"Old" People Writing for Teens V

CoffeeBeans

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Woohoo Netz! Good work on your inspiration.

Happy Holidays folks. I'm right in that part of being totally useless with writing because real life is super busy, but I'm always happy to know you're all out there working hard. Hope everyone has a great couple of days and get some new books out of the season!
 

CoffeeBeans

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Friends! I've missed you all so much! Everyone tell me how you are!
 

Bookgirl2021

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I'm so glad the forums are back! I tried to come on one day right around Christmas and check in, only to find the site was down. How were everyone's holidays? Any exciting news?

As for me, I'm just sitting here in Anatevka, but doing mostly okay most of the time.
 

Netz

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I'm working on the synopsis for my latest WIP, and I've been tinkering with the query, too. Other than that, I haven't done any real writing this year (that I can remember, lol).
 

CoffeeBeans

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I feel you Netz, I was just saying I don't think I've written a fresh word all month. I should work on a query, but I'm telling myself I can't because I'm writing the other project. Or "writing" the other project.

Did any of you have an issue getting back on AW? KiwiLady mentioned she still hasn't be able to get on, but she says hi!
 

Anne_B

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I feel you Netz, I was just saying I don't think I've written a fresh word all month. I should work on a query, but I'm telling myself I can't because I'm writing the other project. Or "writing" the other project.

Did any of you have an issue getting back on AW? KiwiLady mentioned she still hasn't be able to get on, but she says hi!

The site loaded very s.l.o.w.l.y. for me Sunday and Monday, but today seems to be loading normally.
 

KiwiLady

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Hi everyone!

This is my fourth time trying to post this over the last couple of days...fingers crossed it works this time. AW keeps logging me out when I go to post then telling me this forum isn't working at the moment and not letting me back on.

I've been busy on the edits for the first book in my new series. Hopefully I'll have it ready for beta reading within the next month. I've also been spending way too much time learning how to market my other books - it's a very steep learning curve with lots of highs and lows. And between all that, we're getting ready to do some major renovations on our house which will have us living in a caravan for a few months, so I've been spending way too much time choosing carpets and kitchens and taps and everything else in between.

Hope everyone's writing is going well.
 

JKRowley

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AW is back! Hello all you lovely, talented people!

Kiwi, I am excited to see your Sherwood series published. And the reviews are stellar. Well done!

What is new with me is that I am querying agents after a LONG break from that. I spent a couple years writing and revising to build a body of work. Things are a little different. It seems no response is more the norm with agents saying if you don't hear from them, it is a no.

I did send out one query the old fashioned way through the mail with a self-addressed stamped envelope inside.
 

CoffeeBeans

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I have never-not-once sent a query on paper. That's SO old school.
 

Sage

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How's everyone doing in here? It's been awfully quiet lately, and I don't know if that's because everyone's extra busy, everyone's afraid to talk about anything but COVID-19, or the bot-attack on AW just got everyone doing non-AW things and nothing quite got jumpstarted in here.

I'm working on my YA SF queer White Christmas (no, really this time!), and will use that for Camp NaNo. I'm actually on staycation, since my trip to Carnegie Hall was cancelled for obvious reasons, and my trip to Regionals afterwards was also cancelled for the same obvious reasons. I flirted briefly with the idea of getting this sweet vacation rental on the Oregon coast (it was gorgeous, and would be totally self-isolating), but even driving that far became problematic and I'm not sure where I was going to get food supplies for a 10-day trip, lol. So I've been working on that story already, and actually fixed the beginning!

I mean, I like the original better, but it was just too much like the inspiration material. You know what this means...I can use it for a future Beta Project, bwahaha! But let's see if I actually write the ending to it now.

Speaking of projects, April 1st is coming up and I may possibly have a surprise for this forum on that day. But if I flake out, I'll blame April Fool's Day and say it was all a joke, so don't hold me to it :2angel:

Anyway, any writing going on out there? How are you all holding up? Busier? Less busy? Identifying with Rapunzel at the beginning of Tangled?
 

