Moving Right Along...

I've been working on my book for a while now. I have been sweating and toiling over different aspects of my book, much like Kiera. I almost scrapped it and started another book idea that I've been thinking about and writing about for a while now, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. After all, I am over half-way through with this one. My New Year's Resolution this year is to have my book finished by December of next year.

I want to have the final draft by then, ready to submit to publishers. If all goes well, then it shouldn't be a problem. 

So, as of now, I'm researching bits of facts and information for my book while I continue to write. It's been lively. =) 

Keep on Writing!

46,410 words and counting!

Book Re-Vamp

So I've been really slacking on the writing for the last couple of months.  July and August I was doing well, September took a little detour when I totalled our van, but I got back on track by the end of the month.  October was pretty much hit and miss and then an unexpected death in the family totally threw November for a loop and when I tried to get back into it this week, I just really wasn't feeling it...or rather, I STILL wasn't feeling it.
  The truth is, as I've said in previous posts, I am completely bored with my story.  I was thinking maybe it was because it was a Young Adult novel and I really don't read those that often so maybe I just wasn't getting behind the whole teen perspective thing.  But really I've decided it is the complete lack of monsters and magic.  So I've been thinking it over and I've decided to go back and reboot this idea as an Urban Fantasy.  Instead of illegal arts dealers, we'll have djinn and ifrits, naga's and "artifiacts" in the Warehouse 13 sense of the word.  Same basic plot, just mixing it up with a bit of magic.  I'm liking this idea a whole lot better so hopefully once I get the changes made that I'm thinking of the story will forge on full steam ahead.  :)
-Kiera
32,152 words and counting

Manuscript hints and Publisher news

This is an incredibly helpful blog entry by famous author Kim Harrison, from her blog over at wordpress.  She goes into formatting and spacing and all of the nitty gritty type details publishers are looking for that we're all dying to figure out (or maybe that's just me and everyone else already knows these things??).

http://kimharrison.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/formatting-a-manuscript-one-way-to-do-it/

Also of news is this blurb from publisher Harper Voyager (click the link to go directly to the submission guidelines page):

"For the first time in over a decade, Harper Voyager are opening the doors to unsolicited submissions in order to seek new authors with fresh voices, strong storytelling abilities, original ideas and compelling storylines. So, if you believe your manuscript has these qualities, then we want to read it!

We’re seeking all kinds of adult and young adult speculative fiction for digital publication, but particularly epic fantasy, science fiction, urban fantasy, horror, dystopia and supernatural. For more idea of the type of books we love to read and publish, check out our authors and their titles at www.harpervoyagerbooks.com"

This is great news to anyone who is ready with a manuscript that they're dying to submit to a publisher.  I am not anywhere near this stage, but maybe some of you are.  It sounds very exciting and makes me want to hurry and finish my book in the next week so I can make the deadline.  If you are anywhere close I'd say go for it!  Happy Writing! :)

-Kiera

28,734 words and counting

Finding the time...

So remember how I was all excited for school to start because it would mean I had two full hours five days a week of uninterrupted writing time?  Well the first week went really well.  I averaged about 1400 words a day for the first four days.  The fifth day I fell asleep and took a two hour nap instead of writing.  Then came Labor Day weekend.  We had company over and any time to write went out the window.  So come the next Tuesday I get on the computer to write some more.  I only managed 600 words that day because I wanted to watch this silly show I had been catching up with on Netflix.  But I figured any words are better than no words and shrugged it off.  Then Wednesday I totaled my car.  I decided that day deserved a nap.  Thursday and Friday as well (naps are awesome btw).  So here we are to Monday again and if I wanted to add up all of my missed days I could think that I was about 6400 words behind schedule.  But that's gets kind of depressing so I am choosing to think more in terms of I've added five days (so a week) to my writing time.  Had I continued at the 1400 words/day pace I would have finished my first draft at the end of October.  As it is we are now going into November.  But that's assuming 80k words which I may not need to tell the story.

Also, once again I feel like the story is boring and I don't want to write it and if I don't want to write it then no one will want to read it, etc, etc...  However, even if it is the worst manuscript in the history of writing (and surely it can't be THAT bad) I think I should still soldier on if for no other reason than to get to my next book which has a much more interesting plot (in my opinion).  What do you do when you're sick of your own story?

-Kiera
61 pages (88 paperback pages),
22,040 words and counting.

First Draft Complete!

I can't believe I finally did it! I started this book three years ago! After stopping for months at a time I finally got into a good rhythm a few months ago. There is so much work to do on this draft. I changed names, character descriptions, and little plot lines throughout the book as I went along. I plan to re-write the first chapter too. But that's okay! I AM FINISHED WITH MY FIRST DRAFT!!! This was the biggest goal I ever gave myself, and I can't believe I finally accomplished it. I AM SO HAPPY!

