My Son

Here's a video of my son reading at church for the first time. I thought he did great. =)



I now return you to your regular blog.

What have you written today?

You Don't Stand a Chance

One of the recent headlines from the Reading Eagle Newspaper:

"Pickup hits DUI detail in Sinking Spring" and the article goes on to say, "Officers said they smelled alcohol inside the truck."

Hmmmmm. I didn't see that one coming.

I figure if you hit the DUI detail after the big signs they put around here to announce them, there is no way you're sober.

The truck hit two deputies in a van and another deputy on the street. I hope they will all be okay, but I couldn't pass up sharing this headline.

What have you written today?

Marathon Reading: Hunger, A Gone Novel

Have you ever done this? Book two in a series has been published in hardback. We read book one and loved it. We saved up (I'm still out of job and hardbacks are friggin expensive) and got the book. My son had already re-read the first one, so he read the newest one while I read the first one again. In one day. Friday. Then, Friday night about ten o'clock I started the new one. I finished it Saturday afternoon at two. 600 pages in 8 1/2 hours. (I had to sleep a little too.)

Let me tell you, it felt like I'd run a marathon with the H1N1 flu. I can't believe how rung out I felt. It's Tuesday and I'm just to the point where I'm me again. I used to do this all the time. More importantly, I used to do this with NO ill effects.

Have I mentioned I feel old? On the plus side, the book was good, worth it, at least. Hunger by Michael Grant. The second in the Gone series. Very Very worth it.

What have you written today?

Common Mistakes

Ohhhh, I felt the need to do another common mistakes post. This time, I would like to pick on transposition. Are you familiar with this one? This would be where you mean to stop light, but instead type out light stop.

The biggest issue that I can see with this is that the human brain will automatically correct this when you read your own writing. Other people can and will catch your mistake, but odds are you probably won't. This flaw will make your characters unintentionally sound like Yoda.

I've found several of these errors, thanks to my kids no less. The latest had my main heroine using towel papers, she did.

Many writer tip sites recommend having someone read your book out loud, whether it be you, a friend, or even the text to speech function in your PC. This common mistake will be found if you take the time to do this. And that could go far in making your novel much more professional.

And, I've jumped off my soap-box.

What have you written today?

Awwwww . . . Nuts

I finished going through the 3rd novel and I printed it out. I was so happy. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this book on my PC and editing it. I was so excited to print it out and punch my holes. I put my cardboard covers on and my rings to hold everything together and sat it in my finished pile.

I should know better. I know that, even after you edit and re-edit it on a PC, they say to print it out and read it again. They say it's something about how your brain processes things differently from electronic device to print. I don't really understand all that. What I do understand is that today when I went to pick my son up from school, I gleefully grabbed (sorry Liz :P) my 3rd novel.

I found my parking space at the school, shut the car off, and pulled out my book. Within the first page, I was digging around the car for a pen to make notes/corrections. I'm up to page 79 and there is not one page yet that doesn't have cross outs and scribbles. NUTS!!!!

Here I go again. I guess I'll need to do the same thing with number 2. I did do it once, but not since I edited on the computer again. Does the madness ever end? Do I want it to? I guess, if I really want to be published someday, the answer would be no. NUTS!

What have you written today?

More Edits

So I finished editing my 2nd novel. A large part of me wants to go back and edit it again. I know there are places where I tell instead of show, but right now I'm afraid I'm too close to it again. I've decided to let it sit and move on to edit #3. When I get through everything once, then I'll go back and re-edit #2.

My biggest issue with editing #3 is I'm having too much fun reading it to get any good editing done. I haven't read this one since I wrote. I know I have a couple major story points at the end to work out. Things that have bothered me that I know I can fix if I just focus. Hopefully I've allowed time to pass so that I'm not too close to this one too.

Anyway, back to work.

What have you written today?

What a Day!

First, Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Wow. I'm exhausted. Since I had finished editing it, I reprinted my first novel on my new printer. Talk about self-publishing. Hehehe.

I have several people asking to read it. And, now that it's truly edited, I think I want their opinions. I think. It's nice being able to print it out in booklet form. It almost looks like a real book, it's much easier to transport and store, and it uses a quarter of the paper traditional printing uses.

I actually got some editing done on my second novel too. Always a good thing. I'll be so happy when I've actually edited all of the novels. It's amazing how much that weighs on my mind. More so since I'd rather be writing. Oh, well. I'm focusing on editing. I mean it this time. Really, I do. =)

What have you written today?