Revision Revision Revision (+ Comic Con Draweth Nigh!!!)

Happy very last day in May! I can't believe how fast 2016 has gone so far. 0_o Seriously, can someone slow it down a bit??

Just a brief update for today… I'm hard at work on the third draft of my East of the Sun retelling, and I **think** it's going pretty well. I had a CRAZY MAD AWESOME idea that I'm suuuupppper excited about incorporating into this draft. If I can pull it off, it could be pretty amazing. We shall see!!

I'm bouncing around in this revision, which is kind of unusual for me, but I want to make sure and hit all my problem spots/new sections whilst I'm bursting with ideas about them. It's definitely working so far! My plan is to add in all the new bits, untangle my middle (yes, AGAIN!!), and then do a pass from beginning to end where I look closer at things like word choice, pacing, and whether or not all the new parts make any sense.

This could be over-ambitious, but I'm planning to have a completed third draft DONE in a week or two. Some friends and I are heading north for a mini writing retreat in a week and a half and I'd LOVE to have it finished by then. I'm getting super antsy to start drafting a new novel (which I'm calling affectionately EVIL COLLECTOR KING in lieu of an actual working title), and it would be awesome to get a solid start on it during the retreat, but we shall see………

In other news, hubs and I are going to Phoenix Comic Con this weekend!!! I'm sooooooo excited because:

1. I've never been to any kind of con before and I've always wanted to
2. NERDY STUFF EVERYWHERE
3. I'M MEETING BILLIE PIPER AND GETTING A PICTURE WITH HER

THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!!!!!! I'm sure I'll be sweaty and awkward and nervous, but I don't even care because BILLIE PIPER AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I hope my nerdy t-shirt comes in time. :-) :-) :-)

P. S. It's supposed to be 117 on Saturday and I'M ONLY LEAVING MY HOUSE BECAUSE BILLIE PIPER.

What I Did This Summer (Revision Edition)

Notebook and laptop and tea—the revision arsenal!

So I know summer has technically been over for quite awhile now, but seeing as it's only juuuuuuuust now starting to cool off here in Mordor the land of eternal fire Arizona, I present to you: What I Did This Summer (Revision Edition).

The revision notebook! Totally worth $12.

In the beginning of April I signed with my amazing agent (who may-or-may-not-be-but-probably-is a wizard), and I spent much of the remaining part of the month brainstorming and wool-gathering and otherwise hen-scratching in a brand new notebook. Once I had a new story structure figured out and had it approved, it was time to embark on The Biggest Rewrite Ever.

I wrote and re-wrote the beginning approximately eight billion times (at least it felt like that many). I experimented writing in first person to connect more with my MC. I finally gained enough forward momentum to write the first fifty pages and send them off to my agent for approval. I got the green light and kept going.

Revision requires
SO MUCH TEA!

It was so hard and so rewarding at the same time. I got to write brand new scenes that are now some of my favorites of all time. I struggled with structure and pacing, because I'd moved a major midway-point event up towards the beginning. I wrote a lot of panicked emails and texts to my CP, as well as sending her each part of the novel when I finished it.

Everything was slowly beginning to take shape. I was seeing glimmers of magic. Three-quarters of the way through I realized I'd left myself an enormous gift in one of my new early scenes that could massively impact the ending. It was sooooooooo cool, you guys. I mean it would have been more brilliant if I'd actually done it on purpose, but shhhh it'll be our little secret.

I finished the entire draft and sent the rest to my CP. She came back with very insightful notes, and I worked through each one of those. She was super mean and made me re-write my climax…………… whiiiiiich turned out to be a super good idea, because I LOVE LOVE LOVE it now. Totally worth the work. :-)

Hubs and I were up north in Prescott when I was rewriting my climax.
He brought me snacks because he's awesome.

Then I sent the shiny new manuscript off to two fantastic agency sisters, who read and critiqued it for me quite brilliantly. I gathered and digested their notes, and gave my pacing a hard think. I put my novel up on the wall and stared at it for a while, then started rearranging and condensing and FIGURING IT OUT.

Before the manuscript surgery!! Each card represents a scene.
The blue and green and pink are all for one POV (I didn't have enough of just one color). 

During the surgery. Cards over on the left are deleted scenes. 

After everything was rearranged and stitched back together!

I went through the novel again, rewriting scenes, making the rearranged parts work where I'd put them, condensing more, killing someone (I literally did this to solve one of my problems…… 0_o ).

THEN it went to my agent, who hadn't read it since its original queried incarnation.

