Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, editing, goals, ROW80 on May 29, 2011| 6 Comments »
I finished my novella on Thursday. I decided to take two or three days off before getting seriously into editing. So my new goals are:
1) Edit Dark Relic for an hour a day (or at least most days) until it’s done.
2) Get The Last Cabbandeum formatted for print for Jonathan Eli (I think this is mostly done).
3) Get Haunted Lake formatted for print.
The editing starts tonight (yeah, I know, I meant to start last Friday), so I’m going to shoot for that hour.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged characters, editing, minor characters, plot flaws on May 26, 2011| 10 Comments »
I finished up my novella last night Yay! Now the editing starts. The bad thing is that there are more problems in this story than there have been in my previous ones, at least in my opinion. There is one major problem that I see, and my friend and cover designer, Anya Kelleye also saw the same thing. I need to figure out how to fix that. There are also some characters that need fleshing out. I have a bad habit of ignoring minor characters because I don’t care about them. I’m kind of like that when I’m reading, too, so it naturally sneaks into my writing. But I’m not sure how much one needs to know about a minor character. Do readers really care about them? Does it depend on how minor they are? When there are a dozen characters in your book, how many of them need back stories? So many questions. Grrrrrr!
Anyway, the editing process begins. After that, final proofreading. I hope to have a few other eyes on this story before I take a final look. I wanted to have this published by the beginning of June, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. But, if I’m lucky, it will be done by the middle of June. By that time I’ll have my son’s wedding and my trip to NYC out of the way.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, demi moore, goals, half light, hans matheson, ROW80, word count on May 25, 2011| 2 Comments »
As of last night, I was 580 words ahead on my word count goal and probably one chapter away from finishing my novella, which is the first in a trilogy. By next check in, I’ll be listing different goals since there will be editing and also formatting for print going on. It’s going to be hard to do goals for that, so I’ll be switching to a “time” goal instead of a “word” goal on Sunday.
On an entirely unrelated note…has anyone seen the movie “Half Light” starring Demi Moore and Hans Matheson? It’s a really dark story involving both trickery and supernatural elements. It went straight to DVD (a long time ago), and when my husband rented it for me on a whim, I loved it so much that I had to buy it. I’ve watched it multiple times. But I can’t find a single other person I know that has seen this movie. If you like dark tales where part of the mystery is left to your imagination, you might like this movie. I loved Hans Matheson in this! Demi Moore plays a writer who has had a tragedy in her life and had to get away for awhile. Hans Matheson plays…well, it’s complicated. LOL
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged exercise, new u, wii, workout on May 23, 2011| 7 Comments »
After hearing Kait Nolan talk about New U for the Wii, I got all excited and decided to try it for myself. I only had a small snippet of time, so I did the quick workout the first time. Even that was longer than the time I had, so I had to just turn off the Wii before I was finished. Apparently, Kait is in much better shape than I am. Well, you can tell that by looking at both of us, but anyway. Just from the short workout I did, I was sweating profusely. What got me was the Sun Salutation (I think that was the one) because you have to quickly move from a standing position, downward dog, cobra, etc., so you’re going up and down a lot. My body doesn’t do up and down…yet. I even chose the option for people who never did Yoga since it had been so many years ago. At least I have good balance according to my instructor. :0)
What I’ve learned: 1) I’m in TERRIBLE shape (apparently walking on the treadmill doesn’t cut it), 2) I need to always put a floor mat down behind the balance board (my poor knees on hardwood floor!), and 3) I’m going to get in shape or die trying (I’m hoping for the former).
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, goals, health, ROW80, word count on May 22, 2011| 11 Comments »
I hope everyone is doing well with their goals!
Thursday, I was 611 words ahead of my goal, writing a whopping 2261 words that day. (Ok, that’s whopping for me.) Friday, I went to a birthday party, but I didn’t feel well, so I went straight to bed when I got home. Saturday, I went to a graduation party in the afternoon, and I just didn’t feel like writing. But, today, I wrote 1604 words, bringing me to 715 words ahead of my goal. And the good news, since this is a novella instead of a novel, is that I’m almost finished. So the last part of ROW80 will be used for editing. I think I’ll be done with the writing in a couple of days.
