Taking the Plunge

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

I know yesterday I said, "Don't be afraid to suck." But today, I feel a little like this:

See, I sent my first story out to an editor. A real editor. Not a friend, not a friend of a friend. I'm going to pay this woman to rip m baby to shreds and tell me how to make it better.

I'm praying that she doesn't tell me to find the nearest McDonald's, apply, and give up the ghost. I don't think she will. I think she's too nice to say it like that.

So yeah, I'm not precisely afraid to suck.

But I'm really, really nervous.

Don't Be Afraid to Suck

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

Confession time: Sometimes, I'm stupid. See, I don't always learn the lesson the first time. The universe has to tell me again, and again, and again, and...

You get the point.

The lesson of this week seems to be encapsulated in five words: Don't Be Afraid to Suck

I got a lot of links this week, this and this, from my friend Amy; this one; oh, and this one. I myself have written on the topic of fear over at my personal blog.

But as writers (well, as people really) all too often we feel like this:

Why? Well, I can only come up with one reason: We're afraid of sucking. We're afraid that every word from our fingertips will not be perfect, that we cannot capture the thought. So we remain paralyzed, afraid to move because we fear The Suck.

Most folks have heard of NaNoWriMo. This week, I heard of a new hashtag on Twitter, #1k1hr. The idea is to write 1,000 words in one hour. Some people scoff at this (see above link). Some people use the scoffing to cover their feelings. Because they fear The Suck. See, you cannot write a polished story, or even a polished scene in one hour. Just not possible. But you can write something. You can, to use the words in the blog post, "cut away everything that does not look like an elephant."

In one of my all time favorite books on writing Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, she refers to the "shitty first draft." It's an essential part of writing. You need that shitty first draft. You need to cut away everything that doesn't look like an elephant.

That's what #1k1hr is. That's what NaNoWriMo is. It's the shitty first draft. Guess what, I read the 2,100 words I wrote yesterday and some of them sucked. But some of them were good. Some just needed a littler "ner" tweak to be really good (at least in my mind, which is the only mind that counts right now).

So writers, don't fear The Suck. Just write, write, and write some more. Yes, you'll end up with a shitty first (or second, or third) draft. Your elephant will look a little weird. Not every word that you put to pixels or paper will sound like Hemingway. But here's a secret: I bet Hemingway had a shitty first draft. I bet Hemingway occasionally feared The Suck.

But really, it's not so scary. And the good part, is if you don't fear the The Suck, someday, you might just feel like this:

Playing the Revision Game

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

At one point this morning, I had three Chapter 21s. No, I am not joking.

I was frustrated. I kept trying to make new things happen, and the story traveled down the same well-worn path. The wrong path. I wanted to drag the entire manuscript to the trash.

This is what happens when you're revising. You rip out pieces. You write new ones. You move things around. You realize that the scene you just wrote really belongs about three chapters earlier. You start hating your story.

It's messy. It's necessary. And if you're not careful, it will drive you batty.

But I'll live, I guess.

Into all of this comes an exciting new project, one with a deadline of 1 September 2012. And a theme. I won't say more yet because, well, I don't know if I should. But it's kind of cool.

It also gives me an opportunity to use a new trend on Twitter - #1k1hr. The concept is that you write 1,000 words in 1 hour. No editing, no revising. Just write. I like the concept because as writers sometimes the hardest part of what we do is just power through the words. I'm just not sure how it works with my current rewrite. Do I see if I added 1,000 words in an hour? But what if what I need to do is rip out 1,000 words?

You see the dilemma.

But there are days when it's hard to sit down and "get-r-done," so I can see the value of #1k1hr.

What do you do on the days where the words just don't come or the rewrite seems to be going nowhere?

Making Bread - and Stories

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

We borrowed a bread machine last week from one of the husband's co-workers. See, we've been thinking of buying one, but wanted to make sure we didn't just love the idea before plunking down the cash.

This morning, as I munch the last bit of the foccacia I made yesterday, it occurs to me that making bread - or cooking anything really - is like writing a story. No, I'm not off my rocker.

See, both require specific elements. With bread, you need flour, water, yeast, and salt. Without those, you don't really have bread (don't get technical on me about flat breads and such).

When you're writing a story, you also need certain elements: plot, characters, dialogue (it's really hard, but maybe possible, to write an entire story without dialogue). Yes, I'm speaking more to fiction here, but hey, that's what I write.

But at some part of the process, you get to be creative and throw a little something unexpected in there. With bread, there's a multitude of things you can put in: cheese, nuts, dried fruit, herbs - otherwise all you have is a tasteless hunk of baked flour.

Same thing with a story. You've got to throw in something interesting: a twist, a hook - something to engage your reader. Otherwise, well, you have a tasteless block of words.

I suppose the possibilities are almost endless, only limited by your imagination. With baking, and writing, you try lots of things. Some work, some don't. Over time, you find your groove. The best writers - and bakers - don't just settle for what works, though. They're always experimenting. Some day, I hope I can change that pronoun to "we."

