Hey guys, welcome back! Hope everyone is doing well out there. So happy to see this blog growing a larger audience. I’m hoping that means that what I talk about here is resonating with you all and that means so much.

Let’s get to it shall we?

Ok so, yesterday I finished re-editing the first 28 chapters of the current book that I’m working on. Boy was I happy I did it! First of all, I read the first 10 with fresh eyes as it’s been a while since I revisited what I had written. I’ll admit, (and yes I’m sure there is extreme bias here) but I am loving this story. I am currently in my romcom era in reading, so to be able to surprise myself with writing my first one and making myself laugh in places, has been a nice surprise. It is the first time I’m attempting this genre and I think I may have a new calling. Do I sound a bit too overconfident? Absolutely! I have never talked this way about anything I’ve ever written before and I’ll admit, a lot of it is out of pure fear. I think because I have a lot riding on this book. After all, I’ve been talking about it here since the beginning! If I don’t do well with it, I’ll have more than egg on my face (and with egg prices being what they are, that’s a pretty expensive embarrassment). I think the fact that I’m writing characters from my heart is helping. There’s a little reality in many of the character traits of the group involved and let’s face it, don’t we all write what we know? I mean, isn’t that rule #1?!

So maybe it’s not the book itself I’m excited about, but rather the characters because I’ve been spending so much time with them. Annnnd I really need to get out of the house more. 

While doing the edits, I have discovered a few other things…number one is that I found that I wrote something twice but in two very different ways.

I’ve discussed being a ‘pantser’ writer, (one who writes by the seat of their pants letting the story flow, rather than using an outline), this can cause overlapping scenes sometimes. I wrote a very meaningful scene early on and then later in the book, did the same thing but in a more lighthearted way. So I had to rewrite and cut a whole bunch out there and choose which I liked better. I won’t give it away, but I think how I resolved it fit perfectly with the tone of the character development.

The second thing I’ve found is that some of the chapters seem very short. I’ve found this to be a fast read and that can be both good and bad. So the question now becomes, do I combine chapters to make them longer or not?

Right now, I personally like the way each chapter ends. I’d almost rather leave them the length they are as they have a natural progression to their ending. Small chapters are not necessarily bad, of course. Ironically, as I discovered this in my own work, I started reading a new book which has, and I am not joking here, chapters that are literally 3 pages long. So here I am re-editing and discovering that many of my own chapter’s are 11 pages in length and I’m thinking, well, maybe they should be longer. But if this already published book that is in my hands has MANY chapters of maybe 3 pages, why am I so worried? Every day it’s something new to think about.

After doing these edits, I’m finally back into the writing stage. This story that has been flowing out of me for months, is now finding it hard to resurface. I think I just need to get back into the routine of actually writing, although I did do a lot of REwriting during the second edit phase. However, picking the story back up is proving to be a challenge. 

Where do I want it to go now? Is the conflict enough? Will it build to something completely different? Inquiring minds want to know!

This book, while a romcom, is also one with heart. There are issues in it that are near and dear to my heart and have some edge to it as well. (No not smut, I’m not at that point, well…yet. lol) I address an issue in this that I feel needs a voice. So while it has its sweet and funny moments, there are others to remind us all that no matter what, real life can rear its ugly head and bring us back to reality while in a ‘happy bubble.’

After all, even Disney princess movies have their turmoil to overcome before the happy ending and tiaras are dolled out, right?

I’ve also been surprised at the amount of research I’m doing for this book. Now, I’m a research junkie. I love it. I’ve used that particular talent for both my own endeavors as well as helping others. Especially when it came to writing my history pieces (see menu bar above for those links). But creating authenticity with some of this storyline has had me Googling things that, well, make a lot of writing memes what they are. I also value Google Earth for helping figure out some locations and distances, etc. There is a lot more to writing a story than just writing it and I don’t think a lot of people get that. While yes, a lot can be made up, if you are using real life places or issues, the research must be done.

Anywhoo, this process has been cathartic. Both writing the book and documenting the process here. By blogging about it, it is keeping me grounded as far as keeping me on track and it also helps when I go to write the next chapter later on. As I write here, my mind either figures out my next move or suddenly discovers that I need to go back and redo something I’ve previously written. The old ‘distraction’ move as it were. Quick example, with my health issues, I have twitches in my hands. (Sucks when typing.) My neurologist gave me an exercise to stop them…when my left hand twitches badly, I do finger movements with my right hand and the twitching stops. The brain is so focused on the conscious hand movements that it lets go of my twitches. Same thing applies here. When I’m writing about writing, I get more story ideas. Crazy? Yes. Helpful? Also yes! So I thank you for letting me vent a lot of this out here, it’s been great for the process all around.

One more thing to add to this post…I officially announce that I’ve added a TikTok for this site. Will I post every day? Hell no. I post when it moves me, just like I do with my other accounts for my jewelry and Etsy businesses. I just wanted to have something fun that I could add, connect with other readers, #booktok-ers as well as other authors. Those who get it. The link is in my linktree which I always add below my posts. 🙂

So that is where I will leave you today. I thank you as always for joining me here and I really hope you connect with what I’m writing about and if you do, I hope you’ll share this site. It would be so great to have this keep growing. (and growing)

Until next time…Cheers All! 🙂

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If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much and I’ll see you next time! 🙂