Tag: editing

Non-existent mornings #ROW80 #NaNoWriMo

As I sit here at not even 7am with my daughter watching Moana for the six millionth time, I’m annoyed. Not because of Moana, not because of time with my daughter, because 5am-7am is supposed to be my writing time, especially on Sunday mornings and since daylight savings, my kids have been waking up when I do…meaning early morning writing is next to impossible.

I digress.

I have been managing to get some writing in because my spouse is working evening shifts, so after the kids go to bed, I have time to get some words out. I’ve been sprinting to my hearts content and dependent on how much Dr. Pepper I have drank that day. haha. This will change THIS WEEK as my spouse is back to being scheduled for mornings.

So for  updates as fast as I can.

I’ve edited Chapters 1-5 of Glacial Freeze. PS I really need a new title for this. I’m so open to suggestions.

I’m 3 chapters away from finishing my F/M/F piece, also need a title for this. Tentatively Delivering Kris … Maybe…we’ll see. I wanted to be done writing this today. I’m thinking it’ll happen tomorrow because…you know…kids.

That’s about all I’ve done. Some marketing for De-Termination but not a whole lot.

I completed NaNo on Friday, at least official NaNo. My goals for NaNo remain 1. write all 30 days of it and 2. finish F/M/F piece, Lawyer Piece, Love Burns: Take 2 (which will total about 240,000 words for the month). I really need names for these things. It’s getting bad.

TO DO

  1. Marketing for De-Termination (Quarter Life #2) – a constant WIP
  2. Write Race War (Agent Morgan Stone #2)
  3. Write Young & Old (Missing Persons #3)
  4. Write Love Burns: Take 2
  5. Edit Stone’s Mistake (Agent Morgan Stone #1)
  6. Write F/M/F romance piece – IN PROGRESS
  7. Write Lawyer romance piece

DONE

  1. FINAL EDITS De-Termination (Quarter Life #2)
  2. Write Glacial Freeze
  3. Edit Broken & Weary (Missing Persons #2)
  4. Edit Release (Quarter Life #3)

#ROW80 update, week 3 round up #NaNoWriMo

Whew! It’s been an insane week. I decided after much thought and listening to my muse, the story, and my spouse, that I needed to expand Glacial Freeze (this is not the final title). So I added 5 chapters to it Thursday-Saturday and turned it into a 55k word novel from it’s 39k word novella.

Then I finished final edits on Broken & Weary (Missing Persons 2) and emailed that off to my publisher.

Before all that I finished final edits on Release (Quarter Life 3) and emailed that off to my publisher.

So BUSY! And TODAY IS NANOWRIMO! W00t! I got up at 5:30 this morning and started typing. Sundays are busy days for me because of church, so I managed 7300 words before I left for work. I’m hoping to write another chapter in the in between times tonight. Wish me luck!

I have moved around my writing schedule a lot, so the goals listed below are not entirely accurate. I don’t plan on writing Beware (Quarter Life 4) until January. Race War and Young & Old are set for December.

In November, for NaNo, I’m insane and opted to write 3 novels. I have 2 goals for NaNo. One is to write these three novels. The other is to write every single day of NaNo. I may not finish the third novel, but I know I’ll at least get a good chunk of the way through it.

First piece I’m working on is a menage FFM piece with no title yet, maybe Delivering Kris, but I’m not sold on that. The second piece is a lawyer piece that will border on erotic romance but I’m hoping to keep it to plot as much as I can. =P The third piece is Love Burns: Take 2. I had Love Burns accepted by a publisher. It’s set to release August 17th, 2021, and this would be a sequel to that.

TO DO

  1. Marketing for De-Termination (Quarter Life #2) – a constant WIP
  2. Write Race War (Agent Morgan Stone #2)
  3. Write Young & Old (Missing Persons #3)
  4. Write Love Burns: Take 2
  5. Edit Stone’s Mistake (Agent Morgan Stone #1)
  6. Write F/M/F romance piece – IN PROGRESS
  7. Write Lawyer romance piece

DONE

  1. FINAL EDITS De-Termination (Quarter Life #2)
  2. Write Glacial Freeze
  3. Edit Broken & Weary (Missing Persons #2)
  4. Edit Release (Quarter Life #3)

#ROW80 update and heading straight into #NaNoWriMo

I did not update this week, which is my bad, but this week had shit hit the fan hard. It’s too long and too personal to explain, but let me start by saying I’m so grateful to have a therapy appointment on Monday. It will be well-utilized.

