Oh Bobby.

Jammi, let's discuss Supernatural. I'm all caught up. I feel like this last episode was a proper send off, which Cas never got. I'm not sure how I feel about the cliffhanger ending though.

In other news, I'm still moving forward with editing and writing, only slowly. I need to find a good rhythm, but it's escaping me at the moment. I'll figure it out eventually. It was easy to write the first novel because I was unemployed. Now I have a full-time job. I just need to carve out  a few hours a day. Seems like an easy task--not sure why I'm finding it so hard.

Happy Christmas!

Moving Forward

Outlining is fun!

Even though I'm not completely done with SURRENDER (as explained in my last post), I've started outlining book 2 of the Fallen Guardian Series, which is currently untitled. Although, I've been playing around with a few ideas for titles, but since I'm only 85% married to SURRENDER, there's a lot of wiggle room at this point. I think I might have had a breakthrough regarding something major: the point of the series. Ha! Even though book one is done, I still didn't know where I was headed for books two and three. I didn't know what everyone was fighting for and I might have figured that out today. Things always change as I start writing, so everything is still up in the air.

I feel like I'm making progress and at least moving forward. I always have a hard time transitioning between big steps. For example, after I finished writing the novel it took me a while to get into editing. I don't like the down time (even though I should enjoy it). So, my goal is to start writing in the next few days. Once I start it'll be easier to continue until book two is done.

I've also started to read KILLING MEMORIES in preparation to edit it. I've been on a roller coaster with this one in the last few days. I compiled all of the edited chapters and started reading and thought "Ehhhhhh, this needs a lot of work." Then I started reading it on my NOOK and thought, "Hey, this isn't so bad after all! I just need to make her sound a little more mature." I felt dizzy. I don't plan on making major changes to the novel, a few added scenes here and there. I know that the arch of the novel needs a little work, mostly because I wrote the first half with absolutely no purpose in mind (sound familiar?!). But, overall, I'm excited to start working on this. I'm hesitant to make any promises about when it might be ready, but I'm hoping for Summer 2012.

Book 2 in the Game of Thrones series.

In other news, I'm on to reading something non-YA. I recently watched season one of GAME OF THRONES, which was awesome. So I'm reading the second book in the series (since the TV show covered the first book to a T, or so my sister says). It's like 999 pages, or something crazy like that. Sometimes, when I'm holding it in my hand, I wonder if I'll ever finish it. Makes me feel bad for writing a 510 page novel. But... length is my forte, so... yeah.

Boop boooo boop booooooo (trumpet sounds)

I've finished editing SURRENDER!

Well, almost. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the very last line, but that's just a matter of minor tweaking. In fact, the whole thing could use a few tweaks here and there but I am refraining from that at this point. My focus has diverted to writing the synopsis, which is currently at five pages. I'm considering this my long sample and I'll have to write a short 1-pager. I also have to write a paragraph-long blurb, and somehow--God willing--a 1 sentence hook. These final steps are definitely much more difficult than writing 168,000+ words. It really is. I've always been a person who likes having the space to move around on the page. Don't even ask me to write a poem!

So, I'm happy to report that this is the final draft (at this point). I do think that it's ready to be seen by agents (fingers crossed). In reality most of the people I send to will only read my query letter, a few sample pages, and the synopsis. I'll be really lucky if any one wants to read the whole manuscript.

I'm pretty much on target, I think, for my goal to have it out to agents by the first of 2012. More research to come and then I'll start writing book 2. Things are really winding down now!

@Jammi: If you're still interested, hit me up by email (on profile).

