Audiobooks, Copyedits, and the Cutest Hippo EVER!

1. I've been listening to audiobooks lately. I'm currently listening to The Giver by Lois Lowry read by Ron Rifkin (from Alias!). It's taken some work to train myself to pay attention because I'm more of a visual, but if the narrator is good, they really bring a story to life. I find myself enjoying stories I may not have taken the time to read, and if I listen while on a walk, sometimes it makes me want to walk farther!

2. Copyediting is DONE! What a weird feeling to see your book marked up in such a critical way. Missed punctuation, alternate spellings, words missing entirely. It was quite the experience, but I'm glad the book is once again out of my hands!

3. My WIP is now over 69,000 words! I'm so at that point where things need to be wrapped up and I'm increasingly intimidated by everything left to do. *collapses*

4. The Civil Wars has a new album coming out soon (which I've already pre-ordered) and it saddens me that I'll probably never get the chance to see them perform live as they are currently not on speaking terms. But man can they make some amazing music in the midst of all the not getting along.

5. A year or so ago, Catherine introduced me to artist Cori Dantini's work, and I've been obsessed ever since. I mean, LOOK HOW CUTE!

A lot of her pieces include birds, which I have a hard time resisting! I've purchased two prints so far, and I've marked so many more as favorites. So. Hard. To. Pick. Check out her Etsy store HERE.

I promise I'm not a robot

Seriously these word verification things have gotten ridiculously hard to read. Is it just me? I'm not going to lie, I failed the test like four times on a comment the other day! I've got to REALLY want to post that comment to try a second and third time. Sometimes I see the word verification and just close out of it. I promise I'm not a robot, but those things kill my patience. I used to have the verification here on my own blog but recently removed it. I don't currently have a huge issue with spammers to need it, so you're welcome. :)

In other news, I surely wish a robot could write my query for me. Okay. I'm done complaining about it. It's part of the process, I know. It would just be nice if it came a little more naturally to me. In other other news, I'm working on round three of revisions! I'm actually really excited about these new changes inspired by my first beta's notes.

How's your WIP coming? Are you revising too? Querying? Still working on that first draft? Tossing around a Shiny New Idea?? Are you a robot?

The Query Distraction Decoupage

It's official: I'm really really really bad at query writing. Nothing I have come up with has been met positively, and it has me baffled. This is a short little thing. It shouldn't be this hard. I get bogged down in details. Apparently my mind is more fitted for the synopsis, which I'm not attempting until this query is DONE because I'm trying NOT to be detailed right now. Grr. *opens From The Query to the Call by Elana Johnson*

So yesterday while I was going back and forth with query attempts and a manuscript critique for a friend, I experimented with my first decoupage. It was harder than I expected (or maybe I was just already frustrated), but I threw together a couple pictures from Florence with some scrapbook pretties. I plan to put text in the blue box but my handwriting is terrible so I'm not sure how I want to do it yet.

So that's pretty much all I have to show for this weekend. How was your weekend? 

Revisions: Round 1 - COMPLETE

So I've been MIA from the blogging world, but I have a good excuse. I'm pretty much a zombie as I type up this post (Sunday evening). I've been nonstop reading my pretty spiral bound copy of my WIP, scribbling notes in it, and scratching out the most ridiculous sentences I've ever seen since Thursday. But round one is DONE!

I like this method because the first round is a physical copy that I make actual physical notes. I get to slash through things with markers and mark things with stickies. I found things I forgot about, things I don't even remember writing in the first place, some things that made me scratch my chin and say WOW, I WROTE THAT? in a good way, and in an omg that's awful way too.

Now this week, I'll go back through all my pretty notes (and by pretty I mean so messy I can barely read my own writing and follow all my arrows) and implement these changes in the actual document on the computer, thus becoming the SECOND round of revisions as I read through everything again. I actually can't wait for this one. I'm hoping I cut out as much as I think I did.

How do you handle revisions? Do you do it all on the computer, or do you like to print it out and get messy with a hard copy like I do?

And so it begins... the first revision.

REVISIONS REVISIONS REVISIONS. How intimidating are you? You make me anxious. You make me sick to my stomach. You steal my brain from me when I'm supposed to be working (you know, the kind that actually pays me for my time). You make my leg bounce up and down any time I'm seated. You draw me to the computer only to sit and stare at the screen without accomplishing anything because you. scare. the. mess. out. of. me.

