On Impatient Anxiety and Characters

Today, I submitted to two literary magazines with two very different short stories.  This is really nerve-wracking, because this is only the second time I've done this (the first was nearly two years ago--rejected).  I put a lot of work into these stories, but I am aware both magazines receive boat loads of manuscripts (one of them claims more than 30,000 a year, so stiff competition there). But, I enjoyed writing these stories so I hope to just send 'em in and forget about 'em.  

Ha, unlikely.  I have a terrible time waiting for results, not only in the writing field, but for everything.  However, I prepare for rejection, and look for other outlets to resubmit.  There are many magazines out there.  One day...

KLo had a really cool topic today.  If you are a writer, which of your characters would you want to spend time with in real life?

I choose Elladora from "Steam."  True, I haven't actually introduced her to the story yet, but she jumped into my head with the most vibrancy of any character I've written.  I just adore her and can't wait to write her.  She is spontaneous, bright, and a bit childlike.  Slightly spoiled, but not to the extent of some of my female characters. She's a bundle of life.  Petite, shoulder length brown hair, and dark blue eyes.  If she were real, we'd be bffls.

What do you look for in a character you'd want to hang out with in reality?  I'm looking for someone I'd have a good time with.  Someone I could take anywhere, and it'd end up being an adventure.  Severely soggy characters, ones that are too deep, are nice on paper and add complexity to plots, but I don't imagine them to be all sunshiny and radiant as friends.

Your thoughts?

Where Do You Write?

(My political science prompt just came in through email, and it thoroughly depresses me.  I consider myself a good essay writer, and I seriously have no idea how to approach this question. Looks like it's time to cry uncontrollably to reasonably ask for help from the TA.)

Lin Wang started this week's blog chain off with this excellent question.  Her post is here.

For many writers, including myself, the location we choose to write is an important ingredient to the actual writing.  Theoretically, I can write wherever I can pop a squat with my laptop, but I know the final product is not as good depending on where I am.  Feng shui, I guess you could say.

I read Lin's post, and I figure probably a lot of people enjoy writing with their favorite books beside them for inspiration.  That is a huge no-no for me.  Firstly, when I read stuff, my writing instantly becomes directly affected by the style and tone, sometimes diverging from the original voice.  More importantly, I get easily distracted when I have books around--I start reading instead of writing.

I like writing in public.  In fact, I actually write pretty terribly at home (dorm room included in definition of home).  I don't mind background noise.  My most productive periods are when I take my laptop somewhere else.  My favorite spots are coffee shops and libraries, a change of scenery if you will.  When I write, I prefer having windows, but the coffee shop I do most of my work in is window-less, so it's not a huge deal.  Nature is inspirational to me.  However.  Writing outside is impossible.  I can't do it.  I have irrational fears about bugs crawling all over my laptop, and weather and humidity probably don't help out either.  I love being outside, and I love writing.  I can't do both at the same time.

One potential thing I would like to try is writing in an airport.  Maybe in an airport coffee shop. That would be a great place.  This is kind of strange, but I honestly believe the smell of coffee helps me write.  I drink coffee on occasion, but it's the smell that does it.  Coffee shops just smell wonderful!  I also love the smell of libraries.  I feel safer and calmer when I walk into one.

My ideal writing place would be a coffee shop located at least several floors above ground in a big city (preferably New York, Chi-Town, Seattle, or DC) in a corner by a huge glass window on a rainy day. Rainy days are the best for writing.  Don't you agree?

Sorry this is so late in the day.  I was being a responsible citizen and watching President Obama's 100th Day Press Conference.  :-)

Later in the week:

Thursday: Gibber Jabber and Sometimes Helpful Nonsense

Friday: Somewhere Nowhere In My Kingdom

Barely Making Deadlines = My Life

Bahahaha!  Just finished "Beauty and the Minotaur."  9,708 words. What a monster of a short story.  It ballooned bigger than I ever thought it would.  I think the climax is awesome; I cried. But the ending needs a bit of work.  It's too abrupt and doesn't resolve everything the way I want it to. I really have my work cut out though, seeing as it's due APRIL 30.  Ahhh!  I half-killed myself finishing this thing.

The next few days will be some intensive editing for both this and "The Language of Dumplings." See if I can't do a quick one-over before I enter it.  I'd love to have another week.

