Kalayna Price

It's been a while since I posted a 'what I'm reading' post, so I thought I'd do that today. I've been a bit more sporadic in my reading habits this year--probably due to several time consuming reasons, but I'm going to pretend I'm writing during what used to be some of my reading time. ^_^ I've also been pickier this year, and more of the books I read didn't make it to my 'great reads' list. I find the more I write, the more I pick apart books while I'm reading them, which annoyingly makes them less enjoyable. So, I'm going to highlight three books I enjoyed immensely (not to belittle other books on my great reads books for this year, but I had to narrow it down to a reasonable number, so these are the three that stand out the most in my mind.) Without further ado --and in no particular order--my top picks out of winter 2008 books. I think I mentioned Halfway to the Grave , by Jeaniene Frost , once before when writing on hooklin...

My work has a squirrel. Actually at first they thought it was a rat, then a squirrel, then a rat AND a squirrel, then they decided it was just a rat, and now it's a squirrel again. Confused yet? I'll back up. Several weeks ago, one of the bigwig guys in my office discovered he'd had a nighttime visitor who hit his secret stash of junk food and left little droppings behind. The assumption was that a rat crawled under the door and squeezed into the drawer full of food. The pest control people were called. Traps were baited and set. No rat. In fact, not only did the traps not catch a rat, but there was evidence that something had been sitting ON TOP of the traps (they were enclosed). Also, foot prints were found on pipes in the room, indicating the perpetrator was coming from the ceiling. Okay, not a rat, a squirrel. More traps were brought in--bigger, 'live' traps. Still nothing. At this point, the guy was getting pretty upset with the lack of results, and the fact h...

Last week, one of my fellow Tri Ms (Modern Myth Makers, the writing group that formed following NaNo last year) challenged me to write a short story targeted at a very specific line. I knew this would be something totally new for me, but as I had just finished my latest WIP, decided it would be a fun change of pace. I think that was Wednesday. At that point, I had no idea what I would write about in specifics, but I had lots of ideas that had been on the back burner. Some were obviously not a good fit for the paramaters of what I was trying to write, but over the last part of the week, I knocked enough ideas together to start a spark, worldbuild a little, and get some idea who my characters were. I did not write a full outline, but I did jot down some very basic notes of what had to happen in the story for it to be, well, a story. With that, Saturday I began writing. The word count goal of this story is 10-15k words. Now, as far as short stories go, 10k isn't that short. But, for...

I'm neck deep in plotting a short story, but I'm not ready to say much about it, so I thought I'd share some of the Comments from the MS I just finished. Rachel posts her comments to her blog once in a while, and they always fascinate/amuse me, so I hope you find mine just as interesting. The MS, which ended just under 80k, had a total of 158 comments. (For those unfamiliar with comments, they are a feature in word that highlights a section of text and puts a little bubble on the side of the page where additional text/notes can be written.) Some random comments from the first couple chapters: -"Find out the legal term for (place)" -"When talking about (deleted) is (deleted) capitalized?" -"Clunky" (referring to a paragraph I didn't like) -"Look up shoes" -"Did I give him a name earlier?" -"This is the idea. Now rewrite it to make it work." -"Long meandering description. Figure out what you want to say....

Well, after a very busy week and weekend, I finally got out those last few words and wrote, you guessed it THE END on my WIP. Granted, the word count came out a little lower than I expected for a first draft, (though only about 700 words less than I was projecting) but I know with the way I write, the second draft will flesh out what I wrote in this one. I also realized during the middle of the climax that I sort of forgot to kill someone (I know...how could I have forgotten something like that? But I did) so there are two scenes or so I didn't write, but I'll catch them in the second draft. Final wordcount: 79,287 / 79,287 (100%) Now, I will commence in a little happy dancing, and then put this MS in the drawer a couple weeks while I work on something else. There are a lot of projects I've been thinking about, so I'm not sparse on ideas. The question is what to work on next? Isn't that a great dilemma? ^_^ Happy Monday everyone!

Let me start this by going ahead and splashing the progress meter up: Current Progress: GW 74,824 / 80,000 (94.8%) As you can see, I'm just an inch above 5k from hitting the goal. Now I'll be honest, at this point I'm not sure if the first draft will end up a little over or a little under that 80k goal, but I'm thrilled to see such a tiny sliver left. I'm even more thrilled that I reached the climax scene while writing at lunch today. I was neck deep in the final confrontation between the MC and the 'bad guy' when the little 'ding' sounded reminding me to run (no time left for a casual stroll) back to work. So, I know it won't be long now until I'll be writing those two little, elusive words at the bottom of the MS. I can't wait! Have a great day everyone!

