[thunderingelephants Posts: 1,301 Status: Offline]

Congrats to anyone who has written even one word in the last few days. In theory, I have absolutely no excuse not to write. John is in his room, snoring beastie is beside and quiet (for a change) and the tv is bust.  So what's my excuse?  It is too quiet.  All I can hear is water pipes, aforementioned beastie and the coffee machine.  I might just have to take myself off and deposit my  elsewhere. (not revealing my bum, of course)
I may be able to report better progress later.

[Verla Kay Posts: 5,872 Status: Offline Invite Verla Kay to speak in your area WWW]

Dinner was a great success. Unfortunately I made three times the amount of fried chicken I needed. So we have a HUGE bag of chicken in the fridge and another one in the freezer for next week. I'll be so sick of chicken by the time we eat it all. Frying up 24 boneless breasts cut into four and five pieces for each breast was overkill, I guess. Everyone was stuffed and very happy when dinner was over. I am happy. Now I just have to put the house back into "showing shape" in case we get a call from our realtor.  :ahh

My editor emailed yesterday (I saw the email this morning) and now she wants me to do research on Drummer Boy for the illustrator. WHAT? Why can't he do his OWN research?  I have no clue where all my research books are now. I packed em up to sell off, I think, when I was clearing out the house to put it up for sale. I feel like and  right now. And this  , too!

[Artemesia Posts: 4,527 Status: Offline WWW]

Verla, I'm with you on that one. The illustrator should do his own research. I only want to illustrate my own text, but if I was to illustrate someone else's text, I'd expect that the research would be my responsibility. Maybe he just doesn't know where to start? But I guess you could look at it as an opportunity to have input into the way the illustrations are done.

mmmm, too bad you can't mail fried chicken, lol. I bet you'd have a few takers here. 

[Joanna Posts: 174 Status: Offline WWW]

Wooooooo I finished Chapter Seven today! It feels SO good to be making progress, even though I still have a loooooooooong way to go yet.

Why CAN'T the illustrator do his own research, Verla? Weird. Hope everything works out smoothly for you!

and mmmmmmmmm fried chicken! We'll come eat it for you!!

[kiperoo Posts: 97 Status: Offline Poetry Editor, YARN WWW]

All this food talk is making me hungry!!

I'm preparing for the finish-your-manuscript contest in September, so I squeezed out 1,000 words each in the past two days, aaah. I hope they are not completely crappy. I still don't think I'd have a chance of keeping on if I hadn't done the outline. Man, outlines, you rock! Who knew???

Congrats on finishing your chapter, Joanna! I have this thing of writing ultra-short chapters for whatever I write (I should try to get away from that someday for something different), so finishing a chapter is never a big deal for me, but I know it sure is with a normal-length chapter!

[thunderingelephants Posts: 1,301 Status: Offline]

Kiperoo,
I will prolong your hunger pangs by informing you that I had to take a meat cleaver to smash a 2.5kg bar of chocolate yesterday.  It felt so good.  Now I have to set to work, making truffles for a friend for next week, before and after I finalise my accommodation arrangements for the SCBWI Conference in Dublin in early September.  John will be travelling with me so it should be a good break.
I've reclaimed my laptop which means I can take myself off and leave the boys at home this afernoon.  Started typing up a story yesterday that is seventy seven pages longhand so I have no idea what the word count is. It is going to send me  , that's for sure.

[kiperoo Posts: 97 Status: Offline Poetry Editor, YARN WWW]

Mmmmm, chocolate! Must ... have ... chocolate ... for breakfast. And boy, am I jealous about your Dublin conference! 

[Verla Kay Posts: 5,872 Status: Offline Invite Verla Kay to speak in your area WWW]

Oh, Oh, OH! Last night I had one of those Incredible Inspiration Moments that we all long for and that come so seldom to any of us.

I was headed for bed, when It Hit me. A perfect verse for a story idea I've been mulling around in my head since the SCBWI LA Conference. So of course I had to write it down. And then a second verse popped into my head. And another one. And another one! They just kept coming and I kept writing them down on a pad of paper. I went through pages and pages before I was done.

Then I had to put them into the computer so I could see them all together and put them in the right order. That took quite a while, because, of course, I was revising them as I typed them in, and each revision meant finding just the right rhyming word that fit the story perfectly and moved it forward.

When I was done, I heaved a sigh of relief and looked at the clock. It was after 4:00 AM! Good grief. And I still had a house full of overnight guests from the triple birthday party on Friday night. Oh, well. I went to bed and went right to sleep.

