Well, I've returned to annotating Anemone's Song for editing. I'm working on it during little bits of time throughout my day. I wish I could get a solid hour or two of editing for my book, but life is simply too hectic right now. So, I do what I can and try to take comfort in the knowledge that it will add up over time.
After all, something is better than nothing.
So I made the mistake of signing onto Twitter this morning. Normally this wouldn't be a problem. This morning, however, I was greeted by a couple of tweets by one of my friends, regarding Camp NaNoWriMo.
Gaaah!
Now I'm tempted to join in the madness all over again. But I need to be editing my book, Anemone's Song. And even more important than that, I need to finish the short story I promised my friend I'd provide for the publication she is editing at, The Forge. I really just do not need this distraction again. I have plenty of my own, thank you.
Willpower! Must...have...willpower. Must...have...
... ... ...
Maybe I could sort of join in by editing along instead of writing? That breaks the rules, but--
*slaps self*
Short Story Writing Tips - tips for writing short stories
Today I found a site with excellent tips on writing short stories. I often have trouble writing short stories because I find it difficult to condense a story into such a short length. Looking at the tips on this page, I think this is due to a couple of factors--characters and theme. Too many characters invariably complicates the plot and turns it into a novel-length story. Then, without thinking of the theme I want my short story to embrace, I find that my plot loses focus and falls apart.
I will definitely be keeping these tips in mind as I write my newest short story, The Barefoot Prince. I think it may help tremendously in both writing and editing the piece.
I can't believe I haven't written in this blog since January. Er...scratch that. Yes, I can. My little boy arrived three weeks early, back in February. He was due in March. The good news is that I finished typing up my book shortly before he decided to arrive. Needless to say, I wasn't doing a lot of writing after he came.
Now that he is 3 months old, however, things are getting a little easier. Or enough easier that I've started potty training my daughter and editing my book.
But alas, the editing must be put on hold. For Camp Nanowrimo, perhaps? No. Although it's tempting. Quite tempting. But I've made my husband promise to slap me silly if I try to take that on; I'm supposed to be concentrating on my editing, after all. I'd like to have this book ready to send out by sometime next year.
So what, then, has forced me to turn my attention away from editing?
A short story.
I'm trying to write a short story at the request of a guest editor, for a publication called The Forge.
So, it's back to writing I go. Hopefully, since I only have about a month to write it, my submission won't totally stink. I had a vague idea for a short story (and I say vague, because, really, it was only a title) recently, so now I'm trying to spin a plot that I think is compelling enough to submit.
Well, we shall see. The worst that can happen is that the editor takes back her offer, right?
I had a very good night last night. I managed to type up three and a half chapters of my book. This means that I only have five more chapters to type up in section three of my book (the longest section). I'm so excited. After section three is finished, I only have one more section of my book to type up, and it's only eight chapters long (the shortest section of my book. So, that means that I have thirteen chapters left before I finish typing up this book. Yay!
This makes me enormously happy. I really think I'll be able to finish this up before the baby comes in March. Then, when things settle down a few months after he arrives, I'll be able to work on a little editing.
Go me!
Yesterday didn't go quite as I planned. I had intended to work on typing up more of Anemone's Song during my daughter's nap, but I went on a sudden cleaning jag instead. (I guess the nesting phase of this pregnancy has started.) I figured I might then do a little more cleaning later that night after she was in bed, and then do some writing.
Oh, the best laid plans...
The upshot of this is that I accomplished nothing in terms of my writing yesterday. I was too tired to clean or write, last night. Just picking up my daughter's toys off the living room floor is a ton of work at this point in the pregnancy. Everything is so awkward, and I spend all day standing up and down doing things for my daughter, plus all of the trips upstairs to our only bathroom, I just don't feel like messing with much at the end of the day. So I end up crawling around the floor on all fours trying to clean up her toys to put them away, and the entire process takes two or three times as long as it should. By the time I'm done, all I want to do is sink into a comfortable chair and hope that I don't have to climb the stupid stairs to use the bathroom any time soon.
On the bright side, though, I managed to type up one short chapter of my book tonight, despite how exhausted I am. That makes me happy.
