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June 28, 2013
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Summer…week 1

Summer at home with the kids is a lot of things. We spent two days at the pool, one day doing chores, one running errands, and there’s one in there where I have no idea how we spent it. Time goes fast during this time of year.

I have a very long list of things I hope to accomplish this summer. One of which is to finally finish the rewrite I began four weeks ago. I try to write a minimum of 2000 words a day and if I stick to it I should be finished by mid-July. 

I also read. I’m at the end of THE BODY FINDER series by Kimberly Derting. I picked up this book originally because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too similar to the book I am writing. It does have similarities, but it is definitely different. It’s basically about a girl, Violet Ambrose, who has an unfortunate ability–she can find those that have been murdered. The dead leave behind a type of mark, which she calls an echo, and can be anything from a taste to a smell to something she sees around the body. Whoever murdered that person or animal carries their own mark, an imprint that matches the echo. This obviously creates a problem when someone local starts murdering teen girls. 

So far, I haven’t mentioned anything about the kids who rule my life. They obviously take the lion share of my time with pool and beach trips and this year we’re going to Legoland. And I really want to teach my five year old how to read this summer and get my seven year old off his video game habit. 

And lastly…I hope to feed the photographer in me. So, with a camera in one hand, a book or notebook in the other, and two kids running beside me, I am off. 

Posted
June 5, 2013
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The Location Scout

8416879327_75e08bd83c          8416879639_b60bba5411Since I love reading and anything that involves books, I thought this would be a project I could get excited about. I did this in place of a traditional landscape assignment–something I felt was a little tired. Their work didn’t disappoint. I was so happy with the results.

8389379799_03d5084ce38429322769_86561e8080 8559344619_6f7986b4f2This project was one of our more involved projects of the year and served as their final. Every student chose a book that they either wanted to read or have read recently. I had them find 5 descriptive quotes to base their pictures around. I taught them a little about “movie editing” and how color can affect the overall mood. Since this is the end of the year, the students had a good understanding of composition and camera controls.8412243036_95e14b452b8403422172_c58d3d0b0a8537581248_3a8e3e0775

Posted
May 13, 2013
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A Monday Rant

Mondays for me are another day to dwell on all I didn’t get done over the weekend. I begin with a list of sorts on Friday–chores, groceries, things I’ve run out of and need to replace, and a word count goal. I almost always push the chores to Sunday mid-day. Groceries and errands usually on Sunday morning and I try to pick away at my word count goal throughout the weekend. I knew it would be tough this weekend so I woke up extra early on Sunday morning (I do a yoga class on Saturday morning). Picture this: the alarm sounds off at 5am, you don’t want to get up, but you imagine a quiet house, fresh coffee, and somehow someway you peel yourself from the bed. And then…you’re not alone. Both kids figured the same thing. The tv was already on, the snacks out. I was definitely not alone. I tried anyway. I managed to write 200-ish words. Not exactly my goal, which was set to 4000. I like to think that I could accomplish so much more if only I didn’t have a full time job, but the truth of the matter is that I write less when I’m not working. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be!

What about you? How do you meet the goals you set? Do you make a timeline? An outline? Share!

Posted
May 3, 2013
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Contest Junkie

This has been something I’ve wanted to add for awhile and I finally have a little of time. There are a lot of contests this month!

“The Writer’s Voice” is a multi-blog, multi-agent contest hosted by Cupid of Cupid’s Literary Connection, Brenda Drake of Brenda Drake Writes, Monica B.W. of Love YA, and Krista Van Dolzer of Mother. Write. (Repeat.). They’re basing it on NBC’s singing reality show The Voice, so the four of them will serve as coaches and select projects for  teams based on queries and first pages.

Miss Snark’s First Victim’s First Kiss contest. Send up to 300 words with a lead-in so people know what’s going on. It needs to be PG-13, so not erotica.

Later this month there will be a multi-level query contest- QUERY KOMBAT – over at Michelle4Laughs . The details:

Query Kombat will host 64 kombatants in a single-elimination, tournament style query-off. There will be a total of six rounds in Query Kombat. First opponents will be grouped by target audience (ie. YA, NA, Adult, and MG). After that, a bracket-style grid will dictate future opponents. If you secure a spot in the tournaments, your query and the first 250 words (to the end of a complete sentence) will be pitted against another query and first 250 words. Judges will read each match-up and vote ‘Victory’ on the best entry (Remember, this is subjective). The entry with the most ‘victories’ will advance to the next round until only one champion remains. A growing list of agents (which will be revealed at a later date) will browse the semifinal round to make requests on at least one of the final four queries….

The tournament is open only to unagented writers seeking representation. Your manuscript must be complete, polished, and ready to submit. Submissions for MG, YA, NA, and Adult works will be accepted. No picture books or non-fiction.

The submission window will open at 11AM EST on Monday, May 13th and close at 11AM Friday, May 17th OR WHEN WE RECEIVE 225 ENTRIES. You may submit entries for two manuscripts (in the same email) but we will only consider the second entry on the last day of the submission window. Kontestants will be revealed May 24th and the tournament will kick off on May 28th.

Posted
May 2, 2013
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An Update

I’ve been MIA for a while now, but I had a good reason. I’ve been writing! Actually, rewriting. For any of you that have taken a manuscript as far as you can take it and then you realize…Wow! There are some major problems here that need some major fixing. I tried to salvage it, work through, move things around, etc. etc. I finally decided to start it over. The good news though is that I much prefer writing to editing and I know my characters so much better now.

