PN

The title of this blog is the initials of the title of the book I'm currently writing. In the last entry, I mentioned working on an idea that recently popped into my head that had come to me a while ago but had disappeared from my memory for a bit in order to see how much potential it had in comparison to the book I thought I would write in November (let's just call that one ES). As I mentioned, ES has some dialogue and narrative written, some notes, things to include, some basics etc., all written down in its own little composition book; it was in the lead. Until about two days ago. In the days since I mentioned I would start brainstorming and plotting for PN, I have been working and working on it, and not just plotting it- actually writing it. Just yesterday on my way home from my job, as I was in traffic on a highway, the husband character in the story kept talking and talking, and I was very excited about what came to mind, yet severely disappointed because a rare magical flow was happening while I was driving. Those are the times I wish I had a tape recorder that I can talk into because that was one of those moments- you know, where it seems the stars align and a porthole opens up just for you to bestow upon you gifts. Like one time I was on a bus and a fantastic (yes, if I do say so myself) monologue came to mind, a one-act play, and it just flowed to a brilliant end. I tried to recreate it when I had access to paper and writing utensils when I got home, but although I managed to get the gist of it, it did not come back to me in the natural, effortless, beautiful way it did before. It's kind of like eating a juicy steak- in your mouth, it is great. But then it goes through the alimentary canal and then travels through the digestive system, and although it's still travelling through the same person, it just does not end up the same as when you first tasted that juicy meat. Yeah, maybe that wasn't the best analogy. Anyway, still, the husband had a lot to say the following day as well. He might even still try to grab my attention today- I don't know; I won't know until I pick up the book I started to write it in. Actually that's not true because at any time- driving, showering, eating- words could come to me. It's just amazing to me how this book has grabbed on to me and is currently refusing to let go. It is definitely currently in the lead.

Progress

I've been thinking about the story idea that popped up recently (the one competing with the story I was almost certain I would write this November) and today at work, while we were on a long break, I managed to write a couple of pages of the story. More than that, what began as a rather empty storyline with me wondering where on earth I could take it to beef it up and make it interesting, ended up rather convoluted and a bit twisted. As usual, ideas 'came out of nowhere' once the ball started rolling. I don't even know why I ever fear beginning a story when I don't have a solid idea as to where it's going or many ideas at all about it because my experience has consistently been that once I start, the rest follows. The story and the characters end up surprising me, and I find myself marveling at how quickly nothing turns into something. And boy did this one turn out to be something.
However, I always get excited about my ideas and stories initially and think they're great and manage to maintain that excitement throughout writing it and straight to the near-end, but I also usually get bored with them by the time they wind down to the last chapter, and at some point, I no longer think they're 'all that.' I fear that this will happen again and that once written, this story won't mean much to me beyond the fact that it would be my third (or fourth) book written.

Speaking of third or fourth, what I wrote today cannot be included in the NaNoWriMo word count since November 1st hasn't arrived yet, so I would still have to do 50,000 new words over the course of November. What all this means is that there is actually a high chance this story has taken over the supposed 'sure thing' I had planned after all. Major plot points came to me today and I can see where it's going- almost to the end in fact.
I'm on a roll.

Book 3

As aforementioned, I plan to write most of my third book over the course of November for National Novel Writing Month. Since last year I had a story pinching me and telling me to write it, and eventually started writing down bits and pieces of what I want to include in it, brainstorming. So it was clear to me a few weeks ago when I thought about it what I would write for NaNoWriMo.
However, yesterday I believe it was- perhaps the day before- I remembered another story idea I had even before that one, one that came up while I was writing my first book. It actually resembles the most basic premise of the first, but I think it will be more saleable, more palatable. I have no notes on it besides its premise, yet I wonder if this is the one I should write instead.
What I think I will end up doing is the same thing I did last year when I had two ideas and wanted to see which one I should go with: start brainstorming and plotting both. The one I thought was a shoe-in for this year came up short last year when compared to the notes on the one I ended up writing. And now, it's way ahead of this other one that resurfaced in my memory.
Now that it's mid-October, it's definitely time to start the plotting process. I'll give this old new idea a chance and see what happens when I start to think it out.

NaNoWriMo 2007

I had planned to participate this year, having first participated- and succeeded- last year. I have an idea and everything. But at this point, I'm not sure I will be able to follow through with the commitment. Last year, I was working part-time and was done by 1 p.m. every day and my significant other wasn't around much, weekdays or weekends, so I really had only my computer and the television both as company and distractions. I therefore had a lot of time to fulfill challenges I had set for myself- watching movies, reading books, and writing. This time around I, once again, do not have a full-time job, however, my schedule is more erratic. In fact, for the first week of November, I plan to be in my home country although hopefully I will be back in LA by the 5th. In that case, I might be able to continue the challenge after all; in fact, if I remember correctly, the daily requirement of nearly 1700 words can easily be done in two hours- I remember doing it in less in fact. So that's all I would need every day to dedicate to it. Okay, maybe I will still sign on to do this. There is still hope and I have to at least try, right? In any case, fail or succeed by November 30th, I would have succeeded in writing more than I would have otherwise, and there is no losing in that. All right then- it's on!

