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Posts Tagged ‘writing’

How Eclectic is Your Reading Taste?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 17, 2013| 10 Comments »

I see a lot of people talk about a lot of books. But I usually see people talk about the same kinds of books most of the time. Paranormal romance authors and readers talk about paranormal romance books. Same with Historical Romance, Horror, etc. So am I just weird? I’ve been chatting with my friend Rose Gordon, and Stephen King was mentioned (by me). That got me thinking, do other people read so many different genres like I do? Is this weird? I honestly get bored reading the same kinds of books over and over. I have to have variety. I read paranormal romance, historical romance (especially regency), a LITTLE contemporary romance, horror, mystery, suspense. I don’t read non-fiction, usually, except for the Bible. I don’t usually read erotica unless a friend writes it, and then sometimes I will. I don’t mind a little erotic romance, but that’s different from straight erotica. I actually like the build-up, the sexual tension, the growing love more than the sex. Then the sex actually means something. But I digress. I can’t tell you exactly what my favorite genre is. Most of the books I’ve written have been paranormal romance. I have one that’s a fantasy romance (it has wizards, elves, fairies, etc.). I wrote one horror book (The Gnome), and the book I’m writing now is either going to be horror or suspense. I’ll have to see what category my beta readers think it needs to go in. I would like to do a cozy mystery at some point. Because if I read so many different genres, why wouldn’t I want to write them? Why not get out of my comfort zone and try new things?

Here’s my question to you. Do you read in multiple genres or stick to the same one (or one similar)? If you’re a writer, do you write in multiple genres (or want to eventually)? If you have a favorite author who has written something outside their normal genre, will you read it just because it was written by them? I want to know!

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Who Edits Your Books?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 14, 2013| 14 Comments »

I used to think I could edit and proofread my books all by myself. Really, I did. After all, I catch errors in other writers’ books all the time. But here’s the thing…you KNOW what you’re trying to say, so if you say it wrong or misspell a word, your mind sees what you MEANT to say or type. Our minds play tricks like that. You should always be the first editor/proofreader of your book and you should be the last. But in the middle, you should have other people looking at your manuscript.

So, what if you can’t afford an editor? Barter for services if you can! This advice actually comes from my friend, Ruth Ann Nordin, a very prolific author. And that’s what I do. I have some very good beta readers who are also great editors and proofreaders. One actually does that in her full time job. I do the same for them, and it’s worked very well for us. And it’s funny how one might catch totally different things than another. In the last book I had them read, there was only one thing that two of them suggested changing, and both of them had a different way of changing it. That’s when you, as an author, have to make the decision. Should you do it your original way, or pick one of the ways the editors suggested? Remember, I said you should be the first and last editor. Ultimately, it’s your book, and you’re going to be responsible for the content.

There are at LEAST four people who look at my books. Two of them are authors (they write in totally different genres), one is an avid reader, and the last one is my mom. Yes, my mom. I have several different people take a look. Now, I know people say not to use relatives or friends because they won’t tell you the truth. Well, my mom will definitely tell me the truth. And the funny thing is, she’s almost 79 years old, and yet she caught an error a professional editor didn’t catch. That’s the beauty of having multiple people look at your books.

I can honestly say that, lately, I’m finding as many or more errors in traditionally published books than in indie published books. The book I’m currently reading is published by a small publisher, so I don’t know what kind of editors they have, but I’m finding multiple errors in the book.

I had a reader call me the other day (we have a professional relationship in my full time job, and she starting reading my books) and I was so happy when she told me she was impressed because she had found no errors in Soul of a Vampire. She told me she had just read a traditionally published, popular book and found several. She was full of praise for how well my book was edited. That made me all kinds of happy. 🙂

So, tell me, do errors pull you out of the story? Does it depend on how many errors there are? I would love to hear from both fellow authors AND readers who don’t write and see if there’s a difference of opinion.

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Sunday ROW80 Update 10/13/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on October 13, 2013| 19 Comments »

My goal for this round is to finish my WIP by writing 3,000 words per week. This week…drum roll…I wrote 4,552. Yay! I hope I can continue this way. My characters threw a couple of surprises at me this week, so I’m going to have to rearrange things a bit. 🙂

That’s all.

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ROW80 Update 10/9/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on October 9, 2013| 8 Comments »

I’m not sure why I’m posting. Since Thursday-Saturday are my writing days, I haven’t made any progress yet. I’m still wondering what to do with those six or so chapters that I need to fill in before getting into chapters 20-24, which will be the last five. I have outlines for those. I know some people would go ahead and write those last five chapters first, then go back to the others. But I’m a very linear writer. I have to write in order. If I write the exciting chapters first, then I won’t WANT to write the others. If I write the other chapters first, then I have the exciting chapters to look forward to. 🙂 Have I confused you yet?

