Thursday, December 29, 2011

Recharged!

The wrapping paper's been recycled. The turkey's long gone (although lots of soup is waiting in the freezer!). The baking's been gobbled up and the ornaments will soon be packed away.

So what's left?

Laughter, love, memories... and a few goofy gifts that make me laugh every time I see them. As well as a recharged battery.

I pulled up my pre-nano story and decided to read through it up until the revising point I was at before my nano story absorbed me. Of course, I can't just read through - I have to tweak and edit and rearrange bits and pieces. It's slow going, but I'm loving the story. It still needs some work (and that last chapter...), but it's not bad at all.

Nice feeling!

How's your writing going in these last days of 2011? Any other recharged batteries out there?

56 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

I am sorting out orders for my new book . I have already got my A to Z prepared for April and yes happy memories of time spent with my daughter and grandson over Christmas.

Happy New Year.

Yvonne.

Yvonne Osborne said...

It is a nice feeling. When the writing is good, everything is good. When the writing is bad...well life sucks! Here's to a rewarding writing life in 2012!

Jemi Fraser said...

Yvonne - sounds like things are going well! Awesome :)

Yvonne O - exactly! As the writing goes, so does so much else :)

Old Kitty said...

Awwww good for you!! Good luck with your wip and enjoy!!

Me - am suffering with a cold but had a great Christmas and am now recuperating for the New Year! Hoorah! Cough, cough, sniff! Oh dear! take care
x

Anonymous said...

I'm catching up on much needed sleep, doing a cleanse. and I busted out the P90X, blew off the dust, and am ready for a few good workouts. Good luck to you and your recharging.

Jemi Fraser said...

Old Kitty - thanks! I hope you're feeling fabulous to ring in the new year! Take care :)

Stephen - thanks! Good luck with that P90X - my kids both do it, but I think if I tried it, I wouldn't be able to move for weeks and weeks! :)

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

It's a wonderful feeling to write something, put it away, and then go back to it and think to yourself...this ain't bad. Good for you in getting the WIP done and revised.

Jemi Fraser said...

Michael - it IS a good feeling! Thanks - I hope it won't be more than a couple of months before I'm query ready :)

Terry Odell said...

I'm back at the WIP after taking a "break" to do copy edits on my next Blackthorne, Inc. book. Not really recharged yet. But I'm setting word count goals and digging in.


Terry
Terry's Place
Romance with a Twist--of Mystery

Jemi Fraser said...

Terry - looking forward to the next book! I'm in the middle of reading Hidden Fire just now and I'm loving it! :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thanks for reminding me I still need to put away the Christmas stuff! That will be this weekend's project.
Completed one book and now have started on another. So far, so good!

Jemi Fraser said...

Alex - ours will be that too - but I usually find a few forgotten ones over the next week or two :)

Looking forward to the next 2 Cassas :)

Kimberley Griffiths Little said...

Still recharging over here . . . had an insane last few months of 2011.

But I'll be hitting my editorial letter hard in January. Um, since it's due back by the end of January, it's sort of a *have* to. ;-)

Happy New Year, Jemi!

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Still busy here, hoping to recharge soon! So glad you did, Jemi!

Jemi Fraser said...

Kimberley - sounds like you're going to have a busy, busy January! :) Good luck!

Elizabeth - you're always so busy! I hope your recharging is a lot of fun! :)

Lisa Gail Green said...

I'm so glad to hear your battery is recharged! Good for you! And good luck with the revisions. I think I'm ready to go again too. I'm just waiting for the kids to be back at school. 3+ weeks off is a long long time. But they needed some major recharging too!

Jemi Fraser said...

Lisa - thanks! Revisions always take me forever, but I'm excited about them :) We have 2 weeks off at Christmas every year - it's a fabulous amount of time!

catherinemjohnson.com said...

That's great, Jemi. I hope by next week to feel recharged. I'm enjoying lots of brilliant books and writing the odd poem. Gearing up for a busy January with month of poetry and a blogging course.

Best wishes with the writing and everything else!

Anonymous said...

How wonderful your Christmas sounded.
Yes i am feeling recharged and back into editing.
Xx

DEZMOND said...

glad you had successful holidays, Jemi! New Year here we come...

Nicole Zoltack said...

Yay for recharged batteries!

During the past 3 1/2 months, I managed to finish two stories so now I'm going over them, editing, and then I'll send them out to beta readers.

Arlee Bird said...

Not much happening in the way of writing in my world, but having lots of family fun time mixed up with long driving treks. It's been a good holiday for the both of us it sounds like.


Lee
Wrote By Rote

DL Hammons said...

My batteries are still in the recharge docking station until next week...then look out!!

I'm glad everything is going so well for you! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Catherine - thanks! I'm hoping the feeling keeps flowing through January which looks to be another busy month. :)

Michelle - good to hear! We did have a fabulous time - it just happens so quickly!

Dezzy - the new year will be here before we know it! It's so funny how fast time goes!

Nicole - you've done well! My entire month of December was a write off writing-wise!

Lee - it does sound like we've both had great times - with our priorities in the right spots! :)

DL - thanks! I don't have a lot of time in January, so I'm hoping to get on a roll now! :)

Golden Eagle said...

Good luck with your novel!

I'm still recharging . . . I'll need as much juice as possible to dig into rewriting/revising my first novel come January.

Anonymous said...

So glad, Jemi, that the writing is going so well for our. Much success with it, and life in general, in the coming New Year.

