Tag Archives: editing

Morning Pages Entry – July 31, 2014

Leave a reply

Wow, looks like this is the last day of July, and I suppose this is a long weekend coming up. Today, I’m supposed to go sailing with Wayne and Joyce at around 9:30. That should be fun. I’ve always wanted to go sailing with them, just to see how they do things. I’ve been on other boats for sure, and everyone has sort of their own way of doing things, but Wayne is a guy I’ve learned a lot about sailing from, and while he’s come out on my boat to give me sailing tips, I’ve never been out on his. So that should be interesting.   Continue reading →

Morning Pages Entry – July 25, 2014

Leave a reply

Yesterday was good. Today will be even better. Yesterday was over 3000 words writing in a good frame of mind. Today, I will do even better. Not to put too much pressure on, but I will do better. Either more words or better words. Either will work for me. That’s something to look forward to for sure. That is, the day when I no longer worry about getting a fixed number of words out there, but actually concentrate on the quality of the words. And, that’s not something you can ever stop getting better at. I think, that even the great ones struggled with that. The writing every day, will become habit. At least a thousand words … even on weekends, and not counting this morning pages. While these will always get done, and they don’t take me that long to do, it would seem unfair to include these words. So, I was also thinking, that I should start doing some micro plotting while I’m writing these pages, just to get things flowing, I will have to give that some thought here. Nothing is springing to mind at the moment, but figuring out where to go next with Chaz now having seen a mutation take place before his eyes could be interesting. I was think, that the room would be flooded with a basic controlling drug, so that the General could case the girl to do harm to herself. The girl zombie, that is, that just underwent a transformation into an almost normal human. Maybe, she could do something that scares them a bit, but in a non threatening way. Which causes the General to control her into turning onto herself. That wouldn’t make the General look totally like a psychopath in the process, since that’s not really my intention. I’m looking for bad guys, that are not totally bad, but are more complex. Like bad guys in real life, that believe what they are doing is good, and totally justifable in their own mind … like a psychopath I suppose. Then of course, the General could go on a bit about how having a whole troop of controllable freaks would actually be better for the humans. It would be like having slaves they could do whatever they wanted with. They could fight in armies, or do your dishes. Whatever you needed them to do. The question with going that way, is does it tip my hand too early with where I want the series to go. Probably not. You were going there in the epilogue anyways, so why not suggest at it earlier now. That still works I believe. I read some comments yesterday on the Kindling FB page, which were sort of promising. He was talking about how the zombie crowd will read just about anything. That they were ravenous readers (ha … just like the freaks they enjoy reading about). That’s a cool thought. I do hope they are reavenous, and that my series starts to pick up. And it becomes popular with the crowd of readers. This is a genre, that still has a lot of legs in it, I suspect. Kindle Unlimited is an interesting twist on the whole kindle marketing thing. Early indications are showing, that it’s having positive results for those with books enrolled into it. Something like 15 of the top 100 paid books on Amazon where in KU when it started, and only about a week into it, and it appears that something like 45 of the top 100 are now KU books. Of course, with the first 30 days free in the program, there could be a lot of looky-loos that are just taking advantage of the 30 days, and won’t sign up for real. I should likely throw a book into that ring. Maybe that boating book I was starting to put together. I should finish that one up, and throw it in to see what happens. Could be sort of cool. I liked the cover I had for it too. I am in boating season now, and it would be sort of fun to throw that one into the ring, just for the hell of it. Maybe, I could get it beefed up enough for Emily to look at it. If I can get my word count up that is. Not to worry, I will get there. I’m sure I could have gotten to 5K yesterday, with a little more focus. I was organizing a bit too much yesterday. If I can get to 2500, before we head with with wayne and joyce for lunch today that would be good. Let’s get going.

TIGERBLOOD: yep DAILYMOOD: good LOCATION: boat bayfield WORDSWRITTEN: 3000+ PUSHUPS: 2:15 wall sit TODO: write, lunch in zurich TV: friday night lights BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: none DINNER: big ass salad with shish ka bob meat SNACKS: orange, apple, blueberries, 2 lara bars, 2 naked bars ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 1:00 AWAKE: 7:30

 

