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!
Showing posts with label re-writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label re-writing. Show all posts
Monday, October 3, 2016
Saturday, October 1, 2016
October 1, 2016
Happy October, everybody.
Today has been a day spent watching inspiring talks by the leaders of my church. I haven't gotten much done today and that's okay. It's been a nice, relaxing day and I wouldn't trade it for all the work I could've gotten done.
Yesterday, I got two chapters rewritten (well, one written and one rewritten). I logged over 5000 words. Pretty good.
Then, my hubby and I took the kids to rodeo and later, the carnival at the fair. We got home about 12:30. It was a really good day.
I didn't get the chapters read that I had scheduled. I didn't get the chapters corrected that I had scheduled. Goals in the trash bin yesterday and today. Sigh.
There's always next week. Here's to meeting those goals this next week! Have a wonderful Sunday!
Today has been a day spent watching inspiring talks by the leaders of my church. I haven't gotten much done today and that's okay. It's been a nice, relaxing day and I wouldn't trade it for all the work I could've gotten done.
Yesterday, I got two chapters rewritten (well, one written and one rewritten). I logged over 5000 words. Pretty good.
Then, my hubby and I took the kids to rodeo and later, the carnival at the fair. We got home about 12:30. It was a really good day.
I didn't get the chapters read that I had scheduled. I didn't get the chapters corrected that I had scheduled. Goals in the trash bin yesterday and today. Sigh.
There's always next week. Here's to meeting those goals this next week! Have a wonderful Sunday!
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.
Monday, September 26, 2016
September 26, 2016
Saturday wound up being a good day. I went to a church event early in the evening and that filled my tank. I came home ready to write and stayed up until 11:00. I got a little over 2000 words written. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.
Today has been filled with life and not much book work. I took a Benadryl late last night and was not willing to get out of bed at 5:45. I took the kids to seminary and then laid back down. I finally got up at 7:30, ran some errands, walked the dog and then went to lunch with the hubby. That's where I sit for the day. I can still get some in, I'll just need to be choosy about what I do.
I'm going to work on the drawing I keep saying I'm going to put up. I've had to redraw it once already and I'm looking at doing that again. I'm just a perfectionist.
The book proofing is going well. I'm on chapter 16 out of 50 (They're fairly small chapters). I'll be to the halfway point by Wednesday. It's at that point I'll upload a fixed version of my cover and order another proof book. I want to make sure the cover is just right. The errors that I fix internally can be reviewed online after I upload things. If any changes are necessary at that point, I won't reorder another book, I'll just fix it and re-upload it.
Well, I'm going to get to work now. I'll talk to you tomorrow.
Today has been filled with life and not much book work. I took a Benadryl late last night and was not willing to get out of bed at 5:45. I took the kids to seminary and then laid back down. I finally got up at 7:30, ran some errands, walked the dog and then went to lunch with the hubby. That's where I sit for the day. I can still get some in, I'll just need to be choosy about what I do.
I'm going to work on the drawing I keep saying I'm going to put up. I've had to redraw it once already and I'm looking at doing that again. I'm just a perfectionist.
The book proofing is going well. I'm on chapter 16 out of 50 (They're fairly small chapters). I'll be to the halfway point by Wednesday. It's at that point I'll upload a fixed version of my cover and order another proof book. I want to make sure the cover is just right. The errors that I fix internally can be reviewed online after I upload things. If any changes are necessary at that point, I won't reorder another book, I'll just fix it and re-upload it.
Well, I'm going to get to work now. I'll talk to you tomorrow.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
September 24, 2016
Today's been pretty blah. I haven't done much work on anything.
Maybe I needed a couple days off.
I worked for a couple hours yesterday on the drawing of the accommodations. It still isn't done, however. I need to resize the rooms a little. They seem too big if they're trying to be economical. Each one is 750 square feet for a family of three, which sounds really small. However, they don't have a lot of belongings and they don't need a kitchen. The two bedrooms are 9x10 with a small bathroom, 6x5. Once you subtract that space out, you have a living room that's 20x25, 500 square feet. That's really huge. I could knock one dimension down by five feet and it would be 15x25. That would give a decent sized living area with a 'dining room' for a table and chairs, even though they wouldn't use it as such.
Writing did not go well yesterday. I got just over 200 words rewritten. Ish.
