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WIP

Writing: The Slog

April 4, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

I have gone from the euphoric high of new characters and fresh beginnings to the slog.

ImFine
Yep, just fine.

 

So I decided to procrastinate do some research, and curl up with a couple of good books.

Which may have made the situation I’m currently in with this WIP worse as now I am yelling at myself not to compare my first draft with a New York Times best-selling author’s final finished product.

Perseverance
Easier said than done.

I know this. Mentally. But the reptile brain is less easily convinced by reason.

And it doesn’t help that my characters are not behaving. They are not doing what my notes said they should do. The hero is not at all what I thought he would be like. He’s a dark and powerful mage that…likes puppies and kittens?!?

Wait, what?!?

Leikar, you are supposed to…never mind. You do you, and let’s see if that gives us a story.

PaperAirplane
What I’m doing with all my notes for this story.

And this is what happens in the middle of my stories. My characters are off doing things they weren’t supposed to do until later in the story. Acing in ways I’d never intended.

I have to slog through it and find my way to the end.

Usually, writing the ending is much more like writing the beginning. At that point, the characters have tossed my ideas aside and just run toward their own ending.

But, I have to get to where they are taking me.

Let them show me the path even though its not the path I chose.

So, yes, the writing is going much slower. I am in the soft morass of the middle where things happen that I know I’m going to have to go back and add foreshadowing for in earlier chapters. Where I know a ton of things are going to need to be tidied and cleaned up.

But that’s for later.

The middle is where I most need to silence the internal editor as every word is a struggle to get on the page anyway. The last thing I need to do is quiet the ideas that are coming because I started three sentences in a row with the same word.

Still, I am getting there. Perhaps in another few weeks, I will have another completed first draft.

To add to my pile.

books-768426_640
My editing pile isn’t this bad. Yet.

 

I need to figure out how to edit faster. But that will wait until I get through this journey.

First, Leikar has to show me how he’s going to get out of the mess that found him.

*evil author laugh*

 

 

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Character, character arc, characters, dreaded middle, editing, euphoric, middle, perseverance, slog, WIP

Update: September is Still On!

July 5, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

A quick progress update on the status of my in-progress romance novels as we all sleep off the holiday either at home, because we’re lucky, or back in the office if you’re like me and have to work today.

WIP.png

  1.  The first draft of Gabriel’s novel is complete!

Okay, yes, it’s a first draft. And yes, it’s very rough. Most of my first drafts are. But it’s done, and it’s a lot longer than most of my first drafts. We’ll see how that goes later when I start revision.

 

2.  I received and read through the feedback on Seducing the Ice Queen.

My Beta reader was fabulous, as always.  She helped me identify a weakness that, when I’m done fixing, will make the hero more fleshed out and the story stronger. Helped identify a few other areas that need to be cleaned up, too, but I’m starting to feel a lot better about this WIP.

BetaReader

3.  I am making the changes to Ice Queen now, and I hope to have them done before July 21st.

They are good suggestions, but not easy ones. Still, they’ll make the story better.

 

4.  I’m thinking about cover design for Seducing the Ice Queen.

If you’ve seen any covers you think would be inspirational, please send them my way!

 

5.  I’ve been toying with the blurb for Seducing the Ice Queen.

I worked with a professional to write the blurb for To Love a Prince, and she gave me some tips on how to build one. I’m planning to map out her advice, have a cocktail (her recommendation), then tackle it on my own. I still think I’ll hire her again to help me with this one. I really liked working with her. Yes, she wrote the blurb, but she taught me a lot, and I figure it’s an investment in both the book and my own skills

Things on my “To Do” List

  1. I’m waiting to hear back from my editor.

    It’s my first time using this editor, and I’m both nervous and excited to work with her. Once I get her comments, I will start working on another edit. Depending on the extent of her comments, I think I will still be track for a September launch date.

  2. Alexander and Katherine

    These are two new characters floating around my thoughts. I hadn’t planned on writing this story next, but they are rather insistent. Their story is already taking shape, and I’m not sure it will be ignored.

    AlexKath
    Maybe. If he’s lucky…

Filed Under: Update, Writing Tagged With: Romance, Romance Novels, Romance Writer, September, Update, WIP, Writing

16 Rules For Using Commas

June 28, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

I know, I know, the last think you want to read about is punctuation. Me, too. But I also hate being bad at things, especially things that matter.

And yes, commas matter. If you’re a writer, anyway, and I am.

After building this list, I’m learning just how bad many published works are about commas. Even my daughter’s picture books are terrible.

I hoped another blog I follow would tackle this in a fun an creative way.

comma
No software can save you on this one.

They didn’t, so I’ll try. If there’s something I’m missing or got wrong, please let me know!

