On Writing and Panicking about Writing. Or Deadlines. Or Something.

Hiiii, all! Happy December! Er, mid-December. I've been busy with all sorts of family and holiday things. On the writing front...well, I'm still working on Rising Book 2.

I had expected to be able to publish Rising Book 2 at the end of this year, but it's going to be sometime next year before it's out, and I apologize to anyone waiting to read it. I had the whole draft written--you may remember me saying I had finished it at 185,000 words or so. Rising Book 2 is divided into two parts, and part one had already had tons of work and rewriting. Part 2 had been written very fast and was messy by comparison.

Well, not long after that, my beta readers made suggestions, and this is what happened:

-I cut 60,000 words in one day.

-I realized the second half of the book needed to be rewritten. Figured out what chapters from part 2 I could salvage. Kept them in. Cut another 45,000 words or so.

-Set cut chapters aside, because I know there will be a few scenes I'll be able to use.

-Tried to sort out the brand new plot, because this part of my rewrite needed brand new plot.

-Panicked. Thought about deadlines and panicked more.

-Kept writing. Words all became a jumbled mess.

-Panicked some more.

-Wondered if anything in part 2 was working, or if I needed to scrap all of it and start from scratch.

-Reminded myself that at least part 1 was ready to go--completely edited, rewritten, tweaked, through betas and editors, and that rewriting just part 2 wasn't really as bad as I was making it out be.

-Brain was exhausted. Was more stressed about about this half of a novel than I've been about any book in a long time.

-Words looked even more of a jumbled mess. Panicked and got a hold of writing partner Emma one afternoon. I walked her through my rewrite on part 2, and she talked me through points of the plot and helped me realize it does make sense, I didn't need to scrap and start over, and I just needed to keep going, and she helped me see clearly how to keep going.

-Breathed, wrote, emailed Emma my story file. (Emma and I read each other's in-progress books, which helps us both immensely. It helps us keep each other encouraged, and it helps that we both end up knowing each other's plots.)

-Emma read and loved it and I was super, super encouraged and non-panicked.

-I'm still writing.

And that has been my writing process lately. I will admit that I'm still a little stressed because I'm like !!!!DEADLINE!!! and flailing in my head like a maniac, because I do want to get this out soon, because I have other stories in the works and my agent is shopping around one of my other novels, but, as one of my other friends keeps reminding me, I want to put out my absolute best, and I want to make sure the story is what it needs to be. I owe it to myself, I owe it to the characters, and I owe it to my readers. The first draft of the story had all the plot points in there, but it wasn't what it needed to be, and I wasn't happy with it. Therefore, I'm going to keep taking it one page at a time, figure out how the new plot weaves together, and then when it's finished, I'll whip it into shape and put part 2 through beta readers and editing, and then I will get the book out there. I don't have many more chapters to write, so hopefully it won't be delayed that much, but I know the book will be better off for the rewrite.

At least part 1 of the novel is ready, right? O_o (I tell you, this book has taken more out of me than any book I've ever written in my life. It's exhausting.)

Anyway, thanks to all of you for your patience! It's soooo close to being 100% done, it's ridiculous. I'll just be over here in my corner, working on this and reminding myself to breathe and not panic.


I hope all of you are doing wonderfully, especially during this super busy time of year!!!

I'm Thankful for My Readers Bloghop

Today, we have a bloghop!

 

I'm so thankful to my readers, of all kinds!

Thank you to my crit partners, who pick apart my stories, are bluntly honest and therefore only help make my novels better, and who have shared more laughs, late-night giggles, and inside jokes than I can even recount. Most of you have seen me in every state imaginable, including my super-hyper-sugared-up-and-caffeinated state. (Even if I will never live down army crawling across the floor.)

(There is a story to that. It was like 2AM, and one of my writing partners goes, "Hey, Laura, what if I told you my two characters might not get together?" I crawled over to her in a flash and went, "WHAT?"

THEY NEEDED TO GET TOGETHER.)

Thank you to my blog readers, who are so encouraging and thoughtful and have stuck with me through so much. I've met some incredible people through the blogosphere. For you, my first attempt at a haiku:

Marvelous readers

Make the blogosphere go round

Wonderful people

And in addition, as thanks, I know there are a lot of writers on here, so for the first five people who mention they want it in the comment, I'll edit the first ten pages of your book. Or the first chapter, if it's under fifteen pages. (I work as a professional editor.)

Thank you to my book readers, who buy my books and support me that way. In thanks, for one week only, I'm making Rising Book 1: Resistance available for free on Smashwords. You can use coupon code VT82D. You can get any ebook version you want using that coupon code here: Rising Book 1: Resistance

(Also, for the month of November, I have Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School) for $0.99 on Smashwords using coupon code HB87F, which you can purchase here if you so desire: Confessions on Smashwords.)

Thanks to all of you who help, encourage, and support me in so many ways! You are all so awesome!!!

Ready, Set, Go

I've begun my read through of the first half of Rising Book 2: Rebellion and the rewrite of the second half. Confession: The rewrite terrifies me. I'm having this momentary "How am I going to make this work? How am I going to make it work by my deadline? What if it's terrible because I can't get it right in time?"

So now it's time for me to take a deep breath, remind myself I can do this, and go after it with a club. Or, you know, a keyboard. 

