Denise Grover Swank's Blog, page 29

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes Blog Tour Stop #1

Today kicks off the official blog tour for Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes! WooHoo!  Heather McCorkle is posting an interview with me and hosting a giveaway of  my book on the blog she shares with her critique sisters Critique Sisters Corner.

And be sure to stay tuned for details on a contest I'll be running for the entire month of August!!!! You'll have the chance at winning multiple Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift certificates– and all you'll have to do is leave a review somewhere to enter!

Now run over to Heather's blog and find out a little secret about Muffy, the dog Rose acquires.

 

Happy Release Day to Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes

OMG! I did it!!!!!

*jumps up and down like a crazy person*

*runs around the room with flailing arms*

Sorry, I just had to get that out of the way.

Today is the official debut/launch/release of Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes!!! I say "official" because some of you were savvy enough to discover it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as an ebook last week. I uploaded them early to make sure there weren't any glitches in the process, only to discover, to my surprise, I had already sold books! To which I promptly Google chatted Eisley Jacobs and said "It's official! I'm a professional author!"

People paid to read my book!!!!

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes is my third book. None of you will read the first, a manuscript chained to a post in the dungeon of my external hard drive. I should do the humane thing and press the delete button, but my silly pride prevents me from following through.  My second book, Chosen, will be published in September.

So why did I publish this one first? Several reasons.

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes is the most like my blog There's Always Room for One More out of any of my books. It's light-hearted, funny, but bittersweet in a non-whiny way. (I hope anyway!) Rose Gardner, the twenty-four year old main character, has spent her life under her mother's rule, living a life of ridicule and an alienation, yet you won't find her wallowing in self-pity. She's a pragmatic girl who just accepted her life as it was. Until she sees a vision of herself dead. And she suddenly begins to question her life and her situation.  She decides, yes, her Momma treats her like a child, ordering her around, but Rose allowed her to do it.

Rose realizes she is in control. She's always held the power to make her life into what she wants.

I love that about her. She could easily blame her problems on other people– her Momma, the people in her town of Henryetta, Arkansas, but she doesn't. Instead of playing the victim, she accepts responsibility for her own life and choices.

Rose makes a list of twenty-eight things she wants to do before she dies, or later before she gets arrested for her mother's murder. Why twenty-eight? She makes the list in the park and the only paper she can find is a Walmart receipt.  That's all the room she has.

No one really knows this, but the list comes from my own personal life. When my husband died five and a half years ago, I reevaluated everything in my life. There's nothing like the undeniable proof of mortality to make you realize you're not going to live forever. (Rose says this nearly word for word in the book.) I didn't make an actual list. They just rattled around in my head. But I knew that life was about living, not sitting around and waiting to pass you by. So it seems fitting that the inspiration to fulfill my life long goal and then inspired part of Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, should be the first book I published.

I won't say I always follow my own advice/revelation. I still need to stop every once and awhile and take stock. Where am I? Am I happy where I'm at?

Today, I can honestly say that I am.

Ask me again tomorrow.

———————

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes can be purchased at:

Amazon.com (print and Kindle ebook)

Barnesandnoble.com (Nook ebook)

Createspace (print book)

Smashwords (ebook, multiple formats)

My website (autographed copy)

The Day before the Release of Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved to read. She read everything she could get her hands on. And she wrote. Her high school English teacher read her writing and began to grade her differently than everyone else, expecting more from her. The girl thought this was unfair and asked the teacher why. The teacher looked her straight in the eye and said, not unkindly, "Because you are capable of more."

You are capable of more.

Life moved on. A marriage. Children. Divorce. A remarriage. More children.

A death.

And all though it all the girl saw her teacher's face and heard the voice inside her head. She always wondered what her teacher thought of her, was her teacher disappointed as she watched from heaven–taken far too soon in her thirties from a sudden illness.

When the girl's husband died, also far too soon in an accident, she began to re-evaluate her life. What was important. What wasn't. And still, she heard the teacher's voice inside her head.

You are capable of more.

So the girl decided to finally live her life. Fulfill her life long dreams. Some were minuscule. Some were life changing. All fed her soul. But the biggest of all was huge and daunting. Was she deluded to think she could write a book?

