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Never Forget

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I wrote this poem many years ago. Our world was forever changed that beautiful September morning, without a cloud in the sky, suddenly darkened by smoke and ash.

I stayed awake for a week, glued to every detail, every news report, scanning images online thinking “if only I could spot a victim and help from home.” I was obsessed in a way I have never been in my life. I had finally collapsed from exhaustion and then started all over again. I had been ashamed that I had been asleep while the world was collapsing. I felt I needed to stay up until…I don’t know what. I wasn’t thinking but then none of us were during that time.

We lost friends that day and in tribute, my mother went down to volunteer to help the responders and those working on the Pile. Her hardhat remains in our home as a reminder of her time there and how many didn’t make it home.

When I wrote this, I did so through tears. And every year, I post it as my own tribute. 

May we #NeverForget what happened in NYC, DC and PA. And may we come together again as we did after that day. It should take a tragedy to bring us all together as one. 🕊️

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#fyp #September11 #foryou #bekind

Blank – Focused – Writing Obsessed

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Photo credit: congerdesign at Pixabay

Hey guys, welcome back! I hope everyone’s September is going well so far. I’ve been loving the cooler weather and reading during the rainy nights we’ve finally been getting. I’ll admit though, my mind has been blanking on what to write here, so let’s see where this post goes today, shall we?

While creating posts for the site has proven to be somewhat of a challenge lately, I’ve been uber focused on my book. I can’t stop thinking about it, working on it and it’s even affecting my sleep and dreams lately. It’s also starting to blur the lines between what’s real and what happened in a chapter…although that could be the meds I’ve been taking lately for an illness that just won’t seem to go away. (I’d like to chalk it up to that instead of losing touch with reality.)

In my previous posts I’ve talked about how I keep rereading my manuscript. I’m still doing that and in the process, have been rewriting sections, editing and adding to the text as a whole. Suddenly scenes that I thought were complete, are now really taking shape even more. If I haven’t said this before I will say it now: YOU CAN NEVER READ YOUR WORK ENOUGH!

Seriously, keep reading your work over and over again!

No matter how many times I read through these chapters, I continually find odd typos here and there that I’ve missed the other five-six times I’ve read it. I’m finding that scenes that I thought were fine previously, really weren’t and needed more detail. Character traits that seemed perfect in the past, I’m now realizing, wow, I missed something there! And never forget, continuity issues!!

I am constantly finding issues with continuity that I had no clue were completely off. If the story doesn’t make sense to you, it sure as hell won’t make sense to your future readers.

It amazes me that the more I read this book and the more I think I’m coming to the end where I can finally submit this work somewhere, the more I’m finding that it needs work. The more I freak out that I’m going to miss something major that will prevent me from getting this sold. The stress has creeped in and taken hold and I’m already dealing with a lot on the personal front and it is just adding to it. Life never stops moving and I have to keep telling myself that this is my own doing. That I created this issue myself and yet, this is so damned important to me. I just want it to be the best it can be so it can lead to something greater and eventually stop the other stress that is going on in my life.

I’m slightly losing it. But knowing this is the first step, amiright? So here I am admitting that yes, I am obsessed with my own work. There, I’ve said it. I feel a little better! Score one for being aware enough to write about an obsession for writing. (Did that even make sense?)

I follow many other authors on #booktok and one thing I love about doing that is knowing that I’m not the only one who is struggling like this. That’s one of the reasons why I started writing about my journey here. To possibly help other writers know that hey, it’s not just you going through this! We are all a little off center as most creatives are. It’s what makes us, us. It’s what drives us to create new works and want to share ourselves with others. We are not in this alone. Really, we’re not. So just keep doing you.

And that is where I will leave you for tonight. So see? Sometimes you can stare at the blank page with no ideas and end up writing something that is not only cathartic to you personally but that may just help someone else in the process!

Hope you got something out of this post and until next time…Cheers!

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September – Continuity – 300 Words

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Photo credit: Cheerfully_lost on Pixabay

Hey guys, welcome back! I’ve been remiss in my posting and I apologize. I normally try for twice a week and I dropped the ball. But I’m back and hey, it’s September!

This is my favorite time of the year. From September 1st to New Year’s Eve, my soul is happy. The rest of the year, I’m just one of the pack. However, I never smile as much as I do during the ‘ber months. I know many are sad to see the Summer go and I get that. I hope everyone had a great time and appreciate that this upcoming time of the year isn’t for everyone. We all have our thing that makes us happy. If you’ve found yours, hold on to it as best you can. Whether it’s a season, a daily ritual of reading or spending time with family and friends, whatever it is, we all have that one thing that makes our soul smile. It’s what makes you…you.

