New Writing Challenge

Chrisla · Nov 9, 2009

Our Writing Challenge thread got off track, and I thought it was a great motivator. So I'm starting another one.

By the end of this week, I plan to have all my reference material checked and have my source page(s) finished. I hope to find an ending for the book that I like, too, but that may take a little more thought.

How are the rest of you doing?

Red Bird · Nov 10, 2009

Good call, Chrisla. This thread helps me, too.

Goals for today: start snyopsis, work on query letter, and research agents who have represented books like mine.

Cheers,
Red Bird

sommemi · Nov 10, 2009

Goal for this week: stop goofing around online and force some BIC time. lol I really need to sit down and finish the editing! And I have stories that are in my head that I keep putting off putting on paper because I'm 'skured'. Gotta get over that. (Thanks Red Bird!)

Thanks for restarting this..

It's a good reminder.

Red Bird · Nov 10, 2009

I found a helpful blog today (Author! Author! :: Anne Mini's Blog). She has inoformation specific for memoirists. Yeah. Check it out.

Cheers,
Red Bird

(Sommemi)

Chrisla · Nov 10, 2009

Red Bird said:
I found a helpful blog today (Author! Author! :: Anne Mini's Blog). She has inoformation specific for memoirists. Yeah. Check it out.

Cheers,
Red Bird

(Sommemi)

Do you have a link?

Bluegate · Nov 10, 2009

Do either of you have a goal for today? :poke:

I am going to outline another scene today that I hope will connect smoothly to the previous one.

sommemi · Nov 10, 2009

Bluegate said:
Do either of you have a goal for today?

I am going to outline another scene today that I hope will connect smoothly to the previous one.

yeah - my goal today is to NOT forget to take home my stupid flashdrive from work instead of leaving it plugged in here and forgetting it. DOH!

Actually, I think my goal tonight is to suck it up and pick ONE story to work on tonight. Don't know which one. But I'm going to try to tackle it all one piece at a time. Maybe in order. Hard part is... what's the order??! lol Maybe I'll do that tonight. Get everything in the right order finally, and then start with the first one and work my way through. Yeah. that's it.

MY GOAL TONIGHT: GET EVERYTHING IN ONE FINAL ORDER (WHETHER I'M HAPPY WITH IT OR NOT WHO CARES) AND THEN START EDITING/FINISHING ONE STORY AT A TIME.

MY ULTIMATE OVER-ACHEIVER GOAL: DO ALL THAT AND FINISH EDITING THE FIRST STORY TOO.

sommemi · Nov 10, 2009

OH YEAH - and tomorrow, I'm taking a break - unfortunately I volunteered my computer geek-like services to my cousin for the evening. DRAT.

sommemi · Nov 10, 2009

Chrisla said:
Do you have a link?

I found it I found it!

http://www.annemini.com/

Chrisla · Nov 10, 2009

Great link; lots of good information I wish I'd read before I started this last revision. She does address memoir writing, too. When talking about synopsis, she says that they are always written in present tense, third person EXCEPT for memoir, which is always written in past tense, first person. So...I'm hoping there are other tidbits we can use. Lots of material, though, best taken a little at a time, as needed.

Thans for finding this, Sommemi.

As for daily challenge, I'be been preparing my manuscript todayfor mailing to a semi-professional reader, who has offered to take it on. I plan to have it printed and ready to mail by tomorrow evening.

Red Bird · Nov 10, 2009

Chrisla said:
Great link; lots of good information I wish I'd read before I started this last revision. She does address memoir writing, too. When talking about synopsis, she says that they are always written in present tense, third person EXCEPT for memoir, which is always written in past tense, first person. So...I'm hoping there are other tidbits we can use. Lots of material, though, best taken a little at a time, as needed.

Thans for finding this, Sommemi.

As for daily challenge, I'be been preparing my manuscript todayfor mailing to a semi-professional reader, who has offered to take it on. I plan to have it printed and ready to mail by tomorrow evening.

Go, Chrisla! We are cheering you on! Can you hear us?

The site is wonderful. A lot of information specific to memoir writers. She even has examples of title pages, snyopsis, entire submission packages!

I reached my goals of research today. I worked on my query some, and started my snyopsis. Productive day. Tomorrow=repeat today.

Chrisla · Nov 11, 2009

I figure I'd better get on here now, after a late, late lunch, because I'll be working late into the night. I've said before that I wish I'd found the Author Author site sooner.

I had the first section of my book broken out -- not where I wanted to, but at the first logical point where the word count was manageable. I'd formatted, edited, and was ready to send it off to my reader. Then I went into the Author Aurthor site last nigt and got at least a BA in submissions over the course of several hours.

