Good Day

First off, I'm testing this new email feature. I may have to go back and edit the formatting to clean it up some, but thought it might come in handy if I ever had a few spare moments to blog when I was at an internet accessible computer that for some reason has Blogger blocked. I couldn't think of where that place might be, though. ~innocent smile~

So, you may have noticed, these past few days, I've been making some adjustments to the interface here. I like the new logo at the top, but still not sure what else I want to do. I guess the old adage, keep it simple stupid, does just fine.

I am also really happy with the amount of editing I've been able to get done. I did get the first part of Chapter 1 rewritten, and blended in now. If I could edit like this every day, I'd be done in no time! Unfortunately  I don't see that happening, though. We will always have good days and bad days. Editing is no exception.

I really miss reading. I normally read quite a bit, and have actually read a few books over this past year, despite writing a whole novel. I have stayed away from picking up a new book though, because I know as soon as I do, I will get all obsessive compulsive with it and won't get anything else done until I finish the book.

But I really want to read something!! 

So, to compensate some, I bought a book full of short stories in the horror genre. It's called Tales From The Mist. I read the first story while waiting at my Dr's appointment yesterday. It was okay. I'll update my Shelfari with a full review once I'm done reading. It had some pretty decent reviews, so I'm hoping this will quench my thirst, so to speak.

I will update again soon!

A Game of Rewrites

Ugh.

That about sums up my feelings from the past few days. I've been working pretty diligently on editing, although I did take the day off on Sunday. That was my Dreamland day, anyway.

I feel pretty good about what I was able to accomplish yesterday, although in the big scope of things, I'm still not pleased with my pacing on the editing. It's a learning process, I know, I just wish I could go a bit faster. I will continue to work on it and improve the best I can.

Right now, I'd like to discuss one of my favorite authors. Mr. George R. R. Martin. I know the man is the IN thing right now because of the HBO show, Game of Thrones, and that thrills me to no end, but I was a fan of his writing before the show was even a thing. My husband and I have both read A Song of Ice and Fire and we are eagerly awaiting the Winds of Winter.

I think Mr. Martin is a genius. Beyond the fact that my husband and I were able to share the story with each other, the books have also inspired many conversations and lengthy discussions. A Storm of Swords is one of my all time favorite books, so you can imagine how excited I am for this season of A Game of Thrones.

The episode that aired last Sunday night featured a scene that I was eagerly awaiting from the very first announcement of the show, and it did not disappoint. It was wonderfully done, and not only am I happy about that, I am also very gratified.

I highly recommend both the books and the show.

Now, that being said, I'm off to rewrite Chapter 1.

In Rememberance

This is a terribly sad week for American History.

Due to the tragic events that have been happening in Boston, I'll make this brief.

18 years ago, at 9:01am, I was just driving into Oklahoma City when the fertilizer bomb went off.

"We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence.
May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

For Boston

I hate the tragedies and I hate the pain. I hate the fact that these bombs in Boston won't be the last senseless attack we'll see and be forced to experience.

How one person, or a small group of people, can have such a huge impact on so many people by committing such a terrible act leads us all down the path to wonder why?

The 'whys' might matter later, they might not. The fact remains that there are wounds here now that will never heal, and those that live through this have had their lives changed forever. Whether they crumple into maddening sorrow, or have the strength to carry on, their lives will never be the same.

To those out there that have been injured, lost loved ones, lost their own lives, you have my tears. I can think of no words that could come from a stranger that would bring you comfort, but every part of me wishes I could send you what strength I have as I sit here and stare at the news reports so far away. You have, in a word, my condolences. I know that's not enough.

And to those of you that rushed into the chaos, the ones that helped the injured, the ones offering rides, and even opening your homes to strangers. Even the ones helping coordinate things online to open another avenue to find help, or even locate loved ones.

Thank you.

You are truly heroes. Its this show of humanity from hundreds of people on this dark day that overshadows the act of one psychopath. This is how we know these assholes, try as they might, can't win. The humanity we share still manages to shine through.

Never lose site of that.

Today I Learned...

I guess it's been more over the past week that I figured this out, but editing is all kinds of boring. At least from my very short experience with it. Writing is much more fun! I have set aside a couple hours a day to edit and work on my rewrites. Even though I'm not bouncing off the walls while I'm doing it, I'm still keeping up a steady pace.

