You know how sometimes you're slogging along through something and you're sure you're never going to make any real progress and you're starting to feel hopeless? And then something small happens, and suddenly you leap forward and start racing along, cruising smoothly through things that just yesterday seemed like great, impassable barriers?
Yep, that's me right now. In pulling out Ordinary Girl and starting to work on it again, I decided to take a look forward in the Think Sideways course to see how my working style matched up to things talked about in the course. And it meshed! And it all made sense! And I'm so excited now about the course and my book! And I realized that I was having such a hard time moving through the early parts of planning in the course because I'm actually good at those early stages, my system works very well and does the same thing (some of it is even identical). So, I am working through the plotting section of the course, using what I already have for Ordinary Girl and adding to it.
So right now I'm not writing new words, but I am working on the book, I'm excited by it, I'm getting some good insights (although I found a sticky point early on that I need a better plan for--more on the later). I'm finishing this book. I believe I will have a full first draft finished by the end of September, although I may revise that as I get a better feel for this system I'm putting in place.
Now, about that sticky point...Early in my story, my main character comes across a group of faeries in a derelict section of the city. The faeries see her, too, and the main faerie takes offense and decides to make MC's life miserable. Now granted, the MF is malicious and spiteful and generally a bitch. But would just having a human see her accidentally set her off enough to start being a stalker? I changed it so that my MC saw her doing something ungraceful, maybe stumbling over debris in the alley or something mildly embarrassing like that. But I don't know if even a malicious faerie would bother stalking a human over that. So what is it that MC sees that causes MF to be out to get her? That's what I'm working on tonight. I'm going to get back to it now, do some freewriting and see what I can come up with.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Day Two
447 words today. I fell a bit short of my 500 word goal for the day, but it's been crazy and hectic and full of interruptions over here, so I'm just going to be glad I got some writing done at all.
I also started putting my Think Sideways course printouts into a big three ring binder so I can have everything organized and in one place for my planned read through of the course. Did I mention that here? I am going to read it all and then go back and do the actual steps. This plan works much better with the way my brain works. So, I am glad to be started on the organizing part so I can do the reading part.
And now, since I can tell that last sentence was barely coherent, I am going to put myself to bed. I've been exhausted all day. I think I'll just give in to it.
I also started putting my Think Sideways course printouts into a big three ring binder so I can have everything organized and in one place for my planned read through of the course. Did I mention that here? I am going to read it all and then go back and do the actual steps. This plan works much better with the way my brain works. So, I am glad to be started on the organizing part so I can do the reading part.
And now, since I can tell that last sentence was barely coherent, I am going to put myself to bed. I've been exhausted all day. I think I'll just give in to it.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Day One
I am trying something new for my writing. I'm working on Ordinary Girl, a novel I started during NaNoWriMo 2006. I am using some of the things I've learned so far from the Think Sideways course, but I'm also using some ideas I've pulled from other places. I'm using the Think Sideways ideas for coming up with conflicts, etc.
Right now, I'm going through the 60K or so words I've already written to get character and place names and descriptions. That's just listing stuff, though, so I'm not counting it toward my word count. I am also writing character essays, and since some of this will get inserted in the actual novel, I am counting these words. The major bit I'm working on write now is writing a summary outline--basically writing out everything that's going to happen (as much of it as I know) without the details. So "first she did this, then this happened, then this happened, then this happened." And so on. And I am counting these words because this is going to be the bare bones of the novel, and once I reach the end of this bit, I will go back and start adding details and description and dialogue to turn it into an actual story.
Today's word count: 680 (the even number was completely unintentional!)
Right now, I'm going through the 60K or so words I've already written to get character and place names and descriptions. That's just listing stuff, though, so I'm not counting it toward my word count. I am also writing character essays, and since some of this will get inserted in the actual novel, I am counting these words. The major bit I'm working on write now is writing a summary outline--basically writing out everything that's going to happen (as much of it as I know) without the details. So "first she did this, then this happened, then this happened, then this happened." And so on. And I am counting these words because this is going to be the bare bones of the novel, and once I reach the end of this bit, I will go back and start adding details and description and dialogue to turn it into an actual story.
Today's word count: 680 (the even number was completely unintentional!)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Write a book with Holly Lisle
I have been stuck in planning mode for so long. I'm doing Holly Lisle's Think Sideways course, but I'm plodding and dragging and just feeling stuck. The course is great. I'm just having a hard time doing *anything*, not just that.
Enter a new venture by Holly. She calls it "Write a Book With Me." And it's pretty darned brilliant. Simple rules, simple goals, an easy place to post your progress. No pressure. Lots of fun. Lots of words. And I just realized that, even doing the bare minimum 250 words a day five days a week I will have a draft finished in four months (80 working days which works out to 16 weeks). And with a load that light, I can easily keep up with my course work.
I am not going to start on the course novel just yet. I think I'm going to pull out one of my back burner ideas and work on that. I'll tell more about that on Monday once I have some plans in place.
