I always set my stories in fictional small towns in Western Washington. This time, I'm thinking of actually having my story take place in Seattle. With real Seattle landmarks and such! (You know, like how NICK & NORAH'S had certain real stuff in NYC.) Can anyone think of any YA stories that take place in Seattle? I want to try to make sure that the scenes I include don't have stuff that readers have seen bunches of times already.
I'm feeling a bit blah at the mo.
Yesterday, I started up a new class through MediaBistro taught by Liesa Abrams. I've posted my idea and outline to "get approval," but it will take a few days to get a response, I'm sure. In the meantime, I'm just stressing. About everything.
My department had a spa retreat today. It wasn't super elaborate, but we each got to choose one thirty-minute treatment from the list. Then we had catered lunch on the patio. I wasn't expecting recognition for being the person who did all the research and arranged the location, but I have to say, I was disappointed when my boss failed to even mention my efforts to the others. So, I guess deep down, I did expect some recognition, huh?
My treatment was a thirty-minute hydrotherapy mud bath. It was nice. I was alone in the room with dim lighting and relaxing music with the jets going and chocolate scent. It took a huge chunk of the session before my brain to actually stopped THINKING, THINKING, THINKING, so I could relax. And that's when I realized: I don't ever just relax. Ever. Even when I sit down to take an actual bath at home, it's to shave my legs, ponder writing ideas, or read a book or something. When I go to bed at night, I'm awake for an hour plus, thinking. If I'm ever sitting around, I'm considering all the things I should be doing.
But today in the mud bath, there was nothing else I could do but lie there. My relaxed, non-thinking time probably totaled about ten minutes. It was enough to make me see that it's pretty messed up that I've gone months on end -- years even -- without feeling as much peace as I had during those ten minutes. I mean, whoa. Getting out and going back to the party was a little hard to take, actually.
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fandoriaA) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs & replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.
B) Tag 8 people to do this quiz. These people must state who they were tagged by & cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.
1. What are your nicknames?
A great many people call me "Min." My husband used to call me "Lady" but now he calls me "Lover." My mom calls me "Miss Hohn" (which is my maiden name).
2. What do you do before bedtime?
Dick around on the internet, brush my teeth, wash my face, and fall into bed where I lie awake for an hour minimum.
3. What magazines do you have subscriptions to?
"Oh, just lickin' my dick." -- spoken by Todd Gaines (played by Timothy Olyphant) in the movie GO in response to the question, "What you doing?"
My second-favorite is from EMPIRE RECORDS. Renee Zelleweger as Gina: "Well, Sinead O'Rebellion. Shock me, shock me, shock me with that deviant behavior."
4. What is your favorite scent? What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
I'm a big fan of Ben & Jerry's Neopolitan Dynamite. I really, really want to try Good Bye Yellow Brickle Road. If only I could!
5.
If you had a million dollars that you could spend only on yourself, what would you do with it?
Buy a car with a working speedometer! Remodel my house. Take trips to visit my friends and family in Florida, Arizona, New Hampshire, New York, California, and England.
6. What is your theme song? Do you have any custom ringtones set on your phone?
Yes, I do! Thank you for asking! For my sister, I have The Killers' "Andy, You're a Star." Because it's our favorite of their songs. For my husband, I have "Teenage Dirtbag" by Weetus. Because we are a couple of saps.
7. Do you trust easily?
I'm a pretty suspicious person, by default. When someone succeeds in winning me over and later screws things up, I'll never trust them fully again.
8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think?
Think. I'm always thinking, thinking, thinking.
9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
It's my seven-year wedding anniversary tomorrow! Seven years ago, at this very minute, we were on a flight to Vegas, after which, we got our marriage license at midnight. Good times, good times. (9/11happened two days after we got home.)
10.
Do you have a good body-image?
I think so. The only thing I'd change (without making the slightest effort, of course) is my tummy. It doesn't bother me much, but my husband is more into abs than anything else. Gives me a bit of complex, I guess.
11.
Is being tagged fun?
Well, it does make me feel like, "Yay! Someone remembered me!" But then... I have to take the time to answer the questions. It's a mixed bag, I guess. :-)
12.
What websites do you visit daily?
Too fricken many. (A few: LJ, Verla's, three e-mail accounts, Twitter, my friends' various blogs, the google group my crit group posts on.)
13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately?
Bottle Caps candy , One Tree Hill , and Nightmare of You
14 What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
From her posts and the comments she leaves for people, I think
fandoria is kind, thoughtful, sensitive, and hardworking. Normal 0
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"Herbal Jazz Cigarette" by Nightmare of You.
16.
What’s your favorite item of clothing?
l love my Lucky brand jeans more than just about anything, followed closely by my Privo shoes.
17.
Do you think Rice Crispies are yummy?
Yeah, but I like Coco Krispies better.
18. What would you do if you see saw $100 lying on the ground? Which Beanie Baby is your favorite?
Snip, of course!
1 What items could you not go without during the day?
My computer plus internet access! (And, yet, I do survive on occasion anyway.)
20. What should you be doing right now?
Okay, so I'm going to tag these people: mandywriter , lilrongal , cahra , nani_kai , angie_frazier , kazdreamer , x_think_twice , meredith_wood
Last night, my husband and I were hanging out at Third Place Books. As usual, I was looking through the YA section to see what all was going on there. It's pretty interesting thinking back to aught-four when I first decided I was going to write YA. I was so out of the loop not having read much from the genre since Sweet Valley High and Cynthia Voigt's Dicey Tillerman books. So, I read over a hundred YA titles that summer (most of them library books) of all different types, and I've kept on going with it. Now, I recognize many books by their spines without even focusing, and am familiar with writers on every shelf!
I always have this longing in the YA section. Like, I just want to see my book on the shelf! Last night, my husband sat on the floor and read his drum magazine while I sat beside him looking at the books around me. It was kind of a deja vu-y feeling, sitting with him like that, because we worked at a bookstore together from 1996 - 1999. (It's where we met and fell in love and all that.) I joked that we should make out, but he said he'll only make out in YA with me when one of my books is for sale there. Well, there's some incentive, right?
Anyway, I started thinking and wondering whether YA has "room" for my stories. If I have ideas that are fresh enough, but that still fit in the confines of the genre. If my ideas are relatable and of interest to teens. I'd love to think so, but I'm not sure right now. I do know that an idea I've been clinging to with my current WIP just doesn't work. It would be great if it did, but it doesn't. Even when I work out the logistics storywise, it doesn't feel YA. It doesn't belong on those shelves. My big internal struggle has been, should I write it this way and call it an adult novel or should I change that one (major) element to make it YA?
Last night, in the YA section, I decided to change the story. I figured out what to do with the part that was really holding me back. It was weird--and inspiring--because as soon as I'd made the decision, it was like a certain heaviness had lifted from the whole story... and from me. I don't feel so conflicted and uncomfortable over my theme anymore. I think this might just work out now.
What are those things called that are supposed to block off railroad tracks at intersections so that cars don't go through? They're just wooden bar things that are flipped up most of the time, but are lowered when trains are near. And I think they are red and white and have lights on them?
