I’m doing some better. Still having vertigo, but I no longer want to curl up and hide somewhere, so that’s good, right?
I made some progress!!!
997 words on Fireborn and I think I’m unstuck. And, I have an idea for a spin-off series. Thanks, muse!
I’ve been thinking about revision, and decided to go back to Holly Lisle’s How to Revise Your Novel class, which I took waaay back in 2008. It has been invaluable for figuring out where I messed up and where I didn’t, which is really cool. So I printed off the first lesson worksheets and will be working on them once Fireborn is done.
I also have been inspired (by Holly Lisle) to shift my focus a bit to shorter works. And I’ve thought about it before, but never really considered it for reasons I don’t know (too many novel ideas?). She says that the more you have out there for purchase, the more traction you get with sales. I would love to go full time with this, but I need a certain amount of money to make the leap, and sadly, it hasn’t happened yet. I’ve got two books out and two poetry chapbooks and a free anthology. I’d like to get a few more shorter works (novellas primarily) out there. Part of why I decided to write Fireborn was because of that, actually. But I’d like to put out a few more novellas, like novella #3 in the Reaper Girl universe, Flamebound (which was a novella, then I planned an expansion to novel length, and am now planning it as a novella. Crazy!) which has been languishing far too long and is on my priority list of projects. I have a few novel ideas that could be serialized (as long as there’s a complete story per installment — I’m not a fan of having incomplete stories and forcing people to buy three installments vs one novel, but that’s my opinion) and a few longish short story ideas that are lower on the list but are intriguing. Might be some possibilities there. So that’s my main focus at the moment.
As for actual writing since the last check-in, very little. I’ve had a few Real Life things happen and I’ve been feeling a bit stuck. Now that I’ve worked on Fireobrn again, I feel pretty confident I can start again.
I will try to work a bit on Survivor after I finish this post.
And the fanfic-turned-original idea When the Stars Fall is still hounding me.
Noodling on Covenant, but no words.
Chocolate consumption: WW Sundaes (1 per day), chocolate sugar-free pudding (today), chocolate caramel thingies, Kit Kat minis, and some form of chocolate donut tonight.
Weaver of Words 
It sounds like you’re setting up for a hug creative surge! How exciting, even if the word count and surface progress don’t reflect it yet….
You’ve inspired me, because I, too, am starting to look toward shorter works, and I see that while I have a lot of writing to offer, it all needs revision, and that’s exactly where I’m the weakest (decades of avoidance mean I’ve had a LOT less practice with it, and knowledge of its workings, than I do writing or plotting).
Can you give me any more information about Holly’s class? Maybe even a link?
Revision is going to be a greater focus for me, in Round 4, and my major focus in 2014. I have a good deal of poetry, and some of it’s quite good, hitting places of deep personal truth,and, I think, touching on the universal, too…
But i have far less of an idea how to go about revising poetry than I do fiction…
On the plus side, I’ve gotten orders of magnitude better at revising blog posts over the last few years, so maybe that’s a good place to work from?
Maybe we can be each other’s personal cheerleaders as we both immerse ourselves in the process?
My chocolate consumption, by the way: One Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, a couple of small handfuls of dark chocolate M&Ms. and one and a half Mint Milano cookies.
I LOVE your chocolate consumption report. Chocolate makes everything better. 😉
The class is Holly Lisle’s How to Revise Your Novel. You can start at http://www.howtothinksideways.com. Holly offers a ton of classes and workshops. I’ve taken them all and they have helped me tremendously. Unfortunately, she’s in the middle of a massive site move and I’m not sure if anything is actually available for purchase right now. It should be in a few weeks. I’ll make a note to let you know when I get the announcement. (Also? She has forums for every class and workshop free and the folks there are amazing and super-helpful.)
We can absolutely cheer each other on! I’ve gotten better at revising, but every revision is a challenge. If you take the class, I’d be happy to help with anything you need.
I’ve also been avoiding massive revisions and those seem impossible, which is why I took HTRYN in the first place. I made a pact with myself to start revising the novels that have been languishing, Survivor being the oldest. It’s scary, and tough, and not fun. But it must be done if we want our novels to fly from the nest. 😉
Sounds like you have a lot of thoughts roaming around in your head. I have so many story ideas as well and I never know just how long they will turn out to be when the story gets written. I guess we just have to go with it when the story is done.
Yep, I have so many ideas that I’ll be busy for at least a decade, if not more…not counting the new ideas. I never really know either on length, but usually the story will let me know how long it needs to be at some point. 😉