So, I'm beginning to think that progress with writing is two steps forward, one step back. I had a wonderful talk (skype) with a crit partner yesterday, and he had fabulous things to say about my work in progress. So fabulous, in fact that I have tons more work to do. Because the revision sparked new directions, and switching more things around. Sigh. I'm very happy to take this work to the next level, and bummed out about the amount of work which still has to come. Two steps forward, one step back.
A word about this--I only consider changes in my manuscript that ring true for me. And I know that what my partner said is right. And I'm glad he's saying it. Even if it means a ton more work, when I was hoping to be almost finished. The road is long, especially during the revision shuffle. It's good when someone is as excited about your work as you are--and willing to say "I know that you thought that you were almost done, but this part is so strong, that it would be great to move it up, and craft the next couple of chapters around it." He says what I would say to myself if I had perspective. I love working with him, and I hope that everyone has multiple partners like him. Writing partners, that is :)! I'm excited to see what other feedback I get about this past revision.
You just can't hurry writing.
And, when I'm overwhelmed, I'm glad I have writing friends to put it into perspective. And to tell me to just revise one word at a time. In that light, I wanted to let everyone know that Tina is hosting another unplugging in The Practice Room at 12:00 PM EST tomorrow, Thursday. The first one was very successful, and I'm excited that she's hosting another so soon. Here's what you do: show up a few minutes early, and tell Tina what you're planning on accomplishing in the hour. Then when the clock strikes 12, shut down the internet, put the dog out, set the kids up with a craft, and write for an hour (or some writing type activity--revise, organize, daydream...). At 1 PM, return to the room, and talk about how your hour went.
It's a great way to jump into writing, and get something accomplished. And it's great to have other writers there to talk with, and bounce ideas off of when you get stuck. I'm excited about the practice room. If you can't make the unplugging, but would like to, just let Tina know, she would love to hear about times that would work for you.
And, if you are ready for an edit of a ms--here's a chance to win one from a former Harcourt editor. It's a new blog called Dear Editor, where you can ask all those burning questions--pretty cool.
Okay, now I am sheepishly apologizing for doing absolutely nothing with some awards that I got a while back. See, I love it when people tell me that they appreciate me by giving an award to me or my blog. But, I don't always have the time or peace of mind to do that award justice by passing it along. And the most meaningful thing to me are the people behind the award. So, I decided to put all the awards in a page, where I can tell you how I appreciate the people behind the awards that they gave. So, please check out The Treasure Trove page, and thank you all, for gifts that you give me on a daily basis--all your thoughtful comments, and camaraderie.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday Meeting
Hello all! Welcome to another Monday Meeting!
Last week, I didn't even come close to revising all that I wanted to. And instead of packing on the pressure to get it done this week, I'm just going with the flow (thanks, R, for the inspiration!). And continue forward momentum. Not that I'm in the writing mind frame--spring weather has hit here, and the outside is calling. But I have my secret weapon--unplugging. And, Tina was awesome enough to create a room in which to do it! That's what I love about Tina. She found this great tool which helped her (and me!) make forward progress in writing, and she wants to share it with everyone.
Here's how it works:
This morning, at 11:45ish EST, click over to Tina's Practice Room, and say hello. In the comments of her post, tell us what writing or writing-type behavior you are going to indulge in for one hour. It can be anything at all. The only thing that we ask is that you commit to an hour without the internet, or other distractions. Grab your coffee or tea, a snack, open up your word document, set up the online stopwatch that Tina provides for us there on the practice room, and get ready to write. At 12:00, close down internet applications, and write. For one hour. That's it. And then at 1PM EST come back and tell us about how the hour went in the comments of the practice room. You don't have to share details of your writing--but you can if you want. Generally I talk about forward progress, what chapter I'm on, whether I was reluctant to write, and how the writing went during the hour.
Unplugging in small chunks works for me. I can always make progress in an hour. And I'm always surprised when I start the hour, reluctant to write, and then get into the writing groove, just because I have committed to one hour of writing. Because I am accountable to someone, other than myself. And, it's a great excuse to have a real time conversation with other writers. Consider yourself invited. I hope you will join us today!
