Holy Cow! She lives!

No; I didn't die. Not even close. I've been busy with life, work, vacations, and not doing too much knitting, writing, or interesting cooking. (So sad, I know). What I have learned in the past fourteen months is that when I don't blog I don't write (or knit or cook too many interesting things), so I'm back to blogging. It's a motivator for me, so I'm doing it.

What have I knit in the past year? Not a whole freaking lot. Seriously. I think I made a dishcloth, a hat, and a pair of socks. I've got another pair on the needles, but really want to knit a light weight cardigan for this autumn. I have the yarn. I have the needles. I even have the pattern. Now I need the gumption.

What have I written in the past year? Even less. I dabbled a bit on one of my knitting romance books, but haven't gotten too far. I had a few nibbles from agents, but nothing more than fifty page requests and polite no thank you's. (Can't decide if that apostrophe should be there but yous looked wrong as well.) And then Charlotte (my laptop) finally bit the dust (thank you universe for cloud back up). I have a new laptop now. A shiny Mac named Elliot. It's been a steep learning curve, but we are getting there. I still want to take a class at my local Mac store, but haven't found one that matches up with my wonky work schedule.

The work schedule has definitely changed. I was promoted to a Children's Lead position at the bookstore and am loving it, but I have a rotating three week schedule that makes planning things a bit of a challenge, but we are making it work. It does mean that I get a full weekend off every three weeks which is really nice. And I love introducing children to good books.

As far as cooking goes the most interesting thing I have made recently would have to be Fruit Loops and milk. OK, it hasn't been that horrible, but shopping has become so rote that there is nothing to write about. About as interesting as Fruit Loops and milk.

So here we go. I've brushed off the blog, dusted in the corners, and am all set to give this another go. Hopefully we will get somewhere.

Editing one's own work and a book review

For quite a few years I was a bibliographic editor and technical writer/editor for a library bibliographic company. I enjoyed that job and excelled at it. I could remark two hundred pages in no time at all. I was vicious and liberal with my red pen and earned a place on the Grammar Patrol. I could quote Strunk and White and bring embarrassment to even the retired high school English teacher. I knew my grammar and let everyone else know it as well.

Yet when it comes to my own editing I truly suck. Sometimes when I am blogging I am typing so quickly (I've been clocked at over 90 wpm - note the missing c) that I don't even notice my own errors. Even reading through them a time or two I still miss many stupid little errors. I keep telling myself that I could correct this by first typing my blog into Word and then copying it to blogger. Yet, each time I sit down at the computer to add to my blog I open a compose page and start typing. It's quite embarrassing. As punishment for yesterday's hasty post (I was still quite excited having visited with RAchael Rachael) I made two errors and left them crossed through. Forgive me my grammar errors when you see them and know that I was probably too hasty and did not use Word to check for my errors.

And now on to something a bit more fun. As some of you may know I've written a book titled Knitting a Boyfriend Sweater. Some of you may even have had the chance to read the manuscript. In the book I have a magical and imaginary sweater that the main character knits. It's a lovely sweater in my mind, but I'm a bit too lazy to make it a reality. I know what it looks like in my head, though. Since writing this story, I have been fascinated with the idea of a boyfriend sweater.  For you non-knitters, there is a
mythos that if a boyfriend sweater is knit too early in a relation, or possibly at the wrong time in a relationship, or  in a premarital relationship, or even at all that the sweater will doom the couple to certain breakup. Then there is the problem of what to do with the sweater. Perhaps the guy burns it. Maybe he is nice and gives it back to the girl. In which case she may be tempted to burn it, but, oh, all the hours that went into that sweater. She might decide to donate it to charity or give it to a friend. She might wallow in it, sniffing the sleeves wailing about her broken heart, leaving salty tear stains down the front. She may even come to the conclusion that she knit it, damn it, and so she is going to wear it, even though it was knit for someone with a completely different body shape. The one conclusion that all women agree upon is that by no means does a girl regift a boyfriend sweater. There is really bad mojo in that act and it is best to give it away to a friend than doom a future relationship. Even if he would fit it and the color would bring out the lovely teal in his eyes. Don't do it. Just don't do it.

I came across a darling little book called Boyfriend Sweaters: 19 Designs for Him that You'll Want to Wear by Bruce Weinstein. You can see all his designs on his Ravelry designer's page. I love this book. I bought it immediately. The sizes are wonderful going from a 33-3/4" chest to a 60" chest measurement. So many generous sizes to choose from. The book is filled with wonderful textures, too. I am all about the textures. There are subtle diamond patterns done in knits and purls as well as more complex textures of honeycomb. Even the simple patterns have enough interest to them that you aren't going to feel like you are doing round after round of nothing but stockinette stitch, although there are a few sweaters that are composed of primarily stockinette stitch (although one is an initial sweater and another is houndstooth, so yeah, still not boring). There is a lovely Project Index page in the back of the book so you can easily find the pattern you are looking for if you can't remember it's name, but you remember what color it was. This happens to me far too often and I spend many hours thumbing through books searching for that one pattern that I remembered seeing. Aside from the fourteen sweaters, which include both cardigan and pullover styles, there are four scarf patterns and a reversible paisley stocking hat, which is called Reversible Paisley Hat, for those of you who aren't quite ready to commit to a sweater's worth of work for your boyfriend.

I think my favorite sweater in the entire book is the Seed Placket Pullover. Do not fear, those of you frightened by seed stitch. The entire sweater is not composed of seed stitch, only the collar area is seed stitch with simple seed stitch striping to give it a nice clean look.  I even like the variegated green that is used for this sweater.  I also love the Shaker Cardigan done in a nice easy-on-the-eyes brioche stitch with a flattering v-neck and simple raglan sleeves. It is ranked as an easy skill level and I believe this is accurate.

