The Tortoise or the Hare?

This question is from Eileen, who asks a very important question for writers seeking publication.

Sorry about the interruption midway through. I have a black lab and his hair gets everywhere. Even my lips!

Remember, people, it was the tortoise who beat the hare.

If you have a question you’d like me to answer via vlog, please send them my way (either in the comments section or in an email). If you missed my previous vlogs and want to take a look, you can find them on my youtube channel.

Let’s Talk: Are you the tortoise or the hare? Or does it depend on the situation?removetweetmeme

Two Tips to Make Life Easier

I’ve discovered that editing a contracted book is trickier than editing one that’s not yet contracted.

Notice, I didn’t say harder. Just trickier.

Allow me to explain.

Here’s how the writing process typically works:
– The writer engages in some level of brainstorming
– The writer writes the rough draft
– The writer engages in some level of revising

Usually, these happen successively, which results in a very intimate knowledge of the story. The further we move along in the process, the more deeply we know our characters and our plot. Until we reach this point where the manuscript is complete and ready to shop.

So what do we do?

We send it off. We say goodbye. And we start all over again.

Which is why editing a contracted book gets tricky.

I finished Beneath a Velvet Sky in the summer of 2009. It was my third novel. The one that caught the attention of my agent, Rachelle Gardner. Since then, I have finished two more novels and written the rough draft of a third.

Not only has a lot of time passed since I knew Beneath a Velvet Sky intimately, but three other story lines, three other casts of characters, have come and gone in my life.

Have you ever had a friend, who at one point, you knew incredibly well? But then you lost touch and time passed and you made new friends? And then you run into this old buddy at the grocery store or the gas station, only to discover you don’t really know each other anymore?

That’s what editing a contracted novel feels like. Especially for a debut novelist.

That’s one of the reasons I believe the editing process for a contracted novel is so intense.

My editor asked me some deep questions about my hero and heroine. Questions to which I no longer knew the answers. So not only did I need to dedicate a chunk of time toward implementing the requested changes, I had to spend a considerable amount of time reacquainting myself with the story. I had to regain the intimacy that was lost.

So what? What’s my point in all of this?

I have two, actually.

See that picture up top? Save your work. 
Character sheets. Back story information. Outlines. Deleted scenes. Information about the setting. Research on the characters’ jobs. Save all of it. Put it all into a file and do not delete.

If you don’t create these items beforehand, write them after. 
As in, after you finish the novel but before you say goodbye. I know it sounds weird, but consider writing a simple summary of the setting and each main character. Make sure to include important back story information, personality, quirks, fears, and the way the character arcs through the novel.

Seriously. You won’t regret it.

Let’s Talk: What lessons have you learned as you venture forward in this writing journey? Any simple tips you can share that might make all of our lives easier?removetweetmeme

Increasing Your Productivity

My students surprised me on Thursday. They made me a really touching power point and they all brought flowers (hence the picture). I about cried. It was the sweetest thing. Especially since they organized it on their own.

Anyway, I’m leaving.

I’m setting out on a new adventure.

Today is my last day in the classroom.

Maybe temporarily. Maybe permanently. Who knows. The fact is, when August rolls around and my coworkers and friends are getting back into the classroom, putting up bulletin boards and figuring out class lists, I won’t be joining them.

It’s bittersweet.

I’ll miss the students. I will really miss the students. Especially this year’s class. A class of writers and goofballs. Kids with quick smiles and contagious laughs. They wound their way into my heart in such a deep way.

But I won’t miss all the other stuff that comes with teaching.

And I absolutely won’t miss being away from home nine hours out of the day. I will love, love, love having more time being a wife, a mother, and a writer. I will love having more time, period.

However, the other day, my dad and I were having a conversation that made me pause. Reflect. We were talking about retirees and how they often feel like they have less time than they did when they worked. They experience a sort of where-has-this-day-gone phenomenon.

I’ve been thinking about that phenomenon. Stewing over it a bit. Trying to figure out how this could be. How could having more time make a person feel like they have less? Here’s what I came up with:

Sometimes, having more time makes us less disciplined. And being less disciplined affects the way we use our time.

Sometimes, having more time makes us take that time for granted. And taking our hours for granted affects how productively we use them.

This makes sense. I mean, as a full-time working mama who also writes, I had to squeeze the most out of every minute. I had to be diligent. Incredibly disciplined. Now, there will be that temptation. That temptation to sit back and say, “I’ve got all the time in the world. Why not relax?”

I don’t know about you, but I want to fight that temptation. I want to make sure I don’t find myself at home, getting less done than I did when I worked as a full-time teacher.

So I’ve come up with a game plan. Four things I plan to do to make the most of my time:

Protect the time I’ve always had.
Just because I don’t have to be somewhere, doesn’t mean I should get up later. My writing time has always been in the morning, before my son wakes up. I’m not going to change that now. My alarm clock will beep at the same time it always has.

Make and stick to a schedule.
I’m a fan of schedules. It’s the teacher in me. It’s the mother in me. It’s the control-freak in me. Whatever it is, I like them. Schedules offer a sense of security and bring order to the day. They ensure that there is a time to play, a time to nap. A time to clean, a time to cook. A time to read, a time to write. Anybody feel like they’re reading Ecclesiastes?

Write short and long term goals.
I’m also a fan of goal-setting. They give me purpose and focus. The biggest thing I’ve learned, when it comes to goals, is to physically write them down. Not just think them. But write them. So I’m going to buy a notebook and record all my goals in one place.

Assess and adjust.
Just like a good little teacher checks in with her students and adjusts her instruction as needed, I need to check in with myself and adjust my routine and habits as needed. How am I doing as a wife? As a mother? As a writer? Where am I dropping the ball? How can I improve?

I’m going to cling tightly to these four tips and hopefully, I won’t find myself saying, “Man, I should have all this extra time. So why does it feel like I have less?”

Let’s Talk: Do you find that the more time you have, the more lax you get about getting things done? Any tips for me or others who are making similar transitions?removetweetmeme