Well, I stuck it out through NaNo last month and reached the end of my manuscript. I'm glad I did. While it's really more of an outline (like the outside edges of a puzzle, some people have said), I am really happy with the finished product. It gives me another marketable novel/series I can work on.
I've spent the weeks since NaNo going back over old manuscripts. I now have a plan of action as far as the top three novels I want to clean up and try to sell. Monsters of Lawrence is obviously first. My new Druid Wars book is next (it needs a new title: the current one is terrible). And the third, believe it or not, is my other book from 2011, Online Dating for Demons (also needs a new title, but that's sticking for now). I hated that book so much when I was done writing it, but reading back over it, I was absolutely entranced. It needs some work, but it's got a solid foundation and it has already been through beta readers.
I am still kind of poking at the first Druid Wars book, but once I get past the holidays, I will hit MoL revisions hard. After that, I may try to clean up the Druid Wars book for beta readers before diving into ODD edits.
That's the novel plan. Hah. Novel. Get it? Novel?
Ehem.
I am also going back over every short story I've ever written to decide what goes into my collection (the title for that will be Those Who Wander, and it will be put out by Bottle Cap publishing sometime in May 2016). I'm figuring out which ones are good, which ones need edits, and which ones should never see the light of day again. I'm writing at least three new short stories for it, as well. I had to pull two of them, because they were accepted for publication in other places. Which is fine. Kind of exciting.
So yeah, that is my plan for next year. At some point, maybe after ConQuest (where I will hopefully not only join the Bottle Cap Publishing table, but also speak on a handful of panels), there will also be Verdancy Publishing to think about. Maybe do something with. But I can only think really seriously about the next six months right now. Even that is a little overwhelming.
But, then I just look back at this year and all of the stuff I have accomplished, and it doesn't seem completely insurmountable.
Because in 2015, I:
-Wrote 10 short stories for the Cafe
-Had three short stories accepted for publication
-Wrote a 50,000 word novel
-Cleaned up MoL and sent it to beta readers
-Made a plan for (and started writing the next installment of) the Adventures of Sally Prescott serial
-Spoke on two panels at ConQuest
-Won honorable mention for the fall 24-hour short story contest
-Bought a cover for my short story collection
-Bought the domain for a publishing company
-Made notes for a choose-your-own-adventure zombie novel
-Successfully managed the Lawrence Region for Nanowrimo
-Edited two full-length Muse novels for R.L. Naquin
-Edited a science fiction anthology
-Proofread a horror collection
-Edited all of the short stories in Jack's collection
On top of that, I also got married, adopted a puppy, and ran eleven out of twelve monthly writing meetings.
I'm really doing this, guys. I'm living the writing and editing dream. Sometimes the drudgery and rejection are hard, but I've accomplished so much. My whole writing group, and Jack, we've all accomplished so much. I have this feeling that next year will be even better.
These monthly accountability posts have also helped a lot. It not only helps me keep revisiting my goal, but also revising them to be more realistic. And man, it's cool to see how much I've accomplished.
Thanks for sticking with me this year, if anyone still reads. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, and I will check in with you sometime during the first month of the new year!
Bring it on, 2016. I'm ready for you.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Friday, November 13, 2015
November Update: NaNoWriMo
With the arrival of November comes yet another National Novel Writing Month. My eleventh year participating (although if I'm honest, it's really only the tenth year I've committed to it: the first year I wrote a thousand words then quit). My seventh year as municipal liaison.
And I'm tired.
I was tired last year, but decided to keep on keeping on. I'll get excited by the time next NaNo rolls around, I thought to myself. I'll have the time and energy to keep the region afloat. Besides, even if I don't, I have a co-ML and a whole region full of veterans to back me up.
The trouble is, we're all tired. NaNo has been an amazing way to bring us together and encourage us to develop a writing practice...but the thing is, we've all been doing it for so long, that nothing much changes in November. We already write every week. We already go out once a month to socialize. We have all taken our writing to the next level, to the point where the idea of writing quantity over quality for fifty-thousand words is ludicrous.
