So, my list of accomplishments for today:

1. Finished off my complete plot outline for Wayfarer and sent off to my agent, who liked it very much and didn't think it needed any changes, hurrah!

2. Read Infernal Devices, which left me going "AAAAAAA NEED NEXT BOOK NOW" and, of course, I don't have it yet.

3. Read Fugitives of Chaos, which left me ( Read more... )

On the weekend I sent off the first chapter and a three-page synopsis of Touching Indigo to my agent. I am itching to write more on that novel, but for practical reasons I now have to force myself to switch mental gears and start paying some serious attention to Wayfarer (a.k.a. the Knife sequel) instead ( Read more... )

When giving advice on how to write a good query letter, I've often heard agents and editors recommend that authors compare their ideas to something that's already out there. For instance, I've heard one paranormal romance author describe her books as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets James Bond". Well, I just came up with a description of Wayfarer ( ( Read more... )

I am proud to announce that during the month of April I did, indeed, achieve my goal:

50,000 words.
( How I did it )

I'm not dead, truly... just doggedly writing 2000 words a day, every day, and using what little time I have left to catch up on what other people are saying in their journals -- which leaves me precious little time to post anything new to my own. Would you prefer I ignored you lovely people in order to grace you with my dubious wit? I thought not ( Read more... )

The bad news: I did not write 20 pages on my first day of Fast Draft.
The good news: I wrote 10 pages (2,727 words ( Read more... )

I've been really struggling with Touching Indigo the last couple of weeks -- I seem to have lost the groove as far as outlining is concerned, and now I really have to figure out precisely which method I'm using, or else which parts I want to borrow from each method and what deadlines to set for myself along the way. I now have only one month left ( Read more... )

Since mid-January I have had two major illnesses -- one 24-hour bout that left me weak for days afterward, followed closely by the Flu O'Doom, which I am just now getting over two weeks later. I am tired of being tired, and sick of being sick, and generally ready to stop coughing now, thanks. And unsurprisingly, all this has put a crimp in my First ( Read more... )

As I'm struggling through the opening chapters of First Draft in 30 Days I find myself more and more drawn to the idea of interleaving Karen Wiesner's method with Randy Ingermanson's snowflake method, especially as the former seems highly plot-driven and I like the more character-centric approach of the latter ( Read more... )

As you have probably already noticed, Day Five in First Draft in 30 Days and Day Five on the actual calendar are... not so much in alignment. But I am still ahead of deadline, or at least I haven't missed my deadline yet. Remember I'm planning to do this in 90 days (max.) instead of 30, so you can do the math ( Read more... )