Enter a new venture by Holly. She calls it "Write a Book With Me." And it's pretty darned brilliant. Simple rules, simple goals, an easy place to post your progress. No pressure. Lots of fun. Lots of words. And I just realized that, even doing the bare minimum 250 words a day five days a week I will have a draft finished in four months (80 working days which works out to 16 weeks). And with a load that light, I can easily keep up with my course work.
I am not going to start on the course novel just yet. I think I'm going to pull out one of my back burner ideas and work on that. I'll tell more about that on Monday once I have some plans in place.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Sehnsucht
More on that often revisited topic--that feeling of homesickness for faraway places you've never been.
Today, Laura sent me a link to a blog post titled "Longing" that talked about sehnsucht. The author writes "there is something in the experience which suggests this far off country is very familiar and indicative of what we might otherwise call “home”. In this sense it is a type of nostalgia, in the original sense of that word." This, of course, sent me scurrying to check the original meaning of "nostalgia." Etymonline says that orginally it was a severe homesickness. That seems right.
After checking that, I searched for more on sehnsucht. One tidbit, not actually related, is that this is the title of the second Rammstein album. Not relevant but not uninteresting, either.
Next I found a Wikipedia article (it seems the above blog entry was taken from here, actually) that has some good information including sehnsucht in C.S. Lewis' works. Here's a quote from Lewis they use, repeated here because I really like it: "That unnameable something, desire for which pierces us like a rapier at the smell of bonfire, the sound of wild ducks flying overhead, the title of The Well at the World's End, the opening lines of "Kubla Khan", the morning cobwebs in late summer, or the noise of falling waves."
And another Lewis quote: "The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing." I am going to have to read his writings on this subject! I'm thrilled to find out that there's something to read!
Finally, here's an article called "Joy and Sehnsucht." More about Lewis. I'm saving it to read later. I'm just happy to have a word for this now.
Today, Laura sent me a link to a blog post titled "Longing" that talked about sehnsucht. The author writes "there is something in the experience which suggests this far off country is very familiar and indicative of what we might otherwise call “home”. In this sense it is a type of nostalgia, in the original sense of that word." This, of course, sent me scurrying to check the original meaning of "nostalgia." Etymonline says that orginally it was a severe homesickness. That seems right.
After checking that, I searched for more on sehnsucht. One tidbit, not actually related, is that this is the title of the second Rammstein album. Not relevant but not uninteresting, either.
Next I found a Wikipedia article (it seems the above blog entry was taken from here, actually) that has some good information including sehnsucht in C.S. Lewis' works. Here's a quote from Lewis they use, repeated here because I really like it: "That unnameable something, desire for which pierces us like a rapier at the smell of bonfire, the sound of wild ducks flying overhead, the title of The Well at the World's End, the opening lines of "Kubla Khan", the morning cobwebs in late summer, or the noise of falling waves."
And another Lewis quote: "The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing." I am going to have to read his writings on this subject! I'm thrilled to find out that there's something to read!
Finally, here's an article called "Joy and Sehnsucht." More about Lewis. I'm saving it to read later. I'm just happy to have a word for this now.
One Word
Someone, somewhere mentioned the site OneWord. It's really fun; you click the "go" button and a word pops up, and you have to write for 60 seconds using that word for a prompt.
I was feeling a little antsy a few minutes ago, so I decided to take a quick break from work and play with some words. My word was "suffocate." Here's what I wrote:
I opened my eyes, feeling the darkness trying to suffocate me as I struggled from beneath the blankets. The switch for the lamp escaped my fumbling fingers, and the water glass, nearly full, crashed to the hardwood floor as I finally managed to turn on the lamp.
Kind of fun. I think I see what happens next. Also, I think I've had that dream, complete with spilling the water (now I use a water bottle so no more spills). But when I woke up, the episode was over. Not so for my intrepid heroine. At least not if I decide to do something with that bit.
I was feeling a little antsy a few minutes ago, so I decided to take a quick break from work and play with some words. My word was "suffocate." Here's what I wrote:
I opened my eyes, feeling the darkness trying to suffocate me as I struggled from beneath the blankets. The switch for the lamp escaped my fumbling fingers, and the water glass, nearly full, crashed to the hardwood floor as I finally managed to turn on the lamp.
Kind of fun. I think I see what happens next. Also, I think I've had that dream, complete with spilling the water (now I use a water bottle so no more spills). But when I woke up, the episode was over. Not so for my intrepid heroine. At least not if I decide to do something with that bit.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Someone Stole My Stories
Actually, I think they've just rusted inside my brain. I'm supposed to be working on a collaboration project--actually, a really fun one where we're doing an epistolary (told in letters and notes) story. But I tried to start my first letter, and everything came out stilted and awful. And then I realized that it's because my character has no personality.
Happily, this is something I can fix fairly easily. It's just going to put me a bit behind my schedule for finishing my first installment of the story. That's okay, though. I've e-mailed my partner, so she knows I'm behind. And now I'm playing with some character notes to get into the mind of my faerie. I think the writing will go much better once she becomes real inside my head. Hurray for imaginary friends!
