NaNoWriMo Start of Week Three

I'm a couple days late on this because I spent the start of week three with my sister, writing in a coffee shop and binge-watching Gilmore Girls. Day well-spent.

In the spirit of NaNoWriMo, this post will be completely all-over-the-place. Here are observations from week two:

On day 10, I wrote a scene between friends that really moved me. Don't get me wrong--it probably sucked in all the technical ways because it's free-writing, but I was down-to-the-bone pleased with it. The scene is kind of nitty gritty. My characters have started taking real shape and acting like real people. They surprise me. And one of them likes to swear. I generally don't swear, by the way. I mean, I do sometimes when I'm driving and someone honks at me and freaks me out or when I'm feeling emotionally intense or when trying to make my husband laugh. But other than that, not really. My character does, though! And I started to feel kind of embarrassed, like, "When so and so reads this, they're going to be like, 'Jess has a secret potty mouth...tsk tsk.'" Well, sometimes. But this isn't me! Can I deny my character the way he talks?? It's so stifling to worry about this, so when I wrote the scene I didn't worry-I was true to the character and it felt awesome.

Now, in a Christan book, I get that unfortunately that's probably a no-no. But I don't think this will be a Christian book, and that's okay. It can honor God without that label and with the naughty words. And if people don't like it and they think less of me for it, that's their choice.

I RESPECT the heck out of James Dashner for his tough characters and their nitty gritty language without the swearing. He found a way to have them swear without swearing, which is mad genius. And it works. But it seems like my characters like the old fashioned kind, and I think I'm okay with it. :)

Also, my MC and her best friend (the potty mouth) like to say inappropriate things to each other. I have no part in this.

Last week, I said that I had my doubt about this book and it sucks and all that. Well, his week, I started to see how it could be awesome one day. There's diversity. Friendship. First-love. Teen angst. And there's a twist!

A sort of dark, psychological thriller-type twist. Which I LOVE and always want to write, but cant. Or I can't do it on purpose anyway. My ideas always start out as every-day stories. Stories about the people at their core. Quiet stories. My characters are funny and lighthearted. And then things change.

My characters do questionable things. They have secrets. They get dark. Twists happen on accident and shock me. It's the best. And it wouldn't happen if I didn't push through the suck and write anyway.

In week one I started writing out of order. I've continued that this week because it helps to write whatever scene I feel like writing instead of whichever one comes next. It's a happy, hot mess.

Writing with other people is more fun than writing alone, but only if the other people is just my sister. 

I've been a little wobbly this week when it comes to spitting out my target word count. As you'll see in the graph below. But I'm not too far behind, which is better than every other year I've done this.

Goal for week three:
Stay above that line every day. Even if it's just a smidge above.


 

NaNoWrimMo: Start of Week Two

Week one of NaNoWriMo is done! Today is the start of week two. Below you'll find observations and thoughts from week one, plus goals for week two.

Observations:

Writing this much makes me ten thousand times more hungry. Not a terribly thing. Eating is good--especially since I've been healthy! I homemade a couple healthy desserts (carrot cake oatmeal cookies and strawberry cream truffles) so I could rightfully indulge and still do my body good. (I'm not an amazing cook or anything, but I tore it up in the kitchen this week.)

I've ben especially pale these past few days. New anti-tan from so much computer time? Or is it the new ultra bright lightbulb in our bathroom?

On day six, the excitement started to wear off. Maybe I was tired. Or maybe I was tired specifically of the story. Either way, I felt like I needed a hard core nap--and that was after I had already had a nap. I was PMS-level grumpy/verging on whiny. (Note: Was not PMSing.) It was so bad that when I went to the store to get some unsweetened coconut flakes for the truffles (Which were amazing, by the way!), I stared at all the sweetened coconut flakes, hoping they would turn into the ones I needed. When that didn't work, I walked down the aisle a bit, then back where I glared at the coconut, like that would make it change. I'm not proud to admit I did it again a third time.

It was after that I decided to call it a day after only 1k words. I clearly needed a break. Plus, I'd been promising myself a coconut bath for days and not delivering. I felt cheated and unappreciated by myself--never a good thing. Lesson: Don't hold back on the rewards. And that's pretty much a solid life lesson, so you're welcome. 

After giving myself a break on day six, the problem was pretty clear on day seven. I had stopped having fun writing. It had become all about that bass getting the word count out so I could finish. But what good is that if I'm not learning and enjoying?

