2011 & The End.

I have just one goal this year:  The End.  This year, I finish my novel.

I had a couple of goals and then sub-goals last year and I did kind of do them all.  But this year, on the advice of JD Roth of Get Rich Slowly, a favorite finance blog, I'm sticking to one.  I'm getting obsessed with my novel this year.  And I'm finishing.

If I happen to get it done early and have time for another goal, great!  I'd love to get more serious about getting in better shape.  But I think it's really going to take singular focus to get to the end of my novel.  It's something I've never done before.  It's something extremely challenging for me.  It's something I want more than anything else right now.  So 2011 is the year I finish my first novel.  Wish me luck!

Country girl.

I'm not much of a country girl and neither is my MC but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate it!  I've spent quite a bit of time at our friends' farm over the last couple of years and I've really grown to accustomed to the place, especially with all the animals!  I've milked a goat (weird), chased chickens, and watched chickens chase their little black kitten, and now some of it's making its way into my story.  

I was struggling a bit to write the scene where my MC takes a tour of the farm she encounters on her journey.  Stage-direction-type-stuff; is the barn to her right or left?  How many barns?  What's the layout?  Finally, I relaxed and decided to place the whole scene on the real farm I know best.  And out of it came a cute moment where my MC's little black cat gets chased by chickens.  Write where you know!

friends on our friends' farm; photo by my husband

Merry Christmas!

Deer in Winter card by RSVP Stationery

Here's wishing you a Christmas day filled with old-fashioned joys!

BLOG CRUSH: MAGGIE STIEFVATER

 

Shiver isn't an old-fashioned children's novel, in fact it's definitely YA, but I have a big blog crush on author Maggie Stiefvater.  I subscribed to her blog Word on Words a while ago to live vicariously her crazy foreign book tour stories.  

Yesterday I went back to the very beginning of her blog archive, just after she got her first publishing deal for Lament and read like, straight through the Shiver sale.  It was two years or so worth of posts; psychotic, I know, but it was so exciting to read about her whole journey unfolding, all the way up to her mad crazy success with Shiver, like when it debuted 6th on the NYT bestsellers list.  I like her writing advice, too.  Check it out!

AND SCENE.

My first semester as a high school librarian et fini.  I'm exhausted but happy. 

It's easy for me to say with my first winter break upon me but I'm not dreading going back in January, and I might even venture to say that it might be my favorite job yet.  I'm not committing to that yet but it's a possibility...

I WROTE.

I wrote today.  and yesterday.  bit by little bit, I'm re-imagining Chapter 4.  I tell myself "I'm just going to spend fifteen minutes with my novel; I don't even have to write if I don't want--" and suddenly, I'm writing.

and it's not hard.

Peppermint Handmade Blank Book, $30 by Wee Bindery

PROKOFIEV'S DANCE OF THE KNIGHTS; MY VILLAIN'S MUSIC

I've been searching and searching for music to write to; I generally write in total silence but I thought it might be nice to have some inspirational music that "feels" like my book on in the background.  I know a lot of writers make playlists for their writing or their finished novels.

I hadn't had much success until recently, when I started getting some ballet scores from the library.  Hooray, Prokofiev!  This piece, the Dance of the Knights, which surely has been used in movie soundtracks before, is just perfect for my novel's villain.  Playlist song number one!  Dance of Miss Dalrymple.  Hit the play button; you'll hear what I'm talking about immediately.

SECRET GARDEN SCREENING

My friend Jessie couldn't have made me happier when she told me she got the The Secret Garden dvd from her fiancee for an early Christmas present.  Huge brownie points for David!  I'm so excited to watch it with her tomorrow night.  It's even the "right" version - the 1987 Hallmark Channel version I grew up watching.

If you're not already familiar, the film is based on the old-fashioned children's book of the same title by Frances Hodgson Burnett, one of my old-fashioned children's novelist idols.  A summary:

Mary Lennox (Gennie James) is a spoiled young British girl orphaned by an Indian epidemic. She is sent to Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire to live with a distant relative, Archibald Craven (Derek Jacobi), and there she becomes obsessed with a secret, overgrown garden. With the help of a local boy, Dickon, the garden and everyone around them--including Craven and his frail son, Colin--come to life again. Filmed on location at scenic Highclere Castle in Newbury, this Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program. Although it can't top the 1949 version with Margaret O'Brien (or Agnieszka Holland's 1993 version), younger viewers may prefer this more straightforward retelling, whereas adults are sure to appreciate the fine performances by Jacobi and Billie Whitelaw (Mrs. Medlock). Colin Firth (Bridget Jones's Diary) appears briefly as the adult Colin in this timeless, uplifting story for all ages. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Did you read that closely, ladies and gentlemen?  COLIN FIRTH.  You're welcome.

CLASSIC BOOK POSTERS

How neat are these?  Perfect Christmas gifts for the "reading enthusiast."  These would be lovely in a library, too.  Says PosterText, "you can literally hang your favorite book on the wall with the book's text, arranged to depict a memorable scene from the book."  My wish list: Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and The Wonderful World of Oz.  Which would make your wish list?

Peter Pan

Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Jane Eyre

MYSTERIOUS HOWLING MAKES BEST BOOKS LISTS

I adored this book.  "Jane Eyre meets Lemony Snickett."  I've got another Maryrose Wood (how's that for an old-fashioned children's novelist name?) book checked out right now, The Poison Diaries.  Since I haven't personally heard any buzz about The Mysterious Howling, I was very excited to see it floating around on best books of 2010 lists, including Kirkus.  Yay!