Woke up at seven this morning and dragged myself out of bed, had breakfast with everyone, and saw the overnighters head out for the next leg of their trip. Then I went back to my new 275 word story, read it over and then completely rewrote the entire thing into a whole new version.  It's 360 words long now, and a much better story because now it has a main character (a boy named Jack) in it, which it was lacking before. This morning my niece Jennifer thought she was going to be the main character in it, but as I worked on the revision I found I needed a single syllable word name that rhymed with "pack," so she morphed into Jack. She'll be surprised when she sees this new version of it and discovers she's now a little boy.  

I'm thrilled with it. Don't  know, of course, if my agent or either of my current editors will be even remotely interested in it, but only time will tell about that. They will most likely tell me, "There's too many other stories out there on that subject already." That seems to be the response I get with all of my stories these days.  

But at least "I wrote today!"

[Cat]

Is this a thread for just ANY WIP? I feel so awed with all your awesomeness.   

I did work on a couple of my WIP's...I do better working on several projects than if I work on just one. Hopefully, someone else understands that.   

[Verla Kay Posts: 5,872 Status: Offline Invite Verla Kay to speak in your area WWW]

I'm usually working on three books at a time, so I totally understand that, Cat. And yes, it's for ANY WIP (Work In Progress, for anyone new who's not quite sure what a WIP is) - a story, artwork, whatever creative project you are doing concerning literature for kids is fair game here.

[thunderingelephants Posts: 1,301 Status: Offline]

I trotted in to my second home, armed with laptop and prepared to go hammer and tongs at my manuscript...until I opened the bag and saw that I had left it at home.  I know "tomorrow's another day" etc., but I felt so   with myself because I was certain I had lost and had to ring John for reassurance.
On a positive note, it did save my hands some prolonged agony after all that grating this morning.  These chocs might just work out.  Hopefully the story will too, if I remember to bring it.

[Cat]

I'm usually working on three books at a time, so I totally understand that, Cat. And yes, it's for ANY WIP (Work In Progress, for anyone new who's not quite sure what a WIP is) - a story, artwork, whatever creative project you are doing concerning literature for kids is fair game here.

[Tinamarie]

Congratulations, Verla, on your awesome midnight bout of inspiration.  I'm amazed you managed to get up just a few hours later.

I continue to creep ever so slowly on my WIP, doing more thinknig about it than writing.  Added about 180 words tonight, editted other sections.  What i need to do is figure out what the next chapter is and just forge ahead into it.  Working up the courage/energy.

thunderingelephants, hope you have a GREAT time at the Dublin conference.  I believe i read somewhere that Jane Yolen is one of the presenters, she's a wonderful speaker.

[kiperoo Posts: 97 Status: Offline Poetry Editor, YARN WWW]

Mmm, ditto on that inspiration-congrats, Verla! Although I'm sure the inspiration itself is congrats enough! Isn't it amazing how you can sometimes squeeze creative work in amongst all kinds of chaos???

[Verla Kay Posts: 5,872 Status: Offline Invite Verla Kay to speak in your area WWW]

Isn't it amazing how you can sometimes squeeze creative work in amongst all kinds of chaos???

I think that's when I work best, Kiperoo - amongst chaos.

Just finished draft three of the story. Draft two added a main character to the story. This new draft gave him a real problem and has him solving it at the end of the story. I'm very happy where the story is going now.

Still have to do more research to make sure my historical facts are correct. (I will need to change, delete, or add new verses, of course, to make it match history if any of my verses have inaccuracies in them.) Once I know they are accurate, then just a few more "tweaks" and this story will be ready to send to my critique partners -- to tear it apart so I can rewrite it again.

[mrh Posts: 4,627 Status: Offline www.marciahoehne.com WWW]

I love stories of sudden inspiration where pb drafts get written in the middle of the night and novel drafts in two weeks. It gives me such hope that great things can happen in such a short time.

My editor emailed yesterday (I saw the email this morning) and now she wants me to do research on Drummer Boy for the illustrator. WHAT? Why can't he do his OWN research? 

FWIW, I've had this happen too. But this was a novel so it was only research for cover art. Still. I was surprised at the request but I guess it happens here and there. I decided I might as well take it as my chance to insure accuracy.

I joined this thread when it started and have stopped back in, like, twice. I'm working on my novel, though, in the "heavy revision" stage. Today I even qualify for the 1000 words thread! 

[mswatkins]

I worked on mine today! New schedule in my life and I'm trying to settle into and make sure I get time to write as well.  I've always pushed writing aside when my schedule gets too hectic and I'm fighting hard not to do it again. 

