Row80 Goals and Check-In

Really boring title, sorry!

Haven't posted my goals, yikes!
Okay.

GOALS
short term:
Finish making notes for last 40 pages of manuscript
Should be done today!
long term:
Deep edits for entire manuscript:

1.Write new scenes--filling in holes and deepening plot
2.Heighten description--5 senses
3.Deepen POVs and or fix--get inside their head
4.Write 250 words a day and/or 1 hour of manuscript work a day

So, what's gonna help me get there?
I have examples of deep point of view (I literally need these as eyeball/brain receptor reminders) printed out.
Keep learning! Review notes from workshops, read etc.
Keep to my schedule (w/in reason)

Since I just posted my goals, my check-in is more how I came to ROW80 again. I haven't done ROW for a year--still saw the facebook updates, but didn't commit. I've declared 2013 as the year I publish, so...I thought, I can't just sit around and wait for it to fall in my lap--well, I could, but that would be sad.

Jumping in with both feet, recommitting to ROW80 as a participant and a sponsor!

How are you doing?

Okay, Okay, Okay.

2013 is absolutely the year I'm published. Got it? Good.

This is not so much a resolution as it is a realization--and the realization is:

If this is what you want to be doing, than why the hell are you not doing it? Every. Single. Day.

Every
Single
Day

Seriously.

So here I am letting it be known that I am serious, so there. 2013. I am so not kidding.
I'll be joining the fab writers of A Round Of Words in 80 Days starting Monday January 7th, I didn't join in  the fun of ROW80 much last year, pretty half-assed--not this year though, this year I am in full-assed! I'll even be sponsoring this go around.
take the ROW 80 pledge here

I'll have my goals figured out next time, but for now, I'm very happy with the big one:

Published in 2013!

BAD ASS...NO, SERIOUSLY

This blog (and writer) have been many things, okay, maybe not many but certainly a few things. None of which were any one thing -- you know what I'm talking about?

Jack of all trades master of fricken none. Dang.

So, I had a mini epiphany, and believe me when I tell you, I know -- I've had them before. And, again with the dang. I don't feel confident to give writing advice, sheesh! I stumble upon most things that work for me. I'm not always up on cool blog posts, I get behind. My life can be sort of interesting, if you're me. Which you aren't.

What I can do -- I think -- is find really awesome books, books for research, maybe even books for writing. Very cool books come across the service/circulation desk at ye old library, from whence I receive my paycheck. And I want to share those with you. They might not even be books that I would need for research. They might be awesome books on...covert ops for the CIA, or wine making, or Inventing the Century...right? Right? And if I happen to find a cool website or, you know, real life site, I'll share that too.

So, I'll start off with two books that go together, because they were written by the same person! And are ridiculously entertaining and educational. Warning: really foul (hysterical) language.

The first is: BADASS. I love history (not so much when I was in school, but now I do) I especially love history that is written without the goal of putting me to sleep! So, not only is this a book on pretty wild historical figures, it's written in such a smack in your face, laugh your ass off way that you can't help but want to keep reading.

The second Ben Thompson book is: BADASS The Birth of a Legend. This book, written in the same way, is about...you guessed it Legends. From mythology to literature, From the Mighty Thor to Professor Moriarty to Captain James T. Kirk. Serious awesomeness.

Check out these books -- if for no other reason than entertainment (but you will learn something, I promise!)

Got research? Tell me about it, what and how, I'd really love to know!

#GUTGAA Tag! You're It! Me! I'm It...

Tamara One Magic Bean Buyer tagged me! First, I still love tag -- I played every tag ever invented (don't quiz me on this) so this is super cool to be tagged, now if only I can come up with some answers to these questions!

What is the working title of your book?
I hope it's not just the working title! GODDESS IN THE MECHANICA. It felt like a long route to it, but once I got it, I did a forehead slap.

