What's Up Wednesday # 9

1. WHAT I'M READING
   Nothing! But I just picked up a hardcover edition of The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer which looks super interesting. And by interesting I mean there is an eccentric theatre teacher and events that relate to the play she chooses. 
   
2. WHAT I'M WRITING
   I'm still working my way through edits of G4 but I am loving it. After a pretty slumpy writing month in November, I've been making new progress with fun additional scenes :) 
   
3. WHAT WORKS FOR ME*
   Musical rehearsal is in full swing and I'm finding so much inspiration in my teenagers. They keep me laughing at them, at myself, at the world. They also keep me current. Today they were debating the plausibility of the movie A Cinderella Story and said "like they really didn't know each other's screen name? How is that possible." It was a fun moment for me to explain the way the internet worked when I was a teenager (and to feel incredibly old).
   
4. WHAT ELSE IS NEW
   My car is in the shop (in the wrong state) and I hate depending on other people for rides. I am an incredibly independent person so I'm stressing big time. And I'm trying super super hard to be social in spite of my deep desire to hibernate. 

What's up with you this Wednesday? 

What's Up Wednesday #8

(how freaking cute are the new autumn WUW buttons?!?!)

1. WHAT I'M READING
   Yesterday at the library, I picked up THE CATASTROPHIC HISTORY OF YOU AND ME by Jess Rothenberg and I am so excited to get into it. I started the first chapter (artfully titled Don't Your (forget about me) which makes my Breakfast Club-lovely heart purr) and the voice has me already. When I read the cover blurb, I immediately thought of Giselle (and my WIP by extension and I knew I had to read it. I know some people avoid things similar to what they're writing but I actually find it super helpful.
   
2. WHAT I'M WRITING
   I'm still slowly working on the GiselleBook but did I mention it was slow? So I'm writing some new words for G4 too. I got GREAT feedback from by CPs Jenny and Alex so I am all about making this MS the best it can be.
   
3. WHAT WORKS FOR ME*
   Lately, daydreaming has been so productive for me that I don't know if I can actually call it daydreaming. I've been getting an idea - sometimes related to my writing, sometimes not - and just going with it. Those idea journeys have taken me to some interesting places and given me some cool new ideas. I have a new little idea notebook that is just for these musings. It's a bizarre thing to look through but it's kind of cool too.
   
4. WHAT ELSE IS NEW
   I really like grad school, I am drowning in musical drama, I am bizarrely happy with life. Who am I? 

You don't get to call me that!

I will be turning 25 in just a few days and I'm trying not to freak out. It doesn't help that last weekend I had a musical fundraiser which plopped me right in the middle of a bunch of old high school acquaintances and one in particular that somehow made me revert to my raging 16 yr old self. I haven't decided if that is a good or bad thing yet. 

But this relates to writing I swear! When I wrote G4, I based a minor character off a boy I went to school with that everyone called by a shortened version of his name. Just as my MC, Mirella, does, I always called that by his whole name when I had a crush on him and when I moved on, I adopted the shortened version (also like Mirella). Sometimes I take "write what you know" a little seriously. #sorrynotsorry

Anyway, I ran into that boy at my musical fundraiser (you don't even want to know the details) and as I relayed my encounter to a few friends, I noticed the gradual shift back from short name to full name. As if that wasn't worrisome enough (Lavender, you are not 16 and five minutes after seven years does not change ANYTHING!), my best friend noticed it too. "You haven't called him that in years," she proclaimed as she waggled her eyebrows. 

So this tiny, insignificant encounter that I first found so interesting because I wrote something similar into my book has now got me thinking about names and diminutives. Several of my characters have nicknames used throughout the book but they are also referred to by their full names. I realized that as I complete this first pass of edits, I HAVE to examine my placement and use of short vs full names and those types of habits etc because what we call people matters. Would Mirella's dad only call her Songbird when she's singing or all the time? Would he only use Mirella when he's mad? Would it matter when her long-lost best friend calls her Miri again for the first time. Are these details important? After my recent experience, I have to think that the answer is YES. 