You are capable of more.

She did it. And did it again. And again. She's done it five times now and she's still going and when she thinks that it's all a fluke, that she really isn't capable of doing this, the teacher's voice is there, soft and encouraging. And proud.

You are capable of more. I believed in you all along.

Stop One of the Blog Tour for Born to be a Dragon

I am thrilled to be the kickoff blog post for Eisley Jacobs blog tour for her debut novel, Born to be a Dragon, a middle grade fantasy which comes out on July 20!

I have the pleasure of being crit partners with Eisley. We met on Twitter almost a year and a half ago, and we learned how to critque and give feedback using each other as guinea pigs. We've both grown a lot as writers and as friends. We share each other's joy and pain. And excitement. I'll never forget the night Eisley texted me telling me that she'd thought of  middle grade story– about dragons.  Born to be a Dragon has grown and evolved a lot since that first germ of an idea and it's been fun to watch.

Also, Eisley is hosting an awesome GIVEAWAY! She's giving away prizes until her release date when she will give away a NOOK! When you're done reading this post, hop on over to Eisley's blog so you can enter to win today's contest– a cute book with paper cut dragons!

So what's Born to be a Dragon about?

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup…

This is what Lord Edric wants you to believe. He will do anything in his power to see that humans never come in contact with dragons again. However, he doesn't plan for Meia, the foster child who dreams of dragons, believing they are real. Or Deglan, the ten-year-old dragon who bears the ancient mark that threatens everything Lord Edric has worked for.

Join these two unlikely friends as they discover the truth behind a legend so extraordinary it will alter each of their lives… forever!

 

How awesome does her book sound?  I wanted you to get a bit of insight into Eisley so she agreed to answer some questions.

DGS: Was Born to be a Dragon an idea you sat on and let gel before you started or did it hit you out of no wher e?

EJ:  Born to be a dragon really side swiped me out of no where! It wasn't like I was thinking, "Hey, I should write a middle grade novel today…" or anything. One day I was minding my own business writing a different novel, then next I was reading the first chapters aloud to my kids, who LOVED it and kept asking for mor, more, more! In fact, they are the driving force behind the reason it's being published first. They want to share it with their friends.

DGS: One of the things I love about Born to be a Dragon is that your world building for the dragons on Deglan's island is incredibly unique. How did you decide to go this direction? 

EJ: You know a lot of people sit down and world build prior to the writing of a novel. This time around, Deglan is the one who showed me what his island needed to be and the other islands as well. They say your characters speak to you when you write and it's really true. I would be writing one way, while Deglan and Meia are pushing me to go another. Much like the part in the book where Meia is guiding Deglan. I felt the same way as I wrote the world… it just felt so right and fit in perfect with the story. I also wanted to make sure that even though it was fantasy, this type of adventure could really happen… that is if dragons spoke English and really existed. So it was important to make it real and believable for Deglan and the readers as well.

DGS: What made you chose to make Meia, the ten-year-old girl in your story, a foster child?

EJ:  Excellent question. There is a little girl in my county who has had a rough life as a foster child… I can't share her name because she is still in the system, but I really wrote this story with her in mind (her name is also four letters long). At the time I was writing this novel, she was in the clutches of yet another failed adoption. My heart really went out to her and I just really felt the pain and anguis

h of being jostled around and not knowing where she would end up next. And though she has been through the systems worst moment, she is still a precious little girl who wants a family, just like everyone else. I know the outcome for Meia is VERY different from this little foster child's, but it's all about the idea that someday someone will come into this child's life and just make her feel loved. Now I need a tissue.

DGS: The changing mark on Deglan's arm is a symbol of his destiny. Are you a firm believer in destiny and how does it play into your writing?

EJ: I don't know that I am a firm believer in destiny, but I am a firm believer in the fact that everything happens for a reason. The good. The bad. The ugly. It can all be used to form your life and make you who you become. It's ultimately how you deal with whatever

happens that molds you into the person you are. For instance, in the novel, Meia has been in more foster families then she cares to admit, but she chooses to not get bitter about it. And by choosing this attitude, she creates who she is and who she will become.  Deglan also chooses to run from the terror that may or may not be coming for him. His choice thrusts him onto a new path that he is "destined" for. But as we find out near the end (NO SPOILER) sometimes it isn't all about destiny. Sometimes it is, what it is and it leads us onto a path that will continue to shape us and make us who we are.