Of course, it probably has something to do with the fact that my husband brought home Taco Bell for me, and I'm afraid of going to bed too soon for fear of killer heartburn. I have near constant heartburn in the last three months as it is.
Meh. Whatever. I'll take what I can get, you know? I'm one chapter closer to being finished with all the typing, which means I'm closer to the editing phase. Progress is progress, after all, no matter how you accomplish it.
I have now passed the 2/3 mark in typing up my book. I am filled with both anticipation and "dread" about the editing process that is soon to come. Typing it up has been a daunting task in and of itself. Editing promises to be even more so.
I have a love/hate relationship with editing. Perhaps even more so than with writing. Most of the time, I enjoy editing because I like to make my writing flow better and look neater. I like taking the time to test one word against another to see which one truly captures the mood or emotion I want to convey.
Editing is great...in small doses.
Yet editing a big project can be completely different. Even if I only edit a page or a chapter at time, the entire process wears on me after a while. My nerves become tight and frazzled. I long to do anything but sit down and tackle the "headache" in front of me.
There is some wisdom in letting one's work sit for a time, without looking at it, so that you can approach it again with fresh eyes at a later date. With editing, however, this can be a double edged sword for me. Sometimes the break from the editing process makes it all the more hard and daunting to pick it up again. The road to completion feels even longer. The project seems like it will never end.
This time I will try a new approach to my editing process. I will take the time, after I finish typing up the book, to develop an editing method that will hopefully make the task faster and less daunting.
Any ideas I can incorporate are vastly appreciated.
I have 26,710 words on my NaNoWriMo story so far. That's a little more than halfway finished with my novel, assuming that I only write the 50,000 words required to win Nano. And of course, that is really short for a novel, and I seriously doubt that my book will only be 50,000 words. I'm not even into the foreseen middle of my plot yet. I have a lot of work on this after Nano is over, just to complete it, never mind edit it.
But I will happily set it aside on December 1st and take up Anemone's Song again for NaNoFiMo, or National Novel Finishing Month. I hope to finish Anemone's Song in December, but if I don't, it won't be the end of the world. I'm not going to push too hard for it depending on how I feel at the end of November. But it would be really nice if I could finish that, since I want to edit it and get it published.
Well, one story at a time, right? At least this month. *cackles*
I am almost done with my short story, thank heavens! It seems like I've been writing it for eons. I managed to edit it down to 82 words over word count, but I had to change the lackluster ending. It didn't feel right. I wanted something that was quintessentially Wintra. It took me a while to come up with something, but I did.
So now I'm only 144 words over my count for the contest. I can whittle that down easily! Yay! I was honestly beginning to think I could never do it.
Meanwhile, I'm feeling nervous about Nanowrimo. Why? I haven't picked a story idea yet. At first, the problem was that I couldn't come up with one. Now, I have a LOT of ideas...and I can't seem to pick one. *sigh* Will the madness never end?
4. A good work ethic--Who wants a lazy editor? You don't want someone who will take three months to edit and return a five page short story (exaggerated example). And the last thing you want is someone who will put it off forever and let it collect dust until one day you inquire about it and they have no idea what you are talking about (ditto...I hope). This brings us to the next trait:
5. Someone who can manage his or her time--If a person is perpetually busy, you don't have to dismiss him out of hand. But be careful. If a person is so busy that he can't make time to edit your story, but spends hours playing video games or watching TV, move on. You need someone who can manage his time well, who will edit your piece and get it back to you, even if he has to do it in ten minute increments at a time until it's finished.
6. Enthusiasm--This is an important one. If someone hates to read, or doesn't like your particular type of story, think twice about handing it over. She may not be able to let go of her bias(es) when editing your story, and you want constructive feedback, not a long list of criticisms about what you SHOULD do, or that you're wasting your time writing anyway, or that fantasy isn't a real genre and the only books worth reading are the literary classics, etc, etc. Some one like this is only interested in cutting down, not building up.
7. A basic knowledge of literary elements (plot, structure, POV, etc.)--This is essential because if something major isn't working in your story, your editor not only needs to be able to identify it, but also be able to suggest how to fix it.
