Thin and Stretched

Life has been very crazy here. Hence, the long, dry spell continues.

Still, I managed to work on a short story for Writing Group. I think it will be a great story if I ever finish it, but if I only write 2 1/2 pages a year (current rate of progress), I probably will not finish for two more years.

The good news is that I'm up to five pages, and they are five pages that I really like. My peeps seem to like it, too, which is wonderful motivation. I have strong ideas, characters that interest me, and an excellent general idea of what happens. Now if only I could download the theme and how the story ends from the literary mothership, I would be in good shape.

Meanwhile, after the initial flurry of rejections, the query responses seem to have settled. This means some are still "out there." This is good. I am also still waiting to hear from one of the agents from Writer's Weekend, to whom I would really love to send my full manuscript. I can't decide if this wait is good or not, but I must wait nonetheless. And my short story is still out there as well.

And that's all. Teaching resumes Tuesday with a whole new crop of freshmen. It means I will have a lot less time to write, but that doesn't seem to matter. I think I work better when my schedule is chock full and I'm sleep-deprived.

Shouting into the Void

For whatever reason, today ended up becoming my annual Query Day. With only a few breaks and a lunch, I researched and narrowed a list of 89 literary agents who accept e-mail queries, and queried the 15 who accept fantasy.

I discovered that e-mail queries are much more time-consuming. Chugging them out a rate of about two per hour is really discouraging. Even worse, the rejections started coming in before I'd even finished the list. That was fun.

On the upside, I saved so much postage! I didn't have to send the query or waste money and time on SASEs. Not to mention the agony of waiting.

An interesting development: one agent sent me a very nice rejection, and asked to see my YA, even after I replied that it was unfinished. So I got a little two-for-one. I really liked the agent, too, so hopefully her response to my YA synopsis and pages will be positive.

Now that I've got a raging backache, I guess I'll quit procrastinating and get back to polishing Book One. I worked through it some more the other day, and so far, I haven't wanted to change much. It's definitely ready to send off to anyone requesting the full. The story is solid, the writing is solid; all I'm doing is picking at words, and I could do that forever. I am about to officially rename this process "nit-picking" and declare Book One done.

A Long Dry Spell....

Procrastination is an ugly thing.

A blank brain is uglier. Not only have I not had the time to write/ revise; even if I had the time, I don't have the brain. Until this morning, when I channeled a completely random scene from the sequel to Book One (which shall henceforth be known in blogland as Book Two), I literally haven't had a thought about my writing.

Hmmm.

I think this is all J.K. Rowling's fault, actually. Had Deathly Hallows not been so all-consuming and freakin' brilliant, I might have gotten a lot more done. Oh well.

Time to recommit. Happily, the scene I downloaded from the mothership this morning solves a longstanding plot problem that led me to put that book away last winter. Unhappily, I have too many irons in my writing fires to go back and spend any length of time on Book Two. After all, I've got polishing of Book One to finish (although I'm convinced that I'm through the worst of it) and characters to Get Out of Danger in the YA. I'll make it a goal to jot down that scene tomorrow, then onward with the other projects.

On the business side of things, I've started officially sending off my almost-contest-winning short story. It hasn't come back yet, but if it does, I intend to make it my publishing ping-pong game of the summer, slamming it back over the net until I score. Wish me luck.

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.

Plotting and Planning

I tried something new yesterday. I did what I am always encouraging my students to do: I prewrote. More specifically, I decided it was time to sit down and actually figure out the timeline for the YA novel.

It was an interesting process. First, I decided about how many days lapse between the current chapter and the close of the novel. Then I drew columns and wrote plot bits down under each column depending on which day events had to take place, working backwards from the denouement. (Fortunately, I learned very quickly that I ought to use pencil for this process, as I erased and rewrote several plots bits many times before they settled). In the end, the rough sketch of the novel even looked like a story arc, with more plot per day until the climax, then less for the final day.

Needless to say, I am very pleased. I learned a great deal from this. First and foremost, I learned that I probably ought to practice what I preach more often. While I talk a good game about the importance of prewriting in my comp classes, I have always been a "sit down and channel the story from the muse as I go" sort of writer. I will probably still write that way, but it's nice to have something committed to paper that I can look back on when I get stuck.

Side benefit: I felt productive without having actually added to the chapter. But it will all work out in the end.

Revision

Okay. It's crunch time. Writer's Weekend is approaching, and I have not been a good girl about getting my work done. There have been too many distractions of late, but as I am determined to keep this a blog about my writing and NOT life in general, I won't mention them. I will only say that three weeks is not enough time for a fourth grader to completely write and illustrate a 26 paragraph ABC book about California.

My Book One Chapter One is driving me nutty, so today I decided to revise it again. I ended up taking it apart completely and patching it back together again. I've eliminated some information completely, which I don't really miss so I don't imagine the reader will, either, and I added other little bits of genius that I hope will make better transitions. I moved other bits of information around so completely that I don't even remember where they used to be.

I'm so confused!

