Revisiting and Other Things...

I don't like revisiting certain things but sometimes it's necessary, as a reminder of how far I've come with different things or how little has changed...
As a lot of my regular readers know, I have several "dead" manuscripts that I had started in the past and will probably never be finished, due to me losing the story or everything in it wasn't logical, etc. I keep those manuscripts/ideas in a special folder for my own records, and just in case I had a good idea for them that I may use in another manuscript in the future.
Well, yesterday I was working on FP/Untitled 8 and I thought I may be able to use an idea from what was "Untitled 6". I looked at the original file and thought it would work, so I did a copy/paste into a new document and started reworking it for the current manuscript. I continued on in Chapter 13 after that and didn't think much of it.
HOWEVER...
Sometimes doing something like that can bite you in the behind. I had mentioned to my mentor via PM exactly what I had used for that spot and after thinking it over, I realized it was a little too "graphic" for my books... And probably for the audience I'm hoping to have for my work. I tend to keep things somewhat toned down in the amount of "over 18" stuff I have in my stories and although I am pretty descriptive in the erotic scenes, even this particular area was a little too much for my story.
I wound up doing a rewrite on the scene in between things, to make it less so.
I let it sit for a few minutes between things in real life and reread it.
It was worse than before, way too graphic for my books and hopefully future reading audience. *SIGH*
Another rework, and it still wasn't great, so I decided to scrap the entire idea and go with something a LOT more toned down. 
It's better now, and I learned yet another lesson about my writing... Be careful of how graphic you want to get.
I thought I had learned it with that one scene I had written up for Untitled 6... The one that I was hoping to push the envelope with but wound up going into the realm of "NOT FIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION".
Yeah, that's the scene I was going to tweak and use for the new story... BIG MISTAKE! It didn't work whatsoever, and although the over 18 stuff in this book will be a little more "in your face" than the stuff in its predecessor (NR/Book 1), I didn't want to make it THAT bad.
Lesson learned--AGAIN... And I'm left wondering "WHAT THE DICKENS WAS I THINKING????"

It's the way I want it for a first draft now. It's a darn good thing I am NOT on a deadline for this one because with all of the rewrites, revisions, 86ing, etc, it's going to be a while before it hits Draft 2 stage, let alone ready to be sent out to any publishers! 
I'm also working on some things that will be inserted into the main manuscript file now and then, when the time is right. I'm not saying what it is, but it is VERY relevant to the story itself and how a character finds out a lot of things about herself and the past. I got the idea for it the other night and I started working on it yesterday. It's slow work and not the easiest to write so I'm bouncing between that file, the main manuscript file and the build up to the grand finale file to keep myself from burning out. I have the first part of it written already so that will be ready when the main file is, which will be sometime soon.
NEWS:
This past Sunday (May 5th) my beloved Mentor, Sandra Durham, released the much anticipated third book in her Keyholder's Castle Series, "Destinies"!
I did purchase a copy of it and it's on my Kindle Cloud, along with a prescreening copy on my desktop. If anyone wishes to purchase Destinies, please click HERE!
Congratulations--AGAIN--Sandra! 
Have a wonderful day everyone!   

The Darn Brick Wall...

I keep hitting the darn thing. Seriously. 
It's very frustrating to be going in little increments of less than 1500 words a day after the way I zoomed through the second half of NR last year. 
What has been happening is that I'll write up a paragraph, reread it, decide it's not the way I want to go with the story, 86 it and go on in another direction, which starts the stupid cycle over again. Yeah, parts of NR went like this but not quite this bad after I really started to go with it... What was supposed to be the "middle" part of the story (which was 86'ed after a while, I couldn't get into it) was a part that had so much stuff 86'ed from it and rewritten that it had become a chore to write, and that was part of what delayed me getting the rest of the story written for a while... Until I removed it altogether.
One day, one page, one paragraph, one sentence, one word at a time...
I did manage to get most of a scene written up this past Friday and am hoping to finish it sometime this week. The problem is by the time I really got into it, it was bus time.
That's been my main problem lately... I won't get into things for hours and will only get into it an hour or so before I have to go to the bus stop.
VERY frustrating. *SIGH* Oh well, at least I'm trying, right? LOL
I do have some good news for all who are eagerly awaiting the next installment of the Keyholder's Castle series (written by my beloved mentor). She's still in the final stages of getting it ready to go but is getting closer and closer to publishing it, on Amazon again! I'll be promoting it like crazy when it's out, just like I did with Book 1: Homecoming. I still haven't read Book 2 yet but I've been absorbed into getting my own work ready to go out to publishers and getting Untitled 8 going. I plan to get that off my "to do list" sometime soon, hopefully BEFORE Sandra gets Book 2 out to the masses so I can post a review here about it and get a buzz going on her behalf. *wink* She took time off from her proofing/editing to take a look at NR for me, so it's only right that I do the same for her after all! LOL
I still haven't gotten the synopses or cover letters written up for various publishers yet, and that is priority... Maybe after I get NR sent out finally, I'll be able to finally "put the story to rest" and stop being so jumpy... And get into writing Untitled 8? I hope so. The thought of rejections galore is making me nervous but even people like Stephen King (bless him, he's one of the best horror authors of our time!) got a few rejections before making it big. Whatever will be, will be... And I do have the option of self publishing if all else fails! *wink*
Have a great week everyone... I'll update if anything else happens, which is doubtful at this point. Keep in mind I won't be saying anything about NR's journey to be published once I start sending it out. I do NOT want to jinx myself, nor do I want anyone out there to worry... Bad enough I'm going to drive my mentor and those in my writing group NUTS while I wait for the rejection letters to start coming in! LOL
All the best.

