1722 words...or 7.3333333 pages

Yeah, that's what I finished tonight in the business book. Not shabby at all, if I say so myself (even though the words are blending together as the evening wears on).

I have to admit I'm liking this writing a lot. I love research, love nonfiction, love being told what to do (in writing but not in life, as I'm sure my mother would agree..lol). With this wonderful :) outline I've already created, it's a hell of a lot easier than writing fiction. I know where I'm going, where I've been, and what I'm forgetting as I'm going. Since my first 20K words (about 80 pages) is due December 17th, sitting around procrastinating about whether or not I use the word "types" or "kinds" for three days in the name of writing perfection really isn't an option. I just sat down and started typing.

Took a break about three pages into it for a shower, and came up with the perfect first line for the next topic. I like how that worked. And if I get stumped by a word or phrase I know is buried in my subconscious or on the edge of my brain, I'm just putting it into parenthesis. It'll be there when I come back to edit, but more importantly, it keeps me from stopping.

Weirdly, I'm doing OK so far writing the rough draft on the computer. I did take the four big topics of chapter one and outline them in depth in the notebook, my hurried scribbles indecipherable to anyone, including me at times, but hey--it's working.

Ok...off to bed to dream of words and headings...only 64K words to go....

she liked it!

So I sent in the first assignment for my new book deal today--the outline of the table of contents.

I was a little nervous as the editor specified she wanted the TOC as well as a summary for each chapter. My brain doesn't work like that: I write extremely detailed outlines. (thanks, Mrs. Frere!) So I sent it in as it was, no summary, only detailed details with a note to the editor that I'd be glad to write an additional summary if she wanted (I wouldn't be glad but the nice Beth made me say that).

The editor emailed back to let me know she'd gotten the TOC--and it was great. Gave me the go-ahead to work on the book as the TOC says and to send her an invoice for the work. Way cool.

Shameless self promotion

It is my blog, isn't it?!

A good article for all you writer-types to consider before starting your next writing project

(a good article because I wrote it)....at Writer2Writer.com

Need Motivation and Focus?
The Art of Creating a Writer’s Mission Statement

TOC Rough Draft Down, Book to go....

First update on the work-for-hire:

Just finished writing the table of contents. Longhand, of course, as we all know (and care..hahah) that longhand helps me think better.

Must have been thinking a lot as the TOC ended up being about 12 pages long. I've got two of 'em (pages, that is) typed up...through about chapter 5 so far, and only with headings and subheadings, no details (yet). Trying to cram it all in tonight as I'm heading to my niece's wedding tomorrow out of town and plan to do absolutely no work at all.

Since the TOC is due Weds, this is pretty in-advance for me. I must admit the topic matter wasn't as interesting to me when I bid on the job but the more I read (three research books), the more interesting it is.

Now if just those 85K pages would come as easy....

Off to type....

she said yes...

....to that work-for-hire the editor offered.

Call me crazy but I just want to see if I can do it. Write a book (nonfiction) on a topic (cleaning) I know little to nothing about (all research provided) in a ridiculously short period of time (90 days).

Sent in the contract. Sure, the money isn't great, but if I put my behind in the seat every day and crank out 810 words a day (between 3-4 pages) I'll have it done by the February deadline.

If not..well, we'll get to that. I'm just now about 1/3 through creating the table of contents (darn, doesn't count toward the 65K word count), so I'm still going strong.

hmm...writing...or...breathing?

You'd think that since I haven't blogged my writing progress lately that there hasn't been any.

You'd be mostly right.

Picked up a nasty chest cold early last week and unfortunately, cold and sinus medicine do nothing to up the creativity or energy levels. I know writers are supposed to persevere through everything for the sake of writing but I must admit here that being able to easily breath and not cough up a lung trumps being able to write...

So now that I'm sorta getting better (less fever, more energy, less coughing), I'm writing again. Maybe I just needed a little out-of-my-mind break (love those dreams I have on cough medicine LOL).

Tonight I added to my story. All totaled it's now 6 solid pages and comes in at just over 1400 words. It ain't a novel yet but it's still pulling my interest so I'm happy with that. For now. Until the Nyquil is out of my system, anyway....

stop screwing with me, writing goals....

