Category: The Writing

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RX Day 3

(Starting day counts over for 2009)

Not quite as Dark & Early today, but I still got quite a lot accomplished.  As I hoped, a few more paragraphs enabled me to pick up the next scene from the first draft, which was mostly cut and paste.  Then I polished those pages (it was first draft NaNoWriMo quality!)  So a really good morning so far.

I also started working on a short story last night.  Yeah, I need another idea like a hole in the head, but it’s short.  Target length is 2-4K.  I have no idea if I can pull that off, but I love the challenge.

Today: 2,545

NSR total:  37,622

Snippet:

He tilted his head, his eyes grave as he studied her.  “You can read our writing, yet you haven’t actually walked my city?  You haven’t seen the temple?”

She shook her head, braced for laughter, condemnation, and incredulity.  Instead, he nodded solemnly.  “I see.  That is why you made such a grave mistake.”

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Revision Xibalba

So today, it’s back to Revision Hell, or more appropriately, Xibalba, since this is the Mayan fantasy.  I didn’t plan to do a full “dark & early” schedule this week, but That Man had to be up early for work, so I’m up too.  Unfortunately, we both had a really bad night of sleeping.  Yes, I’m still coughing.  The monsters were up way too late, dreading the return to school, I suppose.  All in all, I’m feeling pretty much like death warmed over, but I did get a little writing done.

I’m still frantic about that notebook.  It had all my character diagrams in it.  For the newer characters, like Dr. Tara Portman and Special Agent Quinn Salazar, those were the only notes I had about their dark secrets.  I think I remember most of what I need, but what if I don’t?  It also held the original timeline paradigm for each act with my notes about each character thread.  I never fully translated those sheets into my Excel doc.  Again, I think I remember most of what I need…but I might not, either.

I must find that notebook.  The problem is, I can’t remember how long ago I had it.  I’m pretty sure I took it in the car with me on a recent trip.  Perhaps over Christmas?  But I can’t remember why I would have done that, unless I thought I might work on the Mayan story in the car.  I knew I wouldn’t really start on it until January, though, so that doesn’t quite make sense.  I guess I’ll start calling people and see if I left it at their house, but surely they would have called if they’d found it.  I already looked in the car, but I’ll check again, under the seats, everywhere.  I’ve been through all my usual places to stash things in the house, and bribed the monsters with a reward if they can find it.

Yet it’s still gone.  :cry:

ETA:  I FOUND IT!  And I can’t even blame the monsters for misplacing it.  It was downstairs on the wrong side of my recliner, underneath a small plastic container of art supplies. 

This morning, I started the next scene.  It should eventually connect with the first draft where I can cut and paste, but so far, it’s all new words.

Words:  920

NSR second draft:  35,077

Snippet:   

“He was a fool to tamper with magic of which he had no understanding.”  The arch of his eyebrow asked whether she was as big a fool.  He leaned forward, his eyes glowing brighter.  “Don’t you understand, lady?  Fresh from Xibalba where they’ve been imprisoned an eternity, they were still powerful enough to kill me.  Meanwhile, each moment they’re free, they’re killing and gaining power with every drop of blood.  I have no magic strong enough to force them back.  They’ll spread rot, disease, death, and torture, from sea to sea, people to people, as quickly as possible.  I can’t stop them.  Yet I must if I’m to save any of our people at all.”

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Prepping

While the New Year has come and gone, it still feels like a vacation/holiday to me until the monsters go back to school.  Tomorrow.  Thank the Lord!  Today is Princess Monster’s 10th birthday, so I took this day off, probably my last vacation day for quite a while.  Basketball starts up this week, and with all three playing, our weekends are shot for the next 8 weeks.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading (4 books since I finished Return) and watching movies (Hellboy, Princess Mononoke, Seven Samurai).  I’ve also been clearing the slate, so to speak.  Getting Gregar, Mykal, and Dharman out of my head has proven more difficult than I expected, but slowly I’ve been switching gears to the Mayan fantasy. 

Unfortunately, I’ve misplaced my orange folder that has some of my notes in it (e.g. the monsters probably cut it up to make artwork).  I have my index cards and spreadsheets, but now my mind is mourning that folder (even though I can’t remember what’s in there).  I’ve read the nearly 120 pages I’ve polished, but I’m mentally stuck.  I can’t remember how this scene was going to end (note to self:  never leave a work in the middle of a scene without notes.  But what if I made notes and now just can’t find them??)  So I might have to skip ahead or something.

I plan on using this week to slowly work myself back to a Dark & Early schedule, stretching those writer muscles and freeing up those brain cells, building momentum day by day until I’m back to full speed.

