9 posts tagged “in progress”

Yes, it's been a month since i last posted.  No, the progress hasn't been so good of late.  Seems I have a touch of SAD, plus some life stress stuff going on, and I'm struggling to make a schedule that works in the sense that I actually get things done, and all of this has interfered with just about everything.  The one thing that is getting done is my editing work, but that's purely because it's for someone else...and there hasn't been that much coming in or to do of late.

For about 2 weeks, I did nothing but sleep -- the consistently overcast skies made me more and more down, more and more lethargic, until, somewhere near the end of those two weeks, there was no doubt about it: I was depressed.  The sun finally came out for a few days and I was instantly better despite the fact that the other issues in real life were still issues.  Since then the clouds have been in and out, and so has the lagging, dragging, put me to bed feeling.  The biggest frustration is how this also affects my night time work -- I'm just too plain tired to want to do much of anything at any time.

I finished A.C. chapter 27 in a timely manner, then 28 took 2 weeks.  Now I'm trying to slog through 29, but finding myself dragging on it as well.  As a result, I'm so far behind on my novel challenge that I dropped it.  I am still working on my crit challenge (a little behind, but I think it's still doable) and the world building challenge (also behind with a 4500 word count required for each of the next 2 weeks to make it, but I think I can do it).  I've switched from A.C. world building to Phoenix world building for the challenge just to be sure to make my word counts.  Besides, once the basics are down, I find it hard to world build too far ahead of where I'm at in the revisions.  With the way revisions are going on A.C. now, it looks like it will come to about 130k, give or take, but I suspect cuts are coming in a few chapters towards the end, so we shall see how close that is.

I have another project starting to tug at me a bit, but it definitely needs some background work before I can start developing the plot and actual novel(s).  I'm considering picking up a notebook and just fiddling around with it while I continue to work on A.C. and Phoenix -- nothing major: basic world development, character histories, working out some of the decisions I need to make before I can start writing.  Those things will take awhile, so I doubt I'd start the actual writing until well after A.C. is off my plate, so to speak.  Of course, then I have Quest to worry about, but hopefully it won't be nearly as difficult to put together.

I do have to say, A.C. has been quite a journey.  Sometimes it's been as frustrating as hell, but I think I've learned quite a bit about writing in general and my process in particular.  Even if it never gets published, that right there makes it a success.  At least it will once I actually finish it.  ;)

Both in life and with my writing.  Life right now is a bunch of annoying, but necessary doctor appointments.  Taking care of a recurring female related problem and finally getting back on my heart medication.  Just can't love being winded all the time.  Kids are out of school, though youngest will be going to summer school in June.  Husband is working.  Things aren't better than they were before, but they aren't worse, so this is good.

I'm on ch. 23 of Assassin's Choice and almost 34k in on Phoenix Rising.  Plus I picked up my Novel Plot Building book again and just started chapter 4.  I'm actually sailing through A.C. at the moment.  I'm still behind but managing a chapter a week (both v4 and v5 revisions), sometimes going into a second chapter.  It looks like I'll finish 2 months after my self-imposed deadline, than I'll need to make the v6 revisions I have planned.  Most of those shouldn't be too hard though—the big ones involve some character/race changes, but even they aren't that big.  I expect the book to go out to beta readers by the end of the year.  I'll take a break and early next year start thinking about the query letter, outline, and synopsis.  NOT looking forward to that, actually.  :P

The night owl schedule is definitely a big part of the productivity.  When I do finally get out of bed, I'm usually quite ready to get to work rather than needing time to wake up and figure out my day.  At night, I use my most creative part of my cycle to make progress in my revisions, which seems to be really helpful in keeping me going despite being at the most difficult part of the novel.

I've given up on shorts for the time being, maybe permanently.  Shorts are a hard length for me, the market hunting frustrating and exhausting, and the pay not worth the time put into the process.  Granted, I don't write to make a living...yet, but, at the same time, I'm not writing to put more money into trying to get published than I get out of it.  I have a few credits, some of them in some pretty decent zines.  For now, I'm content on that front and just want to focus on the books, which I'm more comfortable with anyway.  It may be awhile before I get published again, but I'm okay with that.

We had a wonderful holiday, but I'm glad it's over.  My oldest daughter and her family came down on Christmas Eve and spent a few days with is, middle daughter was over for the day with her boyfriend (who left right after we ate), and the kids father was out for about a week or so.  The gift pile was just scary, even taking into account there were a lot of people doing the giving and a couple of extra people receiving.  Not much writing done in December at all--just too busy.  The kids went back to school on January 3, and I've spent most of this last week trying to catch up on a few things.  But now it's time to get back into the groove...or to find a groove to get back into.  ;)

My first priority is A.C., which I want done and out to beta readers by November.  It's a late date, but I have the current v4/v5 combined revision I'm doing to finish, then some major changes for one of the characters to make in a v6 revision.  I'm keeping a to do list for v6 as I work through v4/v5.  Most of it is nit picky things, but I'm changing the race of a character (dropping the previous race completely out of the Alden world) and that will require some larger changes.  I suspect beta readers will find places where I missed things.  ;)

I'm also working on Phoenix Rising.  The notes draft is going pretty well, but is minus notes and I suspect has some redundancy.  I'll finish it, print it, make notations of what needs to be fixed, and revise the notes draft before moving on to the building draft.  I need to work on world building for it (and A.C. as well).  I've also got Stolen Priest out for me to look at, but it's a pretty low priority for me right now.

