Category: writing

Happy Friday, revising, writing

Happy Friday #28 – Time with family, reading and revising…

Elodie

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week! 

I am on business trip until this evening and tomorrow, we´re off to Russia…So I will see you next week! 😀

Revising: I´m getting there, really, slowly but surely, I am getting there! And my story is so much better now than where it started. Again, CP extraordinaire and great beta readers, THANK YOU!!!! Oh and my query is ready (crazy!) and here Ian and Christa, you totally amazed me for helping me so much!

Reading: This week, I read IF I LIE and PERFECT CHEMISTRY! 😀 and wow, wow, wow, both books brought out a LOT of emotions! More on them later 😀

Time with my family: Last weekend I went to France and this was a much needed reunion! Spending time with my parents, my sisters, my aunts, grandmother, niece and nephew was wonderful! Sometimes, living far from home isn´t easy and going back is always a treat! Plus I got to meet my second niece 😀

My newborn niece 😀

So, tell me what made you smile this week?

Editing, Happy Friday, personal, revising, writing

Happy Friday #27 – Birthday, Query, Thank you and Other stories

Elodie

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

Birthday: Last Saturday, I turned 31… My day started out with a wonderful birthday concocted by my husband – which including French Toast, potatoes, bacon and some bubbly…YUM! During the evening, we went to a restaurant (where I enjoyed a very nice cocktail) and we went to see The Crucible at the English Theater in Frankfurt. It was just an amazing day!

Birthday Breakfast
Birthday drink

Query : So query writing has been kicking my butt in the past weeks. I´m still revising my book, but I thought it was high time to start seriously thinking about my query. After participating in Sara Megibow´s webinar, I knew it needed more work.  I´ll tell you more about my query writing process and Sara´s webinar next week but after a lot of work, I have a query that works I think and which actually sounds like my book!!! 😀

Reading and revising: This week, I started reading those two wonderful books to help me in my revising process (highly recommended by Sara) and they rock!

Great books

THANK YOU!: Thank you to everyone for the good wishes on my birthday and on our anniversary. Thank you for the lovely comments on my posts! Thank you for helping me with my query (especially thanks to Christa and Ian, who´ve really been super patient and kind with me during the process)! Thank you to my CP extraordinaire and my beta readers! Thank you for being just wonderful. All of you! This week, it felt like this:

Today, hubby and I are off to France to see my family and our newborn niece for the first time 🙂 I´m super late to reply to comments but I´ll get there, promise!

So, tell me what made you smile this week?

revising, Road Trip Wednesday, writing

My Love List….

Elodie

Today is Road Trip Wednesday 🙂 RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: Inspired by Stephanie Perkins’ post on Natalie Whipple’s blog, what is your novel’s “Love List”?

Whenever Stephanie Perkins starts a new project, she creates a list called “What I Love About This Story.” You really should check out her post! (plus you know it’s Stephanie Perkins :D)

I love this! Love it! Which is good for a love list, right?

Please bear with my ramblings as I only had a few hours of sleep. I attended the 10 queries in 10 tweets webinar by Sara Megibow (and due to the time zone difference, I got up at 2am) While my query got a pass, she did say the concept was strong and gave me pointers how to better it.

So exciting! (especially as this doesn’t count as a rejection)

Anyways…

grace in winter 2
Uploaded by Ekabhishek (Wikicommons)

ONE TWO THREE has been pretty much consuming my time, and my thoughts. Husband can testify to this, right hubby? And my wonderful beta readers as well as my critique partner extraordinaire probably nod their heads as I’ve been sending them emails 😀

And it’s important to remember why I love the story. So here is my love list. And it doesn’t even include my characters. Really, I love my characters.

  • Friendship
  • Love
  • Shoulders
  • Ballet
  • Arabesque
  • Plié
  • Chopin
  • Piano
  • Soccer
  • Kisses
  • First times
  • Tequila
  • Family
  • Grief
  • Field
  • Tutu
  • Disney
  • Restaurant
  • Piano
  • Car
  • Arrogant
  • Funny
  • Charismatic
  • Salsa
  • New York
  • Pelmini

Now, tell me what comes on your love list?

 

Happy Friday, revising, writing

Happy Friday #26 – WriteOnCon, revising and other stories…

Elodie

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

 

WriteOnCon: This conference – wow. No, really: wow!!! Here are my favourites

And I got to ask questions in the chat, which totally humbled me, and I simply loved it. Loved all of it. All those advice, the passion, all the talent, really amazing, those wonderful people giving their time!!! And congrats to everyone who got feedback by the Ninja Agents!

