Back So Soon?

...and it's only been seven months.

What has our heroine been doing with all this time, you might ask. She surely is well on her way to being published. Her masterful prose and literary prowess have surely vaulted her to the top of the Random House to-do list.

So where is she truly?

She is still at her computer.

I have once again set out to edit my great novel. I only have about fifty pages to go, but I'm already considering editing it again after this. I might be a perfectionist. I'll get back to you when I'm positive.

However, I am trying to swear to myself that once I have this edit done I will definitely start making steps towards finding a publisher for my life's work. After all, I have a six year plan.

Here it is.

Within this year I will mail in my manuscript to Random House, who will then give me a six figure advance and promise me a percentage of the profits. After about a year of my novel's wild popularity has past, Newline Cinemas will come crawling to my doorstep, begging me to sell them the rights so they can make a blockbuster hit out of it. I will agree, but I must have a controlling opinion in casting and screenplay. I will also get a percentage of those profits. By the time I graduate college I will be comfortably coasting on my early years of fame and fortune. Then I am buying myself this: http://search.knightfrank.com/gwr090132

I will then be the proud owner of an estate and stud farm. I will invite my younger sister, who is very much in love with horses, to come and live with me and will exist in great contentment as I leisurely write my next twenty bestsellers.

I'll invite anyone who asks to stay a fortnight with me in my beautiful home.

...And that's the Written Word.

Don't Look Now...

...But I'm finally posting again. Having a page of posts with no comments doesn't really drive one to continue a seemingly fruitless task, but what better way to procrastinate about writing a paper? I may be a writer, but character sketches are tedious for us all.

Back in June I finally got through my first edit of the soon-to-be award winning novel. Since then I've edited it through twice more and had several people read it over for me. The bad thing about friends is that friendship doesn't make them literary, and they tend to be bad people to ask to harshly criticize your work. But at long last I've had someone read it who actually had some constructive input, and said person is also a writer. That's a bonus. Hopefully in the near future I'll be pressing forward to edit once again with these new criticisms. It feels like I'm going to be editing forever. Revisions is definitely the doldrums of writings. Maybe I'm also subconsciously putting off the next step. It has to be done sometime (just not anytime soon). You should all wait, earnest and solemn, for the day my epic novel comes to a store near you.

Don't hold your breath, though.

And that's The Written Word.

Believe It Or Not...

I've done it! I have actually done it! My novel is, at long last, edited! That was only the first edit of course, but I've forced myself through it and I think most of the major plot holes are fixed up. I was so proud of it that I actually created temporary coverart, printed the whole thing out, named the chapters, and presented it to one of my friends as a birthday present.

It's going to need to be edited again, and even after that I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but it feels good to be done.

It's not lengthy or particuarly eloquent but....

that's the The Written Word

Inspiration At Last!

So, it's finally coming along! 

I have actually gotten into editting again! I've gotten to page 26 and I'm ecstatic. I've actually editted every day for the past couple days. I"m so proud of myself. Now i have a not so despicable 101 pages, and still working on it. I majorly have to fix up plot holes, though I haven't quite gotten to that part of the story yet. It's coming along nicely though and I'm happy as a clam. How happy are clams, anyway? 

What finally kicked me into shape again was that I was talking with my dad about how depressing it is to not have anything of any worth and he said that if I finish something he'll read it. I told him I do have something he could read and sent it to him, with much trepidation. He hasn't started reading it yet, but thinking of my dad reading the horrible first draft made me do something about it. And here I am, editor extradonaire, in action yet again. Maybe I'll actually keep my motivation for a while. But with my luck it'll be gone tomorrow. Keep threatening/encouraging me Dad! I know all you fellow writers understand. Until I lose it again...

And that the Written Word

Plugging Along...

When we last saw our heroine, she was in the depths of despair about lack of motiviation for editting her Great American Novel. It was just after Thanksgiving, and all the feasting and merriment had made her plump and slothful. We return to her, sitting at her desk, feverishly scribbling on parchment, alive with electricity.

Haha. Aren't I just the funniest thing?

Since I last posted I've had a magical break through. Once an Enemy Always an Enemy, a story I started when I was eight or nine, (and probably the best idea I ever really had) has been revived! I've had the desire to start over, using my old characters and plots, for quite some time. However, since it was such an important story to me then, and still is now, I didn't want it to just be a spark, and then die away quickly like so many of my other 'great' ideas. So, I waited. Finally, after many years, I thought to start it again. I carefully gathered my ideas, and instead of starting right away and ruining it, I waited. Patiently, for many days, I gathered, perfecting and thinking and getting everything just so it would work out. Then, I put them all together on a program called Freemind (that is amazing. You should check it out). After still more time spent preparing everything and getting it in order, I began. And so it remains! I currently have around 20 pages, single space and 12 pt font. I'm keeping the storyline I'm working off of loose, so if I'm struck with sudden inspiration I can go with it and see how it turns out. As it stands, I wrote some last night, but I'm not sure if it's a little irrelevant, so I'll go back and read it, maybe cut the last few paragraphs. It would probably be better that way.
But, YES I'm FINALLY writing again! I'm so glad that my creativity hasn't totally abandoned me. Perhaps I'll write more later, but, I don't want to force it. If you force the writing it comes out stilted and awkward. And we wouldn't want that, would we? But after all, it's only a first draft!

