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.

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 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

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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.

Bye, Bye Brain!

It's now official:

What used to be "Book 1: No Regrets" has been divided into TWO books, dubbed "Volume 1" and "Volume 2" of the Legacies Series. "Volume 3" is still called "Family Portraits" at this time, but that is subject to change, depending on if I decide to use a theme for the titles for the whole series.

Yes, it's now a trilogy instead of a two book series. This is at the suggestion of two of my betas, my best friend/Peapod and one of my local best friends. It's to make the series more appealing to my future audience and to make it easier for publishing, either through a publishing house or self publishing if I go that way in the future with it.

Today saw the removal of a lot of passive areas from what used to be "No Regrets" (the name of it has changed to something else to keep the full names down). Volume 1 saw ten pages of stuff removed and Volume 2 has lost eleven pages so far, and I'm not done yet. I have a lot more editing on the way for that part of the series, like compressing the wordier areas, taking out repetitive stuff, removing any other parts my betas suggest, and even rewrites - like taking one area out and putting a shorter, more plausible scene in its place, like my local beta reader suggested in a couple of spots in Volume 1.

I've skimmed over Vol. 3 (Family Portraits), highlighted what was glaringly obvious for passive areas and wordy spots, and I'll be going over that one again sometime soon - in between getting the first two parts of the series cleaned up and working on Eleven's first draft.

Another thing that I had a lot of in the first two installments were quotes from various songs by a certain local band. Those have been removed, and I've inserted half of a song at the start of Volume 1, and the rest of it at the start of Volume 2. I was told that the quotes were too distracting and that putting some or all of the lyrics from one or two of their songs at the start of each installment was much better. I do have permission to use the lyrics from the band members (I've known all three of them for over 20 years!), and I'm trying to decide which song to use at the start of Volume 3. I have an idea on which one will be used - well, part of it at least - and will be inserting that quote into the start of that story after it hits "Revamp Stage 2 mode", when I start removing all of the extras from that manuscript.

I'm looking at both and wondering if I've lost my cotton picking mind....

On another note, I was alone for a couple of hours this past Saturday and once again, I managed to get another 1400 words added to Eleven's main file. I'm at the start of Chapter 3 and it went a little better than previous writing days. I had a very long talk with myself and just WROTE... And it seemed to work! Things are starting to come together a little better now that I know where I'm going and staying out of editing mode while I'm writing. I hope this continues...

I have a full writing day coming up later this week and I hope to get more added to Eleven, along with getting more out of the way in the Legacies series cleanup.

Have a great Monday everyone.

Glacier Crawl

Things are not the best in the writing world at the moment. We had a snow day on Friday thanks to a storm and due to Son having meltdowns and crying on and off all day, I had a headache and didn't get a darn thing done in Ten at all.

However, this past Wednesday I managed to get a little added to the main file after I finished cleaning it up. It was the bulk of a scene and although it's rough, what's there is solid and plausible for this area. I didn't get a lot of time to edit it though, so I'm hoping to do that later this week. 

I also did some research on various amusement park/fair rides. All I'm saying is that I'm NEVER going to watch a video taken from the inside of the Zipper while it's going again! My reaction wasn't pretty.... 

I've also come up with another idea for a new story. I'm trying to set it aside so I can work on Ten, but it's invading my mind more than Ten is right now. *SIGH* I'd run with it but it's one of the ones with a more complicated story and may turn out as long as No Regrets stands currently if I go with it. I can't learn to write a shorter, simpler story if another one sucks me in, so it's in the "waiting to be written file" at the moment. There is a way to make it less complicated but I'd rather keep it as is because it'll make a much more interesting story if I keep the original idea. I just hope I don't work on that while trying to get moving in Ten, else I'm going to be in deep trouble... *SIGH*

The cleanup of the Legacies series has also been at the back of my mind constantly and it's driving me nuts. I'm not happy with it "as is" and I want to get it done NOW so it's ready in a few years. It's a long, detailed and complicated project so it's going to take me a while to do. I have talked to a couple of my most trusted friends (including Peapod and Sandra) about this, and I've come to a decision. I will work on the first stage of cleaning up No Regrets while I'm working on Ten.

