Mini (Work-in-) Progress Reports

I haven't had a ton of time to blog lately, so here's a quick roundup of the projects I've been working on:

Steve

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 60,000
Status: Chilling like a villain (okay, not really like a villain, but it (sort of) rhymed)
Attitude: Not hostile

Also known as THE SOUND OF LIFE AND EVERYTHING, Steve is the little book that could. It recently occurred to me that I started querying this manuscript three years ago this month, and I'm STILL working on it. Okay, maybe I'm not actively working on it at the moment (and I'm pretty sure most of the heavy lifting is behind me), but I still have at least another round of pass pages to review and who knows what else. That said, holding an ARC in my hands for the first time was a really awesome moment, and I can honestly say that I don't hate this story anymore. I plan to give away an ARC or two on the blog and on Goodreads, but I probably won't get to those giveaways until after the holidays. In the meantime, you can pre-order him and/or add him to your Goodreads list, so if you're interested, you can check out the "Books" page above.

Clyde

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 44,000
Status: Waiting for first pass pages
Attitude: Excited to see what happens next

We still haven't settled on a new title for Clyde, but since my last update, I have turned in a revision and finished copy edits, so things are moving along. Though the manuscript hasn't been designed yet, Sourcebooks has added this copyright page to the beginning of the document. Like a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly, Clyde is slowly but surely turning into a book.

Clyde the Second

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 48,000
Status: Working on the second draft
Attitude: Amused

I cranked out a few and have spent the last few months cleaning it up and getting reader feedback. Clyde the Second isn't a straight sequel, but it is a companion novel that takes a secondary character from Clyde and turns her into the main character. It's also a math mystery (thanks for the idea, Liz!) set at a summer camp. I'm still not sure if Sourcebooks will even want it, but I've enjoyed writing it, so that's something, at least.

Well, that's all I've got. What have you been working on in the last few months?

Mini (Work-in-) Progress Reports

It's been a while since I've shared anything about my works-in-progress, so I thought I'd round them up!

Steve

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 60,000
Status: Waiting for first pass pages
Attitude: Exhausted (but it's a good exhausted)

This little manuscript has been on a long journey. As I mentioned in a recent post, Steve has undergone a ton of changes in the year since he sold, but I think the end is finally in sight. I reviewed the copyedits several weeks ago, so we're down to first pass pages and, after that, ARCs. In the meantime, the illustrator is busily working on the cover (though I haven't seen even a draft, so don't ask me what it looks like!). Also, you should know that THE REGENERATED MAN isn't going to stick, but I think you'll like Steve's new title even better. More soon!

Clyde

Word count: 45,000
Status: Working on the first revision
Attitude: Determined

Though Clyde sold almost a year ago, we've had to put him on the back burner while I worked on Steve, so now we're playing catch-up. (In an amusing twist of fate, Clyde's editor's name is also Steve, so that's made for some exciting (read: confusing) e-mails.) It's been a little weird to work on this story again--I haven't even opened up the document in the last sixteen months--but it's also been kind of cool to see how far I've come as a writer. Oh, and DUEL/DUET isn't going to stick, either, but then, we've always known how terrible I am at titles:)

Bonnie

Word count: 71,000
Status: In a holding pattern
Attitude: I haven't even thought about this manuscript in a while, so I guess I can't really say

Like a pair of unruly two-year-olds, Steve and Clyde have been demanding my attention for the last several months, so I haven't even thought about this manuscripts in a while. But I still love this story and hope I get a chance to share it with the world someday.

Casper

Word count: 10,000
Status: Sitting in Kate's inbox
Attitude: In love

Call me superstitious, but I've been hesitant to talk about this manuscript online. I had this idea a few months back that simply wouldn't leave me alone, so I scribbled down the first five chapters in about a week. (I also threw together a synopsis so I could get a handle on the plot, and it clocked in at a whopping 5,000 words. Holy synopsis, Batman!) I've passed it off to Kate so we can figure out where to go from here, but I've fallen in love with this concept and these characters and hope I get a chance to write the rest of it someday.

I also have ideas for two more manuscripts that I desperately want to write--one's an MG, one's a YA, though they're both contemporary--but I'm not sure I'll be able to throw another ball into the mix (let alone another two). At least I won't run out of things to write for the foreseeable future:)

How are your works-in-progress coming along?

