I am guilty, like many I know, of getting overwhelmed by all the things going on in life and feeling like no matter what I'm doing I should be doing something else. If I am writing (or at least trying to) I can't stop my mind from racing through all the chores I need to finish. If am trying to read and relax a little I feel like I should be writing. If, by chance, I am actually done cleaning and running errands with enough time to sit and work on writing I still find myself struggling to stick to one project. I have so many books I want to write that I find the characters will argue with one another, pushing and shoving for my attention.
Because of my scattered mental situation, more often than not I have noticed I get to the point where I just don't want to do anything. I would rather throw myself into pointless endeavors and ignore all obligations than try to make sense of the craziness in my mind. Because I am aware of this tendency though I do my best to find ways to clear this chaos whenever possible. Tactics I have tried in the past have included to do lists, creating a schedule, going to alternative locations to write so I can focus on nothing else, but I still find my mind wandering. I have tried so many different ways to clear my head and instead I find my brain simply adding things to the list and running faster and faster.
Last week I went to the gym like I try (but often fail) to do. I have taken several classes in the past. Zumba, Water Aerobics, and Body Pump are some of my favorites but while I concentrate on what is happening in the class, things change so often I am unable to tune out completely and get lost in the moment. When I went last week I had planned to take a PiYo class. For those unfamiliar it is a combination of Pilates and Yoga with an increased speed. As I walked into the gym however I saw how many people were already in the room for PiYo and had no desire to contend with a crowd. There was a spin class at the same time so I grabbed the bike seat cover I keep in my bag and made my way to spin class. Three songs in I was sweating, struggling to breathe, and my mind was putting things in order for an upcoming book project I hadn't been able to focus on until that point.
Because I didn't have to pay attention to choreography, changing weights, or stretching positions, I was able to just let my body keep pushing while my mind could drift to a subconscious place and that allowed the book to become clear. When I got out of class I was still in a go get it done kind of mood so I completed all the house cleaning while still thinking about the writing breakthrough I had made. When the chores were done I sat down and was able to write out everything I had come up with during class. The physical release of tension that I didn't have to concentrate on has given me a chance to focus in way actually trying to think hadn't been able to accomplish.
I am still taking my Zumba, Body Pump, Water Aerobics, and even a few yoga type classes but I am incorporating more cycling to allow the creativity to flow. Do you notice anything you do helping your ability to sort out mental issues and solve problems like spin helped me?
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Thursday, January 9, 2020
The One That Got Away
I am a major tomboy. Weird information I know, but it plays into something that happened recently and got me thinking. Because of my tomboy tendencies I have always been friends with guys much more than with girls. I love and play sports, am into outdoor activities like camping and hiking, I love getting dirty and have such little makeup I can rarely find any of it. This has led to me spending time with my guys friends most of the time. Understandably, when I am in a relationship it has to be with someone very secure and trusting. I didn't expect to be confronted with my friends telling me they considered me the one that got away however.
In three different conversations over the past week I have had male friends tell me they consider me the one that got away when we were younger. Only one of those guys did I ever date, the other two were simply friends. I know this makes me sound somewhat conceded which is not my intention, they just let me know they had believed there could have been something there when we used to hang out. Those conversations made me think about any guys in my history that I would think of as getting away but honestly I don't feel there are any questions or unfinished business with anyone in my past.
I can't say the same about my writing though. I have never given up on a book I was reading, even when I deeply wanted too, but I was reminded a week ago that there is a story I was writing I somehow put away and forgot about. I am now revisiting the notes I had for that story to add it to my To Be Written list. It is a large list and I am hoping to be able to complete it. I am excited for this new addition however. It is a supernatural suspense / thriller in the vein of Jonathan Maberry. In fact, when I get to the point of writing this particular book I will be reading several of his books and others in the genre to get me in the right frame of mind.
Can a book, or any type of creative project, be "the one that got away"? In some respects I think as life gets in the way and other projects come up we can put those original pursuits on the back burner and eventually forget about them altogether. I don't know if that lives up to the term "got away" but for me it is as close as it gets. I am working to rekindle the relationship with this particular piece while making sure no others fall by the wayside. Do you have a person or project you would consider the one that got away?
Sunday, January 5, 2020
New Year, Same Me
With the recent passing of New Year Eve / Day many people are deep in the new year, new me time. They flock to the gym in droves, buy fitness equipment and food for new diets, they fill our planners and create lists of new projects they will accomplish. It is the never ending cycle of people trying to reinvent themselves and become an improved version of who they were the previous year.
