Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 302

Men of Mystery

I may not have been too terribly upset with the actual writing on this resurrected project, but then it occurred to me that I was showing signs of a bad habit that I think I've broken since I wrote this thing -- having people talk about stuff instead of doing it. I had pages and pages of dialogue with no action -- really, lots of "sequel" with people talking about what to do next and next to no "scene" with them actually doing anything. There were moments when I wondered if it would have just be

Blasts from the Past

Yesterday I did the scariest part of resurrecting an old project: I re-read what I'd already written. I always cringe a bit when doing that because it can be rather eye-opening. I'm detached enough from the process of writing it to be totally objective, which means I spot all the annoying writing habits, plot problems, etc. I would hope I've grown as a writer in the past couple of years, so this trip back in time can be uncomfortable. It wasn't too bad, but there's going to be a lot of re-writin

Weekend Excitement

Apparently, today is Star Wars day: May the Fourth be with you! (Hee!)

It was a rather exciting weekend around here -- so exciting that part of it made the national news. It's interesting to see your neighborhood on CNN. And it may say something about my personal level of oblivion or else the media saturation of our society that I found out about something that happened just down the street from me when my parents called me after they saw something about it on national television.

On Saturday aft

Choir High

Wow, I'm on a total choir high after dress rehearsal for the concert. It was so exciting singing with that many people who came from all over town. The orchestra was nice, too, but the best parts were when the choir worked on a part without the orchestra and there was all that sound.

Now I wonder if there's some non-church type big choir that performs major works that I could get into. I've got a moderately trained voice and I can sing second soprano (which they usually have to twist arms to get

The Ballet Nazi Strikes Back

The Ballet Nazi was back last night, and boy, am I feeling it. I did learn that in his dancer days, he danced with Baryshnikov, so I guess he knows what he's doing. I just feel like a total oaf when he's teaching because everything I do seems to be wrong, and he seems to single me out a lot. I don't know if I'm really that bad or if he sees some kind of potential in me, since he acts like he's trying to mold me into a prima ballerina. If that's the case, then dude, most dancers are retired by th

Girlfriends Cyber Circuit Presents Linda Gerber

I am actually ahead of schedule! I had planned to send the partial of the current project to my agent for a sanity check tomorrow, but it's pretty much ready to go now. I'll still wait to send tomorrow because that's when I told her I would, and that gives me a chance to give it one more look. I'm kind of eager to get started on the next thing, so I'm wavering between letting myself have a minor celebration and jumping right in. I think I can do a little of both by doing a mini "retreat" to shif

Reaching "The End"

I've got another reader request writing topic: How do you finish a book? I'll address this one from two different angles -- getting to the end and then creating a satisfying ending. This time, I'll talk about getting to the end.

Eventually, at some point, in order to be a published author, you have to finish a book. There are some cases of authors who have sold their first books on proposal -- with just an idea or maybe the first few chapters -- but these cases are very rare, and what you don't u

From Project to Project

I think I've finally worked out all the plot stuff with the current project. It was an entire afternoon of hard work and I was exhausted when I was done, but I now have a complete plot, plus all the necessary backstory. I haven't yet written any ballads, but maybe that will happen later. That's probably a final draft thing. Now I just have to go back and fix the things in the part I have written that are affected by my plot decisions, and then I'll have something to send my agent for a sanity ch

HBO Monday

After a long drive and a long brainstorming session with Mom, I think I've figured the story out. Today should be a good working day, as it's raining steadily. Really, it's not a fit day out for man or beast, as I learned when I opened the front door to get the newspaper and the golden retriever being walked past my house (without a leash, grrr) saw the open door, apparently decided he'd had enough of being wet, and made a mad dash up my front walk to try to get inside. I have a very short walk,

The Hard Work of Thinking

I spent most of yesterday staring at the ceiling and daydreaming/thinking, and it was one of the hardest days of work I've had in ages. I felt like I'd spent the day digging ditches and was left utterly drained. I did manage to work out my legend, as well as the truth behind the legend. But once I did that I thought of how that would impact my plot, and some of it may bring about some major changes. That was what I had to think about, weighing the various routes I could take and trying to decide