Ramblings of a Drifting Mind: writing

Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Dream Big and Live Life

I am twenty four, and there are only a couple of things in my life I have ever been truly sure of: the first is that I want to spend the rest of my life with my boyfriend Todd, which I've known almost since we got together; the second is that I have always wanted to write for a living. I'm fairly certain I'll get to do the former, and I have never been so convinced that the latter is what I truly want to do with my life. The only thing standing in my way is me. I know.

I graduated with my MA in English in May, and I can honestly say I'm not even sure I read a book that wasn't required in the entire year and a half I was pursuing that degree, much less put pen to paper. Before that, I was getting my BA, and finding time to write was difficult, but I still managed. Now, though, I teach three classes a semester, which means that even though I have huge chunks of free time in my schedule, I'm constantly exhausted and tired of words on pages and using my time to grade papers (sometimes). I also work at a movie theater because being a teacher really doesn't pay all the bills, especially since I only get paid once a month. So I teach in the mornings and am done by 12:30, and then I spend my nights and weekends shoveling popcorn and making drinks. It's a glamorous life, let me tell you. I am lucky when I get a day off at all, and any actual free time I have is normally spent curled up on my couch staring blankly at the TV simply because my eyes burn and/or I'm too mentally and physically exhausted to make my brain work.

But if I want it, I'll make time. Isn't that what people say? You force yourself to write whenever you can. Any words are better than no words. But I was an English major. And a perfectionist. And I hate writing things that are bad. I like to take my time and craft them well so there's less revising and editing and cutting and all that lovely jazz. But, Amanda, you say, that's just how writing works. Not just writing, creating anything, heck, even life! It's messy and takes work and patience! And I know it. I do. You know what else I know? That I just want to write. I don't want to worry about whether my classes are failing or if my students have figured out how to string words and sentences together any better or if I'm going to want to punch my coworkers for being too lazy to sweep up popcorn. I just want to write and be happy. But I can't do that until I can pay all my bills. And I can't pay my bills without working myself to the bones. Oh isn't life grand?

And you know what? I still find time to write. Because even though the words are crap and I have papers to grade and popcorn to make, writing is what I love, and if there's one thing I learned from my mother more than anything else, it's that you should do what you love. So I teach, and I work, and I lie in an exhausted heap around my apartment, and I write. Because it has always been my dream for people to read my stories, and it has always been my goal to be good enough at crafting them that people will pay me. And one day, it'll happen.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Titles are hard.

I finished what I thought was going to be a picture book, but it's too long for industry standards. I'm not sure what I'll do with it now; I absolutely love it because it's adorable and was so much fun to write, and, honestly, I'd never even considered self-publishing until now. I would love to have my brother illustrate it. (The man is a tattoo artist with crazy awesome skill, but don't tell him I said that.)

It started out longer, then I cut it down to stop showing everything that was going on since I wanted it to be illustrated, but even with that it's about 1200 words. Most agents won't consider PBs unless they're under 1k, and some even draw the line at 750 words. And oh have I tried to cut it down; sadly the story just won't allow it. So I have a cute story that needs illustrations, and everything I've seen says it's nearly impossible to get an early reader or chapter book published if it's a standalone. *sigh*

But writing is what I do, so I'll put it on the shelf and hold onto it, and maybe some day it'll get published. I really hope so. The whole thing started with the first line, and I just couldn't get it out of my head: "Once upon a time in a land called Suburbia, there lived a well-dressed man who had a daughter with a fondness for cats." Once I started writing, it turned into this story about a man who gets a visit from a talking cat after his daughter makes a wish to upgrade for a tail, and I just ran with it. And it feels so good to have created something new after two years of nothing but paper writing and literature reading. Of course I still don't have a title for it, which is a tad frustrating, but hopefully I'll think of something soonish.

