Alex Hughes's Blog, page 12

Good morning!

Good morning, dear readers.

It’s a happy day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I’m feeling good. (Pause for Buble video: I’m Feeling Good. Thanks, Michael.)

I went out and got myself a light alarm clock–one that wakes you up with gradually-increasing light and then bird chirps, which is amazing. I’d highly recommend it.

But even better, after weeks of struggle, the writing is finally going well. Adam has showed up in all his complaining glory, Cherabino has gotten herself in trouble, and the massive rewrite is paying off. I can see the threads coming together. This is the feeling–the feeling with the words flowing and the characters talking–that I got into writing in the first place to feel. When it’s working, there’s nothing better in the world.

Plus, ideas for other stories are itching at me in a very pleasant way, like little Christmas presents waiting under my muse-tree. I’m thrilled.

How about you guys? What are your moments of joy this week?

Untangling the Plot

This week deserves a picture of a sad kitten tangled up in yarn.

photo courtesy iStockphoto.com

My muse & I have been unraveling plot tangles for days. This involves lots of staring at whiteboards, hitting my head against the wall, and playing with yarn. Yes, I knit. Yes, it’s useful for plotting, and not a bad metaphor either.

Near the end of the week (with the help of a friend) I finally figured out that the Frankenstein merging of two plots I had going on Book Four was absolutely, positively not going to work. As a result, two things happened: one, I sent an email to my editor (communication is a good thing), and two, I sat down with metaphorical scissors and started cutting one of the plots out.

With any luck, my deleted subplot will one day become a novella–I’m saving all the pieces in another file in this hope. But whether or not it lives later, killing this plot is the only thing that will save the book, so it must be done. We sang a sad song over the weekend as we did this, I and my muse. But we did it, ruthlessly and efficiently. That’s what being a pro writer is about, as sad as it is.

Fortunately, today I got to sit down and repair what I have, filling in the holes and tying up the loose ends. Even better, the Shiny Happiness is returning. I am making New Big Plans for Adam and his difficult troubles, adding another, more logical subplot, giving Cherabino her fair share of troubles and difficulties, and getting Fiske involved. Ah, Fiske, you are such a villain. For the first time, I feel like it’s really coming together.

Like always, however, the only way to tell if the pattern is going to work is by doing the work. Here’s hoping it doesn’t snarl again when the words start hitting the page tomorrow. Here’s hoping the Shiny Happiness continues.

One of My Favorite Short Stories… Shared with You

Tomorrow I’m sending out my first email newsletter in several months, in which I share one of my favorite short stories ever, The Carousel.

The Carousel is very short (only 700 words) but it’s creepy and rich and wonderfully tragic. I love this little story. And even better, it arrived in my head as a complete unit, which I wrote in a glorious hour in 2011, and never had to revise. Never. (If you haven’t caught on, this is the holy grail of writing… something that happens approximately once every ten years.)

I wrote the story in response to a writing prompt that included the word carousel, as well as two other words I don’t remember. I wrote it. I loved it. But I couldn’t figure out what to revise. And then I took the story with me to Odyssey, where I had one of the instructors read it. “It’s perfect,” he said. “Don’t change a thing.” So I read it aloud at the bookstore event Odyssey does, just as it was, and got so many positive comments, again, just as it was. And the angels showed up to rejoice with me–it was the first short story I’d ever written to be “done” and to make me proud.

Want to read The Carousel? Make sure you’re signed up for the email newsletter here. I’ll hand-send copies to anyone who signs up after tomorrow and before December 20th or so. If you sign up by tonight at midnight or so, however, you get first look

Hope you guys enjoy!

Alex

Final NaNo Update, 2013

In which I speak of humility and hope.

Hello dear readers,

The craziness of NaNo & Thanksgiving having subsided, I’ll go ahead and congratulate all of you who made your goals this November, in writing and otherwise. Congratulations!!!

Sadly, I was not one of those folks. I came in at just over 25k for my goal of 50k on Mindspace Book #4. The last week, in which I had planned to write like the wind, turned into a lot of beating my head against the wall–not literally, at least not mostly.

So what happened? For awhile there, I had no idea. All I knew was that Adam & Book Four was stuck in the Foggy Swamp of NonWriting Doom. I’d sit down to write 2 or 3k and end up with 500 or 600 words. Tops. It was super frustrating, and I couldn’t figure out why. The rabbits, of course, would pop up with non-writing chores, but they always do that. The question was why I couldn’t seem to get the words out when I really, really tried.

I went back to basics on Friday/Saturday, and after some work, I had a revelation. Writer’s block, at least according to me, always indicates an issue with the writer (such as fear, for example), or an issue with the story. In this case, it was an issue with the story. Not only do I have some logical plot holes I could drive a truck through, I also am missing sufficient conflict. Worse, my evil villain has informed me that there was “much more going on than I could ever imagine” – and then failed to supply details. Sigh.

So, this week I’m hitting the planning modules again, going back through character and plot and setting to flesh out details and make it all hang together. Yes, there will be massive scenes sacrificed–thousands and thousands of words left on the cutting room floor–but as I leave the week covered in book-blood and word-gore, I will emerge with a leaner, tighter, stronger story with meaner characters and better moments. Fingers crossed.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Happy Thanksgiving, All!

Today we sit down with food, with family and friends, and celebrate the things we’re thankful for.

In the spirit of Adam’s weekly assignment, I’ll choose three things I’m grateful for today.

(1) Mimosas with pink flamingo stirrers. (Ask my Twitter feed.)

(2) The feel of a warm fuzzy sweater on a painfully cold morning.

(3) You guys. You readers make it all possible, and today, like every day, I am very grateful.

