I Finished My WIP! Now What?

 

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It only took about a year longer than planned, but I am happy to announce my work-in-progress novel, Ghazal, is finally, really and truly finished. The End. I made it!

Of course, now the big question is: what's next? Until it's published, is a work-in-progress ever finished? What steps do I, or anyone else who's completed a WIP, have to take in order to get the manuscript into print?

Here's my road map:

1. The first thing I always do upon finishing a manuscript at any draft stage is to print it out and put it away. I make sure I don't even peek at a single page for at least four to six weeks.

2. Once my manuscript is safely locked away, I take a break. Lunch with friends. Shopping, Drawing, beading--even a writing challenge such as Camp NaNoWriMo with a new story in mind can be a refreshing break.

 3. The next step after all those weeks of fun is to take the manuscript out of storage and read the whole thing through, but with this sole promise: that I will not, under any circumstance, write any kind of notes on the manuscript. Instead, I like to have a legal pad and pen ready to list my page and line numbers that contain typos, grammatical blunders, glaring plot holes or character inconsistencies such as wrong birth dates or a jumbled timeline. 

4. When I'm finished with that task, I then transcribe my list item by item onto index cards. I then go through the manuscript and clip my cards to the appropriate pages. I still don't rush to "fix" anything yet. Instead, I continue to let the manuscript rest while I write out the best ways to make my corrections. This is because sometimes rather than fixing a typo I might replace it with a better word choice, or I may eliminate the word altogether. The same goes for plot holes; filling them in too quickly can sometimes lead to an entirely new set of difficulties.

5. When I'm certain that I've found my problem areas, I use the notes on my index cards to make my corrections and then print out a fresh manuscript copy. 

6. My next job is to create a chapter-by-chapter outline. For this I again use index cards and note down the one-to-two most important scenes per chapter. I then type the list into chapter order. At the same time I also like to consider what the purpose of each chapter is. I do this for both my own notes and as a possible addition to the outline if I feel it will shed more light on the individual chapers.

7. Now that I have my outline, I write a one-sentence log line describing my book: a character, what he/or she wants, why they can't have it . . . . Very concise, very simple.

8. From this small start I then write a one-paragraph book description.

9. Followed by a one-page synopsis.

10. Followed by a two-page synopsis.

11. I then write at least three different types of bio-notes: a few sentences; one paragraph; half a page.

12. I research agents, editors, and contests.

13. I then write a query letter based on my synopsis.

14. My final step is to create 12 separate submission packages each one tweaked to individual agent requirements (e.g. one agent wants a letter, a one-page synopsis, the first chapter. Another might want a letter, an outline, a one-paragraph bio and the first 50 pages. Whatever, I like to have each piece prepared for when and how it's needed.)  Once my packages are ready, I send them out, usually by email or through an online submission form.

15. And while my book is doing the rounds, I get to work on my next manuscript. Yep, it never ends!

Tip of the Day: The whole secret to this final stage of manuscript preparation and submission is to remember Rome wasn't built in a day. It's tempting to want to get the whole thing over and done with and as quickly as possible, but baby steps are key. Set aside 30-minutes to an hour a day solely to work on each of the above steps. Take your time and enjoy the process. And keep writing!

February 2020 Round-up

Mixed Media: "Little Sparrow" for #TAE20

Mixed media, mixed weather patterns, mixed tasks at the day job: it's been one of those crazy, up-and-down chaotic months that in retrospect has been incredibly productive. Looking back over the past few weeks I'm astonished at what I've been able to do in spite of my constant feeling of "having no time." Which makes me think that even if we only have a spare fifteen minutes a day (like I have right now to write this post) it's amazing how much we can do. 

Here's a quick run-down of my month so far:  

1. I entered this year's Twitter Art Exhibit, #TAE20, for the very first time. Every year the exhibit selects a local charity to benefit from sales of postcard-size artwork donated from people with Twitter and/or Instagram accounts from all around the world. This year the recipient is Horry County Disabilities and Special Needs located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a wonderful program using art classes for emotional, physical, and intellectual growth and healing. My entry, Little Sparrow, was painted, drawn, and scratched onto Arches 140-lb cold press watercolor and it was scary! First, I had never painted anything that small, and second, by having a deadline (February 17 to be included in the catalog) I had to work sure and steady with no comparing myself to other, much better artists, and no giving up! It was an excellent lesson for me on many levels and I'm so glad I participated. (With many thanks to watercolor artist Rita Squier for inviting me to take the challenge. Please be sure to check out her website!)

