Writing Updates

I'm starting with this today, because it's quick and easy. I have no updates, other than my cursor is working correctly again. Yay! I found out yesterday that all the work I did on Monday is gone, I've been told by other writers, that it's only words. They can be re-written, so that's what I plan to do today. Couldn't do it without a working cursor though :)

Writing Update

So, things aren't working so well for me this week. My cursor's jumping all over the place, making it difficult to write (a restart did not fix this problem..grr-that's supposed to fix everything). But, more upsetting than that, all the work I did yesterday has disappeared. I know I hit that stupid save button, I have no idea what happened to it, but it's gone. I made changes in a critiqued document that was sent to me. I have the original critiqued doc, but not the one with all the changes I made. So, joy of joys, I get to start all over. It better be better than it was, but we'll never find out if my stinkin' curson doesn't stop jumping around and screwing me up. I'm a little stressed-can you tell? It might just be a reading day, but then I'm two days behind tomorrow instead of one.

Writing Updates

I've gone through chapters 4-6 and realized they no longer belong. Chapter four is completely gone, there might be a paragraph from chapter 5 that shows up somewhere else, and maybe a couple paragraphs from chapter 6. Chapter 7 I need. Over the weekend, I also joined a critique group. This is a really big step for me, because I still have thin skin, and at first act defensively and get discouraged. It takes a few days for me to process it and come up with productive questions and different ways to do things to satsify myself and my crit parter. Now, I'll have even more. And I think the rule is to be brutally honest, it's better to have your crit group point something out than an editor or agent. Not only can receiving brutal honesty be an issue for me, but so can giving it. I'm always worried about how other people feel. Guess I'll learn to get over it, or I'd better just toss in the towel now, which is not what I want. Adaptation to brutal honesty it is. Todays writing goals: 1. Create a chapter four that bridges chapter 3 and 7. 2. Gather good, productive questions to ask about the critique I got back last week and move forward. Non-writing goal: leave the yummy peanut butter cookies in the kitchen alone. One for breakfast is enough. Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

It's Monday

Oh, my! Things are quiet and I'm alone! That hasn't happened since Tuesday morning of last week! Got a bit more editing done on Claimed. Today I'm going to double check the punctuation around my quotes. I think this is a weak area of mine, and I don't want to drive my friends crazy when they read it for me! Went to the Y again this morning. I was on the eliptical for 45 mins. I think I did 20 and 25 the other times I was there. I pushed buttons today to see what would happen (I held on tight with the other hand though, incase it tried to throw me off). I found ways to make it harder so I use more calories in a shorter amount of time - I use more muscle groups too! Anyway, gotta go get cleaned up from the gym, then go to Hobby Lobby to use some coupons for some Christmas shopping :) Then I can get back to my edits. Just waiting for the dog to come back in.

I'm So Irritated

and mad, and frustrated....there's so many other words, but you get my drift, right? I spent all day working on Blood and Water, got all the way to page 97, and I felt really good about the work I'd done. This morning I was having computer issues, and needed to reboot. I closed everything out to restart. NONE OF MY EDIT NOTES ARE THERE NOW! I don't know what happened. My version of Word has an auto save feature, so even if I didn't save the last time I stopped (which I did, and I think I even did so before I closed it out, AND there was no message asking me if I wanted to save first) there should be something to show for yesterday, but there's not. Argg....I just lost a whole day's worth of work and I don't remember every comment or every note. So, here's my plan for today; wait for my bil to get back to his desk and ask him what happened (although I don't have much hope there's anything he can do at this point). The second part of my plan? Pretend like it didn't happen and move on. I'll be picking up at page 97, where my big notation of "start here" should be, and going from there. After I'm done, I'll circle around and catch the first 96 pages if they can't be found by someone better with computers than I am. What else can I do? It looks like I need to push my schedule back though, my new deadline is to have this document, with full edits, to John Walker on Monday, and then pick back up with Claimed on Tuesday (whose edits are still there - I checked). Okay, venting done, unless I can get a hold of someone on the phone. Time to get back to work.

Blood and Water Edits

For John Walker :) My eyes are crossing, that means it's time to go to bed. Today was good, got a great start on his edits, made it to page 97 of the 288 page word document. I have tomorrow and some time on Saturday to finish. I want to get back to my book, Claimed, on Monday. Thanks for stopping by!

