Sunday, February 19, 2012

Inspiration...

Unfortunately, there is a teething baby in this house, so there will be no long, thoughtful post about my WOTY today.  Ah, well.

There is cause for celebration, however.  At just under 150,000 words, Luka's story for Aeris is now complete. There will be the inevitable edits, and I'm really not so happy with the ending line (I like a strong ending) but that's what editing is for.  I'm just so excited to have two, count them TWO, of my characters finished for this book.

I've started on Zyander, but his entries will be more editing than writing at this point, so it will be slow going.  My goal for him is the third week in March, at which point I will send out copies to my betas with a week deadline for feedback, then start my hardcore edits before sending the book onward to proofing.  *sigh*  So happy to be here, so happy to be getting my goals accomplished.

I've got lots of side projects going, but I've been making them take a back burner to Aeris.  I have a fantasy short story collection that should be out in another month or so, and a sci-fi one that will be out in another week or so.  There is also a super secret project that I am NOT working on, but making notes for to start up when Aeris is published.

Last bit of news...  I've been kind of off the internet, so I don't have many links this week, but I wanted to plug writer Elizabeth May, who has a book called The Falconer coming out sometime in 2013.  She has a GREAT entry on editing that gave me some super helpful hints on how to identify words you use too much in the course of your writing.  Have you seen Wordle, guys?  It's amazing.  Check out my rough draft of Aeris through Wordle's eyes:

I'm not worried about "like" as I tend to use a lot of similes in my writing.  "asked" and "one" are more troubling.  I don't see a lot of adverbs or -ing words, so hopeful my writing isn't too passive, either.  We'll see when we get to editing.

HERE is her blog entry on editing.  (BTW- much of what she talks about can also be found in the excellent book: Self-editing for Fiction Writers)

One other thing.  Elizabeth May also has a cool pinterest dedicated to inspiration for her book, and I thought I'd post a link to that, as well.  It inspired me to create my own board with stuff that gets my creativity flowing.

Here is her pinterest board.


Here is mine.  (Much smaller right now)


Hope all your goals are being reached and your inspiration is soaring!

5 comments:

Carolyn Mallory said...

Sounds like you are super busy!Impressive. I feel like after reading your blog that I need to get my act together and be more organized. I wills strive to do that this week. Keep it up!!

Claudia Lefeve said...

Yay!! So excited to hear you are almost done with Aeris! And I just followed you on Pinterest :)

Nadja Notariani said...

I plan to post a link to May's editing write up this week also. I am especially guilty of mixing the strong verb, the adverb, and the -ing verbs together into one sentence....I like the sound of it...even when I shouldn't...ha!

_____(Insert heroine's name here) climbed steadily, gripping the rough rope with her might, willing her gaze remain fixed above on her destination.

I like that it removes a lot of shorter sentences - but it can be a bit much...

Kate said...

@Carolyn: It only seems impressive. Most of what I did was play on Pinterest. hahaha
@Claudia: I just can't WAIT to read Paradox! I just followed YOU on Pinterest. hehehe
@Nadja: Isn't that blog post so great! I've been editing for a long time, but she puts me to shame. BTW- I do the SAME EXACT THING!!

Deniz Bevan said...

Wordles are so fun! I'll follow you on Pinterest.
And ooh, a fantasy collection!