What’s Up Wednesday
It’s the first What’s Up Wednesday of 2014! I hope everyone’s keeping warm–especially those in North America who have been through a particularly chilly spell. Even here in Eastern North Carolina, we’ve had sub-freezing temperatures for the last few days. Highs in the 20s (F) may seem balmy to those of you to our north, but when you’re not used to it, it’s not pleasant. Worst of all: no snow! I think we could put up with the cold if it could at least be pretty. Again, I’m sure my friends to the north would be happy to ship their snow our way, so I’m not complaining… well, not too much, anyway. So, what have I been up to?
What I’m Reading
I completed my annual read of Stephen King’s ON WRITING, and was once again inspired and encouraged. It’s a good sign when you can read a book multiple times and never grow tired of it. I’m now working my way through A GAME OF THRONES by George R. R. Martin. I say “working my way through” as if it’s hard work, but really it’s not. To be honest, I prepared myself for a lot of effort because it’s supposed to be “high fantasy” and it’s over 700 pages long. I expected lots of complex world-building, and characters with incomprehensible names (fully accented just to look foreign… except if you live in Hungary or Poland). As it turns out, I’ve been keeping up with the story quite well. Each chapter seems to take the third-person-limited perspective of one of the main characters, which helps develop familiarity with them. I’m sure they’ll all be dead by the end of the book, but so far so good.
What I’m Writing
I’m trying to pick up the pace on revisions to the WIP. Hopefully my first pass revisions will be finished soon, and I can do my final pass before I start looking for beta readers. If you’ve been following my progress on What’s Up Wednesday, you’ll know I’ve vacillated between “I love this story” and “I’m not sure this is worthy of beta readers.” Right now, I’m liking it again. Hopefully it’ll be wonderful by the time I’m through with it.
What Inspires Me Right Now
ON WRITING was a pretty good kick up the bee-hind. Also I posted a flash fiction entry to the YA Buccaneers “Walk the Plank” challenge just before Christmas that I quite liked. It was fun to write, and that’s always encouraging.
What Else I’ve Been Up To
This side of Christmas, not really a lot else. I’m trying to be more focused this year, spending more time on things that matter, and trying not to get sucked into things that don’t. Hopefully this will translate into doing more writing. We’ll see.
How are things with you? Share in the comments, or if you’d prefer, join in the What’s Up Wednesday fun. You can find details on how to participate on Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk‘s blogs.
Happy New Year, Colin! I should re-read ON WRITING. This book was definitely one to inspire…Best of luck with your WiP!
And a happy New Year to you too, Elodie! And thanks for the encouragement. ON WRITING is a must-read for writers, IMO, so yes–it’s always worth reading and re-reading. 🙂
Good luck with revisions! I sympathize with the love-and-hate-it feelings. I keep dithering about returning to my revisions, but I think I hate revising more than I hate the book itself.
Thanks, Emma! I don’t hate revising; I think I’m just impatient. I’d love it if my work was perfect from the first draft and I could go ahead and start querying. But I know that’s not the case. As I have seen already, my draft is littered with wrong words, wrong phrasing, unnecessary paragraphs, inconsistencies, and so on. Revising is the detail work of the craft that requires patience. I think the lesson I’m taking away from this is to give my revising work as much priority and attention as I did the original draft. This draft was completed as a NaNo project, and as such, it was my priority for a month. And I finished it in that time. To be fair, the revision process should have the same importance. Perhaps for the next project, I need to give myself a month to draft, take a break, then do a NaNoReMo. Wow–that would mean that within the space of 2-3 months, I’d write and revise a novel, and it would be ready for beta readers. I don’t know if that would work… it wouldn’t hurt to try! 🙂
I recently stumbled across my copy of ON WRITING – such a good resource.
I haven’t read GoT, but my husband did. I don’t think he had problems with the first few books, but one of the middle ones was pretty slow for him, I think.
ON WRITING is so good, and I enjoy being reminded of that every year. 🙂 I’m not sure if I’ll read the rest of the series, but so far GoT is drawing me in. If any of the characters survive the first book, I might be enticed enough to read on and see what happens… 🙂
Will you judge me if I admit that I’ve never read ON WRITING? Ugh. Writer fail! I think I’ll make a point to add it to my next book order. I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about it, and I love King’s articles in Entertainment Weekly. He’s got such a personable way of writing. Best of luck with your revision, Colin. I’m rooting you on, sir!
No, Katy, I won’t judge you for not having read ON WRITING yet. But I will harass you mercilessly until you have! 😉 One of the attractions with the book is that King is so unpretentious. He tells it like it is, and is very practical about it. You may not agree with everything he says, but you should at least understand his perspective.
Thanks for the revision encouragement! 😀
I love GOT – I was surprised at how easy a read it was, considering the length of the books! On Writing is my favourite writing resource – I’ve read it countless times. So inspiring!
Good luck with your revisions!