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Bonnie

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 73,000
Status: Line editing (as always)
Attitude: A little weary

I'm down to sentence-level changes on this latest draft, but the sentence-level changes are always the toughest, at least for me. I always feel like the clunkiest, wordiest writer on the planet when I'm trying to streamline my prose, and since I'm also trying to inject a bit more voice into the manuscript, the going on this pass is even slower than it usually is.

Voice isn't generally something I have to think a lot about; it just kind of flows. But somewhere in the switch from MG to YA, I lost some of my mojo. I know a lot of people think it's tough to nail an MG voice, but I, for one, find it much easier to write a precocious twelve-year-old than a mature seventeen-year-old who's interesting enough to spend three hundred pages with (and who doesn't bug me to death).

To that end, I asked my Twitter followers to share their favorite YA reads with non-slangy, non-snarky characters. I got some great suggestions, so I thought it would be fun to share them with you:

I'LL BE THERE by Holly Goldberg Sloan The best thing about this book is that it's written in third person, and not particularly close third, either. I'd forgotten how much you can do with an impartial narrator who kind of floats above the story. I considered whether or not it would be worth it to flip Bonnie from first to third but ultimately decided against it. Since Bonnie is so personal, I think switching it to third would create unnecessary distance between the reader and my MC.

THE QUEEN OF KENTUCKY by Alecia Whitaker The MC in this book had a very distinctive voice, but it read too young for me. Now in Ricki Jo's defense, she WAS only fourteen, so I guess she had a good excuse. As my mother can attest, I was a basket case at that age:)

SMART GIRLS GET WHAT THEY WANT by Sarah Strohmeyer Of all the books I've read to educate my YA voice, this book was the one that spoke to me the most. I loved Gigi, Bea, and Neerja, who were interesting but not annoying, witty but not sarcastic. They were just the sorts of girls I would have wanted to hang out with in high school (if I'd been the sort of girl to hang out in high school, that is). If you love contemporary romances with strong, well-developed characters, definitely give SMART GIRLS GET WHAT THEY WANT a read.

DAIRY QUEEN by Catherine Gilbert Murdock I'm not finished with this one, but I've already enjoyed it quite a bit. D.J. is a great character with a ton of voice and charm. Actually, I think she and Ella Mae would get along famously, which is the main reason I don't want to draw too much inspiration from this book. I just don't want to write the same character over and over.

Are there any other books you think I should pick up to educate my YA voice? And how are YOUR works-in-progress coming along?

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Bonnie

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 67,000
Status: Out of my hands
Attitude: Exhausted

Well, it finally happened. For a few days last week, I officially hated Bonnie. It didn't last long (now I'm only tired of her), but I can confirm there were a couple of moments when all I wanted to do was pitch her over a cliff. Thankfully, I didn't (I think I'm thankful, at least), and now she's safely into the hands of her next round of readers.

I don't know why, but these moments of self-loathing always take me by surprise. At the outset, I expect to love every project for every second I'm working on it. I forget how hard, how painful, it will be (it's kind of like childbirth that way), so when the self-loathing hits, I worry that something's wrong, that I've wasted the last six months or whatever on a manuscript that's going precisely nowhere.

But what I hope I'll remember from here on out is that it's ALWAYS like this. I always decide at some point (usually while I'm line editing) that every project is hopeless, that it's the dumbest thing ever, that I should give up right now. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if I don't hate a project at least once in the process, I'm probably not giving it everything I've got. That's kind of nutty and counterintuitive, but at least in my case, it's also true.

How do you get through those moments of self-loathing? Or maybe I'm the only one who hates her stories at some point...? (Bonus points for using as many parentheses as possible!)

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Bonnie

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 72,000
Status: Waiting to hear back from the first round of betas
Attitude: Pumped

Just a quick note to say I sent Bonnie to her first round of betas last week and that the early feedback has been very positive. It's exciting, because I've felt the same way about Bonnie that I did about Steve, and it's nice to get a little validation. Plus, we all know how my good feelings about Steve turned out:)

Also, I wanted to let everyone know I'll be posting a contest alert for next week's round of "An Agent's Inbox" TOMORROW, so definitely come back and check that out. The lovely Melissa Sarver of Folio Literary Management will be judging next week's round, so you won't want to miss it!

