Knock Knock! Who's There?

I'm not entirely sure why, recently, I've used bad jokes as my titles...

I have a little piece of excitement to share with you. I was writing the other day, and Adira opened a door. Both she and I had an idea of who would be on the other side when she opened it...but it was someone else. And it turned the situation from sunshine to hide-in-your-basement-or-in-the-bathtub-if-you-don't-have-a-basement kind of storm. It was scary. And I was just as surprised as Adira!

Sometimes I feel like I'm reading the book instead of writing it. Those are the moments that thrill me and give me that little push I need after all the time I've put into the novel. There are times I don't feel like writing, but those moments bring all the excitement back that I had in the beginning. I hope my readers will enjoy those parts of the book just as much.

I leave all good surprises out of these blog posts because I have to save the good stuff for when it's all finished and in your hands. One day you'll see.  

Happy

I'm sitting at my desk, with the sun shining in all it's orangeness through my window, Lemon Lift Bigelow tea next to me (not my favorite, but what I have in the cupboard), and my writing tie is on. Oh, and I'm in my pajamjams.

I'm about to write, and it feels a bit like I'm in a Disney movie. Like I might just burst into a song that's brewing in my chest, ready to burst out and dance in the air before my keyboard.

Why? Well, the sunshine and tea help a lot, but I think the real reason is because I took a look at where I last left off--and unfortunately, it's where I was in my latest blog post--and decided not to care about cheesiness for now. If need be, I'll clean it up later.

This is a moment for Adira. A real God moment. I've had plenty of those, so I know what it feels like--the completely wonderful smile-like-a-dork-and-tell-all-your-friends-after-either-crying-or-jumping-around-the-room-making-high-pitched-squeaks-of-joy feeling. Those are the best moments. So, I'm taking those, and weaving them into the story the best I can.

No over-thinking, just writing from my heart.

Too Much Cheese Can Block You Up

And no one wants that.

Likewise, no one wants to read something super cheesy because...well, it's lame.

My aim in Picture Perfect is to tell it how it is. I want every bit of the story to feel real to my readers. Thing is, I also want to include God in the story because He's a huge part of my life and part of the story I want to tell.

I'm not saying God is cheesy--because He's not at all. But...if you haven't noticed, a ton of Christian stuff is super cheesy. T-shirts. Movies. Books. Bumper stickers. Websites. While I appreciate the meaning behind all of it, I do wish it didn't trigger my gag reflex. (Is that harsh? I mean, Christians have gag reflexes, too.)

One of my favorite authors and inspirations, Melody Carlson, does a bang-up job of writing Christian YA fiction. If you haven't read her, and you like the sound of my book, you should definitely give her a try. I love everything she writes.

The Bible is another example of non-cheesiness. It's not all rainbows and sunshine, after all.

Even having read Melody Carlson and the Bible, it's hard to write God parts of the story. I want my book to appeal to Christians as well as non-Christians. It's easy to write the real-life stuff, but not so easy to not write cheesy Christian stuff.

I find myself stuck on a God-part as I write tonight, so I thought I'd share this with you. Here's what I have at the moment:

[Note added 3/4/14. Excerpt has been removed.]

This is leading up to a huge God-moment for Adira, and I want it to feel huge to the reader. The God moments also need to be real, so I'll tell that exactly how it is, too.

Now, I might crawl into my toasty bed and think back on all the sweet--none of them cheesy--things God has done with me. I'll imagine how He'd be with me if I were in Adira's situation. Maybe I need to stop thinking about cheese, and if need be, clean it up later. Or add some fiber... What's the literary equivalent of fiber?

Film, negatives, spools, and darkrooms. Oh my!

Adira is, as I said in the first blog post, an aspiring photographer. Naturally, she knows a lot about the art.

I do not.

During editing, I've come across a lot of this:

I stepped into the darkroom and turned on the safety light. I felt the pressure and adrenaline that always comes with developing a perfect role of film. [INSERT STUFF ABOUT DARKROOMS AND DEVELOPING FILM]

I've known, since I chose this hobby and aspiration for Adira, that, at some point, I'd have to learn about photography. So that's what I'm doing! Via YouTube. How-to videos are just the best.

After a couple videos. I'm going to test out my new knowledge and try to make it seem like Adira actually knows what she doing. And you get to see it first. (Oh, dear.) 

I stepped into the darkroom and turned on the safety light. I felt the pressure and adrenaline that always comes with developing a perfect role of film. From just under the table, I pulled out the three water jugs I needed. The smell of Rodinal tickled my nose pleasantly, like walking into a house that smells of freshly baked cookies.
With the chemicals ready on the counter, I wound my camera and took out the film I'd used at the park. Careful not to crinkle the film, I held my breath and wound it onto the 120 film spool, holding the edges lightly between my forefinger and thumb.
Wound. I let my breath out and felt the flawless work I'd done. I hoped these pictures would be the ones I'd send in. I was out of ideas.

There you have it! I hope it sounds natural.

Your researching blogger,
Jessie

We're Not Dead

Neither I, nor the novel, is dead.

I just wanted to let my readers know this because after I said I'd be making new posts every Monday, I stopped posting. Tsk tsk on me.

I'm so very sorry.

Reasons:
-Slacking. (I'm done with this one and will get back to work now.)
-My computer has the blue screen of death, and it's quite annoying when it randomly blue screens and I have to shut it down. This hasn't gotten fixed yet, but my computer and I are learning to work together on this...somehow.

You may be wondering how the novel is going. I'm currently editing, which is tricky business since it's easy to skip over my own mistakes. I figured since I've been slacking, it would be a good idea to read over what I already have before I write any further, so I can get back into the story. And while I'm reading over it, I may as well edit.

Special thanks goes out to those of you who have asked me how it's going in person. You're a huge part of the reason I realized I should stop slacking.   

Unto Us a Book is Born! Well, Not Really Born...More Like Squeezed Word-by-Word Into Being.

Reader, this is my blog. Blog, this is my reader. Now that we're acquainted...I'm writing a book! Yes.

Ok, a little background (I promise it's very little). I went to Hope College for two years, took some sweet writing classes, then dropped out. In one of those classes, the goal was to write a 50,000 word novel in twenty eight days. That's how this book began.

This book, in case you were wondering, is called Picture Perfect. I'm now revising it.

I want to be a writer. God wants me to be a writer. So, I decided that if I want that and God wants that, I should probably be a writer. What better way than to stop wasting thousands of dollars on an education when instead I can educate myself by doing?

Now I'm writing--to the point where I want to bang my head into a wall--everyday. And I love it!

I'll stop blabbering now and tell you briefly what Picture Perfect is about.

Seventeen year old Adira, an aspiring photographer, comes back from her mission trip to Mexico with a dark secret. She hides the truth, wanting nothing more than to see the world through the rosy lens of her camera. Along with her secret, she buries her faith and denies God. Only when Adira finds out her best friend may meet the same terrible fate does she reveal the truth of what happened in Mexico. She must find the strength to trust love again in a world that has hurt her beyond repair.