Cleaning House...

Once again, I find myself fighting to get a new WIP to start off interesting and smoothly.

Friday was spent writing up a scene that happens later on in the story, yet another one that is in a separate file and waiting to be spliced in when the time is right. It's choppy and I have a lot of work to do on it, but its foundation is pretty solid and has basically everything I wanted to happen in that particular key scene.

I had tried working on the main file that day, but couldn't get more than a sentence or two added in before the brain refused to cooperate.

Over the weekend, I started trying to figure out why I couldn't move in the main file again and today, it hit me why things were not running very well. I had a lot of passive scenes in the first two chapters and the scene that was "dead in the water" needed a lot of changes as well. 

Hubby ran errands today and between the time he left and the afternoon bus arrived, I dove into it and started cleaning things up. I removed a lot of the junk that was in Chapter One and Two and started editing things so things line up a lot better. It's not done because I'm still trying to figure out how to insert a couple of facts that were in the passive areas back into the story. I haven't found the "right" spots for them yet!

The scene that went "dead in the water" is going to have a few changes and notes are made on *what* to do with it. I want that fully cleaned up before my next writing day, but will have to do it when things are a lot quieter. I wasn't able to finish everything I wanted to do so I'm going to take an hour or so of my writing time to clean the scene up to my first draft standards, etc and then continue on with it. Certain things will not be done in it and where I've already started along that line, that means I have about an hour or so worth of cleanup ahead of me. I think what I may do is just keep the scene up to a certain point, remove what comes after it and start fresh with things. 

I really hate rewrites and taking pages and pages worth of stuff out of the main file or any other bit I've written up. To me, that shows that I'm not always writing good stuff and it frustrates me. Y'all know how I like to get it right the first time and it ticks me off when I do not. However it is a necessary part of writing and even the greats probably didn't get it right in their first drafts either. I have to remember that, else I'm going to wind up getting too ticked off to write. *SIGH*

I've also made a few changes, to help me keep the writing vibe. I have discovered that there are a lot more unrealities out there and am doing my best to avoid anything that will not allow the writing juices to flow freely. Certain friends will get what I'm talking about and fully understand why I'm doing this. I'm not becoming anti-social, I'm doing this to preserve my sanity and to keep me out of the dark place I was a few years back. I learned the lesson on stirring the crap pot long ago and if anyone doesn't get that, they don't deserve to be acknowledged at all in my opinion. Hence the changes and improvements in my online and real lives and that's all I'm going to say about it. Those closest to me know what's been going on, and that's the main thing.

I have at least one writing day this week if the blasted weather cooperates... I am really hoping to see that stupid "wall" in Ten's main file gone and me moving on in it so I can get closer to doing a few scene splices! I'm going nuts with not working on the main file or getting over 5,000 words added each writing day... *babbling incoherently*

I'll update things later this week or early next week if there's progress. Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Zombified!

Another week has passed and once again, there's been progress on the writing front.

Tuesday, I was alone in the house for a few hours and wanted to get another erotica scene out of the way. Normally I can write just a regular love scene in my sleep, but it wasn't easy for me to get moving in this one at first, and it's not because of my brain short circuiting or lack of creativity. Everything was lined up perfectly... I could visualize everything that was happening in the scene, I could hear the dialogue and I knew what was going to lead into it.

So I should have gotten it done in an hour or so, right?

Wrong. It turned out the blasted cat decided that the instant my fingers started making the keys on the keyboard click, it was her signal to start yowling, pouncing on anything and everything, and knocking stuff over. When I stopped typing and got up to see what she was into, she'd stop and be quiet... Until I sat down and started typing again. *SIGH* 

This went on for about two hours, even with me throwing stuffed animals at her to get the point across.

Despite the cat going nuts on me, I did finish the scene just as my husband got home from running errands. 

I had another late night talk/editing session with my Peapod (best friend) that night...She read the ultra rough version of the scene and pointed out a lot of stuff to me that I had missed or where I was repetitive, etc. This one was a lot smoother and needed a lot less cleaning up than the other erotic scene I wrote last week, and after a bit of tweaking, etc, it's been declared "draft one worthy", and is very close to my standards for a first draft.

Peapod also mentioned something I need to work on with the style... I'm pretty wordy in my writing, and well, that's not great if I am trying to keep it within certain parameters for word count and if I don't want to bore a reader. I'm trying to discipline myself into a "less is more" way of describing things, and yeah, it's hard to do after writing two very detailed double length manuscripts. Let's just say things are going to be very "compressed" in the descriptions in Ten... One or two power-packed sentences to describe the energy of a spot is more than enough. I'm trying to remember that...

