I’m pretty sure it nearly killed me. I spent most of this morning and early afternoon recovering from multiple sleepless nights desperately trying to finish the manuscript ready for beta reading. Why? Because I have so much else to do and if I didn’t finish the manuscript by early this week, I didn’t know when I’d get the time again.

However, I’m victorious! And while about two weeks later than I said I’d get it done, I still managed to finish it! Now it’s on to my next major project to complete before August (I hope there’s no more late nights ahead *sigh* I have to get in practice of waking up way too early for anyone who is a Night Owl): finishing my unit planning.

This is a pirate story, and don’t let anyone else tell you different. It all started on a boat…
“This, madam,” the first mate said, “is the HMS Hawk. It is a schooner, not just ‘a boat.’”
I rolled my eyes. Where did I find people like this? And why couldn’t I leave things well enough alone? “So it’s a sailboat, then?”

Yeah, random, but given a few seconds I could come up with characters, which is just a short hop away from “workable, beginning plot ideas.” So I’d better back off now before I start naming the first mate (Timothy) or figuring out the setting (steampunk alt. world)…

Argh! I’m doing it already! Run! Run while you can!

“Oh, and I edited the sex scene a little…just edited, though. I didn’t try to increase the length or anything!” Eh? Get it? Get it? *elbow nudge* (John’s reply was to groan and say, “I didn’t hear that.” Never did appreciate a good pun.)

I’m still snickering. I don’t care, I think I’m funny.

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Versus Chapter 1:

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Versus Chapter 31 (currently the last chapter):

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Ignoring for a moment that it’s an Internet quiz and therefore should be taken with a grain of salt, should I wonder if this is a sign of a fluctuating writing style? Meh, I’ll chalk it up to Internet quiz and be amused that my trippiest chapter (the prologue) comes up as Stephen King.

Then, just cause I was curious, I analyzed the 2nd chapter of the 2nd book, which has a sex scene in it, and to my amusement, here’s the result:

I write like
Harry Harrison

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I spent a good portion of the day having lunch with a friend and then walking around Barnes & Nobles afterwards instead of…you got it, editing. So, now, I’m playing catch-up this evening. I hate editing in the evenings since that’s when John’s home and it’s harder to concentrate with someone else puttering around, especially in an apartment. In the mornings and afternoons, the apartment is blissfully quiet and I can really concentrate (although I often have to leave because while the house is empty, there’s all kinds of things to do there, like catch up on my DVR recordings, clean, my various arts & crafts, reading, playing video games, etc. — just to name a few).

Blah, I can’t even concentrate on this blog post. I’m going to pour myself another cup of raspberry lemonade, read for a little while, then start editing The Blood Queen.

The problem with critique groups is it’s a bunch of people trying to find the same schedules to work on creative material. Unless all of you are in the same place with that creativity, then you’re going to have problems. When I mean “the same place,” I don’t mean talent-wise, I mean with where you see yourself with your writing. Is it a hobby? Are you doing it for eventual publication? How seriously do you take it? And of course, on top of that, how well do you take direction? How much time can you put into critiquing? A lot of the time, it seems very few people in our group had serious plans for publication, and then there’s been a few people (luckily all gone now) that have been unable to take critique direction.¹

Critique Group John also talked about our one-chapter-every-two-weeks format, which is also something I’ve had problems with. It’s very hard to get through a novel when you’re sending two chapters a month (and when we had eight members, that number dropped to one chapter a month). After all, that means for an average 80,000 word novel, with every chapter being…oh, say 4,000 words, you’re looking at finishing the last chapter of that novel 10 months later (20 months if you’re just sending in one chapter). For a lot of us, that means the novel has completely changed by the time the group reads the end. Or, it means that the group has difficulty remembering some of the finer details that happened in the beginning. For my own novel, I had a quick “outline guide” ready. Granted, after all this chapter-by-chapter critiquing, there’s the beta read at the end. That’s a whole novel critique instead of line-by-line edits. The beta read is to look at the overall picture, point out things like characterization and weak plot points. But, sometimes I wonder whether it wouldn’t be better to just do a beta read from the get go?

