March #writemotivation Roundup

Well, the month ended quietly with a beautiful day and a well cooked meal in my house.  My son was well behaved and ate everything we put on his plate.  On top of that, he loved his Easter gifts and new clothes.  That was all that went well during the month.

It had been a hectic month with long hours and tough days at work which took away a lot of my writing and revising time. Most nights I was too tired to even focus on my emails and other messages let alone try to figure out how to revise one chapter without losing too much of the content.  I did, however, manage to get some done.  Not a lot, but some.

Just a few days before Easter, I lost my job at Wal-Mart.  Which meant I needed to get a few things done before I could focus on anything.  But, I used the extra spare time working on SoNL.  I also spent some extra time with my son, too.  Something he really enjoyed.

So, for now, I am searching for a new job and getting things set up with unemployment and food stamps.  My big priority for now is figuring out what to do with my 401K money.  Other than using some to get this month's bills took care of, I need to invest the rest.  Thankfully, I do have a few good places to talk that over until I make a decision.

1) Finally do the edits and revisions to chapters 8 through 15 on SoNL.

I got to chapter 11 before the month ended.  Saturday saw nothing done due to a lot of shopping both for me, my boyfriend, and my son.  Sunday was spent paying attention to family and food instead of writing.  Family IS more important than any craft.  They are our first inspirations for doing what we do.  At least work was done on it.  Amazingly, I kept almost half of the content of the original chapter.  Chapter ten was so long, I decided to split it up into two chapters, so technically, I did get to chapter 11.

2) Try to come up with a good name for the book itself while I edit.

Sorry, no decent names have popped into my head, yet.  Past Through Shadows as the book name remains and still sounds lame and clunky.

3) Try to write at least one more chapter to Black Friday 2.

I didn't write a thing on this one.  I probably would have gotten some done over the weekend if I wasn't shopping.

4) Brain willing, come up with names for Black Friday 2.

I have a tentative idea for a name, but nothing I'm willing to note, yet.  So, no, incomplete again.  :(

5) Revise the beginning to Test of Ascension

Didn't even touch it.  >.<

6) Pre-write the ABC challenge posts.

I got to the letter M and I am so happy!  Half the alphabet to buffer.  I'll knock out the rest during this week between applications.  So... I guess I can cross this one off.  I got farther than I expected.

Week in Editing #amwriting #writemotivation #fiction #edit #sonl

It has been a busy week.  This past weekend was rather lazy except for the work I did on my Sunday post.  That post was an accomplishment in itself.  I turned two paragraphs into a page, maybe a page and a half, which sounds and definitely works better with the scene.

But, because of that huge revision of the scene, what is now chapter eight will become part of chapter seven.  It continues the conversation, but it’s being shortened from three or four pages down to a page or so.  If Sabrina is part of a secret society, or once was, she wouldn’t be divulging quite so much information, even to someone she considers a friend.  Mindy, her best friend in the Society, even though she doesn’t fully trust her at this point, knows all about what is going on.  Actually, she knows more, but I didn’t say that.

I offer this comparison for everyone.  First, the original two paragraphs:

“You follow me, drug me, twice, and now have me captive. I’m not sure I can trust you, right now, Sabrina, but…” and he let the pause linger while he chose his words very carefully, “… since I don’t have much of a choice, I’ll listen then decide later if I believe you or not.”

With a nod, Sabrina said, “That is all I ask. So that you fully understand why I am doing what I’m doing, I’ll start at the very beginning. It all began during the Great War, when I was just a little girl of about eight years or so…”

Now, the link to the revised conversation; http://candacegauger.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/sunday-excerpt-excerpt-amwriting-fiction-sonl/.  To get the full conversation (most of it anyway) you can find it at this link; http://candacegauger.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/.

These are set to open in another window so you can see and compare better.

To me, the revision sounds better.  Jason isn’t giving in too easily and Sabrina doesn’t sound like a pushover.  She is given a bit more attitude and shows she cares for him as a friend and wants to see him live.  It also shows she’ll do what she needs to do to make sure he understands.

I can sum up the current chapter for the curious.  It tells about Sabrina’s youth at the end of the Great War, how she lost all but her cousin Shyleah, and entered the Claw and Fang where she learned to be an assassin before meetings her various beaus.

The first draft had her with seven boyfriends; some which became husbands if briefly.  That’s way too much for such a young lady who doesn’t have a sex fetish or anything  Sabrina is a proper lady in many ways.  The seven were trimmed down to three which were spaced further apart to give her ‘healing time’.

There’s no way she’d talk that much.  She’d keep it short and to the point and give Jason just enough information, plus let him know of the characters he needs to worry about other than his twin brother, Devin.  Which reminds me, I need to make a small revision to add a talk with Gerin where he tells her the particulars of her mission to get her cousin back alive.

There’s a lot to add and change in the next to last draft.  If I can get a few people in my NaNo group to do a full edit to point out areas needing further work and suggestions to tighten and polish it up, I’ll be ready to start querying agents.  (That’s next year at the earliest.  March, I hope)

Sunday Excerpt #excerpt #amwriting #fiction #SoNL

My how a long week flies by when you’re busy.  I’ll write another post since it’ll also have a restaurant review as well.

Now, I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but I started my own hashtag for this book to make finding my excerpts easier.  #Sonl should bring you to my posts, now, and help distinguish quotes or other things concerning this book when I make posts about it on Twitter.  

