I didn't post yesterday. I was working on those freezer meals I told you about for November and it totally overwhelmed me and my day. Thankfully, when my husband came home, he and the kids jumped in to save my behind.
So, I didn't get any work done yesterday. I did a lot of reading on Wednesday but no writing. I'm still sitting at 8-10 chapters to finish up for part 2.
I hope to get the reading done for part 1 today. I want to upload it and pull off another proof copy tomorrow. I'm down to the last of it, I can feel it. As I'm reading it now, I feel like I can just check on what I'm correcting and call it.
There's a cross country meet today in Fresno and the three boys are going to a campout tonight. My hubby may be going to Colorado this weekend, so I don't know that I'll get much else accomplished today.
I am posting chapter 2!
Have a wonderful day. I will check in tomorrow.
Showing posts with label proofreading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label proofreading. Show all posts
Friday, October 14, 2016
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
October 12, 2016
So, nothing got done yesterday. With all the grocery shopping I did (four hours worth) and then the evening activities, I didn't get to it.
That's okay. I'm spontaneously thinking about it and over the last few weeks, I haven't been.
Yesterday, I posted chapter 1. I'm planning on posting chapter 2 on Friday.
Wednesdays are my busy day so I haven't gotten much done today, either. However, I'm going to focus on getting the reading done for the corrections. There are some there and while there's less than last time, I'm still thinking I'll need to do read it again. This is the monotonous part.
I'll check in with you tomorrow.
That's okay. I'm spontaneously thinking about it and over the last few weeks, I haven't been.
Yesterday, I posted chapter 1. I'm planning on posting chapter 2 on Friday.
Wednesdays are my busy day so I haven't gotten much done today, either. However, I'm going to focus on getting the reading done for the corrections. There are some there and while there's less than last time, I'm still thinking I'll need to do read it again. This is the monotonous part.
I'll check in with you tomorrow.
Monday, October 10, 2016
October 10, 2016
Happy Monday!
Okay, I have a lot of work to do on part 1 to get it read through again. I'm through the first 100 pages and have found about 35 errors. A few punctuation, a couple misspelled words and a few changes. Sigh. I'm ready for this part to be done.
I printed what I have done of part 2 last night. I still have 8 - 10 chapters yet to rewrite which I'd like to be done with by Wednesday. So, I'll need to rewrite three a day to get to that goal. :/ Might have to stretch that to Friday, we'll see. The main reason is that I'm starting to edit it. I want to get through three chapters a day, make those corrections and then run those three chapters through a grammar program, which is why I think I may have to stretch that writing goal (maybe even into next week).
This is really a long process. Now I see why it takes a year or more to write one book. Whew.
I took this weekend off, mostly. I read part one on Sat. and Sun. but I didn't do any writing. I was excited to work on it on Saturday, it just didn't happen.
Tomorrow, I'm going to be posting the prologue and first chapter as a preview. It's on CreateSpace right now as a preview, but I don't know if you need to be a member of that website to view it or not. If you're interested, I'd like you to read it (on CS or here, either one). If you're more interested, I'd appreciate an honest comment or question. If the answer doesn't reveal plotline or create a spoiler, I'll respond! :)
Well, I need to get to work. Have a good day. See you tomorrow.
Okay, I have a lot of work to do on part 1 to get it read through again. I'm through the first 100 pages and have found about 35 errors. A few punctuation, a couple misspelled words and a few changes. Sigh. I'm ready for this part to be done.
I printed what I have done of part 2 last night. I still have 8 - 10 chapters yet to rewrite which I'd like to be done with by Wednesday. So, I'll need to rewrite three a day to get to that goal. :/ Might have to stretch that to Friday, we'll see. The main reason is that I'm starting to edit it. I want to get through three chapters a day, make those corrections and then run those three chapters through a grammar program, which is why I think I may have to stretch that writing goal (maybe even into next week).
This is really a long process. Now I see why it takes a year or more to write one book. Whew.
I took this weekend off, mostly. I read part one on Sat. and Sun. but I didn't do any writing. I was excited to work on it on Saturday, it just didn't happen.
Tomorrow, I'm going to be posting the prologue and first chapter as a preview. It's on CreateSpace right now as a preview, but I don't know if you need to be a member of that website to view it or not. If you're interested, I'd like you to read it (on CS or here, either one). If you're more interested, I'd appreciate an honest comment or question. If the answer doesn't reveal plotline or create a spoiler, I'll respond! :)
Well, I need to get to work. Have a good day. See you tomorrow.
Saturday, October 8, 2016
October 8, 2017
I had another good day again yesterday. This week has been so invigorating.
Along with getting all the corrections made and the cleaned up manuscript loaded onto CreateSpace, I wrote three chapters. Two of them were new and I totaled over 5000 words.
If I can keep this pace up for the next seven weeks (oooo... that sounds really long), I should be able to meet the 150,000 word count goal I set for NaNoWriMo. But then, I won't be working on corrections or editing. It'll just be pure writing. I can't wait.
Today should be similar. We have an activity to go to at four which should take about an hour and I need to prepare for the class I'll be teaching in church tomorrow, but that shouldn't take too long. My hubby is out of the state right now. So, other than those two things and probably feeding the kids, I should be free to write ALL DAY. I'm giddy.
I won't be writing tomorrow. I'll check back in on Monday! Have a good weekend.
Along with getting all the corrections made and the cleaned up manuscript loaded onto CreateSpace, I wrote three chapters. Two of them were new and I totaled over 5000 words.
