In Which I Set Goals

(Wednesday Weirds will return soon, for those of you who are frequent WW readers. Yes, you.)

We're well into January now, which means it's time for me to lay out some 2014 goals.

Things are a bit different this year, of course. I have an agent now (MUPPET FLAIL!) Which means this is my first year in awhile when querying something or other won't be on my list of goals. Which also means I have to come up with some new ones.

Also, I'll be tackling my MFA, and will have duties for that as well. I'm going to try to avoid any MFA related stuff on my goals, because I HAVE to do that, so it's not really fair putting them on the list, if you follow.

Anyway, here was my list from last year.  And now onto my list for 2014


1. Write a new novel. We have to work on something new for the MFA, but actually finishing the whole thing is what I'm going to aim for. I'd really love to finish it before my second semester, but we'll see how things are going and how crazy my life is.

2. Write at least two short stories. I've been sitting on two that I want to write and I originally planned on doing them while I was querying ATR, but it turned out I didn't query it very long so I didn't have the time. So now I want to make the time to get these buggers written and hopefully submitted somewhere

3. Read 105 books. I somehow managed to read 103 last year. Was it a fluke? No frickin' clue. So I guess we'll find out in 2014 if I can do it again. Aim high or go home, I guess.

4. Look into teaching a class. For awhile now I've thought about teaching a query letter workshop at The Loft, our local writing center. But I've never been a teacher and I have no idea how to put together a lesson plan or anything like that. I'd like to spend some time figuring out the logistics, so I can maybe put in an application this year or the next to teach some query skills in the future. Just trying to pay it forward and all that junk.

5. Redo our basement bathroom. Not a writing goal, obviously, but our basement bathroom needs a complete overhaul due to water damage. It's a very small bathroom, but we've never done drywall before so there'd be a bit of a learning curve. Of course, as always, our motto is "I could do a lot of things if I had money."  *nods head seriously*


That seems like a fair amount of goals. I thought about putting Revise ATR with agent Mollie on there, but, like the MFA, that's less of a goal and more of something that's for sure going to happen, so it felt a bit like cheating to include it.

So there you have it! How about you? What are some of your goals for this year?

In Which I Look Back At 2013 Goals

Another year, another list of goals met or failed.

Looking back at this time last year, these were the goals I'd made for myself for 2013:



2013 GOALS

1. Revise All That Remains
2. Query All That Remains
3. Take at least one writing class before querying ATR
4. Start another novel
5. Lose weight
6. Read 62 books
7. Revise Break Free (again)
8. Seriously consider getting my MFA

1. CHECK (mostly). So I did revise the crap out of it. Then I started sending it out. But, as these things work, I'm back to doing some revisions on it. All for good, exciting reasons, but still.

2. CHECK. I did indeed start querying ATR. On Halloween as a matter of fact. It's going really well, though I did take a short hiatus over December and probably won't start again until after my residency (or maybe not until I hear back from some agents. We'll see)

3. DOUBLE CHECK. I took 2 classes this year, a YA novel class and an advanced children's writing workshop. I met some great new people which has been one of the best parts of the classes

4. CHECK-ISH. I've written 15 pages on my next WIP. So, not a lot, but still. It counts I guess.

5. UNSURE Probably I should have written down my starting weight somewhere... But probably I haven't lost anything significant

6. HUGE CHECK I smashed my goal out of the water. As of writing this post I've read 103 books and I'm on schedule to finish 1 or 2 more before 2013 closes out.

7. CHECK It was just a small revision, but I still got it done.

8. BIG CHECK I considered it hard, applied and was accepted. My first semester and residency begins on Thursday, the 9th. I'm so excited! My workshop faculty for the 10 day residency includes Anne Ursu, which will be awesome. And I'm excited to see who I get paired up with for a mentor.


So, looking at all that, it seems 2013 was pretty successful. I have to think on some goals for 2014 (and the next few days/weeks could change things one way or another) but once I get back from the residency I'll make my 2014 goals list.

