What's Up Wednesday 7/9/14

Yea! It's time for the What's Up Wednesday weekly blog hop created Jaime Morrow and  Erin Funk. Thank you both for connecting writers together, this is great!


WHAT I'M READING

I had a plan, I downloaded the book and everything. And then I found an even newer, shinier book. So now I'm addicted to Defiance by C. J. Redwine. I figure the series should keep me busy for a good while.

 




WHAT I'M WRITING

Still working on edits for WiP, I can almost see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm still dragging. I also re-wrote my query letter with the help of Shannon Messenger's Shannon Style Series. I'm revising it to upload to AbsoluteWrite and get some feedback today.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

A deadline. Midwest Writer's Conference is two weeks away, and I want to have as much as I can ready to go. That includes my query letter, my synopsis, and an edited first draft (or as much as I can manage). We'll see how much of that I can get done.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

Our family got to take a fun camping trip for the 4th of July. My kids had a great time with both sets of grandparents, an aunt and uncle, and their favorite cousin Rosie! And I got to have a great time hanging out with my baby sister. The big highlight of the trip was watching her fiancé save a man from drowning. I am still in awe of how quickly he responded, with no training whatsoever, just pure instinct.

I can't wait to hear from the rest of you!

Ready, Set, WRITE! 2014 Week 5

RSW is a summer writing intensive hosted by Jaime Morrow, Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, and Erin Funk. You can sign up on the linky at any of the host blogs every Monday. Remember to encourage other participants too! For more info on RSW and a link to the lovely buttons, go here.

1. How I did on last week’s goals
Oh my, very poorly. I was very excited to have a three day camping weekend away (hence the water button). There would be tons of grandparents around that wanted time with the kids and I thought I might get some time for writing. Unfortunately, I only got one chapter revised, but a lot of time to just be (and some time to read).

2. My goal(s) for this week
Now I get to play catch up and freak out.

• Revise two chapters in WIP
• Revise query letter
• Revise synopsis

 
3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised."Life does not work as in the stories that mothers tell their children. This is real life and I am accepting my lot in it."4. The biggest challenge I faced this week.
My husband lovingly demanded that I put my laptop away and just breathe for the weekend. It was good for my family, but I had expected to revise two extra chapters on the trip. Now I am in a hurry because Midwest Writer's Conference is in two weeks and I want to have as much as I can ready to take with me.

5. Something I love about my WiP.
Raw emotion. Sometimes while writing/reading it feels like I am in the emotions of my characters. It's an incredible feeling.

I can't wait to hear from others. How did you do this week?
  
 

What's Up Wednesday 7/2/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created Jaime Morrow and  Erin Funk, to help connect writers on this writing journey. Thank you both for connecting us all, this is great!


WHAT I'M READING

At the recommendation of Katie Conigliaro @paperbackplanes I downloaded Graceling by Kristen Cashore. I plan on reading that during my 4th of July camping trip.

WHAT I'M WRITING

Halfway through editing my WIP, an adult fairy tale. I just finished the pivotal scene that takes everything in a different direction. I am hoping to plan out my next MS on my camping trip or at least narrow down my choices. Maybe I'll put up a poll to ask for help!

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

My sucky job inspires me to finish this MS up. I need a little something to look forward to, even if it is rejection. And Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is on. Always good. :)
And the song When the Love Runs Out. It fits in really well with the chapter I'm editing.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

This week has pretty much been planning and packing for camping. I'm hoping to get some writing done in the peaceful quiet, but it doesn't always work out for me. At least I'll get to hang with the family. And I'm making lemon raspberry Jell-O shots. So I got that to look forward to.

Ready, Set, WRITE! (Week 4, or 1 for me!)

So I just found out about this wonderful opportunity and thought I might try my hand at it. Thank you to the wonderful women who set RSW up: Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Erin Funk, and Jamie Morrow.

HOW I DID ON LAST WEEK'S GOALS

I am chocking it up to a big fat failure. I had intended to revise multiple chapters and I only finished one, but it was a big one.

MY GOALS FOR THIS WEEK

Revise three chapters of WIP.

ONE PHRASE THAT SUMS UP WHAT I WROTE

 

Torture gets you answers, just maybe not the ones you seek.

THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE I FACED THIS WEEK

 

 

A sinus infection has me sleeping during most of my available writing time.

 

SOMETHING I LOVE ABOUT MY WIP

 

On of my supporting characters is so funny I get excited every time he comes into a scene.

My Writing Life, otherwise known as my second job

I remember thinking how hard it was to find time for writing, even when I was doing it for fun. I would write in the small crevices I could carve out of my work day. It was just write, write, write. Now, writing is a second job. 

Once I decided I was going to try and publish my novel, I went from hobbyist to author. I can no longer just sit idle and plop out some words on a keyboard and hope that Word catches all my spelling errors. Of course, it wasn't until I started going to critique group that I learned how truly atrocious my grammar actually was. Now I have so much more.

The day the first draft ended is the day the real work began. That was the day the revising began. Ah yes, the slow, painful process of revising. But then I didn't really know what that meant, so it led me to internet research. So I read a bunch of articles about how to revise a novel, and then I set out to apply them.

 You're also supposed to find a critique group. My in depth internet searching led me to some online critique groups. I started critting, but then I found an actual, real, live, in-person group. And I met them and they are awesome. Two things came out of this group: 1. my technique sucks and 2. this was going to take a long time. The critique group only reviews 3 people per week and 1 chapter/3000 words per person. So it was going to take a while to get through the critiquing portion.

