Musings & more….
… but I’m working through the editor’s (aka SFG’s) story notes for Dowser 8 today.
Yep, this is what brainstorming a ‘missing’ scene looked like earlier this afternoon.
I’ve also spent the day trying to convince myself that I have absolutely no need for a new iPad, even if I would totally have fun writing with the pencil.
And .. that’s editing in a nut shell. For this book, at least.
I wrote this note to myself for Dowser 8 over a two months ago. Bring Freddie back? Where? It has been stuck to my desk through writing the third draft of Dowser 8, the entire first draft of Dowser 8.5, and the second draft of Mory’s novella in D8.5. Frustrated with it taunting me, I stuck it to the front of my current notebook a few days ago.
Then, last night while lying in bed and trying to will myself to sleep (as I do every night) and not even thinking about the Freddie hole in Dowser 8, I was was hit with ideas for not one but three scenes (in Dowser 8, Dowser 8.5, and Dowser 9) involving Freddie. Concerned I might forget, I scrambled to find my glasses in the dark (I didn’t want to wake Michael) and email the ideas/scenes to myself. Actually, it probably would have been easier to get out of bed and grab my laptop. Ha.
My point? The muse moves in mysterious ways. And I have absolutely no idea why – after racking my brain for months for a good way to weave Freddie further into the three books – I suddenly figured it out while lying in bed and trying to fall asleep.
There you go.
Bonus: finding emails with scenes sketched out in my inbox the next morning. Plus I didn’t sleep badly after that at all!
I’m working on the second draft of Rochelle’s novelette in Dowser 8.5 today! Fun! Fun!
Okay, I put out a call for cupcake names for the two new cupcakes featured in Dowser 8 last week. And you all submitted A LOT of amazing possibilities. I took some time this afternoon to short list a bunch of the suggestions, attempting to pair them together in a way that worked for me.
So without further ado here is my shortlist.
Cupcake #1 (first row): chocolate mint cake with chocolate mint buttercream
Cupcake #2 (second row): chocolate mint cake with mint buttercream
Chill in a Cup Tingle in a Cup
Brisk in a Cup Shiver in a Cup
Snuggle (or Snug) in a Cup Satisfaction in a Cup
Rush in a Cup Quiver in a Cup
Flutter in a Cup Frisky in a Cup
Spark in a Cup Seduction in a Cup
Awe in a Cup Exhilaration in a Cup
Now, I’m going to send this list to Michael to see if he can help me narrow it down. I’ve only done a first pass, so I have a feeling a few of these pairing might be swapped around before we settle on just two names.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit. It was difficult to narrow the pairings down. I actually had a bunch of single entries that I really liked but I couldn’t get them to really work with any of the other entries.
Reminder: some of the suggestions were doubled/tripled/etc. When the final two names are selected, the FIRST person who submitted the name for consideration will be contacted and awarded the prize/credit.
Thank you for playing along!!
_____________________________
Edited:
Michael’s (and my) finalists:
Snuggle in a Cup Frisky in a Cup
Chill in a Cup Tingle in a Cup
And now I think I’ll need to write the recipes and test bake the cupcakes in order to decide which of the two options suit them best. So you’ll have to give me until next weekend to finalize the giveaway!!
Fun!
I finally got Dowser 8 off to the editor (aka SFG aka Scott Fitzgerald Gray) for story editing this morning. Though I nearly lost my mind trying to output the manuscript from Scrivener (the software I use to write) into a WORD document because the compile function had been updated/upgraded. Anyway, an hour and half later, I dropped the book in Scott’s inbox. YAY!
And, because some of you might ask, I haven’t set a release date yet. There are three stages of editing – story, line/content, then proofread. And those tasks depend on other people’s schedules as well as at least two, if not three, more drafts of the novel, plus a polish, that depend on me. Late spring/early summer is my best guess right now.
To celebrate I thought I’d share an excerpt with you.
“Treasure Keeper.” I struggled to keep my tone smooth. “Thank you for coming. I do have some questions. Would you like to step inside the bakery?”
