Wanna Know Wednesday #35

Good Hump Day morning to you all out there.  We're smack dab in the middle of the week, with the weekend on its way.  Are you having a good week so far?  Accomplishing a lot, or even a little?  If not, you still have plenty of time to turn your week around and end it with a bang.  :-)

I've been hitting the book hard this week.  I finished editing two more chapters yesterday and will do four, or more today (I don't write articles on Wednesdays).  That'll leave two for me to do tomorrow and Friday will be for focusing completely on the ending; I know I have major rewrites for it.  Then Saturday I'll print it all out again and just read.  Ahhhh...

I'm tired this morning so I'll get right into this week's Wanna Know Wednesday.  :-)

10 Things I Do When I Write a Book

1. Write/Type out a main character description--likes, dislikes, favorite foods, tv shows, friends, family, etc.
2. Create a general idea of the book's storyline.  The "idea" could be 1 page or 6, depending on how hard the plot hit me in the face when it came to me.  :-)
3. Check my book of ideas to make sure this one isn't duplicated anywhere in there (hasn't happened yet, but you never know).
4. Next up is a character list.  Time to pick out everyone who'll be in the story, give them names, appearances, how are they linked to the main.
5. When I edit, I always do it on a printed paper copy and with a red ink pen.
6. I listen to music when I write books.  Not so much with articles, but always with books.
7. My first three novels took six months each to complete.
8. I like to have a solid stretch of time alone to work.  I can't think and stay "in the zone" when the kids are running around & needing my attention at numerous times.  I think that's why this book hasn't gotten finished in 6 months.  LOL.
9. Test readers always make me nervous.  I love hearing the good things, but dread hearing the bad.  Even reviews on already released books give me butterflies (though I've never hear anything bad... yet).
10. I feel such a wav of relief wash over me when I'm able to finally declare that a book is done.  Well, a book is never really done.  There will be more edits when the editors get ahold of it, but the major stuff is generally DONE.  :-)

That's it for this morning.  I need to go get dressed and take the punks to school.  Have a great day!

You turn around & then it's Tuesday!

Goooooooood morning all you fabulous readers out there!  Up and at 'em!  You have a busy, full day ahead of you!  You don't?  Well, I do.  However, isn't that simply the 'norm' around here?  ;-)

Yesterday turned out to be a good day.  I wrote and submitted two DS articles, with three more to write today.  I also edited two chapters in Time for Death during pick-up time at school yesterday.  What better way to waste an hour of sitting in the van than to edit the story I'm so very determined to get finished?  And I'm very excited to get it done.

Today I'll be doing the article work and then editing in the school parking lot again.  The insertion of the new chapter went smoother than I expect when it came to tying it in with the existing chapters.  Usually I have to do major rewrites throughout the rest of the story to tie a new chapter in just right.  Not this time though.  So far they've been moderate edits.  However, I do know that I'll be adding more material to the ending when I get there because of this new chapter.  No problem though, as I already have that part planned.  Yay me!

Anyway, that's a little update on the book.  I know that some of you have been asking me when it'll be reader-ready.  Just a little longer!  I'll be contacting test readers within the next 2 weeks, or so.  I already have 2 people in mind, but I'll need 2-3 more to go with them.  If you'd like to add your name to the list just leave me a message, or email me at Christie@ChristieSilvers.com .  :-)

Before I get out of here, I've decided that in addition to my Wanna Know Wednesdays, this week I'll be adding Thursday Thoughts to the blog.  Each week I'll spout off my opinion on some random thing in the world.  This coming Thursday will be titled:  It's Just a Game!  :-)

Here's a random Christie fact for you:
98% of the time I run around with absolutely no makeup and sporting a ponytail.

Have a great Tuesday everyone.

Another Monday Morning

Morning everyone.  Wake up!  Wake up!  It's the start to another brand new week!  Well hey, that's better than hearing *beep, beep, beep, beep* from the alarm clock.  Don't ya think? 

So, this weekend was a good one--just like I thought it would be--and I'm determined that this new week will be as well.  I finished my new chapter addition/rewrite for Time For Death, and now I'm back to just edits until the end of the book.  I should have those done by the end of the week.  Yay me!

I also solidly decided that I will be doing NaNoWriMo in November, I made sure my profile and information was still correct on the site, and I even chose a title for book 2 in the Liz Baker series... Time For Battle!  This will be my NaNo 2009 story.  Woohoo!  I spent Friday during pick-up time at school writing 3 pages of ideas, storyline, and outline for this new book.  I'm set to begin on November 1st.  Yay!  If you're signed up, stop by and be a writing buddy http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/200398

I couldn't really decide completely on Time For Battle.  I thought about Time To Battle and Time To Fight...  I'm still not 100%, but for right now it's Time For Battle.  LOL.  You never know when I'll change a title to something different.  I bet you didn't know that A Midnight Infatuation started out as Vamps & Weres & Lust, Oh My!  Yep, but I figured that might be a tad too long.  LOL.
With writers you just never know.  :-)

This morning I'll be working on my article writing.  Gotta make that money for our trip in 2 wks.  Tim's so excited that he's been bouncing off the walls since Friday night.  I've heard a lot of "2 more weeks!" being chanted.  He's extremely giddy.  And this afternoon I'll work on book edits.

I plan on being able to print out the entire book (again) and just reading it by Saturday.  Then it'll be time for one last round of edits--which is usually much, much faster than this current one--and the story will be ready for a few readers.  I haven't chosen readers yet, and won't take more than 4, and the readers will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement beforehand, but it'll be ready for that soon.  :-)  If you want to be a reader, feel free to let me know.  It won't guarantee you a spot, but at least I'll know you're interested.
Well, that's it for this morning.  I need to take the kids to school and then come home and start working.  Have a great Monday!



*Image: Another Mis-made taggy.*