I wrote a contemporary inspirational romance novel a few years ago, for NaNo 2005. I promptly pushed it off to the side and proceeded on my merry way playing with fantasy novels and ideas again, but the story resurfaced about a year ago when I was chatting with my friend Jean. I snippeted her a few bits and then she read the whole thing. The first draft, scary thought. And said nice things. (Not ONLY nice things, mind, but included them).
Through that the idea of revising and shaping up this story took hold, though certainly not to the exclusion of anything else, lol. I played with it a bit at the time, but soon came to realize the problems were deeper than I'd thought at first and set it aside again.
So, the other day I printed out the whole thing and began to read through, making brief notes on every scene. Along about fifty pages in, the note for one scene was simply a large X and "delete." And for the next scene, I scrawled across the page, "Seriously?" I'd found a few really good bits (the ones I'd first shared with Jean!) but way more dross. A LOT of dross.
I sat back in my chair and thought about the characters, their kids, their issues. She's too nice, I thought. She takes monumental stuff totally in stride. Superwoman! Okay, so it's official. She needs a makeover. I began mulling over *logical* makeovers that would tweak things but not necessitate ALL new scenes!
After a few minutes, I turned my attention to the hero. Also a pretty good guy. Slightly less perfect than the heroine, but nothing that really qualifies as a character flaw. A little case of temper, perhaps, would go a long way. Or maybe...
In just over three years, my writing style has changed a lot. I've learned to characterize much better (even my stupid whiny hero from Tempest has more personal issues than these folks). And I've learned to get much deeper into point-of-view. Quite a bit I've done since then has been in first person, which helps with the deeper, but the potential markets for this romance novel want third.
Even in third, this main character thinks too much! So the first thing is to bring someone directly into that opening paragraph/scene so she can TALK about stuff instead of THINK about it. The meeting with the hero later in the scene is reasonably okay as is. She shouldn't tell him all this stuff yet. But she needs a new best friend to bounce issues off of.
I've set aside the month of February to hit this novel and bring it into line. I'd like to think I could do it all in one month--after all, I wrote the entire 52K in one November!--but I'm thinking it may take a little longer. Hopefully not a lot longer, though. Maybe six weeks? Two months tops.
I'm reworking character profiles as we speak, and I still need to mine the previous manuscript for more good stuff to carry over. It's in there. The bones are decent, and worth rebuilding from.
If you're wondering why I'm not writing either Tempest or Dottie these days, the answer simply is that I'm not. Though I've been poking at Dottie recently and getting good ideas of how things need to proceed. One thing her story does not suffer from is weak characterization. The novel is populated with true individuals and they agree on very little. Lots of fun sparks. I'm stopping short of calling Tempest dead. But she's on life support, which is sad as it is some of my strongest writing thus far. One day the answers to my questions about her will erupt in my mind and she'll hit the road running again. I hope.
Showing posts with label Connect the Dot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Connect the Dot. Show all posts
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
2009 plans
Well, here it is the 17th day of the new year. You'd think I could post up some goals for it at some point, eh? Perhaps my first goal should be...
1. Blogging more. Aiming for at least once a week might be a good idea.
2. Getting my website completely redone and the blog integrated. Hopefully within the next month.
Most of the things in my life that I have *some* measure of control over are writing related. While many of the highlights of last year (and previous years) are in family areas, those aren't areas where public goals make sense. So here goes on writing ones:
3. Novel Submissions: Keep Majai's Fury in submission. (I've sent queries out twice already this year, and it's been rejected once. So I'm succeeding in this goal, thus far.)
4. Writing: Finish Dottie and Tempest. (It looks like Dottie is going to move forward and be the first for concentration. I'm taking her story through the How to Think Sideways course as we speak.) I'll consider doing NaNo this year, if these are complete and nothing else seems to be more pressing.
5. Contests: I plan to submit at least two entries into the Genesis. Of course I would like to increase my *streak* of finaling and increase my standing. *If* I final again this year, I'd like to try to get to conference in September. But that's not quite a goal.
6. Revising: I'm not sure what will hit the front burner on this one. It depends on how long the writing from Goal 4 takes. At the moment it's a toss-up between Quest to Be Queen and Chloe. I wish I revised faster is the real truth!
7. Critiquing: I'll take on up to four novels this year for crit, though I'm not sure right now which of my partners will have something ready. So this goal is a bit vague.
8. Forward Motion: Continue with moderator duties at FM, including writing and facilitating one new workshop this year. Other things may come up.
