My Writing Process, Step-By-Step

If you have never seen Nathan Bradford’s explanation of the publishing process in GIF form, you should definitely check it out. Funny and accurate.  It sort of inspired today’s post, in part. Or at least in format.

A few days ago, somebody over in the Scribophile forums posed a question about what different members’ writing processes looked like. And there are a lot of ways you can approach writing. Some people are plotters, some are pantsers. I happen to be a combination of the two. But to make my process clear, let me go through it with you step by step, with handy images to illustrate each point.

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Step 1 – Get struck by brilliant idea somewhere that is not conducive to writing, such as while driving the car or when taking a shower.

Probably not the smartest way to multi-task.

Step 2 – Pants the pants off the first several scenes and/or chapters until hitting a point where I know where I want the story to end, but have no idea how to get there.

It’s often 90% adrenaline, 7% caffeine, and 3% brilliant idea.

Step 3 – Eat some chocolate, watch stupid YouTube videos, create character profiles, which includes scouring the web for photos of actors who could play the parts and/or create images on Morph Thing.

Is there something on my face?

Step 4 – Plot a general outline.

And you thought you were close to reducing your carbon footprint.

Step 5 – Work through the outline, adjusting and adding scenes as necessary.

It’s not a quick process.

Step 6 – Finish a draft, rejoice, eat more chocolate.

If it’s celebratory, it has no fat or calories, right?

Step 7 – Let the draft sit for at least three weeks. Do lots of workouts to counteract the chocolate.

Eh, that’s sufficient.

Step 8 – Read through from beginning to end, out loud and possibly using accents, marking places that need editing and revision.

Just make sure nobody’s home if you decide to use voices and accents.

Step 9 – Slog through edits and revisions

Trying to meld your mind with the computer’s hard drive is, unfortunately, very ineffective.

Step 10 – Post to online critique site(s) or otherwise present to critique groups/partners.

Remember to be nice and accept all feedback with an open mind.

Step 11 – Revise and edit some more. Eat chocolate.

Why are you looking at me funny?

Step 12 – Develop pitch and synopsis.

I hate writing queries and synopses.

Step 13 – Eat chocolate.

At this point, the chocolate is all about staying sane.

Step 14 – Repeat.

 

(Images found through Google Image Search.)

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week, May 6-10, is Teacher Appreciation Week. I decided to make a quick shout-out to some of the awesome teacher’s I’ve had, who truly had a hand in shaping the person I am today, both as a writer and as a teacher.

New Yorkers Unite for Our State Parks!

I don’t often get up on a soap box – at least I hope I don’t – unless I feel very strongly about something. Or if something really catches my interest and I just have to spread the word. That’s what’s happening today.

A couple years ago, when New York State was in the midst of a budget crisis (which is no surprise, really, we seem to have a budget crisis of some sort almost every year – maybe they we should elect a bunch of CPAs to the Legislature and Assembly), one of the ideas put forth to save money was to either severely reduce the operation of or enact the complete and immediate closure of most of our state parks and historic sites.

Fortunately the outcry against such action was resounding from just about every corner of the state, and volunteers emerged from all walks of life intent on saving our state parks.  And a good thing too – I don’t know the numbers off hand, but our state parks provide a lot of revenue for the local townships and are a major reason why tourists come here from other states and Canada.  New York State is lucky – we really have some beautiful areas, and a variety of parks and historic sites that can cater to people with just about every interest under the sun.  And I’m a big fan of state and national parks. Without even any dedicated consideration, I can think of at least twelve I’ve been to in the last two years.  And they were state and national parks I’d never been to before, for the most part!

Anyway, long story short, New York’s state parks and historic sites were saved. For the time being. Now, with the effects of the sequester starting to ripple down into the way airports and other nationally funded arenas are being run, it’s only a matter of time before the states have to tighten their belts again and consider what will be next on the chopping block in an effort to save money.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the state parks make it to the top of that list at some point soon.

So it’s up to us to keep our state parks and historic sites running, and tomorrow’s a great opportunity to show our support for our fantastic local attractions.  Tomorrow, May 4th, is “I Love My Park” Day here in New York State. It’s a day for New Yorkers to get up and go out to our local state parks and historic sites and help clean things up.  Pull some weeds. Paint some fences. Sweep some sidewalks.  For the seasonal sites, it might be a matter of getting things ship-shape for opening day. For year-round locations, it might involve cleaning up the damage from this winter.  Either way, it’s a great chance to do something, and send the message to the people in charge that we love our state parks, and want to keep them going.

I personally will be spending some time tomorrow at Fort Ontario. You can register to help out at your local state park or historic site – or just show up, ready and willing!

Crawling out from under my rock…

It’s been almost a month since I last posted anything, and while there are tons of great ideas fluttering around in my head, I haven’t had the time or wherewithal to focus on any one thing lately.  This week’s news of the bombing of the Boston Marathon just put the cap on productivity for the week.

I’ve had a definite lack of overall motivation for about three and a half weeks now.  I was feeling pretty down in the dumps during the last week of March, plus was swamped with report cards, but then had an awesome vacation to Arizona and Vegas with the hubs.  Pictures and tidbits are forth coming, as soon as I finish sorting through the 1000+ pictures we took (we had too much fun with our SLR camera). Then came parent conferences, and this week I had my formal observation.  I think it went well, at least.

And last weekend, I went to my very first ever writer’s retreat!

