The Inferiors

Hi guys!

So I have some pretty big news.

Life has been absolutely crazy, I think you can tell by how long it has been since I last posted. But I have successfully finished my first year of college, had lots of amazing adventures this summer, and finally finished my second novel!

And by finished, I don't mean I finished writing it.

I finished writing it, editing it, and it is almost ready to be published! The only thing I'm waiting for currently is for the proof to get here, and then I can click the publish button!

I can't believe it's been four years since I was last published, but it's better late than never!

I'm so excited to officially release my book cover, front and back :)

I'm really gonna try to get back into the blogging world. Of course college makes everything hard, but let's be honest if I have time for a boyfriend as well as a job and then I'm able to do some writing on the side, I'm sure I can fit in some time to blog with you guys again.

Hope you guys are having a lovely day!

Jess

IWSG Post… :(

Hi guys. Sorry I'm late posting today, but I've definitely been feeling a bit sorry for myself. It's really stupid and silly, but I've been very insecure.

First and foremost, I finally took my driving test today to get my license aaaaand…I failed.

Literally, I failed both parts of it.

I know it has nothing to do with writing at all, but I've been pretty upset about it since I took the test. Luckily, Ohio law says that I can take it again one week from today, which I'll be doing. So yes.

Anyway, it isn't just the driving stuff that's been making me feel insecure.

My wonderful, amazing editor, Nicole Zoltack is looking at The Inferiors right now. I've already started the publishing process on CreateSpace and they're in the process of creating my book cover, and that's freaking me out just a little bit too.

They created my cover for From the Ashes which turned out really great…

But I've just been incredibly anxious because I'm supposed to get it any day now. I've found myself refreshing my email over and over again like a crazy-clingy obsessive girlfriend (I sort of am though, ask my boyfriend haha).

So yes.

I want the cover to look really good but also have similar features to From the Ashes so that it ties in to the series. And I'm also nervous about getting my final draft done, once my editor sends my manuscript back to me. Oh lordy.

Anyway, that's what I'm insecure about this month.

How about you guys?

Visit other IWSG posts here. Thank you Alex Cavanaugh for hosting this!

–Jess

IWSG – I'm Trying

Today is the first Wednesday of the month, meaning today is the Insecure Writer's Support Group day! I have not participated in this in years so I'll try and make sure this post doesn't turn into a novel.

I'm actually a very confident person. I don't always show it, and sometimes my "being humble" can come off as insecurity. I used to be insecure about my looks and that sort of thing, but I think that's normal when you're in your younger teenage years.

At the age of 19, I love myself very much. I'm not being self-centered, or trying to brag, that's just the honest truth. I know I'm not perfect, but I love how I look and who I am. And anyone who doesn't like me for who I am can get out of my life. (There's actually a hell of a lot I had to go through to get to this point, but I feel like that's not really relevant to this particular post.)

Despite all my confidence in myself, that has not yet translated over to my writing. Let me say, I'm not a 'timid' writer. I let all my words come straight from my heart or my soul or wherever words might come from. But when I'm getting ready for publication, my whole story seems to turn into a huge mess. I find myself thinking, "What the hell is this? Who turned my beautiful story into this crazy nonsensical disorder?"

As of yet, I have not found a solution, so…I mean I was going to try and make this post a bit hopeful, but I guess this part isn't haha. Not yet anyway.

The second part of this post is that I'm also a bit insecure about getting back into blogging. It's been so great being able to post here again, and see what everyone has been up to, but as I've mentioned in the past couple posts I wonder if I'm just shouting out into the darkness. Is anyone listening?

What are you insecure about this month?

–Jess

HELLO AGAIN

Dearest readers,

Today is a really really big day for me. If you hadn't guessed already, it's because YES. This is the first blogpost I've done in a little over a year!

So for some catching up…HAPPY NEW YEARS (like twice?). And some crazy shit has been going on. Like if you're in America, is anyone else asking why Trump is running for president?

And honestly, I really have missed you all.

I'm going to do my best to start posting again, at least once a week if not more.

