Is it over yet?

Well, the holiday season is winding down at last. And beyond all my expectations, I've actually managed to get some decent work done.

Chapter 22 is in the bag at last, and I start chapter 23 tomorrow. There's still no word on my chapters in editting, but I'm pretty confident that they're done. Hopefully I'll be posting them on authonomy in early january.

I even managed to get all my christmas presents finished. I haven't been able to drop them off, but at least they're done, right?

Well, sorry this post is so darned short, but I've got fresh artwork waiting for me on my art desk and new pencils to play with. I've been itching to get my hands dirty all day, so I'm off to play and enjoy my free evening.

~Sun and Moon

Stick me with a fork, I'm done

Well, the holiday season is in full swing and I'm ready for it to be over. Like, yesterday.

On a happier note, I'm down fiddling with chapter twenty and edits for twenty-one went off without a hitch(weird I know). I'm still getting those moments of looking at the changes I've made and thinking "What have I done?!", but I'm working through them. It doesn't hurt that I've several coworkers who are willing to pause and read my bits of story and offer their opinions on it. All in all, my production rate thus far has been pretty good. Now if I can only get twenty-two to cooperate with me, I'll be happy. Well, happier anyway. 

Moving on now.

The first ten chapters of my MS are still with my editting friend. Last I heard she was on chapter nine and that was sometime last week. Hopefully I'll have something to post on authonomy in January. Maybe. Did I mention that I have another editting friend who's going to look at it too? She'll get school credit for helping me out and shes a wicked speed-reader so its a win-win.

And thats all I have for tonight, folks. Its 12:56am and I have to be up and moving way too early tomorrow. G'night!


~Sun and Moon

She's alive!

Hey folks,


Sorry I've been a little MIA lately, but I managed to pick up a rather nasty cold and I spent last week feeling miserable and sleeping a lot. I did manage to get chapter 19 finished, though.


Editing for chapter twenty is going as well as can be expected with the holidays starting up. I keep hitting these snags where I find myself wondering if the story is reading clearly enough. Seeing as I don't have a beta writter I can haul over to my place and show those snags to, they've been slowing me down a lot. There's nothing like spending almost thirty minutes trying to reword something, only to find that you really had gotten it right the first time. Oi...XP


Anyway, I'm not going to be posting much while the holidays are here. I have discovered that sleep is actually a necessary thing for my sanity, and work deprives me of enough of it as it is. Besides, my forward progress is pretty crappy during the whole holiday rush.


And that's all for me tonight, folks. G'night!



~Sun and Moon

Progress at last

Hey guys,


Well, chapter 18 is as done. Granted, it still needs a polish, but I'm done picking over it. Next, it goes to my editting friend for her to pick over, lol.

I'll be starting chapter 19 tomorrow, but tuesday I'll be spending the day with my hubby. Luckily chapter 19 doesn't need much more then a polishing, so it should be neatened up and done by the end of the week.

If all else fails, I have thursday off. As long as nothing comes up, I'm good to go....right? XD

Anyway, I'm off to bed since I need to be up for work tomorrow.


~Sun and Moon

Well, you see...

Hey guys,


You know, I was originally planning to sit down at my computer Sunday and get some serious work done...remember that? Well, I did get some serious work done, but not on chapter 18. 

Instead of cranking out the editing I had planned, I was reassembling an old ferret cage, making ramps for said ferret cage, and cleaning my livingroom. As for chapter 18, I put in about two hours worth of work.

Go me, lol.

So chapter 18 is only halfway done, and while my livingroom is looking good, I still need to clean my kitchen....and the bedroom....maybe my art studio too.

Oi...

Anyway, I should have chapter 18 ready for the final edit by the end of the week. Keep you fingers crossed for me, though. At the rate I'm going, I need all the help I can get. XD



~Sun and Moon

Not today, but maybe tomorrow

Hey folks,

Well, I've archived all my old posts from my myspace blog. It took two days, but its finally done. Unfortunately, I don't really have any chapter news right now. I've been feeling really run down lately, so I decided to take a three day break after finishing chapter 17. It would've just been a two day break, but my 4th year wedding anniversery is tomorrow and I intend to spend as much of it as possible with my husband.

