Feb 27, 2009 | Revising, Writing |
1. So I finished the revisions, sent them off around 2AM, and collapsed in bed. Except sleep wouldn't come. Sometime after 4, I fell asleep.
2. Got up to have lunch with a friend (though it was really breakfast for me). Spicy beef salad, yum.
3. Came home to answer Interview questions sent by my editor for UK M&B magazine.
4. Hope I don't sound like an idiot since I'm a bit sleep deprived.
5. Uh, one of these questions is suspiciously like having to write a synopsis. I'll do it anyway.
6. Proposal needs to be finished. What is the hero's deep, driving problem? I don't know yet!
7. Lunch with writer friends is fun. Especially when we get into a discussion about the words we can use to describe certain, ahem, things.
8. I hate euphemism after a while.
9. Looking forward to the weekend. Mother cooking dinner for us. This is always nice.
10. Soon, it'll be time for yard work again. I don't look forward to that. *sigh*
11. I LOVE my job. Even if I'm sleep deprived from time to time.
What's on your mind?
Jan 9, 2009 | Goals, Revising, Writing |
As I write this book, I'm always working on scenes that might not feel quite right and I'm always rewriting them. I rewrite the book as I go these days; I tried the fast draft before, and then the revision, but that's hard.
Heck, it was damn hard to rewrite half a book at my editor's direction twice, especially when I thought it was fine both times. But writing is rewriting, so there you are. As much as we might like to turn the book in and say it's done, perfect, send it to print, the reality is there will probably be changes.
You have to be prepared to make them. But, at the same time, don't get so bogged down in rewriting scenes that you don't move forward. Because if you don't finish the book, you can't sell the book and you can't have a career as a published author.
Simple advice, but my brain is completely drained from the marathon writing sessions I've been putting in. Oh, and today it's official: one month to deadline. What are you up to?
Sep 24, 2008 | Blogging, Revising, Writing
I believe today's post will be appearing at I Heart Presents. I'm talking about revisions and working with an editor. Stop by and ask me a question!
UPDATE: As of 8AM central, it wasn't there yet. Keep checking. If not today, then hopefully tomorrow. But Amy told me today….
UPDATE AGAIN: It's there! Click on over…
Sep 23, 2008 | Life, Rants, Revising, Submissions, Writing |
Do you get a lot of it? Because I don't seem to lately. I go to bed at a reasonable hour (sort of) and then I lay awake thinking about what I need to do, what I want to do, and what is going to happen. Not a lot of fun to be tired and have your mind race.
When morning rolls around, the hubby gets up for work. And I can't help but get up with him. Right now, his parents are visiting. And there's a whole relationship with coffee that I thought I understood but apparently don't. I love my coffee in the morning, don't get me wrong.
But my FIL is SO worried about it, like I'm going to oversleep and he will have to sit there without it for hours on end, that I make sure I get up and put a pot on. I just can't listen to the endless questions every night — “Will you make coffee in the morning?” or “Is there going to be coffee in the morning?” or “Are you making coffee?”
As IF.
So, even if I haven't slept well, I have to get up and make the coffee. Add in the stress of revisions, submissions, and waiting for news and you have an insomniac writer. Guess I could work on the next book idea…..
Do you have trouble sleeping? What do you do for it? Do you have a crazy FIL who obsesses about coffee? Let's talk. Just wake me up if I'm dozing….
Sep 18, 2008 | Revising |
“One should never criticize his own work except in a fresh and hopeful mood. The self-criticism of a tired mind is suicide.”
Charles Horton Cooley
So that's pretty much my frame of mind right now. You? What are some of your favorite writerly quotes?
Here's another one I like:
“I have rewritten–often several times–every word I have ever written. My pencils outlast their erasers.”
Vladimir Nabokov
That one's been on my mind a LOT lately. 🙂 I read a quote over on Jane Porter's blog the other day that sort of says the same thing. It's so good, and I agree so much, that I'm copying it for you here:
Getting a new book going is hard for me. I have all these ideas but putting the actual words down on paper is like wringing water from a virtually dry dishtowel. Just not a lot there. Maybe there’s never been a lot there. Books, I realize, are written word by word over long periods of time. Even on my good days, when words rush out in paragraphs, I’ll probably have to edit those down by slicing pages at a time.
Wringing water from a virtually dry dishtowel. Oh man, do I know that feeling! Sometimes it's exactly like that. Other times, you type so fast but your hands can't really keep up with everything coming from your head. I've had both and everything in between.
And yet, as I told my writer friend on the phone this afternoon, I can't imagine doing anything else. No matter how tired I am, no matter how many nights I stay awake until 6AM the next morning writing like a fiend, I am SO happy. And so lucky. She agreed. Pretty much your worst day writing beats your best day doing anything else. Yeah.
Today, I'm going to lunch with my friend and just chilling. It's a good feeling. 🙂 What are you up to today? Writing plans? Other plans? If you're a reader, what have you read lately that just knocked your socks off?
Sep 15, 2008 | Revising |
Yeah, so I'm writing. Lots'o drama. Hopefully not melodrama…..
Thanks for visiting me! Sorry I don't have much to say at the moment. I'll be back soon!
