Hey all, welcome back, hope you all had a great weekend. I’m going to jump right in, because I’m so excited to announce that I have finished the first draft of my book! Woo-hoo!
I still can’t believe it’s done and of course now the hard work really needs to happen, the serious editing. If you’ve been following along here, you know that I’ve been editing like crazy throughout this process including over the course of five rereads of the manuscript. However, just as I feared, I went over the word count goal. Not even by a little bit either.
From doing all of my research on how to get published traditionally, when submitting to a literary agent, there is a magical word count number that will get you noticed. Depending on the genre and the agent, it can be from 80,000 to 140,000 with the sweet spot being about 100,000. Mine isn’t even close to this.
When I checked my count, I was more than shocked to find that since April, I have written, (are you ready?) 437,404 words! And no, that is not a typo.
I knew I was in trouble when I was combining the chapters into one document and Google docs wouldn’t allow any more chapters into it. Did you know that there is a 1.5mil character limit in docs? Well, now you do. And so do I! I had to break the book up into two separate files.
I’ve done editing work in the past for others and have been brutal when I needed to be. But this is my own work. To me, every word is needed for the story to unfold properly. I’m now rethinking this of course. It is unbelievable to me that I have to cut almost 340,000 words of my own work. I have only rarely in my life used the word unfathomable, but I think this occasion calls for it.
Apparently I write the way I talk and if you know me in person, you know this to be true.
So now comes phase two. Lots of cutting, lots of red ink on printed pages and lots of my work going down the drain as I figure out how to shape this story into something that will not only get the attention of an agent, but will make sense and be readable to my future audience. To say that I’m totally screwed is an understatement but I am up for the challenge!
Of course the real challenge is also going to be not writing the sequel while I’m editing this one…although I have thought about using what I cut from this work in the next book. Seems sensible, no?
Anywhoo, that’s what’s going on here. While I’m more than happy and ecstatic that this book is now in its next phase, I’m already panicked about the work that needs to be done. For now? I’m going to enjoy the accomplishment and maybe, take the night off.
And that is where I’m leaving you for today. Until next time…cheers! ☺️
Hey guys, welcome back! I want to take a second to say thank you to everyone who has been reading my ramblings. It means so much that you come to see what’s been going on and those who keep coming back? I love you guys! I do hope that means that you’ve been getting something out of what I’ve been writing about. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I never take for granted those who support myself and this site. It is more than appreciated. ☺️
And now, the ramblings!
In my previous post I was talking about all the rereads of my manuscript that I’ve been doing. What I failed to mention is that because of reading it over and over, I haven’t been doing a lot of actual writing. I had stalled out with coming up with the last chapters. So I figured if I read the book all over again, it would not only spark ideas, but would also be a chance for more edits.
I had been adding to the book during editing, so in that respect, I have written a sentence here…a few words there. However, over the last two days, I’ve written a chapter and a half and it feels so good to be writing again!
Creativity is a tricky thing. I don’t care what your thing is. Meaning, whether you write music or books, create ceramics or works on canvas, make jewelry or bookmarks (that is also me), we ALL go through blocks. I made jewelry for over twenty years and there would be months when nothing would come to me. No ideas whatsoever. Then suddenly, I’d get a burst of creative energy and I’d make ten pieces in a few hours. The spark will come back, it’s really the definition of ‘trusting the process.’
I wrote an article for LinkedIn years ago, (I’ll post the link below), called Creatives Inspire Creatives. It really is so true. I could look at a photograph and get inspired because of the way the photographer made me feel. I could read another author’s book and suddenly an idea, (that has nothing to do with what I’m reading by the way, just want to make that clear), will hit me. We feed off of each other. There is something about the creative mind that attracts others and for that, I am truly grateful.
I’m currently reading a favorite book series for the third time. The latest in the series came out this week and I wanted to familiarize myself with all the characters again. Thanks to the second book, I found where I needed to go with my own characters. Again, not taking anything from this author, it’s just that while I’m reading, my mind frees up and suddenly I get inspired. Not only that, I’ve been paying attention to how the books flow from one to the other as I’ve decided to make my current book its own series. I’m constantly learning from other authors and I highly recommend doing that. I also pay serious attention to the acknowledgments at the end of the book to see who they thank. Their agent’s name, publishing house, editors, everyone. It helps me to look them up and see if they are looking for submissions and if they’d be a good fit for my work.
