RTW- Writing in the digital age

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered.

What word processing program do you use to write you manuscript, and can you share one handy trick you've learned in that program that has helped you while you write?

I've been a Mac owner for the last five years so I use Word for Mac. 

Currently my favorite thing is the "find" feature. Of course I keep adding to the list of things I need to find- I just added the word felt to my list of things to search and find.

My dad, a lifelong PC user who became an Apple product user a couple years ago when he bought an iPhone, gave me his iPad when he upgraded. This has been a great tool for writing on the go. On the iPad I use Pages, which I'm still learning, but I love that I can open my Word documents in Pages on the iPad. So far I've been successful in using the iPad as a writing tool instead of a thing to watch Netflix on.

The Kindle- Did you know your Kindle has an email address? It does. When it's time to read a draft I usually send it to my Kindle. I make notes in a notebook as I read through but this really allows me to read it on the go and keep returning to the draft through the revision process because I can take it anywhere to read it. I know there are people who print out each draft but I find this way much more efficient, for me. 

What program do you use to write in? Any tips? 

Ferris Wheel Wishes

Every year I visit the Minnesota State Fair. Who am I kidding I visit several times. But part of my tradition always includes a ride on the ferris wheel. 

Since I haven't been in school in a while my annual ferris wheel ride takes the place of my back to school restart. While I'm suspended high above the hustle and bustle of the fair I usually think about the end of summer and the beginning of fall. I think about goals I have for the fall. While I'm floating above the fair I usually make wishes as well.

Do you have an end of summer, beginning of fall restart? New school supplies, classes or recommitment to writing. 

RTW- Love of the Game

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered.

This Week's Topic is: In honor of the end of the Olympics, share your favorite sports book!

The Olympic Ceremonies have come to a close, but there are some amazing sports books out there to keep the competitive spirit alive---at least until the next Olympics in 2014! List one or more of your favorites.

I just started reading Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally and I'm pretty sure it is going to be the perfect book to get me ready for football season. Skol Vikings!

But while I love football my favorite sport is baseball. It reminds me of growing up and spending time with my grandpa and playing catch in the yard. I was raised a Yankees fan but I live in Minneapolis and became a Twins fan ten years ago watching players like Brad Radke, Corey Koskie, David Ortiz (you're welcome Boston)  and  Torii Hunter become AL Central Division Champions. 

Being from Iowa my favorite baseball book is Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella. This is the book that the film Field of Dreams is based on. It's about baseball, fathers, sons, faith and forgiveness.  

What is your favorite sports book?

Creative Practice

A couple years ago I read a Mo Willems story about how adults should draw more.

My writing partner started a Draw Something game with me because she says it is good creative practice because 1. You draw things, sometimes multiple things. 2. you get to pick what you want to draw but you can only choose from three things. 3. You get to see your friends drawing and see what techniques work and learn new tricks.

And I was like well Mo Willems says people should draw more.

I never really stopped drawing. As a matter of fact when my friends kids were younger and I did more babysitting one of my favorite things to do was draw. When the kids were two and three they thought it was pretty cool that I could draw a fire truck, dinosaur, or Grumpy Bear.

So my new Creative Practice thing is Draw Something. I try to get all my creative type friends to play because it is good to draw or doodle.

I've noticed that since I've started playing I've become better at drawing or sketching out ideas for people. My drawing has improved- OK so I'm really just drawing on the iPod/iPad screen with my finger but still I've come a long way from the stick figures of a few months ago.

I've become more courageous in my creativity. One of my co-workers often asks input from other people about my drawings. Not because they are awful but because this friend isn't the best at pop culture stuff which I totally rock at. So not only is the person guessing my drawing seeing it but a few other co-workers might see it too. Somehow the fact that several people might see my creative endeavors on the iPad has made me feel bolder in other parts of my creative life.

Are there any games or things you've found to help your creative/writing life?

Creating change

Last week my Facebook feed was full of news of people taking sides on an issue. Many people posted of de-friendings and anger over this issue.

People felt like they had to take a side because clearly not taking a side and posting what side you are on is like supporting the other side.

I confess I tried to sum up my feelings in a status update or a blog post. But then I remembered that as a writer I have the power to create. I knew the status update would likely lead to one of those energy sucking Facebook discussions/debates.

Instead I turned my energy to my own writing. Instead of posting my side on the issue I remembered how important it was to me when I was a kid to see families like mine represented(my parents were divorced) in the stories I read and I revised a story to include a GLBT family.  

