Hello Everyone!
I finished the Book In a Month (BIAM) challenge/NANOWRIMO in August quest on Saturday, Sept 11, 2010, with a total of 50,021 words, a completed "A" plot, and lots of "B" plot sketches! The book is not "finished," but it has a good shape, and I'm pleased with it. The log line reads something like "Pride and Prejudice (or Bridget Jone's Diary) meets a rural Oregon alpaca Farm."
I wasn't sure I was going to make it because there were several days when I didn't write a word because my schedule was derailed or because I was just too damned tired to write. That might have to do with me being 7 months pregnant during the month, and chasing a toddler. You know, life.
Anyway, if your goal is to write 1,667 words a day every day, and you find yourself facing three days of big, fat, goose eggs (that's 5,001 words, btw), it can feel like you'll never catch up. However, I have an amazingly supportive husband who took the toddler for a couple mornings, which allowed me to dig myself out of this hole. I also have to give thanks for double decaf soy mochas. Decaf may not have caffeine, but it is very stimulating, anyway.
Besides life and the toddler, one thing that got in my way this time was a bit of a slow-down in the second act of the book. This is where the books Book in a Month and Save the Cat really, really helped. Save the Cat is actually a screenplay book, but I have been told (and experienced) that the beats in a screenplay correspond rather nicely with those in a novel. Also proving this point, the BIAM book was written by Victoria Schmidt, a woman with a film background. Many of the "beats" she describes in her book closely correspond to the ones in Snyder's book.
What this means is that when I was stuck in the second act of the book, I could look at Snyder's beat sheet or Schmidt's equivalent and think to myself, "Oh, yes. This is the 'fun and games section.' What can I do here that would be fun?" or "Oh, yes. My villain needs to be more evil. What can I do to make her truly awful?" This would prompt me to go on to write my quota for the day (or several days if I were catching up).
I ended up really liking BIAM. The book is spiral-bound and set up so that you can fill in a bunch of worksheets to keep track of things like character traits, book themes, and setting details. This is basically all the stuff you organized novelists keep in your story bibles. The book suggests that you buy a new copy of the book for each novel you write, so you have all the useful information for each project in one spot. I thought this was a very clever marketing ploy, and promptly re-created the forms either with pen and paper in my story bible notebook or in my word processor.
Now, I am a very lazy person, and I did not fill in each and every form that Ms. Schmidt laid out for us, at least at first. There were several that I later went back and filled in because, indeed, I couldn't remember if my heroine had green eyes or gray, or which of her lovers had a freckle on his bum. A little due diligence on my part would have made it so I didn't have to go pawing through the earlier parts of the book looking for that information. The next time I teach the NANOWRIMO or BIAM class, I'm going to require Schmidt's book and strongly recommend Snyder's.
I think due to new rules, I'm supposed to disclose whether or not I was given a free sample of the books I review, so here you go: I wasn't. However, just in case any publishers are out there looking for reviewers, I will gladly accept and review free copies of books, especially books on writing--composition, exposition, fiction or otherwise. Just drop me an email, and I'll send you my physical address.
So, now my projects include finishing this alpaca romance and getting ready for school to start in the next couple weeks. Baby is due in early November, which is the reason that I cannot participate in the normal NANOWRIMO this year. I don't expect to be writing much at all once babykins arrives for at least three months, but we'll see. If you keep a habit long enough, it becomes tough to break. That is, if writing 1,000 words a day is as natural as brushing my teeth, maybe I'll be able to do that while a child is occupying the other 98% of my brain.
ta
m
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
BIAM Day #2
I am happy to report that so far in my 50K Book in a Month (BIAM) challenge, I am slightly ahead. I wrote about 1700 words yesterday and 1800 today, which puts me ahead of my 1667/day benchmarks. I'm going to gloat a little now, knowing that it will come back to bite me in the ass.
I have managed to sketch out an alpaca-centered idea for this novel. As far as I can tell from my haphazard research on amazon.com, there aren't any alpaca-centered novels out there. Given how often alpacas are referred to in pop culture (thank you Jon Stewart and Stanley Steemer), I think I really need to fill that hole. :)
that's all for now. Keep writing.
m
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Willamette Writers' Conference Wrap-up
I had a blast at the 2010 Willamette Writers' Conference. Actually, it is going on today, too, but for a first timer, I decided to only spend one night away from my family.