On another note, edits for The Sandman's Apprentice are coming along, or they were before midterms hit and I had tests and papers out the wazoo. Still playing catch-up there, but I work in time with the MS where I can, and I'm just glad I still love the story, even if parts of it are dreadful. I also started a new story the other day. It came to me with a line, and I'm not entirely sure what it'll be just yet, but it feels like YA so far. I think it may be in a different world than our own, so I'll get to do some real world-building again, and I love that.

Anywho, I have to go do teacher things now because this semester has been terrible, which means I have to rework all my syllabi and adjust the schedules and assignments if I want my students to succeed. What fun!

Friday, October 11, 2013

Kill Your Darlings

So for the first time in a while, I let some people read part of the MS for The Sandman's Apprentice, and I got some decent feedback. But I let a friend of mine, who happens to be a voracious reader when she's not in mommy mode, read it and got an absolutely amazing critique, partly because it's not a genre she usually reads.

Anywho, when I first sent it off to everyone, I refused to look at any of it. I knew it needed work, so showing it to people seemed like a silly idea since I already knew I had issues to fix. And it's probably a good thing I didn't dive back into revisions first, because, honestly, I would have butchered it for no reason. I listened to what everyone had to say, and almost none of the suggestions for changes matched. Everyone thought something completely different. So I opened it up today, and I decided to take it one chapter at a time (if I do it any other way I see how much work I have ahead of me and just want to shut down), and I have to say, I'm kind of blown away by what I've written. I forgot how good it was. I'm not saying it's flawless Literature or anything, but for two years while I've worked on my school stuff, I've been thinking about how crappy bits were and just how much work it needed, and somewhere along the road I convinced myself that the idea was the only solid thing about it. But, man, it's good!

So I'm editing my novel with the help of a writing group I'm not entirely sold on yet, and I'm working on my picture book. And I'm really excited because not only do I have some new ideas I'm toying with too, but I might actually meet my new publishing goal. Things are looking up.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Open New Document

It feels so good to be writing again. I'm working on my first picture book, sans pictures of course because I'm no artist, and it's a whole lot of fun. I've even cracked open The Sandman's Apprentice and even shown a few chapters of it to a few new readers in a writing group at school. Writing used to be like breathing to me, and I can't express how great it is to be getting back to the things I love.

For a good two years now I've been out of the publishing loop trying to find time to jump back in, but all that's changing now. I have a new goal, and you can bet I'm going to do everything possible to see it through. So hello, publishing universe; it's been a while. ;)

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Shiny New Thing

I think I wrote a picture book the other day. I need to go back and work on it, but still. First new words in a while, and I actually like them. Somehow I ended up telling a story about talking cats with attitude; I'll take it. :)

First line: Once upon a time in a land called Suburbia, there lived a well-dressed man who had a young daughter with a fondness for cats.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Back in Action

It has begun. I am writing again. Starting this week I'll be in at least one writing group. I shall make it my goal to read blogs and update at least once a week. I am doing this. For real. No more excuses. No more waiting for the right moment or idea or whatever. Dreams only come true if you work for them. So I think it's about time I got off my butt. Off to get started.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Making a Comeback

I've finally hit my limit. After graduation I'm done with school. At least for now. I haven't written anything or edited any of my stuff since before I started my Master's program and I can't handle it any more. I wanted to get my PhD because I wanted to teach classes that I'm interested in, to have a day job I enjoyed that would give me time to work on my writing. But when I'm in school, I can't write. I don't have the time, the energy, or the creativity. And I refuse to let my writing take a back seat and wait for me to have a job I like that pays well and gives me plenty of writing time; if I did, I may never write another word of fiction in my life. I enjoy teaching composition, and I don't need a PhD for that.

