[jeffman]

Sweet.

[Wonky Posts: 404 Status: Offline]

Sent my revised MS to agent today, clocked in at 35k words, up from 20k.

I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

[Woods]

Congratulations on completing the first draft, Brian!

--Woods

[thunderingelephants Posts: 1,309 Status: Offline]

Sadly, I very guilty of neglecting my writing lately.  Either because of making truffles or complete laziness.  But, I was working on it non-stop for four months, so I might be allowed a break.  I'm sending monsters to celebrate over the weekend.
By the way, do you think it would be possible for a monster to wear a pink dress?  I just have a vision of my character.

[jeffman]

If a devil can wear a blue dress, a monster should be able to wear a pink one.

Of course, you have to know how it fits into the monster's own social norms. Would pink be considered rebellious or conventional behavior, and would that behavior fit your monster's identity? Or is your monster trying to establish a new relationship to the monster community?

[jeffman]

Saturday morning now, and since the school year has begun, weekends have special meaning for me.  (I teach.)

I am determined to finish drafting my WIP today if not tomorrow. Seriously, the climax is fully outlined, nearly all written, and the denouement will require 2-3 pages tops.

I CAN DO IT. YEAH.

And I really do look forward to revising and tweaking. In terms of craft, that's when the payoffs kick in, when the brass begins to shine. YMMV.

[jeffman]

Draft is done. DONE! 43,000 words.

[Wonky Posts: 404 Status: Offline]

Draft is done. DONE! 43,000 words.

Cool, congrats!

[thunderingelephants Posts: 1,309 Status: Offline]

Congrats, Jeff.
I am still struggling to finish this story and I keep putting it away.  But, I will set a target of the end of October.

[Wonky Posts: 404 Status: Offline]

I just got a random idea for a PB...a parody of an existing story. Banged it out in 20 min and sent to agent. Let's see what she says.

[thunderingelephants Posts: 1,309 Status: Offline]

I just got a random idea for a PB...a parody of an existing story. Banged it out in 20 min and sent to agent. Let's see what she says.

That's some sort of record, Wonky.  Good luck with it.

[Brian H. Posts: 192 Status: Offline Zeke, my God given inspiration! WWW]

Good job Jeff. I hope you find lots of time to revise and tweak I'm doing that now. I have 120 pages to go of tweaking. Finished the query letter too.

[Victoria Posts: 113 Status: Offline WWW]

I signed up for JoNoWriMo yesterday and made goals that feel relatively reasonable to me ... the first one was to finish outlining my WIP (I've written about three-fifths of it and had a bit of the rest outlined already).  Tonight I finally wrangled several slippery plot threads into submission and think I have a passable roadmap for the final stages.

Next goal: work with the outline to finish the rough draft!

[thunderingelephants Posts: 1,309 Status: Offline]

I actually worked yesterday and bonded quite well with the characters and John won't be here for the whole day so I have no excuse not to write, but I will probably find one.  My monsters and I really worked well together so although I didn't write much, I did work.

[Cat]

I've sunk into a revision hole. I'm taking a break and looking up short story publications to submit to for a little bit. 

[jeffman]

My wife and 14-yr-old daughter read my YA WIP yesterday. I basically trust them, especially my daughter, who is very insightful. Reaction: positive.

But they aren't sure about the end. Not the climax. That's fine. The denouement bugs them.

I agree something better could happen. But I'm darned if I know what!!! And I'm not sure how long I want to wait for inspiration to strike.

I'd love to hear from anyone who's worked through this problem.

[Marissa Doyle Posts: 3,731 Status: Offline Charles Bewitched: out now! WWW]

Only a page, but it's one page more than I had this morning.

I need to cut down on unnecessary distractions and focus on what's important--writing. 

[majanecka Posts: 93 Status: Offline]

Where is everybody?  I'm working on a PB.  I have been mulling over how to end it.  Wrote up one idea but wasn't in love with it then last night as I was falling asleep came up with a viable alternative.

