What’s been going on?

Just a quickie update on things.  I know it’s been forever.  I’ve got a couple of Foodie Friday posts in the works.  I’ve also been writing like a fiend on Grave Touched.  I’m about 20k in.  I’ll be participating in NaNoWriMo on an unofficial basis like last year. Going for 30k.

Been promoting Fey Touched.  It can be very time-consuming, but my sales have been steady so it’s been worth it.  I also have another story I’m going to be working on here and there – Oubliette (formely Broken) – my supernatural thriller/ghost thing from 2010.  It’s been calling to me a lot lately, and I want to answer!

I’ve also been reading A LOT.  Like a crazy person.  One of these days I’ll get a post (or two) up about all the books I’ve read lately.

I also just got over being sick and I’ve been trying to get freelance editing/proofing jobs.  So if you know anyone in need of those things, send him or her my way!  My rates are very reasonable.  /shameless plug

Other than that, life’s been….life.  I’m in constant awe at how fast this year has gone by.  It boggles my mind.

 

Decisions, decisions.

I just got back from vacation.  We camped up North at a beautiful campground.  It was, for the most part, nice.  Unfortunately, it rained a lot, so we spent more time in the tent than out of it.  But hey, a week off work was wonderful.

I go back tomorrow.  Not looking forward to that.

I had decided to try to finish Pirouette this weekend.  No crazy pressure, just a goal to keep me motivated.  I had something like 30 pages to edit, so it was doable.  And I did!  I have a few minor things to fix (a few continuity things) but it’s pretty much done!  Yay!  And I made my goal of finishing it by the end of the month — a week early, no less.  I’ll need to run it through a quick edit, then it’s off to critiquers!

Kind of exciting and kind of scary all at once.

So I’m starting to think about my next project.  I would like to get back to writing.  I’ve done very little all year, and my muse needs something new, fun, and most of all, not editing.

So at first I was thinking Darklight.  I’m pretty excited about it, but I need to nail down a few things first.  I also need to brainstorm a plot — even just something to get me started.  I don’t necessarily need the whole thing, just a springboard to jump off of.  I know that my main character is going to escape her confinement, but that’s it.  I need more than that.

Then I remembered Broken (to be re-titled Oubliette) from last year.  My supernatural thriller thing.  I read it over last night and fell back in love. It’s 12k at the moment, and I have scene cards already made for it.  No actual plot, just ideas.  But that can definitely work.  Both are possibilities for Turtleduck Press, so working on either one will get me closer to self-pubbing.

So….which one?  I’m very excited about both, and considered doing both at the same time, but that’s crazy.  I’ve tried drafting up to 4 (yes, you read that right) novels at once and it was….chaotic.  I don’t doubt my ability to keep things separate, but I’d like to focus on one project.  I think my energy would be better spent working on one.

My gut is saying Oubliette, because it’s already started and I’m really excited about it.  But I suppose I can wait a bit and see..still have that edit to do and 2 critiques I owe some writer friends.  So we’ll see.  Nothing’s in stone yet, but I’m leaning toward Oubliette.

Stay tuned.  The epic battle begins now.

2010 in Review and 2011 goals

This year just flew by.  I don’t even know what happened to it.  It felt as if I were making no progess anywhere, but I did accomplish a few key things.  I also had to adjust my goals to accomodate Alpha Female, which wasn’t planned.  All in all, this was a pretty productive year.

What I accomplished:

~I finished the 3rd draft of Pirouette in May and am gearing up for the final revision (which is my #1 goal for 2011)
~I started the Flamebound revision using HTRYN.  Got to lesson 8 of 22.  Yeah, that was one of the things that got adjusted. 
~I wrote and rewrote and completed Alpha Female.  My original goal was to submit it to an anthology by the November 1st deadline.  After getting it back from a wonderful beta, I realized that it wasn’t going to work for the antho.  I decided to expand it, as most of the issues were due to trying to keep the wordcount within the limits (25k) and then decided to try to finish it up by the end of the year.  Which I pretty much did, if you don’t count the tweaks I’m currently working on.
~I started Broken and got it up to 12k.  Broken was a personal challenge to myself, as it’s got a bit of BDSM in it and I’d never written that before. It’s also a different genre for me. I am very pleased with how it’s going.
~I critiqued 3 novels for writer friends.  While this isn’t a huge thing, I made my deadlines for the most part and got the honor of reading some really good books.
~I joined up with a few writer friends and started Turtleduck Press, which is our publishing endeavor which will hopefully change the world, muhaaaa.
~I self-pubbed Life as a Moving Target through them, which has been a dream of mine since December 2002 when I wrote the very first poem in that collection.  After trying traditional publishing, I decided to go ahead and self-publish it.  I’ve gotten some great feedback so far.  And it’s so dear to my heart.
~I wrote approximately 100k this year.  Not bad considering I did mostly revising and editing.  Some writing, too.  I’m glad to have hit 100k.  It certainly didn’t feel like 100k.
~I wrote and rewrote my query letter for Pirouette.  I think I have it nailed.  We’ll see.

