Congratulations to Sharon Ashwood for her 2011 RWA RITA: UNCHAINED, the third book in her Dark Forgotten series, won for Best Paranormal Romance. Yay, Sharon!
Currently working on: Expanding a story Mood: Widening
Last weekend, I went to the Oregon Coast with some writer friends for a beach retreat. (I accidentally typed “treat” and it WAS a treat.) Writing retreats are enormous fun, of course, but I also want the time to be productive. So here are some of my suggestions for a productive writing retreat:
Go to the beach at a yucky time of year.
At the Oregon Coast, you can be guaranteed gusting rain November through July (and prohibitive prices August through September). So usually the horizontal “moisturizing and exfoliating” is enough to keep us inside at our computers.
Here’s a picture of me, measuring how many words I have yet to add. See, this is why you go to the beach in bad weather. Sunshine DEMANDS a walk on the beach.
Bring the right friends.
It’s best to surround yourself with writers who share similar productivity goals. Friends who constantly tempt you to walk on the beach as the sun sets are counterproductive.
Sadly, it turns out I am that friend. So don’t bring me. Except you have to bring me because I always bring the mint brownies.
Find an inspiring spot.
Not only is the right physical spot important — like this lovely little beach house surrounded by chirping frogs — but the right spot in your mindset and your work in progress.
I try to prepare for a writing retreat by making sure I have the right sort of project and that I clear my “real life” of distractions that might creep into the weekend. Actually, this last weekend, I did a bad job of choosing the project. I’m working on revising, and I found that I did not do as well as when I bring a hot draft to a retreat. I’ll know that for next time.
Never mind the inspiration, just focus!
Part of my problem with choosing a revision project instead of a hot draft, is that when I’m revising, I tend to stare off into space while I think. When I’m at home, in my little office, there’s not much to look at and I quickly go back to work. But at the beach… I just stared at the waves for hours! I needed to bring my focus closer.
A good writing retreat has a clear focus, whether it’s writing, brainstorming or just refilling the well. Be sure you know what purpose your retreat will serve.
Track progress on the retreat days.
Like tracking the sun across the sky… It’s easier for me to stay accountable if I track my progress in three chunks during a retreat day: morning session, afternoon session, evening session. If I only review my progress once at the end of the day, I might find I didn’t do enough, but now it’s too late. If I track in chunks, then a slacker morning session (sun on the beach!) can be rectified in the afternoon, or a slow afternoon (afternoon nap on the sunny beach!) can be made up in the evening (no sun).
Indulge.
As much as I want a writing retreat to be productive, well, it is a retreat. I try to capture some of that glory — and some of that sun — and take it back with me to rainy Portland.
Do you have a favorite getaway that never fails to rejuvenate you? Do you bring back souvenirs? I love to find good rocks.
Currently working on: Hot draft of new story Mood: Borne & buffeted
Sometime in January, I like to pull my Tarot cards for a start-of-the-year spread, to see where I’m at. This year, so far, I’ve been too busy to take a quiet night to get into the right space to think about things. But with the month almost over (and how did THAT happen?!) I figured I better get at least ONE card done so I’d have something to contemplate on my dog walks.
I pulled the Page of Swords. I use the Mythic Tarot deck by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene, illustrated by Tricia Newell. This deck features Greek mythology which I loved as a kid, so I relate to the stories.
The Page of the Swords is represented by Zephyrus, the Greek god of the West Wind. His card is ambivalent — as the Swords tend to be cards that poke at your complacency — since he and his brother the North Wind started out as malicious little shits, prone to starting storms just to knock things over. Eventually Zephyrus married Isis of the rainbow, which mellowed him out. But still, having him start my year gives me lots to think about.
The positive aspects of Zephyrus as the Page of Swords are curiosity, enthusiasm and the emergency of new ideas. The downsides are irritability and petty quarrels that blow up into battles. As I move forward with some new story ideas, I guess I better practice my patience. That’s usually on my list of New Years Resolutions, so I suppose that’s okay. Sigh.
I like this picture of Zephyrus because he is puffing up all these great clouds leading into a blue sky… but the way he is holding the sword makes me think he is about to burst his own bubble. He had better be careful which bubbles he bursts, since some of them are holding him aloft. I better make sure I’m puffing up the right dreams. Not there’s anything wrong with walking sometimes. Ask my dog.
If you play with tarot cards, did you get any thoughtful readings for the new year? Or if you want me to pull a card for you, just let me know in comments and I’ll see which Greek myth might be right for you.