Almost all the sweaters use a medium or worsted weight yarn save for a few that us a DK weight. Several of these sweaters could be made from either a cotton or wool blend to match your area's climate. I will warn you ladies out there, this is not a true "his and hers" book. These are sweaters designed for men and for men's bodies. There is no flattering waist shaping, bust darting or short rows. These are long straight sweaters made for long straight men. If you are skilled enough to nip in the waist a bit and make it a more girly sweater then go for it, but don't be disappointed if you get to the end of this sweater and realize that you look like you are wearing a potato sack. There are a million sweater patterns out there (actually, according to Ravelry there are over 62,000 sweaters, but that's pretty close to a million) and of those million sweater patterns the majority of them are for women. So if you are looking for a flattering sweater to fit your girly curves, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a nice sweater for that special guy in your life (be it a boyfriend, fiance, husband, father, or teenaged or adult son) this is a wonderful book that will give you many options available. Just, please, for the love of all things alpaca, don't burn it when he gives it back you to. Put that sweater on, realize that he simply was not knit worthy, and move on.

Boyfriend Sweaters is published by Potter Craft, a division of Random House, and retails for $21.99. The ISBN is 9780307587121.

Meeting Rachael Herron

Yesterday was one of the most fun days I have had in a very long time. I met up with Rachael Herron in Hudson for part of her book signing.  We started at Hudson's restaurant in Hudson. We met up with a few of her other local friends and had a cuppa while she finished her breakfast. She then headed down to The Learned Owl Bookshop, a fabulous little bookstore in the First and Main shopping district of Hudson, Ohio.  (By the way this is a very dangerous bookstore as it is quite quaint and cozy and very welcoming to book purchasing and it is but a few doors down from Main Street Cupcakes and Cosmic Dave's in the opposite direction. The only thing that would make this even more dangerous would be a yarn shop within those boundaries.) After finishing our cuppas we wondered down to her signing.  To call it a book signing is actually somewhat of a misnomer. It was more of a spontaneous knitting group where she happened to sign a few books. We talked about writing, knitting, her books, knitting, other people's books, knitting, spinning, knitting, the "Knitting Olympics", and, of course, knitting. If this were my regular knitting group I would drive through a blizzard to meet up with them. Not that I don't love my current knitting group (I do). This lovely collection of people were was so fresh and funny that it made the time pass so quickly. (And I think they would meld in well with my current knitting group.)  I will definitely have to meet up with Jeremy again and I'm now stalking him on Ravelry. (You have been warned, Jeremy.)

Unfortunately, due to time constraints and publishing deadlines, Rachael was only able to spend a few hours with us. It was delightful just the same. If you get a chance to meet up with Rachael, do so. She is lovely, witty, and so knowledgeable. Mary Elayne (That would be Boo in previously posts) also enjoyed meeting Rachael and is renewed in her interest to keep writing. I, of course, love my daughter's stories, but it was nice to hear other people encourage her to continue with her stories.

OK, I promise that this is the last post about Rachael Herron and Pack up the Moon for a while. I have a few more topics I want to write on, so stay tuned this week. 

Writing Workshop?

Today starts the writing workshop that I was supposed to attend in June. (There were two sessions and the first one didn't have enough attendees so I decided to go to the one this month.)  I'm supposed to go with a writing idea, manuscript, or outline, pen and paper to take notes and a dictionary.  I've got my dictionary.  My Webster's New Pocket Dictionary.  (I wasn't about to drag along the unabridged, although I was tempted to take the Dictionary of American Idioms or my M-W Compact Visual Dictionary.) I also have my dictionary app on my phone (very handy).  I have my notebook and paper.  That was probably the easiest thing to come up with.  But then I got to the part where I needed to bring "an idea, manuscript or outline."  Oh I have ideas.  I've got about a hundred floating around inside my brain.  I've even got a few manuscripts (should I take my laptop - I'm thinking maybe).  I even have a printed manuscript (my proof from my NaNoWriMo book).  I have my current Camp NaNoWriMo manuscript that I could work on (but I'd probably blush every time I had any "naughty bits" to read).  Why does it have to be this confusing? 

So I've decided to take my laptop, my proof, and my memory stick.  I'll have pen and paper and probably a nervous stomach because I don't know what I'm walking into.  Wish me luck.  And I'll report back on Monday how the weekend goes. 

A bit on self-publishing

Yesterday I reviewed a book that was self-published.  I currently have on my Nook several self-published authors.  I have nothing against self-publishing and there are a few of my books that I have toyed with self-publishing.  In today's world there are some great resources for self-publishing that make it truly affordable.  Create Space is one of many print-on-demand services that has very little initial outlay of money to publish your book.  They have paid services as well such as cover and interior design options, editing (from copy editing to full-blown editorial editing) and even marketing tools. There are also several e-publishers including Barnes and Noble's new Pubit! (their exclamation point, not mine) where you can create an account, upload your book and have your book available to Nook owners around the world.

I have wishy-washy feelings about self-publishing.  On one hand self-publishing allows the average person the ability to put their toils and tribulations into a book format.  I actually have a paperback copy of my last NaNoWriMo book (courtesy of being a winner and getting a "free" ARC of my book - It wasn't truly free as I did pay for the expedited shipping.)  It's really cool to hold your own book in your hand.  To see your name printed on the title.  To flip through the pages and smell your words.  It's really really cool.  As a former librarian and current bookseller I get such a giggle out of seeing "my" ISBN  on the back. (Although if I decide to have this traditionally published I know that the number will change, but I have an ISBN!) I have pet my book, stroked its lovely cover and carried it around with me.  It's my first book baby and it makes me feel like one of the Big Kids in the writing world.

