Grammar and S.L.

I haven't been very good at keeping you up to date, have I?

This past week has just flown by. The sad part is I've done next to no writing... except for on Library day.

There were no new words written, however I did edit my short story and most of my Chapter One... again. Why?

My tutor got back to me. I sent him my Outline, Chapter One, and Short Story. He went through and edited them for me, telling me all the things that were wrong with it. It hurt at first, I'm not going to lie - he's very blunt - but he did come across a major flaw in my writing skill set.

My grammar, spelling, syntax, etc., sucks!

I knew this. I always just assumed I would hire an editor to edit my manuscript before I sent it out. I know how bad I am at stuff like that. But it's come down to the fact that an editor might be able to get rid of my grammar problems, but will it end up sounding the same? Maybe, but I don't know. My tutor has made me doubtful of using that option.

So, I've decided to give learning this junk a try. I bought a couple books on the subject and plan on working through them this weekend. I'm back to the beginning but it's not that bad. Chapter two is already edited in my mind, so if I can learn even just a little bit of this stuff, that'll be good enough for me. Then I'll send my tutor Chapter two and all will be well (until I get it back).

On a side note, I encourage everyone to stay away from Second Life. If you don't know what I'm talking about - good, stay that way. If you do, here is my reason why.

It's so bloody addictive that you loose what little time you have in Real Life, doing nothing. How many of you can spend an hour just on getting your avatar to look good? You know you've done it. I'm not saying Second Life is all bad, it's an amazing way to network, but almost everything else you can do just surfing the net.

I realize it might just be me who gets addicted to stuff like, I've had to delete the program because that's all I did every night for a week straight, but if you're not careful, your Real Life might just pass you by.

OK, that's all I've got to say on that.

I hope you have a fantastic long weekend. If I don't talk to you before Sunday, Happy Birthday Canada.

C

A Writing Centre?

I've been distracted the last couple of days, haven't written anything since Tuesday.

The reason is because someone came up with the great idea to start an Edmonton Writing Centre. I was pumped when I heard. It was going to be at the downtown public library, which I thought was convenient since I go there anyway, but also a little odd. What kind of area would they have? Still, I was excited.

So when I go there on Tuesday, after typing up a whole bunch of words on a computer upstairs, I went down stairs and ask for directions to "the writing centre". The librarian replied, "It's very informal." and pointed me towards the back corner of the library. There in the corner was 4 tables and 7 chairs, no signs, no writer specific anything, and anyone could use it.

I was so disappointed, I almost turned around and walked back upstairs to the table and chairs I'd been using for the last month. If it wasn't for my writing friend urging me to stay, I would have left.

So the last couple of days, I have been playing with how a REAL writing centre could be set up. I have numbers, incorporation information, and survey questions. Not to mention all the contacts I came up with, just by asking them if they would interested in helping out a hypothetical business.

But see now I'm in a pickle. I'm very interested in this venture. I can see how much interest there is out there for a centre like this, and I've done a bunch of leg work to know it financially possible to do..... but there is another guy out there who has already started to put this together (mind you its not very good at the moment). I've tried to get in touch with him, but we haven't spoken yet.... I'm not really sure what to say to him when I get a chance to.

"Hi, I think the Writing Centre, the way it is right now, is junk. So I've come up with a better way to put it together." Yeah that'll go over well. What happens if he already has a plan? What if he's just being really, really slow about putting it together? Maybe I should just drop the whole thing and not get involved.

(sigh) Things are never just easy with me, are they? I finally get my writing going great and I go and get distracted by wanting to help start up a business... I'll keep you posted.

C

Cooking with Fire

Tuesday (today) - 895 words on WC&S, edited my short story, finished unit 10, and rewrote Chapter 3. (Library days are sooo good)

That's right folks. I have completed yet another chapter, and I am still moving onwards in the novella department (which I will eventually have to cut down, massively, but not today).

My writing friend shared the same feeling with me today. Its like we are on a sports team, and we just keep winning. Now we can see the playoffs in sight and we want that cup. Think of the playoffs as a finished novel and the cup as getting published. That's how I feel. Like this is how it should always be. Work hard and get rewarded. Put pen to paper enough and it gets to be a habit... and this is a really good habit.

It might sound like I'm getting worked up about nothing, but it's something to me. This is my dream, and I can finally get a taste for what it's like to be on the other side. To write full-time. To have my writing be my career and my only career.

... sure, I'd have to have a part time job because I would go Insane if I stayed inside the house all day, but still...

I'm sure you've had enough of my rambles for one day. Have a good one,

C

Chapter 2 - Done

Sunday was Father's day, and I spent the whole day running around and chatting to all sides of my re-married, and blended family. Not to mention including my boyfriend's side of the family this year, which is significantly smaller than mine. Believe it or not it was lots of fun.

Today, however, is the day I want to talk about. Today, I finished rewriting Chapter 2. TA DA!!! It actually isn't that big of a deal. I didn't change that much in this Chapter. Chapter 3 on the other hand, has some nifty changes (yes I said nifty).

