Critique Groups

It's finals week, and I have been so busy with writing 10,000 words of Three in four days studying. NaNo has built some pretty great habits in me, let me tell you. Also, I'M ABOUT TO GO SEE PRINCESS AND THE FROG. Like right now. Right after I finish this blog post. My friend was worried that we wouldn't get there soon enough and it would be full. And I was like, really? Firstly, it's a matinee on a school day. Secondly, only college-aged girls care anyway. We are the definitive Disney Princess generation. We rank our favorite Princesses. We watch the movies with ice cream when we are depressed. I mean, we have Disney Princess-themed dorm bathrooms. Come on now. Only we would be excited about a new one. SO EXCITED. Yeah. I know that Disney is crap sometimes when it comes out with stuff like G-Force*, but every once in a while, they do something that is basically flipping the bird to the world like: Shit, world, we still GOT it. This is one of those times. I know it.

Time to smuggle candy in our big ole bags and eat puppy chow in the theater. Once, we brought a jar of nutella and pretzels, dollar store cheetos, chips, pop, and Skittles**. We are THAT cheap.

Okay, critique groups. So I went to one that meets on campus. And here are things that I observed.

1) I am the youngest one there. I'm not that surprised, but aren't there any college people who write? Maybe? Maybe not? Okay, I'm just a freak, I guess. But they were all really nice. Very, very nice to me. I sat in and listened to people read stuff out loud and everyone else listened intently, took notes, and offered praise and criticism. Which leads me to my second point.

2) I suck at listening. The first story, I found myself continually wandering off oooo, look at the pretty pattern on the wall, wait what? and losing track of where the story was going. I had to pay serious attention and visualize the whole thing in my head. It also didn't help that, you know, I had missed previous chapters, but still. My listening skills blow. I do think that reading aloud is a great thing to do in a critique group. It's good for the reader to catch problems they don't see on the page and for listeners to...listen. Everyone likes a good storyteller.

3) I apparently missed the memo on writing styles. I do not write literary fiction. I LOVE reading literary fiction, but geez, I'm not good enough to write that kind of stuff. I write action-based plots, fast-moving dialogue - contemporary fiction. Everyone there writes literary fiction. Which is fine, really. I love hearing how the language paints pictures with slow brush strokes. It's soothing and beautiful. But this is not something I feel like I could bring my stuff to (I didn't; it was the first time I went, and I wasn't about to be like HEY THUR GUISE I KNOW YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ME BEFORE BUT LOOKIE LOOKIE AT MY STUFF) because the styles are so different. 

So I don't know if I will go back, but it was a great experience. Maybe one day, I will find a group that fits my needs. Until then, it's online for me.

I hope you guys have a great Friday - I have lost track of days since classes ended.

*I do not count Pixar as part of Disney, even though they are technically "one." Pixar, I always love. Pixar, I would have children with if it were a person.

**You know women carry big purses for a reason.

WIP Wednesday

Currently reading: Reading Like A Writer by Francine Prose (it's really good so far)

Currently listening to: Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble (love)

So I usually don't do these, but I've just had the most productive writing day in living memory (just hit 3,000 words). I mean, seriously, the story won't let me go. And the characters are just way too fun. Don't you love that? Even if it's fan fiction. Whatever. This story is obviously worth telling if it can get me to turn off the internet, turn off the music, and write for three solid hours and be sad to go to bed. Yeah, you're getting excerpts. I can't help myself. It reads like normal fiction (because of the whole reincarnation dealio), so it's really, honestly like writing my own story.  I have a playlist for it and everything. LEGIT.

He’s goading her!  She attempts to hide the icy finger of fear sliding down her spine.  She cannot lose her job.  If he reports her for misconduct, she is done for.  But she also can’t seem to keep her big, fat mouth shut against this guy.  Between flirty, rude customers and getting three hours of sleep, civility is the last thing on her mind.  “Fine.  I hope that makes you feel better as a human being.”

“Now, see here, Rose”—and she detests that they are on a first-name basis now—“I come onto this plane minding my own business, you insult my clothes, and then you accuse me of trying to hit on you.  I don’t know where all of this hostility is coming from, but it’s certainly not because I am being a, uh, ‘whiny bitch,’” he says, making air quotes.  “Besides, I am entitled be that way if I so choose.  I paid for a ticket.” 

She stands there dumbly.  “Okay.”

“Okay,” he says, finishing the glass and pouring himself another.  “I’m glad we got that all settled, then.”  He smiles at her.  “You have to be one of the most interesting flight attendants I’ve ever met.  And if I weren’t afraid of getting reported for sexual harassment – since you seem to think I’m assaulting you or something – I would tell you that you’re quite pretty.”

