A Cold Tuesday Tally

Last week’s goals:

• update blog look and sidebar
• update websites
• poetry submission
• finish current chapter of TC

 Goals for this week:

• final preparations for NaNoWriMo 
  • transform plot into bullet point outline
  • brainstorm ways to kill people in a fantasy setting (Race to 100 Deaths, remember?)
  • flesh out Tilara’s two companions/competitors
  • stock up on chocolate (should be easy over Halloween weekend)
• send out four more queries for EotF
• submit more poetry
• finish updating websites 

 

Woke up this morning to snow. I have a feeling it will be winter in my NaNo Novel.

In unrelated news, I now have a Facebook account.

Are you ready for NaNoWriMo?

Commenting fixed

Turned out pretty simple. Template didn’t like embedded comments. Switched to pop-up and it works fine. At least for me. Let me know if it works for you. (As it would be hard to let me know if it doesn’t, seeing as you couldn’t comment… you’d have to email or twitter.)

Template trouble?

I have just been informed that the comment feature on my blog is no longer working. I may have to switch to a different template, or figure out the problem with this one. In the meantime, feel free to email me any comments (feywriter at hotmail dot com) or say hi through twitter.

Agent Update

Last night I got a response from the agent I pitched to. Form rejection. :-( Oh well. Time to get the query train going again.

Warning: Changes ahead

I’m going to try out a new template. Be patient with me. If you see something you like, or don’t, feel free to speak up. I want something my readers enjoy as well. :-)

Tuesday Tally, time for cleanup

 

Goals for this week:

• update blog look and sidebar
• update websites
• poetry submission
• finish current chapter of TC

 

Makeover time for my Tuesday Tally’s. I’m getting invested in too many stories, and want to clean up the look of my posts.

 

I’m going to move all the WIPs to the sidebar, with less focus on the numbers. I like progress bars, but the novelty of the TickerFactory icons has faded, so those will go for now as well.

 

Maybe cleaning my desk this past week is carrying over. De-clutter my physical workspace, de-clutter my computer and online space. Very freeing.

Beautiful Morning, Beautiful Muse

Yesterday marked the end of the Muse Online Writers Conference. This was my 2nd year participating. I always make sure to sign up for a variety of workshops, because I never know which ones I’ll end up most interested in. Last year I got the most out of two poetry workshops – one on breaking creative blocks, and the other on creating a chapbook. This year my favorite courses were very different.

 

The first was the Dialogue Workshop with Devon Ellington. I started a new story just for the workshop. It was one already in my idea file (#2 from my NaNo ideas), but only very basic, one paragraph idea. I didn’t get much critique on the dialogue itself, which reassured me I shouldn’t over think the dialogue that comes naturally. What I really learned is that I can form an emotional connection to characters that I’m only beginning to know. I can write entire scenes with only a vague idea of plot. What an eye opener that was. Very reassuring with NaNoWriMo around the corner. I didn’t get through all the assignments, but really enjoyed and benefited from those I did.

 

The other course that really impacted me was Facing Your Fear of Writing with Tamlyn Leigh. She set us up to discover our own answers, through use of our inner two year olds. On that note, I have to share one way this has affected me beyond the conference.

 

My son woke up during the night, and I was up for an hour. I went to bed tired and frustrated, fully expecting to be cranky in the morning. But I woke up and my inner two year old was right there, making it impossible to be in a bad mood. I turned on some music for her, and I feel like I can do anything. This day is beautiful and promising.

 

One other beautiful thing about the Muse Conference was the opportunity to pitch to editors and agents. Through a live chat, I pitched EotF to an agent. Despite incredible nerves, I kept my head above water. She requested pages and a synopsis. Those are with her now, so hopefully she likes them enough to ask for more. Whatever the response, I’m grateful for the experience.

 

At the end of the month, registration will open for next years conference. I’m already marking my calendar. October 11-17, 2010. I’ll post another reminder once it opens up. For a free conference, that I can attend from my computer, the Muse Online Writers Conference offers a wealth of information and is worth every moment.

Two-thirds to the finish and turning around

What a bloody mess. I added in the spiders. Love the build up, and the chapter where they get them… then nothing. They don’t contribute enough to the rest of the story. It’s possible I simply don’t know how best to utilize them, maybe too stuck seeing the story how it is, but right now it’s not working. Two-thirds to the finish line, and I’m turning back to get back on the previous horse.

 

I did do some good tightening in other scenes, though, so I’ll have to compare versions, take some and leave some. Ugh. I guess that’s what I get for trying to add a new element after it had been sitting in a “finished” state for most of the year.

 

What I need to do is a quick edit for what changes to keep and what to throw out, then work on selling it, leaving the manuscript alone until I get some revision letters from agents or editors.

Tuesday Tally 10/6

EotF Status

# of queries out: 7

# of fulls out: 0

status: additional querying on hold until after Muse Conf

 

T.C. Status

word count: 9,634

status: first draft in progress

 

FwM Status

word count: 5,751

status: first draft in progress, taking backseat for TC

 

Color Poems

complete: 15

min needed for chapbook: 20

 

Previous goals:

• edit six chapters – B’s fall break (5 day weekend) really threw me off. I got two done. 
• submit poem revised last week

 

Goals for this week:

• finish editing EotF (30 pages/day)
• polish pitch

 

I can still get EotF ready for the Muse Conference next week. I will have it ready. I wanted to get another chapter of TC written this week, but editing takes priority.

 

In the midst of all this, I started a few new color poems. Those take time to ripen, so having the first few lines on a page is exciting; gives me something to mull over and add to at my leisure.

 

If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo and have tried to find me, I realize the search page is still having issues. Here’s the direct link to my profile: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/511015

 

Now back to editing.

October Thoughts

October 15 looks to be a busy day. B has a dentist appointment. My sister is coming up to spend her fall break with us. It’s also smack dab in the middle of the Muse Conference. And, wonderful timing, also the next 10K day for Writers which I really want to try again.

 

On the plus side, I have no chats for the conference scheduled that day. I could use some of the workshop assignments toward my word count. I should still have the same uninterrupted six hours, while B is in school. If my sister comes early, she can keep me in check, and play video games. She can help entertain both my husband and son if I want to try writing more in the evening. Even more so than last month, I need to really make use of my time. See if I can beat my record of 3700 words.

 

It would also be great preparation for NaNoWriMo.

 

Speaking of which, the interest from Tuesday’s vote seems to be in projects #1 (Race to 100 Deaths) and #4 (traditional fantasy about Tilara Scarlet). Lynn had the brilliant idea of combining them. Now I need to dig out all my notes on Tilara. I have a drawing of her somewhere, as well as a page on her personality, heritage, etc.

 

So, plans for this month:

• Finish edits for EotF by Oct 9 (that’s one week from now!)
• Muse Conference Oct 12-18
• update website before pitch (see point below)
• online pitch with agent on Oct 14 (part of conf.)
• 10k day Oct 15
• write 3 more chapters in TC (with use of 10k day and last couple weeks of month)
• NaNo preparations – one paragraph plot summary, brief outline, antagonist character sheet
• jumper cables on my poetry submission group (been quiet, needs revitalizing. I haven’t helped)

 

Whew, that’s a lot. Going to be a busy month. Enough slacking. Time to get my son out of the bath and get back to editing.