So of course, after deciding on Monday that I would officially take a break from Book Two, my muse stopped by on Tuesday to tap me on the shoulder.
Me: No. I’m not listening to you.
Muse: Don’t be mean and nasty.
Me: You abandoned me!
Muse: And you’re oppressive. But let’s not get bogged down in the details.
Me: That’s just it, though, isn’t it? You never give me details! It’s all so dry and boring.
Muse: …Oh no you didn’t.
So despite my best efforts, Tuesday was spent writing between fits of reading other books, and guess what? I banged out 2,500 words. Exactly 2,500 words.
Figuring that this was a sign, I tried to do the same thing yesterday, but that didn’t quite work either.
Me: Oh Muse! Where are you?
Muse: I’m dry, remember? And boring.
Me: But I have chocolate!
Muse: You always forget that I’m allergic, dimwit.
So I’ve decided to just let it be. (The Beatles still give the best advice.) If the words come, they come. If they don’t, so be it. I don’t have the time to wheedle.
I started editing Book One, however, and this is exactly how I feel. Where did my genius go?! I am very upset about this. I’m pretty sure that it’s been kidnapped (probably by one of the short stories on my hard drive that I’ve been neglecting). If you happen to see said genius anywhere, please let me know. I will give you chocolate.
It’s not as if my muse wants any.
So give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses–tell me about your starts and stops for the week, and your horror stories of writing gone wonky over night. We shall commiserate together.
Now then. Let me just say that I love the internet. Not in the OMG THIS IS FANTASTIC FOR PROCRASTINATING sense, but in the I’ve never made a real-life setting this clear! sense. Researching for my current project is going really well, and I’ve found great information in each and every book that I’ve picked up, but Google has been helping so much that it’s ridiculous. You see, guide books on New Orleans may give me great information, and may help me navigate a city that I’ve never visited, but Flickr helps me see a city that I’ve never visited.
Now, of course I’d love to actually visit the Big Easy (and all of the other sites where these books take place), but this is a good substitute until I get the chance. For example, I’ve used Google Maps to figure out driving times and to get a peek at the view from the highway, I’ve used Wikipedia for reminding me simple things about windows and stalkers (yes, I have really looked up “windows” on Wikipedia. It should probably embarrass me, but I just find it REALLY. COOL. that they have an extensive article on windows.), and I’ve navigated the boardwalk in Shreveport (via its own website) without ever having to leave my living room. I’ve listened to clips of accents from Haiti and Louisiana and I’ve window-shopped the streets of New Orleans without getting out of bed. After finding the perfect hotel in a guidebook, I was even able to go online and take a video tour of the guest rooms. I. Love. Internet.
In more panic-inducing news, after doing some calculations, I’ve decided that I need to hit 2,500 words a day every day if I want to finish this second manuscript by the time I leave home in late August. Ack. That’s a lot of words! But with discipline I can do it. I just have to find said discipline. So far I’ve only done about 700 words today, so I need to get to crackin’.
You can’t see my face right now (at least I hope so, as I’m in a room by myself), but I’m smiling. It is a glorious day here in my living room. Why, you ask? Well, I woke up exhausted but forced myself to get up anyway, so it can’t be that I’m well-rested. I had disgustingly salty and freezer-fried hot dogs for lunch, so it can’t be that I’m well-fed. What’s the secret, then?
Words, my friend.
I decided a few days ago that this book on exorcism was, in fact, not destined to be a single volume—that it would have to be at least two books, perhaps even three, and there was just no getting around it. The plot arc and the word count allow for nothing else. With that in mind, I knew where the ending of Book One would have to come. And I’m pleased to say that it just did. That’s right, baby, I just wrote the last line of my latest book and it was appalling. But there’s a full-stop after it, which makes me happy. I’m closing it at 62,912 words and putting it aside until I write the next episode. I know that a lot of writers would go back at this point and edit Book One, but I have a feeling that things will go better if I just write everything and then edit everything in one grand sweep.
To all the writers working on finishing up their own manuscripts: I’m sending lots of feel-good vibes your way. I’ve had my fair share and it’s time for me to spread the love. Best of luck to you and here’s to me diving into Book Two!
I’m sure that one of these days I’ll break down and get a website or something, but as I do not want a free one and am a broke college student, that route is not currently an option.