On the other hand though, even though I have done copy-editing in the past, I still find my work littered with errors.  I find grammar blunders, misused words and spelling blunders.  You know what those are.  Those are the words that are spelled correctly but aren't the ones you mean.  In one of my books I have a character whose name constantly comes up as Any rather than Andy.  Spell-check doesn't catch those worse because Any is a real word spelled correctly.  It's just not Andy's name.  It won't catch the stupid mistakes like "They're" and "Their" or "moot" and "mute" or "could have cared less" instead of the correct "couldn't have cared less." 

On the other hand (now do you see why I chose Kali for the picture today?), self-publishing can boost your self-esteem, especially if you have been toiling for years trying to get your work published.  You know it is a good story.  You know people will love it.  You are confidant that your work is solid.  You can't find someone who will take a chance on it though.  So you do it yourself.  Market it yourself.  And you love what you have created.  You have a tangible (or digital) book that belongs to you.  It is your book forever.  And people can (and probably do) read it.  You are an Author now because you have a book to prove it.  Ha! Take that publishing world!

Yet on that other hand, there is something about needing the strokes from a Real Publisher to make one feel that they have triumphed.  It's really cool to have Harper Collins or Scholastic or Random House or Penguin or Little Brown (or one of their many smaller houses) printed under your name on the spine.  How fantastic to have that little Penguin flapping its little wings on the spine.  Traditional publishers will generally help you market your book and they can get your book into a lot more hands than you can on your own.  They can send to the mass market book sellers and go to ALA and Book Week and RWA and Comicon and all those really cool book venues.  They make your book look not just like a book but like a Real Book.  It will look very polished and professional.  They will use unique photography that will get people's attention (and hopefully they won't use a similar photo the same year as a different publisher used for a CS Lewis book).

On that (what are we up to now?) fifth hand having a self-published book that does well can help you get your foot in the door to a Traditional Publisher. (We really shouldn't think of self-publishers as not being real.  They are real.  They are really publishing books, but they aren't what we have come to think of as traditional publishers.)  If you show that you have done your market, taken your licks, worked your way through the publishing world on your own and have a book that has done moderately well, that can all make an impression on an agent or editor.  I've even talked to self-published authors who have had an agent or editor contact them after reading one of their books.  That's pretty darn cool. 

Yet (and you knew there was going to be another hand in all this) there are still traditionalist Traditional Publishers who scoff and dismiss those who haven't written the prerequisite nine thousand eight hundred fifty-seven query letters and received six thousand five hundred one rejections (because the other three thousand three hundred fifty-six query letters went unanswered).  They don't care how witty or charming or influential your writing may be.  You didn't go about it the Real Way so therefore you aren't worthy of their time.  OK, so the majority of agents and publishers aren't really that bad, but there is a bit of prejudice in the publishing world against self-published authors.  Go to a writer's workshop and raise your hand when they ask if anyone is published.  When they ask you who your imprint is and you say, "Create Space" eyes will roll.  "Oh, you are one of those writers." They won't even use the word Author associated with you.  It's as if you haven't earned the title. 

Now I'm going to say the part that makes almost everyone groan.  Do your homework.  Whether you are self-publishing or writing your next query letter, do your homework.  Find out who your audience will be.  Find out more about the publisher or agent or editor.  Make sure there aren't any hidden fees or clauses.  Know everything ahead of time.  Don't go blindly blundering into your mistakes.  Take time to really know your craft no matter how you choose to publish.  Make sure your manuscript is as polished and flowing as possible.  Just because you threw up words on a page does not mean you have written a book.  A book tells a story or gives us information in a clear and concise manner.  Make sure you actually have a book before you publish it.  Even if you do it yourself.



Today I shall write

Today I shall write.  I shall write the most stunning prose ever.  My words will rival those of Milton, Mitchener, Rowling and King.  Sentences will flow with ease and every word will appear as though it was meticulously planned when in reality they spilled onto the page to tempt and delight.  My characters will be so well-formed that the reader will feel as though they are their best friends.  My villains will be heinous and my heroes strong, bold, and deliciously beautiful. The heroine will be no femme fatale, but a confidant and capable woman who is still sexy and alluring.  The plot will be riveting and the reader will languish in bed captivated by each chapter or, sadly, the reader will be stuck at work wishing the hours to whisk away so that they can get back to the book that is calling to them from their coffee table.  It will cross gender lines and be adored by both staunch conservative and radical liberal alike.  My writing today will be hailed as this decade's most entertaining and important work of fiction.  The Washington Post will announce that it is a
"Must Read!"  Yes! Today the words themselves will be my muse!

Actually I'm probably going to write a whole lot of shit today that will be edited and slashed and rewritten tomorrow, but the above paragraph is how I want to write each day.  I wake up with the intention of writing well and when I review it later I wonder what idiot sat at my computer and put that stupid drivel in my book.  But that is what the writing process is about.  I am sure that there are few authors who are a pleasure to edit.  Whose manuscripts are clean and polished and ready for the world.  I have had the pleasure of talking to quite a few published authors (some of them even well-known and well-read) who have griped about having to go through the editing process.  The authors I follow on Twitter remind me daily that writing is not something we do, but something we perfect.  It is a continuous work in progress until it has been printed and delivered to stores.  And by that time there is more work to be done on the next book.

