...[insert nifty title here]...

Well, my daughter will be six months old in a few short weeks and I'm finally getting back to writing. I'm making decent progress on edit notes now and I hope to be sifting out the last few plots holes sometime shortly after the holidays. This will be my first unemployed holiday season since...I think it has been eight years? I'm not sure. 

Nope, I lie...it has been a whopping ten years. About seven of those were in retail and man, it was bad.

Of course, this is also my first holiday season with a little one running around. So things ought to be interesting if nothing else.

I'm going to regret saying that, aren't I?

Anyway, I better get moving. I can hear my daughter starting to wake and the last time I tried to write a blog post with her in my lap she attempted to eat the keyboard.


Later, guys.




~Sun and Moon

The stuff that matters

It's not the page count that matters, but rather the word count...when you're editing, anyway.

I mean, I personally try to keep my pages per chapter hovering around twenty pages, but it doesn't always work out that way. For instance, chapter five in my book clocks in at about thirteen pages while chapter twenty-five hovers around thirty pages(maybe more...edits and all that) . I cringe everytime I look it over, but I haven't gotten to the point of truely knowing what to cut to make it more compact.

This is where research comes in.

I've learned a few tricks since last time I tried to trim chapter twenty-five, but seeing as I'm still working on wrapping up chapter sixteen, it'll be a while before I can tackle it again and put those tricks to use. Sixteen is taking so long because it too needed a trim(the original word count escapes me at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it hovered around 7k), and a scene transplant. It's looking better now and I'm just about finished, give or take about seven pages.

I spent most of last sunday working on it while freezing rain coated the world outside my window in a slippery coat of ice. Which is why I neglected to post a blog. I was elbow deep in edits.

To be honest, I probably should've been elbow deep on soapy dishwater. Dreary days make me want to either clean, write, or work on artsy stuff. Last sunday writing won out over the other two(shocking, I know), but this sunday I'm back in the kitchen trying to create a little order while a pot of spagetti simmers on the stove and a chill wind rattles the windows.


 All in a day's work, right?



~Sun and Moon

Bring me that chisel, please

Well, freezing temperatures seem determined to not only wear out their welcome, but flatten it too. The only upside of this is most folks have taken to staying home instead of rushing to my place of employment and buying every scrap of food in sight.

I'm so tempted to join them.

On my bed is a glorious down comforter and a set of flannel sheets. The cozy flannel I snagged on sale years ago, while the comforter was a gift from my mom when I still lived at home. Together they make a pile of fluffy, warm goodness I am loathed to leave on a cold morning.

So, of course this means I keep putting off getting up for work until I have to scramble or be late. My husband is even more reluctant to leave the warm blankets as his job requires him to be out in the mess of ice, snow, and frigid winds. This means we've been getting home, thawing out, scrounging something edible for dinner, and then crashing a couple hours later. I've opened my laptop every night since my last post and almost every night I've closed it back down without having touched so much as a word of it.

Frustrating is an understatement.

Now, I did manage to apply the edit notes written out for it and do a rough going over, but that's all. It's still a mess of scenes marked for disposal and mending. Several just need to be smoothed out, but as I was falling asleep at my laptop, it didn't seem like a good idea. I've done edits while half drunk on lack of sleep. It's not pretty.

Anywho, I better go before I burn something. I've got leftover chicken fried rice heating on the stove and I prefer it stay charcoal free. Also, the kettle is screaming and I ought to put it out of its misery before it steams off all the hot water for my tea. With how cold and nasty it is today, I'm going to need it all to tackle these pesky edits. 

Wish me luck....and energy....and warmth, and--

Er, nevermind. *heads for the kitchen*




~Sun and Moon

Maybe I spoke too soon

Remember how I said I'd survived the holiday season and implied I would no longer be squished on a daily basis?

Yeah, well....I take that back.

You see, we have had incredibly crappy weather this week. As in snow and freezing temperatures. Lots of snow. And there's supposed to be even more on its way. Awesome, right?

