WiP Wednesday: NaNo Update

First of all I want to thank my math teacher, Mr. Martin, for teaching me to type in tenth grade.

Because, you know, if I weren't such a freakishly fast typer, I probably wouldn't be able to announce:

I'M A NANO WINNER!

Which sounds really cool and is really cool, but actually only means I managed to write 50,000 words in the month of November.

As of today, the last day in November, I've written 56,518 words and am probably three or four chapters away from the end of the book. (Can you tell I'm not a plotter?)

Which is great!

But it's possibly even greater that I met a personal goal, too. I wrote every single day this month.

Even if I couldn't  pull off the full 1,667-word goal, I sat down and wrote SOMETHING. And usually that SOMETHING turned into more than I expected.

My other personal goal is to actually finish the novel this month, which would mean finishing it TODAY. Whether I'll reach that goal remains to be seen, but I'm feeling good. Time to stretch these fingers and get back to work.

Here's where I'm going to go out on a limb and say I think this is one of the best first drafts I've ever written. Not to toot my own horn or try to make you think I'm incredibly awesome or anything. It should be this way, right? With persistence and hard work, people improve at what they love. Forward momentum and all that. But I guess we'll see if my critique partners are as tickled with this baby as I am. LOTS remains to be seen. And of course, there's still lots of editing in my future.


How has your month of November been? Even if you didn't attempt NaNo, are you proud of something you accomplished this month? 

*By the way, tomorrow is Vicki Rocho's Well I Never blogfest! 

Which means I'll be posting two days in a row. Crazy, I know!*

Movie Monday: Flight of the Starlings

If you've known me very long, you know I love to take pictures of My Valley. And I love to post them on my blog.

My friend Kimberly described a recent trip to the ocean. When she's there, she said, she gets a greater sense of how big God is. She lets herself go. I get the same feeling from looking at my valley, especially on days like this one, when the Rattlesnake Hills are lit in red and gold. Other days the clouds play in lights and shadows as if the sky is a canvas.

But on the evening I took this photo, I stood on our deck and suddenly there was the sound of wings over my head and the starlings swarmed across the sky. And I caught it on video (with my little camera). Standing by myself, with the wind and the chimes and the birds swooping and churning, it was very close to a spiritual experience.

I returned to my kitchen in awe. In peace.

I know (from a quite hilarious Facebook conversation) that starlings are a nuisance. But on that evening, I gave thanks that even nuisances can be beautiful, can quiet a quickly-beating heart, can reveal God's fingerprints on earth.

*Sorry about the video quality, folks. But maybe it will help you get the idea.*

Simple Beauties

This time of year we return to the simple beauties of life:

Home

Family

Food

Fellowship

Laughter 

Warmth

&

American football

God bless you all and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

*See you all on Movie Monday when I have a cool video from China to share. (China video will have to wait for another week. I wasn't organized enough to post it this Monday! Coming soon, though! Go check out my Movie Monday starling video instead.)*

*Thanks to Morguefile.com for the use of this photo.*

Book Vlog: SPACEHEADZ

My eight-year-old, Gabe, wanted to share his thoughts on Jon Scieszka's SPACEHEADZ series, so we decided to experiment with a vlog interview. 

What do you think? Do you like this vlog format? If so, I might do this more often.

Have you or your kids read the SPACEHEADZ books? What did you think? We've read the first three books and are anxiously waiting for MORE. Thank you to Jon Scieszka for making my son excited to read every night!

WiP Wednesday: The Other Story

I'm NaNo-ing my way through a first draft right now. It's going well. I'm over 30,000 words on Day 16, so a little ahead of schedule. But I think that's a good thing, because I'm pretty sure this draft is going to need more than 50,000 words.

I've long suspected that I'm not a great multi-tasker. I cannot work on two projects simultaneously. One project always ends up being the twin who doesn't get enough nutrients--small, under developed, runtish. I'm better with singleton stories.

But honestly, I almost hijacked my own NaNo experience. See, this one day I had a sudden urge to work on my "other" book, the book I set aside so I could fly through NaNo.

BIG MISTAKE.

I lost my momentum with my NaNo story completely. I could barely eke out a thousand words that day.

So, I've committed myself anew to the NaNo story. I've made peace with the "other" story. She'll take a rest while I work on this one, and then, then I will set apart a large portion of time to really work on that poor, other, neglected story. The one that's been pining in the wings for far too long. I'll give her center stage for awhile.

How about you? Can you work on several projects simultaneously or do you prefer to be totally immersed in one?

Movie Monday: Lady Gaga in China

A friend asked me to "explain" this video to him the other day.



Okay, I can see why the average American would think this is bizarre:

1. It takes a Lady Gaga song
2. Translates it into Chinese
3. And makes a bunch of elderly people sing it
4. Occasionally off key
5. While dancing
6. Along with some young women in tutus 
7. Holding plastic renditions of traditional Chinese instruments

Yes, it's strange. But it's not too different from what's usually on TV in China, especially around holidays like Chinese New Year when the stations run one variety show after another.

