Getting Started

Following the theme of the Quote of the Week, I wanted to throw out some thoughts around getting started on a new project.

As many of you know, I recently completed my 4th YA Contemporary Fic, 4 Letter Word. It's hanging out right now, revisions recently started, additional layers being added as I begin researching agents to query for my other project, Just Maybe.

On the flip side, there's this other project: Grace that I've had my head swimming in for a while now. Usually I work on multiple projects at once, but this one feels different. I feel like I need to pour all - well, at least most - of my energy into this and as such, I haven't made much progress on it in the last couple of weeks. I've laid down thoughts, some additional words (I've got about 9,500 to date) and am still working through an outline, but honestly, I can't figure out a good way to really dive in and get started.

I have a friend who's recently started working on a project, similar genre, and she's been swimming in research, something I've detested since I began writing fiction, and I'm wondering if that's really where I need to begin now. I already know this new project will require some amount of research, the actual quantity TBD, but I'm going to have to suck it up and do it. So should I start now? Will it help put some thoughts in order? Or will it only throw me off base even more? I don't know.

This definitely made me think of this week's quote because in this case, for me anyway, getting started is the hardest part.

So when you have a new project, how do you get started? Page 1? Chapter 6? Research? Outline? I'm interested to see what you guys do to get things going!

WiP Wednesday: Seriously, How Many Words?

I haven't exactly had the kind of time I thought I would to work on the wip, but it turned out to be no matter. The time I did have was enough. And the first draft of my wip (4 Letter Word) is done! Yes, that's right. The End. Complete. Done. Finished.

Now comes the hard parts: layers and revisions.

My first draft estimate was around 70,000 words. I was off by a bit there. I'm closer to 62,000. This could be because I'm a bit wordy: I think I talk way too much, so therefore, my characters do too. In case you need a refresher, here's some info dating back to when I started writing (again):

It's Complicated: 135,000 - yes, that's right . . . it gets better

The Lucky One: 156,000 - hahahaha, I laugh at myself when I think about this now, and you're welcome to laugh at me too!

Just Maybe: 85,000 - much more reasonable

4 Letter Word: 61,608 - yeah, I know, right?

All four of these projects are YA contemporary fiction. That's right. Remember? I said I tend to be a bit wordy sometimes. But it's okay. As I kept writing, I figured out that the first 2 (IC and TLO) are actually just backstories to JM and 4LW.

I'm very proud of myself, though, to have been able to come in at such a low word count (for me anyway) and still feel like I've told the story. Again, it is just the first draft, so chances are the word count will shift some, but I don't foresee anything drastic. Unless I decide we need to have gremlins thrown into the mix or something ;)

Now, here's one of my favorite quotes.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" Thank you, Semisonic. It's a line from their song Closing Time.

So with the end of 4LW (sort of), comes a new beginning: my first ever attempt into the Fantasy/Paranormal world. YA, of course, because for whatever reason I can't quite leave teenagerdom behind. Thanks to Michelle McLean for sharing the knowledge of Fantasy, Urban Fantasy & Paranormal genre definitions. It helped me figure out what I was writing, genre-wise anyway.

Grace is the working title of this project and yes, I did start it before now. It's one of those things that has been toying around in my head, throwing out ideas every now and then, making every note I've jotted for a few weeks now only about this world, these characters and their story, but not quite giving me enough to go beyond what I already had down. But I've also made it a point not to completely focus on this while I still had 4LW to finish. Yes, I know, I have writer's A-D-D sometimes. If someone has a cure, I'd love to try it out.

So current status for this week:

Just Maybe - Curing while I work on a query letter

4 Letter Word - 1st Draft complete! Setting aside for a few days to clear my head before I dig back into it

Grace - 9,000 words, basic outline complete

What about you? What have you guys been up to this week?