Currently working on: Getting back in the groove Mood: Groovy
I can’t find my New Years Resolutions from 2011. I know I wrote them down because goal-setting gurus tell us we’re supposed to write that stuff down so I’m sure I did. Somewhere. Somewhere veeeery safe and special so I wouldn’t lose the list, so I could review it and see how I did.
Looking back at my Silk & Shadows posts from early in 2011 I see several references to cleaning my closets and exercising more. Uh… Yeah, anyway, moving on to 2012.
What with the world ending on December 21, 2012, though, I’m not sure I should bother with a new list. According to some eschatological* interpretations of Mayan prophecies, the world ends with the end of one of their calendar cycles on 12/21/12. I know I often feel apocalyptic when Christmas is rolling around, but actually ending the world seems a little melodramatic. The calendar cycle in question marks 5,125 years — give or take a few holidays — which is about how long it would really take me to clean my closets.
Still, I think I’m going to discount the December 21 end of days. Mostly because the people who predict apocalypses always seem a little sad and angry. And perverse. Like they are DISAPPOINTED when the world doesn’t end. Jerks.
Here are some of the comebacks I’ll be using for the post-apoc-ers who will be running rampant this year:
Let me introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is Y2K. Perhaps you’ve met.
Then can I have your dessert?
I wanted to have three funny comebacks, but I only have two. That’s okay, though. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.
And fine, I guess I’ll put closet cleaning and exercising back on my list for 2012
Do you have perennial resolutions? If so, how do you keep them fresh and interesting?
Also, congrats to last week’s winner of the DARKNESS UNDONE
Advanced Reading Copy, courtesy of Random.org, Kate!
* Eschatology is the study of end times. What? You didn’t know there was a word for it? Neither did I. Never stop learning.
Currently working on: A new story! Mood: Follow that plot bunny!
Did everybody have a fun holiday? Here are my highlights:
I totally screwed up the frosting for my Christmas Eve party cupcakes. I’d decided to use a sour cream frosting for my blackout cupcakes but when I followed the glossary at the back to page 462 and started making the recipe… It was the WRONG recipe. It was a fluffy chocolate frosting. The actual sour cream frosting was on page 463. Catastrophe! That might not seem like the worst thing in the world… Unless it’s 2:30 pm Christmas Eve Day and the party starts in mere hours. You CANNOT go to the grocery store on Christmas Eve Day, as you all know.
So I totally winged it. (Wung it?) I kept the ingredients I’d already mixed together and just added sour cream. And it totally worked.
Christmas Lesson Learned: You can’t go wrong with pretty much any proportions of cocoa, whipping cream, sour cream and vanilla.
Christmas Corollary: Double check the name of the recipe before you start mixing ingredients.
After thankfully not ruining the Christmas Eve party cupcakes, I spent Christmas Day with my XY and dog. Ah, bliss. Pictured right are the gifts he got me. Which apparently have been wrapped by monkeys. Monkeys with access to all my Christmas ribbons and yet somehow have managed to NOT use the Christmas wrapping paper but birthday wrapping paper instead. Which would be fine if Baby Jesus was getting this particular present, since it’s his birthday, but this was my present.
Happily, one of the presents was a double boiler so I can more easily melt chocolate like in the first picture.
Christmas Lesson Learned: Bows and ribbons and wrapping paper — or the lack and/or incompetent wielding thereof — can’t hide the love.
Christmas Corollary: Men require inordinate amounts of tape.
I eat a lot of chocolate at Christmas, as is obvious from my posts, but not so voraciously as Christmas seems to eat my time. The prep, celebration and cleanup always leaves me blinking in surprised confusion at the end of the month. But life continues and I am finally back at my computer, writing words. Phew.
Christmas Lesson Learned: Don’t forget to enjoy the days. They are particularly short in December.
Christmas Corollary: The dog still needs to be walked. But now I’ll be doing it in boots that don’t have holes!
So Christmas is over, but I have one more gift to give away. Want an Advanced Reading Copy of DARKNESS UNDONE? Leave a comment with your Christmas Lesson Learned — or just say hey on any post this week — and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a copy of Sid and Alyce’s story:
Coming March 2012
The war between good and evil has raged for millennia,
and as a powerful new enemy ascends, the Marked Souls
are pushed to the ragged edge…
Sidney Westerbrook has always studied darkness and damnation from a sensible distance. Now, to earn his place as a league Bookkeeper, he must discover why Chicago is such a battleground of soul-linked warriors. But the research becomes personal when he finds himself over his head and under attack — and at the mercy of a waif with demon-lit eyes and a deep yearning in her heart.
Alyce Carver has been alone longer than she can remember, battered by the living nightmares that haunt her city. Cornered by yet another gang of demons, she unwittingly joins forces with a handsome scholar who can salvage her past, and she in turn may be the key to his investigations. But she won’t let him go until he shows her everything she’s been missing.