DGS: What other projects can we expect to see from you in the future? 

EJ:  I love this question. Mostly because I am so excited about my upcoming releases! No firm dates yet, but of course Dragons Forever Book Two will come out in the next 6-12 months. And a YA Fantasy called RINGS OF TIME will hopefully makes its way to the publishing floor. I'm also working on another YA Fantasy called PIECES OF ME… no idea when that one will see the light of day. I wish there was more time in the day… because I would really like to write more.

DGS: Where can readers purchase Born to be a Dragon?

EJ: You can preorder Born to be Dragon today at http://EisleyJacobs.com/preorder.html or you can purchase it on Amazon on July 20, 2011

DGS: Where can people find you in the World Wide Web?

EJ: Twitter at @EisleyJacobs  Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/eisleyjacobs   and my website http://EisleyJacobs.com

Now head on over to Eisley's blog and enter the contest already!

One Week Before My Book Release: Lessons Learned So Far

One week from tomorrow, my debut novel Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes will officially be released. I announced in May that I was going to self-pub my book and received far more support and encouragement that I could have hoped for.  But let me tell you, it's been a LOT of work.

I had no intentions of publishing a half-ass book. I'm sorry, but I have a reputation to maintain. I wanted to portray myself as a professional which meant professional copy editing and a professional cover. I had the option of seeking a professional to format my eBooks but opted to do it myself. (I'll address this more below)  I'm also smart enough to know that I can't just click publish on the Amazon website and expect to make sales. (More on this later too.) I needed to market and promote my book. This took LOTS of time and planning.  Honestly, I underestimated how long it would take to do EVERYTHING.  But if I'm going to do this, by damn, I'm going to do this right.

I also know I have a lot of people watching me, watching how I'm doing this, how well I will do.  They're considering taking the leap into self-publishing and are watching to see how it goes for me first.  That's okay. I can take the pressure.  But in light of this, I've decided to blog updates of my journey through this process.

Once I made the decision to self-pub I immediately began to search out a copy-editor. I had no idea what kind of lead time I as looking at or price.  I emailed a few that specialized in novels and/or self-pubbing and ended up using an editor I knew on Facebook. (He was a friend of a friend– networking people!) I'll be really honest. I was kind of scared to send it to him. He's a no-nonsense kind of guy and gave me the impression that he would be very meticulous, which is what I wanted.  But I was also worried he would pick it to death. And he did to some extent. We ended up having different ideas where the book should go (he wanted me to take out some of the more romance/chick-lit aspects and focus more on what he thought was an awesome mystery.)  After talking to my crit partners and some of my early readers, I decided that the great thing about Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes was that it contained these elements. That's what sets it apart.  My crit partners nearly went into spasms at the suggestion, but here's the thing: Jim made me think about my book and what was important and what wasn't and what my ultimate vision of it was.  And he also made some very helpful pacing tightening suggestions. I can say without a doubt that Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes is a better book because he looked at it. That and he fixed all my lay/laid/lyings. (Gah, I suck at those.)  Cost? $500

Book cover. They say don't judge a book by its cover but no one actually lives by that advice. Even my fourteen-year-old daughter who's an avid reader will look a book and refuse to consider it if the cover sucks. So I knew this was important and began to search for a cover designer even before I made my announcement.  Prices ranged from $60 (simple ebook cover, not print wrap-around) to $800 and the author supplied the photos.  I had a very specific cover in mind and there just weren't pictures out there that portrayed it.  Here's where networking also came in: My dear friend Lori Baerg (and who also happens to be my neighbor) owns a production company. She LOVES Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes and was so excited it was getting published that she  offered to design the cover for me.  She took the cover photo (the model is my daughter Julia) and I met with her creative director who not only made the gorgeous cover, but also created a brand I can put on all my books to unify them.

Isn't it pretty?

See the little brand on the spine? Love.

(This was not the completed cover. It was the first proposal. The title and back copy have changed.)

