Check-up time.
TURN YOUR HEAD AND COUGH.
Maybe that’s a different kind of check-up.
Still, I like these gowns.
ASSLESS.
Which is really a misnomer, isn’t it? Because they’re not ass-less. They’re ass-ful. By revealing the buttocks, you have wildly increased the assfulness quotient, yeah?
Whatever.
What I’m trying to say is, hey! Writer-types!
How’s it going?
What are you writing?
What kinds of things are you finding hard in your writing?
What’s easy?
What’s surprising?
What have you learned?
What do you need?
How is the whole writer’s existence?
Let’s hear ’em. Shout up from the trenches: how goes the penmonkey thing?
Louise Sorensen says:
Hi Chuck. Buildin a story one brick… er word at a time. About a third through and the going’s getting tough bc I have to do some research. Slow but sure. Rome… day etc. I’ve learned that it’s not always fun, but I can do it, and just by chgging along I can finish it.
Never say die. Eureka. Hussah!
May 6, 2013 — 12:12 AM
Rautenbach says:
Thanks for the check-in, but can you send the hostage negotiator?
I’m held captive in a room with the word-count pistol pointed at my right temple, loudly demanding a daily quota of effluent-on-page; a literal spilling of the brains. I’m finding it hard to concentrate on these wordy demands while my own manuscript lies ductaped and crumpled on the floor in the corner. I’ve learned to resign myself to helplessness in the wake of her quiet wimpering and possible slow death, but I need one last attempt to resuscitate her. The whole writer’s existence is madness – madness, I tell you. Writing for a living is like a hostage situation. Writing for me, on the other hand, complete liberation…
May 6, 2013 — 12:15 AM
S.W. Sondheimer says:
Stuck stuck stuck. So many bubbles floating around in my head all shiny like, but when I try to work on them, *pop* slimy shower. Friend and I have been playing *tag, you’re it* writing on Twitter though and we were simultaneously bitch slapped by a collaborative-novel idea. Now, I can’t stop writing. Guess I needed something completely different. And it’s helping we get unstuck on my other projects as well. Huzzah!
May 6, 2013 — 12:18 AM
Ruth Dupre says:
I’m in edits. An editor is hacking my deathless prose into bits. She’s messing with a masterpiece, I tell ya. She is… but I’m editing anyway. 😛
May 6, 2013 — 12:21 AM
Angela says:
Hey Chuck! I know I don’t comment much but thanks for asking about how’s my writing going. I feel loved!
I am world building right now for my fantasy story, making all the diagrams and fancy stuff so I can know what my characters eat, wear, social structure, how they learn and all that good fancy stuff. It’s actually fun!
What I need: Superglue to keep my butt still while I write, a lack of internet service to get rid of stupid procrastination, and a hug for the days when I feel like my writing is the pits.
What’s easy: Thinking all of the good dialogue and scenes in my head.
What’s surprising: That I’ve written so much and improved from writing in the past and that I’m dedicated and believe my writing will get me somewhere in the future (hopefully).
What’s difficult: Writing down those set scene and etc but you’re out at the store with no paper or pen, sitting down and writing it, and not telling my family to hush when they barge in my room while I’m typing a really good scene.
Oh! Oh! And I’m working on my description skills because they suck!
What have I learned: I have a short attention span that I need to get fixed.
The writer’s existence = I’m in la la land for half the day…
Thanks
~Angela
May 6, 2013 — 12:30 AM
rebeccadouglass says:
Are you maybe crawling around in my head? Much where I am, but add in that I’m really stuck on cover-creation for the one before the fantasy, and generally struggling with the transition that comes when I finish one stage of an MS and have to move on to the next (sending one to an editor, just finished the draft of the fantasy and realized I needed to build the world more clearly before I go back and start turning the gooey mess into something like a story. . . yeah, I do it all bass-ackwards. Always have).
Also: too much other stuff on the agenda, which leads to anxiety about what I’m missing, which becomes free-floating anxiety for no good reason. Good think I have a husband to take it all out on, poor soul!
