Michele Venne's Blog, page 8

Filling the Well

What’s better than a writing conference with people you like? Having it be ten minutes from your house. Last weekend, I attended the regular monthly meeting and mini-retreat of the writer’s group I joined last year. An informal networking gathering on Friday evening, writing sprints and brainstorming on Saturday morning, meeting on Saturday afternoon, then more writing sprints and networking…

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One or Many?

Yesterday, I had chunks of time to devote to my writing projects. I spent a little time on the note card workbook, a little time on the vocabulary workbook, a little time on MV2. Then I realized what so many already know: to make significant progress, focus energy on one project at a time. I’ve always been able to switch hats quickly, be flexible, and have several projects open and ongoing…

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Corralling Creativity

I realized this week that I have more projects started than I planned. With The Found Gift published, I thought I could move on to completing the 10 flash fiction stories for MV2, get that out by the end of April, then continue with the first draft of The Syndicate. However, not one to balk when the muse serves up ideas, I started making notes. I remembered that a colleague mentioned they did…

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New Release

The Found Gift is published and available on my website! Right to the end, this title had dips and curves on its path into the wild. I’m pleased with the story, even if I missed my deadline by three and a half months. Here’s the description: What happens when a tropical storm and a kidnapping take place on an island days before Christmas? Tyler Henderson, owner of top-ranked Henderson…

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When an Experiment Fails

Publishing a book can be many things: joyful, stressful, a lifelong dream, disappointment, exciting, wonderful, confusing, etc. I’ve sent enough titles out into the world to feel just about everything. After publishing 43 titles, I decided to try a preorder on my website. My web designer did his part, connecting the book information from Book Funnel to WooCommrece. I thought I did everything right…

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Cover Reveal

This is the part of publishing books that builds my excitement and pushes me to finish everything so I can hit the “publish” button. I love revealing the cover to readers. No matter what we think, we really do judge a book by its cover! A couple holding hands points to romance. Snow and storm clouds predict the time of year. Water and a rocky shoreline hint at the setting (in this case, an island).

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New Release Coming Soon!

Every book project has a life of its own. The Found Gift has its own “coming into being” story. No, this photo isn’t the cover, but it reminds me of the different layers, colors, and depths that each project has. I wrote the first draft, then added 11,000 words in a rewrite. I sent it off to the beta reader. Though I got it back last week, I’ve yet to start on the edits. The book cover has gone…

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The Wins

I mentioned to a friend that because the day job has taken a tic up, I haven’t gotten as much written as I planned. I explained that I finished a college class I was taking as part of my CEUs, wrote and sent out my monthly newsletter, wrote the monthly update forms on my clients… and she said, “Well, that was your writing for the week!” Each one of those completions is worth a moment to pause…

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Choices

Some wise person pointed out the obvious when they said, “When you say yes to one thing, you say no to countless other things.” I said yes to more clients. That automatically put a giant “no” on other things I could do with my time. I’m not regretful or wistful, just observing the shift in my energy and how I juggle daily tasks. And as those tasks get completed (if my plans actually turn out)…

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Finally Finished?

Today is the day I finished The Found Gift. At least this round of edits and rewrites. I thought I might be done at around 14K words, then more of the story came to me. It now sits at 20K. And, yes, I know a couple of sentences I still need to add. I have to tweak geography a little to make the story work. I sent it to a beta reader and will do 3 or 4 more rounds of edits when I get it back.

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