9. Book Tours: I'm committed still to touring at least a dozen new books on this blog this year. Maybe it's cheating to stick it in my goals when there will be two next week!
1. Blogging more. Aiming for at least once a week might be a good idea.
2. Getting my website completely redone and the blog integrated. Hopefully within the next month.
Most of the things in my life that I have *some* measure of control over are writing related. While many of the highlights of last year (and previous years) are in family areas, those aren't areas where public goals make sense. So here goes on writing ones:
3. Novel Submissions: Keep Majai's Fury in submission. (I've sent queries out twice already this year, and it's been rejected once. So I'm succeeding in this goal, thus far.)
4. Writing: Finish Dottie and Tempest. (It looks like Dottie is going to move forward and be the first for concentration. I'm taking her story through the How to Think Sideways course as we speak.) I'll consider doing NaNo this year, if these are complete and nothing else seems to be more pressing.
5. Contests: I plan to submit at least two entries into the Genesis. Of course I would like to increase my *streak* of finaling and increase my standing. *If* I final again this year, I'd like to try to get to conference in September. But that's not quite a goal.
6. Revising: I'm not sure what will hit the front burner on this one. It depends on how long the writing from Goal 4 takes. At the moment it's a toss-up between Quest to Be Queen and Chloe. I wish I revised faster is the real truth!
7. Critiquing: I'll take on up to four novels this year for crit, though I'm not sure right now which of my partners will have something ready. So this goal is a bit vague.
8. Forward Motion: Continue with moderator duties at FM, including writing and facilitating one new workshop this year. Other things may come up.
9. Book Tours: I'm committed still to touring at least a dozen new books on this blog this year. Maybe it's cheating to stick it in my goals when there will be two next week!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Progress?
If you've been hanging around for long you may have noticed that my main wip, Tempest, has been stalled for awhile. I've been wrestling with how to fix the problems I see and move forward. And in between I've been writing on Dottie and wandering Facebook and Twitter and forums and ignoring the whole mess. And I'd like to write professionally? Um. Not a good habit I've slid into.
So ignoring it doesn't work, and poking it with a stick doesn't work. What does? I've been taking Holly Lisle's 'How to Think Sideways' course for several months now. She's been covering these mired-in-the-middle novels for the last few weeks. I read the lesson and think, interesting what works for her. That would never work for me.
What DOES work for me?
Exactly. I don't know.
So why am I paying her for her experience and advice and then dismissing it? That makes a lot of sense. I haven't got anything to lose by following her plan--and everything to gain. So this week I've bought new printer ink, printed out the lessons I hadn't yet, and began studying the ones I'd only glossed over. I think the reason I wasn't paying close attention was that it looked like a lot of work. Still does. But at least now I'm applying them and working my way through her steps, starting with printing out the 143 pages of manuscript already written (about 48K). Meanwhile I'm reading through the sample novels she's included in the course, ones she turfed and started over on, trying to figure out where she went wrong, where she went right, trying to apply the insights to Tempest.
If all else fails, take a pro's advice. Working on it.
So ignoring it doesn't work, and poking it with a stick doesn't work. What does? I've been taking Holly Lisle's 'How to Think Sideways' course for several months now. She's been covering these mired-in-the-middle novels for the last few weeks. I read the lesson and think, interesting what works for her. That would never work for me.
What DOES work for me?
Exactly. I don't know.
So why am I paying her for her experience and advice and then dismissing it? That makes a lot of sense. I haven't got anything to lose by following her plan--and everything to gain. So this week I've bought new printer ink, printed out the lessons I hadn't yet, and began studying the ones I'd only glossed over. I think the reason I wasn't paying close attention was that it looked like a lot of work. Still does. But at least now I'm applying them and working my way through her steps, starting with printing out the 143 pages of manuscript already written (about 48K). Meanwhile I'm reading through the sample novels she's included in the course, ones she turfed and started over on, trying to figure out where she went wrong, where she went right, trying to apply the insights to Tempest.
If all else fails, take a pro's advice. Working on it.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Learning to stop when stuck
You'd think a stuck person would automatically stop. It pretty much works on vehicles, doesn't it? I guess not entirely--one can spin tires and slide sideways and make a small amount of forward motion for the price of a lot of fuel.