This has had the happy and predictable effect of sending most of my area into a panic, and then driving those same folks to buy food as if the apocalypse is about to occure.

Seriously, it's that bad.

Indeed, on average its been taking me almost an hour to escape my register(I'm a cashier in retail) and go clock out for the day. If there is anything edible stocked on our shelves come monday, it won't be for lack of customers, that's for sure.

So instead of curling up with my husband and working on edits for chapter sixteen this week, I've been trying my level best to survive the chaos. Which means getting home, scarfing down some food, relaxing for about an hour, and then passing out as the day hits home like a baseball bat to the back of the head.

Oh well, at least I'm sleeping really well. 

In the meantime, I'm also trying to clean up my apartment of the results of  post-holiday neglect(happens every year no matter what I try), so editing is going to be sluggish at best. On the other hand, my art is at a complete standstill, so at least edits are going somewhere instead of gathering dust.

Anyway, I better wrap this up. There's snow falling outside my window and a huge mug of tea waiting for me in the kitchen. After such a long work week, I'm determined to relax. It's time to enjoy good food and even better company while the world outside my window gets a fresh coat of white.

Care to join me?      


 
~Sun and Moon

Another holiday season come and gone....FINALLY!

That's right, I survived. 

Not sure how....

Anyway, I'd like to apologize for the complete silence...I tried, I really did, but family time and sleep came first. I did manage to get finished with the last bits of editing for chapter fifteen, though.

Book three has been blessedly silent, but I now have yet another scene for book two on paper. It needs lots of work, but it's nice to write something fresh. It's also nice to be reminded that you won't get things right the first go around...that's what edits are for. Something I've apparently forgotten as I struggle to finish wrapping up my edits and trim excess word count.

On a happier, but strange note....my number one key and "v" key are working again....and I have no idea why.

Figures.

Well, now that I'm not being squished on a regular basis, I hope to get back into the swing of things. Hope being the key word here, but I should be back to regular posts by the end of this month. If I manage to stay on top of things, I may have edits finished as well and be getting ready to work on book two....which still doesn't have a name.

Okay, in all honesty it does, but I'm not sure if it still fits seeing as things have changed so much in my world building and plot lines.

Anywho...I promised my husband I'd keep this one brief, so I better wrap this one up. I'll be back with very good news in the coming weeks if all goes well. Until then, I'll be picking away at edits and trying to keep the cat from smothering us both in fur(it's a long story, lol). 


Later guys,



~Sun and Moon

 

Um, so about that....

Yes, I know....I missed another sunday. Normally if I post on wednesdays, there's a picture involved, but not today.

Well, maybe one picture....




 

More pastels...can you tell I'm addicted? :3

Anyway, I just want to let you guys know that the holiday season is hitting me like a brick and posts are going to be sporadic at best until New Years day. There are several reasons for this, and I'll explain them all....eventually. Until then, know that I'm really trying and I'm still writing. I'm just doing it between really long naps(also known as passing out on the couch while trying to do edits). 

With a little luck, I'll have this round of edits finished by the new year and I'll be able to share bits. No promises yet though. I was jotting down notes at work a couple days ago and realized a certain element needs to be woven through the plot a little deeper then it is now.

It never ends, does it? Oh well, at least it never gets boring either.

And on that note, I'm off to grab a mug of hot cocoa. Our downstairs neighbors did something strange that stunk up our apartment and I've had windows open most of the day. The windows are closed now and the heat is back on, but my feet are still blocks of ice inside my boots. 


Brrr...now where's the milk?



~Sun and Moon  





P.S. Apparently blogger wants to be mean. Go here to my gallery to see this art without the funky thing blogger did to the eyes. Geesh, got to love technology....>_>

Where's my jam?

I'm finding it difficult to type when the toasty hot pad propped up on my lap beckons to my cold hands. Suddenly a nap sounds like a wonderful idea, and I'm wondering if I have any jam to go on my buttermilk biscuits.

