Well hello there, Livejournal...
It's been a while, hasn't it? A very long while, but it's nice to see you're still here!
I know, I know - it's me that's been away. But I have good reason! (Well, I have a couple of reasons - one good, one just sort of inevitable).
See, over these past 4-5 months I did something I've been meaning to do for YEARS. I FINISHED MY BOOK!
Yep, that's right. The one from which I posted chapters oh so many moons ago. Those of you with whom I'm connected on Facebook already know this and can skip most of this story.
It took some doing, I can tell you. When I started back in on it last October the draft was around 55,000 words long. It's now 117,000 words and ripe for cutting. And it wasn't all smooth sailing to get there, either.
Originally I had planned to be done December 15th, 2010. As added impetus toward finishing, I resolved not to shave or trim my beard until I did finish. Two months of beard, I thought. How bad can it be?
Two months of beard wasn't bad. I mean - it wasn't PRETTY, but it wasn't bad. Sadly, I didn't finish by December 15th. Then I thought I'd finish up by January 1st. That's a nice day to be done. Start the new year with a brand new novel in my hands.
No dice.
Every week that went by I swore, and was convinced, I would finish by the week after that. That I would devote the weekend to writing, forgoing sleep and the company of others to wrap the damn thing up. I needed to be done! And it just kept going on... and on... and on.
What's more, I'd set a goal of writing about 90,000 words with 100,000 being the TIPPY TOP end of how long my draft ought to be. An agent friend of mine had told me flat out that she doesn't accept queries over 100K.
80K came and went, and that, I thought, was a sizeable book. Then I wrote past 90K and started to get a little nervous - I needed to wrap it up, but the story went on and I really needed to write the story correctly. 100K. 110K. Oy - by that time I was resigned to it. I kept writing and writing.
February 17th was it. That was the day. I decided it. I was into the final confrontation. The climax had come. I wrote. I wrote. I wrote. But something was wrong. The Jonas bits weren't working. I couldn't get his piece to budge. I was like trying to push Jello uphill. I had decided: It would be done that night. I would finish. I would shave. It would be done. So I forced it.
I sheared my face some time around 2 am, went to bed and couldn't sleep. Eventually I did drift off, but woke miserable. The last chapter was wrong and I knew it. I tried to convince myself to let it sit - to just fix it in revision, but I couldn't. I was miserable company, a nasty piece of work to everyone around me. By lunch time I knew it wasn't going to blow over, so I sent Gail and the kids away for a trip to CostCo and I stayed home and opened that damned chapter again. I found the music I needed (Blood Rave from the Blade soundtrack) and I wrote that bastard. And I wrote. And I wrote.
Gail and the kids came home around 5 and I wasn't quite done, but I was close. I stayed at my desk for another hour writing the wrap-up chapter. Even then there were two pieces I wasn't ready for yet. Two pages of combat and two or three pages of post-story coda. But - I was done ENOUGH.
I've since gone back and filled in those two pieces. It ain't perfect, but I don't think it's bad. I'm not even fretting too terribly over the 177,000 words. There are two pieces I already know can come out (One HAS to come out - it was a terrible idea. The other is something that can come out without harming the story, and will probably do the story some good by being gone). If I need to, I'm sure I can find more.
I'm beginning to get commentary back from advance readers and I'm incredibly grateful for it. It ain't all roses, either, and that's just fine. My stance on 'negative' comments has always been 'bring 'em on - I can take 'em', but that's been largely theoretical up to now. I'm happy to say that it's not theoretical any more. I've received some now that were, I think, rather sharply worded. They stung at first, but I found that I could take them and learn from them. I find myself eager, in fact, to start revising.
It's been a strange road, and the end (inasmuch as it IS an end) doesn't feel quite the way I expected it to. For instance - it doesn't feel like an end at all. I wrote a book. I am no longer -writing- that book. I expected a greater sense of culmination, but there's still a ton of work to do. More, maybe, than there was before. There are things to learn: How to write a query letter, how to write a synopsis, how to pitch, etc. I want an agent. After that, a publisher. Revisions and rewrites. Hopefully after that there will be marketing to do. And always MORE BOOKS.
I had it printed and bound last Friday. As I stood at the counter watching my payment go through, the woman charging me asked if I'd written the book. I told her I had and she asked me what it was about. I gave her my elevator pitch:
It's about three people with extraordinary abilities and broken lives who are drawn together by fate and chance to prevent a cataclysmic event that could reshape the world as we know it.
A woman standing nearby had overheard and said 'Sounds very dramatic! What's it called?'
'Tiamat,' I said. 'It's the name of an ancient Babylonian goddess.'
'And what's your name?' She asked.
I told her, shook her hand and thanked her when she said 'I'll keep an eye out for it!'
I hope she does. And I look forward to hearing what she thinks of it when she finds it.
If you'd like to be on the list to read the early draft and offer your commentary, I'd love to have it. Just leave me a comment here with an email address and I'll let you in on the party!