What are you guys grateful for today?

Juggling Rabbits

As of yesterday, I have 23,544 words written this month for NaNo, a very sad number. We will take a moment and sigh over the sadness of that number.

Sigh.

On the bright side, I got copyedits for Book Three back to the editor this morning (on time, I might add). Marked is a great deal better than I had remembered–you guys are going to be thrilled, I think.

I also got a large amount of writing-business chores done, several promotional tasks with book bloggers and reviewers, planned a potential short story series with a friend, and picked out some lovely gluten-free dairy-free recipes for Thanksgiving which we will cook today. I also taught Sam’s mom how to knit.

Is any of this writing? No, it is not. It is More Things That Are Not Writing, which tend to breed like rabbits in the writing life for no reason that I can see.

(I feel like I need an adorable bunny picture here – any suggestions?)

So. As I go into the last week of NaNo, I have the embarrassing realization that I will likely not finish my 50k by Saturday. I’ve gotten distracted by juggling rabbits. So. New goals.

(1) No more rabbits until December the 1st. This means if you’ve emailed me, folks, apologies, you’ll hear from me Monday. Twitter & Facebook, sorry as well, total blackout.

(2) Ambitious new goal: 10k by Saturday at midnight. Bonus points if I cross 12k. Party at 15k. This still only puts me at 35k to 40k (not a winner) but still rather respectable all the same.

(3) Reprise original goal: draft of Book Four by Christmas. And, since you guys have seemed to enjoy the updates, I’ll continue to check in about once a week with progress. Maybe even a short snippet if you’re nice

I vow to wave excitedly at the amazing folks who finish on time, and cheer you guys on as I limp to the finish line late.

Guess what I got today?

 

Bookmarks!! The publisher sent me some amazing bookmarks for me to give away at conventions and signings to some very lucky readers.

And since you guys asked… I’m also happy to send out a few to blog readers as well. (Email me at alex (at) ahugheswriter dot com by the end of November with an address and I’ll get one in the mail to you. With a thank-you note for reading. Because you’re awesome.)

Aren’t these bookmarks the most amazingly pretty things ever? I shall go and stare at them again.

NaNo Update the Second

Or, An Author Playing Hooky

Well, dear readers, you will have gathered by now that I missed my update on Friday. There are two excellent reasons for this: one, Sam decided I was working too hard and decided a Road Trip Must Happen Now. On Wednesday afternoon, no less. And two, as I like a good last-minute adventure when the time calls for it, I agreed. I got to see Kentucky in all its glory and drive through the Great Smoky Mountains on twisty roads full of fog. It was grand, and terrifying, and inspiring. I swear we almost fell off the mountain twice—and saw snow in Georgia, at 42 degrees.

Like any good little writer during NaNo, I took my laptop with me. I even managed to write a little on Friday, in between museums and hotels and nature and lovely roads. But then Sam, nice guy that he is, said, you deserve a weekend. You’ve been working hard for months, you deserve a rest. Put down the laptop.

But it’s NaNo, I replied.

This did not move him. Put down the laptop, he said. Rest.

So I did.

As of Friday, I had 15,954 words written, up 9,244 from last week. Still thousands of words behind the target of 25,000 at this stage in the game. But I got a weekend, and a rest, and a chance to hit the ground running this week.

I’m only 9k behind. The ever-focusing deadline is approaching fast, and I should be able to catch up. Adam is in Savannah. Finally. But will he cooperate with the *cool plot thing I can’t talk about*? Will I make the 50k goal by the end of the month?

Who knows? You’ll have to ask Adam.

NaNo Update #1

Ah, the sweet smell of… falling behind.

So, as promised last week, I am going to update on my progress during NaNo here on the blog. NaNo started one week ago today (on the 1st) and I’ve been thrilled and excited to participate in some really cool communities on SavvyAuthors, NaNo itself, and beyond. I’ve dropped into multiple sprints, cheered people on, and generally felt the love of the universe during this time.

Unfortunately, I haven’t felt the love of the manuscript, sigh. I’ve done NaNo a few times before and been very successful—but none of those times involved a Mindspace novel. Adam is not exactly pleased about having his progress tracked in public, poor guy. Worse, he’s pretty dead set on staying in Atlanta. Since I want him to go to Savannah, this is an issue. We’ve had a few heart-to-hearts, and hopefully that gets him moving.

Current wordcount? 6,714 as of yesterday, far behind the 15k I should be at for this stage in the game. Still, once I get going I’m typically pretty fast, so crossing my fingers I should be able to catch up before too long.

Oh, and Adam? You’re going to Savannah. If I have to drag you there one little word at a time.

So here’s hoping everyone else’s November (and NaNo characters) are much more cooperative than mine!

Join Me for NaNo This Year

Hi all,

Most of you by now will have heard of NaNoWriMo, the once-a-year marathon of writing joy over at http://nanowrimo.com/ (which as I write is down from overload, but will be back up again soon). The idea is that you write 50,000 words in just a month, and it’s a great way to find community and to exercise your writing muscles in preparation for a real writing pace of 1,667 words a day.

If you’re planning on doing the challenge this year, friend me. (My handle on NaNo is ahugheswriter.) We can write together towards our goals! Great fun all around.

What am I working on this NaNo? Book Four in Mindspace Investigations, of course! Hopefully it will go well and I will have more than half a rough draft at the end. I normally take most weekend days (and Thanksgiving) off during the challenge, but I’ll plan on giving you an update here on the blog each Friday until the challenge is over.

If you ever wanted to write a novel or finish the novel you’ve had sitting there for years, this is the perfect time. Come write with me