Not Enough To Show I Care

"Ain't got nothin' but love babe

Eight days a week

Eight days a week, I love you

Eight days a week, is not enough to show I care"

-"Eight Days A Week", The Beatles

Ahhh. Before I start, I would just like to say that my nails are painted le colour noir and that I had forgotten how much I hated waiting for them to dry (you can't eat anything!). Now that I've said that, I have brought with me rather, no, very depressing news. I'm going back to school tomorrow. Doom doom doom. And I'm absolutely dreading it. As Dolly Levi says, "Goodbye, goodbye, goodbyeee!"

A quick reflection on my three week break. All I remember most is movies, movies, and more movies. And I remember reading almost all the queries in query shark. I faintly remember going to San Francisco, but that was so long ago, long ago.

I really don't know what this post is going to be about. But I'd like to say I recently hit a OMG-what-if-I-really-suck? moment. I abhor those. Now, my mind's all in flutter like what if I'm not good enough? And it's all confusing, confusing! I don't know how to explain it, but allow me to compare myself to Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment right after he murdered that one lady (I need to catch up on my reading). That's exactly how I feel, but I haven't murdered anybody, I just feel extremely sucky. I look upon my writing with disdain, especially my 2K which I am seriously reconsidering. It's too late now! Tomorrow is school (doom, doom, doom) and I'll have to turn it in! *headdesk*

I want to quote something I said in Steph Bowe's blog when she asked the post about our writings. I said:

My writing? Well, I imagine writing as words floating around in the air and I
have to pick them like I would an apple from a tree to create the most pretty
sentence (or apple pie). And if I get writer's block or lack of inspiration, I
usually end up pacing around the house, trying to find that perfect word that
will get me back on track. I like exploring writing, like different POVs or
genres. I'd like to get published before graduating high school, like you did
Steph, lol. But though I think my writing is knock-your-socks-off-awesome (who
doesn't feel like their baby is the most adorable in the world?)I don't think
it's quite yet ready for the publishing world. I'm still waiting for that
knock-your-socks-off-awesome story, and so far I haven't found it, or it hasn't
come to me. I've been writing since I was little (as most writer's have)and I
think I'm going to pretty much end up writing for the rest of my life.As for a
sample of my writing, why, this comment reflects it quite well. ;)

So yeah, that's pretty much it. Now you know how I write. When I can't find the words, I hit writer's block. Or a wall. (When you're looking for words in the air, you're only lookin' up. I especially hate it when the word is on the tip of your tongue and you know it starts with a certain letter, but you just can't catch it! Oh, yes, look at me all funny but you know exactly what I mean.)

Oh, oh! I know what to talk about now that's totally unrelated to my writing.

Adverbs!

Why so sullen? Oh, sure. Adverbs might not be fun in English class (believe me, I know) but here on this blog, I'll try and make it as interesting as I can in my current state of mind.

You know the golden rule in writing, show don't tell? (I'll cover that later when I'm more sane and less dizzy). Well, as I critique in critique circle I see a lot of adverbs. To me, there are two types of adverbs.

• The ones you can show
• The ones you can't show

Allow me to make lists

The Ones You Can Show

frustratingly, protectively, passionately, fearlessly, noisily, rudely, merrily, bravely, calmly, hastily, irritably, obediently, politely, solemnly, wearily

The Ones You Can't Show

absolutely, faintly, exactly, extremely, especially, usually (I've taken these from this post) exceedingly

Do you get what I mean? Let's show the adverb frustratingly

Original: "Oh, geez, I don't know!" I said frustratingly.

Revised:"Oh, geez, I don't know!" I cried, pulling at my hair. But even that pain didn't cover the rising feeling of doom at the thought of school tomorrow.

You see the showing not telling? You get the idea I'm frustrated and that mere thought of school, right?

Let's try another using hastily

Original: I hastiliy put on my clothes and ran out the front door.

Revised: I shoved my pants up, snatched a random shirt from the floor and yanked that on, too. My eyes flashed to my alarm clock. Good grief, late on the first day of school! Stupid clock! I dashed downstairs, having a second to give a quick kiss to my mom and flew out the door like my butt was on fire.

Okay...so not the best imagery, but you get the idea. I showed you hastily instead of telling.

Now, regarding the adverbs you can't show, check back on my post and spot those adverbs. Let's take this example I made up right now,

I am absolutely certain that my first day back at school will heavy my backpack with all its pointless homework.

You see? Maybe you can show absolutely, but I categorize those kinds of adverbs as OK since you can't really show it. (Speaking of advebs, the author of Crime and Punishment uses them like every other sentence!! Oh, well. It was written well before we had all these "writing rules"). There might be people out there who aren't even okay with those kinds of adverbs and say scratch it out all together. Of course, if I scratch out "absolutely" my sentence will still make sense. But I rather like it with the absolutely; it better depicts my disdain.

That's something to keep in mind. Remember, if it's an adverb you can show, then show it for goodness' sake! Some of those adverbs in can't show can be shown like "faintly". But the way I used it in this post I believe is allowed in my book. It's those other adverbs like carefully you have to find a way to show. Now, that wasn't too bad, was it? :)

To digress, I'd like to talk about something popular in romances and that is kisses. If there's one phrase I see when reading those scenes is this:

He/She deepened the kiss.

Nooo! Even somewhere in the Nanowrimo forums, someone said they thought this was overused. And since you saw me put it in this color, you know I agree, too. At first when I read that, I was like, I never seen that before. But if you go out there and read all these WIPs, they are there! Yikesss! Keep that in mine, romance writers. I won't be too happy to see this and if you're on Critique Circle and I see it, you bet there'll be something in my inline critique about it.

Okay, that's enough for today. As always, I wish I have been of some aid to you and your writing. Wish me luck going back to school and especially (ha!) my sore back which will not be happy to have the heavy backpack on it again. (Eeks! I said 'back' way too much. This is one of my pet peeves, but I'm feeling way too confused and dizzy to edit it, all my energy went to adverbs).

After the break, (or in this case my finished winter break)

Vanille

"The founding fathers... provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called education. School is where you go between when your parents can't take you and industry can't take you." -John Updike, The Centaur, 1963

& just for fun/I couldn't decide which one I liked best

"I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver. Then they would really be educated." -Al McGuire

P.S. I hope I didn't jinx myself with the late example

P.S.2. Speaking of after the break, American Idol's coming back on! I forgot the exact date, but I know it's in this month. Yays! I love the first audition park. Edit: Radio said it's coming on Jan 12! Maybe there is a silver lining to every storm cloud! (or something along those lines...)