Surely I'm not the only one who's happy that the Holidays are over. I've never been all that fond of this time of the year. I think it's because I'm an overly sensitive person and I get inundated by other's emotions at this time of year and it gets to me. The year is winding down and I'm okay with that. 2009 seemed to pass in a blur though, that's for sure.

I'm looking at the date on my last blog entry and that's right when my in-laws arrived in town. From that time until Christmas day, we've had company. That's a first for us. Before, our house was too small to allow too many people over. I'll figure out later how I feel about company. I did discover that it's stressful! By the time my mom left on Christmas day, I was having tension headaches every day. You know, those nasty headaches where NOTHING will take the pain away? I find that odd as I love my mom and enjoyed her visit. I don't get it.

Anyway, we had a good Christmas. The boys got the toys they wanted, though not very many of them. We don't do large Christmas' around here. We don't see any reason to.

What are your goals for the New Year? I'm not completely sure what mine are. I think that mine include finishing getting my NaNo book whipped into shape to submit to a publishing company and taking at least one class through the Gotham Writer's Workshop. After that, I don't have any clue. Those are my writing goals anyway. As for the rest of my life? Good question. I tend not to set New Year's Resolutions. I think those two are good enough. I'm going to spend the year enjoying the time I have with my husband as he might be sent to Afghanistan by the end of the upcoming year. However, that doesn't bear thinking about.

With that, I'm going to attempt to discover why the kitten is biting me when she doesn't appear to have a reason to. Then I'm going to go back to work on my newest quilt pattern. Later!
 

Yesterday, I managed to 'edit' 20 pages. Whoo hoo! I used it some last night to help me feel better. For some reason, writing pretty pink notes all over my black and white pages helped me to feel better. I think it's because I enjoy creating so much and my book is my baby. I made it and now it's time to help it grow.

I hit the point where I sat and wrote 27K words in the span of a week. LOL There's more "gold" in this one section than in all the others where I wrote sporadically. My characters took on new life and seemed more interesting. Now, to find that in the other sections and bring it out. I see a lot of rewriting in my next edit phase. Out of four visions that I've read so far, only one can be left almost as it is. Great... LOL It's a darn good thing that I'm flying through this quick revision stage. When I'm finished, I'll input my changes and print myself a new copy. Then, the REAL work begins. The work of rewriting 3-4 vision sections, trying to make the intro more interesting and bring it to life. Something has to happen! Maybe, it needs a prologue... Something to make the reader want to read the rest of the book... Right now, it doesn't get "good" for at least a very long chapter. LOL I think it might need a small 'something' to give it some zip right at the beginning. Hmm.... I think I'll jot that down on my notes real quick so I can think about it some.

Well, I'd better meander forth. Since my in-laws are in town, they'll probably want to come over before too long. I need to get the dishes done and see about folding some laundry and washing more and... The list is never ending when you have a family of 5. LOL I'll probably be back to ramble on later.
 

Keep in mind that I'm an over-emotional tweeb. Like, right now, I want to be editing my book and yet I keep putting it off. I already did 10 pages earlier today, so it's not like I'm procrastinating on anything. It's just that I've been all over the place emotionally the past few days. I suppose that means I should go see a doctor. Ugh. I hate moving. I still don't have a new doctor here yet. Throw in a season I don't like (Christmas) and throw in my in-laws coming in a day early and it's a mess. My mom will be here Friday, but I'm looking forward to that. I've just never had anyone really come visit before. My mom and my dad are a different story. I feel like I should be entertaining my in-laws or something. I'm pretty sure they don't expect that, but the feeling is still there. Then again, what else would I do? Sit on my butt and play computer games all day like I normally do? Bleh. Like I said, I'm all over the place emotionally.

