Feeling Like a Squirrel on Speed, 2013 Edition, Part 2: It's Sinking In!

It's official: Book 2 went into its first stasis/perk cycle as of 8:58 a.m. Atlantic Time on Monday, November 4th, 2013.

I wasn't doing great after I closed it. I started getting jumpy, feeling out of sorts and wanted to open it and work on it, but I couldn't, not if I wanted to let it sit for a while and let it fade from my memory so I could edit it properly when the time is right. It's a hard thing to do when you suddenly set aside a project that has consumed your life for a while, even only a few months like Book 2 did with me, but you have to do it, if you want to be able to catch any errors that you had missed during the time you were working on it. My mentor has told me several times that sometimes the mind will automatically fill in a missing word or comma, etc, and you don't catch it until later on, sometimes after it's published. People who haven't read the work will notice it but you won't, because your mind is correcting it unconsciously.

She is right. I was noticing my mind was doing that with Book 1/No Regrets, and now that it's gone through not one, but several perk cycles, I was seeing errors galore in it, even after letting it perk for only a week or two. 

I wasn't seeing many errors in Book 2 during the last few edits on it before I finished it, and that was telling me it really needed to be set aside for a while before I attacked Draft 2 and made all of the changes and other things I need to do on it to get it closer to perfect. I'm not doing them right now. The story itself is too fresh in the mind to start it and I want it to perk for a while before I start doing anything related to it. So, during the last read through of its entire document, I took notes in a separate file and highlighted areas in its Draft 2 file that need to be changed. They're color coded, so I can easily find what needs to be compressed, rewritten, 86'ed, and so on when the time is right. 

Since I wasn't feeling the best yesterday and it felt weird having nothing open writing wise on the taskbar, I decided that it was time to relax and do one last read through of Book 1/No Regrets, so I could see if there were any more errors in it, and to see if everything flowed smoothly. Of course, the one day where I needed to block everything out and not have any distractions is the time I get flooded with them. *SIGH* Out of the first six hours I had Book 1 open on the taskbar yesterday, I didn't make it past the middle of Chapter 2. It wasn't until I literally started losing it around Sanctuary and with some people in Facebook (as in babbling nonsense and laughing at stuff that wasn't really funny!) that things finally settled down, and I was able to carry on for a bit. I gave up at the start of Chapter Four, due to homework time for Son approaching and the fact that I was too jumpy and distracted to continue.

Today, I'm a little better. I'm deeper into the last edit/read through, and even with a few gallons of coffee in me, I'm not so jumpy right now. Maybe doing what I did by holding back on sending Book 1 out to publishers wasn't a bad idea after all, even though I had originally wanted to have it sent out by the time it was a year since I finished its first draft... That was on October 19th, but I kind of missed that self set deadline. Oh, well. At least I'm getting it ready now and hopefully won't be too out of it when I finally do get it sent out. (Reminder: Only a few people will know when and where it goes, and if I get rejected. I won't say it publicly because I do not want to disappoint a lot of people!) 

That said, I'm only on Chapter Seven of the final run through of No Regrets/Book 1 right now. I'm going over it with an ultra fine toothed comb, to be sure I didn't miss anything at all. I am still seeing a few missing commas and words here and there, and seeing a few spots where the wording can be changed around or compressed a little, and I'm doing all of it as I go.

I'm hoping to have this last run through of Book 1/No Regrets' final draft done by the 23rd, which is the American Thanksgiving. With a little luck, I'll be done long before that and my mentor, Sandra, will have the fully updated draft in her inbox, for her enjoyment, and to see if I missed anything on the last few readings of it. She really enjoyed an earlier draft of it, so I hope she likes the updated version of it, which includes a few extras to fully line things up with what goes on in Book 2's story. I'm not saying what those changes are, she knows what they are because she helped me with not only them, the entire story of Book 2 and parts of Book 1/No Regrets. She has been there with me since I first got the idea for Book 1/No Regrets, and I trust her fully with it. It's thanks to her ideas for it and shooting both the original idea *and* the big scary part of Book 2 at me that I was able to keep going and really get into both books. She's done the same with me and her work, including talking to me about her fourth book, which is currently "under production", and she knows if she needs to brainstorm, I'm there and will do my best to help her with it like she helped me with my two books. 

