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How once woman went from being a SAHM of four to a published freelance science journalist |
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I'm revising this intro after more than 15 years to better reflect my intention When I started this blog in 2004, I was a stay at home mom to two small children, a college graduate with a degree in English and Astrophysics. By 2007, I had four small children, ages newborn, 2, 4, and 6. For several years, Writing.com was how I kept my sanity. This blog began, first as a way of staying connected. Later, when I worked on a novel, I used it to stoke the writing fires as I plotted out short stories and the next step of my novel. Ultimately, I moved my writing preparation to "Invalid Item"  In 2010, I became a single mom who had homeschooled her children for several years. I had a 2, 4, 6 and 8 year old and had never had a "real" full time job, since I was married while in college. Everyone told me that I would have to buckle down and take on a "real" job. Instead, I decided to attempt to live my dream: to make it as a writer. I knew that if I didn't try then, I would never really dive in. I counted my money and set a deadline. If I hadn't began making a decent (defined) amount of money after so many months, I would suck it up and get a J-O-B. After some thought, I decided to play to my strengths. I served an internship at Sky & Telescope magazine while in college and enjoyed writing about space and astronomy. With an astrophysics degree, I thought I would be able to sell myself more easily, and a small niche should be easier to penetrate. It's been about ten years since I was first paid for an article on Space.com. In that time, writing - journalism - has been my primary moneymaker. I've often thought about setting up a blog on my website - www.astrowriter.com - but just haven't gotten around to it. There are a few things I would like to share for those who are interested in scientific journalism in general. Now that I'm back on WDC, there's no reason not to combine the two and use the site blog for that sort of interaction. There are certainly plenty of folks on this site interested in the publication process. So while I'll probably meander around some, that's the intention of of this blog: to share some of my struggles as a published journalist and to help answer oft-asked questions. |
| <laughs insanely, maniaically, and sleeplessly> Did you think I was going to write?! Tricked you! But I thought I'd advise you as to the insanity of my current condition (see previous paragraph). |
| Yikes, I'm going broke! I'm running out of gps. I need some more contests to enter. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on my all-time favorite, the Muse's Alley, which is "temporarily closed" for the holidays. I really enjoy the prompts for that one. But there aren't very many short story contests running right now, which is really sad. I missed all the good holiday ones, too. I am thinking of branching out and writing a poem. I saw a good contest here "Spidey's Weekly Poetry Contest" , and the prompt is radiance. I'm trying to think of a good poem, but I'm afraid I don't feel very radiant. So then I was trying to think of radiant things around me. I think I'm still overcoming the 'blahs', though. But I'm going to keep contemplating. Either way, it's freeverse, with a 2500 gp prize, and 500 gps for honorable mentions. It's a weekly contest, so I can keep trying over and over again. I'm going to have to do something to fund myself.I'm so terribly money-obsessive, aren't I?  Of course, I've also started hanging around the public review page and helping others rise above me on the list.  I like reviewing, but it's nice to be able to encourage others to do some fantastic reviews, too. Of course, I really need to start reviewing again. Blech.That said, let's talk about radiant things. I'm trying to focus on them. What is the focus? Perhaps a feeling or emotion. What is radiant? What makes me radiate? Who is radiant? Basically, I want to cover the theme of my poem, what I want to talk about or describe. I am so tired, though. I can't seem to focus my mind around things. Okay, well, let me look at my book info, and we'll come back to the poem. (Cool, just checked my email and I had a bunch of gps from yesterdays R&Rs! Very exciting) I started on my first chapter yesterday for my novel. It's hard to believe that I actually have managed to start a novel. It didn't go the way I had planned. For one thing, I realized that there was no need for Jonathan to come back. But I still need him to, because I want them to develop something in that time, so she feels extra-betrayed. That makes her even less likely to trust him when she sees him again. Also, I like the idea of him trying to stop her from going back in time, of trying to "rescue" her. Of course, that would cause a paradox, so that wouldn't happen. Because if she didn't go back in time, he wouldn't know to stop her; therefore she has to go back. Therefore, I think he's going to meet her and take her to lunch, and perhaps to the bank to deposit her data. Now here's a thought for you. What if everyone thought Caroline was dead? What if there was a corpse found in her lab? Do I want Alex to be that wretched? Of course then he couldn't do that until after he sent her back, and I want him to do it sooner, so no, that wouldn't work. Okay, so he will torch it before her and no one will know she's dead, but they will be suspicious. After all, her lab is torched, and then her apartment ransacked. When she disappears, they think the worst, and then she doesn't reappear. Convenient and difficult, but that covers the funding issue. So Caroline has backed up the data, and then she leaves the lab, in the company of public safety, of course. She goes home and to bed, thinking of Jonathan's flashing blue eyes and handsome grin. The next morning, the phone rings and wakes her up; she sees the lab has been torched and utterly destroyed - no computers left. Wouldn't they already suspect Alex? Well, there wouldn't necessarily be anyone to point them in the right direction, no one who suspects him. Except Jonathan, of course. Caroline shows up, and Jonathan meets her there and convinces her now of the importance of getting her info into security. Once she leaves with him, the time traveling Caroline will walk in (granted, we won't see this until the end of