So today I most likely will not channel Shakespeare or Goethe or even Austin.  Today I will regurgitate a couple thousand words and hopefully they will form some kind of sentence structure and arrange themselves into paragraphs and when I look at it again tomorrow it would look like a two-year old pounded on my keyboard.  And I shall be thankful for spellcheck.

Words for Friday

According to my self-appointed schedule, today is supposed to be about writing.  I like writing (duh).  I've been asked many times why I have a blog, though, that isn't just about writing.  Well, to be perfectly honest, that would be boring.  No, seriously.  Do you know how many blogs there are out there about writing?  I don't know either, but there are many.  Maybe even too many.  I follow or am subscribed to quite a few of them.  I probably get around to reading about ten posts a week.  That's on a good week.  Usually it is more like three.  It isn't that I don't enjoy the blogs.  I mean I followed them initially for some reason.  It really boils down to not having enough time to read all the blogs I follow.  To be even more painfully honest I tend to skim more than I read.  I glance through them to see if there are any interesting words, look at the tags to see if they are of interest to me and sometimes it is as brief as reading the title.  Ouch.  I know.  Sorry. 

The other Big Reason is that I am more than just about writing.  Thus the name of my blog KnitCookWrite.  I'm actually much more than those three things, but those are the three most prevalent things in my life after my children and trust me, you do not want another Mommy Blog talking about snotty noses, dirty diapers, and five hundred ways to upcycle a used paper towel tube into children's art.  (Fortunately my kids are all teenagers - or will be on June 30th, so I wouldn't talk about snotty noses or dirty diapers and we  merrily recycle our paper towel tubes.) 

I've also been asked why I don't have three blogs: one for knitting, one for cooking and one for writing.  Please!  Have you seen how difficult it has been for me to keep up with one blog?  How the heck do you think I am going to remember to update three blogs let alone one?  I would be constantly referring to things from my other blogs in each of the other ones because my life is so much more than just about writing or knitting or cooking or even snotty nosed non-diaper-wearing teenagers waving glitter-encrusted paper towel tubes.  Plus I would have to put on my Big Thinking Hat and come up with three witty blog names and it was not easy coming up with this blog name. (Do not remind me that it is my Twitter and Ravelry name.  It was hard I tell you.  Hard!) 

I was also encouraged by Kristen Lamb's recent blog about why writing blogs are fairly boring and not helpful to writers.  I don't have to worry about being too diverse because my blog is about me and I am diverse.  I can't blog just about writing because that is not who I am.  I feel very justified in my decision because of Kristen's blog. Thank you Kristen! 

You may be saying to yourself, but today is Friday why isn't she talking about writing?  I will.  Maybe not as much today as you might hope.  This week has been an exercise in getting used to a new blog schedule (which is now further compromised by the fact that I just got a job at my local Barnes and Noble Booksellers).  Introducing myself and my readers to what is coming up in the next few months.  And while Friday is Writing Day, I may not blog about writing as an art, but more about what I am writing and my journey to being published. 

However, if you feel that I must say a few words on writing, then here's my Big Idea on Writing: What are you doing reading this blog? Go write something. 

Spiritual Sunday

Everything I know about religion I learned from Star Trek.  OK, not really.  But Star Trek was a huge influence in my spiritual beliefs.  I was raised as a cradle Episcopalian.  Have a mother who is an Episcopla priest.  I like to think that I put her through seminary.  We would have long theological discussions based on various papers she was writing or classes she was taking.  I had never really questioned my beliefs until I started truly paying attention to the themes of Star Trek and not just the plots.  The plots were essentially the same.  Kirk pokes the snake with a stick.  An intergalactic space being threatens to unleash cosmic power which will end all life as we know it.  Picard rushes in and saves the day and Reiker gets the girl.  But the themes were what started making me question what I really believed. 

Over the years I called my self a Star Trekian philosopher.  I believed that there could be all kinds of truths in the world and not just the one I had been raised to accept as truth.  It wasn't until one day when I friend of mine asked me what my spiritual beliefs were that I found out there already was a "Star Trek" religion.  It was called Unitarian Universalism.  Wow.  There were entire congregations of people all over the world who were living the Star Trek philosophy that I thought I had discovered.  (Silly me.)  It wasn't until after September 11, 2001 that I actually sought out a UU congregation.  I had lots of questions and mainstream religion wasn't helping.  I was told I was wrong for speaking out against the President of the United States and for daring to say that was was not the answer.  (Despite my Star Trek background, I am a pacifist.)  Fortunately, in the UU church I found others like myself who felt the same way, including members of the US military. 

As the blog progresses I will expand on how my beliefs meld in with my writing and knitting because I do see my beliefs on the pages and in the yarn that flow through my fingers.  I can't imagine how one can't be influenced by their spirituality.

Catching up and a new challenge

I keep thinking about really cool things that I want to blog about. I'll even make a note about it. Sometimes I'll even find the perfect graphic to pair with it. And then you know what? Nothing. That's right. Nothing happens. I think about blogging, but thinking about it and actually doing it are two different things. So I'm challenging myself for the summer (starting today) to blog every single day, even if it is just a line or two. And since I love lists and schedules are like lists, I've decided that I am going to have a schedule so even my readers know what I'm supposed to be blogging about. Radical, eh? Not really, but I'm pretending it is.

What's your schedule? I'm so glad you asked. Here it is:

Mondays: Mindless Ramblings (this could really be about anything)
Tuesdays: 10 on Tuesday (I get these e-mails so I might as well utilize them, right?)
Wednesdays: Adventures in Knitting
Thursdays: Book Reviews
Fridays: On Writing and/or Publishing
Saturdays: Sumptuous Saturdays (look for recipes or cooking tips)
Sundays: Thoughts on spirituality and how that relates to my love of knitting, cooking and writing

But, today is Friday and this doesn't look like a post on writing or publishing. You are so write (write - as in writing, get it, hahahahaha - I'm so lame). Seriously, though, yes; today is about writing and/or publishing and my journey there.

