"Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound/ I can feel my heart begin to pound/ You say your tired and you just want to close your eyes and follow your dreams down." - "No Surrender" by Bruce Springsteen
This is my song of the day for two reasons, which leads itself to two separate posts. Here's part one:
As readers who have kept up with my blog for a while may remember, I finished my fourth novel in the "Willow Ryan" series in September...or so I thought. I had read through the manuscript so carefully, hoping to catch every typo, every fragment, every mispelled word that would hopefully jump right off the page in a glaring fashion that I would notice immediately. As all of my fellow writers know, this is rarely, if ever, the case. My mom and my sister read through this book after I declared it finished and attacked it with a red pen, much to my horror and appreciation. How could there be so many mistakes? So today I went back through and made corrections, again, and now it's finally done! So what's next (other than still trying to find an agent so I can eventually get published)?
Well, now it's time to get busy on "Who We Thought We Were", the new novel I told you about a few weeks ago. The problem is that I haven't worked on it since then! I am only one chapter in, and I just haven't been able to find the motivation to dive into it. Until now. Something happened while I was sitting at my computer fixing my mistakes from the fourth Willow book. I felt the need to write, to create, to follow my dreams and see where they take me.
I kind of feel alive again! I don't sleep as much as I should (stupid insomnia!) and I worry about everything under the sun (stupid worrywart genes!), and I felt like the creativity was completely squashed out of me. What I came to realize this morning is that I can change all of that instead of succumbing to it. "No Surrender" as Bruce said in the song of the day. I have to channel the anxiety, the stress, the fatigue, and everything else that tries to keep me down, into energy that will allow me to accomplish what I'm supposed to do. I am a writer. I may not have met my goals yet, I may not be making my living at it, I may not even be published yet, but in order to make those things happen, I have to sit down and write. And writing is what I will do.
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
An Unexpected Email
"I've got to admit it's getting better/ A little better all the time." - "Getting Better" by The Beatles
When I was checking my email Thursday night, I saw a response to a query I had sent an agent that immediately jumped out at me. What was strange was that my old title for Secrets was in the subject line. My first thought was that I had made a mistake was lucky enough to receive a form rejection instead of being ignored. I was wrong. My responses from agents are indeed getting better!
The weirdest part however, was that this query had been sent out in May of 2010 and I was just now getting a response! This is not unheard of, but I was still shocked. So, I opened it up to find a message saying that the agent thought I had "a nice writing style and sense of story". Wow, a compliment! Then she went on to say what I have come to expect, that it is very difficult to sell a first time author to a publisher unless the book is perfect. I get that, honestly I do. Then she said that she could put me in touch with an editor and she feels that I will ultimately see my work in print. That sounds like a pretty positive comment to me!
There is no way I can afford a professional editor on my salary, but I immediately realized something. I have done massive editing in the past year after gaining knowledge on my own and taking the advice of another agent who gave me some amazing editing tips. So, I decided to take a chance and email her back, mentioning the editing I had done and asking if she would be willing to look at the first three chapters again. I am not expecting anything to come of this, but it was a wonderfully unexpected surprise if it did. I just hope I hear back from her sooner than last time!
When I was checking my email Thursday night, I saw a response to a query I had sent an agent that immediately jumped out at me. What was strange was that my old title for Secrets was in the subject line. My first thought was that I had made a mistake was lucky enough to receive a form rejection instead of being ignored. I was wrong. My responses from agents are indeed getting better!
The weirdest part however, was that this query had been sent out in May of 2010 and I was just now getting a response! This is not unheard of, but I was still shocked. So, I opened it up to find a message saying that the agent thought I had "a nice writing style and sense of story". Wow, a compliment! Then she went on to say what I have come to expect, that it is very difficult to sell a first time author to a publisher unless the book is perfect. I get that, honestly I do. Then she said that she could put me in touch with an editor and she feels that I will ultimately see my work in print. That sounds like a pretty positive comment to me!
There is no way I can afford a professional editor on my salary, but I immediately realized something. I have done massive editing in the past year after gaining knowledge on my own and taking the advice of another agent who gave me some amazing editing tips. So, I decided to take a chance and email her back, mentioning the editing I had done and asking if she would be willing to look at the first three chapters again. I am not expecting anything to come of this, but it was a wonderfully unexpected surprise if it did. I just hope I hear back from her sooner than last time!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Chasing a Dream
"She had a dream/ And boy it was a good one/ So she chased after her dream/ With much desire." - "Paper and Fire" by John Mellencamp
Over the weekend I finished rereading book one in my Willow Ryan series for what seems like the millionth time - not that I minded. I enjoyed getting back to where Willow started, and I am so happy with the revisions I made to chapter one. I just hope that the agent(s) are too! I'm chasing this dream and I feel that I'm now one step closer to making it happen with my new and improved manuscript.
