Wynderlon

Ugh, I’ve been so unproductive over July 4th weekend that I’m dreading my work load over the next few days. I just have so much to do! I’m exhausted too; didn’t sleep a wink last night. I’m so exhausted that it took me two attempts to sing the “ABC” song to figure out where “V” is on the alphabet. Yeah, I felt dumb. The first time I skipped “R” and had to slow down so my befuddled, sleep deprived, caffeine starved brain could keep up.

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.

Critique Group John is moving away, so we had a goodbye dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was nice to see him again, since he’s been “taking a break” from the critique group for about 6 months. This leaves just three active members in our critique group, all of them women, two are erotica writers, one (me) an action-adventure writer (currently writing urban fantasy). I think we were all hoping to tempt Critique Group John back, since he was our remaining male perspective. I’ve been meaning to do some recruiting, but just haven’t had the time. Critique Group John, probably now that he has no worries about offending anyone, talked candidly about the structure of our group and I couldn’t help but agree with most of what he said — in fact, I’d broached similar concerns often.

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)

Yeah, I’ve been busy. I got a new job, which starts in a month and a few days, so I’m preparing myself for that. I’m also feverishly, fiendishly, desperately trying to meet my deadline for edits with The Blood Queen. I’m sending it to my beta readers (my lovely critique group, as well as some other wonderful volunteer individuals) by July 9th, but that means I’ve got a horrific 35-pages-a-day editing schedule (40 is even better). (Okay, I know some people out there are probably going, “What? 35 pages a day? Does someone want the whaaa-mbulence?” To these people I say…”Want to edit my book for free?” )

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.

All I want to do is finish the edits for The Blood Queen, but my muse keeps throwing ideas at me like mashed potatoes in a food fight. My story idea folder is getting rather fat, let me tell you, and the sad thing is I don’t know when I’ll have the time to work on anything in there. I’m already jotting down ideas for the second book in the Tayce series. I tried to tell my muse to shut up…but she promptly bitch-slapped me. I think we all know who the boss is (I showed her…yeah).

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.

Man, I’m suffering from a food coma right now…

…but that’s not the point. Yes, I did update the layout. I kind of haven’t had the energy or inspiration to custom make a layout like I usually do for Wynderlon, so for now I hope this suits. I’ve been busy with job applications, lots and lots of job applications. It’s surprising how long each job application takes for my job field, but I average about 2 a day. I haven’t heard much back, and I’m beginning to get worried about my murky-looking future.

On the writing front, I’ve been editing The Blood Queen, my title for “Tayce.” I was so happy about the S.O.’s handy job as a graphic designer. Since he works at a print shop, I can print out my manuscript and edit it by hand (printing it out at home would cost an ink cartridge, there’s 350-some pages, after all ). I tried to edit on the computer for 2 weeks and I didn’t get much done. It’s so easy to get distracted on the computer…there’s Solitaire and the Internet whispering their sweet siren calls to me. Not only that, but I get eye strain and I’m always scrolling hither and thither wondering out loud, “Where did I put that damn section of the story? I know I mentioned it before! Where is it?”

With the manuscript printed out, I can steadily go at it with a nice marker pen (my current favorites* are the Sharpie fine point pens that don’t bleed through the paper, in orange or red), highlight things I need to pay attention to (my favorite highlighters being the Sharpie Accent Retractables…hmm, another Sharpie brand. This was not pre-planned by me at all), and put post-it notes to make changes. I can also put labeled post-it flags where important information in the story has been expounded already, so I know where I repeat info and where to flip back to check something.

In today’s day and age of ebook readers, iPads, netbooks, and computers, there’s something to say about going old school (then again, who knows what the future will hold? I’m already drooling over some of the capabilities Microsoft Courier will supposedly have). And the S.O. was kind enough to plastic spiral bind my manuscript so I can’t lose pages as easily. As I was telling my writer friend, “Is it wrong that I find it sitting there, in all its printed-out glory, kinda sexy?” She assured me that it was not.