Quite a lot has also happened in this week, which is a bit crazy and awesome at the same time. I put a pause of edits of Broken & Weary and sent it to a beta reading. I’m very much worried I tried to smash too much plot into it for it to be developed enough and that some things get lost. I’m waiting to hear back from my trusted beta before I go any further in editing (in case it needs a massive overhaul).

I picked up editing on Release (Quarter Life 3), however. I’m hoping to be done with these by November 1, so I can focus on NaNoWriMo. I’m on chapter 22 of 38, so not too far off. It’s going well, and I can’t wait to send that in to my publisher.

NOW, for the good and exiting news. Last month, I submitted Love Burns (a contemporary May-December lesbian romance) to a new publisher after it was rejected from another publisher. I heard back Friday, and they want the book. Not only that but they said they rarely pick up F/F books but mine was so well-written and the characterization good that they wanted it.

I did submit tentatively two sequels to Love Burns, which they don’t want at the moment. They don’t think there’s enough plot in my outline of them. Totally fair, there wasn’t much plot there haha. But I can always write them or combine them into one and submit it and see where it goes from there. I wasn’t dead-set on it being a series, so I’m still freakin’ crazy excited.

I’ll let you all know more when I know more. Which hopefully is soon!

I’ve been playing around with and learning more about Amazon Ads, which has been an adventure. I’m focusing primarily on Memoir in the Making and Unbound (Quarter Life Book 1) for now, but maybe I’ll do more eventually. For marketing for De-Termination, I set up a blog tour SIGN UP HERE if you want to join in on it. I’ve sent out some review copies and have been doing weekly Facebook Live readings from Unbound which will soon turn into De-Termination once we get closer to the release date.

I also wrote and finished Glacial Freeze, which I have sorely undermentioned. It’s a retelling of the Snow Queen, set in modern times in Glacier National Park with obviously a lovely lesbian twist to it. It’s paranormal romance plus fairy tale. It’s a novella, so only about 40,000 words in length, which was super interesting and weird to write. I had to hold back on my need for plot haha.

I’m adding two pieces I plan on writing during NaNoWriMo, both romances, both May-December lesbian romances. One is a menage, but definitely romance and not erotic romance (though it’ll be borderline. I like my plot!).

TO DO

  1. Marketing for De-Termination (Quarter Life #2) – a constant WIP
  2. Write Race War (Agent Morgan Stone #2)
  3. Write Young & Old (Missing Persons #3)
  5. Write Love Burns: Take 2
  6. Write Beware (Quarter Life #4)
  8. Edit Broken & Weary (Missing Persons #2)
  9. Edit Release (Quarter Life #3)
  10. Edit Stone’s Mistake (Agent Morgan Stone #1)

ADDING

  1. Write F/M/F romance piece
  2. Write Lawyer romance piece

DONE

  1. FINAL EDITS De-Termination (Quarter Life #2)
  2. Write Glacial Freeze

Be kind, Rewind! #writingtip

A few years ago, my spouse was starting a new job with a new manager and this said manager kept getting frustrated with my spouse. You see, my spouse has a couple common phrases that he says ALL the time and one of those phrases is “Sure, sure.” So every time this manager would ask him to do something, teach him something, whatever, my spouse would respond with “Sure, sure.”

His phrase used to be “you know?”

The point is we each have phrases we tend to use A LOT, whether we want to or not. We do this in speech, we do this in writing, we do this in texting. If you’re texting (or in messenger) with me, I will type lol ALL THE TIME. It drives myself insane, but the habit is there and I do it.

So the other day, I’m editing away at one of my new pretty little novels that I’ve finally finished working and you know what I found? I found a brand new phrase I’ve been using abundantly along with a few I knew I always used.

What are your go to phrases in writing that you constantly put into your piece and don’t even realize it?

I literally keep a list on notepad in my computer of “words to delete” which are these overused words and phrases I keep typing.

My newest one is “to be honest”.

My list?

– begin/began
– start/started
– quick

Our phrases/words can and will change. This is why it is SO IMPORTANT to have someone else read through your piece before it ever gets near publishing. Other people pick up on this stuff, not us. My spouse still doesn’t know he says sure, sure every five seconds of the day.

In editing other peoples works, I’ve put together a list of common words you can easily find to delete/find and rework. Here’s my list for you to start with.

