Whoot! I'm Finished!

For all those that are reading (and no one really is at this point--I know I have a stat checker)--I finished, I finished, I finished my novel.

Well okay, so it is just my first draft, and I know that I have a lot of stuff I need to flesh out---a lot. But this makes querying by March that much more feasible. And I am so happy--I got it done before the year was over.

I'm ready to start on my next novel. Totally unrelated to this one, although this one is the first of a planned trilogy. I didn't feel like the story was over when I finished writing--which my husband pointed out is a good thing, since it is a trilogy. But I'm at a good stopping point!

Now I just need to send stuff off to my beta readers. Please like it--oh please. But at the same time be brutally honest. My story needs to be STRONG!

Later.

The Last Five Chapters

So I let my parents read my novel when they visited me last week. And they liked it--but they are my parents so what does it count for? I did notice they fought over reading it. One person would put it down to play with the kids and the other would pick it up right away. But maybe they were just anxious to get it over with since it was so awful. Gosh it's hard to put your work out there. 

Anyway I still have about five chapters, and I wanted to be done by writer's group this week. I doubt I will be. It would take major writing time, and I've got deadlines for work that I'm paid to do. Oh the conflict. Seriously. I want my novel done by Christmas so I can send it to my first batch of beta readers while they are all on break from school. 

So that's not going to happen I bet--maybe I just won't sleep. 

The thing about these last chapters is that I've been wanting to write them since September when I hit the middle of my novel. They are full of action and action and more action and a little kissing--not a lot, a little. Sigh.

The writing isn't the hard part--finding the time is. I will do it, I will! I will! I will!

Nearing the End

I'd say I have between five and six more chapters and then I'm done with my book. I've made it through the middle, and I'm running down the the story peak now. I'm so excited for these chapters too. The book should be finished quickly. I'll end up short by about 16000 words (57 pages) of my original goal (75,000 words or 280 pages), but I need to flesh out the beginning and I might need to add a few scenes to make my character arcs stronger. But I'm almost done with my first draft!

Yipee! Yipee! Yipee!

My deadline is looming!

So I set myself a deadline so that my folks could read the book while they were visiting. But I'm not there. Not close enough that I think I can finish, but I'll make a big push over Thanksgiving weekend.

But I pushed through my block, and I'm making steady progress. So that's good!

Stuck in the Middle!

Well, it's been a long time since I posted. Partly because I'm stuck in the middle of my novel. I'm on the middle third of the book and kind of lost, but this week, I've been really getting back into the swing of it. I've got some great plot points to hit, and it should be a totally exciting book.

I'm a big reader. Big, and I read fairly fast. Usually I'll finish a book the same day that I pick it up, so I've got to be careful about reading on busy days. I read the most awesome book Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. It has a great middle. Man I could not put it down. I picked it up to just look at because I had ten minutes to waste. Well I read it while I made dinner, bathed the kids, and whatever else I did that night--I even missed The Office because of it. The middle was just as intense the entire time as the action packed ending scenes in a Stephenie Meyer book or a Harry Potter book by J.K. Rowlings. She did a great job of holding the attention of the reader the entire book.

Reading a great middle really helped me to see that my middle can be fun to write and to read. So I'm off hoping that I can have as much suspense and excitement in my middle as Suzanne Collins did in hers.

How do you cope with your middles?

Groovy Wall

What a rough month. I am up to about 24000 words, but I got out of the groove and ran into a wall in my plot. I know what needs to happen, but I'm having problems making it happen.

On a positive note I had the first writer's group meeting. It felt like it went really well. So I'm super happy. This group will really help me to get and stay motivated.

A Great Week!

So my novel is taking off. It's been a great week. I'm up to 17,000 words, and 77 pages approximately. Better yet, I want to keep writing. The story is beginning to get exciting and I am in the groove.

I think that I've got a writer's group together too. I'm super excited about that.

I'm also attending an online writer's conference in October that will help me with some of my questions. I also love to visit AbsoluteWrite, because it gives some great advice. The tips on getting an agent are great. 

So what do you do to motivate yourself to write?

Those Darn Olympics

Well, I really didn't write this week. Instead I watched the Olympics. I freely admit it, but then I feel bad because I didn't do what was more important. But hey you gotta love the swimming and gymnastics, and the diving and everything else too.

I'm going to keep trying though.

Not a Great Week!

I wrote one day this week. But I joined one online writer's group. And I've had some great ideas. So next week will be better, plus I'm going to have more free time since I've only got one writing job right now!

That's it for now.

A bad week

So this week hasn't been great. I've had a lot going on. Excuses, excuses. Sigh.

All right, so I've joined an online writing accountability group. Basically we just post how much we write each day. Kind of like what I wanted to do with this blog. So I think it is a good thing.

Also I am in process of getting a writer's group together. It will mostly people in my ward. I'm excited, because then we can encourage and support each other, and really get going on this.

Finally one of my writing gigs, downsized me, (laid me off with a lot of other people) which means I really am going to have more time to write. I feel like this is a blessing in disguise. Whoot!

Just a little Update

So in order for this to work, I need to post.

Confession number one: I think I wrote only two days this week. I've been super tired, and haven't been getting up early to get my work done, and the kids have been staying up way too late. But these are all excuses and they will get me nowhere.

Current Page Count: 21 pages. My goal is about 280 pages. So yeah, I've got a bit more to go.

My genre is young adult, but it is also fantasy. It's time to embrace that part of me. I love fantasy, and have since I started reading it. Thanks Dad!

Confession Number Two: I'm overanalyzing my story plot. Needs to stop, so I can just write. I've got my major points. Just need to get rolling.

On a side note, I found some great writing software that lets me navigate my writing a little bit better. It's called Scrivener. There's a free trial download, and so if you want to you should check it out.

A little note on why I'm writing. I've been writing for as long as I can remember. I've always said that I wanted to teach, but I think I was lying to myself and everyone else because I just couldn't come out and say what my big dream was. It's scary, and people tend not to take you too seriously when you say that you want to write for a living. Well I already write for my living, but I want to make my living publishing my novels, not writing nonfiction stuff, but that's just me. Recently I've had some aha moments, that just screamed that it was time to stop dreaming about and time to start really working. And I know it is really going to be a lot of work!

The Purpose

Quite honestly, I don't really expect anyone to read this. I am writing this blog to make myself accountable to the great unknown. Another kind of intrinsic motivation for myself. Truth is that I have written one novel previously and I sent it off to publishers without really editing it. And of course it went no where.

This time things have changed. I know more about what I need to do. I've decided to write in my favorite genre, instead of something else that I think will sell better. I'm a lot more serious about my writing. I really want it to go somewhere, and I have motivation to make it go somewhere.

I intend to write each day, very briefly about my progress--maybe think through some frustrations.  Mostly though this will like be a page count. Maybe a place to list of my research sources.