Editing & the Ideas are Flowing

I've been digging into the edits on Vessel, the sequel to my recently released novella, Tribute. I'm on chapter 16, so two-thirds of the way there! I'm happy with the quality of the draft, and able to focus on adding foreshadowing and detail. Hopefully when I'm finished editing the draft on paper, I'll have taken care of enough of the new writing that the computer revisions won't take much time.

The cool part is that as I've worked on edits, new ideas and connections are surfacing for the next couple of novellas. I'm feverishly typing those out on my iPad to keep track. And I'm getting excited about writing the third novella -- I actually started the first scene with the female lead yesterday, because I could see how I wanted her story to start so clearly. Just a few hundred words, but the groundwork for a whole new storyline...

I've been feeling creative and inspired again after kind of a post-release crash once I'd published Tribute. Now the problem is fitting in writing time. One more weekend out of town over Labor Day. Luckily, my mom-in-law is a fan of me taking time for writing (and having my kids to herself. LOL.), so I'm hoping I'll finish the paper edit of Vessel this weekend. That would leave two weeks to incorporate the revisions in the manuscript, and meet my #ROW80 goal of having Vessel beta-ready at the end of Round 3.

I'm a little down again about my current writing WIP. I broke 10,000 late last week, which felt awesome. Then I spent a couple of precious hours going through what I'd written so far. I liked it, and that was a great mood boost. I made edits, added to scenes here and there... and then the big bad happened: my computer bit the big one that very night. And since we'd moved our computer two days prior to the living room in a misguided attempt to reclaim productive hours after putting our youngest down to bed in the office (don't get me started), our most recent time machine backup missed all my work on my WIP. Serious boohoo!! I was able to reclaim the bulk of the word count because I'd written it first on my iPad, but not my edits and revisions on that beautiful day when I felt so in love with my WIP. I'm sad! More to the point, I haven't picked it back up. I will, but I need a good block of time or what I'll be able to accomplish will just make me nuts. I really have no idea how long it's going to take me to write this baby... I might be plugging away at it well into Round 4. At least I have the first 20% written -- the stage is set.

All that said, I am writing this post on my gorgeous, powerful new iMac. She's really pretty, and I love her. :)

#ROW80 Update

With one goal down, I'm focusing in on my two remaining goals. First, editing Vessel, the sequel to Tribute. I certainly wish I'd accomplished more on this front. I'm only five chapters in -- so about 20%. I'll finish this edit in the next month.

The final goal was (modified to) 30,000 words of an urban fantasy. As of today, I have 8,800 words. That's not terrible, and I'm finally starting to feel like I can slip into writing it, instead of spending ten minutes just staring at the screen. So that leaves 21,200 words remaining... not impossible, but far fetched with my recent track record. Let's hope I hit my groove! (Of course, we all know it isn't about hope. It's about getting in there, hands in the word muck, and getting it done!)

I'm also starting to think ahead about what comes next for each of these projects. I need to make some decisions about the fall. My husband was shocked when I mentioned not doing NaNo. I'm just not certain 50,000 in a month makes sense for my life right now, or for the status of any of my projects. I don't need the temptation to start something new. So NaNo -- I'm just not sure.

Indie Summer Book Review

Voodoo Dues by Stephany Simmons

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stephany Simmons' first novella Voodoo Dues is an entertaining and intriguing ride.

Figg, the gun-toting, surprisingly resourceful heroine, was so much fun! She was a very well-written character, and no scene could fall flat with her in place. I can't wait for more Figg!

The hero is more mysterious. He's an intriguing combination of bookish and experienced. I get the feeling we'll be drawn deeper into Lian's world in the second book.

Other characters were also well developed for a novella, and the plot was interesting, with lots of magical and paranormal elements. The book moved quickly and I enjoyed the action, interspersed with snarky Figg and some blossoming romance.

Well done, Stephany Simmons. I highly recommend Voodoo Dues!

View all my reviews

Outline Schmoutline

Hi there! It's been an exciting week in my little corner of the world, with the release of my first book, the paranormal romance novella Tribute. (See my last post if you're interested in a free copy from Smashwords.) I've had a lot of fun talking to folks about this project this week.

The book I'm writing, however... I have yet to get into the flow. I wrote a solid outline, but I'm struggling with every scene, and it's bringing up doubts. Did I start the book at the right point in time? Why are my characters feeling so flat? Was I cut out to write fantasy at all?

This last question comes after releasing a paranormal romance. When I started writing it was fantasy... but I have yet to finish a fantasy book (and I've started five over the last several years). I still see potential in each of these projects, but they are so hard. The paranormal romance Tribute and the sequel Vessel, however, were so much fun to write. And I'm hearing folks are enjoying Tribute and waiting for Vessel.

Yesterday, after struggling to put in another 1,500 words on the urban fantasy this week, I started to wonder if I aught to switch gears and get back to the paranormal romance series. Or maybe sneak that work in on the side just to boost my confidence? (On the side? Where would that be?) Right now I'm spending my precious writing moments staring at a cursor and wincing a lot. So much for my outline, schmoutline.

