On the third, fourth, and fifth days of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me... one liar lying.

Yes, yes, so I failed.

I thought about picking up with "three French hens", but when I tried to look up the symbolism, my sources said, "This probably refers to a variety of hens from France." FAIL.

Let me instead pepper you with excuses. The dog show is in full dog-show swing, and just yesterday I sent off the next revision of TGLL to the Delightful Editor, who apologized, saying she will not have a chance to read it until the day after Christmas because she has something else due on Christmas Eve. I am shocked! I can't believe these poor editors are working in sweatshop conditions. I always thought that scene in "Elf" where the guy (a publisher) has to work on Christmas Eve was a sick joke. But no.

Poor, poor Delightful Editor. I think it's for the best. Supernatural thrillers don't generally add to one's sense of celebration, although maybe she will read it and enjoy the gift of Not Having to Do Any More Notes.

Let us all add this requests to our letters for Santa, please.

In spite of my failure as a blogger, as a human, I am having a pretty good week. I hope the same for all of you.

k.

My dog is a grouch and so am I.

Winston and I are in a funk.

You know how you'll be at the store and see something you desperately want, and then you're like, "Oh, but that costs $75 and I don't want to spend that kind of money! I'm saving up for [a rainy day/groceries/gallbladder surgery/a trip to Hawaii]."

And you're all good and feeling great about the money you didn't spend, and then you go home and the plumbing in your kitchen explodes and it costs like $500 to fix it? And you're like, "Dang, I could have afforded that thing at the store after all... of course, I really can't buy it NOW."

That's how I feel on the time management front. I never knew how much free time I had until NOW. I never thought, during all the time I spent sewing skirts and tiny quilts for dogs and even a very low-cut yellow and orange cocktail gown, that at some point that ceaseless supply would dry up, but here we are with a dog show to produce, a manuscript to revise, hundreds of loads of laundry to finish, and thousands upon thousands of special edition holiday calories to consume.

And I have no time to sew. Or to read, really. I get to listen to podcasts in my car, but that's pretty much it. At work, I'm -- how unfair is this?? -- working all day. On the weekends and every morning at 6 am and every evening after I get home, I'm finishing up revisions.

And when I'm not doing all that, I'm obviously whining about it.

Phooey. Winston and I need a week on the beach in Hawaii. With a sewing machine.

Wooooooooo, scary!

Happy Halloween! Last night I had a panicky dream that we didn't have any of our Christmas decorations up yet. (I must secretly be a department store -- oh, snap!) And I came home and the husb was taping Happy Birthday streamers to multicolored balloons. At least he was trying.

I made myself a really simple skirt yesterday out of Halloween fabric, but this morning I have to tackle Winston's costume. I don't know what to make him. Last year we were both Dalmatians.

I've been letting the book sit for a few days while I decompress... I have to jump back in soon, probably this weekend. I'm sure I'll find tons of stuff to change. That's just the way it is. The thing is, I get it in the best shape possible before I send it in -- I really do ask myself, "Would you want it published exactly the way it is?" And by the time I send it off to an editor, the answer is, "Yes, if it had to be." Because while it would be wonderful to hear that I am a perfect writer and got everything right the first try, I like feedback and I like having the input of an editor. So far, between the Lovely Editor and the Delightful Editor, I don't feel that the book has been led astray at any point.

So that's good. And that means editors' notes aren't scary to me... But yesterday I did take a peek back at the first couple of chapters of the WIP -- now that's scary. Both the prospect of finishing it AND the prospect of revising it.

Have a good day! Anybody dressing up?

Multitasking schmultitasking.

I went back to work this week.

It wasn't as bad as I feared. In fact, due to the facts (1) that my job is pretty cool, (2) my co-workers are pretty cool, and (3) I get PAID for going to work, unlike sitting at home during hiatus, I have had a good week.

It does cut down on one's free time, but since it's not making me miserable I won't even bother whining about that.

In actual writing news (imagine that!), I continued a three-week morning-noon-night revisions effort this week, using fewer noons and more mornings and nights to finish up the revisions and send them to the Delightful Editor on the day I promised them to her many weeks ago. I sat back feeling extremely accomplished and very relieved, and then she immediately sent an email saying she might not get to it for a couple of weeks and if I continue to revise just send it on over.