So this is me stepping away from another 3-6 years of school, not because I'm afraid of the challenge or because I don't think I can handle it, but because I no longer have a good enough reason to go. Why put off what makes me happy for the possibility of future happiness when I can do what I love and be happy now? Why did I have to make this so complicated to begin with? I've said I was going to be back on more (and I have), but I really think after I get this thesis done and I graduate (again) that my writing life will make a major comeback, and posting here and reading what you guys have to say is a big part of that. I've let my writing, and myself, sit for far too long. And I'm happier just thinking about what graduation holds for me now. Here's to being true to yourself and doing what you love.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Academic VS Creative

Academic writing is incredibly different from creative writing. My thesis is currently 14 pages and utilizes a good dozen sources, and I've been working on it for months. Months of creative writing gives me five times as many pages. At least. And yet they really aren't all that different. All of it is personal and all of it requires individual thought. But academic writing, at least research based academic writing, requires you to build on what others have said and to incorporate their thoughts into your own writing. Fiction writing )and poetry for that matter) is all you. Maybe that's why it comes more naturally to so many of us. Yes, it requires research, but the writing, the story itself comes from us. Everything we need, we already have. Writing a thesis on the other hand, well, I need a lot for that, haha.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Time, Excuses, and Writing

I don't know where all my time goes. It's kind of ridiculous. I mean, I get that I'm not the most time efficient person in the world, and I have a tendency to opt for having what I can of a social life or down time when I find a spare few moments, but seriously. There just aren't enough hours in the day. I have so many things to do, and that doesn't even include the things I love doing but that I have to put on a back burner simply because they don't pay the bills or contribute to my classes (I'm looking at you, horn, cello, book ideas, and half finished MSs).

Right now, it's the summer. I can't tell. I'm still taking a class each term, working ~34 hours/week, and trying to do things for my fraternity office, find a PhD program I like (I've figured out exactly what I want to study/teach, so that's a bonus), study for my MA comprehensive exam as well as the GRE English subject test, and research/plan my thesis. In the fall, things are really going to get interesting...

My problem is that I keep thinking about my characters and my stories. I want to work on them. I want to get them finished and sent off to publishers. I want to see them in stores. But at this point all I have is self-doubt. I could carve out time for it; I'm sure I could. Only every time I start going down that train of thoughts I hit this wall that tells me I'm not good enough a writer to be published, that I'll never finish anything worth reading, that I have no clue what I'm doing and I shouldn't even bother, that I should just stick to school because I can actually do that.

Funny how we always want to blame time for the things we don't get done, isn't it? Yes, I'm short on time, incredibly short on time, but if I had the confidence in myself and my work, I'd do a better job of prioritizing and making room for my characters and their stories, for improving my craft. But even admitting that, I don't know where to go from here. I can't write when I feel like every word is crap and that it's always going to be crap. I can't edit when it feels pointless. So I don't. Because I don't even feel like I have betas any more or crit partners, and that's my own fault, too.

*sigh* Balls, this life stuff is hard.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Blargh.

I didn't get a review up on Monday. I was going to get up and write it early Monday morning, but, uh, that didn't happen. There WILL be a review on Friday, and it shall be for Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Because, in case you hadn't noticed, I don't always read books as soon as they come out (which explains why I won't be completing the 2011 DAC, oh well).

I like to mix things up: genre, age group, release date. I like to read books that I never got to read growing up as well as books I never got around to. For example, my upcoming reviews include Shiver, How to Train Your Dragon, Stuart Little, and Fracture. Things to look forward to. :)

First Drafting

It's 3PM and I've only been up for a few hours. My sleep schedule is worse now than it was when I was still in college, and that's saying something. I usually try to get these posts up earlier in the day, but I don't seem to be up at all in the mornings anymore. My bad.

Anywho, I'm working on a new book, and I'm really excited about it. TSA is waiting to be critiqued so all I can do is work on this new project. I call it PiP. It's young adult with a slight paranormal twist and is written with dual POVs and in 1st person present tense. Basically it's the complete opposite of TSA.

