Hello everyone and welcome back! I'm glad you were able to stop by today and I hope the week has started off by being nice to you. I have started it by desperately just wanting to sleep all day, which still sounds incredibly tempting, but all this 'responsibility' and 'work' stuff that I apparently have to do is getting in my way. Stupid March and it not having any real holidays.
So I've been sucked into this game where you create plagues to destroy the world. It's fascinatingly addictive and surprisingly difficult. However one of the things that always catches me is that in the beginning you can name your disease, and of course I pick something absolutely ridiculous (I destroyed the world last night with Pegasus Eggs, it was awesome), but that got me thinking about other things, which is why naming stuff will be today's topic!
I've mentioned before how a name can make or break something whether it be a world feeling or just the emotion of the immediate scene. If you're writing a touching romantic moment it would be really awkward to have someone's name be Corkstab McHithbottom, and not just because that's weird to type in general. It would completely cause your brain to become derailed in the middle of reading. Sure it would make sense if you were putting that in some action sequence (I'm picturing a pirate ship or an old-timey train for some reason...) but in a romantic 'The Notebook'-esque standing-in-the-rain moment, that would just be weird.
Names are everything, but sometimes just figuring them out is the hardest thing to do. Especially for your main character because their name is going to be the one that follows you the most, and if you end up hating it halfway through the story it is going to be absolutely terrible. It needs to be a name that fits their personality, makes sense with how they look, and matches the other characteristics that you have in mind for them. Now sure, can you give them the name Angela Lightheart and have your story be about how she discovers she's actually the daughter of a nephalim, if you wanted to be that person who does such a thing. I'm not saying that a play on words isn't fun sometimes (I STILL love Remus Lupin FOREVER, I felt so STUPID for those 5 minutes) but sometimes...I don't know, once in a while I get a kick out of them (see previous statement) other times when I feel like I'm being beaten over the head with a complete lack of anything I get annoyed. Maybe if it's the main character is when it drives me crazy the most? I don't know, Professor Lupin is the best!
Something else to keep in mind, and this is something that (for some reason) dawned on me suddenly while working on 'Through the Broken Mirror' is that while people's names may not always be exactly attributed to what their job is, like Billy Evilguy, but maybe their parents had hoped they would have normal lives and wouldn't grow up to want to rot the world's food supply. I named one of the antagonists Gus, and at first that was a placeholder because at the time I literally couldn't think of a single thing better. Then I got to thinking 'You know...his mom probably didn't know he'd do all this stuff. She probably thought about how perfect her baby boy was and how he was going to grow up to do all sort of perfect things, and his name is actually Augustus, and that is a strong, awesome and kickass name for a leader!' It wasn't like she knew he would run a carnival as a ringmaster and do other plot-spoilery stuff. So the name ended up staying, since it make him seem more like a normal person who was thrown into a much bigger situation (and the Augustus stuff I literally just discovered, please don't make fun of me) and I thought it was neat.
Remember to make sure that your names are things that aren't going to make you want to punch someone every time you type it. I think I already said something to that extent, but I do mean it. Sometimes if a name is just too long or just to out of place it makes putting in scenes with that characters into a chore. That isn't what you want to have happen. Honestly I assume the reason JK Rowling gave Voldemort his name is because she got sick and tired of putting in 'He Who Cannot Be Named' anytime he was mentioned. That would drive me crazy and I would end up deciding 'screw it, dude gets a real name or I give up on everything'. I'm sure that's not what actually happened, but you get my point about the getting sick of typing in something part.
Thanks everyone for stopping by today. With all hope I will be back on Friday. Hopefully there won't be something else that prevents me. I also hope the rest of the week is super nice to all of you so have a great time!
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
03/10/2014 Magnificent Monday!
Hello everyone and welcome back. I apologize for Friday, though if you saw my post on twitter I'm sure you understand what happened. Every year at least one or three buildings have a problem with ants and we apparently got to see the earliest sign of it. There was a lot of swearing from me and a demand to find the Ant-Murder-Spray (as I call it) and so far they haven't come back. I like to tell myself it's because they can smell the massacre that happened, but it may also be the rosemary and the peppermint. I really hate ants.
My editing quest continues. I am around page 70 (I think? The document had to close due to computer needing to update but that number sounds about right) of 'Through the Broken Mirror's first full read-through and so far that's going well. I still like how that story flows and I haven't run into anything that I find atrocious yet, so that's nice. I don't know if it'll get any longer/shorter in the end, but we'll see. I know there's a bit more detail I want to go into at the very end, but that won't be more than a few words, maybe a paragraph at the most.