Cannot.  Wait.  For.  Summer.  My history TA must really be intent on killing me with assigning another essay a week before the final. Thanks. And also failing to give us the prompt while she's at it. Even better!

I can't wait to have my own room again.  Living with someone else is kind of fun, but I am definitely anticipating private living space.  Something about having the ability to hang out in the nude if I want. I don't do that.  (Really, I don't.)  But I like having the option.

Call me weird.

What Made You Start Writing? When?

Rebecca started this week's blog chain.  Read her post here.

I started writing when I was eight years old.  I was inspired by a folder.  It had a unicorn prancing through water.  My first short story and novel idea were about unicorns (I know it's extremely stereotypical; I was eight).  I wrote the short story during dinner.  We were eating hotpot.  And so my writing life began.  I have wanted to be an author since then.  It was my first "what I want to be when I grow up" answer, until my parents shot it down, saying authors wallowed in poverty. Writing, for me, was always ingrained as a hobby, not as a career.

I began a lot of stuff that I never finished.  I have notebooks upon notebooks of handwritten pages, half full and then abandoned midway.  I did a lot of historical fiction (I should have figured out I loved history way before senior year of high school).  I did an Oregon Trail one, Virgin Mary, Malinalli (translator for Cortez), Medea (Jason and the Argonauts), and Catherine of Aragon. Those are the ones I remember and still have record of.

Harry Potter led me to discover fanfiction, which I began writing in seventh grade.  I haven't gone back and read my old stuff--it's a bit cringeworthy, but it's still posted.  Fanfiction is a good learning experience.  I still like it.

The problem was I only wrote one-shots and short stories. Everything lengthier I'd attempted, I abandoned.  For many years, I questioned whether I could ever write a novel, because I had such a short attention span.  I'd get bogged down in the middle, and I wouldn't know how to continue.  I also had this problem, where I could not write short stories in intervals.  When I started something, I HAD to finish it in one sitting--a lot of longer one-shots were completed in the wee hours of the morning because of this.  My landmark fanfiction short story at 10,000 words, I wrote on a family vacation to Yellowstone, when obviously, I couldn't sit and write all day, so I was forced to break it into pieces. 

My first novel was a fanfiction novel for Inuyasha (anime) clocking in at 79,000 words, that I finished in 2008.  It is not publishable, but it will always be my masterpiece, because I learned so much while writing it.  It taught me how to finish a project.  I had proved to myself I could write a novel, if I wanted.

So the thing that actually got me started with my original work was the Percy Jackson series, which is why I love it so much.  ATRS had been a plot idea since my sophomore year of high school, but I wasn't sold on the idea of writing mythological fiction.  I guess you could say that after reading a book about Greek myths, it reignited my passion for them, I started doing loads of research again, and voila!  Two and half months after finishing the fourth Percy Jackson book, I have my own novel on my hands.  

I also have to thank my high school history teacher Mr. Andy Davis. He is the first adult I shared my work with, possibly because he told me he was a writer first.  He showed me literary magazines, and he encouraged me to write a novel.  He was the first person I told when I finished ATRS at 2 am, and he offered to read it straightaway.  I doubt I would have taken my writing seriously without him.  I didn't know anything about publication.  He told me about Writer's Market and agents and all that wonderful stuff.  He is awesome!  

Now I gotta run, because I have training for my newspaper job! Wheeee!

Next week:

Monday: Lin Wang - Teen Writer

Tuesday: Girl With A Notebook

Wednesday: Moi

Thursday: Gibber Jabber and Sometimes Helpful Nonsense

Friday: Somewhere Nowhere In My Kingdom

Have a nice weekend!

Book Meme

Ugh, writing is NOT going well right now.  And I have a deadline.  I really need to get my act together.  There's just all too much going on this week!  Anyway, here is something rather fun.

1.  What author do you own the most books by?  J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis.

2.  What book do you own the most copies of?  I don't own multiple copies of books...the Bible?  We have quite a few Bibles around our house.

3.  What fictional character are you secretly in love with?  I have seen way too many answers of Mr. Darcy and Edward Cullen.  I don't even think my answer should come as a surprise.  Percy Jackson, of course!  Do I choose being a vampire or being the daughter-in-law of Poseidon, god of the sea?  Definitely the latter.  Also, I have a penchant for liking boys who save the world before they have breakfast each morning.  I am aware Percy is a few years younger than me.  Whatever.  It could happen.  In my head.  (Friday, I will tell you why this series means so much to me, and why I am psychotically obsessed with it, so deal with my fanaticism until then).