May 6, 2013 — 12:44 AM
Sales says:
Hahaha but isn’t lala land fun? You have to be in the most exciting part of the creation process. The creation!
May 6, 2013 — 2:33 AM
terribleminds says:
Your problems are our problems, I assure you. None of this sounds unfamiliar. 🙂
Keep machete-ing your way through the jungle!
— c.
May 6, 2013 — 12:28 PM
momdude says:
Working in irregular spurts on a couple of things that I had started a few months ago, while simultaneously trying to find off real world issues that are making my head hurt. The whole enterprise has me feeling rudderless and lost with a lack of outside feedback. Am I making good time or running in circles? Meanwhile my characters keep taking off and going in directions that I never dreamed of, yet seem to make perfect sense while I’m typing. Later I find myself laughing my ass off at certain scenes. I wish I knew if I was finally losing it or if these are actually isolated rays of sunshine breaking through the real world gloom at long last, validating risks taken and boxes thought outside of.
To impose some structure to my writing schedule and address an unhealthy, recovering Catholic’s need for a measure of self-discipline, I started a blog in late April, figuring that no one would ever read it except for possibly family members. One of the biggest (and most pleasant) surprises in a while is getting my first comment from a total stranger and the first “follows” and “likes” from total strangers.
More “sunshine” or just narcissistic self-delusion? Unknown, not enough data, but enough encouragement to continue another day.
May 6, 2013 — 12:35 AM
spikala says:
*waves*
Hey right back at you, Chuck. The writing thing is going pretty well at the moment. My ‘big’ long story is edited to my satisfaction and I’ve got a couple of other stories that I’m fired up about at the moment. Yes, I know you say to be all monogamous with your manuscripts, but I’m a cheaty type of person.
I’m writing Star Wars: The Clone Wars fanfic, using the ready-made world to play with new stories and have a go at making new characters. Baby steps and all that.
There’s a couple of things that I’m struggling with at the moment: subplots and the use thereof, writing fluffy, happy endings, and getting original characters to jump off the page and feel like actual people with warts and all.
Stuff that’s easy… hmm… I’d have to say that action scenes, which not easy, are easier. That and ideas for stories. I never seem to have a shortage of material, and if I do, all I have to do is find a prompt or two and I’ve got a new crop of plot bunnies gnawing on my brain.
What’s surprising is probably how much I enjoy writing (been at it less than a year) and getting to know that these other people who hammer away at keyboards in their free time. Great bunch, all of them.
What do I need? More of that arse-to-chair grit, and an editor in a cage that will take my stories and they’ll tell me what aspects of the story or my writing could be improved, and which bits are not so bad.
The writer’s existence thing isn’t so bad. Though I still get blank looks from my significant other when I try to explain why I’m cackling over a particular plot twist, or break out the bubbly when a plot snarl is resolved. Other than that – box of fluffy ducks, mate 😀
May 6, 2013 — 12:35 AM
LillianC says:
I’m in Edit Land. Editing my current novel, doing that accordion thang as I add and subtract text. Also revising a short story that’s been coming back with similar editorial comments. Red ink! Red ink all over the walls!
May 6, 2013 — 12:44 AM
LM says:
I am atoning for my grammatical sins, i.e., working on line edits. (I used to be pretty smug about my ability to use commas correctly, but no more.) I’m going to need a box of wine after this.
May 6, 2013 — 12:44 AM
Ian Rose says:
Hey there, sir. I can’t complain on the writing front. I’ve spent the past few months making the scary and difficult transition from part time hobby writer to part time job writer, putting several hours a day into the word making now. I finished a second draft of a novel for the first time, which I now hate, but I hear that’s somewhat normal. I’m outlining another novel while a few trusted readers tear extraneous assholes in the previous one, and filling in the gaps with short stories. My goal for this week is 5000 new words and three new submissions.
Thanks for asking. I also just started reading Blackbirds, which is my first book of yours. Long time blog reader, first time book reader. So far, so awesome. Great opening chapter.
