Six Things That Make Me Happy

Jill Wheeler put a post on her site about six things that make her happy. I figured that I'd copy. It's my first meme!

1. Bubble Baths with a glass of red wine and a good book. Sometimes I mix it up and take a bubble bath sans book and think about the plot line for my novel.
2. Accomplishments! (I broke 25k yesterday!)
3. Paychecks (on Friday I will be 4 behind...so two months...right now it's just 7 and a half weeks). Getting a paycheck would make me ecstatic.
4. Chocolate. (the weight gain after, not so much)
5. Cuddling up with my hubby.
6. Good conversation with good friends.


With this whole money thing I am having a super hard time being upbeat. I feel like a whiny little blob of complaints. I thought that it would all be fixed by the time I got back from Mexico, but I'm pretty sure that it won't be until next week.

And then I'm being slow at getting my stuff done. Of course I am being slow. I'm stressed because I'm not getting paid. Everyone else is paid up. They got paid up while I was in Mexico (which I guess means no money for me until the bank releases their hold.) Would it be so hard to just tell me?

Sorry, this was suppose to be a happy post verses a whiny one.

Bubble Baths!

All better.

Worldbuilding

The past couple of weeks most of my efforts have been on worldbuilding. As many of you are writers and will already know, worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world. While a fantasy world is very imaginary, even literary fiction and other genres must do some form of worldbuilding.

Since I am a fantasy writer, I will focus on what I have learned about worldbuilding for this genre. While my favorite part about fantasy is hands-down deep and complex characterization I love the complex worlds that writers create. It helps take me to a new time and place. This is done in the details and nuances of the world that the author has created. Since I'm not that great at detail, I have to really work at this, which is why solid worldbuilding exercises are so important for me.

There are two different ways that you can go about worldbuilding: top-down and bottom-up. Top-down begins with a general overview of a world and then drills down into details while bottom up begins with a very small area and as the story progresses the author adds as needed.

Personally I do a bit mixed. Actually the premise for my current novel started with a map of a world because, as described in my description of my WIP, the world itself is disappearing along the edges. After I drew the general world I went to my focus town, the capital city of a country that borders the edge and started bottom-up from there. However, now I am getting to the point where I need to create cultures and traditions for the other peoples and countries in the world. I guess I approach it from a perspective of worldbuild what you need, plus a little bit more. Who knows, maybe it will give you new plot ideas.

One thing that I think is important is trying to add something different to the world. It seems like every book has it's politics based off of medieval Europe. Not that I am dissing that because part of mine is, but even with Kings or Emperors there are so many different types of governments. Think Japan, ancient China, India, the Aztecs. Spend a little time looking into different cultures and how the rule of those in charge affected the lives of the citizens.


When worldbuilding there are several different aspects to consider. Each will add a different flavor to your writing. Here are some questions to get you thinking:

• What kinds of foods do they eat?
  
• What is your character's favorite food? Why?
  
• What traditions occur with meals? Does your character like this?
  
• What is the religion?
  
• Are there any Feast Days or Holidays associated with this religion?
  
• What usually happens on these Feast Days?
  
• What does your protagonist like to for the Feast Days?
• Did any especially positive or negative things happen on one of these days to the protagonist as a child?
  
• What is considered the normal family or living unit?
  
• What sorts of dwellings do they live in?
  
• How do people "date" or "court" each other?
• What is the biggest offense you can give in the culture?
• What is a "rude" hand gesture?
• What is the climate like?
• How far away is the nearest water source?
• How do they obtain water?
• How do they obtain food?
• Is there magic?
  
• Is the magic associated with the religion?

Once you get started you can dig up a huge list of questions to ask yourself.

Also, when creating maps, make sure you follow general rules of physics, or make your own up but make sure to explain why you can follow that particular world. Wikipedia has some great thoughts about this.

So how do you go about worldbuilding? Is there anything particular you do? Do you take a top down or bottom up approach?

