It’s Really Gorgeous Outside. And I’m Under Deadline

The sun is shining, the sky is that deep blue it only achieves on cloudless days at the peak of fall, and the forest floor in Rock Creek Park has turned the precise color of Rio’s fur. She’s getting her hike today, but then we are bound inside (well, I am at least. She can play in our leaf-strewn backyard) while I apply myself most diligently to my writing tasks at hand.

Things I learned while writing yesterday:

• I really, really hate chapter titles. No, that’s not true. I love chapter titles. I hate it when I can’t think of them.
• Titles, in general, are not my strong suit. The only title I’ve ever come up with that stuck is RAMPANT. However, a few of my other titles were on my list of “come up with a list of a dozen alternates.”
• I really miss reading. I can’t wait to turn this book in and do some reading!
• When I am in dire straits at getting a point across in a manuscript, I occasionally lapse into omniscient Jane Austen-speak. (see 1st paragraph) Which doesn’t work at all here, as Astrid Llewelyn sounds nothing like Jane. I like to think it’s the ghost of Jane guiding my hand here, for all the good it does me.

Okay, so that’s what I learned with my writing yesterday. How about the rest of you? Have you been reading the NaNo tips of dynamic duo Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld?

Also, a big hello to the folks who stopped by from Meg Cabot‘s and Ally Carter‘s blogs. Hi there! You know, the topic of college admission might be one I hear about a lot because my books are set in college, and the young people who read them have obviously picked those books up because they are super-excited about college. I know I was in high school. I agonized over those application forms — who I was going to get recs from, what I was going to write my college essays about. (I ended up writing like four different essays and letting my advisor choose one, and he chose the one where I wrote about disgusting things that happen at dinner at my house — which just goes to show you that sometimes you don’t need to tell some tragic or inspiring story in your essay).

I would have killed to read writer blogs when I was in high school. I don’t know if they had them yet. (I think Scalzi’s didn’t even start until 1998). I devoured the few books ON writing I could find, as well as any forewords where the authors talked about their process. Occasionally, authors would come to my school and blow my mind. Which is not to be all “in my day I had to walk uphill in snow both ways to get writer tips” because, well, I lived in Florida and we had neither hills nor snow.

But yeah, things are much cooler now. Yay, internets.

So, to throw my hat into the NaNo tip ring, let me know if you have any questions by leaving them in the post below!