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ROW80 Goals for Round 4

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on October 7, 2013| 10 Comments »

To finish this stinkin’ WIP!!!

Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said it quite like that. But I’m kind of frustrated with myself because I’ve let other things take precedence over my writing. Some things SHOULD have taken precedence, but not everything. I did do some writing on Saturday. I churned out over 4,000 words on a short story for an anthology I was invited to participate in. All proceeds go to Unicef. More about that later.

I’m going to try to write at least 3,000 words per week until I get this book finished. I have the last few chapters figured out, but there are about six chapters in the beginning of the last half of the book that I have no clue about. I’ll get there, though.

Here’s hoping this round will be more productive than the last two. I’ve been with ROW80 since the very beginning. I was one of the first sponsors. I’ve loved this writing challenge for the almost three years it’s been in existence, and I plan on sticking with it as long as Kait keeps it up. I used to be so much more productive, and I really hope I can get that enthusiasm back. I think part of my discouragement is book sales. I’ve talked to other authors, and most of them are really struggling with sales. There are so many more ebooks to choose from than there used to be. I think the key is to just keep writing and publishing so I’ll have more books out there. I think another thing that’s keeping me from churning out words like I used to is that my plots are getting more complicated. This is all an interesting journey, isn’t it?

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Random Ramblings on a Tuesday

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on October 1, 2013| 6 Comments »

Lately, I’m feeling a little disorganized and sloppy. I don’t know what’s causing it, but I don’t like it. I’m not blogging as much, I’m not writing as much, and I’m not keeping my sink shiny (per instructions from flylady.net). This has got to stop. I need to get organized and get stuff done.

Part of the problem, I think, is that we are moving toward getting into the export business here at work (I wish we weren’t doing this), and it’s overwhelming. I’ve had to attend classes, and tomorrow I have to go to Nashville and meet with some of the people who are actually in those other countries because they have come in for a meeting. So today, I have to design a brochure about the product we are going to be exporting. Awesome.

Another problem is that I might be having a health issue that I need to talk to my doctor about on my next visit. I don’t think it’s anything major, but it COULD be. We shall see. Anyway, that distracts me a bit.

So today, I was going to get back on a schedule for the gym. I’ve moved it around a bit where I’m doing fewer days, but doing both arm and leg work instead of doing them on different days. I almost cancelled my membership at the gym, thinking I could do this at home, but I don’t have the machines to work different muscles. Anyway, I brought my clothes, and I brought my lunch. Then a rep from one of our vendors called and wanted to do lunch. I really can’t say no when it’s a business lunch, because it’s part of my job. Plus, you know, free lunch.

I have to be able to adjust when things like this happen. I get so frustrated when my schedule is thrown off, but I need to chill. There are other days and opportunities to work out. Other days I can write when THAT schedule is messed up. Maybe I need to start meditating.

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Plotting…yeah, weird, I know.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on September 24, 2013| 8 Comments »

Has it actually been a WEEK since I’ve posted? Where does the time go?

I know it’s weird for me to have a blog post again involving plotting. I’ve always been such a total pantser. But, lately, I’ve gone over to the dark plotting side. I’ve done a couple of posts about all that. Susan Bischoff, AKA The Pink Hammer, has shared a lot of notes with me, helping me understand how plotting can help. It took me so long to get it into my thick head that just because I do some plotting, that doesn’t mean my characters can’t go in another direction if they want to. I always thought plotting meant I had to be rigid and not veer off the path, but after some strong talking to, I’ve been convinced that doesn’t have to be the case. The class I took at RNC with Lynn Lorenz also helped. All plotting has to do is give some structure and the basic things you need your story to do. If you think of something different, you can change your outline. Or notes. Or however you plot. I use a combination of a spreadsheet and some notes Susan has set up to ask basic questions. I don’t think I’ll ever get as detailed as Susan gets about a story, but there is a happy medium between extremely detailed plotting and pantsing. And I think I’ve discovered that happy medium.

So what does this mean for my current book? Well, I broke it down into 24 chapters (figuring a 50,000 word manuscript with a little over 2,000 words per chapter) to be adjusted if the story is longer or if there are more or fewer chapters. I went ahead and did the chapter headings with section breaks. (Doing the chapters ahead of time is a suggestion by Lynn Lorenz.) I know everyone is used to using page breaks. But you have to use section breaks for print to get the page numbers right. And when I checked my last book on the little thing they use on Amazon to see what your ebook looks like before submitting, I saw that when I use page breaks, it starts the chapter headings right after the previous chapter, but when I used section breaks, it starts a new page. But I digress. That’s not our topic here. 😛 Anyway, I was already almost halfway through my manuscript when I started plotting. So I went back and did the outline on my spreadsheet for chapters 1-10, which I had already written. Then, I did some outlining for chapters 20-24, because I know what needs to happen in the last part of the book. The challenge is going to be plotting chapters 11-19. That 3rd part of the book is always the hardest for me. I want to make sure the plot continues to move forward with no lagging parts. There has to continue to be mystery and eeriness. I think I’m going to add some extra angst to the hero, who is a very FLAWED hero, but redeemable.

