5K Fever (And A Little About Writing)

I signed up for my second 5K today--the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. It will be April 30 in Rogers, so if you're in the neighborhood and want to watch my face turn flame red (no joke) then drop by. (Also, it's for a good cause.)

I'm trying to raise $100 before the race, so, if you're interested in making a contribution (yes, I'm a donation junkie) go here: bit.ly/i1EIRo


Despite having a race under my belt, I'm a little nervous. My husband has agreed to run with me, and I know that he (and everyone else I know) will leave me in the dust. That's okay, I guess, but I can't help but want to keep up. I've told myself that as long as I meet my time of 34:20 at the previous 5K, I'm good. Heck, it would be GREAT if I could shave a minute or two off of it. I'm going to train like crazy over the next two weeks. 


Okay, now for the writing stuff.


There was a discussion about how the more you learn about craft, the less you're able to ignore "bad" writing in books. Authors that you normally devoured lost their appeal. Errors leapt from the pages, the characters were flat, the plot static. And then you find that the book you loved two, three or five years ago isn't as spectacular as you remembered. 


What do I say to this?


Woohoo!


Maybe it's because I'm an overzealous editor, but I think it proves to a writer just how far they've come when they can find flaws in their past favorites. Sure, it can be annoying and it sort of takes the joy out of reading at times, but here's where I want you to know a little secret: you'll find better books and better authors and once again you'll be that blissfully happy reader. You will just be a special kind of reader: a finnicky one.


As I used to say when I was more arrogant (man, I miss being arrogant): I only read books by authors who can write at least as well as I can. Despite the snootiness of that comment, it's true. If a book is below your own skill (or at least your knowledge of skill), then it's very difficult to make yourself read it. So, you see, you're not becoming a worse reader, you're becoming a better writer!


Write on!

For My Own Amusement

And hopefully yours too.



As a romance writer, I can't help but sniff out some sexual tension between these two rogues. Do they know each other? Have they met before? If they did meet under less hostile circumstances, what would they do?

Ah, crap, now I want to go write another story.

Monday Madness: Best Title Ever (and 5K Results)

Eternal Rider by Larissa Ione

A romance novel with this sort of title  deserves five stars just for ingenuity. Hehe. What's he riding, I wonder?

And on a completely unrelated note (no riding involved), let me just share that I finished the Hogeye 5K in 34:20. My fastest time ever! I am seriously so proud of myself.

I finished 16th in my age group and 160th overall. (There were 200+ racers.) What's funny is that I'm apparently a mean-looking runner. Some coworkers were cheering me on and they said that I gave them a death glare. OMG! Did not mean to and totally don't know where that came from. I think it was more like I was concentrating so hard on just making it to the finish line that I didn't realize what expression I had on my face.

But 34:20! Squee!

Monday Madness: Not In the Mood

I'm reintroducing Monday Madness, and while I'll certainly try to be helpful, more likely than not it will just be my inane ramblings about what I'm reading or writing at the moment. Enjoy!

I have book binges that totally depend on my mood. If I'm in the mood for something angsty, I'll usually go for YA. If I want an adventure, I'll find something in fantasy. If I want a love story, well, I go for romance, naturally.

Which brings me to a dilemma. What do you do when you're not in the mood?

I have Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher sitting on my coffee table right now. It's a library book, so that means I should get around to reading it soon (like, before it's due back). It's also supposed to be one of those books that will "change your world" so I've been really looking forward to reading it.

I'm just not in the mood. You see, I'm in a pretty good mood this week (mainly due to sunshine and reading Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsong, which was so good) and I'm reluctant to change that. And Thirteen Reasons Why is guaranteed to put me in a not-so-happy mood. I mean, it's about a girl's reasons for committing suicide. Not lighthearted in the least. And I'm one of those weird people who are easily influence by books, movie and music. A sad story, movie or song makes me sad. There's no getting around it. (And it really annoys my husband when I start moping over nothing.)

So, instead of reading the book I was supposed to read, I dug through my bookshelves and found Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which I've read no less than six times. Lol.

I'm sure I'll be in the mood for a serious story soon, and probably force myself to read it just because I hate having to renew my library loans (and also because a less happy part of me really does want to read it) but just not today. Tomorrow doesn't look good either.

What do you do when you're not in the mood? Do you move on or hunker down and read anyway? Please share!

I Think I'm Broken

I've felt a little shifty lately (and, no, that's not a misspelling), and just can't focus. I wrote another short story, felt good about it, sent if off into submission-land, moved on. Poked and prodded at other projects, which just sort of twitched but wouldn't perform. Then I started scratching at rewrites and edits and got a little excited when they rolled over or begged, but the appeal quickly fled.