Morning Pages Entry – June 27, 2014

Leave a reply

So, I did a bit more outlining with Scrivener yesterday, and I was getting a bit of the hang of it. It’s still a bit of a process at this point, and not totally 100% natural, but it’s like anything else you know, the more you do, the easier it gets. I think it’s a good process though, and I like the way I’ve got Scrivener setup to capture some of the meta data related to scenes and sequels with POV, goal, conflict, disaster for the scenes and then reaction, dilemma, decision for the scenes. It’s the first time, that I’ve ever laid out new scenes that way, and I did get a few of them done … 6 I think. Which, I believe, should give you at least 10K words to write. I do need some more scenes. I still don’t quite have the feel for how long the scenes will be, or how specific I want them to be in the outline. I think, putting down as much info and ideas as you can when coming up with the scenes will help during the writing process, but I don’t want to hem myself in too much during the writing process. And I don’t think I will, with the way I’ve got them set up. I will still I think have the ability to come up with new ideas and diverge from the path while writing, but that Scrivener will be a good tool for keep the new stuff organized and allowing be to see the bigger picture of where the story is flowing to. And all, without being restricted. I like that. I like the idea of being able to just free flow write, kind of like I am now. But, this time, I will have some guidelines to go with the writing. I will have a goal (much like the characters) and a purpose for writing each scene. I won’t feel, like I’m meandering too much like I did for the first 75K words or so. And, I think, that is a good thing. Knowing what your trying to accomplish when writing the scene can only be helpful, and fun too I think. It’s sort of like a little challenge or puzzle your trying to fit the pieces into, and the creativity kicks in when you come up with all the little steps, that get’s your character from A to B. It’s going to be fun. I watched a documentary yesterday called tiny house, which was on the surface about people who build and live in very small homes of around 100 square feet. But, what it was really about, was the life decisions that people can make, about what is important in their lives, and how material acquisitions can come to mean so much in our society. And the question they were asking, is do you really need those things, to live a fufilling life. And of course the answer they were coming up with, was no … you really don’t. I could relate totally to a lot of what they were saying, in that how they feel living in the little houses, was much the feeling I get from living on the boat during the summer. It’s so removed from all the responsibilities and time consuming activities, that goes into owing a full sized home, and the work and time and effort that goes into it. Not to mention the expense of it all. I think it’s part of the appeal that many people experience living on sailboats, but I’ve never heard it articulated quite so succinctley the way the documentary did. The homes were about the size of sailboats, when you think about it, and they even used the same heaters you find in many sailboats. I think, that sailboats were even actually a bit smaller. Living in that way, really sort of highlights what’s important in your life, and time had to be one of the bigger. How would you use your time, if you weren’t using it to pay off a mortgage, and making the banks richer? It wasn’t lost on me, that a number of them were writers, and that they obviously found their fufillment in life from their life of writing. And, it ocured to me, that you could live in a very small physical house, but that their writing put them in a much bigger space. When your writing, you can go anywhere, and are not hemed in by four walls of any sized house. So, you could sort of have the best of both worlds. The benefits of a small footprint and less time sucked from you by your house, and the vastness of putting your head in a bigger world during your writing. Sort of cool. Although, I would prefer for my tiny house to have a sail and a keel. Oh yes, and the other thing I did yesterday, was commit to send to Emily 50K words for editing every 3 weeks. Basically, what that means, is I’ve commited to approximately an almost 200 pages novel in your series every 3 weeks. Better get to writing

TIGERBLOOD: yep DAILYMOOD: pretty good LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: 5:00 wall sit TODO: outline write TV: Tiny Houses documentary BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: bacon sausage, hamburger, shrimp, carrots, bell peppers, brocolli SNACKS: orange, lara bar ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12:45 AWAKE: 7:00

 

Morning Pages Entry – June 24, 2014

Leave a reply

So, where do we go the writing today. Simple. Today, we need to do some editing of book two, do some formatting, and then publish. We have a cover, so that’s cool. I think, I like the first book cover better, but that’s ok. We’ll start with what we have for now. Oh, and after we have the second book out, we should update the first book, so it has links to the second book. Of course. I should likely do a bit of research on better blurb writing as well. I don’t think the one you have for the first book, is all that great. Maybe do a bit of reading up on them, before you publish the second book. I think there are a few threads on WritersCafe that talk about blurbs, and give some good examples. Maybe, even read some of the ones that are already out there in your genre. That’s probably a good place to start. I only sold one book yesterday, which brings the total to 4 altogether. That’s 3 in the UK, and one in the US. Will be interesting to see once I get the first one set to permafree what happens. Hopefully, that should bump things up a bit. Then, it becomes a question of seeing how many convert from the first to the second book. That’s of course a function of how good you hook them in with the first story. Not really sure, how well that will work, but definitely need to keep on writing. That’s the way to go. So, there is a lot to do today. And of course, I need to start outlining the next little bit. It looks like, the third story will start off with our gang in Fort Knox, which is ok. You could, likely flesh out more stuff in there. I should, probably convert that section over to Scrivener, and do the rest of the writing in there. I do need to get past some of this first time stuff, and start prioritizing the writing again. Even today, I would like to get more writing done. You do need an outline though before you start writing again. So, get the second book out there, then start getting that next outline together. Something, that makes things a little more fun. Something that engages with the reader more. And, book a date with Emily, for the next book. So, you have to edit book 2, format book 2, read up on blurbs, fix book one blurb, publish book 2 with a good blurb, edit book 1 to show book 2, check for a date with emily, and start outlining the next story for about 50K words. That’s what you need to start doing. Emily should be booked for about two weeks out if you can, but take into account having the family around. It would be nice, if you scheduled things, so you just had to write while they were around. Only writing, with maybe a few admin things would be good. You could, likely do some writing during the early morning while they’re here before they get going, then spend the day with them. Or, maybe even do some writing before bed. We’ll see how that goes. Chances are, whatever plans you lay out will get messed up. Ohh, and before you forget, you should let Tim know, that he’s welcome to come down to see the boys while they’re here if he wants to. Do that first thing today, before you forget. It would be nice to see Tim of course. So, it’s gonna be a busy day, but this is really exciting shit. Don’t get mired down in the past, that’s too easy. The rest of your life starts right now. It’s your call.

