RTW 170: Best Book of February

Hey all! I know I'm breaking my 'posting on Friday' thing, but as I said before I will do this from time to time!

So I have decided to participate in my first ever Road Trip Wednesday put on by the good people at YA highway. (If you don't read their blog, you should, CLICK HERE to get to their blog.) It's just something to get people to write about either reading or writing topics. They're quite fun and I suggest you take a look at them! A lot of great people take part in them!

Anyway, this Wednesday's topic is the best book you've read in February. Unfortunately, with how busy I've been this past month, I haven't been able to get much reading done. However, I just today finished a really amazing book:

The Animal Gospels
By: Brian Barker

This is actually a book of poetry. I know for a lot of you out there, this may make you cringe. For a long time, the thought of reading any poetry made me cringe. (Still to this day a lot of older poetry makes me scratch my head in confusion.) However, this book is really great. It's a quick read that really draws you in. Some of the poems in the book aren't as good at the others, but there are multiple within that really are a must read. His voice is fresh and stays modern throughout all of the poems. Some are sad, some are funny, and some are just out there. This book sells for rather cheap on Amazon (I had to buy it for a class) and I would definitely recommend picking it up!

What was your best read of February?

Revision Hell

picture by photosteve101

Hey all!

I know it's technically Saturday because it's past midnight, but I'm doing it!

I have been busy the last few days trying to revise and work on my story. I've been going over some beta comments, which have been EXTREMELY helpful, and I've been going back through and changing it all from past to present! The story definitely flows better now that it is in present and I'm really excited to have it all done!

I've even come up with some new scenes to add in, something I told myself I didn't think I'd be able to do, and I'm very excited about them! Have to keep them under wraps for now though, because I'm not sure how they'll turn out, so who knows, I may not even keep them! Revising is a fun and scary time for my writing, but I'm trudging through it!

I'm really excited to just have a finished manuscript (and I say finished lightly as I know if it ever gets picked up it will be changed again). I mean I guess I have a finished one, but not a polished one! Okay, now I'm rambling.

In other words, I'm having one of my good friends recommission my cover, and yes I understand that if I get picked up they'll make their own cover, but it's just fun and exciting to have a cover! I know I have a past cover, and you can see it in THIS blog post, and I appreciate every minute that was put into making it, but I feel like it no longer fits my story, as I have changed it and somewhat matured it.

Another dilemma I've been facing lately is the name of my novel. I originally named it Divided We Fall, and I also feel it has outgrown this name. Now I'm faced with trying to think of something that will do it justice.

Anyone out there have suggestions on book title brainstorming?

Past or Present Revisions

Hello all! I know it's been a while since I have updated my blog and I have decided something. Now if I've promised this before, which I may have (I have a terrible memory), call me out on it! Because I'm not sure how often is too often to blog and how long is too long to wait, I'll be posting a new blog on Friday's afternoons. That way you know when to look for it and you'll know that I haven't given up on writing!

Now it's time for the real subject of this post. I've been reading a couple of different books lately that I've won off of goodreads and have been thinking about what I'm writing. My manuscript, as it stands, is written in past tense, however, upon thinking more in depth about it, I wonder if my story should be in past tense.

I know a lot of people don't like present tense because blah, blah, blah, etc. However, the story that my book is telling is a story that isn't one the main character would want to look back and retell, which is basically what past tense is, it's a retelling of the story. I also have some scenes in my book that I feel would be more dramatic, intimate, and sad in present tense.

I have gone on the absolutewrite forums and talked to some people who have helped me come up with the idea to rewrite some chapters in present and see how they turn out. As of right now I'm not sure how I feel about it. I know the chapter I rewrote, the first, is not my favorite chapter in the book, so that may also have something to do with how I feel about it.

Alas, I sit here and stare at my book and basically have... well... look like this...

picture owned by this guy

I feel guilty almost for just letting my story sit as it is right now so I'm trying to work on revising it, but with my brain laughing at me, screaming nonsense, it's hard to decide what I want to do with it. This is the future of my book and manuscript in my hands and I'm just juggling it right now!

Questions, comments, concerns? Please tell me your opinion.

Facing the Facts

Photo owned by Scott Beale

So I found out some news about my stuff being published, and I guess I should have seen it coming, but why didn't I? I was walking around in a perfect little world where nothing could touch me or my writing. Wrong!

It turns out that the literary magazine that is publishing me gets to decide what to edit in the story and what to cut out. I don't know why this surprised me, but it did. Then I read the changes they made. It wasn't anything astronomical, but one little line they cut out just got to me. It's still bothering me, almost a week later. I plan on emailing them right after and asking them to put a line back in, but it's just weird. It's weird to think that someone else has domain over my writing; someone that isn't me.

I've accepted what they've done and just plan on asking for that one line to be added back in, but then my poem came up. They added in an entire stanza. A stanza I'm not particularly fond of. I'm going to tell them to take it out or it's not being published. Some of you may say that's stupid of me, but it's my work and now it just feels like a frankenstein baby! When an entire stanza I did not write makes its way into my work, it's no longer mine.

But I have to face the fact, that if I want to get published there will be an editor and a publisher that ultimately has say in everything that goes out there, and as much as it sucks, that's my life. I'm okay with it though, people are reading what I've written and that's all that matters... right?