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Welcome to the Writing Life! (Read 576 times)

Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #850 - Mar 17^th, 2019 at 2:56am	Print Post
	Eating while writing can be a messy business. looks at shirt I'm going to have to make myself a bunch of "clothing protectors" if I'm going to make a habit of working and eating at the same time.....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #851 - Mar 17^th, 2019 at 4:20am	Print Post
	I've added about a page tonight. My main problems have been avoiding dropping food on my shirt and deciding on the right turn of phrase without repeating myself. I've wrapped things up for the night since my left eyelid has decided to twitch which is a sure sign that eyestrain is at hand. I'm going to have to have my eyes checked and I'm afraid that I may have to go back into glasses for more than close work. My distance vision seems to be deteriorating a bit. sigh I'm not surprised since my eyesight has been deteriorating steadily pretty much since I was 10 years old. It slowed down considerably when I was in my 30s -- thank the Gods -- but I've still needed new glasses every few years. Oh well, it isn't like I'm not used to wearing glasses...


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #852 - Apr 3^rd, 2019 at 11:43pm	Print Post
	Well, I have FINALLY figured out what to use to subdue the group of people that need to be kidnapped. It helped to find out that certain plants emit methane in admittedly tiny amounts. All I have to do is increase the amount of gas emitted and work out how to administer it without alerting the victims....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #853 - Apr 4^th, 2019 at 12:44am	Print Post
	I've added about a page so far. Still working out the details.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #854 - Apr 4^th, 2019 at 4:53am	Print Post
	Working out the details was giving me a headache so I put it to bed for the night. I'll mull things over and start fresh tomorrow. I've realized that I skipped "secondmeal" altogether and haven't had dinner yet. I probably should do something about that.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #855 - Apr 20^th, 2019 at 3:47am	Print Post
	I've done some editing and tweaking but nothing major lately. STILL working on exactly how the Bad Guy in this situation is going to get Our Heroes in his clutches. I'm trying to get the minor loose ends -- leftovers from the first three books -- tied up to clear the decks for the rest of Book 4 and any future books. Those characters have served their purpose so out they go. Gruesomely, in fact. Others have "exited the stage" into a Happily Ever After, leaving room for new ones.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #856 - May 20^th, 2019 at 3:30am	Print Post
	The chaos that is "real life" is starting to wind down. Repairs to the house are being/have been made. The project "to do" list is getting shorter and..... I've just about figured out how the Bad Guy gets his hands on the people I need for him to get his hands on. The trick is to avoid repeating myself. If I can't do that, I'll need to come up with something else. This is a loose end that can NOT be left to dangle. Since I now have "unlimited" internet access I can do more "publishing" related research. I want to do this right. There are a lot of "publishers" out there most of whom no one has ever heard of and after all these years of blood, sweat, tears and rejection -- not to mention several incidents of backstabbing -- I'm going to do this right or not at all.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #857 - Jun 30^th, 2019 at 2:20am	Print Post
	A new computer means OS upgrade and after a certain amount of blood, sweat, tears and strong language, *Pages* is configured the way I want it and I'm back working on Book 4. All the "adjustments" resulted in a ton of formatting errors in the document so I've spent this evening and last fixing those. I also found some errors which I fixed and did a little tweaking. I've got no less than three sword duels that need to be choreographed and one with staves so I'll be doing research and working them out next. I've also got a couple of handfastings that need to be designed so I'm going to be (brain)sweating for a while....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #858 - Jun 30^th, 2019 at 3:11am	Print Post
	Just did a little number crunching and I'm about halfway to my target page count. I've got a lot to fill in so I'll probably exceed the target which is okay. My target is on the short side. If I get enough good material -- and the potential is there -- Book 4 may turn out to be Book 4 and Book 5 once again. We'll see.
	« Last Edit: Jun 30^th, 2019 at 4:51am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #859 - Jun 30^th, 2019 at 4:49am	Print Post