41 pages left

I really haven't made much progress since my last post. I think I'm on the third draft of my synopsis--it's probably too long (5 pages). Hopefully I'll be able to cut it down some. I'm trying to think of what else to write about. Here are a few updates:

• I just finished THE FAERIE RING (decent, definitely the dark of a series) and I'm now reading Meg Cabot's INSATIABLE. So far, so good... I've always liked her books. Next up THE PLEDGE, THE REPLACEMENT, and THE SPACE BETWEEN (maybe on the last one). I've also ordered the first four books in the GAME OF THRONES series. My sister got me into the HBO series and now I really want to read the books. Good stuff.
• I've been thinking about my old stories lately... particularly THE JADE BRACELET and the KM series. I need to get serious about editing (and finishing) these stories. I feel like I have no time now that I work full-time. Things are just slower now... I guess that something I'll have to get used to.
• Chapter 12 of HOSTILE KISSES was recovered (thanks to a reader) and has been re-posted on Fiction Press. I'm pretty sure that I'll be taking that story down in January and putting up CHEMICAL GAMES.  
• One thing I dislike is not remembering what happens in the first two books in a series when the third book comes out. I had that problem with the HUSH, HUSH series. I have no idea what happened in the first two so... I'm probably not going to read the third. I need to find a way to prevent that from happening with my novels, because it's so disheartening.... 

And basically, that's all she wrote... for now anyway.

66 Pages

I'm still plugging away on this novel and I've started the synopsis, which is going to be a HUGE undertaking. It's difficult to tell a 500 page story to 3-5 pages, but I think I've got a good outline to start with. I'm looking forward to coming to the end of this edit. I'm even more excited to start writing new stuff again. I could probably edit and write at the same time if I just reorganized my brain so that I focus on a few hours of editing and a few hours of writing. Maybe one day. What I really need to do is read more--I don't read enough.

In other news, I saw "The Muppets" yesterday. I am a huge Muppet fan, so I really enjoyed the movie (there were 1-2 things that I didn't like). If you're a fan, I recommend it highly.

144 Pages To Go

So, I'm nearing the finish line, yet again. I have 144 pages left to edit. I've stopped reading a loud at time point, mostly because it's easier and I get more done when I don't sit in a quite room and listen to myself talk. I still think I need to print out the whole thing and do one more edit, but I'm going to try to hold back on that for now. And when all is said and done--I haven't cut much more out of this draft. Mostly I take things out and put them back, hopefully in a better way. My focus is about to shift to the synopsis/summary. I'll only be sending the first 5 pages and 1-2 pages of synopsis to the agents--so both of these samples need to kick ass.

I feel a sense of desperation. I worry that just around the corner some novel is going to come out that mirrors mine--and then suddenly I'm not so original. I freaked out a little bit after looking at the new releases at B&N where I found a book called SPACE IN BETWEEN. The plot is nothing like my novel, but the main character is the daughter of Lilith and the Devil, which is somewhat similar to one of my characters. Curses!! I'm going to try not to worry about it because (1) I'm pretty sure my plot is original and out there and (2) if I fail at finding an agent for this book there's always the online e-book market to try.... What I'm most desperate for is to hold my own novel. There's something about holding a big thick book and feeling impressed with how much the author wrote (from a writer's POV). I want that for myself. The e-book craze scares me a little. Library's are starting to offer e-books. I'm a little appauled by this, but I suppose it makes sense considering most libraries carry multiple forms of mass media (CDs, DVDs, etc.) Still... e-books in a library? Soon we'll have e-libraries. I feel like this craze is a few years from murdering my ultimate dream.

I just finished NAME OF THE STAR, which is a story that takes place in London (modern time) where someone has been killing people a la Jack the Ripper. It was a good read with an interesting paranormal twist. I recommend it, but THIS DARK ENDEAVOR was still off the charts good.

In more personal news: I started working out. One step toward self revolution, in a way. The only downside is that I'm starving all the time now. It's been two weeks, shouldn't some of that have gone away by now? Ugh. It's just frustrating because it feels counterproductive. We'll see--maybe it will get better soon. Maybe I just need bigger meals during the day.

Current editing goals: Finish up this last edit by the end of this month. Have a solid synopsis drafted by Christmas. Complete the query letter by the end of this year. January = submission time!!