I am also quite pleased with what I've already got polished up as the 'final final' draft. THAT is something that is very exciting and terrifying at the same time. The more of these scenes and chapters I get behind me, the closer I am to releasing this to the public. That next step is looming on the horizon as a manifestation of all my fears and doubts, staring down at me with judgmental eyes and waiting for me to break.

But I can't break. I've put too much work into this to leave it unfinished now.

And there's just so much more rattling around in my head I need to get out.

The last thing I want to do is disappoint the few of you that have been following me. I just hope I can deliver a story that you can enjoy.

Once again, I wish I could give you a timeline for when I expect to be done on the editing, but I've found that my progression is varying from day to day. Some days I can run through a scene easily, then others I can get lost in rewrites and end up adding to the editing pile instead of taking away. So... sorry about that.

As far as my one day a week rule for Book 2, that's going awesome. I'm already halfway through chapter two.

So there's my almost weekly update. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

A New Journey

I feel very honored to be writing this little introduction, not to mention, extremely proud.

My daughter has finished a short story that will debut on WattPad by the end of this week. I am in full fledged editing mode, so I've moved her story to the top of the After pile. I apologize for the delay this will cause, but I can't say that I'm feeling that sorry!

See, I made this deal with her. Whatever she would write and finish, I would edit. Last night she sat down, and in an hour and 1/2, she wrote a short story from start to finish. It came in at just a little over 2200 words, and she typed every bit of it by hunt and peck. I was very impressed!

I hope she never loses that spark, and I will do what I can to fan those flames.

I am so very very proud of her.

Aside from that tangent, here's my thoughts on my editing of After thus far. I have to say that this is very easy and extremely hard, all at once! I'm taking my time, and my husband is proof-reading everything to catch the little things I STILL manage to miss. I will say I am happy with what I already have finished and in the ~DONE~ pile.

Part 1 will be getting a few scenes added in to flesh out the world a bit more, so I've decided to post that on Smashwords once I've finished the editing process. If you've been following along with me, I recommend a reread once it's up. There will be quite a few changes from the first draft that's available now!

To make sure I don't lose the connection I have with my characters, I have dedicated one night a week to working on book 2, Dreamland. I have come so far in my ideas from where I first started, it amazes me. I am looking forward to really digging in and writing about what life is like in this new post-apocalyptic world.

So that's my little weekly update. This editing thing just doesn't seem to have as many breakout WOW moments to post about... At least not yet. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Victory

The day after achieving one of my biggest goals, and all I can say is I'm still exhausted. Yesterday was not only the completion of the first draft of my first full length novel, but I also blasted through my word count record for one day, and left my old record eating dust.

My previous record stood at around 4k, and that was from the closing days of my first NaNoWriMo when I was exuberant at the fact I was going to finish my goal on time.

Yesterday, I ended the day with a whopping 6885 words, and it was absolutely amazing. The words were just flowing, and I never hit a point where I was sitting there going... "What now?" I just knew what was going to happen.

There was a moment where I finished a paragraph and sat back and just stared at my screen. I was so nervous, I actually ran my hands through my hair and squeezed my palms against my temples and thought... Am I really about to write this? This is the end. The end is starting right now.

And now the editing begins in earnest.

Since I have never done this before, I have no time line to lay out other than I will be trying to get this done and available on Smashwords ASAP.

I am very excited and pleased right now. And did I mention exhausted?

Exhausted...

Done

At 12:47am on 3/25/13, I finished my first book at a little over 130k words.

I can't find the words to express how I feel right now, other than I know I'm exhausted. You will get a full update tomorrow, but for right now.... Sleep.

Ground Zero

I don't know what's going on right now, but this house has been riddled by sickness since last Friday.

The toddler started it, throwing up at his sitters. Then once I got home Friday night, (after getting a good amount of writing done, thank goodness) it started for me. Oh, it was so bad. Lasted for me all night Friday night, then again Saturday afternoon. Once the puking stopped, the congestion/sinus infection set it. REALLY? So I wasn't eating normal again until Wednesday.

And that was just me.

My husband and Mother-in-Law (she's visiting) have been dealing with the same thing all week. It just catches hold and lingers.

Oh, and my son puked on me yesterday. Thanks little boy. I appreciate that.

So if the zombie invasion is starting, it's right here, right now, and I'm not making it out of this. This is ground zero.

So, as one would imagine, I haven't gotten much writing done all week. I DID manage to finish up Chapter 19, and break some ground on chapter 20 before I gave in to the sickness. I did go back and get some edits done, but just didn't feel like writing new stuff. Chapter 20 is going to be a big chapter, and I've replayed the scene in my head over and over and over again. I'm hoping it's not as difficult to get down on paper as the Joss/Becky scenes were. I should have the whole first draft done by next weekend.