As writers we have the power to create a world as we'd like it to be in the stories we tell. We get to ask the what if questions. We can create stories that celebrate diversity, peace, justice. We get to write the story where the geeky girl gets the guy or the skinny orphan with glasses defeats the bad guy.

Words, books and stories are read and passed and shared. I feel like writers and artists have the ability to create real change. Not just by posting a status update or blog post that gets shared by everyone but by creating stories and art that changes people.

I'm not sure if the story I revised last week will go out into the world and be read by other people and maybe lead to a more accepting world but at the end of the day I feel I made positive progress as a writer and I spent my energy writing.

How do you create a better world in your writing? Diverse characters? Justice? Ice Cream with no calories?

RTW- Best book of July

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered.


This Week's Topic is: What was the best book you read in July?
This is so easy. I finally read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern



I love the world that is created in this book. This book appealed to the night owl in me with the midnight dinners and a circus that performs only at night. 


Books with a theatrical element always work well for me because they are set in a world I relate to very well working in theater. I was hooked in the first chapter and then when a character walked by dressers and stagehands(my people) on their way backstage I knew that I was going to love this book.


July has been so busy. I've been working on Roman Holiday which is a big show with lots of people in it. I've been writing, working on a draft of my wip and a PB idea for the 12X12in12 Challenge and an personal essay.


What was your favorite book of July? What projects did you tackle in July?

RTW- reincarnation

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. 


If you could be reincarnated as any fictional character, which would it be?


I would love to be incarnated as Katsa from Graceling.


She's strong, she's loyal, she's a survivor. She has adventures working with the council helping to people. Plus there's Po, sigh.

Which character would you be?

RTW-Where do you go?

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. 

This Week's Topic:

When you need creative inspiration, where do you go?

I am lucky to live next to a wonderful park with a small lake. When I'm stuck or need some inspiration the first thing I do is take a walk around the park. There are some beautiful views that can either help me forget that I'm in the middle of the city or that can remind me of the wonderful city I live in. 

Minnehaha Falls is another place I like to go for inspiration. It it a quick bike ride from my house but watching the falls and taking a walk by the creek can be inspiring.

The Loft Literary Center- Close to my house, close to work. There is a wonderful energy in this space. It is home to many classes and writers group. I always feel like a writer when I spend time writing here.

Where do you go for inspiration?

Where I've been

I know I've been a little absent on the blogs the last couple weeks. Here's where I've been.



I love this show soooo much. Newspaper reporter Joe Bradley dreams of being a song writer but is experiencing a little writers block until he spends the day with Princess Ann so clearly there is a little writing tie in for me. Besides that the music is all Cole Porter which I love.

RTW- Writing retreat

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.



If you could go on a writing retreat anywhere, where would you go & who would you bring?


I've wanted to go on a writing retreat to the Madeline Island School of the Arts but the last couple summers have been way to busy to accommodate this. 






My perfect writing retreat would be situated near a lake or some other body of water. When I needed a break from writing I'd probably want a paddleboard or kayak and maybe a bicycle.

































I am not good at roughing it so a some sort of resort type place would be awesome. I would consider roughing it in an airstream trailer somewhere but that airstream has got to be pimped with all the amenities. 


I'd definitely bring the gals from my writing group because they were super supportive and awesome. Really anyone who  wants to sit and write for a week or a weekend or whatever. 


What about you? Where is your perfect writing retreat?

RTW- Best book of May

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.



What was the best book you read in May?
This is an easy answer. INSURGENT by Veronica Roth. The sequel to DIVERGENT. Loved this exciting book and of course now I can't wait until the next book comes out. 

RTW- Conferences

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.


I love attending the Loft's Children's and Young Adult Literature Conference. I take classes at the Loft and my writing group meets at the Loft so this space is very familiar to me. This year's conference was wonderful with a keynote speech by Justin Chanda about picture books. I also attended at session on revision taught by Megan Atwood which was probably the most fun I'd had thinking about revision. 

My other must attend conference is WriteOnCon. This is a free conference held online. There are forums and you can post your writing and get/give feedback. There are chats and presentations. It is amazing. Plus it's free. No conference fee, no travel costs, no paying a babysitter to watch your kids. You can even donate to the conference which is a super awesome thing to do.