With the craft fair coming up toward the end of April it would be great to have 'Rending the Seal' ready for everyone by that time, but I don't know if it's going to be the case or not. I still have a couple beta-readers out and I'll also need to get things together for the cover art, and sadly one of the pieces will need to be done as line-art because high-rez images of what I'm looking for don't actually exist. We'll see though, just because it's not happening this second doesn't mean it's not going to happen at all. The cover-art part is true though, stupid Seal of Solomon.
They've added a couple more distributors recently to the Smashwords list, so go check them out. I don't know a whole lot about them, but if you use their systems or access them to get ebooks to your devices then this is great news for you! There's been a few of them, and I don't know all of their names yet other than Scribd, but check them out and see what's there. I love how Smashwords reaches out to so many other distributors, it really makes it feel like the books are reaching a large potential audience. I don't know how they compare to Amazon, but sadly with Amazon's proprietary agreement in their Terms of Use I don't like feeling restricted like that.
Thanks everyone for stopping by. Daylight savings time hit me like a truck so I am only about 40% awake right now. I'm hoping that gets better as the day progresses, but we'll see. I'll be back on Wednesday though and I'm super looking forward to Tuesday as I get to hang out with our fraud department for a while. I'll see you then though! Have a great start to your week!
My editing quest continues. I am around page 70 (I think? The document had to close due to computer needing to update but that number sounds about right) of 'Through the Broken Mirror's first full read-through and so far that's going well. I still like how that story flows and I haven't run into anything that I find atrocious yet, so that's nice. I don't know if it'll get any longer/shorter in the end, but we'll see. I know there's a bit more detail I want to go into at the very end, but that won't be more than a few words, maybe a paragraph at the most.
With the craft fair coming up toward the end of April it would be great to have 'Rending the Seal' ready for everyone by that time, but I don't know if it's going to be the case or not. I still have a couple beta-readers out and I'll also need to get things together for the cover art, and sadly one of the pieces will need to be done as line-art because high-rez images of what I'm looking for don't actually exist. We'll see though, just because it's not happening this second doesn't mean it's not going to happen at all. The cover-art part is true though, stupid Seal of Solomon.
They've added a couple more distributors recently to the Smashwords list, so go check them out. I don't know a whole lot about them, but if you use their systems or access them to get ebooks to your devices then this is great news for you! There's been a few of them, and I don't know all of their names yet other than Scribd, but check them out and see what's there. I love how Smashwords reaches out to so many other distributors, it really makes it feel like the books are reaching a large potential audience. I don't know how they compare to Amazon, but sadly with Amazon's proprietary agreement in their Terms of Use I don't like feeling restricted like that.
Thanks everyone for stopping by. Daylight savings time hit me like a truck so I am only about 40% awake right now. I'm hoping that gets better as the day progresses, but we'll see. I'll be back on Wednesday though and I'm super looking forward to Tuesday as I get to hang out with our fraud department for a while. I'll see you then though! Have a great start to your week!
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
03/05/2014 Writing Wednesday!
Greetings everyone and welcome back. It's still Read An EBook Week at Smashwords, so be sure to stop on by and check out all the books that are available for the sale. I'm sure you'll be able to find something super awesome that you'll like! To take a look and tell everyone you know about it to help drum up some traffic!
My brain is still on editing, because well..that is who I am now. I wish I had an option to be something else, but sadly I do not. Maybe I will someday! However, I understand that doesn't mean that all of you are like me, and I don't want to punish you for that, it just really doesn't seem fair. So let's say that you want to write something, and you've done shorter things in the past, but now you want to go for the big, epic, ridiculousness that is a story that's over 150 pages. You think you have it all planned out, but then you sit down and you realize that you don't think you're going to be able to do it. Hopefully I can help you there.
I used to do shorter things, and sometimes I still do (when I have the time, remember, editing is who I am now...) but my series is primarily all stories that are over 150 pages. I don't want to give the advice of just 'put in some filler and be done with it' because filler isn't always good. Think about when you watch your favorite TV series, while it would be great if all of the episodes were 100% good, there are always those few that have nothing to do with the plot that you could really skip because they are just kind of boring. Those are filler. There are some shows that handle filler quite well and end up giving you some kind of important information while still being kind of fun, especially after some kind of emotional upheaval (Supernatural is a good example of this) try to think about those if you think filler is going to be your answer. I don't necessarily think that is going to be the way to go though.