Tribute Available on Amazon & Smashwords

I've finally gone and done it. At this moment I am filled with extreme pleasure and pride as I tell you my first book, the paranormal romance novella Tribute, is available for purchase at Amazon and Smashwords!

Thank you all for your support and advice as I've worked through this process. I am continually amazed at the awesome indie community, not to mention the wider community of writers in general. I am blessed!

Here's an excerpt from the first chapter of Tribute:

Getting her oil changed wasn’t exactly Hazel’s idea of a fun chore for Friday afternoon, but the sixteen-year-old drooling over her made it nearly unbearable this time. Literally, drooling.

She shot him a short-tempered look as she put on her sunglasses, the Portland sun requiring it for once, though a deep gray line of clouds already clustered along the western horizon. “Can you just finish with the car already?”

He gulped. “Hey, when I’m done do you want to go to dinner or something?”

Hazel sighed and cast him a sweet smile. “You don’t want anything to do with the likes of me, kid.”

He just smiled at her and nodded, his brain obviously addled.

“So that’s a no. No dinner. Just finish my car. Thanks.”

Confused and deflated, he shook his shaggy hair into his face so she couldn’t see his profile as he worked. He called out to his pit crew, his tone wistful and sad.

Gods. Wouldn’t it be great to be normal?

Crushing men wasn’t Hazel’s idea of a good time. It was just that many of them had no control over themselves when she was around. The drooling was not attractive. But they didn’t know that. They didn’t even realize how silly they looked. It was part of her draw; men tended to be totally focused on her, unable to string together more than a sentence, much less keep her entertained for a date. They were compelled to look, to touch if she’d let them, hovering over her the entire time.

She’d heard she was lucky. Some Sidhe drew humans to madness, despair – even violence. They just wanted to love her.

Still, it was annoying.

A buzzing from her purse cast a wave of relief over her. Blessed distraction. She looked up and caught the boy staring again, and frowned at him as she reached into her purse.

Checking the number that had just flashed on her cell phone, Hazel sighed. The age-old question: to answer, or not to answer? Swallowing, she hit send.

“Hello?”

“Hazel. Glad I caught you. Got a little problem I could use your help with.”

“Thankfully, your problems don’t have anything to do with me anymore.”

“They do when they’re not mine specifically, but more, you know, ours.”

“Great,” Hazel said. If he meant what she thought he did, her hope of getting out of whatever this was had just faded fast.

“There’s a human over here who needs to get in touch with the Fomorii. Has to pay a tribute of some kind, but hasn’t been able to get through. Think you could take him?”

“Can I take him?” Like she didn’t have enough to do. “Drake, this is your job. You know I was never into this stuff.”

“You’re missing the point. He needs to go. I can’t take him, so I thought of you.”

“Why can’t you take him?” Drake was the obvious choice. After all, he worked for the Sidhe Authority, taking care of the Otherworld government’s business in the human world. Hazel had as little to do with Otherworld affairs as possible.

 “Let’s call it a little interpersonal issue between me and the Fomorii contact. I’m waiting another decade at least before I meet up with that guy again, for everyone’s sake. I’m supposed to be smoothing relations, remember?”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about. When we were together, I dealt with your interpersonal issues. Now that we’re not, I don’t see what this has to do with me.”

“You’re Sidhe, so you’re in. Our problems are your problems, and this falls into that category. Just think, what would Aunt Brigit say?”

“Damn,” she growled. He had to bring her aunt into it. Of course she knew what Brigit would say. You get the benefits; a certain amount of dirty work comes with it. Help your people. “Tell me what I’m supposed to do again?”

###

Tribute on Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/80123

Tribute on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GL6AES

I'd be happy to give any of my blog readers a free copy of the book. Use coupon code DZ72F at Smashwords to download your free copy now! All I ask is that you leave an honest review on Smashwords and Goodreads, and tell your friends!

#ROW80 Update

Hi, everyone! Hope your week was super productive. I took a vacation. I thought I'd get more writing done during a vacation from my day job, but camping with four kids under the age of four (don't worry about me, only two are mine) wasn't as relaxing as I expected. It was a blast, and the kids came home happy and exhausted... I am just not sure where the time went. :)

Still, I was able to incorporate changes from beta comments on my paranormal romance novella Tribute. I expect some more comments in the next couple of days, but those will be the last before publication day!! I told my husband that I may just pull an all-nighter one night and get 'er done. But I love to sleep when that's possible, so we'll see. The excitement is taking over! If anyone has tidbits to share from their own first publication day (self-pub, that is), I'd love to hear them. I have no idea how long I'll be at the computer to publish on Smashwords and Amazon. Is this a two-hour project or a ten-hour project?

I also wrote 1,200 words on Queen of Peace, the urban fantasy I'm currently writing, in the last two days. I am officially changing my goal for that writing project to 30,000 words by 9/22. I have 5,500 words now, so that means I need to write 4k to 5k each week to make this reduced goal. Write, write, write!