Fabulosity and First Drafts

The Folk Festival was fabulous.* My favorite moments were dancing with Child and Hubby rightupfront for the Chicago blues band and the New Orleans jazz band. Those people know how to make your bones want to DANCE. I also loved lying out on the grass singing along to gospel while we made grass anklets.

Sometimes Life is just cool.

This weekend we're going to head west to the Choral Festival in Missoula. Did I say it was festival season??

In other news, I finished HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins at lunch today. Y'all were not lying. It ate my brain while I was reading it. I dreamt about it, pondered it, wanted to sneak moments to read it on the sly. I was also MAD at it when I finished, because I wasn't ready for it to end, especially like THAT. Thank God for friends who are smuggling the ARC of Catching Fire to me, because it is necessary. Unfortunately they tell me it won't be any better when I finish that one...*sigh*

I'm also going full gangbusters on my new WIP, working title FRINGE. It's a little odd writing all-new stuff shortly after doing so many soul-pounding revisions. On the one hand it's sometimes sparkly and shiny...and on the other the back of my brain is informing me (quite often) that all of this pretty new will probably eventually be cut. All. This is what I have learned--I shouldn't get too attached to any bit of it, because it will shift and need to change.

Yeah, I get attached to it anyway. It wouldn't mean anything if I didn't. So I am doing my Very Best to shut off the "this too will be cut" brain and just play. I think you have to play on first draft, or readers will be able to tell--it will be too stiff or something. Lacking spark. Yes?

Anyway, I've got quite a bit of work work I'm doing--just taking a breather. Will try to pop in a bit more often, in spite of the summer crazies!!

*I have noticed that I use the word "fabulous" too much lately. This is a good sign that I want to describe so many things as fabulous, but I think I need a new favorite word.

Catch-up

So I've been keeping busy.

I always think summer is going to be relaxing, but it's actually the busiest time of the year. It makes sense, since we *finally* have perfect weather, so everybody's outside doing stuff every minute of the day. Yard maintenance (ha), hiking, biking, picnicking, fishing, and festivals.

Butte has four festivals this summer--3rd/4th of July, the National Folk Festival (in its 2nd of 3 years here), Evel Knievel days (not my thing, but cool) and An Ri Ra, a big Irish celebration. Tonight is the kickoff of the Folk Festival, and I'm excited.

It's really fabulous to have this here in my town. It's a full weekend of FUN music--everything from Blues to Cajun to country to gospel--all outdoors, with multicultural food, dancing, and fun stuff for kids. I'll probably be outdoors just about all weekend, like last year.

Last night we also went to the street carnival that popped up down the block from us. Damn, those things are expensive now--but we got the all-ride passes and USED them. And Child won 2 fish (Danios, I think), who are still living in spite of Psycho. May you keep living, little fish!

To celebrate, this morning she drew this:


Have a wonderful weekend, everybody!

Child's poem and picture of the day

Child's blue dotted octopus sloth poem and picture, created this morning for YOU!

The Blue Dotted Octopus Sloth Poem

The blue dotted octopus
hangs from a tree
while eating a snack,
he gives some to me!

His snack is bananas,
he likes them a lot.
Although I'm a monkey,
I don't like them a lot.

So I said to the octopus,
"No thank you for now,"
and I walked off to
go eat some chow.

The end!

Imagery

My Topics of Thought right now, in picture code. Because isn't picture code more fun sometimes?


(photo from http://gardendaily.blogspot.com/2008/06/big-hole-fishing.html)


(photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/subpesca/2961251313/in/set-72157608236501550/)
(photo from http://www.youngfreealberta.com/assets/client/Image/Blog/Image/XSpotSuperstition/crossed-fingers.jpg)


(photo from http://image.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/fireworks(73).jpg)


What? Oh, whoops. That last one snuck in there. :)

I bet most of you can guess the rest anyway!

Playing with boxes

It's a well-known parentism that when you give a toddler an expensive toy, they'd rather play with the box.

Sometimes I want to be like that.

Because you know what that is? That's honesty, free and clear of societal expectations.