If I can keep this pace up for the next seven weeks (oooo... that sounds really long), I should be able to meet the 150,000 word count goal I set for NaNoWriMo. But then, I won't be working on corrections or editing. It'll just be pure writing. I can't wait.
Today should be similar. We have an activity to go to at four which should take about an hour and I need to prepare for the class I'll be teaching in church tomorrow, but that shouldn't take too long. My hubby is out of the state right now. So, other than those two things and probably feeding the kids, I should be free to write ALL DAY. I'm giddy.
I won't be writing tomorrow. I'll check back in on Monday! Have a good weekend.
Thursday, October 6, 2016
October 6, 2016
So yesterday was productive, but not as much as the previous two days. A couple phone calls and me digging through my hard drive to find four missing chapters ate up a lot of time. No fears, it's all good.
I got the three chapters read looking for corrections. I have five left, three today and two tomorrow, which will put me finishing right on time.
10 chapters got corrected yesterday and I should be able to catch up today, leaving the last five for tomorrow. That task will also be completed.
I only got two chapters written/rewritten (one of each) yesterday for a total of just over 2000 words. That's not bad. I estimate I have fourteen chapters left to finish this rewrite of part 2, which is two per day. I accomplished that yesterday. But since I wanted to get into part three, I had been wanting to do three a day as a minimum. If I look at it that way, I'm thirteen behind. :/ That's an average of four a day from here on out. :/ We'll have to see.
So today, ten more chapters of corrections, three more for reading and at least three chapters of rewrite. There is a flag football game today, but that's a good break. I also still need to walk the dog, which isn't too painful. I think it can happen.
The thing is, I think I have to let go of this idea of a 'work schedule'. Or at least the idea of a normal one. Today and yesterday, I went back to bed after getting the kids going and slept until nine-ish. I felt good all day yesterday, never once stopping to take a catnap (I do that usually twice a day). My goal has been to have all of these 'beginning of the day' chores done (walk the dog, shower, make-up, etc.) done by eight-thirty so I can start 'work'. If I do an 'eight hour workday' with a lunch, I should be done at five, right? Well, my goals don't always fit into that schedule and Facebook sucks quite a few hours. I'm ALWAYS working right up until bedtime. If I'm looser with that timeline, I guess I don't feel as guilty? I don't know. It's been a bugger trying to get all this worked out.
Well, I'll touch base again tomorrow.
I got the three chapters read looking for corrections. I have five left, three today and two tomorrow, which will put me finishing right on time.
10 chapters got corrected yesterday and I should be able to catch up today, leaving the last five for tomorrow. That task will also be completed.
I only got two chapters written/rewritten (one of each) yesterday for a total of just over 2000 words. That's not bad. I estimate I have fourteen chapters left to finish this rewrite of part 2, which is two per day. I accomplished that yesterday. But since I wanted to get into part three, I had been wanting to do three a day as a minimum. If I look at it that way, I'm thirteen behind. :/ That's an average of four a day from here on out. :/ We'll have to see.
So today, ten more chapters of corrections, three more for reading and at least three chapters of rewrite. There is a flag football game today, but that's a good break. I also still need to walk the dog, which isn't too painful. I think it can happen.
The thing is, I think I have to let go of this idea of a 'work schedule'. Or at least the idea of a normal one. Today and yesterday, I went back to bed after getting the kids going and slept until nine-ish. I felt good all day yesterday, never once stopping to take a catnap (I do that usually twice a day). My goal has been to have all of these 'beginning of the day' chores done (walk the dog, shower, make-up, etc.) done by eight-thirty so I can start 'work'. If I do an 'eight hour workday' with a lunch, I should be done at five, right? Well, my goals don't always fit into that schedule and Facebook sucks quite a few hours. I'm ALWAYS working right up until bedtime. If I'm looser with that timeline, I guess I don't feel as guilty? I don't know. It's been a bugger trying to get all this worked out.
Well, I'll touch base again tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
October 4, 2016
Yesterday was a very productive day. I didn't get everything done that I set out to do, but I accomplished a lot!
I got 10 of the 20 chapters corrected that needed it. Three chapters were read for corrections, which was the goal. I wanted to get four chapters rewritten and only got three. However, that was over 6100 words, which is a really good day. Of those three 'rewritten' chapters, two were actually new.
There wasn't anything on the list to do beyond my normal daily activities. The calendar today looks similar. I'm hoping to accomplish a similar amount. I'm all fired up about it, too!
My goals are the pretty much the same as they were yesterday. I have 15 chapters to correct to get caught up, three more chapters to read (I'm almost through the whole book). I'd like to get four chapters rewritten, but more would be spectacular. We'll see.
I'm off to work. See you tomorrow!
I got 10 of the 20 chapters corrected that needed it. Three chapters were read for corrections, which was the goal. I wanted to get four chapters rewritten and only got three. However, that was over 6100 words, which is a really good day. Of those three 'rewritten' chapters, two were actually new.
There wasn't anything on the list to do beyond my normal daily activities. The calendar today looks similar. I'm hoping to accomplish a similar amount. I'm all fired up about it, too!
My goals are the pretty much the same as they were yesterday. I have 15 chapters to correct to get caught up, three more chapters to read (I'm almost through the whole book). I'd like to get four chapters rewritten, but more would be spectacular. We'll see.
I'm off to work. See you tomorrow!