In the meantime, I’ve added a few (ie two) new pages to the non-blog section of the blog. The first covers past projects and the second covers current projects, so that bored and interested parties might be able to learn a little bit more about my writing. Both pages will be permanently accessible through the menu on the left-hand side of your screen (under the “About Anna” page which is directly beneath the sultry grad-day photo of yours truly).
The best part of either page really must be the little banners. Actually, they’re the reason why I decided to do the listings in the first place. I got on a bit of a paint.NET binge and decided that it’d only be really pathetic if I couldn’t say that they had some purpose. Purpose is born!
But you shouldn’t be reading over my random projects right now; you should be heading to the theater to watch Half Blood Prince along with everyone else in the world. I’ll be going that direction myself in the next couple of hours, so just pretend that we’re theater buddies. But I warn you: I scare easily. Yeah, I’m totally that annoying viewer in the back of the audience who jumps and gasps when they aren’t supposed to, and then acts as if it’s the result of a nervous condition. I can’t help it if I spasm! Ask my doctor!
Then tomorrow I’m off to spend some time with my grandmother again. I don’t know how long I’ll be there—I’m assuming till at least Friday, but it may turn into a shorter stay than expected. But my work-in-progress needs a kick-start so we’ll see.
In the meantime, while you’re pining away for me like I tell myself you will be, watch that movie and give me your thoughts. And then read my project summaries and tell me how silly I am. Mind-reading squirrels…? Seriously, Anna? Yes, seriously. It’s a nervous condition. Ask my doctor.
I think that I’m going to start a weekly wrap-up discussing my own writing progress as well as a medley of random lit-related articles that I found interesting throughout the week. This is mostly due to the recent revelation that HEMMINGWAY WAS A KGB SPY! SAY WHAT?!
Also this idea from the Atlantic suggesting US Congress agree to subsidize the publication of new authors. Max Fisher fears the loss of the next Faulkner in an industry that is increasingly desperate for the Next Big Thing, and I must say that he has a very good point. Publishers are looking for good books, yes, but they’re also looking for blockbusters. As someone who loves literary fiction, I do worry for the genre. But although the call for tax incentives upon signing new authors would be effective due to the current economy, the current economy (or, really, any realistic economy) will never allow for it. Can you imagine the uproar from tax payers? It’s the old opera question. Subsidizing opera tickets may theoretically allow the general public to be able to afford them, but does the general public really care to see opera, even at discount? Probably not.
Also, as evidenced by the fiction bestsellers noted via USA Today, I think that it’s time for Stephanie Meyer to leave a little room for the new kids. But that probably won’t happen since, according to the The New York Times children’s series list, America is still addicted to vampires in highschool.
In other news, Mariah Irvin released results for her Deux ex Machina contest (held in honor of her own blog’s 100th post) and I won an adorable illustration!
Many thanks, Mariah! I hope that you stick around for another 100 posts and many more after that.
Meanwhile, I’ve been plugging along on my own summer manuscript. I took the weekend off from writing, but I plan to send Grim back to Scholastic this evening and then to pick back up my work-in-progress tomorrow. I’m almost at 40,000 words so far! I’m returning to my grandmother’s on Wednesday so we’ll see how much more I can get done over there this time. Research for it is also going well. I’ve finished reading two books on exorcisms that I bought for research purposes, and today I picked up two reserves from the library. I’m prepared for yet another night of being thoroughly creeped out!
Hope that everyone has had a good weekend. I’ll post again soon–I have a small blog update planned and will get it up before I leave this Wednesday.
It’s been a while since I last posted, but for good reason. I’ve found that prohibiting myself from getting online does wonders for my production capacity. And since I’m too addicted to Facebook and email to let myself just switch off wi-fi, it seems that I have to physically remove myself from striking range of the series of tubes. I swear they have vacuum power.
So when my grandmother asked me to come stay with her for a few days to help around the house, I knew that I should begin turning out my next project in another self-sustained writing retreat. I had planned to start July 10th, since that’s the day I planned to return my other manuscript to NY, but starting early wasn’t a bad idea, if I had the time. I told myself that I needed to hit 15,000 words by the end of the week, at a pace of about 3,000 words a day. I also told myself that I’d probably get distracted and never manage it.
So what did I manage by the end of my stay?
26,500 words. That’s right. I amaze myself sometimes.
Getting out the first draft, in all its rough and tumble glory, is always my favorite part of writing, and I’m really enjoying the beginnings of this book. I’ve put it on hold since Saturday, when I came home, because I need to clean up the draft of Grim before sending it out later this week, but hopefully I’ll be able to pick this draft up and get back to work again without too much trouble.
