It's hard to believe the 2014 - 2015 school year has started. Our summer went by in two blinks, and the leaves are already starting to turn in my end of Nova Scotia. Son is happy to be back with his friends and teachers, and gets up with eagerness each morning.
Day 54 of my quit smoking journey is here, and although I've been craving a lot, I'm still smoke free and determined to beat the nicotine addiction for good this time.
So this is what's going on in my writing world...........
Last week, I had two full writing days and utilized them to do some polishing and rewrites in "Away to Me". I made a few POV changes, put something more in line with what my breed expert says would be right for that particular breed of dog, and made some other editing changes like compressions and other fun things we authors need to do during the editing phase of getting a manuscript ready for publishers.
I'm now in the "waiting period" for more edit suggestions from the readers again, so the current draft of the manuscript is set aside until they tell me where it needs work.
It's official: Ten has been shelved. It's too much like the "Legacies" duology in style and storyline to be "mine" at the moment. I'm not sure if I'll ever finish that one or if I do, it'll be completely revamped.
I don't have any other ideas grabbing me by the throat right now either, and it feels odd not to be working on something writing wise.
Please... Before anyone starts messaging me with ideas, don't bother. I do appreciate the sentiments, and y'all thinking of me, but I have enough ideas of my own. I'm trying to figure out which one is the best idea to run with, and which one will hit me like "Away to Me" did when I started working on it.
Besides, the last time I wrote a story that was someone else's idea, it turned into a huge disaster, known as "Family Portraits"... Or, if you prefer, "The Worst of VJ's Finished Manuscript Drafts".
The idea I run with has to be mine, in concept and everything else from the start, else we'll see a repeat of that mess.
The one bright spot of not having anything hitting me right now is that even with that, I'm still getting vague images and ideas for scenes in anonymous stories, and a title for one.
Have a great week everyone. I hope to be posting that I am deep into another story soon.... I just have to find it first! :)
©2024 V.J. Allison Art. All Rights Reserved. NO USE PERIOD!
©2025 V.J. Allison Art. No use without written permission from designer.
Showing posts with label Alpha readers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alpha readers. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
Renovations and Revelations
Day 36 of my quit smoking journey is here and I'm really coming out of the brain fog, so much that I'm getting the urge to write. That hasn't really happened since I had my first smoke free day on July 18th! It feels great being back into it. I really missed seeing an open manuscript in some form open on my taskbar, and didn't have it all summer. I didn't want to risk messing things up while I was still waking up after being blindsided with BS for the last three years and still going through the "just quit smoking fog".
"Away to Me" went into Draft 3 mode at 11:20 a.m. ADT today, and I've started another reread/edit on it. I'm focusing on things my sister in law has pointed out to me so far, along with things my longtime friend D noticed.
So far, so good. My sister in law is one hell of a great editor and caught a LOT in the first 8 pages of the manuscript. It may not seem like that much considering the manuscript itself is only 138 pages long at this point, but if she's catching that many mistakes already, awesome. It also shows just how awful I am at editing, and how much I need to learn about it.
D notes that I have to work on certain areas and has prescribed time with a certain breed of dog. No problem, I know who has two of the cute fellows and will be seeing them all on Tuesday! *Grins!* Other than that, she liked the story overall and said it needs to be polished.
Hey, I knew that much. My writing isn't perfect, I admit it. It needs a lot of work even in sixth draft, or it does in my opinion at least....
So, it looks like "Away to Me" may be deemed "good enough" to send out to publishers in time, once my sister in law, and my best friend are finished going over it for me. I may get someone from one of my writing forums to give me a critique on it too, just to be extra safe. There are some awesome folk at both of them, who know what they're doing...
I've also made a few changes with the Alpha and Beta Teams. Local Alpha A has been changed to "Critique Reader" and will be just reading the story to see how it flows overall and if it's good story wise, and believable. D is still Alpha Reader #1 and my "breed expert". Sister in Law and Bestie are the Betas.
D also noted a few things about something I thought she wouldn't read and comment on until after "Away to Me" was off to publishers... A while back, I had sent her a current draft of "Family Portraits" (sequel to "No Regrets") and told her not to worry about reading it. I'm not revamping those two for a while - IF EVER - and I want to focus on writing the shorter, less complicated stuff before I tackle THAT task.
She read it anyway...
And didn't like it.
The one thing she said that's really sticking out for me is that it didn't feel like it was me writing it. It felt like I was writing like someone else and it didn't work. She said a few other things and well, by the time she was done, I was thoroughly embarrassed that I had sent it to her. It's in horrible condition and if she didn't like it, it's gross.
Now that my brain fog has cleared and I can see the truth, I can easily understand D's point. Like "No Regrets", that story was heavily influenced by someone else, someone who wanted me to write their "ideal" romance story. Because I was stupid and listened to this person instead of my gut, my natural talent was so darn muffled and dulled, you can't read "me" as an author at all in it. It was like I was trying to ghost write for this other person, and it turned into a huge "FAIL", for me as an author and it is now one of the worst stories I've ever written.
No wonder why those two stories do not feel like "my" work, and now I can see why I'm so darn detached from them. It wasn't "my" style coming through, it was someone else's style and ideas.
I am rather ticked off at myself right now, for writing that story the way I had, and all of the hours/days/months/years wasted on two manuscripts that aren't worth using for kindling. Maybe if I had followed my gut and wrote them the way *I* wanted to write them when I first came up with the original idea four years ago, I wouldn't be feeling this way now.
Lesson learned, Uni.
I really don't know if either are salvageable or not. I'm thinking they're probably not, even if I rewrite them in my style and let my talent really shine. I have a feeling that hearing all of this stuff from D and knowing what I know now was the final death blows to the "Legacies" series. Hubby thinks I should rewrite them, after I have a few more books under my belt.
I don't know. I really don't know. I'm too damn embarrassed and ticked off at myself right now.
