Novel draft DONE!!!

Hrm, once I have a little more time I'm going to set up a stand alone Jewelry page, so that this blog goes back to being all about writing. Today's been crazy because I bought a showcase spot on Etsy, and this required me to have ten different designs to put in said showcase (well, it was't required, but seemed stupid not to use all the slots they gave me). I made several pendants while working on my novel.

But the draft novel is done, and now I go into rewrites, which I'll devote the rest of this week to. Then it's time to send this thing out to agents and start the cycle of submission, rejection, and despair that separate the wannabe authors from the sane. This one's not going to be easy because of the level of emotion I've invested, but there's little point trying to do this the "easy" way.

This upcoming weekend is EasterCon, where I'll get to see my Clarion West classmates, Stephanie Burgis (her book's out this year!!!) and Patrick Samphire. One of our instructors, Ellen Datlow, is also attending. I've been so absorbed in moving and jewelry that I haven't connected with the SF community out here at all, so on Saturday I hope to change all that.

My church has General Conference this weekend, and it'll be odd this time to watch so much of it as its rebroadcast (saves having to stay up all night). Between those meetings on Sunday and a temple trip on Friday, I've got quite a week coming up. Can't wait :-)

Jewelry Commercial!

I love Etsy. I was able to trade jewelry for this video, produced by All Star Occasion Video:

Today I wrote over 10,000 words

and posted about a dozen items in my Etsy shop. Do tell me if you see typos in the listings. The world has gone all dark... zzzzzz....

Stacey Lyn Designs Spring Giveaway!

My cousin, Stacey, whom I blogged about a week or so ago, is doing a spring givaway of her work!  Contest rules are here: http://staceylyndesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/spring-giveaway.html. It's a chance to win an adorable daisy broach, all done in crochet, flower and leaves. These crocheted flowers are one of Stacey's signature items!

Jewelry business is go, now must finish novel

As I hope is evident from my lack of blogging lately, I've been busy. The jewelry business is off to a strong start! Friends and family posted orders last week, and then on Saturday night I listed a new item (Etsian advice blogs warn against posting on the weekend because everyone does and your new item gets buried). The item sold less than an hour later to my first non-friend/family customer. I've been packing orders just about every night; it'll be a while before I turn a profit, but that's how these things go.

Meanwhile, I've been pushing through the third act of my novel as much as I can. I got 3,000 words down today, but need to hit some higher wordcounts to finish this draft this week. Wish me luck!

Good days

Well, it's too early to know how much of an income I can make off my Etsy shop, but I can already say I'm happier than ever. There's nothing quite like that feeling when you think, "I need to stop goofing off and do some work today", only to realize, "This is work! This is what I do!" So, what can I say? Life is good. Between writing and jewelry making I've finally found what I really want to do - for now. People who know me know that I'm always trying out new and crazy things. I mean, how else does a person go from being a political intern to a solo law practitioner to an LDS novelist to a jewelry designer? Writing's always a constant. Everything else is fluid, though I have been trending towards more and more artistic endeavors the older I get. I didn't have the aptitude for them when I was younger, but with enough right brain exercise, I've gotten to where I can get by.

The novel's at 72,000 words and I'm into act III - I do three act novels. Last week got a little frustrating as I hit a road block before I could start on that third act. I could write, which is to say I could spam another 2,000 into the piece every day, but I could tell that something wasn't quite right. I needed to take the conflict I'd set up in the first act and keep the tension through the second so that the third would start with some momentum behind it. That meant pulling apart act II and even parts of act I to get the foundation put down right. I am very glad that most of that is behind me.

Meanwhile, Char continues to be far nicer to me than I deserve, sending me long emails of astute observations and honest reader reactions. I hope to have this thing wrapped up by the end of the month. We'll see if that happens.

Emily Mah Jewelry Designs is in business!

Okay, so I have just spent nearly five hours getting all the listings up in my Etsy shop, so this blogpost is sure to be short. My eyes are going out of focus even as I type this :-)

This blog is going to still be mainly about writing, but as you can see (or will see shortly if you're reading this the very moment after I post it) I've got links to my jewelry designs and shop here too. I guess this'll diversify the Emily Mah brand a little.

This is the first non-Sunday in a long time that I haven't done any writing. I'm instead going to do some jousting in World of Warcraft. Anyone on the Stormrage server, I'm the dranei shaman that keeps running back and forth between the stable and the jousting ring between losing matches.

