Where are you?
With my lifestyle, I often feel out of control. I'm always juggling a half dozen things while trying to stay up on a rolling log. With a life like that, it's not easy to feel stable nevermind feel in control. What I have to do from time to time is stop everything and figure out where I am.
This also applies to writing. Whether you're a plotter, a pantser, a plantser or a writer with the perfect process, you still have to take a breath from time to time and figure out where you are. This weekend, an email from a friend *cough*captain*cough* reminded me I was in desperate need of figuring out where I am in this writing thing.
Where I am is 73 pages into a 300-something page book that has been going around in my head for more than a year and been restarted twice. I have two great characters who have only just begun the journey to their HEA and constantly bug the crap out of me to stop ignoring them.
I have a heroine who wants more out of life, but doesn't like quick change. She likes to ease into things slowly, always with a back up plan in place. She's really going to hate me.
I have a hero who has taken a major blow in his personal life and has decided to focus all of his energy on his career as a chef. The last thing he wants is any distractions, especially a woman complicating things. He's really going to hate me.
What I have is a book in desperate need of being written, a story in desperate need of being told, and a home in desperate need of a maid. Since I have four other stories waiting not-so-patiently in the back of my mind, I'd better give up on the maid thing (although I could so find room for Christian the Cleaning Boy) and get to the storytelling.
Where are you? Are you struggling along trying to figure out who your characters are and what they want? Are you drowning in revisions and hating life right now? Or are you sending that beautiful MS out there into the world hoping someone will snap it up? If you're a reader, do you have trouble fitting those books into your busy schedule or do you figure those dirty dishes can wait until morning?
Books by the Crew
36 comments:
Four stories in the background waiting to be told... damn woman, you better get cracking. Sides I love Celie and Bryan, I'm waiting --not--so patiently for their story! : )
I'm doing everything. Finished a synopsis for a book I haven't completed, I'm pretty impressed with myself, that's why I'm gloating here... I'm only 16K(52pages)into my new book but want it done by mid/late June.
I need to revise my second werewolf book. I'm shopping around ITN--which I must say, rejections after a while don't hurt, it's more of a, okay, whatever, who else can I send to...
I'll take a naked maid too... It's hard to keep on chores when writing. Writing is so much more appealing even if it's too look at a flashing cursor begging to be caressed...You mean those dishes need to be washed? ;)
Let me clarify naked maid---a mail nekkid maid!
I think she means MALE...the postal service might have something to say about the other. *g*
I'm in various stages. Fulls (books #2 and 3) are out, languishing but not rejected yet. I'm half-heartedly querying book #4, really hoping to hear from the first round. I'm about half-way through the latest book, which I love, even if it, like Tiff's, has a synopsis I completely fudged for a contest. But it may actually go where I said it would, with possible detours.
When I finish, I have a lot of novellas I can plump up, as no one new is rattling around in my head yet, or several starts I can finish. I was fooling around with different genres (first person, mystery)so we'll see where that goes.
Let's see. I'm 200 pages (Yay!) through what will probably be a 350 page first draft. I have been finding it interesting how much my point changed throughout the course of the story.
I like what I'm ending up saying better than what I thought I wanted to say in the first place so it's ok.
I have two other stories that build off of this story, one is more formulated than the other, but both have their seeds in this story.
Then I have been kicking around a contemporary *gasp* about a relative of Merlin. We'll see.
YES MALE... lol... You see, my brain knew it wasn't ready to face the world today... LOL
There something else I want to do, Maggie. Some more novellas. I think I might do that when I'm done my historical.
I'm finally excited about writing my WIP for the first time. I feel like I've nailed down the type of story I want to write, and I had a wonderful break through over the weekend about my heroine. I finally decided her career and I made some revisions to my prologue and started the first chapter. For so long I've felt like I had no direction, and now it seems it just fell into place. Who knows if I'll feel this way next week, but for today, I'm excited.
Thanks for this blog Terrio, you must be channeling me again:)
Yay Lisa!! So happy for you!
Tiff, you said you're going to finish your historical by June! Yay you too! Good luck!!
Tiff - your persistence and perseverence are an inspiration. Happy to hear you got that synop done. And I can just see you explaining that naked man in the kitchen to the rest of your household. LOL!
