Tag: Liza Kane

I’m Being Interviewed

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Fellow #WriteCampaign-er Michael McDuffee is interviewing several writers from the Campaign, and his latest interview is with me!

Michael: Liza, you have a very involved and interesting blog. I highly suggest that anyone who hasn’t already done so go check it out.

Liza: Thank you so much. Really. I appreciate it, since I blog mainly to keep myself accountable to my goals. So the fact that anyone else finds my blog interesting in any way is awesome to me…

Swing by HERE for the rest of the conversation! ^_^

Work In Progress

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Writer's Block

Image by thorinside via Flickr

Since my last Work In Progress post, I have cobbled together my re-envisioning of the story, including a semi-new beginning and tweaking what I wrote so far to create a semblance of cohesion. I also sketched out the next few chapters, and am honestly excited to see what happens next. It’s sort of thrilling to get to new territory, especially since I lived in the first part of WIP2 for a couple of months. I feel like I knew that terrain, and how my characters would react there. I like the familiarity of those older, more established scenes, and love being able to add details here and there with each read-through.

But, now that I’m moving toward this really new next part where MC will be facing new characters and settings and challenges, I’m feeling my “blank page” issues a little bit. No matter how often I feel like I’ve conquered that little anxiety (believe me, I’m set up with affirmations and action plans galore!), it’s still there, noodling around in the back of my mind.

I know that I’m not really facing a blank page, and that I have a lot of material to get out of my head and on to the page. I just wish that The Looming Doubts weren’t, I dunno, genetically hardwired to my Ideas of Awesome That Must Be Written.

Anyway, I read these posts this morning. In their own way, they lessened the Looming Doubts, and increased the Ideas of Awesome.

Routines

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The Writing Life

Image by Simply Bike via Flickr

{So, I decided to start yet another series of posts for the best reasons of all: because this is my blog, and because I can. It’s simply titled, The Magic of Writing—that indefinable, ineffable relationship between the writer and the muse.}

I probably shouldn’t have titled this post, “Routines” since that implies a certain healthy-ness that my writing habit does not have. Maybe “Ritual” would be more appropriate. Or, “Addiction.” Oh well.

Anyway, a running theme with all time management gurus is this: whatever goal you have, make sure you do it first thing in the morning. There are plenty of reasons why this advice is common, so I won’t get into that here. And, I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with that advice. I’m just saying it’s out there.

Well, I’ve discovered a long time ago that I’m not a first thing in the morning kind of writer. I’m actually not the best thing at anything first thing in the morning, unless you count coffee and meditation (read: staring off into space) as a “thing.” (Although, while on vacations, I enjoy morning walks on the beach. Since I live in the Midwest, this is not so much a possibility in my everyday life…) But, after my cup of coffee, putting the dishes away, and my morning ablutions, I can sit down and hammer away at the keyboard and sprint out a couple of pages before work. Then, after a day of work and other non-think-y pursuits, I can bust out more pages at night right before bed. (Actually, through a happy accident of passing out on the couch after a late night movie marathon, and not being able to get back to sleep, I found that I’m the most productive and creative between 1AM-4AM…possibly because my brain is really supposed to be sleeping and dreaming, but hey, whatever works, right?)

But, before my self-discovery, I thought I was the most uninspired, unfocused writer ever! After all, ALL the author websites that I’ve visited that have a “My Writing Process” page include waking up at 6AM to write their requisite page counts per day. I know all writers have a different process, and we all have to find out what works best for us, but I always felt “wrong” for not having a morning writing session.

Now, I have my semblance of a routine, and feel good about it. (I know, I know, I should sleep more, but sometimes, writing into the night and “dreaming” that way is WAY more refreshing to me than sleeping a full eight hours.)

How about you? When are you the most productive? What habits/quirks/superstitions do you have in your writing routine?

For the Love of My Laptop

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laptop

So, for about two weeks, my laptop has been sick. For some unknown reason (*coughcough Laptop is really old coughcough*), it choked and died on me, leaving me dependent on my desk top computer for any kind of progress on WIP2. Which wouldn’t have been a bad thing or an inconvenience, really, except that half of my house was still under construction. So, the husband and I had to sleep in my office while the master bedroom was being dolled up with new…well, everything. (No worries, my office is a roomy bedroom, so it fit our bed comfortably. It just happens to house my desktop computer, hence the term “office.”)

Anyway, because desktop computer was also in our makeshift bedroom, I couldn’t exactly make a lot of progress on WIP2. Or, any computer-ing, really, like blog posts and visiting other blogs. For some reason, the hubs can’t sleep with a glowing screen on at night, and waking up to the clickety-clackety-ing of a keyboard in the morning makes him kinda murderous. (Crazy, right?) But, since I love my hubs, I wanted to accommodate him. Therefore, I shifted my normal writing routine from crazy early in the morning (or really late at night, depending on your perspective) to around 7 or 8 PM (basically, when I get home from the paythebills job) till 10 PM (when we go to the gym).

I’m happy to report that as of a few days ago, we moved out of my office, and into the master bedroom. And, as of Thursday evening, I have my laptop again! ^_^  *frabjous day* *callooh callay*

Throughout all this, I learned a few things.

First, “save early, save often” is meaningless if the computer on which I’m saving my files dies of a heart attack and I have no way of retrieving those files. I thank God every day for Dropbox. I don’t know where I’d be without it. Thankfully, hubs was able to recover and save ALL my files, but what if he couldn’t?? ALL my work, all my files would have been lost to me. My only hope would have been that my alpha readers had *some* kind of copies of WIP2. Since The Incident, I’ve backed everything up on a flash drive, and have DVD backups, too, just in case.

