update from the cave

Hello loves! Since it is Sunday, I'm taking a break from my usual 4-5 hours of revising every day, which means I can pop in and give another update.

I'm through about 4.5 pages of my 6.5 pages of notes. Not bad. Not bad. Let's just hope that what I'm doing works!

Today I thought I would share with you some of the things that are helping me through the process of editing and revising. One of the really major things right now is MUSIC. It's almost impossible for me to work without it. I love finding music that suits the mood of each scene I'm working on and playing it into the ground. The songs I've recently acquired (and loved) are as follows:

Imogen Heap - Minds Without Fear

I love Imogen Heap so much. And I love Asian infused music (see Yoshida Brothers), so this new release is pretty perfect for me. 

Snow Patrol- Lightning Strike

This song is all sorts of awesome. It breaks my heart and makes me want to cry every time I hear it (which, when you're trying to write a scene about longing and grief, is a really good thing).

The Books ft Jose Gonzalez - Cello Song

Jose Gonzalez has been a staple for a lot of scenes I've worked on. This song is a good example of his tone, contemplative and brooding (but good).

This is just a sampling of the songs I've been playing (and replaying) for the past few weeks. If you have any music suggestions I would LOVE to hear them. I'm always looking for good new music.

But music hasn't been the only thing I've relied on while revising. I've also been reading. I got some amazing books for Christmas:

All of these have been pushing me and inspiring me to up the ante with my writing--creating atmosphere with language both poetic and beautiful.

I've also been snacking. Butter Rum Lifesavers and lots of Earl Gray Tea (which is important in my story actually. One day you'll read why!)

critique auction

PS: Anyone who feel so inclined to help a good cause and get my thoughts/critiques on their manuscript should go HERE and bid!

it's my birthday and i'll blog if i want too!

Hello all! Greetings from the tiny, unforgiving opening of the edit cave! I've been in here for almost 4 weeks now, getting nice and cozy, shifting words around, becoming poetic and wrestling characters to the floor (metaphorically of course). To be honest, the process has gone a bit more slowly than I first expected. Husband still claims that I'm moving through my notes at a lightening speed, but I don't believe him. Average pace so far?

3-4 hours a day = 10 or so pages of manuscript edited/written through.

At this point I still have around 17 days of work ahead of me. I'm just about at the halfway point. Right now it feels like a juggling act about to fall apart. Have I remembered every theme and subplot and character development point? What the heck happened 3 chapters ago? Dear Lord, it just keeps growing and growing... it doesn't STOP! How long will this be?

Somewhere around 100 pages in I lose perspective. Is this working? Am I making it better or worse? What the **** is going on?!

Fortunately, the wonderful Wendy Higgins (author of SWEET EVIL out May 1st) came to my rescue with a beta read and so assured me that I wasn't going crazy. And my MS is not in shambles. I just have to keep going.

So I will.

Oh, and I turn 25 today. A strange age... halfway between teens and 30s... I feel like I should be way more grown up than I am (or feel at least). Like I should own a house with white carpets and fine china instead of a 100 year-old apartment with mismatched chairs and a tin-camping tea kettle. But then I remember that I would just spill tea on the white carpets anyway (it's true) and I don't feel so bad.

Here's to getting older, but not getting TOO grown up. :)

Ooh. And here's a music recommendation since I haven't made one in a while. This band's cover is awesome and done completely on a single instrument:

my revision song/rhyme/thing

O romantic chemistry.
Am I creating you?
I would say yes.
But I don't know if it's true!

(I was going to post a video of me singing this, but I decided to be merciful to your earbuds.)
(maybe later.)

happy new year!

Hello, lovely readers! I'm popping in to pay my blogging dues in the new year before I have to retreat back into the revision cave. It hasn't been such a terrible place so far, to be honest. It involves lots of music. And hot beverages. And daydreaming about princes and London. The only downside to it is that things seem to move so slow. I know, in the back of my mind, that they aren't. Rough drafting can take me anywhere from 4 months to a year, so I know that 1-2 month revisions aren't so bad at all.

Anyway, I digress. The other reason I haven't been around in the blogosphere is holiday duties. Christmas Eve BBQ and church, Christmas with my family and then a host of firemen swarming around our apartment to check out a possible electrical fire (there was no fire. Just a broken heater part that smells like burning hair *bleck*). Then a week long trip to Michigan with the grandparents-in-law, where I discovered that there are massive squirrels that look like groundhogs (size and color). There are also black-furred squirrels. I begged husband to go and catch one for me, but he declined.

So. 2011. It was a good year. I found superagent. I found supereditor. I met a whole bushel of authors at YALLfest. I found out that the second Sherlock Holmes movie is indeed as good as the first.

So. 2012? What will you bring? Right now I'm looking forward to Crewel by Genn Albin (October, baby!) and the next YALLfest. What is everyone else anticipating in 2012? Does anyone have any resolutions?

Also, going back to Michigan, I found the above in my stocking up there. Though you can't see it, the label on it says it's make with crystallized Swarovski Elements. And glass. A letter opener? A fancy hair pin that doubles as a stabbing device? (Too many spy movies...) I couldn't figure out what it was until I did some online investigating. Apparently it's a nail file (I didn't suspect this because of the glassified elements). A very fancy glass and crystal nail file.

So, with that, I'll leave you guys to your new year and go back to the revision cave. It was nice to get some air for a bit!