2. As part of my "make 2020 the year of art!" I've started attending a weekly drawing group at Albuquerque's OFFCenter Community Arts Project. It's a great group with the emphasis on gesture drawing and finding the "energy" in our subjects. In contrast to the tiny dimensions of Little Sparrow we often end up drawing on endless rolls of paper that cover not just one but several art tables placed together! 

3. Thanks to all this work with gesture drawing, I've also started attending life drawing sessions at the New Mexico Art League on Sunday afternoons. Talk about terrifying. Despite my attempts to "draw every day" I am way out of my comfort zone here, surrounded by master painters each creating work worthy of any fine art gallery or museum. It's awful! And I am learning so much! Very humbling, humiliating, and often (semi) humorous, I intend to stick with this truly ghastly experience until I can confidently say, "Look what I drew!" and be (semi) proud of my work.  

4. On a completely different note and going back to what will always be my primary focus--writing--I have officially finished the second draft of my work-in-progress novel, Ghazal. Whew. The entire project has taken me much, much longer than I ever imagined (e.g., I thought I'd actually have a third and final draft completed by now), but here we are at last. My plans for "what to do now" are to a) put the manuscript in a drawer until May (when I'm sure to incessantly complain about the challenges of writing a third and final draft), and b) throw my energies into ever more artwork, including my beading which has been a bit neglected while I've struggled to make sense of my WIP. In other words, I'm going to be busy sketching, drawing, painting, and designing while I let the manuscript (as well as myself) take a rest from the red ink. Yay! 

Tip of the Day: Never turn down a creative challenge or opportunity because you don't think your work is "good enough" or "ready" to be seen and shared. The only person who can ever stop you from growing, learning, and participating is you! Never give up, never say "no" to any opportunity, large or small. For more encouragement, be sure to check out my post on Never Give Up: 12 Reasons Why. Happy creating!

February Check-in: Revisions

Happy February!  It's the start of revision time for me, taking last year’s edits on my current work-in-progress novel, Ghazal, and putting them into action. According to my notes, there's a lot to do, but I'm more than ready to get the show on the road.

For those of you new to this project, the plot of Ghazal centers on thirty doorways that individually figure in each chapter, and two relationships between two couples. The first couple is comprised of a married, middle-aged businessman and a young woman who has recently abandoned her choice to live in a convent. The second couple is made up of the young woman’s next door neighbors during her growing-up years, two retirees who once spent a magical summer in France and have never forgotten. Together and separately the characters discover what it is they truly believe in, discarding along the way the many lies they have told themselves and each other for decades. 

While the plot is continuous and involves the same group of characters, the chapters can also be read as stand-alone short stories. I realize it's experimental, unconventional, and all of the worst things an editor or agent wants to hear, but it's the direction I'm the most drawn toward. Writing about my characters' lives and decisions in the form of short stories has allowed me the freedom to explore areas and themes that might not work in a traditional novel. For instance, one chapter is about a high school ski trip gone wrong; another is about seeing the Alamo at midnight as a child; while yet another is about the sudden death of a friend in a swimming pool. At first glance these events might not have much to do with each other, but taken as a whole, they can be considered as beads on a cord that eventually ties together in just the right way. 

My self-imposed deadline is to have the manuscript ready for submission by the end of the year, a much wider frame than I'd originally wanted, but I want to fully craft this novel; hasty decisions and speed-revising won't work this time around. I'll be thrilled if I do finish before then, but I want to stay as mindful and focused as I can on this project and not feel pressured to get it over and done with.
 
One of the things I'm doing to make the revising more interesting is I'm drawing illustrations of the thirty doorways I mentioned earlier. I’m still undecided on my final medium, style, and color palette (or if I'll even use color at all), but that's half the fun. Another trick I’m using is to keep a daily “writer’s log," tracking not only my daily progress, but also my thoughts and emotions about the entire revision process. Alongside these are my notes on what I hope to achieve within each chapter as well as a record of my characters' names, ages, backgrounds, and anything else that I need to refer to as I continue to re-write.

As much as I love freewriting and getting that first draft down on paper, I must say there's really nothing better than having those pages finally assembled into a revisable manuscript. At least you know you do have something to work on and improve. The only hard part after that is knowing when to stop polishing, tinkering, and changing every other word so you can finally declare: The End!

Tip of the Day: If you haven’t tried keeping a daily log of your writing or other creative projects, you might like to start one now. One easy method is to use a calendar (especially now that all the 2018 ones are on super-sale!) and write down your word count or similar into each date square. Many calendars have room to write extra notes for the month too, and you can always write on the picture page as well.

