Summer flowers

Master's daughter and I are on a roll right now. She is catching my omniscient first person, that should not be there, and keeping me on track. So, I thought I would just share a summer flower today.

Wednesday with the Writer's Journal - Lunch with an Author

Today’s Wednesday with the Writer’s Journal is from January 27th. I told you I was not going in order.

Which writer would you like to meet? And, since it is my dream, let us try "which to have lunch with?" I live near a small town with very few restaurants and even way fewer good ones. I went to Martinsville today, to take my mom to vote and we found the best Chinese restaurant I have ever eaten at. It was great. So, I'll take them there, or not.

Six months ago, i would have asked Stephen King. I think he is the greatest living author for characterization. Sorry, Mr. King, I am not a fan of your subject matter. I usually only read the first third of his book and lose myself in those fantastic characterizations. I would love to sit at lunch with him and have him describe the people around us. What a great class that would be.

I also have a few questions to ask J.K. Rowling. Namely, how did she keep it all straight?

Now, however, I would just have to say Terry Pratchett because I have this feeling that spending lunch with him would be much like reading one of his books. Since I have only started on the second one, with the great Turtle A'Tuin, this is what I am basing him on.

My reasoning goes like this: When I demonstrate portrait painting, the comment I hear most often is, “I don’t see those colors.” I bite my tongue before I can say, "Nah, Nah, Nah Nah Nah. Well, I do." Whether it is a function of my eyesight or my brain is unknown. I was finally diagnosed as having two eyes (gosh, that is a really good thing), however, they do not work together. When I was a wee little one, the doctor told me that I probably had double vision. I compensated for this by learning to use just one eye to see out of. Thus explaining the fact that my left eye will wander off, on its own, when I am tired. Thus, causing me to look a bit like Mad Eyed Moody.

It could also be an abnormal brain pattern, which I actually have. I have been hooked up to an EEG several times; enough so that I went to a planetarium with my head all wired up once. Those who went with me were less than impressed. Hey, I do not let anything stop me from enjoying the world.

Or, maybe I just see things others do not see. I do think that sometimes, when I will point out a pattern that looks exactly like a face to me and those around me give me that “There she goes again” look, that I do actually see the world a bit differently.

So, I think Terry Pratchett would be fascinating to spend an afternoon with. I imagine he jumps from subject to subject and that he must have such a wonderful view of the world. It would have to be a very long lunch, beause I am sure it would be full of laughs, and Chinese food.

What my personal editor taught me

Here is a flower from my garden, this past summer. 'Tis the season to cover the garden at night, pick the seeds and run in to warm up. I ran in last night to a great email from my personal editor.

YIPPEE!! Last night I received a partial first chapter edit from Master’s Daughter. Gosh, what an eye opener.

FIRST: All my charts and trying to keep track: I am new to Word and never had a Word Processor before that had comments on it. As a legal secretary, I had long used WordPerfect, at work and home. The last few updates though have taken it down the tubes. It jams constantly. The charts I have been making are being, figuratively, burned and I am using comments to put in foreshadowing etc. It also helps my editor, daughter, know that yes, this is an important point to leave in. Honest girl, it will make sense some day.

This will really help me too as some things are mentioned because it is laying a bit of groundwork for book two or three, and even five, in this five book series.

SECOND: Oh, how long ago Jr High school was. I did teach art to Jr High students for three weeks a summer, for five years. JRockGuitarMan, one of my step-son/grandson/ward came to live with me and entered seventh grade, so I had a refresher. But, there are things I just need to keep in mind and I was not. While, I may not always act my age, I have forgotten some of how a Jr High student’s mind works and Master’s daughter teaches them every day, so she is catching those things.

Her comments include:

“Reader is now thinking …”
“Needs transition”
“Reader’s thought: Is ‘glint’ an object or a reflection?”
“This doesn’t seem to fit here; awkward.”
And more

I worked on her comments and am now ahead of her edit and hoping to send the rest of Chapter 1 and then chapter 2 in a few days. Somehow, I must have sent her a partial first chapter. We are going to work on this chapter by chapter. It will be so much easier to track things now with Words comments.

