Doldrums

I'm feeling kind of at sea. Not a rough sea, but one becalmed--the doldrums.

I'm nine weeks into the query process. Two-thirds of my queries have received responses in the vein of, "Not the right fit for me." I get that. I certainly want an agent who's excited about my book. And while I haven't felt sad per se about any of the rejections, I am feeling a bit blah.

A factor I hadn't considered, being new to the process, was that many agents take 2-4 weeks off during the summer, which slows response times down considerably.

I have one query that's been sitting idle for 55 days. When I look on Query Tracker this agent has replied to very little submitted to her in the past 90 days. In all fairness, judging by the number of queries that QT lists--and I suspect that a great deal more come through that don't get logged on QT--she must be swamped.

For three weeks I stopped submitting any queries.

But my husband has a saying: Action conquers fear.
I figure action also conquers the blahs. Time for me to be proactive and put some wind in my sails, so to speak. In the past 3 days, I've researched agents and sent off six new queries. It feels good!

Now to get myself out of my story funk 😉

Crossed a Threshold

Whew! In early April I crossed the 80k word threshold and I'm feeling pretty good about my book.

I just finished reading it to my husband. (I love reading aloud.) I started reading it during Snowmegedon, but then I got to a part that I knew I still needed to fill in and we had to put the reading on hold. But I finished bridging the plot hole chasm and in a three day readathon, I finished reading the story to my beloved.

While Phil reads a lot, 98% of it is non-fiction. Lots of science, business, and psychology stuff. But, he was engrossed by my story. I even made him cry at the end! That is quite the compliment.

Now my critique group is telling me to stop bringing re-worked bits to group and start querying.

I'm terrified.

But, Heather has set me a deadline. I'm to bring my query and a list of agents to start with by the end of May.

*glup*

Now I'm off to read everything I can on crafting a query letter.

Yikes! I Have a Blog??

Sorry little gal, I kind of forgot you were here.

Major life development: I've stepped back from teaching for now. It's been a stressful decision, but I think the right one. But, this isn't a blog about teaching.

What it means though is that I now have time to focus on my writing again. All my projects have been getting cold on back burners that ran out of gas.

My goal is to finish writing Water, Water, Never There. I've done editing in bits and pieces over the past two years, but little more than that. It still sits at a bit over 51k. So now, I'm off to fill in plot holes, flesh out the battle scene, and get a better handle on the Long Day.

*cracks knuckles*

Now it begins!

Laser Focus

I love Camp NaNoWriMo.

The thing about camp is that you can do pretty much anything related to writing. This will be the third summer I'm using camp to edit one of my WIPs.

Of course, I can edit anytime, but that's just it, it's so easy to get distracted by shiny things. Camp gives me a goal. I'm accountable to my NaNo buddies. I can't let them down!

Now, where was I...

Brain Puddle

I haven't touched this blog in quite some time.

This past school year sapped all of my creative juices. I took a position working with at risk youth. More specifically, I have a K-3 class comprised of kids who were "asked to leave" their neighborhood schools because of the degree of misbehavior they exhibited in the classroom/school. While my class is small number wise, every one of them is defiant and oppositional. I come home wiped out. I don't even have the energy to cook.

Thankfully, my son, Josh, has come to my rescue. He has made me dinner practically every week night this year, for which I am eternally grateful.

What does this have to do with writing?
Nothing and everything. Nothing as in, I've no creative energy left to write.

Whine, whine, whine.

Actually, while immensely stressful, I love the challenge of my job. I feel like I'm making a difference in the lives of kids who have been cast aside. Hopefully next year I'll be able to find more balance!

Now, that summer break is here I'm looking forward to turning my writer brain back on!

Made It!

*Brushes off hands*

Another NaNo done and I achieved my goal. My story now is at 51,213 total words, or about 28k written in November. I do feel a bit guitly about going rogue, but I accomplished what I wanted to--for now. After all, fifty thousand does not a book make.

Thank you NaNo for giving me the encouraging place and a deadline.

I'm still not quite sure what The Long Day is, but I've put some ideas on paper. Now to go back and properly flush them out.

Kick in the Pants

Man, I don't know how the rest of you who have full time jobs find the energy to write. After a day of teaching I have no creative juice left. Granted, I work with emotionally, and physically challenging students with behavior issues. Still, I'm sure many of you out there have stressful jobs too.

*shakes out limbs*

Okay, now that I have that out of my system...

I've decided to cheat.
I'm going to be a November NaNo rebel.

One of the biggy rules for NaNoWriMo is that you are supposed to work on something new: no writing before Nov 1, except plotting. But, I'm going to come clean here, I'm going to use NaNo this year to see if I can push Water, Water, Never There over the 50k mark. The point of NaNo is to get the writer to commit time and to focus on a goal. I'll be doing that.