Same can be with writing. I've been more-or-less stuck on Tempest for the past couple of weeks. I can see the rough shape of what needs doing to it to un-stick it, but the sheer amount of work has had me stalled. It's not work itself I'm afraid of. More the fact that while I'm shuffling things, I could lose parts and have a hard time putting the parts back into some kind of a whole. Pathetically, that means I seem to prefer a flawed whole over a shredded-but-possibly-closer whole. (Whole not meaning whole as in an entire novel. More like meaning the whole of what I've written so far.)
Today's lesson from the How to Think Sideways workshop by Holly Lisle is about middles that go awry and some tips on how to deal with them. How to recognize the issues and find solutions.
I'm almost glad I've stalled out and been taking the easy way of working on another project, just ignoring Tempest for the time being. You see, I want to FIX Tempest. Holly's advice (which I've seen in her other workshops) tends more to analyzing the problem, figuring out what you should have done, making notes on it, and then CARRYING ON as though you've already fixed it.
Yup.
Keep going all the way to the end, then use your notes as the beginning of your revision guide.
But I want to fix it now. Well, in theory. Really I want to already have fixed it. But I haven't.
Meanwhile I've been having a great time with Dottie, writing from one to two thousand words a day. I need to get back to Tempest, though. It's like she's standing on the side, watching, waiting. Ready to take the baton from Dottie and carry the next lap herself.
Maybe next week.
Same can be with writing. I've been more-or-less stuck on Tempest for the past couple of weeks. I can see the rough shape of what needs doing to it to un-stick it, but the sheer amount of work has had me stalled. It's not work itself I'm afraid of. More the fact that while I'm shuffling things, I could lose parts and have a hard time putting the parts back into some kind of a whole. Pathetically, that means I seem to prefer a flawed whole over a shredded-but-possibly-closer whole. (Whole not meaning whole as in an entire novel. More like meaning the whole of what I've written so far.)
Today's lesson from the How to Think Sideways workshop by Holly Lisle is about middles that go awry and some tips on how to deal with them. How to recognize the issues and find solutions.
I'm almost glad I've stalled out and been taking the easy way of working on another project, just ignoring Tempest for the time being. You see, I want to FIX Tempest. Holly's advice (which I've seen in her other workshops) tends more to analyzing the problem, figuring out what you should have done, making notes on it, and then CARRYING ON as though you've already fixed it.
Yup.
Keep going all the way to the end, then use your notes as the beginning of your revision guide.
But I want to fix it now. Well, in theory. Really I want to already have fixed it. But I haven't.
Meanwhile I've been having a great time with Dottie, writing from one to two thousand words a day. I need to get back to Tempest, though. It's like she's standing on the side, watching, waiting. Ready to take the baton from Dottie and carry the next lap herself.
Maybe next week.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Multi-tasking
This is something I'm really good at in Real Life, and not so good at in writing. Why? I'm guessing because each story I work on requires a certain depth of thought immersion. It's not easy to dip in lightly and then off to something else, at least not if I want to make progress. And of course I do! Also there's the idea that each project takes so very long that if you mix two or more of them, it'll take twice as long to get anywhere.
The only time I've tried two first drafts was about four years ago when I did NaNo for the first time. I hadn't finished my previous novel when NaNo started, so I dropped everything for the new novel (to officially participate in NaNo, you need to begin and write a novel you haven't previously started). At the end of November I had two partially completed novels and then spent several months alternating between the two to finish both first drafts. It was difficult and I vowed never to do it again.
Even playing with world-building or revising one while writing on another is difficult for me. All of these areas require a real depth of focus that makes it hard to shift gears from one to the other. I've been trying to learn how to do this better, especially in the last couple of years where I've been spending so much more time revising and therefore feeling stifled without the *rush* of creating that a first draft brings.
I started writing Tempest in July, thinking that once I got rolling on it, I'd pull out one of my older novels to revise. I tend to write in the mornings (my best time), then, the idea was, spend the afternoon on revising. I haven't started a revision project, though. Instead I started taking the Thinking Sideways class and bounced some new ideas around for that, then resurrected an old partial first draft--Dottie.
And now I'm finding myself doing the unthinkable and actually enjoying it: having two first drafts on the go at once. It helps, I think, that they're quite opposite stories. Tempest is fantasy set in a harsh environment. Dottie is contemporary women's fiction and quite humorous at times. So when I find that Tempest depresses me, I can switch gears and work on something fluffier.
This has been working well for the past couple weeks. I'm making steadier progress on Tempest and plan to keep it the higher priority until the draft is done. At this rate, that should be sometime in December, but if it takes longer, so be it.
