Holy Heat in July or Due Dates-How to Deal?

I just realized it's been over 3 months since my last "real" post. 3 MONTHS! The year is just slipping away and I feel like I'm scrambling to stay current!

It's been a hot, hot summer since the solstice, and I know I'm not alone in saying that. There have been a couple days where I've considered opening the fridge and building a tent around the door, a la The Simpsons.

Adding to the temperature outside, is the one inside, the one rattling in from my email inboxes, dayjob and writerly.

What am I speaking of? Oh, I'm pretty sure every single one of you knows!

Due dates. Deadlines. Drop deads.

Whether you're agented or not, on submission, querying, or simply trying to get the words out for your first book, there's something to be said about giving yourself (or being given) a completion date. And how you handle it.

With 6 months of 2013 left, I'd love to hear how you guys are dealing with the heat, both outside and when it comes to your writerly projects! Share and share alike! I'm sure there's a lot of us who could benefit from some tips and tricks!

The Small Victories

Happy day after St Patrick's Day! Also known (this year) as, Monday.

Speaking of St Patrick's, how did you guys celebrate? We had an almost all green breakfast at our house, with green pancakes, green eggs, and even some green milk. Once I got over the visual that made me want to yak, it was all pretty good.

Over this holiday weekend, I finished drafting on a project I've gone back and forth and sort of finished, then decided it wasn't done yet, etc etc. We'll dub this project the Carnival of Messes. Well I committed to someone that I would have it FINISHED, as far as first drafts go anyway, by the end of the weekend. And phew, I came in just under the buzzer. Literally, it was 11:59pm when I hit save and closed the file. So I didn't actually write The End, because, well, it's only a first draft and I know from experience it is so so far away from being truly done. But that's another blogpost.

The most important part of this story is that I finished this Carnival of Messes that never wanted to end. People around me always tell me to celebrate the small victories before I move on to the Next Big Project, in my case this will be Revisions v.Zillion on a different project. With as crazy of a business as publishing is, I know celebrating the small stuff should be done, but I too often am too busy and move on to the next thing.

Do you guys celebrate all your small victories? What do you do to celebrate?

Keeping Up and Turning Down

I am such a bad blogger.

Things have been busy with #dayjob and, well, with limited time to squeeze in work, family, and writing - like the for reals kind that go into manuscripts and stuff - along with trying to do the quicker, faster social networky things, my poor, poor blog has been suffering from some neglect. I've been doing my best to keep up with things all around me, but with that comes turning down a few things, including things on my own to do list.

That being said, I think I just have to arbitrarily give myself a pass here and maybe drop down to 1 to 2 days of blogging a week. Hopefully I can keep up with that. 

What have you had to do to make sure you've got enough time to do what you need to do?

What's Your Wrench?

We're off to see the Wizard! The wonderful Wizard of -- Oh, wait.

I'm heading down to Mexico City today, will be there for a couple days, then to San Jose for a meeting with some big kahunas, before I get home on Friday.

So I'll be online, but sporadically.

I've learned over the last year or so that whenever I travel for #dayjob, I am so much more absent from my onlineyness, and I wonder, what is "that thing" that seems to throw a wrench into your normal weekday routines?

I always have a hard time staying up with all the goings on, squeezing in my word counts, blogging, tweeting, and all that jazz. I need to figure out how to take that time and make it more ... oh, I don't know, productive or something. Like maybe I should write during layovers instead of playing Facebook games... just kidding ... maybe not *whispers* >someone send me Candy Crush Saga tickets so I can get to the next level!!<

Clearly, my wrench involves getting on airplanes (and FB games) and this thing called work, *pshaw* ;) but yeah, how about you? The Children? Goats? Sparkly vamps?

What's New?

I know, I know, I should've asked this when everyone was still riding the wave of New Year's partying, but I'm not sure everyone would've been up to responding after their night (or nights, depending on some of you ;) of partying.

So now's my question to all of you? What's NEW????

