Sloppy First Drafts

I officially completed writing my WIP (aka: manuscript #3) last night!  First draft–done!  Woot!

Bracing myself for the revision stage…

Before that, I’ve got some work to do on my earlier projects.  That’s fine, I like letting my finished works sit untouched for a while before I start revising them, that way I can look at them with fresh eyes.

Contest update:  I made it into the first round, which was my goal, so yay!  Now I’m matched up against another writer’s entry and I don’t expect to win and move on.  My competitor’s entry is better than mine (I’m not being self-deprecating, it’s true).  I submitted my query letter and the first 250 words of my book for the contest.  I knew going in the first 250 would probably not impress anyone.  There’s too much exposition, not enough action.  Being only able to submit the first 250 is a bit limiting, but that’s the nature of the contest.  It’s okay, I’m getting a lot of helpful comments and feedback from other writers, which is all I wanted, so it’s still a win for me.

Out on a Limb

I’m done with the query for my first novel.  I decided to go out on a limb and try it out in a contest with mentors and agents involved.  At first I wasn’t going to do it…but I convinced myself that I have nothing to lose by trying.  This is like a taking it on a little test drive.  I’m not looking to win, I’m interested in the feedback, which I can get if I can make it just into the first round.  My entry was sent in this morning.  I’ve never done anything like this before, wish me luck!

Progress Report

Lack of blog posts means I’m happy and busy writing. That’s not a bad thing, I’m just very quiet around here. Things are moving along about how I expected, here’s my progress report:

1.  My current WIP (3rd manuscript) is at almost 80,000 words.  I have a ways to go until I’m done and it will need major revisions to control the word count.  That’s for my personal preference, I like to keep my stories well under 100,000 words.  This book is the sequel to another book I’ve already finished which is about 75,000 complete (subject to change as it’s edited).  For books in what I’m thinking will probably end up as a trilogy, I’d like to keep them close to the same length…I’m not J.K. Rowling (haha).  My goal is to finish this first draft by the end of May, I think that’s doable.

2.  I have a workable query for my first completed book.  If you think writing something this short, a 250 word letter, shouldn’t take this long, well,  you’d be wrong.  The query letter is hard.  My advice to anyone planning to query an agent…start working on your letter sooner rather than later, it’s going to take longer than you think to get it right.  I think mine is close to being ready and I’ve been working on it since January.  My plan is to have it ready to send out in June, when my WIP is done so I have time to focus on the query process while I work on revisions for my second and third manuscripts.

3.  I’ve been getting a flood of new and sudden ideas for a story I dreamed up years ago but never fleshed out.  I started writing them down, and this story keeps interrupting me while I’m trying to finish my WIP…it’s kind of annoying.  I keep thinking, “Yes, story ideas, I like you…but can you hold off for a minute while I finish this?”  But they don’t listen and I’m afraid if I ignore it I’ll forgot all of my cool ideas.  So, I’m taking a little time every day to write those ideas down.  I also think this will be the next story I actually write, instead of completing my trilogy because it’s more solid right now and my trilogy…I’m still not exactly sure how it’s going to end.  For me it works best to let the stories stew and simmer in  my mind, so I’m thinking I can let my trilogy cook for a little while as I work on something new.  It might help me not get bored with focusing too hard on one story for too long and I’ll feel fresher when I come back to it.