16 Rules of Commas

1. Use a comma before any coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet) that links two independent clauses. 

I find an example helps clarify this.  EX: I wrote a novel, and I want to publish it. However, you can rewrite the sentence as: I wrote a novel and want to publish it. In this case, no comma is needed. The “independent clause” part dictates that both parts of the sentence you are joining have a subject and verb.

 

2. Use a comma after a dependent clause, phrase, or words that starts a sentence. 

Another example may help clarify this. EX: When I finish my novel, I want to publish it. Dependent clause basically has a subject and verb, but it is not a complete sentence. Similar to #1 as it has to have a subject and verb.

 

3. Use commas to note appositives. 

What is an appositive? The link gives you lots of examples. But here is another is case you don’t want to click. EX. The novel I wrote, a fantasy romance, is 76,000 words.

 

4. Do NOT use commas with appositives that are essential. 

Right. So what is essential? It’s part of the sentence that you can’t do without and still get the context of the sentence. The novel I wrote that frustrated my daughter is 76,000 words. Yeah, I’m still a little fuzzy on this. But it seems if the appositive starts with “that”, it tends to be deemed essential.

 

5. Use commas to separate items in a series. 

I wrote a novel, a poem, and a novella. Now, there seems to be some difference of opinion on the comma after “poem” in the above sentence. Those who support the Oxford comma say it should be there. Those who oppose it say it shouldn’t. Never knew there was so much controversy in grammar, did you? There are a handful of cases where you need it, and you can find the meme all over the internet.

enhanced-buzz-19599-1389811749-10
No, you can’t unsee it.

 

 

6. Use a comma after introductory adverbs.

You know, those “ly” words all authors try to avoid after Stephen King laid down his edicts. But if you do use them at the beginning of the sentence, you also use a comma. Finally, I finished my novel.

 

7. Use commas to set off free modifiers that can be placed anywhere in the sentence without causing confusion. 

I jumped up and down when my novel was published, laughing joyously. 

 

8. Use a comma near the end of a sentence to separate contrasted coordinate elements. 

The new author was merely ignorant of the publishing process, not stupid.

 

9. Use a comma when the first word of the sentence is “yes” or “no.” 

Yes, I’d like my novel published.

 

10. Use a comma when you use a name.

Elizabeth, would you like your novel published? 

 

11. Use a comma between two coordinate adjectives that modify the same noun. 

Use commas here: The fabulous, amazing novel is 76,000 words. 

NOT here: The fantasy romance novel is 76,000 words. 

 

12. Use a comma to offset negation in a sentence. 

I wrote a romance novel, not a thriller, as my first book.

 

13. Use a comma to separate each element in an address or in a city-state name combination within a sentence.

This didn’t come up much in my fantasy world, but I suppose it can be useful. Ex. I loved Seattle, Washington.

 

14. Use a comma to separate the elements in a full date and separate the date from the rest of the sentence with commas. 

Again, didn’t really come into play in a fantasy romance, but may be useful to others. Friday, May 13, 2016, was a strange day. 

 

15. Numbers.  

1,000,000,000 (approximately the amount of money Disney has made selling my family Frozen princess stuff)

 

16. Dialogue

There are way better blog posts out there on the proper punctuation for dialogue, but as this is a comma post, here are the rules on when to use the comma in dialogue.

Use a comma when someone says something.  The writer said, “I wrote a novel.”  OR “I wrote a novel,” said the writer.

 

You’ll note that all of my examples are nice and simplistic. These rules get a lot more complicated as your sentence complexity increases.

But it at least helps to remind me of the basics.

And yes, I finally finished my first draft WIP and am tackling a revision of a different story.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Being a writer, comma, WIP, Writing, Writing help

4 Reasons Why My WIP Isn’t Done

June 14, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

I was supposed to have the first draft of my current WIP with Sir Gabriel done last week. It isn’t.

Why, you ask?

4 Reasons Why My WIP Isn’t Done

 

1. Technical Issues

I updated my computer to the latest update in Windows 10. At that point, all bets were off. When I tried to open the Word App, the computer decided to type 4 repeatedly so I couldn’t access any apps. Then, the cursor decided to move backwards one letter at a time. Good times.

Windows10
Real footage.

How did I solve it? I still don’t know. Which means if it comes back, I don’t know how to fix it.

 

2. We Decided Child 1’s Room Looked So Great, Let’s Tackle Child 2’s!

I wish I was joking. We have taken out all of the furniture and are painting the trim. We bought the paint for the walls today.  Seriously, I don’t know what’s wrong with us.