Last but not least, I'd love to hear how your works-in-progress are going. Are you drafting, revising, querying? Are you happy, sad, going crazy? (Those activities and emotions generally match up for me:) )

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Bonnie

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 65,000, maybe?
Status: Constructing the second draft
Attitude: Still smitten

I'm not sure about the word count because I'm literally constructing the second draft from scratch*, copying and pasting scenes into a blank document, writing new ones as I go (sometimes on the backs of random scraps of paper). I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm usually a VERY LINEAR writer, so this is new territory for me. And it's EXCITING.

It also helps that I am completely, one-hundred-percent in love with both the concept and the characters. This is my first attempt at YA contemporary since I was in high school, and so far, the thrill hasn't worn off. I described Bonnie a little in my interview with Kate, so I'll repeat that here in case you missed it:

My current work-in-progress is a YA contemporary told in alternating time frames. In the first chapter, seventeen-year-old Karina stops a boy from jumping off a bridge; the second chapter flashes back to the day fifteen-year-old Karina found her older sister dead after she swallowed a bunch of sleeping pills. The front story moves forward and the back story backward from there.

Blending the time frames has been tough, but it's also stretching me in ways I haven't stretched for a long time. I still have a long way to go--it's very possible these time frames only make sense in my own head--but I'm excited about the journey. And that's something to blog about.

So where are you at with your works-in-progress? Are you smitten, energized--or ready to poke your eyes out with a spoon? I'm sure we can all relate to both:)

*I know you rabid Apple folks are going to tell me to try Scrivener, and I do plan to check it out someday. But since I'm usually, as I said, a very linear writer, I've never found a need before.

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Clyde

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 44,000
Status: Almost finished!
Attitude: Calm

After much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, I’m happy to report that Clyde is pretty much done (for now, at least). He even has a title! (It’s DUEL/DUET.) You KNOW my manuscripts are almost ready once I come up with one of those:)

This manuscript has made me dig deeper than perhaps I ever have, not because I had problems with the words but because I had problems with myself. There were days and even weeks when the last thing I wanted to do was stick my butt in that chair and write, when my own voice annoyed me and all I wanted to do was roll over and admit defeat. But writers write (especially if they want to get published someday), so I powered through it. I hope I’m stronger because of it. I hope Clyde is, too.

Someday, I’ll write a summary to stick up there with Steve’s, but right now, I’m kind of busy. (Also, I’m still basking in the knowledge that I don't HAVE to write a summary if I don't want to.) In the meantime, check out this post for a few more details if you’re curious.

I have no idea if Clyde will sell. As this post from Bryan Bliss and Boys Don’t Read so eloquently puts it, the publishing industry owes me nothing. Sometimes I’d like to think they do, but they don’t. So I’ll trim my fingernails (the writer’s equivalent of rolling up your sleeves), stick my butt in that chair, and write another manuscript. And some days I’ll think I’m a talentless hack, and other days I’ll wonder why no one’s handed me a million bucks for the honor--nay, the privilege--of putting my words into print (wink, wink), and hopefully, I’ll get there. I’m still not sure where there is yet, but I’ll know it when I see it.

Or maybe it’s been all around me this whole time.

(Work-in-) Progress Reports: Bonnie and Clyde

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 64,000 for Bonnie, 43,000 for Clyde
Status: Wrapping up Clyde’s latest round of revisions and Bonnie’s first draft
Attitude: Focused

It occurred to me a few weeks ago that, in the seven-plus months since I signed with Kate, I’ve written well over 100,000 new words and (almost) completely revised one full manuscript. That’s the most writing I’ve ever produced in a seven-month period BY FAR.

I suspect the reasons for this are twofold. First, I had two ideas come to me at about the same time. I feel pretty strongly about releasing a debut and a follow-up that will appeal to roughly the same readership, so I already knew I wanted to write another MG. But not long after I started Clyde, another shimmering idea came to me that simply refused to be set aside. So I started Bonnie, and I’ve been juggling both ever since. (At least they’re both contemporaries, right?)

Second, now that I have an agent, I kind of feel like I have this obligation to write that I didn’t have before. Don’t get me wrong--Kate is supportive and chill and never makes me feel like I have to work harder. But I WANT to work harder because I know I’m not the only one relying on my efforts anymore. And because this lifelong goal seems so close I can practically touch it. I just want to get there, get there, get there!

Besides, I’m in this for the long haul; I want to sell many, many manuscripts over the course of my lifetime. And if that’s going to happen, someday I’ll have deadlines and multiple books under contract, so I figure this is good practice:)

How go your works-in-progress? Anyone out there juggling more than one project, too?

