R.M. Ridley's Blog, page 38

Busy Busy

So between cutting up the last of the wood in my yard, and chopping into smaller pieces I have been fulfilling my duties to my publisher.

I’m answering questions ranging from story arc, to subtext, to character development. It isn’t easy. The questions really make you look at your story in a different light.

Perhaps the worst is the ‘What are the weakness with …’ questions.

I worked hard and long on ‘Tomorrow Wendell’. I sent it to my personal editor after I had edited it myself. I took her suggestions and comments and reworked the story. Then I sent it to beta-readers for their thoughts and opinions and edited again.

I even made changes suggested by the first publishing house to look at it.

What I am basically saying, is that before I submitted it to Xchyler, I tried to make it the best damn novel it could be. I submitted a finished product.

But really no. I knew that going in. It isn’t perfect, it isn’t ‘finished’.

But of course to my mind there are no ‘weaknesses’ because if I had known about weaknesses I would have cut them, changed them, improved them. Right?

So is my publisher trying to undermine my confidence before getting to edits? Are they just cruel and mischievous?

What I found after working this sheet for the short story was that the answer was – none of the above.

Yes, looking for flaws and admitting they are there ( or even half lying about supposed flaws) helps ready you to accept things are not perfect. It also makes you study the work from as many different angles as possible.

Easy it ain’t – I’ll tell you that. But it does serve a good purpose for me.

It also helps the team see the novel through my eyes. They get a sense of what I hope for from the telling of this tale. The understand the way I look at it, and know where I will need direction.

I’m just glad I don’t have to have it ready by tomorrow.

Filed under: Homesteading, Writing Tagged: anthology, beta reader, characters, current work in progress, editor, edits, Jonathan Alvey, plot, publisher, publishing, short story, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, wood, wood burning furnace, Xchyler

After the First Meeting

So I just finished the first meeting of those involved with getting my novel published.

The team over at Xchyler have a detailed and comprehensive system for tracking the changes made, so that both myself and the editors can keep track of what has been done and what has yet to be done

I used this system for the short story I published with them in the Shades and Shadows: A Paranormal Anthology. It works and I’m glad they have it becasue the level of work needed for a short story will be nothing compaired to a full novel.

The other great system they have is an evaluation form that makes you really get inside your own head and your story. It covers plot, character arcs, and deeper and deeper until you see things that you wrote but were not even aware you did intentionally (well, I didn’t because I write so organically) Once you find these things, you can tweak here and there and it allows for a richer story and a more in depth world.

The meeting started at nine and went for an hour. It was not wasted time or time wasted. I understand the challenges my team will be facing which helps me realize the dedication I must put in. I can only hope I have an inkling of the challenges face me through this.

The great thing about Xchyler is that they never forget that I’m the author and that the world, the characters, and the story are mine – they only want to make it the best it can be, not take it away from me.

I have a lot of ‘forms’ (if you will) to fill out over the next few days. It can be tedious but I learned from the short story that it really is worth it – not just to help the team know what I see in my novel and where the plot is going , but for me to understand it fully as I work through it. It may sound silly but it is surprisingly helpful

So I will begin to fill these things out first thing tomorrow. It is not exciting – in and of itself -but it is part of the job. Getting the book written is only the start – that’s why you should just let go and enjoy the process, because there is a lot of hard work that comes later.

But that hard work will make holding that book in hands that much sweeter.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: anthology, characters, current work in progress, editor, edits, Jonathan Alvey, novel, paranormal private investigator, publish, short story, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, writing, Xchyler Publishing

It Begins . . .

I have got the time line that we hope to be able to keep to get my debut novel, ‘Tomorrow Wendell’ released for this June.

Looking at the dates, they seem both so far away and yet ridiculously close. First full edits of the entire novel in six weeks is both paralyzing and exhilarating. This is the sort of thing that shows just how odd a creature a writer (and editor) really are.

As much as possible, I hope to share the experience step by step with you. I want to include you all you in the roller-coaster ride this process is going to be.

