Onward and hopefully Upward

Yesterday I crafted the best query letter I could, (I'd actually written it long before, but tightened it up and polished it til it shined) I corrected my synopsis, and made double sure my first chapter had absolutely no problems and then I did something scary.

I sent them out to AGENTS! Now I've been told that agents really are nice people and that I really want to have one of them on my side, helping me get my manuscript in the hands of the people in charge, but I must say it was a scary thing. I was pretty nervous about sending them since the last time I sent out my submissions resulted in all no's. I did get a few who said, Hmm, sounds interesting, please let me see some sample pages... To which I eagerly sent them. Then still came back as no thank you's but it was encouraging that I got to the next step of them requesting pages.

I have yet to have anyone request a full, but since I have spent the last year really improving this story, I'm hoping that this round will result in a few of those.

Who knows, I may even have someone say they like it. That is what I'm hoping for, but now that the submission process on Eye on Orion has begun, I'm really going to dig back into the next project. I've got a great idea for a fight scene with knives. Gonna go play with that.

Until next time.

Laura

More of those fun edits.

I've been slowly but surely getting the last little changes made in my manuscript, but it seems to be taking a long time.

I must say the editing part isn't as fun as the rush you get when you write a new scene, or get a fantastic idea of what to write, but it is also important. More important than the original words you write because they are the last ones. The ones that other people will see.

I want them to think I'm much better at this than I really am. And to do that, I've got to make those fun fun fun edits.

That is what is on the plate today. I will do it.

Where is my mind?

My mind is not on my manuscript that it should be on. Instead it is on the one I "finished" that I need to go over one more time and do some fixes that were suggested to me by a good friend who read my story.

I've got one of those dreaded sagging middles. Luckily, it is only about 2 chapters that need some help, and just a couple of things to tighten places up. But now I have to decide if I focus my creative energy on the old manuscript so I can get it ready to send out, or to work on my Work In Progress since I kind of have the idea of where to go on it. Plus my goal was to get it done by the end of February. Seriously, I should have time to do both of them if I'd organize my time better, but I sure do a lot of other "Important" things that take away from my writing time even though it is my special time I set asside just for me and writing.

HMMMM things to think about.

BUT I also want to work on a totally different thing that I had written the first chapter to about a year ago before I got the brilliant idea of the current WIP took over my mind.

Oh the horror. So many options and so much time and such a lazy me.

Gonna get on it right now. (as soon as I post this link to FB so I can have everyone know that I can't motivate myself to write.)

WOW, so it has begun again. Another year, another round of goals and resolutions. I don't plan to do anything so silly as lose weight, infact, I plan to gain some. :) More on that later.

Anyway,
My goal for myself as a writer is to send out my finished manuscript. To do that, I must first send out awesome query letters and get fabulous agents interested in looking at my manuscript.

My second goal is to finish the project I have in the works. I'm figuring I'm about halfway done with it now, so I plan to get the first draft done by the end of February. To do that I must take the time to write in it every day, and instead of beating it to death after each chapter I write, I'm going to just write it out and finish the dang thing. Then I'll do some massive readings and edits and fix all the stuff that needs it.

I also have a goal to still be a sane person and make it so my husband who supports me in all this won't regret supporting me. I love that man.

So there it is. It's writen down for all the vast world to see. Those are my beginning writing goals this year. I'll add more as I get these done, but I think they are doable, and that is the first step in being successful. Pick something you can do.

Laura

An Awesome Writers Conference.

Awesome Awesome Awesome. It was my first writers conference ever, and I loved every minute of it. I learned so much in one day. I wish I could have been there for days and days and days. And the food was fabulous. Totally worth all the calories in it.

I took pages and pages of notes, and had such wonderful ideas and inspiration come to me and was so excited to come home and just write and write and write. But, I had to do some preserving of delicious jelly and juice and fruit. It took me days to do it all. And now this week, I've had a nasty head cold and have been trying to help my house recover from a week of neglect while I bottled grapes and peaches. So needless to say, I haven't written a thing. I've edited a little, but I haven't done much. And now in 2 days, I'm going to another 1 day writers conference and I'm hoping to get as much from it as I did the other one. And this time, when I come home, I'm going to make the time to write.

I should have taken the class offered in the first conference about how to fit writing into your busy life. I know the summer is harder for getting writing time, as well as the fall, but once winter hits, and we've got no place to go, I'm going to get at least 10 times as much done as I have lately.

I will. I promise. You check on me.

How to exercise while writing.... That is the question.

My gluteous maximus hurts. (spell check tells me I spelled it wrong, but I didn't want to be vulgar and say my butt hurts.) Its all because of the time I've been spending on the area previously specified while I'm sitting on it working on my laptop.

I've been trying to figure out how to incorporate exercise into my schedule, but its only half hearted. So I'm just going to have to make a goal to stand up, stretch, do some squats and leg lifts to get that area in question a little happier. So here is my goal. After every page edited, or written, I'm gonna get up and move around and do some exercises. (or maybe I should do it after every 3 pages if I'm really on a roll, cause if I stop working, then I'm tempted to check email, FB, other blogs, or waste my time in other ways.

Now, I'm going to get off this blog and do my exercises, then get back to the WIP and kick some writing butt, then exercise my writers butt.

So easily distracted.

Man it is too easy to get distracted from writing. I had a golden opportunity to spend some quality time with my laptop today. And I did. Except for I didn't do the revisions I had planned. Instead I watched some shows on Hulu. Love hulu by the way.

I have been changing one of my stories from 3rd person point of view to 1st person point of view. I believe it will really enhance the story, yet I've discovered it is difficult to change it since I did so much of it in 3rd person. I have to cut out whole sections, since my main character wasn't there to see what happened, but it is still fun to see things from her eyes, instead of from the eyes of an all knowing narrator.

So as I'm going, I start to think of something else, go research it, or go check email, or FB or other blogs, and then realize. Oh crap! I've only got a few more minutes before the kids get home from school, and then its homework time.

I really need to stay focused, but so far I've been able to return to my focus and do some more revisions. I'm halfway there, with the revision of 3 to 1, but then I have to write the rest of it from 1st Person and that will sure be fun. I know where I'm going with it at least.

I'll let you know when I get there.