So, to sum it up to those of you who haven't given up on me after my long silences, I think I'm broken.

Granted, life has been BUSY and full of other things to focus on. I've been training to run a 5K and, yes, it's been emotionally, mentally and physically challenging. When I'm not actually training, I'm reading about training and shoes and run times and PRs (still have no clue what that stands for; practice runs?) and drooling over running gear that I could never justify buying ($40 for a pair of shorts? Haha). And all this fanaticism has just about drowned out that voice that tells me that it's about time I started writing again.

I feel distanced from my critique friends. I feel like I've missed too much and now I can't possibly catch up. I feel a little left in their dust, honestly. And while I am happy for the varied successes, I'm a bit overwhelmed. Just a few months ago, that was ME chattering about my latest WIP, characters, plots, offering critiques like they were going out of style. And then--I'll admit it--I received a lot of flack about some of my stories (not just in one critique group, either) and sort of got discouraged.

There, I said it. I am discouraged. And when I am discouraged it's difficult for me to be excited about a project, which means it's difficult for me to write it. If I lack faith in a story, it shows in the writing. So why bother?

So I briefly focused on other things. Things that had yet to be touched by that discouragement because, well, they were my "secret" stories. The ones that were too "mature" for my critique groups. While writing them, I regained some of that faith and confidence in myself. I thought that even if I couldn't write the traditional fantasy stories that I wanted, I could at least write about sex. (And I can do it pretty well, if I do say so myself.) But as much as I enjoy writing my naughty stories, they're not what really calls to me.

Honestly, it's like that Langston Hughes poem, "A Dream Deferred." I keep waiting, waiting, waiting for something to happen that rekindles that dream. But maybe it's too shriveled up at this point.

It's not like I haven't tried. I HAVE. I've even posted new strictly fantasy stories up for critique and received encouraging reviews, but that spark is still gone. I don't know how to get it back.

My 5K is April 16. After that I'm going to really dig in and focus on my writing. This dream may deferred, but I'm not giving up on it.

Is There An Echo in Here?

Oops. I realize I've been absent from the blogosphere recently. Maybe you noticed, maybe you didn't. I almost didn't notice because I've been so busy.

I complete a short story and sent it off for possible publication.

I started and then stopped and then restarted A Darkness Forged in Fire. I like it, despite not devouring it like I normally do with books that I like. I think I'm a bit burnt out.

But the real reason I've been absent is because it's SPRING. It's, like, warm outside. It's pretty. There are FLOWERS! And I can go outside barefoot again! And start a garden! And SQUEE!

So, sorry for my absence, but I just need more SUNSHINE!

Book Review: Wintergirls

Laurie Halse Anderson tackles another tough topic in Wintergirls: Anorexia. But, as if that wasn't enough, she adds self-mutilation to the mix.

According to the book's blurb:

Lia and Cassie were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Lia's mother is busy saving other people's lives. Her father is away on business. Her step-mother is clueless. And the voice inside Lia's head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less. If she keeps on going this way—thin, thinner, thinnest—maybe she'll disappear altogether. 

I went into this book expecting to be disturbed, but never so poetically. If the image of anorexia and Lia's life doesn't stick with you, how the author paints it will. I haven't been so powerfully moved by the tragic beauty of a book since reading The Sky is Everywhere. While I enjoyed Anderson's Speak, Wintergirls rocked the foundations of my world. If I had to describe it in a word it would be: unsettling.

I've never suffered from an eating disorder, but I think that at some point in our lives, every girl considers it. We all feel that pressure to conform the stereotypical image of beauty, and hope that by being thin it might give us an ounce of self-worth. It's that very relatable aspect of this story that makes it so potent.

Yet Wintergirls goes a step further and shows the glittering, bloody edges of what happens when a girl goes too far for her perfect body.

But Anderson does it perfectly. We see everything from Lia's perspective and never through the author's lens. We see how RIGHT it is for Lia to do what she is doing, all the while recoiling because we know it's wrong. Lia is one of those girls whom you like despite what she's doing to herself. She's endearing. She tries so hard, but can't help but feel out of control. Her only way to have control is to starve and cut herself.

This book will make you wince, cry, shudder. But you won't be able to stop reading. And even when you're through, you won't be able to stop thinking about it.

Recommended: Absolutely.
Rating (out of five stars): 5 -- A perfect book, in my opinion.