Writing update!

So, I started querying last week! I was feeling down about things and needed to take my mind off life, so I sat down and wrote about ten drafts of my query letter before it was just right, then found five agents and sent my letters out.

I received my first rejection today, but I'm not really that upset about it because my book would just BARELY fit within the type of books that they normally represent, so it was a really long shot. I'm going to polish my letter a bit and send a couple more letters out this week.

After I finished my letters, I made an author page on facebook. It might be too soon, but I want to keep everything in the same place, and since no one reads this blog or checks their email, that's the best way to do it.

I also started working on the outline for Project #2!! Right now I'm just doing the outlines and character bios (in a notebook, by hand, as I do), but I'm hoping to start the first draft this week! I've already written bits and pieces of this book. It's been my back-burner project since 2010, but I've been working the idea in my head for so long that I feel like it's time to get it all out. I won't be posting any details about it any time soon, except maybe the occasional teaser quote.

General Update

*insert Robin & Ted gif here*

So, I've had some amazing feedback on my book. Which is great because I was starting to feel a little down about it but my friends are amazing, and I'm really getting great feedback, negative and positive, and my book is almost ready to be sent out into the world.

You bet your hat that's a scary thought that keeps me up at night.

So, I've been busy still. Not a lot of reading or writing done. But I have two reviews to add asap: Aristotle and Dante [etc] and Ask the Passengers. I am hoping to write these tonight. I'm currently reading This is Where I Leave You because the movie looks hilarious but I wanted to read the book first (I have to, I can't help it).

Also, I ordered a new copy (of the same edition) of The Book Thief and I finally got it! I also ordered Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Between Shades of Gray, and Outlander. I'm kind of chilling on the library books for a while because I never read them fast enough and I have so many books that I want to read in my personal library.

Books, books, books!

Oh, last thing, I transferred my library excel list to a Google spreadsheet so I can keep track and have it on my Google drive, and then I can share it with people when they want to know what books I have while they're shopping for me and stuff. I may add my "to buy" list in a separate doc eventually, but this works for now.

Ok, gonna go read!

Update.

I finished the third draft of my novel. Sent it off to one reader for now, a few others this weekend.
I'm in a slump and I have only finished one book since 9/12.
I just want to read and write but I don't have it in me.
Sorry for the absence. I'll post the review for Aristotle and Dante later.

Book Update

Starting my third draft tonight (9/13/14). Might've made a contact, so even though my readers haven't had time to return my second draft I'm starting the third. I'll change what I need to when I get there.

Book Update

So I started writing again on Monday. But then I found out that my great-grandma passed away at the age of 94, and I was totally blindsided and now I don't really want to do anything. I've edited a few things for friends, and I've gone back over what I wrote the other day, but I haven't written a word since Monday.
I know I will get back into the swing of things. I will find that motivation again. But for now, my heart just won't let me.
I miss my great-grandma terribly. The last time I talked to her, we had an amazing conversation about her childhood and being young adult in the 40's, and she told me secrets and we laughed and it was really just great to connect with her the way I did. The last words we said to each other were "I love you, see you soon".
I just miss her.
My sisters are having a really hard time with her death. Especially my youngest sister. When my Papa passed away in 2007, she was too young to really get it. But now she does. And it hit her really hard. I wish I could be there for her. But I can't even bring myself to call because I can't deal with those emotions over the phone. I just can't. Hearing my dad cry is hard enough, and I've heard that so many times. Hearing Tay cry would just break me. It would tear me to pieces.
Anyway.
That's my update for now.
I'll be making changes to this blog, adding pages and such, over the next few weeks, as well as really getting a hold on my review format. But for a bit, I might not post anything.
Not sure.

Book Update

I haven't worked on my book except a few paragraphs here and there since I started my official rewrite. I just have no motivation and I can't find my voice and I can't do anything while Bryce is around. It's a bummer but I'm really not in a hurry. But I do at least need to write my new chapters soon so I can send it back to a couple of readers for another round of proofreading. I like that one of my readers is a professional proofreader because some of the things that I didn't catch, she caught, and some things that other people suggested weren't things that she suggested and I trust her judgement over the others'.
But yeah.
I'll get to is sooner or later I suppose.

Book Reviews!

Once again, I find myself behind on my book reviews. I'll catch up soon. Also, I've began writing my second draft! I officially started writing it on Sunday, July 13. But things are chaotic and messy right now so I'm not getting much of anything done.
Will catch up soon.

Book update

So last night I sent my book over to Staples to get it printed and coil-bound, and I'm going to red-pen it to death and keep it. I get to pick it up on Friday, and I am so excited. I've never printed a finished product like this, even a dinky proofread draft. I think I'm going to do this with every draft. 
And I came up with a maybe-title: "How Real". But I don't really like it. But the book needed a title besides [Working Title], so I snagged a line of dialog and made it my title. 
I should have all of my new outlines and character bios done by the time I pick this up on Friday, and I'll be ready to proofread and start my second draft! I tried formatting my manuscript, but I have no idea how to make the page numbers work, so I gave up and I'll just try again once I'm actually ready to print it and ship it to someone.
I feel pretty confident about this book, but I'm trying to not get my hopes up.

Book update

So, I finished my book on June 10. I sent it out to seven or eight people. I've received feedback (no edit included) from two of those people, plus an edited document from two more people, and a handful of "I'll get to it soon, I promise" from everyone else. I'm not upset about this, because I wasn't really expecting anyone to read it, and the proofread versions I've received were super helpful, as was the feedback from the people who didn't edit it.
Today, July 8, I am starting my revision. I'm writing out my outline, my bios, my chapter summaries, all of that, on paper first, so I can have a hard copy of it to reference when I don't want to constantly go back and forth between word documents. Eventually I will put all of this into a second draft notes document like I had for my first draft. On Friday (or Saturday, depending on how I feel after our walk home from the library), I'm going to print out my first draft and red-pen it to death. Then I'm going to start from scratch and retype the whole thing using my proofread copies, my red-penned copy, and my new notes. I'm completely changing the timeline and I'm moving some things around. I really want this draft to be basically seamless.
I think I might start posting my writing updates here instead of on the tumblr that I made, that way my reviews and my writing are all in one spot, and whenever I update it, people will get the notification to their email instead of having to go to a blog to check. Yupp.
I am so stoke to start writing again!

A little behind...

I have some reviews to write soon! Corners of the Universe, The Westing Game, and Sundays at Tiffany's. Plus I'm almost done with In the End, so I'll need to write that one too. I was going to write one big review post at the end of the Treesofreverie June Read-a-Thon, but I didn't read as much as I'd planned. So now I'll just write individual reviews. Plus I'm also going to start moving some of my writing stuff pertaining to my book to this blog, and I'm going to start a catalog of the books I have in my personal library.
I'm hoping to read a lot more for July's Read-a-Thon, plus my Children's Lit class is moving into novels so I'll get to read a little bit more toward my Goodreads challenge and toward the next read-a-thon.
I just haven't really felt like reading lately. Too stressed out and tired.
Maybe July will bring us better things and less stress.