Yes, I went to the gym today. But I also went to the gym last weekend. I am participating in a 5k in Lake Havasu this coming Saturday but I also ran in the Rock N Roll 5k and 10k here last November. I plan on publishing this year just as I did in 2019. I have a different view on the new year revolution. I don't reinvent myself but instead I try to take what I learned and grow, building upon the previous year.
Last year I took part in more than two dozen Coffee House Tour signings as well as a few larger events. This year I am going to do a handful of the CHT signings (I am the marketing director so I want to make sure I participate) and have increased the number of larger events. I have learned which of the coffee shops and book stores I have done the best so I will focus on those for 2020 while using what I found to be the most successful and see if I can do even better at those locations this year. Another thing I know I can do to improve both smaller and bigger signings is to have a broader selection of books.
In 2018 I released Just Deal With It, my humor book about being a casino dealer in Las Vegas. In early 2019 the second book in my Sharing Strength series, Fish, was published. Both books are doing well when I go to shows but I know developing my book availability is important. In 2020 I am planning to release four books. The third and fourth books in my Sharing Strength series, Crash and Combat, are set to be published in the first half of the year. Breathe is a suspense scheduled for release mid-summer and Chocolate Covered Cherries, my only romance, is supposed to be out just before the holidays. All of these will allow me to grow my reader base and hopefully increase my sales as well.
I set goals every years but they are not a new form of myself, simply a way to keep moving forward. I will be using some tools I have learned from friends and will share with you all how these tools and goals are progressing. I would also love to hear some of your goals and how you use each new year to help grow from the year before.
Yes, I went to the gym today. But I also went to the gym last weekend. I am participating in a 5k in Lake Havasu this coming Saturday but I also ran in the Rock N Roll 5k and 10k here last November. I plan on publishing this year just as I did in 2019. I have a different view on the new year revolution. I don't reinvent myself but instead I try to take what I learned and grow, building upon the previous year.
Last year I took part in more than two dozen Coffee House Tour signings as well as a few larger events. This year I am going to do a handful of the CHT signings (I am the marketing director so I want to make sure I participate) and have increased the number of larger events. I have learned which of the coffee shops and book stores I have done the best so I will focus on those for 2020 while using what I found to be the most successful and see if I can do even better at those locations this year. Another thing I know I can do to improve both smaller and bigger signings is to have a broader selection of books.
In 2018 I released Just Deal With It, my humor book about being a casino dealer in Las Vegas. In early 2019 the second book in my Sharing Strength series, Fish, was published. Both books are doing well when I go to shows but I know developing my book availability is important. In 2020 I am planning to release four books. The third and fourth books in my Sharing Strength series, Crash and Combat, are set to be published in the first half of the year. Breathe is a suspense scheduled for release mid-summer and Chocolate Covered Cherries, my only romance, is supposed to be out just before the holidays. All of these will allow me to grow my reader base and hopefully increase my sales as well.
I set goals every years but they are not a new form of myself, simply a way to keep moving forward. I will be using some tools I have learned from friends and will share with you all how these tools and goals are progressing. I would also love to hear some of your goals and how you use each new year to help grow from the year before.
Friday, November 1, 2019
NaNoWriMo Kickoff
Today is the beginning of NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month is not a program suited for everyone but I owe them a mountain of gratitude for being the catalyst that pushed me to complete my first book. The idea swam around in my head for years but it was the combination of finding NaNoWriMo and my tomboy, sports induced, hyper-competitive neurosis that finally resulted in a finish first draft.
Since my first year I have attempted, and won, many times. I have had to back out one year as well due to personal obligations and health concerns. I have finished drafts of books while working two jobs, while dealing with family upheaval, and during normal uneventful months. This year I had planned not to participate. I am competing in 5K and 10K events, have two book signings, half a dozen friends and family members coming to visit, planning for my annual holiday party, oh yeah, and I work a full time job. After long and careful consideration, I knew it was best to sit it out this year.
Then a friend told me she was joining for the first time and looking for support. I am such a push over. It took less than five minutes to agree to jump in and help. Of course this is probably a reflection of my deep desire to be a part of the event regardless of the well thought out reasons not to do it this year. I think it is important to have a plan in place but sometimes we have to be willing to accept best laid plans aren't the way the universe rolls. I didn't even have to sit and brainstorm what project I would be writing. It was already there, front and center, waving its big annoying hands in my face.
