First Response!
I got my first response yesterday! By which I mean the first email of general comments from friends and loved ones who I barraged with my manuscript in the hopes of bettering it.
It was so scary and exciting to hear back. The first one can be scary. Luckily I got someone who knows what they’re talking about, who is kind and gentle and thoughtful. And I am so excited.
Honestly, since I started Nano I’ve basically thrown Morocco from my brain and not picked it up again. Okay, that’s a lie, its back in there somewhere. In the way back, resting.
But now that I’ve gotten that email I’m chomping at the bit to get started again. I don’t love my Nano MC as much as I love L&O (Morocco’s MCs). And I’ve been replaying the comments I received in my head since I read it. I think the most helpful thing about having another person read your work is the perspective and emotional detachment they have. A few of the comments were things that, as soon as I read them on the page, I knew exactly why those comments were made and could see how someone from outside my brain would say that. It was almost as if I already knew what the issues were, I just needed someone else to say it for me.
Anyway, I’m really into organizational binders lately, so I think I’m going to make one for Morocco. That way I can organize all my character information and plot information and location research with fancy tabs and colors and such.
Organizing! One of my other most favorite things. Office supply store, here I come!!
A Day in the Life—Dream Job
Monday was Columbus Day and, because my company loves Columbus, we had the day off. In NY a lot of people seem to have this holiday off. In the fair mid-lands of Chicago, however, this is not so common. It feels very luxurious staying home on Monday when you are not sick and most of your friends are slogging it to the office.
I decided to be incredibly productive on Monday to make sure I reach my October 31 revisions goal. But I didn’t want to push it, it was after all a day off from work.
So I got up and headed to B^2 for some coffee and light editing then headed home. At home I edited, watched Mad Men, did laundry and dishes, swept.
I kind of thought this is what my life would be like if I wrote for a living with no other occupation.
And, to be honest, by the end of the day I was kind of lonely. I love writing and often bemoan my day job but I wouldn’t want to be alone all day every day. I do like the social aspects of going in to work. I was kind of shocked at how much I looked forward to heading in to the office.
Now if only I could work on my novel at the office instead of figuring out budget information.
Ah, well.
Plans and schemes
I bet you thought I’d forgotten my log in and password or that I even had wordpress account. Well, you’d only be partially correct. And none of the above reasons are excuses for why I haven’t written lately. I just have been busy with life. Honestly, I don’t feel like I’ve really taken the time to contemplate what I’m doing. I’m just doing!
But I do have a plan. A 3 month plan.
Here goes:
October: Revision Completion!
November: Revision Dissemination (If you want to read it, you can!)
And, NaNo! I have a fun idea for this year’s novel writing month
December: Presents and eating
So that’s the plan. I’m looking forward to finishing up this draft of Morocco. I definitely do not believe it will be my last. I’m also looking forward to hearing comments from people who want to read it and comment. This book hasn’t seen eyes other than mine in a long time. It’ll be good to get some fresh air in between those pages.
And I really like the idea of starting 2010 with a plan and new goals.
Revisions and Possibilities
So revisions, revisions, revisions are sort of my main writing goal at the moment. I had no idea how long this would all take when I got started but it does seem to be a very slow process. This might be because, even though I can get a chapter “done” in one night, I then seem to take 5 nights of recovery after that.
Anyway, I am chugging right along bit by bit. Chapter 5 is finished. Woot! One more and I’m 1/2 way through. That just means I’m closer to bugging you to read through my manuscript. 
And I’ve been thinking maybe I’ll start over. Like open a new word document and start at the beginning again, rewriting the book I’ve already worked on for the last few years.
WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU WANT TO DO THAT?! you ask
Well, first, please don’t yell at me. Secondly, things are so different now from when I sat down to write that first chapter so long ago. I knew I wanted to write a children’s novel and I began carving out a story; bumbling and slowly. It was definitely like walking down a dark tunnel without a flashlight.
Now I have a purpose! And a plan! And an overlying story framework.
I just think it would be more cohesive to start over from the beginning. And also, kind of fun?
