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Archive for the ‘Babbling’ Category

An Un-Gloomy Sunday

05 Sep

Finally finished my read-through of 10-9 last night. While I came to the conclusion all too soon my final draft is actually my next to final draft I still feel like such a giddy dork for my own book. There’s issues that need a little tweaking but overall I’m pretty proud of myself for not giving up on it.

My current goal is have my first submission packet out by the 18th. Five minutes after I click send on my submission email I am immediately going to quell my nerves with Starbucks.  The day I receive word of my submission receipt I think it will be ice cream. When the first rejection arrives, I think I’ll throw my own Renegade Baker whoopie pie party, where I’ll likely be baking my own flavors. When I get my first acceptance, I think I may need to go all out and invade Oh Snap! Cupcakes.

Do we sense a trend that it all revolves around sugar? I’m better at it than I was in the past but damn I am one Grade A emotional eater. *laughs*

I’m pretty psyched about the whole process but I’m also an equal measure of freakin’ out maaaaan~ Game over! Game over! I think the first one is always the hardest, because it’s your baby, and 10-9 is a deeply personal story for me. It’s always tough to send it off in the world for other people to see. Perhaps it gets easier? I’m not so sure. Possibly not at all.

While I have been fantastically terrible about broadcasting my Weight Watchers progress (because for a while there wasn’t any.) I am happy to report a miracle has somehow occurred. For weeks I was bouncing back and forth between 250 and 248. I would get to 248, celebrate, and then sabotage myself back into 250. To my knowledge I haven’t exactly done anything terribly different, but college did start up two weeks ago. Somehow my body decided to get with the program and as of this morning I am officially 244! AHMAHGAH. I’ve lost 11 pounds since starting the program! YAY! I have two pounds to go until I am at my 5% weight loss goal and it’s all so terribly exciting for the chance to set a new goal.

Things are looking bright on this end of things. I’ve also discovered the Nook App a couple days ago (I’m late to the game okay?) I can’t imagine how I lived without it for so long. It’s totally a gateway drug into buying an actual Nook. Soon… Soon my beloved… Soooooon…

 
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Posted in 10-9, Babbling, News, Real Life, Weight Watchers

 

Time To Dip In The Pool!

29 Aug

I’ve spent the weekend going back through the Writer’s Guide and confirming which publishers were legit and which ones were not a good idea. All in all, I’ve narrowed the list to six, potentially seven publishers of ePubs and Print.

Between Friday and Saturday with the help of a small village, I pounded out my very first query letter. All in all it was revised five times and is pretty damned nice. :3 While that took pretty much all day in the evening I started on the extended synopsis.

Tips for the synopsis in the Writer’s Guide include:

  • Stick to your main characters.
  • Stick to your main arc. Subplots take up valuable real estate.

Writing a synopsis is like basically writing an extended version of the back of the book. Only with the actual spoilers and ending. Think of it as writing a book report but a really exciting book report.  My book report synopsis draft has a good start, and I started over twice on it, the middle kinda meanders because I couldn’t think of punchy words. I resolved to write the whole thing in one go and at least get the events of the book down so I could go back and tighten it up after I’ve let it rest.

The query letter surprisingly was actually the easy part despite it being really hard. The query is only a page and includes a ‘back copy’ style summary of your book in as few words as possible. It’s kind of like the ‘elevator pitch’ where you’re on an elevator, a producer gets in with you, and you have sixty seconds or less to pitch your idea. I’m kind of amazed what I condensed 10-9 down to was an insane feat. But I did it and with the help of my BFFs Rose and Khet we tweaked it into something awesome. Khet had a rather brilliant suggestion on one part and while she said say this but in one word I just couldn’t because the phrase she came up with was pure gold.

The line in question was ‘tattoos keeping a cynic’s account of past lovers’ and that’s all the context I’m willing to divulge. Mwaahahaha.

It’s crazy, and I’m positive 10-9′s not going to be accepted at the first door I knock on, but you can’t help but be a little hopeful. It’s weird how this story that’s been rattling about in my noggin for years has gone from ‘Oh there’s this story I’m working on that I hope to one day publish somehow… I just do it in my spare time blah blah blah…’ To actually finishing it. To no really actually trying to seek a publisher and get paid for the story. It’s like… Reaching a new stage in your life.

