As of Friday, Book One is done. And yet it's not really "finished," per se. It's sitting quietly on my harddrive, resting and dreaming, before I slog through it for one last read-through, then it'll be off to my editor who may (or may not) tear it apart and declare it an abomination. Either way,… Continue reading When is it “finished?”
Category: The Perfect Assassin (Book 1)
#amediting – Make it Bleed
The best decision I've made so far with this round of edits - aside from, you know, doing them - was to turn on Track Changes. Now whenever I feel like I'm treading water and getting nowhere, all I have to do is flip to "show all markup" and see just how much I've done.… Continue reading #amediting – Make it Bleed
Stop! – It’s Beta Time!
Betas, man. What would we do without them? They're magical creatures, willing to take the time out of their days, weeks, (months?), to glance over an unpolished manuscript and not only give feedback, but give supporting details and thoughts and comments and maybe - hopefully - a few ideas on what they think might help.… Continue reading Stop! – It’s Beta Time!
The Final Countdown
I've hit the final stretch which means I just want to be done already. If there were writing goblins, I would leave out whatever fruit or knick-knacks they desired to finish this for me. I can see the end in sight, but I still have to get there. In the meantime, I've reached the previous… Continue reading The Final Countdown
Accountability and Stars
The way I've held myself accountable over the years has shifted a bit. In the very beginning, there was NaNoWriMo and its daily word count goals coupled with an awesome little graph that rose slowly, encouragingly, over the course of a month. Outside of November, I tried to replicate that beautiful graph by plunking my… Continue reading Accountability and Stars
The Nitty Gritties
The baby is sleeping better and the days are gradually lengthening. I can see an end in sight. The threads of this story are coming together, tight and snug, while at the same time the notepad I have open on my desktop continues to accumulate little changes - tone shift here, reordering a scene there,… Continue reading The Nitty Gritties
Write when Baby Writes
Another week, another 10,000 words closer to my goal, another seven days closer to my deadline, another notch up on the panic scale. I think we're around abouts purple, going on plaid. Thankfully, I do my best work while panicking. It's also good for the skin! (No, no it's not.) Despite a week of horrendous… Continue reading Write when Baby Writes
Sunny Days Ahead
Ever since that snowfall two weeks ago, Michigan has been all sunshine and flowers. Within the space of a weekend, every tree here has burst forth with leaves or blossoms. Spring is quite literally in the air. And by spring I mean pollen. Here's to you, allergy-sufferers. May your antihistamines not make you drowsy. Instead… Continue reading Sunny Days Ahead
April Snow Showers Bring May… Final Drafts?
Evidence of said April snow. Well, one can hope! I've been down on myself a lot during this particular writing process. I feel like my first draft was wildly different from my draft zero, which of course was the most awful awful that ever awfuled. And my first draft still has a lot of problems.… Continue reading April Snow Showers Bring May… Final Drafts?
Hello, hello
Wow, babies man. Thinking you can write a book while juggling a newborn and a job must be the mark of a madman. Add updating your blog to the mix and, well. Hi. *waves* No news, as they say, is good news. And in a way, it is. I've been steadily working on this book… Continue reading Hello, hello
