The Creation of the seal for the Order of Twenty-four

The Creation of the seal for the Order of Twenty-four

Five simple steps to looking like an idiot

1)      Be 49

2)      Take up jogging

3)      Run as slowly as grandma

4)      Run like you’re going to stop any minute

5)      Look as pained as if you’re Prometheus*, having your liver torn out by a giant eagle.

Lately, life has thrown me a very humbling curve ball. I went to see a life coach, and he challenged me to take up jogging – he had the cheek to say I wasn’t doing enough aerobic exercise! I knew I'd walked strenuously every day for 20-30 years. I knew I was fit. Why did I need to do more?

The very next morning, I started jogging. When I say “jogging”, I ran down the last hill, five minutes before my house. And it just about killed me. My heart pounded like a baby alien trying to claw its way out of my chest. I felt I couldn’t breathe, and strange fat on the outside of my thighs—that I never knew existed—shook and juddered as if my legs had taken on a life of their own. Turns out I wasn’t as fit as I thought I was which actually came as a shock.  My ego was hurt. When I reached home, at last, I was honest-to-goodness sweating and my face was beetroot! The whole thing was an exercise in embarrassment.

 

(Keep smiling becomes my mantra) 

 

A few days later, I added another downhill slope, despite the fact that every added step made me feel how tired and old my body had become. All pride I'd ever felt about my years of exercise fell away. Who knew running was so hard?

Next, I added a stretch of flat road. To run any further was pushing me to my absolute limits, especially the first ten minutes of punishment, when I never knew from one minute to the next if I’d be able to keep going. From a bird’s eye view, I saw myself faltering along the sidewalk like an old woman, taking tottering little steps. I'd get home, drenched in sweat and my face like a plum.

Jogging, I decided, was pure torture. But I’d been challenged! There was no way I could back out.
 

 

                                                  (Keep smiling, dagnabit) 

A few weeks passed, and I added another flat stretch and downhill run. I still took mincing steps, still thought I was going to die the whole way, and still came home covered in sweat, my face too-red.

It takes a lot to become aerobically fit, apparently. Stupid jogging.

Chalk up two months of adding a yard of distance every day, and I’m at the point now where I only have to walk the very steepest part of the uphill sections. I run the rest of the way. So that's progress. I still come home covered in sweat and my face carrot. However, I can truthfully say to my life coach now that, I’m a jogger. I’ll keep to myself the fact that I’ve never felt so tragically old or pathetic.

However, I'm assured running is good for me. So I shall persevere!

 

                   (My gran always used to say, 'give away your smiles, they're free')
 

Have you ever tried jogging? Love or hate running? I'm definitely in the 'not sure' camp....

See ya in the funny papers!

Ttl,
Yvette :-)

 

*Prometheus was a Titan who Zeus punished by chaining him to the Caucasus Mountains. Prometheus had to suffer having a giant eagle tear chunks out of his liver every night only to have the liver magically re-grow every morning, so that Prometheus’s punishment was never-ending.

How do you consider your readers and stay true to your soul?

The first Wednesday of every month is officially InsecureWriter’s Support Group day! It's a wonderful way of supporting other starter bloggers, like myself, on this new, exciting journey into the world of blogging.

 

I had an interesting conversation this week with a friend. I’d regaled her with the story of how my original idea for my book, Aden Weaver & the Or'in of Tane Mahuta was for the setting to be an ‘alternate version of earth’ (a la Philip Pullman’s, His Dark Materials trilogy). However, not a single person in my critique group thought the setting in my story worked. They felt ‘pulled out of the story’ by references to earth, and they suggested I create a more fantastical setting. The good folks who receive my newsletter weighed in by casting their votes on a number of potential names I gave them for a fantasy world. End result: a new setting called Planet Chiron.

My friend was aghast. “What I’m getting is that you should stick to your vision for the story,” she said, “your critique group is not writing your story, you are. So stay true to you.”

Talk about instant conflict!

There’s a fine road to tread between considering the reader, and staying true to oneself.

