Moving Overseas and Unexpected Pitfalls

Just had my latest article come out: 

http://www.inloveabroad.com/2012/immigration/moving-overseas-things-you-never-expected/ 

For those who've moved overseas, there's some emotional aspects that no one really mentions, and which become the focal point of your life for awhile. I hope these help others who move know what they're experiencing is normal.

It's funny how even a small change can render such huge emotional tolls on a person. Sometimes we focus so hard on the practical stuff, like money and securing employment, that we forget there's an emotional part to moving.

Editing a Novel: Not Just About Copy-edits

When I started editing my first novel, I felt like an astronaut in free fall. Yes, my novel had problems. Some of them big, some of them small, but mostly workable. The problem was, approaching it with a list of fix-its wasn't always helpful, and was, at times, a back-fire, because it meant I only approached edits with my critical, logical mind rather than letting my writer's brain have a say.

Part of the reason it's so hard to convey how to edit a story is because 1) we all have our own process and 2) I don't think people care to put down the emotional aspect of how to look at a story. So when I found this article by David Farland about your character's feelings and how your book portrays them, I was thrilled.

It's another good way of looking at edits. Here's a small quote from it:

Ultimately, with every pass, every rewrite, you need to ask yourself, “Is this the right choice of words, images, and scenes to make the reader feel what I want? Have I selected the right details?”

"The Rules" of Writing - Lee Child's Advice

I read a really great article today which got me to thinking. In this article, Lee Child dispenses healthy, common sense advice about a publishing career.

Although I liked how he pointed out how to be a gracious professional, what stood out to me was his dismissal about the 'writing rules'. How many times have I, or my critiquers, used "show, don't tell" to explain something? Were we 'right', or were we trampling on the writer's story? Now it has me wondering.

And the bottom line:
“It’s a long game. It will look bad on plenty of days, but hang in there, keep showing up and see where you are in 10 years.”


This is something I've been meditating on for the past few weeks. There are so many writers I see lathering at the bit to make their stuff go-go-go in the fastest way possible - always reading a how-to book or needing a critique partner to evaluate their work. And yet, as this shows, sometimes that can backfire in the writing process.


I'm not saying either of these are useless, but they're tools which must be used with care. Care and a deeper understanding of how you as a writer write.

February Round-Up

Lots of busyness this month, and not all with writing. Here's some of the month's accomplishments:

• My latest article about a long-distance relationship near and dear to me - my grandmother's - came out.
• I finished the majority of my edits on my novel (yay!). I'm left with fiddly bits.
• I've got a working draft of my synopsis.
• Planned out a few articles for the coming month.

Mostly, I've been enjoying sucking myself into reading good novels and learning good writing skills. It's funny how reading good books and editing your own can accomplish just that.

My reading goal for the year, which I'm tracking on Goodreads, is going well. I'm pleased at how many new books I've read that I've meant to read, either for months, or in the Kushiel series case, a few years. Time really does fly; I should have read these years ago.

Two Really Great Blog Posts

I don't post a lot of link sharing on my blog because, frankly, when most people do it on theirs, I skip it unless there's one that REALLY stands out. It's to stop me from falling into the internet rabbit hole, and I'm sure you're the same.

Having said that, these two articles were so good, I just had to put them on here, for my reference, even if no one else cares.

In the first, Kameron Hurley, autho of God's War, discusses how SF/F genre is guilty of using the same unimaginative futures instead of thinking outside the box. And you know what? I love those genres, I read and write in them, and she's absolutely right. This is something I've been thinking about for awhile now, ever since I realized the boxes people put female lead characters into which irritates the heck outta me (either she needs to be masculine in her ways or have super snarkiness, 9/10 times) .

It gets feminist me really thinking even more. I'm not the only one who sees it.

And another one dear to my heart is this post from the Smart Bitches about people who shame readers about their genre reading choice. This happens, I know, to quite a few genre readers, but none nearly so much as romance readers. When discussing this with a fellow writer, she told me it was just as bad for romance writers.

"It's sadly common for them to get comments on how good they are in the sack, once people hear of their genre," she told me. "Funny how that sort of comparison doesn't happen to mystery writers."

January Round-Up

It's Feb 1st in the land of the future (aka Australia), and part of my accountability with my new writing schedule is admitting what I've done and not done this month.

January's Round-Up:

• Read through my manuscript and made notes.
• I devised a revision plan.
• Revised 9 out of 32 chapters.
• Wrote/Rewrote x 5/Polished a query letter - and yes, it's looking VERY good.
• Wrote a logline.
• Entered a contest.

I'd hoped to be almost done with my revisions, but life sometimes calls. My fiancée and I are working on my visa paperwork to become a permanent resident of Australia. It's a pretty big deal.

This month, I'm doing a February Fever with some fellow writers. My goals are to finish completely polishing this book, and to have a new one outlined by the end of the month. 

In my hopes, I also hope to start writing said new book. We shall see. *crosses fingers*

What I've Learned by Working From Home

I've been feeling burnout lately.

I don't like to talk about the hard parts of working from home, but sometimes, they happen. I gave up my full-time job for a part-time job when I moved to Australia so I could focus on my writing. There's still enough money to pay for necessities and have fun, but it's not quite as plentiful. I'm OK with that. I don't know how people go full-time working from home without an income stream, because that seems like a very hard thing to do to me, but mine's worked out well so far.

What have I learned from the last few months working from home? That the pressure to succeed becomes huge. That you really only can go to yourself at the end of the day to succeed, or fail. And that when you have setbacks, the failure feels more than other failures you experience.

Because it feels like you only have yourself to blame.

When you sit down to do work, prioritizing becomes a necessity. Putting in your full workload is vital. So is finding time to goof off and keep yourself oriented.

Making a plan is important, because it's easy to get overwhelmed when you don't have anyone to assist in the workload.

There are also benefits to working from home, but I haven't reaped many of them yet. Let's see if I feel the same way once I'm done revising this book. 

And despite all of this, I still wouldn't trade it for the world.