7 November - Contest, Peeve. Week behind and week ahead

December is the month for giving. During the month I'll be giving away print copies of the 27 books I have available in print. Most of them are also available electronically. For those who are interested, they can go back and look through the blog to see the possibilty. I will start the draw on the first of December and continue until the 27th day of the month. One book a day. If there are any that particularly interest you, a mention of it in the blog post will help. Also I will need a way to get in touch with you so some clue as to your email addy will help. The followers of my blog may be the ones first chosen since it's nice to give gifts to friends even though they're not meant. One of these Mondays I'll list all the book titles. Though I wish I could send them all over the world I'll limit the ones sent to the United States and Canada as often sending books to other countries costs more in postage than the book sells for. Wish life were different. So to qualify, either become a member of this blog or leave a note on one of the posts saying you'd like a chance to have one of the books as a gift and leave a clue as to how I can reach you. I'll collect the names and then begin drawing on December 1st.

Peeve 4 - Maybe not really a peeve, but just an observation. Since 1998 I've been electronically published. When I began this adventure the negative remarks I received from fellow writers were hurtful but I knew I was doing the right thing for myself as an author. Some of my books are a bit outside the traditional genre guidelines. But I went with the flow and made some money, not a lot but money wasn't the reason I write. I write because I must. Now with the advent of the electronic readers now electronic publishing has become the thing. Guess back those many years ago, my choice was right for me.

Week behind - am now 51% done with The Chosen of Horu. Have half the chapters to make right. One of my problems is making sure the setting gets in there. I tend to leave this out when I'm doing the flow of the story and running my characters through the plot.

This week coming I intend to have another part of the story headed in the right direction.

3 October - Week past and week ahead

Another month has arrived and this is the time of ghosts and goblins but that's for later in the month.

Received a nice email from a writer I helped in the past thanking me for keeping the eyes of her characters from wandering and letting me know she's had five sales. That amkes me feel that all the time I've spent critiquing other people's works worth the effort. Sure wish that would bring forth sales but just feeling good is nice.

Am now 30% done with The Chosen of Horu. Had to go back and do a bit of reorganizing so didn't complete as much as I wanted but now it's full steam ahead.

This week I hope to complete at least four chapters of the book through the let's research draft. That does take a bit of time but I do have all my research books at hand and have looked up what I need to find on the internew. Handy thing the internet.

Gradually increasing the number of people I follow and those who follow me on the ones I follow. Have had several iffy ones but I'll consider them later.

5 September - Week behind Week ahead - Snakes and Crocodiles

Last week went well with The Chosen of Horu. Now have the book 16% done and hopefully will get a lot more done this wwek. Had a glitch and didn't get much done on Saturday. Had the two youngest grandchildren for a few hours. At ages 3 and 4, they exhausted me. One wanted to be outside and the other wanted to be inside. Felt like the Solomon thing except it was the grandma being pulled in half. They are the busiest children I've ever been around but then everything is new to them since their early years weren't spent in this country. It's a pleasure to see such curiosity. After they left I collapsed with a good book.

This week I must do some research. In writing we often have to face our fears, or at least have our characters face them for us. This week it's SNAKES and CROCODILES. Those are in capitals because I feel that way about them. On my shelf I found a book about snakes and have been delving into the words and pictures. I do not have one on crocodiles so I'll hit the internet for that. This is what I get for placing a story in an ancient Egypt. The snake will die but the crocodile won't. At least I have some magical creatures in the story to rid my hero and heroine of the crocs. That's what's wonderful about writing fantasy. One can find a way to chase the fears away.

The goal for this week is to work on the plot draft of another five to seven chapters. Hopefully I'll find a way to keep the schedule going. Would like to finish this story and move on to another that's beginning to perculate. Writing is a never ending business.

1 August - Week behind and week ahead

Last week saw the end of July and for me a new computer I'm just getting used to. Lost all my favorite places but am slowly regaining them. Good thing was that my documents managed to be downloaded. Now I have to see what else needs to be gathered and put onto this new thing.

Writing went well. I've now blocked in 18 chapters of The Pharaoh of Horu and hope to finish blocking in the rest this week. If not I'll finish it next week, Then the fun begins since there will be about 28000 to 30000 words of what should come in at 75000 words. I'll head into the draft section of the writing process and that's where the idea really becomes a story.

Next week's goals. A minimum of blocking in 7 chapters of the book. The maximum to get to the end of the rough draft or the blocking stage. Next will be filling in what I left out which is mostly everything.

Had few bites on the last two contests I've done and I have a lot of books I'd like to give away. I think I left too little lead time and didn't advertise them enough. Guess I'll wait until December and do another one like last December.