I know, we need societal norms and customs and traditions for lots of things--they smooth out rough situations, they give people something to pull from, a known way to react. When Grandma gives you an ugly-ass shirt she knitted herself, if you're over 8 or so you'll smile (falsely) and say "Thank You, Grandma, I love it!" and her feelings won't be hurt. People who don't handle social things well can be difficult to be around. You want to nudge them or something.

But learning that--how to instantly drop a mask on and pretend something you don't feel--must take something REAL out of you. Kids will just wrinkle their noses and play with the tissue paper instead, and everyone will laugh. Grown-ups aren't always allowed the luxury of being honest.

The bit I like best about playing-with-the-box syndrome, though, is the pure joy and wonder of it. How cool is that, to have a world so ripe with newness and possibilities and imagination that a box is awesome? That it can instantly be a rocket or a train or a playhouse or a turtle, or ANYTHING.

That is what I envy most. I want to remember more often how cool a box can be.

Or playing catch outside in the summer, or blowing bubbles on the porch, or stopping for surprise ice cream. Enjoying, without worrying about what's going to happen next or what's right or what so-and-so will think about it. Enjoying.

Hey, writing is like that box too, isn't it? It's possibility. Creating a story, a world, from a page.

Excuse me. I'm going to go play with my box now. And I'm not going to worry about what anybody thinks.

WINNER!

And the winner, selected by random draw, is...

Emily_YA!

Congrats, Emily! Email me which of the Shakespeare prizes you want, and I'll get it sent off to you!!

Thanks Lisa, and thanks everybody for playing!

Interview with Lisa Mantchev...and giveaway!

As promised, here's an *exclusive* interview with the lovely and talented Lisa Mantchev, author of EYES LIKE STARS. (which I reviewed yesterday) No fairies were harmed in the process of this interview. (well, MUCH)

Susan:Eyes Like Stars is based in an art nouveau-style theater, which happens to be magical and populated with Shakespearean characters. Bertie, the main character, is kind of stuck there. Would you want to live in the Théâtre Illuminata? Who would be your favorite characters to hang out with?

Lisa: I would move there in a heartbeat. Seriously... a messy bed that disappears below the stage, Mrs. Edith to do my laundry for me, food appearing in the Green Room? Sounds like a frazzled writer's dream-come-true! And I'd probably spend the majority of my time with Bertie, the fairies, the comedic characters, because I love to tell inappropriate jokes and have a good laugh. Cue Beatrice and Benedick, if you please...

Susan: One of the primary themes of ELS is Bertie's search for herself: her past, and her future. I'd think this would relate to just about any teenage girl. Did you plan that as a theme, or did it just develop through the story?

Lisa: Bertie's search for her mother and herself was part of the novel from its earliest incarnation, but I wouldn't say I thought about it in terms of "theme" when I was writing (mostly because "theme" is one of those words that got used in my high school English classes that made everyone groan.) Once I'd revised the novel four or five times, I could see the self-discovery was integral in a way that will make movie trailer voice-over guys say things like:
"A girl without a past.... *cue dramatic swell of orchestrated music* will seek the truth beyond the footlights."
*snerk*

Susan: The pirates are yummy. Tell me about the pirates.

Lisa: Oh, Nate. Well, he's got the requisite ship, muscles, accent, earring, sword, and "interesting tattoo" but he really does spend more time offstage with Bertie and the fairies than on it buccaneering and shouting "Arrrr, matey." In fact, he'd probably look askance at anyone who ran up to him and yelled that. In a conversation with Dan Bostick, who's directing the Full Cast Audio version of ELS, we discussed the need for him to have pirate-lilt rather than sounding like Long John Silver. And while I'm a huge fan of Johnny's Captain Jack, Nate's origins have more to do with the pirates in Peter Pan than those sailing the Caribbean.

Susan: Obviously you've been in the theatre a lot. What's the favorite part you've played, and why?

Lisa: I played the Stage Manager in a production of Christopher Durang's The Actor's Nightmare. Not a huge role, but I gave her this super-high Brooklyn accent that deepened when she also got shoved onstage to act; she went from Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors to a husky-voiced homage to our department's movement instructor in one line, and the transformation made everyone howl.

