Time...

So my goals for this month are still in process - go me!! 

Goals Update:

• Okay, so I'm a little behind on the blog posts - but here's #1! Hopefully I'll knock out one or two more this week and BOOM one to go - and it will look like I know what I'm doing!!! HA!!!!
• I have played with the query for WHITE LIES and unleashed it on the world - found another error and realized I let the dog out too soon - such is life.
• I have started thinking about Nano - unsuccessfully, kinda - more to come on that
• STATIC - yeah - haven't gotten there - BUT it's only the 14th - I still have time *watches clock*

So what else have I been doing?? Well...

The Reader in me: 

• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• The first is for the writer in me. This is a book that has caught my attention mulitple times, but I'd always been reading something else or "busy" - I really hate that term... but finally the book found me - or I found it at the right time. Thanks to a fellow teacher and friend for having it sitting on a shelf as we ate lunch, and more so for letting me borrow it.

• How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
• This is for the teacher in me. This summer was amazing, and this title came up time after time as a valuable resource for AP Lit students - and so I'm making my way through it. And it will be a great addition to teaching materials.

The Writer in me:

• There's a little bit of everything happening right now - and my brain HURTS!! I have pondering several different things over the last few weeks, and I'm still working my way through the muck. Firstly, I am trying to figure out what I want to play with for this year's Nanowrimo. YES! It is only September, but sadly enough, we have hit double digits and, sadly, it wan't go back down. And I may be a pantser, but I also am to a certain extent a plotser, so I need to have an idea before I can sit down and write in November - hence! I need an idea NOW! The problem? I don't know if I bring out a play with some old characters who are itching for a revisit in a new book, or do I create and let loose into the world new characters who, I am sure, I will torment and torture *cue maniacal smile*

The Muse in me:

• There are two things that I find inspiring me right now:
• My kids: While I only have one daughter, I have over 100 students who live and breathe in the worlds I create. From the way they walk down the halls, to their tone and speech patterns, everything is relevant to me. And to have a creative writing class, and have students who have a passion and drive for writing makes me want to write! Ya! WIN!
• Hope: While I have had my share of writer uncertainty and trepidation I still feel that this is what I should be doing - that I am a writer and I will have my words out there!

The Me in...well, Me:

• It has been a busy month! Back to school is always chaos and this year is no different.
• I decided (definitely not a wise decision) that making some meals and freezing them would be a smart thing to do and save me time in the future. The jury is still out on that one, but man did it waste several days so far! And don't get me started on the initial clean up.
• Plus! Group adviser roles were in full swing so far - between my Student Government back to school and first dance prep, and senior class bids for a trip it's been a busy few week.
• Things will calm down...

No they won't. But I'll be back!

Until Later!

Wait...it's not still May?

I knew this summer was going to be crazy, and I was right.

Crazy

and

Wonderful

but somewhere along the way, I lost track of.... well... everything!!

I'm blaming jet lag, and the household zoo - but I shouldn't.

I have no one to blame for my absence but myself. Real life can do that. It can get in the way and turn even the best ideas and plans to a pile of rubbish, even run them over, back up, and hit them again just to make sure everything is completely obliterated.

So I'm starting small, and will work my way back into a routine that I can handle. I'm starting with a few goals I want to achieve by September 30. They are:

1. fix my query for White Lies - I'm not happy with it and if I'm not, how can anyone else be happy with it
2. Blog! I will complete a minimum of 4 posts this month - and NOT all on the 30th (I know, I take all the fun away)
3. Play with Static - I think I know how to fix the beginning - so I need to make time to fix it!
4. Nano '14 - start planning! I've really REALLY enjoyed participating in Nanowrimo the last three years, and want to do it again - but I need to pick an idea

I am turning this into a binding contract. If I follow through... I'll treat myself - there may even been ice cream and chocolate in my future! I'll check in with updates and progress - and other random pieces of nothingness for your amusement and entertainment.

Until next time.

Checking in one last time #YABbootcamp

I'd love to say that I stayed strong, and completed all my goals....but I can't. Life, as it usually does, got in the way more than I would have liked.

BUT I did make progress in each of the goals I set forth at the beginning of the boot camp, and I can honestly say that #YABbootcamp helped me get further than I would have if left to my own devices. That is both awesome and saddening at the same time.

