Writing – Eileen Troemel

Aliens vs Sea Monsters

October 27, 2022October 27, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

For the last few days, two stories have been rattling around in my head. Alien Mate 2 & Sacrificed 2. I have no idea to call the second book but I’ve written the opener. I’ve seen the opening scene in my head and knew exactly where I wanted to start.

Tonight I wrote not quite 700 words – one small scene but the opener is now out of my head. I know what the next two or three scenes will be. I’ve got the first third of the book in my head. Now I just need two or three days to get it down.

I also worked on the Alien Mate 2 book. I wrote a little over 1200 in this story. I also have several scenes just bursting to get out.

Hopefully, I get some down time in November to write. I need these two stories out of my head. The nice thing – both series will be Ava M Taylor books so the heat level is the same. That makes it slightly easier.

writing text, random text, text, paper, notebook, pen.

Final Edits

October 24, 2022October 24, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Bah Humbug has gone off to the anthology organizer! I’m happy to have one thing done. I did the final edits on Saturday! It always feels good to check off a to do list item.

I started the final edit on Sacrificed to the Sea Monster. I got through 10 chapters last night and hope to finish the last 8 chapters tonight. Once that’s done, I’ll send it off to my formatter and ask her to get it set up so I can upload files and get the paperback started.

From there, I have a couple manuscripts and stories to read / edit. I have client work for editing I need to focus on. I’ll also be sending off quotes to my graphics person for her to make me a bunch of ads.

It’s only about 5 1/2 weeks until Sacrificed is released so I’ll be ramping up the promoting for this book. With my read through, I have discovered how much I enjoy this story. I am looking forward to writing the next one.

I’ve got an appointment with my cover designer so I will be starting a list of tasks I need her to do.

Fractured made it to #6 which is FANTASTIC in New Releases Colonization Science Fiction! I’m so grateful people enjoyed it! However, I need to keep moving forward with the next project.

Editing and a Bit of Writing

October 21, 2022October 21, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

I finished the first read through of Alien Mate book 1 tonight. I got through the last of it. I realized after I was done and sent it to my sister, I had a few of the dates / timing down wrong.

Of course it’s an alien planet so they count things by seven days. So I had what amounted to four months in as four weeks. Oooopppsss I’ll be double checking those when I get the manuscript back.

I have other editing tasks to complete including a paper manuscript back from my sister with all the edits done. This means I should have started checking it – I didn’t.

Instead, I worked on the second Alien Mate book. It’s been in my head too long. I’m glad to have it down on paper – well in the computer anyways.

One scene is written and the start of a second scene is there but I have to be up tomorrow. This means I’m off to bed. I got over 1300 words written and it felt good. Now another good scene and then I’ll see what the characters have to say.

Editing Part 2

October 20, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Tonight I got started later than I wanted. My own fault completely. Family drama and a long day made it hard for me to settle.

Once I settled I finished reading through four chapters. I have three left. While I’d love to just barrel ahead, I am too tired to do a good job of catching errors and issues. So the three chapters will be tomorrow night.

Hopefully I can finish off Bah Humbug this weekend and turn it in the organizer for the anthology. Once I finish off Sacrificed and upload it to KDP, I’ll work on client editing for a bit. I have two to get done. So I’ll work on that.

I have some specific writing I want to do. But I will be starting either the second in the Sacrificed series or the second in the Alien Mate series which I still don’t have a good name for.

As I write, I need to figure out when I want to publish each story and slide them into my schedule. I don’t want to crowd my schedule too much but ideally I’d like to publish the second Sacrificed and all three of the Alien Mate ones. I also have to think about the next steps for a few other series.

I read through three rather fast paced chapters tonight. I really enjoy this story. He’s a dick but he’s reached a point in the story where he realizes he’s been a dick. Now he has to decide how to make up for his dickish behavior and admit he loves her.

Editing… again

October 19, 2022October 19, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

I go through a lot of stages for editing. Right now I’m working on three stories. Bah Humbug – a short story for a Christmas anthology, Sacrificed to the Sea Monster – an Ava novel, and Alien Mate book 1 (bad WIP name).

Last night I finished the paper edit – meaning I actually print out the story and edit it on paper. I know I should try not to use paper but I never feel the story is done until I do this stage. Bah Humbug didn’t take a lot of time but it needed some updates. Sacrificed took two nights.

My sister has those two. She takes my edits and puts them on the computer. She also pulls out any quotes I want – when I remember to watch for quotes.

Tonight I did a bunch of stuff like get through my emails, schedule posts for a release party, obsess about what place my books was at, begging people to buy my book in the hopes of driving up the standing, and you know stuff.

When I was done with the stuff, I tried to decide if I was awake enough to pay attention to client work or if I should write or edit or what? I opened Alien Mate. Now what I’m about to say sounds like I don’t like my writing but there’s always a point where I don’t think my work is good enough. It happens with every book. It comes and it goes. I publish and people tell me one way or the other.

I opened Alien Mate and started editing. I thought – at the beginning – I’m not sure I can stick doing this. Then it went from 10ish to midnight. I looked up at noted the time. It was like – wait what?

I’ve gotten five chapters gone through. I’ve had some biggish changes and noted a few inconsistencies. It’s almost 12:30 and I have to be up at 6:00 am so it will be a short night. But the reality is, I want to keep reading and editing. I know what’s coming up and I cannot wait to read it.