What begins as an experiment in possession becomes a trial by desire so powerful it threatens both their lives, even as it binds their souls.
Currently working on: Finding the worst white elephant gift Mood: Hunting
Too much butter and sugar is slowing me down. I only have a few days left to find a white elephant gift for my tribe’s annual Christmas Eve bestest party in the whole wide world. As a stereotypical introvert, I’m not usually into parties, but this party is one of my favorites and I want to do it right. Or wrong, as is the right way to do a white elephant.
A good white elephant is, of course, a bad white elephant. For those who aren’t familiar with the tale, the term white elephant came from a story that Siamese kings gave these giant, hungry, pooping, occasionally rampaging animals as “gifts” to people who really “deserved” them. Horrible art, eye-searingly ugly clothing and excessively large items of any sort are perfect white elephant gifts. But I’m having some trouble this year.
At my day job white elephant exchange, one woman got a can of Spotted Dick. There was much adolescent snickering. (Yeah, my day job isn’t too worried about sexual harassment cases, apparently.) Since I do marketing work in my day job, I was horrified to read the instructions on the can and snapped a picture to share with my Twitter friends.
(What? You don’t follow me on Twitter?! Find me there and say hey, so I can follow you back.)
Now you can snicker at Spotted Dick too. I mean, seriously, who uses “spurting” in ad copy?
I thought about getting a can for my giveaway, but it seemed like a cop-out. I need something worse…
So while I was researching/surfing the web for white elephant ideas, I found porcupines instead. So for your Christmas cookie-eating pleasure, here’s Teddy:
I’ve decided to get a talking porcupine in a Santa hat for my white elephant gift. Perfect, don’t you think?
But if you have another suggestion, please feel free to share and save my friends from either of these terrible gifts.
Currently working on: Last bits of Christmas prep Mood: Festive
Last week, my XY who had been gone, out of the country, for two months finally returned home. And there is joy in Whoville!
He was touring Europe — Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and Poland — as Rainstick Cowbell. Just a boy and a guitar, wandering narrow alleys to dive bars, literally singing for his supper. He hates the dry sound of club recordings, but here’s a glimpse of the life of a touring musician:
He got home just in time for the holiday madness. We went and cut our Christmas tree on Friday. And it was actually a sunny day in the Pacific Northwest!
I have almost completed our transition for regular tree lights to the new LED lights, which are super-trippy when I shone them on the walls. (Uhm, yes, there might have been spiced cider spiked with Hot Monkey Pepper Vodka involved.)
Since we don’t have much room in our house, we get the classic table-top Charlie Brown skinny tree. (Yes, the tree is slightly crooked; again, I blame the vodka cider.)
Having my sweetie home, my holiday madness under control, and a pretty tree decorating my picture window is reason enough for joy. What’s yours? Besides vodka cider
Currently working on: Christmas Mood: Deck the freakin’ halls
Every single year, Christmas comes around*, and every single year I am shocked. Already?! Seriously? This year is no exception, although I did have the added bonus of turning my work calendar from November to December and being greeted by a 12×12 glossy of a tropical beach at sunset. The lounge chair was empty and calling my name. Thanks, calendar, I needed that little dig.
Every year, I tell myself, “Next year I’ll start earlier.” And every year… “Already?! Seriously?”
Because here’s my dilemma, and I’m sure you all face it too. My choices are:
#1. Sacrifice time earlier to do my holiday tasks. Take my sweet time to do the tasks well and without undue stress.
Or, #2. Hoard my earlier time, let the clock tick down, then do massive freak-out and get holiday tasks done as quickly as possible despite the need for late nights, cursing, and excessive chocolate consumption — because, please, who are we kidding, the last item — and probably the first two too — was going to happen anyway.
Is it my imagination, or does #2 just make more sense?
It all gets done, but in scenario #2, it gets done faster. I think this is why I DON’T get started earlier. I’ve seen what I do to any opening: I expand to fill available space. If I started in September, I’d be obsessed with finding “the right thing.” Instead, in mid-December, I say “Is that the thing? Right” and we’re good to go.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’d be happier (and more in tune with the alleged seasonal moods of peace, love and joy) if I didn’t indulge the freak out. But I’m not even sure I’d know how to start.
Probably with chocolate.
How do you handle the holiday rush? Or are you an expert at the hush? Please share! Anyway, I’m giving us all a Gold Star for trying.
*Apologies — or maybe congratulations — to those who don’t do Christmas. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa, Blessed Solstice, and many butter cookies to you all!
