I’d like to own a writers’ retreat

I’d like to own a writers’ retreat. I mean, it’s nice to go on a short trip to a hotel that has places to sit in the lobby, or a cafe with a cozy table, but I dream of having my own writing retreat for whenever I need it.

One example would be a camper I could park at the local RV park (at our neighboring Mozingo Park) and get away from it all sometime. A writing retreat camper wouldn’t be too big, but big enough that I could make coffee, take potty breaks, and nap.

Of course, if I’m dreaming, I might as well dream big. When I dream big, I think of a schoolie, or a school bus converted to a camper. These campers are long, and everything is fit into an aisle. I saw one for sale today, and it was selling for $80,000 down from $115,000. Maybe if we win the lottery.

Sometimes I just want a she-shed for the back yard. I can pretend I’m in a retreat, and I can go home anytime I like. Again, the price is prohibitively high and my yard too small.

So I guess I need to retreat into the office again, which is small and cluttered, but it’s mine.

The Grey Time

We’re moving into the grey time, where the holiday red and green and tinsel are a memory, the white snow is muddied, and the new year is weeks old. The sun hasn’t shown itself in weeks and the days are still too short. Now is the time I want to hibernate until I start smelling the grass begin to perk up.

In an agrarian world, everyone would be resting this time of year, storing up for the busy three seasons (I think. I am not an anthropologist.) But this is not my world. I go to work and teach my classes, then (as in today) go to the brightly-lit Starbucks and work on writing.

Coffee helps my mood, as does accomplishment. And I give myself credit for every little accomplishment to boost myself. “Yay! I got up! Hurrah! I wrote 300 words! Yippee! I cleaned the toilet!”

I will persevere. If I get too depressed, I know to talk to my doctor. But: “Yay! I’m going to class!”

Using Templates to Shape a Book

I use templates to remind me of the shape of a book as I’m writing it.

Templates are scripts of a sort that one can use to structure writing to fit readers’ expectations. Readers expect a story structured such that the action rises to climax and then subsides. Other techniques can be added to this, such as interactions between a character and other characters to highlight tensions.

Well-written book guides offer plotting systems. Save the Cat Writes a Novel is an example of one, and one I highly recommend as a method to organize one’s plot. But I go one step further with templates that writers can load into Scrivener, the writing software I use.

One of these is Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes. In twenty chapters, she lays out a romance novel’s structure with uncomplicated prompts for the reader. For example:

The column at the left shows the chapter outline with evocative titles. In the notecard view here, you can see each chapter’s prompt. When you are in chapter view (writing the chapter), you will see the full prompt in the upper right corner area called synopsis (seen below).

This is my go-to for writing romance novels. My go-to for writing fantasy novels is a template that no longer can be found on the internet (or if you can find it please let me know so I can give the writer credit). It’s based on the timing of Save the Cat templates, but it does the math for you. It looks like this:

In the left-hand column are the basic parts of the book, and the number of chapters is their relative weight in the book. Given roughly equal chapters, these distributions of chapters should give you the recommended pacing.

The template also gives guidance:

At the far right, there is a description in each section for what should happen in a section.

These are the templates I currently use for writing. I like using templates because I’m a plantser — someone who likes some structure but likes to flow within the structure. These templates allow for that. I write my chapter synopses within the guidance of the template and I’m ready to write.

Realism in Fantasy

I write fantasy romances and romantic fantasies. Obviously, fantasy is part of what I write. But does fantasy mean unrealistic?

Not really. Fantasies have their own internal rules so that they don’t stretch realism past incredulity. For example, any magic user will not be invincible — that will make the story unrealistic. The character has to have magic for a reason, which the writer can reveal as simply as “he’s a magic-user” to a long, descriptive back story.

There has to be internal consistency to the magic system. Readers will balk at inconsistencies, especially convenient inconsistencies that favor the hero or villain. If you defy gravity, do so consistently.

I write contemporary fantasy, which means a lot of realism as modern culture, geography, physics and the like. So there’s a lot of reality around the fantasy, but I still have to make sure there’s some internal consistency in the structure. Nephilim fly, Archetypes teleport. Humans don’t get more than one gift from the trees. Archetypes can’t teleport split-second and everyone’s gifts have practical limits. Gaia’s presence does not pass beyond the borders of the Garden.

World-building accomplishes a lot of these rules and boundaries. I do a lot of world-building in conversations with my husband in conversations like: “Do you think Forrest can knit wool if he can knit bones together?” (We decided yes.)

Fantasy is more fantastic when there’s a point of reference, when there are winners and losers (even with the possibility to change in the story), and no power goes completely unchecked.

Writing in the Winter

It’s been cold, windy, and snowy. We haven’t had a winter like this for a while. I’ve felt snowed in lately; I haven’t spent time at Starbucks for two weeks. I blame my difficulty in writing right now on this.

My personal sanctum at home is not available to me either. Ever since I got a new computer, the dock to the dual monitors no longer works. And there’s the fact that my darling Me-Me peed on my old computer in there and I’m afraid of the waterworks once more.

