Bright Side

It's been a doozy of a year.  Difficult, in many, many ways.  I kicked it off at the start with the release of one book (Plain Jayne) while being waaaaay behind schedule on another (Simply Sara, the little snot). I got my first taste of book signings, radio interviews, and publicity campaigns. Danny had a promising job offer, which was very exciting until it fell through.

We continued by getting Danny done with graduate school, me turning in Sara (she redeemed herself), and flying out to the East Coast so Danny could properly matriculate, which he turned out to be very good at.  I was supposed to be working on galley edits while we were out, which I turned out not to be very good at.

During the summer, Danny and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary.  I taught at Oregon Christian Writers; Danny recovered from graduate school.  By the end of that week, both my grandfather and Danny's grandfather went home to Jesus.  We traveled to one memorial and wished that we could have been at the other as well.  Simply Sara released, looking a little out of breath. Short weeks later, not only had the previous job offer been placed back on table, but it was backed up by an interview in Memphis while I attended my first ACFW conference.

As the weeks progressed, we prepared ourselves for a move to the Mid-South when the company came back and offered Danny a job in their Richland, Washington office, a move that stunned us both but felt like a grand idea.  We tidied, we donated, we packed, we moved, we relied on the kindness of others and later drove across the country so Danny could do his engineer training in Memphis.

It's been a tricky year.  We've had a lot of loss, change, difficulties, both personal and professional.  It's been hard some times to choose joy, to choose to examine the beautiful parts while giving mourning its due.

During our trip to the East Coast we got to see some of the best-looking ceilings in the country

The Library of Congress

 

The National Cathedral

 ...and some of it's prettiest architecture.  We've gotten to visit children we love...

...and enjoy the simple beauty of God's creation near our home.

We've had adventures, and we will have more.  We visited 19 states, made new friends, visited old ones.  It's been a big year for us, and I don't have any reason to think next year won't be just as crazy.

So I'm embracing the crazy.  As long as the Father knows what He's doing (and He assures me He does), I eagerly anticipate what the next year has in store for us.

Passing Through

I need a better blogging system. By that, I mean that having a blogging system at all wouldn't be the worst idea. Life is unstructured right now; I'm between projects. Rather than spend long days trying desperately to get 1,200 words out, I'm working on everything else I put off until I hit one of the many deadlines that lead up to a print date.

So here's everything that's been going on in the Lodge camp:

1. Our grandpas passed away this last week. Two of them, opposite sides of the country, within 24 hours of each other. One was expected. We had no idea about the other until we got the call. Danny and I each have our own roller-coaster moments, but we're hanging in there. Can I just say that if you want to rack up treasure in heaven, grocery shop for those who have experienced loss. A precious friend brought us dinner (and then some!). It's amazing how something so simple can be so profound.

2. In other news, the Oregon Christian Writers' Conference went down beautifully. A herd of writers came out. It was fantastic. My classes went well, meetings with conferees over manuscripts went well, copies of Plain Jayne graduated from the back of my car to the loving homes of several readers. I am a bit exhausted, though. While I do a pretty good impersonation of an extrovert when necessary, it's nice to be home in the quiet.

3. I started work on the next book! It's about Gemma (friend to Jayne and Sara, feeder of many), and I have to say, It's going to be delicious. If you have any amazing recipes to pass on, let me know (and by amazing, I mean "something you'd feed to a food critic" good. Gemma doesn't mess around. Unless it's Oreos. She has a secret weakness for them...)

4. I'm officially all registered to attend the ACFW conference in September. This will be my first ACFW conference, as well as my first venture into the state of Indiana.

5. I bought yarn last night. Haven't knitted anything in about a year (I know; the mind reels). I have a bunch of Louisa Harding's Ca'D'Oro but it's not particularly seasonal - I just can't work with wool in the heat of the summer. So I bought a sweater's worth of this last night - it's the grey color shown at the top (though I really liked the Apple Blossom, I thought the grey would be be more multi-seasonal).

Sorry. This isn't my funniest or most insightful blog. Not for lack of material - I probably ought to write a whole blog about my new smart phone (in particular my intelligence-challenged so-called "genius button"), but I'm not there yet. Hopefully soon, though. It's an unusual season to be passing through; the trick is to remember we're just passing through.

Crazycakes

...is the best word I have to describe the last 48 hours. Truly.