AND the batch of books that I ordered from Amazon came in while I was away, so now I have plenty of reading material. Considering I still have books on loan from a friend, I think that I’ll be set for the next few weeks. Which is good, because I really don’t need to spend any more money.
That’s the only update on my end, but since today is MJ’s memorial service, I guess that I should leave you with a video.
“If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.”
-Michael Jackson, King of Pop
She’s just hit 100 posts and is hosting a contest to celebrate. You can check her site for more info, but the gist of it is to post a funny scene/example/story using deus ex machina, with the winner garnering an illustration. I don’t often post work online or participate in contests, but this one was too much fun to pass up and I thought I ought to spread the joy. So keep an eye out for entries and consider posting your own! Everyone needs a little funny in their lives once in a while.
Letters of the alphabet, that is. I’m not quite popular enough to get real mail. Well, excepting requests for money. I don’t want to think about tuition right now, thanks very much.
But I’m well plugged into meeting my summer reading goals. I’m working on three books right now, all of them pretty different:
Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, which I’ve been meaning to get to for a while now, and which is fascinating. Very much recommended for anyone looking for non-fiction.
Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones, which was lent to me by a friend and which is a refreshingly easy read. Lovely prose and straight forward.
Chris Wooding’s Storm Thief, given to me upon leaving Scholastic. The concept of probability storms is interesting. It reminds me of Douglas Adams’ Infinite Improbability Drive except not funny because it might make your heart stop.
Other than reading, I’ve actually buckled down and started teaching myself Thai. I was doing awesome until I got to shapes. Rosetta Stone why must you be so cruel? You speak far too fast and I can’t decipher the words in your complex geometrical statements. Ah well. I’ll get it eventually. I also watched Everything is Illuminated with my brother last week. Without subtitles. Don’t do it. It’s a complex film, made totally confusing if you can’t speak Russian. We argued about it for fifteen minutes when we finished, then looked up the plot and found out that we were both wrong. Maybe Russian should be next on my language-learning list.
And of course I’m still working on my next novel. I want to take a really gritty look at what exorcism means in the modern world, and see how YA Urban Fantasy fares under a more traditional/historical view of demons and possession. I’ve been researching intensely, and I’ve got a new book coming in the mail next week. I just finished Malachi Martin’s Hostage to the Devil a few days ago. Intense! And he’s a spectacular writer. If possession and exorcism interest you at all, go grab a copy.
I’ve been developing my plot while reading Hostage to the Devil. I now have a tiny notebook full of scribbles and lots of graphite in the margins of my paperback. I hope to sit down soon and get something a little bit less nebulous on notebook paper. My brother runs a writing/art group at a nearby library (I know, I’m such a proud sister!) so I may go sit in this Friday to show my support. With luck, I’ll start laying out my foundations during that time. Since I missed NaNoWriMo last November, and since deadlines are the only way to get me to do anything, I’m going to self-impose 30 days of writing in July. I think I’ll start on the 10th, after sending my revised draft of Grim back to Scholastic, but I haven’t really planned that far ahead yet.
So that’s it for me. Oh and one of my best friends watched The Proposal and then went out and bought an American Eskimo Dog puppy. Oh. My. God. Google it. Such an adorable breed. It’s like a baby polar bear clothed in cashmere.
So I made it home okay and have been taking a few days to settle back in. It’s funny, because I wasn’t all that excited about leaving NYC, even though it meant that my relaxing summer was beginning. Then, as the plane was skimming down over OKC, I got this huge wash of emotion. I was happy to see things that felt familiar, and excited to see my family in the terminal, and even relieved to feel the long-lost pressure of humidity as we deplaned. I knew two things: It was good to be home, and this was going to be the setting of my next novel.
Since then, I’ve spent time cooking and visiting people and talking to my brother. And taking my dog on walks. And gathering books from my to-be-read list. Oklahoma really makes me appreciate the simple things.
I’ve also finished up edits and sent out copies to a bunch of friends. I need some time away from the novel, and I need a pool of feedback to draw from. I hope to get comments back by July so that I can rewrite again and send the second draft back to NY. Until then, I think that I’m going to take a few days off from writing to do things around the house and digest some new books. Then I may get started on my new next novel. Yes, that does mean that the last new novel is being put on hold. But that’s okay. I think that it’s one that deserves more tact and time than many.
So just a quick post to keep you updated on where I am. More news within the next few weeks, I’m sure.
