by Charlene Teglia | Apr 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
From The Pocket Muse, by Monica Wood: “Write a scene in which a pair of shoes figures prominently.”
“Here.”
I took the bag Nick shoved at me. “What’s this?”
“For you.” He buried his hands in his pockets, possibly to keep me from handing whatever was in the bag back.
I glanced around the parking lot to check for witnesses. “Is this going to get either of us in trouble?”
He shook his head and half-turned away. “Just open it, Lee.”
Nobody was looking. I opened the bag. It held a pair of black boots. I pulled one out and let it dangle by the laces, taking in the heavy sole, deep tread, the steel toe. The words Harley-Davidson and a distinctive logo pretty much constituted the only decoration.
The grommets and metal logo piece had been sprayed a flat black so they wouldn’t reflect light and stand out at night. Nick clearly had more experience at not getting caught sneaking around under cover of the darkness than I did. I wouldn’t have thought of covering up the shiny parts.
Nick spoke into the silence. “If you’re going to keep getting on a bike, you need boots. They’re more protection for your feet than sneakers, and steel toes are good if you have to kick…something.”
“Right.” Protection and defense in one. Very practical. Very telling. I was his accidental partner in crime, not his girlfriend. He might bring me a gun someday, and for a minute when he handed me the bag I thought he had, but he wouldn’t bring me flowers. I told myself it was for the best while I silently bent down and switched footgear. If I had to kick something, flowers would be no help. Those steel toes would do some damage, though. Nick was right about that.
I crumpled up the empty bag and shoved it in the pocket of my jeans jacket, tied my shoe laces together and slung my sneakers over my shoulder, and the two of us climbed onto the bike. The throaty rumble of the Harley made conversation impossible. We headed into the wind.
Your turn!
by Charlene Teglia | Apr 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
I’m now in the 2nd pass, doing higher level changes. I need to move some things around in the timeline, add scenes, cut others, and it’s tricky enough that I’m saving another version so if I screw up I can roll back. I also have version control on my backup server, but my first safety net is always that “save as” feature and renaming the document.
Of course, by the time I’m done with a book, I have a lot of previous version clutter, but it makes me feel safe when I really start to wave the knife around. Knowing I can get a do-over if I cut the wrong thing buys a lot of peace of mind.
These changes are going to go pretty quickly, I think. Which is good, because I’m making enough changes that I want plenty of time for another careful pass to check for continuity, consistency, and general polishing before it goes back.
The fun part of revisions is re-visioning. This part is more like writing, but dove-tailing with existing work. And I get a second chance to look at some elements that I don’t think I did enough with. So now it gets fun.
by Charlene Teglia | Apr 13, 2009 | Uncategorized
You get a 10 list today because I am eyeballs-deep in revising Claimed by the Wolf, de-listed by Amazon for what offense I do not know because I’m still revising it. (If you’ve been hiding under a rock, search #amazonfail and behold the fury of the interwebz. And if you’d like to strike a blow against censorship, please pre-order it from Books A Million. http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9780312537425?id=4363052424764
Thank you.)
1. Instead of packaged snacks, buy nuts, fruit, baby carrots and celery. Baby carrots are ready to dip in ranch dressing and eat, celery just takes washing and cutting into sticks. A handful of nuts makes a great fast snack, and so does pretty much any fresh fruit. If you have healthy choices on hand that don’t require much or any preparation, it’s much easier to eat right.
2. Substitute whole wheat flour for white in any baking recipe. Add fiber and nutrients!
3. Substitute applesauce for shortening or oil in any baking recipe. Or go half and half to reduce the amount of fat.
4. Read labels carefully when shopping. High-fructose corn syrup turns up in the damnedest places, including canned vegetables.
5. Plan the week’s menu or at least a few meals before shopping; if you have all the ingredients and know what you’re making, it’s a lot easier to cook at home instead of grabbing fast food.
6. Don’t shop hungry. Much easier to resist temptation on a full stomach.
7. Start your morning with a good breakfast. Oatmeal is quick, easy, and inexpensive. It’s also good for your heart. Eating something nutritious early in the day is one very easy way to get your body off to a good start. Fruit and yogurt, a smoothie, whole wheat toast with peanut butter are all fast and easy. Breakfast doesn’t have to be a big production, but don’t skip it.
8. Do a little advance preparation to make cooking through the week easier. You can pre-cook rice, bake bread or muffins, grill meat, chop veggies. Double up on casseroles and freeze one. If you’ve already done some of the work ahead of time, it’s a lot easier to face cooking dinner after a busy day when you’re tired and hungry.
9. Institute a regular soup night. Ingredients go in the crockpot in the morning, and it’s ready at the end of the day. Serve with bread for an easy, fast meal that’ll help keep you and your budget lean.
10. If you really love something, eat the best and savor it instead of trying to live without it. This is assuming you don’t have say, diabetes, in which case this would be life-threatening. But as a general rule, I think denial is unhealthy and so is settling for a second-rate knock-off. If you’re going to have a donut, get the best donut you can find and live it up.
by Charlene Teglia | Apr 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
I’m building a nice collection of sticky notes on the paper ms. and comments in the electronic file, flagging places to expand, add scenes, and otherwise do higher-level revisions after this pass. I have not yet run amok with the pink highligher, but I have it handy.
I wanted to get through the first level of edits by the end of this weekend, and it looks like I’ll make it. As soon as I finish this pass, I will start in on the flagged spots.
Pass the Easter candy.
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