Skill and Luck and Serendipity

Yesterday I set out to take some art quality shots - sky through the trees, birds, interesting branch configurations, etc.  I tried taking what I thought would turn out awesome.  After about fifteen minutes, I had 33 pics on the camera. 

I ended up with 7 that I can say I'm pretty proud of.  There might be another three or four that could be good with some tweaking.  In all honesty, none of them are stunners.

Part of this picture taking process is a learning curve.  The more I take, the better I get - at least in theory.  The better I get, the more pictures will be worth saving and the more that will be worth the extra effort of tweaking using some kind of software.  (I'm learning there, too.) 

Still, running around shooting random photos isn't going to get me anywhere.  Sure, there's beauty all around us.  Taking photos from my front yard helps me remember that.  But the really great shots are a combination of skill and being in the right place at the right time.  The squirrel I posted the other day ended up as good as it did because I held the camera still and adjusted the zoom and pointed it toward interesting subject matter.  It ended up better than it should've because the silly beast picked the same instant I took the picture to stretch.  And the shadow?  Well, that was serendipity.

In a way, it's like writing.  (You had to know I was going to tie this in somehow.)  Success in writing is a combination of skill and luck and a little serendipity.  The skill is totally within our control.  Sometimes the luck is, too.  After all, Thomas Jefferson was right when he said "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."  If I bust my ass researching agents and send my queries out to only those who really are looking for what I want, and one of them chooses me... well, that's the kind of luck you make for yourself.

The serendipity is totally outside our sphere of influence.  I could've nudged serendipity by walking farther afield and picking subjects that have a better chance of doing something interesting, but sometimes you get what you get and you're happy about it.  Like this...

I had maybe ten seconds to line this shot up, but I didn't have anything to do with the jet flying over.  And I sure as hell didn't envision that the branches would look like they were trying to reach for the plane - which is why I called it "Come Back".  That pic is 25% skill and 75% out of my control.

I wandered kind of away from my point this morning.  Maybe you got one anyway.  I guess it all boils down to - control what you can by honing your skills, make luck where you can find it and the serendipity will take care of itself.

HoHoNoWriMo Final Update

Well, it took me 5 days longer than a month, but I did get those 50K words out.  Here's how the whole thing broke down for me...

Week 1: 10930
Week 2: 9105
Week 3: 11660
Week 4: 8629
Week 5: 10726

Which put me at 51050 on January 5th.  (That last week was longer than 7 days, but it works for me.) 

During the month of December, I took 5 days off - which is why I ended 12/31/11 with 47440 words.  Two of those days fell apart because I went to Ft. Collins to pick the kid up for break and I'm always toast the day after that.  Two other off days were Christmas and Christmas Eve - because, hey, writers get holidays, too.  The other day was just a burp.  I don't remember why I took it, but I did.  So there.  =op

On average, I reached 1418 words per day.  My biggest word count was 3483 on the 11th.  My lowest count for a day where I actually wrote was 545 on the 2nd.

A couple things I discovered along the way:

1) Writing a sequel is equal parts easy-peasy and tearing my hair out.  Sure, some of the words I wrote were already pre-formed by the book that went before.  But in addition to having to hold the threads of this book, I had to remember the threads from the previous.  (And all the character traits, btw.  Like Basil is BLOND.)

2) I don't need someone else's preconceived month to set my ass down and write 50K, but it helps to have someone writing alongside.  My sincerest thanks to my friend, JB, and her constant emails of encouragement and commiseration.  I probably could've done this without her, but I wouldn't have liked it nearly as much as I did.

3) I really missed writing new words.  

Now, even though I did what the organizers of NaNoWriMo consider a book worth of words, I still have about 20K left to write before I consider it a whole novel.  I also have to work on editing the book that started it all - Djinnocide.  This month will be a mishmash of writing and editing as I attempt to tear myself along the dotted line between creative genius and anal editor. 


Any questions?

No Excuses

:waves:  Hi Everyone!  I woke up this morning and noticed that I've neglected the blog again.  No excuses - just dealing with non-tragic, but very distracting and brain-draining, life stuff.

