Category Archives: Coffee & Conversation

Coffee & Conversation: What was your biggest “Ah-ha!” moment?

06 Monday Apr 2020

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I’m going to think about this question as pertaining to my writing journey because I think we all have plenty of Ah-ha! moments in our lives that it would be difficult to talk about just one in particular as being the biggest.

When I first sat down to get serious about my writing, I made all the mistakes every newbie makes: no understanding of point-of-view, lack of consistency in tense, white-walling, stilted dialogue, as-you-know situations, purposeless prose, rambling scenes, tangents galore, zero conflict/tension, inability to differentiate character voices, etc., etc.,

Some of these mistakes are naturally solved merely by the writing of the stories. For instance, you cringe when you read your dialogue out loud, you can’t imagine the world when reading back the scene, your head-hopping becomes confusing even to yourself. However, one problem in particular kept eluding me because I couldn’t understand it: Hooking.

A hook, like in fishing, is that barbed piece that claws into the reader and doesn’t let go. It makes sure the reader turns the page, scrolls down, doesn’t get distracted. And for a long time I thought ‘hook’ was synonymous with ‘interesting.’

You might be thinking, “but shouldn’t a hook be interesting? Wouldn’t I want the story I’m about to read be interesting? Why wouldn’t I keep reading if the story isn’t interesting?” And those are all the questions that I harbored that made me continue to not comprehend hooking for an obscene amount of time. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: What scared you as a child?

30 Monday Mar 2020

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I had two fears as a child, that spawned into three, that eventually morphed into four during high school and then decreased to three again as an adult.

The first fear is spiders. (I’ve just given you power over me, please use it wisely, I beg of you.) This is one of the most popular fears in existence (as if we’re scrambling for it), so I’m sure this one comes as no surprise.

I have no fear over other insects, nor do I have problems with daddy-long-legs or anything crab-related. It’s just spiders. They freaking fly, guys, fly and float and…I need to stop.

The second fear came during my first few years of elementary school: the fear of dark bathrooms. This does not include bathrooms in general. This does not include the dark in general. This doesn’t refer to bathrooms with the lights out and sun shining in through the windows. It’s strictly: dark bathrooms.

Why? you ask. Because Bloody Mary. Kids at school would not stop talking about it, would tell stories about summoning her at night, and gave me nightmares that still sit in my subconscious even after all this time. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: Do you watch any sports, and if so do you have any special game day rituals?

23 Monday Mar 2020

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There are a great many people who won’t agree with me on this one, but honestly, I don’t see how it’s any different. My “sport” is Survivor. It’s a game. People are eliminated. There are competitions between players. You can have your fantasy teams. And at the end of the season a winner takes all.

No one who watches sports actively do anything other than eat snacks and drink beer on game days, so it’s not as if the “sport” part of the equation means anything to those of us who aren’t participating. And if we are counting the amount of work contestants/players go through, they certainly go through a large amount of body-wreckage like your average sports player, including contracting infectious diseases that often-times wreck havoc on their bodies for years and years to come.

As for the game day rituals, yes! I’ve managed to coerce my family into liking Survivor (mhahaha) and we play a season-long game based on our guesses as to who is going home.

After episode one, we all choose one person as our winner pick who, if we managed to get it right, will be worth a massive amount of points.

Before every episode after the first, we each write down the boot order, from who we think is least likely to go home to who we think is most likely to go home. These are listed by order number. Then, at the end of the episode we circle the eliminated player on each person’s list and whatever placement that player was at is how many points we each get. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: How has the coronavirus affected you?

17 Tuesday Mar 2020

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Literally everywhere I look, this is the only topic of conversation. I’d originally been going to answer a completely different question this week, but I decided to sideline that one until next week because of the last few days.

On Thursday last, I received an automated call from the county that all schools would be closed Mar 16 for at least two weeks (which is why this is coming out today and not yesterday–kids say hi though). In the 24-48 hours after, multiple messages went out postponing, then cancelling an all-day kid’s sporting event that had been scheduled this weekend, possibly cancelling the entire season, library closure noted (so much for working by myself), dentist closed up (was supposed to go in today and was hoping to get my popping jaw looked at), and restaurants have been effectively boarded up until further notice (this one doesn’t truly affect me, but I’m feeling for all of the owners who were struggling to stay afloat month after month).

Toilet paper is completely gone at the stores, as is bread and milk, paper towels, disinfectant, etc. The pandemic has people walking around wearing masks and gloves (that they take off to operate touch-screens and then put back on–I guess to cultivate the bacteria) and the grand total of cases of corona for an hour’s drive all around me is…nil.

Which means this is probably only the beginning of the hysteria.

The news is one-dimensional. My twitter feeds are jacked too, which I expected because twitter is a toxic hell-plane, but I’d have thought that people might occasionally have something to say that doesn’t include the words “corona” or “pandemic” or “toilet paper.” Memes are out of control. Everyone is referring to “quarantine reading” as if it’s somehow different than regular reading.