I will be doing something different this year than in the past however. Several years ago I decided to take on the NaNoWriMo challenge but was already several days into November and had no projects in mind. I flipped through ideas I had jotted down and came up empty until I found a short story I had written and figured I could extend it into a full length novel. Much more difficult than I originally anticipated, by the way. I managed to get to about 38K words when I ran out of story and had to come up with another 12K to complete the challenge but, I admit, I was lost. I sat staring at my computer and the blank pages mocked me. Eventually I came up with ideas and was able to reach the 50K word mark but it was a struggle. I flailed and it showed.
When I sent the (very) rough draft to my editor and beta reader just to see what the feedback would be it was even worse than I expected. The point where I had to invent was so obvious I may as well have written it in a different color and font. I attempted a rewrite, then another, but it was clear every time I tried to fix the story there was still something missing. I would go through and just edit out or add things until I was temporarily satisfied. Every time I looked at it after though, I knew.
I went back to the original short story I had loved so much and finally saw what I had been missing the whole time. In the original story the main character is cynical and the story is a suspense. I have no idea how it became a fluffy romance story in the longer version but I truly believe that is why I felt disconnected from it. I don't write or read romance for the most part. The original version was so much better even though it was a mere 3400 words total. I knew I could fix it but I had to figure out how exactly to get back to the original. Then I finally found the catalyst I was missing, my playlist.
Every book I have successfully finished has had a dedicated playlist with songs that spoke to genre and character for that story. Breathe was missing that piece. I found the main song while out at a sporting event of all places and the rest of the list came together within a few days. Then, while sitting at work humming the songs, I was struck by the inspiration for how to fix the story. It is a complete rewrite and I am starting from scratch. It uses the same characters and the original short story but almost everything has changed and for the first time I am thrilled with its direction.
Breathe is becoming Escape and the revolution starts today. Time to kick off NaNoWriMo and get this next project in the books.
Since my first year I have attempted, and won, many times. I have had to back out one year as well due to personal obligations and health concerns. I have finished drafts of books while working two jobs, while dealing with family upheaval, and during normal uneventful months. This year I had planned not to participate. I am competing in 5K and 10K events, have two book signings, half a dozen friends and family members coming to visit, planning for my annual holiday party, oh yeah, and I work a full time job. After long and careful consideration, I knew it was best to sit it out this year.
Then a friend told me she was joining for the first time and looking for support. I am such a push over. It took less than five minutes to agree to jump in and help. Of course this is probably a reflection of my deep desire to be a part of the event regardless of the well thought out reasons not to do it this year. I think it is important to have a plan in place but sometimes we have to be willing to accept best laid plans aren't the way the universe rolls. I didn't even have to sit and brainstorm what project I would be writing. It was already there, front and center, waving its big annoying hands in my face.
I will be doing something different this year than in the past however. Several years ago I decided to take on the NaNoWriMo challenge but was already several days into November and had no projects in mind. I flipped through ideas I had jotted down and came up empty until I found a short story I had written and figured I could extend it into a full length novel. Much more difficult than I originally anticipated, by the way. I managed to get to about 38K words when I ran out of story and had to come up with another 12K to complete the challenge but, I admit, I was lost. I sat staring at my computer and the blank pages mocked me. Eventually I came up with ideas and was able to reach the 50K word mark but it was a struggle. I flailed and it showed.
When I sent the (very) rough draft to my editor and beta reader just to see what the feedback would be it was even worse than I expected. The point where I had to invent was so obvious I may as well have written it in a different color and font. I attempted a rewrite, then another, but it was clear every time I tried to fix the story there was still something missing. I would go through and just edit out or add things until I was temporarily satisfied. Every time I looked at it after though, I knew.
I went back to the original short story I had loved so much and finally saw what I had been missing the whole time. In the original story the main character is cynical and the story is a suspense. I have no idea how it became a fluffy romance story in the longer version but I truly believe that is why I felt disconnected from it. I don't write or read romance for the most part. The original version was so much better even though it was a mere 3400 words total. I knew I could fix it but I had to figure out how exactly to get back to the original. Then I finally found the catalyst I was missing, my playlist.
Every book I have successfully finished has had a dedicated playlist with songs that spoke to genre and character for that story. Breathe was missing that piece. I found the main song while out at a sporting event of all places and the rest of the list came together within a few days. Then, while sitting at work humming the songs, I was struck by the inspiration for how to fix the story. It is a complete rewrite and I am starting from scratch. It uses the same characters and the original short story but almost everything has changed and for the first time I am thrilled with its direction.
