I'm With The Divas Today!

I'm blogging over at Pop Culture Divas today on a different kind of creativity.

Mired in the Muck

Revisions. The scourge that they are. To be honest, I have a love / hate relationship with revisions. I love taking the lump of words and reworking them into something coherent. But by the time the second run of revisions comes around, I just want to move on and do something new. I do not want to slog through the story all over again and fix all the things I missed in the first set of revisions. I want to put the story to bed so I can start sending it out into the big, bad world and then move on.

But alas, if I were to send it out too early I would be wasting my time and the editor or agent’s. And there in lies the crux of the problem. I get frustrated with my inability to pump out a pristine manuscript with only one set of revisions. I want to tear my hair out if it requires a third. Don’t even get me started on what happens when I know I am likely looking at a fourth. Possibly fifth.

I know its all part of the process. Every writer goes through it. Guaranteed we spend far more time revising than we do writing the initial first draft. That’s where the work comes in. The first draft is like play. New people, new places, new discoveries. The revision is when you take all that play and try to form it into something workable. Something someone wants to buy.

I’m in revision hell right now. It’s only the first revision and I see at least two more in my future. Right now I’m just re-piecing the story together after the frenzied writing of NaNo. Moving things around, taking out what isn’t needed, changing characters and arcs and motivations. I always feel disconnected from the characters during the first set of revisions. I’m looking more at the technical aspects – is the plot in the right order mostly. Later, in the read through (before the…sigh…next round) I’ll hopefully reconnect. But right now they have become strangers to me.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my 2 year anniversary with the BF. We had planned on celebrating at Hamachi House last night after my RWAC meeting but as luck would have it, the poor guy spent the day in bed sick as a dog. Needless to say we put dinner off (unless you count the yogurt and tea he managed to get down around 8 pm). We’ll exchange gifts and cards tonight and do dinner next Sunday if we can get a reservation, given that it’s Valentine’s Day and all.

The BF and I make a habit of wishing each other happy anniversary the 8th of every month. Maybe it’s a bit cheesy (my sister’s comment: ‘oh you still celebrate each month’ in a pandering tone that clearly said – ‘how cute’), but I think it’s important. It was a big day for both of us as we knew right from the get go (having been friends for nearly 2 years previous to this) that we were in this for the long haul and that it would be something significant. Neither of us took that lightly.

And given the roller coaster ride life has put the two of us on the past two years, celebrating that we made it with all the odds that kept stacking against us seems a small thing indeed. I hope even after we’re married we keep celebrating the 8th of every month. I think those little things are important and should never be overlooked because you're busy, or you think it doesn't matter.

Do you and your significant other celebrate any special dates?

Also, if you're interested, I've updated the Duly Knitted blog today as well.

Turning Creativity Into Cash

I’ve decided to set up a blog to help promote my Etsy shop now that I’ve decided to get things rolling again and start adding items for sale. Feel free to check it out: it’s called Duly Knitted.

First I had to determine if I had the time to do this what with the writing, the day job, the new puppy, home life. Because I am completely insane, I decided that yes, I did have the time so why not try and bring in a little extra income to fund my habit.

However, much like writing, setting up shop isn’t just about what lands on the printed page – or slips off the ends of the needles. There’s promo involved, time needed to take photos of the product to its best possible advantage (something I’m still working with but I have some ideas…), different sites to network on, etc.

But what the heck. I’d be knitting anyway, and since I can’t possibly keep all the stuff I knit (I only have so much closet space), I might as well try to sell it. Besides, like my writing, I get way more done if I have a goal, and populating my shop with quality knit goods seems as good a goal as any.

To that end, I am enrolling in a two-day knitting course at a local yarn shop, The Loop, which runs over two Sundays to better get a handle on intarsia knitting. I’m also designing some of my own patterns which isn’t quite as difficult as I thought it would be, but I reserve the right to change my mind on that when I start getting into more intricate patterns.

Meanwhile, back in Revision Land, I am not sure whether or not the first third of my YA is working. I have a fair bit happening, but a lot of it is set up. Which is required but I’m concerned I might be dragging it out for too long. I’ve decided to keep going, tighten up where I can, and then go back and figure out if the pacing works when I do the read through. Hopefully I’m not as far off the mark as I feel right now.

The pup starts obedience training next Tuesday. I’m looking forward to that. He’s a pretty smart dog. So far he’ll sit and stay and come. But the mouthing of limbs needs to get under control and walking him where he isn’t rushing ahead practically choking himself needs to be addressed. Ah, the joys of puppyhood. There’s a reason they’re so cute, you know…