This is the completed cover!

Give me a moment. Okay, we can continue.

Lori and her team made me think about long term goals and planning, in addition to creating my cover. They encouraged me to look farther into the future than a single book release. They made me think of myself as a business. Cost: $0 Lori gave it to me as a gift. (I am so incredibly blessed.)

I gave my copy editor and cover designer deadlines of when I needed the completed projects. I gave myself three weeks padding between their completion and the release of the book.  This ended up being a very tight deadline on the print book end. My print book is through Createspace. After you upload files for the interior and cover, they approve that the files are formatted correctly and you order a proof. Once you get the proof (your real book! In your hands!!!) you read through it and make sure everything is okay.

OMG!!!!

The proof can come Priority (2 day shipping at $15.30) or standard, which they said would take 5 days. I think it was around $3-5. I figured I built in enough time to order 3 proofs if necessary.

Wrong.

First, there were issues with my cover and it's approval.  By the time it was corrected and approved, I lost a week.  Also, copy editing review took much longer than I expected (see above.) I had to give some proposed suggestions more  thought than I anticipated and based on Jim's comments, I actually made some minor changes.  I went through the book two times. I had very little sleep. I lived on coffee, Diet Coke and Cheez-its.  I also planned my daughter's birthday party/slumber party to occur the night that I got my copy-edits back. (Please don't do this if you have a tight deadline. Trust me on this.) To say those several days were stressful is the understatement of the century.

Bottom line, I ended up ordering my proof almost a full week after the deadlines given to the copy editor and cover design. Then once I got the proof, I read through the entire book and found a couple of track change issues that slipped through the cracks. And two chapter headings had NUMBERS instead of it written out. WTH???  So I read through my book AGAIN with a highlighter, pencil (to pencil in changes) and ripped up post-it notes to mark the pages. THEN I made changes to the manuscript. AGAIN. Upload again. Wait for file approval again. Order proof. Again.

And here's what I didn't factor into my three week work time: Fourth  of July. Yeah, I lost a shipping/printing day.

One other thing  I haven't mentioned  is that you have to format your print version to look like a book. Yeah, they don't do that for you. YOU have to set the page size (5.25″ x 8″ in my case), set the margins and gutters, change your manuscript to the font you prefer (I used Garamond 12 pt, standard font for books), create spacing between lines (I used multiple, 1.17,) create headers and footers– opposite sides, make sure the headers aren't on the leading pages, set up the title pages in whatever font you decide, make your chapter headings how you want them to look. (Mine were centered, one line down written out and in Lucinda Cursive font, with a Wingding 2 curly-cue using the lower case f underneath)  Honestly, this was easy. And actually kind of fun. It just took time and diligence. Thank God for the Find feature on Word.

I will do an entire post on this at a later date because I had a HUGE learning curve with some of this and I'm more than happy to share what I did and how I did it.

Formatting for ebooks is a whole other issue I'll discuss in another post. It can be its own post. Seriously. Same thing about a HUGE learning curve. I'll post about what I did, the mistakes I made and what I'll do next time.  I formatted books or Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Oh, and a PDF file to email to reviewers.

So, I'm close to having this awesome book but it doesn't do me any good if no one knows its there.   I've heard some people publish a book and never sell a copy. (Really? Do these people not have at least ONE friend? Or a mother?)  And while I was sure I could sell a few, I want to sell more. Call me greedy.  I'm not very pushy. I hate pushy people and I hate rejection, although I've learned to accept it to some degree during my querying process.  I knew lots of authors  had blog tours when their books came out but I didn't know the first thing about them.  I investigated some places that will coordinate them for you but you need 2-3 months lead time. I was late to table on this but most charge several hundred dollars. Several epub authors I know on Twitter encouraged me to coordinate my own.

