Do you Pinterest?

Thanks to some awesome writer friends, I've discovered the joy of Pinterest. It's kind of addictive, but oh-so-fun. Browsing photos on Pinterest is like eating cookies. You can't stop once you start. That's not just me, right?

There are photos of **everything** on Pinterest and it's super duper easy to "pin" them to your own boards. You can also follow friends and watch what they are pinning to their boards. I love it lots. 

Here are few photos I've pinned in the last few days that are inspiring me with both my writing and getting into a spooky Halloween mood:

Notice the theme? Aren't they awesome? I especially love that last one.

Do you use Pinterest or another site similar? If you do use Pinterest, you can follow me HERE. 

Road Trip Wednesday

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link in the comments - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments on YA Highway.

Today's Question:

What has your writing road trip looked like so far? Excitement? Traffic Jams and detours? Where are you going next?

There are lots adjectives I could use to describe my writing road. I can't complain really. I started this road in April, 2010. I wrote and wrote and wrote the first draft finally finishing it October. Then, I took a few months off to think about the WIP and to figure out where it needed to go next. I knew it was full of plot holes and beginner mistakes. 

In January 2011, I began my revisions. I spent months fighting with the WIP. I sent it off for critiques. I fought with it some more. 

In May 2011, the story took on a whole new form. This meant that my first WIP was nothing more than a practice run to see who my characters really were and I essentially needed to start from scratch, but that I will not complain about. 

In September 2011 (last month!) I finished the first draft of this second WIP (it's really just too different to even put it in the same category as the original one). I took a few weeks off again, letting the story move through me, getting to the heart of the story once again and now......now I am revising it. Now, I'm liking what I see when I'm revising. Now, it's coming together--at least that's what I'm hoping is happening. 

In summation, I wouldn't call my writing road long, windy and dark, but it hasn't been very quick either. I'm certainly not one of those writers (yet) that can sit down, draft a novel in six weeks and have it ready for querying a month later. 

That being said, I am still proud of the fact that I've completed not one, but two first drafts.

So how about you? What has your writing road been like? I'd love to hear from you. Please leave a comment and I'll be sure to visit your blog.

The Revising Pity Party

I'm revising. I've been revising for a few weeks now and at certain points I'm thrilled with how the story is evolving. At other points I want to close my laptop and walk away. 

I'm finding that revising is an awful lot like pregnancy. You have huge bursts of energy where it seems like nothing can stop you, then you crash and want to do nothing but sleep. You are moody. One minute you're elated with the story you've created. The next you're frustrated, depressed and ready to cry from the lack of inspiration. You want to sleep, sleep and sleep some more. And then maybe, just maybe, you'll wake up and it will all fall perfectly into place. 

Okay, so maybe that's not exactly like pregnancy, but you get the idea. And there are definitely mood swings. Definitely. 

So yeah, last night I had a completely embarrassing revision pity party. I allowed myself to wallow in my self doubt and let myself believe my writing totally sucked, knowing that this morning I was going to shrug it off and move forward. This post is my way of letting go of that self doubt. 

And with that, my pity party is now over. Annnnndddddd back to revising!

The bonus of revising not actually being pregnancy is I can drink all the coffee and tea I want without feeling guilty. This I am grateful for.