Reading for pleasure: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Reading for school: Information for my Geology course
On the needles: I-pod Nano case
Editing/writing work: WIP novel
Now, I haven't been in a bookstore for awhile. (Shame, hm?) With a student budget, I can't really afford to buy a lot of extracurricular books (which is why I love libraries so much!). The scary thing about this bookstore, though, is that they had a whole shelf unit in the young readers section that was empty! There was nothing on it.
Of course, this empty shelf drew my attention, because the others around it were full. I know that there is a recession in our country right now (Canada), but I did not think that it would equal to having empty bookshelves. In fact, they did not even have the new Princess Diaries book, nor any of the other bookstores (it was a chain), in the city.
It is an interesting thing to observe when we are in recession, there are so many foreboding warnings from the US, and then there have been all the cut backs in publishing south of the border. That, along with the advent of more and more technology for computer reading (I'm thinking along the lines of the Kindle and e-books), I have to wonder what is going to become of bookstores?
I don't think that I'll ever be able to read everything that I do on a computer screen, simply for the eye strain that reading a few pages on the screen can cause for me. I don't think that the publishing industry will ever stop printing ink and paper books, but I do think that they have to diversify for all those who do want e-books; just like the music industry has to.
Still, interesting that there was an empty book unit. I should go back next week and see if it is filled or taken out!
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Knitting
Reading for pleasure: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Reading for school: Some French men...I can't remember their names...
Writing/Editing work: WIP novel
On the needles: A hat once I'm offline!
So, my knitting has distracted me from my writing. Which is a huge shock, of course. I am progressing, though! I have learnt to use both circular and double pointed needles within the past few days, which makes me really happy. Now I can work on circular knit hats, which will hopefully make knitting them a lot quicker!
I am going to set up all of my knitted goods at a market at my univeristy (hopefully), along with some hair accessories and hemp bracelets. Oh, the money making schemes of a university student! The bracelets, nicely enough, are from a previous craft sale, so that helps a lot. And I'll make up some more so that I have some new and old stock.
And I will begin working on my writing again...Eventually. I am a third of the way through this edit!
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
Reading for school: Some French men...I can't remember their names...
Writing/Editing work: WIP novel
On the needles: A hat once I'm offline!
So, my knitting has distracted me from my writing. Which is a huge shock, of course. I am progressing, though! I have learnt to use both circular and double pointed needles within the past few days, which makes me really happy. Now I can work on circular knit hats, which will hopefully make knitting them a lot quicker!
I am going to set up all of my knitted goods at a market at my univeristy (hopefully), along with some hair accessories and hemp bracelets. Oh, the money making schemes of a university student! The bracelets, nicely enough, are from a previous craft sale, so that helps a lot. And I'll make up some more so that I have some new and old stock.
And I will begin working on my writing again...Eventually. I am a third of the way through this edit!
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
Monday, January 5, 2009
2009 Goals
Reading for pleasure: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Reading for school: Lacan (still working on it!)
Writing/editing work: WIP novel
I don't make resolutions for New Year's; however, I do contemplate what I would like to happen in the year ahead or what I am going to try to achieve in this year. Here's the list (which is always changing as things change/happen):
1. Finish my novel edit
2. Find an agent
2. a. If that doesn't happen, find a publisher
3. Get to Japan/Scotland (depends on my exchange application)
3. a. If that doesn't happen, apply to the creative writing class at the university again
4. Get more short stories published (working on this)
5. Get poems published
6. Read more
7. Write more
8. Take good care of my health.
We'll see how that goes. More will be added and others will be taken off as they occur. The nice thing about these goals is that most of them are within my control; I can write well enough to get published; I can read more and write more and take good care of my health. The other ones are more subjective...But I'm an English major. I'm used to subjective.
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
Reading for school: Lacan (still working on it!)