Speaking of getting inspired by other authors, thanks to #Booktok, I’ve become online friends with several others out there. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to see posts that, while funny as hell sometimes, completely sum up what the writing process is like. From banging a head on a desk hoping to jog the mind into an idea, to trying to come up with a one hundred word author bio, to yelling into pillows when things just aren’t going right that day…it’s been like therapy for me. Booktok does for me what I hope this site does for you. Make me realize that I’m not alone in the struggle. We all go through our own little breakdowns now and then and we need to know that it’s not just us. I mentioned a few posts ago that I was battling the three hundred word summary for my submission emails. I was thankful as hell to see that MANY other authors out there had the same issue. So hey, it’s not just me! (And it’s not just you either.)
Booktok is also a great place to discover your next read. Sooooo many book recommendations out there and many by indie authors trying to get their work into more hands. I’ve discovered lots of new authors who are doing their best to hustle and show the world that months or even years worth of work are ready to be enjoyed. If you are a reader and want to check it out? There’s several hashtags to be used on TikTok to join the fun! #booktok #bookish #readng #booktokfyp and so many more. You can even narrow it down by genre: #romancebooks #darkfiction etc.
And that’s where I will leave you for today! Again, I thank you for being here and hope you’ve gotten something out of this post!
Have a great weekend! Until next time…
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If you’d like to follow me on social, including my own #booktok, shop my shops (including shopping directly through my linktree): linktr.ee/promosocially
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To read my article, Creatives Inspire Creatives click: HERE
(to see other past articles, hit the ‘past works’ on this site)
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Find a new title on Booktok that you want to check out but don’t want click one of my Amazon links to get it? That’s ok! I’m a PangoBooks Ambassador! It is a great app/site where you can buy used books nice and cheap!! I got two for $1.38 each on my first order!! Use my link to get $5 off your first order, click: HERE
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Looking for some fun Halloween tshirts and stuff? Be sure to check out my various shops with designs done by me: linktr.ee/stuffwemade
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The book series I mentioned above is the one by author Laurie Gilmore. Book one is The Pumpkin Spice Cafe. Just a note on this series…the covers are cute and cozy, the stories are small town romance and there is a bit of spice to them. So make sure the kids don’t think it’s something for them! (Never judge a book by it’s cover is so true here.) Bonus FYI…if you are an ebook reader, as of this post, you can get a FREE copy for Kindle/Kindle app through Prime Reading. For all formats click: HERE
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By the way, I’ve been trying to sell a domain for a few years now and the name would be perfect for fantasy writers, musicians, medieval folks, even Harry Potter fans. It was my old jewelry site that I shut down a while ago and I’d really like it to sell so I can stop paying for it. I’m not responsible for the pricing, but you can find out more: TheGoblet.com
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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you!! Being a ‘starving artist’ means every time you click on stuff on the site or donate to my Ko-Fi, it helps to support my site (and me too). I thank you again for being here and will see you again real soon. 🍁
Hey guys, welcome back! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I know we here in the Northeast for the most part had great weather. Of course, we here know that can change hour by hour so we revel in it when it’s good. Especially this time of the year!
I’ve personally still been sick. I had posted a few weeks back that I was dealing with something and this has been with me since. Ironically, it’s been going on just as I hit the anniversary of when my life was changed by illness. If you’ve read my ‘Bit of Personal History’ page in the About section of this site, you know that I’ve had quite a health journey over the last 9 years. (Ok the page still says 6, but that’s because I wrote it three years ago.) Well, this particular illness now is hanging on and it’s been frustrating as hell. Not that it is stopping me from writing and working on my book, but still, this happening at my favorite time of the year is really pissing me off. Sorry, but it is. But on to other things…
I’ve mentioned several times that I’m in a cycle of reading and rereading and rereading my manuscript. I’ve become rather obsessive doing this and again I want to drive this point home…YOU CAN NEVER READ YOUR OWN WORK ENOUGH!
