“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that
I’m inspired to write at 9 o’clock every morning.” ~Peter De Vries
01/10 marked the year since I started my writing support
group Write On to Build On. We keep a
daily tab of how much we write and how often we write. Since I began writing in
2006 (Yes, I’ve been writing seriously this long with this little to show
for it), this has been my most productive year ever. I don’t know if my
word count is higher, but I’ve been drought-free. For 365 days, I wrote,
revised, edited, or critiqued all but 26 days.
This consistent writing has paid off. I’m juggling all 3
contemporary fantasy projects, each for different age groups.
I spent last year writing something new. I got the seed in
2009, but didn’t write anything else on it until 2011. By 2012, the word count
was still low. I started the Write On to
Build On group in part to push myself to finish the YA. I finished it in
June and revised it for the next few months. It’s been through 2 readers and
has been revised again. Now it’s off to 2 more readers.
The 2nd
manuscript I ever wrote has been hidden away for years. My husband asked what happened to it.
Back then the protagonist was too young for a MG, it was all show and no tell,
and the. plot. lagged.
I looked at the 1st 4 chapters a couple of years
ago and got some feedback. Then I overhauled the entire thing this summer. It
went through more readers. Now I’m at the hell—please
kill me now querying stage. I’ve received rejections and a glimmer of
promise. Unlike many of my previous querying periods, I’m not going to give up
too early. I believe in this story.
My most recent work in progress got its inspiration when I
visited my dad in Maine this past August. I took some notes and sat on it for a
few months before starting a draft. Now I’m just over 20k into it. But I
between critiquing other manuscripts and working on revisions for the YA, it
has stalled. I want to give myself a push to finish this upper-middle grade.
For February, there are 3 categories: writing, revising, and
querying. I’ve signed up for the writing one. I choose my own goal (500 words
per day) and I’ll check in once per week.
My son got his black belt in taekwondo this December. My
daughter is testing for her black belt in March. My YA black belt training in it. Now I’ll be working on mine too. (Too bad I’m not getting the fitness
benefits.)
Often I fail to see the progress I’m making. While I’ve had
some small works published, I’m not as successful as I want to be. Besides
writing fiction, I’ve also started building an editing business. I’ve edited
the content of 2 websites and am about to do a 3rd through the same
person. Someone else has approached me to edit the content of his web design
site. This may lead to other jobs through his site.
All I can do is keeping writing, learning, revising,
submitting. Giving up is not an option. It’s who I am. If all my stories have
magical elements in them, I have to believe in a little magic in my own life.
Writers, how are you feeling about your writing journey?
