Testing, testing... maybe this will work?

(8/16/04--added oldest posts from my livejournal)


Hey! Let's try for every day...
Today I went to see Monsters, Inc., which is a very cool movie, got all excited about the Harry Potter preview, and worked on crafts for the craft show this coming (!!) Friday. Really and honestly, I'm not doing too badly. I have more things to get done tonight, but I'm not panicking yet.

The idea is to have everything finished and completed (except, perhaps, tags and the sample chapters of The Tenth Ghost I'm bringing with me in the hope that someone will actually buy it) by the end of the weekend. I might still get finished. :)

The NaNoWriMo is going well. I haven't written any words yet today, but I've been thinking about the story all day. Going to write a bit right now, and then go back down the basement.

More later.

Updates (long overdue)
Well. Things have been hectic, cool, and downright weird around here lately.

Let's start with the cool stuff. :)

The Tenth Ghost is now available from Writers-Exchange E-publishing! This is a great epublishing company. I have only good things to say about Sandy and everyone else so far! (Details and sample chapters on my website!)

I'm doing the Novel-inna-Month thing; the NaNoWriMo. So far, so good, I wrote 40 pages yesterday and haven't uploaded the pages from today yet. Will get to those next.

I've been making elves and fairies--cloth ones, which kind of figures--and selling them on ebay (userid: enapay, for anyone who might be interested.) So far I've sold every one I've posted, so I'm not complaining!

I'm getting ready for the craft show next week; hopefully I'll be able to post something here before I go.

Anyway, I'll leave the hectic and not-so-good stuff until later. I can't really complain, can I?

You know...
It felt like a movie.

I was sitting at work, playing on the internet while waiting for something to come in, when I saw a post at one of the sff.net newsgroups I frequent.

"A plane has just crashed into the WTC in NY." I went, "What?", immediately tried to load CNN's webpage, failed, and then got an email from my friend Vicki, who asked if I had seen the news.

And it only got worse after that. By the time I actually found a television, the second plane had crashed into the other tower, and my coworkers were shell-shocked. My husband called. Three or four times. They finally sent all state employees home.

I love to have a day off as much as anyone else, but not like this. God, not like this.

I spent the rest of the day in chat, watching CNN, and talking--to my friends, to my family--and just in a state of complete and utter shock.

All of the people I know in NY have been accounted for, but I'm sure they are missing friends and relatives and loved ones. I just cannot imagine what it would feel like to be in NY or DC right now. I can't imagine how it would feel.

I saw this movie last year, I think. This scenario--these dramatics (and we can't say it wasn't dramatic...)--they're right out of Hollywood, and I didn't like the movie when I saw it the first time.

My heart goes out to everyone involved in this. I'm not sure I want to see the aftermath tomorrow.

--Jen

Updates, a bit earlier this time...
I seem to remember to post here only every other week or so. I guess that's good enough.

Let's see. What's been happening?

The heat wave finally ended, I'm really enjoying the QuickPad, I'm in the middle of a not-so-official rewrite (considering that the previous version and this version are totally different, I'm going to try to sell the previous version as another book)...

Can I put in a peeved word about agents here?

I'm not going to name any names, but you would think that some 'top' agents would have the decency (and professionalism) to at least send rejection slips. ESPECIALLY! When said author has sent a SASE in every single envelope that was mailed. I think one owes me a cup of coffee by now, just in stamps. Now that I come to think about it, I do wonder what he does with all those stamps...

Is it just me?

More later. I need to rework about five pages before 9pm.

Updates...
Just to let everyone know I'm not dead. (If anyone really reads this, that is. *g*)

Let's see. "The Tenth Ghost" is now available from Bookmice.com. If you enjoyed Harry Potter, you might enjoy this one. It's my response to the fact that I tried to think of five YA books that had female heroines, and I could only come up with three:

(This is relatively recent, btw. I know there are more, but there should be more than that, even.)

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
and most of the books by Tamora Pierce.

There are more, I'll admit, but I created Jacob Catherine Lane to combat the fact that most are heroes and not heroines. She's a nice character. :)

Writing-wise, I'm enjoying the QuickPad, and working towards the day when I'll be able to say "I write full-time from home."

