So What Changes When You are Published...

So before I entered the world of the published, I could write whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Granted that concept didn't always work, but it was fun. I could dabble in this and try out that. Now that I've sold, I'm trying to sell the same style over again. I went out on a limb with my option book and it unfortunately fell to the ground quivering in a heap. But the voice is still there. So I proposed a different type of book, a little more down to earth and a lot less Hollywood. I sent off the synopsis and waited and waited and wrote the book while I waited and waited some more.

Then I made all these grand schemes of how I was going to write more in 2011. I was going to conquer a first draft every month starting in January. Okay, well maybe not January, I want to try to revise my Hollywood story for single title, so I'll work on that and revise my poor Fallen, who has been neglected. And then I'll have the distance to revise the SSE I had completed. Yay! A plan.

In January I heard back on my synopsis and we talked about how to make it a stronger story. So Hollywood is off the plate and Fallen slips further off the dessert plate. I embrace this new concept for the completed story with the gusto of Eeyore. But when I finally get the right spin on it, I am once again Pooh (okay seriously how many metaphors can I throw in this, it's become a bit of a challenge at this point, bear with me). Ready to take off into the 1000 acre woods and find adventure.

So instead of tackling something new or making something old pretty, I'm working on (man, I wish I could use borrowed or blue here) revamping the NaNo book and giving it new life. So I'm postponing writing something new and revising the single titles to get the book that has the attention pretty as a posey again.

(I swear I won't try to stuff metaphors down your throat anymore. But heck it was fun trying) :)

What I'm trying to say is priorities change after you've become published and you have to be flexible enough to cope with different schedules and perhaps changing something you loved to make it a better story. And even if something wasn't good for Publisher A, maybe Publisher B will enjoy it. Oh, wait I've got it. When life gives you lemons, throw them at the person who gave them to you, because seriously without sugar lemonade isn't that good.

Did I mention the kids are home on snow day? :)

Project Nora

Yes, I'm still plugging away. 2 hours a day of devoted time. I sent off Casanova at the beginning of this week and have been working on the proposal for the follow up story. Today I finished the 3 chapters for the proposal and a little extra. I'm putting it to the side, to simmer :) And have started the read through of Fallen to get back into the voice and story. I've made it to Ch 2 today and will continue to read through all the chapters until I get to where I was when I got revisions from Casanova (eons ago). I'm currently a little over 60K, so need another 30K to finish it off.

I'm pleased with this project so far. I generally do more than 2 hours during the day, but those 2 hours are devoted time where I don't feel bad about telling the kids to do something else. It's a manageable amount for right now, but I'm hoping when school starts back up to have two 2 hour slots devoted to writing. :) I need to work my way up to the 8 hours.

Project Nora Day 2

10 - 12. I made some adjustments to Ch 3 (which is giving me fits) in Casanova and then moved on to the Groom story. I wrote 1500 words on it and have started Ch 2. Supposedly (BTW I love that word), if Silhouette buys Casanova, I should be able to sell on proposal (i.e. synopsis and first 3 chapters). We'll see how that works though. :)

Lesson learned: In revising Casanova, the scene that is giving me the most fits is one I decided to skip and come back to write. This is one of those things that works for some writers and not for others and I'm still testing what works for me. Well, that doesn't work for me. I'm a chronological writer. I get snippets out of order and jot down notes sometimes, but skipping a scene to write later has left me with a big ole pile of poo. Honestly it's not that bad, but it certainly feels that way. In the future I will plow my way through the scene even if it takes a writing pace of 5 words per hour.

My revision process? Honestly I use Betas. Someone to read through the whole MS and let me know if there are issues, because I feel like I'm blind when I look for them. Then I go through the MS straight through (if chapters have been critiqued by my crit partners I do those first before the full read through). I go through it a few different times, keeping everything I've learned in the forefront of my mind. If my crit partners (who don't always get to the end) have pointed out something I was doing in the first chapters, I keep those things in mind as I work my way through to the end.

Ugh. The end. The bane of my existence. I tend to rewrite the ending more than any other part of the book. I think, for me, it's the hardest to get correct. You need the black moment to be dark enough without making your readers hate the characters and at the same time, you have to make it fixable. Meaning at the end, the characters get together and you get that rush to your heart that makes the whole journey worthwhile. I love that rush at the end of a really good book.

Revisions, Releases and Rewrites: Not exactly in that order

For two weeks in April, I made a mad dash to finish the rewrite of Fallen. On Friday I was up to 61K words, so progress happened and then I got my box of books. Oh, the shiny new books of L.A. Cinderella are so pretty that I just had to tell everyone I knew that I'd received them, including my agent and my editor. Which led to my agent poking my editor about Casanova and my editor poking back at me with revisions. So I now have a rising to the climax partially completed paranormal romance which is being shoved to the side while I tackle the revisions on my Hollywood sweetheart Casanova.

Oh and L.A. Cinderella will hit bookshelves at the end of May and I've commited to writing at least 5 or 6 blog posts and did I mention we are heading to England for 2 weeks in 2 weeks. Hold on because my head is spinning. But that's okay, this industry moves slow, but as soon as you get used to the pace, they start in on you fast :). With Casanova back on my plate, I'm the one in control of how fast I can get a clean copy back to my editor so she can submit it to the senior editor for consideration. So I might be MIA for a little bit, but I'll be popping up on some other blogs and will make sure to do the linky linky thing here.

Dear Casanova

I miss you. I know you were just another character in a book, but to me,  you were fun as hell to write. Don't tell the other characters, but the combination of player and alpha male was hawt. I almost wish you didn't find your happily ever after, so that I could write you some more. But all good things... *sigh*

I'm really looking forward to revising you more when I get the chance. I keep trying to figure out another character who could be like you, but you'll always have a special place in my heart. Just so you know, you are not allowed to take over Alex's book. I know you are going to be in it and you tend to be a scene stealer, so let your friend have his chance.

We'll spend some time together after my editor lets me know whether or not she wants to publish you. We'll always have copy edits.

XOXOXO