Culling The Fat

Things with Untitled Thirteen are moving slowly. I'm getting a few ideas for it, but not moving a lot in it right now.

But, I am making progress elsewhere.

My best friend is starting to send me her revision suggestions for "Hearts Remembering", and the list is LONG. Four pages worth of stuff for ONE chapter alone, and reminders to take it easy with various things she's noticed I have a terrible habit of repeating. She's also noticed I missed a word here and there, or put the wrong word in - correctly spelled but one or two letters away from the word I was meaning to use.

That's good. I knew it needed work. A lot of work.

Overall, she liked the story. That's good. She likes my style, and has told me what I should be keeping, because it's so power packed with a description that gave her a really cool mental picture of the scene.

I don't care how much Bestie cracks the whip with the editing and revisions... I'm seeing a LOT of what she's saying, even before she brings it up during our chats in Facebook or on the phone (three or four hours minimum - we're on opposite coasts, thank heavens for great long distance plans!). She's worried she's being too picky, but I NEED to hear this kind of stuff, that way I know what *not* to do when I'm writing the next manuscript, and what I should look out for while editing and revising future works.

Something came up in our last couple of phone calls and our talks on the messenger... She read parts of the original version of this manuscript, and could not believe I had sent it out to publishers in *that* condition. It needed sooooooooo much work, yet I was convinced - by *what* is between me, her and my word processor - it was "perfect" as I was going to get it at that time. I know now that had I listened to my gut instead of outside influences, I may have been published by now.

Yes, I could have self published it the way it was after the rejections, BUT if I had done that, my career as an author would have been pretty much over.

One big thing I've learned in the last year and a half or so is that when you self publish, the story, the editing, *EVERYTHING* has to be PERFECT. The story concept has to be perfect, unique and attract the right readers, the editing has to be the epitome of perfection, and so does the writing itself. If any of those things, or pretty much anything else is even the tiniest bit "off", the majority of readers out there - that don't know you and couldn't care less about your feelings - will never buy or read another book of yours ever again, even if you publish the perfect book a week later. You will fall flat on your face and never recover from it.

It's sad, but that's what you get for being so impatient if you're not willing to learn and grow as a writer.

All I'm going to say is that I'm just glad I didn't listen to outside influences when it came to self publishing my stuff.

And yes, for the record, "Hearts Remembering" IS the revamp of what used to be "No Regrets"... I've culled the fat (removed all passive stuff), compressed descriptions, changed things around, and wrote it the ORIGINAL way I had planned to back in 2010 when this story was first conceived. It's not even half as long as the original version was - although I do include references to "before" - and to me, it's sooooooooooo much better. Anyone who has read the original version of it will be able to see huge changes in my style, and everything else in the rewrite.... If it ever comes out that is...

I do have a list of publishers in mind for its submission, but none of them will be seeing it for a while yet. It's far from ready, and I don't think it will go out until spring at the absolute earliest. I want this one to be perfect, from commas being in the correct place, and all of the dots on the Is to the crosses on the Ts.

I think between Bestie, myself and the rest of my beta readers, we can do it.

I also sent Bestie a copy of "Family Portraits", which had been written as a sequel to "No Regrets", before I learned what the market standards *REALLY* are and that bad writing and bad ideas are *not* welcome in the industry, especially in self published works...

I hope Peapod doesn't twitch TOO much. It STINKS.

It is soooooooooooooo rotten that I nicknamed it "The Abomination", and have it now classed as "The Worst Thing VJ Wrote, Even Worse Than Her Earliest Works".

Yeah. NOT going down that route again, and if I ever write a *real* sequel to "Hearts Remembering", it's going to be MY way, with MY ideas and NO influence from those who have no f@cking clue about anything writing wise.......................

I also have a video to share with all of my fellow writers out there. It's about why one needs a lot of writing pals, not just one, and how the real writing friends out there will help you improve as a writer, and a writing pal yourself.

I highly recommend that all writers and authors watch this. It's not only loaded with great information, Ms. Moreci is wonderful and entertaining as well.

And before anyone thinks of describing me as an "asshole writer", keep in mind I am the one who is willing to learn, grow and practice, and try writing new stuff if my old ideas are not to publisher's liking... My ORIGINAL ideas that I wrote completely BY MYSELF... Anyone who really knows me knows I am not a jealous writer and logic dictates had I been jealous for "that reason", I would have done the exact same thing when "No Regrets" was rejected and I was being pushed to self publish it "as is"...... 

Just saying.................

Have a great weekend everyone!

"Ch-Ch-Changes"

As the title suggests, there have been a lot changes in the last while.

Before I start, I would like to publicly congratulate ALL students who participated in the Mental Math Challenges and all other challenges held at the regional Knowledge Festival. All of you are winners just for being asked to represent your schools in my opinion.

Son did it again. He was in the Grade 4 division this year and cleaned house with getting first place, another perfect score of 40 correct answers for 40 questions! We were proud of the honor bestowed on him by his school by being asked to be a representative of his grade, and now even more so for his win. :) Congrats, Son!