Yup, colder weather is here and all the temptations it brings with it. I've run chapter thirteen past a beta reader and received the green light, so I'm back to picking away at chapter fourteen. Replacing a phrase here and a bit of dialog there is time consuming work, but it's worth it when I step back and read the result. The action and dialog flow better, and the writting itself is tighter. Not incredible, but definitely better.

I have two and a half pages worth of notes for this chapter and they are pretty straight forward, but I'm also finding I missed a lot during my time of note taking. It has me paying closer attention to the page as I work through each one. To be honest, I feel like I'm out weeding a spring garden. All the little green bits are a bit small at this point and I find myself studying each one closely, trying to determine if its a weed or not.

It can be pretty frustrating and confusing. Thank goodness for beta readers, right? Mine have saved my sanity more then once....what's left of my sanity, anyway.

*twitch*

Anyway, I'm aiming to finish up fourteen by tonight and chapter fifteen by tomorrow night. How I'm going to accomplish that, I don't know. It won't be by sitting around with my hands tucked into my hot pad, or while munching on those yummy biscuits though. 

Darn it.

Wouldn't it be nice if it worked out that way? Indulging in winters luxuries while your book writes and edits itself? Mmm...sounds wonderful, but since folks haven't figured out a way to pull that off quite yet, I'm off to get some work done the usual way. By hand.

But first, I need a snack. Now where did I put that jam....



~Sun and Moon   
 

The bed is calling my name....

This very late blog post is brought to you be a very sheepish writer. 

Um, that would be me, by the way.

I thought I'd finished chapter thirteen last week, but ended up having to go back and rewrite part of it. In my first few drafts of this book I had several betas tell me Kris struck them as pretty immature for her age. Once wouldn't have bothered me, but five different people telling me the same thing? Not something to ignore. 

Thus when I started writing edit notes for this round of edits, I tweaked things a little to give her a little more maturity. What I didn't expect was the domino effect of having to change her reactions and dialog in each successive chapter.

Which means instead of starting chapter fourteen last week, I'm starting it this week. I should only have a couple more instances of tweaking Kristal's dialog and actions before they dovetail into the later chapters. In the meantime it makes for some slow work. 

In the meantime, I'm almost halfway through, but I still have a lot of work to do. I'm editing chapter fourteen as I type this, so I probably ought to get back to it. After all, its almost bedtime and I'm only on page two.
 
Later guys,



~Sun and Moon

Duck and cover

Holiday season has started to rear its ugly head at my place of employment and I find myself getting home totally exhausted almost every day. Or anti-social. Or--well, you get the idea.

I hate the mess that is the holiday season in retail. Bad moods abound and people practically kill each other in pursuit of things they never really needed in the first place.

Ugh.


Right now my husband, my art, and my writing are the factors keeping me sane as black friday and christmas begin to loom on the horizon(okay, so maybe that's a little melodramatic, but darn it, I really don't like the holidays...seriously). 

Anyway....I'm still making progress on my edit notes. I've had to do a few more drastic changes(at least they felt pretty drastic...ouch), and I'm once again wondering if I just messed up my story. I started chapter twelve this week and find while downtime is needed in chapters to balance out the story, I'm itching to get on to one of my favorite parts....two chapters on.

I really need to learn some patience...but at least this chapters notes aren't as vague as they were in earlier chapters. Thank goodness. I still can't believe I was that obtuse. How embarrassing.

And on that note, I better get back to work.


~Sun and Moon

Pretty colors....

Er, so its almost 9pm at night and I just realized I didn't put up a blog post at all. I have  loads of good reasons, but since most of them sound horribly like excuses....we'll leave them unspoken.

Also, on a random note...the letter "v" on my keyboard has died. I'm using the wonderful world of spell-check and cut-and-paste to cover that, but I'm either going to be doing some tinkering in the near future, or keyboard shopping. Thank goodness I have my netbook. I'm still picking away at my edit notes and it would really suck if I stymied because of a faulty key on my keyboard.

Funny thing is....I'm pretty sure I don't use my "v" key that much....


