Thinking about my WIP...

So I was cruising through all the fabulous blogs I follow and came upon a post at The Writing Room (by Catherine A. Winn) that has had me thinking for days. Her post Working on WIP or Goofing Off truly struck a cord with me - her essential idea being that so long as you are thinking about your project, you are still working on it.

I love that! It explains so much about why I feel unproductive some days simply because I haven't gotten my page quota finished, yet I feel like I've spent the whole day thinking about this character or that scene. It explains how the characters that begin in my head suddenly become friends and house guests that I don't want to leave. If we as writers spend so much time getting to know our characters (while we cook, while we drive errands, while we fall asleep at night...) then of course they become more well rounded, more present to us and then their story simply falls onto the page (okay more or less...) At least that's how I see it.

It seems to take me AGES to finish the first 50 pages of a new book. Painful almost. But then suddenly I'm in too deep and the story just takes over...the characters do what they were meant to do, no matter how much I might disagree or warn against it. They have a mind of their own.


So I'm curious, do you spend alot of time thinking and "living" your characters before putting them on paper? How do you find your stories unfolding? And if you have a moment, take a stroll over to The Writing Room at www.catherineawinn.blogspot.com!

Textbook or Netbook?

I read an article lately that suggested in a few short years, the use of textbooks in classrooms will be a thing of the past. Instead, each child will have their own laptop computer with the textbooks downloaded.

My first thought was how fabulous it would be not to have to cover any more textbooks in September! No more cutting brown shopping bags and fitting it around the book! My second thought was how nice it would be not to see my kids schlepping TONS of heavy books back and forth from school, their backs bending under the weight.

I couldn't really think of any downside unless it be the expense involved...the expense of replacing spilled on, virus ridden and lost laptops. The worry of lost computers left behind at sporting practices and dropped from counter tops in the rush to pack schoolbags.

I wonder if making laptops a necessary item might also make it more difficult to monitor web usage of children. Currently, I ration and monitor the amount of time and which sites my children use. If they are on the Internet for school, who's to say cyberbullying and inappropriate usage won't sky-rocket?

What's your thought? Textbook or netbook?

Famous Authors?

I've decided that the quickest way to get your book published is to first be famous - then you can write any old thing and they'll slap your photo on the cover and print it. Heck, you'll even get a tour of Good Morning America and The Today show to boot!

Since when did being famous (and by this I mean playing a professional sport, being an "actor" or doing something seriously questionable but acquiring fame via internet) mean that one had a talent for writing?

It seems to me that many publishers are interested solely in making money rather than looking for quality writing and unique ideas and storylines. Didn't there used to be a time when the ART of writing was simply that: an art? Somehow it seems like a "lost art" when I see every actor and athlete putting out books while serious authors who have studied the craft and spent YEARS on it can't even get an agent to request partials.

Or perhaps, I'm just grumpy today...

What's your take?