Okay, this whole blog post is getting me anxious to start writing when I get home from work. I might let hubby talk me into watching Sleep Hollow before I get started. So now, lunch break is over, and it’s time to get back to my real job. Wait, writing is a real job, right? Unfortunately, this job pays more, so I need to get to work. 🙂

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Sunday ROW80 Check-In 9/15/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on September 15, 2013| 16 Comments »

Last week was hectic since I had my friend’s 10-year-old son for almost a week. But that’s over, and although I miss him, it’s good for life to get back to normal. My goals are:

1) Write at least three hours this week. I didn’t write three hours. But there was a day at work where a scene was itching to get out, so I ended up writing it at work. I didn’t put it into my manuscript, but wrote it as a separate Word document. I need to figure out exactly where I want to add it since it’s from a “supporting” character’s POV.

2) Do at least 15 minutes of housework per day using the FlyLady challenges. I didn’t do it exactly this way, but I did get some housework done. I bought a couple of nice trunks, in two different sizes, to put some things in rather than have them scattered all over my bedroom or in ugly shoe boxes. And I got the Mt. Everest of paper off the bar that separates the kitchen from the living room. That looks much better now. 🙂

3) Get back to my healthy eating habits. It’s getting better. I’m taking baby steps in this.

So, are any of you finally getting some fall weather? We were actually in the high seventies yesterday instead of in the nineties. This was great since we went to my husband’s company picnic yesterday. Wonderful weather to be outside!

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ROW80 Check-In 9/8/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on September 8, 2013| 22 Comments »

I didn’t post last week because I was on my anniversary trip. Here’s how I’ve done on my goals this past week.

1) Write at least three hours this week. This didn’t happen. However, I started from the beginning and reread my whole WIP, which is about half finished. I added a little scene from my male main character’s point of view. And I’ve done some plotting for the rest of the story. So I’ve been fairly productive.

2) Do at least 15 minutes of housework per day using the FlyLady challenges. Major fail. But I did do a little housework, mostly picking up things from where they don’t belong. I’ve been slowly getting rid of some things. It’s hard to let go of things, thinking I might use them again. But if I haven’t used/worn it in a year, it needs to go away.

3) Get back to my healthy eating habits. I’m actually doing better. I haven’t made any drastic changes…that usually leads to failure. But I’ve gradually worked on eating better. And I’m still walking on the treadmill every day, so that helps.

This week, I’m keeping my friend’s ten-year-old son while she and her husband go on a business trip. This is an interesting experience. My boys are now men, so it brings back fond memories, although this child is a lot different from my sons. It’s going to be a fun week. I’m looking forward to playing games and watching kid’s shows. 🙂 (I’m being serious, not sarcastic.) The biggest problem is he and his parents are late to bed, late to rise. I’m early to bed, early to rise. I woke him up early this morning by making noise walking on the treadmill. I told him he would just have to adjust. LOL

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ROW80 Check In 8/28/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 28, 2013| 12 Comments »

In my last blog post, I stated my three main goals for this week. They were:

1) Write at least three hours this week
2) Do at least 15 minutes of housework per day using the FlyLady challenges
3) Get back to my healthy eating habits. (I’ve been doing great on exercise, but my old eating habits are sliding back into my life.)

I was a miserable failure at 2 and 3. No housework to speak of. I’m still struggling with the eating habits. Not TERRIBLE, but not that good, either.

Let’s talk about that first goal. Honestly, I can’t say I succeeded or failed since the week isn’t over. However, I’ve been reading all of Susan Bischoff’s notes on plotting (using the term “notes” is putting it mildly) and figuring out how to apply them to my current WIP. So I HAVE been working on writing stuff, but not actually writing. I’m planning on doing the actual writing on Thursday and Friday, when I’ve got some things sorted out. I usually write more on Saturdays, but since hubby and I are doing our anniversary trip on the weekend, I’m going to try to get my three hours of writing in on those two days.

More writing news. I’ve been tossing around a paranormal romance idea (no vampires or ghosts this time!) for awhile, and I think I’m going to start doing a little plotting with that. I want to see how I do with Susan’s method on something I’m just starting rather than something I’m halfway through. I’m excited about this idea because, like Soul of a Vampire, the title came in my mind before the story. And the cover for this one can be awesome considering the subject matter. Curious yet? 😉

So, how are the rest of you doing so far this week?

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