Writing is an amazing journey.

I've been working on some rewrites/editing on the novel, and I had become rather unhappy with the first chapter--which was really the first two, since they covered the same situation.

Which was another thing I wasn't happy with, as I felt there was too much in there that wasn't necessary, or just not written that well. But, that's what rewrites are for.

The timeline also needed to be tightened up, and that meant re-working or eliminating places where the heroine isn't actually doing anything, but is waiting for others to do stuff and then tell her about it so things can move forward.

This is where subplots come in, I know, but I still wasn't happy with how it was going.

And it hit me. Like the cliched freight train.

POW!

I figured out how to get rid of those pesky scenes, and give the girl a more compelling reason to get involved, which also adds to the overall story arc that carries through the series.

Now why didn't I think of this before?

Who knows?

Really, I don't get how my mind even comes up with these things. One second I'm washing dishes--or sleeping--and the next I'm stumbling to the computer to get down a story idea, or even a complete short story.

It's so weird when that happens.

But nice.

Hope you had a nice July, and are looking forward to an even nicer August.

Bye for now,

Anne

Someone, save me from rewrites...Please!

Just a short update on the novel today. I'm making progress on the rewrite, getting the story tightened up nicely. The only problem is I'm beginning to feel like the first chapter isn't working!

Argh! What's a poor writer to do? Get her butt-in-chair-fingers-on-keyboard. That's what.

It's a good thing I love to write, or I would be majorly depressed right now. I'm trying to make this book as good as I possibly can, and I find myself second-guessing every plot point, every word choice.

Well, we all know that can't go on, so I'm just going to finish the rest of the book, and then look at that first chapter. What I think is wrong is that I'm still trying to have too much going on (the dreaded info-dump) that's not directly plot-related, so all I guess I really need is to cut out some stuff.

Easy-peasy.

So, yeah.

Later,

Anne

Book update

Rewrites are coming along, though a little slower than I'd hoped. Family health issues have really slowed the process, but I think I'm finally back in the groove with things.

I found an artist who had a fantastic cover that would be great for book two in the series, so I emailed her about the possibility of working something out to do all the covers. It would be a relief to have someone else handle that side of things, because I haven't been able to find anything that really spoke to me before now.

If things keep going well (hey, don't jinx myself!), the book should be ready by the end of the month, with the second book coming along in the fall, with any luck by October 1st.