WiP Wednesday and a BIG FAT Thank You

A few weeks back (I believe we're at 7 now) ElanaJ over at Mindless Musings threw down the gauntlet, challenging writers to accomplish their goals in regards to ongoing projects. These goals ranged anywhere from writing 500 new words per day to revising a chapter a week. At first it was simply a 30 day challenge, but the community that's been built from that throw down has been amazing.

So today, instead of just focusing on my wips today, I wanted to throw something else out there:

A BIG FAT

For your encouragement and your kudos. For you kind words and continued motivation. And simply for letting me know I'm not alone in my frustrations or inspirations. Simply put, Thank You!

Now that I've had my emotional moment out of the way, let's get on to a WiP Wednesday update.

Just Maybe:

Finishing final revisions now and hope to begin querying soon. Maybe. You know, after I've coached myself mentally to prepare for the worst and accept that rejection is part of life. I know, think positive, but I'm too pragmatic for that.

4LW:

With much support and encouragement I'm currently just over 45,000 words. I'm thinking this ms should be closer to 60,000, so I'm almost there. That is about a 20K word gain in the last 7 weeks.

Grace:

This is the newest/latest project that was resurrected from the vast beyond of my "Things I've Started But Couldn't Figure Out Where They're Going So They Are Going To Live Here For A While Until They Find Some Direction" folder. I had a very exciting revelation on this towards the end of my day at work yesterday that culminated in a stack of post-it notes that have since turned into a psuedo-outline. I don't normally work from an outline until I'm about 40-60K words in depending on how long the project may end up being, but this one just came at me. Initial inspiration? A certain scene in the movie 30 Days of Night. Mind you, movie is not exactly Oscar-worthy material, but it does have Josh Hartnett and he is cute. But from this specific scene, I've been trying to figure out what to do with it, it just wouldn't leave my head. As of yesterday afternoon, I now know what to do with it. And I'm super excited!

So again, thank you for listening, er, reading my rants and updates. I appreciate each and every one of you!

P.S. I hope I haven't sounded too cheesy-peasy, but with my new inspiration, I just thought I'd reach out to some of those who have helped me get to this awesome new place in my writing. You all rock!

What's In A Picture

Like most (if not all) writers out there, I have a forever growing list of To Read books. Every time I take one off the list, a handful more replace it. So there is always something I want to read, but for each visit to the bookstore, that something has to leap out and dig its claws into me and hang on for the ride.

In most cases, I've seen the books online, I know what the cover looks like, so it isn't a surprise when I physically see it. Some covers are complex and involved and detailed and your eyes dart all over trying to take in all the images. (I'm thinking something like The Mortal Instruments trilogy.) Others are simple, basic and usually at least a little bit symbolic. (The famous Twilight apple, anyone?) And then there are the other covers. Just something to grab your attention, something to make you think, wonder, want to know what is inside those pages.

Whilst walking between the shelves on a recent bookstore visit, my eyes panned over the cover of Evermore - which was a Recent Read for me. The cover is definitely a grabber. It draws the eye, but in my sister's words "it looks like a vampire book," I get that. It does. The dark background, the girl in shadows, the red tulips. Very vampiric - similar to the black/red/white themes of the Twilight Saga. It turned my sister off for a long time (though she just informed me about 15 minutes ago that she finished reading it last night and really liked it) but it was a book I kept going back to and picking up until the day it came home with me. So I think it did it's job.

But it's all in your audience, right?

Another example for me personally is Girl Overboard. I'm a snowboarder. A little absent from the mountain since I had kids, but I will go again. I swear it. Maybe next winter since Utah does have the greatest snow on Earth. I digress. Girl Overboard (another Recent Read) got me because of the cover. I kept going back to it. Partly because it was a girl with a snowboard and partly because I didn't get the title: overboard, like when you fall off a boat? But those colors, the vibrancy, the--for lack of a better word--life in this cover really pulled me in.