So now I'm back to writing book four. I'm approximately halfway done with it, and my goal for the week is to complete chapter 13. When I returned to book four yesterday, it amazed me to see just how much Willow's character has grown over the series. In book one she started out as a scared teenager who, although independent and mature, was still a kid in so many ways. Now she has a much more solid foundation and is more sure of herself and her place in the world. She is so much like a real person. Just think of how much you changed in the few years after graduating high school...
Over the weekend I finished rereading book one in my Willow Ryan series for what seems like the millionth time - not that I minded. I enjoyed getting back to where Willow started, and I am so happy with the revisions I made to chapter one. I just hope that the agent(s) are too! I'm chasing this dream and I feel that I'm now one step closer to making it happen with my new and improved manuscript.
So now I'm back to writing book four. I'm approximately halfway done with it, and my goal for the week is to complete chapter 13. When I returned to book four yesterday, it amazed me to see just how much Willow's character has grown over the series. In book one she started out as a scared teenager who, although independent and mature, was still a kid in so many ways. Now she has a much more solid foundation and is more sure of herself and her place in the world. She is so much like a real person. Just think of how much you changed in the few years after graduating high school...
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Critique is in!
"Yeah, running down a dream/ That never would come to me/ We're working on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads/ Running down a dream." - "Running Down a Dream" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Literary agent Michael Carr already got back to me with the critique of the first page of my manuscript, and I have to say that I'm really pleased with his comments. He liked the way it started out with a little suspense, then he suggested that I draw that out a little, which I think is a great idea. He also said that instead of telling the information, I need to show it unfolding. I can do that! All in all, it seemed like he thought I was off to a really good start.
I have been running down this dream of seeing something come of this book, and I feel that I'm finally getting somewhere. I'm going to take these tips and rewrite the first chapter, and I'll see where it leads me. Hopefully I will have a much better product in the end that will grab the attention of a great agent.
So, my goal for this week is to get the revisions going on chapter one of Secrets. I already know a few things I want to change, so I think it will be a fairly easy process. For the first time, I'm actually excited about doing some editing! Now the work begins...
Literary agent Michael Carr already got back to me with the critique of the first page of my manuscript, and I have to say that I'm really pleased with his comments. He liked the way it started out with a little suspense, then he suggested that I draw that out a little, which I think is a great idea. He also said that instead of telling the information, I need to show it unfolding. I can do that! All in all, it seemed like he thought I was off to a really good start.
I have been running down this dream of seeing something come of this book, and I feel that I'm finally getting somewhere. I'm going to take these tips and rewrite the first chapter, and I'll see where it leads me. Hopefully I will have a much better product in the end that will grab the attention of a great agent.
So, my goal for this week is to get the revisions going on chapter one of Secrets. I already know a few things I want to change, so I think it will be a fairly easy process. For the first time, I'm actually excited about doing some editing! Now the work begins...
Friday, October 22, 2010
Write the Next Line
"Why do I find it so hard to write the next line?" - "True" by Spandau Ballet
I just completed a massive edit on my first Willow novel and am now seven chapters into the second one. For the most part it has gone very well, but there have been a few lines that have just tripped me up. For one reason or another they just didn't read right to me, so I ended up changing them over and over again until I either had to take a break from frustration or I was finally satisfied with the results. I know that editing is a major part of writing, but it's my least favorite part - by far!
I'm hoping that this work will pay off though. Barnes and Noble is starting a very exciting e-publishing program that I will talk more about in the near future when I am ready to dive into this head first. Now, back to editing! Ugh.
I just completed a massive edit on my first Willow novel and am now seven chapters into the second one. For the most part it has gone very well, but there have been a few lines that have just tripped me up. For one reason or another they just didn't read right to me, so I ended up changing them over and over again until I either had to take a break from frustration or I was finally satisfied with the results. I know that editing is a major part of writing, but it's my least favorite part - by far!
I'm hoping that this work will pay off though. Barnes and Noble is starting a very exciting e-publishing program that I will talk more about in the near future when I am ready to dive into this head first. Now, back to editing! Ugh.
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