(Work-in-) Progress Reports: Bonnie and Clyde

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 41,000 for Bonnie, 45,000 for Clyde
Status: Bouncing back to Bonnie after wrapping up Clyde’s latest draft
Attitude: Meh

Here’s how my month went down: I added almost 30,000 words to Bonnie in the first few weeks of August, then turned my attention back to Clyde once my readers’ notes came in. They gave me some great big-picture stuff to fix, so I spent about a week and a half working through their suggestions. Since I was a little ahead of schedule, I thought I’d give the manuscript one last read-through and start cleaning up the prose.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

I don’t know why I think that last read-through will make me like the story more, because it never does. Nothing short of silky smoothness will satisfy me when it comes to wordsmithing, and that’s a hard standard to meet over the course of an entire manuscript. Mind you, no manuscript--and not even any published book--is perfect, but I usually feel pretty good about ninety-five percent of the sentences by the time I’m finally done.

Clyde’s hovering somewhere around fifty percent at the moment. Yuck.

Anyway, I’m trying not to think about it while I wait to hear back from Amy and Jeni (and Kelly, too, of course!). Instead, I’m devoting all my subconscious thought to Bonnie. I wasn’t quite sure where to go with her a few weeks ago, but now the gears are churning again. I’ve already had a few ideas that should give me more to write, so that’s something, at least.

How are things going for you?

(Work-in-) Progress Reports: Bonnie and Clyde

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 13,000 for Bonnie, 44,000 for Clyde

Status: Collecting my reward:)

Attitude: Relaxed and optimistic

I finished Clyde’s second draft about two weeks ago, took a week to mull things over, and dove back into Bonnie last Thursday or Friday. True to my word from May’s report, I didn’t let myself go back to her until Clyde was out of my hands.

So Clyde’s with beta readers (hi, Ben, Liesl, and Myrna!), and Bonnie’s coming along. And my streak of firsts continues. This is the first time I’ve ever worked on two projects simultaneously, and it’s also the first time I’ve ever bounced around while writing a first draft. I tend to write very linearly, from page one to page whatever, without skipping a single scene, but I’m not doing that with Bonnie. In fact, I’ve given up on numbering the chapters altogether, since I can’t tell right now exactly where they’re going to fall.

I suppose it makes at least a little bit of sense, since Bonnie isn’t a linear story, anyway. I’m telling the front story going forward and the back story going backward from two similar events, interweaving related scenes as I go along. But therein lies the problem. Right now, all of the ideas my subconscious is spinning out are related to the front story, so I’m running with those. Surprisingly, this jumping-around isn’t driving me crazy. I’m (mostly) going with the flow and letting things happen as they will--which, if you know anything about me, runs directly counter to my usual MO:)

I don’t know how long this carefree productivity will last, but I’m definitely enjoying it while it’s here. If this keeps up, I may have to move the family to Hawaii so my location will match my mood…

What about you? How are your projects coming along, and how do you feel about them at the moment?

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Clyde

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 43,000
Status: Almost finished with the second draft
Attitude: Antsy

I'm antsy because I want to finish, finish, finish! I think I'm only a week or two away from sending Clyde off to his first round of beta readers, and I just want to send him. But I promise not to do it until I complete my revision process, so don't panic, Ben and Myrna! I'll do my best to make it (mostly) comprehensible:)

As for how this last month and a few weeks have gone, I'll be the first to admit that it's been a little dicey. Almost three-quarters of the way through the first draft, I realized that I'd written myself into a place I didn't want to be in, and it took me a few days to decide how to get myself out of it. Thank goodness for good friends who talked me down from the ledge and helped me find a way out of the rut that I was trapped in. I was literally two clicks away from chucking the whole thing out the window, but they managed to keep me from doing something they knew I'd regret. I don't remember everyone I e-mailed in a panic, but I do remember that Liesl was the one who gave me the idea that kept me going, so thank you, thank you, thank you, Liesl (and everybody else who wouldn't let me quit).

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever written yourself into a corner, then convinced yourself that there was no way out? I can honestly say that that's the first time anything like that has happened to me. I've had my rough patches, sure, but I've never been tempted to just delete a draft and walk away.

Now that I'm here, on the verge of finishing another draft and shipping it out for feedback, I'm so glad I didn't do that...