Mea Culpa.

I Published a Book!

I did it! I self-published my historical fiction book---Rule Number One: Know Thy Enemy.

It's pretty exciting to hold your own book. Now the challenge is selling it. For me, that's a two pronged problem, probably one shared by many writers.

First, I have to ask people to buy it. I'm not someone who's naturally comfortable with sales. For example, I wasn't one of those girl scouts who sold a ton of cookies. Most of my cookie sales came via my mom who'd take orders at work. My mom's not around anymore, so time to pull up my big girl panties, as the saying goes.

Second, people are going to ask, "What's your book about?" You'd think this part would be easy--I've spent a great deal of time thinking about it, writing it, editing it...editing it again...and again. (You see where I'm going with that.) But for some reason, I have a hard time summarizing what it's about. Phil (my beloved) calls it my 9 second speech. I see all the bits. When I focus on one part, the others feel left out.

Truth be told, it probably has more to do with the nervousness of putting my baby out in the world and fearing rejection, so I find myself hemming and hawing. So, let me practice here.

Rule Number One is about a young woman whose marriage seals an alliance between two powerful kingdoms. Though wary that the prince is as kind as he seems, she's relieved to finally be free of her abusive brothers. Then she's kidnapped from the royal garden. Rescue comes quickly, but rumors soon fly about the legitimacy of the child she carries. If she doesn't figure out who orchestrated the kidnapping a usurper could lay claim to the crown.


You can purchase Rule Number One: Know Thy Enemy here. And please, go to Amazon and leave a review!

You can hear me read the prologue and/or read it for yourself, and chapter one too by clicking here.

The end, that isn't an ending

Camp NaNo is over and much to my surprise I ended the month with 23,000 words! I'm feeling kind of jazzed to keep on.

I came upon an exciting scene where my MC meets up with her mother, a woman with an ax to grind -- well, who can blame her? M'miri killed two of her other mothers.

If you want to know how it played out you'll have to read my manuscript!

You know how some scenes just sing? This was one of them. It was a fun scene to write, and I'll admit I'm rather proud of it.

Still not 100% sure I have a novel length book, but the odds are feeling a lot better.

Update: Water, Water, Never There

Well I must say I'm feeling pretty excited. I just upped my word goal to 20,000! Three weeks ago I didn't think I'd hit 15,000. I still don't see a full lenght book, but you know, it might not be impossible.

So far I've discovered there are culling squads in some towns and villages. People are so full of hatred towards Elementari for things that happened in the past that they are rounding them up and killing them, like rats carrying the Bubonic Plague.

Also, there is this stranger who can pull the moisture out of M'miri. At least, I think that's what he does. He's still a bit mysterious to me. I suspect we'll learn more about him.

Then, kind of against her will, M'miri has picked up companions.

And get this, her mothers drown people and eat them! No wonder she hit the road. A lot can happen in 17,000 words!

Camp NaNoWriMo - Water, Water, Never There

Well, I've decided to see what I can coerce out of my WordSpring story which I've decided to title: Water, Water, Never There.

I've registered for Camp NaNoWriMo and set myself a very modest, though currently overwhelming, goal of 18,000 words.

That's the advantage of Camp, you get to set your own word count goals--and for the first 2+ weeks you can revise it up or down. Since I've no idea what I'm going to write, this seems like a safe challenge.

I've got that fear of failure lurking over my shoulder, but I'm going to banish my 'inner editor', as NaNo's YWP calls it, and try to remain positive!

First Scene - magical realism or fantasy?

Several weeks ago I wrote about my first conference and the scene I came up with during the magical realism workshop. I thought I'd post it here. Maybe typing it up will give me some storyline inspiration.

*************

There was a time when the Elementari were prolfic and welcomed in every town and encampment, their gifts deemed to bring good fortune. But memory of that time was fading. That was before the Long Day. In this age, children born with sense sight were often drowned at birth or abandoned.

-------

M'miri left the fire circle and wandered up the hillside overlooking the settlement, through brown, brittle grass that crunched underfoot. The bag of coins the elders had given her jangled on her hip. She crested the knoll and circled around. Vibrations tickled the hairs on her legs, letting her know she had found the spot.

She sat down and waited. M'miri closed her sight eyes and opened sense sight. Soon she began to see them. The droplets of moisture drifting lazily in the air. Concentrating, she drew the droplets together. As they joined, their masses increased. They could no longer drift about aimless and carefree. M'miri could feel their wieght pressing down upon her.

As the first raindrops fell, her sense sight closed. She opened her sight eyes and headed down the hill, leaving this village behind. The wind picked up, her scarf blew off exposing her long blue hair. M'miri scooped the silk as it tried to escape in a swirl of dust. She listened to the rain hit the dry leaves of the trees behind her. Down the road lay another settlement in need.