I've realized that I don't necessarily need to write fiction from home. I can just as well write nonfiction, and probably make more money doing that. So I'm going to give myself a year to see how well I do.

I need to read a couple of books first. :)

On another front, I'm in the process of reading "Organizing from the Inside Out" and "Time Management from the Inside Out", after I realized that if I wanted to seriously stay home and write, I needed to be organized and manage my time effectively. We'll see if it sticks; I've always been pretty cluttered and disorganized. :)

Anyway, more later. I'll try not to be so scarce anymore.

Jen

Oh, and...
The QuickPad came. I love it. I think I'm going to try to buy the new one coming out, though; more space and email capabilities.

--j

Yikes, it's been a while.
Let's see if I can remember everything that has happened.

Sold Heart's Desire and the print rights of The Tenth Ghost to Cosmos Books. :) I'm very happy to be there.

Finished Prince of Shadows, now revising and adding 20k, if I can. I'm debating on the trilogy part of this; I might be able to pull it off without writing anymore books. We'll see. (Well, I know there will be one more book, but possibly not three.)

Umm, Got to see the Chieftans, and Neil Gaiman, if I didn't mention that before.

More later, though. I promise.

--me


Still no QuickPad. I really really really hope that I have a box waiting for me from FedEx when I get home tonight. Did I mention Really Really?

Prince of Shadows is, for want of a better word, going well. After I realized I was really just rewriting Pt 1 and that I now have to revise Pts. 2 & 3, I gnashed my teeth a bit, then decided I might as well do it. I only hope it doesn't take too long to sell the sucker. :)

Wrote a 5000 word 'short story' Tuesday which is really the beginning to SYWTBAV. So I guess I'll work on that next. If, by any chance, I have both PoS and SYWTBAV finished by the novel contest, I'll be really happy. Ecstatic even, or however you spell that.

More later; hopefully this weekend.

--me

Updates...
Let's see if I can do this once a week, barring really good or bad news or something.

The QuickPad hasn't come yet. I'm hoping it comes by tomorrow so I can take with me it to the Neil Gaiman signing in Dayton. Sigh. FedEx. What can I say?

No news on the publishing front; although I have found a couple more publishers who might be interesting in a children's book if I ever have enough time to sit down and write it.

Had a really great idea for an polymer clay e-book, so I'm going to work on that as well. I'll keep this updated with results.

This weekend I plan on writing a lot, cleaning a lot, and not much else. It all depends on what time I get home on Sat. from the signing. :)

Here's until next time,

me

Two in one day, what can I say?
Well, I just had an epiphany.

I've been struggling with my WIP for weeks now, trying to get the thing to work. I love the characters to death, literally, but I just couldn't finagle my way around the idea well enough to be happy about it.

Tonight while doing the dishes, I got my whomping gas explosion flash of inspiration, and summed up the plot in a paragraph. :) Hey, it works for me. Not only do I now know where the book is going, I can write again! Yippee!!

Until next time,

Jen

Updates, for what they're worth...
Another short but sweet 'thanks but no thanks' from the last agent I expect a response from. At least she has the decency to respond, unlike some other agents I won't name (and probably won't query anymore; they have enough of my SASEs.)

Still nothing on the publishing front for Heart's Desire, I'm still waiting for replies. (reminder to self: buy paper so I can print out 3 chs. for interested editor!)

Let's see. 'The Redemption of Joshua Bates' is the current WIP. It's been going badly for three weeks now (I think), due to three factors:

I don't want it to be cliched (but with vampires...)
I had no idea where it was going other than the original premise,
and I really wanted to write outside and enjoy the weather. While I love typing stories, I hate having to stay up in the hot office to do so. And typing afk means no internet distractions, something I could use a lot more of.

#3 will be solved soon; I'm getting a QuickPad loaner (don't know what a QuickPad is? go here: http://www.quickpad.com) And then, later on, I'm getting an Alphasmart loaner (http://www.alphasmart.com). The goal is to evaluate both and finally decide which one to buy, because my life would be so much easier with a portable word processor, darn it!

QuickPad is cheaper, IR, and I like the design better, but it supposedly holds less text. Alphasmart is more expensive, and supposedly holds more text. I'm going to test that and see just how much text they hold. :) What fun.