And here I am being hypocritical and talking about it too.

Honestly, the hysteria is the worst. I’m glad that steps are being taken; not so glad that people are suddenly becoming the worst germaphobes on the planet. I’ve seen people crap on others because they’re not “obeying the six-foot social distancing radius.” I’ve seen so many freaking rules on how to wash one’s hands that I’m starting to feel as if I’m in preschool again. I’ve seen nasty comment after nasty comment always about how others are being irresponsible (but never, ever the person being nasty).

I’ve had both my kids come home from school last week and talk about how they were bullied (they didn’t use this word, but that’s exactly what it was), because they had the gall to cough, or sneeze, or, in the case of one of them, throw up because he choked on a hard candy and his body needed to expel it. The fact that this hysteria had spread to our children to the point where my kids were upset that people were mocking them for “having corona” is despicable.

Is this a sickness that can kill the way the yearly flus can? Yes. Should we be careful? Yes. Should we fall into this mass hysteria because we love jumping on ridiculous band-wagons and lose what brain cells we possessed? No. Please, no.

The next few weeks are going to be tough whether you get the virus or not because the world is losing its freaking mind.

So, what I have to say to you is, good luck out there!

Figure out what you have to do to meet your responsibilities, to care for the people you need to care for, to get your work done, to feed your family, to protect yourself. And do it knowing that fear is the mind-killer. Don’t succumb. You are better than that.

Be kind, be brave, be awesome!

All my love,
~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: Do you hoard anything and, if so, what is it?

09 Monday Mar 2020

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Notebooks! All the notebooks!

This is assuming you don’t mean books. Assuming that hoarding books is as natural as breathing for anyone who reads (and who actually has space) and that using books would be a cop out for that reason.

So my answer is notebooks. I have far, far too many. There are some people who only buy a notebook when they need one. Others who might grab a couple and keep them on hand. I have probably close to 200. And that’s just a guess because I’m not counting.

To be fair, not all of them are large. Some are super tiny, like index card size, and some are even smaller, talking you could string them on your keychain if you wanted, or stuff them in your pocket. I have one shelf that is two layered deep in unwritten-in notebooks because it’s shorter/smaller notebooks in the back and an extra layer of those super tiny ones in the front.

I’ve got spiral-bound ones, glued ones, some with locks, some with leather ties, some with recycled paper, some with glitter. I’ve even got one with a furry cover. Some were super cheap. A few not so much. Many were presents. It’s a go-to gift for me for a lot of people because they know that notebooks are always appreciated no matter what size/shape/style, especially so if they’re pretty.

Whenever I get knee-deep in a new novel idea or start a new challenge or just need to hit the refresh button on my mind, I’ll go sift through my notebooks to find one that fits the idea I have just right.

The one for my Houndmaster books is a floppy green that used to have a tie but it broke because I used it so much.

The one I’ve set aside for my shaman stories if I ever get to them is a pale blue folded cover with wood rods keeping it shut.

The one for Canvas Blues is a spiral-bound plain tan one that had hard covers so I could write short ‘yesteryear’ pieces whenever I was out and about.

The one for my poems was a gift. Feels like leather, but is probably fake, has a cute lock-clasp and a stone embedded on the front cover.

The one I used (but haven’t touched in years) for my DaSunder Chronicles is a smaller gold mottled, hard-covered notebook that reminded me of the desert.

It’s an obsession. But I guess it’s better than say, food wrappers or nail clipping or anything equally gross.

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: What would you do differently if you know no one would judge you?

02 Monday Mar 2020

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I wouldn’t feel the need to use a pen name. Wouldn’t feel the need to keep my writing to myself. I would talk about it openly among family and friends rather than vaguely.

The bulk of my family is heavily religious with some of them being the judgemental kind. Many are against the LGBT community. Many are against sexual activity in general. Many are misogynistic.

To give an example, I want to go into a story.

I write under two different pen names, this one where I feel free, feel as if I can write and publish and do whatever I want, when I want, how I want. Some people give me poor reviews, but I don’t read them, I don’t care. People are welcome to dislike my work because I’m doing something I enjoy doing and a stranger’s poor opinion isn’t going to take away this little pocket of freedom I claim. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: What was your worst word mishap?

24 Monday Feb 2020

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Most writers have their arch nemesis, those fickle words that just won’t appear on the screen properly. Backwards vowels, missing letters, a correct spelling that ultimately is the demise of the sentence because it’s the wrong, freaking word.

When reading over work, especially your own, it’s easy for your eyes to fill in the missing gaps, rearrange words into a proper order, even delete instances of times when mistakes like “the-the” occur. This is one of the reasons a writer needs to set aside a book for long enough to forget the word structure or have someone else look the story over.

Here’s a short list of some of my most common mistakes, the ones that I can remember off the top of my head because they happen so often. This list is not comprehensive and I have done much, much worse, up to and including typing in rhyming words or even typing a synonym or close-to a synonym in place of the word I wanted to write. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: Do you know how to ride a bike?

