On the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Day of Christmas

My chapter critiques gave to me, the ability to move onward.

All the edits have been completed and for the most part I'm pretty happy with them. There are a few that still need a bit of work to get them the way I want, but the majority of the chapters are pretty good. These last two chapters I finished are in a way a reflection of the whole process. The first was okay and I edited it and still felt like what I wanted to achieve with it came up a bit short. And the second was pretty good to start with, but after going over it I think I did a fantastic job of bringing out what I needed to.

My editor will be back in town soon and I got some computer paper yesterday so I suppose I'll spend the rest of the day printing out the chapters so that I can hand them over to her. Yay!

Mizrat:

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A mizrat is a type of rat that is fluffy and comes in various shades of grey. They tend to live in forests and large cities where there is plenty for them to eat. Although they may seem cute they can be very vicious creatures and when scared they can release a dander that shouldn't be inhaled because it can cause a person to feel gloomy for a couple of days.

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I guess my next step is to start hand writing the next few chapters. I think the next three or four need to be done and then I may type them up. After that I'll be in "first handwritten draft" mode for a while until I finish the last third of my book. I don't know when I'm going to start this though since the holidays are almost here, but I wont put it off for too long.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas

My chapter critiques gave to me, a confidence in my ability to create characters with heart.

Another edit done and I'm happy with it. This was the chapter I praised so highly in a couple past posts. It still seems to live up to my standards. There didn't seem to be anything too major that needed changing, just some grammar and little things here and there, but it's was a fairly easy read and correct chapter. No agonizing over how to reword things or add in stuff to make the plot make more sense.

The thing that stands out for me anyways is the situation that I put one of the main characters in. It's not anything out of the ordinary or unique, but it's a situation that I think shows him in a different light and gives a bit more heart to the story as a whole, because I think it's hard to care for a story if you can't care for the protagonists. 

I am left with only two more chapters to finish and I think I'll try and get them done today at some point. Or at least one of the chapters. Each of them are only about six pages long so it shouldn't take me too long to edit them.

I think I'll skip the story info for right now and probably stick something in with my post later. Until then I bid all who are reading this farewell.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas

My chapter critiques gave to me, a lack of printing paper

One more chapter has been edited and the fourteen days of Christmas are coming close to being over. I decided to print out the last few chapters I critiqued and ran out of paper. I didn't realize that they were so long. Most of the chapters were at least eight pages with the largest being twelve. I guess I'll have to put buying paper on my agenda tomorrow.

With only three more chapters to edit I'm feeling ready to get a move on with other aspects of my book that don't concern the second third. I think the rewrites drained a lot of the fun behind them because I recall enjoying them up until that point. Oh well, a bit of time away from them and I'm sure I'll be happy to come back to them in later drafts.

Falcon Post

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Falcon Post is a postal service in Prizmara. They have many post offices set up on the different islands and use falcons to delivery letters to location on their respective islands or to ships that are in the island's vicinity. If a letter needs to be delivered to another island they will have a falcon to deliver it to a postal ship for an extra fee. They are a business after all.

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Okay, so I'm going to say goodnight now. I'm not sure if I'll work on more editing tonight, probably will though.

On the Tenth Day of Christmas

My chapter critiques gave to me, the need for sleep.

I stayed up to finish editing another chapter and finished it. Only four more to go! I plan to work more on them tomorrow and hopefully I can finish them if I can put in the time an effort I put into them today.

Well I'm going to go to sleep now so I can continue editing tomorrow.

On the Eighth and Ninth Day of Christmas

My chapter critiques gave to me, the ability to catch up.

Since my last post earlier today I finished editing two more chapters which now leaves me five more to do. I plan to try and get some more done tonight, but it probably wont happen until a bit later. I'll brew myself a nice big pot of black coffee and get to work on finishing these edits so I can print them off, give them to my editor and get to work handwriting the last third of the first book.

