Back on the horse

Hey, school is back in session, which is immediately gratifying for me because it means more time to write. As I've said before, summer writing is tough, but I'm determined enough to get in whatever I can. I bring my notebook to the kids' swim lessons and use those 30 minutes as a high pressure deadline for plot or character background brainstorming. I always get something good out of those sessions. Waking up earlier than everybody else in the house, and often staying up later than everyone else is a standard, but particularly useful in summer depending on how long you can burn the candle at both ends.

Now that the kids are off to school it's time to slip into my routine again. Ah, the bliss. As far as reading is concerned, I'm currently devouring King Dork by Frank Portman, of Mr. T Experience fame. I'm pleased to say that I saw them play in Switzerland in the basement of the collective restaurant Hirscheneck where I worked in the late '90's. They were awesome & very sweet guys. He's making an appearance at Secret Garden Books this coming Monday: http://www.secretgardenbooks.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=storeevents&eventId=428289

Next on the reading list is Suzanne Collins'sHunger Games sequel, Catching Fire. Should be fun. Okay, back to work!

What I've been reading

Summer has been a little harsh on the writing schedule. It gets like that when you have kids. Not that I haven't been writing, but certainly not as much as I do when they're in class. Anyway, one thing that hasn't gotten away from me is reading and I feel like reading is always accomplishing something as long as it's a good book.

A couple weeks ago I read Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson http://www.writerlady.com/chainsh.html and it was great. Amazing and intense historical fiction from the POV of a young slave girl. I look forward to reading more of her material.

I also took on some Orson Scott Card and read Ender's Game http://www.ender.com/ender/ and the parallel novel Ender's Shadow http://www.sfsite.com/04b/es126.htm, both of which I immensely enjoyed as did my husband. I usually foist my favorite reads upon him and/or my ten-year-old with great success. My son, though, was not inclined to read Ender's Shadow as he was afraid it might contain some gory violence as did the first novel. He is acutely aware of his limits and rightly so. The novels were stunning for their character development but definitely on the sophiticated end of the spectrum when it comes to categorizing them as YA novels. Advanced but young readers wilfind it satisfying, though I would recommend parents read them first or alongside for the great opportunity to discuss so many issues with your kid.

Currently, I am reading Wringer by Jerry Spinelli http://eduscapes.com/newbery/98d.html, and Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson http://www.sfsite.com/10b/wh210.htm
both very enjoyable, though wildly different from each other. Check out the links to learn more.

That's the upshot about summer. I may have the kids more and less time to hide in my office pounding on the keyboard, but it's a lot easier to get some good reading done than to lug the laptop to the park or beach. Not to mention that it's still getting something accomplished (even if it's not the laundry).

When inpsiration strikes

So a few nights ago, after a long day with two kids, many errands, cooking and probably a few loads of laundry, I got in bed, turned out the lights, kissed my man, and said goodnight. That's it, right? For him, yeah. He was snoozin' in no time. Me? My eyes were wide open, my mind was still wide awake and not in the mood for shutting down. This was 1:30am. I'm a morning person and this does NOT happen that often, but when it happens, I have to grab the bull by the horns.
It was time to write, and being summer, the office was warm enough to do it. Give me this scene in December, and I'm reaching for the novel and booklight, so I don't freeze my bum off by exiting Duvetland. Wuss, yes, I know. That's what happens when you move from the 'Kick your ass' weather zone to the sissyfied weather zone (where I currently reside and love it, love it, love it-- I can drive an hour to the mountains if I miss the mosquitos or snow).
What I'm trying to say is, strike when the iron is hot. Get out of bed, and get writing. Especially if you have kids and a day job. Every minute counts and every word counts, so get it down, and sleep hard. Believe me, after writing through a tough chapter (even with three kid interruptions--guess I wasn't the only one that couldn't sleep) I was ready to sleep at four in the morning...all the way to eight.