Even I Need Sleep

Oh man, my triple shot of espresso and sleepness night caught up with me today and I'm ready to crash, early and without a whole lot of work done. Even though I physically have the words Chapter Thirteen written at the bottom of my WIP, I haven't made it there yet. I spent my time revising chapter 12 (which needed to be updated because it was was originally written to be chapter 10). I also need a new ending for chapter 12-I'm not quite sure where/how I want it to end. But I'm too tired to figure it out.

Status Update:

Total Word Count: 80,638
Total Page Count: 281

Good night, I'm peacing out early. Maybe I'll get another triple shot tomorrow!

Iced Venti Soy Vanilla Latte!

I have a confession to make, and this is one that does not really jive with my mostly healthy vegan pro raw foods lifestyle. But I am obsessed with soy vanilla lattes! Obsessed! I'm not addicted...I can stop having them at any time (no really) and not suffer any wierd side effects, but I just like them. They're comforting, they give me something to sip on while I browse books and stalk the YA section. And they have allowed me to become very friendly with practically every barrista within a 2o mile radius of my house.

Anyway I always order a grande-why? I don't know, I'm not really a small kind of girl, and venti is just too intimidating and grande is fun to say. So yesterday while I was working to make my writing quota for the day, I went to Barnes and Noble with Elissa. I wasn't really thinking about the time...it was 9:45, when I decided to order my usual.

So the barrista and I were pretty friendly and I was telling him how tired I was and he suddenly convinced me to order a venti because for just 30 cents more I'd get an extra shot and more vanilla. And I thought, yeah that sounds good to me, why not. Venti me away.

Well....it turns out that this iced venti had 3 espresso shots in it! 3! Why I didn't consider this when I heard there was an extra shot is beyond me, I think I thought I was getting just one shot in my grande...I don't know...

So I came home and continued writing and kicked butt making my quota and writing one very awesome and fun scene. But then...I couldn't sleep. At all! I was tossing and turning in my bed all night long thinking about my book. Half sleeping, half awake. Then around 4:30 in the morning I just got up and went online for an hour. Finally at like 5:45 I fell asleep, except that I was supposed to wake up a little over an hour later. Elissa ended up waking me up 5 minutes before I needed to leave for work. I kept thinking OMG I'm so obsessed with writing I can't even sleep anymore, but then I realized it was the triple shot of espresso.

So this iced venti thing...quite powerful-my newest secret weapon for when I want to feel wide awake and write for a few hours, but...not such a good idea after 9PM.

Anyway Im currently revising chapter 12, and hoping to move onto and complete chapter 13 shortly.

Writing Accomplisments Du Jour

Ok...
Well I finished chapter 11 and realized I needed to cut the action in half otherwise the chapter was going to last over 40 pages which just seemed extreme when I've been averaging lately somewhere around 22-24 pages a chapter.

So I wrote all of chapter 11/added back in some old material. Made some minor adjustments on 10. Then I pasted back in the rest of what will now be chapter 12. I need to go back over 12 and fix things a lot to make it add up properly with my new timeline. Also I need to add in a few details and plot arcs from the last chapter as well as write a new ending to the chapter. That's my task for tomorrow.

Here are the deets:
Word Count: 79,192
Pages: 276

So today I wrote/pasted 12,788 words and 44 pages.

Whee. I'm not sure how I feel about everything. But there was one scene I hadn't planned on writing which I really should have thought of a long time ago that was absolutely fabulous and made me feel like I was getting back on track. At this point I'm a little concerned about pacing and feeling like I might need to adjust some of my timeline, but I'm just going to keep going. I need to see this to the end and then I can fix everything.

Now I need to sleep!

Update!

Today: Rewrote half of chapter 9
Wrote all of chapter 10
Cut 40 pages that are waiting in the wings (part of my old chapter 9 part 2 and all of chapter 10- the chapter that wasn't working because it had come too soon-now Im freaking out that it will be coming too late, aaaaahhh I can't win, just breathe...breathe).

Moving on...

Word Count:66, 404
Pages: 232

Tomorrow I should breeze through chapter 11, because I kind of already wrote it and then maybe I shall get to chapter 12-w00t!

Maria V. Snyder Interview!!

Over at the FNC! Check it out! She answered all of our writerly questions about the Poison Study series, and a little about Storm Glass!

Sara's Wedding!

