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December SloMo

  • KazG posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 4 years, 11 months ago

    Hi SloMoers, how’s it going? One bit of exciting news from my own endless submission process – Danielle told me that Lisa (the Penguin editor) has confirmed she’s taking When Days Tilt to an acquisitions meeting after Easter!! Hooray! I thought she’d reject it so my gut feel was WRONG. Thank goodness. Still no guarantees of course, but one step in…[Read more]

  • KazG posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years ago

    OK I’m doing it! IT being Camp NaNo for April. I have to rewrite the book I did for NaNo anyway, as I’m now condensing what I thought were two more books into one – so this will be the only sequel to the book currently out on submission. I can re-use some of my November words but lots have to be written from scratch, and the structure had changed…[Read more]

    • If I manage to get enough planning done (not looking good at the moment but am pants at planning) I will join you @kazg. In fact I’ll go and join anyway…

      • Done it – how can I join you? Have you set up a private cabin?

        • Raine replied 5 years ago

          Good luck both of you! April = school hols so it’s a no go for me, sadly, as a kick up the arse would be useful. But I’ll be here with the pompoms. And I’m keeping any spare fingers crossed for you @kazg the waiting must be hell, but I have high hopes if not for this editor then definitely for the wider sub.

        • KazG replied 5 years ago

          Hooray for you @janeshuff! But I’m not sure about the cabin thing – i’ll go and have a look…

          Thanks @raine!

          • KazG replied 5 years ago

            @janeshuff what are you calling yourself over there? I’ve set up a private cabin called Mini Den and want to invite you 🙂

            • Should be called Janeshuff. Sorry @kazg I will reply in more detail later. Right up against it with a client who wants something translated into beautiful French in two hours before she gets onto a plane… Beautiful French is not my thing, so need to get it done fast enough to find someone to check it.

    • Jules replied 5 years ago

      I might join you too, if that’s alright? Would be a good chance to get these other historical novellas done.

      • @kazg I haven’t seen an invite from you. Fabulous @jillybean

        • KazG replied 5 years ago

          @janeshuff I can’t find you! There doesn’t seem to be a Janeshuff coming up. Other Janes, but not you 🙁 Might you come up under another name? Ditto for @daedalus and @jillybean

          • Try under my e mail address. I will send it again if you gaven’t got it. Or what is your name?

            • KazG replied 5 years ago

              Nope to the email address. Have you signed up for the Camp? I think you have to sign up specifically for it first – it won’t find you from the old Nano site (which I think is why I can’t find @daedalus and @jillybean at the moment). It’s a private cabin so you won’t see it @janeshuff – if you make it public they fill it for you and I don’t…[Read more]

            • KazG replied 5 years ago

              Ok I have just seen this on the Camp NaNo website:

              ‘Once in your cabin, you can invite your friends by typing their usernames into the invitation field. You can invite up to 19 Campers. A Camper must have created a profile, a novel, and deselected “I don’t want cabin invitations this session” to be eligible.’

              So there you are – you need to be si…[Read more]

          • KazG replied 5 years ago

            (Also you have to select, “I don’t want to be included in a cabin” so you are not sorted into a random cabin)

          • Jules replied 5 years ago

            No invite thus far, Kaz. My NaNo handle is ThrowingCopper. (You did invite me right? Because someone else had already nabbed the name Jillybean 😉)

            • KazG replied 5 years ago

              Aha! Got you 🙂 and yes I did invite Jillybean so I’d better go and uninvite them, if I can…

      • KazG replied 5 years ago

        please do! That would be fab 🙂 (and also your output will keep us on our toes..!)

    • I think I’ll jump in too

    • Oh my goodness, @kazg, I am keeping everything crossed for you. But whatever happens with PRH, I’m sure you’re well set up for wider subs, and WELL DONE for already having made progress on Book 2. I will have a look at Camp April. But we can always set up a support forum on the Den (extend December slo. O?). I need to make some inroads (ANY…[Read more]

    • The Camp NaNo search doesn’t seem to be working at the moment so I can’t find you, unfortunately

      • KazG replied 5 years ago

        Hi @daedalusI just invited you to the cabin – can you see the invitation?

  • Raine posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years ago

    Morning slomoers. I need a KICK goddammit. Please someone put a knife to my throat or something. I am translating agent/publisher silence into a complete inability to motivate myself and GAH. And now the sun has only gone and come out and I have bulbs to plant so I see more procrastination happening…

    • Libby replied 5 years ago

      Maybe not allow yourself to plant bulbs until x words written/edited? Lx

      • Morning. FEEL YOUR PAIN. So… what is it that you want to be getting on with?
        Oh! That project?
        THAT IS AN AMAZING PROJECT, AND YOU NEED TO GET THIS FANTASTIC PIECE OF AMAZINGNESS WRITTEN!!!