What do you think? How important is naming to you? Have you considered the role of nicknames  in any of your writing? 

Is My Retelling Worth Telling? (And info about my new WIP)

I'm over at TGNA today talking about retellings and my four easy questions to help you decide if your retelling is going to be awesome. Below are my answers to those questions in regards to my new retelling project: LOVE'S GRAVEYARD.

First, identify your original - Giselle, the 1841 romantic ballet. Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giselle

1. What is different about your version? What makes it unique and separate from the original?
My idea is for a NA contemporary retelling. No ghosts, no graveyard, no magic. A different time, a different country, a different ending (kind of). 

2. Do your readers need to know the original to appreciate your retelling? And will those who do know the original appreciate small details of your work?
Absolutely not, part of why I want to write this is to bring what I think is a powerful story to a new audience. However, those familiar with Giselle will appreciate names - especially the character named after the original choreographer.

3. Related to the previous questions, what elements of the original do you want to keep, re-purpose, or otherwise incorporate?
I plan to keep the general character cast the same. They've got new jobs, etc. to fit the setting but they're essentially the same characters. Also the daisy and he loves me loves me trope that appears several times in the original libretto will be seen (one of those tidbits for fellow Giselle lovers). The themes of forgiveness and powerful love will hopefully remain as well.  

4. How do you draw inspiration from the original?
I've performed in the ballet Giselle 3 times and seen it on two other occasions so I bring a lot of personal experience to this project. However, Claire Legrand (WINTERSPELL) had an awesome suggestion since her book is a ballet retelling as well. She suggested viewing all the versions I could get my hands on and listening to different arrangements of the score. I was already drawing heavily on the libretto but broadening my base of inspiration has already proved really helpful. 

So those answers helped me see that I could write this story. That I should because it's different and new and I'm passionate about it. I hope the questions can help you, too!

xoxox
L.S. Mooney  

What's Up Wednesday #7

1. WHAT I'M READING: I just finished Sarah Addison Allen's latest book LOST LAKE. SAA is pretty much one of my favorite authors anyway, but there is something about the way she weaves the magic into real life and the way she writes human relationships, broken and hopeful and messy but lovely. Just go read everything by her.
2. WHAT I'M WRITING: As you know from my last post, I just finished draft one of Goodbye, Good-Goody Girl and I went a bit without being able to really write anything concrete. However, just in the last 24 hours, I've managed to write 314 words and create a rough outline for the new NA book I've been discussing with CPs lately. I don't want to say too much just yet. But I am all kinds of excited about it.
3. WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW: I'm currently inspired by loss and the rebuilding that comes after it.
4. WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO: I just enrolled in graduate school! I know, right? It's an awesome program that I am going to LOVE and I can't wait to start classes. Plus musical things are happening! (Just because this book isn't about a musical doesn't mean you won't still heard about it from time to time."

What are you up to this Wednesday?

xoxox

L.S. Mooney

Writing a Book: My Journey in Gifs

So...I finished the first draft of my first book and I am beside myself. Allow me to show you my book journey with gifs. 

One day I was just sitting around like this: 

When I got an idea like: 

So I worked really hard for a long time until I was all: 

 But then I lost the plot and was all like:

Suddenly inspiration struck and everything fell into place and I was all: 

With only a few chapters left I felt like life wouldn't stop happening long enough to let me write. Like, seriously:

And  then I finished it and I'm currently dancing like whoa: 

 Sorry for the preponderance of Buffy gifs but that show is basically my air. When I am a little more coherent I might have more eloquent things to say about this 15 month journey but for now this is it.

xoxox,
L.S. Mooney

ALL THE IDEAS!

I am currently 47,000 words into my first draft of Goodbye, Good-Goody Girl. But, instead of wanting to write the last 13k in this story, I have three/four really good ideas for new stories.

At first I said " WTF brain?! This is so not cool!"