I really want to finish Revision Xibalba this month, but after seeing how many scenes I still have to go (some of which haven’t been drafted yet), I may need another month.  We’ll see.  I have the query written and the list of agents I want to target.  I have a bad synopsis that I’ll need to throw out and rewrite, but the proposal package is just about ready.  I don’t have high hopes with the market in turmoil.  Plus, this idea isn’t as fresh as it was when I first came up with it.  I’ve minimized some of the “common” elements and highlighted what I think makes this story unique.  We’ll see if I get any nibbles.

I’m also going to use this slower time to get back into a regular exercise routine.  Nothing too strenuous to start, but after killing myself through NaNoWriMo, my back and knees need to get back to work!  The bright side of two hours of basketball practice every week (two of the monsters have practice at the same time) is more time to walk on the track.  It gets really boring since the track is so small, but it’s better than sitting on that uncomfortable bench.

How’s your new year going?

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2009 Goals

I’m a strong believer in setting goals and regularly checking my progress throughout the year.  I do tend to list pie-in-the-sky big goals that are humanly impossible, although I am doing better at setting realistic and achievable goals.  Would I love to finish every project on my plate next year?  Absolutely.  But I also have to be realistic.  I can’t write like a maniac for months on end and think my sanity, family, job, and health won’t suffer.  I have to work at balance, and that’s really hard for me.

Instead of listing things in some “priority order” that I’ll throw out the door as soon as I make a new sale *crossing fingers* or a new Bright Shiny Story shows up, I’m going to separate my goals into a couple of different areas.

Contracted or Promised/Committed Projects

  • The Road to Shanhasson.  Status:  Submitted.  Goal: Complete editor revisions as assigned. Deadline: TBD.
  • Return to Shanhasson.  Status:  First draft complete.  Goal: revise and submit.  Deadline: TBD.
  • Given In Fire.  Status: planning, plotting.  Goal:  draft, revise, submit.  First Draft target:  20-30K. Deadline: TBD.
  • Charon’s story.  Status:  Not started.  Goal:  plot, build, complete first draft.  First Draft target:  70K.  Consider as a NaNoWriMo project.

Ongoing Submissions

  • Letters to An English Professor.  Status:  On submission.  Goal:  Agent and/or Sell.

 

Current WIPs

  • Night Sun Rising.  Status:  Revision Xibalba in progress.  Goal:  complete revision and query.  Deadline:  1st quarter 2009.  TOP PRIORITY for 2009.
  • Arcana.  Status: first rough draft complete, some revision planning complete.  Goal:  devise final revision plan I can actually do, or file for later.  This story may be “beyond” me for now.

Pipeline Projects (aka Bright Shinies on the horizon)

  • Rayne and Crow.  Status: Idea stage.  Goal:  develop, plot, worldbuild.  Deadline:  1st quarter 2009.  First draft:  2nd quarter 2009.  First draft target:  70K.  SECOND PRIORITY for 2009.  Explore this idea and see if it’s a go. 
  • ANTs.  Status:  <20K first draft, notes.  Goal:  be prepared to pull proposal together if Letters sells.
  • Vicky’s story:  Only a go if Letters and ANTs sell (Vicky is Conn’s sister).
  • Equus story:  From a dream, consider under the Letters “brand.”

 

Personal Development and Other

  • Increase reading, targeting 52 books this year.
  • Write another short story to give away
  • Utilize spreadsheets to keep better track of progress (I did this in 2007 but got lazy in 2008).
  • Continue the Great Agent Hunt.
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2008 in Review

Let’s see how I did on my 2008 goals originally posted Jan 2.

1. Write every day. This is tricky, because not every day is going to yield new words, even if I’m working really hard on a story. That’s okay. When I’m in draft mode, I want 1K a day. Otherwise, I’ll be doing some part of writing every day, whether it’s career related (updating the website, requesting reviews) or revisions.

This is pretty much a given.  Even when I was supposed to take a vacation, I ended up re-reading my own work and making revision notes. 

2. Write 300K. I didn’t keep a spreadsheet this year, so I’m not 100% sure of wordcounts, so this is estimated.

Road to Shanhasson:  113,500

Return to Shanhasson: 104,900

Letters Revision (from 49K to 72K):  23,000

Night Sun Rising (hard revisions): 39,000

Prometheus Unbound:  2,000

RHP Revisions (unfinished): 6,000

Total:  roughly 288,400 words.  Not bad.

3. Write another draft of Arcana (formerly RHP), polish in first quarter 2008, and query. Started in January, but it wasn’t going well at all.  More research and planning is needed.