– that
– feel/felt
– says/said
– ask/asked

Start there and then really look for what your personal preferences are in your own work. I guarantee you have them.

The Writing Maverick #ROW80

Good morning!! Today is going to be a busy day for me, and until the SO goes to work, I may not get any time to write. Which is a sad day, but a necessary part of the balance of life. I write much better in the mornings than I do in the afternoons or evenings or nights. I have so much more focus, far less distractions. Anyone else feel like this?

So I’m hoping I get my minimum word count in for today, but if not, I do have a plan. I’m one day ahead of where I should be in terms of my 3k a day goal, so that means I can skip a day, right? This novel I’m working on, Lost & Forsaken, is very different from the others I’ve written like it. Which is nice, but at the same time, it’s hard. I feel as though my characters are struggling with it just as much as I am.

I’m catching up with Camp NaNoWriMo though! It’s my own fault for starting two weeks late into Camp, but I think I can make it up, barring any major emergencies. I’m 20% through with the book already, and about 31% done with Camp NaNo, so I’m definitely making progress finally. I’m about to start chapter 5 today, and once I complete that, I’ll be 25% of the way through concerning chapters =P Progress! Progress! Progress! (If I keep telling myself that, then maybe I’ll keep writing.)

ROW80 goals for the rest of April!

1. Write 3k words a day on Lost & Forsaken

Wednesday: 3133
Thursday: 4151
Friday: 3079
Saturday: 5094

2. Edit 2 chapters a day on Her Run for Rachael

I actually took a whole afternoon on Thursday and just finished this off for her. Her release was coming up, and I wanted her to have it sooner, so this goal is complete.

3. Edit 2 chapters a day on shorts for Kaden

Due to editing more on Rachael’s I didn’t quite do this. I’m still on the first chapter of the third short story. Tomorrow I’ll get back on track though.

4. Edit 1 chapter a day on Unbound: Book One of Quarter Life which is my own thing that’s supposed to be coming out in Oct.

This I have done! In fact, I did two more chapters than I was supposed to just because I could. =P I’ll skip doing it today though, so I can focus on writing when I get home from work.

A Lenten Fast #blogging #life #writing #newreleases #editing

Well, it has been a long time since I’ve been on this blog. I unintentionally gave up blogging for Lent it seems. Go figure. I ran into one of the busiest few months of my life, even busier than wedding planning and moving across country and starting a new job. I’m not sure I thought that was possible. But yesterday was Easter, and that means fasting — whether intentionally or not — is over. So I’m back.

It’s a bright and beautiful Monday morning. Typically that means on my blog that I get to talk about Broken Taboos. But I think I’m just going to take today to catch you all up on what I’ve been doing. Which hasn’t been much in the writing world, I’m afraid.

I haven’t really truly written since January, although there have been a few moments of quick writing here and there. I did start a sci fi short story about this very interesting character. It’s written in first person POV, which is not my norm at all, but I wanted to experiment a bit and what better way to do that than in a short story? It’s been loads of fun, but I do need to finish it. Cheska agreed to help out this scientist while they try to discover patterns and more information about geomagnetic storms in space. So yeah, pretty cool. I’m hoping it’ll be accepted for an anthology.

I’ve been doing a lot of copy-editing since January. I don’t know why, but the copy-editing side of my life has boomed. I’ve had about two pieces a month to edit, which while I love copy-editing, it means I don’t write as much. I do believe that once the SO gets a “real” job, meaning one that pays more than half of what I make a month, then I’ll drop the copy-editing down to minimal so I can focus on writing some more.

Other than that!! Life is amazing! Books are amazing!

I’ve got three releases coming up between May 1 and June 1. Which includes parties and so much more! I’m finally getting around to you know, answering emails and such, and setting up some promo. Now that I can focus on stuff not day job related for awhile.

So…since I’m on the promo kick! I’ll put it out there.

I have a HUGE, and I mean HUGE, release party for Memoir in the Making happening May 1-8. I’m looking for a ton of people to takeover the event. I’m also looking for donations if that’s more your thing. Memoir in the Making is a romance, so if you’re intro writing romancey things, this one might be good to join in on. Here’s the link to the sign up.