May 6, 2013 — 12:46 AM
terribleminds says:
Hatred of your own work is irrational and entirely normal. THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
And please enjoy BLACKBIRDS!
— c.
May 6, 2013 — 12:29 PM
T.J. O'Sullivan says:
My big problem right now is getting-words-on-paper. They just won’t come, and then I tense up and get all het up and upset. Not sure if it’s non-writing related stress interfering with me, or if the story’s just not the right one for me to be writing right now.
I’m having a bit of a self-confidence crisis, too. What helps me for that is to read nice things that other people have said about my writing, just to remind myself that I don’t totally suck all the time.
Of course, having baby pen-monkeys around doesn’t help either. If I don’t make inroads on my word quota before they wake up, the day is almost assuredly a lost cause.
May 6, 2013 — 12:48 AM
T.L. Bodine says:
Of late, I’ve been so paralyzed by fear and financial trouble that I haven’t written as much as I’d like. Or, rather, I’ve written a *lot*, but of all the wrong things. I can’t very well spend time on a novel that may not sell when I know I can make money writing web content for insurance companies and whoever else throws a few coins my way.
May 6, 2013 — 12:51 AM
terribleminds says:
Where does the fear come from, you think?
May 6, 2013 — 12:36 PM
Scath says:
I’m kicking ass. Over 11k on one, over 6k on another. They’re totally different critters, so it’s refreshing to switch back and forth.
I gots my writing groove back! [happy dances]
May 6, 2013 — 1:06 AM
lpstribling says:
Excellent! Keep up the good work!
May 6, 2013 — 2:18 AM
Mozette says:
How’s it going? Not too bad. I have my off days…. then I’ll have a great day of writing and yet I’ll be away from the computer so the iPod will have to do – or pen and paper… shit that’s painful when you hardly write with pen and paper anymore.
What are you writing? Sci-fi action Thriller… it’s called ‘Fry Nelson – Bounty Hunter’ I’m on the 4th book and it’s kicking ass…. big time. I wrote the first 2 chapters and got stuck! Then I found your blog and got unstuck (must thank you massively for that!) Dunno what happened, but my muse stopped grovelling in the corner and began sitting next to me again and pointing out what needed to be done.
What kinds of things are you finding hard in your writing? Not much right now… now it’s coming back to me. But really I’m finding it hard to get back into my vampire romance (and I write Bram Stoker kinda vampires – selfish blood-suckers who get what they want when they want in the way they want… and they’ll kill anyone in the way).
What’s easy? Nothing is ever easy.
What’s surprising? Everything.
What have you learned? To just let go and let my imagination take me where it needs to go… like the RHCP’s song goes: Life is a roller coaster!
What do you need? Publishing… but I’m enjoying the act and feeling of writing at the moment. I love the sleepless nights that are coming back. I’m enjoying the weird-arse dreams which are inundating my life again – and thus they are put into my books – but I’m not enjoying the burnt-out feeling I get sometimes due to not sleeping properly.
How is the whole writer’s existence? I’m not sure… I’ve been a writer for so long (since a teacher put a pencil in my hand and taught me to write my name in grade 2) that I haven’t known anything else besides what I’m experiencing… what is a writer’s life compared to any other? I don’t know.
May 6, 2013 — 1:27 AM
Patrick Regan says:
Well, I’ve moved out to Los Angeles, which was a big part of moving my word career forward. I’ve got a second-round job interview in… 10 or so hours. Not a writing job, but a creative job that will keep me in food until I can make writing my job.
I’m wrapping up a draft of my pilot before I send to readers and some professional folk who have asked to see it based on my relationships with them and the sound of the pitch. At worst, I get notes. At best, who knows? I also plan on submitting it to the Austin Film Festival, I think I’ll have more luck there next year.
I want to pick a feature for my next project, although I might also spec something to try and enter it into the Warner Bros fellowship.
I’ve recently made a huge breakthrough in my voice, and especially in not being afraid to write visually, to make my word the camera that will make the film.