Here are a few things about Chinese culture that might make viewing this video feel a little less odd:

1. Chinese people do not have as many inhibitions as Westerners do. Say you're walking through a park in China. You will see at least one of the following: a large crowd practicing tai chi; a large crowd dancing, either ballroom dancing or a more energetic, dance routine (usually there's a boombox set up to provide music); someone singing opera of some kind with a crowd gathered to watch; people walking backwards (this is believed to improve mental dexterity); someone playing a musical instrument; numerous games of hacky-sack; lots of badminton. Many of the people involved in these activities are retired. They have time and this is the way they have fun and stay healthy. It's totally normal.
2. Chinese people love to perform and they love to watch others perform. It's a national pastime. If you've ever been to a Chinese banquet you know this when they force you up in front of everyone to sing "Doe A Deer" a cappella. This is also why karaoke is so popular in Asian cultures, because singing in front of people is totally normal and wonderful and expected. In fact, if a Chinese person at a banquet asks you to sing, you'd better sing, brother.
3. It's not so important to stay on key. This should be comforting if you're ever pulled up to the front of a banquet hall in China and asked to sing a cappella. Chinese opera is very forgiving in this way, and since this is probably how most of the singers in the video were trained, they're more concerned about volume than pitch. This is not a criticism. It's simply style. I actually learned to sing a section of a famous southern Chinese opera called Butterfly Lovers. I performed it quite a few times at different venues with my opera teacher. So, I've heard my share of Chinese opera and it is an amazing art form! The movements are precise, but the pitch ... not as important.
4. No comment on song choice. Not positive why Lady Gaga was chosen, and my Chinese isn't good enough to know if they translated the lyrics exactly, but... Yes, they do look cheerful for singing about heartbreak and bad romance. But the tune is kind of catchy, right? **

I actually love this video. I love that the Chinese live to entertain, that they're not afraid to try new things and put themselves out there. I love that they honor their senior citizens and that people aren't considered  "too old" to perform on national TV. It's wonderful ... and just watching this makes me feel nostalgic for China. I loved the quirky, unexpectedness of living there. Every morning I woke up not knowing what adventures the day would hold.

American life, on the other hand, is very ... predictable.

Thoughts?

**Giora very kindly provided more explanation in the comments (thank you, Giora!). I wanted to include his words, because they are very important to understanding this performance: "The lyrics are very different from that of "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga. The lyrics are about eldery people sining to their son that he is too busy to visit them and they hope that he will see them singing the song." Isn't that helpful? I'm becoming more and more attached to this performance all the time!

All Things Are Possible

It was one of those evenings where I looked at my band of alternately crying and hyperactive children and thought to myself:

1. I have to feed all these children
2. I have to get all these children in their pajamas
3. I have to motivate all these children to clean up their messes
4. I have to read books to all these children
5. I have to somehow get all these children to brush their teeth and get in bed
6. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

But now, you see, it's past nine o'clock, and here I sit in front of the computer with a steaming cup of tea. All those children are asleep. The house is quiet. The living room is (slightly) picked up. The Dashingly Handsome Sidekick is home from football practice.

All things are possible.

Number of words written today=zero (but I'm about to remedy that right after this blog post)

How was your day?

Movie Monday: Hong Kong Homeland

My good friend and critique buddy, Krista V., wrote a neat post entitled Writing What You Are ... and she used me as an example in her post! (Thanks, Krista!) Not because I'm brilliant or have everything figured out, but because over the last few years I've been writing novels that reflect my experiences in Hong Kong and China. It's a good place to start--with what you know, what you feel passionate about. Head over to Krista's blog and read >>her post<<. It's really good (and not just because I'm in it, promise).

But before you jet, stay for a couple minutes and watch this short video about Hong Kong, where I grew up. This video makes me homesick and proud every time I watch it! Enjoy!


[ Homeland ] - with my DIY motion-dolly from Asa Li on Vimeo.

What unique life experiences do you bring to your writing?

Snoopy Mom Strikes

Shhh! You must never disclose that you saw this on my blog. This is a big, big secret. My ten-year-old daughter does not know I scanned this letter she wrote and does not realize I'm posting it on my blog.

 

She would absolutely kill me, so please don't breathe a word. 

But ... isn't this CUTE?

Man, it makes me want to write books for younger people so that if they're published I could get cool fan mail like this. With mermaids!

Do teenagers ever send fan mail with mermaids? Probably not, right?

Darn. 

For the record, Olivia's been a Grace Lin fan for a long time. She reviewed Grace Lin's celebrated WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON on my blog >>here<< when she was eight. I think she only got one comment on the review because I didn't have very many blog friends at that point (*sniffle*). In fact, I think the only commenter was my brother. Um, lame? 

But it's still a cute review.

Now to secretly return this letter to the place I found it so Olivia will never, ever know I stole borrowed it! Muahahahahaha!

WiP Wednesday: Tense Troubles ... & Insignia ARC!

I started the first draft of a new book the other day.

I tried to write it in first person past tense, but just couldn't do it. I kept inadvertently slipping back into present tense, which was so frustrating. Finally, I just gave in and changed the whole thing to present. 

I've been writing in first person present for so long, it's hard to switch!

I could probably switch if I really forced myself to, but this is NaNo. I don't have time to go back and edit all my tense blunders, so I'm heading back to my comfort zone.

How about you?

Which tense do you like best when you write? Are you all over place or do you tend to stick to one? Do you have a preference when you read?

And by the way, S.J. Kincaid is giving her first ARC away on >>her blog<<. You don't want to miss it. Here's a little cover love to get you salivating: