…and submitted. As Chapter 1 of book 2 will be published at the end of book 1, it has the same deadline, of course. But I like the outline and the chapter, so I’m not too worried that I have set book 2 on a bad course, or anything.
“Strangers” Wins the Aurora!
Being the odds-on favorite to take “Best Related Work” at the Auroras this year didn’t prevent me from doubting it could happen. So it was a shock and surprise when our name was called! I got to give the acceptance speech for Lucas, who couldn’t be there, then muddled through my own which I winged (rather well, I thought, except for missing out my thanks to everyone on my list to thank). Also, our artist, Samantha Beiko, won for best cover, and one of our authors, Hayden Trenholm won Best Short Story for “Marion’s War.” Triple Crown!
Gathering Experiences
Okay, or going on holiday. Had a wonderful week in Nova Scotia with my sister; but hey–we DID go sea kayaking, which I have never done before, and one needs a plethora of experiences as a writer, right? Also, very cool to go to a ceilidh and see the locals just get up and square dance as the music moved them.
Chapter 1 of second book in the series
This has been an interesting process. I was unable to get to book 2 because of too many other deadlines and family responsibilities, but I WAS able to dictate into my voice recorder while on a motorcycle trip. I created 22 documents, some of which were plot threads and reminders, and some of which were text, mostly chapter 1 starts / scenes, or a new idea I had to slide in somewhere later.
When it came time to outline the plot (on my 6-day writers’ retreat) I used these docs and other scraps of notes. Done! For chapter 1, I then took the 5 scenes (inciting incident, complication, crisis, climax, resolution) I had outlined and shoved them into a document with my noodled chapter 1 text, and have been worrying away at it a bit at a time over the past week. Again, as I am traveling with family (out-of-province at a family wedding) there is little time to write, so I am stealing an hour here or there (on a flight, in the car going to an event) to mold the text into shape based on the notes from my outline.
So far, I’ve finished scene 1. Tortoise-and-hare-style, I’m tortoising, but it’s working!
Writers Retreat for six days
This is about the 4th year in a row I’ve gone to Montana on the long weekend with 4 friends for a writers’ retreat–this year we got away for 6 days. It was AWESOME! This is the best place to plan out a novel because we write morning noon and night, stopping for a break when we make lunch, go out to dinner, and to have about a half hour of social time at 10:30 PM.
You can really get ideas in your head, keep them there, manipulate them–all with no distractions. And the writerly conversations on the drive down and back and at meals are super-stimulating. There is no internet, but there IS a group of writers of whom to ask questions. I got a ton done, not only putting together a scene-by-scene outline of the next novel, but getting about 75% of my last novel edits complete. I want to submit well before my deadline, so this helps tremendously!