For the time being, it's Monday, and that means back to Rewrite #2 on Out of the Blue.

Oh, and I need to make another loaf of bread.

Slow and Steady

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

So, here I am. Been a week of unemployment and a week into Rewrite #2 of the novel. I think I came up with a title I don't completely hate - Out of the Blue. See, without giving too much away it speaks not only to one of the details in the story, but the idea of this woman breaking out into her own as an investigator.

Okay, cut me some slack. I'm working on it.

Speaking of working on it, I'm up to what is now Chapter 12 (yeah, those keep changing on me). I've trimmed about 5,000 words from where I started, but I'm sure I'm going to add them back. The manuscript feels "tighter," at least to me. My body is there when the story starts, but I've dropped the idea of murder in chapter 3, instead of chapter 7, and I hope I've introduced what has been described to me as the "hole in the heart" - basically, why you care about this character. A bit of a damaged past for her to work through as a person.

I really hope it works.

The thing about this rewrite is that it's a weird mash-up of tweaking and rewriting. Some of what I have a really like. Some of it, well, "dreck" is probably too strong of a word, but based on what I've learned in the last two months it's not quite as good as I thought it was when I wrote it.

I'm sure my author friends can relate.

My husband is disappointed that my original beginning, which was approximately 25 pages of backstory (you did get a good glimpse of the characters and the world, but it was slow), is gone. That leads me to a question: As a reader, how fast do you like to be thrown into the action? Gentle lead up or right from page one?

Baby Steps

So, the big news of today, I'm guest blogging for Writer Wednesday over at "The Blotter," a blog from my friend and Sisters in Crime sib Joyce Tremel. Check it out if you are so inclined, and read an excerpt from my first Jim Duncan short story.

Other than that, I've jumped into Rewrite #2 for the as-yet untitled novel. (I really must remedy that lack of a title thing.) I'm feeling pretty good about it. In Rewrite #1, I switched to third-person POV because I thought it was necessary. Then I took a great workshop in March and learned that wasn't necessarily true - so Rewrite #2 moves me back to first-person POV with limited third-person scenes.

Of more importance is introducing another character and added depth for the protagonist. Why should you care about her? Why does she care about this murder? Those kinds of questions. I've heard this referred to as "the hole in the heart" - essentially, the reason you are rooting for her.

When I first let someone read my draft, the main comment was, "Your character is too damn happy." Hopefully this second rewrite addresses that. I mean, I don't want her to be absolutely miserable, but I don't want Pollyanna either.

The body is dropped in chapter 1, but previously the idea of murder didn't happen until chapter 7. A bit late, so that concept has moved up to chapter 3.

Anyway, I feel like I'm on the right track. Progress by word count is tricky (since the words are really already written and I'm just adjusting), but I've worked through the first six existing chapters.

I added the equivalent of 12 chapters in the last rewrite. Wonder what I'll add/subtract this time?

I'm Now a Festival Veteran

Well, sort of. Yesterday was the annual Festival of Mystery hosted by the Mystery Lover's Book Shop in Oakmont, PA. Over forty authors packed into one hall to showcase books, rub elbows, and have mini-interviews.

Confession: I've lived in the Oakmont area since 1996 and have never attended the Festival. So when I parked, I was a little amazed at the crowd. I didn't plan well enough to help with the setup (okay, I originally didn't think I'd make it at all, but sudden unemployment at least allowed me to attend), but I did get to sit at our table for our Sisters in Crime chapter - and I even sold a book! I felt a little awkward browsing the author tables, since my book-buying budget has disappeared, but all the authors I met were super-friendly.

The best part of the evening had to be the pizza after-party at Mystery Lovers. Since I'd volunteered to drive a couple authors out to the airport I skipped the wine and champagne, but I did chug a Coke, nosh on a couple slices of pizza and have some great conversation. I also picked up a slew of book marks (because that's what authors use to promote books, you know), some recommendations, and a lot of encouragement for my own writing efforts. I really wish I'd know that Alice Loweecy was from Western New York when I talked to her - we could have compared notes! (I grew up in Buffalo.)

The two ladies I drove, Beth Groundwater and Vicki Doudera were lovely people and we chatted the entire trip to their hotel (they had accidentally booked at the Holiday Inn near Pitt - and since Vicki had a 5am flight that was absolutely NOT going to work). They were cheerful and gracious when an unexpected detour prompted the nickel tour of a couple of Pittsburgh neighborhoods - Lawrenceville, the Strip, the Cultural District, and Downtown. They even forgave me for almost driving over the lawn at the Holiday Inn (I blame bad lighting on the part of the hotel grounds).

All in all, it was a great time. Beth encouraged me to join the Guppies chapter of Sisters in Crime and both extracted promises from me to keep them posted on my writing. It's only May 1, 2012 and I'm already looking forward to next year's Festival!