Christine Cook's blog

MONSTER IN A BOX REVISITED
(a one-minute story)

A man sits on a blackened stage, at a table. With a microphone and a glass of water, he changes the world, on night at a time. One performance at a time. One audience at a time. One radio at a time, one television news story at a time, he changes the world.

Spaulding Gray, Mike Daisy, Swimming to Cambodia, Monster in a Box, Expose of FoxConn and Apple. It's all a Slippery Slope. Very few women have done this. Perhaps Laurie Anderson would count, but she doesn't so much change the world as change how the mind sees things. ANd she doesn't sit behind a table on a chair with water to drink and not much else. She flits around the stage like a bid, on bare feet, flinging her electric violin at the multi-media images with which she surrounds herself.

Perhaps this is the job of a single man, on a single stage, creating a light in the darkness, shining a spotlight on the black holes in the world.

Sometimes it takes that Monster in a Box.

READ, WRITE, MARKET

It seems that this year, I've gone on a binge of book reading updates for my blog. I guess this blog post is no exception, but I plan to also do a writing and marketing update as well.

First, my book list so far:

1) MONSTROUS REGIMENT, by Terry Pratchett
2) GET REAL, by Donald E. Westlake
3) THE SON OF NEPTUNE, by Rick Riordan
4) TOUGH COOKIE, by Diane Mott Davidson

The first two I had already posted. The third, by Riordan, is what I would call popcorn fiction. It has some nutritive value, and it's hard to stop eating it once you've started, so the book is finished before you know it. I really enjoyed it, as is usual for the Rick Riordan books. I think I need to look up his mysteries, since I love his mythology books so much.

TOUGH COOKIE is the ninth in the Diane Mott Davidson series, and I've been slowly working my way through all of them. In some cases this is "working my way through...again," and I think I read this one before, but I'll be darned if I could remember any of the plot details. Her books all run together, but I still enjoy them. Again, it's a bit like popcorn, but in this case, maybe it's caramel covered.

In the writing department, I started the rough draft of a book I thought would take me a week to write. I was SO WRONG. Eight weeks into it, and I'm not yet a third of the way done. Oh, well. I have now made it a goal to write 1000 words a day, without fail. Since I made that goal, I have made it each day, sometimes going over. So there's still hope.

My time-travel book is on the back burner, for a number of reasons, but I still want to work at it, so once I'm done with the rough draft of my Christmas Murder Mystery, I will go back to 1000 words a day on this book.

Meanwhile, fans have been clamoring for the newest d'Arcy W. Carter, which is in first rough draft form right now. In February, I plan to start the really serious second rewrite, which is always the longest and hardest part. Once that rewrite is done, though, third draft tends to be a fairly easy (comparatively easy, perhaps?) process. I will do NaNoEdMo with that book as well, which will take me to the end of March, and then it's ScriptFrenzy time.

January is supposed to be marketing month for me, and I have had some successes and some failures on that front. I got MURDER MOST MOTHERLY onto the Kindle, uploaded BAD WISDOM to Smashwords, and those are my two biggest successes for the month. I am currently trying to format LIVING ON TATTOOINE for upload to Smashwords, and I've hit a snag. I can't figure out how to hyperlink my chapter headings to my table of contents on the Mac. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

That's it for now.

BOOK UPDATE #2

I have finished another book for the year, making it two books in two weeks. This one was Donald E. Westlake's GET REAL.

I used to read a lot of Donald Westlake. I remember loving the movie THE HOT ROCK, then actually reading it, and enjoying it even more. But then I got away from reading his books, and I'm not exactly sure why.

He died a few years ago, and this book was his last book before he died. I enjoyed it, although again I noticed that the beginning was a little slow. I say again because I've noticed the last two books I read had that issue. I'm glad I read past page 50 for both of them, because otherwise I might have put them down, and missed out on two good books.

So, let's see. The next books on my docket include Tim Gunn's Guide to Style. That's not what it's called, but it's close to that. I'm also reading CREWEL WORLD (don't remember the author) and TOUGH COOKIE by Diane Mott Davidson.

More later.

BOOK-READING UPDATE

I have finished my first book of the year, which is:

1) MONSTROUS REGIMENT, by Terry Pratchett

I had trouble getting into this book. I think for the first time I noticed Sir Terry had a "fish-head," which is when the first thirty pages of the book don't flow very well as the author gets his feet wet with the subject. He could probably have safely lopped off those thirty pages and still had most of the information needed for the book. But after about page 62, I really got into the book, and it was enjoyable from there on in. He still had the petering out ending, which I've noticed before with him, but it was still a fun book, and one worth reading.

