I am neckdeep in calculating final grades and processing a plagiarist (seriously, if you’re going to take the time to plagiarise from five different sources, is it really that much more trouble to actually cite them correctly?), so in lieu of my own thoughts, I am passing you on to this most hilarious rendition of Star Wars characters on Facebook.

As many of you know, I teach online classes in addition to my Evil Day Job.  The semester is winding down for me and this is the point when it becomes so painfully apparent that online classes are NOT for everyone.  Why is that?  Well excluding the fact that a number of students are under the mistaken impression that online classes are easier and that computer difficulties will automatically give them some kind of free pass, it comes down to the fact that online classes only REALLY work for self-directed people.  At the start of the semester, I provide a very detailed syllabus with a course calendar that lists all due dates for every assignment.  I do provide announcements, preset for each week about what’s due, but I don’t send out email reminders except for major tests.  I expect students to use the coures calendar and a day planner and keep up with it themselves.  This is college, after all.  It’s part of being a grown up.

It occurred to me that the ability to self-direct without having someone hovering over you with reminders or whatnot, is a necessary skill of successful writers.  The thing that differentiates them from all those people who say they want to write a book, who may sit down at the beginning of November or some other time of year and say “I will do this” and the people who actually DO IT, is the ability to self direct.  The discipline to keep up with it, make writing a priority no matter what else is going on in life.

I’ve got that on my mind today as the December Novel Push Initiative kicks off.  Holidays and life and last second trips to pick up motorcycles as surprise presents for father in laws (from mother in law) are going to interfere, but I’ve got to stay self directed and get my butt in chair for minimum 250 a day.

I can do this…

Tomorrow is December 1st, the first day of the last month of 2009.  While Pot is already off on a New Year’s Intentions tangent this week, I’ve got my eye on the various projects I want/need to finish before the month is out.  December is one of my favorite months of the year, not only because it’s the Christmas season and the fact that it’s cold (for Mississippi), but because my semesters wind up at school, I get two week’s vacation, and it’s the time of year I can really indulge in writing (usually).

Among the things I want to knock out are getting my Theories of Personality class set up–though I’ve finished writing the lectures, there’s still a LOT to do, so on today’s To Do list is actually making a detailed list of what those things are.  I also want to knock out a big chunk or possibly the entire final chunk of the first draft of my novella.  500 words a day isn’t unrealistic, but I’d rather not put the pressure on myself, so if it happens, it happens.  If it doesn’t, it doesn’t, and I’ll finish in January.   I also want to carve off 4.5 pounds by Christmas–which would be no brainer easy if it wasn’t, you know, Christmas–which means all those high fat, high cal parties.  It was 3 pounds until Thanksgiving and, well, you know how that goes.   I’ll be using my Wii Fit Plus to help me on that front.  And of course there’s putting together the last of the Christmas presents.   I’ve got massive quantities of bread to bake, a mailbox to paint, some name plaques to decorate for my new nephew (which is not for Christmas–I’m just that far behind), a mailbox post to build, and some more clean out to do in the house prior to the houseful of guests arriving on Christmas Day.

In the meantime, I’ve got Evil Day Job stuff to knock out, so I’ll have to cut this short.

What are you winding up as the year draws to a close?

I’ve been thinking about series endings and metaplots lately.  Hubby and I have been marathon watching Bones, and we just hit the end of season 3 and started season 4 in which poor Zack became a victim of the writer’s strike by being framed for a serial murder nobody actually believes he committed and in which they broke up Angie and Hodgins–because they (the writers) suck.  My friend Crystal assures me that the show does recover from the suck, so I will keep watching.  But it made me think about various other shows that were victims of the writers’ strike or have just flat been sent to the TV land graveyard.  Shows that were written with cliffhanger season endings designed to make you salivate for the next one–when there was no next one to be had.  Kyle XY was one of these.  Absolutely NOTHING was resolved at the end of the final season.  It was painfully obvious that they had planned on getting the show renewed and when they weren’t, fans were just screwed.  At least with Jericho and Dollhouse, they tied up ENOUGH loose ends that fans were–well if not satisfied, at least got some kind of resolution.  Serenity did that for Firefly.  It sucked.  I’m not a fan of killing off half the cast for no good reason, but at least they tied up the storyline.