Since I’m releasing Fallen from Grace (Spirit of Grace #2) June 1 (see? I told you–so many releases). I’m looking for people to read and review For by Grace to try and up my reviews on Amazon. There are multiple reasons for this, which if I do get enough reviews, I’ll share in a blog post later. The sign up sheet or rather, information collecting sheet, is right here for this one.

My third release for this insanity is a short story in an anthology. Young Love, Old Hearts. It’s a May-December, Old-Young anthology. This is probably my favorite short story I’ve every written. It just feels like I hit the nail on the head with it, and that happens so rarely. I get bubbly every time I think about this short.

Anyway! Enough of the business side of things.

At home!!! We got a new puppy! Well puppy is my term for her. She’s a seven year old chocolate lab mix, she’s adorable, she knows how to roll over and spin in circles, and she listens, and is snuggly. She loves my pittie! They get along fantastically, and I really couldn’t have asked for more in a dog (well, maybe better breath). So I think that completes our furfamily. Two dogs and two cats is plenty!

The SO is graduating with a BA in May! I’m so excited and proud. Can’t wait to see the SO walk with cap and gown. It’s been a long time coming. That also means the SO has to start looking for a career rather than just a job to pay the bills. Which I’m sure the SO is uber happy about. =P

On another note, I’ve been crocheting scarves a lot lately. I’m waiting to see if the idea I have in store will come to fruition, but I’m thinking an author and fan charity donation of knitted and crocheted scarves to one particular group (yes, I’m being a bit vague on purpose). What I noticed, aside from all of us authors having furbabies), is that a lot of us love to crochet or knit. No idea why, but it’s something pretty common among the community. I figure fans are also the same way since reading and crocheting/knitting seem to go hand in hand. The donations would go to women who are leaving domestic abuse situations. Which is something I’m very passionate about.

It’s something I’ve tried to bring to light a few times in my Spirit of Grace series and in my personal life. There is a second organization that would before foster care kids who are in college, which is also something I’m passionate about bringing awareness to. But…this one is still in the works, but if you’re interested, let me know!

Wow! This turned out to be a long post!! Love you all! Missed you! Can’t wait for WIPpet Wednesday!

Ch-ch-ch-changes! #ROW80

So I’m making some changes to my goal list for this round, mostly because I finished my book and have other things to focus on. Also, my computer will be in the shop for the next two weeks or so, meaning the audio recording is not going to happen this round at all. I just hope they send me back a fixed computer. Meanwhile, I’m back to my old laptop.

Also…I spent the last week in Texas. It was fabulous! Now back to the real world and working hard.

1. Copy-Editing at least 60 pages a day

2. Blog Posts: ROW80 (Sun & Wed), Broken Taboos (Mon), WIPpet (Wed), Open When (Sat) and 1 extra post during the week.

3. Writing 500 words/day on The Domme

4. Reading 4 books by March 1st: Pianissimo by Lauren Shiro; The Bridge: Traitor by Erik Schubach; The Bridge: Inner City — Gargoyles by Victoria Cobretti; Silence out Loud by Geonn Cannon

 

Those are my new goals, starting tomorrow I’m diving in head first into them!

Thanks for all the support =P

The New Year, goals for 2015 and reflections on 2014

Since we’re close to the end of the year, I’ve been thinking a lot about my goals for this year and my goals for next year. I always have the goal to simply read more books than I read the previous year (for pleasure only) and I certainly accomplished that.

This year I started a blog review site with another reading and writing cohort. It’s provided a lot of work and a lot of greatness. The goal is to read three books a month, so I know for a fact I succeeded in reading more than last year. It wouldn’t be hard since last year I think I read four books total for pleasure. The wonders of being in graduate school.

My second goal is writing/editing related. My goal is to publish 2-3 books a year, which means I have to look forward a lot. This year, 2014, I’ve managed to do that. I published For by Grace (Spirit of Grace #1), Across Worlds: Collision (S. A. Snow pen name), and Ashes Fall (James Matthews #3). I was really worried about not having anything to publish in 2015 because I didn’t really start writing until July. Life was a bit crazy there for a while.

But I did. In 2015, I will be publishing Memoir in the Making on May 1 and Fallen from Grace (Spirit of Grace #2) on June 1. I’m hoping to have another two in there, actually. Yeah—go figure. Quarter Life: Unbound, which I’m almost done with my edits before I send to the publisher, and a co-written novel with Rachael Orman that we haven’t quite finished writing but are close and that we have yet to name.

