All Ebook Formatting Made Super Simple

I finished my final round of edits and began working on formatting. GRR! UGH! SERIOUSLY??????? and a number of expletives left my mouth early on...until I found Jutoh. I originally was looking for something free, but this program is worth 40 pounds of gold, not just $40. I only paid $24 in a combination deal to purchase Writer's Cafe as well, but that's a separate blog post.

How easy is Jutoh? This easy.

Download OpenOffice.org if you don't already have it. Write your story. Pick one style for your chapter headings. Pick another for your ebook text (set your paragraph indent with the style, DO NOT USE TABS). Save as .odt [you can have more styles, I have 4 in my book total and it preserved them all!!!]

Open Jutoh. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux (YAY!). Start a new project. Fill in your metadata (be prepared for this, this helps Amazon and the other sites catalog and show your book for other readers). Select the .odt file you made with everything in it. Select the file you want to be your cover. Tell it to autogenerate your Table of Contents. Click compile. Wait a minute or two. Run the check, then go to FILE:Export and pick the format you want. 

TA DA!!!! You now have access to your book is every format you need. Including .epub, .mobi, the file for Smashwords, and other formats I don't even know where they sell.

Want to get fancy? You can change up which files are included in making the ebook for different versions called configurations. So if one store doesn't allow links in the book, but another does, have two different files of the area with the links and presto changeo.

Like I said....worth 40 pounds of gold. Which at current market value would be almost $1.2 million. 

Give Jutoh a try, a trial copy is free. I don't know exactly how long the trial lasts, as I played with the software for about 30 minutes before deciding it was a must-have for a self-published author.

UPDATE: All formats uploaded to the Amazon, BN, and Smashwords with 0 problems. The Smashwords edition I just saved the file I made perfect for Jutoh that was .odt as a .doc. I fixed the Copyright page and added the ### to the end. So far, so good. A few typo issues, but that was my fault of choosing the wrong file. In the future, upload day will not involve me being the sole caregiver of my toddler. 

And I've already sold 3 copies! 

Get 50% off any version on Smashwords! Coupon code: JZ49W. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/88799

"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 22, 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

There's a Platypus Controlling Me...To Finish My To Do List

I looked for a picture of a finish line, light at the end of the tunnel, but at the end, I just needed to go with my heart. Without further adieu, there's a platypus controlling me....


Elizabeth, why are you still trying to publish your book in the middle of a move?
There's a platypus controlling me.


Elizabeth, why are you going to push through this last round of edits, look one last time for typos and then let the story go out into the world?
There's a platypus controlling me. He's underneath the table.


There are 10 days until my publication date. Yes, it IS self-imposed, but that doesn't make it any less of a deadline. In fact, the book WILL come out before that (Ssshhhhh! We're just going to celebrate the release on 9/22/11) so that when release day comes, all of the sites are propagated with the book.

• I have 8 more chapters of edits to make. The edits are done, just need to be keyed in. By THURSDAY!
• I will send my manuscript to the printer one last time. Then read it twice for typos. 
• Monday I will finalize the ebook formatting.
• Tuesday and Wednesday I will upload. 
• THURSDAY-SUNDAY = PARTY with my best friend Kari Watford and unpack my household goods.

Here, there is no platypus controlling me! I'm being this cool all by myself!




"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Where Did She Go??? TO Connecticut FROM South Carolina

PHEW!!!!! Today is September 9, 2011. My household was packed up on September 1 and I traveled 1200 miles with an 11-year-old and a 2-year-old, 600 miles of that with my mother in tow. She was in the car with us, and drove a little through New Jersey. I've learned I don't ride in my car very well with someone else driving. At all.

A few highlights? Getting on the NJ Turnpike my mother had to slow down to 25 mph to get off the exit. My 2-year-old daughter in the back seat yells "Go! Go! Go!" Sheesh, impatient much?

Yes, yes I am. This is a Navy move, meaning a company contracts with the Navy to move our goods. They are allowed a window of delivery dates to account for bad weather, etc. That's reasonable. My house was on the truck 9/2/2011, and the truck driver said he would see me sometime next week. No problems, kiddos and Grandma and I mosy on up, stay with friends in upstate NY for a day and make it to CT on Labor Day. The truck driver was supposed to call me that Monday to tell me the delivery date. He didn't. I called him. He said his dispatcher left early on Friday, so he was still in Charleston, SC and didn't know when he'd be able to get up to me! Two days later and as many more conversations, he tells me his dispatcher wants him to wait in SC in hopes that another pickup will materialize and won't get to me until SEPTEMBER 13!!! I said "Wait a minute, we were told no more than 8 days for delivery." He says that doesn't include holidays and weekends.

