Wisdom borrowed from the great Sue Grafton:

And if you'd like to see a video of a writer who looks much better just out of bed check out my friend Gretchen when she talks about where she writes:

389px-Charles_II_of_England Someone in my online class asked my why Charles II was my favorite English monarch and this is what I replied:

I suppose part of my liking for Charles II is based on childish romanticism. My first knowledge of him came from Forever Amber, which was a fictionalized and quite idealistic view of him. But even knowing what I know now about his backstairs dealings with France and his tendency toward absolutism, I think of him more as a pragmatist than a tyrant (not that the word tyrant applies in the least) and the English parliament had a much stronger role in his reign than in those of previous monarchs so he resorted to secret deals to get what he wanted on more than one occasion.

Charles was also deeply interested in science and learning and promoted it throughout his reign.

His religious tolerance is of interest but to be honest I think it goes back to his pragmatism, not his morality. His own religion, if he had it, ran mostly toward Catholicism but even in that, not too strongly. He converted to Catholicism on his deathbed but I think he would have done it a lot earlier if he truly believed religion to be an integral part of life. It may have ultimately been a means of salvation, but certainly not something to adhere to day-to-day so he waited until the last minute to convert. He kind of had a live and let live attitude, though critics would probably call him wishy-washy.

Finally, the restoration was a unique period in English history and I find the contrast between puritanism and the "merry" time that followed appealing. He was looked upon as a savior (from puritanism at least) of sorts by the English populace, and though he believed in the "Divine Right of Kings" and his rightful place on the throne, in the end, he was just a man who wanted to enjoy life and didn't mind so much if his subjects did too.

Most of you know I'm an avid user of Facebook and Twitter. I've been active on Facebook for a few years, and on Twitter for just about a year. I consider both of them important parts of my online life, though originally, for different reasons. Now I find the two are merging for me.

From the beginning, Facebook was a place for me to keep in touch with new and old friends, and I've really enjoyed it. For the most part, I only "friended" people I knew and though sometimes that meant a person I only had the vaguest memory of from high school, it was important for me to keep it free from "clutter" by only accepting requests from people I had some familiarity with.

Twitter, on the other hand, began as a place where I created new relationships, mainly publishing and writing-related. It's worked beautifully–I've made so many new friends, acquaintances, and contacts, and I've learned so much about the industry. I've said this before, and I'll say it again–if you are in any sort of field where self-promotion and contacts are important, you gotta be on Twitter. Learn to use it and use it well, because it is your friend.

Because of the different uses I had for Facebook and Twitter, I expressed myself differently on each. On Facebook I tended to post more personal, random things, because the people there knew me. On Twitter, I tried to keep it more professional, sticking mostly to writing links and sharing information. 

But after a year of creating relationships on Twitter, many of whom I've now met face-to-face or at least had conversations with, my Twitter world has intertwined with my Facebook world.  

You know what? I like it. It means the business contacts I've made on Twitter have become more personal–certainly not the same as the ones I've had for years–but I count several among my friends now. And to me, that's what social media is about: creating authentic, mutually beneficial, and yes, personal, relationships.

The only downside I can think of is that I'm a lot more careful now about what I post on Facebook. The merging relationships on Twitter and Facebook mean Holly West, writer, and Holly West, joe-schmoe, are the same and one represents the other. So although I still post a some random stuff on both sites, I'm at least cognizant of the fact that I am, hopefully, creating an audience, and that what I say, whether good or bad, has repercussions.

What about you? Do you find yourself using Twitter and Facebook differently? Has the way you interact on each of them changed over time?

First, I have to say sometimes it's harder to think of pithy blog-post titles than it is to come up with the blog post itself.

With that said, I shall continue. Come Monday, I'll be a student again, kind of. I signed up for an online course through Stanford Continuing Education. The title of the course is "The Essential Art: Making Movies in Your Reader's Mind." It's being taught by Seth Harwood, who wrote Jack Wakes Up. It was a book I enjoyed and having met Seth online and then at Bouchercon 2009 I decided his class was the one I wanted to take; I'd been toying with the idea of taking an online writing course for awhile and this just seemed to be the right time.

