say uncle

Crash Landing

/ Tracy Abell / 36 Comments

I just finished the first draft of my contemporary YA.  It was ugly.  Pointed the nose to the ground and crash-landed the project.  The draft is 65k words which I mostly wrote in 1k-word installments.  I wrote every single day except for when I put it on hold to do revisions on other projects.  I’m proud to have finished a draft so quickly because even though it blithers and blathers, and does a fair amount of wandering, there are glimmers of a real story in there.  I proved to myself I can be disciplined (formerly viewed as "rigid") and produce (hopefully) decent work. 

Normally I’d print out a copy and stick it in a drawer for months before looking at it again.  But having discovered I’m capable of sticking to a daily word count, I started wondering if I should also tweak my revision process and try something new there.  

So.  I’m going to read the draft and then immediately go through all my notes I took as I wrote the book so that I can create a new Official Notes List.  This list will only contain the plot and character ideas that still make sense, whether they’re already in the story or just in my notes.  I’m in the habit of jotting down notes as I write and sometimes those notes are viable by the end of the story but sometimes they don’t make a damned bit of sense.  And sometimes there’s lots and lots of the nonsensical.  By creating an Official Notes List right now, I hope to alleviate much confusion and staggering in the wilderness when I read this draft several months from now.

That’s my Big Plan for Success.  Anyone else care to share?

(And if you haven’t yet read them yet you might be interested in stopping by  jeannineatkins to read her last couple posts on her revision process.  She gave me lots to think about).

AARGH!  I read over this before hitting the Post button, and realized something:  it doesn’t make any sense to write out a list without making changes in this draft because otherwise I’ll just be distracted all over again by the tangents and mis-characterizations.  I won’t be buying myself much time.  Does this mean I have to go in and do heavy-lifting (in terms of plot and characterization) before putting the ms in a drawer?

HELP!  Tracy’s Big Plan for Success just sprang a leak.

                     

Cheers and Jeers

/ Tracy Abell / 28 Comments
  • I’ve written 1000 words per day every day on my WIP and am now up to 46k words!  You might think that means I’ve written every day for 46 days in a row but it’s actually 78 days (because I’m also doing revisions on another project).
  • I’ve formed a good habit!
  • I’ve actually formed a good habit.  Wow.  (I have lots of other less-than-stellar habits so I’m basking in the glow, people.)
  • This morning I finished another round of revisions on my humorous boy book.
  • I’ve had the plague since last Tuesday.
  • Today I’m dressed in real go-out-into-the-world clothes for the first time in days.
  • It should be noted, however, that flannel jammies can be very fashionable; it all depends on the attitude.

Feeling Good

/ Tracy Abell / 13 Comments

I’ve written every single day for the past 36 days.  And with just a couple exceptions (several days when I tinkered  – over and over – with the final pages of my draft), each day I wrote 1000 words. 

This new disciplined approach to my writing process has been a pleasant surprise. 

It’s easier slipping into the flow.
The words come more easily.
The nasty inner critic’s voice is fading.
I’m not feeling nearly the angst and envy that dogged me this spring and early summer.
My writing muscles are stronger.  Leaner.

I really and truly feel like a writer.

It finally hit me that it’s now or never time.  I’m forty-five, and if I want a career as a writer I need to work at it.  Every day.  I can’t afford to take days off and allow my muscles to atrophy.  I have to keep writing so the stories are fresh in my mind, the characters living and breathing alongside me.  I have to be there for them.  Every day.

As of this morning I have 5000 words of my new project which, when completed, will be my fifth novel.  I like the sound of that: My fifth novel.

I’m a writer and I write novels. 
I’m working on my fifth.

Yes!