Susan: I've always thought there was a parallel between the ability to lose yourself in a part and in your characters while writing. Agree? Do you think the skills tend to overlap, to some degree?

Lisa: Absolutely. Nine times out of ten, when a scene is flowing, it's because all the characters in it are yammering away in my head... then I'm just transcribing the crazy. And then the writing is just limping along, it's usually because one or more of them has taken a coffee break and wandered off to the Green Room without telling me.

Of all the characters, the one most likely to disappear is Ariel. There's just something about that boy that makes me want to staple his shoes to the floor.

Susan: What would you like to tell readers, about Bertie and Eyes Like Stars? C'mon. Make it juicy. Something sekrit that happened offstage, maybe?

Lisa: Oh, there is much juice to be had... and those sorts of behind-the-scenes/offstage moments are going to be a feature at the Théâtre Illuminata website. (note: also PRIZES!) I've decided to write up some flash fiction to tide readers over until the sequel. *runs before you kill me with sticks*

Oh, all right, here's one thing I haven't shared anywhere else: Nate gets 95% of his accent from Gerard Butler. OM NOM NOM.

Susan: WHEN OH WHEN is the sequel coming out?

Lisa: PERCHANCE TO DREAM will be out in the Fall of 2010, and the third book (yes, Virginia, it IS a trilogy!) will be out in 2011.

*********

Now that you've fallen in love with the book and are dying to read it...I don't have an ARC to give you. WHY? Because I loved it so very much I promptly passed it on for others to love. Still, there's no fun doing an interview without giving away goodies. So instead of an ARC, I'm going to give the winner a choice of one of these 3 Shakespearean goodies, from http://www.shakespearesden.com.

Shakespeare Action Figure!

Shakespearean insult mug!

Shakespeare magnetic poetry kit!

Rules: Contest will be open until midnight MST Thursday, June 25th. You get one entry for posting a comment on this blog, and an additional entry for linking to the contest/interview on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog (just include the links in your post below, or send me an email at susan dot adrian @ yahoo.com)--one entry for each proved posting! Winner must be in North America, due to shipping costs.

Let's spread the word about this fabulous book!

EYES LIKE STARS review!

Tomorrow, I'll be posting an exclusive interview with EYES LIKE STARS author Lisa Mantchev.

Here's the blurb for EYES LIKE STARS:

All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.

She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.

She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.

That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Open Curtain

I thought I'd love this book. I was a dancer, then an actress, devolving into a full-blown Shakespeare nerd in college. I audited Shakespeare classes for no credit, just because I loved to study the plays. I visited Stratford-upon-Avon, saw Shakespeare in the Park in London, made a trip to Ashland to see the festival there. I try to see at least one Shakespeare play a year, if I can manage it.

Plus, it's YA! And fantasy! And it has *pirates*! But would it be a great story?

Yes. She pulled it off. The book managed to integrate the theatre stuff in a new, original way. The characters--especially Bertie--were compelling and identifiable. There is wackiness--nutty fairies, buckets of blue hair dye, an onstage Turkish bath scene--but it was always believable. Better, even though I was on vacation, I never wanted to put it down. I kept sneaking off to read it for *just a few more minutes*.

My only complaint is that it's a series, and now I have to WAIT to find out what happens. As we all know, I'm Not So Good at waiting.

*stares at Lisa* O_0

But you'll want to join in too!

Come by tomorrow and check out the interview. Plus, I'm going to be giving away a fabulous Shakespearean-themed prize from this place. Can you guess which 3 choices I'm offering?

No, really, NOW it's good

I was thinking this weekend about that perennial question authors ask themselves, and each other:

How do you know when the book is done? When is it ready to send off into the world?

My answer, for myself, has always been when it's as good as I can make it. The funny thing is, I didn't realize that was a moving target.

I wrote a book. I thought it was as good as I could possibly make it. My agent loved it and agreed to represent it. Wahoo! Done, right?

