Write in 2014 discussion

My goal is to write 500 words per day. This includes rewriting. Bouyed up by the successful completion of my 5,000 word short story, 'Elder Cares', I am embarking for the first time on the creation of a full-length historical novel. I'm very excited about it.

The crow's nest is high up in my sailing ship. I go there for a longer and wider view of my surroundings. My ship can sail on sea, on land, and in the air. When the conditions are right, my ship can travel under water and underground. It will need to do all of these things to help me write my story.

Hi Jeanne!

Good luck with the novel. It's hard work, but I'm sure you can do it.

Thanks, Paul. I'll be trying some new techniques-- new to me anyway--so I'll probably be asking questions of you and other experienced writers here.

I also limited my daily word count goal to 500 because I know I'll be doing a lot of reading for it too.

Good luck with your novel!

Hi Paige and icecheeks411,
Thanks for the good wishes! Do you want to see my crow's nest? You have to climb up this ladder here -- yup, right straight up the mast. There's enough room for all of us to go up. . . yes, it's a bit breezy, so hang on tight! Here we are -- step up and over...

Great view eh? We're anchored for now and that's Vashon Island you see out there. Beyond Vashon, the mountains. What's that? The Cascades? No, these are the Olympics--the Cascades are behind us; we can't see them from here. The Olympic range is so gorgeous this time of year with the sun shining on the snow.

icecheeks, do you have a workshop spot here? I couldn't find it. BTW, does your screen name come from figure skating?

Good luck!

Thank you, Ephona. I didn't sign up with this group last year, but now I'm ready to go.

Thanks Paige. Yes, I'm thrilled to be included in Ménage-à-20. The stories are alphabetical by author's last name, so with 'Voelker' as a last name, my story is near the end. My boyfriend tells me I should get a pen name farther up in the alphabet (not for this sort of project, but for libraries).
"Elder Cares" is a good story and worth waiting for (she says immodestly). And Wendy's and Rita's excellent stories are also near the end, so you still have a lot to look forward to. Oh, and don't miss the group story at the very end. It's really a romp!

Yes, 'Elder Cares' is a wonderful story.

I envy you your view, Jeanne. All I can see at the moment is low cloud and sleet. Even if clear, all I've got is the Malvern Hills - pretty, but small. The highest point isn't even 2000 feet.

'Visit Britain, a world in miniature...'

Jeanne wrote: "Thanks, Paul. I'll be trying some new techniques-- new to me anyway--so I'll probably be asking questions of you and other experienced writers here.

I also limited my daily word count goal to 50..."

I don't consider it limited at 500, but good luck, Jeanne!

Paul wrote: "Yes, 'Elder Cares' is a wonderful story.

I envy you your view, Jeanne. All I can see at the moment is low cloud and sleet. Even if clear, all I've got is the Malvern Hills - pretty, but small. The..."

I'm enjoying the overcast weather... it rained today! It actually rained! IN CALIFORNIA!

Hi Tink,
Yes, I love the rain. I was hoping to see the New Year's Eve full moon, though, and not a chance in Seattle. It was all clouds and rain. Tonight, however, I drove to the grocery store, and as I brought my groceries out, there she was -- still full and bright against a dark sky with wispy clouds scudding across her face. Only about 20 degrees above the horizon, so very large and beautiful. I stood there and drank the moonlight for a few minutes, but then heavy clouds obscured my view. When I returned home, I went outside to look again, but no. She was gone. We also spend whole days lately without seeing the sun.

January 1 progress report: edited a 900 word piece of fiction down to ~700 words. Not exactly writing, but something.

Jeanne wrote: "I also limited my daily word count goal to 500 because I know I'll be doing a lot of reading for it too"

I love reading and researching for my stories (but sometimes I wish I could just write). Good luck on your goal and happy new year!

It's a start, Jeanne. Inertia is our greatest enemy. The tendency to remain doing nothing until acted upon by an external force.

Well, it is in my case, anyway.