I tried to sit and read someone else's book but it didn't work. I can't get into it. I read a couple paragraphs and then I'm thinking about my book. And then I can't sit down and write. It's frustrating.
I'll see you guys on Monday.
Maybe I needed a couple days off.
I worked for a couple hours yesterday on the drawing of the accommodations. It still isn't done, however. I need to resize the rooms a little. They seem too big if they're trying to be economical. Each one is 750 square feet for a family of three, which sounds really small. However, they don't have a lot of belongings and they don't need a kitchen. The two bedrooms are 9x10 with a small bathroom, 6x5. Once you subtract that space out, you have a living room that's 20x25, 500 square feet. That's really huge. I could knock one dimension down by five feet and it would be 15x25. That would give a decent sized living area with a 'dining room' for a table and chairs, even though they wouldn't use it as such.
Writing did not go well yesterday. I got just over 200 words rewritten. Ish.
I tried to sit and read someone else's book but it didn't work. I can't get into it. I read a couple paragraphs and then I'm thinking about my book. And then I can't sit down and write. It's frustrating.
I'll see you guys on Monday.
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.
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
September 21, 2016
You guys are awesome! Thank you for reading, liking and sharing! I love that there's so many of you who've come to see what I'm doing here. It's exciting.
The new sketch of the layout of the floors is coming along but there's still some more work to do. I'm looking forward to sharing that with you.
Yesterday, I got just over 2,000 words rewritten. I struggled yesterday. Facebook was a big temptation. The little bit of the drawing that I worked on was wonderful. I wonder if my creative tank is running low again. Probably better find a way to fill it up.
I got more timeline work done and I think I've filled in the gap the scene move created. By taking that major scene and moving it up in the timeline, things behind it were lagging a little. Yesterday, I discovered what I needed to build up to fill that space. Right now, it's only in rough draft form, but once it's cleaned up, I think it'll be really good. But, that's just my opinion! Hahahaha.
Shooting for 6,000 today, but only expecting 3,000. While I'd like the bigger number, I'd be satisfied with the smaller one. There's laundry to do, a grocery list to make for tomorrow, volunteering to do this afternoon and then just plain o' life. It is Wednesday....
Lol. I'll see you tomorrow.
The new sketch of the layout of the floors is coming along but there's still some more work to do. I'm looking forward to sharing that with you.
Yesterday, I got just over 2,000 words rewritten. I struggled yesterday. Facebook was a big temptation. The little bit of the drawing that I worked on was wonderful. I wonder if my creative tank is running low again. Probably better find a way to fill it up.
I got more timeline work done and I think I've filled in the gap the scene move created. By taking that major scene and moving it up in the timeline, things behind it were lagging a little. Yesterday, I discovered what I needed to build up to fill that space. Right now, it's only in rough draft form, but once it's cleaned up, I think it'll be really good. But, that's just my opinion! Hahahaha.
Shooting for 6,000 today, but only expecting 3,000. While I'd like the bigger number, I'd be satisfied with the smaller one. There's laundry to do, a grocery list to make for tomorrow, volunteering to do this afternoon and then just plain o' life. It is Wednesday....
Lol. I'll see you tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
September 20, 2016
Good Tuesday to you. Thanks for stopping by.
Okay, here's the update on yesterday. I finished the night with 5,080 words. It wasn't as big as Friday and Saturday, but it was still a good day.
I struggled a little bit yesterday. I was writing a kissing scene but my husband was in the room. I was self-conscious the whole time. And because I was going back and adding this chapter by quite a few, I felt like I needed to write it first, so I had the right frame-of-mind for those characters in the chapter I that I would be working on next. Therefore, I lagged for about an hour until my husband went to work. Then I spent the next hour re-writing what I worked on while he was there because I hadn't pulled myself into the scene and therefore wouldn't have pulled my readers in. Sigh, the difficulties of writing (I say that with a smile.)
Honestly, I really do write my best when I'm alone. I haven't figured out why yet, but I've found it to be true and I have to work around it.
I'm fired up about working today. I went to the NaNoWriMo website because I got a newsletter in my email and couldn't open it. I knew it would be there in my mailbox. Sure enough, it was. They're reaching out, trying to get their authors psyched about the upcoming competition in November. (If you want to join, now's the time! Actually, you can join anytime up until Nov. 10th, but the earlier the better. Just go back and click on the link and they'll help you out!)
