Saturday, January 9, 2010

Snowy With a Chance of Micaela

it snowed!

I just needed to announce that in big letters... :)

So anyway, on top of the fabulous snow (we actually got over an inch and it's actually stuck around for more than a day... so it's pretty spectacular), I actually got back to working on my novel tonight. Micaela is the protagonist in this aforementioned work that is often simply referred to as Micaela or ML, which stands for the book's title (which I will choose to keep disclosed at this point...)

For those of you that don't know, I started working on it when I was 13. It was October of 2006, I think. The journey in writing it has been really long. Last summer, I spent three weeks at my grandparents and would spend 8-10 hours at a time down in their basement, writing, with practically no phsyical human contact. Finishing the second draft made me supremely happy, but I came home so burnt out (and truth be told, a little depressed), I just set the book aside. My mind felt so overloaded with this story, I was just having a hard time actually writing.

So, in the past three years of writing it, I've told quite a few people, from the girl that inspired the story, to my best friends, to my mom's best friend, to my piano teacher, and so on. When I first started writing, a lot of these people asked me questions about it and I let three of my best friends read it. So, the three of them were literally harassing me about it every time I saw them, so I wrote a lot. And then... everything just got really quiet. To be honest, I was happy with this. Being asked the same question(s) over and over again got on my nerves. But lately, after a year of rest, it's like all of a sudden, people are asking questions again... and Emily, one of my best friends, came across the very first draft I had given her in her room the other day.

So, I've pretty much felt that I needed to get started on it again... Okay, seriously, I did feel that all the questions were a sign from God that I needed to get moving again and stop being so apathetic and whiny about writing it, but when Emily told me that she came across that draft... well, it also kinda scared me into action, because let me tell you... that first draft... I've read it a couple times...

It stinks.

So, I sat down at my sister's computer tonight and got to work... and it was hard at first. I usually write for 15 minutes, and then if I'm ready to quit, I quit. This way I don't overtax myself (like last summer), and I actually get something done. I spent the first hour on Facebook and chatting with (another) best friend. However, I did actually spend some time researching some ways I could plot and actually move forward with writing, and believe it or not... it actually helped. It sparked a bunch of ideas (some which I'm getting ready to work on), and within 30 minutes, I had my new and improved synopsis, as well as three or four different subplots.

So, now that I've given you the crash course on my journey in writing, what do you feel motivated to complete right now?

Over and out,
Audrey

6 comments:

Lora said...

Cleaning out the corner in the basement and then going through each and every box and getting rid of what we don't use or need.

I'm so excited that you are completing ML.

Blessings and love.
Lots and lots of love,
M.

Anonymous said...

I feel motivated to pick apart and edit my own novel-in-progress.

Keep at it! You are a good writer!

Audra E. said...

Mom, Suzan, thanks for the comments! :]

mayday said...

oh gosh you've now made me now feel guilty for not getting on with my book.... =)
go hard with the masterpiece!
jaws

Roseanna White said...

Hi Audrey! (Just saw you left a comment on my blog, so hopped over to yours. ;-)

I wrote as a teen too, and finished my first (terrible, lol) novel at 13. I spent the summer between 8th and 9th grades typing up the then-handwritten (what had I been thinking??) manuscript, adding subplots, etc.

It was still terrible, lol, though I didn't realize it at the time. I revamped it again during college, and again a couple years ago. Still not published, but it did land me an agent. And eighteen manuscripts later, I've come a long way in figuring out what I'd done wrong back then!

I just saw on Trish Perry's blog that you're the lucky winner of my published novel, so yay! I love connecting with other young writers. And incidentally, my best friend is starting a blog dedicated to helping writers in their teens learn the industry. She just got the domain this weekend and hasn't put up any posts yet, but it's http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com if you want to check in on it in another week or two. =)

Now back I go into Egypt, 1928, where clues of Atlantis await my hero and heroine under the sea of sand . . .

Audra E. said...

Rosanna, thanks so much for the comment! I will definitely check that out in a few weeks! :]

AND YAAAAAAYYY!! I just commented on Trish's post a moment ago... I am UBER excited to get a new book to read! :]

Have fun in Egypt! ;]