What is going on? I'm back into that wonderful flurry of writing where I have a million book ideas all screaming to get onto paper first. I love when this happens because I find that I am creative in other aspects of my life as well. For instance I get knitting patterns in my dreams (that actually can work, not the abstract three-dimensional hat knit on seven needles and needing two other sets of hands to accomplish). I have also finished a major re-write of the first book of my witch trilogy and have a few friends who are beta reading it for me. I'm working feverishly on a synopsis and good query letter for it. I think it is one hundred times better than the previous rendition. I've also finished a major edit on my NaNoWriMo book and have started a sequel to it which is going very well. This book also deserves a synopsis and a query letter.



So why aren't you writing these synopses and query letters? Because I suck at writing synopses and query letters. They always seem lame or I feel like I'm rambling. I've read probably twenty books on writing query letters and mine always look either cookie cutter or really lame. Sometimes I think of writing a really bad query letter with all that agent's pet peeves written in a very sarcastic-yet-understand voice, but never send it because I doubt very seriously the agent would ready it with the same voice that is going through my head.

Are you doing anything to try to remedy this lack in your writing skills? I am. It doesn't mean that it is getting any better, but I am trying each day to write a two-paragraph synopsis of my book. It usually ends with me deleting the entire thing before I toss my laptop across the room, but I am working on it. I was supposed to go to a writing workshop this weekend, but there weren't enough participants and it was cancelled. I signed up for the one in July and hopefully it will make.

Can you tell us about the book(s) you are working on right now? Kind of. As I mentioned earlier I am writing a sequel to my NaNoWriMo book which was about knitting a sweater for a boyfriend. This one is about knitting a wedding veil. The other book I am working on is written in the voice of a dystopian man who lived through the changes that happened in his world and is now dying.

That's about it. Tune in tomorrow when I will be talking about Birthday Cake! (Because it will be my birthday and cake and birthdays go together even though I'm having tacos and margaritas tomorrow and not sure if there will be any cake at all, but that's a post for tomorrow.)

Starting Off

It's a new year. 2011. According to my daughter we have less than two years before the world explodes and the Mayan calendar proves true. Well, in that case I think we should live it up and go reckless. The logical side of my brain says that's not such a good idea and we should be a bit more practical. Of course it is my theory that the Mayan calendar ended on the Winter Solstice in the year 2012 because the person making the calendar got tired and decided to quit and besides, no one he knew was going to be living then anyway.

Many people make New Year Resolutions this time of year. You know like, "I'm going to lose thirty pounds, get my book published and post on my blog every day." Yeah, so as you can see if those were my goals I've already failed seeing as it is the third and I am just now getting around to posting for the first time this year. That's why I don't make New Year Resolutions. I do have goals. For instance I want to knit mostly from my stash. That's a good and attainable goal. And I want to make Mr. KCW that fisherman's sweater he's been asking for over the years. I want to finish organizing my kitchen and pare down the duplicity and unused items (like the twenty year old Kenmore mixer that doesn't work). I want to spend more time writing and less time fretting about writing.

I did begin Project 333 Saturday. I'll post weekly pictures rather than daily ones. It's nice to look in my closet and see everything hanging neatly. Although this morning I hung up the clothes I had washed last night and had a panic attack because I had an extra hanger and couldn't figure out what was missing. I then realized that I hadn't washed whites yet this week and so my white and silver striped shirt was not in the closet. I was about to blame Mr. KCW for putting extra hangers in my closet just to mess with me. (He'd do that, too if he thought of it.)

My current knitting endeavour is to finish my Triangle Lace Shawl (Ravelry Link). I've got six more daisy repeats to do and then the border lace. I'm using variegated yellow and gold beads and it is looking very pretty. All the other knitters who have made this shawl have expressed that it has blocked bigger than they would have thought. I hope so because I'm wanting a larger shawl. I'm planning how I want to incorporate this shawl into my spring Project 333 wardrobe. I'm thinking it will pair well with blues and tangerines, which is good because that's what I have a lot of in my summery wardrobe.

My current cooking endeavour is learning what Mr. KCW can eat and what with his new insulin pump. It's sort of putting a cramp on our regular meals which are generally rice or pasta based meals. Coming up with new meals that work with his needs has been challenging and we've had tried very interesting recipes that won't be revisited. We all seem to like the mustard encrusted steak (except for the vegetarian in the family).

And my current writing endeavour is revisiting a book that I lost and wanted to rewrite. It's actually coming along nicely. When I finish this project I am going to edit my NaNoWriMo novel from this year. And I'm reading about a billion books all at once. Room by Emma Donoghue is what entertained me for two hours last night when I couldn't sleep. I'm also reading Jane Eyre (I don't remember that book being 1600 pages), Portal by Imogen Rose and Interred with their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell. This is why it takes me forever to "read a book" because I keep switching from one book to another. I'd change this, but I've done this since I was a young child and somehow I've managed to keep all the plots organized. Apparently that is how I write as well.

So Happy New Year and may this be a good year for all of us. Keep up the writing, knitting and cooking. I know I am.