The contributing factors, I think, are:

1. The signing at Powell's (Cedar Hills) this Sunday (2pm).

2. The fact that Powell's is in Portland, and therefore requires travel.

3. Simply Sara's new release date and the ensuing start of production.

Add those together and you've got me on the phone with my agent while sitting in a dentist's chair. Seriously, I feel like one of those weirdo workaholic Manhattanites who close deals via Bluetooth at the deli counter. Except I don't have my Bluetooth, because it arrived today while we were out of town, and I have to tell you that it's very, very useful to be able to call your editor or agent back while driving. Or ironing. Or washing dishes.

Today the craziness continued while at a meeting planning for this summer's OCW Coaching Conference. The aftermath included me agreeing to be the assistant director, which I did not anticipate but am excited about. For the first time we're really working at getting high school and college-age conferees to come; that's my project to organize. I'm SUPER excited about it because that was me - 14 years-old, tall, scrawny, and ready to learn everything I could about writing.

While at this meeting, I got the cover for Simply Sara in my inbox (the joys of a Netbook). I love it! Honestly, I think it's fantastic. Warm tones, blue skies - there's even a Portland Cityscape at the top! I'm very pleased.

And speaking about the Netbook, I micro-blogged (I refuse to say "tweeted") about it but hadn't blog posted...the story on that is that my laptop monitor was wigging out on me, causing me to wig out because I knew we were heading to Portland and I couldn't go a weekend without working, and I couldn't borrow Danny's computer because he needs it, and we found ourselves with a half-hour window while waiting for Danny to get a haircut, during which we traveled five minutes to Staples and walked out with an Acer Aspire.

(Sorry. Longest non-Melville sentence ever? Possible.)

While I'm in love with its cuteness, smallness, and handiness, I have to say it's not a replacement for a proper laptop/desktop. Sometimes, it's useful to have a screen larger than 8 1/2 inches.

Oohh...headache. Pain. Wrapping this up... So, Powell's signing...anyway, picked up two boxes of books, so there will be lots this weekend and next. I'll pick up the chocolate for the signing tomorrow.

Until then...who knows?

I might try to relax.

The Daily Grind

We're slogging a lot around here. Danny finishes graduate school in just over four weeks. And people, it's been a long haul. For the last long while (a year and a half? Two years? Time immemorial?), he's been working 40+ (and for a while, 50) hour weeks, then coming home and working on calculations and concrete/steel/wood/snow load/seismic analysis.

I, on the other hand, am working through a follow-up novel that's giving me mood swings. It's not the book's fault - if I wasn't 20,000 words behind where I wanted to be, things might be a bit different. Oh well.

In the meantime, my home hasn't been anything resembling since well before Christmas, and likely won't be until Danny's school is over, and possibly not until the book's done. Usually having guests over forces the issue, but we're both so swamped with work that we don't really have time for any sort of social engagement.

This is sad, because I've been wanting to throw a cupcake party for, like, four months.

In other news:

1. Plain Jayne has officially entered its second printing.

2. The second-edition will feature the Pub Weekly quote on the cover. (Yay!!!!!)

3. Honestly, I'm more excited about this batch for that very reason.

4. Hoping a quote from the Booklist review might wind up on the third printing.

Reminder -

1. Valentine's Day signing at Powell's on Cedar Hills. Yeah, I know the date sucks, but it's in the afternoon...and okay, it does cut into Sunday Afternoon Naptime, but if you're in the area, do it for a friend. Or Toledo. Frankly, I don't care why, but you'll be remembered in heaven for it. A good time will be had for all, I promise. You won't even have to park illegally, seeing as it's the Beaverton location.

2. Oregon Christian Writers Winter Conference 2010. Longest title ever? Probably. But it will be grand and lovely. The conference will be held at the Salem Red Lion on Market St, from 8:30-4pm (don't even think about leaving early!!!!), on February 20th.

Robin Jones Gunn is keynoting (and which means it will be PHENOMENAL. She's a terrific speaker, and let me tell you, not every writer is.) She'll also teach a workshop on getting unstuck. Love it. Linda Clare will be teaching "Essays for Anthologies," which will be super cool, and Kathy Ruckman will be teaching "The ABC's of Writing Children's Picture Books." I'll be teaching a workshop about writing an ensemble cast, which I'm totally excited about!

3. Lastly, found this AMAZING (sorry. I'm in a good mood. I promise to be cranky and lay off on the caps on the next post) blog post here by Laini Taylor (of Laini's Ladies, who also writes) about brainstorming. Great exercises. And great writing quotes, from which I found my favorite writing quote of the day:

"A writer is someone to whom writing is more difficult than it is to other people." - Thomas Mann

Sigh. So true! Back to work anyway!

Confessions of a Name Freak

My name is Hillary Lodge. I'm a name-o-holic.