But spring is hard for me. Real life demands a lot in these three months - a lot more than I realized when I decided to jump on and walk the plank.

And these three months have left me with lots to think about as I move forward.

SO: status:

I DID edit some, and in so doing, really evaluated the genre. I went NA with the story - a shift I was happy with, but has left me wondering if the characters survived the shift - jury is still out.

I DID send query drafts and a few rounds to my CP of awesome for some valuable positive and negative feedback

I DID get to see and provide feedback for that same CP of awesome - and I was soooooo happy to see words from her. I think that inspired me to keep going.


Where do I go from here?

Forward.

I think the query for WHITE LIES I've been playing with is finally ready for a round with agents.

STATIC - thought definitely still a draft is going somewhere - and there WILL be time in the near future to play with it more.

Thanks YA Buccaneers for a lot of fun, the chance to meet some truly awesome and inspiring teammates, and the time (and accountability) to keep writing even when everything was in my way!

Has someone seen my horse??

I JUST realized that I haven't been on here in FOREVER... okay, so slight exaggeration, but close enough! I am still alive!!!

And I've returned - or am returning - or trying to return, depending on how I feel like looking at it.

SOME of the chaos of my work related life has subsided - quite successfully - so now it's time to get the rest of my life back into a semblance of normalcy *laughs at the thought of normal*

To do this, I need my horse - the writing / editing / proofreading horse so I can catch it and get back on it!

So - Have you seen my horse?

 

Color: Depends on her mood - or mine - currently invisible

Last seen: fleetingly while I brushed my teeth last month

 

Answers to the name of: Muse

 

If you see - approach with extreme caution! While Muse is not dangerous, she spooks easily and will disappear again without much provocation.

 

Responds positively to chocolate and Doritos

 

This week! I do have a few goals that I feel confident I can actually achieve.

1. EDIT more!!

2. Send pages for review to my awesomely amazing CP

3. breathe and regroup

 

 

 

The only dead end is the one I make for myself.

Checking in: Am I making progress?

Looks like its time for another update, and the progress this week has been slow - sickeningly slow. Most likely because, well, I was sick. Nothing life threatening - just enough of an annoyance to make my life miserable for several days.

And I'm not 100% yet, but there was enough of a recovery over the weekend to warrant continued progress.

So where does that leave all the words?

Well, apparently I've made enough progress to realize I have no idea if I'm making progress.

That's clear...well maybe it is to some writers.

When we last chatted, I had established a working title for the latest project - STATIC is still holding!

But the other alterations that I've been playing with have reached a critical junction. It's time to see if anything is actually working.

And so I have to get some feedback from my awesome CP and see if the beginning has shaped itself into something positive.

My story is definitely starting to take shape, and some of the missing elements have been found, but the beginning is continuing to pull my attention and focus. I need to put it in the hands of someone I trust and move forward.

So this week, my goals are to keep moving into the novel and wait to see if there IS progress, or if the element of confusion is still controlling my story.

Fingers crossed.

Check in #4.... YABbootcamp

This week... well... it went. Real life got in the way a tad - actually a lot more than I want or care to admit, but some good things did happen.

Goal Update:

First things first, and update on goal #2: I'm happy to report I have a working title! My current project shall henceforth be known as STATIC

*does happy dance* *Muppet flail*

This title was hard to peg - but I think this title may stick - at least until an agent or editor wants to change it. I resisted it originally because that is the first word in the book, but the more I thought about it, not only does static play a pretty important part in the entire thing, but it also serves as a pretty nice metaphor for what Sam, my main character, has to go through as she tries to unravel and understand exactly what is going on around her.

Now as to goal #1:

I think I went into red overload - no reference to static or any other electrical charge intended here. I had gotten to far with edits and changes, that a vast majority of my story was red. To clarify, I utilize and LOVE the track changes feature in Word. So everywhere I altered anything, it either became red, was underlined in red or was crossed out in red.

And before you suggest, I am fully aware that I can change the color of the edits...but I'm a teacher - red works for me... until this week, that is.

So this past weekend, I realized what I had to do. I was so overwhelmed with all the red, that I couldn't see what I still needed to do....