Breathe is becoming Escape and the revolution starts today. Time to kick off NaNoWriMo and get this next project in the books.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Living A Full Life
Philosophical question for the masses... what is the definition of living a full life? This subject came up recently at work while discussing life expectancy. It was mentioned a family member of mine is over 100 years old and I mentioned I have no desire to reach that age. I, personally would like to leave this life before I get anywhere close to that milestone. The person I was talking to was shocked and depressed to hear me say that and told me I should aim to stay around as long as possible in order to live a full life.
The statement got me thinking about what that means. When someone passes away before the age of fifty, depending on there person perhaps even older, people usually remark they "were gone too soon" or "taken before their time". When someone reaches later 70s or older it can often be heard that the person lived a full life. But what makes this the case? Does simply existing on the planet for decades mean your life was full? Can you really be said to have lived if all you did was exist?
What about someone who leaves this world in their 40s but has travelled, loved, shared experiences beyond imagination, and enjoyed every day they were here? Were they taken too soon or did they simply experience what life had to offer? I like to believe what you do means far more than how long you are here.
My grandmother is 101 years old. People upon hearing that will tell me what a miracle that is and how grateful I should be to have had so much time with her. These people know nothing about her and don't realize she has daily care, is obsessed with watching / listening to a single television channel so she gets nothing but a biased view of the world, and though she has travelled some years ago she has done very little most of the time I have been alive. She also relies heavily on my mom along with her daily healthcare providers but she has next to no relationship with anyone else in the family. Yet even with this limited interaction and narrow world view people will still insist she "saw so much" and "lived a full life".
I am seriously considering debating exploring this and looking at the different perspectives in an upcoming book. There have been books that cover death at different ages but I already have a working idea about people of various ages and the different perspectives of how to truly live.
The statement got me thinking about what that means. When someone passes away before the age of fifty, depending on there person perhaps even older, people usually remark they "were gone too soon" or "taken before their time". When someone reaches later 70s or older it can often be heard that the person lived a full life. But what makes this the case? Does simply existing on the planet for decades mean your life was full? Can you really be said to have lived if all you did was exist?
What about someone who leaves this world in their 40s but has travelled, loved, shared experiences beyond imagination, and enjoyed every day they were here? Were they taken too soon or did they simply experience what life had to offer? I like to believe what you do means far more than how long you are here.
My grandmother is 101 years old. People upon hearing that will tell me what a miracle that is and how grateful I should be to have had so much time with her. These people know nothing about her and don't realize she has daily care, is obsessed with watching / listening to a single television channel so she gets nothing but a biased view of the world, and though she has travelled some years ago she has done very little most of the time I have been alive. She also relies heavily on my mom along with her daily healthcare providers but she has next to no relationship with anyone else in the family. Yet even with this limited interaction and narrow world view people will still insist she "saw so much" and "lived a full life".
I am seriously considering debating exploring this and looking at the different perspectives in an upcoming book. There have been books that cover death at different ages but I already have a working idea about people of various ages and the different perspectives of how to truly live.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Learning Opportunities
Tomorrow brings the next of my traveling signings. So far this year I have been a part of several new events. Back in February I joined authors from the Las Vegas Coffee House Tours in sharing a booth at the Tucson Book Festival and then headed east to Michigan and Ohio to take part in the Authors and Dancers Against Cancer signing and dance recital. Both of these events, and the ones that followed, brought learning experiences and a chance to grow personally and professionally.
In Tucson I was with authors with different backgrounds and genres not to mention varying approaches to customer / reader interactions. There was a bit of a learning curve for everyone to try and get along, support each other, and make sure all voices were heard when there was a problem that needed to be addressed. There was also the driving there and back plus figuring out the logistics that added stress to the weekend. Even with the issues we faced it was a great time and a successful signing for many of us who attended.
Authors and Dancers gave me a chance to do something I rarely am able to enjoy, dance in front of an audience. I trained in modern, ballet, jazz, and hiphop for years growing up and while I am fortunate enough to join a local group once a year I don't perform nearly as much as I would like. I loved being in front of the audience but was exited to share the signing part of the trip with my mom acting as my assistant. She had never been to that type of event with me and it was a pleasure having her by my side. I learned, however, that I misjudged the books for that event. Being from Las Vegas and having a humor book based on casino life I assumed it wold be the big seller like it is closer to home. What I didn't do is take into consideration one of the themes of the event (dancing) and the book I have with a dancer on the cover. Never Give Up was in danger of selling out for a bit.