What a jerk.  She stiffens and stands straighter.  Right now, she is thinking two things.  One – he’s probably not going to report her for misconduct, which is good.  And two – he’s also having way too much fun with messing with her, and she’ll be damned if she spends the rest of this flight exchanging verbal spars with a tipsy, horny businessman.  She decides to quit while she’s ahead.

“Well, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask,” she says formally, ending the conversation.  She is tempted to do a little mock curtsy but thankfully manages to hold her snarky side back.

“Oh, I will,” he says with a grin.  He keeps his word too.  Throughout the seventeen-hour flight, every time he needs anything at all, he makes a point to ask for Rose and none of the other eleven flight attendants on board.  She is so, so tempted to poison his second bottle of vodka but figures that would be going over the top.  So instead, she settles for spitting in his steak, which makes her feel better long enough to not accidentally taser him for the entire trip.

Tomorrow, I will do an actual post on critique groups (I went to one tonight) and learning to read and write. Maybe by that time I'll have crazy characters out of my head and onto the page.

Sort of Pointless

See, I thought this post was going to have a point, but I amazed myself with my own lying abilities. One other honest thing about me is that even though I am an accomplished liar, I am hugely gullible. Hugely. One of my friends in high school managed to convince me for over an hour that she was ten-years-word. I drank it up with the naivete of a child who believes in the tooth fairy (my soul was crushed when I discovered she was fake too; LYING PARENTS).

Anyway, I wanted to say that I have found a live critique group on campus! I saw it being advertised in a features article in the paper that I copyedited tonight. They have meetings on Tuesday, so I will go tomorrow and check out what all of the fuss is about. 

Also, I don't know about you all, but I have a substantial winter break reading list that I am still compiling and will share soon. Because I know you all care about my reading preferences. No, really, though, you should all share what you think is good. Because when we share books, we all win!

Furthermore, I am a fan fiction addict and cannot leave. But this new story is particularly cool for me, because I have a lot of free reign with the characters since they are reincarnations. They get new names, new occupations, and new quirks to their personalities. It's a very fun exercise for me. It's like real fiction, except I get instant feedback! Wahoo!

Excerpt from "Part Two" of Three, a Percy Jackson fan fiction novella

“Yeah, whatever you’re called.” He fixes his tie. “Say, have I seen you somewhere before?”

 

Privately, Rose thinks that people like him are a dime a dozen, and she certainly does not go out of her way to meet douchebags. Obviously, she voices none of this aloud and only shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Huh.”

“Can I get you something?” she asks him, trying not to get derailed by his attitude. It’s one of the first lessons new flight attendants learn: don’t let the passengers get to you. Nobody wants to see a flight attendant lose her cool on the plane.

“Um, yeah,” he says, checking his pager. It’s basically like talking on a cell phone while checking out, and it drives her nuts. How can he not at least have the courtesy to look at her while asking her to bring him stuff? “Can I get a bottle of Grey Goose vodka, please?”

“Of course.” In the beginning, she used to tell people how much it would cost. Now, she realizes the first-class passengers don’t glare at her because they already know, but because they don’t care. She wonders what it would be like to order whatever the hell she wanted and get piss-drunk on a plane. Gods, she hopes he doesn’t get drunk on this flight. She hates dealing with wasted passengers.

Okay, I swear, this weekend I'm going to write original stuff. Really.

November Aftermath

There comes a point after the elation of NaNoWriMo wears off when you realize, Crap. My novel's not actually done. Yeah, that. It's kind of easy to flaunt your 50,000 word manuscript and forget it cuts off mid-chapter. So now, I have to figure out how to wrap this sucker up.

Also, remember how I had that second draft of my first novel hanging out, about 10,000 from being done? Have to get on that too. But the happy thing about this is, hopefully sometime soon, I'll have two drafts to look at and edit.

Other things:

1) You get a nifty proof copy if you so desire. And when I finish the draft, I will get one, not because I think it's done, but because I think it'll look cool when I pull it out from under my pillow you didn't think I was actually going to show that monstrosity to anyone, did you?. Like I've said before, most of my decisions in life are based on whether or not they will be considered cool. Proof copy? Cool. Now I just need a title!

2) Also, 50% off Scrivener? I'm thinking about it. I don't know if I can really be justified in buying a program just for the sake of novelling, when I'm not published right now trust me, this consideration is important when asking my parents to shell out the money since they pay my credit card bill each month and just because a ton of people say it's nice. Writing on MS Word is fine. It works. I'm drawn by everything that says ___% off because I convince myself that it's such an excellent deal that I have to buy it. I might do the 30-day trial version in January or something and see if I like it. I'll let you know if I do. Do any of you use Scrivener now? Like? Dislike?

