WIP Archives ⋆ Be the Cat

Warning Deadline Approaches

Liana Gardner — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 00:37:57 +0000

Along with juggling quite a few things I can’t talk about, I have been working diligently on my latest WIP, a dark upper YA novel, Speak No Evil. I am excited about how this book is shaping up and how close I am to the finish line with it. Then I happened to have a conversation with my literary manager and agent extraordinaire, Italia Gandolfo, and she said the dreaded word. DEADLINE! I can’t fault her, she’s been incredibly patient waiting for me to write this particular book, which has written slower than any book I’ve ever done, but has been so worth the time. And deadlines are part of the writing life — whether self-imposed or given to us by others.

And she didn’t JUST say deadline … she gave me the reason. Two well-known producers are interested and she needs a finished product ASAP, and could I please get on it??? I shook my head to clear any obstructions in my ears making me hear things. But Italia confirmed it and may have mentioned that if she gave me my way, I’d pick at this one forever. So then this happened.

After I finished running in circles, my next thought was, Holy Crap, I need to get this thing done!!! I take deadlines very seriously anyway — even if it is a deadline I give myself. The only way to achieve a goal is to have one and as Napoleon Hill said, “A Goal is a Dream with a Deadline.” Without deadlines we cannot take our dreams and turn them into reality. So I do set deadlines for myself all the time, but when it comes to my writing career, I involve Italia, as my manager, to help me set those goals because together we are building my career. And now I have an honest-to-goodness real deadline made out of concrete.

So how do I handle this new deadline??? Using the time-honored tradition of procrastination, I first BLOG about the deadline and break my website in the process. Then I root around in the cupboard because deadlines are serious stuff, so I have to have the appropriate cup to drink from while I am fastened the chain that tethers me to the writing chair. And at this time of year, WHAT could be more appropriate than my turkey cup for a Thanksgiving deadline??? I guess I’d better get busy and get this book submission ready!!

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The Journey: Writing and Weight Loss

Liana Gardner — Wed, 27 May 2015 14:00:40 +0000

In my day job, I do work that involves logic and things following a path. 1+2 always = 3 and never 5. So there is a part of me that wants other aspects of my life to follow the same logical path. And they never do. I have two primary focuses at the moment: Getting healthy and finishing my current work in progress (WIP). I’m going to talk about the health focus first, then the similarities I see on the writing side of the fence.

For getting healthy in broad terms, it involves making the right food choices, exercising my body, and simplifying things in my life to reduce stress. Losing weight is a big factor in the getting healthy quest, but it is a result of what I’m doing to improve my health. While I am focused on making sure the pounds are disappearing, the main goal is improved health. Since overall health is harder for me to see, quantify, and measure, I do tend to focus, at least right now, more on the weight than anything else. And I’d love more than anything for the path to be like a big ol’ highway with a formula like 1+2=3, that I can rely on. Eat X calories less than you burn, then Y pounds come off the scale. But anyone who has ever struggled with weight on either end of the spectrum will tell you that’s NOT how it works.

I had a big reminder on how things DON’T always work the way we expect them to this weekend. I stopped at the store to get a pair of “goal” jeans because the current pair were getting a little loose … and I am a goal oriented person. I knew there was no way I would fit into the jeans because I had only purchased the current jeans a few weeks ago and haven’t lost enough pounds to get into a new size since. Plus, having been up and down the weight road several times, I have weighed far less and not fit in the size I purchased for my goal. Only, in a supreme twist of the usual fate, they did. *pause for a momentary happy dance* This twist in the path happened to be a pleasant one (YAY!!)

So how does weight loss correlate to writing? Well, first both are a journey and sometimes there are starts and stops along the way, with a few reversals. Anyone who has had to delete chapters of work knows the pain of reversal, just as those who regain weight feel after having busted their butt to lose it in the first place. On the weight journey, my path has been much like a yo-yo, and I’m cursing myself for having picked the one with the longest string — always go for the one that lights up or sparkles. The writing journey has been much the same … up and down, and not always going the direction I’d like. Fortunately, for both I am certain I have the right team in place and the weight will go down and the writing career will go up.

Ten years ago, I was at my heaviest, and it was taking a severe toll on my health, so I had a start and lost a significant amount of weight. Five years ago, I had the amazing experience to be given the premise for the current WIP (work in progress). It amazed, excited, and terrified me all at the same time. I knew I wasn’t ready to truly embark on the writing process, so I made the notation of the idea in my file and went back to my current works. Both of those count as starts … the stop coming almost immediately in the case of the WIP, and taking a couple years with the weight. I’ll spare you the back and forths with the weight, but I experienced equal back and forth with the WIP. I wanted to write this book so much it hurt. I’d be working on other things, and ideas for the current WIP would hit me. And each time they did, I’d add them to the growing file, but fear kept me from putting pen to page or in my case fingers on the keyboard. There was always an excuse. And with the weight loss there was always an excuse … in both cases some very valid, but excuses nonetheless.

As I mentioned, I now have the right team in place for both … and not only that, I have the right focus in place for both. And the focus is not the scale for the weight loss, and really, though I am still so utterly delighted, not on the clothing sizes either, but on the process or plan of how to get to my goal weight. I check in on a daily basis on how I am doing against the plan, and that is working. Similarly, the focus on the writing side is on honoring the process. My process is not the same as any other author … nor should it be (and theirs don’t have to be like mine) … but it is the process that works for me. And my process involves letting the character(s) drive. It took a kick in the tail to get me beyond my fear of not being up to the task of this novel. Fortunately, I have the right person in place for that, my literary agent, Italia Gandolfo, and anytime I get stuck, she’s right there to administer the swift kick to get me on my way again (and she definitely has the boots to do it.) I have my plan for the WIP and I check in daily on where I stand with it.