Not to say you won't put any filler in. It's going to be there. Whether it's just a character doing something a normal person would do in order to show that they still have some kind of life they are trying to desperately hold onto, or a new character introduction, or trying to give character growth by showing them something new. It's going to happen. However that doesn't mean that's the only way to get to the page count you're looking at. Maybe put in an internal monologue for the character you're focusing on, or put in a conversation where they talk about their backstory a bit more. In the real world people don't always offer up that information, so having a main character questioned by someone else about it will be a way for the reader to learn about a character without it being thrown at them in the beginning by a large paragraph of exposition. It's not like people just walk around thinking about how their parents live in upstate New York, play golf and travel a lot while they are stuck in Manhattan working a full-time job to pay bills while also going to school. That's not something that's generally on the front of someone's mind all the time.
There's also a chance that certain aspects of the world could be explained more or better. Maybe the mechanics about how a specific piece of metaphysics works, or type of scientific equipment handles. I'm not saying you have to go into the ebb and flow of it, but just saying 'they use magic to overcome their obstacles' or 'they science'd that machine into existence' likely isn't enough for the reader. Going into a bit more detail will help set the rules for the world though and help give the reader an idea of what to expect, which is always helpful. Not to mention it also helps you not be a jerk to people who might not necessarily know about all the subtle nuances about mythological or metaphysical research you did in order to create whatever system you made. You may have a target audience, but it's not fair to always assume they know the same things you do.
There's also the chance you'll come up with this super awesome plot twist you hadn't thought of before while working on everything. Some character arc that wouldn't have happened in a shorter story. That's the nice thing about working on a longer project is that it does give you time to delve into more things and characters than a shorter story does. I remember when working on 'Through the Broken Mirror' I was having issues with my ending, because I wanted to have a good ending (if you play video games, let's just say it was heading toward the Bad End at the time) but was having a difficult time figure it out. Then at about 3am one day (the best time to have an epiphany) I realized if I didn't then a character in later books would either need to be changed or completely written out. Well since those stories were mostly written (in notebook form) I said screw that noise and managed to work out a Good ending. I don't think I would have managed to figure that out if I had been working on something shorter because by the time I had gotten to that point (around page 75 or 80-ish) I would have been to the point where I should have been writing my climax and getting ready to finish up. My option then would have been to put everything on hold until I figured it out or go back and delete progress and start over at a specific part. I may have some that disagree with my thinking, but I get really discouraged at the idea of having to delete pages upon pages, and 10's of pages of stuff so I"m glad I didn't have to do that.
My point is that there are options. You can always go the route of putting in more descriptions and exposition. Also dialogue is going to fill your page count up something fierce. Character interactions are some of the most fun to write if done in a way that makes it seem like a natural conversation. I suppose what I'm saying there is please don't Shyamalan it up and make your characters talk like normal people, please. (He really doesn't know how people talk. It's weird and I am afraid and curious about how interactions at his house happen.)
For now, I hope you all have a great and fun rest of your week. I hope to be back on Friday, but we'll see what happens. I had a difficult time finding something to review last week. I hope you all have a great time though no matter what!
My brain is still on editing, because well..that is who I am now. I wish I had an option to be something else, but sadly I do not. Maybe I will someday! However, I understand that doesn't mean that all of you are like me, and I don't want to punish you for that, it just really doesn't seem fair. So let's say that you want to write something, and you've done shorter things in the past, but now you want to go for the big, epic, ridiculousness that is a story that's over 150 pages. You think you have it all planned out, but then you sit down and you realize that you don't think you're going to be able to do it. Hopefully I can help you there.
I used to do shorter things, and sometimes I still do (when I have the time, remember, editing is who I am now...) but my series is primarily all stories that are over 150 pages. I don't want to give the advice of just 'put in some filler and be done with it' because filler isn't always good. Think about when you watch your favorite TV series, while it would be great if all of the episodes were 100% good, there are always those few that have nothing to do with the plot that you could really skip because they are just kind of boring. Those are filler. There are some shows that handle filler quite well and end up giving you some kind of important information while still being kind of fun, especially after some kind of emotional upheaval (Supernatural is a good example of this) try to think about those if you think filler is going to be your answer. I don't necessarily think that is going to be the way to go though.
Not to say you won't put any filler in. It's going to be there. Whether it's just a character doing something a normal person would do in order to show that they still have some kind of life they are trying to desperately hold onto, or a new character introduction, or trying to give character growth by showing them something new. It's going to happen. However that doesn't mean that's the only way to get to the page count you're looking at. Maybe put in an internal monologue for the character you're focusing on, or put in a conversation where they talk about their backstory a bit more. In the real world people don't always offer up that information, so having a main character questioned by someone else about it will be a way for the reader to learn about a character without it being thrown at them in the beginning by a large paragraph of exposition. It's not like people just walk around thinking about how their parents live in upstate New York, play golf and travel a lot while they are stuck in Manhattan working a full-time job to pay bills while also going to school. That's not something that's generally on the front of someone's mind all the time.