Monday, October 3, 2016
October 3, 2016
Hello. I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
I did. I spent most of the weekend with my family, eating food and watching inspirational talks from our church leaders. It was nice and relaxing. We had some enjoyable conversations with my hubby's mom and some really good friends. Couldn't have had a better weekend.
That being said, I'm now behind on the schedule we talked about last Friday. LOL. Now, we kick it into gear and get things done! I don't have any other plans for today and I've already started supper. Just going to sit in the loft and check things off of my super long to-do list.
Here's what's on it for today: I have to catch up in my corrections--20 chapters, I have to read three more chapters, looking for corrections (not a catch-up, that's the work I did do this weekend), and rewriting/writing 12 chapters (three for four days). Hahahahahahaha. We'll see how this plays out this week. Tomorrow is fairly clear of other obligations as well. Maybe I'll get something done.
I'm holding off on making a new "about" page this week. Once the proofing is done, then we'll put that back under the focus.
I signed up for NaNoWriMo this morning. I'm planning on working on Part 3 drafts. I'm giddy.
Time to get to work. I'll let you know how I did tomorrow!
I did. I spent most of the weekend with my family, eating food and watching inspirational talks from our church leaders. It was nice and relaxing. We had some enjoyable conversations with my hubby's mom and some really good friends. Couldn't have had a better weekend.
That being said, I'm now behind on the schedule we talked about last Friday. LOL. Now, we kick it into gear and get things done! I don't have any other plans for today and I've already started supper. Just going to sit in the loft and check things off of my super long to-do list.
Here's what's on it for today: I have to catch up in my corrections--20 chapters, I have to read three more chapters, looking for corrections (not a catch-up, that's the work I did do this weekend), and rewriting/writing 12 chapters (three for four days). Hahahahahahaha. We'll see how this plays out this week. Tomorrow is fairly clear of other obligations as well. Maybe I'll get something done.
I'm holding off on making a new "about" page this week. Once the proofing is done, then we'll put that back under the focus.
I signed up for NaNoWriMo this morning. I'm planning on working on Part 3 drafts. I'm giddy.
Time to get to work. I'll let you know how I did tomorrow!
Friday, September 30, 2016
September 30, 2016
Happy last day of September.
I talked yesterday about how I wanted to be done rewriting the fifth draft of Part 2 by today and that I was disappointed that I won't make it. So, last night I sat down with my writing calendar for the next six months (yes, I have it planned out that far). Based on the progress and hurdles Part 1 has presented, I set an approximate publish date for Part 2 and worked backwards. Based on that, I have rewrites for Part 2 into Part 3 scheduled to end on October 12th. I want to work into Part 3 so the book parts flow together. However, I also sat down and counted approximately how many more chapters I'm going to need for Part 2. Currently, I have twenty more. I approximate I'll have to write five additional new chapters to round out what I've started. That brings Part 2 to a really nice and natural cliffhanger.
Side note: I was amazed as I wrote the first draft for part 2 that it just naturally came to this closing. When I sat down with the second draft, I made some major changes and I had a completely different ending in mind. Once again, it came naturally to the climax I had before. Well, I can't fight that. That's the ending. The second ending I had in mind has now become the ending of Part 3 and it works nicely, actually.
Anyway, that leaves me thirteen days to get Part 2 rewritten. So, I need to get two chapters done a day. That's do-able. But, I'd like it if I got into Part 3 by then so, I'm aiming for three chapters a day. That's still workable, I think.
The corrections for Part 1 are going. I sat down and took a hard look at what I'm correcting. I've begun another edit is what I've done. Last night, I finished repairing the corrections through chapter 10. I counted 71 things I changed. Going through it again, only 26 of those were grammatical or spelling type issues. The majority of the issues that NEED fixing are hyphens vs em dashes. Some of them didn't auto-correct in Word. Well, there's a formatting reason for that. In order to upload my manuscript for e-book, I have to have auto-correct off, which means I have to go through and paste in a symbol. Not a big deal, just takes time. I have caught a handful of spelling issues and once where I had two verbs and once where I had completely lost a word.
But, I need to turn the editor in me off. 2/3 of the corrections I made last night weren't necessary. The sentence was fine without the correction, I just thought it might sound better if I changed it. It's not a totally offensive thing to do, but I need to let it go, especially if the sentence is just fine the way it is.
So, I'm reading no more than three chapters a day to catch proofreading errors. I don't want to do more than that because I'm afraid if I rush through it, I'll miss something. That needs to be done by next Friday, October 7th.
Whew. Okay, we can do this. I actually work better under a little pressure. Three chapters a day to read and look for errors, five chapters a day to fix those errors (I'm reading at Chapter 28, fixing at Chapter 11 currently) and three chapters a day to write/rewrite. No problem.
Oh yeah, and walk the dog and fix supper and... HAHAHAHAHA. I love it!
See you tomorrow!
I talked yesterday about how I wanted to be done rewriting the fifth draft of Part 2 by today and that I was disappointed that I won't make it. So, last night I sat down with my writing calendar for the next six months (yes, I have it planned out that far). Based on the progress and hurdles Part 1 has presented, I set an approximate publish date for Part 2 and worked backwards. Based on that, I have rewrites for Part 2 into Part 3 scheduled to end on October 12th. I want to work into Part 3 so the book parts flow together. However, I also sat down and counted approximately how many more chapters I'm going to need for Part 2. Currently, I have twenty more. I approximate I'll have to write five additional new chapters to round out what I've started. That brings Part 2 to a really nice and natural cliffhanger.
