(Are you sick of these yet?)

For subtle but mind-blowing genius, check out agent Donald Maass’s post on “The Inner Journey” at Writer Unboxed today:

A journey needn’t involve travel but it does enact a transformation. For a transformation to occur, two things are needed: outward events and inward change. Great novels use both.

Then over at the Divining Wand (which is a fabulous resource for learning about authors, particularly with new books coming out) Tanya Egan Gibson wrote about getting to know people through characters, and understanding real life through fiction. One of my favorite lines was:

“I can’t imagine a life without stories. But fiction, I think, is a means, not an end; a prescription, not a cure.”

…

Just 2 links today, folks. I’ve been crazy busy, both with work-work and with writing-work. Since Andy and I are on vacation all next week (first cruise for both of us!) I have been rushing around the office, trying to make sure everyone’s got what they need and the poor temp that’s covering for me won’t be up a paddle without a creek. Or whatever.

Meanwhile, I’m also off and running (or maybe jogging) on the new YA manuscript, and I love it. Looooove it. It’s fun and fresh and full of adventure. It is a joy to think about, and a joy to sit down and write. Even the rough patches, one of which I hit last night.

As for the blog, don’t you worry. I’ve lined up some AWESOME guest bloggers for next week. Want a hint? One has freckles, one plays origami with the earth, one is mighty with both pen and pencil, and one sets me straight in my own comments every. single. post.

My boyfriend says I’m never on time. (Well, really he says, “WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS RUNNING LATE?!”) But me, I like to say I’m chronically optimistic. Kind of like vertically challenged? Yeah, I’m that, too…

But seriously, today is a perfect example of my chronic optimism. See, I woke up 10 minutes earlier than usual so that I would be 10 minutes earlier to work. Makes sense, right? Only, while I was taking Riley on his morning walk, we ran into our neighbor and his dog, and we got to talking. (About how another dog bit off a chunk of my neighbor’s dog’s ear!!)

Chit and chat and this and that, and suddenly my extra 10 minutes are gone.

But it’s okay. I’m only 3 minutes late to work, no big deal. I get settled in, take care of some to-dos, and catch up on emails and such. This gives me 30 minutes before our Monday morning meetings, so I figure that’s 30 minutes I can write. And oh, how much I could write in 30 minutes!

Except that clients called, a delivery came, and I had to reread the stuff I wrote last night before I could get on the right track of how to move forward. Next thing I know it’s 10 AM and time to go to the conference room!

But no worries. After a late lunch, I run an errand and am back at my desk by 2 PM. That gives me plenty of time to write before the work day is over.

Until some files need updating, and a new employee needs orienting, and a service guy comes to see if he can help us with something, so my boss and I have to walk him around the whole building, asking and answering questions. Tick tock tick tock OMFG it’s 5 o’clock?!

I commute home, take care of the dog, eat dinner, wash dishes. Now it’s 6:20 PM, which leaves me 15 minutes to go to the bathroom, freshen my makeup, and oh yeah, BLOG, before I head out to my writing group. I’ll be there from 7 PM until 9 PM. Or 9:30 PM. Or heck, maybe 10?

But it’s all gravy. I can still write tonight before bed.

Right?

While Amazon tortured me by withholding my (pre-ordered!) Mockingjay, Sarah sent me a little something to tide me over:

(Thanks, girl!)

Fortunately a coworker lent me her copy of the book (which she pre-ordered and then picked up from Barnes & Noble) and I read it yesterday. Folks, I was WRECKED after I finished that book.

If you want to know exactly how I felt about it, good and bad, check out JJ’s post (warning: MAJOR SPOILERS). She pretty much hit every nail on the head for me.

(There are some great discussions going on in the comments over there too.)

But if you’re not spoiler ready, or you just don’t care that much, let me talk about the book in broader terms. Truthfully, it was my least favorite of the series. I didn’t feel fully prepared by Hunger Games or Catching Fire for what Collins wrote in Mockingjay. The first 2 books were “adventure” stories; this last one was war. In Mockingjay, Collins took every good thing and broke it. She broke Katniss. And that was so, SO hard to read.