I also made some REALLY good seasoned crusted baked pork chops today, but that’s slightly less related to writing. They are good, though.
May 6, 2013 — 2:08 AM
Mr Urban Spaceman says:
Good luck with the interview!
May 6, 2013 — 3:01 AM
terribleminds says:
LA! Hot damn. Congrats, man, and good luck out yonder.
May 6, 2013 — 12:37 PM
lpstribling says:
Writing is going superbly well! I wrote a short story in a day about a necromancer bringing his wife back from the dead just so she could cook him some breakfast. It was excellent. I’m brainstorming another few things as well. I have a non-fiction book in the works which is a collection of letters to give to my wife next time we’re together. I write it all. Poetry and Prose. Submitted several pieces via DUOTROPE a week ago, have my story being workshopped now and must keep writing. Must keep writing, must keep writing. Thank you, Chuck, for the madness of penmonkey inspiration that is you.
May 6, 2013 — 2:17 AM
terribleminds says:
No, thank YOU for reading.
May 6, 2013 — 12:37 PM
Sales says:
2 hours a day writing. 1st novel done, on to the editing phase. 2nd novel in progress. ~ so many more stories to tell.
May 6, 2013 — 2:37 AM
Raechel Hudson says:
Hiya Chuck! I’m actually going really well. :O I have finished the manuscript I have been working on lately, and its first and second edit. I have now handed it off to two beta-readers who will be reporting back soon. They are good little minions these ones. In the meantime, I got a new job and have been writing mini-fictions for my blog, based on teh adventures of my Dungeons and Dragons crew. All in all, my writerly-colon is nice and regular!
Go here to see me and my buddies be ridiculous and fight things: http://raechelhudson.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Passage%20of%20the%20Planeswalkers
May 6, 2013 — 2:56 AM
Nana Prah says:
You never cease to make me laugh, a great way to start my Monday. I’m finding it hard to write a blurb, synopsis, tag line and log line for my book. Does anyone like writing them? Writing them is harder than writing the novel.
May 6, 2013 — 3:17 AM
Brian C Hall says:
I’m drowning, honestly. 24k words in two months and then nothing. For the last month and a half I haven’t been able to write. And for no reason whatsoever. I don’t have anything going on that might distract me from my writing, yet when I sit down to write, two hours will pass by and I’ll barely get a paragraph out. If that. Sometimes I get nothing. It’s not an issue of not knowing where to go next either. I’ve got the whole thing mapped out and I know exactly how I want the next scene to go, I just can’t put the words into sentences and get them on a page. Super duper uber fucking frustrating. The only consolation is that I know it won’t last forever and it’s only a matter of time before I get past the shittiest bout of writer’s block I’ve ever experienced. The biggest insult is that I was able to write all this on a whim in two minutes but I can’t do the same with my novel. Suckage. Ah well. It won’t last forever…
May 6, 2013 — 3:34 AM
Kirstie says:
The writing thing is going quite well with me, I recently had my first short story accepted for publication and another shortlisted, so I’m buzzing. I’m writing a lot of short stories at the moment (kinda a little stymied on the novel side). I’m surprised at how the more you write the more ideas come – how does everyone keep up with this! Sometimes when I get my precious scrap of writing time I waste ten minutes trying to figure out WHAT to write! What do I need? More time – but with a toddler I don’t think that happening without sacrificing chunks of sacred sleep time.
Thanks for asking.
May 6, 2013 — 4:17 AM
Whoa, Molly! says:
Working through a short story right now, just taking it scene by scene. It’s slow going, but I recently went through some lame life junk that had me in a bit of a slump, and I wasn’t able to write a thing for a month (though not for lack of trying.)
Even though getting stuff out right is like clawing my way across razor blades and oystershells, I’m just happy and greatful to be getting words happening! I’m just about to head to my desk right now and do a little thirty minute block (I’ve been setting a timer for halfa lately and just going all out until it chimes. If I have more in me, I take a five minute break and then keep going, if not, I just feel good for having done something, you know?)
Wish me luck! And words!