Hey check out The First Novels Club for some pictures of Sara's Weddings! It was so beautiful and fun! I had a blast!

The Playlist!!!

While I can no longer write with any sounds (I used to listen to music, even have tv on in the background, now I need COMPLETE SILENCE!) I still like to keep a list of songs that I feel fits the mood and tone of my book and corresponds to character's feelings or events happening around them. So I have my finalized playlist for the first half of my story and I added it to the side bar. COOL! Anyway I'll be adding to the list as more is written and I find songs that fit.

Unfortunately the reasons for the songs and their meanings won't be apparent to anyone but me (maybe The First Novels Club) for a long time, but I'm still excited to have it up.

So if you get a chance to listen let me know what you think of my song choices.

Chapter 10 Woes and the Weight of My Book!

Stats Update:
Pages- 225
Word Cout- 64, 587

I finished chapter 10 -yay me, and I'm working on chapter 11 now. But I don't know...something about chapter 10 is bothering me. I wrote some pretty decent stuff, and followed (mostly) my outline and I reread it and couldn't figure out what was wrong, but I just have a funky feeling about it. And I think...maybe I don't really have a good grasp on my character's motivations in this chapter. But because of certain events that take place in the chapter, perhaps it's feasible that they aren't quite so in touch with their motivations either. Things are starting to fall apart in this chapter. There is a major revelation, a betrayal, a seriously crossed boundary line, a threat, and a minor freak out session by not one, but two of my sisters. That's a lot of things happening.

I feel like Donna now. She went through three versions of chapter 10 until she got it right. Her chapter 10 was like my chapter 1. So who knows, maybe there is something about chapter 10's if you are in The First Novels Club... But hopefully I will get through 11 and maybe 12 tonight if Im a real super star!

Also, I printed out my book so far and it is heavy and thick and I love it. I love the feel of it in my hands and the weight of it, and I know I'm only in the middle and it needs to get twice as heavy! I can only imagine now how obsessed I'll be when it's an actual book. I'm going to want to carry it around like a baby. There's just something about seeing the words on actual paper and not just your computer screen that like proves to you, hey-I did something, I created something. It's so cool!

UpDate: I figured out why I felt so wierd about chapter 10...I kept looking at my outline for the events coming afterwards and I realized that I wrote in 10 was right-but the following planned events needed to happen before-I was dragging things out too long when there was already a natural progression of things. My characters knew that-I didn't! I continued my musings on how much the characters of your story really do know and when to sort of let them call a shot here and there at The First Novels Club.

A Day Without Writing...

Is not much of a day at all! Last night I really accomplished next to nothing, other than a few minor revisions on chapter 8 and 9. I spent most of my evening finishing up a special wedding project for Sara, who is getting married this Saturday and I also watched So You Think You Can Dance-awesome.

I feel SO wierd today, unsettled and just ehhh. I seriously cannot wait to come home and finish writing chapter 10!! Maybe even get through chapter 11, that would cheer me up! It's almost like the story is inside me and I have to-absolutely HAVE to write it out or I'll go insane. I'm a little nervous about chapter 10. The events in it were supposed to take place in chapter 9, but things just became a little more involved and I hit my chapter average of 22 pages-also I got to a moment that just had that (sigh...) end of chapter feeling of perfection. The same thing happened to me in chapter 7 and 8-they were one chapter that split into 2. Which is fine-this isn't really me going off track from my outline or plot, but more like discovering there is more and more to the story I'd already written.

Anyway, few more hours at work and then...WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! Or Bust-literally!!!

Just the Numbers Baby!

Currently Writing...Chapter 10
Page Count.............. 201
Word Count..............57,500

Update

Check out the First Novels Club for more of my musings about characters who try to run the plot.

Unfortunately, I didn't get whole lot done. My fantasy writing week is over because I went back to work. My new longer hours, combined with it being my first day back and despite having no schedule, getting very very little sleep because I've been writing and thinking about writing...all I really had energy to do today was go back over chapters 7 and 8 and revise.

The scene in question I fixed. I didn't go back to the way it was, and I didn't really meet my characters halfway by making it more romantic. I did something different, but I like it. It works.

I think now that my issue was the feeling I was left at at the end of the chapter. Lilliana claimed to have made a pretty big decision that she shouldn't have made, and once I took that out, everything fell into place and now it works. I wrote a few sentences of chapter 9 and I want to keep going sooooo bad but its midnight and I really need sleep. What to do? Maybe Ill write just a little bit longer...

