Tag: editing

Coupons, Crocheting, and Book Sales

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing
Ken did the grocery shopping this morning and saved over $9.  We went through yesterday and made the list partially based on the coupons I had.  Every little bit helps when it comes to the budget.  Today I have to get envelopes ready for the people I’ve clipped coupons for and get them out in the mail tomorrow. 
I got a start on Moon Affirmations yesterday.  I’m now working with the images and trying to figure out the best way to get them into the document.  It is a challenge.  I am also looking at how they look in the manuscript and if that is what I want.  It is time consuming and complicated.
When I had to give up working on the computer, I worked on graduation gifts.  I have one nearly done.  I have one more small thing to make and then I’ll move on to the next person’s gift.  I also have to go through my lovely stash and find material to create a baby gift.  These are always fun to make and give as it helps the new parents celebrate the coming of new life! 
Today I’m planning to watch tv and crochet.  I woke up tired so I’m going to take it easy and now do very much other than crochet.  It will be a very peaceful day I hope.

Book sales are steady.  I’ve sold 17 books since I published.  I’m ridiculously happy about it.  It seems sort of silly after all it is most likely just people who I know.  However, it is the accomplishment of a lifelong dream to have a book out there.  I’m proud of finally getting it done and grateful for all the support I’ve had from friends and family. 

Secret Past
Available for sale at:
*  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/426548
*  http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Past-Eileen-Troemel-ebook/dp/B00JL38Z7C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397101326&sr=8-1&keywords=secret+past+by+eileen+troemel
*  Paperback version both large print and regular print:  http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Past-Eileen-Troemel/dp/1499123965/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1397535584&sr=8-1 

Editing

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

While organizing in my office this weekend, I unearthed the manuscript I had been editing.  My first thought was to just put it in the bin with the others for that overall story.  I couldn’t quite bring myself to do that.  I picked it up to move it to the bin and couldn’t so set it back down – in the way of course.  After doing this a couple of times I realized – I need to put this back in my purse and take it with me. 

Editing is a part of writing.  A good editor is worth their weight in gold.  There is nothing more irritating when you are reading a book than to edit it as you go.  If the manuscript hasn’t been edited thoroughly almost anything can slip through from a grammatical issue to a typographical issue to even a story inconsistency. 

The biggest complaint about self-published books is that they are poorly edited.  Part of the problem is that writers often cannot afford a professional editor and/or think they are good enough to not need one.  The thing is no matter how good you are – you need an editor even if you are your own editor. 

It is better to have other eyes on the manuscript because after the third or fourth round of edits you stop seeing what is on the page and start seeing what you think is supposed to be there.  A good editor should catch those things.  A good editor will tell you where your story lags or is inconsistent or doesn’t make sense. 

Editing is a tough job because authors (this one included) don’t like to hear criticisms of their baby.  Believe me their manuscripts have the authors blood, sweat, and tears in them.  The hardest thing as an author is to take a step back and say – what doesn’t work, what does, and why are you keeping something someone else says should go. 

As an author and editor, it is usually pretty easy for me to say add or delete (though deleting is hard for me) even when it is my own work.  However, I have people who will kick me in the bum if I don’t follow my instinct. 

For my current manuscript, I wanted to try out a different beginning so I rewrote it based on people’s criticism.  I like the second opening to the story but it didn’t pop and sort of slowed the action.  When I presented it to two of my readers, one liked it and one didn’t.  The one who liked it said it read more like a movie script than a book.  As I’m writing a book, I am sticking with the original opening. 

Having reworked it doesn’t mean I’m tossing out the opening.  If I ever get to a point where the book is popular enough to be a tv series or movie, I would do the other opening I wrote – maybe.  I listened to my critics and considered an alternative but ultimately made my own decision about how to rework (or not) the section of writing. 

Editor fees can run anywhere from $25 – $100 per hour.  Some editors won’t even look at your work for under a certain dollar amount.  Most editors want payment up front.  This sounds very demanding but I can tell you from personal experience it is hard to do work and then have the author not pay you – especially when it gets into bigger figures.
 
An editor is an advisor who will offer suggestions on how to make a manuscript better.  The author has to decide if they trust the editor’s experience and advice as well as whether the changes suggested are good for the manuscript.  It is your choice as the author – make it a wise one.