I will say that changing two characters names throughout the entire manuscript in three seconds by the click of a button was a REALLY cool feeling! Wish I'd thought of these names sooner though because I adore them. :)

I have a few things I want to clean up toward the end of the book before looking at the beginning and finding the real place it's supposed to start. So I've been trying to repair a scene that's been determined to be ridiculous, but then it made me think of a scene a few chapters later and I hopped to that one instead thinking it would be a quick fix... it's not. So now I have two scenes torn apart and bleeding. How do you keep yourself focused on one thing at a time? Are you systematic in your revisions, or do you hop around until it all gets done?

I think I need a game plan. I'm just not sure what it is yet. But there will be chocolate.

The first draft is FINISHED!

My long-time followers may remember when I started my WIP back in April of last year. I was fresh off of a Teen Book Conference high having just met my hero, Stephanie Perkins, and I'd finally been struck with an idea for a story set here:

Taken from the Roman Forum

and here:

View of Manarola from the ferry - Cinque Terre, Italy

with a window view like this:

View from the apartment we stayed at in Riomaggiore - Cinque Terre, Italy

which I had been dying to do since my trip to Italy in 2009.

In June, I finally came up with the title If Only You Were Italian, and I'm happy to say that I still love it. 

Then over the last couple months, you've all heard me whine about how close I've been to finishing the first draft, pushing my self-imposed deadline out again and again (because apparently I don't do self-imposed deadlines). Well, i'm proud to say, that Saturday morning at 2:30am on the dot, the last chapter was completed!! I tweeted my good news but all my cheerleaders had long been asleep for the night. I wasn't completely alone though--my Australian followers were very willing to throw streamers at me! *waves to Jade and the gang* 

Now that the celebrating has happened and one of my critique partners has now read everything I've written on this story, the reality of the revisions before me has set in. So many things need to change. So many things I thought were smart when I wrote them are, in fact, LAME. Sigh. But that's the fun of it right? Transforming the bare bones (that may or may not be 15-20k words too long) into a story with good flow, pacing, and character development so that everyone in the world (that likes YA Contemporary) will want to read it!

*rolls up sleeves*

HERE GOES!

How's YOUR story coming?? Any revision tips or methods to share?

How do you celebrate your first draft?

I'm so close, y'all. SO. CLOSE. I finished another chapter yesterday and in my mind there are four or five left. I'd LOVE to be done by Monday when I go back to work three days a week in an office (got offered an old job I had as a geo-tech doing oil exploration), but I definitely hold myself back. For all that I'm excited about being done and diving into revisions (I really am excited about revisions, and I plan to implement the system Tera Lynn Childs uses with all the pretty highlighters and stickies. See her post HERE), I'm also very antsy and nervous that I won't be able to tie everything up as pretty as I see it in my head. It makes me hesitate when I sit down and write, which translates into the whole thing taking me WAY longer than it should (which is why I'm still working on this draft I started last APRIL).

But it's going to happen. It will be finished, and SOON. I need to grab onto something else to look forward to, a reward. When you finish a first draft, how do you celebrate? Do you treat yourself to something new? Go eat a fancy dinner? Buy a pretty new pack of highlighters for your revisions? ;)

Give me some ideas, because this labor of love will definitely be celebrated when it's finished!

The Resolution Paradox

Do you make resolutions? I feel like I go through this every year. I probably change my mind about how I feel about them every year too. Yes, I make resolutions! No, no way. Resolutions never pan out, why make them? Maybe.... I could try to make a few....


I never stick to resolutions. There, I said it. I just don't. RESOLUTION sounds so... definite. Which I guess is the point, but to avoid setting myself up for disappointment, I think I'll just make note of a few writerly things that would be pretty cool if they happened in 2012.

• Finish a first draft of my current WIP - I'm coming up on 60k words TODAY (1,645 words to go), so that next 10k or so to wrap everything up should be a January BREEZE. But you know, I thought I'd have the whole thing done last July, so, I'm hoping this is more than wishful thinking.
• Revise revise revise and query said WIP - *bites nails prematurely* 
• Get an agent - I got a B&N gift card for Christmas (Several) and one of the things I bought with them is the 2012 Guide to Literary Agents. I've thumbed through it and it seems useful. But first my plan is to research the agents of authors that I've heard of and love, because, well, obviously their agent gets it. LOL. 
• Finish a first draft of the WIP I started in, what, 2010?? The one who's characters keep nudging at me saying, please tell our story. It's good. We promise. I'm actually really itching to get back to that one. But my Italy story is rolling right along right now, so I'm not stopping until it's done and in my Beta's hands.