Spring Get-Away: Corpus Christi, TX

I've just come back from a week's holiday in Corpus Christi, Texas, a place I've wanted to see for many years after taking a workshop from poet Denise Brennan Watson. In the workshop, Denise often referred to her childhood in Corpus Christi and how it influenced her found poetry and food writing, as well as her love of cooking and Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor's Vibration Cooking: or, Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl (which in many ways inspired my own WIP Ghazal). When I read The Undertow of Hunger, Denise's first full poetry collection, I was completely hooked. I just had to go to Corpus Christi one day.

Now that I've been there, I realize there was a lot I didn't know: mainly that the wind blows every single day and night, as in every single second of every day and night; the seagulls are small and cute but even noisier than the howling wind; the seawater is warm but posted signs warning of currents and jellyfish kept me from doing much more than wading; and the town itself can be rather empty. For an entire week my husband and I rattled around the quite lovely downtown all on our own, wondering where the other people were. I'm still wondering. However, it was nice to never have trouble finding a parking spot, the store owners and restaurant servers were polite and glad to see us, and the only panhandler we encountered asked for a dollar and then changed his mind, saying he "didn't really want it."

Despite the blustery weather, heavy thunderstorms, and getting my thumb smashed in our hotel room door when the wind whistled through the hall one particularly wild afternoon, we saw some impressive sights. Our room was right on the beach, and we could see the USS Lexington, now a museum, from our balcony. I loved how it was lit up at night recalling its nickname the "Blue Ghost", creating a ghostly and haunting image indeed. Going on board in the morning was even more intriguing. A trip that I thought would take half an hour at most turned into a four-hour exploration of decks, captain's and crew quarters, galleys, sick bay, chapel, engine room, bridge, and all thoroughly re-constructed to depict how life would have been on board during WWII. I was fascinated and frequently moved by the well-presented exhibits, and took the elevator only once at the end of the tour. After climbing and descending dozens of ladders placed throughout the ship I was grateful for the chance to simply push a button and ascend into daylight again. Well worth the visit and I do highly recommend going there if you're in the area one day (and feeling fit).

Another great place next to our hotel was this beach store that carried every kind of towel, flipper, swimsuit, T-shirt, and souvenir any tourist could possibly want. We bought a wind chime (what else??).

The Art Center was yet another good venue, complete with a restaurant where we had morning tea and cake while a local Irish band fiddled away:

Foggy, mysterious, yet pleasantly warm:

This (scary) (in the wind) bridge connected our hotel to downtown. I think we crossed it 500 times, but my husband claims it was only 499:

More views from our room. A beach of our own!

I wasn't able to sketch in the wind, but I did take some photos specifically for a future series of "Urban Sketching-style" drawings:

On our last day we visited the Aquarium. Although we were indoors, I couldn't sketch there either because it was apparently Kindergarten Day: hundreds of tiny tots in matching T-shirts to identify themselves as five-year-olds (just so there was no confusion with the few adults in attendance). I don't know which was louder: the wind, the gulls, or the children, but coming home to Albuquerque I'm still in awe of the silence.

Final shot of the docks. I think this would make a good painting, too:

Between wind gusts we went to some excellent restaurants (the Vietnamese one being my favorite. Breakfast with a city view upstairs at the Omni Hotel was also spectacular.), saw several movies, including "King Kong, Skull Island" (perfect escapism) and "Gold" which we soon recognized as having been filmed in Albuquerque! Other highlights were finding a bead store where I bought new beads for new jewelry projects, and going to Barnes and Noble where I purchased a book I'm still reading: Elizabeth Kostova's The Swan Thieves. I love it, and will forever pair it in my mind with a beautiful old city I'm glad I got the chance to see. Thank you, Corpus Christi, for an unforgettable time!

Happy 2017! Happy Goal-Setting!

Here we are: 2017 and ready to write, draw, paint, bead, dive into the mud and best of all: stay creative every day. It's become something of a tradition of mine to list and share my goals for the New Year here on my blog, and this year I hope to inspire many of you to do the same. Not only does listing my goals help me to achieve them, but my list also helps me to map out how to get there, especially when I use my journal to further discover my "goals within goals."

The main thing I've learned from this annual practice is to keep everything simple and centered on the goals I really want, rather than any tasks or chores I (often mistakenly) think I should, or have to do. 

