Status Update- February 9’th

With the second draft, first edit of Artistic License almost finished, I’ve started looking into other things.  For one, I’d like to at least have an idea of the agents that I can send it out to.  Artistic License is currently staying strong in the top five at inkpop for the month of February, and should it stay there, I will be getting a critique on it by HarperCollins.  I doubt I’d be lucky enough to get a contract with them, so my plan is to wait until I’ve gotten that review and edit it according to their advice before sending it out.  They are, after all, a publisher, and it’s highly likely my manuscript would be several times better after incorporating their advice.

As I said before though, the first round of edits is almost done.  Just two more chapters of Artistic License to go and I’ll have that second draft.  I do believe this is as far as I’ve ever gotten with a book, and I’m fairly proud of myself for it   It hasn’t been easy by any stretch of the word, but I think it will be worth it.

Until next time.

Status Update- January 28’th

I’ve gotten up to chapter sixteen with Artistic License.  The end is definitely what needed the most work; I’m rewriting completely all but part of it.  It’s not going too badly, though.  Of course once I get to the end I’m going right back to edit all over again.  Because that’s inevitably how it goes, right?  Just keep editing.  Of course no writer is really satisfied with how something is, but that can’t be helped.

Ah well.  Might work on some of my lighter stories until the weekend.  I need to relax and unwind.  I kind of wish there were actual tubs here in my dorm instead of just shower stalls so I could take a nice long bath, but then I realize how grotty those would be.  Yuck.  I suppose all there is to do is take a deep breath and smile Until next update.

Status Update- January 25’th

I’m tired.  Physically and mentally.  But mostly I’m tired of people on inkpop automatically assuming Cameron’s a girl because they’re too close-minded to see the signs that he’s a gay, teenage male.  I’m tired of people reading half a chapter and going in for the kill with overly harsh critiques that wouldn’t even happen if they paid attention or actually read any of it.  I know I’m not the perfect writer, but if you actually READ you wouldn’t fill a page-long review with how awkward my prose is.

I guess what I’m saying is, I’m not looking for tons of praise, I’m looking for people that will actually READ.  I want people who will read my story.  If you actually read through it, paying attention, then I don’t mind whether your opinion is good or bad.  Artistic License isn’t on a bookstore shelf yet, and to get there, I need help with ALL of it, not just what you can read in the span of one minute.

That is my rant of the day.

Status Update- January 19’th

And I almost forgot to post in here today.  I’m kind of tired and worn out, but that’s how I usually am near the day so that can be ignored.  I edited and put up the next chapter for Artistic License on inkpop, and I was thinking of putting another one up tomorrow.

The only problem there is that after that chapter, I hit a block where what I already have written is basically useless.  As I’ve said in previous updates, I’ve been rewriting a good chunk of the text near the end, and that’s where it would start.  But I’m not really done with it yet (not even close!) so I don’t know.  I know that this kind of extensive rewrite is just part of the process, but still XD

Oh well.  It’ll be worth it in the end.  At least I hope so.

Status update- January 18’th

I’m back at college, which means two things- twenty-four/seven internet access and classes taking up my time.  While I do carry around my writing notebook with me everywhere, I tend to not write an incredible amount during classes because I actually have to pay attention at least part of the time (or else my professors tell me I need to when they see I’m not taking class notes).

However, over the weekend while I was still home, I managed to rewrite a good chunk of Artistic License, a couple chapters that would be near the end.  Of course, as far as posting on inkpop is concerned, these particular chapters won’t see the light of day any time soon since I have so much between what’s online now and those chapters to still edit and post.

Despite the fact that my schedule is somewhat more busy, I’m hoping that this semester at college will be a lot better.  I went through a lot of emotional stress the last time, but I’m off the medication that we think caused it (and no, it wasn’t anti-depressants).  I realize anyone that still reads this blog might not be interested about my personal state, but I thought that just might be an interesting tid-bit.  And warning in case I suddenly drop off the face of the earth again.

Until next time

Status update- January 14’th

I completely rewrote one of the scenes in chapter five!  It feels good to get that in there, in a way, because I’m still in the top ten at inkpop so I’m hoping that the more I improve, the more people who are pickier about what they read will be willing to put it in their Picks and bump up the rating.  I’ve been doing a lot of advertising since that seems to be the only way someone will really notice you there.  I suppose it’s getting me ready for the ‘real world’ as far as publishing goes, because people won’t know my book is out in stores if they don’t know it exists at all XD

Ah well.  I’m not sure what part I’ll work on next, but I’ll try to at least do some edits tomorrow.  I’ll be going back to school on the eighteenth so I’ll be back in class and then who knows how much time I’ll actually have for editing.  Until tomorrow!

