On the Home Stretch

Good news, I'm almost done with my second draft of "That Girl." I've had a little time off work and I've worked hard to get so much done. So it's proud of myself, I am. The third draft will be the one where I work on the presentation, so to speak. For that, I'm going to do a lot of reading.

Does anyone else get stuck when trying to describe what actions and mannerisms a person uses while talking? Some authors seem able to divers away from the norm. I find when I read a lot, I get a better sense of people's idiosyncrasies. You can only scratch your head, purse your lips, furrow your brows so many times before it becomes obvious to readers that you have no imagination. Hands on hips, clenched fists, lame humor can become boring in time. Tears, really how often does a person tear up. In real life people's feelings get hurt and their reactions are internal. Their hearts harden, their pulse quickens, they even feel the sting of tears behind their eyes. It becomes a dilemma for authors. It's easy to get in a rut. I don't think I'm alone in this. If you read the same author over and over again, it becomes obvious. I guess you could call it that author's style of writing and I think that would be true, but we know a lot of times there are no words. So you have to go and find them, whether through observing or experimenting.

These are just my thoughts on things. I'm by no means an expert, if I were, I'd be a best selling author. I just know what I know.

To all who read, God bless and happy reading.

Reading not on the best seller's list and censoring

I've come to enjoy free ebooks. What did we do without them. Free is always good and made better because it's, well, free. Something about a free book just makes it a good read, no matter how labor intensive it is to get through. I wish I could read all the free ebook, but I've already got bunches I haven't gotten to yet.

Hey, what about Pay Pal censoring what they deem to be immoral books? They are a private company and I guess it's okay if they censor, though it seems un-American to me. We have to be very careful about censoring. It starts out small and grows like a malignancy. Pretty soon they are censoring books with questionable language, then religious themes, then violence, and next love. Seems like it's possible they might try and censor emotions as well.

That's all the wisdom I have today. Maybe tomorrow I'll be bestowed with more. God bless.

More complaining about second drafts

I feel like I've written four or five books, instead of three, though only one of them is published. Consider first drafts, for instance. I'm sure there are a lot of people who write first drafts and then don't turn around and totally rewrite the second. For me, the first draft is one to just get down on paper as quick as possible so as to get 'er done, as Larry the Cable Guy would say. The second draft is where I start the weeding process. I prune it and prune it until there's hardly anything left except a few of the strongest scenes, then I watch them flower. This is where I start getting really excited, but this, of course, is not the end of the rewrite, even when I'm done with the second draft. What do you think, another draft? Well, yes. This one will undergo more tightening and weeding, but it's also the start of some serious proofing. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but a stitch in time, saves nine. Let me tell you something about proofing. It's never done. Even the proofers of the best writers of the best novels don't get all the mistakes. It seems to me that errors seem to stand out more in ebooks, doesn't it? A lot of that, I think, is due to ebook glitches, but I still more proofing errors in my Kindle that when I'm just reading a paperback.

So, until next time, take care and God bless.

Finding the right words

As we age, changes start to happen. When you're young, you think you can beat the odds. I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but you can only beat them for awhile. Having said that, I'll go on record by saying, attending to your health can prolong the aging process immensely. Eat a lot of Omega3 and Omega6 product, pop a bunch of pills like fish oil and flax seed to fight off the free radicals in your brain. I do the flaxseed because the fish oil comes back at me (eew) even the burpless ones. Get lots of exercise and rest, and stay away from smoking and alcohol. The smoking is easy, the alcohol, not so much. In everything, moderation is the key.

Sorry for the lecture. Everything you want to know is but an internet search away. What I've noticed and no amount of meds and food seem to matter, I have a harder time grasping just the right words, sometimes. I know what word I want, but it won't come. I use a thesaurus a lot, but that takes time. So, on top of all the other roadblocks we writers experience, here's another one to hurdle. For you younger writers, it's never too early to start a healthy regiment that includes brain food.

I hope this helps, Until next time, good bye and God bless.

Still,

Dates and Consistency

It's important to write and write and write. Word count is key to writing, but so is consistency, specifically dates and times. As your WIP progresses and evolves, it's easy to forget those tiny details. It can be frustrating to keep track of if you don't develop a method. There are several ways to manage this. You can keep a calender of events, plot an Excel work sheet, use your word processor's document map or spreadsheet, use a writing software package like yWriter, which is free, or Randy Engermanson's Snowflake Method, but manage it, you must. The worse thing you can do is to try and figure it all out after the fact. True as that may be, that's exactly where I'm at, now.

Personally, I enjoy using Microsoft Word's Document Map and Microsoft Excel for details. It's all right there in one, easy to use (not so easy for beginners) program. My WIP has an event that takes place at a specific date. The events that lead up to it must be plotted into the story. Easy, you might say. Well, you'd be right if nothing ever changed or something never got mixed up or moved around. Since I never do those things, it's a piece of cake. Ha, I am the worse offender of rearrangement that ever breathed. I exaggerate, but you get my drift, I hope. So happy writing, my friends and until next time, God Bless.

Rewrites and Second Drafts, Is there a difference?

Well, of course there's a difference between rewrites and second drafts. Not for me. I haven't written a book yet that the original first draft resembles the finished product. I write, at least, three books per story. But what if the first draft was the best one? On one of my books, one I haven't published yet, I could change the title and characters and make two books, they are so different. I might just do that.

The problem I'm having with my current WIP is finding what I want in and what I don't. I mean, physically finding it. My index finger is wearing out from scrolling with the mouse. I've been moving paragraphs and scenes so long, it's confusing me. Time to put it down for today. I'm proud of myself, though. I've spent the whole morning writing. I have more time to write now that I'm working part time, and I'm rekindling the joy I once got from writing once I get to it.

Does anyone else rewrite instead of revising and editing?

Trying it again

It's so easy to break a good habit and so hard to break a bad one. For me, the good habit was keeping up my blog posts, the bad one was staying away. I don't know why it happened. I love my blog, I've worked very hard at it, but in the last, say, six months or so, I've dreaded the thought of posting. Don't know why, depression, I suppose. So I'm setting up a schedule, starting next Thursday morning, Once a week, I will determine to post on this blog. As I get back in the habit, I'll get my enthusiasm back and post more often. Now, if I can remember that long, it'll be a deal. Next week, I'll talk about rewrites and 2nd drafts. Is there a difference?