Jennifer Echols's Blog, page 6

Public Shame Writing Challenge day 8--last goal, make it count!

I said I would finish revising chapter 1 yesterday and I didn't. I did, however, write a lot of the new chapter 1 and parts of other chapters too, mostly in purple pen, which I have the pleasure of typing up this morning. Shame asked me on a date and I said yes, but then I didn't have time to go with him so I stood him up.

Over the weekend I need to revise the first half of this book. NO PROBLEM

Now you:

1. Who you are
2. What sort of book you're writing
3. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, because this is a writing community: cheers and well wishes for the person who posted right above you
4. How many words you said you would write on day 8
5. How many words you actually wrote on day 8 (NO EXCUSES--you did or you didn't)
6. How many words you're going to write on days 9, 10, and 11. Our last check-in is on Monday, so make sure this is a goal that you can achieve and that you can be proud of.

Public Shame Writing Challenge day 7

I said I would write 3800 yesterday. I wrote a couple of thousand before shame took me out for dinner. *burp*

Today I'm going to get through writing a new chapter 1. This revision is all about chapters rather than word count methinks.

Now for some bad (maybe) news. I'm going to shut down the PSWC on Monday because so many people have dropped out. That means we'll report for today (the 8th) and then for the 9th-11th. So make these pledges count. We've already gotten so much more done than if we'd collapsed after NaNo!

Now you:

1. Who you are
2. What sort of book you're writing
3. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, because this is a writing community: cheers and well wishes for the person who posted right above you
4. How many words you said you would write on day 7
5. How many words you actually wrote on day 7 (NO EXCUSES--you did or you didn't)
6. How many words you're going to write on day 8

Public Shame Writing Challenge day 6

Wow. I said I would write 2000 words yesterday and I wrote 200. That means I have to write 3800 today. And I am not kidding, because yesterday afternoon I had another call with my editor and found out my revision of Such a Rush is due on the 16th. At 1 p.m. I really pinned her down on this because victoria_dahl and I have decided in the past that if the time is not otherwise specified, the due date for a manuscript lasts until 11:59 p.m. But not this one. It's due right before the Simon & Schuster holiday party.

Let's all pull ourselves out of these doldrums!

1. Who you are
2. What sort of book you're writing
3. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, because this is a writing community: cheers and well wishes for the person who posted right above you
4. How many words you said you would write on day 6
5. How many words you actually wrote on day 6 (NO EXCUSES--you did or you didn't)
6. How many words you're going to write on day 7

THE ONE THAT I WANT e-book is out today!

You can download it right now! The paperback will be in stores on February 7.

It is completely coincidental but very fitting that my book shares its birthday with a special person. Gemma, the heroine of this book, is a majorette in the marching band. When I told my friends Jessica and Amy, who were majorettes in my marching band, that I needed their help writing a book, they knew exactly where their batons were and gave me a demonstration on Amy's lawn. Jessica is turning 21 for the umpteenth time today, and Amy (to whom The Ex Games is also dedicated--I pretty much mine Amy's life for my books) is turning 21 for the umpteenth time on Sunday. Happy birthday to my dear friends, and thank you.

THE ONE THAT I WANT

It's so wrong when your best friend catches your Mr. Right!

Gemma can't believe her luck when the star football player starts flirting with her. Max is totally swoon-worthy, and even gets her quirky sense of humor. So when he asks out her so-called best friend Addison, Gemma's heartbroken.

Then Addison pressures Gemma to join the date with one of Max's friends. But the more time they all spend together, the harder Gemma falls for Max. She can't help thinking that Max likes her back—it's just too bad he's already dating Addison. How can Gemma get the guy she wants without going after her best friend's boyfriend?

Published by Simon Pulse, a division of Simon & Schuster.

♥ E-book on sale now! Download from iTunes, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.

ISBN-10: 1442441933; ISBN-13: 9781442441934.

♥ Paperback in stores February 7! Pre-order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Books-A-Million.

ISBN-10: 1442452366; ISBN-13: 9781442452367.

If you're looking for the Public Shame Writing Challenge--no, I haven't forgotten!--scroll down...)

Public Shame Writing Challenge day 5

I said I would figure out the revision of SUCH A RUSH yesterday, and I did! Today I will write 2000 words. Yes I will. I will NOT watch the sales rank for The One That I Want on Amazon. That is so last year.

*ahem*

How about you? Get fired up, people! We're not in the holidays yet!

1. Who you are
2. What sort of book you're writing
3. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, because this is a writing community: cheers and well wishes for the person who posted right above you
4. How many words you said you would write on day 5
5. How many words you actually wrote on day 5 (NO EXCUSES--you did or you didn't)
6. How many words you're going to write on day 6

Public Shame Writing Challenge days 2, 3, and 4

I said I would write 3000 words over the weekend and I wrote very little. I am trying to shut down STAR CROSSED in my brain while I open SUCH A RUSH again to revise it, and I am not doing a good job so far. Switching is hard for me.

