The iPhone and the Process

So last week, after six months of my one-year-old son dropping my iphone on sidewalks, on my kitchen floor, in the dirt and off a balcony (albeit a short balcony) he finally managed to bust it by tossing it onto the tile in front of my fireplace. Luckily it was still under warranty and I sent it in and three very long, iphone-less days later I got a new one today!! Gone are the scratches and nicks, the gouge on the corner, the two small, yet annoying scratches on the screen. And now it is shiny and new and my son is NEVER touching it again! And it's going to stay in it's protective skin a bit more often.:) In fact I think I will stop by the Apple store while I'm in Salt Lake City on Friday and see if I can find one that works even better. But oh, man, I am enjoying the shiny!

First off, I was totally excited about all the comments for the contest! I love not only that I got to hear so much good news but that people were so excited to share good news! I love that positivity spreads so easily! So to cap off our week of awesomeness, the winner of their choice of The Summoning or The Hunger Games, is . . . MIM! Mim, please email me at aprilynne pike at gmail dot com and let me know which book you would like and where to send it!

I've been thinking a lot about ideas and the process of writing the last few weeks. I am almost done with my first draft of a book I have been working on for over two years. There's something about actively working on books that seems to get my imagnation going. About a month ago I got the idea for my next book after the one I'm working on.

And it's really hard not to switch.

I started working on my current WIP in the Fall of 2006. I worked on it for several weeks and then I signed with my agent, Jodi. The first thing we did was go through several rounds of revisions on the completed book she had signed me for. That meant that my WIP (I'll call it LAT from here on out) had to go on hold. Then, in the summer of 2007, my husband told me he would be giving me the summer to write. I set up writing goals and I got ready to finish LAT. But just a week into writing full-time I got the idea for WINGS. Something in me knew, I had to put LAT aside again. Good thing I did.:)

Now I have another idea trying to push LAT aside and I considered letting it for a while. I have been working on LAT for two years and the story has been fully formed in my head for almost that long. I have whole scenes written in my head that just aren't down on the computer screen yet. And because of that, sometimes I feel like I am writing it for like the tenth time. Even though it's a great book (no really, my sister is chomping at the bit for it!) I am getting a little tired of it.

But I'm not letting it get pushed to the side this time. Because if I do, it is never going to get finished, and I can't let that happen.

I used to think of writing books as rather romantic. A brilliant idea comes along and, sure, there's work involved, but you are driven by the idea, you write your story! You work, you polish and then it is your gem that you send out into the big, big world. I have never worked on a story long enough to get tired of it and I assumed that getting tired of a book was a sign that it was time to shelve it.

And sometimes it is.

But I'm trusting my gut on this one. This was an awesome book when I started it, it has gotten tons of good feedback from the people I have let read pieces of it, even my agent really likes the voice from the few chapters I've given her. Like so many other landmarks I have come to in my writing career, this is a new learning experience. Going with my gut on a book I'm getting tired of. I guess we'll see how it works out.

But I have high hopes.:)

And when I am done I will get to work on a proposal for the idea that is currently simmering, and that will be a new experience too. I'm really excited about diving into my new idea because to pull it off the way I envision it is going to take some very, very strong writing and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm not sure I have the skill to do it.

But hopefully as the plot solidifies and the voice becomes more clear in my head, I will find that I am up to the task. Here's hoping!

So how about you? Things you're learning about your own writing process? Surprises? Things you're taking a gamble on when you don't actually know if it will work out? Share your musings!

Ciao!