A Very Detailed (And Color Coded!) Schedule

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Click the link to learn more and sign up!

Like most months, I'm plenty insecure. Still trying to figure out the third (and hopefully final) draft of Uneven Lines, and also trying to figure out life. My fiance and I really want get out of where we live and hopefully move to New York within the next few months. It's one of those things that I really want but at the same time find terrifying. Of course, I know I'm afraid of change but it really needs to happen. 

What I'm really trying to do is get more organized. There are so many things I have to do, whether it's working on the book, exercising and eating right, reading more, trying to find a job or figure out how to branch out into freelance writing. It's a lot and I think I get easily overwhelmed so that's probably why I don't get a lot done. 

So my new strategy is a schedule. A very detailed and planned ahead schedule. I couldn't find any templates I liked online, so I made my own in Excel, breaking each day down by the half hour from 7 AM to 11 PM. Then I figured I absolutely needed colored pens in order to mark things in by category. Who wants to look at entire schedule in boring black ink? These categories seemed to cover pretty much everything I would need or want to do in a given week. 

And here is the actual schedule for this week. It's still a work in progress. 

And the second page. Yes, we watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy every night like an old couple. And I'm trying to make sure I brush & floss my teeth and wash my face every night before bed, since I'm really inconsistent with it. 

I'm still filling in some of the blanks but all of the major stuff is there. I'm not too worried about the weekends since my fiance doesn't work and we usually just figure out what we're doing as we go, anyway. And I really only get things done when I'm by myself. One of my biggest downfalls is just watching pointless TV all day, so with this schedule I can actually work in when I'm watching all of my shows, whether it's when they air or on demand the next day. And I won't watch TV at any other time (I hope!). 

I don't know if this extremely structured schedule will help me or get very tedious right away, but we'll see. I've never tried being this organized before so I think it's worth a shot. 

Do you stick to a schedule? What are your tips for being productive? 

Jordan Takes Over: Food, Food, & More Food (Plus Questions Answered!)

**The first Monday of every month, I let my muse take over the blog. I apologize in advance.**

It can't be the first Monday already, can it? Stupid short February. Why can't anyone ever just let me sleep?? *Yawn* Ok, first I'll get to last month's questions, which (as opposed to last month) were all from dudes, who also seemed to really get me...

First, Alex J. Cavanaugh asks: "Jordan, what crazy, outrageous thing would you do if you could get away with it?"

You're assuming I haven't already gotten away with several outrageous things already! Hmm...something I haven't done...Maybe just some way of tricking people into giving me money. Or, you know, if someone crosses me, I'll just find a way to ruin their life. Destroying a reputation is always a good way to go. The old standard.

Next, Stephen Tremp asks: "If you could push anyone over a cliff and get away with it, who would it be?"

Oh geez, there are so many choices. An annoying celebrity, an ex-boyfriend, my mom...You know, actually, shoving someone over a cliff isn't really my style. I'm more of a psychological assassin (see first question).

And finally, David P. King asks: "If I bought a bag of chips, what kind of dip would you get?"

Ugh, Sarah really wants me to say onion dip because she loves it. Hold on, let me give her some to distract her (never fails)...Me, though? I think I'd probably make some kind of dip from scratch. Like, have you ever had fresh guacamole? Holy crap. We're all about avocados over here.

This leads me to today's topic: COOKING. This should come as a surprise to no one: I like to eat. A lot. Hey, growing boy, right? Actually, I probably stopped growing like five years ago, but anyway. If you've read all of the ramblings about my book (no I will not find links for you!), you might remember that food is a big part of it. You know, hunger and symbolism and blah blah blah. Anyway, so my first-kinda-sorta-except-not-boyfriend used to cook for me. A lot. Like if I hadn't had the metabolism of a fifteen-year-old I would have been obese.

So you'd probably think that after we broke up, I wouldn't want to cook things for myself. To which I would reply: ARE YOU NUTS? Do you think I was going to go back to canned soup and frozen pizza? Hell no. So I demanded more grocery money from my mom and started cooking things for myself. It was a slow process, but eventually I got the hang of it. It's important to cook. Even if it's not your favorite thing in the world, there's some level of passion that goes into it. Even if it's just for yourself, it's something you're putting effort into. Plus, everyone likes good food, right?

So I thought I would share some yummy food pictures. Well, since I don't have any pictures of anything I've made, I stole Sarah's phone so I could show you some of my favorites of her dishes.

You know they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? Plus, hello: BACON.