Side note: I was amazed as I wrote the first draft for part 2 that it just naturally came to this closing. When I sat down with the second draft, I made some major changes and I had a completely different ending in mind. Once again, it came naturally to the climax I had before. Well, I can't fight that. That's the ending. The second ending I had in mind has now become the ending of Part 3 and it works nicely, actually.
Anyway, that leaves me thirteen days to get Part 2 rewritten. So, I need to get two chapters done a day. That's do-able. But, I'd like it if I got into Part 3 by then so, I'm aiming for three chapters a day. That's still workable, I think.
The corrections for Part 1 are going. I sat down and took a hard look at what I'm correcting. I've begun another edit is what I've done. Last night, I finished repairing the corrections through chapter 10. I counted 71 things I changed. Going through it again, only 26 of those were grammatical or spelling type issues. The majority of the issues that NEED fixing are hyphens vs em dashes. Some of them didn't auto-correct in Word. Well, there's a formatting reason for that. In order to upload my manuscript for e-book, I have to have auto-correct off, which means I have to go through and paste in a symbol. Not a big deal, just takes time. I have caught a handful of spelling issues and once where I had two verbs and once where I had completely lost a word.
But, I need to turn the editor in me off. 2/3 of the corrections I made last night weren't necessary. The sentence was fine without the correction, I just thought it might sound better if I changed it. It's not a totally offensive thing to do, but I need to let it go, especially if the sentence is just fine the way it is.
So, I'm reading no more than three chapters a day to catch proofreading errors. I don't want to do more than that because I'm afraid if I rush through it, I'll miss something. That needs to be done by next Friday, October 7th.
Whew. Okay, we can do this. I actually work better under a little pressure. Three chapters a day to read and look for errors, five chapters a day to fix those errors (I'm reading at Chapter 28, fixing at Chapter 11 currently) and three chapters a day to write/rewrite. No problem.
Oh yeah, and walk the dog and fix supper and... HAHAHAHAHA. I love it!
See you tomorrow!
Thursday, September 29, 2016
September 29, 2016
So Wednesday has turned into this day where everything else happens, except writing.
That's fine, other things need to happen (at least that's what I'm told) and having most of them happen in one day makes things better the rest of the week. However, it turns Wednesday into a black hole.
Yesterday, I got up at five and painted my daughter's face. It was favorite band day at school and a group of her friends decided to go as Kiss. I asked her what her favorite Kiss song was. She had to google it. I'm thinking they just wanted to do it because of the make-up....
I took the dog for a walk, took a nap (because I don't do five a.m.) and then went to my volunteer job. One son had a flag football game and another had a cross country meet. All four had church activities last night. My daughter had 40's day at school today so we stayed up last night and put curlers in her hair and painted her nails. It was a fun day.
But nothing for the book got done. And that's just the way it is.
The day before, I got 3500 words rewritten. Here's the thing, I had hopes of getting through all of the Part 2 rewrite during September and into Part 3. I still have fifteen more chapters to rewrite and that's not going to happen in a day and a half, even if I bought a whole bunch of Ramen for the kids and locked myself in my bedroom. Anyway, if there weren't other book-related things that I was taking care of, I might have been able to do that. I'm having trouble deciding if it's alright or not. I have goals, by Jove. I can't be meeting those bigger goals if I don't meet the smaller ones.
What? You mean I can't hole-up and be JUST a writer? I have to be mother too? Jeez. Wait! I have to be wife as well! Holy COW!
Bah humbug.
Today, I'm not sure if I'm going to get to rewriting. I have corrections to do for Part 1 and more chapters to read to add to those corrections. (I'm going to say again that I'm really thankful I got that proof book. There were more errors in there than I realized.)
I'm frustrated this is taking so long. I realize the worth of being this careful, I just... grrr. I'll be back tomorrow.
That's fine, other things need to happen (at least that's what I'm told) and having most of them happen in one day makes things better the rest of the week. However, it turns Wednesday into a black hole.
Yesterday, I got up at five and painted my daughter's face. It was favorite band day at school and a group of her friends decided to go as Kiss. I asked her what her favorite Kiss song was. She had to google it. I'm thinking they just wanted to do it because of the make-up....
I took the dog for a walk, took a nap (because I don't do five a.m.) and then went to my volunteer job. One son had a flag football game and another had a cross country meet. All four had church activities last night. My daughter had 40's day at school today so we stayed up last night and put curlers in her hair and painted her nails. It was a fun day.
But nothing for the book got done. And that's just the way it is.
The day before, I got 3500 words rewritten. Here's the thing, I had hopes of getting through all of the Part 2 rewrite during September and into Part 3. I still have fifteen more chapters to rewrite and that's not going to happen in a day and a half, even if I bought a whole bunch of Ramen for the kids and locked myself in my bedroom. Anyway, if there weren't other book-related things that I was taking care of, I might have been able to do that. I'm having trouble deciding if it's alright or not. I have goals, by Jove. I can't be meeting those bigger goals if I don't meet the smaller ones.
What? You mean I can't hole-up and be JUST a writer? I have to be mother too? Jeez. Wait! I have to be wife as well! Holy COW!
Bah humbug.
Today, I'm not sure if I'm going to get to rewriting. I have corrections to do for Part 1 and more chapters to read to add to those corrections. (I'm going to say again that I'm really thankful I got that proof book. There were more errors in there than I realized.)
