Today: Lance Larsen the last tip and Sadnes

So the last tip from Lance Larsen is to “fall in love with the world and take notes.”

It feels hard to fall in love with the world today. I feel this overwhelming sadness and shock. How do we love a world where things like this happen? Where someone decides to take innocent lives, to terrorize people, to turn something wonderful into something horrific? 

Lance says, “Take notes . . . right on the spot, if possible. Writing is often more a matter of collecting and eavesdropping than inventing.” 

I think today, we should all take notes. We should write down what we feel. We should write down what we love. We should write down what we can do to make the world a better place. 

Carrie Jones, a YA writer, blogged about her experience at the marathon. She does it beautifully. And with honesty. And pain. 

What did you write today? What do you love about this world? What can you share with others that will bring them hope? Joy? Peace? Even in the middle of so much sadness. 

xoxo

Three Things To Do with My New Book Today

So I don’t really have a new book. Not yet.

Before I start anything else I have a ton of finals to grade, and then two more books (that I am writing with friends) to finish.

(I am excited about BOTH these friends books! One I have written with my daughter, Laura. We’re in copyediting mode on that one. The other I am working on with my very good friend Melanie Skelton. Plus, I have a novel more than halfway completed, a middle grade, that I wrote Nano before last. I think I am ready to finish that.)

And there’s the moving.

Something I Have Discovered

I simply cannot do everything on my own. I need help.

But today, in between all that, here is what I must do as far as the Next Book:

1. As I work, I will let the ideas (I have three or four which feel more important) percolate in my head.

Which means the most to me?

Which moves me the most?

Do I want to laugh and write ghosty things?

Do I want to spend some really sad time investigating the other novel?

Do I want to get into the head of someone who’s really sick?

I know which sounds easiest, but which is best for me, now, as a writer?

2. I need to talk this over with a friend.

Lay everything out of the table.

What is best for me? For my career? For my well-being (I’ve been pretty depressed this winter. The new TV shows Hannibal and Bates Motel haven’t brought my mood up.)?

3. I must take notes. When the ideas start for the books, I can’t expect to remember them. I hardly know my own name right now.

But these notes aren’t just snippets of ideas. Yes, those will be there.  I need some notes  detailing what I think could happen in all three books.

For example, I know the beginning and end, only, of the two darker novels. A few additional scenes with one of them.

The funny book, I sort of know the whole plot–and have a faded idea of the ending.

So notes are essential.

I know I won’t have  time to really write today so I have to use my jotting-down-times (as the ideas strike me) effectively.

What would YOU like to see from me, The Best Five Readers in the World?

Ghosty?

Dark and Scary?

Contemporary Sad (that might be a sequel to another hard novel I wrote)?

Now I need to get going on the day’s very long list.

Taking a deep breath.

And I am off.