Lauralynn Elliott's Blog, page 49

ROW80 Check In 4/15/12

I think things at work have finally slowed down for me, so I’m not quite as tired every day. I plan to start getting back to more blog reading and commenting this afternoon.

I don’t know how many of you read my post about time vs. word count, so I’ll go over it quickly again here, since many ROW80ers don’t read blogs except for check ins on the linky tools. I’ve found that I need to change from word count goals to time goals. This came about because I sat in front of the computer the other day and couldn’t do anything but write a few words then change them around. I ended up with somewhere between 250-300 words that day instead of my 700+.So I decided I would start making myself sit down for at least 45 minutes a day and write…or at least try. I’m going to sit there no matter what happens. That time will be my writing time. I started that yesterday. I ended up writing for an hour and 15 minutes and wrote 1577 words (yeah, I know I’m not supposed to worry about word count, LOL). I think this method is going to work for me this round. I’ll do my 45 minutes whether I’m on a roll or whether I feel like I’m being imprisoned and tortured.

So how about the rest of you? Have you had to make any adjustments for this round? How did things go last week?

Switching from Word Count Goals to Time Goals

In order to keep my sanity, I’m going to have to change my way of thinking about writing goals. This is why.

This new story that I was so enthusiastic about was going well, my word counts were above my goal every day that I wrote on the book. But I was skipping days because I WAS LAZY AND COMPUTER GAMES WERE CALLING MY NAME. It’s time to buckle down. I sat down one evening to write my 700 words…and they wouldn’t come. I wrote maybe three paragraphs, and I had to keep changing words around (which I almost never have to do), and I got frustrated that I couldn’t get my 700 words. But I did sit in front of the computer long enough to have done that if I hadn’t had such a hard time writing that night. So I’m going to switch my goals. I’m going to make myself sit down at the computer 45 minutes a day. If I write 500 words, 700 words, or 1000 words, I’m going to write SOMETHING. And if I get frustrated and can’t even manage more than 200 words, I still have to sit there in front of the computer until the time is up. It’s a matter of discipline to make yourself sit and write for a certain period of time. It’s not so much discipline, but inspiration (or lack thereof) when you’re shooting for a certain word count. Does that make sense?

Stephen King’s 11/22/63

I was at the library today at lunch, looking for an audio book. I HAVE to have audio books to listen to in the car or I go crazy. Driving is boring! I went to the new release shelf and guess what I found? (I know you know because of the post title, LOL.) Stephen King’s 11/22/63! It was just sitting there on the shelf. It wasn’t checked out; it was there for ME all shiny and new looking. What incredible luck! I’m a happy little camper right now. Because it’s STEPHEN KING! *does the happy dance*

Ok, I’m all calmed down now. I didn’t check in for ROW80 yesterday. Bad me. I intend to get back on track checking in and visiting other blogs. I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed right now.

Stephen King's 11/22/63

I was at the library today at lunch, looking for an audio book. I HAVE to have audio books to listen to in the car or I go crazy. Driving is boring! I went to the new release shelf and guess what I found? (I know you know because of the post title, LOL.) Stephen King's 11/22/63! It was just sitting there on the shelf. It wasn't checked out; it was there for ME all shiny and new looking. What incredible luck! I'm a happy little camper right now. Because it's STEPHEN KING! *does the happy dance*

Ok, I'm all calmed down now. I didn't check in for ROW80 yesterday. Bad me. I intend to get back on track checking in and visiting other blogs. I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed right now.

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

I've been reading so many indie authors lately that I've really neglected some of my old traditional favorites. I'm finding myself really "jonesin'" for Preston & Child. This is the kind of stuff I used to read all the time before I got hooked on paranormal romance. I need a break from PR, not only because I've been reading a lot of it, but also because I WRITE it. So I need to read something a little different. My favorite books by these guys are the Agent Pendergast novels. He is such an odd character, but he grows on you more and more as the series goes along. I think there's one that I haven't read yet (and one to come later in the year). But here's the problem. Because they are traditionally published, the book I haven't read is $8.99 for the ebook. Now this is lower in price than many trad authors' books, but I'm used to paying reasonable indie prices. I usually get audiobooks from the library for trad books. So I'm wondering if I can make myself pay $8.99. I didn't see the audiobook at the library. Another reason for waiting on the audiobook besides price is I love the atmosphere the reading of these books creates. But I NEED a Preston & Child fix now! Hmmm…maybe I should download the audio version….

So who else likes Preston & Child? I know Andrew Mocete is a fan like me! Anyone else? Does anyone else have eclectic reading tastes like I do, or do you stick to one genre? Tell me!

ROW80 Check In 4/8/12

I just have a few minutes. I'm on my way soon to a birthday party for a one year old little girl. That ought to be fun! Then, tonight, my oldest son and his wife are coming for a visit. So this will be a busy day. But a good kind of busy.