There's also a chance that certain aspects of the world could be explained more or better. Maybe the mechanics about how a specific piece of metaphysics works, or type of scientific equipment handles. I'm not saying you have to go into the ebb and flow of it, but just saying 'they use magic to overcome their obstacles' or 'they science'd that machine into existence' likely isn't enough for the reader. Going into a bit more detail will help set the rules for the world though and help give the reader an idea of what to expect, which is always helpful. Not to mention it also helps you not be a jerk to people who might not necessarily know about all the subtle nuances about mythological or metaphysical research you did in order to create whatever system you made. You may have a target audience, but it's not fair to always assume they know the same things you do.
There's also the chance you'll come up with this super awesome plot twist you hadn't thought of before while working on everything. Some character arc that wouldn't have happened in a shorter story. That's the nice thing about working on a longer project is that it does give you time to delve into more things and characters than a shorter story does. I remember when working on 'Through the Broken Mirror' I was having issues with my ending, because I wanted to have a good ending (if you play video games, let's just say it was heading toward the Bad End at the time) but was having a difficult time figure it out. Then at about 3am one day (the best time to have an epiphany) I realized if I didn't then a character in later books would either need to be changed or completely written out. Well since those stories were mostly written (in notebook form) I said screw that noise and managed to work out a Good ending. I don't think I would have managed to figure that out if I had been working on something shorter because by the time I had gotten to that point (around page 75 or 80-ish) I would have been to the point where I should have been writing my climax and getting ready to finish up. My option then would have been to put everything on hold until I figured it out or go back and delete progress and start over at a specific part. I may have some that disagree with my thinking, but I get really discouraged at the idea of having to delete pages upon pages, and 10's of pages of stuff so I"m glad I didn't have to do that.
My point is that there are options. You can always go the route of putting in more descriptions and exposition. Also dialogue is going to fill your page count up something fierce. Character interactions are some of the most fun to write if done in a way that makes it seem like a natural conversation. I suppose what I'm saying there is please don't Shyamalan it up and make your characters talk like normal people, please. (He really doesn't know how people talk. It's weird and I am afraid and curious about how interactions at his house happen.)
For now, I hope you all have a great and fun rest of your week. I hope to be back on Friday, but we'll see what happens. I had a difficult time finding something to review last week. I hope you all have a great time though no matter what!
Monday, March 3, 2014
03/03/0214 Magnificent Monday!
Hello everyone and welcome back! I hope you all had a nice weekend. I am hoping that today will be nicer to me at my new desk location than Friday was. I'm going to try a few more things to try and make it better, and while I know there is actually a bit of getting used to it that needs to happen, the massive migraine was not a part I was expecting. Today will also mark the start of me once again trying to cut out some of my soda consumption. I've tried this before, and I was marginally successful, the only reason I stopped was because it got to the point I just had too many things going on and the level of how much I cared was significantly lower. We're going to try again though and work really hard to stick with it.
I've also gotten through beta-reader 1's version of 'Rending the Seal', which wasn't nearly as bad as I had been expecting. While waiting for the other two I have moved onto starting the editing on 'Through the Broken Mirror' which luckily I had done a bit of in the beginning already in my attempt to remember where I was before NaNoWriMo last year. I figure once I get to about the half-way point is where I'll start running into more that I need to seriously work on. I'm sure there are going to be places that need a bit more information and such too. Currently that story is at the 152 pages mark though, so we'll see if it gets longer or shorter.
I'm hoping that March is a month of progress and all good things. It would be really nice to be able to celebrate the craft fair in April as a new release day as well. No idea if that will actually happen, but it would be fun.Currently I'm still working on getting things together for a third portfolio to have with me while I'm there. Right now I have two (one for large pictures, one for small ones) and I'm playing with the idea of having a third for fanart. People tend to like it, so I'm trying to see what I can put together before the 25th.
This week is also Read an EBook Week at Smashwords, and 'The Light Rises' is part of the promotion. Please check it out as well as any of the other books involved. It's a fun week and there are so many good titles and authors involved, I'm sure they'd appreciate you taking a look and picking something up. A lot of people have their books free this week, so get them while you're able to!
Thanks for stopping by today. I'll be back on Wednesday so I hope you have a great and fun start to your week! If you have a topic you'd like to discuss or a question for me, don't hesitate to ask! See you then!
