Summer Reading

Ah, summer is here! And that means more time for reading. I am currently reading CITY OF BONES and love it so much I bought the sequel today. Here is my list of books I will (fingers crossed) have read by September.

City of Bones
City of Ashes
City of Glass - need to buy!
The rest of the Sookie Stackhouse books, I've read the first 5
The Time Traveler's Wife
Gemma
The Reader
Revolutionary Road

And in addition to writing my goal is to have SEAWEEDS edited, revised, queried and ready for agents by the end of summer too. And have a first draft of my WIP. :-)

POV

There are times I love the first person narrative and other times I hate it. 36K into a new novel and I'm debating whether to switch to 3rd person or add a second voice to the narration or keep it as it is. Sometimes I love my character's voice. Like this:

My brain told me to get out of the shower. My heart told me to stay. Which one was closer to my groin?

“Please,” she said. “Just hold me. Hold me like you love me.”

Had she ever been held that way before? Had I?

After releasing a held breath, I looped my arms around her waist; the cold of her belly pressed against my hips. She curled her hands over her chest and leaned into me. She was slouching enough that I was able to rest my chin on the top of her head. This didn’t feel as wrong as it should have felt.

Nice, but then there are sections that are just blah blah. My main character is trying to keep up with everything around him, the many (and there are many!) characters and sub-plots. Can he do it?

Or rather, can I write it?

changes

So, I haven't been able to write much in the last few weeks due to a few changes in my life. I moved back home to my parents' house after being on my own for 10 months. I'm still trying to figure out how I exactly feel about the situation. The first word that comes to mind is relief. I'll be able to save some money this summer and take my time finding my next place to live. I'm not going to rush into anything anymore.

Speaking of rushing...I think it's my biggest problem when it comes to writing. I am a rusher!!!!! I push myself way too hard. The average writer spends at least 6 months on a novel, some spend up to 2 years. I can hammer out a first draft in two months. I get excited by my speed and the product, and of course having everyone I know read it, but it's not benefiting me in the long run. Every time I query a book, I think to myself "This is my best work!" And then months later, when no agent has shown any interest, I think "I wished I'd spend more time editing and revising and tweaking my query." By then I'm on to my next project and thus the cycle starts all over again.

So, my newest novel is about to be given to friends to read. And I've put a limit on myself not to query any agent until August. No matter how perfect I think the book is, I need time to separate myself from it, and revise it later. They'll always be mistakes to fix.

That's it for now. The other change in my life is having a new part time job in fall teaching at a new studio!!! Yay!


So, for

motivation

So I finished writing a novel about a month ago and I've been editing it on and off since. I'm so close to having a semi-solid first draft, but I can't find the motivation to finish editing the last few chapters. The ending is so poorly written and rushed. I can't seem to focus. I get distracted by my other work in process (which is currently at 32K yikes) and other ideas I have for future projects. I seriously think I need summer so I can focus, relax, and get things done. I'd like to start querying this book by July, but at the rate I'm going, I don't see it happening, unless I want to query a poorly edited book. I still also need to get people to read the draft. I feel like people will either hate it or love it. It's not my typical style. It doesn't have enormous amounts of violence and my main character is a guy. But when I tell people the plot, they seemed very interested and can follow it without asking a billion questions like I've had happen with previous books. It's straight forward. But is it me? Maybe that's why I can't seem to edit it. It's not personal enough. Eh.

too many ideas! too many projects! but a-okay!

So check this out. This is my writing life as of today:
1- Book #1 is being queried to agents/publishers
2- Book #2 is being edited/revised, soon to be given to friends/family to read
3- Book #3 is almost at 30K...it's so much fun to write, I'm addicted
4- Book #4 is in my head, synopsis on paper, and may be something I actually start to write very soon, it's a middle-school level book, 40K is the goal so it shouldn't take too long to write

Then of course, there's the short stories I'm entering into writing contests and a few finished books I want to go back and revise.

WOW. Am I trying to commit writer's suicide or what?

Write until your fingers bleed, then write some more!

my favorite binder

So I have this 3-ring binder. It's yellow. It's cheap. And it holds every single rejection letter I've gotten for writing whether it be from a publishing company, an agency, or a grad school. Every few weeks I add new letters. It's sad to think I might run out of room someday and have to buy a bigger one. But my imagination leads me to believe that one day I'll be sitting next to Oprah with that binder on my lap. And I'll show it to the world.

I've only been pursuing writing seriously for two years. I've grown so much. It's shocking when I read stuff from two years ago and think "Yuck! What was I think putting in all those exclamation marks?" Two years from now, I'll read the stuff I'm writing right now and probably think the same thing. So if that's the case, am I really ready to see my novels on the bookshelves of Barnes&Nobles and Borders? Maybe not. Maybe I'm not ready to be published. Maybe I'm not good enough yet.

But I will be someday. Because I'll never give up.

In the meantime, I'd be nice to have a literary agent at least ask for more sample pages. At least.

Deadlines

We all hate deadlines, but if they weren't there, we wouldn't be as productive. For example, I have to have a full-length play in 2nd draft form by next Monday. So far, I've done about 2 scenes with about 8 more to go. Plays aren't my favorite things to write anymore, so it's hard to stay focused. So what have I been doing? Rewarding myself! Every hour I work on the play, I get to work an hour on my novel. I'll be productive, but at the same time I won't get away from what needs to be done. I have lots of projects I'm working on right now:

1- Editing Seaweeds (goal-May 1st)
2- Finish querying To Catch a Rainbow Butterfly (a few more agents to go...now if only the rest would reply!!!)
3- Submit my three short stories to writing competitions (and tweak them up a bit before sending)
4- Finish editing my play (deadline-May 3rd)
5- Continue working on my newest novel, which may be my favorite (because I'm putting everything I love into, versus high depth emotion/feelings)

Will it all be done when I want it to be done? Hmmmm...I dunno. Hopefully!