Then I saw Jenny's post on TGNA about working on two completely different novel projects right now. So I told her about my ideas. And we had a great writerly chat about ideas, and writing, and motivation. And making our ideas reality. It is starting to sink in how close to being done I am with G4 and that I will have written a whole book-shaped thing from a tiny idea. So I could do it again. I should do it again. I will do it again.

At the end of the day, if our ideas are going to matter we have to do something with them. I can talk talk talk about the two especially awesome ideas I have for NA books right now. But they won't matter. Not really. An idea can live forever but if it is never more than an idea do we care?

Anyway, so I have awesome ideas that I'm writing down and holding onto for a time when I can make something with them.

What do you do when a new idea strikes you?


xoxox
L.S. Mooney

Feast or Famine

Feast scene from the Lutrell Psalter. 

This past weekend, I wrote 3000 words in an afternoon. That was more than I had written in the previous three weeks. You want to know the best part?

It wasn't even hard. 

My brain was ready to write and it did. The story had been stewing in there just the right amount of time to flow freely onto the page. It was honestly one of the best writing days I've had in recent memory. 

I know you aren't supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth but I can't help asking WHY?

I mean why this weekend after weeks of wanting to write and no being able to? Why those chapters when there are others I really want to write as well? Why did my internal editor finally take a day off?

I don't know if anyone can honestly explain it. But I know I want to understand it better so I can have more feast days and less famine.

Anybody have any real tips? I don't mean those "make yourself do it" writer's block tips. I mean real ways to get words flowing instead of trickling.

Anybody?

What's Up Wednesday # 6

1. WHAT I'M READING
   I just finished A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller and it was awesome. I don't generally love historical fiction - for a lot of reasons - but this one was great. What I found shocking about it in some ways was how little things have changed for women in a lot of respects. It reignited the fiery passion I had about EVERYTHING when I was a teenager. Plus, art, fashion, and a very cute policeman.
2. WHAT I'M WRITING
   I've crossed the 41k mark on G4. I'm writing the shenanigans in the middle right now and loving it. Most recently, Mirella and friends went to a frat party. I've also written a lot of friendship based scenes lately which is always a blast because this book is 50% about friendship, 35% about musicals and only 15% about romance. Don't quote my figures though, I just made them up as I typed that sentence...
   I also started a short story that is garbage but I like the topic so I might explore it further. I'll keep you updated. :)
3. WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW
   Inspiration is coming from the weather and music. The warm weather makes me want to sit outside and write - even though G4 is set in winter. Recently, I had to introduce my students to a great song I loved in high school but NONE of my students had heard (I talked about that experience more on TGNA last week) and it has sparked a nostalgic bout of musical stylings from the 00 years.
4. WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
   I recently took a huge step towards becoming more self-sufficient by learning to work on my own cars. I replaced the shocks in our truck and took the starter off my car. It's really liberating and empowering! I've been paying people for YEARS to do things that it only took me an afternoon to learn. #winning
   I also just finished (today actually) a long term substitute teaching position. It was a wonderful experience and I will miss my students a lot but I am ready to be done. There is something about another teacher's classroom that always keeps you on edge. My summer job starts Monday and once again, life is moving on faster than I can keep up!

What's Up Wednesday #5

1. WHAT I'M READING: I'm in the middle of Quattrocento by James McKean. The jury is still out on the whole book since I'm not done with it, but so far it's interesting enough to keep me reading but not so good I can't help but binge read it. 

2. WHAT I'M WRITING: Musical memories. There is a great scene in G4 in which the senior cast and crew members get together and reminisce about all their past shows. It might not get to stay in the final draft because I think it's a musical kid thing that might not appeal to the general audience but for now it is super super super fun to write. 

3. WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW: My first and forever CP Jenny Adams Perinovic recently started querying her first novel and I'm so excited for her I could die. She's one of the most talented people I know and also one of the busiest. She worked her butt off to finish this book and she is going to keep working until she finds it an agent and then a publisher. Her determination and hard work are incredibly inspiring as I struggle to finish Draft 1. 

4. WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO: I am in the place where two jobs meet and it's tough but I'm making it work. I also may or may not have recently purchased an old pick-up truck.   

What's up with you this Wednesday?

What's Up Wednesday #4

1. WHAT I'M READING:
I just finished Graveminder by Melissa Marr. It was very good. It had just the right balance of creep factor, romance, mystery, and small town. The best part was that I found this book at a Dollar Tree in hardcover for $1. I love getting good books cheap! Note: Melissa Marr also wrote the YA Wicked Lovely Series, the first of which I greatly enjoyed.

2. WHAT I'M WRITING: More kissing!! It's so hard but so good!

3. WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW: Greeting to know a new group of high school kids has really got my brain moving! Despite the attitudes, kids have a lot of great things to show us adults. Also, I think they keep me young.

4. WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO: I just started a long term substitute teaching position and it's going well so far. I also spent Monday afternoon and evening celebrating Dyngus Day (complete with homemade pussywillow crown) and I'm hoping to take an epic nap this afternoon.

Writing Process Blog Hop!

I was tagged for this blog hop by Faith McKay. Hey there!

1.) What am I working on?
I'm working on a YA contemp called Goodbye Good-Goody Girl (aka G4). It's the story of Mirella, a theatre nerd trying to make the most of her senior year. She lands the leading role in Thoroughly Modern Millie and starts acting a little more "modern" in real life, too. It's a story of friendships and firsts with a hearty dose of musical theatre.

2.) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
 This question was really hard for me but the always wonderful Jenny Adams Perinovic told me G4 is different from other YA contemps because of it's lady-mances, her new term for female bromances. There have been a few posts floating around the web lately about female friendship (http://www.bustle.com/articles/18771-we-need-more-female-friendships-like-these-8-ya-bffs and http://www.stackedbooks.org/2014/03/positive-girl-friendships-in-ya-guest.html) and a huge part of my story is about friendship, positive, deep, female friendship. There is a little romance, too. And a dash of drama.
I also think G4 is different because of the role the musical plays in it. I read (and loved) Maria Boyd's Will but the role of the musical show itself was so much smaller than I imagined. I just had to stop for a moment to think what the show was (The Boyfriend). In G4, Thoroughly Modern Millie is not only important because Mirella is a theatre nerd, the content and story of the show is important, too.

3.) Why do I write what I do?
 I write because I want to share stories. I write YA contemp with musicals and lady-mances because that is what I know and what I think is missing from a bunch of YA. I had a wonderful, if at times emotional, high school experience complete with weirdness and great girl friends. I want to share that with teens who have it rough. We talk about fiction as a safe way to explore difficult and diverse situations, and it is which is awesome. However, I also love fiction because it's an escape and a comfort. I want my readers to relate to the quirkiness of my characters and know that being "weird" or "abnormal" is ok. Actually, it's awesome. Jenny Kaczorowski has talked about this on her blog as well (http://jennykaczorowski.blogspot.com/2014/03/girls-like-me.html?m=1 )
At the end of the day, I write what I do because of memories like this photo of me and my girls during spirit week junior year (2005) which actually made it into our yearbook in hopes of inspiring and supporting those kinds of memories for others.

4.) How does my writing process work?
 Before I officially joined The Great Noveling Adventure, I wrote a guest post about my process of writing longhand first. You can find it here: Why I Love Longhand And that is still true. I write most scenes longhand first then type them up where I flesh out and do a quick edit. My hand on the page helps ground me to the words I'm writing. To be honest, as much as I love writing longhand and I think the process works for me, sometimes I really hate the typing. But nothing is perfect, right?

As far as the planning and organizing part, that's my writing notebook (a front shot and the inside cover). In case you couldn't tell, I like sticky notes. I normally start writing linearly but now I'm writing by scene so I have sticky notes for each separate scene I've written that hasn't been typed yet. Then the inside front cover is a list of finished scenes/chapters, scenes I still need/want, and a rough word count list. I'm very tactile and love to physically organized things. I often rewrite my sticky notes and relay them and it helps me somehow. I'm a quirky writer, I know.