So a couple of weeks ago (I think, the weeks are all blending together) I posted on Facebook that I was hosting a blog tour for my book and was hoping some people would take part.  I'm also part of a small writer's gmail group and posted the same message on there, saying I expected nothing from them so not to feel obligated. My secret hope was to have 10 people agree to host. I knew I had Eisley Jacobs and Trisha Leigh signed up already. They're both my crit partners so they had no choice in the matter. (Joking. They were both excited to participate.) So that only left 8 bloggers. What I didn't expect was the number of people who not only offered but did so enthusiastically. At this point, I have blogs posts scheduled from July 12, the release date, until August 3.  That's a post every day, Monday through Friday, with one post on one Saturday with an excerpt of my book.  And I still have people emailing ASKING to participate.

I left the topic and format up to the blogger but offered a list of suggestions, although they weren't obligated to use. Most have opted to interview me, some on various topics. One is interviewing a secondary character from the book, Mildred,  Rose's 82 year old neighbor who is president of the Neighborhood Watch, otherwise known as the Busybody Club. One has requested me to vlog. (Be careful what you ask for, I can get a bit zany) I have three reviews at this point, and a couple of guest posts.  Some are hosting giveaways. The pure beauty of this blog tour is the diversity of the bloggers. I used to post frequently on my family blog There's Always Room for One More and a lot of my blog readers are my friends on Facebook. So while I have other writers hosting, I also have my blog readers, many of whom are adoptive parents of Chinese and Vietnamese children. (Three of my children are adopted from China and Vietnam.)

Still, while two of the hosting blogs regularly do book reviews, I knew I needed to throw my net wider. I really needed a book review blog tour. You can set these up yourself,or so I've heard. I started to investigate but was overwhelmed. Honestly, I've had enough trouble coordinating dates with people I know, I can't imagine coordinating it with people who would essentially be doing me a favor. After some investigation, I found Chick-Lit Plus Blog Tours.  They are coordinating a ten day blog tour with book reviewers at the end of August. Cost: $99

I've also contacted a few book review sites on my own, asking if they would be interested in reviewing my book. These will occur sporadically. Cost: free I send an ebook file,usually PDF.

Added: One thing you won't see me doing is selling my book on Twitter. I'll eagerly post about my book cover, my release, my blog tour, my reviews, but I will NEVER Tweet Buy my book.

I plan to publish the first book of my paranormal thriller trilogy, Chosen, in September. I've already started working toward that goal. I plan to send the manuscript to the copy editor this week and have asked to have it back by August 8.  I'm working on cover designs for not only the first book of the series but also the two other books. I've written the first draft of the second book, Hunted so I am working on revisions and editing for it and hoping for a late October/early November release. After that, I'm unsure whether to start writing the third book of the trilogy or write the second book of the Rose Gardner Mystery series. At the moment, I'm leaning toward finishing the trilogy. I also have a completed young adult manuscript, a YA romance about an alternate universe. It's also part of a series.

Soooo… that's my progress to date. I'm working hard at this. In reality, I've been working hard at this for the last year and a half. I'm just finally seeing a reward for my efforts.

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes Book Trailer

The official and final book trailer for Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes!

New Site!

If you can't see it, head over to http://DeniseGroverSwank.com/ to see the changes.

I Have a Cover!!!!!!

Squee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You had to have heard me squee when I first saw the cover for Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes. I was completely blown away.

It's gorgeous! Doug Johnston, the creative director at Prizm Productions, did such an awesome  job of capturing the feel of the book with the photo and tone with the font of the title.  It's scary trusting your baby cover to someone else, but Doug didn't let me down.

I could just sit and look at it all day.

Oh wait, I have been.

I know, I know, you're saying "Will you just show us the cover already?"

Okay, I will but first…

Ah, never mind.

 

Was I right or was I right???

OMG! This is really happening!

Why I Wear Headphones

Summer vacation is here! Yay! Unfortunately, I've had a hard time concentrating the last few days. I wonder why. This video was taken just a few moments ago from my desk chair.

Be sure to get to at least 30 seconds to get the "full effect."


*this is a cross post with my family blog

Getting It Right the First Time

If there's one thing I have learned 23K into my sixth novel, its that not a single book has been written the same way.

My first, my throw away book, was a NaNoWriMo project. I'll be honest and it was more about meeting the goal than the story, although I didn't believe that at the time. I'd started several novels before and never even hit 20K so completing a book was at the top of the priority list. One key for me in completion is that I'd spent a week or so plotting, which had always been my bane. As weird as it sounds to most writers, my blog posts on my family blog taught me to plot. Every blog post/story had a beginning, middle and an end. It sounds logical enough, but I when I started my previous novels– the unfinished ones– I had a vague idea and started writing.