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013!

It's that time of year again... My annual look back at what changed, what hasn't and the highlights of the year that's about to close.
2012 was an amazing year. Not only did I stay in touch with a lot of dear people, I met some new friends who have also become very dear to me. Friendship wise, life has been good to me again this past year and I can't ask for better people in my life. 
My family is growing again... I found out early this summer I am going to be an aunt again for the fourth time! It came as a bit of a shock, but a good one, and I cannot wait to meet my sister's new child in February. She's due around Valentine's Day and by the looks of things, she's having another girl. No complaints from my end, it's another child to love and spoil. Children are always welcome in my family after all. Sister, I wish you a very quick, safe and painless delivery and may both you and my baby niece be healthy! I have resolved to be the eccentric, loveable and cool auntie to her children... I can't have any more myself, as much as I would like to. So I'll just spoil my son and her kids as much as I can! *wink* I have the best son, nieces and nephew, what can I say?
Son went into Grade 2 with flying colors... He's mostly an A and B student with one or two Cs but that's okay, it's all stuff that is considered "normally difficult" for kids on the spectrum like he is... We are helping him, as is his teachers and his TAs. Speaking of which, one of his TAs is the same one he's had since Grade Primary... And when I found out Mrs. O was going to be with him again this year, I just about cried. She's been more than a helper to my son, she has been his FRIEND and that is what makes the difference. He's still doing great and is still way ahead of his classmates in regards to mathematics. That child is something else, I tell you. LOL
Hubby was moved up to full time at his workplace and I am very proud of him. In some ways it's like he never left, and I adore his boss, she is one sweet lady. 
Whom Gods Destroy had their first live performance at a memorial jam in May of this past year. I was there, it was awesome and both them and Billion Dollar Alice rocked the house! I am so proud of the guys, they've put a LOT of hard work into their music and I wish them all the best with their musical careers!
This year saw us lose two animal friends... My sister's beloved German Shepherd, Prince Shepherd, passed away this last fall. He was 11 years old and a big sweetheart. He is very missed. I can still see him walk into my house, go over to Birdie and NOT settle down until that cat beat the stuffing out of him. They loved each other and Prince was a dear, loveable boy. My sister was very heartbroken because he wasn't just a dog to her, he was her friend, and such a loyal and dear companion. Our home saw a loss this year too. Our fluffy white cat, Noelle, passed away from a stroke which was a complication of an ear infection this past June 30th. We were very upset over it... She was not quite 17 years old and wasn't just Hubby's buddy, she was mine too. She would sit on top of my computer tower, demanding attention constantly and when I was watching TV, she would lay on my lap and sleep, and purr like there was no tomorrow. There is still a big hole in our household although we still have one cat residing here, Amber, and she does her best to make sure all of us get plenty of kitty kisses, cuddles and purrs.
Our human family saw some losses too... We lost three beloved family members within two months in January and February... Aunt Barbara, Cousins Freddie and Naomi, we all miss you horribly and we know you're waiting with the rest of the family for our turn to cross the veil. Give Nanny, Grampie H, Uncle Bill, Aunt Doris, Uncle Tom and Aunt Betty our love and we will see you sometime... 
Samgaran Sanctuary, my main online home and mentor's forum, saw new skins added to its rotation. I currently use the o_Opacity skin, which we have set up with the picture of a red rose on slate in the background behind the posts and a banner with a red rose and the forum's name that I designed specifically for our little online home. My co global moderator, Sleepy, also has several of the banners he designed in the banner skins and the forum looks absolutely fantastic! P and I are so proud of the look of our main hangout spot, it's such a wonderful place with positive and loving energy! The link to Sanctuary is in my links section on the left hand side of the posts here. Feel free to check it out when you can. The banner on the "cream" skin is one I designed by the way. Sleepy's banners are on the Blue Noir, Yellow Noir, YaBB 2.1 and camo skins. We are still using YaBB 2.5 and we love it. Thank you again D for all of your hard work in the behind the scenes stuff, you do amazing work! (I still say he's the best tech guy anyone could ever ask for, he's that good! LOL)
As y'all know, my beloved mentor finally saw her dream of becoming a published author come true back in October! Keyholder's Castle, Book 1: Homecoming was released on Amazon.com as a self published work and YES I did purchase a copy of it. I'm very proud of her, I know she's been waiting for this for a very, very long time and I was almost as excited as she was to see her dream finally come true! I shook for days after it was released and if I was excited, she was even more so! Book 2 will be released on Amazon.com sometime in the new year but we are unsure of the publishing date at this time. I will let y'all know when it is published though! I have a prescreening copy of Book 2 but haven't had a chance to read it yet... I've been so busy working on my own writing projects!
