Nothing

Nothing

Every breath I take filled with emotionless air.
Suffocating in nothingness for too many years.
Unable to hurt, to cry, to love.
Not even a sliver of guilt
When you tell me I don’t care.
So fed up with pretending,
The facade is slowly breaking.
Nothing left to give, Nothing left to take.
Will you stay beside me if I finally let you see?
Or, will you leave if I take down my defenses
In order for you to glimpse,
The nothing that is me.

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Eclectic Monday!

Today on Eclectic Monday I would like to share one of my favorite poems written by Queen Elizabeth I, (Yes, you read that right) entitled On Monsieur’s Departure.

ON MONSIEUR’S DEPARTURE
Queen Elizabeth I

I grieve and dare not show my discontent,
I love and yet am forced to seem to hate,
I do, yet dare not say I ever meant,
I seem stark mute but inwardly to prate.
I am and not, I freeze and yet am burned.
Since from myself another self I turned.

My care is like my shadow in the sun,
Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it,
Stands and lies by me, doth what I have done.
His too familiar care doth make me rue it.
No means I find to rid him from my breast,
Till by the end of things it be supprest.

Some gentler passion slide into my mind,
For I am soft and made of melting snow;
Or be more cruel, love, and so be kind.
Let me or float or sink, be high or low.
Or let me live with some more sweet content,
Or die and so forget what love ere meant.

And, just for fun here’s a clip of me dancing at the Renaissance Faire.  I am the one in green at the beginning of the clip. Also, please note I’d only had six months of lessons during this time, lol.

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Ecletic Monday & The Seven Deadly Writing Sins

Okay so everybody knows the seven sins right? Lust, Greed, Envy, Gluttony, Despair, Sloth and Extravagance, depending on which list you’re going off of, and yes, I’m not proud to say, I did have to look up the last four. 

Well, writers have their own version of each of one of these unappealing traits.  In fact, I’ve read several posts now naming the seven sins and how they affect a writer’s productivity.  Envy being one of the most debilitating sins to catch.

So, for your enjoyment, here is my  list of the seven deadly sins for writers and how we fall victim to each.

1. Books–The carefully crafted novels written by other writers in order to distract you from finishing your own WIP, which will no doubt be more brilliant and make more money than their’s.  That is…if you ever finish it. 

2. Contests–Writer’s are like small children, we see one shiny penny and we have to pick it up.  Inevitably, one blog with a contest has a link to another blog with a contest and since we writer’s are poor by trade, we’re also cheap, and can’t miss out on a chance to win free crap.  Whether we really want it/need it, or not.

3. Chocolate–Many writers seem to keep this handy while writing.  It doesn’t so much hinder our writing, but does make us incredibly fat when we hit a rough patch in our WIP. 

4. Coffee–The necessary sidekick to every writer that provides the right amount of pick-me up before getting to work on your WIP.  Unfortunately we’re so addicted the doctor has limited us to one cup a day and now we find ourselves falling asleep before twelve.  In the afternoon.

5. television–The reward for reaching any goal.  But often has no time limit and may lead into hours, sometimes days of writing time that you’ll never get back.  On the other hand, you completed your mini-marathon of How I Met Your Mother and it was Legend–wait for it–Dary.

6. Blogging–This one is tricky because we think we’re doing something good.  We’re writing down our daily struggles, making witty posts, connecting with others and building our platform, which, I’ve been told, is essential.  Right?  But then the hour you were spending developing a post and responding to comments, suddenly grows into two, three, four hours of reading and responding to everyone’s blog who took the time to read and comment on yours and between your real job and that thing called sleep, all you did was blog.  Another day wasted.

7. The Internet–Like a double-edged sword, so to is the internet.  It’s helpful in varying degrees of situations, like you’re writing and all of a sudden cannot remember the difference between effect/affect, so you go to yahoo, type it in, and nobody knows you slept through every English class you’ve ever taken.  But then there’s the research.  You’ve gotten to a great part and decide this is the scene where you want to add an extra layer of meaning, maybe allude to an ancient myth from Greek, Japanese, or Native American lore.  That’s when you find yourself checking your facebook, reading news articles from yahoo and obsessively refreshing your e-mail account, while repeating, I’m doing research, I’m doing research, to yourself over and over again.

