Category: first-drafting
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Writing a Novel Is
Writing a novel is a mess right now. I’m close, but I’m not done yet. I’m not done yet, I’m not done. I don’t know what I’m trying to say, is the truth of it. I don’t know what I should say. I don’t know what my words mean. I haven’t found the meaning yet, […]
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The Two-Month Countdown and the One-Track Mind
Today is November 15. That means I have two months to finish* this Thing* and turn it in. *Just finish the first draft—there will be revisions! *See my previous post for why I feel safer calling it a Thing. For the TLDR lazypants who don’t feel like clicking: By Thing I mean my novel. So […]
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Writing a Novel and Seeking the Magic Fix
I am writing what will be my fifth published novel. Five is a number I like, so you’d think this would be a glorious experience, but nothing is ever as easy as I’d hope it to be, most of all writing. This novel I’m writing was originally slated to come out Spring 2016, a year […]
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Facing Down the Doubt Monster
Oh, fellow writers. So, while I work on the revision of what will be my fourth published novel (my sixth written novel, and none of this is counting any of the work-for-hire novels I’ve ghostwritten), I look up and keep seeing this ugly face in the mirror. Doubt. I thought, by now, now I’m writing […]
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On Deadlines (Oh, How I Love a Solid Deadline)
First off, in case I haven’t been talking about it enough and boring you with it, I have a deadline. You haven’t heard? So it’s November 1, and it’s the deadline to turn in the first official draft of my new novel to my new publisher. The book was sold on proposal, which means I […]
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The Two Weeks and the 43,258 Words
I am home now, from a stroke of good luck: a two-week “emergency residency” at the MacDowell Colony, a perfect artists’ colony in New Hampshire. I decided to do something different while there. Instead of my usual slow, plodding pace for writing a first draft of a novel, where I circle in on myself and revise as I […]
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A Gift from the Writing Gods: The Emergency Writing Cave
I am writing my book. I have been writing my book for months and months. My book—the first draft—is due November 1. I’ve tried to make it easier on myself this time around… I can’t tell you that’s working. Why? BECAUSE NO BOOK IS EASY TO WRITE WHAT WAS I THINKING. I went away and […]
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A Dream
I had a dream that I had a magic wand. It was pink, with glitter. (I do not like the color pink, but go with me on this.) I could wave the wand and it would give me completed manuscripts. A wave, and The Walls Around Us was finished and ready for my editor. Another […]
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Writers Colony Diary: The Hambidge Center June 2013
Sometimes, when I’m writing and barred from Twitter and blogging and all manner of distracting things, I keep a journal in which I talk to myself. I did this while I was away for a short residency at the Hambidge Center in Georgia, and I wanted to share selected bits with you. Some of the […]
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The Writing That Comes Before All the Writing: On Outlining
I used to be a dedicated outliner. My outlines for novels would take up dozens and dozens of pages, come with color-coded notes to myself (this has been written and you don’t need to worry about it anymore = blue ; not sure of this, but you’ll come up with something better when you write […]
distraction no.99 