Of course the best time to chow down like a starved animal is dinner. Here we have sweet and sour shrimp, crispy orange beef, and MAC AND CHEESE! 

But if you forget dessert, then I have to slap you. We've got mint Oreo pie and strawberry/blueberry shortcakes (yes, with homemade biscuits!). Someone get me some ice cream, please!

Is everyone hungry now? 

So I will NOT be posting in April because of the A to Z Challenge. I know, you're devastated. Feel free to ask some more questions for May. If not, I'm sure I'll figure something out. I'm crafty like that. Well, I'm going back to sleep.

JP

Fast Five Friday: Favorite TV Shows

It's time for another Fast Five Friday! This blog hop was created by the ladies over at Cover Girls. This week they've asked us to share our five favorite TV shows. This was soooooooo much harder than I thought! Especially when I thought about opening it up to every TV show I've ever watched (Buffy please!) but then I was being ridiculous. So I figured I would limit myself to shows that are either on right now or will return at some point. Still not easy, so I added the much necessary question: is this a show where I will bite someone's head off if they talk during it? And then it was much, much easier.

1. Criminal Minds (CBS)

2. Looking (HBO)

3. American Horror Story (FX)

4. Doctor Who (BBC)

5. Game of Thrones (HBO) 

Because I'm lazy I just stole the main pictures from IMDb :P (But I know that CM one is totally from season 5! So old!).

What are some of your favorite TV shows?

Do Characters Have to be Likable?

There are all kinds of characters in any story--heroes, villains, sidekicks, love interests. The possibilities are endless. The way a reader could respond to any of these can be as diverse as the characters themselves. Some people may love a book's main character; others might hate him/her. Or it could be both--love to hate, hate to love. There are so many different ways to like or dislike a character. So when you're writing these characters, which one do you want?

It can depend a lot on the specific character you're writing. If your story has a villain, then you most likely want your readers to hate him. But villains can also be entertaining and fun to read. He doesn't have to be a sadistic monster without a single redeemable quality (unless that's what you're going for). The opposite can be said of a hero. A hero doesn't have to be perfect. They can do stupid things that make us want to punch them in the face. Characters need flaws so the reader can relate to them actually believe these are real people. No one is perfect, and a story about a perfect person would probably be boring to read.

But let's focus on the main character of a story. How likable does he or she need to be? And what exactly does it mean to be likable?

I've been told that my main character is not likable. Which is disheartening, to say the least. And confusing as hell, since I actually let him write a monthly blog post and people seem to respond well, or they're entertained at least. So why the big turn off? I guess it's not completely understandable. The first word I would use to describe Jordan would be manipulative, which I guess isn't all that likable of a trait. And he's a little full of himself, but not in a ridiculous way. He just knows what he's capable of and how other people respond to him. So why all the hate? Do I have to change him, make him more likable so that people will actually want to read this book?

It got me thinking that being likable doesn't mean the same thing in real life as it does in reading a book. Think about all of your favorite book characters--if they actually existed, would you be friends with them? We don't choose the books we read like we choose friends. We want books to entertain us. That doesn't mean that the main character has to be some perfect, goody two shoes kind of a person. In fact, you would probably be turned off by this sort of character.

We don't have to like a character in the same way we would like a friend. We just have to like to read about this character. You could love a character's snarky attitude, but if you met them in real life, you might want to smack them. There just has to be something about them that makes you want to read more. Think about this: is Lolita's Humbert Humbert a likable guy? Good lord no. But do you still like to read from his point of view? Yes! Because there's something captivating about the way his words come across the page. Liking to read about a character isn't always the same as liking them as a person.

So keep your imperfect characters! Nobody likes a goody two shoes, anyway.

Do you consider your characters likable? Are there are any characters from books you've read that weren't exactly likable, but you still wanted to read about them? 

What are You Trying to Say?

Everyone has their own motivations for writing a book. You may just have an idea in your head that wants to get out. You may just want to tell a story. Or you may have a big, giant message that you want people to get. Or it could be a little bit of both. But how exactly do you figure out what you're trying to say, and once you do, how do you get that point across?

The whole "bigger picture" thing may not come to you right away. You may even get through your entire first draft without having one. You may never have one, and that's ok, too. I've always thought that my main motivation for writing a book is just to entertain. I want to write a book that at least some people will like (and hopefully most people won't throw rotten fruit at me when I walk down the street). Not every story has to be complicated, or have some sort of message to get across. I call a lot of my story ideas "fluff" stories, maybe just because they feel a heck of a lot easier and lighter than my main WIP. Fluff can be great (and lots of fun to read!). But not every story is fluff. Some stories are a bit more complicated.