CHANGES........

It's like someone flipped a switch... Things are FINALLY warming up here in my end of the province, and the amount of snow has went from over 2 feet in spots to barely a couple of inches in the last two weeks. The temperature is now going well above freezing too, and it's nice to open the windows or just go outside into the sunshine without freezing the toes off!

Our driveway, finally clear of snow and ice.

That photo was taken three days ago, and even more snow has disappeared in that short amount of time. I think the melt so far has been a record setting one, just like the amount of snow we got in February of this year!

Another change that's happening is related to something that happened in December.

After 45 years as a physician, our family doctor had to retire due to deteriorating health. We were sad to see him go. He was my son's doctor for Son's entire life, and mine since before I was born - he even delivered me.

He retired so unexpectedly that he didn't have time to get someone to take over his practice for him before he hung up his stethoscope.

Son wasn't happy going over to the one ER to get refills on his meds, which was what we've been doing for the last three months with him. It was at four hour wait at best, and he would get antsy and bored even if we brought snacks, books and toys with us for him.

I was hoping to get on with a doctor - local or otherwise - just for his sake. I didn't care if they didnt' take me on, as long as they took him on.

Well, we hit the jackpot. Back in March, I got a call that we had a new family doctor. She's a brand new one, just establishing her own practice, and started this month. All three of us were taken on.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO relieved. There is a shortage of doctors - family docs and specialists alike - in the province and to get a new family doctor after only a three month wait is almost unheard of these days. I know people who were waiting for *years* to get someone else. Either the doctors were retiring or settling in another spot.

Her clinic is about an hour away by car, but that's okay. We have a family doctor again.

We love her. She's young, with a sunny personality and is very open to a lot of things.

It's one heck of a huge weight lifted off my mind.

It's also a darn good thing we found her. Our old doctor passed away in March.

Someone said what would have happened if he had died suddenly without retiring first?

That was something a lot of us do not want to think about.

I'm glad I don't have to now.

WRITING:

"Hearts Remembering" has been edited and gone over, and is now back into another perk cycle.

It may not be in there for long though.

I'm considering adding a couple of extra key scenes because it seems choppy and skips somewhat in spots. I'm hoping it'll smooth things out.

My best friend and I will probably be brainstorming those parts sometime soon. I'd like to get this one sent out to the rest of the gang ASAP, so I can get a move on with other things related to it and Away to Me, as well as get moving on a new story. I'm not sure if I'll be working on Ten or not. Gotta see how things go I guess!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

It's April? Well, It Doesn't Feel (or Look) Like It!

It's one of those years when I am nauseated each time I look outside.

It's April 7, and we had another four inches of snow come down yesterday into this morning. Our driveway and the road had been finally clear of snow and ice -I saw gravel in our driveway for the first time since December! - and now we're back to the endless blanket of white crap everywhere.

It's sickening. The west coast  has not had a true winter at all, and we got theirs on top of our own, and then some.

I'm so ready for it to be over with until at least November. I just want to open my windows and change the air in my house. Is that too much to ask?

Anyway.............

I haven't had much of a chance to work on editing or anything else writing wise the last couple of weeks... I decided that "Hearts Remembering" could perk for a bit longer and I'm glad I did it that way. I'm starting to see a LOT of stuff that I wasn't seeing before March Break, and I think it's going to be much easier to edit it now.

My best friend got a sneak peek of the ultra rough draft of one of the scenes... And she edited it for me! She and I just click when it comes to something like that. She knows my style (and loves it) and knows what I will like and dislike for editing suggestions. Thank heavens she's only been sending me the ideas/suggestions I'll consider. lol

Except for a few left out commas and one or two parts where she left out a word or two, it's pretty much perfect and will be going into Draft 2 of the manuscript. It took me a while to do because well, she kind of forgot to put in the paragraph breaks and I had to compare her gigantic paragraph to the three pages that scene covered in the manuscript to see where things went. lol

This week, I'm hoping to do a full reread on "Hearts Remembering", while editing and formatting the current draft of it... In between chatting sessions with my best friend on the messengers that is!

As for the weather, I would just like to see my lawn again. I don't care if the grass turns green or not, I just want to see something *other* than a blanket of white in my yard and around the neighborhood.

Please.

*Kicks Old Man Winter in the "family jewels"*

The "Fun" Has Begun...

Editing is not my favorite thing to do, especially when it comes to my own stuff. I like perfection in my work, and previous experiences tell me I'm not perfect at picking out the inconsistencies, passive and wordy areas and everything else an editor at a publishing house doesn't want to see in a submitted manuscript for their consideration. I really have to get out of that mindset and don't expect much when it comes to me editing my own stories, even though I've learned a lot in the last five months, since I've joined two writing forums and am getting advice from some of the best - authors right over to the editors, etc - in the entire writing business.