Sunday, on the other hand, is fair game. I don't know when I'll be able to sit down and edit, but since I have that day off I'll be logging some serious hours around dishes, laundry, and general clean up. Who knows, I might even finish the chapter before the day is over. Maybe. XD

Anyway, I'm off to bed. I feel like I might have a cold and the Niquil(sp?) I took is going to hit me any second now. Klutz that I am, its best if I'm laying down before that happens.

G'night!


~Sun and Moon

Testing, testing....

Welcome to the official blog of Hannah Hounshell (you may know me better as Shaliken from Myspace). I'm still working on setting up, so there won't be any posts for a few days yet. Not to mention the fact internet explorer keeps crashing at random moments....*sigh*


Anyway, I hope to have this thing up and running soon, but not right now. Its around 1am and it is waaay past my bedtime.

G'night folks!


~Sun and Moon

Back on track

Hey guys,


Well, I finished that tempting stack of new library books late yesterday.

I've also finished editting chapters 15-17, and chapter 18 goes under the knife tomorrow night. One thing's for sure. I'm definitely going to be avoiding new books for a while. XD

But regardless of my slow pace lately, I'm going to be taking most of tomorrow off from writting. Instead, I'll be cleaning my apartment and trying to figure out how to get to work, and then back home without getting stuck at walmart.

Mmyeah...let me know if you guys have any ideas, ok?

I'm also waiting to get a third opinion on the new ending I penned for chapter 14. The person I gave it to seems to either be busy, or he's lost his phone....I think.

All in all, everything is looking up. The friend helping me with the final edit is feeling much better these days and is on chapter 5 last I heard. Soon I'll be posting the results on my authonomy page and you guys can have a look for yourself.

Well, thats all for now, folks.

Toodles!



~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken

I have a good reason, darn it all

Hey guys,


Um, ok....I have a really good reason to be taking so long writting lately.

New books.

Seriously, I have been reading new books constantly over the past two weeks. It's totally awesome since I haven't had a new book to read in...well...forever, lol. However, it does mean that I've been reading when I should've been writting.

But I did get chapter 14 done last sunday, and unless something goes wrong, I should be able to finish chapter 15 on tuesday.

Mostly its rewritting the scenes I had to take out thats slowing me down. There is a new scene in there now that I kinda like, but I want to run it by a beta reader before I set it in stone, so to speak. I can't post it here(sorry folks) as the book is so close to done and I just can't risk it, but as soon as the first ten chapters are edited and done, I'll give ya'll a heads up.

Thats another thing that has slowed down. The friend who's looking at chapters 1-10 for me is sick right now. As in needs surgery to feel better kind of sick. She's trying to find a place that'll do the surgery see needs without insurance, but its slow going. Please keep her in your prayers, not because of me, but because she needs this surgery.

And now I'm off to play some Sims 3 and bury myself in another of those new books I've got.

That's all for tonight, folks. XD

Toodles!


~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken



P.S. Oh...and I have another book idea...thats good...right? XD

The unlucky thirteen

Hey guys,


And before you say anything, no I'm not the supersitious(sp?) type. I just thought it was appropriate seeing as I spent four days on one chapter when all the others were polished and done in about one day...yeah.

Anyway, I'm finally done with chapter 13 and will be starting in on chapter 14 tomorrow. Its going to be a long one too, as this one had a major chunk sliced out of it and needs a rewrite as well as a polish.

Wish me luck.

There are few chapters like that, actually, so my forward speed is going to slow until I get all of them done and out of the way. On a better note, I'm nearly halfway done with my rough edit and I have a friend going over chapters 1-10 for me as I type this. She has a degree in english, so she's helping me catch all the errors I can't seem to find. This means that as soon as she's done and we've finished revisions, you'll be seeing chapters 1-10 on www.authonomy.com.

Cool, huh?