Anyway, I was able to go back and add stuff about the novel I worked on last year, Construct 11 Part 1!! I loaded up a cover, put up the synopsis, stuck in an excerpt and updated my author's bio. Now, I'm all stoked.
I'm working on another permanent page to go along with the "About Construct 11" page. I'm envisioning this page to be about the building itself. I have some sketches of technical drawings I made last year in a book that I carry around with me EVERYWHERE (except church... it stays home then). I scanned them into the computer yesterday and then realized I needed a better drawing. So, I'm working on that a little today. I hope to have that page up and running by Saturday. Eeek. Better get working.
Thanks for coming. See you tomorrow!
Okay, here's the update on yesterday. I finished the night with 5,080 words. It wasn't as big as Friday and Saturday, but it was still a good day.
I struggled a little bit yesterday. I was writing a kissing scene but my husband was in the room. I was self-conscious the whole time. And because I was going back and adding this chapter by quite a few, I felt like I needed to write it first, so I had the right frame-of-mind for those characters in the chapter I that I would be working on next. Therefore, I lagged for about an hour until my husband went to work. Then I spent the next hour re-writing what I worked on while he was there because I hadn't pulled myself into the scene and therefore wouldn't have pulled my readers in. Sigh, the difficulties of writing (I say that with a smile.)
Honestly, I really do write my best when I'm alone. I haven't figured out why yet, but I've found it to be true and I have to work around it.
I'm fired up about working today. I went to the NaNoWriMo website because I got a newsletter in my email and couldn't open it. I knew it would be there in my mailbox. Sure enough, it was. They're reaching out, trying to get their authors psyched about the upcoming competition in November. (If you want to join, now's the time! Actually, you can join anytime up until Nov. 10th, but the earlier the better. Just go back and click on the link and they'll help you out!)
Anyway, I was able to go back and add stuff about the novel I worked on last year, Construct 11 Part 1!! I loaded up a cover, put up the synopsis, stuck in an excerpt and updated my author's bio. Now, I'm all stoked.
I'm working on another permanent page to go along with the "About Construct 11" page. I'm envisioning this page to be about the building itself. I have some sketches of technical drawings I made last year in a book that I carry around with me EVERYWHERE (except church... it stays home then). I scanned them into the computer yesterday and then realized I needed a better drawing. So, I'm working on that a little today. I hope to have that page up and running by Saturday. Eeek. Better get working.
Thanks for coming. See you tomorrow!
Monday, September 19, 2016
September 19, 2016
Good morning. It's wonderful to see you here. Thank you for coming.
On Saturday, I wound up getting a little over 6000 words re-written. That's two days in a row that I got over my goal! Yeah! Lol. Now, I need to do it again.
I've gotten the big scene moved. Everything from here on out will need some type of adjustment since this is a major change in the timeline. I've had all of part 2 and 2/3's of part 3 rough drafted since April. Looking forward, I can see that this shift in the timeline is going to bring me farther and farther away from what I have drafted. I'm glad I resisted the temptation to rough draft more--although that temptation is still there. I really enjoy the creative part of writing. Re-writing is necessary, but it's mundane because I've already figured that out. Lol.
There's a huge sucking hole since I moved that section. It was important to move it, I'm positive of that. I'm going to have to pull from what I've written in part 3 to fill the hole. I don't see that as a big problem, just not what I had originally planned for the book. That's okay. That's what re-writing is for and the book will be better because of it.
Wish me luck.
See you tomorrow.
On Saturday, I wound up getting a little over 6000 words re-written. That's two days in a row that I got over my goal! Yeah! Lol. Now, I need to do it again.
I've gotten the big scene moved. Everything from here on out will need some type of adjustment since this is a major change in the timeline. I've had all of part 2 and 2/3's of part 3 rough drafted since April. Looking forward, I can see that this shift in the timeline is going to bring me farther and farther away from what I have drafted. I'm glad I resisted the temptation to rough draft more--although that temptation is still there. I really enjoy the creative part of writing. Re-writing is necessary, but it's mundane because I've already figured that out. Lol.
There's a huge sucking hole since I moved that section. It was important to move it, I'm positive of that. I'm going to have to pull from what I've written in part 3 to fill the hole. I don't see that as a big problem, just not what I had originally planned for the book. That's okay. That's what re-writing is for and the book will be better because of it.
