I'm having real trouble getting motivated to do my personal writing related stuff. My big focus the past few months have been A.C. and Phoenix Rising (also known as Phoenix 1 since there are a total of 5 Phoenix books planned), but even being 8 chapters behind in my revisions doesn't have me motivated enough to work on them. With these 2 books bogged down, so are my shorts and other work.
A lot of it has to do with how much I try to get done in a day. There's the "day job", the DII administrative stuff, the home stuff, and so on and so forth. Somehow writing has been pushed down the line until...until I don't get it done. With the holidays preparing to take over, it's only going to get worse. For example, this week starts the baking blitz I do every year. The early cookies will go out as gifts, the cookies made closer towards the weekend will get put in containers until Christmas. (Maybe. The family tends to attack the cookies making more baking necessary right before the holiday--also making it a good thing we don't do much on Christmas eve.) As much as I love it, it's also one more thing to take up time that could be spent writing.
Which is not to say I'll give up cookie-baking this year. Or any year. We must have our cookies. ;)
There are a lot of writers who tell me they have trouble finding time to write. My response is generally the same: you have to make time to write. And, really, I do, I just don't do the writing. I also don't believe in waiting for the muse to strike (and I'd link to a post about that, but it'll change once I get the motivation to make Alden.nu fixes...which I've also not been at all motivated to get to). And yet, here I sit, dragging my butt and not doing what I need to do. It really does make me despair of being able to handle deadlines.
I do think that the changes over the last few months are part of the problem, the upcoming holidays are part of the problem, and so on. There's just been so much going on--a change in work, a change in focus, people moving in and out again, and so on. It's fracturing my attention. Maybe it will get better after the holidays, but I still think I need to find a way to write through them.
And if anyone's got any suggestions, I'll take them.
As has been most this past year, it's been a busy few months, but some major changes are going to allow me to change my focus in the future. It's all good, but requires me to come up with a routine for my day that works. I'm very excited about it all though. :)
The best news right now is that I'm no longer subbing. A lot of reasons went into it, including a boss change for my husband, which also means a schedule change. The new boss expects people to be in to work at 7 A.M. and they generally don't leave until 3 or 3:30 p.m. Our son's bus picks him up at 9 and drops him off at 4, and my husband's new schedule prevents him from being home for the boy at either time. At the same time, the latest I can be in a classroom as a sub is about 8:30. My husband's job makes more money, so I resigned my subbing position. And happily so. The one thing subbing showed me is that I'm not nearly as suited to being a teacher as I once was. If I had started when I was younger, it might be different now; but a lot has changed about me since my days in college, and my patience with snarky kids appears to be one of the changes.
This does not mean I'm not working, though. I've resigned my editor position with one small press to accept the Senior Editing position for Lilley Press, a new, Canadian, small press. I read slush (guidelines, guys, guidelines! Yeesh!), hire editors, assign accepted manuscripts to editors, and do some editing myself. Our first publications should come out in ebook format early in 2008. First hard copies, depending on how well the ebooks do, should come out in 2009. That's the hope anyway. I'm very excited about it, but the slush alone is going to keep me very busy.
I'm about 8 chapters behind in my A.C. revisions, but they are getting done and reactions from people who have seen the new v5 have been good. A new Alden novel, Phoenix Rising, is in the notes draft stage. I need to work on world building for both as well. As usual, my shorts are getting the least attention, but I'm okay with that. Some of my newer stuff is on the dark end of things--rather pessimistic in their view of humanity. It's an interesting change in my writing, but one i hope isn't permanent. ;)
As for other projects, Alden.nu is still a mess, but on my list to tackle early in the year. Most of my other web related work is on target. The house things I've been trying to tackle will take time since they need some financial investment and we don't have enough for that right now. I am working on healthier living--a journey you can read in my new journal It's About Time. I'm mostly working on the routine and adding exercise into my day. I'm not really working on food changes, but I am watching my food and will eventually make changes that are healthier. Become unhealthy is easy; turning it around is a step-by-step thing that takes time.
The plan is to write in Journeys at least once a week now. My old writing journal is unlikely to become active again since to pull it together means re-posting 100s of entries. I'll probably leave what's done as it is, but I can't easily create new entries for it. It was probably about time, though. My LJ has become home to most of my word count and other writer related posts, and Journeys is home to writing and whatever is left. Sometimes, you just have to accept the changes and move on.
I started subbing again (got to make the rent somehow!), but only part time--meaning only 2 or 3 days a week. So far I haven't had to turn anyone down for have my 2 (preferred) or 3 (if one of my fave teachers begs really hard) booked, but I'm sure that will change once the weather finally goes from sweltering to "Is it cold enough to snow yet? No? Could have fooled me!" This should start sometime in November, maybe earlier. I'm also going to try to limit the number of schools this year. I may have to make the rent, but I also need to keep what's left of my sanity.