Very exciting!

Oh, and I'm no longer sharing a spoon with the toddler. As easy as it is when dinner time rolls around, I have been sick 4 times in the past month. Just ugh...

Senses

Well, not sure why I want to say this here, but since I mentioned it before, you're going to get the update on my LASIK surgery.

Everything's going great with that. I still have minor double vision in my right eye, as well as dry-eye, but I'm aware I'm still very early in my healing process. I may have to have an enhancement surgery on my right eye later if that doesn't clear up, but I'm still okay with it even being the way it is now... The results of the procedure are wonderful and mind boggling.

That being said, I would like to talk about my new unaided 20/20 vision, or more to the point the effects that they're having on me.

I can't shut down.

So I'm 36, and I started wearing glasses when I was 8, and contacts when I was 12. I had a -8 in my right eye, and -7 in my left. If your don't know how bad that is, it means you simple can not function outside of your comfort zone, and even barely inside your comfort zone, without glasses/contacts. As anyone can imagine, this has been nothing short of a pain in the ass for the better part of my life. I never slept in my contacts, so I spent the night blind.

I spent the night blind for over half my life.

I never understood what that actually meant to me until now. Despite my lack of sight being a severe hindrance, (and 100% guaranteed death in a zombie apocalypse) this was part of me, a part of my consciousness that my sub-consciousness associate(d) with ... ME.

Even though I hated it, this FUZZY vision was a tangible thing to my mind. Fuzzy vision is simply a lack of clear vision, as much as cold is simply the absence of heat. When it's a sweltering 110 degrees in the Metroplex, you miss the cold... And I miss.. my fuzzy vision? Can I say that? It took me a month to even realize that was a possibility, because having clear sight is such a blessing, I didn't dare say anything against it.

But today, I have come down with another stupid cold, and I finally realized why I couldn't relax. Whenever I would get sick prior to my LASIK surgery, one of my therapeutic feel-better home-remedies was to take out my contacts and literally lose one of my senses. For some reason, that helped me shut out the world, and it would help with the discomfort. Keep in mind, I always blamed my contacts for making me feel just a smidge more uncomfortable during my time of whinyness, and sought whatever comfort whereever I could find it. Never once did it dawn on me that I was actually finding the comfort in my fuzzy sight.

Now that I realize this, I'm sure I'll get over it soon. After all, it's only been a month. My mind was just totally blown when I finally figured out why I couldn't get to sleep at night, and why I've felt extra uncomfortable all day today.

Also, for those of you that wish for good eyesight and are considering LASIK, I urge you to do it. Like I said before, it's wonderful, and in no way is this a complaint. I was just having issues getting my mind wrapped around the fact that being blind was actually useful to me for something.

Now, onto the book topic, everything is still going great. I am over halfway through chapter 19, and I figure 20 will be a rush that just spews out in a couple days. I figure I will get most of it done this weekend, AND I have a great map laid out for the re-writes that I'm gaining more and more confidence in. Things will be a' changing, and I'll be able to address some ideas that never quite sat well with me from day one.

I've also done research on having someone work up a good-looking book-cover for me. Hopefully it turns out nice. I'll be keeping the same concept of what I originally worked up, but I have a few additions in mind.

It's been a very lazy lazy day. I can't wait until I get my energy back!

And then....

I was going through some of my older posts and found it quite amusing that I thought I would be done by now. This being my first real book, I just had absolutely nothing to go on for that estimate. At least I wasn't THAT far off.

I finished Chapter 17 on Sunday, and things are wrapping up and falling into place. I expect there will be only two more big chapters, (I'm not counting any epilogue in this, nor do I have one planned at the moment) and then the edits and rewrites will begin. Wee!

Now, I will admit that I have done SOME editing when I've run into a brick wall and needed to get my thoughts back together. I will also admit that there are some scenes written already for Book 2 and even Book 3. It's the rewrites that scare me. I have no idea what to expect as far as how long this will take, or how difficult it will be. I will keep plodding along though, and get one quick edit on the whole thing to catch any outlandishly glaring mistakes, then I'll update the manuscript on Smashwords. The book will remain a free download until after I get around to finishing my big edit and I'm fully satisfied that I have crossed all my T's and dotted all my I's.

AND THEN....

