Another Dip in the Editing Pool

In November, a group of us spent a lot of time writing together, which does tend to happen during NaNoWriMo.  It's so much easier to get the writing done if you have other people doing the same thing as you.

Anyway, we were talking about it, and we couldn't help but wonder why we, as writers, are so willing to work together and have a similar goal during November, but not the rest of the year.  Why do we let ourselves become less productive just because it isn't time for NaNo?

It didn't take us long to decide that we needed to come up with another month that was much sooner than April's Camp Nano session where we could all work together, and decided to have a February challenge for writing.

Why February, you ask?  Simple.  That was when I thought I would have something ready to write.  Yep.  That was the entire reason.  Turns out, I could have had something ready for January.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have something ready, but it's all good, I can just start planning another novel.

Here's the agreement:  During the month of February, we would have a writing challenge.  We all pick a writing goal (mine is 100k words, which should get me the second novel in my Jayne Pheare series written).

I'm quite excited for this.  It will be a month that isn't Nano where I might actually be productive (which was one of my goals for the year).  There won't be any websites to track our progress, but we will all be accountable to each other, and try to keep everyone on track for the month.

But wait, you say, what does all of this have to do with editing?  Now, that's where the story gets interesting.

You see, we were discussing this idea of ours to have a writing challenge and another girl said she would love to do it, but why not do an editing challenge in January too?


I, for one, was more than happy with this idea.  I have a ton of editing to get done, and having other people working at the same time for some reason always seems to help.  So I agreed immediately, and after a few other yeses, we had ourselves an editing challenge.

Of course, I finished the novel I was editing, and it's currently with beta readers, but I'm going to be editing Stolen Magick, a YA about a young girl who discovers that she has the ability to wield magick.  I had a lot of fun writing it, because a lot of stuff happened that wasn't originally planned.  Characters, plot points, love interests and entire chapters were added in, and I can't wait to see how it turned out.

So on January first, I will be diving head first in to the pool of editing another novel (which means that I have to actually pay attention to a world than the one I've been living in for the last little while).  It's going to be interesting.

2013 is going to be a great year, and it's going to start with some editing.  (nope, I never thought I would ever say those words either).

Are you going to get some editing done in January?  What's your favourite part of the writing process?

Editing Bound

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!

Just a little Critique

This week is the last time our critique group is meeting before nano.  As a rule we don't keep up with the critiques during nano because there's really not enough time for all of us to complete our nano goals and try to keep up with critique group.

I have mixed feelings about this.  While I have a bit of a break -- not having to worry about getting the critiques done, or even what I'm going to submit -- at the same time, those critique groups helped my writing more than anything I've ever done.  I've learned about my own writing more from hearing what other people have to say about it than while writing any of the multiple novels that I've managed to complete the first draft of.

That being said, sometimes I feel like I'm a little stuck.  I'm going through a routine of writing in November (or during camp nano) submitting to critique group, and possibly getting to a second draft, but I never seem to get any further than that.

I want, more than anything, to be a published author.  I want my name to be printed on the cover of a book.  I want to be able to walk in to Chapters and find my books alongside my favourite authors.  I want a complete stranger to read my books because someone recommended it to them.

So how can I do that when I can't even get to a third draft?

In order to get published, I have to submit my manuscript to someone.  As I want an agent, it would be to the agents I would love to have as my own.  Before I can submit, I have to actually like my manuscript. Which is probably only going to happen after I get feedback from my betas.  In order to get feedback, I have to send out my manuscript to my betas.  And to send it out, I really have to get it to the third draft.

Of course, I had a goal.  I wanted to finish my third draft of Pandora by the end of this month.  I managed to finish the second draft at the very beginning of the month, and I thought that I might actually get done this third draft in order to send it out.

I haven't.  I'm not even done going through it to see what changes I still need to make.  I'm about halfway through reading it and I don't foresee myself actually making it through the entire manuscript before November gets underway.  I'm not even entirely sure I'm going to be able to finish the list of changes before then.

It's a disappointment.  I want to have it ready for submissions by January, but it is what it is.  I can accept that I didn't get as much done as I wanted.  I think I took on too much this month anyway, so I'll get by.

What I won't be able to forgive myself for is if I don't get this manuscript done and sent in to an agent.  This is probably the best book I've written to date, and I just can't wait to see what other people think of it.

My critique group is filled with amazing writers that have given me great insight in to my work.  And if I never go any further with it, what am I saying about them?  About the time they've invested in to my novel?  I can't do that to them any more than I could do that to myself.

So while I may not finish my editing quite as quickly as I had hoped, I'm going to finish the third draft, I'm going to get it out to betas, and I'm going to find an agent for it.  No matter how long it takes.

Are you a part of a critique group?  Have they helped you as much as mine has?

Books and Betas

This week I got asked to do my first ever beta read for a fellow writer.  It was a type of book that I don't generally read (fantasy), and I'm in the middle of a lot of projects right now (editing, planning, submitting...) but I couldn't pass up the opportunity when it was presented to me.

I loved the book.  The characters were engaging, the plot progressed, there was a fairly satisfactory ending (it's the first book in a series, so there has to be some leeway given there) and I thought that pretty much everything was sound.  No serious plot holes or devices.  I can't wait for her to write the next book, and I'm crossing my fingers that she'll ask me to beta for her again.

The thing is, before I started reading this book, I was extremely nervous.

Beta reading is probably one of the hardest things to do in the world, if you give it any thought whatsoever.  The book that you're being given is someone's baby.  They've worked on it for weeks, months or (in some cases) even years.  The characters are more like children growing and becoming the people they want them to be (or perhaps ones that you really didn't want them to be) right in front their eyes.  The characters that die are mourned.

I could never just take a book and completely rip it apart.  I know that some writers actually hope for that, but I'm a firm believer that there's good in pretty much every single book that's out there.  And I more than firmly believe that every writer should know what they're doing right.

Of course, having been on the receiving end of critiques and feedback, I know that even a few things wrong can make you feel like everything needs to be redone.

The last thing I ever want is to be the person that makes a writer think that they can't do it.  I want the book to be the best it can be, but that doesn't mean that's it my job to rip the thing to pieces and toss it on the ground in front of them.

So when I was writing out my feedback, I tried hard to make sure I put in the good as well as the bad.

I'm not actually sure that I accomplished my goal.  I'm hoping that she knows just how much I loved the book, that the feedback I gave her was just a preference and not something she absolutely has to do.  After all, writing can't be all about the readers.  While we have to keep them in mind while we're working on our respective projects, we also have to remember that this is our story.  No matter what our beta readers or critique group say, we have to be true to whatever drove us to write the story in the first place.

