December Noveling!

[allgirls]

November's thread here

Wow! Nanowrimo is done! Back to the work at hand. I've sent my first five chapters to be read by one of my readers. The other two are busy right now, they'll get them in a week or so.

I'm going to stick to minor edits and stuff for a bit, I've got another sick kid, bladder infection and the beginning of strep throat(most likely) and it's close to Christmas..I have a lot of real life stuff to do.

So I'm living with my characters a bit now, just imagining their lives and writing notes on new nuances in their character.

Did I mention the second draft is complete?

I love my story..there are parts of the description that amazes even me..but mostly I'm just loving the entire process.

Oh yeah and my poetry book will be published on Dec. 15! It's been registered with the National Library of Canada. So excited about that!

[allgirls]

I am on chapter 20 of a third draft...it's getting better...

[Bella Catalina]

Yay for your poetry book, allgirls!

I've taken a few days off since NaNo, and now I'm working on the final scenes of my first draft of current WIP. 8 days until we leave for three weeks in the UK, so I have a busy week ahead of me. I really would love to have these final scenes (maybe five or six) completed before we leave so that I can work on something new while we're away. MIL is a middle grade (is that what books for 9-12 yo's are called?) author so she will be happy to let me disappear to write for a couple of hours every day.

[allgirls]

Ok..taking a break from my novel...and changing its name because I discovered that there are not one but two novels with the same name. Was in bed all night trying to think of a name..just came to me now...will search Amazon for duplicates but I think it's a good, original one..

Wrote an outline for a story that's been percolating and I finally had to get it on paper and out of my brain..it was interfering with my wip.

Nano work is being put away..likely for good..possibly to return in a few years..that makes two now waiting in the wings.

Poetry book is great...got some pre orders...yay!

Trying to write every day...even if it's only a little on the blog or the other blog or the other one....I now know that I will finish my novel and it will be done...

[MommyHawk]

allgirls - that stinks...what's the new title going to be?

I blogged about the fact that I don't touch my novel during Nov and Dec because 'tis the season of TOO MUCH already, why ruin my book by jamming in some writing time??!?

BUT, I started to edit it the other day for an hour and I wrote a great prologue...so I guess I'm a liar

I want to finish this darn book! It's done, written, it's just the final polish and shine that is dragging me down...and I'd love to find a class I could take on how to edit more effectively, but I think I'm just wishful thinking

[midnightwriter]

I'll be joining in! Finally I feel my mind and spirt are free to work on my second novel. It is a novel in flashes (in very, very short chapters) and I have about 15 or so in the opening, and some from the middle, and some close to the ending. But I'm stuck on one particular scene / flash.

I tried to write it months ago, and it was the worst piece of writing I've ever done. I tried to write it several days ago, and it didn't flow any better.

The funny thing is I can see the scene in my head. Usually when I see a scene, I can write it. But not that one.

[allgirls]

Yay! Now that I've outlined I'm ok to leave things. I have several scenes in my head like that.

I had a death scene in my WIP that was so vivid I didn't realise until much much later that I hadn't actually written it on paper

I was just going along reading and I come to a comment...enter death scene here and thought..oh no I lost it, a computer glitch or something and then I thought about it and couldn't remember actually writing it. This fiction writing thing is nuts

I do like imaging the love scenes with my main male character though...he's hot!

Today I applied for a paid writing gig. Don't know if I will get it, don't know if the pay is any good, don't know if I'll take it but it's impressive sounding. We'll see. Can't hurt to try right?

No writing lately...feeling blah today, focussing on blogs and some real life stuff..starting a nutritional snack program at the school and it's gonna be a time sucker but so worthwhile...I have to do it. I'm the acting coordinator and if I take it as a "job" there is some compensation..not a lot, I think $500. I would do it for free so that's gravy right?

Novelling will happen again though..my characters haunt me and make me write!

[Bella Catalina]

allgirls, you're not the only one with a crush on your male MC Mine is absolutely infuriating, and totally wrong for me, but what can I say...
Sorry about the novel title, but for coming up with a new one!

midnightwriter, I've been having that problem, too. It's frustrating me to no end, but I can't afford to stall any longer.

Originally Posted by MommyHawk

I want to finish this darn book! It's done, written, it's just the final polish and shine that is dragging me down...and I'd love to find a class I could take on how to edit more effectively, but I think I'm just wishful thinking

For revision/edits, I use Holly Lisle's one-pass revision. It's not for everyone, but it works for me. I haven't looked into her new course, but she's started one called How To Revise Your Novel that could be worth looking into...

As for me, I'm slogging away through the final scenes. I think I'm half done, and we leave a week from today, so I need to get a move on.

[MommyHawk]

Originally Posted by allgirls

I had a death scene in my WIP that was so vivid I didn't realise until much much later that I hadn't actually written it on paper

I do this all too often...I can see the movie of my story played out in my head over and over all day long that I feel like I've already finished it...

too funny

[Bella Catalina]

I finished my first draft of my WIP last night and it currently stands at 118K It feels so great to have finished it, and now I wish I had done it sooner... I sat on it for eighteen months, unwilling to write the final half-dozen scenes because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to my characters .