Having said all that, let’s get to what’s been going on with the book!

If you’re new here, hello! I’ve been documenting my writing journey with my current book and have been inching along to the finish line. I started off strong. Sometimes writing one or two chapters a night. It’s how I roll. I don’t stop typing until a chapter is done and if I have an idea in mind or even when I don’t, I write until I’m done. I let my characters lead the way. Now that I’m in the final chapters, it’s the wrapping up of the story that I’m taking my time with. A lot has gone on with these characters and I want to give them the best ending that I can. These last chapters have been a challenge, but I do love a challenge.

I’ve been going through a cycle of reading and rereading and rereading again of the entire manuscript. I never tire of this story which is a good thing. If I found myself getting bored with it then that would mean that there are serious issues with it. What I’ve been finding doing all of these read throughs, is that I’ve been finding the occasional continuity errors.

Having started this book months ago, trying to remember where each character was at a certain point can be tough. I’ve been able to fix a lot, rewrite a lot and cut out a lot (ouch) but now the story is flowing much better. I know this will be a constant thing to keep doing until I finally submit this and I’m fine with that. The more I find now, the better the finished product will be. (I just need to actually finish it!)

Speaking of submitting, I’ve fully decided to submit my book to a literary agent. I’ve been doing a ton of research, looking very carefully at the acknowledgements at the ends of the books I really like and taking note of names mentioned and more. The one thing I am personally dreading is the query letter. I’ve been checking out sample letters across different writing resource sites and I’m so grateful that they have these samples available. I had no clue what was involved until I started doing this! Am I slow to understand it all? You betcha! But at least I know what is involved now.

The biggest struggle for me was writing out the synopsis of the book. Summarizing an entire story in only three hundred words. Why three hundred? Because from everything I’ve read and from talking with other authors, three hundred words is the sweet spot. That’s the number that will get your synopsis read. In rare cases, when they are written incredibly well, the publishers will even use the original synopsis as the summary on the back cover of the published book! Mine is not going to be done that way…trust me. I can write, I can not summarize. At least, I don’t think so. I have gotten some nice feedback from those who have read it, but I will always be my own worst critic.

To me, having to narrow down a full story in a few hundred words, is like trying to sum up your life in a few hundred words. (I mean, isn’t that what an obituary is?) Still, I found it humbling and while it, no joke, took hours to do, I needed it to be the best it could be so that when it lands in the inbox of a future agent, they read it and think, “I’ve found the next best selling novel!”

Again, I just need to finish the actual story. But hey, semantics, amiright?

Anyway, that is where I shall leave you for today. I hope you got a little something out of this and I will try to keep true to my posting schedule more. I invite you to check out the links across the site…whether it’s my past works, the shops I have linked to or even if you are looking for a little reading inspiration, there’s lots to see here. (Remember, there’s two ‘on the bookshelf’ pages. They are quite different from each other so be sure to check out both.)

Thanks again for being here and until next time…cheers!

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Stuck – Stuck – More Stuck

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Photo credit: picjumbo_com at Pixabay.

Hey guys, welcome back! As I sit here thinking of something to write, I’m also thinking how thankful I am to have you all to write for. I’ve been so lucky to have an audience for my posts, my ramblings, my writing journey. When I was writing my first book, I didn’t do this. It took me years to finish that first draft. It is taking even longer to edit it. But this current work in progress, well, this has been a mission. This has been my baby and I’m so glad I am documenting this ride of mine. I’ve heard from other authors that they are going through similar situations as mine and I’m so glad I’m not alone.

For example, I’m currently stuck. Like really stuck. I was getting close to writing the last chapters of this book. Then I stalled. Not just because a part of me doesn’t want this story to end, but because I thought of a whole new way to tell it!

So ok, I go back to the beginning again, I wrote an alternate first chapter. I liked it a lot and it gave me more ideas. What’s wrong with this? Plenty.

Although the amount of work it would take to rewrite the story again from another perspective is daunting, it would also lend more depth to it as a whole so there’s that. Also, my current word count is huge. Like, huge. The editing process for this book is going to be massive and is going to kill me to cut as much as I need to.

I have read and reread this work so many times, it is how I want it to be right now. Well, that’s at this current moment. It changes minute to minute. I think it’s because I don’t want to finish it just yet and am looking for excuses to postpone the last chapters. I’ll snap out of it of course, but in the meantime, I’m torn…I’m…stuck.

