FUS RO DAH

Well, I did something both stupid and awesome: I bought Skyrim. It's a fantastic game and I'm totally in love with it, but now I'm really, really going to have to push myself to get the writing done. Add in the fact that Mom got me a new DS and N64 so I can play all my other favorite games and then add in Minecraft, and I've got a lot of distractions of the gaming variety to contend with.

Video games, man. They're distracting. Awesome, but distracting.

I have finished edits for issue two of Blood and Lullabies eZine, however, and now it's just a matter of getting things back from my authors, popping off an article in the vein of my "fantasy follies" post from awhile back, and getting it all to Ceri. Not too bad, and the next issue should be out next month. If you haven't subscribed, you can do so at bloodandlullabies.wordpress.com. ;)

It's already three in the afternoon and I've played a lot of Skyrim and Sims today, so I'm going to *try* and dedicate the rest of today to writing and, perhaps, a little bit of cleaning.

This plan will likely fail horribly. But points for trying, right?

Anyway, I hope everybody's having a great week. Ta!

--J.

Editor Mode

So, now that Mires is home and things have settled down, it's time for me to get into Editor Mode and knock out the stuff for issue two of Blood and Lullabies eZine. No word on when it'll be out yet, but it should be before the end of the month. I've got to talk to Ceri and Mires and see if we can get everything together. Everybody's been busy and things have been hectic, so keeping organized has been sort of difficult. I am hoping we can pull things together and get issue two out fairly soon, though.

Speaking of the eZine, if you haven't already, you can like us on Facebook here. I'm about to start trying to post interesting/helpful writing-related links, and I think if we get some more people on the page we can make it something awesome. I enjoy being the high fantasy editor and working on the 'zine, so give us a like and show your support. Invite your friends as well. :)

Since it's five days 'til Christmas (oy), I also have a lot of wrapping and cleaning and babysitting while Mom does her own wrapping and cleaning, so things might be a little slow until after the 26th. If I'm not around before then, I hope you all have a very good holiday (whichever one, since there are lots). Happy writing, too! :)

--Jenna.

Sluggish Wednesday

I haven't exactly gotten a lot done today. Or yesterday. Or Monday. But I *am* getting things done, slowly but surely. I'm in that weird "piecing things back together" stage, and once I can make it through the current chapter, it's going to be interesting, considering I know there's at least half a chapter that has been hardly touched since draft one. I'm not dreading it, it'll just be interesting to see how many things I need to tweak.

I actually woke up really early today, thanks to a text from my friend Charles, but I really haven't done much but Minecraft and Tumblr and read books. And sorta-kinda-not-really-because-it's-easy-material study for my government final tomorrow.

So...I should probably go write, yeah? Mires'll be over tomorrow afternoon, so I dunno how much I'll be getting done over the next few days. I dunno how much I'll be able to post, either, so if I don't see you guys--have a great weekend! :)

--J.

Regular Tuesday

Well, I'm suspending Teaser Tuesday again. I wanted to try and get back into it, but, well, I'm always so hard-pressed to find good teasers that haven't been shared before and don't give away too much. So I suppose, for now, Tuesday is just regular Tuesday.

I don't have too terribly much to say today. This week is sort of bleh since it's finals week, but I only have one left, so I'm trying to get some editing for the eZine in, as well as my own work. I have a full month off for Christmas break, so here's hoping it'll be fairly productive. Mires is spending the weekend here, and I might actually be going to a small Yule get-together, but we'll see.

I'm horribly boring. Derp.

I'm pleased with myself overall, blogging-wise. I've at least been able to keep a semi-regular thing going, here, and now that I'm back with the writing, I'm coming up with more things to say that are actually maybe kind of sort of interesting. I hope.

In any case, there are things to be done, so I'm off for now. Hope everyone's having a great week.

--J.

Bits and Pieces

I went and lost track of the days again, what with the busy weekend and it being finals week. Derp. In any case, I've been trying to get things done, and today I thought I'd share the method that keeps me sane through revisions.

When I'm heavy into revisions and it starts to get daunting, I, personally, run the risk of falling off the wagon. It gets overwhelming sometimes, especially if there's a lot of work to be done, and I just can't always handle the sheer amount. So what do I do? I break it up. If it's really bad, I'll copy-paste each chapter into its own document as I work on it and then copy-paste it back into the main doc when I'm done. Sometimes I'll do it in chapter chunks, or half a chapter at a time.

I've got multiple "editing files" for different projects, and as of right now, I think Pixiehunter is in three, with one being the main doc, one being the chapter I'm working on, and one being everything from the current chapter until the end. It works for me, and usually when a friend says they're getting nothing done revisions-wise, I suggest trying that.

What about you guys? Any revision tricks or methods you'd like to share?

Hope everyone had at least a halfway-decent Monday. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to Minecraft write.

I Have No Idea What Day It Is

I thought yesterday was Wednesday and Wednesday felt like Tuesday and I only just now realized it's Friday. It *is* Friday, right? I think it is. I'm pretty sure it is.

In any case, as far as the WiP Wednesday updates, there were few, and even fewer since. I'm smacked into a chapter that needs a new scene added and a good deal chopped, thanks to a plot point that's no longer as important, and then it's back into the section that needs a few revisions and a new scene or two but not much else. It'll be a bit difficult, but if I work at it, I'm good. My goal is to have revisions wrapped by the time my Christmas break ends (and since it hasn't quite started yet, I'll have plenty of time), and after that, it'll be a read-through for line edits and touch-ups and I'll be done.