4. Write another draft of Night Sun Rising (the NaNoWriMo novel), polish in second quarter 2008, and query. Planning is complete; Revision Xibalba was in progress in Oct but not yet finished.  My first priority in 2009 will be to finish this.

5. Editor revisions (completed the third pass 12/31/2007, so this one’s close!) and promotion on The Fire Within.  Done.

6. Editor revisions and promotion on The Rose of Shanhasson.  Done.

7. Editor revisions and promotion on Beautiful Death.  Done.

8. Develop a revision plan to extend Letters to An English Professor from long novella to single title length.  Done, revisions completed, project queries floating about and continuing into 2009.

9. Finish a first draft of ANTs (may get bumped to the bottom of the list, but it bugs me because this story is 75% finished).  Not started.  No sense in working on this unless I sell Letters.  (The hero of ANTs is Conn’s brother, Victor.)

10. Write The Road to Shanhasson (not sure of timing yet).  Done!

11. Write at least one short story to give away as a free read.  Done! 

12. Revise the website for quicker downloads and easier maintenance.  Done again, including transferring my domain off yahell.

13. Read 52 books.  Ugh, failed miserably on this.  I didn’t keep a careful list this year, but I’d be surprised if I hit 25 books.  Must read more next year.

14. Finished Return to Shanhasson as my NaNo project.

15. Continued the Great Agent Hunt near the end of 2008 with no luck yet.  My prey is proving rather ellusive, which only makes the hunt more thrilling.

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2008 Winds Down

The last Christmas presents have been opened.  We celebrated our last family dinner yesterday with Granny, my Beloved Sis, and my brother’s family.  The last Chiefs’ football game is on today.

2008 is almost over.

So this next week, I’ll be writing up formal goals for 2009.  I’ll look back to last year and see how I did on 2008’s goals.

Meanwhile, I’m reading.  Not from my reward stack, although this has been a very great reward.  I started with The Rose of Shanhasson, then The Road to Shanhasson, and finally, I’m reading the first draft of Return to Shanhasson that I just finished.  Oooooh, it’s so awesome to see the story all laid out and complete.  So much love.  So much blood.  So much Shadow.  The last book still needs work to bring it up where it needs to be, but the theme is definitely carried through to the end. 

Love, the greatest gift of all, and the greatest sacrifice.

2009 goals will be forthcoming.

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Twas the Night Before Story

Twas the night before Story, when all through my head
Not a character was stirring, not even a Fred.
The worldbuilding and rules I had already begun,
In the hopes that my character would soon to me come.
The photos were nestled all snug on my board,
While I knew how he looked, he still made me bored.
No hero to journey, and me without plot,
My Story was doomed to molder and rot.
When in my head there arose such a clatter
I sprang to my keyboard to record the sudden chatter.
In my scrapbook bible I wrote in a flash,
A few mannerisms I kept in my stash.
Like tugging his hair when lost deep in thought,
Or his palm rolling to and fro an ivory rahke.
When, what in my wondering mind should appear,
But shades of people, real people, my dear!
Key phrases only he would ever say,
A silver ring he wears night and day. 
A dark, dark secret held close to his heart,
The ratty blue shirt from which he refused to part.
With quirks and flaws, so interesting to see
How such little things were obviously the key.
More lively than cardboard, my character breathed,
Rounded and rich, I swore he would bleed.
And then in a twinkling, I heard a new voice,
His clear words to listen I simply had no choice.
Defining moments from my hero’s past,
Darkest secrets he shared with me at last.
Friends and family, and his enemies, too,
All his troubles and fears were mine to review.
How many times he had fallen in love,
What gods he honored in the heavens above.
His hopes–how they shone! His fears, how dread!
His secrets were like ghosts from which he fled!
His heart lay shattered like fragile spun glass.
No matter his goals, his past ne’er surpassed.
And now I knew the path I should set,
How best my hero to torment and fret.
His arc I saw like a gleaming thread,
A steep, dark ravine I would send him to tread.
The darkest moment, his innermost fears to face.
The elixir to lure him through this dangerous race.
His character scrapbook and his hero’s journey,
Soon gave me the framework for his grand story.
I spoke not a word but went straight to work,
And began plotting without a single shirk,
And laying the journey over ten even blocks,
And at my hero I threw bigger rocks.
I opened up Word, to my scrapbook a look,
And away my Story flew like all really good books.
But I exclaimed, ere I typed chapter one,
“Remember character is plot, and well you’ve begun.”

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NaNo Decompression

So now the real fun begins.

What I really have is a bunch of disconnected files.  Some are numbered in the correct order (001, 002, 003, etc.) but some are not (Mykal_001 or devalki_notes).  My job now will be to read through each file, smooth it a little, and begin forming a coherent “first draft.”

