Nasty Weather and a Very Naughty V.J. ....

We had one heck of a rain storm here yesterday. Winds hit over 100 kph (62 mph for those of you who don't speak Canadian) and lots of rain. I really thought the power was going out at some point, same with the satellite TV, but somehow we got lucky and the only thing that wasn't working right was our cordless phone. The battery in that died while I was talking to one of my best friends on the phone, and I called her back on the regular desktop phone so we could continue our conversation, which was very enjoyable for me. She lives a couple of thousands of miles away from me, in a time zone four hours behind mine, and it's so good to hear her voice and talk outside of Facebook and our other common sites once in a while, even if it's not cheap to do it that way. 

It's not raining now, but the wind is still pretty strong. I can see the trees in our neighbor's yard waving like crazy and can feel the house shake from the occasional huge gust. It feels almost like a hurricane, but this storm wasn't organized like a tropical cyclone would be, it was just a regular storm with a lot of wind and rain. I'm just glad it wasn't snow, because we'd be buried if it had been! 

Why was I naughty? 

Well....I did something the other day I said I wouldn't be doing for a bit yet... I kind of opened Book 2 and started revisions on it.

I know, I said I was going to leave it until the new year, but the latter parts of it and all of the editing, compressions, and everything else I knew needed to be done to that particular manuscript was nagging me constantly, at the back of my mind, and I just started to feel like I couldn't move on with a new story and a new idea until things in the most recent manuscript were cleaned up. 

The first few chapters were not so bad. I had edited the first four to death and except for missing commas and needing a few words changed around here and there, I managed to get through that part pretty quickly. Chapter Five needed some compressions, but after thinking it over for a few minutes, I knew what to do and those were dispatched within moments. After that it's pretty much general things again, like the missing commas, and changing a couple of things here and there, and stuff I can easily do when my son and husband are around.

What was really bothering me more than anything was the clean up of the last ten or so chapters and the epilogues. I didn't just write them, I zoomed through them faster than the speed of light it seems, and there is a lot there that needs to be cleaned up, rewritten/revised, 86'ed, added to, and compressed. I didn't edit that area as much as I had the first 2/3 of the story and the perfectionist for my own work in me was really rearing its head the last week, notably on Monday. I finally gave into the urge to open it and start the long process of getting it up to "my" draft two standards on Tuesday and although it's a slow process, it's going okay so far. I'm in Chapter 34 of this particular edit at the moment, and I'll be working on it today, into the weekend and next week. I'm really going over it with a fine toothed comb to be sure everything is kosher and closer to a "final draft", so I have less to do in later drafts.

It's hard to believe I finished its first draft barely four weeks ago, it feels like it's been a lot longer than that. I don't know why, but I'm guessing it's because I have had a new idea pop into my head (Thanks to two good friends who are also fellow authors!) and I've been able to "lay the characters" to rest a little easier this time around, probably because I don't have the idea of a sequel nagging at the back of my head! 

I hope Sandra will be ready to read this one in the new year, because when I deem it's ready for someone else's eyes, she'll be getting a copy for her enjoyment... She read "No Regrets" and liked it, so I hope this one is just as enjoyable for her, and she likes the wild ride the reader will go on with the characters. 

Anyway, I hope all of my fellow Nova Scotians are fine after that nasty weather last night and this morning, and that all of my American family and friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'll be back with another update as things progress, notably when Untitled 9 becomes clearer to me and I'm able to work on it more... Which I hope will be very soon!

Thank the Heavens for FIRST DRAFTS...

Another writing day has passed and things are flowing smoothly by times, with a few bumps here and there...

Chapter 19 has been started and there IS some silliness in it. After that powerful scene about what a father-daughter bond means, humor was needed. Needless to say when certain people read this particular area, especially the ones who read Book 1/NR first, will "get" it and laugh like crazy. 

However, I've been brainstorming again and with my mentor's help (THANK YOU SANDRA!) I realized I had not one but several inconsistencies and left a few things out. I really can't go into details without giving away part of the story but let's just say I'm glad they were caught NOW instead of in Drafts 2, 3 or even the FINAL draft! Sandra had caught a few things for me with Draft 2 of Book 1/NR and thankfully I could easily get those corrected without having to do a full rewrite/revision on the entire story! 

So... I have a number of things to add, and have to find the right spots to add them. Thankfully the chapters in this one seem to be on the shorter side, under 7000 words, so I can add to some chapters without making them ultra long. It won't take much, just a few things here and there in several areas and it will be done. It's on the to do list for the summer... When and IF my son lets me concentrate during the daytime... If not then, during a late night writing time or during the few times my husband will be taking our son out for a while during the daytime so I can get a couple of hours of peace and quiet here and there and so I don't lose it from not being able to work a lot over the next two months!

I have about six writing days left - AT MOST - before school gets out for the summer and I am slowly getting prepared for it. I'm squashing in as much work time that I can, working the occasional late night until midnight - editing - and getting other things ready to keep me occupied. I can't remember if I mentioned it before but I have TWO e-books to read, Books 2 and 3 of Sandra's Keyholder's Castle series and a hard copy of a new Star Wars book... I'm hoping I don't read them all in one weekend and go nuts over the entire summer! LOL I'm going to try to pace myself and read a few chapters a day in between my work in Sanctuary and real life things... When I am unable to write that is... Hopefully I will get more than one or two writing sessions this summer, else I may fully lose it and go completely wonky!

I have two writing days ahead this week and hopefully I can get things moving more... Even with the revisions to make, I still have to get things started toward the build up to the grande finale. I have a lot more to add before that, and the more I get done before summer arrives the better! I'm slowly getting there, but the question is, how long will it be before it's spliced in and tweaked to fit in to the main manuscript? Only the universe knows right now!

Have a great week everyone, and I will be back with another update when things are progressing.