Maybe I won't set any goals in 2015?

After this year's hits and misses, it's definitely time to re-think my approach. But that's nothing new, I guess - at the end of every year, it's the time to reassess. I have set goals every year since starting my blog, and every year has turned out differently.

I guess you guys know what it's like to reassess every year, and maybe change or at least tweak your approach in the new year. I've done that so far I think, but in 2015 I'm thinking I might try something entirely new: just taking on one random task at a time. Who knows? I may end up with another slacker year like this one, but I may actually get one thing achieved that I've wanted to achieve for ages now. You never know. ;)

I should probably still have a list of things I could work on, and then I can throw a dart at it and hit a random agenda item. ;) e.g.

1. Finish 2014 NaNo novel
2. Finish editing SQUEAKY (so not appealing)
3. Send some photo submissions to Vine Leaves

There's a good start. Three things to achieve, and two of them are relatively easy.

Anyway, these are my current thoughts about how I might approach 2015.

What are your plans for the new year?

Crusading RSI!

So, one of the tasks for those of us participating in Rachel Harrie's Crusade is to follow every other participant. So far I'm down to number 19 on the list (there are 213 of them!!) and I already have mental RSI!

At least I know some of the other participants are people I was already following! :D

Still, I need a break, some chocolate, and some beer. Sadly, all I have available is the break.

I just wanted to share. ;)

But I also wanted to share that I'm excited, and look forward to this thing starting! Woo!

P.S. Maybe possibly gearing up to editing NAUSICAA. Hang on, wasn't I totally burned out on that? But then I heard about THIS (if you're too lazy or leery to click, it's Angry Robot Books' open door month this March!), and realised that it was a pretty cool (read: awesome) opportunity, and that the only thing I have that's suitable for submission is last year's NaNo. Just one catch: it's in rough draft form. Still, maybe I can do a quick whiz through and fix the most glaring mistakes? Cue hysterical laughter and much caffeine.

Don't know if I'll manage it, but it's worth a shot I think!

It Was a Dark and Stormy...Blogfest Contest!

Indeed, I'm just in time to participate in this Blogfest, hosted by Brenda Drake. Thanks to Shayda for alerting me to it with her own entry! :D

Anyway, here's my details:

Name: Patricia Farnan
Title: SQUEAKY MCLEAN AND MOUSE TAILS
Genre: MG/humour

Long, long ago in a city called Mouseratten, a hulking figure made for a rather scary sight.

Yes, I decided to go with a novel I'm not really working on that vigorously right now, because I'm happier with its opening line than I am with most of my other novels' opening lines. Haha. Though I must admit that I may be discarding my entire first chapter of this novel in future. Anyway...

There you go! Easy blogfest, simple rules, lots of fun. Now I'm off to read other people's first lines. :)

Okay guys, here is my current revision:

Long, long ago in the city of Mouseratten, the hulking figure was scaring the fur off any who saw him.

Tell me what you think!

Back in business!

Yesterday I finally made it home after a looong series of flights that took me in this direction:

Spokane - Las Vegas - Los Angeles - San Francisco - Sydney - Melbourne - Perth.

And that was all so I could save $1,100 on flight costs. I guess it was worth it in the end, but it sure felt like a trial as I staggered through various airports of the world (including two in Sydney, international and domestic). Then I had a taxi driver who insisted on driving 10kph below the speed limit! That irritated me just a little.

But anyway, here is a picture of me as a bridesmaid!

Anyway, I've finished this week's Chrysalis story, and while I think it won't go very far, and I may never edit it again, it was fun to write. I wrote about a pair of ghosts who get stuck in purgatory, or what they call "the After".

I did indeed submit to the ABNA competition, and thankfully my query was in relatively good shape (compared to former shapes it's known) so I felt pretty good about submitting that.

In other news, I'm still slowly working on editing SUNDOWN, and am nearing the end of the first draft of STORM. But I'm looking most forward to NaNoEdMo when I can sink my claws into FIRE and get it shredded to bits. Yay!!

Sorry I have been out of touch with everyone! You have not been out of mind, only out of sight, for the last two weeks. :) I will work on getting caught up on everyone's blogs, and more importantly their adventures in writing. Hope everyone has been safe and happy!

ABNA...why not?

Has anyone else entered this yet? I know the deadline's not till Feb. 6, but I've already put mine in. I've gone with SUNDOWN. Every now and then I go back and edit what's there, i.e. the pitch.

It's exciting!

In the critiquing circle I'm participating in via AW, I'm the next up for having my chapters ripped apart. Should be fun, and hopefully helpful too!

Meanwhile, I have written a bit more of STORM in the last few days, and I am currently halfway through the 2nd-last chapter. I'm pretty sure there'll only be one more after this one, to tie things up. But who knows what'll happen during revisions.

I've really been looking forward to NaNoEdMo, when I can really get stuck into editing FIRE. I can't wait to see the words slough away under my iron editing thumb. Er, yes, my thumb is iron. Or it will be.

And that's about it for updates. Except I wrote a story this week for Chrysalis which involves my idea of the most pathetic girl on the planet. I feel sorry for her, because her entire life is her jerk-faced boyfriend. And guess what happens? He dumps her.

As my critiquing buddy Jenn put it after reading... "Ouch."

Speaking of both Jenn AND Chrysalis, Jenn's story is up for this week. And I must say that after reading it, I was in a state of shock and awe. It's pretty AWESOME.

Flash fiction competition

I thought, Why the hell not! and entered this competition. Here is my entry.

Trying to download the new version of Scrivener, have tried twice now, but nothing appears to be happening. I'm not asked to pay the $25.00, and each time I complete the download it says it's going to install it and restart, but then when I restart (manually since it doesn't restart by itself) I'm back at square 1 with the notification that the new version is available. Hmm...yeah. I'm gonna check out their site & try and do it from there.

Meanwhile, got my SUNDOWN wordcount down to 129,461 today - in Scrivener, so it will be even less in MS Word. And merged 2 chapters into 1 after making one of them a lot skinnier. I now have 51 chapters. In the chapter I skinnified, I found parts that bored even me. When your own writing bores you, you know it has to go. Hehe.

Anyway, that's today's update.

Slash 'n burn...ouch

Current word count for SUNDOWN: 130,813 (let me note that in MS Word this would probably be under 130k!). My goal for a while now has been to get my wordcount down to 120k, and I'm confident I can do that. However, I was looking at some submission guidelines for a prominent romance publisher, and they like their romances to be around 90-100k!

So now I potentially have another goal...to get my wordcount down to 100k. This is daunting to me, because it would definitely require removing subplots, but...I love my subplots!!!

Could I bear to let go of wonderfully snide and antisocial Edgar Delaney, and his bizarre connection with Louise? Could I really bear to snip the eccentric and off-with-the-fairies Ever Bradley out of my story entirely? And what about Steven Brux, the annoying drunkard who gives Jared a reason to worry that Louise will leave the tour?

The prospect of cutting any of my minor characters or their minor plotlines makes me sad. But maybe I can do it just for submission to that particular publisher, and keep the full vibrancy version for those who don't mind larger word counts.