Life is a Banquet

Paying Dues

Last week, I finished polishing the YA manuscript (book #2 for those of you playing along at home) and rewrote the first chapter of book #1, then I sent out three contest entries and 11 queries. Book #3 now stands at 30,000 words--I'll beat my last year's NaNo word count.  Go me.

My foot is still a mess, paying work isn't materializing, and today I got my first rejection back from the batch I sent out. But, it still feels like I'm on the verge of . . . something. Not sure what yet but something. As soon as I got the rejection letter (form, bad photocopy), I turned around and dashed off another five queries. I think it was Eli who told me to send another five queries for each rejection letter. So, I have focus.  And a plan. And I'm making progress.

This is the hurdle I struggled with for so long--the gumption to risk the rejection letters, to keep writing, to keep sending it out, and now it seems more manageable. I've broken the big goal into a series of more manageable goals--making even rejection--the big R--a step along the way.

Let Me Tell You About My Book

I can only talk about three topics lately: My foot, my money, and my book.

The foot news is d-e-p-r-e-s-s-i-n-g: I went to the Dr IN MY STREET SHOE, ready to be discharged, only to find out that the x-rays were WORSE than three-weeks ago. I'm in a NEW cast (Darth Vader Light) and a new torture device for sleeping (think Sports Medicine meets S&M). And I have FOUR more weeks of this. AND NO DRIVING.

The money situation is worse. Still waiting for payment on some articles. Sending out resumes looking for contract work and teaching jobs. No bites.  Which is fine, really, because even if I had money, I can't drive anywhere to spend it.

Which brings me to my book--the one topic I really want to talk about.  So indulge me, while I tell you about my third baby.

This is by far my favorite WIP to date. I LOVE these characters, this story, the depth and potential here. In the week since it's birth (Chapter One, Line One), here are some of its accomplishments:

POV: 3rd person, deep. Three POV characters. There may be more on the 2nd draft.
Words: 20,000 to date. It's growing at a healthy clip. It should be 1/2 a NaNo by the end of Nov.
Theme song: (Thanks Eli and Lisa for this idea) "You can't always get what you want."
Genre: Undetermined. And this rather exciting for me. I wrote my first WIP knowing it was category. I wrote my YA knowing it was a YA. This WIP is more undefined--and I find that weirdly exciting.
Persons who have read chapter one: Three. This is a major breakthrough for me. I almost never show anything that is not a complete first draft.

So distract me from topics one and two, tell me what you're working on right now: A book, a project, work, christmas prep? Does your work have a theme song? 

Edit more, Think Less

So my NaNoEditMo is going well--it takes me about 2-3 days to edit each group of 60 pages, (I edit in batches of chapters, putting each batch through several levels of edits, then moving on to the next batch), but I'm past the half way point for the book. Woo! But, editing can be hazardous to your health. Don't believe me?

• Excessive caffeine consumption.  In order to start my day at the right time (i.e. prior to noon), I need coffee to compensate for the lack of sunshine.  Afternoon drags = more coffee.  I'm doing a custom blend of part de-caf, part-caf in varying proportions to try to avoid the whole hair standing on end thing.
• Mouse elbow. Highlight. Click. Replace. Repeat. Repeat. Right Click. Replace. Ow.
• Thinking in dialogue. I'm serious.  "Meow." The cat licked the dog's ear.  "Meow," he said more insistently.  "No you cannot touch me there!" The dog bolted upright.  "Let's go outside."  I'm filtering my life through punctuation right now and it is not pretty.
• Hallucinations. Periods that looked like commas 30 minutes ago. Words that sounded sane when written. Chapter breaks that made sense yesterday.
• Fluctuating weight. Loose weight by editing, not snacking. Then, when you can't think of a word, liberally self-medicate with chocolate. Repeat. 
• Bank Account Rickets. Job searching? What job search? 

Do you have any occupational hazards???? 

Where in the world. . . .

The week after Halloween is my least favorite Oregon week--Fall is offically over and RAIN has begun. We will next see the sun in April. If we are VERY lucky, we might get a glimpse in March.  Otherwise, Rain, rain, and more rain.  The rain is balanced by five months of amazing weather each late spring/summer/early fall. 

But . . .THE RAIN.  A week in and I am already SAD again.  So, I've been amusing myself with realtor.com, city-data.com, and other searches.  Where would I live if not here? It's a very freeing question. 

My ideal city: Artsy, politically moderate or left-leaning, easy-to-get involved (lots of organizations, boards, clubs, easy to join up), near scenic areas, moderate cost of living, and the least number of over-cast days possible.  Snow I can deal. Clouds not so much. 

Where would you live if you could move? What would your ideal city look like? Why? What non-rainy/non-cloudy cities do you recommend for my virtual vacations?  Speak up before I float away! 

Editing and Other Pains

Eli has a fabulous post up about the stages of book writing. I'm here to tell you that editing goes through similar stages.
Stage One: I love what I've written. A little tighter and it will jump out of slush piles everywhere.
Stage Two: Okay. This is more work than I anticipated, but I love the results
Stage Three: I should just burn this.  Plot sucks. Characters are one-dimensional. Detail is too much AND too little at the same time. Dialogue is pedantic.  Burning would be too good for this manuscript. Maybe it can aspire to be TP instead. 

Any guesses as to what stage I'm in? After reading Piper's great post about hooks, I started to think that the entire first four chapters needed to be deleted. Then Clanna kept suggesting new directions for detail layering. Then I started seeing major holes. Then I needed to walk away from the computer and find my happy place because I was also contemplating deleting my article which is due on Friday.

Oh, and the rain has returned to the Northwest. I'm trying to work my plan for depression-busting, but it is tough to remind myself that not every winter has to be as bad as the last three were mood wise. Not every bad day is an omen of serious slippage. But, wanting to pitch my manuscript into the trashcan can't be a good sign either. I think I need to apply my knitting zen to writing---I always keep moving foward, even when it is hard, even when I am convinced it sucks, I reserve ripping for only exterme errors and just finish and move on. 

Okay, now tell me about projects you have been tempted to trash in the final stages? Anyone actually go through with the urge???

NaNoEDITMo Woe

Last night at like 10ish, I had a minor crisis of being.  I'm still deep in the edits of my YA book that I just finished, and despite having a long outline for my next WIP, I just didn't feel ready to start without finishing the edits first.  Editing takes a LONG time, like 10 hours for 60 pages long time. I doubt I need all of November to finish the edits, but it just didn't feel right to switch gears then switch back. And what if I never returned to the edits . . . WAIL. . .  So my goal is to have my edits done by Dec. 1, Golden heart mailed, and query letter drafted. THEN on Dec. 1 I will start my WIP.  I can continue to grow the outline in the meantime. Tell me I'm doing the write thing :P