March update

So…my goal for March was to make it to 70k in Drowning Sky. And (more importantly) to finish it.

AND I DID BOTH.

Actually, made it to 76K. And it is complete, though I must say that the ending is a little shady. I have no doubt that when I go back to edit it will inflate at least 10k or more. Despite February being such a delicious month to reach my word goals, March was surprisingly easy. Even not seriously writing until about mid month I was able to push through the final goal. Of course, I know from experience that writing a climax always goes by really fast.

I really don’t have much more to say about it. I’m glad I got it done, I look forward to editing it come May. And I really look forward to starting something else. It’s how I always feel with noveling. You write a first draft and its hard and annoying and fantastic and then you get it done and all you want to do is start another.

So April is my month of rest and I will be changing tactics and writing some fanfiction. I made a promise to my fans to start posting the sequel in spring 2014, so I got to get going on that.

So here’s one last (extremely rough) excerpt and I’ll be back next month!

February Update

So I have a schedule for the year. If I stick to this schedule then I will have three novel drafts by the end of the year (of at least 70k each). I made this schedule challenging, but reasonable. While I have the goal of writing 1000 words a day, that would be going above and beyond the schedule.

Okay, so it’s the end of February and I already feel the strain. I should be at 50k by tomorrow, instead I’m hovering around 41k. But I have good reason! It’s been a fantastic month! Last year I joined a writing group in my area, The Journey http://writingjourney.org/. It’s a fun, casual sort of group and I’m really enjoying it! So, at the beginning of the month, we had a bit of a workshop on my Drowning Sky novel (Book 1) and I got some seriously good feedback. So good that a huge chunk of what I already wrote needed revision. That’s right, two months into my novel and I’m already revision major plot points.

But it has also seriously crippled my schedule. To put some perspective on it, I was at around 32k by the beginning of February. The revision started at around the 7k mark and I’ve gotten to 41k. About 10k was deleted in the process. How many words does that put me at? 16k new? Which seems so pitifully small for the amount of work I feel I am putting in. But at least I’m back on track for moving the story forward into March. And the goal for March is to be at 70k, but really it is to finish the first draft, however long it might be.

In other news, I’ve been editing a novella ebook this month as well. Oh, the world never stops spinning!

Another excerpt!

More Reviews!

Here are some more lovely reviews for my short story “From this Window”, featured in the Christmas anthology Heartwarming.

Pants Off Reviews by SinChan

Top 2 Bottom Reviews by Susan

MM Good Book Reviews by LeeAnn

The Book Vixen by J9

The Novel Approach by Lisa

The Blog of Sid Love by Carissa

Random story. My mother was talking to my Aunt who said my cousin recently read one of the Christmas anthologies I was published in (and she liked my story the best, of course!). But the problem is, I have two Christmas anthologies that I was published in this year: Heartwarming and Bells Will Be Ringing. And my mother didn’t ask which one. So I ask, ‘Well, did she say if it was straight or gay?’ (which I will never get over how amusing I find that) and apparently my mother was too embarrassed to ask my Aunt that.

And so I’ve decided that I should find a way this year to be published in two Christmas anthologies that are also opposite genres. I’m thinking a BDSM and a Christian one would be awesome.

End of January

It has been almost one month since I’ve begun my rewrite of Drowning Sky and my goal of completing it in three books by the end of the year. I’ve reached my word goal for the month of 20k (though I have been lax on my 1000 words a day goal) And it has been a trip getting to know these characters again.

Now, the characters of Drowning Sky have been with me for over a decade, but I haven’t actually written about them in a few years. Because the rewrite is changing so much of the original plot, I haven’t felt the strong need to re-read my old drafts or notes, since a lot of the information is irrelevant. But I did think it would be best to re-read my self-published version of Drowning Sky. And that has been the real experience.

I feel like my writing style shouldn’t have changed so much in just a few years, but it really has. I’m more aware of redundancies and inappropriate colloquialisms. But what is really shocking is, for all the changes in plot and direction, how much my characters have stayed the same. I started writing and planning my rewrite long before rereading this book and yet so much has remained constant that I wasn’t even aware of. The way the characters act and react; their relationship dynamics initially and how they change. I’ve taken a pencil to my book and have been making notes of the things I like or just find interesting (which is a lot more comforting that if I were take a red pen to everything I want to delete forever…which is most of it).

At the beginning of this month, I really felt that I was meeting really good friends that I haven’t seen in years. People that I remember fondly, but forgotten how to talk to over time. Now, after twenty days, it feels like I’ve been writing this story forever. That I never set them aside for any length of time. It feels amazing.