Maggie - Thank you for adding to Tiff's high production numbers there and making my slacker ways even more obvious. LOL! You give new meaning to prolific! First person mystery, huh? One of those 4 I mentioned is something like that. Have you started writing that one and if you have, how is first person going for you?
Marn - Yay! for 200 pages!!! I didn't know this was the start of a series. How cool. Can each book stand alone or do you plan on connecting them so closely they'll need to be read in order?
And a contemp?! Go you!!! I wuff contemps...LOL!
Lisa - Huzzah! for feeling good about the WIP. Your heroine is so great and that hero - be still my heart. It's those strong, silent types that take your heart when you're not looking. *g*
So I keep pushing myself to do, Marn.. we'll see if I actually do it, but odds are in my favour : ) I've got great crit partners who will whip my ass into gear...
Thanks Ter! The characters are connected and they'll be in chronological order, but the plots will stand alone. And I like contemps too. We'll see how it goes.
Tiff - I'm sure it'll be great! And even if you're off by a couple weeks, that's still a good pace. :)
Gawd, how I need to read blogs like this every once in awhile! I'm in the first draft stage of my WIP and it's the furthest I've gotten on any WIP. Woohoo! But I do get frustrated. And I do wish that I were right there with my CPs -- either completed with the MS and on to revisions or oh-so-close! Lisa, what you said sounds exactly like how I was feeling a month ago. Breakthroughs are fantastic!
I love that Tiff implies she needs CP's to keep her working. The woman never stops working!
Steph - Congrats on making more progress than ever! How motivating. It's hard when everyone around you has made it through the first draft and you're still languishing. Trust me, I KNOW! But everything happens in its own time so we just have to keep plugging away. We'll get there. And then we'll have to start all over again. LOL!
Terrio, it's way too soon to tell. What I'd really like to do is do it in multiple POVs since I'm such a head-hopper, LOL. And since I'm not a plotter, not sure how the whole mystery thing is gonna work. I think I'm safer padding the novellas. *g* Will not let myself think about any of it until Mistress by Midnight is done.
I'm in my first draft, take four. I'm never happy but I will get through this if it's the last thing I do. Now that I have a deadline of Sept 01, it will be easier for me to keep on target. Goal setting for myself never works. I need an outside source to threaten me.
I know exactly what my characters want. I know what they need. I know where they need to go and the end I need to achieve. It's that beginning that always trips me up. I hate introduction crap.
Maggie - writing in 1st POV will certainly take care of that headhopping. LOL! Though I've never seen headhopping in anything I've read of yours. I swear you're pulling out collective leg. *g*
Sin - you will get through and where did the deadline come from? I'm still working on the GH entry deadline which probably means getting to the end of the first draft by Sept 1. I'm waiting until the summer gets here when I can spend more time on the writing to see what kind of pace I find. But entering the GH is still the ultimate goal for this year.
Great blog! Just what I need to whip my butt into gear.
Wow! Everyone seems to be on a roll. I'm 32 pages in to a pirate book and recently decided to tackle a western I can pitch in June. Not so sure I want to write for this line but am giving it a try. It's a BIG stretch for me, a definite stretch. LOL. A BLAZE. :-)
Sept 01 is my first draft deadline for the GH and then I'll have the rest of the time to edit and refine.
I am revisng TLWH even though I never actually finished the first draft. My hope is that the revisions will bring inspiration for those stitch-together scenes that are still missing. I am determined to have those scenes and first revisions on the full mss finished by the end of summer--just a year past my first deadline. :(
I have bits and pieces of books 2 and 3, and I am eager to get really started, but since beginning is my favorite part, I won't let myself officially begin book 2 until TLWH is truly finished.
I also have an article to finish, and I am trying to polish some poems for a contest with a June deadline. I am not sure those count here though.:)
Oh, I read a Blaze a couple months ago. Those are fun, but over so fast! Then again, that might be the perfect length to write. LOL! Good luck with it and you know everyone here will be anxiously awaiting that pirate book. ;)
Sin - I guess that means I should shoot for that too. It's odd but I have this feeling once I get on a roll this summer, it will all come along pretty well. I'll most likely turn suicidal during revisions, but I'm thinking the first draft is going to be easier since it's been stewing so long in my head.