Which reminds me.  If you didn't catch the first episode of the new season of Biggest Loser on Tuesday, they are modeling this season on the idea of No Excuses.  Seems pretty good to me.  I mean, there are million excuses why we don't do the things we know we need to do, but very few actual reasons.  And sometimes even with things that seem like reasons, we can usually find a way to still accomplish things if we think hard enough.

For instance, 'my computer died' might seem like a good reason not to write.  But if you think about it, people were writing long before there were computers. 

So, I'm going to try and not use excuses this year.  If I don't write on a given day, I need to recognize that was a choice I made.  It wasn't because I was too tired, or too stressed, or life stuff intervened.  I didn't write because I chose not to not to write.  Maybe I made the choice because I felt overwhelmed by some other aspect of my life, but it was still a choice.  Perhaps I chose not to write because my hands hurt or I had a headache.  But that's why they make Aspercreme and aspirin. 

And I also need to realize that sometimes making the choice not to write is okay.  As long as I don't make a habit of it.  I chose not to write on New Year's Day because I felt like I'd earned a day off.  It was a lovely day spent reading, btw, but the next day, I got back at it.  (And then Tuesday struck and bits of hell broke loose.  Now that day of not writing wasn't a choice, but shit happens.)

If I didn't lose weight this week (or in fact, gained a pound - I haven't checked), it wasn't because this life stuff had me stressed out.  It was because I chose to stuff my face and not drag my lard butt off the couch for a few simple exercises.  Hell, sometimes stress makes me lose weight and become a little frenetic with the house cleaning, so not losing weight this week is my own damn fault.

No excuses.  And every time I think I've got a reason, rather than an excuse, I'm going to try and remember to pick that reason apart until I'm sure it's valid.  No letting those excuses sneak up on me disguised as reasons.  (Sneaky bastards.)

Anyone with me?  Any urge to make 2012 the year of no excuses or am I the only nut in the trail mix today?

And in case I haven't said this in a while, thanks for following The Writing Spectacle.  I really do appreciate your presence here and I hope to provide you with reasons to come back - not excuses to leave.  ;o)

(On a completely unrelated note, doesn't the shadow in that picture up there look like a bear?)

Reading Year in Review

Now that 2011 is officially over, I can look back on what I've read.  Sure, my goal was to read 100 books this past year.  I miss it by 10. 

Out of the 90 for 2011, the genres broke down like this:

Urban Fantasy - 27
Paranormal Romance - 16
Dystopian/Speculative/Post Apocalyptic - 11
Romantic Suspense - 7
Fantasy - 7
Paranormal Suspense - 6
SF - 5
Mystery - 3
Historical Romance - 2
Literature - 2
Suspense - 2
Thriller - 1
Nonfiction - 1

I seem to remember wanting to read more literature and nonfiction when the year started, but I got busy.  So many great books in other genres came out this past year, that I fell down on the last few categories.  And of course, Urban Fantasy tops the list again because hey, I've been working on this UF manuscript for like ever and I need to see what the competition is up to.  (At least that's what I tell myself.)

And the age ranges looked like this:

Adult - 74
YA - 14
MG - 3

Thirty of the books I read this year were by new-to-me authors.

June and July tied for the most books read in a month at 11 books each.  October failed with only 3 books read - but hey, I wrote like a banshee that month.  And my eyes were tired.  Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket.

And there she is - stats for 2011.  Any questions?  How do you think your reading went last year?  Were you busy-busy without a lot of time to read?  Or did you leave my numbers in the dust?  And if you had to guess, what do you think your most read genre is?

2012 Half-Year Goals

I don't do resolutions.  In fact, I pretty much stopped with the whole goal-setting for the new year thing a few January 1sts ago.  But, this morning I was inspired.  (You know who you are.)

Anyway, following this inspiration, I figured I probably ought to write some of these 2012 goals down.

1) Finish Djinn 2
2) Polish Djinnocide
  2a) Put together submission materials so I can...
  2b) Send this sucker out
3) Edit at least one other forgotten book (you know - one I wrote but never edited like Nano or UEQ)
4) Edit Djinn 2 (just in case Djinnocide sells or something)
5) Read at least as many books this year as last year (the count was 90 in 2011 - more on that tomorrow)

Those five ought to keep me busy - the first four at least for the next six months.  I have trouble thinking beyond that.  (Thank goodness my husband doesn't or we'd be in debt up to our eyeballs with a savings balance of ZERO.)  Of course, I have other things I need to do.  Some of them will get done.  Others will be forgotten and end up on this list another year.  (Like my never-ending goal of losing weight.)