Chicago

So, as you can see by my previous posts, I spent last week in Mexico. I returned to Chicago last night. Last week I missed some of the coldest weather Chicago has seen in a very long time, which is saying something because this city can get very cold. There was about a foot of snow on the ground to great me. I must admit that I prefer white sandy beaches to white snowy sidewalks.

I'm sure that many of you in warmer climates, or even just towns more hospitable to driving are wondering why anyone would want to live in such a place as this (especially when you read about our state's wonderful governor). Honestly, during the winter months I often ask myself the same questions. So to start off my Monday "Out and About Chicago" series I will tell you why I love this city. Most of the time.

April through September this is, in my humble opinion, one of the best cities on earth. Rent is much cheaper here than other large cities making it reasonable for small, fairly authentic ethic restaurants to exist. Also, while much higher than other mid-west cities, rent can be fairly reasonable in Chicago, especially if you are willing to live a few miles out from the center of the city. And if you want it to be safe, try a few miles north. Certain neighborhoods don't really apply, of course, but you can find some great deals.

For a large city, Chicago is fairly clean (thanks in part to our alleys where we can keep our trash). Chicago has been called "the biggest small town in the country" because you can often go places and run into people you know. We are still in the Midwest so people tend to be fairly friendly. We have some beautiful architecture which has inspired many films to be shot here. We also have launched the comedy career of many actors through Second City. We have the Cubs (who are fun to watch and build character if you root for them since you will get practiced at having dashed hopes :-P )

Of course, life isn't perfect anywhere and Chicago does live up to that from time to time. We do have crazy high taxes and the public transit is great in places and spotty in others (so I made it a point to live around where it's better).

We aren't called the Second City because we are second to NYC (and we are behind Miami and LA in size now--so if that were the case we'd be called the Fourth City!). We are called the Second City because on October 8th, 1871 the city suffered a horrible file that burnt most of it to the ground. We rebuilt. This Chicago is the second Chicago. Thus Second City. They pushed all the debris into Lake Michigan and turned it into a large public park complete with a bike path that runs along all of the city's lake front. Absolutely beautiful (they didn't understand the environmental consequences back then). Also, while Chicago is very windy, we actually got the name from our windbag politicians who wanted to get the Columbia Expedition in our city. Thus Windy City. Although, personally, I'd rather it be because of the weather than our politicians.

So, I will show you why I love Chicago every Monday with a post about various activities or interesting Chicago facts. I encourage everyone else to post why they love their own city. Because at the end of the day every place is special not because of the land, but because of the people who inhabit it. (This is modeled after Travis Erwin's My Town Mondays).

* added at 3:45pm Jan 19: For other My Town Mondays please visit Junosmom at Lifetime Learning and Chris at e-Cuniform scratchings.

For those of you who came here because of the My Town Monday links, this was just an intro blog for Chicago. It will be more "traditional" with pictures of around Chicago next week.

Week Wrap Up -- My week in Mexico

Last week I was in Mexico for a friend's wedding. It was the perfect week to be out of Chicago. The weather here was so unbelievably cold. One day it was -17F and that was without the windchill. With it the weather felt like -30F. Totally crazy.

However, the weather in Mexico was mostly rainy. That's me off to the right enjoying one of the few sunny days with a Strawberry Margarita.

Luckily, the wedding was absolutely beautiful. It was on Thursday, which was rainy all day up until about a half hour before the wedding. Brad and Anastasia are a super cute and very fun/awesome/nice couple. Anastasia looked simply gorgeous in her dress.



We got down on Saturday night. Sunday we lazied around and went into town. Monday we went on a Catamaran dinner cruise. Unfortunately, this was the day that the weather first started to turn. Wednesday we went out to Ek Balam, a Mayan village and also went to a small city and got to swim in a cenote, which is an underground lake, basically. This one had a hole at the top of the cavern that let in light. The hole was created by the roots of a tree and the root stretched down to the water. Simply beautiful.