I certainly hope to get the chance to do more beta reading in the future.  I loved being able to give a writer feedback that they can use to make their book as perfect as it can be.

When Editing Takes Over

Last time I talked to you about how my inner editor had escaped, and how I was planning to catch her, put her back in her cage, and make sure I locked it this time.  I swear that was my intention.  I was going to do it.

I'm not sure what happened, to be honest.  I had the cage open, the editor in hand, and I was really trying to get her back in the cage...and then she was gone again.  Slipping away as if I had never caught her in the first place.

Here's the thing, though, I've never had a great relationship with my inner editor.  Okay, so actually I had a great relationship with her.  I just shoved her into her cage and forgot about her.  I never checked on her.  Hell, I don't even know her name.  It was the perfect writing relationship.  She never got on my case, so I could just keep writing all of the time without having to worry about it.  I was even able to leave those little red lines under the words alone.  At least, I was until the end of the word war.

It was fantastic!  So, what happened, you ask?  Simple.  I let her out.

I decided it was high time I did some editing.  July was always supposed to be an editing month for me, so when the betas didn't get back to me, I had a very cranky editor bitching at me every day about how this was supposed to be her time.

So I gave in.  I pulled out the other novel I happened to have finished (don't give me that look, it's the one I wrote in June...) and started the edits on it.  You might have heard me ranting...um...I mean discussing...the fact that there were going to be some major rewriting going on with the novel.

I was actually looking forward to it, which I'm starting to think may have something to do with how often I leave her locked up.  Honestly, more than I really should.  Even when I'm editing I'm not really consulting her.  I tear through it and don't fix most of the problems.  It's not a good way to edit, and as a result I've never gotten  a novel to the point that I can actually say I was happy with it.

Now, though, my inner editor seems to have had enough.  She's battened down the hatches, and she intends to stay for the long haul.  Which means, she wants me to edit.

Of course, now all I can think about is the book that I've been editing.  My writing has gone absolutely no where in days, despite my decision to hold off on the sequel I was writing in order to finish editing the first book.  I stare at the screen for hours instead of doing anything productive, all because I keep trying to put her off.

Maybe I need to give in to her.  I write enough during the year that maybe right now I need to get down to editing.  I need to focus on this novel that could be the first one I publish (if anyone is willing to take on another werewolf book...).  Maybe I shouldn't keep on ignoring her, even when she's yelling in my ear.

I guess it's about time that I actually take my editing seriously.  That I finish editing a novel, step back and think, that's pretty damn good.  It's time for me to sit down with my inner editor and fix everything that's wrong with this novel

Hmmm...I wonder if my inner editor has a name?

Well, off to tackle the challenge of getting this book up to par!

It's Baaaack!

On this the last Sunday of the month, I feel the need to mention, however obvious it might be, that camp nano will be returning to the world in only a few short days.

I, of course, have already figured out what I'm going to write.  I actually have it plotted and ready to go.  Not because I'm amazing, just because I need to know it's ready before I even start writing.  I have to have that plot, or I start to freak out.  Trust me, I know this.  How?  Because I'm (literally) in the middle of a pantsing novel that does nothing but stress me out when I so much as think about it.

So with my mind firmly on the novel I'm about to start writing (with the occasional distraction of the novel that I'm currently editing) I thought I would make today's post a little shorter than normal and give you all an update on what's going on with me and my projects.

I've never been one to have only a single project that I focus on.  I get bored and need to move on to something different, so I currently have a few different things on the go.

Pandora a novel about a werewolf who also happens to be an assassin (I love it so far, even if I did just realize that I need to rewrite half of it) is in the middle of heavy editing.  I was supposed to be editing The Commons this month, but unfortunately feedback has been delayed, and I haven't been able to work on it.  I ended up pulling out Jayne's story, and now I actually can't wait to see how it turns out.

I've finished planning out the novel Stolen Magick, a YA about a school that teaches Arcanists (humans with the ability to wield magick) how to control their powers.  I'm very excited for this one, because I can't wait to see where the series goes.  Unfortunately, it will have to wait until November, as I won't be writing it until then.

I have 3 more novels I'll be planning for November as well.  None of them are named, but I have started brainstorming for a mid grade about a 10 year old who catches an alien stealing socks out of the dryer.  Stay tuned for more.  This one should be fun.

Three short stories have been written this month.  One has been submitted, and I'm waiting for a response.  One is going to be looked over one last time before I try to find somewhere that I want to submit it, and the last is going to be a kick off point for one of the novels for November.

The Techs, the second book in The Commons series is completely planned and ready for me to dive in August first.  (I've been eagerly awaiting writing this book, and can't wait to start.  The goal is to have it done by the 20th.)

I got some feedback from a beta reader today on The Commons and have come to the realization that I need to go over it many times more and fix many problem spots, but I can't wait to get started.  Unfortunately, it's now going to have to wait until I get through Pandora.

Okay.  I think that's all the updates I have for now (Yeah, I know, it's a lot.  I'm a little crazy...)  I'm excited for every single one of these projects, and I can't wait to see where they go.  I hope that your camp nano is amazing!

***I'm currently collecting donations for OLL (Office of Letters and Light) who hosts NaNoWriMo every year.  My goal is $500 and I've already hit 60% of that.  I need your help to complete my goal, however.  Help me raise money for the organization that single-handedly helped me to figure out jthat I'm a writer.***

Productivity. Who Knew?

Have you ever had one of those weeks where things just seem to get done, and you're never quite sure how you managed it?

That's my month so far.  I mean, I've written three short stories (all of which have made their way into my Shiny New Idea book for future series...) I've managed to make blog posts every single time that I needed to make one (even when they are late.)  I've gotten my critiques done early both weeks. (I'm already done the one that I need for Monday.  I'm never done this early!) and I've actually started editing Pandora.  I did chapter 5 for critique group, but have finished chapter 6, rewritten chapter 7 and have looked over chapter 8, which will probably be actually started tomorrow.  I've also managed to finish the planning of one of the novels I will be writing in November.

Normally I have a hard time getting motivated to do these kinds of things.  It isn't unusual to see me rushing to finish my critiques Sunday night when I realized that they weren't done yet.  Or for me to submit sub par chapters because I didn't spend nearly enough time on them.  I should probably apologize to my critique group for that, actually...

Anyway, the point of it is, I'm somehow motivated this month, though I really don't know why.  It could be because I was already planning on editing this month, but wasn't able to because my beta readers have unfortunately not gotten back to me yet.  Or it could be because I know that I'll be writing again next month, and I won't have time to get caught up on all of these things once I start doing that.

