Well, here we are at Week 4. One seven more days left! How has this past week gone for everyone?
*pause for extreme yawn* I maaaay be a wee-bit sleep deprived this morning. But I have good reason!
I had a crazy week leading up to the SiWC. I managed to get the finishing touches done on my Blue Pencil and agent pitch in time. Both went very well. Um, exceptionally well. During my Blue Pencil, where a published author looks at your work, I received great feedback on the urban fantasy piece I've been toying with for the last few months. It was nice to be able to talk not about spelling and grammar, but about word choice and plot issues. This novel isn't one that's set to a schedule. It's a piece I'm working on out of sheer joy and because it's so much fun. It is also definitely not YA, so it's technically not my focus. But as was reaffirmed for me this weekend, you have to write what you love. It's my motto: write the stories you wish to read in the world. And sometimes, I need a break from Janni and her story, which I also love very much but which can be intense, just because it's first-person, present-tense.
As for the agent pitch ... well, it went very well. I don't know how I feel about talking about it too much, because nothing is set in stone and for all I know, nothing will come of it. I have this bad habit of jinxing myself on the Internet. But my focus this week will be sending what I was asked to send, after one final pass.
Beyond that? Oh my gosh did I have so much fun at the conference. I got the chance to meet people I only knew from the Internet, including one of the original WIPmadness hosts, Denise Jaden! There were Twitter friends present as well, a few friends and acquaintances attending, and new folks, too.
Then there were the classes. I lucked out and found all of them quite useful for my needs, including the Master Classes I took with Diana Gabaldon and Donald Maass. I have notes to share! Lots of notes! You'll be seeing those in the weeks to come. I may be busy, what with NaNo coming and everything else, but I will post them.
Okay, enough gushing. I had fun. It was energizing and fantastic and I hope the good things prove to be great. But as with everything, we'll have to see.
How did your week go?
After a bad Monday, I managed to pull out my weekly word goal. Monday, as I’d mentioned last week, I was hit with a bad cold that had me unable to focus. I didn’t have any normal cold medicine, so, like an idiot, I took some night time cold medicine thinking that I could battle through any drowsiness that it might hit me with. However, it hit me far harder than I thought it would and put me down for the day. My word count that day was 306, which pretty much stank. Still, I pulled it out in the end. My blog update’s here, if you wanna check it out: http://www.danielrdavis.com/
ReplyDeleteThis week, however, may be a bad report next time. I’m coming up on a busy week and I’m bout certain I’m not going to hit word goal. I have to make 28 cupcakes for our daughter’s Kindergarten party, have to make some potluck food and my infamous rotting eyeball candy for a weekend long Call of Cthulhu LARP my friend is running in Indiana. I also have to look around the house for props, makeup, and other randomness to take with us to help out with the backdrop and makeup effects. It’s going to be fun, but it’s going to take a lot of time this week.
I’m considering just taking the week off and working on other things, like a couple canvases I’ve been meaning to finish. I’ll have to get the kitchen cleaned up and sanitized so I can make all the food before the little’n’s party and before we leave for Indiana. I took about a week off last book and it didn’t kill my momentum, so I should be able to jump back into it when I get back. Then again, maybe a little break would be good.
Of course, I doubt I’ll actually be able to keep my fingers off the keys, just so long as I can convince myself that this week it’s not imperative that I get the word count in. I can pick it back up later. ;)
Awesome! I'm so glad you had such a great time and made such good contacts.
ReplyDeleteI'm struggling, limping along but making progress. I keep thinking about Nanowrimo and revising what I think I want to do. It may be another "finish the WIP instead of start a new project" deal this time around. We'll see.
Maybe another pot on the stove will get the fires burning brighter! I can hope...
Good luck with the agent!
Hang in there, Daniel!@
Glad the conference went well! I got some much needed editing done so I'm happy with that. And a few scenes on my new WIP, so also good. I'm still aiming to have all my edits done by the end of the month, but not sure I'll be able to pull it off.
ReplyDeleteI made great headway with my revisions over my 3 day weekend - got all the way through my first pass and am now working back through my beta's comments - and was able to send the first half off to two additional beta's. I'm sort of at the mercy of other readers at this point but should be on track to get this manuscript back to my agent before the Thanksgiving holiday when I'll be traveling.
ReplyDeleteThen I get to pop back to my YA - it's almost ready to return, but I had one more revision idea that shouldn't be too terribly major (famous last words).