So, yep, not a bad year at all.

Goals for 2011:

~SUBMIT something.  This is HUGE.  This year was supposed to be the year for that, but I got a bit derailed.  I will submit something if it kills me.  Most likely either Alpha Female or Pirouette.
~Finish up Alpha Female and get it critted
~Do the final revision on Pirouette and get it to critters.
~Submit something!
~Continue Flamebound revision, hopefully finish (I see a rewrite in my future…)
~Finish Without Wings, my second poetry chapbook with Turtleduck Press, and get it to approvals by Feb. 1st.  This is a biggie because it still needs some work and time is ticking.
~Write (hopefully) Darkweaver.
~Work on Don’t Close Your Eyes, chapbook #3.
~Do not get derailed this time.  Stay to the goals.
~Get an agent

Will I accomplish all of that?  Perhaps.  But I will try for sure.  It feels like 2011 will be a good year.

Update and future projects

Been sicky for the past few days, so not much has been accomplished.  However, before getting sick, I’d broken 11k on Alpha Female.  And, yes, I’m admitting it — this is kind of a rewrite/edit/revision.  Because I’m basically doing everything at once so I can send it to critters once the “draft” is done.  I say “draft” because I’m not really sure what to call it. 

That’s my crazy process for you.  It took me two false starts to get it right.  Put me behind, but I’m doing okay.  I’m not really worried.  I guess I’ll start worrying in two weeks when I need to have it done. 

I’ve been doing alot of thinking about future projects.  I’m definitely going to take another whack at Pirouette once Alpha Female is done and submitted.  That’s the top priority.  Next, the big question is, do I want to do a mini-NaNoWriMo in November?  I can’t do the full NaNo anymore (50 in 30 days) because of my wrists, but I’ve had some success with doing a 25k “mini-Nano.”  I’m tempted to start a new novel.  It’s one that’s been patiently waiting for oh….I want to say at least 5 years.  It was going to be my 2006 NaNo novel but I changed my mind at the last minute.  The story has been haunting me for five years.  A lot of it has changed — for example, the main characters were all vampires (“vampira”) and now they will most likely be a type of Dark Fae.  A few days ago, the phrase “a battlefield of souls” popped into my mind, and at first, it felt like a seedling of a new idea, but when I probed it deeper, I discovered that it could work with this novel, which is called Darkweaver.  A few weeks to a month ago, the first line — hell, the first damn page — came to me, again out of nowhere.  At work, no less.  I was even going to type it up before I forgot (I haven’t).  So it’s been really strong in my head.  Muse says it’s about damn time.  I’m trying to wait, because I have three unfinished projects that need to get done.  But then again, what would 25k hurt?  Of course, it’ll take another month of work out of the equation, and will leave me with a hanging manuscript, but I just don’t know.  I’m completely and utterly torn.  Broken could use another 25k (it’s sitting at 12k at the moment).  Flamebound needs a revision and most likely a rewrite. 

How does one choose?  Lately I’ve been going according to one, the market (which I heard isn’t the way to go, but hey — I don’t want the paranormal market to die while Pirouette sits for another 5 years) and where the project is in the process.  I’ve been making a conscious effort to finish my unfinished projects and get them submitted.  So far, Pirouette’s 3rd draft got done last year, and Survivor’s first draft last year as well.  Speaking of Survivor, there’s another one that’s haunting me.  It needs a rewrite.  I am toying with the idea of making it a trilogy.  Again, market considerations.  And the sheer time would be massive.  So that one is probably going to have to wait, probably until I sell something.

What to do, what to do?  There’s just not enough time anymore, you know? 

Soooooo I guess we’ll see what happens.  I’ll decide….later.

Fragmented.

Alot has been going on.  First, hubby and I are finally moving.  It’s been exciting and tiring.  This week is our official “move week” but we actually started two weeks early.  So the work has been pretty light.  But alas, I’m still friggin tired.  I am on vacay this week from work with the exception of Wednesday so that’s been nice.

