Tag: editing

Ode to Cheetos

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

There are just times you have to have something.  It doesn’t matter how good or bad for you it is.  You MUST have it.  I’ve been craving Cheetos.  Ken was a sweetie and got me some on Monday.

I don’t know what they put in them but I’ve eaten a full bag of Cheetos since Monday and still I want more.  I have a bag at work which I’ve been nibbling on.  It’s a little harder at work as there is the orange finger issue.  
Last night I had no Cheetos.  I was a little disappointed but I worked through one of my obsessions.  I got the first round of edits done on Wayfarer 8.  It took me until about 10.  Next step is a hard copy edit.  This one is about 20,000 words more than what I aim for but as I was editing last night I looked for scenes to cut.  I thought – I could take out this one or that one but the flow of the story was good and there weren’t any superfluous scenes.  As I was editing, I looked for shorter ways of saying the same thing and did manage to reduce the word count slightly but not by even a couple thousand words.  
The decision has to be made then of whether I will just have this one be longer or if I will try to cut the scenes?  I’m going to do the hard copy edit and see how I feel about it.  I wrap up a number of ongoing story lines which is why I think it is longer.  
The question becomes now do I start the edits on Wayfarer 9 which the rough draft is already done or do I wait until 8 goes into production?  The searches I do take me a couple of days and the first read through usually takes a day sometimes two.  
I’m still working on Wayfarer 10 and Defenders 3.  Part of my problem with writing Defenders 3 is because I’m so wrapped up in the Wayfarer series.  
I need to go back and do a clean up edit on the published Defenders novels.  I think once I’m immersed in the story again the last book will flow better. In the meanwhile I keep writing a scene here and there.  
Fortunately, I’ve wiped all the orange Cheetos residue from all of my devices and I’m getting over my craving (maybe) and will go back to trying to eat healthy.  

Perfectionism is a Curse and a Blessing

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Edits are done on the Wayfarer series.  I’ve spent the last couple of weeks working on editing the novels already published.

This started because I reread them and found errors.  My impression was there were so many errors, I had to redo them.  I started the process and in doing so discovered there really weren’t that many errors or errors that were so drastic they need fixing.

My next step is to analyze the errors and decide if it is worth the time and effort to republish.  The perfectionist in me is saying HELL YES!!!  But the realist in me is saying, let’s be reasonable.  Time is a precious commodity.  I’ve done the editing now are those errors really so important I need to republish?

Part of this is me needing to make sure I’m producing a quality product.  One side benefit from doing these edits, Wayfarer eight seemed to pop out of my head and onto the pages so is now in the rough draft stage.  Wayfarer nine has been started.

I’m planning some vacation time at the end of the month.  I’m staying home to write.  I’m hoping in that time I’ll finish Wayfarer nine and the Defenders series.  I am about halfway through the third book and keep getting distracted from finishing it.

I also need to get some crocheting done.  I’m going to try to get some of that done this weekend but I’ll have to see how it goes.  When I want to write, there is little else I can do.  I write or my head explodes (or feels like it will).

I’ve not been hitting the marketing aspect of my author business so I need to get back at that.  I feel like I never have enough time for this (and the other hats I wear).  I’m hoping to have another book out by the first part of next month.  If I can finish the Defenders series while I’m on vacation, I’ll try to get that one out in August.  Then I turn my attention to either new novels and non-fiction or I look at the sequels to other series waiting in the wings.

So much to do and so little time to get it all done.  I keep reminding myself I’m one person capable of doing one thing at a time (unless I’m doing three or four).  I’m trying to keep my to do list realistic as well as my own expectations.

This is why I’m hoping to let go of the need to correct the minor errors I found in my books.  It helps to see books done by professional publishing companies have errors in them.  As I read the JD Robb series, I kept finding errors.  She is a long standing author, who is published through a traditional publisher, with the use of a professional editor.  Still her books have errors.  It helps me realize I need to let go of the desire to be PERFECT in my work.  Missing commas are not going to show up on a report somewhere.  Though I could see a missing commas department somewhere investigating … wait I digress…

Next step, decide how many of the books need republishing and how many I can let go.  After that I’ll move on to the next task.  Writing, marketing, publishing, and the list is never ending…

Little Sleep + 70,000 Words = new Wayfarer Novel

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Writing

I’ve been putzing on writing the eighth Wayfarer novel.  I’d write a little and put it away.  That all stopped this week.  I went from 20,000 words that I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep to 70,000.  I think it’s a good one but I’m not sure.  I say this and I can hear other authors telling me to be confident in my work.

I am confident in my work but I just finished this one and I need some space from it before I can objectively judge the work.  I’ll wait for my test readers to tell me what they think.  I’m hoping by the end of the weekend.