I'll also have you guys know that I'm kinda starting up a bit of an editing business…I actually wouldn't go so far to call it a business, more of a hobby that will make me a little bit of money. I won't be charging much, though price will depend on word count and quality of writing. (So if you're in your first draft, I'll charge more than if you're closer to your final draft.) I'm also totally cool with just looking at a chapter or two (or as many as you like) if you want.

Keep in mind, I'm a 19 year old, but I definitely have more of youthful mindset. So if your book or story is intended for young adults, I'm happy to give you an idea about how your audience might receive your book.

ANYWAY. If you'd like me to take a look at something just email me at violingirl4036@gmail.com. Yes, that's still my email address, I don't know when I'm going to change it.

Also let me thank Nicole Zoltack for helping me come up with how to set a price and everything, she's an amazing editor. She edited From the Ashes for me at a great price, and I'll be having her look at The Inferiors my second novel once I've finished editing it.

ANYWAY YES I'M BACK SO PLEASE TELL ME HOW YOU'RE ALL DOING AND HOW MANY OF YOU ARE STILL ALIVE OUT THERE!!!

Peace

–Jess

Siúil a Rún

First of all, here's a pretty song I found recently, called Siúil a Rún.

The video isn't very good, but it had the best quality sound. According to Wikipedia, it's a traditional Irish song about a girl who's love has decided to go to war, and though she doesn't want him to, she's supporting his decision. If you want to read more about it, go here.

Anyway, I'm just editing The Inferiors lately.

It needs a lot of work. Luckily, it's like 25,000 words less than From the Ashes so hopefully it won't take as long. And the first draft of From the Ashes was absolutely terrifying, which isn't quite the case with The Inferiors.

So yup, that's what I've been up to.

My goal is to get from page 109 (where I am right now) to page 180 by the end of the week. Think I can do it? I'll tell you on Friday :)

What are your goals for the week?

--Jess

Have a Nice Weekend!

In school, I'm taking a Creative Writing class. And if you haven't guessed already, the class is so much fun.

All of the assignments are really creative, and there are a lot of writing exercises that are giving me so many new story ideas! The one problem is that I'm getting so many, and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to write them all :(

Anyway, I'm just over 75% done with my final edits. After that, my mom's going to read it again and depending on what needs to be done, I'll either have my editor take a last look at it (which would probably lead to another "final" round of edits), or skim over it then publish.

I can't believe I'm actually getting this close!

Could it really be only a matter of time before I'm a published author?

Oh and just as a fun fact, I'm learning Chinese this year. Actually, I've been learning it since 6th grade, and I just love it (that doesn't mean I'm any good at speaking it…) Either way, I just wanted to show you my favorite Chinese character.

龍

I think it's the prettiest out of all of them. It's pronounced like: long. But you have to follow the tone up, so you almost say it like a question. The actual pronunciation is: lóng. It means dragon.

(Now can you guess why it's my favorite? :)

周末愉快！

(Zhōumò yúkuài)

or

Have a nice weekend!

--Jess (麥潔思）

The Heater Broke (My 200th Post)

As the coldest day I can recall since fall started, today is definitely a bad day for the heater to not be working. Here in Ohio it's cold and windy outside.

Leaves litter the front yard, and every gust of frigid air that blows in your face makes you want to go back inside.

Unfortunately, it's not that much warmer.

So as I write this, I'm sitting at the table, wearing my snow pants over my fuzzy North Face pants, over my leggings, wearing my socks over an extra pair of fuzzy socks, and wearing my bulky sweater over my North Face jacket, over an Under Armor long sleeve shirt, over an Under Armor t-shirt over a tank top.

(Please excuse the run-on sentence.)

All in all, at least I can still get writing done! My fingers haven't frozen (yet) due to my backlit keyboard which actually makes resting my hands on it warmer.

Anyway, the guys who are supposed to fix it are coming tomorrow. I'm just hoping I don't freeze before then.

As far as editing is going… It's going okay. Too slow for my taste, but the credit for stealing my precious writing time goes to school and my dad. (He makes me watch movies to get more inspiration for novels.)

Still working to get published before February, but being only 2/3rds the way done with my final/second-to-last draft… I'm not sure I can make that goal.