3) I feel like I need a NaNo shirt. Just like I felt like I needed a leopard print scarf today (but luckily, I curbed my scarf obsession before I spent $10 on accessories). So, really, do I need a NaNo shirt? 

4) I ordered "Reading Like A Writer" by Francine Prose off Amazon yesterday because Peter Carey recommended it in the last pep talk. The reviews are promising. I happen to think the best way to improve your writing is by reading the better writing of other authors. So maybe I should learn how to read better. I'll read it and tell you whether I think this book is worth it or not. 

Happy Friday!

Honest Scrap

I know you must tire of hearing me complain about my busy, boring life, but it's nearing finals and the life is getting ever more busy and boring. I'm also starting to think it was a bad idea to promise a new chapter for my in-progress fan fiction for the patient people who waited without an update through November. I am good at making promises I cannot fulfill. Alas.

But I am not too busy to thank Sarah profusely for the AWESOME award she gave me, like so:

This is totally amazing. I'm not quite sure what the hammer means. Kind of like a hammer and sickle communism logo? It's red too! Maybe it's a secret message. In any case, I display it proudly.

10 Honest Things About Me

1. I suppose this would be a bad time to admit that I am a rather accomplished and convincing liar. Although, I try very hard not to lie (jeez, I sound just like the protagonist from Justine Larbalestier's book about a compulsive liar). I'll also add that I've never lied under oath.

2. I have been to Disney World (Orlando) five times, and once by that I mean last year, I seriously considered having a sham wedding there so I could get FastPasses to every ride. I even had a guy friend consent to being my sham husband. Because you wouldn't REALLY want to get married in Disney World - I would feel weird doing adult things (like having alcohol among other things) with small children running around. I am wearing a Mickey head gold ring I got from Disney right now. Am I obsessed? You could say so. You can't have too much of Disney, though. Which is why I will be at the first showing of The Princess and the Frog, and you can take that to the bank.

3. I am deathly afraid of sharks. Even in swimming pools.

4. I am a die-hard Harry/Hermione shipper and J.K. Rowling will never be able to convince me that they are not meant to be. Neither will you. Ginny is a trophy wife. Fact.

5. When I was young, apparently I used to think that when people died in movies, they really died. I suppose my small, childish mind believed there were actors who volunteered to commit suicide in a bloody way on screen as their last masterpiece. Apparently, I was either Rosemary's baby in real life or really, really stupid.

6. The place of birth on my birth certificate is incorrect. The document was created so I could immigrate to America and have, you know, an identity. So they special-commissioned one for me after the fact. They don't really give people birth certificates in China, or they didn't back then, at least. I was born in Xining. The certificate says Xi'An. 

7. So when I applied for my passport, I filled out the "place of birth" as the real place, and my dad had to correct me. It was kind of embarrassing because the lady behind the desk gave me weird looks. Because who doesn't know where they're born? Also, the birth date on my mom's passport is wrong (no birth certificate for her either). We're all about being in the wrong aka liars, my family and me.

8. I absolutely HATE that I have to write my real name on all of my papers now that I'm in college and not on a first-name basis with all of my professors. I successfully went through high school with half of my class not knowing what my real name was until graduation (when I spoke, and everyone was like THEY SPELLED YOUR NAME WRONG), and I had to admit the horrible truth. I will not tell you now.  Guess away!

9. I will tell you, though, that my name means "when rain ends at sunrise" because that's what happened when I was born. I am a magic fairy child; I control the weather. My uncle named me, thank God, because my parents were just going to mesh together their surnames to make one gigantic sucky name.

10. One of my novels I wrote as a child was about the Oregon Trail. It was pretty much plagiarized from some book that I had recently read about it. Maybe Dear America? Isn't it a great world when you're a kid and you think the world is for your taking? Before the law crushes your dreams. That's why I'm going to be a lawyer. So I can crush other little kids' dreams.*

This is too long, and you never needed to know that much about me. I give this award to everyone, because I don't read a ton of blogs, and the ones I do are all FABULOUS and completely worthy of this scrap-tastic award. Thanks 100000x to Sarah, who is funny and scrappy and smart.

*I'm totally kidding; that's not really why I want to be a lawyer. I am not a dream-crusher. Although, kids, PLAGIARISM IS WRONG. If you break the law, I will come after you with my non-existent law degree.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER

I WIN I WIN I WIN WINNITY WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN-TASTIC WINNER.

All right. Got that out of my system. WINNER. Sorry, needed to be said. At 50,073 words (according to the NaNoWriMo counter; I would've won 200 words ago according to MS Word which has apparently been lying to me this whole time), I have won NaNoWriMo 2009. A day early, in fact. I just put my nose to the grindstone and got about 3,000 words today instead of the normal 1,667. Do I feel good? YES. I feel like I could fly. I feel like I could jump out of my window and FLY. I won't do that, because feelings can be DECEIVING, but the broken bones are not when I come to my senses. 

