As of yesterday morning, The Dragon's Eye has been pulled out of circulation (there are, of course, still copies available for the moment through amazon, but only a limited number of copies). I went to my account and changed its status to "incomplete" in preparation for the new version.
It was an oddly bittersweet moment. I mean... the version that is out there is nowhere near as polished. It's not as well thought-through. Certain characters are not as well developed. What I've done in the past year and a half with re-writing and editing has really changed the feel of the book. It's still the same story, but there's a lot more depth there now. There's a direction to the book, which makes sense, since the first version was written before I knew the book would turn into a quadrilogy. I did no outlining for the first book, I had no idea where it was going, I just wrote 10 pages every day and let the story lead me wherever it wanted to go. It was a great ride... and it taught me a lot about writing. It taught me the value of outlining... a great author (I can't remember who it was, it might have been Terry Brooks) once said that you'll either do the work at the beginning of the writing process or at the end... but you'll do the work either way. I love the surprise of letting the story twist and turn on its own, I love the not-knowing exactly where I'm going to end up... but I don't love the re-writing that inevitably follows that sort of writing.
I've since learned that your story can still surprise you, even with an extensive outline to follow. In the midst of the writing process, a character may show up where you didn't expect him to be, and you decide on the fly that it's better this way than the way you had it in your outline, and that's just fine.
If I'm honest with myself, now that I've done all this re-writing, I'm a little embarrassed of the first edition. And yet, it's my first edition. The first truly book-length novel I ever wrote. The first book of mine I ever saw in published format. A lot of hard work went into it getting it written, having a friend design the cover and edit it. I will keep a copy of it on my shelf. But it's time to say "good-bye" to The Dragon's Eye, because I've moved on as a writer. I'm no longer a 19-year old college freshman, and I no longer write like one. This book is the first of a quadrilogy, a series of four books in which my writing style improved and grew and in which I found that all-important writer's "voice." I had to do the re-write to get it up to the standard of the rest of the series. Perhaps if it were a stand-alone I could have let it be. But it isn't, so I can't.
I know it's silly. You're sitting there reading this and scratching your head thinking, "Um... am I missing something? Didn't you just edit your first book? It's not like it's gone."
True.
But it is gone, sort of. Although the characters and the story are the same, so much of it is different inside now that it feels brand new to me. The book isn't The Dragon's Eye anymore, it has truly become a totally different book: King's Warrior.
So keep an eye out, because my goal is to get King's Warrior published this fall and into circulation in time for the holidays! (And maybe a mid-West book tour!) I'll keep you posted on the details of all that, never fear.
Thanks for listening to my ramblings. :)
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
June 14, 2011
April 13, 2011
Production Studio
I've been thinking about this for a while now. And I thought I would go ahead and blog about it, for those of you who are interested in following my journey through publishing.
I am sick of writing query letters. I haven't written a ton, not as many as most authors, by far. But it just isn't anything I enjoy doing. I don't mind the rejection letters, those are pretty easy to take. It is my understanding that you receive YEARS of rejection letters before you finally break through into traditional publishing. That's fine. But it's really not how I want to spend my time.
I want to spend my time creating new stories. Not trying to get an agent or publisher to look at my stories. I want to retain the rights to my written works, not split it with some unknown agent who may or may not really have my best interests at heart. If I'm going to split my work with someone, I want it to be someone I really trust, with my life and my words.
That is why I am abandoning the quest for a traditional publisher. There is so much involved in that world that I really don't want to have any part of. I don't want to sell the rights to a Hollywood production studio, just to have them mess it up the way so many books have been messed up by the movie production world. I want someone I trust to make the movies (if they ever get made... that's the LARGE-SCALE dream). :)
Instead, I am throwing my efforts and my books into the Production Studio (we're in the very early stages, it doesn't even have a name yet) that my family is creating. This production company is the brain-child of several members of my family, my brothers, my dad, my husband mostly, and they are beginning to work very hard at getting it up and running. The main purpose of this company at first will be to promote, market, and distribute: my books, my sister's CDs, and my sister-in-law's artwork. It will also be focused very much on targeting the audience we want, the audience that many traditional publishers, record labels, etc do not believe exists, but that we know exists in abundance: Families.