How about you? Did you meet your 2013 goals? Are you making goals for 2014?

Insecure Writer's Support Group

First Wednesday of the month, which means it's time for another IWSG post!

So, I've been querying. For a few weeks now. And it's been going well. Which is great. I'd obviously much rather it be going well than not.

But also, just because it's going well, doesn't mean it's still not hard. Even if you haven't gotten any rejections (and trust me on this one) it is still stressful. There is hand wringing, and worrying and so much what iffing it can make a person crazy.

Ugh I can't even tell you how many times I've gone on agent stalking binges. Which is just ridiculous, too, because I've done my research on the agents, so I've read the interviews and forum posts and what have you. But when I'm in that mood, I go read them all again, because I feel like I need to do something.

The solution of course--wait. Let me back up. There are two solutions actually. The first is time. You just can't sustain that type of crazy for too long without getting exhausted. And once you reach that point, the obsessing starts to dry up some.

The second solution is starting something new. This, I think, is the most important. Because let's say the querying goes the best it can go and you get an offer. It's a lot better to go into that conversation with something else on your plate, so when the agent asks "what else you got" you can say "actually, I've been working on this" and roll off your one sentence pitch (you do have a one sentence pitch, right? Even for your WIP? (if you don't, I highly recommend crafting one))

So, yeah. Obviously this isn't my first time (or even second) around the query tree, and while I still enjoy querying (yes, yes, it's true) I do think some of the novelty has worn off this time around.

How about you? Querying or submitting or dealing with anything else that makes you a little cray cray?

In Which I Contest

So, tis the season. For contests that is! I usually jump into a few contests with each MS and for ALL THAT REMAINS it's no different.

I'm a big fan of Authoress's Baker's Dozen Auction. I've always wanted to get in (and have been trying for the last few years). But I've never been very good at loglines and stuff and junk.

But I was going to try this year again. I had a goal of getting in (which, you know, is stupid since I can't control whether I get in or not so setting a goal for it is a study in frustration, but there you have it).
and this year I GOT IN!

I'm number 50 if you want to check me out. The agents bid on entries tomorrow. I'm not sure I'll get any bids (competition is tough and stuff) but my goal was just to get in, so I'm happy.

The other contest I'm going to enter is Pitch Wars.

Like Baker's Dozen, Pitch Wars is kind of a big deal. But the thing I love about Pitch Wars is that if you get picked by a mentor, they'll read your entire MS! How awesome is that? Super awesome.

I actually think my query and first five pages have a pretty good chance. Well, as good a chance as possible since I'll be up against 100s of other people, but still. Luckily submissions are today. Unluckily I'll have to be patient (BOOOO) for a whole week to see who gets picked. I've got some QT Forum friends also submitting so I'm crossing my fingers that someone I know gets picked.

But, yeah. I don't see myself participating in any other contests for ATR. Once you reach a point in querying it just gets a little pointless to enter them anymore. But I'm feeling pretty good.

How about you? Throwing it down in any contests?

In Which I'm Neurotic

I've been a neurotic mess for the past two or three weeks. Ask anyone who's spent any time with me.

It's because of querying, of course. I always forget how crazy I get right when I start querying something new.

I mean, I've been down this querying road before, so you'd think I'd be used to it by  now. And in a way I am*. But still, the obsessively checking the gmail is, like, extra worse this time.

But, last week, the neuroses lifted a bit. I felt less obsessive about the gmail, felt pretty good about how querying was going (which has been very good, so far. Part of driving force behind so much crazy, methinks) and was ready to start tackling the new WIP.

So I did. The outline was done (if rough. That middle, man. I dunno. I'm hoping something obvious will show up as I write. We'll see I suppose) and I was just wasting time and staring at gmail. So I dove in and wrote 1.5 chapter.