Others have helped me and encouraged me too... One of my best friends, my "Peapod" and twin sister-soul mate, who I met on a large spiritual forum, helped me get the first love scene in Book 1/No Regrets perfected. I was online, talking to her privately when I did the full rewrite on that section, and thanks to her help, that particular scene and the teaser that eventually leads into it were perfected. What is in the final draft of No Regrets/Book 1 is pretty much what I had written that night, with the verb tense corrected that is. (Don't get me started on how horrible my verb tense was in the first draft of the first 37 chapters of that book in draft one!)

I had several friends and others read snippets of Book 1/No Regrets over time, and thanks to everyone's help, I have managed to see what I was doing wrong, was I was getting right, and my strengths and weaknesses. Dialogue was never my strong point, it was one of the weakest (or as I called it, my "Achilles Hell") and after a while, I noticed it was easier to write, thanks to some brutally honest criticism and encouragement from my mentor, my Peapod and so many others out there. 

No one knows just how much I appreciate everything... From the big boosts and brainstorming, like the ones I got from Sandra, Peapod and a few others, to the smallest things like only a smile of encouragement. It all helped me get to this point, and I'm grateful for every single word, gesture and hug sent to me over the last two and a half years, ever since Book 1/No Regrets started to take over almost every aspect of my life.

So, although the crash back to reality did hit me somewhat hard this time, it's not as bad as it was last year when I finally set Book 1/No Regrets aside to perk for a while. It could be because I have something to do other than twiddle the thumbs and attack a thousand dreamcatcher kits while I drive my husband and my poor trusted best friends nuts, or try to get into another writing project before the writing batteries are fully recharged. I admit, both books took a lot out of me, because I was so absorbed in them and the fact that Book 2's story was a difficult story to write by times considering the nature of it, and it will be a while before I can even consider diving head first into another writing project, not even one I have from the time before No Regrets was conceived. Yes, the RH overhaul has been put aside yet again and I'm wondering if I'll ever get it published, or done for that matter. It's hard to say. The No Regrets/FP series is still pretty fresh in my mind at this time, and until the urge to write yet another sequel to it is gone and I feel I can move on from it, I don't see anything new happening writing wise for a while. Folks, I've lived with some of these characters in my head for over two years, and sometimes it's really hard to let go of them, even if you wrote only one book about them and their lives. (I'm sure others will get what I mean!) It's a rough thing to say goodbye to them, although I know it's time to move on with new characters, new stories and other mysteries and twists and turns that not even I expect to happen, whether my brain wants to or not. Believe me, sometimes it doesn't want to let go and I have to distract myself with something like a movie or an episode of one of my favorite shows until the brain relaxes again. It's hard to do, but I have to do it, if I want to write anything other than stories about this dynamic, fun and interesting group of characters.

I hope all of you have a great week, and hopefully I'll be able to alert my "writing buddies" via FB that I have sent No Regrets off to a publisher finally, sometime soon. It's time to start showing off that particular baby, and pray that someone out there gives me a chance.

Thanks again to all who have supported me. Love you all!

Feeling Like a Squirrel On Speed, 2013 Edition, Part One: Terminal Velocity!

This is copied from my writing thread in Sanctuary, posted this morning...

It's started. 

It's just me and Cat here right now and I'm looking at Book 2 and it's starting to sink in that I do NOT have anything to write at all now. It's not out of my head enough yet, the writing batteries are somewhat drained and I have NO new ideas to start a new story.

The crash back to reality is making me feel odd. I feel like I'm about to hit the Earth at terminal velocity and there's nothing I can do about it. I feel like I should be writing and there's nothing to write, so I'm at odds what to do with myself for the next five hours. It's the same feeling I had last year this time, after Book 1 was finished, although Book 2 isn't in another perk cycle yet. That will be happening after I finish the full reread of it, probably later today or sometime over the weekend... THAT is when it'll fully sink in.

Thanking the stars I did NOT send Book 1 off yet, because it's going to save my life and keep me from driving our [screen name of Sanctuary's owner/site goddess] and my wonderful husband insane, and keep me from wrecking the industrial strength padding our Site Goddess recently installed in the forums here. I'm starting to feel like a squirrel on speed right now and it feels weird to be online this time of morning on what would normally be a writing day for me, had I actually had something to write. 

I do have the name of a possible future leading lady in my head, and after I told Hubby what it was the other day, he had an image pop into HIS head and told me what it was. I have it jotted down in the Memos section of my cell phone (Son was using the computer when Hubby gave me the idea), but I don't know anything about her other than her name at this point in time. I don't know what she looks like, her personality, her likes and dislikes, if she's a virgin or not (probably NOT!) or anything else about her... And I have NO idea what her story will be, or who and what her leading man will be either.

