Monday, October 29, 2012

JUST TOOK ANOTHER MAJOR STEP CLOSER FOR MY BOOK

Well here we are, 1:00 AM, Tuesday, October 30, 2012; and I’ve just finished my final review of the last page of my edited manuscript, in a slight delay caused by the turmoil of Hurricane Sandy.

This means when I wake up later today I’ll have to start entering the manual changes I made on the hard copy I’ve been working with. In additional, this process will allow me to double check my changes for the last time. Given that I’ll need to use a second font in some portions of my manuscript, I’ll be setting up my fonts on my own so I should have no problems when the interior pages of my novel is set up.

I’ll be doing a daily status report every morning of what I’ve accomplished so far from the day before on Twitter. So if anyone is interested in following my progress, you can do so by becoming a Twitter follower here:

http://www.twitter.com/mypennameonly

Thursday, October 25, 2012

A MAJOR STEP HAS BEEN TAKEN

Yesterday I decided to take my first real major step towards having my first novel published. I called CreateSpace and started the procedure to produce the front and back covers for my first novel. I selected the package which would best suit my needs and paid for it. Now I've got to complete the questionaire they sent me and return it to them--thirty minutes later I can call them to discuss my answer in greater detail so they can understand my needs better. I've been advised it can take about six weeks to complete the process which gives me amble time to complete my final review of my edited manuscript. However, I'm not one to wait to the last minute, and I'm aiming to complete my hard copy review and enter all the changes into word. And as of yesterday, I'm more than 36% completed.

Once I've completed the entry of my final changes, I can begin working with CreateSpace to help format the interior.

Since all my writing efforts are now being concentrated on getting my book published, the writing of my next novel is being put on the back burner.






Sunday, October 21, 2012

PROGRESS IS BEING MADE ON BOTH FRONTS

It’s a great feeling when things come together and progess can occur on more than one project at the same time. In the last three days, I’ve reviewed three more chapters consisting of fifteen additional pages. And my stats for reviewing my completed manuscript now stands at nine chapters out of forty being being complete, consisting of a total of fifty-five pages out of 265. Hopefully this will translate to having my review totally completed by next Sunday.

When I take a break for doing the review for my completed manuscript, and if I have nothing else to do, I return to writing my next novel. And in the past three days, I’ve written two more chapters consisting of fourteen new pages and about 2,700 new words. This brings the total for my next manuscript to nine chapters, eighty-two pages, with approximately 18,600 words.

If I continue at this rate for my next yet untitled novel, an adult contemporary/paranormal romance, I might be finished about the same time my first book is release. And the only question I have so far is what name I should to write it under. Should it be different, especially since my second novel will be adult, instead of a YA [young adult] which is the genre of my first book.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

THE FINAL TREK HAS BEGUN

Well yesterday I finally got my ream of green paper, so now I can finally start doing my last in-depth review I’d mentioned previously. I’ve got my pen and paper ready at my side to take notes as to characters and events in order to have a continuity present through the story.
I really wanted to start today, however as I wrote in a previous entry, the best laid plans of mice and men oft time go astray, and this time it was no exception. And since it’s going to take several weeks to get the cover designed [a timeframe I hadn’t anticipated], I’ve got an open ended window to complete this final trek to publication and release into the world of my first novel, a YA Paranormal/Time Travel/First Kiss romance. I Kissed a Ghost.

With this minor setback, I can now also devote some time to the writing of my next yet untitled novel, a contemprorary/paranormal romance. When I reported my status regarding this endeavor the last time, I only had five chapters, forty pages with about 9,300 words. Since then I had asked someone who’s blog I follow and participate on a regular on-going basis whether she would be so kind as to give me feedback on my first four pages [not much - but enough to give her a taste of my writing style]. End result, she loved what I had shown her and wished she could read more; she also gave me some pointers which I’ve already put into place and now those first forty pages are now forty-four with approximately 10,500; one these had been to intensify my writing. And as of today, I’ve written seven chapters with 68 pages and approximately 16,000, and if I continue at this rate, the first draft of this manuscript might complete about the same time as the release date for my YA nove, the beginning of December.

So THANKS for following me here on BlogSpot.com :-) :-) :-)

Sunday, October 14, 2012

EVEN THOUGH MY MUSES HAVE CALMED DOWN -- PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE

As I wrote in my last entry my muses had run amok and I had completed writing five chapters with approximately 9,300 words. Since that frenzied day of writing I’ve completed two reviews of my editor’s proofreading and editing. I wanted to start my last review, a review consisting of a detail review of my story’s continuity making sure I’ve not changed things without indicating how and when it happen, making sure characters have not gotten mixed up, and making sure no questions have gone unanswered in regards to things which have occurred has the story line progressed.

I do this using a hard copy printout on green-colored paper, I find this color paper to be easy on my eyes, etc. The fact of the matter is, I didn’t have any and I still don’t. Each time I’ve intended to go to Staple’s something got in my way of going there.

Now getting back to the writing of my second romance novel, I had another chapter bringing the total to six chapters with about 10,500 words, when I decided to give about the first four pages to one of the authors I follow on a regular basis, who graciously agreed to critique them. When I finally received the critique, I became happy hearing she liked what she read and it made her want to read more. I became ecstatic. She also gave me some great pointers on how to improve on what I’ve written.

Given I didn’t have the colored paper I needed, I proceeded to follow the advice I’d been given. And in the past five days I completed a total revamping of my story so far. I’ve intensified the action in several scenes, I’ve added conflict between two characters in one part, and increase the emotion being created in others. All-in-all I feel I’ve greatly increase the readability of the novel’s story.

So tomorrow, come hell or high water I’m going to Staples, get my much needed green paper. I’m also going to set a two week limit, ending on October 29th to complete this task. Hopefully if everything goes as I’ve planned my first novel will see the light of day between the middle and end of November, just in time to get my book as a gift for the holidays

Monday, October 1, 2012

HELP !!! MY MUSES ARE RUNNING AMOK !!!

HELP! HELP! HELP! My muses are running a amok, and I need a way to calm them down.
We, as authors are always seeking assistance to help us write our manuscripts. We love the ideas they give us, especially when we're suffering from writer's block.
 
If you read my last post, you'll know that I've already received the final pages of edits for my YA Paranormal book, I Kissed a Ghost; and that I've begun writing my next novel this past Friday, this time it's going to be a contemporary paranormal romance. I felt great Saturday night before retiring to bed, because by then I had written two chapters. consisting of eleven pages with approximately 2,700 words.

But the moment I woke yesterday morning things were about to change, and change drastically. I say this because instead of being able to gather my thought as I typed, my muses appeared to be "gun ho" about my writing. I felt as if they had taken a whip to me, causing me to think of every word to write faster than I could type them. Needless to say I was totally spent by the time I wanted to go to sleep, and had no idea of what I had accomplished in writing my new endeavor, no idea that is until I got out of bed and went to my computer.

There in black and white were the facts, facts which I checked and double checked not believing what I had actually written in the frenzy created by my muses. The facts are what they are, and I was astonished that I had written so much in a single day. How much did I type yesterday? What would say if I told you that by the end of the day, I had written three whole chapters consisting of twenty-nine pages containing more than 6,600 words.

For those of you who are for some reason keeping track, in the three days since beginning this new manuscript, I've written five chapters [forty pages containing approximately 9,300 words]
So today, and perhaps most of this week, I'm going to resist my muses input no matter what it takes