I have no idea what I'm going to do after that... Sorry. Whatever I decide, I'll keep recording my journey here so everyone can keep tabs.

An Unnamed Trilogy

I am very happy to report 2 very exciting things.

First, I had LASIK eye surgery last Saturday, and things are now WONDERFUL! I have suffered from severe myopia for most of my life, and to be able to wake up and see is absolutely amazing.

However, this did slow down my writing for a couple days, hopefully understandably so. I do believe I have found a way to catch up though. I have a trial of a voice-to-text program that allowed me to get 3000 words down on Sunday night in about an hour. It's incredible! I'm not sure how well this is going to help, because I spent all day yesterday editing those 3000 words, but hey, it's something!

My second bit of exciting news it that my "Unnamed Trilogy" now has a name. After months of scribbled on napkins, deliberation, and drawing names from the proverbial hat, I am very, very happy to unveil the name of my very first trilogy as; (drumroll please!)

The Phoenix Curse

I really do hope you found that as exciting as I did. There is just a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction once things are decided upon and finalized. It's just one thing less to worry about, and now I can focus on finishing these last few chapters.

Ali needs me now, so expect another update soon. 

That February Goal

That original goal of being completely done by February really crept up on me. For the longest time, it had just been a far off date, like a light glowing at the end of a very long tunnel. Now it's right around the corner and I'm facing the fact that I am just not going to be done.

When the idea of After originally started to form in my mind, I only had two scenes planned out. Joss wasn't even a POV. Hell, Joss didn't even exist when I first clawed my way into Ali's mind and started putting her story into words.

Two scenes were all I had. The birth of an idea.

100k words in, and neither one of those scenes have been written yet.

I would guestimate I still have a good 30k words to get us to the end of this book. I've been taking it slow, maybe a little too slow, after finishing Part 2. It's clear I need to pick up the pace again.

So here goes. I plan to put out a minimum of 2k words a day until I can wrap this baby up, and give it a name. Then I'll be starting the long editing process that I hope will go smoother than I'm imagining. I've never done this before, and I have to admit I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now. I think this post is mostly a shove to get me motivated again, and push past my fears.

Wish me luck.

Resolutions

Resolutions. We all have them right? At least most of us have made one at some point in our life. They're almost always pretty generic. Loose weight, get healthy, stop drinking coffee/alcohol, stop smoking, stop secretly listening to Justin Bieber in your room while crying and eating waffles and ice cream. Pretty mundane stuff.

Last year I made three resolutions, but I prefer to think of them as challenges. They were exactly that. Challenges for myself. Nothing TOO difficult, so it wasn't like I was trying to reach unattainable goals that I would end up failing miserably. Nothing like giving up video games, or reading War and Peace. I went with something a little more reasonable.

Read Java for Dummies - This should have been the easiest one to do, yet I failed at it. My drive started pretty good, but then other shiny baubles popped up that I longed to pursue, and the book ended up collecting dust in my Kindle library. As the end of the year approached, I could have easily picked it up again and finished in a couple days, but I knew I wouldn't retain/learn anything. What would be the point of the challenge had I done that? I chalked it up as a loss and moved on.

Generic/obligatory Weight Loss - I succeeded in this. Yay me! I lost 20 lbs, and kept 15 of it off. I am also not finished with this, and it will reappear in my 2013 list of challenges.

Write 6 Chapters in a book. Any book. Just write, dammit! - This was the one I feared, and figured I would fail at most miserably. As the year was drawing into the last quarter, all I had been able to write was one measly little scene in January. I was about to write this challenge off as a bust but, in October, I stumbled upon something that I'm going to chalk up as 'life changing.' NaNoWriMo.org. It stands for National Novel Writing Month. I will leave that story for another time, but without this great group of people, I would not have even started what I considered to be one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

And this is only the beginning.

So here I will 'pen' my list of reasonable challenges for 2013. I truly intend to meet all of these.

Generic/obligatory Weight Loss -  Sorry, but it had to be said.

Finish writing a novel - I will succeed in this. After is so close to being finished, it would be a crime to stop now. This journey that I am going on with Ali and Joss has been amazing. Not only will After be finished before the end of the year, but I also plan to have the 2nd book in the series ready to publish as well. Working title for book 2 is Haven. I can't convey how exciting this has been for me.

Run a 5k - Was that me? Did I just type that? Crap. This year, this is the one that scares me. Here is my motivation for this. Run for your lives. It looks to be great fun, how could I pass this up? I figure I'm going to end up zombie chow, but what a fun way to go.