Second, I learned to grit my teeth and make the most of the resources that I had, even if the situation wasn’t ideal. I hand wrote pages in the morning. I transcribed them onto the desk top at night. I made excruciatingly slow word count progress on WIP2. All the while, I kept thinking, man, if I were on my laptop, how many pages would I have finished by now? But you know what, I still made progress despite my cramped circumstances, and for that win alone, I will celebrate.

Third, I now have a new appreciation of the freedom that my Laptop gives me, OH SO MUCH. I appreciate the freedom I have to sit in My Chair in the living room and type type type into the wee hours of the morning (not unlike what I’m doing now…;) ) I appreciate having the screen right here instead of at an awkward height/angle like my desk top. I love how my fingers don’t freeze up because Laptop keeps me warm (helps with the typing speed, fo’ sho’). And, I love how FAST I can type on it. I wrote more than my required four-pages this evening without even feeling it.

Anyway, it’s a great luxury for my writing life to have Laptop back in my life again. (Heck, I’ve even made the rounds of my fellow campaigners’ blogs this morning.*) But, I’m happy to know that if a situation arises in which I *can’t* use Laptop again (please oh please let that happen a long time from now, when I have money to replace Laptop), I know that I can continue on with my goals, albeit at a slower rate, and be all right with it.

Speaking of progress, time to add more pages to WIP2. ^_^

*Thank you to all my fellow campaigners for your patience. I have subscribed to ALL the blogs in the groups I’m in via Google Reader, and will have my dystopia/post-apocalyptic group linked and posted with my YA All Genre group on my Campaign page by next week (most likely sooner, of course). Also to my non-Wordpress colleagues, I *just* discovered that I can be a part of that Google Friend Connect thing-y via my Twitter account (I know, kinda slow, but I never bothered to click on it before because I thought I’d need a blogger account!), so as I comment on new blog posts, I’ll be sure to “Join” your site.

**Still so unbelievably happy with Laptop. *pets Laptop* *loving sigh*

Monarch, by Michelle Davidson Argyle (plus giveaway news!)

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MonarchMonarch by Michelle Davidson Argyle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“The blood pooling on the floor under the assassin’s back reminded Nick of butterfly wings.”

Man, what an awesome first line! It sets up the mood, theme, and direction of this book perfectly! After a line like that, my expectation was that this book would be a post-James Bondian mission. Like, what happens *after* a mission takes place and the hero reports Mission: Accomplished.

Well, this is definitely not a post-Mission: Accomplished spy thriller. More like, Mission: Hasn’t Ended Yet. And, oh yeah, it’s not just about the mission.

Nick, a soon-to-be-retired CIA operative and the hero of this story, makes it home from a mission in Brazil, but unfortunately, his “work” didn’t quite stay there. Needing to find safety, he thinks of the only person with whom he’s found a semblance of peace: Lillian Love, now owner of the Monarch Inn.

The Monarch Inn is nestled in West Virginia, and named for the monarch butterflies that migrate through that area on their way to Mexico. At the Monarch, Lillian Love and her son Devan run the business as best they can, quietly living their lives. When Nick stumbles back into Lillian’s world, his presence soon shakes up their seemingly-peaceful bubble. Illusions of a perfectly happy and normal life are challenged, as these characters discover strength in unlikely circumstances.

Through Lillian, and Devan, I discovered the emotional depth of what could have been a superficial action tale. They told the narrative with Nick, alternating in a three-person perspective. Each voice is unique, and paced really well throughout so that the tension remained tight.

Though I expected a plot driven, action packed story (I’m a Die Hard kind of girl, yippee-ki-yay!), it was the unexpected character driven multiple perspective storyline that won me over. (In fact, though I’m a fan of the action and story in Brazil, I actually preferred the scenes at the Inn, especially Devan’s perspective.) Getting into these characters’ heads gave such a satisfying depth to the story and steered it away from being generic.

Nerd Point: I ate up the science facts about monarch butterflies that the author gave in the beginning of the book. It threw me off at first, since notes of that nature seem to come at the back of the book, with other acknowledgements and appendices, but looking back, I liked it, because it kept me in the mindset of these butterflies, how they persevere despite all external odds against them, and how they’ve endured, despite all scientific logic. They are truly worthy of being the symbol to represent the spirits of revered ancestors.

I think it’s with that mindset that I was able to sympathize with the characters more. They have come to realize that they are stronger than they appear, and can hope for a brighter future despite all logic and odds.

* * *

I invite you all to chat with the author, Michelle Davidson Argyle TONIGHT (9/15) at 9PM EST. The chat will be hosted by Annie Cechini on her blog, conveniently found HERE.

During the chat, you’ll be able to participate and be entered into a drawing for a free copy of Monarch.

Also, please visit DB Smyth’s blog HERE for her ridiculously-awesome-why-did-I-even-bother-to-review-this-book-when-I-can-just-link-to-her Monarch review (with more details about tonight’s giveaway.)

Hope to chat with some of you tonight!

* * *

Speaking of giveaways, my wonderful friend, Carol Miller is hosting a giveaway of GLOW. Much anticipated by me, since I love scifi. Click on the pretty cover image to get to Carol’s giveaway!!

GoodReads Summary:

What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you’d been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?

Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth’s collapse, the ship’s crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader’s efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don’t know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them…

Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he’s the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren’t all from the outside.

Also, there’s a banner on my sidebar linking to Regina Linton’s blog, who is hosting a giveaway for it, too!