Finishing this was supposed to get Wayfarers out of my head for a while.  That’s not happening.  I can already tell the ninth book will be started sooner rather than later.  I can feel it bouncing around in my head and wanting to be born.

I will attempt to set writing aside and finish a crochet project or two but the writing has grabbed me.  Once it starts, I have to write.  If I don’t I can’t sleep or focus on much of anything.

My goals for the weekend include finishing a baby blanket and starting a skirt.  I’ll likely write as well because I can already tell I’m going to need to.  I am working on editing the Wayfarer series – it is me being a perfectionist.  Even though the books are published, I reread them and discovered errors.  I decided to print, edit, and decide whether the errors merited going through the edit and republish process.  I’m on five and I’d love to finish them this weekend but we will see.

I liked the editing process.  I think rereading the books helped jump start the eighth book.  I’m planning to do the same with the Defenders series to see if I can get that story out of my head as well.  From there my to do list is long and complex but I am trying to be realistic and only think about the things I can actually accomplish in a short time frame.

Gout Equals Pain

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

Monday my new doctor called to tell me my uric acid levels were double what is considered normal.  I could have told him that just from the pain level I’ve been dealing with.  I went to work late on Monday after taking my drugs – gave them a chance to ease some of the pain.

Tuesday was a no go for work.  I woke up hurting and couldn’t hardly stand.  Wednesday I went to work and stayed almost ten hours.  I felt miserable the whole time.  I have work to do but every action felt like it took twice or three times the energy to perform.

Today I’m home.  I slept through my alarm – never a good thing.  When my daughter called and woke me up I knew even when I took my meds, it wasn’t going to ease the level of pain much.  Here I am four hours later and trying to hold off taking three more Tylenol for another hour and I’m finally able to sit up without feeling awful though the pain is still too high.

It’s time for me to go into hibernate mode I guess.  I have to stop letting the pain get me down, making me cranky, and I have to recognize I can only do what I can do.  Today that means I have classical music on, I pull out my crocheting or my editing and I sit in my recliner drinking lots of water and hope the meds do their job.

I’ve got two manuscripts to get edits on the computer.  I’m going to work on those until I’m too tired to work.  If I get tired of the editing, I’ve got a list of crochet projects I need to work on.  It’s the best I can do for now.

Birthdays, Visits, and other Distractions

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Busy weekend equates into compressed time for working on writing or crocheting.  Yesterday I got together with my family to have lunch for mom’s birthday.  It was a good time and I think she enjoyed herself.  There are several people who have March birthdays including one of my sisters and that sister’s mother-in-law.  They always like to have a birthday lunch with mom to celebrate all of their birthdays.

After lunch TJ Jahns came to my house and we worked on several projects.  I’m creating a website for her and her artwork.  She has some pretty amazing stuff.  I had gotten so far with it and needed input from her which she gave.  It is now published but still a work in progress. (Check it out at TJJahns.weebly.com)

TJ and I are working on a new book.  I got to see her drawings and talk about her ideas for the pictures for this project.  I’m so excited.  She is taking one of my poems and turning it into a graphic poem.  It will be wonderful when she gets through all the pictures and I can’t wait.

After she left, Ken and I watched a little tv before he went to bed.  I worked on manuscript editing last night.  I was so tired by the time I was done, I crashed.  Purposefully, I didn’t set my alarm for early today but woke up on my own.  I usually do better when I can wake up of my own accord.

Today promises to be busy.  I have several projects to work on as long as my legs can stand me sitting at the computer.  One of my friends is coming over this afternoon.  It will be wonderful to see her.  Once she goes, I’ll be working on manuscript editing again.  Murder Next Door is close.  I want to read through it one more time – I feel it needs something but I can’t quite put my finger on it.  Here is the cover for it – done by TJ Jahns.  I’m LOVING it.  It fits exactly what I wanted.  Wayfarer Trials has a couple of large edits to it so it may need a second round of edits as well.  When I rearrange scenes as I’m planning to do, I have to let it sit before I edit it again.  It has to make sense the way I rearrange.  I like the scene I am moving but to have the flow better, I need to move it so I have to write the transition for the scene in a different place.

It is going to be a busy weekend, has been already and I’m not slowing unless I’m forced to.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend I’ll have three manuscripts ready for final edits and moving towards production.

Back to Editing

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Last night I worked on editing Murder Next Door.  It is a murder mystery, romance set in 2178.  After talking to one of my daughters until after 8 pm, I started editing.  I really just wanted to go to sleep when I started but it was too early for me if I wanted to sleep all night. 

I put on classical music, turned off all but one light and set to work on editing.  Somewhere around 11 or so I realized how late it was.  I looked at the number of pages and decided to stop by midnight.  At 12:30 I looked up and realized how late it was but was in the middle of a chapter.  I said at the end of this chapter, I’ll quit and finish it tomorrow. 