I believe this one is a given so I won't enter it in bold, but I will complete the NaNoWriMo challenge again this year. I already have a couple ideas for a brand new novel to start on during November. Wouldn't it be perfect if I'm ready to start book 3 in the After series?

So there you have it. My goals for 2013. This is going to be a very exciting year.

Halfway through...

the month.

Can't say that I'm halfway through Part 3 yet, although the writing is still going well. I pulled a couple mini marathons with my daughter this weekend to help us both focus on our writing. It worked pretty well. She got two short chapters finished, and I am now well underway into Chapter 14. Anything it takes to keep that focus!

I do have big plans for this last half of the book. Really excited to get this thing done and get it out there for everyone!

And, with that I leave you with a comment from Tarter on the best part of the Golden Globes.  I will say that when the camera landed on Tommy's face, it was the one point during the night that all of us watching busted out into uproarious laughter.

He was totally about to go Tommy Lee Jones on Will Ferrell's ass.

Thank you Mr. Jones. You still remain one of my favorites actors.

Part 2

Very excited to post that I have finished Part 2 in book 1!  Feels like a great accomplishment.  Looks like I'm on schedule to finish Part 3 by the end of January and start the editing process in February.

I didn't get to work on the book as much as I would have liked this month, so that did put me a little behind schedule.  Hopefully the first month of 2013 will go much smoother, and have less unforeseen life obstacles 

Thank you to those that are starting to follow the blog.  It's hard to get these things off the ground, so I appreciate the words of encouragement.

And last, but not least!

Be very safe tonight, and have a wonderful and Happy New Year!

Seasons Greetings and Stuff

Just wanted to wish everyone well today!  I know it's a little late, but I've been doing stuff today.  All kinds of fun stuff.  Stuff that filled all my time from the moment I got up today until now.  Stuff.

Stuff. Stuff. Stuff.

Oh... you want details?

Okay, I was procrastinating.  I spent way too much time browsing all my funny sites, and little time doing anything productive.  I am still working through this horrible cold that turned into a respiratory infection, (cue coughing up a lung) but I HAVE been writing some.  Chapter 12 is coming along nicely, and I do expect to finish that this week now that all the big holiday stuff has died down.

I will leave it at that since it's late and I do have to work tomorrow.  I just wanted to make sure to get a little update in there while I'm still trying to get this blog off the ground, and I missed my scheduled weekend posting.

What Didn't Happen

So, the optimistic plans that I made at 8:05 am this past Saturday morning failed to come to fruition.  Instead, my exuberant feelings for completing the epic finish of Part 2 of After turned into a stuffy nose, sore throat, and just a general feeling of craptasticness all over my body.

And at 9 pm tonight, I am still not on the upswing yet.

I suffered through the dreaded 'day job' today, but over the past three days have manged to only get a little over 800 words down.  It's been disappointing to say the least.  I just haven't felt like tolerating that blank white screen staring at me expectantly, waiting for me to get my mind in gear and the 'creative juices' flowing.    Instead all I got was sinus drainage and a headache.  I guess SOME juices were flowing, just not the right ones.  Yeah, I'll give you a second to marinate on that image.

Kleenex anyone?

I was, however, able to at least fill my time with something productive.  I was able to get caught up on most of the TV shows that I had fallen behind on during NaNoWriMo.  So that means my wonderful husband had to suffer through episode after episode of Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, and Glee.  (Don't judge my guilty pleasures.)

Thank you for tolerating my emotionally stunted fifteen year old mind, Husband.  At least you can be assured I will always laugh at every "That's What She Said" joke.

Also on a positive note, sometimes the story-line and characters benefit from a little time dancing around in the ol' noggin, but that also means Chapter 10 and 11 will be facing a little bit (huge bit) of an overhaul.  I'll catch that on the edit.

So I'm sure I'll have the energy to pound this out soon.  I just need a little recovery time.

Oops

Chapter 11 is done, however I am not sure if Part 2 is done.  Perhaps just one more chapter.

I have also started to roughly develop some of the characters that will be introduced in Book 2, and can't wait to see what happens when Ali finally meets up with them.  Now if only I can get the last half of After done before the first of the year!  It's looking like I will easily be able to hit my goal of 100k words for book one.  Yay!

Weekend Update

Excited to say that chapter 10 of After is now finished.  One more chapter should wrap up Part 2 of the book.  Everything is still on schedule!

Taking a little break this weekend, and will pickup the writing on Monday.