But the good kind of hard, you know?

Overall the writing in MJ was solid, and just as un-put-down-able as HG and CF. The pacing was a bit off, like she could have used 4 books instead of 3… But the twists, the characters, the way she brought things full circle from earlier books and scenes — that was all impeccable. Collins has a gift, and I hope I can reach that level of storytelling someday.

Maybe I would have done a few things differently, but as a whole, I think the trilogy is spectacular. Similar to Harry Potter, in some regards. (That’s another series I need to re-read…)

And if nothing else, Hunger Games has really opened my eyes to what a book can do. What a writer can do. What I could do. It has inspired me in so many ways for my next manuscript, Mountain Girls. (That’s a project name, not a real title.)

Now it’s just a matter of sitting down at the keyboard and making. it. happen!

I am an idiot. Despite my intense, extreme, borderline-embarrassing obsession, I have yet to read Mockingjay. Apparently I chose the wrong shipping option when I pre-ordered months ago. My book might get here tomorrow.

-_-’

While I wait (and neurotically refresh the Track My Package page) I’ve been catching up on stories that I marked to read but never did, and oh hey, writing my new book.

If you’ve already finished Mockingjay (I hate you!) or haven’t gotten your copy yet either (poor us!) then you should check out these links:

• First, because I’m shameless, my guest post “Planning a Book” over at designkitty.net. Les is in Japan (!!) so she let me take over her blog. Muahahahaha!

• Second, La Vita Nuova by Allegra Goodman. An excellent story, short and (bitter)sweet. I cried, and then I felt inspired to write short fiction again. Haven’t felt that way in quite a while…

• Last but not least, T.S. Bazelli and her buds have started up Serial Central. Each author is assigned a day, and every week they continue their story. Awesome concept, awesome folks.

I don’t want to rant about this, because that won’t accomplish anything, but let me just state a couple “rules” that I think ought to be obvious but apparently are not:

1. If you haven’t read it, watched it, listened to it, or partaken of it in some way, DO NOT JUDGE.
2. Just because women like something does not mean it’s stupid.
3. It’s okay not to like something that is popular. You don’t have to drink the Kool-Aid. Rock on!
4. It’s not okay not to like something just because it is popular. That’s called ignorance. Or narrow-minded-ness. Take your pick. (Believe me, I know, because I used to do this all the time.)
5. Stories that revolve around ethnic characters are not automatically Quality Literature, despite what some publications would have you believe. You still need an actual STORY.
6. Stories that revolve around upper/middle class White People are not automatically lacking in value. Upper/middle class White People are STILL PEOPLE.

There are several things that spurred these all-caps thoughts of mine, but I’ll give you one recent example: Eat, Pray, Love.

People are all up in arms because this “rich” white woman who gets to “discover herself in brown countries.” They call her book self-centered and self-indulgent. They say Julia Roberts is a sh*tty actress and the movie sucks.

Hey guess what, folks? It’s a MEMOIR; of course it’s self-centered. That’s like saying, “Dang, I hate this double fudge cake; it’s too chocolatey.”

I won’t even bother discussing her finances, because it’s her money and if she wants to spend it on a year’s journey of self-discovery instead of car payments, that’s her business. As for the “brown” countries, well, last I checked Italy was European (generally considered “white”) and Indonesia is in Southeast Asia (arguably “yellow”). Also, she never thinks of these places as mere Crayola colors; her critics do. No, she explores and appreciates them for their strengths and virtues.

Now, I haven’t seen the movie, so following my own rule #1 above, I can’t judge it. But I will say this: it’s fine not to like the movie, or Julia Roberts, or even the book. (See rule #3.) Just don’t turn those specific dislikes into broad generalizations, okay? Because it’s ugly and stupid and makes the angels cry. (See rule #4.) Also, it looks a lot like jealousy.

Oy, so much for not ranting…