the book) and pick up the data. She'll then take it home and print it out for Jonathan to take back in time to her. Once that is accomplished, perhaps he takes her out to lunch. They have a nice discussion. He spends much of the time trying to convince her to leave. However, when she gets home and goes up to her apartment - without him - she discovers not only has it been ransacked but that the attacker is still there. They stun her and thus ends chapter one. A few more futuristic details - money is handled by a combination thumb print and voice check. Dining out is all made from scratch (don't forget that nice little irony). Caroline and Jonathan discuss their work, broadly, but still vaugely. Jonathan keeps reaching out to hold her hand or be slightly more intimate than one would expect of a stranger. Is he worried about being seen with her? Wouldn't security want to check out the guy that showed up the night before? Probably, but he steers her away before she is questioned. But Derek, the guard, reports him as a suspicious fellow. So now everyone is on the lookout for a dark-haired fellow, a little taller than Jonathan (he was wearing stilted shoes, padded soles about three inches thick). Jonathan himself is six feet tall, but the guard puts him closer to 6'3 because he towers over him. Actually, they could probably get his height from his shadow on the tapes, though his face isn't made clear. When Jonathan shows up the next day, is he blond again? No, the first time Caroline sees him blond is when he comes into the lab; it takes her a minute to place his face. Before she can react, she's gone. Then when she sees him again in the past, he's blond; the truth comes out. What I've written already is very rough and will probably wind up getting tossed. But it gives me a jumping off point, a place to get started. It pulls us into the action. I didn't get to use my starter sentence, which I really wanted to put in. I'm going to insert it here so I can always remember it and hopefully use it later. The first time Caroline met Jonathan, he had loved her for x thousand years, though she'd only lived for thirty. |
| Try hard not to be surprised, but once again, I have a case of 'the blahs'. I don't feel like writing. Of course, today is a proclaimed 'day off' (I already 'scheduled' writing for M-Th), but my husband has taken the kids to his parents house. Thus, I have hours upon hours of time to write - and I don't feel like it. Worse than that, I don't even feel like reading, which is my usual relaxing recourse. Heck, I don't think I even feel like chocolate, so you know something is wrong. Sometimes I wonder if my 'professional push' is such a good idea. Writing has become, at times, more of a chore, or a job, than a hobby or joy. I look at this in a couple of different lights (it's very bright around here). First, I think, that's terrible, because now I have taken something I love and made it required. Then I flip over to, well, if I always wanted to be a professional writer, then I am simply exercising that right (or, write). And I come back with the fact that, even on dingy days like today when I just don't really feel inspired to write, if I actually force myself, it is only drudgery for ten to fifteen minutes. Usually after that, I am siezed by inspiration and plug away like mad, biting the heads off anyone who interrupts me. That's a good sign, right? It also means that, by forcing myself to write, I don't lose that inspiration I otherwise had. I'm not turning out pure twaddle, but actually (eventually) am getting to some good things. I wonder if I went back through my journal and took inventory of which days and stories I forced myself to start, which would be better (prerevision, anyway). I seem to remember the snowflake story being a required jumpstart, whereas poor Caroline's story (not one of my betters) wasn't. This is the novel starting week. And my goal is to crank out the first two novels before I have this baby, which I am hoping to come out any time. So I really need to get cracking. But I feeling so blahy, I just don't forsee anything good coming, even though I've had this novel in my head for some time now. This is what is going to happen. It is 6:10 pm now, so I am going to go make and eat dinner. I will read and relax a bit more as I do so. The downside is that it will take about 45 minutes for dinner to cook - but only five minutes or so to eat  . I need to do a touch of housework, as well - the dishes, the laundry, etc. I'll do that right now, real quick, and then I'll read my book until dinner is ready. I should be all set by about 7 and then I can write for an hour at least. If I'm inspired, I'll keep going; if I'm tired, I'll stop. Whatever works. Hopefully I'll be inspired and will finish the entire first chapter.That reminds me, somewhere in here I need to work on revising my short stories. I have already gone through and done most of the superflous editing; I need to check on my in-depth reviews (everyone go visit SherrasQ   who has given me such great help!) and implement some of those suggestions as well. Then I have to add them to the stories on-line. That is so very time-consuming; it is much more fun to write. I need to figure out how I'm going to filter in editing to my schedule, as well. If I only have four hours a week devoted to writing, I don't really want to sacrifice one of them to editing. Well, not until my novel is completed.  I need to write even when I don't want to. Ugh ugh ugh. Anyway, I'll try to come up with a plan for that.For now, I need to do the laundry. Incidentally, this includes the five boxes of baby clothes my husband brought down from the attic. I'll probably cry as I fold them, LOL, since it's hard to believe my son (who turned two last week) was ever that small. My first son, anyway. <sigh> Okay, off to slavery and drudgery and then I get to write. Forced writing, but whatever works. I also need to be thinking of how to filter through the first chapter; I think I have the basics but I want them clear before I write. Or maybe not; a vague idea seems to work better for me, anyway. And I have my introductory sentence, though I'm not sure how to phase it into the story as a whole. Hmmmm. . . |
