Sunday, January 22, 2012 // ONE COMMENT

To Revise or Not To Revise

After NaNoWriMo, I stopped writing. I had pushed myself as far as I could go with the zombie novel I’d been writing, and the whole thing had fallen flat with no apparent way to fix it. I spent December pondering if I should push through to the end, force some kind of big climax into what had turned out to be a pretty flat novel in the plot department, or if it was time to switch from writing to revising.

I have two novels, you see, that are not finished. Sure, they have beginnings, middles, and ends, and are both over 60,000 words in length, but one hasn’t been touched since it was originally written, and the other has only ever been edited once. There needs to be some revising and rewriting going on.

So, my quandary over the past couple of months has been writing versus revising. Actually, there have been a lot of quandaries over my writing life, but that has essentially been at the forefront.

Eerily enough, it seems the internet has been pushing me to revise. The Office of Letters & Light recently posted a blog entry by author Jane Sevier offering her perspective on revision. Maggie Stiefvater posted at length about how she edits. And the YA Rebels have been posting videos all week about their revision tips. (Definitely check those out – I love the YA Rebels!)

But I still feel like I’m at the crossroads. And without NaNoWriMo, there isn’t any real sense of urgency to come to a decision anytime soon. My writing life continues to stagnate while I continue to stress out over one simple question:

To Revise, or Not to Revise?

Writing

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Monday, January 16, 2012 // NO COMMENTS

Hi 2012

Oh geez, I updated WordPress and now I don’t know where anything is, and weird messages keep popping out at me. I’m scared, guys. I’m scared.

This is just a random message to let you know I am still alive. 2012 has arrived. We’re almost midway through January, and what do I have to show for it? Nothing. I haven’t been productive at all.

I’m pretty ashamed.

Granted, it was quite busy throughout December, but that still doesn’t excuse not blogging for over a month. I would use the excuse that I only ever get ideas for blog entries right before I have to go do something I don’t really want to do — like going to work or the doctor — but excuses make me sound lame anyway.

In truth, blogging is difficult for me. I don’t like to reveal too many personal details online, because I have had issues with creepy stalkers. I mean, on the internet, we’re all creepy stalkers to some extent (Jenna Marbles says so), but I’m talking the real deal. It’s hard to come up with posts.

That and I really do always get blog post ideas right before I have to go out the door to get to work. Always. And then, by the end of an eight-hour shift, I’ve inevitably lost that urge to write it all down.

What does this mean? I should start blogging at work.

I joke, I wouldn’t do that. (If you are my boss, I really, really wouldn’t do that. Promise. Please don’t fire me. I love you.)

I would make a promise to update more, but promises really don’t get you very far when you’re a serial procrastinator. But I will try, goddamn it — because I’m tired of making excuses and being lame. No one wants to be lame, after all.

(In other news, I forgot about this entry. For eight days, it has been hanging out in my drafts. Whoops.)

Real Life

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Thursday, December 1, 2011 // 4 COMMENTS

On Winning NaNoWriMo 2011, & Why I’ve Been Too Afraid To Blog

As you may notice if you scroll down, there was a huge, inexplicable gap in blog entries beginning around the time I announced that I would, in fact, be partaking in NaNoWriMo this year. A lot of it had to do with planning the novel in question. I had hoped to document my pre-novel process, but between work and the actual act of pre-novelling, those blog posts never came into fruition.

A lot of it had to do with fear.

I was very excited to do NaNoWriMo. I love it. The pressure, the deadline, the little graph … and I’m competitive. I like hitting my goals, and exceeding them when I can. I’m not saying any of my best writing comes out of NaNo — I definitely become a very, very sloppy writer — but first drafts are supposed to be awful, right?

That said, my last couple of experiences with NaNoWriMo have been incredibly unlucky. Stressful real life things came up. And it definitely happened again this November — changes at work, a drop in hours, a disaster in my town, a best friend’s mother passing away unexpectedly … It hasn’t been a good month.

But I pushed through, goddammit. I made it. And I would have loved to have documented the entire process, particularly my process for novel-planning, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. You know when you have something really exciting that might just happen, but you know if you say something you’ll jinx yourself? That was me. Terrified if I posted a blog entry I would have a piano drop on my head, or my cat would chew my computer wire, or something equally horrific would happen.

So, what did I learn this month? I’m pretty amazing when I really push myself, and sometimes just because I don’t think I want to write doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.