#2, well, I think I have it solved now. I'm not positive, since I've thought that before, but I'm basically going to have to rewrite. At least I'd only written 60 pages. Maybe if the QuickPad comes soon enough, I'll be able to start afresh using it...

Other than that, current projects are the outline for the novel I'm going to write for the 3-day novel contest put on by Anvil Press (http://www.anvilpress.com/3daynov/index.htm) in September, working on the backlog of WIPs, and trying to get organized.

Wish me luck, and I'll write more later.

Jen


Well, so much for updating frequently.

I've been distracted lately, by trying to get an agent for my work, and at the same time trying to land a publishing contract for Heart's Desire.

So far, I have a couple editors interested, but no bites yet on the agent scene. Although I am getting some verbose rejection letters.

Tonight I'm sitting here alone in the house, supposedly staying up all night to write. Ask me how many words I've written on the WIP so far. :) Answer: none.

But last night I successfully managed to edit The Tenth Ghost and deliver it to the editor, along with the cover art.

And today I figured out FTP and designed my bare bones webpage. Hey, it's a start.

Until next time,

Jen

Updates...
Well, I didn't finish Prince of Shadows. This is the one I've been writing since forever, and it's now on its 10th incarnation. I decided I had too many main characters and too little plot. So, to fix part of that, one of the heroes is now one of the villains. Should make things interesting, at least.

After I stopped PoS, I finally started on one I've been wanting to write for a little while: 'The Redemption of Joshua Bates'. It's about a carpenter who is hired by a vampire hunter to make stakes, and the vampire they hunt. It's eventually a kind of love story, but it is quite fun.

Haven't had a chance to get to 'The Tenth Ghost' yet, and Em hasn't had a chance to do the cover yet either. My sister, Emily, is designing my covers (you can see one here: http://www.redrival.com/storyteller/title-2.jpg)

Anything else? Haven't heard back from either contest or the sub or the agents yet. I'll wait semi-patiently.

--me

A rant on publishers and writing in general...
I want to write full-time. That is my goal in life, and I intend to make it happen, come hell or high water or what-have-you. But time and time again, I've had people tell me I'm wasting my time; that I cannot succeed.

Hardly ever--once, maybe twice--have I had someone say 'Oh, that's great. Good luck.' Whatever happened to encouragement? When did pursuing a dream become a bad thing?

I have gotten this reaction since I decided on this course, and it puzzles me to this day. I know the odds. I know the markets. I've read almost every piece of information about anything concerning publishing; I know the pitfalls. I know how hard it is to succeed. I'm not a stupid person. I am willing to work hard to make my dream come true, and I'm not willing to give up.

Writing for a living is not an unusual thing. Plenty of people do it, and plenty of people succeed. But what I want to know is this: What gives everyone else the right to trash my dream just because it's difficult to achieve?

The next time someone tells you about an impossible dream, encourage them to reach for the stars. Don't cut them down. Odds are, they've heard it all before.

I am not a wannabe.

I am.

Updates...
Okay, so I wasn't quite as gung-ho about keeping a journal as I thought.

Oh well. I'll try better this time around. I think I'll try for once a week.

Let's see. Since the last update, I've finished another book that is now making the rounds of critiques and reads from the nice people who volunteered. I've finished a novella, which has been sent out, and I'm almost done with another novel. (I hope.)

Publishing front: Got the edits for 'The Tenth Ghost', and will work on them, but there wasn't much to edit, apparently. I think that's a good thing. :)

Oh well. Until next week, or the end of this... I have graduations and so on to go to in the next few weeks, so I might be busy.

First Post
I've always wanted to keep a journal. I've always meant to keep a journal, but I never seemed to have enough time, inclination, or desire.
Well, now that I'm here, I'm going to attempt to fulfill that desire.
Let's see. Updates about me.
I turned in the revised version of Second Coming yesterday, and now I get to wait to hear back from the editor to see if they liked the revisions. I hate waiting. I'm fairly happy with it (although cutting 20k words seemed a bit much, but it was only 80 pages), and I think it's now cleaner and a better story. Less of those old versions hanging around to mess things up.
So we'll see what the editor says!
And I'll try to post more tomorrow. My sister's coming, and we're cleaning out my car. (oh joy.)

Popular Posts