lori sizemore

Which I am suffering.  But fear not, the wise Jennifer Crusie has listed some random thoughts on rewriting, which are awesome.

My faves:

After you’ve read something forty-two times, it all sounds like blahblahblah.

If you don’t feel like writing a scene with sex in it, you don’t write a scene with sex it in. Kind of like real life.

Playing computer Scrabble does not help you think your way through a plot knot. Crocheting does.

A section on writing tools is really incomplete without an article on the Alphasmart.  Pros, as I understand them (I don’t have one):

• You can’t self-edit, because you only see four lines of text.
• It is very easy to transfer over to a word document, almost magically easy.  See the site for details.
• Includes spell check, for, you know, people who need those sort of things.
• It’s portable like crazy.

The cons?

• Cost prohibitive, for some (like me), at the sale price of $219.

That is all.  Make up your own mind.  Feel free to comment.

But, I do believe in accountability. So I’m going searching for a widget. (I’m writing this Saturday–it may be in place by the time you read this.) And I’m holding myself accountable to you, my very dear and few readers.

--Me, Dec 10

The closest I could find was Twitter, which I will try to keep writing related, but I’m not making any promises.  Have a great day!

These picture posts are becoming commonplace.  Next thing you know, I’ll be uploading illustrations I’ve made in photoshop, like how to connect your printer.

Yes, that was an awesome segue, thank you.  For Material Girl Monday, I’m going to talk to you about some of the tools I use to make my brand of magic.  So, picture the first:

That’s my big comfy chair.  I’ve been alternately drawing and describing homes and writing character sketches (the big binder on the bottom, with the sheet protectors, the legal pad, the top notebook, and for good measure GMC) and line editing (another black binder and old reliable, a large notebook with ginormous rings and hardcovers on both front and back that my daughter wrote on).   I will probably keep that notebook forever, because that’s where I wrote my first novel.  The words may have gone on a document, but all of the ideas were fleshed out in that notebook.  So, tool of the trade?  Paper. Fancy journal, legal pad, graph paper, steno notebook–whatever makes you feel good.  We’re writers, and if you want to be a smart writer, you will write everything down somewhere.  Might as well make it a central place.  And believe me when I tell you, when that paper is full of your story, of your imagination, your muse at work… you’ll know why you write, if only for a moment.

Pens, pencils, highlighters–you know the deal.  You need colored ones for line edits.  You need highlighters for… well, I’ve used them to highlight places on my map, to analyze a book I love into how much a favorite writer spent on dialogue, exposition, narrative, description, and to mark things I need to change.  It may be the technical age, but in the end, your work will be on paper.

A binder, preferably one-and-a-half inch, sheet protectors, and a hole punch.  When I wrote that first story in that notebook I love, I came to hate it (the notebook, not the story–not for that or not then) because there was no organization.  It was just everywhere, as if my brain had vomited it out.  Believe me, learn from what limited experience I do have, organize your work in a binder in a way that makes sense to you.  If you are using a map, a blueprint–protect it from little girls who like to draw on things.  And those blargs of character sketches and what-if-this-happened brainstorms and writing out your turning points and GMC, hole punch it and put them there, too.  This way, if you need to put it with something you write three months later, you’ll be able to do so.

I highly recommend the big comfy chair.  The pink laptop from Barbie isn’t really a necessity.

Picture the second:

An All-in-One Printer.  First of all, they’re just not that expensive anymore.  I saw mine on sale for somewhere in the sixties a few days ago.  You don’t want to buy the cheap printer, then, when you’re imaginary agent becomes you’re real agent and wants to fax you an imaginary real contract, you don’t have to be a total noob and say, “I don’t have a fax machine.  Can you mail it?”  Second, copies are your friend.  This one makes copies just like a normal copier.  It even feeds several pages through.  Trust me, spend the extra thirty bucks and buy one of these.  (Oh, and my black ink cartridge at Walmart?  $16 bucks.)

What happened to Writing Wednesday? I was busy. I wish I could say something could say something cool happened, like I was kidnapped and subsequently rescued by Iron Man or something, but I’ve got nothing.

But I promised to discuss the work I’ve been doing on the new WIP and knowing the places in the work. I made a map of the town a month ago and it helped immensely. My heroine grew up in a house, moved into a house she called “the mausoleum” at eighteen when she got married, moved into a tiny apartment at 18 when she got divorced, and finally ended up living above a dance studio in a three bedroom apartment she renovated. Important things happened to her–turning points in her life, if not the story–in these places. I need to see them.

