Lost in a never-ending chasm of rewrites.
Posted: March 4, 2013 Filed under: Hunt, Odds and Ends, writing, | Tags: Hunt, revision, rewrites Leave a commentAt least it seems like it. For the last several weeks (pretty much since the first of the year,) I’ve been working on revisions of several projects. I move back and forth, rotating with whichever is on my mind at the moment.
I have had a couple of new ideas, I took careful notes and I’m letting them build, but they’re not quite ready yet. In the mean time, I have deadlines and a publication date to meet, so revisions it is. Revisions are just as important as drafting, as they’re where you make it good. First drafts are crappy, they’re supposed to be crappy, but through revisions and rewriting we turn crappy drafts into something that sparkles and shines.
To me, progress on revisions is less obvious. At the end of the day you don’t have a significant word count added to what you started with, and if, like me, you don’t work in software that gives you pages(except for the final revision), you don’t have a page finished count. That doesn’t mean it’s not just as, if not more, important.
So back I go into my seemingly bottomless pit of revisions. When I come out I’ll have at least one fresh, clean manuscript ready for the publisher.
How do you do it?
A really good day.
Posted: January 6, 2013 Filed under: Odds and Ends, writing, | Tags: driving, kids, new project, ramblings, road trip, writing Leave a commentYesterday I spent most of the afternoon on a road trip, I ended up with more than five hours behind the wheel, with two kids in the car, both absorbed in the games they were playing on their individual devices. The radio was on, my favorite station, XM’s Octane, but I drove across a lot of empty desert, there wasn’t much to see. This lead, as it always does, to my mind wandering, I think over plot lines, I consider characters and their stories, I review things I’ve already written and come up with some new material.
It was after 9pm when I got home last night, but I had several things I had to get down, directions that current stories will need to go, details that my characters had let slip during that long drive. So, once I got the kids in bed, I took my laptop and set up camp in the recliner, turning on an old movie to keep me company. Once I got my side notes down I started on the new project that had haunted me for the last two hours of my trip. I couldn’t wait to get started, I had to get at least some of it down.
So I opened a new Scrivener file and got to work. My movie ended and I started another, not really registering the passage of time. The story was unfolding at my fingertips and that was what mattered, the people talking in my head, not the ones on the screen or the hands of a clock moving on their own. I was startled when the low battery alert popped up in front of me. I had been working for almost six hours (yes, my laptop battery lasts that long.)
I saved my work (not for the first time) and stretched and went to plug in the computer. I had gotten a lot done. I was happy, though, more than a little sleepy.
This morning I sat back down to it, the same project flowing as easily as it had last night. I’ve been up and down today, dealing with kids, feeding them, caring for them, getting them ready to go back to school in the morning. Even with all the distractions during the day I’ve managed to make thirty-six pages in the last twenty four hours. It’s been a really good day. I’m happy with it.
Now I’m going to go unwind a little in front of the TV, maybe knit a little, I would really like to finish my hood, though I know that won’t happen tonight.
I hope you had as good of day as I did.
Downtime. We all need some.
Posted: October 21, 2012 Filed under: Hunt, Odds and Ends | Tags: Hunt, knitting, life, ML, musings, Nanowrimo Leave a commentI’ve been pushing hard for the last couple of weeks to finish the first draft of Hunt before NaNoWriMo gets here. At the same time, nothing else has stopped happening, in fact, I’ve added even more.
In addition to my every day life with a family, school, extra-curricular activities, etc. I’ve added in Book tour host, (as you can see from the rapidly filling schedule to the right,) as well as working on scheduling all the events for NaNo, as I am the local ML.
It’s been a little stressy and a little crazy and some days I don’t know if I’m coming or going. I must say that my Cozy calendar has saved my butt, more than once. Because I’m able to put the entire family’s schedule in there I can see what everyone is doing, and here’s the big one, have reminders sent to my phone, aka, my brain. On Sunday it sends me an email with the week’s calendar so I can plan important things, like dinner, around what’s happening each night. Let me tell you, with three kids, on three teams in two different sports, that practice on opposite ends of town, that’s sometimes harder than you would think.