Speaking of my writing projects, more has happened in this last year that I could have ever dreamed...
NR was still Untitled 7 when I started working on it again this past year. However, as it progressed and ideas for it started hitting me more and more, the name for it formed in my head... Since it's a journey of two people, and a long one, the name is VERY fitting. I just hope a publisher thinks so!
NR wasn't very long when I dove into it at the start of this past year. In fact, it had barely 23,000 words and most of that total was removed/86'ed because there was a part of it that I decided wasn't necessary... The "Interlude" as my mentor called it. That was taken out around springtime and once I decided to remove it, things started flowing easier for me. It wasn't writing, it had turned into a chore and was dragging me down. I couldnt' think of any ideas for that part, and what few I had, I kept changing... So I talked it over with a few of my writing pals including my beloved mentor and that's when the decision to use "flashbacks" to the gap between the end of Part One and the start of Part Two was made. It was one of the best decisions about NR that I had made yet. 
By the time summer vacation rolled around, I had not only Part One finished but I was well into Part Two, around what is now Chapter 30... And when September rolled around again, I was back into it like I hadn't taken a good chunk of the summer off from writing! Within seven weeks of school starting, NR's first draft was completed and I was feeling like a squirrel on speed... It took me a few days to settle down and once I did, I realized I was another step closer to my dream of becoming a published author too.
My Author's Page on Facebook was set up on October 15, 2012 and the link to it is in my links section also. It is updated once in a while, when I have anything major to report writing wise. I have less than 20 likes right now but all of the fans of the page are friends of mine, people who have supported me with the writing as NR progressed, and in some cases, LONG before that. I hope the fanbase will grow after I get published.
My mentor was the very first person other than myself to see NR in its entirety... She read it, wanted to shoot a few of the characters in it but overall, liked the story. I did have to add a couple of things into it the last few days and she picked up a few typos here and there but otherwise, it turned out pretty darn good for a second draft.
When she was finished reading it and I had made all of the necessary corrections and a couple of additions, NR finally went into DRAFT 3 MODE as of 8:40 p.m. December 30, 2012. I also double spaced the manuscript, meaning it went from 321 pages long to 642 pages, then I made sure all new chapters start on new pages... So NR is now 660 pages long, double spaced with size 12 Times New Roman font and 1 inch margins all around... Basically what most publishers like to see in a submitted work by a new/unknown author.
It's now back into perking mode and will remain there for a few more days, if not a few weeks... I'll update as things progress with Draft 3, but after it starts going out to publishers and agents, I will be silent about it. Only a few select people will know when it goes out and when I get a rejection. HOWEVER, if I ever find out that someone IS wanting to publish NR, and when I find out the date it will be coming out on shelves (traditional shelves or e-book shelves!) I wont' hesitate to announce it here, in FB and in Sanctuary!
NR will be sent to some publishers and agents as ONE full story, others will be getting it as a duology. It all depends on their requirements and the maximum length they're willing to publish as one novel. It's over 200,000 words... I'd prefer to keep it as ONE full novel but if I have to break it up into two (duology), I will. We'll just have to see what happens and who is willing to take a second look at it I guess. LOL
I also started two more writing projects this past year... I started the rewrite/overhaul of RH, a short story I had written back in 2000. The story wasnt' just out of date, it was not very logical in a lot of ways, and since I do want it published at some point, I thought redoing it with the basic idea of it still intact would be for the best. It's not going as well as I'd like it to be but it's slowly coming along.
The other project I started late in the year was what is called Untitled 8 at the moment. Some people would call it the "sequel" to NR because it focuses on a character one sees in that story and yes, a lot of that story's main characters WILL be in it at some point or another. It's another one of those complex stories filled with some twists and turns but I don't think it's going to be quite as intricate as NR turned out to be. NR wound up being a LOT longer, a LOT more complicated and sooooooooooo much better than I had hoped it would be when I first got the idea for the story back in June of 2010! Who knows, these two stories could be the very books that get me known a little bit in the writing world. I HOPE SO! LOL
The new year is less than 8 hours away in my timezone.. Other parts of the world are already in 2013... 
I wish all of you out there peace...
I wish all of you joy...
I wish you all prosperity...
And most of all, I wish you all the best in the new year.
Have a safe, fun and responsible new year everyone! I'll see you in 2013!