And it was pretty terrible. But I also liked it. I need to have 15 pages ready for workshopping for the MFA. Normally I'd just keep going, but I've told myself I'm allowed to go back and tweak this beginning as much as I want until I have to submit it. Then it's mostly off limits until I finish the whole draft.

So the next day I went back and started fixing the first chapter (I had to back up a bit, start a little sooner for some grounding and world building. Already it's looking better).

But then some crazy awesome stuff happened (involving twitter (which I don't want to talk about because of reasons I outlined here)) and BAM! All forward momentum stopped. I didn't even finish writing the sentence I had started. I was back to being neurotic.

But, luckily, it seems the neuroses weren't able to keep their grip. I was pretty much back to business mode the next day.

But, it makes me realize, if/when I get an offer, I am going to be pretty much useless for the next two weeks. I foresee that I will drive quite a few people crazy before it's all said and done.

How about you? Feeling neurotic about anything?


*So when you've done a lot of querying, rejections get a lot easier. But, unfortunately, the good news (reqeuests and junk) also don't feel as exciting as they used to. So it's still a rollercoaster, but the climbs and the drops aren't as high or low.

In Which I Regret Not NaNoing

I slightly (sliiiightly) regret not doing NaNo this year.

Yes I miss the camaraderie and I feel a twinge of envy whenever I see anyone with their word count  tallies (even those of you running behind. Yes, I'm envious of you too).

But it's more than just missing out. Come early January I have to attend my first residency for my MFA. And we have to have 15-20 pages to workshop.

What we workshop doesn't have to be what we work on with our mentors. It can be something different or completely separate. Or it could be a chunk of what we're going to work on for the semester too.

I could probably bring a chunk of All That Remains. But I've just started querying it, and the idea of workshopping it while it's out and about, makes me feel a little sick. I dunno, I just don't think I'm the type of person who can do that.

So that leaves something new. And that leaves under two months to come up with it.

Now, I've been brainstorming a new novel, but I've been taking my time, trying to come up with a side plot, trying to think of more ways it can get worse for my MC, trying to make sure he stays active instead of reactive (which is always a problem for me). I'm making good headway in the prep, but not enough to write an outline yet, which I need to have before I start drafting.

So. I've decided to set myself a goal/deadline. Spend the rest of November brainstorming and doing the rest of my pre-draft prep, but come December, time to start writing the new novel. I don't need to finish it, obvs, before the residency, but I would feel much happier and less stressed out if I could at least get like 20K or so down beforehand.

I wish I had realized all of this before NaNo had started. Then maybe I would have tried harder to get ready before November and join in with everyone else. But I had stuff going on with All That Remains, and that had to be my priority at that time. Anyway, nothing much I can do about it now.

How about you? Are you NaNoing? Or did you skip it this year?

Insecure Writer's Support Group

First Wednesday of the month, which means it's time for Insecure Writer's Support Group.

So.  Last week I finished my final revisions on my YA fantasy WIP ALL THAT REMAINS.

It was a straight push through to finish them up and I'd say it took a good five hours to finish them. But I did.

Part of what motivated me to get them all done in one day was that I told myself I was allowed to send out a test query if I finished them.

And I did. I actually sent out two test queries, because why not? I'd been good.

So as of last week I officially started querying ATR. And as of last week querying has officially been going well.

It's funny. I've queried two other novels before. And you'd think by this point it'd be easier. And it really is in some ways, but writing up that first query, throwing in the sample pages, checking the sub guidelines one more time and then hovering over the SEND button--well, that apparently doesn't get easier. At least, not for the first couple of queries, anyway.

I try not to get anxious or nervous about it. I know once I start working on my next WIP (which is in the planning stage. Hopefully won't be too long before I can break it out) it will get a lot easier. But until that happens I'm just as anxious as I was during my first querying journey. Maybe more so, because the first time, you don't really know how long replies take. And the third time, you know which agents are likely to request from you, or to reject you, and how long it often takes.