Editing

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing
This summer I had a long list of things to get done.  I’ve done almost none of them.  My only excuse is I got distracted and overwhelmed by the moves going on in my life.  Now at this stage I just want a bit of peace before the next semester begins.  I have about three weeks before work becomes totally crazy. 
My romance novel I got some of the prep work done for self-publishing but I also found one more place I may submit it to.  I will have to read through carefully to see if it fits the guidelines.  If it fits the guidelines, I’ll submit one more time before I attempt to self publish. 
Moon Affirmations I’ve submitted to one more publisher as well.  I’m hoping to hear sooner rather than later on it to see if they are interested.  I hope so if not I will be going the self-publishing route on that one too. 
My Magic series (working title – fantasy novel series) – I finish editing what I think will be the first novel.  This story I started in November 2010 and I’ve been working on sporadically since.  The story in its entirety is 600 pages plus and I’m not done with the story.  In the last two weeks I’ve edited the first 200 pages.  As I read I thought what was I thinking and rewrote about ten pages of material to make it better adding in a couple of scenes and filling out other scenes.  I think total page count now is just over 200.  I’ve got all these edits in the computer (need to make a back up of these edits – soonest possible). 
Next I’m moving on to the second book in this series (or the second 200 pages).  I am going to edit it while I let the first book sit and stew for a bit.  Ideally I’d like to edit the second book quickly (maybe a week) and then read through the rest to see if I can work on the tail end to finish the story.  I think this is too much to hope for before the semester starts though.  It may have to wait until January. 
Each time I come back to this story, I fall in love with it.  I enjoy the characters, the plots, the world I’ve created.  It is one of my favorites right now.  I haven’t decided whether I will try the traditional publishing route with this or just do self-publishing.  I do know that I’m going to be very protective of it.  Right now it feels like a new born baby (yup almost three years old but still newborn to me). 

Hopefully I will continue to make progress for the next three weeks.  After that all bets are off as I will be in SUPER busy mode with two classes.  Oh and one other thing I want to get done in the next three weeks – read the four books I bought for my two classes – should be fun huh?  I’m actually looking forward to the grammar book – yup geek I know.  I found another book I really like too.  It is The Emotion Thesaurus:  A writers Guide to Character Expressionby Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.  It gives a definition of an emotion, physical signals, internals sensations, mental responses, cues of acute emotion, cues of suppressed emotion.  It will help in editing to liven up stale description – so if I say a character was shocked – instead of saying shocked I could say they character suddenly stiffened – it sounds simple but when you are doing an initial writing saying the simple term is easy and then making it better as you edit is not always easy so this gives a list for the emotions.  I think it will be a good reference book.  

Content vs Style vs Context

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

What is more important your content or the style in which it is written?  This has been an ongoing debate in my Prose Stylistics class.  I say content is primary, with style playing a secondary role and context coming in third – this is a photo finish fall these three. 
Style involves things like sentence structure, tropes and schemes (like alliteration, metaphors, syllepsis etc.), word choice, punctuation and so on.  It is how you write your content.  Content of course is what you are saying.   
As an author I know I don’t take style into consideration at all (at least not consciously) when I’m writing for the first time.  If I’m doing a rough draft of fiction, I just write.  I don’t’ think about my word choices, sentence structure, or anything else – it is just a matter of getting the story out of my head and onto the paper. 
When I’m editing, I make all those tough choices.  It is then I look at my metaphors and similes to see if they are tired.  I look at the structure of the sentence – does it sound right?  Often I will read it out loud to see how it sounds.  This is when style comes into play. 
If I’m writing for a particular publication, I look at their writing guidelines and issues to see what has been successful.  Depending on what it is – an essay or fiction or ??? – I will model my work after what has already made it into the publication.  The one caution about this though is that you have to remember to keep your approach fresh.  Following someone else’s format too closely may make your own piece seem a bit stilted and tired. 
For me, I just want to write a good story, essay, directions, or whatever it is I’m writing.  I want it to entertain, instruct, or persuade.  You do that with great content and great editing to adjust the style to the context you want the piece to fit.

Not Quite Done

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Today is going to be a busy day.  I have homework to finish and need to help Vicki prep for Super Bowl food as we have Kelly and Dominic coming over to watch.  I also want to finish off my grant, work on crocheting, and a few other things. 

Yesterday was a bust.  I was in the middle of working on my grant when Ken said the tv channel he was watching went out.  This led to an all day affair with the cable / internet provider.  It eventually got fixed but it literally took until about 8:00 pm last night before we have tv services back.  I get glitches but I don’t get when they totally screw up.  I got the run around to begin with but had all the information and finally got someone who was willing to listen and work with me.  Now the service is correct – next I’ll just have to watch the billing to make sure they get that straight.  I’m sure my frustration and annoyance level will go through the roof as I try to get that fixed.

