Let's Class This Place Up A Bit...

Notice anything different around here?

I got so tired of the rainy window - as much as I liked the theme, the colors I chose (and the font!), well they weren't very professional or impressive, huh?

Then again, I may not be those either.

But anyway I just spent way too long updating the blog and it's already late. I have to get up early tomorrow anyway. Goodnight bloggers!
-Jessie

Goal Numero Dos y Tres

Second goal of the summer is to fix the plot line for Fighting Samuaii. I need to rename characters, revise characters, motives, places, personalities. I also am starting to hate the name "Samuaii" because it's so obviously a rewrite of Samurai and that is just weak naming. Which means that I will have to relearn my own story!

Now that just in general is going to be incredibly frustrating, but on top of all that I need to reexamine the subplots I have in place, because my first half-draft focused almost entirely on the "interesting stuff" (i.e. who's fighting with whom, which characters are into each other etc.). I wasted more than 30,000 words on this already and more than half is unusable because I stopped writing for the plot. I'll have to monitor myself very carefully so I don't waste more time/energy but I'm worried being too strict will hinder my creative process as well.

My third goal is to find a place to submit my flash fiction piece Old Walnut. I don't remember if I shared it on this blog but I'm sure I did at least once. After failing to get it published the first time, I would love it if I could get it into a really good publication. That way it will mean something. I don't really want an e-publication either - I want to be able to hold it in my hands years form now and be able to say this is it. The first thing I ever published.

I'm sure I'll come up with more goals as time goes on but I have to work on focusing and carving out time to get them done!. The internet has become more and more distracting lately but I need to stop making excuses. I'm old enough to not procrastinate like writing is a chore. I just don't want to write that much in case it confirms my fear that I'm really not that great a writer.

But onwards march, men!
-Jessie

Back from the Abyss

I am (clearly) not very good at this "blogging regularly" thing. I was supposed to post a bunch of stuff on how much progress I've made with Fighting Samuaii and how amazing it is to be back in the writing game and blah, blah, blah. But I didn't do that because I really made almost no progress. I'm still stuck on naming the main characters (and whether to destroy one entirely). When I first came up with the story I named all the characters with very close sounding, four letter names that started with pretty much the same letters. But now that's how I know the characters. In my head that's how I remember them! So I can just move ahead with the old names and find/replace later or worry my head off with the new names now.

But it's summer vacation and I have some very ambitious goals. VERY. AMBITIOUS. I don't know why exactly I believe I can accomplish them when everything I've done in the past points to absolute failure, but, hey, start off the day with a positive attitude, right? Anyway goal #1 is to rewrite Being Evil. I recently read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (which I completely recommend - it's absolutely amazing and I hear she is a member of Absolute Write as well) which was filled to the brim with the most beautiful imagery and descriptions - they're works of art. It definitely elevated the tone of the book and she is a description master in my opinion. I started to study the difference between her book and my WIPs and that's when I noticed the tone difference. The Night Circus, in general a little more serious, just had an overtone of a quality book without gimmicks or ploys to make you laugh - it didn't feel cheap I suppose is what I mean. It is just in general a really good book. And the feeling I get from Being Evil sometimes is that it's a little too young for the target audience or there was just one too many sarcastic lines. It gives the impression that it is just a cheap little paperback - not a treasured or remembered book. And while Being Evil is supposed to be funny, it's not supposed to be a joke all around. There are serious parts. And I don't want to cheat my readers with "young" and "jokey" writing when my book is not supposed to be young or jokey.

A major Beta Reader complaint was that I didn't have enough description of places in Being Evil and it made it hard to become immersed in the book. So, in my own little wannabe Scrivener, I am going to write everything about every place in the book. Most of it probably won't make it in the final draft but at least the best stuff will. This way I also have a better Mind's eye view of the story as it unfolds. I'm also going to use the Virtual Notebook to practice manipulating words to create tones and feelings about certain places and situations, which should get rid of the gimmicky feel.
 
Well I have to get back to writing. Tomorrow I'll post Goal #2. Seeya then!  
-Jessie