I hate gelatinous goals but I have one for today: to figure out what the revision is going to be and get my head into it. The revision is due before Christmas.

I'm still going to revise this book, write a new proposal, and finish writing STAR CROSSED by January 15. I find December to be a really productive time of year, despite that fact that I have relatives to see and my son will be home from school. Maybe this is because it's so dark out, and Alabama is beautiful at this time of year in a desolate way that I find romantic. I wrote all of MAJOR CRUSH in December 2004, and that was before I had deadlines.

I do think I'll shut down the PSWC over the holidays, though, for the period my son is out of school: December 21 to January 4. Judging from the response on day 1, I'm wondering if there's waning interest anyway as the holidays near. But if everybody wanted to, we could pick it back up on January 5, when everybody is supercharged.

How about you?

1. Who you are
2. What sort of book you're writing
3. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, because this is a writing community: cheers and well wishes for the person who posted right above you
4. How many words you said you would write on days 2, 3, and 4
5. How many words you actually wrote on days 2, 3, and 4 (NO EXCUSES--you did or you didn't)
6. How many words you're going to write on day 5

Public Shame Writing Challenge day 1

So sorry to be posting late. LiveJournal was wigging out this morning.

I said I would write 500 words of my adult romantic comedy STAR CROSSED yesterday, and I wrote 536. I am thrilled to have exceeded my very low expectations.

In eleven minutes I am having a conversation with my brand new (to me) editor about revising SUCH A RUSH. I cannot even describe to you how my stomach feels. Suffice it to say that if you ever wondered whether nervousness about revision requests goes away eventually...if by "eventually" you mean "after an author has written and revised eight books," the answer would be "NO."

Before I knew I was about to have this conversation, I was planning to write 3000 words of STAR CROSSED over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Now I guess I'm going to write 3000 words of STAR CROSSED and this revision. Also maybe cry a lot. I will let you know.

EDITED TO ADD: Convo with editor was so extremely awesome. Stomach no longer hurts. Thanks for listening.

How about you?

1. Who you are
2. What sort of book you're writing
3. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, because this is a writing community: cheers and well wishes for the person who posted right above you
4. How many words you said you would write on day 1
5. How many words you actually wrote on day 1 (NO EXCUSES--you did or you didn't) and whether shame is at your house, watching reruns of Saved by the Bell and eating the marshmallows out of your Lucky Charms
6. How many words you're going to write on days 2, 3, and 4

Public Shame Writing Challenge day 2

So sorry to be posting late. LiveJournal was wigging out this morning.

I said I would write 500 words of my adult romantic comedy STAR CROSSED yesterday, and I wrote 536. I am thrilled to have exceeded my very low expectations.

In eleven minutes I am having a conversation with my brand new (to me) editor about revising SUCH A RUSH. I cannot even describe to you how my stomach feels. Suffice it to say that if you ever wondered whether nervousness about revision requests goes away eventually...if by "eventually" you mean "after an author has written and revised eight books," the answer would be "NO."

Before I knew I was about to have this conversation, I was planning to write 3000 words of STAR CROSSED over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Now I guess I'm going to write 3000 words of STAR CROSSED and this revision. Also maybe cry a lot. I will let you know.

EDITED TO ADD: Convo with editor was so extremely awesome. Stomach no longer hurts. Thanks for listening.

How about you?

1. Who you are
2. What sort of book you're writing
3. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, because this is a writing community: cheers and well wishes for the person who posted right above you
4. How many words you said you would write on day 1
5. How many words you actually wrote on day 1 (NO EXCUSES--you did or you didn't) and whether shame is at your house, watching reruns of Saved by the Bell and eating the marshmallows out of your Lucky Charms
6. How many words you're going to write on days 2, 3, and 4

Public Shame Writing Challenge starts today!

First of all, congratulations to all of you who won NaNoWriMo this year! That is a lot of people and no easy feat, as you know!

Congratulations are also in order for all of you who didn't win but wrote a huge amount. And those of you who wrote more than you would have otherwise. And those of you who simply learned something about yourselves as writers this month, such as that you spend more time than you thought you did on Twitter.

If NaNoWriMo touched you in any way this year, please consider going over to their web site and donating $10 to this wonderful nonprofit organization.

Also, if you live around Birmingham, I hope you will attend the after party tonight at Moe's BBQ at 6:30. See the Birmingham NaNo e-mails for details. I won't be able to attend as I'd planned because of my very common Child Care Issues, but I know it will be a good time. While you're there, please thank Jared Millet, who has done such a wonderful job of organizing NaNo events this year, and who won last night for the 5th year in a row! Or just pat him on the back and thank him because he is a librarian. Either one.