My first novel is currently unedited, nor do I ever plan to do so. Some things are better left under enormous rocks.

My second book scared the crap out of me. Literally. I got the idea while I was waiting a few weeks to edit the previously mentioned monstrosity. My son's girlfriend told me that my then 4 year-old son would count to five but only if he touched her fingers while he counted. I said "maybe when he touches you he can read your mind and that's why he knows the numbers." And a book was born. The five-year old boy in my story couldn't read minds (not at first) but he could see the future. As I plotted that book, trying to figure out who would want him and why– in a way that wasn't cliche– I realized I had "something" and it was dark and twisted and completely unlike my blog or the previous book I wrote.

As I wrote my second book (CHOSEN,) I did so in a cloud of anxiety. Scared I'd screw it up. Scared I wasn't good enough. I'd leave myself notes in the manuscript "This is crap, fix later" or as I went on and relaxed things like "Really, Denise? That's all you've got?" My alpha readers were very entertained. It took me two and a half months to write the first draft of that 94K book and three months to edit. In editing, I'd spend hours on a single page, especially in one very key, action and emotion filled chapter. When I called it done (are they ever really done?) I was so proud of myself. I DID it. I completed a query worthy book.

My third novel was born as the germ of an idea on a Thursday afternoon. A woman works in a DMV. On Saturday, I received a heart-breaking rejection on CHOSEN. The agent loved it but didn't think she could sell it. I had started the sequel to the CHOSEN and stopped. It wasn't going well anyway, so I wanted to start with something fresh. On Sunday, I came up with the barest of plots. On Monday, I started TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES. That book was a complete and total rush. I completed the 103K book in 30 days, rarely wondering what was going to happen next, My fingers could barely keep up with my thoughts. I spent about a month and half revising and editing.  That book was truly magic and I doubt I'll ever experience anything like it again.

My fourth book was HUNTED, the second book in the CHOSEN series. It bugged me that it was unfinished. I was still working out the details of the next book I planned to write and I'd figured out where I went wrong with HUNTED the first time around. I took the previously written 36K and reworked it and revised it, dumping 12K and completing the new first draft in five weeks ending with 92K. It is currently unedited. Some parts are a mess. I knew this as I wrote them but gave myself permission to move on anyway. The two previously completed, query-able manuscripts helped me believe I was capable of making it better. Self-doubt is always part of my writing process but the voices in my head telling me it was okay to move on were stronger than the ones shouting "if you don't make it right it's proof you suck."

My fifth book was TORN, my young adult. I'll be honest here and say that while I read YA, I hadn't planned on writing one. But my thirteen-year old daughter was upset she couldn't read my books, so I told her I'd write one for her and her friends. At that point, I hadn't gotten an agent. I'd  had a few near misses and decided to write something fun. Sure, I hoped to get it published but entertaining my daughter and her friends was the highest priority.

I went into it with a TON of research and less plot than I would have liked, but experience had taught me at this point that I tend to write organically so it would probably be okay. Still, I was freaked out that I had little concept of the second half of the book other than a few vague ideas. Nevertheless, I forged ahead, knowing that I usually have plot points and know where something starts and where it ends but often have NO IDEA how this occurs.  I think this works well for me, especially in a tense scene. I like to live in my characters heads as they experience the situation, trying to get out of it as they do. There have been times I've put my characters in situations and had to get up and walk away from my laptop, pulling my hair and asking "how the hell are we getting out of THIS??" I think that desperation comes through in my characters' voice. At least I hope it does.

In any case, I started TORN the week before Christmas (just like CHOSEN, the year before) and finished it the last week of January. (CHOSEN was completed the last week of February, which told me I was getting faster) What's REALLY important to note here, and I haven't mentioned, is that the last several books, I gave myself deadlines. Sometimes they were arbitrary. I wanted to finish HUNTED by the end of November so I could start my YA. I wanted to complete TORN before I went to SCBWI the last weekend of January so I wouldn't have the plot and characters rattling around in my head while I was gone.  When I have a deadline, both a long term (first draft done XX date) and short term (I need to reach 26K today) it gives me a tangible goal. I make them realistic. I KNOW I am capable of writing 2500 words in one day. When I write 4000, its that much better and it spurs me to keep going.

