Comments | shaelise: Friday Five

shaelise

Friday Five

Jul 10, 2009 10:44

1. On the 4th we went to our small community parade. At the end, it's a water parade and everyone gets into this major water fight. It's a blast! Then we celebrated that evening with DH's family, which was really cool because his nephew and wife that lived with us for one summer in Denver was visiting from Arizona and his nephew who is battling ( Read more... )

summer, friends, writing

Comments 7

mela_lyn July 10 2009, 18:07:42 UTC

Dude - I saw that pic and thought this WAS Brian's livejournal til I looked closer. *chuckle*

shaelise July 10 2009, 18:13:39 UTC

Now you see why I had to take the picture...this was real!!! I couldn't resist showing it to Brian.

olmue July 10 2009, 19:12:50 UTC

I'm hearing of so many people off to fun things (like ALA), or visiting writer friends, so I know what you mean about wanting to be going along!

Um, don't compare your ms to mine! Every story is different--and they all have a different reason to be there. I don't think that stories are mutually exclusive. Only you can tell the story inside you the way it should be told. (Even if it takes 5--or 10--tries at the same scene.) The answers for this book will come to you as you work--they really will.

shaelise July 10 2009, 19:48:22 UTC

Yes, it is so fun to hear about everyone meeting new writing friends and wanting to be a part of that ( ... )

olmue July 10 2009, 23:40:21 UTC

Well, I certainly feel my weaknesses when I read others' work. Sometimes it helps me analyze ways to improve, and sometimes I just sit back and enjoy it quietly. I know what I want my strengths to be, and sometimes it's easy to despair when I see the gap between where I am and where I want to be. But I do believe quite firmly that weaknesses can become strengths, so there is hope still.

Plus I take comfort in reading quotes from Markus Zusak, who at one point when asked how his new book was going, said that he'd finally gotten past the first sentence. And that he rewrote the beginning chapters for The Book Thief at least 100 times.

shaelise July 11 2009, 00:23:20 UTC

Thanks for the encouragement...I'm always looking for ways to improve. And I sat back and enjoyed your book while reading, and now have been reflecting after the fact on technique of yours and others and how I could improve mine.
And great story about Markus Zusak -- definitely gives me hope that my million chapter rewrite might not be in vain, lol.
Have a great weekend.

robinellen July 13 2009, 16:26:28 UTC

I miss you too...we will do something about that eventually!!