Like I said, I’m pleasantly surprised at how engaging GoT is, given what I was expecting. Long books can be daunting, but if the story grabs your attention, they don’t have to be. After all, few complained about wading through ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. 🙂
Thanks, Emma! 🙂
Happy 2014!
Hey! You can have all of the snow on my yard … I don’t mind =P
I’ve read On Writing only once. It was great, but it’s not my preferred writing/inspiration book …
Thanks for the offer of snow, Juliana! If I could, I’d send you some of the 70 degree weather we’re forecast for this weekend. 🙂
I hope you have a really great 2014, with lots of writing done, and many books sold!
I haven’t read On Writing yet, I really should. I’ve heard great things about it. It took me a long time to get through Game of Thrones, so long that I haven’t picked up the second one yet. I’ll get around to it eventually 🙂
Good luck with your revisions!
Yes, Laura–you must read ON WRITING. There are few books I tell people they really must read, and that’s one of them. I have yet to meet someone who regretted it; and most people get something out of it.
GoT might take a while to get through, especially since I’m determined to get through these revisions. However, it’s been on my TBR list for so long, it deserves to be finished. 🙂
Thanks!
Good luck with your revisions. Just because your story isn’t perfect yet, doesn’t mean it can’t get there. It’s all a part of the process and it sounds like you are well on your way. Here’s to a great 2014.
Thank you, Kate! I doubt I’ll ever consider the novel to be “perfect,” otherwise I would have written TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD… 😉 Seriously, though, if I can get it in good enough shape that I can send it to beta readers without worrying they’ll laugh at me, that’ll work for now.
To a great 2014! 🙂
“I’m sure they’ll all be dead by the end of the book…” Hahahaha! No doubt. I’m so afraid to get attached to any of his characters after watching the show. I do really want to read this series, though. (Hence the smaller Goodreads Reading Challenge goal this year.) I should probably make a point of reading at least one craft book this year, too. I feel as though I’m floundering on the writing front, not for lack of ideas, but lack of focus and lack of proper planning at the outset of each new project. I’m hoping to change that. It’s awesome that you’re on a writing high right now. I hope you finish your revisions on that high. 🙂
Weather-wise, it’s -18C here right now, which feels old hat. I’m so used to the crummy weather now that anything warmer than -10C feels really, really odd. (Boxing Day was actually above 0C!) Needless to say, I will not cry too hard when the winter is over.
Have a great week, Colin!
I’ve not seen the show yet, but I’ve heard that Martin is rather brutal with his characters (and I’ve seen evidence of this in GoT already).
I hear you on the “lack of focus” thing. I’ve read other writers (King included) who talk about writing and revising novels in three months, or making DAILY submissions of poems, short stories, queries, etc., to various places. I’m sure I’ve had enough ideas to be able to do such things, but so few of those ideas have become words in a document because I’m so undisciplined and unfocused. That needs to change for sure. I’ll be cheering us both on in that regard, Jaime!
You have a wonderful week too! 🙂 And stay warm!! 😀
getting sucked into things that don’t matter is so easy, isn’t it. We’re always our harshest critics and I’m sure your WIP is much more fabulous than you give it credit for, but I’ve been there before and understand your hesitance. Good luck with finishing up revisions and sending it out to betas 🙂
Thanks, Prerna! I certainly hope my WIP ends up being that good. It has the potential, I think. We’ll see. 🙂
Ooh, that Walk the Plank Challenge sounds way fun. It sounds like you’ve got your head on right, working on your craft and putting yourself out there!
It was fun to do. Although I don’t think I’ve been focused enough on my writing this past year, one thing I’ve done right (at least IMO) was to take up as many flash fiction challenges as possible. Walk the Plank has been really good, and so have Janet Reid’s 100-word writing challenges (she runs these contests periodically on her blog: http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/). They’re excellent for honing editing skills, and really thinking through word choice and writing effectively.
Thanks, Jessie! 🙂
I just read On Writing for the first time in December. It’s amazing the things Stephen King has lived through and no wonder where he gets a lot of his inspiration from! For me, the biggest lesson was looking at our own lives and finding the strange and different to add to our own writing.
I’m glad ON WRITING was useful to you, Melanie. This time around, I was probably most inspired by the thought of grabbing ideas and running with them–perhaps starting out working them into short stories, but seeing where they go, and not being afraid to just go for it. Less timidity, more action.
Never forget we are all our own worst critics. I’m sure your book is fantastic 😀
Happy New year!
So true. And hopefully being my own worst critic will end up being a good thing for this novel.
Happy New Year to you, too! 🙂
We all vacillate between loving our books and hating them. Comes with the territory. *grin*
I’ve been wondering about Game of Thrones. It’d good to hear from another person who’s reading it and quite liking it. “High Fantasy” can go either way for me. I mean, I loved Lord of the Rings when I was a kid, but some fantasy series are harder to get into when you are older.
Congrats on all the progress you’ve made on your WIP. Hope you have a great week!
