Non compos mentis

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

We aren’t the typical family. We don’t share familial blood reaching back generations, but we do suffer from a shared madness. Our family curse, non compos mentis, brings us together to chew over our afflictions, to swap outlines and plots.

We hear voices. Voices telling us tales that we are compelled to recount. We see faces. Imaginary people who live, and die according to our pen, according to our words.

A collective mania settles in the fringes of our awareness, leading us into darkness, carrying us along in a torrent of emotions, sometimes tragic, often joyful. Swirling around in our consciousness, struggling to break free, once unfettered, these characters, these entities, are as real, as mortal as we are.

No 12-step support group, instead a conspiracy. What is the best way to poison an unfaithful lover? Should our youthful heroine marry her elitist paramour, or runaway with her working class soul mate?

We won’t know until we finally sit down, open a vein, and bleed out our stories.

The Trifecta challenge this week is: Blood [noun \ˈbləd\] 3d : persons related through common descent : kindred

Waltzing

Waltzing finger tips
Trip o’er white keys, triple time
Come dancing with me

Haiku Friday is hosted by Lou at LouCeeL

Seriously, just absolutely fabulous!

Except for the never-ending spell checker, and the occasional perusal through a thesaurus to make sure the word I want to use is actually the word I need to use, I write pretty much like I talk.

I tend to be extremely verbose and will repeat myself several times, only rephrasing, to the chagrin of both myself and all those around me.

Since I began blogging, and Twittering, and Facebooking, writing nearly everyday, I have become painfully aware of what must be for all of you ~ since it has become a persistent irritation for me ~ a nearly mind numbing vexation of constantly reading or hearing me repeat the same few words over and over until you think your ears will bleed.

I cannot seem to break the addiction of these few annoying terms:

• just
• absolutely
• definitely
• fabulous
• seriously

So you don’t feel alone in your misery, I also over use these in every day spoken conversation. I know there are many others, but to list them all would be too mortifying.

Until recently, I had never thought about how often I use the word “just.” Now, even when it’s warranted, I try to find a substitute because I used up my allotment, my lifetime allotment, all in the past few months, if not weeks.

I do know that I’m stuck in a rut, know I use the same few adverbs, the same hyperbole to the point I should be jabbed with stick until I stop. I even know what my trigger words are. I try to catch myself, to break the chain of abuse, but it’s as if my brain says, “Stop!” and my mouth says, “Absolutely!”

Instead of clicking “select all” to find all my misspellings and grammar gaffes, I do a “find all” to search and destroy my list of offending words.

Just be aware, that I absolutely know that I seriously have a problem, and I’m definitely working on a solution. Your continued support would be fabulous!

When I received this week’s Scriptic prompt, it made me think of this piece I wrote more than THREE years ago. Imagine my horror, when I realized it holds true today. So much for breaking bad habits. I continue to double-check everything I write, removing gratuitous “justs.” Only now, I have to add “still” to my list of overused verbiage.

For the Scriptic prompt exchange this week, kgwaite gave me this prompt: misspellings and misconceptions.

I gave Michael this prompt: Like it never even happened.

*From the Vault of IMSO, originally published 11/11/08. Edited and updated.

Next big thing

Recently, Lisa from “empty the well” tagged me as part of the Next Big Thing Blog Hop. It’s been quite a while since I’ve joined in this kind of blogging shenanigans, but I really like the questions involved with this one.

Here are 10 inquiries about my future, award-winning novel. Being that I am once again participating in NaNoWriMo this year, I’ll answer based on that attempt.

I’m still pondering if I’ll post my work in progress. I’m not writing the chapters in any sort of order, so it’s a bit haphazard now. The response to this post may be the deciding factor.

What is the working title of your book?
It will make no sense to anyone other than me, but it’s “Red Hawk.” I only used that to make it easier to find the rough draft on my desktop. A hawk is featured in the story, but this title won’t make the final edit.

Where did the idea for your book come from?
No kidding, it was a dream. And no, I wasn’t drinking or eating weird stuff the night before. I’m hoping to re-connect with the dream some night while I’m writing. I’d like to know how it ends.

What genre does your book fall under?
If it had to be designated something, I guess it would be fantasy. Though the story setting is modern-day America and Ireland.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I never really thought about it. I don’t watch a lot of movies so can’t say I’m familiar with too many of the current movie idols. If Jessica Tandy were still alive, she’d be great for the grandmother, but if not her, maybe Judi Dench. As for the lead female, Dakota Fanning, with Colin O’Donoghue as her dad.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
“A young woman, full-filling a family tradition, learns that tradition can often take on a life of its own.”

