A week of birthdays, sand pits, novelettes and more
Hurrah! I finished my romantic YA gothic fantasy novelette at last! "House of Secrets" (a veeery tentative working title) is about 12,000 words, and I wrote the last line last night, which felt deeply satisfying. This is my birthday week - I'll turn 38 in a few days - and it's nice to have finished something new just beforehand.
This is also a week of half-term holiday for all the schools here in Wales, so MrD is home with us, doing "running training!" at the local park and reading through the Bunnicula books at home. Today we went into town to do some urgent clothing-shopping (since MrD is growing at a startling-to-me rate), and found a restaurant for lunch that had a big sandpit in the back garden, which made both little boys really happy. I'm trying to get a little bit of writing done every day during this holiday week, but of course it can't be my main focus.
I am thinking a lot about my writing, though, which is part of why I just signed up for this year's Clarion West Write-a-Thon, which raises money for scholarship funds to Clarion West. Since I could never have attended the workshop without the generous scholarship they gave me - and going to that workshop was the best thing I ever did for my writing - this is a cause that I'm passionate about! So I sign up every year for the write-a-thon, and you can see my goals for this year here. If you're able to sponsor me, even for a very small amount, I'll be really grateful - but even if not, I'll appreciate any cheering-along this summer! (The write-a-thon starts on June 21st.) I don't mind slowing down my writing during occasional, week-long school holidays, but 6-week summer breaks are a different question. I'll need all the accountability and motivation I can get to manage a good writing output over MrD's summer off!
(Also, if you're a writer, you can sign up to the write-a-thon now to get yourself that motivation, accountability, and a support group of fellow write-a-thon participants!)
And if you like finding out about other people's writing processes...
Amy VanDerwater is runing a fun online project, Sharing Our Notebooks, where writers, artists, and anyone else who regularly uses a notebook can share photos of their notebook pages. I shared two pages from the notebook I kept while I was first-drafting Kat Book 3 (Stolen Magic/A Reckless Magick). As you can see, at that point (somewhere in the first third of the first draft of the novel, I think) I really had NO idea how it was all going to get resolved, or even exactly what was going on yet! ;)
But that's my eternal process: start writing without an outline, then sit down with a notebook, write out all the themes that are starting to reveal themselves through the draft-so-far, and ask myself questions about plot, characters, etc., until I figure out the answers. Luckily, it generally works out in the end!
And, er...come to think of it, that's not so terribly different from how I handle life in general. Erm. I might have to think about that one!
I hope you guys are having a great week!
(Oh, and if you're looking for a good book to read in the coming month, I just finished Hilary McKay's new book, Binny in Secret, and I *ADORED* it. You can read my review here!)
This is also a week of half-term holiday for all the schools here in Wales, so MrD is home with us, doing "running training!" at the local park and reading through the Bunnicula books at home. Today we went into town to do some urgent clothing-shopping (since MrD is growing at a startling-to-me rate), and found a restaurant for lunch that had a big sandpit in the back garden, which made both little boys really happy. I'm trying to get a little bit of writing done every day during this holiday week, but of course it can't be my main focus.
I am thinking a lot about my writing, though, which is part of why I just signed up for this year's Clarion West Write-a-Thon, which raises money for scholarship funds to Clarion West. Since I could never have attended the workshop without the generous scholarship they gave me - and going to that workshop was the best thing I ever did for my writing - this is a cause that I'm passionate about! So I sign up every year for the write-a-thon, and you can see my goals for this year here. If you're able to sponsor me, even for a very small amount, I'll be really grateful - but even if not, I'll appreciate any cheering-along this summer! (The write-a-thon starts on June 21st.) I don't mind slowing down my writing during occasional, week-long school holidays, but 6-week summer breaks are a different question. I'll need all the accountability and motivation I can get to manage a good writing output over MrD's summer off!
(Also, if you're a writer, you can sign up to the write-a-thon now to get yourself that motivation, accountability, and a support group of fellow write-a-thon participants!)
And if you like finding out about other people's writing processes...
Amy VanDerwater is runing a fun online project, Sharing Our Notebooks, where writers, artists, and anyone else who regularly uses a notebook can share photos of their notebook pages. I shared two pages from the notebook I kept while I was first-drafting Kat Book 3 (Stolen Magic/A Reckless Magick). As you can see, at that point (somewhere in the first third of the first draft of the novel, I think) I really had NO idea how it was all going to get resolved, or even exactly what was going on yet! ;)
But that's my eternal process: start writing without an outline, then sit down with a notebook, write out all the themes that are starting to reveal themselves through the draft-so-far, and ask myself questions about plot, characters, etc., until I figure out the answers. Luckily, it generally works out in the end!
And, er...come to think of it, that's not so terribly different from how I handle life in general. Erm. I might have to think about that one!
I hope you guys are having a great week!
(Oh, and if you're looking for a good book to read in the coming month, I just finished Hilary McKay's new book, Binny in Secret, and I *ADORED* it. You can read my review here!)