I had a couple of trusted friends as well as my editor read the draft of my WIP and the comments are finally in. They pretty much verified what I knew: two of the minor characters act inconsistently at the end of the story and it is getting in the way of the arc of the main character. That was the bad news. The good news was that they were more enthusiastic than I thought they’d be about the rest of the book.
I have to leave for a conference a week from Thursday. Between now and then I have some family responsibilities and a few work things, but my Big Goal is to finish this revision and mail it off. I think I’ll still be posting here, but I probably won’t be responding to comments as much as I usually do.
I thought all weekend about the whole idea of a forum where you guys could talk about my books. It seems that the only way to do it is with a moderator, and I cannot afford to hire someone to do that now. Sigh. So we’ll put that in the good idea file and pull it out from time to time to see if we can deal with it yet.
Because of the workload here, I am behind on my plans to unveil the contest I promised. I hope you can forgive me on that one, too.
Are any of you interested in wallpapers or buddy icons? Theo designed a beautiful SPEAK movie wallpaper (scroll down). If you want, I’ll ask him to design more based on my book covers.
Last but not least, check out the a gamer comic by Jared, who – along with being a good comic artist – is smart enough to be dating my daughter, Stephanie.
I love the wallpaper.
I love the wallpaper.
Well, I don’t know if this helps any, but I’m sure there are people who’d be willing to moderate free of charge, I know I would. If you put a call out, I’d be willing to bet that you’d get a lot of eager responses.
Well, I don’t know if this helps any, but I’m sure there are people who’d be willing to moderate free of charge, I know I would. If you put a call out, I’d be willing to bet that you’d get a lot of eager responses.
I would also help for free!! I’m online WAAY too much anyways, may as well do something productive…
I would also help for free!! I’m online WAAY too much anyways, may as well do something productive…
We forgive you about the contest, but the prizes better be good, hehe!
We forgive you about the contest, but the prizes better be good, hehe!
I would help
I would also help for free, but I think in order for a message board to successfully work, one moderator may not be enough. But, it’s in the idea file, so never mind. =)
Ooh, the wallpaper looks nice!
Heh, that comic is amusing.
I would help
I would also help for free, but I think in order for a message board to successfully work, one moderator may not be enough. But, it’s in the idea file, so never mind. =)
Ooh, the wallpaper looks nice!
Heh, that comic is amusing.
I totally understand about being busy and not being organized and all frazzled.
My question to you is — and you probably can’t answer it — how do I get back into writing lengthy short stories after a 3 month break?!!
I totally understand about being busy and not being organized and all frazzled.
My question to you is — and you probably can’t answer it — how do I get back into writing lengthy short stories after a 3 month break?!!
Just start writing.
Don’t worry about length or form or how long you’ve been away from it.
Word by word – just start writing.
Just start writing.
Don’t worry about length or form or how long you’ve been away from it.
Word by word – just start writing.
I wrote a short, fast little story, which helped me.
I have a plot to a new story written down, I just can’t really get into the actually WRITING of the story! It’s really bothersome.
P.S. I wrote a story similar to your “Speak” (however my main character did not talk at all and was nameless). I also mentioned your book in the 16-page story as irony — as if the girl’s English teacher was mocking what had happened. I’d been writing out the story in my head since 4th grade and finally wrote it down last year (9th grade/freshmen year). I was really proud of it. I felt you should know how much your work is inspiring!!
I wrote a short, fast little story, which helped me.
I have a plot to a new story written down, I just can’t really get into the actually WRITING of the story! It’s really bothersome.
P.S. I wrote a story similar to your “Speak” (however my main character did not talk at all and was nameless). I also mentioned your book in the 16-page story as irony — as if the girl’s English teacher was mocking what had happened. I’d been writing out the story in my head since 4th grade and finally wrote it down last year (9th grade/freshmen year). I was really proud of it. I felt you should know how much your work is inspiring!!
You could probably find a few people to volunteer for moderating.
You could probably find a few people to volunteer for moderating.
I am willing to help set up and moderate a forum for free. If the idea of a forum was put into practice multiple moderators would be needed, but I’m sure many people would gladly volunteer their time to such a project.
I am willing to help set up and moderate a forum for free. If the idea of a forum was put into practice multiple moderators would be needed, but I’m sure many people would gladly volunteer their time to such a project.