Omigosh, guys, it’s December already! Jeez, this year is sure flying by …
Note: this post was written Friday night and scheduled to go live on Sunday morning (so no news from Sat and Sun). Though on Sat I’ll go to my cousin’s wedding. I’m her wedding godmother (wedding tradition in Brazil is quite different than in the US).
Reminder of my goals:
- Revise my NaNo novel (G.H.)
- Read 1 book per week
- Blog at least once per week (besides the #ROW80 check-ins)
- Comment on #ROW80 friends’ blogs
Oh, and I think I’ll add exercise again to my goals since I started Pilates this past week (Monday and Wednesday)!
Blogging
All done.
Reading
Finished How To Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey last Saturday.
Read Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler.
I’m reading Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout.
Writing
My daughter has stayed with me most of the morning, so that takes a couple of my writing hours, but it’s for a good cause =)
As you may remember, I finished NaNo last week (and November is GONE!).
Monday: about 2,500 words.
Tuesday: another 2,500 words. And I finished my ms (G.H.)
Here is how my revision usually goes: First, I re-read my manuscript and add to scenes, or add whole scenes, see if the story flows and such and fix major issues that are jumping from the page. Then, I give it to my beta-readers and wait for answers (what is not working, what is really good, awkward sentences, etc). Next, I re-read it, using my beta-readers’ notes and paying attention to my prose … I try to line-edit the manuscript, though I’m not an expert on it, and fix major grammar stuff … Usually, when I think the ms is strong enough, I send it to a professional copy-editor (with whom I worked before and trust). And the last step is getting ready for querying.
So, my next step is to re-read G.H. for the first time ;)
Wednesday: took a break (more like procrastination, actually). Feeling very bad about it (though I played with my daughter, read a lot and went to my pilates class!).
Thursday: I’ve began re-reading and fixing it. The manuscript has 43 scenes and I stopped on scene 19.
Friday: Procrastination all over. I woke up feeling like a cold was coming down on me and spent my day reading …
I’m feeling kinda bleh … or blue. I don’t know if it’s the cold plus the ending of another project, but I know that maybe it’s associated with my heroines. You see, I write protagonists aged 19-21, the so called New Adult, and most agents shun away from that … I queried one of my manuscripts about 2 weeks ago. I’ve received a few rejections already and some of them advised I made a choice between Young Adult (14-18) or Adult (adult to me it’s not about the age of the protagonists. It’s about the hotness in the sex scenes. Don’t get me wrong. I love reading JR Ward and such, but I just don’t feel okay writing like that). Anyway. They tell me that I should put my college-aged heroines in high school. And that saddens me. For many reasons. First, I want a character a little more mature than high schoolers. Second, I would have to re-write each one of my manuscripts just because of age? And I would have to change a lot of the story (of each manuscript) because high-school kids has less freedom than college students. So, as G.H. is getting ready to be sent to beta-readers, I’ve been thinking of my next manuscript and my heroine’s age. All my stories and ideas are molded to fit college life. Should I try and change my ideas to high school? Should I try digging into YA for the next project so I’ll have a bigger chance with agents? I think I should, but I don’t know if I want to, and that is making me feel bleh lol
I’ve been writing a blog post about New Adult for a few weeks now. Each day I add some thought to it. I don’t know if I’ll ever hit publish …
Anyway. I’m sorry for my rant/rambling.
To check other #row80 members’ progress, you can visit the blog and click on today’s check-in post. There you’ll find a linky list with all the participants.
Have a great week, everyone!