May 6, 2013 — 5:00 AM
Lisa L. says:
I’m hopping, skipping and jumping around, which basically translates to, I am all over the place. I have different scenes written that take place in various spots of the novel – very non- linear. But I do have about 19,000 words, which I suppose is something. The plot is still working itself out and coming in spits and spurts, drips and drabs, hence the jumping around.
May 6, 2013 — 5:20 AM
geekomancer says:
Good luck and good words 🙂
May 6, 2013 — 8:01 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
You darling thing, giving a crap about lil’ ol; me. Querying my Japanese death god vampire novel, giving a short rest to the newly finished desecrated Egyptian sex god possesses a Boston banker novel that I finished before we play Draft 2. A week into my 1000 word a day diet on the new novel about an abused woman who turns into a Harpy. Got a short story series called Inscription about a writing prodigy that takes his work a little too far on the blog. Looks like that’s going to be a novella. So not much, you know?
The trash picking doesn’t suffer, I assure you.
–Julie
May 6, 2013 — 5:50 AM
Suzie says:
In the middle of a rewrite, and trying to work out what on earth I was thinking the first time around…
May 6, 2013 — 6:11 AM
AM Gray says:
ugh… it’s not. I have too many things on the go and can’t manage to finish any of them. Writing ten things at once. I have been getting rejection letters for some short stories I submitted, so I guess I am now a real author. lol
May 6, 2013 — 6:20 AM
Holly says:
Same situation. This year I went through my first round of short story and poetry submissions. Managed to get one story and a poem published, but only online. To be quite honest, I sort of enjoy the rejections. They make me feel authorly. 😛
Where have you been submitting? Small presses/online lit mags? Or big print mags?
May 6, 2013 — 7:32 AM
AM Gray says:
sorry – I forgot to log in for replies… ah, let’s see… I sent one longer thing to a publisher. They actually wrote back and asked for some changes and then tore themselves apart before I got it back to them. Might have avoided an issue there… lol Some other short stories for Fireside and for Tor. I did win a competition to have a manuscript considered by a small press but then I didn’t have a longer FINISHED story to send them, that fitted within their specs (no sex). gahhhhh
May 10, 2013 — 3:09 AM
Benjamin Adams says:
It’s slow-going. I’ve got a novel finished, just doing the last bit of editing, (like my 4th or 5th run-through) and trying to decide exactly how I want to publish it. Trying to figure out the steps. For traditional, do you just send manuscripts to publishers/agents and hope for the best? For self, what are the best websties to use, just amazon or should I also go with lulu and various other ones? Who should I go to for a cover? For editing?
There is just many questions, and I don’t have the answers. Working on figuring it out though.
May 6, 2013 — 6:50 AM
Jacqui Talbot says:
Working toward finishing my rough draft. It’s utter shit, of course, but I’m cancer free and the words are flowing. It’s not much, but for now I’m happier than a necrophiliac in a morgue.
May 6, 2013 — 7:16 AM
Todd Moody says:
I enrolled in an MFA program titled Writing Popular Fiction, and the first semester is just ending. The thesis is a publishable novel, and that is where the focus of the program is.
I am about a quarter, maybe a little bit more through my second novel (1st in the trunk for now). I’m currently revising that bit for submission to my mentor and writing partners. Then I have a short piece (10 pages) due for next semester. I’m using an outline this time around and am finding it much easier to stay on track and keep moving the ball down the field. The synopsis is completed (for now) so I know how it ends and where I’m going. I’m enjoying the program, as much for the camaraderie as for the mentoring.
What I need is simply more time in the day. =)
May 6, 2013 — 7:31 AM
Frank Cote says:
I’m focusing on writing every single day. I set a low minimum to start and so far it’s working. The streak stands at 46 days today. Soon, I’ll be upping the minimum daily word count…slowly but surely.
The WIP feels good, it’s flowing. It’s been a great month and a half.
