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.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

I just finished this exquisite book last week, and I cannot recommend it enough! Beautiful language and storytelling, compelling characters—it's just absolutely gorgeous. And because I'm too lazy to do a proper review, here are a few of the many (MANY!) quotable lines from Fairyland:

“She sounds like someone who spends a lot of time in libraries, which are the best sorts of people.”

“Stories have a way of changing faces. They are unruly things, undisciplined, given to delinquency and the throwing of erasers. This is why we must close them up into thick, solid books, so they cannot get out and cause trouble.”

“When you are born,” the golem said softly, “your courage is new and clean. You are brave enough for anything: crawling off of staircases, saying your first words without fearing that someone will think you are foolish, putting strange things in your mouth. But as you get older, your courage attracts gunk, and crusty things, and dirt, and fear, and knowing how bad things can get and what pain feels like. By the time you’re half-grown, your courage barely moves at all, it’s so grunged up with living. So every once in awhile, you have to scrub it up and get the works going, or else you’ll never be brave again.” 

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.

Tumblr

Check out my new tumblr! Not too much there yet, but I'm really liking the layout and everything. Bonus: see my very first published story!

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!