The indicators showed up early. As a child, I renamed myself frequently. My first grade teacher quickly learned that if the name on the top of the page did not belong to a child on her roster (and in fact was odd to the point where a set of hippie parents would shake their heads at it), it must be mine (blessings upon Mrs. Bauer).

I loved Anne of Green Gables. Her desire to be called Cordelia made complete sense to me.

I spent a lot of time naming my dolls and stuffed animals the right name. Because heaven help us if they had the wrong name.

One thing led to another. My condition worsened. I began to write fiction.

I collect names. I've sat in movie theaters watching the credits, looking for good names. I'm very interested in the etymology of names. I'm always looking out for good baby name books. I'll write down random names that I like. I'll make fun of ones I hate.

I didn't think much about this until recently, when the subject came up in a blog interview. The section I had the most to write about was how I chose characters' names.

Now I've got my protagonist, Sara, starting in a new atmosphere, and I need to meet the people she'll encounter.

First, writing a follow-up novel means you've got a cast of thousands. There's more than half of the characters from the first book, plus all of the new ones. I actually had to pull out a copy of the book to remember what Jayne's mom's name is.

To avoid name conflicts (because I worry about such things), I made a categorized list of everyone in the book so far.

And wow. I have an addiction to names from the middle of the alphabet. Grady, Gemma, Jayne, Joely, Kim, Kip, Levi, Nora - this is Simply Sara alone, and does not count Grace, Jenna, Joel, Livy, Lewis, Mark, or Nick from my first novel.

Sure, I've got Sara and William and Zach and Arin, and Beth and Spencer and Sol, but good heavens. And talk about a soft-G/J addiction; I want to write a book about someone named Ginger (no idea what, just love the name), and now I realize it would just feed the pattern.

I'm teaching a class at OCW next month about creating an ensemble cast, and let me tell you that this experience of trying to add three characters has completely changed the way the seminar will be presented.

After a couple days, I finally managed to name the three young women I'd been working on. I'd think I was settled, then made changes at least once per character. I love the women I ended up with! Sometimes I wish some of the characters I wrote were real, I'd love to hang out with them.

Since then, writing's been a bit easier. There's knitting in this book (finally! I get to write about knitting!), which is happy. And like I said - I have people to play with!

The Super-Secret Formula

I got to go to OCW's fall conference yesterday, and completely enjoyed myself. Since college, I didn't attend many of the day conferences (while I faithfully participated in the summer coaching conferences) because, after a week at class, attending another set of classes, starting at 9am on a Saturday, doesn't hold much appeal.

But now I'm out of school, working from home, living the writer's life...and in desperate need of community.

The way I see it, day conferences are like church for writers. It may not tell us anything we don't already know, but it's nice to be reminded. There are people in all stages of faith/publishing, but the fellowship is beautiful as we come alongside each other.

As a writer in Eugene, I'm an oddity. I'm not in close contact with anyone else who writes full time, struggles with plots, characters, inspiration, or figuring out marketing. It's delightful just talking with other people who have agents. When I'm with the writerly, I'm no longer the odd woman out.

Not the least of which is the fact that we're all a little odd. So I blend in well.

The book buying at a conference is great too - I got to pick up a copy of Linda Clare's The Fence My Father Built, Christina Berry's The Familiar Stranger, Karen Wells' The Miracle of You, and Keynoter Eva Marie Everson's Things Left Unspoken.

No room in any of the bookcases, really, but what else is new?

Eva Marie gave a great day's worth of keynoting. She answered graciously when beginning writers asked questions that were apropos of, well not much.

One in particular struck a chord with me. A conferee asked, "As a writer, how do you get yourself to sit down and write, even when life is busy?"

I wish there were a super-secret formula to easy, breezy writing that the literary world's upper echelon writers guard closely. I really do.

But here's the thing - writing is a job like any other. It's work. No book was ever finished without a great deal of personal discipline. Funny thing - writers aren't the most disciplined bunch. We tend to procrastinate. We tend to eat a lot of chocolate (there aren't a lot of svelte writers out there). Our homes are often cluttered. We work in our pajamas. But God, being gracious, enabled us to be disciplined in the one area that matters, and that's writing.

Anyone considering writing as a career needs to go in with his or her eyes open. Writing is hard work. After you write your first book, you will need to write a second, better book while editing and marketing the first. You can't go into publishing as a lark and expect to succeed.

That said, as a writer, I'm always looking for tricks to help me keep going while I'm sitting and writing. Writing a synopsis, or storyboarding is one - it's like giving yourself a map before you drive off. While big-concept synopses are helpful, so are small ones. My latest technique (because seriously, I'm desperate), makes me think of Winnie the Pooh...