| Well, I don't seem to have much luck with sponsoring. I must be insane. Today I had an item clicked on fifteen times and got NO reviews. Not a one. And that at 811 gps/click. So I give up. I've sponsored items before, and I seem to get a ton of clicks and no R&Rs. This is very frustrating to me. I think my stories are too long, though, and that's part of the problem. I did some market research again today (hey, it's Friday), although I didn't manage to get up at 6:30. I didn't even try. This could be because I didn't fall asleep until after 1:30 this morning, but who knows. And I was laying there trying to sleep, too. I ended up moving into the living room and trying to sleep in the arm chair, which *didn't* work. I can't get comfortable on either side. What a stress basket. I finally gave up and went back to bed where, at least, my husband had stopped snoring. Small blessings. I'm not sure how well I'm going to do with my novel. My brain seems fried. I was really going yesterday, though, wasn't I? Thankfully today isn't really a "writing" day. But maybe tomorrow at some point - tomorrow night? - I can get some writing done. I can't believe I'm almost to 50,000 words for the month. About half of it is journaling, but I would say two-thirds of that was based on creating fictional what-have-yous. Maybe just half. Well, that worked out well. In the meantime, I'm exhausted. I hate research. I keep trying to read this stuff on Rome and it doesn't seem to be working well. I guess I should try it some more. I really need to work on my reading and researching right now. Blech. What should I do? I really want to read my fictional book, but I oughta research. I suppose I could spend another thirty minutes researching, and then I can read my fiction tonight. My husband will be home in just over an hour, thankfully, so I can do more relaxing then. Hypothetically, anyway. Though by the same measure, I should be able to focus more clearly on my research, too. The problem with today is that my darling husband is ready to have this baby now. I am, too, of course, but he's proposing castor oil, walking and my personal un-favorite, depriving me of water! Last time I was pregnant they took me into the hospital and hooked me up to the IV, and the contractions stopped. They gave me the option to stay or go; since we were in the middle of moving, I decided to go home. I mean, right in the middle of moving - we picked up the Uhaul and drove to the hospital. Great fun, I assure you. Okay, well, I'm going to go and do some research, I suppose. Thirty minutes. I have to work hard to focus on that, LOL. |
Okay, first things first. I've discovered trivia and am having a good old time with it. It's kind of like the scavenger hunt I found on Monday. I wound up doing it after I wrote that night. Well, I found it before Monday, but it took place Monday night. Both are really fun. Anyway, spidey  is doing the horror trivia now ("Spidey's Horror Trivia Contest" ) so I'm distracted.I did, however, manage to finish a new ending for "Invalid Item" . I wrote that tonight. I also wrote an essay this afternoon which may or may not help folks, we'll see. "Invalid Item" I was planning to start my novel tonight but circumstances intervened. For one thing, today is my son's second birthday. So I played with him today. My husband took a half day off from work, unexpectedly. When he came home at 2 he said it was to spend time with ds. After an hour, though, he wimped out and went to hide in the bedroom. He was taking a nap. Well, now my dad is on the phone. He wants to talk since it's my son's birthday. So I'm out of here. |
| Well, earlier today when I couldn't write, I was all riled up about my story. I had it perfectly set up in my mind. Now that I can actually write, I think the day has sucked out my strength, and I lack a motivation to go. You know what? I don't care. As I think about it, I realize that it doesn't matter. I am supposed to be writing, and by golly, that is what I am going to do. I did this once before. I decided that, even if it comes out as the stinkiest poo ever to cross a page, I was going to write. And I wound up being inspired. Motivated. Driven, even. I daresay the words weren't that bad. I think that was just two weeks ago, too. So I came in here to vent about the crummy day I had and how the kids - and getting after them - have worn me down. But you know what? Who needs to listen to a whiner! I'm going to go write my stories, with or without inspiration. I already had the inspiration in my head and had the whole thing pretty much plotted out. At the very least, I can build my framework, and then go back and develop it. So here I go, off to write! Hopefully I will quickly regain my aforementioned inspiration. But even if I don't, at least I'm not complaining. |
| So I have this tragic, heart-string pulling short story in mind that I wanted to map in brief so I don't forget it. I probably won't, but you never know, right? The prompt for the RWR, as you may recall, involved the recieving of a package in the mail. (Incidentally, I wonder when that will be judged? I'm tapping me feet impatiently. I read the other entries and, well, I'd like to see the final judging.) I tried to think what Alex would look forward to recieiving in the mail. I also tried to determine what would sufficiently motivate Alex at that age. I decided his motivation would be family. That is, since he is without one, he would want to "find" a family. The question then becomes, how do you "find" a family? Well, we have a motivated boy here, so I thought maybe he would go door-to-door. Obviously this would work only if he is idealistic and naive, and thus fairly young. I thought six, maybe seven. Then I pondered on the brown package. I discarded several strange things, such as a detective kit, and finally decided to opt for 'magic'. My kids television program helped out a bit here. I decided he sent away for a "magic ball" or crystal ball, or something of that nature. I'm not completely clear on it, but the idea is that it comes from the ad in a kids magazine and he sent off five dollars and three UPCs for it (I guess it could also come from the back of a cereal box, for that matter). So now our poor, naive, idealistic young boy is going out, trying to sell himself to a family. He has it all worked out what he's going to say. But of course he isn't going to tell us. Instead, we'll see his foster home isn't all that. Wait, moral halt. I hate the idea of painting foster parents as bad. Sure, there are some that do it for the money, but those aren't nearly as frequent, I think, as the ones who are trying to do some good. I hate to add