I am spitting quarters. I'm sure my husband, when he was serving our country on a submarine would have LOVED to say "Gotta go home, it's a holiday/weekend." Yeah. I am not an unreasonable person, I agree a company needs to do things efficiently. However, when they quoted the Navy for my move, they didn't PLAN on doubling up by picking someone else up. So now, my family, with young children, is stuck living on the bare necessities for over a week for corporate greed. And if I thought a penny of that money would be used to keep jobs, I'd be a little more understanding. But it probably won't. And I will never, ever use SUDDATH VAN LINES again.

So that said... on with the good news. I have finished the pen edits of CANCELLED and rechapterization. There are now 18 chapters, and 7 of them have the edits in the computer! Despite my move drama (and it was EXPENSIVE drama) I will make my release date of 9/22!

Can't hold a military wife down! You can try, but it won't be for very long!

"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 22, 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

#ROW80 Check In: "I Like to Move It, Move It"

This isn't a pun about my move to Connecticut, although it works on that level, too, I suppose. No, this is the theme song for the next month, our last month in this round of A Round of Words in 80 Days. It is direct response to my perfectionism/procrastination blog post from Friday. If I'm moving it (getting stuff done), I'm NOT procrastinating. If I'm moving it, I sending a big, fat raspberry to my crippling perfectionism. PPPPPPPPPPPPFFFFFTTTTTT!!!!! ;)

To start, today I am moving over the entire .txt file of my manuscript into the ebook formatting master and fixing the tabs and formatting in one fell swoop. ****TABS are EVIL. NEVER, EVER use them! Use the ruler at the top to set your indentations, TRUST ME! (PSA over)**** Then, I will go back and start making the penned edits into the computer. I still have about 14 chapters to pen edit. 

I think the methodology might work better for me. I was going chapter by chapter with the copying and pasting from the .txt file, then editing. It's too easy for me to self-congratulate myself that way without seeing how much work to go. This way, I can see the final page count (200) and still go chapter by chapter editing. I can still be proud of myself when I finish each chapter, but still see I'm only up to Page 36 out of 200, or Page 57 out of 200, etc. This gives me a more realistic sense of a progress bar.

So, goals for today: get whole kit and kaboodle tabs fixed.
Finish making computer edits up to Chapter 7
Work on pen edits tonight, get up to Chapter 20.

THAT would put me at about a full 35% complete for both a clean copy AND an ebook file. Remember, I'm doubling duty. I have two weeks to finish so I can print one more time, and pen edit during my move when I will be without Internet (might be a good thing). Then, I will make last few changes and VOILA! I'm ready to publish an ebook!!! 

:Singing:: I like to move it, move it.  


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

CHECK OUT SOME OTHER AWESOME A ROUND OF WORDS IN 80 DAYS PARTICIPANTS AND THEIR BLOGS!!!! LEAVE SOME LOVE IF YOU STOP BY:

RING THE ALARM! #ROW80 ROUND 3 HALFWAY POINT

I feel like a little kid, running around shouting "WWEEEEEEWOOOOOOOO WWWEEEEEEEWOOOOO." :) I can't believe we're half way to the end of the A Round of Words in 80 Days Round 3 (#ROW80). I am so very thankful for the program of like-minded authors, with very different goals, urging and encouraging each other through blogs, tweets, and other positive messages.


I have been away for about two weeks because my family's move to Connecticut from South Carolina just jumped up the timetable by 2 months! No worries, I'm not letting it derail me! :)


So where am I in regards to publishing my first novel, CANCELLED? Am I about half-way there? Yes. Yes, I think so. 


Whoa. That's pretty cool, isn't it? I did have a few changes to the itinerary along the way. I am still editing, but it's finally going really well. I now have two chapters I'm very proud of, and now that I know what that takes, it will be easier with the other 26. My reader website has most of the major components I wanted, and just need the outlines filled in. 


How am I still going to make it by September 22? Well, one time saver is I am formatting for an e book as I edit, stripping each chapter of all formatting before pasting it into the final document. Another is rather than give my pre-readers a month to read, I'll just give them the book when it comes out. That way they can leave a review on Amazon etc. if they so choose. 


