tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56317849253222441112012-01-13T03:00:59.501-08:00Ashley Knowltonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5631784925322244111.post-71619060155063252822008-12-30T09:56:00.001-08:002008-12-30T10:29:08.647-08:00A little part of me loves editing. Loves ripping things apart and putting them back together and finding that the seams are more invisible now than they used to be. Another part of me hates it, especially when there are sheep and chickens involved.<br /><br />It's mostly because I'm a wimp, really. My charming English fiance and I are house-sitting on a farm (farm-sitting?). It's a beautiful place: calm and quiet with a panoramic view of the lake, and there's the wonderful lull of hens clucking and sheep bleating in the background. My friend, whose parents own the house, has also hosted many an informal writers' retreat here, so I definitely know it's not a physical writer's block for my ideas.<br /><br />Observe:<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hkBCG3RS4ks/SVpnByqcSvI/AAAAAAAAAzw/zR5NQC3qFkY/s1600-h/snowview.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 281px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hkBCG3RS4ks/SVpnByqcSvI/AAAAAAAAAzw/zR5NQC3qFkY/s400/snowview.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285650393150016242" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">See? Perfect.</span><br /></div><br />But it also has been snowing and freezing for the past two weeks, and despite leaving all the taps in the entire house dripping and attacking the frozen pipes with what must be a two-watt hair dryer (the only one in the house), our pipes burst on December 19th. We didn't get water back until Christmas Eve, and in the meantime:<br /><br /><ul><li>I still had to go to work, despite the foot and a half of snow and a car that would have been much more useful as a sled if I could have gotten it above the snow, rather than under.<br /></li><li>We were fortunate enough to have sub-standard, brownish-green well water to replenish the animals' water buckets which kept freezing over. </li><li> We were fortunate enough to have neighbors with an open shower, because we smelled. Really bad.<br /></li><li>I accomplished zero words of writing/editing.</li><li>The dog peed on everything.</li></ul><br />Fortunately, Boxing Day came around, the pipes were fixed, the pee was cleaned up, and I sat down, stared hard at my screen, and said, "Okay, <span style="font-style: italic;">Hijacked</span>, let's do this thing." I'm now half-way through and plodding steadily on.<br /><br />I also encouraged myself by buying my throat a Fair-Trade raw silk scarf:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hkBCG3RS4ks/SVpjWtCJ-iI/AAAAAAAAAzo/SCL9nj_DDFU/s1600-h/ftsilkscarf.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 274px; height: 274px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hkBCG3RS4ks/SVpjWtCJ-iI/AAAAAAAAAzo/SCL9nj_DDFU/s400/ftsilkscarf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285646354369608226" border="0" /></a>And now it's time to wrap my neck in it so tightly that it cuts off oxygen to the procrastination part of my brain. Let's get down to business.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5631784925322244111-7161906015506325282?l=ashley-knowlton.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Ashley Knowltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5631784925322244111.post-30402504312417149602008-09-09T13:08:00.000-07:002008-09-09T13:34:51.101-07:00This past week has been a rather whirlwind tour of wonderfulness for me, greeting my long lost English boyfriend at the airport the night before receiving a phone call from my wonderful now-agent <a href="http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/ejjote/">Elizabeth Joté</a>. It's amazing how things can change in a matter of hours.<br /><br />So what to do now but start a fresh blog?<br /><br />Not-so-interesting info:<br /><br />I started writing Hijacked in May of 2006. Back then, it was just a fledgling idea based on someone's suggestion that I write contemporary fiction instead of the bloated Victorian novel that Hijacked once was. Yes, it was a Victorian novel. Not a very bad one, but still...not a very good one.<br /><br />Coming to terms with the fact that you can only write so many words from the 1800s without someone's bodice becoming ripped or, at least, becoming a little ragged, I decided that, "Hm, maybe pushing Ivy into the modern world wouldn't be such a horrible idea."<br /><br />So I started over. Completely, blank-slate, started over.<br /><br />I couldn't be happier with Ivy, now, and I'm glad for the pushes I've been given along the way to representation. Rejections hurt, but they're there for a reason. Imagine how badly I'd suck if I'd never gotten one word of critique or correction. Gross.<br /><br />Though my publishing journey is not a new one, nor anywhere near being finished, I'm excited for the fresh starts I get every day.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5631784925322244111-3040250431241714960?l=ashley-knowlton.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Ashley Knowltonnoreply@blogger.com0