Would love to hear what you're working on out there! I need a swift kick in the pants right now to get me moving along on a project that has spilled over into 2013, but I've got a NEW project that's dying for my attention.

So what's the old project? A book about a girl, a boy, some funnel cake, and lots of carnival rides.

What's NEW? A book about a girl, a boy, white dresses, pretty flowers, and lots of wedding cake. And it's not what you think, I swear.

So what's NEW with YOU???

Writing with One (or More) Direction(s)

Well based on feedback, you'll start seeing more of ... everything on the blog! Lol. It wasn't the direction I was thinking I'd get, but it's definitely not One Direction.

Speaking of direction, I've been working on a (sorta) new project. Wrapping up a first draft of a contemporary YA full of summer, funnel cake, and carnival rides. Herein lies the problem: it's so not summer outside and I've lost my direction a bit.

It takes me FOREVER to get my brain back in warm weather mode. I mean, it's December in Utah. Albeit, we've been a little lacking in the snow department, but it's not shorts and tanktop season by any means. I feel like the autumn and winter have misdirected me and now I'm floundering, trying to figure out where I was originally going.

So I'm hunkering down with all my summer songs and playlists, covering my desk with sunshine and carnival ride pictures, and hoping these last few thousands of words just write themselves ... ha! Well, you know what I mean!

What "One Thing" (haha, sorry, couldn't help myself!) do you do to help keep yourself going in the "write" direction? Music? Movies? Video games and tea parties?

A Week of Writerly Thanks: Thursday

Today's a day to remember what we're thankful for, but I think this is something that we need to remind ourselves of EVERY SINGLE DAY.

My Thanksgiving resolution is to try to remember and appreciate what I have and not worry so much about everything else.

I appreciate that I have a family who does their best to support me through thick and thin, there to help me pass the waiting time in a publishing process fraught with hurry up and wait, who take on the crazy kidlets so I can get in a few more words, who (usually remember) social networking is part of my job, and no matter what ... I appreciate having a family who is THERE for me.

To that point, I am reminded how lucky I am to be able to spend today with a loving family (no matter how neurotic everyone can be), how supportive they are, in their own special way, and how, despite the fact they may not understand why I do what I do, they still love me for it. Either that, or they are thankful for the fact I always come bearing food ;)

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

The Bigger Picture

It's been just over a month since my last post. I meant to post more, but I just kept forgetting. And now, things are finally starting to sort themselves out a bit.

With working, parenting, writing, daycare, and sorting general other family things out, I'm exhausted. But the sun will rise again and that means, we've all just gotta keep on trekking right?

Enough whining. So guess what? I FINALLY finished revisions on a project I've been working on for what feels like FOREVER. Really, it's been about 3 years, I'd say. Now don't think that's all. In the midst of revisions on this project, I've also drafted an entire other manuscript, gotten about halfway done with draft 0 of yet one other project, and done some general outlining on about 6 other story ideas. I'd say that's a pretty productive last 3 years.

That being said, I feel like I've not got much to show for it other than lots of word documents on my computer, a lack of blog posts, and some pretty kick @$$ writerly peeps I've gotten to know.

I guess this sort of random, rambly post is mostly me trying to collect my thoughts around what I've gotten done. In the past few months, I feel like not much, but that's speaking only on the writerly stuff. Family took precedence and I think everyone can understand why. But if I look at the writerly stuff for the last few years, I've been pretty damn productive. Gotta take the victories where I can get them!

Sometimes, you gotta take a look at the bigger picture to help get refocused. What's your bigger pictures looking like?

The Voices Are My Friends...

*Waves*

Hello? Is anyone out there? I'm not sure anyone is, seeing as it's 5 A.M. on a Sunday morning and honestly I'm amazed I'm up. Not only that, but I'm coherent and WRITING! And I don't just mean this blog post, but like for reals writing. Well, rewriting, anyway, while I also jot down some thoughts on a new project. What is so amazing about this, you ask?