So here we go…goals for the year 2015

Reading – more books than last year, so more than 25

Writing –

Grace through Redemption (Spirit of Grace #3)
Bronzed Mask
De-Termination (The Second Quarter Life)

Maybe I’ll add in a fourth book in there. I feel like three is too few even though that’s my goal. It really depends on how quickly I get to writing this year unlike last year. Also why my focus this December is editing, so I can knock most of it out of the way before the new year starts. I’d love to get going with writing right off the bat.

The Third Level of Editing Hell and finally writing! #ROW80 & #WIPpetWednesday

ROW80! I’m making much more progress than I thought I would, which is really good.

1. Write 1667 words a day.

I’m still writing on this co-written thing, and we’re over 30k words now. Definitely between the two of us, adding about 2k words a day to it. I know I wrote 2k of that yesterday. I also wrote 2k on Grace through Redemption, a piece I’m writing by myself. That felt really good. I need to do that more often.

2. keep up with all blog posts ROW80, WIPpet, Open When and add in 1 extra post a week

Doing this so far! Had Sundays ROW80 post and today’s ROW80/WIPpet post. I wrote and scheduled a post for Friday, so that leaves Open When…which I should just suck up and write when I’m at work today.

3. Edit at least one chapter a week on something.

This is where most progress has been made. I don’t know if you know this, but I currently have 5 writerly type projects in the works right now, 3 of those in edits. I didn’t mention them all on Sunday because I was waiting for one back from editor/publisher and haven’t even thought about looking at the other one.

Well I had thought about looking at the other one until I checked my email this morning and had a copy-edit that’s 50k words long waiting for me. So … not happening now. Here’s a list of what I have going for editing and how much I did.

Spellbound – S.K. Hart – 5 chapters (7 to go)
Ella’s Love – Jasmine Lee – 10 chapters (13 to go)
The Delivery – Mara White – 50k words to go <==the one in my email this morning
Memoir in the Making – 26 chapters (0 to go) These were final edits I got back this week
Fallen from Grace – 0 chapters (16 to go) this is the one I need to look at
Unbound – finished first round edits by me, so 20 chapters since last Wed. Onto second round with beta, did 9 chapters with 19 to go
PTB – 1 chapter (0 to go) this is a website I beta read for
Love Mess Short – R. Orman – 2500 words to go, quick beta read

whew…I think that’s it, but I’m sure I forgot something.

4. crochet one round of border a week

I managed not a whole border so far this week, but I did manage to get half of one! Still have the rest of the week to finish this border! FINALLY progress on crocheting.

 

WIPpet Wednesday! Since I actually wrote this week on my own stuff (which feels excellent by the way), I get to share more with you from Grace through Redemption. I’ve officially finished the first chapter of the book. Thank God, because that chapter was hard to write. Now onto chapter 2! (The Grace books have 15 chapters plus a prologue, so that means I’ve made decent progress.)

Here’s the excerpt for today. From Chapter One: Of Thieves and Visionaries. I give you ten paragraphs for the day of the month. Remember, this is a completely rough draft; I haven’t looked at it since I wrote it.

She noticed him right off the bat. His pants were down to his knees and his shirt was three times too big. The baseball cap on his had was flat-billed and backward on his head. Grace’s stomach clenched as she watched, waiting for him to make his stupid move. She recognized him easily, had dealt with him before.

“Whatever happens,” Grace said, “stay in the car.”

“What?”

“Stay in the car. I don’t want to have you bleeding out on the ground.”

Jules turned to look at her. Grace felt her gaze, but she didn’t break her eye contact on the skinny kid with over-sized clothes. She tapped her toes against the bottom of her boot as she waited, patiently, for him to slip up. He was going to. The feeling in her gut told her Cole Opinuey was going to make one big mistake in about two seconds flat.

Pressing her foot on the brake, Grace put her car in gear and held her car still. Jules was looking around, trying to figure out whatever it was Grace was so focused on. Jules gasped, and Grace knew she’d seen Cole. He was across the street and stepped onto the sidewalk. Cole nodded his head to a passerby, and Grace’s stomach clenched. This was it.

They smacked hands, and she saw the flip of money and drugs. Stepping on her gas, she sped through the parking lot, checking for other pedestrians briefly before she pulled up on the side of the curb. Her lights were on, and Grace got out of the car when Cole tried to run.

She got out, shoving her door open as slush splashed up into her boots. Grace ignored it and took another step through the puddle, running after Cole as fast as she could. “Stop!” she yelled. “Hands up!”