We are hoping, in the next few months, to have a website up and running, that has regular Friday web-casts featuring my books being read out-loud (like they used to do on the radio years ago with books and other stories) in installments each week, songs by Brittany Jean, and artwork by Angelina... along with interviews with the artists themselves. This would be step 1 of the marketing process. We might even migrate all our blogs over there... we'll see what the capabilities are.
Eventually, we hope to open this company to other authors, singers, artists, film-makers outside of our family. We hope to have our own film-studio (which is great, because Evan's about the only person I'd trust to make my books into good movies anyway)!
So that is our exciting on-the-horizon-news... and the reason you won't be seeing me make any more updates about query letters and rejection slips from now on. If you would be willing to join us in prayer about this endeavor (and that we would come up with a name that we all love and has the meaning we want to convey) that would be muchly appreciated!
I am sick of writing query letters. I haven't written a ton, not as many as most authors, by far. But it just isn't anything I enjoy doing. I don't mind the rejection letters, those are pretty easy to take. It is my understanding that you receive YEARS of rejection letters before you finally break through into traditional publishing. That's fine. But it's really not how I want to spend my time.
I want to spend my time creating new stories. Not trying to get an agent or publisher to look at my stories. I want to retain the rights to my written works, not split it with some unknown agent who may or may not really have my best interests at heart. If I'm going to split my work with someone, I want it to be someone I really trust, with my life and my words.
That is why I am abandoning the quest for a traditional publisher. There is so much involved in that world that I really don't want to have any part of. I don't want to sell the rights to a Hollywood production studio, just to have them mess it up the way so many books have been messed up by the movie production world. I want someone I trust to make the movies (if they ever get made... that's the LARGE-SCALE dream). :)
Instead, I am throwing my efforts and my books into the Production Studio (we're in the very early stages, it doesn't even have a name yet) that my family is creating. This production company is the brain-child of several members of my family, my brothers, my dad, my husband mostly, and they are beginning to work very hard at getting it up and running. The main purpose of this company at first will be to promote, market, and distribute: my books, my sister's CDs, and my sister-in-law's artwork. It will also be focused very much on targeting the audience we want, the audience that many traditional publishers, record labels, etc do not believe exists, but that we know exists in abundance: Families.
We are hoping, in the next few months, to have a website up and running, that has regular Friday web-casts featuring my books being read out-loud (like they used to do on the radio years ago with books and other stories) in installments each week, songs by Brittany Jean, and artwork by Angelina... along with interviews with the artists themselves. This would be step 1 of the marketing process. We might even migrate all our blogs over there... we'll see what the capabilities are.
Eventually, we hope to open this company to other authors, singers, artists, film-makers outside of our family. We hope to have our own film-studio (which is great, because Evan's about the only person I'd trust to make my books into good movies anyway)!
So that is our exciting on-the-horizon-news... and the reason you won't be seeing me make any more updates about query letters and rejection slips from now on. If you would be willing to join us in prayer about this endeavor (and that we would come up with a name that we all love and has the meaning we want to convey) that would be muchly appreciated!
March 22, 2011
A different perspective
I went over to peruse the ABNA boards today, because it's March 22, and that means that the next round of finalists went up this morning. (They are getting much better at doing that early in the day, even for us East Coasters)!
Amazingly enough, it was kind of nice to not be all stressed out about what I'd find. I didn't even feel compelled to check the lists - because, since I got cut in the first round, obviously my name wasn't going to be on it. (Ok, I'll admit, I did check the YA list... just on the off chance that there was some kind of mistake on the first one). But I wasn't worried about it.
Would I have loved to get the feedback that comes from making it to the second round? Of course. Can I get that feedback anyway? Well, I do have a friend who made it to "Vine Reviewer" status on amazon... she didn't get asked to be an ABNA judge... but she's as qualified as they are. And she'll give me a nice review, because she thinks my book is awesome. :)
Moving on... I'm sure I'll enter next year, because it's fun. But if I never make it past round two... it doesn't really matter. It's not a REAL fantastic method for measuring whether or not your book will succeed. I know enough people who have read and enjoyed my books, and there are people I DON'T know who have read and enjoyed my books, and most importantly I enjoy my books... so I'll stick with them. However, I'm beginning to see the up-side to sticking with self-publishing... mostly because my family is setting up a marketing/media company, and I'm thinking that using that company to promote/sell my books while retaining all rights to them might be what I would most enjoy doing. Besides, form rejection letters are depressing. ;) I'm thinking about submitting my ms to DAW though, they still accept unsolicited/unagented submissions... shot in the dark, but it might be fun... just to see.
