BackBurner Projects

I'm in a slow period at the moment, so far as writer productivity. But I can see relief on the horizon. It's only a month or so now until school breaks for summer and I can be a full time writer for a few blessed weeks.

In the meantime, I'm letting a few projects simmer on the back burner, hoping to turn them into something yummy to read in the next few months.

My main project, a young adult dystopian romance (working title Thursday's Children) has been moved to the slowcooker so that it keeps warm even though I don't have enough mental energy to finish it right now. It's about two thirds written, but it's patchwork. It has a beginning and a late middle, but no early middle and no ending. To make sure it doesn't go stale on me, I stir the pot at least weekly, revising an old scene or working on a new one. I'm feeling good about finishing in that first month after school ends.

On the back burner though are a BUNCH of other projects and I'm enjoying trying to decide what to work on next (as soon as I finish Thursday's Children).

Cold Spring is book one of a historical fiction trilogy. I still love Lena and Freda, the sisters at the center of the story, but finishing their story is going to require a LOT of research if I'm to do it justice. I feel solid in the first of the planned three books, but I'm holding off doing anything with it (as in seeking publication) until I've written all of it. That could end up being work that spreads out over the next decade or so.

Rat Jones and the Lacrosse Zombies, a NaNoWriMo project from a couple of years back, wants to be a middle grades or young adult novel about bullying and witchcraft. I've got a full draft of that one, but I think it's needs restructuring and to remember that it's a kids' book.

His Other Mother, the first novel I ever finished writing, is percolating back there, too. I'd really like to give it a once-over, now that I know more about writing and structure than I did back then. It's issues-driven women's fiction, and I still think it's a powerful story that could find a publishing home with another comb through to smooth out tangles and snags.

A few short stories are pulling at me as well. "The H.O.A." will fit into a collection I've been working on called Shadowhill, which are all weird tales that take place in a suburban subdivision suspiciously like the one I live in. A few of those stories have been published, and I'd love to collect them into a single publication. Another one from that collection, "Suburban Blight" is begging me to turn it into a novel, but I keep telling it to wait its turn.

Two other short stories are jumping up and down in the background, too, one called "Frankenstein in Savoonga" and another called "Another Turn of the Screw," each riffing on the classic literature they reference. Oh yeah, there's also that suffragette story I started at a writing workshop that I've been promising myself I'd finish: "Tiger Lily."

The fourth and fifth books in the Menopausal Superhero series await my attention, but I think they're going to wait for 2019. Taking 2018 to write other things has been rejuvenating so far, and I want to keep letting that energy build.

Of course, there's a new novel idea tugging on my skirt hem, too, this one a gothic mystery novel, featuring a female architect named Devon. She's persistent about wanting her story told, and I've been dying to write a gothic novel since I was about nine years old.

If I can write even a third of this stuff this summer, I'll feel like a powerhouse. How about you? Got anything on your back burners you're anxious to get back to?

IWSG: Feeling sprung this spring

 

It's the first Wednesday again, which means it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. The May 3 question - It’s spring! Does this season inspire you to write more than others, or not?

Be sure to check out our awesome hosts after you see what I have to say: The co-hosts today are E.M.A. Timar,J. Q. Rose,C.Lee McKenzie, and Raimey Gallant!

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Normally, I'm all about spring. Flowers, sunshine, rebirth, love. I usually shake off the doldrums of winter, get out there in the world and get things done. It's traditionally been my favorite time of year, with birthday celebrations, book launches, and outdoor time.

Not so, this year. This year I'm more like this: 

My spring done spring, ya'll. I'm stretched out and thin. For my writing life, I find I have very little energy. It's frustrating, but I'm trusting that it's a cyclical ebb and flow thing and that the balance will come back. I'm a terrible patient, and this is a lot like being sick: accepting limited options for a while.

Its just one of those times when "life" demands more of my focus. I've got a girl getting ready to graduate high school, another about to transition to middle school, I had the flu in March and have felt behind on things ever since, my allergies are in full bloom, it's the last push of the school year and my middle schoolers have spring fever and tensions are high among them. 

But I'll keep on keeping on, like you do. At least some of my old work is paying off. A new Menopausal Superheroes story released yesterday, as part of a multi-author anthology. 

Here's hoping I get some bounce back in my spring soon. How's yours going? 

Z is for Lisa Zaran:

For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

This will be my 5th year participating.

• In 2014, I wrote about evocative words. 
• In 2015, I wrote about my publication journey and the release of my first novel. 
• In 2016, I wrote about my favorite superheroes. 
• In 2017, I wrote about the places of my heart. 

My theme this year is Poets I Love all about some of the poets whose work has touched me over the years.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too. Be sure to check out some of the other bloggers stretching their limits this month to share their passions with you, too. With over 600 participants, there is bound to be something you'd love to read.
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As was true for my entries for the letter I and the letter Q, I didn't come to this AtoZ project with a poet in mind for Z. So, once again, I took the opportunity to read someone new (to me). I found Lisa Zaran, an American poet living in Arizona, best known for her book, The Sometimes Girl.

If you've been reading my other posts in this series, then you already know that I am a sucker for an intriguing opening line when it comes to poetry. Zaran has some humdingers in this regard:

Death is not the final word.

-from "Talking to My Father Whose Ashes Sit in a Closet and Listen"

In the room

where I learned how to lie, 

-from "Rivers"

She said she collects pieces of sky, 

-from "Girl"

As if we have

any answers.

-from "Hair"

Simple, declarative, sure. Each of these lines caught my ear and eye and pulled me in, made me want to read the rest to see what that line might end up meaning when it was fully explored.  I'm so glad I took on this challenge which let me visit 23 old loves, and find 3 new ones. Thanks for traveling with me! 