Today I want to talk about writing blurbs and pitches. Blurbs are used for many different things: they are included in query letters, pitched to agents/editors at a conferences, and some end up on book jackets. In all cases, the blurb serves the same purpose, to entice the intended audience into reading more. Most blurbs are only a couple lines long, maybe a couple paragraphs at most, and they have a lot to do in that small amount of space. Each word counts, and should work toward introducing main characters and throwing out a plot hook strong enough to draw in readers. I've written a handful of blurbs (that may or may not be any good) but all have been for 'first books'. A couple days ago, I had a chance to see my agent face to face, and she asked me to send her a blurb for the sequel to the book she is currently pitching to editors, so she can pitch it as a series with a little more authority. My first thought was, "Hey, no problem. I can do that." After all, I ...

Good Morning everyone, and happy Friday! It's wet and dreary here, but at least it's almost the weekend, and what a weekend it will be. Tomorrow is the annual SC Book Festival. (Well, technically some of the events start today but...) I try to make it to this festival every year, and it is the closest thing I've ever been to a conference. The festival is geared toward readers not writers, so aside from a handful of pay-per-class master classes, most of the panels are Q&A or Readings. All and all, a good way to rub elbows with some local (and a couple non-local) authors, and hang out with other book-lovers. Always a good thing. This year I won't be taking any classes, but two years ago, (my first time attending the festival) I did, and that choice made a major impact on what has occurred over the last two years. (Hopefully for the good, but only time will tell. Ask me when I'm 80.) That said, the class itself was only marginally helpful. Sure, I learned a couple ...

I was talking about hooklines with one of the "Tri M"s the other day, and she suggested I blog about it. Now, I know there are dozens of other, probably better informed, bloggers out there who have tackled the hookline topic, but I decided to give it a go. *Note: this post is completely composed of my own take on the subject gathered from what I've learned as a reader and what I've gleaned from other writers. As it is largely opinion, I may change it one day, and it may not be the same as other peoples.* Hooklines: What are they and why do readers want to read them? A hookline, in the sense I will be discussing today, is typically the first line (or paragraph) of a book. (Of course there are often hooks and hooklines at ends and beginnings of chapters, but that is a totally different discussion.) The hook is the first thing a potential reader finds when she/he opens a book, and hopefully grabs her attention. The best that I've read do at least a couple of the foll...

It's that day of the year that all the stores look like a bottle of peptobismol exploded on everything, cut flowers are way over priced, and chocolate shows up everywhere in cute little heart shaped boxes. Today, single people everywhere are twice as aware of that solo status, and the 'hottest' restaurants in town all have a full reservation list. Ah, Valentine's day...people either love it or hate it. It's a strange sort of holiday. People are probably on the right track accusing it of being just another consumer holiday, surely it's beginning has nothing to do with it's current condition, what with this being the anniversary of Saint Valentine's Martyrdom. But, it can be a sweet little day for couples. There are some customs I confess to not understanding. Like the whole umpteen dollar flower bouquets. To me, cut flowers are always like saying "Here is a beautiful symbol of our love. Now watch it wilt and DIE!" Okay, maybe that's a bi...

Recently there has been a lot of chatter about music, and what music writers use to 'set the mood' or what they see as 'soundtracks' to their novels. A couple of my favorite books from last year even came with a note on music in the back. (I believe both Kim Harrison and Carrie Vaughn do this, but as I am at work, and my books are at home--where I have no internet--I'm not 100% sure on that.) So, it got me thinking, do most writers create to music? Is it specific music? Do certain books have soundtracks, or is it more particular songs resonating with critical scenes? Personally, my music tastes are very eclectic. I might be listening to broadway one day, rock the next, and J-pop the day after that. Usually I think of music as white noise. If it's not there, I go nuts, but if there is too much (or something I don't know well enough to filter) it will distract me. But, I do gravitate toward certain types of sounds during the highest points of emotional scenes....

They say you learn something with every word you write. Well, I'm certainly learning today (I hope.) Today I'm tackling something new, and if you're glancing at the title of this post and trying to guess what it is, I'll you a hint: I've written LOTS of fight scenes. That's right, I'm writing my very first love scene today. Yes, I've written two novels with romantic subplots before, and while there is (hopefully) a lot of sexual tension and some 'hot' moments, the relationship doesn't progress all the way to the bedroom (though if I ever write the rest of the books plotted for the series, they will get there.) I also wrote a short story last year that included a heavy hand of romance, but I copped out and (if you will humor me by accepting a film-technique analogy) panned out at the bedroom scene. This WIP is different. I knew, almost from the get-go, that my main characters would end up rumpling the sheets at some point in the book. I starte...

