Wednesday, January 02, 2008

to every calendar (turn, turn, turn)

O, there has been much throwing about of brains.—Shakespeare

So I𠍿 looking at the end of another year--another year! Hard to believe, since there were some days late in the year when I still wrote 2006 instead of 2007, and I𠍿 sure to mess up 2008 for the first month or so.

December was a crammed-full month: three road trips to Nebraska to see my younger sister, and then a fourth trip to a wedding in Ohio. Lots of writing on the road this month! Sandwiched around rest stops and road food. And then the holidays came and went, and we had a very brown Christmas here, making me wish for a Grand Rapids snowfall.

It𠏋 been a month of family--so good to all be together, all us Langefelds as well as Jon, my brother-in-law-to-be. (How𠏋 that for a title?)

My first draft is also done, bless its lopsided little heart. It was over 138,000 words when I printed it, though it𠏋 lost a little weight since then, and is now at 135,000. Still more than enough to keep me occupied. January will be devoted to cleaning the first three chapters thoroughly, as well as learning to write a query letter, and then I hope to send both to an editor in New York City, squeaking in right at the last minute. (She said in February we had a year� I think I can just make it.)

Of course, the difficult thing is that� I burnt out on my work. Completely. I keep telling myself that it𠏋 just the holiday chaos, just the fun of seeing people. I𠍿 just worn out from eating gingerbread and knitting a hat. Nothing to worry about. But it feels like the end-of-semester burnout that I𠍿 so familiar with. You know. When that term paper isn㦙 done yet, and isn㦙 budging, and you realize you couldn㦙 care less?

Only this isn㦙 a light-weight class, it𠏋 pass/fail, and these chapters need to be brilliant. They aren㦙, not yet. Far from it, in fact. And I𠍿 quicker to pick up my knitting than my draft�

It worries me, to be honest.

But I𠐔e learned a lot this year, I really have. I learned how to write a draft! A complete draft, not the slim one I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year. One with most of the holes filled, one that is fairly coherent from beginning to end. It even has a middle! And a climax! A few of the lines are actually good.

I𠐔e read a lot of books--non-fiction that tells me how to write, and novels that show me how to write. 2008, then, will be a year of revising, a year of learning how to send sample chapters, how to write a synopsis, how to contact editors and agents, how to grow a thick skin when they write back (if they write at all) to say, No, thanks.

Should be great, actually. The next phase in my little novel-writing journey. My parents have graciously not put my bed and clothes out on the curb, so it sounds like I𠍿 sticking around for a while longer.

(People can look at you darkly when you say you 𦽳till� live with your parents, or they caution you that it will destroy your relationship. I think I lucked out completely. Just yesterday morning, I had a great talk with my mom about postmodernism, guilt, work ethics, and the Christian view of the Sabbath. How can you not feel charged up to write after that?)

2007 was also a year of two new writing conferences--the SCBWI conference in New York, and then the Author Showcase, right here in our town. Did I ever mention the Author Showcase? It was two months ago, which is hard to realize. My mom was the one who thought of it--she said at the beginning of summer, Wouldn㦙 it be fun to get a group of authors down here? And the Author Showcase was born! She did a ton of work to create it, and I watched over her shoulder, learning how this sort of thing is done. It was the first weekend in November, and featured five authors--Daniel Darling, Brandt Dodson, Brenda Garrison, Dianne Neal Matthews, and Cyndy Salzmann.

It was wonderful, truly, to get to know these authors. They were so kind and easy to talk to! I especially liked being part of the 𦽳taff� of the event (I was the photographer), since it let me sit in on every part of the weekend. I learned a lot, too. Three of the events were geared toward book selling and book signing, but I especially enjoyed the 弎ehind the scenes� discussions--from the conversation over lunch about agents and book proposals, to the discussion of publicity tactics at Borders. There was also a more formal question and answer forum at our library. It was a fabulous weekend.

The next writerly event for me will be the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin in April. I am oh-so excited to go--I need to start looking at the authors they𠐔e invited and get reading! -jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 01/02 at 04:38 PM
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