The Closest I've Ever Come to Writer's Block

I don't know about this whole "Writer's Block" thing. In school, when I had a deadline, I used to procrastinate, feel like I couldn't do it, and finally, with the dreaded deadline looming, produce something. It might not have been my best work ever. I might not have felt jazzed about it. But it was something.

Well, on April 1, I started my 60k in 60Days project (60,000 word novel entirely conceived, created, edited, and self-published in 2 months--see http://www.pushingthepen.com/ for more info). I was so optimistic.

Let me start off by describing my process (a rather high-faluting way of saying what's worked for me so far--and by worked, I mean what's gotten me to the end of a novel that I felt I could pitch to agents or enter into contests). I start off with a premise (and sometimes not even that), panzer my way through the first draft (i.e. write to find out what happens and how my characters get from point a to point b--very sloppy, very messy, very fast), and usually outline somewhere in the middle of my first draft once secondary characters and sub-plots have developed so that I don't forget anything.

Before I write my second draft, I create a pitch (to focus me), a synopsis, a detailed outline, and a story bible with maps, pictures of my characters, detailed bios of my characters, notes about my world, etc. Finally, I create a second draft. I still don't worry about grammar and mechanics. I worry more about character arcs and plotting.

Finally, in the third draft (which takes forever!), I edit for grammar and style and try to use sensory descriptions and make my sentences pretty and have proper grammar. My weakness is the third draft, I think, mainly because my self-editing isn't spectacular. Even when I was an English Major, my advisor said to me, "I gave you an "A" because the writing was good but the grammar--not so much." And the irony is that I don't even see those small details--I really don't.

Anyway, so I broke with my own process for 60k in 60 Days. I felt the pressure of a deadline, and I tried to draft an outline after a small amount of brainstorming. To make a long story short, 15,000 words later, I ended up with about five different versions of the same story that just...weren't...working (insert sound of teeth grinding here). Could I have forged ahead with those earlier stories? Yeah, probably. Would they have been--I hesitate to say "bad"--not good? Yeah, probably.

So after much hand-wringing and self-defeating cognitions, I finally figured out a premise. I brought all the activities of my world to a screeching halt (aside from feeding my animals who don't care whether I'm writing or not), and I pounded out another 11,000 words on a novel I'm feeling pretty good about. Not great, mind you. I'm too supersticious to say great. I have to finish first. It has to be 60,000 words. I have to feel good about it (after the third draft).

In the end, I wrote 26,000 words in 3 days, but I was only able to keep 11,000. I never considered giving up, but I did start to sense this terrible, unscalable psychic wall. The wall has become small, more manageable, but it will stay there until the first draft is done, until I don't have a blank page and endless possibilities to deal with anymore.

Now, I have to join the real world today--run errands, pay bills, etc. But tonight...tonight, I'm going to keep working on scaling that wall.

Tornado!

I lived through tornado weather today--one of the joys of living in Florida.

I was watching the news and listening to the police scanner when it came over the house. Just as the wind picked up, I heard officers all over the city radioing dispatch about hail and debris and their cars being lifted off the ground by the wind. "Please advice," said one officer. She sounded scared.

I gathered my cats and caged them just in case I had to move them into the bathroom. They were not happy. Then I sat by the front window and watched. Hail battered the glass, and the sky looked green. A transformer blew one street over, and I lost electricity. The police scanner went out, and I had no Internet on my phone. In less than ten minutes, the storm died down to normal.

I didn't know if it was gone or not. I had no connection to any weather information. By the time I got the Internet and Scanner back, there were fires all over the city, wrecks, and over-turned planes at the airport. One police officers warned about another "wave" coming through in forty minutes. One street over, two more transformers blew, and the police mentioned a "live" chain-link fence.

In the end, I got my electricity back in less than five hours. The news didn't report any major injuries. My family and my animals were all fine. It was frightening, but it made me really focus on the present, on "right now." It made me glad to be alive.

What I learned: always have flashlights and extra batteries, extra water, and a weather radio on hand. Have a game plan for my pets. Don't take anything for granted.

What a day! Tomorrow I start 60k in 60 days (well, today, actually since I haven't gone to bed yet). A fresh start. Very excited.

New Harlequin Superromance Challenge!

The editors at Harlequin Superromance are hosting a new writing challenge called "A Soldier's Story: A Memorial Day Writing Challenge," and the prize is a crtitique of your full manuscript by not one, but two, Superromance editors!

A Superromane is about 75,000 words long. I've already printed out the guidelines and have several hard copy examples of what they've recently published. I feel capable of conquering voice and pacing and style for this type of category romance. My biggest challenge will be telling a story that includes a soldier. I don't have any friends or relatives in the military. I'm going to have to do some research to make the soldier character feel authentic.

My second biggest challenge will be writing a second, 60,000 word manuscript for self-publication as part of the 60k in 60 days challenge in the same time period . I'm a fast write, though. I believe in myself!

If anyone happens to stumble upon this blog, why not share what writing challenges you are currently tackling?

60k in 60 Days!

I'm doing 60k in 60 days. Are you?

It's a great new endeavor similar to NanoWrimo but with a self-publishing twist. You write a 60,000 word novel or screenplay and self-publish it in two months.

I'm not allowed to figure out what I'm going to write yet (contest rules), but I'm leaning toward something set in a world that I'm intimately familiar with so that I don't have to research it. And something that has commercial appeal since I plan to publish it on Createspace through Amazon.com. Probably a Young Adult novel since young adult novels are the most fun to write (in my opinion).

My first experience with Createspace was during the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition, and I loved it! I always thought that I'd follow the traditional publishing route, but the immediacy of self-publishing is so powerfully enticing. People could read my work now. I could promote my work now. I could take my fate into my own hands...now. It's very appealing.

My greatest concern is editing. Self-editing isn't my forte. As a result, I want to hire a professional editor before I self-publish, but since I'll be writing 60k in 60 days, I may not have time. I'll have to see what happens.