>>>–4EVR—>

The title means a lot.

I got it to Trisha Telep in time, heard back that I’d made the deadline—and we are NOT going to talk about the morning-to-next-morning hours I worked for several days getting that revision done. What was supposed to have been a 6500-word story that might creep up to 7000 words became a 12,000 word PROJECT.

But I love the story. And when The Mammoth Book of Ghost Romance comes out, it’ll be in there.

Meanwhile, with that done, I’m holding firm to my commitment to the Write A Book With Me project.

To that end…

TALYSMANA is live again. I finished chapter 26, posted chapter 26, and am prepped to do 10 minutes or 300 words a day on this from now until I wrap the first draft of the project.

What this means for Write A Book With Me folks is that we’re jumping BACK to the TalysMana blog, because that’s my WABWM project. You’ll note that Write A Book With Me now has its own tab at the top of the weblog, too.

Post your wordcounts and progress to the most recent post tagged Write A Book With Me. I can’t promise to post every day. I’ll do my best.

The story in first draft runs 7641 words.

I always add some words in second draft, because my first drafts run lean.

I like my ending, I like the twist I got, and I definitely did not see the last bit going the way it did.

I’m going to collect my short paranormals into a Kindle edition, I think, after this story comes out. Probably throw in a couple of original short shorts, and maybe some other things.

So. Anyway. That was my words.

How did yours go?

I currently have 6242 words total. Damn close to my minimum word count.

I know I skimmed a few things, and this second half of the story will require more revision than the first half, I think. But I’ll have it done in time, and off to the editor.

And I like the story. Looking forward to writing the ending. Maybe tomorrow.

I’m enjoying reading how your words are coming. How did your writing go today?

I was pretty ragged.

But I woke up late today, and knew where the next part of my ghost story had to go.

And I got 1832 words, and a complete scene plus change, and revamped the last bit of my outline, tossing one plot card and rewriting the other two.

The story is about an artist-turned-photographer in love with a singer-songwriter who got her first big break, then disappeared three years ago, while on tour.

The way the concept for the story came to me was in a series of sketches and photographs that appeared in my mind’s eye. They didn’t seem to have anything to do with each other.

• A young woman on a picnic blanket.
• A young woman on a record cover, back to the viewer and guitar in hand.
• A girl crying in the rain.
• A girl on a bus.

I tossed the crying-in-the-rain image today, when I figured out that a strip of those photo-booth pictures you get in malls would work better.

And the story is fascinating me in the manner that it comes together. My main character, the hero, picks up a picture on the back of which the heroine has scrawled a note, steps back in time to when the picture happened, and then steps forward in time to the present moment, and the clue his lost love has left him. (No actual time travel is involved—I just do his memories as if they were happening at that moment.)

I haven’t tried this method of presenting a story before, and while I love the way it’s coming together, I may be in for a hefty revision when I go back and read through it once I finish it.

I’m three scenes from done, though—wordcount-wise, more than halfway home. I have 4531 total, the agreement calls for 6500 or more, and I suspect I’m going to run pretty close to 8000.

That’s me.

What about you?

By the way, if you’re playing Write A Book With Me, you’ll see that the game has its own dropdown link in the top menu now. I figure this will make it easier for everyone to find the most recent post.

But tonight, I made time to work on my ghost story again, and got 696 words.

The story flowed, I got a nice twist to end the scene, and a heart carved into a tree turned out to be much more meaninful than I’d imagined when I tossed it into the first scene.

So. How about you? Good words? Cool ideas. Anything fun going on with your writing?

I like working with her, and I enjoy the odd work of doing short stories, so in spite of my schedule, I told her I’d come up with a story for The Mammoth Book Of Ghost Romance (I may have the title wrong here–don’t hold me to it).

Anyway. I have to have it to her by the end of the month. I did 999 words last week, and 1001 tonight. I have 5000 words to go. So I’ll be writing faster than usual to get this done and still have time to edit it.

