My progress report:
So this weekend I got 150 pages done on the second round of edits on Nikki's Wish. It's at that stage where the whole plot is laid out, every scene is pretty much the way I want it and now I'm looking for ways to improve it. I looked particularly for areas where I could make things sound better, replaced weak verbs, eliminated stray adverbs, and just generally tightened where I could. I have just 50 pages left to go on this round. I also made an excel spreadsheet that lays out each chapter, its purpose, what each character in each particular chapter should be feeling and took notes on what little things I can do to intensify the emotional impact. It's sort of like a plot outline, but more focused on making certain that I'm seeing all the little things from each character's POV.
Books I read this week - yes, i consider this part of my overall journey to publishment. Reading as much as you can and everything you can is soooo essential to becoming a good writer. Might as well take credit for it. This weekend I finished The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan (review here), and I started a Sarah Dessen book called Lullabye. I haven't read any Sarah Dessen yet, but since she's so popular I think it makes sense to pick up one of her books. Actually I picked up two others on a Barnes and Noble online sale (1.99 each) and I'll be doing a review of them when I finish.
Finally, I did some crits on AW. Critiquing others work has helped me so much, and I continue to do it because I enjoy it and it keeps me focused on those things I need to be doing in my own WIP.
So there you have it. Now for a little contest promotion: Janice Hardy, author of The Shifter, is giving away an anthology of short stories written by her crit group. You'll get to encounter a planet full of flying squid, a cross-country race through smart buildings and moving sidewalks, and a "designed" daughter who would rather be a son (I'm thinking a cloning experiment gone awry here, but I could be wrong). The most interesting one to me is Janet's short story entitled Man's Best Enemy. Don't you just want to read that based on the title? I do! Contest linky here.
So what progress have you made this week? Feel free to share and include a link to your blog. *just keep swimming....*
11 comments:
I've got about 15K done last week(minus the weekend). I'm not at the editing stage yet. And I completely agree that helping others with their WIP is a great way to figure out what work needs to be done on your own.
If you need help fixing up your first chapter/ opening, you could read the article I wrote here:
www.parafantasy.blogspot.com
testing, testing, 1, 2, 3... :-) We'll see if this works.
150 pages done??? You go girl! Spreadsheets? Dang, now that's organization that I just don't have :( LOL
Hmm...what have I accomplished? I'm almost done with the next chapter in my wip, but it took me a whole week to write! Don't love that, but it was just one of those chapters and I didn't have a whole lot of time to right this week so I'm happy for what I did achieve. My goal for this week is to get my own blog up and running. We'll see if I can follow through. Also, I need to finish reading Speak (which I've had a hard time getting into, but is starting to pick up for me) and Catalyst and I just picked up another book that was recommended as having a good male fppov voice that I need to read as research for a pov switch in my novel.
darn it, you can't edit on these things. sorry for the sad typos. will have to WRITE when i'm not in a rush :-)
Great job guys!! Anonymous (mellymel is that you??) What's the Male fppov, if i may ask? Always looking for more good stuff to read.
Ryan from aw recommended Ordinary Ghosts by Eireann corrigan. He also recommended another book Paper something? Can't remember the exact title, but someone at my library had it checked out so they're ordering another copy from another library for me.
And yes, I'm annonymous. don't ask me why i did that hahaha. I'm used to being able to go in and edit anything i write over in aw. can't seem to do that here. LOL
I am impressed :)
Since my husbands been away I've hardly done any writing - mainly just thinking about things, fo rwhen I do get a chance to write.
I read four books. May review them on my blog (when I have time!)
and did some beta-ing ;) I'm halfway through the MS and very much into it :)
Oh, and Melly - the recommendation was probably for Papertowns - John Green.
And - cant wait to follow your blog :)
Nomes -Thinking counts!! Your speed of reading amazes me. And so glad you're enjoying NW. :)
yes, papertowns, that's it. i remembered it this morning when i woke up.
had a crazy dream this morning. it was total romance followed by sadness. girl has a boy, but doesn't really love boy because he doesn't really appreciate her. girl meets other boy who makes her feel alive and happy like she hasn't felt in a long time. they spend an amazing day together. girl breaks up with her other boyfriend. she's in love. then she shows up at his house (well, his mansion really) and he is surprised to see her there. He tells her that she can't be there and that he has to go to work. turns out that he is a workaholic and his job comes first and that he can only dedicate one day a week to her. girl is sad and says that it's not enough for her. boy cries and tells her he loves her, but that it's all he can give her right now. girl tells boy that maybe it's not their time to be together. she wants more and she can't handle being a once a week girlfriend. she gets in the car and leaves. tears streaming from her eyes. she knows she's letting go of an amazing guy, but she also knows she deserves more. her heart is broken. I wake up.
Very impressive! You are way more organized than I am. I'm on the last leg of my final draft and it's tough! Good luck and have fun. :)
Samantha -We'll see how organized I am when I actually follow through with all the things I noted! I love being at the final stages of a first draft. I usually have the last scene all mapped out ahead of time and I whiz through it. Ah, first drafts are so much fun. Thanks for posting.
Mel - whacky dream - could be a good plot. My latest dream involved the hubby driving us into a tornado because he was too stubborn to admit he was wrong and couldn't outrun the storm. Kind of scary, but there was definitely some truth to it.
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