I’ve been posting more often than usual, but I suppose it can’t hurt since who knows whether or not I’ll go underground after getting home from New York? It looks like it’s going to be a pretty literary summer though, so maybe I’ll stick around.
Anyway, today after work I went to Chinatown to buy souvenirs and food, armed with a single dollar and a debit card, intending to withdraw from an ATM. And then Chase rejected me. What the hell, Chase? Not cool. So I bought a dollar’s worth of fried dumplings, which was actually a decent deal–they were good dumplings and surprisingly filling–and took the subway all the way back to Harlem. My hostel’s ATM machine didn’t reject me! Take that, Chase! But because I didn’t by the croissants I intended to, I decided to just give up on the tasty sandwich I was planning. So now I’m eating a pint of AmeriCone dream, trying to ignore the calorie count. For my stomach’s sake, it’s a good thing I’m leaving NY soon. I need green things. And natural sugar from fruit. And fish that isn’t canned in tomato sauce.
But the bigger news is that we went over another section today! About eighty pages. Most of the work I’m doing is on character development. Going deeper than before and filling in small plot holes. I’ve been getting into my characters’ heads in a more direct way, which is proving interesting. I’m glad, because the story is very character-driven and revealing more about them to the reader is giving the novel far more strength overall. Luckily, my muse seems very willing to rise to the occasion, so I’m trying to humor her. Hence the ice cream dinner. Or at least this is how I justify myself. To myself. Yes, I have issues, I know.
I’m also about 10,000 words into the project I have planned for this summer, which I’m super excited about. The first few pages don’t really match up with where I’m heading right now, but I can always go back and edit. I’ve decided to take notes on discrepancies and just focus on getting the thing on paper, since my goal is to have a workable draft by August. I have a few basic concerns, but we’ll see what happens. After all, things may get changed around a lot by the time I hit the gut of the story.
Also, when I get back to St. Paul for my fall semester, I may end up taking a day trip to Fort Snelling for research. Intriguing, I know.
Oh and I saw Up this weekend! So good! Big themes! I think that Disney is trying really hard to break from the criticisms that it’s received in the past, but I do believe that the break is good. They don’t have everything pinned down yet, but they’re working hard, and their stories are all the better for it. So kudos to Disney. And to Pixar, of course. Everyone is infatuated with Pixar.
Hello! My name is Anna W. Waggener and I'm an author of Young Adult Fantasy and other well-intentioned lies. To learn about me, please feel free to read along. And comment! I love comments.
So of course, after deciding on Monday that I would officially take a break from Book Two, my muse stopped by on Tuesday to tap me on the shoulder.
In industry news, 
You can’t see my face right now (at least I hope so, as I’m in a room by myself), but I’m smiling. It is a glorious day here in my living room. Why, you ask? Well, I woke up exhausted but forced myself to get up anyway, so it can’t be that I’m well-rested. I had disgustingly salty and freezer-fried hot dogs for lunch, so it can’t be that I’m well-fed. What’s the secret, then?
I’m sure that one of these days I’ll break down and get a website or something, but as I do not want a free one and am a broke college student, that route is not currently an option.
I think that I’m going to start a weekly wrap-up discussing my own writing progress as well as a medley of random lit-related articles that I found interesting throughout the week. This is mostly due to the recent revelation that 
It’s been a while since I last posted, but for good reason. I’ve found that prohibiting myself from getting online does wonders for my production capacity. And since I’m too addicted to Facebook and email to let myself just switch off wi-fi, it seems that I have to physically remove myself from striking range of the series of tubes. I swear they have vacuum power.
Quick post to link you over to Mariah’s blog: 
Letters of the alphabet, that is. I’m not quite popular enough to get real mail. Well, excepting requests for money. I don’t want to think about tuition right now, thanks very much.
So I made it home okay and have been taking a few days to settle back in. It’s funny, because I wasn’t all that excited about leaving NYC, even though it meant that my relaxing summer was beginning. Then, as the plane was skimming down over OKC, I got this huge wash of emotion. I was happy to see things that felt familiar, and excited to see my family in the terminal, and even relieved to feel the long-lost pressure of humidity as we deplaned. I knew two things: It was good to be home, and this was going to be the setting of my next novel.
I’ve been posting more often than usual, but I suppose it can’t hurt since who knows whether or not I’ll go underground after getting home from New York? It looks like it’s going to be a pretty literary summer though, so maybe I’ll stick around.