Honestly, I don't know, and I'm not sure I actually care.  I know, I know.  If I know what's keeping me motivated, I might actually figure out a way to keep myself motivated for the rest of the year.  I'm just afraid that if I figure it out, the magic might wear out.  (Don't laugh!  It's possible...) What then?  How do I go about figuring out yet another way to motivate myself?

Just to explain how weird it is, let me put this into perspective for you.  I bought two new books yesterday.  One by my favourite author Kelley Armstrong.  I've barely touched it.  I only read on the bus on the way to and from work.  Normally I would have had that book done by now.  Trust me.

Or, let's talk about the editing.  Normally it's a struggle to just get through a single chapter.  To force myself to sit down and read it over then put in the edits.  You all know this.  All you have to do is look at my very last blog post where I talked about the fact that I was back to editing.  When I finished rewriting chapter 7, all I could think about what what I  needed to do to fix chapter 8, and actually wanted to look through it right then and there.  I had to do a critique first, but I've also finished going through it.

Does that put it into perspective for you?  I don't know where it's coming from, but it makes me happy. I'm glad to be motivated.  To get all of this done and not have to worry about it so much.  I'm already freaking out too much over The Commons, so having other things to work on while waiting for the much anticipated beta reader feedback has been really helpful.

So, I've decided not to look this gift horse in the mouth.  I'm going to continue being productive for as long as I can.  I want to get as much done this month as I possibly can before heading into an extremely busy month in August.  (Last year I didn't complete the August session of camp nano, so I'm hoping to do much better this year.)

Do you ever have problems with motivation?  How do you get past it?

***I'm currently collecting donations for OLL (Office of Letters and Light) who hosts NaNoWriMo every year.  My goal is $500 and I've already hit 60% of that.  I need your help to complete my goal, however.  Help me raise money for the organization that single-handedly helped me to figure out jthat I'm a writer.***

Short Stories Are Too Short

Since the end of Camp Nano, I've been concentrating on short stories, as opposed to the novels I've been focusing on for a while.  So, in the last four days, I've written two full short stories, with an idea for one more story running around in my head.

The first short story I submitted for consideration to an online magazine.  I'm hoping that it will be an addition to their third issue released in late September.

The other two stories are for Pen Duels, the part of my critique group where we use writing prompts to create stories, then critique them.  I've had the writing prompts for over a month, but I've just recently had time to actually sit down and start thinking about them.

I'm actually really excited for them.  The first one, entitled Mask is already written and submitted.  I had two amazing beta readers who gave me some really good feedback, and I'm actually really hopeful that it will be accepted.  Not certain, but hopeful.

The second The Locket I've just finished.  I'm not so excited for this one, I feel like something isn't quite right in it.  I'm going to have to fix it in editing.  It's not for submission, but I feel like I need to rework it until it's right and makes the impact I want it to make.  Of course, at the same time, I really have to make sure I'm not working it too much.  I have to take into account that the stories that make it down on paper never seem quite as shiny one they're there as they do when they're bouncing around in my head.  Of course, those same stories seem so much shinier to the people reading the stories.

The third is nothing more than an idea that's lingering in my mind.  I thought of it on Monday at critique group.  I knew that I wanted to have some kind of supernatural element to it, mostly because I've really been leaning more toward the urban fantasy / dark fantasy genres.  So a friend of mine looked up mythological creatures to me, and started reading them out.  One made me sit up and take notice.  It wasn't exactly something that I would have expected to get my attention, and yet it did.  I'm eager to start it, and at the same time worried that I won't get it right.  I'll do my best, though, it's all I can do as a writer.

So why am I telling you all of this?  Because those three stories (one of which isn't even written yet) have morphed themselves into full on novels in my head.  More than just novels, in fact.  They're quickly becoming series.

I'm not exactly short on shiny new ideas.  In fact, I already know what stories I'll be writing in November, and I picked them out of a book where I record all of the ideas that I get for stories.  I have more than enough in that book to keep me busy for years.  All I have to do is flip through the pages and wait for one of them to stand out to me, and I have my next project.

Three new ideas may not sound like a lot, but these aren't exactly half thought of vague suggestions.  These are ideas that have already been fairly formed into short stories.  I can see where each of them goes, and I think that they would be fun to write.

Of course, I already have more than enough to keep me busy in November (I've even got a back up novel just in case I need more words to write...which is definitely a possibility with me.)  These ideas that are being so insistent can't be written any time soon.

So they've been jotted down in the book and told to wait.  That I'll get to them eventually. (Honestly, it will probably be sooner rather than later).

In all of this, I think I've come to a conclusion.  I'm not a short story writer.  I can write the stories, but I always have that urge to continue them.  I can never contain them to nothing more than the 5-7 pages that I originally intended them to be.

That's alright.  I love novels, and I love thinking in terms of series.  It just means that every time I write a short story, I risk getting more shiny new ideas that will have to be written down.

The Story Won't Leave Me Alone

As a writer there are different ways each of us interpret and convey our stories.  Some of us listen to our characters and tell the story that they're telling us.  Some of us line up our characters and tell them what to do.  Some of us do a mixture of the two.  None do exactly the same thing.  We each have our little process and techniques that we cling to because they've become habit.

No matter how we connect with our characters or our story, though, there is one thing that each writer has in common:  Occasionally a story or character will take over our brains.

I'm not talking about literally taking over our lives, of course (though now I'm thinking that would be an awesome idea and I may need to write that in my Shiny New Idea Book.) I mean that the character or story will become something that we can't stop thinking about.

We'll picture scenes, or just the character themselves.  Hear the dialogue running through our heads.  Find that ending that we just have to put down on paper (or in a word document, whatever.)  And it will distract us from anything else we could (or should) be working on.  It doesn't matter if we're in the middle of a novel, these projects overpower anything else until we're left wanting nothing more than to write that story.

Not too long ago I was introduced to a new webzine that a friend of mine helped to start up entitled Insomnia Press. I was reading through their website (including submissions.  I may not write a whole lot of short stories, but I thought I might as well take a look) and I came across the theme to their third issue: Death, Lies and Secrets.

I'll admit, this may seem like a rather broad theme.  When I first read it I thought 'that's it?'  I was going to just navigate away, sure I could never write anything dark enough to fit in either that theme, or the publication itself.

Apparently I was wrong.  (Okay, I hope I was.  I'm not actually done writing yet, and for all I know it could turn out horrible.  I'm going to optimistic this week.)  I had just navigated away from the page when a scene flashed through my head.