Nine shorts are in various stages of being worked on: "A Single Parent In A Married Relationship" (essay), "Blood Whispers" (Vampire), "The Reckoning" (SF), "Gift of Writing" (Supernatural), "Magda" (??), "Iris" (SF), "Rebuilding After Rejection" (Article; being updated), "Promises" (Vampire), and "Fairy Dragon" (brand new Fantasy).  Most of these are in various stages of being revised, although "Fairy Dragon" is so new the rough isn't finished.  Several are a couple of years old, which is my problem with shorts--they aren't a priority for me.  They'll eventually get done; I'm just not one to impose deadlines on them since they tend to get pushed aside more frequently for other things.

The only other project to worry about is fixing Alden.nu.  I tried to give it a start this morning, but there's a problem with the MT install, so I have to wait until the fella who handles the server gets back online to fix it for me.  Alden.nu will take awhile to get back together anyway--most of the areas that have problems have to be restored page by page.  That's a lot of pages to have to get back online.

Goals for 2008:
» 450,000 words
» Finish A.C. and get it out to whole book readers
» Finish Phoenix rough draft and revisions to v3
» at least 1 professional publication (no, I never learn)
» finish "Letters", "Single Parent", and "Blood Whispers"
» write 6 new shorts
» read 1 book a month

The only thing I'm worried about on that list is the 6 new shorts, but the rest should be quite manageable. :)

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.

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.

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.

I just realized that I'm starting this year a little under productive.  I only have 3 shorts I'm revising (I did just start a 4th, but it's not done and the ending is being difficult) and only one novel being worked on at all -- and it's not in revisions.  This is a far cry from having at least 5 shorts in various stages of revisions, 1 novel in revision, and at least 1 novel being plotted or written.  I do have a bunch of poetry that I'm getting feedback on, but poetry isn't my usual focus.

While this seems weird to me -- to not have so much in progress at once -- I'm not sure it's a bad thing.  Work tends to eat up my time, so having less on my plate to work with means getting more finished up.

On the other hand, I usually work better under pressure.

I'm not quite sure how to address this.  Do I start another nove just have one of my other bazillion ideas in progress?  While I'm aiming to do a few more shorts this year, I just haven't been into dhort stories of late.  Do I just let it go and work with what I have?  Actually, that's probably what I'll do, but I'm definitely used to having more options to choose from when I sit down to write.

I'd say that maybe that's why nothing is 100% complete and being subbed on the novel front, but the truth is that Assassin's WOULD be done (or close to done) if I hadn't gotten all hung up on the language.  Randi Kayde has the advantage of not being a big deal on the language end.  As long as I can get the story to work and not reveal too much too early, I'll be home free, so to speak.

I do tend to work on more at once than I should.  In the past this has been particularly true of my novels.  The problem has been that I'ma slow writer -- if I work only on one thing at a time, it would still take a long time for anything to be done, and that can be very frustrating.  Nothing done feels like nothing accomplished.  The fact that something is accomplished doesn't change how it feels.  Then there are the issues with the ADHD.  I'm easily distracted, have problems with finishing, and get bored quickly.  Meds help, but they don't remove the symptoms.  They do help with management, however.

Over the last few years, I've developed a management system that takes all this into account.  It's been generally working pretty well for me.  I work on one new Alden novel at all times.  This is because I have more planned for Alden than any other series.  But the writing for Alden is even slower than other writing, so I also work on one non-Alden novel.  This second novel is my "weekend novel" -- it gives me a break from the harder to write Alden work without taking over my writing time.  Shorts and poetry tend to go faster, but aren't as important to me as my novels, so I work on those on a more haphazard, as can bases.

My current works in progress . . .

Novels In Progress/Revision:
» Assassin's Choice - In Revisions
» Chosen
» Under A Blood Moon
» Stolen Priest (novelette) - In Revision

Assassin's Choice :: The novel I developed my novel plotting process with and the novel I've worked on the longest (because it took me 15 years to realize I can't write in an organic manner.  Currently in process: revisions 4 & 5.

Chosen :: This is the first book in the series that actually started it all.  I set it aside because I wanted to make sure I had the writing style for Alden down before I wrote it.  Now i'm working on the building and rough drafts, which will be set aside and revised at some other time.  Currently in process: the outline.

Under A Blood Moon :: The first Randi Kayde novel, inspired by another book (in the sense of "I can do better than this!").  This is my first attempt at anything in the Crime/Mystery genre (with a fantasy foundation, of course).  Currently in process: the outline.

Stolen Priest :: I gave in to "fan" pressure and wrote thise novella for a favorite character in assassin's Choice -- Dimas.  Currently in process: revision 3.

Shorts In Progress/Revision:
» "Ravani's Dance"
» "Letters"
» "Painted"
» "Reckoning"
» "Gift of Writing"
» "Rebuilding After Rejection" *
» "He's not Broken"
» "Where the Power Lies" ^
» "The Lies of Power" ^
» "Fallen Kingdoms" ^
» "Sayia's Price" ^
» "Birth of the Phoenix" ^

^ = for an Alden anthology; * = published

Poetry Pile:
» "Too Much"
» "For the Children"
» "She's Grown"
» "Worked Out"
» "A Political Statement"
» "Catnap"
» "Soured Meat"
» "My Season"
» "Restless"

Poetry tends to sit the longest.  It's also unusual for me to have so much at once as I'm not a big poet.  In all honesty, novels seem to be my natural length.  Shorts actually were quite a struggle to learn, but I did eventually get them down to some degree.  Every now and then I still get a critique that says something to the order of, "this should be a novel."  I generally resist the temptation.  I have too many novels planned as it is.