The other thing is my ankle.  I have a bone fragment in my ankle joint, and almost needed surgery.  Oddly enough, the pain isn’t where the fragment is, but where the ligaments and tendons are.  It has to do with my ultra-high arches.  Yay. So my foot doc gave me a shot and some new meds.  I see him in 3 weeks to assess.  For quite awhile I was hobbling around (with a cane no less!) but this week it’s been feeling much, much better.  Except when I’m not wearing my brace.  Then I feel it.  It’s still a bit swollen, and when the meds wear off I can tell, but it’s far better than struggling to walk.  Hopefully, it’ll heal and get back to normal again.  I hate not being able to walk properly.

Third, the Pirouette notetaking is almost done, which means I can start on the notecarding and re-reading the manuscript.  *rubs hands together* I can’t wait to dive in and make this book better.  I had an idea of some backstory hit me in the shower, and I have  few ideas for Alisia and Lucien’s scenes.  I also wrote another query letter draft just for shits and giggles.  It brought to light an element that I should ramp up and make even darker.  I love the way my mind works sometimes.

Broken is also coming along.  I was a bit stuck for a bit, but today some things came to me.  So that’s good.  Might try to write a bit soon.  I’m definitely feeling odd not writing much.  And I don’t like that feeling.

Lastly, I have some news.  There’s a possibility I might be self-publishing Life as a Moving Target, my poetry chapbook.  Nothing is final yet and I hate to jinx it, but it’s very exciting to me because I’ve wanted to get it published since I wrote it back in 2004.  Want to get the word out about fibromyalgia and vertigo.  And it’s such a niche market that I’m not surprised no one’s wanted to publish it.  Self-pubbing has been on my mind for quite some time, and I’ve been seriously considering it.  So stay tuned.

Reassessing and making decisions.

Whilst on vacation, I did alot of thinking and brainstorming and figuring.  I did a bit of writing and a bit of revision, but mostly kept things open because it was vacation.  Luckily, the Inner Slave Driver was actually in agreement with me this time.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to work on one book at a time.  Working on three wasn’t difficult, but it was cutting into the time I could be working on Pirouette (we’re back to Pirouette now, no third draft or 1.0).  While it was good to take a break, I’m now starting to feel the urge again.

Considered doing another rewrite for the sheer amount of stuff that needs to be changed or fixed.  A lot of people I asked about it strongly suggested against not doing a rewrite because I should learn how to revise.  Flamebound is the first novel/novella I’ve attempted to revise since a failed attempt in 2004ish.  Unfortunately, with the amount of work I still have yet to do on Flamebound (before even making the changes and such), it won’t be ready by the end of the year.  I just can’t see it happening. 

With Broken, that can be done whenever.  I have no set deadline or timeframe.  When I can, I will continue work on it.

However, my one big goal was to get something out THIS YEAR.  With the year half gone, I need to get moving.  And I feel the urge with Pirouette.  I’m using a mix of methods for this.  Some HTRYN methods and some of my own.  Also Holly Lisle’s One Pass Revision methods. Going to be notecarding soon, to figure out how the scenes are working (or not working).  I need to get a handle on Alisia and Lucien’s relationship arc.  Also Raelan’s (the villain).  I may go through them separately and then string it all back to together once it’s good.  I’ll be rewriting some things.  Refiguring others.  I’m also going through every single crit I got and making notes.  I thought I’d remember and I didn’t remember alot of it (this is from last year on the 2nd draft).  Some things I fixed in the 3d draft, but there’s still alot that’s messed up.  I’m also going to be doing some Tarot readings and some journal entries in Alisia’s voice.  I might write some in longhand.  Basically, I’m using a bunch of things that I think will help.  And I want to get through this rather quickly (not crappy, mind you, just quickly) so I can get it to my critiquers. 

I hope this will be it (ha, I said that last time) and I can move forward.  My idea is to get it to be the best it can be, using all of the things I’ve learned and using my critters’ insight.  I’m hoping I can nail it, or at least come close, this go-around.

I made a discovery while reading one of my critter’s notes.  The 2nd draft sucked.  Yeah, it had its good points, but most of it was awful.  Granted, I wrote it in 2007 almost completely with voice recognition software (and, despite my fearsome editing skills, I still missed a ton of mis-recognitions 😦  ) and well….I’ve gotten better over the past 3 years.  I think I can do a better job.

