Line Edits for IN THE END

Good news!

I'm working on line edits for my second book, IN THE END...due tomorrow. So I'd better get back to work, but I'm so happy to be finishing up another book and amazed at how far Amy's story has come.

What are you all working on today?

Edits Are In!

I just hit send on my edits for book 2, IN THE END and I am so happy with how it's turned out. I also got a recent glimpse of the cover, and though I can't share right now, I can tell you that I love it. It goes perfectly with the IN THE AFTER cover.

I'm going to take a few days to recover, but I'll be back Wednesday!

 

The Blog Chain – Too Many Smiles

The Blog Chain Topic this week is:

What are your "go-to" scenes or phrases? You know, the ones you have to remind yourself NOT to use too frequently? What do you do to keep yourself from being overly reliant on them?                                          

While I don’t have any “go-to” scenes, I definitely have go-to facial expressions…as in smiling. When I’m in the early rough draft stages of my writing, I always use smiling as a filler reaction/action/expression.

 

For example:

She looked at him with a sad, tight smile.

“It’s not what you think,” he said with a friendly smile.

She smiled bravely. “I know…it’s just…”

He took her hand and offered her a smile. “I had to do it.”

 

Okay, so that’s an over-the-top example (from a soap opera perhaps?) but you get the idea. I always have to back in and make sure people aren’t smiling so damned much, cause really, if you think about it, it’s kind of creepy.

I think it’s easier to edit out your “go-to” words and phrases then to try and banish them altogether. In edits you can more clearly see a scene and work in what people would actually do in a situation.

That’s all for now, (she said with a smile.) J What are your go-to scenes or phrases?

 

Keep following this topic on the chain and check out Michelle’s blog on Monday, or look back at Katrina's post from yesterday.

 

The Blog Chain - The Thick Skin of a Writer or How not to Sculp an Ashtray

The Blog Chain topic this week is:

Have you developed thick skin as a writer? How do you handle having your work critiqued? Do you love revising? Hate it?

Any writer knows: Writing is editing. It’s very difficult to be a writer if you’re unable to handle critiques. It isn’t always easy. There may be a part of your story that you absolutely love, but no one else seems to. Writing is a fluid process. You can’t plop a lump of clay down on the table and call it art, unless of course you’re a postmodernist. J You have to be able to mold your plot and characters. And that’s where critiquing comes in.

It’s always a little strange to have someone tell you what’s not working with something you’ve poured your heart and soul in to. At the same time, you need an outsider to look at it objectively (or as objectively as a human can). When my editor gives me notes, 95% of the time I think, “Why didn’t I see that?” or “Yes. I understand now!”

I love revising. Taking the lump of clay metaphor a bit further, it’s like working at home on molding that clay and it somehow ends up an ashtray…or maybe a really nice paperweight. That’s fine and dandy, but not spectacular. Then someone comes in, takes a look, points out the flaws and all of a sudden it snaps in to place. A pinch here, a tuck there and all of a sudden you have sculpture. It becomes better than “just really nice.” It becomes art.

That’s my take…now I feel like I should take some ceramics classes. What about you? How do you deal with critiques?

 

Keep following this topic on the chain and check out Michelle’s blog on Monday, or look back at Katrina's post from yesterday.
 

Edit Mode!

Hi all!

With my deadline for the edits for book 2 fast approaching I'm going to take short blog break. I'll be back Wednesday April 3rd.

See you all soon...and in case you missed it here's the countdown widget for IN THE AFTER...it's coming out sooooo soon!



Editing Book Two!

All this month I'm editing my second book. It's really exciting to be working on the second book just as the first one is about to come out (3 months everyone)!

I'll be skipping my Wednesday post, but I'll be back Friday with another Blog Chain post.

Okay, I'd better get back to work. See you Friday! 

Woohoo 2013!

So 2012 was pretty awesome. I finished writing IN THE AFTER, wrote a first draft of book 2, plotted out a 1.5 novella, joined two awesome writers groups, and in non-author related stuff, got married!

But 2013 should be twice as great. My book is out June 25^th and I don’t think anything can beat that (ummm…don’t tell my husband I said that J )

As a debut author, I get to read a lot of ARCs…books that won’t hit the shelf until later this year and a few that will be out very soon (more on that on Wednesday.) So I can’t really do a looking forward to debut list, because I’ve read so many I was looking forward to.

