bumps in the violas

Despite my cold, I came down to write tonight. The edit's been progressing well, and I got done several more pages tonight, and then realized that my wordcount is still way too high.  I'm five pages from the end, which is going to be rewritten more or less. I had a brainstorm on eliminating a character that really truly isn't neccessary. But he did serve an important part that can be transferred to another character, but that means adding a scene and removing a scene. It might end up being that this change will not alter the word count, but I think it puts my MC in a better position of seeing the crap that's about to happen and not just get it from someone else.

This could be good, but it means I'm NOT done tonight.

And I still need to dig through my To Edit pile for some short stories for my viable paradise application. 

I need more time in my day...

still revising

Violas is going well. Too bad I only get 1 - 2 hours at a time, but tonight I made good use of it. I passed the halfway mark, I'm reducing the word count, and winding the story tighter.  I'm up early with the kids tomorrow, but hopefully can stay up late in the evening to finish this off. I've got to get this out to my readers/critiquers quick, and start looking at my other short stories.

Hubby and I finally agreed that I can apply to Viable Paradise, and I need to choose the right stories to include in my submission package. Then there's the letter. I've been working on it with the intent to apply for the 2011 workshop, but things just seemed to fall into place this year.

Violas coming alive

Last night I stayed up late to complete the rewrite. Not the revision: the rewrite. Sent it off to a few friends who I know enjoy SF, and sure enough when I read it over lunch today I realized how far I had veered off course in the last five pages. This is major. And this always embarasses me. I know I need to wait 24 hours before sending it anywhere.

I figured out what it lacked, that was all I had time for. But the amazing thing of driving home from work, without the radio, without screaming kids in the car, is a focus for me. I connected the dots of what was wrong to how to fix it. And that's what I'm doing now. Just finished the final redlining, and am launching into a screen edit.

Will I finish tonight? I sure as hell hope so!

violas in progress

Spent a few hours on Black Violas today, and put together a game plan on how to fix it. I was afraid it wasn't fixable.  I didn't understand why the voice wanted to be in first person, but it did, desperately, and today I figured out why.  I figured out why the ending didn't work, and came up with a better one. I found a couple of muse bombs and I am exploiting the hell out of 'em. This is going to be a kick ass story when I'm through with it. I would love to share specifics, but heck, that'll ruin it for when you read it.

hunter finals

Final fixes for Hunter, cutting some wordage... tonight is it.  Still love the story, and I think it's better than ever.  Submission email goes out *tonight*.

Hunter done, again

Revision was a blast.   My dear sweet hubby took over kid duty at 6:30pm and I had all night to write instead of my usual hour and a half.  I spent four and a half hours on the revision yesterday, and gave it a quick proofing today, and implemented the final changes.  I think it's good. I think it's ready. :)  It's awesome when things work.

Hunter again

Reworking Hunter.  I received a few crits back and it was rejected from the first market I submitted it to (with some interesting comments), so I figure, why not, let's make it better.

That pesky first scene a few someone's commented on, turns out didn't live up to its potential because the finale didn't really zing.  I'm adding zing. And my hero, Daymar, misses a huge opportunity to confront his commanding officer who is essentially his role model.  Adding that.  Then there's a mysterious chameleon that was neat in the first version, but should've gone by the wayside when the griffon did about four revisions ago.

I'll find another home for the lizard; this just isn't it.

black violas, cont'd

A few days off due to family and stuff, and now I'm back at the keyboard.  Working on Black Violas, and it's coming along nicely.  Slow, unfortunately, as I am rewriting the story, so it's deeper than an edit, and not quite as free as a first draft, but it's strong. My heroine is bitter yet motivated, and damn if she isn't going to figure this out, one way or another.  :)

editing

Black violas edit is underway; the new opening rocks.