At the start of a new chapter document, I start off with the chapter number (helps keep things straight), followed by what's going to happen in a nutshell. Example:

Chapter 6 - In which Sara gets a tattoo, reads Nick Hornby, and does laundry.

(Note: none of these things happens in chapter 6. Can't give away all my secrets...)

Anyway, I'm hopeful. What I love about this idea is that I have a point of reference for the chapter at all times if I get lost. The chapter innards won't go into the final copy, or even to my reader copies. They're just for me. And if I find that I spend the whole chapter in the tattoo parlor, the Nick Hornby reading and laundry can go into the next chapter without a whole lot of disruption.

Like I said, I'm hopeful. Also hungry. I'm going to move on to lunch, during which I will try Martha Stewart's grilled Ham, Cheddar, and Apple sandwich...

Apologies

I'm sorry. This blog has been so neglected, it's starting to look like my basil plant (which is less neglected than it is in need of some sort of plant food. Anyone with insight into this matter, feel free to share your wisdom). I'm sorry because I have not:

1. Blogged about my big research weekend in Portland (remember that?), which kicked off with a salute to Studio 54 and involved women in go-go boots climbing over bathroom stalls. At the University Club.

2. Blogged about the fact that my website's not up yet. But it will be. Someday.

3. Blogged about the number of book-related meltdowns I've had in the last three weeks. Actually, not sorry about that. Consider yourself spared.

4. Blogged about the Superhero Symposium I'm attending next weekend.

5. Blogged about the SUPER COOL FINISHED HOODIE. I haven't even taken pictures - how lame is that? Does anyone say lame anymore? Is lame lame?

6. I'm sure there's something else, and I'm sorry for forgetting about it.

So I'll just start in, and write more in subsequent blogs. I'll probably apologize in those too.

1. The peach cobbler. Every last trace, all gone. This took a while. You would not have believed my kitchen. It looked like that kitchen, in the movies, when the kids cook and things get a bit out of control. The last step was scraping the dried cobbler dough (whether the first or second batch, hard to say) off of the stove and counter top. Seriously, forget duct tap. You want cobbler dough. Trust me.

2. Studio 54 night at the University Club. Oh, the deep delight. The young Portlanders, in their rented costumes and large hair. Their go-go boots and zippered orange backless miniskirt dress thing, which they admit would not be good for picking up the children in. The gay men in red leather pants. The slightly drunken conga line. Oh - and the aging boomers who lived through that era, are due-paying members of the club, and dancing with as much gusto to "Celebration" as the aforementioned party-goers.

The best part, though, was going into the lady's restroom and noticing a cocktail glass on the floor in one of the stalls. Empty. And two pairs of go-go boots. And one woman's voice, saying "I just can't believe he doesn't get it" and another assuring her in the tones one uses during inebriated relationship crises. (I just now thought a bit more about the whole cocktail glass thing. I mean, who brings that sort of thing into a restroom, anyway? Because there's no use in taking it in if it's empty to begin with, so that means that someone was drinking on the floor of the lady's room, and that's just a sad sad statement about...something.)

Anyway, enter orange-miniskirt-zippered-backless dress go-go woman, who enters the stall next to the drama stall, apparently recognizes voices, decides to first strike up a conversation before hoisting a leg to climb over the side.

In a orange-miniskirt-zippered-backless dress.

I'm retouching my lipstick while this is going on, and clearly I've got the best seat in the house. Then in walk some older ladies, clearly club members, who take the scene in impressive stride.

2. The next day, I got to go to the Powell's rare books room, where the very very nice man let me take pictures of whatever Godey's Lady's book my heart desired. Also bought Amy Karol's book, Bend the Rules with Fabric which is fabulous and the sort of thing Sara would be very interested in.

3. Website is not up yet, but it will be. My fearless designer has been working two jobs and going to school, and none of those involve the extra time spent in designing the site. However, one of her jobs involved the sighting of a man who looked very much like Lucius Malfoy, so she's forgiven.

4. Um...what else. The hoodie. No pictures yet, so there's something to look forward to.

5. Superhero Symposium, because I want to write a superhero book someday. No joke. Something between The Incredibles and Watchmen that takes the idea of the superhero and pushes it a bit further.

6. Getting tired, and with me getting up to go to the OCW fall conference tomorrow, that means it's very nearly bedtime. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the happy Oregon (and Southern Washington) writers. Eva Marie Everson is speaking, should be a very good day.

