Liz Lee's Blog, page 2

Website Is Live

It was quite the learning curve, but the website is LIVE!Check it out: Liz Lee Books
It's been optimized for phones and desktops. I haven't done the tablet optimization because, quite honestly, the desktop version looks good on my tablet, so I'm not sure I'm going to worry about it.
I could not figure out how to make my blogger site look good on the website, so instead of embedding it over there, I added a blogger link to the header of the desktop site and the footer of the phone site.
Now I'm off to make homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, to check out my critique partner's new chapter and to write. 
I LOVE CHRISTMAS BREAK SO MUCH!

Learning Adobe Muse

I've spent a week learning Muse. It's a lot like InDesign, so the learning curve wasn't too steep. I still have a ton to learn, though. The site isn't ready for tablet or phones, but the desktop site looks great. One of the things I want to do, it get my blogger site to show complete with share menu and comments on the site. Right now, it's just my latest blog. Doing more looked UGLY.
I also need a complete books page with my stand alone novels.
I'm ecstatic.
I crashed and burned this year big time. I toyed with the idea of the end of my writing career. Glad that's over. It's over because of a few great writers. One asked for a beta reader, and when I responded and read the book and gave chapter reports with comments and edits, I remembered how much I loved this. The other contacted me about critiquing. That's all it took. Two pushes to remind me I LOVE WRITING ROMANCE NOVELS. Glad I'm back. <3

Me, No One Else

The absolute worst thing I can do with my writing is compare myself to others. My journey is mine. The speed with which I write, the publishing schedule, the Amazon list, the fan mail, the newsletter, the site...comparing my writing to others shuts me down. It's just like comparing myself to others on a diet. 

My words are my dream. I don't have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the world of self publishing, but I need to be good with what I can do physically.

Yes, just like the meme says, Oprah and I have the same number of minutes in our days. I need to find MY balance and be okay with what that is. I'm me. No one else.

Just some musings after looking at my favorite authors' websites and finding myself in a dark place. 

Cross posted.

Writing Time

So here it is Nov. 30. I didn't participate in NaNoWriMo. I always participate. I've had clubs time for students to participate. It's just one of those things I do, but this year has been crazy, so in early September I put the manuscripts away and said writing had to wait. I'm at work until 5 and then the grading and planning starts. I've let me job work me instead of me working the job.I thought taking writing off my plate would make things better. Wrong.Instead I miss the books and resent the time I'm not spending on the books I love to read and write, romance novels where sex is not a bad word

The Day Job

During the summer I work about three weeks on the day job. Those three weeks are spent at camps with students. Sometimes I get to write, sometimes I don't. Today is one of those days. Will I get to write? Yes. Jury's still out on how much.I brought a spiral instead of my laptop with the hope that a different type of writing might get me through this transition scene that has been slowing down the revision process. Conflict is the name of that game. I've committed the nice, nice sin. My characters are way toocomfortable. That will change tonight! 
Happy writing!

Revision Hell

Ya know, I thought this book was close to done.
But this third read-through is showing some clear character issues. I figured out the heroine. Her issue was voice. As in she had none in the beginning. By chapter three she was good.
The hero was great in the beginning, but then he changed around chapter five.
So I now have a clear scene chart complete with conflict grid.

I know some people say just write the book and don't worry about the other stuff. That works sometimes, but it sure didn't work this time.
The final draft of this book will look like a whole new novel.

AND I thought I had a title, but....nope. It makes it sound like a ghost book. It is not a ghost book. It's a sexy romantic suspense.

AND I think I have a cover...maybe. I was pretty sure, but now I don't know. We'll see.

Happy writing

New Logo + book info

So I have a new logo (love) and an info post with both the It Started in Texas series and an announcement that San Mario Nights is coming soon. Not sure what I think. It might be too busy.
Any thoughts, critiques, that kind of thing would be welcome. :)


UPDATED: WOW! That was fast. I've made a few adjustments. Here it is with those. I don't know what I think. This one might be too squatty on the second L. Hmmmmm.

