(Yes, both pictures are me, taken in Banff, Canada)
Let’s just leave that whole pesky “writing” part that happens in between up to the imagination 😛 Oh… and then there’s the multiple, multiple rounds of editing, re-writing, editing, re-writing….
Oh, the joys of writing that novel!
Writer friends, how might you pictorially represent the writing process for yourself?
My title sounds a bit psychopathic, doesn’t it? I’m not a sadist or anything, I swear! It’s just, there are few jobs in the world where it’s a good thing to make a working partner cry. Not only is it a good thing, it might be like the best compliment you can get! (If you are writing something with sad things in it that is)
So the inspiration for my slightly creepy Sponge Bob meme… I was told this week by an awesome, amazing new critique partner that the end of one of my manuscripts made her cry. This was totally me:
That means I was able to create characters that were real and rounded enough that at least one reader cared deeply enough to be emotionally moved by imaginary events happening to fictitious people. All that hard work on characterization and pacing and plot construction (and redoing all of it several times) paid off!
Writer friends, what do you think is the best kind of compliment you can get on your manuscript?
Yeah, I said gallivanting again. I’m bringing it BACK!
So I live in Singapore… About a month ago I had to take an emergency trip back home to Madison, Wisconsin for a funeral. It was an expected passing, no need for apologies. Anyway, the funeral was in Maryland, so old school family road trip ensued, full of fall colors and misadventure. Oh, and that impromptu trip to my high school hometown for me and my friend’s WIP Rafa & Rose!
There for two weeks, back to Singapore for five days, then off to Oz, the land down under! It was like an Australian safari, so many cool animals. Oh, and amazing coastline and mountain climbing. More pics to come. I promise I did NOT ride a motorbike or otherwise injure myself. I came to the realization that I really should journal on on these trips…could be fodder for writing. But then I didn’t. Good story, right?
I actually got quite a lot of writing done. I plotted out Rafa & Rose chapters out through probably the end, wrote a new first chapter, about 5-6 completely new ones, and got started with some earlier revisions. My brain is scattered and crazy, don’t mind me… 😛
My body has no idea what time it is anymore lol.
Anyway, full steam ahead with my full-time, unpaid profession: writing my YA novels.
Here’s what’s on my writing docket:
1) Re-read and comment on four 3000-word writing samples for my new crit group.
New writing friend group hug! So excited to work with them. All of their writing is amazing.
2) Finish going through feedback from my writing partner on Rafa & Rose.
Cuz we cool like that.
3) Finish chapter 1 re-write on Rafa & Rose. Oh, and work on three other points in the MS I’m working on simultaneously cuz my brain is….
4) Fix up Hooligans query letter again based on professional feedback then send back for more feedback.
This is pretty much what I want to do. I’ve re-worked it so many times, but it must be perfect.
5) Go through feedback from crit partner on first 5 chapters of Hooligans.
God, again??? But must be perfect.
6) Continue building my social media empire. I may be stalking through the WordPress reader and twitter feeds, so watch out!
Haha, I’m a friend, not a stalker, right? Promise I’ll just be liking and commenting, not showing up to your house or place of employment :P.
Oh and I should probably do some real-life grown-up stuff like laundry and shopping and cleaning and various other errands to get life back in order.
UPDATE: Oh, and revise my Hooligans synopsis based on professional feedback, so make that seven things… LOL
My fellow writer friends, what are your writing goals for the week?
So as I alluded to in previous posts, I’m gallivanting (yeah, I said gallivanting, love that word) around Australia with my husband. Epic South Australian road trip. Great Ocean Road, tiny coastal towns, hiking in Wilson’s Promentory. Kangaroos, Koalas, Emus, and now penguins and seals! We’re off to Sydney today to see that Opera House. I mean, cuz you have to, right?
But, but writer friends, I was at a critical point in my WIP and I was not able to get through it before vacay. I’m sure many of you appreciate my pain. So I’ve been sneaking in writing time after the hubby goes to bed and before he wakes up. ( I swear my body only needs like 6 hours of sleep) So I’m writing in the dark trying to, um, I don’t know, type quietly and in the blinding sun on the occasional boring car ride where there isn’t awesome rolling hills of pastures or amazing coast line to look at. And good news, I’m getting through what I need to; I’ve re-written the first five chapters and pounded out chapters 17.5-21. They’re rough, but after I get through them once, I’ll be able to send them on to my amazing WIP collaborator! So I’ve done that AND enjoyed Australia. I’m pretty much feeling like the (wo)man 😛
Life’s about balance, right? And having a patient, understanding, awesome husband who understands my writing is…um…an addiction? No, not addiction, it’s my job, right? 😛 Totally made me pancakes–not once, but twice!–while I was pounding out the WIP.
Anyway, I’m going to get back to this….
Happy writing everyone!
Side note: I’ve found my favorite Australian coffee–a flat white with two sugars. Yeah, I take my coffee with cream and sugar, so what? 😛
Yup. So I’ve got two works in progress right now, in case you haven’t read some of my previous blog entries. Hooligans is set in Northern Ireland, that one’s pretty much done and dusted…apart from the first chapter intervention I’ve got someone helping me with. The second, tentatively called Rafa & Rose, is set in rural Wisconsin. I just sent fifty pages to my co-author, whose job is to A) add Spanish language and Mexican culture references for Rafa’s POV chapters and help write family dynamics B) help me with everything else, from capturing awkward teenage puppy love to describing high school life (ranging from Homecoming competitions to English Lit curriculum 😛 ).
As a full-time, unpaid writer, WHAT DO I DO with myself while I wait? Hooligans I really just need that first chapter. Once that’s on lockdown, I’m querying. Rafa & Rose…I really can’t proceed until I get my good, great friend Ana’s feedback. We have to plan a turning point scene that’s of critical importance. Nothing I can do with that one. Which means I’m stuck on both my manuscripts. Non-writers be like read a book or watch a movie or something like normal people do. But my brain is still in the writing zone, you know that creative buzz that fuels all your best writing. The writer’s high, as I call it. I feel it in my brain, but I can’t use it! It’s driving me crazy!
“Hi, my name is SJC and I’m an (writing) addict….”
Hmm maybe I should paint. Rafa & Rose does feature a Homecoming window painting competition. My MCs get forced to work on it together and that’s what starts their relationship. I could try to recreate their painting…. Though I don’t know if I have the skill haha. Or I could bust out my first novel, the one I made fun of on my blog a few weeks back. I actually have a later draft that’s much better…
Writer friends, whether it’s at the editor’s or with a critique partner or you’re just stuck, what do you do when you can’t work on your MS? Do you ever feel like this? (or am I the weird writer here 😛 )
Sarah J. Carlson 