Maybe I’m crazy but the point here seems to write the best story I can write. And maybe if I can start from the beginning with a clear purpose and strong sense of my characters, the result will be much healthier.
I don’t know if I’ll do it but I’m strongly considering it.
A Weekend in Review
I saw HP6 this weekend! It was what I was doing when I wasn’t working on revisions. We’ve had a busy summer so far and were pleasantly surprised to find that this past weekend was almost completely devoid of plans. We had nothing to do on Saturday. We decided to declare the day Double Feature Saturday. We bought the tickets and made the plans, leaving plenty of time to sleep in and grab brunch.
As it happened, we both woke up at 900am. And we didn’t want to go back to sleep. This has never happened before. So we were able to pick up bagels from our fav coffee place watch HP5 right before heading to the theater for HP6.
There were a lot of really wonderful things about the day. For example, stopping for a chicken pita lunch on Michigan Ave and spotting the star of stage and screen Claire Danes. Also, we got to see the preview for Where the Wild Things Are in large screen form. No lack of love for HP intended, this is definitely the most anticipated movie of the year (for me). It was really exciting to see it up there. I squeed, I clapped, and Daniel Radcliffe hadn’t even graced the screen yet!
HP6 was really great. And it ended just in time for us to grab seats in movie #2
Which was 
500 Days of Summer. I liked it. I didn’t love it. I don’t know what I was expecting. But I like Zooey and I like JGL (actually I used to be really obsessed with him back in his 3rd Rock from the Sun days. He was super cute. I tried to find a good, old picture but I’ll trust you to google image search him and see for yourselves his adorableness). So 500 Days was okay. It has some cute scenes. It had some really awesome scenes, like side by side reality vs. expectations of a night out when the person you like is going to be there. But I did not feel the need to rush back in to the theater for a second viewing.
Anyway, Double Feature Saturday was a huge success. You might now be thinking, this had absolutely nothing to do with writing. And, technically, you’d be right. Truthfully, revisions had been feeling very work-like for quite a while. But this weekend was perfect; relaxing, refreshing.
It’s been a lot easier to get back in the swing of revising this week and hopefully I’ll get myself into some good revision habits.
More on that later!
Getting It Just Right
Sometimes when I’m on the train at night and in the middle of a great book I want to ride until the end of the line and stay on until the train makes it back to my stop just so I can keep reading. On the train, I am free to read. I can’t pay bills or work on book revisions; I just have to sit and wait until the train carries me home. Sure, I could read at home; but, I rarely do except before bed. There are too many other things I should be doing at home; sit ups, dishes, laundry. Usually I’m too overcome by guilt of not doing all the things on my lists that all I can do is watch TV and make dinner (and therefore more dirty dishes to wash).
Anyway, yesterday’s book-I-didn’t-want-to-stop-reading was Julie and Julia. I bought it on my lunch break yesterday. I did not need it. I succumbed to the Hollywood hype and my own curiosity. I really shouldn’t have started it either. I currently have no fewer than 5 books in my pile that I have started and not finished. (I think this is a pretty good example of my life at the moment. Lists of good intentions and initial excitement but no follow through to speak of.)
So far Julie and Julia seems like an excellent break from Atlas Shrugged, which I have been reading for 6 weeks now and am still hardly 1/2 way through. It’s light-hearted and funny. The main character was stuck with a day job she was less than thrilled about (sound familiar?) and decided, at 30, to undertake a fun, new, exciting venture.
This book comes at a great time. Julie was almost 30 when she started the Julie/Julia Project, which would change her life. Julia Child was in her mid-thirties when she moved to France and decided to learn how to cook. This is a good reminder for me, and the loads of twenty-somethings who are dissatisfied with their life. It’s a reminder that life changes the whole way through and that if you keep your eyes open, your mind alert and your thought-processes flowing, you will find what it is that you want to do “with your life.” Also, it’s a reminder for me at 25 that things dont’ have to be perfect right now. I have goals and dreams. I work to achieve some of those goals. I try to enjoy my youth. And in the end, I have years to get it right. Not everything has to be perfect right this second.