In the meantime, I have to go get ready for a wedding(a friend of mine is FINALLY getting married, lol), work on some personal artwork, and make sure my husband and his friend stop working on the truck long enough to eat something. I'll catch ya'll later.

Toodles!



~Sun and Moon


~Shaliken

Why procrastinating is BAD

Hey guys,


Those of you who are beta readers probably remember how when I gave the first chunk of chapters, I told you to ignore chapter five because it was in need of a rewrite. A serious rewrite. As in "scrap it all and start over", kind of rewrite.

Yeah.


Well, I finally got around to fixing it. A whole year later. Not the best idea I've ever had seeing as I just closed the file and I know it still needs more work. But seeing as I'm burnt out on that particular chapter, its going to sit until I can have a beta reader go over it.

In the meantime, I have the first chapters of book two in the works. Outlines haven't been finished yet, but both chapters one and two have been started. How many pages is still up in the air as I haven't put it all into my laptop yet. But its a good beginning.

Anyway, I have a commission and a new piece of artwork to finish, so I'll catch ya'll later. Toodles!



~Sun and Moon


~Shaliken

More bumps in the editing road

Hey guys,


Well, I'm basically done with the hack-n-slash edit. Now I get to go over each chapter and carve away anything that isn't essential to the story and smooth it all down.

Should be fun.

I've also got a good-sized change going on that will reverberate down several chapters and call for a general rewrite for a chunk of the book. It's just a little something that didn't fit into the storyline as well as I thought it did.

A word to the wise... When your beta reader is asking "where did THAT come from?" its a safe bet you're off track and the bit in question needs to go.

Yeah.

Anyway, I'm done for the day and its time for bed. I'll catch ya'll later.

Toodles!


~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken

Editing update

Hey guys,


Well, I'm almost halfway through the rough editing. I finished hacking at chapter 12 today, but I get the feeling I'll be taking another swing at it and the others before too long.

It's all about the word count, you see. I need to cut about 100 thousand words from my manuscript. As it stands now, my word count is at about 220k. It needs to be about 130k.

Oi...


I also need to tighten everything up once I'm done hacking away at it. And catch all the little inconsistensies(sp?), and obvious grammar and spelling mishaps. Then it goes through at least two betas before I call up my old english teacher and see if she can help me shine it up a little more. After all that abuse, about ten chapters will be posted on www.authonomy.com and I will be working on my query letter and synopsis as I work on book two.

Its good to have a plan. 

Oh, and you may have noticed that I've edited a few of my previous blogs and most of the snippets are missing.

Here is the reason this time....

I'm editing, and a lot is changing. All of those bits will be different by the time I'm done. And so, down they came. I'll make it up to you guys when those ten chapters are posted on authonomy, ok?

Anyway, it's late and I'm off to bed. I've got more editing to do in the morning and I'm wiped out.

Toodles!



~Sun and Moon


~Shaliken

Finished at last

Hey guys,


I'm finished! Draft one of my manuscript is done! I finished it just a little while ago, actually. Chapter 30 still need a polishing, but its solid.

I can't believe I got it this far...wow.


So now I'm going to be taking a week away from my book so I can begin the cover-to-cover edit with a fresh mind. I also need back ALL beta copies. This means that even if your reading for me, I need you to stop and return the copy you have.

The reason for this is that I'll be rewritting a lot of stuff, and I don't know how much is going to change. If you are reading one chapter and think "You need to fix this part here", it may be that I've cut that part completely, rendering your observation moot.

So yeah...I'm gonna need those back.

And thats all for me, folks. I'm off to make dinner and begin my week of relaxation. I'll return to work on the story next tuesday. Blogs may pop up every now and again, but I make no promises as the rewrite will probably take up a lot of my time. However, I will post as soon as I'm finished with the first round of editing.


Until then, guys. Thanks for listening.



~Sun and Moon


~Shaliken  

Chapter 29 is finished

Hey folks,


Well, I finished chapter 29 last night. I didn't post a blog, however, because I was in serious need of some sleep. So I'm posting now, instead.


