My Mid-Book Crisis

Today I had a crisis.

I am halfway through this current rewrite of Jasper (# 64 you ask? No, stinker. It's only, like, #5 or something. So there).

And I had some issues. Some self-doubt. Some worry. It was a major "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" moment. I was feeling like I'd wasted the last year.

It was not pretty.

Luckily I also had my critique group tonight.

Lana and Emalee talked me off of my ledge. They reassured me. And told me the things I needed to hear. I feel much better. Wooh. That was a close call.

I might have done something horrible during this Mid-Book Crisis. Like trying to make myself feel like a good writer again by buying a flashy red convertible, er....I mean....flashy red office supplies? And this analogy seems to need something to do with a blonde. Maybe blondies? Yes. I might have made a whole pan of Blondies. And eaten them all. Ok. I think this analogy has officially died.

Anyway, I'm mostly better. I wrote for an hour tonight. And I will continue on. Push forward. And all that jazz and nonsense.

And on a random side note (you all know how I love my random side notes)....

Any other writers using *Pinterest as a way to put together boards about their works in progress? It's a great way to waste time....wait. I mean, to inspire yourself. Yep. That's right.

If you want to check out my board for Jasper you can visit it Here.

garden-artistry.tumblr.com

Here are a few of the photos I've pinned to it....

thestars-themoon.tumblr.com

home-biba.blogspot.com

moonlightrainbow.tumblr.com




*Warning: Pinterest is highly addictive. Highly Addictive, People. No complaining allowed when you find you can no longer leave the house because you must spend all your time pinning Everything. 

You think you've got big problems? What about a big solution?

I have been...

* Promoting this Writing Workshop.

*Taking care of my son who had to go to the doctor after his face smashed into the baby stroller.  He was being a sweet son and lifting it out from behind the mass of bikes around it and somehow a part of it smacked into his cheek bone and cut him pretty deep. There was a lot of blood.  Ugh. Isn't that one of the worst things in the world? Seeing that much blood leaving your child's body? And he had to get....wait for it....a whole One stitch. One? Come on. He can't even say, "I had to get stitches."  Nope. "I had to get a stitch." 

*Sticking with the Couch to 5k plan.  Wooh. It's hard.  I'm up to week 7 which is  25 minutes of constant jogging.  It's hard, but I'm doing it.  And I've very proud of myself.

*Trying to finish the current draft of my middle grade fantasy by September 12th.  I have plans to hole up at the library tomorrow to get a whole bunch of pages written.  Maybe 30?  heh....I can dream. 

*I've been studying a lot of middle grade novels. What makes them work? What is it that I love about them? Why did I get bored with this one or that one? What could the author have done to keep me up until two in the morning unable to put the book down? What did the author do to make me want to forgo sleep in order to continue turning pages?  

I've been rereading Ella Enchanted.  What a magical book! 



I remember loving it, but I'd forgotten just how wonderful it is. I checked it out from the library yesterday (I really need to buy my own copy) and picked it up to glance at it during lunch. And then...

I couldn't put it down.  I got so completely sucked in.  How she did that? How did Gail Carson Levine get me so absorbed in Ella's tale?  Ella's problem (well, a pretty awesome fantasy world ta boot).  Ella is cursed to obey every command she hears.  What a great and horrible thing! And not only did the author give her main character a huge problem, but Ella also has a specific solution in mind.  She is convinced if she can simply find the fairy Lucinda, maybe she can convince her to take her "gift" back.

A specific solution. Something to motivate her to do crazy things, like run away from finishing school to a giant's wedding in the hopes of finding Lucinda. 

I've been needing this. Motivation.  In my WIP, Jasper, my MC has a problem. But the solution in his mind has been somewhat vague. Luckily, yesterday I thought of a way to solidfy what it is he is searching for.  I gave him a specific solution to motivate, to push him to do crazy things in an effort to reach solve his own problem. 

Thank you Gail Carson Levine!

How to {Tuesday} Keep Track of Everything You Ever Want to Do or Make or Wear or Bake or...

Hello I'm Erin Shakespear and I'm a Pinterestaholic.

Yep. I've gotten a bit distracted these days.  Sure I've been busy with Sam's birthday and my husband's birthday and getting ready for Zoe's birthday (squee! My husband and I are combining our talents and making her something really really cool! Ack! She is going to be SO EXCITED!) and I've done a smattering of writing as well as some Cub Scout stuff, not to mention that summer is here and all my monkeys are swinging around the trees, I mean, our house, like a bunch of hopped-up, well, monkeys.

But what seems to be eating up most of my free time is Pinterest.  Yes, everyone and their pet llama knew about it before me...yep, I like to arrive fashionable late to parties.  Or, my husband would just call it "really late". BUT now that I'm there, I can't stop pinning! I LOVE it.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!. 

I even have a board dedicated to my middle grade novel book. It's called Jasper and I pin everything and anything onto it that I feel is inspiring for different scenes in my book.  I kind of wish there was a way to make a private board though and then I would type up all sorts of notes to myself with the pins.  But as it is I don't quite want to bare the Crazy-Writer Me to just anyone.  Only a select few get to see that chickadee.  Aren't they so lucky? Yep. Don't be jealous.

If  you'd like to follow me, you can find me Here.  And if you are like me and are late to the Pinterest party (dang those pet llamas that are cooler than us.) then let me know, send me your email and I'll get an invite sent to you (yeah, I'm awesome like that.)