It's another PD Day, which I took to mean 'sleep in and be unproductive' day. We're going to show Ellie the town later, but for now I'm doing not much besides FB'ing and resisting the urge to rub Luna's belly. Is there anything more enticing than a warm, furry belly? That cat is so cute.
See what I mean? No work getting done today.
N
Friday, May 17, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Editing day
I had the life changing opportunity to go study at the Banff Centre last April to participate in a workshop that targeted the first chapter of a novel. By then I was 'finished' Game Plan so I actually started my second novel while I was there and confident I had done everything I could to make Game Plan the best it could be (even the title sounded perfect). After about two days I realized just how wrong I was about that! It was disheartening at first, but after working through the intimidation it was really constructive and motivating to see a direction in which I could improve my story.
One of the most helpful hints that came out of that week was tiny but essential. Edit a hard copy. Call me dense but I would never have come up with that on my own! So I totally abused their free printing service and ordered a hard copy of my novel. I put book two back on the shelf and put pencil to paper (oh and highlighters and cool little sticky tags).
So now I'm editing a hard copy of book two. I've been through the file three times for editing but I still find things in the hard copy that need to be reworked. Tweaked. Omitted. Moved. There's something soothing about returning to pencil and paper to write. I'm enjoying it very much.
N
One of the most helpful hints that came out of that week was tiny but essential. Edit a hard copy. Call me dense but I would never have come up with that on my own! So I totally abused their free printing service and ordered a hard copy of my novel. I put book two back on the shelf and put pencil to paper (oh and highlighters and cool little sticky tags).
So now I'm editing a hard copy of book two. I've been through the file three times for editing but I still find things in the hard copy that need to be reworked. Tweaked. Omitted. Moved. There's something soothing about returning to pencil and paper to write. I'm enjoying it very much.
N
Friday, May 03, 2013
Funding and Grants
Today's writing day was absorbed by writing a Grant application. I've applied twice before and received the same 'thanks but no thanks' letter six weeks later. This time I was able to ask for direction from My Publisher (teehee) and they have given me great suggestions. Who knew that a grant app for WRITING would have to be organized, specific, detailed and concise? You mean narrative reasoning and eloquent description doesn't work? I even dusted off my ancient Excel skills (thank you Acadia science labs) and made a 'Gantt Chart'. (I'm not going to tell you what that is, you'll have to google it yourself, just like I did).
My hope for receiving the grant decreases with each application but I still submit - they won't say 'yes' unless I ask, right? It would be nice to have some 'pay' for the time I spend writing instead of seeing my little pals at work, but in the end the pay is the least important part. (SHH. Don't tell Steve). Grant or no grant, I'm determined to find a way to spend two days poking at this laptop and creating worlds.
N
My hope for receiving the grant decreases with each application but I still submit - they won't say 'yes' unless I ask, right? It would be nice to have some 'pay' for the time I spend writing instead of seeing my little pals at work, but in the end the pay is the least important part. (SHH. Don't tell Steve). Grant or no grant, I'm determined to find a way to spend two days poking at this laptop and creating worlds.
N
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