I guess this means that I'm not revising anything more until next year. Two projects is ample to keep me out of trouble!
The only time I've tried two first drafts was about four years ago when I did NaNo for the first time. I hadn't finished my previous novel when NaNo started, so I dropped everything for the new novel (to officially participate in NaNo, you need to begin and write a novel you haven't previously started). At the end of November I had two partially completed novels and then spent several months alternating between the two to finish both first drafts. It was difficult and I vowed never to do it again.
Even playing with world-building or revising one while writing on another is difficult for me. All of these areas require a real depth of focus that makes it hard to shift gears from one to the other. I've been trying to learn how to do this better, especially in the last couple of years where I've been spending so much more time revising and therefore feeling stifled without the *rush* of creating that a first draft brings.
I started writing Tempest in July, thinking that once I got rolling on it, I'd pull out one of my older novels to revise. I tend to write in the mornings (my best time), then, the idea was, spend the afternoon on revising. I haven't started a revision project, though. Instead I started taking the Thinking Sideways class and bounced some new ideas around for that, then resurrected an old partial first draft--Dottie.
And now I'm finding myself doing the unthinkable and actually enjoying it: having two first drafts on the go at once. It helps, I think, that they're quite opposite stories. Tempest is fantasy set in a harsh environment. Dottie is contemporary women's fiction and quite humorous at times. So when I find that Tempest depresses me, I can switch gears and work on something fluffier.
This has been working well for the past couple weeks. I'm making steadier progress on Tempest and plan to keep it the higher priority until the draft is done. At this rate, that should be sometime in December, but if it takes longer, so be it.
I guess this means that I'm not revising anything more until next year. Two projects is ample to keep me out of trouble!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
NaNoWriMo
November is almost upon us and with that comes NaNoWriMo, more commonly known as Nano and actually short for National Novel Writing Month. Never mind that it's international, not national, and that the actual goal is to write 50,000 words of a brand-new novel in the month of November. Which doesn't usually complete a novel unless it is Young Adult or an unfleshed-out draft.
Nano is great fun. Zillions of people sign up and egg each other on. Lots of people don't make it to 50K. But then again, a lot of them do. I have, three times. In 2004 I got 50K into the first draft of a fantasy spoof, Quest to be Queen, which I completed in March of '05. That's the next novel I'm planning to revise because I'm needing lots of good laughs, and Quest will provide those.
In 2005 I decided to try my hand at writing an inspirational romance, which is still unnamed though I did make it through 54K. It has a few really good scenes in it and, I suppose, some potential. If I ever decide to seriously aim for a career in writing romance I'll certainly dust this one off. However, in the meanwhile, I'm not feelin' it calling to me.
In 2006 I wrote a 57K YA fantasy dubbed The Girl Who Cried Squid. I had a great time with this novel, also, and it's on the list for revision right behind Quest.
So, 2007...and I'm not doing Nano this year. Why not? Three of my seven first drafts were written during Nano! It seems as though the process works! Well, it does and it doesn't. I was going stir crazy this summer and wrote a bunch of words on a contemporary women's novel, Connect the Dot. I totally did this just for fun and because I really really needed to be creating something. The revision of Marks of Repentance was taking waaaaay too long.
So what have I learned? I think I need to have a writing project on the go: something I can work on a little at a time and that it's okay if it takes a year to finish a draft instead of a month. Because every novel I write needs at least two more full passes, maybe more. So truly, my first drafting should be taking up (approximately) a quarter to a third of my writing time. Jamming that into one month in the fall, with overflow, isn't cutting it for me. It makes it too long between creative times. If I could write one, revise one it would probably work, but then the first drafts would start building up and it would take forever to get something ready for market.
So this is my new plan. Not sure if it will work or not, but I need to try something new. I'm one of those people that, upon proving to myself that I can accomplish something difficult--and 50,000 words in a month is not a walk in the park--doesn't feel compelled to keep proving that I can do it.
Lots of my writing pals are signed up and raring to go: Mar, Jean, Bonnie, Erin...maybe others. I'm happy to cheer them on! But I'm sitting out this one.
Nano is great fun. Zillions of people sign up and egg each other on. Lots of people don't make it to 50K. But then again, a lot of them do. I have, three times. In 2004 I got 50K into the first draft of a fantasy spoof, Quest to be Queen, which I completed in March of '05. That's the next novel I'm planning to revise because I'm needing lots of good laughs, and Quest will provide those.
