Fast Forward, Pause, Begin Again

Oh hello, 2012.

So what's happening now? I'm reviving this blog for the summer but taking it back to its roots. I originally started the blog as a sort of writing journal to keep myself accountable for work on my novel. This summer, I have some pretty specific goals for what I want to do, and I think getting back into the swing of blogging will help me stay on track. I have never been really good at this to begin with, but I am most likely not going to be commenting on a regular basis on anyone else's blog, but I'll still be reading every once in a while. So to get started, I've dusted off the blog and given it a light makeover.

The reason I'm back now is because I'm about three weeks away from graduating college, and I just presented my honors senior thesis last Saturday, so I'm almost done with schoolwork. I have little to do now, and it seems like a great time to establish a writing regimen again. The end of senior year means I have everything squared away and all plans pretty much finalized. What's up with my future? Well, I'll tell you.

In the interests of maintaining a degree of privacy, I won't say specifically which law school I'm attending next year, but I will give a few hints. It runs on the quarter system, so I won't start school until the end of September, giving me more time to write! I applied to the same school for undergrad as my top choice, and I did not get accepted (yay for sweet, sweet vindication finally). And it is one of the top five law schools in the country, and I am so, so excited that I got in. I don't feel bad for bragging (a little) because I worked my butt off to get where I am, as you can tell from the sparse posts from this year and the last.

Since law school will be no picnic, I figured this summer I would not plan any real work. No jobs, no internships, no commitments. I'm expecting to shop, travel, party, exercise, and of course, write. Whether or not anyone agrees with this approach, I would like to finish working on THE FOREVER CITY and have it on submission to agents by July. (I actually mean it this time.) I don't feel any pressure to get published by a certain time in my life, but I've never actually queried agents before, and I want the experience. I'm not really expecting any offers, but I just want to see if anyone will request a partial. Again, I'm sure some people will find this a bad way to go about things/waste of a novel or whatever. But that's what I'm doing.

In the meantime, I have actually begun a physical journal for THE FOREVER CITY, where I'm outlining scenes and mapping out storylines. It's a great experience, given that I have previously been a pantser until now. I'm reading OUTLINING YOUR NOVEL by K.M. Weiland and gotten some lovely takeaway points. It's definitely getting the creative juices going! Really looking forward to writing regularly again.

More posts to come, I promise. I'll give myself leeway during the week before finals, but I'm shooting for at least two posts a week.