Hello WordPress!

I have just moved! This is Monkey Beth Media’s new home on the web.

TCC is chugging along and I can barely keep up!

I will check in again tomorrow.

Juggling

It’s really been nice to re-read TCC. I have enjoyed going through it again. I’m not cutting large portions, but I am definitely trimming everything down. I guess that’s the balance of editing once you have finished a book. You over write to fill in the holes. Then you have to trim again to make it as sharp as possible.

It will be so strange when I’m no longer working on this book in a writing/editing sense. I will still be working on it in terms of promotion, marketing and sales but that will be a new hat!

I have been juggling the editing/rewrites of TCC and the first draft of my YA book, The Lost. The voices are so different. It’s interesting to vacillate between two very strong characters who take up space in my head/heart.

In August I will begin teaching as a sub. I’m looking forward to getting into a classroom and finding all sorts of inspiration with different age groups.

Back to writing…

Updates

The reason I never get around to putting up pictures on this blog is that I never post from my laptop – will have to change this habit.

TCC will be sent to a new copy-editor the beginning of August. Everything had to be pushed back a month which is turning out to be a good thing for a couple of reasons.
A) Money – no money to pay for such service in July
B) TCC has marinated long enough that I can look at it with fresh eyes and do some more editing on my own before it goes out.

I have recently been approached by a lot of people about self-publishing. This has been interesting and it has prompted me to re-think some of the blogging I have been doing lately.

I will blog more about the actual process and what I found in my own research. I will be posting them on this blog and my personal blog.

After TCC has been edited, I will be posting excerpts here and on Scribd as well.

Holding –

I am so bad about keeping my promises on blogs! I still haven’t put up any pictures from Chicago. I will have to do that.

So, I am waiting to send TCC to a new copy-editor. This should be going down the beginning of July. I can’t wait for some more feedback from a couple new readers as well.

After the story is copy-edited, I will be posting snippets of the story every month until the release on October 12, 2009. So stay tuned….

I Love the Smell of Revision In the Morning

I’m a liar – I haven’t downloaded my pics yet, and forgot I said I would put some up. I will do that this Monday – I promise.

Well I got through all of Sam’s wonderful feedback last Monday and this week I have been working my way through Lisa’s comments. It is interesting because they focused on such different things. Lisa is suggesting a lot of cuts at the end. At first I was a bit annoyed, but after a couple of days stewing it over, I realized she was right. It needs to end closer to the resolution.

It is so difficult to cut characters and scenes that I love, but now I’ll have some great extras to post somewhere down the line.

Back to work…

Chicago!!!

I am home from Chicago – sob sob

I can’t believe this time last week I was sitting on Lisa’s beautiful porch soaking in the sunshine. I liked Chicago so much more than I expected to. I felt really comfortable and the architecture blew my mind, I will have to go back and visit again as soon as possible.

The Harry Potter exhibition, was brilliant! I loved it so much, there really aren’t any words to describe how cool it was. Getting sorted and seeing all the wands – so cool. Sam and I were in full out HP geek mode, we both bowed to Buckbeak at the same time, she is definitely a kindred spirit. Sitting in Hagrid’s chair was uber-awesome. I could have crawled up into a ball and stayed there forever…it smelled so good, like Hagrid, I assume.

We also went to the Art Institute and saw every neighborhood, Lisa and John were amazing hosts. I had char dogs, magnificent pizza and the best birthday cake ever from Taste of Heaven bakery. We had great chats and lots of wonderful laughing spells when I thought I would never breath again.

Saying goodbye again was awful. Five days is just never enough time. Whenever the three of us gather I am completely at peace. It is a beautiful thing. We found some time to go through manuscripts and that is always great too! There is such a level of trust and they read my words with so much love – TCC is so much better because of their insightful comments and observations.

I have some new revisions to work on, and hopefully I can get it off to the copy editor soon. I am still shooting for a launch in October.

We’ll always have Chicago

I can’t believe that exactly a week ago I was sitting at my friend Lisa’s kitchen table in the sun, laughing and drinking coffee. Chicago was awesome, I didn’t want to leave. It was so great to see Sam and Lisa again and to bum around such a cool city. We had great warm weather and I just didn’t want it to end.

We also got some work done in between all the fun we were having. I feel like TCC is so close…. I have one or two revision tweaks to go and then it is off to the copy editor.