In 2005 I decided to try my hand at writing an inspirational romance, which is still unnamed though I did make it through 54K. It has a few really good scenes in it and, I suppose, some potential. If I ever decide to seriously aim for a career in writing romance I'll certainly dust this one off. However, in the meanwhile, I'm not feelin' it calling to me.
In 2006 I wrote a 57K YA fantasy dubbed The Girl Who Cried Squid. I had a great time with this novel, also, and it's on the list for revision right behind Quest.
So, 2007...and I'm not doing Nano this year. Why not? Three of my seven first drafts were written during Nano! It seems as though the process works! Well, it does and it doesn't. I was going stir crazy this summer and wrote a bunch of words on a contemporary women's novel, Connect the Dot. I totally did this just for fun and because I really really needed to be creating something. The revision of Marks of Repentance was taking waaaaay too long.
So what have I learned? I think I need to have a writing project on the go: something I can work on a little at a time and that it's okay if it takes a year to finish a draft instead of a month. Because every novel I write needs at least two more full passes, maybe more. So truly, my first drafting should be taking up (approximately) a quarter to a third of my writing time. Jamming that into one month in the fall, with overflow, isn't cutting it for me. It makes it too long between creative times. If I could write one, revise one it would probably work, but then the first drafts would start building up and it would take forever to get something ready for market.
So this is my new plan. Not sure if it will work or not, but I need to try something new. I'm one of those people that, upon proving to myself that I can accomplish something difficult--and 50,000 words in a month is not a walk in the park--doesn't feel compelled to keep proving that I can do it.
Lots of my writing pals are signed up and raring to go: Mar, Jean, Bonnie, Erin...maybe others. I'm happy to cheer them on! But I'm sitting out this one.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Procrastination
So I'm pretty good at procrastinating, altogether. I'm still playing with my shoot-from-the-hip novel, Connect the Dot, on the Palm most mornings at work. Poor girl. She's in over her head. And I've made progress on Marks also.
But in the spirit of many hands making light work, I've been working hard with Maripat in fine-tuning her synopsis and query letter for a novel I critted for her last year. I know she'll do the same for me...in fact, I'm counting on it. Those things are just plain hard work. After all, if you could tell the story in 3-5 pages, what are the other 450-500 pages for? You see? It makes sense.
And I see this week I'm supposed to post about Sushi for One? by Camy Tang. My copy hasn't come yet but I've found one to read. Just got it tonight and haven't started yet. Sounds good, though. Who wouldn't like *romance with a kick of wasabi*?
But in the spirit of many hands making light work, I've been working hard with Maripat in fine-tuning her synopsis and query letter for a novel I critted for her last year. I know she'll do the same for me...in fact, I'm counting on it. Those things are just plain hard work. After all, if you could tell the story in 3-5 pages, what are the other 450-500 pages for? You see? It makes sense.
And I see this week I'm supposed to post about Sushi for One? by Camy Tang. My copy hasn't come yet but I've found one to read. Just got it tonight and haven't started yet. Sounds good, though. Who wouldn't like *romance with a kick of wasabi*?
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Back from camping
We spent four days camping along this lake in a group of nearly fifty of hubby's extended family. There was lots of fishing, swimming, canoeing and just goofing off in the water. The water temperature was about 73 degrees Fahreheit so pleasant on these hot days. The first night I was too hot to sleep so talked hubby into a quick swim at about 10:30. That helped a lot! The other nights it cooled off better; the last evening I was even glad I'd brought a sweatshirt along!
We'd taken our rubber raft along (as well as our canoe) and took it out for a spin just before sunset one evening. Apparently the light was just perfect on my face!
I had to laugh at hubby. He'd just gotten off night shifts and was a tad tired. And it's hard to find a comfortable position when you have to steer the electric motor. But he managed!
The weather was close to perfect. Plenty warm in the daytime, cool enough at night, and a beautiful sunset the last evening.I didn't get much of the writing stuff done that I'd hoped to work on--the truck battery wouldn't charge the laptop and the car was commuting to work with hubby part of the time. I did make a bunch of notes for Connect the Dot and that was about it. Perhaps it was okay to be sociable!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Round'n'round we go
I was pretty optimistic last week when I said I'd be hitting the border guard scene in Marks of Repentance on Monday. Here it is Thursday and I've finally met it. And not conquered it. Huidsor is such a smooth talker that I'm still not quite finding the line of where to make him stop with his innuendos. I think I'll take him camping this weekend and see if I can stuff a boot in his mouth. It may be that I'll need some quiet time to focus on him.