It's something I feel as if I have to do to learn and grow as a writer and to hone both my raw writing talent and the editing skills. I feel as if I don't start it now, it won't get finished, and I hate that feeling. I also feel as if I failed the series by letting them gather dust on the external, and my friends, fans and supporters if I don't get on with it. 

Stage one of it consists of going through the main file, noting what seems passive, repetitive and what is too wordy, etc. Everything will be color coded in highlighter so I know which areas need what kind of work, and things that are okay will be left alone. I'm only partway through part one now and there's a lot of highlights in various colors. Yeah, there's a lot that I wasn't seeing until now. I'm hoping that the constructive criticism I've received about the manuscript is going to help me a lot. If not, I have others on my beta team to point things out that I missed. Now that I have a better idea of what to look for, I'm seeing so much that needs to be done.

To be blunt, No Regrets was a mess and I shouldn't have sent it out when I did. It needed a lot more work before I should have even thought of doing that. 

It was a rough lesson to learn but I got it now and am doing my best to make it right, both in the Legacies series AND future works, including Ten itself. Yeah, I got it Uni.

As for Family Portraits, I already knew that one wasn't ready for publication by a long shot. It's still in its third draft and is even messier than No Regrets, so it's not bothering me as much. That one won't get cleaned up until after its predecessor is finished. 

I'm thinking Stage One of No Regrets' clean up is going to take me at least six months. I'll only be working on it once every week or so, and mostly on the days that were supposed to be writing days that turned into snow days, like this past Friday. If I do things that way, I will feel like I'm actually doing something with the writing even if I'm not able to work on Ten at all.

I hope all that have been affected by this weekend's storms are safe and warm. We're lucky to have power right now. Outside, everything is covered in ice and the wind is picking up. It's very gusty out there and I'm expecting us to lose power even for an hour at this rate. If you have to drive on the roads please - BE CAREFUL. Although the DOT crews are out, the roads are still very slippery and ours is still covered in snow, even though it was just plowed. 

I'll check in when and if I make progress on Ten or even Stage One of the Legacies series revamp/cleanup. Have a great Sunday everyone!

It's Been a Wacky Year.... A Look Back on 2013

You guessed it. This is my annual look back at the year blog entry!

2013 was interesting to say the least, for all aspects of my life, real, online and the writing part of it.

My first completed manuscript, "No Regrets" (Book 1, formerly "Untitled 7"), went through several perking and editing cycles during the year, and in early November, was deemed "as perfect as I can get" and ready to submit to various publishers around the globe. Who got it, any interested parties and any rejections on that manuscript is strictly confidential and only a select handful of people know about any of it. I will only say anything publicly AFTER I sign any contracts and when and where I know it will be available for purchase. 

As a lot of you remember, my writing batteries were still in "recharging" mode at the start of the year, and I was having a lot of problems getting what was dubbed "Untitled 8" on the go at the time, and how frustrated I was with myself for not being able to get the story moving. In January, I had tried getting things moving with the RH rewrite/overhaul and that wasn't working, neither was getting "Untitled 8" (now "Book 2" or Family Portraits) off the ground, and I was going crazy. I finally got a new digital camera at the start of the month and started setting up a few things to create some original photographs with props for my own use and possible cover photos for Sandra Durham's second book in her Keyholder's Castle series (published on Amazon.com currently). 

Sandra's second and third books were published via Amazon.com. The second one, "Damnation and Trial" was published in March, and the third, "Destinies", was published in May.

Thankfully, concentrating on that and doing something creative helped, because the next time I opened that manuscript file, I noticed a few things that were throwing me off and decided to scrap what I was using to start it, and went with something else. That DID help, and I did start getting into it a little bit, although I wasn't sure how the story would go or how it would even end. Sandra was a godsend, by listening to me rant about my lack of progress and helping me with brainstorming ideas for the story during the first two months of 2013.

The end of January saw me becoming an aunt for the fourth time, thanks to my sister. I now have one nephew (age 16 1/2 at the time this blog was posted) and three nieces (almost 14 years old, 3 years old and 11 months old at the time this blog was posted), all thanks to my younger sister. Little A is one adorable girl, and she is a happy child, according to my sister and mother. I have met her, and love her to death, just like I love all of my sister's older children. I'm hoping to see them all soon, and may even see my mom this weekend, if things work out just right!