I'm NOT a morning person. Generally, it takes until about 10 A.M. or so for me to be fully functional. I can be awake, yes. But that's just going through the motions. So it would seem the whole thing people have been telling me that having your third kid really changes this is true: looks like baby boy's plot to convert me from night owl to morning bird just might be working. Although, as I type that, he's sleeping peacefully in his bed. It's like he woke up the voices in my head or something.

I suppose that's something I should be grateful for. It's been several weeks since I've worked on anything writerly. So maybe I shouldn't complain about the voices in my head? Nope, no complaints here. Those voices make being awake by myself since 3 A.M. less lonely.

So that's what's going on with me this morning.

What are you guys up to?

Experience: A Numbers Game

Recently I had a conversation with a CP / writerly peep regarding a numbers game.

You see, this week's quote, I think is great and so, so true, but only in the right context. Because it does not state if the experience is GOOD or BAD. It's just experience and it is what you do with what comes from your experiences that make you who you are.

This numbers game we were discussing was in reference to the number of books a writer finishes before "the one." I mean, in some cases, you get lucky with the first. In other cases, it's number umpteenth. Regardless, it is the experience of writing each one. That being said, is each one getting progressively BETTER? I mean, I think we can all say that anyone can write a book, if they so choose. It's really not that hard, right? Some words, a few punctuations, not too much to it.

So really, experience, in my mind, means learning from your past and realizing what doesn't work (through the help of CPs and the generally awesometastic writerly community), and taking what you learn and applying it, right? Otherwise, aren't we just doomed to repeat history? Over and over and over again? 

Personally, I look back to some of the stuff I wrote a few years ago and basically think to myself "OMG, I cannot believe I actually thought this was brilliant. What CRAP." And now, I'm a little more, hmm, this is a good third (or fifteenth) draft, but I'm still a ways away from it being really pretty and shiny. 

What am I babbling on about? I guess I'm just saying that IMO, while experience gained through perseverance is a great thing to have, what you DO with the experience matters far more than just getting it. 

What do you guys think?

It's A Start

Thanks for the input, you guys! Apparently I'm one of the few who are a bit abnormal and don't write chronologically.

My brain doesn't think that way until way after the fact.

So I start, well, I just start with what I see in my head. And only ONCE has it ever been what turned out to be the beginning. When I write, it's like building a big giant puzzle with, say, a thousand pieces where you don't know what the picture looks like. While I've got about 200 or so laid out and ready to assemble, I'm still missing the other 800 pieces, right? Somehow, they hopped out of the box and skittered off somewhere to bide their time. So I work with what I've got until I stumble across another handful of pieces. And then another and another.

All these pieces come to me in what's basically a jumbled mess. As I piece together a little scene here and another one there, I start to figure out where they all tie together. It may be just one tiny little sequence association, meaning I'll have to figure out the big chunk between two parts, but it's something right?

It's a start.

And that's what I've learned through what you guys have told me and my experiences. Whether to start with a totally sucky beginning and then go back to fix it later or just starting with what you think might be the beginning and going from there, we just need to do what works for us. And as much as I wish I could be one of those writers who tweet things like "one more chapter to go and I'll be done with this draft!" I'm realizing I just need to accept that that's not me as a writer.

So I'm off to do some drafting (after I finish this revision from hell that I can't seem to get through) ... and hopefully I'll know what this puzzle picture looks like sooner rather than later :)

In the Beginning

That Plato. He was one smart dude, right?

So the beginning ... always sucks for me. I never know where to, well, start.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Maybe because I've got about 10 storylines bouncing around in my brain and none of them have an actual "beginning."

But really, what constitutes a beginning when you first start? Is it your Once upon a time ... or the On a dark and stormy night ...

Or is it that little plot bunny that has gone from being just a cute little furry fluff ball to some sort of giant Easter basket carrying creature who drops eggs at random intervals in your brain causing you to forget what you're really supposed to be focused on. You know the one I'm talking about, the little rabbit that showed up and planted the seed of an idea in your brain. I don't know about you guys, but my plot bunnies do not leave me with directions saying "this is where you start." They leave me with "this is a perfect scene that should go on page 139."

