What's up Wednesday

Today I'm participating in What's Up Wednesday, a weekly writing blog hop to stay in touch.

WHAT I'M READING
I started reading THESE BROKEN STARS and have to admit, I almost put it down. Actually, I did put it down. It couldn't buy into the angst and the liking each other and then almost insta-hate, but I found myself still thinking about the book and the setting. And if I was still thinking about it, I figured I'd give it another try. And once I got passed that beginning (slash kinda the middle) I started really enjoying it. The setting is wonderful, but so different than the SF I'm writing, and I started really liking the characters and what was going on with them. I haven't finished yet, so I'm interested to see how it ends.

WHAT I'M WRITING
I've been finishing up the (hopefully) last draft of revisions for THE DISLOYALTY OF COLORS, my YA SF. I hope to query it sooner rather than later, but I'm not putting any deadlines on it. I think I'm gonna have one last round of critiques just to make sure that the revisions I did aren't totally off-base.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW
I've been a little down on the inspiration front lately, but then I started reading Jack Canfield's The Success Principles. I'm only a little ways in, but I already feel more invigorated. He talks about creating goals and then doing everything in your life with those goals in mind, and only doing things that line-up with your goals. While this is a bit extreme, it was a good reminder that your goals should be at the front of your mind. I was kind-of forgetting this. So I realigned my work with my goals and feel so much better!

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
I've been working on my YouTube channel.  I was apprehensive about it at first because I thought it'd be something where I'd run out of ideas or that it would get old, but I'm really enjoying it.  I post book reviews, vlogs, nerdy things I've made, random thoughts and obsessions, and I keep getting more ideas.  There's just something about creating videos that I really enjoy, something that you can point to and say "I made that".  It's similar with writing, but with that, it takes much longer to point to something and say "I did that".  If you feel inclined to check it out, you can find my channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/StessaSays

Standalone with series potential

Sorry for all the revisions talk, but it's what I'm currently doing and it is hard. *noms some chocolate*

As of now my WiP is a standalone (obvi), but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about a sequel. Emphasis on *thinking*. I haven't outline a sequel and don't intend to, (unless I get an agent and it gets an editor and they say go for it), so that whole business is waaaay down the line, if it even happens at all. But right now I'm working on the ending, and with the thought that maybe some day there could be a sequel, I'm starting to wonder if my ending is too "wrapped up". I've gotten a few notes from CPs saying they thought it was too wrapped up, attributing it to a different point. But maybe it's too wrapped up because there should be a hint at a sequel.

Now this is a fine line. I want my story to feel complete, that my MC's journey is over. But maybe there's an unanswered question or two. My MC solved her problem, but maybe there's a bigger problem, lurking in the end pages, that never gets solved. Would it still feel like a completed ending then? Or would it be too obvious that there could be a sequel? Fine line.

So that's what I'm working through right now, how to make this manuscript a standalone with series potential.

Have you ever come across this problem?  How did you solve it?

Fangirl: A vlog book review

I'd heard so much about this book that I finally had to read it.  I ended up liking it even more than Eleanor & Park (which I absolutely loved!)  If interested, below is my review via vlog (just click the link).

Let me know if you've read it and what your thoughts were on Fangirl!

Fangirling: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell | Book Review

Endless Revisions And Those Scenes You Try To Sneak By CPs

Even Max is ready to be done revisions

So I posed a question a few posts ago about how you know when you're book is "done".  And what does
that really mean?  And while I'm still pondering that, I think I'm a little farther than I was before, in answering that question for my current WiP.  (Emphasis on "my", and "current".  I'm sure it is different for everyone and every book that they write.)

I've revised this WiP so many times that I've lost count.  I also have a pretty weird writing style, that it kind-of doesn't translate into how many drafts I have.  Everyone is different, right?  Yerp.

But along this road of revisions, you kind of know when things don't work.  You're just waiting to see if they slide past your CPs.  Welp, they don't.  Ever.  And I think this last round of critiques for TDoC, I didn't have any of those scenes that I was trying to sneak by.  Or I knew I had them, but I needed some help with how to change them.  And now I have that help.

So I finally admitted to myself that I may be rounding the end point.  I even told the roommate he could read it.  (Though he doesn't really read.  At all.  So we'll see if that happens.)  It's this feeling in my gut that it's the best that I can make it.  And I guess that's really the stopping point, right?  It's either good enough and it'll get an agent, or it's not, and I'll continue with writing my next book.  There's not much more I can do with it at this point.

Now I still have some tweaks to do and a whole 3 page list of things to change, but that's it.  After those things, I think I really am "done".

Is it just me or are those words absolutely terrifying?  (And exciting?)  (At the same time?)