4.  What book have you read more than any other?  Hmmm.  All the books I own are books I read multiple times.  This is just a guess: possibly HP 1.  Or HP 3 (my fav of the series).

5.  What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?  The Horse and His Boy of the Narnia series.  I was in love with that series when I was ten, thanks to my fifth grade teacher. Also, Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Yes, I read that when I was ten, because it was the only English book I had while I spent my summer in China.  I adore that book still.  Probably my favorite classic.

6.  What is the worst book you've read in the past year?  I won't say.  That's mean.  It may have sucked, but it's just my opinion, and I'm sure the author liked it.  Someone must have liked it along the way.

7.  What is the best book you've read in the past year?  The Time Traveler's Wife.  Also, the Percy Jackson series, but writing-wise, the former is better.  And more acceptable amongst people of my age. Both are in my dorm room (which means they must be phenomenal because if you could see my room, you would know I have no space for anything that isn't essential), and I re-read them often.  

8.  What is the most difficult book you've ever read?  Well, I'd say The Clockwork Orange, but I never finished it because it was too hard (am ashamed).  Probably Uncle Tom's Cabin, by virtue of the fact I was ten, and there was a lot of slang I had to say out loud to figure out what it meant.  I read the first chapter numerous times to understand it.  But it had to have been really, really good, or else why would I have tried so hard?

9.  What is the biggest gap in your reading?  Haha.  Adult fiction. I still read a lot of YA. What can I say?  I love the genre.  Except I hate the books that aren't fantasy, historical, or literary.  No, seriously, I hate the ones that remotely resemble Gossip Girl in any way, shape, or form.  I hate ones about high school and boys and drugs and pregnancy or whatever.  There are a VERY select few I have read and liked.  I also don't read romance novels (don't confuse this with novels that contain romance).  Or much sci-fi.  Or mystery. Huh, I guess I'm pretty selective.

10.  Favorite novel, play, and poem.  Novel: Can't pick.  Too hard. Play: Les Mis.  Poem: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

11.  Who is your favorite writer?  Donna Jo Napoli.  My judge of favorite author comes from who has written books that I consistently enjoy.  J.K. has written one series I like.  Stephenie Meyer has written one series I like.  Rick Riordan has written one series I like. Donna Jo Napoli blows me away with every single novel she puts out. When I go to the library, I go to her section and re-skim her stuff first every time.  It doesn't matter that I've read it all a billion times.  I aspire to write like her, even though I will never come close (she's very literary).

12.  What are you reading right now?  John Locke and Karl Marx. Thanks, poli sci.  Ooo, I officially declare it as a minor tomorrow. Joy. I don't even know why this is necessary, as I don't get any scheduling perks as a minor.

13.  Best history?  I don't know what that means.  Best historical period?  Best historical novel? Best historical nonfiction?  Uh, Tudor England, The Other Boleyn Girl (I read it way before the movie because I read Tudor novels voraciously), and Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser.

I skipped some questions, like best sci-fi and all that, because I don't read sci-fi, etc.  Feel free to steal this and do it yourself.  

This summer I'm taking a creative writing class, legitimately.  I'm rather excited (but scared too; what if the prof hates my writing, ah?!). Also, I got a job at the Daily Illini (newspaper) as a copy-editor.  I'm mainly excited to receive the swipey card that gets me into the building.  I've always wanted to work for a newspaper.  I don't want to be a journalist for a living, I've just always had this fantasy of working at a paper.  I could be the coffee girl, and I'd be happy.

Encouragement, Or Keep Trying

Today, I will link a nice, encouraging article that makes you feel like you can keep going despite the odds.  It is here.  Scroll past the Susan Boyle stuff, because probably everyone has heard that story. Underneath is a tale about a woman who was rejected over 2,000 times.  Isn't that something?

Someone underneath had a really nice comment about how she keeps optimistic in the face of difficulty, having adopted aunts Helen Keller and Rosa Parks.  Now, it would be kind of silly telling your aunts you had a hard time doing something, isn't it?  How do you tell Helen Keller you had a bad day?  Exactly.