Given the threat of cancellation, it seems like writers should give some thought to the endings of each season or book such that if the contract isn’t renewed, fans aren’t left in the lurch.  I’m not talking about books where there is a guaranteed trilogy or x number series.  But for series that are longer, broader, with no definitive end in sight, there’s always the possiblity that the latest book won’t live up to the sales numbers the publisher wants and the author won’t get the chance to finish out the broader storyline.

So how does an author or screenplay writer deal with this possibility?  How do you deliver a satisfying resolution, yet leave enough unanswered questions that readers/viewers will come back for more if there is more, but won’t be squawking foul play if there isn’t more?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I’ve been MIA the last few days.  I can’t say I’ve been a lazy bum, as I’ve actually been quite busy doing assorted home improvement projects, the latest of which was repainting the wrought iron railing and columns on the front of the house.  Progress is being made!  The last projects of this year are framing out the bathroom mirror and flooring more of the attic, which can’t be done until we have all the Christmas stuff out of the way.  That will be next weekend, as Hubby has declared that there will be no Christmas movies until the house is decorated.

After two lousy weeks of fiction production, I set myself a goal to just write SOMETHING, anything this week.  I started back on the scene I was stalled out on and got 277 words Tuesday night, but didn’t do much during the Thanksgiving holiday courtesy of guests and the fact that my mom hijacked my computer during her visit.  But I sat down this evening and churned out 946 words.  I’m not quite done with the problem scene, but I hope to knock it out tomorrow.  And of course, the next round of Novel PI is coming up December 1st, so I”m hoping to be prepared for the last 15,000 words.

The other thing I’ve been busy with the last few days is my latest addiction to my new Wii Fit Plus.  I had gotten the Wii Fit for my birthday, but I never used it much as the navigation took too long and there’s not all that much room in my living room for the yoga and strength training I liked.  But I decided to pick up Wii Fit Plus and I am ADDICTED!  It allows you to set your own routines and has a favorites list, plus it has a lot more games.  I’m frigging addicted to the boxing game, and I’ve already worked my way up to expert.  Two 10 minute rounds burns 100 calories.  That works for me in conjunction with the other stuff I’m already doing.  I probably should’ve waited until after Christmas, but I’m hoping it will keep me from putting on the Christmas pudge.

Exams are upon us and in another week and a half, I’ll have final grades turned in, and for 3 weeks, I will have a single job to worry about while I put my Theories of Personality class together.  For THAT I am thankful.

I’m finished!  Sadly, no, not with the novella, but today (actually yesterday by the time you read this), I knocked out the last of my lectures for the theories of personality class I’m teaching next semester.  That’s TWELVE, count ‘em, TWELVE lectures researched, written, scripted, and PowerPointed in 6 weeks.  On top of the Evil Day Job and the Less Evil Side Teaching Jobs.  My primary NaNo goal is complete!  Granted, I still have to animate and record said lectures, write all the quizzes and exams, write the discussion questions, write the syllabus, create the course calendar, upload all materials to the course shell, set due dates, and write announcements, all before January 6th.  Yeah, I could do the rest as I go along, but the entire point of this insanity was to make next semester easier on myself.  So I still have a lot to do, BUT the rest of it (other than the test writing) won’t take NEARLY the brain power that lecture writing for a class I have never taught requires.

So tonight (last night actually), I did a full re-acquaint me read-through of the six written chapters of the novella.  There was chocolate.  Wine was considered.  It’s offended that I ran off and left it this long, so I’m having to coax it past feelings of abandonment and rejection.  But the good news is that I still love it.  I’m very happy with what I have so far (despite the assortment of bracketed notes on world building stuff I still need to make up).

