Boy, I hadn’t realized it had been a month since I had been here. Life was just a wee bit too hectic to squeeze time for blogging into my day. But since today is the day of resolutions I will resolve to blog more, even if just a few lines of what’s going on in my writing life. For now I can say that much of December was spent working on revisions for Hugging the Rock. Several rapid go-rounds and the book was sent to the copy editor just before Christmas. We’re right on schedule. The publisher plans to print the first section of the book to hand out at ALA mid-winter in January.
Now I’m in that limboland of not really being committed to my next project. I know, I know, across the last few months I’ve thought I’ve known what I was doing next but Frankie and Max have gone mostly silent. I think, after wrestling most of the month with it, I’m going to work on the YA novel, VZ. There’s also a historical PB I want to do but I keep hearing my agent’s voice telling me to let go of PBs for a while and concentrate on the novels. Sigh.
I’ve been off two weeks for the Christmas shut-down and other than the revisions for Hugging the Rock and some clean-up in my office, I haven’t done anything writing wise and it makes me crazy. My friends remind me that this is my process, that I finish a book and then go through the “oh my gosh I don’t know what to do know and I’ll never write again” phase. I think I’ll never be able to write another book. I don’t remember how to start. I don’t think my ideas are good enough. I hate this insecure side of me but I do recognize that it is something I go through at the end of every project. Sigh.
I’ve been wrestling with the plot of VZ, which is the novel that I’ve been working on for over 15 years. Maybe longer. I’m not at the writing things down phase but I did pull a bunch of my old versions and read through them all. I’ve decided to add a younger sister because the main character was entirely too introspective and I’m hoping I can get more into scenes with a sibling. And I hope she’ll help me mirror some of the book’s theme. And I might have a new opening to the book, one that’s more of a grabber. At least I’m thinking writing thoughts. Here’s hoping I can keep it up once I have to go back to work on Tuesday.
Happy New Year to my LJ friends everywhere.
Well, I knew you’d been gone a month. But I deduced that you were busy with deadlines from your past posts, so I figured you’d surface again. And you have! Happy New Year!
Thanks Kelly. It’s nice to be back. I still have so much catching up to do.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Hope 2006 is great for you!
Thanks! And I hope the same for you.
Good luck with the new-old project. I find plots to be the most challenging part of writing. I hope you are full of fire when you resume writing on Tuesday.
Plots are SO painful for me. I think that’s why I’ve stayed in picture bokos for so long. I have tons of books that stop after 3 chapters because I have to think about plot.
That is the story of my writing life, Susan!
You can keep it up
Cursed or blessed, . . .we ARE writers 🙂
Thanks, Meg! You’re right of course, because we can’t NOT write, no matter how hard we might try.
Good to see you, Susan!
Ditto!
Hang in there. If this is your process, you won’t be able to change it by worrying. Give yourself permission to fill the wells again. You’ve been so busy on the editing end of things, the creative side of you needs to know it is safe to come out. It will.
Glad to see you back again, and looking forward to reading your blogs again.
Thanks, Diane. Switching gears from editing back to creating again is always hard. And I hate that I don’t trust my process. You’d think after 20 years of this I’d buy a clue but no, I’m stubborn.
Good luck on the new project! Sounds like you’ve had an excellent year!!
Thanks, like all years it’s been up and down but I only want to focus on the positive.
Happy New Year, Susan!! 😀
Hey…same to you! I thought of you the other day when I bought a new figurine for my collection of writing figurines – it was a little fairy sitting at a mushroom writing. Really cute. (oh the hazards of Ebay)