Writers should write every day, whether they feel like it or not. When working on Book 2, I usually don't. It's changed a lot since I wrote the first semi-awful version of it ten years ago, and quite frankly, I have no idea what I'm going to do with it right now. I sort of have an idea that stems from the first book, but even that's not a complete construction. That's why this is a process.
I don't feel too inspired today, either, even though I know that once I get into editing or writing, I really get into it. That's a good thing. I'm getting lost in my own story, and to me, that means I'm really feeling it. The more that happens, the more confident I feel. Of course, lack of confidence isn't an excuse to slack off. I still have to work.
The hardest part is when I feel so dissatisfied with what I've written that I'm not sure where to take it or what to do with it. Deep down, I know that working anyway will fix the problems. It's just the absolute massiveness of it.
I started writing in the new perspective last night, when working on the raw draft of Book 2. Blech.
But it will get better, as long as I keep working.
And maybe keep making charts. Those are fun!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
A Change
So I figured I'd dash this off post-workout. I've been working away at Book 2, writing a page at a time, and it's developing more nicely than I imagined it would. Still a long ways to go.
Last night, I made a decision about my books that will change them quite a bit, though for right now, until I play with a page or two, the change is only tentative. I'm changing the perspective of my books. What I have now doesn't feel quite comfy enough. This isn't something I'm going to dive into, but I hope that it will turn out well in the end. Of course, this means a more editing than I expected, but ultimately it will end up more satisfying, even if the overhaul doesn't work out. Now that I've made this tentative decision, I feel a little more excited than before, and that's always a great feeling.
Last night, I made a decision about my books that will change them quite a bit, though for right now, until I play with a page or two, the change is only tentative. I'm changing the perspective of my books. What I have now doesn't feel quite comfy enough. This isn't something I'm going to dive into, but I hope that it will turn out well in the end. Of course, this means a more editing than I expected, but ultimately it will end up more satisfying, even if the overhaul doesn't work out. Now that I've made this tentative decision, I feel a little more excited than before, and that's always a great feeling.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Slacking Off
This weekend, I chilled out and read. A lot. Most of Saturday, actually.
I read so much that day that I did absolutely no posting, editing, or writing. Sunday, I at least did 20 pages of editing. And yes, that does take priority right now, but I hate the sad little black Xs on my chart. That's the motivation. I know it's a self-imposed requirement. Nothing terrible will happen if I miss a day or two here and there. But it bugs me, and if sticking it out and working at it every day is going to make me get this book done, then I will do the work.
I read so much that day that I did absolutely no posting, editing, or writing. Sunday, I at least did 20 pages of editing. And yes, that does take priority right now, but I hate the sad little black Xs on my chart. That's the motivation. I know it's a self-imposed requirement. Nothing terrible will happen if I miss a day or two here and there. But it bugs me, and if sticking it out and working at it every day is going to make me get this book done, then I will do the work.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Book Review: The Secret of Spruce Knoll
I like trying new things, especially when it comes to books. Lately I've been delving more into YA indie fiction, and I feel like I've been rewarded for doing so. I read more now, because indie digital books are cheaper. I'm changing it up a little, and this week's book review is on a good old paperback.
The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle was reviewed on IndieReader.com, and since the reviews on Amazon were pretty favorable, I decided to check it out for myself. I ordered both it and The Toadstone Trilogy Book One and got them right before Christmas.
The story follows newly orphaned Eren Donovan as she moves halfway across the country to live with her aunt in the tiny town of Spruce Knoll, Colorado. Her ancestry is half-Irish and half-Maya, something the townspeople seem to automatically hate her for. She makes a fast friend in Aiden, a fellow orphan who lives with his adopted parents and adopted siblings. The secret in question is that the entire town is made up of channelers, or people who manipulate energy from the earth to fight or heal. Almost from the very beginning, Eren gains her powers. What follows are mysteries, sinister townsfolk, a lot of commentary about racism, and an epic-ish battle as she discovers what really happened to her parents.
I finished this book with a meh feeling. It felt like a cross between Harry Potter and Twilight, only harder to get into. The structure of a good story was definitely there, and the characters were okay, but I felt like it could have used a little more work to open things up a little. Some characters changed very quickly, or were never surprising, and the book when on a lot about how much everyone hated mixed-blood kids, only to drop it later. I don't like the feeling of floating outside the story, and I truly wish it had been more captivating.
Overall, I thought The Secret of Spruce Knoll was okay, but not a series I could really get behind and become a huge fan of. I don't think I'll be getting the sequels.
The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle was reviewed on IndieReader.com, and since the reviews on Amazon were pretty favorable, I decided to check it out for myself. I ordered both it and The Toadstone Trilogy Book One and got them right before Christmas.
The story follows newly orphaned Eren Donovan as she moves halfway across the country to live with her aunt in the tiny town of Spruce Knoll, Colorado. Her ancestry is half-Irish and half-Maya, something the townspeople seem to automatically hate her for. She makes a fast friend in Aiden, a fellow orphan who lives with his adopted parents and adopted siblings. The secret in question is that the entire town is made up of channelers, or people who manipulate energy from the earth to fight or heal. Almost from the very beginning, Eren gains her powers. What follows are mysteries, sinister townsfolk, a lot of commentary about racism, and an epic-ish battle as she discovers what really happened to her parents.