        It’s never about publishing / publishers. You are a writer. You are an artist. Fuck everyone else. You know you’re calling. Do it because it’s play, it’s…[Read more]

        • Raine replied 5 years ago

          I am liking the Fuck Everyone Else motto! I did some plot editing and then planted bulbs. Today I am going to stare at the next round of paper edits whilst dying of endometriosis. But I will be dying with my special purple editing pen in hand, which totally counts!

          • Oh, Raine – I feel your pain. Hope you manage to feel more comfortable soon. Endometriosis is a real be-arch! And yay to getting bulbs planted AND doing some writing as well. x

          • KazG replied 5 years ago

            Oh Raine my daughter has endo (we think) and it’s a killer. That, plus writerly lack of mojo, definitely calls for the Fuck Everyone Else approach – henceforth FEE – and gin, and tea, and chocolate. And I just read your beautiful, heartwrenching In the Dark Garden and I am reminded again of your writerly superpowers – even if you’re not feeling it…[Read more]

        • KazG replied 5 years ago

          Henceforth, this is the official Den motto:

          ‘It’s never about publishing / publishers. You are a writer. You are an artist. Fuck everyone else. You know you’re calling. Do it because it’s play, it’s creating, because it brings you joy.

          Just do it.’

          Thanks to @philippaeast 🙂

          • You’re welcome! *doffs cap*

            And I threw a typo in for good measure. Just to prove (kinda) my point.

  • Philippa East posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years ago

    Hi guys,
    Hope you’re all getting on well. I have been mostly crying in a corner since getting a further round of edits from the publisher / editor. 😭
    I honestly though I was done when I sent her my draft in January, so this really knocked me for six. I am (once again) slowly working through them. Please send writerly fuel and hugs!

    • Raine replied 5 years ago

      Oh Philippa, I’m sending tonnes of hugs and tea. That’s a hard thing to face, but you’ve got this. You really have.

      • Raine replied 5 years ago

        Sorry being brief as on my phone I have the most insanely small typing window! You’re so close now, and your editor must be so invested in your story to be taking such time over it. It’s A GOOD thing, I think. Although it must feel like a kick in the teeth. Hang in there. It’ll be so so worth it. X

        • sending hugs and chocolate and repeating everything Raine said.

          • KazG replied 5 years ago

            oh @philippaeast how bloody EXHAUSTING. I’m sending a lovely batch of re-fuelling scones, some good Ceylon tea (do you like Orange Pekoe?), chocolate and some gin. you can combine as you see fit. But you have definitely got this and this book is going to be polished to a painfully high sheen at the end of all this. It. Will. Be. Worth. It! xxx

    • Oh gosh…just when you feel it’s there, and then you find it’s not quite as there as you thought. Keep going. You are this *pinches finger and thumb together with a hairsbreadth between them* close. Sending love and writerly energy x

      • Libby replied 5 years ago

        So sorry you’re feeling down @philippaeast . I know you know it will be worth it in the end but the road there is hard. Am sending moral support.

        • Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. The scones and tea are delicious.
          “Exhausting” “painfully high sheen”. I think you’ve got it, @kazg!

  • Oh, thanks for sharing @kazg!

    I just put this note up on the December SloMo section, because the forums were empty for it so it looked like there was no one here!

  • Hopefully it might work for me @kazg. Especially if I don’t have to start until April.

  • KazG posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years ago

    and thanks @elle! Still NO NEWS and I can’t bear it…:-(

    • Oh my God, Kaz, you must be going out of your mind!!! Has your agent been in touch? It might be time to ask her what the next step in the game plan is…

      • KazG replied 5 years ago

        Tell me!! Yes my agent has been in touch – apparently the re-read was only, finally, happening from the end of last week. But that was the end of last week. And here we are. I’ve gone into a strange state of numbness…!

        • Oh Kaz. Don’t know what to say. Waiting for publishers to come back is the worst, horriblest thing. Try to think about something else…

        • Oh Lord. But at least they are reading it! And they’ll have to get people,across the whole team to read, and that can take time. But an, I feel your pain. I can imagine how you’ve just numbed out! Sending all kinds of soothing and supportive vibes. This publishing malarkey really is a painful process…

        • Elle replied 5 years ago

          Oh dear, no wonder you’ve been going out of your mind. At least it sounds like things are moving now. Hopefully the wait won’t be for much longer.