Tomorrow is going to be a day of cleaning, artwork, and edits, so I better go enjoy my last couple of lazy hours till bedtime. And in lieu of a proper blog post, here is a bit of artwork I finished some months ago. Pastels on pastel board, she is one of my favorite pieces right now and one of the first ones I finished after my son passed. I hope you like her. :)

~Sun and Moon    


 

The happy, the sad, and the strange

For the first time ever, I had a customer walk up and apologize for giving me attitude over something I had no control over. She said I probably didn't remember, but she did and she wanted to apologize.

She was right....I didn't remember.

As I accepted her apology and thanked her, I realized I don't really remember most of my negative encounters with customers. After all, why bother? Its so much easier to do the job if you don't dwell too long on the crap. Vague recollections wander through my head, but I don't fight to keep them there for the same reason I prefer my books and movies to have happy endings.

There is enough misery and pain in life, and I want to remember the good, the joyful, the peaceful, and the just. I want to be uplifted, not morose and angry.

I don't always avoid the sad endings, though. There are a few I read and reread because they are just that well written. After all, no matter what your preference, its about telling the story in your head. Its about getting your words on paper in a way others can understand and enjoy. 

And on that note, I better get to work on my edit notes. This post is already late and I've got my own happy ending to write.

Later guys, 


~Sun and Moon  

What is this internet you speak of?

It's kinda weird to have internet again after doing without it for almost a year. So weird, in fact, that I keep forgetting we have it. Even stranger is that a part of me misses NOT having internet.

No, I'm not crazy....

It was really liberating even when it was so darned frustrating. It was like a forced detox that showed me what was really important in life....and how to appreciate it instead of letting it slip by. I've gotten so much accomplished since we lost the internet and a little more patient to boot.

Not too patient though. I'm working with the chapter three edit notes right now and I have this urge to smack myself. Why the heck didn't I be more detailed on the changes? Why did I assume I'd remember what I meant to write and magically put it in? I can only hope that chapter three is the only bunch of notes this obtuse....ugh.


 Anyway, I have a mountain of cleaning to do, so I better get cracking. The sooner I'm done, the sooner I can take a little more time to beat chapter three notes into submission.

I can hope, darn it.


Later, guys :)




~Sun and Moon

Um, did I say that?

Ok, so for once we didn't end up at the farm on a sunday. Figures. I had a nifty post all written up and everything. Instead we goofed off and had fun....and now I'm using my new phone to post this blog. I didn't know it could do that.... o_O

Anyway, I've been picking away at the mess that is chapter 29, writting out edit notes and reworking some scenes entirely. The good news is I'm on the last half of the chapter at this point. The not-so-good-news is I'm definetly going to have to rewrite most of it.

Ugh.

This is supposed to be my last round of edits before starting book two, so I'm trying to thurough, but darnit if I don't just keep getting stuck instead. 

Well, at least theres more good news. By this coming sunday I should have internet back up and running. Which will be awesome. My new phone is nifty, but not that nifty.

And on that note, I'm off to tackle chapter 29 and its horrible messiness(sp?). I'll ctach you guys this coming sunday. 

Later,


 ~Sun and Moon

Somebody get me a mop...

Life is such a mess right now....but in a good way. 

Sort of.

Since my last post the moving thing has fallen apart(rather messily too) and my husband has bounced from an okay job, to a horrible one, to an even worse job, and finally into one he loves. It doesn't pay a whole lot, but seeing him come home smiling instead of fuming is worth the smaller paycheck. 

I'm back to working again. It was horrible and extremely rough going back to the place I'd spent so much time pregnant with my little boy. The memories, the questions and the pitying looks were like salted glass shards being rubbed into the wounds on my heart. Over time the glass became rough sandpaper, and now its just the deep ache of an old wound. I still break down and cry at random moments, but those moments are becoming fewer and every day I find myself with more reasons to smile.

My book is in its last stage of edits for the time being(I hope), and starting book two is starting to get a little closer to reality. I've been working on editing notes like a crazy person(no surprise there....aren't we all a little nuts for doing this?). So many "essential" bits of dialog and story have hit the floor and one chapter has an entirely new opening page(painful but true...ugh). 