And you have to remember, as I share with you, that for every change made, for every word, phrase, and punctuation contemplated, my editor at Xchlyer Publishing is there. This is not a one sided endeavor but a crazy partnership.

Those six weeks will be as trying and exhausting for her as they will for me – maybe more so.

After that month and a half, the pressure doesn’t go away, especially for the good people over at the X. More people are brought on the team to fine comb every detail of the novel. Marketing is brought in, and the cover artist, then there are the proofreaders.

Before we actually release the novel to the public – where we all hope it will be well received and, yes, purchased – the Advanced Reader Copies must make their way into the hands of a select few so that honest reviews can exist.

This all starts tonight – the first official meeting of those directly involved with the project.

Am I ecstatic? Yes.

I am also terrified.

I think that is a good place to start.

 

 

 

Filed under: Writing Tagged: Arc's, cover art, current work in progress, editor, edits, Jonathan Alvey, Marketing, novel, paranormal private investigator, proofreaders, publish, Tomorrow Wendell, world building, writer, writing, Xchyler Publishing

Mysteries, Death, & Foul Play

Those three words caught you didn’t they? And they should.

If you want more – crave a sleuth story – and want to be swept up in a world of words. . .

Here is your chance!

This new novel ‘The Rotten Apple‘ by Christopher Stocking will satisfy your need for intrigue. Just read the bit below and you’ll be hooked.

New York City, 1950 – Detective Naomi Blake sits in her office, craving a cigarette. Her phone rings. Mark Falco, owner of Falco Corporation, is in interrogation room one. Falco Corp. trucks have been spotted making late-night deliveries to an out-of-business warehouse, and the NYPD wants answers. Mark lawyers his way out. As always.

A woman comes in to the station. Says her husband is missing, possibly kidnapped. Before she can say by whom, a mysterious man bursts through the doors and sinks three slugs into her head, then vanishes. Even picks up the shell casings. The work of a professional.

Suspicious activity by Falco Corp., a missing husband, and a murdered woman. Three separate events? Or a concoction so vile it could mean the end of peace and justice in New York City

See what I mean?
Filed under: Writing Tagged: 1950, characters, Cristopher Stocking, death, Detective, foul play, intrigue, kidnapping, mystery, novel, NYPD, plot, Rotten Apple, writer

Not Just Talking to the Ether.

Well the number of followers to my little blog are not record breaking but I have managed more followers than posts.

It’s a good feeling knowing that these words are reaching people and not just floating, unseen, in the dark spaces of the internet.

It’s the same reason I sought out a publisher form my novel – that sense that somewhere, someone is connecting. I write for the simple reason that I can no more stop writing than I can stop breathing. It is who and what I am.

I don’t seek fame or fortune through the act of getting published – I want that ephemeral sense of sharing. That quiet spark of joy that comes from the thought that out in the world someone is enjoying discovering the world I have helped create.

It is a fleeting moment that buoys the spirit. Knowing your words are being read is what all writers seek, I believe. Not for self gratification but for a transcendent moment of connection, sharing, and understanding. Blog, Novel, Song, Poetry, all share that same moment.

So thank you – to all of you who read my words – thank you.

Filed under: MIscellaneous, Writing Tagged: dreams, muse, share, world building, writing

Oh Stop Distracting Me!

Distracting – that’s what life does. It distracts from living. Or in my case, living vicariously through my characters.

Sick, Too cold to type, No water, Truck won’t start — all distractions from keeping me from doing my work, my goals, my enjoyment.

Now it’s not enough wood. I should get out there and cut up the few bits of remaining wood so we have something to feed the furnace for the next 24-48  hrs. After that… well something will work itself out.

Something that distracts me from my writing.

I am also too aware that at any time my brain could go off the deep end again – though luckily I can usually work through/with that.

Stupid life thinking it is the most important thing. One day I’ll teach it– teach it good.

Filed under: Homesteading, Mental Health, MIscellaneous, Writing Tagged: characters, crazy, cycle, frustration, heat, Jonathan Alvey, Mental Health, truck, wood, world building, writing

Take This Season And Shove It!

