Working on the Kingdom

Lana is forced to marry by her Uncle who is seeking good favor with the King, the only bad part about it is, her soon to be husband has no idea. Derik is a warrior and hero, but he is also the Prince and when his father informs him that he needs to take on more responsibility he is offered a bride. Neither one of them like the idea, but they have no choice. Forced into a marriage that neither of them are interested in, they must find a way to fall in love before the Kingdom is overthrown by invaders. It is a story of love and survival and ultimately taking their place in THE KINGDOM.

New Favorite Quote

“We will be judged by what we finish not by what we start.” Anonymous.

This typifies how I feel about writing. I have started a hundred writing projects over my years of writing. Some of them are great, some are not, but the fact that I keep starting is a good thing. I know it takes hard work and dedication to get a story to completion, but that needs to be the goal! Sometimes it takes a simple phrase to get one motivated, so here it goes, I am motivated and it feels good!

Writing and all that Jazz!

So there are a few things that are difficult about writing, the first is all of the stories that are vying for position in my head. You know those crazy people you see walking around talking to themselves, yeah, that is me. I will be in the shower having a conversation with someone in my head, talking about plot, conflict resolution, trying to figure out how to make them interesting. Sometimes I wonder if my family thinks I have lost it.

I did an experiment a couple of months ago, I just tried to ignore them all, but you know what, that just makes it worse. Pretty soon you start saying things that you would never say, and doing things you would never do, like stopping at a green light, or forgetting to pick up milk when that was the only thing you went to the store for. Finally it gets so bad that one night you wake up to knocking in your head, the only thing to do is drag yourself out to your computer and let all the craziness out. It is a small price to pay really, because if the voices ever went away all the stories would be gone, and that would be a tragedy.

The next thing that I find difficult is after all the sweat, and heat, and love, and tears and pouring out of your soul, NO ONE WILL READ IT. To date I have sent my first manuscript to over 30 agencies for representation. Countless friends, neighbors, and even people I have never met, tell me how much they love the book and want a copy when it is printed, but I can't get anyone to help me with that. It seems like the Publishing Gods have turned their backs on me, leaving me alone with the voices in my head. Now it would be really easy to give up, put the computer away, take meds for the voices and submerge myself in some pointless hobby like needlepoint, or Crockett (no offence to those who participate) but you know what, I can't. The stories are there, they need a voice, they need the love and attention I have to give them, so Agent or not I will keep doing what I love. So if you ever see me shopping in the soup section with MILK scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper just smile at me, head me in the right direction, and ignore anything I have to say about my latest character!

Wow a lot has happened since NaNoWriMo. I finished up some things on my first manuscript Sweetwater Springs and decided to send it out for Submission. After an agonizing week of query writing I sent it off to Avalon the publisher of my choice. To my surprise last Friday they emailed me and asked to see a Full. I about fell over. After dancing around the house for ten minutes I got it together enough to call my husband and then I did some more dancing. I will get the manuscript out tomorrow and then more waiting.

In the mean time I will be working on my latest story and work hard at my full time job of being a mommy. Will post again soon.

Update and so much more...

Decided to update my blog. 10 days until NaNoWriMo and I hope my outline is finished in time. Character Interviews are taking longer than expected, but I am finding out some interesting things about them. :) Haven't written to music yet, other than kids cartoons in the background, I think I will try a music list that doesn't include Handy Manny or Micky Mouse Club House!!!

Good luck to all you NaNoers and if you need a buddy let me know.

NaNoWriMo '09

I'm in on NaNoWriMo. 50,000 words in November. Character profiles are coming together. Working on my outline. What is a good word-count for an outline?

I'm on the hunt for buddies - others who are enslaving themselves for the month of November, others who are pushing the limits of writing abilities. I seek support, and wish to provide it too.

Go ahead, sign up for NaNoWriMo and let the words flow. I'm in - aren't you?

Sure has been busy lately

It's been a very busy last 30 days or so. Lots has changed in life and that has eaten up all my time. Writing has had to take a bit of a back-burner position despite the stories rolling around in my head. I expect the next 30 days to ease up and allow me some more time to write and post.

Word Count Equivalent

I've been reading about publishing and I continue to learn important things. With a full novel complete, above 85,000 words, I'm also considering shorter stories as well. In my research, I find this:

Classification Word count
Novel over 40,000 words
Novella 17,500 to 40,000 words
Novelette 7,500 to 17,500 words
Short story under 7,500 words

I think a short story would be fun to put together. How does one go about cutting all the extra words? How does one go about cutting the plot down to nearly nothing? Sure, I can simplify, but when a story is in your head, (you know what I'm talking about), it pours out, and quickly jumps past the 'short story' stage of a mere 7,500 words.

I guess I'll give it a run. I'll post it on my website when it is complete. Maybe I'll post it as I go. We'll see.

Changes to Sweetwater Springs

Sometimes, the difficulty is in choosing which of the two good ways is better. I've been going over the beginning of Sweetwater Springs and have made some changes. I think I like these changes and am interested in your thoughts too. After working so long and so hard on this project, I find that being open-minded about changes can be a struggle. At the same time, though, at some point I feel like the 'whatever' response is appropriate and I make the change anyway, only to find that it may not be the best way. I'm hoping this change will please the readers. Making the final decisions prior to publication will be a challenge - I can already see that. Since I'm always interested in improving my work, your comments are always appreciated.

WEBSITE CONTENT!

LOTS of new content on alextaylorwolfe.com! Check it out and tell me what you think of these first postings! More content is on it's way, more chapters, more stories. Sometimes they just 'pour' out of me. I'm excited to have more content up!