I'm not going to give away the story now (as I'm hoping to get it published and all) but it's definitely one of my darker pieces.

This story latched itself into my brain, and it's refusing to let go.  Stubbornly holding on even though I tried to inform it that I'm in the middle of Camp Nano, and I want to finish the novel I've been working on.  It's one of the most insistent stories I've ever come across (and, trust me, I've had some insistent stories.)

After a computer crash that cost me an entire day of writing (no, I didn't kill my computer, yes I wanted to) I decided that 50k words in 4 days, while actually plausible for me, isn't something I was interested in doing during June, so I finally gave in to this driving urge to write the short story.

I started it last night.  While I'm only 500 words in (I can only go up to 5000, so I'm trying to be careful with my words) so far, I think it's fantastic.

I will, of course, be looking for beta readers when I'm done to make sure that it has the impact I'm wanting it to have.  But, until then, I'm looking forward to writing the rest of it.  Even if it's only so I can think about other stories again.

Who I Don't Want To Be

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about what I want to be.  The things I want to see happen in my career.  About where I want to go with it, and how I want my readers to feel while they're reading my books.  I have a lot of goals for my writing, and I think I've shared each and everyone of them on my blog.

Lately, though, I've been reading a lot of books, and I've been watching some shows, and I've started to come across things that I don't ever want to do with my writing.  Things that I see in other people's writing that makes me hit my head on the wall or wonder how they've managed to get published (or had their work turned into a tv show) when there are so many talented writers out there that struggle to even be recognized as writers.

So today I decided that instead of focusing on what I want, I'm going to tell you what I don't want:

I don't want the stupid ball to be a main character in any of my books or scripts.  For those of you who may not know, the stupid ball is the thing that some characters in books or shows carry (or throw up in the air repeatedly to have it land directly on their heads) that seems to be the only explanation to why they're suddenly stupid.  I've seen characters tossing this ball around like you wouldn't believe.  Intelligent, believable characters suddenly become the stupidest beings because it's too early in the book or show for them to figure out what's right in front of their faces.

I don't want to have to use Plot Devices in order to make my stories work.  A plot device is something that randomly pops up that most people think is coincidence.  It isn't.  It happened because the writer just realized that they had no way to make that work, and they just threw it in there because they wanted to.  It's generally unbelievable, and often is often accompanied by the stupid ball.  If you've ever read a book, or watched a show and thought 'well, that was awfully convenient', congratulations.  You've just discovered a plot device.

Characters who have one role in the entire novel and that's it.  Everyone knows these characters.  They're the ones that show up in a novel, and you think they're important, but it turns out that they're only there to serve one specific purpose (I remember reading one novel where a female character was there who could climb, and that was literally all they did.)  These characters never grow, they never become important, and I, for one, always find myself feeling just a little disappointed.

I don't want my ending guessed within the first chapter of the book. Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration.  I've never guessed the ending that quickly, but I have done so by the middle of the book.  Then the rest of it isn't a surprise.  On more than one occasion I've read the ends of books actually hoping I was wrong, only to find out I wasn't.  This goes for tv shows, too.  If I can guess who the killer is the minute they step onto the screen, you need to have a few more twists to throw me off the scent.

My biggest pet peeve, and the thing that I don't want the most desperately is plot holes. Sometimes these are really hard to avoid.  Best practice is and will always be to have other people read your work to ensure there are as few of these as possible.  I can't imagine a single person out there who has read a book rife with plot hole and hasn't wanted to throw it across the room (in a bad way)  Plot holes are nasty little buggers that pop up and have your readers thinking 'yeah, but why didn't they just do this'.  They're hard to see because most writers spend their time thinking of complex solutions and miss the simple ones right in front of their faces.

That's my list, so far.  All the things I don't want to see in my work.  I don't know that I'll be able to do it.  In fact, I think my characters may just be prone to holding onto that stupid ball just a little bit too long, but I'm working on it.

What do you never want to see in your work?

And They're Off!

On Tuesday I finished my editing.

That sounds like such an awesome statement, doesn't it?  Just uttering those words gives me a satisfaction that there are literally no words to describe.  Let me say it again.  I finished my editing.

Now that I've heaved that huge sigh of relief, it's time to face reality.

As of Tuesday I was officially done my third draft.  That doesn't mean that the book is perfect, of course.  Far from it.  In fact, I noticed a few things after finishing that will need to be fixed.  It bugged me for about a minute and a half before I remembered that this is far from the last draft of this novel that I will be writing.  I know that, once I get feedback from the beta readers, I'm planning on doing at least one more draft before even considering sending it out to agents.  And that might even end up turning into two, depending on the feedback I get.

Normally this thought might depress me.  I mean, I just finished editing, and already I'm thinking about what else I'm going to have to fix.  This time, though, that depression isn't showing up.  And I think I know why.

I've always struggled getting through this draft.  (In fact, I've never managed to get through a book in the editing stages the first time.  I always find way too much wrong with it, so I end up shelving it and never coming back.) While some writers struggle getting that first draft out, I don't seem to have that problem.  It's reading it over and seeing all the mistakes I've made that I start to feel like I'm in over my head.

Finally I've manged to get all the way through my editing.  I've even sent it to Beta Readers!  Even though I know it's not perfect, and certainly not ready to be sent out to agents, I know that I put a lot of effort into making that novel as good as it could be before I needed another set of eyes to pick out the weaknesses.  (Yes, I do still have some minor line edits that also need to be worked on, but I'll fix those as much as I can as I go through it next time.  Despite the nickname, I'm only human.  Therefore I do make mistakes.)

I'm excited, though.  Beta readers means that I'm one step closer to the goal of being published.  It means that I felt confident enough in my work to give it to friends and cross my fingers that I won't get it back with four notes telling me that maybe this isn't the book that will get published.

Now, more than ever, I'm confident that I'm going to become a published author.  This dream will come true.  I just have to persevere!  And put in the work.  One day I will see The Commons on the shelves at Chapters, and I can't wait.

Sad Scenes

I've been in hard core editing mode for the last couple days.  I've had to be.  My project, The Commons, is due out to beta readers by the fifteenth, and I'm not nearly done with it.  Unfortunately I've hit a little bit of a glitch.

Usually these glitches occur when I'm finding myself having to rewrite a scene.  I hate having to redo work that I've already done.  It doesn't matter that I know the scene will be so much better when I'm done the rewrite, it just kills me to throw out those words and start over fresh.

This time, though, it had absolutely nothing to do with the editing or rewriting.  It has to do with the scene itself.