******

Okay, I know this needs some editing (I read the passivity and alliteration in some of the sentences I was typing!) But, it's a start. Now to see if it lights a spark.

WordSpring

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a writing conference held at one of the local community colleges with a few members of our local critique group. I wasn't sure what to expect from a writing conference, certainly not one held at a jr. college. I was pleasantly surprised.

Butte College has been hosting WordSpring for several years, this being the 5th Annual. It was a one day affair. I attended four workshops. Three were good, one was meh. Not a bad percentage. Classes were offered by staff from Butte College and published authors.

The workshop I was most excited about was one on Magical Realism. I had no idea what MR was, but it sounded intriguing. The definition given by the presenter was a little vague. I must admit, I'm still not 100% sure about the difference between MR and Fantasy.

Please let me explain my confusion. He said that in MR most of the world is pretty much like this one, whether present day or past, but that within this 'ordinary' world was an element of magic. At this point I kind of thought I understood.

Then someone asked for examples. He offered (among others) Harry Potter. This was hottly debated by audience members and where my confusion comes in. Much of Harry Potter is the normal world, but magic shows up in many places in many forms. Not only that, but there are mystical creatures everywhere one turns. If Harry Potter is MR, then what constitutes fantasy? I could feel my understanding of MR slipping away.

People agreed to disagree and we moved on. Towards the end of his time he told us to take five minutes and try to write a MR scene. I mulled over his words: like this world but with an element of magic.

Element. I guess I fixated on that word. I wrote my scene and when time was up he asked us to share it with a partner. I shared mine with a woman from my critique group. She was impressed and refused to read hers. On the ride back home she told everyone that I had this awesome idea for a book.

Now, who doesn't like to hear that? The problem is, I felt like an impostor. At the moment, I've no idea about any other aspects of the story. She has such faith in me, I hope that inspiration seeps into my consciousness soon.

I Published a Book!

Well, I did it! I self published book one in my historical fiction series.

It is titled: Rule Number One: Know Thy Enemy
It can be found Here

This was in the works a long, long time. It started as something I'd mull around/daydream about driving to and from work at a bookstore in Aptos, CA. I had about a 15 minute commute each way, and it helped me pass the time.

I took a different job, with a longer commute, and when I wasn't singing to my Joni Mitchell tape (yep, I said it, tape) I'd ponder what mischief Genevieve was getting into or out of.

I got married, had kids, and the story didn't go very far. Then, one day as I I stood in the middle of my living room practicing how Genevieve would challenge one of her detractors I stopped. If I'm acting out an imaginary world...in my 40s...isn't that a little crazy?

Then I had a 'Eureka!' moment. It wasn't crazy if I was doing it towork through the characters in a book. I needed to become a writer!

I bought my self a notebook and began writing. That was ten years ago. Egad! Well, to be honest, I didn't yet consider myself a writer. I mean, people like Stephan King, Emily Bronte, and JRR Tolkein were writers, I was just Geri. It took me eight of those years to allow myself to 'come out' as a writer.

So, here I am, with a book--an actually book--in my hands with my name on the cover and my words inbetween.

I hope some peopel buy it, and more importantly, enjoy reading it.

Geri Copitch, author

Dusting Off and Catching Up

Several NaNos have come and gone since I last posted. In fact, I'd all but forgotten that I had this blog!

*Shakes it out*
*sneezes*

To catch things up: I used a summer camp NaNo to edit my middle-grade story and concluded that the voice was really more YA. He is just too mature and sarcastic for a 10 year old.

It's a bit of a tightrope walk, the boundary between MG and YA. My main character (MC) is 12/13. From my understanding, that is the cusp age. However, YA novels--especially contemporary YA, tend to deal a lot with dating, and my MC isn't thinking about girls in that way yet--not really. In fact, I don't want to write a book about teenage dating angst.

So, I find myself in a bit of a quandary. Just where do you fit, Jared?

I'm Done...Now What?

A lot has happened since my last post on the 23rd. Late Monday night (technically Tuesday), day 25, I finished - I crossed the 50k line!

The last 2,000 words were the hardest. I really had run out of story ideas. Then, cooking dinner I decided that the mom of my MC's nemesis-turned-friend needed to get married. A HEA for one character. This became the second to last chapter. It was odd that I wasn't finishing with the ending.

 Did I mention that I had written the last chapter the week before? I had an idea I was excited about, so I chose to jump ahead and write it.

Anyway, it was exciting for the first 24 hours, and then I felt a bit of a let down. NaNo had been my focus for 25 days, and now I felt like I was twiddling my thumbs. I'm over that now and ready to take on the next challenge: editing.

