Writing is Rewriting is Rewriting is Rewriting

2018 Goal Update:
Books read this year: 9
Chapters left to revise: 5

At this point, I should get "revision is taking longer than I expected" printed on a t-shirt. Life gets in the way--both for me and for my critique partner. The job that pays my bills takes up big chunks of my time and leaves me drained. I still manage to work on revisions five or six days out of seven, but the amount that I'm able to get done is a session is less than I want it to be. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. My CP has the final two chapters. More of the manuscript has been through revision than hasn't. A couple of the chapters coming up are going to require fewer major structural changes.

But it's still a slog.

Memory is a weird thing. I've written and revised projects before--novellas, novels, shorts, even my graduate thesis. I've done this before. But the process feels so new.

When it comes to my work, I remember the beginnings. The first sit-downs with an idea are tucked into my brain like photographs in a scrapbook. I remember the pitches. I remember the proofs, my last look at the piece before it's finalized. I remember the whirlwind of releases.

Revisions, though, exist as a huge black void in my memory. Which might be why this process has felt like a fresh new hell.

If I'm being fair, I've never done revisions as extensive as the ones I'm doing now. EVIN got accepted with very few changes (in hindsight, I should have held onto it longer and done more work, but the whole process was very new at the time and I was sort of flying blind). I don't typically do revisions on shorter pieces, so "Red Snow" and "Smoke" were both published looking more or less the same as they did in first draft. "Lady or the Dagger" required only some changes in blocking.

CANUS, though, is a beast. It's more complicated than previous work I've done. There are more moving pieces, more points of view, more threads to tie together. It's more ambitious. Every part of it has stretched my abilities. So it makes sense that fixing it--taking the ideas and the moments and the lines and smoothing them into an actual book--would be more complicated.

Revision notes for chapters 16 and 17--zoomed out because spoilers

I'm getting close, I think. The first sixteen chapters are stronger than they were, and I've hope that the last five can be whipped into shape. But I have lately been thinking about the days when I thought writing was easy: come up with a cool idea and throw it on a page. Boom, done. I know now that it's not that simple; that I only thought it was because I didn't really know what I was doing.

Do I wish it was easier? Yeah, sometimes. It'd be nice to be done with the revisions, to have a gleaming manuscript to send out on query. Still, I think the struggle, the process, the work has been and continues to be worthwhile. It'll make this manuscript better. It'll make starting the next all the sweeter.

In the meantime, I have to put away the cookie dough and get off the floor. This book's not gonna fix itself.

The Spark

Late stages of a work in progress are usually when I start putting the pieces together for the next thing I'm going to work on. Having something new to work on helps keep the panic at bay when I'm waiting to hear back about a piece that's with a reader or being queried.

One of people's favorite questions to ask writers is a question that I hate answering. If I mention starting something new or if someone finds out that I write, they always ask the same thing: where do your ideas come from?

My first issue with this question is the suggestion that the ideas exist fully-formed somewhere outside the writer, and we stroll in with a shopping bag and toss in the ones we want to keep. As though ideas pop into our heads instant and fully-formed like some kind of reverse Athena. Those instant moments of total inspiration are not impossible, but they're more part of the fictionalized image of writers than a typical fact of the work.

The second problem with this question is that there's not one answer. And I don't mean that there's not one answer for every writer (thought there isn't). I mean that I don't have one answer for me.

Every project is different. Evin started with staring at a poster of a panther for a few minutes too long. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" was the result of a marathon of noir movies and a personal challenge. With "Red Snow, PI," I had a prompt to start with.

As I wind down CANUS (Project 2016--or the first third of it, anyway), I've been on the lookout for new ideas. I've got a couple of loose novel outlines in the trunk, and while I really like both, neither has me fired up the way I want and I've got two short pieces I need to work on that I'm not sure where start with.

Looking for ideas is a little like waiting for water to boil. If you keep your eyes on the pot, it may not take longer to get going, but it'll definitely feel a lot longer. I've been trying to let things come in their own time, but the waiting makes me nervous.

I went into my last writing group meeting with nothing. I'm not at a place with CANUS where getting a couple thousand words critiqued by the group is going to help the project. I haven't started anything new since the secret project back in November, and I don't have more than a character name and a vague setting for the LIBRARIUM story. I figured the best that I could hope for was that I'd have something helpful to give the group members who had actually produced something.

