Random Thoughts From A Wigged-out Writer

I’ve been absent from this site for a while now. Bad Chick. Bad, bad Chick. In all honesty, I’ve found myself between various rocks and hard places. My list of to-do’s seems to have grown, and I’ve found myself stretched beyond belief (can I just blame it on summer?). But I’m happy, that’s for sure. So here’s ramblings from the past month or so:

Rambling thought #1: Recently, I joined a critique group to help shape my writing and edit my novel. What a great group! I’ve written, rewritten, and rewritten again the first chapter of my novel until I finally felt good about it. If you’ve just started writing or intend to write, here’s a tip: writing first chapters can suck. It’s hard to stay away from the “telling,” the temptation to info-dump, the struggle to introduce new worlds and new concepts without giving away too much. But now I have it where I like it, and I have that group to thank. But oh, my, am I exhausted. And that’s just with chapter one!

Rambling thought #2: I’ve started doing a lot more research online. There are so many incredible resources for writers out there, including agent blogs, twitter, online conferences, and so much more. It’s always interesting, at times overwhelming, and frequently eye-opening. Sometimes I have to force myself to close out the Internet and write.

Rambling thought #3: In the past several months I’ve focused so much on writing that I’ve left very little time for reading. Someone recommended DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth, and I read it in one day (great story!). Suddenly, I remembered why I started writing my novel in the first place. I’ve now made room for reading at least one new book a week. The funny thing is that now I read like a writer, noticing the use of tense, character development, phrasing, etc. It’s always a good thing to read a lot if you’re going to write. I had almost forgotten.

Rambling thought #4: I hate spiders – they really freak me out (yes, I KNOW they’re good for the environment). I just don’t know why they seem to show up in movies and books all the time. I have to skip over those parts.

So that’s it, my latest random thoughts. I realize this isn’t the most fascinating essay, nor is it particularly well written, but it’s certainly indicative of my life at the moment. Crazy, busy, funny…

…randomly wonderful.