The main characters are twins, Ellie and Elliot; their lives are destroyed when Elliot gets kidnapped and murdered. Ellie doesn't know how to live without him, and lucky for her Elliot comes back as a ghost -- only he doesn't know he's dead and he doesn't remember what happened to him. Then more boys start going missing and it's up to them to put the pieces together in order to catch the killer before anyone else gets hurt and before Ellie becomes collateral damage.

Yea, it's gonna be intense.

I started it right about the same time NaNo started, and I broke 11,000 words last night. I'm happy, considering I'm not participating in NaNo. Hopefully it'll be at least 60k when it's completely finished, but I have a feeling the 1st draft is only going to be about 40k. I'm a bare bones writer, so I'll have to go back and flush a lot out.

I usually don't make an outline, but a few thousand words in I got completely stumped and couldn't do anything but keep going back over the stuff I'd already written, so I broke down and made a very, very vague outline. It has twelve chapters, but each chapter has 3 parts to it since Ellie and Elliot take turns telling the story. Basically the outline looks like this:

Chapter 1
Ellie @ funeral
Elliot comes home
Ellie tells Elliot the truth

And eventually the little pieces get a tad more descriptive, but for my purposes I just needed to know the absolute basic progression of events. It really helped me for this one, because I'm not really sticking to the outline (I've already changed a handful of things), but it allowed me to see the general story arc without ruining the thrill and surprise of writing a first draft by the seat of my pants (which is usually how it works for me).

If you've been following for any period of time, you know I'm a half-ass outliner. I don't want to know details, but I like to have a vague idea of my story. I like to be able to ignore what little bit of an outline I have and make things up as a go without worrying about how it fits into the story as a whole, but I like having a rough guide to my plot as well. I highly recommend the half-ass method. It's the best of both worlds.

So that's what's up with me. I have 11,000 words of PiP's first draft (I'll share the full title eventually lol) and I couldn't be more thrilled with it. How are things with you? Are you NaNo-ing it up?

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Writing to Music

It's been a while since I talked about music on here, and since I spent all morning tweeting back and forth with someone across the pond about good scores to write to, I thought I might as well blog about music today. (Note, I tried to post this earlier and, despite saving, Blogger deleted half my post and then froze me out for a good 45 minutes. So this was supposed to go up over an hour ago.)

For those of you who don't know, I was a music major for a bit in college. Ultimately I loved it too much to make a career out of it and switched to English, where the professors didn't suck the life and love out of the subject for me. Even though I was no longer a music major, I continued to take lessons and play in ensembles; this confused some of my peers, as they couldn't understand why I would put myself through the horror of recitals and end of the year playing exams (juries) in front of a panel of music professors. I still wonder if they really love playing their instruments if they have to ask me why I continuously sought to improve my skill and learned to embrace the stage.

Anywho, as a musician music is an incredibly huge part of my life, and one that bleeds over into my writing life as well. Why? Because art inspires art. Music can be soothing and inspirational or so passionate it can move you to tears; it can also be angry and hateful or sad and heartbreaking. It lends itself well to writing, just as literature can for the creation of music.

In which I ramble

This morning I woke up at 4:30. (I wasn't supposed to be up until 5, but the dog got a little antsy, so obviously I stayed in bed until 5 anyway.) Then, I threw on a jacket and some shoes and took my mom to the airport. I then returned home and slept until 10:30. It is now after noon. I have no idea how I have managed to spend the last hour and half, but I believe the internet is responsible. Oh well.

I was planning on doing some leisure reading today, and by that I mean reading an eARC for you guys, but I think I'm going to go ahead and start looking over the latest draft of TSA so I can get it to someone this weekend.

I am incredibly nervous about this. She has never read it before (I really wanted a fresh pair of eyes), and she is also one of my best and closest friends. I wanted her to read it, not because of these things, but because she devours books as much as I do, is an English major, and has a knack for grammar and honing in on things that don't work in books.

