High on Life

I had a great day.  One of those days that makes me feel like I’m making all the right choices in my life, that I’m totally capable and ready for the future I’m building.

For my YA Publishing class, we got to go to the reading of a local Portland writer, who wrote one of the books we’re discussing in class (Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go).  We got to meet with him privately before the session, which was nice because we got to speak directly with him, ask him questions, etc.  Hearing him talk about getting his novel discovered, the ups and downs, just helped reinforce that I do want to be in this world, as an author and a publisher.

After the session we went to his reading, and this was the really fun part, because I got to be a part of it!  He wanted to have two people read the dialogue of his main characters, a brother and sister, while he read all the narration.  As you can imagine, I was the sister.  I was really nervous about going up there (my face was actually twitching!), but I had a blast!  He’s so easy to talk with, and he made the whole thing very comfortable and loads of fun.

This is actually somewhat of a bit deal for me, though it may not seem like much.  I was pretty shy through middle and high school, but in elementary school I was always the first one to volunteer to act something out.  I did tons of drama camps, loved being in plays, and was never afraid to stand in front of people and just talk.

Middle school sort of broke me of this habit.  I didn’t have a bad middle school experience, and in fact made some of my best friends there, but I sort of turned introvert.  I was always friendly, I just wasn’t as fearless.

I’m finally getting over that.  It’s important because as an author, you have to sell yourself a lot.  If you yourself are marketable, and willing to help with the marketing, you have a much better chance of not only making money, but getting published in the first place.  Author readings have been one of those things that freak me out, but I’m learning not to be so afraid.  I feel like in just the last 3 weeks, I’m already grown so much.

So, for anyone who doesn’t know (and actually reads this blog), Worstock is this weekend.  It’s a local writing convention, and I’ll be volunteering there Saturday with Ooligan, working with kids in the Children’s Room making books!  I also plan to wander around picking up business cards and eyeing prospective employers.  I might even try my luck at some of the pitch tables, just for experience’ sake.

Summer Ups and Downs

My summer was mixed with amazing periods of writing bliss, followed by weeks of never opening Word.  I worked in spurts, and they were very productive, I just wish I’d had more of them.

I’m two chapters into the edit/rewrite of Special Blend, which was my National Novel Writing Month project back in 2007, and I’m finding it a much slower process than I had expected.  For instance, it’s almost scary the difference in my writing abilities now compared with only 2 years ago.  I mean, it’s natural to be horrified by anything I wrote back in high school, but I was making some surprising mistakes far to recently.

Although, considering those two years have seen me go from barely a college junior to a college graduate, perhaps it would be more scary if my writing hadn’t changed.

My basic voice is still pretty much the same.  It’s matured slightly, incorporated more sophisticated, and in some cases simpler, sentence structures, but it still sounds more or less the same.  What has changed is my ability as a storyteller.  I’ve gotten much better at pacing, character development, dialogue…the list goes on and on, and I’m glad it does.

What I’m most amazed at is the amount of boring exposition I had originally used.  Even considering it was a very rough draft, I thought I was doing good.  But some of those scenes are almost unreadable.  I was still just getting to know the characters myself, still trying to figure out their pasts and futures, their dreams and fears, their point.  Perhaps it’s only natural that now, having had the characters in my head for two years, I’m able to write about them much easier.

I’m very happy to be on this project again.  I’m working with two writing groups, and both are amazing.  Now, if only I could stop flitting from project to project, and really finish something.  But then again, NaNoWriMo’s just around the corner, and already I have new stories clammering for attention.

Testing, testing

Just getting a feel for this place, trying to see how it all works.

When I finally get this blog up and running, I mean for it to be a stopping place for my thoughts on writing.  I may go off on my love affair with semi-colons, I may post edited snippets of my novel-in-progress, I may simply reflect back on the writing process in general.  Only time will tell!

Welcome aboard.

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