Received Hunter back from a submission, no luck there.  I want to revise it again before I send it out, but I need to finish Black Violas first.

black violas in progress

Watering the Black Violas is in the edit process now.  It's drastic in that the pov is shifting from third to first, and while I'm keeping the events fairly close to the original, it's easier to jsut rewrite it into a clean new file.  I'm eager to get it done, but I'm guessing it'll take a few days at my evening writing pace.  Then I can send it off for crit.

nighthunter's bite revised

What a wild ride that was.  I have a day off from work, and decided to spend it baking and writing.  I spent 6 hours working on the short story edit, only taking brief breaks to get water or swap laundry around.  If I had tried this during my normal evening hours, it would have taken a week to complete. It's off to some readers now, so I'll have to wait for feedback.  Hopefully, I'm not out of my mind on this one. (Or, scaring anyone off my writing!)

I hope Maya is happy now, and that the next round of revisions are minor.

nighthunter edit in progress

Some wonderfully dark ideas, some twisting of an already threatening situation, and a slave who stands up for herself...  No wonder I can't put it down.  Perhaps this is a good sign.

I didn't bother with the usual method.  No analysis, no red-lining.  Just jumped in and threw notes in to add or change details, deleted the uselesss stuff, and tweaked what didn't work.

Another night, then I'll send it off for feedback.  If only I can lasso those past tense verbs leaping in front of my 1st person  present...

Hunter revisions

Continued.  Slow moving, but forward moving so I am glad.  I realize two things now: I really need to learn more about commas (what seems right one day, seems wrong the next and vice versa), and that I need to do something with the immaculate white cat I mentioned on page three.  Hmph.

hunter redlined & gutted

I completed the redlining over lunch, determined what is to be gutted and what is to be edited, and where to insert new scenes and details. I expected it to hurt, to be reluctant to let these scenes die, but it doesn't, and I didn't. It feels right.

Thursday night lost to illness; good news is I'm back on my feet on Friday.

tiring sundays

Fading Light has been posted for my crit group. I'm eager for some feedback and a little fearful as well. I'm always fearful on crits. Occupational hazzard I guess. :)

A full day with the kids is exhausting, yet I still pushed this evening. Did some science research for Black Violas, tried working on the first draft a bit, but failed at that. Science fiction is difficult for me, not impossible, just very difficult. It requires a lot of effort to understand concepts that do not come naturally to me, but yet I have the need to understand them to represent them properly in the story. I don't always understand the science I read in science fiction either, but I try. And for some reason I love reading it. Figure that one out.

I'm giving my brain some time to adjust to the science and am going to spend the rest of my writing time tonight review Hunter for those changes. I originally decided it would be a rewrite. I need to skim through the manuscript and select which passages will remain.

Fading Light tonight

This story breaks my heart every time I work on it. But I worked through it, and the edit is complete. I'll review for typos in the morning and then send off to my crit group. This is one of my best pieces, and it follows my trend of dark and painful. I guess I just can't write happy. I need more puppies and rainbows...

Updating

I'm in edit mode, so I'm going with it. Fading Light is moving along once again, and I've cleared the dust off Hunter Hunted, which is getting revamped big time and is due for a title change. Writing is once again becoming a daily event. Now I need to work on completing tasks a little quicker. Fading Light needs a few more days of computer time and Hunter needs some paper & pen time so they balance well. It doesn't help that tonight is the season premiere of Heroes, but I guess I'd better make good use of now.

Edit: Sunguard

The Sunguard edit is complete and off to critters. The story doubled in size and some plot layers were added. I have a feeling the resolution isn't what it should be, so I need to give it one more pass for sure. But my time has paid off, I think it's a good story. It just needs a little more editing love. ;)

8/7 Update

Exhaustion hit me early evening, which makes me really glad I pushed on the story over lunch. The entire draft of Sunguard has been redlined on paper, with sheets of new scenes and paragraphs that need to be added. Evening is starting to become difficult again at week 24 of this pregnancy, and I still have about 14 weeks to go. Sunguard is my priority this weekend, but I think I'll have to focus most of the work around the daughter's afternoon naps. It's killing me not to have this one done already.

Moving Along

I managed some decent writing today. Nighthunter's Bite is coming together in my mind, and I've got some more notes. Sunguard is definitely moving ahead. I went back to redlining on paper with pen instead of using MS Word's track changes, and I feel like it's made all the difference. I redlined 7 of 17 pages today, and handwrote a new scene, plus bits of some other scenes that needed additions.

Is it possible I'm getting somewhere? :-)