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My goofing off part of the pie would be considerably larger, sadly.

Yes, well...pie slice sizes may definitely vary. :) (Actually, I'm extremely lazy and just re-use the same drawing for all the pie charts...)

Funny how writing always gets a small slice, no matter what else the other slices are! It's like it's too powerful to take up the majority of our time. ;-)

FLOW CHART!

The endless loop of revision ...

Why is even my writing beginning to resemble this????

It's inevitable. :)

I have engaged in long discussions about this topic. So thank you. This lightens the mood! Will have to pass this toon alone.

I'm so happy when I can be topical. :D Seriously, though...this does seem to be an ongoing point of stress and/or debate!

Just the parental visit would have meant at least a day off for me.

Happy upcoming birthday. And get some rest!

Thanks, you guys. :) Yep, parental visits usually tire me out, if nothing else because of the massive amounts of house cleaning I have to do beforehand!

I don't have a single method. It depends on what I have to do and what the project is like.

I generally try to fix the big stuff first and then move on to the little stuff. But I had to reverse that during one revision of my last project.

To me, the value of all the tools and advice is that there isn't one single thing that works for everyone every time. So the different tools give us things to try when we're stuck.

I can't do a detailed outline either. I have a general idea of what happens and what the climax is, and subplots develop naturally as I go. Sometimes I find out the climax is different from what I thought. I just use general rules as I go, like: the MC should be challenged on his biggest flaw; something should happen in every scene; there should be a goal or an unanswered question driving the forward momentum.

Ack! Blogger just ate my comment.

Let's see if I can remember what I wrote...I find it very reassuring that others are non-outliners, too. Once Tanita and I saw Walter Dean Myers speak at an SCBWI conference, and he has this whole complicated scene-by-scene grid thingy that really freaked us out.

I usually do something similar to what you're talking about, in that I try to remind myself that every scene needs an arc and should accomplish some purpose, and I try to keep that purpose in mind as I write. Not sure how successful I am, but I guess that's what revision is for!

I think I made two comments last week. That's...what?...Thirty-three below goal?

I made one comment so far today (obviously not counting this one)...so...yeah.

I am struggling with it, so am glad to get an easy comment in here about the struggle of it all.

I've even seen Moleskines (TM) mentioned in fiction, which is just... wow. I love the idea of a typewriter, and I love the clickety-clack, but I have to say that's as hipster as I go. Sadly.

"Abstruse" is a word we don't get to use enough!

I feel like that's probably a good thing...

And I feel compelled to admit to having owned a Moleskine or two, but they were gifted to me. I swear.

Wow. Great stuff!

Hahahahah! Remember WRITER'S DIGESTS! I bought them a year old and wanted to throw them away - I could have had a room for them - SO DANGED HUGE.

But, I, like, DO have an MFA in, like, life. Just so you know.

Is your diploma in life hanging on your office wall? ;)

It's, like, hanging in my heart, man. In the little office in my heart. *thumps*

Hmmm..I'm none of these. More like, "Books are the only things in life I really, really like. I guess I better learn to write them, or I'm screwed."

Why would you be screwed, though?
Is someone coming to take books away? Have you advanced intel???

Alisa: I hear you! :)

I love the whole toon, especially the expression "post-art."

I'm a combo of hard knocks and self-taught. A graduate of the school of, "They told me for Pete's sake not to be a writer because it doesn't pay anything, so I studied and found gainful employment in another field, but I couldn't stop writing, so here I am."

--Jenn Hubbard, too lazy to sign into my Google account right now

I'm so happy you noticed (and laughed at) post-art. :)

Hard knocks kind of did it for me, too. Only it was more of an "I went to art school and realized I didn't want to teach, so then I decided to become a writer." Because THAT logic made sense. :)

I fall into everyone of those some how! Is that good or bad? *Shrug* Anyway, awesome blog.I'll be back often!

Henry Circle

very good post

::snort::
Right. That's ...pretty much how it goes. Embarrassing happy dance and all.

Used Toyota--or, "Now my husband can get that dental work!"

Yeah. So glam!! ;-D

Is that supposed to be Neil Gaiman as the host? (Because you just know that having him as a contestant would be unfair.)

If so, it was a subconscious Neil Gaiman, although you're right--there's a resemblance there...And he would make a perfect host, although he should perhaps be barred from competition.

