If you ask any writer (or artist [or human being]), they'll say that 2017 was a rough year. Full of distractions and worry and dread. Yet despite all of that, we kept on keeping on. I'm not exception - while I wasted countless hours on what-ifs and not sleeping, the work still had to be… Continue reading Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018
Category: Writing
How to cut 20,000 Words
First - and this is the most important step - write a novel that is 35,000 words too long. Be told by several people that you really ought to cut some of that. Agonize over every word for a month and manage to cut 15,000 words. Rejoice! Realize that the novel is still 20,000 words… Continue reading How to cut 20,000 Words
Ending Stats for Book One
Started writing: November 1, 2016 Manuscript sent: June 27, 2017 Total days: 239 I.E.: 7.9 months Percentage of days spent writing: 94% Estimated days spent writing: 224 Average hours/day: 2.4 Average hours of sleep/day: hahahaha Number of drafts: 4 Word count of draft one (aka draft zero): 56,649 Word count of draft two (aka draft… Continue reading Ending Stats for Book One
When is it “finished?”
As of Friday, Book One is done. And yet it's not really "finished," per se. It's sitting quietly on my harddrive, resting and dreaming, before I slog through it for one last read-through, then it'll be off to my editor who may (or may not) tear it apart and declare it an abomination. Either way,… Continue reading When is it “finished?”
#amediting – Make it Bleed
The best decision I've made so far with this round of edits - aside from, you know, doing them - was to turn on Track Changes. Now whenever I feel like I'm treading water and getting nowhere, all I have to do is flip to "show all markup" and see just how much I've done.… Continue reading #amediting – Make it Bleed
Stop! – It’s Beta Time!
Betas, man. What would we do without them? They're magical creatures, willing to take the time out of their days, weeks, (months?), to glance over an unpolished manuscript and not only give feedback, but give supporting details and thoughts and comments and maybe - hopefully - a few ideas on what they think might help.… Continue reading Stop! – It’s Beta Time!
The Final Countdown
I've hit the final stretch which means I just want to be done already. If there were writing goblins, I would leave out whatever fruit or knick-knacks they desired to finish this for me. I can see the end in sight, but I still have to get there. In the meantime, I've reached the previous… Continue reading The Final Countdown
Accountability and Stars
The way I've held myself accountable over the years has shifted a bit. In the very beginning, there was NaNoWriMo and its daily word count goals coupled with an awesome little graph that rose slowly, encouragingly, over the course of a month. Outside of November, I tried to replicate that beautiful graph by plunking my… Continue reading Accountability and Stars
The Nitty Gritties
The baby is sleeping better and the days are gradually lengthening. I can see an end in sight. The threads of this story are coming together, tight and snug, while at the same time the notepad I have open on my desktop continues to accumulate little changes - tone shift here, reordering a scene there,… Continue reading The Nitty Gritties
Write when Baby Writes
Another week, another 10,000 words closer to my goal, another seven days closer to my deadline, another notch up on the panic scale. I think we're around abouts purple, going on plaid. Thankfully, I do my best work while panicking. It's also good for the skin! (No, no it's not.) Despite a week of horrendous… Continue reading Write when Baby Writes