Of course poetry counts, Janga. And your poetry is always lovely. Plus you take on those articles which are much like me writing my school papers only you actually know what you're talking about. LOL! No matter what I turn out to be in romance writing, I'll always be a pantser when it comes to these research papers and essays. :)
And you're the only person I know who could get well over 100K words and still say you aren't finished. I'm trying to be patient waiting for Max, but really, it's not easy.
Dirty dishes can ALWAYS wait. And you can always use paper plates. Probably cheaper anyway.
My manuscript (so far) is being looked at; but it still needs the last of its revisions too. Which means, a new and improved sex scene. Something...sweeter. (I have my work cut out for me.) Then I have the new WIP to work on. Eek. Ideas have been turning over and over in my mind about it, too. Backstory and backstory. But not until Ben is done.
I hope the agent like my story better than Amazon liked my Beedle the Bard entry. (I figure the odds are probably about the same!) *LOL* Everyone should go vote for the Beedle the Bard entries. There were some really, really GOOD ones!
Now, off to do folders! Letters today, letters!!
You were robbed! LOL! I bet you were like the next choice. Missed it by THAT much.
Does being looked at mean you sent it off? When did you send it? Any idea how quickly you'll hear something?
Being #11 choice hardly seems like I did a great job. *LOL* But still, I appreciate the ROBBED sentiment. Everyone should still go vote--the entrants were really good.
Yes. The autoresponse said, 2 months. We'll see. (I was a LOT prouder of my 100-word entry for the Beedle Bard thingie than I am of the first 30 pages, though I did work in a sentence about a Whitesnake video into the second chapter that I forgot about and made me chuckle.) I probably had TN playing in the background during that revising day.
But #11 out of thousands is pretty darn good. Two months. Bah! You've got an *in* on this one so I doubt it will take that long. And I love Whitesnake.
*Here I go again on my own....*
I cannot even say how far I am in my WIP-it's just sad. However I did sign up for the Shelley Bradley class Storyboarding For The Story Challenged. I am hoping it will kick my WIP into shape.
Di
The storyboarding class ROCKS. I think you'll really enjoy it!
Welcome to the club, Di. I figure taking any course on craft can help. We all have faith in you and know that you'll get through that WIP. And you'll have to let us know how the class goes.
Hey, it's late to join in, busy busy busy. I've just finished editing Book 2 of my series, will be starting edits of my novella (which apparently isn't going to be much of a novella when I'm finished with it), then I'll be diving in to write Book 3 of the series and have it finished by late summer, probably September at the latests. I'm already tired.
J.K. - Are you finding it easier the more you write or is the pressure of real deadlines worse? And that's amazing that you'll have book 3 done by the end of summer. You need to bottle that kind of discipline and sell it on eBay! LOL!
Well, it is and it isn't. I definitely find less excuses for NOT writing now that I have a deadline (and some pretty harsh CP's LOL), but I also feel more stress. The full time job on top of the writing and the family and the social commitments I can't get out of all add to the big cloud over my head. But it's not a rain cloud, it's a fluffy white one filled with good stuff, so I'm okay with it :)
Our eye patches are off to you, J.K. I know I make it sound like I have my hands full and I do but I have it easy with just the job and one kid. I always figure adding a spouse and more kids to that equation would send me into a coma. LOL!
We're just happy you keep writing so we can keep reading!
I am languishing in revision hell and probably will be for the rest of my life!
Despite all that, I started Book 2. I recently discovered that I had mapped out Book 3 following a promising pitching session last Fall for Book 1. I pitched that it was part of a three book series. What was I thinking!
I'm drowning in revisions and ok with life right now. Great blog, Ter! I know you'll be able to finish this book!
Sheesh, I wished we all had some magic portal where we could sit together while red-ink slashing our way through revisions and someone--who serves drinks on this ship?--brought me grappa infused espressos.
Yeah, I know the internet is pretty close to a magic portal...but I wish my kitchen was magically stocked with muffins or something to make my brain fire. :)
Santa - does it make you feel better to know you're not alone in that revision Hell? I'm pretty sure there's a large crowd gathered there.
Kelly - you have worked so hard and I just know this is all going to come around for you. The fact you can say "revision" and "ok with life right now" shows great progress. :)
Gillian - Check out the Hottie Crew Members and find yourself a nice little waiter. Really, they're all here to serve. But don't mention muffins. I'm out of bagels here at work and I'm hungry!
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