I have been inspired by an authors blog. Yesterday her entire content was a day in the life of a full time writer. It was awesome. Made me understand that I am not the only one who gets distracted by things when I'm supposed to be working. Like right now. I wont do that day in the life b/c 1. I'm not full time. and 2. it would be ssuuuuuuuuper boring to follow me in a day. I want to get readers, not scare them away.
I'm supposed to be editing this super charged fight scene with my fav. character of this book and my MC. They aren't fighting each other. Shes actually having to save my fav.'s butt right now which, is awesome. Go her!
But instead of finishing the last 12 pages i have in my possession right now to be fixed, I'm here.
What's making it even harder is this dang music on at work. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE this spa channel on Sirius but MAN is it making me sleepy! It's super hard to focus when every five minutes you're having to blink away yawn-tears.
Today, i have been good though. Gotten through 5 pages, which is saying a lot for a busy Thursday at work. (Thursdays our Friday so everyone wants to get in before the weekend) It makes me pumped to be in this scene of my book and nearing the climax.
Up until now my MC has been just going along with things. But now, she's pissed (for lack of a better description) Sick of going along all la-la-la, she's had enough. And i love that. She turned herself into such a bad ass there at the end, which i didn't intend to happen when i set out.
As previously mentioned, I DONT plot out my books. I know how they begin and a vague idea of how they should end but the middle is always a mystery and sometimes, as it did in this one, the ending i got and the ending i planned were very different.
It's a lot harder for me to pound it out when i already know whats going on. It's much much much more fun when you just sit down with a blank screen and just go. Let your characters take you on their journey. SO FUN! (can't you tell I'm pumped up today)
Action scenes get me going.
This is the most I have ever written about my main book. This is weird for me, but I'm kinda diggin' it.
I am getting more into editing this then i was in the beginning just because of what I am learning along the way with my own writing. Its neat to be able to recognize the lessons and techniques I'm being taught by nothing more than a line through my words, an arrow pulling two sentences into one, or an X through certain unnecessary things I just added as FLUFF. Damn fluff...
So far all my fluff that has been cut has taken up 2.5 pages of my book. 2.5 pages of JUNK have been cut! I'm both thrilled about this and frustrated. I was supposed to be this perfect writer, man! (ha) Oh well. I can't imagine how much time and words I'm going to save in the future with all that I am learning though.
Got down on myself for a while, I hate to admit. But lately I have a renewed sense of faith. Something I needed. I believe, what I had forgotten, that whatever happens, I am on the road I'm meant to be on. (hows that for comma usage) I must believe that, no matter what.
I feel in my heart, my bones, and my head that writing is what I need to do. I need it like air. I need it to stay sane. I love it. I want to write for the rest of my life. Nothing makes me as happy to do as writing does. ahhh...to write...Doesn't matter if I never break out (knock on wood, call the fortune teller, someone mix me up a good luck potion) I really really WANT to make it, but I wont jump off a cliff if not, ya know?
But, I do need to get my boy out of trouble right now. And also finish up my work for the week..humph.
Happy Weekend! I WILL finish these pages!
How many times did I use "Super" in this thing anway!?
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Gettin' Down, Business Style
This gal,http://bethrevis.blogspot.com/2010/07/from-this-side-of-fence.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WritingItOut+%28writing+it+out%29, I haven't actually read her book yet, I'm sorry to say, BUT i love her blog. Shes so funny and so real. As I was reading her recent post today what stuck out at me was this: "And it worked. (I mean, not at first. I got rejected at first. A lot. But that was because my book sucked, not because of my query letter.)"