Where was I again? Oh, yeah. Downtime. Since finishing the first draft of Hunt (yes, there’s still lots of work to be done,) I’ve been taking it kind of easy. No, the rest of my life really hasn’t slowed down, but I’ve not pushed prepping for NaNo either. I know I can do NaNo totally seat of my pants, though it’s a lot easier with some planning. I do have some planning done, as I plan on working on a concept I’ve been putting together for a few months now, in the background. But it’s different, I’m not intently focused on what comes next. I’ve picked up a new book and starting to read it, and I spent all day yesterday sitting on the couch, watching TV with the Other Half, and for the first time in months, knitting. Yes, I knit, but in working on my writing, I’ve lost the time I spend on knitting, I love it. Knitting relaxes me and puts me in that zen place like nothing else I’ve ever found, I just flat haven’t had time.
All in all, I’m enjoying a little downtime before my next big rush. I know it’s coming and I’ll enjoy it when it gets here, but in the mean time, I needed this.
NaNoWriMo is swiftly approaching
Posted: October 5, 2012 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: ML, Nanowrimo, November, October Leave a commentAre you ready? I’m working on it, I’m trying to finish the first draft of Hunt and I’m working on my ideas for what I’ll work on next month, a new idea.
Also, since I’m the local ML, I’m scheduling events, both in October and November, in order to gear up and get all our WriMo’s through, and hopefully win!
Are you doing NaNo this year? Do you feel ready?
Exciting News
Posted: September 25, 2012 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: authors, review, Sizzling PR Leave a comment
I’m now a Sizzling PR Tour Host! What does that mean for you? Lots of great content, new authors and books! I can’t wait to get started!
What does August mean to me?
Posted: August 1, 2012 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: August, life, schedule, school, weather Leave a commentHeat. It’s still the inner circle of hell, in relation to temperatures and weather where I live (110-120 is not uncommon.) It’s hard to escape.
School. The kids (and other half) go back to school. I had one kid start today, the other two start in a week, and the other half starts near the end of the month. This means I no longer have to try to keep them entertained during the heat, or feed them 500 times a day. This year even more so, because the other half has been home 24/7 for the last three weeks, and will be for another three. I’m looking forward to some quiet time.
Craziness. I have three kids, who play two different sports, on three different teams. They all start practicing sometime in August. I spend my evenings running around trying to get everyone where they need to be.
Writing. Even with all this, I still write. While the kids are in school, while I wait for them at practice (when I have time) I need to if I’m ever going to finish whatever book I’m working on at the time.
What does August mean to you?
Wait… Did I miss something?
Posted: July 30, 2012 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: advertisement, magazine, pay to write Leave a commentI was recently approached by an online magazine (I’ll leave the name out, at least for now) to write for them. Initially I was honored, flattered and wowed. Really? They chose *me* to write for them? I thought.
Then I looked more closely at the offer. They want me to pay them for a membership to get my articles published with them. WHAT?
Since when do magazines no longer pay contributing writers, and instead charge them? Not a magazine I’m willing to write for… or read for that matter, now that I know that it’s not a magazine but an advertisement system.
Is this the way that many magazines have gone? Or have I encountered the odd one out?
Stressful week.
Posted: July 13, 2012 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: life, stress 3 CommentsOn Tuesday I spent eleven hours, yes, 11 hours, sitting in the Ambulatory Surgery waiting room in a VA Hospital. The first five were while my other half had cervical disk replacement surgery. I am certain those hours were the most stressful I’ve ever had. I was so uptight and worried that I couldn’t even read. That’s saying something for me, since I’ve always used reading to escape from whatever life issue I didn’t want to deal with.
The last six hours were waiting for him to come out of recovery. Yes, six hours in recovery. In the end, they didn’t release him like planned, his pain was harder to control than they expected and they ended up keeping him overnight. My mom had our kids, so I was able to stay with him in his room.
They released him late on Wednesday, but he wasn’t feeling well enough to make the 4 hour ride home, so we ended up staying in a hotel. 2 adults, 3 kids and 1 five-month old lab puppy. We ended up with two rooms in order to keep the hyper puppy away from the still hurting patient. Yesterday we came home. I was never so glad to see my house, and my bed.
Things are still in a bit of an upheaval, but it’s getting better. I’m starting to be able to talk to my voices again. I was in so much internal turmoil that they just weren’t talking to me. Now they’re realizing that things are okay and talking to me again. I know things are right when my mental friends talk to me.
