Category: WIP (Page 12 of 16)

Spring 2015 in Pictures and the Final Push to Summer Relaxation

June 23, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve got another week and half until I make it through a few final obligations and can begin to relax a little this summer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about having so many authory type things to do this year. I’ve had a wonderful first half of the year with book events, school visits, library talks…it’s been inspirational!

…But I really need a break. I finished the draft of Black Butterfly, but I have a few lingering things I need to work on before it can go out to beta readers. And I have some subbing I’d like to do for another project I’ve had in my pocket for awhile. Those things have been put on hold with the author craziness that was this spring. So in the spirit of getting stuff done (and I did check off one very big item on my to-do list just yesterday), here is spring 2015 in pictures. Enjoy!

Gearing Up for a Noncommittal Summer

May 29, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

This time last year I was preparing for the arrival of The Prince with plans to spend the summer enjoying my two boys and adjusting to life as a mom of two. Now looking forward to this summer, I have that strange feeling of not believing how quickly time has gone but also feeling like it’s been a long year.

In a couple of weeks, we’ll be kicking off summer a little early with The Prince’s first birthday party at my parents’ house. My birthday (a special milestone one if I were a hobbit) falls in the middle of summer, but no big parties scheduled for me. Fast forward to the end of August and we’ll be unofficially ending the summer with The Boy’s fourth birthday party, probably also at my parents’ house.

So what do I plan on sandwiching in between those two big events (besides celebrating/crying over getting another year older)? Hopefully lots of summer fun: beach days, playing in the yard with the boys, grounding myself every day, day trips with the family…that kind of stuff.

The first half of the year has been full of author events (all told I’ve probably done more author events in the last six months than in all my previous years combined) and I’ve got three more planned for June (check out my homepage for details), so I’d like to slow down a bit for the summer. Iced tea in the afternoon, wine in the evening, feet in the sand, and read a book for pleasure kind of slowing down.

I’m so very close to completing a good draft of my WIP, so I’ll be devoting some time to revising once I get my beta feedback and a little break from said WIP post-drafting. Maybe I’ll start drafting a new book…or maybe not. I think I’ll see where the winds take me on that one. I may need a break in order to refill the creative well.

I’d also like to pay attention to one aspect of my life I’ve been woefully neglectful of: namely, getting in shape. I’ve been slowly acclimating my mind to the idea of maybe getting back into running, and I might try working with a personal trainer and seeing if I like it. Not sure about going back to playing soccer. I’ll see how I feel after I’m in better shape.

Overall, I’m in the mood to be very noncommittal about things. Before long those boys of mine will be off running all over the place without me, so I’m trying to be more in the moment and enjoy them while they’re little (even through the hard times of them being little).

I’m thinking of running old posts here for most of the summer, and probably not too many guest posts. Keep things simple…yeah, that sounds real nice. What are your plans for the summer?

I Will Finish this Draft…

May 19, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

…this week. I can do it! C’mon, chant it for me, “You can do it, you can do it, you can do it.”

That is all!

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

January 30, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

A very big thanks to Beverly Stowe McClure for nominating me for The Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Beverly is a force in the kidlit world with a slew of writing credits to her name and a generous soul. Make sure to check out her website and blog The Story of a Writer.

The rules for accepting this award are as follows:
1. Thank the person who nominated you, and link to their blog.
2. Display the award logo.
3. Nominate at least 15 other blogs (more or less) and provide a link where they may be found.
4. Then, go to their blog, leave a comment to let them know they have been nominated, and where to find the information they need to accept (rules).
5. Mention three things that inspired you the most during the past few weeks.

