Book Proposal News

You may remember me telling ya'll how I had to write a book proposal for my Writing Children's Books program. Well I sent it in about three weeks ago now and I just saw that they not only received it but looked at it.

As previously stated, I've been having some mixed feelings about this. Untitled Fantasy has been giving me a hard time (it actually still is) and I've wanted to give up and work on something else more than once now. I finally made it through part one last week though and am on to part two, which happens to be in an entirely different POV. This storyline presents some challenges that I had forgotten about (and just so happen to be why I shied away from it in the first place), but I'm excited to get past those things. The entire thing just doesn't feel right without this POV.

In short, even though Untitled Fantasy is still being a pain in the butt, we've reconciled and are on good terms again, which is an extremely good thing since my instructor-editor accepted my proposal! I'm so excited to have someone else to help me reach Untitled Fantasy's potential in these early stages.

So what's next? Now I have to finish the monster first draft.

First Draft Celebration #3

Remember how I said I was going to celebrate a bit for every 10K I write? Well, I made it to 30K a few days ago so this is a bit late, but...

I have some more exciting news too! I've finally finished Part 1! It needs some help but I'm so happy to finally have its first draft done! Thanks to my crit partner, Hannah, I've been chomping at the bit to start writing Part 2.

It's now time to write a totally different POV. I'm not entirely sure what it sounds like yet, but I'll figure it out. The best part? It's a first draft, so it doesn't have to be perfect.

I'm hoping to have passed 40K by the end of the week, which is an exciting prospect. Everything from 25-35K was a bit rough. I almost wasn't sure if I was going to make it there. (My thanks to Miss Maas for helping me get through it.) You know what they say when you hit that point in a novel... Of course, I'll admit, when I stopped treating it like the mid point and began thinking of it as the end of one character's POV, things started to get better. There's just something about that half way point. It also helps that I actually figured out what I was really doing.

Inspiration Via Sarah J. Maas

I've been a bit down in the dumps lately with my writing. You know, when you hit about 30K in your novel and you realize all the things you've probably done wrong so far, not to mention all the things you want to add but have no idea how to properly incorporate? Yes. I'm there. I suppose I could do some sort of victory dance because this means I've hit another important part of the writing process. But suffice it to say that I don't feel like dancing in the least.

You know that book proposal I've been working on? Well I finally finished it and mailed it last week. I'm supposed to wait three weeks for it, guys. How will I wait that long? Hopefully my instructor-editor likes it because I'd really love to continue my work with Untitled Fantasy for this class. I'll write it no matter what but I think it could be something. It needs work though. If my instructor-editor turns it down, that means I have to submit another book proposal for a different project.

Lets put things in perspective here. The writing dump is so deep right now that I almost half hope the instructor-editor will turn it down, therefore giving me an excuse to drop the project until I forget about all of those problems... at the same time though, going it alone with this project makes me want to shrivel up and die. I started trying to fix things the other day and ended up rereading Throne of Glass instead.

 

Sarah J. Maas, as before-mentioned, inspires me. It's insanely important for a writer to have books like this in their life because it does a few things. One, it reminds you that you need to keep honing your skill. Two, because you're a reader, it whisks you away from your writerly problems. Three, it inspires you to keep trying and keep writing.

I kid you not. I picked that book up, remembering how much I loved it (and the world). I won't lie, I'd just finally finished The Assassin's Blade and was dying to reread Throne of Glass after acquiring so much background info. I was frustrated with my novel so I gave in to temptation and basically read half the book that day instead of doing what I should have.

So here follows the true story of what it did for me.

Reading the beginning: I'll never be this good but dang do I love this novel.

Me after a hundred pages or so: *forgets about my writing* I love this book. Sarah J. Maas is freaking amazing. Brilliant.

Me by the end: I should keep writing. I want to be that good some day. Why is it taking my friend so long to read Crown of Midnight? I need it now.

In case you were wondering, I still don't have my copy of Crown of Midnight. My friend's husband is going to read it too. While I'm insanely happy that they love this series, I still wish they'd just hurry up! But you know, he works and then there's the fact that they have four kids. Plus, I won't see them for a week any way. Here's to hoping he'll finish it in that time.

Now tell me, what books inspire you?