Posts Tagged With: Blue Gentian

It’s Clarion Time Again

Posted on June 22, 2015 by caseykins

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I am participating in the Clarion Writeathon again.  I’m probably participating because I’m a dreamer.  Six weeks in San Diego writing for your life with an amazing group of people sounds like the best kind of experience.  I live through it vicariously every year.  Right now, I cannot go – even if I could manage to get in.  There is no way I can take six weeks off from my job and still have a job to return to.  The mortgage doesn’t like that very much.

But some day, I will get there.  I will need a scholarship when I do. So really, I’m just paying it forward in small increments. Consider donating a bit to help us all out?  Every bit helps, and who knows… maybe you will also be funding yourself for someday.  Or join and write with me.  That’s the best kind of participation there is.  My profile is here: http://clarionwriteathon.org/members/profile.php?writerid=504044

As part of the writeathon, I’m planning on putting the novel up on Wattpad for anyone to read.  I wasn’t sure I should do this, but I’m a big proponent of the fact that if you’re asking people to fund you for writing, they should be able to see said writing.  The Beta draft isn’t done yet, so I’ll be editing as I post.  I’m hoping to post a chapter per weekday, and it will be here: http://www.wattpad.com/myworks/42224637-blue-gentian.  First eight chapters are already up.

When it’s all done, I plan to put out a call for more concrete feedback.  Like I said, I’m not under any illusions that this thing is finished.  I think it’s SUPER close, though.  Draft 9, for those who are counting…  And please, please, please – if you have comments on how to improve the novel don’t hesitate to tell me.

Just a brief synopsis, and then I’m done.

Okay, I lied.  I also want to thank you a million times over for reading this blog, and for reading my stuff.  I get a little emotional when I realize how many of you there are now.  You’re amazing.

NOW I’ll post they synopsis:

Blue Gentian

Blue Gentian:

Salya has a talent for healing, a deep sense of tradition, and a love for the mountain path she travels every day with the band of traders that is her family.  But on the night she announces her Handcalling, when she dedicates her life to becoming a healer to replace her Grandmother, she finds a boy named Bren unconscious and bleeding by the stream.

While nursing Bren, Salya discovers that he is a spy with information that will save the life of the queen of Kwedregiol. Now she is faced with a decision: she can let Bren journey to the white city, alone and wounded. Or she can go with Bren, abandoning her life as a healer, in the scant hope that they will be able to save the kingdom before the assassins strike.

Something you’re interested in? Here’s that link again: http://www.wattpad.com/myworks/42224637-blue-gentian

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How It’s Going

Posted on May 12, 2015 by caseykins

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I haven’t talked about how the writing is going in a while.  That’s because it isn’t really going.  I mean, I shouldn’t say that.  It’s a different kind of “going” these days that feels less like writing and more like reading things and moving words around.  In short, I’m doing a bunch of editing.  All of it with Brian’s help, who is very awesome for going over my novel with me (it’s in much worse shape than I thought, but I don’t think the edits will be impossible).  Next stop Beta readers, maybe.

I set myself a few goals this year.  Goal #1 was to have a finished novel that’s ready to shop around.  Goal #2 was to get 5 short stories published, and one of those five paid for.  I’ll make #1, I think.  I’m on schedule to.  Brian and I will finish going over the novel sometime in June, and then I will have a full 6 months to do all the final edits and write the various synopsis that go with querying an agent.

But #2?  It just dawned on me that the year is almost ½ over and I don’t even have 5 stories written yet, let alone published.  And if everyone keeps things for 2+ months (which they do these days, mostly), then it is likely I won’t make it.  Yikes!  I’m whipping those six-in-six stories into shape as quickly as possible, and trying to write a few more as well.  The more I have circulating out there, the more likely I am to get things accepted.  That’s the theory anyway.  And only two of the six-in-six stories are something someone might be likely to buy, I think.

So I’m editing like crazy so I can start submitting like crazy.  The goal is to have 3 ready to submit this week, and then start writing again next week.  I’m making progress. Now we’ll just all have to cross our fingers that someone will give them a home.

Please?

In other news, Brian’s car is fixed!!!  It is running like a champ!!!  I have 2 hours of my day back and I couldn’t be more thrilled!!!  I like using exclamation points!!!

But seriously, it’s been nice to be able to have a little bit of time in the day, instead of always having to drag myself out the door, and then rush to the next thing, and then the next, until I finally get home (maybe) around 7:00 pm, after leaving at 6:20 in the morning.  And then there’s dinner to cook.

I do miss Brian, though, and it’s only been one day.  I’m hopeless.  I know.

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Six in Six

Posted on February 19, 2015 by caseykins

NIGHT

I am between things right now. The novel is finally going well, although it is somewhat on hold while Brian reads it and tells me what he thinks. We have only had one fight so far about it, which must be some sort of record.