We'll see :)

 OH Also, this is my 200th post!

How's your day been?

Happy Monday!

--Jess

P.S. If there are typos in this post, please ignore them. I'M WEARING GLOVES ;)

Much Ado About (my) Queries

Good morning, lovlies!

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and planning out book 3, but I feel like I'm not quite getting it right. Maybe it's just because it's my first draft of an outline, and I can't see it clearly enough in my head.

But since it's supposed to be the last book in my series, I feel like the ending has to be PERFECT. If it's not, I'm not sure if my characters would ever forgive me for it.

The one problem is, I've got like seven different ways I could end it, and they all sound like a good ideas to me! (No, I'm not going to tell you any of them :)

Also, I entered Deana Barnhart's Agent Pitch Contest. I'm so lucky I actually made it into that! Anyway, I'm getting lots of feedback.

The funny thing is, I can't tell if it's good or bad feedback.

My query isn't exactly a traditional query, but everyone's saying they like it. Someone mentioned that I didn't reveal much of the plot though, so I guess that's something I have to change. I also realized that everyone wants to meet my MC, Jaina, in my first 150 words.

Yes, I know all about the prologue discussion.

But my book has a prologue!

It takes place 10 years before the bulk of the story begins, and it's from Jaina's handsome love interest's point of view. And in the end, I think it works for the story. Then again, what do I know? I'm not an editor!

If you guys want to take a look at it, check out my Query: Rise: From the Ashes page. If you have any comments or suggestions, I'd be more than happy to hear them!

Anyway, have a great day!

--Jess

P.S.
I got a MacBook Pro with Retina Display for my birthday :) Thanks for all the awesome birthday comments on Friday!

Oh Dear... The Challenges of Rewriting

I just realized I have to totally rework The Inferiors.

Again.

The first time I had to fix it, luckily I'd only written the first 30K out of what's now 112,000 words.  It was challenging.  Rewriting something you've already written is ridiculously hard!

Fortunately, I only had to rewrite 30,000 words then.

Now?

I've got 112K to sift through.  Hopefully I can keep a lot of it.  There are a few parts I don't want to lose, but the entire thing needs to be shortened.  Reason?

I discovered that the "end" isn't actually a good place to end the story.

In my head, I have a timeline of all three books.  Originally, when I first started writing book 1, I had no idea it was going to be a trilogy.  It was all meant to be one book.  But when I began to hugely exceed the standard YA word count, I had to break it up.

Anyway, my mental timeline includes just about everything in the story, from beginning of book one to the end of book three.  And as I'm going over it, there's no way book 2 can end where it did!  (Trust me, I've read over it like four times and the current ending is lame anyway.)

So, in the end, I guess I'm not rewriting it all.  'Compressing it' is more accurate I guess.

Too Many Things and Definitely Not Enough Time

Hey guys.

Um... sorry I wasn't 'here' on Wednesday.  It's not that I forgot about you, I promise!

Honestly, I thought the summer would make things easier.  And in a way it has.  It's allowed me more time to edit, write, read, skate, paint, play my violin... everything I love to do.

But by doing all these other things, I've realized that I actually have a lot less time now!!  Let's see... I have to beta read a book, give feedback on a first chapter, critique a few chapters, make a few last changes to From the Ashes, catch up on reading all of your blogs, make a list of other things to post about... * sighs *

The list goes on and on... like the energizer bunny.  Except I'm not feeling quite so energetic about it all.  Just thinking about it is making me exhausted!

Wednesday was sorta the epitome of my brain overload.  We weren't home for five hours because of skating/my violin lesson (both take up a lot of time, lol).

I have 20 unread emails, way too many facebook notifications and a whole bunch more from twitter.  I'm honestly dreading going through them all.

Oh well.  I gotta do it all sometime!  Might as well start now...

So yeah, I didn't forget about anything!!  I've just been so busy.

Luckily, thanks to my best friend Kate, ideas for book 2 and 3 have been coming to me like magic.  So at least in the writing world, things have been moving rather smoothly.

Don't let the procrastination bug bite you this weekend!

