Submitting!

Wow- it took a while yet it happened so quickly: I have submitted one short story that I think is ready to several publications (who are all okay with sim-subs of course) and I feel such relief to have gotten something out there. The story that ended up at the finish line first is the one taken from last year's NaNoWriMo project- the collection of short stories. It was the strongest of the collection to me because it had much more emotional resonance than the others. Now I think I have to find what's missing in the rest.

I still think I'll submit a short story version of the short film I wrote- it just needs more cleaning up according to beta1. It's currently not as sensory as the submitted one. In fact, it's exactly the kind of 'flighty' story some publications specifically say not to submit. I thought it would have a chance because it's kind of experimental anyway but I won't be lazy about it; I'll work on it some more and make it fit more 'traditional' tastes.'

In the meantime, I'm so excited about the first one making its rounds! I should hear back from the journals/magazines by X-mas lol. That wasn't even a joke.

Anyway, I have the strong feeling I will be published soon- within two years. Then I can have something to say in my novel query letter! But even without that in mind, it really excites me to think someone could soon be writing me a check for my writing- what a thrill, what a day that will be. One of the happiest days of my life I'm sure.

More Shorts

I recently realized what I need to do to help me sell my novel is to submit- and hopefully get accepted- short stories to magazines, journals and the like. To get some credits in the publishing world.
I'm almost surprised it took me this long to come to this conclusion- it only seems natural. Here I was, going straight for the lead role when I should be earning trust through bit parts, featured, supporting roles. Getting the powers that be to notice and realize I'm not as much a risk as a newbie. I should have been treating this like the television/film industry!
So in the past two weeks or so, I've been working on a few short stories- one gleaned from the first novel I wrote (trunk-novel, but some good parts), one based on the first short film I wrote, the third an excerpt from the last NaNoWriMo project which was a collection of short stories anyway (so I basically have more than the blueprint for several already). Now it's time to polish them and send them off.
Amazing how it seems the most natural thing to do now. Do the short stories. Submit. And don't forget: read, read, read.

One Down...?

I've been sort of working on TPA and somewhere inside, thought it would be my first completed work post-college (i.e., polished and ready for publishing/producing) since it's basically complete although in dire need of more revision. However, some kind of magic happened: an idea was born, and a few days later, in one day, I wrote my first short film. Working closely with a partner, a few more days later (two of which were days of heavy revising, plus some additional polishing from a veteran screenwriter), it was in ready-to-shoot form. Idea to completion: approximately 10 days.

Yum, short films. Or beginner's luck?
Actually, I wrote two short films in one day. The second one, however, was mainly a typing up I suppose- I had worked out the basics of it with...well, the co-writer. So these short films are my first real, collaborative works (post-college). And I'm not sure when I'll get back to the other short film as I'm still somewhat in the glow of the first.
Probably tomorrow actually.

New Year's Resolutions?

After a successful NaNoWriMo and currently holding two books with publishing potential in my hands, I feel like it's time to really get serious. Not that I wasn't before, but I am a queen of procrastination.
With a new year coming up, it just feels like the time is coming where I need to put my foot on the gas; I'm not getting any younger, and I'm feeling less and less accomplished as the time goes by, and more and more like I'm just wasting my time here on earth.
Two desires struck me recently: the first, a few weeks ago, is to start volunteering. I have time, and a big heart and I feel like I should be sharing myself in a non-profit pursuit. I want to work with educating kids or in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program or something like that. I just want to help someone. The second desire: to read way more than I have been. I had challenged myself in 2006 to 100 books and that didn't quite work out as I had planned but I had still read a lot more books than I would have otherwise. I realize a problem is introduced when I make lists: I read more when I just pick up random books instead of making carefully planned out lists of worthy material. So I think I should approach this new task the same as before: go outside of my box and read books I normally wouldn't "waste my time" on. Just hit up books from all over. My elite tastes hamper me a bit.

So because this is December and New Year's Day is coming up soon, I suppose these desires will turn into cliched new year's resolutions. But that's not too much of a bad thing I guess. My list is shaping up to be pretty standard (when compared to the average list), but for me, in a lot of ways, necessary:

- Exercise more
- Eat healthier
- Volunteer
- Read at least 50 books

And oh yeah- keep writing.

NaNoWriMo 2008- Day 23

Yay!! I made it! 11 p.m. on 11/23 I crossed the 50k finish line.

Feels good now that the pressure's off!
I still have some writing and rewriting and fixing to do since this is of course just the beginning but yay! I've got something to work with at least.

NaNoWriMo 2008- Day 20

So there goes that whole prediction about finishing ten days early. Still, I don't doubt I'll make 50k in November; in fact, I've modified my goal to reaching 50k by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, the 23rd. Which still has me finishing earlier than my first (and successful) NaNo where I finished on the 24th.

Let's compare stats: as of right now, not having written anything for the day yet, I'm at over 41.1k. This time in 2006 I was at 40.3k. So yup, that puts me just about one day ahead of the 2006 pace.

I'm not feeling like writing much, but I should be putting in at least 500 words. Maybe I'll have a tiny goal of making 42k today and 45k before midnight on Friday. Or something.
Actually, I better write more today since I'll be working most of the day on Friday.

Ok, I'm off...