Which means a lot of checking Gmail. Over and over and over again. Even on weekends, when it's rare to get a query response.

So, yeah. Turns out that even when you're an old hand at it, querying can still dredge up emotions. Even unexpectedly.

How about you? Any of you in the query boat?

In Which I Try To Decide

So I'm working on final revisions of my WIP All That Remains (OT - I start a lot of blog posts with "So". I know this. I sit here and try to think of some better way to start, but "So" just makes the most sense. Revision fail? I dunno)

Mostly all I have are minor revisions (well. I also still have it out with two readers. They could possibly have some changes, but I won't know until they're done). I've been picking at them a little bit each day. Because, truthfully, I'm trying to decide about what to do on a possible bigger revision. It would involve combining two characters. And not minor characters, either.

One is more fully realized, the other is not, which is part of the problem. But that character also has pivotal plot points, so I couldn't just, cut him out, you know?

I'd pondered this change a few months ago, and ultimately decided against it. Then I had a conversation with my lovely friend Tricia, and she brought it up again.

I'm just not sure. How do you know if making a big change like that would make it better? Or just different? Anyone have any thoughts? Because I'd like to hear them so I can decide what to do.

How about you? Writing? Revising? Something else? Fill me in!

IWSG

First Wednesday of the month, so you know what that means. Time for IWSG!

So I'm approaching the end of my revisions for my WIP All That Remains. I've got to finish transcribing my on paper revisions to my digital copy, make a few more changes here and there, send it out to my final two beta readers I have lined up and that's kind of it. I mean, obvs depending on what they say, there might be more changes, but still.

And before I realized how close I was to being done, I was chomping at the bit to query it. I mean, I think I've talked about before how I like to query, so doing more of it is fun.

But when I realized how close I was to actually querying it, I got a little scared. So then I tried to analyze that feeling, because I don't like being scared or having anxiety and the way to get rid of it is to address where it's coming from.

First I think I was scared of not having anything to work on while my final betas are reading. But then I realized that was just stupid. I have 2 short stories and a PB I'd like to try my hand at before I start anything new. AND I have two novels I need to start plotting and figuring out before I decide which one I want to tackle next.

So that took away some of my anxiety. Then I realized (I think) that I was just sacred of putting my work out there again. I'm confident in it, but this will be my third novel (to query) and I really, really love this one. I think it's my strongest one yet. And what if it goes nowhere? Or, what if it does WORSE than the last two I queried?

I know, logically, my love for it will fade once I start a new novel, and by the time rejections roll in I'll hopefully be in love with something new so they'll just kind of roll off. But still, until that happens, I just kind of have to wring my hands some I guess.

How about you? How do you confront your feels?

In Which I'm Tempted

So, I sat around for a few hours, knowing I had to write a blog post for today but not coming up with anything.
Like nothing. At all.

I hate when that happens. I'm sure I have something to blather about, and yet here I sit, blank.

I dunno. I've been steadily working on revisions. Both line edits, and bigger stuff. I think I'll be ready to query later this summer. Last week I had the first itch about querying All That Remains. Because I'm still querying Break Free, I think that helps keep the itch away. But something triggered me last week and I was all "ooooh, maybe I could just send out one query..."

And then I smacked myself around because that was such a dumb ass idea. I've never been a person who's knowingly queried too soon. I've never understood those people who send out a query, just to test the query, then freak out when they get a request because the MS isn't ready yet. Like, why would you put undue stress on yourself like that? Revising is hard enough. I mean, I've had a request before I've finished revisions, but that's not because of a query I actually emailed out, you know?

Ah well, what can you do. Just keep my head down and continue revising, I suppose.

Hey, look at that! I managed to ramble on and make a post.

Anyhoo, how are your projects coming, writing or otherwise?