Currently, I'm reading a Donald Westlake book--his last, in fact. It's called GET REAL, and I must admit, it was a little slow to start, as well, but now it reads very quickly. I'm almost at mid-point.

And I'm reading THE ART OF WAR FOR WRITERS (I forget the author). This is a pretty good book, and a fast read, and I'll report more on this in the future.

Marketing month goes "okay," or as D. would say, "meh." I'll spend a post discussing this later in the week or so.

More anon--

A YEAR'S ROLL-UP OF READING

Fifty-two books in a year didn't happen, but I did make it to 33 or so, and I'm good with that. The truth is, there may have been books I finished but forgot to log, and there are also many books I'm part of the way through, but they can't count until I'm finished with them. I also don't count the books I've written and have reread prior to working on a revision of them.

So, without further ado, here's what I have read so far this year, in more or less chronological order:

1) THE CRYING OF LOT 49 by Thomas Pynchon
2) FUNNY LETTERS FROM FAMOUS PEOPLE by Charles Osgood
3) THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST by Stieg Larsson
4) THE 4-HOUR WORK WEEK by Tim Ferris
5) FIRST DRAFT IN THIRTY DAYS by Karen Wiesner
6) SAVE THE CAT! STRIKES BACK by Blake Snyder
7) POSSESSION by A.S. Byatt
8) ZEN AND THE ART OF WRITING by Raymond Bradbury
9) FAITH AND WILL by Julia Cameron
10) REPAIR TO HER GRAVE by Sarah Graves
11) THE CREATIVE LIFE by Julia Cameron
12) INTERESTING TIMES by Terry Pratchett
13) THINGS I WANT TO TELL MY DAUGHTERS by Alexandra Stoddard
14) SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (This one is actually one I just remembered I had read and had forgotten to log)
15) THE MOOR by Laurie R. King
16) A MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN by Laurie R. King (Another one I had forgotten to write down but remembered as I was typing)
17) EQUAL RITES by Terry Pratchett
18) SOUL MUSIC by Terry Pratchett
19) MASKERADE by Terry Pratchett
20) CATERING TO NO ONE by Diane Mott Davidson
21) KILLER PANCAKE by Diane Mott Davidson
22) DYING FOR CHOCOLATE by Diane Mott Davidson
23) THE LANGUAGE OF BEES by Laurie R. King
24) HOUSE OF LEAVES by ... um....something Danielewski? Something like that. I have it written down earlier in my blog. ETA Mark Danielewski
25) THE MAIN CORPSE by Diane Mott Davidson
26) THE HOGFATHER by Terry Pratchett
27) THE GRILLING SEASON by Diane Mott Davidson
28) GOLIATH by Scott Westerfield
29) GOD OF THE HIVE by Laurie R. King
30) LOCKED ROOMS by Laurie R. King
31) THE THIEF OF TIME by Terry Pratchett
32) PRIME CUT by Diane Mott Davidson
33) FATE'S MIRROR by MH Mead
34) HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS by Agatha Christie
35) WEE FREE MEN by Terry Pratchett
36) LAST SUPPERS by Diane Mott Davidson (another one I just remembered)

I had a few audio books that are escaping my mind at the moment, and I'm sure I'm missing a few more. But there are a few days left 'til the new year, so I'll try to keep working on this list. Thirty-six books isn't terribly shabby, though, so I'm proud of myself.

Again, I will throw out the fifty book goal for 2012. I have several books in the midst of being read, so I'll probably have them on the list fairly early.

Here's to a good year of reading in 2011, and wishes for continued good reading in the new year--

OVERCOME BY EVENTS...AND READING...

My computer's doing odd things at the moment; I'm not sure why. I wonder if this site has been hacked or something.

Meanwhile, preparations for the holiday season are combining with full-time and part-time work to make it difficult for me to blog with any great consistency. But, that doesn't mean I haven't been reading. Again, I don't have the actual numbers for you, regarding how many books I've read for the year, but I will add them to my list, and consolidate at the turn of the new year.

Sadly, I know I am nowhere close to my original goal, or even my secondary, more realistic goal of 50 books in a year. Alas.

1) PRIME CUT, by Diane Mott Davidson
2) HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS, by Agatha Christie

I keep feeling like I've read more than that, but it's a start. Right now I'm reading Terry Pratchett's MONSTROUS REGIMENT, GET REAL, by Donald Westlake, and TOUGH COOKIE, by Diane Mott Davidson.