Even with going on more than several times of reading this book, I keep finding things to fix, to add, to cut and of course, the dreaded missed typos that I may have missed the other eight or nine times I’ve read the thing. That’s ok though. What I’m finding, is that the jokes are still landing. The tears, both happy and sad, still fall in the right places and I’m genuinely surprised at lines I’ve written several months ago. I go into each read through fresh and I think that is helping the process.
I just finished another one right before I started to write this post. Sure enough, the last few chapters (not the ending, I’ll get to that in a minute), had me all over the emotional map and I was feeling all the feelings. I’d been waiting to read these last few for days, having been stuck on a few previous chapters for over a week, reworking them quite a bit. So when I got to these last ones, I surprised myself with what I had written. It had been a while since I read them and while I was dreading them, I ended up being happy with what was on the pages.
Let me go back a second…not dreading them in the sense that I thought they were bad. Just that they were the newest I had written and so little had been edited. Plus, to be honest, I hadn’t read through the last five or so chapters. I honestly forgot a lot of what was there. However, I’m glad I did because I really am happy with how this story has progressed and now that I’ve done this latest read? It is time to start gearing up for the finish line.
I’m not looking forward to finishing this book. I know I’ve said that several times that I don’t want the story to end. However, the past couple of days, I’ve come up with what I think will be the ending for this one and how I can bring these characters back for a sequel/series. It is finally starting to come together in my head and the only problem with that of course, is that I want to start writing the next book! Of course, I still have to finish both this one and finish editing my first novel. And that one needs a tremendous amount of work. Plus, I don’t want to leave these current characters. If I go back to my previous book, I will lose the momentum of this current one…really I’ve written myself into a vicious cycle.
This is the problem that I know a lot of us have. We get more story ideas and soon, our files are filled with started books, while very few are finished. That’s me. Right here. If you were to go into my docs, you’d find quite a few novels begun and only one fully completed.
I’m so determined to finish this current one and get it sent off with my query letter as soon as I can. I’m getting excited for it now. I really am. I know there’s still a lot of formatting, cuts and more to happen before I can send it off, but just knowing that it’s getting close is keeping me going! (It also makes me a little nauseous as well from nerves, but hey that’s life right?)
I would love to say what a great thing it is to have so many ideas. In many ways, it is. But it can also be more than overwhelming. For myself, it reminds me to take a step back. Reevaluate what’s important right now. I’m big on pro/con lists. I’m also big at writing down new ideas until they are out of my head, thus the several started novels in my docs files. (Insert head slap here.) This is where I should mention that I also keep reading a ton to get my mind off of all of this. The beauty of that of course is that it clears my mind for what’s next. So whether it’s reading, going for a run, watching a ball game or binging a show, doing something else can clear your head and find the answer you need. For me, while reading another book, out of nowhere I was sparked with the idea for my ending. I know a marketing guy who used to get his ideas from running. Creatives need other outlets to fuel their work. Right now, if my other outlets could help me get to my own finish line? I will be forever grateful.
And that is where I will leave you for today. Thank you so much for being here and following! Until next time…Cheers!
(you can also shop my linktree shop through there as well)
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If you’d like to help support the site, you can shop the links on here for gift ideas, blank journals and more. You can also use my Ko-Fi link by clicking: HERE
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If you’ve gotten this far, I appreciate it and will see you soon! Thanks all. ☺️
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!
(You can even shop my links and linktree shop right through that link.)
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You can help support this site by shopping through the links/graphics as well as hitting my Ko-Fi link as well.
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If you’ve gotten this far, I thank you and hope you’ll subscribe to get site updates and future posts delivered to your email. Thanks so much for being here and I’ll see you soon! ☺️
Hey guys, welcome back! Hope everyone is doing great out there and enjoying their Summers. We just picked our first pumpkins today! Yes, I know, it’s very early…don’t care. Last year, we put out some pumpkins for our critter friends and a horrible overgrown tree grew over them. When they cut the tree down, an accidental pumpkin patch emerged and lo and behold, on August 18th, the first ones were ready to pick! As someone who would live in Fall year round? This was the perfect way to start the week.
Anywhoo…let’s get to it shall we?
