Beta Reading, Synopsis, and Rain

It's Thursday which equals my Friday! Hallelujah!

Michael and I will be going on a getaway trip tomorrow to Walla Walla in Eastern Washington! I seriously cannot wait, this has been one of the longest weeks ever so I am pumped to get out of the city and do some wine tasting.

This week I sent my manuscript to four beta readers. I dowloaded it on my kindle too, but I think I should probably stay away from it awhile to gain some perspective.

M2 seriously drove me bonkers over the weekend, I thought I was going insane. The below comic explains it perfectly.

Though none of my betas are done reading, I've gotten some good comments which makes me sigh with relief (so it wasn't a complete shit show, excuse my language), but I am anxious for the bad comments that will eventually come. It's necessary though, contructive criticism will only make M2 stronger, which is what I want.

In the meantime I've been working on my synopsis and query (you'd be surprised how long it takes to write one letter and a 1-page summary). I've also been doodling ideas for a contemporary romance in case M2 doesn't work out. Though M2 has series potential, I don't want to invest the time in it yet without knowing if  it'll be published or not (though rest-assured, I do have brief arc of the whole series in mind).

Oh and lastly, there was a thunderstorn and downpour yesterday and it's raining today! I guess you can't exscape rain in Seattle, even if it is Summer.

Recap: Michael's 27th Birthday

I'm going to keep this short and sweet and let the photos recap last night at Daniel's Broiler in Bellevue for Michael's Birthday.

 

Birthday boy making a wish (photo cred: Cristine)

From L to R: Michael's Dad, me, Michael, his Mom, his sister Cristine, and her husband.

Tasted more like a brownie than a cake ;]

 

Michael was very excited about this Bandol wine!

 

Photo cred: Cristine

Presents from Cristine and Tim

Wine I got for Michael

His new gold clubs from his parents!

Happy Birthday Michael!

Today is a very important day! The man of my dreams turns 27!

Since we're celebrating with his family tonight, I celebrated his last day of being 26 yesterday at Nishino.

Sushi is one of Michael's faves.

Not to mention they have Michael's favorite dessert of all time. Green Tea Tiramisu from Hiroki!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL<3

Conservatory and Bruce Lee Memorial

On saturday I had the pleasure of reconnecting with an old friend from college that I hadn't seen in like, four years. Michael took my friend and I out to brunch at Tallulah's then we showed him the Japanese Gardens from my earlier post here: Japanese Garden Weekend. After Michael left to work and to cycle, I took my friend to Volunteer Park where we went to the conservatory. It was my first time there so I took a ton of photos!

It was pretty inspiring seeing all these different types of flora and fauna since I try my hardest to describe the fantastical flowers in M2.

After, we went to the cemetary next door so that I could show my friend Bruce Lee's grave. Surprisingly, there was a memorial for him and his son Brandon.

 

Though I don't consider myself a huge fan of Lee's, I found the memorial to be very touching and inspiring. It just goes to show the great impact a person can have, even after death.

Beach Lunch & Never-ending Writing

Oh fridays, how I love thee...

Now that I have Fridays off, it's become one of my favorite days and yesterday was one of the best ones. I woke up and wrote all day then Michael took me to Paseo's for lunch and we brought it to the Golden Gardens park to eat.

Outside of Paseo waiting for our food!

My Caribbean bowl, yum!

Michael and his sandwich

Then we came back home and I went back to editing.

That stack = my manuscript

I had planned to send out the manuscript to my beta readers this morning, but then I met up with my writing critique partner later that night and she suggested a few changes.

Critiquing with my partner and Fuel coffee as I enjoy a Lavender Italian soda.

So it looks like I'm postponing sending out my manuscript to my betas next weekend before I leave on my trip to Walla Walla. Just when I think I'm almost finished, I'm not. Gah! Writing sometimes seems never-ending, and I am so tempted to start on a new project. Jeez M2, when will you be done?

Fourth Revision Readthrough

I love Debbie Ridpath's comics. I feel like the one above completely relates to me this week. I've spent the last three days rereading my whole manuscript from start to finish while Blaire just stares at me. I printed all the pages, and started marking it up like crazy (though I used a blue pen instead of red, because red just looks so mean, doesn't it? Or is that just me?) and now I'm in the process of making the changes on my manuscript on my laptop. I still have to write another chapter or two to fill in a gap I noticed, but I think it will be ready for me to send out to another batch of beta readers this weekend.

But boy am I exhausted... Even as I write this post, while sipping my morning coffee, I feel so dead. This week has just been a rollercoaster. Rereading my manuscript just makes me doubt so much that I can't tell if my story is even good anymore since I've been working on it so much. Thank goodness for beta readers.

I just need to remind myself to presevere. I'm way in too deep to be stopping now.

Book Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

I rated it 5 out of 5 stars. 

 

Overview: It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him.

This is my story.

A letter from nowhere.

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back?

The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.

Review: I reread this over the weekend and it continues to be one of my favorite YA books of all time. Lucy Christopher is brilliant. I love the writing because it's so simple, so visceral, yet so mesmerizing and beautiful. The first time I read it, I was literally in tears at the end, having felt like I had undergone stockholm syndrom with Gemma. I had read it in one sitting just so entranced by the story and the two characters.

Reading it this time around, I really got to appreciate the novel sytlisticly and admire Christopher's craft. Isn't it funny how another reading shows you things you hadn't noticed around the first time? Not many books survived my move from Sacramento to Seattle, but this one did, and for a good reason. Just pick it up and you'll know why.