I did get some of the editing done on the grant but now I’m second guessing myself on what writing sample I should send in.  This is what my grant will be judged on for the most part so it is extremely important.  I want them to see my writing style and understand the story I’m trying to tell.  I also want it to be a well edited piece of writing.  Here is where the dilemma comes in – I have 25 pages which are well edited and start the story but aren’t the meat of the story (prologue and back story).  I have the beginning of the story which hasn’t been edited at all.  The prologue and back story has been edited by several people and I’ve had input from a variety of sources.  This means my edits have been thoughtful and constructive.  I’m not sure if I jump ahead if I have as good a quality of writing as the other part.  However, the beginning of the story is more action filled and jumps right in to the main characters and their quest but it isn’t edited.  I’ve had little feedback on it at all.  I’ve done little work on it myself as I’ve been working on editing the first part and writing at the tail end of the story.  I need to make the choice today especially if I’m going to start with the beginning because I will have to get the 25 pages I’m going to submit edited. 

This morning I was going to get up and work on my homework.  I’ve not touched it yet.  I’ve spent the last hour working on editing other people’s stuff and sorting through emails.  My last lab for this section is the next thing I’m going to work on and then I want to go back and review the ones where I got answers wrong.  The material is definitely getting more difficult and I need to have as many points as possible as I move forward.  Yes, I know two of my labs I only missed one and that is acceptable but I still am going to need the points.  Also, I have no idea at this point if I have homework for the other class as the professor has not posted anything and I wasn’t in class on Thursday.  This is particularly frustrating to me because I could have spent yesterday working on it but she hadn’t posted anything yet or answered my email.  I know my faculty told me to give her 48 hours (business hours) but at the same time it causes me stress because I can’t just stay home from work because she hands out a ton of homework.  Here is where I have to do what I can and let the rest go – obviously I’m working on that. 

I’m going to try to spend the next two hours very productively and then this afternoon I’ll be assistant chef to Vicki and have fun during the Super Bowl (who ever thought those words would come out of my mouth?)

My to-do lists got some attention but not enough…

Bombed a Quiz

by eileentroemel, posted in Uncategorized

In manuscript editing today, I took a quiz and totally screwed it up.  I went through the 11 sentences and did my edits.  I was confident and felt good about it.  Then the professor started giving hints and I thought – oh – I must have that wrong.  I know better than to go back and second guess myself but I did it anyway.  By the time I was done I had made 7 mistakes on a 20 point quiz.  Not good…. Not good at all.

I’m frustrated with this class.  When I speak up in class, other students roll their eyes at me.  I ask questions or make comments and the instructor always disagrees with me.  I’m torn between just shutting up and being a non-participant and trying to drive home my points. 

Most likely, I’m going to buckle down in order to know the material better.  I’ll do research to determine whether I agree with the rules.  I doubt I’ll argue my point in class but I will in my own mind disagree with the instructor. 

I guess I just have to find my own way through this material.  I have all these books on grammar and punctuation so I just need to make things clearer in my head.  Ultimately, I’m not doing it to get a good grade in this class.  I’m doing it to be a better editor for myself and my clients.  I need to keep that in mind as I’m working on the material from the class.

First Week

by eileentroemel, posted in Uncategorized

The first week back with all the faculty and students was, in a word, chaotic.  It was exhausting just trying to keep up with all the people and I still had to go to classes. 

This semester I have two classes Manuscript Editing and Topics in Technical Writing – Grant Writing.  The Grant Writing class is interesting and I’m excited for.  The Manuscript Editing class is a lot of technique I think – grammar, punctuation, and technical information.  I think I will learn some from it but I’ll see how I feel about it as the class goes on.  After class on Tuesday, I’m going to have a conversation with the instructor to see how things go. 

Being a non-traditional student, I fall outside the norm in most things and I think this will be another class where that is the case.  I’ll see how it goes and hopefully it will help me be a better editor. 

The interesting thing is I’ve always said I don’t want to master anything but as I do more of the editing I find I do want to master this.  Is there a master’s degree down the line for me?  I don’t know.  I know that I enjoy – yup I said enjoy – learning about the grammatical part of writing. 

For me, though, I have to be careful about becoming too technically correct in my writing (for fiction)  because when you are extremely proper in your writing it sounds very formal.  This makes it less reader friendly. 

It is a matter of balancing things.  For the articles and non-fiction writing I want that correctness and formality but for fiction I want it more reader friendly.  Focusing on the end product is key and that will help me produce the best possible product. 

Stacation

by eileentroemel, posted in Uncategorized

This week I’m on a stacation as everyone is calling it now.  I’m not going in to work but hanging out at home.  Over the weekend I got some more of Stephanie’s afghan done.  I’m down to about two and a half rows.  One of my goals this week is to finish it. 

I’ve already written one article and found another that I want to revise for submission to a publication.  Plus I’ve been working on editing my manuscript.  I’m very close to where I think the second book will end.  I think just a few more chapters. 