First Draft Word Count: 68,833
Double Spaced Pages: 216 (I think that'll be around 275 novel pages.)

Should you be writing?

I've been having trouble finding the time to write this past week.  Really it's because I find the part of the story I'm on tedious....then I think the reader will find it tedious...then I'm loathe to write it...then more time passes....  Anyway I found this tidbit on facebook and thought I'd share with the group:

Seems like sound advice.  Happy writing. :)

-Kiera

16,047 words and counting

The Problem with Tensed Tense

One of the biggest problems that I face while writing is the use of tense. I have a habit of switching back and forth between past and present. When I start typing my story, I begin with past tense because it's a little easier to tell a story from that point. However, as I get into the story, I feel a part of my main character and get drawn into his world and begin describing the things I see in my mind's eye. Unfortunately, that includes switching tenses to the present.

By the time I've caught myself doing it, I have already written a page in present tense. The only thing I can think to do after that is ignore it for the time being.

Here's the way I see it: If you're on a roll and your creative bug is wanting out, let it flow. If you stop to worry about grammar early on in the writing process, you're going to be beating yourself over the head quite a bit and the next thing you know, you've given up on writing. I know. The book I'm writing now is about the fourth one that I've started on. With this one, however, I've made the decision to remind myself each time I begin typing that this is called a ROUGH DRAFT for a reason... It's supposed to be rough!!

What is your biggest writing faux pas? What have you done to correct it or get over it and continue writing?

-Joseph

Average Book Length

So I was discussing with my brother-in-law the average length of a book.  I had also discussed this with a friend of mine recently and she told me she thought it to be about 80k words.  I could have sworn that I had read a few authors blogs where their books were totaling way over the 100k mark so thought that this estimate seemed to be a little too modest.  Because of this I have been aiming at 125k words (as stated in my previous post on goals).  However, as I said, I was discussing this with my sister's husband on facebook last night and he also said that he had heard from a fairly reputable source that 80,000 words was a good average length.  So, after hearing this twice from two different sources, I decided it would probably be a good idea to do some research for myself.

What I found is that for a first time novel, publishers are much more likely to take a chance on a 60k-90k book than on a 150k epic (closer to Harry Potter size then average novel).  This confused me because I had also heard that a page of written text in Microsoft roughly translated to a written book page.  So I was picturing needing to write 250 or so pages in Word in order to have enough for a book (which given I'm averaging approx 675 words/page would make it about l69k words).  This is not true.  I found one website that listed the average number of words on a regularly sized paperback is around 250.  This varies according to margin sizes, type, spacing, etc...   So I went and picked up two random books from my bookshelf.  One was a paperback, one a hardback, opened to a random page and counted the words.  The paperback had 243 and the hardback 267.  So I would say that the 250 words/page estimate seems to hold true.

So this means that right now my manuscript is on page 24 on Microsoft Word.  However I have 14,136 words, which would be 56.5 pages in an average paperback.  So where I was worried that my first chapter of seven pages was far too short, it would actually be 17 paperback pages.  I don't know about you but this makes me feel much better.  Instead of worrying that I won't have enough story to be able to fill as many pages as I need I now worry about making it more concise and to the point.  Also, I don't need to write a page and a half every day to finish by Christmas.  But, if I continued doing that I would finish by the end of November.  That's right, it cuts three weeks off of my writing estimate.  So I think this is reason to celebrate.  Who's with me? :)

-Kiera
24 pages
14,136 words and counting.

Goals

So I was sitting around today thinking back to when I was in college and wondering how I managed to get all of those paper written in such a timely manner.  The first thing that came to mind was the acknowledgement that I didn't have four kids back then or a husband demanding my attention.  But I was in school full time, worked 60+ hours a week at my student job and still found time to get all of my assignments done.  The trick was that there were deadlines.  When I had deadlines I was forced to prioritize my time in order to get all of my work done by the day they were due.  So I've decided that this book will never get written unless I set up some very definite goals and try to stick to them.

The first goal I have decided is that I will be finished with the first draft by Christmas.  My tentative goal is 125k words (is that realistic? too long? too short? yes I know, however long it takes to tell the story, but still...).  So in order to reach this goal I have figured out that I need to write approximately 1.5 pages a day (excluding Sundays, which I take off).  One and a half pages doesn't seem too daunting when taken one day at a time.  Surely I can make up something that sounds good for such a short amount of space right?  It's only when I start thinking of doing this every day for the next 20 or so weeks that it seems to become an impossible task.  How can I possibly come up with that much stuff?  But I digress.

My next goal, upon completing the first draft, is to finish editing my manuscript by the end of March.  This may be a little optimistic, I don't know as I've never edited an entire book before, but I think I can do it in that time frame.  So once I am finished editing then I will be ready to shop around for agents/publicists or what have you starting in April.  Hopefully this will not be as time consuming as the actual writing of the book as I plan to then start on my next book in May.  I read on Kim Harrison's blog that you should always have something you're working on so that should you find a publisher that loves you and they then ask to see more of your work you actually have something to show them.