So with that in mind, my goals for 2017 are to:

1. Sell, or independently publish before the end of the year, my novel The Abyssal Plain. 2017 is the year!
2. At the same time, I want to edit and have ready for 2018 publication my novel, Ghazal.
3. When I'm not writing, I want to complete the illustrations for my poetry collection based on my 2015 trip to Taiwan (publication planned for either this, or next year). I hope to include at least twelve (maybe more) of these paintings depending on the cost of full-color printing.
4. And when I'm not writing or painting, I plan to continue making pottery and jewelry, but this year there will be a twist: I'm making items themed to go with my existing fiction and non-fiction books. For instance, ceramic pencil cups and holders to fit with my how-to, The Essential Guide for New Writers, and/or necklaces and earrings my main character, Sara Elliott, might wear in Overtaken. It's a fun way to come up with fresh ideas for both beading and marketing, even writing, and I've already bought some new beads and charms to make the first necklace. (Hint: it includes a tiny bejeweled Eiffel Tower.)
5. Read more non-fiction. A few days ago I finished reading the fourth book in the Elena Ferrante Neapolitan series: The Story of the Lost Child. I was so overwhelmed by the power of that particular story and the rest of the books in the series that I felt I needed a break from reading fiction; after all, what could compare? Consequently I found myself at a loss without a bedtime book until I realized I might prefer nonfiction for a change. I went to the library and on random impulse picked out a biography on Mao Zedong--a complete surprise to me. So far I'm finding the book very interesting, encouraging me to expand both my knowledge of world events as well as taking a chance on other books I might usually pass by.

To round out my goal list, I also have a word for the year: Poetry. It came into my head out of the blue, and at first I wondered if it simply related to my Taiwan poetry manuscript and art project. But soon after "hearing it" I realized it meant that I wanted to keep the year poetic, filled with metaphor and symbolism, and a personal dedication to using those metaphors in all I do, from journaling to cooking dinner. It's an interesting concept, and one I'm still exploring. I'll let you know what I find out as the year progresses.

In the meantime, I want to wish you all a very Happy and Exciting New Year--may all your dreams be poetic, strong, and achievable!

Tip of the Day: Goal-setting is a valuable practice no matter what time of year you choose to start, but to my mind there's nothing more positive and practical than listing your goals in January. To add extra sparkle and creativity, rather than just listing your goals on a sheet of scrap or binder paper, how about treating yourself to a new journal, some fancy and colorful pens, and a package of collage items? Create a vision board in your journal to go along with your written goals. And don't forget to share: leave a comment or two here at my blog to let us know what some of your plans are. Have a great year, everyone!

New Year, New Goals

Here we are—a new year, a clean slate, all kinds of good things on the horizon! I have so many plans and ideas, but as I mentioned in my last post I want to pace myself a little better this year, and keep my goal list down to just three items. Over the weekend I had some time to sit down and make some decisions about what those three goals would be. In no particular order, the winners are: 

1. Edit and rewrite my next novel. As soon as my synopsis and outline for The Abyssal Plain--the literary novel I finished last year--are ready for submission (hopefully by the end of the month) I want to start working on book #10: Ghazal.  Last fall I re-read the first draft for the first time in a year, and was happy to discover that most of the editing will simply be improving some of my word choices (stronger verbs, etc.), cleaning up typos, and adding a small amount of text to help clarify the plot.

2. Work on a long-term art project. Prior to this year, the best word to describe my approach to art-making would be “scattered.” “Unfocused” might work even better. My haphazard style (aka "dabbling") is the result of loving absolutely every art material and technique I can get my hands on: collage, watercolors, acrylic, clay, every type of pencil or crayon or pastel imaginable that I then use on so many different types of papers, boards, and fabric supports that I could probably write a comprehensive thesis on the subject. 

What I haven’t done is follow any kind of serious idea or direction. I like painting cats, dogs, landscapes, faces, flowers, trees, ferrets, even my art supplies when I'm desperate—but none of it really makes for a coherent body of work. Although I never want to box myself in to the point that I give up drawing ferrets, I still want to find some kind of artistic voice this year. In other words, I want to create a series. And the strongest subject that is calling to me right now is: doorways. Using a variety of mediums and supports, I want to explore open doorways, closed doors, antique doors, doors decorated for the seasons, doors in foreign lands and climates. The concept of doors (and the houses they belong to) is so rich in metaphor and possibility that it will be a challenge to know when to stop!

3. Sketch as much as possible, and add freewriting to my drawings. Despite my concentration on doorways, I still want to keep up a sketching habit, hopefully with even more vigor than in previous years. After all, a series of doors all on their own can get a little stale. For that reason, each door will need it’s own personality: a kitty on the stair, a container of roses under the streetlight, a basket of freshly-picked tomatoes. To do that with any kind of finesse, I’ll need to practice. And to make sure I get in my daily writing practice, I plan to add freewriting to my sketches. 