There is still a big unknown and that is my move to Connecticut. I will lose regular Internet on September 2, and probably won't regain it until the middle of September. Yikes! I am going to need to plan around that, but I can do it. I'm hoping to make a final print of the manuscript for a last look for typos and the like. That will be very good to do, unplugged. :)


What about you? How is your mid-point in the #ROW80 process going?


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.


Other FANTASTIC A ROUND OF WORDS IN 80 DAYS PARTICIPANTS! Check out their blogs and leave them some encouragement!

Self-Published Author: Making Tough Calls Like Moving a Publishing Date

Self-publishing is all about you. You the author; you the publisher; you the marketer. When the tough calls come, the pressure and decision stops with you. This is the predicament I find myself in, trying to publish my first book.


My husband is in the military and we have two children. My oldest is my super-stepson and he lives with us. Unfortunately, the reason he lives with us is because the other home is not very stable at the moment. Poor kiddo has seen too much. He is starting the 6th grade, and originally our move this year from Charleston, SC to Groton, CT was going to happen in October after he finished a 9 weeks here. Well, Navy housing completely let us down, and we have to rent out in town. I didn't want to risk waiting until the end of October for something decent to be on the market, and keep my oldest out of school for 2-3 weeks while we found something and moved in. So, I jetted up last weekend to CT to house hunt, and the hunt was fruitful.


We have the perfect house, and I love the little town and schools. We're going to live in Niantic, CT. The downside is me and the kids are moving Labor Day weekend now, and my husband can't follow us until the middle of October. Yep. Me, alone, with the kids, moving 900 miles. Good news is the Navy moves us, but I'm not 100% confident in them putting the bed back together, me hooking up the washer and dryer, etc. Other good news is my mother is coming with to help and just flying home to Virginia after staying with us a week or so. We're picking her up on the drive up. 


But that's all personal life stuff. The real question is how will this affect my publishing schedule. I admit, I was tempted to just move my publishing date to October. That's the easy answer, right? But let's think about this. I have a few irons in the fire that this will mess up. First, I gave my word to an editor with a small indie press that I would be published by the end of September so that I could recommend his author's book for October. If I publish in October too, then it becomes a competition thing. This relationship is important to me, too, and I want to be as good as my word. Second, my poor cover artist is waiting in the wings to finish the POD cover. She just needs a final page count. I can't get that to her until I format for the print book, and I can't format for the print book until I format for the ebook. 


And this is the big issue. I need to publish in September to get my writing career rolling. This is my first book. That's all. Not my last book, my first of many. I just need to get it out there, take my punches, and work on Book 2. I am getting caught up in this idea of perfect, perfect, perfect. I am human, far from perfect, last time I checked. This move is a bigger burden financially than we expected since we have to rent out our Charleston house. I would help my family out a great deal just by bringing in an extra $100-$200 a month. That's what I wanted when I started this, and then my eyes got bigger and bigger the more I learned about others' successes. You know, it's great that others sell hundreds, or even thousands of their books. I hope one day to have that success. But for me, I need to remember, even if it means telling myself over and over again, I only need small success. Yep. Small success for each book and keep writing. That's all.


So I'm going to keep pushing myself to publish by September 22. I'm not going to take the easy excuse out and miss my deadline. That isn't how a professional behaves. A professional keeps her head down, plugging away, even if it doesn't look like she'll make the deadline. A professional keeps working to deliver even if the deadline comes and goes, because that's what she said she would deliver. And I want to be that professional author.


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Making Up Time #ROW80

I'm NOT as behind as I thought I was!


I know I'm a day late in checking in and I missed two check ins this last week. I had dental work go awry (way too much pain) and traveled to Virginia Beach to visit family. I'm still in Virginia until next Sunday. 


In my race to publish by September 22, I was late out of the starting block. My manuscript was 9 days late. It was a relief to finish that first draft, but it was a little demoralizing to begin off pace. Now, that said, the race is just a metaphor. If CANCELLED is not the absolute best book I can put out at this moment in time and 9/22 rolls around, I will delay the release. Period. I will not publish a book I think is below my standards just to make an arbitrary publishing date. That said, it won't be good to miss that deadline as I will have various marketing plans in place around that date.