8. Creative flair--It's always a plus if your editor can help you make stylistic suggestions and changes to your story. But you don't want to make just any changes and sacrifice your characters, story, etc. You want to make changes that would suit them; this is where an editor with creative flair comes in. Your editor needs to be able to assess what changes would not only fit your characters or story, but improve it.
Today I realized again how important it is to have people who can critique and edit your writing. I am so thankful for my friend, Morgan, who has been both gracious and ruthless enough to edit some of my recent work. But we shouldn't let just anyone critique our writing. There are certain traits that I have found to be helpful in an editing buddy, and not every person has them.
What should you look for in an editing buddy?
1. Honesty. If you can't count on her honest opinion, no matter what it is, you will never receive any useful feedback. Without that, you will never improve any of your writing. We writers tend to become attached to certain characters or phrases we've written, and sometimes they just aren't necessary. We need someone to hand us the scalpel and tell us where to cut or operate, not let us live in an unrealistic world of perfection when it comes to our writing. Even if we write well, we can always write better.
2. Tact. This is closely related to the above point. While it is good to be honest about one's opinion, you want to choose an editing buddy that you won't get in an argument with every time you hand them work to critique. Let's face it: you won't be hurrying to give them more, if they deliver sharp diatribes about every single thing you've written, or just downright insult your writing. You want an editing buddy who can be both harsh and compassionate--someone who will get on to you about fixing mistakes, but also encourages you to do well and cheers with you when you get things right.
3. Decent Knowledge of the Essentials. This one should be obvious, but it needs to be said. Your Aunt Sally, who can barely spell, or your Cousin Johnny who specializes in run on sentences, are not the people you should choose to edit your work. An editing buddy should have a working knowledge of basic grammar, punctuation, and spelling. He does not have to be perfect (who is?), but the closer the better.
I will post the concluding part of this article soon. It will include five more traits, for a total of eight ideal traits in an editor. For now, I must attend my daughter.
Life as a writer is anything but the easy, get-rich-and-make-lots-of-money fantasy that so many people think it is. Writing is hard work. You have to write even when you don't feel like it. Writing must be a priority. You must make time for it. And those who like to sit around and talk about writing rarely do much writing at all. Some of them even complain that they have no time to write.
Well, guess what, my friends? Stop talking about writing. Stop complaining about having no time. Make time. Write! (That's an order, you hear me?)
I have noticed that if I do not make time for my writing, I become very nasty to be around. I am moody, tense, snap at the littlest things. Life is not pleasant for my husband, and I am not nearly as patient with my little daughter, if I go too long without writing. This is exactly what has happened to me in the last few days.
Which is why I have been forcing myself to edit and write during my daughter's nap. I don't want to edit. I'm finding it difficult to concentrate, and I feel almost bored with it, which is unusual for me. Normally I am alert and excited about editing, because it means I am almost done with a project. Instead, I feel lackluster, perhaps because I am tired. Or maybe because it looks as if it will be hard to lower my word count for this story right now.
But I am editing anyway. Because I need to. Even if it means losing a little of the little sleep I seem to get as it is. Writing needs to be a priority in my life, and it needs to be a priority in yours, too. So write! And
I just finished typing up my story in its entirety. I'm surprised it didn't take more than a couple of days, considering I can only work on it during my daughter's naptime (and considering she often doesn't cooperate with the whole napping thing, despite a regular routine). Now I can print out a copy and begin some preliminary editing.
Yesterday I wrote a little fresh material on my Mer novel, which I have now given a title (finally). I have decided to call it Anemone's Song. It will probably be changed if it ever gets published, but oh well. This is a fine working title for now. I don't totally hate it, or find it corny, like my other list of title ideas that I've been kicking around for a while.
I'm hoping to get some more work on my Mer novel done before Nanowrimo, but I doubt I'll finish it up by then. What may happen is that I switch from my new Nanowrimo project at the end of November to Anemone's Song on the first day of December, or NaNoFiMo (National Novel Finishing Month). Just for a change of pace. November really takes it out of you. Last year, I took a long sabbatical from writing after it. My husband calls it a long, drawn out writer's marathon.
He's right. But I did it.
Here's to hoping I manage to finish this year. It's looking bleak, but I'm clinging to hope.
