I've been tagged!

So, I've been tagged by Sheri (sheriperloshins.blogspot.com).  Here are the rules:

Grab the nearest book.

Open to page 123.

Find the fifth sentence.

Post the next three sentences.

Tag five people

However, Sheri has suggested a twist on the game.  She suggested we post the sentences mentioned above from our own WIP, page 30, or page 3 for picture books.  So here is mine, from my middle grade novel.

“Really?” She looked so happy at that moment, I almost felt guilty for the trouble I planned to cause her.  Almost. 

“Thank you for your help, Lena.”

“It’s my pleasure.”  I pointed to the problems and explained how to do them.  She nodded in all the right places and continued working on the page.

“That’s right,” I encouraged.  Then I watched her spend the next half hour doing her homework all wrong.

So now I need to tag some people:

Sarah-Create.livejournal.com (Sarah)

wordbinder.wordpress.com (Rebecca)

kidswriterjfox.blogspot.com (Janet)

iowakid.blogspot.com (Michele)

shopoftheheart.blogspot.com (Lyz)

Okay, Ladies-get to it!

New Ideas

Now that I've finished my novel, except for the dreaded revisions, of course, I need to come up with a new idea to work on.  So I started thinking, how can I come up with an idea?  

I've been jotting down ideas in a notebook for a few months now, sometimes a whole thought, sometimes just a name.  These are fragments, at best, but they could trigger a new story.  Many of them came from dreams.

How do you get your ideas?  Do you keep a running list of thoughts, do you journal every day, do you have a brainstorming session, do you keep a dream log, diary, thought book?  What do you do when you need to start something new?

Finished!

Well, after a few roadblocks and smaller obstacles, I have finished the first draft of my middle grade novel.  While I know it will go through many revisions (and desperately needs those revisions), I am so proud of it.  It is the longest thing I've ever written (28,574 words), and the story is wonderful (if I do say so myself).  I am planning to do as many revisions as I can before I have to send it off to Vermont College to be workshopped at my first residency.  Then I will put it away, to save for after I finish school.  I can't wait to see how much I can improve it after studying the craft for two years.

Speaking of my residency, I'm getting really excited about it.  I've been reading books by the faculty, and gathering ideas of what I might work on during the first semester.  Summer can't come soon enough!

Roadblock!

So I told you last time I had completed 20k words of my mg novel.  I showed it to my new critique group (two wonderful women and extraordinary writers) to read from the beginning for the first time.  They liked my story a lot, and gave me some insightful feedback that really made sense to me.  Part of their suggestions involved tightening up the timeline and changing (somewhat) the personality of one of the main characters.  In other words, there were some major revisions to be done.  So I have a dilemma.  Do I push on and complete the last 10k words or so to finish the rough draft using a timeline and character that I know will be changed significantly, or do I stop moving ahead and start revising what I've got so far?  This roadblock had me stuck, not writing anything, for days.  What would you suggest in this situation, and have you ever been in this situation yourself?

Over halfway there...

I hit 20k words in my middle grade novel today.  It's very exciting to me, because I've never written anything this long before.  When I first started, I had an idea for the plot and an idea of the characters, but the thought of actually completing this book was overwhelming.  Little by little I've plugged away-it goes pretty slowly for me since I revise each chapter before I go on to the next.  In fact I revise each paragraph that way too.  Then I let my critique group rip it apart and I revise again based on their suggestions.  I check the word count constantly because I am still not confident about being able to write 25-30k words.  But I'm already at 20k, so I guess I can do another 10k.  Watch, I'll probably end up writing another 30k and have to cut, cut, cut.

So, what are you working on and where are you at in your project now?

Was the Muse friendly today?

This is what my husband asks me each day when he gets home.  You know those days, where your words flow from your fingertips, the characters move of their own volition, and you look at the clock and wonder where the last two hours went and who the heck wrote those 5 pages?  Those are the days when the Muse is friendly.  We like those days!  Then there are those other days, the ones where you can sit for hours and not write a word.  Days where your characters sit down in protest and look to you (of all people!) to tell them what to do.   Days where you write a sentence only to hit the delete button right after you hit the period.  We hate those days.  Writers are creatures of extremes-either it's a great writing day or it's terrible.  Either the Muse was friendly or she never showed up.

Tell me about your Muse.  Male or Female?  Old or Young?  Mine is an Italian grandmother I think.  She hits me on the back of the head and calls me a "stu-nod" (sp?) when I can't think of anything to write or question her abilities.  She gives me guilt when I don't make time for her every day.  And she keeps making me get something to eat when I'm writing!  What is your Muse like?

Now we wait...

So I sent out two picture book manuscripts to an agent.  This is my first submission, so I'm very excited, and very nervous!  I know it's a long shot at this point, but I had to give it a try since this agency has only opened up for unsolicited submissions from scbwi conference attendees for 6 months.  I emailed the cover letter and stories, as per her guidelines, so now we wait.  and wait.  and wait.  By the way, have I mentioned that I am not a patient person?