I actually remembered how I originally intended the ending to play out last night in my sleep addled exhaustion. While the end result is the same… The setting and circumstances are totally different. I kind of think the ending I came up with suits it better. Even the Epilogue details were a later addition to the story years down the road and is sort of a back door to a sequel or further stories in the world of 10-9. I’d like to explore other aspects of the lives touched by Composer and the Ministry of Defense. Maybe actually tell a story of a MOD soldier being a good guy. I know just whose story I can tell with that premise.

Ironically I feel kind of awkward that this blog never once had a ‘professional authoritative tone’ because I’m just me and I prefer to be approachable, casual, and down to earth. I wonder how that would bode for publishers eventually Googling me. I’ve read of places that when they read your blog, they actually check your grammar. Obviously I’m doomed with typing like I talk. Emoticons and all. XD

 
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Posted in 10-9, Babbling, News, Real Life, Writing Tips

 

Best. Investment. Ever.

25 Aug

Mighty Flags of Confidence!

Today started out kind of iffy left over from my query letter jitters. I actually didn’t get my first meal of the day today till about 3PM because I was juggling so many things and was just too stressed to eat. My personal copy of 10-9 got kicked back from the printers, twice, because I was a moron and can’t measure. The good news is I learned a new pagination trick, the bad news is I can’t measure. Don’t tell anyone or they’ll revoke my graphic design powers.

Remmi also in the span of five minutes yesterday lost her kitten collar and it seems to have vanished into the Bermuda Triangle. Because bells are useful for kittens (if you’re a cat parent you get the usefulness of bells on an otherwise silent animal.) and because my morning was full of GAH FAIL it was deemed to Get Out Of The House.

Pet Smart conveniently enough is next door to Books-A-Million. Ironically enough my membership card to Books-A-Million expired a couple months ago. Why do you never know these things until you’re at the register and with enough to cover your purchase but not your renewal? Inquiring minds wanna know!

So I sat down this afternoon and pretty much went cover to cover on the 2011 Writer’s Market. Where the clouds parted and the angels sang sweet melodies of options. Fucktons of options. The pink flags are for my novel stuff, the blue flags are for magazines partially for class and mostly because they accept fiction submissions. The few orange flags are for ‘maybes’ as well as non-US publishers… Which I feel seriously stupid for not thinking of before. Hell, if one of my old SCAD professors and his wife are making cash hand over fist doing a bestselling comic in Kuwait while their domestic careers are modest who am I to knock it?

Mom jokingly ribbed me asking if the magazines accepted erotica. I just grinned and answered that’s exactly why I flagged them. Now she’s thinking of submitting something. *cackles!*

The best part for me actually is the section on query letter samples and a list on the dos and don’ts. Looking it up online only made me nervous because the websites encouraged you just to cut and paste theirs and insert your own terms. In the Writer’s Market I feel there’s a bit more authority behind it. I also appreciate the interview with Sookie Stackhouse novelist Charlaine Harris and her supposed ‘overnight success’ that wasn’t overnight in the slightest. In fact for her it took years and near food stamps.

Now I’m not scared anymore. :D

 
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Cold Feet And Query Letters

25 Aug

We’re all aware I have This Book I Wrote™ and I’m looking to have it published. Now comes the submission packet part. While I’m waiting on one final read-through it’s never too early to consider query letter drafts.

Of course the companies I’m looking at have simple enough guidelines. They’re very clear and easy to understand. However, I’m getting the little insecure voices in my head now.

What if I edited 10-9 into the wrong direction?

What if there really is no plot?

What if the characters are so unlikeable people will put it down?

What if I’m not really cut out for this?

What if, what if, what if?

I know it’s just the nerves talking. I won’t get there unless I make an effort. I’ve just got to dive in and either sink or swim. I can do this. It only hurts for a second. And I can not think about it until an emphatic yes or a polite no arrives. Don’t let them see you’re afraid and all that.