Just a brief side note here to say that I'm fascinated and pleased that through all this revision, the story itself didn't really change—it just became a better, more honed version of what it was always meant to be. I think that's really cool.

Anyway, after that my agent did a tight line-edit (we won't talk about my embarrassing overuse of certain phrases), I rewrote a couple of small scenes, and it was DONE. Phew!!

Working on Line Edits!

And that's how I kept out of trouble (and mostly out of the hot hot sun!!) all summer. :-)

Thursday, Thursday

So I wanted to write this really deep and intricate post about second-world fantasies and how I think they're super awesome, but the brain is not cooperating, and so you get an almost-the-end-of-the-week update post instead (lucky you!).

I'm super excited about my new interview series! I've got querying author interviews lined up through April 27th! I still have some openings for self-published and/or small-press-published authors on Fridays, so if you or anyone you know fit into the category, drop me a line on email or Twitter and I'll send you the interview questions!

I had a lovely time in California visiting with my new baby niece (her name is Sabriel and she is AWESOME), my bro and sis-in-law, and my sister, who lives in Iowa, which is way too far away from me and WHY HAVEN'T THEY INVENTED TELEPORTATION YET???

I haven't gotten a ton of writing done since then, even though I've been back a whole week, but I have done a little. Currently I'm floundering a bit in the middle of my revision (surprise, surprise—middles are the absolute worst!!). I kind of went off on a tangent about Bach and Chopin and music history and I have to figure out how to wind my way back around to the main storyline and decide how much of that rabbit trail to keep. It was definitely fun to write, but I want to make sure it actually adds to the story. I do think I'm managing to make my MC and enchanted creature bond a bit more, so that's good! Pretty sure if I can PUSH through these next three chapters, it ought to be fairly smooth sailing to the end. But we shall see!

All righty, I'll leave you with that extremely exciting blog post. Look forward to an Indie Author Interview with writer/illustrator Danielle Pajak tomorrow, and a Querying Author Interview with Rachel Stevenson on Monday.

Until then, happy (almost) weekend, all!! Write gloriously.

Monday Update!

Time for a brief update post!

I'm still plugging away at the second draft of my East of the Sun retelling (it's going slower than I'd like—I'm excellent at procrastinating. I'm doing it right now by blogging instead of working on it). Currently I'm revising chapter six of twenty-three (though the last chapter + epilogue have already been rewritten). The middle—and most of the more drastic revisions—is rapidly approaching, so things are about to get interesting!

2015 is shaping up to be a good year! I've tons of books to read (The Winner's Crime is coming out in eight days, you guys!!!!!), my sister and I are going on a double-auntie visit to go see our new niece next month, and in April the hubs and I are traveling to Pennsylvania and Washington D. C. to visit with his family/attend his niece's wedding/hang out with my aunt. Very much looking forward to it!

The last few days my brain has been re-invaded with a story idea from about a year ago that I'm tentatively planning to write after I finish my current project. It should be really fun to explore, and will give me an excuse to re-read some Rosemary Sutcliff as I'm going for an early-Britain-esque type feel/setting.

That's about it for me! Happy writing, everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful week! :-)

That's a Wrap!

You guys.

You guys.

SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS, guess what?

I finished my revision!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**cue confetti**

I'm so very, very excited at where this manuscript has ended up. Such a long haul, but it's been worth it!! With a few breaks (for revising a different book and drafting part of another) I've been at this rewrite since April 2013. 0_o But I'm finally finished and it feels GREAT.

And you know what else I'm excited about? My word count is down to 95,000!!!! That's 10K shorter than Draft 4, and, I'm embarrassed to say it, 23K shorter than Draft 3. :-D

So there you have it. I FINISHED AND I'M SO EXCITED!!! Off to dream about future projects, and stalk the #PitchWars feed on Twitter. :-)

All printed out and shiny!!

Once Upon Draft Five

So I'm gearing up for Draft #5 now, and I'm actually SUPER EXCITED about it! Mostly because I'm fairly certain the grueling start-from-scratch stuff is OVER, and I just can't wait to make this book what it was meant to be in the first place!

Stuff I'm working on in this draft:

1. Stream-lining the novel. I want to cut AT LEAST 10,000 words
2. Make character motivations clear.
3. Work on pacing.
4. MAKE THE BEGINNING AWESOME
5. Condense/simplify my myths
6. Delete one of the character's POVs.
7. MAKE THE WHOLE NOVEL AS AWESOME AS I CAN.