I finished this book with a meh feeling. It felt like a cross between Harry Potter and Twilight, only harder to get into. The structure of a good story was definitely there, and the characters were okay, but I felt like it could have used a little more work to open things up a little. Some characters changed very quickly, or were never surprising, and the book when on a lot about how much everyone hated mixed-blood kids, only to drop it later. I don't like the feeling of floating outside the story, and I truly wish it had been more captivating.
Overall, I thought The Secret of Spruce Knoll was okay, but not a series I could really get behind and become a huge fan of. I don't think I'll be getting the sequels.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Parkwood Mall
I missed yesterday, I know, and it made me sad to put a big black X over the square.
Back in November, the owners of the Wilson Mall in my town announced that they would be closing and demolishing the inside portion to develop it into an open shopping center. Some stores and the theater will stay. The rest of it's going.
I have to admit, I kinda saw this coming. When they updated the mall in 2005, in hopes of attracting businesses, the mall had been on a steady decline for a few years. It was old, mostly empty, and pretty sketchy. People stopped going because the neighborhood isn't great.
But back in the day, it was our mall, and it was pretty cool.
My earliest memories include Santa Claus, the talking Rudolph, the only Chick-fil-A in town then, a pizza place, an arcade, and the Stride Rite, which had Yoshi in the window. I used to think that Parkwood Mall (the old name) was the coolest thing ever because it had a toy store.
In sixth grade, I once hung out with friends there, on a Sunday. We were allowed to walk around by ourselves. That was huge for me. The bookstore, B. Dalton, even had the really cool American Girl books. Sometime soon after that, we got a Bath and Body Works store. The sight of that red checkered awning was pretty awesome, because that was a store that went to bigger malls, not little Parkwood.
When I started reading the Jedi Apprentice book series in seventh grade, I'd always go to B. Dalton in the mall to get the newest one. Books-a-Million never had them. B. Dalton always did.
I bought accesosories at Claire's and eyeshadow at Bath and Body Works (remember the makeup in the silver containers? I loved that stuff.) I had my makeup done once, for fun, at the Clinique counter in Belk's. I even *gasp* used a tanning bed a few times. My first pair of glasses, and my first pair of contacts, came from the Sears in the mall.
An especially vivid memory is one of my birthday parties. A few of my friends had slept over the night before, and the next day, my mom dropped us off at Parkwood (so grownup, right?) to roam a little. We saw a limo parked outside the entrance, and asked the driver who was in it. He answered, with a smirk, Michael Jackson. We rushed inside to see if we could catch a glimpse of someone that famous in our little mall. Obviously, that didn't happen. It still makes me smile. By then, the mall was beginning to look a little worn. We went to one of those sketchy stores down near the arcade, and my friends tried on some trashy clothes (jeans with big cutouts and stuff. It was fun to laugh at.)
The theater held on for a good long while. That was the theater that had three rooms (one very skinny), an old lobby, and sticky floors that you never could quite see. My dad saw Star Wars there, and I'm pretty sure my parents' first date was there. I saw The Fellowship of the Ring, among many others, at Parkwood Theater, and in 2003, went to an R-rated movie for the first time, without an adult present. (The Matrix Revolutions, in case you're wondering.) They tore it down a few years later. I remember this particularly cloudy day, before the building was gone, where the marquee just said "Closed." I'd half-grown up in that theater, and though the one we have now is much newer and much nicer, I was a little sad to see it go. There's a McDonald's there now.
Though the worsening economy, the bad neighborhood (gang activity pushed many customers away), and nearness of Wilson to Raleigh (with its great shopping) probably made the closing of Parkwood Mall inevitable, it is bittersweet. I made memories there, ones that still make me smile, ones that make up my story and shape my life. As bad as the mall got, there at the end, it wasn't always that bad. I believe in this case, what used to be is a perfectly fine thing to reminisce about.
Back in November, the owners of the Wilson Mall in my town announced that they would be closing and demolishing the inside portion to develop it into an open shopping center. Some stores and the theater will stay. The rest of it's going.
I have to admit, I kinda saw this coming. When they updated the mall in 2005, in hopes of attracting businesses, the mall had been on a steady decline for a few years. It was old, mostly empty, and pretty sketchy. People stopped going because the neighborhood isn't great.
But back in the day, it was our mall, and it was pretty cool.
My earliest memories include Santa Claus, the talking Rudolph, the only Chick-fil-A in town then, a pizza place, an arcade, and the Stride Rite, which had Yoshi in the window. I used to think that Parkwood Mall (the old name) was the coolest thing ever because it had a toy store.
In sixth grade, I once hung out with friends there, on a Sunday. We were allowed to walk around by ourselves. That was huge for me. The bookstore, B. Dalton, even had the really cool American Girl books. Sometime soon after that, we got a Bath and Body Works store. The sight of that red checkered awning was pretty awesome, because that was a store that went to bigger malls, not little Parkwood.