It's been busy and hot this week at work. (Did I mention hot?) Honestly it's not quite as bad as a couple of weeks ago but it so looooong since I felt cold at all that a few degrees doesn't seem to make much difference. So we're trying camping again, this time beside a lake (which should be swimable for cooling purposes, unlike the creek a couple weeks ago) and with a slew of extended family. Hubby has to work nights Friday and Saturday so he's getting me and the camper set up Friday afternoon and heading off to work. He's a bit bummed but those are the downs of his great job!
I'm stealing the laptop and hoping to make progress on at least one of my projects. Outlining the rest of Connect the Dot might be a good idea, at least the parts I now know. This seat-of-the-pants writing is for the birds. I never know what is going to come out of my characters' mouths in that half hour every morning. It's interesting to say the least.
It's been busy and hot this week at work. (Did I mention hot?) Honestly it's not quite as bad as a couple of weeks ago but it so looooong since I felt cold at all that a few degrees doesn't seem to make much difference. So we're trying camping again, this time beside a lake (which should be swimable for cooling purposes, unlike the creek a couple weeks ago) and with a slew of extended family. Hubby has to work nights Friday and Saturday so he's getting me and the camper set up Friday afternoon and heading off to work. He's a bit bummed but those are the downs of his great job!
I'm stealing the laptop and hoping to make progress on at least one of my projects. Outlining the rest of Connect the Dot might be a good idea, at least the parts I now know. This seat-of-the-pants writing is for the birds. I never know what is going to come out of my characters' mouths in that half hour every morning. It's interesting to say the least.
Friday, July 27, 2007
I've Gone Dottie!
So I thought I would tell you a bit about the adventures of Dottie. Her girls hate that; they think she should go by her full name, Dorothea. Dottie is a widow of several years. She was in an unhappy marriage and hasn't made a lot of changes since being on her own. She has low self-esteem and doesn't really know what, if anything, she wants to do. Her daughters--Carrie (24), Natalie (22), and Jenna (17) are about to take her in hand and make her over, but they have differing reasons for their plans. And different ways to go about it. And different--just about everything.
I've been writing Connect the Dot most workday mornings into my Palm Tungsten E2 before I flip on my computer and get sidetracked with the many things that actually NEED doing. I sync the file to my home computer every few days; the story is now at almost 9K. Today, being as I have Friday afternoons off, I had a Devoted-to-Dottie Day. Or half day as the case may be.
I started off with some college program research for Dottie and Jenna. You see, I've started writing with very few preconceived notions, which is NOT how I normally write. Then I went through the story file and made notes of everything that I ought to remember--friends' names, hair colors, mentions of certain businesses and streets, etc. It's a royal pain to scroll through 9K on the Palm to find the lawyer's name. Again. Though now that he's asked Dottie out I imagine I'll remember him--but I digress.
I'd come across some old Sears catalogues that should have hit the recycling depot awhile back and decided to look for Dottie and her daughters amongst the models, being as I'm doing a contemporary for once. I did pretty well, all things considered. Like that Jenna's look is rather *out there* and I doubt she buys her clothes at Sears! Also the model I chose for her doesn't have any piercings at all, other than the quite proper earlobes. Jenna has more. A lot more. I don't actually want to know where all she is pierced, and neither does Dottie.
So while I was on a roll, I also drew a house plan for Dottie's decrepit little house, and a basic map of the town. Wow. I feel all organized or something. Not that I know what will happen next in the story. That's going to be a little surprise for Monday morning.
Will this novel ever be salable? I doubt it. I'm writing it for fun, because I need something creative to do while my life seems swallowed up in revisions.
I've been writing Connect the Dot most workday mornings into my Palm Tungsten E2 before I flip on my computer and get sidetracked with the many things that actually NEED doing. I sync the file to my home computer every few days; the story is now at almost 9K. Today, being as I have Friday afternoons off, I had a Devoted-to-Dottie Day. Or half day as the case may be.
I started off with some college program research for Dottie and Jenna. You see, I've started writing with very few preconceived notions, which is NOT how I normally write. Then I went through the story file and made notes of everything that I ought to remember--friends' names, hair colors, mentions of certain businesses and streets, etc. It's a royal pain to scroll through 9K on the Palm to find the lawyer's name. Again. Though now that he's asked Dottie out I imagine I'll remember him--but I digress.