Yes, inertia, an acquaintance of mine too. Someone once wrote that it takes three weeks of solid effort to establish a new habit. If this is true and I do the work, then inertia could become a friend since inertia works both ways.

Elaine,
Thank you for the good wishes. I'm looking forward to reading your chapters when they're available.

Progress report: January 2, 2010

Stone Man 670 words

Preliminary Progress report: January 3, 12:28 a.m.

Edited a chapter. 1800 words
Back to Stone Man later

Nice going, Jeanne.

Nice job, keep it up!

Thanks, Paul! It feels good to have a daily goal.

TOLI! You're baaack! Great!

Yes I am...THANKS!

Edited a chapter (3800 words) for someone else. :-)

Wrote nothing. :-(

AND, a great day for research! I found a whole non-fiction book dealing with how U.S. slave holders got around the law after the Civil War. I knew they would have because I worked in North Carolina in 1960-62. When the national minimum wage doubled the wages of low earners, the business owners found ways to exempt themselves from this requirement when it came to paying African-American workers.

Hi Jeanne! I just read about your ship that can go wherever you need to go, and now I wish I had one too! A crow's nest sounds like a great place to write a novel!

Just the thought of cherry pie with ice cream made my day a bit better! Thank you, and happy writing in 2010! :)

Hi Teresa! You can have a ship too! I see you have a nice tree house and that's great. I love trees and I have a big yard full of them. I'm sure you must have a great view and a cozy place to write, since you have insulated your treehouse.

Why not have a ship too? Just tie it up to your tree house and it will be ready to go whenever you want to enjoy a different view...

Maybe we can take our ships to the Mediterranean and sail from port to port.

Wow Jeanne! You skipped getting your awn cubicle and went straight to having a crows nest. Very cool. It's nice to have somewhere to visit you.

I wish you much luck on your writing adventure!

Yes, a crow's nest offers daylight, fresh air, and a wonderful view. If I want to change the view, I can simply sail or fly my ship elsewhere. Whee! Much more fun than a cubi. Come visit me any time.

First day back to teaching :-)
edited 2300 words :-)
no writing :-(

It's snowing here. All the students have been sent home. (Well there is an inch of snow on the ground now...)

Staff might be told to push off at 2 pm. So perhaps an unexpected extra 3 hours of writing?

Great! Go for it!
Schools closed with 1 inch of snow? Sounds like Seattle!

LUCKY...1 in of snow is NOTHING for here..the schools would never close!

:D

Same here!! School only closes if there's like a foot … sometimes not even then. O_o lol

I know same here...and one day we have 1.5 ft and I saw literally three cars spinning on the road on the way to school AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN CANCEL...haha...

School never closes, unless there's a blizzard outside, and no one can go anywhere. That actually happened, but people were trying to leave school in buses, and then they got stuck inside the buses. So those buses that could go back to the school dropped off everyone back at the school. We were stuck at school for an extra 2 hours until the blizzard cleared up.

You all must live in Snow Country! Time for wool socks and mittens!

Hi Jeanne,
Just popping into your crow's nest (and very nice it is too)To say a big Hello and Good Luck this year with your novel.As far as the weathers concerned I have been stuck in for two weeks because of the snow and ice, which has driven me crazy and has not done much good for my writing creativity.Boo Hoo. :)

Hi Jeanne,
Just stopping by to thank you for your review of my short story Unexpected Happenings. I really appreciate it!

Yes, I've heard the UK is now snow country! Be careful on the ice, okay?

Hi Elaine,
You're welcome. My pleasure. Let me know when you post your next story, okay? I've fallen behind on my own posting, but will add something to my profile soon. Next week I hope.

Wow, a historical ficion novel! I love reading those: they always make a time period so much more vivid and interesting.
I have yet to gather enough resolve to attempt a novel. I tried last summer, and it kind of died on me in a month. I hope you have much better luck than me!

Hi Kritika,

I'm still in the planning stages, getting to know my characters and researching events pre and post 1900 to see exactly where my story fits. It's exciting and great fun. So far, I have a burning idea, a few characters, quite definite locations, and a rough plot. To me, it's like solving a puzzle.