*laughs*

It didn't quite sell, but we had consistent feedback. On reading the feedback, I realized the book COULD be better. I could go farther, deeper, if I let myself. I didn't know what I was thinking before, that it was as good as I could do. It wasn't. I just *thought* it was. So I revised it.

I thought I was done. NOW it's perfect, right?

*laughs*

Then a brilliant person suggested a completely different bent to the book. ("What would it be like if THIS happened instead?")

Ohhhhhhhh. Yessssss.

I now am just starting to realize that when I have that "oh" moment, there's yet another level to go. The book was good, maybe. It could still be better. And every time, I realize that where I thought I let go before, that I really gave it all I had, there's MORE.

Some people don't understand how I can keep making revisions when I was happy with the book to begin with. "If it was right before," they ask, "why do you keep messing with it?"

Because maybe it was right before for me a year ago, or 6 months ago. I keep growing and changing as a person, keep inhaling other books and thoughts and (hopefully) wisdom. So when someone I trust says "not quite right" I damn well WILL go at it again. And again. And again.

Is it perfect this time? No. I'm sure with the right eye I could make it EVEN better. But this time, really and truly, it's the best I can do.

New Book YAY

Finally I've got my teeth into a new book.

All new. Brand new. Shiny and tempting and lovely.

Sparkly like this:

Or this:

Or especially THIS:









Though I will be keeping it close to my chest for quite a while yet, I wanted to share the GLEE.

ULTRA-MEGA Tiara Day winners!!

So the winners of the Tiara Day contest (announced on Twitter this weekend) were:

First prize (first pick): @JoanneLevy
Second prize: @DeadlyAccurate

Congrats to the winners! Books will be mailed soon. And thanks to everybody who played--that was ~*FUN*~. We should do it again sometime, y?

ULTRA-MEGA TIARA DAY!!

Happy ULTRA-MEGA Tiara Day, everybody!!!

As explained yesterday, to celebrate I'm holding an ULTRA-MEGA contest.


The prize: One of these fine books, chosen by the winner.*

You can't see all of them? Well, I tried to cover more than just YA, though it's still heavily YA. The titles/authors are:

Death by Bikini, by Linda Gerber (YA mystery)
Rebel Angels, by Libba Bray (YA historical)
Paging Aphrodite by Kim Green (um...women's fiction, I guess)
Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale (middle grade)
Heretic, by Bernard Cornwell (historical)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart (YA)
My Name is Will, Jess Winfield (really cool Shakespeare-related fiction)

But what's that one in the middle, you ask? Oh, THAT:


THAT is a highly-sought-after ARC of Eyes Like Stars, by Lisa Mantchev. I'm only giving it away because I LOVED it so much that I want to share (though you may have to pry it from me). Seriously. It is amazing. You want to read this ASAP.

The rules: Change your avatar (on twitter, facebook, your blog, etc.) to somehow include a tiara. Tiaras by themselves are okay, but it's more fun if it's you or your regular avatar sporting a tiara (Photoshop is FINE). Tweet to me (@susan_adrian) or email me (susan dot adrian @yahoo.com) or comment on this post that you've participated, with a link to the pic for post or email. Contest closes at midnight tonight, June 12th.

I'll randomly draw a winner. Sorry, I can only ship to the U.S. and Canada, but please feel free to participate anyway!

*If we get more than 25 entries, I'll randomly draw TWO winners. 50 entries, THREE winners. 75 entries, FOUR winners. Should we happen to get 100 entries, I'll draw FIVE. (and I'll stop there or go broke from postage). This means you have a great incentive to SPREAD THE WORD about tiara day, post links, and re-tweet.

Winners will be announced sometime this weekend. Ready...go forth and wear tiaras!!! Enjoy!! :)

ULTRA-MEGA Tiara Day and ULTRA-MEGA Contest Tomorrow!

*announcement* *announcement* *announcement*

Tomorrow (Friday, June 12th) will be ULTRA-MEGA Tiara Day.

Tiara Day is partly just silly--the idea is to post a picture of yourself in a tiara, your usual avatar tiara'd, or a plain old tiara pic as your avatar for the day. Can work on Twitter, Facebook, your blog, whatever.