 

3. Dance Recital

No, I did not take up dance. But let me tell you how much time a dance recital your child is in consumes. You must take them in for pictures and final costume touch-ups. Then comes dress rehearsal, wherein you will spend 45 minutes in the car, after leaving work early, to pick them up and cart them two towns over to the auditorium at which they’ll perform. Then, you get to spend another 45 minutes in the car going home. All for them to have 5 minutes on stage.

This does not include attending the recital itself. It was over 4 hours last year. Enough parents fussed that they added another show and reduced the run time to 3 hours. Yeah. 3 hours. My kid’s dance was 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

dance1
All the dads.

3. Planning for Vacation

We’re taking a family vacation. That means I have to get done all of the work I would during the time I’m taking off before I leave. Because that’s what vacation means, right?

 

4. New Video Game

It’s sad to admit, but we got a new video game. It’s really just hack and slash, but we’re playing it as a family and having fun. It’s hard to be the odd-one-out when the whole family is cheering and playing.

 

Yes, I am serious about publishing that book in September. And yes, I am serious about 3 books next year. Just a little more paint on the wall. Or another round of Hyrule Warriors. Promise!

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: dance recital, Family Vacation, Home Improvement, home project, Home Renovation, Vacation, video games, Windows 10, WIP

The Joy Of…

January 23, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

Editing. Even though I write romance novels, you totally knew I was going to say editing.

I spent half of September, and all of October, November, and December editing. Not just normal editing, but the process of turning first drafts into second. It’s been productive as I have turned three different first draft romance novels into second drafts, which tends to be the hardest revision for me.

Some authors a pretty awesome first draft. That would not be me.

64514455
Editing takes me far more time than writing

 

I also did a late draft edit on Knight of Valor. This took about ten days because I’ve been polishing it for a while now.

Progress Ahead

You can always check out my WIP page if you want to see what I’m working on. One of my goals for 2017 is to actually press the publish button on Crowned Prince. Working on finding a good romance cover artist with space for a first-time author now, and I want to do one last edit of it as well. I also need to learn how to format an e-book and use Createspace to make a paperback of it.

Lots of learning ahead!

Rewriting, as hard and messy and unpleasant as it can be, has a certain joy of its own. You get to watch your half formed lump of clay look a little more like David and a little less like that play-doh project your toddler made.

I know lots of people think you plunk down your first draft, then you work through a revision or two as you  fine-tune spelling and punctuation. While that might have worked for my college term papers, I can’t think of a single college term paper I’d have spent precious free-time reading.

I have to confess, I am a bit tired of revising. While I am working through three different stories, I may need to take a break and write yet another first draft I will have to revise later. Still, it’s nice to have a pipeline of stuff to work on, even if it’s not always as exciting as writing new stuff.

3

They say writing is rewriting, and I have found it to be true.

Have you found that to be true? Any tricks you use in your rewriting or editing process?

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: draft, editing, rewriting, Romance, Romance Novels, Romance Writer, WIP

Brain Went on Summer Vacation

July 14, 2017 by Elizabeth Drake

A week before vacation, my brain and body decided they were already there. I struggled to motivate myself on my WIP, and my exercising regime became sporadic.

vacation1

I enjoyed the week I was off of work, but it’s now a full week after returning from vacation, and I’m still not back in my groove.

Perhaps it’s the summer doldrums. Our months-with-snow are usually longer than our months-without-snow. My daytime gig as a desk jockey is usually quieter in the summer months before we gear up for budgeting. Right after budgeting, we face a new fiscal year, and things get even more hectic.

So, yeah, summer is a good time to relax, take a deep breath, and get ready to face the challenges.

So, after three weeks, why am I not facing those challenges?

Maybe I’ve hit a snag with my current WIP.

The piece I’ve been working on for over a year is at the point that I actually have to send my baby out into the world and face the cruel rejections coming. I truly dread this.

Maybe I’ve been pushing hard for a while and I need a break. A longer break. Burn out is very real.

Maybe I don’t really know what motivates me, so I struggle to stay motivated.

I’ve adjusted my word count requirements to reasonable levels, but there’s more to it. I just don’t know what that more is.

As far as exercising goes, I suppose this is the epic uphill battle you face when you hate exercising. When it’s always a chore rather than something you look forward to doing. Not sure how to fix that, either.

Time to do some thinking. To analyze what’s going through my brain and why my motivation has evaporated into procrastination. Science may help with this, or it may just be I have to figure things out for myself.

Maybe inspiration will come and get me.

motivation5

 

 

What do you do to rekindle motivation, especially if it’s something you know you need to do rather than want to do? Any tips or tricks you use to escape the procrastination beast?

 

Filed Under: Procrastination, Uncategorized Tagged With: Manuscript, Motivation, Procrastinate, Procrastination, science, Vacation, WIP

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