Where did the idea come from for the book?
I sort of touched on this in my Meet & Greet, but, once I got the time-period and setting and main character (actually, only her circumstances, none of her powers or foibles).

The short answer is, Thor.

And then what if  a genius scientist (mad, of course) was obsessed with alchemy, bio-metal alchemy, changing base metal and infusing it into living beings, and what if gods and legends were a part of this world's real history, and what if he used artifacts of legends and gods and experimented on babies...which all takes place before the story, but I had to get there to understand the young people at the school.

The other short answer is, what if the person you loved was the person responsible for your parents' death? How do you reach a happy ending from there?

What genre does your book fall under?
YA Paranormal/Steampunk...maybe I should call it Mythpunk.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in the movie rendition?
This was hard! I can see my characters in my head...so to figure out actors that would translate, well:

Princess Merida was the first person that comes to mind for Tess, I know she's not real, but since Tamara got to change ages of actors I get to change reality!

Alex Pettyfer is almost perfect, if he were a bit sharper in his cheekbones...or:

Tyler Hoechlin (younger, of course) I really like his pissed-off look.

What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?
A young woman thinks she needs one thing to avenge her parents' death; an ancient artifact, stolen and in the hands of an evil genius. With help from her classmates, she must retreive the artifact, save the world, and exact her revenge. (Mine's two sentences too!) And probably will change after all the feedback from the query.

Will your book be self published or represented by an agent?
An agent would be ideal. But I'm not averse to self pubbing it either. Right now I need to concentrate on finishing!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscrpt?
I'll let you know when I'm done...

What else about the book might pique the reader's interests?
PIRATES! Air Pirates that is, and one in particular: Captain Arkady Flint...

Anson Mount, practically perfect in every way for Arkady Flint.

What fun! Thanks again to Tamara for tagging me -- link to her site at top, check it out, she is cool and funny and I love her premise for her book.

Now, let's see...I tag
Stephsco and Talynn  ink in the book

Have fun!

Pitch Polish -- Please Help With the Shiny

I know I need some help here...perhaps serious help. So hard to distill! Anyway, thought I'd hang it out there. I plan on visiting other blogs Monday. Thanks for any comments.

New, updated pitch, after all the lovely messages, I finally sat and worked at it. Thanks to everyone who commented!

Title: GODDESS IN THE MECHANICA
Genre: YA Paranormal Steampunk
Word Count:

Tess St. Cyr, a 16 year old orphan, who sees things that aren’t there, wants answers and vengeance, and yes, in that order – fostered to a theater family affords her neither. Then she receives an invitation to a marvelous school, run by a friend of her real parents, Miss Carmilla. Now, perhaps, she’ll get what she wants.

Sebastian James, 16, knows exactly who he is, or what he is: Nephilim. Now, if only he could forget it. He spent his time searching with his Air Pirate father for the fiend who used Sebastian’s powers to force information from friends of his father’s until he too receives an invitation to a special school.

Tess and Sebastian are like magnets, at times attracted and at others repelled. But as Tess starts to learn about her and her classmates’ strange biology – an experiment with oldgod artifacts and human babies – an artifact is stolen in front of the entire class. More experiments, or something worse? Just as the class starts to train for serious battle Tess find out a terrible secret of Sebastian’s and Miss Carmilla is kidnapped.

They both want to find the mad scientist responsible for the kidnapping and their fates. But can Tess forgive Sebastian long enough to work together to save Miss Carmilla, and possibly the world.   

    

Mr. Smyth had the job of driving me to my new school and residence. My foster parents said I should feel lucky, not about Mr. Smyth, with his rickety cart and OldHorse, but about the “opportunity” to attend this school. I felt anything but lucky at this moment, as I clutched the invitation – sweat and fear ruining it for any keepsake, and wondered, for the hundredth time, why they would want me.

We left behind a bustling thoroughfare and turned onto a desolate lane. Mr. Smyth slowed the horse to a stop at the only drive I saw, an enormous wrought iron gate barring the way.