Wish me luck.
See you tomorrow.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
September 17, 2016
Happy Saturday, my faithful readers. I'm glad to see you back.
I wanted to thank you for reading. I really appreciate it.
Yesterday was a really good day. I got everything accomplished on my to-do list, which is rare. As far as the book goals go, I got my book proof ordered and I met my word count goal.
The book proof being ordered means that the cover finally was uploaded correctly and adjustments didn't have to be made. Hopefully, I will get the book on the expected day, Monday. It will be exciting to see it in actual book form, instead of a printout or a spiral bound version. Maybe I'll post a picture....
I not only made my word count goal of 6000 words yesterday, I blew it away. I managed to get 7108. Pretty good, if I do say so myself. Especially since I didn't start writing until one in the afternoon. It's already after two now, so I'm not sure if I will get it today or not. But I'm going to try. It felt to good to get that much done.
Now that the majority of the publishing work for Part 1 is complete, I'm going to try and post information about it every week. This next week, I'll try to get something up about the building itself.
I hope to see you again on Monday! Have a great Sunday!
Construct 11 copyright registration pending
I wanted to thank you for reading. I really appreciate it.
Yesterday was a really good day. I got everything accomplished on my to-do list, which is rare. As far as the book goals go, I got my book proof ordered and I met my word count goal.
The book proof being ordered means that the cover finally was uploaded correctly and adjustments didn't have to be made. Hopefully, I will get the book on the expected day, Monday. It will be exciting to see it in actual book form, instead of a printout or a spiral bound version. Maybe I'll post a picture....
I not only made my word count goal of 6000 words yesterday, I blew it away. I managed to get 7108. Pretty good, if I do say so myself. Especially since I didn't start writing until one in the afternoon. It's already after two now, so I'm not sure if I will get it today or not. But I'm going to try. It felt to good to get that much done.
Now that the majority of the publishing work for Part 1 is complete, I'm going to try and post information about it every week. This next week, I'll try to get something up about the building itself.
I hope to see you again on Monday! Have a great Sunday!
Construct 11 copyright registration pending
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
Thursday, September 15, 2016
September 15, 2016
Good morning.
I received my approval back from CreateSpace again. My letters on my spine were .02" too big. So, they resized it and moved the spine so it was centered. Uh, yeah. It's off.
I know why, I had my overall measurements for the whole cover a 1/8" too small (as opposed to 1/8" too big yesterday). Therefore, my centerline was off. As far as my lettering being too big, I don't think I changed it but maybe I did. Anyway, I'll have to fix it and upload the file again. So, I won't be able to order a proof book until tomorrow, if everything meets muster.
Yesterday, I managed to get some re-writing done, about 4000 words. I feel more accomplished when I'm able to do that. I realize formatting by text and getting my cover just right is progress, but for whatever reason, I feel I need to be writing everyday.
Because of that, I've changed how I'm organizing my day. I'm treating it like it's a job and I'm devoting at least eight hours a day to it. I'm getting ready for work every morning, like I would if I were leaving the house, make-up, earrings, etc. I'm dressing like I would be in a casual office, no more t-shirts and shorts. And I'm taking breaks every two hours, two 15 min and a lunch.
The first two hours of the morning, I take care of business type stuff, answering emails, blogging and calling people if I need to. Whatever I get done during that time is what I get done. If it's still there after two hours, it goes on tomorrow's list. Two hours a day to work on things like corrections, editing, covers, formatting, etc. Four hours to do creative things like first draft or re-writing.
I see a few difficulties with this, like on days when I need to go to the store or when there's an activity the kids need me to go to such as a cross country meet or back to school night. So, I'm planning on doing this six days a week. The kids will have to help clean the house (they should anyway) and I'll go do mom/wife things when I supposed to. I'm hoping this will still allow me to get forty hours of work in a week. I'm guessing it will be more, because that's how it's been.
I'll check in tomorrow. Have a good day!
Construct 11 copyright registration pending
I received my approval back from CreateSpace again. My letters on my spine were .02" too big. So, they resized it and moved the spine so it was centered. Uh, yeah. It's off.