I am a visual thinker who, of late, has been seeking some motivation. I've started collecting images to represent each of my wips. Something akin to the character journals many others keep, I suppose, but something I have not done before. It has definitely been helpful and given me a better understanding as to why others do something similar. I've been able to figure out where I'm going in certain situations and if nothing else, at least know where I've been. The fact that they are all in anime is just a tribute to my current other obsession! :)

On that note, here is a visual representation of each of my current wips that are in various stages of completion:








Just Maybe











4 Letter Word












Grace









Okay, that's all for now! Have a great (short) week everyone!

WiP Wednesday: So Many Stories, So Little Time

First things first: Today is my last FULL work day of the week! Huzzah! Tomorrow is a half day and then we're getting our family pictures done. And Friday I'm off because it's the baby's (E) 1st birthday and we're having a family day. Okay, gloating over my last work day done. Moving on...

I've been trying to focus, I really have. With my current wip I'm just over the halfway point, I think. Right about 36K words and I'm looking at hitting around 70K with it.

Herein lies the problem, and I've mentioned it before: I have writer's ADD. Seriously. As I've said, I've been working diligently on 4LW for several weeks now, thanks to the Writer's Throwdown Challenge and my willing myself to concentrate on just the one project. That's where the problem is.

Working on one project at a time is simply NOT in my nature. I'm through and through a Gemini and because of that, I am a multi-tasker by heart. I can't help it. Where is all this random rambling going, you ask? Well...

I started a new project. Well, not started, exactly, it's been there for a while, sitting around for the last year with just over 5K words in it and I had a thought the other day that didn't fit into 4LW and I wrote it all down and realized yesterday where it goes. So now, again, I have 3 projects running at various stages.

JM: (YA Contemp Fic) Finishing up revisions then will set aside to cure

4LW: (YA Contemp Fic) About 51% complete at 36,103 words

and the new-old one Grace totally a working title and actually doesn't mean anything so don't read anything into it...

Grace: (YA ... something. Not sure yet where this is going.) I have no idea how complete it is, but currently it has 8,366 words

My goal is to finish revisions of JM by the end of the month. I've had some great feedback and am currently working that through the ms. I also am really trying to focus on 4LW. I'd like to have a completed first draft by July, then the real fun starts. (I'm totally an editor at heart.) And Grace, well that will just have to figure out what it wants me to do with it. I have some thoughts, but nothing solid and I hope it doesn't end up back in my unfinished projects folder.

On a different note, we had a family trip to the bookstore last night and one of the books P got actually kinda makes me think of myself. The Very Busy Spider ... Very busy indeed. The other one she picked out was Panda Bear, Panda Bear What Do You See?.

Me? I picked up a couple new books too, you'll have to stay tuned to my Recent Reads to find out what I picked up.

Okay, Happy Busy Wednesday!

Work in Progress Wednesday: What Happened?!?

New words (since last update post): 0
Chapters edited (since last update post): 1

The other day I said I needed to change my #RSthrowdown goals for the week. Well, I wasn't kidding. Since then, I've written virtually no new words on my WiP and have been diligently editing away on the completed ms: JM. In fact, I've been so diligently revising/editing said completed ms that it appears I may have another couple rounds of editing to do once I really tell myself that I can't ADD anymore. Not one more sentence. Or line. Or word. When I thought JM was complete, it came in just barely over 89K words. And now? In the midst of revisions/editing round 3? Last night I was barely able to shave it down to a good even 90K. What?! How did this happen? I keep asking myself the same the question.

I think the new stuff is good. Better than what was (or clearly was not) there before. I thought I was getting close to being done. Ha! Yeah. Maybe next week.

Also, I only got the 1 chapter edited last night because I wanted to spend some time with the fam because I'll be traveling with work for the next couple of weeks and so fam time will be limited to the weekends I'm home. But I wanted to share a great moment with our 3-yo (P) @ the grocery store:

P: Can we get popsicles?
Me: If you want. But we're going to the bookstore. [said popsicles would melt with the 75 degree weather we've been have in SLC]
P: But we don't have popsicles at home.
Me: You can pick. Do you want to get popsicles and go straight home or do you want to go to the bookstore?
P: *finger pressed to lips* Hmmm. I want to go to the bookstore. We can just get popsicles next time.
Me: You are so my kid.

