I Could Have Died

Maxwell Lake

Okay, the title is a bit dramatic and not exactly true.  But I'm channeling my inner headline grabbing newspaper. 

The truth:  I spent the week trekking around the mountains in Northeastern Oregon with my brothers, my neice and nephew.  We get together up there every summer, but this year we decided we would test our skills against the high lakes (rather than just hang out in the campground the whole time).



Easy to smile when you don't carry a pack

Mine was a big fail. I practically starved with my meager supplies of vegan/vegetarian food.  I would totally fail in a post apocalyptic society - in the world that I built for my last book, SILO.  Unless they valued my gardening skills and my mad abilities to throw together delicious meals.  Keep that in mind if the shizz goes down, please.  And make a place for me in your compound. 

See the picture of the smiling kids?  And those logs behind them on the waterfall?  We had to walk over those.  The first hike was the brutal one.  The 8 switchbacks were nothing compared to the last mile straight up.  We were crawling in some areas because there was no way to make it standind up with a 25 pound pack on your back.

The kids soaking their feet

 While the kids soaked their feet, we set up camp. 

Don't tell my younger brother, but I think my nephew may be taking after me.  He pulled out the worms and said into the box, "Sorry, guys, but we have to use you now." 

Then his little apology turned into anger when he watched his dad cut one in half.  He kept watching the wriggling side of the worm that was left and yelling, "DAD! You shouldn't have done that to him!  That was mean!"

My neice caught the first fish.  And the second.  She's quite the fisherwoman.  I had to take a stroll around the lake until they were done.  I hate everything about fishing because I look at it from the fish POV.  You're just enjoying life eating mosquitoes in a lake and suddenly spot a juicy worm.  Next, you're swallowing a hook and being pulled across the lake with the hook in your stomach.  Then, you can't breathe as you're pulled out of the water...well, you get the picture.  

I could hear them whacking the poor things on the head on the rocks across the lake. *shudder*

So they enjoyed their fish that night and I enjoyed my quinoa salad that I had prepacked.  They spent the week catching fish and small game while I did my best to avoid the killing, cleaning and cooking of the sentient creatures.  I would fail big time in a post apocalyptic society if I were required to catch and kill food.  I couldn't survive in the world that I built for my book SILO.  I guess that's why I write about it!

Despite the food issue, it was a gorgeous trip.  We had a blast, for the most part.  It feels good to push your body.  And I always love to hang out with my brothers in any setting!

What about you - could you survive in the worlds you have built in books?  Have you ever been backpacking? 

Wednesday Wishes

This is Wednesday leaning out of her cat tree. She may look like just your average gray tabby cat, but she has many skills. Most of these skills, she uses for The Good. Okay, 'most' might be a slight exaggeration. Wednesday is a good little kitty, though, at heart. She loves her family, loves her sisters, loves annoying those sisters and she also loves to grant wishes. Every Wednesday morning, I will rub the side of the cat house and summon our magic cat!

I want to say that Wednesday went three for three on my wishes last week.  She was VERY generous!  Let's hope she is in a wish granting mood this week as well...

My Wednesday Wishes for the week:

1)  Lily - She's got ANOTHER skin infection.  When we adopted her, we knew we were getting allergies, but this dog has been over and beyond. I swear we could have a vacation home in Hawaii - not a down payment on one, but have actually paid in cash for the house if we didn't have her.  She's worth it, but it's been an expensive lesson.  Next dog will be a few years older so we know we are avoiding all these health issues!  My wish is that the vet will come up with an antibiotic that will work better this time so that she gets more than four days relief inbetween infections! 

2) The Hubster's Bday - I can't keep secrets from him. This has been incredibly hard, but I've somehow managed to keep everyone silent.  Saturday night I have a surprise party planned.  I reserved a few lanes at the bowling alley so it will be hours of pizza, beer and bowling.  Oh, and ice cream cake.  He works so hard so that I can do what I love - Paws and Learn and my writing.  He deserves the best birthday ever.  I just want it to be a great night for him.  For everyone!  And if it doesn't, I have the ice cream cake to make it all better.

3)  Christmas in July - Our entries go up today!  Mine will be here on Michelle's blog.  I'm wishing hard for requests!  I can hardly wait to find that agent - the one who loves my book and my characters as much as I do, who believes in it and wants to rep it!  So I'm rubbing Wednesday's little buddha belly and wishing harder than I did when I blew out the candles on my childhood birthday cakes!