I plan on working on comments from Sam and Lisa this Monday, Memorial Day and getting as much done as I can.

I will post some pictures from the trip in a couple of days.

Hallelujah!

The cover for TCC is designed! It is so wonderful and exactly what I wanted. Well exactly what I wanted with the limited options of self funded publishing –
I am doing a victory dance as I type, (luckily you can’t see me) you will just have to use your imagination. The blurb for the back cover is finished too!

I am also still on fire with the revisions. We extended the deadline for sending manuscripts before the Chicago trip and I am confident that I can get it all done by this weekend.

My brain is over flowing with ideas. I have notes stashed all over and it so much fun to work them into the story. Thrilling adventure awaits…

Twilight Musings

I forgot to blog about this after I finished the series so I thought that would be a good topic for today.

I am on the fence about these books, much like others out there in blogville I’m sure. New Moon is my favorite book in the series and I am really excited to see what they come up with for the movie. The rest of the books are ranked as follows, in my humble opinion:
2. Eclipse
3. Twilight
4. Breaking Dawn

I would first like to say I really enjoyed the books as an escape. I threw myself into them and it was an interesting and exciting world to inhabit for a while. That is the beauty of fiction.

As a grown-up I can see these books as entertainment and take them as they are, but I understand the hesitation of a lot of people out there, because teens are fanatical about this series. As a writer, the idea of such public acclaim is exciting, but terrifying. I think Stephenie Meyer’s has handled the backlash of Breaking Dawn really well. I appreciated her blog about the controversy. It is true that no book is going to please everyone.

I also understand why a lot of people don’t like the series, especially the controversy about Bella. I had a very interesting conversation with a doctor who really disliked the series. He has a fourteen-year-old daughter who is obsessed with the books and he is very bewildered by it. He dis-liked the writing, but he was especially worked up about Bella’s behavior. He also was really upset that there were no “real” consequences for her actions. That bothered me as well.

I told him that New Moon was my favorite and he agreed it was the best book in the series. I found it so interesting that his daughter and her friends really disliked New Moon. I liked it because it was the only book in the series where there were real consequences – Edward thinks he is protecting Bella by leaving, but he almost kills her with a broken heart and extreme depression in process. Bella develops true love, not romanticized love for Jacob. Bella almost loses Edward for good by being reckless.There is also a sense that maybe Jacob has an equal opportunity for her heart, which made me excited to read Eclipse.

It bothers me that so many teen fans dislike New Moon for these realistic elements. I think you can write a fantasy, even a teen vampire romance, but it has to have real cause and effect to make it more than an interesting world to read about for a week.

Maybe if I was fifteen again I would feel differently, but maybe not. I wasn’t your normal fifteen-year-old back then and my preferences might not be any different. It’s hard to know. I do know as a grown-up that the love between Jacob and Bella feels real. It is complicated, but deep and beautiful. I was really bothered in Breaking Dawn because it felt like Edward really didn’t know Bella very well.
Edward is hot, and definitely the first vampire to ever do it for me, but I have grown into a woman who wants the real thing, not the fantasy.

At the very least, I am glad I read them because I can discuss them and my opinions about them will help shape my YA manuscripts.
There is my two cents on the matter. Okay, rant over.

Buzzing

I am on a writing high and my soul is buzzing! I had such a wonderful writing day today. I injected this new high energy scene that is full of suspense and danger – I love it.

I am just beginning with Chapter Five revisions, which used to be Chapter Three. I think these new chapter breaks make more sense and I am so jazzed to work on these revisions… all I want to do is write.

It cracks me up that I used to be so petrified of revisions. I would finish a draft and just freeze. I would be overcome with fear and sit on the project for months, years even.

Now, I have realized the power of revisions and I am so excited to work out these new plot twists and flesh out all these shiny details. The book is already so much better. I was already proud of it, but this work is making all the difference.

I know it is scary to put your creative baby in someone’s hands, but a community of trusted readers is crucial to the story evolving into the best thing it could possibly be. I am so lucky to have people like Sam, Lisa and Em to ask the right questions to get me back into action. Revision rules!

I need to send the ms to my friends this coming Tuesday, so they can have a chance to read it before we meet in Chicago on the 15th. I didn’t think I was going to pull it off, but now with my fingers buzzing I might be able to get it all done.

Wish me luck –