Lovin' It.

Editing is rough, but all in all I have chopped over 20,000 words and inserted over 22,500. All for the better. The manuscript is coming together pretty dog gone great in my opinion.

With this edit I have learned to edit on screen, which will save me a bunch of printer ink and paper. VENGEANCE is edited on paper and still requires all those changes to be inserted in the computer file which is a long slow process. With my new skill that will not be necessary any more.

What's stopping you, get writing.

More than boring

Editing is more than boring. It is challenging which is why I keep at it. My left brain is so hot the hair is missing on that side of my head. Of course, I am bald so all my hair is mssing, but it was a cute way of getting your attention. Did it work?

Oh, the tough part. I had to chop three pages of garbled scene and rewrite the whole section. Twenty-two pages later, it looks and reads great. Hey, I can be my own critic, can't I?

Just printed out the end of my book, "Arizona". It will sit on the shelf until August and then the editing begins on that 90,000 word tome. By the time I fill in a couple of scenes I haven't written yet, it should be over 100,000 words of action packed, romance, comedy, drama, cowboys, indians, banditos, politicians, and other crooks. But I don't want to give the story away. No spoilers here, this time.

Okay, the phone is ringing, my dogs want out, the wind is blowing, mama's on her way home, the baby is crying (woops no baby here, what is that), and I need to run.

So, go write.

Writing vs. Editing

I love to write.

I hate to edit.

It's not that I don't wanna chop my precious words and sentences apart, but more like editing is work. Editing is left brain and writing, for me at least, is very right brain.  After serious examination I am not sure I have a left brain. People tell me I even walk leaning to the right, could that be due to the void on the left side if my head. My political views are to the right, even extreme in some areas and disciplines. (Of course only those on the right think correctly, does that mean that as a thinker I have some left brain no matter how small?

Editing is bad for your mental health.

So go write.

Life Gets in the Way

Life has really been getting in the way of this blog and the rest of my writing. I have tried doing a tight calendar, which just isn't me, setting an appointed time to write every day. Life gets in the way. I tried making myself do an hour on the keys before I could do the things I like and, you guessed it, life got in the way.

My style is pantser and binges. I write what the voices tell me and when they are talking many words hit the page. For an organizational style, I use piles. There was a time the cleaning lady wanted to do the carpet in my office. I was devastated. Took me a week to repile my piles in the proper sequence and place.

BUT, it hasn't been super bad. God allows me to assist small churches to make repairs and there's a lot of need there. He also gives me the urge to get outdoors and hike or whatever. A small hike last week about did me in. Beautiful country for the first day and on the second, we stumbled through cedar dotted grasslands on old two rut roads covered with round rocks and pot holes. Had to stop in order to look up at the scenery which wasn't worth stopping for. Went camping and fishing, wind blew, temperature dropped, wind came up, and caught no fish. Did get a couple chapters of self editing

AND, I have 76,000 words toward my latest book, ARIZONA. Just wrapping up the war, the uprising, and the extortion to come to the last page. Thinking of throwing out the extortion and using it for a followup book using same characters, except for the dead ones of course. I'll lose over 20,000 words on this book if I do, but then again, the book needs more showing and less telling anyhow. Showing takes more words than telling, so that will balance out.

Blessing, and keep writing.

Writing

This blogging thing is a bit of a burden.  I try to find interesting stuff to put on it and it just doesn't happen.

I tried for 50,000 words on November NANOWRIMO and competed them. Pretty good western if I do say so myself. 

Then I tried 20,000 for CAMPNANOWRIMO last month and missed my goal by 2,700 words, but they were good words in the middle of a long book I am working on. The research is killing me.  Anybody know how many helicopters the Mexican military has and what type? Or even how large their standing army is?  Google has too many hits that say nothing near answering my quests.

Oh well, another month another goal.

Keep writing, I am.

Sometimes you gotta

There comes a time when you have no choice but to stop writing and get to doing the mundane side of this profession: edit, cover, edit, back cover, edit, upload, edit, upload, edit, ISBN, etc. That's what I have been doing for two weeks now with three novels and still none of them are at Smashwords.

And then there is the Honey do list. I have been laying laminate flooring in my spare time. My train room/office/writing hideaway/man cave has the flooring laid down, but no trim (It was my practice room). The hallway is in the same condition. If I could find my miter box I could finish them (In town tomorrow, I'll get another one). Next comes the great room of living room, kitchen, and dining rooms all in one 24 by 19 feet of floor.

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

SELF PUBLISHING

It has been a pleasure to search and communicate with various agents and publishing houses who, after reading a three page synopsis, have decided that my writing isn't worth their time. Having read many of these letters in the course of my research into writer-agent/publisher communications, there is no way a great book can be found. They all sound like the last story of that genre. SO, I have looked into self-publishing and now understand why it is taking off like crazy with authors and readers alike.

1. Books are much cheaper to produce.
2. Books are much cheaper to purchase.
3. Authors make more money.
4. Readers save more money.
5. With companies like Smashwords, I can do all the work and set up the book on line thru their service, have it go to a bazzilion outlets thru their distribution list, all for $0. If I purchase an ISBN from them for a nominal fee, my book also goes to two or three more monster sales points.
6. What have I got to lose? A few hours reformatting (Which they give me complete instructions to do) and a few Kilobytes of upload.
7. I can even do my own cover. (see previous post)

PS: a friend of mine is doing the same thing thru another outfit and spending $7,000.  The only difference is she will be able to get paper copies when she is willing to pay for them. Pub on demand added in other words.

Being extremely cheap, $0 is much better than $7000 spent to find out if my books have a market. If they do   pub on demand is still an option. How about researching truly self publishing and binding, as in do-it-at-home.

Time to go write.