She SUCKED? no way! i couldn't believe that even based on her blogging skills. But then again, I suck a lot myself. I feel I have value in my story telling skills and imagination for a story but my GOSH does my grammar and knowledge of how to construct a good sentence SUCK. I have a bad habit of writing fluffy sentences cause they sound intense in my head and pretty but then someone else reads it and they don't read it the same way I intended it to sound so it makes no sense that way. which makes me laugh more than brings me down when i have to try and make sense of it later when my reader asks "wth mate?" and I have to re-read the whole page just to figure out what i meant. But all that blather to say, its nice to know I'm not to only one out there that has this fluffy problem. and its nice to know someone else out there knew as little as i did when they started out.
my advice for today is to become a ghost, so to speak, of blogs. Writers blogs, editors blogs, agent blogs, etc. any blog that has any legit value to the whole writing deal-y, Haunt them. you don't have to be an invisible ghost like I am most of the time but haunt their every word non-the-less. I spend half my day (that I'm supposed to be editing my book...ehem) on reading up on all the how-to's, advice from people who know, and, my favorite, WritersDigest.com and have learned so much valuable information off them, I cant even begin to express it.
This weekend was a wash for me with writing. My husband and I took a much needed vacation to a pretty good amusement park. He almost got mugged outside the hotel (that was an interesting and scary few minutes lemme tell ya) We ate some amazing food, laughed and played around like big kids, and had much fun. We wont be going back there again just b/c it wasnt THAT great a park and stuff but we made the best of the whole weekend anyway.
so all that to say, I did NOTHING on any book. Though I did, finally, figure out the proper way to -- in a book. So now I have to go back and fix all the-- (there is a difference. I promise) but i learned that from reading! reading is the best way to learn! I know I have been told before how to -- but, obviously, forgot or didn't properly learn at that time.
Happy Monday! I'm bruised, sunburned, and my shoes smell like cat pee which i didn't notice until 2 hours into work. only 8 more hours in pee smelling flats to go...>_> but I can't even say I'm too upset about it. Can't let little things get ya down. Gonna rub my shoes down with lotion and hope no one gets to close to me to notice.
I recommend adding WritersDigest on your twitter if you want some GREAT updates everyday on good things to read. They have articles and blogs for everything you could ever want!
Who's your daily blog haunt?
She SUCKED? no way! i couldn't believe that even based on her blogging skills. But then again, I suck a lot myself. I feel I have value in my story telling skills and imagination for a story but my GOSH does my grammar and knowledge of how to construct a good sentence SUCK. I have a bad habit of writing fluffy sentences cause they sound intense in my head and pretty but then someone else reads it and they don't read it the same way I intended it to sound so it makes no sense that way. which makes me laugh more than brings me down when i have to try and make sense of it later when my reader asks "wth mate?" and I have to re-read the whole page just to figure out what i meant. But all that blather to say, its nice to know I'm not to only one out there that has this fluffy problem. and its nice to know someone else out there knew as little as i did when they started out.
my advice for today is to become a ghost, so to speak, of blogs. Writers blogs, editors blogs, agent blogs, etc. any blog that has any legit value to the whole writing deal-y, Haunt them. you don't have to be an invisible ghost like I am most of the time but haunt their every word non-the-less. I spend half my day (that I'm supposed to be editing my book...ehem) on reading up on all the how-to's, advice from people who know, and, my favorite, WritersDigest.com and have learned so much valuable information off them, I cant even begin to express it.
This weekend was a wash for me with writing. My husband and I took a much needed vacation to a pretty good amusement park. He almost got mugged outside the hotel (that was an interesting and scary few minutes lemme tell ya) We ate some amazing food, laughed and played around like big kids, and had much fun. We wont be going back there again just b/c it wasnt THAT great a park and stuff but we made the best of the whole weekend anyway.
so all that to say, I did NOTHING on any book. Though I did, finally, figure out the proper way to -- in a book. So now I have to go back and fix all the-- (there is a difference. I promise) but i learned that from reading! reading is the best way to learn! I know I have been told before how to -- but, obviously, forgot or didn't properly learn at that time.