I'm frustrated this is taking so long. I realize the worth of being this careful, I just... grrr. I'll be back tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
September 27, 2016
Good Afternoon. I hope your evening was enjoyable.
Today was a slow start again. I don't know if I should fight to be an early morning person (I never have been) or just accept that I sleep in until nine o'clock and just work with what I have. The downside to it is that two of the hours I'm sleeping, there's no children around and I could be getting a lot of work done. But then, there's no children around and I can get a lot of sleeping done as well.
So, I got the drawing of the accommodation floors up. You can click this link and get there, if you'd like. It's a little sloppy from a professional standpoint, but then, I'm not trying to make blueprints of it so it'll have to do.
I didn't get any re-writing done yesterday. That's okay. I spent the whole day working on the drawing so I could get it done. I feel better now that's it's taken care of. Today, I plan on doing more writing. I have a chapter that needs to be pulled out of the blue and put to paper. Once that's done, I can move onto another few chapters to re-write.
The proofing is going well. I've found a couple places where I had double tabs at the beginning of paragraphs. I'm very pleased that I ordered it. Hopefully, I can get it cleaned up and it won't be so sloppy. Blech. Sometimes the truth sounds horrible.
Well, I better get to work. I'll see you tomorrow.
Today was a slow start again. I don't know if I should fight to be an early morning person (I never have been) or just accept that I sleep in until nine o'clock and just work with what I have. The downside to it is that two of the hours I'm sleeping, there's no children around and I could be getting a lot of work done. But then, there's no children around and I can get a lot of sleeping done as well.
So, I got the drawing of the accommodation floors up. You can click this link and get there, if you'd like. It's a little sloppy from a professional standpoint, but then, I'm not trying to make blueprints of it so it'll have to do.
I didn't get any re-writing done yesterday. That's okay. I spent the whole day working on the drawing so I could get it done. I feel better now that's it's taken care of. Today, I plan on doing more writing. I have a chapter that needs to be pulled out of the blue and put to paper. Once that's done, I can move onto another few chapters to re-write.
The proofing is going well. I've found a couple places where I had double tabs at the beginning of paragraphs. I'm very pleased that I ordered it. Hopefully, I can get it cleaned up and it won't be so sloppy. Blech. Sometimes the truth sounds horrible.
Well, I better get to work. I'll see you tomorrow.
Friday, September 23, 2016
September 23, 2016
TYPOS! I'm looking for typos! I'm looking for missing periods and unintended sentence fragments. I'm looking for misspelled words and extra verbs that I didn't take out!
What I'm not looking to do is completely rewrite whole chapters because I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and now hate my whole book!!!!!
I don't think I should be proofreading. This is not turning out good.
What did turn out acceptable is that I got 4000 words written yesterday. I got over the writer's block I was having by doing a first person 'interview' with my main character. He told me from an 'I' stance what happened in the scene. I have since taken it and put it into third person and added details. The process is amazing to me, sometimes. These characters are real people to me and I care about them, even though I know they're really fictional.
I've been working on my drawing of the floor. I'm finding myself wanting to change that as well. Grrr. Why am doing this? Auugghh!!
By the way, I'd like to thank all of you who've read my blog over the last few days. I think you guys are amazing.
Okay, back to work. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow.
What I'm not looking to do is completely rewrite whole chapters because I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and now hate my whole book!!!!!
I don't think I should be proofreading. This is not turning out good.
What did turn out acceptable is that I got 4000 words written yesterday. I got over the writer's block I was having by doing a first person 'interview' with my main character. He told me from an 'I' stance what happened in the scene. I have since taken it and put it into third person and added details. The process is amazing to me, sometimes. These characters are real people to me and I care about them, even though I know they're really fictional.
I've been working on my drawing of the floor. I'm finding myself wanting to change that as well. Grrr. Why am doing this? Auugghh!!
By the way, I'd like to thank all of you who've read my blog over the last few days. I think you guys are amazing.
Okay, back to work. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow.
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Look what came in the mail! September 22, 2016
The proof copy is in!! I'm excited! This is so cool! AAAHHH!
Okay, let's rejoice for a moment, shall we?
Me - It looks like a real book!
My hubby - It IS a real book, honey.
Me - ........... I guess so............
The cover is a matte finish. My hubby really likes it because it makes the drawing of the cover art look like you could touch it and smudge the graphite. I'm so happy the windows go up the middle of the spine! I only had to upload that four times before that was finally correct.
Okay, so, nitty-gritty. I ordered this book proof so I can see what it looked like, hold it in my hands and read it to find any errors that needed fixing. I like the feel of it. It's really cool. (I want to do another one!). It's almost like holding your child for the first time. It looks awesome inside. (There's that 'it looks like a real book' thing again.) I'm kinda in la-la land right now. I have it here, I can read it, touch it... smell it. It still doesn't seem real.
So, now that I've had it for eighteen hours, what have I found so far? First, it was TOTALLY worth it to buy the proof. Originally, I wasn't intending on purchasing it, I was going to hit the publish button and go with it. Well, the font on the title isn't correct (how did I miss that? - It's right in the mock-up). Since I'm going to reload the cover, I'm going to blow up the art a little bit and eliminate some of the white on the sides of the front and back. I read the first three chapters last night and I found four errors. One is major, I went in to change the verb and didn't erase what I had in there (Dur). One is a formatting error, I put in two dashes to make an 'em' dash and it didn't. I forgot a period after a set of ellipses. And, I have a comma where I should have a period (Still a complete sentence, it just reads better as two). The last three aren't a big deal and I might have left them if I hadn't found the first. But since I did, I'm going to fix the tiny stuff too. Might as well, right?