Tomorrow, I dig into the HTTS Walkthrough. Tonight, though, was for the sort of side project that just makes you grin.

Anybody still here with me? If so, how are your words coming along. I’ve missed WABWM.

Site set-up, lesson template setup, student set-up.

Today I did workflow setup. Because I’m doing two projects at once, and because one is nonfiction and one is fiction, and because they are inextricably locked together like Siamese twins—and because both are MASSIVE projects, either of which could sink me if I don’t plan well—I built something different.

I made organizer wallpaper for my desktop. I then set up my desktop with all my templates and files and folders either to the side, or right on the spot where I’ll need to use them. Workflow is top to bottom, and left to right.

And Saturday is my day off, dammit. Except for today.

A bit of organizational coolness against the coming storm. I’ll let you know how it works.

I’m back now, and ready to get down to the cool stuff, but before I get to that, here’s where I’ve been, and why:

After losing just about six months last year to constant migraines, vertigo, and there for a while the dread that I was going to drop dead any minute, I took time off from all my work except for answering customer service e-mails. I was off from December 17th to January 10th. Which is why there were no writing diary posts, no regular e-mails, and nothing else from me.

During that time, I didn’t have a single migraine, I only had one regular headache, and I had no vertigo. And I thought, cool. Rest fixed it. I’m all better.

Within two days of getting back to work, I was having migraines again. Every day. My second week back to work, the vertigo came back. Granted, I was doing taxes, dealing with a massive software glitch on one of my sites and world’s worst customer service, and updating websites, and it was frustrating, exhausting, and—except for spiffing up the sites, which was fun—it sucked.

But it had to be done, so I gritted my teeth and did it.

It demonstrated something I’d started to suspect when my vacation cured the migraines and vertigo, though. I can’t prove causation, but I have a strong enough correlation to think the migraines and the vertigo are both work-and-stress induced.

But a girl’s gotta eat. And if you wanna eat—at least in the world of the self-employed—you gotta work.

Enough background. Move to what’s cool.

I put together my schedule for the year, and did everything I could to make it sane, livable, cool, and fun for myself, while allowing me to fulfill promises I made last year before my life went south on me. My main objective in this is to create wonderful things while not living in daily pain—but I hope what I have planned will be fun for you, too.

So here’s my 2011.

January.

Educational, but already gone, eaten alive by income tax prep and upgrading websites. Taxes are done, websites not so much. Such is life.

February.

Starting today, actually. I’m doing the new stand-alone course How To Write A Series (which will also be the free graduation bonus for How To Revise Your Novel students who complete the course).

• Week 1: Fundamentals
  • The 192 different types of series (yes, really—there are 192, and you’ll learn to identify every single one
  • How to make sense of them
  • How to choose the series type that’s right for you
  • Designing your series (It’s going to be a busy week)

  Lesson will post on Feb. 7th, Live chat will be on Feb. 9th.

• Week 2: Writing Your First Book
  • Presenting your characters
  • Establishing your world
  • Using your limitations
  • Controlling your story
  • Bringing in your ending

  Lesson will post on Feb. 14th, Live chat will be on Feb. 16th.

• Week 3: Maintaining Your Series
  • Tracking and connecting your stories
  • Developing and using timelines and other series tools
  • Planning and writing follow-up novels
  • Designing a bullet-proof exit strategy

  Lesson will post on Feb. 21st, Live chat will be on Feb. 23rd.

• Live discussion: Q & A
  • If you’ve taken the course as I’m creating it, you can buy one of a limited number of tickets to attend the live session after Lesson 4 with me where I’ll answer questions on your series and brainstorm with you, or…
  • You can send your questions to me beforehand at a special e-mail address, and I’ll answer the best of them during the same live session.
  • Either way, every student will have access to the video and transcript of the Week 4 Q & A, which I’ll post to your student page as quickly as possible after the live session.