I think this is too much thinking for too late at night. Holy crap it’s bedtime.

 
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Word Slashing: An Editing Nugget Of Wisdom

14 Aug



10-9 Editing

32 / 52 61.54% Done!


Ironically, the latter half of the Act II Climax wasn’t so teeth pulling to edit. The Act II Climax is just really long. @_@ Chapter 24 itself became split into three chapters, a later chapter got split into two and the second half of it had a little extra plot stuff added in revolving around Everyone’s Favorite Gunnery Sergeant Vulcan. Hell, even I love Vulcan. When he swaggers into the scene I swear the Heavenly Choir bursts into joyful noises.

In splitting up chapters, swapping chapter order, and adding words I’m whittling down my word count. Even in adding a two pages and a half I had cut enough words later on not only to zero it out but even cut even more words than I added. And I’m only on Chapter 33 now and I’m on a freaking word slashing high. The first cuts early on were so hard and now I don’t even blink. I still do have moments of falling in love with a dandy bit of prose and it my trying to save it I suddenly realize it serves no purpose so SNIP. I feel a hint of remorse for hacking out a reference to Abraham Lincoln. It was clever. At least I thought so. But no didn’t need it! Away it went!

One of the tips I picked up which actually helped me a ton is to never state when a character feels something because it jerks the reader out of the scene and the character’s head.

For example:

John felt a sadness creep into his senses.

A possible edit could read:

Sadness crept across John’s senses.

Doesn’t that read so much different? Same message, totally different impression!

Another tip is to eliminate ‘almost’ and ‘somewhat.’ This is especially for me in my prose. Because how can a character ‘almost’ do most things or how can something ‘somewhat’ be something. It either is or it isn’t.

More Examples!

Ahimsa could almost hear the siren in the distance.

Ahimsa felt something like fear in the face of such a helpless situation.

Possible Edits:

Ahimsa concentrated on listening to the distant siren.

Ahimsa was terrified with the helpless situation.

Totally different, but the context is the same. Or within the context of a story to make it clearer. What if Ahimsa wasn’t really scared when things looked grim? Okay. Then that’s different. But what if I really meant for him to be afraid? This whole ‘something like fear’ just won’t do. Either he was afraid or he wasn’t. Save yourself some words and be direct. Don’t dance around what you’re trying to say with pretty words.

Look~ I have bestowed tips on writing. I feel like I finally have some knowledge worthy of imparting. I mean I found it elsewhere on the internet on other writers blogs before I could put it into practice. I’ve spent a good part of my days recently just looking up knowledge, facts, and figures… Sometimes not looking for anything in particular and I find something on some website I would otherwise have no reason to look at and found by random link clicking.

While I’m on an editing high, I think it’s time to do something else for today. Like draw. :>

 
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The Allure Of Romance And The Surprise Nap Attacks

11 Aug



10-9 Editing

18 / 48 37.5% Done!


Over the weekend I indeed managed to get some baking done and took a break from The Book™. Today around mid-afternoon I felt like I hadn’t done anything and it was now Tuesday but looking back on my accomplishments I managed four chapters in two days. So I am making a dent! I’m determined to make 50% at least by Thursday.

I’m lately having the problem in changing my weak, overused words into something stronger that I’m totally stumped to come up with something stronger that either One: doesn’t sound totally dry and academic or Two: doesn’t completely alter the meaning of the sentence. In one chapter I chose to leave in a scattering of a few overused words in Keira’s dialogue while I took them out of Seik’s. My reasoning for this Keira is supposed to sound young and teenagerly and now Seik has graduated to speaking like an extremely precise and formal German. As for the other cast members I find myself at a crossroads of yanking the ‘like’, ‘know’, ‘about’, etc. out of their dialogue or leaving it in for a more natural sounding conversation and instead yanking it out of the exposition. I’m pretty determined to eliminate ‘as’ from the entire story. You’d be surprised just by simply deleting it the sentence still makes sense and sounds better.

In lieu of ‘as’ I’ve been replacing it with the trio of words ‘then’, ‘while’, or ‘and’… I’m kind of wondering if you can never have too much ‘and’ but you can have far too much ‘as’. I’m nervous about it but I’m trusting the process.