Today, I checked my progress against where I had hoped to be. I set aside roughly 1 day per chapter for first round edits. The overhaul. And believe me, it has been an overhaul. I've cut entire chapters, killed anything extra that isn't necessary, and struck anywhere I jumped into another character's head who isn't the POV character for the chapter. I can edit 2-3 chapters per day, I've learned. After that, I notice I"m not making as many red markings. Not because the mistake aren't there, but because I'm not seeing them. I should be on chapter 14 by today, and I'm on chapter 8. NOT terrible. 


I've narrowed a 9 day lag behind the schedule to a 4-5 day lag!!!!! 


I am also working on an awesome marketing avenue for indie authors, but I can't say anything more right now until I get a little more clarification. 

"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.


Check out some of my fellow A Round of Words in 80 Days participants and their awesome blogs!

#ROW80 #6 Chug-a-chug-a-choo-choo!

"I think I can. I think I can. I think I can."


Okay' here's the recap:


I took Sunday and Monday OFF. Yep. I needed a break from work. And my husband suddenly started pitching in around the house. The man mowed the lawn, cleaned up our bedroom, tidied our bathroom, and made our kitchen sparkle. 


On Tuesday, wife guilt put housework first. I managed to wash and fold three loads of laundry, scrubbed our bathroom and the other upstairs bathroom clean, and kept the kitchen sparkling. Today, I am meeting a friend from out of town and we are hitting the local water park with my daughter. 


However, I am okay. My #ROW80 goals are not daily goals but destinations. I like spontaneity too much for daily word count goals, but I might try a weekly total for Round 4. 

• I began learning how to format my word doc for ebook conversion. 
• I am up to Chapter 4 glance editing, and middle of Chapter 3 for in-depth, over haul revising. I need to be up to Chapter 10 by NEXT Wednesday.
• I am doing very well at balancing my writing work with real-life. This post is a case in point. I made sure to make time for it this morning even though I have a jam-packed day ahead of me. 

I wrote down all of my deadlines in my planner yesterday and felt a little daunted. The path from today to publishing at the end of September is a very steep climb. I felt overwhelmed. However, I simply put down my planner and worked on housework a bit, thinking. Yes, it is still a great deal of work to get done. However, as long as I keep plugging away at it, it will get done. It' the whole "I think I can, I think I can." Staying positive is very important, as negative thoughts are crippling. 


I can't worry about pre-readers until I get my second draft polished. I am VERY afraid of reader reception. I am VERY afraid my writing is horrible, and I will be the last to know. However, I suspect every author feels that way, and if they don't, they probably shouldn't be writing anymore. I don't mean it paralyzes every writer, it shouldn't. But we should all care about he quality of our writing, to a degree, even if you've been validated by millions of sales. 


So I'm also working hard to not let those fears build up in my head. I hope to publish Chapter 2 (my new Chapter 1) as a #SampleSunday this week, and we'll see what happens. 


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Printing My First Draft

Proof I wrote for 5 months

 I am on a pauper's editing budget. I can't afford to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for editing. Not on this book. Hopefully by Book 2 I can send my book off for editing, if not then definitely Book 3.

I *know* the book needs editing. That isn't an issue. I am going to do my very best and use as many quality assurance skills I can to help improve the methodology.

First, I outlined my plot. I tried to check my story for holes before I ever wrote a word. Okay, before I wrote more than a few scenes. Writing a few scenes helped me feel the tone of the book, which helped in story boarding. There's layers to editing and I have two editing books that list them. Things like plot, setting, characterization, dialogue. Each chapter will get each layer. The book as a whole will get each layer. I am going to make it the best writing I possibly can.

This is how THICK 225 pages is!!!

Here is where I will print again****

Then come the pre-readers. I am thinking about doing a typo/grammar mistake contest with my 5 pre-readers. Whoever finds the most issues gets a $25 Gift card. And everyone gets a signed copy of the paperback. No idea if they will go for this or not....

Then I will check for typos, each chapter, out of sequence, as many times as it takes until I don't see any more. Not over and over again right away. It will be more like Chapter 3 is checked, I find 2 typos, I mark them. I check other chapters. Then, I come back to Chapter 3, I find another typo, so it will get another run, and just do this systematically until I run out of chapters failing the typo check.

Then I will layout. If I catch anything in the layout, I will fix it. Then print the layout (maybe, unless it's cheaper to buy the mock up from Amazon....).

And that's the best I can do on a shoe-string budget. All in all, I should publish this book for about $500 in expenses....