I'd come across some old Sears catalogues that should have hit the recycling depot awhile back and decided to look for Dottie and her daughters amongst the models, being as I'm doing a contemporary for once. I did pretty well, all things considered. Like that Jenna's look is rather *out there* and I doubt she buys her clothes at Sears! Also the model I chose for her doesn't have any piercings at all, other than the quite proper earlobes. Jenna has more. A lot more. I don't actually want to know where all she is pierced, and neither does Dottie.
So while I was on a roll, I also drew a house plan for Dottie's decrepit little house, and a basic map of the town. Wow. I feel all organized or something. Not that I know what will happen next in the story. That's going to be a little surprise for Monday morning.
Will this novel ever be salable? I doubt it. I'm writing it for fun, because I need something creative to do while my life seems swallowed up in revisions.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Maybe you already knew this...
Something about me that you probably figured out if you've hung out here long: when the writing is going well I post about it a lot. When it isn't--I just don't post. Unless there's a special tour going on or something!
So, just to 'fess up. Life seems to be complicated. (No *duh* eh?) When I started working at the flooring shop six years ago, I'd have entire days with no interruptions but a phone call or two, or a brief visit from a client. The economy in BC is totally booming right now, and in our little town alone we've had more housing starts this year alone than we probably had in all of the 1980s AND 90s. Even though my shop is owned and operated by two guys, two guys can still only do what two guys can do, no matter how many houses are being built. And the two guys used to be younger, too, if you know what I mean.
That doesn't stop people from coming into the shop, though. My role is to figure out if their job fits into our timeline (currently booking October-December), and if they are people we actually want to work for. My guys have a very good rep and lots of folks are willing to wait for us, but we have to make choices because we simply can't take on every job. Folks say, "Well, they should hire help." I'm here to tell you that anyone who knows anything about laying floors (or anything else in the construction business) in all of Western Canada is already working, and they don't have time to take on an apprentice.
So there are now lots of days where I sit down at my desk and am back up again in five or ten or thirty minutes. There are writing tasks I can do with that many interruptions, but revising doesn't seem to be one of them. I don't want to do a slap-dash job of this revision; I want to think through each scene and fix it correctly, keeping in mind what came before and what comes after. All this is hard to hold in place with dozens of interruptions a day, many of them lengthy as folks consider samples.
Most working people who write don't write at work. They write after hours. I've been staring at my *after hours* trying to figure out how to wrap my brain around them. For starters, I am way fresher in the morning than evening, but I'm already trying to establish a solid habit of exercising before work every day, so I'm already getting up an hour earlier than I used to. Depriving myself of yet another hour of sleep does not sound appealing. (To say nothing of the fact that my bedroom doesn't really cool off enough to sleep comfortably until 4 am.) I truly cannot think late in the day. It's like wading through muck. And with the house and the garden and the farm...
So the job of revising Marks of Repentance that I started in January (horrors) is still only one third done. I really want it done by the time the contest winners are announced in September *just in case*. Either way, though, I want it ready to send out. It's time I kicked something out the door. Obviously I need a new plan for completing the work. I just don't know what the plan is!
I've started critiquing a novel for Maripat that I also want to have done by the end of summer, because then I've promised a crit to Fiorinda. I mean, if SHE can revise with four small kids including twins under a year old, what is holding ME back? :P
And meanwhile, my brain is atrophying from lack of creative work. Finally I just decided to start writing what is likely the least marketable of my ideas--flying completely without a net--into my Palm Tungsten E2 in the first half hour of my work day, just whatever gets done. I'm writing Connect the Dot in first person present tense just for the hang of it, to remind myself it's just for fun. I've only done that for the last two days and it's feeling good.
So, just to 'fess up. Life seems to be complicated. (No *duh* eh?) When I started working at the flooring shop six years ago, I'd have entire days with no interruptions but a phone call or two, or a brief visit from a client. The economy in BC is totally booming right now, and in our little town alone we've had more housing starts this year alone than we probably had in all of the 1980s AND 90s. Even though my shop is owned and operated by two guys, two guys can still only do what two guys can do, no matter how many houses are being built. And the two guys used to be younger, too, if you know what I mean.
That doesn't stop people from coming into the shop, though. My role is to figure out if their job fits into our timeline (currently booking October-December), and if they are people we actually want to work for. My guys have a very good rep and lots of folks are willing to wait for us, but we have to make choices because we simply can't take on every job. Folks say, "Well, they should hire help." I'm here to tell you that anyone who knows anything about laying floors (or anything else in the construction business) in all of Western Canada is already working, and they don't have time to take on an apprentice.
