Tag: amediting

Wednesday Words 6/29

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 1 Comment

This as been a seriously productive week despite a few set backs. The kiddo has a summer cold. Grrr. Really screws with my timing. Especially since he has camp this week. There went 12 hours of expected alone time down the drain. LOL

On the plus side, I did get ten chapters edited. Having a sitter just a few extra hours a week is making a huge difference for me. Of course I am finding little issues. Things I left hanging and I need to decide if it matters or if I should circle the wagon to clean it up. Some are a definite yes. And I need to figure out some solutions. Other are still up the air. And I think I rush Talon’s emotional growth, so I’ve been editing that back. I need to give him a new arc. Good thing I watch a lot of house rehab shows. I know all about building a new set of stairs with a better run/rise proportion. LOL

I also gave up on 5 AM. It’s just not happening for me and the effort to do so makes me sad and tired. I don’t even need an alarm to get up between 630 and 7. That’s just going to have to be good enough for now. I’d have to get way more analytical, but I think I’m actually more productive sleeping in an extra hour and a half. hrm…..

What makes you feel more productive? And do you care if you actually are more productive or is the feeling itself enough?

Wednesday Words 6/21

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 4 Comments

Woot, Summer is here. At least according to the calendar. We actually breached the 70s once this past week. LOL

I managed to get 2 chapters edited but I seem to just be removing cruddy words. If my novel gets any shorter I’ll have to call it a novella. LOL

So question of protocol. I write under a pseudonym. When I sit down with agents and editors do I introduce myself as my pseudonym or my real name? Inquiring minds want to know….

Wednesday Words 6/14

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

With the editing of others:

Not editing. Quiet peace right now, although three of my students tell me I will have reading to do soon. In the mean time, I’m reading a lot of other books, like 5 of them right now. The 3AM Epiphany, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, Tyranny-Lessons from the 20th Century, Barking Up The Wrong Tree, The House of Spirits(gift from my SIL, might as well try to read it).

With my own writing:

Editing is going ok. I keep going back and forth a bit. I sent out my new first chapter for a read through. Two liked it, one thought I needed to add more back from the original version to up the tension. sigh. I’ll get it right at some point. LOL. Maybe.

Emotionally: I got this email this week:

I just wanted to let you know that I got a kindle for my graduation this year, and I hooked it up to my family account.  I was scrolling through the my books section and I found your book, scripting the truth.  As of this morning at 6, I haven’t been able to put my kindle down.  I’m on chapter 36, 73% through the book.  It is truly a work of art, and I’m sad not a lot of people know about it.
 I cried.
Topic for debate on my writing:

Hrm, I’m not sure I have anything to debate. I registered for that conference. I booked a sit down with an agent and an editor. I can book more when arrive if they have slots left open. I’m ridiculously nervous about it. But it’s on the line now, I need to get this book done or I will have nothing to discuss in my appointments. I am an excellent pressure player. My sitter has not found a summer job yet, so I added a couple of mid days each week to my regular sitting schedule, more time to write.

Wednesday Words 5/31

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

It’s Sunday afternoon. We’ve had the neighbor kids over for breakfast and cartoons which allowed me lots of time to take care of things. That’s my preferred way to function. If I was outlining the perfect day it would go like this.

Sleep in till 7-730.

Enjoy two cups of coffee while reading a good book. Breakfast, dishes, a few chores.

Maybe a little more reading.

An hour or so on reading and responding to emails and social media.

A nice long work out.

A healthy lunch and then, bam sit down to the computer. Two hours easy of productive writing before nap time creeps up on me.

I am right on track, and the hubs even volunteers to take the kiddo for a bike ride and to run an errand we need ran. Awesome. Thank you, I love you, you are amazing. I am going to work on my book.

Then they come back after 45 minutes because they forgot the bike helmets, ok, it happens. But then they decide on lunch and to accompany the consumption of said lunch the hubs starts blasting metal. sigh. Color me fully distracted and on my way to a headache. So I stop trying to work, I play with the hubs and son for a while. They finally leave, all is peaceful.

I sit back down at the damn spy novel, thinking where was I? When a thought strikes me, a cruise missile out of the blue, a bit of feedback someone gave me months ago, that I still haven’t addressed. Agh. Do I finish the chapter I am currently cleaning up? Or stop and fix it the other problem because it will surely interfere with the changes I am making now. And then I think, this damn thing is so not salvageable. I should just drop it and move on to the next thing.

Seriously, is there anything more irritating?

Wednesday Words 5/24

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 5 Comments

Ok this will be the short version of Wed Words. I am slammed with edits to my spy novel and updating the blog site. I hope you are enjoying some of the changes, more are coming but….

New names for Gareth (his name is too close to another). Spy. Hard core, been in the biz long term, compartmentalizes his personal life to be the coldest, most efficient guy on the job.

Ash

Finn

Turk

Dacre

Ace

VOTE!

Wednesday Words 5/17

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

With the editing of others: Blissfully not editing much right now. A little word smithing on the website. A few paragraphs rewritten for the hubs and friends. But that’s it; which is probably why….

With my own writing: I am editing like a maniac. LOL. It’s weird really diving into my spy novel because some of it was written 4 1/2 years ago. It was my first novel and it reads like it. I spend some serious time rewriting crutched sentences. LOL. I’ve edited to a happy place, 2 chapters this week.

Emotionally: I’m on the fence about this writing conference coming in October. Registration opens soon and I keep waffling back and forth between, just go and that’s a lot of money. Part of me knows I need to expand beyond Norwescon. It’s not my genre and I’ve gotten what I can there. I need to jump to a bigger pond. But I am a little afraid. New things make me nervous. LOL

Plus this conference offers the opportunity to sit down with agents and editors. I am both intrigued and horrified by this. Part of me thinks it would be super interesting just to see how the process might go and what they might say. And then part of me thinks, hello rejection.

Topic for debate on my writing: So as I clean things up, I find myself working hard to balance between removing crutch words and phrases and staying true to my voice.

What tricks and tips do you have for balancing this?