The dilemma of a fangirl writer

The other night I went to a Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures event to see Tea Obreht, the author of The Tiger's Wife. I enjoyed that book, particularly the magical realism elements, and was astounded at the maturity of a writer who is only a year older than I am. It's people like Tea who make me feel inadequate.

Throughout the day of the event, I watched some online interviews with Tea in order to determine what I could ask her that hadn't already been asked a million times. I came up with a nocturnal writing question. It appears that we're both nocturnal writers. If I didn't have a daily, full-time job, I'd be writing from sundown to sunup, like she does. But whereas she succeeded and had the semi-exotic life to back up her subplots, I got wrapped up in school and writing was put on hold. I also learned that we both make soundtracks for our characters and novels, and listen to them and daydream in order to get inspiration. Finally, someone else admitting to it! Someone who was a famous published author! There are many other things that we have in common, things I learned about in the interviews as well as the event itself, and I became excited to meet her.  I don't know what it is... She just "gets" being a writer in her mid-20s. It's one thing to listen to a writer in his/her 40s who have been writing his/her entire life. It's quite another to listen to a writer who is my own age and has succeeded with my same habits.

Tea represents the kind of person I could so easily be. If she could do it, then one day I can, too.

(horrible shot of horrible angle, but you get the idea)

So, by the end of the event, I turned into quite the little fangirl. I was able to say hi to her with my question (which she remembered later) and was then able to chat a little while she signed my book. I told her how I listed her book as one of my inspirations for my thesis, to which she was shocked and then congratulated me on the degree. And then I told her that we were very similar and that I would love to just chat with her, even if it's online. Yes, I went there. Stupid me. But, she wrote down her email address and told me that it usually takes her a long time to respond to messages.

So now I have an email that I haven't looked at yet--because it's probably the one the publicists give out on her website--and don't know what to do with. How do I proceed? Propose a string of questions for her to answer and hope that a conversation can spring from one of them? Or perhaps I should throw the thing away and hope that we meet again under better circumstances in which we can actually talk as equals? Further incentive to be published, I suppose, or return to journalism.

Bumps along NaNoWriMo

Well, due to a couple Pittsburgh Arts and Lecture Series with Neil Gaiman and Tea Obreht, as well as work and general exhaustion plus trying to finish a book review that's long overdue, I've fallen at least a week behind on NaNoWriMo.

Catching up is incredibly hard. Last night, I managed to reach Tuesday's word goal. That means if I managed to write today, I'd have to write for Wednesday and Thursday, and not write today's goal until tomorrow (along with Saturday's goal). You'd think 1667 words a day wouldn't be that much. I envy the people who have massive scenes that they become swept away with, and when they're done they're a couple thousand words in without realizing it. What fun that would be. Alas, it hasn't happened yet. In order to even meet these goals I've had to sketch out ideas instead of really considering the words. It's such a different style for me.

Usually, I revise as I write so that each line is as close to being as worthwhile as possible. The whole point with NaNoWriMo is not to edit while writing; just get the story down first. And granted, without this tactic, I wouldn't have come as far as I did. And I am determined to see how far I can take it. I may not reach the 50,000 words in time, but I'll come much closer than I normally would've in a month's time.

I think the other problem I've run into is the fact that the people I started writing with have all fallen behind as well. One of my friends is long past the 50,000 mark already. The other two who kept pace (and were ahead of me) have stopped and I've surpassed them. A coworker who had been beating me also stopped because of life events, and so right now it seems that I'm the only one whose numbers seem to be growing. It takes away the drive, almost. I've lost that incentive to continue past the "I need to finish this novel." It's amazing what a little competition will do.

15 Minutes of Internet Fame

Hello all you people who came to my blog because of Neil Gaiman's name on it!

Today has been exciting! I didn't anticipate this at all. I've taken video of Mike asking questions to authors before. He even got John Lithgow to do the salute from 3rd Rock from the Sun. When I posted the adventure video, I thought a few people would see it, mostly friends and family. It was for them that I posted it so they could squee with us.

And yet! Mike somehow managed to (yet again) chat briefly with Neil online (he did before on TurnTable and even asked him what to read of his). He brought the video to Neil's attention. A few minutes later, Neil retweeted the link and suddenly, Mike's and my Twitter handles were popping up in strangers' statuses! I could hit refresh on YouTube stats and watch the viewing numbers rise. And this evening, I discovered that Neil also posted it on Facebook, and my friends and many, many others were sharing and liking his link!

And then I discovered this: Following An Evening of Stardust We'll Never Forget! 

The big take-away from all the great stuff he said last night was probably what he said in response to a question about how to find magic in your life:You don’t find magic or adventure. You go out and you create it.

Admittedly, Mike should have anticipated this response from a fantasy writer. :P

The whole thing is unfathomable... and I hope it's a taste of what's to come. Really, I'm the supporting role in all this. I made Mike read a couple of Neil's novels, bought the tickets, started recording when Mike asked his question, and posted the video online. And somehow, all of this came from it.

So hello Internet!