I have now, believe it or not, crossed one thing off on my bucket list. Two, technically. One was to participate in NaNoWriMo, and the other was to win. I never thought I would win on my first try! I think my thoughts are too scrambled to have a good blog post. So, some other things to do before I die:

1) Move to Seattle. I spent three glorious days in this city two summers ago, and I'm pretty sure we're soulmates. Me and Seattle. Seattle and me. Someone asked me the other day if my reason for this is because I would be closer to Forks (and vampires). I was totally offended! yeah, not really, but on principle, yes. My reasons are much better than that. Well, firstly, Seattle is ranked #1 on the NaNoWriMo regions. It also has seafood and pretty rain (not gross rain, pretty rain). Furthermore, Owl City has a song called Hello, Seattle. There's no song called Hello, Bloomington-Normal or Hello, Champaign-Urbana. Admittedly, the latter two do not roll off the tongue as easily, but small details aside, SONGS THEY DO NOT POSSESS. Therefore, Seattle is better.

2) Learn to para-glide. This is self-explanatory, right?

3) Become a published author. On the way. I am on the way!

4) Be Libba Bray* minus the glass eye, because happily, I have both of my eyes. You might say that this is a ridiculous goal, but you, my friend, would be wrong. This is a completely non-ridiculous goal. I can totally become white, move to New York City, complete goal #3, and develop a phobia of dolls. Also, then I would be able to move into the YA author mansion and have sleepovers in J.K. Rowling's wing. It will happen one day.**

I have a lot of goals, but:

5) Win NaNoWriMo.

YAY.

Yay also to greenconverses who won too! I wouldn't have signed up for NaNoWriMo by myself. I mean, who would I have complained to for a whole month?

Thanks for listening to my drivel about NaNo for the month of November. And an extra YAY for everyone who participated in this month of insanity!

*Author of "A Great and Terrible Beauty" etc. In case you didn't know, but I don't know how that would be possible since, EVERYONE KNOWS LIBBA BRAY.

**Okay, really, I am not that much of a stalker, so if Libba Bray & co. ever read this, please do not stick a restraining order on me or report me for identity theft.

PS I have a cool award, and I will post about it later when I am more coherent.

What I'm Thankful For

Man, I thought I was going to be all original with this, but it seems like several of you have beat me to the punch. And I think we're all thankful for similar things, but that's okay. Great minds think alike. I'll share my list with you.

1) Your condolences. That was really nice, guys. Thank you. Even though I've never met any of you in real life, you did make things easier. There really is a lot to be thankful for, because at least my dad got to see my grandpa before he passed away. So I'm thankful for non-delayed airplanes and the financial ability to get to China in 20 hours!

2) My family. Most of my big, gigantic family is always overseas, so I don't ever get to spend Thanksgiving with them, but at least I have a big, gigantic family somewhere. And I love being able to come home from college--I'm only about 50 minutes away by car. Very close. Much more fortunate than the 'burb kids from Chicago. My family feeds me, does my laundry, doesn't make me do chores when I get back, and always loves me!

3) Friends. I am grateful and happy to have people who care about me, find me mildly entertaining to be with enough that they continue to spend time with me, make me laugh at the best and worst of times, and make life richer and well-worth enjoying. I hope I can be a better friend to them too.

4) Food. You know that food was going to be highly ranked on my list. Thanksgiving is way up there with Christmas, because of turkey! and cranberry sauce! and mashed potatoes! And of course, a variety of non-traditional food, like dumplings and various Chinese dishes that are delicious year-round. There are two kinds of people in the world: ones who treat meals as something to get past in the day, and those who thoroughly look forward to eating as an activity. And I fall solidly into the second camp.

5) Writing. This has been a great year for me, and I am so thankful for it. Thankful for my God-given passion for this art and thankful that I've had lots of experiences (and improvement!) along the way. I love writing, and I hope I get to do it for the rest of my life. This is what I really want to do.

6) You! So predictable, but hey. I AM thankful for you. I started this blog in February in an attempt to motivate me to write, and it has become so much more than that. I love reading about other people's lives (because I am a stalker, but you know that already). I am so thankful that you find me worthwhile enough to read sometimes, the crazy wacky things that come out of my mouth (and fingers). This is pretty much how I behave in real life. So thank you, if you've ever left a comment or ever even dropped by and not said anything. This blog (and therefore YOU) has kept me going all of these months in writing, kept me accountable for continuing to write, and helped me find a better voice.

Even though I don't remember to be thankful year-round, at least we have this great American holiday to help us one week of the year. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with laughter and food and family.