I won’t promise it will always feel this way throughout this year, but I do think there is a reason I’ve never given up on this idea over these past twelve years or so.

And to give a little insight to these ramblings, here is my favorite excerpt so far:

My goals

So I just posted a recap of my past year. So here is the companion post of what I'll be working on this year.

I have, in comparison, a looser schedule. Every month I have an approximate word goal of 30k-50k. With about three months of rest also included. If I am successful, then I will have the drafts of three novels by the end of the year. This is all very much ambitious on my part. But I figure I should aim for the stars and hopefully make it out with something at least halfway there.

I will probably still write a few short stories, just to keep that muscled exercised, and probably more fanfiction. Because that is like the snack food of my writing diet.

But back to my novels! If you know me personally (or ever followed me online) what I have chosen will be no surprise. In fact, I believe I've already mentioned it already. And that would be...Drowning Sky. My child of over a decade.

Now, I mentioned that Drowning Sky really needs to be a trilogy in my previous post. I'm pretty excited about it for a couple of reasons. 1) I'm so glad to go back to noveling. 2) I'm so glad it is primarily a young adult fantasy instead of romance. 3) It's been years since I've last tackled Drowning Sky and it is my unbreakable devotion to the world and characters that keeps me coming back for more.

So I mapped out about how long it would take to make (best case) three 70k novels in one year and gave myself a couple months of rest.

And so far I've been totally failing. My personal computer has decided to take on its winter hibernation (seriously, it did it last winter) and I will have to begin my quest without it. I've backed up most of what I need, so besides for the obvious inconvenience of not having my computer, at least I have all the data to get started using other computers...I think.

But I did give myself a smaller word count this January because I knew it would be rough switching gears. I also have a general goal to write 1000 words a day. This can be my novel goal, this blog, my personal journal, or whatever I want. Just at least 1000 words. I think it is best that even when I feel like taking a break from writing, it should be just to write something else. Whenever I take breaks from writing entirely it is so much harder to go back and get in the groove again.

And I guess these past two posts have made my word count for my day. Yay!

2013 recap

Not too long ago I started this blog for the purpose of documenting my journey of trying to get published. As I've said before, I had a goal, starting around March of 2013 of submitting at least ten works to publishers by December 2013.

So, being the start of the year, I've decided to take a tally.

I wrote seven new short stories. Ranging from 10k to 30k. I reused one short story that I wrote in college. And I started, but abandoned, at least three others.

I submitted eight short stories to six publishers. Or, as it turned out to be, nine separate submissions (yes one story was submitted twice). So I ended up making one less submission than I intended. But I did try! NaNoWriMo murdered my spirit, unfortunately (though I did complete it!) I had just not the will to continue with editing and completing the last work on my list.

I've had three rejections and six acceptances. Three have been published (see the tab above!). One is currently in serial (see Less Than Three Current Serials). And two have been accepted as ebooks and are still in the editing stages.

Oh, and I wrote two new fanfictions and (finally) completed posting another.

And, as much as I want to flail around, get drunk, and marathon the entirety of Star Trek TOS, I've still so much more to do!...and I'll probably still do that anyway...

Writing these short stories, almost exclusively for anthologies, was an experiment of mine. I wanted to see what it would be like to submit work for publishing and (as I've been so lucky) to see what it is like to actually get published. I wrote new short stories because I didn't want to start out with something that I've been devoted to for years and see it get blown out of the water. It was easier to brace myself with these stories that I've conceptualized, wrote, and completed in the past nine months.

And it still hurt to get rejected, but I know its easier to take when I've only loved a certain story for a couple months, versus nurturing it for years.

But I can't go on with this strategy. I've calculated that I've written about 150,000 words in the past year. Which, granted, is a lot, but was even more strained by the fact it was split up into about 12 different works (obviously not all completed).

My best comparison is that I've previously written 80,000 words in four months, but that was one novel. Every month, since march, I've been creating new worlds, new plots, new characters. I've had to flesh them, write them, and edit them in as little as two weeks. I found that taking one day off from writing felt absolutely relaxing, but then I was gripped in crippling guilt because every day off was a couple thousand words I had to write the next day. My schedule changed constantly with what open calls I could find, which new publishers I discovered, what ideas I actually had enough inspiration to write, and my own personal life.

It has been tiring. Though some of the stress has probably come from everything being so new. I know it will be easier, and continue to get more easy as the years go on and I continue to grow and submit. But I'm ready for a change in writing style.