I also had two full writing days this week, and I was determined to get moving in the main file again, come hell or high water. I reread what I had originally for how the characters keep running into each other, and I figured out why I was having problems moving in the main file. It wasn't overly logical or even plausible for a small town.

Apparently, I'm still thinking "big city" in some ways due to the "Legacies" manuscripts. The second/last book there is completely set in a city, and I'm doing my best to revert to "small town" settings again. It's hard some days, but I'm slowly disciplining myself to get back to remembering what it's like to be in a small town...

So I kept up to a certain point in chapter 1, tossed the rest of it and started again. This time, an idea that would work for a small town, village or larger urban area came to me, and I ran with it. Things are a lot more logical, run more smoothly and it works perfectly! 

Two days of writing, and I'm now into the middle of chapter 2! It seemed that once I set things up more logically, the dam broke and my fingers were flying across the keyboard... The brain was moving too fast sometimes, and I wound up having to stop thinking, backtrack and finish one thought before another one hit me.

This story is starting to fog the mind more and more, now that I have a better way to get things moving between the main characters and know pretty much exactly how their story is going to progress.

I'm pleased. It feels great to be back into "zombified" mode after almost a three month break/drought, and having scenes pop into my head at almost any time of day or night makes me happy. I can't do dishes or anything else around here without something coming to me for this one, and that's the way it should be when one is deep into a story in my opinion. 

It was a 7600 word week. I know, it's not as good as the weeks or even some of the days I had when I was still deep into Book 2/Family Portraits, but it's great for the "just getting into it" stage. 

I'm tickled with my progress. Hopefully things will continue to go smoothly. If they do, I may finish a third "draft one" manuscript in three years.... I'd like to do that, but I'm not expecting to at this point. It's still too early for me to predict approximately when this one will be finished. I do know if it gets as engrossing as the "Legacies" series did, I'm a goner!

For anyone who hasn't seen a photo of "Monitor Kitteh", aka Amber, enjoy...

My kitty sitting on top of my monitor:

Her tail draping down across the screen:

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

A Learning Experience with More Than a Few "Facepalms"...

Two more writing days have passed and although Ten is coming along slowly, things are starting to progress in that story.

Chapter One has been started and although I had to do a few rewrites in it already, I think how the characters meet is solid and fits the setting, which is my hometown, and a small town. 

Getting past that first meeting wasn't easy and I'm considering redoing how they start meeting up from time to time. What's in the main file now doesn't seem to work right and I'm now thinking of ways to get them to get to know each other via more plausible scenarios instead of what I have now. 

Yesterday was the real test to see how well I can write something I haven't done before. The scene I had starting to gel in the mind was something in the erotica realm, and I thought it would suit the story and the lead characters, so I decided to give it a whirl, in a separate file to splice in later when I reach the right point in the main manuscript file. Five hours and five pages later, I had the scene finished in its ultra, ultra rough draft and it was bus time so I couldn't do a reread and edit. Son was in one of his ultra clingy moods after school and since it's an over 18 scene, I had to set it aside to work on later, when he wasn't around.

After the guys crashed last night, I opened the file and read it. Well, a lot of things were not working for starters. I had it flipping back and forth between the two characters and since I wasn't sure on how to do things on his end without going into the realm of "not fit for human consumption", I scrapped his POV and worked things so it was from hers only.

I was online while doing this and my best friend, Peapod, asked me if she could see it. Normally I don't like showing off the ultra ultra rough stuff to anyone, not even my best friend, at this point in the game but decided to anyway. I knew it wasn't great and was ready to chuck it and start over with something different.

Peapod told me that although it needs work, it's not bad for a first run. She gave me a few awesome suggestions and so far, it's all working for the scene itself. It still needs work on the latter parts of it, but it's more up to my standards now and fits a lot better than it had when I sent it off to her. I admit although I've written a few graphic regular love scenes in the past, I'm still uncomfortable writing them sometimes, moreso if it's something new that I've never tried to write before. With this scene, I'm in a realm I've never been in before, and although it's fun to try to amp things up and try something new, it's still kind of intimidating. I'm just glad I'm willing to try new things and learn with my work, and that I have someone like Peapod to give me a slap upside of the head with a reminder I *can* do this, when I need it the most! I'm also glad I have someone like her to help me with my weaker points. I still have problems with dialogue sometimes, and well, she knows my style and her suggestions always seem to fit perfectly, which is great.