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
If it ever gets that far, I would probably look first to being self-published.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your novel?
I haven’t finished the first draft yet, but it is the focus of the National Novel Writing Month for me this year. I’m on track to write 50,000 words in 30 days, so ask again on Nov. 30.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
So far, I haven’t found a book that is similar to what I envision. I hope that is a good thing.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
See NaNoWriMo…

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Lisa offered her readers money, I’d have to pay people in Trident gum, so that probably won’t be a successful marketing ploy. The best I can offer are fantasy creatures and at least one tattoo that comes to life.

Now comes the meme part where I’m supposed to “tag” two more people to pimp their Next Big Thing. This was always the hardest part of memes for me, since there are either too many people I want to include, or not enough… and by not enough, I mean, I don’t know who would be willing to participate.

This time I just asked. Hopefully, the artistic powerhouse, husband/wife team of Lance and Deana will soon fill out this questionnaire to tell us all about their pending literary masterpieces.

National Novel Writing Month

My attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Hopefully somewhere in that jumble of words, a novel materializes.

Same song, different verse

For the past two years, each November, I’ve done this thing called National Novel Writing Month. I’ve managed to bleed out 50,000-plus words in 30 days on each attempt, and hope to do it again this year.

The first year I didn’t have any idea what I was writing until that first day. The story, printed out in hard copy, sits in a dusty, leather envelope still waiting to be edited. Last year’s take was a collection of short stories, connected by a single item… a dollar bill. I posted each chapter as I finished, but have since set the pages to private. Edits wait on this one too.

This time, I have the germ of an idea. A story that started with a dream. It’s either that or if I can figure out a way to incorporate Pauley into a book without using any of what I’ve already done. See, participants agree to only use original material for NaNoWriMo. Decisions, decisions…

I also have to ponder more about whether I will post the novel here as I write. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to just write, so most of the word count will be sans editing. I expect grammar, punctuation and continuity to be casualties. The idea of leaving typos, tense errors, comma faux pas, and verbiage over usage for all to see, makes me twitchy.

This being NaNoWriMo Eve, I’m still trying to figure out what to do. I don’t have to write every day, but I do have to have a daily average of nearly 1,700 words to meet the required 50K count. When you have a direction, that’s not so difficult. When you’re flying blind, it can be agony.

Who knows, Thursday morning I may wake up with an entire book in my head. Stranger things have happened.

Good luck to my fellow NaNoWriMo-ers. May the muse be with you.

I before me, except after see

I am an admitted word nerd. I keep a running list of favorited words that I find in books I read, or hear, hoping to find a way to add them to a story someday.

Words like “phantasmagoric,” and “pentimento,” “callipygian,”  and “trousseau,” are a balm to my weary mind.

There are words that will never trip easily off my tongue or fingertips, but are fabulous in their intricacy – “floccinaucinihilipilification” [flok-suh-naw-suh-nahy-hil-uh-pil-uh-fi-key-shuhn], which means “the act of judging something to be worthless.” How great is that word?

For all you lint pickers there is, “omphaloskepsis” [om-fuh-loh-skep-sis] – “contemplation of one’s naval as a means of meditation.” You now have a word for it.

The more complicated a word is, the more grandiose, the more I love it and must possess it, and in possessing it, flaunt it.

It’s the small, mundane words that I loath. Words like ‘”lay” and “lie,” “me” and “I,” that make me apoplectic.

My contentious relationship with “affect” and “effect” was finally resolved, so too my feud with “who” and “whom.”

Yet, “lay” and “lie” still vex me. The present tenses I can decipher, it’s those past, perfect, future, participles and pluperfects, that I struggle to grasp. Especially when one word works for several definitions and/or tenses, depending on the context. I usually search for an alternative, and avoid the bastages altogether.

For “me” and “I,” it’s not my ineptitude of their proper use that sets my teeth on edge, it’s when I find them used by others incorrectly.

I acknowledge the same could be said by others when I abuse “lay” and “lie,” and overindulge my comma usage. I own my hypocrisy.

“I” is subjective,“ and “me” is objective. As in “Susan and I are going to the store,” and “Do you want to go to the store with Susan and me?”

An exceptionally easy way to test which to use, is to simply remove the other name from the sentence.

“Do you want to go to the store with Susan and me?” as opposed to “Do you want to go to the store with Susan and I?”

“Kathy went to the store with Susan and me,” not “Kathy went to the store with Susan and I.”

The second sentences makes no sense, because They. Are. Wrong.

Word nerd rant over… resume normal.