Hard Writing

I know you’ve read at least part of Shadows of Stonehenge since I’ve posted the beginning of it here.  I think one time before, I said something about this is different from anything else I’ve written.

It’s also harder, but it won’t leave me alone so I have to write it.  (Not to mention the fact that Dot and Janet, at the least, won’t let me abandon it.  *s*)

Does different have to equal harder?

I’ve added more to it this morning.  I did two pages on chapter 2 a couple days ago.  Now that chapter is about 7 pages long.  The same as the first.

Earlier, I thought I’d lost all the work I did this morning.  My computer hiccupped or sneezed or something.  I had to reboot, which is extremely unusual with this computer. 

I lost everything I had done up to that point.  It was about a page and a half.  I sucked it up and redid it.  Now I have the chapter sort of done. 

Why “sort of?”  This is a rough draft.  It’s as done as it’s going to be until I go in and edit, which I’m not going to do until the whole thing is done.

I finished with a little over an hour to spare.  I printed my copies and will be taking it to a crit group this afternoon.  Yeah, the rough draft.  No, I don’t usually do that, but I’m trying things a bit differently this time.

Whew.  OK.  Time for lunch and then to get ready for the meeting.

Filed under: writing

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

That’s how I feel right now.

I have actually accomplished quite a bit of transcription this morning.

When I was working on the last few reports, my mother (also my boss) called and said I need to do a rush job and one of the people in the office would be bringing it to the house ASAP.

After almost an hour, I still don’t have it.  There’s really no real “step back” part to this post other than the rush job and that’s just how I feel. I work hard to get stuff done and then more is dumped on me.

Is it no wonder that a lot of days, I don’t feel like I don’t have the brain power for writing? 

I did manage to apply for one writing job today that I found on Freelance Writing Jobs.  I already found out I won’t be getting it, though.

I don’t live in Las Vegas.  The ad mentioned nothing about having to actually live in LV, just that’s where the job-poster lived.

Oh well.  You win some, you lose some. 

Filed under: writing

Date Confirmed

Dorothy Thompson will be at Blue Jeans & Tennis Shoes on November 7.

She explains how a virtual book tour works here.

Filed under: writing

Upcoming Event

I thought I’d give you all a heads-up so you can be looking for it.

Dorothy Thompson, author of “A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook,” will be making an appearance at my Blue Jeans & Tennis Shoes blog on a virtual blog tour in November.

I will let you know exactly what date as soon as I find out.

Filed under: writing

Need to Get Back Up to Speed

Last week, I didn’t write much of anything. 

I was more concerned with transcription and a literal pain in my neck.  The transcription isn’t as far behind as I thought and the pain in the neck is mostly gone.

So now I need to get back up to speed and get writing more again.  I have a project in mind that I’m going to start.

I have three short stories that want to be longer and a would-be novel that wants to be shorter.  So I’m going to work on them and put them all in a collection together for a book of novellas.

There will be four novellas running about 25k to 30k each.  From what I have found out, 25k would actually be a bit low for calling it a novella.  Be that as it may, that’s what I’m going to do.

The four stories?

Runner
This Is Your Karma
The Outpost
Shadows of Stonehenge

Three of the four could be classified as urban fantasy.  I need to edit Karma to fit that designation as well.

Filed under: writing

Contests with Entry Fees

I noticed something in looking at the contests page on Preditors & Editors.  I’m sure I noticed this before, but it really stood out at me today.

Any contest that charges an entry fee gets the dubious designation of “Not Recommended.”

In these listings, I saw reliable contests listed as “Not recommended” just because they charge a fee to enter.

Once upon a time, I might have agreed that all contest entry fees = a very bad thing.  But then I had the opportunity of being on the other side of the submission desk.  Because of that, I know many times, entry fees are a necessary evil.  There are costs in running a contest that have to be met.  If there are cash prizes associated with the contest, that’s even moreso.

