July 06, 2010

Don't send out the YorkiePoo Brigade!

Happy Belated Independence Day!

In case any of you were thinking of sending your YorkiePoo on a mission to rescue me, I just wanted to pop my head out of my editing cave and let you know that a.) Yes, I'm still alive and b.) Yes, I'm still editing.

Thank you to everyone who left positive, encouraging comments on my last post. I've been keeping up with 90% of the blogs I Follow, and I've been popping onto Twitter occasionally, but I haven't been commenting much. I miss the blogging community, but my thought is that there's no point in being a writer/blogger if I never finish my MS.
My deadline to have my MS beta-ready passed a week ago, but I am still working. I've learned a lot by setting this goal, and it has helped me immensely.

Although my original plan was to edit straight through, I ended up working with a beta throughout, so I have been making corrections as I go along, which has actually worked out great! Setting this goal (and not reaching it) has taught me that, while writing is the best. job. ever, I still need room to be, in the wise words of Maggie Stiefvater (and I so cannot find the link to the blog she wrote about this, so if you have it, please leave it in the comments), I must be something other than a writer.

I've worked harder than I've worked in a long time during the last 3 weeks, but once my husband gets home from work, I want to spend time with him, and once the weekend hits, my life is full of family and fun (and okay, chores). I need recharge time.

Rachelle Gardner posted a blog called How to Become a Better Writer: 11 Completely Non-Writing-Related Ideas that I think every writer should read. It's so true and exactly captures how I feel about the writing/recharging thing.

So yes, I didn't reach my goal in the time I allowed. But I learned that, for my pace and temperament, I didn't give myself enough time. I didn't set a realistic goal. I've learned I just can't writewritewrite with no recharge. I know some people gladly do it, but I'm just not built that way. I want to write, do something else, write, do something else, write, do something else.

And to show you a little of what that 'do something else' entails for me, I wanted to share what I worked on yesterday (while watching HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, no less):


I got the idea for this painting from a home renovations magazine. This is what I hope for it to look like when I'm finished:


*Heads back to my editing cave again.*

 See you in a week or two!

7 comments:

Molly said...

I'm so glad Steffie won't have to go searching. She would wind up stopping along the way for anyone who wants to pet her, and would never get there. :)I can't WAIT to meet Maggie, so you'd better keep revising. :) YOU CAN DO IT!

Rachel Bateman said...

That painting looks awesome!! You will have to post a picture of the final project when you finish. I am sure it will look great.

Unknown said...

Beautiful!! What, I ask you, what could possibly be more fun than doing crafts while watching HP? I can't think of a thing!
I'm glad the editing is going well -- I am with you, I can't write/edit like a machine, and if I do it ends up being crap work anyhow.
KEEP IT UP!!

Anonymous said...

That's so gorgeous! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. :)

Good luck with your MS! I think it's great that you're finding out more about your own writing process through it.

Lydia Kang said...

I did a very similar thing, editing with a beta a few chapters at a time. I liked that a lot! It was nice to get feedback little by little, instead at the end.
Good luck on your edits!

Digital Kitsune said...

The painting has coming along nicely from that one tile you were doing when I was down. Keep it up the final product should look awesome.

Krispy said...

Good luck with your MS!

I'm a little late to this post, but I wanted to say, that is a super cool painting idea, and yours looks to be coming along quite beautifully. Excited to see the finished product!

You might also like...

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...