(Work-in-) Progress Reports: Bonnie and Clyde

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 3,000 for Bonnie, 24,000 for Clyde
Status: Chugging through the first drafts
Attitude: Excited

Look, a (work-in-) progress report! It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. I’m happy to report that my new project, who shall be known from this day forth as Clyde, is coming along at a nice pace. I’m not writing him quite as quickly as I wrote Steve, but then, I have been a bit distracted, what with “The Writer’s Voice” and all. Still, I’m hoping to finish the first draft sometime within the next month. We’ll see how I do.

Clyde is a straight-up MG contemporary, with no fantastical elements or funny business. He’s a cute, quirky little manuscript who’s forced me to get in touch with my inner nerd:) But mostly, he’s just forced me to admit that I might really be a writer of realism and not a writer of fantasy.

I started to suspect this while I was writing Steve. Sure, Steve has a few less-than-plausible plot points, but I truly believe that, at his core, he’s a genuine historical, with period characters making period decisions according to the standards and mores of their day. Steve is about real life, and so is Clyde. Real life, apparently, is what I write about.

To further cement this theory, my other Shiny New Idea is also for a contemporary, this one a YA. Since I kind of think of these two manuscripts in the same thought, I’m naming this one Bonnie. She’s going to be my pet project for the time being, my experiment, and as such, I’ve only written a little more than her first chapter. Once I get my buddy Clyde into the hands of beta readers, I’ll reward myself by writing Bonnie:)

I’ve wanted to write a book set in two different timeframes for a few years now, so I’m going to try that with this one. I’ll tell the front story moving forward from a particularly significant day for the MC and the back story moving backward from another equally important day. This will also give me a chance to try my hand at present tense. In truth, I’ve never been a huge fan of present tense--it often feels like a gimmick to me--but in this case, I think it will help me keep the front and back stories straight.

Yep, these two projects have definitely forced me to reevaluate my own writerly self. I’ve always considered myself to be a writer of big, bold fantasy and science fiction, with lots of explosions and action scenes. But the truth is, I think I’m better at writing the quieter, more intimate moments between characters, and for the first time in, well, ever, I feel like I’m playing to my strengths.

So how are your projects coming along, and have they ever forced you to think about your writer-self differently?

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Steve

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 52,000 (6,000 less than last time)

Status: Finished with the third draft!

Attitude: Cautiously optimistic

Third draft complete! And now Steve’s off to meet his next round of beta readers. Thanks, Ben, Jeni, and Kelly! I know he’s in good hands.

I’m optimistic about Steve because the feedback I received from my last bunch of betas was so positive. (One of them even said she read the whole thing in one sitting!) But I’m cautious because I know there are as many opinions in this industry as there are people, and I don’t want to get my hopes up.

I’ve read posts from agented and published writers that say things like, “This manuscript was special from the start. It was the best thing I’d ever written, and I poured everything I had into it. Somehow, I knew it would be the One.” Well, Bob felt like that manuscript for me, and now that he's racked up more rejections than anything else, I know nothing’s a guarantee. No manuscript can be the One (until it actually sells), because too many of the factors that determine its success--or failure--are outside of our control.

I know Steve still needs some work, but at least for the time being, I feel pretty good about where he’s at. So where are you at with your projects, and how do you feel about them?

P.S. In case you missed my tweet, October's round of "An Agent's Inbox" starts next week, and this month, we're trying something new. I'm revealing The Agent's identity RIGHT NOW. I'm thrilled to announce that Kate Schafer Testerman of kt literary will be next week's guest judge, so get busy on those entries!

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Steve

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 58,000
Status: Chilling in some beta readers’ inboxes as I type!
Attitude: At peace

I’m happy to report that I finished Steve’s second draft last week and sent him off to a handful of beta readers the same day. (Thanks again, Amy, Liesl, and Myrna!) And I’m totally, one-hundred-percent, completely at peace.

With Bob, I was as nervous as all get-out about sending him off to betas for the first time, but now I just can’t wait to hear what they have to say. I already know that these wonderful ladies like me, that they’re only interested in building me up and helping me make Steve the best he can be, so I don’t have to stress about it. I only have to wait--as patiently as possible:)

To distract myself, I’m working on yet another project, this one a shiny new idea that popped into my brain about a week and a half ago. This as-yet un-nicknamed manuscript is a YA contemporary (gasp!), and it’s also one of the few shiny new ideas I've had that Honey Bear hasn’t turned up his nose at. (He was even a little skeptical about Bob and Steve at first.) Once again, I’m flying through the first draft (5,000 words in two days!), but I don’t expect to keep up this pace. This project is just a toy for now--which is why I haven’t nicknamed it:)

So what are you working on, and how is it coming?

