It's been quite a while since a "how-to" book on writing has caught my eye, but this morning, while surfing the net, I ended up at Karen Wiesner's site for her book First Draft in 30 Days. Now, I THINK it was mentioned on someone's blog, or maybe in an email. But I can't remember :-( If I find out who it was who directed me to it I'll amend this post. It's actually starting to drive me a little nuts - trying to remember how I found the page in the first place!!! Arrrgggghhhh.
UPDATE I found it!!! Yep, it was Lynn in Georgia who mentioned the book and got me curious. Thanks Lynn!
Anyway - I'm going to try to get this book. It looks really cool and as I HOPE to start working on a new ms within the next couple of months, it seems to make sense. I figure I can incorporate a lot of what I learn into my WWP templates. Unfortunately it's not available at my favourite online bookstore :-( So I will have to special order it through my local independent.
Why am I so excited about this book? From scanning through the material on the bonus website, I can see that the methodology outlined is already similar to what I do myself. BUT what really appeals is the structured approach to the outline. The ONE kink I can see is that something will happen that will prevent me from being able to do what I need to on one of the key days - the perils of writing part time and working part time. Especially the research week. However, I've learned that flexibility is extremely important for a writer and this case will be no different.
I really like the idea of dividing the planning process up into blocks. It's not that I'm not organized (ok, well, I'm not ALWAYS organized *g*), it's just that I can get distracted and easily go off on a tangent. I'm hoping that following this method will help me stay focussed.
What appeals the most, though, is the author's website and her generosity in including so much material there. Enough to let me see the details of the book, yet not so much that she's shooting herself in the foot as far as actually selling it goes. The bonus material and articles, rather than encouraging me to just browse the site and use what I can from there, whet my appetite. I REALLY want this book.
In her FAQ, she answers questions about the book and her writing process in great depth.
Here are a couple of other sites with some good craft articles:
Suzanne McMinn's 12 Easy Steps for Breaking In (thanks to Alison for reminding me about it)
and
Brenda Coulter's So You Want to Write Romance Novel? page - it has links to her advice on writing and selling a novel.
I think I'm done now. DH will be home soon from his early shift and has said he's interested in going to the gym. As we haven't darkened its doors in about two weeks and I've been eating chocolate a lot lately, I think we'll head in that direction. It's a beautiful day for a walk, but at this point I'm pretty certain I need the eliptical trainer and music pounding in my ears to burn off some of those calories *g*.
Enjoy your Saturday :-)
Teresa
UPDATE We had a pretty good workout, but wouldn't you know it, my batteries died half a song in. There I was, bopping along on the eliptical trainer to U2, when "poof", silence. Grrrrr. So I made do with plugging into the gym's cardio theatre (thought my headphone plug didn't fit quite right so I had to hold it in there - my hand kept cramping). When I switched machines, I remembered I had spare batteries in my locker - yay!!!
Anyway - after finishing my review book, I picked up some of the stuff I'd printed off Karen's 30 Day Draft site and I'm even more jazzed than before. There's a chapter there about applying the method to a complete first draft!!! EXACTLY what I need. Now I just have to hold strong and still order it from the indie (will go there tomorrow), rather than giving in and ordering from the big box store's online division than can get it to me in two days. And at a discount. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Just hope the indie can get it quickly.
Ok - almost time to start dinner. Better go. DH is napping (he's been up since 4am and shovelled the deck after we got back from the gym) and if I don't get moving soon, I'll just give in and order pizza *g*. Thus undoing all the work at the gym!
Oh right - there's a new Battlestar Galactica episode on tonight. Then a new MI-5 (Brits reading this will know it as Spooks, but they've changed the name because it has a not so nice meaning on this side of the pond).
Right - dinner. Almost forgot - LOL!
T
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