I chose the picture with the track lanes because it expresses how I usually see things. I am competitive by nature, something I have fought to mold into competing not against others, but with myself. The race aspect resonates with me. How can I get there in the fastest time? How fast can I lose the weight? How fast can I write a novel? But if I keep my focus on the plan, the speed is irrelevant. If I reach my weight goal in nine months or it takes me a year, what difference does that really make? Especially, if in order to hit my goal in the faster time I had to take drastic measures to get there. Drastic measures in weight loss usually come back to bite you. Hard. What about the WIP? I wanted to be done with the WIP by the end of last year. It simply isn’t writing that way. But I still want to hit the starter block, bear down and sprint off — except Melody Fisher, my main character, refuses to play that game. This WIP will be written in her timing, not mine. And if I were to have finished the book by the end of the year, would it be the book that I am currently writing? No. Taking the time on this one is so worth it, regardless of how uptight I might get and fractious because it isn’t moving as quickly as I’d like.

Just as with the new jeans, I’ve been watching the word count at the bottom of the page creep up, like I sometimes obsessively watch the scale numbers to go down, but last night when I glanced down I realized I was so much further along than I had thought, and while there is still a chunk left to write, I no longer feel stalled (hello smaller jeans feeling) And when I have those realizations, I remind myself the competition with myself is not a race. It is not how fast I get to either finish line, but about the journey itself. What have I learned along the way? And how well am I doing it? For the weight loss, I have learned entirely new dietary habits and haven’t struggled with cravings as I have in the past. With the WIP, I feel as if I have truly written beyond my abilities at times because I am keeping myself out of the middle. This is not the story I want to tell, but the story Melody needs me to tell. By getting out of my own way, I have a manuscript I am more proud of than anything I have yet written. And if I rushed either of those things I wouldn’t have the results that I do.

And the final thought is that while I call my manuscript a work in progress, so am I. May I never stop striving to be better both as a human being and as a writer. Knowing the road ahead will not be straight and will contain lots of twists and turns, I move forward with confidence, knowing I am on the right path with both of my focal points, and who knows??? I just might have several pleasant surprises along the way.

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WIP – Writer’s Blog Challenge

Liana Gardner — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 14:00:16 +0000

Fellow cub and agency mate, Jake A. Strife challenged me to post some lines from my current WIP (Work In Progress). It has taken me a few days to get to the challenge because last week I was on vacation, and had a writer get together to attend once home, followed by marching orders to switch gears from my agent, Italia Gandolfo.

Jake, in addition to writing Sci-Fi, horror, and dabbling in fantasy, is a gamer and a character artist, so hop on over to his blog and check out his work. To check out his writing, go over to Wattpad and read the stories he posts there. Here are the challenge rules:

Provide the link back to the post by the person who nominated you.
Write a little about your work-in-progress.
Give the first sentences of the first three chapters of your current WIP.
Nominate four other writers for the challenge.

So let’s get down to it… a few days ago this post would have been about another WIP, but as I said, marching orders changed and I had another revision round to do on Timmy and the Golden Lion Tamarin. This is the first book in The Guardian Angel Animal Series aimed at children 5-8 years in age and will be published by True North Publishing in Spring of 2015. The major theme for the first book in the series is bullying and how Timmy, with the help of his Golden Lion Tamarin, deals with it. Book 2 in the series will shortly be in progress.

Now for the lines:

Chapter One — Afraid and Alone

By the time the alarm clock went off, eight-year-old Timmy Hawkins had dressed and gathered his books together. Not because he looked forward to his new school … but because he hated it. After a near-sleepless night, Monday morning arrived, as it always did.

Chapter Two — The Welcoming Committee

Zeke always rushed to be the first kid off the bus, meeting friends who waited for him. Together they formed a “welcoming committee” to greet their victims as the rest of the kids got off the bus. Zeke and his friends called themselves “The Mighty Minions,” and they made life miserable for nearly every kid in school.

Chapter Three — The Creature in the Backyard

Another week blurred by with each school day beginning and ending the same way—being bullied by Zeke. And every day his mom asked Timmy whether he made any friends and he had to face her disappointment when he answered no. Not one single kid in school could be friends with him or even say a kind word.

My nominations are as follows and I’m including their Facebook pages, so give them a Like:

Jess Capelle — Jess Capelle Facebook
Lisette Brodey — Lisette Brodey Facebook
Danielle Bannister — Danielle Bannister Facebook
Jamie DeBree — Jamie DeBree Facebook

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The Downhill Slide

Liana Gardner — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 22:01:58 +0000

There comes a point in during the creation phase of a book when you hit the downhill slide. The point where you are getting close to your ideal word count goal… when you know where the book is headed and all you have to do is reach the finish line. I am reaching that point in my current work in progress. Another thousand words and I will have crested the top of the hill and be ready to slide down to the finish line, pell mell all the way.

The downhill slide is a bittersweet time for me. I’m excited to get to the finish line, yet saddened to be leaving the story behind for awhile. I console myself (yes – console) that revisions lie ahead in a few short weeks and I will be reunited with my characters and have the opportunity to mold and shape the raw clay I have produced. It’s also at this point where I look at what I have to fit into the remainder of the book and look at the dwindling words left to write, and a tiny bit of panic sets in. How will I fit it all in?

Fortunately, I have learned who I am as a writer and always build in a buffer (minimum 10K) because I know I will add more before I cut. Then after I have built the book up to a point where it is longer than it should be, I reach for the scalpel, and start trimming away the fat. This particular project, being a middle grade novel, means I have a little less leeway with the word count than I normally do with a young adult novel, so the hill is looking pretty steep as I make my way to the top. The slide will be steep, and the ride will be fast, but I am ready to hit it at a run.

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