A few new books in a series that I’m psyched for are:

 

 

What books are you looking forward to in 2013?  

Writing vs. Editing

I just turned my first draft of book 2 in last week and am happy to have a few days off before I dig into editing. I learned A LOT from editing the first book, and where as editing used to be really intimidating, I’m looking forward to starting my book 2 revision.

I know some people absolutely hate editing and some people love it. How do you feel? Is editing harder than writing?

Also, IN THE AFTER is now available for pre-order on Barnes& Noble so check it out! J

 

Done!

I’ve finished my edits and submitted the revision to Karen at Harper Collins. I hope the next round is only line edits…so keep your fingers crossed.

In the After also has some foreign interest, which is super exciting. It would be amazing to have my book available in other languages (you may remember we held back foreign language rights from Harper).

Other than that I’ll be working on a detailed outline for book two. Any New Year’s writing resolutions?

Hope everyone one has an awesome new year. 2011 was fantastic, so I have high hopes for 2012!

R.I.P - Unnecessary Characters

I had not one, but two characters that didn’t make the cut. One major and one minor. They just had to go. The good news is that there is no longer a love triangle in my book…yes, I know it’s over played anyway.

It’s strange to get rid of them, but it definitely makes the book flow better. Even so, I’m having trouble weeding out/rewriting all the references.

What about you guys? Ever have to sacrifice a character to the editing gods?

The Never-Ending Edit

Hi everyone…still editing. It may seem like it has been forever and it sure feels that way to me J I’m not a super slow editor, but I’m not super speedy either. Taking time just comes with the territory. I want to make sure I get it right, since this is my first book. It’s also taking double long because my original editor left Harper Collins and my new editor had different suggestions.

What about you guys? Fast with edits, slow with edits?

Editing is Hard!

I know...most of you are thinking, "Duh!" But really, it is. You take something that you love, and mold it into something else (hopefully that you love as well.)

When you edit for yourself, you're completely in charge. When you edit for a group...well, you're still in charge...but when you edit for a publisher you lose some of that control. Not that it's completely a bad thing but it's definitely difficult for someone to tell you they want something done that you yourself didn't think of. I'm learning a lot from this experience, namely, how to be a better writer. How to think, parden the cliche, outside of the box...or  I guess more outside of the book.

What about you all, any good editing experiences, bad ones?

The Name Game

Through the editing process, I’ve had to change a few names. One was the name of my creatures, which was too juvenile, one the name of one of my characters, which was too old fashioned, and one was the name of a place, which was just plain stupid. J

The problem is that I still think of these things as their original names. When I’m editing, I have to go through the whole process of reading the name and associating it with the original name to trigger my memory and the story line of the character/creatures/place.

I’m sure I’ll get over this soon and start to think of these things as their new names. What about you all. How attached are you to the names in your writing? Can you easily change these? Or are you like me and have trouble accepting name changes?

Back next week!

I’m Done!

...Well, sort of.

I sent off my first set of revisions to Karen at Harper Collins, and I must say that I now possess an incredible sense of accomplishment. J I know I still have a couple rounds of edits left, but it’s all starting to seem real. We even discussed cover concepts. I can’t wait until I have a cover and share it with you all.

Next week I’m going to share a couple of covers (from already published books) that I really like…and sort of hope my book looks like. See you next week!

Editing for Your Publisher

I’m still in the process of my first round of edits, but I have to say…everything is going really well. I’d heard horror stories about publishers wanting huge changes and writers feeling like they’ve sold out, but all of Maria’s (now Karen’s) editorial suggestions are really insightful and helpful. I think I may have it done by Friday (Karen, if you’re reading this, don’t hold me to that). J

This is the part of the editing process that is the “big picture” stuff. After I turn in my edits, Karen will get more into specifics. After that, it’s onto the nit-picky line edit. I’ll keep you all posted about each step.

Back Friday!

Oh yeah, for some reason my computer isn’t letting me comment on other people’s blogs…I’m working on fixing that, so if I don’t comment back, sorry! I will as soon as I can.

