Writing

Wunderlist, Where Have Thou Gone?

October 16, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake 2 Comments

BabyCrying — ***Me, trying to learn something new when I don’t want to.***

Microsoft bought Wunderlist. Of course they did. Wunderlist was awesome, and Microsoft’s offerings…were not. Wunderlist was voted best product, Microsoft wasn’t. So, as is the case these days, the giant consumed the little guy.

I have been using Wunderlist for almost two years to help keep me on track with writing goals, and this year especially, I have used it as a motivating tool. I have even shared progress reports to help keep myself accountable.

Of course, I have no idea what Microsoft will do with it. For the moment, I can still access my stuff. Not sure how long.

But I can see the changes coming.

One of the things I loved about Wunderlist was that it was platform neutral because it was all on the web. I could access it from my android phone, my iPad, my laptop, or my MacBook. It was always the same exact screen.

The very first thing the new Microsoft platform wanted was for me to download the app for my specific device.

Uh, yeah, no.

Looks like it still has a web component. For now.

Maybe it will be as easy to use, maybe not.

I get progress, I really do, but I am not sure this is progress. The original program was terrific, met all my needs, and was easy to use. I don’t really want to spend brain power re-learning how to use something I understood before. I just want the darn thing to work.

Of course, I can’t tell you how well the new program works. Because I have to go back and figure out all of the passwords I had simply saved as part of my keychain.

Yeah, I know.

I am the weakest link. But I figured if someone really wanted to steal my To Do list, they could have it. Maybe they’ll even do it for me.

Things I Learned Writing Knight of Valor

July 11, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

Pending no major calamities, Knight of Valor will be released at the end of this month. I started writing this book in January of 2015, so it’s taken over four years to write, edit, revise, rewrite, edit again… You get the picture.

During that time, I learned a lot about writing, both the craft aspect of it, but also what works for me. Here are a few things I learned.

You Get Better the More You Write

I was just getting back into writing in 2015 after a long sabbatical, and it was a challenge to write even the first draft. While writing may have a degree of talent, see George RR Martin or Nora Roberts, it also has a huge degree of practice. The more I write, the better I get at it. I have to believe this is also a part of why George RR Martin and Nora Roberts are so amazing. Certainly, I need to read, too. Studying craft books helps as well. But none of that replaces the work of sitting down and crafting a story.

Revising is Crucial

I need to revise. My first draft is far from perfect. So very far. It is mostly a sandbox I have shoveled sand into that becomes the rough lump of a story. Revising turns that lump into a sandcastle. Some stories take more drafts than others. Knight of Valor took more than twenty drafts. A big part of the revision process was making up for how rough the first draft really was. I was out of practice when I wrote it. More recent works have required seven or eight revisions. I almost felt bad about it. Then I came across this.

revision4 — Yeah, even he had to rewrite.

Take Only the Advice That Works for You – Ignore the Rest

Part of the reason this book had so many revisions was I took a lot of advice I shouldn’t have. More benign advice was to write in any order than piece those scenes together. Yeaaaah, no. Doesn’t work for me, and it created a lot more work in the revision process.

For example, I was also reading a lot of craft books on romance as I wrote this, and they were all touting the alpha male as really the only hero most romance readers wanted to read about. So I revised and changed the hero and made him a lot more alpha. But then I didn’t like him anymore, and that meant I didn’t like the story Knight of Valor became. So I revised it again, removing most of the edits I had added, then focusing on really showing who he was instead of what a craft book told me he should be.

EatMushroomsAdvice — What works for one author doesn’t always work for another.

Write Your Story

Which leads me into my last point: learning to trust myself to write my story. The one I want to tell. The one that reflects my characters. That can be a lot harder than it sounds, as I learned writing Knight of Valor. Doubt is a powerful force, especially when you are working on a story for years at a time. When there are so many things going on around you personally, professionally, and in the world. Sometimes it can seem foolish to question those who “know” what they’re doing. In writing Knight of Valor, I’m glad I did. Even though it took me all those revisions to do it.

Writing: June Progress Update

July 10, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

Here is my progress for the year through the end of June:

I hate missing deadlines.

I am going to confess that being so open about how much I have missed this year is a little embarrassing.

But also motivating.

While I am still behind where I had planned to be at the end of June, you can see my Type A over-achiever has been in full swing getting me ahead on the rest of the year’s goals so that I WILL be caught up by the end of the summer.

Maybe.

What is holding up the release of Knight of Valor?

Interesting that you should ask. I am struggling with the book cover. Again.

After all of the work that goes into writing, editing, editing, editing.

rewrite2 — And this was the fourth round of edits

The book deserves a professional cover. We’ve all seen books that don’t have them and cringed.

As a matter-of-fact, the first edition of George RR Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice (also known as Game of Thrones) had an “experimental” cover and almost tanked the entire series.

Covers are important, so I am working toward getting a professional looking one.

I know some authors create their own. I laud them for that, but I don’t have years of graphic design experience. I am not afraid of learning, but I would rather spend that time on writing and improving my abilities as a storyteller. Some authors hire professional accountants to do their books and prepare their taxes. That is something I can do myself.

A few things about cover artists:

Most have more work than they can handle, and you must put your name down for a slot based on when you think your book will be complete
I can’t order a cover until I have a page count.
I don’t have a page count until I complete the final draft.
I missed my target date to complete the final draft

So, yes, I missed my slot. The person I am working with thought she would get to it back in May. Then she pushed it out to mid-June. Now I am hoping mid-July.