NaNoWriMo 2008- Day 15

So, earlier this week I had planned to update when I had reached 25k or the 15th of the month had arrived- whichever came first. It is day 15, and I waited until I reached 25k to write this blog. I am about to close in on 26k but still I have fallen behind on my original goal- to continue beating my 2006 rate. As you can tell, I'm right around where I need to be minimally to make it by the 30th (just a little ahead of the minimum); in fact, at the current rate, I will reach the 50k goal one or two days early. This time last year, I was at *checks files* over 32k. So I'm basically around 6k behind last year's count.
Can I still conceivably make 50k by the 20th? Sure! If I write around 5000 words per day for the next 5 days. Yes, it is actually quite do-able, especially since I don't currently have work scheduled for four out of five of those days and since I realized I can write 1000 words in half an hour, so theoretically 2000 words in an hour. So if I have a good 2.5- 3 hours each day and write like mad, then yeah, absolutely. I can, of course, break it up so that I write for at least two hours earlier in the day, then two hours later in the day so that I don't tire myself. And get myself hopped up on caffeine. But seriously, yeah- I can still do it; I can still beat my first year's results. I'm no longer sure I will, but I will still try.
Guess I better get back to work!

NaNoWriMo 2008- Day 2

It's day two of NNWM and so far, NNWM 2008 is looking a lot like NNWM 2006 which suggests at this point, this will be a successful November. Thankfully, although I wasn't able to outline and brainstorm as much as I wanted to and have a more solid idea in mind regarding what I would work on this November, I did manage to come up with some story lines and scenes and one of them has taken me to where I am at this moment- at almost 5000 words. Technically, the word count for day one was 2742 words but I continued working into the wee hours of the next day and before going to bed, had a little over 3400 words. I still have about 4 hours before the end of day 2 and I'm currently at 4800 words.

Last year this time I was behind the minimum daily word count requirement. In 2006 at this time, I was above the minimum and by the end of day two, had over 3900 words (minimum requirement: 3334). I am above even that year's count, closing in on retaining being a full day's count ahead. Yes, the goal is at least 5000 words by the end of today which will probably happen quite easily once I'm done with this blog. I need 200 more words to reach it, a number that I realized can be reached in 5 minutes of writing.

I predict reaching the NNWM goal of 50,000 words by November 30th ten days earlier; in fact, I think I can reach the 50k requirement between November 15th and 20th. In 2006, I had completed the final goal by the 24th, and I am currently moving at a faster pace this time around so if I keep this up, I don't see why I couldn't finish early again. I might even be able to write the whole book to the end by the 30th.

All this to say- I'm off to a good start.

About Book 2: TPA

I forgot to mention the progress I've made throughout the month of October: I have been working on the story I wrote for NNWM 2006- the one in the best shape, the second novel I wrote. FINALLY, I was able to 'talk' to the main character and get some information out of her; I was finally able to make a breakthrough and figure out what needed to happen.
I have also sic'd another beta reader on the story- the third person and the only boy, and he's only gone through chapter one thus far so I think it's okay that I haven't woven the new ideas and chunks written in yet.
The thing is, it's not exactly 'new'- it's a new turn, but the reason leading up to it was not only obvious (in hindsight), but I had written a piece in August directly relating to it; I found a place for that piece. I'm not sure how much new words I've added to this book this year (not counting edits)- around 2200 I think. The thing is, I'm no longer concerned about the word count; it will definitely continue to go up based on the two new sections I decided to add (which in my last inspired session turned out to be more like one; they interwove themselves). So now I'll be making more sense of this story- sometime soon anyway.
I have to be careful- can't let it (or book 1, 3, or 4) get in the way of my NNWM goal!

NaNoWriMo 2008

It's that time again and I am this close < > to freaking out. Yes, of course I am doing NaNoWriMo again and I don't have a clue what to write! Well actually that's not true- I've already decided I would bend the rules a bit and work on an idea I had that involved a series of short stories taking place in my country (mentioned in the previous year- book 5: BC). I've got titles and a general idea of what I want most of the stories to be about. One would think I'm well on my way to a successful NaNoWriMo but I simply don't know how I'm going to handle these stories. No idea of the characters, how I'll get the messages across...it just feels like a lot of half-baked ideas with a lot of potential, and I don't know how to make them live up to their potential.
Alternatively, I suppose I could follow the rules completely and write a full-length novel but I don't have an idea what I'd work on, no idea that has been sitting around for a while waiting for the opportunity for me to dedicate time to it; I've worked on all the novel ideas I had. That problem came about as a result of me working on two novel ideas I had last NaNoWriMo which turned out...okay I guess but I was spread all over the place because I worked on those two new ideas as well as on my two old 'completed' novels. I believe that happened as a result of me not having a solid plan/outline going in; I'd decided to kind of wing it, 'fly by the seat of my pants' in a way. I wanted to see what would happen if I did things with less planning as opposed to the previous (my first) NaNo where I went in with a good idea of where I wanted to go and had the first several chapters outlined. Once the challenge began and I wrote those chapters out, worked out/came up with more chapter ideas then tackled writing those out. It resulted in a successful NaNo. So it seems I am much more likely to be successful if I work out as much as I can, have a clearer outline in mind (and on paper).
Therefore, back to the original game plan (and the drawing board?); Nano's in 4 days...

ETA- Later in the night (wee hours of the morning of the next day that is) I got some ideas regarding characters and the situations I could use and each character's issues for book five. Once I started thinking about the people/places I knew best, I realized the answer was in front of me all along; there is one place I remained for a long time, saw folks come and go but a lot stayed. I got to know many people to some degree, and witnessed various episodes regarding them. It was like a family.
I still don't know if this is the idea I'm going to go with, but push come to shove...