To fix this, I decided to give myself extra writing time by cutting out the Netflix rewards between writing sprints. Instead, I redid my writing board by adding helpful writing charts and inspiration. And then? I focused not on what would move the story forward in the way I thought it needed to go, but what would be fun for me to write. Even if it meant jumping out of order, what was I dying to add to the story right then? Doing this helped me tremendously and was extra loads of fun.

I finally gave myself that bath on day seven. Candles. Relaxation music. It was HEAVENLY. More, please.  


Other things...

Unwelcome fear: This book sucks and will always suck and it's not the next One and no book will ever be the next One because I could only write one good One.

 Strategy: Write in 500 word bursts and then break for half an episode of Arrow. Repeat. Sometimes replace Arrow with online dress shopping or Facebook. Worked pretty well, but sometimes Arrow sucks me in and I'm less than productive. Maybe less of that this week? Yeah...

Another strategy: Update my word count on the nano site every three hundred or so words because it helps me see that I've crept along and gives me a boost of pep to keep creeping along.

Cold hard fact: No writing will ever happen before 9AM. Don't even try.

Warning to my tomorrow self: Don't join in on the virtual write-ins because all it is is a distracting chat room. Maybe instead you could join one of the Jackson group's actual in-person write-ins. But who am I kidding, right? People. I know you won't.

Here's a screen shot of my NaNoWriMo progress!

Right on point! This week I want to get just a little ahead so I can start making a padding for Thanksgiving. My goal is pretty much the same as last time. 1,500 words/day on the weekends. 2k words/day on the week days. Yay for doable goals! Also, I'm going to start each day by asking myself what would be fun to write. What would add shimmer to the story?

xoxo,
Jessie



 

#PitchWars Aftermath

For those of you who are completely out of the loop, here's the skinny on Pitch Wars: It was a contest on Twitter where signed writers gave their time and skills to help unsigned writers. These honorable, beautiful people are called Mentors. The unsigned writers, like myself, submitted a query letter and the first chapter of of manuscripts to up to four out of seventy five Mentors. In this round, the Mentors picked one Mentee and one Alternate. I read the average Mentor got eighty submissions, so this contest was huge.

I'm going to make a separate post about Brenda Drake (who started all this) and the Mentors to whom I subbed, so you can check out their blogs and pre-order their books! These ladies are mad talented. And of course generous to the bone because they didn't have to participate in this contest, but they did. So, look out for that.

Now, for my personal results! I was not picked. Yes, sad face.

Except my face isn't actually sad because:

1. This is one contest, and there were a huge amount of submissions with tons of talent. I know I'm not the best writer out there. But I am the best writer I ever have been, so I can be happy with where I am now as opposed to where I have been. I'm giddy for all the writers chosen. They are talented and have worked hard to get that coveted spot. I wish them all the best in the agent round!

 

2. For the past couple weeks, I've been a part of a truly inspiring writing community. Never have I seen so many writers encourage and connect with each other. I saw courage. I saw vulnerability. I saw talent.

Because of that, I am more open to the idea of finding a writers group or critique partners either where I live or online. To be honest, this scares me a little because I don't trust people with my book. What if it gets stolen!? To be even more honest, I'm afraid if I join a writer's group or get a critique partner, they'll be one of those I'm-so-smart types who like to talk down and feel superior. Pitch Wars Peeps have proved to be a humble, fun bunch, though! That gives me hope. Yay, friends, and community and stuff.

3. A rejection does not mean I have failed. It means I have succeeded in finishing a project, and that I have the guts to put it out there. Being rejected means I'm trying. I won't get anywhere otherwise.

4. The Mentors are giving feedback to everyone who subbed, and I got my first feedback this morning from my favorite Mentor. I cannot tell you how important this was to me. This Mentor helped me with my query letter in such a huge way. She also gave me feedback on the writing in my MS that will help me grow tremendously.

Two things I need to work on: grounding my readers in the setting (I knew I wasn't very skilled at this), and "showing" instead of "telling". That one surprised me because I thought I'd been making a conscious effort to show not tell. See how hard it is to recognize our own flaws? That's why her feedback was so important. Now I can take that and delve into learning and revising in that aspect.

Another feedback wasn't as specific because she simply said she didn't connect with the voice. She was encouraging, though! I'm still waiting on feedback from the others.