Hmm...maybe writing conferences would be more exciting with an Iron Author session.

I'm amazed that it hasn't happened. I used to LARP, and occasional cons would include an Iron GM competition where teams would spend the weekend writing short games and then run them on Sunday morning.

It's a ferret-off! :-D

And the pitcher replies, "But it's a YOUNG ADULT ferret, so it's a perfect fit!"

AAAARRGGGHHHHHHH!!!
:)

Hah!

Like Tales from the Slush Pile (Scroll all the way to the bottom) - the wrong same wrong thing - but with variations! - gets presented over and over and over...

HA! I love it.

Nice post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Extremely useful information specifically the last part :) I care for such info a lot. I was looking for this certain information for a very long time. Thank you and best of luck. website

Well, I was just GRUMBLING over my advisor's revisions to my WIP and here I turn to your blog and find this. Sigh. I needed to read this. My attitude could be better!

Yep, yep; was SHOCKED by how much this was nail-on-the-head time for me, and I wrote it so long ago!! Woe, am I ever going to be in the same stage of writing development!!?!

::sigh::

Onward, writers. Onward.

I'm warming up my index finger so it will be all ready to spin its way to bestselling glory! :-D

As one of Toon Thursday's biggest fans, I say: reruns are fun, too!

Remember, this blogging thing is supposed to be FUN. Don't let it be one more weight in an already pressure-filled career.

I have the forest of Post-its too, except mine are notes written on the backs of receipts and candy wrappers.

I definitely need the occasional reminder that I'm supposed to be having fun around here. :)

Oh, and I have the notes-on-receipts too! My desk is an appalling place right now.

As an editor myself, I have to say this book sounds like it's got excellent advice for authors. I'll look for it next time I'm at the bookstore to check it out, but your review is very flattering. All books need editing, and the cleaner it is before you get outside help (agent, editor), the more constructive that help can be.

Exactly! I think it'll be a huge help in that regard--cleaning up one's writing before an agent or editor looks at it.

I guess one potential caveat is that you have to be pretty realistic about your own writing for the advice to actually work--you can't look at your writing through rose-colored glasses and willfully "not see" the problems. Revision is the time to be humble! :)

Thanks, Carin, for stopping by to leave a comment.

And now, THANK YOU, "Don't Fear the Reaper" is stuck in my head.

(Rock out!)

Tee hee!

Oooo, I'm excited to read this!

Oh, I definitely fit into the "Typical Writer" category, only it's more like 250 words for me . . .

Sadly, sadly typical.
Except on the fab days when I'm a beatnik coffee drinker wannabe... I wish I were a night owl, but I get goofy after 10:30. It's sad, really.

Typical here, too, with the occasional day of sitting around drinking coffee and having good intentions. :)

I actually am a night owl, sort of, but I used to be better at working at night. Now I like to quit working by a certain time (my attempt at establishing boundaries between work and normal life) and goof off for a couple hours!

A cross between night owl and typical.
Does anyone actually know any Disciplined Writers, or are they just a myth? ;-D

I hope they're a myth, or else they're makin' us all look bad! :)

this made me BELLY LAUGH. I am so sad that a friend of mine just offered to send me chocolate from ZAMBIA. And she had been given that in a care package.

Zambia chocolate! Did you take her up on the offer? ;)

Hahahah! If you're living in terror and fleeing your nightmares of never finishing anything or doing anything right... it's all good!!!

Your worldview, it is scary, Miss Aquafortis.

Gee, I thought sanity was chasing butterflies through a field, saying, "I care not what the reviewers say!"

;-D

Other slices may include:

--Screeching, "I've got it now!" and typing furiously.
--Deleting and muttering, "No, I don't have it after all."
--Wishing book would fix itself.
--Fantasizing about new book that would surely be much better than THIS one, if only you weren't stuck revising this one.

Wishing book would fix itself!! How could I have forgotten that one? ;)

If you have any pie which fixes novels, GIMME.

And "fantasizing about a new book" is PURE TRUTH. Annoying truth, at that. WHY am I so fruitful with the new ideas when I need to apply my fingers and brain to what's in front of me????

I hope that sickness all drains away! Summer colds are COMPLETELY unfair.

Thank you, Adrienne!! I am feeling better today. Still coughing, but feeling better. :)

To my mind, triweekly means three times a week.

Clearly, living in the land of "fortnightly" has done my head in.