This is probably really lame, but when I have a hard time writing or a bad day in general, I imagine that scene in LotR: Return of the King the movie (the one case where I like the movies better than the books, sorry JRR), when Frodo is climbing up Mount Doom.  That look on his face.  Oh, goodness.  I think you should all know, regardless of how many times I watch LotR, I cry at the end.  Every time.  Basically, I think, if Frodo can climb up Mount Doom with his bare hands and no shoes, I can write a freaking passage.  Or get through an exam.  Or whatever.  It's fictional, but don't fictional characters always speak to people on a deeper level?

I wrote 1,800 words for "Beauty and the Minotaur" today.  Writing short stories is kind of obnoxious because I don't track progress on my blog, and then it looks like I haven't been doing anything.  But I am!  I'm still writing!  Granted, my writing schedule has drastically slowed down. And obviously, I spent a bit catching up on fanfiction. But the writing is still happening.  As for the current short story, I love Ariadne!  She's a brat and a bully, but I hope her good qualities redeem her flaws.  She has a lot of flaws.

Also, I think Rebecca has an awesome topic for the blog chain this week, and I can't wait to address it.  And read other people's responses!  Check it out on the side ------->

This Is Too Rich

I should be sleeping.  Really, I should.  But instead, I am blog-stalking, and I came upon this...errr...fascinating post by this somewhat...misled..."author."  You can read it here.  I hesitate to link it because I hate drawing undue attention to people who are delusional, but as my title suggests, you might get a good laugh (or feel insulted) after, if you read the whole thing as I did.  If you do not read it, basically there's this author of literary fiction who rants about how literary agents are killing off talent.  

Okay, come again?  Literary agents are physically ripping the talent from your head?  If that is true, I would like to see it.  How amusing. She claims these middlemen are evil and horrible and money-grubbers.  Somehow, she also believes publishers are these paragons of virtue who are being bamboozled by these agents. Yeah, publishers aren't concerned about money at all.  That's right. She doesn't only do this, she links several agents (Nathan Bransford, Janet Reid), who in the world of literary agents, are probably two of the worst examples EVER to put up.  Nathan especially, commented with complete politeness, which is beyond me, because I probably would have blasted her had she insulted me that way.  Undoubtedly, she is blacklisted amongst agents now.  Good going, lady.  Also, no we are not trying to "suck up" to agents.  Because that makes a ton of sense.  Maybe if I write a nice enough comment on Nathan's blog, he'll agree to represent me.  Yeah.  He'll sell that comment to publishers for a huge advance!

She also manages to insult everyone who doesn't write literary fiction. She says everything from fantasy to adventure is "chick lit."  This doesn't only offend me as a fantasy writer (as if only women read fantasy), it also offends chick lit writers, as if chick lit is not worthy of being read.  We're not forced into commercial because we're not deep enough for literary.  I often enjoy a good literary novel.  I just enjoy writing commercial.  Does not make me less of a writer, although I promise, that kind of condescending attitude will definitely get you far (not).

Most of the commenters are of the same mindset as me.  Colleen Lindsay commented too, with the kind of reaction I would have.  It baffles me that this woman would link agents who are actually very helpful to the community of writers and should not be treated with such contempt.  A few commenters agree with her, usually with things like, "Yeah!  I get rejected a lot with form rejections!  Agents are so mean!  Why not take a chance on me?"  Why, you ask? Maybe because your writing isn't good enough yet.  Have you thought of that?

Anyway, I work very hard to write too, and I fully expect being rejected.  ATRS will probably never be published.  I hope for, but I don't expect success.  I work for it.  I know how the industry works, and I don't spend my life complaining about it.  I write because I love to, and because one day, after I've gotten good enough through practice and practice, I will get published.  Why can't this woman enjoy the process of writing, instead of always harping about publication?  Oh, people told you your work was good.  My mom tells me that too.  So do my friends.  And those horrible singers on American Idol?  Someone told them they were good too.

So she should pretty much get off her high horse.  If you can't deal with the stress and difficulty of the publishing industry, then find another more gratifying career.  In the meantime, don't expect any agents to take you seriously, now that they've all seen what a pessimistic grouch you are.  That's not "being an artist."  That's being a tool.  The end.