Redrafting, arg

A couple of days ago I decided to switch my routine around and write first after I get up, then do jewelry in the late afternoon, and that's really helped my writing. What I find frustrating about the way I write is how many freakin' redrafts I do. For some reason I can't seem to find a story until the fifth or sixth try. So, right now, after three rewrites, I know what I want in the second act. Now I just have to write it - or rewrite it, I guess. I'm trying to get to the end of this novel. If all goes according to plan, which it never does, it'll be finished at the end of the month. I, for one, am ready! Maybe sometime, after I've been at this a few more decades, I'll be able to write a first draft that kinda sorta resembles the finished product.

Meanwhile, doing both writing and jewelry, while looking after my son, is working out real well at the moment. I'm lucky to be able to spend the entire day being creative. Next week I'll find out if enough people will be interested in buying my jewelry and helping me pay for this particular habit...

My new and improved nose

I have a cold at the moment, but it's unlike any cold I've ever had before. Anyone who hasn't read my fascinating posts about getting surgery on my nose, here's a recap: I had really bad allergies for a couple decades and had to inhale all kinds of steroids in order to be able to breathe through my nose. Just before coming to the UK, I saw an ENT physician who did two operations on me. One was to reduce the size of the membranes in my nasal passages, and the other was to correct a deviated septum.

Boy am I glad I had these operations! I have a cold, but what I don't have is the usual raging sinus infection. I don't feel like all my sinus cavities are stuffed with peanut butter and my ears don't feel like they'll explode. I just have a kind of stuffy nose. I don't think I'll need to go on antibiotics to shake this one.

Normally, when coming to the UK, I'd catch a cold on the airplane over, then have a series of sinusitis flare ups that would require me to be on antibiotics every couple of weeks. When I was over here for college, I'd get 3-6 colds in one nine week term. It was crazy. Whenever I tried to steam my sinuses, they'd slam shut all the way. Sleeping was near impossible, what with my insomnia plus a nose that felt plugged up with concrete.

This time around is so different, and I love it! I had wondered if my sense of smell would return too, but it hasn't. I do have a sense of smell, but it's not very good. I have no idea why this is.

The novel's at about 70,000 words, but I'm ripping apart and retooling the second act, so that number will bounce around for a while. The third act should be pretty straightforward, and then I'll be done!  

Stacey Lyn Designs

As I work to get my online handicrafts venture going, it makes sense for me to blog about another of my talented cousins. Stacey, of Stacey Lyn Designs, and I are cousins in law, I guess? Our husbands are first cousins. Here's a link to her Facebook Fan Page, and another to her Artfire Shop. Right now the items in her shop are crocheted scarves, hats, baby booties, and cell phone covers. One of her trademarks is a crocheted seven petal flower that she uses to embellish her winter hats, headbands, and custom ordered dog sweaters.

On her blog she's also got pictures of vinyl lettering projects, quilting, embroidery, sewing, and paper arts, and she also writes articles for EHow on crochet and decoupage. My favorite item that she's made lately are a pair of baby ugg booties. I know how to crochet, but my projects are never that cute.

I confess I did quite a bit of spying on Stacey as I put together my own business plan. The handicrafts market is not an easy one to break into. When I did a lot of knitting and crocheting, I looked into selling my work and was immediately scared off. There are just too many people who know how to do these things and are selling their work for barely more than the cost of materials, if that. Getting established in the business means working hard to find the right niche to market your items at a cost that pays you a decent wage. Stacey also showed, through her blog, how much it helps to scavenge items that you have lying around. While she uses yarn and old clothing and boards being sold off at a bargain from Ikea, I've started scrounging in bargain bins at bead stores and snapping up deals on Ebay. It presents an interesting creative challenge to then figure out how to make a nice product - I'm not yet as good at it as Stacey is.

Head on over to Stacey's shop and become one of her fans! She makes beautiful, quality items.

Revisions

So, aside from making jewelry and trying to photograph it, I have still been writing. This draft of the book is 2/3 done and I'm restructuring the second act. My ridiculously loyal friend, Char, has been reading and re-reading, giving me feedback, and I was just put in touch with a graduate of the high school where the book is set. She's been an amazing help, telling me a lot about how the place runs and steering me away from the assumptions I made based on my own high school experience.

People have asked when the book will be done, and the only response I can give is, when it is. I work on it every day and will continue to do so until it's up to the standard I've set for myself. I don't know what the final word count will be, but right now it's at 67,000 and holding while I revise. The amount of time it takes to do a whole novel is frustrating, but the feeling of progress every day is very gratifying.