The Beginning of a Novel

finished chapter one; 1,806 word count

Writing Tip: I feel good. I finished the first chapter. I've introduced one of my main characters and her sidekick. I've established her "normal" world. I've indicated her immediate desire. And I've plopped in the inciting incident.
I probably should go back and put in a little more description of the characters.
I feel like saying check, check, check, check, and oops. But the oops doesn't bother me much. It's fixable. And now, NOW, I am excited about this adventure.

Goats

The new book, Dragons of the Watch, has a goat in it. So how much do I know about goats. On a scale of one to ten, a low three. So I went to the Internet and read. Then I went to You Tube and watched goats. My next plan is to find the teen I know who raises pygmy goats and see if I can visit. I love this kind of research.

On to the next book

This next book is Dragons of the Watch. I've started, but I only have around 500 words written.
I have to praise my crit group for keeping me from embarrassing myself. In the first few page they read, they called my attention to two names I'd chosen. In my ignorance, I didn't realize one was a euphemism of a cuss word and the other was slang for a sexual term. Oh dear, I am truly a sheltered grandma.

Where did it go?

Last week I worked through my edit notes and made changes in my .doc. This morning I opened it and started reading. No changes. Hmmm? Okay, now I remember. I made a new file so I could keep the original to compare with the edited version. Where is it? Nowhere!
Thankfully, I just got an online back up program that will allow me to pick a day and restore that version. Ummm. What was the name of that program? Oh yeah! History. I pull down the history thingie and look through the websites I visited last week. There it is! I click. This is the sign up page. I've already signed up. How do I get to the page that isn't a sign up page? Found it. "My account." Phew! Email address; that's easy. Password? Um? probably used the bank password. Nope. maybe used the shopping password. Nope. Probably used my oldest password because I haven't used it for a while. Nope. Where's the button that says click here if you've forgotten your password? Don't see it. Where's support? Ahhhhhh. Ohhhhhh. You have to access your account before you can get into support. maybe I used one of the passwords backward. Aha! Thirty minutes later. Found this, which led to that. That is undecipherable. Found another this, and it also led to that. That still makes no sense. Found it! Found it! Found it! Won't open. Found support. Support leads to an endless scrolldown of FAQs and outlined step by step procedures, none of which sounds any more comprehensible than instructions for assembling an electric train set. Joy! Joy! Joy! found email to support. phrased question. Erased question. I sound like an idiot. Rephrased question. Erased question. I sound like someone trying to sound like he or she knows something when he or she does not. Rephrased question. pushed send before chance to erase was taken. now I am going to go look for our puppy we got for Christmas. Oh where oh where has my little dog gone. Oh where oh where can she be? Unless she'd been sucked into cyberspace and is residing in the computer, I'll find her.

Now What?

When you are first writing to get published, the answer to this question is to send the manuscript off to likely publishers, then dive into your next project.

Fortunately, my next projects are lined up for me. I am doing an edit on Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball which is due to come out Oct. 10th. I suppose I should write about this process. There are many times when writing tips should come up naturally.

Done! Done! Happy Dance! Done!

Ch 54 and epilogue done!!!; 93,890

Writers Tip: It is a good idea to put a manuscript away for a week to a month after completion, then take it out and read through with fresh eyes. Don't be alarmed when you first finish. Often your impression at the end of the long haul is that this is the worst thing you have ever written. After a break, you can be more objective.

Remaining in the Scene

Finished 52: 91,990 word count

Writing Tip: Remember what the other players are doing. In this scene characters A and B are headed into a dangerous situation. Lots of action is going on around them. This is the battle. So, I have to get A and B from point one to point two without taking them out of the scene and setting them back down where I want them. They still have to be a part of the ongoing action. So, as they skulk along, they overhear enemy chatter, they watch a dragon fight in the sky, and they aid a fight going on by snatching a weapon from the bad guys, and eventually get to point two. Lots of fun, not boring, and feels realistic.