What about you - what are your wishes for our magical kitty?

Focus

This is my Lily. 

This is how she looks at every corner on our walks.

This is how she looks if we're hiking and a horse is heading our way.

FOCUS.

It's her strong point.  No matter what is going on around us, she will never take her eyes off me until I say, "Okay!"

We went for a hike this morning that turned out to be a disaster.  One of my favorite trails is what we have dubbed The Horse Trail.  Because we frequently run into riders.  It's never a big deal.  We get her off to the side of the trail as a courtesy to the horses and riders. She got to meet her first horse as a puppy and she's obsessed with them now.  She would greet every single one if she could.  But it's a danger for her and for the horses who don't appreciate dogs so mommy says 'no.'

Back to the disaster.  Usually we run into them every few hills.  Usually it's two to four riders in a group.  Sometimes it's a lone rider.  But this morning it seems everyone and their brother, mother, sister, cousin, roommate, boyfriend, etc. thought "I want to go to Griffith Park for a horse ride!"  We made it halfway through the hike when the first caravan came by.  25 riders.  She never took her eyes off me or moved.

FOCUS.

I decided that my lungs couldn't handle walking behind all the horses because my asthma was acting up.  So we turned around and headed back.  Only to encounter then next caravan.  I counted 33 this time.  All apologizing for the dust.  All commenting on my beautiful dog.

She has the patience of a saint.  By the third caravan, I was cursing the horses, the riders, the dusty trail, my decision to take her there...but she never lost that focus.

Man, if I could have just a quarter of that. 

The good news - Michelle Krys picked my SILO for the Christmas in July contest!  I'm one of the lucky 15 on her team that will go up on her site on Wednesday.  Ten agents will be looking at our entries and requesting (or not requesting).  So exciting!

But it's put my WIP on hold.  I can't concentrate on it.  I sit down with everything plotted out, but I find myself staring at the screen for an hour before I get distracted with laundry or cat boxes or cleaning out drawers.

I wish I could be like Lily - tune out all those horses and just focus in on my MC.

What about you - do you have trouble focusing sometimes?  Does anything help you regain your focus?  

Wednesday Wishes

This is Wednesday leaning out of her cat tree. She may look like just your average gray tabby cat, but she has many skills. Most of these skills, she uses for The Good. Okay, 'most' might be a slight exaggeration. Wednesday is a good little kitty, though, at heart. She loves her family, loves her sisters, loves annoying those sisters and she also loves to grant wishes. Every Wednesday morning, I will rub the side of the cat house and summon our magic cat!

My Wednesday Wishes for the week:

1)  Just some glue - I popped a crown off yesterday.  An old crown.  No pain. Whole crown came off.  But it's one from the dentist who turned out not to be a dentist so it doesn't look like a very good crown.  This may not bode well for my dental visit tomorrow.  I'm asking for some positive vibes that all this tooth needs is a little glue.  I've had THREE crowns already this year so the insurance and the pocket book are maxed out in the tooth department.  Please just be able to put it back on with some glue.  Ooooor make me a temporary that will last until January 1st.

2)  Cinder - It's really difficult watching your pets age.  My mom got Cinder when she was 12 weeks old (side note: I did the 'no-no' and gave her two kittens as a birthday present - sometimes it works out, rescue groups!)  She's 15 years old now.  She's been struggling healthwise for a few years, but always seems to get right back on track.  This week has been a rough one for her, complete with a vet visit today.  My mom leaves on Thursday to go to Flagstaff for a reunion and will be gone for a week.  She is torn and sick with worry over her girl.  I'm rubbing the cat tree and making a wish that the week passes quickly and that Mom arrives home to find Cinder back to her ol' self.

3)  Xmas in July - To see about the contest click here or here (and follow them while you're there because they're great gals!).  They're choosing the 30 this week and I'm wishing for one of those spots!  Ten fabulous agents will be perusing those 30 entries - and it would be great to be one of them!!!

What about you - what are your wishes for our Wednesday cat?

