Work in Progress Wednesday!

I’m sure other writers use Wednesday for WIP posts, because there’s nothing writers like more than alliterative posts.  However, I am taking this opportunity to pimp my cousin’s site, where she blogs about crafty works-in-progress, like quilts and dollhouses.  Stop by if any of those things interest you.

I thought that I’d post about the office work in progress, especially since, because of the snow, my husband is home so we’re actually getting some things done during the week (gasp!).  However, I’m also putting the final touches on my current WIP, soon to be a WIP no longer but a finished project winging its way out into the world.

I’ve submitted this work to many, many places, editors as well as agents.  However, finishing it for the agent and giving her the go-ahead feels final in a way that it never did before. I find myself questioning things, like the name change.  There’s other things that I’d thought about tweaking, but I’m forcing myself to stop after I finish the name change and make sure that there’s no scenes that address the old name.

I let my critique group read the scene where I discuss the name change.  I’m very glad I did, as they came up with some very good points.  I cannot stress how important in-person critique groups are to me.  I’ve tried online over the years, but I find them impersonal, even when I’m very good friends with the person who’s doing the critiquing.  I like being able to bounce things around with my readers, and see what happens.  I think of things when I’m sitting at a table with a few other writers discussing my words that I probably wouldn’t think of on my own. 

Ta ta for now.  Next week I’ll probably resume office posts for WIPW, but for now, I must write!

My #1 addiction

Well, to be honest, this probably comes after chocolate and some tv shows.  Hm, no, it probably does NOT come after tv shows because I usually do this while watching tv.  This addiction is crocheting.

I crochet something for Wyrmling every month.  For her first year, it was hats.  After she got over a dozen hats, which she hated wearing anyway, it seemed prudent to switch to something else.  I’d made a Noah’s Ark and filled it with finger puppets for a good friend’s child, so I thought making one for Wyrmling and adding a finger puppet set a month would be fun.

I don’t want this to become a crochet blog, but I am posting about this because it does come back to my writing.  This month I decided Wyrmling’s Ark needed some unicorns.  There are some legends of unicorns not making it onto the Ark (a legend that I actually work into my book “Tapestry Threads”), so I like the idea of making some that actually did catch the boat.

I made some basic ones from this pattern for my friend’s child’s Ark (there isn’t a unicorn pattern, which is odd because it’s fairy tale puppets, but it’s easy to add a horn).

My crochet skills have improved since I made these, though, so I decided to mix things up on the new ones, using the same pattern.  I used a basic worsted weight yarn, which I use for most toys, for the two unicorns.  I used different sized hooks, however, to make the male a smidge bigger.  Also, instead of yarn for the horns, I used embroidery floss.  I thought I had some gold, but then I remembered I used it all making a Golden Snitch.  I settled for two different shades of yellow, and then used embroidery floss for the eyes (purple on one, dark blue on the other).  For the male’s mane I used the same yarn as the bodies for both unicorns.  For the female’s, I wanted something different.  I debated unraveling some of the same yarn to give it a wavy look, but I ran out of that yarn.  I then started looking and I found a flower I’d debated putting on a hat for Wyrmling, but wasn’t quite happy with.  It was a white yarn with a pearl thread to it, so I thought that would look nice.  When I started unraveling the flower, I had a happy surprise!  From being crocheted for so long, it now had a permanent kink to it, so it was the EXACT look I wanted for the unicorn (well, I hadn’t counted on how much it looked like a member of an 80s hair metal band.  Dee Snyder and Brett Michaels, perhaps?).   Resemblance to 80s rockers aside, I’m rather pleased with how these turned out!  If Wyrmling doesn’t play with them, I use them for enacting scenes from my book.

Poll

I’m still on LiveJournal (I’m still really sad that it seems to be falling out of fashion.  I just really like the friends pages and the way you can lock entries), so I’m more familiar with it.  If you feel like voting on both the title and a certain character’s name my (hopefully!) next book, please go here:

http://amieroserotruck.livejournal.com/172123.html