A. S. Andrews

April is the month of many exciting writing events.  Here’s a sampling:

1) Poem a Day: April is the month to write a poem a day.  Check out the Poetic Asides April PAD Challenge 2009 for a listing of rules. An interesting challenge, but one I’ll have to keep in mind for another year, since I already have much to do this April.

2) Script Frenzy: April is also the month to write a 100 page script in 30 days. Check out Script Frenzy for details. This caught my eye last year, after I’d finished my first NaNoWriMo, and one of these years, I might just go for it!

3) The LA Times Festival of Books: This happens each April at the UCLA campus. Schedule permitting, I might just make it this year! It’s always fun to find so many “book” people in one place. A few years back, I spent a good hour or two in line at a Ticketmaster, waiting to get free tickets for some of the panels. The line wound around the block and plenty of people passing by asked, “What concert are you waiting for?” The reactions when they heard it was a book festival provided all the entertainment I needed for two hours!

So, it has come to my attention that I haven’t posted here in awhile.  It doesn’t feel like it’s been nearly as long as it has, but time has a way of flying by!  Speaking of which, in the meantime, I’ve been reworking my NaNoWriMo novel and polishing up a few short shorts.  I even sent a small handful, three to be exact, out into the world.  And now, I wait.  Real time may fly, but rejection time, as I’ve come to think of it, does not.  It creeps slowly, ticking at me the whole time, like the second hand on the clock in the doctor’s office.  One month, two months, three months.  And finally my name is called.  We’re sorry, ma’am, but your doctor was just called away on an emergency - would you like to reschedule?  Argh!  And so the story must go out yet again.

In a writing class I recently took, the instructor shared with us a submission log for one of his stories.  Forty times, at least, he sent it out, before it was accepted.  Forty.  That’s a lot.  Even worse, forty times three months equals . . . ten years!  Ten YEARS!  I don’t recall if it really took him that long to get it published.  It might not have.  Enter simultaneous submissions.  I’ve always been hesitant to do this, but I’m beginning to see the light here.  It just may be the only way to speed up rejection time, and someday, turn it into getting published time.

I made it through my second NaNoWriMo, crossing over the 50,000 word line this morning after a week of furious catching up!

Day 1 and I’m on track with 1,792 words!

Boo!  Happy Halloween!  And, now for the real scare - today is the last day before the official start of NaNoWriMo 2008! 

Going into this for a second year feels a little strange.  Still exciting, but now that I know the lay of the land, I have actual expectations.  Things like, getting ahead on word count instead of falling behind, and trying to produce more polished prose the first time around, so I have less of a mess to rewrite.  All while keeping it fun and free-flowing!  And finishing.  Yes, since I’ve managed to do this once already, I feel even more pressure to finish this year!

As far as my preparations go, I’ve spent less time this year thinking about the story I’m going to write, but I’ve got a better fix on it already.  I have my most important characters sketched out and an opening scene in mind.  And of course, since I’m writing a romance, there’s a happy ending coming, no matter what shady happenings go on in the middle.