	I just turned on Scrivener -- which I haven't done in a while -- and got all sorts of messages that I'm not alert enough to deal with tonight. (It's nearly 1 am after all!) It probably has something to do with a new computer -- for me -- and a new operating system so I'll start sorting it out tomorrow. I was saving up to by a new "specialized" sewing machine but I've decided that the money would be better spent on getting *Homecoming* -- at least -- professionally edited. I'm still going back and forth on the matter of self-publishing vs traditional publishing. Both have their pros and cons. I guess the determining factor will be what is most beneficial to me. But before I can make that decision, I need to have a pro go over my work and that person will need to be paid.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #860 - Jun 30^th, 2019 at 8:13pm	Print Post
	Penthesilea wrote on Jun 30^th, 2019 at 3:11am: Just did a little number crunching and I'm about halfway to my target page count. I've got a lot to fill in so I'll probably exceed the target which is okay. My target is on the short side. If I get enough good material -- and the potential is there -- Book 4 may turn out to be Book 4 and Book 5 once again. We'll see. If the last part of Book 4 is going to be Book 5, I'll need to create a new world, new Gods and new "everything" for it. The new world won't be as detailed as Samgara for obvious reasons but I'll need to build it and flesh it out. My current plan calls for filling in the gaps in the first part of Book 4 and only work on the latter part when I get an idea for it. That "should" work....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #861 - Jul 1^st, 2019 at 10:08pm	Print Post
	Currently filling in a gap in Book 4. Finally figured out how to kidnap Our Hero and Heroine, not to mention a few others without repeating myself! It took some skullsweat to make a plan that was logical and that would work in the "real word" with some adjustments. So now I'm writing it up. The next part is gonna be hard to write since it involves a major "trigger" for me. The trick will be writing it explicitly enough so the reader knows what's happening without setting off my reaction. Fortunately, there is very little in my stomach at the moment. Some people have made fun of me because of this which says a lot about the kind of scum they are.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #862 - Jul 2^nd, 2019 at 4:38am	Print Post
	I've been working steadily with breaks to wash dishes and start dinner. I've added three pages of good material that shouldn't need too much cleaning up later which is how I like to work. Spending hours writing drek that will only have to be thrown out is not for me. The "hard" stuff is still a work in progress. I'm "filling in" around it because I don't know what kind of shape I'll be in after I write it. Kinda hard to write when you're gagging....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #863 - Jul 4^th, 2019 at 1:25am	Print Post
	Penthesilea wrote on Jun 30^th, 2019 at 4:49am: I was saving up to by a new "specialized" sewing machine but I've decided that the money would be better spent on getting *Homecoming* -- at least -- professionally edited. I'm still going back and forth on the matter of self-publishing vs traditional publishing. Both have their pros and cons. I guess the determining factor will be what is most beneficial to me. But before I can make that decision, I need to have a pro go over my work and that person will need to be paid. I've done some research this evening and hiring a professional editor is not doable -- unless we take out a new mortgage which I'm not going to ask Skywise to do, not when the return on the investment -- getting published and making the money back -- is so uncertain. I'm sure that a non-traditional/digital house would take me on and do whatever work was required to "meet their standards" for a substantial cut of my sales. I'm not that desperate to be published. So, since I'm a fairly decent editor -- despite what some people say -- and I've edited the hell out of the first three books I'm going with self-publishing, print on demand hardcopies. Amazon offers the best deal, basically minimal upfront costs. I'll need better covers and probably some other odds and ends and I expect to pay some promotion costs which I couldn't afford before but that's still considerably less than the alternative. I have some ideas for cover art for the first two books and I'll think about how to get it while I work on Book 4 -- which is coming along nicely, thank you very much!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #864 - Jul 4^th, 2019 at 3:03am	Print Post
	The scene containing the "hard stuff" is almost done. Only the hardest part is left and I'm having to take it a few words at a time. Keeping my reaction at bay is giving me a headache. I think I'll wash some dishes before I tackle the last part......