I am also incredibly nervous because this draft is much better than previous drafts. SO MUCH BETTER. And I am afraid that I will get it back and have to do major revisions. Not because I don't like edits or want it to be ready now (though I really do want to be finished with this), but because I am a perfectionist. I will repeatedly change words just to figure out which one I like best. And then change it again.

Sometimes I need outside opinions to okay things for me and justify working on a project because I can be incredibly critical of everything I do. Too much so sometimes. I am nervous because the perfectionist in me thinks there will be nothing good about this book; that I will never be through editing it; that it will never even make it to an agent's slush pile.

So this is me, getting ready to reread TSA for anything that stands out (including grammar) before I send it off to be picked apart. And don't worry, I don't use parentheses in the book.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The Standalone VS The Series

If you read YA or MG (and I'm going to assume that you do if you're reading my blog), then you've probably noticed the same things I have. First (not really, that's just where I'm going to start) there were vampires, so many in fact that lots of people, and the market in general, became overwhelmed by them. I am going to call this the Twilight Effect.

The Twilight Effect kicked off a big trend in publishing not unlike dominoes falling. We saw a fixation on a new paranormal creature that resulted in an abundance of, for instance, werewolves. Like the vampires before them, they were suddenly everywhere, flooding the shelves at bookstores, becoming many teenagers' new obsession.

But this is not the aspect of the Twilight Effect I want to talk about. Not because it isn't worth talking about, simply because everyone else already has, and we all know that it will continue. People will fixate on one creature or genre until the 'next big thing' comes out. Rinse. Repeat.

The thing that has my attention these days is the abundance of series we have on our hands. It's almost like an epidemic in the fantasy and science fiction genres of YA. While we could blame this bit on JK Rowling, the Harry Potter books have been out for years without inspiring this mass desire for sequels. We can, however, thank Rowling for kicking authors everywhere into gear and bringing children's literature to a new level.

Now then: the series, and more specifically the trilogy. A good series is fantastic. It takes a lot of skill to craft multiple books with a self-contained plot and give each book a portion of an overlying plot arc. There are lots of characters to take into consideration, not to mention the MC's growth over, not just one book, but sometimes five or more. That being said, you can see how there can easily be a lot of problems with a series. They can go on too long, they can get saggy and dull in the middle, they can lose focus of what is important. They can stop being true to the characters.

And because of this, as a writer, you have to ask yourself if your story really has to be part of a series. Not all books do. If you're writing a trilogy because they're hot right now, and they are, then you're writing it that way for the wrong reason. You need to take a look at your story and decide if multiple books are necessary to tell the tale that you want to write, because if it's not then it's okay for your book to be a standalone novel. Really, it is.

In fact, as a reader, I'm getting tired of series. I'm not going to stop reading them any time soon (most of my favorite books are part of a trilogy right now or a longer series anyway), but I would like to read a nice paranormal YA that ties everything up and ENDS. I would like to not have to wait a year or longer for the next installment of a story (Hi there, Sookie.). I would like to be in the position of yearning for more of a character and NOT GETTING IT. Why? Because sometimes it's nice to just wonder.

At the end of Z by Michael Thomas Ford (my review here), something BIG happens and you want to know more. You want to know what the character does next, how he will react, but the author deliberately chose to leave his readers in the dark. And I kind of love him for it. I can imagine a hundred different scenarios now of how his story played out, and none of them have to be wrong. I can get to know that character on a more personal level because of that ending, specifically because it's left open.

I think authors (mostly in the science fiction/fantasy genres) have begun to turn their backs on the standalone novel in hopes of big book deals and huge sales numbers, but there is power in a single book. You can write a series, and you SHOULD if that's what your story NEEDS to be complete, to get all the details out there, but you really shouldn't be writing a trilogy (or any other kind of series) unless it's vital to your plot.

Just because there's a trend bandwagon, doesn't mean you have to jump on it.

What do you think? Are trilogies and longer series over done? Would you like to see more single title books?

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Time: Friend or Foe?

