30,000!

Finally hit 30,000 words tonight.  Actually, more like 30,200.  Considering how crazy life has been lately, I'm damned proud of that.  And I loved the chapter I wrote to get me over that milemarker.  It came out of nowhere.  Often, the best ideas do.  I sat down to write one type of chapter, and instead I wrote something completely different.  I'm especially glad--since I'd been feeling that a couple of my recent chapters were not up to par--that this one hit the mark.

Tonight, I can go to bed feeling like I accomplished something.  I'm already looking forward to writing the next 10,000 words.  Here's hoping it takes me less time to make it from 30K to 40K than it did to make it from 20K to 30K!

Tim Gunn is a wise, wise man.

Tomorrow, Tim, I promise!  And over the weekend, too!  Forgive me--today I was a good girl and worked out; yesterday I got sucked into Wegmans, a store it's impossible to be in for less than 2 hours; and over the weekend, I was out of town and didn't have a spare moment to think, let alone write.  But I'll write tomorrow, I promise!  As soon as Project Runway's over, anyway.  ;)

On shitty first drafts.

Last night I was doing some writing--yes! Some writing! Finally!--and while many of the paragraphs I was reading over were pretty good (not perfect, mind you, but first-draft-pretty-good), a few lines/paragraphs/etc gave me pause.

It was then that I realized that, at least in part, I have a bit of a shitty first draft.  Not totally shitty--not at all!--but partially.

I allowed myself a minute to freak out about that.  Perfectionists don't dig shitty first drafts!  And then I sighed with relief.

For once, I'm just like everyone else.  Every other writer, that is.  What writer do you know of who spits out a perfect, publishable novel during the first-draft process?  Yeah, I don't think there are any.  Which means I'm in damn good company with all the other writers who don't love absolutely everything about draft numero uno and will be engaging in a rewrite--hell, probably more than one.

Nobody has never gotten published because they have a shitty, or even partially shitty, first draft.  But they have not gotten published because of a shitty query letter, shitty editing, a totally shitty plot, shitty characters, a shitty job marketing their manuscript and themselves to potential agents and publishers...etc.  So I'm safe...for now.

Just gotta keep my eye on the current goal, which is to write and get the novel finished.  Then I can go back, edit, rewrite, make it pretty.  I do that all the time in my day job; that's nothing new for me.  And--eventually, when the right time comes--it will be an absolutely joy* for me to do it for my own writing.

* That's what I say now, but mark my words: I'll be clawing my eyes out and ruing the day I dreamed up this series.  At least part of the time I'm editing, anyway.

RIP VII: I'm taking on "Peril the First"!

When I heard about RIP VII (the RIP is short for Readers Imbibing Peril), I knew I had to participate.  As a writer who loves to create monstrous characters, this is a great way for me to get some new inspiration.  The purpose of RIP VII is to enjoy books and movies/television that could be classified as mystery, horror, suspense, thriller, dark fantasy, gothic, supernatural, or other similar genres.  The goals are to enjoy what you're reading/watching, and to share that fun with others.  So in the spirit of sharing, here's what I'll be indulging in:

Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay
The Dark Half, Stephen King
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
Ten Great Mysteries, a compilation of stories by Edgar Allan Poe

Full disclosure: I've read the top two before.  But they're such great writing inspiration for me that I'm gonna read them again, dammit.  I've had this Poe compilation kicking around since middle school, so I figure it's high time I read that--and I've always wanted to check out Gaiman's stuff, so I think this is a great opportunity to do so!

Are you participating in RIP VII?  What stories will you be reading that go bump in the night?  :)

I'm going to love what I write...tomorrow.

I wrote a chapter today, but it sucked.  I don't know whether to be ticked because it sucked, hopeful that there are some gems I can pull out of it to use in a future chapter that doesn't suck, or proud of myself because I worked an extremely stressful 9.5-hour day plus wrote 2 articles for another project and still managed to write a chapter.

Or maybe I'll look at the chapter tomorrow and think it's not that bad.  Maybe it really isn't that bad.  Maybe it's just the negative energy of too much non-novel-related work that's poisoning my viewpoint.  Maybe I just need sleep and a set of fresh eyes.

My brain feeling fried and the rest of me feeling stressed and exhausted makes me unnervingly hateful.  And my own words are one of the worst things I can ever hate.

Tomorrow my goal is to write something--a chapter, hell, even a paragraph--that I love.

Fashionable inspiration.

Just a little something to keep in mind--and keep me smiling--as I write...

Just one chapter.

It was only a chapter. Just one chapter. But last night, I finally wrote...for the first time in 2 weeks.

Work's been beyond insane. And the house has been messy. Both of those things can contribute to me having an inability to write.

Every day I remind myself that what happens outside of work hours is actually the most important stuff. That stuff is what satisfies me personally and creatively. I have to remember to not lose all my steam in the 9 hours of the day that happen before I can get to the stuff that really keeps me going.

The house got quite the cleaning over the weekend, making Labor Day an aptly-titled holiday. Vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, changing sheets, and more...plus a total overhaul of the kitchen. I can now actually find all my baking stuff! Now I can write...while noshing on freshly baked gluten-free cookies, brownies, etc.

Just as a little added fuel/inspiration, last week my friend Joe mentioned me in an article he'd written.  I'm grateful--in addition to reminding me that OMG MUSE ALBUM NEXT MONTH!!!!!, his article also reminded me that I am, in fact, a writer, and that it's time to start acting like one again.

Last night, I wrote. Tonight, I'll write again. Seems overly simplified, but that's exactly how the book will get done.