Progress

Let’s celebrate my accomplishments! Or mock my failure…

Reinventing the Old Stuff

12.26.2009
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I wrote a novel and finished it well over a year-and-a-half ago.  I submitted it to Carina Press (cross your fingers for me–still haven’t heard anything*).  It was a stand-alone book, but I knew when I wrote it there were two related books to be written.  I jotted down notes as they came to me [...]

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Tagged as: craft, process, querying, stupid synopsis, ventastic

NaNoWriMo: I Get It

11.07.2009
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This is the first year I’ve participated in NaNo.  I’ve thought about it a couple of times.  Once I started but dropped out early, citing the reasoning that it just didn’t work with my “process.”  But, I think I get it now. It’s sort of like when I actually became a writer instead of a [...]

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Tagged as: craft, NaNoWriMo, process, the care and feeding of your muse, writing tools

Nano: The Beginning

11.05.2009
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Turns out, this whole “just write” strategy is actually very difficult for me.  I can’t seem to stop looking up the page and thinking, “Dude, this is crap,” which I always do and sometimes it’s not. But, for me, that’s the whole point.  To learn to let go and let what I know, both learned [...]

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Tagged as: craft, NaNoWriMo, process, writing past the fear

Just the Beginning

08.23.2009

I mentioned (I think) that I’m working on a new manuscript. I’ve got several characters roughly sketched and about 35 pages of backstory (the setup for the now) written. I love this part, where there’s still so many things to do, and you can just pick and choose. Should I develop the characters more? Should [...]

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Tagged as: craft, process, the care and feeding of your muse

One Sentence for Fiction

10.08.2008

I decided to take my idea and run with it.  It ended up being more than a sentence.  But definitely no more than blurbs.  I’m too close to it right now to see if there’s anything useful there, but I promised to share, so here it is.

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Tagged as: craft, process, the care and feeding of your muse, writing tools

Bite me, synopsis.

09.10.2008

So, I’m attempting to write my first synopsis. And it’s bringing back all these horrible memories of being paralyzed with fear–literally, can’t write a word, paralyzed–when I first started writing and I read all of these how-to books and web sites. Here’s what I’ve gathered, so far: It’s the opposite of show-not-tell.  Tell, tell, tell!  [...]

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Tagged as: craft, stupid synopsis, ventastic, writing articles

Finis. Sort of.

01.22.2008

I have finished the first rewrite on the first act of my fist novel. All those firsts, they just kind of sing disaster, don’t they? And yet, oh my god. I felt the same rush I did finishing the thing. The first act, about 140 pages, needed a lot of work. It was mainly written [...]

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Tagged as: editing, personal

Backstory

12.10.2007

I’m editing. Yes, still. And I’m having one of those moments, you know, when you want to smack yourself on the forehead, but instead of saying, “You could’ve had a V8!” you say, “How could you not have known that?!” Backstory. Oh, sure, I had backstory. I knew all about my heroine’s childhood, her parents, [...]

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Tagged as: craft, editing, process, ventastic

For the Rush

11.15.2007

I’m editing. I have (once again) hit writer’s block and decided this would be the perfect time to edit… or totally rip apart… my first novel. Except, of course, I still don’t feel like writing. So I’m pushing my way through. And feeling like a petulant two-year-old: “But it’s hard!” It’s so scary, looking at [...]

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Tagged as: craft, editing, personal, the care and feeding of your muse, writing past the fear