[Michelle DP Posts: 253 Status: Offline WWW]

Rebecca--I absolutely love both Lloyd Alexander and Diana Wynne Jones! What are you reading?

Verla--congrats on the new book! I love it when those moments of inspiration come.

I worked on my WIP today. I actually moved several scenes around, which upped the tension quite a bit. I probably won't be writing for the next couple of days. An editor wants to talk to me about a manuscript that has been in submission for a couple of years now and I need to quickly reread the thing so that I can talk knowledgeably about my own work.

[olmue Posts: 4,207 Status: Offline WWW]

Ooh, good luck, Michelle!! And awesome when stuff like that happens, Verla! (BTW, there is a dorm near me named after someone named Verla--you're like, famous on two fronts!)

I spent the summer fighting with what I wanted to be my WIP, but it was not to be. Then at the very end, I had one of those sudden ideas while drifting to sleep, and it's going MUCH better. I'm 6500 words in and just taking a break to work out the finer details of the next plot turn. I'm relieved--I was getting a little nervous that I'd forgotten how to write a book.

[MaryWitzl]

We had house guests over the weekend, and I was kept busy cooking, cleaning, washing, and entertaining. But I plotted out things in my mind and today I managed to catch up by writing an unprecedented 2,000 words on my WiP.  I just hope I manage to keep plugging away at it tomorrow: more house guests are coming and there are sheets to wash.

[Michelle J. Posts: 56 Status: Offline]

I revised the beginning of my WIP for the umpteenth time.    and i have a feeling I'm going to wind up cutting the first 1000 words once its complete. UGH! 

Way to go Mary! Good Luck Michelle!

[thunderingelephants Posts: 1,301 Status: Offline]

Mmmmm, chocolate! Must ... have ... chocolate ... for breakfast. And boy, am I jealous about your Dublin conference! 

Truffles coming along nicely, but as bitter as lemons.  That's how a friend who's finished a diet tomorrow wants, so that's what he's got.  I am not touching them.
Speaking of the Dublin conference, I put in an application months back for a spot in a critique section but was informed that it was full. So, I thought no more of it.  This morning, I received an email informing me that there is a slot after all that became available and now I have nothing prepared.
I don't know how I am going to manage it. It's got to be emailed by tomorrow morning.
I have something I could submit but it's not polished up and I'm petrified of submitting.  Perhaps a  later will calm my nerves.

[kiperoo Posts: 97 Status: Offline Poetry Editor, YARN WWW]

Hey thunderingelephants, you can do it!! Sending some good polishing vibes your way. 

Olume, I think I know you! We met at that Markus Zusak conference in Germany, right? (sorry if I'm getting my BB screennames crossed, but it is really ringing a bell)

And congrats, MaryWitzl on 2,000 words, hurray!

I'm revising a bit today before the 25,000 word CYD contest starts tomorrow.

[olmue Posts: 4,207 Status: Offline WWW]

Kiperoo, yes, I was there! That was an awesome conference--I learned so much! Natalie was there, too. It's nice to know there are Blueboarders all over the world.

[kiperoo Posts: 97 Status: Offline Poetry Editor, YARN WWW]

Yaaaay, Blueboarders around the world! And hi again officially, Olume!

So far, I've got a couple hundred words clocked in today as I revise in preparation for the CYD contest starting tomoroooooooow! Anyone else from here in on that?

[Liz Straw Posts: 1,084 Status: Offline That was a yummy book!]

I worked on two WIP today.  I was getting so sick of the one  that I had to start work on the second one.  It has been percolating for a while and man did I find some excellent mistakes.    Fixed those up and am off and running.   

Just made a major cut and paste and said enough is enough for one day.

Signing off to go read.

[Cat]

So far, I've written two words in my WIP: "Cocksinella said". Wow, aren't you so e'cited to read more?

I'll knuckle down to it in a few minutes. 

[Joanna Posts: 174 Status: Offline WWW]

Yesterday I procrastinated ALL DAY—I even mopped the floor!—but today has been better. Hoping to get a little bit more done this evening!

Chicken dance to cheer everyone on!

[Michelle J. Posts: 56 Status: Offline]

Yesterday I procrastinated ALL DAY—I even mopped the floor!

That isn't procrastination, it's called research!

I revised and revised.  Revising as I go stinks, to put it mildly, I can never finish an entire MS because I'm too busy editing. Ugh!!  I'm committing to pushing foward without looking back until I finish.  Here's to completing my MS in September!  And maybe I'll even win a prize or two.    Now I'm just being delusional.

[Joanna Posts: 174 Status: Offline WWW]

That isn't procrastination, it's called research!

A-ha!! Good to know.