Well, what do I do with that??

I've asked before and I'm going to ask again, because the thought fascinates me. Do you write chronologically? As in, you start with Chapter 1, page 1 (or what you hope will be a good ch 1/pg 1). Or do you do ... other? And if you do write chronologically ... how do you just know that's the place to start?

Beginnings. Like I said, they always suck for me, but I'm open to advice from anyone who's got thoughts on becoming a great beginner!

Quote of the Week

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."

Plato

An Unplanning Experiment

I'm a planner.

Many a friend will tell you (along with most of my family), I'm sort of a freak about my calendars and day planner and timelines.

But recently, with illness and exhaustion, day job stresses and life in general going a bit crazy in the Aphayrath house, I've not been able to maintain my freakish timelines I've laid out. And I'm not sure how I feel about that. Well, that's not true. I don't actually like it at all. Not one bit, honestly. I like my timelines and the accomplishment I feel when I hit a deadline, even if it is self-imposed. So working with no timelines has been a bit bizarre for me, an experiment in the unplanned.

Which is funny, because I'm a total pantser when it comes to writing. I've learned about myself that if I overplan a book - you know, outlining and all that - I get bored because I already know what happens, so there is less of a thrill for me in "unraveling" the story as it were.

As things slowly calm down, I'm taking the time to re-establish the planning portion of things that work for me as well as accepting that there are parts of what I do that I cannot plan for anymore (like, OMG, seriously? what happened to that character? how come she turned out like that???) and sometimes, the unplanned stuff is what makes my plans turn out just the way I want them to.

Are you guys life planners and pantser writers? Or am I just the only crazy one?

Random Stuff Friday

1) Holy crow, it's been a while, hasn't it? I swore I was gonna get better at blogging more regularly and then ... well, 4 graduations, 2 birthday parties, revisions, new wips and ... yeah. The list goes on and on. Anyway, I'm back now and--

*** WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG POST WITH AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE: Tuesday, June 7th we will all be wishing a Happy Book Birthday to POSSESSION, the debut novel from the one and only, Elana Johnson and lucky, lucky you could have a chance for some personalized Elana-time! This contest is open from now until Wednesday, June 15th and all winners will be announced by Elana on Thursday, June 16th. For complete details ... CLICK HERE!!! *** WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG POST ***

2) My baby brother graduated from high school this week (yeah, he's the tall one in the middle in case you couldn't tell by the cap & gown) and we're all so proud of him! And the best part about his graduation? I don't HAVE to go to another graduation for at least 2 years (depending on how long he and my sister decide to take until they graduation college!). It's the little things I tell ya!

This is my cute family: Dad on the left, my younger sister, baby brother, me and Mom.

3) Speaking of graduations, 5yo who will be 6yo as of the middle of this month has now graduated kindergarten. It's bittersweet, as a mom. I'm proud of her and she loved school and I hope that continues, but she's growing up SO fast, I almost started crying the other day. I know, lame and emotional, but I bet the rest of you moms out there totally know what I'm talking about. *sniffles*

4) I'm seriously considering shelving a project I've been working intensely on for the last year and a half. Over the past several weeks, I've just fallen out of the mojo of the story and I cannot seem to get a firm grasp on the characters' voices right now. I'm having a tough time with this because, well, despite having "fallen out" with the story, I still really love it. What's a girl to do?

5) Rain, rain, go away, come again another day . . .

What's Up?

It's Wednesday. And I thought I already had a blog post ready, but . . . apparently not.

So bear with my ramblings, his week's a bit crazy for me. One of my colleagues is leaving the company and we have to figure out who and what is going to happen with her work, the little kidlet is turning 3 and having a big family / some friends party on Saturday that I'm totally NOT ready for (as in, I sent out a text message giving everyone a heads up, but I only JUST got the actual invitations in the mail yesterday - pathetic, I know), we've got so much laundry to get done I feel like the mountain of it is going to swallow me whole, and that's just some of the RL stuff.