5. This is the big news I've been waiting to tell. Drum roll, please.

One of the Mentors, Sharon Johnston, tweeted about needing a blog assistant, so I jumped at the chance because the more experience I can get, the better. We talked over email about the position, and then she said she wanted to offer me something else she thought I would like better. That is...a spot on the blog, YAtopia, as a contributor! As in, I am now one of the writers. To be real with you, I feel unqualified. These other writers have so much going for them, that they can and should absolutely write about books, writing, and publishing! Me? I'm just over here writing a few blogs and trying to get an agent for my book. But I won't argue! I feel so dang blessed with this opportunity.

 I'm brimming with thankfulness over it all.


Now, I'm going to bust out all my fun writing supplies and get back to it! Never surrender!




 

True Love

Dear readers,

Things I am doing:
Line edits for Capture Me Strong (unrepresented and unpublished YA novel)
Working on the craft of Pitch-writing
Getting to know Scrivener--and loving it!
Connecting on social media (Tweet @Je55ieMullin5 or visit me on Facebook.)
Hosting this contest for artists on Period Fairy (submissions end October 31!)
Trying not to starve to death while my sweet potato bakes ever so slowly in the oven because I don't (want to) own a microwave
Re-evaluating my beliefs about microwaves

Things I am Not Doing:
Not a very good job at line editing because I keep getting wrapped up in Adira's story in Capture Me Strong. That's a good and bad thing! Good because I see it finally coming together. Like, together together. Bad, though, because line edits are vital for catching easy-to-glaze-over mistakes. I might have to start reading backward...
Also, totally not changing my mind about microwaves.
Letting haters and naysayers get to me. Still.

If I can work on this novel for three years and not get sick of it, only have to take one solid break (that was actually a good thing), and only feel more and more excited about, then...I know this is love. True never-give-up-on-it love.

Cheers!
Jessie

Updates and Horse Tranquilizers

Here's what is happening with Capture Me Strong:

This is the novel I've been working on since 2010. It's finished. Kind of. How on earth do people decide their novel is truly finished?? It has gone through revisions. I sent it to some Beta Readers, who gave me feedback. I chewed on said feedback and applied it to the novel to make it better. And then I took the entire manuscript and changed in from past tense to present. Which sucked. I did that in about a week because I needed to have that done before I sent it to Amazon for this contest they had going on. This was in December.

I didn't make it past the first round, which was based solely on Pitch. A Pitch is kind of what you read on the inside flap of a novel when you decide whether or not you want to read it. Except...it's not really like that. The pitch sells your book to the agent, so it has to have voice, show why they should care about the protagonist, show the main plot--with the ending!--and tell why this story is different from any other story. And all of this has to be told in as few words as possible. Some say 500. Some say 200. It depends on what the agent requires. Oh, and it has to really wow off their pants.

Try this. It's hard.

So, I learned I'm not skilled at pitch-writing. I'm soaking up anything I can find about this art so I can send a much better pitch next time. 

I haven't yet touched Capture Me Strong since December because all of that was so intense I just needed a break from it for the sake of sanity. It is now time to pick it back up and give it one last thorough round of edits before I send it back out to agents whom I admire.

I've started the next novel in the meantime. I worked it out for a few months before I finally started a messy first draft this month for Camp NaNoWriMo. My goal is a rough draft of 40k words by the end of July. As I write this (with seven days remaining), I stand at 10,275 words. I don't know if I will make this deadline because I've been busy with my best friend's wedding! Yay! Also, my back is inflamed, so my doctor prescribed a muscle relaxer which I think they got confused with a horse tranquilizer. But I am trying my best. This is practice for when I have real-life deadlines one day, so I take it seriously. But some things are unavoidable. Like my bed while I'm on horse tranquilizers.

For four days last week, I worked as a freelance writer, writing articles for websites. I hated it mostly because I was getting paid $0.60 per 500 words, and it took up all my work time so I couldn't work on my novel. I'm sure freelancing works for some people, but I don't have it in me to work my way up to the high-paying stuff, and I value creativity too much to write about dentistry in Fayetteville, NC. So, I finished everything assigned to me and told the guy I was moving in another direction.

I'm also trying to build a platform so I have a built-in audience when an agent does agree to work with me on my book. Would you be so kind as to Follow me on Twitter @Je55ieMullin5 and Like my author Facebook page? Thank you a million times for those of you who already have!

Finally, the hot topic with authors today is traditional publishes vs self-publishing. I'm leaning toward traditional because that has always been my dream, but people say self is a good way to get to traditional. So, what do you guys think? Leave a comment below!

Much love,
Jessie

PS, here's a picture.