I considered this closed gate and looked back at the equally closed Mr. Smyth, he nearly smiled, and then reached behind the bench, grabbed my bag and heaved it. I watched its graceful arc and hard landing at the gates. A good aim, that Mr. Smyth, I thought as I continued to sit and fidget with my skirts and invitation.

MEET & GREET!

Questions for the Meet and Greet

-Where do you write?

Usually in the office (lucky to have an office), sometimes on the porch and sometimes late at night in bed.

-Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see?

A pile! Encyclopedia of the Strange, Mystical, & Unexplained (Rosemary Ellen Guiley), my book bible (three ring binder filled with names, myths, inventions, and what-ifs),  Steampunk Bible (Jeff VanderMeer), a journal, and a composition notebook. It's a good pile of stuff. 

-Favorite time to write?

Either early in the morning or late at night. But anytime I can carve out is my favorite.

-Drink of choice while writing?

Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee. Unless it's late at night then a glass of red wine is nice -- and helps quiet the editor!

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?

I like to gear up for writing with music -- I like to find my own soundtrack for the book I'm working on, but I want quiet while I'm actually writing. Now, brainstorming to music is great.

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?

It was a long route...but my own pre-teen years and the movie Thor.

I had finished the first(ish) draft of a Contemporary YA -- and was having a hard time with one of the heroes, as in: What is he? What's the mythology? Etc. And, because I like to make things difficult for myself -- or I can't face the difficulties -- I thought, why don't I plop this in the 1800s and instead of a parapsychology center(which I really lived in for a while as a kid) I'll make it a school for "exceptional" kids...and, hey, what if myth and legend were actual history...

So, it ended up being it's own story -- nothing made it from the original YA (which is good, still need to figure that one out) 

-What's your most valuable writing tip?

Writing leads to ideas, ideas lead to more writing (a tip I often forget!). And use a beat sheet! Blake Snyder or Alexandra Sokolloff -- it's like a WIP GPS.

Excited to meet people!

CONFESSIONS OF A SHOULD BE WRITING WRITER

If confessions are good for the soul, then I'm golden. I can only hope they're good for the Muse's soul as well.

I haven't been writing.

Seriously not writing. Like, doing laundry instead of writing not writing. 

Okay, (another confession) I've done some creative things, because my brain will explode into a ball of dust if I don't create something, yet even these things started to feel like resistance (no matter how cool), because I have written and created other things too -- sometimes, nearly simultaneously! But this was instead of writing.

I'd like to blame it on WRITER'S BLOCK but that wouldn't be true. I didn't know what it was, I'd nearly come up with an idea for what needed to be written next (I do have a rough outline -- I know the ending, I know BIG key points) and it wouldn't work for me.

I had Writer's Indifference. (I just came up with that term!)

And then, and then it hit me. I had too much going on. Too much! Too much para in the normal, too much story in the line, too much, too much, too much. And the stupid thing is, I thought this one was golden: perfect conflict, perfect character arc, perfect plot. I was wrong.

Last night (late, because, why would an epiphany come early) I realized I had started this book last year and it coincided with Deana Barnhart's Gearing Up to Get an Agent (an awesomely fun thing) which is, again, happening soon, and what lead to the epiphany -- because I'm still writing the darn thing! -- suddenly it hit me: mine's broken.

Okay -- maybe not broken, but it certainly needs fixing. And, I think that's why I wasn't writing -- I couldn't see what was wrong, because there were so many things going on, I couldn't see that there were so many things going on! Now, the main story remains the same -- girl wants revenge for her parents' death. I just need to brainstorm how far I should take the paranormal aspect.

I can do this. So, while I will definitely be Gearing Up to Get an Agent,  I will be concentrating on finishing my manuscript. I'm giving myself until the end of the year (seems kind of long -- I really want to shorten it, but I'm not). December 31st 2012. That is it.

P.S. Next post I'll show you what I did instead of writing.

What do you do instead of writing?