Boy talk about a revelation, a huge one.
Again, lesson learned, Uni. I got it this time.
"Away to Me" went into Draft 3 mode at 11:20 a.m. ADT today, and I've started another reread/edit on it. I'm focusing on things my sister in law has pointed out to me so far, along with things my longtime friend D noticed.
So far, so good. My sister in law is one hell of a great editor and caught a LOT in the first 8 pages of the manuscript. It may not seem like that much considering the manuscript itself is only 138 pages long at this point, but if she's catching that many mistakes already, awesome. It also shows just how awful I am at editing, and how much I need to learn about it.
D notes that I have to work on certain areas and has prescribed time with a certain breed of dog. No problem, I know who has two of the cute fellows and will be seeing them all on Tuesday! *Grins!* Other than that, she liked the story overall and said it needs to be polished.
Hey, I knew that much. My writing isn't perfect, I admit it. It needs a lot of work even in sixth draft, or it does in my opinion at least....
So, it looks like "Away to Me" may be deemed "good enough" to send out to publishers in time, once my sister in law, and my best friend are finished going over it for me. I may get someone from one of my writing forums to give me a critique on it too, just to be extra safe. There are some awesome folk at both of them, who know what they're doing...
I've also made a few changes with the Alpha and Beta Teams. Local Alpha A has been changed to "Critique Reader" and will be just reading the story to see how it flows overall and if it's good story wise, and believable. D is still Alpha Reader #1 and my "breed expert". Sister in Law and Bestie are the Betas.
D also noted a few things about something I thought she wouldn't read and comment on until after "Away to Me" was off to publishers... A while back, I had sent her a current draft of "Family Portraits" (sequel to "No Regrets") and told her not to worry about reading it. I'm not revamping those two for a while - IF EVER - and I want to focus on writing the shorter, less complicated stuff before I tackle THAT task.
She read it anyway...
And didn't like it.
The one thing she said that's really sticking out for me is that it didn't feel like it was me writing it. It felt like I was writing like someone else and it didn't work. She said a few other things and well, by the time she was done, I was thoroughly embarrassed that I had sent it to her. It's in horrible condition and if she didn't like it, it's gross.
Now that my brain fog has cleared and I can see the truth, I can easily understand D's point. Like "No Regrets", that story was heavily influenced by someone else, someone who wanted me to write their "ideal" romance story. Because I was stupid and listened to this person instead of my gut, my natural talent was so darn muffled and dulled, you can't read "me" as an author at all in it. It was like I was trying to ghost write for this other person, and it turned into a huge "FAIL", for me as an author and it is now one of the worst stories I've ever written.
No wonder why those two stories do not feel like "my" work, and now I can see why I'm so darn detached from them. It wasn't "my" style coming through, it was someone else's style and ideas.
I am rather ticked off at myself right now, for writing that story the way I had, and all of the hours/days/months/years wasted on two manuscripts that aren't worth using for kindling. Maybe if I had followed my gut and wrote them the way *I* wanted to write them when I first came up with the original idea four years ago, I wouldn't be feeling this way now.
Lesson learned, Uni.
I really don't know if either are salvageable or not. I'm thinking they're probably not, even if I rewrite them in my style and let my talent really shine. I have a feeling that hearing all of this stuff from D and knowing what I know now was the final death blows to the "Legacies" series. Hubby thinks I should rewrite them, after I have a few more books under my belt.
I don't know. I really don't know. I'm too damn embarrassed and ticked off at myself right now.
Boy talk about a revelation, a huge one.
Again, lesson learned, Uni. I got it this time.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Rejuvenation, Healing, and Corgis....
It's been an interesting two weeks.
I haven't done anything writing wise, but conditions still aren't ideal for it. I'm still feeling rotten physically and that's keeping my concentration at a bare minimum, which isn't good for writing or editing. I've been so bad the last couple of months that I've had to retire from admining all but my author's page and two of the groups I was running. I was too darn sick to watch those, but left them as "inactive" during the worst of it. I'm only starting to get my author's page going again, and I'm still not doing a lot with it.
My sister in law is still sending me edits for "Away to Me" and I'll soon be hearing back from D and A, along with my best pal and her suggestions.
My goals for the rest of the month include giving "Away to Me" another read through while doing suggested edits, and going over Ten to see what can be kept, what can be tossed, and what has to be rewritten, and so on.
I'm starting to come out of the "just quit smoking" fog a little more so hopefully I will have the mental energy to do that soon. I'm on Day 23 now and things are finally starting to ease up in more ways than one. I'm finally bringing up interesting and gross gunk now, and I'm able to breathe a little easier. This is part of my lungs healing after abusing them for over 20 years, and heavily for the last 8 or so.
Tuesday, one of my longtime friends and alpha readers D and I spent the day together. It was so much fun! We went to my favorite beach, where she took some photos of me, and we had some fun with one of her corgis, a sweet fellow named T. He is so gentle and cuddly. I fell in love with him instantly!
I wish I had been smarter and worn shorter jeans but in the end it was worth it. Some of the pics turned out great and all of us had a great time. We went to her house for a few hours after that, and I met two of her other dogs, a Sheltie named "S" and her other corgi named "S". Sheltie S was pretty timid and wasn't sure of me at first, but she was soon accepting any treats I dropped for her and even let me touch her nose once or twice. She's a gentle and sweet girl, and so gorgeous. Corgi S is out of this world gorgeous, and he exudes a really upbeat, silly and fun energy one can't resist.
D's dogs are amazing. They stole my heart!
Fun fact: Her dogs are the inspiration for a dog in one of my manuscripts. She's helping me with getting the movements and everything else down pat in that story, that way I won't get lynched by the breed's loyal servants!