Webinar by Sara Megibow “Ten Queries In Ten Tweets”: I signed up for this webinar and I am super excited. Yes, I will have to get up in the middle of the night to attend (technically I could also just watch the video later but I want to be there :P) I’m very much looking forward to absorb and discuss.

Revision: This week has been full of revisions. I received feedback from Taryn on my first ten pages (thanks to the fact I was one of the 3 winners of her query contest) and wow, she really is amazing. I think my chapter one is ready and powerful. My CP and beta readers also have so much patience with me as I’ve reworked that chapter SO. MANY.TIMES. But I think thanks to them  it was all worth it because the stakes are clearer, and the reader can really connect with Natalja from the beginning now. I’ve also been working on formatting, on strengthening some sentences, diversifying their lengths and all. And it truly feels like something amazing is happening as I do this, it’s like all strings are pulling together to make my novel better. And I’m falling in love with it all over again.

Reading: I read two books of Jennifer Echols (inspired by the fact that Jessica Love was gushing about her) this week and I’m now an official fan 😀

And I’m looking forward to the weekend…It’s a pretty special one for many reasons, celebrating my birthday tomorrow and on Sunday, an early celebration of our anniversary 🙂

I’m just lucky!

So, tell me what made you smile this week?

revising, writing

Revising and rewriting…

Elodie

I finally updated my projects page as I’ve noticed more and more visitors click on it. Everybody can finally see what I’m working on 😀 Oh and remember, WriteOnCon starts tomorrow! So exciting…

As most of you know, I am currently revising ONE TWO THREE and I’m loving the process of it. Really! Seeing the manuscript transform, deepen, reach its potential is truly beautiful and fun. Not always easy but so worth it.

For me, revisions can include creating/deleting a character or adding/deleting scenes but I am not tearing the entire manuscript apart. I am not starting anew.

What this made me realize is that my first manuscript currently entitled PLAYING WITH FIRE could not be revised. Or it could but the amount of work required would not make it a revision, it would be a rewrite.

Wiki Commons

A rewrite means that I am completely rewriting the novel. The main plots will stay the same, some scenes might stay  similar but the story will change. I have a basis point but the canvas is almost blank.

Gasp.

I have so many ideas in my mind for future novels but Erin and Aleksi were begging me to reconsider their story, to give them a proper voice. So, I asked myself (and Twitter) THE question:

I received many helpful comments, including to listen to the loudest voices in my head. (by the way I love it that nobody probably stopped at this sentence except my hubby who must have rolled his eyes and said: “voices in her head. Wonderful”)

And after thinking about it, I went with my feelings and the loudest voices. And I’m having a blast. Erin is turning out to be this fun character to write because I finally know her. And I know Aleksi too. My main problem with the previous draft was not the difficulty of keeping track of every event (even though it was) but the fact that Aleksi and Erin were not real. Right now, I can have conversation with them. Which I don’t. Not really. You know what I mean 😀

So, tell me have you ever decided to rewrite instead of revising?

Are those things the same for you?

Beta, Books, Happy Friday, revising, writing

Happy Friday #25 – The Magic of Rs, Revising, Rewriting, Reading and Randomness…

Elodie

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

Revising – Stephanie Perkins and my novel? : So my book is now with beta readers and I started receiving feedback. I am amazed by how my book is transforming in front of my eyes into something SO good. I mean it´s my book and I may be bias and all since I wrote it. But first, Jaime´s critique helped me shape it into a better book and now beta readers let me know what´s working and what´s not working for them. This forces me to really look at my story as a reader before digging into more revisions. I am loving it and you know what one of my beta, aka Kip, said when she sent me back my complete manuscript full of notes?  She compared the romance in my novel to the ones in Stephanie Perkins´ books. So yep, I´m still smiling about that. I don´t think I can say thank you enough to my critique partner and beta readers! You ladies ROCK! (and hubby, you´re pretty amazing yourself :P)

Rewriting: I am rewriting my first manuscript. The main plot is still the same but…the subplots are different AND I  actually know my characters! PLAYING WITH FIRE will be so much better after this rewrite and I am having a blast with it!

Reading: I read THIS IS NOT A TEST by Courtney Summers this week and wow, wow, wow, wow. I promise there will be more words to describe what I thought about that book when I discuss it for Tracey´s YA book club (by the way, you should totally join, it´s fun!). I also enjoyed BELLES by Jen Calonita! And now cannot wait for the sequel to come out 😀 I also love the fact that I actually heard Jen talking about the process of this book, the way she did some research and how excited she sounded. It somehow makes this book even more special 😀

Random: Running on Thursday made me feel like I had wings. Okay, not before the run, as my husband did have to push me to go and not necessarily during as I was fighting through it but after, loved the feeling!

