Repetition isn't always the greatest. Repetition isn't always the greatest.

As Adrienne posted a couple weeks ago, we just have some pet peeves. Hers was winking.

For me, it's not so much any particular thing like that, but repetition. Noticeable repetition. Let me give you an example. An author whose books I really enjoy (and will remain nameless) uses some variation of this phrase at least once per novel and quite often more than that: "He popped his jaw."

And every single time, it throws me out of the story, as I wonder at that. I'm pretty sure I know what she's talking about, but frankly, describing it that way sounds painful and awkward and absolutely prevents me from absorbing that and going on with the story.

What you want is to keep your readers happy in their blissful little reader bubble, where they don't question the words on the page, but stay engrossed in the story you're creating around them.

And for me, repetition of certain words and phrases doesn't do that for me.

This is something that a critique partner can point out for you. For instance, I like to use "headed." He headed to the store, she headed outside, they headed out to lunch. Apparently, that rings better to me when I'm writing than walked, moved, went, etc. I never noticed just how often I used it until a critique partner pointed it out.

Make sure you figure out what words and phrases you're overusing and start using the "Find" function in your manuscript to search them out and destroy them. Mindless repetition is not your friend. If you're using repetition on purpose for a point, then go for it.

But for the love of all that is evil, please don't pop your jaw while you're doing it - someone could get hurt!

Celebrate the little things (and the big things)

I think it's important to remember to celebrate things. A lot of people get so wrapped up in achieving things that it's hard to take a moment to enjoy the things that you've already achieved.

Not me. I freaking love celebrating stuff. Whether it's my birthday, my half-birthday, the fact that it's Friday, our anniversary (which it is today - happy 5 years, honey!), or just a particularly good hair day, I like to take the time to appreciate it. And eat dessert :)

So I think you should apply this theory to your writing. Yes, obviously celebrate selling your book to an editor or making the New York Times bestseller's list, but you don't need to wait for those monumental milestones to congratulate yourself on a job well done.

Some days, that's finishing a book. Some days, it's just getting 5 minutes worth of writing time that didn't suck. Some days it's thinking up a brilliant title for the next book that you haven't even plotted out yet. Some days it might be just thinking up a particularly witty tweet - or having a NY Times bestselling author tweet you back.

Writing can be solitary and it can be lonely and it can be HARD. So if you aren't finding the joy in just sitting down to write (which, some days you won't), then find the joy in anything at all. And celebrate it.

You're worth it! Because, gosh darn it, you're a writer. And the world needs more of those (and fewer reality TV show stars!) So that alone is worth celebrating (unless you are a reality TV star, in which case celebrate your 15 minutes of fame).

So go have a cookie on me! You deserve it!

Character names

I really enjoy the process of naming my characters. I think a lot about name meanings and research the history of the names before I finally settle on anything for a character. There are a lot of great sites out there for just that purpose.

Sites I like for character names:

http://www.behindthename.com/
(they even do last names - bonus!) http://surnames.behindthename.com/
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
superhero names: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=superheronameorg
http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning-search.html
http://www.thetop100babynames.com/index.htm

One thing that I really like to do is to read movie credits for people's names - I find it's a great way to get a variety of both first and last names that you might not come across otherwise. Plus you probably strengthen your eyeballs by trying to read all those names as they zip by.

I find it interesting when people just pick names randomly for characters, given how much time I put into naming mine - must be easy to just go with a gut feeling and stick with it.

Given all this time I've spent on researching character names, you'd think picking a baby name would be easy, right? Wrong. Apparently I have to take my husband's opinion into consideration. Weird. And, if I change my mind down the road, I'm apparently not allowed to do a "replace all" in the manuscript and just change the kid's name willy-nilly.

This is why fiction is better than reality  :)

What methods do you use to pick a character name?

Vacation, suckers...

Yeah, that's right. I'm going on vacation. Soon. In fact, give me an hour and a half and I'm out of here! But first, tying up loose ends: write this blog post, finish packing, plan what books I'm taking, and oh, yeah, I should probably finish up work (at my day job) while I'm at it.

I'm super excited about vacation, because it'll probably be the last one for a while, since the baby is coming soon. So it's our last hurrah.

But it'll be a working vacation. I have a lot of writing goals to get done. I need to finish up some edits and polish a manuscript for submission, and I should probably write something new. I hear that's good every once in a while.

In fact, I have so much writing stuff I need to get done, I'd probably be better off staying at home for the vacation than actually going anywhere, but I suspect that would defeat the purpose (and plus I'm pretty sure the husband would be annoyed at that).

One thing I do love about vacations is that I tend to step away from social networks - my Twitter checking goes way down, which can only increase my productivity. Some days, Twitter is great at connecting me with other writers and inspiring me to keep at this writing gig. Other days, it's just a massive time suck that could swallow my soul, if I let it (and some days I do).

So what do you guys think? Will I be able to achieve my writing goals while on vacation and still have a good time?  Duh. Stupid question. It's vacation! Of course I'll have a good time!   :)