It's been a while since I've added some information about my books so today I will do just that.
Galale Roses:

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Galale Roses are a very common breed of rose in Prizmara. They come in different colors, but what makes them unique is that they are multicolored. So red galale roses will have a red bud like a regular red rose, but when it blooms the petals are all different shades of red. Galale roses are also used to make perfume because of their strong fragrance. The perfumes range in price by the rarity of the rose and the sent that they have. The most expensive perfume comes from the ice blue galale rose which only grows in cold climates.

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Well, I'm off now. I'll post an update tomorrow.

On the Sixth and Seventh Day of Christmas

My chapter critiques gave to me, the realization that I need to finish them quickly.

I've edited two more chapters and have seven more to go, but I'm realizing now that I only have a few more days left to get them done. Thus my goal for today is to get through as many chapters as possible. I also plan to make that my goal for tomorrow as well. I think I've been behind a bit here with all the crazy cleaning I've been up to, but I think I've had enough of that and will now focus on getting these done before Christmas.

Okay, off I go to edit like never before.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas

My chapter critiques gave to me, the joy of a job well done.

Wow! I can't believe I just finished the chapter. Two in one day isn't too shabby. I think what helped a lot was the fact that the chapter was so good. There didn't seem to be that many errors in its eleven pages or at least no much that I found. I was also impressed by how entertaining the chapter was. Sometimes when I'm reading them over again I feel a bit bored, but with this chapter I was enjoying it quite a lot.

It was raining like crazy here today, it was wonderful. Maybe that's why I made so much progress today. Here's hoping for more rain to come over the next weeks.

Well, I don't think I'll start editing the next chapter tonight, but I'll get on it tomorrow. Until then I will say goodbye.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

My chapter critiques gave to me, the realization that the first draft doesn't have to be perfect.

With the next critique done I fell good that I only have ten more to do, but a bit aggravated by the fact that I still feel this chapter needs some work. I know that I can't expect them to come out perfect, but the thought of having to come back later to fix them is a bit daunting. Although, there's plenty of parts that are really good and I'm sure after some time passes and my editor has looked over them they'll turn out just fine. I guess that's what makes a first draft great. It's pretty much the first step, after planning, so the only thing that you really need to accomplish with it is to get your ideas down in a rough form, hence the term rough draft. I'm sure there will be plenty more drafts to help it along.

Anyways, it's still early today and I think I'll start on the next chapter. I'm hoping to get them done within the next week, but we'll see how that pans out.

On the Second and Third Days of Christmas...

My chapter critiques gave to me, the importance of reading out loud.

Two more critiques down and as with the previous chapter I've noticed that after going over the chapters two times each I catch quite a bit more. I think a lot of what was caught the second time around was due to the fact that I read the chapters aloud. I think it allows me to catch more errors because I'm listening to what is there so my mind doesn't subconsciously fix the errors as I read.

Today was kind of cold, which is normally okay with me. I'll usually make a hot beverage and curl up in soft blanket and just write, but for some reason today I was still...cold. I'm thinking I should get slippers seeing as how my feet seem to be the coldest part of me right now. I probably would have been okay if it had rained today like the weather report had said it would. There's something calming about the rain that allows me to concentrate better. I don't so much get the same effect from cold toes.

Well I'm off to continue critiquing my chapters. I just thought I'd update now having finished two. If I get another done I'll post that later.

On the First Day of Christmas...

My chapter critiques gave to me, a sense of pride wrapped in an cloak of uncertainty.

My first critique is finished and I am surprised at how much a little spit and shine followed by a bit of polishing can turn something so "blah" into something "wow". I read the chapter through once and found so many things wrong with it. There were horrible spelling errors, terrible grammar and an abundance of awkwardness. The entire time I corrected it I felt like I was wasting my time, like if this chapter is any indication of my writing skill then I might as well give up my pen and uninstall my word document; however, once I finished I put my computer away and picked the chapter up the following morning. I was about to print the it out to give it to my editor when I decided to read it over one more time, aloud. I was pleasantly surprised with what I heard. Most of it sounded really nice and the parts that didn't I simply edited, making my overall feel of the chapter wonderful. I don't even care that I had to rewrite it because I know that the way it is now is better than any other version of it I've done. It's nice to get a vote of confidence from yourself, after all we're our toughest critics.