What I’d like is some time at Starbucks. Preferably with my husband, so I can talk things over with him. Someplace with noise, with people. I need noise to write, which is why I’m probably ADHD (I’m serious about this; no one has diagnosed me but I do not sit still well).

I sound cranky. I am cranky. What to do?

Two Books

I’m writing two books simultaneously right now. One is a Kringle Chronicle story, with the two main characters a classy event planner and The Grinch. No, not really, although he’ll play one at the Holiday Gala. Which our event planner needs to keep as high-class as possible given that it’s a $100-a-plate dinner for charity.

The other is a Hidden in Plain Sight book, taking place at the cusp of American society’s collapse.

Two very different books. Two very different moods.

Getting in the mood to write is going to be vital right now. I can’t write the Kringle book in the somber mood the other book requires. I can’t be effervescent when writing about the dwindling light of a country.

Music may help. Rereading what I’ve written will really help, especially when I’m listening to generic classical motivation playlists or something.

So I’m working on ways to get these both written without losing anything of either of them. Wish me luck!

My Strange, Snowy, Cold Semester So Far

This has been the strangest first week of the semester, and the strangeness is extending into week 2.

A little background: I go on campus Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays during Spring semester. Monday has office hours and meetings; Tuesdays and Thursdays are when I teach and hold office hours again. (Another class is online and yet another conducted over email and meetings as it is the internship class).

The days I don’t go into work allow me to work on class plans, research, and internship site visits (which won’t happen for a few weeks). They allow me to do this, in addition, without dressing up for work (except for those internship visits.) I work, but I don’t teach. It’s a lot more relaxed.

As I mentioned last week, the university closed because of an energetic snowfall dumping 7 inches of snow over a 12-hour period. With students coming in from the countryside and plows unable to keep up with snow and wind, we canceled school for Tuesday. My first day of class was Thursday.

Four days at home followed this because Monday is Martin Luther King Day, and then I would be back to teach Tuesday. Except that my university is cancelling classes on Tuesday because of dangerous windchills, making my next day in to teach on Thursday again.

It feels strange having this much time outside of office, with the flexibility of work it creates. It’s equally strange not having face time with my students. I’m going to have to work on how to get the students caught up with class topics. But it’s not as strange as teaching under COVID, where I taught a semester online with no face time with the students.

So here’s to another couple days of working while playing classical music, drinking hot chocolate, and with bunny slippers on!

Midwestern Female Syndrome Redux

I envy those people who can assertively promote themselves — “Here’s my book and this is why you want to read it.” I have to push myself to promote myself, and my plugs are more like “Here’s my book and I hope you don’t dislike it too much.”

I don’t think I’ve written about Midwestern Female Syndrome lately. It’s a malady, almost completely among women, where one wants to be simultaneously perfect on the inside and mediocre on the outside so as not to draw attention. We berate ourselves for “only” a 95% on the exam and tell people we got an 85%. We say our work is “not bad” but tell ourselves it’s horrible. We can’t promote ourselves because not only do we believe we’re not good enough, but we don’t want the attention of being good enough.

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

Does Midwestern Female Syndrome actually exist? Not in the annals of psychology, although I almost submitted it to the Journal of Polymorphous Perversity. But I’ve seen enough students raise their hands over the years to make me suspect otherwise.

Now, time to wrestle with my inferiority complex. See you soon!

Today is a Snow Day!

I’m taking an unexpected day from teaching at the university. Today was supposed to be my first class day of the semester (I teach Tuesday/Thursday and keep office hours on Monday). Instead, I am sitting at home listening to Classical Motivation and typing this in my sweats. I am enjoying a snow day, the dreams of children and teachers of all ages.

It feels strange to hype myself up for teaching only to not teach. I feel disorganized, although I can teach this stuff with my eyes closed. Though it’s nice to have an accidental break. And the snow is pretty.

I sit at my computer and write this blog, feeling ahead of the writing-related things I do. I have written character sketches for my two main characters for Kringle Through the Snow, so I’m closer to writing that book. (Next, break my procrastination. Or take a nap, because this day is a gift.)

I Guess I WILL Write Another Christmas Romance

Last November, I decided I would not write another Kringle romance, and I spent my NaNo time finishing and editing Avatar of the Maker, and then beginning Carrying Light (which I am currently struggling with).

Two things have happened that made me change my mind about continuing the Kringle books. First, at the Maryville Public Library book sale, I sold several copies of the Kringle books. The library has added all of my Kringle books to their collection. They seem to know their readers well, as they’re not as interested in the fantasy books. Apparently, people are reading my books.

The second thing that happened was that one of my readers plugged the series on her Instagram. That felt good, and very encouraging.

And there is a third — I feel stalled out on Carrying Light, and even more stalled out on the other book I have an excerpt written on, Walk Through Green Fire.

So, it looks like my winter project is another Kringle book, which needs to be written and cleaned up by October 1. I came up with the plot for it in about 5 minutes chatting with my husband. Whew! When am I going to do this?