May 6, 2013 — 7:33 AM
Paul Baughman says:
[from central Pennsyltucky]
On Friday, I sent in the signed contract for my short story first sale. Unless something pukes, it will hit the words-on-paper and electrons-on-phosphor things in spring 2014.
What: nothing at moment. still doing the snoopy happydance from the above (this too shall pass)
Hard: description
Easy: dialog (I won’t say it’s good dialog)
Needs: two things,
1) more markets that publish what I write 😉
2) a complete renovation of my house. I write in my library, and the temptation of all those books is sometimes overpowering. I just reach over to one of the shelves and pull out a favorite…just for a minute. I need a place to write that is away from the distractions of the library and the TV running in the living room.
3) Oh, and I suppose more hours in the day. The day job and life stuff take up too much writing time.
May 6, 2013 — 7:36 AM
Jack Vanish says:
Hey!
I’m in the process of adapting one of my recent Flash Fictions into a full-length novel. I kept half-starting projects and I finally figured it was time to shit or get off the ink pot. The link for that is here (http://figment.com/books/623611-Floodgate-Star) for anyone who wants to read it. I was really kind of stunned by the reception the original story got- more positive and higher volume than anything I’d written to date.
I’m also writing up a Flash Fiction for this week. ‘Cause that’s good for keeping the ol’ brain alive.
May 6, 2013 — 7:37 AM
Axl T says:
11,000 words in and feeling tense about tense – should I have written in present tense?
May 6, 2013 — 7:43 AM
smithster says:
Well, I had my ending change on me, then realized that because the ending changed a major plot point had suddenly become a major plot hole, so while I’m working out exactly how to get my characters through the new (and hopefully improved) ending without dying – not so easy – I am going through editing out all the previously cool but now not so much plot hole stuff. And it seems to be coming out better, imo, but we’ll see what beta readers have to say. My first attempt at doing this kind of thing, so I’m expecting to discover at least one more major plot hole lolsigh.
May 6, 2013 — 7:59 AM
geekomancer says:
Editing! I’d like to start sending out the queries soon… But the semester is almost over so that means crunch time! But the back to hard-core editing action! Woo! Or something.
May 6, 2013 — 8:04 AM
Josh Loomis says:
Slowly but surely, Chuck. Slowly but surely. The last couple weeks have seen me focused more on recovering from injury than carving out time to write, but it’s still getting done.
May 6, 2013 — 8:05 AM
Aerin says:
I took a bit of a break from writing to put together a Call of Cthulhu game. It’s a very different kind of storytelling, and I think I learned a lot from it. Now I really need to get back into the writing rhythm. I might try for a couple of short stories this week, and then I need to get back to editing my current big project and see if I can make it work.
May 6, 2013 — 8:07 AM
Holly says:
Suffering from some serious TMIS (Too Many Ideas Syndrome) at the moment. I’m working on ten or so different ideas, plus some poetry. I do have one novel as my main focus, but with that one it’s like… well, you know you get those Eureka moments sometimes with writing? Where suddenly you get this one idea that seems to make everything fall into place?
I’m getting them daily.
It goes a bit like this:
Monday: ‘HOLY FUCK I’VE GOT IT! HE’S PART REPTILE!’
Tuesday: ‘HOLY MACKEREL, IT’S A LOVE STORY!’
Wednesday: ‘HOLY SWIZZLESTICKS, THAT’S IT! I SHALL WRITE IN MULTIPLE-POV PAST TENSE SECOND PERSON!’
Thursday: ‘FUCK!! DINOSAURS!’
And hence I can no longer tell which revelations are genuine, and which are just masquerading.
Aside from that, writing is good. The idea of writing is good, even if I don’t actually get down to doing it.
Peace out. Good luck with it all, you wordy people.
May 6, 2013 — 8:07 AM
Elaina M. Roberts says:
Hmm, Things are going well, thank you for asking. I’m currently letting a first draft sit and stew in its own juices while I begin a new project. Hope to start the initial edits and revisions either this week or next. It’s shorter than I wanted (yeah, that’s what she said), and some spots move faster than it should (ditto), so I have a feeling it will balloon like Violet Beauregarde once she reaches the blueberry pie. This will call for the second round where I trim viciously and violently until I’ve got it wrestled back under control. The new project is in its infancy at barely 5K words but otherwise plugging along. I hope to have something worth publishing by the end of the summer. I still don’t know how I’ll publish it.