Anyway, I'm on my three day break and I'll be starting chapter 30 on saturday. Chapter 30 will be my last chapter for this book. After that there'll be the epilogue, and then I'll be taking a solid week away from the book before beginning the cover-to-cover edit. A lot will be cut, no doubt, but hopefully for the better.

Those of you who want to read the first few chapters, but aren't beta readers, will be able to view them online at www.authonomy.com as soon as I finish the first round of cutting and editing.

This book is going to be going through a lot of people before it goes out to agents. I figure I be looking for repersentation by my 25th birthday. Hopefully.

I may be starting the outline for "A Child and a Prophesy" sometime soon...like maybe over the next few days. Don't know yet....I'll keep you guys posted.

Well, I've a whole load of cleaning to get done, so I better hop to it. I'll catch you guys later.

Toodles!


~Sun and Moon


~Shaliken

Another chapter finished

Hey guys,


Well, chapter 28 was finished last night and I'm only two chapters away from the end of the book. I'd been hoping to have it done by my b-day, but seeing as its in a few days, thats not going to happen, lol.

I have a load of editing to do once those last chapters are finished, and a month after finishing the epilogue, I'll be starting the next book. This means I'll be working on the second book as I edit the first one. Ought to be interesting XD

And thats all for me today, folks. I'm off to relax before I head to work. I'll be on break for the next three days, so work on chapter 29 will begin on saturday, the 8th. It has a large chunk already written(needs a bit of a rewrite though), so it should go fairly quick. Its also the first glimpse of Fairland's dangers, so I know I'm gonna be having a lot of fun with that.

Well, I'm off to get some lunch.

Toodles!



~Sun and Moon


~Shaliken

Yet another chapter finished

Hey folks,


Chapter 27 is polished up and done. I was just going to move things along and start chapter 28, but it has a big fight scene thingie in it and I need a little time to work out the snarls before I try to put it on paper.

So, I'm gonna be taking my usual three day break, and I'll be starting chapter 28 sometime on tuesday. In the meantime, I'll be working out the major scene to come and painting.

Note to other artists...don't try to fix a painting late at night right before you go to bed. It never goes well.

Luckily, when I made that mistake last night I was able to fix my blunder...mostly.

Anyway, I have a whole bunch of dishes to do, and laundry as well. I won't be posting a clip from chapter 26 as I can't figure out which one to use that doesn't give away anything too terribly important. Phooey.

So...sorry bout that. XD

And I better get started on those dishes. Dinner would probably be a good idea, too...Toodles!



~Sun and Moon


~Shaliken 

Why research is a good thing...I think

Hey guys,


So, I was skimming through some links from www.authonomy.com when I came across this blog by an agent's assitant calling themself the Rejecter. Their blogs were pretty insightful and I learned some interesting stuff.

And then I found out what it means to have your book type-set....it means each page only has 250-300 words on it. So, out of curiousity, I checked my word count and devided it by 250.

Which turned my manuscript from a little over 400 pages, to being well over 800 pages....Oi.

So needless to say, I have a lot of cutting to do when I get finished. The good news, however, is that this means since I'll be typing double-spaced instead of single-spaced I'll be done with chapters sooner.

In fact, I'm pretty much done with chapter 27. It just needs a hefty polish seeing as it's one of the roughest chapters I've turned out in a while. Tomorrow is a day off for me, so I'll put the polish on it then. Right now I have a painting to work on and laundry to run through.


Toodles!


~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken

New chapter finished!

Hey guys,

Another chapter is in the bag! I just finished chapter 26 and now I have only four chapters left to write before this book is finished.

I say book, and not story, because this is part of a trilogy. The story is nowhere near done. Next is the "A Child and a Prophesy" and I'm already getting little clips to scribble down.

It's freaking awesome XD

Since the next book is going to have quite a few of the mythical beasts showing up, I've been working on breeds and designs. It's also because of my current cast's journey through fairland in the book I'm writting now, but yeah. It needs to be done either way...plus it's fun


Anyway, thats all I have tonight. Work on chapter 27 will begin sometime Tuesday after my usual three day break. As for right now...it's bedtime.