However, the day job is needed and I like my pay check. So I’m off to bed and tomorrow night I’ll work on this some more.

It’s Done!

October 2, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Yesterday and today I worked through how to out my traitor. Thank you to a couple of author friends who let me talk it out.

I finally got a lengthy timeframe which allowed me to finish up my last chapter. Or I should say my last two chapters. I was supposed to be done at the end of chapter 11 but there were too many details and it took an extra chapter. Today I wrote over 7100 words. The whole story is over 63,500 words long.

I’ve sent to my beta readers. I’ll see what they have to say. I’ll be taking a break from writing (as much as I can) and working on editing. I still have client editing and I also have two projects I need to finish off for myself. Both need a read through. I’ll work on that after I do client editing every night this week.

Oy. Nope. I’ll do takeovers, client editing and then see if I have the energy for my own editing. It’s going to be a busy month. I’ve got crochet projects to get done in addition to my writing stuff. Last night I watched three movies and finished a project I can’t talk about because it’s a gift. Today, I finished a really small project as well. So two off my list.

It’s been a full weekend. This week I start my working remotely most of the time. I have one meeting I have to go in for. Other than that, I’m working from home.

Half a Chapter Left

September 30, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Wednesday and Thursday I was too tired and sore to write. I worked on other things like promoting and such. But no writing. This of course always makes me a bit grumpy.

Today was a work from home day. So I took a short nap after work. I was worn out. I still am but I managed to write 2500 words tonight. I’m up to a bit over 55K. I’m pleased with my progress but my brain is too tired to finish the current scene.

I’ve got to introduce more of the human women and some of the T’mbarian males. There’s twenty in the scene technically but they won’t all be named. It will be a crowded scene and some gossip will be shared but nothing verifiable. I think a short sex scene after. Then P’lar will be called away.

Not sure how my climax will go yet. I think it will come to me once I’m through the rest of these scenes. I KNOW the final scene. I’ve seen it in my head for quite some time. I know how it will end.

I’m off to bed. I’ve got a half dozen things on my to do list for tomorrow so it will be a busy weekend. Hopefully I can finish this story off this weekend. I think I know how the second book will start but… after this one, I need to do some editing of other stories before I dive into book two. I’ve got the ending for book two and parts of the rest of it… But for now, I need to finish book one.

Chapter Done

September 27, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Chapter 10 is finally done! Tonight I was writing and things were going better than I expected but research distracted me. Then I scheduled some promo events and one thing led to another.

Fortunately, I still wrote nearly 1700 words. I finished off the chapter with some sexy time teasers. I’ve got the ideas for the first three sections of the next chapter and I’ve written the ideas in the manuscript. From there we’ll see what the characters decide.

The good thing is I’m at 52,600 for total word count. My chapters are running around 5-6K so this should be about 58K by the time I’m done. I know she will be hurt… maybe bad enough to die. I’m not sure yet. Bad guy will be revealed. All the details aren’t clear yet – but this is normal for me.

I know what the second book will involve, I’m just not sure how it will start yet. While this first book has to end on a happy for now, I also want it clear she’s not all in. He is and in book two, he’ll prove it.

Tomorrow is an in office day for work so I have to get to bed shortly. I doubt I’ll do much writing over the next two days, I’m usually in too much pain. However, I’ll see how the days go.

Weekend Writing

September 25, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Today I intended to write for the majority of the day. It didn’t happen. I wanted to finish my first book in this trilogy. I’ve got it here in my head. But I spent a good chunk of my day going through emails which I am at the same number as I was before I went through a ton of emails – how is that possible?

Ava M Taylor’s website got updated today. That was fun. I also worked on tasks like signing up for promotions on book funnel, adding books to book bub and good reads. I added books to lists on goodreads and … well the list goes on and on. Needless to say, none of this got my ending written.

Tonight I worked for two hours on writing. I got partway through one chapter. I’ve got one or two more scenes and then I’ll be done with this chapter. I thought I’d be done in two chapters but I’m wondering if I can fit the rest into one chapter now. I guess I’ll see.

I managed to get almost 3700 words. The story tops over 50K so it’s officially a novel. Now I just need a good ending with a teaser to the next book.

Need Sleep

September 24, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Today has been a rough day. Our weather has gone from hot and humid of summer to gray and gloomy with thunderstorms. I love thunderstorms but my joints don’t. Now I don’t know if it’s because I got cold while I worked in the kitchen or if I was going to have a flare no matter what but mid-morning, I realized I was done.

I couldn’t get warm. My pain level skyrocketed which meant I had a headache and was nauseous on top of the pain. It was a rough day.

Ken took over peeling and slicing apples. Vicki basically tucked me into my recliner with three blankets and I took naps. Short and often interrupted with pain. It took several hours before I felt warm. My pain level is still pretty high but not as high.

I managed to writing for a couple hours. I got 3K written and the story is up to 47K. I’ve got 1 or 2 chapters left to write and then I’ll be done.

Tomorrow, I need to go through emails (I’m weeks behind) and do a bunch of book related tasks. Once those are done, I’ll be writing. My hope is to finish the last two chapters but I’ll see how my pain level is and how the day goes.