I had a pretty rough start with Round Two, but that's because I was writing the WRONG STORY. I posted about this a couple of days ago. The story I was trying to write wasn't working for some reason. Then, suddenly one morning, this other idea started coming to me. THIS was the story I was meant to write. So things are going much better now. I managed to write 1247 words Friday and 843 words Saturday. I'm still behind because my goal was 700 a day, and I'm still counting those first four days I was struggling with a different story, so I was four days behind before I started this story. I'll have to admit, I'm once again writing about a vampire, but that's what came into my head, so I have to write it. And the title came to me as soon as the story did. That has only happened to me once before, and that was my short story, The Beast in the Mirror. I usually struggle a lot with titles.

I actually had an idea for my next scene on the Christian romance, so I'll be writing that at lunch on Monday.

I hope everyone is having a great day, and I hope I can get to some of your blogs in between all the stuff I have to do today.

New Idea Excitement!

I started a story for ROW80, and I've just been frustrated with it. I've written on it two days, and it was all I could do to get my 700 words out each day because I just wasn't enjoying it. I had no idea where I wanted this story to go other than this vague thing in my head. But this morning, an idea for another story hit me and it just started flooding my mind. I knew exactly where this one was going. THIS is the story I was meant to write, NOT the one I was struggling with. And most of you know I have a lot of trouble figuring out a title for my books. The title to this one came almost immediately after the idea. I'm going to do a search and see if there are other books with the same title, but even if I find some, I'll probably stick with it. Because there are LOTS of books out there with the same title. I said I wasn't going to do another vampire story in the near future and that I was going to stick to ghosts. But a vampire got into my head and said "You have to write about me. Now!" So I have no choice. This is SO exciting. I haven't been this pumped up about a story since Haunted Lake! Woohoo!

Easter Eggs and Pricing Dilemma

The two things in the title have absolutely nothing to do with each other. LOL. First, I want to let all of you know about the Easter Egg Hunt where Zoe Winters is giving away big prizes. I won't elaborate…go to her site and check it out! Zoe Winters' Easter Egg Hunt

Okay, the pricing dilemma. The gnome book I wrote was supposed to be a full length novel. It didn't turn out that way. It's ALMOST a novel. From what I've been reading on different sites, you can claim a book as a novel if it's at least 40,000 words. This book comes in at about 39,000. Yep, almost. And, really, I'm more comfortable calling something a novel if it's closer to 50,000. My other novels are over that word count and one of them is over 60,000. So that gives me a dilemma on pricing. I was going to price this at $2.99. But should I cut a dollar off the price because of a lack of 1,000 words? And a lot of people are charging up to $5.00 for novels. I was going to charge $2.99 for novels and $1.99 for novellas, although I'm going to keep my backlist at .99. So, what to do? Should I go ahead and price this book at $2.99? I really don't think that's unreasonable. But will others think it is? I'm just not sure what to do. Any advice?

ROW80 Check In 4-4-12

Those of you that have been following and commenting on my blog know by now how much I HATED, DESPISED, ABHORRED trying to outline my new story. I was using Scrivener and the little note cards on the corkboard. I have discovered two things…1)I don't think Scrivener has anything to offer that I can't do other ways, and 2) I can't outline the same way other people do. Or I can't outline the way I "thought" other people do. I've found, by reading blog comments, there are vastly different ways to outline . What works best for me is to have a basic synopsis of my story with some main points, but not necessarily in outline form. The problem is that I've always just had this basic "outline" in my head. What I'm going to do is try to be a hybrid pantser/plotter for now and see how it works. That means WRITING DOWN my synopsis (for lack of a better word to use) instead of having the idea roll around in my head. As I get used to doing this, I might be able to plot a little heavier with each project.

All that being said, I'm either 95 words ahead of my 700 word count or 605 words behind. I have a little spreadsheet (I'm all about the spreadsheets) where I keep up with my word counts. I just haven't decided whether to count the first day, since I was doing nothing but outlining and cursing (not really because I don't curse) or start my word count on the second day when I really started writing. For now I'm counting the first day because I think I can catch up.

On the exercise front…I didn't get up at 5:30 and walk on the treadmill this morning. I just couldn't. I stayed up too late last night watching Final Destination 2 (for about the 3rd time) and then I had to watch a little of something else to get my mind off FD2 before I went to sleep. So I was up until about 1:00 or later. But I plan on making up for that tonight. And I'm NOT giving up on the morning walks. Also, I'm learning to eat 1/2 to 2/3 (depending on how big the serving is) of my meals and having the rest for another meal. Cheaper in calories and dollars! Oh, and I've lost 8 lbs.

New Shoes!

Last year, I posted about some new shoes I bought. Well, I'm doing it again…I just have to show you all the shoes I bought today! Yes, I'm a shoe nut. Unfortunately, my feet are very sensitive and it's hard to find heels that don't kill my feet. These feel ok, and I love them!