I’ve finally gotten in my head if a scene is in one character’s point of view to keep track of their physical actions because if the character turns away how can he or she know when the other character is making a face or doing an action if they can’t see it? John and Ryan had one such exchange where I was absolutely in love with Ryan’s confrontational actions and snooty expressions but John was avoiding looking at him at all. So all that remained was Ryan’s dialogue and tone of voice as well as John’s dialogue and actions. It so changed a lot about the scene action wise but it was about the information being exchanged and definitely came across cleaner. I finally feel all my reading up on the subject of writing is finally paying off in practice. I feel like I actually know what I’m doing and might have a shot at this… Once I get through the mountain of rejection letters.

As for the title of this post is something of hilarious irony. You know as a writer the romance is totally gone with your book when you get to editing the super passionate, emotionally charged, steamy sex scene… And you start falling asleep. ……………oops.

To be fair I had that scene in particular put to paper at least two years ago and had been pretty much reworking it over time as the context changed. Now it doesn’t even remotely resemble the scene it used to be save with the setting and where the body parts go. I know the thing backwards, forwards, frontways, sideways, up, down, and all around. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve read it, tweaked it, reread it, put it away, dug it out again to pick off the usable parts.

Needless to say I’ve gotten pretty clinical in my head over the thing. Insert Tab into Slot B and wiggle till moist. I even worked it again to be even more emotionally charged and I was just propping my eyelids open with toothpicks.

I feel like the smut producer that totally sits on the sidelines writing his grocery list while his stars are getting hot and heavy. So desensitized to the whole thing. Or just that scene in question I think. I hope readers will still find it as OHEMGEE HEEHEE inducing as intended. I hope. :(

 
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Buckling Down!

01 Aug

Now that this has gotten well beyond levels of ridiculousness in Book Editing Land.

The stitch goes a bit like this: I tell myself I’ll finish editing 10-9 by the end of the year. All well and good right? It’s August tomorrow! Not good!

I’m in this (slowly encroaching) pickle because I didn’t set deadlines and chose the working slowly and when the spirit so moved me. Yeah, I took a break for some downtime, but now I have to get my motor going again. July was just a disaster of a month, putting down Toby and then Dali, Mom’s birthday, the adoption of Rembrandt, and starting a baking business with my brother. I’d make myself a note to write every day but once I sat down to do something something would come up. Like a family obligation or that ever so charming phone call after a page and a half of editing that Dali had cancer. Yeah. That’ll screw with your day not to mention creative flow.

So it’s time to get my act together and get some concrete progress done. I told myself I’m going to do four rounds of edits before submission. The first round has long been done, the second round (where I am now) involves restructuring the action scenes to make more logical sense and be less cliche. The latter I’m looking at you, Book Finale. :| Did I mention action scenes take an immense amount of focus? Well, for me anyway. I can write character interaction until the cows come home but stuff needs to explode on occasion and explode in style.

The fall semester of college starts on the 23rd, I’m unsure how intense it’ll be since I’m no longer majoring in any kind of arts but journalism instead. College art classes are hard core and the switch to a non-art major has kind of been a culture shock to me with how low intensity it is. Getting to the point, I’d really, really like the second round of 10-9 edits in the can by the 20th provided no life altering hazard appears suddenly. If it takes to the end of the month, that’s fine, it just can’t cut into school. School is Important, yenno?

Plus with getting Renegade Baker off the ground Jeremy and I need to set a schedule that we can get our taste test samples out and bake independently of one another if we have to and not get backed up. He and I will both be in school and he’ll be working full time, and I have my own projects to tend to on top of school.

Anyway!

*pokes self in forehead*

Self! Write it down! You have until the 20th to finish Round 2 Edits. DO IT!