Status update- January 13’th

I edited chapter five and six of Artistic License a little, but I’m feeling a little… raw today and I don’t feel like I can keep my attention on it long enough to do anything significant.  I’d really like to edit it as much as possible before I put up a new chapter.  I’ve actually already started rewriting a piece of it near the end that I decided didn’t work, but as I said, it’s near the end so it won’t be seen for a while.

As always, anyone that would like to see Artistic License and/or help me improve it as I work towards publication, feel free to go look it up on inkpop!  You can’t comment anon, but it’s a great site so I’m sure creating an account there wouldn’t be too much of a hassle And if you don’t want to, you can leave any thoughts in the comments for the most recent post here on the blog.

Until next time!

Artistic License progress

I’ve been doing a lot of editing lately for AL.  I posted it up on a website for young-adult stories called inkpop (it can be found at http://inkpop.com/projects/3607/artistic-license/).  It’s far from perfect, and I haven’t even done edits to the full draft yet, but I like the way it’s progressing.  If there are people reading this that aren’t yet on inkpop, I’d love it if you could go on there and take a look!

As I said before, I’ve been doing a lot of edits to it, but I’ve also learned a few things about the editing process: you shouldn’t listen to all of your critics.  I think they purposefully try to contradict each other.  It’s some kind of conspiracy, I swear.  While I’ve gotten a lot of valuable critiques on what I have up so far, not all of it is valid or applicable to my writing.  In other words: you can’t please everyone.  This is kind of a problem I used to have.  Everyone has their own opinion on how a piece should go, but they’re just that: opinions.  Not all of them are well-informed and can often hurt the piece more than help it.

So basically I’m gonna go forward with editing Artistic License as I get more feedback via inkpop and anywhere else I put it.  At this point I’ve decided not to give the rough draft to people unless it’s just because they want to read what I wrote for NaNo.  I’ve changed and edited so much that it’s better if you just read it online XD

And I do plan to revive this blog, since I’m still working on Artistic License.  Until next time, fans.

The End

The end of Artistic License is near.

And by that I mean I’m almost done writing it.  Or at least I’m pretty sure I am.  Being a college student I have vacations and stuff, and I’m hoping the time home will give me time to relax and think over Artistic License, and complete it so that I can let it set for a while and then edit.

And speaking of editing, that offer for Google Wave invites is still open to anyone that wants to help me edit.  I already created a wave for it, which I’ll drop the finished document into so you can download it and have a read-through, then leave comments on the wave.

And if it makes you feel better, I’ll mention you in the Dedications section when I’m published several years down the road

I don’t plan on posting any more excerpts.  That’s mostly because I’m finishing up and connecting scenes together so there’s not really much to choose from.  Again, if you agree to help edit, you’ll get to read the book in its entirety.

I’ll probably post something here when I finally do finish the book.  But until then, readers!

Novel Excerpt- November 20’th

“You okay, Mike?” I asked. ‘GAME OVER’ came onto the screen before long, and Michael put the gun back in the holder. He smiled at me, but it wasn’t a very convincing one.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked. I blinked at him a couple times, which he seemed to understand was my way of saying he was really not passing it off at all. “I guess I’m just kind of wishing Natalie wouldn’t say all those things like I’m not around to hear them. Despite my robot-like moods, I’m not completely heartless.”

“And you still hate your dad,” I said. Michael leaned against the video game machine. There was a younger-looking kid kind of lurking around, looking like he was waiting for us to move away so he could play, but Michael didn’t really care.

“It’s kind of… died over the years, but yeah,” he said. “I hated my father a lot when Miranda and my parents were divorcing because he tried to screw her over so much. Mom and Dad fought a lot even before they divorced, and he was always the one that started it. When we were younger it was because she didn’t have a job, and when she finally went to school and started in real estate, it would be because no one would be home to take care of the cleaning and cooking. When Miranda and I started doing all that so Dad wouldn’t have an excuse to yell at Mom, Stacey came along and Mom was out of her job on maternity leave. It just… never ended. Mom could never do anything right.”

Michael was looking to the side by this time, and a quick look around showed that the kid who had been wanting to play on the arcade machine had left. Misty, Miranda and Natalie were talking amongst themselves while we all waited for Natalie’s parents to come and bring us out to supper. We had been there long enough for the next round of movies to open up, so the only people in the lobby besides us and a few stragglers in the snack bar line were the staff, who weren’t really paying attention.

Before I got the chance to do anything involving hugging him or just holding his hand, though, Michael leaned away from the game machine and smiled.

“But it’s not like it’s a big deal anymore considering that I haven’t talked to Dad in a few years,” he said. “And Mom seems a lot happier. Well, now, anyway. She kind of still drinks a lot, but what can you do?” He just kind of shrugged at this like he really didn’t know what he could do about the fact that his mother apparently went out several times a week and drank herself into oblivion. And that was… actually kind of scary, now that I thought about it.