The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 14,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 3 Film Festivals
Filed under General
2012 was an interesting year.
I spent the first 8 months slogging through a labor-intensive contract and several extra-tough freelance assignments. The year seemed to last forever. I was constantly tired and run down.
Then late August rolled in, I finished up my contract, submitted my last freelance article rewrites, and started writing my novel in earnest.
The experience was wonderful. The whole process of writing the first draft, breathing life into my characters, learning their personalities, struggling with their sheer bullheadedness, finally understanding how the whole puzzle should (hopefully) fit together–oh yes, it was worth every second of hard work and careful budgeting.
What a difference a shift in work focus makes. It’s like comparing night and day.
I had the time of my life.
Best of all, I’ve had so much fun sharing my progress (and frustrations) with like-minded writers. (Yay for Twitter!)
So before heading out for a long overdue vacation with friends and family, I wanted to say thank you for sharing my journey. I hope you have a wonderful, happy holiday season and that 2013 is healthy, happy, and prosperous.
See you in January!
Filed under General
Window shopping is so much fun. I can spend thousands outfitting my characters without putting the slightest dent into my own pocketbook–a good thing considering the economy still stinks.
However, I could NOT pass up the opportunity to share the perfect car for one of my characters. Ok, so she’s 90+ years old but she’s still sharp as a tack, has a smartass attitude, is a mean pinochle player, and secretly enjoys watching Formula One racing.
Even though she still needs three cushions to see over the dashboard, she drives like a bat out of hell. Yup, my girl’s got very little patience for slow drivers, preferring to blast past them instead. Sometimes on a double yellow line.
What can I say? She likes living a little dangerously.
So I gave her a souped up, 1971 Plymouth Scamp in Arrest Me Red, with a black hard top and black racing stripes. The racing tires were a non-negotiable. She needs them for cornering on winding country roads.
Yeah.
So take that for thinking old ladies drive like, well, little old ladies.
Filed under BTG - the novel
Image courtesy of adamr / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Revising a novel is a little like revising a freelance article except there are lots more questions to ask, lots more details to tie off, and LOTS more pages to proof.
Definitely lots more pages.
No wonder there’s such a swarm of substantive editors, developmental editors, and copyeditors out there offering their services to hapless novelists. There’s a lot of stuff to consider if you want to do it right.
And there are a ton of books out there, all claiming to offer the inside scoop on doing it right and many times, claiming contradictory actions. Do it this way, one writing expert claims. No, do it this way, demands another. Hang on a minute, the other two are a waste of time. Buy my book, clamors yet one more expert.
It’s enough to give anyone a ripping headache.
Certainly, I’ve wondered about this too since my reference library has more than my fair share of books on writing so I keep the pile to a relatively conservative minimum.
Aside from the Binder Full of Writing Strategies, I’m currently marking up the following books:
And that’s it. Even though there are so many other tempting books out there, I draw the line at these seven.
No more.
These books offer all sorts of useful hints in addition to stop-me-in-my-tracks questions. I’ve got enough on my plate without going overboard with gluttony. Besides, we all know what happens when we let gluttony get the best of us.
We get ripping headaches from all the contradictory advice.
Filed under BTG - the novel