Current page count: 180
Word Count: 51,195

Chapter 9 Here I Come

So over the weekend, I ended up crawling out of my writing shell and actually had a social life-which is great-but also means less writing was accomplished. Still I managed to write all of chapter 7 on Saturday and a bit of chapter 8 which I finished in full on Sunday. I ended up writing most of 8 and then cutting it and writing it again because I was having one of those moments when my characters were pushing a little too ahead of the plotline. And I had to rein them in. And I was also falling into one of my early newbie writing traps of wanting to lay down all of the mystery pieces at once which becomes an information overload.

So while I think (no I know) I made the right choice about slowing down the mystery plot...the romance plotline...it feels wrong to me now in this chapter and maybe I can find a halfway point between my outline and what my characters want. I guess every now and then they can still surprise you. So Im planning to redo this one scene in chapter 8 and then write chapter 9 tonight.

I feel like I have so much to do this week! Yikes.

But anyway I have official written 8 chapters in a period of 7 days with a final count of 179 pages, and 50,301 words (and this isn't counting all of the stuff I deleted and cut.

I Feel On Top Of The World

Because last night I got up to chapter 7 in my book! And Chapter 5 and 6 were gooooood chapters, and easy to write which is probably why I finally broke through my speeding record and wrote two chapters in one day-I didn't do a word count on that one yet, maybe later, but I wrote a little over 40 pages.

Now is this a good thing or not-I don't know. I get worried when I hear other people write two pages a day, and their stuff is really good and then someone wrote 40 pages a day in a book that I felt was not so good. But then again, Richelle Mead wrote seven chapters of Frostbite in a week and that book is VERY GOOD. And, I still have two more days left of this week.

I woke up severely late today and I have plans for tonight so I'm not sure if I will write two chapters again today or not, but I'm definitely going to get up to chapter 8. Fingers crossed for 9, but thats only if these are the types of chapters which practically write themselves.

Anyway, I am so happy with what I've written. And I've never been happy with any of my previous thousand drafts before. This is the draft where I really feel as if I've made a breakthrough and grown as a writer.

I was so excited by the scene I wrote last night I couldn't sleep, even though it was 3 in the morning. I just kept laying in bed thinking about it-said scene is a little bit...um, I guess heavy and disturbing are good words for it and I know now that my book has completely transformed from a whimsical MG fantasy, to an edgy YA fantasy.

So there is my writing update. All week I've been reading Shiver, the upcoming book about werewolves from Maggie Stiefvater and it is good! I'd have finished it a long time ago under normal circumstances, but I've been spending almost every second I can writing.

Update: I did a word count and it was 13,000.

10,000 Words Minus 1,000

I am making mega mega progress on my manuscript this week. Having time off from work really really helps! Everyday that I can spend just writing and not having to be anywhere else is like the best day ever for me. So I basically spent the day with Courtney who has been my awesome writing buddy all week. We basically each sit at a different table with our lap tops and write in silence-unless I sneeze really loudly, which I tend to do every hour on the hour, or if we want to discuss a scene or an issue we're having with our writing.

So I've made my way to the almost end of chapter four-which is really exciting! I'm really pleased with where my manuscript is going and I ended up writing over 10,000 words today. Yay me!

But I had to delete about 1,000 -or rather I cut them and put them into their own document to now be known as a deleted scene. I realized something important today. I am a total plotter-I plot out everything in my story, but I do leave a very generous amount of elbow room. However, I always believed that the elbow room was for my characters to kind of allow them to come to life and tell their story. And I realized today, that they don't need so much room. I'm the writer, I'm their boss. And so those 1,000 words I deleted were from me letting my characters take the reign. I think I finally feel like I have enough authority to completely control my story-which is sort of liberating in a wierd way.

So after I finish watching the results of So You Think You Can Dance, I'm going to go back and finish chapter four!

Yay Writing Update and Character Adorableness

So I finished chapter 1


AGAIN!


But everytime it's exciting and it's my favorite chapter 1 so far! I was a little surprised by a scene I wrote at the end, my characters kind of surprised me and did something completely adorable. I don't know, the scene I wrote was just SO cute that I started smiling silly while I wrote it and reread it (that's never happened before!).

So I think I have the voice down, and enough action and intrigue happening. Hopefully I haven't bogged the chapter down with too many world building details. But now I'm well into chapter 2 Woohoo!