One of the reasons I’m looking forward to the beta reading process is I’ll get some objective feedback on whether this book is really any good. That’s why, despite my fickle feelings, I’m plowing ahead and finishing these revisions. You’re right, though; I don’t know any writer that’s so confident that they believe everything they write is gold. Another good reason to read King’s ON WRITING–even he recognizes not all of his books–even ones that have sold millions–have not been his best work.
As for GoT–watch this space! Well, not THIS space, but this blog… you know what I mean. I’ll no doubt have a little review on here for WUW, and I’ll definitely have a full review on Goodreads!
Thanks, Kris! 😀
I love that book by Stephen King. My mom got it for me my last year in college. It really is inspirational. It makes me feel better to think about how hard it was for him to get published, and now look at him! He’s a household name.
I think we all go between I HATE THIS to I LOVE THIS with our work. I know I do. I’m sure your beta readers would love to read it for you either way 🙂
I think what King teaches me is how much you can accomplish when you commit yourself to something. He’s written well over 50 books in the last 40 years, and he’s not done that by getting distracted by insignificant things. I really need that kind of focus.
Thanks, Kim–I hope my betas will at least give me good, honest feedback. I don’t want to waste time querying something that doesn’t deserve to be published. There are plenty of other ideas is the sea… 🙂
I read ON WRITING a few years ago and loved it. I really need to get my own copy so that I can read it again, and regularly.
GAME OF THRONES is fantastic. I was hesitant at first because they’re so huge, but I’ve actually found them relatively quick reads compared to their size. I was worried about keeping track of all the characters but that hasn’t been a problem for me either. Each one is so distinct that it’s not difficult to remember who is who for the most part.
Good luck with revisions!
Thanks, Rachael! I would probably read GoT quicker if not for trying to finish revisions too. However, I’m enjoying it, and that’s good! 🙂
Are you familiar with the HBO series Game of Thrones? Just wondering if you watch and also read.
Be careful. Lots of huge spoilers on the interwebs.
I am embarrassed to admit I have yet to read On Writing. I need to remember to buy it. I think I’ll go to Amazon right after this post. Best of luck with your writing goals for 2014.
I am aware of the HBO series, and I’ve been avoiding it–and discussions of it–until I’ve read the book. So far so good… 🙂
I hope you enjoy ON WRITING as much as I have every year for the past 3 or 4 years. I still regard it the best craft book I’ve ever read.
All the best to you too, Ron!
This made me laugh out loud: “I’m sure they’ll all be dead by the end of the book, but so far so good.” Ha! I’ve heard George R. R. Martin is ruthless with his characters, which makes me reluctant to read his books, because I tend to get attached. They’re sitting on my hubby’s bookshelf right now, and I keep telling myself that someday I’ll get around to reading them. A bit of a time commitment though! Good luck with your revisions! Every time I think I’m done mine, I end up being thrown back in! 🙂
That line made Jaime laugh too (see above)–no wonder the two of you get along so well! I’ve been promising myself I’ll read GoT for so long now, I really needed to just bite the bullet and get on with it. I’m expecting heavy casualties, but there must be something about the way Martin is ruthless with characters and yet maintain a strong readership over this huge series… I’m hoping to learn something. 🙂
Thanks for the encouragement, Erin. All the best to you, also!
I hope it warms up soon for the people up north. I’m seeing many snow and ice pictures. Brrr.
Happy writing.
I hope to get to my copy of ON WRITING.
I hope it warms up for them soon. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be that cold–and I’m originally from England! 🙂
Happy writing to you too, Medeia! 🙂
I love the TV programme but I still need to pick up the Game of Thrones books. And hopefully have the patience to get through 700+ pages of it. I’m more of a fast paced reader but if the characters and world gets you hooked in I think I’ll have to at least give it a try. 🙂
From what I’ve read of GoT so far, Robin, I think you won’t be disappointed–at least in terms of it being a fairly easy read. It’s not particularly fast-paced–there’s world and character building peppered with action. But it’s enough to keep you engaged. I’ve not seen the TV series, so I can’t compare, but you should give the books a try.
I loved ON WRITING. Definitely one of my favorite craft books. That’s awesome that you read it every year! I should do something like that–I’m sure it helps a ton.
Good luck on your revisions! I’m in the trenches with you.
I really think reading ON WRITING every year helps. As I’ve said a gajillion times, I wouldn’t call myself a Stephen King fan, but I relate to his approach to writing stories, so I always find something to inspire me (or kick my butt) when I read ON WRITING. 🙂
Thanks for the encouragement, Kris. All the best to you too! 🙂
I finished off A Game of Thrones in December, and I’m starting on the second book now. I enjoy reading fantasy, so I was perfectly happy to start a 700+ page book. I am also pleased the names aren’t too complicated, but don’t be so pessimistic. At least two of them make it to the end of the book!
Martin has done a good job with the names. For the most part is seems like he’s taken regular names (William, Brandon, Michael, Kevin, Edward) and given them a twist. This makes them sound strange-yet-familiar, which is good for the reader.
I’m glad there are some survivors… but no spoilers! I haven’t finished yet… 🙂