I'm working on edit notes for chapter 28 this week along with two art commissions. The fat packet of already written notes at my elbow is very satisfying, but not enough to call it quits and take a break. I'm itching to write new material and the only way to satisfy that need to is to get cracking on these edits.


I've been able to get some fairly reliable access to the internet on sundays, so barring more messy life stuff, I should be back to regular updates over the next few weeks. In the meantime, I have a fresh page in my notebook and a chapter to edit. I'll be back next sunday(I hope).

Later, guys :)





~Sun and Moon

Dreck sucks

So I spent about two hours on edits for chapter 29, trying to set that new scene....and then got stuck.

I'm happy to say this doesn't happen too horribly. Usually it's because I wrote in something that doesn't fit the characters in the scene. This means I need to go back over the darned thing and pull some of that two hours worth of work and start over.

Ugh.

I'll do that later though. Right now it's time to take a short break and do something else. Anything else. Maybe once it's had a chance to stew in the back of my head i'll know how to fix it. That's how it usually goes. I get frustrated and stalk off to do something I'd been putting off so I could finish edits...and then end up rushing back to the computer when the solution hits in the middle of doing dishes, or reading that book I got from the library. Thankfully our keyboard doesn't mind getting splattered with soapy water.

And on that note, I think I'll take a nap. As soon as I find my notebook and spare pen. After all, ideas tend to strike when you least expect it. :)


~Sun and Moon 

Walking the line

Progress is a wonderful thing, but what to do when you're not sure if your solution walks the line between too much, or not enough? It can feel right, but sometimes you wonder. Normally when this happens I send the sticky bit to a beta reader, but I'm fresh out these days.

Oh well, at least it's progress, right?

 I've started in on the new scene for chapter twenty-nine, and while its not going as smooth as I'd hoped, it hasn't bogged down yet, either. Today I plan to sit down with it and hammer out the details. With it being so darned hot around here(100+ degrees, anyone?), it doesn't look like I'll be able to do much else without melting. Besides, it needs to be done and putting it off won't make it any easier.

It's wonderful to be moving forward again and I'm starting to get hyper about maybe starting the first draft for book two in August. That, and a new character is poking at me. The kicker is I can't start working on her story now as it's something that needs to be set up first. That hasn't stopped me from taking notes though. And while she doesn't have a name yet, so does have a nickname(weird, I know).

Art is finally starting to move along too. The stack of finished pieces is growing slowly, but surely as I sort through my abundance of works-in-progress and tackle them one after another. The plan is to start taking commissions sometime soon so I can have a little extra money for our vacation coming up. I've start haunting the park near our apartment, getting practice sketching buildings and trees(a couple of my weak points) and people watching. It's been too hot to head out there the past couples times I've had a day free from work. The few times I have gone out, I've managed some decent sketches.

Like I said before: at least it's progress, right?

Anyway, I better get my behind off the computer and head back to the studio. I've had a commissioner waiting ever so patiently for their art, and it's past time I got it done for them. Then it's more work on edits and some cleaning so I can finally get some general craftiness done. If I can get my rear in gear, I'll be sorting out llama wool tonight and cutting leather while I hang out with my husband.

Wish me luck :)



~Sun and Moon

Break time!

Chapter twenty-eight is finally done! I'll be sending it out to a couple beta readers within the next few days for final tweaking, but for now, it's done.

FINALLY.

Out of morbid curiosity I went back through my old blog posts to see just how long I'd been working on this darned thing. The answer? Longer then I've ever spent on one chapter by about several months. As my birthday is right around the corner, I won't have this book done by then(darn it), but this summer is looking pretty promising for beginning book two(which is still without a title...ugh). I now have just two chapters left to tweak(and a new scene to write for one of them), and then I'm done with "New Beginnings" for a while. 

Of course, I'll still need to do another round or two of edits to trim out extra words and such. But for now it is done.