I have two goals for the class. The first, of course, is to enhance Diary of Bedlam with the writing techniques I hope to learn. The second is to write a short story which I plan to submit to the MWA anthology. I've never written a short story and it will be good to have Seth and my classmates as a sounding board in this endeavor. I've already got an idea for that story but as always, I'm worried about the writing of it–I wonder if there will ever come a time when I feel confident in my ability to write a given story?

What about you? Are you embarking on any new adventures in 2010? A new job or a class? Do tell!

One of the best things about being a writer is reading. I actually have "read" on my to-do list every day, and I try to do it for at least an hour (this doesn't count bedtime reading). What had previously been a leisure activity for me has now become essential.

Reading

I've read interviews with many writers who said they either don't read at all when they're writing or if they do, they don't read the genre they're writing. I can't imagine not reading while in the midst of a project, especially since I'm almost always writing. I can, however, understand how a writer would choose not to read their genre, and while I still read almost exclusively crime fiction, I've only read one historical mystery since I started writing Diary of Bedlam. I don't want another writer's voice in my head while I'm working so hard on finding my own. 

What about you? What are you reading right now? As a writer, what are your reading habits?

Aphra_Behn_by_Mary_Beale The portrait to the right is Aphra Behn, the late 17th century English playwright that my main character, Isabel Wilde, was originally based on. I say originally because during the writing of Diary of Bedlam, Isabel evolved into an almost completely different woman–the only things Aphra and Isabel still have in common is their birthplace (Kent) and their history as former British spies.

I'm not sure they ever looked much alike. Isabel has red curly hair and is more beautiful than Aphra in my mind. I picture her resembling, if anyone, Kate Winslet. Isabel has strong, somewhat unusual features that are striking but do not necessarily adhere to the beauty standards of her time. Still, she has managed to keep the King enamored for over fifteen years, and he was first attracted to her appearance; she is clearly an attractive woman.

But what about the rest of my characters? During the New England Crimebake in November 2009, the guest of honor, Sue Grafton, was asked how she pictures and describes her characters. Does she collect photographs of strangers and use them as references? The answer was yes. She explained that she often uses photos from the Sunday magazine of the newspaper because most other magazines feature photos of people who are more attractive than average people.

If you read Sue Grafton's books, I think you'll agree she does a particularly great job of describing people and places. In just a few sentences, one gets an evocative picture of the character she's depicting.

During my writing, I have found I'm pretty good at dialogue but not so great with descriptive passages, especially of people. All the secondary and throw away characters seem to look alike. Hearing Sue's explanation of her process was helpful and I've used it since for several characters–I still need practice in this area but truly, having a reference photo helped to bring these characters to life in a way other characters lack.

Happy New Year!

I hope whatever celebrations you engaged in last night are not preventing you from enjoying the first day of our new decade. I always get a little melancholy on New Year’s Eve, but New Year’s Day brings fresh perspective and I’m ready to start the new year.

Over the holiday, I got some good advice from a friend. We were talking about my novel and how the re-write was going, and as usual I complained it is, at times, a mind-numbing process. Trying to come up with just the right word or phrase is tedious for me, and since I am also working on fixing the structure I am finding it difficult to move forward.

That’s when she said “Maybe you’re trying to do too much at once.”

Upon hearing this, I had what Oprah calls an “aha! moment.” She’s right! I am trying to do too much at once! It suddenly seemed silly that I was working so hard on the writing when the structure of the novel is still a little uncertain. The dots need to be connected first, then I can work on perfecting the language. I came home from my Christmas vacation up north with renewed energy for completing this novel.

Unfortunately, what might work for my re-write does not necessarily apply to the rest of life. It is impossible to concentrate on only one thing at a time when so many things need to get done at once. My solution is to have one main priority to which all other things come second.

I have three resolutions for the New Year:

1) Finish Diary of Bedlam

2) Lose the 15 pounds I’ve gained while writing Diary of Bedlam

3) Begin working on other writing projects

2010 will be the year of my novel. It won’t be published by the end of 2010 of course, but I plan to be well on my way. That might be too optimistic, but I certainly know I won’t get farther by being pessimistic or uncertain about it. All other things–the weight, the other writing, whatever–will take a back seat to the NOVEL.

But what about you? What is your number one priority for the new year? Whatever your New Year’s Resolutions are, or if there are none, I wish you all a happy and productive 2010!