The WIP It Good Blogfest

It's been awhile since I've participated in a blogfest, but this one sounded fun so I signed up.

http://dlcruisingaltitude.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-wip-it-good-blogfest.html

The deets:

Our idea is that on Friday, May 31st, we will provide a forum to allow anyone interested a chance to tell the blogosphere about their most recent [W]ork [I]n [P]rogress. We’ll guide you by providing a few prompts to answer in your own post

So here we go!

WIP Title: All That Remains
Word Count (projected/actual so far): 100,000/102,000

Genre: YA Fantasy

How long have you been working on it?: Cumulatively: 8 months. But I wrote the first 50K in 2011, then didn't write the remaining 60K until a year later

Elevator Pitch (if you came across an agent in an elevator ride, what couple of lines would you use to summarize your book): A teen assassin sets out on a path to avenge her murdered family.
Brief Synopsis (250 words or less):

In the country of Lovero where families of assassins lawfully kill people for the right price, sixteen-year-old Oleander “Lea” Saldana sets out on a path of vengeance against the most powerful assassin family of all.

The list of things Lea can count on in her life has never been long: her mother will try to poison her to make Lea a better assassin, she can beat her boyfriend Val in a fight and her bone mask will keep her safe from the angry ghosts as she kills someone in the night. But when she trusts Val, a member of the powerful Da Vias, and reveals the location of her home, she is betrayed and her family is slaughtered while Lea barely escapes as the sole survivor.

Now there’s only one thing left to do: make the Da Vias pay.

The only problem is, the Da Vias have gone to ground and the one person who can find them is her missing uncle, banished from the Saldanas years ago. Even if he can be found before the Da Vias realize Lea escaped their knives, Lea can’t trust him. Hells, she can’t trust anyone ever again, and definitely not her uncle’s too-attractive-for-his-own-good apprentice, Alessio, no matter what her heart and body tell her. How can she trust Alessio when the last boy she loved destroyed everything? How can she fall for Alessio when revenge is all she should care about?

But when the Da Vias kidnap her uncle, Lea has a choice: use him as a distraction to finally kill the Da Vias, or trust Alessio and save all that remains of her family.

 Are you looking for a Critique Partner?:
Not currently. Of course, things could always change
 Are you looking for a Beta Reader?: Same as above. I've got a couple of Beta readers lined up and waiting



So there you have it! I'm off to see the other entries.

In Which I (Still) Revise

Revising. Revising. Revising. That's what I'm doing right now. Well, it's specifically what I WANT to be doing. I'd say I've only been about 60% successful the last few weeks just because of work, and MFA application stuff and other junk.

I heard back from one reader (you know who you are and you are awesome) and I made some big changes based on that. I may still make some more big changes based on her feedback, but I'm sitting on those a bit to let them marinate and also wait on a few other readers.

I really need to work on emotional things throughout the whole MS, as well as some entire MS setting work and theme weaving and junk, but for that I'm going to need to print the whole bad boy out and get to work with a pen. Which is fine, I'm looking forward to it, but I don't want to do it until I'm fairly set on the big picture things that have happened. So until that happens I'm just kind of...tinkering I guess. Which is fine. Stuff gets done. But it doesn't get done quite as fast as I want it to.

So, yeah. Just keep on keeping on I guess.

How about you? How's your WIP going? How was your weekend? Did you see Iron Man 3 (because I did. I saw it HARD)

In Which I Feel A Bit Lost

So, yeah. Like the title says I've been feeling a little... aimless I guess? I dunno. And I don't know why. Maybe it's because my class has ended, though I don't think so. Most likely it's just nothing brought about by nothing that's left me in a funk.

I'm working on revisions, and I know some bigger changes I need to make, I just... haven't. And there are also some bigger changes I'm pretty sure I need to make, I'm just not confident enough to make them yet.

You know, kill your darlings and all that.

I have a whole character at the end of the MS I think I need to cut. And it's hard because I really love him. He's awesome. But he's not in it much, and while he provides an opportunity for the MCs to really solidify some things before they go off to the final climax and junk, I'm mostly worried that he slows the pace too much when things should be ramping up.