Toodles!


~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken

Chapter 25 is in the bag

Hey guys,


Another chapter is done, and boy is it a long one. I just looked at the clock and realized it's 3:55am, so I'm going to keep this short.


I now have just five chapters left to write, and then it'll be time for the cover to cover edit/rewrite. It feels so wierd to be planning the details of those last few chapters, but awesome. Hopefully my characters won't have too many surprises for me.

I'm off to bed and to enjoy my three day break before tackling the next chapter. Since I got so many views on the last blog, I decided to go ahead and post a very small snippet from chapter 24. Its part of a scene between Kristal, and the villan of this story. Shadow calls him Saluh(means "nameless" in her peoples tongue) because they don't know his name, and because he's a sick bastard....yeah...

Anyway, here it is....

“I should’ve just let you die”, I rasped as the chameleon adjusted his grip and yanked my head to the side.

Saluh shrugged. “Maybe you think that now, but you didn’t then. And whether you like it or not, you’re going to help me again.”

“Over my dead body”, I hissed, “or better yet, yours.”

Yeah, I know...not much to it, but it stood out for some reason. Or maybe I just need to stop posting blogs in the wee hours of the morning. Either way, I'm heading to bed now.

~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken

A snippet for those who are curious...

Hey guys,


I'm still on my little three day break between chapters(chapter 25 will be started on the 22nd), but I thought I'd share a scene snippet with you guys. Its too small to be stolen and used outside of the story, but hopefully it gives you a peek ahead anyway.

This is a scene between Shadow and Ricardo...

“Why are you afraid to touch me?”

“I am not afraid”, I replied, my voice a low whisper as I tried to ignore the blush that suddenly heated my cheeks. His newly healed palm was hot against mine, and his touch sent an odd tingle through my flesh.

“Then why won’t you?”

I bit my lip, my eyes still locked on the sight of my hand in his. “It is improper for me to touch a male, any male, so casually. We are not blood-family, or courting. It is not for me to do such a thing without your permission.”

He did not speak, and after a moment I looked up to see him smiling at me. The light in his eyes was gentle, unlike the fire I had glimpsed earlier when I had healed his bruises. Slowly he opened his hand until our palms were simply resting against each other. “And how do I grant permission?”, he asked softly.


As you can see, its just a brief bit. I picked this one because a friend of mine liked it, and it stands out to me. Don't ask me why, it just does. And I like it too.

And thats all for me tonight, folks.

Toodles!


~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken

Another chapter in the bag

Hey folks,

I'm up waaay past my bedtime, so I'll keep this short and sweet.

 I finished chapter 24 about an hour ago. As with all my chapters, it needs to be smoothed over, but it's done. Shorter then I thought it'd be at 14 pages, but its solid. I might tweak the end of it, but not tonight. Right now it is time to take a break and goto bed.

I realized today as I typed in the end of the chapter, that I'm almost done...and I'm shocked. I think a part of me never thought I'd get this far, much less finish it. Its really satisfying to sit back and look at the work I've done and know I've accomplished what I set out to do.

Very satisfying indeed.

I found a wonderful website last week. Its a place for author(published or not) to display thier manuscripts for others to read. It is a site created by Harper Collins publishing company, and its as secure as they can make it. You can't download the chapters, and you can't copy and paste them.

The site only retains the right to display your work as long as you're posting it, and you can make your book private if you wish. Agents and other publishing companies look through this site too, and if your book reaches a high enough rank in the site(go see thier FAQ to see what I mean), it ends up on the editor's desk at Harper Collins itself.

The site is www.authonomy.com and if you like to read or write, you should check it out.

I myself plan to post my book there once it's complete. And when I do have it up, I'd love for you to go and give me your opinion on it, ok?

And on that note, I'm off to bed. G'night folks, and sleep well.