May 6, 2013 — 8:22 AM
Troy L says:
I’m through the first third of the story – roughly 80 pages. I outlined but found my story going in different directions than I planned. This may or may not be fixed in the 2nd draft.
I need to squeeze flash fiction back into my writing, but remodels at home have cramped my time. We are almost done so I should have time for writing out of my main project.
There are bits of my main story where I see I need more of this or that; I’m noting what I think I will need so I can add as I edit.
I could say I need more time but a few pages a day gets my subconscious to work between writing. It’s all good.
May 6, 2013 — 8:34 AM
Autumn Pruyn says:
It’s funny you should ask. 🙂 Things are going Really Fucking Well.
I’ve got a story that’s pretty much given me Stockholms for how long I’ve been shacked up in its shed with a gun to my head, to the point that every time I escape it in search of another plot (and write those!), I come crawling back.
I made the decision back in March to stop being the story’s bitch and take the power back. I have gutted it, laid its entrails in the sun, and cut the cancers out before stuffing it all back in the right places. Yesterday I finally finished my Mobile Outline cards, and for the first time since I started writing this thing, I have, in theory, cut this thing to a third its original size. I’m overjoyed with all of it.
For me, writing has always been easy (*ducks people throwing things*). But knowing when to -stop- has been hard. In the last two years, finding your blog and a few other awesome writers who blog has been really enlightening for me. I’ve learned I hate outlines and I NEED an outline, and I’ve learned how to make one that doesn’t make me want to climb the wall screaming at decibels that would shatter ear drums sixteen miles away. I’ve learned how to take only the things my story -needs- to keep the wordcount at a completely manageable size. Because really. Who wants to read a 250,000 word draft. Really.
I still struggle with concision. But I am learning and I am improving, every time I type. It’s a good week. Tomorrow might suck, but I am riding this high right now, and loving it.
May 6, 2013 — 8:59 AM
Jessi says:
I’m in the trenches. Wasn’t sure about this novella project that in it’s 3rd draft and it felt like I had other ideas that were shinier and more profitable, but every time I’d work on something else, the other characters were like “Hey! Pay attention to me!” So they’re definitely here to stay. I’m approaching somewhere around the 2nd act, and sent what I had to a CP and she liked it (yay), but she thinks it could be a full length novel if I really flesh everything out. It probably could, but something about the word “novel” makes me hyperventilate and feel like I can’t get beyond 60k (even though all three drafts combined = 100k).
Decided to do a short story for a magazine submission as a sort of prequel to get my mind off of that until it gets sorted and kinda jump start my brain on this project. Short story is kind of blowing my mind and I’m not sure where it’s going. I’m intrigued.
May 6, 2013 — 9:06 AM
mikes75 says:
I’m shocked to find myself somewhere around the halfway mark of the first draft my book! Of course, what I’ve written probably has all the coherence of a Kindergarten kid telling a joke, but I’m very confident I can break it into something coherent when it’s time to rewrite. I’m approaching this part as laying out my mise en place, laying out the ideas so I can see if they work on paper as well as they sounded in my head. I’m planning a full tilt push to complete the back end by the end of the month so I can get into editing and revising, and hopefully have it ready for beta readers before Summer’s over.
May 6, 2013 — 9:06 AM
Tia Kalla (@tiakall) says:
Working through two manuscripts right now….sadly the one that excites me isn’t publishable. Waiting in the wings are two more, one of which I have to fix a timeline on, the other of which just needs to be finished. And chilling in the break room is one that needs a beginning, one that needs an end, and one that needs its pacing fixed.
Thankfully, work has allowed me to work on such things by removing our ability to actually work…
May 6, 2013 — 9:09 AM
EldritchGirl says:
Not well. Not well at all. I just… the words… they won’t…
*crumples to the ground* Leave me here to die.
