NOT SO FAST

I have prepared myself for a series of chores and re-editing of my first manuscript, seeing that I am once again unemployed. But all is not as it seems, at least not anymore. I got a phone call on Friday from the company I used to work for, asking me if I wouldn't mind capturing some data for them, which of course I agreed to do.

It will only be for a week (maximum). So I had to put away the first manuscript for later, or at least till I have more time to get rid of some scenes to make it a more reasonable size. My first thought was that ''hey, how hard can it be to scale down my manuscript? This is going to be easy''. How wrong I was. I can't just end it at an earlier chapter, I have to end it as originally planned. The flow is just not right if I end it earlier. But what I have to do is take out unnecessary sentences and narrative. Even scenes and characters that don't make a significant contribution toward the quality of my manuscript.

I have to come up with another plan on how I am going to edit the first manuscript, while still doing research for the third novel and fitting in traditional house cleaning chores in preparation for Christmas. I will figure everything out. If I have to wait till next year to send out more queries, so be it.

PERFECT PAIR OF JEANS

My day started off good. I got about 2 hours of writing done before me, my mom and sister had to go do our weekly grocery shopping. Then my mom reminded me that I still have to do my yearly jeans shopping. I didn't forget, I intentionally put it off till a later date. Every year I go buy myself a few pairs of jeans. Because I am a jeans and t-shirt girl my jeans take a lot of abuse the whole year long. Hence the yearly jeans buying tradition.

So there I was, on the prowl for a pair of flattering jeans in my size. I found a few and when I went to fit them on...Let me tell you, nothing ruins a woman's day like a failed shopping attempt. The first few didn't fit at all, the others were not flattering and then the last pair were just wrong on so many levels. 

I walked away feeling dejected. So I went to the plus size woman store. I avoid shopping here because the size might be right but the cut of the jeans aren't. So I went into two different plus size stores and found three pairs of jeans that fit perfectly and who were flattering. So I cheered up soon after.

So today I realized that  finding balance in life as well as happiness is like finding a perfect pair of jeans. The end goal might seem impossible when things don't go my way, but if I really know what I want and I keep at it, I might just find what I am looking for. Or even achieve the end goal I was striving for.

APOLOGY TO LYNETTE BENTON

I would like to apologize to Lynette Benton for the confusion regarding a post of mine being posted to twitter. She has left a comment on her website saying that she had tried to contact me in the past but was unsuccessful. Her only intention was to help me, an aspiring writer out and send more aspiring writers to my blog.

I was a little hasty with expecting the worst and I am a big enough person to apologize for my lack of judgement.

I have done some research and I noticed that she gives very good advice for aspiring writers, so if you are interested you can check her website out here http://lynettebentonwriting.com/

But for the future people, please note that I do not handle surprises well at all. So please let me know before posting any of my material anywhere.

MULTITASKING

I have suddenly become really good at multitasking. I did the washing today and in between washing cycles, which are about 30 minutes, I managed to write a few pages. I did about 4 loads, each having a washing cycle of 30 minutes, so I have gotten 2 hours of writing time, while still completing an important chore. It is very windy today so I could wait for all the loads to finish before hanging it on the close line. So I am pretty chuffed with myself.

I have not been reading any blogs lately so I apologize if I haven't stopped by to give any encouragement or any motivation. But I am sure you are all doing very well and that the ideas are flowing.

I am once again haunted by thoughts and images of my new lead character. She is about to discover her own inner strength and that just makes me happy. Every second I work on her story I am smiling. My family wants to know what it is with me and the stupid grin I have have plastered all over my face.

Well, I am off to clean the house. The sooner I get that done, the sooner I will have more time to write. In the meanwhile I will allow my leading lady to whisper into my ear what she would like to say or do next.

ANOTHER BITTER SWEET END

I have officially finished working as a temporary receptionist today. The new lady will start working tomorrow. It was a bitter sweet ending. There were a few nice people that I will really miss. I had gotten use to a certain routine and I will surely miss the income, but I am also glad to be finished. That job was just not meant for me.

I am not worried about future prospect though. It is hard to explain, but somehow I feel as if there is something better waiting for me. I will be looking for a new job, but I am not going to make myself sick if something doesn't come along as quickly as I want it to. I have discovered that nothing in my life happens in the time frame in which I want it. So why worry about something I can't control?

What this means is that I now have more time to finish scaling down my first manuscript and even getting to work on the third. Can't wait.

SWEET TASTE OF FREEDOM

It has been a few days since my bold declaration of freedom. I must say I am rather enjoying doing things because I want too. It is a whole new experience. Saying what I mean and just saying what is on my mind is a long sought after relief. The need to constantly censor myself was overwhelming and it drove me crazy.

I am blushing even less now when ever I have to write a intimate scene. I can allow my written word to become a little erotic without feeling guilty.

My brother tried to have another talk with me but I just told him that this is who I am. I am not going to change. I am done changing for anyone. Only changes I will make will be for myself. So mentally I am as free as I have always dreamt of being. Finally...

CUTTING BACK ON THE BULK

As I have mentioned in one of my previous posts, an agent gave me some wonderful advice that I just can't pass up on. She mentioned that one of the biggest problems she had with my sample chapters was the very high word count. It was about 145 000 words. The other problem was that certain scenes read as if though I am just dumping information on the reader.

To me that is nothing but good news. A bulky manuscript I can fix, but if she mentioned that I lacked imagination and execution of my idea then I would have been screwed. I have to go back to my first novel and see what I can omit from my manuscript. That is always the hard part for me. Because I think every scene should be in there. As I have mentioned before, my first novel is the first of a planned series, so one solution is ending the book at an earlier chapter and adding the remaining chapters to the second book, which by the way I finished last week. Second option is removing selected scenes from the book.

I originally labeled my book as paranormal romance, but I am even considering including or changing it to the Urban Fantasy genre. I am also aiming to scale it down to at least 115 000-120 000 words. It is still a bit high I know but it is an improvement over the original 145 000 words. I have no idea how I would make my novel work with only 100 000 words. So I have to make those changes before I start querying again.