Y is for Yusef Komunyakaa: Revealing a deeper layer

For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

This will be my 5th year participating.

• In 2014, I wrote about evocative words. 
• In 2015, I wrote about my publication journey and the release of my first novel. 
• In 2016, I wrote about my favorite superheroes. 
• In 2017, I wrote about the places of my heart. 

My theme this year is Poets I Love all about some of the poets whose work has touched me over the years.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too. Be sure to check out some of the other bloggers stretching their limits this month to share their passions with you, too. With over 600 participants, there is bound to be something you'd love to read.
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Most of the Yusef Komunyakaa poems I've read are intensely personal. Through his verses, I've learned more about his childhood, his war experiences, and his joys and disappointments than I know about people that I see every day in real life. In each poem, the speaker is there, front and center, no distancing, letting me know what has happened and how he is affected. And I, in reading the lines, am affected, too. 

Here's one of his poems, about visiting the Vietnam War Memorial, an intensely emotional experience for many, but I can only imagine how intense it must be for a veteran of that war.

On the surface, Komunyakaa is only describing what he sees: what is and isn't reflected in the glossy stone of the memorial, but the still-biting experiences are in there, too in the word choices, the descriptive details. Hiding. Reflection. Bird of prey. Profile of night. Depending on the light/to make a difference. Flash. Smoke. Cutting. Lost his right arm. 

There's a second poem in those details, giving you the ghostly after-image of his service experience. That deeper layer that pushes forward, almost feeling like he let it slip by accident and revealed more than he meant to. 

Genius.

X is for XJ Kennedy: Bringing the Fun

For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

This will be my 5th year participating.

• In 2014, I wrote about evocative words. 
• In 2015, I wrote about my publication journey and the release of my first novel. 
• In 2016, I wrote about my favorite superheroes. 
• In 2017, I wrote about the places of my heart. 

My theme this year is Poets I Love all about some of the poets whose work has touched me over the years.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too. Be sure to check out some of the other bloggers stretching their limits this month to share their passions with you, too. With over 600 participants, there is bound to be something you'd love to read.
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XJ Kennedy's verses are fun. Sometimes leaning towards sardonic, but always with a eye to the humor in a situation. Maybe because he also writes for children, he's held onto a playfulness with language and imagery that pulls me in.

I like him better than Shel Silverstein because the underlying feeling is more positive. I guess I'm attracted to the energy and joy that runs through much of his work.

This poem, for example, has a man imagining himself as a dog and plays with that metaphorical dog of a man who won't commit and marry.

It's a silly idea, but the punny language and imagery is appealing.

When I want to look on the lighter side, I turn to XJ Kennedy.

W is for Walt Whitman: Always in Love

For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

This will be my 5th year participating.

• In 2014, I wrote about evocative words. 
• In 2015, I wrote about my publication journey and the release of my first novel. 
• In 2016, I wrote about my favorite superheroes. 
• In 2017, I wrote about the places of my heart. 

My theme this year is Poets I Love all about some of the poets whose work has touched me over the years.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too. Be sure to check out some of the other bloggers stretching their limits this month to share their passions with you, too. With over 600 participants, there is bound to be something you'd love to read.
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In 2017, I decided I would read a poem every day and post about it. Poetry was such a central part of my life when I was younger, but it had drifted almost entirely out of my life, and I realized I missed it. The inspiration for that project was Walt Whitman. My eldest daughter was reading Leaves of Grass for a literature class she was taking, and I LOVED talking with her about the verses of his I loved most, and about his place in the history of American poetry. It seems fitting that it was Whitman who brought me back to reading poetry after an absence of many years.

One of his poems that I remembered fondly was "I Sing the Body Electric." There's that part in Bull Durham where Susan Sarandon remind us how sexy some parts of it are when she reads it aloud to her lover.

When I revisited the whole poem, the first thing I noticed is that it's a lot longer than I remembered. It's a nine part poem! 

The next thing I noticed was the range of it. It's all a celebration of human form, but it waxes philosophical, scientific, personal, and political in turns. It's a sweeping, epic vision, and you can get pulled up into the beautiful maelstrom of words. 

Whitman in his verses always seems to be love. His joy, fascination, and celebration are contagious. Reading him, I fall back in love, too, and see my fellow human beings as the wondrous creations they are. 

V is for César Vallejo: The Personal and the Political

It's April! Time for the AtoZ Blogging Challenge!

For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

This will be my 5th year participating.

• In 2014, I wrote about evocative words. 
• In 2015, I wrote about my publication journey and the release of my first novel. 
• In 2016, I wrote about my favorite superheroes. 
• In 2017, I wrote about the places of my heart. 

My theme this year is Poets I Love all about some of the poets whose work has touched me over the years.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too. Be sure to check out some of the other bloggers stretching their limits this month to share their passions with you, too. With over 600 participants, there is bound to be something you'd love to read.
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I'd heard of César Vallejo before, but not read his work until recently. When my former poetry professor lost her battle with cancer last year, I revisited her work and found a poem she'd written "after César Vallejo." That sparked my curiosity so I looked him up. My curiosity is still sparked, so I'll be looking for more by this poet.

The nineteenth century was politically rough in a lot of Spanish-speaking countries, including Vallejo's homeland of Peru. Every poet or writer I read about from that time period faced a great deal of turmoil and persecution, sometimes for their art, sometimes for their lives. Bohemian artist-types are not always welcome. That pain and tragedy is reflected in his work, which is both personal and political in tone.