Not quite there yet...

I honestly thought I'd be back to blogging right now...

I'm not dead, or anything else drastic, but I do have a very mobile toddler now. And I mean a "let's climb every height and get into every forbidden place" kind of mobile. 

I have been able to carve out just enough editing time to reach chapter twenty-four, though. I'm about halfway done with it, which is awesome. Except for the fact that all the chapters from this point on are very...sticky. 

The three plot holes I've discovered still need fixed(if I go back before this round of edits is finished I'll never be done), and I still need to cut a good sized chunk from my word count. I am getting closer, but it's taking a while. I've learning my lesson about keeping everything balanced. It means I work a lot slower, but as long as my progress is steady, I'm fine with slow.

Anyhow, I have a lot to work on, so I better get on it. I'll try to catch you guys next sunday. 

Unless, you know....life happens. ^_^


Later, guys!


~Sun and Moon 

A quick fix is never quick...

If I ever say I just need to do a quick fix on a chapter, or even just part of a scene, feel free to laugh. 

It's never a quick fix.

I dipped back into chapter twenty to do a "quick fix" two weeks ago. I'm just now making some headway, but I'm also still thoroughly mired in a scene barely two pages long. It's a tricky bit I've considered cutting out, but I need some version of it for the character's romantic relationship. 

My problem is I've over complicated it and I need to simplify things if I'm going to make it work properly. But how to manage that is beyond me at the moment, so I just keep plugging away at it in the hope that something will smack me upside the head and all the pieces will drop into place.

Hey, it could happen!

In the meantime, I need to get ready for my permit test this week. I finally wrangled some time to study the darned booklet and the time has come to see if any of it sunk in.The online pre-tests went well, so here's hoping!

Catch you later, guys. 

Hopefully with good news, one way or another. 



~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

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

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    


 

Tiger, Tiger

As you've probably guessed, there won't be a blog post for today. Vacation is over, and I'm doing my best to adjust to works hours and such all over again. I'm still working on chapter twenty-nine edits, but there's not much to tell as I tweak the new scene bit by bit. It's slow, but I'm not stuck yet. :)

Anyway, here is a little something I did for my cousin Theresa. She loves tigers and I got to break in my new pastels, so it was a win-win. I hope you like it too. I'll try to have an actual blog post for you guys next week. Maybe even good chapter news? If all goes well I'll be taking a page from Amanda Olivieri's book(so to speak) and taking up the "Be Inspired" blog hop meme. 

Until then have a tiger. :)

~Sun and Moon

In for a penny, in for a pound

I think I can safely say this has been the most interesting week ever. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but either way, at least it hasn't been boring.

It all started after I wrote my last blog post. It was late saturday night and I'd been feeling odd for about three weeks or so. I'd get home ravenous and a nap was always an option, even if I'd just woken up a few hours ago. There were other symptoms too, but I ignored them as I struggled to edit chapter twenty-nine and catch up on the mess of dishes in my kitchen sink. I simply chalked it all up to stress since my husband was still without a job and I was picking up extra shifts. I figured that once I got used to all the extra hours, my body would adjust and it would all go back to normal.

Silly me.

A few hours after writing my last blog post I found out my husband and I are expecting our first child in the spring.

Yeah.

My first thought after it all sank in and I had broken the news to my family was that it was going to take a little longer then I thought to write all those books floating in my head. My second thought was that I had about nine months to catch up on my art projects.

All told, I'm going to be really busy over the next two weeks as we get the ball rolling on a number of things(like planning a garage sale to help clean out all the junk in our apartment...geesh). I'll try to post on time, but don't be surprised if I forget.

Anywho, its past time I hunted up some breakfast. There's no sign of morning sickness yet, but an empty stomach still makes me queasy. I'd just as soon not spew on my keyboard, thanks all the same. I might need it later.

~Sun and Moon

Fried mush, anyone?

 I had this incredibly nifty blog post in my head. I got settled at the computer, opened up Blogger....and promptly forgot every word.

This is why I like to write things down. I tend to forget. I did not, however, forget to work on chapter twenty-nine last sunday, but I haven't made the progress I had hoped to that night. In fact, my brain fizzled out shortly after the post went live, and I ended up going to bed after a measly forty-five minutes of edits.

Not cool, but I didn't have much of a choice. It's hard to dig anything solid out of fried mush. So I went back to picking at it, and I have yet to move past the stubborn snag tripping me up. Today I'm still feeling a little crispy(or is that squishy?), but I have hopes to change that. Between washing dishes and other chores I'll be at the computer, hammering it out until it either straightens up, or crumbles to pieces. At this point, any progress is good progress, right?

