Seven Things Challenge

My friend Dyane tagged me in a challenge to write seven things about my writing. A full week later and I finally figured out what to say!

My Writing is Personal:

I adhere pretty strictly to the advice of Toni Morrison about writing books you want to read. That advice has been reiterated by Gaiman, another writer I admire. By now, anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows I strive for visibility with POC in speculative fiction. Particularly QPOC and QWOC. That's because growing up, I never saw myself on television or in the books I read. I don't want to fall out of love with a genre. I'd rather improve it.

My Writing is Universal

Despite the color and sexuality of the characters, I write pretty standard stuff! Science fiction has always been and hopefully always will be a commentary on society. Fantasy, hopefully will continue to be a welcomed escape from real life. I employ those characteristics in my stories. I hope in the future, we as readers are able to move past "unrelatable" characters (SARCASM) and enjoy the story surrounding them

My Writing is Activism

Shortly after the Michael Brown verdict I became extremely exhausted with the state of the country. But I also felt super disconnected from traditional activism. I was tired of protests, rallies, petitions etc. Hilariously, my current job probably wouldn't care if I got arrested in the middle of union square for protesting the verdict. I love that. But it wasn't for me.

Incidentally, I was working on a story that paralleled the civil rights movement. And it all came to me. My writing could be my activism.

My Writing is an Addiction

I'm in love with books, stories, movies, anime, conferences, memes, gifs, totes, listicals--anything related to writing, I love. I love speaking with other writers about my stories, their stories, other people's stories.  I'm obsessed. I'm hooked and I'm happy.

My Writing Gives me Hope

 

 I'm pretty vocal about my depression/anxiety. Mental illness is as common as the rhino virus. When I have downs, writing can be an upper. Granted, it's a learned skill, to be able to block out the world and write a story, but its a skill worth learning. with 30-60 minutes of solid typing, I can usually think clearly about a situation and find a solution.

 In the past couple of years, I've lost friends, lovers, faith and gained it all back again. The one thing that hasn't ever left and probably never will is my writing, desire to write and dream of doing it full time.

My Writing is a lot of Work

I'm a perpetual story starter. It's easy to begin something. It's even easy to outline and plan. But getting to the end of a story--getting past the dreaded MIDDLE--should be an Olympic sport. Further more, the re-writing, the discussion, the betas, the tweeting, the blogging, the conferencing, the speaking engagements, the marketing, the interviews, the whiskey, the scotch, the room where I lock myself inside and never come out....

My Writing is in Progress all the Time

I'm always learning because I'm always reading and teaching myself something.  Most recently, I learned to let myself write down EVERYTHING, every scene, every word, every character, every whisper of a plot.

Sometimes, those things don't become full stories. Sometimes they help me sort out stories I am already writing or wanting to write. They get merged and rebirthed. I never stop.

Thelonious, Madhuri-- I challenge you :)

Trimming the Fat: On Revising

The best rejection letter I got so far showed (extreme) interest in a rewrite. I am honored. It also mentioned that I might be tired of my story. My immediate response was that I wasn't. I love my book and I feel like it's a necessary story. But to be perfectly honest...

I wasn't sure.

I am primary interested in writing Science Fiction, but I love reading fantasy--and there aren't many fantasy books on the market that I want to read. Like Toni Morrison says: 

I'm 25, I have a decades long career ahead of me.

Even after I'm signed, there will be more revisions.

Then I'll get an editor and I'll have to make more revisions. Then I'll move on to another project and do this whole thing again. So I know there is no point in being tired of my book--not if I love it. 

 

However, maybe I'm actually tired of how much I love my book.

I kept saying "I know the book needs work," but maybe I didn't actually believe it. Because I couldn't pinpoint the issues and I sent it out. And the agent in question gave excellent feedback that left me wondering how I missed it all. Long story short: I'm a good writer and perhaps I write too much. So I need to skim my book down--streamline it. Trim the fat. 

 

And while I think it should be easy: 

My experience is more like this:

Me                 Manuscript

I'm trying to be objective. Kill who needs to die. Cut out the scenes that don't further the story. It is difficult but a needed skill.  I procrastinate (Clearly, I'm blogging).

The worst part about it, probably, is that I think I'm really close. I've said in previous posts that this is the nicest and most empowering experience I've had querying. And I'm grateful for the kind rejections but they're still rejections. They're the sort of rejections that remind me how close I truly am. So close....so, so close. It's almost painful.