Amazingly enough, it was kind of nice to not be all stressed out about what I'd find. I didn't even feel compelled to check the lists - because, since I got cut in the first round, obviously my name wasn't going to be on it. (Ok, I'll admit, I did check the YA list... just on the off chance that there was some kind of mistake on the first one). But I wasn't worried about it.
Would I have loved to get the feedback that comes from making it to the second round? Of course. Can I get that feedback anyway? Well, I do have a friend who made it to "Vine Reviewer" status on amazon... she didn't get asked to be an ABNA judge... but she's as qualified as they are. And she'll give me a nice review, because she thinks my book is awesome. :)
Moving on... I'm sure I'll enter next year, because it's fun. But if I never make it past round two... it doesn't really matter. It's not a REAL fantastic method for measuring whether or not your book will succeed. I know enough people who have read and enjoyed my books, and there are people I DON'T know who have read and enjoyed my books, and most importantly I enjoy my books... so I'll stick with them. However, I'm beginning to see the up-side to sticking with self-publishing... mostly because my family is setting up a marketing/media company, and I'm thinking that using that company to promote/sell my books while retaining all rights to them might be what I would most enjoy doing. Besides, form rejection letters are depressing. ;) I'm thinking about submitting my ms to DAW though, they still accept unsolicited/unagented submissions... shot in the dark, but it might be fun... just to see.
February 25, 2011
Tomorrow is a New Day
Or, rather, today is a new day.
Yesterday was kind of a bummer on the writing front. I got cut from the contest at the pitch stage... which means I got cut based on a 300-word synopsis that was supposed to explain what my book is about and make people want to read more. I had gotten a lot of feedback on my pitch, and was told by a few people I don't even know that if my pitch didn't make it, they didn't know what would. Which made me feel a little more on the confident side than I was last year. So getting cut was a little rough.
However, I am an eternal optimist, and staying blue just isn't in my nature. (the fact that I sold a copy of each of my books last night/this morning doesn't hurt, either). I didn't let the day close before I had submitted a query to an agent. I also have found at least a dozen or so other agents that I plan to query in the next few days/weeks.
I do have to get a synopsis written. I had one, but then I re-wrote my entire novel... the synopsis is still mostly accurate, but I should probably write a new/current one.
So for now, it's onward and upward!
Yesterday was kind of a bummer on the writing front. I got cut from the contest at the pitch stage... which means I got cut based on a 300-word synopsis that was supposed to explain what my book is about and make people want to read more. I had gotten a lot of feedback on my pitch, and was told by a few people I don't even know that if my pitch didn't make it, they didn't know what would. Which made me feel a little more on the confident side than I was last year. So getting cut was a little rough.
However, I am an eternal optimist, and staying blue just isn't in my nature. (the fact that I sold a copy of each of my books last night/this morning doesn't hurt, either). I didn't let the day close before I had submitted a query to an agent. I also have found at least a dozen or so other agents that I plan to query in the next few days/weeks.
I do have to get a synopsis written. I had one, but then I re-wrote my entire novel... the synopsis is still mostly accurate, but I should probably write a new/current one.
So for now, it's onward and upward!
January 18, 2011
Progress Report
I am ready to submit my book to the ABNA contest, a full week early! Hoorah. :)
I have sold 15 books this month!
I do intend to continue with some polishing and I look forward to getting feedback from my editor(s), but I feel confident that my manuscript, excerpt, and pitch are as ready as they can be.
So, what next? A lot of waiting :)
Meanwhile, (while I wait for my editor to get through all the pages and send me his notes, while I wait for the contest to open, and then while I begin the waiting that is the majority of being IN the ABNA contest), I intend to take a break from Tellurae Aquaous, and start writing about Aelon Ere - my new world and entirely new set of characters. I also may start looking at ideas for the idea my brother gave me for The Mirror, and trying to flesh out an outline for that story as well. I'm also going to return to writing query letters to various agents and publishers.
That should all keep me quite busy! :) In addition to this, I have a house to run, a 2 year old to keep up with, as well as the potential for a couple (hopefully!) of large-scale changes to our lives in the coming year. I will keep you posted on all of this as it happens... of course, if it doesn't, I suppose you'll never know what it was...
I have sold 15 books this month!