All right. I will continue to revise. I have a horrible sinking feeling, in fact, that somewhere in the manuscript is a paragrah that ends with an unfinished sentence. I couldn't find it yesterday for the life of me, so that will be something I can continue to look for.

In reading news, I am loving A.J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically. I have read some books lately that felt so effortless and conversational, and this is one of them. It's a fun read.

In life news, five years ago yesterday...

Neglect

I owe my editor a revised draft of my manuscript next week, so in the meantime, I'm crazy busy.

In sewing news, last week I busted out Butterick 4919 because, and this is not the kind of thing you can really announce in advance on the internet, we went on the husb's company cruise this weekend! I finished the approximately 12 feet of hem Friday morning an hour before we left to catch the boat. The dress was great except that it was soooo low cut in front, especially compared to the illustration on the pattern. Before I wear it again, I'll definitely tack that closed. The result is that the photos are going to require a lot of Photoshopping, because not only is my bra showing in most of them (just the tiniest bit), but that tiny bit of bra has a weird little tuft of thread on it, so it looks like I'm just wearing the most ghetto support garments ever. (Tim Gunn would faint dead away.)

Oh well! The dress was kind of a statement -- the fabric is crazy bright colors that reflect the husb's company colors (what can I say, I love a theme!), and it looked especially bright compared with everyone else's sedate blacks and blues and dark greens. But it was very fun to wear, and I would definitely make the pattern again. I'll post a review over at Pattern Review within a week. I don't have any photos of myself on my camera, or I'd post one.

Okay, off to write! Duty calls!

Fall reading lists

I know it isn't fall yet, but a girl can dream!

In other news, I made a dress the other day and you can see it here. Now I need to get working on a dress for the wedding coming up in a few weeks.

So, as usual, I'm stockpiling book upon book and looking forward to reading them all. Wait, didn't I promise not to buy any more books until I'd read the ones I had? Oh well. Recent additions:

Lottery by Pat Wood
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by AJ Jacobs (and just the preface had me laughing, so I have high hopes)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Blue Angel by Francine Prose (whose non-fiction book Reading Like a Writer I'm listening to on audiobook)
a bunch of Meg Cabot books

One great thing I've learned is that barnesandnoble.com stocks bargain books the way the stores do -- so while it might depress the author of The Historian, I'm quite happy that I got a hardcover copy for $6. Also, they have the same free shipping on orders over $25 that Amazon does, but bn.com is "FAST and free", which beats "SLOW and free" any day (and no, I'm not getting paid to say so).

Yesterday I placed an order that won't ship until October, because I preordered this book: The Year of Living Biblically. I just think the concept sounds so hilarious and intriguing.

Plus I have a new download credit waiting at audible.com and I haven't finished the last one, what's a girl to do? I'll have to break my "nothing under 8 hours" rule and pick out something quick.



In writing news: I have a phone call today with the Delightful Editor to talk over the direction for this revision. I discussed the changes with the husb last night and it was pretty amazing to realize that a lot of what I'm doing is a bit of info-shuffling -- the structure of the book feels essentially unchanged. There are a few discoveries being moved for greater impact, but the bones of the story are still in place. Let's all cross our fingers that she likes it!

*** Back on topic... any good reads coming up on everybody's roster? I'm always looking for new books to buy... even though I said I wouldn't buy anymore.

Like writing, only faster.

A very wise and wonderful woman, an accomplished artist, once told me that if she's away from a painting for even a day, she comes back to it feeling a little bit like a stranger. Overall, this is true of my writing as well. The more I write, the better things go. And when I really get stuck, agonizing weeks can pass before I hunker down and get past it. (Note: this isn't writer's block -- this is writer's laziness.) The point is, sooner or later, I move ahead.

Revising is kind of like that, only instead of having the luxury to spend two weeks quilting and trying to forget what a slacker I'm being, I have fifteen minutes to go sew three crazy quilt squares (side note: anticipation is high for this being the Ugliest Quilt Ever), stare at the wall, stare at the dog, eat some pretzels, and then sit down again.