That isn't to say that I think my book has one big message. If people assumed that, they would probably get it wrong. I do think that it does have several smaller messages, some of which I'm still trying to figure out. So how do you figure it out? How do you know if your story even needs one? And then how do you get those messages across?

It's probably something that you'll figure out along the way, or maybe you already know what your message is before you write the first word. Every story is different. It all depends on how subtle or obvious you need your message to be. How important is it that the reader gets it? If they don't get it, will the story still work? All of these factors will go in to your thought process as you're figuring it out.

And there are plenty of ways to get a point across. Think about all of those English papers you had to write in high school. Themes, motifs, symbolism, characterization. When you start trying to crack a story open, you can figure out what the writer was trying to say. So when you're the writer, utilize these tools. Put some symbolism into your book. Have a character represent something bigger. How often you do this will depend on the story, and you obviously don't want to overdo it so that you're hitting the reader in the face (didn't I talk about this before...?).

The first step in telling a story is to just tell the story. The next step may be to figure out what it is you're trying to say. The first person who has to "get it" is you.

Ever write a story with a message in it? How do you utilize themes and symbolism? 

What To Blog About...

Sometimes it's hard to figure out what to blog about. Other times, you have ideas but they just don't work out for whatever reason. I think today for me is a little bit of both.

My original plan was to post a book review today, but since I didn't actually finish the book I've been reading, that plan kind of went out the window (anyone surprised?). So, ok, no book review. So then I thought of doing another Fun Facts post, because I haven't done one in forever. I had a few ideas for some facts already, too. But I was having a hard time coming up with more facts for the theme I had in mind, and knew I couldn't get a decent blog post done in a short amount of time. So, no fun facts post, either.

So...what to blog about? I have no idea! But I'm not going to not blog, because that would just completely throw off my momentum.

Well, maybe I can make a list, after all. Here are just a few things that I'm trying to do. Succeeding and/or finishing is another thing entirely...

- Trying to plan out all of my A to Z Challenge posts. At this point I'm just trying to find out which ideas can fit under which letters. Eight definite ones picked out so far (including Q and Z!!! But X feels impossible). I really really really want to have all of the posts written before April starts so that I can have the whole month just to visit other blogs.

- Trying to make a giant editing list for the first two thirds of UL. Since I don't really think I need to completely rewrite these chapters I think it would be helpful to know every small thing that I want to change (some not so small, actually, but not huge, either). Then I could cross things off the list! How awesome would that feel?

- Trying to write every day. Well, trying to plan to write every day. I haven't actually started yet. But I think if I forced myself just to get the words out for say, 30 minutes every day, without staring at the blank screen or caring how crappy the words are, eventually I'll get somewhere.

That's it, pretty much. Well, I'm also trying to stay on this diet and not eat an entire pizza tonight. Still haven't decided yet...

The Great Time Lock Disaster

Today we're celebrating the launch of a new book by C. Lee McKenzie! Check it out!

AMAZON

There's nothing’s more dangerous than a wizard-in-training. And Pete Riley, has just proven it. He's worked a bad time spell--a very bad time spell.

No YouTube, no smoothies, no Manga. Not ever again. Not unless Pete figures out how to reverse his spell and free Weasel and him from Victorian England. 

He has until the next full moon. Only a few days.

Tick. Tock.

Here’s how the story starts, and it only gets worse.

One minute the clock was tick-tocking on the mantel and the next it was a smoldering mess.

“No,” Harriet shouted. Then she braced one hand on her desk and covered her eyes with the other.

Pete froze, not blinking, not breathing, but waiting to see if Harriet would point one of her long, bony fingers at him and turn him into a turnip or something slimy.

SEQUEL TO ALLIGATORS OVERHEAD

To celebrate the launch of The Great Time Lock Disaster I'm giving 20 eBooks away. Hope you'll jump in to the copter and go for a ride!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Usually, C. Lee takes on modern issues that today's teens face in their daily lives. Her first young adult novel, Sliding on the Edge, which dealt with cutting and suicide was published in 2009. Her second, titled The Princess of Las Pulgas, dealing with a family who loses everything and must rebuild their lives came out in 2010. Double Negative (2014) was her third young adult novel. Researching it turned her into a literacy advocate. Her fourth YA, Sudden Secrets came out in December 2014. 

When she really want to have FUN, she writes middle grade books. Alligators Overhead and The Great Time Lock Disaster are now available.

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