What the hell is it with my writing that happens every time I try to set good, solid, reasonable goals and something always flies in about a day later to completely screw with my plans?!

I signed up for the 70 Days of Sweat Challenge with the honest intention of writing 750 words a day--at least. Figured it's a good time to start the novel rather than just brainstorming til I'm 80, plus with the short story due out reasonably soon (still awaiting the release date) I'd need to follow up with a second story to the editor.

Sounded great til I got a notice from a writing friend who mentioned an editor was looking for authors for work for hire. Basically, the publisher has titles they need to put out and need to hire writers to do a lot of writing in a short period of time. Before my brain could stop my fingers, I fired off a query to the editor only to have her send me the list of titles and prompt me to pick five. I did, and those had all been bid on. Picked three more, and those were gone. Picked three more on Friday and haven't heard back from the editor, but I do admit none of those titles were really great. But the challenge of writing a 65K word book in 90 days is too great to pass up (she says stupidly).

So, anyway, in the meantime, I'm working on this challenge. I wrote three pages today, which, added to my one page from before, brings me to four. A whopping 843 words, but I'm into the second scene of the story (dialogue always comes to me first before description) and still cranking it out. And I'll be back again at it tomorrow night unless something else comes across my email and I think I have to write it.

Why can't I stay focused? Maybe I should work on that in my writer's coaching course...lol.

And do these blog posts count into my 750 a day? I wish!

Are You Nuts?!

Since I've heard that question more than once in my life (the answer is almost always yes), I figured I'd prove it:

I just signed up (on impulse, like buying that pair of purple heels I picked up on clearance last year at Macy's and have worn only once...today...) for yet another writing challenge: 70 Days of Sweat at http://70daysofsweat.com/wordpress/archives/71

Why nuts? I just started a course on coaching writers through creative issues (12 week class), am busier in the day job than I've ever been before (7-5 most days) and am coming into basketball season (I keep scorebook for two, sometimes three teams a week..or twice a week). And now I'm committing to writing a minimum 750 words (3 little pages) a day. Wow. Even I think I'm nuts!

But I'm excited. While I'm enjoying the brainstorming process for the upcoming story, I also don't want to use that as an excuse to not write (pet peeve: writers who've been working on the same "story" for more than two years). Might as well dive in now....

Why am I here and not writing? I have 3 pages to finish.....

Back to Katy's Question

Since we didn't get to catch up (the Serious Writer girls, see previous post) for this three-week span, Katy emailed (for sake of conversation) a question I always love asking of writers everywhere: what's your process?

Katy asked specifically if I'm writing to get to know my characters or if I'm working on something else (nonfiction) while I work on the characters in my head. Interestingly enough, up to this point of my writing career, I've always gone with the latter. I always have four or five writing projects going at the same time (can't sit still...) and find that when I get stuck on one I can flit to another and find something else to work on easily.

But this time--at least with the fiction--things are different. I don't remember if I mentioned it but the hero of my current story (Christopher) has been telling me bits and pieces of himself at really odd times (you know that if you're a writer you're always thinking of your story so don't pretend like you never "hear" things from your characters...LOL) and instead of keeping them all in my mind, I've been writing them down. I've almost filled up an entire notebook with Chris and Lily (the heroine) notes. I'm not used to this--my preferred method of writing fiction is to solidify that first all-important, crucial scene in my mind 99% then settle in and write it.

The problem has come when that first scene (often first chapter) comes out easily but I've written everything i know about the character to that point into that section of the story, leaving me with little to go on. I don't always plot out all the crucial scenes (gasp...!) so I find myself lose interest in the story or it takes a wild tangent I didn't expect, which ends up being an excuse not to finish.

So I thought...what the hell, I'll try something different. I must admit it's a really refreshing feeling. I don't have that "dread" when I sit down to write that I often had in the past where I don't know what comes next. I'm having fun writing about the characters, discovering tiny details about the character or setting I think I might have missed had I just written fast from the start.

The fun will start when i finally get the real story started but the hope is that I'll have a wealth of info from my notes to draw upon and use as my map. I guess I won't know til I get there but I'm having a darn fun time trying it...

back to the notebook...

what makes a writer?