Currently working on: New project Mood: Goal-oriented
I love science tidbits. Even when I can’t understand something, that’s fine with me because it’s a great jumping off point into what-ifs. Stories often start with a “What if…?” And if I can’t understand the complexities, the mental workout must burn off at least a half bucket of cookie dough.
One of my perpetual favorite brain games in science is string theory. String theory suggests that all matter in the universe is ultimately composed of 1-dimensional strings that, based on differences in their vibrations, become different particles.
The thing I like best about string theory is that it could be a solution to the “theory of everything,” linking all physical phenomena with one explanation.
Which I have to think would include an explanation for this one plot problem I’m having…
My favorite book on the topic is Brian Greene’s THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. Part one of the PBS television series with a lot of helpful, pretty, moving pictures is showing here. I watched it again after Greene’s new series THE FABRIC OF THE COSMOS started playing on PBS this month. After reading those books and watching the shows, I ALMOST understand theoretical physics.
Still having trouble with that plot problem though.
Other recent science stuff that has captured my imagination:
Did you know we were almost pulverized by an asteroid recently?
Well, not really almost pulverized. The blast would only have been equivalent to several thousand megatons of dynamite. And those smarty-pants scientists knew it was going to miss us anyway, but still, it got my head whirling. Earlier this month, on November 8, Asteroid 2005 YU55 passed closer to Earth than the moon. I knew it was coming but I forgot about it, which one should never do with a NEO (Near Earth Object) the size of an aircraft carrier. The next time a known object this large will approach Earth is 2028.
I guess it’s a good thing that these things pass us without comment, but I did think about mutant space motes spinning off the asteroid and dusting the Earth with… What? Alien spores? Superpowers? The possibilities spring off in all directions, even if the asteroid itself must follow a predestined path.
Also in space news, the new Mars rover launched on Saturday!
I adored the previous two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, who in 2004 landed on Mars, tasked with 90-sol (day) missions that turned into years of experiments and exploration. Didn’t hurt that they looked sort of like Disney’s Wall-E. I actually got choked up when NASA lost touch with one rover due to sand on the solar panels…only to regain communications when fortuitous winds blew the panels clean. Though Spirit fell completely silent in 2010, Opportunity is still trundling around the Red Planet.
The new rover launched safety and it will take her eight months to get to Mars. Curiosity (follow her on Twitter! @MarsCuriosity) is the larger, stronger, faster, smarter cousin of the earlier rovers. Nuclear powered instead of solar, with more tools aboard including a rock-vaporizing laser, her goal is to prospect for organic molecules which could provide more information about whether Mars could have supported life. Bon voyage, Curiosity!
And last and almost least...
Only least because neutrinos are very small particles. In September this year, smarty-pants scientists shocked other smarty-pants scientists by announcing that they might have shot particles through the Earth at faster-than-light speeds. (Specifically 60 nanoseconds faster than light. And just to be clear, a nanosecond is one billionth of a second. So not a LOT faster than light.) Since that shoots substantially bigger holes in one of the fundamental understandings of science (that nothing travels faster than light) some scientists believed the findings must have errors. Earlier this month, more tests seem to repeat the findings. How cool is that? We should have our own spaceships by yesterday!
The best part of this story is the word superluminal, which means faster than light. But I also like the idea that something as set in stone as Einstein’s theory of special relativity can change. Okay, maybe it won’t change, maybe there are errors in the findings, but how fun to think about what it could mean if it did.
Were you a good science student? Or did you get the flu on the day you were supposed to dissect the frog? If you have any favorite science moments, do share!
Go to the beach at a yucky time of year.
Never mind the inspiration, just focus!
Track progress on the retreat days.
Indulge.
Other Posts by Jessa Slade 
At my day job white elephant exchange, one woman got a can of Spotted Dick. There was much adolescent snickering. (Yeah, my day job isn’t too worried about sexual harassment cases, apparently.) Since I do marketing work in my day job, I was horrified to read the instructions on the can and snapped a picture to share with my Twitter friends.
Did you know we were almost pulverized by an asteroid recently?
Only least because neutrinos are very small particles. In September this year, smarty-pants scientists shocked other smarty-pants scientists by announcing that they might have shot particles through the Earth at faster-than-light speeds. (Specifically 60 nanoseconds faster than light. And just to be clear, a nanosecond is one billionth of a second. So not a LOT faster than light.) Since that shoots substantially bigger holes in one of the fundamental understandings of science (that nothing travels faster than light) some scientists believed the findings must have errors. Earlier this month, more tests seem to repeat the findings. How cool is that? We should have our own spaceships by yesterday!
Subscribe to Posts 