In the end, I'm at least a page shorter than the last draft, which was a bit shorter than the previous draft, which means I'm down some words (very, very good, for Book One). I'm also trying, perhaps unsuccessfully, to match the Good Writing to the Mediocre Writing.

The only thing I'm sure of is that this is driving me absolutely, certifiably, nuts.

Whatever. This is the sucky part of writing. I'm going to work on the YA novel tonight just to make myself feel productive.

Shout out: happy birthday, Ginger P.!

Working, working, working

Friday I revised Chapter One, Book One with the feedback from Southern California Writers' Conference, in preparation for Writer's Weekend. I've been needing to get that done, so it felt good to do.

I've also written 946 more words on the YA. I would've done a lot more, but I was sick all day yesterday. Bummer.

And now, I'm late for Writing Group (sorry ladies!).

Latest Word Count:

14,584 / 65,000 (22.4%)

Waiting

Today I really hate the USPS.

I'm not good at waiting, which is why the whole publication process, in general, is very frustrating. What is even more frustrating is having to wait longer than I should to know whether or not I've been accepted to Viable Paradise.

This is where the USPS comes in.

Had they correctly delivered my application packet the first time I sent it, at the beginning of April, I would be receiving my acceptance/rejection this week. However, now, not only have they just received my second packet, I am also certain that my chances of being accepted at all are greatly diminished.

Honestly, I'm good enough at self-sabotage without the USPS helping me out.

Meanwhile, I am also waiting on another level. I am waiting to "download" the next installment of the YA novel so that I can write it. In other words, I have no idea what happens next. Today, in a fit of whimsy, I considered having one of my two main characters slip and fall off the roof and die. That would certainly move the story! However, it would move it in a completely wrong direction and necessitate the introduction of a totally new character to fill in for this one, so I decided to just close the blank notebook page and go shopping instead.

So, I'm three tank tops, three new t-shirts, and a little sundress closer to knowing what happens next in the story.

It's better than just sitting around, waiting.

How Depressing

I finished typing in all of the writing I'd done in the notebook, proving yet again that when I write by hand, I feel incredibly productive and powerful, yet manage to create much less writing than when I compose on the computer. My "Woohoo! I wrote 12 pages today. 12! I totally ROCK!" became "1011 words? Really? That's it?" Not to mention that 1011 words isn't nearly 12 pages when typed and double-spaced. Not even with a big fancy font.

I'm trying to turn it around. "1011 words! That's 1011 more than I had the day before I wrote them!" Or, "Hey! If I wrote 1011 words a day, I'd have my novel done in about 52 more days!"

It's not working.

The bottom line is, I need to write every day. 1011 words or not. I have all kinds of excuses for not doing so that I will not bore cyberspace with right now, but I know what I need to do.

"Progress:"

13,638 / 65,000 (21.0%)

Return of the Writing Blog

Step 1: Find blog link.
Step 2: Hack into old blog using all possible old user names and passwords.
Step 3: Discover that Google has taken over blog, and blog must be "reclaimed."
Step 4: Redouble hacking efforts.
Step 5: Reclaim blog.
Step 6: Find Something Interesting to say.

This is why I don't blog. I can't remember where I left my keys, let alone where I left my blog lying around on the Internet.

Since my last post a very long time ago, I've shelved Book Two. Book One has been rejected by everyone who asked for it (although tagged "well-written" by all the nice agents and editors who just "didn't love it enough" to add it to their lists), and I have commenced serious work on the YA Fantasy novel that's been knocking around in my head for a while. The challenge: write a refreshingly short 65,000-75,000K word novel by June 30th (Writer's Weekend).

Ha. Haha.

It's not going to be done by then. But I do have a ripping good start on it. Does that count? And now that the semester's over (yay!) and I'm not fool enough to sign up to teach summer school again this summer (double yay!), I'm writing every day, which is better than I've been able to do the past few months.

New goal? Finish by the end of summer. I like impossible goals, after all.

In the meantime, I will continue to pimp out Book One, which will have the best revised first 30 pages EVER the way things are going.

Progress:

12,627 / 65,000 (19.4%)

A Respectable start, really. This word count doesn't even include the 10 or so handwritten pages I have yet to type. Cool.

Book Two Progress

Where I am, surprisingly, in writing Book Two:

23,728 / 100,000 (23.7%)

100,000 is my word count goal, which is conservative, since Book One was 144,000 words. But my writing is on a diet these days, slimmer, trimmer, and faster on the treadmill.

The Somethings that Scare Me

A very good friend of mine has a mantra (taken from a kitchen magnet) that provides excellent words to live by: "Do something that scares you every day."

Creating a blog fits. What if I don't have anything to say? What if nobody reads it? It feels a little like talking to myself, only somebody out there might actually be listening. On all counts, scary.

In any case, it's done. And to what end?

Essentially, after becoming a bit of a publishing/writing blog addict, I've decided to blog a little bit about my own writing. Yes, I'm a fantasy writer, when I can grab the time to do it. No, I'm not published, although I'm actively working on that. In the meantime, this looks like a fabulous new way to procrastinate doing all of the things that aren't getting done.

So, Happy Birthday, shiny new blog!