So. We'll see how long this takes.

And GO!

I FINISHED!!!! Ahhhhhhhh!

One week ago today, I woke up early and wrote for five hours, determined to at least try to finish my draft before the end of the month. And you guys?

TODAY I FINISHED.

I am so deliriously happy. :-D :-D :-D

There's definitely another draft to go—I am determined to make this novel the absolute best it can be—but for tonight at least I'm resting on my laurels!

And now some word count stats, because I always find that interesting:

Rough Draft: 104,000 words

Third Draft: 118,000 words

Fourth Draft: 106,000 words


I'm hoping to get my final draft at least down to 100K, but I'm dreaming big (small?) and shooting for somewhere between 90 and 95K. We shall see!

Anyways, basically…

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Writing by Writing

You know what? You sure do learn a lot about writing by… writing.

Kind of an obvious thing to say, I suppose, but it's true. I've been rewriting a novel I first drafted back in 2006, and I have learned and grown as a writer SO MUCH since then. Why? Because I keep writing books. You get such a feel for plot and pacing and character development when you keep doing it, over and over and over again.

I'm not saying I can pop out a completely perfect first draft these days (hahaha), but I'm learning from my mistakes. I'm getting better. And I'm also not saying that every word I wrote in earlier novels was crap—I'm reusing a healthy amount of prose in my current rewrite from the previous draft, plus the main plot and most of the original ideas. I just feel better equipped to properly bring this story to life now, as I've written three full books and parts of another three since 2006.

I'm still learning how to revise, but you know what? I think I'm getting better at that, too. Because I keep doing it.

I guess that's the main point of this post. Like anything—music, sports, cooking, paying your bills on time—you only get better at something by doing it over and over again.

And that means I'd better stop blogging and go write.

Rewrite Update

It's been a long road since I started the Most Massive Rewrite Ever in April 2013. I'm not done yet, but I'm slowly getting there—the end of this draft is finally in sight. Eight and a half chapters left to get through, some rewriting of old material, some brand new scenes, including a completely different ending (unless I change my mind!).

Trying not to despair that I've been at this for over a year, because 1) It's so vastly different from the original it's like writing a new book, 2) I took time off to write 50K of something else in November for NaNoWriMo, and 3) I spent March and April revising an entirely different novel. It's not been QUITE as long as it seems, but it's still pretty grueling.

I'd love to finish this draft by July so I can start the next draft, which will hopefully go much faster because I'll have existing material to work with. We shall see!

Also, this novel is kind of having an identity crisis. It's definitely fantasy, but I'm not sure it's as Young Adult as I originally thought. I don't know what it is. But I'll figure it out. Probably. :-)

Revision Process

So I've been thinking lately about my revision process—probably because my writing projects for the last year and a half have consisted of revising two different novels, but what can you do?

I'm a fast first-drafter and a long reviser. I adore first drafts. Apart from the initial onslaught of brainstorming new ideas (which is always awesome), first-drafting is my favorite part of the writing process. First-drafting is generally pretty easy for me. Revising is HARD. That said, there's an amazing sense of accomplishment when you make it through a really tough revision. It feels good to be able to turn your novel into what you meant it to be in the first place, no matter how agonizing and arduous the process.

I'm a Big-Picture-First reviser. I revise first for PLOT. Despite my detailed outlining, my plot always needs help when the dust settles from my not-as-shiny-as-I-thought first draft. My second draft usually involves Very Drastic Changes. This is where I'll flesh out characters, delete minor characters that aren't doing anything, work on my pacing, rearrange scenes, delete whole chapters and replace them with completely new ones. There's a lot of metaphorical blood and guts on the floor when I'm working on my second drafts.

I've mentioned this before, but I usually re-key the entire book when I'm rewriting. This helps me get into the flow of the story when I write new scenes, as well as forcing me to rethink everything as I go. It takes a while, but it works for me!

When I've finally finished retyping the book and making all the changes, I'll print it out and go through line-by-line and fiddle with the prose. That part's easy and fun.

Depending on the novel and feedback, I might do another revision after that, usually not nearly as extensive as Draft #2.

So really, I end up not going through a ton of drafts, because my initial revision is so extensive. Which is maybe why it takes so long, and definitely why it's so incredibly painful.