That's how I'm planning on reaching my writing goals this week--one hour at a time. My goals? To make forward progress on the revision. To balance out playing outside with writing inside. To add some songs to my novel's soundtrack, and to energize myself enough to finish this revision this month.
Other great stuff: Anna is doing a book giveaway on her wonderful blog--check it out! And the Friday interview this week features Margaret--a wonderful writer focusing on Middle Grade. I'd love it if you stopped by here Friday, and asked her some fantastic questions.
What goals are you setting for the week? How do you balance out the draw of nice weather with the desire to write? Do you ever write outside? And, if you want to chat more, you know where I'll be at 11:45 AM EST. Stop by. It should be a productive hour!
Last week, I didn't even come close to revising all that I wanted to. And instead of packing on the pressure to get it done this week, I'm just going with the flow (thanks, R, for the inspiration!). And continue forward momentum. Not that I'm in the writing mind frame--spring weather has hit here, and the outside is calling. But I have my secret weapon--unplugging. And, Tina was awesome enough to create a room in which to do it! That's what I love about Tina. She found this great tool which helped her (and me!) make forward progress in writing, and she wants to share it with everyone.
Here's how it works:
This morning, at 11:45ish EST, click over to Tina's Practice Room, and say hello. In the comments of her post, tell us what writing or writing-type behavior you are going to indulge in for one hour. It can be anything at all. The only thing that we ask is that you commit to an hour without the internet, or other distractions. Grab your coffee or tea, a snack, open up your word document, set up the online stopwatch that Tina provides for us there on the practice room, and get ready to write. At 12:00, close down internet applications, and write. For one hour. That's it. And then at 1PM EST come back and tell us about how the hour went in the comments of the practice room. You don't have to share details of your writing--but you can if you want. Generally I talk about forward progress, what chapter I'm on, whether I was reluctant to write, and how the writing went during the hour.
Unplugging in small chunks works for me. I can always make progress in an hour. And I'm always surprised when I start the hour, reluctant to write, and then get into the writing groove, just because I have committed to one hour of writing. Because I am accountable to someone, other than myself. And, it's a great excuse to have a real time conversation with other writers. Consider yourself invited. I hope you will join us today!
That's how I'm planning on reaching my writing goals this week--one hour at a time. My goals? To make forward progress on the revision. To balance out playing outside with writing inside. To add some songs to my novel's soundtrack, and to energize myself enough to finish this revision this month.
Other great stuff: Anna is doing a book giveaway on her wonderful blog--check it out! And the Friday interview this week features Margaret--a wonderful writer focusing on Middle Grade. I'd love it if you stopped by here Friday, and asked her some fantastic questions.
What goals are you setting for the week? How do you balance out the draw of nice weather with the desire to write? Do you ever write outside? And, if you want to chat more, you know where I'll be at 11:45 AM EST. Stop by. It should be a productive hour!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Friday Feature: Journeys Toward Publication and Beyond: Laurel
Welcome everyone, to another Friday Feature. Today I am very excited to pull Laurel into the fray. Laurel's blog was one of the first blogs that I started reading, back when I felt like a stalker as I read the thoughts of strangers on their blogs. Even with my own uncomfortable stalkerly feelings (which I have clearly gotten over!), I was compelled to follow Laurel, because of her amazing combination of humor and truth. And, her blog has substance--she only posts when she has something to say. So refreshing! So, on the way out, please check out her blog, after you leave her a question here, in the comments, of course!
Welcome, Laurel! Please tell us a little about yourself.
I'm quite the Southern Belle, born and bred, but I have lived as far north as Louisville, Kentucky and as far south as Mendoza, Argentina. I currently reside in Georgia. For some reason my travels tend to be longitudonal in nature; I've always been in the same two time zones no matter where I hang my hat. I have a Bachelor of Science in Biology and English (yes, both- I'm slightly schizophrenic) and most of my "grown up" jobs have been some sort of sales, where I honed my skills at cultivating an alternative reality in order to please a potential consumer, much like a succesful writer of fiction.