Fridays Are Wonderful

TGIF.  Yesterday, I went to see the Hannah Montana movie with my friend.  We are such losers.  The theater was empty except for us and this creepy guy in his 30s (what?).  We are the most obnoxious moviegoers on the face of the planet.  We were singing at the top of our lungs and dancing in the aisles; we offered commentary every five seconds.  Oh goodness.  So much madness.  And tonight we're going to see 17 Again.  After I go to Borders and preorder "The Last Olympian."  I have been dying to do this for ages, but when you go out in college, you need to plan out bus routes and all that junk, and it's just such a hassle.  I want a car.  Right now.

So I need to write!  I plotted out "Beauty and the Minotaur," which is turning out to be a lot darker than I originally anticipated, but I like the direction it's going.  Ariadne is definitely a different kind of character. She is good fun.  But not literally. Actually, she's rather depressing. But I enjoy character angst, what can I say?

I have officially decided, after having only written 2 stories for Percy Jackson fandom, that PJO reviewers are infinitely better than Inuyasha or Harry Potter ones (which I have written many, many more of).  I am so appreciative of long, thoughtful reviews with praise AND criticism.  Lots of praise.  But criticism too.  It means people are taking things seriously as they read, and for a fandom with a majority of younger readers, I am certainly impressed.

The weather is be-you-ti-ful.  In Illinois.  I plan on enjoying it before the next cold front ruins spring again.  To live in Illinois is to tolerate our fanatical weather patterns.

Lovely Surprises

I don't think this is a great week in general.  But today, I finished "The Language of Dumplings," a good accomplishment, and I look forward to editing it next week before I send it off.  I started "Beauty and the Minotaur," and I have great hopes for its potential.  It has started off with a lot of promise, and I predict it will be a fun, if grueling project (since I don't have much time to dabble around and waste).  April 30 is rolling right around the corner!

Also, I am absolutely floored by the response to "Heritage."  I honestly thought I did a crap job on it, and the positive reviews gave me something to smile about.  I have written for fanfiction for several years, and generally, it's hard to get feedback on anything other than a novel, with continual updates.  So I am very happy right now.  I take this with a grain of salt, of course, because I realize as long as you have proper grammar and spelling, you're already ahead of 70% of the stuff out there.  But people said they were very moved, and I'm glad!  I think I'm terrible at writing emotion.  Sometimes, you need people to tell you they like your writing.  Even if it is for something as anonymous and generally shabby as fanfiction.

I'm considering taking a Creative Writing course at the community college over the summer.  I've been writing ever since I knew how to hold a pencil, but I've never gotten any formal training.  It could be fun.  And definitely useful.  I will see.  My summer is up in the air right now, and I hate that feeling.  I like plans.  I have to have plans!

The Hardest Part About Writing

I spent all four hours of my classes this morning trying to come up with a good topic since I had to start (curses!).  I discovered it's very difficult to brainstorm while taking notes.  Not a good idea, because you fail at both.

So, let me address what are the hardest part(s) about writing for me, and you all can do the same and see if we match or have different problems at the end of the week.

1.  The middle of a story.  This is the absolute worst!  When I come up with ideas, I come up with a beginning and an end.  I write the beginning, and then the struggle comes in trying to reach the end.  I don't plan middles.  I have maybe a skeleton plot in my head, but I usually have a huge problem in fleshing out a story and resolving the central problem.  Sometimes, I'll admit, I don't even come up with a central problem, because characters hit me before plots.  For ATRS, the plot didn't fully materialize until Chapter 9.  Needless to say, everything before that is pretty crappy and needs surgery.  

2.  Deciding whether to use first person or third person.  ATRS is in first person, and it annoys me sometimes, because I severely dislike using the word "I" for whatever reason.  I think using first person is nice if a story is mainly experienced through one person.  "Steam" is third person.  I go through phases which are influenced by what book I am reading at the time.  No, it's true.  I am so weak.  When I read a book that is first person, my brain goes "WEEE!  That was so good, I should do that!"  So I do.  Then I read a book that is third person, and my head explodes in the same way with an urge to use third person.

3.  Ditto with tenses.  Here is my secret that I have never told anyone before.  I secretly really, really love present tense.  I adore authors who use present tense in a good way.  I think it's so...literary.  I know that makes absolutely no sense, but it just sounds lovely to my ears. Like "The Time Traveler's Wife!"  Yes?  Wasn't that good?  (Audrey Niffenegger sold her second book for a $4.8 million advance, if you hadn't heard, and I'm super excited to read it).  I know a lot of people who despise present tense, hence the reason I don't use it.  I also happen to think I muck it up massively when I try.  For fanfiction one-shots though, I go crazy with it.