Writing/editing work: WIP novel
I don't make resolutions for New Year's; however, I do contemplate what I would like to happen in the year ahead or what I am going to try to achieve in this year. Here's the list (which is always changing as things change/happen):
1. Finish my novel edit
2. Find an agent
2. a. If that doesn't happen, find a publisher
3. Get to Japan/Scotland (depends on my exchange application)
3. a. If that doesn't happen, apply to the creative writing class at the university again
4. Get more short stories published (working on this)
5. Get poems published
6. Read more
7. Write more
8. Take good care of my health.
We'll see how that goes. More will be added and others will be taken off as they occur. The nice thing about these goals is that most of them are within my control; I can write well enough to get published; I can read more and write more and take good care of my health. The other ones are more subjective...But I'm an English major. I'm used to subjective.
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Lack of Motivation
Reading for pleasure: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Reading for school: Lacan
Writing/editng work: Novel edit
When I get this close to finishing, I find that I procrastinate. I could be a good part of the way through my edit right now, but when I get home from work and have supper, my energy is gone. So I sometimes only get two pages edited. If I work well, I maybe get 10 pages edited. Editing is the most difficult part of the book for me, because it is picking apart what I've put down on the paper with love (most of the time).
At this point, since I stayed up late trying to get the paper edit finished, I'm ready for sleep. I figure that I deserve it, so I don't do much about it. But I wish I did have a bit more motivation. School is coming up; I know once I'm back, I won't have much time to work on my writing.
That is one thing that I have to work on: time for writing. I need to take the time that I have and start writing in it. It's not like I don't have time, I just don't take it. Somedays that is okay, but others I definitely need to pick up the pace.
We'll see how I do this term. And now I'll head back to work and when I get home, I'll get more the edit done. Just not as much as I ever hope.
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
Reading for school: Lacan
Writing/editng work: Novel edit
When I get this close to finishing, I find that I procrastinate. I could be a good part of the way through my edit right now, but when I get home from work and have supper, my energy is gone. So I sometimes only get two pages edited. If I work well, I maybe get 10 pages edited. Editing is the most difficult part of the book for me, because it is picking apart what I've put down on the paper with love (most of the time).
At this point, since I stayed up late trying to get the paper edit finished, I'm ready for sleep. I figure that I deserve it, so I don't do much about it. But I wish I did have a bit more motivation. School is coming up; I know once I'm back, I won't have much time to work on my writing.
That is one thing that I have to work on: time for writing. I need to take the time that I have and start writing in it. It's not like I don't have time, I just don't take it. Somedays that is okay, but others I definitely need to pick up the pace.
We'll see how I do this term. And now I'll head back to work and when I get home, I'll get more the edit done. Just not as much as I ever hope.
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Querying
Reading for pleasure: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Reading for school: Just finished some Freud
Writing/editing work: WIP novel, rolling other ideas around
Now that I have started the edit on my novel, I start looking into agents that I can query. I did not know a lot about agents until I read about them in Writer's Market a few years back. It's where I start now as soon as I am in the last legs of editing. Yes, it is multi-tasking, but I find it easier to keep my mind on the project at hand. If there is one thing I've learnt in university, it's that you multitask or lose your ability to keep up.
I started my search in Writer's Market, but the books go out of date quite quickly, so I've adapted and now first go to Agent Query: http://www.agentquery.com/. Within the 45 minutes that I was there today, I found over twenty agents that would be suitable to query; there were 39 listed, but I am quite picky about who I choose. This saves me and them time, because I will not send out useless queries. One of my criteria is that they accept e-mail queries; they are cheaper and more efficient in both sending out my query and receiving answers (no postage costs!). On this site, I also pick and choose depending on how much information is actually on the site; if they have publishing credits there, they have to have a title there as well for me to trust them.
I read some agent blogs so that I can become familiar with their likes and dislikes and to expand my knowledge of the industry in general. I need to get to some conferences, but being a student means that I have no money for conferences. They are too expensive to attend. I know that it would be a good investment, but when faced with the choice of affording tuition/residence and going to a writer's conference, staying fed throughout the school year wins out every time.
