Construction Ahead: Interal Editors At Work

Hello Everyone,

Well, it appears that currently my job is editing. I had to take out some things I had on the blog margins (Encouragement of the Day, Movie Recommendations and a few other things) in an effort to fix the spacing problems I was having (don't know if you all saw the problem, but it kept showing up on my screen, so I finally got sick of it and decided to do something about it). I'm not sure how that all happened, but I've fixed it. If you really miss the things I took out, I'll see about putting them in at another time.

I'm also deep in edits on Surreal. I know, I've talked about being disciplined about working on it for awhile, now, and I've finally gotten into it where I'm focused on it. The other manuscripts in the process of writing are on hold while I work solely on editing Surreal.

So far it's going smoothly. I'm getting the word count down (a must) and fixing other things (also important). I'm reminding myself how much I love this story in the process. There's things I forgot about it when I was working on other parts and it's nice to reacquaint myself with the story and characters.

Working on edits isn't as bad as I feared. Yes, it takes a lot of time and yes, you have to keep going back over things you went over 5 times before, but it also helps you get to know your story even better than you knew it before. It helps you understand more what works and what doesn't. It also gives you a chance to review possibilities and things you might not have considered when you first wrote the piece.

It's more exciting than I thought, because it's made everything so much more real for me. No longer is this whole "tighten up the story and get it ready" some vague idea...it's happening. I'm doing it. It's not a dream anymore, I'm going for it. Sure, there's always that sense of "I hope things go well." And I'll be nervous when I send Surreal off, but there's a real sense of accomplishment involved.

This is something I've dreamt about for several years. Now, the dream is steadily becoming more and more of a reality. There's something really special about that.

I hope any of you out there going through this get that same sense of how thrilling it all is. I want to hold onto this feeling and share it with you.

Enjoy your journey :-)

Have A Wonderful Wednesday!

Sprinkle In The Fairy Dust

Howdy Folks,

Do you know how much I love fairy tales? Have I forgotten to mention that lately? Okay, if I have, let me reiterate: I LOVE FAIRY TALES! I even love retellings of fairy tales / mythology (as many you already know).

Here's some of my favorites:

Beastly by Alex Flinn (re-telling of Beauty & The Beast)

Belle by Cameron Dokey (again, Beauty & The Beast)

A Kiss In Time by Alex Flinn (The Sleeping Beauty)

Midnight Pearls by Debbie Viguié (The Little Mermaid)

Scarlet Moon by Debbie Viguié (Little Red Riding Hood)

Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey (The Ballad Of Mulan)

Anyway, those are just a few, but you get the idea. Another series I like a lot are these:

Shadow Of The Bear, Black As Night, Waking Rose all by Regina Doman (Can you guess which fairy tales influenced these books? In Order: Snow White & Rose Red, Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, The Sleeping Beauty).

Fairy Tale Weddings by Debbie Macomber contains 2 novellas by Macomber that are fairy tale retellings... one: Cindy And The Prince (Cinderella) and the other is Some Kind Of Wonderful (Beauty & The Beast).

There's something about fairy tales that make us all believe in magic again. Sometimes I feel like as adults we lose a little of that as we grow up. As writers, we're able to recapture some of that fairy dust and sprinkle it on our stories, and as readers we still seek it out.

We like that happily-ever-after and the magic involved. A little magic in our lives is a good thing. It helps us believe in hope and recognize that wonder still exists in the world.

So go ahead, indulge in a bit of your own fairy tale. Find that happily ever after. Savor the joy.

What's your favorite fairy tale (or retelling)?

Have A Twinkling Tuesday!

"Shiver Me Timbers!"

Ahoy, Mateys And Welcome To Another Week,

Okay...I've talked about dragons, heroes, villains, the window characters, vampires and the like, now how about something else fun?

PIRATES!

I have no problems with people writing about pirates. In fact, one of my favorite Georgette Heyer books deals with a privateer. The book is called Beauvallet and it's awesome.

Not sure what it is that makes pirates so fascinating...especially in romance novels. I guess it's the whole sexy pirate appeal for some. For me, I guess it's just seeing how love affects people--especially a character that's supposed to be intimdating, like a pirate.

Another thing is pirates are utterly adventures. Take Pirates Of The Caribbean movies for instance. Lots of people were very fond of Johnny Depp's performance as Jack Sparrow and all the mystery, intrigue and adventure fond in those stories.

In writing this blog, I did some searches and found a Pirate Code Of Honor also there's some other Pirate Code of Honor information here (this last link is connected to a Pirate Cruise company).

While doing a second search about pirates (for this blog post) I came across some interesting links:

Avast! Welcome To A Pirate's Life Site!

Welcome Aboard! (this link seems to have a TON of information, I've read some of it. Very interesting).

So, what about pirates fascinates you (if you're fascinated by them)?

Have A Merry Monday!

Here They Come: Writers In Public

Howdy Folks,

Welcome to Friday! The weekend is on its way, hurray, hurray!

Oh that totally puts me in mind of the movie The Princess Bride where Fezzik keeps making up all those rhymes and annoys Vizini. If you haven't seen the film, rent it, buy it, but see it! It's hysterical. I haven't read the book, but I've heard it's good.