TIGERBLOOD: some DAILYMOOD: pissed LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: 2:15 plank TODO: edit, format, blurb fix, publish, emily date, outline TV: orphan black, true blood BOOK: none GAME: 2048 EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 169 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: spaghetti squash SNACKS: orange, apple ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 10:30 & 1:30 AWAKE: 6:15

Morning Pages Entry – June 18, 2014

Leave a reply

Well, this is sort of cool, it appears, that my editor Emily has finished editing my first novel. She had a bunch of feedback as well as a bunch of edits. She was mostly doing a proof read, and not a content edit, but that’s what I wanted. The review she sent back was pretty good I think. It wasn’t too long, but definitely pointed out few issues with the novel. I only skimmed it late last night, so I’ll have to give it a proper read this morning. I’ll have to give some thought to how many changes I want to make to the novel. While it certainly could use some rewriting, part of me just wants to get the thing out there, while the other part of me, wants it to be as good as it possibly can, even if it’s the first thing I’ve written. I would obviously, like for it to make some real money for me, and the better it is, the better that chance. Given what I know now, about how story structure works, it could take quite a bit of writing to get this thing up to snuff, although, I’m sure it’s well worth spending at least a week, maybe two, making it better. You know, there where things you wanted to do, even before sending it to Emily. Maybe, with her feedback, you should make some better changes. Perhaps, I think more motivation and dramatic reasons for why the characters do what they do would be in order. I really do, need to go over what she wrote again, and I will, just as soon as I’m done with this. I’m kind of excited actually. I really want for this novel to be out there. I’m also thinking, that I may want for it to be broken down into two books. And, then have a third book written as soon as possible. If I could release the three books spaced a couple of weeks apart from each other, that would be pretty cool. Then keep releasing something every two or three weeks after that as well. That seems to be a formula that’s working well for a number of other writers. On another note here, I really do need to get to bed earlier. I’m getting into some bad habits of staying up much too late, like past 12 and almost to 12:30. I’ve still been getting up around 6:30, but that’s really not enough sleep for me, and I have been dragging my ass around these days. Gotta stop doing that. These next few weeks are sort of important, if I’m going to get this novel out there, and I would like to have both first novels out there before the brothers show up in a few weeks. If you published one right away, then you would have a few weeks to get the next one out there. It’s certainly a goal worth shooting for. If you spent a week rewriting parts of the first 20K of the novel, and a week with the second half of the novel, you could have the second one published by the time the boys visit. I need to look at a calendar, and see where this all fits. I need to get the next novel outline as well, with a little more care given to structure and story, I think, I could crank out a much better novel the next time. Your going to need to give Emily time to edit the next one as well. I’m going to have to give some more thought to this scheduling thing. I’m not really sure, if it will all fall into place in the timeline I would like it to. Better to get it right, then worry too much about getting it out there before the boys get here. A release schedule is sort of important. Maybe, you should concentrate on getting more of the next one outlined at least before you worry too much about the whole scheduling thing. Maybe you want to have it completely outlined before you get going. That’s the thing to do I think. Once you have an outline, then you can schedule some time with Emily. As long as you edit while you create your first draft, then I’m sure I can get it done much quicker. Each subsequent novel should be about 200 pages or a little more I think. Even if you can make each following novel an extra 25 pages the readers I think will appreciate it. It’s time to really get to work.

TIGERBLOOD: yep DAILYMOOD: tired LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: 2:00 wall sit TODO: rewriting TV: game of thrones, orphan black BOOK: It Starts With Food GAME: 2048 – new high score! EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: spaghetti squash SNACKS: orange, grapes, one chicken finger ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12:30 AWAKE: 6:30