This particular scene isn't one I enjoyed writing in the first place.  In previous projects I've had torture scenes that I've thoroughly enjoyed writing, but this one, well, nothing could be further from the truth.  I knew it was coming the entire book, of course.  I had it written into the very plot.  A character was supposed to die.

Here's the thing about books.  They never quite turn out the way you thought they would.  In fact, there's always some element that changes between the plot and the actual first draft.  In this project, that change was the character that had to die.

Originally that girl was a nobody.  Somebody that popped up for the simple sake of killing her off.  I wasn't supposed to get attached.  My characters weren't really supposed to get attached.  They should know her, but they shouldn't care about her.  Unfortunately that didn't happen.

Okay, I say unfortunately, but I don't really mean that.  The change was a good thing.  If my characters hadn't gotten attached, the death wouldn't have meant as much.  It wouldn't have had the impact that I know it's going to have on my readers, once it makes it that far.  I love how it turned out, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

The problem is, that's the same effect it has on me.  I loved her.  She was this quiet little girl who hung around in a library, but she had backbone.  Courage that nobody really knew she had until that last moment.  I loved her because she was afraid, and she still tried to do what she thought was best.  At least for her.  I loved her.

Editing that scene was so much harder than I thought it would be.  I found myself not wanting to read it.  It's a gruesome death.  Reading it made me cringe, which was exactly how I want my readers to react.  If they don't already hate the people who do that to her, I want them to as of that moment.

It just wasn't supposed to happen to me.  I wasn't supposed to be that effected by it.

I know I'm not the only one whose ever been through this.  I've heard other writers having the same problem as me.  We all want our writing to effect other people, but don't think about how we'll feel as we're writing or editing it.

It's one of the challenges we face as writers.  We have to get past those scenes.  At least enough to get it written well.  To make other people feel what we want them to feel.  But we need to distance ourselves, at least a little, from the books that we're writing so that we can do what needs to be done, to get that book to where it needs to be.

So Little Time

My goal, as can be seen by looking at my progress before section, is to have The Commons to a completed second draft so that I can send out to my beta readers by the fifteenth.  That's a whole nine days away, and guess how far I am from finishing it?

If you guessed not anywhere near close, you were right!  I'm stuck around chapter 22 (in which I have to rewrite the first scene) of 35.  In the last two days I've barely gotten anything done.  It's a sad fact for me to admit, as I was actually planning on doing at least two chapters a day.  Of course, I was hoping to be done a bit early so I could take one more look over it and see if I missed anything, but that's definitely not going to happen now.

Nine days and thirteen chapters.  Which means I no longer have time to procrastinate.  I can't let myself get distracted by all the shows I want to watch.  I don't have the time to waste, anymore.  If I do get distracted, I'll end up missing my deadline.  And that's not something I'm willing to let happen.  If I don't get my manuscript out to my betas on time, then they wont get it back to me on time.  If I don't get it back in time, then I can't use the feedback to go through it one last time and start sending out queries.

It's the domino effect, writer style.

Now, I suppose you're asking: 'What does it matter if you get your queries out on time?'.  That's a very good question to ask.  The answer is, I was really hoping to do both Camp Nano sessions being held this year.  I also need to plan out the novels I'll be writing during nanowrimo.  If my editing isn't done, and if the queries aren't sent out, then I have to sacrifice one of those things.

In June I'll be taking part in the first session of Camp Nano, where I'll be writing Pandora, I book that I was supposed to write about a month ago.  Procrastination got the better of me then too, and I only managed 25,000 words in the time I should have been able to write 100,000 words.  I've been trying to figure out a way to get motivated when it's no nano...but that's another post.


The point of the matter is, I've already put off writing this novel once.  I can't do that to the characters again.  They've been awfully patient while I've been editing.  Mostly because I promised them that I would be finishing their story in June.  I'm afraid of what would happen if I tried to put it off again.  There might be a riot.

In August, I'm hoping to write The Techs which is the second book in The Commons series.  I've just barely begun to plan it, but I already have a bit of the story line going on, so I'm getting excited.  Of course, I don't want to write the novel until I'm completely done editing the first one.  I'm a little too wary of the changes that I could make which would mean far more work in editing the second one.  I've done that once, and I'll never do it again.

In August I'll need to write about 100,000 words.  I'll have even less time to work on the novel which should, by then, be completed. 

After that comes the planning for the three novels I'm going to be writing during nanowrimo.  Yes, three.  I'm a little crazy like that.  I'll only have two months instead of the planned three.

All of this means that I only have so much time to get my editing done.  I only have so much time to get my queries out.  And I don't have time to be acting like I have all the time in the world.

Nine days to finish thirteen chapters.  It's going to be tight, but I think I can do it.  What's my motivation?  In November I'll be taking a trip down to San Francisco to go the The Night Of Writing Dangerously.  And when I'm down there introducing myself to people, I don't want to tell them that I'm still working on the novel that I'm going to be sending out real soon.  I want to tell them that I have queries out and waiting for responses.  Or maybe, just maybe, that I found an agent

Stop and Smell the Roses

Today I heard a phrase I'm sure I've heard a thousand time in my life.  Stop and Smell the roses.  I don't think that anyone has specifically said it to me, but I've always known what people have meant by it.  That you can't rush through life.  Sometimes you have to take a break and make sure to enjoy the little things in life.

So when I heard the phrase today, I couldn't help but really stop and think about it.  Mostly because, at the time, I was actually watching a show and procrastinating on my writing.  (Well, rewriting.  I do have an editing goal I need to try and keep as I have beta readers waiting for it.)

I've never really been the one to be busy all the time.  However, in the last year I've found myself doing more and more things, and therefor finding my schedule getting more and more full.  There are weeks when I almost never go home after work.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  I love going out with my friends.  I love my critique group and all the different things I've been doing since starting writing.

So now, for the first time in my life, I find myself actually able to appreciate the saying.  I understand what it's like to get so caught up in everything that's been going on with my life that I forget to stop and see or appreciate all those little things.  I've done it, where all I can think about is the stress of getting a book written, or edited and forget that I love this.  I love creating a story, and there's nothing I want more than to share those stories with everyone else.

Of course, getting stressed means I start to feel overwhelmed.  When that happens I tend to stop working on whatever it is I need to get done.  Unfortunately that means I start smelling the roses a little too much.  I just stop.  I'll do pretty much anything to not work on the writing or editing that I have to do.  Today that happened in the form of watching the first season of Dead Like Me.

