Friday, November 14, 2008

Forgive me, I'm tired.

Okay, while I'm waiting on some incriminating evidence (you're not off the hook, Steph), I thought I'd share with you an emotional epiphany I had on Wednesday.  You see, even though I've loved to write for as long as I can remember, I'm fairly new to the novel writing arena.  The idea for my series came to me about four years ago and, although I piddled around with it for a while, I didn't sit down and get serious about it until January of '08.  Well, since January, in a whirlwind of obsessive behavior, I have completed my series. (Granted there is still a lot of editing to do, especially in book four).  Yes, that's right, on Wednesday I wrote the last word of book four.  (Thus succeeding in my singular goal of becoming the fastest typer in the universe.  I'm sure there was an easier way to accomplish this, but I couldn't think of it at the time)  How did I feel?  Scared and elated at the same time.  This has honestly been an amazing eleven months for me and I feel like my books are like my fifth child.  Really, my main character is like another daughter to me, that is how real she is.  I know a lot of you can relate.

Anyway, so I've been nervous to embark on a new conception (if you will).  I feared I wouldn't love it as much as my first book.  I feared I wouldn't love my characters as much as my first characters.  (I feared I had reached the pinnacle of my typing proficiency) But, I've had an idea brewing in my head for the last four months.  I had even written a page long summary of it, so that I wouldn't forget.  So, on Wednesday, to reward myself for finishing my series ... I wrote the first chapter of my new book.  (only a writer would consider that a reward).  And I haven't stopped writing since.  Today I reached 12,500 words.  I am in love with my new book.  It surprised me in a wonderful way.  Since I'm comparing this to having children, why stop with the analogy?  Why did I think that writing another book would make me love my first book less?  Why did I think that I didn't have enough love to share with another book?  I have enough love.  And I love my new book!!!  I'm so excited. (I challenge each and every one of you to a type off.  Warning, before you accept this challenge, you might want to take note that my entire four books consist of the sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" over and over again.  You're having second thoughts, aren't you?) 

Yes, it's official, I'm weird.  You all knew it, now it's been firmly verified.  

15 comments:

  1. Aw, Kasie, we are so alike! You, on your fifth book for the year. Me, on mine. Sigh. Good times. And look at you all 12k in.

    I'm kinda jealous. I can't wait to get back to Evergreen and get it finished up...just so I can start the next one! hehe.

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  2. I knew you would be jealous, natalie, I thought about not mentioning it, what with your fast and everything. But then I remembered that I love to rub things in. (Mua ha ha) And I've also taken note that it seems as though you are getting entirely too complacent over there. Almost as if you have come to a happy acceptance of your tortured state. I haven't heard any whining for days! Don't make this seem easy because then I might be tempted to try it. And we all know the bad things that would happen if I tried it. :)

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  3. You know, the withdrawals are wearing off, but I still can't wait to get cracking in December. I have the rest of Evergreen planned already...and it will be done by the end of December:)

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  4. Four books in a year! That's amazing. I actually really want to see you and Natalie have type off. A contest: You both start on the same day and whoever writes a new book first wins!

    Seriously though, I think that's awesome about finishing your series. Congrats. I'm so curious to know what it's about. You'll have to post a teaser one of these days.

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  5. You are definitely in the writing zone! Take it as far as you can, and congrats on completing the series. I'm with Renee - curious minds want to know, maybe a one-sentence synopsis? (Practice for those agent queries!)

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  6. Renee, that is an excellent suggestion. A type off. Natalie on her mac, me on mine. I love it! And maybe I'd get a new book out of it. And in one day, no less. :)

    And, as requested by Renee and now Joanne, I will give a one sentence synopsis of my series:

    It is awesome!!

    No, I kid, that will be a good post for Monday. I'll write a little synopsis of my series on monday and perhaps post a teaser. I don't know, I have to think about the teaser, I'm not as generous as Natalie and Kiersten. I am a selfish, selfish author. :)

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  7. Oh, wait, you didn't say that we would write our books in one day, renee, you just said we'd start on the same day. Well, your way works too. Here I thought I was going to have a 24 hour 50,000 word marathon of writing. Natalie, that would be fun though, wouldn't it? Me and you having like a writing marathon. I could come to Utah and we could have like a huge slumber party for the "type off". At the end of our marathon we could read each others books and laugh our heads off. Because I know how my writing gets the more tired I get.

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  8. I write a new book every other day, and then I sell them for a million dollars each. Is that good?

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  9. Stephen, are you asking to be part of our type-off, because I'm sensing a challenge in your statement.

    (by the way, Jared, I knew you'd been lurking, it's about time you made a comment)

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  10. lol, I did mean just starting on the same day, but now that you mention it, an all day type-a-thon would be hilarious!

    I would have to just sit on my inner editor or something. Or wack her over the back of her head with a stick.

    Hmmm, maybe I need to do that anyway . . .

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  11. Yes, this has to happen. All of us. All of our computers. 24 hours. We have to think of the idea that night. No coming with preconceived ideas. Or better yet, we all come up with ideas that night and put them in a hat, we each draw one, then we write. At the end of 24 hours, we stop. Then we sleep of course. And when we wake up, we read each other's books out loud. We are planning this. We will call it our first annual "type-off". Then, when we are all on book signing tours we will have to pick a hotel at which to meet and have our second annual. This will be truly awesome.

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  12. Wow, this all sounds like so much fun! Of course, I have these kids...and they like my attention for some reason. But if I could figure out a way to not have them for a day, I so would just to see how much I could write in a day.

    My highest total is about 7k.

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  13. I'm so there. :)

    Oh, and Natalie, 7k in ONE DAY????

    *jaw hits the floor*

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  14. Yes, Renee, I admit it. That was my push to the "big" scene in Evergreen. That was the push that made me realize I had a problem—I'm a writing addict. Hehe.

    I don't recommend it though, my head was killing me and I bruised a pinky.

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