Progress

I wrote a new opening to the book that gets into my main character's head a little bit more. I also cut two scenes that were hard to cut. I liked these scenes a lot and they introduced my two co-protagonists. But in reality, it doesn't need to be there. Introducing them they way I did just took away the emphasis on my MC.

Now this gives my MC a sense of identity that I think was lacking before. I've ironed out a few issues in the third act and feel that with just a few more tweaks I should be ready to find a critique group. There has to be one somewhere around Chicago. Also need to look for some writing conferences.

37, 336 Words. What Now?

Hmmm. I'm troubled. The third act of the book is not coming together. There are too many unanswered questions, especially with my talisman, The Book of Sleep. I'm not sure exactly how it comes into play. I mean, I know what it is meant to do, but I don't know how to get there.

I think I may have to discard the last few chapters and take a different path. Murder my darlings, as some great writer once said.

I really feel that up to now, the story is going pretty well. I just need to figure out the climax of the tale. Hopefully, this week, I'll get there.

Writers' Blogs & Other Stuff

I don't really know why I started this blog. I guess it's just for something to do when I have downtime at work, or when I can't seem to get the courage to face the blank page. There are a lot of these writer blogs out there, and I come across them all the time. I found one last night that was really inspiring. You could track the author's progress from the time she first sent out query letters to when she got a four-book deal at Harper Collins.
Four-book deal! I think her journey took about a year in all.

Maybe I will be so lucky. Who knows? All I know is that I have to keep going. Sometimes I look at my work and think it's all a bunch of dreck. Other times, I think it's brilliant. Like this morning.

I usually get downtown (Chicago Loop) about 7:30 or 7:45 and head to the Houlihan's for coffee. Ok, I know what you're thinking. Houlihan's? You mean like TGI McFunsters? Shenannigans? Thirsty McPickleShitters? Actually it's a great place to go in the morning and the servers are nice.

Sure, it's not Cafe Flore in Paris, but hey, I can smoke there, and in Chicago that's going to be over soon.

Anyway, I read the first 70 or so pages of my MS and thought: Hey, this isn't so bad, in fact I think it's quite good. Now, who knows what an agent will think, but I have to at least believe in it to keep going. And that's what I'm doing.

If you're a writer. Keep going.

The Glimmerlings & The Book of Sleep

That's the name of the book I'm writing. It's for the Young Adult (YA) or Middle Grade (MG) reader.

It's a fantasy novel. I can't tell you what it's about yet. By you I mean whoever drifts by here, if anyone.

It's about 35,000 words right now. I hope to get to at least 45,000. There is a very rough first draft (draft zero) and now I am revising.

I try to get in at least an hour a day, longer on weekends. I know it's not much. I do it in the morning before going to my office. I am too tired in the evening after work and dinner.

A Beginning of Sorts

This will be my place to venture when the Muse is not cooperating. It's just a place to write random stuff that no one out there will probably read anyway.

Hopefully, it will turn into my Road to Publication blog.

Or not.