So, tell me what made you smile this week?

Books, Road Trip Wednesday, writing

My Summer Soundrack…

Elodie

Today is Road Trip Wednesday 🙂 RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: : What music has been your summer soundtrack?

Yesterday, I introduced you to the characters of my YA Contemporary novel ONE TWO THREE (currently with beta readers), well today you will find out a bit more about my WiP playlist. I listen to music during my commute while I write and in July, it was mainly the songs which reminded me of the story or of the characters. I have a lot of songs, so I’ll just pick five.

Valse de l’Adieu by Chopin

Empire State of Mind Jay-Z and Alicia Keys

Addicted to you by Shakira

Life is Sweet by Natalie Merchant

Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day 

Tell me, what song reminds you of a book you recently read?

or which song made it to your summer playlist?

Beta, writing

Happy Friday #24 – The Chemical Engineer CAN beta read! and other stories…

Elodie

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

Don´t forget you can enter my giveaway for a SIGNED copy of MY LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick (see interview with Huntley and details here) You have until today 12pm (EST). I will reveal the winners on Sunday!

My husband can beta read: So The Chemical Engineer doesn’t read. Really. He doesn’t. Except maybe sometimes non-fiction books. And he likes audiobooks (again non-fiction though). However, I did tell him he would have to read MY books. Long story short, I am now reading my draft to him. And…he does have some helpful feedback. Now you have to understand, taking feedback from my husband is not the easiest thing (we might be a tad argumentative) but he has a totally different perspective. Plus he also said: “Your book sounds like a real book”. In his mouth, it is a BIG compliment 😀

So between Jaime’s wonderful suggestions and his, I feel quite lucky. Sending it to beta-readers soon still feels unreal though 😀 (and totally scary)

The Chemical Engineer

New shiny ideas: I didn’t write in the train this week, I read. But I did have my little notebook with me to write down any ideas which come to my mind. One of them seems to have taken residence in my mind and the plot is slowly starting to develop. Exciting!

So, tell me, what made you smile this week?

personal, Query, writing

Happy Dance Monday

Elodie

I simply cannot wait until my Happy Friday post to share some of my weekend smiles…

First there was this:

Evening with friends – bringing them some French wine 😀

Then this:

A little bit of sport. Hubby and I are not that good but we have fun!

 But especially there was this:

Yay! I was one of the lucky three winners of the query contest of Taryn (Queroine extraordinaire as I now like to call her or as she puts on her blog: writer, reader, lit agency intern, and freelance editor). Her comments as I mentioned on Friday were spot on. The winners get to send her 10 pages for her to give feedback on.

I sent those pages to her on Saturday morning and have already had two dreams about her answer to them…Yes I may be a tad nervous.

AND! (yes there is an AND :D) I also edited/revised my novel this weekend based on Jaime aka Amazing CP’s suggestions and comments. I added several scenes and changed the ending a little bit. I am currently reading it on my Kindle and I think, I really think that it will soon be ready for beta-readers!!!

So tell me, how was your weekend?

Books, reading, writing

Happy Friday #23 – The End, Zombies and other stories…

Elodie

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

Don´t forget you can enter my giveaway for a SIGNED copy of MY LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick (see interview with Huntley and details here)

Writing: So. Something insane happened. I wrote “THE END” to my second WiP. It still seems so unreal to know that I actually managed to write 2 books! Okay I still have a lot to do for both of them but right now I am just relishing the moment 😀

Reading: I loved PUSHING THE LIMITS by (and reviewed it here…) I started SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY by Susan Dennard and wow! No really, WOW! Oh and I am participating in the Something Strange and Deadly Outbreak Contest (Erin has the details 😀) and sent this picture to the lovely ladies who are organizing it. Disclaimer: I was just coming back to work after a long day at work and the train was late but you can see the Rhine in the background…

Query: I received GREAT feedback from the folks over at YALITCHAT.org on my query and then decided to enter Taryn´s contest especially after reading all of her helpful #querycrits tweets. Ladies and gentlemen, Taryn´s suggestions and comments were spot on. She helped my query to become ready to be sent. I know. I can barely think about breathing. Now I just have to polish my manuscript.

I am so thankful for Jaime for all her ideas/comments/suggestions on my chapters because I also have the feeling that thanks to her, my WiP will be much much much stronger/better!!!!  (full post on how Jaime has helped me later, promise!) Oh and I am thinking of using Taryn as a beat-reader as part of her Teen Eyes Editorial services…

So, tell me, what made you smile this week?

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