Happy Friday :)

--Jess

Cool Contest Post!

Hey guys, I found out about this really cool contest where you could post your query letter and the first 500 words to see if you could win a critique from Sharon Bayliss's editor!  Check out the details HERE.

By the way, I totally get it if you guys don't want to read my query letter and first 500 words, so you can just move down to the previous post if you want :)

Anyway, here's my entry:

Query:


Rise: From the Ashes is the first book in a series of three.  It is a New Adult Sci-Fi novel set in a futuristic version of our galaxy and is approximately 118K words.

Sixteen-year-old Jaina Indera has been training for this moment her entire life.  Ever since the Imperial Alliance genetically selected her to attend a gifted school, she has done her best to be worthy of competing in the Trials.

Being chosen is just the beginning.  Her school will send a team of eight students to compete in a battle of both physical and mental challenges against other Gifted Schools around the galaxy.  If they win, they will enjoy the privileged life of a Superior in the Crystal City, the stronghold of the Imperials.

With the coincidental, sudden appearance of a boy called 'Dragon' and her unsettling dreams two months before the Trials, she begins to question everything she has been taught to believe.

Will she ever find balance between honor, love and the truth behind it all?

First 500 Words:

HIS WHISPERED Cry of agony echoed through the night.  Jaina’s eyes opened with a start and she peered through the barrier of darkness between them. Altair remained motionless in his bed, but Jaina couldn’t bring herself to look away.  The dim lights outside cast ominous shadows into the room and shrouded him in an overwhelming sea of black.  She’d always been afraid of the dark; that’s why Altair let her sleep by the window where the light shined through.

Jaina swallowed her fear and took a deep, shaky breath.  She wanted to close her eyes, but still she watched him.  She had to make sure he was okay.

He rolled over violently and moaned in pain.

“Jaina!” he hissed.  “Jaina! Please!”

She sat up in alarm, and the blanket she was wrapped in fell softly to her waist.   The air felt cold and sharp to her lungs as dread coursed through her veins.  The dark silhouettes grew seemingly darker around Altair.

“Jaina, please! No!”  he cried out again.

She forced herself into the darkness and ran to his side.  Her hands touched his shoulders and she shook him frantically, hoping the cameras hadn’t noticed him yet.

No one stirred from their sleep, but Jaina knew it was only a matter of time before someone heard.  Someone was bound to hear him.

She shook him again.  “Altair, please wake up.  You’re going to wake our classmates,” she whispered to him.

His eyes shot open with an unnatural energy, and she wasn’t sure if she was imagining the red glare in his pupils or if it was really there.  Frightened, Jaina jumped back and her entire body began to quiver.

Instead of his usual calm expression, she saw nothing but darkness.  Her breath was choked and it became hard to breathe.

His clear eyes were clouded with agony, and trained on her.  As if she was the source of his pain.  She would never hurt him; they both knew that.  He was like a brother to her.  He was everything.

Jaina backed away, doing all she could to keep herself from screaming.  His vacant stare was cold and harsh.  She’d never been scared of him before, but this time it was different.  It was like he’d become a different person.

Altair blinked, and it faded.  All of it.  As if it was never there.  Confusion crossed his face as he stared into her eyes.  “Jaina?”

She moved away from him, afraid of what he might do.

He approached her cautiously.  “Jaina, it’s alright.”

She wanted to believe him.  But he had lied.  He’d told her his dreams no longer bothered him.  She felt betrayed.

Her shoulders brushed the back wall.  She wasn’t sure if she should run from him or ask if he was alright.  His usual serenity had been shattered with panic.

“Jaina, I’m okay now.”  His eyes began to look more normal, and she let him take a step closer.

***

Hope you enjoyed! Good luck to everyone in the contest and have a great weekend!

--Jess

And then......

Sometimes, I feel like I'm constantly telling.

There might be times when telling is better than
showing... **

We're always taught to show, not tell.  And, having been a self-proclaimed writer for approximately one year now, as well as loving the art my entire life... I should probably have learned my lesson by now.

But of course, I haven't.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be telling you about it.