I've been doing it all wrong, following Uncle Jim's directions. I had to create a title page, reformat my header and the beginning chapter pages. Not too big a deal. But then I found that I've been counting pages wrong. According to my word processor, I had about 75,000 words. When I did it the right way (counting the correctly formatted pages and multiplying that by 250 for my Times Roman font) I have only 67,000 words. Being naturally sneaky, I changed my font to New Courier and multiplied my pages by 200. Still 67,000 words.

Finally, I added in the material up to the point where I'd really wanted to make the break in the book. 100,750 words. That I can work with. But I have to do a final edit on all the material I'm adding.

So I guess I get the public flogging today for not meeting my goal. No matter how late I work, I can't possibly do all that tonight with any confidence that I'm being thorough.

At least I'm keeping BIC!

Bluegate · Nov 11, 2009

Chrisla you definitely get a pass on the flogging. You're doing a fantastic job with your goals. The primary one being to keep BIC. Great job!

Red Bird you are also kicking some BIC butt. I think that's bit redundant but what can you do? You have been busting some behind with work on your query and synopsis. Way to go!

Me? What? I'm busy. Really. Um... exuse me I have something um, well something that must be really important to do.
Back later, hopefully with a clue. :Shrug:

Red Bird · Nov 11, 2009

Chrisla said:
I figure I'd better get on here now, after a late, late lunch, because I'll be working late into the night. I've said before that I wish I'd found the Author Author site sooner.

I had the first section of my book broken out -- not where I wanted to, but at the first logical point where the word count was manageable. I'd formatted, edited, and was ready to send it off to my reader. Then I went into the Author Aurthor site last nigt and got at least a BA in submissions over the course of several hours.

I've been doing it all wrong, following Uncle Jim's directions. I had to create a title page, reformat my header and the beginning chapter pages. Not too big a deal. But then I found that I've been counting pages wrong. According to my word processor, I had about 75,000 words. When I did it the right way (counting the correctly formatted pages and multiplying that by 250 for my Times Roman font) I have only 67,000 words. Being naturally sneaky, I changed my font to New Courier and multiplied my pages by 200. Still 67,000 words.

Finally, I added in the material up to the point where I'd really wanted to make the break in the book. 100,750 words. That I can work with. But I have to do a final edit on all the material I'm adding.

So I guess I get the public flogging today for not meeting my goal. No matter how late I work, I can't possibly do all that tonight with any confidence that I'm being thorough.

At least I'm keeping BIC!

Chrisla,
I do hope the information we're getting from the author author site is reliable. There is a lot of conflicting stuff floating around. Her credentials seem solid and she's written memoir. I wish there was a way to know who's advice to follow.

I'm working late into the night too. I'll be thinking of you : )

Red Bird

Red Bird · Nov 11, 2009

Bluegate said:
Chrisla you definitely get a pass on the flogging. You're doing a fantastic job with your goals. The primary one being to keep BIC. Great job!

Red Bird you are also kicking some BIC butt. I think that's bit redundant but what can you do? You have been busting some behind with work on your query and synopsis. Way to go!

Me? What? I'm busy. Really. Um... exuse me I have something um, well something that must be really important to do.
Back later, hopefully with a clue.

Thanks for the words of encouragment. Now, GET YOUR ASS TO WORK! Just kidding. We'll grant you a hall pass.

Red Bird

Chrisla · Nov 11, 2009

Red Bird said:
Chrisla,
I do hope the information we're getting from the author author site is reliable. There is a lot of conflicting stuff floating around. Her credentials seem solid and she's written memoir. I wish there was a way to know who's advice to follow.

I'm working late into the night too. I'll be thinking of you : )

Red Bird

I hope it's reliable, too. I checked her bio and she looks pretty solid. If she's not, I guess we'll find out soon enough. Now back to the revisions. Glad I've got company.

Red Bird · Nov 12, 2009

Goals for tonight: flesh out one chapter for my synopsis.
Pray my patients behave.

Red Bird

Chrisla · Nov 12, 2009

Edits of the added material is going slowly. I'm shooting for two chapters tonight, if my bleary eyes will stay open that long.

Red Bird · Nov 12, 2009

Chrisla,
My bleary eyes will be working through the night too. Just think of how good you will feel when you put the ms in the mail. Then, you can take a long bath and wait for them to return with more revision requests.

I got my ms back from my mentor today. It is so much cleaner than the earlier drafts, but still, at nearly four-hundred pages, I have some work to do.

With you in spirit,
Red Bird

Chrisla · Nov 12, 2009

Red Bird said:
Chrisla,
My bleary eyes will be working through the night too. Just think of how good you will feel when you put the ms in the mail. Then, you can take a long bath and wait for them to return with more revision requests.