File - Save As - Create new File - Accept all changes - Voila! - no more red - and a shiny new document to bleed all over :)

I am not ready to send anything to anyone, but I feel like progress can be had this week. I am almost to the point where feedback will be needed to let me know if I'm going in the right direction, but there are some holes and elements that I need to fix first! And naturally, my story is shifting again, taking another turn I wasn't ready for.... but I'm trying to let the story tell itself, rather than me force it to tell something it doens't want to.

This week, I also started Mapping everything after the fabulous post on YA Buccaneers. For some...err....most this will probably seem backwards, but right now, as I'm shifting from one genre to the next this is helping me validate where those plot holes are and what I still need to fix!

And now I need to get back to those words....

Shifting Hurts: YABbootcamp Check in #3

? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ?  ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ?

? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ?

In case you couldn't tell, for me this past week has been full of questions and what ifs....

I found myself in what I felt was a moral dilemma. My original premise set my main protagonist being a 16-year-old girl...but this week, as I started editing - I mean really started editing the plot and events, I found that I wasn't completely comfortable with some of the situations I was putting her in.

This led me to wonder if the plot would still work if she was older, and since I knew I had a long way to go, after a lot of deliberation and I'm sure annoyance to my critique partner, I decided to give it a try.

And can I just say this shift - from 16 to 19 is not. easy...and one week later, I'm not 100% sure if it is the right thing to do. And one person that I trust with my words stated that she thought it read like a teenager in YA rather than NA...And I value her advice and criticism above just about evetrytyhing, so her feedback gave me pause. But I knew that if I didn't at least TRY I'd alwasy wonder and maybe never be completely comfortable with it all. 

Basically, this week was a lot of staring at the tracked changed in my word document and wondering if they were the right changes to make and therefore a lull in forward progress - but this happens from time to time.

Let me qualify this post by stating that I am fully aware that teen age girls can get caught in some very sticky situations, and that I loved the toughness of my 16 year old girl.... but in the long run, it is my hope that some of the character interactions and plot elements will work better with a little bit older individual.

SO bottom line -
I did make some progress towards goals #1 - a *cough* working draft.
I DID play with a few possible titles BUT would like to hang on to those until I've made a final decision
And it is my goal for this week to be able to send a bit to my CP of Awesome and see if the age shift actually is working - and if not, work though elements to either make it work at 19 or make it work at 16.


Guess I better get back to the words!
Until next time.

Walking the Plank #YABbootcamp Style

So here goes... an updated, though still early draft from the beginning of my still *coughs* untitled story.

“Why won’t you believe me?” I yelled at my mother for the 157^th time since Megan disappeared. A week later and already it was as though nothing had happened. I squared my shoulders and continued. “Lori told me what happened. Lori told me what they did. She wasn’t kidnapped by some random idiot, she was taken.”

I thought back to what I did…what I should have done on that first day…

I know what happened. It wasn’t pretty, and I’m not entirely proud of myself for what I did to Lori, but I had to find answers since no one else was telling me anything.

I looked down at my hands. My knuckles were bruising and there’s blood still under my nails.

“Well that’s just silly,” my mom said and pulled me back into the conversation. “You and your government conspiracies.”

I rubbed my temples and shoved the last of my homework into my bag. “Mom,” I started in a softer tone, hoping to get some kind of response, “it’s not my conspiracy.” I bit my lip to keep from yelling. “I heard the three clicks from the hallway. Everyone knows what they mean. Someone was listening.”

“Enough,” she snapped but didn’t look at me as she cleaned off the kitchen counter. “Now, this is hard enough on all of us. We don’t need you spreading these types of rumors. You know the government doesn’t take people just for saying the wrong word. You know those camera systems were put in for our benefit and protection.”

Roller Coasters of the Editing Persuasion

#YABbootcamp Goals Update:

• Progress on #1

• stalemate on #2

• no advancement on #3…yet

Editing sucks.

This isn’t a new, earth shattering realization by any stretch of the imagination, but I needed to put that out there for the universe so that I could deal and move on.

I am currently *cough* enjoying the editing roller coaster. For those of you who’ve experienced the ride, you understand exactly that I’m going through. 

I love it.

I hate it.

I love it.

I’m ready to throw my computer out the window.

I wonder why I even bothered to write this in the first place.

I laugh.

I cry.

 

And then, I walk away from the computer and repeat everything again the next day...

Let me go back and qualify a bit, because I’m realizing I was too harsh in my initial comment. I DON’T hate hate editing….I just hate the place I’m at right now.