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #865 - Jul 4^th, 2019 at 4:44am	Print Post
	It's done. And I've managed not to throw up although I could start gagging any minute. No more writing tonight....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #866 - Jul 10^th, 2019 at 2:59am	Print Post
	I've been working on Book 4 tonight. Right now, I'm trying out ways to move the story forward but not too quickly. The antagonist is needs to move slowly so that while the reader knows she's up to no good and knows that disaster is in the offing, the characters won't catch on until the trap is sprung and her motives are clear. Not nearly as straightforward as most of what I've written so it requires thought.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #867 - Jul 12^th, 2019 at 12:45am	Print Post
	Doing more work on Book 4. I've closed a major gap and I'm thinking about another. That particular "gap" is about the size of the Grand Canyon so it's going to take a lot work to fill in. I may tackle some smaller ones while I figure out what goes in the "canyon".


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #868 - Jul 12^th, 2019 at 2:05am	Print Post
	I think I'll pack it in for the night. There are two HUGE loads of laundry on the bed that won't put themselves away....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #869 - Jul 16^th, 2019 at 12:36am	Print Post
	I've been working on Book 4 today between chores and I'm coming up with some key scenes. I just need to knit them together into a coherent whole and since they aren't sex scenes or intros to sex scenes, they must be coherent and logical. Some scene "relocation" may be needed before I'm done to make "coherence" and "logic" happen. In some ways the writing was easier when the Hero and Heroine were "courting" and falling into bed at every opportunity! Lust is a very understandable motivation! I've had to restore something that I'd deleted earlier in an altered form. It was either that or a middling to massive rewrite. I decided on restoration! The Grand Canyon sized gap still needs filling. sigh I'm trying to decide if any ulterior motives are involved and if so, what are they?
	« Last Edit: Jul 16^th, 2019 at 5:45am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #870 - Jul 17^th, 2019 at 6:01am	Print Post
	Closed a small gap this evening. Still thinking about the "Grand Canyon" gap. Still going back and forth about if there should be a Book 5 or if "Book 5" should be the end of Book 4 and wrap up this period in Our Hero and Heroine's lives. Regardless, after the events in "Book 5" they deserve -- and will get -- a nice long period of relative peace during which they will raise their daughters.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #871 - Jul 18^th, 2019 at 2:10am	Print Post
	Working on closing a "combat" gap. I'm going to take a break and get something substantial to eat. I've only snacked a little since breakfast and I'm getting a headache which tells me that I'd better eat. So.. off to the kitchen I go.
	« Last Edit: Jul 22^nd, 2019 at 4:32am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #872 - Jul 19^th, 2019 at 4:44am	Print Post
	I worked on a gap this evening. It's not as detailed as I'd like so I'll probably work on it more later when my brain isn't so tired. There are so many combats in this part of Book 4 that I'm having to really work to keep from repeating myself. To date, most of the Divine Pantheons have been human looking and I'm thinking of changing that. I'll be giving it some thought anyway.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #873 - Jul 22^nd, 2019 at 4:34am	Print Post
	I'm working on various gaps this evening. I've decided to emphasize the antagonist's true nature by having her eat a minor character alive. The only question is how gruesome to make it. She's rather like the *Mahars of Pellucidar* (created by Edgar Rice Burroughs) but not identical since she looks human but has a taste for human flesh when she can get it. Which, fortunately, isn't often! Still thinking about how "not human" to make the previously mentioned pantheon....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #874 - Jul 25^th, 2019 at 6:25pm	Print Post
	I've been thinking about "motivation". Specifically what motivates a country to want diplomatic relations with a very distant country. Granted, the countries on Earth are pretty interconnected by trade, treaties and such but that isn't the case on Samgara. Most city-states only have "relations" with the city-states closest to them and if a city-state is isolated for one reason or another, it doesn't have diplomatic relations with anyone. That is starting to change but the situation has a long way to go. Valcaria is the exception/example because Our Heroine has ties to Hidden Bay, the Prometheans and the Amazon city-states. Anyway, figuring out "why" is part of that "Grand Canyon sized" gap I mentioned a few posts ago. I'm definitely seeing the need to make more notes on this. Having to write the "research material" can sometimes be a pain!


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