  Lesson will post on Feb. 28th, Q & A will be on March. 2nd.

IMPORTANT: The How To Write A Series course has ONLY one live Q&A at the very end of the course.

The HTTS Walkthough has weekly live chats. I wrote this post sometime after 1 a.m. this morning, I had been working since eight in the morning, and I got the details of the two courses mixed up. I apologize for the error.

If you receive the course as your graduation gift for completing How To Revise Your Novel, it is, of course, free.

March

Starting March 7th, I’ll begin creating content for the first month of the long-awaited, long-delayed How To Think Sideways Walkthrough. There’s been a lot of speculation about the Walkthrough. So here’s what it it, and how it will work.

I have to get the third book of the Moon & Sun series done this year. The kids who want to read it have waited too long already. So for the walkthrough, I’m going week by week through my own Think Sideways process, building Book III while I document what I’m doing and why. Documentation will take the form of notes, screen shots, new Technique videos (with transcripts), and pdf mini-lessons where I think they’ll add value and give you something new and useful. (I learn something with every book I write. I don’t know what I’ll learn this time, but when I learn it, so will you.)

Each week I’ll also offer a VERY space-limited, first-come, first-serve video session where I’ll take questions from students about problems they’re having with that week’s lesson in relation to their current project, and I’ll use a whiteboard to brainstorm directions they can take with problems that are stalling their stories. There will be an additional charge for the live session. ALL students will receive these videos (plus MP3s and PDF transcripts) as part of their course, as quickly as I can upload each. (TRANSCRIPTS TAKE LONGER. I have to pay someone to do them, and the person I hire has to do each one by hand.)

Either way, you’ll learn how to troubleshoot problems with your story by seeing it done live, and hearing the back-and-forth discussion between the students in the live session and me.

Current students, students who join How To Think Sideways before March 1st, and course grads will all receive the walkthrough at no extra charge. The price of How To Think Sideways will go up on March 11th, when I upload the first new material, to reflect the added content. All students who join the course on March 11th or later will pay the new price.

April – September

The HTTS walkthrough, writing Moon & Sun Book 3, revising Book III, and sending it off to my agent.

October

Start the loooong-delayed Holly Lisle’s Create A World Clinic.

November

Finish Create A World Clinic and make it available through Novel-Writing School, and via Kindle, iBook, and Nook.

December

Off. I’m going to need it.

January 2012

Tax prep. Oh goodie.

…After that…

I’ll surprise you. I have some things already on the calendar. But it’s not full, so I’ll surprise me, too.

But THAT’S NOT ALL…

Because Rebel Tales now has full editors who have their full season guidelines posted, we’re now open for story submissions in a BIG way. Writers, I’ve made resources easier to find, and have made the query desk one clink from any page on the main site.

WE WANT STORIES!

Join us in our quest to create a great new serialzine while bringing back the midlist, and to create writers who are making a living from their writing while writing great stories.

Ask questions here, let me know what you think.

I figured out how Jace’s job works, which is a big deal, because she ends up with just about the most dangerous job in the universe.

Use this thread for WABWM for the next few days. I’ll do my best to write more this week, but I’ve been trying my best to get the site fixed up before I take the Christmas/ New Year holidays off to spend with family, and I don’t know that I’ll have the opportunity to work on it again before I come back next year.

January 10th is my “end of vacation” return date. I’ll be doing customer service during my vacation because I don’t want to shut down all the courses—but that’s it.

Anyway. How did your words go?

Each of them is determined to get the other to work the way they think work should be done. A baseball bat gets frequent mention in tonight’s scene.

The story is up to 9,677 words, 709 of which I wrote tonight. And at this point, I have diverged enough from my outline that I’m going to run over the 12,000-word-limit I set for myself.

I may end up cutting in revision. I may not. I really like what I got, though. I had fun writing it, and I made myself laugh a couple times.

So. After days and days of not writing any fiction, I’m back on the board.

How are your words coming?