to the tearing down of good people. At the same time, I don't want him blissfully happy there, either. Perhaps they could be a middle line; they could be "okay". Not peaches and roses, but not down in the dumps, either. Concern but not love; caring but not too attached because they, like he, know that he could disappear easily. Very laid back in their attitudes, easygoing. Okay, so he's shown us a not-miserable-but-not-happy home in the process of getting his coat and going out. He's very excited about his magic ball and wish fulfillment. But we won't know he's in a foster home until he tells the first person at the door. An older man, maybe sixty. Alex launches into his "sales pitch", which mainly consists of reassuring him that he won't be that expensive, he has no burning desire to enroll in a multiplicity of costly activities - unless his new parents desire him to do so, in which case he will be more than happy to embrace anything from baseball to ballet. He doesn't eat much and he's very quiet, well-behaved and gets good grades in school. He's already planning on working hard and getting a scholarship to college, so that cost won't be an issue, either. He's very earnest. The first house, we see an elderly gent. Does he listen to the whole thing? Perhaps he tries to break in but can't. The next house (there are several empty ones in between, incidentally, to cover realism) is a young mother with four children already. And so it goes. I don't think I need to show any other houses. I think when he comes home after "casing" the neighborhood, he will be bitterly disappointed and disillusioned. The ending is a big difficult. I thought perhaps a little girl would be brought into the household. Not orphaned, but she was, perhaps, abused. She asks Alex 'are you going to hit me?' and then 'is she going to hit me?'. She's going to be the same age he is, isn't she? But his heart goes out to her, and he promises not to let anyone hit her. Big promise from a six year old, but he can promise to take care of her. Of course, we know that in fourteen years or so they will get married. Well, I know that, but how do I convey it to the audience? Would a line about 'when they were married fourteen years later, Alex thought back on that day and smiled. Under his coat, he carried his 'magic ball' [or whatever], but he knew he had all the magic he needed.' Poetic but I'd still call it a bit abrupt for the piece. I'm having a hard time with endings lately. Out of the four short stories I have written in the past two weeks, the only ending I am satisfied with is for "Invalid Item" . And that's a fairly emotionally-laden story. Blech. Actually, strike that. I like the ending for "Invalid Item" . I did recieve a comment about the ending being 'too pat', but otherwise, I think it's gone over well.The two I am having problems with (in addition to the one I'm contemplating) are "Invalid Item" and "Invalid Item" . In the first, I don't like the way he wakes up in the ER, but I'm not sure how to show him severely hurt but ready to go again.Wait. Thought. Yes, what if I take the ending currently had and get rid of it. What if, immediately following his crash into the tree, he isn't knocked out. Instead, his mother rushes down the hill (along with his siblings, of course), and there discovers the bone broken in his arm. Why not go back to where we started? Then he revels in excitement (and pain). I think that would be a more appropriate ending. I wish I'd thought of it before the contest judge judged the contest. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I guess it does pay to put it away for awhile before revising. And I think that would do several things - first, it would make his injuries less serious (than, say, a CAT scan). Second, it would tighten the ending a great deal. How cool is that. The solution just presented itself. That would make the story more submittable, I think. I could see it going into Boy's Life or some similar magazine. Okay, I've never read BL, but you get the idea. Some type of boys magazine. Then again, the whole disobedience thing might be too much. We'll see. I'd love to see "Invalid Item" in the same venue, but we'll see how that goes. I wonder if it's too soon to work on researching for those markets. I can't remember my other decision. I think I'll head over to the "Going Pro" forum and ask them about submitting Christmas stories. Hmmmm. |
| The "best" thing about being pregnant is being physically exhausted and unable to shut down my mind. It is almost 2 am here and I can't fall asleep. First I got obsessive about a missing library book which is already nearly a week overdue. I actually bundled up and went out and searched both cars, a difficult task due to my enormous tummy. Then I thought maybe my husband, whose idea of cleaning is "throw everything in a box/bag and toss it in the closet", may have lost the book, so I started going through random boxes and bags in our evil office, of which their are several. I found about three boxes of baby wipes - which we sorely need - some random things I've been missing, and another library book, but not the one that is a week overdue. I don't know where that sucker is and it's bugging me. Anyway, then I was awake, so I grabbed my book, hoping it would put me to sleep. Before I read, however, I decided to "just turn on the computer to check my email." And here I am. So the good news is that I found a new thing that I think I will try to do. Periodically, I'm going to make a run through the public reviews page. There are some great reviews on there. Not only will it give me an idea of what look for in items, I think I should be out encouraging other folks who do fantastic jobs at R&Ring. After all, I know how tough it is! I'm also having a quandry issue. I haven't done much R&Ring lately - I had a goal of one in-depth and two surface reviews a day but then became lucky to hit one and now I'm not doing many at all. There are several reviews I really should return. The quandry is my project. I can't tell you about it because I am *trying* to be anonymous (sometimes I forget to hit that box though), but needless to say, it is time-consuming and thus takes time from my reviewing. So what is more important, a charity benefit, returning reviews, or writing, writing, writing? Well, for greedy me, it would be returning reviews, in the hopes that I will get even MORE reviews. However, the fact is, I am trying to be kind to