it was supposed to do?  I think so.  I'm writing, I'm energized.

 I'm motivated.

Celebrating, Celtic-American Style

I've been working on this project for 6 years.  This last stage is killing me - I see the finish line but I can't reach it.  So now it's time for re-energizing, and I have a couple of things in mind.

First and foremost, this weekend marks my 38th birthday.  To celebrate my birthday, I am going to the Worcester Irish Music Festival and the Rhode Island Scottish Heritage Festival. (I'm also going to a friend's college graduation party - no rest for the wicked!)

I figure, what better way to get pumped up about Celtic culture than by surrounding myself with awesome Irish and Scottish music and games!

I'm also parsing out my social networking, and trying to separate work from my writing.  This is slightly complicated by the fact that my career is actually in publishing, but just a different type than fiction.

Now back to my fiction. I'm up to 63,000 words on the manuscript.  At 75,000 (the est size of a fiction novel) I will stop futzing with it and start trying to find an agent.  If I don't set an endpoint, I'm afraid I wont be able to stop myself from perpetually revising and developing characters/scenes.

If anyone knows of additional celtic cultural events in New England, New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania - please let me know.  I'm ready to keep on celebrating!

Loss and Finding that Groove Again

I started having extreme technical difficulties with my old laptop and decided to replace it.  Something went horribly, horribly awry and I lost my last revision which included several new sections when I transferred the documents.  The old laptop is dead so I can't retrieve it.

Trying to bring back the energy and focus of lost work is much harder than finding that mental space in the first place.  I couldn't get into the zone at all.  I think a lot of it comes from I was analysing every paragraph - was this something that needed revision?  What did I say? It's looks fine now, did I see something before which I am now missing?

At least I knew at what page that revision stopped, and I made myself so through that point in the manuscript.  Hopefully I will feel more free as I continue this revision.

I always over judge my work - but who doesn't do that to themselves?  It's just I have never had the level of self doubt as I did after this experience.  Sections that I know I thought were good, now feel stilted to me. 

I'll get over myself as I usually do.  I have to - this is my dream.  If I don't, then not only will I never achieve what I want, but I would have wasted the last 6 years of research and writing.  I just can't let that happen.

Sex, Drugs and a Rock

I love the ancient story of the Hill of Tara, and hate the modern one. Both tales play a role in my book.

The ancient story - this is the site of the Coronation of the Pre-Christian Irish Kings. Sitting on top of the Hill of Tara is the Stone of Destiny, which was the coronation site. There was an intricate, and at one point intimate, coronation ritual at that location which redefines the phrase coming to power.

Did I ever mention how much I love history?

Now for the modern story. Due to population growth, a new highway needs to be built. For an inexplicable reason, the Irish government wants to run it through the most archaeologically rich areas of Ireland, one with a series of ancient religious sites. The Hill of Tara is at risk, and with is goes a core place in Ireland's Celtic heritage.

Some of you will have heard me kvetch about this before - but it really ticks me off and I want to make sure the world knows so there is a chance to stop the destruction.

Celtic Zeitgeist

Or in Welsh, ysbryd y cyfnod. (OK so I actually don't know if the concept of spirit of the times can be coined in a more appropriate phrase in Welsh; I am completely dependant on Google Translate at the moment - but go with me on this one). Things mythological are in the air - first Percy Jackson and the Olympians hit the theaters then Clash of the Titans. Now we get to see a new, free MMO (massively multi-player online) video game based on Welsh/Celtic mythology ! This game is based on the Mabinogian - a collection of Celtic myths pulled from Welsh medieval manuscripts. These are tales of love and loss, sex and magic, proud warriors and feisty maidens. And a magic cauldron - how can you beat that!

So I keep writing and plugging along on my own Celtic mythology based book- up to 62,000 words now. This is a labor of love but it will be ready for prime time soon!

PS this link takes you to a contest to win some really great accessories to take your online gaming to the next level- the contest closes May 24. Good luck and have fun!

Back on Track

It's been a while. The end of 2009 was all about my day job, but we are in a new year with new focus! Lots of positive things happening:

1) I have a real sense on where I need to flesh out my book
2) I discovered my old website ( www.pretanicworld.com) has over 1000 unique visitors a month even though I haven't updated in 2+ years, so I am looking to get an actual website designer on-board to revamp and help me maintain the website.
3) Thanks to some guardian angels I will be getting to go to Ireland and see more of the places which until now I have only been able to imagine
4) I've gotten another 1000 words written this year (which is better than the last 2 months of last year combined!)

Got to run - much to do!!! I'll be back.