It's also partly about celebrating good news, and creating good, positive energy. It's FUN.

So to help make tomorrow ULTRA-MEGA, I'm also going to host a contest.

Detailed post tomorrow, but the gist is that if you participate in Tiara Day and let me know, you will be entered to win one of EIGHT books I've put up as choices. All different genres. Including a particular ARC that many many people would like to have....*

Books and deets tomorrow!! Polish your tiaras!!

*At this point I'm only going to have one winner, but if I get ULTRA-MEGA participation, you never know....

Back!!

As you...ahem...*might* have noticed, I've been away. We darted out of town right after school was over for a much-needed week-long break.

Aaahhhhh.

I need my city visits. A week of indulgence, hotels, playing, and enjoying each other in new surroundings. Over our vacation I or we did all of the below (not in order):

• Hung out with the lovely and talented Emily Hainsworth and her husband. We've been Twitter buds for a while, but this was our first real-person meeting. She is FABULOUS.
• Cheered on our Padres at a Pads/Rockies game (sorry, Emily!)
• Played frisbee at a local park, let Child crawl all over the new and different play equipment.
• Hubby introduced Child & me to Dave & Busters. WAY too much fun. Addictive. And we came home with all sorts of interesting "prizes"!
• Explored the Museum of Science & Nature (SO cool!)
• Spent a whole day at the Denver Zoo.
• Dashed through the rain...um, everywhere.
• Checked out the Butterfly Pavilion. Child & I got to be right there while they released all the butterflies that had hatched that day.
• Spent another whole day at Elitch Gardens, a fantabulous amusement park and waterpark. Though the amusement park bit turned out much better than the waterpark. Brrrr.
• Child won a blue-striped gecko she'd coveted all day by making the booth guy NOT guess her birth month correctly.
  
• Bought EVERMORE at the Tattered Cover.
• Went to the Denver Art Museum on free Saturday, and ended up only going to the part we actually paid for, the Psychedelic Posters exhibit. Because it was that cool. And because Child got very intent on doing the light show (colored oil and water projected on a screen) and making a 60s-style poster.
• Saw a B-17. Not only SAW...hubby went for a ride in it!
• Had a great time at the Wings over the Rockies museum.
  
• Bought clothes. Bought games. Bought doll and doll clothes. Bought books. Bought fishing stuff at Bass Pro Shops. Narrowly avoided having to buy another suitcase. :)

I'm sure that's not all. But we enjoyed every minute. It really was a relaxing, fun time.

Ahhhhhh.

(also, finished my revisions and sent them off today! Wahoo!)

Nose, meet grindstone

That's a grindstone. And that's me.

Ooops.

Ever reached the frustration point and said something mean, then wished you could take it back?

I have.

Ever misjudged speed and cut someone off?

I have.

Ever had a thought pop into your brain, and you say it--then realize how STUPID that was to say? How it might even have really bad consequences, just because you let it out into the air?

I have.

Ever get impatient with somebody taking forever, then find out there was a damn good reason for it?

I have. That one happens too often.

Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone (as far as I can tell) loses their temper, says stupid things, DOES stupid things, gets wrapped up in their own world and loses sight of how their words, their actions, affect people around them.

What I find interesting is when people get trapped in those mistakes.

We just saw a GREAT movie, an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's book The Painted Veil. I won't reveal spoilers, but a major focus of the plot is one character's refusal to allow the other to make up for a mistake. It's like he boxes her in that moment--where she'd erred--and will never let her get past it.

Something similar happens in Rachel Getting Married. Kym (played by Anne Hathaway) made a horrible mistake, yes. Horrible. And in a series of mistakes. But to the people it affected, she can never get past that point, that one decision failure--because of the consequences. And the movie is (partly) about both she and her family TRYING to get past that point.

I find this fascinating in writing too, of course. Characters are always going to make mistakes, little mistakes of temper or lack of awareness. And isn't it intriguing to follow the consequences of those mistakes? To explore what happens when something awful happens because of your character's mistake--or the relief when she realizes something awful MIGHT have happened, but didn't. That time.