I know why, I had my overall measurements for the whole cover a 1/8" too small (as opposed to 1/8" too big yesterday). Therefore, my centerline was off. As far as my lettering being too big, I don't think I changed it but maybe I did. Anyway, I'll have to fix it and upload the file again. So, I won't be able to order a proof book until tomorrow, if everything meets muster.
Yesterday, I managed to get some re-writing done, about 4000 words. I feel more accomplished when I'm able to do that. I realize formatting by text and getting my cover just right is progress, but for whatever reason, I feel I need to be writing everyday.
Because of that, I've changed how I'm organizing my day. I'm treating it like it's a job and I'm devoting at least eight hours a day to it. I'm getting ready for work every morning, like I would if I were leaving the house, make-up, earrings, etc. I'm dressing like I would be in a casual office, no more t-shirts and shorts. And I'm taking breaks every two hours, two 15 min and a lunch.
The first two hours of the morning, I take care of business type stuff, answering emails, blogging and calling people if I need to. Whatever I get done during that time is what I get done. If it's still there after two hours, it goes on tomorrow's list. Two hours a day to work on things like corrections, editing, covers, formatting, etc. Four hours to do creative things like first draft or re-writing.
I see a few difficulties with this, like on days when I need to go to the store or when there's an activity the kids need me to go to such as a cross country meet or back to school night. So, I'm planning on doing this six days a week. The kids will have to help clean the house (they should anyway) and I'll go do mom/wife things when I supposed to. I'm hoping this will still allow me to get forty hours of work in a week. I'm guessing it will be more, because that's how it's been.
I'll check in tomorrow. Have a good day!
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
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
September 13, 2016
Good morning. I apologize for not posting yesterday, but I wanted to have everything together before I did. Things took much longer than I expected.
So, not much rewriting got done over the last three days. I did 800ish on Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday I did just over 2000 words. I'm way behind on my goal for the month and I need to get crackin'.
So what's the biggest holdup? Just a little thing called getting part one to the publisher. That's all, no big deal.
I finished the cover yesterday. That took all afternoon. Even though it took longer than I thought, it turned out really good. And you know what? My book looks like a book. It's kinda scary.
Currently, everything for part one is under review at CreateSpace. I have no dates at all. I'll let you know as soon as I know something.
I'm planning on putting together a page that has all the blogs and websites, etc. that I used to get this all together. Just in case any of you would like to undertake this wild ride. I'd also like to get another page going with info about the book itself.... Sigh, too much to do.
Today, I'm going to finalize my copyright, email Barnes and Noble here in town to possibly organize a book-signing (?) and look into the ebook side of things. In there somewhere, I hope to get 6000 words rewritten. LOL!
See you tomorrow.
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending
So, not much rewriting got done over the last three days. I did 800ish on Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday I did just over 2000 words. I'm way behind on my goal for the month and I need to get crackin'.
So what's the biggest holdup? Just a little thing called getting part one to the publisher. That's all, no big deal.
I finished the cover yesterday. That took all afternoon. Even though it took longer than I thought, it turned out really good. And you know what? My book looks like a book. It's kinda scary.
Currently, everything for part one is under review at CreateSpace. I have no dates at all. I'll let you know as soon as I know something.
I'm planning on putting together a page that has all the blogs and websites, etc. that I used to get this all together. Just in case any of you would like to undertake this wild ride. I'd also like to get another page going with info about the book itself.... Sigh, too much to do.
Today, I'm going to finalize my copyright, email Barnes and Noble here in town to possibly organize a book-signing (?) and look into the ebook side of things. In there somewhere, I hope to get 6000 words rewritten. LOL!
See you tomorrow.
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
Thursday, September 8, 2016
September 8, 2016
So, yesterday I did a lot, but I didn't get to my 6000 word goal. I got in 2700. I was at the Family History Library in the afternoon, volunteering. I worked on corrections for a while. I did the laundry. And Facebook sucked up at least two hours of my time.
Well, what are you going to do?
Today, I'm working on the Copyright and Acknowledgement pages. I'll get some of the corrections taken care of. Hopefully, I'll get my word count in. No, not hopefully, I'm going to. :D
Have a good day.
Construct 11 Copyright registration pending.
Well, what are you going to do?
Today, I'm working on the Copyright and Acknowledgement pages. I'll get some of the corrections taken care of. Hopefully, I'll get my word count in. No, not hopefully, I'm going to. :D
Have a good day.
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.
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