This means I'm now trying to compress 2 full time jobs into 5 days. Not fun, but better than it was. Even the editing thing doesn't take up all the time needed for a long term position. My family actually gets to see me in the evenings. But it's still a busy time, and my own work is suffering a little because of it.
And I'm suffering a big case of avoidance on at least 2 things since they both need scenes added. I know. Bad, bad, bad author. I'm working on it. Sorta.
Also coming up this week: Dragon*Con. Yes, I plan to be there, as broke as we are. Mostly on the Writing Track, but there's a little Goth and a little Anime, among others, thrown in for good measure. this will also be the hub's first time at the Con, so I need to spend time with him keeping him from getting lost, spending money, you know...the usual things.
Now add on top of all this that my oldest is here with the grandbaby, and, yea, things are just a bit on the busy side. I am thinking about what I need to be doing, but it's usually too hot and humid (as the hottest part of the day tends to hit in the early evening then stay for awhile) to dig up any motivation for it. Hopefully it'll start cooling soon and the writing won;t be so hard to get to even after working during the day.
The one thing I'm having trouble with right now is balancing my time between activities, a lot of which has to do with me stretching myself a little thin. I'm finally focused on only 2 novels (which may sound weird, but I was bouncing between 4 or 5 for awhile there), but there's a lot interfering with the writing.
For one, the kids are home. While they are older, having an autistic kid doesn't translate into a child who can occupy himself. I have to keep an eye on him, and especially watch for his stimming behaviors which we are trying to limit during the day. Right now that means more TV than i would like, but he's just not a go and play child. Fortunately, school starts in about 2 weeks, which will give me between 9 AM and 4:30 PM kid free. It's easier to work when I don't need to keep looking over and making sure my son is behaving appropriately.
Then there's the editing job. I'm trying to get a line edit job in addition to the position I currently hold, but the position I currently hold has just handed me 8 new projects. I'm not doing a full 8 hour day with it, but it still cuts into my time. No big except that it cuts into the best time of the day to get anything done.
Then there are the things I can't control: the weather, finances, and so on. Between muggy heat and storms, I spend more time off the computer than I should; and the finances and so on are just plain distracting. Stress isn't conducive to writing focus.
It bothers me that, 3 years after the move, I'm still trying to adjust to the climate, still struggling with a schedule, still fighting the financial crap that brought us out here to begin with. Some of it is trying to find a balance between everything that needs my attention. It's more than just priorities, it's figuring out what works time wise to get everything done. For some reason, it's proving harder out here than it was in Cali. Adding the job in the mix and the difference in the climate is making that tougher than I had expected.
I am trying to get through a chapter of A.C. every week, but I do miss every now and then. My shorts are getting shortchanged (no pun intended), my submissions are just starting to pile, and it all comes down to priorities and time.
I have more to say, but I have an editing test demanding my attention and my son is having a bad day.
Yea, balance. What's that? *sighs*
It's been quite a month, with computer meltdowns and other issues cropping up, plus working on an editing project, so time hasn't been what I had hoped. Fortunately, I managed to save all my writing in the computer mess, though I did lose quite a few other things. Not as much as I feared, but something important always manages to get lost or mucked up. In this case, I can't find the codes I need for a bit of software (non-writing related) and can't seem to get a response from the company at all. I even tried to repurchase. I'll wait until tomorrow to attempt to contact the company one more time. If that doesn't work, I'll need to hunt up some replacement software that still works on Win 98 and contact the place that I purchased the software through to see if I can get my money back. Most my other stuff is saved, but, for some unknown reason, my comp won't access the CDs. I suspect my CD burner is toast.
A.C. is up to ch5 in revisions. I showed the earlier chapters to an editor friend of mine and she gave me the thumbs up. So, the revisions are on track even if they're a bit on the slow side. They should speed up a little once I get past ch10, which is the last chapter with anything to salvage from my previous attempt at v4 and v5 revisions. My only concern is making sure the chapters after ch10 have the same tone and polish. There will be a 6th revision to make some very specific changes and to check for technical errors, then it will go out to beta readers. Once it's off to them, I'll look at Quest for Ehlarayn and rework it from either the outline or the narrative draft up.
Phoenix Rising is in the outline stage. I've sorted out 2 of the plot lines, beginning to end. The people in my writing group who are actually paying attention like the story so far. I've also reposted Stolen Priest to the group. The only thing really getting ignored is my short stories. I have a few new pieces that I need to work on, and a couple of older ones I really should revise, but I seem to go through these phases where I'm so focused on the novel work that anything else is just too much of an interference.