He made it halfway down the block, when she sprung and tackled him to the ground. Cole stopped struggling two seconds into her knee being shoved into his back to hold him down. He put his hands out by his head and laid down on the cold cement.

“Cole Opinuey,” Grace said. “I thought you were still in prison.”

If you would like to join in WIPpet Wednesday, feel free! Create a blog post with an excerpt of your work in progress that somehow correlates to the date and link it up to the rest of them here. Then go around and check out the other blogs and leave a comment because we’re all comment whores. Got it? Good. =P

The game of life #ROW80 update

Ahhh. It’s Sunday morning, and I’m finally doing my Sunday ROW80 update post, for the first time in two weeks! Life got in the way, but that’s the game of it I think. I’m getting back on track slowly, but it’s still all a work in progress. Which, I do believe, is yet another point of life.

I announced on Wednesday that I have a story releasing on 12/15, and I’m gearing up for that. It’s a co-written short story, which makes it very interesting to say the least. We’re both working to promote it, but at the same time, it’s a short story, so not as much as if it were a novel. We are also co-writing a novel, and that seems to be going very well.

We have a release blitz for Loneliness Ebbs Deep, the short story, if anyone wants to join in!

As for the rest of life, things are going. After much thought, I’ve decided I need to focus on editing right now instead of writing. I’m still writing, but not on my own work. My original plan was to finish Grace through Redemption before the new year, but I got a bit behind in editing. I don’t want to end up even more behind than I already am, so that’s my focus. I think it’s reasonable.

As for the novel I’m co-writing…we have added words this week. Not much as my partner was in the midst of final edits and I’m in the midst of many editing projects. But words were written! Here we go for the rest of the check in.

1. Write 1667 words a day.

We’re at 27382 in word count and going. My guess is we’ll get back on track and do a lot of writing this coming week.

2. keep up with all blog posts ROW80, WIPpet, Open When and add in 1 extra post a week

I’m doing much better at this. I did ROW80 twice this week, WIPpet, and I had 2 extra posts. I did not, however, doing Open When. I’ll need to write a months worth of them to make up for being behind.

3. Edit at least one chapter a week on something.

I’m going to list these out to make it easier.

Ella’s Love: 0 chapters edited and 23 chapters to go
Spellbound: 0 chapters edited and 11 chapters to go
Unbound:
Round 1: 12 chapters done 13 chapters to go
Round 2: 5 chapters done 22 chapters to go
PTB: 1 chapter done

4. crochet one round of border a week

I have not done this, but it still does need to get done.

A day of rest #ROW80

On Monday I finished NaNoWriMo. On Wednesday I finished the novel. *sigh* I wrote that whole book in 14 days, which is something I have done before but I haven’t done it in a long time. I usually prefer to let it drag out a bit more. For some reason, the novel just wanted to be written, and written as fast as I could go. I probably could have gone faster had I not had a job to work at too.

But I finished a novel in 14 days. Talk about crazy. I started the novel itself a few days before NaNoWriMo but didn’t count any of the words before for NaNo. I’m still even shocked that I wrote a romance novel. I love to read them, but I’ve never been all that interested in writing them. They’ve always moved too slowly for me, but for some reason, this one just sprung from my fingers.

What this means is that I have two novels completed, one in October and on in November, and now I need to edit them both. And that’s where everything is slowing down. One has been stuck in editing, meaning nothing has been sent to beta’s in about 3 weeks now, and it’s frustrating me beyond all else. The second one hasn’t even begun the process yes, but… I don’t want to overwhelm my beta readers. So I’m feeling stuck and overwhelmed with editing.

Not to mention I have 3 copy-edits this month…so editing has become my life and writing has gone to the wayside. I enjoy copy-editing, but I enjoy writing even more. I certainly enjoy editing other people’s pieces far more than editing my own. There’s just more a thrill about it.

I’ve decided, since my fingers wouldn’t leave me along for 14 days, that I’ll be taking a break from writing until tomorrow. So my word counts for this half of the week are nil. But here we go…

1. Write 1667 words a day.

Wednesday: 7767
Thursday: 0
Friday: 0
Saturday: 0

2. keep up with all blog posts ROW80, WIPpet, Open When and add in 1 extra post a week

No extra post this week, and I forgot the Open When post for yesterday, so I guess I’ll do it tomorrow. =P

3. Edit at least one chapter a week on something.

Definitely did this. I did about 200 pages on a copy-edit for Mara White. I did a chapter on the copy-edit for S. K. Hart. I did about 4 chapters of my own with the final run through on those. I just got a new copy-edit in my email on Friday, so I went through the prologue of it last night before bed.