In other news, I've decided to stop trying to make a regular Wordless Wednesday post every week. It's fun, but it's becoming a little stressful. Art for me has been kind of sporadic these days. Which means when Wednesday rolls around, I don't always feel I like I have anything worth posting. Now, I still plan to share my art with you guys, but I may be creating a separate blog just for my artwork. If it happens, I'll let you guys know. The art blog(if it becomes a reality) won't have a schedule like my writing blog. It'll only be updated when I have something to share. If you decide to follow it, that's great. If not, then that's fine too.

In the meantime, I'm off to work on edits and hopefully finish a commission. I hope to have some real progress to report next Sunday, but you know how that is. Maybe this time will be different. Its always a possibility, right?
  



~Sun and Moon   

Pesky edits are pesky

I've been bad.

Now, I could blame my lack of progress with chapter twenty-nine on the craziness of the past couple weeks, the pesky snag I've been fighting with, or even on the new scene waiting to be written. It wouldn't be entirely true though. You see, the root of it all is me and my tendencey to procrastinate.

Like I said...I've been bad.

Instead of working on edits I've been working on art, or cleaning my apartment, or trying to catch up on books I've been itching to read. I haven't neglected edits completely, though. I've been doing them a bit at a time on my breaks at work, but those little snippets of time aren't enough. Which means tonight I'll be staying up late to get some real work done. I'm about halfway through the chapter(not including the new scene), so with a little elbow grease and a lot of tea, I should be able to get pretty far before I hit the sack tonight.

I really want to get this round of edits done. Then it's some minor tweaks and I can move on to book two. The outlines for the first ten chapters are burning a hole in the drawer where I keep my notes. On top of that, I've got yet another story idea bouncing around my head.

One day, I'll catch up with all the stories I want to write. For now, I better get to work. Wish me luck, guys. I might need it.


~Sun and Moon  





.

Just five more minutes...zzZZzz..

Today's lack of a blog post is due to the craziness of retail at the beginning of the month. Add in a holiday weekend before that, and all I want to do for a while is crawl into bed and not come out. Since that is considered unhealthy, I did the next best thing.

Spontaneous dinner-and-movie date with the husband. It was awesome, but had the almost expected result of me forgetting about any and all internet stuff until about now....oops?

Anyway, I'm still trying to track done someone who took photos of that llama we helped shear. It's slow going, so I expect I'll end up having to find a few unhappy-llamas-with-a-haircut photos thru google instead. Oh well, at least I got a huge bag of wool fiber out of the whole adventure.

Well, I'm off to get some sleep before I pass out(can you tell from all the aimless rambling?). Tomorrow I get to sort the bad wool from the good and figure out how I'm going to wash the stuff.

Ah yes...good times. :)p


~Sun and Moon 
 

Ways a ruin a good day

Misplace your phone the day before, not worried because you can just have your husband call it later.

Wake up the next morning to realize you really don't have a clue where it could possibly be and ask husband to call it.

Husband gets your voicemail. 

Start looking for dead phone in a house that really ought to be cleaned. After searching all the usual places, including the art mess you left in the living room last night after working on art that was to be finished TODAY, you come up empty.

Proceed to use some choice words and check the car.

Nothing.

Eat lunch and try to remember when you had you phone yesterday. The good news is both you and your husband remember you having it at home after work. Bad news is you still have no idea where you left it.

The book sale you wanted to go to today is half over at this point. You can't even go visit the friend you were planning to see today, because the address to his new place is on your missing phone. 

Throw a book at a wall and stalk down the hall. Slam the door behind you and have a small break down because you STILL can't find your damned phone.

Realize you haven't written your blog post for the day and since there's no way you'll be able to finish chapter twenty-eight while you're feeling the need to strangle something, there's really no point in waiting.

Stare at empty screen for all of two minutes and start typing.

Post.


And that, my friends, is how good days go bad. Pardon me while I go clean my apartment and resist the urge to cause serious bodily harm. Regular, more cheerful posts will resume next sunday.


~Sun and Moon   

My keys are evil

Be nice to your keys...they bite.
 
Yesterday while getting my keys into my pocket, they wrapped around my hand and wacked my knuckle. Instant bruise. Also, some painful swelling. Most of my work shift was running the self checkouts, so this wasn't too much of a problem. Except I couldn't write or draw.

Ouch. :p

By the time I got home I could bend it, but it still ached, so I goofed off and went to bed instead of doing edits like I was supposed too. So seeing as I promised you guys some of my artwork if I figured out my watermark issues(I did), I thought I'd go head and post some(they're posted them from oldest to newest, by the way). I'd feel guilty about not writing a whole blog post, but this way I can get back to work on those edits I put off yesterday. We'll be back to regular blogging next sunday. I hope you don't mind the interruption. :) 

~Sun and Moon

Another year come and gone

Well, the holiday rush is over, but my brain is still feels like a pile of fried mush.  I'm back to work on chapter twenty-eight, but I can only do so much with fried mush so it's slow going.