For some reason, I have this feeling that my book is a complete waste of time. Huh? Where did that come from? I knew before Nano was over that I was going to put in the time and effort necessary to edit it. Perhaps it's because I'm looking at my accomplishment through the wrong set of eyes. You know, the ones that think it's useless and that I should be doing something else. The same ones that think I should be getting a college degree. According to those eyes, even if you don't do anything with the degree, it's a good thing to have. Yeah... Did those "eyes" forget the cost of the loans to get a worthless degree? At that point, it's NOT a good thing to have. I think I'll agree with my husband on this one. He thinks that our money would be better spent to send me to writing workshops than to college. To have that kind of faith backing you is something else.

Then, there enters that crazy doubt of, "Well, everyone else wants to be a published author too. What makes me think I'm good enough to beat those thousands out for a coveted spot?" Well... How do I know if I can or can't unless I actually TRY?

As my friend said once before, "Don't do something you know you're good at. Do something you think you'll fail at and prove yourself wrong." Well, I followed that all the way through NaNo. I proved myself wrong and wrote a book. Now, it's time to keep going and prove that I can put forth a FINISHED book. After that, let's see if I can beat out those thousands for a coveted spot. All those companies can do is tell me "no," right? We'll see. Every time I lost a contest here on WDC, I got rather depressed. Being told "no" by a publishing company is a bit more important, you know? That right there has me incredibly frightened. However, for now? The book needs finished first. Then I can stress out over rejection letters.
 

I sat down tonight and worked a good hour editing my book. Just quick minor editing where I'm marking areas that need rewritten but I'm not messing with that yet, and then typos, poor word choice, etc. Anyway! I realized something interesting while I was working on it. It's almost like going through someone else's book and marking it up to my little heart's content. This is my first time reading it, so it's an unknown to me. Also, I would not buy something like this in a bookstore or check it out from the library. Isn't that interesting? I write what I wouldn't read, but enjoy reading what I can't seem to write. LOL I'm pretty sure that's not the way it's supposed to be, but hey. I'll take it. At least I'm writing!

I'm not sure if it will ever be sent to a publisher. I didn't know this before, but they apparently prefer books in the definite novel length of at least 70,000 words. I don't know if this one will ever get that long. If not? Oh, well. It's still a book and I still wrote it. That's good enough for me. And thanks to the CreateSpace.com code I won by being a NaNo winner, I'll still get to see it in print. I'm way okay with that.

Well, I suppose that I should consider heading to bed. I have a lot to get done tomorrow. I'm freaking out already just thinking about it. I HATE that! Okay. Enough of that. Freaking out over it isn't going to do anything other than stress me out. That's probably why I have this nasty headache I can't seem to shake. Icky thing. I'll just tackle my chores tomorrow, hopefully finish up my husband's composition book cover provided my sewing machine doesn't pitch a complete tantrum (can we say 'trade in'?), and then reward myself with working on my book more. My second "vision" in the book is much better than the first. I definitely need to work on that one. Though it's getting more interesting the farther I get into it. It's making me wonder if the first few chapters don't need a major overhaul. I'll consider it. However, that's for the next editing round... I'm thinking of it as my in-depth editing round. I'll get there. If I can keep doing 4-10 pages a night, I might finish this first pass by the end of December. That would be cool.
 

I've been thinking about how my book flows for the past 2 days. I keep thinking that I should do a more in-depth edit right now as I'm going through it for the first time. Then I realize that this is the first time I'm going through it from start to finish. lol So, I do believe I'll keep a sheet of paper near me for thoughts and ideas while correcting minor errors I catch right away. I calculated that I only need to do about 2 pages a day to meet my self-imposed deadline, however, I think I'll speed this particular edit phase up. This is such a minor one that I can easily do anywhere from 4-10 pages a day. No reason to lallygag around. That way, I can make sure I have the time I need to do the more in-depth stuff that comes in the next editing phase. Hopefully, the 3rd edit will finish polishing it up to the point where I'd be willing to show more people than just my husband and mother. lol