I can’t tell you how energized I am about these goals and plans. The best part is I don’t need any new supplies, LOL! Just the faith and confidence to say “yes” to every new drawing, every new page.

Tip of the Day: Never underestimate the power of brainstorming. To make my list of three goals I actually had to brainstorm a list of about twenty. There was a lot I wanted to do—way too much and much more than anyone could handle with any kind of joy or enthusiasm. But I couldn’t have found the three that really appealed to me without writing it all down first.

Writing the Ghazal

One of the great pleasures of writing is to experiment with new forms and ideas. A few weeks ago I began investigating the “ghazal,” a poetic form that dates back to 6th century pre-Islamic Arabic verse. The idea for this was brought to our writer’s group by Elaine Soto, a gifted artist and writer whose current work concentrates on the Black Madonna. (You can see her wonderful paintings at http://www.elainesoto.com/.)

Elaine learned the following exercise in a poetry workshop she had taken at a writer’s conference the day before our second-to-last meeting:

1. Choose 10 images cut from magazines, personal photos, etc. Attach one image each to a separate sheet of paper. Number each page 1-10.
2. Now write a line for each image.
3. Now match the lines in this order: 8+2; 5+3; 1+9; 10+4; 7+6. Each of these “doubles” forms a couplet, giving you five couplets. If you like, title each couplet.
4. Go back over the lines. If you need a transition or any extra word(s), feel free to add them.
5. Now place the lines together and you have a version of the ghazal.

According to Wikipedia, a true ghazal has a definite form, meter, and refrain. Similar to writing a sonnet or any other structured poem, there are some real rules involved. So consider this version and exercise a very loose experiment and/or writing prompt that you can always re-work to follow the more usual order found in many how-to poetry books. What may surprise you, however, is that your ghazal will more than likely contain the essence of the original intention: “A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of pain.”

Because I can never follow recipes or any kind of instruction without changing something, I decided to set up my images in 10 sets of 2. I took the theme of “doorways” as my starting point, giving me 10 pictures of doorways matched to 10 random images of all kinds of things: rivers, marketplaces, old churches. Next I wrote 2-3 lines per page of images. I then completed the exercise in the order stated above, but I repeated it with my extra lines so that I could have more “verses” within the same ghazal. Confused? So was I! But it was interesting how the lines fit together (or didn’t in some cases) and how I enjoyed the randomness of the piece as well as the overwhelming feeling of the surreal. Poetry to me doesn’t always have to “make sense,” at least not right away or on the surface. Often the peculiarity of a line or image is the very impetus a reader needs to make his or her own leap toward personal understanding and meaning.

So here goes:

Every Breath is a Doorway

The ancients believed the birds carried souls to heaven in their beaks.
My thoughts are never-ending portraits of the past, sepia colored and curling at the edges.
In spring, even the shadows are sacred.
I wear dark glasses to keep the past at bay.
The river is a scarf of green.
In the winter we light lamps, shell peas, share stories of what may not have ever happened.
The light like your smile becomes my touchstone.
Even kings and gilded carriages break down into the dust of decay.
Arches that lead to courtyards and courtyards that lead to only more questions.
A book is a rock I cling to.

A bird alone in winter wind, trusting nothing but life itself.
The thing we fear the most is the sun itself, shining into all the dark corners of our lives.
The church remembered from childhood was shaded by apple trees and superstition.
The sort of glasses I had longed for as a child; dark and mysterious, the kind that hid my tears.
I would never forget the scarves hanging in the marketplace, a reminder of when we had money and throats left to wrap the silk around.
The peas in their blue bowl; no one shells peas anymore, there isn’t the time or the patience.
“She could never grow up so vain,” you said, “as to wear a dead bird upon her head.”
In a house where it is always safe and you know you will always belong.
My dreams are riddled by the dead; the dead and their dark graves forever piling up.
They are columns of stone, carved and set in place by hands no different from my own.

By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, and no good thing ever arrived.
Stones from the river are carved into houses, castles, dreams of the very poor.
Flowers cling to an adobe wall.
A flight of stairs to a room no one enters any more.
In winter I look for lighted windows and pretend they are lit for me.
Midnight and still the prince drives by.
I can still hear the children playing, long after they are grown.
“You could always depend on reading,” she said.
Unlike her family, a book could never let her down.
I am a tree at the end of the world.

Tip of the day: Try writing a ghazal. Think “fun and experimentation” rather than “tried and true.” That said, if you enjoy the exercise, do consider taking it to another level and writing a more customary and ordered piece following established ghazal guidelines.