A synopsis of my work in progress

 

I always thought it would be cool to live in a barn loft. | Brick Barn (Photo credit: cindy47452)

I just completed the synopsis of my work in progress and thought I would share it with my readers here at Write on the World. For all of you who have been following me and wondering what, exactly, I am writing about, here it is:

Into the World of Men is a dystopian science fiction novel that explores the themes of freedom and a woman’s place in the world. It is the story of M., a young woman whose family has kept her and her half-sisters hidden away in a secluded barn to keep them safe from a world where women are nothing more than property to the men in power. M. longs to escape the monotony and oppression of life in her secret barn. When King Mentor Drak discovers M.’s existence, he insists that she attend the naming ceremony of her new baby brother, thus forcing her out of exile against the wishes of her family.

National Poetry Month: First Day Budding

Spring has sprung, and I wish I had a cherry tree. | Cherry blossoms at POSTECH (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

April is National Poetry Month. So, I thought I would attempt to scratch out at least one new poem this month as my contribution. With that said, today I am sharing an original poem inspired by spring:

First Day Budding

A blush of white on trees
on the way
to work.

Ice?

Not when it’s raining
like this.

Pink tinged,
as though every tree
on Earth
is about to burst forth
with cherry blossoms.

Tomorrow,
the whole world
will be green.

By Amanda L. Webster

What is the difference between science fiction and fantasy?

Is this science fiction or fantasy? Or perhaps it’s speculative fiction? | Science Fiction League (March 1958) … The Real You (July 6, 2011 / 4 Tammuz 5771) … (Photo credit: marsmet541)

My thesis* efforts this week, while I am awaiting feedback on my first draft, are focused on wrapping up all of the loose ends: annotated bibliography, synopsis, cover letter, etc., that must be included in my final portfolio. I finally completed my bibliography, but I am struggling a bit with my synopsis. One of the biggest problems I am having with my synopsis is deciding what genre my novel fits into.

*Thesis Countdown: The final draft of my creative master’s thesis is due in 11 days!

I’ve been referring to my WIP as a “fantasy novel” for a long time, but I’m not completely sure that’s where it fits. Is it fantasy, or is it science fiction? Or is it this other thing I’ve heard of, speculative fiction, which I have no clue exactly what it is but for some reason have an inkling that my novel may fit into it? So, this afternoon, I am on a quest to determine which pigeonhole I should attempt to stick my novel in.

Write on the World wins Sigma Tau Delta Individual Blog Award

Guess what, everyone – You are officially reading an award-winning blog! This morning, I found out Write on the World won the Sigma Tau Delta – International English Honor Society Individual Blog Award at the 2012-2013 Convention that took place in Portland, Oregon in March.

Sigma Tau Delta presents awards “annually in the areas of writing, performance, service, and website and blog construction.” According to their website, “individual blogs are judged on creativity, usability of design, and content, as well as how well they support or advance the purposes and principles of Sigma Tau Delta as outlined in the Society’s Constitution.”

You should write your novel this summer

 

I bet even the King of horror probably thinks his first drafts totally suck. | Stephen King, American author best known for his enormously popular horror novels. King was the 2003 recipient of The National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Taken at the 2007 New York Comicon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A cousin-friend recently sent me the first page of a novel she’s writing and asked me if I thought it was any good. She writes some beautiful prose, but I thought she was a little too worried about the “goodness” of her novel at this stage in the writing process. So, I gave her the following advice:

I’ll tell you what I recommend (and a lot of famous published authors seem to agree): Just sit down and mind-dump your story without thinking about whether it’s any good. Stephen King wrote a really great memoir on writing, where he talks about how you should never spend more than a season (3 months) writing a rough draft. Your rough draft will probably seem like garbage, but that’s how it is for everyone (even Stephen King). Once you have your story dumped out on the page, then you can go back and start revising it to make it “good.”

Blogs you should follow, if you’re so inclined

This is me, reading your blog. Only replace the book with a smartphone. (Ha Ha, just kidding. The pickin’s are slim on Zemanta these days. Seriously, what is going on this picture?) | Reader of novels (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hopefully none of you are depending on me for regular blog content this semester. But just in case you are, let me share a few of my favorite blogs with you… something to keep you busy until after I graduate in May. Hopefully after that, I’ll have more time for blogging. I don’t want either of my subscribers to get bored. I’m talking to you, Ryan. You and that other guy. I don’t know his name.

Places to write: Perc Place, Hartford, WI

I have to love a cafe that features a painting of Mark Twain on the wall.

Perc Place, located in Hartford, WI, is one of my regular writing haunts. It has a friendly and relaxed atmosphere that is conducive to writing, if you can manage to be there during the right time of day. The walls are covered in painted replicas of old Life Magazine covers and are accompanied by a variety of knick-knacks that always seem to provide an interesting focal point while you’re contemplating your next sentence.

Perc Place seems like a coffee shop at first glance, but its main focus appears to be the restaurant business. Don’t visit expecting to use their WiFi during busy mealtime hours, as it’s only available during their slow times. While the lack of internet access can occasionally be a pain, I find that it mostly keeps me from getting distracted when I should be writing.

I like to enter through the back door and avoid the crowded restaurant section in the front of the building. If you’re here to write, you want a cushy chair or couch cushion in the back where it’s quiet. Well, quiet-ER. The old regulars can get a little rowdy from time to time!

My house won’t let me write

Who can get any writing done in a house with closets that look like this? And why do I still have a high chair and Pack n Play when my baby is 6 years old?

Last night, I stayed up until midnight grading papers so I could have today free to go to the library and write.

As I showered this morning, I considered how crazy it is that I can’t get any writing done at home. My house is just one big distraction begging me to do anything but write. I’m not quite a true hoarder, but I must admit that I have let things get a bit out of hand.

I just bought a new dinette set and couch with part of my tax refund money. The old furniture left last weekend, and I was left with a huge empty space in my dining room and living room while waiting three days for the new stuff to arrive. After the first day, I was ready to cancel my order.

That huge, empty space in my house, completely uncluttered—well, let’s just say that empty space looked a little like freedom to me.

Because my resume could use another award or two…

My blog was recently nominated for a Liebster Blog Award. Probably because I personally know the blogger who nominated me, and we’ve been sharing strategies for bumping up our readership. At any rate, it looks like fun, so why not?

The Liebster Blog Award

The rules for the Liebster Award are very simple: You are required to thank the person who nominated you, answer the 11 question they have asked you, nominate 11 other people and ask them 11 questions in return. According to the guidelines, the Liebster award should be sent to bloggers with less than 200 followers so that new bloggers can see how awesome they are!

By the way, thanks to Punky Coletta at SlimeGreen  for the nomination!

My Questions

Author Amanda Martin discusses her Daily Blog Challenge

Amanda Martin is the author of Two Hundred Steps Home.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to author, Amanda Martin, from the WriterMummy blog. Amanda is the author of Two-Hundred Steps Home, as well as the following guest blog post. Thanks, Amanda, for sharing your blog with us and for helping to lighten my blog load while I’m writing my Master’s thesis this semester!

Guest Post

The lovely Mandy has let me come to talk about my Daily Blog Challenge on my WriterMummy blog. Thank you Mandy! It’s always nice to get a change of scene.

I decided late in 2012 – on 30th or 31st December – that 2013 needed structure. My husband was made redundant (or laid-off, as one would say in the U.S.) in October and both my kids are still preschool age, so we lurch from day to day with virtually no plan. My ambition for 2013 is to have a novel accepted by an agent and/or self-published via Smashwords, and I hoped forcing myself to write every day would help motivate me. So I had the (crazy) idea to join Post-a-Day 2013.