In my fiction, I write a lot about non-humans. My early picture book manuscripts were about bugs. I sent these to a well-respected assessor, whose response started out with, ‘Great stories. But lose the insects.’ I asked one of my writing teachers, Kate de Goldi, about this advice. She said, ‘Don’t think about getting published, write whatever your compulsion in your soul is to write. If you’re writing about insects, you’re there for a reason.’

In the end, I decided on a compromise. I'm sticking with my beloved insects, and my own vision for these books. However, I have also heeded my critique group's advice that the setting wasn't working. It felt like a small 'wiggle' which didn't detract from the heart of the story. This is after all, what a critique group is for, to give you the sort of feedback which might come from a cross-section of the reading public. It's a way of testing how well you've delivered your ideas. It's a way of 'considering the reader'.

Yet the core has to be your personal truth.

Go with what feels natural to write, I say, if it's animals for you, or monsters from Wackakazoo go for it. My characters in the Aden Weaver series are an ancient insect species that can change their shape from insect to human, thanks to their alien ancestors. I'm expecting it not to be for everyone! However, I really do believe in writing what you're drawn to write. 

Anne Rice ~ Protect your voice and your vision . . . Do what gets you to write, and not what blocks you. And no matter where you are in your career, whether you're published, unpublished, or just starting out, walk through the world as a writer. That's who you are, and that's what you want to be, and don't take any guff off anybody.

 

Thanks for reading. See ya' in the funny papers!

Tell me, how do you 'protect your voice and your vision'?

Yvette K. Carol

 

Staying Sane

My online writer friends and I have been talking about the perils of social media lately. Writers have to build a social platform because so much of what happens in business these days depends on social media outlets. I know a lot of authors who feel pressured to show up on every site and they feel overwhelmed with the job. I hate to tell you this, Facebook, but a lot of people don’t like you. They say the reason FB works regardless is because it’s bred into us to like to tell stories and jokes and entertain, as it provides us social proof of our value.

A few years ago, when I started to think about building my 'brand' (based on the author branding plan, Primal Branding by Patrick Hanlon), I was running around like a headless chicken. I stuck a finger in every social media pie until I ran out of fingers. I found it impossible to keep up with them all. My writer friends over at Writing for Children and I decided that the only way to stay sane was to cut down to the social media options we most enjoyed.

It’s a simple principle, one in which my eleven-year-old heartily agrees. Sam has Down Syndrome. We have a monthly calendar for him of what he’s doing each day with moveable sticky words. Sam likes to take all the ‘school’ stickers off his calendar and change them for those marked ‘holidays’!

 

 

Taking a leaf from Sam’s book, I quit a bunch of author sites, deleted certain updates, unsubscribed from other things, and I whittled my social media presence down to a top three sites I knew I could consistently enjoy. Works much better, and I feel it's got to be more sustainable in the long run. Sam likes to encourage me with the words, "Mama happy." Words to live by. 

 

The wonderful author and blogger, Joe Bunting wrote a great post this week about how much we authors need each other. From the post, I tweeted:

@yvettecarol1

Great writing creates a deep connection with others. But you can't connect if you're afraid. ctt.ec/N1xdd+

If I may, Joe, I’d hasten to add another line:

And you can’t connect if you don’t genuinely want to be there.

Being our authentic selves online is the way we represent who we are.
I think the idea of being able to ‘do it all’ is a modern myth.  I say, do what you like to do, so that you have enough time left in the day to write (or do whatever your joy is). And don’t worry if your absence disturbs/upsets some people.

Remember, "If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.” ~ Stephen King

 

 

 

Talk to you later,

 

Yvette K. Carol

Standing strong

       A friend invited me to join the Insecure Writers Support Group and as the first Wednesday of every month is officially 'our' support day, here I am! For my first posting as part of the group, I've chosen a topic that has come up a lot lately - that of other people's opinions. A long time ago (I’m embarrassed to say how many years), my eldest sister said to me, “You’re living pie-in-the-sky, when are you going to come down to earth?” She was of course referring to this ridiculous business of writing stories for children.

Talent is what they say
you have after the novel
is published and favourably
reviewed. Beforehand what
you have is a tedious
delusion, a hobby like knitting.

(Author, unknown)

We were discussing this very issue recently over on Writing for Children, where upon swapping stories, we discovered we’d all felt the sting of doubt expressed about our writing, from our nearest and dearest. Then, coincidentally, the next day the topic came up again on Facebook. A friend here in New Zealand posted this update: ‘I spent an evening with people who work in government type jobs. After explaining how long and what it takes to put together a non-fiction book, two comments are still rankling with me, ' How nice that you can make a wee bit of money from your hobby,' and, 'It must be lovely to indulge your creative desires all day.' I just know it shouldn't irritate me so much but...I did say ' I DO work you know!'

Number one and two on author, A.J. Irving’s list ‘What NOT to say to children’s writers’ (from the blog post Top Ten Ridiculous Things People Say to Children’s Writers), were ‘I wish I had time to write a book’ and ‘Writing is a nice hobby’. Hands up among the writers and artists, who has heard a version one or other of those chestnuts?

Irving’s answers: Really?! Who HAS time to write a book? You make time. You wake up early. You go to bed late. You write while your kiddos are napping. Whatever it takes…you keep writing.

And...

Writing is a career choice. It takes ambition and persistence. This is what I want to do. This is what I have to do. I am a writer.

Yeah, what she said.

If the naysayers around you are getting you down, then go spend time with your kids, or your pets, it always works for me.

The kids and Bolt remind me to sit and scratch smell the roses.

 

They remind me that sometimes you need to bite off the leash that binds you resist negative opinions.

 

And most of all, they remind me to stand strong or as they say here, Kia Kaha!

 

Thanks for reading!

Till next time...

Yvette :-)

 

A personal first!

For some reason, I find the thought of blogging intimidating. Right from the first moment that ‘social media’ came onto my personal radar, and I read in Kristen Lamb’s book, We Are Not Alone, that she advised blogging in order for an author to build precious social platform, I’ve stubbornly refused to jump in the game. The thought of writing a blog scared me. Who was I to talk? Why would people listen? What would I say? I told my cohorts over on Writing for Children, that I couldn’t imagine I’d ever start my own. Privately, I was also afraid that if I took a leap of faith into the world of blogging, that no one would be there to catch me.

However, a few years have gone by now. I feel that I’m part of a happy thriving online writer’s community. I’m managing to work on my own middle grade fiction, and participate in my critique group, the Magnificent Five, and raise my kids, and renovate the interior of my house myself, as well as to put out a newsletter to my mailing list twice a month. I feel that now, I could try to add a blog to that list. So I asked folks on the mailing list, to blog or not to blog in last week’s newsletter, and the ‘yay’ vote was nearly unanimous. I said to my mates on Writing for Children, ‘I may actually start a blog - the rock of Gibraltar is slowly moving!!!’

They say that the reason social networking works is because people love to show off pictures and videos. On my blog will there be pictures?

Yes, there will be pictures! My two youngest boys watch a movie on their I-pad last week.

Youngest son with new puppy, Bolt, a two-month old Fox Terrier, a ball of energy!

They say that social media works because we all love to tell stories, and it provides proof of our social value. Will there be stories?

Yes, there will be stories!

Like the one about how my family says ‘you shouldn’t be on Facebook, Aunty,’ because I always put my foot in it. This week, I commented on a friend’s Easter pictures of her family, to say, I thought her father had a great smile. She messaged me later to say that he was her husband. Aunty struck again. Don’t tell my family, or I’ll never hear the end of it!

They say another thing we love about social media is the chance to share jokes. Will there be jokes?

Yes, by jingoes, there will!

Q   Why did the elephant paint his nails red?

A   I don't know, why?

Q   So he could hide in a cherry tree. Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree?

A    No. 

Q   See how good they hide! 

That’s a joke I borrowed off my pal, Lynn Kelley. And I’ll also borrow one of her send-offs  too because I love it. See ya’ in the funny papers!

 
Yvette Carol :-)

p.s. Thanks so much for reading my first ever blog post.