I was thinking back, and I don't think I have ever gone to a writers' conference before. Don't know why. I suppose that the reason was that before I didn't think of myself as a working writer. Spending $300 on a conference is a whole different thing than spending that on a job-related conference. I may even see if WOU will reimburse me for the conference fee as faculty development. We'll see.
It's a shame that I didn't go to a writing conference before, because I learned so much and met so many great people at this one. I went to six classes or so, and had four pitch sessions. The surprising news is that, based on my pitches, three of the four agents/editors actually asked to see my work! BOTH books (Liz and Something)! I am honestly flabbergasted. Their asking to see the work is no guarantee that they will actually buy it or agree to represent me, but no one I've mailed or emailed queries to have asked to see more.
One of the classes has convinced me that I need to tweak the beginning of Liz Stratton Closes the Store before I send it to anyone, but I plan to do that today while the baby's asleep. I think in general, I need to work on openings, especially since I am the kind of reader who reads the first page of anything I pick up at the bookstore. If I'm not grabbed by the first page, I put the book down. I should apply that to my own work, no?
The next thing on my writing agenda this summer is to start my novel in a month writing challenge. I just picked up a book at the wwc called Book in a Month: The Fool-Proof System for Writing a Novel in 30 Days
. I'm liking it better than the Nano book I've used before.
I have three friends who want to do the BIAM/Nano challenge with me. Any more takers? I'm thinking we'll pop the starting gun on August 13 (Friday) and cross the finish line on September 12 (Sunday), which gives us 30 days. I'll start a Yahoo group for the challenge so we can all cheer each other on.
So, now I should be working on some query letters and writing a prologue for Liz.
Happy writing!
m
I was thinking back, and I don't think I have ever gone to a writers' conference before. Don't know why. I suppose that the reason was that before I didn't think of myself as a working writer. Spending $300 on a conference is a whole different thing than spending that on a job-related conference. I may even see if WOU will reimburse me for the conference fee as faculty development. We'll see.
It's a shame that I didn't go to a writing conference before, because I learned so much and met so many great people at this one. I went to six classes or so, and had four pitch sessions. The surprising news is that, based on my pitches, three of the four agents/editors actually asked to see my work! BOTH books (Liz and Something)! I am honestly flabbergasted. Their asking to see the work is no guarantee that they will actually buy it or agree to represent me, but no one I've mailed or emailed queries to have asked to see more.
One of the classes has convinced me that I need to tweak the beginning of Liz Stratton Closes the Store before I send it to anyone, but I plan to do that today while the baby's asleep. I think in general, I need to work on openings, especially since I am the kind of reader who reads the first page of anything I pick up at the bookstore. If I'm not grabbed by the first page, I put the book down. I should apply that to my own work, no?
The next thing on my writing agenda this summer is to start my novel in a month writing challenge. I just picked up a book at the wwc called Book in a Month: The Fool-Proof System for Writing a Novel in 30 Days
. I'm liking it better than the Nano book I've used before.I have three friends who want to do the BIAM/Nano challenge with me. Any more takers? I'm thinking we'll pop the starting gun on August 13 (Friday) and cross the finish line on September 12 (Sunday), which gives us 30 days. I'll start a Yahoo group for the challenge so we can all cheer each other on.
So, now I should be working on some query letters and writing a prologue for Liz.
Happy writing!
m
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Countdown to WWC
The Willamette Writers' Conference begins tomorrow!
I am dotting some "i's" and crossing some "t's" at the moment including writing/practicing my pitches, making "writing" business cards, and generally organizing myself. (Shouldn't forget to pack clothing. That's important, too.)
I have four pitch sessions scheduled for Friday and Saturday, and I am only nervous about them if I think about them...at all. Today was good for me, though, because I had lunch with my friends who are all at least avid readers; one of them is coming to the writing conference with me. They wanted to hear my pitches, so, amid our 2 year-olds running around the house screaming (mine wet her pants in the middle of my pitch), I told my friends my stories.
Good things about practicing in stressful environments: 1. it really, really forces you to focus, 2. it prepares you for the worst. I can almost guarantee that NO ONE will bust into my pitch sessions to demand that I change her wet underpants. Or, if someone does, I maybe will take up gourmet cooking instead.
