My novel is a bird. Yep, you heard me correct. A bird. My novel has taken flight and is out in the world. Never before has anyone ever read any of it. Well, that isn’t true entirely. My fiction writing professor in college read the first two chapters but now that it has a different beginning, she technically has only read the second and that was years ago. Much has changed since then. I finished my first round of editing tonight and offered to share my work with any of my friends who would brutally critique it. So…
Caution! Editing in progress! Do not speak! Do not look in the general direction of my laptop or notebook! Do NOT spill anything on my notes! DO NOT COME NEAR ME OR I WILL HAVE A PANIC ATTACK! That about sums it up right there. But since some of you are so sweet and have been listening to my rants on this journey since I decided to start a blog to document it, I will give you a real update. So far, I am putting my edits that I made on the printed copy of my manuscript into the computer…
Sex. It’s such a delicate topic, don’t ya think? Stella is promiscuous and that’s me putting it lightly. Ever met a girl in high school who you just know has slept with the entire football team? You don’t get how she does it because, why do guys all want to sleep with the same girl? But they do anyways because they want the conquest. Well that girl is Stella. Only thing is, she is the one who considers them a conquest. If it wasn’t so trashy, I think I might…
My mind is full of stories. I can’t stop. I’m supposed to be editing my novel. While I have started the beginning over, I haven’t touched the rest in days. It sits in a pink binder gathering dust while I rework the first pages, send myself voice memos of lines that I must add throughout, and write. What am I writing? A trilogy. I.Can’t.Stop.Writing. This is a problem. I created a new world in my head. One set in the future. (Yes, dystopian society) I can’t get…
A quick word on beginnings. As a writer, I know that it is my job to hook the reader immediately. If I don’t, they will put the book down and move on to something else, something better. Now that I’m in the editing process of my novel, I could not hate beginnings any more than I possibly do now. Or maybe I just hate mine. But I digress… The beginning of my novel took place after a one night stand. Yep, Stella is mighty classy (not). But reading it after having a lot of space…
I think I’m actually in the final chapter of my novel. I’m at least in the final “event” that is going to take place. I’m just not sure if it will take one or two chapters to fulfill this. It is a very crucial moment and it is going to be very emotional but also very pleasing to finally write it since I’ve been dreaming about this moment for so long. A word about (my) endings: I’ve probably written about ten different endings for this novel over the…
I’m in a rut. This happens to me every few months. It’s the reason I have taken so long completing this book. I started this book about three and a half years ago. It may seem like it shouldn’t take very long to write a book. I mean, I know the characters well, I know what I want to accomplish with them. Why is it taking so long? The answer? I get in ruts. Obnoxious ruts. I spend months not writing. I’ve been pretty good about it this time around. I’…
Writing a novel has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I am now over 61,000 words into my young adult novel that I started back when I was nineteen, almost twenty. I was in a loveless relationship and one day these characters became the people I loved and cared about. I dreamt them up to escape the life that I was living. I felt trapped, like I was watching my life from the outside and I would scream at myself to get out (now!) but I wasn’t listening. I was too wrapped up in…