Wow, what a hectic week last week was. The good news: all our stuff is out of the apartment and at the cabin, and our apartment has been cleaned top to bottom, passed inspection, and the keys have been turned in. We can wash our hands of it. The bad news: now all those boxes we packed have to be UNpacked. As promised, here are some pictures of the Cabin. These were taken before we moved in, so some of the previous tenant's stuff is still around, but you can see the attraction. I feel like I'm living at a writing retreat. Out one window I can watch the sunset over a spring-fed pond, and out another, the sunrise over the woods. There are deer around, and once in awhile I catch sight of my neighbor's horse on the other side of the pond. The cabin is rustic, and not real high on modern conveniences (or inside doors) but I'm hoping the lack of distractions will inspire me to get more work done (once we finally finish unpacking.) The hubbie an I actually made lots of progress...

Happy New year everyone! I know, I know, I'm rather late on this declaration, and most of you have already slid back into the routine of life and are going, "oh yeah, it is a new year, isn't it?" Late, Late, late. That's me. There were many posts I thought about writing during the last two months: Top lists of books from 2007, New Year's resolutions, a Merry Christmas wish to everyone. But, well, obviously I didn't. Some I might go back and do (like the top list of books) but others are well and truly passed at this point. I apologize for the long silence (even for me, almost two months is excessive.) I have been unwell recently, and I had to reserve my energy for other things. But, I think I'm finally in an upswing, and I hope to begin posting (at least somewhat) regularly soon. I'm moving this weekend (I'll post pictures of the log cabin I'm moving into in a later post) and my apartment key has to be turned over by the 31st, so it might n...

I know, I know, NaNo ended eleven days ago, and I am just NOW getting around to this post. I've been busy, I apologize. Every year I blog about something I learned during NaNo. Sadly, I didn't really learn anything ground breaking about how to improve my writing process this year. Hopefully with each word I write my skill continues to improve, but writing-wise, NaNo went rather predictably. Sitting down everyday gets the work done. Not getting on the computer leads to a slump, which, if I can just force my butt in the chair, I can get over after a few hundred words. I knew all of that before November started (though that doesn't mean I didn't have to remind myself of it.) I probably could have worked faster, but over all, I'm happy with what I accomplished. So what was the big gain? What did I walk away from NaNo with this year? You know, besides having half a manuscript finished in a month... Well, I learned a lot about balancing responsibilities. I might have bit ...

I hosted the final write-in last night at a local IHOP. This was a write-in with the potential of turning into an all nighter so those of us still trying to finish could make it. We lovingly titled it the "Oh Crap we're running out of time, write-in for slackers" (Okay, maybe that's just what I called it.) I crossed the 50k mark at 12:13 am on Day 30, so I'm done and officially a winner!!! (Now just to finish the book--which will probably be double my current word count, though my first draft goal will be a little lower) Progress bar: 50,084 / 50,000 (100.2%) *Happy dance* I hope everyone out there is doing well. I haven't posted much recently, so in the next few days I'll probably post a couple observations from this past month as well as my NaNoWrimo wrap up. Check back for updates. Have a good weekend!

Well, my other widget appears to be broken...so I found another one. This one isn't quite as visually appealing, but it has really cool statistics on it. Have a great day everyone!

Okay, time to take a short break from writing to dance around the living room because it's day 12 and I just hit the HALFWAY mark in the NaNoWriMo Challenge. *Dances* Current Word Count: 25,081 / 50,000 (50.2%) Okay, dancing over. Time to tuck back into writing, but I had to share first. Happy Monday everyone. Hope it's going well for you!

Not much of a post today, I just wanted to display the shiny new widget I found today. So, without further ado, let me unveil it: Tada! Happy Friday everyone. Keep pounding out those words.

When I was writing my plot outline, there were a couple places I knew I wanted to insert a subplot to get me from one point to another. Unfortunately, while plotting I didn't have any idea what that subplot would be, so I noted the chapter, put in a couple points of stuff that needed to happen before the next scene I knew and left myself the note "something happens here--not sure what. Subplot?" I actually have two chapters in a row where I did this. I guess I thought that by the time I got to the end of the outline I'd know what would go there. Instead I forgot all about it. Skip ahead a week to last night. It's NaNo day 7, and for the most part I've been making pretty good progress. I'm expanding and fleshing things out following the outline, a couple surprises here or there as my characters develop on the page, but so far this story has stuck very close to the outline, more so than anything else I've written. So, I'm trucking along, making most...