JaNoWriMo - Day 24

There are only six days left until the end of our JaNoWriMo challenge so not far to go. L is busy re-reading her first draft and making notes / changes. Meanwhile, N is still on short story two but is hoping to complete that and story three by the end of the month. As for me, I've been writing an hour plus every day and am now really getting to the heart of my story / characters. Because I'm a 'pantser' I didn't truly understand my character's needs and wants until now. But now their innermost selves and motivations have been revealed, it's given me an even stronger urge to complete the story.

So, the question is, will N complete his third story and will I get my first draft done by the end of January? You'll have to wait until the next exciting installment to find out ;)

2,000 Page Views and a Finished Book!

I'm having a double celebration this week for the above reason. The page views thing is a pleasant surprise but I've been buzzing since Monday night over finishing the sixth draft of my book. Since the fourth draft I've edited out over 12,200 words (approx 14.5%) and I'm as happy with it as I can be with anything I've written (which is never 100%). So, I've handed it over to my trusty 'proofers' to check for typos and ambiguities. I hope they don't suggest too many changes!
It was only June last year that I finished the first draft. In early January I finished the third. Then I sent it to a couple of agents and a competition. The MS had started in the third person, was converted to first and then changed back to the third again on the advice of one of the agents - hence so many drafts!
Unfortunately I finished the MS too late in the day to call or text anyone so had to be content with email and FB and waking up B instead. He told me to calm down and go to sleep (which was fair as it was late) but I was buzzing so much that I had to do a chill-out yoga session and then read (a lot) until I eventually dropped off. I was still buzzing the next day - even my daughter waking me up at 5.30am did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm.
It's been pretty hard getting to this point though as our family have had to face a series of 'challenges' not including the fact I can only work when R is asleep - so that's VERY early in the morning or late in the evening. I've found that mornings work best for me (pre-7am) but it's always a struggle to tear myself from my MS to get ready for work and get R up and out too. And the last couple of days have seemed weird as I've been 'having a break' from writing/editing, something which I rarely do. And now I'm concerned that I better start working on something else soon or I might never start again.

Question: What obstacles have you faced when writing your MS? When do you like to write or, like me, is it dictated to you by circumstance? Do you think writing in short bursts is best or do you prefer to take it at a more leisurely pace? How long did it take you to complete the final draft of your MS?. How much of a break did you have after finishing your MS? Please tell, I'd love to know!

Anyone for Tennis?

I'm still making steady progress with my book but, as ever, the real battle is the internal one.
My greatest enemy has always been self doubt, a common affliction especially for writers and would-be writers when it comes to believing in their work. For me it's a battle I think I'm winning. At the moment every negative voice is being slammed down by a positive one. But I think there are many fantastic writers out there who we've never heard of simply because they don't believe in themselves enough. And yet they are as good as and sometimes superior to many writers who are already published! I wish I could make them believe how good they are and convince them they can succeed. And if I ever do get published and get to teach creative writing I reckon it would be worth spending half the class working on people's confidence. It's a bit like the top tennis players - they all have the same skill set / level - in the end those that win are the ones with the psychological edge.
Regarding my work, I've promised myself that the book will get finished and resubmitted before the summer's out. Maybe it'll even be finished in time for Wimbledon?

Slow Progress

I'm still working on what I hope to be the 'final draft' (until someone tells me otherwise!) However it's been slow progress this last week as R has been extremely poorly and I've been snowed under at work. So it's been a week of sleepless nights and overtime. I've always been a bit of a night owl but lately I've been in bed by 8pm every night. This has, unsurprisingly, somewhat diminished my 'writing time'. I've still managed to write every day (bar Thursday) but the going's been painfully slow. And, as I abandoned the fourth draft and went back to the start again, I'm only about 20% of the way through the latest draft. I think it's unlikely that I will get the whole book finished by Easter but I'm pleased with what I've done so far (a rarity for me!) Here's hoping I can get the rest completed to the same standard and that someone loves it enough to one day publish it.

Done and Dusted!