4. crochet one round of border a week

Haven’t done this at all. But I thought about doing it, and I told myself I had to do it, so that’s progress!

A day of rest #ROW80 update

My weeks, work wise was fairly slow compared to last month. I’m really enjoying it being calm. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean I did everything I was supposed to be doing, and Saturday I certainly took a day of rest. I was told (by my publisher no less) that I should take a day off. Since I’m not someone who normally sit still well at all, I did take a day off from writing, but not from working. So Saturday I spent the day editing. I finished up part 1 of a copy-edit I had, and I edited a bunch of my own chapters to get them prepped and ready for beta readers.

Today, as Sunday, is going to be very busy. Normally I only have work in the mornings, but today I have it in the afternoon as well. So hopefully, I’ll get some editing and maybe some crocheting done today.

1. Write 1667 words a day, like NaNo.

Wednesday: 2310
Thursday: 7315
Friday: 2402
Saturday: 0

I was able to finish the novel I was working on Friday morning. So I’m only a companion piece and maybe a few shorts stories while I wait for NaNoWriMo to begin.

2. keep up with all blog posts ROW80, WIPpet, Open When and add in 1 extra post a week

I…sort of kept up with this. I totally spaced my Open When post that was supposed to go up yesterday, so I’ll probably be trying to post that later today on my lunch. My 1 extra post this week was a promo/interview for Rachael Orman’s “Her Ride”

3. Edit at least one chapter a week on something.

I did 2 chapters earlier this week, and then yesterday alone, I did 4 chapters of copy-edit and 5 chapters of my own (first round on my own) to send to betas. So I’d say I accomplished this goal.

4. crochet one round of border a week

I sadly haven’t done this yet. Perhaps now that I’m finished writing this book, I’ll find the mental capacity for crocheting!

Updates from the Beyond

Yes, I have noticed that I haven’t been around in the last few weeks. It’s honestly because I’ve been so busy, and not busy with fun stuff. My blog posts for my author’s corner have dwindled the past three weeks, all failing to be given to me and thus not shared with you. I’ve been traveling a great amount and thus unable to write or post for WIPpet Wednesdays, something I sorely miss. I could probably manage to post, but no way would I be able to manage to actually read my fellow WIPeteer posts, and thus I don’t feel comfortable posting without being able to reciprocate.

So here’s a bit of what’s been going on.

1. I’m looking for people to fill spots for the rest of the year on my blog for Author’s Corner. Right now, I’m only looking for LGBT authors or authors who write LGBT (or both, if someone happens to fall into both of those categories like me). I have a post up and coming next week from James Crawford, and I sincerely hope it actually happens.

2. I’m recently engaged!! Which is crazy exciting, but now think about the fact that we chose a wedding date six months out. Wow…so much planning. And I really hate planning. So now that most of the big things are planned, I can finally start to relax a bit. Also, I’m graduating with my Master’s degree in May, so I’ve been planning for that as well.

3. I have two books of my own that need to be edited, and I thought I would finish at least the first edit on Ashes Fall before I had to start on the final edit of For by Grace. I was wrong. For by Grace comes out June 1st and I really need to get the final edits to my publisher. Sadly, Ashes Fall is once again taking the back seat. These two books are coming out this year, along with a third that I co-wrote. I need to get kicking on writing in order to have anything coming out next year.

4. Due to the desperate need for money, I took on an editing job. Which will be awesome! I’m also searching for a part-time to full-time job in retail, because apparently I think there are more hours in the day than there actually are. This editing job is amazing though. It’s for debut author Tammy Morea and is a YA novel. I can’t wait until she publishes it for you all.

5. I’m still chugging along in school and my other job that doesn’t actually pay anything but gas money.

So this be my life for the past three weeks which I haven’t posted here. No interesting reads as of yet, though I did get started on Kristen Duvall’s Femme Du Chaos which is a great read so far! Wish I’d finished it before life got in the way again. Hope to see you all soon! Maybe Wednesday with a WIPpet post!