I feel like I am back on track, thanks to my own personal editor.

Master's Daughter plays head games

I do believe that my non-paid technical editor is playing some head game on me. It's not like she does not have enough to do, that she would spend time to actually make her mother think her mother (me) is going crazy.

On the 22nd she wrote, "I haven't had a chance to download the chapters." (I had sent her the next six) "I hope the edit I sent last week wasn't too discouraging." Whow! Great way to get my attention. She sent me back my first four chapters, edited and discouraging???? Where are they?

Okay, I got this late at night, and of course, I spent two hours searching for the missing email. Not in Spam, nor in deleated, nor in read, nor in new. I had messages about Christmas presents and about her Soldier son. There was a joke or two about ear plugs and Palin, not in the same vein mind you, althought that might have been a good idea. But, nowhere is there a "discouraging" or otherwise edit from Master's Daughter.

I wrote and told her I had not received the edit and that I would not consider a critique discouraging. I am an artist. I have been critiqued for twenty years. I can handle it. I would rather find out what is wrong from her before I submit and get a form rejection letter. I can hardly trust my own judgement on this as I ALWAYS think something, mostly everything, is wrong with my work. I will never submit my book if I go totally on my own instincts. I will edit the life out of it and out of me.

So, here I sit, watching to see my mail jump from 80, in my in box. I save mail, okay, so shoot me. It is still not jumping to 81.

Oh, I just looked. She sent me that note on the 23rd. Honestly, I thought it was like four days ago. Okay, so I cannot be too irritated. She does have a life. It is just, WHAT IS WRONG, GIRL??? I have serious revision work to do and I want to get started.

Are you out Trick or Treating again??

Back in Business

By the way, the book looks better to me again. Guess, I just need to keep my hands off editing when I am exhausted. Nothing ever works right at those times. I am back editing and lucky Master's Daughter was sent the first twelve chapters last night, for her final technical edit. I am sure she will wake up and be just delighted. After all, it's mid term time in Indiana and she has a room full of sixth grader's to grade.

Wednesday's Writer's Journal

It is again time for Wednesday’s Writer’s Journal

Based on Susie Morgenstern’s book, I pick a random page (sometimes the fourth random page) and Blog on it. So, here goes:

Okay, now this is why I do not always use the first random page. My first pick is February 29th: “A day to relax – but only if it’s leap year!” I don’t know. Is it leap year??

I think someone is trying to tell me something. Pick two was February 24th, “A day to let yourself go and do whatever you like!” Perhaps all of February is a day of rest??

January 30th: “Do you want to be president? Write a campaign speech.”

Instead, and since I make the rules, I can do this, I will not write a speech, I will just list my campaign promises. I can get myself into enough trouble this way. And, honest, I did not intentionally pick this. With the election days away and the fact that I have voted already, I have reached the point where I could do a day without elections, promises, slander and campaigns.

But, here is what is important to me:

I promise, being the average Jane, that I will surround myself with the brightest people in the field, as advisors.

I promise that I will do my best to see that everyone in this country has good health care.

I will have advisers looking at the programs Franklin Delano Roosevelt implemented and to get people working, including artists and writers, and I will implement programs to give everyone a living wage.

One of my programs will be to build some of the housing that college architects have designed for the homeless, so that everyone has safe shelter.

I will see to it that no elderly person, nor anyone, has to eat corn flakes and cat food. I’m not sure anyone does that anymore, as who can afford it? But, everyone deserves decent fresh food. Everyone does.

I promise a free college education for all; and all student loans forgiven. There has to be a way. Our future rests on the education of our children. College is a necessity now and should not be that costly.

So, we have covered health, jobs, shelter, food and education. What is the important issue to you?

Why is it so suddenly awful?

I took a couple of weeks off, to go to (and photograph) a wedding and to spend days fixing the photos and duping. I thought it would be a good break from my line edit and bring me a fresh eye.

But, everything I read last night was just bad. Really bad. At this rate, I will be 110 before I give up and just submit it. I have four different beginnings and have edited the first chapters some twenty-seven times.

I am going to bed now. It is a busy week and perhaps I am reading someone else's book.

GRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!