In other news... As part of my quit smoking journey, I'm giving myself rewards once in a while, as motivation to keep going and have something to look forward to. Part of my "Surviving Heck Week" reward came this week... Bejeweled 3 is one of the things in Part One of the reward. I did have it years ago but lost my copy of it before I purchased my current system. Son didn't like not having it and kept asking me to get it. I saw they finally had it on sale in an online store and ordered it. He's now VERY happy and is playing it a LOT during his evening computer time.
The other part of Part One of that reward is a CD I've been wanting for a while... "Proof of Life", which is the latest solo album by my favorite singer of all time, Scott Stapp, who also happens to be the frontman for my favorite band of all time, CREED. It's GOOD and I now have a lot of the songs from it in my main play list on Media Player.
The final part of the reward will be here within the next couple of weeks, it came from a store that advertises on this online shopping site. It's Bejeweled Twist, another game I had on the old system and lost the disk for it. Son didn't play that one a lot but he said he wants to learn this time... Okay with me as long as he doesn't mess up the computer or MY stuff at all! LOL
Have a great weekend everyone!
I haven't done anything writing wise, but conditions still aren't ideal for it. I'm still feeling rotten physically and that's keeping my concentration at a bare minimum, which isn't good for writing or editing. I've been so bad the last couple of months that I've had to retire from admining all but my author's page and two of the groups I was running. I was too darn sick to watch those, but left them as "inactive" during the worst of it. I'm only starting to get my author's page going again, and I'm still not doing a lot with it.
My sister in law is still sending me edits for "Away to Me" and I'll soon be hearing back from D and A, along with my best pal and her suggestions.
My goals for the rest of the month include giving "Away to Me" another read through while doing suggested edits, and going over Ten to see what can be kept, what can be tossed, and what has to be rewritten, and so on.
I'm starting to come out of the "just quit smoking" fog a little more so hopefully I will have the mental energy to do that soon. I'm on Day 23 now and things are finally starting to ease up in more ways than one. I'm finally bringing up interesting and gross gunk now, and I'm able to breathe a little easier. This is part of my lungs healing after abusing them for over 20 years, and heavily for the last 8 or so.
Tuesday, one of my longtime friends and alpha readers D and I spent the day together. It was so much fun! We went to my favorite beach, where she took some photos of me, and we had some fun with one of her corgis, a sweet fellow named T. He is so gentle and cuddly. I fell in love with him instantly!
I wish I had been smarter and worn shorter jeans but in the end it was worth it. Some of the pics turned out great and all of us had a great time. We went to her house for a few hours after that, and I met two of her other dogs, a Sheltie named "S" and her other corgi named "S". Sheltie S was pretty timid and wasn't sure of me at first, but she was soon accepting any treats I dropped for her and even let me touch her nose once or twice. She's a gentle and sweet girl, and so gorgeous. Corgi S is out of this world gorgeous, and he exudes a really upbeat, silly and fun energy one can't resist.
D's dogs are amazing. They stole my heart!
Fun fact: Her dogs are the inspiration for a dog in one of my manuscripts. She's helping me with getting the movements and everything else down pat in that story, that way I won't get lynched by the breed's loyal servants!
In other news... As part of my quit smoking journey, I'm giving myself rewards once in a while, as motivation to keep going and have something to look forward to. Part of my "Surviving Heck Week" reward came this week... Bejeweled 3 is one of the things in Part One of the reward. I did have it years ago but lost my copy of it before I purchased my current system. Son didn't like not having it and kept asking me to get it. I saw they finally had it on sale in an online store and ordered it. He's now VERY happy and is playing it a LOT during his evening computer time.
The other part of Part One of that reward is a CD I've been wanting for a while... "Proof of Life", which is the latest solo album by my favorite singer of all time, Scott Stapp, who also happens to be the frontman for my favorite band of all time, CREED. It's GOOD and I now have a lot of the songs from it in my main play list on Media Player.
The final part of the reward will be here within the next couple of weeks, it came from a store that advertises on this online shopping site. It's Bejeweled Twist, another game I had on the old system and lost the disk for it. Son didn't play that one a lot but he said he wants to learn this time... Okay with me as long as he doesn't mess up the computer or MY stuff at all! LOL
Have a great weekend everyone!
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Summer Writing Time 2014, Part Deux....
Wow, has it really been over two weeks since I last updated the blog? Time's a-flying again...
So... Sister in law has started reading "Away to Me" and sent me her list of edits for the first two chapters and the synopsis so far. I have a lot to do with just her suggestions alone. Bestie got her copy about a week ago at the most but won't get into it until sometime next month. D and A are reading it now, or will be shortly, so that's all good.
I haven't worked on Ten much the last couple of weeks, other than a glance at it or jotting down an idea for it. I haven't been up to doing much writing wise this summer, between my health being the pits, the mosquito population and quitting smoking just over a week ago. I'm hoping now that the "just quit" fog is lifting that I can get back into it over the next month or so.
As for Ten, I may wind up having to rewrite it from the start... It's too wordy, which is part of what I'm trying to avoid. It is going in the right direction that I want to take my writing, somewhat, but not like "Away to Me" did, and it's starting to tick me off. I can do a lot better than this.
I know I can do so much better, and I know what has to be done to do it right, too. "Away to Me" isn't a failure, unlike my first two manuscripts. I don't want Ten going the wrong way after all.... Lesson learned!
Have a great week everyone!
So... Sister in law has started reading "Away to Me" and sent me her list of edits for the first two chapters and the synopsis so far. I have a lot to do with just her suggestions alone. Bestie got her copy about a week ago at the most but won't get into it until sometime next month. D and A are reading it now, or will be shortly, so that's all good.
I haven't worked on Ten much the last couple of weeks, other than a glance at it or jotting down an idea for it. I haven't been up to doing much writing wise this summer, between my health being the pits, the mosquito population and quitting smoking just over a week ago. I'm hoping now that the "just quit" fog is lifting that I can get back into it over the next month or so.
As for Ten, I may wind up having to rewrite it from the start... It's too wordy, which is part of what I'm trying to avoid. It is going in the right direction that I want to take my writing, somewhat, but not like "Away to Me" did, and it's starting to tick me off. I can do a lot better than this.