With that, I'm going to try and get a grip on my kids. Why are they up already? LOL Normally, they're not up for another hour! They're already making a lot of noise and it's setting my nerves on edge. Guess it doesn't help that Christmas is right around the corner with next to no money in the bank. My in-laws and my mother are both due in this week and I need to clean the house. I don't want to loose whatever momentum I have towards editing my book, but this isn't looking very good. Okay, I stressed out there all of a sudden. It's time to take a deep breath and just go relax for a bit. Maybe see if the kids will let me write in my journal. I'm also supposed to be working on a gift for my hubby, but it sounds like his company is trying to find random stuff for them to do. That means that he'll meander into the house at a random time, I just know it! Makes it difficult to work on a "secret" Christmas gift if he can just appear randomly.

Speaking of Christmas, I already have my gift. My iPod died all of a sudden the other day. I mean, it was working when I went into Barnes and Noble, I hung out with my editing group for about 2 hours, and then when I left, it was dead! Ugh! Luckily, I put the 2 year warranty on it, so I ran by Best Buy. They didn't give me any problems about it, either. They just had to call someone to verify that it really was dead and they got a code to punch into the computer. Ten minutes later, I had a gift card in my hand for the purchase price of my iPod. I am now the owner of the new 5th generation iPod Nano. My 'gift' came in the form of paying for another warranty. lol I wasn't about to leave that store without one! My last iPod lasted just over 1 year. We're talking 9 days past 1 year. Nuts, huh? Either way, I have a new one and I'm relatively happy.

Okay, I'm just rambling here. My nerves are on edge and I'm having a hard time breaking free to face the day. I hope everyone's day goes smoothly!
 

I'm not getting very far into my editing. I keep getting distracted by other things and putting it off. So it's time to create a deadline for myself. Of course, some pretty nifty holidays are coming up and we'll have visitors from the 16th through the 24th. That will put a crimp in a few things. I have a full finish deadline by June 28th, I think it was, so I'd better get going. I know I'll need to run through and edit it at least 3 times. Guess I'll go hunt down my manuscript and see how many pages there are in it. Then divide my time remaining by 3 and then divide the number of manuscript pages by that number. That way, it will tell me how many pages I have to do each day. I'd like to put at least a week's worth of downtime in there... Okay. Where's a calendar and a calculator? LOL
 

After the purchase of 2 new ink cartridges and another large ream of paper, I think I'm just about ready for edit mode. I reset my entire book to 1.5 spacing, 1" margins, and removed all of the chapter breaks. During this first read/edit, I will put them back in. I randomly slapped them in as I was writing it, but I'll see now if they make any sense. It just finished printing out. LOL 115 pages is a lot to ask of a printer. I had to reload my paper tray 3 times. hehehe I love that!

DH also loves me oodles. He let me buy a rather expensive set of editing pens. Okay, they're not that expensive for what they are. They're nice Uniball Vision Elite colored pens, micro points. I love those kinds of pens. So, it will make editing more "fun" just because I want to use the pens. LOL That right there makes it worth the $20 that the set cost. Since there are 8 pens and 2 of them are "normal" colors that can be used for every day, it's fine.

My first run through on my book will be to catch obvious edit needs. Things like typos, minor grammar issues, words that are definitely wrong, stuff like that. After I put them in, I'll let the book rest a week or so. Then, I'll print out a fresh copy with the last edits and focus on the plot itself. I'll start to ask each section if it's truly needed and does it keep the book moving in the right direction. Each edit will just dig deeper into the book until I can read it in its entirety without cringing. When I read it and get swept up into it until the very end, THEN I'll know it's ready. I might even be willing to submit it to a real publisher at that point. We'll see though. All I know is that I have until, let's say, June 28, 2010 to get it done. That's about the last day I'd be able to take advantage of the CreateSpace.com code I won doing NaNo this year.