 
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Keep Calm And Have A Cupcake

07 Jul

Tonight I successfully navigated my way to the end of Round One in the 10-9 edits. Finishing them wasn’t as nearly as difficult as I thought once I had nailed in my mind I was going to take on other issues in another pass. And now I can focus exclusively on those details which need major issues of reworking and less hand-wavery. The details now involve tightening up the action scenes and making them have a bit of a kick. I’ve already caught myself thinking ‘What would happen if this happened instead with the same outcome?’ which would involve a lot of reworking. I’ve already decided that if the outcome of the action scenes are the same then it’s worth exploring some alternate courses of action and picking the most Hollywood Blockbuster worthy. My Moleskine’s been a little lonely without furious scrawling of scenes chicken scratched into their pages. I should definitely get back to that.

My little happy thought of the day is an obnoxious baby pink bookmark I picked up at Barnes and Noble that reads ‘Keep Calm And Have A Cupcake’ I seriously can’t argue with that kind of logic and I will say cupcakes are my tip top tasty thing even if I don’t eat them all that often. How can anyone really refuse a cupcake? So cute, dainty, and happy with their little buttercream swirl. I find myself wanting to scream that at John and Ahimsa when things get hairy between them.  XD There’s a doodle idea for the pile right there.

Today was sort of a continuance of our sendoff to Toby. Mom and I had to go out of town for a doctor’s appointment which included eating many horrible and tasty sweet and salty delights. Needless to say today was a BAD BAD day for Weight Watchers but I decided to only let it be today and then it’s back on the wagon. All of the goodies we brought home are going with Mom to work tomorrow to dump on everyone else and not in my gut. Besides during our accompanying retail therapy I had learned I had apparently dropped three pants sizes recently and had no idea. Way to go~ And way to go five new pairs of jeans wandering home with me~

Now I’ve got another memoir to devour in a day waiting to be cracked open, One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick. It’s only been sitting on my shelf for months. But that’s my plan. If I can read it in a day or less than a week I’m good to go. :3

 
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Beekmanpalooza: Living Your Best Life

05 Jul

Yesterday I had discovered that despite my interest in various fictional genres such as sci-fi, paranormal, romance, fantasy, comics of all shapes and varieties, and manga of just as many topics, that memoirs just might be my favorite genre to read. The drama, loves, and losses of real people are far more fascinating than anything people could make up. And by proxy it’s fun to get a window into the lives of others to adapt to your own writing. From the way they form a sentence, to a certain personality quirk or two.

After my virtual inhaling of Josh Kilmer-Purcell’s I Am Not Myself These Days and suddenly bolting out of bed at 6AM to excitedly tell Mom the ending, as of last post I indeed did as promised and tore into Josh’s second memoir The Bucolic Plague. And finished it by 4 PM as Mom returned from a day of hairdressing to excitedly tell her about it once again.

The Bucolic Plague is the story of how Josh and his partner Brent of The Fabulous Beekman Boys became The Fabulous Beekman Boys. It’s far less tawdry than Josh’s first memoir about his adventures as the party queen Aqua and more a gentle and sweet natured but the wit is no less sparkling and hilarious.

What began as a wrong turn on the New York interstate landed our intrepid heroes in the tiny village of Sharon Springs. A second wrong turn down the road led them to the Beekman mansion. The fabulously for sale Beekman mansion. Josh described that he and Brent fell under a shared fit of insanity to by the mansion that had been on the market for four years and decided to have a go at being gentleman farmers.

For Josh’s 39th year of life taking care of the Beekman had it’s ups and downs, it’s trials and tribulations, and it’s hilarious unfortunate events with baby goats and their excrement. Josh and Brent’s relationship had undergone their own kinds of ups and downs when Josh had learned his life devolved into the roles of he as Oprah and Brent as the Avatar of all things Martha Stewart. Josh was determined to live what Oprah described as living his Best Life and he would have it one way or another.

Year One of the Beekman faced the great economic crash and near breakups. By the middle of it I was getting choked up about the uncertain future of the Beekman as well as Josh and Brent and their great Oprah versus Martha clash. Even now the story still continues and unfolds in front of millions of viewers each week. At the very least Josh tells his audience to never forget to say ‘I love you’, because when you do it’s easy to forget love completely.

I’m rooting for Josh and Brent to stand the test of time. And did I not suggest earlier Brent needs to hurry up and get on bended knee? Seriously. These guys majorly deserve their happily ever after.

