Killing my "little darlings"

I don't remember where I got the phrase, though I think it was from my partner-in-crime Lucas, (you can check out a little of his writing at the "Infinite Quacking" link over there--- in my blogroll, though it is woefully out of date!) or Adam Heine (another blogger I read, check out "Author's Echo", again in the blogroll). I believe it sounds quite a bit more morbid than it actually is.

Basically, killing your "little darlings" is editing (read: cutting out) words, sentences, or even entire pieces of your writing. More specifically: words, sentences, and entire pieces of your writing, that you LOVE. It's a tough process, and I find myself with internal debate each time it occurs.

"Wow, that just doesn't fit there at all," I said to myself.
"It doesn't hurt anything, and it's just SO poetic!" I replied enthusiastically.
"Well... No. No, it doesn't belong, and it's just going to give the reader more questions."
Panicked and afraid to lose, I pulled out all the stops, "But... But that sentence could be the pinnacle of my writing!"
"Hmmm, well I suppose I could wait until someone else... NO! I have to cut it."
"Sob sob, whimper whimper."
"DELETE"

Anyhow, (sorry if that was a bit ridiculous, but I think I've made my point) I've finished the third chapter of my editing, and I found myself having to cut a lot. I mean, it was wanton destruction! I was cutting and changing words, altering sentence structure, and highlighting whole paragraphs... (highlighting makes it easier to stare solemnly, sadly even.) DELETE.

And this is only my first edit, in which I'm mostly reading for grammar and punctuation. Right after this, comes my revision, which is almost guaranteed to be a blood-bath.

On the bright side, I am already getting some great feedback from my crit partner. That means, as I go through slaughtering my "little darlings," I can blame her. :)

I think that's all I have for now,
buh bye, then

Crit partners, puppies, and coffee (of course)

I didn't get much work done over the extended weekend. Nope, I spent time with loved ones, just playing around and watching Star Wars :) I feel it was just as productive as any other weekend!

I found my first crit partner the other day (yay!). She seems to be a very awesome lady, who happens to be an English teacher... in Japan! (how freakin awesome is that?!) For anyone who may not know, a crit partner is someone who will read through your work, and critique it (now the "crit" thing seems pretty clever, huh!) (No, it's not some random Dungeons and Dragons reference) (Though, I could see why you'd think that) (wow, I'm using to many of these).

Anyhow, she already sent me a very informative review of my first chapter. She pointed out some things I hadn't noticed, as well as confirmed a few things I was already thinking. I'm excited, though I think the process might be a bit rough (like tearing off a band-aid).

Grrr... You may have already heard about or seen the video of the girl throwing puppies into a river. It literally made me sick to my stomach, which never happens. Anyhow, two days after I heard this story, I heard another one. An old lady had found the puppies (well five out of six puppies) and was nursing them back to health. How amazing is that?!?!? My heart swelled and choirs sang and monkeys threw poo in celebration...

It seems that it may have all been for nothing. Many people are now saying that the puppies the old woman was holding in her photos, do not closely enough resemble the puppies that had been in the original video. The rumor is; the girl that had thrown the puppies cried out for help when she started receiving threats, and a neighbor jumped in to help, making the video.

Grrr... ok... breathe in... remember that this blog is supposed to be about writing, not evil people.

I know it was a tangent, but I've been thinking about it a lot, so I decided to share. Now to brew more coffee (I love the french press!) and get back to editing.

Thanks for reading, buh bye now-

Bloggity updates and other stuff

Hey there, you're looking spiffy today ;)

umm, this is funny, and I love Assassin's Creed


Yeah... So, I've been doing some work on the blog! (if you didn't notice) I dig the tabs on top of the page (go ahead and look) a bit more than the links that had been on the side of the page (don't bother looking, they're not there anymore). I also added my "Works in Progress" page, so you might be able to see what I've been up to, at least as far as writing goes.

I'm still editing and doing the big read-through on "The City," but I've made some progress in other areas also. I finished up a first draft of my query letter, but I'm going to hang on to it a bit. (I actually sent out some early queries, but I think I'm going to edit it a bit before sending more). Haven't gotten any further with the synopsis, but I haven't been slacking, so I'm okay with that.

In the past few months, I've written a couple of short stories that I am going to start submitting. My first stop with those, will be an awesome magazine called "The Sun." (I may be late finding this jewel, but I love it!)

As far as projects go, I already have the idea for my next big one. It's only an idea for now, but I'm pretty excited about it! Wanna know more? Well, for the low price of $9.99...

Just kidding :)

I don't have much, but the generic idea is a diesel-punk storyline about a girl called Clockwork Charlie. That's it for now, as I said, it's a very new idea.