I'm a fast mover. I figure out what I want and how to get it and then I go for it. I was unaware of this fact a few months ago, and it actually took a friend telling me as much for me to see it. So I have grad school to thank for learning something new about myself, well, grad school and The Move That Wasn't. I came back and sat around for weeks trying to figure out what I was going to do next. The moment I chose to come home and not stay in New York, I changed everything. No more interning, no more plans to become an agent. I was completely lost.

And in that time of 'Oh crap, where do I go from here?' (Buffy musical episode anyone?) I figured I'd start over. Before I really decided I want to be on the other side of publishing, the non-writing side, I was preparing for graduate school. I even had a spreadsheet listing different aspects like tuition, financial aid, and the likes. I still have that spreadsheet, and while I didn't bust it back out because I'm not the same person with the same interests anymore, I did decide that grad school sounded like a great idea. ...Then things got a little crazy, but after a bit I got it all figured out and am now planning on heading back to my Alma Mater to get an MA in English while I continue to write, because let's be honest, writing was the only job that ever really mattered to me.

But the point of this post isn't to tell you how I made the decisions I made, it's about time. A lot can happen in a little bit of time, and sometimes that astounds me.

Writerly Wednesday

If you've followed the blog for a while, you know I used to do Work in Progress Wednesdays. Obviously I don't do that anymore. I would, however, like to get back to talking about books and writing and all things publishing so I think I'll dedicate Wednesdays to that. Not to say that I'll have reviews every other day of the week or anything, but who knows?

So that's that.

I'm excited to tell you all that I've jumped back on the revisions horse and am going to start Draft 4, Chapter 4 today. Hopefully I'll get quite a bit done. It's amazing how easy it was for me to just pick back up with Taryn in The Sandman's Apprentice. I got 2 chapters done yesterday, putting me about 4,300 words into this draft; if I keep it up I should be done in no time and can move on to the more nit-picky things like word choice and sentence structure. And then, my dear friends, I can ship it off to be read and start something NEW. Which I'm dying to do because half-formed ideas keep coming to me and I'm trying really, really hard not to develop them into something real. *sigh*

In reading related news, I read Divergent on Monday. I sat down with it and read it all in about 7 hours (It's nearly 500 pages of totally fantastic characters and wonderful writing.). Expect a glowing review sometime next week. And go check out Veronica Roth if you haven't already, because she's literally made of awesome. I've also started my first Sarah Dessen novel (Just Listen)so we'll see how that goes. Oh! and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is out now. WANT.

Alright, your turn: spill. Made any great writing/editing progress? Waiting for any particular books to come out? Reading anything you think is brilliant?

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Moving Forward

As much as I've wanted to write lately, I haven't had anywhere to work. No where to spread out my papers, no where to set my computer. It's been obnoxious. So I've been putting it all off: the brainstorming, the drafting, the editing... Only now it's driving me nuts. I want to make progress, but I don't have the space. And I'm sick of it.

I want to be editing TSA. I want to be working on all the book ideas I have. I want to be querying.

Despite everything, I'm going to resume editing The Sandman's Apprentice. I miss it; I need to finish it; and I'm not going to let the lack of a desk stop me any more.

In other news, reviews to come next week. I'm working on 4 of them and reading Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore, meaning that'll be review number 5.

So how is everyone? Read any good books? Come up with any amazing book ideas lately?

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Be True to Your Writerly Self

On Twitter the other day, someone told me that I couldn't edit until I was finished writing, and while it's sound advice it actually kind of pissed me off. I know I've told a couple of writers to just try to finish the book before the start editing, and my reasoning was that they haven't finished one because they get caught up in the editing. Going back over passages over and over and changing their minds and the story so that it's never finished. This type of editing is not good, at least not to me.