And that's the written word

A Few Complaints

Well, I haven't posted in a while so I considered I owed you something. Not that anyone really reads this blog anyway. Though that's part of the reason I'm writing it, right?

One of the things I have to say about a few stories I've read in the past few years is that they're a little bit too close to life. For example, read a total fantasy book, engrossed in a different world far away from yourself. But then, right in the middle, the female main character decides to start talking to herself about her period. Now, of course I know it's a part of real life. But one of the reasons I read, I don't know about the rest of you, is to escape from all the things I hate about my life. Of course, the author is just trying to make a realistic heroine. But, can you say too much information? I have enough aggravation with my own I don't need to hear some girl in a story sob about her's, too. It must be hard to have to deal with feminine issues and be a heroine to your whole fantastical kingdom, slaying dragons and pursuing villains, but why don't we keep that a tacit agreement between the two of us, hmm? I respect the character enough for being a girl and doing the things she does despite her physical issues, but I don't need it to be shoved in my face. Aside from the fact that if you want to have as many readers as possible and are writing on a semi-neutral topic as far as the sexes go, talking about periods is definitely going to be a turn off for guys. Because, surprisingly enough, they don't have one and they really don't wanna hear about it. Just a tip.

Finally, Im so despicable, I'm still only on page twenty in my editting. So yeah, by Thanksgiving definitely didn't happen. But I'm adding more scenes to flesh out the plot a little and now have a grand total of 96 pages. Wow, I procrastinate way too much. How exactly do I expect myself to be a really cool child author if I can't even edit the stupid rough draft once through after being finished with the story for a year and a half? Now I'm just making myself depressed. I'll do it somehow.

And that's the Written Word

A Song and Some Editting

I'm going to go a little outside of my boundaries of reading and writing literature and talk about a song. Bear with me.

A while ago, my beloved friend Tina said while she was at Youth Group one night they made her fill otu a survey. One of the questions was 'what song do you listen to when you're happy?' At the time i thought, wow that's really weird. I could never think of jsut one song that I listen to when I'm happy and only happy. What a hard question. I wouldn't have been able to answer it.
Then, about a month ago, I was listening to my iPod (which I promptly lost and just found again this morning!!!) and for some reason the thought popped into my head 'wow I'm REALLY happy.' Now, that emotion isn't really uncoomon for me. I tend to be in a good mood unless I'm otherwise influenced. I wake up in a good mood and usually ten minutes after anything else I return to a good mood. I'm just a naturally happy person. That was when I remembered that ocnversation Tina and I had. So just for kicks I looked at my iPod to see what song was playing. Not that I didn't KNOW the song just by hearing it. But I have a habit of looking at my iPod automatically even if I could figure it out myself. The song happened to be "Everybody Loves" by Constantine.
Now, I don't think it's a very popular song. I hadn't even heard of Constantine or the song before my older brother Joey made me listen to it one day. Constantine was on American Idol a few seasons back, before I watched it. But he's actually a pretty good, regardless of that fact that he's not wildly famous.
Then whenever I was listening to the song I realized I was always happy. And then whenever I decided to go listen to the song I noticed I was happy. And when I feel the urge to listen to the song I think 'I must be happy' (yeah I know that's weird, but this is my blog, not yours) and I always am. So pass the surveys this way because I officially have a song I always listen to when I'm happy and it's 'Everybody Loves'.

In unrelated news, I'm finally getting some editting done on one of my few finished stories. It's the pathetic length of 93 pages, but that's on Word. So I'm think if it was in a book it would probably be a little longer. Also, I wrote and finished it like a year and a half ago so that's not too bad.
As I edit, it's obvious that I wrote it a while ago. It's funny, while you're writing it, it seems to entertaining, witty and insightful. But as I go back and write it, it seems a little contrived, and I dive write into developent before I've even set up what I'm developing. Now, that isn't a thing that can really be done. Also, I do a little too much telling and not enough showing. People don't like to be told what to think. And still, if you're writing a novel you can't SAY "they were best friends and hung out all the time" but never SHOW by not writing any scenes of them hanging out at all, much less hanging out frequently.
So, I will continue with my tedious editting and hopefully get something accomplished. I WANTED to get it editted once through over the summer but that didn't happen. If I can bear to admit my shame, I'm only up to page twelve. Despicable, I know. But, I'll try to edit at least a little each day, and maybe I'll have it done once through my Christmas. Or even better, Thanksgiving. Then, after I patch up the main story and fix plot wholes, character issues etc., I'll have a few people look over it, suggest parts that don't fit and help me with grammar, spelling and so on. Then maybe I'll be brave enough to show it to Mom and Dad. Wouldn't that be a cool Christmas present for them?

And that's the Written Word