I know I can do so much better, and I know what has to be done to do it right, too. "Away to Me" isn't a failure, unlike my first two manuscripts. I don't want Ten going the wrong way after all.... Lesson learned!
Have a great week everyone!
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Lazy Days of Summer? Get Real!
This past week has been crazy. Our internet finally went back to normal on Monday, and I've been going nuts catching up and other things... Including working on Ten, and getting "Away to Me" cleaned up even more for the Alpha Readers.
I had a little writing time earlier this week, only 2 hours worth, and I managed to get 800 words added to Ten, in between some edits on it. Chapter 6 was finished, and Chapter 7 was started. It's not progressing as fast as I would like it to, but I'm lucky it's progressing at all between everything happening in real life and my writing life... It's crazy right now, and it's supposed to be my summer break/recharge time!
"Away to Me" came out of another stasis cycle this past week, so I could highlight any possible problem areas for the Alphas, and do another round of editing on it. I removed a lot of the repetitive stuff, compressed a few of the wordier areas, and if there was a missing word, added it.
I also did a word count on it last night, and it was shortened by almost 2K. It now stands at just under 76K words, for the record.
My three Alpha Readers got it in PDF form last night at 8 p.m. my time (Atlantic Time zone), and one of my two Beta Readers got it this morning. The only one who hasn't gotten a copy of it yet is my best friend, and she'll get it the instant she says she's ready for it! The Alphas have until August 19th to read it and give me their list of necessary edits, etc, and the one Beta reader is allowed to take her time with it... She has until the same deadline my best friend has, whenever that will be. Bestie isn't ready for it by a long shot, so at least the other Beta has lots of time to go over the story with a fine toothed comb....
I'm pretty darn nervous right now. It's the first time anyone other than me has seen the story in its entirety. I know it's better than "No Regrets" was when I sent it out to publishers last year, but I still know there are mistakes in it.... I just hope between the six of us, we can get it perfected enough for publishers' eyes sometime!
I just hope they like it......
So, now that "Away to Me" has been sent out to the helpers, I have more time to worry about Ten, and getting that one going again. I hope to get moving with it more now that I have more time, and don't have the edits/rereads of "Away to Me" at the back of my mind.... With a little luck, that one will be zooming along come fall, and I'll be going nuts trying to finish that one while my best friend is absorbed in writing up the loooooooooooong list of edits that "Away to Me" will need before it's perfected enough for publishers.
I just hope I have more than three stories in me, and hope I can finish a fourth manuscript before next year this time....
Have a great weekend everyone!
I had a little writing time earlier this week, only 2 hours worth, and I managed to get 800 words added to Ten, in between some edits on it. Chapter 6 was finished, and Chapter 7 was started. It's not progressing as fast as I would like it to, but I'm lucky it's progressing at all between everything happening in real life and my writing life... It's crazy right now, and it's supposed to be my summer break/recharge time!
"Away to Me" came out of another stasis cycle this past week, so I could highlight any possible problem areas for the Alphas, and do another round of editing on it. I removed a lot of the repetitive stuff, compressed a few of the wordier areas, and if there was a missing word, added it.
I also did a word count on it last night, and it was shortened by almost 2K. It now stands at just under 76K words, for the record.
My three Alpha Readers got it in PDF form last night at 8 p.m. my time (Atlantic Time zone), and one of my two Beta Readers got it this morning. The only one who hasn't gotten a copy of it yet is my best friend, and she'll get it the instant she says she's ready for it! The Alphas have until August 19th to read it and give me their list of necessary edits, etc, and the one Beta reader is allowed to take her time with it... She has until the same deadline my best friend has, whenever that will be. Bestie isn't ready for it by a long shot, so at least the other Beta has lots of time to go over the story with a fine toothed comb....
I'm pretty darn nervous right now. It's the first time anyone other than me has seen the story in its entirety. I know it's better than "No Regrets" was when I sent it out to publishers last year, but I still know there are mistakes in it.... I just hope between the six of us, we can get it perfected enough for publishers' eyes sometime!
I just hope they like it......
So, now that "Away to Me" has been sent out to the helpers, I have more time to worry about Ten, and getting that one going again. I hope to get moving with it more now that I have more time, and don't have the edits/rereads of "Away to Me" at the back of my mind.... With a little luck, that one will be zooming along come fall, and I'll be going nuts trying to finish that one while my best friend is absorbed in writing up the loooooooooooong list of edits that "Away to Me" will need before it's perfected enough for publishers.
I just hope I have more than three stories in me, and hope I can finish a fourth manuscript before next year this time....
Have a great weekend everyone!
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Writing Update and Hurricane Arthur 2014
Things haven’t been going as planned for writing.
Once again, our entire mosquito population seems to love
zooming around our house after dark, and this means distractions for me. I
haven’t had a chance to work on Ten much at all since summer vacation started a
week ago, and I’m starting to get a little frustrated.
Hurricane Arthur hit my province over the weekend, and I’m
really lucky to have power right now, let alone an internet connection. We were
on the eastern side of the storm when it hit on July 5, 2014 , and that meant a huge windstorm. We lost
power around 6 a.m. Saturday morning,
it came back on around 9:30, went out around 12:30 ,
and Hubby decided it was best for Son and I to go to my mother in law’s house
if she had power. Son was cranky, and demanding we do something to “fix” the
power outage.
We wound up spending a good chunk of the evening with my
mother in law. On the way to her house, we noted there were trees down
everywhere – not just broken branches like our poor ash tree suffered. There
was even a tree down across the entire road about a mile north of our house, on
our road that day. Thankfully, we could easily travel the other way, or the
“long way” to town, called because instead of being nine miles like it is on
our regular route, it’s twelve miles.
Mom’s power was on but her phone, cable and internet were
out. Son didn’t mind. We watched a LOT of Star Trek on DVD that evening.
