Monthly Archives: February 2010

Some Things on a Sunday

Posted on February 21, 2010 by bethanyrsmith

1. I start back at uni in a little over a week. This is FREAKING ME OUT. I’ve started getting excited about my subjects but even after ruling up a weekly timetable, I have no idea how I am going to fit everything in. I really want to have Book #1 revised by my birthday in May, but that is three months away and I’m moving incredibly slowly as it is, even without uni.

2. I’m trying to calm down and put less pressure on myself, especially when it comes to writing. As much as I would like to be, I’m not a full-time writer yet and I have other responsibilities. I need to be happy with doing as much as I can with the time that I have, rather than comparing myself to full-time writers and freaking out about my low rate of production. I know much of it is fear that when I graduate uni I won’t have anything to go into – I have no idea what I will do if I’m not published by then. I know that I have to accept the possibility that it will take years and years before I am published. I also know that after I graduate and get a full-time job it will be harder and harder to fit the writing in.

3. I’ve joined Verla Kay’s Blue Boards, which I am very excited about. I’m hoping to find a critique group on there because I know how invaluable that would be for me.

4. I had a really good conversation with my husband over pancakes today about the future. He said something really sweet. He said the reason he has so much confidence that I will become a full-time writer one day is because he knows how talented I am. He knows my writing is worth something. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have such a supportive partner. It’s amazing. I just hope I can live up to his expectations.

5. To illustrate the slow rate of my revisions, I’m only just getting to the end of Chapter One. I’ve cut so much and added a bit more, and although revisions are absolutely terrifying, they are also very fun and fulfilling. I am writing a good book. It really increases my confidence in my own ability.

Thats all for now! Hopefully I won’t be as tired or stressed out as I have been this week so I can post more. I have many excellent ideas for posts, if only I can find the time and energy to write them.

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What’s Been Happening and Giant Linger Giveaway

Posted on February 15, 2010 by bethanyrsmith

I can’t believe it’s been a week since I last posted! So what’s been happening? Well, I’ve started back onto my goals again and I’ve pretty much caught up in my reading :) . I’ve also been planning my re-write of TIGER EYE and trying to ignore (but still writing down) all the amazing ideas I keep getting about Book#2. Also, yesterday was Valentines Day, which I’ve never had anything against. When I was younger and single I used it as an opportunity to let my friends know how much I loved them all. Yesterday Michael took me out for lunch after church (thoroughly tricking me by taking me to Borders and buying me a rose while I was among the bookshelves) and then to Redhead Beach (which is my favourite beach) where we got tossed around quite a bit. All in all it was a lovely day.

Speaking of books and reading, as my facebook friends would know, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater was the first book I read this year and it was an engrossing, beautiful read. I’m very much looking forward to the second in the series, Linger,  to come out (as much as I love love stories I think I like the stories about love maturing and growing better), and now you have the opportunity to win a Linger ARC months before its realease date!

Linger Cover LargeIn Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love — the light and the dark, the warm and the cold — in a way you will never forget.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.

Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie’s blog.

So my advice? Get entering to share the werewolf love!

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Awesomeness

Posted on February 8, 2010 by bethanyrsmith

Something awesome: I’ve started skimming through TIGER EYE to formulate an outline which I will revise from. In the beginning this was incredibly hard and discouraging as I realised how very bad my novel is and how much it will take to fix it. But in the last half of the novel things started getting good. I giggled at funny bits I didn’t even remember putting in there. I liked whole portions of text. I felt joy and sadness with my character.

This all caused a sudden realisation: TIGER EYE has improved my writing exponentially.

Just comparing my skill from the first few chapters to the last, writing this novel has taught me so much! If I improve so much with every novel who knows where I could be in 10 years?

So today I have gone from extreme discouragement and contemplating trashing the novel completely, to supreme encouragement.

I will make this novel good. Just watch me.

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What to do… What to do…

Posted on February 5, 2010 by bethanyrsmith

Well, I finished my book a couple of weeks back and, exhausted as I was, I took a few weeks to relax and reflect, momentarily ignoring my resolutions. It’s been pretty terrible, though. I’m really, really bad at living aimlessly. When I’m not making and achieving goals I feel grumpy and at a loss and I get really frustrated with my regular responsibilities like my day job and cooking meals.

I actually had a huge whinge about the necessity of eating to hubby dearest so he took me out for takeaway, which, of course, made me feel lazy and fat. See? When I don’t feel like I’m achieving anything I become an absolutely horrible person. Poor, poor Michael.

So I’m starting back up with my goal making-and-achieving this weekend. I already have my to-do list and I’m pretty excited. There is just one problem and it is, of course, to do with writing. Now I’ve finished my novel and I’ve begun planning #2 (unfortunately planning doesn’t make me feel like I’ve achieved much as there are very few definable landmarks) I don’t know what to do next.

Should I:

1. Start revising novel #1 (even though many writers say you need a couple of months between writing and revising in order to achieve the necessary distance from the work that revising requires) ?

Or should I:

2.Start writing novel #2 ( the problem with this being that I’m worried I haven’t done enough prepping. I’m worried that I will start too soon and the novel will die a terribly withered death. But this could be just a writerly superstition just like the above)?

In the meantime I’m writing a synopsis for book #2 and organising the study ready to revise book #1 (I figure something that requires me to be ultra-analytical requires a clean and ordered space in which to analyse)

So what do you think? Option 1 or option 2?

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Talking

Posted on February 2, 2010 by bethanyrsmith

It’s amazing the things you find on the internets. No, I’m not talking about cat videos, although those are pretty amazing. I’m talking about those blog entries, sometimes from people you don’t know or haven’t heard of before, that are framed at that perfect pitch to encourage you in the way you need it the most.

This week’s encouragement came from Nova Ren Suma, author of Dani Noir, which sounds fascinating although I haven’t yet got my hands on a copy. Nova’s latest blog entry is about not talking about your project just because people ask you what you are working on. If you’ve been reading my blog (the two of you who have been. Hi friends!) you will know I’ve had this complex about trying to explain my book to people when I’m asked. I think a large part of it is what Nova talks about:

"All I’d need is one wrinkled nose or offhand remark or distracted look across the room at the hot guy/ hot girl/ hot other novel and it could derail the whole project. You wouldn’t know that—you could innocently say something completely innocuous and not realize how much of an impact it could have. It’s not your fault. Still, I’d rather not risk it."

And it’s true. The ease at which I could become totally discouraged about my project is truly amazing. We writers are sensitive types. Even though I’ve written it to the end, it’s still not ready for the world, or to phrase it more accurately, I’m not ready to give it to the world.

So from now on when people ask me what my book is about I will say "It’s a YA novel about a girl learning to take responsibility for her actions" – the vaguest possible answer. And if you ask what I’m working on now, I will either say "It’s a book about Summer" or "It’s a YA novel about a girl caught between two cultures."

You’ve been warned ;)

I do think it is important for me to admit to people that I am a writer but from now on it won’t be accompanied by the stress of actually talking about my book/s. At least until they are published – then just try and stop me!

Love!

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