So there are now lots of days where I sit down at my desk and am back up again in five or ten or thirty minutes. There are writing tasks I can do with that many interruptions, but revising doesn't seem to be one of them. I don't want to do a slap-dash job of this revision; I want to think through each scene and fix it correctly, keeping in mind what came before and what comes after. All this is hard to hold in place with dozens of interruptions a day, many of them lengthy as folks consider samples.
Most working people who write don't write at work. They write after hours. I've been staring at my *after hours* trying to figure out how to wrap my brain around them. For starters, I am way fresher in the morning than evening, but I'm already trying to establish a solid habit of exercising before work every day, so I'm already getting up an hour earlier than I used to. Depriving myself of yet another hour of sleep does not sound appealing. (To say nothing of the fact that my bedroom doesn't really cool off enough to sleep comfortably until 4 am.) I truly cannot think late in the day. It's like wading through muck. And with the house and the garden and the farm...
So the job of revising Marks of Repentance that I started in January (horrors) is still only one third done. I really want it done by the time the contest winners are announced in September *just in case*. Either way, though, I want it ready to send out. It's time I kicked something out the door. Obviously I need a new plan for completing the work. I just don't know what the plan is!
I've started critiquing a novel for Maripat that I also want to have done by the end of summer, because then I've promised a crit to Fiorinda. I mean, if SHE can revise with four small kids including twins under a year old, what is holding ME back? :P
And meanwhile, my brain is atrophying from lack of creative work. Finally I just decided to start writing what is likely the least marketable of my ideas--flying completely without a net--into my Palm Tungsten E2 in the first half hour of my work day, just whatever gets done. I'm writing Connect the Dot in first person present tense just for the hang of it, to remind myself it's just for fun. I've only done that for the last two days and it's feeling good.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Revised Word Count Goes Up
Marks of Repentance now sits at 8986 words revised, and the first 5K is off to critiquers. Again. The good thing about THAT is it renders more polishing of those first two chapters pointless for now. The only direction left is forward. At least, that's the only direction worth considering. :P
A few weeks ago when I received back my last round of crits, I came to the conclusion that I needed to eliminate Shanh's point of view from the first few chapters. I had a short scene from his pov in each chapter alongside longer ones from Taifa's. Now everything is from her eyes until they actually physically meet. She's seen him already, decided what kind of person he must be, and just realized she has no decision but to join her fate with his. Tomorrow will be the first scene from Shanh and I think it will be fun to revise. Because in the original the reader has already met him, I have a few areas to flesh out in this new first scene, but I do believe he is coming out with a more rounded personality this way. Strange but true.
In other news, I pulled out an idea for a hen-lit last night that I've played with on and off for the past couple months. I found that the Palm and its keyboard fit nicely on a hardcover and that the typing height and angle works well in my recliner! So I spent awhile *interviewing* my new main character Dorothea, commonly known as Dottie. The working title will be Connect the Dot. Not sure when I'll start writing. I'm not actually in any hurry, as most of my brain cells are occupied with Marks for now, and I don't want to rush that. I just need something new to turn over and now I've found her.
Poor Dottie. She doesn't know what she's in for.
A few weeks ago when I received back my last round of crits, I came to the conclusion that I needed to eliminate Shanh's point of view from the first few chapters. I had a short scene from his pov in each chapter alongside longer ones from Taifa's. Now everything is from her eyes until they actually physically meet. She's seen him already, decided what kind of person he must be, and just realized she has no decision but to join her fate with his. Tomorrow will be the first scene from Shanh and I think it will be fun to revise. Because in the original the reader has already met him, I have a few areas to flesh out in this new first scene, but I do believe he is coming out with a more rounded personality this way. Strange but true.
In other news, I pulled out an idea for a hen-lit last night that I've played with on and off for the past couple months. I found that the Palm and its keyboard fit nicely on a hardcover and that the typing height and angle works well in my recliner! So I spent awhile *interviewing* my new main character Dorothea, commonly known as Dottie. The working title will be Connect the Dot. Not sure when I'll start writing. I'm not actually in any hurry, as most of my brain cells are occupied with Marks for now, and I don't want to rush that. I just need something new to turn over and now I've found her.
Poor Dottie. She doesn't know what she's in for.
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