Critique didn't take up as much of the meeting as it typically does, so we ended by doing a writing exercise.

The exercise was simple enough--you got a photo and twenty minutes to write something about it. I've done these kinds of exercises before. Usually, I get a few paragraphs of something not so great. And I didn't churn out great prose this time, either.

But I did find a spark. The photo I got, the couple of pages I wrote, stuck in my brain. The "what ifs" started spinning in my brain--a slow burn of a story taking shape. Nothing sudden. Nothing spiraling like the start of Evin. No specific character sketches like with Project 2016. But the spark. The first part of a fire like I haven't felt since starting Project 2016.

I made a few notes when I got home-- a high-concept pitch and a vague summary.

It doesn't help with the short projects, but it is exciting to know what comes next after CANUS.

By the end of 2018, I hope to have an alpha draft of my next project: BRUSHSTROKES.

I don't know how to explain where the ideas come from, how something goes from a nebulous question in the back of the brain to something you have to put on the page. I guess in the end it doesn't really matter, as the spark finds you and you don't let it go.

Resource Roundup

The second week of 2018 has been more productive than the first, at least. I'm working on my fifth read of the year. I've made a little progress on revisions (though not nearly as much as I'd wanted to by now). I made it to the first writing group meeting of the year. I finally have an idea for the LIBRARIUM story.

I also got hit with a new idea, which means that FETCH might get put on the back burner. Again.

Anyway, one of the things I wanted to do was make a list of all of the resources I've made use of in 2017. I thought about doing this in the last weeks of last year, but other things came up.

By which I mean I got distracted watching a truly staggering amount of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super (Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to have Funimation subscriptions and '90s anime nostalgia).

I'm focused again now, so I figure it's time to share that list.

This year, I dug around on twitter and on the internet trying to find ways to improve my writing and tips on how to connect with others in the industry. I've cut up the list into categories: hashtags, websites, and podcasts.

HASHTAGS

• #MSWL--the official Manuscript Wishlist hashtag. This is a great place to get an idea of what agents are looking for, and to see if there's someone out there who's looking for a project like yours
• #pubtip--a hashtag where folks in the publishing industry share tips, advice, and insight into how the publishing industry works.
• #querytip-- similar to #pubtip, this hashtag tracks advice specific to the querying stage of the process
• #writetip--writers, agents, editors, and the like share advice on various aspects of writing--from structure, revision, and writer tool boxes to advice on dealing with imposter syndrome and the trials and tribulations of being published
• Various Twitter pitch parties-- there are several opportunities each year to pitch your project on twitter in the hopes of connecting with someone looking for the type of work you do. These hashtags are used on the day of the contest to direct agents and editors to pitches, but on non-contest days, you can sometimes find writing and pitching advice, critique partners, and a supportive community. A few of these hashtags are #PitMad, #DVPit (for diverse, Own Voices authors), #PitchSlam, #SFFPit and #PBPit. You can always do a quick Google search to find more or follow agents on twitter.

 WEBSITES

• The Manuscript Academy--This has been one of my most-used resources this year. Created by an author and an agent, The Manuscript Academy offers classes, critique sessions, and a database of agents and editors for writers to dig through. Whatever issue you're having with your work and whatever experience level you're at, there's something of use here. I've personally gotten query critiques, a first-page critique, a first ten pages critique, and a first fifty pages critique. The "faculty" are agents and editors with bios you can review before booking sessions. The feedback I've received through these sessions has be incredibly valuable. As much as I've complained about the reworks required for Project 2016, it's a much better MS than it was before.

• Writer's Digest--Maybe an obvious inclusion on this list, but Writer's Digest consistently shows up with useful tidbits, announcements, and contests. Here, you can find articles on the writing and publishing process, tips on how to deal with issues in your writing, announcements for new agents, information about writing conferences, and various short fiction contests. 