Our power was on when we got home around 11 p.m. after Hubby was finished work that evening, but it
went out again at 3 a.m. Sunday
morning. This time, the phone was out too, so I couldn’t drop a report into NS
Power’s automated outage line.
Mid morning on Sunday, we prepared to head to my mother in
law’s house again... Just as we were heading out the door, the power came back
on, much to Son’s delight. We still went to see Mom and my brother in law for a
bit, and even got a few cuddles from their cats, Puffy and Mr. Black.
When we got home, the power was still on, the phones were
working, but the internet was out. I use a turbo stick, which runs off cell
phone airways, and back here, I normally get between three bars and a perfect
signal. The stick was not getting any at all most of the time. I was able to
get on to let people know we’re fine and everything is okay here, but that was
it.
It’s still not working properly and although I’m able to get
on, it crashes after a few minutes. I barely had enough time to catch up this
morning in only a couple of spots before it died again. I’m getting two bars at
most the majority of the time it’s working, and it can drop down to “Data
Service Not Available” at any time.
I’m glad that’s the only thing that isn’t working right at
the moment... It could be worse. There are still people in the province without
power or phone service right now, and not having internet all of the time is a
small inconvenience compared to that. It’s been humid too, and I can’t imagine
being in this heat without a fan going. I know NS Power is undermanned but
you’d think other provinces would pitch in and help... Then again, it seems Ottawa
doesn’t care about anything or anyone east of Quebec ’s
easternmost border...
While I’m unable to be online, I’m working on getting the
final edits for “Away to Me” out of the way before it is sent off to the Alpha
Reading Team, or “ART” for short. If I can’t send it to them from here, I may
wind up having to take a memory stick with everything on it to either a public
spot or a family member’s house to send it. Hopefully the internet lasts that
long, or is back to somewhat normal by the 20th, my deadline to have
it to all three of them!
To all affected by Hurricane/Post Tropical Storm Arthur: I
hope y’all are safe, and that things go back to normal ASAP! I haven’t heard of
any deaths, but I know the damage has been astronomical, comparable to
Hurricane Juan in September of 2003. My thoughts and prayers are with all of
you.
Have a great week everyone. I’ll drop a quick update when I
can, and if I get anything done in Ten in the meantime!
Friday, June 27, 2014
Summer Writing Time, 2014: Part One
Here we go... Summer writing time, 2014.
So far, it's been interesting. I haven't had much time to work on Ten since my last writing day of the 2013 - 2014 school year, other than a few quick rereads/edits of the last couple of chapters. I did have some quiet time the other day, but I wound up doing a read through of it and edit instead.
I was up till 3:30 a.m. the other night, working, but not on Ten as everyone would assume. You see, things have changed up with getting "Away to Me" ready for future publication - IF my Alpha and Beta teams think its story and how it is written will be perfect for it, either by a publishing house or going Indie (self/independent) publishing - with a lot of editing, of course.
Things changed with it because well, who says I can't change it up once in a while? I know my best friend, who is also a member of my awesome beta team, won't be ready to read it until very late this summer at the earliest, but I also have an amazing Alpha team, who are getting it first. There are three members of it, my local pal D - who was originally a beta reader, my BIL's girlfriend, and Sandra. All have their strengths in picking out different things, and all are either avid readers or writers like myself.
I thought where Bestie won't be ready for it for a bit, why not have a few others look at it while I'm waiting? She's good at both seeing the storyline AND any mistakes in grammar and sentence structure, etc., so she'll be one of the last ones to get it... And where the Alpha team needs some time to read it, give me their commentary/opinion on it, and I need time to make any necessary corrections in it, doing it during the summer months seems to be the perfect time to get it all out of the way.
It came out of stasis at 9:31 p.m. Atlantic time on June 25th, and its first read through as a second draft was finished last evening around 6:30 p.m. Atlantic time.
I did notice a few typos here and there, and those have been fixed. So far, so good with that part, at least! I probably missed a few but those will be picked up and corrected in time, between me and my amazing teams. I've compressed a few areas, taken out some repetitive stuff, added a word or two here and there if I thought it needed it and reworded a few things to make it easier to read.
It's back in stasis again, for a few more days. The next step is highlighting any areas that I think are "problem spots", like passive scenes or areas that seem too wordy in my opinion, so the Alpha team knows I've picked up a few areas like that already.
My deadline to get this round done and out to them is July 20th. In return, their deadline to read it and get back to me with comments, necessary edits, and their opinion on the entire story is August 19th.
As for the Beta team - my best friend, and my brother's wife, or the "Grammar Nazis" as I call them - the schedule with them depends on when my best friend is ready for it. When she tells me she's just about ready to go over it, I will dig it out again then, and do one last edit on it before I sent it to her and my SIL. Hopefully that will be sometime in September or early October at the latest.
You know, when I was reading it, I was comparing the set up of it to that of the Legacies series - "No Regrets" and "Family Portraits". It is very bare bones compared to those two... I do some detailed descriptions in it, but even those tend to be short and power packed, and I hardly describe the characters' physical attributes at all. I may mention the LF's eye color once, maybe twice, in the entire story, and there are hardly any repetitive character descriptions at all. The two "epics" have multiple descriptions of the mains, and well, I've learned that it can be ultra boring to most readers out there. Once is fine in some cases, but not much more than that.
"Away to Me" is my shortest novel length book to date, due to it being so bare boned. It's less than 78K long, which is in the right range for publishing via most romance publishers.
The question is, "Will it be up to publishing house standards, even after it's edited to perfection?"
I know it isn't now, and I'm not sure it ever will be. I'd like to think so, but it's only my first attempt to write a shorter, less complicated story, and I'm still learning. It may never be up to the publishing house standards, even after a thorough edit by everyone. I'll have to see what my Alpha and Beta teams say about it before I decide to send it out or not.
