tinpra

I don't think I made this announcement here, just on facebook, but I'm really getting back into editing my nove. So with that in mind, there shall be regular, random updates as to my progress. Le novel is currently 194 pages, Times New Roman 12, single space. As of tonight, I'm at 45/194 pages, a 10page jump since my, um, Thursday when I was last editing.

The goal is to be done editing by March, have an agent by Spring/Summer, and be talking to publishing houses by the end of the year. This may be a crazy timetable. Heck, I read enough agent and writer blogs to know it is a crazy schedule, but God gave me a promise and I'm walking on the strength of that. (Admittedly, he did not give me a timeframe, so that's all me, but if I don't give myself one it'll be another 2 years before I do something. Yes, I said 2 years. I finished this writing this sucker Jan 2009 and, for various reasons, many of them foolish, had only gotten 20-some odd pages edited.)

With that in mind, I leave you all free to kick me in the butt when I give any indication that I'm not working or updating you guys on progress. Fill my lj-inbox, write snarky comments to thoroughly unrelated posts, say bad things about my icons (cuz ya'll know how much I love icons)...if it gets me writing I will thank you for it. Eventually ;)

Current Music: The Benedy Glen - Deanta

first, I must thank

lieueitak for the inspirational puppy.

Second I must admit to be suck with the writing. My word count (just what I'm adding) is officially:

The second part (which is now officially the first part) has gotten it's first full pass of editing. I've got the more technical edits from my friend to review. Then part 3 (which is the new part 2, tho it doesn't know that yet) and then part 4...which is still part 4 ;)

So I sent my friend, who suffers from extreme photosensitivity, the first chapter of my novel. She has been uber suportive of me and my writing since college (and if she has her druthers I will be going to grad school for my MFA in writing :P ) and has just been so good to me over the years. I tell her often that I believe God put her in my life on purpose, and I thank Him for it all the time.

Anywho, my friend's extreme photosensitivity means that she can't be exposed to light of any sort for very long or she'll get burned. With that in mind I didn't think she'd be getting to my chapter any time soon, let alone critique it.

The glorious woman did both! And now it's real. I mean you've heard/seen me grumping and grumbling about editing and needing to edit my novel for months now. I've made progress (actually I'm nearly done with this chapter. Henh.) but not nearly as much as I'd like. Mostly of this I've been doing on my own. That Guy has been a source of feedback, but he's a busy creative type as well and so he, quite understandably, only has so much time for me. So I've sorta been doing this in a vacuum. Or, really, going on the strength of what That Guy had for me, which was only so much considering his own constraints. But now, now I have a more detailed critique. Not just things my friend likes/dislikes and general impressions, but sentences that are wonky, odd grammar choices (on my part), characterization, how to keep my story from looking too much like Interview with the Vampire. And she did it w/in days of me sending the chapter to her. Days! Makes me want to go to everyone who has ever asked me to beta or read over something for them and apologize, b/c God knows I am a total slacker--a slacker who doesn't have photosensitivity issues (although I'm a wee paranoid about moles on my face, lately).

So I'm rereading my friend's overview comments, skimming her detailed comments and suddenly--whammo! This is real! I am really editing my novel. Not that I wasn't before, but she's asking me to push and and to give readers a payoff and to make them come back for chapter 2. Not just form and function, but grabbing ppl's attention. Not just "it's good/it's interesting" but "what else is there? what more can you do? make this better. go back and give me/the reader more."

I am floored by the enormity of it. Utterly floored. And so excited. It wasn't real like this before. And when I can shop it to an agent, I'm sure it'll take on a whole other reality, and again when it finds a publisher. For right now, she has just opened up another level of writing for me. And she didn't have to. She didn't have to. Oh my best beloved...

What should I be doing? Oh so many things. Starting with editing the novel!!! I haven't been able to edit for the last week or three for various reasons but now that I'm back to my regular schedule? So out of the groove. And, as always, so completely lazy.

What have I done today? Worked on a TM fic. Which is good in its own way. I'm holding off new chapters of the epistloray fic until I have a new one for this, but still it's not like I don't have other ficcish things to do. I've got a series each for Buffy and La Femme Nikita that are languishing, and a couple of fic requests that have gone unanswered.

And knitting! Although I guess I can do that tomorrow on the way to work.

Oh, and I had a Lost related dream the other night.

EDIT I hate firefox 3.0 or whatever version this is

The novel is complete. I finished transcribing some time in the early evening. Now on to the fun part: editing and selling. Ooooh.

4,689/50,000

again, this is almost all from transcribing the novel with virtually no new content. I'm up to page 40 in the handwritten bits and my fingers are protesting mightily.

153 of my words were not transcription, but a flashfic I've been pondering for the last couple of days. Unfortunately the machine to instantly translate the pictures in my head into words on the page was broken again, so the finished product is sorta kinda crap. And thus I share with you :p

( don't say you haven't been warned )

1106/50,000

mind you, this is all transcribed stuff. no new content. only about...2.5 - 3 pages worth of work when i should be doing 5 per night.

lieueitak convinced me to join her in our own December NaNoWriMo. A real NaNo in which she is expect 50k words out of me. Wretched woman :p

So it's day one...and I'm already fail! I forgot to bring the notebook to transcribe the novel (Katya's letting me use my continued need to transcribe as part of my word count) and I just decided to fart off on working on Yuletide instead. And I hardly ever get any work done on Mondays b/c they're so busy. Oy. *hangs head*

Anywho, so if you see me online less than usual you know why: I'm doing actual work. Eek.

Now that I'm the closest to being complete done with my novel, I am finding it harder than ever to have the focus or energy to get it done. I know it's been a while since I've looked at this part of the massive beast (I worked on this section for NaNoWriMo '07) but I have such little interest in the whole thing.

I'm putting a personal moratorium on reading any vampire novels until my novel's done. I was browsing around the scifi/horror section of Borders today and was just horror-struck. Why? Because my novel doesn't fit into anything! Anything I tell you. I mean on the one hand, it's great not being like anyone else. Y'know that line in Spanglish that does something like "But between 'odd' and 'like everyone else' you gotta be shootin' for odd"? I'm not upset about being odd, but how do you sell odd?! Argh!

In other news...going to a thing tonight for a friend. It's supposed to be at 7, I'm supposed to meet the organizer at 6...so I'm going to get ready at 4. Four! It's crazy being a girl.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: couchage

note to self: do not watch show about vampires while writing vampire novel.

If you saw this blurb on the back of book, would you be interested in reading it: "A young vampire marked for death sells secrets - hers and everyone elses."

so i have mentally trashed a whole section of my novel. oy.

Current Mood: distressed
Current Music: radio

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Entries tagged with novel

And then there was writing

oh for a lack of commitment

ze novel of doom

(no subject)

this is what i get for procrastinating

As of Sunday afternoon

word count

december wordcount

(no subject)

argh

So...

moonlight

assuming this was your kind of thing

novel

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October 2016

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