• The Plot Line Hotline--Where most of the resources listed here are curated by others, the Plot Line Hotline gives writers the opportunity to ask specific questions. Six writers run the website, fielding questions on aspects of the writing process--though they don't take questions on publishing.
• Wendy Heard's Critique Partner MatchUp--Finding feedback is one of the most important parts of revision. Speaking for myself, I frequently can't see the forest for the trees when it comes to judging my own work. I'm not great at finding the things that someone fresh to the story can see. But it is so hard to find someone willing to do a thorough read of 80,000 plus words. This site lets you put your name in to be matched with another author of similar experience and genre. You and your partner can serve as fresh eyes for each other's work. The next round of matches are being made this month, so this is a great time to get in on this.
• Writers Helping Writers (Bookshelf Muse)-- This blog is where the Emotion Thesaurus originated. Here, you can find articles on the craft of writing from plotting to revision and special entries on how to use unexpected aspects of the story to make your work more immersive and specific. 

• Query Tracker--A great resource for querying writers. This site has an easy-to-search database to help you find agents that represent your genre and to keep up with who is open to queries. Basic access is free (and all that I've used, personally), but premium access allows you to keep track of your responses, to view agent data, and track response time. Basic users can view comments and contact information on listed agents. 

PODCASTS

• Writing Excuses--A long-running weekly podcast hosted by a number of published writers. The episodes are short (fifteen minutes, per their tagline), which is great if you're busy. Though the hosts sometimes delve into the publishing industry and process, the main focus of this podcast is craft. Each season has a different theme. This year, the theme is character. Their (lengthy) backlog of episodes is available on their website.
• PubCrawl Podcast--Publishing Crawl is a blog chock-full of writers resources. The PubCrawl Podcast is a specific offshoot of this blog, hosted by an author and an agent. Episode topics range from the mechanics of the publishing industry (they have a whole series on contracts) to aspects of craft and frequently include recommendations for other resources. And books. 
• The Manuscript Academy--Connected to the website mentioned before, the Manuscript Academy podcast is hosted by the website's creators. The episodes range from query critiques, first page reactions, agent Q & As, and information about the publishing industry. 

And that's my list! Hopefully, some of these resources can help you on your writing journey. What are some of your favorite writing resources? Let me know in the comments!

Resolutions

The new year is a full week old, and, if I'm being honest, it hasn't been as productive as I would have liked. The mania of the end of the semester and the holidays has past, and it took all of my motivation and energy with it. In the last few days, I've worked slowly back into some semblance of a schedule and made (glacial) progress.

There are still 51 weeks left in 2018--enough time to get some serious work done.

I'm a in a lot of ways. I like to have a solid idea of what I need to do and the time in which I have to do it. Even when I don't manage to do all of the things that I plan (which is more often than I'd like), have a list, a goal, makes me more productive. So, for my first post of 2018, I thought I'd nail down my plan--my 2018 Writing Resolutions.

This year, I want to

• Finish revisions on CANUS
• Start querying CANUS
• Write the first draft of FETCH
• Get FETCH to first-round readers
• Write and revise a short story for LIBRARIUM
• Attend at least one author event as a vendor
• Attend at least one writing conference
• Read at least fifty books
• Continue regularly attending writing group meetings
• Enter at least one writing competition
• Continue to blog on a (somewhat) regular basis

There are other things I want, too--to land an agent, to sell books, to get a contract for Canus. But with this list, I wanted to focus on the things that are under my control. At the end of the day, I can't make an agent sign me. I can't make a publisher want to take the risk on my work. I can polish my work and make it as clean and professional as I can. I can sit down and do the writing to get a first draft on the page. I can put myself out there at events and take whatever opportunities there are to improve my craft and meet and work with experts.

Last year was a weird one for me as far as writing goes. I wrote a few short pieces, but most of my writing in 2017 was revision. It's going to be strange to drafting again. First drafts are strange beasts no matter the circumstances, but I haven't written a first draft of a novel since 2016. Starting a new project is going to be a learning experience--but it always is.

Letting go of CANUS is going to be strange, too. This manuscript has been my main focus for nearly two years, and the characters have been with me for more than ten. I'll come back to that world and it's characters, but after this round of revisions, I'm going to have to take some time and step away from the project. I love this novel, but it's time to work on other things.

I don't know what my 2018 will hold, and I don't know how successful I'll be, but it's nice to have an actionable plan. Here's hoping the focus on doing what I can will yield results.