My typical feeling is that solutions are out there waiting to be found. When revising, that becomes, "Solutions are out there, so start covering ground like a cocker spaniel at a field trial." Flush those suckers out of the brush. Go go go!

In a way, this is painful, and more frustrating and soul-sucking than I would have guessed. Because it must. be. written.

And then, it's also freeing. Because it must. be. written. And that's that. And hey, if Idea #1 flops, take five minutes and think of a fix for it. I've been pleased to realize that the fix does come. Maybe fifteen minutes of staring agonizedly into space is as productive as two weeks of quilting and soft focus on the writing.

I hope so, because it's all going in. Some may come back out.

But it's liberating to do this speed round. Like finally amping the treadmill up to "run" and then realizing you can actually keep up.

I like rules.

There, I said it.

In my seventh grade "I-Search" paper, Do I Want To Be a Writer? (which once upon a time was going to be a Relics post, but I think it might be boring), I read various books about writing as a career and reported the findings. One of the books said that writers were kind of anti-authority, rule-breakers. In my paper, I dutifully mused that this might be a problem for me.

Yeah, I dig rules. And I dig people who dig rules. I find rules to be very freeing, in that as long as you're following 1-6, keeping hands and feet to yourself, raising your hand before you speak, taking the hall pass if you had to use the ladies, sharpening pencils quickly and quietly... you could do whatever you wanted. It's a shame the teachers never caught on and added "7 - Pay attention to the teacher, Katie!"

Working within the boundaries of rules, a child (and now adult) such as myself can successfully beat the system while riding along in its current. Why be the fish out of water? The water keeps you moving.

So, as a writer forming my technique, I came up with Rules. Ahh, sweet rules. Rule 1 - the first draft is crap. Just get it down and then wait six weeks, let one person read it, then make changes as necessary. And the great part is, it worked! Book finished, book improved, book published.

So why is it that now, when I'm still basking in the glow of that sale, I am shaking things up? The WIP is nearly finished. It just needs a resolution. Rulemeister Katie and Little Green Notebook are SO ready to resolve things and get that first draft tucked away for six weeks.

But what's this? Rebellious Hellion Katie (seen here in an undated file photo) isn't obeying the rules. She's not just blissfully ignorant, distracted in that hazy, cop-out way writers get to be. She is BREAKING the rules. She's revising in the first draft. She's changing things and adding scenes and taking things away. And furthermore, the six-week rule is about to get kicked to the curb. Not just ONE person, but TWO, will be taking a gander at this puppy before the paper has even had a chance to unfurl.

And Rebellious Hellion Katie is not sorry. In fact, she looks like she's enjoying herself, which as we all know, is completely unacceptable behavior for a writer.

What's the moral?

Seasons change, people change, yeah? I guess you have to go with what works.

PS - that second photo is notable because I spent the entire evening with one pant leg rolled up and never noticed.

Revisionary

I like revising. Especially if I have a plan in mind. Borrowing from my friend Amber, who says she can't remember life before her daughter, I find with each subsequent revision that I can't remember the story before the changes.

I'm not an outliner (well, not really), I'm not one of those people with a massive color-coded index card system, I hate to do research (I prefer to make things up), I don't do profiles on my characters, and I drink way too much Kool-Aid. But I am the queen of revisions. I love them. I love revising and pulling things out and putting things in and finding threads to weave through the story. I like setting out to change a scene 10% and then rewriting the whole scene. Bonus points if you can do that without changing the scene on either side.

My point is, I am having a great time revising The Girl Least Likely. Perhaps more great a time than is warranted. But I also find that I like my main characters; I'm rooting for them. I want them to win, and every day I spend mired in revision is another day I get to spend watching the outcome on the horizon.

Five Other Things I Like:

1. The Next Door Tapas Lounge
2. Winston!!
3. Quilting
4. Kool-Aid (duh)
5. Reaching that time of the evening where your contacts try to form a glue to keep your eyelids closed, and only needing to make the coffee before you can get ready and get in bed.

That would be now, in fact. *yawn*