|
BookEndsnew bookAugust 25, 2010
Well, today I finally picked up the next novel again. I wrote a scene or part of one. My office still isn't clean yet, and I like to clean it for the next book and then slowly fill it with stuff I think I'll get to. I don't have a goal for Richard yet, (more…)
if readers will be happy, tooJuly 26, 2010
Today, my editor and I agreed the book is to go to copyediting. There are 2 small points she'd like to see addressed, but they can be addressed in a sentence as part of the copy edits.
I'm done. It just seems amazing. I can hardly believe it. My husband told me, take some deep (more…) old/newJuly 23, 2010
Well, revisions on the Louis XIV book are to New York.
I've just taken a workshop with Natalie Goldberg of "Writing Down the Bones" fame. It's been good to be among people who love writing for writing's sake and to just write like everyone else. Natalie believes the world would be a better place (more…) tiredJune 21, 2010
Just finished an author questionnaire that took days. Have a final reread to do on Louis. Saggy baggy.
off the horseJune 1, 2010
Hit another wall. Friends showed up this weekend, and I took time to go out with them. Lifting up out of the story like that has made it hard to go back in, charging forward, as I was. Fear is up. What am I doing? What do I know? How can I write new (more…)
creativityMay 30, 2010
The story is crisper. The questions make me think, and her cuts are good ones. I just read a blog about vooks, apps that have video and/or actors reading part of your book. It's wonderful, but who has a staff of even 1 to do that?
(more…) hard, hard, hardMay 23, 2010
Had to crawl into bed because my editor's written comments just kept hammering, why, when, how. Took a day off, went back and finished up, blood on every chapter, mine.
Took another break. Found a great consignment shop here and bought clothes. Read other novels (more…) intense in TaosMay 16, 2010
Yesterday, I was ready to throw up my hands and quit. Just like a child, I hated my editor. Today, as I plow on rereading the manuscript for two too many times, I recognize her push to make me focus down even more, to clean up that which is unclear, and what's more, I appreciate it.
I'm excited (more…) lions and tigers and bears...oh my....March 18, 2010
Absolute silence from New York. Part of me beginning to go off the deep end. Another part reminding me not to make up any stories about what is happening until I hear something. Also reminding me to envision the best.....ugh!
I hate writing for a living, wish I was antisocial and didn't care (more…) saggy baggyMarch 4, 2010
Well.....writing for a living is a real kick in the pants. Before finishing revisions I was feeling sorry for myself at how chained to the computer I was.
This week, having finished, I feel empty, melancholy, and remote. Tune in for next week. No telling what I'll feel. At least I've learned one (more…) done for nowMarch 1, 2010
Well, I finished revisions on Friday. I felt like I'd been "rode hard and put up wet" or as they say in Louisiana, no salt in the beans....exhausted mentally, unable to have the smallest reaction to any of the writing. This will be the 4th or 5th time I've redone the manuscript. Anyway, (more…)
sighFebruary 18, 2010
Well, I thought I was near the end of revisions, not noticing that I'd only picked up half the stack of paper I'm working through. How glad I am for this chance to revise with another pointing the direction. I find myself really focusing down on the essential story. That's always the question: what (more…)
struggleJanuary 29, 2010
I should never blog about writing going well. I'm struggling with changing the front of this book. There was a character arc I'd created around Louis XIV that I really like, and it's lost in the changes, and I'm trying to salvage it, and it's hard. Whine, whine, whine
in itJanuary 22, 2010
Well, I'm in it again, and I find that I'm loving it. I completely agree with my editor's suggestion to move some chapters around. But that comes after not looking at my work for several months. I was dreading the idea of reading me again, and I find myself glad to revisit young Louis (more…)
not Louis againJanuary 10, 2010
Well, now I must climb back into bed with Louis. Really, after all the time I've already given him, he ought to marry me!
crispJanuary 5, 2010
Didn't do a thing about writing, other than the wordpress blog, over the holidays. That made me feel saggy-baggy. I began this week to read over the revision suggestions made by Crown Publishing. It's interesting what a matter of weeks does to my sense of prickliness. I feel much cooler toward everything, not so (more…)
too longNovember 30, 2009
Do you hate how long I take to write? I do. I've shortened my time to a couple of years...maybe three....from five or more, but there is a year when the publisher has it (since I'm not current topic specific and nonfiction). I don't think I can do any better and also (more…)
OffSeptember 28, 2009
I finished the "polish" last Saturday night. Several days of staying in pj's, not going to exercise, doing nothing routine to give my day structure, just soldiering on. I sent it off yesterday and have been making sure that I'm doing exercise. When I go this far into the mental, I feel so lopsided (more…)
Sunday workSeptember 20, 2009
Writing is hard work. I spent hours today writing my blog, www.karleenkoen.wordpress.com, and course descriptions for two spring classes in Rice University's Continuing Education Department. The blog will show up as about three paragraphs, the course descriptions even less.
I spent hours selecting words, deleting words, arranging sentences, changing them so (more…) OffSeptember 15, 2009
I have to get paperwork for 2008 taxes in pronto. So I had to stop working on my polish and drag out a box of receipts whose amount seemed overwhelming. I've gritted through organizing and adding, and today I snuck away to return for an hour or two to this story I'm honing to create what (more…)
In it, nowSeptember 4, 2009
Today, I redid a scene to make a plot point clearer, and I have, and managed to throw in a bit more history while I'm at it. The reread lets me sharpen language. Writing a long, complicated novel is like juggling too many balls in the air, and one of the balls I often (more…)
|
|
2 Comments