I tell myself I could use him elsewhere. If I did a sequel for this MS (and of course I'm bouncing ideas around) he could easily fit there. But what if I don't actually write a sequel? Then he's just gone and that makes me sad.

So mostly, I think I just need some outside eyes to tell me if my suspicions are right and he needs to go, or if I'm just crazy and the pacing is fine. I don't think it is, but I've been wrong before.

So, yeah. Just kind of meh about revisions right now. Hard decisions make for some hard work and I'm just having some trouble with it right now. I'm sure it will pass, it always does.

How about you? Killed any darlings lately?

In Which My Class Is Almost Over

Tonight's the last night of my class - the YA Novel class at The Loft.  I'm both excited and sad.

Sad, natch, because it was a lot of fun and I met some really, really great people and writers. And because I always left class super motivated to work work work on my writing. I mean, I'm usually pretty disciplined with my writing, so it's not like my class has made me do more work (outside of critiques I normally wouldn't have done without the class) but it has made me all itchy to get to work right away each day instead of putzing around a bit.

So I'm going to miss seeing the peeps every week and having that total buzzed feeling afterwards as I drive home.

But I'm super excited for tonight's class! We're having kind of a hodge-podge class, since we finished all the critiques last week. Everyone's going to talk about some of their favorite YA/MG books and favorite craft books. And we're also going to have a favorite pages reading.

That's where each of us in the class are going to take 5-10 mins and read some of our favorite pages of whatever we're currently working on.

I'm super excited to see what everyone else reads, because so many of them are great writers and I really want to hear some fun excerpts. And I'm also really excited to read my excerpt as well. It took me quite a few hours to figure out what section I should read. Because I'm really in love with my All That Remains WIP so there were a lot of sections vying for a chance to be read aloud.
I finally made a decision based on how long each section would take to read, and how much back story I'd need to fill in for the listeners before I got started.

The section that won is about 7 mins, read aloud, and only has characters in it that the class is familiar with from my 20 page critique a few weeks ago. Easy peasey.

So there you have it! Last class = bittersweet.

All right, so let me know how things are going for you? How's the writing? The yard work? The kids?

In Which I Make New Goals

All right! We're already a few weeks into 2013, so time to get going on these 2013 goals!

It seems IE is the problem with my inability to upload pics. I switched to something else and Voila!

2013 GOALS

1. Revise All That Remains
2. Query All That Remains
3. Take at least one writing class before querying ATR
4. Start another novel
5. Lose weight
6. Read 62 books
7. Revise Break Free (again)
8. Seriously consider getting my MFA

1. Pretty clear what this means. Revise the shit out of it. It needs it, too. I really hope I can get the word count down. BUT I'm also worried the word count is going to grow...

2. Just what it says. When it's ready, start querying. (unless of course I snag an agent with Break Free, which is still a possibility, since I'm not even halfway through my query list yet (things were delayed due to revisions))

3. I had a discussion with a writing pal recently (*cough* Lola *cough*). And I explained to her that I feel like I put in a lot of time and effort and hard work into writing. And even though I truly believe all things happen when they're supposed to, I'm also constantly worried that maybe my "trying hard" isn't quite good enough. I feel like I need to grow as a writer and though I did have some growth this year (Break Free was a HUGE step in the right direction for me) I still feel like maybe I didn't grow quite enough. SO! That means writing classes. At least one. Maybe more. I'm going to skip some conferences this year and put that money towards classes. I've already signed up for one, which starts at the end of Feb. I'm super excited!

4. I always like to have something going when I'm querying, so when I start querying ATR, I'll need to start a new novel to keep my mind off it. And, if for whatever reason I don't start querying it this year, there's always NaNo.