But I believe in the story.  I wouldn’t be working myself into a tizzy if I didn’t.  Sure, I could move on, but regardless if this book gets published, I need to learn to revise/edit.  Although I might be one of those writers that just does multiple drafts.  Hopefully, I’ll get a clue.  Meantime, I’ll be plugging away at Pirouette.  It needs to shine.

Why I love pantsing. Why you should do it, too.

For those of you not familiar with the term, “pantsing” refers to writing “by the seat of your pants” or “winging it.”  Some writers, like me, use a rough outline while others will not use one at all.  I actually considered myself a hybrid between pantser and outliner because some of my outlines can get detailed, whereas sometimes I’ll just have a vague idea of where I’m headed but nothing is EVER in stone.  EVER.  If a change I come up with on the fly serves the story better, than I’m all for it.

The thing with pantsing is that there’s so much discovery.  In my first drafts — especially those — I discover, literally, the story as I’m writing it.  Sure, I might have a rough outline that says “Susie gets married” and “Jenni goes to the store and meets someone there” but then maybe it’ll mutate and become something different, but something similar.  Usually, when I’m doing this, I’ll subconsciously (almost magically) combine things differently than the outline, but the result is usually pretty close.  Other times, it’s completely different, and that’s okay.  Now alot of writers need an outline.  They have to have that security — and that’s okay.  Hell, I feel pretty solid if I have some ideas of what I’m doing.  For Broken, I’ve got a pack of notecards with possible scenes on them that aren’t even in order.  They’re just ideas.  I might use them, I might veer off.  But I would hesitate to call it an outline.  And that’s okay, because sometimes, that’s the way I like it.

My characters work best as they hit the page.  I’ve done alot of prework on characters in the past, and in Survivor, that prework was invaluable.  However, I consider that to be the exception.  Because with all my other projects, nothing I did ahead of time stuck.  Alisia in Pirouette was supposed to hate her magic and herself.  Huh?  She doesn’t, although she does take pains to conceal it from everyone for different reasons.  I’m not entirely certain how it would have worked if I’d forced that part in.

So my characters show me who they are as we go.  The reason for this post is part of a revelation about Claire.  The main one touched down a few days ago and it left me stunned.  But today, going about my day, the reason why — which had eluded me so far — hit me.  And it made perfect sense.  As if I’d friggin planned it.  And that, my friends, is the power of pantsing.

I believe that the Muse (or subconscious) knows all.  She may not let you in right away, or never, or she might toss up hints here and there and then lightning will strike.  I learned about this in Holly Lisle’s How To Think Sideways class and I am a total believer.  In one of her lessons, she talks about things that you’ll be compelled to write that you don’t understand at the time but then later, it all makes sense.  It’s kind of like that.  My muse knew what the deal was, and tossed me that clue, and BAM! Today it came together beautifully.  I couldn’t have planned it better.

So now I know something fundamental about Claire, an elusive, enigmatic character.  And I didn’t have to do up any character sheets, or questionnaires, or anything.  Not that that’s wrong or bad, but as I’ve said, my process doesn’t seem to work that way.  And it worked well and almost too perfectly.  i can’t recommend this method enough.

If you’re an outliner, and you’re stuck, try this.  If it doesn’t work, fine, but maybe you’ll discover something you never knew before.  Maybe you’ll find out that this works, too.  And no one says to give up outlining — but sometimes writers need to be open to new things.  Hell, the idea of having a conversation with a character stuck me as odd, but now?  It’s one of the first things I do when I’m stuck.  Or freewriting.  That’s another cool trick I discovered just by being open to new things, new ideas. 

So that’s why I love pantsing.  Broken is at 9k currently and there’s very little that I know for sure, but for me, that’s where the magic is.  Where the story lies and where it leads.  It may take some twists and turns and detours, but I’m always amazed at what I can come up with on the fly.  It’s really amazing. 

So, pants it.  You’ll be glad you did.  😉

Return of the One-Pass Revision

After much thinking and banging my head against the wall, I’ve decided to do a One-Pass Revision on Pirouette the Third.  There are still issues, and it needs an edit, and the One-Pass combines the two and was pretty helpful the first go-around.  No tweaky pass this time.  I’d like to dive in and see what I can do.  I’m also going to modify it slightly to include some of the methods in Holly Lisle’s HTRYN.  Particularly the notecarding aspect of it.  Another thing I’ll need to nail down is the main and secondary character arcs to better solidify things in my head.  I’m not sure it works quite right in this draft.  And a new blurb.

I might even try to start this while on vacation.  Thank you, Inner Slave Driver. 

