Should a writer ever be "in-between" projects?

For those of us who have not been published in our genre, like myself, I always wonder as to whether one should keep working on a project that is out on submission (i.e. the next book in the series), or if one should start something new, OR (God forbid) take a break and not write at all.

Part of me wants to keep working on the current project. The characters are fresh in my mind, their problems seemingly to mount with each day that I'm not at the keyboard.

Another part of me would like to revisit a previous project and maybe improve it.

Still, maybe it's time to think of something new to write.

Or maybe it's time for a writing break?

The issue with the last one is that the break can last much longer that I ever intend. Days, weeks accumulate into months, and that becomes a whole new problem in and of itself.

What do you do when you've typed The End and shipped the manuscript off to your agent - do you keep writing the same series, start something new, or take a break?

New Editing Projects

I don't often brag about any of the editing projects that I work on for Nelson Publishing & Marketing. I'm not sure why because they really are wonderful titles. I think it's because I don't want to hurt an author's feelings by not blogging about their book. There are several new books, though, that I believe will truly make a difference in the world. 

They are:

The Juice Box Bully: Empowering Kids to Stand Up for Others by Bob Sornson and Maria Dismondy

Here's the back cover blurb:

Have you ever seen a bully in action and done nothing about it? The kids at Pete’s new school get involved, instead of being bystanders. When the juice box mess becomes more than just a dirty shirt, Pete’s classmates teach him about “The Promise”. Will Pete decide to shed his bullying habits and make “The Promise”?

Does This Make Me Beautiful? by Harriet Morse

Here's the back cover blurb:

Does a certain pair of jeans or type of shirt make a person beautiful? How about a shiny gold necklace? Harriet thinks that these are the things that can make her beautiful. And she’s sure that her red hair and freckles do not help. But will an old family mirror teach Harriet what true beauty really means?

Growing Up with a Bucket Full of Happiness: Three Rules for a Happier Life by Carol McCloud

Here's the back cover blurb:

Do you know you have an invisible bucket which is filled with all of your good thoughts and feelings?  If you're new to the concept of bucket filling and bucket dipping, then this book is for you. With easy to read chapters, colorful illustrations, and daily questions to help readers become better bucketfillers, Growing Up with a Bucket Full of Happiness: Three Rules for a Happier Life gives readers the tools to live a life filled with happiness.

All three of these books will help readers in many aspects of their lives, and I'm pretty proud to have been involved. All of these books will be available within the next month, either at amazon.com, bn.com, your local bookstore, or nelsonpublishingandmarketing.com.

They are all worth your time.

Kris

Synopsis...the dread word....umm.....document.

How many of you write your synopsis before you write your story? How many afterward?

If I had a choice, I would write it afterward.

But the publishing industry often times wants a synopsis along with a partial when agents submit to editors. As a writer, I hate this. It's not because I don't like to write the synopsis--ahem.-- but because I generally do not have a clue as to where the story will take itself once I start writing. I usually know the beginning, part of the middle, and how it ends. But getting from a to b to c, at least for me, is not a straight line.

I did something different with this current manuscript; I created chapter titles and a one-to-two sentence of what happens in that chapter. I'm not sure if my agent submitted this partial synopsis to the editors. I do know that it helped me tremendously when I needed to get back to writing this story. I can see myself doing this for future stories--especially for ones that I write only a partial and then move on to the next story. I've laid the groundwork for what I was originally thinking, and I then only have to fill in the spaces (chapters) that are unfinished.

Now that the manuscript is done, though, I need to write the full synopsis. It's still not my favorite thing to do, but it sure will be a lot easier since the manuscript is finished.

Did I fudge by not having the synopsis done when I submitted the partial? Yeah, probably. But now that my hands are not throbbing, I can work on cranking out those lovely pages and sending those off to my rock star agent. At least this time when I attempt to write it, I know what happens!

The Amazing Flying Fingers

There's nothing more motivating to finish a manuscript than to have your agent call you and say, "So and so is interested in reading more. Have you finished?"

That's the gist of the phone call I received a little over a week ago - right before I was packing my family up for a long weekend in Chicago. I've never felt so ashamed--this manuscript should've been finished at least a month ago. Life got in the way - major drama - so it sat, waiting for me to return.

Luckily for me, my agent was understanding. She's one of the last people on this planet that I want to disappoint. I promised her that it would be done by the end of the month, and I am going to make way, way good on that promise --sorry, still channeling my twelve-year-old main character.

I wrote while driving to Chicago, until my neck hurt. I wrote while my family frolicked in the pool. Then I stopped writing. I enjoyed myself and all the sights we took in. I didn't write on the way home, but thought about my characters problems and how they were going to be solved.

After unpacking, I sat my butt in my chair and I let the words flow. And they've been flowing every since. I did have to do some work for the day job, but I've been able to spend a great deal of my time writing. I've written over ten thousand words in the last five days. Not too bad for someone who hadn't written seriously for over six weeks. Man, if I carved out the time each week, I could write 3 or 4 books in this series in a year. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Okay, so it's back to my manuscript now. I hope you all get a similar call or THE CALL soon, if you haven't already. I'm certainly hoping that this manuscript is the one that gets me THE CALL. That would be too cool.


Peace,
Kris

Busy with life

I can't believe that it's been almost TWO months since I've written a blog post. Thank goodness this is not a reflection of my "real" writing - I've been busily working on a manuscript geared to 5th, 6th, and 7th grade boys. I'm having fun with the characters, and I'm hoping that this will turn into a series.

What have you been writing?

How do you stay motivated?

So you've started a new story. It's all fresh and new, and you can't stop thinking about it. Your characters are really coming to life, and you are really beginning to care for them. You're cruising right along and then BAM! You lose interest.

I really don't like it when this happens to me. I'm not exactly sure what sparks this sudden non-desire, but my hard drive is riddled with abandoned stories.

I've found that when it really counts and I have to finish the story, I'll find pictures of what I think the characters look like. I'll either cut them from magazines or find them online. Having a clear idea of who they are, and then having them staring at me is really motivating. Or, if I've based the characters loosely on someone I know, I'll either visit or find out someway (Facebook) how they are doing, thus piquing my interest again. These are odd little quirks - I know - but I'm pretty much a visual person, so having either the storyline, images, or even just the list of characters in my face, helps me focus.

Does this ever happen to you? What makes you move on? What keeps you from abandoning your wip - other than a concrete deadline?

Another new story, but only a partial

I'm off and writing a new partial for my agent. Even though I've written one other middle grade partial, my agent told me to start on a new story while she's shopping the one full MG and the partial MG manuscripts. I guess from now on, since I've written a full in each genre I write, I only need to write partials for her to submit. I'm not sure if all agents work this way, but mine does. And, I have to say that I really like it. I don't have to commit myself (or the time) into completing an entire story. I can write a partial and synopsis and then move on.

The only downside that I see to this arrangement is that perhaps my enthusiasm for the story may wane if I don't keep plugging along. I've got several women's fiction manuscripts that are partially completed because I lost interest. But those cases are different, I think (I hope) because I hadn't written a synopsis and they were written early in my writing career - meaning, I've learned a lot more since then and I'm sure if I went back to those, I'd see the problem I lost interest - no clear story problem.

Either way, I think it's pretty cool that I only have to commit to three-five chapters and write the dreaded synopsis.

How do you write? One full story at a time, or in partials?