It wasn't until March was underway that, thanks to Sandra, Book 2/Family Portraits took off like a shot out of a gun. She had an idea zoom through her head and suggested it to me. The instant I saw her idea, I could actually see and hear everything that was going on during a few of the scenes and ran with it. Her idea IS in the final product and thanks to her, Family Portraits/Book 2's ending was conceived! I knew a few things that were going to be in the book but wasn't sure on what else to slap in until I saw that fateful message from her. When an idea is so good you can see all of it happening in your head within seconds, RUN WITH IT! 

Sandra's little idea wound up being the basis for most of the entire build up to the finale and everything else in between... Seriously! More on that later though...

Spring saw my dear son do something that proves to the world that kids on the autism spectrum CAN do more than "flip burgers" (quote from someone I cut out of my life about 7 years ago and who I will never let them back into it!)... He took second place in all of the grade 2 students in the Mental Math competition for our district at the Education Festival, which was held at my old high school. He went into Grade 3 with mostly As and Bs with a couple of Cs, and top math student in his grade!

It also saw me starting to write like a squirrel on speed as I started building up toward the gem that Sandra shot at me in March. As the school year started winding down, things were really moving with it. I was around Chapter 26 when school got out for the summer and although I was going batty, I managed to survive despite not being able to write a lot, even at night. The mosquito population was terrible this past year due to a lot of rain. We live between two lakes and that didn't help much either, so I wound up spending most of the time slapping mosquitoes and being so darn distracted that I didn't get much done in an hour, even with the scene RIGHT THERE in my mind. *SIGH* 

Even with the late night problems, thanks to my husband, I managed to get a couple of chapters out of the way in the first couple of weeks of summer vacation. I basically gave up on writing at night for the entire month of July and into August, until I knew the provincial bird population had dropped a lot. By the time mid August rolled around, I was into Chapter 29, and a lot further along than I had hoped to be in the manuscript that close to the end of the summer.

On August 19th, I officially launched my Facebook Author's page, my author's profile and a new look for my blog here. I had chosen my pen name quite some time ago - thanks to help from several of my friends, and it's one I really like! - so the name of the page and the profile were officially changed that day, and had a new banner installed on each of them. My new blog look is the same one I have now, with the sky photo in the background and the black font. It's the same photo I use on my Twitter profile, and the same one I used to create banners for my author profile and page, and my personal/real name profile in Facebook.

Two weeks later, I officially launched my author's website and in the months since then, I've added links to where people can find me - Twitter, Google+, Facebook and this blog, and a photograph of me so people know what I look like.

Son started Grade 3 with eagerness and has one of the teacher's assistants that he had last year, the one who was with him in the afternoons. Unfortunately, we also said goodbye to the TA who had been with him since Grade primary. We loved Mrs. O and although we miss her a lot, we adore Mrs. T as well, and like Mrs. O, she's great with our boy. Again, he's top math student in his grade, and working ahead in that subject. No surprise, and I won't be surprised if he's invited to participate in the Grade 3 mental math competition this year....

Whom Gods Destroy played at two venues over the summer - Benstock in August and Local Only in early September. I was lucky enough to be able to go watch them both times, even though I kinda missed most of their set at Benstock. That said, what I did see was great, and really enjoyed both concerts. They featured local music at both and I loved hearing other local musicians strutting their stuff! All of you who read my blog and know me, know that music is as vital to me as writing. I can't sing or play an instrument to save my life, but I love it and respect and admire anyone who is talented in that area of the creative realm!

Well, after Son went back to school, things once again took off with Book 2/Family Portraits. Even with having to get a new computer - thanks to my Vista one dying - by the time the first week of October was finished, I was into Chapter 36. Not bad for only a month's worth of writing PART TIME! 

Thanks to my mind running in overdrive for the next month, I managed to finish draft one of Book 2/Family Portraits on October 30th, quite a while before I expected it to happen. Like its predecessor, No Regrets/Book 1 - which starts off the series - I basically zoomed through the final ten or so chapters of it. Of course, having a lot of that written up already - the Gem that Sandra shot at me - did help, but there were a lot of things I had to wrap up, like finish that area and its aftermath, then get into the finale and finally wrapping things up so tightly that not even I could write another sequel... Unless I want to, of course. I'm not saying I will "never" write another sequel to this series, I'm saying "it's not likely". I said that before and wound up eating my words.........