We leave on Tuesday for 3 weeks in the UK , and I'll be back in January, hopefully ready to start revisions.

[alaskaberry]

hi, subbing. Been working on my YA novel for a bit too long! It doesn't help that it goes on hiatus periodically--I've yet to perfect the art of knitting and writing at once

When do you mamas write? I write mainly at night, and I write by hand, then type up onto the computer. It just flows better for me when I write longhand. Presently I have about 7 chapters done longhand...and only two typed up. Gah. My main prob is that I'd like to be able to wake up early to write...but unless I go to bed at 8p and wake up at 3a, baby wakes up right along with me! I am a night owl, but after the kids go to bed I usually need about 2 hrs to unwind...then I can write. My other problem is that the more I read (I know, I should be doing reference work afterward, but I adore reading history books!), the more I realize what an awesome task it was to have undertaken (the novel is set in Dickens' London, mid-century).

[MommyHawk]

I don't know what's happening...I have been editing and writing up a storm!!! I blogged that I never write in December - ha! I don't think I've ever written so much in one month before...I've written two new chapters, reorganized my other chapters, added a prologue, and am editing up a storm...it's like my 'voice' finally kicked in and I want to edit to polish and shine everything else I've written to make it cohesive and, I hope, rock!

I waver horribly with letting anyone read what I have though. At first my novel hid it's purpose and main topic - rape - but now it's within the first paragraph of the prologue and IMO it's really taken the whole book by the horns and turned it right-side-up. It's not really an in-your-face book, it's more inspirational and healing and fun/funny, but the first few chapters are no longer holding back. And while I really feel this new turn has strengthened the entire book, I'm not this outspoken as a person in real life, so to now that my characters basically have taken over and made the novel entirely bare and blunt, I have to find some sort of bravery so I can let others read it...kwim?

the book has turned from chic lit to woman's fiction overnight and I have to say that with this topic, it had to be. It had to say more of the naked truth so it could bring this elephant-in-the-room topic to life and cause some pain before the MC got to her healing...I don't know. It's really taken my writing to a whole new level. No more beating around the bush. I'm liking it!

[MommyHawk]

Originally Posted by Bella Catalina

I finished my first draft of my WIP last night and it currently stands at 118K It feels so great to have finished it, and now I wish I had done it sooner... I sat on it for eighteen months, unwilling to write the final half-dozen scenes because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to my characters .

We leave on Tuesday for 3 weeks in the UK , and I'll be back in January, hopefully ready to start revisions.

congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MommyHawk]

Originally Posted by alaskaberry

When do you mamas write?

wow...um, really any and every chance I get. I used to complain that motherhood - aka: small children - really got in the way of my writing. But now I'm looking at it as a blessing. If I didn't have so many distractions, I'd never feel compelled and eager and downright HAVE to write any chance I got. I'd wait for the perfect time with perfect silence and probably waste all my time...when you don't HAVE time to write? You don't waste a drop of a moment to do so...

* early morning when I can't sleep.
* late night when I can't sleep.
* weekends when DH can hang out with the kids

but I do say this: daydreaming about writing IS writing. The more you think about your characters, plot, outline, the better you make of your time once you DO get a chance to sit down and write .

[allgirls]

Originally Posted by MommyHawk

but I do say this: daydreaming about writing IS writing. The more you think about your characters, plot, outline, the better you make of your time once you DO get a chance to sit down and write .

Yes! I haven't been "typing" writing but I've got entire descriptive scenes, plot revisions and other things completely "written" in my brain at any given time...when I sit down to type...it's easy at this point!

[sweetm]

heyyyyyy!!!!

congratulations !

[allgirls]

I have printed 35 chapters(half of the novel) to start major revisions..it's going awesome..so much easier on paper..plus I can sit anywhere and do it!

I got a new printer for Christmas!!!

I'd print the rest but I'm out of paper!

[1jooj]

Have not been writing/moving forward on my work for the month, but have been thinking hard about major issues all month. I listened to an interview with the author of Up in the Air, and realized something important that will require me to approach my characters differently. I was wrapped up in my own ideas about what's important. I need to back up a little, back off a little, and let facts and events speak for themselves a little more.

As minor as it sounds, it is indeed a breakthrough.

[allgirls]

I've printed my entire manuscript and oh it's so easy now to do the editing revising! I printed one side and can note on the blank page beside it...awesome! Lots of red ink all over but it's a beautiful thing!

[MommyHawk]

I've been using my printed out first draft to start a fire and keep it burning all day long ...I just realized that it's sooooo different from my current draft due to all the edits and my writing is so much better now that I don't want anyone to read the first draft! My grandmother was in town for the holidays and took a few pages and started reading..."I can't tell what's going on, it's all over the place..." yeah...that's when I decided it was time to burn it

Goal for 2010...finish edits by my end of March birthday and start submitting it...and start my next book! Either the sequel to this one (The Bell Sisters Series)... or one of 5 other ideas I have stewing up in my head...

FUNNY: I told DH all my book ideas (all 6 of them, including the one I've already written) and he said, "Well, geee...no wonder you don't listen to me when I talk!"