Free form. Without organization or hierarchy. The third order of information is alive in my blog!
(Apologies. Library school has definitely eaten my brain.)
Jim C. Hines interviews his agent, Steve Mancino
Deanna Hoek points out "Mistakes authors make: addressing peerage"
Agent Manners (aka Jennifer Jackson) answers my question about MS shipping (She's been taking requests)
Sherwood Smith points out Rachel Manija's posts on PTSD for the writer
That's all for now...
I have reached the point in the year when the big floppy sweater three sizes (or maybe only two) too big for me must be taken out and worn during writing, when forgetting my slippers is a detriment to concentration, and when I start wondering if I need a pair of gloves with the fingers cut out of them. The last thing always strikes me as something that will not get the job done. It's the tips of my fingers that get cold. I heard a rumor today about a fingertip-warming keyboard, but I have yet to actually verify this.
My only other option is to sell, like, three novels so we can buy new windows and make certain our insulation is up to snuff.
So. Fingertip-warming keyboard it is, to get through the long, cold winters in Michigan.
Where is my damn global warming??
They say that "Sun's East, Moon's West" will be in issue #17 of Electric Velocipede which is, uh, four? issues from now. In 2009.
That means, even if I never sell again, I have stories coming out next year and the year after for sure.
So.
That's something to look forward to...
There's nothing quite like that moment when you realize that you've failed in your mission to communicate something so badly that five out of five people have no idea what you're talking about.
Besides being embarrassing... which it is... it's so very helpful.
Back to the drawing board...
In case it wasn't clear, my critique group met tonight. Aye, me.
I sat down to write my paper at some point this afternoon--which I am a bit over half-way through with, and it's not due until Wednesday, so go me--and in spite of dinner, a couple eps of Gilmore Girls, and some Scrabulous moves, I also managed to finally clean up chapters 1 and 2 of The Bitter Road. That included rewriting a scene from my tertiary character's point of view, and finally, finally, finally making some damn sense out of the chronology and the first scene of chapter 2.
Now, if only this clarity of thought had occurred to me months ago... Honestly, I think maybe I have to thank this assignment. Working on logical, organized data seems to have a soothing affect on my brain.
I'm sending (have sent, actually) my synopsis and query blurb for The Bitter Road to the Excelsior writing group for critique this week, so hopefully I'll get some good feedback on that as I swing on into full rewrite mode. I've committed myself to 50 hours of rewriting this month. It works out pretty well if I stick at all to my schedule. Hahahahaha.
Fifty hours might actually be overkill if everything from here on in goes as smoothly as 1 & 2 did. Though I've done 1 & 2 about eight times now, and the rest of the book has only been gone over twice, if that. And huge chunks of stock characters and situations have to come right out and go directly to the junk drawer. Which means a goodly portion of what I'm about to do will have to be real writing, not rewriting.
Also, I had a good conversation with my friend Marc at a party this weekend about my assassins story. He was all for it, and set my brain a rumbling down the corridors of assassin guilds and whatnot... at some point, I will have to pick his brain for honest-to-god assassination techniques. Because they just don't make books on that. Do they? You know, I should probably check...
There's nothing like assigned work (i.e., this paper I have due on Wednesday for school) to make the urge to write fiction nigh unto overwhelming.
So, everytime I finish a page of school work, I get to reward myself with writing fiction for half an hour! Isn't that tidy?
And a little scary how the work of fiction writing has become my reward. But that's probably how it should be...
A wise manager once said to me: "Management is like white water river rafting. You may get into the boat thinking that the real goal is the calm pool at the end of the course, but you'd be a fool."
And I have to say, every time I don't apply that to writing management, I am indeed a fool.
In other words, I have spent yet another hour trying to figure out a way to manage my writing time, to make some solid, concrete goals for myself that I can actually fill, and at the end of it, I wondered, "Who am I kidding? If I stick with this method for a month, I'll be damned lucky."
But now that I remembered that pithy bit of managerial advice, I have realized that the calm pool in this scenario is the idea that I'll ever be easily sitting down to write with the same placid determination, day in and day out.
Other people might.
I can't.
Finding writing time and using it wisely is definitely a class four river for me.
Some days, class five.
I have to accept that for me, it's going to take daily self-coaching and self-management, and if I can stick with some writing method for a week, that's going to have to be good enough. Clearly, I am a problem employee for myself. But I've got potential, and I can be brought along. My other work is worth the effort.
Right?
Right!
One "Sun's East, Moon's West" to Electric Velocipede.
It's a fantastic market.
And I'm so glad my story found a home, and a good great home at that.