This means that, for the first time in a LONG time, I don’t have anything that I’m supposed to be writing and procrastinating on. Like, the first time in 3+ years. I’m not entirely sure what to do with myself. I had tentative plans to write a bunch of short stories, but so far I’m having a hard time making that resolution stick. This is where the blog comes in…

I’m committing to 6 stories in 6 weeks. I’ve created a separate page for them on the website, so you can ignore or partake as you wish. They’ll be a bit edited, but they won’t have all gone through the rigorous process I usually put things through before calling them Done (with a capital D). They’re probably not all going to be good stuff – the last time I did this about 3 of the 6 stories were things I considered worth the effort of revising.

The publishing schedule is also likely to be erratic. All 6 stories will be posted on the blog by April 1, but I make no other promises regarding regularity. In addition, because I’m putting them on a separate page and not on the Journal of Bloggyness, you may not get them in your inbox. I’ll keep the “News” page updated with what’s up, and I’ll also post on my Facebook page whenever there’s a new one (https://www.facebook.com/Caseyehamilton). I hope you’re interested enough to follow.

And if not, that’s okay too. I’m mostly doing this because if I tell 500+ people on the internet it’s happening, then it HAS to happen. There’s nothing like public shame to give a girl some motivation.

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A Novel Update. Sigh.

Posted on January 12, 2015 by caseykins

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So, how is the novel, you ask?  Sometimes people do ask me, you know.  And I hardly ever answer with the truth, because I would have to say, “Yeah, it’s a mess.”  I’ve broken every resolution I ever made about the thing.

I was supposed to be done with draft 5 before the year turned new again.  I’m 80 pages away, and I can’t seem to make myself charge forward any more.  Why?  I realized that in editing, I edited out all reference in the second part of the novel to one of the main character’s injuries – which was basically the entire premise for the first part of the novel.  It has to be in there.  It has to be.  So I feel like an idiot going blissfully on and still leaving out that important piece.

But re-copying the novel is the best thing I ever decided to do.  Structurally, it’s so much better than it used to be.  And it seems stupid to go back, edit in all the other stuff to add the injury in, and then come to this rough, badly edited piece again.  Would it not be better to just finish re-structuring draft 5 and then edit the injury into draft 6 as a complete draft?  Or would it actually not?  I have no idea.  I’ve never written a novel before.  This is my first one.

This is not the first time I’ve felt like an idiot while writing a novel, FYI.

And the real problem is that the novel is in two parts.  That’s what creates all the angst (and the cheating.  One draft at a time, self).

I was supposed to be reading the manuscript to Brian starting on the first. I realized, though, that I wanted to do another polishing draft.  So instead of working on the end part of draft 5 in December like I was supposed to, I did draft 6 on the first part again.  And then I started reading draft 6 to Brian, who offered excellent suggestions I’m eager to put into practice in draft 7.

BUT I HAVEN’T FINISHED DRAFT 5 YET.

Sigh.  Wrangling myself is like herding cats.   I’ll be buckling down on draft 5 this week, although I don’t really have any hope for myself.  But if you put it on the internet, it HAS to happen.  Right?

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To Nanowrimo or not to Nanowrimo? That is the question.

Posted on October 31, 2014 by caseykins

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Nanowrimo starts tomorrow (that’s National Novel Writing Month), and I am still deciding whether or not to participate. I know, right? Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

Except that this isn’t really the last minute. I have a novel, I have an outline, I have a cover. It’s great, just like all novels are great before they’re full of the bad prose and plot holes of a zero draft. I am ready for Nano. There is no one more ready than I am.

So why would I not participate?

I’m at a terrible stopping place in draft five of the novel I’m currently editing. A terrible place. Sure, I’m not in the middle of a chapter or anything, but the queen is about to maybe get killed and I’m about to leave her in suspense for a whole month. It seems cruel. I was supposed to be farther along than this. MUCH farther along. I was supposed to be finished with draft 5 by November 1st. The queen was supposed to know who was trying to kill her.  The main character was supposed to make up with her family.  I was supposed to put it in a drawer, and then dabble with changes, and then have a readable manuscript by January 1st.

Brian and I were to have lovely nights in front of our new fireplace, both bending over a copy of the manuscript while I read aloud, occasionally scribbling things in the margins. (Which is a joke if you know us. We’re more likely to get into horrible fights with me accusing him of being mean to my writing, and he not understanding why his gentle criticism was reinterpreted so horribly wrong. And then he threatens not to read my stuff anymore if I can’t behave myself. Sometimes there are tears.  And then I apologize and dupe him into participating in the same cycle again. But maybe slightly better, because I’m trying to behave myself. I really am.).

My eyes were bigger than my fingers, though. I couldn’t complete 20 pages a day and still be a human. It’s my own fault for giving myself more work than I could manage. That doesn’t make it any easier to put the thing in the drawer at this haphazard place.

I must finish this novel. This year.

But, new novel!!! It’s the prequel to the novel I’m currently writing. That means it’s sort of related, right? We could call it research? No? Anyone?

