So, those are the words for the day. Those who are following along with the home version of this game (wait, do we have one of those?), please mark down the following:
Outline for Possession: Done
Editing of Cost of Duty (Short Story): Done
Editing Dark Mirror v2.1: Begun
So, that’s the basics, now for the details. As I said, I finished the outline of Possession this morning, having done the climax last night. Oh my god, I really can’t wait to start writing this one. But I am going to make myself wait. I know, I’m not patient, but I need to try to learn some, I swear. I can’t live my whole life on fast forward because of it. This outline is longer, for sure, than the one for DM, both in number of entries and how detailed some of them are. And a lot happens, which is also good. But for now, the outline goes in the mythic Drawer for a few days or so, at which point I will go back through it, make sure I’m still happy with it, and then open a fresh word document. Fair warning, I’ll probably do another write-a-thon for this, if only because doing so seems to work so well for me.
Cost of Duty spent a few days in The Drawer and came out for reading this morning, after I finished the outline for Possession. It aged well, I still love it. I made a couple of very very minor word tweaks. I’m now trying to decide whether to put it up for crit on the writer’s forum I spend a lot of time lurking and a little time posting on or start submitting. It’s being mulled. I have decided against trying to e-pub it, because I just don’t think there’s much market for a single short story (and I really don’t write them often). I’m also too lazy to do a cover. 🙂 Hey, at least I’m honest.
Moving down the list to editing DM. This is a little funny. I had read somewhere recently that you should use the tab key in your manuscript. This being news to me, it was all through the 333 pages of DM. Grr. So, after reading through and editing the first chapter, I set about deleting them all from the manuscript so I don’t have to worry about it. Stupid lack of find and delete all function in my word processor. So, there I am scrolling through and deleting them manually. That was going along swimmingly until about a quarter of the way through, when I suddenly realized I was reading my book instead of deleting tabs. For the last 4 pages. Whoops. This happened several times in the process of getting them all out there, so the process took almost 5 hours. Way too long. I have learned, though, that being engrossed in the book I wrote, where I know everything that happens, is probably a good sign for the book’s quality, relative to my being still definitely a rookie at this. I’m trying to see it that way, at least, instead of seeing 5 hours spent on a task that likely should have taken only half that time. Fortunately, with that completed, I can move on to the real task of doing the actual edit. I’m hoping that it won’t take as long as the last one, that maybe I can get this done in a week. That would be a good time frame actually, because I’ll be ready to start working on Possession at that point (seriously obsessing about that now).
It’s like they’re all working out in a mystic order that I didn’t prepare. Perhaps the writing gods are smiling on me… Right, that’s right before they drop a safe on my head in the form of something major changing, isn’t it? Of course, both of the above points suggest that I need to start percolating on the overall plot in book 3, but to be honest, that’s doing itself already, I’m just writing it down as it comes and keeping, well, my version of semi-focused, which means doing a dozen things at once.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention something. I’ve added two pages to this blog that weren’t there before, though they are subject to unannounced revision whenever I bloody feel the need. One is my About Me page, which I finally got around to doing. I really hate doing those, but I can only hold out so long on that kind of thing before the peer pressure gets the best of me. The other is my Project Status page. I have a lot of stories on the go, and I mention them only when I have something to say about them, as far as blog entries go, so I thought you might want a quick reference, in case you miss something, or are curious. This is not an exhaustive list, but they are the ones that are sort of front of mind for me in some form or other. It’s also there for me to keep track of all the crap I’m in the middle of. Yes, I really do think I might need this kind of help. Among other kinds of help.
And, last but not least on today’s hit list, the picture of the post (I can’t say day, because I don’t usually post every day). I love this one. It’s one of the framed prints up on my wall.
Old Word Flows 
This ‘tab thing’ you speak of…where did you hear that? I’ve never heard of anything like that in any of the formatting things I’ve check and it has certainly never been mentioned in any of my classes or workshops.
My MS right now has tabs and at least for now it’s staying that way!
Haven’t had a chance to look at your edit yet…hoping to tomorrow but if not tomorrow then definitely on Monday.
I think the tab thing is a recent one. My understanding is that they prefer you to use the tab formatting function, rather than the tab key. It has to do with formatting MS’s for e-pub and such. Ugh. Oh well, it’s done now, and using the formatting version is also part of my manuscript template now, so this should be the last time I ever need to do that.
As for the About page, it took me several months to get to mine, so you might have some grace time there, if you want to cite this example.
Get to the edit whenever you get a chance. I sent it largely because you were VERY clear about wanting it.
Ugh, I am so not worrying about that right now!!
PS I have no about page either and people have been bugging me to get on that….
Have you searched around to try and publish short in a magazine or something?
I’ve done some research, and I have a few places I plan to submit to. A good source of market info for shorts: http://ralan.com/
Good I hope it works out! And thanks for the link! I was going to show you http://duotrope.com/
Yeah, that’s in my link list too 🙂 I collect links, I swear. Thanks though.
Yeah I didn’t know about anything like this. Laura I think it was, pointed it out on the Limebird forums. Sorry you already had it.
Never hurts to make sure someone has a relevant source of info. 🙂 Besides, it’s possible that someone else who sees it might be able to use it..
That’s true. 🙂
It sounds incredibly exciting, thats for sure!!!
Thanks. Now I just have to live up to it all, and hopefully make decent time with my current editing. Oh well, I’ll manage somehow.
I saw the tab key advice recently on a blog here at WordPress. I think it was madgenius club — one of their writers has been doing a series on e-publishing and mentioned it.
It makes sense when you think about how many problems formatting commands can cause when you convert a file from one format to another. But then, wouldn’t the “first line indent” formatting potentially be a problem, too?
That makes me think “block formatting” paragraphs would be better if someone goes the e-pub route. Then the “tabs” could be set in the publishing program. If I end up going this route, I’ll have to do some research first….
To me, the first line indent makes sense, and would likely cause fewer problems because it’s a document-wide formatting. It’s a single action, really, to change it. I’d prefer that, which is part of why I’ve added that to my manuscript template. I’m just kind of old school and have to retrain myself. I’m going through the same thing with the double-space between sentences. But at least that I can go through with Find and Replace and fix easily. There was no easy fix for the tab thing.
I love that you’re an aspiring writer. I am too. I like your style and think you’ve got talent. Keep writing! 🙂
Thanks. As for talent, we’ll see. I haven’t posted any fiction up here yet, so that remains to be seen. I’ve toyed with the idea of putting up a sample when I’ve got something ready/published, but that’s a decision for the future.
LOVE looking at all the awards on your site now! wow …
Am well aware I am behind in my blog, my comments page is in chaos, my stats are messed up and I’m a complete bad ass for not being more onto it .. but wanted to say thanks for the last shout out award, and I will respond either on the weekend or next week, this one is a tiny bit hectic 😦
Don’t stop being fabulous just cos I aint watching tho K!!!!!!!? 😉
I promise that I will not stop being me, and if that involves fabulousness, well, so be it! I figure you’ll catch up on whatever I happen to do when you have time. You always seem to 😀
And I’m a little startled by how the collection has grown. I must say, what it tells me is that I have wonderful followers, and that makes me truly happy.
As for your blog, I miss the posts (I’d be lying if I said anything else, though it does make morning coffee less dangerous at the moment), but I am glad to hear from you in some capacity. I was getting ready to try to find a way to send you a bottle of champagne to tempt you out of whatever cave you were hiding in. I was sure it would work, but you’ve saved me the trouble of figuring out where to send the bottle. 🙂 Consider yourself champagned anyway, though. As for everything else, get to it when you can. I totally understand.