This is a total throwaway, but:

4.  Staying on task.  I have the shortest attention span on the face of the planet when it comes to writing.  This is why I go to different places to write.  I like coffee shops and the Champaign Public Library (which is the prettiest library ever).  My TV is very guilty.  So is Facebook.  And my blog.  And other people's blogs.  And Youtube, the spawn of Satan, where I end up going on totally irrelevant journeys.

That is all I can think of right now.  Fanfiction is not making me very happy at the moment.  I've written two lengthy one-shots already, and I hate both of them, so they're not going up in public.  Third time's a charm, right?  Can't wait to see the rest of your answers.

Also, can I say Nathan Bransford is amazingly awesome beyond belief?  I'm loving reading these queries.

-------Here are links for the rest of the week----------

Tuesday: Gibber Jabber and Sometimes Helpful Nonsense

Wednesday: Girl With A Notebook

Thursday: Somewhere Nowhere In My Kingdom

Friday: Lin Wang - Teen Writer

Sorry, I forgot earlier!  Go check them out!

Items of Interest

I got a haircut today.  My hair grows at the speed of light though, so I'll need another one in a couple weeks.  Meh.

I'm almost done with my piece for The First Line, which I have titled "The Language of Dumplings."  I'm pretty happy with it so far.  I'm also going to start working on a short story for another literary magazine.  This will be another Greek mythology related project called "Beauty and the Minotaur."  Both of these things have deadlines at the end of April/beginning of May, so I have a lot of work cut out for me; plus, I have to practice piccolo for an audition at the end of April too.  The next few weeks looks very "Steam" free.

But wait!  On top of that, I'm working on a fanfiction piece for Percy Jackson in honor of the fifth book coming out in May, and this one-shot is titled, "Heritage."  This is purely for my own amusement. Sometimes, you need to write for fun, you know.  I don't forget my roots.  I am home-grown from fanfiction.

Monday, I will be the first person to post in Lin Wang's blog chain. Does this mean I get to come up with the topic?  I shall try not to let you all down.  Happy Easter, everyone!

When Life Gets In the Way

Thoroughly dislike it when I have to be working on a political science paper rather than my fiction.  Never mind political science is actually my minor.  My priorities are obviously in order.

I finally came up with a title for "The Project," which is now "Across the River Styx."  I like this title because it showcases the fact that the book is about Greek mythology and set in the underworld.  I don't know how many people have assumed the first chapter is the end, and the story flashes back.  No.  Meg is dead, and then the story begins.  Hopefully, then people somewhat expect this of the plot, even only reading the first chapter.

I am in love with "Steam."  I am doubting "Across the River Styx." One thing is for sure: the first four chapters need to be rewritten.  I spent hours revising and rewriting, so the manuscript looks more or less like a blob of red ink right now.  "Steam," however, is still my precious, perfect baby.  So pretty.  Pretty, pretty.

Libba Bray has a scarily accurate portrayal of how writing goes: "Writing a Novel, A Love Story."  

Tell me that isn't exactly the way it is.

Carry On, Please

"The Last Olympian" officially comes out a month from today. Sometime soon, I need to make time out of the week, take the bus to Borders and preorder.  I shall not elaborate on how nonsensically pumped I am.  

Nathan Bransford is having a "Be An Agent For A Day" event next week.  What a good opportunity to get some feedback for my query. I don't have a query letter right now, so I guess I'll whip one up this week and turn it in for kicks.  Obviously, in this short notice, it's going to be horrific, but feedback is always good, and I dive at the chance. This means I need to come up with a title for le story.  Seriously. This is getting ridiculous. How hard can it be to come up with a title? It should be way easier than actually writing the story.  There must be something wrong with my line of thinking.

This week, I clear permission to begin editing "The Project."  I banished all thoughts of it from my head last week, made myself think about "Steam" instead.  Now I'm scared to read all the glaring flaws.

Wrote half of my short story for The First Line.  It's going swimmingly.  