a group that has rained a ton of kindness down on me, so I guess that takes precedence over my selfishness, at least for reviewing. On the other hand, I am really trying to keep up the "writing" momentum, and I don't want to lose speed. Still, I think if I do at least, say, three reviews a week, I'm doing good. Right? (Nod along with me to make me feel better) Well, I doubt I'm doing that many, but anyway.... Going back and forth on what Alex got in the mail. I'm assuming he's currently entrenched at a foster home. I thought about a letter from his wife-to-be, but a) that lacks action and b) I think the prompt was shooting for a package. I also don't want to make him Jonathanesque. You know, I don't want him to order some type of action-adventure-boy-toy thingy. But I also don't want it to be, say, a science kit. I guess I need to find out what is driving him as a child and go from there. But anyway, forgive me because I was going to stick with random babbling. I wish I had time to do - and write - everything I wanted to. I've had several article thoughts over the past few months, but short stories take precedence in my opinion. Articles on homeschooling, Disney, reviewing, and even, thanks to a suggestion, an article or forum on "earning" gps. Assuming I could paint that without coming off wacko. So my husband was upset about his shirts. I left the dark clothes in the laundry basket in the laundry room (clean) for several days. He wanted me to toss them in the dryer; the trouble is, unless I hang them up immediately after, the wrinkles all come back. So he was irked about that and missed the three loads I folded and the fact that I managed to get the sheets off all the beds and back on two out of three. Not only that, but I planned on making dinner (he said he wanted to grill, I said, no problem) and made all the side dishes. Believe me when I tell you that this is all big stuff. AND THEN I managed to get and keep the kids toys mostly picked up throughout the day. No mean feat with a two and three year old whose grandparents just bought FIFTY Matchboxish cars for one for his birthday. I think his grandparents hate me, but anyway. Those suckers get dumped all over quite frequently. I wish he could see the things I *do* do sometimes. He tries, and usually is pretty good; it's just when I don't do what he deems most important that he gets upset. <sigh> Not only that, but he wanted to eat ice cream cake tonight. He cut himself a piece that was at least twice as big as mine, but I think closer to 3xs larger (he denies the twice as big, whatever). When I asked him about a second piece, he made some comment about how I just said last week that I'm having trouble getting into my maternity jeans. Now, he is usually fairly kind and sensitive, and he didn't really mean "hey baby you're fat"; I think he was just trying to get out of getting up and making cake. Then he comes back with another (large) slice for him. Here I am thinking - and not saying - that he weighs something like 275 lbs, and I weigh about 145 and am 8.5 mos pregnant. Well, 37 weeks, technically over 9 mos since you are supposed to go to 40 wks. Anyway. I just wish he would think sometimes. Anyway, I've worked myself up so now I guess I'll go to bed. I wish I could sleep. I'm really tired and now I'm emotional. And I'm going to have to get up early tomorrow, too. Bum deal. And now my son is crying. What a ripoff. So much for sleeping. I'm just counting down the weeks until Feb 8th. At least then I'll have a good reason for not being able to sleep. |
| Should you be desirous of reading this (I notice my character sketches don't get as much attention as the rest of my entries, LOL), I'm writing this part now at 5:30 and plan to be back around 8:30 to write some more for an hour. The Bad Guy I wish I knew his name. I was thinking "Alexander", but that is a little awkward, especially with two characters named Jonathan & Caroline. Maybe we could just call him "Alex". He needs a last name, too, and of course, he's also a doctor. What a novel - the three primary characters all have the title 'Dr'. It's okay, though, two thirds of them won't be able to use them for over two thirds of the novel. That's ironic. They work hard for those titles and get nothing. Okay, so a little bit about Alex. He doesn't start off as a bad guy, he's not completely psycho. I think his primary noticable characteristic is that he is driven. He is very motivated. For some reason, the notion of time travel is embedded in his mind. He wants to achieve this goal and, gradually, decides that it must be at any price. Thus his decision to get rid of Caroline. But that is later in his character development, though this is where the novel finds him. Why, then, is he so desirous to achieve his goal? Not only that, but why is he so decided that Caroline must get out of the picture? Perhaps they are about to cut his funding and are considering reinvesting it in her project. Caroline's project will take more work, but seems closer, whereas Alex's project seems to have stagnated. That is, Alex has managed to find a method of time travel, but cannot figure out how to implement it properly. I was considering this last night. This is why so much time passes before Jonathan is sent back - somewhere between five and ten years - and explains why Jonathan skips like a scratched record. In that time period, they have made a number of alterations, trying to be more focused. They are also trying to determine how to make this work for a spaceship, which is, of course, the ultimate goal of the project. Perhaps Alex has recently (for Caroline) proposed building a giant particle accelerator in space, and this has frustrated the funders (the govt?) and caused them to look elsewhere. They don't see the success - the fact that time travel has actually been achieved - but instead see the failures. They see that it is imprecise and that it is looking more and more improbable for space travel. So let's talk about Alex. Why does he have this determination to do something that no "respectable" scientest would even try? After all, in striving to prove time travel exists, he is going against such giants as Einstein, who "set" the speed limit of the universe. Perhaps there is something he wants to undo. Or perhaps he has a fervent desire to get off the planet and so he wants to see space travel happen. Which is it, or is it both? Well, time to make dinner but I'll be back at 