And where’s that? Somewhere, sadly enough and ironically enough, between love and hate.

I haven’t touched this story since I finished that first draft a few Nanos ago… and because of that, I had forgotten about some elements… but not all.

I hadn’t forgotten that the beginning needs major restructuring, or that some of the content may read too mature even by YA standards – and these are things that I am actively dealing with…

But!

I had forgotten about the good. I had forgotten about the interaction of some of my characters. I had forgotten a few scenes that even in edit stage gave me goose bumps when a read them (yes…toot toot…but we, as writers a allowed and required to do that from time to time).

I had forgotten that in less than a month, I had managed to take a premise and turn it into something intriguing…

And it’s important not to forget those positive – especially when other elements feel so daunting.

So I’ll get back on the roller coaster and continue the editing ride and see what’s left when I finally decide to get off.

 

Until next time...

What's Up Wednesday - March 12, 2014

I've wanted to do this - to follow through with the What's Up posts, but I never could get in the grove - but I'm hoping the #YABbootcamp will be that little kick I needed to really shift my focus and routines. Be warned that craziness will ensure over the next three months - and into the foreseeable future. That is just my life in 2014 - though I am just now getting the memo ;)

• WHAT I'M READING

Currently, I'm reading Two by LeighAnn Kopans, the second in the One Universe series.

• WHAT I'M WRITING

Thanks to the YABucaneers and the #YABbootcamp, I am working on an at present untitled YA that I drafted during Nanowrimo 2012. Yes - 2012. It's one I've wanted to pull out and play with, but up until now, really haven't had the time since I was editing and querying WHITE LIES, which I am still also doing. You know that they say about chickens and eggs and hatching...

Nano2012 is sort of a cool older YA premise that is very "big brother is watching".... but in this case...Big Brother isn't watching...he's listening - and when he hears something he doesn't like - things happen...

• WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

After the harshness of this winter (including the possible *gasp* snow of tonight) - anything springy is inspiring me. Birds... SUNLIGHT!!!!!

And I must provide a major shout out to the #YABbootcamp participants, who's sheer enthusiasm is encouraging me to really put myself out there and see what I can do with this draft.

• WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

The what else is a  huge time suck... let's see:
I've been working with my Junior Class (I'm a class advisor) as we continue to plan prom and start making items for the event
I've been working with my Student Council (another advisory role) as we plan spirit games, workshops for a district conference, a carnival at the end of the year and prepare to put in a bid to host a conference (because I can sleep when I'm dead....)
I've been working out almost every day - including: Zumba x3/week; Treadmill and/or Rowing at least x3/week
And I must mention my fabulous little girl who deserves every free moment I can give her, and probably 10x more.

And now, I must get to that writing I've spoke of a bit.
Until next time!

#fierce

#YABootCamp

 

 

#EnoughSaid

 

 

This is so beyond amazing. Here's to my team - let's rock!

#YAbootcamp Goals!!!!

Drop!

I said drop and give me 2000 words!!

My wonderful and always wise critique partner advised that I should give this a try, and I whole heartedly agree. I like goals. I'm laughing as I write that because it sounds almost comical to say, but it's the truth, and to have my accountability out there for everyone to see... while the idea is startling and definitely intimidating, I believe it will be beneficial for me!

So! My goals are actually quite easily stated:

1. I want to edit and revise my Nano2012 novel into a working semi polished complete draft.

Right now, there are some major plot holes that I'm very aware of, but too afraid to approach for fear of falling in, and it has all the natural and expected errors of a first draft written in less than a month.

2. I want to give Nano2012 an actual working title, which has to this point eluded me.

I have a third writerly goal that I believe is as equally important as the above mentioned even if it doesn't directly reflect my own writing:

3. To work with and help my critique partner refine and hone all her awesomeness so she can start the query process.

 

*takes a deep breath*  *hits publish*

I'm not dead... I swear!!

It is sad - truly and inexcusably sad how poorly I've managed this blog, and I realize that this will for some, appear to reflect how seriously I am taking my writing. This, my friends, is not the case.

There isn't really a clear cut reason why I haven't updated my blog, but it is going to change. I am going to make a more consistent effort to make my presence known as I work through edits and revisions of a novel I had drafted during Nanowrimo 2012 (more on that in the next post)

*cue eerie child voice* I'm baaaaaack!