I hate feeling like this when the after the book is done high starts wearing off... It's a repeat of last year, between the time Book 1 was finished and I got the idea for its sequel, Book 2, thanks to our Penth telling me a few things about Book 1 and shooting a few ideas at me. I think deep down, our beloved Site Goddess/my beloved mentor realized I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the interesting characters from Book 1 yet, and her suggestion made a spark come to life in my brain that less than a few weeks later, became Book 2. Now that I HAVE said goodbye to them and their stories, I'm even more at odds with myself on what direction to take my writing and characters.

The fun has begun and hopefully I don't drive everyone TOO crazy with things. If I get too bad, I'll just have to sneak offline and deal with it away from everyone else. I don't want to put anyone through me losing it any more than I have to, and even here at home, I may sneak upstairs if I drive the guys overly crazy.

Hopefully this weird feeling doesn't last as long this year... I don't have the strength in my hands to make another few zillion dreamcatchers. *SIGH*

I hope something writing wise hits me soon, cause if I am unable to write, I may as well be dead. It's as essential to me as breathing, as any other true author/writer or creative person out there would know! 

 So it's started, that stupid squirrel on speed feeling again. I'm not sure what's going to happen over the next few weeks or months until the writing batteries are recharged and I'm waiting for replies from publisher #1 on my list, but I do know I'm going to try to keep busy with my [god awful] photography and other things creative wise until something new hits me writing wise and I'm so deep into it that I'm walking around in a fog like I have ever since first Book 1/"No Regrets" then Book 2 consumed my mind. 

I hope and pray I won't be as bad this year as I was last year. *SIGH* 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween... Happy All Saint's Day and Hello, November!

Brainstorming--WHOA!!

Another writing day is done and I'm exhausted mentally...
It's like a light switch suddenly turned on this week... I've been making progress in Untitled 8 and it's better than I had dreamed!
I wrapped up NR's final edit and moved it into "FINAL DRAFT MODE" as of Wednesday afternoon and am now getting the packages together to send out to publishers.
That's all I'm saying about NR from now on unless it's in passing.
Anyway, like I was saying, it's like a light switch was suddenly turned on after I finished NR's final edit. I started looking at what I had so far for Untitled 8, its sequel, and BOOM, a few things started hitting me.
I had a couple of good ideas and bounced them off of my beloved Mentor... Then she and I started brainstorming ideas for my new manuscript. Since she has read NR, she knows some of the characters almost as well as I do and one thing led to another and the next thing I knew, I had fifteen NEW ideas added to the Ideas file, just in two days! 
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, this morning when I got online, there was a PM waiting for me in Sanctuary and Mentor dropped another idea on my head...
I thought about it for a few minutes and could actually "see and hear" a good part of it! When that happens, it's GOLD so I started jotting down ideas for the scene, one by one and BOOM, things were hitting me faster than I could write them down! I did a little tweaking with her original idea and it is going to be in the story!
It happens closer to the end of the book, which is quite a ways ahead of where I am in the main manuscript file so I started a new file and got down to work the instant my husband left for his job.
Six hours and eight pages later, I have the bulk of the scene I had pictured in my head this morning written up... Now there are some gaps where I have to fill in a few things (not saying what!) but almost everything I saw in my head is down in Word and although it's very rough, it looks good so far.
My eyes are killing me but I want to keep going...
I'm taking a break now, while the guys are up. They're making a lot of noise and each time I hear Son screech it breaks the concentration. I may try working on it later, after they go to bed. I still have a few pictures in my mind and I can still hear some of the dialogue.
I'm tickled with what I wrote today... Not just the amount of pages, but how well it turned out even in the roughest draft. It's close to my insanely high standards for a first draft so that's good in my mind!
I won't have much time to write until after the 18th... Next week is March break and that means NO full days alone... Not happy but with a little luck, maybe I'll get a couple of pages done here and there... I hope so at least!
By the way my mentor released Book 2 in the Keyholder's Castle series on March 4, 2013, this past Monday... It's on Amazon and you can get "Damnation and Trial" HERE! I haven't had the chance to read it yet because I've been buried in my own work... Maybe over March break! 
Have a great weekend everyone! 
~Valerie-June~