Beverly Jenness's Blog: Daily Struggles of an Unknown Author - Posts Tagged "from-earth-to-terra"

Finished the writing of book two last night, 'From Earth to Terra, Stone City'. Now come the 'fun' part. The editing and polishing. Looks like I'm still on track for a December release. Would LOVE to make it my Cyber Monday but I think that is a touch aggressive, maybe not. Only time will tell.
Book two picks up the morning after the exodus, with our clan trying to figure out. "What next?" With no play book, they struggle to figure out what and how to do everything. With the threat of winter looming on the horizon, the pressure is on to amass food stores to make it through until spring.
Watch for my giveaway of 'From Earth to Terra, Stone City' some time around Halloween.

As of last night, nine of the ten books had been delivered. The tenth was waiting to be picked up. Aparently the postal carrier left a note because it couldn't be delivered to the address. (?)
I'm happy they are (mostly) delivered. One less stresser on my plate as we head into the holiday weekend.
Intend to spend the bulk of my time finishing the editing on book two and my graphic artist promises a peliminary cover this weekend as well! My next giveaway may be sooner than I originally thought!
Getting really pumped!

I was up early this morning, before the sun, thanks to my four legged alarm that does not have a snooze button( my 13 year old rat terrier).
So, with my cup of tea ( prefer coffee but I don't like it without my coffeemate, which isn't on my diet) and my laptop, I snuggled down into my rocker/recliner and picked up editing 'From Earth to Terra: Stone City'. Things were going well. So well I actually felt the earth move.
Wait, we felt the earth quake that centered in Pawnee, OK ( and I'm in Wichita, KS) 5.6 or .7 I've heard both. Put a damper on my editing. I keep checking Facebook for up dates.
On a side note, my son was fishing and sent me a text. Apparently the fish were confused or frightened and started jumping out of the water. Is that normal?

My husband wants to do the final edit on my book ( bless his little pea pickin' heart!) OK, no problem, except he wants a hard copy. OK, I can do that, I have a printer and a case of paper I just bought ( on sale because of back to school time) Lets fire it up! I start printing the first 90 pages ( first two chapters) I leave and come back. It has stopped printing, out of ink. Replace the ink and fire it up again. Cool , all done. Oops, the page numbers didn't print. No problem, I can write the numbers on the pages. As I'm numbering the pages by hand, I notice about three lines of text, per page, can't be reads very well and not the same three lines either. They bounce around all over the pages. If you knew my husband, you would know this is totally unexceptable. So I go into "printers" and then "printer properties" to diagnose the problem, misaligned and dirty. Get everything back in order and start printing again, this time, only one chapter at a time. Walk away to do something else and when I get back, it has stpped printing, "out of paper" message. Nope plenty of paper. Pull the paper out, put it back and off we go again. Prints a couple of pages then same message, "out of paper" I take the paper out and replace it again, start printing again. I go through this three more times. Finally everything seems to be working correctly, leave and come back. It has stopped printing again. "Out of paper" error. Get it printing again and I notice a few sheets of paper on the floor. My printer has spit a couple of pages onto the floor. Remember, they're not numbered. So I have to figure out where they go. I finally get the first chapter printed, manage to get the orphaned pages back where they belong and get the pages all numbered. It's been a long afternoon. Not sure I even want to try chapter two!

I have started writing Book three in the 'From Earth to Terra' series. My plot includes a bomb on one of the ships. So I turned to the web and searched exotic explosives. I found one that is theoretical right now. Packs quite a wallop from what I understand, in theroy, it can't be synthesized yet. It's called Octaazacubane.
I was telling my husband about it and his reply was, "are we going to have the FBI breaking down our door?"
Hmmm could be....

