Category: WIP Wednesday

Time Saving Tips: Family Meals

Here’s one of my favorite time saving tips. I formed this habit when the Chromos were younger. Working a demanding full-time Day Job and raising a family didn’t leave a lot of time to sneak in writing a sentence or two, so anything I could do to streamline “chores” was a help. Even with the Chromos mostly grown and gone, and a less demanding Day Job, I still tend to use this system

I keep a large, dry-erase calendar on which I color coordinate the family’s events, in the kitchen. I am purple, TV Stevie is blue; Y-Chromo is green, X-Chromo is red. I plan our weekly meals around this calendar and post them on a dry-erase board on the refrigerator. I write my grocery shopping list from this menu. Now, when I get home from work, I don’t have to think about what’s for supper, who’s going to be there, etc., because the menu was planned around everyone’s schedule. The only snag is when I forget to take the chicken out of the freezer in the morning.

I also save “major” cooking for the weekends. Week night meals tend to be ready in 30 minutes or less. I also try to make them “dishwasher” friendly. (I don’t put metal pots and pans–what my mom calls “tin dishes”–in the dishwasher.) Every minute I can save is a minute I can write.

Goal Check/Goal Set

Time to check my goals for 2015.

Writing:

  • Finish 3rd werewolf book–done, under contract, 1st round of revisions completed.
  • Search for home for Baseball Books–sold one to Loose Id, have a second one ready to go.
  • Novella for anthology with my critique partners–done; final polish done
  • 2 writing retreats–done
  • Critique at least 1x per month–yes
  • Finish & submit proposal for another sports romance: no.
  • maintain and refine my writing space–mantained
  • 30 minutes actual book time 5 days a week–I would say my average for this was 75%

And here are my hopes for 2016:

  • Omega Moon Rising publication
  • submit a second baseball book
  • progress on the critique group anthology
  • 2 writing retreats
  • critique at least 1x per month
  • finish 1st draft of “other” sports romance
  • Maintain and refine my writing space
  • Writing Weekend get-aways whenever I can
  • “Standby” novella for publisher anthology opportunities.

Hope you have a safe, happy, healthy New Year!

Time Lines

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One drawback of being an organic writer (a/k/a “pantser”) is the timeline of a story.

I’ve been deep into revisions of my third werewolf novel, Omega Moon Rising. In one spot, my editor asked me, “Has it really only been a week?” My initial response was, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Then I realized she had a point. I know the story didn’t happen over an extended period of time, but there had to have been more than a week between the events to which she referred.

::sigh::

So I opened up an Excel spread sheet and created a calendar of sorts, using the phases of the moon. Moon phases are extremely important to werewolves. What if I had messed all of that up, too? Fortunately, I had not. But I did discover some really long chapters. I needed to tweak a word here and there to clarify the amount of time that had passed. Whew!

Revisions

I’ve been up to my ears in revisions. Apparently my manuscript wasn’t as “clean” as I thought it was, which is kind of embarrassing. I pride myself in turning in professional work to my publishers.  Oh well. My editor is an amazing woman who asks wonderful questions and points out holes a convoy of tanks could traverse. We’re making the book better.

I actually don’t mind revisions, because they mean I’ve accomplished the best part of being an author: I have written. “You can’t edit a blank page.” I’ve heard the quote attributed to many authors. Let’s just say that it comes from Nora Roberts. She knows what she’s talking about.

Work-In-Progress Wednesday: Anne B. Cole

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It’s Work-In-Progress Wednesday, and today I’d like to welcome Anne B. Cole!

ann cole author photo

MJ: November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Do you participate? If so, do you find it helpful? If not, why not?

ABC: I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2014. I didn’t participate in the traditional way—writing an entire book. Instead I worked on my third book in the Souls Trilogy, Souls Endure, my current WIP.

NaNoWriMo is helpful because it gave me a passion to write everyday. I believe I wrote 22 thousand words that month—the most I’ve ever written in a single month. Now days, I aim for 500 words /day.

MJ: If you didn’t write, what would be your creative outlet?

ABC: Hmmm. I love to garden and run but neither is very creative. I love to cook and bake—that could be creative with the limited time I have to fix dinners some nights:)

MJ: Other than writing, what would be your dream job? Why?

ABC: I love the outdoors and I’m a teacher, so my dream job would be to be a ‘naturalist hiking guide’ at a national park.

MJ: Describe your ideal/dream writing space.

ABC: A screened in porch (with windows during the colder seasons) with a view of fields/woods and perhaps a pond. I love watching the birds and squirrel that visit my window where I write now. Here is a picture of a squirrel in my peach tree from my real writing window.

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MJ: What do you love most about your WIP hero?

ABC: I love Sam’s loyalty to Gretta. No matter what the circumstance, he strives to help and protect her.

MJ: What do you least like about your WIP heroine?

ABC: Gretta tends to need more self confidence, so I put her in situations where she is forced to adapt and become stronger emotionally and physically.

MJ: What genre is your current WIP?

ABC: Supernatural Suspense—with time travel into the past, so there is a bit of historical fiction along with the paranormal elements. Yep, I’m a genre bender! I tried to fit my books into a cozy single genre…it didn’t work:)

MJ: How did you come up with your hero and heroine’s names?

ABC: Great question! I’ve taught many, many kids through my teaching career so picking names is difficult for me.

I chose ‘Gretta’ because years ago one of my preschool students had a new baby sister named Gretta and I fell in love with the name. ‘Dobbs’ is a very old family name.

I chose ‘Sam’ because I love the book, Green Eggs and Ham. ‘Daggett’ is a road in my home town in Pennsylvania.

MJ: How did you choose the setting for your current WIP?

ABC: The primary setting for Souls Endure—Delos— is a sacred Greek Island. With Sam and Gretta faced with breaking the final curse on Gretta’s ring, I needed to place them in a setting where gods, curses, and mythology all could contribute to the plot.

The first book in the series, Souls Entwined, was set in Milos, a Greek island near Delos. The second book, Souls Estranged, was set in the United States. I missed the island setting and knew I had to return to it in the final book.

 

MJ: Can you share the opening lines of your current work in progress?

ABC: Yes. This is from Souls Endure:

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Raindrops speckled the sidewalk, yet disappeared within seconds in the heat of late August. The homeless man adjusted his grip on the dagger still concealed in the folds of his new jacket.

He knew what he had to do.

The man who gave him the jacket had relayed instructions without words. Despite the pain he would inflict, his actions were necessary for the protection of the young couple.

He would complete the task without question.

MJ: Your current release, Souls Estranged, is Book Two of The Souls Trilogy. Where can readers find it?

SoulsEstranged (2) (1)

ABC: It’s available at Amazon.

MJ: How can readers stay in touch with you?

ABC: I have a blog, and I’m on Twitter and Facebook.

MJ: Thanks again for stopping by. Good luck with your books!