Finished and submitted my YA story, "Unlocking William".

Still reading about Tennessee for "The Boy from Humphreys County", although the first draft is fairly well finished.

Finally writing on "Stone Man" which should be novel length when finished. The more I read of the history involved, the more the history is right for my story. The facts are falling neatly into my novel-writing clutches. Yay!

You mean research is actually supporting your Plans instead of making them impossible? Congrats!

Which parts of history is Stone Man based on?

So far, the research just gives me more support. (Keeping fingers crossed for this to continue.)
I still have many questions to research. The story takes place around 1900 in Canada and the U.S., so I need to learn more about everyday life in those times as well as the politics and laws (eg; immigration laws).

Stone Man is exciting to work on. It will be up to me to convey this story to the reader skillfully enough so that anyone else will care.

The May issue of Performer Magazine has a feature article with photos of my daughter's band, Beat Circus. It's the band that never does the same thing twice. You can see it here:

http://performermag.com/Bands/Article...

Hey guys! Will you check out my thread and vote for the picture you'd like to see on the back cover of Unlocked? (book going to be released on August 13th)

We need your vote. Thanks!

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

A new article on the "Hero in horn-rimmed glasses" (who has written a wonderful book on film history).


Faint signals from a niche market
By Richard T. Jameson


In the age of Netflix, when just about any film made anywhere can be summoned painlessly to your mailbox [or streamed to your flat screen], we do well to remember that once upon a time there were only a handful of independently operated movie theaters in the United States dedicated to showing foreign-language cinema. Prints were few, sane distributors fewer, and even as the beleaguered exhibitors struggled to build an audience for "movies you had to read," often as not they had to fight off local censor boards, right-wing xenophobes, and self-appointed arbiters of morality and decency. Jim Selvidge was one of these cultural heroes (if you can feature a hero in horn-rimmed glasses heavy enough to tilt the Titanic). Singlehandedly at times, he championed Bergman, Godard, Buñuel, Kurosawa, et al., put the Seattle Censor Board out of business, founded the Seattle Film Society, and enticed his community to take the first decisive steps toward acquiring a reputation as one of the savviest movie towns in the country. It's an important story.

I wrote that blurb for Bergman, Fellini, Kurosawa: The Foreign Film in America, James N. Selvidge's memoir of a couple decades as a Seattle film exhibitor. Chances are the name doesn't ring a bell - unless, perhaps, you're into horse racing. That's the field Selvidge went into big time in the 1970s, after U.S. interest in the foreign-film scene shrank drastically, and he rode those horses a long way. In fact, his website is named horsestalk (though I'm not sure whether that's "horses talk" or "horse stalk" ... never mind).

Non-horse people knew the name when I arrived in Seattle in autumn 1965. Selvidge had made major contributions to the local scene, not just culturally but also politically. His activist stance in the previous decade had been key to delivering a potentially world-class city from the provincial constraints of a film censor board, and his profile was high enough that right-wingers circulated the rumor (and probably believed it) that you could get into Selvidge's Ridgemont Theatre for free if you whispered the letters "ACLU" through the box-office window. Good times.

You can read about that stuff in his self-published memoir. It's written in the same voice one encountered in the mailers displayed in his theater lobbies - promotion with intelligent perspective. Mostly, the Ridgemont bill changed weekly; two weeks was a long run. There were usually two features (Seattle was a double-feature town in those days), and they'd be exclusives; the then-independent Guild 45th and Varsity theaters showed the occasional foreign film - foreign usually meaning British, in their case - but the reliably ongoing subtitled action was up on Phinney Ridge. I rarely missed an offering, and often went back for a second look. (Eventually I got a job with Selvidge, which I mention only because I shouldn't fail to do so.)