Over the past week, I’ve done almost no writing. Instead, I’ve been doing a complete reread of my manuscript to make sure that it flows, the tone is consistent and the story holds up. What’s so great about doing these rereads (something I highly recommend doing if you are writing a book) is that because it’s been months since I’ve started it, reading the early chapters again is like reading the book for the first time. There is so much that I don’t remember writing. Not so much the story of course, that will always be at the top of my mind. But rather little one liners and character traits I threw in there early. Little tidbits of information and backstory that I had to constantly make notes of to go back to in these now later chapters that I’m in. What was a great surprise to me is that, as I read this as a new reader, I laughed, I cried, I was pretty proud of myself throughout the entire thing. Sure, some parts made me cringe and called for rewrites…again, this is why you do this! Overall though, I think it’s going ok.
I’ve mentioned before in an earlier post that I have found myself in a genre problem. I started this book with the full intention of it being a romcom. I love me a good romantic comedy, (thank you Nora Ephron for my early inspiration) and have wanted to write one of my own for some time. For the most part, that’s what this novel truly is. The issue comes into a deeper plot point that is a bit darker and deals with issues that could be trigger sensitive to some. And no, I’m not talking ‘dark romance’ stuff, that’s not my deal. At least, not this book.
When I decided to read this again from start to (almost) finish, I wanted to see if the story would still hold. Would it be that obvious where the two don’t mesh together? Would it not work as a complete story? Would it be a noticeable jump from comedy to drama? I’m both happy and confused to say that I never saw where the jump happens. It flowed well, worked out seamlessly and it can be kept as it is, unless I decide to completely rewrite the darker chapters and come up with an entirely different storyline. I’ve been literally losing sleep about this. I happen to like what I wrote a lot. But it takes what was once a fully romantic comedy and changes the genre to what? I don’t know. ‘Contemporary Romance’ maybe? Or the oh so dreaded general ‘Women’s fiction?’ (I will forever hate that ‘genre’.)
I am so confused by all of this I don’t know where to go with it.
What has been great about doing all of this is getting thoroughly reacquainted with the characters. From start to finish. Reminding myself of their quirks, their humor, their affection for one another across all of the relationships and of course, the support they have during some life challenges that come their way.
Writing this in the first person has been fun. Reading it this way has also blurred the lines sometimes between ‘was it something I read or did that actually happen to me?” Not that the story is me by any means, but you get it, right? You get so involved with a story, whether a book or a series, etc and a week or two later you can’t remember if it was real, a dream or hey that actually happened! Every night after reading a few chapters, it took me a while to shake out of that feeling. I’ve already been dealing with this on the nights that I’m writing because again, I’m writing it as the character. Basically, it’s been an odd journey this time around. I didn’t write my first book this way and this is all new territory for me. I feel though that by doing this, I’ve created more depth and more feeling to the main character and I really hope that comes across to other readers as well. I want her story to be one that is not only one that you cheer for, but also one that is relatable, as well as one that you can feel for deeply during her darkest moments. She is truly a character I’m proud of and have loved writing her so much.
I just wish I could find that special sign that would come to me that says, yes! Keep it this way! Keep all of it! Or on the flip side…trash it. Rewrite it. Forget that you even went that way, what the hell were you thinking? But so far, no magical symbol has come my way to sway me either way. It works as it is and maybe this isn’t the book that should be my total foray into a complete romcom experience.
In the meantime, my ulcer grows, my story keeps going and the editing continues. I will say this, the closer I’m getting to wrapping up this book, (and seriously considering writing a sequel to it to keep the characters going), I’m also looking into querying agents. I had thought about going the self publishing route, but I’m immensely excited about this book and would like to see it in much more professional hands. Right now, I need to completely finish this manuscript and stop thinking of ways to keep the story going! Every time I think I can find a way to end it, I think of something else. I just don’t want to say goodbye to these people yet. So my ending has to be something that will be good for everyone. Myself, my characters and of course, my readers.
And that is where I leave you for today! I hope you’ve gotten something out of this post and I thank you so much for following along with my continued writing journey. I think if I had blogged during the writing of my first book, I’d be much further along with getting that one out to the public, instead of having put it aside in edits to write this new one. Procrastination is the curse of the writer and I have it in spades. 🤦🏼♀️
Until next time…cheers!
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If you’ve gotten this far, thanks so much and hope you’ll come back again. See you soon!
New Chapter Cove 