I am not one of those people who, during the hot humid days of summer, curses the weather and pleads for winter.

I am not one of those people that loves to trudge through snow with long sticks strapped to their feet.

I do not see the point in snow, cold, or winter.

People say – ‘ah but in the winter you can always put more layers on , in summer you can only take so many off’ – poppy-cock! You can only put so many layers on – and even then it can be to cold to do anything but lie there like a bloated wool tick, unable to bend your arms.

This latest cold snap – the wood burning furnace was just able to keep the worst of the cold at bay (and now we have basically no wood). The water line froze – something which shouldn’t be able to happen with the pipes tucked up against the heated floor. The truck turned into a sold block of un-starting cold metal. And we had no internet (which meant no netflicks to watch to pass the time).

I had to crawl under the house to start the process of thawing the pipes (never fun – always painful) – then spend the rest of the day with a paint stripper heat gun trying to reach any and all exposed indoor pipes to make the water run. I didn’t get my much needed bath (soak the ache out of my chronically bad back after crawling about under the house). The water finally did start running at 1:30 am.

Today I take a bath

Today I hope to get the truck jump started

Today I get some of the stress off – some but not all.

With some stress off – and some problems fixed – I might be able to get back to my work.

I like my work — I can make it any season I want in my world of words.

Filed under: Homesteading, MIscellaneous, Writing Tagged: bath, cold, frustration, heat, internet, Jonathan Alvey, netflicks, paranormal private investigator, snow, Summer, Urban Fantasy, water, winter, wood, world building, writer, writing

Last Two Words

The last two words – I’ve posted about them before.

The End

These two words are a great thing to type. It doesn’t mean the work is done. It doesn’t mean that by a log shot but it is great to write them.

I finished the short story that I started writing on my way to visit family on boxing day. I wasn’t driving, the trip would take a few hours and my Muse kindly gave me a way to pass the time. I hadn’t hand written anything in well over a decade but the the story was there, the opportunity to write it, and so I brought along one of many notepads and started scribbling the tale.

I did a bit more work on it a couple days later, after transcribing the first third, then I put it aside for a bit as I didn’t feel my Muse’s intervention on it. She had directed me back to the the novel in progress – ‘Corrupted Souls’ – the fourth Jonathan Alvey installment.

This morning though I wanted to get more done on the piece and opened it and started pecking ut a few words. Then, as though understanding my need to get it out of the way to focus on the novel, my Muse reached her fingers into m brain and pushed.

I got so close to the end of the story but was a bit done in. I had reached the end of my writing spree. But I was SO close. I pushed on.

The end came swiftly, with that last spurt of creativity, I reached the last sentence and with pride and relief wrote those two words.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: current work in progress, Jonathan Alvey, muse, novel, paranormal private investigator, short story, The End, Urban Fantasy, writing

Plague Victim

I have been hit with the plague that is going around. Chest filling with crap that refuses to move out. Sinuses that threaten to tear open my skull. And all energy reserves depleted.

I should have seen it coming – I interacted with other plague victims and should have taken precautions but I was a fool.

 

This is day three and I am getting better – loads of Vitamin C and garlic, plus plenty of doing nothing has me on the road to recovery.

There was a silver lining to this – I got to sit around with my wife and watch movies and Doctor Who episodes. That was very shiny, even if my hacking cough did occasionally blot out the dialogue.

Filed under: MIscellaneous Tagged: Doctor Who, garlic, movies, plague, Vitamin C, wife

The Low Down on Vapor in the Lungs

Reblogged from E-Juice Connoisseur:

Once again we find ourselves listening to the same, tired, repetitive tripe vomiting violently out of the mouths of ANTZ (Anti-Nicotine and Tobacco Zealots).  It generally goes something like this, "There still haven't been any serious studies on the health effects of electronic cigarettes."  This statement has been repeated like a broken record, like a broken record, like a broken record, like a...

Read more… 1,055 more words

This time it is some one else can do the rant for me...