The noble enterprise was undone by success as much as by changing patterns in the distribution and exhibition of foreign-language films. Late in 1966 Selvidge undertook to play a film for four weeks. It was the soft-focus pretty A Man and a Woman, a lyrical French romance he rightly anticipated would be a crossover hit. Unfortunately, the contract obliged him to hold the movie over if the weekend box-office maintained a certain level. A Man and a Woman met that mark for fourteen months, creating a logjam for all the provocative-sounding art films waiting to inherit the screen. The little movie house to which the faithful used to go every week became just another theater.

As for the book, I wish the title were something else. Seekers of an auteurist study of Bergman, Fellini, and/or Kurosawa won't find it; those demigods are invoked more like brand names exemplifying certain aspects of the appeal foreign-language film held for Selvidge and his audiences. But appropriately enough in this context, you can trust the subtitle. This is history, and it matters. Or should. And the four-color reproductions of film advertising art are pretty spiffy. The price has been knocked down for holiday gift sale ($21.95, available from Amazon or horsestalk).

Oh, the Ridgemont isn't there anymore at the corner of 78th and Greenwood. As a movie theater, it closed in 1989, then saw sporadic use by little-theater groups. The building was razed in 2001 and four stories of condos rose in its place. In a bow to nostalgia, the architects gave the façade a marquee-like thrust.

I submitted listings for Goodreads writers' anthologies to bargain e-books and the listings will come up tonight.

Here's this morning's note from Holly Hook:

Just letting you know that the anthologies you submitted will be up on Bargain eBooks 8PM EST tonight and also 8PM EST tomorrow, as posts 39 and 40. Feel free to spread the word!

--Holly
http://bargainebooks.blogspot.com

The first one I submitted should come up tonight. Listing # 39
(with cover photo-- it didn't copy here)

Ménage-à-20, Tales with a Hook

by Carlos J. Cortes (Goodreads Author) (editor), Andy Love (Goodreads Author), Minnie Estelle Miller (Goodreads Author), Renee Miller (Goodreads Author), D.B. Pacini (Goodreads Author), Roy L. Pickering Jr. (Goodreads Author), Kate Quinn (Goodreads Author), Lauren Stone (Goodreads Author) , more...Michael Keyton (Goodreads Author), Kelley Roby (Goodreads Author), Rita J. Webb (Goodreads Author), Diane Condon-Boutier (Goodreads Author), Henry Lara (Goodreads Author), Paul Mitton (Goodreads Author), Gwendolyn McIntyre (Goodreads Author), Susan Curnow (Goodreads Author), Rita Stradling (Goodreads Author), Isabella Erlenmeyer (Goodreads Author), Wendy Swore (Goodreads Author), Jeanne Voelker (Goodreads Author) ...less
Ménage à 20, Tales with a hook 4.3 of 5 stars
· 27 ratings · 22 reviews

Get Hooked --San Diego Dispatch
An orgy of many-splendored prose --Pocatello Times

Life, death, demons, and donuts. The perils of love; the perils of hell. Ghosts, TV, and human sacrifice. What do they all share? A group of writers, published and unpublished, with no other goal but to make you gasp in shock. Thirty stories, twenty writers. Prepare to get hooked.

Download your FREE copy by clicking HERE! Look for pictures of the authors and other extras at http://www.menage-a-20.com/

Like to hold a book in your hands? Paperback and hardcover copies can be printed at Lulu.com ! (less)
ebook, 408 pages
Published December 4th 2009 by Carlos J. Cortes (first published 2009)
------------------------

And here's part of a review:

Spearheaded by Carlos J. Cortes, author of several science fiction books, Ménage à 20 is a compilation by several Goodreads authors.

As the title suggests, each of these stories contain a twist, a hook at the end, some element the reader doesn't expect.

Did they pull it off? Some of them did and how. A few of these stories took my breath away. They were truly well-written, cleverly executed shorts that did everything a short is supposed to do: draw you in fast and leave you wanting more--and yes, there was a definite twist.
============================

And tomorrow's offering on Holly's site will be Unlocked, Ten "Key" Tales by nine Goodreads authors, edited by Wendy Swore and Rita J. Webb.

Or maybe Holly will feature them in reverse order. She didn't say -- so check out the site both evenings.