I know how to stop and smell the roses.  I do it all the time, even when I really shouldn't be.  That doesn't mean that I disagree with the message of it.  It doesn't matter what's going on in your life.  How stressful everything is, or how much you  have to do, every once in a while, you need to stop and take a deep breath.  Look around and realize that life isn't always about that to do list.  Sometimes it's about taking those thirty minutes you don't think you can spare to have a meal in the park while listening to the birds sing.  Sometimes it's finding the time in a week to watch that show you absolutely adore, because it inspires you, or even just entertains you.

Sometimes it's not about doing something.  Sometimes it's about not doing something.

Unfortunately for me, right now it has to be about doing something.  The roses will be there when I'm done, though, and I'm looking forward to smelling them again.

A Fresh Start

Well, the race is on.  Again.  It's time for me to start writing a novel.  One that I've told myself I'll try and get out in the same amount of time it took me to write a novel during November.  In case you're wondering, that means that I need to write this novel in only ten days.  I'm not entirely sure I can actually do it, but that's got more to do with the fact that I'm not putting my life on hold for this book like I do in November.  I have plans with friends, I haven't stopped going to critique group, and I don't know if I'll even have time to write ten thousand words a day.

But now that I've decided to do it, and even promised the character that it would be done by April, I can't back out.  First of all, if I did, I would end up with a character yelling at me and not giving me any rest until  I actually wrote it.  Second, I would be disappointed because I wouldn't have that novel I need to submit to my critique group so I can get my current novel ready for beta readers then for submission.

The worst part is that I have everything planned out.  And when I say everything, trust me, I mean EVERYTHING.  I have character bibles for each of my main to more important background characters.  Each bible consists not only of what they look like, but also their personality, their goals in the book, the motivations, what makes obtaining their goals difficult, any growth they have in the book, what their role is and any back history I've come up with for them.  (In case you're wondering, these characters have some of the strongest and most details character histories that I've ever written...)  I have pages and pages of brainstorming, as well as two pages devoted entirely to a cast list, naming every character that could possibly come up in the book.  And, finally, I have an entire plot written out (not too detailed, because I'd spend the entire time writing frustrated.  My characters don't really like to stick to the plan...) in my scrivener file.

The writing should be the easy part with all of that planning out of the way.  Especially since I don't have to make any actual decisions while I'm writing (which is good as I'm kind of indecisive...) I should be able to just sit down and write it, after all, my characters are even talking to me, and I can see some of the scenes in my head!  Scenes that I desperately want to write.

So what's holding me back?

Chapter one.  It's as simple as that.  When I wrote the plot I made it very vague, and I hadn't really decided on anything, up to and including what the guy did to deserve being killed.  I didn't even know what he looked like or did for a living.  I didn't have a single clue as to how my main character was going to approach him, never mind kill him.  Both of these things were very important as my character is actually an assassin and was being hired to kill the guy.

When I sat down to write, I found myself staring at a blank page certain I had a fantastic idea, but having no idea how I was going to start it.  Where this first chapter, that introduces the character, but not really the story, was going to go.  My mind blanked.  So I got desperate and wrote the first thing that came to mind.  In first person as I had planned.

Turns out the first thing I think of isn't always the right thing.  Or even good.  After 1200 words I was getting increasingly frustrated and realizing that if I continued to write like that the book that I've been looking forward to writing for so long was going to go the way of all the other books I've written so far: directly into that dusty old folder in the back of my computer.  That's the last thing I want.

So I did the only thing I could do.  The thing that nearly made me cry, as those were the only words written on the novel and I was supposed to write 10,000 words.  I deleted them and started over.

While it was a hard thing to do, it was the best thing.  I changed to third person, which I find much easier to write in. (Originally I thought I should do first because so many other books like the one I'm writing are written in first.  When I first started writing I actually wrote in first and never thought I'd be able to change to third.  I was wrong...)

Now I'm only 450 words into the first chapter (a far cry from my 10k goal...) but they're far better than the original 1200 I had been working with.  I'm looking forward to writing the scene, and I'm once again hopeful that I can write something other than crap.

Sometimes you really do have to give yourself a fresh start, whether you're at 1200 or 65,000 words.  Just make sure that you need to give up on it before you do.  You'll kick yourself if you start all over again just to realize that what you had already written had potential.

Well, time for me to get back to writing...hopefully I can hit that elusive 10k soon.  I've gotta get this book written!

Ick

I had a blog post all planned out for today.  I was actually looking forward to writing it, but something happened that completely changed what I wanted to talk about.

Most of you probably don't know this, but I don't get sick very often, and even when I do I actually find it hard to make myself call in sick to work.  It's dumb, but I feel bad when I don't go into work, because all I can think about are the people at work being busy and I'm just laying in bed.  It's horrible.  Anyway, the point of the matter is, I'm sick.

Let me tell you about me trying to plan a novel while I'm sick.

I talk to my characters in order to figure out what's going on in the books I"m writing.  Yes, I know, this makes me sound crazy.  Nevertheless, this is the way I do things.  Normally 'talking' to them consists of them showing me scenes or pictures that I interpret.  Very rarely they actually speak.  When I'm sick, though, that connection is a little like trying to watch television back in the rabbit ears days.  If that's not bad enough, it's also when it was snowing outside, so the reception is terrible.  The sound is gone, and even the pictures are fuzzy.

It's frustrating to say the least, and I'm pretty sure that even my characters are starting to feel it at this point.  My poor Jayne Pheare is in complete distress, because I've been promising her that I would be seriously planning her story starting this week, but nothing that she's trying to tell me is actually getting through.  (Though I did finally figure out her assassin name last night, thanks to Eric.)

Needless to say, it makes planning a novel rather impossible.  I can sit with that notebook open in front of me for hours, and have Jayne yelling at the top of her lungs in the back of my head, and I still can't figure anything out.

This, of course, leaves me with a bit of a problem.  As I said in my last post, my goal for having the first draft of Pandora written is the end of March.  That means it needs to be ready to deliver into the hands of my critique group (at least the first chapter) by the second day of April.

How am I supposed to do that when I can't even plan right now?  Planning takes much longer for me than the actual writing does, so right about now I'm actually beginning to freak out.  Being sick was not in the plan!  In fact, now is pretty much the worst time for me to be sick.  I need this stupid cold to go away so that I can get back to the important things.  Like writing down everything my character's trying to tell me about her story.

I suppose the best I can do it try and get better as fast as I possibly can so that I can have as much time as possible to get the planning done.  I just hope that this one ill timed sickness doesn't completely set me back, because I plan to have The Commons in the hands of beta readers by the end of April, and querying it no later than the beginning of June.

Good luck to me.