If we're gonna talk writing, well . . . I've got revisions to work on for wip#1, an overhaul and rewrite of wip#2, and the sort-of-outlined-but-not-really wip#3 characters won't quit talking to me!

Enough rambling and ranting though.

On the bright side, we've got some spring showers right now, but temps are supposed to go as high as 79 this weekend. 79! Yay to warmth and sunshine and summer dresses! Hmm, maybe that's why the characters of wip#3 are talking to me. The story takes place over a summer and, well, they can FEEL the temperatures rising too!

Oh, and let's not forget what Friday is. Well, for some, I guess it's just Friday, other's it's Friday the 13th. For me? It's what I have officially deemed SARAH DESSEN DAY! She'll be in Salt Lake on tour for her new book WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE. I'm so so sooooooo excited. My sister and one of Husband's cousins (both still teens) are going with me and I think my fangirly-ness might freak them out a bit, but yanno, I don't think I care. IT'S SARAH DESSEN!!!!!!

In the meantime, until SARAH DESSEN DAY arrives, I suppose I better go prioritize or something. Maybe I'll make a list. I do love a good list.

How about you guys? What's up on this springy Wednesday?

Too Much Fabric

I've been working on the first draft of a new wip for a while now. A long while. Like, at one point I wondered if the book had an ending and a friend on twitter deemed it:

Yeah, that is how long it is. In word count, you ask? I stopped counting after I hit 100k. It's a YA Contemporary. I KNOW that it is way too long. But I couldn't help it. There was some sort of bizarro word vomit situation going and, well, ta-da! I ended up here.

However, in my defense, I'm one of those people who think that it is way easier to cut than add. Plus, I sort of feel better about myself when I can slim down an ms, instead having to figure out the best places to let it out.

Example: Say you buy an amazing dress online. You never got to try it on and they don't have any clear sizing information, so you just wing it. Plus, they have in bright red bold flashing letters that there is a strict no returns policy. But this dress is so amazing you HAVE to have it. You go to order it, there's 2 sizes left. The first is one size too small. The second is one size too big. Which do you buy?

If you ask me, I'd take the one too big. Why? Because it is way easier to take something in, remove the parts that you don't need, than to get the smaller size and hope that it fits, thinking that you'll worry about adding more later. Plus, you know, when I have to get something taken in, well, it's quite a boost to the ego. ;)

That's just how my brain works. That and I am apparently VERY long winded and needed more than 100k words to tell you about carnival rides.

So do you go with too much, too too much, or whatever you think is just right?

A Journey

I think it's safe to say most of us have been trudging along in this publication journey for a while now. It's the "a while" part that is open to interpretation, right?

There are all those success stories we hear, the ones where an author's written a book in just a few weeks that led to a multi-gazillion-dollar-deal, complete with glitter and sprinkles and loads of chocolate flavored confetti falling from the sky.

And then you think, dude, I could totally do that.

You scribble your book down. Jump on what you think is the Amtrak train straight for NYC where you just know your book is going to get an agent-editor-multi-bazillion-dollar (bigger than gazillion, you see) - deal and you'll have a parade and instead of throwing out candy to the masses you will throw chocolate covered words to help other writers achieve their dreams.

But. (Did you expect there not to be a "but?")

The train stops. You get out. And this is so not NYC.

You stand on the platform. And Platform 9 3/4, it's not.

You look around. Yep, still an Amtrak. In your hands, yep, still holding your gonna-be-a-NYT-bestseller. So you go over to find the conductor to get some information. And what do you learn? You've landed in Editsville. The conductor hands you a map and you see that this train stops in Editsville, Revision City, Rewriteston, Letitstewabit and then loops back around to Editsville again.

You've just missed the connection from Editsville to NYC.

The conductor asks, "Didn't anyone tell you that?"

You say, "Uh, no."

The conductor just shakes his head in apology and ambles away.

You stand there thinking, Uh, this is so not the trip I was planning. And then you look at your ticket. Everything looks okay and then you see some fine print beneath the destination.

