Harry Potter

Because isn't everyone talking about it, these days?

Technically, I'm not breaking my vow to only talk about writing on my blog, because Harry Potter is quite possibly the biggest publishing phenomenon of our time. Writers need to talk about Harry Potter. It should be a rule.

That said, I am, as a long-time Harry fan and unpublished writer, disgusted by the New York Times' decision to break the embargo and publish an early review of Deathly Hallows. Publishing this review is disrespectful, not just to Rowling and to the publishers of Hallows, but to the worldwide fans who have waited so many years to enjoy the final chapters of this series.

I have a choice. I choose not to read the review. Unfortunately, over the course of the next two days, I will also have to avoid the news, as all news stations will pick up and distribute major spoilers and gleefully sneak them in as tickers between the latest news in Iraq and today's Paris Hilton report. The internet, too, is tricky; I can no longer trust that the major (and minor) news outlets won't flash information that I don't want to see. That I will avoid all newsgroups and Harry Potter fan sites is just a given.

Okay. I can probably avoid all media. After all, it's only two days, and I've got writing to do.

But I can't avoid people. And it's ultimately the people for whom The New York Times won't take responsibility. The Times will argue that people have a choice about whether or not they read the review. But they can't prevent those people who do choose to read from very innocently (or perhaps intentionally) discussing the last Harry Potter book at the grocery store line, in the coffee shops, or even while waiting to pick up their children from school. And those are the people who worry me the most. They know I'm a fan; they might not think twice about scooping me. They would view it as a favor or a conversation starter. Even my husband takes a cruel delight in taunting me with details that I don't want to know.

The people in charge of disseminating information have a great deal of power, and an even greater responsibility to the public they serve. But The Times didn't consider their readers, or the value of publishing an early review; they simply wished to "be the first" to review the last Harry Potter book. I won't even comment at length on the underhanded measures The Times took to obtain a bootleg copy of the book in the first place. When respected news outlets resort to cheating in order to beat other media to the punch, I question the ethics and honesty of the information they present.

Sure, today the Times may sell a lot of newspapers. I bet they won't tomorrow.

Done

There. First three chapters, all polished. I am very happy with them. I've managed to cut about 2,000 words as well, which is lovely. On the last read-through this morning, I didn't even miss them.

YA chapter has some glitches, according to writing group. It's awfully tricky when a handful of unnamed boys beat up another boy-- lots of pronoun issues. But I will tackle that later. Overall, the beating up was well-received, and the story moved along nicely.

For the two hours that remain before it's time to get the kids from school, I'm going to plug on through my polishing of the rest of Book One, which doesn't have as much to change from Chapter Four on.

At some point, writing became less of a hobby and more of a priority for me. I love that.

Even if it does feel a little too much like work.

Starting to Feel Like Work....

I have been a good little writer bunny the past few days. I worked for hours on Thursday and Friday, and I've almost got the first three chapters all polished and shiny. As they seem to be the worst of the first ten, I'm feeling much better about Book One as a whole. I also solved a plot issue that's been nagging me. Reading the book again is going well overall; as it goes on it gets better, and I absolutely love my ending. If only I could send the last 300 pages to the agents....

Today, I got up early to shift gears and work on the YA, which was really difficult at first, but I think I've got a good chapter going after all. I did start this a couple of weeks ago, but I had the characters taking baths, which didn't really work in terms of story or plausability (how does a girl posing as a street boy go into the public baths unnoticed? Answer: she doesn't). I have a fondness for baths in general, but every time I write them, they get cut (see Book One). I imagine this is why Aragorn only cleans up twice during the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. I bet Tolkien wrote lots of dips in the Anduin and such, but they just didn't make the final cut. Too many words.

Instead, I beat up my characters. That worked much better.

Today's progress: a nice 1986 words. That's 25.5% done. And I'm not even late for Writing Group!

16,570 / 65,000 (25.5%)

Getting All the Suck Out

So. It's been almost a year since I deemed Book One completed forevermore, amen. Then, I revised Chapter One.

But the rest was great, right?

Wrong.

I revised up through the end of Chapter Five in my hard copy yesterday, and discovered that distance is a very good thing. Now I can see all of the unpolished bits, the improbable plotting, the occasional laugh-out-loud bad dialogue that I missed during the course of Summer Hackandslash 2006.

I realize that I'm being a wee bit hard on myself. Overall, I can see the good parts, too. Of course, they just make all the bad bits look a whole lot worse.

Lesson for the day? It is a very good thing to go back and look again. That's why it's called re-vision, folks.

And hey, I'm cutting more words! Woohoo!

Hey, Look! I'm a Writer!

What an amazing week! On June 29th I left for Writer's Weekend in Seattle, a wonderful conference that provides an opportunity for writers to network and learn about the craft of writing and the business of publishing. My Master's Class with agent Nephele Tempest and four other talented writers was incredible. The writing and feedback were excellent! I came away not only with some great ideas to improve the first five pages of my draft, but also feeling lucky to have had the opportunity to read the first pages of some amazing stories. Ray Rhamey's flash editing workshop was also excellent. I now understand the importance of those first two pages, and will definitely take another look at my own to see if they compel the reader to read on.

Because this year's conference was smaller, I was able to spend some quality time outside of the workshops meeting and talking with Nephele Tempest and Mary Louise Schwartz, who are incredibly hard-working agents and wonderful people. I was also happy to spend more time chatting with Karen Junker and her husband, who are the unsung heroes who put together Writer's Weekend every year despite the stress and financial hardships running such a conference presents. And I loved chatting with all of the other writers in the halls and over breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, an opportunity to connect that doesn't really happen at big conferences.

After an extra day in Seattle, possibly one of the most beautiful cities in the nation, I came home to the news that I've been accepted to this year's Viable Paradise workshop! I could not believe, after all the drama getting my application there, that they would accept me! I am so excited! I am also out of excuses. After this past week's successes, I may have to admit that I can actually write, and that I should spend more time writing to increase my chances of getting published. This is going to seriously interfere with my self-sabotage and procrastination plans.

So now I've got plenty of work to do: I've got chapters to send off to one agent and the entire manuscript to another, so I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks taking another quick pass through the novel. I know all of the major edits have been made, but there are always a few little tweaks I could make here and there. Even if it were published and on the shelf, knowing me, I'd find something to tweak. It's my OCD. I have dirty floors, but I will never be satisfied with my own writing.

I've also got to figure out how to get from California to Martha's Vineyard without arriving completely fall-down exhausted.

But these are all very good problems to have.