I do have another pair of eyes looking for stuff. Maybe between the two of us, we'll catch everything.
I made a small advance in my floor plan drawing. Freehand circles suck. I should just break down and go buy another compass, but I don't want to go to the store. :/ I only got 368 words written yesterday. Yes, you saw that right, 368. I think my creative tank is low. Time to read something else. I started reading The Maze Runner last night. Halfway through the first chapter, I was thinking "That's what I'm doing wrong...." After that, I read the first three chapters in my book. I'm not doing anything wrong, it's just I'm in rewrite mode, so I think everything I've been writing is crap.
That's just how it goes. The first draft (or fourth for that matter) is crap and it's ugly and it's full of grammatical issues. It's not until you sit down and look at it and say "Okay, I've used 'irritated' seven times in this six page chapter," or "I have WAY too many adverbs in this section," that you actually turn something that's okay or good to something that's captivating. It's part of the process. I've been dealing in the muck this last six weeks, and so from my point of view, all I can see is yuck.
 |
| Look what I have! |
Okay, let's rejoice for a moment, shall we?
Me - It looks like a real book!
My hubby - It IS a real book, honey.
Me - ........... I guess so............
 |
| The windows go up the center! |
The cover is a matte finish. My hubby really likes it because it makes the drawing of the cover art look like you could touch it and smudge the graphite. I'm so happy the windows go up the middle of the spine! I only had to upload that four times before that was finally correct.
 |
| Chapter 17? |
So, now that I've had it for eighteen hours, what have I found so far? First, it was TOTALLY worth it to buy the proof. Originally, I wasn't intending on purchasing it, I was going to hit the publish button and go with it. Well, the font on the title isn't correct (how did I miss that? - It's right in the mock-up). Since I'm going to reload the cover, I'm going to blow up the art a little bit and eliminate some of the white on the sides of the front and back. I read the first three chapters last night and I found four errors. One is major, I went in to change the verb and didn't erase what I had in there (Dur). One is a formatting error, I put in two dashes to make an 'em' dash and it didn't. I forgot a period after a set of ellipses. And, I have a comma where I should have a period (Still a complete sentence, it just reads better as two). The last three aren't a big deal and I might have left them if I hadn't found the first. But since I did, I'm going to fix the tiny stuff too. Might as well, right?
I do have another pair of eyes looking for stuff. Maybe between the two of us, we'll catch everything.
I made a small advance in my floor plan drawing. Freehand circles suck. I should just break down and go buy another compass, but I don't want to go to the store. :/ I only got 368 words written yesterday. Yes, you saw that right, 368. I think my creative tank is low. Time to read something else. I started reading The Maze Runner last night. Halfway through the first chapter, I was thinking "That's what I'm doing wrong...." After that, I read the first three chapters in my book. I'm not doing anything wrong, it's just I'm in rewrite mode, so I think everything I've been writing is crap.
That's just how it goes. The first draft (or fourth for that matter) is crap and it's ugly and it's full of grammatical issues. It's not until you sit down and look at it and say "Okay, I've used 'irritated' seven times in this six page chapter," or "I have WAY too many adverbs in this section," that you actually turn something that's okay or good to something that's captivating. It's part of the process. I've been dealing in the muck this last six weeks, and so from my point of view, all I can see is yuck.
Friday, September 16, 2016
September 16, 2016
It's Friday.
It was another busy day today with a trip to the veterinarian and the store. I didn't get started on today's work until 12:30.
I do hope to get eight hours in though. My daughter is out of town tonight and my husband has to work so it'll only be me and the three boys. I was already planning on leftovers for dinner. They'll want to play video games or on the computer, so I think I'll be free to get my hours in.
I got my book proof ordered today. The cover is finally where I want it to be, yeah!
I got about 2000 words re-written yesterday. I tried to stay up and get a couple hours in but my body said 'no.'
We'll find out what the rest of today brings. One more small task and then I can focus on writing.
See you tomorrow.
Construct 11 copyright registration pending
It was another busy day today with a trip to the veterinarian and the store. I didn't get started on today's work until 12:30.
I do hope to get eight hours in though. My daughter is out of town tonight and my husband has to work so it'll only be me and the three boys. I was already planning on leftovers for dinner. They'll want to play video games or on the computer, so I think I'll be free to get my hours in.
I got my book proof ordered today. The cover is finally where I want it to be, yeah!
I got about 2000 words re-written yesterday. I tried to stay up and get a couple hours in but my body said 'no.'
We'll find out what the rest of today brings. One more small task and then I can focus on writing.
See you tomorrow.
Construct 11 copyright registration pending
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
September 14, 2016
Hello again.
I'm a little bummed. I submitted everything to CreateSpace on Monday. The cover came back on Tuesday a little blurry. So, I uploaded the cover again with a higher resolution scan of the cover art to be certain it wouldn't be blurry. It was going to set me back twenty-four hours, since the wonderful people at CreateSpace had to review things again.
Fast forward to last night and I'm working on reformatting the manuscript for Smashwords, an internet company that distributes your ebook to several different ebook platforms. What did I find? I found an '8' stuck in the middle of a word halfway through the book.
GAHH!
It missed the spelling checker. Or did it? I made a back-up so there's an ebook version of the manuscript and a paperback version. Was that mistake just in the ebook one?
