How You Doin'?

In the lifetime of WIP's, mine is entering its summer. I have completed a sturdy, hefty round of edits and shall begin to transcribe them to my digital copy.

I highly recommend printing out your MS. After three or four rounds of edits on your digital copy, a hard copy will help you catch those retarded evasive mistakes that eluded you in the past.

I'm not saying that mine is ready to go, but I feel much closer now.

On a macabre side note, there was a crime today in my city that eerily resembled the murder scenes of my WIP. It was reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution here. I couldn't help but notice the similarities, and develop a morbid professional interest in the details.

I know. If there is a hell, y'all make sure to send me a postcard.

A Writer’s Marriage

I am married to writing. And like all marriages, we go through our up’s and down’s, our shimmies and our shakes. It isn’t perfect, but to throw some cheese out there, we were born to be together. From making up stories to entertain friends and family to the ubiquitous tale to get out of trouble, it’s always been there. I did manage to get out of some heat with my parents for my creative lie story telling alone.

Currently, it’s safe to say we are on a down slope. But even these times are helpful. They help in me create the appropriate mood for certain scenes that require a bit of a downer attitude or a bit of a tempered moment. In addition, it helps me appreciate those few precious moments when I it’s just me, my laptop and espresso. And yes, it’s okay to bring in props into the marriage. Some people use, well, I’m not going there, by espresso is our thing.

So, since you all are the closest to a writer’s marriage counselor(s) I know, I’d like to tell you that I have printed out my MS, and am reading it out loud and catching all kinds of little mistakes. Things that I should’ve seen before, as they were obvious enough in reading, that now I feel like an idiot and a half for not catching them earlier. Writing and I are trying to patch things up or mend them (pun intended), but these issues will have to be worked out before we can start honeymooning again.

The definite upside is that being married to writing, means that my actual wife is more like my adulteress lover. A title she may frown upon, so we shall keep this between us. It does, however, keep things interesting, fresh and exciting. Fireworks, baby. Fireworks.

Do you (or a beta reader) catch things in your writing that send your hand flying toward your forehead, with the thought of “How could I’ve been so careless?” Am I alone? Insert violin music….fade.

Off Ice

I've decided to chisel out my MS from the ice block I placed it in just before Thanksgiving weekend. It was hard to do, I admit, and seeing my little paper spawn frozen, tugged at my heart as emotion threatened to drown my eyes.

Okay, okay. Maybe it wasn't THAT hard. It was nice, however, to give myself a little self-dictated vacation from writing. Alas, the time has come now to give one last read through before I delve into the hell that is query letter writing and synopsis typing.

I hope my eyes are fresh enough to catch all those mistakes that have eluded me already. I'm wearing my hunter eyes. To the common folk they appear as a mere squint, but trust me, they are predatory and menacing. Be afraid ill placed comma and awkward dialogue tag, for I am coming for you, and all your rapscallion friends. I shall try to focus on voice consistency and grammar errors. The story itself will not change. In any case, wish me luck, and tell me of your writing process. What do you find that helps you the most during editing. Besides booze that is.

Chao for now.

Break‘s Over Kiddies

I was taken aback the other day when a colleague confided in me that he had an epitaph the previous night. For a brief moment, thoughts of gloom and concern scoured my brain. A second later I found myself having to contain the insatiable desire to burst out laughing, spittle sprinkling his face, in full roars of laughter.

“You mean, and epiphany, right?”

Yeah. Way to go collegial educational system.

Alas, I had my own – dare I say it? – epiphany later that day as well. And of course, it directly related to my writing. In speaking with my wife about the day-to-day “how was work stuff” it suddenly hit me, like a slap square on my forehead, and I could almost hear the [now] ominous Doh!

She was asking for my opinion on how to approach a certain situation at her job, with her boss and colleagues. And I, being the least qualified to so, proceeded to give her my advice based on the personalities of the people she labors with everyday. I knew which tactic would work best with each one because I knew them. I knew their likes, their pet peeves, and because of that, their possible reactions. Even though I have only met them once, and for like two minutes at best. But I knew them through her. Her stories of her work day and such had been so excellent that I felt like I knew these folks. Hence, the epiphany.

This is how I want my readers to feel about my characters. I don’t want to tell you who my character is; I want you to discover him\her. To figure them out. I’ve spent so much time on crafting clues for the plot, for the reader to figure out the mystery of my novel as they read along, that I have somewhat neglected the people in it. Leave it to a self declared anti-social to forget about the people, right? This has inspired me, not to recreate my characters, but to quit restraining the natural voices I know they each have, and let them play on the page. If my wife, who does not speak English natively, can craft her coworkers in my head so well, surely, surely I can do at least the same. Maybe she should be the writer. And then I can dedicate myself to epitaphs.

Regardless, break is over me. It’s time to get back to work. What about you? How’s your WIP coming along? Oh, and I have to give a shout out to L.T. Host for getting a mention over at Nathan Bransford’s Blog for her first paragraph. It truly is an attention grabber. Great work!

Gooaaaaalllll....... Changed.

Thanks to Marsha's Musing's, I have set myself a new goal: To have this novel done by October 30th. That’s right folks you heard it here first! Not that I have CNN and Fox news shoving Oprah out of the way to learn this information, but it’s there anyway.
I am 65,000 words in. I feel pretty good that I can get it done. The story is laid out, I’m just tweaking at this point. So, after I close this laptop tonight, I will get my I.V. drip ready and shove into the trunk of my car. Tomorrow morning as I take some time to write, I will walk into my usual Starbucks and boldly declare: “Plug me in Christie.” And she – having always wanting to inflict some kind of pain on me – will eagerly jab that hypodermic needle in my arm and proceed to pour down espresso shots into my fluids bag, letting it nourish me intravenously. That’s not just a mere high-five moment (it may tear the needle out of my arm causing some pain and excruciating sorrow at the loss of espresso), but rather an absolute “Hell Yeah!” moment. Fierce, creative keyboard pounding ensues.
Can you smell that awesome? I can.

What about you? Have you given your project an end date?


**All names and places mentioned are totally not a work of fiction, and only by coincidence, would somebody think they are.

Oh Look, Another Amateur.

After this fantastic post by Fiction Groupie, that is precisely how I felt. These were items that I knew, I understood, I was even aware to avoid, yet did not. Oh, the shame! Read Fiction Groupie’s list, follow the blog, and revise your work. You will be glad, I know I am.

Go, do it!