Happy Monday! I'm bruised, sunburned, and my shoes smell like cat pee which i didn't notice until 2 hours into work. only 8 more hours in pee smelling flats to go...>_> but I can't even say I'm too upset about it. Can't let little things get ya down. Gonna rub my shoes down with lotion and hope no one gets to close to me to notice.
I recommend adding WritersDigest on your twitter if you want some GREAT updates everyday on good things to read. They have articles and blogs for everything you could ever want!
Who's your daily blog haunt?
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The sweet spot
Going to make this short today.
So, with my weekend about to start in an hour and twenty three minutes i have been psyching myself up to get ready to do some hard core editing. I plan to do it every weekend but somehow i never manage to. And then on Monday i beat myself up about it.
I want to get done. I want to have it read by a writer friend, and read it for my writers group SOON. My deadline for the whole thing is to have it finished and be querying before i turn 25 (January) so i need to get moving. Before i know it, time will be up.
Time FLIES when youre going through this whole process. I swear, I have never experienced anything like it. It seems like only a few months ago I decided to really give writing a shot, and now its almost two years later!
Anyway, with the impending weekend, and my impending disappointment in myself, I decided to try and so a search on Google to see where the best places to really focus on writing are. And I got the most obvious, duh, answer.
ANYWHERE. Anywhere is a great place to write. Coffee shops, on the couch, at the kitchen table, in the library, on a sidewalk bench, in a restaurant, ANYWHERE. And when I thought about it I wanted to smack myself. Derp. Of course.
MY problem isn't where it's the how. When im at home on a pretty day i want to be out in it. Sitting on the porch with my cats and the rain was lovely last weekend but i kept getting distracted by the kitties antics. When my husbands home and the TV is on and its almost dinner time you can bet i cant write a word.
So wherever you are you have got to be able to focus, to lose yourself in your writing and you have got to find your sweet spot.
For me, as an artist, i have known my rhythm and sweet spot for 13 years. I just never took my best drawing/painting mode time and transferred it into writing.
Midnight to four AM i have always done my best, nose to the grindstone, art, so this weekend I intend to apply that to writing. Stay up late, and really bust out some word magic!
Right now, however, I'm going to get my work done and count down the last hour of the work week. Huzzah!
When and where do you do your best work?
So, with my weekend about to start in an hour and twenty three minutes i have been psyching myself up to get ready to do some hard core editing. I plan to do it every weekend but somehow i never manage to. And then on Monday i beat myself up about it.
I want to get done. I want to have it read by a writer friend, and read it for my writers group SOON. My deadline for the whole thing is to have it finished and be querying before i turn 25 (January) so i need to get moving. Before i know it, time will be up.
Time FLIES when youre going through this whole process. I swear, I have never experienced anything like it. It seems like only a few months ago I decided to really give writing a shot, and now its almost two years later!
Anyway, with the impending weekend, and my impending disappointment in myself, I decided to try and so a search on Google to see where the best places to really focus on writing are. And I got the most obvious, duh, answer.
ANYWHERE. Anywhere is a great place to write. Coffee shops, on the couch, at the kitchen table, in the library, on a sidewalk bench, in a restaurant, ANYWHERE. And when I thought about it I wanted to smack myself. Derp. Of course.
MY problem isn't where it's the how. When im at home on a pretty day i want to be out in it. Sitting on the porch with my cats and the rain was lovely last weekend but i kept getting distracted by the kitties antics. When my husbands home and the TV is on and its almost dinner time you can bet i cant write a word.
So wherever you are you have got to be able to focus, to lose yourself in your writing and you have got to find your sweet spot.
For me, as an artist, i have known my rhythm and sweet spot for 13 years. I just never took my best drawing/painting mode time and transferred it into writing.
Midnight to four AM i have always done my best, nose to the grindstone, art, so this weekend I intend to apply that to writing. Stay up late, and really bust out some word magic!
Right now, however, I'm going to get my work done and count down the last hour of the work week. Huzzah!