So which of these seven deadly writing sins do you fall under?  Can you think of anymore?

Oops I just thought of another one.  Sin number eight, misplacing pencil after I’m done using it.  I really should work on putting it back away.

Don’t forget, I want to post your short stories and poems on my blog.  If you are  interested, please send me an E-mail at ejeglin(at)yahoo(dot)com.

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Natalie Whipple Interview!

Today I am excited to share my interview with Natalie Whipple over at Between Fact and Fiction and I would like to thank lbDiamond for her awesome question. Now on to the interview:

1.  What inspired you to become a YA author?

I’m not sure I was inspired, it was more that my stories kept ending up in that range. When I first thought of publishing, I actually wanted to do pictures books. Since I like to draw and write, I thought that would work. Except I couldn’t think of a good idea, and I hated to put that kind of pressure on my art. Art is my hobby, and I fully intend to keep it that way.

Then I attempted a middle grade novel. That lasted, oh, 10 pages.

Finally I decided to go back to a story I wrote in high school and redo it. While it still didn’t turn out very well, it was the first novel I finished. And the reason I finished, I think, was because I actually enjoyed writing about a teenager. Not that I would ever want to be one again, but it seemed like a comfortable place for me to be. I felt like I could grasp the voice better than in anything else I’d tried.

2.  It’s important to both develop/describe the world you’ve created, but it’s also important to keep the action going.  How do you balance description and pacing?

Well, I mostly do it in editing, honestly. In the first draft, sometimes you don’t know how the pacing is because you can’t see the big picture yet. The book isn’t done. It’s hard to see what is necessary and what isn’t.

But in edits? You can see how one chapter drags and another goes by too fast. You can see where a scene needs fleshing out or pruning. You can put the information where it needs to go, instead of where you thought it up in drafting.

When it comes to balance, it all depends on what kind of book you intend to write. Different genres require different paces, and there’s even variance within genres. I suggest reading popular writers in your genre to see how they pace a book. Assess if you like it,or if you don’t. Think about how you want to handle it. There’s not really a hard right or wrong on this one.

3.  A hot topic right now is three-dimensional characters.  How do you make your characters pop off the page?

You have to know your characters, and that takes time. Sometimes I think I know them, but half way through a draft they “open up” and the whole book gets thrown off by what they finally tell me. Or maybe I get lazy and don’t really get to know them, because it does take work to fabricate a fake person in your head.

I think the most important thing is capturing your character’s voice. Not to say your book needs to be in first person, just that you have to know them. They have to talk to you. Am I making any sense? You really do have to know what they want. You have to know what they like, what they hate. You have to know their past, how they deal with it, etc.

Not all of this goes on the page, mind you. But you still have to know it. It will show if you know it.

4.  What has changed the most since you’ve landed an incredible agent?

Honestly, not much. Writing is still hard sometimes. I still have a family to take care of and lots of things to prevent me from working. It IS nice to have professional feedback though, to have someone in the business on your side.

5. You created Happy Writer Society.  What exactly is it and how can other writers participate?

The Happy Writers Society is dedicated to erasing writer angst. I started it because I was sick of stressing out over publishing, and I decided I wanted to be happy at every moment on the journey. Or at least trying to be happy. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few years, it’s that accomplishments don’t make you happy for very long. There’s always another goal ahead, another hurdle to pass. You have to choose to be happy at each point.

As for how others can participate in HWS, I post every Friday and am open to guest posts as well. The information on submitting is on my blog under the Happy Writers Society tab. Besides that, spread the happiness and you are automatically a member.

Thanks again to Natalie for taking the time to answer my questions.  You can follow Natalie at Between Fact and Fiction by clicking here.  Also, Natalie is no longer represented by Nathan Bransford, he, unfortunately for the writing community, has taken a job at CNET, but has left Natalie in the more than capable hands of Anna Webman.

Now it’s time for me to find my pencil, which means I will be wondering aimlessly through a pack of wild wallabies waiting pounce. ;p

P.S. I’ve been toying with idea of hosting short stories, poems, etc. on my blog, so leave me a yes/no/maybe so in the comments and don’t forget to check out Natalie’s site.

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