I’ll probably end up participating. Just knowing that there’s a party of writing going on somewhere on the internets is enough that I can’t stay away. No one can resist the traveling shovel of death, or the wombats, or the mass quantities of caffeine and sugar we’re all consuming. It’s an orgy of words and it’s wonderful. It’s a new novel in only a month; something to fall in and out of love with and then toss aside. The newness is what I crave. I haven’t written anything new in months.

And who knows? Maybe I’ll have time for both?

Yeah, I know.

But don’t rain on my parade, okay?

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The Novel, and BEA

Posted on May 30, 2014 by caseykins

IMG_20140303_131755I’m more connected to the publishing industry than I ever have been before.  Not that I’m very connected, but I have recently started following some industry blogs.  I feel like I have an inkling of what’s happening, although I don’t participate and I know I’m probably woefully uninformed compared to some.  Still, being more connected has some interesting consequences.

Before I delve into the consequences, you should probably know that the novel isn’t going well right now.  It seems to go in fits and starts.  This is a full-on fit where I can barely get myself motivated to write the three new chapters that draft three really needs.  Almost nothing is left of the Nanowrimo manuscript, and yet it’s still far from good with no end in sight.  I think that part of the problem is this: if it’s only for me, I don’t have to worry about whether it’s good or not.  As soon as I show it to someone, it matters.  Once this draft is finished, I will show it to people.  It will break my heart if I’ve been working for years on something that can only be tossed out.

I’m too close to it to know how it really is.  All I can see is the masses of work it still needs, not whether the words that exist now are any good.  That’s high incentive not to finish editing it.  If I never get to draft five, then I can still harbor dreams of six figure advances and glossy covers.  I can interview myself as I drive home, about the genius symbolism I wove through the novel and what my next project will be.  I can craft my answer to “Where do you get your ideas?” I can plan what I will wear to book panels and signings.

You don’t have to tell me this is an insane pipe dream.  I already know it.  Just as I know exactly which house I’m going to buy in Maine when I win the lottery (says the girl who never buys a ticket).

And that’s where the consequences lie.  Mostly, I’m sad because I wish I could join in.  All the tweets from BEA are making me super jealous.  Especially Shannon Hale’s hilarious reports of things Daniel Handler said.  I would love to hang out with the two of them as peers and not just as a fan (maybe with Libba Bray thrown in for extra sass).  The photos that Little Brown and Penguin are posting of the convention floor also make me cringe.  Is everyone in the world managing to write a novel except me?

I’m beginning to see why writers recommend not even starting if you can help it at all…

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Winner!!!

Posted on July 31, 2013 by caseykins

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Today is the last day of Camp Nanowrimo July, and I am officially a WINNER!  That certificate is fancy, and such nice validation.  What’s also nice is that now I know I’m capable of editing a novel.  If I can get through draft two, I can push my way through draft ten or beyond.  I know I can.  (But hopefully it will never be thirty.  Shannon Hale really shouldn’t have told us that it took her thirty drafts to complete Goose Girl.  Talk about no end in sight…)

There is still plenty wrong with the novel.  I’m beginning to realize that you can’t just take it all in one fell swoop like you can with a short story.  There are too many words, and too many skeins to hold onto as you weave the story.  My first draft was messy.  It was missing chunks of things, it was full of textbook-like explanation, and it kept repeating itself.  The story arc is better now.  There are no chunks missing, and the repeats have been rearranged to appear in their proper place. 

I haven’t read this draft as a whole document yet, so I can’t put my finger on exactly what’s wrong.  I know immediately that something is, though.  I learned in my Novel class last semester that there are several differences between a Novel and a Novella.  A Novel is a story over 50,000 words, and a Novella is a story between 25,000 and 50,000 words.  Beyond just word count, a Novella usually has one main story line, and maybe one sub-plot (maybe).  There is not time to do justice to more.  A Novel usually has a main story line and up to five sub-plots, although two or three is more common.  Blue Gentian currently clocks in at about 45,000 words.  It has three sub-plots.  You see?  I already know I’m not doing the sub-plots justice, that there is a lot missing.  Next is to find out why, where, and how to fix it.  

Draft four will be for Character and dialogue.  Draft five will be to make sure the threading and symbolism is working.  Draft six will be for anything else that I feel I missed, up to and including editing for chapter length.  Chapters with action should be shorter.  They’ll feel like they’re moving faster. 

After draft six, I’ll show it to people.  Brian gets first dibs.  He is my most thorough critic, and best source of advice. I have a feeling my father would also like to read it.  Once I’ve done draft seven (or maybe eight), I’ll put it on Critique Circle.  Then I’ll write draft nine…  

It sounds like a long row to hoe, right?  It really does.  But 50,000 words looks like a far cry from 0 words on day one of Nano.  In small chunks after thirty days, though, it mostly looks impressive.  I plan to be very impressed with my novel once it’s done, too.  I’m confident I can do it.  After all, I already have draft two under my belt.  What’s a few more?  

(Holy crap, what did I just get myself into?)

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