Ever wondered what would happen if writers looked like their profession? Like if you could pick them out in a crowd. You know, maybe a pen behind the ear, with a notebook in hand. Printer ink all over the fingers, looking a bit red-eyed from staying up all night working on their manuscript.

Maybe a writer would be dressed in pajamas, with fuzzy bunny slippers, carrying around an agent or publishing contract.

The thing about it all...as I've said before, writers are just ordinary folks. There's nothing (unless you're at a convention or at a writers' meeting) that would tell you that someone is a writer. Not on the outside.

They are your friend's brother's little boy's best friend's mother. They're the neighbor down the street with the twenty-nine cats. Could even be your friendly neighborhood accountant.

Maybe it's the man with four tattoos sitting on his back porch smoking a cigarette.

Could be the person who's house you pass every single day, not even realizing that when your back is turned that person is tapping away at their keyboard arranging the next amazing novel that you'll grab from the book shelf and buy hardcover because you simply can't wait for the paperback to come out because you want to know right now what's going to happen with your favorite character.

We all know this because this is who we are. We're those people...okay, I don't own 29 cats (in fact, I don't have any pets), but it wouldn't surprise me if a writer did. Some writers in history have been rather eccentric.

But what would you envision a writer look like if it was obvious someone was a writer? What would they wear? How would they act if their clothing and actions were going to give away that they were a writer?

Many of you are writers, so go ahead, let's get creative here...how would we show the world (or how would any other writer show the world) that you are/they are a writer?

(I'd probably wear comfy clothes and carry around a notebook and busily scribble on it LOL).

Have A Fabulous Friday!

Affirming One Another

Howdy Folks,

Yep, I'm going Southern again...you'll have to pardon me, every now and again it comes out. You can take the girl outta Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the girl (to go cliche on everyone).

Welcome to Thursday's post...the wonderful anticipation of Friday and the chance to remind oneself every day is a gift.

Today is say something positive about another blogger day. Pick one person, any person you know who blogs and say something cool about them.

We're gonna focus on building each other up, because that's part of being fellow writers...helping each other. And sometimes a person just needs a pick-me-up.

Now, I'm not saying this to try and get someone to write anything about me, I just feel in the world where there's a lot going on (some good and some not good) we all need that spark of "life is good" every now and again.

Picking one person is very hard for me. There's several bloggers out there that I enjoy and so it was no easy task to come down to just one, but since it's just one person, this is who I'm gonna go with:

Regina of Regina Rhythm.

Here's why: She's very good at giving out extremely good tips for fellow writers and artists. She's professional and extremely smart. She can give constructive criticism that's helpful and she's nice to boot.

Now you can take a turn...pick a blogger whether a published author, or not...there's a catch though:

1. It can't be yourself. Yes, loving yourself is definitely important, but we're cultivating positive words of reinforcement for others for today.

2. Can't be the same person you saw on this blog (or someone else's blog).

3. Pick only one person (remember Highlander?).

Oh and nobody has to do this on their blog. I just like posting upbeat and positive things.

Like I said, choosing just one person was really hard! There's some really great blogs out there! Keep up the good work everybody :-)

Have A Terrific Thursday!

It's A Tense Situation

Hello Everyone,

Interesting thing to note...

Most books are written in past tense, 3rd person. I have come across some stories that are written in present tense, but still keep the 3rd person.

There are stories written first person and present tense...even one of mine has that (it just really worked for that story...I've had people read and say "It works." I don't really know how to explain why).

Third person past tense works a lot for most stories...I use it for most of mine, as well...why that is, I suppose, is because there isn't as much "I" so it doesn't sound so self-centered.

But my question is...does anyone know where they usage of third person past tense really started (at least for fiction novels)?

What keeps us using a certain POV and tense?

What tense do you generally use?

Have A Wondrous Wednesday!

Head Spinning

Hello Everyone,

No, this isn't some take-off on The Exorcist, rather, this is me going "Yikes! I can't even be away from email for ONE day?"

I had 28 emails in one email account. This includes junk mail. After I deleted the stuff I didn't need, it took time to answer a family email, then email back and forth with a friend about her Baby Shower this Saturday (that I was going to email the hostess about today), then I had to email the hostess of the shower to RSVP.

Then I went to my writing email account. 12 emails, most of it spam, so I deleted the spam took a look at the ones that WEREN'T spam and then came here.

You can't take a day off from email people, it doesn't work LOL. But it's okay. I don't mind really, I just was a bit surprised (even if most of it was junk).

Today is my son's birthday, so I sang Happy Birthday to him and hoping his present is here (gotta check the mailbox). He took it with good humor, but acted a bit embarrassed. It was funny.

Yesterday I was reading the 4th Jennifer Scales Novel called Seraph Of Sorrow. It was interesting and definitely has a good lead in for another book (not yet out) so I'm curious to see what's going to happen next. Just when I think I have a handle on what's going on with all the arachnids, dragons and beaststalkers something else happens and I have to rethink what I thought. But that's a mark of a good series...when it catches you off guard.

This Saturday is a chapter meeting of RWA. Because of all the things I have going on, I have to leave early, but I'm glad I'll get to get out and see everyone and hear the updates on the business side of the meeting, but I have to leave before the guest speaker because I have 2 other things that day, so it's a crazy day. But I'm thinking it will be a good day.

Anyway, what's going on in your world? Is it as crazy as my world?

Have A Thrilling Tuesday!