I’m Back…With a Shiny New Editor

I’m still working on my edits, but I have some Harper Collins news…Maria Gomez is leaving. I know; it made me sad too. Maria is so awesome and really got behind my book (pretty sure she was the driving force behind my pre-empt offer). She’s leaving to pioneer Amazon’s new publishing venture. They’re branching out from a strictly self-publishing service to become a more traditional publisher.

Maria’s left me in good hands. My new editor is Karen Chaplin, who was already on my editorial team.

So, what does this mean for my book? Well, pretty much everything is the same. Same deadlines, same team, same enthusiasm, just a different first point of contact. The news freaked me out a bit, but now that I’ve had time to process, I’m good. It’s better to have a new editor at the beginning of the series than halfway through, that’s for sure!

Back Wednesday!

The Chopping Block

When I queried my manuscript the word count was a little over 96,000 words. After my line edit, it now stands at just under 87,000. That’s with an additional scene. I was shocked. 9,000 extra words!? Am I really that, well...wordy?

My agent assured me that all manuscripts need to be trimmed, that writers sometimes explain things that don’t need explaining or continue in a dialogue that can end a few lines earlier. In rereading my manuscript, it is definitely tighter and flows better. I cut out two whole scenes, but the truth is, they were only in there to explain each other.

When it comes to cutting, I can never decide for myself what needs to go. Once someone else points it out, it becomes blatantly obvious. What about you guys? Are you having a hard time cutting out scenes or sections? Are you good at removing the unnecessary?

In thinking about it, it seems more established novelist can get away with lengthier novels…why is that? I’ve read a few that could have used a good cut. J

SCBWI Grant Time

I just sent off my application for the SCBWI WIP grant. I’m using my current book, In the After, even though it may have a contract before the grant is awarded (fingers crossed). The great thing about this grant is that it only has to be un-contracted through March 15^th, after that, all bets are off. You can apply if you have other books published or if you’re a complete newbie. If you haven’t already, check it out. You do have to be member, but if you want to write YA, a SCBWI membership is a useful tool to have.

Other than that, I’m still going through my line edit. It’s actually pretty tedious. It’s more track changes fault than anything else. Here’s what I’ve been doing for the past hour:

Left click. Highlight Accept Deletion. Right click. Left click. Highlight Accept Insertion. Right click.

Repeat several hundred times.

The thing is that you have to approve every insertion or deletion, so if you want to delete a comma and insert a semicolon, you have to approve both. If my agent makes a word choice suggestion I have to either accept or reject it and reject any of her comments so they do not become imbedded in my manuscript. Like I said, tedious. Whoowee. I’d better get back to it.

I’m Awesome at Procrastination

This weekend I failed to work on my line edit at all and instead did these many, non-writing related things.

1)      Played a couple hours of Super Mario Galaxy 2. So very addictive.

2)      Watched episodes of Dollhouse on Netflix streaming. Why didn’t anyone ever tell me how good this show was? I think it’s cancelled now. BTW I’m going to marry Tahmoh Penikett. Should probably figure out how to pronounce his name first…J

3)      Read three books: Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein, Brains: A Zombie Memoir by Robin Becker, and Unwind by Neal Shusterman

4)      Attended a B-day party for a co-worker’s daughter. There was a whole table devoted to candy. How cool is that?

5)      Tried to reach 200 followers on my blog. Mission accomplished.

6)      Walked to Sweet Mandy B’s in search of more cupcakes. Best in Chicago. For sure check it out if you’re here.

7)      Watched Last of the Mohicans for the 100^th time. Best. Movie. Ever.

8)      Generally hung out, chilled out, and slacked off.

My rationalization is that my brain needed a few days off to come back and make my manuscript as good as it can be. Makes sense, right?

What are your preferred procrastination methods?

Line Edit Away!

Woohoo! I’m on to my line edit…with a bit of rewrite mixed in. My agent continues to amaze me with her awesome suggestions. I’m in the final stretch before submission. I thought I’d be freaking out much more than I am…but there's still plenty of time to have a nervous breakdown. J

I’m changing my blog schedule to Monday, Wednesday, Friday…if any of you are curious. The Monday – Friday thing wasn’t working out and I like having a set schedule.

I’ve been writing a lot of posts about the process of writing a query and getting an agent. Does anyone have any questions? I’ll do my best to answer them and anything I don’t know I’ll ask my agent. Did I mention she is awesome?