Category: Writing

any news on writing and publication

Whale shark and other fish in the Atlanta Aquarium in Georgia

Back to Work

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Today was busy from start to finish. In the morning I mixed up cake mix to make cake donuts. This was something Vicki wanted to try. I’m not sure she even ate more than donut hole sizes but we tried this morning.

I cut up onions and tomatoes to make juice. Ken and Vicki did all the other stuff like putting them through the sieve and into jars.

Vicki picked herbs and I was chopping them but then I asked Ken to as he had the new chopper. It worked faster and easier than I could so I prepped and he finished.

Unfortunately, I’ve had a rough weekend for pain. It started Thursday night and lasted all weekend. I think I overdid things on Thursday so I’m paying for it. Hopefully, the pain level goes down.

After lunch, Vicki and Ken left me alone and I wrote. Yesterday was a stellar day but I didn’t expect today to be as high and it wasn’t. I did manage to get about 3800 words written. I’m up to roughly 39K (almost) in the story.

I think – not that I plot out stories much – I’ll have one more sex scene. Then there will be an emergency of some sort – doing research into what kind will take a bit of time – then a twist and a hint at what might be in the next book (don’t know yet) and then of course the Happily Ever After. Maybe I’ll get done this week… I hope so. I at least know I’m closing in on it.

Andros Island and the Tongue of the Ocean (NASA, International Space Station,11/10/10)

Three Chapters

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

There’s nothing better than when the words are flowing and I have little to no interruptions. Today I got that blessing.

It was a bad night for me and I woke up with more pain than normal for me. This usually means a rough day.

Vicki started me with two kinds of smoothie which I thoroughly enjoyed. Ken went off to the farmer’s market and Vicki went to visit one of her cousins. I was alone in the house!

I almost always look at the work I need to get done but today, I started writing. I didn’t stop to think of word count or anything other than the story.

Now I’m at the end of three chapters. I’ve added 10,274 words to my story and I’m at about 35K in this story.

Yesterday – I guess since it’s after midnight – one of my books released! I had a release party to attend and other tasks on my list for the day. However, once I started writing, that was it for me. I couldn’t stop. I’m thrilled with the progress and I hope tomorrow I’ll have a good writing day as well.

I’ve got a few chapters to talk about the new role the characters will have but mostly it’s a building of a good life. There may be a twist or two. I’m not sure yet. the only thing I do know – it’s an Ava book so there will be sex.

Friday Night

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

It’s been a week! I feel like I’ve been so busy between my day job, prepping for my book release, and family stuff, I’ve had no time to write. Here it is date night and I’m sitting by myself.

I’ve got my posts set up for the takeover tomorrow. I’ve done all but two things on my list and I’ll do those tomorrow and Sunday.

My day job has been busy with unexpected changes and trying to figure out how to do tasks of someone who’s left.

I told my oldest daughter yesterday I felt like I was playing dodgeball and on my side of the line there was me. On the other side 100 people all aiming for me. It was a rough day.

Tonight I had to write. I worked on posts for my book release and other book related tasks. I got through all of them except one. I was trying to be good and work on that task and said – nope.

Instead – I wrote. I started another scene and managed to get it done. Now I’m working on a family scene where they’re discussing the new mate. I’m trying to decide if I’ll make the brothers for her or against. We’ll see… the youngest is definitely for her.

Now I’m off to get some sleep. I hope I can sleep in a bit tomorrow but we’re canning again so probably not.

Newly harvested vegetables

Back to Work

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Yesterday I was so tired by the end of the day, I didn’t write one word. We canned pickles – sliced and whole, beets, pickled zuccini and pickled onions. We froze carrots and corn. We also attempted to dry tomatoes which I don’t think worked but we dried onions and that worked. It was a long day on Saturday of food prep and preservation.

At the end of the day, my brain was blank. I don’t think I could have written a sensible word. Instead I picked up one last manuscript and started a read through. I found little things. I had to change a date in there because I realized with the back story I set up, I couldn’t use the date I had.

This morning I woke up and realized the tasks I put on for yesterday couldn’t be done so I rescheduled them. Then I looked at the tasks for today. Neither were urgent so I rescheduled them. Instead, I finished the read through and then after dinner I went back to writing.