Amtrak: Home to N

YC

with stops

With stops?!?!?!? You have a WTF moment. As in, Ms. NYT Bestseller just wrote her book in three and a half days and wtf, she is on the NYT Bestseller list and I can't even catch a freakin' break! Don't these people know I am the next (insert trend of your choice here). [You can insert lots more expletives, if you'd like. The moment is rather fitting.]

So your choices? Sit around Editsville eating weird Chocofake Rejection bars or you get back on the train. When you arrive in Revision City and are frustrated. Your options here? Sit around and eat the new White Chocofake Hopeless bars, or get back on the train. As tasty as that sounds, I'd vote the train.

Frustration turns to anger. Anger turns to resolve. And somewhere between Revision City and Rewriteston you break out your soon-to-be NYT Bestseller. You read through your ms as you chug along on the train. You find improvements you can make. You run into some peeps and they help you make it even better. So then, when you notice you've arrived in Editsville (umpteenth loops later) you realize something: You're in the right place. It's the right time. And you can get on the right train! And then you remember to check your ticket for the fine print again, just as the train pulls away from the platform.

Amtrak: Editsville to NYC

with stops

Great. What'd you think? That this whole getting published thing was easy???

~ * ~

All right, that was my so totally long-winded way of saying that while we hear lots and lots of success stories about those people who landed huge deals or seem to "have all the luck in the world," guess what?

We have no idea what their Amtrak ride was like, or how long it took, or what kind of an emotional rollercoaster it was. Okay, that's not entirely true. We get a reader's digest version of what they've lived through. Usually it's been edited to a significant degree, because no one wants to hear the crappy parts of the story, but what it comes down to is that everyone's journey is different. And sometimes it's hard to remember that.

Yes, we get frustrated, we get jealous. Yes, I said it. You don't have to deny it. But that's a post for another day. Like maybe tomorrow.

So yeah. Remember, we're all on a train. Sometimes people jump on and off, but each of our individual tickets is completely unique. Sort of like the tickets the kids get on the Polar Express.

NoNano

I'm not doing NaNoWriMo this year.

I think I've said that before.

The funny thing about that? I've written more since November has started than I have in the last few weeks, I think.

When I tried Nano last year, I didn't finish. There was too much real life/day job stuff that came up and took away all the free time I generally have to write. Things that didn't allow me to "take away" time and use it for what I wanted.

So this year, I'm working on a quasi-Nanowrimo ... it's more like FiNoWriMo ... Finish Novel Writing Month.

I've got a list ... a LIST, I tell you, of projects I need to get to, all are in some way, shape or form, started, but the one I've been working on has been waiting to be finished since, oh, September, I believe. And I cannot push it off anymore. These other projects are screaming in my ears. I have to finish the current one to give it some time to stew. Time I can use to write something else.

So I'm writing. Lots. To finish a novel, but not one that was started for Nano.

There's no reason not to ride the wave of other people's word count motivations and use that energy to get some words in for myself, right? Anyone else doing noNano writing?

H.O.W. I Stay Calm

It's hard. Sometimes, damn near impossible.

H.O.W. do I do it? I have ADD and --ohhh look,

jedi squirrels!! Oh, wait, where was I? Oh, yeah.

H.O.W. to stay calm. Like I said, it's difficult. Especially as a writer where there's so much waiting and uncertainty and wondering and waiting and waiting and waiting.

Like when you send out a query. And wait. And wait. And wait.

Or if you're past that stage and out on submission. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

Or when you enter the Utah Chapter RWA Hearts of the West (aka HOW) Writer's Contest. And wait. And wait. And -- what? Wait, WHAT?

I'M A FINALIST IN THE Utah RWA H.O.W. Contest!!!

Check it out at the Utah RWA site.

And now I am doing a little bit of this:

Because, well, all good things should be shared and celebrated!

And I'm doing a lot a bit of this:

Why? Because losing myself in another story is H.O.W. I stay calm.

Keeping my fingers crossed! If you've got some good news let's hear it!