Oh so quiet!

Update! I am still working on Holly's How To Think Sideways and it is really great! I just don't have a lot of time even though I should make time. I have bought a lot of classes from Holly. One of them, How To Publish When You're Broke, contains a revision lesson titled, One-Pass Manuscript Revision: From First Draft to Last in One Cycle. It is available on her blog at http://hollylisle.com/one-pass-manuscript-revision-from-first-draft-to-last-in-one-cycle/ and I recommend it.

I have also been reading a great marketing book titled, SMART Social Media for Authors by Chris Syme. It is filled with great ways to increase your writing presence and sales on social media. I recommend this, too.

I will be transitioning this blog to a website in the near future so watch for it!

July 2015

 Although I have not published a post in a while, I have been busy. I started the How To Write Sideways course by Holly Lisle in February and I have to say it is really great. Some people can come up with ideas fully formulated while others, like me, run into problems along the way. Maybe I start out with a great idea but come up short on conflict. Maybe my characters aren't as fully formed as I would like them to be. Etc. Etc. This course uses both the left brain and right brain to generate ideas and never be at a loss to write, how to plan a book, and how to write between genres. My description really isn't doing it justice. It is the best writing instruction I have ever read. Check it out  here.

I have also been working on flash fiction, fiction which clocks in at 500 words or less. I am hoping to have these stories up on my new website, which is also a work in progress. Too much to do, so little time in which to do it.

Nanowrimo Winner!

I am the worst blogger in the whole world! I just finished Nanowrimo 2014. This time I used it to further the paranormal novel I am writing about gypsy witches living in modern day Chicago. The hardest part is constructing the rules by which the world operates. Everything has to be thought out.

No NaNoWriMo For Me

Yes, it is November, but no, I am not doing NaNoWriMo this year. I considered it briefly, but decided not to. I already know that I can pound out a 50,000 word novel. Can I write a 90,000 word novel? I have started working on a trilogy that requires a lot of research. I want to make sure all my facts are straight and details are worked out before I take the plunge. I am terrible at revision. I can type up 50,000 words that make no coherent sense with the promise of editing later, but I won't.

So, no NaNoWriMo for me this year.

Spring in Colorado means lots and lots of snow, apparently

It has been a rough four months.

My original goal of having my novel out by the end of January was pushed back due to illness, then more illness, then a tragic family event, and now here I am at the end of April. At least I have a book open namely, the 2012 Guide to Literary Agents. My novel is finished. As an aside, I just opened up the novel's Word file and the last time I opened it was exactly one month ago. It is time to start the next chapter of this life.

I have identified an agent to whom I will submit my novel. She wants a 1-2 page synopsis along with the first 10 pages of my book. So does that mean a query letter, too? From what I am reading, no. A query letter contains three paragraphs: the hook, a short synopsis, and a writer's bio. So no, I guess that I don't need a traditional query letter.

I am terrible at this sort of thing.

I am also going to identify other agents to submit to if the original one passes. My family has asked me  why I don't self publish but I think I will do that when I have been thoroughly rejected by everyone. I haven't even been told I am awful by the proper Writing Officials™ so what did I know? 

I'll keep you posted, as always.

Oh, and I added a Goodreads widget to the blog that highlights what I am reading right now. 

Wow

A whole year has went by and I haven't posted once! Terrible. To be fair, 2012 was a terrible year. Let's not talk about it.

I have been busy. I have been editing my novel religiously, although I did miss my deadline of 1/31/13 to have it finished. I was stuck on Chapter 13, an unlucky number, true. I just could not get over the direction one of the male characters took. But, after talking to my husband about male behavior, I left it in. So, I am now on Chapter 15 out of 23 chapters. I am going to market it as a transformative tale wherein a young woman learns to trust herself.

I have also made several resolutions for the new year:

-Sell Tomorrow's June, the novel mentioned above.
-Write and sell two short stories. I already have one that needs tweaking but I have a great idea for another one.
-Make writing and editing a habit.
-Get my other romance novel ready for sale. This is more of a traditional romance set in modern times. It needs tweaking.
-Develop new projects. My husband and I have several ideas for books and screenplays we want to develop.
-Finish Buy Here, Pay Here, my screenplay about the car lot.

Last year was not a total loss. I started reading novels voraciously, particularly romance novels because I have to know what the market is like. I found a few great ones: the Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning rocked; I loved Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark; and last, but not least, The Fallen Angels from J.R. Ward, which brings me to my next topic. I was so taken by the male lead in the Fallen Angels series, Jim Heron, that I devoted NaNoWriMo 12 to writing a fanfic novel about how the series ends. Ward is positioning Heron to have a happily ever after (HEA) with a 19-year-old virgin named Sissy. This won't do. I didn't want my poor mom to continue to listen to my outrage over this blasphemy, so I wrote an alternate series-ending novel where he ends up with someone more suited to him. Like me. The exercise accomplished three things: first to show that I can pound out a novel in a month, like old times, and have it be good with just a bit of mild tweaking needed; second, to get me back into a writing habit; and third, to show that I could write fanfiction. I won't offer it for sale because the characters are Ward's and it would be nearly impossible to change the particulars, but at least I know I can do it.

I also transferred my domain name to a new web host and I bought www.carolinefuller.com. Caroline Fuller is the name I am going use to write. Caroline Fritz is too tied up with work. Although I am working on a romance novel writing name like Anastasia Caldwell. I don't know. The new website is not up and running yet. I am going to work on it in between everything else. I will keep you posted as to when it is up and running, again.

I  envision 2013 being a productive, successful year. I also was just promoted to editor of my own magazine, so I will be busy, but it is a good busy.

End of year

Well, I will start this off by not apologizing for not writing because it only calls attention to it!

I took classes again this semester, a non-fiction workshop and a capstone class for seniors in the writing program. I read a lot of really great books and some that were disturbing. Good ones were Carrie by Stephen King, You Believers by Jane Bradley, American Pastoral by Philip Roth, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, and poetry by Tim Geiger and Ashley McHugh. The reading was helpful to me in learning about structure. I think I knew about structure without actually knowing I knew it.

I have also come to the conclusion that I don't read enough. And I have not been writing at all. I really suck. I am reading The Cider House Rules by John Irving right now and I wanted to save this passage because it is really beautiful:

"Spring in St. Cloud's meant trouble; drinking trouble, brawling trouble, whoring and raping trouble. Spring was the suicide season. In spring, the seeds for an orphanage were planted and overplanted."

Very nice.

Because I was so busy with school, I did not do Nanowrimo this year. I thought I would feel bad for missing it, but come to find out I didn't miss it at all. Probably because I have so many novels in various states of flux that I can't possibly be burdened with another one.

That being said, I am taking classes again next semester with the promise to read even more and work on my novel. I think "A Middle Distance" because that one has the most promise and seems pretty grown up to me.

Oh, and I moving to Colorado in the next couple of months. Should be interesting.