The Great Re-Write

The journey with my current WIP (work in progress for all of you non-writer types) began one Saturday morning in April as I was washing dishes. I was already working on an adult novel that I was iffy about but was having fun planning out but once this new idea popped into my head, the old book was no longer an option.

I spent the next months writing as much as I could and was thrilled to finish the first rough draft in October. I immediately thought, "Wow! I'm fast! I'll have this book done by the end of the year and start querying and then BAM! I'll have an incredible book deal!"

Luckily, I had the common sense not to send this first draft out without revising it.

Luckily, I took a few months off to really think about where I wanted this story to go.

Luckily, I have some really amazing writing partners and beta readers who have listened to me babble on and on about the story and where it should/could go.

Thanks to them, I am now totally rewriting my WIP. It needed it and I'm happy about it. The only negative thing is that I was about 75% done with revisions to the old version, so I'm essentially starting over. The part stings a little but I am confident that the story will be much better for it.

The lesson I've learned is that as a writer, I need to trust my instincts. I'm glad I did.

Oh, and my writing partners deserve a very large gift when this book is actually finished.

YA Higheway - Choose your narrator?

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ from YA Highway where each week there is a writing- or reading-related question for us to answer. Check out YA Highway to follow along with everyone who participates. :-)

This Week's Topic:
Some audiobooks are read by celebrities. Most recently, Cassandra Clare's CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS was partly read by Ed Westwick of Gossip Girl.

So, if you got to choose a celebrity narrator for the audio book of your WIP or your favorite novel, who would it be and why?

Since I really don't have a clue as to who would have the right voice for my book, I'll go with the names of some of my favorite actors. My current WIP is from the female POV, so my choices would be:

Rachel McAdams (she sort of has the look of my character, too, which is nice):

Kate Beckinsale (in an American accent, of course):

They are both beautiful and have great screen presence so maybe their voice would fit for an audio book, too. 

What do you think?

Road Trip Wednesday: Kissy Kissy

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ from YA Highway where each week there is a writing- or reading-related question for us to answer. Check out YA Highway to follow along with everyone who participates. :-)

This week's topic is:

Compare your first kiss with your favorite characters first kiss. 

My current favorite kiss is between Charlotte and Harlin from A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young. I finished this book last week and I still can't get it out of my mind. Their first kiss of the book is barely a graze but sets the tone for their relationship. Sexy. Harlin is sexy. Their love is sexy. Their kisses are sexy. Just sexy.

And that means that my first kiss couldn't possibly be more different from their kisses. My first real kiss was a sneak kiss. My seventh grade boyfriend and I sneaked away during a church event at his neighbors house and kissed in *blushes* his bedroom. Now, I'm not saying it was terrible, because it wasn't, but it definitely wasn't sexy. Neither of us knew what we were doing and it was all over the place messy. And quick. So, yeah, I guess as far as first kisses go, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but sexy it was not. 

For the Love of Writing

There are days when I struggle with writing. There are days I don't feel motivated at all to open those word docs and just want to curl up with a book--or *gasp* even television. On those days I wonder how I'm ever going to finish this book. I doubt my ability to make this manuscript something someone else will want to read. I think I must be the worst aspiring author ever. I put off revising because, well, I'm intimidated by my characters or the scene that's in need of major work. Yes, I realize that I've created this world and that I shouldn't be scared of it, but I am. What if I screw it up? What if I don't tell their story correctly? What if they hate me?

Isn't that the fear all mothers have? What if our children hate us?

I know this must sound crazy to those of you who don't write but those characters have lives of their own now and it's up to me to make sure they have the best tools possible to survive in the world of publishing. They really are my children now.

But even after all the fear and intimidation, I continue to come back to them. I can never stay away for more than a day or two before I'm itching to see what they are up to next. I love them too much to leave them unfinished. I realize that sometimes it's okay to take a break. Mini vacations are good for helping me reset and remember that I can, in fact, handle this.

And you know what else I realized? I realized I absolutely love to write. I always have. Writing makes me happy. Even if I knew there was no way their story would ever be published, I would still write it. I would write it because their story needs to be told, even if it's just me and my crit partners who read it. For now, I'm going to allow myself to just enjoy the process. I'm not going to think too much about whether this story will ever be seen on the shelves in some bookstore. This manuscript will some day be finished and when it is, I'll worry that stuff then. Until then, I'm going to have fun with this and remember why I started writing in the first place.

So, I guess the moral of today's story is this: Do what you love to do even if you are the only who loves it. Oh, and enjoy the moment? :-)

Road Trip Wednesday: Your Best Scar

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ from YA Highway where each week there is a writing- or reading-related question for us to answer. Check out YA Highway to follow along with everyone who participates. :-)

This week's topic is:

What is the story of your best scar? 

My best scar is right above the eyebrow of my left eye. I was a huge tomboy as a child. I have an amazing brother who is 3 years older than me. That should explain most of my scars right there. Everything he did, I wanted to do too. He had motorbikes, so of course I wanted to ride motorbikes. Some of my best memories of my childhood are from riding through the trails near our house. He could convince me to do anything and I loved every minute of it.

So when I was 7 and my brother was 10 (ages are approximate), my brother was gifted with a bow and arrow set. I don't remember him being particularly good at shooting it but once he hit his target right on. That target was me.

I still vividly remember him pulling the arrow back on the bow and releasing it. There was a slight sting as something popped me in the forehead. I stood there motionless for a few seconds...until the arrow fell from it's lodged location.

Then, I screamed. My brother rushed over and his first words were of concern--for himself. "You're not going to tell mom, are you?"

LOL - So that's the story of my favorite scar. Good thing that arrow was made of wood and not metal, huh? It still makes me laugh when I think about it today.

So what about you? What's the story behind your best scar?

The Playlist

I've added a page (click above) for a more detailed playlist, plus lyrics, but as this song has been in my head for weeks now, I thought it deserved its own post.

If you haven't already listened to the Barton Hollow album by The Civil Wars, I recommend you do so right away. It's just incredible. I can't get enough of it!

Below is the music video for Poison & Wine. I'd love to hear your thoughts and whether you love it as much as I do. Enjoy!

EDIT: I just found another song by them and now I'm in love with this one too! New video down below the first one.

Road Trip Wednesday: The Year 2111

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ from YA Highway where each week there is a writing- or reading-related question for us to answer. Check out YA Highway to follow along with everyone who participates. :-)

This is my first week participating and I'm super excited that the question is:

Assuming we make it through the 2012 apocalypse, what do you imagine the publishing world will look like 100 years from now?

Okay, this is a tough question. Who knows how things will look, so let's have some fun with this.

Perhaps there will be an additional round of agents (pre-agents?) we will have to go through before we can actually submit to a true agent. The pre-agent will weed out those of us that can't figure out exactly where our commas go. The futuristic pre-agent may or may not look like this:

As a result of this there will be many more self-published authors and small publishing houses opening up. 

 

VS.

And then, because mirrors, radios, ipods and phones aren't enough, we will also be able to download books instantly to our GPS systems. 

So what do YOU think? Do we actually want to survive this apocalypse?