My Editing Schedule

Mar 24 – Ch 0, 1 (FbG) Ch 1, 2 (August Moon, TM)
Mar 25 – Ch 2, 3, 4 (FbG) Ch 3, 4 (August Moon, TM)
Mar 26 – Ch 5 (FbG) Ch 5 (August Moon, TM)
Mar 27 – Ch 6, 7 (FbG) Ch 6 (August Moon, TM)

Mar 30 – Ch 8, 9 (FbG) Ch 7, 8, 9 (August Moon, TM)
Mar 31 – Ch 10, 11, 12 (FbG) Ch 10, 11 (August Moon, TM)
Apr 01 – Ch 14, 15 (FbG) Ch 12 (August Moon, TM)
Apr 02 – Ch 13, 14 (August Moon, TM)
Apr 03 – Ch 15 (August Moon, TM)

Here’s to really hoping I’m able to stick to this editing schedule, and yes, I realize how ambitious I am. Either way, in the next three weeks, both these novels will be edited!

Grammar Wednesday: Word Mixups – Weary v Wary

Hello friends,

This is the last Grammar Wednesday of the year! Since next Wednesday is Christmas, I will be taking it off from this adventure. This week we’ll be looking at weary and wary–two things that should not be happening during the holiday season. But here we go.

EXAMPLES

She was wary of going to a new church on Christmas eve, not knowing anyone generally didn’t bode for a pleasant service.

Being weary of the holidays, Rusty decided to take a nap on the edge of her bed, curing into a tight ball before slipping off into slumber.

 

…

have a great 2014!!

Grammar Wednesday: Word Mixups – Effect v Affect

These are two that are actually less mixed up than they used to be. Affect is to affect something, while one thing has an effect on another.

EXAMPLES

Rusty was affected by the dog that moved into the house.

Rusty made an effect on the dog when she smacked him on the nose.

The effect of the lights in my eyes is to blind me.

I’m affected by strong lighting.

Grammar Wednesday: Word Mixups – It’s v Its

There was no Grammar Wednesday last week due to Thanksgiving and travel. This week we’ll focus on what that is consistently incorrect in many things that I edit. One would thing that it would be easy because “it’s” is a contraction of “it is,” but it’s still messed up.

The easiest way to look at this one for correction is to try it out as “it is” and to look to see if “its” refers to something or someone.

EXAMPLES

It’s easy to say that Christmas comes quickly when one is having fun.

Christmas has its moments with family and friends and strangers all coming together.

Grammar Wednesday: Word Mixups – Apart v A part

There is a massive issue when these two are mixed up, mainly because they mean the complete opposite.

She stood apart of the crowd.

She stood a part of the crowd.

Both have very different meanings. “A part” means together and with, while “apart” means separate and away from. Thus they are very different in how they are used.

EXAMPLES

The piece was a part of the whole.

Rusty was a part of her mom and a part of her dad.

Rusty was apart from Seeley for the better part of a week during a move.

Grammar Wednesday: Word Mixups – Peek v Peak v Pique

These are fun ones and are very often misused. I think the easiest way to differentiate is to just write sentences with them.

EXAMPLES

Peek a boo! I see you!

The peak was over six thousand feet high.

The concept piqued the child’s interest, so they gave the child more to study.

We played peek a boo with each peak as it peeked around the corner; it was just enough to pique the toddlers interest and kept zir attention.

Grammar Wednesday: Word Mixups – Lead v Led

While lead is a word that would be used in a sentence, it is not the past tense of “to lead.” Lead is actually a metal…led means “to lead” in the past tense. This is a very common mistake that is made, and I constantly have to correct it in other’s work and in mine. It’s not that I don’t know the difference, it’s that my fingers think for themselves sometimes.

EXAMPLES

Once they had led them to the cemetery, they started the ritual killing.

Lead is an element on the periodic table of contents.

Grammar Wednesday: Word Mixups – Patience v Patients

It has honestly surprised me how many times I have seen this one mixed up. I’m not sure if it’s because of just random typos, but it does seem to happen more than it should.

Patients are people; they generally reside in a hospital but can be found in other places.

Patience is something that an individual has with someone or something else.

Now, it seems to be confusing because patient and patient are the spelled the same even though they have different meanings.

EXAMPLES

The patients at the hospital were patient when waiting for their doctors (yeah, right).

Her mother exerted the most amount of patience she had ever seen when she described what had happened to cause her brother’s black eye.