Revision – Procrastination – New Version

August 22, 2025 / ccsocialcreative / Leave a comment

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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Focus – Concentration – Favorite Chapter

August 14, 2025 / ccsocialcreative / Leave a comment

Hey guys, welcome back! I hope this week has been going well for you, it certainly has for me! I’ve done more marathon nights of writing and in between these focused binges, I got to see the Connecticut team win the first game of the Little League World Series! (Go Fairfield!) I love watching this series every year. I’m a rabid baseball fan and watching these kids brings me hope, as they show a level of sportsmanship that I wish more adults would. They are fun games and it’s great to watch them making friends with kids from all around the world. (I also love it when they show MLB players in the stands having fun and being true fans.)

Anywhoo…my concentration has been laser focused on the latest chapters of my book. I wrote so much over the last two nights alone, my eyes have become blurred, dry and bloodshot and the headache is incredible. I’m not gonna lie, a ton of caffeine has been involved in this sudden burst of productivity, but it’s been oh so worth it.

Just this morning, I finished what is possibly my most favorite chapter of the entire thing. After a few emotional days with a rather deep plot point, to have some more lighthearted things to write has been a lot of fun. I really enjoyed this part of the story. And after rereading this current chapter again to make sure I got it just right, I have to say, I’m so happy with how it turned out. I’ve been going over the first chapters of the book once again as well. By reacquainting myself with the earlier tone of the writing, I think that it’s really helped bring this third act full circle.

There is still so much work that has to be done on my manuscript. A whole lot of editing, rewrites and more. But for now, at this particular moment, I’m happy with what I’ve written. I still have a little more to go before the first draft is officially complete, but this has been a true labor of love. One that I’ve been so proud to work on. My total obsession that lives in my thoughts 24/7. I dream about these characters, this small town that I’ve invented, this couple and their journey. A part of me doesn’t want to get to the next part. A huge part of me doesn’t want to actually finish this book. It has been my escape from real life, my hideout, my haven as it were. I don’t want to say goodbye to it. In reality, I won’t have to for some time, as again, lots of work still to be done. But knowing that the end of this particular story is close is starting to weigh on me. I’m just hoping that I can give these people the ending that they truly deserve. An ending that my readers truly deserve.

And that is where I’m leaving you for today. I know this one was short and sweet, but I’ve been writing now for 8 hours straight and wanted to write this post while the good mood was still with me!

I thank you as always for being here and following along. Until next time…Cheers!

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I invite you to check out the rest of the site while you’re here. You may just find a new book to read, find some of my past works as well as catch up with the posts so far. And if you’ve gotten this far in this post, I thank you so much. 😊

Rereading, Spice and Tone Change

July 8, 2025July 8, 2025 / ccsocialcreative / 2 Comments

Hey guys, welcome back! I hope you all had a great weekend. It was an interesting one around here with fireworks and a brief blackout, but hey, that’s Summer, amiright?

Quick update, I have added a new page to the site: 2025 On the Bookshelf If you missed the Summer reading post, it contains the books I mentioned there and more and will be updated as I continue to add those that I’m reading throughout the year. Hope you’ll check it out if you are looking for reading recs or Prime Day goodies. (Remember that Prime Days have now begun and run from July 8th-11th. You can find my associate links around the site and on the bookshelf page as well.)

So now that’s out of the way, let’s get to this!

I’m once again rereading my manuscript because somewhere in the last two weeks, the tone of the story has really gone off the rails. What started out as a romcom that I’d hoped the legendary Nora Ephron would approve of, suddenly went to a more serious and darker place I wasn’t expecting. Not to mention, it also got a bit, let’s say, ‘spicier’ than I was going for.

So it was time to take a major step back. I tried rewriting chapters and found that I kept ending up in the same place. I’m chalking it up to the Summer heat finally frying my brain and a few juicy books I’ve read in the past few months. However, for this particular book, I had never planned on it going in that direction.

I’ve decided to put those new chapters aside, maybe rework them for a future project that is leaning more towards that particular genre, but for this book? I want to keep it lighter, funnier, more romance and less smut. Not that there’s anything wrong with a bit of spice, but seriously, my mind went to a place that even I didn’t know it could go. So maybe this whole therapy thing needs to be looked at again? Who knows. At least I started to see the shift change before I wrote any more so I could put a stop to it.

Thus, the rereading.

Going back to my earlier chapters has been great for me. Not only am I finding editing errors, I’m also finding where I can combine my much shorter chapters into larger ones. So numerically, I’m not as far along as I thought I once was, but flow wise, it will read much better. I’m also finding the humor again which is what I really needed to do.

This particular story does have a deeper backstory and one that I think needs a voice. So I have no issues with having a slight bit of a darker reality behind it. However, when the entire story started to take a more dramatic route, I knew it needed to be changed. When you as the author winces at your own work? It’s time to take a step back.

I’ll be honest, I have trouble with criticism. Of any kind. But with my writing? I get instantly defensive and either get angry or curl up into a ball…it’s just a reflex. Reading and rereading my own work these past two weeks, I’ve been criticizing myself like crazy. How could I let the story go this way? What the hell made me go to the dark side? Why would I ever have a character do that when I have never established any such behavior from them during their development? As harsh as I have been on myself, I can at least look at my writing through fresh eyes as I reread these chapters. Why? Because as I read them, they don’t even read as if I wrote them! So I feel like I am critiquing someone else’s work.

By the way, this is a reason why I don’t do reviews. I hate getting anything of mine reviewed, so I won’t do it to someone else. I will only share what I like. If I don’t like something? You won’t see it. Anywhere. Here, my social media, whatever. But if I like something, I’ll throw a post onto my #booktok or add it to my bookshelf page. Artists of all kinds from sculptors to musicians to writers and beyond put their hearts and souls into their work. To criticize them to me, (and me only here), can feel very personal. So I try to keep it more positive by sharing the stuff I really enjoy.

Anywhoo, back to my book for a quick moment…I am now halfway through the reread and it has really been helping me get the story back on track. I’ve taken more notes in the past week of new story ideas than I have in a month, so hey, maybe I’m onto something here! After all, this project has certainly been going faster than I would have thought. It’s a story I have been excited about getting out there. I’ve also been waiting for the other shoe to drop. One that will slow me down, block me from moving forward and lo and behold, I hit it.

Whatever you are working on, take the time to go over it constantly. Then go over it again to keep the flow going, the continuity, the voice. Make sure you are keeping with the vision that you’ve had for it all along. Sure there is room for change, maybe your vision has also been altered. Just make sure you are doing it in a way that will make YOU proud. I’m not saying that the darker stuff I wrote wasn’t going to work. In fact, in some ways, this book could totally go in that direction. It’s just not what I wanted for these characters, so I’m going to stick with the original plan. It’s what’s best for myself and for this work. (Then maybe, I’ll add the spicier stuff to the next one.) 😉

And that is where I’m going to leave you for today! Thanks as always for following along my strange journey and hope that you are getting something out of my rambles.

Be sure to check out my links below and on the site and until next time…cheers all!

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If you’ve gotten this far, thanks again and see you soon!! ☺️