Eeeee! Finished, finished, finished! My daughter actually cooperated by sleeping long enough this afternoon for me to complete the story! Now I'm wondering just how far I went beyond the word count. I'm a bit scared to find out.
Onward to feverishly typing it up and pulling out my hair while editing...
...or not.
I'm sick. I actually kind of like editing, most of the time.
...and I'm salivating with the promise of victory on the horizon. I'm almost finished with my short story. I just need to finish up the last scene or so, and I can begin editing it. I'm way over word count for the story competition, I just know it. But, I've done much worse on college papers and somehow managed to trim them down to limit. The papers always came out so much the better, somehow. That's why I consider it a good sign when I go over my word limit. Does anyone else ever feel this way, or am I just crazy?
Read more...How does one battle a vampire?
No, really. How? Sure, there are lots of ways to defeat a vampire, which I could rattle off in a jiffy, but how does one battle a vampire? This is an interesting thing to explore as I work on my story, for it includes at least a couple of fight scenes between my main character and the vampires. My goal is to portray it in such a way that my character doesn't just blow them all away, so to speak, and be done with it (though believe me, she would love to). She has power, and yet, she isn't a god. But she is a force to be reckoned with, and not just because she's a necromancer. I want to have something of a struggle, after all, or what's the point?
If it were regular vampires, perhaps I wouldn't be quite so stumped, because I'm more familiar with how a human vampire would move and attack, possibly. But how does a vampire cow? There must be differences, and yet...what are they? How can I realistically portay them? How does it affect these battles?
It's a lot of food for thought, but I'm slowly writing my first fight anyway. Likely, it will come together better in the editing, as most of my battle scenes do.
On another note, check out this post on one of my favorite blogs. She makes a good point about letting a story simmer from time to time. If we don't do that as writers, we run the risk of really mucking up a good story with too much editing or extra fluff. Sometimes a story just needs to be what it is.
Enjoy the new layout. I finally found something free that I think looks really nice. After months of searching for something with ink splatters, I found this layout today by accident. Amazing how things go sometimes. Eventually, I'd like to create my own layout, but I have neither the time nor the proper tools lately, so this will more than suffice in the meantime.
I don't have a whole lot to report for the last few days. While I didn't get much done in volume, I did get some editing and submitting done. I went back over some of my poems and edited some of them. Some of them were rewritten a bit and tweaked, and I think they came out the better for it. Some of these poems were pretty old, dating all the way back to high school. Needless to say, I wasn't happy with the writing quality from most of those old poems, but I found a few gems that I left more or less the same. And some had enough promise that I reworked them.
The up side of seeing how bad some of the poems were is that I've improved in my poetry since high school. So while the poetry I write now is weak in comparison with my other writing, it was encouraging to see that I've already improved my poetry over time, just by the act of writing itself. Now that I'm specifically motivated to improve upon this weaker area of my writing, just think how much more I may be able to improve it and grow as a writer! That's a very happy thought!
This is going to be a really short post, as I'm very tired and need some sleep. I finished my story today. Editing was touch and go, because I was trying to do other stuff around the house as well, so it took me pretty much all day to do. I basically edited sections of it on and off, until I finished at about 11:00pm. Then, I printed out a hard copy and double-checked my work. I caught one or two minor things that I wanted to change, such as a comma where I didn't need one. Other than that, the piece was definitely finished, and as polished as it was going to get.
I'm just very thankful to my friends and my husband, who proofread my story and offered their input. My poor husband read about five or six drafts, I think. He saw it go from very rough and messy to something much more coherent and polished. I don't think it would have turned out half as well as it did, though, if not for my friend, Maria. She suggested some structural changes that I wouldn't have thought of, and my story is much better for those changes.
Anyway, I turned the story in around 11:30pm or slightly later, and then I took the rest of the evening off to knit and watch TV with my husband. Tomorrow I will decide which writing projects to tackle next, besides my fairy tale re-telling. I can start scribbling out some rough drafts of the fairy tales and see which ones I think have the most potential, but I have some time before I need to make a final decision on that. In the meantime, I want to finish the book review and perhaps turn my attention toward my poetry. I have some ideas for new short stories that I've written down, but I'm not sure when I will begin those.