5. Same old goal. Already down a few pounds (probably just Christmas fat)

6. I hit my goal of 60 books last year so I moved it up a bit more. If I succeed, next year I'll up it again.

7. I got a free edit from an editor a few weeks ago (due to QT connections) and I got the notes back. The majority is just little line edity stuff, and since I agree with most of it, I'll be digging in zazzing it up once more. But it won't be anything huge, so I don't have to worry about the existing fulls already out.

8. Yep. Hamline University, which is a local university here in the Twin Cities (of which my good pal Teebore is an alumni) has an MFA in Fiction Writing for Children's and Young Adults. Which I knew about, BUT I just recently realized it was low residency. Which means I can keep my job AND work on the MFA at the same time. And since it's just down the street (pretty much) the twice a year on campus residencies is as easy as getting in my car and driving a few miles. I have some serious decisions to make, regarding this, as well as submission materials and all that jack to get in a row (not to mention financial stuff, which I am not great at figuring out) so I don't want to force myself to make a decision. BUT I do want to force myself to have a sit down, crunch some numbers, get things aligned before I decide one way or another.


So there you go! Nothing too crazy or out there, and I see 2013 being successful.

How about you? What are some of your new goals or resolutions? 

In Which We Reflect On 2012

Well, we're about a week into the new year. I've already had one cold (hence no post on Friday) so that has to be my quota for the year, right? RIGHT?

Anyway, I thought today would be a good day to look back on my 2012 goals to see how I did. And then next Monday I'll probably write up some new goals. I have some in mind, but haven't actually sat down to think about any others.

Okay, so here were my goals for 2012:

2012 Goals

1. Query Glimpse of Another Shore
2. Query Break Free
3. Finish another novel
4. Sell another short story
5. Attend a writer’s conference
6. Join a new crit group or find some more crit partners
7. Go on a date
8. Lose weight
9. Read 60 books

 

All right, let's break these down some more:

 

1. Check. I did Query Glimpse, up until the end of April. Then I stopped because I wanted to query Break Free and while I know some people query more than one MS at a time, I'm just not one of those people. I make enough query mistakes without doubling up

 

2. Check. I took a short break (well, I guess it was more like 4 months) for some requested revisions, but now I'm back at it and plan to keep querying into 2013

 

3. Check. All That Remains clocks in at a whomping 110K, but I've started revisions and am hoping I can get that down with a new beginning the removal of an extraneous character

 

4. Not check. BUT! I have 2 out on sub right now. If you think querying is slow going, short story subs are glacial. So slow.

 

5. Check. I hit Wiscon. And while it's not only a writer's conference, I tended to stick to the writerly panels. It was a lot of fun

 

6. Uncheck. I had a few new online CPs, but they've all vanished into the ether. I came close to joining 2 new local ones in in the cities, but one had older members and they were uncomfortable with swears or off screen sex (both of which I tend to have in my writing) and the other is full up, though I'm on a waiting list. Le Sigh. On the plus side, we did add another member to my Hannah and Teebore writing group, and that's been awesome! We actually have our first 2013 meeting tonight. Woo!

 

7. Check.

 

8. Check and uncheck. I lost 15 pounds early in the year. But then I gained 10 of it back. So I'm still down 5, but I still need to lose a lot more.

 

 

 

9. Check! With about a week or two to spare.

 

 

So how about you guys? How did your 2012 treat you?

 

In Which I Finish

Here we are, a week before Christmas (for those who celebrate) and I'm in the happy position of having finished the first draft of my current WIP All That Remains!!





It took me over a year to complete that baby. BUT, to be fair, it really only took less than 3 months of actual writing. The rest of the year it was just set aside while I was working on Break Free.

So yay! I'm super happy it's done. I'm going to let it sit for a week or three, work on some short stories and submissions. And then it'll be time to tackle the revisions (of which there will be many).

It's 110,000 words and I'm hoping to get that down some, but more importantly, I need to smooth that baby out, fix the plotting and the characterization and all that other fun stuff. Maybe I'm just crazy but I like revising and I'm looking forward to making this MS the best I can.