It was hosted by one of the members of CNYRW, and it was beyond amazing and fun.  Besides writing over 6k words on the CLR, I enjoyed several delicious meals, a murder mystery dinner game, a couple goal setting/reporting sessions, and tons of belly-busting laughter.  My beautiful room, the “Daffodil Hill” room, was in the part of the house that was built in 1809.

HISTORY!!!!

And you will have to excuse me for bragging a little.  When my wonderful hostess gave us a tour of the house, she also shared with me the gun that she and her husband found in the rafters of the attic when they bought the house.  I was able to find the company stamp (William Moore & Co., which seems to have been in business from 1854-1872-ish). It was a double-barrel muzzle loading percussion shotgun, very rusted.  I tried to find a stamp that might point to a date of manufacture or a location, which would help with further searching.  However, since there was no action to open the breech, and a spot where a ramrod would have been stored, I stand by my conclusion that it was a muzzle loader and likely was manufactured around the time of the Civil War or shortly beforehand.  I suspect this solely on the (slightly over researched) knowledge that breech-loading technology first started being perfected in the years just before the Civil War, though it was mostly seen in sporting rifles, not mass produced until midway through the war. By the end of the Civil War and into the Wild West era, so often portrayed in movies, the breech-loading shotgun and rifle were commonplace and preferred.

So, anyway. Yeah. It was awesome. I got to geek out a little with the Civil War era weaponry knowledge I’ve garnered in my pursuit of historical accuracy.

Plus, you know, the writing.

I’m looking forward to attending another retreat with the wonderful CNYRW authors.  Heck, I’d love to go to any writer’s retreat again!

Writing Resolutions Check In

It feels like a really long time since I last posted, but I guess it’s only been a couple weeks.  It’s been a little crazy around here with finalizing grades and report cards and visits from family, and a slew of other things that may or may not come up in future posts.  It remains to be seen.  BUT in spite of the complete lack of sleep I’m running on – seriously, like an hour if I’m lucky and not all at once – let’s try and stay on topic today.

Whether in education or writing, your goals should be SMART!

At the beginning of January, I laid out eight writing related goals for myself, which I hope to accomplish in the 2013 calendar year.  Since we’re nearing the end of March, and thus the first quarter of the year, it’s worth checking int o see how those goals are coming along.

Goal #1 - Finish revisions to the HFMO Part 1, by the end of January

Status = DONE!  

Well, I do have a few people still giving me nitpicks on the proofreading side of things on Scribophile, but it’s nothing major and I can say I’m really very happy with how the revisions have turned out.

Goal #2 - Continue submitting HFMO Part 1 to agents and small pubs (ongoing)

Status = In process

I’ve submitted a total of six queries to agents and gotten three rejections so far.  The other three haven’t responded yet, and I need to sit down at some point this weekend and figure out if I need to follow up, if I’m still within their window of consideration, or if the lack of response means they’re not interested and it’s time to move down the list.  I’ve been a bit lacking in submitting, I admit. I guess I just got so caught up in working on Goal #3 that I lost track of where I am in Goal #2!

Speaking of…

Goal #3 - Finish Chick Lit Romance  first draft and distribute to critique group(s), by the end of April

Status – In Process, finish line in sight

The fact that the Central New York Romance Writers holds a monthly “book in a week” challenge has really helped the CLR along.  Usually I’m a very linear writer, but I did jump ahead a few weeks ago to work on a scene I wanted to share at critique during our March meeting.  On Sunday I finished up Chapter 12, out of about 18 or so that are planned, and while it’s very rough, I’m quite happy with the bones of it.  I feel like I’m on track to finish by the end of April, if all else goes well.

Goal #4 - Finish Historical Romance (HR) first draft and distribute to critique group(s), by the end of August

Status – Development Hell

This project hasn’t seen the light of day since the mid-October, even if I have played around with plot outlines in my head.  Originally, it was going to be a short story (or rather, a long story) of about 15k words for an Avon Impulse submission call, but I didn’t get it done in time despite my best efforts.  I’m hoping to give this the bulk of my focus over the summer, especially if I can get the CLR squared away and make myself write an extended synopsis.

Goal #5 - Revise/edit/submit at least five short fiction pieces, by the end of August

Status – In Process

I submitted a creative non-fiction piece last month but it didn’t make the cut.  To be honest, it’s a piece I probably shouldn’t have submitted, in hindsight, because there really is no good market for it.  But I have two other shorts almost prepped – one should be polished up enough for submissions within the next few weeks.  I had hoped to get two stories submitted by the end of March, but time didn’t play well with my plans (see the opening paragraph).

Goal #6 - Begin revisions to HFMO Part 2 and distribute to critique group(s), by end of October

Goal #7 – Research self-publishing options by the end of December

Goal #8 – Look into necessary steps to start up proofreading/editing services, by the end of December

Status – In Limbo

All three of these goals are on a back burner that isn’t even lit right now, though I have started mulling over them.  I’ve gotten a couple requests to continue with the HFMO, so depending on how the CLR and HR go, I might tackle the revisions to Part 2 early.  I’ve also started studying up on the proofreading/editing services that are available out there, as well as what sort of courses I might want to consider taking if I can get such a business off the ground.  And the self-publishing info is almost landing in my lap, thanks to an upsurge in news articles on the topic, as well as some information shared by fellow CNYRW member Jen Talty about the self-pubbing process these days.  I will have to pick her brain if I get closer to the self-pub decision.

So that’s where we stand at the end of March!  I wish everyone a happy and blessed Easter weekend, and if anyone is traveling, may you reach your destinations safely and return home rested and restored.