So here are the three things that have inspired me recently…

1. My kids…of course! Love those little guys. They are a constant reminder of all that is wonderful in the world: the way they think, the way they learn, the way they share, even the way they “fight.” (A fight between the boys usually entails The Boy yelling at The Prince for some nonexistence slight or rudeness–cause 7-month-olds are so rude, right–and The Prince, loving the attention from his older brother, breaks into a big two-tooth grin.) They’re still young enough to be impressed by their old mom, so I’m enjoying their enthusiasm while it lasts. Just yesterday when The Boy spotted the cover of my picture book, he said, “Oh, I love that one,” and insisted we read it. So, yeah, they keep me inspired in so many ways, even as they are tiring me out.

2. A group of students I have yet to meet. I’ve been putting the finishing touches on a school presentation for early February in conjunction with The Great Connecticut Caper. Among the group, are 7 students who submitted a story to the Caper’s first contest and won the author visit. Just thinking about the fun activities I have planned for them and thinking about the writing that will hopefully come out of it keeps me excited about my projects.

3. My writing group. I have a pretty awesome in-person critique group that I meet with once a month. The quality of the work coming from every single person in the group has reached such a level of excellence lately. We’ve really hit a groove. Not only do I look forward to reading their offerings every month, but knowing they are all waiting for the next installment in my WIP keeps me on track with my word count goals.

Okay, now it’s your turn. I’ve never been very good at nominating people for these blogger awards, so here’s five people I’ve come up with. And, if you’re a blogger and would like to be nominated and play along, just leave a comment and I’ll add you to the list. My nominees:

1. Kai Strand – Strands of Thought

2. Meradeth Houston – Write Stuff

3. Stuart R. West – Twisted Tales from Tornado Alley

4. Eric Price – Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Whatever Else Comes to Mind

5. Jeff Chapman – Jeff Chapman’s Writing

6. Comment to have your blog added here!

Stripping My Emotional Self in Writing

December 4, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m the kind of person who holds her emotions really close to her chest. I hate crying in front of people, even the ones I’m closest to, and have always, as far back as I can remember, felt this way. I don’t like openly showing many strong emotions often feel embarrassed when I do, and sometimes even feel embarrassed for other people when they are showing strong emotions (though they themselves probably aren’t feeling that way…they are simply reveling in whatever they are feeling).

It’s not that I don’t have strong emotions. In fact, it’s just the opposite; I have strong emotions, it’s just hard for me to show them. When I’m upset about something or hurt, it most often comes across as anger…because for some reason my brain thinks it’s okay to show anger if I have to show something.

Psychoanalysis aside (not really interested in analyzing myself, especially not here on a public website…yikes!), being this kind of person makes it hard for me to open up my emotional self in my writing. One of my goals this year was to push my writing to show deeper levels of emotions, and that included all forms of my writing: blogging, the journals I keep for the boys, my novels, everything.

I really stripped down and got real here on the blog with my post “How Does a Mother’s Love Grow?” back in February. I was going through a really tough time as a mother and shared some real and not necessarily flattering feelings. Frankly, that was a terrifying moment when I hit Publish on that post. But it got a lot of hits and so many wonderful comments. Though when I think about people reading that post, it kind of makes me nauseated.

My WIP is a really gritty novel, a thriller about a girl with a dark past (much of which she can’t remember) and who isn’t sure if she deserves a chance to remake herself. She isn’t even sure if that’s possible and wonders if she’s just an evil person at the core. Not that her feelings are my own per se, but the idea is to push and explore those very deep emotions and draw them out. Whatever they may be.

So I think I’ve begun to chip away at that goal. And I think it’s bringing my writing to a whole new level. Because it’s those deep emotions that resonate with readers, it’s what they connect to and remember from a story. Ultimately that’s the kind of stuff I want to write, even if it kind of makes me cringe a little on the inside. It also makes me glow on the inside, too. One of the many dichotomies of my life!

I guess the next step in this process of mining my emotions would be to allow myself to express them to a fuller extent. Not only would that aid in my writing, but it would probably be healthy for me and my relationships (not that any of that is bad, but those could always be better, right?).

So where have you pushed yourself and your writing this year and where are you taking those things in the next year?