And then, dare I say it? Something new? *whimpers in anticipation*
I'm so excited for your great conference L.S. - it will be fun to see how this progresses for you. And how cool you got to meet Denise!
Who's hosting next month?
I managed to get my query letter and synopsis done, and now I've sent this baby out into the world. Starting to daydream about my next project.... :)
ReplyDeleteDaniel, even if you take a short break (which might be the best way to take care of your creative soul), I'll bet your subconscious will be hard at work, and when you get back to the writing you'll be raring to go. Best wishes to you!
Mary Ann, sorry for the struggle, but hooray for making progress anyway!
Congrats on the progress, Jennifer & Jaye! And yay Laura! So glad you had a great conference experience. Good luck with the request!
Carry on, wipmadnessers!
Woooooot! Sounds like a fantastic conference experience, LS! My fingers are crossed for you!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fair mix of successes and difficulties across the group, and my week pretty much matched that. Didn't get as much done as I wanted, because I felt the need to go back and strengthen the beginning of my WIP before continuing with drafting. I didn't want to end up down a completely wrong path, so I think it was worth it. More of that this week on the horizon, but I hope to be back to drafting soon!
Kip
Looking forward to your conference notes, L.S. Sounds like you had an amazing time. Random question: Is it weird meeting peeps in person you've only ever interacted with on the internet? You can definitely DM me the answer if you want ;)
ReplyDeleteSo. Tough writing week for me. I did finish reading two books, but honestly,and this is gonna sound terrible, the 14 day pre-hubs-deployment vacay, binge-eating, and over overall drink-and-be-merry-cause-tomorrow-your-hubby's-going to-the-Middle-East-(again) thing is HARD.
Okay, enough whining. This week, I'm finishing the ghost story and doing some mental/physical prepwork for hardcore revisions and NaNoWriMo.
Cheers, all!
Lora
Yay L.S.! Thinking good thoughts toward you and everyone else who are working hard or shifting gears.
ReplyDeleteWith the help of lovely betas, last week I finished a quick revision and sent it off to my agent (thanks again, Shari). I also did a quick run through my historical and sent if off to betas.
In the meantime, I'm on a reading binge while my heart calms down from the whirlwind revision.
Write on, gang! Sounds like there's the potential for much good news around here.
Whoo. Busy day at work today.
ReplyDeleteDaniel, I have to agree with Shari. A short break could be useful, especially considering how strong you've been going of late. So I wouldn't consider it bad. Sometimes you need to feed your creative side by stepping away from the work. That larping? Sounds perfect! P.S. - you and I should exchange candy recipes.
Thanks, Mary Ann. I think another pot on the stove can really help get the other things cooking. I know for me next month, I'll have either two or three projects going, depending on how things turn out. One of the things Diana Gabaldon said at the conference is that it helps her to have multiple things on the go because she can switch between them when she gets stuck. Good luck with things!
Yay, Jennifer! Congrats on the progress! Getting editing done can be a tough slog, so that's fantastic. You can do it!
JRo - I have absolutely no idea who's hosting next month, and I was starting to wonder it myself. I'll do next week's Monday since it's the 31st, but mayhap we should have a Twitter chat on the madness thread about that. Thanks for the encouragement. And I hope you figure out what you need to do! Waiting for beta feedback can definitely be a challenge.
Eee! Go Shari! Best of luck with your submissions! Your query letter fascinated me, so I hope it works out for you. Happy daydreaming!
Thank you, Kipperoo. I keep bouncing between extreme confidence and extreme self-doubt, but I'm starting to feel (and hope for) a bit more of the former. Sounds like you listened to your story and set things on solid ground before going further. That can be very important.
Lora, you do what you have to do. I'm of the mind that things happen when they need to, and if you needed to be with your DH, then you did. Getting reading done while you're at it? Great. Meeting online peeps can be weird, but sometimes it's like picking up a conversation you were already in the middle of. Often you learn that the person you were worried wouldn't like you turns out to be *very* awesome and the meeting is well worth it. Good luck with the ghost story!
Angelina, I rather envy you for your reading binge. I haven't done one of those in quite some time and I rather miss it. I agree, there is quite a lot of potential for good news, and I hope that it works out for all of us. :)
Hello! Not a lot to report. I'm still worldbuilding and binging on research. I feel like I'm really on the right path, though, and I'm glad I'm taking the time to plan all this out.
ReplyDeleteYay, Jamie! Progress is progress, and worldbuilding is important.
ReplyDelete