When I have completed those steps, I write the query letter. With my book fresh in my mind I try to catch its essence so that I can catch the attention of the agent. I find this more difficult than writing the whole novel, or even the editing, because now I am trying to make someone else fall in love with my work. I'll write and edit this letter more times than the novel itself.
The first round of queries goes out once I have looked over my list of agents again and finished the edit on the my novel. I'll see where I have to go from there!
Until later,
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
Reading for school: Just finished some Freud
Writing/editing work: WIP novel, rolling other ideas around
Now that I have started the edit on my novel, I start looking into agents that I can query. I did not know a lot about agents until I read about them in Writer's Market a few years back. It's where I start now as soon as I am in the last legs of editing. Yes, it is multi-tasking, but I find it easier to keep my mind on the project at hand. If there is one thing I've learnt in university, it's that you multitask or lose your ability to keep up.
I started my search in Writer's Market, but the books go out of date quite quickly, so I've adapted and now first go to Agent Query: http://www.agentquery.com/. Within the 45 minutes that I was there today, I found over twenty agents that would be suitable to query; there were 39 listed, but I am quite picky about who I choose. This saves me and them time, because I will not send out useless queries. One of my criteria is that they accept e-mail queries; they are cheaper and more efficient in both sending out my query and receiving answers (no postage costs!). On this site, I also pick and choose depending on how much information is actually on the site; if they have publishing credits there, they have to have a title there as well for me to trust them.
I read some agent blogs so that I can become familiar with their likes and dislikes and to expand my knowledge of the industry in general. I need to get to some conferences, but being a student means that I have no money for conferences. They are too expensive to attend. I know that it would be a good investment, but when faced with the choice of affording tuition/residence and going to a writer's conference, staying fed throughout the school year wins out every time.
When I have completed those steps, I write the query letter. With my book fresh in my mind I try to catch its essence so that I can catch the attention of the agent. I find this more difficult than writing the whole novel, or even the editing, because now I am trying to make someone else fall in love with my work. I'll write and edit this letter more times than the novel itself.
The first round of queries goes out once I have looked over my list of agents again and finished the edit on the my novel. I'll see where I have to go from there!
Until later,
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
Friday, January 2, 2009
My Writing Process
I don't think that's there any such thing as "the" process for writing; there is mine, and then there's everyone else's own personal process.
My ideas tend to come from the strangest things; I wrote a whole novel after thinking about my lava lamp one day. The strange part is that one ended up not even being about my lava lamp.
The novel I am editing right now is actually an almost complete rewrite. I originally wrote it in third-person, but it didn't work as it should have. I liked the characters and story too much to give up on it, so I wrote it out in first-person instead. It has turned out a lot better this time, though I am still making improvments and expansions to it in this last edit. I don't think that writing is ever completely finished.
With this novel, I wrote it mostly on my laptop, which was different from usual; I tend to write it out by hand and then transcribe it to the computer. This has helped my typing skills a lot, and I think that there are sometimes that handwritten work flows better for me than typing. I tend to remember hand writing a lot easier than typed.
Once I have gotten the first draft, if it is (a) on the computer, I take a day break or so and then begin reading it over on the computer; (b) on paper, I take a break and then start typing it up. Either way, this produces my second draft. This gets printed off, and I read over it for grammar, plot holes, stories that need to be added, and anything else. I then enter those changes and create my third draft. This can go on for quite awhile. For this novel, I am on my fourth draft (which is the one I'm working on right now).
As I said, this can vary for me depending on what I'm writing. I have to do paper edits or else I miss too much in the way of typos and mistakes. Computer edits make me feel less wasteful, so that's why I do some read overs on the computer.
After I have finished this edit, I will write my query letter and start that process. I'll post more about that later.
Until then, keep writing!
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
My ideas tend to come from the strangest things; I wrote a whole novel after thinking about my lava lamp one day. The strange part is that one ended up not even being about my lava lamp.
