Well, now that the school year is pretty much officially over for me, I'm getting serious about working on my writing.
Short term goals: Finish piece for Buffalo Spree (due next week), work on new posts for Daily Writing Tips, finish romantic short I started over the weekend, continue working my way through The Right to Write.
Longer term goals: Begin editing NaNovel, secure more regular freelance work over the course of the next month. I'd like to find at least one thing to apply for every day.
I really need to get to work on that Spree piece...I just started working on it last night.
I've seen a couple of writing jobs that I want to apply for, and one of them requires me to create samples specifically geared toward what they want. I also need to write up some posts for the writing tips blog.
I have a new post up at Required Reading--a review of Tantalize and interview with the author, Cynthia Leitich Smith.
And finally, I have a glimmer of an idea for something new...I don't know if it'll end up being a short story or become something longer...but I'm going to let it simmer for a few days and see what happens.
Okay, I'd better get to work!
Well, I just packaged up a short to send to WW that's been sitting around for a month. It's a resubmit...I did some tweaking and I'm sending it back for another go.
I need to get to work on some new stuff!
I'm set to work on another piece for Buffalo Spree, and I'm contributing to a new writing tips blog. Being busy is good. :)
My reaction? It's not bad. As I expected, it's messy. There are lots of narrative threads and characters that were abandoned, some that were added late in the story and need to be fleshed out.
Things I like...I like the main character, Sam. I suppose I'd need some male readers to tell me how believable he is. I like the relationship between him and his girl best friend Amanda. (One thing that worries me...I like the relationship between them so much that I'm afraid readers will wonder why he doesn't end up with her.) I like the way the momentum builds toward the end of the story.
Potential problems...well, I need to flesh out Sam's crush a lot more. Why does he like Julia? Why should he be with her? I also need to work on the tone/narrative voice. It's all over the place. I want Sam to be funnier. I want this to be a fun, lighthearted read. It can have angst, yes (I mean, it is about teenagers after all), but I need it to lighten up. It ends on a fun, light, Shakespearean comedy-esque note, and I think it needs more of that throughout.
Looking back at the beginning, and having rewatched the movie yesterday, I realize that I was trying to write Mean Girls. When I described the plot to Rand, he reminded me that it sounded a lot like Some Kind of Wonderful (which I saw, but only vaguely remember...). So there's that to deal with...not that I can expect to tell a completely unique story (I don't think there's any such thing), but how I can make it fresh, make it my own.
What it's lacking is a hook. What Rand calls a high concept. What the movie industry would call a crossroads. What makes it unique? What would make someone want to pick it up? What's the thing that, were I shopping this, would get it sold? Right now, nothing. Hrm.
Well, I've gotten myself out there as a freelance writer in Buffalo. I'm going to be contributing to the next issue of Buffalo Spree magazine, writing a few short profiles for the money-focused issue. Yay, me. :)
I'm also working on the TC article for March. I'm going to do a roundup of grammar/usage resources (particularly books) for the writer. I have these:
And I'm going to make a trip to B&N or Borders to glance through some others.
Because I seem to need a kick in the pants as far as this whole novel thing is concerned, I think I'm going to sign up for NaNoEdMo. The concept, as you may have guessed, is to spend a month editing the novel you wrote in November.
I've been trying to faithfully work my way through The Right to Write, but I'm finding myself impatient to get to the point where she starts the daily morning pages. I'm tempted to skip ahead, but I know that probably defeats the purpose. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Ah, I've been neglecting this little blog. Time for me to put some new goals down in writing, I think...
- Revise story for submission to WW
- Play around with another idea for WW story (partially written)
- Start wrestling NaNovel into shape
- Read The Right to Write, which I got as a Christmas gift
- Come up with article idea for March Absolute Blankl
- Write March AB ;)
:)
(70.1%)
Which means I'm once again on track. Whoo! :)
Well, I crawled my way just over 30k today. If I do 3000 words tomorrow, I'll be on track, so I'm not that far behind. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm a procrastinator at heart. I do my best work up against a deadline. ;) I won't be at all surprised if I do the last 10k in two days.
I found another possible market for short romantic fiction, which pays, though not nearly as well as WW. But then, who does? ;) I sent them a story today. *fingers crossed*
I just reached the halfway point this morning...I gave up last night just 500 words short. ;)
I posted a short excerpt on my NaNoWriMo page.
Whoo!
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Recent Comments
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R.G. Ryan said:
So...why aren't we neighbors? I've corrected the problem on my end.Be well. read more
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erin said:
You're welcome...and thanks for making me feel like it's okay to skip ahead. ;) read more
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Debbie Ridpath Ohi said:
Hope this is going well! I really enjoyed The Right To Write; I think I -did- skip ahead, tho, and... read more
on Busy writingstuff
Congrats on the revamped submit! Good luck (fingers crossed)! read more
on Writing news