Been Eventful, I’ll Tell You That

Well I’ve been away in Windsor watching over my sister’s two cats for the past two weeks – with good result – the cats survived, their level of pampering was maintained and they were allowed to prove their dominance over me by constantly making me let them in and out on a whim.But it was more than just the cats comfort that made this trip away from my wife worthwhile.

As I already posted, I submitted, for the first time ever, a novel to a publishing house. It wasn’t long after, that I finished the  first draft of the sequel to that submitted novel and, finding myself with more free time than I expected, I decided to go ahead and start the third. The third is coming together on the screen and in my head and I’m glad I decided to just ‘keep calm and carry on’

I have also managed to squeeze in some time for working on three short stories. I had sent them to my editor a little before I left and she sent them back with all her comments that are always insightful and helpful , both technically and creatively. I have done work on honing those stories into sharp little gems and am getting closer

The other notable thing that happened during this away mission was that, after twenty years, I finally bit the bullet and got a tattoo.  I am s very glad that I did. Not only is the image now on my arm amazing and meaningful to me but I enjoyed the process. I foresee more tats in my future

There – you area all caught up. Now I’m going to relax on my own couch for a change.

And Now To The Good Stuff

I am now caught up

I have finished reading what I wrote in the novel, ‘Bindings & Spines’ before my unscheduled break from writing, caused by my quite bad cycle this fall/winter.
Not only did I read to the end of what was written but I read the notes and ‘as of yet’ unattached scenes that I had jotted down as well to make sure I am on track. I even wrote a paragraphs worth of the very same style notes, for two chronological scenes that will be up coming in the near future.
Further more, I actually wrote the next paragraph in the story.

Now, one paragraph might not seem like much but getting those first few words down, the ‘starting’ as it were, can be the most daunting part of writing, and I have now already gotten past that.
It is now time to once more channel my muse and get this novel written.

I Have Been Remiss

I know some of you read this because of my writing updates and I have been remiss in keeping those up. If you are really looking to catch every update on the writing side of my life you can do so over at my Facebook page – it is nothing but me talking about my writing.

So here is the latest few entries I made to make it up to any of you that care about that part of my life.

 

Today was less about words written and more about things accomplished.
I finished the first draft of the short story I was working on ‘Do As I Say, Not As I Did’, plus did a first edit of the short story I completed before that – currently titled ‘Just A Pine In My Back’, and started a new short story.
The new onet is going to be the story I started a while ago which then turned into the second of my paranormal P.I. novels. I am going back, rewriting most of it while keeping it true to the origin and concept I had when I first approached it. It will be much different then the direction the novel took.

The new short story is tentatively titled ‘Sort of Stolen’.
I think my word count for today is around 700 – not great but not bad because I also did some editing on the last two short stories I just wrote.
I am enjoying this run of short stories. There is a distinct difference in writing them compared to novels. They further a character in interesting ways as well, I find.
If I can get these three shorts done and then go back to work on one of the two novels, I would be a happy man indeed.

Today, I wrote just over a thousand words on the latest short story ‘Sort of Stolen’.
This is will definitely be the last short for a bit. I am enjoying it but the style difference to a novel is getting to me. I will finish writing this and do the edits needed for all three short stories then see where I stand on what to do next.

I had hoped to to get this last short story ‘Sort of Stolen’ written toady and 2000 words later it is.
I like it. It is tight and tells the tale I wanted to when I first started it, without any of the clutter that ended up getting caught up on it.
The ending might need some tweaking – I’ll do some editing myself and then see what my editor has to say about it.
It also is another short one around 4000 words. It nice to know I can write something under 7000 words still.
I did another edite the last one I finished, ‘Do As I Say, Not As I Did’.
Tomorrow, I will do another round of edits on all three short stories and maybe, if she has the time, send them off to my editor.

That’s all for now folks – thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to follow (and like) my Facebook writing page.

 

 

 

Since I am Still Managing To Write – I’ll Tease You With It

A few hundred more words were written in today’s early afternoon session. I went back a bit and added some description of the corpse the necromancer summoned then added all new text from where I had left off previously. I hope to get a bit more writing done today but time will tell.

I did manage it and got a total word count of  just shy of 1,500. What is weird, for me, is that I am getting snippets out of order.
I write organically – one part flows into another– and my scenes are inspired my moments shown on the inside of my minds eye. These come sequentially as bare bones which I have to put in the connective tissue.
But over the last couple of days I have been getting scenes from all over the rest of the book. I am starting to know a foot bone from a hand but it is a very different process then I am used to. I think it will all work out in the end.
And if I’m wrong… well editing is all about smoothing over the rough patches from the first go.

Having a Bad Day Which Makes Being Able to Write Even Sweeter

At the beginning of writing my CWP ‘Bindings & Spines’ I had put in a scene which I thought, at the time, I was going to use as a secondary story line. Since that time I realised it wasn’t going to happen and I knew it should be taken out.
I also came to realise that a scene later in the story had a paragraph that would be better suited to go right near the front of the book, as set up, instead of a cheap excuse during the moment itself.

So I took out what didn’t work for this book (and saved it for possible use in another) and put in the misplaced paragraph instead. It works and I can clean it up a bit if needed come edit time.
Usually I won’t go back and change things like that while writing but as it was nagging at me, and as I don’t seem to have the concentration to write today, I made the changes to put my mind at rest (about that anyway) and feel I had worked on the novel.

LATER IN THE DAY…

I added a couple hundred words to the CWP where I had left off last time. I also wrote a scene of revelation that will occur later in the book because the image was o clear and good I wanted to record it. All total – including the rewriting I posted about previously my word count is just a hair over 1,000
For a day I didn’t think I would get more then a words down, I am feeling good about that.