I'm tagging Alex Yuschik
and Angel Cruz 
:)

rules were made to be broken

A few days ago, on Twitter, this happened.

It was so incredibly encouraging to have this interaction with other authors. As a writer who has never taken a creative writing class in her life, I get really anxious when I break the "rules" that we see all over the place.
1. Use said.
2. Never start a chapter with dialogue.
3. Or the weather.
4. No adverbs
5. etc. etc. etc.

I can get myself so worked up that I can't even write because I'm sure I'm not following the rules and then it will suck. But honestly, you can't always follow all the rules or it will suck. And there are so many freaking words in our language why don't we use them? Why don't we create the most colorful and well-illustrated picture we can for our readers? So I'm going to just keep writing and worry about the rules later. Everything in moderation. I will write the story as it flows. I will use my goddamn adverbs.

I will just write.

What's Up Wednesday #2

It's been a few weeks, but I'm back on the WUW bandwagon!

WHAT I'M READING: Remember how in my last post I said I didn't plan to read anymore ebooks for a while because I don't really like the digital reading thing? Well, I lied. I saw a really cute looking book on sale for .99 in a tweet by @SwoonRomance and I bought it (I had a gift card with some change left over so it was basically free). It was Class of 98  by A.L. Player. It was super cute and enjoyable. It was described as "Back to the Future meets She's All That" and if that isn't enough to sell you on it, we're from different cliques, generations, and possibly even planets. Still not a fan of reading on the app though :/ 
I also just read Chasing Boys by Karen Tayleur. Another stellar Australian YA author. If you ever had an obsessive crush on a boy this is the book that will validate all of your behavior :) 

WHAT I'M WRITING: I'm still drafting for Goodbye Good -Goody Girl but I got a chapter and a half done this week so no complaints. I love writing the friendships in this book. Romance is secondary to the triumvirate of awesome these ladies share.  

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW: I'm inspired by the great YA books I've been reading, the fantastic MS I read from Alex Yuschik, and the beautiful weather (70 and sunny!). I want to get out and do things for the first time in MONTHS. YAY for feeling happy again :) 

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO: I'm done with musical season (bittersweet) and am gearing up for a long term sub position at a new district. I've been visiting my boyfriend, replacing the ridiculous dual exhaust on my car, fixing my washer, and just soaking up the sun. 

Middles

I'm so mad that I missed What's Up Wednesday this week, but I'm excusing myself because we had a blizzard/snow day and I totally forgot what day it was.
Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about some recent posts by editors that I've seen around the web. Mostly they've said a lot the same thing, strong, captivating characters and voice. I obsess about choice anyway so I'm not really surprised on that one. And good characters? Duh.
But among "all the same thing" I found a kernel of incredibly helpful, if also obvious, advice. I can't find the post now (curse you internet!), but the basic gist was consistent quality. Beginnings are good because they get workshopped and obsessed over. Endings, mostly the same thing. The stuff in the middle? Not so much. The unique qualities of voice disappear, characters lose their sparkle, and plot gets lost in the convoluted details.
Basically, middles suck. And if your middle sucks it could turn off potential agents and publishers.
Since I'm struggling so much with the middle of G4, this post hit home. Now I'm just more neurotic about it....
What's your favorite part of the story to write?

What's Up Wednesday #1

A few writerly people I know have started doing WUW so I thought I'd give it a try. Here goes.

WHAT I'M READING: I just finished Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson. It is a YA Contemp about three very different girls who become even more unlikely friends while spending the summer working in a peach orchard in Georgia. The best part of it for me was the way the friendship just happened between the girls. Anderson nails the uncertain feeling of new friendship.