I love my husband, but... he has been editing my latest book. And he is very good at it. He likes to 'read between the lines'. However, he believes I need a transition from one event to another. I don't disagree but the work involved to add this simple transition is going to be very involved. This is going to require a shuffling of events and some changes in other places. On the other hand, I seem to have left out some important information, the problem that comes with knowing what you write. I thought I had included this stuff, but I didn't, so I guess it's my own fault. Not that I'll tell my husband, wouldn't want to give him too much credit, he might let it go to his head.
Then, he is suggesting things too, confrontations, theft, murder and mayhem. It isn't like you can just throw things in. You have to have them blend with your plot/ story line.
All his "help" is giving me a headache!

Starting October 8, 8 am PST, my Kindle format of "From Earth to Terra" will be steeply discounted to $2.99. The price will go up $1 each 40 hours through October 15.

I have changed shifts at my regular paying job. From mornings to nights. The hope is to have more "morning time" to write. I find I'm much more creative in the mornings than after a full day of work and the drama that entails. However, My body is vehemently protesting the change.

Working with my husband on the final edit of "Stone City" ( I love my husband and appreciate his help BUT he is a bit anal retentive at times) and my graphic artist on the cover ( whom I adore but as with all artist, myself included, she's a bit flighty and overly critical of her own work).

I am making plans for a short writing trip to Missouri (escaping out into the boondocks). I'm looking for peace and quiet, with few distractions, to connect better with the life and times on Terra. The plans just to get there, ugh! Rent a car, dog sitter and all the food, treats and medications ( she's an old dog) bedding and comfort toys, and then all the things for me to do; hold on paper and mail, making sure I have no deliveries scheduled during that time, taking care of laundry so I have plenty of clothes I can pack and making sure prescriptions are refilled, wouldn't want to run out of my meds. it's enough to make your head swim!

I will be signing and selling my book at the Authorpalooza Oct. 20 At the Hyatt Regency (Wichita, Kansas from 1-5) as part of the Kansas Library Associations annual conference. Had to get a card reader so I can take plastic. Simple enough task until you get into the research and set up options etc.

And all the filmy wisps of ideas for book three are starting to congeal as I begin the next addition in the "From Earth to Terra" saga.

Not to mention( but I will) on the last leg of my weight loss program (lost 73 pounds , have a dozen more to go).

I believe I'm on the tipping point. If I have one more thing added to my 'to do' list my brain WILL explode, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

It was a very good day yesterday. I made some REAL headway transcribing my hand written manuscript to my computer! No that doesn't mean book three is complete. I try not to get too much hand written before putting it on the computer. As I transfer it, I empelish the story and also watch the flow.
Sometimes, if I have a day or so in between writings I will leave out a critical part of the story or duplicate it further on. I have even eliminated entire sections (dozens of pages) because as I put it on the computer, I decide I don't like where that particular line is going or it just doesn't seem to fit well with the rest of the story. I wouldn't want to spend extra time writing a part of the storyline only to eliminate it.
There are times I have had to do that. No matter how much I love what I have written, if it doesn't enhance the story, it has to go. I do keep all those sections I have deleted from my books. You never know when they will make a book of their own or find their way back into the series.

I will put weed killer on the lawn and then my husband will mow. Kind of like amputating a limb with gangrene, the weed continue to flourish. I have discussed this with him at length on numerous occasions. He does the typical husband response(an indication that he isn't truly listening; the bobble head nod) I have even made a point of asking him when he intends to mow again. He will indicate he has no plans to mow for a day or so but as soon as I put the week killer down, he mows! It's like he feels guilty or something for not mowing if I'm working in the yard.
I thought I won this time though. I waited until after he mowed. With the crazy weather we were having I bought the kind that is rainproof in an hour. I figured I had won...wrong! No sooner had I finished and gone back into the house to work on book three of the 'From Earth to Terra' series, hubby decides to wash off the patio and sidewalk around the pool, (the edges of which is where the vast majority of the weeds thrive) washing away the weed killer.
On the positive side, he hasn't been in the front yard since he mowed it and that's where I started. So those little tenacious beasts are history!