I tried looking at pictures. Incidentally, Apartment Therapy is an awesome site.  So I bought a graph paper pad and I just drew the dance studio/apartment in no time.  I then described the way the rooms looked.  I included whoever’s viewpoint popped into my head, because different people see different things.  This helps me in two ways: 1) I can visualize these important places and the events that took place there easier and 2) I’ve got ready made description when I write scenes in those places.

I was amazed at how much such simple pre-writing work actually ignited my imagination.  If you find something similar works for you, please share it.

I got this brain flash last week.  Well, it was more of a brain shimmer, but you get my point.  Homes, and there are several in my current WIP (work in progress for those not in the know), are extremely important in this work.  They have symbolic meaning to nearly every character.  So, what they look like, knowing those places–pretty important.  I picked up some graph paper this weekend and started drawing… you know, I’m going into this on Wendesday, so I’ll leave it at that.

But this Material Girl recommend is so highly recommended, I just bought it.  Like just now, when I was looking for something similar to what I had in my head and this is it.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Every year, I tell myself I’m going to do it. Write 50k words in a month. I believe I could do it, given the right motivation and circumstances. You know… probably. This year, it was family court throughout November and I was lucky to get a thing done.

But I don’t think I’m going to set myself for NaNoWriMo guilt anymore. I mean, honestly, we all know we should be writing, every day, or at least on some sort of schedule. I think that’s the part of Na…okay, you know what I mean. NNWM. There.

If NNWM works for you, that’s fabulous. But, for me, it just seems like new year resolutions. I never do those, because they presume we’re flawed. Of course, we are; but sometimes the flaws are the most interesting parts.

Is there a point here? I don’t get from NNWM what some people do–a charge, a challenge. I guess I’m saying if you don’t get it either, then that’s okay. You’re still awesome in my book.

But, I do believe in accountability. So I’m going searching for a widget. (I’m writing this Saturday–it may be in place by the time you read this.) And I’m holding myself accountable to you, my very dear and few readers.

Pretend you’re my boss and tell me to get my ass back to work if you see me slacking off. ;-)

I recently moved my “office” to the other side of our sun porch, hoping to break out of a rut I’d slipped into and because my kids were covering the six foot table I was using as my desk with nintendo games and cd’s and iPods and Polly Pockets.

I decided to have a computer desk everyone could use and then my humongous table for me.  Bill paying, writing, and (as you’ll see) crocheting.  I needed more substance for my muse, it seemed, all the same.  The bluebirds nesting outside my window helped.  Made me smile at least, which must help.  Anyway, here’s my material girl office.

This is my grandmother’s bookcase.  She read voraciously.  I took her to the library monthly so she could trade 50 harlequins for 50 more (the librarian was very sweet to her).  You can see it’s not full.  That’s because it’s not easy to earn a spot in my grandmother’s bookcase.  The rest of my books (50 or so, at the moment) are in a box under the table and my to be read books are in a drawer in my bedroom.  Or in the kitchen.  Well, they’re in a lot of places.

I got my “Faith” board from Hobby Lobby last week.  I fell in love with it because I don’t think anyone can acomplish a single thing without faith in themselves and, occasionally, that the universe is rooting for you, just a little bit.

On the downside–ignore the blue paint.  Blech, I know.  Remember, I’m going to paint it orange.  Oh!  And the image isn’t nearly as high-res now, but I had to blur out my best friend’s phone number on the paper.  Serious breach of netiquette, that.

This is the “everyone can use it” desk I mentioned.  It’s too small for Polly Pockets, or cd’s, or…anything that isn’t mine.  Yes, I am evil.  Thanks.

The lights are new.  I just got it in my head that I needed fairy lights (and the extra illumination wasn’t a downside, either).  I really think I’m trying to create this magical place.  Or maybe I need a comfort space.  Not sure.  But, yeah.  Computer, nice flat panel (thank you, husband!), candles, notepad.  And a Zoloft clock from my social worker days.

There’s a something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue happening here,but I’m not sure how it ends.

Finally, a shot of that table, or a corner of it.  And my lamp!  Remember my creativity lamp I mentioned a few months ago?  Here it is.  As you can see, I’m mostly crocheting in preparation for Christmas.  Also, check out the 3 containers of pens and highlighters (black cup and two coffee cans).  Copier/Fax/Scanner/Printer thingy (thanks again, husband) and two boxes of tissues.  It seems my family has had a perpetual cold for the last two months.  Not pretty.  Also, yes, that is a sheet hanging over my window.  My husband calls them my redneck curtains.  Blinds are on the list next.  You can see how fairy lights topped blinds on the budget, right?

So, this is my space.  What’s yours like?

Update 10-22-09: Finally got those blinds.  Goodbye redneck curtains!  May update later with my new workspace.