My school year is winding down...we're done at the end of the week. I'm not working this summer (unless you count "finding a job" as work), and so I'd like to set myself some manageable writing goals.
1. Complete my article for Toasted Cheese (due in August).
2. Participate in Debbie's 500 words a day challenge
3. Submit. I need slightly more concrete goals than that, but I'll start there.
4. Do some serious work on revising Julia's Song.
That's probably enough for now. I don't want to overwhelm myself before I even get started!
Wish me luck.
Yesterday, I decided to pull out the MS I completed for NaNoWriMo (working title: Julia's Song) and take a look. I even sent it to my Kindle so I could read it more easily.
I'm not all the way through it, but here are some things I definitely need to work on:
1. It needs a much better beginning. As it is, it kind of starts twice because I changed my mind about both where/how to start AND the pov character partway into the story.
2. There's a subplot that probably has to go. It's out of place in this story and doesn't go anywhere.
3. The romantic interest needs a lot of fleshing out. She's kind of flat and boring.
4. A few other characters need some work as well. There's some backstory that I left kind of vague and undefined, but now I'm pretty sure I know what I want it to be.
There are a lot of things I like about this story, which I suppose is a good thing. I'm not entirely convinced that it's good *enough*, but I guess that's what revisions are for...I'd just hate to do the revisions and then decide it's crap. Meh.
I have another seed of an idea floating around in my head. A paranormal thriller. Thriller? What the heck am I thinking? But there it is, and it doesn't seem to want to go away. I'm thinking of a teenage protagonist, and I'll want to create a sort of Scooby Gang of characters around her. She sees dead people, and solves mysteries. Think Veronica Mars meets Buffy meets The Sixth Sense. Or something. It's still pretty vague and nebulous right now. ;)
Last night, I couldn't sleep, so I got up and got out a journal and wrote a bit. I made a promise to myself to carve out 15 minutes a day to devote to writing. That's all...start small, and see where it goes.
Today, I decided to go through my various journals and notebooks and compile a master list of story ideas that have never gone anywhere. I think there are at least one or two things in there I can pursue.
I'm also finding a lot of interesting things in these notebooks...a bit of a poem I jotted down after X and I broke up (and various other fragments of things...I was really, really angry).
What's also interesting is how many notebooks I have. It's like, I just stop and move on to a new one. It's such a waste of good paper!
Anyway, I feel like I was at least semi-productive today. Yay. :)
So yeah...it's been two years or so since I actually visited/updated this blog. I thought I should do something about that. It seems I've been so busy getting married/moving/starting new jobs that I've all but forgotten about, y'know, writing. I've done some little things here and there...a writing promp, etc, but nothing of substance. Nothing that makes writing a regular part of my life, and that makes me a little sad. Sure, I've been busy, but isn't everyone?
I have a copy of The Artist's Way sitting on my shelf, and I've heard lots of good things about it. Maybe this will be the week I actually jump in, try to get my creativity flowing again.
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 ;)
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Recent Comments
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Stephanie said:
[c’est top]I like your idea! And let me know when you need a reader for JS. read more
on Revisions and new ideas -
Stephanie said:
[c’est top]That's how RFM started: in a little blank book. read more
on The wheels are turning -
Debbie Ridpath Ohi said:
[this is good]Yay for writing, Erin! And I collect notebooks of all types, too. :-) read more
on The wheels are turning -
Debbie Ridpath Ohi said:
Congrats on the revamped submit! Good luck (fingers crossed)! read more
on Writing news
Thanks! I'll probably try to work on at least a rough revision before I call for readers, but I'll let... read more
on Revisions and new ideas