Last night (I guess I should say this morning) I went to bed just before two because I was working on the editing.  I set my alarm for six hours.  When it went off I reset it for an hour later because I woke up with a headache and it was raining.  I love to sleep in the rain, it is very soothing and calming for me.

Sasha started whining and meowing outside my door after the alarm went off the second time.  Apparently she thought I’d slept enough.  When I finally got up she joined me in the bathroom for her morning pet (the second time as I was up at 6:30).  She is spoiled. 

Today I was going to work on my books but I think instead I’m going to work on writing.  I need a shower at some point- probably after Vicki is up.  I’ll make the most of the quiet time I get until she gets up. 

The exciting events of the day will be writing and maybe movie watching in order to work on Stephanie’s afghan.  It may sound boring to a lot of people but I’m quite excited to have the down time to do what I want, to sleep as I please, and to just be without demands on me.

One Day Off Email

by eileentroemel, posted in Uncategorized

Yesterday I spent my time working on other things.  I checked my email in the morning and not again all day.  This morning I check my email and got slammed!  Apparently I’m either not allowed to take a day off or everyone was just really chatty yesterday. 

I’ve been enjoying my vacation.  I get up in the morning (usually later than normal) and work on the computer – writing, posting, editing, and a variety of other things.  Then in the afternoon I’ve been working on other projects.  It has been really relaxing.  I even took a nap yesterday.  I’ve even been crossing things off my to do list. 

Today though I’m hyper aware of the impending weekend and the amount of things I need to get done before I go back to work and school next week.  This morning I realized I have a lot of homework I need to get done before Monday.  I was up at 7 this morning and showered and to my desk by 7:45.  Sasha needed grandma time so I spent a bit of time cuddling and petting her.  What can I say Sasha is demanding and has claws… J

When I’m done with this blog I have to work on five lessons in a tutorial for a software program for one of my classes.  I have three stories to edit and write letters on.  I have several chapters to read.  I have a project to work on and a story to edit.  I have gotten one story edited to the point where I think it is done – I’ve sent it off to a couple of people to see what they think. 

Today will be a homework day – hopefully one that is productive.  This way I can play tomorrow (or do more homework) and not feel guilty about visiting with a friend.

Watch for the guest blog by Elizabeth Hazel tomorrow!!!

Alone!!!

by eileentroemel, posted in Uncategorized

With my daughter living with us, I rarely get time alone in the house.  Now don’t get me wrong she doesn’t intrude but the time I get completely alone is rare.  I like my alone time.  She is off today volunteering at the library and having lunch with a friend.  This leaves me completely alone in my house (well except for the stalker cat Sasha). 

What to do with my alone time?  There are certainly a ton of options but I will be responsible.  I have transcribing to do and then after that I think I’ll work on editing stories.  I have to edit the two stories I turned in to my Fiction Writing class.  The one is nearly done and the other is a long way from being done. 

This week has been good so far for getting things done.  I have finished more than half the transcribing and will hopefully get that done this morning.  I also finished one of my going away gifts.  My to do list definitely has things crossed off.  After I answer emails this morning I’ll wade back into the list and see what other things I can get finished off. 

The weather here has gone from too warm to normal.  This means yesterday when the temp in the house dipped to below 65 we actually turned the heat back on.  You have to love weather in Wisconsin in March – erratic is the best way to describe it. 

I do have another entry in the Curse of the Black Thumb blog.  Go check it out:  http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/green-gardening/gardening-with-a-black-thumb-joys-of-an-early-spring.aspx

Also I’ll be having two more guest bloggers this week.  Kelley Harrell.  She is a wonderful author.  Here is her bio:

Kelley holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, and is pursuing a Masters of Divinity. She lives in North Carolina with a wonderful lover and a couple of energetic Twinkies. Her open dialogue with souls is recorded at Intentional Insights. She writes for The Huffington Post and in a mezzo experience of herself, Kelley is a prolific fiction writer. Her shamanic practice is Soul Intent Arts, LLC. She walks the path of the modern Druid and is a proud founder of the nonprofit organization The Saferoom Project

Elizabeth Hazel is the other author.  She has a weekly horoscope column and is a published author.  Here is her bio:

Elizabeth Hazel is the author of “Tarot Decoded” (Weiser) and writes the weekly Third Rock Almanac Horoscopes posted every Sunday at Kozmic Kitchen on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kozmic-Kitchen. Liz is the editor of the American Tarot Association Quarterly Journal, and the author/artist of “The Whispering Tarot” deck and book. Her book “Chiron and the Lady Asteroids: A New Perspective” will be released in 2012. Articles on a variety of topics can be seen at her site: www.kozmic-kitchen.com
Watch tomorrow for Kelley’s posting!!!