I gave a presentation earlier this week to a group of teachers and had an interesting flashback experience that shows just how my mindset toward being an author has changed since I started writing...and feel like sharing, since this is my blog...LOL

When I started grad school three years ago, first class, first day, we had to introduce ourselves and tell the class something about ourselves. As everyone shared around the class, I panicked about what to share. I finally convinced myself to share that I was a writer (yes, i said it out loud to a group of strangers...), but didn't mention that I had only a few credits to my name. I was so worried that there was some unwritten rule that I had to have a minimum two books or x number of magazine articles published to qualify as a "writer", but as it turned out, I wasn't struck by lightening.

After that, sharing that I was a writer became easier each time I did it (to strangers..lol). At the presentation, the teacher of the class introduced me and gave high compliments on my writing. She said she had no idea I was a writer until she checked out my website, and how impressed she was with my writing. I was surprised (pleasantly) to say the least, but unlike the old Beth in grad school, I smiled and thanked her without hesitation. Later, as I thought about it, I realized how, had that occured three short years ago, I'd have blushed and insisted I wasn't a real writer yet because..why? Because I hadn't met those lofty and undefinable things that qualify people as a writer?

Lori Foster, in her infinitely wise and down-to-earth way, once said that everyone who writes is a writer. There is no checklist to complete, no hoop to jump through, no group to join, no prerequisites for publishing--the act of writing qualifies you to be a writer. The difference, she said, is that some people who are writers eventually become published authors when they sell their work. It's an easy, simple distinction that works well with the writer's delicate psyche, and it's true.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to have someone publicly acknowledge that for you, either...

No Wimpy Goals

The Seriouswriter girls & I were supposed to meet on Thursday for our ritualistic three-week catch-up-drink-coffee-set-goals (and pay up if you missed the last one)but real-life stuff intervened and we set goals via email.

Katy qualified her goal by claiming it was lame as compared with everyone else's goal but I think it's the toughest at times: to work on the same writing project every day for three straight weeks.

I disagreed with her because I think that setting, establishing and keeping a true daily writing schedule (if you aren't a fulltime writer or don't have a day job/life to interfere with writing) is often much more difficult than setting a page requirement to complete. The way life unfolds daily is never the same as the day before, and working to carve out that uninterrupted period of time where it's just you and the words can be damn near impossible sometimes. But even if it's only fifteen minutes, it's a start.

Part of the challenge of setting writing goals that will help your career as a writer is taking into account one simple thing: LIFE--and structuring your career around it so that you maximize your experience with both. And since no one else can live your life the way you want, don't worry that someone else's goals don't fit your career. Your writing, your life, your goals...and your $5 if you don't meet them...LOL

ok, this time it's for real...

So that last post was on the galley...this time the post is on the FINAL galley. When I send this bad boy in (ok, good boy..), my editor says I'll get my release date. I think that means almost showtime, huh?

It's odd to think that all this time I've wanted to be published in fiction has come to (almost) fruition and now I'm a little afraid. What if someone doesn't like my story? What if only my mom buys a copy? What if it's the worst seller in company history?

What if?
What if?
What if?

It's enough to make a girl crazy. Guess the only place I really can go to escape is the fictional world I've recently created for this newest story. It's a vicious cycle...lol.

the galley is done...

woohoo! Just finished up and send my (sparse...I think there were only like 10 max) galley edit changes back to the editor. Not bad, since I promised them no later than today. I actually did them yesterday while working at the yoga studio but couldn't stay awake to type them up.

I remember hearing an author once say that even though you send in a final proof of a story (novel, in her case, I believe), you never feel like it's really, completely, 100% finished--I'm finding that. I had the urge to send a note to the effect of "oh, and if I can keep it another week, I can make all kinds of descriptive changes...." but I resisted. Guess that's what I shoulda done before submission, right?!

Anyway, it's a relief (a good one) to have gotten the story back in such a fast time frame. Now I have time to work on that letter to the editor I mentioned...

..but before I let you go...

I'm hot.
And bothered.

No, no. Not like that. (That's another post for a different blog, anyway).

