Admit it, you thought I died.

And the truth is, I kind of did.

Life has taken a big ol' bite out of me these past few months, and I'm just now in a spot to get my head above water. It feels nice to be seeing the brighter side of life again.

Even though things have been rough, I do have positive things to report. I've met one of those goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year! I'm only pointing this out because I realize I'm failing miserably at at least one of my other goals (namely, ahem, blogging regularly) and I need some cheerleading.



(Unrelated: why do all the good gifs seem to come from Glee?)

But I digress. The goal I'm about to cross off the list is attending a writer's workshop. A local friend who is also working hard at this writing thing told me we had to go to the Lighthouse Writers Workshop Book Fair together. I agreed. Then dug around the workshops being offered for Lit Fest and stumbled across this little ditty: https://lighthousewriters.org/workshop/detail/id/587/

I promptly swallowed my fear and paid for a spot. Then made my friend sign up, too. Then proceeded to hyperventilate.



(Sheldon is actually probably even more awesome than Glee. Hooray for TBBT!)

My m/s is still very much a work in progress. But signing up for this critique was just what I needed to kick me back into gear. The result is that in the past week I've made more progress on my novel than I have in the past year or so. WAY MORE.

Which is shameful. But the truth.

Revisions/edits are proving to be rough. I'm finding huge sections of story that can be completely eliminated for various reasons (mostly because I wrote a crap-ton of scenes that do nothing to advance the plot) and I've got some decent drafting to fill in some holes ahead of me. Apparently, I don't like to describe ANYTHING. This is a problem, natch.

But, you guys, my hubs has been so dang supportive. He wants to see me finish this thing and take it as far as I can as I do. Having his support means more than I can say.

Even if the agent hates what I submit, the feedback is going to be insanely valuable. Likewise for the insight she'll give on other workshoppers' submissions. This is too good of an opportunity to pass up, and I'll be damned if I let my procrastination and self-doubt squash my dream any longer.

(And I might as well admit it - along with the nerves, I've been semi-indulging in wild fantasies of Kristin reading my pages and demanding a full.

 

So I want my m/s much closer to being at that stage than it obviously is now. Hey, a girl should have dreams. Even if they're WAY OUT THERE.)

Now, back to work!

Cheers,

Rheana

What's The Story?

(And now I've got that Oasis song stuck in my head...)

So, here's the low down about the writing project I'm working on and usually will be referencing as my WIP (Work In Progress).

A few years back I was reading the fascinating NF book "Stiff" by Mary Roach for my online book club's monthly discussion, and a section about people who believed they began taking on new personality traits after receiving an organ transplant was the genesis for a plot bunny. I instantly wanted to write a story about a girl who becomes endowed with the empathic abilities of her donor after receiving a heart transplant. I'd been wanting to attempt YA SciFi with a mystery element, and this was the perfect vehicle to do that.

I began drafting this story during NaNoWriMo 2010. I wrote just over 52K that November, but the story was not complete. After NaNo I was forced to take a break from writing, finding that the endurance event known as the third trimester of pregnancy had completely sapped me of all my energy, both physical and creative.

The WIP lingered, untouched, for many months. Occasionally I would open the document, sometimes to re-read parts, sometimes just to stare at the blinking cursor, trying to will new words out onto the page. I constantly was thinking about my story, making mental notes about problems that needed fixing and whatnot, but no actual progress happened for months. OK, the truth is that nothing happened for a year.

Enter NaNoWriMo 2011. I desperately wanted to participate, having done so for the past 3 years. But, I couldn't in good conscience begin drafting a new story when that other one was dangling out there, unfinished and still full of promise. Despite a year away from that novel, I still loved it, still wanted to fix it, still wanted to finish its story.

I became a NaNo Rebel - I decided to use NaNo 2011 to finish the draft of my novel. This past November I finally dug back into the story, slashed and hacked out sections that needed to go, and drafted the remainder of the story. Between the deleting and the new writing, I added roughly 25K to the novel. It is by no means complete, but it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. (This is where I admit that this is actually a huge accomplishment for me - seeing one of my attempts at a novel through the drafting of the entire main story arc.)

So, what's the plan? Basically, a LOT of revising and still quite a bit of drafting. The mystery element needs tweaking to raise the stakes, the swoony boy (there should ALWAYS be a swoony boy, right?) needs his character development moved out of my brain and onto the page, the logistics of my protagonist's new abilities needs fleshing out (pun intended), and some plot points necessary for potential sequel development need to be sprinkled throughout. Lots of work yet to do, I'm afraid.

Only, I'm not just afraid (fear will be a future topic I'll write about), I'm excited. More than a year after putting the first words of this story on the page, I still feel a compulsion to finish this. To tell this story. And to do it well. My passion for this story has sustained me through long droughts of inactivity, but I always knew I'd come back and finish it.

So, that's my story (morning glory)...

New Year - New Blog!

It's that time of year again, the time when everyone looks ahead with hope, shaking off the yuckies from the old year and making grand plans for changes for the new. That can only mean one thing - RESOLUTIONS!

I'll admit, I'm one of *those* people who make resolutions (is it just me, or is it all the rage these days to be anti-resolutions?). In truth, I'm really more about goals since they're resolutions prettied up with the makeup of being measurable and having a deadline.

I believe intentions have more power once they are written, so, without further ado, my goals for 2012:

1. Begin my blog.

• Do I get any kind of bonus points for achieving my very first goal of the year? No? Moving on then...

2.  Contribute to my blog at least 2-3 times weekly.

• Topics will range from things that are actually writing-related, updates on my progress as I work on my current project, random drabbles I compose, and probably a semi-decent amount of blathering about my children. And introspection. You've been warned. 

3.  Finish the first draft of my novel by February 29, 2012 (yay for Leap Year!!).

• I'll post more details about what I'm working on at a future date.
• The manuscript will be at a done-enough stage where I can send it out to critique partners for some initial feedback.

4.  Compile a list of dream agents to eventually query by March 31, 2012.

• I'm imagining this will be a bit of a tricky task for me since the truth is that I'm fairly oblivious at this point about the ins and outs of the publishing world, so I've got a learning curve ahead of me. This journey will be shared along the way for sure.

5.  Edit and revise novel to completion by June 30, 2012.

• This one is dependent on feedback from the CPs. If the novel is a truly hot mess with no redeeming value, look for this goal to get a massive revision, if not shelved completely.

6.  Send novel out to agents by July 22, 2012.

• You're thinking to yourself, "Gee, Rheana, that's kind of a random date you have set there!" The reason for that date is that's my birthday. I'm feeling a little anxious about turning (gulp) 35 this year, so I've decided my gift to myself will be the gift of accomplishment - having one novel ready to query. 

7.  Remain active in my online writer's group while reaching out to make some local writing contacts.

• I'm two-parts shy and one-part anti-social, so this one will be tough for me, hence the lack of a deadline. I'd like very much to become more active in the writing community, both online as well as in real life. Checking out a NaNoWriMo write-in or attending a Lighthouse (a local writer's resource) event or workshop will count as achievement for this goal. 

So, I think that's it. I'm sure I've forgotten something really important. That happens a lot when you have tiny children who Hoover the brain power right out of you. I obviously have more personal-related goals (eat better, drink more water, pay off some debts, blah ditty blah blah), but those are, well, boring. 

What are your writing-related resolutions?