Tag Archives: duty of the priest

Mechanics

May it be

I’ve been thinking about verbs for a while now, and I’m thinking that’s where I want to start with my rants posts about writing topics. And what better time to discuss verbs than the merry, merry month of May, right?

Right?

C’mon, guys—it’s a modal? A modal verb?

Yeah, on that note, I think we’ll be starting with the basics—like what the heck a modal is, anyway—and then go on to talk about how we use verbs in writing, including the dreaded passive voice. (Guess what—if you’re getting dinged by your critique partners for writing in the passive voice a lot, you might not be doing anything wrong. Then again, you might—but still, there’s hope!)

And I’m lining up guest posts from some brilliant English minds (even doctors, folks!), so be sure to check back next week—or subscribe to the blog to get RSS updates (or email updates)—to join in the “verbal” discussion.

In other news, I’m renaming my current works. Yes, I know, I can’t help it—I just read the chapter on titling in Stein On Writing and I found one that really struck me:

Saints and Agents

To match the new title for Duty of the Priest, Evidence of Things Not Seen is now Saints and Spies. The Projects page and excerpt page have been updated to reflect this.

And I promise soon to talk titling and explain this move. But first—verbs!

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Works

The run up

I’ve been gearing up for the LDStorymakers Conference tomorrow. I registered after encouragement from Annette Lyon online and off, and I’m getting excited (even though I’m a fairly shy person and a little nervous about meeting new people).

So I’m thinking about what I’m going to do with this site. So far I’ve used it as mostly a writing journal, chronicling the biggest milestones in my manuscripts. (On that note, I got Duty back from my critique partner on the third and finished the latest round of revisions on Tuesday.)

I’d like to do more with the blog portion of the site. I’ve had a few ideas for posts on grammar mechanics and writing technique, as well as some fun activities. I’ve been holding off for a formal “launch” for the website. Subscribe to the blog to get RSS updates (or email updates) so you don’t miss anything!

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Works

Happy birthday to me!

My birthday present to myself: finishing revisions on Evidence!

My birthday present to you: an excerpt from Duty of the Priest!

Presents that feel this good without costing a dime (no comment on opportunity cost): priceless.

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Works

Finito

One of these days I’m going to run out of ways to say it, but once again: I’m done! I was worried about the word count there for a while, and there are still some issues that are bugging me and some scenes that need to be fixed (and maybe added), but I just typed “the end.” (Okay, so first I said it over on Twitter.) And despite my concerns, I reached an acceptable 84,000 words.

I’ve got a page of notes of things I want to change, and I want to go through and work on physical descriptions of people and settings (especially the weather). Sometimes I get through first drafts and it’s like this whole story has taken place in a white room with blank-faced people—or at least it could have, from how much description I’ve given.

So the tentative title is Evidence of Things Not Seen. I’m kind of happy with it, even though it does seem a little long. It parallels nicely with Duty of the Priest:

  • They’re structurally parallel: both use prepositional phrases with an ‘of’ head.
  • Both come from scripture references (Duty is a rephrasing of Doctrine and Covenants 20:46 and Evidence is somewhat obviously from Hebrews 11:1.)
  • The first words of the titles, Duty and Evidence, aside from being handy handles to toss around, are also words with strong law enforcement connotations. Appropriate for FBI-themed novels, don’t you think?

Once again, I’m off to revisions!

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Works

Revisions, Round One

Well, three months after I started the manuscript, I think I’m finally done with round one revisions on Duty of the Priest. (I have to be careful about using that working title too much; I’ll get attached and I know they’re going to change it!) My friend is done with her parallel story and I’ve spent the last three days “correlating” them—making sure that they’re consistent wherever they overlap. I’m a one-woman correlation committee 😉 .

At this point, I’ve gotten it as good as I can get it while it’s all still this “close.” So now I’m sending it off to my wonderful critique partner for feedback—and to get some distance.

And, of course, now I can really focus on the sequel.

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Works

Aaand Fin

1 Comment

Whoa. Eight weeks after starting my latest work in progress, I just finished the last scene! I have a couple places I’ll need to add scenes now, but I’ve ended up with 80,000 words in less than two months. (And I said I wasn’t going to do NaNo!)

And you know what it’s time for now!

Dance of joy!

 

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Works

New WIP!

It’s about time—three months after giving birth to my daughter, I’m starting a new work in progress. The idea was a joint effort between me and one of my best friends. We’ve outlined the plot for four POV characters and are both hard at work on parallel stories. Murder, mayhem and much fun will ensue!

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