Time To Prioritize

I have never been someone that can have just one project going at a time.  I get bored with it and start wondering off to do other things, such as reading or catching up on tv shows. (The fact that I do these things even when I have multiple projects on the go is completely besides the point...)

Anyway, I currently have about 6 projects on the go, each at a different stage of the writing/editing process.  I have my Dangerous Waters, a fantasy novel that I wrote last year and didn't look at for a few months until we started critique group.  I've also written the second novel, Changing Tides but as I haven't finished the edits on the first one, you can bet that I haven't even so much as glanced at the second one.  Considering how many chapters I'm having to rewrite, or just add altogether, I'm actually a little afraid to find out how bad the second one is.

I have The Commons, a YA dystopian that is set in a world where more than three quarters of the population was wiped out in the fourth world war.  The remaining people have separated into two societies.  The Commons and The Techs.  This novel is the one that I finished and thought 'I'm going to get this published.'  I have absolute confidence in it and can't wait to test the waters and see what agents and publishers think of it.  I currently have it going through critique group.

Wolf's Blood is an urban fantasy that I started writing with a friend some time last year.  Unfortunately, we're both quite busy, so we've only managed to write a whole 5 chapters, but as we're still talking to each other I'm counting it as a success.

Since November I've had this idea for a book bouncing around in my head.  It's about a werewolf assassin, and her name is Jayne Pheare (That's her real name, don't know her assassin name yet.)  The book itself is, unfortunately, untitled.  I have lots of work to do on it, as I'm still in the planning stages for this novel (including working out a brand new city for it with the help of my dear friend Eric) I'm very excited for this novel, but I just haven't had time to sit down and really connect with Jayne.  (I have to say, she's being very patient.  She only got annoyed that one time when I pulled out a brand new character and started paying attention to her...)

I also have two more collaborations in the works, but both are untitled and in the planning stages with only the bare bones placed, and not even nailed down yet.

This past week, though, I've had some time to think about these projects, and the priority I've been giving each.  (This 'time' has been while at work, or travelling back and forth between different social engagements...not actual time that I had to sit down and plan or edit.  Trust me, that's what I would have been doing if it was.)

Much as I love Dangerous Waters, lately I've been finding it harder and harder to concentrate on it.  In fact, on more than one occasion, I've actually considered shelving it indefinitely.  That there was just too much work that needed to be done on it to conceivably finish the series, and it's time to move onto greener pastures.  I don't actually want to do that, though.  I love the series, and I do think that it has some serious potential.  But I've been so frustrated with it, I can no longer see the potential, all I see is a pile of crap that needs be thrown out.

In order to keep myself from doing that very thing, I decided that it's time to re-prioritize my writing projects.  Instead of throwing two full manuscripts in the trash and walking away, I've decided that they should be shelved only for a little while.  This will (hopefully) give me enough of a break from the project to clear my head and allow me to see what needs to be done without wanting to bang my head on a desk.  Repeatedly.

Unfortunately, this leaves me with nothing to be working on so I can send out some queries, come May.  In order to fill that, I've decided to pull The Commons from the critique group.  This book is one that I'm actually quite excited about.  I can see it on the shelves for sale, and I want it to get it out there.  I'm hopeful that this is the right move, and I can't wait to finish editing the rest of the novel so I can start working on those queries.

That, of course, leaves me with an opening on what I'm sending into critique group.  So I've decided that for the next month or so I'm going to have a strong focus on my Jayne Pheare book.  (I can get a first draft written in about 10 days, but I have to have it completely plotted out, which takes quite a bit of work.)

As for my collaborations, those will stay the same.  I can't just sit down and work on them all day, so I will do what I can when I can, as I have been doing thus far.  I just hope that my next chapter for Wolf's Blood doesn't take me 4 months again...

Now I just need to get my critiques done so I can get on top of this planning.  The goal is to have Jayne Pheare written in full by the end of march so I can get started on some serious edits for The Commons.  Let's hope this works, because this is the Epic Year of Querying, and I need to start getting some work out to agents and publishers!

Why Do I Do This To Myself?

Ever since I started doing nano, I have discovered that I suddenly have a life.  Where I was once a hermit who stayed in my room pretty much 95% of of the time, I now find myself going out more days than staying in.  Seeing my friends, going to movies, I even am part of a poker night.  (Don't get worried, it's a $2 buy in.  Any more than that and I would probably be backing away from the table, shaking my head.).  I'm also part of a critique group, which has been awesome in helping me to see my work in a new light.

Normally the way our critique group works is that we each send in a chapter (or two) of our current novel, and two people critique it.  (There are six people in our group, but we've broken up into two groups of three, because critiquing five selections would just take far too much time.)  We get together every two weeks to deliver the critiques to each other, and (at least I find) they help us to fix that chapter, or edit the next chapter.  Hell, it even helps us to fix our work as we're writing it.  Since I've started critique group, even my first drafts are getting better.  I'm more aware of my word choice, and description (though I still have a long way to go with that last one)

This month, though, we decided to try something a little different.  I'm not entirely sure if we'll ever do it again, as this is just an experiment (and I don't know about everyone else, but there's just so much to do this week!)

Anyway, on Monday we're going to have our first ever 'writing night'.  Unlike our nano meets, where we just get together and work on our own individual manuscripts, for this writing night an assignment (or two) were sent out.  Each assignment had their own set of rules that we had to follow, including no beta readers, and they had to be done for Monday, when we're going to read them aloud to the group.  Of course critiques will come in when the rest of the group weighs in on on what we've been working on all week.

My first confession: I'm the one who created the assignments, and set the rules.

On Sunday night I was frantically looking through pictures trying to find pictures, and reading through books to find writing prompts.  Despite what you may think, I definitely didn't have an advantage on everyone else.  I didn't look for the pictures or prompts ahead of time, as it was all done the night before I had to send it out.  But I did get it out.

My second confession:  I apparently don't want to follow the rules.

Which is terrible, because I wrote the bloody rules.  Literally.  I keep wanting to get one of my coworkers to read it for me.  Then I have to remind myself that I can't.  I even managed to write my first story about 200 words over the limit, meaning I now have to go back and somehow edit 200 words out of the bloody thing.  Something that I am dreading doing, because I always hate cutting words out of my stories.  I wrote it that way for a reason, and now I have to figure out which parts aren't actually necessary.  While I'm doing it, I have to actually think about what my critique group would say.

Needless to say, I'm nervous.  At one point in my life, I actually thought that I would never be able to write a novel.  I proved myself wrong on that one.  I've now written nine novels, with another one in the brainstorming stage, and two more collaborations I'm trying to work through.  Now, though, I find it hard to put my entire thought process into a three thousand words.  I can't even write a stand alone novel, for crying out loud.  I think in series!  Not short stories.