Now pardon me while I consider what scent of Beekman 1802 goat milk soap to buy or plan my and Mom’s future trip to Sharon Springs. Mom wants to meet Polka Spot. She’s her biggest fan. XD

 
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Of Drag Queens and Crack Hos: A Love Story

03 Jul

Recently, I have made no bones about my new found mad love for the docu-series The Fabulous Beekman Boys on Planet Green. I had actually caught the first episode while flipping channels one day and was instantly in love with the concept of two gay Manhattanite execs giving up their city life and becoming goat farmers. Now this show is really the only reason I watch Planet Green at all. Goat farmers! Really! Gay goat farmers! Awesome!

However the Beekman Boys are not just any ordinary two doodz in love. Brent is the former VP of Martha Stewart Healthy Living, and his other half Josh is a bestselling author, advertising executive, and former drag queen. Brent of course being from the world of Martha Stewart is a perfectionist to the nth degree on the border of looking downright insane. Josh is far more laid back and is kind of the mothering type and just wants Brent to chillaaaaaax once in a while. They bicker, they argue, but they’re so stupidly in love with each other it’s endearing. And the occasional footage of goat hijinks and their llama Polka Spot doing something adorable just seals the deal. I’m hooked. I must have more.

I decided to trot to Barnes and Noble yesterday to pick up both of Josh’s memoirs, I Am Not Myself These Days and the recently released The Bucolic Plague. On a side stop during my shopping outing to have lunch I read the prologue to I Am Not Myself These Days and instantly I was hooked and knew I had to read it to my fellow Beekgeek mother.

The bestselling book is about Josh’s days before the Beekman farm, before Brent, and before he got himself mostly together. By day Josh was an advertising art director just going through the motions. By night he was the hard drinking and occasional coke snorting darling of the club scene the drag queen Aquadisiac. Notably Aqua’s claim to fame where the fake clear plastic breasts with live goldfish happily bobbing within.

On one drunken night of partying he meets Jack, he barely remembers him the next day, but slowly but surely Jack and Josh’s lives collide in the tragic comedy of a love story. Whereas Josh is the relatively normal one with working his butt of at the ad agency and then partying his butt off as Aqua, Jack is a hard working male escort paid thousands to humiliate people, beat them up, and smoke a little crack.  And somehow to Josh This Is All Okay.

Obviously since Josh has now been with Brent for ten years things with Jack did inevitably go south. Did I mention the smoking crack? Yeah. That would perhaps strain a relationship.

I Am Not Myself These Days is hilarious, poignant, and pretty kinky. My throat is raw today from reading three quarters of the book to Mom yesterday. She went to bed and I couldn’t resist finding out the conclusion to Jack and Josh’s tragic affair so I stayed up to some ungodly hour finishing the book. I got tired at one point but I had to know how it ended so I pushed though. By the end of it I was choking up that despite the crazy doomed relationship I was hoping Jack would eventually get clean because you couldn’t help kind of liking the guy despite the OH EM GEE HE’S A BAD BAD MAN. And his name was Jack and I couldn’t help picturing The Promise’s Jack instead. As a crack whore. I have problems obviously.

Today I can’t seem to stop and as soon as I’m done with this post I’m going to tear into The Bucolic Plague to learn the origins of how the Beekman Boys became The Beekman Boys. And goats. It’s all about the goats.

In a bizarre twist, I can’t help but see traits of John in Brent and traits of Ahimsa in Josh only toned down to actual human being levels. It’s so fascinating to see it all unfold before me and viewers everywhere. Brent can be kind of mean or cold to Josh sometimes but he apologizes when he really needs to. And treats Josh to candlelit pizza dinners when Brent tells him they’re not attending a fancy dinner gala with the produce from their own farm and Josh is notably irritated. I’m so completely smitten and charmed!

I’m seriously hoping in the near future Brent mans up and pops the question to Josh because every boy deserves to be treated like a princess~ Only if Brent can stop obsessing over every little detail of the farm like the precise parking of the tractors and how their buckets should be raised at an exact angle.

It’s okay. I’ll keep watching for the star of the show. The llama Polka Spot.

 
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