I’ve always thought it would be amazing to be a full-time writer. Wake up, get a bagel and an iced coffee and sit down to write for hours. Maybe at home, maybe in a coffee shop, maybe in a park. There would be a break for lunch, maybe an errand or two. And then back down to business. By 4 or 5pm, I’d have at least a couple thousand good words written. Maybe more. I can write fast when I have the time.

And I realized something this morning. In my current limbo stage between jobs, I have the opportunity to do this. See what’s it’s like to be a full-time writer. Really get some good, productive writing done on Book #3. I can temporarily make writing my full-time job, and that’s actually pretty exciting! Because it is work. I’ve always looked at it that way. But it’s always been the part-time job I’ve done when I’ve shoved a spare hour into my day.

And it’s about time I started really writing again. I haven’t gotten much done lately, and I’m ready for that to change. Starting today. I’m also going to go back to attempting Clash. I think with this focus, I can push forward. So, here goes. Full-time writing day #1.

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Filed under: Clash, drafts, writing | 1 Comment »

This summer has been a bit crazy for me, full of changes, upsets, life-altering events and milestones. Some have been good like finishing my second novel, attending AgentFest, moving to a new and improved apartment and graduating from Graduate School. Some have been bad like the passing of a close relative, a knee injury and now…becoming unemployed.

I wasn’t sure how much to share about my latest crazy summer event, but I couldn’t find any reasons against sharing. My company had a layoff yesterday, and I was one of the employees affected. It was a bit of a shock, and I felt a little dazed yesterday, but I’m pretty confident I can find something else soon.

The point of this post wasn’t to dwell on yesterday’s event but to reflect on how crazy life can get sometimes. How much things can change in a short period of time. And I think it can really bring your focus to what really matters to you and your true goals in life.

What matters most to me? My family. My friends. My writing.

It’s funny how change can bring such clarity of dreams and aspirations. I was focused on writing before. I knew it’s what I want to do. But for some reason, this has intensified over the past few months. I know without a doubt that this is what I want. I know without a doubt it’s what I will do for the rest of my life even if I never get a book on the shelves. And I will never stop trying. I’m going to keep writing the books I love, and I’m going to keep querying. It’s a long shot. It has always been a long shot. But what greater satisfaction can there be from accomplishing something that is such a long shot?

My favorite quote:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

So, when life gets you down, focus on your dreams. Throw your energy into something you love. Honestly, I think it’s the best therapy there is. And if you don’t make it, at least you know you tried. You gave it your all. And that right there is an accomplishment in itself.

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Filed under: goals, me | 4 Comments »

Hmm.

So, I was talking to one of my fellow writing buddies tonight about a possible change to the title of Teen Ghost. First, I had an agent at AgentFest recommend I change the title. Second, I saw a book called Ghostgirl at Barnes & Noble this past weekend. Sitting all prominent on the YA New Release Shelf. *Sigh* The book is nothing like mine in premise or storyline, but the title is a little too similar for my taste. Who knows if an agent will see my title and automatically chalk it up as a copycat. And it’s nothing like it!

So, I came up with a title that I feel pretty good about and decided to share it with my pal. She likes it and pointed out that it could go many directions if I decided to keep up the theme for other books in the series. So, I started thinking about other titles for the other books, and I sort of kind of maybe got excited about the whole Teen Ghost world again. So, I’ve sort of started writing Book 2.

That’s not a terrible thing to happen, but it wasn’t the plan and here’s why. I’m trying to get an agent. If I can’t find one for Teen Ghost and I’m busy working on the sequel, then…that doesn’t help me much. But if I can’t find one and I’m working on my next project, I’ll have something ready to send out again in a few months.

The problem with the rational, eye-on-the-prize approach is that I really want to be working on Book 2. But…I’m starting to really like Clash as well. So, I want to work on that one. Forget the POV dilemma. We have an entire book dilemma on our hands. And by we, I mean me. And my characters tugging war over my brain.

What am I to do? I really don’t know. I think I’m going to sleep on it. Hopefully the morning will bring some clarity of thought.

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Filed under: Clash, TG, writing | 2 Comments »

First, I want to point out that my blog might look a little different. For the past few days, I’ve been tweaking things here and there. I had some clutter and some out of date widgets and things. I felt like freshening things up a bit. And, with the awesome and talented help of one of my coworkers, I also have a new header! Thanks Jason! Same idea as my old header but with new colors and a sleeker design. I still have a few things to tweak here and there, but this is it! My new blog design. It isn’t that I don’t like my old header anymore…I still do. I just felt like a change.

We have a winner in the great POV showdown of August 2008. Third person wins this round. Its prize is being used in my current WIP, Clash.