As this was my idea, however, I can't let myself not put my all into it.  I got through the first draft of this story, and I actually think that this story was pretty good.  I may change my mind when I go back and edit, but for now, I actually like this story.  And I firmly believe that my critique group is the reason this story is so good.

Now I just need to get one more story done before Monday.  Hopefully this one wont go over the word limit!

Two Months Already?

Yesterday I went to our first nano meet since November.  Our group is awesome, as we don't like to wait an entire year to see each other, so we meet up once a month, except for December, when we're all pretty nano-ed out (and with Christmas, it makes it hard to find a time.)

Anyway, it was fantastic.  While we didn't have quite the turn out that we have during November, I got to see more than a few people who I have been missing.  And it hit me while I was there...it's been two months since I've seen everybody last.

Two months.  Really?  I don't know about you guys, but my Christmas is always busy.  December is stuffed full of shopping that no one really wants to do, travelling that leaves you tired only to see the family for maybe two days before you find yourself back to reality and trying to get back into the swing of things.  For me January was nearly as busy, with me trying to keep up on the ridiculous amounts of editing I have to do for my Dangerous Waters book, along with critique group stuff.  And then losing my grandfather last week and having to drop everything I was doing to go down and see the family again.

These last two months have been crammed full.  They were tiring, and in some cases not all that pleasant, and I should be glad to have them done.  And I am glad.  I was glad that I could see the people that I am quickly coming to see as my family.  I was glad to be back in the atmosphere of a group of writers just wanting to get that book done.  While there wasn't the competitive nature that there is during November, just being there and seeing those people helped to remind me that just because nano is over and everything is changing, doesn't have to mean that it's all bad.

Despite how busy I've been, though, when I was sitting in that restaurant yesterday, looking around at the room full of writers that have the ability (and have managed to do so in the past) to scare waitresses and make them worry about us, I couldn't help but think 'wait, it's been two months already'?

Two months since I wrote three novels (and I'm not even done editing the one I started before nano)?  Two months since I've seen everyone.  Two months where I've barely written anything!

It's sad, really, that all I've written since nano ended is a single chapter that I owed a friend for a collaboration I'm doing.  I try to remind myself that I've been editing, but that's not really true, either.  I've been procrastinating.  I've been blogging (Which I love and wont stop doing.  In fact, you can start looking forward to two posts a week instead of one, at least for next month).  I've been critiquing.  But I haven't been doing what I should be doing, at least not with the seriousness that I should have.

So as of right now, I'm going to set this goal for myself:  I am going to finish Dangerous Waters by the end of April. (Beta readers allowing, of course.)  I'm going to have a new book (thus far untitled) written before the end of July (To the first draft.)  And I am going to update my blog twice a week.

To be honest, I don't know if I can do all of it, but I'm certainly going to try.  Because if I don't take myself seriously and force myself to do the work, can I really expect other people to take me seriously?

Wish me luck!

Shiny New Ideas

First things first.  I must give props and respect to both L. S. Taylor and J. Larkin for getting some queries out and officially starting out Epic Year of Querying.  Much as I hate the fact that I'm losing (I may be just a little competitive...) I love that we have some numbers up there!  Can't wait to see how well we do with these queries this year.  (Especially once the rest of use get our acts together and get them out there.)

Moving on.  This week I have managed to not get any editing done.  You may recall in my last post I talked about how I had to rewrite about 13 chapters in the last half of my novel.  I wasn't exactly looking forward to all of the extra work, of course, but I also wasn't planning on never getting around to it.

In the last week I have caught up on three or four shows I've been putting off since November.  I've started reading a book that I just got in and is the sequel to a book I really liked. I've cleaned my room and organized all of my writing stuff.  I've set up the new printer my boyfriend bought me.  I even just barely managed to get the two critiques I need for tomorrow done.  (The feedback I give to the other three that I don't need to critique are barely started, however)

After that, why don't we all take a wild shot in the dark about how much editing I've gotten done.

None.  Zilch.  Nada.  Zero.  I haven't even brought my manuscript with me in an effort to make it look like I might be getting some editing done.  Oh no.  Instead it's sitting on my desk awaiting the arrival of my motivation (which I'm seriously starting to think is on an extended vacation.)  Two months after nano, and I still can't get my motivation together enough to carve my novel into something that people actually want to read.  The fact that the first half of it is out with beta readers doesn't even begin to touch the motivation I need to gather up in order to get those chapters done.

So why is it that I don't have this motivation?  Well, I think I've got a pretty good idea.

Back in November, I ordered a journal from nano.  I love it.  It features a sturdy cover, plenty of lined paper, an elastic to keep it closed and a place to store a pen.  The outside reads 'There's a book in you that only you can write.' A quote by the one and only Chris Baty.  I took one look at this journal, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  This book was going to be the place where I wrote down all of those shiny new ideas that I can't get to while I'm working on other things.  They don't have to be good ideas, just anything that's occurred to me.  Then, when I have time to write another novel, I can just flip through it and see which ideas stand out.

This has been working pretty well, but there's one tiny problem.  One of the ideas that I recorded in this book is not letting me shut it away.  The main character is more vocal than the characters from a series that I've written two books in!  She doesn't go away.  She just keeps talking and talking.  Telling me details about her life, which I don't want to know yet.

It's distracting.  All I want to do is sit down and write it all out.  I want to work out what's going on with her, and who the antagonist is.  I want to know more about her love interest (who isn't yet named.)  I want to see where the book goes, and what kind of plans I can come up with for future books.  I want to write her story.

Unfortunately, I also know that I have to finish this editing, because I need to start querying this year.  No ifs, ands or buts about it.  This is the year that I am going to get my stuff out there.  Whether it's liked or not, people are going to see it.

So the guilt doesn't let me work on the new project, but with my mind so distracted by it, I can't work on the old project.  The combination of the two are leaving me with no motivation to do anything but catch up on shows that I have been wanting to catch up on for months.

Next week, though, I can't let myself fall back into this pattern.  I want this book out by the end of april.  That means I need to get it to my beta readers by the beginning of February at the latest.  Sorry Jayne, but I can't listen to you right now, much as I might want to.  I have to get back to what I was doing.

I'm going to throw all of my shiny new ideas back into my book and leave them there.  Ignore those voices and hope they're willing to talk again when I'm done.  Much as I love telling new stories, I don't want to do it at the cost of my old stories.  I can't give up because there's too much work involved.  I need to keep going no matter what, and I'm going to do that starting tomorrow!