In writing news ...

I submitted my writing to my first literary contest (not counting the ones I entered in high school). The contest is run by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, which I am a member of, and I entered in the novel category (subcategory-science fiction and fantasy).

I chose to send them Continuum, which was a hard choice for me. I really wanted to send them G project( aka Gibbons), too, but I couldn't get it together in time--it is all about my synopsis avoidance problem.

So cross your fingers, and wish me luck!

Halfway there

I hit the halfway point of G project (reading wise), two nights ago. So far the voice hasn't drifted nearly as much as I first feared. On the other hand, I realized that there are a number of parts that need to be expanded. That's ok though, it's better than voice drift.

Currently, G project is at 56,000 words. I have three more main cruxes to get through, and then the book is done. My guess is that to end the book will be another 10,000 words. After that, I'd say that I will probably add another 5,000-10,000 words expanding the sections that need help. All in all, it's about a month or two worth of work.

It's amazing to me how much smoother writing this book has gone as opposed to Continuum. I think it took me two years to fully write it, and G project is almost done in half that time. I can't imagine how fast G project would have gone had I not gotten a new job in the middle of the whole process.

Thinking about it all ...

I had a long conversation with my boy a couple of nights ago about his writing. He was feeling down about is novel and worried that it had all been a waste of time. Needless to say, I felt for him. I don't think I know a writer that hasn't felt that way at least hundred times per book.

For me that project is Continuum. I love my book, and I think it's a better story than G project, but wait until I sent G project out. My guess is that it will be with an agent much faster than Continuum. My heart goes out to that project because I love the story and the characters so much that I was compelled to write that story, which didn't even bother to contain itself to one book.

But back to the boy .... He asked me how I pushed through these times. All I could say was that I wrote because I felt like I had to get the story out. I love writing. I keep going by typing.

Reading to write

Today, as was the case for the whole weekend, I read G project. It's amazing to me how much I forget about my own book from the time I start it to the time I am approaching the end.

The good news is that I am actually really enjoying reading it, as opposed to the first time I read through Continuum. I remember reading Continuum start to finish and wanting to cry. It was clear that it needed a lot of work. And it got a lot. I shifted from 1st person (several point-of-view characters) present to third person past.

This time I started with the right voice, tense, and narrator. Hooray for learning from my mistakes.

Back on the horse ...

I just sent my mostly done book (G project) to Kinkos to be printed out. It's just been too long since I started writing this beast, and I feel like my voice and tone is drifting. I hope a reread of the first 300 pages will help me wrap this puppy up (I'm in the endgame of the book).

While I was already getting that done, I got my first book printed out, too. So much has changed since I last had a print out for myself, and I thought it would be nice to get another copy. I think only my agency has this copy, which included the changes that my then agent had me make. Too bad he left before I ever found out what he thought of those changes. *sigh*