  • Is this where we post now? (bit embarrassed to admit I still don’t quite know how to navigate all the Den byroads…)

    This popped into my intray and for me its good timing – Camp NaNoWriMo for April. You commit to a personal writing target for a month, much like NaNo but you choose the word count. I’ve been in planning and plotting mode for book…[Read more]

  • Elle posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years ago

    Thanks @philippaeast about the activity thread post! @kazg – sounds like you are on a real rollercoaster, just hang on and fingers crossed about that new editor.

  • Elle joined the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years ago

  • We are here, just on the activity threads!

  • KazG posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years, 1 month ago

    Good for you @philippaeast. You more than deserve that break! What a rollercoaster in a whirlwind you’ve been riding, but also, what an awesome result. Do you have an outline for book 2?

    My update is that backat the end of last year I thought that Penguin Random House had gone too quiet and all was lost (my agent was getting ready to go out on…[Read more]

    • That’s brilliant news Kaz. It’s like snakes and ladders, isn’t it?? Glad you’re still on an upward trajectory, and really looking forward to this book

      • This is AMAZING news, Kaz! Well done! Sounds really hopeful and positive and generally fantastic. I’ll be keeping fingers and toes crossed that aquisitions are quickly on board. WIll your agent be subbing more widely anyway, or are you waiting on this one first? And good luck getting back to the NaNo book. It feels like a looooong time since the…[Read more]

        • Ooh that sounds fantastic Kaz. Exciting, exciting, exciting!!! I’m watching this space…

        • Thanks @raine, @daedalus, @janeshuff! Yes, Snakes and Ladders is exactly how it is. We’re only submitting to PRH at the moment; the situation is a bit unusual in that I got a response from them after pitching directly to them, before I’d even signed with my agent (which happened just after, actually). They’ve already given me editorial feedback so…[Read more]

    • Oh gosh, so exciting! And well don’t for grafting out those edits. Really pleased they worked for you, and hopefully it just means you’re even happier with the book. Now I’m keeping everything crossed, but given that (if I understand correctly) your agent hasn’t even sent anywhere else yet, this is all looking super optimistic! Good luck on the…[Read more]

    • ps I’m trying to put an outline together for Book 2 as we speak. I’m not keen to go writing off into the wilderness as I did with Book 1! Still trying to find all the pieces, and how they might fit together….

      • Oh good luck! I’m doing the same, to try to stop things flying off in all directions. What outline template are you using? By chapter?

        • I’m using the Story Grid Global Foolscap template, where you block out your beginning hook (act 1), middle build (act 2) and ending payoff (act three), identifying the key plot points in each (inciting incident, progressive complications, crisis, climax and resolution). This template also gets you to define your overall genre (e.g. love story,…[Read more]

          • KazG replied 5 years ago

            Oh that looks interesting! A new approach. I’ve just done a plotting workshop that looks at different ways of approaching this so my head’s trying to incorporate it all and decide on the best approach for me right now. I’ll summarise and post when I get a moment. Thank you!

  • Philippa East posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years, 1 month ago

    I am planning to start working in earnest on Book 2 from March onwards, after giving myself a break from writing / editing for all of February.
    I hope you will help me my cheerleading / offering tea / kicking my butt, hard.
    Hope you are all getting on well with your own writing tasks. xx

  • Raine posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years, 2 months ago

    January update from Fife – Last week I thought that a) I’d never ever in the universe get to the end of the huge wip edits, b) not hit the word count target. And c) not get to write a short for RwaV in time. And d) just meh, really.
    But since then, got to end of edits, hitting my word target, and now am mid first RwaV target with DAYS left in…[Read more]

    • Wahey! I’ve been working on RWAV too, today, and it’s started to come together. Got an idea for the sting in the tail, too…

      Feels good to be able to feel a bit of success in our plans, doesn’t it?

    • Yay @raine!! Take all the good feels, that’s several fantastic achievements right there 😘 and another yay for @squidge! Cheering for everyone 😊

    • Well done, @raine! I’m so proud of you, as i know what a daunting task it felt. AND getting that word count down. RESULT! (How do you think you did it, BTW? There might be a useful lesson for all us us about cutting / reducing)
      I know what you mean about how impossible it can seem. I honestly couldn’t see how I was supposed to achieve these edits.…[Read more]

      • Thank-you @philippaeast. It was a good feeling writing that new word count into my cover letter! I did it partly by stripping out a character, which meant a bit of structural shenanigans but did streamline bits of the plot. I also cut out a minor PoV. But a lot came from just line edits, which is quite scary re how much there was that I could cut.…[Read more]

        • Love it! Some big, brave cuts, and then all those little trims of fat round out prose too. And I LOVE a good bit of motivational number crunching!! Well done again. What are the next steps for you, once you are happy with your edited draft?