*** Next time, although this is gorgeous, I'm going to just opt to have the pages printed and hole punched for the first draft. That way as I edit I can print at home and insert them. That should cut the cost from $21 to about $15 or less.

"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Take That Tuesday! Writing, Cleaning, and Thankful

It is inherent in the human condition that we complain. No one can be Little Miss Sunshine all of the time. I don't know why it is easier to count up our miseries rather than count up our blessings (not necessarily religiously provided, just good things in general). 



I am a very big culprit of this myself. I am SO very lucky. My husband makes enough that I get to stay home with my daughter and stepson when he's here for school. I HATE housecleaning, I mean hate it. I have a completely irrational attitude that I am above it. Yep. I'm vain like that. I have a college degree, why should *I* clean toilets? Of course, I can't throw it on my husband with that argument. Man has a Master's. Damn. I never thought of it that way...


Nevermind. The point is I hate to clean, but I do it. I am trying to get better at cleaning, I have a list of items that must be done daily vs. weekly. And today's experiment involves #wordmongering. 


Today, I will #wordmonger for the 30 minutes, and then do a cleaning task(s) in the other 30 minutes of the hour. I know, great idea, huh?


9:00-9:30 #wordmongering           9:30-10 Start laundry, load dishwasher
10-10:30 #wordmongering            10:30-11 Swap laundry, sweep kitchen, bedroom
11:00-11:30 #wordmongering        11:30-12 Lunch, put daughter down for nap, fold 1 load
Break
1:00-1:30 #wordmongering            1:30-2:00 Fold next load of laundry
2-2:30   #wordmongering               2:30-3:00 Tidy up living room (my table), start pasta salad


If the list is accomplished, I should have about 5,000 words to show for it, a cleaner house, and I get to play an hour of Rune Factory :)


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Reading About Craft, Trying to Write

I've had a very bad case of the insecurities lately. I keep reading about self-publishing and how it's all crap and slowly that mentality started to freak me out. What if I'm writing crap? what if everyone hates my book? What if no one buys it? 


Then I began reading On Writing by Stephen King. Phew! All of this is totally normal. And I don't suck. I didn't really get these fears with my non-fiction writing because I started that with 0 expectations. I wrote, it sold. Each random transaction was regular confirmation that I AM a writer and one that makes money doing so.


Writing fiction is a completely different beast. I don't get regular confirmation that my writing is good. I think it's good. I enjoy reading it, even over and over again. I have the first 9 chapters written, and most of the end of the story. I just need to fill in the gaps, about 12 more chapters worth. I have 15 days to do it. I made a pot of coffee for tonight, and will try to get as much as I can done.


I can see the finish line. It's taunting me. Today in church, one bible passage stuck out to me from my New Living Translation: Galatians 6:4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well-done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. Even if you aren't of the Christian faith, it's sage advice. I need to worry about my own project and seeing it through to the end. Who cares if my book isn't as good as other chick-lit/romance writers? They aren't me. And maybe my different style and voice in writing will catch an audience who loves a good love story, but nothing too sappy. 


Grooveshark on. Writer open. Time to get busy.


"Disengaged" arriving Late Summer 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Day 19 : How to Overcome Distractions from Writing

I believe it's called getting back in the saddle? Because I definitely feel as if I fell off the writing horse! For the last two weeks, I have managed to eek out only half-ish of Chapter 8. First, I was in Virginia the last week of April, and between running around for social obligations, and visiting with family, my novel was on the back burner. I also wasn't getting great sleep since I was sharing a queen sized bed with my toddler who managed to push me to the very edge every night!

This past week, replacing my car took up so much time. Between test driving, then buying a Dodge Journey (only to take it right back the following day due to mechanical issues) I am now the proud and super thankful owner of a fully loaded 2010 Honda Pilot (Touring). People have told me before they love their car. Previously driving a 1999 Honda Accord that had seen many better days, I always rolled my eyes, if only internally, at the idea of becoming enamored with an inanimate object. But I LOVE my Pilot! Though, I can argue my car is not 100% inanimate -- I can give it voice commands and it responds back! 


So back to my novel. I am so behind. And the longer and longer it goes on, the easier and easier it is not to write. This changes today. I will write this morning as much as I can. And this afternoon. This evening, my husband has softball, so writing might prove more difficult. Even right now will be difficult as my 2-year-old is climbing on me, trying to give me kisses. 


