Jill Myles ([info]irysangel) wrote,
@ 2009-03-25 15:36:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Share this!  Next Entry
Entry tags:meljean brook, rwa, writing, writing wank

When You’re Not Writing…

…what do you write about?

I started this journal because I wanted to keep myself honest about the writing. And for a while there, when I was writing every day, I was journaling every day with metrics and snippets and details and life was great. I haven’t done metrics a lot lately, mostly because they’d read like this:

Monday: 0
Tuesday: 0
Wednesday: 0
Thursday: Does paying my bills online count?
Friday: 0

You see the drill. No darlings, no snippets, only the occasional emo angsting on Twitter. I haven’t been going out and doing exciting stuff, I’ve just been sleeping and working, sleeping and working. Occasionally winding down with some X-box 360. Very little reading. Little to no writing.

I’m in the nebulous ‘between’ stage again, and we hates it, preciousss. For a variety of reasons, I’m holding off on new projects and am working on completing an old one that’s about 75% done. You know how it is with old projects. They’re like leftovers. They loiter in the back of your fridge like the virtuous, stockpiled-for-later things that they are, and you tell yourself “I’m going to eat that tomorrow!” Except when tomorrow gets here and all you have staring back at you is leftovers, you opt for pizza delivery (or the new manuscript) instead.

I *KNOW*. I do this with manuscripts all the time. “I’ll come back to this one later! No problem!”

Except it IS a problem when it turns into leftovers. Still, I am being virtuous and slowly working my way through it, even if it is by small spoonfuls. I’m hoping April provides a little more excitement and guidance, but I think it’s going to be a slow burn until the beginning of summer. We’ll see. In the meantime, I am debating what to do with said story when I am done with it, since it looks like it will only be about 55k or so, max. And kind of nerdy. Romantic, but nerdy.

But who cares about all that, right? Did you see that Meljean Brook’s awesome novella, “Thicker Than Blood” in the FIRST BLOOD anthology has been nominated for a RITA Award? The only paranormal novella – I’m so excited for her and I hope she wins! I absolutely loved this story.

Also nominated? Roxanne St. Claire’s excellent NOW YOU DIE and Nalini Singh’s MINE TO POSSESS.

Congrats to all the RITA nominations. :)

Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.


(22 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]ilona_andrews
2009-03-25 10:24 pm UTC (link)
(Sorry I fell asleep and slept until now. Dreamed about Hercules and Mark Twain. I didn't mean not to reply.)

I think you put yourself under a huge deal of pressure due to the schedule changes which we sometimes discuss. I also think that you can't keep working 12 hour days and push yourself into writing after. I really, really think that with a little bit more free time you'll bounce right back. Hang in there.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]irysangel
2009-03-25 11:23 pm UTC (link)
It's mostly good ol' Catholic guilt. :) And yeah, I am definitely hoping to bounce back. Today was not as bad as yesterday, and yesterday not as bad as the day before. It's getting better slowly. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]joncwriter
2009-03-26 12:56 am UTC (link)
I also think that you can't keep working 12 hour days and push yourself into writing after.

Been there, done that, baaaaaaaad idea...burnt myself out for a good six months after doing that for an extended period! O_o..

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]jp_rich
2009-03-25 10:35 pm UTC (link)
Jess- Ilona is right....its like this every year at tax time. You (pardon the expression) bust your ass at work and work an OBSCENE amount of hours- and between work, home, writing, and taking time for you- You are short on time and weary....

take a break.

take a 3 day weekend- grab a personal day and get away from it all.

Go to a hotel for the weekend, take a drive and get away. Visit mom for a weekend and go play bingo- just get away from it all....it will still be there on Monday but you will feel like a new person.

(well- at least that is my 2 cents....LOL)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]irysangel
2009-03-25 11:24 pm UTC (link)
Oh, I'm definitely staying in all weekend this weekend! Nothing but me, video games and maybe a pizza. Okay, okay, and the husband. ;)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]shaherazad
2009-03-25 11:09 pm UTC (link)
SO familiar with the leftovers problem regarding manuscripts. Do you ever feel compelled to go in and turn the leftovers into something else?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]irysangel
2009-03-25 11:25 pm UTC (link)
ALL the time. They make me so guilty, sitting there and staring at me. But most of the time, I know that there's a reason why they were abandoned or never made it into the revision stage. It's because I have no enthusiasm for them, and I'd rather work on something that makes me giddy rather than just something that I just 'like', if that makes sense.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]shaherazad
2009-03-26 12:42 am UTC (link)
I think my leftovers bother my husband a lot more than they bother me. I've got one that's a leftover for no other reason than I ran into a procedural issue that screwed the entire plot (it's an FBI thriller). I've since figured out how to fix it and how I'm going to address it, but it means more major changes, and in the meantime I've gone off on a paranormal tangent and feel strongly that I should finish my current project before going back to the leftovers for a major reinvention.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]irysangel
2009-03-26 02:47 pm UTC (link)
I think finishing the project you are currently fired up about is the way to go. The leftovers will still be there when the current one is done. ;)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]shaherazad
2009-03-26 02:53 pm UTC (link)
I think, too, that sometimes you get tired of a book. Not permanently tired, but both you and the characters need A BREAK so that you can come back to it fresh--even if that means major revisions.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]wilhelmina_d
2009-03-25 11:11 pm UTC (link)
So, I've only been following you for a few short months. I'm guessing from this post that you also hold a full time job. How do you manage (when you manage) to write and hold a job at the same time? What are/were your tricks? I'm surely not having any luck at all in writing because I'm so very stressed from work.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]irysangel
2009-03-25 11:26 pm UTC (link)
I do! I write content for an exciting investment website application. Actually, it's not that exciting. ;)

And writing and holding a job at the same time? That is probably a blog post all its own, but the majority of it is: No kids, no other hobbies.

:)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]katiebabs
2009-03-26 12:24 am UTC (link)
It is all about balance. Write, play and eat. :D

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]irysangel
2009-03-26 02:48 pm UTC (link)
Balance - what's that? ;)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]mrsroberts
2009-03-26 12:53 am UTC (link)
I haven't been writing either. Maybe occasionally thinking about my book counts?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]irysangel
2009-03-26 02:48 pm UTC (link)
I hope so! If so, then I feel very virtuous, because I do think about it a lot!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]kellyrfineman
2009-03-26 03:24 am UTC (link)
"We hates it, preciousssss". Yes, we do. Best of luck moving forward!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]irysangel
2009-03-26 02:48 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]baka_kit
2009-03-26 07:08 am UTC (link)
A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take a writing hiatus -- in my case, until the semester ends in the end of May. I did it because it was the only way I could stay sane; my schedule was shredding me.

To my surprise, my muse (who had been hiding somewhere) started poking her head up. Whispering ideas for a different WIP that had been on the back burner.

I still carry around a notebook, or failing that just a pen and paper, so I can write out the ideas as they come to me. I even got a scene that, when I typed it in later, was close to 700 words. But writing is still off the to-do list; until my life settles down a bit, it needs to be play, instead of work.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]irysangel
2009-03-26 02:49 pm UTC (link)
Playtime is definitely in the schedule. Sadly, I feel more blogging guilt than writing guilt. Sometimes you have time for the blog, and sometimes you don't, you know? :) But I feel like I should post more regularly than I do.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]saetter
2009-03-26 05:50 pm UTC (link)
Heh This is why I don't let myself do much more than rough outlining (well, broad character/plot strokes really) on my "next" project. Ok, all of my side non-fiction reading is related to it as well. But nothing that resembles writing. It's taking me long enough to finish my current beast as it is.

I'm excited about my next project, but I'm not starting it until my WIP is final and being shopped around for an agent, the prospect of which reminds me of getting a date to the dance in 6th grade... "Will you go with me? No? Ok... Will you go with me? No? Ok... Will you..."

Knowing what little bit of you through this blog, soon one of your leftovers will soon jump up and say, "I can also be the main ingredient in a quesadilla!" A great way to make last night's meat dish into day's wonderful lunch. Add some guacamole, some jalapenos, sour cream... Oh, look. It's lunch time. :)

Edited at 2009-03-26 05:55 pm UTC

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]irysangel
2009-03-26 06:31 pm UTC (link)
It's less like dating and more like a job application. :)

And if the leftovers remain leftovers, well, they'll always be there when I need them. So it doesn't bother me that much.

And mm, lunch!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(22 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Log in with OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…