I love beta readers!

I love them. That is all.

And I love critique groups. They make me happy, because if they are picky and not just pandering, they are really, really helpful.

I love my book. This is a relief, because for awhile I was pretty afraid I didn't like it at all, and worse, that it was bollocks. But it is not! And I am happy!

I love my new idea too. It sneaks in through the cracks, and gets me excited to finish the two (TWO!!) before it, so I can get started on it. I don't love the fact I have no title, yet, but at least I know how it's gonna start!

And I love pizza. I love it A LOT.

:-)

New mantra

This is my new mantra:

There is no sure thing.

Sing wid me now.

There is no sure thing.

You can't guarantee anything in this life of writing other than the happiness you get out of it. The rest of it? No. Guarantee.

This was particularly brought home to me this last couple weeks, in reading different agent blogs and comments. D'you know, that people actually query them with an incomplete novel, with the words "I just want your opinion if it'll sell or not" in the actual query letter??

??

???

*shakes head*

While I'm further along than these souls, I do believe at some point my book, some book, will be published. But I do think I need to add at the end of that now, in my head:

There is no sure thing.

How parenting helps a writer grow...

...if you are one, even if you're just the parent of two hell-raising kittehs like myself (right now! *gulp*)

THIS

is an excellent post.

(By posting it here I can come back to it later.)

Baby edition: Day late, dollar short

Hello my darling readers.

Guess what? Loki is having a party in my belly *like right now* and I can feel it! Yup, over the weekend Seh-nyor Sprog let us know a) he/she really is in there and b) YO, let's get this party STARTED!

heh.

So what have we been up to?

- OMG have you guys had these DREAMS? Full technicolour dreams, not even just American Blockbuster style! The most recent (this morning) involved a mysterious tropical island -- off the coast of NORTHERN GERMANY (yeah right!) called Costa Cora, and then somehow my hubs saved the day against a gigantic Japanese-style godzilla alligator by shoving a coconut down its throat while I strangled it. Yeah. I mean, these dreams are EPIC. Insane!

- Food. Food. FOOD. I am always hungry, but lately somehow I don't know what I'm hungry for? And if I don't eat exactly what I don't know I'm craving, I'm hungry literally 5 minutes later for the thing I don't know what I'm craving. It is a little...odd. Not to mention the fact that I eat more now than hubs, who is this house's official 'leftover pig.' Not anymore, good fellow! That would be ah, me.

- Still tired, but this is my only major problem. The doctor says 'that's pregnancy' and I say bollocks! You can't be tired for nine months straight, right? RIGHT?

- Little Loki, we got to see you on ultrasound Wednesday night and you are a jerking, twitching rock-hard partying little thing. Lots and lots of pictures! We stared at the screen almost in tears, and we saw you turning around and using your little hands and stuff. I swear I laughed so hard the ultrasound wand came out when you picked your nose. GUESS WHO THAT IS LIKE, IT"S NOT MUMMY AND NOT THE CATS. You are daddy's little baby! No sucking of the thumb for you, my laddie!

It's so surreal to see it move and think Holy Crap on a piece of Toast its alive in there OMG. Still gets me. We have an appt in three weeks for the "money shot", please go along with it so I can start to get coloured clothes! HA!

- UTIs. UTIs? You can get these when you're pregnant? All I can say is, EW.

Whew. I'm so glad I'm doing this, I think. I think. HA!

REVISION NIGHT

So tonight is revision night. Isn't that great?

I am a big bundle of want. Want Want Want.

I'm moving right along, although I want to jump ahead of myself. I want PG done, so I can revise FS. I want betas and crit group to read PG, so I can finish it. I want to get it to The Agent. I want to revise FS. I want that one critted and betad. I want that one to go to The Agent.

And I want to start my new book.

*sigh*

I know. But I do. And it's such a fun premise. Really makes me excited. (But then again, doesn't every new idea get me excited? Heh. I am an excitement over new ideas whore).

The nice thing is that by the time I actually start that new idea, I'll be in the good habit of writing/editing every night (or so), and it would move along like the wind. Right? RIGHT?

That is, if I manage to get these books revised before the baby is here.

heh

Oh internet, rotting cesspool of filth -

- I love you so.

You're not helping me right now, though...which is why I went on a blackout over the weekend. Not only did I get a mad amount of editing done, I spent time with my darlin' (and the Dynamic Cat Duo) and got to the museum! Total win!

I now see what people do when they are not internet addicts.

The plan for this week? Check out the sprog on video-cam, get some more editing done, send what I've got to me preliminary beta readers, and hopefully get through the first pass this week. And beta a CP's new MS. So...busy busy!

And you? What's up on your week?

LOLCAT Freidayz

Baby Edition!

Hey kid!

I've had a few ask exactly how you came to be called Loki-sprog. You might want to know someday, too.

Well as you know (or will I'm sure, I'll use it for guilt at some point!) we wanted you for a looong time before we finally lucked out. I mean, literally lucked out. My first month of NEW work in a NEW company with a NEW contract in a NEW city with a NEW flat...you get my drift? Lots new.

And then came you.

