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!

Eleven, a Snow-icane and Metal

Morning everyone. We're getting a blizzard today, one that meteorologists are comparing to the Blizzard of 2004, aka "White Juan". We're been warned we could get upwards of 30 to 50 cm (12 to 20 inches) of snow, and winds comparable to a hurricane - hence the term "snow-icane. We're settled in for the duration, my husband has the day off and schools were canceled in our district due to the upcoming storm. The wind is picking up and I'm seeing a few flakes of the white crap falling already, so I know things are going to get nasty soon.

Yesterday I had some alone time so I dove into working on Eleven, in Chapter 4. I managed to just WRITE and got over 1000 words added to the main file, 250 over this week's goal. I know a lot of it will have to be compressed, removed or moved to another spot in the manuscript, but dang it, I WROTE and I'm pleased with getting that out of my system. No gnawing on the monitor for me for a day or two at least!

When I logged on this morning, one of my local pals shared something that made me smile, which I needed (snow storms always make me grumpy!). It's an article in our local paper about my favorite local band, Whom Gods Destroy. To see their smiling faces and to read the positive words about them made my day.

Congrats, Whom Gods Destroy. Didn't I say you'd be getting attention at some point? *nyah!*

If anyone would like to read the article, it's HERE.

I'll post an update when I can, between real life, power outages and if I get anything done writing wise over the next few days. I'm not expecting a full writing day this week due to today's blizzard. If it turns out to be as nasty as predicted, it's going to take a few days for the DOT to get everything cleaned out enough for vehicles other than the emergency ones.

To all who are being affected by this mess, STAY SAFE and STAY OFF THE ROADS unless it's an emergency or you're told to evacuate!

Me, I'm hoping the power stays on.....

Live Music - Two Local Bands Kick A**!!

Last night was awesome to say the least!

There was a 12 hour memorial jam for a friend of mine's son who passed away too soon... Bands from the local area dedicated their time and music to show their support for the young man and his family.

The entire jam started at 1 p.m. Atlantic time at a local fire hall, but due to real life (read: Son won't stay with a baby sitter!) I didn't make it until later that evening. I got there just before Billion Dollar Alice (an Alice Cooper Tribute) went on stage and hung out with the guys of my favorite local band while BDA was doing their set.

Billion Dollar Alice is awesome! Their lead singer even looks like Alice Cooper and sounds a LOT like him when singing! Their set was out of this world! I know some of Cooper's music but mostly his stuff from the 80s, this group did a lot of his stuff from the 70s but it was still a great set. The musicians were good, and combined with the singer's vocals, it really upped the bar for any acts to follow.

After their set, the band I wanted to see live finally got on stage...

I've mentioned Whom Gods Destroy plenty of times before, and anyone who knows me from Facebook and MW know I've known all three members of this power trio for years (over 20!) and am one of their biggest fans.

This was their first LIVE gig and despite some technical difficulties, I think it went wonderfully! Adam (lead singer/drummer) kicked butt with his vocals, Tim (guitarist) blew the house away with his amazing guitar riffs and Eli (bassist) really punched in the most awesome bass line. They performed six original songs... "The Woes of Atlas", "Devil on Your Shoulder", "Warman", "Tears of My Immortal Soul", "Sea of Tears", "Whom Gods Destroy" and "Signs of Life". (IF I made a mistake in the set list, someone PLEASE message me in FB and I'll correct it!)

For a very first live gig, it was wonderful in my opinion! It was loud, the way metal music SHOULD be in my mind, the music kicked a**, and all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, snapping pictures and videos of the guys and singing along with all of the songs. 

I wound up sitting right in front of the one speaker and can't really hear out of my left ear right now but it was worth it! I ran into some old friends there too, and it was great to see every single one of them! I sat with the guitarist's girlfriend and an old school friend of mine while WGD was doing their set.

After WGD was finished, the guys and I went outside for some cooler and fresher air (it was HOT in the hall!) and had a smoke with Adam while they dissected their performance and asked me how they sounded. I could be biased considering I've known all three of them for years, but to me, they sounded great and did a wonderful job! 

The pics from their performance and two from Billion Dollar Alice's performance are now up in my main Facebook profile... Visible to friends of friends so anyone who knows the guys can see the pictures too. I do apologize for the quality, some are blurry and they're pretty dark, but the flash on my camera isn't working so I did what I could with it.

All in all it was a wonderful performance by two of our local metal bands... And I hope to see both groups have continued success in their future endeavors! All the best, guys!

A couple of pictures from Whom Gods Destroy's set last night:

Y'all did a wonderful job... Thanks for rocking the house and showing off how great your band is guys!

To my readers, I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend and keep rocking!

"Signs of Life"

Fans of the Nova Scotian band, Whom Gods Destroy, are finally getting new music from their favorite up and coming old school heavy metal band.

“Signs of Life”, a 7 track CD featuring original music was released in late November of 2011. I was lucky enough to get a copy of their latest work.

To be blunt, this is a dream CD for any head banging, heavy metal loving people out there. All of the seven tracks kick you in the ass from the first note to the last. One does not want to stop head banging or fist pumping long after the final notes of the songs fade away into oblivion.

Tracks include the fast paced “Devil on Your Shoulder”, the more melodic sounds of “The Traveler”, the 10 minute old school metal “Whom Gods Destroy”, and the title track, “Signs of Life”.

Formed in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia in 2005, this power trio consists of vocalist/drummer Adam Bondarenko, guitarist Tim Gaudet and bassist Eli Bondarenko. Their influences include Iron Maiden, Dio, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Judas Priest and Alice Cooper. They released their 4 track demo/debut CD “Demo” in 2007. Their sound is old school heavy metal, which appeals to a lot of people from around the world and all walks of life. They have developed a fan base from several countries around the world, including their home and native land of Canada.

I highly recommend “Signs of Life” and any other album released by Whom Gods Destroy to all fans of any kind of heavy metal out there. The guitar riffs, the percussion and the bass mixed with the classical metal stylings of Adam Bondarenko’s lyrics make this particular band THE up and coming heavy metal band to watch out for in the future in my opinion.

Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it, you can check them out yourself…You can see the Promo Video for “Signs Of Life” on You Tube, check out their MySpace page, and see their Lyrics Archive on Blogger if you want to learn more about this hot up and coming metal band.

Regards,

Veridian