It hasn't turned out so bad though because I was about halfway through revisions when I got my first real critique back and realized that I had a lot more work to do. So I started from the beginning and worked my way through again. I read more, I critiqued more, and I learned more. In a way, it is just as fun to me as the first draft was, in other ways it is more frustrating because the work keeps piling up.

 Now all through this process I have been researching the publishing world. Researching agents, what they are looking for, how do you get one; in general, what makes this whole process work. And then I found out about this dreaded query letter. And oh, what a dread it is. First, I read through so much Query Shark I thought I might go blind. Then I put it all in the back of my head and got back to revising. After giving it some pause, I wrote one out myself. I have been through countless revisions myself before I decided to put it out there and get feedback. After some wonderful critique there, I re-wrote it, again. Needless to say, it still needs a lot of work. And this is just more time away from the revisions.

There are so many other little nuances of the writing world that you can’t overlook either. You have to build a platform, write a blog, get on the tweeter, be a literary steward, and other stuff I’m sure I’m forgetting about. The point is, they’re all there for a reason. Because being an author isn’t just about throwing some words down on a page and calling it a masterpiece. It’s about turning your piece of crap into a masterpiece with time. 

Each little step gets me a little bit closer to my goal. And at the end, I want to put something out there that I'm proud of, not just some crap that I finished up really quick. So I guess this is my long-winded way of saying, do the work, it's worth it.

Author's Note: I forgot the most important one. READ READ READ

My Other Woman

Alas, it is time to come clean about my other dirty little secret...

It's my garden. And she's beautiful and fun and spunky. After sitting inside all winter, shut out from the bitter cold, having a little fun outside is where it's at! Look at her, she's gorgeous.

Ok, so not really my garden, but you get the gist.

But it's hard to feel good about it when I feel so traitorous inside. I love my novel and I love writing, but at this time of year it's just too nice to not be outside. And yet every time I go outside and put on my purple garden gloves I feel like I'm cheating on my book.

She's like my wife and she's always there and she's comfortable. I get her out every night and play with her a bit, but she's the same boring screen every night. It's the same words, just reading them over and over and over.

Then there's my mistress and she's calling my name. She's colorful and blossoming right before my eyes and I can do all kinds of new things. It's different and vibrant and it makes me feel alive again.

And it makes me feel like a cheater. A dirty little cheater. I promised my novel the world. I was going to have her edited by the end of April and we were going to ride off into submission world together. It was going to be magical.

And then SHE came along and ruined our plans. SHE made me go out and weed all the gardens so she would look just right. SHE made me go to Cox's and buy her all kinds of new plants to pretty her up. SHE is going to take time away each week to make sure she's watered and dined and all the mean little weeds stay away from her. SHE is my demanding little mistress and I CAN'T STAY AWAY!

What do I get in return from my dirty little mistress? A flared up nasal cavity and postnasal drip. She gave me allergies. I had to go get tested and pricked all over my back just so they could say, "yes, you are allergic to all things green. Please stay away from outside." But I can't. I can't stay away from her, she calls to me every night.

What's worse is that it makes me lie to my novel, my poor, devoted wife. No, no honey, I'll get you finished up by May and then we'll go on submission. Oh wait, you want another chapter revised? Well, we'll see if you can get finished up by June.

But I'm going to do it tonight. I am devoted to my novel and we are going to re-write this entire chapter with a glass of pink Catawba and it's going to be fricken magical!

Unless my husband has anything to say about this. He's rolling his eyes at me right now. I think he thinks my novel is my mistress, I'm not sure how that all fits in...

 

 

Thank you www.all-free-download.com and www.reactiongifs.com for the media.

Finding inspiration in the oddest of places

So on day 6 of my April plan and I had some mixed success. But to be fair, the first week of April was much crazier than I could have imagined and I felt about this way about writing:

It's slowly coming back, very slowly. But I've accomplished a few things that are on the list. I now have a very rough query and synopsis. And I've made a lot of improvements to my plot and writing style. I just have been a little negligent on the editing part.

What I have found is that inspiration come to me in the oddest of places. One day I was out in the garden and all of the sudden I was struck with a brilliant idea for a new scene that tied together a few things that have been plaguing me for months. This became my inspiration:

If you're asking what that is, it's a bucket of worms. One of my very few hobbies aside from writing is my gardening and part of that is vermicomposting. Which means I have two worm buckets that do all my composting for me. And in the spring I get to dig in the dirt and collect every worm I can find. It's so much fun. Ok, maybe it's just me. But it's mindless, I get to clear my head of anything except dirt and finding those ever elusive worms. And once my head is clear and I'm not thinking about work or what my kids glued to the wall or my grocery shopping list, my imagination finally come out to play. The trick is transferring that to my computer after I got inside and had to cook dinner and put my kids to bed!

Then I had another little push on my plane ride home last night. I had spent three days in DC working pretty much non-stop. (Including some drinking with clients, always important.) I was exhausted. My brain was fried.

And then they closed the cabin doors and I had to turn my phone into airplane mode and put my laptop away. I tried to sleep, but I was too wired. And it hit me. I should work on that synopsis I've been putting off.

And by the time we landed I had a workable synopsis. Every time I started to do something else, push that evil twitter button or whatever else, I couldn't. I was cut off from the online world. It was just me and my writing app on my phone. And it was glorious. Now I can't wait for the next time I have uninterrupted time to myself when I can just sit down and focus. Get this novel finished so I can get started on the next one!

Where can you find your happy place?

**Super thanks to http://www.reactiongifs.com/ for the GIFs. The worm picture is totally mine though. **