Sunday, December 27, 2009

Dark Eyes: Troubled Minds

I have officially started writing the second book in the series. I'm getting positive feedback from the first and am excited to continue the story. If all goes well, I'm going to start seeking out an agent after the first of the year.

Here's to pursuing dreams!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Long Break

I took a long break and am now re-reading the book straight through. I have 5 other people reading it and am hoping to get some positive feedback so I can move forward. I already have book 2 in the series started in my head.

I must say, I am fairly pleased with how this one has turned out. I read the words and marvel that I was the author.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Sleep well, my characters...

I have put my book down for a week to rest. I have done all I can and need to come back with a fresh set of eyes. As I sit down at my computer, I'm at a complete loss for what I'm supposed to be doing. Even though there is a book for me to read sitting right next to me, I find it hard not to be staring at the monitor and running my fingers feverishly over the keys.

I'm looking forward to reading my book one last time before I hand it out to be read. I hope it's as captivating when I return to it as it was when I put it away.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Edits, edits, and more edits

Going through it again, trying to find places to make it shorter. I'm about 1/4 the way through and have cut out about 8000 words. Not bad, but not on pace to cut out the 100k words needed. After this go through, I'm going to take a small break from it and read a different book before I go back through it again. Maybe fresh eyes will help pull it all together. I'd really like to have it out to my readers by the end of the month. *crossing fingers*

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Now I've done it...

Well, I've decided to do some editing before I have anyone read it. Trying to go through and make the chapter lengths more uniform and edit out some of the unnecessary dialogue. I'm so glad I saved my original draft; I'm sure this story is going to be vastly different than my original vision when I'm done.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

What now?

Ok, so the last words were written and I've read it all the way through, now what do I do? I'm terrified to let someone read it, for fear that they will think it's awful, but I know I have to do it. Should I go for a copyright? Do I take out the stuff I think needs to be edited out or just let my readers tell me what they think should go?

And now I've started reading everything anyone has ever said about how to get an agent/publisher and my brain in hurting. Does anyone know a reputable publishing company that will just pay me now for this book? Ok, probably not, but I have a feeling this is going to be the hard part.

I think I'll go take some Tylenol and make lunch.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Could it really be true?

Did I really just finish writing the last words of my book? It seems totally surreal at the moment. I'm not sure if it's the lack of sleep or the complete astonishment of the accomplishment.

I do feel a sense of loss. My characters' story has been told. What now? Well besides trying to outline my next adventure with them, I'm going to be cross eyed reading, editing, and rereading my 450 pages of story. I know I'm going to have to find a way to shorten it some or it will never be accepted by any publisher.

But I don't think I'm going to worry about that tonight. I'm going to finish my drink and snuggle in bed with a good movie on and fall into a long overdue deep sleep. Now someone please tell my children not to wake up and all will be good. =)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Progress

I'm finally past the writer's block, I hope, and am well into my final chapter. I just have some loose ends to wrap up and then an epilogue to write and I'm ready to start the editing process. I know there's still a lot of work ahead of me, but I really feel good about how this has progressed.

I suppose I'm a little disheartened at the lack of external enthusiasm, but I can't really expect people to get excited about something they know nothing about. My husband is going to start working on finding a way for me to publish a portion of the book safely online and as soon as I am done writing, I'm going to get it copyrighted. Then I'll be able to share more of the details of the book, hopefully generating some excitement for the finished product.

Who knows, maybe someday I'll be able to go through these old blogs and laugh at it all.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Milestones

It's kinda fitting that I reached my next milestone during my chapter called Milestones. I have now reached 200,000 words and 402 pages written. It was May 23rd when I reached 100k words and 200 pages. I think it's pretty good to write another 100k words in 3 1/2 weeks.

I'm sure I won't write another 100,000 words, though. I'm in the middle of the second to last chapter, so maybe 50,000 more words or so. We'll see.

Still fighting writer's block a little, but we're getting closer to the big action, which should be lots of fun to write. =)

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Writer's block?

Seriously. I'm so close to the end of the story. I know what's gonna happen and how, but I can't seem to get the story moved to the "end game". I could blame it on lack of sleep, but I think I've become a little too addicted to the internet this week. I need to just shut down and write.

Here's to a hopefully better day of writing!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Unexpected chapter

I finished chapter 13 last night (yay!) and am probably 1/2 way through chapter 14, which was a completely unplanned, unoutlined chapter. I had such a hard time trying to make the transition from chapter 13 to the planned chapter 14. But now that I've taken on an unintended tangent in the story, I realize that everything is going to piece together much better now.

I had the chance to write about 7 pages while sitting at a swim meet this morning. Although I'm exhausted from being up late writing and up early for the swim meet, I'm pretty pleased with my progress.

Now if I could just find a way to get a nap...

Getting closer

Ahhh... Started chapter 14 tonight. I should be 2 chapters from the end, but I think I'm dividing this chapter in two, so maybe 3 more to go? Crossing my fingers that this pseudo writer's block goes away soon and I can bust out these last chapters within the next couple of weeks.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

What am I going to do with these chapters?

I had everything mapped out; fifteen chapters period. The problem is my first chapter was 3 pages and my 12th was close to 60. So I combined chapters 1 and 2 and cut chapter 13 in half. But I have a bad feeling I'm going to have to go back and do some more chapter breaks. I mean, who wants to be stuck reading a hundred page chapter, hoping for a break to stop for the night. Ugh! The story's almost written, yet there is so much more to do.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Why am I writing this story?

Some time ago, I sat down and wrote a list of topics I wanted to write books on, ranging from biographical to fiction to science fiction. The ideas floated in the back of my mind, but since I always was a mom first, I never really had the time or desire to sit down and write an actual story. With our tax refund this year, we bought a Blu-ray player and went to the video store to find Blu-ray movies to watch. Twilight had just been released and it sounded interesting to me (I'm always up for a good vampire movie), so I rented it... and then bought it. But I was frustrated because I had a lot of questions that I wasn't getting answered by watching the movie alone. So I bought the first book in the series by Stephenie Meyer, hoping to get my questions answered. I didn't expect to get hooked on the series. After reading 2/3rds of the first book the first night I had it, I ordered the entire series from Amazon and spent the next two weeks reading them any chance I had. When I was done, I was inspired to revisit one of my book ideas I'd had on the back burner for years. After discussing my book idea with my husband and talking with him about all the problems in the story I still had to solve before I could start writing it, I came up with the groundwork for Dark Eyes.

Soon, I began outlining my story and coming up with character names in a notebook (which is now my most highly guarded personal item next to my kids). The ideas have been flowing from my head day and night, often with me staying up until all hours of the morning trying to get the story that's in my head typed up.

I'm amazed at how often when I'm typing up the story, I marvel at what I've written, like it was just another book off the shelf I was reading. It's made me laugh and cry and get so frustrated, I didn't know how I was going to get past the part I was on to get to the next part that was already written in my head.

I suppose everyone who sits down and decides to write a book hopes that it will do well, so I'm not embarrassed to admit that I'd love to be the next Stephenie Meyer or JK Rowling. Realistically, I know that probably won't happen, but I hope that others will enjoy reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. If nothing else, it has been an amazing experience to finally put down on paper this story I've had in my head for so long. And along the way, I've been able to make it so much richer than it ever was in my head.