Welcome, Laurel! Please tell us a little about yourself.
I'm quite the Southern Belle, born and bred, but I have lived as far north as Louisville, Kentucky and as far south as Mendoza, Argentina. I currently reside in Georgia. For some reason my travels tend to be longitudonal in nature; I've always been in the same two time zones no matter where I hang my hat. I have a Bachelor of Science in Biology and English (yes, both- I'm slightly schizophrenic) and most of my "grown up" jobs have been some sort of sales, where I honed my skills at cultivating an alternative reality in order to please a potential consumer, much like a succesful writer of fiction.
What are you currently working on?
Like everybody and their pet monkey, my current WiP is YA Urban Fantasy. This has always been my preferred reading genre (Charles DeLint...holla!) and I am finally old enough for people to think it's possible that I am buying a book for offspring rather than my own edification. My penchant for YA and Middle Grade has been awkward from time to time. I'm pretty sure, for example, that I was the only one at the midnight release of "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows" who was bumped to the front of the line because they were lactating. My baby girl was 10 days old at the time.
Like everybody and their pet monkey, my current WiP is YA Urban Fantasy. This has always been my preferred reading genre (Charles DeLint...holla!) and I am finally old enough for people to think it's possible that I am buying a book for offspring rather than my own edification. My penchant for YA and Middle Grade has been awkward from time to time. I'm pretty sure, for example, that I was the only one at the midnight release of "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows" who was bumped to the front of the line because they were lactating. My baby girl was 10 days old at the time.
I too, have waited in that line, you know, for the experience. Tell us, what made you start to write seriously?
I always dabbled and never had an idea that I thought was fresh or good enough to flesh out into a whole story. In outside sales, though, you spend a LOT of time in your car. A whole story, start to finish, jumped into my head from one scene I had worked out a few months earlier. I started composing in my fevered brain, began writing that night, and completed my first (very badly written) novel in six weeks. I fell in love. All of a sudden, I discovered a socially acceptable avenue for my tendency toward multiple personalities. Just make them characters!
I always dabbled and never had an idea that I thought was fresh or good enough to flesh out into a whole story. In outside sales, though, you spend a LOT of time in your car. A whole story, start to finish, jumped into my head from one scene I had worked out a few months earlier. I started composing in my fevered brain, began writing that night, and completed my first (very badly written) novel in six weeks. I fell in love. All of a sudden, I discovered a socially acceptable avenue for my tendency toward multiple personalities. Just make them characters!
What stage are you at, currently, in your journey toward publication? And--how is that going for you? Has anything surprised you about this stage?
Revising. Revising. Revising. The most surprising thing about revisions is realizing how crappy what I've already written is. Whole paragraphs of passive voice, characters that ruminate for a page or better. Telling not showing. Right now, my WiP is splintered into multiple files on my computer that need to be reassembled into a cohesive work. All I can say is, thank goodness for the internet. And thank goodness that I decided to pay attention to all those blogging authors and agents who said, "Whatever you do, DO NOT query your first draft of your first novel. It's not as good as you think it is. I promise." Turned out they were right.
If you had to pick one favorite blog, what would it be?
I'm very partial to The Rejectionist. I also love The Intern. And Kristin Nelson's PubRants is extremely informative as well as a great place to troll for a good read. She reps a lot of authors I enjoy and discovered on her blog.
Laurel--I agree--you have to be quite crazy to not love the rejectionist. Now, back to you--what is a favorite blog post that you have written?
Probably my anniversary entry: There is one called A Day Off that I like, as well, and another called Midlife Crisis that I wrote after my best friend from high school informed me that her perfidious sack of crap husband had shoved off for greener pastures.
What online resource have you found most helpful?