But the thing about writers is we're all unique. Each and every one of us does things a little differently. Some people spend months hammering out their storyline with sticky notes and whiteboards. Others sit down at their computers, open a blank document, and begin typing furiously until, less than three months later, they have a first draft. And then there are some who toe the line, doing a little of this and a bit of that; but no two writers follow the exact same method. We each bring something of ourselves to the table, just like we do in our actual writing.

Now this person, I'm sure, didn't mean any offense when they told me I couldn't edit until I was finished writing. Only there's something about my writing that person didn't know: I wasn't just writing. I was editing.

You see, like all of you, I have my own method, and it's still growing and changing as I do. I thought about my TSA during school last semester, and I refused to work on it until I had free time. I jotted down notes, made comments on plot points, just little things (mostly during Biology, I'll be honest). And when I finally sat down to write it, it took me all of about three months to hammer the entire first draft out. My first draft, read like a third draft, something that's never happened to me before. So I know this method works for me. I let my idea simmer, so that when I wrote my first draft I already knew my story, which allowed me to focus more on the characters and the writing. It was awesome.

Now here's where my method branches off a little. When it came time for me to edit, do you know what I did? I opened a brand new word doc, and I started completely over. This draft is 100% new words. I don't copy and paste from the 1st draft at all. I may open it up, as I occasionally do, to double check some things, but this draft is both writing and editing. I'm changing the story and the characters with every new word I write. Making it better in so many ways.

My method, is not your method. In fact, my method may be the exact opposite of yours. But the point is, that we all have our own way of doing things, and we'll all write our books and make it to the finish line whenever we do. It's not a race. It's not a competition to see who can write a first draft fastest or best. Though I'll admit a little friendly competition can be nice. It's about the story. It's about us. We're writers. We're unique, and each and every one of us is made of awesome.

So when someone tries to tell you how to do your job, remember, they aren't you, and they couldn't possibly know what works best for you better than you do. Go, be awesome. : )

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Why hello there!

What's this? Another new post? It's a miracle!

I know. I know. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. It's harder than you'd think. Sigh.

Anyway, I finally got to start writing again. I'm on draft 2 of TSA, and boy did I miss it. I broke 12k the other day; I was seriously beginning to wonder if it would ever happen (pushing 13k now - WOO!). I've got some big goals for this one over the break: finish draft 2, edit, send to some readers, edit, send to a couple of agents. We'll see if that happens. But I'm certainly going to try!

On a slightly related (if you think in terms of publishing and books in general I suppose) I had to stop reading for Awesome Agent because of school, which totally sucked by the way (school AND not being able to read for AA). But since she's made of pure awesome (hence the name) she's taking me back, at least for the break. I've already looked at one partial and have another to read for her today. I love this business, and knowing that makes the thought of moving from Arkansas (don't judge me) to New York that much easier. I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing than bringing my own and others' books into the world, except for playing my instruments, but that's an even harder job to get into. O.O

Books. There are so many that I haven't had a chance to read and so many more that have come out. It's crazy. I'm going to do so much reading over the break, because I have at least 3 books that I have to review that desperately need to get read. Sigh. Sometimes I fail at life.

And on that note, have any of you had any success while I was away? Book deals? Agent signings? Do tell!

(Did I mention how much I missed all of you?)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

WIP Wednesday

It's almost noon here, and I just woke up a few minutes ago. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, so sorry for the delayed posting; I should really start doing these in advance again. :)

I don't have much progress to report on The Sandman's Apprentice other than to say that I've started draft #2. I seem to be basically re-writing it so far. I'll copy a paragraph from the first draft and put it a few lines down to remind me of what's happening at this point in the story and then I just write it all over again. A few things change, the prose gets tightened, and I make it more realistic and flow better.

My chapter breaks are changing. A chunk that was 2,200 words is now 1,200 and is so much cleaner and more realistic. I love turning a great story into an actual book. There's nothing like knowing that what you're working on is (going to be) publishable material.

So that's where I'm at, going a little slower than I'd like. How are things with all of you?

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