What are you working on right now?

Here and Gone

You may have noticed that I've been absent on Blogger for a while, and I've been terrible at keeping up with blogs. It's been all I can do to keep up with everything else I have going on. Between editing for work, writing novels, revising, rewriting, prepping for publication, homeschooling, and breathing, my blog has slipped woefully between the cracks. I'll pull up Blogger from time to time and stare at it and think about how I need to get on this sucker, and then a wave of exhaustion will wash over me. I haven't even had time to read my critique partners' latest books/chapter updates, never mind any other kind of reading. The only books I've read this year have been client edits. I need a good chunk of time to just sit and read. And you know, breathe. ;)

Anyway, I'm sorry for being so absent all over the place, and I'm hoping that things will settle down a little bit the rest of this year and I can get to some of the blog posts I've been wanting to do! Thanks to all of you who have stuck around and been so encouraging--it's meant a lot to me in the insanity of the past months. The only thing I have left planned for this year is the rewrite of half of Rising 2 and its publication--last month, I cut 73,000 words from the book, and now I need to rewrite some new story.

Also, a big, belated thank-you to Christine Rains for presenting me with the Daisy Award. :)

(Oh, I've also finally set up an author page on Facebook, and I hope to be more active there, too, so I'd love for you to join me. :)) My Facebook Page

Thanks again to all of you, and I hope you're all doing magnificently!

Another novel down!

I have been in a vacuum this month that, alas, did not involve blogging, but did involve finishing my novel Rising Book 2: Rebellion. I finally, finally finished writing it today. It clocks in at just over 185,000 words, making it not only the most emotionally draining book I've ever written, but the longest one as well. Editing it is going to be so much fun. O_o

But it's WRITTEN. *throws confetti*

Agent News

I can now officially announce that I have signed with the amazing, spectacular Natalie Lakosil of Bradford Literary Agency. :D :D :D

I AM SO EXCITED AND HONORED, YOU GUYS. If I hadn't twisted my ankle yesterday, I'd still be bouncing around like crazy.

July Updates

This month has been absolutely insane.

--I finished my July editing job really early. It took ten days from start to finish (that's me doing the first edits, the author doing the revisions, and me reviewing the revisions and going over final questions).

--Hubby and I went apartment hunting, found an apartment we really liked, waited a weekend to find out if we were approved, were approved, and will be moving in about three and a half weeks. We're only moving about five minutes away, but this still requires packing. And organizing. And sorting. And more packing. I started sorting my kids' toys today. One of my cats had a blast jumping in and out of the empty toy drawers I had spread across the living room floor. Entertainment for kitties = win.

--I revised one of my manuscripts completely in twenty-four hours. This meant changing plot elements, writing new things, cutting other things, etc. It's funny how you can change one thing and then realize that changes four other things, and you have to keep tweaking threads until they all connect again. It was a lot of fun, though. :D It took me weeks to decide to take this particular plunge, and I wasn't sure I would happy with it, but I really, really am.

--I went shopping for my kids' homeschool books. I think I'm pretty much set for the coming school year.

--I'm still writing Rising Book 2: Rebellion. I have (I think) about eight and a half chapters left to write. Considering that this book is now clocking in at...134,306 words, and I've already written nineteen and a half long chapters and twenty-eight shorter flashbacks, that's really not a huge amount left. I cannot begin to express how excited and relieved I will be when this book is done. Well, at least written. Of course there will be editing and running it through the critique partner gauntlet and all that stuff, but at least the story will be complete. Oh, and it has a Goodreads page now!

--The weeks have flown by so fast and I realized I neglected to properly thank a couple of people for awards I got.

First, thank you to Christine Rains for The Booker Award.

The rules for this award:

This award is for book bloggers only. To receive this award the blog must be at least 50% about books (reading or writing is okay)
Along with receiving this award, you must also share your top five favorite books you have ever read. (More than five is okay) You must give this award to 5-10 other lucky book blogs you adore.

 Here are my favorite books:

1. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

2. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

3. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

4. My Fair Godmother and My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison

5. The Giver by Lois Lowry
6. The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle
7. Into the Dream by William Sleator
8. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede

There are so many bloggers I adore, and I'm so behind on this award that I'm not sure who's received it and who hasn't--so I'm going to just say that if any of you haven't received it and want to talk about your favorite books, have at it!

Next, thank you to Deirdra A. Eden for the Creative Blog Award.

And finally, thank you so much to T. Drecker for the Fabulous Blog Ribbon Award.

And this one has some questions:

Name five of your most fabulous moments, either in real life or in the blogosphere.

- marrying my husband

- having my children

- going to Mexico to help build houses and meeting some of the most amazing kids there

- moving back to the south after three and a half years in the north

- meeting my writing partners in person for the first time

Name five things you love.

- God

- my family

- my friends

- my cats

- it's a toss up between coffee and socks. Although this is definitely a "like" kind of love and not a "I'm very fond of my cats" love or a "I desperately love God and my family and friends" love.

Name five things you hate

- seeing the people I love hurt

- people chewing in my ear

- throwing up

- the smell of dog poo
- most horror movies




I will try to come back very soon with something more than a giant update on everything. O_o But for now, I hope you all have a FANTASTIC weekend!!