Dental pain sucks

Just in case no one knew this little fact I wanted to be very clear that there is no pain in the world as horrible as dental pain. I would go through childbirth again to avoid dental pain even though you end up with a baby at the end that has to be cared for and fed and diapered and taught not to stick pencils up its nose. Quite a few years ago I had some dental pain that ended up in three root canals with crowns. The teeth that held the crowns were not stable and all three ended up breaking out. Now I am faced with the trauma of having to go in and have those three teeth extracted and having bridges built. Every time I go into the dentist they lie and tell me that the pain will go away soon and that it is "almost over." Last week when I had the temporary bridge created I was told that this appointment would be easy. To which I replied, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it does." I really hate dentists.

Don't get me wrong, I think I would have a great time at TGIFridays with my dentist or I could see myself having a dandy time knitting with her (if she did knit) or just going shopping for shoes, but I really don't like her as a dentist. I don't like her rooting around in my mouth and sticking me with needles (yet another phobia of mine thanks to a sucky childhood filled with doctors, needles and dentists). I even like the receptionist with whom I know I would have a good time with because she went to DragonCon this year and likes Neil Gaiman. I even like the dental assistant who has a very pleasant voice and pretty eyes. She's gentle and kind, but I don't want any of them poking around in my mouth.

The worst part of all of this is that I am in pain! And when I am in pain I don't want to knit, I don't want to write and I certainly don't want to cook because eating hurts too. I'm tired of "eating" pudding, soup, and things one sucks out of a straw. I have story ideas that float through my head, but just sitting down to formulate them hurts and so I make little notes that make no sense the next day. What? I had a story idea about an evil widowed stepmother who is marrying a hotel concierge and the quiet unnoticed stepdaughter falls in love with the new concierge that the EWS refers to as Charles Two? I'm not sure where I was going with that. And anything that requires more than stockinette stitch is just a bit too mind-taxing at the moment.

Can someone zip me to the future, have all my teeth fixed while I'm in some sort of weird unconsciousness and I wake up with a full set of functioning teeth that aren't killing me and no gum pain either? My family would appreciate it greatly.

Knitting with words

Because I am a knitter and a writer, I find that words and yarn tend to blend themselves well. This probably won't make sense to anyone who isn't a knitter. I find that when I write certain words lend themselves better because of the way that they sound or feel in the mouth. It is much like choosing a yarn to go with a pattern or a pattern to go with a specific yarn. It might be the most scrumptious Merino and silk, but it may make horrible cables or it might be the most fabulous lace pattern but the mottled yarn causes the lace to be lost amongst all the color changes.

In writing my NaNo for the year I wrote about knitters. This yarn and word mixture was even more pronounced for me. Now not only did I have to find the right word for the moment, but also the right knitting words. Words such as needles, cable, stitch, Malabrigo, wool, cotton all came into play. If someone is angry, the word cashmere is all wrong. She doesn't pick up a ball of cashmere and throw it against the wall. She picks up a ball of linen or a hank of black scratchy acrylic. Cashmere comes into play when he thinks about her or perhaps she remembers that disastrous first date while grasping a pair of fourteen inch long size US 4 Stiletto needles. That combination of words and what they represent varies from page to page and it is all important. I loved seeing that evolve in this book. The fibers that reflected the moment. The knitting actions that represented a feeling. Someone who is angry doesn't flit the stitches from needle to needle, but rather she picks at them or perhaps she is extremely angry and she stabs at her work.

In the end a sweater is born and a book awakens. It was a fun process. And now I have many ends to weave in, seams to sew, and blocking to shape it correctly. It's very sweater-like this book writing.

(Side note to all the non-knitters: you may find this true of your own interests outside of writing. I can't really give you any non knitting or cooking ideas, but you probably see it, if not consider it next time you sit down to write, especially if you involve those things that you love.)

I survived (and won)

Once again I managed to pull of the NaNoWriMo challenge and finished in at 63,785 words and actually managed to reach The End. It was a fun and wild journey with several days lost due to dental appointments and Harry Potter. My Big Goal to actually blog my way through NaNo this year failed on day three. That's ok. I figured one of a few things.

1. Those who were truly interested in my NaNoWroMo word count could always go check out my profile on NaNoWriMo or follow my progress on Twitter.

2. Those who weren't interested in my NaNoWriMo progress were probably relieved to not have to hear about my month long ramblings about how my writing was going.

3. Those who were irritated because I wasn't posting blog entries for the month of November could go find someone else to placate their need to read and I probably wouldn't know they weren't here anyway. And I'm OK with that because this is my blog and while I share my thoughts with other people, I'm not out to please anyone.

4. Those who didn't notice I wasn't posting well, you were probably writing right along with me and trying not to "waste" words on blogs but rather your own novels.

5. The knitters and the cooks had more time to do their thing.

But NaNo is over so I can get back to my regular blog entries and start editing my NaNo novel (after the first of the year). I've decided that I really need to work on revisions of my last novels and give my brain a break from Harriet and Carl and the lovely yarn shop I created.

Tune in tomorrow when I hope to talk about knitting with words.

And we're off!

It's the first day of NaNoWriMo and I think it is looking pretty good. As of 5:00 this evening I have 3,502 words written and may even get some more out tonight before I go to bed, but first I must pause for dinner and Stitch and Bitch. One must have some pleasures in life.

I'm really enjoying the story and did a couple of challenges with PoMoGoLightly over at the NaNo Salons. I out-wrote her, but I think she was going easy on me. I've seen her 750 count on Twitter and she can easily pull it off in 15 minutes. But it does feel good to be challenged. I'm considering Write or Die, but need to make sure that the electric shock is just a joke.

If anyone else has any great ideas about word count challenges, let me know. Meanwhile, keep on writing!

Oh there it is!