[ruecole Posts: 475 Status: Offline MG Writer WWW]

Since I have no secrets I can't share  , I'm not waiting on news  , I have nothing on submission , and rarely write over 1000 words in a day  , I'm resurrecting this thread. I promise it has no Jello, no rashes, and no lengthy discussions of people's faces.

Oh, and absolutely, definitely, positively NO  or 


BUT!


It has    :

And best of all:

 :   <--- That last one would be progress!
 
So, to get the ball rolling again, here's my update:

Today I wrote a little under 100 words (It was a crazy busy day!). Total wordcount: 7100.

Where's everybody else at?

Rue

[yellow_submarine Posts: 113 Status: Offline WWW]

Oooh goodie! Thanks for resurrecting this thread.

I'm working on a new WIP at the moment as well. I have quite a bit of motivation to write quickly, since my mid-year exams are rapidly approaching (June) and then I'm travelling overseas (July). So, if I'm not finished my 1st draft by early June, I'll have to put it aside until AUGUST…  which is a rather horrifying prospect!

Oh dear, I guess I'd better get back to writing.

PS: Good luck with your WIP; 100 words is still a lot better than nothing, especially on a busy day!

[SYoon Posts: 721 Status: Offline Novelty and Picture Books WWW]

I promise it has no Jello, no rashes, and no lengthy discussions of people's faces.
Oh, and absolutely, definitely, positively NO  or 

Rue, you make it seem like these are BAD things.  :

ETA: Majanecka: Whatever happened with that pb idea???

[ruecole Posts: 475 Status: Offline MG Writer WWW]

Um, that was supposed to be reverse psychology.

I thought by mentioning those exact things, it would get the BBers in here all up in arms that those things weren't allowed in this thread.

Guess my plan didn't work so good. 

Okay, plan B:

FREE CHOCOLATE!!!!! 
If that doesn't work, I'm gonna go cry in the corner.  :

Rue

[majanecka Posts: 93 Status: Offline]

Salina, Thanks for asking.  I did get that idea developed into a PB ms.  I had great fun with it.  It still needs a little polishing in a couple of places but I have hopes for it.  I set it aside to work on getting another manuscript that I felt was more polished ready for a critique at the Texas SCBWI meeting.  I received a positive critique from Dan Yaccarino there and was just over the moon that he liked it.  [He was just fabulous!  I loved him!]  So I'm concentrating on trying to get that one published while revising the ms that I mentioned working on in the WIP post.  Always good to have something out there on submission, something in revision and some ideas percolating.    :
[I get entranced with the smileys and waste an inordinate amount of time staring at them wondering if there's some way I can work one into my message]

[SYoon Posts: 721 Status: Offline Novelty and Picture Books WWW]

Hi Majenecka,

I'm glad you saw my post!    So glad it's still being polished up and not tucked away in a drawer. Too many ideas end up  and never to be dug out. Wow... you got to meet  : Dan Y! I'm a big fan of his. He's done some board books too, so we share shelving sections occasionally. I'm sure he's wonderful. :love3: 

  with the submissions and revisions. See you in the trenches! :

See... it's easy to use smileys! 

[ruecole Posts: 475 Status: Offline MG Writer WWW]

I think the free chocolate may be working!

Majenecka, PBs are so quick to write, but SOOOOO slow to polish! I have two that I pull out every so often and tinker with, then put them away again. Maybe one day I'll be satisfied enough with them to start shopping them around.

Yellow_submarine, I had exactly the same motivation two years ago to finish TRAMH. I knew once summer rolled around, I'd have no time for writing! I think I finished the first draft in six weeks!

Hmmm... Maybe I should remind myself of the same thing THIS year and get THIS first draft finished in six weeks! :

Okay, another 100 words tonight. The scene I'd plotted out last night wasn't working with me. Then tonight I realized why. So everything I'd planned has been scrapped and now I'm back to square one with the scene. But I think it's for the best. My character just wouldn't behave the way I'd plotted that scene!

Rue

[ruecole Posts: 475 Status: Offline MG Writer WWW]

200 words last night and 500 so far today. 

Not only did I scrap the scene, but I backed the story up 24 hours and that seemed to break the writer's block. 

So who else has been working on their WIP today?

Rue