Happy Monday! Is it us or are the weeks just flying by? You only have one more week to submit your entry for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!
Jenny: I had a very exciting week last week. First, FedEx rang the doorbell with a copy of my fully-executed contract from Simon & Schuster (meaning, it's now signed by the publisher). Then, as if that weren't awesome enough, I checked the mail. And there, waiting for me amidst the stack of bills and flyers, was my very first check from S&S! A great day = money in your mailbox (and a yummy chicken pie, because that finally arrived too after weeks on backorder). Picture me running around the living room like a 3-year-old who just ate a jumbo bag of M&Ms. Why can't all weeks be like this?
Goals for the week: Finish the first draft of my current WIP.
Joann: Woo hoo, Jenny! That's very exciting and that potpie sounds delish.
This week for me has been a series of very cool breakthroughs with WALKING AFTER MIDNIGHT. The biggest ah-hah moment came when I realized I was STILL trying to hold the whole book in my head. Though I've seen the storyline, soup to nuts, right from that initial lightbulb moment, I couldn't keep all the details straight. For one, the book is told out of order and, for two, it's really complex. And wouldn't you know it? My genius hubby sent me exactly the right link I needed at exactly the right time: http://johnaugust.com//. John August is a screenwriter (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie's Angels, Big Fish, Go) who freely shares his writing process on his site. The most useful discovery for me has been beat sheets. Once I sat down and forced myself to write out two beat sheets (one for each aspect of the storyline), I felt much more confident to delve into the second draft (which, as the story evolves, will require some additional first-drafting - nothing new for me). So...yay! My excitement for this story is building again and I'm now thrilled to tackle it head-on.
JB: My week was not nearly as exciting as the other two ladies. No checks in the mail or WIP breakthroughs, but I did join the International Thriller Writers and the Carina Press Authors Group. I stumbled around trying to get the lay of the land of both groups (I'm directionally challenged) and was continually amazed by the talents of my fellow writers.
What's going on with you, Killer Friends?
11 comments:
Wow Jenny! What a week! Total awesomeness.
Joann, beat sheets? will have to check that out. Whatever it is, glad it worked for you and that your writing is going so well!
JB, sounds cool about the groups. Writers can never have enough support, so good for you for getting involved!
Me, hoping to receive back some comments/crits from BETA reader #2 on my final chapters. Then it will be some more revisions and then it will go off to BETA #3.
Congratulations on your check, your breakthroughs and your memberships. Way to go all three of you. =o) I finally got some good words out on a brand new story. We'll see if this groove keeps up so I can motor through NaNo.
Sounds like things are going very well for Team Triple J. Congrats!
I'm prepping my jr. high writers for NaNoWriMo this week with all the cool FREE resources available on the website, and I'm planning to live vicariously through them next month.
On my own writing front, I had a short story accepted yesterday. After 14 months and 8 rejection letters, it's so good to know "Mo's" will finally have a good home.
Running around in circles with my WIP that constantly seems to feel both almost finished and almost ready to throw against the wall. :)
Melanie -- Do you send to your betas in rounds?
B.E. -- sounds like your priming the engine to blast thru NaNo!
Milo -- Congrats on the acceptance! Care to share where it will appear?
C.N. -- focus on the "almost finished" part
Sounds like it's been a good week for everyone!
JB, I started with my first BETA reader when I was about 4 chapters in. She crit my first 4 and then I'd write a couple more and send them off and so on. Sometimes a chapter at a time, sometimes a few. when I was about fourteen chapters in, I got my second BETA reader who did a crit on about 4 chapters at a time and then as I went as well. I would send it to BETA #1, revise and then to #2. About twenty-three chapters in I got BETA #3 and sent 3-4 chapters at a time. BETA #4 is a soon to be published author. I only sent her my first 10 chapters and plan on sending the entire ms back to her when I'm done receiving final crits and doing revisions on the entire ms. There are advantages and disadvantages to doing it this way. Perhaps I'll blog about it one day :-)
Great stuff all around! Thanks for the link too. It's a new fav. =D
Melanie -- Thanks for the explanation. That's a really interesting way of doing it. Maybe I'll steal the idea! ;-)
JB: It will appear in Residential Aliens, either their December or January issue.
Congratulations on the check and thank you for the link to John August's blog.
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