One way to figure out if I'm starting to tell more than show, is to look for simple verbs that are alone.  Verbs like 'smiled' or 'scowled'.  True, these words show to a certain degree, but they could be expanded upon.  There are many different types of smiles.

How did he/she smile?  Was his face stern at first, yet as the moment sunk in did his lips gently curl into a grin?  Or did her weary eyes meet yours as she shook her head, a pleading smile lifting the corners of her mouth?

See, these are the things I have so much trouble with.

And when you've used 'smiled' alone, exactly 156 times throughout your MS (yeah, that would be me)... it really becomes a telling word.

Another word that usually means you're telling is when you see 'and then'.  Luckily, 'and then' is a phrase I can usually avoid, but I thought I'd bring it up since it's the title of the post.

Do you guys find yourself telling a lot?  Or, at least, do you think you tell a lot?


**Times when telling is better than showing: EXAMPLE:  If you've got a giant cut on your arm, and you're bleeding more than just a little bit, I'd much rather you call and tell me about it from the hospital instead of showing me.  (I get queasy around blood.)


Have a wonderful day!

--Jess

Great Weekend!

First of all, I'm really excited for no apparent reason. I'm coming down with a cold, too, but strangely I'm really happy! I got a ton of work done this weekend but a lot more to do, so I'll try to make this post short.

I heard back from a few of my beta readers and got a lot of good feedback. I knew having beta readers would help me a lot but I guess I wasn't aware of how much it would help. I learned a lot.

For example:

• The difference between 'farther' and 'further'. ('Farther' is used as in physical distance and 'further' is for metaphorical distance)
• That you're not supposed to use a comma before the word 'but' (yep, I did that about a thousand times)
• That I italicize words way too many words
•  I have too many "she says" or "he says" after someone speaks. It turns out, if there are only two people in the conversation, you hardly need those at all!
• There's still a ton of stuff about writing that I don't know.

So yeah, my issues are mostly grammatical and then there were some problems with the setting. But I think I finally fixed that... we'll see.

How was you're weekend?

--Jess

Sequel Issues...

Okay. If there's one thing about writing that I'd prefer to avoid, it would be rewriting. And I'm not talking about the rewriting you do while editing. I'm talking about full scale rewriting of everything you've already written.


After editing book 1, my characters had changed into (hopefully) less flat people. They've grown quite a bit compared to what they were in my first draft. The thing is, I started writing book 2 before I was done editing book 1 which probably wasn't the smartest idea. So I've got a lot of things to change.


My problem is this. How do you find a way to say a lot of the same things in a completely different way?


I know it sounds like a silly question because we do it all the time when we edit. But for some reason, this is different for me. Am I just over thinking it? Or do you guys feel the same way?


Have you ever had to completely rewrite your book? How do you get it done?


--Jess

Beta Readers, Anyone??

You guys, I am on the last two chapters. And I mean the last two chapters. After I finish editing these two, I will be done. And I'm still freaking out about it. This is really my last edit, so here comes the big question.

Does anyone want to beta read for me?

My novel is a YA Action-Adventure/Sci-Fi, and might be considered a little Dystopian. Here's a summary:

Sixteen year old Jaina Indera has been training for this moment her entire life. Ever since the Imperial Alliance genetically selected her to attend a Gifted School, she has done her best to prove herself worthy of competing in The Trials.

Being chosen is just the beginning. Her region will send a team of ten students to compete in the first of four rounds of mental and physical challenges against other Gifted Schools. If they win, they will enjoy the privileged life of a 'Superior' in the Crystal City. If they lose... they could lose everything.

With the sudden appearance of a boy called 'Dragon' and her unsettling dreams, two months before the Trials, Jaina begins to question everything she has been taught to believe.

Will she find balance between love, loyalty, and the truth behind it all?

So, yeah, that's my summary. Anyway, if you'd like to beta read for me, please email me at violingirl4036@gmail.com and I'll get back by Monday!! Thanks so much, everyone!

Help me, beta readers, you're my only hope...