* I love pens, to the point where I’ve told myself I will not buy anymore until I finish up some of the ones I have. I love fountain pens and gel ink pens most of all. I’ve almost completely cut out working with pencils, although that sometimes makes me sad because I have some awesome erasers. A month or two back, I broke my “no more pens!” rule and bought the Sharpie felt tips, which turned out to be a stroke of luck since they don’t catch paper fibers and give a nice, clean line. Very easy on the hand for editing, and crisp colors make it easy to see. I wanted to get a few more colors, so I was talking to the S.O. about stopping off at Staples to get my “brand.” I’ve been with the S.O. long enough now that he knows when I mention an office supply store and say I’m picking up my brand, it means pens. He dryly asked me, “What ‘brand’ is it this time?” “Sharpie felt tips. They’re really smooth.” When I got off the cell phone, my friend (who I was having coffee with at the time) turned to me and asked, “Do you smoke? I didn’t know that.” LOL, I guess she only heard part of the conversation, like “brand” and “smooth.” (I explained I was talking about pens, and she laughed then said, “Well, then, my brand is Uni-ball.” Yes, I have geeky friends. So? )

I’m really frustrated right now. I have 2-3 chapters of “Tayce” left and then the book is DONE. Finished. Well, all except editing, but still, the hardest part (writing the damn thing) is over. I could belt those chapters out in a DAY if I was given the unadulterated time to do so — unfortunately, lately life has different plans for me. Specifically, this week has just SUCKED so far, which is horrible since tomorrow is my birthday and I’m having a tough time getting into the celebratory mood.

I am wound tighter than a spring. These past few days, I’ve woken up with a stiff back and headaches, dead tired because I’ve been having a hard time getting to sleep in the first place. It seems every day this week, starting with Sunday, I get one stressful, drama-filled, no-holds-barred, sucker-punch-and-then-laugh-in-your-face moment after another. Bad news here, worse news there; someone then inevitably wants to talk about the bad news they’ve just given me while I’m still reeling and trying to adjust my life accordingly. Worst (or maybe funniest?) thing about it is that every time someone’s given me stressful/bad news this week, it’s always ended with, “Sorry about this, I mean, your birthday is this week and I know I shouldn’t've said anything, but I felt you should know” — or something like that. Another popular one is, “Don’t worry, we’ll work something out. This doesn’t have to be bad.”

Right, like being stabbed in the gut doesn’t mean you have to die. Ugh, and that’s my ultra drama statement for the week. The point is all I want to do is write the final battle scene in Tayce, finish the book, and open some bubbly champagne to celebrate.

But I can’t. I can’t even concentrate on one task; I keep jumping around nervously from one thing to another without really finishing anything. I’ll be glad when I get to the gym today, work off some of this nervous energy in the pool.

By the looks of it, “Tayce” is going to be a couple thousand words over 150k when it’s done. *wince*

Recently I found two useful macros that count word occurrences. I had been wondering how many times I used a specific word in my story, then realized there was no way in Word to check this. Installing these two macros was fast and easy (once, I figured out how to install macros on Word ) and they create interesting reports on word occurrences in your document.

I’ve been playing around with both macros to much amusement. It’s handy for writing; for example, I’ve checked to see how many times I’ve used certain adverbs, ones I definitely want to cut down on, like “loudly” or “softly.” If the number is high, I know it’s something I need to work on in editing. Using the macros, along with something like AutoCrit provides a good “map” of one’s writing and gives a good indication of things that need to be changed or worked on in the editing phase.

For those who, like me, had never tinkered with macros in Word, here’s a quick tutorial on how to get these word occurrence macros up and working:

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s odd how parts of a story you were looking forward to writing suddenly become painful, something to be endured. I just finished a major turning point in the “Tayce” story. I view it as the beginning of the end. I’ve been planning this turning point forever, basically since I first outlined “Tayce” so many months ago (now nearly a year ) and I’ve been looking forward to getting to this point of the story. However, I just feel like I haven’t done it justice. I suppose this is the problem with all artistic endeavors — the vision you have in your head just isn’t what you end up with. I’m feeling a bit of self-doubt regarding my abilities and as a result I’m plagued with the usual questions: Am I just kidding myself? Can I really write? Will I ever finish this thing?

I finished that section of “Tayce” on Saturday. Afterwards I felt completely drained artistically, I didn’t even want to look at a word processor. I spent most of Sunday with John, catching up on DVR recordings and playing Mass Effect (so I can start playing Mass Effect 2 sometime).

But, to be fair, I’m also proud of myself. I’m nearly done with the first book in the series. This is pretty major. I’m ready to start the second book (such things never end, there’s always the next project ). I’m ready for one of my goals to come to fruition. I’m going to savor checking off “Finish Tayce” from my Resolution list.