8:30 tonight. Okay, now for my 8:30 writing This is a key point in the novel, his motivation. I mean, I have to know if it's a "they all said I would fail so I can't" motivation, or perhaps a "someone I loved dearly died and I have to make it right" motivation (slightly higher on the character listing), or some other space-travel motivator. Maybe a combo. For instance, maybe he has been driven for so long trying to work out the details of time travel. And maybe, now that he has it, he doesn't want to give it up. Jonathan, or someone else, is at work trying to modify it for space, but Alex's focus is on fixing the date-time travel; ie he wants to make sure that you can determine where you are going. This is important to the project, of course, but also for personal reasons. This sounds like the movified version of The Time Machine, LOL. So what is the problem that he wants to create time travel to fix? Well, Caroline already has a parental/sibling issue. What if there were someone in his youth/college years that he loved dearly and lost? A wife and child would certainly create that drive. Would they explain how he got into time travel; that is, would he have enough time to do the research and get his doctorate, etc? If he married somewhat young - not right out of high school but before he finished college. How did they die? Some form of tragic accident that he could have prevented. Of course, Caroline already has the auto field covered. (incidently, there is a bit of a paradox involved there [with Caroline], as well as one involved with his wife/child; both will need to be worked out in some form or fashion) Something violent? Like a robbery? Or something natural-yet-preventable; a disease that went undiagnosed? Well, let's work through that a bit more. Okay, so now we have his driving motivation. He wants to go back in time and resurrect his wife and child. Thus he has plunged his entire life into researching time travel. Actually, it's not so far-fetched. I can have him become a leader in the field of particle physics and acceleration. From there, it would be a simple step to the time travel we are discussing (since we want to expand on said particle acceleration). Of course, for this to work, we have to have in him earlier either a desire to suceed or a life-long dream to have a family. Perhaps he had a lonely childhood. He could easily have been an orphan, he never knew his parents and grew up in a series of foster homes. Thus he always dreamed of having a family of his own. This would make his "early" marriage more realistic, especially if the girl he falls in love with was someone who was also orphaned. On turning eighteen, they get married. This sounds a lot like Natasha's parents, incidentally, but he's playing a less major spot, so it's not such a big deal. They were minor, too, and besides, odds are against me ever actually doing anything with that novel. So we have two young idealists who want to start a family. Prudence tells them not to leap into anything, of course (they saw too many teen pregnancies and subsequent adoptions), and they consider waiting until after college to try to get pregnant. But she gets pregnant midway through their last semester (make them the same age, it'll be easier) and they decide that is a blessing in disguise, it must be "meant to be". He is already planning graduate school in particle physics, teaching with some research on the side. She'll be a nice traditionalist who stays home with her children because she wants to immerse herself in her family, although she plans to teach (high school? elementary? no masters so probably not college) after her child/children are in school. Then, into this happy family comes misery and despair. Some terrible accident - still working on that - and he loses them both at the same time. If he is already doing research and seen as a "bright young star", then it will make that jump to "crazy professor" a little harder/rougher/amazing. Suddenly, he becomes obsessed with time travel and that changes the focal point of his research. Being intelligent, he does some minor exploration on the side while devoting his attention to particle accelerators, and ultimately concludes that time travel is possible. He recieves funding from the military because he has approached them about starships. When we meet Alex the first time (via Caroline), he is in his early forties. His family has been gone for twenty years. He feels he is at the breaking point of being able to precisely steer time travel, though he and his team are still struggling to determine how to impliment that with the star ships. And then, in a terrible meeting, he is given a deadline. He has a month to make "the whole thing" work, or they will jerk his funding. They don't see the wonder of actually being able to time travel (and that is proven how? he sends something back? Oooh, that would help Jonathan! Some form of tracer) and instead demand results. Hey, they're the military and the buracracy. No offense. A source confides that Caroline's study is being targeted as "the next best thing". In a rage (upset at possibly losing his funding and not being able to continue), he breaks into Caroline's lab, destroys her research, and ultimately kidnaps her and "gets rid of her". Why the "get rid of" part? Because she's the brains behind the operation. He knows enough about research to know that she can probably recreate or reconstruct the path that got her this far (much as he can), and so the only way to really hinder the project is to get rid of the team leader. So this is the point where he crosses the line from "obsessive" to "maniacal." It's not a point he is particularly proud of, either, and yet, he would do it again because, in his eyes, he is "saving" his wife and child. We've captured him in brief, then, and the entirety of his fall/descent. He was a lonely child who found love and happiness briefly. The loss of his family drove him beyond "rationality" (his sanity is occasionally debated among the more leading scientists) and into research that no one else would even attempt. Of course, this attracts Jonathan, always on the lookout for an "adventure". A nice, shallow, simple reason, but it works out great if you know the kid. (Jonathan, not Alex). The next step is to determine his relationship with/to Jonathan, and how he wound up sending his lab assistant back. The relationship: A working relationship, of course. Alex doesn't really open