That didn’t happen.  I finished editing it last night – or more correctly this morning around 1 am.  It felt good to work on writing, to think about plot lines and characters, to look at verbage and decide the tone this word or that one gave to the story. 

Tonight I’ll be working on Wayfarer Trials.  This is the sixth book in the series and I think full of action and craziness.  I know there is one major rearrangement I want to make in this book but there are a lot of loose ends to tie up for plot lines so I have to make sure those get done. 

If I can get this one done tonight, I will only have one left to do the edits on, which is Wayfarer 7.  I don’t have a name for it yet though one or two options are floating in my head. 

My restlessness of last week evaporated with me editing.  I lost time as I worked and the tiredness I felt dissipated as I sunk into Murder Next Door.  The book drew me in, kept me occupied.  The act of editing soothed me in ways I find difficult to explain. 

In the back of my head, I’m working on writing the last Defenders story.  I think it’s time to finish it.  I just need to sit and write it.  I have the next two scenes (part of a bigger scene) in my head, the major parts of it starting to coalesce and take form.  Soon I’ll have to write it or I’ll be dreaming about it again. 

A week off was good, I guess.  But I’m glad to be back to writing, editing, and getting stuff done.  Interestingly, I didn’t miss the tv stuff at all last night.  I was more entertained by my work.  Now I just need to look at my to do list and decide what’s next. 

Chronic Pain

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

It’s been a rough week.  I’ve had higher pain levels and less motivation for a week.  I’m still struggling with pain but I can’t let that stop me from moving forward with things that need to get done.

The good thing about a rough week – I listened to a number of audio books while I crocheted.  It is about the only thing I can do that doesn’t hurt.  I finished three gifts and two other small projects.

The purple shawl is supposed to have buttons on it but I want to have Vicki here so I can place the buttons in the right spots.  This was a pattern I liked the looks of but had to rework it.  The person who designed it gave only directions for a magic ring start and a non-chain double crochet.  I’ve done them.  I don’t like how they look.  I rewrote the pattern and I think it turned out nicely.

The blue scarf isn’t done yet though I’m close.  It is baby yarn that will make a nice light weight scarf for spring / summer / fall.  I still need to get some length on it but I’m pleased with how it is working up.

I finished my niece’s afghan, the throw for my student worker and a hood / wristers set for another student worker.  I’m not posting pictures of them for obvious reasons but I do have to say I think the afghan turned out particularly nice.

I finalized the cover for Wayfarer Aegis and got preliminary covers for Wayfarer Trials and Murder Next Door.  TJ Jahns did a wonderful drawing of what I needed for Murder Next Door.

I finished my preliminary edits on Wayfarer seven.  This gives me four manuscripts to edit and I’m hoping to get them done soon.  Wayfarer Aegis has the final paper edits done, I just need to get them on the computer and read them one more time before it hits production.  I’ve posted a look at the cover and a description on my web site.  http://eileentroemel.weebly.com/

Most of what I need to get done can be done on my netbook but production work – finishing edits on manuscripts and prep for publishing – has to be done on my computer in my office.  When I’m in pain, this is difficult.  Until the pain eases, I will work on whatever I can on my netbook.  I certainly have a litany of tasks I can work on up until production becomes necessary.

This week I’ve struggled with attitude and self image.  When all I can do is sit in the recliner and hope the pain will ease enough so I can think, it drags me down into a well of grumbliness.  I hate not being able to get done the things I know need doing.  I keep reminding myself it will pass, it will get better.  All I can do is what I can do when the pain washes over me.

People genuinely care and are concerned about my welfare which is nice.  It helps remind me to keep looking up.  When they ask ‘are you feeling better’ I hate telling them no.  It’s hard for people to understand that there are layers to the pain.  There are the days where I start out feeling fine but go downhill.  There are days I start out feeling awful but can force myself to get through the day.  There are days when I can’t do anything more than sit in my chair and hope the pain goes away.  The thing is…. the pain is always there, always tearing at my joints.  I can’t remember the last time I went without pain.  All I can do is manage and hope I can get through what needs to be done and not fall into that well of darkness where the pain wins.

Accomplishing things, like the crocheting or writing which take little movement, helps clear the grumbliness I feel.  It helps me be able to say, at least I can do this.  At least I can accomplish something for now.  Even in my worst moments, I know it will get better and I’ll batter back the pain to a level I can tolerate so I can keep moving forward.

A Return to Normal?

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

I hesitate to use the word normal because I don’t consider myself normal but I guess I could qualify it as normal for me.