Random Musings

I am astounded by how much better Chapter 1 of "Steam" is than Chapter 1 of "The Project."  As a result, I have to thank my first novel ardently for teaching me how to suck less at writing.  I still suck, but I suck less.  It's a good accomplishment.

Right now, I'm still blissfully in that stage of "I'm so in love with my work."  I plan on savoring it before I hit the rut that is the middle of the manuscript which is more "I hate this stupid project; I wish it would write itself and/or die."  I guess a lot of people get this during the editing stage, which I shall tackle come Monday, so perhaps I should ready myself for this feeling of intense dislike/depression.  

I just realized I still have to write a synopsis and a query letter later. That is the ultimate rain on my parade.  It's the equivalent of doing the Works Cited part of your paper.  You write your whole freakin' paper, and it's an absolute gem.  You save it, forget about it, then the day before the paper is due, you realize you haven't done the citation yet, and as you don't want to be accused of plagiarism, you sit at your computer and agonizingly cite sources for almost as long as it took to write the damn paper itself.  Blech!

This is entirely irrelevant, but I was thinking about if I could write another fanfic novel, I'd do it on the relationship between Poseidon and Sally in the (gasp) Percy Jackson series.  Just because I think Greek gods are very complex and cool, and it must be the best romance ever.  Better than vampires by a long shot.  Gods are moody womanizers, and you could be eternally bitter that some divine being had a one-night stand with you and then saddled you with a kid.  But I think Poseidon genuinely loved Sally, and it's by virtue of the fact that Greek gods just can't be held down in one place (especially if you ARE the ocean) that he left.  Sad!  Star-crossed! What a fabulous story!  Except twenty other people have already thought of it.  But I'm convinced I could do an interesting rendition. Had I the time or desire to get entangled with another commitment (which I don't).

Chapter 2 of "Steam" is going to be wonderful because I get to introduce Ella!  Who is my favorite character!  She is just pops as a character in my head.  I can't wait.  

I think I'm going to read some mind-numbing fanfiction for the moment.  You just need that sometimes.  It's like a comfort food.

------------------Edit---------------------

This makes me sad again that I left my Rei/Sesshoumaru project, because the sequel was going to be so fantastic.  I loved the ending so much, and I desperately wanted to write it, but as is, I'm busy with projects I can hopefully publish, and I don't have the time or energy. I just adore the mortal/immortal aspects of stories (except Twilight, which I read and enjoy as a guilty pleasure, but I despise the fact that I like it--Bella and Edward are the two most dysfunctional people ever, and they're even more dysfunctional when together).

You know what else is sad?  Looking at my progress blurb on the side where "The Project" is sitting at 71k, and "Steam" is a baby at 3k.  3k?  That's barely anything at all.

Agents Vs. Authors

Apparently, someone is holding #agentfail type activity in response to the #queryfail that a few agents held on Twitter recently, as a supposedly "educational" tool.

I am not ready to query an agent yet (hopefully will be in a month or so, after some intensive editing).  Therefore, I have no horror agent stories.  But here is my opinion.

1)  I didn't particularly like #queryfail.  I just don't really like the idea of agents putting out queries that are admittedly bad in a public forum for people to laugh at/learn from.  I know the queries are anonymous, but it gives me the impression that agents are laughing at authors behind their backs.  Agents scare me already, so it's not a good feeling before I even get to query.  I get that I'm supposed to learn from these bad queries, and if I'm doing research, chances of me sending a fail query is unlikely, but that's not the point.  I don't like a cheap laugh off others' expense.  And these authors clearly didn't think their queries were bad.  It's just a tiny bit mean spirited.

2)  On that note, I don't think #agentfail is constructive either, even though I get that people want to rant about bad agent experiences. One thing I do agree with is that more agents should try to adopt the automated "I got your query" response.  It's really not all that hard to set one up, and it doesn't take any time once you do have it set up.  I know, I know.  If I don't like it, don't query that person.  I'm only saying it would be nice if more agents had that feature.

But.  I am not griping.  Bottom line: Don't diss the agents.  They work for you.  You may not agree with the system, but you work inside it anyway.  And you do it with a smile.

Yay for Nathan Bransford, who shares this opinion about these #___fail activities.  I definitely plan on querying him someday.  He seems like a nice, professional guy.

And now, it is time to get to the library and write my Euro essay (ugh) and hopefully, Chapter 1 of "Steam" (yay).