Boy, this one is really turning out to be one heck of a learning experience alright, and I'm not even into Chapter Two yet... I keep wondering if the rest of this story is going to go like this or not, with the write something up, be ready to toss it and then get a slap upside of the head and a strict order *not* to do that. I know revisions and rewrites are part of the writing process, but I'm one who likes to get things perfect the *first* time, and I know, I should be less hard on myself. Maybe if I was, I'd learn a lot faster and be able to grow in my writing a lot easier. I'm too darn set in the "get it perfect in rough draft" ways and it's hard to let go of that thinking pattern. 

I'm trying, and that's the main thing I guess.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Changing Compass Points...

Hello to all of my readers! If you're new to viewing my blog, welcome, and I hope you enjoy reading my writing journey!

For all of my longtime readers and subscribers, I'm sorry I haven't been updating my blog as frequently in this new year as I had hoped, but things are in a transition for me as a writer and as a person in general. 

I've decided to shelve Untitled 9 for the time being. The idea of it is sound, but looking at my first two manuscripts, I've decided that maybe it's just too complicated and too ambitious for an unknown author like myself. Something simpler, shorter and to the point is more appropriate for an unknown like myself, and that's what I'm going to do.

I've been busy thinking about a lot of things, and well, I've been busy getting things set up for a *new* work in progress (WIP for short).

Untitled 10, or "Ten" as I've dubbed it in honor of my favorite incarnation of the Doctor from Doctor Who, now has a place of honor as my current WIP on the desktop. For the last week or so, I've been doing all of the "pre-writing" stuff for it, from character descriptions/personalities, how the characters meet and why, the setting/town it will take place in, and other things. The best of it is, I managed to get a detailed outline written up and I am going to stick to it. No extras, no sudden plot twists, no huge mysteries for the main characters, and not a zillion tons of baggage for the leads. Short, simple and to the point, not the ultra complex epics I have written in the past.

I'm not going to say *what* led me to the change of direction with my writing other than "I have my reasons" and it's "strictly confidential". Those who matter know, and that's as far as I'm going to delve into it publicly.

I have the prologue for Ten written - ultra rough draft, of course - and this week, I hope to get things moving in the main body of the story. Now that I know exactly where I'm going with this one and how I want things to play out, I'm feeling a lot better and can't wait to start getting into it! 

I think that's part of the problem I was having with Untitled 9 as well. I had no clear idea on where that story was going to go other than a "general and foggy overview" and the more I tried to force it, it kept getting more and more unclear to me... Plus I don't think I was destined to write that particular story at this time, and am supposed to take my writing in another direction, and hone my raw writing skills and talent in the meantime. 

I have learned a lot since the year started, notably within the last week. I didn't know as much as I thought I did, I was too arrogant about the level of my writing skills, and was too confident in my work. I see that now, and I'm more humble and more apt to see what I'm doing wrong in my writing and other stuff related to it.

Hopefully what I'm doing now will lead me to my dream of publishing one book in my lifetime. If Ten doesn't do it, maybe another idea and story will. I'll keep trying, keep learning, and keep going until I finally grab the brass ring. I'm one determined girl after all, and I'm willing to work hard and keep trying until either the final bell tolls or I die trying. Knowing my luck, it'll be the latter, but no one can say I "didn't try"... The proof lies on my desktop and my external/backup drives...

I just hope this new year and new idea progress as well as the last two years and manuscripts have. With a little luck, I'll be deep into the writing in a few weeks, and I hope to have the first draft of Ten finished by my youngest niece's second birthday at the end of January 2015... IF I can get into it like I did with the series.

It feels good to know what's going to happen in this new one, and now that I'm starting to get back into the actual writing again, I'm feeling wonderful. I've been out of sorts since I wrapped up the "Legacies" series about three months ago, and felt like I had no solid idea of where to go with my writing, or even what to do as a writer. I hated feeling like that. Anyone who knows me and has read my blogs, my posts in Sanctuary, and the updates on my personal and public profiles on Facebook know how vital writing is to me. It's like breathing. If I'm not writing, I'm not living, and to not be writing is like trying to breathe under water. It's that crucial to my life!

Anyway, I hope all of you are having a great new year so far. I'll be back when there's more to report on Ten's progress, and I hope to do that later this week after my writing days. Have a great Sunday everyone!