Using my knowledge I have gained serving as the Marketing Director of the Coffee House Tours group I set up additional signings while visiting Michigan and seeing family and friends. Most of the signings were quiet and slow but just the fact the shop owners were welcoming and happy to have me was a success as far as I was concerned.
I had another couple events that involved travel as well. I went to Salt Lake City for the Live Literately Literacy Summit. That signing is organized by friend and fellow author David Michael and I wanted to support the evolution of his charity signings. In the past he has organized a signing to bring funds and awareness to a charity in Mesquite, NV but this past year he began his own literacy program. He is from the SLC area and so those of us who wanted to keep being a part of his generous journey travelled to join him there. That signing I drove alone the six hours north and learned how much I enjoy audio books giving me the idea to look into turning my books into possible audio files eventually.
A month after Salt Lake City I again drove north and found myself in Boise, ID. While I made the trip to Utah alone, in Boise I was joined by another author and her daughter acting as our assistant. We drove through the night and stopped to take pictures at some beautiful spots. The event was unfortunately very slow and somewhat disorganized but no experience is wasted if you learn from it and we were able to take away the lessons of how well we work together as well as the fact it takes a lot of planning to make sure we could get ourselves and our equipment safely there and back and keep our spirits up when the event was much slower than what we hoped for.
When my alarm goes off in a couple hours to leave for Kingman, AZ for the Kingman Area Books Are Magic festival I will not only be putting into practice all I've learned so far but looking for new information I can add as well.
In Tucson I was with authors with different backgrounds and genres not to mention varying approaches to customer / reader interactions. There was a bit of a learning curve for everyone to try and get along, support each other, and make sure all voices were heard when there was a problem that needed to be addressed. There was also the driving there and back plus figuring out the logistics that added stress to the weekend. Even with the issues we faced it was a great time and a successful signing for many of us who attended.
Authors and Dancers gave me a chance to do something I rarely am able to enjoy, dance in front of an audience. I trained in modern, ballet, jazz, and hiphop for years growing up and while I am fortunate enough to join a local group once a year I don't perform nearly as much as I would like. I loved being in front of the audience but was exited to share the signing part of the trip with my mom acting as my assistant. She had never been to that type of event with me and it was a pleasure having her by my side. I learned, however, that I misjudged the books for that event. Being from Las Vegas and having a humor book based on casino life I assumed it wold be the big seller like it is closer to home. What I didn't do is take into consideration one of the themes of the event (dancing) and the book I have with a dancer on the cover. Never Give Up was in danger of selling out for a bit.
Using my knowledge I have gained serving as the Marketing Director of the Coffee House Tours group I set up additional signings while visiting Michigan and seeing family and friends. Most of the signings were quiet and slow but just the fact the shop owners were welcoming and happy to have me was a success as far as I was concerned.
I had another couple events that involved travel as well. I went to Salt Lake City for the Live Literately Literacy Summit. That signing is organized by friend and fellow author David Michael and I wanted to support the evolution of his charity signings. In the past he has organized a signing to bring funds and awareness to a charity in Mesquite, NV but this past year he began his own literacy program. He is from the SLC area and so those of us who wanted to keep being a part of his generous journey travelled to join him there. That signing I drove alone the six hours north and learned how much I enjoy audio books giving me the idea to look into turning my books into possible audio files eventually.
A month after Salt Lake City I again drove north and found myself in Boise, ID. While I made the trip to Utah alone, in Boise I was joined by another author and her daughter acting as our assistant. We drove through the night and stopped to take pictures at some beautiful spots. The event was unfortunately very slow and somewhat disorganized but no experience is wasted if you learn from it and we were able to take away the lessons of how well we work together as well as the fact it takes a lot of planning to make sure we could get ourselves and our equipment safely there and back and keep our spirits up when the event was much slower than what we hoped for.
When my alarm goes off in a couple hours to leave for Kingman, AZ for the Kingman Area Books Are Magic festival I will not only be putting into practice all I've learned so far but looking for new information I can add as well.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Breathing New Life
In 2010 I took part in Nanowrimo, or for those unfamiliar, National Novel Writing Month. I completed my first book, Never Give Up, because of that competition and have taken part many times since. I am hyper competitive and even though I know it is more of a self imposed thing it would have been mortifying to me to announce I was going to do it, update often, then fail to meet the word count by the end of the month. Fifty thousand words was a daunting task at the time but now it is more of a jumping off point. Even so, I love the pressure and impending deadline it brings.