May 6, 2013 — 9:10 AM
Holly says:
I’m a doctor! Step aside, please!
*kneels down, whacks out stethoscope*
Hmm… hmmm… yes. Slow heartbeat… shallow breathing… possible clog-up of words in the arteries…
Must have had a bad reaction to something. Has anyone got her pen?
😉
Good luck pushing through with it. We all share that pain… sigh. Have you ever tried describing how it feels to have a block? That’s my favourite. The word-stealing gods see the irony, laugh, and say ‘oh, go on then, have them back’. It usually seems to work.
Keep it up, mon ami.
Oh, and don’t forget those ink injections. Twice daily.
May 6, 2013 — 11:57 AM
Kristen says:
Well thanks for asking!
How’s it going? Pretty good right now, the words flow and my fingers fly across the keyboard in a rather pleasing manner.
What are you writing? Working on my science fiction/fantasy mash-up. It’s got dragons that battle space ships. I’m pretty excited about it.
What kinds of things are you finding hard in your writing? Right now, consistency in my story. I need to do more research because I’m just making shit up and I’m not totally sure half of it is possible.
What’s easy? Sticking to my outline. I’m so glad I’m using one, I’d get so lost with this huge story otherwise. And getting that 350 word count everyday. 90% of the time I write waaay more than that.
What’s surprising? The depth of my characters. They’re kind of awesome.
What have you learned? To just go with the flow and enjoy the creation process. Don’t worry about the future until you get there.
What do you need? Someone to watch my kids all day everyday so I can write more and not have to get up at 5 in the morning to have some peace and quiet.
How is the whole writer’s existence? Fun but hard. Real life keeps getting in the way and my writing children behave better than my real ones, most of the time.
Let’s hear ‘em. Shout up from the trenches: how goes the penmonkey thing? Overall, good and I’m happy.
May 6, 2013 — 9:14 AM
Justine Spencer says:
Trying to find blocks of time to write between being a single mom of two wee little ones and working a full-time job. Feeling a bit like my writing is just a bunch of five minute interruptions, while fighting off the voice in my head saying, “You can give up at any time.”
I recently got a response from an agent who said, “There is a lot going on. I found your pages to be a bit disorientating.”
HA, HA!! You think? (sigh)
May 6, 2013 — 9:15 AM
Lucie B. says:
Why, thank you for asking.
I am getting ready to query a book (yay!) and I have a brand new problem I have not before encountered. I normally immediately know what book to start writing next. This time I have two ideas and they are both loudly demanding my attention so I am kinda working on both and giving neither the attention it deserves. I find this illustrates something you don’t hear that often in the “how valuable are agents these days” discussion. Because right now I would love someone both knowledgeable and objective to say “yes, focus on this one, I know an editor who would want this,” or even “dear lord where did that idea come from? Let us never speak of this again.”
May 6, 2013 — 9:21 AM
JillianBoyd says:
Hi Chuck!
It’s had its ups and downs in the last few weeks. I’ve tentatively begun on a longer project, but I feel like I should do more. I keep losing confidence in my own abilities. What I need is some support from other writers and peers, possibly those who write in the same genre (erotica, romance).
Oh, and coffee. Lots of it.
May 6, 2013 — 9:22 AM
jackiehames says:
I am mostly through the first rewrite/edit of this fantasy story about Vikings. I just rewrote the ending scenes, and they are much better! Much different. Lots more gore–I sort of made myself cringe while writing, which in turn made me giggle. Still have to overhaul the antagonist’s through-line and work out some historical kinks. Slow-going, but now that I have solidified my ideas it looks promising. My goal is to get it out to beta-readers over the summer.
Good luck, everyone!
May 6, 2013 — 9:25 AM
waltrosenfeld says:
I have serious doubts about what I’m writing. Having published a first book, I need these doubts squashed, or verified then corrected before I can continue my work on the 2nd book.
May 6, 2013 — 9:27 AM