An Evening of Stardust with Neil Gaiman

Last night, my boyfriend and I went to see An Evening of Stardust with Neil Gaiman, as part of the Drue Heinz Lecture Series Special Events. We weren't able to get VIP tickets when they became available, but I was able to get some decent seats and bring my best friend along (who is 8 1/2 months pregnant). I ran into a few friends while there and we managed to get signed books before they were sold out.

Listening to Neil read his own works is... fantastic. Because you can hear what the characters sound like in his head, and that's a rare glimpse from an author (outside of book tours). Apparently this wasn't a book tour for the 15th Anniversary of Stardust. Apparently it was just us and Neil didn't know what to do. So he stood in front of us and talked about how the idea for the novel came about, and how he wrote it with a fountain pen in Tori Amos's bridge house, and how somehow a movie was made from it, and apparently that movie did amazingly well around the world except for America where the publishers didn't know how to market the story. So Neil told them to market it like The Princess Bride, and they looked at him like he was crazy.

He told us about his new Doctor Who episode, of which I shall say nothing else, and he read us a new section of his new novel. We were the first to hear the section, apparently. At one point, we all lost it because he was talking about electron decay and how the electrons were the smiley ones and the neutrons were frowning and so on. I can't wait to read it. Ocean at the End of the Lane, I think it's called. Laura, my best friend, later told me that Ava was dancing around only when Neil read from his books.

When it became time for a short Q&A, Mike bolted from the middle of our row, surged past everyone's legs and reached the nearest microphone first. He always wants to ask authors questions at these events. Sure enough, he was the last one. So he said hi, told Neil that he was interesting on TurnTable.fm and should return to the site, and then asked a question that boils down to: "The type of magic and adventure in your stories and pennydreadfuls don't exist in this world. How do we find it?" People had an "Awww..." reaction to it, and Neil launched into describing this bizarre workshop and carousel. He ended the answer by saying something like, "You have to make it for yourself and others. You have to go out and find it. It won't come to you." To which everyone started applauding.

Trust my boyfriend to make the question/answer of the night. And a few people tweeted about it, apparently, of which Neil retweeted this morning, and so did I.

How about that for a bit of magic.

NaNoWriMo late start and tactics

Today is my official first day attempting NaNoWriMo. Yes, it began a couple days ago. As some of you may have read in my apprehension post, I had some insurmountable obstacles with beginning on the first. Sometimes, real life responsibilities that propel a career are more important than writing in a story. As a writer, it is a compulsion to write in our stories, and as such t should be blasphemous to say that the real world gets in the way of writing, especially if novel writing is my career of choice. But copyediting for an award-winning magazine is a great resume builder and keeps me in the writing field. So, after a late night Thursday because of copyediting, and watching Wreck it Ralph after a hopelessly bad day at work yesterday, I'm ready to begin this novel.

Because of the word count I already have in the story, apparently I only need about 1,000 words to complete the word count max for today. With that said, I can do better.

There are a couple things people should try when attempting a challenge like this. These are things I've learned while writing my thesis.

1) Sketch

I'm not talking about jotting down notes in an outline, or just details and spots of dialogue. I'm talking about jotting down the scene itself. Get all the words out, all the dialogue and details and necessities for a proper scene. It's like a rough draft of a rough draft. When I get hit by my muse, I tend to write at least 500 words at one time. Often, I'm able to expand that. Bear in mind that one double-spaced page is 600 words.

2) Don't follow a set timeline

You don't have to write each scene as they occur. If you have an idea for a scene that comes later, then sketch it. Get it down on paper. Then, when you're able to fill in the gaps, you can alter that later scene as necessary. Yes, your story will change as you write it. Yes, that later scene could be drastically altered by the time you get to it, or it could be erased. But that doesn't matter. It allows you to get the idea out of your head so you can concentrate on other things.

3) Keep a pad of paper wherever you go.
Anything can spark an idea for your story. Anything, anywhere. Standing in line at the grocery store, in the bathroom, right before bed (when we're more likely to forget things the next morning), eating dinner, getting the mail. You can get little notepads and small pencils or foldable pens to carry in your pocket or bag. Keep a notebook beside your bed, on the floor or on a nightstand. Keep one on the dinner table and drop it to the floor when you eat (just remember to replace it when you're done). Keep one on an end table or coffee table. And, most importantly, keep one in the shower.

For those of you who don't know, there is such a thing as waterproof paper. Environmental geologists and other scientists use it all the time. It can be written on with a pencil underwater and won't smear or drip. Amazon.com sells a small pad that you can suction to your shower wall. It's called Aqua Notes (http://www.amazon.com/Aquanotes-Aqua-Notes-Waterproof-Notepad/dp/B003W09LTQ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1351972217&sr=8-7&keywords=waterproof+paper). I cannot count how many times I've used it and then expanded what I had jotted down. This is for general ideas or dialogue that you need to get down before you forget it, especially when voice or word choice is specific.

So these are my beginning tactics for NaNoWriMo. Not sure how long they're going to work, but they worked extremely well for my thesis.