Then of course, more personally, there's the old standby to lose weight. But, as DL points out in this fantastic BLOG POST, we're insane if we keep making the same resolutions without changing up our method. We set ourselves up to fail them every year because doing the same thing over and over and expecting different outcomes is INSANE. I took the bull by the horns BEFORE the New Year, and started my workout reboot a month ago. No resolution there. Just a lifestyle change. Now to just stick with it....  

Any writerly aspirations for 2012? I'm still just SO pumped about what this year has in store, I can't explain why. Does it feel like you're just standing on the edge of something really exciting?? 

However you ring in the New Year, please be safe out on the roads especially! Not everyone is as smart as you are. ;)

Miscalculations and Word Counts

Sometimes... a miscalculation can be a good thing.

I'll admit it, I'm a bit obsessed with word count on my current project. I just think it's fascinating how I started with 0, and every time I sit down to work, the number climbs, sometimes higher than expected! It's just a rewarding part of the experience for me... my efforts all tidied up into a compact yet telling number.

This past week, I've been doing lazy math with my WIP word count. I use Scrivener, so each of my chapters are separate. I see individual word count, but not whole manuscript word count (which would be inaccurate anyway because I write all sorts of notes in one "chapter" slot and also put everything I cut into another slot). I have to add everything up by hand for the grand total. Well, last night, I thought I was about 500 words from 40,000, but today I added everything up on a new sheet of paper with pretty pen colors, and then added it again... because my actual current word count is 41,151!!

It's such a spiffy feeling to know I've written more than I thought I did. Makes working toward the next goal of 45k that much more exciting (and closer!). Seriously, seeing these higher numbers, I'm making even MORE time to write. Staying up late... sitting at my computer when I really should be house cleaning. And the story itself is starting to really swing too, so that helps ;)

What about you? Ever write more than you thought you did and got excited about it? Do you even pay attention to word count until after your first draft is done? Or does word count motivate you, like it does me?

Losing My MIND

I gave full time photography a shot, but it didn't quite work out as I'd hoped. I'm still working at it and getting clients, but as of last week, I have a part time job M-T-W. I'm not happy about being back at a desk (that's not mine at home with my own computer) for 8 hour days, but it's a necessary evil right now. Maybe one day photography (or writing!) will be enough to pay the bills.

I forgot how exhausting and mentally taxing office work is (especially when you're in training!!). I come home and all I want to do is sleep. Or cry. grrr.

I hope my mental exhaustion doesn't cause me to lose momentum on my WIP. I've found it's been easier this week to revise what I've already written than come up with new material, so I guess I'll consider that progress. Fingers crossed I don't get overwhelmed feeling like there's too much on my plate (the cleanliness of my house is already suffering... sorry house) and stop working on it completely (Note to self: DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN).

Now, I'm off to a photo session (Another note to self: Don't schedule sessions after work again...). I hope you all are having a fabulous week and that you don't lose your mind too. :)

Another Goal, CHECK

I hit 25,000 words exactly on my WIP!! I had just finished chapter 14 and my word count was at 24,995, so what did I do? I snuck in one more sentence in chapter 13 (which is incomplete) to round it off!!

Yes, I thought I'd be at this point several weeks ago (nearly a month ago, in fact), but you know how those things go. Point is, I'm HERE NOW and it feels GREAT. Hitting a huge number like this is just the boost I need to full-steam ahead to 30k! Then 40k, then 70k, then THE WORLD!!

Okay, maybe not the world. I'll settle for taking on draft number two at that point. After I eat lots of ice cream as a reward for my efforts.

And after kickboxing class to punish myself for said reward.

How is your WIP coming along? Hit any goals lately?

TITLE REVEAL! and The First Chapter Denial

We've all heard it before. The first chapter will probably get erased or at least really really really revised before it's all said and done. For my WIP, I was in denial.

The evolution of my first chapter attachment: "But my first chapter is necessary! It starts exactly where I want it to start. I'm not changing it, at least not yet. I'll go back to it after the first draft is done. Okay, maybe it's a little lame. Wow, this is actually pretty boring. I think there's a lot of unnecessary stuff in here. Maybe 70% of it could go. Eh, I'm starting over and just pulling bits I want to keep from the original."

Yep. That all happened mostly yesterday. I realized that I'm not thinking outside of the box enough for my first chapter... I make to many familiar choices, and who wants to read something they feel like they've read before?  