I try (oh, so hard) not to read editorial letters in the Columbus Dispatch. Really, I do. And I try equally hard to maintain a level head when anyone insults my Buckeyes. I've been hit by frozen marshmallows and pennies in Michigan Stadium (God's cereal bowl), pennies at Camp Randall in Wisconsin (thank heaven college kids don't make much money..quarters would hurt), been the recipient of a littany of rhyming words at Penn State (we are the BUCK-eyes..use your imagination here), have endured the annoying biting shadow hand-puppet of the Wolfpack (hey, you had Chuck Amato...I understand your need for simple entertainment), to name a few.

Even when the ex-president (affectionately referred to as Karen AHole Brook by my 15 year old son) of a university makes a sweeping statement that the entire college population of said university is a "riotous culture", I bit my tongue. But as usual, some idiot in C-bus had to validate AHole's assumption that just because there were isolated riots by idiots a few years ago, we're all a bunch of rabblerousers, and I couldn't hold back.

I read the letter to the editor this afternoon and just had to share that I crafted what might possibly be the a)fastest, b) most alliterative and c)best quality piece of writing I've done in a long time to send to the Dispatch. Don't worry--it has all that trademark sarcasm my editorial fan club (see: When it Rains) has come to expect in my pithy editorials.

Like I didn't have enough to do with making cookies for tomorrow's tailgate or proofing the galley...but if you've learned anything from me, you better learn never to hack me off about the Buckeyes...or piss off a smart-alec writer. Forget sticks and stones...I'm about to level someone with words.

Fingers crossed the editors calls to confirm my details (with a snicker in her voice)...

Yay..the galley is here!

I feel like when I say "galley", I'm aboard a pirate ship cooking fresh-caught fish...haha...but not so.

For those non-writers of you in the audience, galleys are the final copy for proofreading a story or book before it goes into actual publication...kind of like that final draft you dreaded when your 8th grade English teacher assigned it for homework over the weekend. Yeah, so I'm a geek...I'm more excited about my galleys than I am about an upcoming birthday party for a friend...ah well!

My galley arrived today in my email...a sight for the weary as the day job has really worn me down this week. I only had time to print and glance at the cover (on my website if you wanna check it out...I love it...) but will snuggle in with it tonight, along with my trusty red pen. (Old classroom habits die hard).

I'm still tossing around the mental disbelief that someday soon, those words on my page will be out in the public eye. Now that's scarier than any red-pen-marked-up-assignment...as any writer will tell you. I think having the courage to put out your babies (writing babies) before the public is the ultimate form of soul-baring (or sadomasochism, in some ways). We'll see how it goes....

and if you don't believe me...

On and off this summer, I've been reading two books. One is The Secret, an interesting book focusing on how the power of direct, intentional thought can bring things into your life. The other is The Circle, which is a more detailed interpretation of the same theory.

I've always held the belief that intentionally visualizing something in your life will bring things to fruition in your life in due time. Now, before you think I'm visualizing holding a million dollars and lifetime Ohio State football tickets in my hand (hey, this is MY visualization), I don't think it just *poof* magically appears. I believe you still have to work for it, but if you just take the time to notice things around you, to become aware of your surroundings, you just might get a little something to help you or point you in the right direction.

Some of my friends ascribe to this thought to some degree, some think I'm crazy. (a little from column A, a little from b...). More than once, this theory has come into play in different ways, this last time (today) in direct relation to my writing. So in case you don't believe me...

I was contemplating how I really am missing writing nonfiction and freelancing for magazines right now. (Writing begets writing, remember?). One area I've wanted to get into is using my background in language acquisition to help inform school administration. As luck had it, I visited a school this week and while waiting for a meeting with the principal, found a brand new issue of an administrative magazine on the waiting table. Checked their website on a whim and found they were looking for new writers. Called up the editor to ask about their editorial calendar yesterday and had a very nice conversation so hopefully she'll remember my submission.

Problem was, I didn't have any ideas (at the time). They're looking for more local and state level type stories, and I was stuck more in the mode of teaching strategies. I gave up on the idea mill this morning while at a meeting and thought I'd get back to it when I got home.