It really is rather surprising how much I have managed to finish all things considered. I had to reformat, our phone line was torched by lightning, I've been down at least one or two days a week with migraines, storms have kept me off-line for several days, the husband was in an accident -- he's fine but the car is not. And that's just the major stuff. Hopefully things will settle down now. I have more editing projects coming up, and I'm slowly working out a schedule that allows me time for my own writing. In a month, it will be easier since the kids will be in school (though the daughter and granddaughter will be here). Not sure when the weather will stop kicking me off-line as well, but hopefully that won;t be too much after the kids are out of the house.
A.C. is still in revisions, but it's all posted with my crit group and I'm pulling chapters and getting it done. I'm trying to keep a fairly steady pace, not always easy even when I'm really focused on it -- which I have been. During May, I ended up subbing for most of the month, and that really derailed me (work always does). Then my second daughter moved back in, bringing chaos with her -- less than when she lived here before, but it was still quite a disruption. And now the kids are out and I'm trying to find something other than teaching as a job. A steady pace now days is when I manage to work on revisions 2 days in a row.
I've started Phoenix Rising, the first in a series of 5 related books with different main characters. In fact, they're also at different times in Kree (the nation in which they take place) history. So they kind of stand alone, but they do chronicle the rise and fall of one major house in Kree. The Thalionrhoes become a part of the first council when the last Life Guardian of Alden dies. They resist the pressure from the human members to change the consistency of the council. Later, they create an underground railroad of sorts, this one helping the lyanthry, declared traitors by the council, flee to Serayn. Finally, the council turns on them completely and attacks their manor, razing the land, killing any surviving members they can find.
That's the whole series. Yes, I've had it in my head for some time (like most my Alden novels). Phoenix 1 is the rise of the family to power. The main character is chosen by the last Life Guardian herself to become a council member. And it is she who is by the Guardian's side when she prophecies and dies. This is the main story, and now i have to build the rest -- the conflict from those who would rather the Guardian choose 3 people to take the places the Guardians once held, the conflict with the MC's own house and the spirit guardian that watches over them. Unlike A.C., I don't have this one all thought out yet, so it's going to take me some time to pull just the plotting form together.
I'm considering looking at books 2 and 3 in the Heroes trilogy again too. Neither were long enough rough drafts, so I need to go back a step or two with them and see what I need to do to build them up. I'm thinking I may have to start back at the outline or plotting form and see if I need to develop anything more than I did, then rebuild.
Even if these 3 books never get published, they are certainly teaching me a lot! I'm hoping A.C. will be ready for whole book readers by the end of the year, and ready for me to query agents by next summer, maybe earlier. I keep letting myself get hung up on things that I don't really need to be hung up on. I really have to stop doing that.
The building draft for Under A Blood Moon was finished last week. It came in at 55,112 words. However, it didn't survive the scrutiny of most of my alpha readers. There are some huge plot problems that I need to think about before I work on it, or any of the series, any more, so the novel (and the series, if there will be one) has been set aside for the time being.
I'm already starting to consider another project to work on in its place. So far, it looks like either Mirror Master or Mist & Shadow book 1. Mirror has the least amount of work done (like, next to none), but has been on my mind the most frequently of late. Mist & Shadow has been an on again, off again project that I think is cool, but I just haven't been as interested in it as it deserves if I'm going to work on it. Another one in the consideration pile is Huntress (title not really settled), which is one of the newer of my project ideas, but it isn't nearly as formed as I think it needs to be for me to work on it. I'm obviously still doing some thinking about what to pick up. I don't mind the few days off, but I know I also need to pick something else up fairly soon.
In the meantime, I'm still working on A.C. (which is still a ways from completion, but is also the only book I have in revisions at the moment).
Really, now that I've proven I can draft a book, I really need to finish one.
Under A Blood Moon broke 50k today -- the building draft is now 50,429. I've been keeping pretty steady with doing 1500 words a day on it. I'd do more, but I have other projects that need my attention.
When this draft is done, it's going out to Alpha readers for a plot check. I am now involved in a real life critique group and they have the first 10k for our next meeting, and I have another friend (who used to be in the same online group with me) ready to take the whole manuscript when it's done. And I think I'm really close to being done with this draft: the last of the girls is dead. leaving Randi as the final victim, and she's under police protection. All that's left is to have her run in with the killer and the clean up.
I have realized that I will need to add at least 1 or 2 suspects to the book. As it stands now, there are 2, and while I'm sure the behavior of one of them will have readers thinking he's the killer, it's still too easy to figure it all out. So, once I get the full mss off to my other Alpha reader, I'm going to print the sucker out and make notes to help add those 2 new suspects. I already have an idea for one of them, though he'll get cleared by the third killing. but that's part of the point, right?