So next year I won't have the schedule of a new short story every month. I'll have the schedule of three novels, first drafts to be completed by the end of December 2014. I'll go into that more in another journal.

For now, I'll say that it has been a very good year. I feel blessed for all the opportunities that I've been given and so grateful for all the publishers that have given me a chance to really showcase my work. I'm hopeful that this year will be as extraordinary as the last

I don’t even know what to say I’m just so happy!

From This Window Reviews!

Description:

Agoraphobic Lucas Davidson spends his days watching people from his window, taking detailed notes of what he thinks their lives are like. Occasionally he'll go downstairs to the Da Vinci Café and fulfill his quota for human contact. That’s where part-time clerk Jeremy Roberts meets him. Lucas intrigues him, so Jeremy coerces him into attending a Christmas Eve party, and one night of fun turns in to a morning of choices. Can Lucas accept the colorful world Jeremy shows him, or do his introverted issues run too deep for anyone to help him? 

Erin Reviews From This Window

ERIN’S OPINION: Lucas hates Christmas. He hates the noise and the bright colors and the crowds, but that doesn’t stop him from taking it all in from his window. He sits there every day, watching and making notes about the people who walk past his apartment. He takes special note of a certain barista who works in the coffee shop downstairs. Jeremy also happens to be his neighbor. Jeremy manages to drag Lucas to his Christmas Eve party and in that one night, things begin to change for Lucas. This was a wonderful story. Lucas is cranky and surly and just generally a Scrooge, but you can’t help but love him anyway. He’s one of those characters that if he’d been written even slightly differently, the reader wouldn’t feel that connection with him. Diana Jean has created characters you can’t help but sympathize with. Jeremy is charming and kind, and the perfect match for Lucas. The two are so well-balanced, and the discovery Lucas makes towards the end of the story made me love them both that much more. There was plenty of romance, and although I wish it had been longer, the development of the characters throughout the plot was incredibly satisfying. All in all, this is a beautiful story, and I will be looking for more from this author.

Lena Grew Reviews From This Window

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines agoraphobia as: "Abnormal fear of being helpless in an embarrassing or unescapable situation that is characterized especially by the avoidance of open or public places." Lucas Davidson, of 'From this Window', has been on the inside looking out for years, afraid to leave his apartment for any length of time. He prefers to observe people through his window, watching them rather than interacting with them. But Lucas isn't happy in his solitude; although he says he prefers to be alone, he's actually quite lonely and trapped in a prison of his own design. Agoraphobia is not something you can just get over by deciding you are going to start going out again. It's a crippling fear. Fortunately for Lucas, he meets Jeremy Roberts who, in spite of Lucas's unwelcoming demeanor, sees beyond his dark despair, finds a person worth knowing, and continues to engage him until Lucas finally gives in and takes a chance on trying to live again.  

This is a short, but engaging love story between two very different men who, despite all obstacles, work well together. It also tackles the tough subject of acrophobia which like other phobias, simply can't be willed away. My personal experience with this debilitating malady gives me a special perspective and I think that Diana did an excellent job of presenting it. I recommend this to everyone who enjoys reading stories which portray characters going from despair to hope. Thanks, Diana, for the entertaining and enlightening story.

Nina and Beans Reviews From This Window

Nina:  A brief view into two men’s beginning with the hope for more. For healing, for change, for purpose and balance, for love. The beginning of possibility. Choices have to be made by both men.

I really appreciated the deft handling of some very serious issues in this story. I liked that there was also humor, fun, holiday revelry and the lightest touch of sexy heat between the men.

I was rooting for Lucas to allow Jeremy to pull him back into life. I loved that it was up to Lucas and that he wasn’t immediately fixed. I enjoyed the photography elements and what they lent to the story.

A diverse addition to the Heartwarming Advent Calendar.

Beans:  The Advent anthology this year is all about heartwarming comfort. This novella was a fine example of it.

Lucas is broken. He is self-confined to his home and the coffee shop under his apartment. His pain is beautifully written and although his behavior isn’t kind or compassionate, we see the why behind it and I feel for him. I grieved for his loneliness.

Jeremy is a fun, vibrant young man who not only has caught Lucas’s notice but also takes care of him as much as he is able. I love that it’s mostly by paying attention. He pushes Lucas, and pulls him to a party. The way that Jeremy was able to both comfort and lead Lucas but also allow him his feet was well done.

This story is short. It will fly by. But sometimes its the short works that are the best. I enjoyed every word.