Michele Venne's Blog, page 17

Month 3 of 3

In this third month of my 3-month plan, I can say I’ve learned from my experiments. What I’ve learned that I didn’t plan for is that life happens regardless of what my calendar says, and that some things are bigger than my determination. I guess I can add more acceptance to this list of data. My beta reader returned The Bookie to me today. I’m grateful for her use of chainsaws and pruning shears...

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The Next Experiment

Last Friday, after working for eight hours and staying up until 10 PM, I finished the first draft for The Bookie. I gave some hours on Saturday to making a couple of corrections, scrolling through and filling out my timeline, listing some questions to research before the editing phase, and jotting down other things to tweak after I get the manuscript back from my beta reader. It’s longer than I...

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Nearly There

Having been stuck in the weeds for so long with this manuscript, I’m kind of surprised that I’m looking at the climax of the story. A quick take down of a criminal, the tying up of a few plot threads, and one scene to lead into book 3, and I’m typing “The End,” metaphorically. I’ll do a read through, make my notes, add the pieces I know I’ve left out, and send off this nearly 100K word document to...

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Moving Finish Line

I’m super excited that my first audiobook is done! Narrated, edited, processed, and is out for distribution to 48 online retailers. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out one thing, then was told that it’s a no-thing. I don’t need to do what I thought I did, that it’s done automatically when the MP3 files are uploaded. Huh. I promised myself I would do better on book 2, which is in the pre...

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Shifting

I received the audio files from the narrator! I’ve spent hours every day this week listening and making notes on what she needs to edit. I still have 10 chapters to go, and the deadline is Sunday. After hearing someone else read my story, I picked up on a few writing tics. I didn’t detect them in all the edits I’ve done on the story, even when I read it aloud. The words don’t interfere with the...

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One Month Done

Big news #1: I received an email that the narrator finished reading Of Art and Air, and I have ten days to review and approve the recording. I started today, since I have a deadline. I’m reading the pdf I sent the narrator as I’m listening to her read. So far, so good. I’m interested in how the rest of the process will go. I plan to have Findaway Voices distribute my audiobook and have it...

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Rain

It appears it’s possible for time to pass quickly and slowly simultaneously. The days tick by, but my time spent writing speeds through. And when I look at what I’ve written, I’m not content with my progress. At 2K words/day on my main project, I should be pleased. I’m adding to the story. The plot is moving along. Occasionally the dialogue is funny or spot on. But I can’t see the forest through...

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The Heat is On

The heat is on, and so is the self-imposed pressure! I vowed I would stick as close to my schedule as possible this week. As a result, I made progress on all my projects, but still did not accomplish everything. And this give me the opportunity to practice grace, self-love, and forgiveness. I made the greatest gains on The Bookie, recording about 8,000 words. In terms of the timeline of the story...

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Insight

With years of schedule making under my belt, I thought I had this 3-month plan ready to go. What I didn’t account for? Life. Ha! Every day, I’ve had a meeting or errands or an appointment. Or course, my schedule is now off. I need to decide how to make up the time or adjust the days I have left. To add to the mess, I tried, again, to schedule specific projects on specific days during certain times...

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Ideas

This week started my 3-month plan. Mostly. Each day I had a project to do that wasn’t on my schedule. Tomorrow will be the same. My plan might already have gone awry because I forgot to include “life” in my schedule. Ha! But I’ve still managed to log time with my nonfiction project and my fiction project. I’m having second thoughts about the administrative task I’ve set up for this week.

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