Indigo

Readers and writers both try to picture characters in their heads.

This is my Indigo.

Alex Pettyfer.

You're welcome ladies. ;)

Memorial Day (f.k.a. Decoration Day)

Decoration Day

Sleep, comrades, sleep and rest

On this Field of the Grounded Arms,

Where foes no more molest,

Nor sentry's shot alarms!

Ye have slept on the ground before,

And started to your feet

At the cannon's sudden roar,

Or the drum's redoubling beat.

But in this camp of Death

No sound your slumber breaks;

Here is no fevered breath,

No wound that bleeds and aches.

All is repose and peace,

Untrampled lies the sod;

The shouts of battle cease,

It is the Truce of God!

Rest, comrades, rest and sleep!

The thoughts of men shall be

As sentinels to keep

Your rest from danger free.

Your silent tents of green

We deck with fragrant flowers

Yours has the suffering been,

The memory shall be ours.

                              -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

My thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones while in service of our country. May the fallen rest in peace with our gratitude for your sacrifice, and theirs.

-Amy

Writing is a Wicked Bitch.

I’ve been tossing the idea of my novel Indigo around for quite a while now. Two years? At least? Well yeah – a long time. I had submitted the first 5 pages to the same contest I had Ghosting in (which didn’t get past the first 50 pages round btw). The feedback was truly good, and I’ve even had strangers from around the world reach out to me to see where the first 50 pages of Indigo were because they were captivated by the story so far. That has amazed me because I couldn’t see how the first 5 pages of anything could snag anyone’s attention, but it made me feel good nonetheless. People really liked Indigo.

So last night I revisited Indigo after our long hiatus, and my creative juices are now flowing again. I made MAJOR changes – changing the voice from first person to third (uncomfortable!), the tense from past to present (tricky!), and finally decided what the story was going to be about (Yay!). My original premise now feels overdone in the market, and the new one I came up with is good. Really good. But complicated. It will be a challenge to write.

Am I up to this challenge? I have no idea. Knowing my history of leaving things undone when the going gets difficult makes doubt dance around maniacally in the back of my mind.

One of my major problems is pacing. I have NO idea how to pace a novel. Short stories - I’m a pro. If I needed to write the whole thing in 50 pages I could do it, no problem. But 350? Not so much. I don’t know when to reveal what. What is too soon? How much anticipation should there be? How much back story is needed, if any? Argh!

Part of me wants to say screw it, just write it all then mess with it later. But the perfectionist (read, chicken) in me says pick it apart as I go. But that instant dissection of what I’ve written is what’s hindering my progress. It’s a vicious cycle.

Yes dear novel, you are.

My goal for the time being is the first 50 pages for that contest. Once I have that in I’ll be able to see feedback from readers and editors, hopefully addressing the pacing among other things. While it’s not my favorite thing, I need the criticism to make me a better writer.

Lots of people say they like my writing ‘voice,’ which is a huge compliment to me. I know it’s rare to have a good writing voice, so I take deep pride in that. I just hope that my ‘voice’ can say the right things at the right time.

Has this whole blog been a delay tactic to avoid doing the work? You betcha. I need discipline, have you noticed? I need to just do the work. Or as my sis-in-law says: JUST DO IT.

That, in a nutshell, is what makes writing a Wicked Bitch. But for some ungodly reason, I still love her...

Amy Has...

The idea of this exercise is to Google your name and the word "has" after it. It's also normally done with the word "likes" as well - but I think I did that on Facebook not too long ago (well, maybe a few years ago). So, I thought I would see what the Googledom thinks I have.

I had wanted to work on my book Indigo this weekend, but have been too busy to just sit and really think, let alone write. So, the point of this is for me to post something on this blog; whether it be trite, hot monkey crap like this, or a deep essay about my feelings (gasp). Hey, at least it's not another poem...

And awaaaaay we go:

1. Amy has...A crush on Shadow. This is an anime video from YouTube. I looked at the video briefly, and I think Shadow is a Sonic the Hedgehog type-looking-thing... so I'd have to disagree with the 'crush' idea. Now if it said "Amy has a crush on Richard Armitage" that would be a completely different story, and one that I would wholeheartedly support.

This is Shadow. My new boyfriend.

2. 'Baby' Amy has...Hoover fright. This is another video, this time showing a poor defenseless infant being tortured by a vacuum for the viewer's amusement. I'm not so easily amused. I also don't have Hoover fright. Aversion maybe, but no fear here.

Cuz, it's soooooo cute!!!

3. Amy has...a strange connect with Katrina! What? This is a reference to two no-name models with similar beauty brand endorsements. I don't currently have any endorsements. Well, unless you count my CoffeeMate endorsement deal, but that is currently unpaid (and unbeknownst to Nestle).

Ooooooh yeah.....

4. Amy has...the talent to capture all of the qualities we love about Lois: smart, tough, funny, warm, ambitious and, of course, beautiful. Awww, I'm blushing! This refers to actress Amy Adams' upcoming portrayal of Lois Lane in a Superman reboot. However, I agree with the description. :)

You go girl.

5. Amy has...Zero Swag. Another video. And probably true - considering that I have no clue what the current description of "swag" is. It used to refer to merchandise like concert t-shirts, etc. Now, I'm not so sure. So unless they are referring to my copious concert t-shirt collection, I can affirm that I have zero swag. Should I be sad about this? I feel like I should.

Err, yea!

I'm going to stop at 5, since there aren't too many "Amy has" titles, and they're mostly in the descriptions. I've chosen to ignore all of the Amy Winehouse references - because there are just too many, and I'm not too comfortable with joking about the dearly departed (there were some juicy ones though).

So what does Google think you have?