Page-a-day Book Release of Mechalarum

I haven't always been the best at keeping this blog updated. A regular font of information needs to have a source, and I've been too interested in jumping around to consistently produce words of wisdom for my audience.

However, the upcoming release of my debut novel changed that. Now I have a focus, something to dedicate my energies towards, and best of all, a simple, straightforward plan for posting once a day.

My novel Mechalarum is scheduled to release on October 9, 2014. In the meantime, it will be available for pre-order on Amazon.

Until then, I'll be releasing the first few chapters a page at a time in image form on my Mechalarum blog. Head there to see the latest posts! 

Writing a Book Is Just Capturing a Moment

My feelings about getting a book published have never been stable. When I was younger, I thought it would be cool to see my name printed on the pages of a novel, but I never got much farther than that. Now, with 4.5 finished first drafts under my belt (and yes, the 0.5 one is finished because I don't intend to take it any further), I can't say that I'm feeling any more certain about the prospect of being published.

It's never been a question of confidence. I know that, with enough perseverance, I have just as much chance at getting published as anyone else. And, barring that, I've explored self-publishing and know that I could easily take that road if I found myself with a project I cared about that didn't fit into the traditional publishing framework.

No, the real problem has been uncertainty over whether my work can meet the high standards I've set for myself. I've read some excellent books in my life, books by Tamora Pierce and J. R. R. Tolkien and Charles Dickens and others that have changed the way that I view the world. How can I hope to make a mark in an environment that already has so much great literature in it?

Tracking Novel Word Counts With Handy Excel Graphs

I'm happy to say that, with only a minor amount of frustration, I've remembered my Excel skills enough to create a chart of my daily word count goals and achievements!

As you can see, I'm a little bit behind from where I'd ideally like to be at this point. I'm heading for a total novel length of 87,000 words in a little under a month, which makes for about 3,000 words a day.

I just broke 12,000 words, and I'm actually feeling pretty motivated today compared to the past few days. I have at least one more fifteen minute sprint left in me.

Another Day of Word Count Tracking: Writing a Novel in March

It's getting late again, and again I really want to get a few more words in before bed. I've been busy with non-writing activities over the last few days, and I know that I can catch up on writing once I get some more solid blocks of time, but I'm worried about falling too far behind right in the beginning of my challenge.

So. It is now 12:34 a.m., and my word count is 4,828. I'll be back to record my word count in fifteen minutes!

15 minutes is up! My word count is 5,279, for a total of 451 words. I think I'll do one more spurt, and then finish for the night.

And done again. 5,776, for a total of 497. I think it's time to sleep, though I might try to break 6,000 words first. To all those people out there writing on a deadline too, I wish you luck!

Starting a New Novel and March 2011 Goals

So it's that time again - time to post my goals for the month!

Here they are, in all of their March-y glory.

• Get the plan for my next novel into reasonably good shape (due March 5). Finished this on time! Whoo hoo!
• Write 50,000 words. Just signed up for MarNoWriMo (March Novel Writing Month) to help that along! I've also just started on the first draft today, boldly plunging ahead even thought I'm definitely scared to be writing in a completely new genre and finally with the intention of seeing this manuscript through to publication.
• Write 12 articles for Weird Worm. So far, I've done three this month, just have to be careful not to fall behind.
• Approach 2 new markets.
• Publish about once a day on writing site Squidoo lens per day (aiming for 20 this month).
• Do taxes
• Run 3 miles in 28 minutes. My best time so far has been 30 minutes.

I'm also keeping track of my 2011 goals on Squidoo, if anyone is interested in following my progress and encouraging me/yelling at me when I fall behind :)

Work Continues on My NaNoWriMo Novel Mechalarum

Phew! I've passed by goal of writing 50,000 words in 14 days, and thus officially won NaNoWriMo! However, I've been given a new goal: to finish my entire novel in 28 days! It's a little tricky: I'm not sure exactly how long the novel is going to be when I'm done with it, so it's harder to set a desired word count per day.

Because of this, I've had a few days of pretty low word count - just a couple hundred words per day! Still, I'm intent on meeting this goal, even if it means squeezing in a lot of high word-count days towards the end of November! So, here's to days of many words!

Hope that all of my fellow NaNoWriMos are doing well in their quests. Leave a note to let us all know what you think of the challenge!

For continued updated on my NaNoWriMo novel, check out Mechalarum: A NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) Novel.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Mechalarum Synopsis and More

The season is upon us! NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is here, and it's time to polish off your laptop, tablet, typewriter, or pad of paper, and get to writing 50,000 words in the month of November!