I’m super pleased with my progress tonight. I wrote 6100 words. Two chapters worth of writing! I’m also almost to the halfway point of the story. While I’m writing this one, I’m getting ideas on possibly making this into a series. I’ve got two ways I could go with it. So we’ll see.

Tomorrow I’m back to working my day job. It will probably take me all day to catch up on my email. Hopefully I have time and energy to write tomorrow night.

Jars of pickles in India shop

Last Vacation Day

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

My day got discombobulated from the beginning. I slept late which was good. But then the things I planned to do first, didn’t get done until later. It all worked out eventually but not according to my plan. This shouldn’t be a surprise to me but it threw me for a bit today.

I am loving Asana for managing my tasks. I opened it today and started on my list. I got most of them done. I rescheduled a couple. One nice thing by using this, I look at my tasks and think ahead about them.

One of my tasks was to schedule weekly posts for my preorders. I was trying to decide how far in advance I was willing to trust FB to keep posts if I scheduled. Then I remembered – I have Buffer. I can schedule posts on there and it will hand on to them as we move forward.

Tomorrow will be pickling, canning, and freezing. My daughter and husband will go to the farmers’ market and bring back the bounty. Then we will work on processing. I usually do a good chunk of the cutting up of stuff. But we have to see what she’s able to get locally right now.

Tonight, I watched a premade sale by my favorite cover designer. After that, I worked on Sacrificed to the Sea Monster again. I made it to almost 20K writing almost 5K tonight. I got two plus chapters written and a big chunk of my plot started. The more I write, the more I think this will be a series. I’ve gotten suggestions for other creatures which would work in this theme so… high probability this will occur.

I’ve got the weekend ahead and I’m hoping to fit in some editing (for a client) and I need to do practical things like pay bills and work on budget. So I’ll be busy but I also hope I can add more to the Sea Monster story. I’m drawing near the halfway mark for me… or the halfway mark for the length I aim for. There’s a difference based on what the characters tell me they want.

Vegetables s in a farmers’ market

Work Day

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Today, I went to the retreat for all the assistants in our area. It was a good day. A few meetings in the morning and team building in the afternoon. It went well and was fun.

Unfortunately for me, I sat on folding chairs – comfortableish ones – all day. This didn’t do my sore back or my joints any good.

Heating pad has helped and I’ll take some tylenol to help. I did get to write for a bit and managed to get a little over 2000 words in my story. I laughed because this was supposed to be sexy and sassy with not a lot of plot. Basically, the sea monster saying hey you’re my mate. But the more I wrote, the more the characters surprised me. Apparently I’m building a world of sea monsters.

The story has taken a different turn than I expected. I’m at a little over 15K for words. I’ve got two plots in my head which I think I’ll be weaving around each other. I’m looking forward to where the characters take me.

Tomorrow, I have a list. I’ll attempt to finish it and then work on Saturday’s list because Saturday we’re likely to be canning. Vicki ordered cucumbers from our favorite vendor at the farmer’s market. We might also have zucchini and tomatoes to process. I hope we get more beets but we’ll see. No matter what, she’s going to the farmer’s market in the morning and we’ll work on canning the rest of the day. So my planned tasks need to get done before she gets back from the farmers’ market.

Ocean waves breaking on rocks on Vancouver Island in British Columbia Canada

Check Off My To do List

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

I slept late. My daughter woke me up at 7 asking if I wanted my smoothie and chatting with me. I said no and listened. I did get back to sleep. Somewhere around 9 or 9:30 I got up. This is so odd to me because even when I don’t get a lot of sleep I don’t generally sleep late.

For this time off, I actually did have plans for each day. I had book tasks I wanted to get done. I’ve worked each day on these. Today was setting up my books on Bookbub, Goodreads, Bookfunnel and other places. These are all smaller tasks which don’t take a lot of time but they do take time.

I talked to my arc readers and told them I had six books done and how did they want them. I talked with a friend about books and publishing. I edited a section of my daughter’s paper.

In addition to that I wrote 5400 words in Sacrificed to the Sea Monster. This is an Ava book so lots of sex scenes. I thought initially it would be more sex than plot but the characters have other ideas. Oh there’s sex – in and out of the ocean. However, the characters have hijacked my plans again (thank goodness) and we’ll see what kind of ride they take me on.