So Step Two is moving along swimmingly. I'm two chapters in and can't wait to keep going. Only seven more chapters to go. * Remember, I'm only doing Chapters 1-9, Chapter 10 has to be redone so I'm counting it as part of the third step of my Three Step plan.*

On a side note, we've decided not to keep looking for a house. It's just not the right time for us to buy, especially in this market. We'll just keep renting out our downtown apartment for a while longer (like a year or two). Stupid inflated market.

Sunday - 0 words
(Today) Monday - Finished rewriting Chapter Two

Minus the fact that its hailing outside my window, it looks like it'll be a good day... to write at least. Have a good one.

C

Keeping it up

Things have been really good lately.

On Thursday I wrote a short story. A real one this time. It's 1,887 words. Under 2000. That's pretty good for me. I've sent it out to a few readers to see what they think. I can't wait to hear their responses, so I can edit this thing and send it out. My first submission. It'll be good. I'm expecting to be rejected at least a few times. No author goes without getting a few of those.

Today, Saturday, I've been working on my novella and rewriting my novel. It's going good. You can see my word counts below on how much I did on WC&S. But I also finished rewriting Chapter One in my novel. Onwards to Chapter Two! Things are cooking.

I haven't heard back from my tutor on unit 9 yet, but that's ok. It did take me almost 3 months to finish the silly unit, I can give him a week or two to get back to me.

I think that's it for now. Keep plugging along. I will.

Word Counts

Thursday: 1,887 words on Freedom Fire (short story)
Friday: 0 words
Today: 510 words on WC&S, finished rewriting Chapter One

C

Step One - Complete

My novel outline is finished, which means step one of my three step plan to finish my novel is done.

On to step two, reworking chapters 1-9 in my novel to fit the new outline. I'm feeling good. Things are coming into place. This nagging, urgent NEED to write is actually helping out quite a bit. (Check out my blog post May Long Weekend to see my full three step plan)

I also finished unit 9 in my writing course and I'm sending it on to my tutor as we speak (or type rather).

I know this is a short update, but come on... I'm writing a novel here. Gotta keep the momentum going. I won't have any 'new word' counts for you in my next update, but I will keep you updated on how much I've reworked.

Happy writing,

C

Novella & Novel

I've been working on my novella at the same time as I've been working on my novel outline. So far, so good.

Yesterday was Library day, and a really good writing day. I wrote 1,001 words on "WC&S", and still spent an hour working on my outline (which is getting closer and closer to being done). I've been outlining Chapters 6 - 9 the last few days, but I'm finding that by finishing the beginning, things at the end HAVE to change.

Your thinking, "um, duh!" right? Well, I guess in a way I knew this, just like anyone reading this would in theory... But its different when you're staring at your whole novel, seeing all the plot lines and obstacles and problems, and finally see all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. To finally see what was meant to happen here, not just the general idea of it. It's no longer about what I've changed here or there, it's about what this story has become... and it's AWESOME!!!!! It really is so much better then what it started out as.

Anyway, I just thought I would leave an update. Hope you're having a good one.

C

Job, Homes and Writing?

I haven't written a new post in a while. Shame on me.

I've been trying to do too many things at once, and it's been bogging me down: Write my outline, buy a house, save the world at work, you know that standard BS.

Work I need to relax about. There is no way I can save the world by stressing myself out to the max. In fact, I'll probably just end up with a sick day. Then how much help would I be? Just keep counting... two more years and then no more day job... that's the goal anyway.

Buying a house is just stressful in a normal market, let alone a market that increases 3% between the time I started looking (beginning of may) until last week. That's about $12,000 in a month. I don't know how much longer we'll keep looking before we give up, and/or get priced out of the market entirely. I'm hoping our rent doesn't go up too high next month, or we may be in very big trouble.

Now for the good stuff... I'm almost done unit 9 in my course, after a month of staring at the blank page going, "huh?". It'll be great to get it done finally and out of my hands so I can work on the next unit... which surprisingly is about my novel outline.

My outline is going good. I only have four more chapters left to outline and then I can get into reworking the chapters I've got. It's really nice to be able to work on crafting larger sections of an idea again, to play with the subplots in there entirety rather than one small section of the larger piece. It definitely makes me like my story again, which is one of (if not THE) most important thing about writing. You have to want to write down the story in your head, otherwise why bother?

I've been helping out two of the ladies in my support group. They both finished a novel and sent it to the group to be critiqued (that's different from edited). Their stories were really good, and it was nice to know I helped mold a bit of their stories based on my comments. The two of us left who haven't finished a novel are working harder now that we can see what the end result looks and reads like. The pressure is on. I feel like I need a month of straight writing time, but I'm not going to get it. I'll just have to fit my writing time into this busy life I've built for myself.

Well, I think that's enough rambling on my part. Hope you're having a great day... and if you're a writer, I hope you're having an even better writing day.

C