There are soooo many good ones. Right now I'm working on craft more than anything so resources focused on writing are the most useful at this stage. The Clarity of Night is a great blog with an emphasis on flash fiction. Since I started following and participating in the semi-annual contest over there I find that my prose has tightened up. Flash fiction does not leave any room for superfluous words, not even unnecessary dialogue tags. It forces you to find the best subject and verb instead of falling back on modifiers.
The Query Shark also does a great job breaking down words and demonstrating the difference between what the writer wants to communicate and what the reader takes away. Although it is about queries, the critique often applies to larger work. Too much backstory, boring passive voice, telling not showing, all of these will kill a manuscript as well as a query and you don't always know that you're committing these sins while you write.
What has been your biggest trial in writing?
Overwriting. Finding my beloved little darlings that slow the story without adding anything important and killing those suckers dead. Good pacing defines successful commercial work and I am NOT the master of my domain in this arena.
What tricks have you acquired to make you write or create when you don’t feel up to writing?
Reading. If I am stuck, I find that my brain just will not work out the problem at hand while I confront it head on. If I'm spinning my wheels I step away for a while, get lost in someone else's world, and within a few days I'll wake up at 2 am with a moment of clarity that seems so obvious I can't believe I overlooked it. Overcoming the notion that words I've already written are historical fact and not subject to change trips me up constantly so stepping away from the story gives me the distance I need to get a grip and realize that these are not real events. I can change the order of them. I can eliminate them. I can make them better.
Reading. If I am stuck, I find that my brain just will not work out the problem at hand while I confront it head on. If I'm spinning my wheels I step away for a while, get lost in someone else's world, and within a few days I'll wake up at 2 am with a moment of clarity that seems so obvious I can't believe I overlooked it. Overcoming the notion that words I've already written are historical fact and not subject to change trips me up constantly so stepping away from the story gives me the distance I need to get a grip and realize that these are not real events. I can change the order of them. I can eliminate them. I can make them better.
Laurel, please tell us about a book that has impacted your writing life.
Please do not throw tomatoes at me, but Twilight. Hear me out before you judge. First, I don't write about vampires or werewolves since I am nowhere near creative enough to add a single new thing to the cannon. Second, I do read lit fic as well as my beloved middle grade and YA. I have really high personal standards. The biggest reason I did not write seriously sooner is that I know how good I'm not. I'm not Newberry/Pulitzer material. And guess what? That is just fine. Most of my favorite books aren't big ole prize winners anyway. My favorite books are good stories. Even with flawed writing. Great story + great writing sends me into my own little world where everything goes away but me and my newfound treasure.
So back to Twilight. Since I don't live in a cave, I'd been aware of the Twilight juggernaut for a while. I could not bring myself to read it. I picked it up at the bookstore, perused the back blurb, snickered, and put it back. When I finally took the plunge and decided to give it a chance, I liked it. Like milk duds and popcorn all mixed together. You know it's wrong, you know it probably isn't very good for you, and holy cloying corn syrup. Seriously? She faints. She's "irrevocably in love." He's permanently altered just by knowing her.
But much like the milk duds and popcorn kernels, it stuck in my teeth in that vaguely annoying way that doesn't keep you from going back for more. And I realized something. Hyperbole is successful. One of the reasons that book has done so well is that the author didn't know any better. She wasn't scared of a (any!) cliche. She wrote BIG. And the unwashed masses ate it up. I finished that book and thought, Hell. If she can get away with that crap, so can I. Except I can't bring myself to write a girl who faints at the sight of blood and trips through life until she falls into the arms of a vampire. But you get the idea.
I'm not clever enough to make the mundane interesting but I had all these ideas bouncing in my head that I had discounted as being over-the-top. Once I had the confidence to try it, I found that over-the-top works for me. As a reader and a writer. I have to bring my own sensiblities to it and apply some restraint because I just feel silly writing melodrama but people coping with exceptional circumstances can be drawn with a delicate hand and not as a caricature.
What is your practical goal with your writing? Do you have a reach-for-the-stars goal that you would like to share?
