Tag Archives: finished

Round Two… It’s finished

18 Thursday Jul 2019

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What a marathon it has been these last 24 hours!  But it’s finished once again.  I am going to proceed with a bit more caution than I did last time because I had many surprises with this round.  I don’t remember my word count exactly before but it has come in at 54, 312. I’m using this as a lesson!

A first edit is not the final edit!  I think this round has added more guts!

I have played around with a synopsis today because I went in search of Twitter Pitch Days but there’s nothing until September.  It was a good exercise though because it forced me to think about it.

Here’s what I have come up with so far…

Haven and her family have just moved to a small village to turn an old boarding house into the B&B of their dreams with Haven’s help. During clean-up they discover letters, a diary, diamond rings and a shell casing, all of which link to the village’s 1947 murder-suicide.  Haven meets Ethan who steals her heart, something she thought was impossible.  She also discovers something she loves spring-boarding her into a new career, makes new friends and finds the truth, more than 70 years later.

It is, by far, nowhere close to sounding the way I want it but it’s the short-short version.  I can’t believe I can’t even write a synopsis… I think it will have to be longer.  Lastly I also have to come up with a title and you know how I hate that process!

Any suggestions are always welcome!

I think I’m going to go enjoy some sunshine for a short while and see if I can get rid of this headache!

Cheers!

 

 

Into my own backyard

15 Monday Jul 2019

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I got it done!  Article number four was sent off today!

That means that I can return to the Kissing Bridge in West Montrose and continue the editing process.

I was visiting a neighbour after work for a short time and she said she has memory issues that don’t allow her to read novels because she can’t remember characters and details from the time she puts it down to the time she picks it back up again.  I told her I would have to compile my short stories for her because they won’t take long to read and she’d be able to recall the entire story by the end.   I did let her know then that half the time I don’t remember the characters I have created!  That on this, my second edit, I still have to resort to looking at the sticky note on the inside of the binder where I wrote down all the character names and ages for quick reference!

I also realized that I have never read my own work… not really.  I have articles published on a variety of websites, eleven novels, half a dozen (or a few more) short stories and if I do start reading through anything it’s usual to edit.  The items I have written for the Rural Post I have not read but looked for them in the papers by headline only.

I’m taking it easy still today… yes, I worked all day and I’m incredibly tired… but no headache for which I’m grateful!  The weather is changing again so that could mean big trouble.

I’m hoping not!

I hate 4:00 a.m.

12 Friday Jul 2019

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Today was the third, or fourth day that I have basically woken at 4 a.m. and only dozed until I had to get up.  No, that’s not quite right, the other morning I managed until 6 a.m. but didn’t go back to sleep at all so it’s probably about the same.

So, at this point, I HATE 4 a.m. because it doesn’t leave me alone!

It wasn’t as bad on my days off because I was able to putter and shift my focus but today was brutal as it all caught up and I was forced to focus over and over on itineraries.  It ended up not being too bad a day because I had one person come in and we rescheduled her and her son and another appointment didn’t show up. But it took its toll anyway.

I came home with my head pounding.

By supper my daughter was asking me a question and I would start to answer and then actually had to stop and ask her what she had asked…

Tomorrow will be another long day for me so by Sunday I might end up in bed all day!

I did manage, somehow, to finish that third article and got it sent off after supper.  One left to go and I have my research notes on that.

I am going to go and pour at least half a glass of wine.

Goodnight all!

First edit pass… Finished!

23 Sunday Jun 2019

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I just finished entering the last 60 pages of edits.  The manuscript is, once again, complete.  It came in at 51, 623 words.

Of course edits are never completely finished.  The story is complete.  It has it’s logical timeline and there will be no further changes to the story.  However, proofreading will be next.

While those who asked to read it are doing so, I will be sitting with a fresh copy of it and proofreading for sentence structure, spelling and grammar errors before I announce that it is truly done and proceed to… well, what should I do with it?  Do I just go ahead and publish it myself… again, as usual?

And I need a title!  Oh boy… I need a title.  I hate titles.  I despise titles.  I am not friends with titles.

HELP!

I need to do a little happy dance if you don’t mind!  Perhaps I’ll attempt to do a cartwheel for the first time in many years!  Wow!  I still can’t believe it’s done…

It also feels like a small part of me has died too!  Those characters told their stories then followed through the edits to make sure their stories were correct; accurate.  Now all that’s left is the superficial stuff… putting on the dress and making it beautiful.  The characters I have to lay to rest.

