Revisions

I am working furiously on revisions for chapter one of the current WIP or work in progress for my non writer friends.  What that means is I am deleting the extra fluff I don't need and adding in more detail on the character, transplanting crucial information from the 2nd chapter into the first because it is more important to have in the beginning, and adding detail to my descriptions.  I feel like it's more solid but I will have to have a another person read it for me to be sure.  Thankfully, I have a writer friend or two who are willing to take the time to check it over.  Next, I have to reprint the entire novel and go over it another time to check for the voice and flow of the story, check for more revisions that need to be done, and generally just give it one more look to ensure I don't have any grammar or spelling errors.  I also think the ending needs to be tweeked.  It seems a bit too easy and needs to be concentrated more on the main character and I'm not sure I carried that over as well as I wanted.  Still, maybe in a couple more months, this work that has taken me years....might actually be done.

RWA and Desert Rose

So far I have found it well worth my time to have joined RWA, which is the Romance Writer's of America for those of you who don't know the initials.  The newsletters have lots of information and there are online classes if I can ever find time to take one.  The local chapter is amazing.  So far, I don't feel like I need writing assistance but there have been lots of tips on that as well as plenty of information on publishing.  I feel like if I can get my story polished, I have a shot at getting it published.  I think after I get everything polished, I will utilize their mentor program where you can have an author look at the first three chapters and synopsis.  It's a small fee but they will give you critical feedback and I really feel like that will get me the next step.  And after that I can shop for an agent.  I was also invited to participate in a blog hop by one of my lovely friends so I hope others will find this interesting information.  Stay tuned for lots more information next week.

New Year

Happy New Year and hopefully, a few new things this year.  I have two goals.  Goal 1:  Edit my current manuscripts and get one published.  Goal 2: Continue eating healthier, exercising so I can lose more weight.  It would have been interesting if the world had at least changed on the 21st but at least I can work on changing things on a personal level and I look forward to the next year.

Conclusion to NanoWrimo

My stories are never done in 50,000 words, never.  That being said, I did complete the goal and my story, tentatively titled Shadow's Bane, is almost done.  Business at work has kept my word count lower as well as a healing finger.  Glue guns and I do not mix is all I will say.  The conclusion which includes a final confrontation with the bad guy who will be defeated has yet to be written.  I am setting up those chapters and I hope to be have it completed by the end of the year at most.  I just have to keep my inner editor turned off because I keep thinking of things that could use tweeking, deepening the relationship in the beginning, more time in the cells before they escape, clearer time line, and better descriptions.  But having said this, the pacing is much better and I like my characters better than most of my other stories except one.  And I think it is better written.  I have more tools in the toolbox, I just need to keep adding to the tools to improve my writing. 

Update on ShadowBane

So first, it is now Shadow's Bane.  Heh, heh, my husband somehow triggered this one.  I like it better, a bit more evocative of a romance.  I now have the rest of the story plotted out and just have to write it.  I am up past 40,000 and wrote 3,000 words today.  Work is very slow the day after Thanksgiving.  I would likely have written more but I had multiple side by sides for people interested in a job position on my team.  I actually didn't mind, I had time to let the plot percolate.  I am so excited that it is coming together so well and I can see potential for more stories depending on how well I flesh out minor characters in revision.  I have my best pacing ever, although I still need to tweek some of the pace of the relationship.  I think it moves a bit fast in the beginning but I might check out other authors just to see if I'm right about that or not.  I love the twists and turns it has taken.  I can't wait to have it finished and then give it to people to read. 

Update on writing

So, I haven't updated this thing in a while.  Probably because I've been super busy writing.  I have gone back and forth with my two guys developing something of a relationship and building trust issues.  I'm hoping to have the falling in love stage completed soon, especially since I've hit 25k words today.  They are about to have a huge fight and then make up so that will advance the plot quite a bit. Then I have to bring in the dangling plot elements and tie them all together with the happy coupe escaping at the end.  Sounds like a lot but I think it will write itself.  It's not dragging like it usually does at this point and I am happy with it overall.  There are elements I can see need fine tuning, no story is perfect on the first draft but I like it so far. 

In other news, one of my closest friends, who moved away a couple years ago, finally moved back.  Yeah, Heather!  And she brought a friend with her from Texas who my husband and I met back in February and we love Cassie!  We had dinner out with them last night and today we're going back to help with unpacking.  So yeah, things are going well. 

Real life and story life can all be good at once.

Drabbles of writing: Shadow Bane

So my characters are very busy and I am a very happy writer.  Even though I have had limited time to write, every bit of it has been productive, words leaping off the page.  I love my characters, love their interactions with each other.  Soon I will have to make them interact with others as well.  I love that I seem to have finally gotten a bit better at pacing or at least at creating more tension between sections.  Now for those of you who would like to hear a bit of story, I will throw some lines in that I like.



Ebon:

But how am I to show you a grand time if I cannot be myself?”

Aiden:

“Be yourself, just quieter.”

Aiden:

How about you, do you like art?”

Ebon:

"I love art and I have a distressing tendency for it to end up in my possession.”

 Aiden:

“Huh. What happened to the mischievous brat who stalked me for the last few days? I didn't imagine you'd really be into this as much as you are.”

Ebon:

“I guess there's a lot you still need to learn just as I'm sure there's a lot I'll learn about you."

 

 ~Off to sleep and come up with more ways to torture my characters.  I think I made one of my characters scream at the end of the chapter.  I can't wait to find out what happens next.