Triumphant Return

I didn't post last Monday, but with good reason. A young family member had some very serious surgery scheduled for last Monday at a children's hospital out of state. We spent most of Valentine's Day in a hospital waiting area. Everything went well and the child is now home again though a long way from recovered. Prognosis is good. You can imagine how stressful the past month has been while waiting for this dangerous surgery. But all is well. Apologies to those I didn't get around to visiting last week. I'll do better this week.

Some great news to share if you didn't hear. Insecure Writer's Support Group made it onto a 100 Best Writing Websites in 2017. I hope you'll check that out and share it around. I also received my IWSG pens. Really cool.

I know we all need to be concerned about climate change, but my long time readers know how I hate the cold. The weather has been so lovely and mild. It finally stopped raining and the sun even showed its face for a few days. It also made me anxious for spring.

Work on my WIP took a hit last week with everything going on, but I'm back on top of it now. I mucked through the ugly middle and am working on the last quarter of the book.

“It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all.” ─ Will Shetterly

“Getting a first draft done is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor.” ─ Joyce Carol Oates

If you didn't get a chance, visit IWSG post from last week and read about cover designs and what you need to consider if you do your own. Very interesting.  And of course, read the new post today.

A TV show I forgot to mention that I've been enjoying is Timeless. It involves time travel to the past where the heroes bumble around and too often change history as they try to prevent the bad guy from doing exactly that. Each week we meet historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, Bonnie and Clyde, Hemingway, and Houdini before he was famous, and witness historic events. And recently it seems the 'big' bad guy might not be the biggie at all, though still pretty ruthless in his own right. And they don't avoid the prejudices and sexism of the past either as they encounter lots of it. It's fun.

Are you enjoying unusually warm weather this winter? Ever try pushing a peanut across the floor with your nose? Did you share the good news about our terrific IWSG? Do you have the day off for President's Day?

5 Things in the Third Draft

5 for the Third Draft
I'm deep in the edit cave and working the kinks out of The Outlaw's Rebel Lady. I made a list of things as I worked through the second draft and now I'm shining up the manuscript to send to my publisher. What things am I doing in this incarnation of the novel.

1. Using the 'find' feature to check for repetitive and weak words. Some of mine, very, actually, obviously, and the worst, just.  I've already done this in the 2nd draft but it always needs another look.

2. I check the timeline again. I usually pretty good with this but it needs to be perfect.

3. Dialogue tags? Are the ones I have necessary? Do I need to add some so the reader understands who is speaking?

4. I am writing a romance, so can I make the hero and heroine click more? Add a little more sexual tension?

5. Does every scene and chapter end in a way to make sure the reader wants to keep reading?

And here's the big thing. I want to have this draft done by next week at this time. Good thing we're supposed to have snow for the next two days. Hopefully, we only get the couple of inches they're calling for and not 30 inches like that last storm.

found on Facebook

What's New?

We had our writers' meeting last Saturday. It's always fun to get together with other writers. It's a really talented group but also very enthusiastic. Our president allowed time for some discussion of industry news and concerns. One of the things discussed was Amazon's new attention to books that have quality issues brought to their attention by complaints. Though some people are concerned, the majority feels this is to address books with major formatting problems or so many misspellings that customers find them unreadable.

Another issue discussed was the writers who have gone the self-published route and have now abandoned it. The most common reason is the amount of work they have to take on themselves. All writers now have to do the majority of the promotion for their books but don't we all just want to write? Many of these writers turning away from indie publishing are looking to small presses. Now if we all can survive Amazon's takeover of publishing.

Personal News

I decided on my A to Z Blogging Theme. I enjoyed my theme last year but I'm going to like this one even more. And the theme we're using over at IWSG, is going to be fun.
Last Friday, my oldest son, the one who got married last summer, asked me to spend the day with him. He scheduled a car inspection. So I picked him up at 8 am. We went to Starbucks until the bookstore opened at ten and hung out there until his car was ready around 5 pm. I took along a book I knew he would like, Son of the Black Sword. He brought his computer to take care of some emails. I took along a paper copy of my book to work on the above 3rd draft. And we talked about books, TV shows and movies, teaching, football, family, and all kinds of stuff. The day was the best gift a mother could ask of her children. He read the entire book, by the way. We both recommend it.

How many drafts do you do of a book before you send it to a publisher or agent? Have you heard about Amazon cracking down on quality of book editing? Did you come up with your theme for A to Z Challenge?

Take a Walk

Did you all start singing when you read the title? Yes, a little Passion Pit playing on the iPod while I write this post. But I'm not talking about romance, I'm talking about writing.

Finally, finally, I finished the first draft of The Marine's Heiress last Friday. I wanted to finish the book by the end of June but it took longer than I thought and was actually a bit longer, coming in at 85K before edits. There's lots to be cut, some added, some changed but that first draft is done. I'm eager to get onto the second draft, but first I'm going to take a walk. Well, actually, a long ride. I'm going to Colorado to visit my son in Colorado Springs. I'll be away from my writing for an entire week. All told, it will be about ten days until I get back to The Marine's Heiress. Long enough to think through the things I need to change and fix. Let it all percolate for a little bit.

How long do set aside a manuscript or story before you work on the second draft? Or do you dive right in? How long does it take you to do that second draft compared to the first? Do you like Passion Pit?

My Favorite Things

Did you think I was going to break into song?  I'm not Julie Andrews.  I have a book due to come out at the beginning of the summer and my publisher sent Tiger's Mate to me for the final read through.  I love this part of the process.  It's one of my favorite parts of the writing process. 

Why? I think it's because I know it's too late to make any big changes. All the major problems have been fixed and I'm mostly looking for spelling and grammatical mistakes.  The plot holes have been filled, loose ends tied up and character missteps ironed out.

I'll probably work on this every free moment for the next seven days and send it back over the weekend.  Then I'll get back to my current WIP which happens to be the next book in this fantasy romance series.  I love creating a new book.  It's one of my favorite things in the writing process.

I also enjoy the second draft when I search out all those passive verbs, repetitive phrases and pet words which for me is usually, 'just.'  I usually have a list of things I need to fix in the plot I refer to when I work on the second draft.  It takes me about a third of the time to do a second draft compared to the first draft.  Maybe that's why it's one of my favorite parts of my writing process.

You probably figured out where this is going.  With the exception of writing a synopsis, I enjoy every part of writing a novel.  Each draft, first, second, final and even the polishing in between, have attractions.  I didn't used to like editing.  I just wanted to write new stuff all the time.  But since I published my first book, I enjoy fine-tuning a manuscript into a novel someone might want to buy and read. 

So what is your favorite part of the writing process?  Which part do you find the most challenging?  Name a few of your favorite things.