And I'm finally ready to reveal my working title for this project set here

and here....

And my title is...  If Only You Were Italian

I'm still working on a blurb, but there's just enough reveal in this title, I think. :) 

Outlined

I'm usually a pantser, but for this WIP, I'm trying something out of my norm. I opened a blank sheet in Scrivener (my writing program that rocks my face off and even lets me block out EVERYTHING on my computer except for the chapter I'm working on) and made a bulleted list of chapters. I'd already written chapters 1-9, so I started with 10 and typed up a list of little descriptions and snippets of dialogue I don't trust myself to remember by the time I actually write the chapter for real.

I outlined all the way to chapter 34 (my goal is 45, considering the word count average of my chapters--this should also give me room to add/take away as I'm actually writing) and it's already serving as a fantastic guide as I continue writing forward. It's nothing fancy, and half of the sentences are incomplete. It's just for me to know (remember) where I'm headed.

I plan to finish the outline but I'm at a bit of a crossroads and I haven't decided which route to go yet. Maybe I'll turn it into one of those books with alternate endings. "If you choose to wrestle the alligator, turn to page 57. If you turn and run, screaming like a child, turn to page 73."

And I think I'm closer to revealing my working title for this project with y'all. I might need another day or two to keep turning it over on my tongue, maybe write it down on my binder with little squiggles and hearts... but so far it's been met with very positive reactions from my critique gals, so it just might be a keeper. :)

Do you outline? What's your outlining process like? Is it a mess/rough guideline like mine, or a work of art in itself?

A Tisket, a Title

After hours upon hours spent trying to come up with a title for my Italy WIP, even just a place-holder working title, one finally came to me when I wasn't even thinking about it.

I'm not sure I'm ready to share yet... it might be lame. I need time to process. You know how sometimes you come up with something you think is SO cool, then you tell someone about it and you don't get the reaction you were expecting... and a week later--when your bruises heal--you finally say, "MAN that was DUMB! WHAT WAS I THINKING?" Yes. I'd like to avoid that. hahaha.

Hopefully this will inspire me to just keep typing away, full speed ahead. Fingers crossed I don't get distracted by anything else!

Happy weekend!! I've got a photo shoot today and a wedding reception for Handy's aunt tomorrow (I may even let myself eat a slice of cake!). How about you? Anything fun lined up??

I sat down to write, but then...

I got distracted. Does this happen to anyone else? I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm at a good place in my WIP... I actually feel like I know where I'm going with this chapter. Why can't I just do it?!

Instead, I started looking for agents to query. Hello. I'm only on chapter ten. LONG ways from the query. Nevertheless, I got up, flipped through a handful of my favorite books, and took down agent names. I figure, if I've heard of the book enough to buy it, the agent must have a pretty darn good idea how to get books into the right hands. Good place to start... eventually. I'm stopping myself there, with my handwritten list of agents to research LATER when I'm READY.

I don't even have a TITLE. Let me tell you how much time I spent trying to come up with one of THOSE. I usually have the title so early on in my writing process (it's often one of the first things about the story I know), so I'm very miffed about this one. I'm letting it bother me to the point that coming up with a title is keeping me from writing the actual story, and NON MI PIACE (peeah-chay, in case you looked at that and went, huh?! It means, I DON'T LIKE IT!).

What kinds of things distract you? Anyone else cruising along on their stories but have yet to be inspired with a title? Any ideas how to come up with one?? :)

My New WIP Setting, Tilt-Shift Style!

What's tilt-shift? It's a type of photography that I haven't officially tried, but you can fake it in Photoshop. Basically, it makes the photo kind of look like you took a picture of miniatures or a model set.

It's probably not a surprise to most of you that the new story I'm working on is set in Italy. I've been going through all my travel photos for inspiration, and I've been playing with them in Photoshop to give them a fun twist--the tilt-shift twist! It works better on some than others, but either way, it brings a new life to the photos. Fresh and fun. Enjoy!

My MC starts out in Rome

And eventually she settles in Cinque Terre because, well, if you've ever been there, you know how hard it is to leave.

View from her window in Riomaggiore

 Makes me ache to go back. I told Handy I was working on a new story set in Italy and the first thing out of his mouth was, "And I suppose you have to go back for research now?" HA! I wish we could! I'll have to settle for sifting through all the photos and maps and travel guides I collected back when I was planning. Sigh. 

What about you? Do you use photos for inspiration? Ever set one of your stories in a place you went on vacation because you loved it so?!