Currently I'm back revising THE WHALE AND THE TREE. This is my third major draft (technically Draft #4, but I really don't remember what Draft #3 even was; probably just a light revision?), and the revision is extensive. I've changed a lot as a person and a writer since I first wrote and revised it (in 2006 and 2007/08, respectively), and this new version will (hopefully!) reflect that. There will DEFINITELY be another draft after this one, and I envision it involving a ton of hacking. I'm sort of feeling my way through this draft and there will be a lot of things to sort out when I'm done. I'm hoping to finish in the next few months, but we'll see!!

So anyway. That's some rambling thoughts on my revision process.

I'll leave you with some pictures we took in Glendora, CA this weekend of THIS AWESOME AND ENORMOUS TREE:

Isn't it amazingly BIG???

I'm standing between ROOTS, people!

Kill 'Em

So, last week I hacked the first part of SEER to bits, then slowly stitched it back together again. I condensed/cut down the first ten chapters to just six, and my word count of 89,000 is now at 73,000. 0_o I think I'm beginning to learn the true meaning of the phrase "kill your darlings"...  Not 100% sure if all the changes are working quite yet, but I'll get there!

The aftermath of the hacking! Deleted scenes over there on the right.

In other news, I get to see Shannon Hale tomorrow night at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe. I'm so excited!!!

In other other news, I now own the Frozen bluray AND the Frozen soundtrack, so that's pretty awesome. :-D Seriously, that movie is so good I could watch it every single day like a seven-year-old. Beauty and the Beast will always be my favorite Disney movie, but Frozen and Tangled come pretty close these days.

And last but not least, the hubs and I scored this awesome coffee table at a garage sale last weekend:

Writing & Editing, as seen by Rapunzel and llama-Emperor-Kusco:

Once More into the Breach!

You guys. I'm revising SEER again. Fourth draft's the charm, right? Armed with notecards and pens and intrepid daring and my awesome critique partner (who read the whole book in ONE DAY because she's amazing!!), I'm gonna DO this.

*picks up sword and runs bellowing into the woods*

Index cards are super cheap. Who knew??

This is what SEER looks like as wallpaper.

So Many Books to Write, So Little Time

So I'm trying out a new blog template. What do you guys think? I was getting frustrated with formatting issues that I didn't know how to fix on the old template, and decided to go for something new! I'm liking the clean, simple style of this one. I fell in love with a couple of templates on Etsy (here and here), but until I can save up $30, this nice free template suits me just fine. :-)

Kind of a little stalled with ye olde revision—popped back into Part One to try and fix the ending two chapters, but kind of mystified as to how. Might just leave them alone and return to my Part Two rewrite instead and worry about it in my next editing pass. Blech. Ugh. The revision never ends!!!

On another note, I had a shiny new idea last week. It's still brewing right now, but I'm kind of in love with it. I'm tempted to forget the revision and just let this new novel whisk me away into the sunset, but I know that wouldn't be responsible at this point. :-D Anyways. I think it could be pretty special!

Definitely want to add it to the roster, but I've already got:

• My NaNoWriMo novel from 2009/2013 to finish (princesses and kings and betrayal and war and true love and hidden identities!)
• That short story idea that wants to be a novel from last year to write (fairytale retelling mashup! Russia! Wolves!)
• The rewrite-I-work-on-every-once-in-awhile-from-a-story-idea-I-first-had-in-the-90s to finish (basically a bromance, with sword fights and journeys and adventures and battles—this is the first novel I ever wrote; the 2009/2013 NaNo novel is its sequel)
• My current rewrite's companion novel to rewrite (gods and kings and cupbearers and murder and enchantments!)

So many books to write. So little time. I guess I should stop blogging and do something about it… :-)

Procrastination, Rewrite Update, and Arizona Always Does Its Own Thing

And because I'm behind on blogging this month and I want to procrastinate actually working on my novel, here's a second post for today. :-)

On the writing front, I'm still slogging away on that giant rewrite. I'm just about to start chapter five of part two, and there's fifteen chapters after that, so I've still got a ways to go, blech. I reallllly want to be done with this draft by the end of March, so I'd better get cracking. Trying not to think about how I get to go through it again after that because this rewrite is so massive it's like 50% brand new material which needs editing and pondering and possibly rearranging and rewriting. Oh man this is so much work. You see why I'm procrastinating??

I'm so ready to be on to something NEW! Trying do decide if I'll start writing a brand new novel (from last year's set-aside short story), finish off my draft from November, or Something Else Entirely. So many possibilities!