In the meantime, I have not stopped working on new stories or revising existing stories.

I am hoping this is going to work like buffer stock. Once I have worked ahead a bit, I can better absorb variables without disrupting my end release date to readers.

Fingers crossed.

Maybe I Can’t

June 20, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

No, this is not a de-motivational poster.

I discuss time management a lot, and I realized something important.

I just can’t “do it all”. No matter what society tells me. No matter what society expects of me.

Sure Sheryl Sandberg wants us to “Lean In”, but I can almost guarantee she has never had to figure out how to pick up her child from dance class, get laundry done, and make sure dinner is on the table.

I guess this really hit home as I was looking at the list of writing projects I want to achieve, what I have achieved this year, and even where I have failed.

CelebrateSuccess — Except a writer is never done.

Successes

I will publish Knight of Valor this year.
I will publish A Knight’s Redemption within 6 months of Knight of Valor
I finished Leikar and Annabelle’s first draft
I will finish Rohan and Makayla’s first draft
I completed a third revision of A Knight’s Second Chance
I will complete a fourth revision of A Knight’s Second Chance

There will still be a few months left in the year for me to complete my other goals of:

Writing a third first draft novel
The really hard first-second draft revision of Rita (name may change) and Logan

Misses

Deadlines. They seem to go whooshing by.

Areas to Focus on

Accepting that creative endeavors are not the same as corporate finance. I am understanding a little better why we’re still waiting for Winds of Winter.
Accepting that I might have had unrealistic expectations for myself. Because that never happens…

All in, I am happy with the way the first half of this year went, but writing down goals put a little more stress on me than I was anticipating. Still, I think it has really helped me to focus and shown me how much I do accomplish.

Writing: What I’m Working On

June 13, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

You hear me bemoan my lack of time quite often, but I thought I’d let you know why I want more time and what I’ve been working on the last four years.

time-1528627_640 — Time is such a balancing act

I took the keyboard back up in 2015. There are two novels I wrote that first year that will never see the light beyond my hard drive.

Other than those two, I have:

Published:

Deep Into Editing – Hoping for a 2019 Release

Knight of Valor
A Knight’s Redemption

Sent to My Beta Reader

Pirate Captain’s Daughter

**First Drafts in Need of the Hard First-to-Second-Draft Edits**

(These don’t have title’s yet. I think of most of my books by the names of the hero and heroine, sometimes even after they have a title)

Rita and Logan – Rita may get a new name before this is launched
Gabriel and Chelsea – introduces elves!
Leikar and Annabelle – yes, the same Annabelle as from Seducing the Ice Queen
Alexander and Rebecca – yes, the same Alexander mentioned in Knight of Valor
Alor and Evie – Set in the same world but well beyond Tamryn. Alor is actually from a dragon clan that survived the purge.

firstdraft — The editing may even be worse than this.

Future Stories

I have story ideas galore, but ideas in the world of writing are only slightly more valuable that pebbles on a beach.

But, I do have an idea for one of Rebecca’s brothers from Alexander and Rebecca. Her other brother could also use a story.

Alor has four brothers, all who need stories.

I am currently pondering the people in two small kingdoms that are part of the eastern provinces. There’s at least three stories there – one for the crowned prince and each of his two younger siblings. Possibly stories for those from the rival kingdom as well.

I’ve heard people would like to see Sir Leopold get his happily-ever-after as well as High-Knight Freya.

And one of my beta readers wanted to know if I would at least write a novella to get Marcella and Pike together from A Knight’s Redemption.

This is before we consider the handful of other stories I have planned involving a death knight, a kingdom plagued by insanity, and the elves.

Yes, there will be elves!

So yes, I need more time.

Now, where to find it…

Progress Update – May 2019

June 6, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

Things are interesting.

I completed my May goal of finishing a new first draft about Annabelle and Leikar. Yes, Annabelle from Seducing the Ice Queen, and those were snippets of Leikar’s back story on some of my micro-fictions.

I was also able to work through a third draft revision of The Pirate Captain’s Daughter and send that off to my beta readers. I had planned to do that in September.

I also finished the final revision of A Knight’s Redemption, which was my June goal. I am now working through all of the administrative things it takes to publish a novel. This novel was supposed to release in mid-June but now won’t until several months after Knight of Valor comes out.

Why? Because it’s the fourth book in the series, and Knight of Valor is the third. My amazing editor got it back to me on Memorial Day saying once I made her last round of revisions, it was ready for final line editing.

I have started that round of revisions…Okay, so I haven’t.

My issue is, once again, time.

See, I started a new novel.

Yeah, I know, I know.

I thought it was going to be a nice short story, maybe a novella I could give away for free as an introduction to the series.

Except now I am at 30,000 words and still going strong. And I *know* better than to stop now to edit something else. I will lose my momentum, my muse will turn on me faster than Jon Snow did Daenerys, and I will be lucky to finish this novel at all.

Sometimes it sucks to be a pantser and write without an outline or anything more than a vague idea where the story is going. But that is my writing style, for better or worse, and it’s the only way I have ever been able to finish a novel.

I am going to take a deep breath and keep working through this current novel. Once it’s done, I will polish Knight of Valor. Yes, I am going to be approximately three months late releasing it.

I am truly sorry.

I hate missing deadlines, and I seldom do.

But you deserve the best I can do with this story and so do the characters.

The good news is A Knight’s Redemption is very close to being ready. With some luck and hard work, I will have it out within six months of releasing Knight of Valor.