Happily, this is something I can fix fairly easily. It's just going to put me a bit behind my schedule for finishing my first installment of the story. That's okay, though. I've e-mailed my partner, so she knows I'm behind. And now I'm playing with some character notes to get into the mind of my faerie. I think the writing will go much better once she becomes real inside my head. Hurray for imaginary friends!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
So, about that novel
I thought I'd put this into a separate post. While it is part of my productive obsession, the novel update deserves a post of its own.
I am slowly but surely making my way through the planning portions of the Think Sideways course. I have character profiles for my protagonist and antagonist. The love interest is nearly finished. And then I get to start working on conflicts! I'm pretty excited about the conflicts. That's where all the good stuff happens.
Yesterday, I "cheated" and jumped ahead in the modules for the lesson I'm on and read the part about math. Specifically about figuring out how long it will take to write and revise your novel. I'm planning nine months from when I actually get started on the writing. Which I think I will get to start on after I finish this lesson. So, sometime next week I think. Holly Lisle says she aims for 1500 words (7 pages) a day. I can do that! Stephen King aims for ten pages. I can do that! I can, but I think if I try to maintain that pace right now, I will crash and burn. I'm going to be sensible and aim for 1000 words a day. And weekends off at least some of the time (probably most of the time). So, nine months. That would mean that at the end of February, I will be sending out queries. Eek! I can do that!
Remembering my new mantra: Forge ahead, merrily onward!
I am slowly but surely making my way through the planning portions of the Think Sideways course. I have character profiles for my protagonist and antagonist. The love interest is nearly finished. And then I get to start working on conflicts! I'm pretty excited about the conflicts. That's where all the good stuff happens.
Yesterday, I "cheated" and jumped ahead in the modules for the lesson I'm on and read the part about math. Specifically about figuring out how long it will take to write and revise your novel. I'm planning nine months from when I actually get started on the writing. Which I think I will get to start on after I finish this lesson. So, sometime next week I think. Holly Lisle says she aims for 1500 words (7 pages) a day. I can do that! Stephen King aims for ten pages. I can do that! I can, but I think if I try to maintain that pace right now, I will crash and burn. I'm going to be sensible and aim for 1000 words a day. And weekends off at least some of the time (probably most of the time). So, nine months. That would mean that at the end of February, I will be sending out queries. Eek! I can do that!
Remembering my new mantra: Forge ahead, merrily onward!
Obsessions and Focus
This month of productive obsessing is going along pretty well. I am re-learning how to turn my focus to things I actually want to be concentrating on. I also had an epiphany about some of what holds me back in my writing, and I think this could end up being really useful.
For a long time now I've known what at least some of my fears are, but I haven't been able to figure out what to do about them. This week I realized that while I had a general fear category that my conscious mind was aware of, I didn't actually know the details. I think it's very hard--maybe impossible--to deal with unnamed fears.
But now I have a name for those fears. Or at least a description: I fear that, while I have plenty of story ideas and even scene and dialogue ideas, I don't have enough depth of ideas to flesh them out and make them into full stories that are worth reading and writing. I am also afraid I don't have the technical know-how or the ability to take all of the disparate scene ideas and dialogue snippets and weave them together into a whole story.
These are more specific issues, and I am hoping that it will be easier to deal with them than with the general "I'm afraid I don't have talent" fear that has been living in my brain for so long.
I had another epiphany while working on my productive obsession. My choice to obsess about writing a novel and getting it ready for submission was big, but it wasn't big enough. Or maybe more accurately it was just a part of a whole. I realized that I want to focus on changing my life and creating a career that means something and feels right to me. So, in September, I'm going to start training to be a creativity coach. Scary and exciting and that's exactly how I want to be feeling! Right now I'm just getting money together for the first course and weeding out some time killers in my life so I'm ready to start the training in the Fall. But look for more on this new addition once September rolls around.
For a long time now I've known what at least some of my fears are, but I haven't been able to figure out what to do about them. This week I realized that while I had a general fear category that my conscious mind was aware of, I didn't actually know the details. I think it's very hard--maybe impossible--to deal with unnamed fears.
But now I have a name for those fears. Or at least a description: I fear that, while I have plenty of story ideas and even scene and dialogue ideas, I don't have enough depth of ideas to flesh them out and make them into full stories that are worth reading and writing. I am also afraid I don't have the technical know-how or the ability to take all of the disparate scene ideas and dialogue snippets and weave them together into a whole story.
These are more specific issues, and I am hoping that it will be easier to deal with them than with the general "I'm afraid I don't have talent" fear that has been living in my brain for so long.
I had another epiphany while working on my productive obsession. My choice to obsess about writing a novel and getting it ready for submission was big, but it wasn't big enough. Or maybe more accurately it was just a part of a whole. I realized that I want to focus on changing my life and creating a career that means something and feels right to me. So, in September, I'm going to start training to be a creativity coach. Scary and exciting and that's exactly how I want to be feeling! Right now I'm just getting money together for the first course and weeding out some time killers in my life so I'm ready to start the training in the Fall. But look for more on this new addition once September rolls around.
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