Okay, now I’m sad.

As authors we traverse many emotions.  It’s not just telling the story or at least I don’t think so.  It’s getting involved in the story.  It’s feeling all the emotions of the story just like reading a book or watching a movie.

I have celebrated engagements, break-ups, illnesses, deaths, miscarriages, births, weddings and grand openings.  That’s an emotional roller coast.

Join me, my author friends!  Jump in and test the waters.

Is it worth it?

This is novel number 11… yes, it most certainly is worth it!

What a letdown…

08 Saturday Jun 2019

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The last 20 days I allowed writing to consume me.  I wrote about 46,500 words in those 20 days, beating out any NaNo I’ve ever done.

But my last two days off I spent writing at an overwhelming rate and I came home from a short visit at my parents’ house to write some more.  That’s when I finished… I wrote THE END and was so excited but WAY too tired to celebrate!

Getting to the end of every work I have ever written has always landed me in a state of depression.

There’s this build-up.  There are relationships developed with the characters who are, essentially, my babies… I have created them, named them, given them quirks and past stimuli that has made them who they are at the time the book takes place.

They grow and they become independent and they start telling the story.  Sometimes they argue with you and sometimes they surprise you like crazy with something they do that you weren’t planning on having happen because it doesn’t even fit the story.  I’ve argued with my two main male characters while the women have just made things up as they’ve gone along and slipped it into the story with no attempt to argue with me.

Now the story has ended.  Those characters will remain with me as I go through the editing process as there is much to do in edits but after the race to the finish…

I feel lost and depressed tonight feeling like I don’t know what else to do.

I’m glad that I decided to blog daily this month because it means that I will have something to draw me to writing that isn’t my novel and I think that will be a good distraction!

On to The Print Copy!

24 Sunday May 2015

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TB_1 TB_4 TB_5

So now on to the print version of The Trinket Box! I have decided I’m just going to go with the non-distribution for now.  Order books as I need them and send them out.  I have the Kindle version in distribution and I’ll sell hard copies of the book at $20 and include S&H!  I’ll deal with distribution at a later date!  What I really need is help with the cover photo!  I used the bottom for the Kindle book and there’s nothing wrong with keeping it the same but let me know your preference!

Sometimes, well, more often than not, we writers give up a LOT.  Others end up making decisions for us.  And sometimes they really are beyond our control unless it’s at our expense!  If I want to do the distribution this time, I would have to take the time to convert the entire thing to 6×9″ insides and I’ve been there and I don’t like the 6×9″ in a soft cover book.  The other option is to find another publisher and that gets tricky because they all cost around the $500 mark which I don’t have.

So, now, moving on!

I almost feel lost without this project hanging on!  It’s been two and a half years since I published a novel and this has become almost an obsession of mine for the last ten months.

I do have Confessions in the Mural I can attack and edit OR I can come up with some deep, dark mystery about that lonely beach shack next to the stream I came across three weeks ago at my parent’s trailer.

The options, as writers, are endless.  Just be sure that when you find your next project, to jump in with both feet!

It Really is Finished!!

21 Thursday May 2015

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The Trinket Box is finally finished and I have uploaded it to Kindle.  In twelve hours or so it will be live and available for purchase and download!

On the print book side of things though I’m incredibly disappointed.  The publisher, Lulu, I have used since 2002 has taken away the ability for me to publish a 5.86″ x 8.26″ paperback book so that I can get an ISBN number and get it into distribution through Amazon, etc.

So I now have to decide what to do.  My options are:

Choose not to get the ISBN number and distribution, just print books that I can order and sell off my website.

Choose a different size (6×9 which I don’t like at all in softcover) which means re-formatting the insides to yet another size.  (I’ve tried many over the years)
A variation to this is to do the re-formatting and publish it in
hardcover

Try to find another company who might get me the size I want and the distribution but I think these are far and few between

Decide if I want to, perhaps, submit to a publisher before I ever see it in print and see if there’s someone who might be interested in it.

Decisions, decisions!

At least it’s done!  It felt good to put the finishing touches on it and paste it into the template!  It felt great!

And my next thought–what’s next?  What trouble can I get into since this is done?

Never a dull moment!

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