Well, Nano is over for another year, and I once more find myself sitting in December wondering how I'm going to edit all of the words I wrote during November. The answer, of course, is one book at a time. I just wish I was faster at the editing process than I currently am.
Anyway, as I'm sure all of you noticed, my blog got a little bit of an update this week. I (sadly) took down the donation link to nano (though if you would like to donate, just visit www.nanowrimo.org and you can definitely make the donationt here). It will be back next year, though I won't be travelling to San Francisco in 2013.
You might also notice that I've added a 'goals' section. This is very important, because I have a lot of goals for next year, and I'm hoping that tracking them here will make me focus on them a bit more. Now, I didn't want to discriminate, so any and all goals I have will be making it into that section. You'll see that getting Pandora submission worthy is first on the list. What isn't there is getting it to Beta's by the 24th. I decided not to add that, because technically the list is for 2013 goals, and that's still 2012.
I've actually started to continue reading through Pandora to get it edited (almost done. On chapter 35 of 40) and I'm finding that there are actually some chapters that I enjoy reading! This is shocking because I'm definitely my biggest critic. I will sit there and rip my stuff to shreds, and then I hate putting it back together again. I think this is why I don't enjoy editing as much as some of my friends do. Anyway, the point is, I didn't find myself cringing during every chapter, and I think that means that maybe I'm ready to start raking in the rejection letters! (Let's face it, we're talking about a werewolf book. While I think it's great, most places are going to tell me that it's a hard sell...)
Of course, I'm still waiting to hear back for the short story I submitted. I'm not frantically checking every email, because I almost want it to take longer. Every day I don't hear back is another day that I haven't been rejected, so I'm looking at it as a good thing that it's been over a month since the submission!
I'm slowly reorganizing myself to truly become serious about writing. I always thought that last year I was ready for it, but I didn't even begin to be serious enough to truly make it as a writer. I'm not quitting my day job just yet, but I'm going to crack down. I'm going to follow through on my goals, and I'm going to be published. Maybe not this year, but soon. I have so many stories that I want to share with the world!
P.S. I have decided that, for now at least, the Sunday and Wednesday schedule is good for the blog, so I'm going to stick to that!
Showing posts with label #FNTWP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #FNTWP. Show all posts
Monday, December 3, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
So Behind!
On Wednesday I told you all about my critique group, which (in case I didn't tell you then) I actually love. A lot. And I'm seriously excited about this Monday when we get to see what everyone came up with for some writing prompts that were sent out.
Now, I actually finished my stories for Monday on Friday. And I was happy that I managed it, because I was having some difficulties with the second short story I was writing. You see, I started writing it on Thursday, and by Friday I was a fair bit into it. It was sitting at 1500 words, and I had it open and was staring at it during #FNTWP, when I realized why I wasn't willing to write as much as I normally am.
Nothing was happening in it. I mean, at all. The story was starting to read like the first chapter of a novel, with world building to boot.
Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the world. In fact, I may find myself writing about that world in the near future. Unfortunately, the way it was reading wasn't good for a short story. I had to somehow put a whole lot of tension and conflict into the last 1500 words, and I didn't even know where the story was going. I didn't have a good enough grasp on the character, or the setting, to be effective doing it.
Of course, this realization came only after a comment was made by a twitter friend (L.S. Taylor) asked me if maybe there wasn't any tension in it. That was when I went back and reread what I had written so far (something I don't usually do for fear that I'll not want to finish writing it because it's just that bad). And it was that bad. I had a moment of sitting there staring dumbly at the screen, thinking 'what the hell am I going to do now', and then another story idea hit me.
There wasn't even a moment's hesitation after I had that random idea. I instantly closed that document, opened another and was off. I finished the story some three hours later (though it is sitting at 3650 words, and needs to be cut down closer to 3000).
Now, of course, I have 2 full short stories (totaling about 6850 words) and 2 chapters (totaling about 5000 words) to edit before tomorrow. I'm sitting at work, wondering if I will possibly have time to do it all, and kicking myself for not getting it done sooner. I probably shouldn't be so hard on myself, after all, if I had finished that second story any sooner, it wouldn't be what it is right now. I would still be holding onto that first story that was going nowhere, and I would have heard about it from my critique group come Monday.
Unfortunately I'm stuck trying to get it all done today so that I'm ready for tomorrow. (Technically I have until the end of the day to get in my submission for next week, but as tomorrow is going to be a full day, I just don't have time to work on it. Which means I must have it done tonight!!)
Well, I suppose I should really get on it so I can get caught up. Wish me luck!!
Now, I actually finished my stories for Monday on Friday. And I was happy that I managed it, because I was having some difficulties with the second short story I was writing. You see, I started writing it on Thursday, and by Friday I was a fair bit into it. It was sitting at 1500 words, and I had it open and was staring at it during #FNTWP, when I realized why I wasn't willing to write as much as I normally am.
Nothing was happening in it. I mean, at all. The story was starting to read like the first chapter of a novel, with world building to boot.
Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the world. In fact, I may find myself writing about that world in the near future. Unfortunately, the way it was reading wasn't good for a short story. I had to somehow put a whole lot of tension and conflict into the last 1500 words, and I didn't even know where the story was going. I didn't have a good enough grasp on the character, or the setting, to be effective doing it.
Of course, this realization came only after a comment was made by a twitter friend (L.S. Taylor) asked me if maybe there wasn't any tension in it. That was when I went back and reread what I had written so far (something I don't usually do for fear that I'll not want to finish writing it because it's just that bad). And it was that bad. I had a moment of sitting there staring dumbly at the screen, thinking 'what the hell am I going to do now', and then another story idea hit me.
There wasn't even a moment's hesitation after I had that random idea. I instantly closed that document, opened another and was off. I finished the story some three hours later (though it is sitting at 3650 words, and needs to be cut down closer to 3000).
Now, of course, I have 2 full short stories (totaling about 6850 words) and 2 chapters (totaling about 5000 words) to edit before tomorrow. I'm sitting at work, wondering if I will possibly have time to do it all, and kicking myself for not getting it done sooner. I probably shouldn't be so hard on myself, after all, if I had finished that second story any sooner, it wouldn't be what it is right now. I would still be holding onto that first story that was going nowhere, and I would have heard about it from my critique group come Monday.
Unfortunately I'm stuck trying to get it all done today so that I'm ready for tomorrow. (Technically I have until the end of the day to get in my submission for next week, but as tomorrow is going to be a full day, I just don't have time to work on it. Which means I must have it done tonight!!)
Well, I suppose I should really get on it so I can get caught up. Wish me luck!!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
A Sad Oversight
It was brought to my attention the other day that I have allowed a terrible lapse to occur. I am going to attempt to rectify this horrible mistake.
A few months ago (well...it might have been more than a few months ago...probably since about August?) I had the house to myself for a few days, and I was telling my friends about it. One such friend (You all know her as B.A. Matthews) suggested that they come over for a party. I couldn't because I had to work the next day, and told them about how I would be kicking them out after only a couple of hours.
Though we discussed still getting together to do some writing, in the end we decided to instead have our party on twitter. It was going to be a friday night, so originally we were just going to hash tag it Friday Night Party.
When it came down to it though, the hash tag ended up being #FNTWP. Friday Night Twitter Writing Party. And it was awesome. It also attracted far more people than I had thought it would.
After a night full of great conversation with other writers, insight into what others were doing, and even my own work, and actually getting some writing done, one of the final comments was 'see you next Friday.'
Of course, we had never planned for this hashtag to end up being something we did every single week. We were just going for one good night to get together while still being able to do all of the stuff we needed to do at home. We did, though. We started putting it on every single week. Even during nano, those five hours every Friday night served as a time when we could talk to fellow writers. Relieve the stress of whatever was going on with our lives. Work on whatever we were working on at that moment.
It was fantastic.
To this day we still run #FNTWP on Friday nights. We aren't always both there. Sometimes I work late, so I don't get on until about nine, but someone is usually there. If not, if you hang out long enough, eventually someone will get on.
I would encourage any writer to join in the conversation. We have a great time, and I never go away without feeling like I got something out of it, even on the nights when I don't actually get anything done. I love it, and I feel like everyone should get a chance to experience it.
Anyway, if you can't tell, I love #FNTWP. If you want to see what it's all about, drop by any Friday night between seven pm and midnight (mountain time). We'd love to see you!
A few months ago (well...it might have been more than a few months ago...probably since about August?) I had the house to myself for a few days, and I was telling my friends about it. One such friend (You all know her as B.A. Matthews) suggested that they come over for a party. I couldn't because I had to work the next day, and told them about how I would be kicking them out after only a couple of hours.
Though we discussed still getting together to do some writing, in the end we decided to instead have our party on twitter. It was going to be a friday night, so originally we were just going to hash tag it Friday Night Party.
When it came down to it though, the hash tag ended up being #FNTWP. Friday Night Twitter Writing Party. And it was awesome. It also attracted far more people than I had thought it would.
After a night full of great conversation with other writers, insight into what others were doing, and even my own work, and actually getting some writing done, one of the final comments was 'see you next Friday.'
Of course, we had never planned for this hashtag to end up being something we did every single week. We were just going for one good night to get together while still being able to do all of the stuff we needed to do at home. We did, though. We started putting it on every single week. Even during nano, those five hours every Friday night served as a time when we could talk to fellow writers. Relieve the stress of whatever was going on with our lives. Work on whatever we were working on at that moment.
It was fantastic.
To this day we still run #FNTWP on Friday nights. We aren't always both there. Sometimes I work late, so I don't get on until about nine, but someone is usually there. If not, if you hang out long enough, eventually someone will get on.
I would encourage any writer to join in the conversation. We have a great time, and I never go away without feeling like I got something out of it, even on the nights when I don't actually get anything done. I love it, and I feel like everyone should get a chance to experience it.
Anyway, if you can't tell, I love #FNTWP. If you want to see what it's all about, drop by any Friday night between seven pm and midnight (mountain time). We'd love to see you!
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