Standard Computer Maintenance

OK, guys, I just had a scare, so I’m going to remind you all to do your computer maintenance.

Delete cookies.

Delete temp files.

Run AdAware.

Run a virus check.

For the longest time, I did the cookies, temp files, and AdAware every two weeks.  I did the virus check every week.

Then….

I stopped.

I don’t know why.

I think I wascloserthanthis to a crash tonight.  I was ready to cry.  I almost panicked.  I do transcription on this thing every day.  I talk to friends every day. 

It’s my life.  (Sad to say, but true.)

Anyway…

Do your computer maintenance!

I can’t stress that enough.

Filed under: not writing

Progress

(aka One Thing Checked Off the To-Do List)
 
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I redid the synopsis and marked up the prologue and first 3 hard copy chapters of Kiernan’s Curse.  Entering the changes, and making a few more, into the file on the computer actually went pretty quickly. 
 
Those are now all printed to go to the conference. 
 
Now I am going to print the first three pages of the story itself twice.  Why twice?  I need one set for the Agent Idol panel and one for a one-on-one appointment.  We’ll see how those go.  If I’m one of the lucky (??) ones to have my pages read during the Agent Idol session, I’ll tell you what they say about it.

This today honestly didn’t take as long as I thought it would.  It certainly makes the rest of the week look better/more do-able.

Filed under: writing

Edits Have Begun

Geez, that sounds like some huge announcement or something.  I didn’t intend it to be.

Yesterday I started re-reading “Kiernan’s Curse” and marking places I need to go back over.  I made it through the prologue (which I’ve decided to keep after all) and about 1/3 of the first chapter.  Then today, I made it through the rest of the chapter and to the end of chapter 3.

It’s odd.  I guess I’ve put enough distance between me and it that it doesn’t really feel like I’m reading my own stuff.  That makes it easier to mark things, too.  Including word choices that might or might not be period-appropriate.

I’m cutting it rather short, though, with what I’m wanting to do.  I’ve got to work on making the changes and printing them before I go to the conference next weekend.  Wish me luck.  *s*

Oh, the funny thing about editing?

I have an aunt with aspirations to be a writer (but who refuses to do anything to actually pursue that, go figure) give me some “advice.”  When she found out I’d be going back over my own stuff, she told Grandma to tell me, “Just be careful.  Publishers don’t like writers to edit their own work because they always over-edit.”

Where the heck did she get that??

Filed under: writing

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

The process I used in writing “Kiernan’s Curse” worked very well for me.  (If you want to see that original post, it’s here.)  I’ve decided to do the same thing for the new story — Devon’s Wish.

This picture is what I’m using for the work-in-progress notebook cover:

I’ve printed the “cover” and am now printing a couple pages of notes and what I have done on the story so far.

You know…  It occurred to me earlier today, I might want to get a memory stick/flash drive to devote only to serious manuscripts like the ones I’ve been working on lately instead of using the one I have for any- and everything.

Filed under: writing

Kudos from Unexpected Places

(or…Addendum to the Addendum on Progress)

Yesterday morning, I sent an e-mail around to the members of the local writers’ group who helped me out with my synopsis on Saturday.  This morning, I got a reply back from one of them.

She says:

Thanks for the kind words, but isn’t that what we meet for, to help  and enhance one another’s work.  Yours has become exceptional, so  only change what you think should be changed.  You have a gift.

And she’s right.  That is why we meet.  But, still, to be shown a more concrete direction to go with that than what I knew before the meeting (which, to me, wasn’t much).

Not to mention that I’m very flattered by the last two sentences.

Filed under: writing

Addendum to Progress

Yesterday was the meeting for the local writers’ group.  I took my synopsis, thinking they were going to rip it to shreds.  Actually rather hoping they would because then I’d have a pretty good idea of what’s wrong.

Well…

They didn’t.  In fact, they liked it.  They said I had a bit too much detail in the first half of it that could be cut without hurting the synopsis itself.  So…  I will. 

I guess I spazzed for nothing?  Story of my life.  lol.

Filed under: writing

Progress

I finally finished the synopsis for Kiernan’s Curse.

I know it needs a LOT of work.  I hate writing synopses.  I find it a lot more difficult than writing the story itself.  Believe me, if I didn’t have to have one, I sure wouldn’t write one.

Now I have to figure out how to pitch it and come up with a one-sentence summary.  That should prove more difficult than even the synopsis.

Wish me luck.  I think I’ll need it.

Filed under: writing

Finally Did It

For the past couple months, I’ve been thinking about joining the Romance Writers of America.  I’ve put off joining for various reasons.

The chief one went like this:  “I’ve only written one romance (and it’s not finished yet [it is now]), so why join?”

That is a very moot point.  As you most likely know, I have finished the first draft of “Kiernan’s Curse” and have started the revision process.  I’ve also started the next book, “Devon’s Wish.”  (Those two links will take you to the character blogs for the main characters of those books.)

Oddly enough, I already have a couple ideas for a third one.  We’ll have to wait and see how that plays out, though, since I’m not even halfway through Devon’s yet.

But, yeah, back to the point.  I just wrote the check for RWA membership and put it in the mail.  Finally.

Filed under: writing

Search Engines

I have to wonder what people think when their search engine queries lead them here.

I make no attempt to hide the fact this blog is about writing and creativity.  It’s right out there for everyone to see. 

I know search engines key in on certain words.  I have part of an abandoned work-in-progress here:  Shadows of Stonehenge.  In the past couple days, there have been four separate searches for “stonehenge shadows” that lead people here.

Like my Stonehenge shadows, folks?  *s*

On the other hand, I’m sure whoever landed here on a search for OWFI probably at the very least found a link to the information they were looking for.

Unfortunately, I can’t go back any further to look at other search terms.  WordPress only archives the past seven days.

It does bear thinking about though.  When I do a post or a new page — even an addition to a page — I’m not always careful about how I word things.  As a writer, I know I should be.  As a blogger, sometimes I’m in too much of a hurry to get it posted and move on to whatever else is next.

When I posted some recipes a while back, one for what I called “Pseudo Crab Quesadillas,” I had several hits from searches for “crab quesadillas.”  I guess that one wasn’t too far off at all. 

Filed under: writing

Time to Panic Yet?

I’m not normally prone to anxiety but it really wouldn’t take much to push me nose-deep into it.

Here’s the current time-frame I’m looking at:

-2 1/2 weeks to the conference in Oklahoma City
-1 month & 2 1/2 weeks ’til I’m gone for all of June

Ask me if I’m ready for either one of them?  Other than mentally, that is.

Er….

On second thought, don’t ask.  I don’t think I could bear it.

Filed under: writing