Practical goal: get published. Reach-for-the-stars goal: Be hated like Dan Brown and Stephenie Meyer. I'll wallpaper the study with reviews trashing my work so I can stay grounded while I gaze out the window enjoying the view of the island. That I own.
So far, what has been the best part of your writing experience?
The incredible indulgence of escaping to my very own world.
If you could create the perfect place for you to write in, what would it look like?
A cross between a wine cellar and a library. Cave-like but warmer, with tons of books, no desk, an amazingly comfy sofa, a mini fridge stocked with coca-cola and bottled water, laptop, printer, scanner. Preferably all blue tooth equipped so I don't break my neck on a cord.
If you could be a character in a book, and live within their world, what character would you be?
Shout out to all the David Eddings fans out there: Ce'Nedra from The Belgariad. (Okay, that's five books, but in the spirit of the question.) I'm ridiculously tall. It might be fun to try being short. She's a redhead, very ballsy, thinks she's the queen of everything and kind of is, marries a hottie with god-like power who is all about her, and unlike many of my favorite characters she is not orphaned, pillaged, raped, or otherwise angsty. Angst is fun to read but sucks to live.
Shout out to all the David Eddings fans out there: Ce'Nedra from The Belgariad. (Okay, that's five books, but in the spirit of the question.) I'm ridiculously tall. It might be fun to try being short. She's a redhead, very ballsy, thinks she's the queen of everything and kind of is, marries a hottie with god-like power who is all about her, and unlike many of my favorite characters she is not orphaned, pillaged, raped, or otherwise angsty. Angst is fun to read but sucks to live.
What other distractions are in your life?
The usual things: dear hubby, two kids, two dogs, one cat, messy house.
And, just because I’m curious, coffee or tea?
Coffee. Absolutely coffee. Caffeine is my drug of choice and I mainline it.
Laurel thanks for being here, and thanks for the fantastic interview!
Everyone, Laurel is going to check back today, and answer all of your thoughtful and interesting questions, so make her feel welcome, by posting a question or comment in the comment section. And don't forget to check out her blog. You won't be disappointed!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
A Fine Day For WIBIJ!
So, I am so excited about today's WIBIJ?! game! The theme is May Debut Authors, and we are featuring some very cool blogs. And even though the game is still in it's early stages, we have seen some wonderful connections between writers because of it. You are all invited to come and check it out, play a fast, or relaxed game, try to win an Award for First Place or Best Comment, or just come and heckle the contestants in the comment section. You know where I'll be at 1 PM EST today!! Come stop by and check it out. All are welcome!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Embracing Monday
Okay, so I wish that I were rushing into the week this way. Instead, I'm just plugging along. Maybe by the end of the day, I'll be embracing things!
And, my focus this morning isn't really on writing. It's about cleaning, and errands and home stuff, brought on by spring-like weather. But I know that I will get my writing done, since I'm meeting coworkers to unplug, and I'm skyping with a writing partner tomorrow. With that kind of accountability, I just have to move forward.
But, this is going to be a great week! Another W.I.B.I.J.?! game on Wednesday (1 PM and for 24 hours after), and a fabulous Friday Feature, yes, you guessed it--on Friday--here, with Laurel. Check out her blog, and get briefed so you can leave her an awesome question!
Another reason that I'm not jumping into writing this morning is because I'm waiting for feedback. It's hard for me to work forward, when I'm wondering how the feedback will be. However, I'll give it a try anyway. When all else fails, there's plenty of Easter candy here to keep me pumped up on sugar.
And, as for setting a goal? Hmmm. This week I want to do one pass through on the remainder of my book all the way until the end. And then save another pass through for next week. Let's see how much I get done!
I think I have to think about the revisions this week in a playful way. Like this:
It's weird that Dora seems to be in a constant state of watching. Like my coworkers. Yes, you know who you are--you guys are the Dora the Explorers of my writing life.
Okay, here's the final picture, that features the end of this chain of events, and shows how I hope to feel by the end of this writing week--pleased with myself.
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