Then I came up against The Scene.  The one I’ve been balking at for three weeks.  It just wasn’t working, even though it was the next logical step in the plot.  If you’re gonna storm a secret military base, you have to do reconnaissance, or you’re just flat committing suicide.  But no matter how I set it up, whose head I put it in, or what details I included, it just wasn’t working.  So for the heck of it, I decided to whip out the tarot cards and do a reading to see if that jarred any of my creative juices loose.

All signs point to skipping the reconnaissance mission and moving on to the next scene in which an unexpected access point presents itself.  Okay, that’s fine.  I just have to decide if this happens after a failed reconnaissance mission that can be summed up in a line or two of dialogue, or if they just never got that far.

And yet rather than buckle down and start on that scene, I have tweeted about the arrival of my new nephew (Gideon MacArthur, 7 pounds 7 oz. at 7:32 PM), I have done dishes, I have painted baseboards and cabinet doors in my bathroom, I have graded finals and calculated the probable curve I can pull off in both classes, I’ve sent off email, and I’ve sat down to write tomorrow’s (today’s) blog post.

It’s official.  I have page fright.

I started off November kicking butt.  I had a really strong first week and a half on NaNo before real life set in, as it always does.  I have continued to kick butt on all the lecture writing, to the point that I’m down to one lecture (which I hope to be finishing this afternoon).  I stalled out on the novella about a week and a half ago and have pretty much avoided it ever since.  My brain has, instead, insisted on traipsing off to visit old projects, resurrecting assorted loved books that were abandoned in the Dreaded Valley of the Shadow of the Middle, revisiting them and working to apply all the story structure stuff I’ve learned this year.  I’m falling back in love with the book I was writing last year, as well as the Christmas novella I worked on before that.  And that’s all well and good if I decide to shift gears in January and work on one of those before I write Draft 2 of HiS.

But for the love of Pete, I really must get back to this novella.  I must buckle down and finish.  Since I need a hand getting back into the routine of daily writing, I’ve signed up for another Novel Push Initiative.  The founder, Nick Enlowe, is hosting a Laid Back Edition of Novel PI.  We’re shooting for 250 words a day on ANYTHING, with 3 days of reprieve.  I had already thought about hosting a January Novel PI (and may still) in honor of the New Year and establishing (or re-establishing) good writing habits, but this is just what I need to ease back in.  Somehow December feels better for writing for me than November because finals wind up, grades are turned in, I get 2 weeks off…so…yeah.  Come join us!

What a lovely thing to wake up to on a Monday morning.  Deniz Bevan from The Girdle of Melian has nominated me as one of five recipients of the Superior Scribbler Award!  Thanks Deniz!

Of course it’s my turn to pass it along to others.

Here are the rules:

• “Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
• Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
• Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.
• Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor! (As WordPress doesn’t allow Mr. Linky, this is the link to the original Superior Scribbler Award on Scholastic Scribe: http://scholastic-scribe.blogspot.com/2008/10/200-this-blings-for-you.html)
• Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.”

So, without further ado, I present the Superior Scribbler Award to the following:

Merrilee Faber of Not Enough Words, who got me into the Novel Push Initiative.

C.J. Redwine of The Last Word, who always makes me laugh.

Kari Lynn Dell of Montana for Real, who really makes me want to live on a ranch (though I already did before–she just gives a lovely day to day glance at the life)

Carrie Cleaver of Mindspeak, who consistently delivers amazing Flash Friday fiction.

Kerry Allen (clearly I know way too many Carrie/Kari/Keri/Kerrys) of the Lurve Emprorium, who has left me hanging on the next installment of the Pipirse of the Cocao Bean and I’m hoping to bribe for more.