I've knocked out one problem scene in the past week, and I'm working on tweaking another, but when you have new art books waiting to be read and new pencils just begging to be used...it's hard to stay on track. Today it was niether of those things that made this blog post late. Nope, I was just playing Sims 3 Pets and munching on some of the holiday goodies my family sent us home with. It's now almost six o'clock and I just now realized I hadn't written my blog post yet.

How embarassing.

Anyway, I'm off to go hammer more issues out of chapter 28 and do some hardcore cleaning. Then it's time to set up the two new lamps I bought yesterday. If they work out the way I hope, I'll be able to work on my art late at night instead of having to wait till morning or afternoon. Natural light is still the best, but you only get so much of the darned stuff during the winter. Fingers crossed, this will solve that dilemma for me.

Happy New Year, folks. May it be a good one for you. :)


~Sun and Moon

No Excuses

I hate mood swings.

Normally I know exactly what's causing mine(trial and error can teach you so much, lol), but lately I've been a grouch and I had no idea why. My house is almost clean these days, I'm making good progress on my art projects, and it looks like I might manage to keep up with my dishes this holiday season(for once). However, the grouchiness remained.

Playing Sims 3 Pets and diving into a huge pile of books from the library kind of helped, but it wasn't until I managed to get in a good solid hour of editing for the first time in over a week that I realized what was bugging me so darned much.

I had been putting off writing time with the assumption that I'd be able to get to it later. Of course there was never a "later". If you don't make time for something, you'll never have time. When I was first drafting, I wrote at every moment possible. I couldn't help it. The story just had to get out, you know? When it came to edits, things were different and I found myself putting them off for a "later" that never happened.

Not the best way to get things done.

So today I'm putting everything else on hold. Today I'm going to get the little space heater and a plush blanket to wrap around my legs. There will be a large mug of hot tea waiting at my elbow and some tunes playing from my little MP3 player with its new bomb speaker. No more excuses, no more "I'll do it later". This is my story, and if I ever expect anyone to read it, I better get it done.

No more excuses, guys. It's time to get to work.


~Sun and Moon

Lost and found

You know, I had a blog post all planned out for today. It was written up on a piece of note paper, but not typed into the computer yet. I left it unfinished too, but that was fine as I had plenty of time to wind it to a close before I needed to post it. I left it beside the computer, knowing that it would be there when I needed it as I went about doing other things.

I have since lost my blog post.

Now, it's been a crazy day today. Family events and visiting relatives(my grandma came up from Arizona), and of course a lot of good food. However, it hasn't been all that crazy and while I'm pretty tired after all the fun and such, I shouldn't be wondering how the heck I lost a piece of paper I spent so long scribbling on.

Oh well, at least I didn't forget today was Sunday like I did that one time. I'm late, but I think its forgivable considering the circumstances.

Chapter twenty-eight edits are going slowly at the moment, but as I'm still at the "review it and make notes" stage, that's to be expected. So far it looks like it may need more of a rewrite then I thought, but nothing truly drastic.

In other news, I just bought a program called "Mavis Beacon teaches typing" to help me get my speed up without having to watch the dang keyboard. I used it a long time ago as a kid(I was twelve), and it worked pretty well until I quit for stupid reasons. I'll be installing it and going for a test run sometime in the next week or so.

In the meantime, the much awaited Pets Expansion for Sims 3 is coming out over the next few days. I don't know about you, but I plan to get my writing work done early so I can play guilt-free. Not only are there cats and dogs to play with, but horses and even a unicorn(if you can find it). Here's hoping I can snag a limited edition copy before they run out.

And on that note I'm off to get a treat and relax. My dad gave me some coffee syrup and I'm itching to mix up some coffee milk. Its been ages since I had any and I'm not about to wait any longer.

Later, guys.




~Sun and Moon

Keep your friends close

You know that saying "Keep you friends close and your enemies closer"?

It means, basically, to keep a close eye on your enemies because you can trust your friends to have your back. Or at least, that's what it means to me. Now, I don't have any serious enemies(that I know of, anyway), but I have some of the most awesome friends ever. Not only do they help me out when I find myself in need of a beta reader, but they even let me base characters off of them. Such a situation doesn't always come up roses, though.

You see, one thing I've noticed during my writting is that even characters based on real life folk still walk their own road. They become truly themselves and no one else. 

It's kinda creepy.

Now, if you friends don't care, that's fine, but some people do. They see the character, so clearly them doing something they would never do and they get mad or hurt. The friend complains to the author who finds themselves between a rock and a hard place trying to accommodate their friend and keep the story in one piece.

