Read, delete, rewrite, repeat

I completely deleted the ending chapters of Jasmine. Gone. I'm left with a blank page on which to work on. I've been fighting with the ending for years. I've been trying to make it work, trying and failing, then giving up, only to start again and to meet the same frustrations. This time it's over. The …

Still at it

I'm nearing the end of Jasmine, and it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I have had to delete a whole chapter, and a few scenes were eliminated or rewritten entirely, but on the whole, it's been a fairly quick rewrite. I have asked a friend of mine to read it …

No NaNo for me

It's July 1st, and another Camp NaNoWriMo has begun, without me. I know you are all so disappointed. Okay, I doubt anyone cares. I know I don't. As militant as I have been in the past about NaNoWriMo, I just haven't been able to muster any level of enthusiasm for Camp NaNo. Oh, I've tried …

I think I'm rambling again

My best friend has been asking me if I have started listening to the audio copy of Ernest Cline's novel, Ready Player One. I have had to admit to her several times that I haven't. I just cant' make myself listen to it, despite the fact that I spend two hours commuting to and from work …

Redirecting my focus

I just wrote and posted my last book review. They have been an experience to do, but now I feel that the time is right to move away from that and start to focus more on my own writing. I don't plan to drop it all together, but I have no immediate plans to continue …

The joys of outlining

That has to be one of my most sarcastic titles I've ever written. The joys of outlining...excuse me while I weep silently into my pillow. *Muzak version of Pharrell Williams Happy plays in the background while writer wails miserably into a pillow* Sorry. I don't know what came over me. I'm a little tired right now. Maybe I'm …

Beta-Review Blues(?)

Yesterday I came home to see a message from one of my beta-readers and a PDF of her notes. I felt at once excited and wary by what the notes would contain. Would she like it? Hate it? Tell me to jump off a cliff? It's like opening a present when you don't know if the contents …

Window shopping for an editor

Thanks to everyone who responded to my last post! It's nice to know I have friends who I can count on to give me advice. This has been a learning process, and there is a lot to learn. Come to find out that I'm really ignorant about what's involved to get something published. It's ironic how …

Looking for an editor

There's a book needing work. I'm waiting to hear back from my beta readers but that hasn't stopped me from going though the manuscript, looking for typos to correct, odd phrases to rewrite, and searching for lines that need to be cut. I have a lot that needs to be trimmed away. I'm also looking …

I need an alpha…reader that is

Okay, I'm almost done with my rewrites. That went faster than I had expected. Most of the changes happened in the middle of the book and there wasn't a lot at the end that needed to be tweaked. I'm happy for it. I'm mulling changing the last chapter, however. I find that it's not satisfying. …