My first novel is out!

There's something amazing about holding the first copy of your novel in your hands. Flipping through the pages. Smelling the glossy cover. I was able to do that. My first Young Adult, Fantasy (with some Sci-fi elements), novel is out. And I feel extremely blessed. Jesus has taken me on this journey of self discovery. Showed me my true purpose. Gave me the tools to make my dream come true. And this is just the beginning. The Blue Key: Quest for Peace is part one of a series. Part two has already been outlined and I will commence writing it this July. FULL TIME! Thank you to my family and friends who made this novel possible. My proof copy of The Blue Key: Quest for Peace, sits on my bookshelf next to the first bible I bought when I was saved. It's in the right place. Do I have any regrets about this novel? I regret that I spent years sending it to agents and getting it rejected, instead of listening to people (including young adults), who loved it and begged me to publish it so they could finish reading the entire novel. LISTEN TO YOUR AUDIENCE. THEY KNOW BETTER! My second novel is also a series. This one is 100% Sci-fi. I'm almost done with revisions on it. Then it will sit for a few weeks while I work on final edits to a suicide screenplay I'm putting finishing touches on. Then that novel will hopefully be ready to publish in August of this year. Thank you again for all those who believed in me and cheered me on. You guys are amazing!

Catching up

Sitting in a Dunkin Donuts. Not my usual one. Had to travel out of town. Man they know how to make a good cup of coffee. Nothing against Starbucks-which has my favorite-cinnamon dolce latte, or Gloria Jeans with their caramel latte, or Tom Tom with their caramel latte. Almost completed revisions on my first novel. As in, I stripped it down to mere chapters and paragraphs and edited it with a fine-tooth comb. I can truly sit back and say wow! It's a novel that hooks you and keeps you turning pages. Plus it's nice that I'm not the only one that thinks so. Published authors agree. It's going to be a busy summer, and gladly so, in my writing world. I'll be finished revising the first novel by the end of this month. July will see work on revising my second novel-stripping it down like I did the first one, and since I've got my summer off, I'll be working on finishing another science fiction screenplay, and starting a new sci fi screenplay. Science fiction is raking it in at the box office, but I'm not writing to the market. Science fiction is my niche. It's present in my other screenplays, novels, short stories, skits, books on my bookshelves, movies I own, subject I teach (science). I am quite the expert at it. Do I write in other genres? Yes. I'm quit adept at drama, fantasy, and horror. People really like my horror. Tell me it scares them, in a good way. Not a your weird and should seek professional help way. Time to go. We'll chat again soon.

Stones

Read a church sign on the way to work the other day. It said "Every Goliath has a stone." You remember how David killed Goliath with a single stone from his sling shot. Here was this massive giant, towering over David. David used his faith in God to walk out on the battlefield and face the giant without sword, or shield, or armor-just a stone.

Each of us has battled or will be battling Goliaths in our own personal lives. My greatest Goliath has been fear. I think the greatest thing fear excels at is causing me to be indecisive. Should I do this? What if I do and then X happens? What if I do and I should have picked Y? Sound familiar to you? Yeah, I'm tired of that recording playing in my head. How do I defeat the Goliath? Hebrews 11:6 talks about faith and God. The thing is, I don't have just one stone. Jesus has unlimited stones and He's standing right beside me with the first dozen or so.

Reach in the bag and pull one out. It reminds me of a perfect piece of coal. Why coal? It was one of the "rocks" I used to collect as a child.
I'm in the process of doing deep editing in one of my novels. I have cut entire scenes, I have added action where it needed to be, and I have added depth. It was good before, and I got positive reviews to that effect, but I want it to be great.

Put the stone in my sling shot that says on it "I can do this. I can have a successful career as a writer." Goliath is down. Uh oh. Here comes his twin brother. And he's twenty times the size of the other. He's got two heads, arms the size of buildings, and clubs in each hand. His breath is like month old used baby diapers, and his eyes are yellow. He fingers end in razor like nails that drip poison. And he wants me to stay put.

In my heart I know it's time to move on, to leave the state I'm living in and move to a place that is more me. I've found a place that fits me like a well-worn slipper. I've visited, and whenever I have to leave I'm sad. When it's time to come back to this city, I'm jumping up and down in excitement. It's a city that took me by complete surprise with its friendly folk, and humongous lakes, independent bookstores, and Highlander Grogg coffee. (As I write this I'm smiling ear to ear).

But Goliath's twin brother is Causing me to fear leaving. Has me frozen in fear. Jesus doesn't even bother looking at him. He hands me a stone, tells me He will always be with me and to not fear. I look at the stone, it says "FAITH". And yet I hesitate to put the stone in the sling.

What if it doesn't kill this Goliath? What if what Goliath 2 is saying is true? What if leaving is the greatest mistake? Shouldn't I listen to others who seem to always know what I should do, where I should work, where I should live, who I should date?

Or should I be listening to the one person who paid the ultimate sacrifice for me, has no hidden agendas, and stands by my side every time a Goliath shows up. Do you know Him? Hs name is Jesus.

So what did I do? I haven't done it yet? I'm standing with the stone Jesus gave me in my hand to either slay or run away from the largest giant in my life.

Knee-deep

I'm knee deep in revisions on the first of 3 novels.
This is the final revision before I submit it to agents, and I'm on target to be done by the end of the month.
I have a list of 12 agents, but I've still got to look at each one individually to see if they're a good fit for me and my work. This is a long-term relationship, as writing is something I plan to do for the rest of my life.