We MIGHT have a cover....

...Not sure. I spent yesterday going through a trillion photos, working with masks and backgrounds and that kind of thing. In the end I decided I like the simple photo covers best. I COULD still change my mind, though.
 For now, I'll say I have a maybe cover that sets the theme for the entire San Mario Nights series AND I have a title.
The title is huge because poor Lil needed a title other than Lil. :)

What it took to get to this point:
five million hours of searching through kiss stock art. There's some pretty  interesting stuff up there. I settled for a photo I've seen on other covers. I'm okay with that. I use stock art because it's relatively inexpensive. I wish I could special order models, but I'm not there yet. :)
I joined Creative Cloud and had access to the Adobe Stock, but I'm already a member of shutter stock. Shutterstock offers a better discount for me, so they won. I LOVE the way Adobe Stock works with the app libraries though. When my Shutterstock credits run out, I might revisit this decision.
Adobe and youtube tutorials. Seriously. If you want to do something with Photoshop, you can find out how. The free tutorials are amazing. I ended up not really using what I worked with on them, but I did learn a ton about the new Photoshop CC abilities. I was using CS6 before. Loved it, but CC is really cool.
I did some pretty cool hair color change tutorials and ended up not using the change because I'm still not loving what I see. I see many more tutorials in my future.

If you're making your own book cover remember copyright law. You can't just steal a picture from the Internet and use it. :)

Taking a little break from writing. Will be back this evening. You can find me on twitter @AuthorLizLee. Search #1k1hr and you'll find a TON of inspiration.

Happy writing!

YES!

DONE, done, done, done.
NOT with the book. I still have third round revisions to finish, but FINALLY, after hours and hours and multiple drafts and letters and character studies and so many freaking craft articles my eyes are practically cross, FINALLY, the heroine's voice is in her opening scene.
Before this the story was there. The PLOT was there. But LIL was missing.
I love Lil, so I'm glad she's finally fully on the page.
Along the way Lil picked up Wonder Woman and lost a former college roommate. I'm good with that.
The book still has a way to go until it reaches the final The End, but it's a while heck of a lot closer than it was.

WOO HOO!!! Happy writing!

Critiquing, editing and coaching, OH MY!

I spent the last 48 hours editing and critiquing other writers' work.The first piece was something I'd seen much of before. It was more of a line edit job with a few content edits thrown in for good measure. The writer has been working his craft for years and will publish an amazing non-fiction book for beginning teachers. When it debuts, every new teacher should have a copy. The second was a first read of a novel written by a man with a dream. He'd never written before, didn't really know anything about the craft, but this great character bugged him until he started writing.When he finished his first draft he sent the book out to some of those publishers who email you about living the dream. They were happy to publish the novel for $1200-$6000.He called me first because of a friend of a friend situation.I'm glad he did.The foundation of story is in the work. But it's a detailed first draft right now. After a couple conversations I knew what the author needed first. He needed to read.I sent him two articles about scene and sequel. Easy articles that won't overwhelm. Then I told him to let those percolate while he studied the craft while enjoying some great books.When the man called me originally I sent him to some business of writing sites so he could see how the "publishers" willing to publish his work weren't really there to help him. They were there to take his money. I talked to him about elf-publishing vs traditional publishing and ebooks and book sales. I talked all about the business.Then he sent me the work and I realized WHOA THERE, BABY. We need to take ten giant steps back and focus on the craft.Today the author and I talked. I hope I get to continue working with him on his journey. More than anything this whole process has hit hard with me.I don't spend a lot of time working the business side of my writing. I have a seven-year plan. However, I do spend a GOD AWFUL amount of time thinking about, reading about and talking about the business side. And yes, the business side is important. BUT the craft has to come first.That brings me to Lil's book, the one I'm working on right now. I really like the book and the characters but the heroine's opening scene needs a colossal amount of work. I've worried because the business side of things says girl, you gotta get that baby out there. It's been five months since your last book published. But the craft side knows better. Off to write more Lil words. Focusing on the craft. The business side comes later.
Happy writing. <3