17 Monday Feb 2020

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While writing Canvas Blues, I had scenes with Brendon as a child riding his bike and while it wasn’t in any way a catalyst for the story, those pieces came from all the neighborhood bike riding I did as a child. That was back when knee pads and helmets were lol-what? to most people. I don’t even think I owned any protection, yet we were given free rein on our streets.

There’s actually a lot of leaning on my own life, where I grew up, that plays into Canvas Blues. And though the story is just starting on your end and bike riding isn’t exactly a plot point, it had a lot to do with linking certain places in the Past/Yesteryears timeline for Brendon.

So, yes, I know how to ride a bike. I don’t own one right now :( But it’s on the list of things I’d like to get one day. That elusive one day that may or may not become today at some point. Maybe I’ll ask Santa for one for Christmas. Or something. XD

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: What is the fastest way to get you bored?

10 Monday Feb 2020

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This question is interesting in that under normal circumstances where things remain in my own control I won’t ever get bored. I can find things to occupy my time and have zero problem having times where I just sit and do nothing as a way to relax.

On the other hand, certain books, types of conversations, and obligatory events are a different subset of situations altogether.

In a book, the fastest way for me to be bored is for there to be no tension. When the story doesn’t exist but as a conduit to describe, describe, describe with no direction. When there’s dialogue that goes round and round but never gets anywhere or only repeats tired ideas that are decidedly lacking in wit, yet the characters are thinking themselves witty. Another way for me to have the potential to become bored is when there’s too many jumps, usually in characters, where I’m forced to essentially “restart” the process of becoming interested because all that came before has suddenly disappeared.

In conversations, the way to get me bored isn’t to monopolize the topic, though that can get old after awhile, I usually like seeing the passion other people exhibit when they’re talking about something they love. It’s when my words are dismissed unilaterally, my opinions considered irrelevant and any attempts I make at being part of the conversation thrown out. Interrupting me constantly will also make me check out of the conversation. If you indicate that you have so little regard for me and just want to monologue, then why not talk to a wall?

As for obligatory events…this is when it would be rude for me to pull out a book to fill the time, leading to me to sitting up straight and doing my best to pay attention, to be polite, because if I’m there it’s because I must care and I’ll do my best to show it. That doesn’t mean I’m not bored sitting in the middle of the wedding attendees where no one can hear the bride and groom exchange their vows and so we just sit there and pretend we’re not bored. It happens.

Luckily, I’m not one to get bored normally. I have a TBR list a mile long and most of the books are sitting over my head right now. If I’ve got nothing to write, nothing to edit or nothing to do otherwise, I’ll always have something to read.

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: Where do you get your ideas?

03 Monday Feb 2020

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Idea questions are one of the most common questions writers receive and let’s face it, the real answer is never enough for anyone not in the industry.

Because the answer is Everywhere!

To many people that sounds like a cop-out, a way to shrug the question off and move on because you’re too tired to actually answer. The reality is, it is the shortened form of the answer, the TLDR, the I’ve-answered-this-question-a-million-times-already response.

The longer answer is still Everywhere, but it’s more than that too. It’s about the wanderings of your mind and the questions that arise from those wanderings. It’s about the what-ifs and then-thats and can-I’s that follow.

You go for a hike, following a river, letting your mind wander:

What if the river ran up this hill rather than down it?
Then that would mean the water would pull from the ocean and pool in the mountains.
Can I create a setting, a plot or a character who sails the frigid seas pooling at the tips of those mountains?

You misspell something, miss-say something, miss-hear something: What if it’s not a mistake?

You take things that are figurative and you make them literal: What if getting mud on your skin really was the end of the world?

You take your fears and exaggerate them. Twist your own beliefs to see what kind of character might stem. You look at everything and everyone around you and ask yourself: What are they thinking? Why is that there? What if I change this small detail, what would happen?

But what about when this doesn’t come naturally to you? After all, creativity is a muscle like anything else and if you haven’t been practicing it might feel stiff.

One way to push past that stiffness that leads to general, overused ideas and force yourself to think outside the box, is to do the List 10 prompt challenge. Number down on a piece of paper to 10 and then choose a word/prompt (or have one chosen for you). Then for every number, you write whatever comes to mind based on that prompt. You’ll notice as you work your way down that the ideas become harder to come up with. The easy ones, the ones that mimic things you’ve seen or read, are already taken and you’re forced to push harder and further in order to link something–anything–back to that prompt.

The rule of thumb is, you write your 10 different ideas and then scrap every single one of them. Then you come up with number 11. That way you’ve walked past all the easy ones, the ones everyone else has already thought of, the ones that sprang to mind quickly because you’d read that book or seen that movie. And the one you finally decide on will be one that took you longer to reach, made you work for it.

Another way to push past the stiffness is to experience more. Go out beyond your normal haunts. Read books you normally wouldn’t read. Cook food you normally wouldn’t eat. Talk to people you normally wouldn’t get a chance to speak to. And listen.

Always, always listen.

And that is how I come up with ideas.

~Emmi