I know it's far from being perfect to be Indie published right now, and not sure if it ever will be good enough for an Indie publication. It has to be so perfect that not even a Grammar Nazi can find fault with it, and the storyline has to be dead on, unique and well written.
It's so far from being that good and that perfect grammar wise right now, I may as well be orbiting Eris!
I may never be good enough for an Indie publication for all I know. I know I'm far from ready for it now.
So glad I decided NOT to put the Legacies series out as Indie publications after I got rejections for "No Regrets" as it is, like some people out there suggested to me... That would have been a disaster. They are not ready for being published period, and may never be, even after being revamped.
As for Ten, I'm hoping to get a few hours to work on it here and there over the next week or two. I'd like to get at least the equivalent of a chapter written into it over summer vacation.
This summer is going to be crazy... And of course, I'm still wanting that salad dressing.... My words taste horrible by the way.
Have a great weekend everyone, and if you're in Canada, have a safe and fun Canada/Dominion Day on July 1st!
So far, it's been interesting. I haven't had much time to work on Ten since my last writing day of the 2013 - 2014 school year, other than a few quick rereads/edits of the last couple of chapters. I did have some quiet time the other day, but I wound up doing a read through of it and edit instead.
I was up till 3:30 a.m. the other night, working, but not on Ten as everyone would assume. You see, things have changed up with getting "Away to Me" ready for future publication - IF my Alpha and Beta teams think its story and how it is written will be perfect for it, either by a publishing house or going Indie (self/independent) publishing - with a lot of editing, of course.
Things changed with it because well, who says I can't change it up once in a while? I know my best friend, who is also a member of my awesome beta team, won't be ready to read it until very late this summer at the earliest, but I also have an amazing Alpha team, who are getting it first. There are three members of it, my local pal D - who was originally a beta reader, my BIL's girlfriend, and Sandra. All have their strengths in picking out different things, and all are either avid readers or writers like myself.
I thought where Bestie won't be ready for it for a bit, why not have a few others look at it while I'm waiting? She's good at both seeing the storyline AND any mistakes in grammar and sentence structure, etc., so she'll be one of the last ones to get it... And where the Alpha team needs some time to read it, give me their commentary/opinion on it, and I need time to make any necessary corrections in it, doing it during the summer months seems to be the perfect time to get it all out of the way.
It came out of stasis at 9:31 p.m. Atlantic time on June 25th, and its first read through as a second draft was finished last evening around 6:30 p.m. Atlantic time.
I did notice a few typos here and there, and those have been fixed. So far, so good with that part, at least! I probably missed a few but those will be picked up and corrected in time, between me and my amazing teams. I've compressed a few areas, taken out some repetitive stuff, added a word or two here and there if I thought it needed it and reworded a few things to make it easier to read.
It's back in stasis again, for a few more days. The next step is highlighting any areas that I think are "problem spots", like passive scenes or areas that seem too wordy in my opinion, so the Alpha team knows I've picked up a few areas like that already.
My deadline to get this round done and out to them is July 20th. In return, their deadline to read it and get back to me with comments, necessary edits, and their opinion on the entire story is August 19th.
As for the Beta team - my best friend, and my brother's wife, or the "Grammar Nazis" as I call them - the schedule with them depends on when my best friend is ready for it. When she tells me she's just about ready to go over it, I will dig it out again then, and do one last edit on it before I sent it to her and my SIL. Hopefully that will be sometime in September or early October at the latest.
You know, when I was reading it, I was comparing the set up of it to that of the Legacies series - "No Regrets" and "Family Portraits". It is very bare bones compared to those two... I do some detailed descriptions in it, but even those tend to be short and power packed, and I hardly describe the characters' physical attributes at all. I may mention the LF's eye color once, maybe twice, in the entire story, and there are hardly any repetitive character descriptions at all. The two "epics" have multiple descriptions of the mains, and well, I've learned that it can be ultra boring to most readers out there. Once is fine in some cases, but not much more than that.
"Away to Me" is my shortest novel length book to date, due to it being so bare boned. It's less than 78K long, which is in the right range for publishing via most romance publishers.
The question is, "Will it be up to publishing house standards, even after it's edited to perfection?"
I know it isn't now, and I'm not sure it ever will be. I'd like to think so, but it's only my first attempt to write a shorter, less complicated story, and I'm still learning. It may never be up to the publishing house standards, even after a thorough edit by everyone. I'll have to see what my Alpha and Beta teams say about it before I decide to send it out or not.
I know it's far from being perfect to be Indie published right now, and not sure if it ever will be good enough for an Indie publication. It has to be so perfect that not even a Grammar Nazi can find fault with it, and the storyline has to be dead on, unique and well written.
It's so far from being that good and that perfect grammar wise right now, I may as well be orbiting Eris!
I may never be good enough for an Indie publication for all I know. I know I'm far from ready for it now.
So glad I decided NOT to put the Legacies series out as Indie publications after I got rejections for "No Regrets" as it is, like some people out there suggested to me... That would have been a disaster. They are not ready for being published period, and may never be, even after being revamped.
As for Ten, I'm hoping to get a few hours to work on it here and there over the next week or two. I'd like to get at least the equivalent of a chapter written into it over summer vacation.
This summer is going to be crazy... And of course, I'm still wanting that salad dressing.... My words taste horrible by the way.
Have a great weekend everyone, and if you're in Canada, have a safe and fun Canada/Dominion Day on July 1st!
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Pray for Moncton and an Update
Before I bore my readers with one of my writing updates, I'd like to say something regarding the events of this week.
I have a lot of respect for the men and women in every tier of the RCMP, and I do not tolerate any disrespect for the Mounties. Mentioning his name at all is disrespecting them in my opinion. He's had his 15 seconds, and didn't deserve any of it, nor does he deserve to be remembered.
Remember those who serve to protect our nation and its citizens, not those who coldly and deliberately hurt or kill others. Simple as that.