I am approximately 10,000 words in with an expected 85,000 completion goal. I wrote 10,000 in just a few days though which is super fast for me. I’ve learned a couple of things along the way too and it’s made it a lot easier. I’ve realized that as much as I love to write pantster style, I work more productively as an outliner. I began by outlining the whole thing using Blake Snyder’s beat sheet method. Then everyday, before I write (this is important), I take a few minutes to outline each scene. In this outline, I really try to visualize where I want it to begin and how I want it to end. I also take notes of scenery, smells, and things my characters might say. The reason I write out the beginning and end of a scene is that it helps keep me focused. A whole mess of things can happen in the middle of the scene, but it has to eventually lead me to the end of it. This keeps me having to move scenes later or edit them out completely. 

My main outline is done inside of Scrivener, but I also have a huge corkboard in my office when I need a more tactile approach. The chapter outlines I do in a yellow notepad. It’s more portable and I keep it with me wherever I go. Inspiration hits at the oddest moments. 

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing.

Posted
March 21, 2013
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A Slush Pile Story

I want to begin this post by saying that I am not an agent, so my version of a slush pile is (hopefully) different than what they receive on a daily basis. I teach. And recently I assigned a 500 word short story to my students. I gave them two weeks to complete this assignment and then held my breath to what I’d receive from my mostly 12th grade class. I covered the basics that I expected–a beginning, middle, and end; formatted to 12 pt. font Times New Roman, and double spaced. 

Here’s what I got from them:

1. 52/180 followed my formatting guidelines. Most chose random fonts and point sizes. Some chose to write in all CAPS. (I felt like I was being yelled at the entire time.) And though I didn’t say it, I expected the margins to be standard–nope, those were all over the place too.

2. Speling and grammar are paramount to helping your reader get to the end.

3. Storytelling. Most were the same told with varying names. Very few were original. Even fewer had a sense of voice.

Now, I know…teenagers. I should take it easy on them. I really should. But after reading through 180 of them over the course of a weekend, I wanted to pull my hair out. 

From doing this, I learned some very important things and I thought I’d share them with you because, believe it or not…it’s important.

FOLLOW DIRECTIONS! I’ve done my share of contests and there were always those few random people that would argue their font choices or special formatting. I never thought much of it when I saw those people complain. I thought they must have their reasons. Let me tell you this: your reasons don’t matter. If someone is going to take the time to read your manuscript, do them one service and make it easy on them. Your weird fonts don’t make you look unique or creative, they make you look lazy and difficult to work with.

Next…spell check, grammar check, and then check it all again.

If you’re a good writer or at least a decent one, you will never have your story told if you can’t do these simple things.

Posted
March 5, 2013
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Editing continued

I’ve been MIA for awhile now, but I do have my reasons. I’ve been editing like a mad woman. Here’s what it’s looking like: 

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I’ve broken my manuscript into 4 sections. This is the first. I printed it out and put it into a binder (I have a love for binders!). Then, I went through each page and highlighted repeating words, weak verbs, and “to be” verbs. I knew they were in there, but highlighting them really brings them to my attention. I go through the section a second time and attempt to fix and change all of the problems. I also keep a pile of sticky notes with me to write bigger problems I may have missed in my other rounds of editing. For example, I changed one of my character’s eye color in one of the edits and didn’t catch every reference to the change. 

On a side note, I’ve been making a ridiculously long list of strong action verbs. I’ll be posting that soon too. 

In addition to that, my muse suddenly decided to pay me a visit and I’ve been overloaded with ideas for 2 (that’s right TWO) more books. One of which is going to require a bit of research, so I’ve been tackling that as well. I have a binder for each of those projects as well! 

I hope to get back here soon!

Posted
February 8, 2013
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Friday Musings…

Song of the Day: Sail, by Awolnation

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This song epitomizes my first chapter. If ever I am editing or reworking it, I find the best place to start is with just listening. Anyway, today is Friday and I thought I’d just stop in and say Happy Friday to everyone. I haven’t been blogging much these days due to the rewrite I’ve been attempting. I am half way through and some days it feels like an uphill battle. Anything I can use to inspire another hour is worth it. What do you do to get inspiration?

Posted
January 14, 2013
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Revise Day 1…The Plan

I’ve spent the last few weeks tweaking my query. Alas, I think I have it! But, in working on said query I now know that I have holes in my plot–as in, I completely forgot about it and got carried into the “B story.”

So, today will be my first day of Revising. I thought I’d let you all know the process I go through in doing this.

1. The first thing I did was import my file back into Scrivener. It’s been in Word the last couple of months to do basic edits. Scrivener is easier for me when I want to make global changes to a manuscript.

2. The next thing I did is separate the manuscript into sections according to my Save the Cat beat sheet.

3. This week I will focus solely on Section 1–roughly 7 chapters. During a quick read, I decided my MC needed a bit of a hobby. I’ve already made another one of my characters have a photography hobby, but since it served no real purpose, I am switching that hobby over to the MC where it will serve a better purpose. Also, my MC’s best friend needs to have more page time to really emphasize the connection between them–I am adding a scene later that will be stronger if this connection is made more clear.

Posted
January 4, 2013
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Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Screen shot 2013-01-04 at 10.47.49 AM

Synopsis: After five years of marriage, a wife goes missing on her anniversary. I know it’s brief, but that is the basic premise of the story. It is full of twists and turns that won’t let you put it down.

 

The first sentence: “When I think of my wife, I always think of her head.” What an interesting first line? First, it makes me wonder about this husband. He goes on to say that he is curious about what goes on inside his wife’s head and would like to ask her the question, “what are you thinking?” on more than one occasion. This is something the story will return to quite regularly.

My thoughts: I loved this story! You hear stories of wives going missing, husbands being blamed, curious behaviors being judged, old friends coming forward in these type of cases. This book had all of it. Seriously, read this. You won’t regret it.

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