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Steve

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 55,000
Status: FINISHED WITH THE FIRST DRAFT!
Attitude: Pumped

Well, Steve’s first draft came in a bit longer than I’d originally anticipated (by about 10,000 words), and yet I finished him much faster than I was expecting to. All told, it took me a little more than a month to crank out this first draft (a week back in February and three or four weeks this summer). A little more than a month! That’s crazy fast, at least for me.

I don’t know why this project came together so quickly. Maybe it was the character. (Of all the main characters I’ve written, Ella Mae is quite possibly my favorite. She’s smart and spunky but still twelve years old. Her black-and-white view of the world--at least at first--is one of the things that makes her so interesting.) Maybe it was the story. (Steve essentially grew out of two questions: “What if you dropped a Japanese man in the middle of small-town America in the early 1950s? And what if that Japanese man weren’t entirely…natural?”) Or maybe it had something to do with the tough rejection I received at the end of July. (Based on a series of e-mails I exchanged with that agent, I really thought that rejection was going to be an offer. So when the rejection came in, I threw myself back into Steve. I believe I wrote 2,000 words that first day.)

But whatever the reason, I’m not going to complain:) As much as I’ve enjoyed watching the pages fly by while working on this first draft, I can’t wait to revise. My editing skills just continue to improve, and I already have a list of changes, big and small, that I need to make. Bring on the revisions!

A few more tidbits about Steve: He’s an MG historical with a dash of science fiction. If I had to compare him to two classic titles, I’d go with FRANKENSTEIN and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, two of my all-time favorites. Those comparisons are a little audacious, I know, and I don’t plan to use them in an actual query letter. Not that I have anything resembling a query letter yet. I like to let the story develop a bit before I try to tackle one of those...

(I have been tinkering with a logline over the past couple of weeks, though. You can find it over there in my sidebar. If you’re a logline king/queen--or still just trying to figure them out, like I am--feel free to give me your thoughts in the comments!)

So what about you? How has your latest work-in-progress been coming along?

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Steve

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 34,000
Status: Flying through the first draft
Attitude: Still in love!

After dragging my feet for a few months, I finally found the motivation to start working on Steve again, and I think he’s just as awesome now as he was five months ago. I’ve added nearly 20,000 words in the last two weeks, and it’s exhilarating. I can honestly say I’ve never written any other manuscript this quickly.

So why the sudden burst of speed? I really have no idea. I took up outlining a few years ago, and while I think the process suits my anal-retentive personality, I didn’t feel like outlining this manuscript before I started. So I didn’t. And now I’m 34,000 words in after a combined three weeks of writing.

Which isn’t to say I’ve completely abandoned the idea of outlining. I’m sure I’ll outline future manuscripts before I start the actual writing, and I’m sure I’ll end up writing (at least) one outline for Steve before I’m done. But I’m totally digging this freewheeling, anything-goes, fun-and-fancy-free style of writing. I think it’s helped me unlock my inner speed demon:)

I have had one outlining epiphany over the course of the last few weeks: Keeping track of major plot elements and overall narrative arcs is really easy, but keeping track of each character’s development and overall metamorphosis is really hard. In fact, I daresay a character outline, which would track characters’ responses to predetermined plot points as well as chart the characters’ states of mind on a chapter-by-chapter basis, would be far more useful than a traditional story outline, at least for me.

All right, back to work. But while I'm beefing Steve up, I'm curious: What epiphanies have you had lately, writing or otherwise?

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Steve

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 15,000
Status: On hold for the moment
Attitude: In love!

You’ll notice a couple of curious things about this introduction. First, Steve isn’t Judy. (Sorry, Judy.) Judy was great while she lasted, but I’m all about Steve now, my new MG historical with a dash of science fiction. The idea--actually, just a first line--popped into my head as I was falling asleep one night: “Mama said it was plum foolishness to keep Robby’s dog tags like that, with his blood still stuck between the tiny grooves and ridges of his name.” I wondered what kind of story would start with that kind of line, and Steve was born.