#PrayforMoncton #RCMP #RCMPNB
*********************
Writing Update:
Some progress has been made in my writing world.
"Away to Me" went into stasis for the summer on Monday, June 2, 2014 at 6:28 p.m. ADT. It will remain there until September 5th or 6th, depending on when my first writing day of the 2014-2015 school year is. It will be coming out for another read-through and round of massive editing before my alpha reader and beta team get it. Due date to send it off to them is October 13, which is the Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day in the US. My best friend is on the beta team, and won't be ready to sit down and enjoy it while she's covering it with red marks until then, hence the long stasis period and four month wait.
The "squirrel on speed" feeling I normally get was bad on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I had to do something to stop it. I know what I did was bad, but it was either do it or lose it!
I know I'm supposed to be recharging my writing batteries over the summer, and was going to set things aside until September so I wouldn't have a story driving me nuts during July and August, but I am writing again. I know, it's been just over a week since the first draft of "Away to Me" was finished and I should take a short break, but I'm still fired up writing wise, and hate leaving an unfinished work on my desktop.
So, I'm back to working on Ten for the time being. I had two full days this week, and although it was slow going, managed to get Chapter 2 finished and Chapter 3 almost there in the rough draft. I've made a few modifications to the timeline and storyline to make it more plausible and to get things moving faster. I'm slowly getting into the habit of having a story happen over the course of three to nine months, tops, instead of over the course of years or decades.
I don't know if I'll finish this one before another one comes to me. We'll just have to see how it goes. I'd love to finish it sometime, preferably before 2015 rings in, but if I don't and another story gets written in the meantime, fine with me. I'll just plug away at it when I can, and as long as the story is there in my brain somewhere, it will get done somehow.
I know I no longer feel like a squirrel on speed, so that's good. I'm not driving myself and so many others crazy with me bouncing off the walls because I don't know what to work on next!
In other writing news... My local beta reader, D, the one with the dog leashes, now has Family Portraits waiting for her to read, along with a bunch of frying pans to hit me with. It's filled with mistakes, passive areas and so much JUNK. I'm going to be lucky if I'm still able to write when she's done clocking me for sending her such a horribly edited manuscript!
I have a couple of writing days ahead of me this coming week, and I hope to make more progress in Ten. I'm now starting to build up a relationship between the two main characters, and a key event will be happening sometime soon. I just have to find the right balance between not boring the reader and not making things move too fast. I'm still learning how to do that, and wind up going to one extreme to the other. Hopefully I can get it right in this story without a million rewrites.
Have a great weekend everyone. Namaste.
I ask that no one mentions the name of the Moncton NB suspect/perpetrator anywhere on my areas, out of respect for the RCMP and their families. This is for my Facebook page, my author's profile, my Twitter posts and shares/retweets, my real name profile, and in the comments section here on my blog.
I have a lot of respect for the men and women in every tier of the RCMP, and I do not tolerate any disrespect for the Mounties. Mentioning his name at all is disrespecting them in my opinion. He's had his 15 seconds, and didn't deserve any of it, nor does he deserve to be remembered.
Remember those who serve to protect our nation and its citizens, not those who coldly and deliberately hurt or kill others. Simple as that.
My thoughts and prayers are with all RCMP officers across Canada, no matter where they are stationed, and their families. I'd also like to thank ALL of our Mounties, still commissioned or retired, in every detachment across the country, for making sure the civilians in our beautiful and vast nation are safe, and for putting their lives on the line daily.
Thanks to all Mounties, from an aspiring author in southwest Nova Scotia.
My author's page will continue to have the #PrayForMoncton banner for the rest of the month, to show my support for the city of Moncton New Brunswick, and respect for all RCMP officers and their families.
#PrayforMoncton #RCMP #RCMPNB
*********************
Writing Update:
Some progress has been made in my writing world.
"Away to Me" went into stasis for the summer on Monday, June 2, 2014 at 6:28 p.m. ADT. It will remain there until September 5th or 6th, depending on when my first writing day of the 2014-2015 school year is. It will be coming out for another read-through and round of massive editing before my alpha reader and beta team get it. Due date to send it off to them is October 13, which is the Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day in the US. My best friend is on the beta team, and won't be ready to sit down and enjoy it while she's covering it with red marks until then, hence the long stasis period and four month wait.
The "squirrel on speed" feeling I normally get was bad on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I had to do something to stop it. I know what I did was bad, but it was either do it or lose it!
I know I'm supposed to be recharging my writing batteries over the summer, and was going to set things aside until September so I wouldn't have a story driving me nuts during July and August, but I am writing again. I know, it's been just over a week since the first draft of "Away to Me" was finished and I should take a short break, but I'm still fired up writing wise, and hate leaving an unfinished work on my desktop.
So, I'm back to working on Ten for the time being. I had two full days this week, and although it was slow going, managed to get Chapter 2 finished and Chapter 3 almost there in the rough draft. I've made a few modifications to the timeline and storyline to make it more plausible and to get things moving faster. I'm slowly getting into the habit of having a story happen over the course of three to nine months, tops, instead of over the course of years or decades.
I don't know if I'll finish this one before another one comes to me. We'll just have to see how it goes. I'd love to finish it sometime, preferably before 2015 rings in, but if I don't and another story gets written in the meantime, fine with me. I'll just plug away at it when I can, and as long as the story is there in my brain somewhere, it will get done somehow.
I know I no longer feel like a squirrel on speed, so that's good. I'm not driving myself and so many others crazy with me bouncing off the walls because I don't know what to work on next!
In other writing news... My local beta reader, D, the one with the dog leashes, now has Family Portraits waiting for her to read, along with a bunch of frying pans to hit me with. It's filled with mistakes, passive areas and so much JUNK. I'm going to be lucky if I'm still able to write when she's done clocking me for sending her such a horribly edited manuscript!