I’ve always enjoyed reading first person. But when it comes right down to it, I think my writing sounds better, or reads better, written in third person POV. Basically, all I did was go back and switch out the first POV pronouns with third person. A slightly annoying process, but it was worth it. When I read back over both, several times each, I really thought third person came out better.

Now that I have that issue resolved, I can finally move forward with this story. I’d love to finish the first draft by the end of this year so I better get going. I might have been able to write a novel in six weeks one time, but I don’t see that becoming a pattern. Onward I go!

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Filed under: Clash, drafts, me, projects, writing | No Comments »

In June, I posted about what I wanted in my ideal writing space since I’d just moved into my new apartment with a lot more room. I mean, a lot more room. From small studio to spacious one bedroom. Due to a whirlwindy summer, it took me three months to get things exactly how I wanted them.

Before:

After:

This is where I write. I’ve got my bookshelf of favorite books to the right. I’ve got a place to store folders and manuscripts to the left. I’ve got a bulletin board, an inspirational quote, pretty purple paintings, LOTR figurines, post-its, speakers, laptop, WD hard drive for backup and other miscellaneous things to inspire and make my writing time comfortable and happy. Like the purple lampshade. A small thing, but purple makes me happy.

I’m so glad I finally got this done. It’s a lot easier for me to concentrate when I’m in a nice space. Some people can write anywhere. I can’t. Concentration is key.

So, there you have it. I’d be interested in seeing where others write. So, if you post on your own blog, let me know and I’ll come check it out.

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Filed under: me, projects, writing, writing tools | 4 Comments »

Thanks to Rachel Vincent, author of one of my favorite urban fantasy series, I downloaded the free trial of Post-It Digital Notes a few days ago. Now, I’m not sure this is how they intended this program to be used, but it makes for a GREAT virtual plotting board.

I’ve never used the same process for two novels, and here I am trying yet another new method for this one. The reason is that I find each novel to be its own beast, and I have to figure out the best way to tackle it. You wouldn’t go after a dragon the same way you’d go after a troll so…you know. I’m finding I need to do more plotting with Clash than with any others.

I tried using a live plotting board with one of my mysteries:

It didn’t get much further along than that. Not helpful, really. But as you can see from my virtual plotting board, I’m getting a lot more done.

Here’s how I’m using the Post-It Digital Notes to plot out Clash.

Each color is a different plot thread. Purple is the main plot because purple is my favorite color. I always have a romantic subplot so that’s what I’m using the red for. I also have a couple of other minor subplots, and I’m using green and blue for those. Also, if you look in the top right corner, there’s some yellow Post-It Notes there. I’m using those for notes for research or creating names for certain characters or groups.

I’m lining them up in columns, to be read from from top to bottom. As you can see, I have the beginning fleshed out as well as the very end, with a few plot points in between. The board will actually become a lot bigger than that as I keep developing my plot, and thankfully, I can keep scrolling it out to the right as I add things. Very useful.

I can also make multiple memoboards if I decide to have one each for the beginning, middle and end.

Another thing I really like is how easy it is to just move the notes around to rearrange the plot. I liked trying out the real plotting board, but it’s a lot more cumbersome than a little program where I just have to click and drag.

Anyway, I’m feeling a lot better about my story now. I have some direction, and I’m going to be able to start chugging along once I get the POV question straightened out. It looks like I still have quite a bit of plot left to develop, but I do figure a lot of that out as I go. So, the board will grow as I progress, and it will help keep me on track and help me ensure everything stays consistent. Plus, it will become very useful in the editing phase when I search for inconsistencies, plot holes and things accidentally left out due to book brain melt that can happen when writing that first draft. There’s so much to keep track of, and I think this program is really going to help me out.

That said, I’m almost 100% sure I’ll buy the thing once my trial is up. It’s only $20, and it’s worth that if it helps me improve my writing.

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Filed under: Clash, drafts, plotting, writing, writing tools | 4 Comments »

So, in my last post, I listed my novels so far. All of them, except for Teen Ghost, have been written in first person. With that one, I went with third. This was done for structural reasons as well as an exercise. I wasn’t sure if I could write in third. Halfway into the first chapter, I knew I’d made the right decision.

Now, working through Chapter One of Clash has brought on a dilemma. Actually, I’ve been trying to figure this one out for a few weeks. I’m not sure if I want to write it in first or third. They both have their pros and cons.

First: You can really get inside of the character’s head and infuse the writing with her, or his, voice. But that can also create a problem for long descriptive type paragraphs where the character might not describe things in that fashion. And you always have to see the world through that character’s eyes. It can be limiting.