What are a few goals you have for 2012?  Think you'll get them done, or will they end up on your list again next year?

2012 - Books Read

Time for another beginning to a books I've read this year post.  If you haven't seen the others, it goes sorta like this: I leave the title with a link to where you can buy the book, the author's name, the date I finished the book and the genre.  Pretty simple really.  Oh, and they end up in reverse order - with the most recent read on top.

Last year, I read 90 books.  If I can do the same this year, I'll be satisfied.

90. Nightbred by Lynn Viehl (12/30/12) - Paranormal Romance
89. Ghosts and Echoes by Lyn Benedict (12/26/12) - Urban Fantasy
88. Dark Light of Day by Jill Archer (12/24/12) - Fantasy
87. Kris Longknife: Deserter by Mike Shepherd (12/18/12) - SF
86. Trapped by Kevin Hearne (12/16/12) - Urban Fantasy
85. Dead Six by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari (12/12/12) - Military Thriller
84. Mr. Real by Carolyn Crane (12/7/12) - Supernatural Romance*
83. A Trace of Moonlight by Allison Pang (12/6/12) - Urban Fantasy
82. Scorched by Laura Griffin (12/5/12) - Romantic Suspense
81. Head Rush by Carolyn Crane (12/2/12) - Urban Fantasy
80. Monster Hunter Alpha by Larry Correia (11/17/12) - Urban Fantasy
79. Stalked by Allison Brennan (11/12/12) - Romantic Suspense
78. Wizardborn by David Farland (11/4/12) - Epic Fantasy
77. Kris Longknife: Mutineer by Mike Shepherd (10/28/12) - SF
76. The Darkest Seduction by Gena Showalter (10/25/12) - Paranormal Romance
75. Further Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman by JB Lynn (10/25/12) - Romantic Suspense*
74. Old Tin Sorrows by Glen Cook (10/22/12) - Fantasy/Mystery
73. Freak by Jennifer Hillier (10/19/12) - Suspense
72. Wolf Moon by Silver James (10/16/12) - Paranormal Romance*
71. Blood and Silver by James R. Tuck (10/15/12) - Urban Fantasy
70. Monster Hunter Vendetta by Larry Correia (10/9/12) - Urban Fantasy
69. Kill Shot by Vince Flynn (10/6/12) - Political Thriller
68. Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire (9/25/12) - Urban Fantasy
67. Spellbound by Larry Correia (9/24/12) - Urban Fantasy
66. Last of the Breed by Louis L'Amour (9/8/12) - Thriller
65. Black Hearted Betrayal by Kasey MacKenzie (8/27/12) - Urban Fantasy
64. Bleeding Out by Jes Battis (8/21/12) - Urban Fantasy
63. All Seeing Eye by Rob Thurman (8/19/12) - Paranormal Suspense
62. Darklands by Nancy Holzner (8/17/12) - Urban Fantasy
61. The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen (8/4/12) - Suspense
60. Blonde with a Wand by Vicki Lewis Thompson (7/31/12) - Paranormal Romance
59. Wizard Undercover by K.E. Mills (7/30/12) - Fantasy
58. Naked in Death by J.D, Robb (7/17/12) - Futuristic Suspense
57. The Darkest Surrender by Gena Showalter (7/14/12) - Paranormal Romance
56. The Sentinel Mage by Emily Gee (7/8/12) - Fantasy
55. Loose Screw by Rae Davies (7/7/12) - Mystery*
54. Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost (7/4/12) - Paranormal Romance
53. Hard Magic by Larry Correia (7/1/12) - Urban Fantasy
52. Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn (6/24/12) - Political Thriller
51. Hunter's Moon by Silver James (6/24/12) - Paranormal Romance*
50. Bad Moon by Silver James (6/22/12) - Paranormal Romance*
49. Rogue's Pawn by Jeffe Kennedy (6/21/12) - Fantasy/Romance*
