Please forgive the lack of posts, but for the past month (actually, the entire summer), I have been in head-down-and-writing mode. According to the last post I wrote on this subject, I officially set aside Cinderella and started working on Fairest, my Snow White story, during the week of July 10th. Since I am now finished with it (except for an epilogue), this story has taken me about 7 or 8 weeks. It’s 20,000 words, which is my usual 2000 word a week average. Right now the story is very sparse, so I expect to add to the final word count during my editing passes.
I worked on Cinderalla, which is also a novella, for almost a year.
It gives me heartburn to think of it. I’ve written entire novels in that timeframe. Seriously. It took me 11 months to write a 120,000 word novel, and 9 months to write another one at 80,000 words. Why did I stick with it for so long? Why didn’t I just set it aside back when I first had that urge just before The Sevenfold Spell came out? I probably have over 50,000 words worth of scenes that are both keepers and deleted scenes. For Fairest, I don’t even have a deleted scene file. That may change as I edit, but right now, all 20,000 words I wrote are still in the story. I am hoping this is a sign of greater writing maturity.
It’s been a hard, time-consuming lesson.
Ok, I’m done whining about it. I expect to have some blog posts soon because I’ve also done some reading. I’ve finished reading three books in the past month, all that I can recommend to one degree or another. And I might do a game review. Or two.
And that’s what I did during my summer vacation. What did you do?
Glad you’ve been so productive! I don’t get much writing done in the summer–just too busy with life, the garden, running the shop, making jewelry and the rest. I’ve written a bunch of articles for Llewellyn annuals, but that’s about it. Planning on getting back to novel writing soon, though.
We all need a break once in a while! But you did say you wrote some shorter works? Some fairy tale retellings?
I’ve been busier than expected. Hopping into the blogosphere with http://publishness.blogspot.com/ was sort of huge for me. I’m still working on a couple of YA novel WIPs. And WriteOnCon was fab when I could squeeze in something between work, motherhood and sleep.
I look forward to participating in the Writers Platform-Building campaign http://rachaelharrie.blogspot.com/2011/08/third-writers-platform-building_02.html
Busy, Busy, Busy.
Nice blog! Yes, running a blog is harder than it looks. But it sure is fun. I saw that 250 word challenge badge. Now that’s a goal I could probably make.
I’ve been cooking, canning, visiting Kentucky, and trying to get an actual writing schedule so I can pretend I’m productive. (Its harder than it sounds.)
Congratulations on getting your Snow White retelling done! Don’t feel bad about the time spent on Cinderella. That’s just stuff your subconscious won’t have to work through when you go back to the story. 🙂
Um… I hate to say this, but is there another title you might consider using for your Snow White? Gail Carson Levine has a mid-grade Snow White retelling called Fairest. It’s unlikely that anyone checking out Carnia Press e-books would get confused, so it may not be a problem, but I thought I should point it out.
I’m glad you pointed that out. Any title, of course, is always tentative. I’m sure I could some up with a compelling alternate title if I set my mind to it!
Thanks for the words of encouragement about Cindy.
It’s hard to believe the summer’s almost over. I’m not quite sure where it went.
Snow White was my favorite fairy tale when I was little. I look forward to reading your retelling.
Thanks! I hope I don’t ruin it for you! 😉