Well I've finished the third draft of my book and am feeling very pleased about it. Did I say pleased? I'm ecstatic! It's taken three years and a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get this far but I'm glad I did it. The next step is trying to sell it, which is no doubt going to be even harder than writing the darn thing. But I'm ready for the challenge (I think!) Anyway, here's to 2013 - the Year of Getting Published (or at least well on the way to it).

How to Finish a Novel

To get my novel finished I've decided to enter this competition. The prize is amazing - £10K and a publishing deal. The deadline is a month away. It's good to have a deadline and I like a challenge, but it means I must not only finish my second draft (rewriting at least one chapter per day for the next three weeks), but I also need to pick and polish the best 5,000 words and write a brilliant synopsis - simples!
I've been rewriting the entire first draft from multiple third person POVs into one first person POV as well as tweaking the plot, shaping the structure and tightening the prose. It's not been easy but it's definitely improved the first draft.
Because of family responsibilities I can only write very early in the morning or late at night, creating a steady cycle of sleep deprivation. Add in a few restless nights with R and my poorly tooth and it's quite possibly a recipe for disaster. So I have one month in which to achieve a miracle - let's hope it's worth it! :)

Editing the First Draft

It's been about six weeks since I finished the beloved monster that is my first draft. And, for no reason I can explain, it feels like the right time to go back for 'round two'. But where do I start? I'm part-way through reading a good book about editing your work before publication and I've read countless tips on the internet, Twitter and other blogs. And now I'm close to information overload!

It seems the best place to start is to make a chapter-by-chapter outline of what the first draft looks like, with a paragraph of what happens in each chapter. Then I need to work out the theme/message. Next I ought to look at the protagonist (but what if there's more than one?) and how he/she changes over the course of the story. Then I have to write summaries of the subplots. Once I have my story and character arcs outlined, the novel needs to be split into three parts: beginning, middle and end. And then, only then, am I allowed to begin at the beginning and tackle Part One!

It all sounded quite manageable until I read one piece of advice which said: "Expect this process to take at least as long as it took you to write the first draft, and likely a lot longer." What??? Surely there is no way it could possibly take that long? I refuse to believe the second draft will take me longer than the first (which took over two and a half years for reasons which I won't even go into), but then surely there's no way that Life could drop that much dung on me this time - is there?

Anyway, onwards and...editingwards (or should that be 'editing words' - sorry!)

The End!

'The End' - I have been longing to write those two little words for two-and-a-half years, since I began the first draft of my children's novel. I began it while I was expecting my daughter, followed by a 'break' to focus on motherhood and several other life events that collided with it. At Easter 2011, to get myself kick started, I joined my local writers' group, which did the trick. Over the last year and a quarter I have drafted 44 chapters to add to the original 10, bringing the total wordcount to over 80K. And on the stroke of midnight between 9th and 10th June, I finally got there. To say I feel elated doesn't even cover it. After seeing my email with the final chapters attached, my husband called me from his night out to join me in my 'celebration'. There may not be any party, or even any champagne, but I feel fantastic - it's as if my whole self is smiling! I know that the hard part is yet to come, but for now I'm going to sit back and enjoy the warm fuzzy feeling I've achieved without even a single drop of vino! :)

Stop thief!

'Procrastination is the thief of time', as the well-known adage goes. But what about social media? It sneaks in and robs creative writers of their precious time, energy and creative spark, leaving them empty, exhausted and bereft. Well okay, there are more time and energy stealers out there, but social media is a big one - yes it can be useful, but it can also end up as yet another obstacle to navigate when trying to find the time in which to write. Like me, I'm sure there must be many busy working parents who have very little free time / energy left to complete that unfinished novel. And the little, precious time you do have gets eaten up by either household chores (yawn!) and trying to catch up with friends and family (yay!). And then, when you finally get sat down wherever you usually write, with your head switched into 'creative mode', determined to finish the first draft of your novel, you realise that your entire evening has been stolen by, you've guessed it, the two or three hours you've inadvertently spent browsing the internet including that cursed social media - again! So, I ask all of you creative types to join me - close your internet browser and don't open it again until at least tomorrow evening - then you (and I) will have absolutely no excuse whatsoever for not getting that first draft finished - will we? ;)