My dream conference is to attend a SCBWI conference in either NY in the winter or LA in the summer. My biggest obstacle is work.  See it isn't easy to get a lot of time off from work in this business we call show.  I'm hoping that the stars and schedules will align this year and that the NY conference will work for me this year. I want to go there early and see some shows on Broadway before the conference. To that end I want to get the most out of the conference possible so I have been working on revising my MG novel like crazy.

What is your dream conference?

Putting the pieces together

Revising is a lot like working on a puzzle. You fill in the pieces that you know, like the edges but then you've got this whole middle to deal with.  Sometimes you struggle to find the right piece and then you go for a bit working on a section and all the pieces seem to fit together. 

With writing you don't have the benefit of having a picture of what the finished product will look like which is kinda like the puzzle below where the picture didn't exactly match the one on the box. 

Lately for me the pieces seem to be falling into place. Writing/revising wise I feel like I'm on one of those streaks where the pieces are starting to fit together nicely.  I'm really excited about this place right now.

Puzzle- using Instagram app

Where are you in your project? Just putting the edge pieces in, working your way through the middle, inviting everyone to come look at the finished puzzle?

Don't Rain On Our Parade

Yesterday was supposed to be the much anticipated May Day Parade in my neighborhood. The parade is put on by Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater. It is a wonderful sight to see all the puppets and the parade tells a story. Each section has a different element to the story. The story is always something hopeful.

Sadly it was rescheduled for next weekend due to a rainy weekend including crazy storms overnight. Standing water isn't the best thing for this festival. I won't be able to attend next week because of work.

With my day suddenly free I had two options- celebrate the fact that I could leave my neighborhood by leaving my neighborhood or celebrate the suddenly free day by writing. (It is nearly impossible to leave the neighborhood during the parade because so many people come to the parade.) There were plays and author events galore yesterday but I chose to stay home and write and I'm glad I did because this happened on my street.

A May Day Don't Rain On Our Parade

Dragon bike

Smell the Flowers

Sloth

Pedal Dive Bar- I love this thing

Needless to say the day felt magical even though the official parade was cancelled. I worked on my revision and I now have a picture book idea for my May 12x12in 12.

What magical things have you seen because you decided to stay and write?

Z- Zara

 Z- Zara. The mc in the Need series is Zara. This series is set in main and involves pixies, but not the cute Tinkerbell type kind. Zara is a fairly cool character and these are pretty cool books. I read these books during the height of the whole Twilight thing so it seemed sort of fresh to me to be reading about pixies and weretigers instead.

Do you have a favorite YA Paranormal subject?

Y- Yoda

 Y- Yoda. Who doesn't love Yoda? He gives wonderful advice, he trains Jedi knights. In this book an origami version of Yoda gives advice to a group of middle school kids and the kids try to determine if the force is really at work.
I recently gave these books to my friend's 8 year old and he loved them because not only do you get to read a book about Yoda (awesome right) the book has instructions to make your own Yoda.

Who is your favorite Star Wars character?

X- Luxe

 X- is for Luxe. OK yeah I'm totally cheating but I haven't read a lot of books that start with X but this has an X in it. The Luxe is set in Manhattan in 1899. In this book Elizabeth Holland has to chose between money and love. I love reading about this time period and all that was expected of young women back then.

Do you like historical fiction?

W- Will

 W- Will Grayson, Will Grayson. There are two Wills in this book both named Will Grayson. The book is told in alternating voices of the two Will Graysons. I think my favorite character in this book is Tiny Cooper. The first Will has been friends with Tiny forever and the second Will meets Tiny during the book.

Have you ever met someone who has the same name as you?

(I almost had to pay my name twin's bill at the doctor but fortunately my name twin and I have different middle initials.)

V- Virginia

 V- Virginia Shreves. The main character in the book The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler. I love this book and this character. Virginia feels like she doesn't fit into her family. They are all thin and successful and she has learned to live by the "Fat Girl Code of Conduct". I love the humor in this book and howVirginia grows as a person and learns to accept herself.

What trait about yourself have you learned to accept over the years?

U- Brenda Ueland

 U- Brenda Ueland. A few years ago a coworker gave me a book, If You Want to Write. To be honest, at the time I wasn't sure I wanted another book about writing but I took it anyway.  I read it and was really surprised. This book has wonderful advice about writing. It encourages writers to write, to get past ego and self consciousness and the ideas of success and just write. This book was written in the 1930's but a lot of the advice still holds true today and it is interesting to see that some of the same things that we writers struggle with today (rejection slips, money, housework) are things that writers have always struggled with.

What is your favorite book about writing?