A favorite author of mine had someone ask her how she came up with her characters. Not only did she write a very good response and put it in her FAQ on her website, she also responded to the unspoken question there: what do you do when the person on whom you've based a character calls you out on it.

Quoted directly from her website, here is what she had to say....


I often start with a real person--if not someone I know, then an actor or actress I think would fit the part. It's easiest for me to start with what someone looks and sounds like--if I know that, then I know about the character's personality. As a result, I use a lot of photographs of people or performers. Of course, there always comes a point, as I'm working, when the character breaks away from the person I based her/him on to become her or his own self. That's how I know I'm doing it right. A word of warning: tell no one that you based a character on her/him. Even if you think you've written about that person perfectly, s/he may not like what you have to say, or if the character you create starts doing things the person you based the character on doesn't do, they can get quite vexed. If they ask, lie. If you're a bad liar, like me, practice in front of a mirror. Do not tell them.


I love Tamora Pierce's books and I think she gives good advice on being a writer and an author. Now, I didn't read this until I had already told both people (yes, just two characters were based heavily on real folks) that I'd used them in my book. Neither of them minded, thank goodness, but they could have. I still base characters on real people, but now I'm careful to keep just who inspired who behind my teeth.

Remember, no one needs to know they were the inspiration for this character, or that one. After all, they may not like what they see reflected in the words you've put on the page.

Think about it :)



~Sun and Moon

Glitches

Have you ever heard of the awesome computer game called Sims 3?

Ok, if you just said no then I have straight jacket in my closet you may want to try on for size.

Seriously though, you should check it out. The game is kinda self explanatory. You spend your time controlling the people you create and making them do various things depending on what expansions you have for the game. It's a lot of fun, oddly enough, and it can eat up hours of your time depending on your level of addiction.

I am most definetly addicted.

Of course, like all games, it has its glitchy moments. However, when I first got the game and installed it, it was mostly smooth sailing. Then we had the whole virus issue in april. Since we didn't know how much damage had been done, I uninstalled and reinstalled the base game with all its expansions.

Which. Took. Forever.

Once I started it up, everything seemed fine. Then I decided to go and get the Grim Reaper off of the Sim Exchange. I downloaded him, tossed him into my game and started playing. Again, everything seemed fine. That is, it did until one of my sims went to china and came back with Pangu's axe.

The problem?

The map loaded, and lo and behold, I suddenly had two identical sims. And then the game crashed.

I have since removed the Grim Reaper from my game.

It reminds me of my writing lately. First drafting was mostly smooth sailing for me, but once editting started, I began to find myself bogged down more often then not. This latest chapter has been especially sticky.

I've created several versions of the middle pages for chapter 27, and none of them fit. Now, unlike with my sims game, I don't think a total reboot is going to fix that. Nor will pulling the ornery characters in question from the chapter. Instead I need to find a smooth path that winds around the potholes without getting everyone splattered with mud.

In other words, I need to let my characters do their thing without interfering so darned much.

So far, I think I may know a way to manage it. That, however, will have to wait for tomorrow. Right now it's way past my bedtime, and this post is late enough as it is. I have my spare notebook by my bed along with a pen for late night notes, so for now I think I'll sleep on it.



~Sun and Moon

I know I came in here for a reason...

Today is sunday, right?

Yeah, that was my thought not five minutes ago as I logged onto Blogger to see what other people were up to today. Actually, that's how the past week has been. Unreal, hazy, and easily forgotten as I pick apart yet another knot in chapter 27.

Yup, that's right. I'm STILL working on it.

Slowly it's starting to come together as I figure out what is too much information for the reader, and what is just enough. That's what happens when you introduce a new character so late in the game and you know everything about her.

Ok, maybe not everything.

Still, this part in the chapter came up and suddenly I knew this person had to be there. She's mentioned several times earlier in the book, but this is the first time she actually makes an appearance. And then, just as suddenly, I knew exactly who she was, and why she might be more then she seemed.

Now I have to convey all that baggage without telling the reader outright. On top of that, I need it to be sad, and tense, and painful all at once. This is not the first time a character has dropped fully formed into my head, but she's the only non-lead character to do so thus far. It's been very interesting to say the least.

And by that, I mean she's being a pain.

Well, I better get back to it. Besides, I have a tall glass of chocolate goat's milk* in the freezer and its calling my name.


~Sun and Moon




*(Don't knock it till you've tried it. I'm lactose intolerant and I hate soy milk and all that fake stuff on the market, so I drink this instead. Goat's milk is rich and yummy, and makes killer chocolate milk. I dare you to give it a try.)