Well! Several of you have expressed interest in MORE NANO, because you didn't do so hot the first time around, or because you did great but you're not finished with your project yet. I thought this would be a good time to resurrect the Public Shame Writing Challenge. Just set your own goal every day. The next day, come back and tell us how you did. Fittingly, a movie called SHAME is coming out tomorrow! I saw the trailer on TV last night. I probably shouldn't post it on a blog with a lot of YA-type people happening by, but it seems to be about shame having multiple partners. Let's make sure they're not us.

So! Here are my Public Shame projects. I need to write another 30,000 words or so to finish STAR CROSSED, my first adult romantic comedy with Pocket Books, which is what I was working on during NaNo. I need to write a new YA proposal. The wild card is the revision letter for SUCH A RUSH, my YA romantic drama out next July 10. I'm expecting the letter any second now, and since I haven't worked with this editor before, it could be good and it could be very, very bad. I don't think I can do all this by December 31, so I'm aiming for January 15.

I would really like to take the day off today, but I'm not going to, and here's why. I joke that I don't know anything about writing or the publishing biz, but here is something I do know, and I think this is actually pretty good advice for those of you who wrote a lot of NaNo this month and are thinking of setting your book aside for a while, even though you're not done.

It is very hard for me to get into a book. There is a zone where I understand the characters, and new scenes come to me unbidden. Once I'm there, it's great--I was there for the past three days or I wouldn't have been able to write 15,000 words in that period--but it takes me a long time to get there in the first place, which is why the going was so slow for me at the beginning of the month. And it only takes one day for me to get out of the zone again. The longer I stay away, the farther from the zone I will be, and the longer it will take for me to get back in.

That's why I'm writing 500 words of STAR CROSSED today. I need a breather but not a break.

How about you? What's your goal for today? Or just tell us about your NaNo experience, now that we have all come blinking into the light.

Public Shame Writing Challenge day 1

First of all, congratulations to all of you who won NaNoWriMo this year! That is a lot of people and no easy feat, as you know!

Congratulations are also in order for all of you who didn't win but wrote a huge amount. And those of you who wrote more than you would have otherwise. And those of you who simply learned something about yourselves as writers this month, such as that you spend more time than you thought you did on Twitter.

If NaNoWriMo touched you in any way this year, please consider going over to their web site and donating $10 to this wonderful nonprofit organization.

Also, if you live around Birmingham, I hope you will attend the after party tonight at Moe's BBQ at 6:30. See the Birmingham NaNo e-mails for details. I won't be able to attend as I'd planned because of my very common Child Care Issues, but I know it will be a good time. While you're there, please thank Jared Millet, who has done such a wonderful job of organizing NaNo events this year, and who won last night for the 5th year in a row! Or just pat him on the back and thank him because he is a librarian. Either one.

Well! Several of you have expressed interest in MORE NANO, because you didn't do so hot the first time around, or because you did great but you're not finished with your project yet. I thought this would be a good time to resurrect the Public Shame Writing Challenge. Just set your own goal every day. The next day, come back and tell us how you did. Fittingly, a movie called SHAME is coming out tomorrow! I saw the trailer on TV last night. I probably shouldn't post it on a blog with a lot of YA-type people happening by, but it seems to be about shame having multiple partners. Let's make sure they're not us.

So! Here are my Public Shame projects. I need to write another 30,000 words or so to finish STAR CROSSED, my first adult romantic comedy with Pocket Books, which is what I was working on during NaNo. I need to write a new YA proposal. The wild card is the revision letter for SUCH A RUSH, my YA romantic drama out next July 10. I'm expecting the letter any second now, and since I haven't worked with this editor before, it could be good and it could be very, very bad. I don't think I can do all this by December 31, so I'm aiming for January 15.

I would really like to take the day off today, but I'm not going to, and here's why. I joke that I don't know anything about writing or the publishing biz, but here is something I do know, and I think this is actually pretty good advice for those of you who wrote a lot of NaNo this month and are thinking of setting your book aside for a while, even though you're not done.

It is very hard for me to get into a book. There is a zone where I understand the characters, and new scenes come to me unbidden. Once I'm there, it's great--I was there for the past three days or I wouldn't have been able to write 15,000 words in that period--but it takes me a long time to get there in the first place, which is why the going was so slow for me at the beginning of the month. And it only takes one day for me to get out of the zone again. The longer I stay away, the farther from the zone I will be, and the longer it will take for me to get back in.

That's why I'm writing 500 words of STAR CROSSED today. I need a breather but not a break.

How about you? What's your goal for today? Or just tell us about your NaNo experience, now that we have all come blinking into the light.