End of a Hiatus

It's easy to get pulled in too many directions. Today I found myself saying yes when I should have been asking more questions. I find myself reminded of all those magazine articles with a topic about how to say no. Say no politely, say no assertively, say no even when you think you can do it all.

I can't do it all. Most days I don't want to.

I started to make a list of the things I accomplish on a daily basis. I get tired of it near the afternoon and skip it, but if I don't keep up the list I can't remember what I've finished.

Lists don't just include those little things (like taking vitamins) that slip through the cracks without a reminder. Today I looked up all the work in progress ideas I have in various stages. I have six published short stories that I call done. I have one novel completed that needs a rewrite and I haven't decided to push myself through mentally. I have another novel with a reworkable premise. There are also fifty short stories that I haven't finished or haven't edited or haven't yet published.

Fifty?

I can't believe I've allowed so much time to pass me by without doing something with those ideas. This week I had two more (ideas, not half-written slush pile stuff). Last night I outlined them to give myself direction to tackle them.

I'm at a loss over the fifty mark. Most of them are short- too short for me to think that I ought to put them for sale on their own. However, several of them are candidates to be lumped together into short story bundles.

If you need me, I'm looking into some market research. See you next week.

Rewriting

This month I'm tackling the novel I finished in March. Not that I'll finish the rewrite in a month, but I'm at least starting it.

I've been giving a lot of thought to the beginning. I'll admit I already chopped the first five chapters. Part of it will come back where the backstory is needed. The important part is to figure out how to start. I have an idea now - all I need to do is examine the chapter to see how to put it in.

It's pretty exciting to be making progress. How long will it take until I finish? No one can say.

Revision

I finally pulled out the novel to start revisions. I have notes and I'm doing a read-through. I didn't start at the beginning...

Well, I haven't figured out exactly where it's supposed to start yet. I have some chapters in the beginning, but they need to be cut. I figured out when I finished the book that I began with backstory. Backstory goes in the back, as a friend of mine keeps telling me. The trouble is always finding exactly where it begins.

The action begins where things change. Too many times it's easier to set up the reader, make them take needless meanderings through the parts the writer needs to have to make it work instead of only the good stuff.

Also trying not to keep things that don't belong just because I wrote them well. That doesn't mean they can't be used somewhere - just not in the current story.

Finished!

I should apologize for not posting for a week or so. Everything's been quite busy - and I finished the novel.

It took a year and a half to complete, since I started writing it 1 November 2007 and finished 2 March 2009. I had the idea from mid-January 2007 with a short story that needs to be updated if it's really going to take place ten years after this novel. There is more about my main character's life and I could do sequels if I wanted. We'll just see how the first one goes.

Entwined has been the working title, and I still like it. It has 26 chapters and totals 84,611 words, fitting well within the 'adult novel' length. I know some of that will change with the next draft, since I need to restructure the beginning and I might need to add a little where I finished.

Now I get to make plans and start the next phase for this project. I was (okay, I still am a little) in shock that I really finished it, and I should just let it sit for a bit to get the right amount of distance to really dig in again and get it ready for publication.

Then I also need to decide where and how I want it published. Joy!

Progress on Goals

I have one or two chapters left in my novel. Finally this project is nearing a close. I've passed 81,000 words today, which feels like an accomplishment in itself, despite the need to restructure the beginning. I do have ideas on how to do that, so no complaints. It's interesting that I'll finally complete this novel after almost a year and a half working on it. That isn't long in terms of a usual novel, but it feels like a long time.

I'm sure it would have been finished sooner if I hadn't kept putting it to the side for all the pieces that were difficult to write, or for the times when I didn't feel up to writing this particular project at the time. Writing is often a personal venture, and almost always solitary.

I'm often ambivalent about this novel project. I plan to publish it, especially after the amount of work that went into it, but the big question is always how. It isn't ready for that stage yet, but it's in the back of my mind often. I know I have some major edits, but after that - traditional publisher or self-publisher? Agent or not? E-book or paper? Who's my target audience? (Okay, I actually have a pretty good idea on that one.) How much time and effort will I spend promoting and marketing this novel? How large is the market I'm focusing on? So many questions, so much time left to put into the manuscript before it's ready to go...

To the other goal, I did send out a submission this month - other than the botched story from the last post. So, there is progress and it's in the direction I want to go.

Novel Progress

An outline is treacherous, but it takes a long time to figure out what needs to happen in advance. While it might be easier to write 'by the seat of your pants,' the outline gives a good map of what needs to happen. Unfortunately most of it has been in my head, and it can be easy to get confused between projects. Or if one project takes a long time and there are breaks, like this one.

I might yet finish by the end of the month. I'd like to. I have an idea where I might send it for publication. Have to think about rewrites, though. At least if I get it in shape this month, I have a chance to polish it by the end of the year.

Novels are such long projects. Short stories can be more fun, especially for more immediate gratification, but it's also harder to make a living that way.

Resolutions

1. I will post to this blog 3 times a week. (It doesn't seem like much, but starting the habit is the first step.)

2. I will submit a short story to a magazine at least once a month.

3. I will finish my languishing novel and submit it . I will also find at least two other possibilities by that point.

4. I will prep and write a new novel. (Idea's been brewing for about six weeks so far and I've begun the prep work.)

5. I will not be afraid to revisit these goals as needed depending on stress levels and life distractions.

Reviewing the Year

I guess it's just something we all do at this time of year. Look at the previous year and look ahead to the next one. We make goals and decide how to change our lives for the better.

Looking back, I've published three short stories. I've racked up a few rejections as well, which is good for any writer and her ego. Two rewrite requests also figured into that, and we'll see where they lead me. One resubmitted, the other is still brewing to figure out what's needed.

I made progress on the novel; I made it mostly through a rewrite and nearly finished. That seems an odd way to put it, but after finishing NaNoWriMo in 2007, I left the book at its 50,000 words for six months without touching it. I put all the little snippets in order, then began to rewrite as I went along and smoothed the pieces to make a whole. I finished 16 chapters, with another 3 at the end and a gap in between where I know what I need to say, just haven't done it yet.

I even found somewhere to publish it, but I need to finish it first. A possibility, anyway, which is better than I had before. Perhaps it was a productive year.

The Next Great Novel

Some of my friends talk about writing a novel. I attempted NaNoWriMo last year, but I still haven't finished the story. I did finish the 50,000 words required, but after that just stopped.

For months - about six.

I still haven't finished the book. I looked up the average time to finish a novel, and it's about three years. I am pretty sure I'll finish it by the end of 2010, but I'd really like to be finished sooner. I'm most of the way through the first rewrite, which included linking the random scenes I first wrote together. I have about 67,000 words, and I'm betting about 10,000 to go. It's a lot better than the first time I wrote it, but I still haven't finished.

I know there are writers out there who finish full-length novels in 30 days or less because you can see their word counts soar during the NaNoWriMo stretch. Perhaps one day I'll join them.

But I have to finish this novel-in-process first!