My novel for this NaNoWriMo is called Mechalarum. It's basically about a young woman struggling to save people who aren't entirely willing to accept her help, and trying to find her own identity at the same time. For more information and a full synopsis, check out Mechalarum: A NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) Novel.

Want to follow my progress, or be my NaNoWriMo writing buddy? You'll find all you need and more on my NaNoWriMo profile page.

Not ready to take on the challenge this month? Click on the link to learn about other novel writing months.

So You've "Finished" Your Novel.... The Writing Part, At Least

What's next?

There are as many philosophies about what to do when you've finished your first draft as there are writers (probably even more, as I'm sure some people could claim more than one). Here's what I've done so far, and how it's worked out for me.

When I finished the first draft of my first novel, I celebrated - I think I had a nice dinner or something. I'd never written a novel before, and it was a great feeling. It had taken me more than six months, writing fifteen minutes at a time. After the dust settled from all of the celebrating, and I let it sit for a while, I went back and read through parts - and realized that I really didn't like it very much. Life intervened.

When I finished the first draft of my second novel, I was thrilled. I'd written it during Nanowrimo (meaning that I wrote 50,000 words in one month) which I considered quite an achievement. Right away I printed off a hard copy, which I hadn't done with the first novel. That made it feel more real, and I even committed to reading the whole thing through from start to finish. It wasn't a bad story. In the meantime, I started writing the sequel to the novel. And at some point realized that the real story started halfway through my first novel, and needed to be changed radically, and so I gave that one a break as well.

The third complete novel took me a little over a month. The idea for it appeared out of nowhere, and I didn't spend a lot of time plotting how it would look. Instead, I just jumped right in and wrote the whole thing. I was glad when I finally put "END" on the bottom of the manuscript, and again I printed it out to have the physical thing in my hand, to make it a reality that I'd actually produced something that was, if not publishable, at least an admirably thick stack of paper. This time, however, I went a step further, and started giving out copies to friends and families. I'm feeling pretty good about this one, and now that I've got people reading the story, it means I have to take it as far as it will go!

So far, the best comment has been this: "You could totally get this published. There are books out there that are way worse than this. Wait, no, that sounds bad! I mean your's is better than some I've read, that have been published!"

In summary: finish your first draft. Print it off so you have something to show for it. Get people to read it. And then read it yourself!

First Draft Third Novel Finished!

Yay! I just finished the first draft of my third novel! It was starting to look a bit dicey there for a few days, but I finally buckled down and did it.

Here are some stats:

Genre: YA Adventure/Fantasy
Final Word Count: 51655
Final Page Count (double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman): 155
Days From Conception to Completion: 37

I was hoping to get it in under the 30 day mark, NaNoWriMo style like I did with my last one, but I didn't quite make it. Glad I stuck with it, though.

For those of you out there who have finished a first draft of a novel, you know that this is only just the beginning. Next comes the read-through, rewriting, sending it out to anyone and everyone who is willing to read through a rough draft, more rewriting, and hopefully some workshopping. Although that shouldn't scare off any fledgling writers! You can do it if you just go one step at a time.

This is novel number 3.5 for me - I did start on a sequel to one of my earlier novels, but stopped when I realized that I needed to get rid of 50% of the first novel. I got all the way to the read through for the second one before deciding that I just wasn't happy with it and moving on. I remember being upset when people said "hardly anyone publishes the first novel they ever write" back before I wrote my first one, but I think now I understand. Each novel is better than the last, and this one might actually be good enough for me to start looking for agents. We'll see how I feel after reading through it and getting some feedback.

Completion of the First Draft of My First Novel, The Hidden Land of Gre

First, the stats:

The Hidden Land of Gre is a story about a girl and boy who go on a great adventure to save a dying race from an ancient curse.

Final length 71,467 words.
Start date: February 2008.
End date: November 2008.

Wow. I'm overwhelmed and speechless. I've just finished the first draft of my first novel.

I can't say that I've ever stuck with a big project like this (outside of "work," that is) long enough to see it through. It's an achievement, something to be proud of, and I think that everyone should take some time out to recognize their personal milestones. It's too easy to say "Phew, that's off my list, what's next?" But on the other hand, if I've learned one thing from all the wonderful people I've met over my last few months of learning the writer's ropes, it's that my work has only just begun!