He tilted his head, making a show of thinking about it. “Are there cupcakes?”
“Probably not. Nothing fresh, at least. But I believe we were just about to order sushi.”
Pulou grimaced. “Raw fish.”
“We could order some tempura.” Yes, I was cajoling one of the nine most powerful beings in the world with deep fried prawns and veggies. I had a feeling it was that, or give into the need to beat him around the head until he apologized — for locking me up and not telling me about the elves. “And there might be some leftover petit fours.”
“That will have to do then. Not created by your hand, alchemist, but I shall have to endure, I suppose.” He offered me a smile.
I returned the smile, with less teeth. I wasn’t fooled by his attempt to charm me. Seriously. A girl knew when her former mentor would like nothing better than to kick her ass and retrieve the instruments of assassination.
– Dowser 8, Chapter 8, third draft [selectively edited for extreme spoilers][unproofed]
Below is the excerpt I promised yesterday. I just added another 2100 words to Mory’s story (which opens Dowser 8.5) bringing it to 12k with at least six more scenes left. So it will definitely be a novella once it’s finished, not even including the addition of Rochelle and Jasmine’s stories. Fun!
Now I’m going to make Michael his birthday lunch (grilled cheese – medium cheddar cheese from a local dairy on garlic cheddar bread from a local baker), then settle in with my knitting for a Thor movie marathon with the birthday boy. Later there will be cheesecake and individual pizzas.
Warner leaned forward. “And if I’m about to leave the country, I’d like a moment alone with you. Upstairs, perhaps?”
Placing a hand on his chest, I pushed him slightly away. He allowed it with a grin that told me he was content to be compliant. For the moment, at least. “Leaving the country? With Kett?”
He shrugged. “We’re bringing Drake. And your father and Qiuniu are joining us at some point. So what could possibly happen?”
My mind momentarily boggled at all the craziness that could possibly occur under those exact circumstances.
– Dowser 8, chapter two, second draft
I know, I know, I made this big announcement about how I was going to cut back and refocus, including taking Saturday mornings off. And then I worked all day last Saturday (I really, really just wanted to get the first draft of Dowser 8 done) and now I want to spend more time with Mory (aka the opening novella of Dowser 8.5) this morning.
But being self-employed has to have some benefits, doesn’t it? And tomorrow I’ll reward myself with a chocolate milkshake and buying/planting a pear tree (I’ll try to remember to take a picture. It’s a two combo espalier and I’m planting it in the raised garden bed outside my office window).
And really, the recycling/groceries/mail can totally wait. Ahem, ah, yeah, confession time, if you won a copy of Dowser 7 from me like a long time ago, I still haven’t managed to get it in the mail. Sorry! But the padded envelopes I needed finally showed up yesterday, so the paperbacks will be on their way soon!
Now where did I leave Mory … oh, yes, Mountain View Cemetery. Where else would she be?
Okay, this tiny snippet made me laugh out loud yesterday. I thought you might find it fun as well.
Feeling the teenagers behind me becoming restless, I wrapped my hand around the hilt of my knife. Someone was going to have to teach Peggy and Maia to be patient hunters.
Unfortunately, I was concerned that person was supposed to me and I was honestly getting bored myself.
– Dowser 8, chapter one, second draft
So I’ve decided to change up my daily writing schedule in 2018. Normally, I work on one project/novel/screenplay at a time, taking it through three drafts, then story edit, then another draft and polishing pass, then content/line edit, then final read through, then proofreaders, and then the book is released. Meaning that after I write the first draft, I don’t really write any ‘new’ words until the story is with the editor (I add a ton of words, and move them around, but I’m still working within the same main story). So this often results in me struggling to get back into the habit of daily writing when a book is being released – at a time that I often feel a bit tired (if not actually a little burned out).
So! For 2018, I’ve decided to try something new. I’ll write two thousand words a day, every morning, five days a week. And in the afternoon, I’ll work on the 2nd/3rd drafts or edits of the novel that is next to be released. Setting Saturdays aside for audiobook recording.