I've also gotten through beta-reader 1's version of 'Rending the Seal', which wasn't nearly as bad as I had been expecting. While waiting for the other two I have moved onto starting the editing on 'Through the Broken Mirror' which luckily I had done a bit of in the beginning already in my attempt to remember where I was before NaNoWriMo last year. I figure once I get to about the half-way point is where I'll start running into more that I need to seriously work on. I'm sure there are going to be places that need a bit more information and such too. Currently that story is at the 152 pages mark though, so we'll see if it gets longer or shorter.
I'm hoping that March is a month of progress and all good things. It would be really nice to be able to celebrate the craft fair in April as a new release day as well. No idea if that will actually happen, but it would be fun.Currently I'm still working on getting things together for a third portfolio to have with me while I'm there. Right now I have two (one for large pictures, one for small ones) and I'm playing with the idea of having a third for fanart. People tend to like it, so I'm trying to see what I can put together before the 25th.
This week is also Read an EBook Week at Smashwords, and 'The Light Rises' is part of the promotion. Please check it out as well as any of the other books involved. It's a fun week and there are so many good titles and authors involved, I'm sure they'd appreciate you taking a look and picking something up. A lot of people have their books free this week, so get them while you're able to!
Thanks for stopping by today. I'll be back on Wednesday so I hope you have a great and fun start to your week! If you have a topic you'd like to discuss or a question for me, don't hesitate to ask! See you then!
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
02/26/2014 Writing Wednesday!
Welcome back everyone! I hope your week is being nice to you all so far. Right now I am working on trucking through it even though I would much rather just do a significant higher amount of sleeping. No particular reason, I just feel a bit lazy. I think having several days off at once that week or so ago really spoiled me.
I have been trying to work on a good topic for today. Right now my focus (and I am fairly convinced focus for the next millennia) will be editing, but I think using that is still a good idea. See with how much time editing takes, going back to the actual writing part of...well writing, can be a little bit of a daunting task. You have been so focused on making sure you are watching for spelling, grammar, and particular wording that you brain is basically a little stuck. So I thought that would be a fun thing to talk about today!
I'm mostly bringing this up because I really do want to work on other things, but I'm not letting myself do it because I need to get 'Rending the Seal' finished and I know if I start work on anything else I will get too distracted. I will live vicariously through all of you! Write for me! Write because I can't right now!
Anyway, so let's say you've been editing for the last several months (but of course it seems like several years) and you sit down to either continue work on or to start a new story. That's great and super awesome. Be prepared for the first thing to happen is that you will sit there and stare at the screen/whatever medium you are writing on for at least two to three minutes with absolutely nothing happening. Part of you is expecting the words to already be there (in the case of a new story) and there is a part of you that will also want to go back from the beginning and read through and correct whatever's already there (in the case you are continuing something else). Now in the case of picking up where you left off, which I have done, there's nothing wrong with going back and reading a bit, especially to get a reminder for what exactly was happening (refreshers are your friend) but you are trying to get back into the actual writing, not editing. If you start editing this you aren't going to be making any progress. Read back a few paragraphs or maybe a chapter and do not touch anything that would be used as an editing tool (unless you really can't help it, like you put a name in there wrong or whatever) I understand it won't be a perfect process, but you need to keep reminding yourself that you are there to write, not fix.
If you are starting from the beginning don't be frustrated by it starting slow. It will happen and the reason why is because you are going to be fixing every little mistake you make. At least the ones you can see, and since you were editing forever, you will be able to see all of them. Well, that's what your mind is going to be telling you. See that's the weird thing about going back to the first draft writing after editing; you are convinced you are seeing mistakes or things that need to be adjusted/corrected everywhere. So what happens is you are going to go back and reread everything you do just to make sure. This makes the writing go very slowly at first until you get into the rhythm you're used to and no longer care. Granted how long it takes to get there is different for everyone, just don't get too frustrated when it happens to you.
Just remember editing will happen again, but that will be after you're done with this new story. For now just be happy that you are working on a new story and enjoy it. Someday I'll get to even join you, maybe...I am convinced I will be editing until I die quite honestly. I have a good thing going where I can work on some kind of writing while other people are reading my work, but right now it's just editing, and after 'Rending the Seal' is done it will be jumping straight into 'Through the Broken Mirror' to edit. I really feel bad about how long it's taken for that prequel to get done and I don't want the gap between those two to be that large. Hopefully it won't be and you'll all get super fun things as soon as possible.
Thanks everyone for stopping by today! I hope you are all having a fantastic week. With any luck I will be back on Friday, so let's hope my schedule works out that way. For now I hope you all write out super fun stories because I can't right now!