This week has been busy with work and writing.  I’m neck deep in a manuscript (Wayfarer 7) and working towards finishing it.  I’m also attempting to get some editing done which thinking of all the aspects of all the novels related to whatever I’m editing.  Since one is a prequel to Wayfarer, this means I have to keep in mind all the things that have happened in the books since and how they relate to the prequel.  I’ve also got a murder mystery novel to edit and the first edits (search and replace) for the sixth Wayfarer novel. 

Edits inevitably lead to the need for a cover.  I have the prequel one done and will be doing an event to share the cover.  I worked with TJ Jahns to get the cover going on the murder mystery.  I’m hoping she will come back with a cover for me to use.  It still leaves me with a cover to make for Wayfarer 6 which I still don’t have a title for yet but I’m working on it.  I have one in my head, I just have to think it over and decide if I like it.

I started one of the crochet projects I need to get done.  I’ve got the new JD Robb book Obsession in Death to listen to so I may take a break (once I’m done with 7) and listen to that while I work on the crochet project. 

This weekend I’m working on taxes for people and helping my uncle with some paperwork.  It promises to be busy and possibly frustrating.  I was going to work on my own taxes but then I got notified that two or three of the forms I got were wrong.  I believe I will get the corrected forms next week – I hope so at least.

To do list – marketing of Wayfarer (on sale)
                   finish writing Wayfarer 7
                   Editing three manuscripts
                   Crochet gifts – student workers, wedding, baby, Virginia’s afghan
                   Read new JD Robb
                   Taxes for people and paperwork for my uncle.

These are just the things I need to do by Saturday or Sunday.  I hope I can get them all done.  Ken’s back home so I’m less productive though he is very understanding and gives me lots of time and space to do what I need to.  Still I sort of like spending time with my husband.  Seems like if he’s around and in the house, I could maybe spend some time with him. 

Oh and I have season 5 of Downton Abbey.  I wanted to watch it this next weekend but I don’t think that’s going to happen.  If I get all of my to do list done maybe I can do it next weekend.  I can work on crocheting while I watch. 

Wastral for a Day

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Saturday was busy with tasks and a nap.  Sunday, I was a wastral.  I did next to nothing and didn’t really care that I accomplished nothing.

In the morning, Ken and I went to the new and bigger Aldi’s grocery store.  We had a coupon and needed several items so went to shop.  He put gas in my car and we came home.  From that point on, I did nothing.

I watched Bomb Girls which is an interesting show about women who worked in the bomb building factory in the 1940s.  Vicki has been trying to get me to watch this one and I was tired with absolutely no ambition.  I watched while Ken did the football thing.  I’m pretty sure he put stuff away too. 

I have crochet projects.  I had every intention of crocheting but the hook seemed too heavy and the patterns too complicated.  I could have read a book but my kindle was too heavy to hold up. 

I curled up under the blanket and watched the show.  I didn’t think I was all that invested in them.  They are good but not great.  I planned to go to bed early because I had a bad night on Saturday night (lots of pain and didn’t sleep much).  When it got to be 9:00 ish, I ended up saying I can’t stop here.  I have to watch one more.  I did watch just one more. 

The show was interesting.  I was a little turned off by the one scene early in the epsiodes where a woman is scalped by the assembly line (her hair gets caught in a moving hook) but I generally don’t like gore. 

At one point, I worked on the checkbook – writing in the grocery and gas costs.  I made a point of grabbing my orange pen to do editing.  The pen got really heavy between the office and the living room.

I curled up, watched the show and spent the day as a wastral. 

Ugh…

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

There is a moment when you’re writing that you just KNOW what you’ve written is wrong.  Last night I wrote from 7:00 until 12:00.  I was tooling along, the words were flowing, and things seemed to be going okay until I realized I’d lost my characters and changed them from who they were into completely different people. 

I started a scene and it ran away from me.  I couldn’t stop.  After writing 3300 words, I realized I had completely changed how my characters react and interact.  I’ve had this feeling before and the best course of action is to let it be and come back to it later. 

I shut down my computer.  I got ready for bed and realized I couldn’t leave them hanging there.  I went back and started tinkering with the scene.  I hated it even more.  I opted to undo all the redos so it went back to the original I had when I shut down in the first place. 

Then I couldn’t sleep.  I knew the story had gone terribly wrong but I wasn’t sure where it had gone terribly wrong.  I lay in the dark thinking about it.  This is never a good thing – at least for my being able to sleep.  Eventually I realized I needed to go back to the first scene I had written and change the way a conversation went.  This was where I’d gone wrong.

Finally I knew what I needed to do so I was able to eventually get to sleep.  This morning I woke up and knew exactly what I needed to keep and get rid of all the 3300 words I’d written.  Now I just have to find the time to actual do the changes and get them back on track. 

My characters are probably milling about saying – what is she doing to us?  Fortunately, my inner editor will be able to rescue them from the complete disaster I made of the last two scenes.