I'm procrastinating about getting my novel ready to send off to my first group of beta readers. I keep thinking what will I work on while it's being reviewed? I don't have another book in mind unless it's poetry, or maybe a book of essays. I feel at a loss right now about what I'll work on next. I'm also procrastinating because I'm worried about what the reviewers will think. After all, this is my first novel most of the stuff in it is totally made up something I've never done before, so it is a huge confront to send it to people who will actually read it and hopefully give me their honest opinions and criticisms. However, Seth Godin one of my favorite bloggers came up with just the right words in his blog today: "But I might get rejected Indeed, you might. You might get your hopes up only to find them dashed. You might decide on where you want to go, and then not get there. You might fall in love with a vision of the future and then discover it doesn't … [Read more...]
Novel in progress
I'm almost finished with revision three of my first novel. After that's done, I'm hoping to recruit a few beta readers to read and critique. Needless to say it scares me to death. Putting this project out there is a huge confront. And of course the first group of beta readers is not the end. I'll use the comments to create revision four and then send it out again to another group of readers. After that, one more revision and a final edit by a professional. It seems like all this is taking forever, but in the end, I think my book will be better off for it. Plus, it will help me get used to sharing it before it hopefully gets published. My novel is historical -- early 1900s on into the 1920s -- and the age of the flapper. In my research I found a long list of flapper words and I've inserted some in appropriate chapters. I've found these words fascinating, and thought I'd share a few with you here. I'd love your thoughts - has anyone ever used these terms? This is … [Read more...]
How to write a novel
I was smitten with the following photo that pranced around Facebook yesterday courtesy of Melissa Foster. It makes the writing of a novel seem so simple and the deterrents to writing a novel so easy to solve. I've been working on my novel for about four years off and on. I revised and got my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, published in the meantime, and I spend a lot of time every day marketing it. However, I don't let any of that take away from my writing time and my commitment to my novel. What I want to do is to briefly comment on the photo I've shared here and let you know where I am in my novel's process. Think up a story I was fortunate to have a story fall into my lap from my aunt's lifestory writing, and when I presented the idea at my first novel-writing workshop, it was very readily accepted. I've, of course, fictionalized her true story, making up characters, dialogue, events, and locales. However, I've tried very hard to be historically accurate about … [Read more...]
David Hockney works like a writer
We just spent a few days in the San Francisco area and a highlight was seeing the David Hockney: a Bigger Exhibition at the De Young museum in Golden Gate Park. The exhibit is so large it takes two floors of the museum to show it. Gorgeous Hockney Trees To me Hockney seems to work like a dedicated writer. He always has his ass in the chair or his feet on the floor with paintbrush, charcoals, computer, iPad, iPhone or video camera in his hands. Yes, he works in all those media never too old, though born in 1937, to learn and use the new technology. What impressed me is that he paints and draws and makes art as a writer writes everyday. We saw paintings that he created only one month before we were there to see the exhibit huge portraits. And while I don't especially like his portraits I like the bright colors he uses primary blues, reds, yellows, oranges. We also saw a series of charcoal drawings he made in 2012 and 2013 in East Yorkshire, England at Woldgate. Each … [Read more...]
Poetry revision is no different than revising our other writing
Every morning during the poetry workshop I attended last week at Esalen, one of our three instructors gave us a poetry craft talk. The workshop, which was called Writing and Knowing and was led by Ellen Bass, Dorianne Laux, and Joseph Millar, gave me a lot of new information about how to write - and revise - poetry. As promised, I'm going to try to relate some of the things this wise trio of poets taught us. Ellen discussed revision - and this information sounded very much like what I've heard about revising memoirs, novels, and works of non fiction. Revising poems takes a lot of work. As she said, we must work at it. In fact, she said, good poets like to revise. Here are some of her hints: Keep original versions so you can go back and compare Simply cut out the bad parts - easier said than done Distinguish between the essential and non-essential Pretend it isn't your poem when you sit down to revise - I love this idea Delete unnecessary opening lines, … [Read more...]
My memoir revision process
Since I've been on the topic of revision, I thought I'd share the revision process I followed while getting my memoir ready for publication. I eagerly took on the task of editing and revising my memoir manuscript. I had spent many years editing and rewriting proposals to the U.S. Government, and I used much of this experience to revise my book. One of the first lessons I learned on that job was to plan before doing, and that was the first thing I did before embarking on my rounds of revisions. Here's my process. 1. Create a revision plan. I created a revision plan based on my publisher's and first reader's notes. Once I buy-in from my publisher to this plan, I was ready to get to work. 2. Don't edit as you write. Write, wait a while, then edit: Leave your work alone for as long a time as you can before sitting down to edit it. While I spent over two years querying agents and small presses, my manuscript laid dormant. So when I finally got my book contract, I read it front to … [Read more...]
My novel is now with beta readers
As of this afternoon I took the leap. I sent off copies of my novel in progress - actually Revision Three - to five beta readers. It is both an exciting and scary step. Now I plan to wait. I won't make any changes to the book until I've heard back from everyone - hopefully around July 15. In the meantime, I'll catch up on my blogging, write a few poems, maybe put together a poetry chapbook, and perhaps enter a poetry contest or two. I can also spend more time at my hometown beach. Really, the options for a writer are endless. After all beta reader feedback is in: I'll review the comments and criticisms I'll make changes as appropriate and turn them into Revision Four I'll seek out another group of beta readers to critique that revision I'll again review the comments and criticisms once I get their feedback I'll again make changes as appropriate and turn them Revision five And the last step before I make any decisions about publishing: Hire a professional editor … [Read more...]