We were both convinced it was a trick. Even when we went to the dr and saw you, little nutterbutter, it was a trick (I'm sure your papa will think you're a trick until he holds you, heh. He still swears you're a videogame). And then when the doc said yeah, due date 1 April...we knew it.

I had a trickster in mah bellee. And what better name than the original trickster? So Loki it was.

Other news of note:

- I can't fit in my regular 'ole pants anymore!
- Hormones. OMG, hormones. Like, 20 minutes SOBBING in the bathroom about how the cat doesn't love me anymore. While said cat sat outside the door meowing to come in to me. Yeah. Hormones.
- My belly feels like it's everywhere. And I think there's probably more to come. Kraut kraut kraut kid! It's getting all krauted in there! (I can't believe I just used that joke on my body and Loki. Yeah, I went there.)

Grousing.

I dunno if it's just because I live in Germany (and, ergo, there are more grumpy people here), or if it's coming winter and the lack of vitamin D is affecting people, but I don't think so. Lately, in every area of my life (it seems) I'm running into...grousing.

You know the point I mean. "Oh, this and this isn't right. This isn't right. Waaah waaaah wahhh. I didn't get this done. I didn't get this thing I wanted. My life is crap.

Well, somebody better call you a waaaaah-mbulance, by god.

*pulls b*tch-slapping gloves on*

I'm sorry, but your life is not crap.

You are healthy.
You have your family - either by blood or the ones you chose.
You have a roof over your head.
You have food.
You have water.
You have some money to take care of things.
You are ALIVE. ALIVE!!

You know what? Everything above that is a freakin' bonus. So you're not done with your book yet. That just means when you are you have finished that book at YOUR OPTIMAL TIME. So your life is just utter shite. Take a realistic look at yourself before you go blaming others!

You're getting done what you want to do. All life is, for the most part, a choice. So pull on your big girl (or boy) panties, decide what you want, and by all the gods that are holy to you and me, go out there and get it, human! According to some, you only have one lifetime to grab the bull by the horns, so by golly, DO IT!

Then come back here and REPORT!

:-)

Here's mine. I'm super tired by the Loki sprog, super tired. All the time. I use that as an excuse sometimes to do nothing, which gets me nowhere, then I grouse and am p*ssed. I realized last night that I hate that. I hate that grousing feeling, like the world owes me something. (All the world owes me is a book contract, LOL!) So my solution is to NOT SIT DOWN until I have everything done I want to do in the house. I've tried the last couple days and tho now when I finally really sit down I am SUPER tired, but I also got shiz done. (Like 15 chapters edited as of last night! Whohoo!) It was hard to determine that the world didn't owe me, but it worked. And maybe it only works for me.

CH-CH-CHanges

Not in that way, sillies.

Well, after all your excellent comments I did decide to go with revising PoloGRRL. And predictably, it's moving along at wildfire pace; after only a few days I'm already to Chapter 12, more than 1/10 through. It's all playing out wonderfully.

And yet.

It's a very interesting process because this one needs so much less work, and work in a different way, than Forester's Son does. And yet, I love them both equally well. But they're my characters and they've been with me since their beginnings.

That is one thing that really has been eating at me lately. I mean, we're gonna have a kid, one we've waited and longed for for a loooong time, with many setbacks along the way. But right now, that kid is (in a way) just a figment of my imagination, too, you know?

As my husband says, vomit in the toilet and a videogame on the ultrasound screen. And he/she has to share space with P, with Jakob, with Des, and right now he/she just seems one of my characters in there, because it's too early to know if boy/girl, feel any kicking or anything. Not even any morning sickness any more. So...a figment of my imagination.

Does that make sense?

I'm totally weirding myself out right now.

And then the baby will come out, and no longer be a figment of my imagination (somehow), but real. And the change will be that my characters remain in my head, but the baby is out, and alive.

And that will be weird, and I don't know what to think about it.

You? Did you write before your babies were born? How did it change the way you viewed your characters?

Proud proud proud

I recently met a fantastic author/illustrator that interviews subbing authors on her site - but the coolest part of it was that she draws a picture of your character.

How could I pass that up?

The interview is here (hey, it's the first one! I have to mark that somehow)

She totally nailed my P.

Woe is me: BABY EDITION

Oh woe is me. Woe woe woe.

I caught a cold from hubsie. You wanna know what I've been doing since I caught it? Feeling like rewarmed shiz on a stick. Doesn't help to know that "It's probably so bad because your immune system is lowered because of the pregnancy"

Well fiddle dee dee. You don't say.

*feels gross*

This weekly edition is this: a lightning bolt: when you're pregnant, even a basic cold can KNOCK YOU DOWN.

*whimper*

I have a proooooblem.

It's a nice problem, but still, a problem.

I have two finished manuscripts. (I know, right? What a problem to have! I hope I have this problem often!! --not really--)

One MS, The Forester's Son, is heavy. Complicated to edit. Gonna take a long time, because the words in this one matter so much...the setting is so important to get perfectly right...the interplay of the characters...and the twist at the end...so complicated! But coming along.