So we're at a weird turning point with NaNo. None of us want to lead next year. We'd all participate if one of it is, but there have been talks of mass exodus. Would anyone take over if we all disappeared? It's hard to say.
And while we can't all stick around with nostalgia as our only region, I do feel the need to leave the region in good hands before I quit. It's true, I may burn out (I may already be burned out: I've been late to every event I've gone to, I've skipped events, I have made other people write pep talks and make event reservations) if I don't quite now, but as much as NaNo and this town have done for me, I feel a lot of responsibility to take care of it. Like putting my parents in a nursing home, or something. I can't just leave them at their house, knowing their health may fail at any moment.
From a professional standpoint, it's probably time for me to retire. Trying to run a freelance editing business, write end edit my own novels, write for the Cafe every month, put out a short story collection, and potentially start a publishing company...I need my Novembers to be free and flexible. I can spend a few hours each month making sure all of the writing functions happen every month, but it's hard to put together and attend 3-5 events a week for a month. Even if it's only a month.
Part of this might be the Week Two Blues for NaNo. Some of it might be that Jack has already basically given up writing this month. Part of it might be the continued rejection of stories I think are really good. A lot of it is that I've been sick and exhausted.
I'm going to finish out this NaNo, though. I may not hit fifty thousand words. I may be the most uninspiring ML ever. The region may suffer a bit from my lack of enthusiasm. But I'll see it through this year. And next year, I may need someone to slap the ML application out of my hands.
Because unless someone takes it away from me, I will probably keep doing it forever.
It's probably a good thing I'm not doing weekly posts on the Cafe for NaNo this month. I've had nothing good to say about the event this year.
Even my novel, that was going so well the first week, I've started to dislike and not want to work on anymore. So. Right on track, basically. My pattern is that I finally get into it once I hit thirty thousand, so if I can just write ten thousand more words, it should get easier.
At least I am not alone.I have a whole bunch of writing friends to help me through this.
And I'm tired.
I was tired last year, but decided to keep on keeping on. I'll get excited by the time next NaNo rolls around, I thought to myself. I'll have the time and energy to keep the region afloat. Besides, even if I don't, I have a co-ML and a whole region full of veterans to back me up.
The trouble is, we're all tired. NaNo has been an amazing way to bring us together and encourage us to develop a writing practice...but the thing is, we've all been doing it for so long, that nothing much changes in November. We already write every week. We already go out once a month to socialize. We have all taken our writing to the next level, to the point where the idea of writing quantity over quality for fifty-thousand words is ludicrous.
So we're at a weird turning point with NaNo. None of us want to lead next year. We'd all participate if one of it is, but there have been talks of mass exodus. Would anyone take over if we all disappeared? It's hard to say.
And while we can't all stick around with nostalgia as our only region, I do feel the need to leave the region in good hands before I quit. It's true, I may burn out (I may already be burned out: I've been late to every event I've gone to, I've skipped events, I have made other people write pep talks and make event reservations) if I don't quite now, but as much as NaNo and this town have done for me, I feel a lot of responsibility to take care of it. Like putting my parents in a nursing home, or something. I can't just leave them at their house, knowing their health may fail at any moment.
From a professional standpoint, it's probably time for me to retire. Trying to run a freelance editing business, write end edit my own novels, write for the Cafe every month, put out a short story collection, and potentially start a publishing company...I need my Novembers to be free and flexible. I can spend a few hours each month making sure all of the writing functions happen every month, but it's hard to put together and attend 3-5 events a week for a month. Even if it's only a month.
Part of this might be the Week Two Blues for NaNo. Some of it might be that Jack has already basically given up writing this month. Part of it might be the continued rejection of stories I think are really good. A lot of it is that I've been sick and exhausted.
I'm going to finish out this NaNo, though. I may not hit fifty thousand words. I may be the most uninspiring ML ever. The region may suffer a bit from my lack of enthusiasm. But I'll see it through this year. And next year, I may need someone to slap the ML application out of my hands.
Because unless someone takes it away from me, I will probably keep doing it forever.
It's probably a good thing I'm not doing weekly posts on the Cafe for NaNo this month. I've had nothing good to say about the event this year.
