Blogging Resolutions

My blogging resolution:

1. Blog at least once in 2012.




I DID IT!!! HOORAY!!!

I Have A Blog?

HI THERE.

I haven't been blogging lately, but it's okay because I've been writing lots and lots! The transition from FINISHING A BOOK to STARTING A NEW BOOK is always hard. Because writing a book is always hard. And my immediate feelings after finishing a book are pretty much: I have to do that all AGAIN?

Starting a new book feels impossible-- all that work, all those hours in the old world, and now I have to start from scratch??

It takes a while to knock that impossible down to a "well, I should at least try..."

And then all it takes is a good idea, and you're all, "THIS IS THE BEST STORY EVER!"

(Unless you can't decide between five ideas, because they're all 'the best story ever'. Then things get a little tricky.)

But today I'm focusing on one idea, the one I'm currently working on. I'm still getting a feel for it, so I thought I'd try something my friend Jade has done and collect some visual inspiration.

The story I'm working on is called The Apocalypse of Holo Hathaway. This is what it's about:

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And now I'm off to write!
<3

Harry Potter Deluge

Oh Harry Potter.

I have no words.

So here are a bunch of funny videos I found on Youtube.

New Story

I'm officially starting a new book today, though it's not a new idea. In fact... *searches notes for date* it seems I had the original idea for this story sometime around June 20th, 2010. Just over a year ago.

Most of my ideas come about this way. They hit me, I develop them a little, then I set them aside. Months or even years later I find myself drawn to the story again. Maybe I've thought of something that will make it EPIC. Maybe I finally realized who should really be narrating. Or maybe I'm smashing two old ideas together to create something shiny and new.

This is just how I work. Apparently. It's been this way for everything I've written. The book I just finished had the longest gap-- the original idea came to me in 2008 and I just finished it in June 2011. Yeah.

So now I'm writing Seven Days. It's young adult fantasy (of course) and I'm really excited about it. It's all planned and plotted (side note: I LOVE SCRIVENER) and I'm hoping to get a complete draft down in four months: July, Aug, Sept, Oct. That way I can set it aside and draft something new in November. That's right, I'm already planning NaNoWriMo.

So far I have about 3K words down. I've been playing with the opening scenes these last few weeks to keep my mind off of STUFF *cough querying cough* and I'm happy with what I have so far!

My goal for July is to get Seven Days to 20K words. Totally manageable, especially with the help of my lovely assistants, Scrivener and caffeine. I CAN DO ANYTHING.

Okay. Time to write.

What are your summer writing plans? I AM CURIOUS.

Into The Trenches

I'm going to send out some queries today. Maybe. Probably. Yes. Well.... YES. Okay.

I'm nervous. But it's more an I-don't-know-what-will-happen-now sort of nervous. I'm pretty sure some agents will like my book, I'm just a little scared that they won't LOVE it enough to represent it.

On the flip side, I'm actually quite excited to send my book out. I probably won't have a heart attack. It was scarier sending the ms to my crit partners, because they were the first people EVER to read it. Now I've taken their feedback and made the book even harder/better/faster/stronger. (Yeah, I'm listening to Daft Punk to get pumped up.)

So. Into the query trenches I go.

Why does it feel like I'm heading into war? I need some face paint and a spear. RAWR.

Now What?

I finished my final revisions. All of them. The book is done DONE. So I'm setting it aside for a week (at least) and then I'll do one last read through and ship it off.

...And then what? I've spent hours every single day for the last 8 months working on this book or thinking of this book or just generally being consumed by this book. And now it's done. It's such a strange feeling. When I was revising I could make plans, I could write "fix chapter 36" on my calendar and then do it. It just feels weird writing "relax" on my calendar and then sitting around anxiously because I've got to relax! the calendar says so! but I can't! Aurughh.

Anyway. You know when you have a story idea, but when you start typing it down it's just not coming together the way it does in your head? In your head it's all shiny and perfect but on paper it is... not. Well, it didn't start out that way, but I've finally molded this book into the best representation of my intangible shiny story idea.

So of course it's doubly terrifying. Because what if people still don't like it? And also, how on earth am I going to do it all again?

I think I'm on the right track. Actually, I've been really strangely productive lately. I don't know if the stars are aligned right or Mercury is in retrograde* or maybe someone's just been spiking my coffee with Productive Juice (which sounds kinda weird and gross, so I'm not use that term ever again.)

The point is this: Yesterday was my first day of vacation after finishing. And I spent the day reading Red Glove and writing 1K words on a new project. So I guess that's the kind of thing I'm going to do now. I'm cool with that.


*I looked it up. Mercury is not in retrograde, and also, when Mercury is in retrograde it has something to do with communications becoming confused or jumbled, so it's probably not a contributing factor to my productivity. It was neat though, because I learned what 'retrograde' meant. Did you guys know planets move backwards and stuff?? Wild.

One Week

I'm a planner. I find I just work better with a specific order of tasks. Maybe it's all the years of juggling last minute homework assignments (I can do math during biology, English during math, and then I'll ditch gym to do this psych report). Maybe it's all the years of working in a restaurant (I need to greet table 21, put in this order, drop off this bill, then bring ranch to table 11.) It's kind of become a habit at this point.

But I don't always stick to the plans. It's just a security thing. It's like the way I outline-- I need to start with a map showing me how to get from point A to point B. But if I leave point A and find a different better route along the way, you bet I'm taking it. The plan isn't set in stone. It's just something to fall back on if needed.

(I also plan other things, like what I would use as a weapon in the zombie apocalypse, or what window would be the best to jump from if the front door was on fire.)(I don't know why the front door is on fire. Maybe I pissed off my neighbors. Or maybe it was the zombies! They're evolving, adapting. We're gonna need bigger weapons.)

Anyway. I also plan my writing schedule. My old plan was:
1) Final revisions off beta feedback
2) Final read
3) Query

My new plan?
1) Final revisions off beta feedback
2) Pause
3) Final read
4) Query

I don't want to rush. Two years ago I queried my first ms before it was ready. Even though it's a very well known piece of advice-- DON'T QUERY UNTIL YOU'RE READY. (DUH.)

I guess it was just one of those things I had to learn myself, experience myself. It was my first completed ms. I wanted so badly to get it out there! I queried with the hope that an agent would see beyond its flaws and offer rep and help me fix it. And every time an agent requested a partial or full, I would spend the day re-reading and editing before sending it off.

Um. Yeah. I was kinda clueless.

This time when I query, I'm going to be totally sure that what I'm sending out is the best thing I can send out.

And right now I'm feeling like it's really close. I'm excited about it. I'm confident about it. I'll finish my final revisions, I'll polish it and make it shine and get it to the point that I would query it.

And then I'll put it aside for a week. One week. Then after a week of not thinking about the ms, I'll do a final read. My goal is to do this final read and not feel compelled to change anything. If I can do that, then I'll be ready.

One week.

It's not a long time, but I think it's just enough of a pause to be sure.

I mean, I've already spent eight months on the thing. I can wait one more week.

Now I just have to come up with a plan for that week of waiting. I'm thinking it will involve reading books. Lots and lots and lots of books. Yeah. Good plan.