--Jess

Relaxing and Laziness

I have been super lazy this Holiday Season. I'm not even going to try to deny it. I've been sleeping in until 10:00am each morning (probably because I've been staying up until 1:00 each night...). I've been playing video games with my brother and sister which I never do. And it's nice to be spending time with them, but when I play those games, I'll play all day long. They're addicting.


And then of course, we've been watching a lot of TV shows. We don't actually have cable but we have some sort of streaming through Netflix and Amazon. So we started watching the show called Lost. I used to watch commercials for it when we did have cable, but I was too little to take any note of it. In fact, I thought it looked boring.


Well, I was completely wrong. It's full of suspense and pretty much always ends with a cliffhanger. As a writer, I think it's an awesome show to learn from. (That's my excuse for watching it.)


Anyway, I'm still searching for last minute changes in my book. It's a lot more work than I thought. Every time I finish a draft, I announce it to my family. But my dad keeps asking when it will really be done, and I honestly have no idea. Hopefully soon. He says he'll only read it once it's published, so I've got a lot of work to do.


In conclusion, I've hardly done anything since school was let out. I'm not quite sure how I haven't gotten bored yet... maybe I needed a little break.


How have you guys been spending the Holiday Season?


--Jess

Christmas Eve Eve

Well, I have exciting news! I sent the first 25 pages of my novel to be critiqued by Rachele Alpine. This is the first time anyone other than the people in my family will be looking at it, and I'm nervous. Of course, I was so nervous after an hour of sending her my pages that I had to re-read them. And do you know what I found? 65 errors.


There were minor inconsistencies, like, my MC was missing from school for three days, but in a lot of dialogue she says she was gone for five. I found that I had spelled the word 'once' as 'oce'. In one sentence I wrote two of the same word in the same line, "His dark green eyes eyes...".


I freaked out. Immediately, I got to work fixing all of the errors, but I knew it wouldn't change anything. I had already sent off my 25 pages. I know I really shouldn't have looked over it. I know that no matter how many times I look over it, I'm going to find things to change and that it won't be perfect. But I hate wasting people's time with things I know I could have fixed myself.


Perfection is our enemy. No matter how hard we try, or how close we get to catching it, it's always a step ahead of us. I've heard people say that a lot. Of course, just because we can't ever reach it, doesn't mean we should give up. But I didn't imagine myself sending off my first 25 pages for critiquing with that many errors. Could my entire story be that bad? I really hope not.


Anyway, I'm doing a final read through, and then, to prevent myself from falling into the black hole of editing that could keep me reviewing forever, I'll officially declare that I'm done!! So after that, I'll finally be asking for beta readers.


Have a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever holiday you're celebrating this December :)


--Jess


P.S.
Today is Christmas Eve Eve because it's the Eve of Christmas Eve. Just in case you were confused with the post title.

Sacrifices

No, don't worry. I'm not talking about food or animal sacrifices or anything. (Unless you're trying to impress the writing gods or something...)

We all have to make sacrifices to get our writing done. But it can really be hard sometimes. For this entire week, I've been trying so hard to meet my goal of finishing my entire book on the 10th of December, but as tomorrow swiftly approaches, I just don't see how I can possibly edit thirteen more chapters tonight.


I'm still trying to figure out what I did wrong. I've sacrificed so much time this week for my writing! Okay, maybe I didn't wake up as early as I planned to every day, but I did a lot of other stuff. I stayed up late to get my work done. I didn't go to the movie theater last Sunday with my mom, sister and dad! I even skipped watching two episodes of the TV show Glee to get my writing done! (I couldn't resist watching the most current episode of Star Wars the Clone Wars with my brother, though...)


So, maybe I set too big of a goal for myself. Or maybe I just didn't execute my 'plan' correctly. Or maybe it was just a bad writing week. It sounds silly, but some days when I'm practicing my violin it's just randomly worse than other days. Same thing with skating. Some days I'm really focused, and other days, I completely lose my balance doing simple things.


It's easy to get discouraged when no matter what you do, you feel like you won't finish soon enough, or won't get good things written down. But, I've found that going around and feeling sorry for yourself isn't the way to get what you want done, done. Trust me, I've tried it.