On that note, I'm off to work on a few art projects and catch up on some much neglected reading. My three day break officially starts today, so work on chapter twenty-nine will begin wednesday. I hope to have another art post that day, so I better get cracking.


~Sun and Moon

Anyone have a flashlight?

Well, I have a new phone to replace the one I lost last sunday(which I still plan to continue to look for as you can't buy the darn thing at all anymore). I don't like it, but it works and that's really all that matters. Plus it was only about fifty dollars and people who are broke shouldn't complain, right?

Right.

Anyway, it took me a while to calm down(about two days...ugh), so I didn't finish chapter twenty-eight like I thought I would. I am, however, on the last three pages. I have two small snags to fix and I'm good to take a break before plunging into chapter twenty-nine. They aren't really all that major, but I still want to fix them. It's like they say: life is stranger then fiction. It doesn't have to make sense cause it actually happened. In a book it must make sense though, or your reader is going to be having words with you.

One of those snags I need to fix is exactly that. Something small that doesn't make sense. It might get over looked on the first read thru, but not the second. I don't know about anyone else, but I want to write books people will put on their bookshelf and read until the binding is about broken and the pages are tattered. That means smoothing out the parts that make people wonder where you left your common sense. 

Today I'll be doing just that(working on the snags, not looking for my common sense). If all goes well, I'll be taking a break soon and then starting twenty-nine sometime this week. Also, keep your eyes peeled this wednesday for another art post. I have a handful of sketches, a Work In Progress, and a piece I finished up just this morning. It should be fun. And very colorful, but mostly fun cause only the newly finished piece has color right now. That might change, but for now we'll have to wait and see. :)

I've gotten to the point where I can see a light at the end of this tunnel. Which is good seeing as my batteries are about drained. Anyone have a flashlight I could borrow? Mine is starting to flicker. 

~Sun and Moon

Hey is that--ooh, shiny!

I know I say this a lot, but I didn't forget about today's blog post. I actually put it off in the hope that I'd be able to tell you guys I had finished chapter twenty-eight at last.

Alas, it was not meant to be. While I am making loads more progress(the end is in sight for sure), I'm not quite done yet. I pulled some stuff out and rewrote other things, and it all feels kind of raw still, but it seems to be moving in the right direction. If I keep things going at this rate, I'll probably be done within a week, if not less. In the meantime, I will continue to chip away at it on my spare moments.

In other news, I'm in the process of clearing my art desk of old projects. So far it's going well. I spent most of today with a piece that's been lounging about for the better part of a year. It was a nice change from wrestling with my chapter tangles, and I can't wait to see it finished. Expect to see another art post sometime soon.

Which reminds me of something. I've been thinking of doing a Wordless Wednesday as well as my usual blog post on Sunday. I'm not sure how often it would post, but it would likely be a mix of my art and pictures of whatever interesting things I stumble across during the week.

It's a thought anyway.

And on that note, I'm off to bed. Its been a long day of editting and art, and my brain is just about fried.



~Sun and Moon
 

What is this sleep you speak of?

If you work retail like I do, you know the past week has been a bit of a mess, what with the first of the month and Easter Sunday coming all in the same week. Needless to say, I'm wiped out. Edits are still coming along slowly, and I'm going to do my best to round up the loose ends over the next few days and get it sent to beta readers. Also, I'd really like to move on to chapter twenty-nine. This requires more energy then I have at the moment, but breakfast is yummy french toast made with a teaspoon of real vanilla extract and a pinch of nutmeg stirred into the usual egg, milk, and cinnamon. Served with real maple syrup, it's addictively delicious(yes, that's not a real word, but who cares? Its french toast, lol). Maybe the sugar rush will do me good.

I was just going to post something cute and easter-ish today, but I don't have any pictures of my mom's new angora rabbits, and the eggs I blew out and cleaned are still waiting to be painted. So instead I decided to babble about breakfast foods and hope you don't notice that I'm still in desperate need of sleep.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys their Easter Sunday. Don't eat too much candy, and remember: when it comes to chocolate bunnies, you're supposed to eat the ears first. ;)

~Sun and Moon