The novel I am editing right now is actually an almost complete rewrite. I originally wrote it in third-person, but it didn't work as it should have. I liked the characters and story too much to give up on it, so I wrote it out in first-person instead. It has turned out a lot better this time, though I am still making improvments and expansions to it in this last edit. I don't think that writing is ever completely finished.
With this novel, I wrote it mostly on my laptop, which was different from usual; I tend to write it out by hand and then transcribe it to the computer. This has helped my typing skills a lot, and I think that there are sometimes that handwritten work flows better for me than typing. I tend to remember hand writing a lot easier than typed.
Once I have gotten the first draft, if it is (a) on the computer, I take a day break or so and then begin reading it over on the computer; (b) on paper, I take a break and then start typing it up. Either way, this produces my second draft. This gets printed off, and I read over it for grammar, plot holes, stories that need to be added, and anything else. I then enter those changes and create my third draft. This can go on for quite awhile. For this novel, I am on my fourth draft (which is the one I'm working on right now).
As I said, this can vary for me depending on what I'm writing. I have to do paper edits or else I miss too much in the way of typos and mistakes. Computer edits make me feel less wasteful, so that's why I do some read overs on the computer.
After I have finished this edit, I will write my query letter and start that process. I'll post more about that later.
Until then, keep writing!
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
Thursday, January 1, 2009
2009 Starts with a Bang
Because here I am! Why not start the new year out with a new experience? And I know that writing more is a resolution that I can keep.
There will hopefully be other benefits to this experience; I am working on the last edit of my book before I send out queries. I am starting before I begin my next term in university, and I have been wanting a blog since I got the Writer's Market 2007.
An introduction is needed then, I guess.
Since I was five I have wanted to be an author. I remember having a Crayola half and half pad (half lined paper and half drawing space), and one of the first stories I remember writing is about getting five dollars and how I would spend it at the zoo. I have come a long way since then, thankfully enough. Anything that I've written when I seven and younger is being packed away and will only ever be seen by me now!
I am an English major and this has expanded my horizons; I want to travel to expand them more. Which will happen eventually. However, I have to continue to work hard for that eventually. I am learning Japanese so that I can help expand my horizons; I am debating what other second (and now third) language I want to take. I am wobbling between Italian and Spanish and leaning more towards Italian...Though it is more likely that I would use Spanish, I really would like to learn Italian.
Right now, I have just learnt how to knit on circular needles, and I am working on that blissful last edit before querying. Though there will always be something that I'm changing. Writing is a learning experience that is changing all the time.
For now, that is all I will say. I cannot guarantee my post rates right now, but I do want to try for something every day or two. Until then, take care and Happy New Year!
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
There will hopefully be other benefits to this experience; I am working on the last edit of my book before I send out queries. I am starting before I begin my next term in university, and I have been wanting a blog since I got the Writer's Market 2007.
An introduction is needed then, I guess.
Since I was five I have wanted to be an author. I remember having a Crayola half and half pad (half lined paper and half drawing space), and one of the first stories I remember writing is about getting five dollars and how I would spend it at the zoo. I have come a long way since then, thankfully enough. Anything that I've written when I seven and younger is being packed away and will only ever be seen by me now!
I am an English major and this has expanded my horizons; I want to travel to expand them more. Which will happen eventually. However, I have to continue to work hard for that eventually. I am learning Japanese so that I can help expand my horizons; I am debating what other second (and now third) language I want to take. I am wobbling between Italian and Spanish and leaning more towards Italian...Though it is more likely that I would use Spanish, I really would like to learn Italian.
Right now, I have just learnt how to knit on circular needles, and I am working on that blissful last edit before querying. Though there will always be something that I'm changing. Writing is a learning experience that is changing all the time.
For now, that is all I will say. I cannot guarantee my post rates right now, but I do want to try for something every day or two. Until then, take care and Happy New Year!
ManiacScribbler =^..^=
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