     

How I Got Over a Nasty Case of WB

Urban Dictionary (truly the most reliable of all dictionaries) defines Writer's Block as such:

A point in writing where the writer runs head first into a brick wall in their writing process. Which may result in a writer bashing their head repeatedly into their keyboard/laptop/notebook/etc. until words or blood is freely flowing. Also might be because the characters are fed up with all the crap the author puts them through and go on strike.

What usually causes Writer's block for me is the much dreaded and only useful half of the time Inner Editor. Dun Dun DUN.

My Inner Editor looks like this. She doesn't bake me cookies or offer me iced tea. She's as mean as she looks. And she says stuff like, "You can't put that in your book--your parents, uncles, pastor, ladies in prayer group, etc. are going to read this! That line sounds about as corny as a bowl of corn flakes! You don't write as well as Suzanne Collins! Are you sure about that comma? Wah wah wah." On and on.

Usually I have no trouble ignoring her. Sometimes what she has to say is actually useful and I take it into consideration. And she will definitely come in handy when I'm going through line edits at the very end of this whole thing.

But these past weeks...

She's been ultra bitter. Let's say someone had their panties in a bunch and since she knew I was watching and doesn't like mistakes, she was afraid to just pull that wedgie and get on with her day. So she took her frustration out on me. It might also have to do with the fact that I'm so close to the end. I've sent out queries to six agents (Eeeeee!!), but more about that in another post. I know I said I'd have this out to my Betas almost a month ago, but I've learned things take longer than I expect and I'm still learning so much every day about writing and my style and all that good stuff I'll never completely have down.

Anyway, I've been working on a new scene I added to the story for the past two weeks. And most of those days, I'd sit down, stare at the page, get frustrated, type a line, erase that line, and watch an episode of Supernatural. Start over the next day. On the bright side, I am all caught up on Supernatural I learned a lot about my writing process.

Last night I was about to get started on that ugly cycle. But! This time I was for sure, for SURE going to get a lot done. And then my Inner Editor started in on the thousands of  reasons why every word I typed out totally sucked.

It was frustrating, kind of like this.

I could feel I was on the edge of a meltdown, so I tried to have one that was like this.

 But it wasn't working because by this point, I was whining like a two year old. So, I made a little rant status on Facebook because that SUPER productive and then danggit, I made a cuppa! (I learned from a Harry Potter cookbook the other day that Cuppa to the English is a cup of tea. As in "Let's go have a cuppa!")

Then with my tea in hand (tea fixes all), I knew what I had to do next. I had to show my Inner Editor which of us is Boss Lady (me). I opened a blank Word doc and started a story off the top of my head without caring in the least bit whether or not it was ridiculous or cheesy or scandalous. It worked! She retreated behind her editor desk with random mumbles about perfection and excellence, but I didn't care because I had the floor again. Score.

I looked at the beginning to the top-of-my-head story and saw that it was, in fact, not bad. Not bad at all. And I reminded myself there is no such thing as perfection, and if I aim for it every time I write, I end up with nothing but wasted time. I have to write my buns off and get a few crappy scenes to get those scenes that really rock. Besides, my Inner Editor will take care of those later.

So, I reminded myself of this:

   Then I gulped down the rest of my delicious tea and got to work. And the scene actually grew and was pretty good, if I do say so!

Cheers.

P.S. It's totally fine if not everyone agrees with what I write as long as I stay true to the story. Write on. 

Unto Us a Book is Born! Well, Not Really Born...More Like Squeezed Word-by-Word Into Being.

Reader, this is my blog. Blog, this is my reader. Now that we're acquainted...I'm writing a book! Yes.

Ok, a little background (I promise it's very little). I went to Hope College for two years, took some sweet writing classes, then dropped out. In one of those classes, the goal was to write a 50,000 word novel in twenty eight days. That's how this book began.

This book, in case you were wondering, is called Picture Perfect. I'm now revising it.

I want to be a writer. God wants me to be a writer. So, I decided that if I want that and God wants that, I should probably be a writer. What better way than to stop wasting thousands of dollars on an education when instead I can educate myself by doing?

Now I'm writing--to the point where I want to bang my head into a wall--everyday. And I love it!

I'll stop blabbering now and tell you briefly what Picture Perfect is about.

Seventeen year old Adira, an aspiring photographer, comes back from her mission trip to Mexico with a dark secret. She hides the truth, wanting nothing more than to see the world through the rosy lens of her camera. Along with her secret, she buries her faith and denies God. Only when Adira finds out her best friend may meet the same terrible fate does she reveal the truth of what happened in Mexico. She must find the strength to trust love again in a world that has hurt her beyond repair.