"Disengaged" arriving Late Summer 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Day 14 - Not Writer's Block, A Crisis of Writer's Security

I'm slightly ahead of schedule on my writing, and so I took this weekend off a little. Only 932 words so far. We'll see if I get possessed to do a marathon session tonight. 


I just finished reading Sophie Kinsella's Minishopaholic. The chance to laugh out loud to a novel was a nice respite from fretting over my own. I read some of the reviews the book has received and goodness! To see some of the backlash against the main character's parenting skills threw me for a loop. Who reads a fiction piece for parenting advice? Or maybe they just have never gone, or can't remember, shopping with a 2-year-old. I can. I do it weekly. My little girl hasn't mastered "Mine" yet, but she's figured out that everything in the cart gets bought and brought home. She throws things into our cart, and any unsuspecting person next to us, making me apologize profusely and remove the items. She is fascinated by my credit card. She likes to hand it to the cashier, and she has to "sign" the credit card slip, too. Does this make me a bad mom? NO. And Becky Bloomwood, the Shopaholic we all love, isn't a bad mommy, either. Or mum. :)


The last 24 hours have been a little hard on my psyche. After the run in with the readers on a romance novel forum, I am more than a little flustered. I read a review of a book that has a very similar plot to my own, well the author made it her twist, but it was handled very poorly and the author took the other path for resolution of the situation that I am not taking. On one hand, I should be glad my thoughts are in line with the rabid readers, that most modern women would not accept continuing a relationship with a man who had an infant on the way with another woman. I agree, I had a hard enough time wrapping my mind around being a stepmother to a 3-year-old when I was 21. I think anything younger than 2 is just too close to the old relationship for another woman to come into the picture without questions about her priorities, intentions, or adultery.


But, I did have my first feelings of never publishing this novel. I don't know why...I didn't think I would get this attached to it. But as the weeks go by, and my word count increases, my bond to it is increasing. I'm hoping the month I plan to take off from writing in June will help me get over it. I really need to put a stop to the feelings that this book somehow validates me as a writer. That's such nonsense! I'm many things before I was a writer, and despite one reader accusing me of not having a real job (HA! I'd LOVE to just have a 40-hour work week and a job that came with VACATION TIME). This is the same person who threatened to never read my book. When I'm finished, I'm going to send them a free copy, on principle alone.


Well, all this talking has inspired me and I think I will get to work on my novel again. I'm still stuck on Chapter 7 and this scene of Johnathan and Kellie in a deli to talk about the pregnancy. I think it's the setting. I think they need to go walking outside somewhere....Johnathan sitting there spinning his silverware isn't cutting it. I think a new location would make adding the awkwardness much easier.....




"Imperfect Timing" arriving Fall 2011. Johnathan Michaels, a robotics engineer, jeopardizes his engagement with his business partner when a previous one-night stand surfaces, carrying his child.

Day 13: Got My Tough Skin On!!!

I do know better than to expect logic, humor, and rational thought to rule an internet forum. So in my first experience of approaching a reader forum, some vital lessons learned.

• Most people won't agree with you, and aren't inclined to do so.
• A handful of members feel a need to swing a big you-know-what around online.

But I am surprised, at myself. I had some very irrational insults slung at me. How dare I challenge the sacred happily ever after by suggesting a romance novel can end with just a happy ending that shows the reader the characters will still have to push to maintain that happiness? Anyway, it didn't upset me. Not in the least. How could I be upset at someone who said "I didn't even read your entire post and I don't like you already?" Wow. What was really funny, from an illogical stance, is one person stating that my book is not in this genre and he or she will never read it. Well which is it? If is a romance book, then I would be worried about you threatening to never read it because you only read romance novels. But if it isn't a romance novel, then you wouldn't read it anyway, so I didn't lose anything.


It amazes me the people who will say things online that they wouldn't say in real life. Could you imagine being in a conversation with someone and they hold up a hand and say "Let me stop you right there, I don't like you so :shrug: just go away now." But I pulled out my Southern upbringing and killed them with kindness. I thanked them for their advice, even the mean spirited, and believe me, I *am* learning from it, and moved on. Now the will power will be to not respond to any replies. But I can do it, I'm too busy! :)


UPDATE: Proof that you must always respond with kindness, the responses are now somewhat apologetic for labeling me a spammer, and more reasonable towards the idea of a degree to the happily ever after ending.