I do intend to continue with some polishing and I look forward to getting feedback from my editor(s), but I feel confident that my manuscript, excerpt, and pitch are as ready as they can be.
So, what next? A lot of waiting :)
Meanwhile, (while I wait for my editor to get through all the pages and send me his notes, while I wait for the contest to open, and then while I begin the waiting that is the majority of being IN the ABNA contest), I intend to take a break from Tellurae Aquaous, and start writing about Aelon Ere - my new world and entirely new set of characters. I also may start looking at ideas for the idea my brother gave me for The Mirror, and trying to flesh out an outline for that story as well. I'm also going to return to writing query letters to various agents and publishers.
That should all keep me quite busy! :) In addition to this, I have a house to run, a 2 year old to keep up with, as well as the potential for a couple (hopefully!) of large-scale changes to our lives in the coming year. I will keep you posted on all of this as it happens... of course, if it doesn't, I suppose you'll never know what it was...
January 06, 2011
New Year's Writing Resolutions
I do, in fact, have other resolutions for 2011 that are not writing-related, but I'll post them on my other blog. One of these days, I'm going to have a single blog that combines writing topics with everything else, but until that day... you're stuck with my dual blogging. Sorry. haha. Anyway, as a way to keep me accountable, I'm putting my New Year's Writing Resolutions in... ha ha.... writing :) - so feel free to ask me about them and how they're going, I could use the accountability!
And, without further ado: my resolutions for writing in 2011 --
1. Finish my rewrite of Book 1 by January 24
2. Carefully read the submission guidelines for the ABNA contest
3. Submit Book 1 to the ABNA contest
4. Make it to round 3 of the ABNA contest (I made it to round 2 last year)
5. Republish Book 1 with new artwork, new title, and rewritten manuscript
6. Do one book signing this year with Book 1
And, without further ado: my resolutions for writing in 2011 --
1. Finish my rewrite of Book 1 by January 24
2. Carefully read the submission guidelines for the ABNA contest
3. Submit Book 1 to the ABNA contest
4. Make it to round 3 of the ABNA contest (I made it to round 2 last year)
5. Republish Book 1 with new artwork, new title, and rewritten manuscript
6. Do one book signing this year with Book 1
November 10, 2010
It's been a while
Sorry it's been a while. Though I think all of 2 people actually read this.
Updates on the editing/rewriting process:
- I have 40 pages to go on the major rewrite. Yay!
- I am working very hard to be finished with the rewrite by Christmas
- Once the rewrite is done, I still have to go through the polishing notes my editor is sending me on the rewrite
- Polishing is never as hard or labor-intensive, so I have high hopes of having it done quickly
- Goal 1: to have the ability to enter the new and improved "Dragon's Eye" - aka - "King's Warrior" into the 2011 ABNA contest (I will keep you updated on what all is going on with that once they send out information about it. As of right now, I don't know what the deadline for entering is, but I'm pretty sure it will be end of January/beginning of February like it was last year)
- Goal 2: get someone to design a new cover for "King's Warrior"
- Goal 3: republish with new text and new cover through createspace
- Goal 4: set up some book signings at bookstores/libraries with re-designed and re-written "King's Warrior"
- Goal 5: Win the ABNA (well... it's good to have goals... right?)
- Goal 6: find an agent or publisher willing to take on "King's Warrior" (if I don't win the ABNA) ;)
Updates on the editing/rewriting process:
- I have 40 pages to go on the major rewrite. Yay!
- I am working very hard to be finished with the rewrite by Christmas
- Once the rewrite is done, I still have to go through the polishing notes my editor is sending me on the rewrite
- Polishing is never as hard or labor-intensive, so I have high hopes of having it done quickly
- Goal 1: to have the ability to enter the new and improved "Dragon's Eye" - aka - "King's Warrior" into the 2011 ABNA contest (I will keep you updated on what all is going on with that once they send out information about it. As of right now, I don't know what the deadline for entering is, but I'm pretty sure it will be end of January/beginning of February like it was last year)
- Goal 2: get someone to design a new cover for "King's Warrior"
- Goal 3: republish with new text and new cover through createspace
- Goal 4: set up some book signings at bookstores/libraries with re-designed and re-written "King's Warrior"
- Goal 5: Win the ABNA (well... it's good to have goals... right?)
- Goal 6: find an agent or publisher willing to take on "King's Warrior" (if I don't win the ABNA) ;)
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