The Urge
Why is it I get most excited about writing in the middle of the afternoon when I’m sitting at my day job with no chance of getting to my writing desk for several hours?
Not fair.
Because then when I am actually within range on my writing desk I am lacking motivation and energy and House is on or something.
Working on revisions is a tough process. Sure, nobody’s perfect and all writers go through this process, but, having to face all the poor decisions I made the first time around is kind of tough! The next chapter up on the block is a toughy. I know I want to make a lot of changes/ improvements that I haven’t really mapped out, yet. I just know I want to change things.
So I’ve got that.
Also, it’s summer! And there are so many wonderfully fun things going on IRL that I want to partake of. Discipline is what I need!
Okay, now I just feel like I’m complaining.
Hopefully tonight will bring me at least partway through some more revisions.
Researching Excitment
So, I’m back! The trip was a whirlwind of mostly wonderfulness. We drank some pints, ate some fish’n'chips, listened to music and tried not to get lost in London. I’ve been to London and Dublin a few times in the past, so I was there less to do the sightseeing as to just enjoy my time and hang out. Also, I was there doing a little bit of research for Book #2 (Shall we say, SC#2? We shall.)
Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin
Dublin is a great place. There’s so much history, so much music, so many pints! We went to Kilmainham Gaol at my adamant request. My sister and mum had toured it the last time we were there and gushed about how interesting and historical it was.
It really lived up to the hype! There were a lot of interesting stories about the gaol. It has been used for ages and ages (yes, I am too lazy to actually look up how long at this moment) and has seen a lot of stuff. When it first opened, before the idea of reform and prison went hand in hand, people were thrown in and just sort of hung out till they were released.
Then they decided to make it in to less of the jail idea and more in the vein of a reformatory. They had a motto of separation, silence and . . . and. . . there was another ’s’ but it escapes me.
The gaol housed a lot of people during the great potato famine. Sentences of 14 days were often doled out for crimes such as stealing 3 loaves of bread. Also, as soon as a child reached the age of 8, he/she was considered an adult.
For me, the most interesting part of this gaol’s history is later, closer to the end of it’s life as a working reformatory. The rebels from the 1916 Easter Uprising were held here. This is probably the most random thing I remember from high school, but we read the poem commemorating the event written by WB Yeats in class. And I read it again in college.
Boiled down and probably leaving out a lot of important facts the uprising was for Irish independence from Great Britain. It was fairly unpopular immediately after it happened however when news of how the leaders of the uprising were treated at the gaol they became martyrs and the issue gained a lot of support.
Anyway, it was an interesting place. Highly recommended and soon to be included in the pages of SC#2.
Lusting After Connections
So a while go I read the first book by Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games. Post-apocalyptic dystopian YA novels are maybe my favorite thing to read ever. I would only read them all the time but I think it might mess with my mind a little bit.
In keeping up with my literary blogosphere I have seen a lot of buzz around the ARCs of this that have started to disseminate themselves around. Case in point a lovely new blog I just found today called Librarilly Blonde. (What a charming title, honestly). Let’s just say I am insanely jealous.
Up Coming Adventures
BIG EXCITEMENT. In ONE WEEK (!!!!) I will be on my way to jolly old England!! I simply cannot wait. My last big touring vacation was in June of 2007 (besides on small jaunt to Mexico in the fall of last year).
I’m not sure if you knew this, but I love to travel. I love pretty much every aspect of it’ squeezing yourself into foreign and inevitably tiny lodging spaces, getting lost on twisty roads trying to get back to said lodgings at 2 am after too many local beverage, hearing new languages/accents, watching the way the locals dress, order take out, walk around.
This will be my second time to London. The first was the inexplicably wonderful semester I spent there senior year in college.
I am interested to see what I remember and what I have forgotten. I am curious to see if I can still get around, to see how nervous and lost I get.
I am excited to do things I somehow never got around to doing while I studied there and excited to show my travel mate things I loved.
Woo! Travel!