Speaking of busy, this morning I wrote 932 words in about an hour and a half. This scene is near the end of the novel, and I cried my eyes out writing it. I loved when I read it aloud to my stepson, he sucked in a loud breath "Heeeeehhhhhhh" right the moment I wanted. I figure if he gets it, my readers will too. It was painful. I had to write about a mother who gave birth 12 hours earlier and wasn't allowed to ever hold her baby. Yeah, talk about some serious pain! 

The closest I can come to that heartache is how I felt after I woke up from my own C-section. I was groggy and still coming to, when my husband dashed into the door frame. I remember concentrating to focus on him and he was antsy. Why was he antsy? I asked how is our baby and he said "I don't know, I haven't seen her yet." I pushed myself up, while the nurse fixing my IVs urged me to lay back down. "What? Why not?" And then the nurse's face blanched. She had forgotten to tell my husband he could go to the nursery and see our daughter when my surgery was done. My daughter laid, parentless, for the first hour and a half of her life under a warmer. 

Writing about giving birth from the emotional side of things is fun, even if it is exhausting and impacts your tissue supply. Not the classic "Push, push, push" scenes, which I never experienced first-hand, but the million, billion questions and concerns that fly through your head and heart in the first few hours of the baby's arrival. Before you're too sleep-deprived and dirty to even care about the outside world.


Here's a little sample of what I wrote this morning, it's the end of the scene.



Returning his phone to his pocket, Johnathan finally made good on his initial intention to return to his daughter. Scrubbing his hands and forearms in the sink between the nursery's double door entry, he smiled. Once inside, Anna handed Charlotte to her father and he eased himself into the rocking chair next to her plastic bin.
“Daddy has everything under control,” he cooed. Charlotte squinted her little eyes open in recognition of her father's voice before making a newborn yawn and turning her head further into his chest. Johnathan's mouth remained fixed in a smile. He kissed his daughter's forehead and relaxed his own head back to rest.



"Imperfect Timing" arriving Fall 2011. Johnathan Michaels, a robotics engineer, jeopardizes his engagement with his business partner when a previous one-night stand surfaces, carrying his child.

DAY 11- Story Plotting: Too Many Ideas Can Be a Very Bad Thing

Working on updating my digital copy of my story board with all of the pencil notes I've written on the first paper version of it, I pulled a thread and unraveled my entire middle section. It's mush right now. 


The problem is I like to build my scenes upon each other, meaning I ask myself "If A happened, how would Character Blue respond? What consequences would that have?" and so on. Only problem, is my middle is a serious crossing point of two sub plots and the main plot. Craziness. Everything has to fall into place at the right time or it sucks. Just because my story isn't a "thriller" doesn't mean there isn't a bit of mystery to the plot. 


I know what I need to do. I need to write my ideas down on notecards and remap them on my bulletin board. My beginning and end are solid. That won't really be changing anymore. Right now my middle is just a challenge to keep the story going and also capture the two relationships my main character has: one with his fiance and the other with his baby momma (not in a double sexual relationship, but relationship like his growing friendship with the mother of his child).


This brightened my evening: http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2011/04/self-publishing-911.html It's a hilarious script of a fictional 911 operator taking the calls of problematic self-published authors. I laughed so hard! It makes me even more excited about what I'm doing: pushing to self-publish my own work with great quality and a professional look. But tonight, I'm going to bed early and taking a break from mangling my own plot. I pushed myself hard in my work out at the YMCA this afternoon and my body and brain are screaming at me to sleep.






"Imperfect Timing" arriving Fall 2011. Johnathan Michaels, a robotics engineer, jeopardizes his engagement with his business partner when a previous one-night stand surfaces, carrying his child.

Day 7 Self-Published Novel Writing Extreme

Sleeping tiger...ready to ROAR!

Technically, Day 7 was yesterday, and I managed 1500 words. Roughly 47% of Chapter 5. In two days, I've clocked 5200 words. This brings me to 8 chapters written out of 24. That means I am a third of the way there! I keep pushing, because as Joe Konrath says, the longer an ebook sits off the market, the more money you lose. 

Every once in awhile the little voice in the back of my mind, Ms. Naysayer, says "This sucks. No one is going to want to read this." I show her the middle finger and smile, in true heavy metal fashion. I know people will like the story because *I* like the story. And, this is my first novel. It's always going to be one of my worst. But, as long as I keep pushing ahead, keep writing and publishing, I have complete control. Nothing says 5 years from now I can't revamp "Imperfect Timing" and re-release it as a second edition.