The other, PoloGRRL, is light. Easy. A good subject, close to my heart...I truly don't think this one will be difficult to edit at all.

And thus, the rub. Right now I'm in the editing throes of FS, and NOT PG. And here's my question for you all today::

have you ever edited two MS at one time? Can it be done?

On the one hand, I think it would be good practice for me...you know, when I make this whole writing thing a reality full time...to be able to bend my mind to two such different, utterly diverse MS. On the other hand I think, are you nuts? Pick one and stick with that!

But that was only my rule for writing them, my lovely blogger peeps. I never established that rule for editing them!

And thus the rub.

I shall think about this this evening, and would really like your opinions. It would be nice.

Writerly tools

I have a computer ... a white Mac laptop, named Gunther (in jest by my husband, but it stuck). On that computer I keep records of all my ideas, my three finished MS, and smatterings of others.

I am an incredible jackdaw-collector of beautifully bound small notebooks. Empty notebooks. With lined paper. I love writing/thinking/drawing in them, expanding and contracting things for ideas.

I have a blue leather pouch where I keep my favourite writing pens (all one type, only black, kthx!) with my 2 drawing pencils and extra leads, as well as my favourite eraser. And I have a favourite drawing pad that I use when the creative urge takes me there.

For everything except my notebooks, I have one favourite of them all. Sort of like the ring...from LOTR. And I use that favourite until it's all used up. These are my tools.

What are yours?

LOLCAT FREIDAYZ

Baby Stuff!

Hey Loki sprog! You're almost official, now! \o/ for that! This month is your next dr appointment, although I don't want to talk about that right now! And we've been informed we have to book you *now* for a spot at the kinder-care of our choice o.O or we ... won't find one. And the same goes for the hospital. I mean, WTF kid? How many people are popping them out?!

Here's the nasty this last week....

- Where. Has. My. Brain. Gone? Seriously, I can't remember anything longer than about an hour! And if I'm only paying half attention to you you might as well just forget it. *sigh*

- My kid is gonna come to the house after his/her birth all decked out in Twitter stuff! Loki, you've got a nice swaddle blanket, a cute knitted hat and booties all ready for you! It's insane! I love Twitter. :-)

- What the cat doesn't know doesn't hurt him, right? Guess who's gonna be my swaddling practice warm body?? o.O Count on a very traumatised cat in the upcoming months!

- I've decided on a style for the nursery, but the hubs named it. And it's a classic: Pippi Longstocking's Crack Den style. Seriously, how awesome is that?

- OMG Whoever let a pregnant chick look at the internet at lunch...and whoever put up those DARLING SHOES and DARLING TSHIRTS and DARLING PANTS...my husband shall hate you.

- Pommes is still the winner, although you decided to let up on your host organ and let me not be sick anymore. That in itself is the best part of this whole pregnancy thing.

- OH, and the fact that somehow I manage to drink 3 liters of water A DAY, 1/2 a liter of ginger ale and some apple juice mixed with sparkling water. I frickin' feel like a camel.

When it's good to wait.

I never would have thought a year ago I'd say this. Or even six months ago.

It is good to wait with a recently finished MS.

I came to this (probably known by everybody else but me) information when I opened up the manuscript doc for The Forester's Son, a book I've talked about on this blog many times, bemoaned many times and then just flat out whinged about many times. I finally finished it and promtly had the spark that was the idea of PoloGRRL, so I put it aside.

It wasn't out of mind, though. Jakob would sail through my subsconscious here and there, faint threads would tie themselves around my brain, teasing and tantalizing.

So now it was time. I cracked the MS...and was promptly surprised. This book could be good; better than I imagined. But if I would have started editing it exactly after I finished it would not have been. The time was what I needed to get the vein of the story right.

Neil Gaiman said something about The Graveyard Book that really struck a chord with me. He said, (paraphrased of course) "I couldn't have written this book 13 years ago. I had to be good enough to write it."

I feel that way about FS. But I had to be good enough to edit it.

And recognise when it should be edited, not when I wanted it to be.

And you? Do you wait? Or dive right in?

I'm just peachy!

...but I still keep waiting for the boom to fall.

You guys ever get that feeling? Now that I'm not feeling sick, I rode my bike to work today (thus being able to pick up my favourite cinnamon scones on the way, TOTAL SCORE) and I have CH1 revised with half of CH2. I know where I'm going with this book. It makes me so happy to read back through it and think, "well, this wasn't total bollocks then! Hooray!"

And Berlin! City of a thousand sun rays, it's so wonderful and I love it! And my room! I love that! And my kittehs! I love one of them! (J/K Bluesey, but if you don't stop frickin' meowing at 5 am we're gonna have a "come to Jesus" meeting) And my hubsie! You all know how I feel about him! :-) And the Loki sprog, he/she's not making me sick anymore! DUDE! That ROCKS!

Nothing like six weeks of puke and all-day motion sickness to make me happy to be alive! All right!

So now that I have my (perhaps nauseating, perhaps not) cheery out of the way, how about you? How YOU doin'?

Next up: finishing CH 2, then going on to...wait for it...CH 3. I know, I'm such a rebel.

*cheery cheery cheery!!*