So how about you? How's your writing going?

 

In Which I Hodge-Podge

So, I've got nothing for today. Yeah, I spent like hours yesterday (while I was doing chores and cooking and watching the snow fall (because we got a lot of snow here yesterday and that makes me HAPPY)) trying to think of what to write about today. But really, I got nothing big enough for a whole post.

Which means I guess it's time for another Hodge-Podge.

Remember Hannah? Of course you remember Hannah! She's awesome.
Anyhoo, Hannah is back in the blogosphere with a brand new blog. Check it out.

Guys, I am soooooo close to finishing the first draft of All That Remains. SO CLOSE. I'm going to try my damndest to finish it this week. I'm in a bit of a rush, because Twin has been reading a chapter a day, and I have all these big changes I want to make to the last 5-10 chapters before she gets to them, so the ending makes more sense and junk. I mean, it's not big deal if I don't, she'll read the MS more than once, but it would be nice to have more of it in place before she reads it. But I don't want to take the time to make the changes on, say, chapter 30, when I haven't written the last chapter. It seems kind of like cheating to me.
Right now, she's got like one more chapter to read before I have to start making some changes. So I
have to ZOOM.

Can you believe Christmas is like 2 weeks away? FREAK OUT. I need to start shopping ASAP (all I've got so far are 2 gifts for 2 of 4 dogs. Yeah. So behind)

we haven't even put up our Christmas Tree yet. Sigh

And that's about it!
How are things with you?

 

In Which NaNo Is Over

Holy crap - this is my official 500th post. Cray cray!

(to be fair, there's got to be close to half a dozen "oops" posts in the history of this blog. But still. 500!)

Anyhoo, so here were are. December 3rd. NaNo is a few days behind us. You can see my Winner badge over to the right.

This was my fourth year competing and my fourth year winning. Though this is the first year it took me until the last day to hit the 50k.

Thanksgiving almost murdered me this year. I only had 10K left after the holiday, but man...a good 4K of that was like pulling teeth.

The good news is, I'm almost done with the first draft of my MS All That Remains (and this bugger is going to clock in at over 100k!)  The bad news is, it's going to need a lot of work. I had to pants the ending and even though I had a perfectly serviceable outline for the rest of it and THOUGHT I knew what the themes and conflicts were, things morphed more than usual during the drafting. So everything needs to be really smoothed out and linked together and junk.

But that's okay. I like revising. I'm excited to get to work on it once it's done.

How did you NaNo 2012 treat you?

In Which It's NaNo Season

So we're halfway into November and I have yet to do a NaNoWriMo post yet.

Mildly Pathetic, Sarah. *Shakes head at self*

To be fair, though, I had some Halloween posts I wanted to get to, and then it just snuck up so fast. Startling really.

Just so startled!

 

So anyway, I'm participating. Natch. You can see my little wordcount score keeper widegety thingamabob over there somewhere ----->

Once again, my user name is Falen1 so friend me if you're NaNoing and we've missed each other.

The first NaNo weekend, Hannah, Tricia and I attended a Twin Cities NaNo getaway weekend. It involved driving 2.5 hours to a cabin on a lake with other Twin Cities NaNoers and writing until our backs gave out.

So because of that, I'm ahead by like 5 days, which is awesome. Also because I'll be out of town this coming weekend and for thanksgiving so I needed to get ahead and need to stay ahead.

I'm also being a NaNo Rebel this year. Instead of starting something new (because I need another unfinished MS like I need another hole in the head) I decided to use NaNo to put the final 50K on my WIP All That Remains (I had already put about 45K into it before NaNo started)

That MS was giving me tons of grief around this time last year, but I'm happy to say I got past that and now I've reached that manic part in the MS, where things are ramping up towards the climax and I want to be writing on it ALL THE TIME mostly because I can't wait to finish it and dive into revisions.

So there you have it.

How's writing been going for you?