As for other projects, Broken  is coming along.  It’s around 8k right now, and my muse dropped a HUGE bomb on me a few days ago about Claire.  Still puzzling that one out.  Also pantsing it almost completely, and I’m enjoying it.

With Flamebound, I’m up to lesson 8 on the HTRYN.  I also have some good ideas for the rewrite/revision/expansion.  Whatever it happens to end up being.

So with less than 2 days to go before vacation, I have A Plan.  This is a good thing.  Because for the past week or so I’ve been freaking out and mentally flailing over WHAT to do with Pirouette the Third.  Edit?  Revise?  Rewrite for the 4th time?  I’ve gotten some feedback and some of it leads me to think that I don’t — or shouldn’t — do another rewrite.  And I also have some mixed reviews on two versions of the first scene, which I need to also puzzle out.  Lots of work ahead, but it’ll be worth it.

Where art thou, Alisia?

Even though my muse was totally against returning to Pirouette the Third this soon (she says she’s not ready yet), I wrote a rough scene that may become the new opening scene.  It does everything I need it to, sets up what she’s doing, and  (I hope) doesn’t infodump alot but contains little hooks. 

But one essential thing was barely there: Alisia’s kick-ass voice.  This is the one thing that I always got compliments on (well, barring one) and I feel it’s one of the strongest parts of the book.  Alisia is the mistress of snark.  She’s prickly and outspoken and sarcastic.  And so much fun to write.  Draft 1 was such a joy to write, because she was so there on the page and it really came through.  Second draft, still there mostly.  Third, yeah.  This scenelet?  Barely there.  What the heck happened?

Too damned much distance.  It’s diluting her voice in my head, making it weaker.  I think it could be the sheer volume of stuff I’ve been working on, and typically, voices don’t merge at all.  Like, I could never write Amara the way I write Alisia, even if I’m doing both at once.  It just wouldn’t happen.  However, I suspect that being in another character’s head for an extended period (and this goes for Flamebound, too, as I’ve been reading the manuscript constantly for the revision) weakens the others’ voices.  With Amara, it’s not so bad.  But Alisia, who’s strong and needs to be bigger than life inside my head, it’s a bit of a problem.  Luckily, I can add all that in subsequent drafts, but dang.  I never believed that I ‘d ever have problems with Alisia.  But apparently, there’s a first time for everything.

I might need to write a journal entry or fictitious conversation just to bring myself up to speed.  My brain is weird sometimes.

I think 3 projects at once is about my limit.  They’re all different — one’s in revision, one’s in an edit of sorts, and the other is in draft — no confusion there, but apparently there is a limit to my brain’s abilities to handle all the stuff for each project.  And I seem to be going at snail’s pace, but that’s to be expected.

The plan for my vacay (in two weeks!) is to work on Broken mostly, but if the urge moves me, I might work on Pirouette the Third. Actually, I’m going to rename it Pirouette Tweaky Pass because it’s not a new draft and it’s not exactly an edit or revision.  I’m just tweaking stuff.  Anyhoo, I’ll work on that if I feel the urge, but it’s okay if I don’t.  The Inner Slave Driver isn’t happy with this arrangement, but as I said, my muse is firm on the whole “I’m not ready” thing for the Pirouette Tweaky Pass yet.  But hey, we’ll see.  Maybe she’ll surprise me.  Lots of surprises lately.

Muse Fail

It was slow at work, so I brainstormed some ideas on how to condense the first few scenes of Pirouette the Third.  Because, yanno, it’s at minimum 21k too long.  So my muse gave me this idea, and I thought about it most of the day.  Sat down to write it and BAM.  Stone. Walled.  I was able to eke out a pitiful 44 words (and half of that came from PR3) and then…..it just died on the vine.  Why?  I have no idea.  I haven’t been feeling 100% today, but not so much that it interferes with my writing (says the Inner Slave Driver with a crack of her famous whip) so I’m mystified.

My only guess is that the idea has to simmer a bit more.  The imagery just wouldn’t come.  Yeah, Alisia is dancing, but to what music?  Where is she (in her practice studio at home)? What is she feeling?  What are her feet doing?  Her arms?  And how am I going to introduce the ghost?  While I’m pretty good at making shit up on the fly, this one just wouldn’t happen.  Soooooo muse, you fail me.

As for Broken, I managed 275 words today.  Those were hard won.  I don’t know what it is about today.  Just can’t get into the groove.  Oh well, made my minimum (200 words) so tomorrow’s another day.