Here are my next steps:

• Format the novel, probably in Adobe InDesign, and print a copy or two on Lulu. It was actually my boyfriend's suggestion, and I think it's a good one. The novel still has a long way to go, but it will be fun to have a rough draft copy for posterity!


• Let the novel sit. Most authors I've talked to have suggested this step. Despite the fact that it's been ten months since I've read some parts, I think it still needs to "gel."
  
• Work on my "character bibles." My understanding is that these are documents used to get to know your characters better. I think my characters have changed and coalesced over time, so this will help when I get to the rewriting stage.


• I'm toying with the idea of writing the next book in the series before rewriting the first book. I know the rewrites will be a pain, editing tends to be harder for me than writing. Perhaps I could do both at the same time?


• And then, of course, rewrites, read-throughs, and edits for the foreseeable future!

Before all that, I suppose I should take some time out to celebrate... Thought it feels like a celebration just to know that I've actually done what I set out to do. Then again, watching a bit of Puppy Cam and eating chocolate is a pretty sweet, easily accessible reward!

Last but not least, I'd like to offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone on Twitter and elsewhere who've offered their congratulations. And of course, thanks to all those who've buoyed me through my writer's journey!

Writer's Market and Writing More

More on Novel & Short Story Writer's Market: I received the book a few days ago, and it's a great resource. It has articles on writing and getting published, tips and tricks, and lots of information on markets for short stories and novels (as the name would imply). I especially liked the symbols in the literary magazine section: they indicated at a glance whether the journal mostly accepts new or established writers, whether the journal pays, and where it's located (US or other), among other things. At first it made me wonder if creating my own literary journal spreadsheet from internet searches was a waste of time, but not all journals are included in the Writer's Market. According to the publication, the included magazines are highly likely to be seeking submissions. To top it off, the entries displayed many EDITOR NAMES. It always made sense to me that an editor would consider a submission addressed to him or her before one addressed simply to "Editor," but I wasn't sure how this information could be found. (Bribery? Top-secret spy missions? Sad puppy-dog eyes?) Still, I'd suggest calling the magazine before submission and asking something like "Is so-and-so still the fiction editor?"

I can't say, however, that having this book has necessarily increased my confidence in my chances of publishing success. I'm reading The Granta Book of the American Short Story in conjunction with the Writer's Market, and it's made me feel somewhat overwhelmed. I'm still working on my novel, up to 31,000 words now, and luckily I haven't had any major writer's block (yet). But I've always been somewhat daunted by the short story. I know that I can manipulate the individual elements with moderate skill, at least upon occasion. I can turn a pretty phrase, build an interesting plot, and even write convincing dialogue. The one thing I'm lacking is that mysterious closure, the ribbon that ties it up into a complete package worthy of consideration for public enlightenment and entertainment. I think what I need is more practice, and more critiques. More on that soon.

Lessons Learned from Bathroom Reconstruction

I'm reached the final leg of my epic bathroom reconstruction today. For about a month, I've been scraping, sanding, painting, caulking, sweeping, dusting, removing, and attaching almost every day. And now, I'm about to be finished.

There were many times during this project that I didn't feel like I wanted to go on. Of course, a bathroom is not like a novel - it's a bit harder to give up when your toilet is disconnected and you can't use your shower. Now that I'm almost done, I find myself wondering the big wonder that comes at the conclusion of all great journeys: was it worth it?

Granted, the bathroom is beautiful. The ugly, peeling wallpaper is gone, replaced with the perfect shade of blue paint. The 80's style wooden cabinet and vanity have been updated with several coats of glossy white. I've replaced the mirror with a sexy upscale version that TILTS! There's no comparing the before and after versions.

But still - the project turned out to be much, much more expensive in terms of time, money, and stress than I had expected it would be. In fact, if I had known in the beginning how much it would cost me, and how frustrating it would be, I can't say for sure whether I'd have taken it on. Not only that, but now that I've gotten up close and personal with my bathroom, I know all it's flaws. I know where the paint dripped, where the scraper slipped, where the screwdriver missed it's mark. It was and continues to be rough, to say the least.

In the end, I would have to say yes - it was worth it. I don't believe there's any way to reach the end of a large project and say, that was perfect! Everything turned out exactly how I planned! It's just not going to happen. If you can come out of it having learned a thing or two (how to caulk a joint, for example, or why it's important to flip the breaker switch before installing a light fixture), and have some fun along the way, you can consider yourself a success.

So now I wonder - what does the journey of writing hold in store for me?