And, much like my diet, I obviously have trouble sticking with updating my blog. This is probably due to the fact I usually blog from my work computer (*gasp* Improper internet usage!!!) and have been out of control busy as of late. In fact, I haven’t even got around to emailing people back that have emailed me. Slack. Er.
So anyway. The novel continues to be rejected. I’ve gotten a few nice responses, a la “I’ve really enjoyed it” or “It is very well researched” but every single one ends with “but there’s no room on my list for it.” Sooo….I don’t know. I’m thinking of rewriting the beginning part of it. I think the beginning might be too slow, which would be a problem.
My next thought is, of course, self publishing. There are a ton of good companies out there. I don’t see why I can’t just do it myself and market it on my own. I mean, that’s what everyone says you do anyway when you publish traditionally. So why not do it myself and get more royalties? Decisions, decisions…
In other news, I’m fat. Apparently. It was a horrifying experience at the doctor’s last week, when she kept sliding the weight down on the scale so my heft would register properly. Ugh. I think this comes from working a job where I sit on my butt all day.
For about a week and a half, I considered joining the miltary. But, alas, my high blood pressure put an immediate stop to that. The only good part I can see about this is that a) no more trying to run a mile and a half and b) no more trying to do pushups. So, I went ahead and bought Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred from Amazon.com. Fabulous! I think it’s kicking my butt into shape, but it’s still too soon to tell. My clothes fit the same and I’ve actually GAINED weight. Hubs says he notices no difference yet. Depressing. About 15 minutes into each 20 minute workout, all I want to do is stop the DVD and eat an Oreo. Fun Fact: One double stuffed Oreo is 70 calories. I, personally, prefer to eat my Oreos in batches of like, ten.
In the past few months I’ve started three new novels, all of which I like better than the one I finished. Sigh. Maybe it’s time to just step back and leave it be for while. Focus on something new.
Not much new on the reading front. I recent read two historical fictions: one was HORRIBLE and inaccurate, one was quite good and inaccurate. The quite good one was Tess Gerritsen’s The Bone Garden which I was kind of slow to enjoy, but ended up really into it. I’m not really sure on the accuracy of some things, but, all in all a great read and an ending I did NOT expect.
The horrible one…well…I’m not going to mention the title of it, but it was awful. I only forced myself to finish reading it because I had paid $16 for it at the bookstore. The main reason I’m bringing this up is because of something I learned at the writer’s conference last year. My problem with this book is that the main character was, in the end, a horrible person. And we’re not talking a horrible person that you enjoy because of their horribleness (like Hannibal Lector or someone along those lines), but just horrible enough that I didn’t care about her. I honestly did not care about her or what happened to her in the book.
At the writer’s conference workshop, one thing we learned was that a writer should create sympathy for the main character. There should be something that makes the reader sympathize with what the character is going through; to make the reader cares what happens. I honestly didn’t care what happened to any of the characters in this particular book, not even the one who I think the author intended have sympathized and identified with. Everyone’s motivations were purely selfish and just driven out of ego–which would be fine if there had been some other character to balance that out. But in this instance, there wasn’t. The characters all seemed to have the exact same motivation and means; even when there were obstacles, they characters just kind of shrugged it off and did what they wanted anyway. And the historical inaccuracies…well…don’t even get me started.
The movie trailer for New Moon was just released. I still haven’t read the book yet, though I bought it six months ago or more. Someone stole my copy of Twilight so I guess I’m just more annoyed than anything. What’s the consensus? Excited to see more sparkly Robert Pattinson?
June 3, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Hard to keep it up, you say? I say that getting your book finished is fabulous! You should be proud. . . drink it all in . . . and keep those submissions going!
June 3, 2009 at 7:23 pm
LOL…I know. I take my shoes off before I get on the scale at the doctors. Go you! It sounds like you have an exciting and busy life. Love, Goddess
June 3, 2009 at 11:47 pm
I know what you mean about creating a sympathetic main character. The best description of this is from Blake Snyder’s screenwriting book ‘Save The Cat’ – in fact it’s where the title comes from.
He basically says that right at the beginning of the movie your hero needs to do something ‘nice’ so that the audience likes him, like escaping from a burning building but as he jumps from the window, he sees the cat cowering in the corner, runs back grabs it and everyone know’s he’s a great guy.
The example he gives that really shows this off is with Al Pacino in (I think) Sea Of Love. At the beginning of the movie Al and his cop buddies run a scam by sending ‘Meet the Yankees’ prize tickets to a load of criminals with outstanding warrants. It works beautifully but as they are leaving and getting into their cars a man runs down the road with a little boy and asks if he’s too late – he didn’t want to miss the Yankees and he brought his boy especially for the event. Al looks him up on the list – he’s on it – looks at the boy, all dressed up with his pennant in his hand, and then very subtly flashes his badge at the guy and tells him he missed the big day out to take his kid home. The guy looks at the badge, realises with horror what’s going on and then backs away holding his son’s hand and says thanks to Al for not bagging him in front of his kid. Al just smiles and says “That’s okay, catch you later.” which is a really cool line. Al just ’saved the cat’ and now everyone knows he’s a serious policeman but he has a heart, he’s a nice guy.
Anyway, cool blog, keep writing.