When and where do you do your best work?
Monday, July 5, 2010
Happy Fourth, well thats my excuse.
In light of the holiday weekend i did absolutely nothing by way of my projects. Though i did start a new idea but you would think i would get done the first 2 before that but no...not me.
Sitting down to edit is like sitting down to get my teeth cleaned. Its never the biggest joy in my life. But oh, how it is necessary. As much as i dont want to, i wouldnt trust it to anyone else.
Revisions/editing is not fun, to me, though some enjoy it i am not one. But the thought of giving it to someone to make the changes for me makes my hands sweat. Its mine. My baby. My creation. My vision. I want to be the only one who says what gets changed(in this stage of the books)
Now i realize, as any writer will have to realize, that in the end you can either take the advice of your agent and/or publishers or not. And that decision could be the deciding factor in getting your book published or not. Its a fine line between the two choices. But this early on i want to be the only one deciding.
What sentences i like phrased my way or my editors, what sequences i like or dont like anymore etc. I want to be the only one who gives my work the ax or the love. you know? Later on someone else can say what will and wont work and ill decide then too, but then it will be life or death in the end for my book.
So what is it that i hate about editing? I lack focus to just sit down and pound it out. Which is a flaw, big flaw, i need to work on. When im at work i get distracted by, well, work. When im at home i think of all the things i could/need to be doing rather than sitting on my duff in front of the computer.
But, its ingrained in me that cleaning, errands, etc should be a priority over sitting on the computer. Its hard to make your second nature understand that while i may be ignoring other things working on my book is just as, neh, more important. So, ill work on that.
What also got neglected this holiday weekend was my portrait of Mr. Matthew Gray Gubler. Donno him? look him up. Do know him? isnt he nice looking. ^_^ I love an interesting face. One day ill get my husband to sit still long enough to get a good picture to draw. He has an interesting face too. The most beautiful faces are interesting.
Might post Mr Gubler when he is done. We'll see.
For now i must find some fire to burn out this procrastinating poison. any ideas?
Whats the best way to beat the procrastination bug? How do you get motivated?
Sitting down to edit is like sitting down to get my teeth cleaned. Its never the biggest joy in my life. But oh, how it is necessary. As much as i dont want to, i wouldnt trust it to anyone else.
Revisions/editing is not fun, to me, though some enjoy it i am not one. But the thought of giving it to someone to make the changes for me makes my hands sweat. Its mine. My baby. My creation. My vision. I want to be the only one who says what gets changed(in this stage of the books)
Now i realize, as any writer will have to realize, that in the end you can either take the advice of your agent and/or publishers or not. And that decision could be the deciding factor in getting your book published or not. Its a fine line between the two choices. But this early on i want to be the only one deciding.
What sentences i like phrased my way or my editors, what sequences i like or dont like anymore etc. I want to be the only one who gives my work the ax or the love. you know? Later on someone else can say what will and wont work and ill decide then too, but then it will be life or death in the end for my book.
So what is it that i hate about editing? I lack focus to just sit down and pound it out. Which is a flaw, big flaw, i need to work on. When im at work i get distracted by, well, work. When im at home i think of all the things i could/need to be doing rather than sitting on my duff in front of the computer.
But, its ingrained in me that cleaning, errands, etc should be a priority over sitting on the computer. Its hard to make your second nature understand that while i may be ignoring other things working on my book is just as, neh, more important. So, ill work on that.
What also got neglected this holiday weekend was my portrait of Mr. Matthew Gray Gubler. Donno him? look him up. Do know him? isnt he nice looking. ^_^ I love an interesting face. One day ill get my husband to sit still long enough to get a good picture to draw. He has an interesting face too. The most beautiful faces are interesting.
Might post Mr Gubler when he is done. We'll see.
For now i must find some fire to burn out this procrastinating poison. any ideas?
Whats the best way to beat the procrastination bug? How do you get motivated?
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