Third: The voice part is trickier. You can follow the character around, but you aren’t really the character. But that also works better when you don’t necessarily want to see the world solely through the main character’s eyes.

The best writing I’ve ever done was on Teen Ghost. Now, I don’t know if this was because I’ve had practice or if the switch to third person had a large part in it. Maybe a combination of both. Maybe it was just the passion for the story. Whatever the reason, I’m having trouble deciding the POV for Clash. This would be a cool book to do in first person, but if it would come out better in third, I want to go with that. So, I’m going to do a test. I’ve decided to finish the first chapter as it is in first person. Then, I’m going to go back and write it in third person as well. Whichever is better wins. I figure I can get this done over the weekend and finally get on with this thing. I’ve been stalled in Chapter One for weeks.

May the best POV win.

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Filed under: Clash, drafts, writing | 2 Comments »

I’ve shared my novel’s progress. I’ve shared my pitch results. I’ve shared my woes and my wheees(!) during the whole agent querying process. But I’ve only really ever given little tidbits of information about what it is exactly that I write and what my novels are about.

So, since things are kind of slow for me on both the new WIP’s writing and the old WIP’s querying due to what I like to consider an August slump, I thought I’d share more info about the novels I’ve written, including the ones I’ve partially written since getting serious about this whole wanting-to-be-a-published-author thing. So, I’m really only including what I’ve written post-undergrad because I was way more interested in college than writing when I was an undergrad.

Book One - 2006
Title: Untitled
Status: Unfinished at 15k. Shelved.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Influences: Agatha Christie, Janet Evanovich
Story: A young 20-something court reporter living in the big city stumbles upon the dead body of a lawyer during one of her many routine court reporting trips to his office for her job. Her handsome ex-boyfriend, who she still loves, is accused and she takes it upon herself to unravel the mystery in order to keep him from going to jail, or worse, receiving the death sentence for murdering his boss.
Thoughts: This was my first serious attempt at finishing a novel. I got about 15k into this one before calling it quits. I didn’t know what I was doing. There are a couple of scenes I’m proud of with this one, but other than that, it’s not something I want anyone seeing. The premise is kind of cheesy, and I didn’t know what I was doing when I tried plotting this. I ran myself into a corner and gave up.

Book Two - 2007
Title: Untitled
Status: Unfinished at 30k. Shelved.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Influences: Agatha Christie, Janet Evanovich
Story: This is going to sound strangely familiar. A young 20-something dog walker/artist wannabe living in the city stumbles upon the dead body of one of her many dog-walking clients. The handsome guy she’s secretly in love with gets accused, and she takes it upon herself to unravel the mystery in order to keep him from going to jail, or worse, get accused for murdering his aunt. Yeah. Could this premise be any more similar to my first one?
Thoughts: Trying to write something like this didn’t work the first time, and it didn’t work this time either. I tried writing this during a challenge I gave myself. Write a book during the summer. I gave myself 3 months to do it. June 2007 to August 2007. Write 1k per day. I was doing pretty well up until the beginning of July, and then it slowly puttered out into nonexistence. My plotting improved a bit, but I still didn’t know what I was doing. Plus? The story/plot/writing/everything about it was kind of dumb.

Book Three - 2008
Title: Shadow Guardian (this titled changed about a million times over the course of this book’s development)
Status: Completed at 70k. Queried. Temporarily shelved..
Genre: YA Fantasy
Influences: Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman
Story: A 17-year-old Elf living on Earth must flee to her own planet when her Grandfather dies and leaves her and her cousin to ward off evil shapeshifting Harpies who have found their hidden cabin in the mountains where they’ve trained for their roles as Guardians of the Gates, the portals leading to other planets in the Universe. When the creatures follow them to their homeland in an attempt to take control of the planet, they must create an army of Elves, Pegasi and Faeries in order to battle these creatures.
Thoughts: This book is very near and dear to my heart. It is the first one I ever finished. It is the first one I have queried. I fell in love with the world and got to know my characters inside and out. But, in retrospect, it has some problems. It’s retired for now, but I do want to go back and revisit this story at some point and improve it. Also, it made me realize that while I have always loved reading cozy mysteries, that isn’t the genre I want to write. I want to write YA and fantasy.