I know, I know - it's me that's been away. But I have good reason! (Well, I have a couple of reasons - one good, one just sort of inevitable).
See, over these past 4-5 months I did something I've been meaning to do for YEARS. I FINISHED MY BOOK!
Yep, that's right. The one from which I posted chapters oh so many moons ago. Those of you with whom I'm connected on Facebook already know this and can skip most of this story.
It took some doing, I can tell you. When I started back in on it last October the draft was around 55,000 words long. It's now 117,000 words and ripe for cutting. And it wasn't all smooth sailing to get there, either.
Originally I had planned to be done December 15th, 2010. As added impetus toward finishing, I resolved not to shave or trim my beard until I did finish. Two months of beard, I thought. How bad can it be?
Two months of beard wasn't bad. I mean - it wasn't PRETTY, but it wasn't bad. Sadly, I didn't finish by December 15th. Then I thought I'd finish up by January 1st. That's a nice day to be done. Start the new year with a brand new novel in my hands.
No dice.
Every week that went by I swore, and was convinced, I would finish by the week after that. That I would devote the weekend to writing, forgoing sleep and the company of others to wrap the damn thing up. I needed to be done! And it just kept going on... and on... and on.
What's more, I'd set a goal of writing about 90,000 words with 100,000 being the TIPPY TOP end of how long my draft ought to be. An agent friend of mine had told me flat out that she doesn't accept queries over 100K.
80K came and went, and that, I thought, was a sizeable book. Then I wrote past 90K and started to get a little nervous - I needed to wrap it up, but the story went on and I really needed to write the story correctly. 100K. 110K. Oy - by that time I was resigned to it. I kept writing and writing.
February 17th was it. That was the day. I decided it. I was into the final confrontation. The climax had come. I wrote. I wrote. I wrote. But something was wrong. The Jonas bits weren't working. I couldn't get his piece to budge. I was like trying to push Jello uphill. I had decided: It would be done that night. I would finish. I would shave. It would be done. So I forced it.
I sheared my face some time around 2 am, went to bed and couldn't sleep. Eventually I did drift off, but woke miserable. The last chapter was wrong and I knew it. I tried to convince myself to let it sit - to just fix it in revision, but I couldn't. I was miserable company, a nasty piece of work to everyone around me. By lunch time I knew it wasn't going to blow over, so I sent Gail and the kids away for a trip to CostCo and I stayed home and opened that damned chapter again. I found the music I needed (Blood Rave from the Blade soundtrack) and I wrote that bastard. And I wrote. And I wrote.
Gail and the kids came home around 5 and I wasn't quite done, but I was close. I stayed at my desk for another hour writing the wrap-up chapter. Even then there were two pieces I wasn't ready for yet. Two pages of combat and two or three pages of post-story coda. But - I was done ENOUGH.
I've since gone back and filled in those two pieces. It ain't perfect, but I don't think it's bad. I'm not even fretting too terribly over the 177,000 words. There are two pieces I already know can come out (One HAS to come out - it was a terrible idea. The other is something that can come out without harming the story, and will probably do the story some good by being gone). If I need to, I'm sure I can find more.
I'm beginning to get commentary back from advance readers and I'm incredibly grateful for it. It ain't all roses, either, and that's just fine. My stance on 'negative' comments has always been 'bring 'em on - I can take 'em', but that's been largely theoretical up to now. I'm happy to say that it's not theoretical any more. I've received some now that were, I think, rather sharply worded. They stung at first, but I found that I could take them and learn from them. I find myself eager, in fact, to start revising.
It's been a strange road, and the end (inasmuch as it IS an end) doesn't feel quite the way I expected it to. For instance - it doesn't feel like an end at all. I wrote a book. I am no longer -writing- that book. I expected a greater sense of culmination, but there's still a ton of work to do. More, maybe, than there was before. There are things to learn: How to write a query letter, how to write a synopsis, how to pitch, etc. I want an agent. After that, a publisher. Revisions and rewrites. Hopefully after that there will be marketing to do. And always MORE BOOKS.
I had it printed and bound last Friday. As I stood at the counter watching my payment go through, the woman charging me asked if I'd written the book. I told her I had and she asked me what it was about. I gave her my elevator pitch:
It's about three people with extraordinary abilities and broken lives who are drawn together by fate and chance to prevent a cataclysmic event that could reshape the world as we know it.
A woman standing nearby had overheard and said 'Sounds very dramatic! What's it called?'
'Tiamat,' I said. 'It's the name of an ancient Babylonian goddess.'
'And what's your name?' She asked.
I told her, shook her hand and thanked her when she said 'I'll keep an eye out for it!'
I hope she does. And I look forward to hearing what she thinks of it when she finds it.
If you'd like to be on the list to read the early draft and offer your commentary, I'd love to have it. Just leave me a comment here with an email address and I'll let you in on the party!