Like I've said before, No Regrets/Book 1 did have a lot of unanswered questions that nagged at someone after they read it, so it's only natural that I would wind up writing a sequel to it, and finally get around to answering them. Thankfully, No Regrets hadn't been sent out to any publishers that are still in business today, so I could make all of the necessary changes in it that would make it line up with Book 2/Family Portraits a lot more. I was inserting a few things here and there into No Regrets while Family Portraits was still being written, but it wasn't until after Family Portraits was in its first perk cycle that things were really added to make things coinside a lot easier and better. I'm not saying what was added, those who have read the earlier drafts of that story know what was in there before and what is in its final, perfected draft. 

I used some of the squirrel on speed energy I had from not having anything to write to perfect the grammar, proofing, formatting and overall story in No Regrets, and that was finally stamped "Perfect as I can get it" on November 7th. 

In the weeks since then, I've not only gotten an idea for a new story that I've dubbed Untitled 9 at the moment, I've actually started it, even if it's only a page of stuff. That idea is a combination of two ideas from Sandra and another one of my closest writing friends (two other fellow authors), and although it hasn't really taken off yet, it may in the new year. Thanks Sandra and G! I do have a lot of material from researching, and need more, so I'm going to be doing that in between different things, like more photography and trying NOT to lose it each time I submit my work to a publisher!

Yes, we lost a few that were near and dear to our hearts, and we had a lot of ups and downs, but for the most part, I'd say that 2013 was a great year for a lot of us... I saw my mentor publish two more books in her series and saw her start the fourth one, saw another friend publish a collection of poems, met a lot of great people via various writing hang outs and other great places to put the feet up and relax online, and I was just surrounded by so many wonderful, loving and supportive people this past year. I'm so grateful to the divine and fates for every little blessing they've given me, and thank each and every single person who has been there for me, from the good times to the bad times. 

Yeah, 2013 may have been a wild ride, but I enjoyed it... Even if my brain was in a writing fog for a good part of the year! 

I'm hoping 2014 is just as fun, if not better. One of my new year's wishes is to get on with a great publisher and finally see my dream of becoming an author come true. I'd be flying really high if and when that happens!

Have a safe, fun and happy new year everyone! I'll be back with updates in 2014! All the best, to all of you, now and always.

~V.J~

It's Looking a Lot Like... Spring?

No joke. Right now, although there is ice on the ground and some snow here and there, outside looks more like March or early April than it resembles December and the first of winter here. Today into tomorrow, we're getting rain and freezing rain, and it's really confusing to me to see this kind of thing outside instead of snow falling. Although we've been in the deep freeze - or what's considered "below seasonal" for my end of Canada - it still doesn't feel like winter to me yet, even with the tree up and preparations for Christmas being well underway.

In other news, my brother in law's cat Tippy isn't doing so great right now. He's at the vet, with a feeding tube, and we're hoping he'll get better so he's home in time for Christmas... But it's not looking good, he's diabetic and that's complicating things. I ask that anyone who reads this keeps Tippy in their thoughts and if they want to, say a prayer to their chosen deity for him and my in laws. All of us love that cat a lot, and we would love to see him come home, healthy and happy.

Writing wise, not much has been happening with me... I haven't gotten into Untitled 9 yet and things have been slow in coming to me. 

That said, my mentor Sandra did get a copy of Book 2 and she's been trying to read it in between working on her fourth book and getting things ready for the holidays at her house. So far, only a couple of things have cropped up, and I have corrected them in Draft three of the manuscript, but she's only at the start of Chapter 14 at the moment. There's still a lot of book to cover, and I suspect I will have a number of revisions to do by the time she's finished. By the way, the current title of Book 2 is "Family Portraits"... Y'all will get why I chose that name when you read it. *wink*

Other than that, not much else is going on here other than the usual zaniness that happens for us around the holidays and me compiling the highlights of 2013 for my annual look back at the last year. Things are quiet in the writing arena for me so I probably won't be doing any more updates until the ultra long annual year end blog.

To all of my readers, friends, family and fans...

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season, whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Yule, Christmas, or one of the other wonderful holidays December has to offer... All the best in 2014, everyone, and have a safe, fun and magical holiday, from our home to yours!