April Bringing Showers... of Projects

If you haven't figured it out by now, I like to celebrate National Poetry Month every April. This year, I've decided to work on a poetry project--a manuscript for submission to a publisher (one of the few that still consider unsolicited work).

I thought this would mean skipping out on April's Camp NaNoWriMo, but they've implemented some pretty awesome changes, including letting you set your writing goal to word count, line count, page count or hours spent writing (I hope these options carry over into November's contest as well). So now I can use Camp NaNo to complete my manuscript within a month. To be honest, a lot of the work is written; it just needs edited and compiled to a full-length project.

Now that there are plans in place, I can't wait until April!

Onto The Next Project

Yesterday I spend some time looking at half written manuscripts and first drafts. Guess what? There was something in the pile that didn't make me reconsider my whole career as a writer. The gem I'm talking about was last year's NaNoWriMo project--the only NaNoWriMo session I have completed so far (not counting the camps or the dearly departed Script Frenzy, of course).

Before I could change my mind, I put the project on the top of my revision list. It's getting the full I-love-you-I-hate-you-I-wish-you-would-die editing and revision process, and hopefully you'll be able to read it soon. I would love to tell you what the title is, but that's one of my major hurdles on this project. There's no title. There's already half of a cover design, but still no title. Yes, if you stalk my NaNoWriMo profile page there was a tentative title, but it sucks. Big time. However, if you are itching to get your hands on something, I can slip you a short synopsis. Ready?

Lindley Neil knows nothing but her small town. When her job as a photographer's assistant takes her Los Angeles and New York, Lindley is having the time of her life. She also meets a handsome man in each city who are both falling for her. Love is in the air, but which one will she choose?

Yes, clearly the synopsis needs revamped too, but I'm working on it.

It's really nice to have clearly defined goals. I'm glad I have one to concentrate on. 

Into the Second Phase

Life has slowed down a bit here. Actually, it's more like a standstill. There's the huge dump of snow that we got yesterday, but there's also a lack of work. I actually haven't had a single job 2014, though not for lack of trying. That's what I get for raising my standards. If I don't work for chump change, I apparently don't get to work.

For now, I'm still smiling. But by the end of the week, I may be in pre-launch for panic mode. Even though I'm snowed in, I'm probably staying afloat emotionally simply because I have big dreams. The dreams themselves won't get me anywhere, but if I find the right next step to take, the world's mine. Right??

But I'm not down and out completely yet. I still have my current writing project. I tried to drum up some mystery around it with last week's Instagram post, but I'm ready to reveal what it all means. These seemingly random numbers correspond to haiku. Lots of haiku. In fact, last's year's goal was to write one haiku each day for the year. I managed to write about 345 before my time was up. Out of all those, I narrowed it down to 100 to put into a manuscript.

These 100 (I deleted one so it may only be 99 now) are going to be published as a collection. I plan to self publish through Kindle Direct Publishing because I have never heard of a single publisher that buys haiku-only manuscripts. But if you exist, come talk to me. ;-) KDP also gives me a lot of publishing flexibility without any cost. Soon, it will be available through Amazon as an ebook. And remember, 'soon' is a relative term.

At this point, all of the poems are edited. I just need to complete the formatting, draw (or have someone else draw) a few of them to break up the monotony and then figure out what I want to do with the cover art. I'm a little nervous because I've tried to publish a poetry collection before, and cover art/artwork is where I got stuck last time. We'll see what I can do.

Friday

not only is it Friday, but it's finally warm here. I get to leave my patio door open and let all the fresh air in. I'm getting a little lazy about work this morning, but that's just because I know that I have all night to work on it. Why? Because I'm a loser who never has plans on a Friday night. But that's really besides the point.

I had to lower my article goal this month to make sure that I meet it. But in order to make up for the amazing amount of money I could have been making with those extras I didn't commit to, I'm working even harder on some individual articles, book reviews, and all of that good stuff. I'll post the new work here when I get around to finishing it. And you know if there's any free time left I'll be all over those manuscripts I have lying around the house. Actually, I think I'll start working on those after lunch.