~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken

Chapter 23 is finished

Hey guys,


Chapter 23 is finished! As always, it still needs to be touched up, but I think it looks good. I now have just six chapters to go(seven if you count chapter 24, lol). I'm almost done with this book and I'm pretty excited.

I got my first quotes written down for the next book in this trilogy. I'd post it here, but it would make absolutly no sense to ya'll, so nevermind.

As it is, I'm kinda tossing ideas around for the preface, and I have a good idea on how chapters one and two will start. In the next book Kris will still be one of the view points, but instead of Shadow, she will be joined by another griffen named Cara.

I'm not about to list the cast for the next book, but I'll probably be listing the cast from this book once I'm done. In the mean time, you'll just have to wonder, sorry.

On another note, I've given up trying to figure out a date I'll be done. However, I don't think it'll be much longer as I have a lot of chunks leading up to the end. From chapter 23 on, there are a lot of pre-written clips. I won't be able to use them all(some things have changed too much in the story line), but a good many of them will make it in. Not to mention Kris and Shadow's relationships are making for...interesting writting.

At least, it's interesting for me.

Anyway, I have to work tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. It's time for my after-chapter writting break, so work on chapter 24 will begin on wensday. I'll keep ya'll posted as always.

Toodles!

~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken

Two more chapters finished

Hey folks,


Chapters 21 and 22 are finally done. I actually finished chapter 21 last week, but life and work has been so darned hectic that I haven't had the energy...not to mention the time to get on here.

And seeing as I've been plugging away at chapter 22 for the past four or five days straight, I'm kinda fried. Rewritting stuff you wrote a year ago really sucks....it just does. Take my word for it, and don't try it yourself unless you're desperate.

To be honest, I'm not really happy with twenty-two cause its so rough, and the ending is...odd. But if I look at it anymore I'll go nuts. So I'll let my beta readers tell me if it needs more revisions. Right now I just want to read my new books, and hit the sack. I've been running all day on four hours of sleep.

Not the brightest thing to do when you work at wal-mart, lol.

Anyway, I better get to bed before Paul notices I'm still up. I might do some work on twenty three tomorrow, but then again I might not. The chapter is from Shadow's view, so we'll see.

G'night!


~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken

New chapter finished and another on the way

Hey guys,

So I've decided that I am the queen of understatments XD

When I put in my last blog that chapter 20 would have a large already written chunk given a rewrite...I didn't realize how much of a rewrite it would need....mmyeah. Let's just say it's VERY different now then it was, and leave it at that, ok?

Anyway, chapter 20 was finished three days ago. It would've been finished much earlier, but like I said...major rewrite was needed. Plus I wasn't happy with the beginning or the end, so I went back and rewrote them. Now I'm as happy as I'm going to get with it until I can have a beta reader go over it for me.

Chapter 21 is going pretty darn good right now, but I have a feeling that it's not gonna last. It has about 3-4 pages at the moment, and there are another 3 written in my notebook. However, this is a chapter from Shadow's view, and I never know what she's going to do past the basic outline...yeah.

Sounds crazy, I know, but my characters certainly have minds of their own, and when I decided to give Shadow a voice of her own...let's just say I had no idea what I was in for XD

Another thing is...I'm not gonna be done by Febuary. As much as it sucks to say that, its true. Including chapter 21, I still have ten chapters and an epilogue to write, and it's already the 16th of january. So I'm gonna be set back a bit, but either way, I'm just about done. 

Now, I still have...two beta copies out there. You know who you are, folks. I need those back, ok? In part because I need the binders themselves for the chapters I'm writting, but also cause I've rewritten those chapters and there's just no point in you reading old stuff. If you can't arrange for me to pick them up, give me a call, ok? I may be able to figure out an alternative.

Alright guys, thats all for I've got for you. Wal-mart didn't slow down like it usually does this time of year, so I don't know how long it'll take me to get chapter 21 done. Normally I'd say a week or so...but it's all up in the air. If Shadow cooperates...I'll be done in a week. If not...um....I'll get back to you on that XD

I'll keep ya posted, ok?

Toodles!



~Sun and Moon

~Shaliken