I have finals next week, save the one I had yesterday (don't ask me how that went. Just don't.), so I dunno how active I'll be here on the blog. They're for the classes I'm not worried about, though, so I'm sure I'll be fine.

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to re-read The Hunger Games. Because the Girl on Fire is my hero.

Catch you folks later.
-J.

Oh. Hey. It's Tuesday.

I forgot. Oops. But before Nate calls and I wind down for the evening, here's a bit of a teaser for you lovely readers, from chapter three (The Maid):

Eleanor Nerys woke beneath her mother’s house, curled in the dirt and tucked away in a corner no daylight could reach. Though the scent of the earth greeted her upon waking, it wasn’t the familiar, vibrant smell of home—it was cold dirt, rancid decay, and despair.

Why? Why had she come back here? Of all the hiding places in the city, she had to pick the one that could drive her insane. The one place that held memories with the power to cripple her.

But it had been so long that everything, from Market Street to the neighborhood where she’d grown up, had changed. The house was the only place she still knew; the only thing that stayed the same—bleak, dank, lonely.

She wiped the sleep from her eyes, smearing dirt across her face. She had to get out. She’d hidden beneath piles of trash in a back alley during the Pixiehunters’ attack, and it was a damned miracle they hadn’t already found her. It was another miracle her friends had escaped without getting themselves killed. 

And Now Back to the Rewrites

I've done a hell of a lot over the past few days. I've gone back through and completely wrapped chapters one through fourteen of The Pixiehunter, and I'm now better set on the rewrites that need to be done over the next few chapters. There are a couple chapters that almost seemed rushed, but now the flow is much better and I feel like everything's coming together quite nicely. Thanks to writing a bit of the hypothetical sequel and going back through the first chapters, I know what I need to add and how I need to change the ending, and all's well thus far.

I'm not a fan of doing rewrites, but they're shaping up to much easier than I'd hoped. So far, that is. I think chapter fifteen is the one that needs the heaviest amount of work, and I'm working on that now. I think I'm doing pretty well. I'm going to try and get back with my crit pals and see if they'll go over everything with me, and then once I'm finished I'll do a final read-through just to make sure it, y'know, actually reads like a good book.

I'm happy. My finals start next week, and my last day of classes is coming up. I'll have a month off before the next semester starts, and in that time I plan to have this thing completely wrapped and ready for my crit pals to read, if they're up for it.

It's good to have plans, yes? :)

Hope everyone has had a great weekend.

--J.

Paragraph Numero Uno

So now that NaNoWriMo is finished for another year, I'm back to working on revisions for The Pixiehunter. I'm giving chapter one a pass-through, because it's one of the chapters that I'm just not sure about. It's almost spot-on, but...well, it's the first paragraph.

First paragraphs are hard, and everybody seems to have their own rules. You're not supposed to start with dialogue, they say, or somebody waking up from a deep sleep (or any sleep at all). They tell you to always put your main character's name in the first sentence, or they tell you not to. Somebody gives one "rule," somebody else gives one that contradicts it. It kind of sucks. Which is why I ignore all the rules and do what I want.

Still. The first paragraph of The Pixiehunter breaks one of the major "rules," and I'm kind of worried that, even though I feel it's done well, others might think it's sloppy. It's bugging me. I can't really think of another way to do it, though, so I'm trying not to worry too much. I've been told it's good and it sets the story off on the right foot, so I suppose if readers like it, it's fine the way it is.

Why are first paragraphs so difficult? Because it's the first thing people will read. They tell you it has to be grabbing and interesting and exciting. It has to make a random guy in the bookstore want to take it home (me, though, I read a random paragraph in the middle of the book).

So, yes. First paragraphs. Hate 'em, love 'em, they're always a pain in the ass. Do you guys have any sort of "rules" you follow for paragraph numero uno?

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday. :)

--J.

Thoughts on Freelancing

Being almost eighteen, and being a broke college freshman, money and jobs have been on my mind lately. A lot. I need to start saving to move out, to buy my own food, to pay for my car insurance and gas money, to pay off my library fees, to etc. etc. etc. The problem is, as we all know, that the economy...well, it's kind of crappy right now. And that's probably an understatement.

I live in an area where, at the moment, most jobs hiring are either looking for people over eighteen or looking for people with more experience than I have, so my options are a bit limited at the moment. Once my birthday hits, I'll be applying for more jobs, but until then, I've been trying to do some more writing for Associated Content. For those of you who are my friends on Facebook, you may have seen my status about getting my first payment.

It was awesome.

That brings me to my topic today: freelancing and making money from writing online. Once I'm 18, I can get paid per article on AC in addition to page views, and once I'm 18 I can also monetize this blog and make some money from ads. I hate ads as much as the next person, but I'm going to need every bit of money I can get, so it's an option I really want to consider. Also, once I'm 18, I can hopefully expand and write for more online markets. I'm also debating trying to write for magazines, but, honestly, I'm not quite sure where to start.

So I turn to you, my readers: do you have any advice, tips, tricks, or general knowledge about freelance writing, for magazines or the Internet? And would you consider unfollowing this blog should I turn on ads?

Thanks in advance to everyone who comments. I hope you're all having a good day. :)

--J.