Lori Sizemore

Writing is an affliction, a disease of the soul, a rewiring in the head, like Asperger’s or some other form of autism. Like masturbation, it’s an uncontrollable and compulsive urge. It’s an obsession, a need, a drive. It’s not fun, and rewarding, and entertaining. It’s like having a bad movie play in loop in your head, so that your thoughts are either obsessing on words, or obsessing that your words are crap. It’s tortuous and exhausting, and if you could expel it from your possessed soul like an unwanted demon and be happy and content on a salaried wage, most writers would probably, in their darkest moments, do that instead. But they write because they have to, because they feel, like Gloria Steinem, that “writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel like I should be doing anything else”.

via Ruth Fowler: You Want My Opinion? Never. Write. Again..

Yeah.  That.

I often feel sorry for people who don’t read good books;

they are missing a chance to lead an extra life.

~ Scott Corbett ~

via READING QUOTES.

New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ~Mark Twain

via Happy New Year Quotes, New Years Eve Sayings.

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions.  I think it presumes one is somehow failing already.  Which, I suppose, one may be.  But I prefer to stay positive.  I’m not failing–I just still have things to learn.

In that vein, what do I want to learn this year?

• To write, in some fashion every day.  I mean every day, whether I feel like it or I’m tired or I’ve got kids running around.  Every day.  I have learned that I write best when I keep my story fresh.  If I can’t “write” a scene, then I’ll make notes, or brainstorm, or work on the synopsis, or reread it for a refresher.
• I’m writing a rough draft.  That means no editing as I go, no going back and deciding this isn’t working here or there or that scene isn’t long enough.  Just write it–and sort the rest out later.  There’s something to be said for allowing creatively to flow uninhibited.
• I will fear less and learn to accept rejection more.  I will send my work out without fear because I may have a lot to learn and I may be rejected, but I’ll never be published while it sits in a folder on my hard drive.
• I will remember that I write for the love of it, the rush, the thrill of creating people and worlds and stories because it makes me happy.

I’d love to hear your goals/resolutions/that which you want to  learn in the comments!

It amazes me how supportive nanoers are to one another.  When I tried this a few years ago, I felt so alone and couldn’t see my way through it.  But interacting on twitter, though it can be distracting, has shown me how supportive other writers and NaNo participants are.  I’ve received more than one reply to my tweets of frustration or success.  If you’re NaNoing, definitely follow the #nanowrimo hash tag there.

Love the name. I remember being a child/teen and being so absorbed in stories, so carried away by them. They were crucial to my existence. And, once or twice, I did read by flashlight. Hell, I’m still a sucker for a booklight. Every freaking time.

So, there’s a site.  Flashlight Worthy Books.  And it has reading lists.  Over 300 of them.  Awesome?  I think so.

Seriously, take a look at some of these.

1. 5 of the Best Children’s Books Grownups Will Love
2. Books for the Serious Jane Austen Fan
3. Call Me Crazy, Call Me True: Madness We Can All Relate To
4. The Things We Do For Love
5. The Chocolate and Peanut Butter of Noir and Speculative Fiction

Heh.  I just made a list of booklists.  But, seriously, go there, now, and find your own must-reads.

Almost forgot to add: I follow FLW books on Twitter.  Always great info on books, authors, and–naturally–lists. You should, too.

I’m linking today to a beautifully written site. It’s the heartbroke daily and the stories there are the type that stay with you, haunt you, jog your memory and your senses, and make you feel like you’ve just taken a deep, secret peek into someone else’s life.  Whether you’re a reader or a writer, you will find satisfaction and inspiration there.

This is a link to the critique group that I joined recently.  It’s already made a huge improvement in my writing because I see my weaknesses, and my strengths, much easier now.  Add to that, it’s a great group of people and it’s a lot of fun reading all the great stories from so many talented writers.  If you decide to join, say hi to me!

Romance Critters

Today’s Material Girl link won’t cost you a dime. Enjoy it, that’s pretty rare. It’s called Lovely Charts (a hug for my friend Kris for thinking of me when she saw it). I tried it out, and it is lovely. It comes ready to build several different types of flow charts, including people. How’s that for connecting your characters? I happen to have drawn one of these before, using tables in Word–it’s not fun. Lovely Charts? Fun.

I finished Ex and the Single Girl.  This isn’t a review in the strictest sense.  I’d never call someone out to condemn work they killed themselves to do.  I’m not downing people who do, reviewers are important to us as readers.  But as a writer, I’m going to respect the work whether I like the book or not.

That out of the way, I loved this book.  When I enjoy a book, I make a point to note what I particularly enjoyed about it, because it gives me more range as a writer.  I loved the friendship between Portia and Ian as it developed.  It was sweet, and God knows Portia needed a friend, but at some point it became this ticking time bomb of sexual tension when you knew they were falling for each other and you kept waiting for them to figure it out.  But done better than I’ve described.

So, my verdict.  Lani Diane Rich=awesome writer.  The book?  Buy it now.

I know, I suck.  Monday is dance day (not for me, for my daughter, although it’s proven inspirational, so yay!)–anyway, I’m late.  Sorry.  Really.

Here’s what I want.  I think it describes the writing process perfectly.  And, I drink coffee, especially when I’m writing, like I breathe air.

Read the rest of this entry »