The "necessary evil" of the editing and proofing have started on "Away to Me" and it's worse than I imagined. Passive areas, repetitive stuff and glaring inconsistencies everywhere. It's going to take another week or so working on it full time to get it up to snuff before it goes into stasis for the summer. I was hoping even with keeping it bare bones that it would be a lot better than this, and I'm really ticked off at myself for not doing a better job at it. Then I remember I'm still learning and I'm not as ticked. I'm still kicking myself, but not so badly, and I start prepping the frying pans I'll be giving to my betas with their copies of "Away To Me" this coming autumn. I'm expecting a LOT of cracks on the head for all of the mistakes, and other things in the second draft, even after I get the worst ones out of it.

I'm slowly getting things cleaned up though. Friday would have been another writing day for me if I was into another story, so I used the entire day to work on getting the first edit/reread of "Away to Me" in its entirety. 

Here's what I did:

• Took out a few passive areas.
• Compressing of timeline started.
• Started putting chapter breaks at the beginning of a new page.
• Began removing repetitive stuff.
• Compressions of wordier areas started.
• Started smoothing out choppier areas.

My local beta and longtime friend D asked me how long of a time period "ATM" took place... It was originally about 15 months. She suggested I compress it to six months. 

That was "fun". I went back, checked things over and managed to squeeze it into a bare nine months over all. Not bad, could be better though. I don't think I can get it more squashed than that. I'll have to see.

Yes, I got a lot done but still have a long way to go before it's ready for stasis, round one. I have a couple of hours here and there and a day or two to get back to the editing this week, and I'll be deep into things when I have the chance. It's slow going but it's getting there, one step at a time. I'm learning as I go too. And boy have I learned a lot in the last six months, more than I could have imagined!

I thought I knew a lot but didn't know squat about the REAL writing world, even with two finished first drafts under my belt. I'm shocked at how far I've come in only a couple of years, since I first sat down, dug out "No Regrets" initial idea and its few components at the end of 2011 and tried to see what wasn't working with that manuscript, once that I had the time to do something with it.

"No Regrets" was "hell" to write by times, and if it hadn't been for me talking with various people, thinking about it CONSTANTLY, rereading everything I had written, brainstorming, countless hours researching and all of the other stuff entailed with writing a unique and interesting story, I would have tossed it aside, given up on it and tried to find something else to amuse me, while making excuses why I wasn't trying to get past the speed bumps and other nasty things I encountered while working on it. Rewrites - UGH! So many... *Shudders!* Passive areas: galore! *GAG* Repetitive stuff.... I think I lost about 2000 words just with taking THAT stuff out, and I think there's more to be removed! *THUD!* Sent it out, got rejections for it. My own stupidity and overconfidence, in my writing skills and editing. Lesson learned, big time! Will be revamped before it's published, probably via a self publisher in a few years.

"Family Portraits" presented its own unique set of problems, and other nasty things, despite it being the follow up to "No Regrets". Even though I flew through that one too, I still had problems and had to do a zillion rewrites. More rewrites. Passive areas. Wordy areas. Choppy scenes. The list is LONG in that one, and it needs more work than even "Away to Me" in its current condition. Will be published via self publishing in a few years, after it's cleaned up and if "No Regrets" sells at all. (DOUBTFUL!)

"Away to Me": the first completed manuscript that is NOT related to the Legacies series and well under 100K word wise. I still had a lot of problems getting over speed bumps and other things in it, despite it being bare boned. It needs a lot of work, but not as much as "Family Portraits". Will have five people reading it and whapping me over the head with frying pans after they see the errors in it this time.

What I'm trying to say is that I DID NOT GIVE UP. At all. I've hit more speedbumps writing and editing than I can keep track of, and I have a great memory! If I gave up each time I hit a roadblock, a problem I can't figure out right away, a bout of writer's block or anything else we writers/authors wind up running into on a daily basis with our work, I would have NEVER finished one manuscript's first draft, let alone THREE! 

If you run into a roadblock and are SERIOUS about writing, you won't give up on it. You'll find a way around it, over it or through it and KEEP GOING. NO EXCUSES. If there's a will, there is a way.

Keep in mind that I write only PART TIME, I have two neurological conditions that hinder me sometimes (occipital neuralgia and carpal tunnel syndrome, which affects the HANDS), and I have a special needs child that needs constant attention when he's home.

If *I* can write without any excuses, anyone who is serious about it can do it too. If you can't, you're not serious about it at all, and will keep making excuses not to continue while you put down us really serious writers, which is really nasty and petty.

Simple as that.

On a side note, congrats to WHOM GODS DESTROY for finally getting onto the radio! They're being played on CKDU, which is Dalhousie University in Halifax own radio station. They have a live stream on their site and if you live in Halifax-Dartmouth, you can catch them at 88.1 on the FM dial. Great job, Tim, Eli and Adam... I knew you could do it, and it's the first step toward getting on stations across our beautiful nation!

Have a great week everyone! I'll post another update when more progress is made, either editing "Away to Me" or anything else in my writing world!

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!