Dirtyhousewrititis

The most obvious sign my wip has taken priority over everything else?  My house gets dirty.

Really dirty.

House cleaning is already one of those things I force myself to do on a daily basis because…if I don’t do it, who the hell else will?  But I feel like it’s something I should get a gold star for because it takes monumental willpower on my part to do the same mundane tasks every day, over and over again, without running out the door screaming, hailing a taxi and taking off on the next train to anywhere-where-I-don’t-have-to-clean (not that I’ve actually thought about doing this...much). 

 Unfortunately- there are no gold stars (or gold anything for that matter) for mothers who clean up after everyone, which definitely dampers my enthusiasm.

I have kids.  So  I figure it’s kind of like when you keep rabbits or gerbils.  You gotta keep the crap outta their cage or they’ll get sick and stinky.  Despite this, their bedroom seems to take on a life of its own.  When I’m wrapped up in a writing project, I stick to the bare minimum- cooking meals, cleaning up afterwards; dishes, floor sweeping, table & counter wiping, and laundry.   Not to mention the whole child feeding, cleaning and changing that restarts the dreaded process in motion.

Now that wip is marinating, it’s like I woke up from a writing-induced haze and realized ‘Holy Crap.  My house is ridiculous!’.  So yesterday was spent digging out the girl’s room, uncluttering bookshelves and bureaus, mopping the floors, cleaning sinks and toilets and catching up on loads of laundry.

I didn’t get a gold star.  But I did order take-out sushi, which is more than enough compensation for me.

What falls to the wayside when you’re wrapped up in a wip?


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BookShelf Muse is having a 1000 followers contest with critiques and a three month membership as prizes!  (Thanks for the heads up Stina!)

Writing Yourself into Your Manuscript

No way.  I’ve already written two books and none of my characters were anything like me!  That’s half the fun of writing, right?  You get to create people who didn’t even exist before your miniature God fingers went to work; breathing life into them and their complicated ups and downs.

I write about places and things I’ve never seen; situations I’ haven’t lived- all for the fun of experiencing something new and exciting.

So, why on earth would I write myself into my manuscript?  It makes no sense.

And yet,

There I am.  I totally wrote myself into my wip.  Not ME, me, but my high school self.  I didn’t realize it until it was too late.  My name is Katie.  Her name is Kelly.  I had blonde hair and green  (okay they’re really blue with yellow in the middle but for some reason they never actually look green.  For me, this defies all logic.) eyes.

Kelly has ‘honey colored hair and green eyes’.  Skinny, goofy, but coming into her own Junior year of high school.  Me,me, me, me me me!  Obsessed with Shakespeare- memorizing and reciting lines from his plays (Mi)…. won’t settle for love unless it’s like a storybook (Moi)….Falling in with the guy nobody expected.- the pretty geek and the bad ass hottie- (Mich!)  -Grrr!-   

Of course, in my wip, their love is complicated when said bad ass lover boy springs a man-tail, so that’s where the similarities end, thank God. *sigh*  How could I let this happen?

 Has anyone else accidently written themselves into their MS or am the only freak on the planet?

No, Wait. THIS is the best idea I've ever had!

I don’t know about any of you, but when I get a new idea for a book, get the outline down and start writing, only to have the writing take off and completely immerse myself in the new story-

 I can’t help thinking:

‘THIS is it!  THIS is the best idea I’ve ever had.  With this book, I’m sure to catch someone’s interest!’

Problem is, I have this thought while starting just about every project. lol

When the first draft is finished and the editing and revising begin along with perfecting the dreaded query letter-  the project starts to lose its luster.  Will agents really be interested?  What makes mine so different from all the other great ideas from great writers out there?

And when I fall in love with something new, I can’t help feeling a little pang of regret for my old projects.  After all, I was just as in love with them while writing too!  It’s not that I lose faith in them.  It’s just that my shiny new idea with practiced and improved writing takes up the forefront in my mind.

I guess my question is, how do you find a balance between working on your wip (who has you completely enthusiastic and enthralled) and keeping up with the revising and editing and querying that your past projects demand?  Do you put them on hold while finishing a first draft?  Or do you divide your time equally between both?

PS- thanks so much to everyone who commented on

‘My Name is Katie.  And I Suck at First Person POV’. 

Consensus from the Comment Box:

Great examples of First Person/Present Tense:

Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins

The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Beautiful- Amy Reed

Something, Maybe- Elizabeth Scott

Water for Elephants

Wintergirls- Laurie Halse Anderson  (I actually HAVE this one and haven’t read it yet)

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist-Levithan/Cohen

Friction- E.R. Frank

Perfect Chemistry- Simone Elkeles

Cat’s Cradle- Atwood

Looking for Alaska- John Green

I Am the Messanger- Marceus Zusak

Bloody Jack- L.A. Meyer

Need- Carrie Jones

The Chosen One- Carol Lynch Williams

Sandman Slim- Richard Kadrey

You Suck- Christopher Moore

Some Fab Advice:

"You need to really just change your track. Pull that switch and forget everything you knew (or thought you knew) about writing 3rd PoV and start fresh as if you've never written before. It may sound silly, but this is how most breakthrough writers start. They'll complain that they don't think they can constantly use pronoun reference for their character the entire time. It steals personality and limelight, and all of what you've been building your sketch into. That's not at all the case."- Justin W. Parente-( quoting his professor.)

“you have to make sure to stay in your character's voice the whole time. The author can come through too often in a lot of 1st Person books. “- Jamie Grey

“You could go with the method writing approach. become the character and experience it from her perspective as you write it. “- Alesa Warcan

“just becareful you don't fall into the trap of telling or the mc explaining too much. But it offers your the opportunity for your character's personality to shine through. “- Laura Pauling

“my advice would be to really get to know your character. You have to step out of yourself and be them.”-Victoria Saavedra

THIS is why I blog people.  Thanks to all of your feedback, my word count jumped up to 13k this weekend and I have officially found my ‘present tense’ groove.  It’s almost like reading it- once you get into the story you don’t even realize you’re writing in present tense anymore.

Have a great Monday everyone!

*CQG*