up to people; call it the consequence of a lonely childhood, not to mention a self-defense mechanism. By the time Jonathan is sent into the past, they have gotten a little closer, although Alex doesn't confess or even admit to what he has done. They work together and occasionally socialize, but since Alex keeps demonic hours (he's saving his family and driven, remember?), he doesn't do much in the way of socialization. So a respectful relationship, then. When Caroline is sent back, Jonathan is fairly new to the scene. Not brand new, I don't want him much younger than her, but now I don't remember her age when she was sent back. I think it was early thirties. Hold on. Okay, I called it "about thirty" before, so lets tighten that and make her thirty-one when she is sent back. Jonathan has normal schooling, so he'll have his doctorate at twenty-five? Twenty-six? Something like that. He'll have started his research with Alex in grad school, however; no, Alex is in the private sector. He does his dissertation on particle acceleration and actually talks to Alex as a grad student to find out what, exactly, he needs to do to become a part of his project. Time travel is, of course, one of the greatest adventures (the other being space travel, LOL). He is gutsy and forward, and Alex admires that. He is also knowledgable, a definite bonus. I haven't got the slightest clue what Alex told him, of course, but Jonathan did it and wound up on the project. He made himself stand out. Not to mention, there weren't too many other folks ready to "throw away their careers" on something like time travel. A few, but not many. So Jonathan impresses Alex right off, and Alex is someone whose dedication Jonathan cannot help but admire, even if he doesn't emulate it. That whole 16 hour day doesn't really work for "our hero". Then Jonathan walks into the lab one evening just as Caroline is being gesalted back in time. She sees him and calls him a traitor, not realizing that he hasn't actually met her before (poor guy). Now Alex is suspicious of Jonathan anyway, but he covers himself by saying she was a volunteer who wanted to go back in time and she took a marker (true, but Caroline didn't know she took it). Now there's a quandry. How do they prove she wasn't a volunteer? Oh, I'm a dope. Suppose future-Jonathan sets up a video camera? We're talking in our future, so it's possible. Then they can retrieve it when Caroline is going through again, or perhaps Jonathan can go through and retrieve it since he is only five years older and similar enough to himself. That would be an adventure. Do they tape Jonathan's send-back? Okay, well, so he sees her get sent into the past, and is a little suspicious. After all, it's eleven at night (why's he there? he probably forgot something), no one else is around, and there is no record of it on the computer or in the log. Well, no prior record; of course Alex would have to create one (not to mention a consent form and fictious volunteer) to prove it was successful. Never mind that nothing else was achieved. Oh, wait, he was trying to see if he could shoot for a specific time. Um, how is he going to excavate this bad boy? We'll see. Jonathan is suspicious, but only mildly so. After all, why would a respectable scientist do such a thing? Then he finds out - lab gossip, perhaps, or the same source mentions the luck to him - that Caroline, lead contender for funding, has suddenly disappeared, her project wiped out. He researches this Caroline and realizes she exactly matches the "volunteer". All of this takes five years? What a slowpoke! Granted, he isn't moved by immediacy. Maybe he isn't really even suspicious, he just thinks it was strange. It's not until some part of the project - not accurate sending, hence the jumping, but perhaps the space travel part - is finished and being toasted that he hears about it. "And to think, if we'd've stopped funding you three years ago like we planned..." casually mentioned, which then spurs him into research. So he spent two years with Alex already, making him 28 when Caroline is sent into the past (only three years younger). Then he continues working for another three years and successfully figures out how to fix the space travel problem (which will at least keep funding coming while the figure out the last kink). Another year of research would make him about 32. Shoot, how much time passes while he jumps around? Rome is his, what, his fifth trip. Okay, but he meets Caroline before that. Boy, this will be fun. He gets injected on his second trip (I need to re-plot this). He's getting too old for her. How much time is he spending in each place? I was hoping for more of a twenty-thirty thing. Maybe it increases with each trip; he jumps less. So let's make his first trip last four years. That would allegedly make him 36, but let's go ahead and have him put the pieces together pretty quick. Hey, the man's a genius. That makes him 35 when he gets injected, and her 31. Although now that I think about it, she'll need at least a year to reorganize and put her research back together, so she would be about 32. You mean, no early-twenty hero/heroine?! <gasp> I guess I won't get to make a movie, then. But, hey, Koontz is pretty good at it, and he's all I need. Okay, back to characterization (though it's nice to have a few plotty things worked out). The last major reapperance is going to be Alex at the end, though I need to determine if he is going to intrude at some central point (ie does he or someone else go back in time?). We're going to need another plot twist, so probably one or the other. That would make sense, especially if he sends someone back before Jonathan, but of course, the location part is off, so he couldn't. And if they expose him after Jonathan is sent back.... Drats. I'll have to think about that. But there may be a period where he is confronted and then reciprocates by sending someone back in time. Except the locator doesn't work. Maybe the person sent back has some method of locating him. Or maybe he thinks he has the direction on and so tries to send himself back to his wife's death. But I don't think he'd do that until he knows for certain. The ending/confrontation is also weak. I don't really know what is going to happen. How's that for weak? That may be something I have to work towards. Still, I think I've done a fairly decent job of characterizing Alex - Dr. Rosivich. Sure, that works. Kind of strange, though. Dr. Alexander