Luckily, I happen to be in a very good writing mood today, so even if I don't finish on the tenth exactly, maybe I could extend my deadline to the end of the weekend or maybe even Monday. Either way, I've still got a lot of work to get done, so I should get back to it.


What are you guys planning for the weekend?


--Jess

Get Out Of My Novel!

I've been editing like crazy, but it's starting to pay off. I'm really excited because I've only got around fifteen more chapters to edit. And even though that sounds like a lot, my chapters are pretty short.


I've noticed that I've got a ton of scene's that are there just for the sake of being there. Sadly, a lot of times they are scenes that I really like. Scenes that have tons of awesome descriptive language but don't move the story along at all.


Before I start editing a scene, I'll read through it as it is. After reading it, I'll ask myself, 'what's the point I'm trying to get across here?' And If I get that point across someplace else already, or there really isn't a point, I just delete it. I've found parts where my MC is walking through a hallway getting to her room from someplace else. And when the point of my scenes are just to show that my MC is going somewhere... well that's not so great.


So what do I do? Tell those scenes to "get the heck out of my novel!"


I guess I've kind of come to enjoy being able to delete things out of my story, because I've got enough words to edit already. So when the entire scene can be taken out, I'm just thankful I don't have to go through it! My favorite part about writing a story is the actual writing part of it. The editing is fun, but I think it takes waay too long.


So the lesson I've learned? Don't keep scenes that are there just for the sake of being there. It seems obvious, but sometimes it's hard to pick them out.


Anyway, I've got to start on my school work now so I can be done with it sooner so I can edit more.


Do you guys have any great editing tips?


--Jess

Last Day of November

Well, today is the final day of November. No, I didn't meet my goal for NaNoWriMo of 50,000 words. But hey, who can say I didn't try? I'm at thirty three thousand something words, so there's no way I can turn back now.


Anyway, I'd like to let you know that my editing has suddenly taken a HUGE leap forward! I'm hoping to be done with my second and third drafts by December 10th, and will be hopefully be asking for beta readers soon after! I'm really excited!! That also means I'll have less time do other stuff, but I'm really close to being ready to query, so I've got a ton of work to do!


Also, I've got some fun news! I'm interviewing Author S.R. Johannes (aka Shelli) on Friday! I've never done an interview before, so this is pretty exciting! Her book Untraceable just came out yesterday so go give her a big 'Congratulations' at her blog! Here's a summary of her book:

16 year old Grace was reared in the wilderness. Her first pet was a bear named Simon. Her first potty, an oak tree. And, her first swing, a forest vine. Grace has lived in the Smokies her whole life, patrolling with her forest ranger father who taught her everything he knew about wildlife, tracking, and wilderness survival. But when Grace's dad goes missing on a routine patrol, unlike everyone in her sleepy mountain town, she refuses to believe he’s dead. When a Cheetos bag and stolen government file materialize, Grace is convinced she’s one step closer to proving all the non-believers wrong.

Then one day while out tracking clues, Grace is rescued from imminent danger by Mo, a hot guy with an intoxicating accent, that’s definitely not from her neck of the woods, and a secret. Grace has never felt a connection like this before, certainly not with her ex-boyfriend, the adoring, but decidedly unrugged Wyn. 

Now with renewed confidence, Grace travels deeper into the wilderness that has always been her refuge only to learn that her father's disappearance is not a mere coincidence. Soon she’s enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder. And it’s going to take a lot more than a compass and a motorcycle (named Lucifer) for this kickass heroine to emerge from an epidemic that’s spreading like wild fire, threatening everything and everyone she’s ever loved.

I'd also like to thank Fairbetty for her awesome support throughout all of NaNoWriMo! She visited my blog and commented every day I posted in November, so thanks Fairbetty! You can visit her blog here at Fairbetty's World.


Finally, today is my official inauguration back into the blogging world! Despite my huge amount of editing I have ahead of me, I am back and looking forward to reading everyone's posts! November has been an awesome month! I just can't believe it's almost December. This year has gone by so fast!


Any new exciting news? Plans for December? (Hope to see you on Friday :) )


--Jess