Second, even though I’m totally in love with this one (heck, I wrote those 15,000 words in about eight days), the project is on hold for now. Some things have come up with Bob (no, I don’t have an agent or even an offer of representation, but I do have some promising new leads), and they have to take priority. But I had to make a note of Steve, because he’s the book I’m coming back to after I rewrite Bob. (I’m rewriting Bob? What? WHAT? (More about that later this week…))

So what have you been working on?

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Judy

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 2,000 (oh, yeah!)
Status: Writing the first draft
Attitude: Giddy

I’m giddy because I’m writing a first draft again, because I’m still excited about the last draft of my last project* (better known as Bob), and because I’m feeling like a renegade.

“Like a renegade?” you ask. “Please, Krista, do tell.”

All right, I will, but only if you come a little closer. And a little closer than that. Okay, you ready? Because I'm only going to 'fess up once.

I’m feeling like a renegade because I’m writing without an outline.

Can you believe it? I’m writing without an outline! Bob is only the second manuscript I’ve written WITH an outline, but outlining is such a natural extension of my personality that writing without one almost feels like cheating. I just had this story idea (YA again, of course), and I didn’t want to take the time to figure everything out. So I started writing instead. About three days ago.

We’ll see how long I last:)

I have no idea where I’m going with this idea. I’m not even sure what genre it is yet. (Should I try to tackle a contemporary, or should I add some thriller elements to entertain myself? Or should I just throw this silly real-world notion out the window and turn it into a good old urban fantasy?) I just know that I like writing it. I like writing something.

How about you? What are you working on right now, and how is it going?

*I did finish the revision I was working on, and now I’m just waiting to see what happens to it. That’s what querying mostly is, I think: waiting.

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Bob

Today, I'm thankful for sunrises, which always bring light back to a darkened world.

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 73,000
Status: FINIS
Attitude: Crazy relieved

I’m crazy relieved because I’m finally done, and I’m just plain, old crazy because I started querying a few days ago and it’s already got me all tied up in knots. But this (work-in-) progress report isn’t about the querying, it’s about the Bobbing, and the Bob (yeah, he’s so cool he needs an article now) is finished. HE’S FINISHED!

(Okay, so I was just kidding about that whole article thing. I mean, I think he’s pretty cool, but as little Sheryl Yoast said in REMEMBER THE TITANS, now ain’t the time to be proud.)

Another huge thank-you to my awesome betas, Amy, Jeni, Jess (who just landed herself an agent on Tuesday!), Liesl, Mandy, and Myrna (double thank-you to Myrna, since she read Bob twice), and to everyone else who has given me feedback on this blog and over at Nathan Bransford’s forums (yeah, that means you, Holly). I’ll quit there, I guess, since this is starting to sound like the Acknowledgments page at the back of a book, and that would be putting the cart way, way, way, way, way out in front of the horse.

Anyway, I can honestly say Bob is the best book I’ve written so far. I’ve grown so much as a writer as I've worked on him this year. I realize that sounds cliché, but it’s true, so I’m sticking to it.

And one more for good measure: BOB’S FINISHED! (At least until the agent feedback starts rolling in…)

What about you? Where are you at with your works-in-progress, and how are they going? (NaNoers, feel free to chime in--unless you'd rather not give away the fact that you're here and not writing:) )

(Work-in-) Progress Report: Bob

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 66,000 (and rising)
Status: Incorporating feedback from my latest batch of betas
Attitude: Fluttery

Fluttery because I’m excited. Fluttery because I’m nervous. Fluttery because I’m fast approaching Bob’s first birthday and I can’t believe it’s been a YEAR.

This week, I plan to put together what I hope will be my last revision outline, and then I’ll only have to pretty up each chapter according to said outline. (Well, I also plan to try that dreaded out-loud read again, but as we all remember how well that went a few months ago, I’m still kind of ignoring it…)

My first batch of betas caught the major problems with my plot and story construction, and my second batch uncovered some issues with characterization and world building. That’s just how it should be, I think--the first batch found the biggest problems, and the second batch the second biggest problems. Interestingly, none of my second-batch betas brought up the same major issues my first batch did, which (hopefully) means I fixed those plot problems. Phew.

Depending on how I feel about this fifth draft once I finish it, I may decide to give Bob to a third round of beta readers, but for now, I’m thinking these two will be good. Which means I’ll probably be ready to query by late September.

Wowsers. Querying by late September.

And that’s why I’m all fluttery.