Rosivich works, what about Dr. Alex Rosivich? Well, he'll use it short but long for "formal" occasions. I know what motivates him, which is more than I knew when I started this mess, and I know why he is the way he is. He isn't evil, just really misguided. Gone insane. But I do want to avoid the stereotypical "mad scientist" image. No wild hair, I suppose. Hmm, I bet he could get that package in the mail. I wonder what a kid in need of a family would send off for? I'll think about that tomorrow. Also, incidentally, I've joined the "Invalid Item" , so I need to remember those prompts as well. I think one that definately appeals to me is the novel prompt, regarding writing an action scene and then revising it. None of the rest particularly stood out, not even the short story one! Very sad. So I will keep you in tune with that one. I'm not sure yet if I will create a book to file them in, or try to work them into my stories. For the action piece, I would probably utilize a book, since that's a "before-and-after" type deal. However, were I to follow the short story prompt (and I've actually already done it with my last 'Caroline' story), I would want it to stand alone. So maybe I'll make a mixture of both.And now it's 9:30, so I am finished for the evening. Tomorrow I will work on Alex and his mail-order whazit. |
I can't believe it, but it's sadly true. I didn't write ANYTHING yesterday!!  I did, however, spend some time sitting in the doctor's office yesterday (btw, she said the baby's not en route yet, grumble grumble) editing. I took my short story, "Invalid Item" , with me, printed out, and edited away. I didn't have the kids with me, a rarity, so I managed to get a great deal done. I finished editing the whole story, although there were a handful of awkward spots that I couldn't figure out what to do with.Yesterday (given the appointment) was exhausting. I did sit down at 8:30 (after a fifteen minute hunt for the red pen my daughter stole and lost) to edit the other two stories. However, a friend of mine from high school, who I haven't talked to in the past five years (I've been out of hs longer than that, but once I got engaged/married, I fell out of contact with a lot of folks, sigh), called at 8:35 and we wound up talking for just shy of an hour. After an exhausting day, I wound up going to bed. Do you think I get to count the day as a working day, if I spent 30-45 mts editing? Probably not. And tomorrow I won't get to do my 8:30-9:30 tomorrow because we are meeting with the builders. I'm not even going to go there, my excitement towards them is so dim. I'll probably wind up venting on here Friday, LOL. Anyway, I went contest-prompt hunting and came across the Emotional Writing group's contest this month. The prompt is 'beginnings'. The down side is that the contest will close after 30 entries, and I think they have 23 or so. Well, even if I don't make it in in time, at least it will get written. So I went over Caroline's life (since it's her turn) trying to find a good beginning. I decided to make an end into a beginning. Since she is going to be orphaned and alone - a very emotional time for her and certainly a turning point that I am going to need to address - I decided to cover that point. It will be the beginning of her isolation/new life. We'll see how well she does. I'm going to cover the desolation of the ending and then move her to the new perspective. Then again, I'm not sure that she is going to come out shining and happy - well, I know she won't - but I think the story will be more of a "working through grief" piece. The tricky problem I forsee is that the story is supposed to take place about ten years before the novel. Let me see if I can find my rough outline. Alright.... According to what is already written, Caroline graduated highschool at 16 (courtesy of the double-grade skip) and went promptly to college. She finished her undergrad work in three years, while working forty hours a week and sending money home to her mom. When she graduates - at the time of this story - she is nineteen years old; James is 17 and Laura is 15. This is where our story begins. The mom and two kids all come to Caroline's college graduation. They are very proud of her, bright and bubbly. On their way home, they get in a wreck and bam, Caroline is all alone. Unbeknownst to her, her mom had taken out a life insurance policy. I think I figured $500,000 would be more than enough. That makes sense, since she is raising three small kids alone. $250,000 might be a bit easier on her budget, though. Maybe that's all we'll do. I think that would come to about $10-15 or so a month. Not a lot, but still a bunch on a tight budget. Anyway, she's been making plans to continue working in grad school and sending money home to her family. Then comes the accident and the insurance check. So she's glad to see the check, but feels guilty about it. Now we have lots of conflicting emotions going on, but mostly, she's feeling as though the whole thing is her fault. This isn't really an action story; it's an "emotional journey". I'm going to have to do some action pieces for Caroline soon. Something's going to have to happen. She doesn't have as much fun as Jonathan, poor kid. But there has to be some good times or some form of action. Okay, according to my research, Caroline was about thirty when she goes back in the past. So that would be ten years later. So I don't need to be superbly high tech, but I do need to get more advanced than the present. A light touch of sci-fi. I was trying to remember details. Little things - no check book, for instance. No regular mail (the USPS bankrupted itself after they kept doing rate hikes so they could earn another million dollar profit; great for a nonprofit organization). So the check gets emailed, and she's staring at the computer screen, trying to figure out what to do. I'm going to have this mostly be an emotional journey, but I can't think of what other details need to be included right now. My head hurts. I think I just need to sit down and put together the details. I should probably do some setting stories, which means some light sci-fi. Maybe I can incorporate that with the Writer's Cramp or something so I get an idea of what kind of setting they are in at the beginning and end of the novel. Alright, I guess I should go do lunch and start dinner. Blech. I'll be back shortly. |
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