Stay tuned :)

Inner Editor Tries to Escape - Again

I had a fight with my inner editor again. I just can't seem to keep her locked up. Maybe I just need better ear muffs.

Thursday (NaNo day 21) she was at it again. "You have only two chapters left in your head and you still have 12,000 words to go to reach your goal. No way you're going to have enough to say!"

God, I really dislike her.

Finally I had to get out the billy club and beat her back into the trunk. This time I put four padlocks on it. Since then I've been on a tear. I've written 9,000 words. And- I still have most of a chapter to write.

I'll admit, I'm feeling a wee bit proud of myself. I've thought of opening the trunk and showing her, but she's wily. She'll jump out of my grasp and start taunting me again. Nope, best to keep her in there. If all goes well, I'm getting to 45k tonight. (Day 23)

I think I can actually dream about begin done before my sons get here for Turkey Day. What's that?
Damn, she's banging on the trunk lid. Maybe I should keep that goal from her for now. It seems to energize her.

Good luck all!

It's Alive!

So one of the cool things about writing is that sometimes you’re going along minding your own business, when one of your characters suddenly does something you didn’t expect.

Yesterday, my MC’s former nemisis turned best friend, informed me that she does Jujitsu - with her mom. Thanks for letting me know…

Three days ago her good for nothing father told me that he was taking a job in another state - which was three days sooner than he told his own daughter. He waited until the day before he left to let her know. Scum bag.

And...turns out the the social worker who rents the downstairs apartment, not only wants to send my MC to foster care, but has it in for the cat too! She was sneaky about it. There I was typing about her having a lovely cuppa with MC’s aunt, when she surreptitiously kicked the cat under the table - and then lied about it. I thought I knew this woman!

I don’t know where my characters get these ideas. They didn’t let me know about them back in September/October when I was plotting out their lives, but what’s an author to do?

This is one of the fun parts of writing, discovering your characters’ backstories, their flaws, their secret talents. Sometimes your creative nureons fire and your story travels down a road not just less travelled, but that you didn’t even know existed. 

Some people feel that stories are fixed things, static. But we know that stories are fluid, sparking not only the imagination of the readers, but the author’s as well.

I just hope my characters finish filling me in on their lives before I complete the book. 

11 days and 15k to go. So many paths yet to be explored.

Some Days The Words Just Sing

Some days the words just sing and their melody carries across the page.

The past two days were like that, though they each played different tunes. 

On Friday I wrote 4,000 words - which is the most I've done yet in a day. It wasn't a speedy 4k, truth be told, it took me most of the day to write them. By the end of the evening my eyes felt as though they were two, swollen orbs and my brain was on standby, but I felt great!

Yesterday I went to a local write-in. For those of you unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, write-ins provide a chance to meet some of the fellow writers in your area and perhaps get some advice on a sticky story point, character names, and to participate fun challenges meant to keep your creative energy flowing and boost your word count.  My local group is small: 3-4 of us show up. We like to challenged each other to 'word wars'. Yesterdays' wars were 'first to 500' challenges. I fell a little short each time, but not by much, so that even with noshing and socializing I was able to write 1,200 words I felt pretty good about by the end of our 2 hours together.

I knocked out another 1,300 after I got home. I hit 30,000 words! Overall, a very successful day.

For a brief time earlier today I felt a little worried that I still had 20k to write. I know how much of the story I've written, and was feeling a little daunted about stretching out what I have left to 20k. I was sitting there staring at my stats thinking that I'd like to aim for 2k minimum a day. Two thousand, for ten days - now that feels doable. I had forgotten the 'break things down into manageable chunks' rule. Panic averted.

Now I'm back to tackle the next 1,200 words of my story...or more. Things are about to get just a little bit worse for my MC and his friend. But, sometimes you have to hit bottom before you decided to take charge of your life!

Support on the Home Front

One of the challenges of NaNoWriMo is the commitment of time - for thirty days. Family and friends root for you early on, but as one week becomes two, three... well all too often people in our lives start to feel lonely. We start to feel guilty for not spending time with them. And, face it, we need real life social contact from time to time. No, Twitter does not count!

I have been very lucky. My husband has been very supportive. Day three he surprised me and brought a 'writer's lunch' into my writing area and tiptoed away. Yesterday he offered me another, which I declined (I felt badly, but I wasn't hungry.)  When I returned from one of our local write-ins last night, he pressed me at dinner to tell him about it, I mean more than the polite query.

My 24 year old son has started sending me writer tips and silly advice, like this one which is a list of children's stories Not to write.

I love that my family is doing little things to help encourage me on my path to 50,000. 

I'm going to have to do something really nice for them, 17 days from now...after a nap.