Fly Into the Mystery » novel

Revising. At the beach.

Emily — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:26:18 +0000

I am heading to a fabulous undreamed of Caribbean beach vacation on Saturday with a hideous 140 page manuscript tucked in the bottom of my bag. Plan: yoga, beach, good conversation, etc., and pull two chapters out of this mass of strange interesting first draft words so that I can send out a little proposal for my middle grade novel in February. It is okay with me if that doesn’t happen on this vacation. I want this to be a joyful process. But I am bringing the pages so that there will be that opportunity if I am up early in our little tent cottage listening to the birds sing or the rain pitter pat, to face the small difficult beast I created in November. We shall see. Happy January, friends.

Cried a teeny bit when a computer told me that I won.

Emily — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 23:24:06 +0000

Emily’s Guide to Romantic Living: Off to Kansas!

Emily — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 20:37:35 +0000

Back Tuesday, hopefully 10K words richer, novel-wise.

And we’re off!

Emily — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:14:29 +0000

Time for Novel Writing folks- I have to write 1667 words before bedtime tonight and I just figured out I have much HBO! Time to unplug the TV, ignore Miss Caper and stop cooking or cleaning (or blogging) for the month of November. Luckily my totally wonderful boyfriend is also doing nanowrimo this year so that we can encourage each other and hopefully lay off the 3 hour telephone gabfests in the interest of fine art. Or at least good enough art. Good luck to all!

Prepping for Novel Writing Month

Emily — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 15:15:51 +0000

Apologies for silence here at the blog- never a dull moment, you know- and now I am getting ready for the headlong rush that is National Novel Writing Month. Won’t you join me?

Moo by Jane Smiley: Book Review

Emily — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:00:41 +0000

Why are campus satires so funny? Because anyone who has spent time in a college town can picture these characters down to the ground. Smiley’s sharp writing shifts pov all over campus; a sensitive and hardworking research hog, a local farmer who has plans to revolutionize farming if he can just get past the secretary that runs the campus, a black first-year from Chicago stranded in the dorms at Moo U., a creative writing professor on the verge of tenure, his profoundly untalented student Gary, the econ professor who with a perfectly clear conscience recommends destroying the last virgin cloud forest, etc. etc. The episodic nature of these self absorbed folks comes to a satisfyingly tongue in cheek conclusion in the the spring semester, when all the storylines intersect. This book comes up often on lists of great comic novels and with good reason.
Highly recommended.

nanowrimo 09 two days left

Emily — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:12:37 +0000

I’m not going to win this year but I will reach 25K, halfway. And I will work on this book for the rest of the year. And I will let someone else read it. Yesterday I was feeling very New Year’s Resolution time, a month early. Other resolution: make sure Caper gets 45 minute walk every day so she is less of a barky menace.

Friday the Thirteenth

Emily — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:55:20 +0000

Happiness is cold pizza, hot coffee with cream, and 1000 words written before work.

NaNoWriMo starts on Sunday

Emily — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:17:21 +0000

November for me has been a bitter cold slog of a month- too early to prepare for Christmas, too unpleasant outside for hanging around in graveyards and at the ocean. (Also, my dear mother passed away on 11/4/98 and this time of year inevitably reminds me of that.)

Now that I celebrate National Novel Writing Month all has changed. I am excited! After a pretty lackluster summer and fall of halfassed writing, I’m ready to churn out 1666 unedited words a day. You are invited to join me and tens of thousands of writers around the world. It’ll be fun, promise.

vacation

Emily — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:07:13 +0000