Bing Z

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One of the folks in my local writing group has the virus. He's retired so he belongs to the vulnerable group. Offered him best wishes for a speedy recovery, but not much I can do.

Some of us (in that group) have been experimenting video-chating and so far Zoom has been the most promising. But the core of the group has been silent throughout. Well, this virus thing isn't going away anytime soon, so there is a good chance the group will not convene in the foreseeable future, and probably some of us will be secretly forming a spinoff video-conferencing team. I hate to see any split but let's see how things work out.

I have also thought about... if tele-conferencing (plus Google Drive markup) works, a writing group will not be confined to physical locations but rather interests (or genres) and maybe some AW groups will form. That is a whole new horizon.

On the writing side, I am still in a writing block (since trying to write a steamy scene, which is supposed to be easy and enjoyable... dunno what is wrong with me). Been editing & reviewing, trying to crawl out of it. Also working on beta reading. Since DW and I both work from home now, I see her 18 hours a day and we spend more time together watching news and less time minding our own business... so less time for writing... but then, since work is slow these days, I can sneak in some time to watch porn write. Maybe I should forget about being steamy and write what happens after the act is interrupted by the untimely arrival of an old character whom I am still trying to figure out when and how he shall die.
 
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Netz

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:hi: I'm here! I've been lurking (mostly in the Covid thread), but I'm here. :)

I've been adjusting to working from home for the last week. Haven't done any writing recently, but work is making us take mandatory annual leave for the two weeks over Easter, so I might do some then. I need to work on the query for my current WIP (the one you did the beta read for, Sage) and I have a few edits to make following the last beta's notes. Trying to decide whether to send the ms for another beta read afterwards.

I've been doing more exercise recently (had started a few weeks before things got serious with the pandemic) and, now I'm working from home, I'm trying even more to have a regular routine for that. :)

Surprisingly, I haven't been binging on the chocolate (might make an exception tonight though, lol!).:e2bouncey

Ooh, an April Fool's surprise, Sage? I'll have to remember to keep on my toes when I'm viewing the thread tomorrow! (And elsewhere around the internet, too!) :greenie

KiwiLady, have you started living in your caravan yet?

Stay safe, everyone! :Hug2:
 
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Sage

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Cheering you all on!
I made working out my goal since the gym closed, and worked out 10 days in a row, but I took a day off from it yesterday. I also was very cranky yesterday, so clearly working out was good for me, even if 10 days in a row is a long time on your body. My chorus choreographer had zumba classes via Zoom (or Zoomba classes, as I like to call them), and then the gym started putting workouts "live" online. The first day was all live, but then they got smart and just put up four hours of classes, and repeated them for 24 hours, and some of them are video classes that you normally need a subscription for (like the official Zumba workouts, as an example). When I don't have a class I want, or I just want to get out of the house, I walk up the steep hill that's 2 blocks away from our cul-de-sac, and that usually gets me 35-40 minutes and out in the fresh air (although I would prefer to do it when it's not sunny so I can avoid getting sunscreen in my eyes). Anyway, I managed to get through some lazy days last week by trying for my "perfect week" badge on my Apple Watch. I've done 7 days in a row of exercising before, but it has to be within Apple's "week" to count. Same with the 7-workout week. Then to get the "perfect week," it forced me not to sit on my butt the rest of the day after my work out, because there are two other requirements each day than just a half hour of exercising.

Anyway, it's cloudy right now, and I think I'll take advantage of it by walking up the hill!
 

Sage

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I didn't flake out.

Also, I've written 32 words (all in editing while I tried to catch up on what happened last in this novel)
 

Netz

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You're doing extremely well with your exercising, Sage!

And, hey, that's 32 more words than I've written on a WIP today, lol. Although...I am keeping a Coronavirus diary (started it on Monday 23rd March, which was the day I first started home working), so I wrote a little in that today. I don't know how things are going to pan out over the next few months (either personally, locally, nationally or globally), so I wanted to keep a record for posterity in these surreal times.
 

Sage

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They've been lots of fun in the past, and you get bragging rights too!