I have been trying to work on a good topic for today. Right now my focus (and I am fairly convinced focus for the next millennia) will be editing, but I think using that is still a good idea. See with how much time editing takes, going back to the actual writing part of...well writing, can be a little bit of a daunting task. You have been so focused on making sure you are watching for spelling, grammar, and particular wording that you brain is basically a little stuck. So I thought that would be a fun thing to talk about today!
I'm mostly bringing this up because I really do want to work on other things, but I'm not letting myself do it because I need to get 'Rending the Seal' finished and I know if I start work on anything else I will get too distracted. I will live vicariously through all of you! Write for me! Write because I can't right now!
Anyway, so let's say you've been editing for the last several months (but of course it seems like several years) and you sit down to either continue work on or to start a new story. That's great and super awesome. Be prepared for the first thing to happen is that you will sit there and stare at the screen/whatever medium you are writing on for at least two to three minutes with absolutely nothing happening. Part of you is expecting the words to already be there (in the case of a new story) and there is a part of you that will also want to go back from the beginning and read through and correct whatever's already there (in the case you are continuing something else). Now in the case of picking up where you left off, which I have done, there's nothing wrong with going back and reading a bit, especially to get a reminder for what exactly was happening (refreshers are your friend) but you are trying to get back into the actual writing, not editing. If you start editing this you aren't going to be making any progress. Read back a few paragraphs or maybe a chapter and do not touch anything that would be used as an editing tool (unless you really can't help it, like you put a name in there wrong or whatever) I understand it won't be a perfect process, but you need to keep reminding yourself that you are there to write, not fix.
If you are starting from the beginning don't be frustrated by it starting slow. It will happen and the reason why is because you are going to be fixing every little mistake you make. At least the ones you can see, and since you were editing forever, you will be able to see all of them. Well, that's what your mind is going to be telling you. See that's the weird thing about going back to the first draft writing after editing; you are convinced you are seeing mistakes or things that need to be adjusted/corrected everywhere. So what happens is you are going to go back and reread everything you do just to make sure. This makes the writing go very slowly at first until you get into the rhythm you're used to and no longer care. Granted how long it takes to get there is different for everyone, just don't get too frustrated when it happens to you.
Just remember editing will happen again, but that will be after you're done with this new story. For now just be happy that you are working on a new story and enjoy it. Someday I'll get to even join you, maybe...I am convinced I will be editing until I die quite honestly. I have a good thing going where I can work on some kind of writing while other people are reading my work, but right now it's just editing, and after 'Rending the Seal' is done it will be jumping straight into 'Through the Broken Mirror' to edit. I really feel bad about how long it's taken for that prequel to get done and I don't want the gap between those two to be that large. Hopefully it won't be and you'll all get super fun things as soon as possible.
Thanks everyone for stopping by today! I hope you are all having a fantastic week. With any luck I will be back on Friday, so let's hope my schedule works out that way. For now I hope you all write out super fun stories because I can't right now!
Monday, February 24, 2014
02/24/2014 Magnificent Monday!
Greetings everyone and welcome back. I'm glad you all returned and I hope you had a super fun weekend. Per the usual I am wishing that it was just a little bit longer, but I know there isn't much I can do about that. That doesn't stop me from hoping and dreaming though, right?
Things are going about as well as they can on the editing front. I am still convinced that I'll never be done, which is always exciting, I suppose. It's mostly to the point where the changes would be made based on my opinions without me actually having to go through the whole 250-some pages again, but I know that isn't a technology that exists or a magical power I posses. I just know that I'm getting so close to being done, I'd just like it to actually get there.
I'm fairly certain now that writing a book is 20% writing 60% editing and 20% miscellaneous things like cover design, advertising, planning, outlining, character development, and other such things. Any objections or other ratios let me know, but looking at my last year I'd say that's how it feels. I know that someday I'll be able to get back into the writing portion of things, it just feels like it's a very far away part at this point.
We have almost made it through February, which hopefully means that slightly warmer weather is on its way as well as the fun month that is March. Really the only fun part of it is St. Patrick's day, and I don't even drink, but still, it's a fun day. I think there should, in theory, be a craft fair coming up in April though, so I am going to start getting some things together for that. I still have a pile of jewelry left over from the first one, so I am going to focus on getting some ready-made prints done and more pictures for people to purchase while there. If there is one happening...I'll need to check with the appropriate parties involved first. I just realized the time and would like a bit more than a couple weeks to prepare.