Getting the Mojo Back

I've been struggling with my latest WIP. Nothing but love for the idea, but every time I sit down to write, it's been a chore.  Part of it is that I'm trying to write at home.  I can't seem to focus with a dirty kitchen or dust on the table or laundry that needs to be done or a closet that needs to be reorganized.  But I live in L.A. so we don't have quaint coffee shops.  We have annoying people who feel the need to convince everyone how important they are so they answer their cell phones in quiet coffee shops and have very loud, name dropping conversations.  So writing out is out.

I needed help focusing.  I needed to sit at the computer and tune everything else out.  One thing that I had gotten away from was burning a candle.  I don't know why this helps me focus on my writing, but it does.  Different scents for different stories.  This one is vanilla bean.  Although, I admit that I had a 4,000 word count evening with eucalyptus when I had a migraine two mornings ago.  So, vanilla and eucalyptus (just not together because that would smell gross).

Fab Crit Partner Colene sent me a link that helped get my mojo back last week.  It also helped me get to sleep at a decent hour.  But first the mojo.  It seemed so simple - know what you're writing before you write it.  How many of us are pantsers?  I started this as my NaNo project...and then got pneumonia so there went that.  When I NaNo, I have a loose idea of where I'm going. I have bullet points in my head to hit.  This wasn't any different.  For some reason, though, it wasn't working here.

I took the advice - as I crawled into bed, I started sketching the next few chapters.  When I say sketch, I mean bare bones with maybe a few lines of dialogue.  In ten minutes, I had filled two pages, front and back.  There were no characters in my head, nothing fighting for paper.  The chatter disappeared and I slept.  It was awesome!

Even better was my performance at my computer the next morning.  The words have been cranking out.  My count is rising.  I have my mojo back!!  A few minutes at bedtime sets me up for the morning (and helps me sleep the minute my head hits the pillow).  I still think I'm pantsing it, but with a topo map and a compass.

What about you - how do you keep your word count up?  Ever lost your mojo?  What brought it back?

Polished Up Bright and Shiny

You can read my polished entry for The Writer's Voice here.

And my AWESOME teammates entries are all here.

You can comment on any of them (mine included) until Sunday.

The esteemed panel of agents will be making their rounds on Monday to pick their favorites.


GO TEAM KRISTA!

"The Writer's Voice" Submission

This is my entry for The Writer's Voice.

SILO
YA Dystopian
84,000 words

Query:

After a global disaster strikes, seventeen-year-old Lizzie Wallace is kidnapped from the rubble of her high school in Los Angeles and flown across the devastated country. Her new home is an underground silo hidden deep in the Adirondack Mountains. Like a modern day Noah's Ark, the children are there in pairs - male and female, ranging in age from ten to eighteen. They are the future, each one chosen for their special skill to rebuild society. There's only one problem - Lizzie doesn't have the skill they think she does.

Her repeated failure at the one thing that she's expected to contribute to the group cements her belief that she doesn't belong there. Even her growing attraction to eighteen-year-old Brand doesn't stop her from plotting to escape the silo and return to the family she knows is frantic about her.  But when the man who brought her there is killed, Lizzie learns a secret that changes everything she believes about the silo and her place in it.


First 250 words:

The first explosion rocks the room, sending my books flying off the desk.  The second makes the ground tremor and the lights flicker.  Ms. Clark grabs her large desk at the front of the classroom.  I brace for a third and don't have to wait long.  This one flings the glass specimen jars from the walls, smashing them onto the concrete floor.  The smell of formaldehyde and death fill the science class.

"Everyone remain calm," Ms. Clark says.

"Should we get under our desks?" I ask.

Ms. Clark doesn’t respond, seeming frozen in place.  I don’t wait for an answer, crawling under my desk.

“Lizzie,” Christopher calls to me, but in the chaos I can’t find him.  Bodies swarm everywhere in panic.  Doesn’t anyone remember the drills we’ve been practicing for a decade now?

The ground shakes again and the lights go out.  Screams and sobs reverberate over the din of the creaking building, its beams groan in protest at the ceaseless movement beneath it.

I feel a hand on my arm, strong and warm.  I don’t even have to look to know whose it is.  I have every callous on Christopher's hand memorized.  And the wart he keeps cutting off that stubbornly grows back on the inside of his thumb.  I grab his hand, lacing my fingers through his, and squeeze tight.

        
          Ms. Clark shouts something but I can't make out the words over the crashing, popping and screaming.  I chew on my bottom lip, as my mind races.