On top of that, my friends are really savvy and had some really great suggestions for tightening up my pitches. One suggestion was to begin each pitch with the two-sentence "elevator pitch," instead of giving background to set up the story. That's a big "duh" on my part. It seems so obvious to hook pitch listeners with the pithy one-liner rather than drag them into the boring back story first. They are so right.
Just as a treat for my loyal readers, here are the elevator pitches for the two books I'm trying to sell:
Liz A. Stratton Closes the Store.
I am dotting some "i's" and crossing some "t's" at the moment including writing/practicing my pitches, making "writing" business cards, and generally organizing myself. (Shouldn't forget to pack clothing. That's important, too.)
I have four pitch sessions scheduled for Friday and Saturday, and I am only nervous about them if I think about them...at all. Today was good for me, though, because I had lunch with my friends who are all at least avid readers; one of them is coming to the writing conference with me. They wanted to hear my pitches, so, amid our 2 year-olds running around the house screaming (mine wet her pants in the middle of my pitch), I told my friends my stories.
Good things about practicing in stressful environments: 1. it really, really forces you to focus, 2. it prepares you for the worst. I can almost guarantee that NO ONE will bust into my pitch sessions to demand that I change her wet underpants. Or, if someone does, I maybe will take up gourmet cooking instead.
On top of that, my friends are really savvy and had some really great suggestions for tightening up my pitches. One suggestion was to begin each pitch with the two-sentence "elevator pitch," instead of giving background to set up the story. That's a big "duh" on my part. It seems so obvious to hook pitch listeners with the pithy one-liner rather than drag them into the boring back story first. They are so right.
Just as a treat for my loyal readers, here are the elevator pitches for the two books I'm trying to sell:
Liz A. Stratton Closes the Store.
The question of which sex would run the world better is an ancient one. But, what if a woman ran for President to end an unpopular war? And accidentally called a sex-strike in the process?
Something
Something is killing livestock and dogs in rural Oregon and leaving a trail of poisonous scales in its wake. When a Fish and Wildlife officer ends up in the hospital after cutting her hand on a scale, a race to find the creature and a cure for its toxin begins.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
"Nano Classmo" in August 2010
http://www.wou.edu/provost/extprogram/communityenrichment.php#novelwr
Just in case you missed my other announcements, here is a link to the NaNoWriMo class I'm teaching this August/September (2010). I am pregnant and due to have a baby in November, so I sincerely doubt I'll be able to write 50K at that time.
Instead, I'm teaching the class in August and September. Just think of this as a opportunity to write TWO novels this year: one now and one in November for regular NaNo. :) This just re-enforces the point that you could write 50K of a novel during ANY span of 30 days. :)
Even if you can't physically make the class, keep following me, and we'll all write 50K next month!
m
Just in case you missed my other announcements, here is a link to the NaNoWriMo class I'm teaching this August/September (2010). I am pregnant and due to have a baby in November, so I sincerely doubt I'll be able to write 50K at that time.
Instead, I'm teaching the class in August and September. Just think of this as a opportunity to write TWO novels this year: one now and one in November for regular NaNo. :) This just re-enforces the point that you could write 50K of a novel during ANY span of 30 days. :)
Even if you can't physically make the class, keep following me, and we'll all write 50K next month!
m
Novel "finished!"
I did it! I wrote "The End" on the novel I started November 2009 for NaNoWriMo! This is great news because I have an appointment in 2 1/2 weeks to pitch it to an editor from Tor at the Willamette Writers' Conference. That gives me time to clean up the manuscript and write a pitch and a one-sheet for it.
Oh, and this whole "pitching" process scares the pee-diddle out of me. It took me 36 years to get over the pain of rejection via snail mail and email, but now I've signed up for a crash-course in face-to-face rejection. This may sound overly pessimistic, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm considering these pitch sessions as practice, and as another writer friend put it, a chance to write "I met you at the 2010 WWC. Here's some new writing of mine" in a future query letter.
I am going to pitch my 2009 novel Liz A. Stratton Closes the Store at this conference, too. It's much more "done" than Something, but the pitching is going to be no less scary for me.