Today was nice, it snowed in the hills leaving them a beautiful shimmery white. The air was very crisp and cold and the smell of burning firewood wafted through the sky while I stared at them. It was a nice way to see that winter is almost here. It's too bad that feeling didn't last long. I had a bit of a tussle with my printer today. Since I updated my system to Windows 7 it's decided not to allow me to print anything, which is sad since this is the only problem I've had with the new system. Oh well, I'll just have to print them from another computer.

Well I'm going to head of to bed probably, but I'll try and edit the next chapter tomorrow, or rather later today, so that I can hopefully get them ready before Christmas. Night, or Morning depending on how you look at it.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Today I finished typing up the last chapter I had written by hand bringing me to an empty page in my notebook. I must say that that empty page was the best thing I've seen in a while. I actually feel like I'm making progress again. The chapter I wrote was pretty good. It needs a bit of work, but overall I think it turned out okay. It's nice writing a chapter that I don't have to compare to an earlier version.

Starting tomorrow I'll probably start critiquing the fourteen I just typed. I'm sort of looking forward to it since it'll be something different. I'm also excited about improving the chapters so that I can hopefully get that nagging feeling out of the back of my head. The one that says "these chapters aren't as good as the first ones". So hopefully they'll all turn out okay.

So I'm done for the night and I'll get to work on those chapters tomorrow.

Progress:


First Draft Typed: 68%

Chapter Rewrites Are Finished!!!!!!!!!

That's right! All chapter rewrites are done and saved away so they can never be lost again. It feels wonderful to finally have them done. It's been such a long process and frankly I'm a bit surprised at myself for being able to force my attention span to sit through it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy writing a lot, it's what I want to do for the rest of my life, but to have to write the chapters once by hand, then on the computer and once more on the computer was a bit of a pain. I suppose the hardest part was the feeling that I wasn't doing a good job the second time around. I've always been like that, I think I'm always better my first time though something. It's like I've got very good beginners luck on my side, but after a once over I try to change the way I do things and loose a bit of what I started with, or something. Anyways, I'm done! Yay!

This final chapter was sadly not the best rewrite I've done. It needs a lot of work when I go to critique the chapters, which I'll probably start soon. I have one more chapter to type up, I didn't get a chance to finish it the first time through, which I'm sort of happy about now, and then I'll probably read them over and try to make them much better.

Prant:

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A prant is a type of fruit found in Prizmara. It's orange with green spots and has a very sweet taste to it. Prants are usually used to make pies, but are also used in many other desserts.

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So I plan to start the next chapter soon, perhaps tonight if I get the time, and then I'll get to work on those critiques.

Progress:


First Draft Typed: 65%

12 Down and 1 Miscounted Chapter to Go

I just finished the next chapter and I'm a little surprised at how quickly I did it. Two days isn't too bad. I now have only one chapter left to finish as far as these rewrites go, which fills me with relief. Once these chapters are finished I can start worrying about other things.

The chapter I finished was the same as the one I refer to on 8-7-09. I'm not sure if this time around it's as good. I don't fully remember the other chapter, but I know the characters still come across very well and I think my writing is pretty nice. I like the chapter a lot, but I don't get the same feeling I did finishing the chapter this time around; although, that could be because I'm just tired. I think most of what carries this chapter though is the emotion behind it. The emotion in this chapter is very vivid I feel.

So I'll start the last chapter rewrite tomorrow probably, but I don't know when I'll have it done. Probably soon since I seem to be doing the quickly lately and I also want to get these rewrites over with.

Garblar:

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A garblar is a small creature who's body secrets an orange colored slime that covers them completely. Because of this slime no one has ever seen the actual body of a garblar. Garblars usually live in big cities where there's plenty of trash for them to feed on. They have a strong stench and leave behind a trail of slime. It's for this reason that people have resorted to using their name as an insult for people who are a nuisance or just plain disgusting.

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Alright so I'm going to finish this up and get to bed so that I can start work on the final rewrite tomorrow. It feels wonderful to say that.


Progress:


First Draft Typed: 63%