Nope. It was in all (back-up of just the chapter as well). This error has been there a while.
Crap.
So, today, I uploaded a corrected version to CreateSpace. And apparently, my cover was the wrong size so whomever looked at it yesterday, sized it down (.283"). Well, they sized it down on one side only and my cover is based of a centered style. Totally my fault, not theirs. So, I fixed the size of my cover so they wouldn't have to trim it down, got it centered, moved the white box for the ISBN and barcode and uploaded it again.
Aggravating, yes?
Yes.
However, I find this to be very revealing. I need to slow it down a little, I think. Books last forever. And while they're not carved in stone anymore, they do tend to outlast us. So, tomorrow, I'm ordering a proof-copy of my book and I'll wait for it to come in the mail. I need to get this as right as I can.
I'm thinking publishing will be in the middle of October now.
I'm okay with that.
I am sorry if that creates a problem for my readers. I hope you'll understand.
By the way, reformatting a manuscript takes a long time. I didn't get much rewriting done. However, since it's going to take another four weeks to get part 1 published, that pushes off the publishing of part 2. Six months apart so....
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending
I'm a little bummed. I submitted everything to CreateSpace on Monday. The cover came back on Tuesday a little blurry. So, I uploaded the cover again with a higher resolution scan of the cover art to be certain it wouldn't be blurry. It was going to set me back twenty-four hours, since the wonderful people at CreateSpace had to review things again.
Fast forward to last night and I'm working on reformatting the manuscript for Smashwords, an internet company that distributes your ebook to several different ebook platforms. What did I find? I found an '8' stuck in the middle of a word halfway through the book.
GAHH!
It missed the spelling checker. Or did it? I made a back-up so there's an ebook version of the manuscript and a paperback version. Was that mistake just in the ebook one?
Nope. It was in all (back-up of just the chapter as well). This error has been there a while.
Crap.
So, today, I uploaded a corrected version to CreateSpace. And apparently, my cover was the wrong size so whomever looked at it yesterday, sized it down (.283"). Well, they sized it down on one side only and my cover is based of a centered style. Totally my fault, not theirs. So, I fixed the size of my cover so they wouldn't have to trim it down, got it centered, moved the white box for the ISBN and barcode and uploaded it again.
Aggravating, yes?
Yes.
However, I find this to be very revealing. I need to slow it down a little, I think. Books last forever. And while they're not carved in stone anymore, they do tend to outlast us. So, tomorrow, I'm ordering a proof-copy of my book and I'll wait for it to come in the mail. I need to get this as right as I can.
I'm thinking publishing will be in the middle of October now.
I'm okay with that.
I am sorry if that creates a problem for my readers. I hope you'll understand.
By the way, reformatting a manuscript takes a long time. I didn't get much rewriting done. However, since it's going to take another four weeks to get part 1 published, that pushes off the publishing of part 2. Six months apart so....
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending
Saturday, September 10, 2016
September 10, 2016
Today had been a busy day. I have accomplished a lot.
First of all, I won't get the manuscript uploaded to CreateSpace today.
But, I'm okay with that. I'm close.
Today, I finished the corrections. The formatting is done. I just completed the acknowledgements. I registered my title with Bowker and set the price for the paperback so I can use one of the ISBN I purchased.
I feel like I need to do one more read-through. I found two misspelled words when I was making corrections this afternoon. Other than that, I need to get the cover completed so it's up-loadable.
And then that's it... at least for the paperback.
There's still the matter of the ebook, but that's for a different day.
I'm taking tomorrow off... well, at least from blogging. I think I'll be reading all day.
See you Monday!
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending
First of all, I won't get the manuscript uploaded to CreateSpace today.
But, I'm okay with that. I'm close.
Today, I finished the corrections. The formatting is done. I just completed the acknowledgements. I registered my title with Bowker and set the price for the paperback so I can use one of the ISBN I purchased.
I feel like I need to do one more read-through. I found two misspelled words when I was making corrections this afternoon. Other than that, I need to get the cover completed so it's up-loadable.
And then that's it... at least for the paperback.
There's still the matter of the ebook, but that's for a different day.
I'm taking tomorrow off... well, at least from blogging. I think I'll be reading all day.
See you Monday!
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending
Friday, September 9, 2016
September 9, 2016
Everything I have to do for part one seem to be taking a really long time to get together.
I'm only halfway done with the corrections. They're not huge, but I have three different copies (back up of the whole manuscript and individual chapters). I cut and paste the new version in, but switching between the three takes extra time. In addition, I'm checking the formatting as I go, making sure everything is just perfect. That makes it take even longer.
Yesterday, I planned on getting my copyright and acknowledgement pages done. It took a few hours to do the copyright page. Most of that time was spent researching and making sure I had what I needed. Then I spent some time searching for a quote at the beginning of my book, only to change my mind as I went to bed (I don't want to sway my readers before they read the first part). Then I spent a little time looking up what I needed to get into my acknowledgements and read three or four from other books by different authors.
Then it was time for supper.
I got about 2600 words re-written yesterday. That frustrates me, too. Why can't I do everything I want to do in the mere twenty-four hours of a day???
Uhg. So, today, I've been working on the formatting and corrections. I got some other things done that I needed to, silly things like going to the grocery store or walking the dog. Needy people/animals--yeesh. My son has a cross-country meet that I'm just about to leave for and then there's a church bb-q this evening. I hope they don't mind me furiously working while I'm there, because that's what's going to happen.
