Meeting Deadlines

Editing Process: Started making corrections to my digital version and still working on highlighting sensory detail.

Favorite Book of the Month: Gregor the Overlander By: Suzanne Collins

I missed another deadline today. Not a writing deadline. No, in my mind by now my story should've been a glistening manuscript ready to wow any editor at first glance. Instead I am settling for a finished draft and the editing process moving; even if it is moving slowly at least it is still moving. The deadline I missed was the last day I could call the college I am transferring to before they fine me for being late.

Believe me when I say I wish I could only think about how to edit my story. I have a hard time concentrating when my focus is split. When I'm doing school work I am thinking about my story and when I am editing I'm stressed about finishing school work. It is a perfect circle that is determined to see me die at a young age. Perhaps if I didn't care about my responsibilities....

Some people love deadlines, some people hate them. Where are you and do you have any advice on how to meet them?

Palm Trees

Editing Process: Still on sensory stuff.

Favorite Book of the Month: Gregor the Overlander By: Suzanne Collins

So there I was sitting in the middle seat of the airplane while we waited a half hour to take off. I don't know if this has ever happened to you, and this probably only happened because I couldn't get to any paper, but the creative switch in my mind was flipped on. I sat there trying to peer out the window, determined to savor my last glance of Arizona and palm trees. During those minutes I must have come up with a dozen ways to describe that tropical tree. A feather duster, a fancy arrow, a poodle's tail, fireworks, an upside-down mop. The list went on and on.

Then we took off and I had to commit as many of these descriptions as I could to my overflowing memory. I like to think that the main reason I write my stories down is so I don't have to remember them anymore and to make room for new ones. I've heard writers say that once an idea hits them, if they don't write it down, it is lost forever, but I prefer to believe that it is still there hiding among the dusty corners. One day the analogies I have forgotten will be reused, even if I never remember where I first found them.

Do you have a method for retaining your flashes of inspiration?

Phoenix

Editing Process: Starting Sensory Check
Favorite Book of the Month: Pictures of Hollis Wood By: Patricia Reilly Giff

Everytime I travel I love to stare out the window, be it plane or car, and check out the scenery. I especially like to look at trees, the way the branches twist upward and the color of the leaves. I suppose my mom is the influence behind that. Whenever we were in the car she would often exclaim over the trees as we passed. I used to roll my eyes and go back to my book, but there were times when I would sneak a look up as we passed under them. Our own private tunnel of trees would surround the road like a blanket on a rainy day.

Right now I am in Phoenix Arizona and the trees here are so different from my trees back home. There seem to be two extremes. The tall grey-green trees and the short, shriveled trees. There are also the palm trees, but I like to put them in a category of their own since I am still discovering how many different types there are.

I am amazed at how a different scenery can give a different sense to a story. Here the land does not know what to do with water. Everything is dry. It rained a few days ago and the streets flooded. Small ponds formed in low spots; if I didn't know better I would have expected to see fish swimming in them or at least a duck. The thing that surprised me the most is that the land is covered with small rocks and sand. According to my earth science class, water should be able to sink through that fairly quickly and yet something kept that from happening. I don't know what, but I like the concept of a place that needs water being unable to accept it once the water comes. It makes for a very interesting character trait.

First Edit

Editing Stage: 1st Edit in progress
Favorite Book of the Month: Pictures of Hollis Wood By: Patricia Reilly Giff

Editing is something I am learning on the go. Not only is the process new to me, but I also don't know what will work best, so I'm trying everything. I'm also making up some ideas of my own.

My Process So Far:
I waited, leaving my book on a shelf, at least a week after typing 'The End'. My fingers itched the whole time. When the week was done I read through the whole book and refrained from correcting anything. Which was really hard. Finally by the last forty pages I gave in and allowed myself to correct typos. Then I went through the whole book again: fixing typos, correcting grammar, deleting words that end in 'ly', cutting scenes that weren't needed, and making sure all the thread/dates/info were consistant throughout the book. Now I am in the midst of tracking the major character plots and subplots, followed by underlining and color coding all the sensory detail I used in each chapter.

That is the end of what I know to do without needing to make the appropriate changes and printing out a new copy. As it is, this copy is distracting enough without adding color to it. Despiration will win out and I will once again start relying on my computer. Hopefully, all the bugs and viruses will be gone; I'd even take dormant. Having all these corrections waiting is like having a three course dinner ready and the table needs to be set. I can practically smell a completed first edit and it smells surprisingly like turkey.


Have you learned any editing tricks? What works best for you?

Computer Virus

I am back after a holiday break and a month full of computer viruses. I'm becoming paranoid and having a hard time believing they are gone and I am safe once more. I never realized how dependant I am on technology. After two scares where I feared all my work would be lost I have avoided working on the digital copy of my book. I have since done about all a person can do with a hard copy and desperately need my computer back to make the proper changes. I need to type on a keyboard!

Trials of the Analytical

Current Week's Edited Word Count: 1,479
White Lilac Total: 70,110
Favorite Book of the Month: Shield of Stars By: Hilari Bell


Okay, I have a confession to make. For the past two months I have been soooo psyched about editing my book. My mind would take breaks from my first draft writing to imagine how fun it was going to be to tear down my old writing and build a sparkling tower in its place. I pictured myself gleefully deleting extra words and crafting glorious sentences that sang on their own.

I currently have five pages of a new first chapter that I have spent the last two days going over...every...single...word. And I have decided writing a blog would be more fun. : ) This is to distract my mind and give me a creative outlet. Yeah. I need a break from being too analytical. That's what I'll say.

When I write my stories for the first time, there is always an element of editing that goes on as the story progresses. Since I have switched to using a computer for my writing needs, it has been so much easier to scroll up to the spot I need to fix and do it immediately. Once the first draft is completed I go back over it making any changes I think would make the story flow better. But this time it is different. I find myself struggling too much with each word choice and finding it difficult to move onto the next.

Is it possible for editing a story to be harder than creating one?

One First Draft Down....

Current Week's Edited Word Count: 1,414
White Lilac's Total: 70,045
Favorite Book of the Month: Shield of Stars By: Hilari Bell


It's been awhile since I've blogged. Sorry about that. I would like to announce that I have finished the first draft of my book, The White Lilac! Ta da! (This is said in the voice of Wall-e when he shows Eva how he compacts trash into neat squares. And his rushed square of trash pops out in the shape of a cute little box and then flattens like a pancake.) I actually finished my first draft a week and a half ago and promptly fell into a creative slump. I thought about writing. I thought about doing anything productive. I thought about not thinking because my head was hurting.

Then I went to a writer's conference last Saturday. There is nothing so inspiring as being around other story lovers. Unless it is having someone say something you wrote is good. Is there a cloud higher than nine? I am always a bit apprehensive when going to a writer's conference and getting my work critiqued. Normally I hear all the problems with my story, all the things I need to fix, and it is only after a month or two when I go over my critiquer's notes that I see the positives. So knowing my newly finished work was going to be critiqued was a bit nerve-wracking. I entered the room ready to flinch. But the woman I met was really nice and she asked me questions like she understood what my story was about.

Now, before you begin thinking I walked away with a perfect story under my belt, I must tell you that one of the correctional things she said, and I agreed with, is my first chapter need to make the reader connect more with the main character. I had sent the sample she critiqued almost two months ago and then decided I didn't like the way the first chapter was and had written a new possible opening. So, this Monday I have started editing my first (now second) draft and rewriting the beginning.


Have you ever been afraid to show your work to others? What do you do to conquer your fear?