I have to go to dance class...sigh. This is one of those moments when I feel my passions are competining against each other. I just want to stay home and write...

Preview Two Hot Upcoming YA Paranormal Romances-My Soul To Take; Hush, Hush

Ok so just want to get a quick writing update in- Chapter 1 is coming along pretty nicely. I'm writing a little slower than usual, but, I think once I get to the end I should hit my stride again. It's always a little slow going in the start for me but then things pick up, maybe by the end of the night...

And here are two upcoming YA books I'm really excited about, you can read excerpts at the following websites.


My Soul To Take, Rachel Vincent

And....



Hush, Hush, Becca Fitzpatrick

Both look super exciting and the covers are gorgeous!

OMG Rain!

The rain-there was so much of it today-OMG! It all began when Eva and I went for a morning run-in the rain! Then as I went to run some errands later on it began to come down like it was never going to rain again. Then it stopped and we all went to Eva's graduation from her Masters in Nutrition (Yay Eva) at Drexel and of course it began to rain again while we waited in line for an hour to enter the auditorium. Needless to say I am all rained out!

Soooooo what does this have to do with writing?

Oh well I'm so glad you asked. Because last night I had a break through and was finally able to write the first part of the new new new new new new new new new chapter one. Lilliana's voice came out clearly to me, and I think I found the right set up to clearly introduce the setting, something about her character and an intro to the major plot arc. Finally! It's just like the rain, everything just started to pour out.

Next week Courtney and I are going to be writing partners for a week-kind of like exercise or gym buddies. Except we'll be writing together, two hours straight -absolutely no talking! (At least that's the plan)!

So zat is ze update, I plan to have a much better writing week this week than last.

Feeling Frustrated

Hmmm, today...not as productive as I would have liked. I don't know, something feels off... like the inspiration wasn't exactly here today (and I know I shouldn't complain because most days of the year I have it up the wazoo). Today was just one of those days where I felt like I lost my mojo (hehe Donna)!



I got stuck on...you'll never guess what, OMG Chapter 1-the literal bane of my existence. But luckily I was able to move on and write a scene that takes place much much later in the story so it wasn't a total waste of a day. Now that I have a new super sekret but no soooo sekret anymore structure (ahem Donna...I wonder how many times I need to mention your name now to get you to comment) ...ok focus. Now that I have a new structure I have a brand new set of challenges before me. Where do I start? How do I start close enough to the begining of the plot arc and introduce the setting and my HUGE cast of characters? Its a little different every time. And this time feels very different, thanks new structure!



I think I might have it down-well not down, but the seed of what will grow into the chapter 1 I need to write, but we shall see...



Just watched the top twenty dance in So You Think You Can Dance. I was thrilled to see Wade back choreographing for the show-yay! And the one contemporary Mandee Moore piece was amazing!!! But the new Russian ballroom guy Max...ehhh. So to make up for that and cheer me up after an eh day of writing, here is Pasha from Russia, from season 3-my number one dance crush! He's in total dork mode for my FAVORITE performance of his with Lacey to the Junior Boys "In the Morning"

I think I'm making that same face when I think about my plotting and color coding my subplots.

Also Richelle Mead Fans...check out the new Vampire Academy Website at Razorbill. Hot! She's doing an online chat tomorrow at Bitten by Books, and there is a poll where you can vote Georgina from Succubus Blues as your favorite heroine (which she should be, she is awesome!)

Ploddingly I Plot Along

I have been hardcore working on the revamp of my plot, tracing all of my subplots (which Im trying to color code-yikes!) and making sure every single scene deepens the mystery, and adds character development.

Here is my question-how many subplots are too many? I'm trying not to overcrowd my story, but I want it to be multilayered and leveled too and the ideas keep coming. Granted, many of my sub plots influence one another, are the result of another or mysteriously tied to another one, but at the moment I think I have like 9 subplots-am I on overkill? I don't know...

Anyway I need to have this complete plot outline, story arc, subplot map and scene guide etc finished by this weekend since next week I have off and I need to do all of my hardcore writing. Though Im in a wierd way back at the begining I still feel as though I can write this book before summer is over-I mean write this version of it, I've really been writing this story for two years now. Anyway if Stephenie Meyer could write Twilight in 3 months-I think after two years of writing The Seven Sisters Brandywine-why not me?