We also went to Tulum, a Mayan village on the ocean. It gave me a great idea for a new novel, but I have to finish the current one first.

Saturday was the highlight of the trip. We did all these adventure things. We got to snorkel in an underground river, go on a zip line over the rain forest and go rappelling. Poor Anastasia didn't feel comfortable with the zip line and the rappelling, but everyone did have a very good day. We also got to try some real Mexican food, which was a nice change of pace from the resort food.




That little yellow dot is my helmate. This is me on the zip line flying over the rainforest. Pete was standing on the platform that I was going towards when this picture was taken.


I totally wish that I was still there. We have about a foot of snow on the ground here in Chicago and it is crazy cold.


This was my first time traveling with friends, and while I really only knew the bride and groom, by the end of the trip everyone was really friendly with everyone else. It was nice because you could do activities with the other people or you could go do something by yourself and no one cared either way. I'm already getting excited about my next trip...lol. Although it won't be for at least a year.



I didn't do much actual writing, but I did alot of world building and plotting. This week I will be writing ~1k words per day. Next week classes start back up so I want to make sure that I am productive before that happens.

Sorry about the lack of posts

So it costs on a daily basis to sign onto the Internet from our resort, which is too bad because I had written all my posts before leaving. So instead of following my new schedule this week, I will start next week. I just didn't feel like paying $13 a day for the internet.

The picture to the side is me inside our resort. We have two waterfalls! It is so awesome. It is like you are inside the rainforest. Unfortnatly empaisis on rain. It has been rainy most of the time that we have been here. I am planning on popping by the tanning salon when I get home so that I am not pale.

And Pete decided to change bags at the last minute and didn't move over my makeup. Uncool.

It has been raining much of the time that we have been here, but it has been snowing at home so I will take this over that. Today is the day of the wedding. They are still going to do it outside so hopefully the rain will let up.

I had a horrible reaction to the bug bites which lost me a day, but I've got some meds that are helping. We are staying at an Iberostar. It is all inclusive, but very reasonably priced. We have already decided that we are going to stay at one of the other ones next summer (2010).

All in all, it has been a good trip and I have gotten some ideas for my novel that I am suppose to be working on and even more for the one that I am not.

I will get over to everyone's blogs once I get back on Sunday and I will post some additional pictures. Sorry for the delay!

Writing Update

This is my first official Friday Writing Update and my first official post following my new schedule!

I didn't get as much done this week as I would have liked because of my trip next week and having to work lots at the day job. That and I've been trying to make an effort on my blog and visiting every one else's. However, I'm about 25% done with the word count (but those words will turn into about 40% when I flesh out the description. I'm a skipper, what can I say.)

As of today I am at approx 23k words. I wrote 700 words this week.

On the plus side, the day job got two large invoices in this past week so they have money now and I can be paid my past-due paychecks. Hopefully no more will bounce. This is why my creative juices have been sucked dry. But now that excuse is gone.

Changes

So my blog looks different. Don't worry, it isn't going to stay like this. I'm slowly going to tweak it until it looks pretty. Well, prettier.

Aside from the obvious layout changes there will be some other changes to my blog. First I am going to start having images with most of my posts. But that is still sort of layout. I am going to start following a blog schedule. This will require me to post and will give my creative juices a "go point".


Sunday: Week Wrap-Up (Personal/about me stuff)
Monday: Out and About Chicago (Copied after Travis Erwin's My Town Mondays)
Wednesday: Writing Tips & Lessons Learned (Something in the writing craft I wish to discuss)
Friday: Writing Updates (How much writing I have done in the past week)

Random postings, or nothingness, will occupy the other days.


Also, talking about Travis Erwin--his family recently suffered a terrible loss a few days ago when their house burnt down. While I only know him through following each other's blogs, he seems like a really great person. He and his wife have two kids and two dogs. Some other bloggers have started a site where you can help him out in this just-after-the-holidays-season, if you are interested (yes, his kids lost all their presents from Santa). My heart goes out to his family.