When I wrote THE END at the bottom of TORN (yes, I write The End. It gives me closure. LOL) I knew the end wasn't right. And while I logically knew this was okay, I'd only completed the first draft and I could fix it in revisions, I was freaked out anyway. Mostly because while I knew it didn't work, I didn't know how to fix it. No. Freaking. Clue. So I let it go for three weeks, reading like a fiend and critiquing. When I opened the word file to start editing TORN, the new, better ending STILL wasn't in my head.

WTH?

A mild panic had begun to brew as I forged ahead, the point I knew wasn't working looming closer and closer and yet still nothing.  Then finally one day, it was there. I have no idea where it came from, or how it got there. It was just there. It wasn't all tied up in a neat and tidy bow, but it had a beginning point and end point a few touch stones in between. I completely rewrote the last third of the book. My first goal was to have the book to beta readers the first week of April (I sent it the last week of March) and have it query ready the end of April. I made this goal, but had more revisions than I counted on so I had to PUSH myself to make it.

Now I'm working on my sixth book, currently untitled. It's a middle grade adventure/fantasy born in my thoughts a year ago, but I kept pushing it to the side. This book is for my nephew. He's eleven and is an avid reader. We bonded over Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and he was one of my biggest supporters while I wrote my NaNo book. (How many words have you written now, Aunt Denise?) He wants to read my books, so I'm writing this one for him.

This one is different in lots of way. For one, it's a middle grade so it's  game changer for me. I have to watch my character's mouths (LOL) While Will in CHOSEN and HUNTED would have dropped the F-bomb a half a dozen times in the first tense situation, Zach, the protagonist in my MG merely says "crap" (and honestly, I agonized over that.) I'm writing in first person so I've put myself in an eleven-year old boy's head, which has turned out to be easier and more fun than I expected. (I simply go back to my boys at that age and how they thought and behaved.) I give more description of some things and less in others. While I tend to write thrillers and action, fast-paced books (and this is no exception) it's been harder to make kid friendly. The protagonists, Zach and Caroline, get swords and are expected to fight and defend a gold chalice, but I also don't want them chopping up people. This has forced me to research and create a multitude of mystical creatures.

But the most important difference, is that I'm trying harder to get the writing and story right the first time around. I have a more developed plot, which I've found tends to hinder me at times and fights against my organic writing. (When organic feels right, I alway side with it, which means the plot has changed in minor ways as I've written.) But I've also tried to get the writing right. In first draft, I'll write a description (the bane of my writing repertoire) and let it go. (The sky was a lovely shade of blue with wispy clouds.) Then I'll clean it up in editing and make it prettier and less was-y. (Wispy clouds filled the cerulean blue sky.) But with Zach and the Golden Chalice (as I've taken to calling it) I'll stop and play with the words.

At this exact moment, I'm describing a yard and I've spent about fifteen minutes on one paragraph. (thus, my procrastination with this very lengthy blog post) Silly, I know. I should let it go and fix it later, but I've considered this book an experiment. If I can write cleaner in first draft, how much can I shorten the editing? And conversely, if I shorten the editing, how much time do I add to the first draft?

This book seems like a good place to try this. For one, I'm a better writer than I was a year ago. It stands to reason, I've literally written hundreds of thousands of words since then. But I also wonder, can I force my mind to not just dribble out the story, but dribble it out in well thought out, pretty sentences? When I edit, I go through every single sentence and I end up reworking at least half of them.  Can I slow down and write so that the sentences come out right the first time?  At this point, 23K, I'm so not sure. Instead, I find myself editing as I write. What's the difference between editing now and editing later?

Which brings me back to the yard. The description doesn't come out of my fingers in well thought out, visually pleasing sentences. They're stiff, halting descriptions.  Does it matter if they read pretty now or later? Maybe all that matters is that it's lovely when I call it done.