48. Hallowed Circle by Linda Robertson (6/17/12) - Urban Fantasy
47. Backlash by Karyn Good (6/13/12) - Romantic Suspense*
46. The Saint by Monica McCarty (6/12/12) - Historical Romance
45. Into the Looking Glass by John Ringo (6/7/12) - SF
44. Blackout by Mira Grant (6/3/12) - Post Apocalyptic Suspense
43. Evil Dark by Justin Gustainis (5/30/12) - Urban Fantasy
42. Twisted by Laura Griffin (5/26/12) - Romantic Suspense
41. Sapphique by Catherine Fisher (5/22/12) - YA Dystopian
40. Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates (5/20/12) - Paranormal Mystery
39. Bloodstone by Nancy Holzner (5/19/12) - Urban Fantasy
38. Blood Moon by Silver James (5/16/12) - Paranormal Romance*
37. Alien Diplomacy by Gini Koch (5/15/12) - SF
36. The Feedstore Chronicles by Travis Erwin (5/14/12) - Memoir*
35. Elizabeth I: CEO by Alan Axelrod (5/10/12) - Nonfiction
34. Tricked by Kevin Hearne (5/10/12) - Urban Fantasy
33. Silenced by Allison Brennan (5/8/12) - Romantic Suspense
32. Sheltered by Quent Cordair (4/24/12) - Dystopian - Novella*
31. Forbidden Magic by Jennifer Lyon (4/21/12) - Paranormal Romance - Novella*
30. The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay (4/20/12) - Urban Fantasy
29. Hellforged by Nancy Holzner (4/12/12) - Urban Fantasy
28. Nightborn by Lynn Viehl (4/8/12) - Paranormal Romance
27. The Shattered Sylph by L.J. McDonald (3/31/12) - Fantasy/Romance
26. Doubletake by Rob Thurman (3/29/12) - Urban Fantasy
25. Patton on Leadership by Alan Axelrod (3/25/12) - Nonfiction
24. The Poet by Michael Connelly (3/25/12) - Suspense
23. Paper Hearts by Maureen Child (3/17/12) - Romance - Novella*
22. Blood and Bullets by James R. Tuck (3/16/12) - Urban Fantasy
21. A Sliver of Shadow by Alison Pang (3/12/12) - Urban Fantasy
20. Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire (3/11/12) - Urban Fantasy
19. And She Was by Alison Gaylin (3/10/12) - Suspense
18. Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia (3/7/12) - Urban Fantasy
17. A Million Suns by Beth Revis (3/4/12) - YA SF
16. Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville (3/2/12) - MG Fantasy
15. Sin & Shadows by Lyn Benedict (3/1/12) - Urban Fantasy
14. Dance to the Piper by Nora Roberts (2/24/12) - Romance
13. Bad Blood by Kristen Painter (2/23/12) - Urban Fantasy
12. Deadtown by Nancy Holzner (2/13/12) - Urban Fantasy
11. Brotherhood of the Wolf by David Farland (2/11/12) - Epic Fantasy
10. Hard Spell by Justin Gustainis (2/5/12) - Urban Fantasy
9. The Darkest Secret by Gena Showalter (2/1/12) - Paranormal Romance
8. Alien Proliferation by Gini Koch (1/29/12) - Science Fiction
7. Confessions of a Slighty Neurotic Hitwoman by J.B. Lynn (1/29/12) - Romantic Suspense*
6. Infernal Affairs by Jes Battis (1/25/12) - Urban Fantasy
5. Captains and the Kings by Taylor Caldwell (1/22/12) - Literature
4. Dies Irae by Christine Fonseca (1/20/12) - Paranormal Romance - Novella*
3. First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher (1/9/12) - Epic Fantasy
2. Ghost Country by Patrick Lee (1/2/12) - Thriller
1. Blood Bound by Rachel Vincent (1/1/12) - Urban Fantasy

If you want to see what else I've read over the years, there are links in the sidebar.

*ebooks

Welcome 2012

Happy New Year!

May this coming year bring all you deserve and everything you hope for.

And may we all kick ass in 2012! 

Cuz, like ya know, we rock and junk.  ;o)