7. I'm doing Beth Moore's Esther study right now, which I'm enjoying very much. This is, however, my first Beth Moore, and I always find I spend much of the video time contemplating her hair. I spend an embarrassing amount of time fantasizing about sending different people to participate in TLC's What Not To Wear, and I can't help but think that if Nick Arrojo were to get his hands on it (and I know they have someone else doing hair on the show now, but I only ever get to watch the morning reruns), she'd be, like, two inches shorter. Also, were the wind to blow, the top would move. In her favor, Beth (or whoever shops for her) has impeccable taste in clothes. Sometimes I think that, if we were to move to Texas, I would be considered quiet to the point that medication would be considered.

8. I think that's it for now. Next week I may attempt to make a skirt, but I'll definitely be working on the book, and thinking positive thoughts about it.

New Beginnings

I broke down and started Simply Sara yesterday, partly out of a fit of boredom. Have to say, though, starting another novel at the moment feels like getting a positive pregnancy test six weeks after delivery.

Not that I've had that experience, but I'm currently under the impression that novels are like babies. The gestation process, at the moment, takes about the same length of time. There's a similar amount of commitment involved. Now that I'm starting another book, a part of me is shouting inside, "Not yet! I'm not ready for another one!"

The trick is that I hate valuing my life depending on my word count for the day, but if I haven't been writing, I really don't know what to do. I feel like I'm floating around without accomplishing anything concrete. For better or for worse, there's no arguing with the concreteness of the word count, even if it is just a number on my computer screen.

Enough complaining. I started it. This book is funny because I kind of wanted to kick it off right where the last one left off, except that it's from Sara's perspective. I'm not a fan of having to restate who and what everyone is, but it is one of those necessary fiction evils because readers are legally allowed to read the second book first.

I'm waiting for the delight of the beginning of the book to set in. This is usually my favorite part; the options are nearly unlimited, the characters unexplored. And I really like some of the characters in this one, so the beginning euphoria should set in shortly.

Hm. I'm hungry.

(Note: over the next five minutes I contemplated the reality of my emptyish cupboards and the sadness over being out of oatmeal, before I realized that I wasn't entirely out of oatmeal and had just enough for a petit yet satisfying serving. Made the oatmeal, ate, and moved on.)

I'm reading Diane Abu-Jaber's "Crescent" at the moment and really enjoying it. Hoping for better luck with it than "The Last Dickens," which I could not get through with anything resembling speed. I began to think I just didn't read as fast as I used to, then I polished off Sandra Byrd's "Bon Appetit" in two days. "Crescent" is about a chef in a Lebanese restaurant in LA, so I have high hopes for completion, mainly because it involves food. I like food. I love reading about food.

Oh! Happy news! I'm teaching a class for the February OCW day-conference. Registration isn't open yet, but I'll post when it is. The best part about the whole thing is that Plain Jayne should be very much in print by then, so I'll have books available to sell while I'm teaching about creating ensemble casts for novels.

Still waiting for the book euphoria. Any minute now...

A Little Less Conversation, a Little More Amish Please

It’s day one at the Oregon Christian Writers’ conference, and we’re already worn out. I say “we,” because Danny’s here running around, running sound and pretty much anything with wires. It's great fun because we're equally tired, and equally loopy.

I love the conferences because it's like summer camp for writers. Most of us are slightly odd ducks, so you get a group of us together making bad writing-related puns and exchanging rejection stories.

There is much conversation over what editors are looking for. Most of us want to know what those elusive editors are looking for, even though I think, subconsciously, we just want them to be looking for us. We don't want to conform to what they're looking for.

The big topic this year is over the Amish: everyone wants Amish. Those of us who write contemporary fiction lament over the fact that what we write just isn't selling. It's hard to remember sometimes that even Christian publishing is a business. Publishers want to acquire books that will sell. Nobody wants unsold books to be recycled into toilet paper. Nobody wants to be responsible for producing a book that will run a deficit.

The publishing industry is not unlike Hollywood; if they find something that sells, they'll make a lot of us. And while that may irritate the creative at heart, we do have to realize it's good business practice.

The question creatives have to ask themselves is, "how creative am I?" Are we creative enough to write salable books? Are we capable of crafting stories that follow the trends, in order to avoid a toilet paper future?

Will the Amish trend blow over? You bet your buggy. Will it blow over before new Amish acquisitions are released? Yeah, probably. Which is why it's important to write stories that supercede trend. Stories that may involve quilting and buggies but also tell a solid story in an unexpected way.

I know for me, Plain Jane will not be the only book I write. There will be more. And it won't be all Amish all the time. Next year, there will be a new "Amish."

Aliens, probably. But we'll see.