Because of the success of finishing a story I had thought about for nearly a decade I wanted to do it all over again in 2011. I talked about it with friends, posted on social media about my intentions, got snacks and looked up the winner merchandise I would be purchasing when I finished the next book. There was just one problem; I had zero new ideas. During all the time I had been telling people about how excited I was to get to work I had never come up with a topic to write about. Life happened and I found myself aching to write but it was already November 8th when I dragged myself to the library and hid away in one of their quiet rooms, desperately searching through everything on my computer hoping for inspiration. I was about to give up when I came across a short story (3400 words) I had written several months previously.
After flipping through it a few times I was sure I could expand it into the needed fifty thousand words and what was better was I already had a basic outline for the story. I began typing and was able to reach just over seven thousand words that first day. By all accounts hitting that high in one day is great, however I was over a week behind. I spent every day I had off from work over the next two weeks diving into the story and doing my best to take those precious few words and make them into a novel. I was doing great until I hit about thirty-eight thousand words, and the end of the short story. I needed twelve thousand more and had just under four days to get there. I flailed. I admit it, I flailed.
When I finished, and I managed to do so with less than an hour left, I had the words verified on the Nanowrimo site then let it sit for a few weeks. I went back through it later on to do some editing and after I was satisfied I found all the typos I sent it to my editor to read through. Her response stays with me to this very day. She said, "They're good, I liked both of them." I explained it was one story, she laughed and said try again.
She was right. When I flailed for words everything changed. It went from a suspenseful story to a fluffy romance and other than the character names there was nothing about the two parts that suggested they were in the same book. I did my best to rewrite it but it still remained disjointed. I waited two years before attempting another rewrite. This time the book had one fluid storyline but it was dull and missing something. I stuffed it away, disgusted. It wasn't until just last year when I was going through some old pieces that I came across the original short story. The suspense story that first inspired me and I realized I changed the characters so much they were unrecognizable. I had no idea at the time how to fix it but with the amount of reading and listening to audiobooks I have done recently I have found myself driven to new ways of writing and am now ready to bring this story back to life with a completely new rewrite that recaptures the original theme and genre. Bring on Breathe!
Because of the success of finishing a story I had thought about for nearly a decade I wanted to do it all over again in 2011. I talked about it with friends, posted on social media about my intentions, got snacks and looked up the winner merchandise I would be purchasing when I finished the next book. There was just one problem; I had zero new ideas. During all the time I had been telling people about how excited I was to get to work I had never come up with a topic to write about. Life happened and I found myself aching to write but it was already November 8th when I dragged myself to the library and hid away in one of their quiet rooms, desperately searching through everything on my computer hoping for inspiration. I was about to give up when I came across a short story (3400 words) I had written several months previously.
After flipping through it a few times I was sure I could expand it into the needed fifty thousand words and what was better was I already had a basic outline for the story. I began typing and was able to reach just over seven thousand words that first day. By all accounts hitting that high in one day is great, however I was over a week behind. I spent every day I had off from work over the next two weeks diving into the story and doing my best to take those precious few words and make them into a novel. I was doing great until I hit about thirty-eight thousand words, and the end of the short story. I needed twelve thousand more and had just under four days to get there. I flailed. I admit it, I flailed.
When I finished, and I managed to do so with less than an hour left, I had the words verified on the Nanowrimo site then let it sit for a few weeks. I went back through it later on to do some editing and after I was satisfied I found all the typos I sent it to my editor to read through. Her response stays with me to this very day. She said, "They're good, I liked both of them." I explained it was one story, she laughed and said try again.
She was right. When I flailed for words everything changed. It went from a suspenseful story to a fluffy romance and other than the character names there was nothing about the two parts that suggested they were in the same book. I did my best to rewrite it but it still remained disjointed. I waited two years before attempting another rewrite. This time the book had one fluid storyline but it was dull and missing something. I stuffed it away, disgusted. It wasn't until just last year when I was going through some old pieces that I came across the original short story. The suspense story that first inspired me and I realized I changed the characters so much they were unrecognizable. I had no idea at the time how to fix it but with the amount of reading and listening to audiobooks I have done recently I have found myself driven to new ways of writing and am now ready to bring this story back to life with a completely new rewrite that recaptures the original theme and genre. Bring on Breathe!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)