Words About Writing

This year I set myself a daily goal of 2,000 words. If I can do that, at least for a while, then I'll have a cushion when I get to the muddy middle and stall out. I hope I don't stall out. I love watching that graph of my word count on the Nanowrimo website.  It's going extremely well. In fact, today the words are flowing so well that I'm willing to skip all other activities for as long as it keeps up. I've already exceeded 2k words (it's noon), but I'm in the middle of a scene and anxious to see where it goes. I still have the problem of having nothing set up for the ending. I know the ending I want, so maybe I should take a day to focus on that. Write the ending, and that way there's a goal to shoot for when the words won't come. We shall see. Today I'm just celebrating this feeling of success!

Yes! A few days ago I finished the edit of my WIP. Woohoo! Such a relief. It's not done, of course. I printed out the manuscript (I had exactly the right number of pieces of paper for it - whew) and now I'm going through to find places to add a new element. To connect the two subplots, I want to insert some text chats between the main characters while they are apart. So now I'm reading the manuscript to do that... and trying not to add edits. 🙈 I am noting typos and a few word changes, but refraining from wholesale editing. My reasoning for the small edits is simply to make the next version more readable for my BETA READERS! The last time I sent this to readers, at least one of them consistently pointed out typos (not her purpose). If I can eliminate them, it will not be a distraction and my readers can focus on characterization and plot-points. SO, to sum up: 1: Now adding text convos and minimal typo corrections into printed manuscript. 2: Next putting those into the sc...

When I hit the climactic scene in my editing, things started rolling forward more quickly. That's good. A book should be un-putdownable by that point. I'm making fast progress in my editing, and it's good. This is a well-written book. Next will be figuring out querying. That scares the life out of me. But it's got to be done if I'm ever going to be published. And I'm good. I know I am. I'm worth having a book out there.  This is becoming a point of pride, in a way, but more than that it's a drive. I know this is my destiny and it will happen. The process is the process and I can't skimp on it. Wish me luck. 

 Actually, I finished on the 31st of January. YAY!  I'm actually pleased with the ending I created. I know there are mountains of work to do on this novel, and editing will be at least a year of work, but for now I'm setting my draft aside and working on a shorter piece that might be quickly published. So my new process will be editing, and seeking a venue for publication, and submission. Hopefully all that can be accomplished this spring. With absolutely no knowledge on how short stories go, I'm guessing a couple months? Maybe three?  I'd love to be editing one of my other - non-gigantic - novels during the summer.  A toast to new beginnings!

I took a break from the random writing down of thoughts pertaining to my story subject, and decided to work on a character. I'd had an idea for one character, and started writing her early,  But suddenly, between feeling like I was drifting about without a story and trying to wrap up my other WIP, I wanted to try some different personas on my one character. So for three days I wrote her - sometimes him - with a different primary attitude or dominant personality trait.  Instead of the initially sympathetic character, I wrote an angry, vindictive version (why angry? Let's dig deeper!), a slinky, seductive version, and a kind of accidental "oops! That's my job, right?" kind of character. Couldn't get behind that one. Couldn't really figure out the world that last version must live in. Anyway, I delved a little deeper into the angrier version and suddenly felt it worked better as an interview, so voila! A new, secondary character.  This week I came back to tha...

Praise God! I'm making progress! If I don't finish this by the end of tomorrow, it'll be close, at least. I'm in the middle of a good writing-run, but wanted to pause my work to document my success. I had reached the point a couple days ago where I knew which ending (already written) I wanted to go with, but needed to finally join that part of the journey with the place where I was. I'm now heavy into the last act, and it's flowing well. That may change, of course, but right now I'm feeling very good about this long sequence of words! I even took a break from the computer to lay on the floor with a notebook and jot down the next bit. That helps. So I'm doing it. I'm getting it. The end is, once again, in sight.

I'm happy to say that I'm pleased with my book so far! It needs a lot of editing, of course, but this first read-through of what I wrote in November makes me feel a lot better about it. It starts with a big exposition dump, just because I needed to get the information and setting out of my head. As much work as that part needs - including dispersing parts of it throughout the book - I'm okay with starting that way. It works. The setting is unique enough, yet relatable enough, that I was intrigued by reading it. The next scene started the action. Immediately. And it's good. I sent that scene to one person to check how much explaining might be needed for some of the terms I use. It takes place in the future, and there are two cultures involved, so there's some jargon in it. I was prepared for that one scene to be an exception, but the following scenes keep up the pace and intensity. I'm interested in my characters, and am anxious to see what will happen ne...

Those several runs through the manuscript I talked about last week? Yeah, no. First off, as I started reading I realized I was BORED within three pages, so I stalled for a day, until I remembered another bit of writerly advice: "Delete the first scene." I went back in, starting at the second scene as if it was the beginning of the entire book, and it worked! I made some notes of places to drop in information provided in the previous "first" scene, and was much more interested in the story. Second, I'm a multi-tasker. They say that's not always a good thing, but it works for me in this case. I'm an editor. I see the details and the word-changes and the "needs to be expanded" all at once. I simply CAN'T with the "go through it once with a focus on X, then again to focus on Y..." I can't. It's too slow. That's probably very good advice for people who aren't trained to notice errors in writing, but in my previous...