I self-published a novelette and a short piece that I now need to aggressively market. And I'm still working on the memoir I'm ghosting for my friend. Sounds like I'm part of the group here: we all love writing, and keep doing it, hoping to find an appreciative audience. So it's happy writing to everyone!!
Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror & Other Memoirs

Lola Sharp said...

I'm so glad you had a lovely Christmas. :) And yay for reading through older projects and feeling good about them. I love it when that happens.

I haven't taken down any of my decorations yet...there's been NO TIME. Nor have I had any time to write since Nano. No time for any recharging of my batteries either. I can never seem to find time to write in December. Every year I think I will, and every year we get too darn busy and the writing never happens. January, once xmas is all put away, I'm itching to get back at it. This weekend is my last ridiculously busy weekend and then I can get back to a 'normal' life.

Happy New Year!
Love,
Lola

Jemi Fraser said...

Golden Eagle - good luck with it! It's an exciting time revising - but I'm sloooooow at it! :)

Ann - I think you're right - we are all so very much the same in that respect. Happy writing to you too! :)

Lola - My December is very much the same! There's so much going on, it's impossible to snatch more than a couple of minutes for writing before the next task! I'm hoping to squeeze in some time before school starts back - and then it's report card season! :)

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

I'm quite greenly jealous. I haven't written in days. For one thing, my computer had some problems with Word, but I think I got that fixed today. So maybe tomorrow....

Jemi Fraser said...

Tricia - Don't be jealous - these are pretty much the first words I've written or edited throughout December! I hope your computer acts nicely and you get some words in! Good luck :)

Leslie S. Rose said...

I'm crawling out from under the crazyville of the holidays to finish up my Nano MS. I'm going back and doing a chapter by chapter overview so I can do a little tighter planning of story and character arcs. It's nice to be back in the writing saddle.

JeffO said...

I've been involved in a lot of critting these last couple of weeks, and kind of stopped 'fresh writing' this past week. BUT...I did dig into the 'new' WiP on Wednesday and make some progress while waiting for more comments on the 'old' WiP.

Jemi Fraser said...

Leslie - that sounds like a good plan. I'm leaving the nano until this one's done. I know it needs tightening up (and an ending) but I'd like to let it simmer :)

Jeff - sounds like you didn't have much of a slow down at all! Good for you. I like being able to flip out between 2 stories every once in a while :)

Rosalind Adam said...

It's good that your novel still sounds great after the Nano break. Good luck with the editing. I'm not so much feeling recharged and flat batteried. I suspect it's a result of too much sitting around and eating!

Jemi Fraser said...

Rosalind - thanks! The excess of food lately is crazy! It's amazing how much there is ... and how much gets eaten :)

Helen Ginger said...

I'm the same way - I tell myself I'll read but not edit. And yet I edit.

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

I haven't been writing, I've been party planning and documenting my procedure to make it into an article. So I guess I've been outlining?

Have a Happy New Year's Eve and a great 2012!

Jemi Fraser said...

Helen - I think it's impossible to just read through it! :)

Sharon - sounds like a great subject for outlining! Good luck with the article. And all the best for 2012!! :)

laughingwolf said...

happy new year, jemi :)

as for new writing... nada as yet :(

Jemi Fraser said...

Laughing Wolf - it'll happen - no rush! Hope you have a fabulous 2012!! :)

Helen Ginger said...

Re-reading a manuscript and loving it is a gift by itself! My writing has slacked off due to the holidays, but I'm planning to get back into it with the new year. My time may get squeezed though since I'll also be starting a new job next month.

Jemi Fraser said...

Helen - it really is! I'm enjoying it! :) I hope you manage to get some writing time in with the new job - it's always tough! I've got report card season coming up, so I'd like to get a bit of writing done now! :)

Margo Berendsen said...

I think I was so lazy the past week that my batteries were over-charged! Yeah, I need to get back into writing - good to hear you love your story after a break - that's a good sign!

Jemi Fraser said...

Margo - that's all right! We need those days and weeks now and again :) I'm so excited that the story still works for me - those breaks always make me nervous!

Unknown said...

Just popping in to wish you a very Happy New Year, Jemi.

Thank you for leaving a comment on my blog. It means a lot.

Jemi Fraser said...

Wendy - thank you! I hope 2012 brings you lots of joy and laughter! :)

Anonymous said...

I haven't been doing much writing these past two weeks, but today I woke up ready to tweak a manuscript and finish beta reading.

Happy New Year!

Jemi Fraser said...

Medeia - happy new year to you as well! I haven't had any time the last two days again, but it's calling to me! :)

Danette said...

Time to refocus! But that what the New Year is all about!

Happy New Year and best wishes to you in the coming days. Hope we all find success with our writing projects!

Jemi Fraser said...

Danette - the new year really is a good time to prioritize and refocus! :) I wish you the same - it's an exciting time to be a writer!

Crazy Life of a Writing Mom said...

That's exciting about pre-nano! I love visiting W.I.P.s. Sometimes it's like seeing an old friend.

Jemi Fraser said...

Elisabeth - thanks! It's a story that's been a lot of fun to write - hoping to finish and polish it in the next few months :)

TerryLynnJohnson said...

yay for liking your ms! That is a nice feeling! I'm working on edits now. But batteries are recharged when the last cookie was eaten. Now we're back to normal here!

Jemi Fraser said...

Terry - it really is a nice feeling! We're back to normal too - although I have a few more days before school starts. Hoping to get writing & revising in! :)

Beth Zimmerman said...

My muse has been napping for a few months. I'm trying to nudge her awake. If that doesn't work ... come by with a bucket of ice water! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Beth - muses can be the most stubborn creatures to wake up! I'll have that bucket ready any time you need it Beth! :)