The Query Letter

So I've actually been working on the novel here and there, and I've been seeing things that need to be changed, expanded upon, improved upon. I was thinking I would not send out anymore query letters until I fixed it up and bulked it up some more, but perhaps I will still send out the letter at least- after I have added to the story.
The first thing that is wrong with my query letter is that it reveals that my novel is only 70k (and I'm not even there yet). It should be at least 80k, and although I thought about simply changing the word count in the letter while still working toward actually getting there, I figured I better not. At 75k I could stretch the truth and say 80k, but not now because suppose someone bites at the line and says: "Sounds interesting, send me the full manuscript." Yes, it is unlikely, in fact, they're more likely to say: "Sounds interesting, send me the first 50 pages" which I can do. But say in the unlikelihood someone wants the whole thing- could I spit out an additional 15k words in a super short period of time? I could do it over three days, but would those words be good ones? Would they fit with the rest of the words? Would those words help the story or hurt it?
It's too risky at this point. I need to make the improvements I need to make, add what I need to add, format where I need to format before I send out more queries. When the story is actually complete and I feel the way I'm supposed to feel about it and I know it better, I could probably write an even better query letter.

Interview With A Character

It occurred to me last week that I needed to pull out a method I had used before (first novel) to add to this second novel and get closer to really being done with it: interview the characters. It might sound strange to "normal people," but some writers use this method of exploring the story and characters, including me. In fact, I can't remember if I came up with the idea by myself and discovered later that it is utilized by other writers or if I saw the suggestion somewhere. In any case, it helped me get to deeper motives, back-stories and learn more about character histories and relationships with each other the first time I employed it. My characters surprised me and really took on essences of their own. It was an interesting, learning experience.
So now it is time for me to do the same for this second story. I tried sometime last week to interview the main character but was unsuccessful. Perhaps I should start with a lesser character.
In any case, I need to do something; there is more to add. I'm not sure what, but hopefully it is juicy in some way or...whoa!- an idea just came to mind, a secret of one of the character's...
Oh my, now I know the theme of the interviews to get them all going!
Yes! I'm "back in business..."

Nothingness

Well, I only sent out those two queries and got two rejections. No biggie. The biggie is that I am so utterly deplete of motivation, I cannot even bring myself to look up other agents to send the query to. And I can't even bring myself to work on the story like I need to. I cannot bring myself to research where needed, tweak where needed, bulk up where needed, format where needed. I cannot bring myself to care about the story being published enough that I work toward it more.
My other (first) novel has actually been calling to me for some weird reason. That one is almost beyond hope and needs 100 times more work than this most recent one. But maybe going back to that one will ready me for going back to this other one? The one thing the first one has on the second is bulk; at 94k it has its plot and subplot and all the words it needs to fall within the average first novel range while the second is at a measly 65k. I don't know- I really don't know what to do (in general) anymore. I don't know if I should even call myself a writer- I don't work at my craft, I don't do it every day, I don't feel passionately about it- I just do it.
There's a whole lot of nothingness going on right now...

Moving On

So I actually sent out two queries last night (at last) and plan to send out more this evening/tonight. Although I had started working on my query letter over a month ago and had seen myself sending out queries last month, I wasn't happy with what I had and couldn't fix it to the point that it was satisfactory, but yesterday, I actually sat down and worked on it again and got satisfactory results.
I really don't give myself much time when it comes to my writing these days; everything's all about acting and modeling gigs. My work tends to have to grab me by the neck and sit me down to work on it. I hadn't actually worked on the letter since the last time I mentioned working on it, but I was certainly grabbed yesterday. I like when that happens. I only wish it would happen more often.

In other news, Script Frenzy was a failure; I didn't even start.
And the only other writing I've done is in my journal and in another blog. Oh, I think I wrote a poem or two last month. Oh wait, and an addition to my second novel (while waiting on a set).

But oh boy, if I get any positive responses to my query letters, I will have to go back to my novel for sure; I have yet to fix discrepancies and add things I want to add and change things I want to change.

Query Time

So I've actually been working on my query letter for the novel for the past couple of days. I'm proud of myself! It's almost ready- I posted it on AW and got some useful feedback; mostly about things I knew I should do/change but didn't feel like adjusting, but now that others have pointed out the same things, I feel more obligated to adjust as needed.
So I'll probably send out queries this month. And if anyone happens to ask for the full manuscript, I would have to write like hell because the last chapter is incomplete; in fact, I did indeed decide to change the ending so I've got some re-writing and additions. And oh my gosh- formatting.

In addition, I am leaning towards exploring avenues for my poetry. There's so much of it and it feels like such a waste for all of them to sit in my books, seen by my eyes only, so I'm looking into ways to share.

I still haven't finished that short story I started, although another addition came to mind today so I might work on it today if my poetry doesn't grab me first (I've been typing them up so that I have an electronic copy in addition to the single book they're written in).

Ooooh- and ScriptFrenzy....yeah...not looking good. I mean, I have an idea and everything, but it's nearly mid-month already. If I don't get the ball rolling soon, I won't be able to do it. But at this point, there's still lots of time.

Decisions, decisions...

ETA- All right! Technically finished my short story less than two hours after this post although of course, it's in need of heavy editing. But I finished it! It's currently at 2667 words. Yay!

The Muse Returns

I've been itching to write this past week, but most of what I came up with stayed in my head although I did add a tiny bit to the novel I've been working on.

But even more exciting, is that as a result of a single incident, a single...tragic- for lack of a better word- incident, I gave birth to a poem, a song, and a short story. It's not much, but for a single, isolated incident? Awesome. Especially since inspirational events don't usually lead to a short story sparking. I especially love the poem and I think I will love the short story when it's complete.

Other than that, Script Frenzy begins today and I wanted to participate but I don't have an idea yet. But anyway, I guess I'll still participate; I'll come up with something.

This month might turn out to be more of a writing month.
I'm feeling the itch!