Wordy Wednesday: COUNTING, COUNTING...

...pages and words. And, in my case, poems. It seems to take me about 220 poems to create a verse novel, give or take. As I write, I number my verses so that they're easier to discuss in the revision process (e.g., I'm thinking about deleting #94 as I think I cover much of this material in #'s 28 and 36). For me, the verse novel is very structural--a balance of narrative and thematic explorations, a mixture of long and short poems, a diversity of poetic forms--and the pacing of the poetry has got to embody both the story's meaning and its overall "meter". However, once I've gotten the whole thing pretty well structured, I take all the numbers out because they give me a headache :)

How do you keep track of your manuscript progress? Do you have an in-process format that differs from your finished product? Do you think I use too many smiley faces in my posts? :) (just teasing)

HAPPY MONDAY

Sometimes it's hard to warm up to Mondays.  My solution?  Do a little redecorating here at the blog (see nice, new broken-out blog lists?), eat two pieces of chocolate-dipped marzipan before lunch, and spend a bit too much time perusing the Armchair BEA blog (recommended if you, like me, can't be in NYC for Book Expo America in person this week). 

After that, I was ready for a few hours of work.  Then, 2,000 words on the new ms.  You heard it! I'm in that first-romance-frenzy period where the words just pile onto the page and I can't get enough.  I'm in love with my main character and can't wait to discover how she works out all her angsty teen problems and gets to the end of the summer.  Structurally, I'm trying something new that's pretty interesting, too.

Also had a wonderful chat with my new editor today and, as a result, I've got a sense of the timetable for what comes next for AUDITION.  I am so excited to work on revising that book and so, not only am I racing through the new story but I have AUDITION revisions to look forward to--kind of an awesome summer plan (better than, say, a trip to Hawaii for us mole-people who really prefer the keyboard to the beach).

So, there's not much literary or marketing insight here.  Just a quick update on my day.  Wondering how you warm up to the start of the week.  And sending you good Monday karma before I crack open my book.