I had a Really Good Idea for NaNoWriMo this year. I had a plot and everything. And the more I looked at it the more I realized it was nothing more than a short story. There was no way I could turn it into 50,000 words. At max it would be 10,000. So it was back to the drawing board. And nothing was coming. Do you know the sound that nothing makes in your brain? It's sort of like playing Pong with the computer as your competition. It's full of dark empty space with the echoing plink as the pong hit the paddle. Yeah. That bad.

Usually when I get into one of these states I will head to the bookstore and just browse the back of rows of books to read their covers. It gets my mind whirling and I end up with a plot about a computer nerd, a nun and a prostitute who are trying to save the world from aliens. (Do not steal that idea. I'm planning on using it one day!) I've had this horrible desire to want to create, but lacking the, well, gumption to actually jump off the creative diving board and do it. I've been that way with my knitting as well. I want to make gorgeous Jane Thornley inspired sweaters and shawls, but I keep standing on the edge refusing to even get my toes wet. It isn't that I don't have the talent or skills or education to do those things. It's that fear of failing or not being good enough. The bookstore did nothing to help inspire me. If anything it made me feel pathetic and clueless.

That's when the wonderful words that keep coming back to me started taking over the plinking of the everlasting Pong game.

"Write what you know," my brain finally heard.
"But what do I know anything about?" I asked.
"Knitting," said the mysterious voice.
"Uh, have you forgotten that this is National Novel Writer's Month?"
"So incorporate it."
"Leave me alone. I'm enjoying my game. Plink. Plink. Plink."
"Have it your way," said the voice.
"Bzzzz. Darn it! You made me miss."

But now it is there. I've got the idea. And yes; it incorporates knitting. Well, knitting is a character really. I've got a plot with a beginning, middle and and end and it can easily become 50,000 words. I passed it by my biggest critic and she said, "Aw, Mom, that sounds like a wonderful romantic comedy that I would pay money to see as a movie." (That, by the way, is a major compliment.) So beginning Monday morning my word count will appear here. You can also follow my progress on Twitter (user name is knitcookwrite there, too).

Now to go find all that yarn for my creative shawl.

Some more words for revising

I've been finding so many more traps in my writing that I hadn't even thought of before. Let's consider them, shall we?

Probably The odd thing is that ever since I started noticing this in my own manuscripts, I've been seeing it used in published books. You know what? It isn't needed 90% (or more) of the time and 5% of the time it is used incorrectly. Consider: "He probably was mad because I left the milk on the counter again." Hmmm. I think we know he is mad, so why would he probably be mad? He is mad. He might be mad because the milk was left on the counter. But since we are presuming this is a first person sentence, then we most likely know why he is mad. So let's strip the probability out of the sentence all together. "He was mad. I had left the milk on the counter. Again." See, that's much nicer. It gets the point across and that pesky probably word is gone. When you edit through for this word, read your sentences without the probablies and see if they don't read more concise and more sure.

I think Really? You just think? Get rid of it. It's stupid and doesn't belong there. Up for editing: "I think I can put my on my own pants." It's an I statement. Don't I know if I can put my pants on or not? Strip it. "I can put on my own pants." Ah, there's a strong character and a strong statement. Where would I leave an "I think"? Here: "I think I know how to get there." It shows that the speaker is unsure of what she is doing. That's what you want to portray. Unless, of course, you know that your character really does know how to get from Space Mountain to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad without getting lost.

was _____ ing You know what was ____ ing is. It's when you write was and any ing verb when what you really meant to write was past tense. For instance: "She was already feeling lightheaded and woozy." Really? Did I really do that? Yeah, and unfortunately I did it quite a big. Come on, Lorna, just say it like it is "She already felt lightheaded and woozy." Gah! One would think you never took honors English!

That Here is another word that we tend to throw in that just doesn't belong. Strip them. Go ahead. Put on some really good stripper music and take it all off. What am I talking about: "She was thankful that he was there to lend extra support." See? It doesn't even belong there. It isn't needed. It's a filler word that I would use to earn my Word Padding Badge over at NaNoWriMo. But it doesn't belong in well-written sentences. "She was thankful he was there to lend extra support."

Well, that should keep you busy for a while. And don't forget the stripper music. It's really important (because this is all really fun and easy editing. Save the Cold Play for the serious editing!)

Pulling out the Pulls

Or maybe since I've been on such a wonderfully fruitful editing streak lately I should say, "Editing out the pulls." I finally rewrote all the feels/felts from my manuscript and tackled the coulds. That was actually quite fun. But neither of those edits was as satisfying as rewording the pulls. As I edited them I made of list of words that I used to replace pull, pulled, pulling, and pulls. Here 'tis:

withdrew (form school - this is a YA book, please!)
gathered
dragging
handle
drew
carry
turned
entered
took
leading
snapped
held
slid
lowered
twirled
shrugged
tugged
drove
rumbled
snuggled
came
led
tore
set
turned
opened
influence

Now out of context one would think that none of those words could be interchanged with the pull words, but amazingly I found a way to make it work. Some of the edits required that I rethink the entire sentence or phrase whereas others were simple substitutions. I hadn't realized until I started this major revision how much we rely on the same set of words over and over. How I can have such a limited word base when I love words and have a fantastic library of books about words is beyond me. At least I love to edit and find no great insult in someone suggesting changes to wording and phrasing.

Go do this RIGHT NOW!