Don't even talk to me about what I have to get done tomorrow (that's not book-related). Maybe I'll just stay up all night.
Yeah, like that's a good idea.
Rant over. Back to reality.
See you tomorrow.
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending
I'm only halfway done with the corrections. They're not huge, but I have three different copies (back up of the whole manuscript and individual chapters). I cut and paste the new version in, but switching between the three takes extra time. In addition, I'm checking the formatting as I go, making sure everything is just perfect. That makes it take even longer.
Yesterday, I planned on getting my copyright and acknowledgement pages done. It took a few hours to do the copyright page. Most of that time was spent researching and making sure I had what I needed. Then I spent some time searching for a quote at the beginning of my book, only to change my mind as I went to bed (I don't want to sway my readers before they read the first part). Then I spent a little time looking up what I needed to get into my acknowledgements and read three or four from other books by different authors.
Then it was time for supper.
I got about 2600 words re-written yesterday. That frustrates me, too. Why can't I do everything I want to do in the mere twenty-four hours of a day???
Uhg. So, today, I've been working on the formatting and corrections. I got some other things done that I needed to, silly things like going to the grocery store or walking the dog. Needy people/animals--yeesh. My son has a cross-country meet that I'm just about to leave for and then there's a church bb-q this evening. I hope they don't mind me furiously working while I'm there, because that's what's going to happen.
Don't even talk to me about what I have to get done tomorrow (that's not book-related). Maybe I'll just stay up all night.
Yeah, like that's a good idea.
Rant over. Back to reality.
See you tomorrow.
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
September 7, 2016
Howdy! I hope your day went well yesterday. Sorry I didn't check in.
Monday, I did not get to my 6,000 word count goal. I managed about 1000. I went for a really long walk and was sore all day. The kids, the husband and I scrubbed the house, which was sorely needed. (Apparently, writing makes house-cleaning impossible. ;) ). With the rest of the hubby's day off, we went to a small, local amusement park and played miniature golf, enjoyed the bumper boats and loved the go-carts. Afterwards, we went to have hamburgers. It was a lovely afternoon and a much needed break.
Tuesday (yesterday), I didn't even get the 1000 words I did on Monday. The proofreading is done for part 1 and I spent the part of the day with my editor talking about the issues (mostly grammatical) that needed fixed. The rest of the day, I spent as a jelly-brained slug. So, there you go.
Today, I took the plunge and purchased the ISBN! Wow, it's like... getting real now. I do plan to do some re-writing today, along with taking care of the proofreading fixes.
It's getting closer.
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending.
Monday, I did not get to my 6,000 word count goal. I managed about 1000. I went for a really long walk and was sore all day. The kids, the husband and I scrubbed the house, which was sorely needed. (Apparently, writing makes house-cleaning impossible. ;) ). With the rest of the hubby's day off, we went to a small, local amusement park and played miniature golf, enjoyed the bumper boats and loved the go-carts. Afterwards, we went to have hamburgers. It was a lovely afternoon and a much needed break.
Tuesday (yesterday), I didn't even get the 1000 words I did on Monday. The proofreading is done for part 1 and I spent the part of the day with my editor talking about the issues (mostly grammatical) that needed fixed. The rest of the day, I spent as a jelly-brained slug. So, there you go.
Today, I took the plunge and purchased the ISBN! Wow, it's like... getting real now. I do plan to do some re-writing today, along with taking care of the proofreading fixes.
It's getting closer.
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending.
Monday, September 5, 2016
September 5, 2016
The re-write is going well. I haven't made it to the changed section yet. It will be a while before I get there. I have to move some other things first, things I wanted to have happen to this character before the moved event happens. That requires shifting some stuff for the other characters, too.
When I decided to make this move, I was about 2/3 of the way through the fourth draft of part two. Since it's such a major move, I decided it wasn't worth my time to do the remainder. So, I started over. Wow, I had a lot of typos. Hopefully I'm not creating too many more. :) I guess we'll see.
I've gotten quite a bit done over the weekend. I've averaged 6354 words per day for a total of 19,064 by lights out last night. I would like to keep this pace up. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are all like a huge bolt of fabric and are better served by re-writing all of it at one time. However, that makes splitting up the book into manageable chunks more difficult. At the same time, I don't want to make my debut book War and Peace size. :) Anyway, if I can manage to keep up this pace, I should be able to re-write both parts this month.
The proofreading of part 1 is almost done and I'll be picking it up tomorrow. If there's not too much to change or fix, I'm hoping I can get it uploaded to CreateSpace by Monday at the latest. I'll keep you posted!
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending.
When I decided to make this move, I was about 2/3 of the way through the fourth draft of part two. Since it's such a major move, I decided it wasn't worth my time to do the remainder. So, I started over. Wow, I had a lot of typos. Hopefully I'm not creating too many more. :) I guess we'll see.
I've gotten quite a bit done over the weekend. I've averaged 6354 words per day for a total of 19,064 by lights out last night. I would like to keep this pace up. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are all like a huge bolt of fabric and are better served by re-writing all of it at one time. However, that makes splitting up the book into manageable chunks more difficult. At the same time, I don't want to make my debut book War and Peace size. :) Anyway, if I can manage to keep up this pace, I should be able to re-write both parts this month.
The proofreading of part 1 is almost done and I'll be picking it up tomorrow. If there's not too much to change or fix, I'm hoping I can get it uploaded to CreateSpace by Monday at the latest. I'll keep you posted!
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending.
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