WHAT I'M WRITING: I'm still working on Draft 1 of Goodbye Good-Goody Girl, aka the musical YA contemp I talk about all the time. I finally have the last two chapters and the very end looking like real words. Don't get excited, I'm missing around 10 chapters in the middle. However, the scenes I have been working on make me happy.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW: I am incredibly inspired right now by the musical cast members I am working with at an inner city arts high school where my sister teaches. The energy and uniqueness that they bring into rehearsal everyday is impressive on many levels. They make me think about creativity and passion. They've also made me really want to write a story that has been bouncing around in my head for years.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO: I've been a little crazy. This is Hell Week for my first musical of the season. We've had evening runs all week and we open tomorrow. I'm sleep deprived and a little slap-happy but I am also excited to see them performing on stage. It has been a rough season with lots of snow days and missed rehearsals but the kids are working hard so I have moderate hopes of success.

What's up with you this Wednesday?

Crossroads and Detours

Check the road named after one of the oldest families in Radnor, OH. Look familiar?

On Saturday, I posted over at TGNA about my first year on this writing adventure with my WIP Goodbye Good-Goody Girl. Check it out here: http://www.thegreatnovelingadventure.com/2014/02/lavender-checks-in-2/  And it really has gotten me thinking about writing. My writing, writing as a career, the way writers I know on Twitter talk about writing. 

It is so easy to feel like there is a right and wrong way to do the author thing and at the end of the day that is just not true. Sure, it would be awesome if I was pitched an idea, got a huge advance, and could write full-time before achieving critical acclaim and winning at life. But in today's publishing world that is less and less common and that is ok! It doesn't make me any less of a writer and it makes me writer pals who successfully work full-time/have kids/etc total superheroes. 

So about a year ago I got the idea for G4 and I thought I'd have it finished by the end of Summer 2013 but that didn't happen because I got a job teaching summer enrichment and it ate all my energy. Then I thought I'd have it done my the end of 2013 and somehow the November and December yielded embarrassingly low word counts and lots of frustration so that didn't happen. Now I am in the middle of musical season and choreographing for 3 shows so I'm creatively tapped out. Sure, those sound like excuses and maybe they are, but they are also facts of life. I have been busy in a weird way so I haven't written a lot. But guess what? I love what I have written and I am enjoying the journey, detours and all. 

I am taking the scenic route but I haven't yet felt the need to stop at a crossroads and make a deal with  a demon (sorry I've been binge watching Supernatural with my boyfriend all weekend). I am writing my book, my way, in my time. Everyone should do the same. 

Thankful Update

It is the day after Thanksgiving. I am still full of food after spending a really enjoyable day with my family at my sister's boyfriend's house. It was the first really formal Thanksgiving my family has done in a while. Normally it is just the four of us so we don't use the fine china or the fancy table cloth. My sister's boyfriend, however, was all about the pomp and circumstance. Like, we had water and wine glasses and there was a single fresh cut rose in the center of each plate. Then we watched It's a Wonderful Life (I LOVE YOU JIMMY STEWART!). It was the kind of Thanksgiving I remember from my childhood when my family was still a little bigger. I loved it.

Also, musical auditions are over for both shows I'm working on this season. I'm running point on The Wedding Singer with my sister's assistance while my sister is heading up Pippin with my backup. Auditions were cool, casting had some setbacks. I am trying to remain excited instead of apprehensive but I'm struggling.

Finally, I haven't touched G4 in over a week. I am stuck in the middle and it is a barren wasteland with no lifelines or avenues of escape. I chatted with the lovely Jenny Adams Perinovic about it and have decided on a change of plan. I was writing this story linearly, from point A to point B because I had events I wanted to happen but was pantsing everything in between. With two musicals and being back in my family home instead of holed up in a big house alone, I am going to be a lot busier soon and being stuck with G4 will mean no progress if I'm already busy. I know myself well enough to know that I won't make time for it. So I am switching paths. I am going to write the scenes I know I want and piece it all together later. Hell, I might even write the end first. But I have a new plan and I'm gonna stick to it!