But none of this takes away from the good news that I have now finished two entire novels! Something weighs in at 95K, which makes it my longest work yet, and I think it's a fun read. It's a complete departure from LSCTS. Something is a story about a dragon that shows up in rural Oregon (in fact, the county I live in). I think I'm going to pitch it as a cross between the movie Outbreak and the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey. The story includes a medical mystery, a veterinary mystery, a May/December romance and, of course, a dragon.
Now I get to edit the book, which I find fun. Not as fun as crafting the story, but fun in a different way. It's a different hat, which I like well enough, especially when I'm not wearing it to correct student papers.
That's it for now. ta
m
Oh, and this whole "pitching" process scares the pee-diddle out of me. It took me 36 years to get over the pain of rejection via snail mail and email, but now I've signed up for a crash-course in face-to-face rejection. This may sound overly pessimistic, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm considering these pitch sessions as practice, and as another writer friend put it, a chance to write "I met you at the 2010 WWC. Here's some new writing of mine" in a future query letter.
I am going to pitch my 2009 novel Liz A. Stratton Closes the Store at this conference, too. It's much more "done" than Something, but the pitching is going to be no less scary for me.
But none of this takes away from the good news that I have now finished two entire novels! Something weighs in at 95K, which makes it my longest work yet, and I think it's a fun read. It's a complete departure from LSCTS. Something is a story about a dragon that shows up in rural Oregon (in fact, the county I live in). I think I'm going to pitch it as a cross between the movie Outbreak and the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey. The story includes a medical mystery, a veterinary mystery, a May/December romance and, of course, a dragon.
Now I get to edit the book, which I find fun. Not as fun as crafting the story, but fun in a different way. It's a different hat, which I like well enough, especially when I'm not wearing it to correct student papers.
That's it for now. ta
m
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Back in the saddle in July!
Summer is finally here! I am finally feeling good! It's time for the summer super-productivity fest!
In case you didn't know, I am 5 months pregnant. I am blaming the first three months of this pregnancy and its associated morning sickness and exhaustion for my appalling lack of productivity this winter and spring. But I am now in the bliss of the second trimester when the hormones have settled and I am not yet so big and uncomfortable that I don't want to work. Hooray months 5, 6, and 7!
June was mostly a bust for me because not only did we have final exams (and pregnancy exhaustion), but the next weekend I was running an alpaca show. Then I slept for a week. But I am back in the saddle for the summer with these ambitious goals:
I have no news on the submission front. The novel is either languishing in slush piles or someone is eagerly trying to get it sold to their marketing team; either way, no news is good news. I haven't caught up with the short story submissions yet...that's another to do for July.
I wrote almost 2,000 words on the novel and 20 pages of script in June, most of that in the last week. I'm taking any little victory at this point.
That's all for now.
m
In case you didn't know, I am 5 months pregnant. I am blaming the first three months of this pregnancy and its associated morning sickness and exhaustion for my appalling lack of productivity this winter and spring. But I am now in the bliss of the second trimester when the hormones have settled and I am not yet so big and uncomfortable that I don't want to work. Hooray months 5, 6, and 7!
June was mostly a bust for me because not only did we have final exams (and pregnancy exhaustion), but the next weekend I was running an alpaca show. Then I slept for a week. But I am back in the saddle for the summer with these ambitious goals:
- Finish the novel I started in November by August 6...I think it has about 10-20K left in the story
- The August 6 deadline is because I am going to the Willamette Writers' conference that weekend in PDX
- Polish the set of scripts I have written for a planned online video series for the college library...it is clandestine-ly educational, but really, it's a Scooby Doo farce. It will be filmed in August.
- I am going to teach the "Nanowrimo" class again, this time in Aug/Sept. I want to do the 50K in 30 day challenge again, but since I'll have a newborn in November, I don't think I'll make 50K that month. I'm not sure I'll write a word that month, actually. Anyone want to join me in my August Nano challenge?
- Catch up with short story re-submissions
I have no news on the submission front. The novel is either languishing in slush piles or someone is eagerly trying to get it sold to their marketing team; either way, no news is good news. I haven't caught up with the short story submissions yet...that's another to do for July.
I wrote almost 2,000 words on the novel and 20 pages of script in June, most of that in the last week. I'm taking any little victory at this point.
That's all for now.
m
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