Celebrating!

I finished the rewrites/edits on Verge! (A few days ahead of my scheduled goal – WOOT!) I have (what I believe is) a solid draft. Finally. Two and a half years after I started writing it.

I celebrated with beer on Monday. Pastries yesterday. Today? Not sure yet. But I’m still celebrating. I’m floating on air. This is the first book I’ve written and I’m proud of the work I’ve put into it. The hours spent writing, editing, thinking, planning, plotting, writing, editing, thinking, rehearsing dialogue in my car, writing, editing, cutting, cutting and more cutting, and rewriting…. you know the drill.

I’ve sent the draft to three people to read/edit. I’m hoping to have some good, honest, critical feedback in hand by the end of August. Then more editing, rewriting, writing, cutting, adding, rehearsing dialogue in my car, writing, editing, random dance breaks to regain sanity, editing… you know the drill again.

Then, we’ll see where we’re at. If it’s ready to submit, I’ve got a lot of research to do about the publishing game. If it’s not, then I’ll be editing, writing, etc., etc., etc., until it is ready to submit.

But for the time being, I’m proud, I’m happy and I’m celebrating.

UPDATE: Rewrites on Verge

The rewrites on my third (fourth… fifth… I lost count) draft of Verge are almost done! I have about 14 pages left to go. I spent three hours working on it last night. I would have kept going if I didn’t have to wake up at 5:30 to go work. I stopped at a chapter break at about 11 last night and decided sleep was important.

I will finish this rewrite before the end of July. I’m so excited!

My next step is to find some serious readers I trust to give me honest, critical feedback. None of the warm fuzzy, “It’s really good! I love it!” bullshit. I want critical feedback to make the book better. I want polite, constructive comments – possibly even negative comments – to help me improve my writing. Those people won’t be too difficult to find… I hope…

For the love of everything you are, remove “aspiring writer” from your lexicon

Listen. You either are a writer or you’re not.

Do you put pen to paper? Do you type 50, 500, 5,000 words a day? Do you tell stories through words? Do you fit into any one of these categories:

 ?

Then you are a writer. Done.

Remove “aspiring writer” from your lexicon. Maybe you aspire to be a published author. Maybe you aspire climb a mountain. Maybe you aspire to be just like George R.R. Martin or J.K. Rowling (or Jennifer Crusie, in my case). Or you aspire to be an honest person or a better cook or the president of the entire world.

You do not aspire to be a writer if you are actually writing. You already ARE a writer. You sell yourself short and instill doubts in not only yourself but the people you talk to when you say you’re an “aspiring writer.” Do not do that. Don’t be a wimp. Don’t make writing sound like a cute little hobby when it’s really the passion that drives your entire existence.

Be bold. Be daring. Be proud.

You are a writer. Say it with gusto. Scream it out at the top of your lungs. You are a writer. You are.

Handwritten (mostly)

A while back I mentioned (or at least I think I mentioned) I had met New York Times Bestselling author of “The Art of Fielding,” Chad Harbach. One of his tips to the room full of students, faculty and writers was to write by hand.

At first I was astounded – why would you write by hand? It takes so much more time to write by hand and then retype. Don’t you get hand cramps from writing for hours and hours on end? Think of all the crumpled up paper and scribbled out words – it’s so messy compared to the neat, clean click of the delete key!

But then I thought about it and realized the answer is simple. You write by hand because it is slower. Because you have to really think about what words you’re going to put on the page. You need more commitment in the words before you just plunk them out. And you think more about the story you’re crafting – you’re more careful about it and the direction you send it. You have a lot more control over your characters and story. It makes a lot of sense.

So I decided to try it. I did a few handwritten pieces for the story pass-a-longs for my writing group at work, now known as Team Trillia (or the Merry Inksters) and I’ve found it’s a lot more fun than I originally thought it would be. Basically, I stand at the kitchen counter with my notebook and pen and look at what my friends had written before me and add on the next part. I don’t always finish the scene. I write a few pages, then have to stop for whatever reason. But rather than finish the part by writing it by hand, I type it up and suddenly the entire scene comes together so nicely – actually better than I originally had thought.

So I decided to continue with this writing by hand experiment on an actual story for myself. I took the very first pass-a-long story – the one about the two brothers talking – and decided to add on to it. And each section I add on, I write by hand first. And I finish the scene by hand before I type it up. I’ve written two additional sections to the original piece and I like how it’s shaping up. I have NO idea what the plot, conflict, story is. I’m exploring all these different characters right now, and by putting them on paper, I hope that by doing that, the conflict will become evident.

I am actually putting them on paper.

It’s fantastic. If you haven’t tried writing you stories by hand, you should give it a go. I know we all think so much better when we type – we’re a society glued to keyboards. But it’s worth it to put pen to paper sometimes.