I’m seriously trying to improve my health. I haven’t felt good in awhile, so I’ve been worried about some things. Yesterday, I went to the health food store and got a vitamin/mineral supplement. My husband has started taking probiotics because he heard a doctor say that most bad stuff that happens to your body starts in the digestive system. If your digestive system has problems, then your whole body can have problems. So I’m thinking about taking them, too. Also, I bought some more alkaline water. What I’ve read says that if your body is more alkaline, then it’s harder for diseases to form there. Who knows? For every article that tells how something is good for you, there’s another article that says it’s hogwash. I figure we do the best we can. Exercise and a healthier diet certainly can’t hurt!
So how is everyone else doing? Is there any way I can help?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged characters, check in, first person, ROW80, word count on May 19, 2011| 4 Comments »
I’m about to catch up, I think, from my six days off. I’m only a little over 600 words behind, which is better than the 2800 I was behind.
One thing I’ve realized while writing in first person for the very first time. It’s really hard to flesh out the other characters. You can only know them through their actions. It’s a challenge.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged A Rocky Path, Amazon UK, book sales, ghost on May 17, 2011| 4 Comments »
Just a quickie post today. I’m pondering on why the first novel I published, A Rocky Path, and normally the one with low sales, is suddenly picking up in sales. Not hugely, but enough to notice. I’ve googled it and can’t find any unusual activity. So what would suddenly cause the sales of a certain book to go up? This one is about a ghost and my ghost stories never sell as well as my vampire stories. Who knows? I just wish I could figure it out.
My sales are picking up in the UK on Amazon. Is anyone else experiencing that?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, eye candy, ROW80, thor, word count on May 16, 2011| 11 Comments »
I’m still behind on word count, but I’m slowly creeping back up. It didn’t help that I didn’t write on Saturday. My husband wanted to go see Thor that afternoon, then that night I went to a lingerie shower for my future daughter-in-law. But I think I’ll catch up soon.
Thor…oh my stars! I loved the movie, but even if I hadn’t, it would have been worth it just to SEE him. Bad Lauralynn! *smacks self* I have never seen such a perfect body. And the face was equally worthy of adoration. The first time it showed him in a pair of low riding jeans and no shirt, my husband actually put his hand over my eyes. LOL
Okay, I’m finished shamelessly drooling. I don’t usually go this gaga over an actor or character, but…just wow.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, goals, ROW80, word count on May 11, 2011| 18 Comments »
My goal is to average 500 words per day. When I checked my spreadsheet (yes, I’m on of those spreadsheet people), I realized I hadn’t written in six days during the death of my best friend and all the other events surrounding that. I ended up over 2800 words behind in my cumulative goal. I started writing again Monday, and in the past two days, I’ve changed that deficit to about 1900 words. So I’ve made up about 900 words so far. I really think I’m doing pretty good considering what I’ve been going through. So yay!
So how is everyone else doing?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, goals, ROW80, word count on May 8, 2011| 10 Comments »
First of all, I want to thank everyone for all the kind words concerning the death of my best friend. You guys are so awesome! Because of everything that’s been going on, I haven’t written in a few days. It’s mostly because I’ve been busy with things regarding my friend’s death. I made and printed the programs for the memorial service and made a power point presentation with pictures of her. I felt so honored to be asked to do these things. I was so glad to be able to keep busy. I spent time with her family Friday night, and we had the memorial service on Saturday. So, yeah, I’m behind in word count. But I’m going to catch up, hopefully this week. I’ve been a really bad ROW80 sponsor because I haven’t checked in on all the blogs I should, but I hope everyone understands. I intend to remedy that for this check in. Life must continue on, and my friend would not want me to abandon my writing. Her husband, Jonathan Eli, also intends to continue to write.
My goals are to write an average of 500 words per day and to have the first novella in this series ready to release by June 1. I can do this! :0)
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