  • Philippa East posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years, 2 months ago

    Hey guys, how are you all doing? I am crawling very close to the finish line with this latest round of edits. I don’t honestly know how I’ve done it! Sheer bloody mindedness, I think. I’m hoping to do an overall read through over the next week to check it all hangs together, and then I think I’ll be done. Until the next round begins….
    How are…[Read more]

    • Exciting, Philippa – it’s a great feeling when the end just starts to hove into view isn’t it? Hope the rest of the journey is smooth.

      Just signed a contract for three histfic novellas. Which is nice, but now I have to write them

      • @daedalus! That’s amazing!! Congratulations 😊 and WELL DONE @philippaeast…what a great feeling. I’m staggering towards my deadline this week too and am hoping I’m nearly there with this round!

      • Oh WOW @daedalus!!! This is amazing!! Can you tell us more? Who is the publisher?? What are your time scales?? And – of course – what will the books be about? This is such amazing news. Should go on the podium really 🙂

    • Yay @philippaeast for reaching the end – that really has been an epic act of bravery, so well done. And I’ll keep fingers crossed Sarah’s verdict is ‘Yes! Out on sub now!’ 🙂
      @daedalus three novellas!?!? THat’s fantastic news, you kept that quiet, you sly thing you! So pleased for you, hope that gives you a huge, well earned boost.
      And @janeshuf…[Read more]

    • Thanks @philippaeast and @raine …um, yes, the novellas. I don’t really want to talk about them too much until I’ve written them. I haven’t even started yet and am a bit panicked about it. Will add more when I’m a bit more comfortable with how things are going.

  • Raine posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years, 3 months ago

    First day of school hols, which means a final, wonderful end to all the school xmas events (slides into exhaustion coma…) AND I am now ALONE till sunday, for which YAAAAAY!!!

    I’m half way through the book edit and have cut from 120k to 110k. Which means I’m on target to get to 100k… so far. I want to get to 99k for that subliminal 5figure…[Read more]

  • JaneShuff posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years, 3 months ago

    Congratulations to my fellow December SloMo members on all your achievements in December. I know there is a third of the month to go but I am about to disappear in Christmas – ferries permitting. December hasn’t worked out for me quite how I thought it would and has ended up being more of time to reflect. I have written and edited a lot in 2018…[Read more]

    • I sympathise, Jane – my SloMo has been NoGo. A continuation month – CoMo? – in January would be great

      • I’m the same as you Daeds…NoGo. I’ll plump for CoMo, and try to get something out for RWaV 😉

        • I’m also a NoGo. Hoping January will be more of a GroMo or a FloMo 🙂

          • It is really helpful isn’t it? Seeing others’ updates and getting little boosts. Lets go for a SomethingMo. If only to get me through the most miserable month of the year…

  • Raine posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years, 3 months ago

    Had a lot of NoMo here recently. But that was to be expected. And today I have the mini home sick, so am going to attempt to edit against a backdrop of Attenborough programmes!! Actually, despite the painful slowness, I figured out a couple of key plot changes that I think will go miles towards addressing the issue of the final stakes not being…[Read more]

    • Sounds really good progress @raine despite all the frustrations. And every cloud has a silver lining 🙂

      • Well done, Raine. So pleased you have managed to steal back a little space and time for yourself. And thrilled that you’ve untangled that problem of the stakes. That must feel great! I am so sorry about the migraines. I am in awe of how you work despite them. x

  • KazG posted an update in the group Group logo of December SloMoDecember SloMo 5 years, 3 months ago

    Still SloMoing along and hitting my very modest targets. Chip, chip, chip. Over 10,000 words now and it’s been pretty easy going, really, esp after NaNo.

    I got some editorial notes from a publisher who’s shown some interest – all of which is gold and so useful – but one of the comments was that a 2 book series would be easier to sell, so I…[Read more]

    • Well done @kazg on keeping that word count going. 10k in the run up to xmas is a pretty impressive feat!! And I think your plan makes sense – write the thing first, then see how overall structure might work across the novels. Saves having to be thinking ont he large scale whilst trying to write. So what are you focussing on atm? Drafting #2 or editing #1?

      • Thanks @raine 😊 finishing book 2 is my focus. I have to keep some momentum up or that book world will feel cold, if you know what I mean. Also it might affect book 1 edits once I know what happens next!

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