This is Day One

This is how the university is styling this day. The message on the web site, in the hype video we got treated to, and the administration’s speeches, is “Day One”. And Day One for faculty and staff means one thing: meetings.

I am between meeting #2 and #3 right now eating lunch. Meeting #1 is the whole university (not the students, but everyone else) and Meeting #2 is Academic (faculty and staff who support students). Lunch is PSub and meeting #3 is my school meeting. Then the rest of this week is last minute work before classes start on Monday.

On Monday I teach three classes: General Psychology (a new one for me), and two sections of Case Management. I manage 6 interns. I sit office hours and wait for things to get interesting. And they will.

How do I write during the school year? I don’t know how, but I do. On evenings, weekends, Tuesdays and Thursdays between other work I have to do. I sometimes write more efficiently during the school year because my mind has enough buzzing in it to make my writing brain more active. It’s hard to explain. It’s like only being able to write in a room with music or other distraction, which is also something I deal with.

This is all ahead of me. For now I will enjoy the meetings as best I can. Here’s to a great semester!

The beginning of a novel

I got an agent rejection for Prodigies the other day (that’s been out for a while; I guess it got backlogged) with a difference: The agent explained what she found wrong with the book.

She loved the setting and the beginning descriptions, but she couldn’t get into the characters.

I looked at the novel and realized the reason she couldn’t get into the characters was that I never gave her a chance to.

The beginning of a book, according to Save the Cat methodology, should accomplish a few things: The character in her original setting before the action begins. A theme to the book. The debate where she goes on her path — but perhaps it’s the wrong path.

My book starts with the action — no chance of getting to understand Grace, no way to see Grace in her original setting, In other words, no way to identify with Grace.

My beta reader didn’t tell me about this, which is worrisome. On the other hand, I am learning enough about the structure of novels that I can fix this (I’m fixing this right now) and hopefully I will be able to incorporate this into new novels.

Writing Superstitions part 2

I’ve written 1200 words so far on Gods’ Seeds* as I tackle the time-honored question, “What is the best way to begin this book?” Beginnings are important, so rather than just letting the writing flow (as I do with the rest of the book), I work harder to make the beginning shine right off.

I think it’s a superstition with me that I need a strong beginning but can just let words flow for the rest of the book and edit later. I do have my superstitions around writing, though. Nothing so obvious as a lucky shirt or favorite chair.

I plan to write in this blog every day, even if I write a fluff piece about coffee or cats** , because I believe that if I give this up, I will give writing up. So I write this blog in the morning, usually 5:30 AM Central US time, almost every day, even through depressive episodes, because I believe that if I give it up, I will give up being a writer.

Do I have other writing superstitions? As I use a computer for composition, no favorite pen, no favorite shirt, no favorite place in the house (today I’m writing in bed, propped up, with my Surface propped up on a lap desk because it’s Sunday morning and I can afford to be lazy today). Nope, just the one where I stick the beginning of the novel.

Maybe I need more superstitions — where I can’t write without coffee, or I pet my cat 14 times before I write or I have to wear my thinking cap*** or … naaah, I’ll stick to the superstition I have. It doesn’t limit me much.

* I will change the name of this. See yesterday’s blog as to why I haven’t yet.
** Or coffee and cats.
*** I typed this “thinking cat”.