I do intend on finding an agent and a publisher for this book series.  It won’t be done independently like I am doing Black Friday or my erotic compilation.  My erotic compilation will be done on Smashwords under my usual net name to help make that divide between safe for work and the not so safe work.  More on that later. 

Just to make sure you realize, I didn’t think this chapter was ending quite so soon.  I thought there was at least another page, not two paragraphs.  But, this can be easily fixed.  Right?  I hope so.  Please, tell me what you think of this.

“You follow me, drug me, twice, and now you’re holding me captive! You want me to trust you?  Honestly.  You.  Want /me/.  To fucking trust /you/.  Ha!”  Jason’s voice rose in pitch as his anger grew.  He didn’t try to advance on her.  No.  Even as angry as what he was, he knew she’d have the advantage.  ”Don’t take this wrong way, but I’d trust Devin right now.”  He folded his arms across his chest and glared at her.

She eyed him, letting him shout and get it all out of his system.  His words hurt.  She couldn’t blame him for feeling the way he did.  She’d be the same way if their roles were reversed.

Sabrina kept her expression neutral.  His anger rolled right off as she they didn’t affect her.  If she let him see how much it did hurt her, she may as well shoot herself right there and make it easy for Dean to get what he wanted.  That thought added steel to her spine.  Even Jason’s anger bolstered her courage.

Her silence unnerved him while he waited for her to reply.  He had heard her argue with Felix many times in the last two years and knew she could hold her own, but never had he seen her stay so quiet after someone shouting at her.  This was a different woman than the one he had come to know and respect.

Her eyes didn’t leave him as he relaxed his arms then sat down on the edge of the bed as she had requested a few minutes before.  The silence lasted until she was sure he was seated then let out a breath.  ”You don’t have much of a choice.  Either you trust me and have a quiet life with Sasha, or don’t trust and end up dead in the gutter.  Either way, Jason Foxworth is dead.”

He raised a brow and looked at her intently.  Though his thoughts were visible, she couldn’t make them out clearly.

“Either way, I’m dead?  How is being dead a good thing?”  His question was demanding.  He glared at her, but he kept his hands on the edge of the mattress and gripped tightly.

A slow sigh escaped her parted lips while she watched him.  ”Well, it’s easy.  We fake your death, give you a new identity and a new home.  You’ll have that peaceful life you’ve told me and Felix about without having to step on toes or anything of the like.”

The snort of a laugh wasn’t humor filled or even thankful.  He didn’t believe her.  She knew he didn’t believe her.  It was going to be a long and difficult task to make him be able to believe her and trust her.

“You make it sound like you do that regularly.”  His comment had the stinging bite of sarcasm that drove in deep to score at the heart like an armor-piercing arrow.

Holding back an equally biting comment, she flicked her ears back and thumped the side of her chair with her tail.  ”Let’s just say I know what I’m doing, buddy boy.  If you want to die, I can arrange that as well.  Don’t think I won’t hold back if that’s how you want it.”

His eyes went wide.  Jason didn’t expect that sort of reply from her.  Leaning back, he propped himself on the bed then decided to ask, “Okay, how do you expect to kill me without killing me?”

“Easy.” Sabrina let a hint of a smile sneak into her expression.  ”You just have to do exactly what I say until we can fully convince your brother and the Claw and Fang that you are dead.  The rest is up to Mindy and me.”

“Yeah, right.  I believe that.”  Sarcasm was thick in his tone and dripping off every syllable.

Sabrina eyed him for a moment longer then stood and turned to the door.  ”Fine.  If you want to be like that.  Enjoy the last few minutes of your life.  I’ll try to make it as fast and clean as possible.”  She huffed then took a step toward the door.

Seeing that she was very serious, Jason blinked then sat up quickly.  ”Whoa!  I didn’t say I wanted to die!  Get back here, bitch, and face me.”  he stood up and reached for her as she left.  Upon grabbing her upper arm, he growled.  ”Don’t you dare leave this room.”

She stopped when he grabbed her and looked at his hand.  Slowly, she lifted her eyes to meet his.  Her eyes were as dark as storm clouds with the tempest inside building quickly.  ”I suggest you let go of me, fox, before you regret ever touching me.”

What he saw in her eyes and heard in her voice made him let go without saying a word.  Jason regretted that action and was back to sitting on the bed without being asked.  ”Sabrina, please,” he pleaded softly, “I’m sorry.  How else would you expect me to act after all you’ve done to me in the last few days.”

Her hand was on the door knob and the door partly open when he spoke.  His words, the very tone of his voice, were enough to make her pause.  She couldn’t stay mad at him.  He was her friend.  Probably the only friend she could trust at the moment.

“A lot worse than this, to be honest.”  Her voice was soft with a tremor hinting at her emotional state.  ”I didn’t want to do those things, but they kept you alive.  You don’t know how close to being murdered you’ve gotten in the last twenty-four hours. And not by me.”  Slowly, she turned to face him.  ”I don’t want to see you die.  You’ve been my friend all this time.  I protect my friends.”

“I see that,” he mumbled.  He looked down at his lap then back at her.  He focused on her green eyes.  He realized just how expressive they were and how honest she really was.  ”You still have a lot to explain.  If you want me to trust you, I need to know the facts.”

Once again, Sabrina sighed.  Then, nodding, she resumed her seat in the chair after closing the door.  ”Very well.  I’ll tell you everything I can.”