I Feel Magic

At one point, I had a plan. Isn't that how it always starts? You always have a plan, and it always goes straight to hell. If not instantly, somewhere along the way, the plan just gets blown to bits.

My plan for this year involved editing. Lots of editing. As in, I was going to pull out each of those WsIP I had lying around "simmering" and actually get those things shiny enough to see the light of day.

My plan did not involve writing. Because what I really needed were more MSs overcooking on my backburner. No, this was going to be the year when, instead of generating more unedited, untouched babies, I was actually going to raise a couple into something nice and lovely.

Did I mention that that plan went completely to hell?

After assiduously editing two books -- I don't know if I ever mentioned my edits on Cordamant's Heir, but I think I just changed more than a fifth of that baby, including dropping 10k -- I felt all fresh and ready to bite into something Shiny and New.

Thus came out the lovely work temporarily entitled Here We Go Again, which feels apt in so many ways. This lovely baby had been simmering, then bubbling, then full on boiling in my brain for a good 6 months, and trust me if it hadn't gotten out soon, it might have done some permanent damage in there.

Now, after 2 months of dedicated effort -- and more secondary source involvement than I've ever put into a text -- I've got a first draft.

SQUEAL!

She isn't perfect, I'll be the first to admit it, and she's not going to be meeting anyone else -- let alone a stranger -- for a while yet, but she's so lovely and new and interesting -- to me at least -- that frankly I don't care.

I feel like magic.

How about you?

Victory Dance

Okay, this is going to sound highly preliminary, because that's the sort of thing one might say after NaNiWriMo is over, and it hasn't even started yet, but I'm doing on anyway.

I just finished my first draft of Cordamant's Heir.

**Victory Dance**

It's awesome. It feels so great you can even join in if you want to. In fact, I highly encourage it.

This was challenging. This was, by far, the longest draft I've ever done. Heck, I'll go so far as to say this is the longest thing I've ever written in my entire life. It weighs in at an shocking 103.5k. As far as I'm concerned, that's hecca long. Not Lord of the Rings 1 long, but definitely longer than Harry Potter 1. Somewhere between the two, really.

It's definitely long for me. (1.5x the length of Thief Book Draft 1. 2x the length of the Massive Revisions of Thief Book. 2x the length of Miss Snitch. 2.5x the length of my first book.) Yeah, for me, it's mad long.

Now do we understand the victory dancing?

I'm feeling mad awesome. How about you?

Canada Day!

Today is Canada Day. (Think Independence Day, but for Canadians. Hey, everyone deserves a national day.)

In a somewhat fitting manner, as you read this, I'm probably in transit to Canada to celebrate the upcoming (read: occurring tomorrow and I'm very excited about it) nuptials of my cousin Sacha and his fiancee, Sukhia. I'm so happy for them. Sacha and Sukhia, if you're reading this (can't imagine that you are, but it's still true), I love you and wish you endless joy. Congratulations.

Now, to all Canadians (or those who are Canadian at heart): Happy Canada Day!

To everyone: I'm including this video, because it's highly amusing and, in many ways, accurate. Hope you enjoy.

First Draft Happy

Okay, I have a confession to make. About a week or so ago, I was tired. Not body tired. Brain tired. Heart tired. All the spark had gone out of the writing for me, and I didn't know if I wanted to keep doing it anymore. I felt like the rewriting process was sapping my will to write. (Forgive the emo-sounding-ness there. I'm sleepy as I type this. That makes me sound emo sometimes.)

But, on Friday, I decided to shove all the other stuff that had been on the front burner onto a back burner. It could wait. I was going to bend to temptation and start writing something new. And I feel better. I feel great.

The creative juices are flowing again. I'm thinking again, feeling again, discovering new characters again, finding a new world again. It feels good to sit down with a story-problem again and figure it out instead of rooting through my notes to remember what the official answer is in accordance with the rest of the plot.

Yesterday, I sat down and sketched a rough family tree for four characters. Yesterday, I figured out that my MC didn't look anything like I'd originally thought she did. Yesterday, I got to call my villain a "total pretender to the throne" and know why that was an accurate description of him. I'm learning about my story again. I'm having fun with my story again.

To blatantly steal a line from Jack in the Shutterbox, something is right with my world and I'm loving it.

In the comments of my previous post, D.L. Hammons referred to my rough drafting right now as my happy place. I think that's the accurate. Because first drafts, I've found, always make me really happy.

Now, to blatantly steal a line from a Disney World ride that scared the living daylights out of me when the talking vulture automaton said it: Everyone has a happy place. Maybe this is yours.

Yep, this might be mine. What's yours?