I got my ms back from my mentor today. It is so much cleaner than the earlier drafts, but still, at nearly four-hundred pages, I have some work to do.

With you in spirit,
Red Bird

My bleary eyes have done me in. Now for a glass of wine and bedtime. I got through a lot of material tonight, but there's still a long way to go. Congratulations on the "cleaner" ms.

Where is everybody else? Are we the only ones working?

Red Bird · Nov 13, 2009

I don't know where everyone went : (

From the looks of my last post, it's a good thing I'm editing edited material....wait for them...yikes.

I didn't get as much done tonight as I had hoped, but the patients are finally settled down and I still have two hours to work, so we'll see.

Keep it up, Chrisla.
Red Bird

Nandi · Nov 13, 2009

Red Bird said:
Chrisla,
I do hope the information we're getting from the author author site is reliable. There is a lot of conflicting stuff floating around. Her credentials seem solid and she's written memoir. I wish there was a way to know who's advice to follow.

I'm working late into the night too. I'll be thinking of you : )

Red Bird

Chrisla and Red Bird, I followed Anne Mini's blog for several years while I was writing my memoir and submitting it to agents. She tends to be very verbose (if you hadn't noticed!), but she knows the industry and I think her advice is reliable. Good luck to you both!

sommemi · Nov 13, 2009

sommemi said:
yeah - my goal today is to NOT forget to take home my stupid flashdrive from work instead of leaving it plugged in here and forgetting it. DOH!

Actually, I think my goal tonight is to suck it up and pick ONE story to work on tonight. Don't know which one. But I'm going to try to tackle it all one piece at a time. Maybe in order. Hard part is... what's the order??! lol Maybe I'll do that tonight. Get everything in the right order finally, and then start with the first one and work my way through. Yeah. that's it.

MY GOAL TONIGHT: GET EVERYTHING IN ONE FINAL ORDER (WHETHER I'M HAPPY WITH IT OR NOT WHO CARES) AND THEN START EDITING/FINISHING ONE STORY AT A TIME.

MY ULTIMATE OVER-ACHEIVER GOAL: DO ALL THAT AND FINISH EDITING THE FIRST STORY TOO.

Wow. I really failed on that one. Didn't do ANY of it. Instead, I chose to get sick and take a day off of work and didn't touch my computer once. Ugh. Guess this will be my goal for the weekend now!

Bluegate · Nov 13, 2009

Heeelloooo....
Contrary to recent accounts I did not actually fall of the face of the earth. More like the edge of my desk.
I have been working on other things the past few days and didn't want to show my pen around here without something to add. I have another distraction day ahead here but plan to show up later and do some work.
I am also going to take a look at all your hard work and see if I can tear it to tiny squirrel shreds. Bwaahhaaahhhhh
Just kidding. I lack the squirrel rippin' talent. I will read it though and offer my best hack opinions. Lucky you.

Chrisla · Nov 13, 2009

Nandi said:
Chrisla and Red Bird, I followed Anne Mini's blog for several years while I was writing my memoir and submitting it to agents. She tends to be very verbose (if you hadn't noticed!), but she knows the industry and I think her advice is reliable. Good luck to you both!

Thanks, Nandi. I did a little more research, and apparently the page-count thing is correct. The rationale is that the publishers need to know how many pages will be published, not how many words. Some writers leave more white space on a page than do others (more dialogue, for example,) so they may have fewer words, but more pages. Does that make any sense? (It's been a long day.)

sommemi said:
Wow. I really failed on that one. Didn't do ANY of it. Instead, I chose to get sick and take a day off of work and didn't touch my computer once. Ugh. Guess this will be my goal for the weekend now!

I'm so sorry; hope you're feeling better. We promise, no flogging of the ill.

Bluegate said:
Heeelloooo....
Contrary to recent accounts I did not actually fall of the face of the earth. More like the edge of my desk.
I have been working on other things the past few days and didn't want to show my pen around here without something to add. I have another distraction day ahead here but plan to show up later and do some work.
I am also going to take a look at all your hard work and see if I can tear it to tiny squirrel shreds. Bwaahhaaahhhhh
Just kidding. I lack the squirrel rippin' talent. I will read it though and offer my best hack opinions. Lucky you.

"You're scaring me. Maybe that'll be my excuse for not posting mine. . .

New Writing Challenge

practical experience, FTW

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practical experience, FTW

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practical experience, FTW

Clearly has too much time on hand.

Has a routine

Has a routine

practical experience, FTW

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practical experience, FTW

Has a routine

practical experience, FTW

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Uses loquacious&#8194;in sentences

Clearly has too much time on hand.

practical experience, FTW

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