What's cool though, is that we have several of our regional NaNo group willing to keep meeting to push each other through the editing process. What an awesome group! I guess I'd better get to work.
 

I sure hope that this doesn't sound conceited, but I'm not normally like this. I was reading one of my favorite authors today. He writes YA books and I really like them. I enjoy the more simple world that appears in YA books that don't seem to require erotic scenes or violence. Over time, I have often thought, "I wish I could write like him." Of course, at that time, I focused solely on short stories, so how was I to know? Now, after finishing a book of my own, I think I might write as well as he does. I found myself editing his book as I went. LOL There's one phrase in this particular book that has bothered me each and every time I've read it. I finally realized that if the word was changed to a different form, it would work better. Of course, that's just my personal opinion, but I'm sure others would agree with me. My guess is that it's being changed from "Australian English" to "American English" and that affects what's chosen. Though, I wouldn't think that the two different forms of English are all that different. Anyway! Beside the point there....

My point was that I think I write as well as he does. You have no idea what sort of hope that gives me for the future. What boggles my mind, though, is that I think there are several writers here on WDC that write even better than I do. iKïyå§ama fits in that niche as does Adriana Noir . Of course, that's also my personal opinion. Everyone here has their strengths and weaknesses. All I know is that when I read their stories, I completely forget about reviewing. LOL I get swept up in their stories and that's the end of that! When I reach the end, I've completely forgotten to take any notes on anything that occurred to me that might be "wrong." To me, that's the sign of a great author.

So, I have new hope and new desire to edit my book. I'm getting ready to reset all my spacing to 1.5 spacing with 1" margins. Maybe change the font to Garamond as I like it and it's different from the Arial and Times New Roman I see all the time. Then take out the chapter breaks. I think I put them in the wrong spots. LOL If they're out of the way, maybe I can look on the entire book as a coherent whole. I will put them back in when I'm more sure of where they belong. Now... I need more paper and another print cartridge...
 

I woke up this morning and really didn't want to leave my bed. It was nice and cozy warm. My house was COLD! Now, if we were still in CO, this would be normal at this time of year. However, I've been happily spoiled since we moved to TX. Of course, we moved just at the tail end of the heat so we only had to suffer through a few days of high humidity and high temperatures. Then, the rain came and I swear that's all it did for a month straight. LOL Now! It's cold today. Darn arctic cold. It needs to stay up north where it belongs. Starting tomorrow, it's supposed to warm back up again, so it's all good.

Anyway! I was coming to say that I might wake up more today than I ever did yesterday. I ended up taking TWO naps yesterday. I think I've been falling asleep more out of boredom than anything else. I was tired, and I wasn't thinking clearly, but there's something wrong. Who knows? All I know is that, while I'm not completely awake yet, I feel more awake than I did yesterday. This is about how I felt all day yesterday. I'll have to find a way to break this sleepy feeling. Of course, cold and cloudy doesn't do much for me.

I guess I'll see how much I can drag out of my brain in a creative manner, whether it wants to come out or not! LOL I have a cute little handbag ready to have the pieces sewn together. If nothing else, I think I can handle a straight seam. That might help wake me up and feel like I'm getting somewhere. But I really want to work on my book for a little bit. See how much of chapter 2 I can get edited today. I started on it yesterday, but I didn't get very far.

With that, I think I'll go get some more coffee and get away from my evil computer.
 

I was reading in a writing book I have that every piece needs to have a theme of some sort. Even if it's quick and to the point, you should have one. I'm thrilled to say that I found my theme in my NaNo book! Now, I know why my silly MC managed to fall off a ledge and hurt her ankle. Anyway, I just wanted to share. I had NO clue what was the unifying theme in my book. As I thought about it and what possibly tied it all together and caused it to go in the direction it went, it finally clicked. Someday, you can read my novel and tell me what you think it is. Well, that is if I ever take it out of "private" land and/or get it published. I'm not holding my breath on that last one... I'm scared to death of rejection.