We are getting close to 10,000 visits here, and that is a truly confounding number to me. I would like to send a much appreciative thanks to everyone who's stopped by over the years. The support has been fantastic and sometimes it's just what I needed in the morning. I know that it's taken a while to get to this point, but I don't mind being a little slow and steady there, because I know it's just a matter of time before things skyrocket. So thanks again, and I hope to have new stories for you all in the future. For now though have a great start to you week!
Things are going about as well as they can on the editing front. I am still convinced that I'll never be done, which is always exciting, I suppose. It's mostly to the point where the changes would be made based on my opinions without me actually having to go through the whole 250-some pages again, but I know that isn't a technology that exists or a magical power I posses. I just know that I'm getting so close to being done, I'd just like it to actually get there.
I'm fairly certain now that writing a book is 20% writing 60% editing and 20% miscellaneous things like cover design, advertising, planning, outlining, character development, and other such things. Any objections or other ratios let me know, but looking at my last year I'd say that's how it feels. I know that someday I'll be able to get back into the writing portion of things, it just feels like it's a very far away part at this point.
We have almost made it through February, which hopefully means that slightly warmer weather is on its way as well as the fun month that is March. Really the only fun part of it is St. Patrick's day, and I don't even drink, but still, it's a fun day. I think there should, in theory, be a craft fair coming up in April though, so I am going to start getting some things together for that. I still have a pile of jewelry left over from the first one, so I am going to focus on getting some ready-made prints done and more pictures for people to purchase while there. If there is one happening...I'll need to check with the appropriate parties involved first. I just realized the time and would like a bit more than a couple weeks to prepare.
We are getting close to 10,000 visits here, and that is a truly confounding number to me. I would like to send a much appreciative thanks to everyone who's stopped by over the years. The support has been fantastic and sometimes it's just what I needed in the morning. I know that it's taken a while to get to this point, but I don't mind being a little slow and steady there, because I know it's just a matter of time before things skyrocket. So thanks again, and I hope to have new stories for you all in the future. For now though have a great start to you week!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
02/19/2014 Writing Wednesday!
Hello everyone and welcome back! I hope you all had a fun and happy weekend. Mine has now made it so that I have to take a few minutes to figure out what day it is, which is always a fun way to wonder if I'm crazy. Hopefully today will be better though, even if I am tempted just to crawl back into bed and take a nap. There is just so much work to be done I just don't think I have time to do all of it.
With things coming together with 'Rending the Seal' I wanted to talk about something that I have discovered only recently (and by recently I mean experienced within the last 24 hours) and realized it would be a good topic to bring up. I mentioned before about beta-readers and how they have all the best intentions in the world and such, which is all true, so please don't forget that. I also mentioned how your brain will try to trick you into either not completing something or doing something until the end of time just to satisfy the need for a comforting habit. Today I wanted to bring up what happens when those two worlds collide.
Yesterday I finished the first round of edits on 'Daughter of the Shackled King' and also received back one of the copies of 'Rending the Seal' which means that I'll need to switch gears and start some hard work that I don't really enjoy, but needs to be done. Immediately when I opened the file I felt like I had slammed into a brick wall and was compelled to close everything down though. Luckily I didn't, but that may have had something to do with the fact that my lunch hour was over and I needed to run back to my desk. However I hadn't been prepared just how much my brain was going to come to a grinding halt when it saw the file. It was really weird, because I knew there was going to be comments, and I knew there were going to be changes necessary, but because I had was going from the end of one thing to the start of another so quickly, my mind just wasn't going to cope.
I don't know if everyone else goes through this, but I wanted to bring it up because if I experienced it, it can't possibly mean that I'm alone. It was really scary to think that I could be overwhelmed enough to be afraid to work on something. I had known going in that the file wasn't perfect, but instantly I had gone on the defensive just by the first page and I couldn't even look at it. I felt ridiculous, because seriously, I knew logically that it needed the work, and all of those things I had said previously were all true, but for that brief moment I couldn't get a handle on it. It was really weird.
As an author you are doing something really difficult by writing out a full-length or just a short-story, but sometimes letting someone else read your work and do things do it is like letting a stranger drive your car. I think I made that comparison before actually...but it is all true. You are so protective of your work that even if you logically know and understand that it's not perfect, there are errors all over the place, and that things need to be smoothed out before any sort of public looks at it, but that when you get it back it feels like no one understands. In that moment, as an author, it's true, no one does, but you can't let that take over. Yes I am still a little scared to go and look at 'Rending the Seal' but that doesn't mean I'm not going to do it. It needs to be done, good lord it does, and if I don't it will never be finished. It'll be hard, but it's not the end of the world.