The important thing is, I met my deadline by the date that I wanted to--a day earlier, even. So I'm happy. And my future is filled with many other projects, stories, and poems to keep me busy and help me develop my writing career. It's a good start.
Edited to Add: I'm going to travel down to my hometown for my baby shower this weekend, but I'm leaving a little early to avoid bad weather, so it may be almost a week before I'm able to update this blog.
I am really tired today. I don't know why. I got plenty of sleep. Maybe it's because I've been working so hard on my editing the last couple of days (no, I haven't deprived myself of sleep. That would just be stupid. I can't imagine trying to edit anything, much less well or even coherently, without plenty of sleep) and that's taken a toll on me. Or maybe it's just the pregnancy hormones doing a number on me today. Whatever it is, I feel mentally sluggish and physically exhausted. I just want to go back to sleep, and I know that would be very, very bad for me. Even if I told myself it would be a short nap, it wouldn't. I know myself, and it never is. I don't desire to waste a couple hours of my day that could be spent more profitably, so to speak.
So, here I am, blinking at my computer screen as if I've never seen it before in my life--even as I type this. I don't think I'm going to edit today. Not unless I wake up, anyway. But I think maybe I should take a break from it for a day, maybe two. I need to finish the story and turn it in on the 29th, however. I go out of town at the end of the month for my baby shower, and since the deadline is the 31st, I need to make sure my story is edited and polished and turned in before I leave town.
Maybe I'll try to write some poetry today. I'm not sure whether it will be any good or not, but then, I never am. At least I would be writing something and not feeling like I'm wasting the whole day away, writing-wise. The most productive I've been today is research. If you can call it that. I'm reading some articles on how to better promote yourself as a writer, and things of that nature. I'm learning some useful stuff.
Ever since I took some of the Writer's Digest Writing Workshops (www.writersonlineworkshops.com), I've been getting offers in the mail for subscriptions to writing magazines and publications--at a professional writer's discount. The only one I've signed up for is Writer's Digest, and that was early on when we weren't so short on money yet. However, I've recently received another offer that looks interesting. And while it's cheap, I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it right now. Maybe I'll treat myself to something like that after I get something published at a paying publication or in writing contest. Although, who knows when that will be. I'm hoping it's soon, but who knows. If there's anything a writer has to learn to deal with, it's waiting and rejections. And I've had experience doing both for some time now. It's nothing new.
Still, at least I feel like I'm moving forward a bit in my writing career. The writing goals help. It keeps me on track, and I feel like I'm accomplishing a lot more than I used to, in some ways. This blog also helps. Accountability to someone or some thing (both, if you can get it!) helps.
I'm off to write now. I feel a bit more alert after typing this.
I. Kicked. Butt. Today. I did a ton of great work today in my editing, I think! After struggling most of the day with the rough draft, trying to add more description to various parts of the story, my creativity finally kicked in this evening as my perseverance paid off! I'll have to type up the changes tomorrow, but I'm really pleased with my work. I think it has promise as it is, and once I polish it, I think it could definitely win the contest. I don't know if it will, of course, but I'm hoping it will!
Yesterday was some of the same. I spent it editing. Mostly, I fixed grammatical mistakes or misspellings. I even went through and changed some words that I had been overusing. I added a little bit of new writing to it, but not a whole lot. In addition to the editing on the story, I began two new poems. One of them...I really don't know exactly where it was going. It sort of turned into a ranty piece about how I feel, being stuck at home without a job. But aside from one or two salvageable lines, it really sucks so far. I can't seem to capture the things I want to say with just the right words. I have a feeling it'll go through a major rewrite. The other poem I started is about writing. It kind of rambled along until it developed the theme of writers block and trying to meet deadlines. I dunno that it's all that great, but it sure pleased me a heck of a lot more than the other poem.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying my new book when I get a chance. I've been pretty good about not letting it interfere with or distract me from my writing so far. It's kind of like when I was in college, or grad. school: I sneak a little of my pleasure reading in during lunch time, or right before bed, to help myself relax. That way, I can read something that I really want to, but not at the expense of my work.
Now if only the book weren't so hard to put down at the end of lunch, or my bedtime...
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