Friday, June 26, 2009

Revisions for ch. 3 done

I am feeling better about my work schedule, because it looks like I will actually be able to revise more quickly than I thought I would a couple nights ago. Chapters 1 and 2 needed so much work that they took a long time to rework. The chapters after them don't seem to need so much pounding. We'll see. I am more hopeful.

I'm trying to decide if I should just send my Readers chapters as I finish them, or if I should limit myself to one email a week? I'd hate to overwhelm two people who have generously given me great feedback. Hmm.

La!
m

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Just realized...

With regards to my goal to revising Liz, I've just realized that if I complete two chapters a week, I will still be a few chapters short before the workshop I want to go to in September.

Grrr. How is it that in the middle of my second week of summer, I'm already behind schedule? Why is it harder to revise something than it is to write it?

Of course, the answer is that my first draft was written with such glorious impetus and flinging of caution to the wind that it flowed easily. Revising this tangled rat's nest into something coherent will take time and patience...I have the latter, but apparently, not the former.

I may have to take up a friend's offer of living in her treehouse for a week to bang this thing out. Wouldn't that be glorious?

Okay, enough fantasy, whining and blogging. I need to go write.

m

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Revisions for ch. 2 done

Yay!

That took much longer than I had hoped, but even though it's summer, I'm finding it difficult to find time to write/revise. I'll have to arrange my days so that I have scheduled time to write, otherwise it won't get done.

R3 really liked Ch. 1, which is awesome. She even unknowingly noted that she liked a place I had revised as a result of R1's comments. Excellent.

I think my research paid off, too. We'll see how the rally near the Marine base plays to the audience.

time for sleep. *yawn*.

m

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Hooray! I'm working again!

Finally some work on Chapter 2!

Also, my dear friends (Reader 2--R2-- and Reader 3--R3)now have copies of Chapter 1. There is no motivator like a friend asking, "So, when's the next chapter coming?" Plus, R2 and R3 are both girls who either write or like reading the for-girl genre, or both. They will be members of the target audience, in other words. R1 can't claim that, though he holds me to standards above those of said genre.

In short: I have two more first readers who have manuscript now! One small step, etc., etc.

AND, I found time to work on the second draft of Chapter 2. I may even find time later today to work on it more. Bliss.

m

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Library Quest

I am working with Robert Monge at the WOU Library on a series of short "web-isodes" that are set in the library. They are supposed to introduce viewers to different parts of the library, but mostly they are just a fun creative outlet for us.

I'm trying to make a campy revisit of Scooby-Doo with a Pushing Daisies kind of schtick set in a college library. There'll be monsters and ghosts and puns and local references galore. It ought to be silly and fun. Not educational at all.

la

m

Monday, June 1, 2009

Visit to Military Base?

Hey, blogosphere/twitterverse: What kinds of things would happen if a liberal, anti-war Presidential candidate were to visit a Marine base on a campaign stop? I need some help here because I don't know the following:

  • Would there be a protest? Where would it be? Outside the base? the building?
  • How big would the crowd be? Would anyone show up? What would their mood be? What kinds of questions would they have?
  • What would the be absolute WRONG thing to say to a room full of military families and personnel on a base that has sent troops to the Middle East?
Leave me a comment and help a novelist get it right...or at least less wrong.

m