Seriously, I mean it. Drop everything you are doing, close all your extraneous programs, put on your editing music and open your most recent manuscript. Now using your "find feature" in your writing software (most have them, in MS Word 2007 it can be found under the "Home" tab to the far right hand side). Type in the Find box,"feel." It is the most insanely overused word ever! Seriously. In my 80,000 word manuscript I found almost 200 instances of feel, felt, feeling. There are better ways of expressing "I felt" than using "I felt." And guess what else? In many instances you can actually delete that little word and your sentence still makes sense. Really. Try it. And if that doesn't work, how better can you write that sentence without using "I felt"?

I only left a few instances of this word in and it was in places where the phrase is so ingrained in our vernacular that it just seemed silly to try to alter it. One instance was "How are you feeling today?" We say that all the time so why not use it? But the word feelings can be said so much better with the word emotions. I am amazed at not only how many times I used that word (or variation thereof) but how well-entrenched it is in our daily speech. Another example where I used feel too often was "The room felt hot." Um, what about just "The room was hot"?

So why are you still sitting here reading this? Go. Go edit. You know you want to now.

A special thanks goes out to RebeccaJoym for her tweet yesterday. She is the author of Infinite Days and blogs here.

Oh and when you are finished with feel/felt, try could and then pulled. I'll post more as I think of them (or share some you know.)

Limiting oneself or sticking to values?

I've been thinking lately about the agents I have been submitting my work to. I consider myself fairly green when it comes to the environment. I carry my own shopping bags so I don't have to use the stupid (weak, holey, and ugly) plastic bags that the stores use. I recycle everything that I possibly can and reuse plastic containers and glass jars. I run multiple errands with thought going to creating a circuit so I don't crisscross town and drive a fairly fuel-efficient car.

I've been spending the past month adding to my database of agents that I want to submit to (as many are on vacation during the months of July and August I'm using that time to research.) I decided to head to the library last week and take advantage of various books on publishing in the reference section. I had my notebook and pen so I could write agencies' addresses, websites and various notes (such as only accepts through various months, what they wish to see for with the query - sample pages, chapters, synopsis, etc.), which genres they represent (of course bypassing those that don't mesh with my own writing), and specific agents' names). I have a great spreadsheet I created to keep track of these things.

I took all this home and started going to the websites to better understand what these agents were looking for, make sure contact information hadn't changed, and to see how familiar I was with any of their current clients and their work. I have truly been amazed in this Internet world that we live in how many agents do not accept e-mail queries or submissions. I started adding up what it would cost me in both paper, ink and postage to send just queries (not including synopses, sample pages or manuscripts) to all these agents. Then I figured out the cost for sending just five agents a query with the first fifty pages (as that seems to be most common). Let's just say it's not cheap. And I have to trust that these agents are actually going to recycle my pages. I don't have this fear of my work being stolen, but more my work ending up in a landfill where it may or may not decompose.

I appreciate agents who say on their website "We are a green company and only accept e-queries." Thank you. You are speaking my language. I was talking about this with another writer who was shocked that I was limiting my search. What if I missed the perfect agent and a great book deal because I refused to submit to someone who was not as "green" as I am? What if that agent is restricted by her firm to only accept paper copies? And am I one of those people who believes in the destruction of "real books" in favor of the e-book? One of her points was also that agents who only accept e-queries might not be as attentive and more easily dismiss work because it is so simple to discard bites of data than sheets of paper and perhaps "e-agents" aren't as attentive because it is "too easy" to create an e-query than to write and print a "real letter."

All this got me to thinking about whether I am limiting myself or if I believe strongly in my convictions of a greener planet by only using agents who accept e-queries. I do firmly believe in "real books." I love books. I've mentioned this before. The texture of the page, the smell of the ink, the dance of letters across the vast expanse of paper creating stories. All these things I adore about physical books. They are things that cannot be duplicated by any e-reader. As much as I love my nook, I will always love the feel of an open book in my hand. But does my application for an agent to help me sell my books (real and digital) mean that I should kill trees in order to reach that goal? I just can't believe that it does.

I'd be interested in my reader's views on this (yes; all six of you). If you are a published writer, did you use traditional means or is it truly possible to find an agent via the web? Tomorrow we will discuss the ways in which to create an e-query and not accidentally send it off to an agent before you are finished.

Jumping off the Cliffs of Insanity

Do not fear gentle readers, I have not lost my wits and taken up cliff diving. What I have decided to do is to leave my lost manuscript behind for a while. It feels a whole lot like cliff diving though. It means I am free to work on other projects. I know that my full manuscript with wonderful revisions is really on the stupid pink flash drive ... somewhere. It can be regained (for a price - between $350 and $900). What I'm writing in trying to replace that which my flash drive is holding for ransom is pure and utter crap. I'm three chapters from the end of the story and about 20,000 (yes that is twenty thousand) words short. Which means, boys and girls, that I've left out a whole bunch of sub-plot (which I know there was some) and character development (which I know there was a whole bunch of) and it is necessary information for the story. SO, I am going to let it sit there as is. I'm not even going to finish the rewrite. I am going to continue with getting the first in this series published (I mean the missing book is the fourth in the series). When the first book is published then I'm going to pay those nice people at the data recovery place their big bucks and get Jason's story back. Until then I'm moving on.

And it is a big step for me to do. There are all these other books that are calling to be written and I have editing that needs to be done and query letters to formulate and send and meanwhile I've been sitting here spending this time, pulling my hair out while trying to recreate something that will never be as good as what I originally wrote and I know it. Therefore, for my sanity (and yours so you don't have to listen to me whine about this - at least for a while) I'm going forward with that next book in my head. So. Off. We. Goooooooo!

(This is where there should be some really cool inspirational music.)

A fresh clean sheet of paper (or because this is the digital age a smooth blank word document) sits in front of me and Jo March has left the burned manuscript in the fire. Wish me luck!