Book Four - 2008
Title: Teen Ghost
Status: Completed at 65k. Currently in querying mode. Awaiting feedback from several partials and a full.
Genre: YA Paranormal
Influences: Holly Black, Melissa Marr, Rachel Vincent
Story: *Spoiler alert* I don’t know if anyone here will ever read this book, but I just thought I’d mention my blurb contains something that’s pretty spoilery.
When 17-year-old Cassidy meets an untimely death, she’s thrust into a whirlwind of crossing over classes, cemetery excursions and fleeing from the contamination that will cause her to remain a ghost forever. But when she discovers her Professor’s true intentions are not to cross over the ghosts but to consume their souls, her anger and confusion cause her to seek out the rumored cure to death so she can return to her life with her family, her friends and the one she loves.
Thoughts: The premise might possibly sound strange to you. It’s not a particularly cheery book. And I am completely in love with it. I was consumed by this book from start to finish. I hope I have this sort of writing experience again, but I’m not sure I ever will. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here. I don’t know if anyone else would enjoy it at all. I just know I do, and that’s the most important thing to me. To write what I love. BUT! This is also the one I want to get an agent with. I’ve got another one in the works right now, but this is the one I would love to be a debut novel. Of course, I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. First, I’ve got to get an agent! I’ve been querying, and I’ve gotten several requests. I’m going to keep querying until I know I’ve done my best to win with this one.

Book Five - Now
Title: Clash (This will probably change)
Status: In progress - Still plotting and working through Chapter 1
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Influences: Joss Whedon, Rachel Vincent
Story: I don’t want to share the entire blurb yet, but it’s about a freshman in college who also happens to be a very powerful being. More on this later.
Thoughts: I like this story, but I’ve yet to fall madly in love with it like TG. But I have high hopes that it’ll grow on me. I thought about writing the sequel to TG instead, but I’m not quite ready to tackle that yet while it’s in the midst of querying mode.

So, there you have it. My books. I’ve gone from dog walker to depressed ghost. From saving an ex-honey to saving the planet. And from a genre I like reading to a genre I love writing. Here’s hoping the next time I make a list like this, I’ll be talking about published works.

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Filed under: GotS, TG, drafts, me, projects, writing | 4 Comments »

This weekend, I went to Six Flags Great Adventure and rode El Toro, possibly the best roller coaster ever made. And like most things, it got me thinking about the world of writing and trying to get published.

To me, the path to publishing is very much like a roller coaster. And very much like El Toro in particular.

You start out writing a book which is a fantastic and amazing climb. And once you reach the end of that book, the top of the hill, you feel on top of the world. You’ve done it!

And then, very quickly, you get your first agent rejection and you begin  your first insane plummet to the ground. Quickly, you pick yourself up again and get flung back up to another hill (get a partial or full request), and then you go straight back down again (rejection).

This continues over and over again. You go through many twists and turns, and at times, it feels like the roller coaster is trying to knock you off. But you hold on tight and you finally make it to the end where you get an exhilerating rush of giddiness at the ride you’ve just been put through.

That’s just getting an agent. Then, you hop on once again when it comes time for your agent to submit your work to publishers. Rinse, repeat. It’s a wild ride, from start to finish. But a ride worth it each time you cruise to an exciting and rewarding stop.

And on that note, I want to give a shout out of CONGRATS to one of my blog buddies, Jen. She found an agent just last week, and I’m so proud of her and excited to see what’s to come. Go Jen!

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Filed under: agents, publishing, writing | 4 Comments »

My top ten favorite writers has changed. I’m not sure who I can knock out of there, but I know without a doubt Scott Westerfield deserves a place on there somewhere. And Joss Whedon deserves to go up a couple of pegs. But that’s for another post.

The Uglies Series started several years ago, but I just got around to reading them a couple of weeks ago. I read the trilogy in three days. That right there has to tell you something. These aren’t short books. What they are is compelling.

Loosely based on a Twilight Zone episode, the story is about a teenage girl living in a futuristic dystopian society where everyone must undergo a surgery to become pretty once turning 16. The surgery leaves the younger “Uglies” on the outside of the society while their friends party all night and forget all about them until they have the surgery themselves.

Not only is the story cool with its adventurous hoverboarding scenes and descriptions of sleek, environmentally-friendly technologies, it goes a lot deeper into issues such as individuality, mind control and what exactly is too far in regards to limiting the human race and how much is too much when trying to coexist in harmony with nature. And the main character is one of the strongest female protagonists I’ve seen in awhile. Not necessarily in regards to Buffy-like super fighting strength (although that does come in the third book, but I won’t spoil you too much) but more in regards to strength of character and the fact that even though she struggles with finding out exactly who she is through most of the series, she’s always true to herself and always tries to do the right thing no matter what the world is doing to her.

I recommend this series to pretty much anyone. Technically a YA series, I think adults can enjoy it just as much. I also think I need to take another trip to the bookstore to buy more of his novels. If they are as good as these are, I’m going to love them.

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Filed under: reading, reviews | 3 Comments »