I've caught up on my reading of your blogs. I commented on a few, whatever I had time for.
I'm having a great time with my mom and son. My daughter had her first job interview today. She played at a local coffee bar last week and they want her and her friend to open on the 18th of this month for two bands. One is a Ska band, not sure about the other. But it is a paid gig. They're seriously excited.
I move in a couple of weeks so packing has been priority around here. Ugh... I hate moving, but I am so looking forward to it.
My veggies are doing well in my tiny little garden.I submitted my new beginning to my Critique Group for LoBR (Legend of Black Rose) and got some awesome feedback on it! That is what I was looking for, the fact that I pulled the reader right in and got down to the action with little back story to catch people up.
I made a good choice. I need to listen to my instinct more often.
So what does your instinct tell you when you write? Do you listen or do you try to shut it up like the other voices in your head? My instincts, so far, have been spot on. My instincts were telling me to re-write my first book after it got published (poorly) and I'm glad I listened. It has turned out so much better than I could imagine! So I guess the combination of listening to my instincts and listening to my characters has really worked out well for me.When my first book got published a few years back, it was exciting, then turned quickly to devastation. A friend of mine happened to be in the exact same position as me. We met through our publication. The difference between the two of us, is I have not given up and my friend has refused to finish the trilogy they began. At first, I did want to give up. My 7 year contract stretched out endlessly before me. Flipping through my copy of the book and finding all the errors just made me fall deeper into a depression. No one would buy my book for $24.95 when it was so THIN. The book, not the plot. The cover looked like a bad Harlequin romance novel (sorry, no offense to romance readers) and I was horribly disappointed. People who read my book (mostly friends and family) all told me the same thing: If it had gone through a professional edit or even if I had been given the opportunity to edit it better, it would have been a good book.
So when NaNoWriMo came along this past year, I started to write about my character, Nightshadow. I got stuck two days in. I thought, "I'm not going to finish this year!" But then my characters, who had gone quiet for a couple of years after I ignored them, began to whisper to me. They told me "Write our story over! Come on, it'll be good for you! It'll sell! Please?" Their voices got louder and finally I just gave in, sat down and as I wrote, the changes just came to me like light bulb revelations one after another. I actually GIGGLED as I wrote the new version. I don't giggle. EVER. I chuckle.
Poor Nightshadow is stuck in the wings, but she's been whispering to me lately and I have begun her story as well. We'll get their eventually, eh girl?
11 comments:
Glad your story made you giggle!
What will happen to your garden when you move?
I didn't know you had published a book before. That's cool. :-)
Ah, yes. PA. I heard about them via absolutewrite also. However, seven years ago, they probably were flying under the radar.
I ALWAYS listen to the voices in my head. :D
I almost always listen to my instincts. Sometimes, when I ignore it, bad things happen. In my writing and in other things. I will have a real-life example in tomorrow's post. teehee.
I follow my instincts, most of the time. Years ago I was in a rush for things to happen, and I fell into a mire of rejection and poor relationships with two different agents. Something inside told me that I wasn't ready yet, but I plunged ahead. In any case, things turned out okay and I'm better at following my instincts.
I'm trying to listen to the voices in my head, especially the ones that tell me to cut something. 'Cause if I don't listen to them, then it's guaranteed someone else (real) will tell me the same thing.
So glad the rewrite is going so well! So did you go through a small regional press the first time? How did you end up published without a professional editing?
Good luck with the move, and keep plugging away!
Ditto Alex. What about your veggie garden? Oh what a shame ....
Congrats to your daughter about getting the gig! I can only too well remember that awesome feeling :o)
Isn't it funny (and kinda creepy) when characters take over and tell their own stories? I call it literary schizophrenia -- as in "I'm hearing voices, and that's good."
There's plenty of info out there on Publish America, so I try not to slam them too awful much. But that is who I published with first. Sans editing.
My veggie garden is currently in large, long planters and will move with us. Once moved, we'll be building shallow beds and then it will really take off!
And yes, it usually is a good thing when I hear voices in my head. :D
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