It was pointed out that submitting it chapter-by-chapter makes one stick to a writing schedule. I can’t deny that I’ve often used the excuse “Well, I have to send something into the group” as a way to produce something when I’m particularly busy. However, many professional authors will tell you that the way to become a writer is discipline. Write every day,² much like people say “20 minutes of movement/activity/exercising a day.” I try to do both — exercise and write. And, at the risk of sounding snobby, if you’re serious about writing for publication, you really should be writing more than 4,000-or-so words every 10 days.

However, in the end, we didn’t come up with an answer to Critique Group John’s concerns, or our own. The critique group will continue as it has always continued, and I know that our current schedule tempts newcomers easier than my secret preference³ not that I’m complaining. I think I’ll be very happy for the one-chapter-every-two-weeks process when I start my new job.⁴

I spent my afternoon at a local coffee shop which is co-owned by a friend of mine and John’s, David2 (since I know so many Davids…). There are definite pluses to knowing someone who co-owns a coffee shop, mostly in the form of a free cup of coffee. I don’t know if I can keep milking this connection of mine, but I intend to go back. The place has huge windows, something I always love, and instead of the usual crowd of loud soccer moms with their frolicking children, there were quiet students. *blissful sigh* This may be the start of a beautiful relationship.

Like the photo? Notice all the red pen and pink highlighter on that page (yes, an actual page from The Blood Queen, in case you were starting to think the book was all in my mind)? Today was a tough day of editing, mostly because I had to rewrite 90% of a scene, which means I got a lot of editing done but not much page count. I’m going to keep going this evening, then end the day with a trip to the gym.

My brain feels pretty mushy right now. Near the end, before I had to pack it in and pick up John, I started getting distracted. Then I noticed the albino pigeon…staring at me through the side door (I was at the table closest to it)…watching. We had a staring contest. I won, a fact I boasted to John through text message.

His answer? “While dubiously impressive, get back to editing.” Ah, now that’s love.

(Tried to take a picture of the pigeon, but it flew away)

Anyway, that is my life in one glorious nutshell. I haven’t done anything really interesting. And besides a terrifying nightmare I had last night that involved a baby doll that came to life and crawled over my face while cooing “Ma-ma, ma-ma” in a creepy little kid’s voice, I have nothing much to report. Hopefully that’ll change in the next few days as my editing starts reaching the hilt. Who knows? Maybe I’ll go crazy and make a blog post where I say “I am a fish” over and over again, or maybe “I am the lizard queen!” Although I think if I’m going to go insane, it’ll probably be around mid-August when the new job “honeymoon period” should wear off.

ANYWAY, since there’s not much to say…have a music video!

I really like this song. And I think I like the music video too. There’s a frenzied feeling to it that I think illustrates what I’m feeling a lot of the time.

I think I found this through Inkygirl. But, hey, if his mission was to interest someone in his book via an amusing, anecdotal music video…mission accomplished.

I whimpered about losing in a fight to my muse to my very good writer friend, S., who told me that she’s been having similar problems. I think there’s a muse union somewhere and they get together over Frappachinos and chortle about how to make life difficult. Although S. mentioned her story involved hot firefighters and I can always go for a guilty pleasure read that involves hot firefighters. Maybe S. needs to weaken, after all, doesn’t the muse know best?

Don’t worry, I’ve been good with my editing. I managed to get quite a lot done today. If I buckle down and get into the editing “zone,” I’m actually quite good at zooming through editing, but getting into that zone is a chore. Oh, and sometime soon I need to upload some of my pics from Phoenix Comicon.

In other news, I’d just like to say to the shockingly huge amount of spambots that have been trolling my site lately: F-you. I will not approve your comment, no matter how much it may mimic real people speak. I see the URLs, I notice that they all go to BuyMyUselessCrap.com or whatever. If there are real people behind those annoying spam comments, please think of my poor bleeding eyeballs and overtaxed Askimet and stop posting. Real comments make me shiver with pleasure, but you spambots make me wanna kick something.