Do I go back and add to this and offer two perspectives or do I just go in and edit what I already have? I keep going back and forth on the best way to proceed and in the process, I just keep reading it over and over again. So, I continue to be stuck.

I’m hoping the answer will come to me between the lines. That there will be something that jumps out at me to say “this is it!” So far, nothing. The back and forth continues and then I write the other perspective. If I continue doing that, then it’s even more words I’ll have to cut.

I mentioned in my last post that I did some editing work in my past. I know I can be brutal when I have to be when reworking sentences, paragraphs, chapters. But that is with someone else’s work. With my own? Let’s just say that I don’t take criticism very well, even my own. When I wrote for others and something of mine needed to be edited? I didn’t take it well at all. Just the idea of someone else hacking up my work gives me a stomach ache. But seriously the word count? Massive. So the hacking must be done.

Also, the amount of research going into this book has been a big part of this journey. Not just for the story itself, but also for the work. Learning about querying agents, traditional publishing vs. self publishing, learning from other authors and bouncing ideas off of them and of course, word counts. I’ve been looking at other books in the same genre that I love to see what their counts are. Chapter length, page count, all of it. This is going to be the first book of mine that I want to get out there and it needs to reflect my best work. I want to get it right. I think this is one of the reasons I’ve been freaking out about all of this and will continue to do so until I can finally say, “hey! My first draft is done!” Until then, I shall remain stuck.

I wish this was more uplifting, a little more motivational, but not every day can be like that. Some days, the reality sets in and we have to sit back and take a breath. Take a moment to reflect on what we are doing and if we are doing it the right way. Look at it from a fresh perspective and hope that when we complete what we have started, it is right with us. I will forever be proud of what I have written, which is why the idea of cutting so much is killing me. However, to get this out there to the readers? I will do what is needed to put out my best work possible. (Did I turn this post around at all? I hope so!)

And that is where I will leave you for today. Thanks so much again for being here, for reading my blog and for your support. For without you, I wouldn’t be here.

Until next time…Cheers!

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Revision – Procrastination – New Version

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Photo credit: Pexels on Pixabay.

Hey guys, welcome back! Been a productive week besides being sick, (again). I ended the week picking yet another pumpkin from our mini pumpkin patch and getting the first PSLs of the season! We have a place here in town that makes the best pumpkin spice lattes on the planet and we scored a couple this afternoon. My heart is happy. 

Anyway, I have been busy with the book and had a few days this week with a big smile on my face as I got to some particularly heart warming chapters. After having a slight breakdown during the more emotional ones that I had been working on for a couple of weeks, it was nice to write a few that brought the happiness my way. I just hope that when it is finally read by others, they too will like how the story brings such emotions. I want this to be a book that has you laughing, crying, cringing, loving and basically feeling all the feelings.

I’ve been dealing with a lot of procrastination in finishing this manuscript. I really don’t want it to end. As I’ve said in numerous posts, I love these characters and this fictional town so much, it has been my escape and I’m pretty happy living there every night. So the idea of having it end is killing me. Sure I’ve been thinking of continuing it with a sequel or making it into a series, but this is the first one and it’s the one that truly has my heart.

After doing the full reread of the entire thing so far, I noticed that I was coming up with a whole other idea for this book in my head. I really believe that this story can be told through the eyes of both lead characters and not just the one. So now I’m thinking a complete revision may be in order. Is this a way to postpone finishing the first draft? Possibly. However, I think it could also bring more depth to the story as a whole if I alternated the character’s points of views. I enjoy books that do this myself, so this may be something that works really well for this one. I’ve lived her story in my head for months and I’m finding that his voice is now there and leading me to his side of the story. I’m kind of excited to see where this will take me, plus, I would get to revisit the early story all over again. My thinking too is that if I do decide to go forward with this? I will have two versions and can then decide from there which will work better.

Having done some editing work myself, I’m noticing places where his side can fit rather well into the grand scheme of things. A little slice here, a major cut there and the insertion of the flip side of events and boom, the scenes will feel much richer in the long run.

Again, this could all be because I just don’t want to finish this book. I mean, I really do want it to be done because I believe in it so damned much. At the same time, I don’t because I love it so damned much. I just want this to be the best I can give my future audience and hope that they will end up loving these people as much as I do.

And that is where I will leave you for today.

Thanks as always for being here and reading my ramblings. I appreciate all the visits, the likes, the shares and support that you guys give me so much. I hope you know that. 🥰

Until next time…cheers!

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