So that's all I have for you, for now.
buh bye, kids

Editing and gopher milk

I finished my first edit of Chapter 1 last night. I swear I've been over those pages, at least a dozen time, and still I found things that needed to be fixed. Tense issues (changing "is" to "was" or "are" to "were"), paragraphs not being broken where they should, and even spelling mistakes... SPELLING!

Oh well, calm down, and take a deep breath. (oohhmmmm) Okay, much more zen now :)

So yeah, my first read-through and edit of Chapter 1 is done. Yay! However, I haven't started my query letter yet, and my summary is still untouched. I'm nervous about letting people read it, trying to get it out there, and about my possible failure. Don't get me wrong, I did write the book for myself, and I finished it for myself (even after all the wrong turns and breaks in writing).

There is still a big part of me, though, that needs this book to succeed. I know that the odds are against me, and there are thousands of "writers" out there that never have a word published... I don't want to be one of them. Also, I know that the art should be for me, and it is. I love writing, always have, and probably always will.

I guess these jitters are to be expected. I am, after all, in brand new territory.

Hey! I also got the new Scott Pilgrim graphic novel (an early birthday present from a beautiful lady) which I intend to read within the next few days. I'm very excited to finish the series, and the movie was pretty rad ;)

that's it for now, I think.
Thanks for reading

The Storm

So I wrote a poem not long ago, but without internet access, I didn't get to post it. I have the good ol' "webz" again, so I'm going to post it now. And away... we go!

Where is the bridge
To stand me away from the waves
The sand, the rush, the crash
Not the surf but the sand...
The waves.

Where is the bridge
To carry my scorched palms from the swell
deep beneath the salty, breaching foam
your hand, your eyes, your breath
Not the sex but the heat...
The waves.

Where is the bridge
To keep me dry through your storm
The sweat, the tears, your rain
Not the ocean but the cloud...
The waves.

Still and thorough, you beat against my roof
Hot and strong, you press on my shutters
If you are the storm, I need no bridge...
No curtain, no door, no roof
Come in, my storm, and rage forever with me.*



So that's one of the things I've written in the last month or so. As I already may have mentioned ;) I finished the novel, and have also written a short story. Things have been good in my world, more zen than in the recent past.

Good day

End of the first step

So, here I am, more than two years from the beginning of this journey, and the book is fully written. Really, it's only a first draft (or first draft plus, I did a lot of editing while I went along) and there is more work to be done, but I feel like I've finally put my tired foot down, after holding it up; hesitating to take that step.

As a matter of record, before I do my first official edit, or have any beta reading done, the stats on the book stand like this:

13 Chapters

408 pages; double spaced, size 12 courier font (like most publishers seem to ask for)

87,412 words; black and white, on the page (this also seems to be a plus) ;)

I also finally have an internet connection, so as things continue to progress, I will update this page. I'll also be bringing the other random thoughts on life, poetry, and short stories that roll out in the coming days.

The next step for me, in the "big book" process, is to finish my query letter. It needs to be well written and exciting, so as to catch a literary agent's attention. I haven't started this, but it's only like a one page project, so it might not take me three more years. (hehe)

I also need to finish my summary, which I have started, but haven't looked at in months. A bit of a longer process, but another necessity in the publishing process.

One of the more important things I have to do, is finding beta readers. I need to find people that are willing to read the book, and kick back some honest thoughts on the story. The good thing is; I don't need a red-pen to fix punctuation, just some honest thoughts and feedback. For the most part, I'm delegating this job to a "critter" website that I'm a part of, but if someone is interested, an extra set of eyes never hurts.

Well, that's all I've got for you, for now.
I'm sure I'll be back soon, and more regularly :)

thanks for reading

Down to it...

So I have no excuse for the laziness that swallowed the last two weeks or so. I just did nothing beneficial. At all. Oh well, I can be angry at myself and say crazy things about making up for the time I lost, or I can be realistic and pick up where I left off. That seems more constructive.

Right now, I have just under 75,000 words done. Even with all my slacking, that's a pretty big deal to me, and if I buckle down... Well, I'll be done soon. No more self setting deadlines. That kind of thing just seems to make it easier for me to miss my mark.

I'm at this weird spot in my story; I can see the end, and hell, I even know the end. But, there is a step missing between where I am, and where I need to be. It's frustrating. There seems to be this wall... just stopping me from meeting the end of this story. Should I look at changing the ending? I mean it's not written yet, but it's kind of been set in stone (in my mind) for a while now.

Do I change it, or do I just keep moving forward, having faith that it'll all come together? I think it will, but I also think I need to be open to the possibility of change here. Hmmm... I guess we'll see.

On a personal note, I'm psyched because this Thursday, I'm scheduled to get my first tattoo :) It's been a plan that I've hmmm'd and haah'd, but I finally just made the appointment, and now I can't wait. I guess sometimes you just need to make the decision.

Ok, that's it for now