The other thing i need to do while it's out to my Alpha readers is to try to get some world building done. This book has been unusual in that I don't "see" it in my head as I'm writing, so I have almost nothing to go on as I'm working. It's very weird. and I've not been inclined to do the necessary world building, so some people don't even have descriptions yet because I haven't taken the time to think about it. I'll get there, I think Assassin's just burned me out on that part of the process. I know I need to do it though, and the time that the Alphas are taking care of business is a good time to do that, especially since it will take the non-virtual friends at least 2 1/2 months to get through it. This is good though -- it will force me to take a little space from it for a bit, something we all need to do.
Yes, I've been gone for a bit. Went to Hawaii to spend time with the oldest and to see my grandbaby born. I got back March 8th, but have been pretty out of it. The time change didn't help any either. Still, some progress has been made, and now I'm pretty much ready to get back into the daily writing thing -- made easier by the fact that I'm taking a break from work. We don't know how long of a break yet. I don't want to go back to subbing, but don't know if not working will remain feasible for us, and it's not looking like a full time permanent position is coming my way any time soon.
So, in the mean time, I'm going to enjoy my writing time.
Finished: "Painted" Submitted it to F&SF. We'll see how it does. I have 2 other new stories in progress: "Iris" and "The Reckoning" plus all the old stuff that's still in progress. I'm not too sure about "Iris", but I do believe that "Painted" and "Reckoning" have a good chance of pro sales. I'm also still waiting to hear from Hitchcock's about "Cameo." I'm hoping the delay in response is a good sign.
Under A Blood Moon is moving along nicely. The notes draft is almost 40k, and I've already lined up a alpha reader. The timing will be good. She wants me to wait 3 weeks, which gives me a deadline for finishing the building draft. She can read it over with all its warts and comment on the story while I add the bits I need to to complete the rough draft, which is the next phase. I'm still enjoying it immensely, with the exception of the world building. I'm just not used to writing something where things are still so vague.
I've finally picked up Assassin's again as well. Because what I've been doing in terms of the revisions hasn't been working, I've dumped v4 and v5 (as far as each of them got -- no more than 10 chapters) and gone back to v3. I see some compromises in the language coming, but the goal is to reach something close to what I want without taking a week to a full month per chapter. Good thing this is my learning novel. Probably an even better thing that I'm determined to finish the sucker, publishable or not.
I'm alternating writing time with house cleanup. The husband and I have decided to go ahead and do some work on the house even if it is a rental, starting with a deep clean.
All of which makes this a busy, but exciting, time. I'm enjoying my time off.
Friday I finished the notes draft for Under A Blood Moon. I took the weekend away from it, other than to pull out my world building notes and set up the building draft. I started my first profile late Monday night, then my allergies hit yesterday and I pretty much had to write the day off. Today I'll get in 3 more brief profiles for the first section (1 location, 2 character), then actually dive into the writing. I've cut my word count goal back to 750 from 1000 new words per day to account for the profiling.
I'm being a little more judicious in my world building than I was with Assassin's Choice. I actually think the fact that I don't see the world and everything as clearly as I see Alden is going to work in my favor with this book. The Alden world building got scary, to say the least, if only because I could see so much. My profiles for the people, places, and things of Alden have been deep and detailed. I think that, as much as anything else, helped derail my working on the novels. This is not to say that what I've done for Alden is bad, I think it's good, it's just overwhelming and it took over my working on the novels. Because I have less to go on with R.K., I should actually get more done on the novels themselves. And, because the language I'm using to write them is simpler and cleaner, they should be much easier to write and complete.
I'm probably going to have to "layer" my work on this building draft more than I've had to on the Alden novels so far as well. First, there are several things I'm still trying to figure out. For example, I've not been too sure about the pov. Traditional pov for "detective" novels has been first person, but I've been writing and thinking in third pretty much sine the get-go. I've debated it a little, and i think I've pretty much settled with third. It's what I'm most comfortable using for this novel, even though I'm actually good at first person (so I'm told). There's a few issues in the world building itself to work out, including how far away I can walk away from current reality and still have Atlanta work as the setting. So with this novel in particular, I'm going to have to write what I know for sure for now and add what I figure out or discover later. This will probably slow down the building draft a little since a few visits to the city are definitely in order.
Which actually seems to fit the whole opening theme of this draft. So far it's been delayed by real life stuff (including a nasty allergy attack yesterday) with more coming up. The kids are home early from school for the rest of the week, which gives me less time to work since I need to help my son manage himself. The end of the month supposedly sees me off to Hawaii to see my first grandbaby born. She doesn't have a computer right now and I don't have a laptop, so I'll actually be taking a vacation from everything usual for me, including my writing.
And that will be as interesting as writing the novel. ;)