I had someone ask me how can I write in small blocks of time. I only have 30 minutes in the morning, most mornings, and 2 hours at night, most nights. Other mornings I don't get the time due to meetings at work, and nights where I have other commitments I can barely squeeze in 45 minutes. He said he could never write like that. That he has to do a minimum of 6 hours non stop.
Some writers are like this guy. You've got a spouse that provides so you don't have to work a day job.
Others are like me. You work a full time job and may even be a single parent on top of it all like me.
Did I get angry at him? No. Was I jealous? I used to be jealous of people like that. Because lets face it. Writing in scraps of time had a tendency to suck. But that's focusing on the negative.

The positive is that twice a day I get to relax and sink into the world of my characters and build, and create, and breath life into what previously never existed.
I'm lucky. I turned to him and smiled and told him the truth. I have to work a full time job right now, but I love writing so much that I treasure the chance I get to write.
He apologized. He forgot I was a single mom.

I'm excited about the revision work I'm doing. My mfa program has helped me conquer some writing fears, and deepened my writing. It's not the same novel I wrote 2 years ago. Definitely not.
Screenwriting.
Forgot I wore 4 hats didn't you? It's okay. I didn't.
Sci fi screenplay will be finished this month also. It's deep. Its exciting. I love it.
That makes 3 solid screenplays ready for sale. I'll have to plan a trip to LA to market them.
One Sci-Fi.
One YA Religious Horror.
One YA Dark Drama.

Where Have I Been

Writing duh!
Seriously, I have been writing my tail feathers off. I think in the past week I've had only fifteen minutes of independent thought time per day. I don't mind, I just know I'm getting cranky from job stress and writing deadlines.
I'm still trying to balance working full time and being a mom and a writer.

Last week brought me some milestones. I submitted my spec script for a sitcom to a very prestigious writing fellowship. I also mailed my application for a Christian screenwriting training program. Those deadlines were met. My prayer is that God will provide the funds to participate and the living expenses.

I finished my second novel last week. Now it has to do the-sit and not look at me-wait. That helps a writer do a better job of editing. My third novel is 25% complete and there it will stay for now until I look at my calendar for the next three months and plan out my writing goals.

At this time I am sitting at my kitchen table, having just put the baking potatoes in the oven to cook. I am looking at upcoming screenplay contests, and other writing fellowships, as well as preparing to view The Academy Awards tonight.
I'm so excited, even though I didn't write, or star in any of the films (as of yet).
My favorite categories are Best Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Costume design.

Next week, wait no that's this week. Forgot what day it was, yeah I need a vacation.
This week I will be finishing my final edit on my Christian Horror Screenplay. Yes, you read that correctly, no it isn't a typo. It is possible and I have addressed that already.
After editing it, I will be uploading it to WGA, then submitting it to a very prestigious screenwriting fellowship competition, as well as competitions without a fellowship.

How is Frankenstein laptop you ask? We'll I'm typing on him right now. Ten minutes to fully boot up, still freezes, playing havoc with my Movie Magic Screenwriter program. Other than that he's holding strong. Lucky for him I'm too strapped for cash right now to go out an buy another one.

Update

101.5. That was my temperature as my body waged its battle against the flu. Never mind that I got the flu shot in October. Well, actually it did lessen the severity of the flu. And now I'm back.
The screenplay that was halfway done on January 10th I finished on January 11th. I decided to sit myself down and not get up until it was done. Something was driving me to finish it. Phew. Two screenplays in less than thirty days? Talk about mentally draining. Serious adrenaline rush though.
So what is the writer up to now?

February 4th is the deadline for Gotham Writer's to announce the winner of their YA novel contest.
February 18th is the start of the CS Open. What is that you say? Well, it's a contest with industry recognition and filming of the winning scene. You write a short scene, 3-5 pages, based on the premise they give you on the 18th. If you win, you advance to round two and do it again. The final winner gets the aforementioned prize.

The remainder of this month I am finishing what I like to call my final steak edit of my YA fantasy novel. What is a steak edit? I've been going through and adding more meat to certain chapters, and in places adding whole new chapters. I'm about forty pages from the end of the book.

After the steak edit comes the dessert edit. That's where I print out my novel (again), and do a spelling and grammar check. (Special shout out to Office Depot and Hp for having Hp ink on sale for 40% off this month).
Goal for my novel is to have it ready to submit to a publisher/agent
by February 14th.

February is also time for me to edit the last two screenplays I wrote (still haven't decided which one I'm submitting to the Nichols fellowship-The Oscars), and to work on the second novel that is already in progress.
What I have learned is that you cannot blaze through the rough draft of a novel the way you can a screenplay. The format of a screenplay allows you to write it much quicker than a novel.

Screenplays are a visual medium and novels a mental medium. It could take me six more months to finish the second novel and by that time I will have written at least five more screenplays. Then again it could take me one month to finish the novel.

I don't believe in writer's block. There was a time that I did, but then I realized, writer's block is actually a choice to not do what I love to do. Why would I deliberately block myself from that? Sure I may not like the first five minutes of what I'm writing, but after that I am in the zone.

I may write five pages or twenty one in an hour, either way I am doing what I love. And let's face it. If your not doing what you love, what are you doing?