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on revisions right now, but I will be smoothing things and fixing notes to myself as I go.  Stuff like [go back and change two days to three] or [lay this thread earlier] or [Sal needs to say something pithy here].  This will give me a complete picture of the draft.  Did it succeed?  Did I carry the heart of the Story all the way through?

I know I did on this one.  It gave me chills to come back full circle and use all the elements that are precious to this story one last time.  Gregar even got in an arse competition.  *laughs*

This part isn’t work, not really.  It’s time to wallow in the words I wrote.  Luxuriate in the story I didn’t allow myself to stop and read while slamming toward the end.  Once I get this draft completed, I’ll set it aside to marinate while I return to Revision Xibalba.

Now *that* is a hard revision.

Meanwhile, I plan to read myself silly.  I have the entire Night Angels trilogy by Brent Weeks ready to go, along with In Too Deep by Portia Da Costa and of course the upcoming Stay the Night release by Lynn Viehl.  I also know that Santa brought me two Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries by C.S. Harris.

Come January, it’ll be back to Revision Xibalba while I plot and worldbuild the Bright Shiny.  I need a name for it, don’t I?  Hmmm.  Until I get a better title, I’ll call it Rayne and Crow, two of the characters.  More detailed 2009 goals will be forthcoming later.

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NaNo Day 52 – THE END

It’s been a long road,
Getting from there to here.
It’s been a long time.
But my time is finally near.
I can feel a change in the wind right now.
Nothing’s in my way.
And they’re not going to hold me down no more.
No, they’re not going to hold me down.

Cause I’ve got faith of the heart.
I’m going where my heart will take me.
I’ve got faith to believe,
I can do anything.
I’ve got strength of the soul.
And no one’s going to bend or break me.
I can reach any star.
I’ve got faith, I’ve got faith,
Faith of the heart.

It’s been a long night,
Trying to find my way.
Been through the darkness.
Now I finally have my day.
I will see my dream come alive at last,
I will touch the sky.
And they’re not going to hold me down no more,
They’re not going to change my mind.

I’ve known the wind so cold
And seen the darkest days.
But now the winds I feel
Are only winds of change!
I’ve been through the fire,
And I’ve been through the rain,
But I’ll be fine.

I’ve got faith, I’ve got faith,
faith of the heart.

It’s been a long road.

Today, I went back to the beginning, all the way back to Rose of Shanhasson.  I pulled up the original series theme song, Faith of the Heart, sung by Rod Stewart, and played it on an endless loop.

I brought 300,000+ words full circle.  Back to Dalden Bay, standing on the Sentinel, looking out over the waters.  Only Shannari’s answer was very, very different this time.

And yes, like a complete and utter sap, I bawled. 

This ending has been a long time in coming.  Five years to be exact.  I’ve dreamed and dreamed and dreamed this story.  Gregar haunted me.  Sal mocked me.  Rhaekhar threatened to challenge me a dozen times if I ever once thought about quitting.

I’m ashamed to say, I did, more than once.  But not for long.  I couldn’t.  This story would not let me go, and I’m so thankful that it didn’t.  Five years of growing pains, agony, blood, sweat and tears, have all gone into this story, and even in the darkest night, the moon shone all the brighter.

Today:  3,990

NaNo final count:  105,340

Snippet:  Final line, subject to revision.

Now, my heart, I run to you.

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NaNo Day 51

I did it.

No, I haven’t quite hit “the end” yet, but I’m only a few thousand away, at most.  I made it through the grueling second surprise and final climax of the story.  The bad guys are defeated.  The good guys limped away, for the most part.  Now I still have one more scene in mind near the present to wrap up the resolution, and then the epilogue that ends the ENTIRE series.

Bring out the Kleenex, ’cause if you’re not bawling by the last page, then I failed completely.  I’ve seen this ending in my mind for YEARS and it’s been a long time in coming.

Why yes, Virginia, there is an end in sight and I will hit it by Christmas.  Since I have tomorow off from the Evil Day Job, the end will come tomorrow.  I guarantee it, as long as the power’s not off or a natural disaster doesn’t strike.

Today:  4,505

NaNo:  101,350  *dies* 

Snippet:  Sorry, short once again to keep the spoilers to a minimum.  This happens right before the big second surprise is revealed.

Shadows flickered behind her.  If Gregar had her back, then Dharman would be free to assist Sal with the dragon.  He turned away and felt a lurch in her bond, a sudden surge of fear that sent the hair crawling on his scalp and his heart pounding like stampeding na’kindren.  He whirled.

Na’lanna Qwen had vanished.