Any of you who have been around here for a while know that I spent several years writing romantic suspense.  When I came back to writing seriously after grad school, it was a romantic suspense that I’d been toying with for years that I set about finishing.  Shortly after that is when I started developing that notion for branding myself with Murder and Magnolias–Mississippi based romantic suspense.  Nobody else does it, so it seemed like a brilliant little niche I could create for myself.  And I still feel that way.  I spent 2 or 3 years working on that project, creating spin offs, developing my fictional Mississippi towns and their inhabitents.  I was working solidly on a Mississippi based ghost story/romantic suspense when this time last year I was beaten over the head with the idea for Hunted in Shadow.  Because I’d been struggling with Til Death not having a really solid plot (solid characters, solid setting, solid voice, but missing something in the plot department) for a while, and because I was really kind of tired of RS and needed a change of pace, I decided to run with HiS.  And that’s what I’ve been working on all this year.  And of course I’ve envisioned a series here, and created a world that I could, in theory, build a career off of.  I redesigned my blog (again), started working on branding/platform, have been working on a novella I plan to give away as a freebie to build readership.

And then as I was strolling through the crowded aisles of Kroger on Friday night, protecting my 13+ pound turkey from the masses and quietly celebrating the fact that I really did find panko breadcrumbs (clearly it doesn’t take a lot to make me happy), Wyatt (hero from Til Death) decided to pop up and say hello.  So I came home and reread the last draft of what I had left off with–91 pages of pretty damn awesome if I do say so myself.  I really loved that story.  I love those characters.  And I love my voice with that book.  It’s romantic suspense but with a light, comic touch that I am apparently pretty good at.

That light comic thing really frustrated me during those 2 or 3 years I was working on RS because except for Til Death, I was usually trying to write about these really emotionally damaged characters.  I pull it off with my villains, but I kinda suck at doing it with my hero or heroine.  Obviously, it’s something that would probably get better with practice, but since I am good at the slightly light, comic side, it seems like I should go with it.

Anyway, since 2009 has been all about plotting and story structure, and I’ve learned so much, I want to go back and revisit Til Death and see if I can’t nail down the major plot points based on story structure.  It seems like since I now have a much more solid idea of what was lacking in a lot of my prior plots, that I can go back to projects that I abandoned in the midst of the Dreaded Valley of the Shadow of the Middle, and rescue them.  There are a lot of stories I love that need rescuing.

So…I’m not sure what that means in terms of what I’ll be working on this next year.  I haven’t written a single word in the last week, so I will definitely be up for punishment tomorrow at Mission:Accountability.  I still have to finish that last lecture (lots to cover on the moderate behaviorists), which I HOPE to do Monday and Tuesday.  I think my brain has just needed a break.  And then we’ll see.  I’m still hoping to knock out the novella first draft by New Year’s.  I’m right at halfway, so we’ll see.  Then, the plan is to start on draft 2 of HiS, but if I get a solid plot outlined for Til Death then…well, we’ll see.

The fact that I’m revisiting the romantic suspense side of things brings up something that I’ve been pondering about.  I write in two very different genres.  I mean, there’s romance and suspense in both, but one side is very specifically other world paranormal romance and the other is straight up, more traditional romantic suspense.  I know that it’s possible that if I wind up published in both, it’s possible my publisher may recommend that I publish one under one pen name and one under the other as a matter of branding.  But of course I’m not published yet, so I don’t want to expend a lot of energy trying to brand two DIFFERENT pen names until I know which one I’ll actually get published with–the paranormal romance or the Mississippi based romantic suspense.  Since I do plan to pursue both, I’ve been trying to figure out how to reflect that on my blog.

I was thinking maybe a theme that’s sort of a split personality.  Something that shows in the header with Kait Nolan in the middle, the Murder and Magnolias sort of pictoral theme on one side, and the Mirus world stuff with wolves and fangs and whatever spooky stuff on the other.  I’ll have to consult my fantastic web designer once she’s done giving birth (any day now!).  She did such an amazing job with Pots and Plots that I’d really like to have her do something here.  So anybody have thoughts or suggestions on that front?  I mean, I could do something generic, but that doesn’t sound like nearly as much fun.

Because I am hard at work on this LAST LECTURE (all cheerleading is welcome), I have to share a video worth a lot of belly laughing.

My husband has been saying since the first trailer came out that the wolves looked like Snufalufagus.  Damn that just doesn’t get old.  :wipes tears of laughter away: