I have moved.

I've been hearing a lot of advice about how using wordpress as a website is a lot more useful in the long run than blogger. I thought and thought, and finally buckled.

Here is my new website:

http://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/

I'm going to miss this site but I'm sure I'll get settled soon enough. Blog posts for november are already scheduled - and starting from the 8th November I'm planning on putting a new short story on the website every week. At the end of that week it'll be taken down and a new one put up.

I've added a button so you can follow the blog via email to make it extra easy.

Holly Lisle how to revise your novel - lessons 15 and 16 done.

Yup, I am now on lesson 17, which is terrifying. In lesson 17 we actually cut the thing and rewrite it. It's going to take a while.

So far, two scenes done of seventy-one. I'm trying out doing it by hand as the lesson suggests. Yeah, being dyspraxic, I average about 10wpm by hand. It's slow going, but I want to give it my best shot.

I'm determined. Just sixty nine more scenes to go.

So far I'm really liking this course. I guess the real test will be once the rest of the lessons are done and the novel is complete. Holly Lisle has a very systematic way of breaking down the steps of editing that my logical brain loves.

Holly Lisle how to revise your novel lesson 14 is done.

This one was a lot more straightforward than the last. It covered simple time, and did help me pin point an area where I have to think a bit more about the timing.

Next up is lesson 15, complex time. I hope to be done with this one soon, then I can spend quite a bit of time on lesson 16, making sure everything is ship shape before I move onto lesson 17 where I get to start the rewrite.

I'm on night shifts for four days straight starting tomorrow, so although I have a boat load of other stuff to do, hopefully I'll manage to get a good chunk of lesson 15 done tonight.

Holly lisle how to revise your novel lesson 13 is done

Wow, that one was fairly meaty. It was a good insight into conflicts, my only problem was it was such a good insight that I kept on wanting to go back to it. I don't think I'd ever be done thinking of ways to make my conflicts better and better.

So I've moved on for now with the promise that I'll go back and look over all my notes from these past lessons before I move onto the write in. I may even head back into the monastery (lesson 10) for a bit to see if I can improve things even more that way.

For now it's onto lesson 14. I am 61.9 percent through this editing course, and just three more lessons before I get to start the write in.

Nanowrimo 2013

So who is nanoing this November?

I'm excited, trying to clear my plate of the big mass of things I need to get done beforehand, including finishing the how to revise your novel course. Not sure how well that is going to go, but it'd be nice if everything including the write in is done so I can send that novel off to betas and focus on something new.

A bit of planning would be a good idea too. So far I'm thinking something totally fun. Dragons, princesses, oppressive dictator, something along those lines. I'll plot it all beforehand of course, I love plotting almost as much as I love writing.

I'm practically drooling thinking of getting to write something of a decent length again. Sure, I've been writing short stories, but I haven't written anything novel length in months.

Hopefully it'll provide enough incentive to get me through the rest of my revision course. We'll see.

How about you? Anyone else gearing themselves up to tackle something for nanowrimo?

Holly Lisle editing lessons 11 and 12

For those not in the know, I've been chugging through holly lisle's 'how to revise your novel' course for a while. I recently finished lessons eleven and twelve, and am currently tackling lesson thirteen.

In lesson eleven I took a good look my scenes and considered whether I needed more or less of each plot line. I found it useful, and I hope I ended up with a more balanced outline because of it.

Lesson twelve focused on character which I've already done a great deal of thinking about during previous lessons. I've smooshed a few characters together, decided some heroes would serve me better as villians, and ended up with a more cohesive plot because of it.

So far I'm finding this course really interesting, and I hope I end up with a much better finished book by the time I finish it. I hoped to be on my rewrite (lesson 17) by now, but I'm a little behind. I'm focusing on making progress, and hopefully I'll be there soon.

Hitting goals

I have several goals that I set for myself. To give an example, by the time this year is up I want to have my novel 'truth seeker' on its second draft and ten short stories written.

As far as these go, truth seeker is on editing session 13 of 21, and I have seven short stories written, three of which are published. One of my other goals is to write at least 350,000 words of fiction this year. Yesterday I hit 200,000. I'm a little behind where I should be, but I'm carrying on.

Now I might not hit everyone of my goals, some are a little more lofty like my goal to write 100 stories (92 to go), but if you aim for the moon and miss, at least you land in the stars. I think that it is difficult to know where our limitations lie, so the only way to find out is to try and do things we think we can't.

Maybe I'll make a goal to have those 100 stories written by the end of next year, maybe I won't make it, but I'll get a heck of a lot further than if I didn't try.