Writing Myths--Debunked?

If you missed this on Poets & Writers, read it. Seriously.

Where Do Ideas Come From?

With NaNo prep running rampant everywhere, the forums teeming with excellent plots and characters so alive you hear their pulse, isn't it remarkable there's so many ideas out there, so many stories to be told?

Sometimes it doesn't feel that way, does it? Sometimes, when you're facing that blank page, it seems there are no more ideas anywhere, everything sounds trite, cliched, boring. On these same forums I've heard the comment "all you guys have such great ideas, mine sucks" so often I keep having to check it's not the same person. No, it's not. But here's the clincher: that person's idea sounds awesome to me.

Where do ideas come from? Where do we get the inspiration for what we write? What kick-starts our imagination into a snowballing run that ends in that disorganized, ultra fertile mess of a novel's first draft? Do we all get inspired by the same things--overheard conversations, autobiographical stuff, a story in the newspaper that sparks a what if? Or do we have different sources? Because, see, if we share these sources, then the next time any of us is stuck in the myideassuck rut, we can try a different source.

NaNo Spotlight Interview

Today the great Chris Kelworth features me in his NaNo Spotlight series. Come on over and join the conversation!

NaNo update

NaNo begins in 15 days, and I'm beginning to have serious doubts on whether I can reach 50K or not. Last year, my first, was tough enough--I slacked there at the middle horribly, then had to rush to catch up.

My NaNo stats from 2011--note the slack there between
day 13 and day 21

St. Jorisbaai yesterday, storm clouds
in the horizon, no wind, water like
a mirror. Hot.

And that was the only thing I was doing.

Just broke 25K views!

According to Blogger's counter, Quiet Laughter just got 25,005 views--yay! A triple round of Tequila Gratitude for all you wonderful people out there that made this happen. You ROCK!

To Close Banned Books Week

In case you missed this on Flavorwire: Famous Authors' Funniest Responses To Their Books Being Banned. My favorites? No, no--don't make me choose. Please!

NaNoWriMo 2012

Last year was my first NaNo. Yeah, I won with 54K (or was it 52K? Oh, oops--50,582 :D Bit full of myself, aren't I?). As soon as it was over, though, I was already looking forward to the next one. And now IT'S. AROUND. THE. CORNER.

Who cares where the year went? Who cares I'm still tweaking my 1.5-year-old MS, haven't finished the NaNo project from last year? Who cares time is flying and we're one year closer to death? Who. Cares.

IT'S TIME FOR NANO!

So. Who's signing up? I just registered for this year (updated profile here), added a synopsis for the novel I'm planning to write (that would be Novel #3, thank you very much), and have started lurking in forums. Add me, and let's have some fun!

Romy's Story

The last weekend of September I got a call from CARF. "There's a dog at the dump," the woman said. "We've been feeding her for a while, and we think she's ready to be caught and brought to the vet. Can you foster her?"

Romy, at the dump where she was
found

Uh, yeah. But--at the dump? The garbage dump? Who throws away a dog like garbage?

"The rescuer will meet you at the vet's Monday morning."

The rescuer called me Sunday evening, a lovely Dutch woman, wife of a Marine officer, unfortunately only stationed here in Curaçao for a few more years. Why can't people like these stay around forever?

When I walked into the vet's waiting room, she was holding a reddish-yellow dog, smaller than I thought, on her lap. Huge eyes, all sweetness. Her legs were stiff from fear, but she let herself be moved over to my lap and we cuddled while we waited. She was so dirty--he-llo, a garbage dump--that I got a rash all over my arms and neck. Nothing that a good shower didn't cure, though.