Also I just got a super special package from the awesome Joanne!!! She sent me arcs of

Crazy Beautiful, Lauren Baratz-Logstead


and....

SHIVER, Maggie Stiefvater

Im hearing such great things about Shiver and Maggie Stiefvater. I immediately opened the book after tearing open my package and the next I knew I was 30 pages in, its just that engrossing. I had to stop because I'm on a plotting mission today, but I'll be picking this back up soon.

Anyway, super excited for So You Think You Can Dance-also...I'm seeing No Doubt and Paramore tomorrow :-)

In Which I Wax About Art, Being An Artist, Writing and Dance

So I just finished watching the second part of the So You Think You Can Dance Vegas call backs where they told each of the remaining contestants if they were in the top twenty. And wow, watching the emotions of each dancer and seeing how badly they want this chance, how much they yearn for it, how much they desire it...was inspiring to me. And reminded me of something I realized recently.

Most people know that besides being a vegan/librarian/teacher/post grad student/writer...etc etc (I am SO many things, or as Sara would say I am high concept), I am also a belly dancer and dancing has been a major passion of mine since I was twelve, though all of my training is in belly. For a while, bellydancing was my life, I used to eat live and breath the dance, practicing muscle contractions while I drove my car, listening to belly dance music, choreographing new dances in my head during meetings at work, and beading new costumes while I watched performances on dvd at night, besides teaching at numerous studios and performing sometimes three or four times in a weekend. And it was seriously so much fun! But I wasn't writing...

And while the dancer part of me lives through So You Think You Can Dance, the writerly part of me was ultimately my master. I used to want to be on the show, but I don't think I'd ever make it through Mia Michael's choreography (though it'd be neat to try), but anyway when I see the dancers crying, such pure raw emotion coming from them because they are achieving their dream (or heartbreakingly realizing they were just a step away), I know that that's how I feel about writing. When I read about other writers, when I read books, when I walk into the book store, I often have this out of control feeling, like I want to crawl out of my skin, like I might lose my mind if I don't write.

We writers are so internal, its harder to see our passion. We can't leap across the stage, we have to write a sentence. So I am thrilled to have this show as an outlet. I can relate to the dancers to an extent, having a dancing background, but I love to see that outward expression of artistry that I so often feel on the inside which is so much more difficult to express now that I've put my hip scarves off to the side.

That's not to say that I'm done dancing-I'll never be done dancing, but I made the decision two years ago that writing would always come first. And tonight I was reminded of that.

Where Have All the Red Clothes Gone????

The title of my post by the way should be whined to the tune of Paula Cole's "Where have all the cowboys gone?" Sorry for this, I try to stick to relevant topics of literary and writing craft interest, but it's my blog and I can say whatever I want, so here is my mini rant.

Little Known Fact About Me: My wardrobe goes through color phases. I can spend months doing nothing but seeking out white clothing, or maroon, or blue, or olive green, and while I'm in my phase, I want nothing but clothes in that color- these phases can last for months, but they always pass. My latest phase was white, but I am attempting to break into a red phase. I just want some red!

Noticing that the red in my wardrobe is severly lacking, aka non-existent due to the fact that I haven't had a red phase in ages, I thought Id head to the mall and find a few cute red tops. Well...let me tell you, you cannot buy anything in red! No Im serious! Not a single store had anything in red-its like the color no longer exists. I found lots of pink, I found purple, I found orange, but NO RED! Waaah!!! I don't understand, why is red no longer in style?


At least I can get a hold of red nail polish-what else is a girl to do? So listen up designers, red should not be out of style, I need some red in my life so say yes to the first color of the rainbow, its bright and sexy and exuberant and I don't know what the color ever did to you! Ok?

Alright, rant over.

Back to your regularly scheduled blogging. Scholastic released a book trailer for Suzanne Collin's Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games, the most amazing book ever! I cannot wait for this book and I know some people were able to score ARCs at BEA and I am SUPER jealous I cannot wait! So for your viewing pleasure...


Are you excited? I am!

At least book covers are getting their red on...

Two Videos Make My Day

Ok, I'm sure that everyone and their mother has seen the New Moon trailer...but I needed to repost because the fursplosion at the end makes me burst into giggles everytime.


Also, the literal version of Total Eclipse of the Heart-these things are genius and I had never seen this video before and OMG-I think it wins the cake for 80's wierdness, nonetheless a giggle fest ensued.