Reading full time author's blogs I feel like I may be allowing entirely too much time to write/edit/etc.. this book.  They seem to be whipping them out start to finish in 3-4 months.  However, I've been trying to console myself that most of them are doing this full time as in eight hours a day whereas I am lucky if I get one or two.  Maybe if I didn't have all these other life details distracting me I could finish my book in four weeks instead of twenty, edit in two weeks and have a deal with a publisher by Christmas.  But I don't have that kind of time at this point in my life, so I will be content with my 1-2 hours.  Of course...maybe when all of my kids are in school for 8 hours a day and I'm a world famous author, I can devote more time to my craft. ;)

What are your goals?
-Kiera
20 pages,
12.353 words and counting...

Slump

I am in a writing slump.  "But Kiera," you say, "you've only been writing for three weeks, surely you can't be in a slump already?"  Yes, it's true.  Here is the problem.  My book is very location specific.  It is based in Istanbul and a lot of the plot hinges on it being in this specific location and on my ability to accurately describe said location in a way that makes it sound exotic and exciting while still maintaining more then a passing degree of accuracy.  So after writing a bunch of fluffy plot filling bits I find that I must now do much more extensive research then I had planned....
"Luckily," my brain says, "I have a masters degree!  and we all know what having a masters degree means!  That's right!  We know how to research!"
"But," says the whiny dominant voice in my head, "I hate researching stuff.  I'd rather lounge about all day reading silly romance novels than doing any real work....and...I have those kids!  I think they need my attention!  I'm almost certain they need my attention more than a research paper on Istanbul does!  and so does my netflix queue!  It's been sitting around in cyberspace just waiting to be dusted off!  Look at all those shows I've been meaning to watch."
At this point my brain is apt to roll it's eyes in disgust and walk away...or it would if brains had feet...or eyes...
Anyway, the point being, I am lazy and I don't want to put in the time doing the research for this book. However, I'm sure this will prove to be a momentary lapse as my logical brain seems to be coming back into the room and reminding me that writing is a job that requires effort on my part and that if I want to be an author I will put on my big girl panties and go to it.  *sigh*  Stupid brain, I knew it was a mistake to let it out again after all these years. ;)

Anyone else run into snags like this?

-Kiera
18 pages
11,069 words and counting.

My Writing Progress and Goals

Hi Writing Friends! I wanted to share my writing progress and goals with you.

I got the idea to write a book over three years ago. At first I thought I'd write a picture book. I even submitted one to a few publishers. I enjoyed the writing and submitting process. At that time my love for reading young adult books was quickly growing. So I made the life changing decision to write a young adult novel.

I really love making up my own fictional characters and world. After reading everyone else's books it's my turn to decide the story and share it with the world. It's taken a long time. I struggle with Writer's Confidence. I have to fight thoughts that tell me I can't write, and everyone will laugh at me. Sad, but true. I also am a stay at home mom for three energetic boys, 5, 3, and 1 year olds. My life isn't too crazy or anything. ;)

I hope to finish my first draft in the next month or two and start on the editing process. I'm actually looking forward to editing my book to be its best. Now that I see the end of my first draft in sight I have the motivation to write faster.

Current Writing Stats:
180 pages
56,707 words

I'll keep you posted. Happy Writing!

Attempts at early morning inspiration...

Yay! I hit the 10,000 word mark!
So my plan this week was to wake up every morning at 5am and write before the kids got out of bed.  Monday, my alarm went off and I hit the snooze repeatedly before turning the clock off and going back to sleep.  Tuesday my alarm didn't go off as the am/pm was switched.  Wednesday I decided to wake up at 6 instead of 5 since we had a late night.  I only pushed the snooze button twice and got up at 6:20.  Before I had even left my bedroom however, my four year old wanders in, sees me up and thinks it's time to wake up.  I convince him to go potty and get back in bed, make it into the computer room and sit at the desk.  At first my brain refuses to believe that I am expecting it work at such an early hour, but with a little persuasion, it finally kicks in and I begin writing.  I got a little more than a paragraph done before all three of my oldest kids come running in, the six year old fully dressed, and asking for food.  So much for that attempt.  Thursday my alarm didn't go off once again because I forgot to switch it back from the "set the alarm" screen to the time screen.   So here I am once again typing late into the night.  My husband is out of town this weekend and I was hoping to get some work done during the time we would normally be watching shows.  So I've worked/searched the internet for about 45 minutes and I'm calling it quits as I had high hopes of watching Thor or Captain America tonight...though seeing how late it is I may just settle for an old Highlander episode instead.  Happy Writing!
-Kiera
10,179 words and counting.