Even my novel, that was going so well the first week, I've started to dislike and not want to work on anymore. So. Right on track, basically. My pattern is that I finally get into it once I hit thirty thousand, so if I can just write ten thousand more words, it should get easier.
At least I am not alone.I have a whole bunch of writing friends to help me through this.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
October Update: Weddings and Nanowrimo
Well, friends, I am officially married to Jack Campbell Jr. The honeymoon was relaxing and amazing and the wedding was fun and went off without a hitch. Well, without any big hitches, anyway. We had amazing weather for the wedding and we vacationed in California for the honeymoon, so of course the weather was perfect for that whole week, too.
The only downside to the honeymoon is that I did not get any writing done. Jack was super productive, but I mostly just relaxed and wrote in my trip journal and read a ton and emailed about last-minute wedding details. And ate and drank a ton.
As fun as it all was, I am glad it is behind me, though. It was a lot of stress and money and my life in absolute chaos. I'm relieved to be settling back into my routine.
Although that routine is already slightly off.
Because National Novel Writing Month is almost upon us. I've been working on scheduling and event planning and organizing the region for November. And also doing a bit of novel prep myself. Things will be nuts for the next month and a half. But at least I'm pretty much old hat at it by now, and I've had a ton of help from the LFK Writers, since most of them are veterans of at least a few years.
The only thing I'm sad about as far as this update goes is that I never did get any editing done on Monsters of Lawrence. I had hoped to be done with that by now, but at this rate, it looks like it's going to become another one of my 2016 projects.
My list of 2016 projects has become quite extensive. I might need to take a few steps back and prioritize some things while allowing other things to take a back burner. I doubt I'll be able to edit and submit my novel, put together a collection of all of my stories, and start a publishing company all while balancing my freelance editing projects and writing for the Cafe.
The rest of this year is dedicated to NaNo and writing one last story for the Cafe this year (a tie-in story for Monsters of Lawrence, so at least I'll be revisiting that world this year). I imagine I will post at least once during NaNo (We'll be live-blogging at the Confabulator Cafe during NaNo, so I'll try to remember to link those here, as well), and do a kind of wrap-up retrospective plus what I want to do next year type post in December.
We'll see how I feel about my project list once the holidays are over. December is usually for being lazy and catching up on reading and TV. If I can write a novel next month and a short story for January in December, I'll consider this year a success.
The only downside to the honeymoon is that I did not get any writing done. Jack was super productive, but I mostly just relaxed and wrote in my trip journal and read a ton and emailed about last-minute wedding details. And ate and drank a ton.
As fun as it all was, I am glad it is behind me, though. It was a lot of stress and money and my life in absolute chaos. I'm relieved to be settling back into my routine.
Although that routine is already slightly off.
Because National Novel Writing Month is almost upon us. I've been working on scheduling and event planning and organizing the region for November. And also doing a bit of novel prep myself. Things will be nuts for the next month and a half. But at least I'm pretty much old hat at it by now, and I've had a ton of help from the LFK Writers, since most of them are veterans of at least a few years.
The only thing I'm sad about as far as this update goes is that I never did get any editing done on Monsters of Lawrence. I had hoped to be done with that by now, but at this rate, it looks like it's going to become another one of my 2016 projects.
My list of 2016 projects has become quite extensive. I might need to take a few steps back and prioritize some things while allowing other things to take a back burner. I doubt I'll be able to edit and submit my novel, put together a collection of all of my stories, and start a publishing company all while balancing my freelance editing projects and writing for the Cafe.
The rest of this year is dedicated to NaNo and writing one last story for the Cafe this year (a tie-in story for Monsters of Lawrence, so at least I'll be revisiting that world this year). I imagine I will post at least once during NaNo (We'll be live-blogging at the Confabulator Cafe during NaNo, so I'll try to remember to link those here, as well), and do a kind of wrap-up retrospective plus what I want to do next year type post in December.
We'll see how I feel about my project list once the holidays are over. December is usually for being lazy and catching up on reading and TV. If I can write a novel next month and a short story for January in December, I'll consider this year a success.
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