Mistakes make us grow, hopefully. They also reveal us as real, as frail. They reveal your characters in ways that will make them real to readers--and readers will more easily identify with people like them. People with tempers and impatience and stupid-mouth. I think it's important to be aware of that dimension in your books, to play with it. Follow the mistakes, and see what happens.

Research Weirdnesses

I just ordered a pile of books through interlibrary loan yesterday for the NEW SHINY book I get to work on after I finish revisions. Like most writers, I'm kind of a research nerd--in small doses, at least. I think it's fun to explore new topics, find weird little factoids and whole areas that other people are fiercely devoted to that were completely unknown to me.

So today I thought we could share some of the odder topics we've researched in the course of writing. Here are some of mine, many of which are for books that will never see the light of day or scenes that were cut. I'm glad I learned about them anyway!

• Late 14th century England. I have PILES of books about different aspects: politics, clothes, food, medicine, roads, words, names, uses of magic...this is one of the biggest sections of my bookshelf.
• Cathedral building, stonemasonry.
• Life in a monastery.
• Politics and art in 15th century Venice. (That one didn't last long--I discovered fast that I wasn't interested enough in it to carry me through a whole book.)
• Hospitals. MRI machines. Prescription medicines and side effects. IVs and feeding tubes.
  
• Ghosts. Ghost-hunting, and all the equipment used for that.
• Photography.
• The Kumeyaay tribe, language and culture.
• Theatre exercises.
• Romanian gods and goddessses.

Fun, huh? Well, it is to ME! Now it's your turn. What kind of research have you found yourself doing? What weird worlds have you explored?

Wildlife

Another fabulous weekend, if not as eventful as last week. Camping, picnicking (how odd that word looks), fishing, swimming, eating out, ice-cream slurping, gold panning...

These are the animals we saw wandering around over the course of the weekend:

Cows and horses (duh--it's Montana)
Mules
Prong-horned antelope
White-tailed deer
An eagle
An osprey
A muskrat
A ram, with big curved horns
Red-winged blackbirds
Cranes
Rainbow trout
Cutthroat trout

And this morning, in our yard, a wild bunny. Child and I got to spy on him for a while as he chewed our grass. :)

Love Day Friday

This should be a fun weekend.

It's Child's school campout. Now, hubby and I don't actually CAMP, per se. Like sleeping in a tent and all...no. That is just uncomfortable. So Child will be staying in her friend's family's camper tonight, and we will be fishing and staying in a hotel somewhat nearby--then meeting them in the morning for the fun family day of gold panning and tours and picnicking and such.

My kinda camping, baby.

In other news, have my more-revision letter, so I'm working on that. Fortunately the LAST revisions are good--now I just have to tweak to match them! It's the butterfly wings effect: every change has more and more consequences. For the BETTAH.

Also, it's Friday, and I feel like having a LOVE FRIDAY. This one is fairly general: list at LEAST ONE thing that is somehow involved in the publishing world that you love. A book you're reading or have read, an author, an editor, an agent, a blog...anything.

I'll do (at least) one of each:

I love:

BOOK: Death by Bikini, by Linda Gerber. Just finished it yesterday. Now on to the next ones, Death by Latte and Death by Denim (which was released yesterday!)

AUTHOR: Maureen Johnson, who makes me laugh on twitter every day, and on her blog. Also Melissa Marr, who inspires me with her generous, honest, serene approach to this crazy world.

AGENT: Duh, Janet Reid The Fabulous Sparkly Shark for more reasons than I can say! Also Amy Tipton and Colleen Lindsay, fellow fabulous FinePrinters.

EDITOR: My dear Moonie. Also, the just-discovered-this morning blog of Molly O'Neill, which I've already added to my Reader.

BLOG: Other than those above, my favorites are Cake Wrecks, Motherhood Is not for Wimps, and The YA YA YAs.

What are your favorites? Please share the love!

HA! (or...and the shower works again)

Okay, I haven't figured it all out by ANY means. But I think I've got a handle on how to start now. :)

These revelations always happen in the shower...