Of course, I hit 51,000 words, but that doesn’t mean the novel is finished. I have a long way to go, and suddenly I have a whole new fear: that I won’t finish this novel, because I no longer have that NaNoWriMo daily goal hanging over my head …

Guess we’ll see.

Real Life, Writing

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Monday, November 28, 2011 // Comments Off

Book Review: The Name of the Star


The Name of The Star
by Maureen Johnson

Release date: September 29, 2011
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Genre: Young adult paranormal
Copy origin: Preordered via BookDepository.com

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn’t notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target?

In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Maureen Johnson and I have the same birthday.

I know that’s an odd thing to start off a review with, but hear me out. Maureen Johnson is kinda one of the coolest people I’ve ever come across on Twitter. She’s witty, hilarious, and she’s absolutely adorable. I have a massive crush on her, and I’ve always viewed the fact that she’s a writer and we share a birthday to mean that we are soulmates and will one day get married and— okay, I’m getting into creepy territory now. Sorry. (If Maureen ever reads this, I will be especially sorry. Though if she ever wants to go out, y’know, for coffee, that would be cool.)

That said, she has always written contemporary fiction. Now, there’s nothing wrong with contemporary fiction, but it’s not really my thing. I like dark & urban fantasy. I like post-apocalyptic. I like horror, and ghosts, and zombies. Not a whole lot of those in Maureen’s past work.

Meanwhile, rewind to Ley, aged thirteen, discovering a hardcover with a ratty old dust-cover on her mother’s shelf: The Complete Jack the Ripper, by Donald Rumbelow, a very thorough portrait of the Great Victorian Mystery, complete with photographs and sketches. Needless to say, little morbid Ley had nightmares for months. Nothing has ever terrified me as much as that book.

Okay, now fast-forward to Ley discovering The Name of the Star. Understandably, I was excited beyond belief. I had high, high hopes for this book. A part of me expected to be very, very disappointed.

I was not disappointed.

This book takes so many of my favourite things, and smooshes them all together: Maureen’s distinctive voice, Jack the Ripper, British boarding schools, ghosts, and broody men. It’s a smooth read, lots of fun, and even has it’s dark, gritty moments. Not as much gore as one would expect from a book featuring the modern Jack the Ripper, but it still had its moments. I felt like the Jack the Ripper geek in me and the Maureen Johnson fangirl in me were frolicking together in a field, surrounded by daisies and sunshine. I never expected that to happen.

So, what did I discover? I still have a crush on Maureen Johnson. And I can’t necessarily say I’ll pick up some of her other books—Maybe! But I make no promises!—but I will definitely be pre-ordering the next book in this series.

Other notes:

    • I really, really hate the cover for this book. Nothing about it screams The Name of the Star to me. It makes it look like historical fiction. I much prefer the original ARC cover. Not that either of the covers are actually showing Rory, the main character.
      The inclusion of a chav midway through the book made me terribly pleased. It’s not a proper book about teens in London if there isn’t a chav.
      Go watch Maureen Johnson’s fantastic interview about the origins of the book, and all about her Twittering.

    • Reading

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    Sunday, October 16, 2011 // Comments Off

    NaNoWriMo ’11 Prep

    It’s fifteen days until the commencement of NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month — and I am in full-on preparatory mode.

    As mentioned in a past post from September, I was on the fence about joining this year. Awful things seem to happen whenever I attempt NaNoWriMo. What if I break out in adult acne from the stress? What if I overdose on caffeine? What if my pony dies? (Not that I have a pony, but it would seem ominous to mention my kitten.)

    Worst of all: what if, for the second year in a row, I can’t do it?

    To hopefully eliminate the chances of (most of) any of those things occurring, I am prepping. I am building worlds, building characters, plotting chapters, and outlining extensively. I am not going to pants it (pants = fly by the seat of your pants) because I really don’t have the time in my life to spend days during NaNoWriMo trying to figure out why I’m stuck.

    And I definitely recommend that. If you’re like me — someone who has enough issues balancing a social life with a full-time job, let alone adding full-time writing to the mix — then don’t try to pants your way through NaNo. Pantsing it was for the Ley of NaNoWriMo ’09, who wrote 80k in a month but only because she had no job, no real life friends, and no obligations to anything or anyone to speak of.

    Ah, those were the days.

    Of course, I am writing a zombie novel full of crazy people, so in the worst case scenario I could always kill off a character or have a zombie horde run in or whatever the case may be. (Zombies: always the perfect cure for writer’s block.)

    I will ramble extensively about the novel — These Teeth — in the future. For now, watch this space. I promise more interesting and informative posts soon.

    Writing

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