But now I must go and continue the cardigan for my son, the Christmas dress for my daughter, the nativity scene for some friends and also for my mother, the cowl for another friend, and the knitted Christmas ball ornaments I'm making for a number of other people.

BEEN AWHILE, BUT I'M NOW A WINNER!

I got mired down in NaNoWriMo during November, and so I didn't blog as much as I would have liked. I'd like to think it was because I was using all my spare time to write!

I won NaNo yesterday, with 50,566 words, and now I'm moving on to NaNoFiMo, since I'm nowhere near done.

Meanwhile, I have read some books, but am I going to be able to remember all of them? Not likely. But here's a partial list:

1) THE GRILLING SEASON, by Diane Mott Davidson
2) GOD OF THE HIVE, by Laurie R. King
3) Another one by Laurie R. King that off the top of my head I can't remember the name of, but it's the one that takes place in San Francisco.
4) THE THIEF OF TIME, by Terry Pratchett

As I said, there are probably others. I don't think I'm anywhere near the total of 50 books for the year that I had hoped for. Perhaps I'm closer to 25. But any book finished is a good book, methinks, so I'll keep plugging.

Right now, I'm reading THE WEE FREE MEN by Terry Pratchett, the next in the DIANE MOTT DAVIDSON series (something about meat...PRIME SUSPECT? That doesn't sound right...), HER KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR, by Jude Deveraux, and THE SON OF NEPTUNE, by Rick Riordan.

More anon.

SHH!! THERE'S WRITING GOING ON...

I stand at 11,000 words today, which is not bad progress for five days' work. I'll take it.

But I do have a bone to pick.

I went to a write-in today, and I was productive there. I wrote 2,631 words in the space of a little over two hours. So I'm not complaining in that regard. But there were a couple of NaNo'ers who could not seem to stop talking.

Look, I get that trying to write a novel in a month is hard work. I get that sometimes you're stuck and you don't know what to write about. But, is it too much to ask for you to be respectful of the other writers around you who are trying to write, too?

PLOT AND CHARACTER

I spent the first three days of NaNoWriMo getting bogged down in character sketches. As of yesterday, it was boring me to tears. So I switched to creating a plot outline of sorts, and I'm feeling very much better now, thank you.

8,369 words as of today, so I'm plugging along and am a little ahead of schedule. This is just how I like it.

So, characterization is important, especially since I believe I write character-driven fiction. But as I've aged, I've discovered that creating at least the bare bones of the plot is just as important. Yes, I realize that fully developed characters may just take that carefully wrought plot outline and stand it on its ear when they tell me, "Hell, no, I'm not going to do that." Then they kidnap the script and they run with it.

Honestly, I'm okay with that. But now, rather than being a seat of the pants writer, I like to have a road map, and I realize my characters may choose the by-ways along the way. I'll just change the road map to suit the change in direction, and carry on. As the I Ching would say, "Perseverance furthers."

Speaking of changing direction, on Wednesday, I went to a Young Adult Critique group for the first time. I have promised 75 pages for next month's critique session, or the equivalent to Act 1. Trouble is, I would like this as polished as possible, and I have some things to change before I email it out. So I think I will, in addition to writing 1,667 words per day on the new book, also work on revising ASGARD RISING so the Plot Point 1 occurs at page 75 on the dot.

Wish me luck.

THAT OTHER WORLD BECKONS

I just wrote a blog post, and accidentally deleted it before I posted. I hate when that happens...

The title of my blog today is the title of my novel in progress for NaNoWriMo this month. It's a pretty good title, I think, considering what the book is about. K came up with it, so bravo to the hubby.

I have a total of 4,638 words, having written 2,692 today. Mostly it's still character study, but any word count is good word count as far as I'm concerned. You never know how much of this will end up in the final product.

Lydia Parsons is coming to me fully formed. From her looks (5'10" tall, 130 pounds, black bob and violet eyes) to her style-sense (20s inspired with a bit of Victorian steampunk thrown in for good measure) to her personality (aloof till you get a few drinks in her, and then she's the life of the party), I think this is the woman who has been haunting the recesses of my brain for at least 20 years. I look forward to getting to know her.

The beau of the ball is also clear to me, at least from the perspective of looks. His background is still murky, but I think he'll come to me soon enough and explain where he's coming from.

It's always good to like the characters you're going to be spending a lot of time with.