Tag Archives: inspiration

A Lovely New Cover for “Up the Waterspout”

Up the Waterspout First Cover

And we shall never speak of it again

I am not a cover designer. I have tried to be a few times, but my covers are generally pretty basic. Of all the covers I’ve designed with my own two hands, I’ve felt that Up the Waterspout got the worst of the treatment. I was going for something interesting, and the more I’ve looked at it, the more I realize it just looks kind of stupid. I mean, look at it over there. It’s just…there.

Then last night I found an absolutely beautiful image via flickr, and now Up the Waterspout has a new cover. Look at it:

cover for up the waterspout

Isn't it lovely?

I’m hitting you with the full size so you can appreciate what a beautiful shot it is. The photo comes courtesy of Ernst Vinke, who has not only given me permission to use this image but is also responsible for the pitch-perfect cover image for Battlefield Operations. He has a great eye for pictures that make me want to write more just so I can use them. I’m currently trying to figure out what I could write so I’d have an excuse to use this photo.

I’m off to change out the old cover for the new cover now. I just wanted you to see how great it looks and find out where the image came from. Mr. Vinke actually has many photos available for alteration under Creative Commons, and I am very appreciative he shares his work so fully. It gives me much better covers and lots of nice pictures to look at.

5 Songs I Use for Writing Emotional Scenes

I listen to music all the time when I write. Sometimes, I just do it for the white noise. Sometimes, I use a song to get myself into a particular mindset. It’s a pretty random list most of the time, but these five are definietly my go-to for emotional scenes:

1. A Little Fall of Rain (from Les Miserables) — This one is for any scenes that need to a very distinct level of sadness. Death scenes, funeral scenes, wrenched away from all you know and love scenes. I have the British cast version in my collection, but I couldn’t find it on youtube, and the original Broadway cast version is quite lovely:

 

2. Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town (Cake Version) — This is my go-to for angry songs. While I’ve got lots of angry music, the simmering rage this one evokes is usually what I’m looking for. It also works great for scenes where someone’s being betrayed:

 

3. I Want You Around (The Ramones) — My go-to love song. It’s not as metaphoric as some and it’s certainly not as musical as others, but I love it for its simplicity. It’s a song about someone who wants to be with someone, and it’s sweet without being sentimental. Speaking of sentimental, I feel I should note we played this at our wedding reception. I just like it exactly that much:

 

4. Moondance (Van Morrison) — This is my song for keeping things comfortable. I use it when I just need to get two people talking in a friendly manner. I think I use it so much because the music is pretty mellow. There are a few punchy spots, but overall, it’s a song you can sway to, and that’s a pretty good description of how I like my dialogue to sound, like maybe someone’s just goofing off and music (or a conversation) is coming from it:

 

5. Common People (William Shatner version)  – This is my “put on repeat and write along” music. I’ve got a few of these songs. “Italian Leather Sofa” by Cake is the same kind of song, but I already listed a Cake song, so it felt like cheating to list it again. I’m not sure what it is about this song, but if I put it on repeat, I can power through pretty much anything I’m writing. I’ve written whole research papers to this song. And if you’re thinking you remember the other times Shatner’s tried to sing, just give it a listen. It is actually very, very good:

 

What do you all write to? Or do you prefer silence?

Now, that’s advice

Joss Whedon was quoted over at a Screenwriting blog* after having been at a screenwriter’s conference, and he gave ten pieces of advice to writers. All of them are excellent, but I am especially in love with number 10:

DON’T SELL OUT
The first penny I ever earned, I saved. Then I made sure that I never had to take a job just because I needed to. I still needed jobs of course, but I was able to take ones that I loved. When I say that includes Waterworld, people scratch their heads, but it’s a wonderful idea for a movie. Anything can be good. Even Last Action Hero could’ve been good. There’s an idea somewhere in almost any movie: if you can find something that you love, then you can do it. If you can’t, it doesn’t matter how skilful you are: that’s called whoring.”

I worked my way through my undergraduate degree, most of that time spent being a receptionist/administrative assistant/front desk worker depending on where I was working. I put in forty hours a week, every week, because that’s what paid for my apartment, my car, my bills, my food, and everything else while I was fighting my way through school.

When I left my last admin job, I knew I didn’t want to do it anymore. Being in any front office situation is tough. If you’ve been there, you know. Front office people are the first line of defense, and it doesn’t matter if the people coming at you are angry or exasperated or sad or happy or absolutely disinterested; you still have to smile and give some level of a damn about what they want. I had excellent supervisors and learned a great deal of tact, but when I left, I swore I’d never go back.

Cue the move across the country, an entirely new city, and the need for a part-time job to flush out the student aid that’s getting me through grad school. A job was needed, something that paid decent and wouldn’t wear me out mentally before I got home and had to do homework. I scoured the ads, zooming in on all the admin work. My husband noticed, too:

HIM: “There’s a job posting here for a part-time administrative assistant. 20 hours a week. Good pay.”
ME: “I won’t do that again. All that admin stuff was to get me to my degree. I want to use my degree, now.”

It took a month of searching, but I found it. My title right now is “Publication Specialist,” and I work in my field. 15 hours a week I go to an office, I sit down, and I edit. I fact-check. I have impromptu meetings with my supervisor to discuss language. I collaborate with the people around me to make sure that all the departments I’m working with like how I’m wording what they do. I’m a technical communicator; not just in theory, but in wonderful fact.

If what you want to do is what you want to do, don’t take a job that might get you there. Could I have gotten to tech comm from administrative work? Sort of. Business letters, after all, are technical communication. As are memos. But that’s not the tech comm I wanted. I wanted something I could point at and say, “That. I learned that because of my degree program. That. I learned that because I found a career I wanted without even knowing it. That. I can do that because I’m worked in my field.” I couldn’t say that if I’d stayed in admin work. I’d have had the theory, the giant portfolios, and a head full of information that I loved and desperately wanted to use, but I wouldn’t have the joy of going to work. I wouldn’t get up on the days I go to my part-time, grad school job and be thrilled to be going. I wouldn’t come home and gleefully dissect my day for my husband.

So, listen to Whedon (and maybe even to me). Save up. Work hard. Do everything you can not to take a job that isn’t what you want. You can build an entire career on wanting to do things. I’m doing it right now. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.

*Hatip to Diana Dru Botsford for retweeting the link to the post.