I have a couple of writing days ahead of me this coming week, and I hope to make more progress in Ten. I'm now starting to build up a relationship between the two main characters, and a key event will be happening sometime soon. I just have to find the right balance between not boring the reader and not making things move too fast. I'm still learning how to do that, and wind up going to one extreme to the other. Hopefully I can get it right in this story without a million rewrites.
Have a great weekend everyone. Namaste.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Looking Ahead...
Another spring is here and for the third year in a row, I'm getting into a story just as we see the end of the school year less than three months away. In the spring of 2012, the first installments of the Legacies series was well underway, 2013 saw me going nuts with getting as much of the final installment of the series out of the way before summer vacation, and this year, I'm starting to get deep into Eleven just as the third term of the school year is starting.
Just my luck, but that's the way things have been rolling for me writing wise since I've actually had the time to sit down, write and keep a story in my head.
Last week was phenomenal writing wise, despite not being able to get settled into it right away on the one writing day I had. As I mentioned in this past Wednesday's entry, Tuesday was a 1000 word day and I was pleased to add that much to Eleven's main file.
Friday, schools were finally open again - the local DOT did a fantastic job clearing the roads of snow and ice - and after a settling in period, I dove into getting more added to the main file.
It was a 3000 word day even with the initial problems of getting into it. Once I figured out how to get moving again, I was lost in my own little world and didn't emerge until about half an hour before afternoon bus time and then I continued for a few extra minutes. I had written a small scene a few weeks ago and finally reached the point in the main file where it would go, so I spliced it in.
With the splice, I'm now up to the middle of Chapter 5 and the main file has almost 17,000 words. That number is subject to change over time, as I flesh out, compress or remove some areas.
I've also started a possible dedication, acknowledgements and excerpts file just for this story, if it ever gets published somehow. Since I've had a lot of input and support from so many people for Eleven, notably one special local friend on a subject I wasn't overly familiar with, I thought it was a good idea to have a rough draft of that done as well, that way I won't be scrambling if a publisher wants it. I give credit where it is due, and I want to make sure I acknowledge and thank everyone who has helped me with this story, from the research end of it, to the people who critique excerpts, my supporters and of course, my Alpha and Beta Readers.
Once again, it's only one full writing day for me this week if the weather cooperates, so I have a lot planned in my writing world for that day. I'd like to wrap up Chapter 5 if I can do it and toss in one more "teaser" before the leading couple actually gets around to acknowledging a few things.
This coming Friday (April 4th) is Troubled Waters' next event at the MSAC in Bridgewater, NS, called "Spring Into Metal". The lineup is going to be a fantastic one again - Try Dying, Doom Machine, Flesh Cauldron and of course, my favorite local band, Whom Gods Destroy, will be there. There's a $5 cover charge for non members of the MSAC, but it's worth it. The bands playing are so talented, and there is always a great group of people there to watch the bands and enjoy the music. I've met a few wonderful people at these events, ones who are there to listen to our local talent, support our musicians and keep in touch with like minded people and friends. I always have a great time, even if there are a few rotten apples in the room.
The link to Troubled Waters' Facebook fan page is in my links area to the left of my blog entries if anyone wants to check their page for updates, upcoming events and other news related to the Nova Scotia music scene.
Have a great week everyone! Hopefully I'll have a photo or two from "Spring Into Metal" to share with all of you sometime this weekend.
Just my luck, but that's the way things have been rolling for me writing wise since I've actually had the time to sit down, write and keep a story in my head.
Last week was phenomenal writing wise, despite not being able to get settled into it right away on the one writing day I had. As I mentioned in this past Wednesday's entry, Tuesday was a 1000 word day and I was pleased to add that much to Eleven's main file.
Friday, schools were finally open again - the local DOT did a fantastic job clearing the roads of snow and ice - and after a settling in period, I dove into getting more added to the main file.
It was a 3000 word day even with the initial problems of getting into it. Once I figured out how to get moving again, I was lost in my own little world and didn't emerge until about half an hour before afternoon bus time and then I continued for a few extra minutes. I had written a small scene a few weeks ago and finally reached the point in the main file where it would go, so I spliced it in.
With the splice, I'm now up to the middle of Chapter 5 and the main file has almost 17,000 words. That number is subject to change over time, as I flesh out, compress or remove some areas.
I've also started a possible dedication, acknowledgements and excerpts file just for this story, if it ever gets published somehow. Since I've had a lot of input and support from so many people for Eleven, notably one special local friend on a subject I wasn't overly familiar with, I thought it was a good idea to have a rough draft of that done as well, that way I won't be scrambling if a publisher wants it. I give credit where it is due, and I want to make sure I acknowledge and thank everyone who has helped me with this story, from the research end of it, to the people who critique excerpts, my supporters and of course, my Alpha and Beta Readers.
Once again, it's only one full writing day for me this week if the weather cooperates, so I have a lot planned in my writing world for that day. I'd like to wrap up Chapter 5 if I can do it and toss in one more "teaser" before the leading couple actually gets around to acknowledging a few things.
This coming Friday (April 4th) is Troubled Waters' next event at the MSAC in Bridgewater, NS, called "Spring Into Metal". The lineup is going to be a fantastic one again - Try Dying, Doom Machine, Flesh Cauldron and of course, my favorite local band, Whom Gods Destroy, will be there. There's a $5 cover charge for non members of the MSAC, but it's worth it. The bands playing are so talented, and there is always a great group of people there to watch the bands and enjoy the music. I've met a few wonderful people at these events, ones who are there to listen to our local talent, support our musicians and keep in touch with like minded people and friends. I always have a great time, even if there are a few rotten apples in the room.
The link to Troubled Waters' Facebook fan page is in my links area to the left of my blog entries if anyone wants to check their page for updates, upcoming events and other news related to the Nova Scotia music scene.
Have a great week everyone! Hopefully I'll have a photo or two from "Spring Into Metal" to share with all of you sometime this weekend.
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