I’m hoping I can finish this one soonish and maybe put it out in between my other publications because I don’t have a lot of Ava’s stuff finished. I wouldn’t mind finishing two or three. To be honest, this one and two others pull at me so those are probably my next projects… but you never know. I’ve got two stories in the Reluctant Royals series which are working away in my brain….

Tomorrow is a work day. I have an all day meeting to go to. But when I come home, I’m diving back into my to do list and my writing.

Next?

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Last night I didn’t sleep well at all. It made for a rough morning and me feeling tired all day. But I still got all my tasks done I had on my list on Asana. I have a long list for tomorrow but it’s all good.

Since I finished the short story for the anthology, I went looking for something new to work on. I don’t have any Ava books on my schedule for the next year so I went looking for one which might be close enough for me to finish soonish. Sacrificed to the Sea Monster is one I enjoyed writing before I got distracted. So I started reading it and I’ve managed to get 2600 done on it today. It gives me about 11,000 words in the story so far.

I enjoyed rereading what I’d written and still love the concept. I jumped in and started writing. It’s flowing well and I’m enjoying the story. Sex and the ocean – both underwater and above. How can you resist? They have gotten to know each other and are learning to accept each other.

Next is to develop the little safe harbor they have and develop their characters. The plot is necessary – yes even with it being a sex book plot is important. I have a little mythology and a bit of danger I plan to put in. At least as much as I plan.

Tomorrow I’ll be setting up books in Book Bub and Goodreads. I have some books2read links to create as well as a whole list of things to get done. I’m also hoping to have more time to write.

Tonight – I’m calling it good and attempting to get some sleep. My eyes are tired – really my whole body is tired. At least I managed to get some writing in before my brain crashed.

Short Story – Done!

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

All day I worked on setting up pre-orders, promotions, and a lot more. I think my brain exploded at some point. I kept telling myself – just get through all this stuff and tonight I’ll write.

So tonight I wrote. I wrote a lot. I finished the annihilate the ghost scene and the wrap it all up scene… In all I wrote over 4700 words! It’s done and sent to my beta readers. Hopefully they don’t tell me it’s horrible.

I’ve set it aside for right now. I will do a read through – probably tomorrow night – and then I’ll get down to the nitty gritty of editing. I’d love to leave it for a bit though so we’ll see.

In the end it’s a little over 17,500 words which is right in the middle of the range for the anthology. I can call this one done – at least for a couple days – before I hit the editing phase of it.

Overall, it’s been a very productive day but I’m hitting the bed and crashing for a few hours.

Short Story Progress?

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Today I slept late and got up tired. It doesn’t help I was up until 3. It was a lazy ish day. We did breakfast. Vicki and I tried to watch the new Persuasion movie on Netflix. I don’t recommend it. We turned it off after 25 minutes.

We picked a better version of Persuasion and while we watched, I worked on writing stuff. I have this mental list of things I need to work on. Today I was to put my Ava (pen name) books on Bookfunnel so I could participate with more promotions. I got all of them on the site.

After dinner, I was alone and my brain was not on my short story. I did other things and putzed a bit. I settled in to write and got about 1500 words down. I’m up to just under 13K for a total. So I still have 7K of room.

I’m on the final scene. I sat here playing on my phone. I hadn’t any idea on how to start this scene. I played on my phone for a bit. Bash and I have a routine. At some point around 11 pm, he gets up and bugs me to go to the bathroom. He will pace from the living room to the hall. He’ll scamper back and forth. Sometimes he even meows at me. So I went to the bathroom and ran water in the sink for him. I sat there not thinking about anything in particular and then it came to me how to start this climatic scene.

I’m excited to write it but my brain is sluggish and my eyes are tired. I got the beginning of the scene written. I’m taking a break though because my brain just isn’t focused. So I’m headed to bed and hoping I can finish this tomorrow. It’s only the 8th of the month but I’d like to finish this now so I can give myself a break between writing and editing.

I have a list of things on my calendar for the next couple of days but I’m hoping to do both. Hopefully I can get a lot done over the next few days. For now, I think I’ll go to bed and hope to have more inspiration in the morning.