I'm not putting this up to discourage anyone from using a beta-reader or any form of copywriting service or however you do your editing. I am trying to give a real example of what happens during that process. beta-readers are wonderful people who offer their time to read your work when it's not polished and give you feedback that is needed. A lot of them do it for free because they like reading, like to help, and are often times good friends and/or family members who want to support you. Their feedback isn't meant to hurt or discourage you as an author (unless it is being needlessly hurtful, then it's time for a sit-down conversation with that person) it's to help you grow as a person and to help mold your talent into something that everyone will love. The most important thing is to not take it out on your reader, if you have a question that's fine, but don't come at them all red-faced and angry. It they put something down it means it needs to at least be considered because if they were confused that means potentially your final readers would be too.
My experience might not be everyone's but I wanted to bring it up here. As I said nothing will stop me from working on my stories, it just freaked me out a little when it felt like I hit that wall. If you know what this is like, or want to let others know your experiences and that it's ok, feel free to post below. The point of this blog is to help people as much as possible.
For now, I'll be off so please enjoy the rest of your week! We'll see what Friday has in store for all of us. There is a potluck that day and I haven't 100% decided what I'm going to be bringing, so what I decide will determine how much time I have in the morning. I hope you all have fun no matter what though!
With things coming together with 'Rending the Seal' I wanted to talk about something that I have discovered only recently (and by recently I mean experienced within the last 24 hours) and realized it would be a good topic to bring up. I mentioned before about beta-readers and how they have all the best intentions in the world and such, which is all true, so please don't forget that. I also mentioned how your brain will try to trick you into either not completing something or doing something until the end of time just to satisfy the need for a comforting habit. Today I wanted to bring up what happens when those two worlds collide.
Yesterday I finished the first round of edits on 'Daughter of the Shackled King' and also received back one of the copies of 'Rending the Seal' which means that I'll need to switch gears and start some hard work that I don't really enjoy, but needs to be done. Immediately when I opened the file I felt like I had slammed into a brick wall and was compelled to close everything down though. Luckily I didn't, but that may have had something to do with the fact that my lunch hour was over and I needed to run back to my desk. However I hadn't been prepared just how much my brain was going to come to a grinding halt when it saw the file. It was really weird, because I knew there was going to be comments, and I knew there were going to be changes necessary, but because I had was going from the end of one thing to the start of another so quickly, my mind just wasn't going to cope.
I don't know if everyone else goes through this, but I wanted to bring it up because if I experienced it, it can't possibly mean that I'm alone. It was really scary to think that I could be overwhelmed enough to be afraid to work on something. I had known going in that the file wasn't perfect, but instantly I had gone on the defensive just by the first page and I couldn't even look at it. I felt ridiculous, because seriously, I knew logically that it needed the work, and all of those things I had said previously were all true, but for that brief moment I couldn't get a handle on it. It was really weird.
As an author you are doing something really difficult by writing out a full-length or just a short-story, but sometimes letting someone else read your work and do things do it is like letting a stranger drive your car. I think I made that comparison before actually...but it is all true. You are so protective of your work that even if you logically know and understand that it's not perfect, there are errors all over the place, and that things need to be smoothed out before any sort of public looks at it, but that when you get it back it feels like no one understands. In that moment, as an author, it's true, no one does, but you can't let that take over. Yes I am still a little scared to go and look at 'Rending the Seal' but that doesn't mean I'm not going to do it. It needs to be done, good lord it does, and if I don't it will never be finished. It'll be hard, but it's not the end of the world.
I'm not putting this up to discourage anyone from using a beta-reader or any form of copywriting service or however you do your editing. I am trying to give a real example of what happens during that process. beta-readers are wonderful people who offer their time to read your work when it's not polished and give you feedback that is needed. A lot of them do it for free because they like reading, like to help, and are often times good friends and/or family members who want to support you. Their feedback isn't meant to hurt or discourage you as an author (unless it is being needlessly hurtful, then it's time for a sit-down conversation with that person) it's to help you grow as a person and to help mold your talent into something that everyone will love. The most important thing is to not take it out on your reader, if you have a question that's fine, but don't come at them all red-faced and angry. It they put something down it means it needs to at least be considered because if they were confused that means potentially your final readers would be too.
My experience might not be everyone's but I wanted to bring it up here. As I said nothing will stop me from working on my stories, it just freaked me out a little when it felt like I hit that wall. If you know what this is like, or want to let others know your experiences and that it's ok, feel free to post below. The point of this blog is to help people as much as possible.
For now, I'll be off so please enjoy the rest of your week! We'll see what Friday has in store for all of us. There is a potluck that day and I haven't 100% decided what I'm going to be bringing, so what I decide will determine how much time I have in the morning. I hope you all have fun no matter what though!
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