A Bit About Goals

Since it is the New Year and goals are on everyone's mind, I decided to talk a bit about them.

Last month I shared some of my writing goals. I am right on track for the chapter part of the goals, but behind on the word count, which I am okay with because I tend to write through my ideas quickly and then circle back to fill in everything I glazed over. Funny thing, I realized on my ticker on the side I had accidentally had one extra zero in my word count goal. I was confused as to why it said I only 2% along on my total word count. Hah. It is now fixed.

I absolutely love goals. I am one of those people who has the whole "Life Mission Statement" from 7 Habits of Highly Effective people. In years past I would have have two to three pages of New Years Resolutions. I think that if you don't know where you are going then you are never going to get very far. Even if you don't get quite there, you will be so much further along than you would have been if you did not define and then follow your goals, but defining them is the first step because you consciously recognize that it is something that you want so you can make an action plan to accomplish it.

Last year was the first year that I didn't have too many goals, primarily because the years prior had all been so busy, especially 2006 (totaled my car, took a job in Omaha requiring 100% travel and weekly flights, moved to Chicago, got married) and 2007 (grandma died, Pete was very sick, got settled into Chicago, bought a condo, got a new job, got another new job). For 2009, I have a a few goals, but not like I used to. I think the older I get the more complacent, but in a good way, I get with my life.

I am not quite where I had wanted to be when I was a kid, but then, who is? I'm happy in middle management, especially at my age. I'm happy with my condo. I really don't like my job for various very good reasons, but who does? It is a stepping stone for my eventual non-writing career goals, a stepping stone that is very important.


Now my goals are more focused and are actually the longest lasting goals that I have had. 1) get into a consulting firm as a senior project manager or process consultant, 2) become a published novelist, and 3) be the best/happiest person I can be. All my other goals really are just steps to reach those. I guess that I would call these Motivating Goals.

Does anyone else out there have any Motivating Goals?

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had a nice holiday and a happy new year! For me, the holidays were great. We celebrated our second anniversary on the 30th. Also, I am going to Mexico from the 10th-18th so I'm getting all ready for that. I got most of my ideas for my WIP while in Hawaii a little over a year ago so I hope that this trip will help me get even more accomplished.

I went down to Indianapolis for Christmas, but spent Christmas Eve up in Chicago. I got a lot of great stuff. Pete got me an AreoGarden which will allow me to grow herbs inside. I also got a lot of hostess stuff, a special blender, some board games. Seriously was the best Christmas as far as getting stuff since I was a kid. My nieces and nephews all enjoyed their gifts. I love spending Christmas with kids. Makes it all so much more special.

Work isn't going very well and while I don't think any of them would read this, I will just leave it at that.

New Years Resolutions anyone?
* I resolve to finish my book and will write at least 100 words a day.
* I resolve to graduate this year, take my GMAT, apply for an MBA program and get my PMP (project manager cert).
* I resolve to be more socially active (aka not so work centric) and will hang out with people at least twice a week.
* I resolve to start a recycling program at work and increase recycling at home.
* I resolve to get involved in my faith community and start going back to church.

All in all, I think 2009 is going to be a great year.

* Recycling and church goals added on Dec 7th

Bitten By the Writing Bug

After forcing myself to get my Draft 2 of my first 12k words to my CPs even though I didn't feel like writing has now made me want to write all the time! But unfortunately this week is finals week in the two classes I am taking and has big projects due at work and my sister is coming to visit this weekend--so no writing for me right now...

One of my biggest problems in my writing is what I call the "And Then. And Then. And THEN!" phenomenon where the plot races forward at break-neck speed without any changes in pacing. I've managed to find a few places to interject a slower speed. Next I am going to see what I can do to add some additional tension to these scenes. Ew, good blog post idea. Expect to see something about adding tension to scenes shortly :)