I did pick up a couple books at the bookstore (P wanted the uber-expensive version of The Hungry Caterpillar and nothing else, so she had to settle for a promise of taking her to get her her very own library card.).

I've heard some great things about - both YA fantasy. I'm primarily read YA contemporary fiction, but lately I've really been trying to stay openminded about the "other worlds" that are other genres. We'll see how it goes and I'll definitely give my thoughts on here. Stay tuned!

So while I'm on the road, blog posts will probably be even more sporadic than they already are - though I have been trying to be consistent a couple days a week. I'm trying to get things together so I can just get some posts scheduled, but not sure if I'll have enough time. I'll be back in the swing of things mid-May. With all the flights, maybe I'll get some good writing done.

Okay all, have a great Wednesday!

Change of Plans

New words (since last update post): 0
Chapters edited (since last update post): 11

I'm falling a bit behind on the blog. Must come from having spent this past weekend stretched a bit too thin!

Friday night worked with HsJ Entertainment to put on a charity even too benefit the Lupus Foundation. Thanks to everyone who came out to support and make the event a success!

Saturday we had a family wedding. Traditional Laotion weddings begin early in the morning with the ceremony at the bride's home. In the evening there is a reception that runs until super late. So 2 nights in a row of not getting home until 2 AM. Seriously, I'm too old for this.

Sunday was a catch up day. On sleep mostly. I did get in a good chunk of editing and also got some reading in too. Keep an eye out for some new Recent Reads posts!

This made me think about my priorities a bit more and at least for the week, I revamped my #RSthrowdown goal. I am focusing on the editing side of things for JM. I've received a lot of good input from critiques and as it typically is, when you're the writer, you get so close with your projects, you can't really see what needs to be fixed. Luckily, I've had a few people who've given me the proverbial slap on the back of the head and brought me to my senses. So I'm hoping as I work through this round of revisions, JM will get the love it needs and end up in a better place. Hopefully by next week things will have calmed down enough and my brain will be back to fully functional and I can make up for lost time on the writing side. I feel like I'm neglecting 4LW.

Well, have a great day, all. See you on the next page.

WiP Wednesday

Okay, I’m changing up Wednesdays.

From Wonderings to WIP. Why, you ask? Well, firstly, because I can ;-) and secondly, because I wonder all the time. Forcing myself to keep them to Wednesdays only is working to my detriment, so I will be jumping on the WIP bandwagon. I’ll admit it.

As I did with Twilight and Harry Potter, I’m not above jumping on the bandwagon when I see fit.

So, WIP. . . well, for starters, here’s my current #RSthrowdown update:

New words: 685 (before I fell asleep with my laptop on my lap.)
Chapters edited: 1 ½

As I’ve said before, I guess I don’t write like a lot of others out there. I’ve tried to go chronologically, but it turns out it looks more like a very rough “strawman” outline. So now, I just write what comes to me and then I plug it in where it looks like it should go. (Cut & Paste is totally my friend here.)

Clearly, I have a long ways to go on the editing side, but sometimes things come to me later in the game. Rarely do I start projects with what Chapter 1 ends up being. In fact, in my last 3 projects, I believe Chapter 1 was one of the last, if not the actual last chapter I wrote.

So as I’ve been editing the later chapters in JM and writing new stuff for 4LW I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the first chapters of each. JM’s first chapter has recently undergone major revisions and it was the actual last thing I wrote for that project. I’m still getting some great feedback on it.

With 4LW it’s been a little more difficult, as the structure and style it is written in is very different from what I’ve done in the past. So we’ll see what becomes of this.

Well, happy day to everyone (especially those in rainy/snowy Utah dealing with the insane weather).