When I least expected it (as I discussed lunch with the girls in the office), I found I'd been invited to a meeting I hadn't known about. I wasn't too thrilled but went anyway...only to be presented with a district-level story so amazing I outlined an entire article five minutes after the meeting ended.

I missed lunch but remembered one of the unwritten rules of being an author: keep the faith. If you wish it long enough, it will come...now if only the assignment from the editor would come I'd be all set!

Been a while...

Yeah, yeah. It's been a while since I've blogged but I find it hard to believe anyone has noticed! If you have, then you should be spending more time outside in the beautiful sunlight while it lasts (at least here in soon-to-be-chilly-cold-dark-wintery-Ohio). Blogs can wait. Life cannot.

Anyway, while you're here, I may as well entertain you with a little writerly update. Let's see...where to start?

The good news is that I'm still writing. The writing slowed down drastically over the summer, partly because I knew I'd be doing tons of stuff (four weddings, a fun family vacation, a few Cleveland Indians games, summer camp, floating around the pool like a lazy bum) and didn't really find any freelancing gigs that drew my interest enough to worry. Not that I didn't think about writing every day, and not that I didn't write...I did, just not anything with great coherence. I'm glad to say I'm hard at work on my second short story to be (hopfully) submitted after the release of my first, which brings me to the REALLY good news...

I got my first fiction cover yesterday via email. It's so way cool and absolutely beautiful I put it on my webpage so I can narcistically look at it (and show it off) when I feel the urge. I have to admit, getting the first TWINS magazine with my title on the cover was way, way neat but seeing my name on the cover of an (e)book with a beautiful setting (romance set in the office) was amazing. Just imagine when it's a full-blown paperback cover I get to autograph for readers..woohoo!!

Not sure when the story will be released yet. I'm still awaiting the galleys to proof, but that's one step closer..which reminds me I need to have another story to submit, so I need to get back to writing.

Getting out the pieces/parts

I once heard (or maybe read...it all blends together after a while) that it's important for writers to get the story pieces & parts out of their heads and on paper, no matter how small or inconsequential or irrelevant we think they are at the time because when we get rid of the stuff running circles (think mouse on a treadmill) in our minds, we free up all that creative space for the really good stuff to come hit us. If we're still thinking about the old stuff, the new stuff doesn't have anywhere to plop in.

I didn't really buy this at the time because I'm a mental "chewer". Depending on the issue, idea or thought I get (not necessarily just from writing), it can literally be weeks that the same idea is floating around my brain for me to "chew" on during those quiet times. This is how I've often worked on stories in the past...just let it keep floating and fermenting.

But writing now the way I've written in the past isn't working, so I decided to give this a try. I've got the notebook with me everywhere and every time something strikes me about the story I jot it down (or scribe it into the Palm for later use).

Talk about a flood of stuff coming out (yeah, I know I'm a writer and should use more description than "stuff" but it's working for me). Every day --literally-- something new is showing up in the brain radar about the story. Enough to keep me excited and focused on the multiple plotlines. In weird ways, I'm also sort of discovering solutions to problems I anticipated in the story. Like..as long as my brain keeps firing across those synaptic connections (Doc, that one is for YOU...lol), the story will solve itself.

Now, if I could just get it to WRITE itself I'd be rich...

have paper, will travel

The new goal of writing every day is finding me writing in some interesting places. Today I worked on internal motivation of my heroine at the doctor's office and the external plot of my hero while working the desk at the yoga studio.

Even cooler, most of the really good breakthrough ideas came at the yoga studio desk. Maybe I should write there every day....

longhand or typed?

What is it about writing longhand that helps me think through my story at a deeper level than typing on the PC?

It's almost like my story (only two pages old) took a massive twist down a different highway when I was too lazy to come get my laptop last night to write and instead wrote in my fave notebook. Scrawled out several pages, and when I opened it today to write (which includes reading over the previous day's work), I was struck with how different the story now feels (in a better, deeper way) than it did on the laptop.

I wonder if we use different parts of the brain (and different kinds of creativity) when we write with different modalities (handwritten vs. typed). I'd be curious to see if other writers think this happens too or if I'm just floating around in Bethieworld again...