Early Rising

Well day one of waking up early to write was a bust.  I went to bed early-ish with my husband, but when my alarm went off I hit the snooze and hid it under my pillow...repeatedly.  I finally got up at 7:45 and then really only because I had promised to watch my friends kids at 8.  Maybe I just needed to catch up on sleep from staying up so late all of last week and tomorrow will go better.  Theoretically I am supposed to be getting up tomorrow to go to the gym at 5:30, so I'm not sure if I should feel guilty about getting up early and not going to the gym, not getting up early and thus not writing or exercising, or about getting up to go to the gym when I can't manage to get up to write.   So any of you early risers have any tricks to share?

Welcome!

Welcome fellow writers...or at least fellow, hoping-someday-in-the-not-so-distant-future-to-be-writers!  My name is Kiera and I am writing a book...in the wee hours of the morning (which also happens to be when I'm writing this blog post, so please don't judge any lack of logical progression).  I know two of my close friends who are also at various stages in writing books of their own.  I also know of several not so close friends either currently writing books or currently seeking representation in order to be published.  So I thought that since writing books seems to be the "in" thing to do, we should have a kind of writers support group where we can all go to vent our frustrations or boast on how many pages we've written when no one else seems to care any more.  Hopefully, if enough writers join the blog we can become a help to one another and act as guides through the convoluted world of book publishing.   I'll begin.

As I said my name is Kiera and I am writing a book...actually I am in the process of writing three books (as in have words down on paper/computer), but in my head I am really only concentrating on the one.  I have the plot outlined out fairly well, I think and am just now getting down to the nitty gritty of filling in all of the details.  It is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  My story is set in Istanbul.  This is a real world city of great repute where many people have visited.  Consequently, if the details are wrong it will be very obvious.  One of my other books I was working on was an Urban Fantasy.  I stopped concentrating on that story when this one sprung fully formed into my head, but also because I thought that writing in the "real world" would be easier than writing in a fictional world where I had to construct an entirely new species, set of rules, mythos, etc..  I was wrong.  It is just as hard to write in non fictional settings.  But, I have pressed on and have been writing every night this week.  I've been averaging 2-3 pages a night (so yes I should be done with a rough draft (emphasis on the rough) in about six and a half months *yikes*) but tonight I only managed 623 words since I was working on this instead.  Still I guess that's 623 more words than I had yesterday so that's good.

   I've been trying to write at night when my husband and kids have gone to bed.  This has worked out pretty well this week since I haven't really had anywhere I needed to be the next morning so it wasn't too big of a deal to stay up until 2am writing.  However, I do have four kids and school will be starting next month so I'm planning to try and work my way around to getting up early to write.  As in 5am.  If you know me at all you will realize how incredibly insane and far fetched this idea of getting up "in the middle of the night" to write is (case in point, that would be three hours from now).  I don't believe any sane person should be up at that hour on purpose.  My husband, who often has to get up that early for work, informs me that this is because I am not living in the real world.  I told him the real world is stupid. ;)  So, I'm hoping that my dedication to getting a book written and making my way into the world of published authors will help to drag me out of bed in the morning.  We will see.  Of course, my backup plan hinges on my two youngest taking long naps every day while the older two are at school.  If this would work I would have nearly three hours of free time five days a week in which to write.  The problem with this comes when I selfishly think I should be able to do me-centered things with my free time.  Like nap.  Or read a book, or play on the computer (which I do entirely too much of I might add).  So, my goal is to get involved enough in the writing that it becomes something that I look forward to and am eager to get back to when the kids are sleeping.  Otherwise it may never happen.

My mother recently attended a seminar by Josi S. Kilpack, who told the ladies there assembled that she and her husband had an agreement that every Thursday night was her writing night.  So once a week from 6pm to midnight he would take over making dinner and getting kids to bed so that she could retreat to the study and write.  They treated it as a job that she had to be at.  I think this is a great idea.  However, I don't feel like I can justify locking myself away from the kids for that long every week when I don't actually have any proof that this could be a viable career choice.  So maybe after I get my first book deal we can do something similar.
I've also heard that Nora Roberts writes for eight hours every day.  Even if I didn't have four kids and a house demanding my attention I'm not sure if I could do that.  But Ms. Roberts is older than I am and all of her kids are grown and out of the house.  She's also written enough books to completely justify this work schedule (208 I think at last count though that figure could be off).  Maybe when my kids are gone and I'm a world famous author I'll do the same...though really I can't picture myself doing more then maybe 4-5 hours at a time.
When do you find time to write?

-Kiera
6,962 words and counting.

PS: I have sent invitations to join this blog to those who may be interested.  If you have stumbled upon it yourself and would like to be a contributing author just email me your info.  Thanks :)
PPS: Email your address to: kthaden1 (at) gmail (dot) com.  ;)