Meanwhile, Arizona has forgotten it's February and has decided to skyrocket into the mid-to-upper-80s, which is making me grumpy because summer is coming soon and WE NEVER HAD WINTER!!!!!! >:-( It's so weird to me that the rest of the country is wreathed in eternal White Witch Narnian winter, and Arizona is all like "la dee dah, let's break some heat records for this time of year." Anyways. I REFUSE to turn on the air conditioning. You know. In the house. It's definitely on in my car…

So. There you have it.

Older and Wiser… ?

So on Monday I turned THIRTY. Isn't that weird?

Last weekend my awesome husband took me on a hot air balloon ride to celebrate, and it was SO AMAZING!! I now want to travel everywhere by balloon!

Our balloon.

On top of the world!

And on my birthday he got me an oh-so-delicious giant cookie cake from Paradise Bakery. It was all I ever dreamed it would be!

Because all the cool kids wear Disney shirts on their 30th birthday

In writing news, I have made some progress on the revision. I'm almost finished with the first chapter of Part 2, and also ruminating on some changes to the end of Part 1. Still a long way to go, but I think I'm going to make it through this thing!

Here's to a (hopefully!) awesome new decade!

Plants are Pretty Cool, right?

I'm at that point with my revision of Part II where I just basically hate everything. I've outlined what I have. I've made lots of rambling notes about what I want to be different. I'm trying to figure out how to merge the two and it's just AWFUL!! Blarg. I go through this with Every Single Revision, you would think I'd be used to it now, but noooo.

It's like, I know I'll reach that point where I've got everything figured out and I can start the actual rewriting process, but right now it's hard to see it. I'm questioning everything: does this scene belong? would this character really behave like that? what is the point of this storyline? how do I develop this naturally? does anything in here make even A LITTLE BIT OF SENSE?? Should I just give up and become a horticulturist???

So anyways. That's how it's going.

Notes from the Revision Trenches

Yesterday, I finished Part One of my epic rewrite, and it was awesome, and I'm so proud of my changes!

Today, I remembered that I only have a few brainstorming notes about Part Two, and I don't really know what I'm doing to it, and there is SO MUCH LEFT to rewrite it's kind of giving me a headache. Yikes.

This is my third major draft of this manuscript—I first wrote it during NaNoWriMo 2006, and I rewrote it in 2008. I dearly love its core elements and I know I've already made it better, but WOW, the second half is going to be a lot harder than I thought. Not to mention I've yet to 100% decide on whether or not I'm drastically altering the ending…

In addition to the major scene changes and a vast amount of rewriting, I'm also trying to cut as many words as possible. I'll be able to focus on that more once I have the whole draft down and can judge what's working and what's not, but the good news is Part One is 3K shorter in this draft than it was in the previous one, so that's encouraging! I would dearly love this to end up around 90K, but if I'm being honest, I'll be happy to get it down to the 100K mark. We shall see!!

On a side note, I've been rereading my NaNo part-of-a-novel from November, and while it definitely needs some help here and there, it's a lot better than I thought. I'm digging it!

Okay. Back to sorting through this second half.

It's January Already!

So, so, so, welcome to the second day of 2014! It's sunny and seventies in AZ, which might make a lot of you jealous, but I really wouldn't mind some clouds and snow and a roaring fire and some hot chocolate. I am drinking black currant tea with cream, though, so that's something!

On the roster for 2014:

• I'm turning 30 in twenty-five days. That sounds really old. 0_o (Obviously this isn't a goal, just an inevitable event.)
• Whale and the Tree revision. Hoping to be finished circa April, although this draft will need at least another pass after that. Really proud of my changes so far! I think it's already a much stronger manuscript.
• Another novel. Possibly another revision, possibly a reworking of last year's short story idea, possibly something completely new. We'll see!
• I have a ton of books I want to read, including but not limited to: The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Sorrow's Knot, The Bitter Kingdom, Shadow and Bone, The Fault in Our Stars, Unthinkable, The Name of the Wind, The Night Circus, Reflections (Diana Wynne Jones on writing), and whatever else has yet to tickle my fancy! (Book suggestions always welcome!)

That's it for now. More later if I think of anything! Also, my tea is gone, so it seems a fitting place to end.

Go forth and be awesome, everyone!

Time Machine?

I feel like, literarily-speaking, at least, 2013 is turning out to be a rerun of 2006. I re-read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell this summer for the first time since 2006. I'm re-reading the Queen's Thief Series, which I first read (scratch that—devoured!!) in 2006. And I'm currently revising my 2006 NaNoWriMo novel.

Perhaps that's not the most amazing thing ever, but I think it's slightly interesting. :-)

Okay, I need to really get back to that revision…