The Never-Ending Children's Book Saga

I wasn't planning on writing a book this summer, I really wasn't. But I am. The book in question is the sequel to the first children's book I wrote, even though I haven't had that published or spoken to an agent about it.

It all started when I began editing _Faeriemerica_ for its fourth draft. Halfway through the edits, I came up with the brilliant idea to see if my professor could read it. He said he would. In one of the establishing emails, I mentioned that I'd heard agents don't like books that end on cliffhangers. He wrote back telling me that they don't mind--and they don't mind sequels, either--as long as there's a plan for the sequels.

So I started outlining the second book, and I liked the outline so much that I started writing the book. As of right now, I've finished chapter 1, and I plan on writing chapter 2 tonight.

I'm not going to put myself through a lot of stress trying to finish it before the summer is over. I'm just going to write it until I can't write it, then I'll put it down. Summer is break time, after all. See, that right there is a horrible philosophy. I should be slaving every day to try to make it the best book I can, but my laziness has been winning so far this summer.

We'll see what happens.

Poetry and Other Things

I'm in this poetry class this semester. I've never taken a poetry class before and it's pretty fun. My goal was to write one poem per day, so I'd have a wide variety to choose from when it came to submitting my pieces. I haven't been as disciplined with that one as I would like (I think I got to a month and a half before my first huge break from poems), but I'm only a couple days behind. When the semester began, I told myself that I was only going to write poetry this semester, and prose would have to wait until the summer. That didn't happen. The idea behind writing one poem per day, and only writing poetry, I guess, was to make myself better--if I couldn't be a great poet, I could at least not be a shitty poet. I know now that I'm not a shitty poet, but the question becomes, how good do I want to get?

I guess that same question could be applied to writing in general. How good do I want to get? After two years in school and a long time of knowing the basics before that, I'm fairly technically accomplished. I can get better, I know--anyone can, but I'm learning that writing isn't about technicality; it's about having something to say. If what I have to say doesn't matter, I should just write genre fiction and never worry about anything else. Except that won't satisfy me. I have an inherent need for purpose, and writing genre fiction might be fun, but it doesn't fulfill that. My writing from now on, I think, is going to have to start developing themes, and I'm going to have to start thinking deeply on subjects in a way I'm not used to.

Another question that begs to be answered is, what do I want to do with my writing? Jeez, if I knew that, I wouldn't still be in school.

Wow

Has it been this long? Almost a year, really? I guess I've been too busy or unwilling to keep up with this blog, even though I still like it. (We're still super good friends, I promise.)

So what have you been up to?

What have I been up to?

Good question, Drew. Where to begin?

In July I finished my second novel. I haven't written one since then, but I have had ideas for editing the first and making it better. After I edit the first I'll edit the second. Maybe those will take up my summer break. I don't plan on writing another novel this year; I have to make the ones I've written amazing first. There's a difference between just slopping paint around a room and actually painting the damn thing. I want to be a writer, not just someone who slaps words on a page.

In August I did nothing of note.

In September I competed in the International 3-Day Novel Contest. I did finish a book, a novella, but it didn't win. The contest was fun and nerve-wracking, though. I don't know if I'll compete in it again, but it was definitely a good experience. I think I'll come back to the novella I wrote for the contest at some point in the future--there's a good idea behind it, but it needs more polishing, maybe also more character and plot developments.

In October I wrote stories for school. I wrote two stories for my creative writing class, and they both turned out pretty good, although the one I submitted to Jenny (the new literary magazine emanating from Youngstown) wasn't accepted. I also wrote several good journal pieces for that class, which I look forward to working on again, once I get some time.

In November I kept up the class work and got ready for my brother's and my trip to Ireland.

December: Christmas Break, Ireland, amazingness.

January: Decided that I've wasted over three years in the past six, and that's unacceptable. My New Year's Resolution is to not waste my life anymore, specifically by trying to do something to further my goals every month. If I do something worthwhile every month, how can that month be wasted? So since I'm trying to be a writer and all, all of these monthly goals are writing related. In January I submitted a short story to The Three Rivers Review, and even though it was rejected, I have a lot of confidence in the story itself.

In February I submitted some of my poems to Jenny, and I haven't gotten a word back from them yet. I also took the Jeopardy test, and am hoping they will get a hold of me this year. I would love to get on Jeopardy. I would show no mercy. (Also, did I mention that this semester I'm taking a poetry class?)

In March I submitted 12 poems for contention in the Robert and Virginia Hare Awards. I just found out that I won the award for poetry! Also, although I didn't even know I was in the running, I won a scholarship for class work in English! So April is looking like two banquets and maybe buying a suit. Ha.

Hopefully things go in an upward spiral from here.