When I started reading the Jedi Apprentice book series in seventh grade, I'd always go to B. Dalton in the mall to get the newest one. Books-a-Million never had them. B. Dalton always did.
I bought accesosories at Claire's and eyeshadow at Bath and Body Works (remember the makeup in the silver containers? I loved that stuff.) I had my makeup done once, for fun, at the Clinique counter in Belk's. I even *gasp* used a tanning bed a few times. My first pair of glasses, and my first pair of contacts, came from the Sears in the mall.
An especially vivid memory is one of my birthday parties. A few of my friends had slept over the night before, and the next day, my mom dropped us off at Parkwood (so grownup, right?) to roam a little. We saw a limo parked outside the entrance, and asked the driver who was in it. He answered, with a smirk, Michael Jackson. We rushed inside to see if we could catch a glimpse of someone that famous in our little mall. Obviously, that didn't happen. It still makes me smile. By then, the mall was beginning to look a little worn. We went to one of those sketchy stores down near the arcade, and my friends tried on some trashy clothes (jeans with big cutouts and stuff. It was fun to laugh at.)
The theater held on for a good long while. That was the theater that had three rooms (one very skinny), an old lobby, and sticky floors that you never could quite see. My dad saw Star Wars there, and I'm pretty sure my parents' first date was there. I saw The Fellowship of the Ring, among many others, at Parkwood Theater, and in 2003, went to an R-rated movie for the first time, without an adult present. (The Matrix Revolutions, in case you're wondering.) They tore it down a few years later. I remember this particularly cloudy day, before the building was gone, where the marquee just said "Closed." I'd half-grown up in that theater, and though the one we have now is much newer and much nicer, I was a little sad to see it go. There's a McDonald's there now.
Though the worsening economy, the bad neighborhood (gang activity pushed many customers away), and nearness of Wilson to Raleigh (with its great shopping) probably made the closing of Parkwood Mall inevitable, it is bittersweet. I made memories there, ones that still make me smile, ones that make up my story and shape my life. As bad as the mall got, there at the end, it wasn't always that bad. I believe in this case, what used to be is a perfectly fine thing to reminisce about.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Worth It?
There are lots of articles and blog posts and such that will tell you that if you're stressed at work and it's really causing you problems and you want to quit your job, you should. Be ready to face the consequences, and don't assume it will get awesome after that, but go ahead.
Pretty convincing, right?
Heck yeah. We all want that validation that the not so great idea we have is indeed the right course of action. The reality is, a lot of us have bills to pay, and the tiny bit we get in exchange for loads of our time is hard to part with. If my fiance makes enough to support us both, I'll definitely want to write full time. But right now, I can't.
I think everyone faces that day when they realize that "help me out" means "do my work for me" and "community effort" very likely means "get the part-timer to do it." But hey, money.
If that's the kind of job you have, never stay comfortable. It won't get better, barring your employer firing himself and everyone but you. What can you do? Make it better. Apply for something else. Something better. Odds are you have the experience. And when you get that job, quit your old one.
Only you can improve your own situation. Never forget that.
Pretty convincing, right?
Heck yeah. We all want that validation that the not so great idea we have is indeed the right course of action. The reality is, a lot of us have bills to pay, and the tiny bit we get in exchange for loads of our time is hard to part with. If my fiance makes enough to support us both, I'll definitely want to write full time. But right now, I can't.
I think everyone faces that day when they realize that "help me out" means "do my work for me" and "community effort" very likely means "get the part-timer to do it." But hey, money.
If that's the kind of job you have, never stay comfortable. It won't get better, barring your employer firing himself and everyone but you. What can you do? Make it better. Apply for something else. Something better. Odds are you have the experience. And when you get that job, quit your old one.
Only you can improve your own situation. Never forget that.
Monday, January 7, 2013
The Revelations of Editing
As I get further through the manuscript I printed, I'm starting to see a pattern. I edit fewer things. I like it more. There's a definite disconnect somewhere. The beginning moves to quickly to be believable right now, and the overall effect is of two different books. But the pattern I'm starting to see in the part I'm editing is a settled one. When I write the part I'm adding to the front, and when I put in the little details that need to be everywhere else, it will feel finished. But for now, my decisions on the story are settled, and it's a pretty good feeling. I suppose that's the entire point of editing.
In other news, I think I'm going to do some redecorating around here, visually, so stay tuned for a new look. I'm also planning on adding some handbags to my Etsy shop, which has nothing to do with my book, but it's fun and occasionally brings me in a few extra bucks.
I'm psyched for the finish of my book being so near, and though I can't realistically give you a deadline, I do hope to have it out by the beginning of April as an e-book. I know, if I keep working hard and keep the hunger and focus that I need, it's going to happen, and that is what keeps me going.
In other news, I think I'm going to do some redecorating around here, visually, so stay tuned for a new look. I'm also planning on adding some handbags to my Etsy shop, which has nothing to do with my book, but it's fun and occasionally brings me in a few extra bucks.
I'm psyched for the finish of my book being so near, and though I can't realistically give you a deadline, I do hope to have it out by the beginning of April as an e-book. I know, if I keep working hard and keep the hunger and focus that I need, it's going to happen, and that is what keeps me going.
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