So this will likely mean that the period of time between Dowser 7 and Dowser 8 releasing will be slightly longer than normal, but it should also mean that Dowser 8.5 and Dowser 9 actually release quicker. If all goes as planned and I can actually write two novels at once (that does remain to be seen).
Anyway, this is long way of saying – YAY! I get to start writing Dowser 8.5 today, as well as the second draft of Dowser 8 this afternoon.
Oh, FYI. I seriously hope the test prints of the new T-shirt designs from Dowser 7 arrive at Elizabeth’s this week. But they still haven’t shipped. Yes, the ones I ordered on January 12. 🙁 Fingers crossed! I’ll do a couple of giveaways when they’ve been approved! And hopefully Elizabeth will take some modelling shots. 🙂 I will also write up a post about getting a good fit (using your chest measurement, not the size printed on the T-shirt) and how international readers can get their hands on the designs (since the T-shirts themselves still only ship to US addresses).
I couldn’t let Valentine’s Day pass without sharing a glimpse of my (current) favourite couple, Jade and Warner.
I’ve been working through the first half of Dowser 8 for the last couple of weeks, having gotten derailed writing the first draft by editing Dowser 7, the holidays, and the rather lengthy to-do list that comes with releasing a book. I’ve been only getting 600-800 newish words a day. But the idea is that these ‘easy’ second draft words were supposed to ease me back into the writing.
But the muse is a funny thing … I can write without it, without the words and ideas flowing, but it feels heartless and ungrounded. Eventually the idea that the story will never flow again starts to take hold and erode my sense of how the writing is supposed to be. Yes, there are often a few tough days in a row that I need to weather, but I’ve just gone through the longest period of feeling like I had nothing in my head that I’ve ever experienced. Dowser 8, Dowser 9, Necromancer 1 are all plotted out, with detailed outlines, and before I hit this drought I was also working on a brand new series that will launch this fall.
But, even with all that story worked out, nothing was flowing.
And between you and me (and poor Michael who was probably getting tired of me yammering on about being in a weird ‘nothing’ headspace), it was starting to freak me out. I needed NEW words, not just rewritten ones. I desperately needed the muse to visit.
So, yesterday I reached the end of what I had written for the first draft of Dowser 8. I wasn’t exactly staring at a blank page (I rarely do because I outline) but I was daunted. So I complained a bit on social media. I fussed around. Yadda, yadda.
Then I wrote. I told myself all I needed was 2000 words. I reminded myself that they didn’t need to be brilliant, because there are many, many stages to writing a novel (at least 5 to 6 drafts on my part alone, not including all the work the editor does) and I just needed words to get me through to the third act – aka the ending that I’ve been running in my head for over a year now.
So I got 2400 words. This number is in no way brilliant in and of itself, and should be easily achievable. But it hasn’t been. And I yet managed it. Satisfied with that solid day, I put the chickies to bed and started a new knitting project.
And this morning?
The muse came rolling back, specifically while I was cleaning out the litter box. But hey, I’m not complaining!
Taking a little tidbit from the new scene I wrote yesterday (a scene I thought was pretty throw away at the time), the muse dropped a bloody, dark deed on me – an idea that expanded a beat set up in Dowser 7 and Dowser 8 but was actually more fully exploitable in one of the short stories that I’ve been muttering about possibly writing.
And the muse wasn’t done, because in order to share this new deviously dark idea with Michael, I needed to explain how it came about and where it fit. And in doing so, I realized that the two short stories were actually two parts of a novella (if not a novel) that fits between Dowser 8 and Dowser 9. And that’s not all … it’s actually THREE parts, not just the two shorts I’ve been toying with writing.
So there you go. You may now make chocolate sacrifices to the muse, she’s just given you Dowser 8.5.
But!
Here’s the twist.
It’s not a Jade book.
Oh, no. *insert evil grin*
It’s Mory, Rochelle, and Jasmine’s tales. All outlined and interconnected, thanks to the muse this very morning.
I will now have a hot chocolate in celebration.
The muse is back and she’s full of wicked ideas!