Edits for John Walker's Blood and Water

He's kind enough to let me do some read throughs and edits for his books, today I'm starting on Blood and Water (or as we refer to it, B&W). This is his 6th book, and there's another one in the works after this, he's a busy man! Anyway, I hope to spend a couple days on this project, and then pick back up with Claimed on Monday, I feel like I finally found my editing mojo for my own work and it's exciting. One thing I noticed reading through Claimed, I don't hate it...that's a good thing, right? So, John, if you're reading this, consider it an update ;) Hope to talk to you soon!

Friday Writing Update - Claimed

Prologue and first three chapters are mostly edited. I'm getting a little discouraged, I'm trying to find my groove, and it's not happening as quickly or easily as I thought it would. I've never done this before, so I'm in the trial and error zone. Do I edit the paper and then go back and edit in the doc? Seems redundant to me. It's playing with my eyes too, trying to change focus between my printed page, and my computer screen. Argh...I need to find something that works for me so I can get excited about it and not stall when I should be working. I keep trying new set ups, and new ways and so far, I'm still working on it. I've got my laptop, jumbo notebook (to hold first and second drafts, as well as research), and my tablet that I need to make space for. During the writing process, I sat on the couch - but now it's kind of hard to spread out there. Unfortunately, sitting on a hard chair at the dining table isn't doing it for me, desks in general are kind of hard for me to work at, physically, and creatively. I'm short, and tables and desks always seem too high for me to work at comfortably. I have a chair that I can lift, but then my knees are too close to the bottom and more than once I've jammed my knee into the underside of the thing when I was trying to get comfortable - that didn't really help any. Part of it's my clumsiness, but you get the idea. Tonight I tried a different set up on the couch and it might work. We'll have to see. My goal was to have this finished by the end of the year, and at this rate, it's going to be close...I need to get into my groove and get working. Thanks for listening to me rant a bit...

Working On It

Okay, I managed to do a bit of revision and my brain is happy. I've known my story was too long, and I knew that the best place to cut was in the beginning. There was a lot of info there that worked for me getting to know my characters, but didn't necesarily belong in the book itself. I just condensed 18 pages into 3. That will definitely help! Whatever was causing my mental editing block, I think this may have fixed it. I'm going to go through my written edits in my notebook, (about 100 pages) then I'll switch to editing directly in the document. My eyes are getting confused jumping back and forth between the book and the screen!

Couldn't Do It...

Couldn't keep moving, so I'm reworking the first 20 pages or so of Claimed so that I can move on. I was also working with paper and pen, but may just need to work directly with the doc on the computer. I hate feeling like I'm duplicating work by going through my paper draft and then going back to the computer to find and fix everything. I hope I'm saving a step by working directly in the doc. itself. I've never done this before, so I'm trying to figure this out as I go, and that's frustrating me too. Any authors who want to comment on how they do the editing process, please, feel free! Thanks for stopping by!

Figured Something Out

I think I know why I'm not just jumping into edits, it's taking me time to agree to finally look things over. I know I need to re-do the beginning of the story, and I haven't done it yet, so it feels like I'm editing something that's not ready, because it's not completely finished. Now that I know this, I wonder if I can trick my brain into agreeing to just continue with the edits and then do the rewrites all at once. Some how, I need to assuage that part of myself that feels like I forgot to do something. I'm at page 105 for edits, I started editing a while back when I read over the first 70 pages to refresh my memory, it had been awhile since I'd sat down to write. I couldn't help it, I edited as I went, so now, I just have to pick up where I left off, then I can go through and make things better - that's the plan anyway! Wish me luck! Thanks for stopping by!

Today - Tuesday's Work

I'm picking up at page 205 of Jennifer Chase's Dead Game, I hope to finish and get it back to her today. Isn't technology great! All changes, ideas, suggestions, etc... are done directly to the digital document. No prinitng pages of manuscript, sending them off, marking them up, and sending them back, all the time waiting on the USPS. When it's finished, it's at her desk within minutes :) I hope to start edits and rewrites on my book, Claimed tomorrow or Thursday, we'll see how things go :) Claimed is part of the Annwyn series, because there's more stories floating around in my head ;) Didn't sleep well last night, guess I should have spent it working on Dead Game, but at 2 am, I really thought I should go to bed, since I had to get up at 7:30 to get the kids moving...maybe I'll have better luck tonight. Once I did fall asleep, I didn't sleep that well...sad, huh?