I would dare to say that even with the entry fees, many contests are operating in the red. I’m not talking about obvious scams, I’m talking about legitimate contests. Many of these entry fees are minimal. $5 per entry. True, there are some that charge more than that, but I have yet to come across one that I think is exhorbitant.

The contests sponsored by Byline Magazine are listed as “Not Recommended.”  Oh?  I think Marcia Preston and her staff at Byline would be surprised to hear they are suspect.  At least according to P&E.

Given their apparent criteria, I’m surprised the Writers’ Digest contests aren’t listed as “Not recommended.”

Filed under: writing

Thinking

Last night, I couldn’t go to sleep for some reason.  I finally turned on the light, broke out a notebook, and wrote some notes to myself.

Here’s what I’m thinking.

I’ve been working on Shadows of Stonehenge a bit here & there (though none yet since I’ve been back from the conference).  It doesn’t seem to want to be novel-length even though that was my original plan for it.

What is the word count for short story vs. novella?

I have two or three other stories I can revise to make them occur in more modern times, like SoS is, and also to lengthen them.

My thought is to have 3 or 4 stories/novellas in one collection, all with an urban fantasy-type theme/genre.  I don’t know how marketable that will be yet, though.

I’ve thought about sending in a question to Miss Snark, too.

Filed under: writing

Too Much

Do you ever get the feeling that you are expecting too much of yourself and/or you’re being too hard on yourself?

I do.

Frequently.

In fact, I’m there now.

After the conference, on the way home, I was thinking about some things I heard, some things I want to do.  And I made some preliminary decisions.

The problem, I think, is in that I expect to be able to work on them all at once and get great results.  Not just good results.  Great ones.

Whenever I do that, it paralyzes me and I take no action on anything.

I need to take it one thing, one day, at a time.  First things first, though, is that I need to write.  Anything.  Something.

I’ve done nothing since I got home.  I could blame it on being tired and on being inundated with transcription work.  The truth of the matter is that while those things may contribute to it, it’s not the cause.

My course of action, then, is to write.  Find markets.  Send things out.  Hopefully this will progressively build to the point I’m writing and selling quite often to the point where I don’t have to rely so much on the transcription to pay the bills.

I can write for fun and for money.  The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

Filed under: writing

Blue Jeans & Tennis Shoes

Based on some things I heard in Eureka Springs at the conference, I have started a new blog. I did this in order to help me develop a platform, develop a readership (albeit an online one, but that could translate to book readers, yes?), and provide motivation to finish the project.

The blog is Blue Jeans & Tennis Shoes: Working from Home.

It is dedicated to issues, concerns, and situations dedicated to working from home.

I have worked from home for approximately six years. I also have a master’s degree in human resources and have been looking for a new job for 9+ years with mixed results. Because of this, I decided my “next job” would have to be something I made for myself. And it is. It is also still evolving.

I will address various issues and concerns related to working from home on this blog. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments or e-mail them to me at bjtsworkfromhome@hotmail.com.

I will answer questions publicly on the blog.

——–

Edit – 12/18/2008: The Blue Jeans & Tennis Shoes blog has been closed for about a year. I closed the e-mail address as well.

Filed under: writing

Conference Highlights

I got back from the Ozark Creative Writers, Inc., conference in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, earlier today.

I will do a full recap later in the week, but here are some highlights.

The speakers:

• Chris Vogler, author of The Writer’s Journey
• Chuck Sambuchino, editor of the Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents
• Bonnie Orr, screenwriter
• Beth Bartlett, freelance writer
• Laurie Wagner-Buyer, poet
• David Marion Wilkinson, author of One Ranger and other books
• Dusty Richards, author of The Horse Creek Incident and numerous books for himself and Ralph Compton
• Kim Lionetti, literary agent at BookEnds

I won two honorable mentions in poetry categories in the contest.  My friends Jennifer DiCamillo and Dion Mayes also won in various categories.  Congrats to them! 

More later.

Filed under: writing