My Week

 

My head is pounding today. It was my youngest granddaughter's 1st birthday. It was loud, but it wasn't too hot. But because I wasn't feeling 100%  it was so draining. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

Good news: the new handrail our landlord installed at our back stairs, is a godsend and worked so fricken well. So much easy for getting Mum in and out of the house.

Bad news: my specialist appointment has been rescheduled for 4 days later so I'm now going on January 10th. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer.

I watched Wednesday on Netflix... I must admit, I kind of enjoyed it. I hope they make a season 2. I even liked most of the characters. I did figure out who the baddies were early on, but it didn't take anything away from watching it. I guess I'll have to find something else to watch now... Don't suggest Sons of Anarchy because I couldn't get into that show. I just didn't like half the characters.

Still been working on getting my story notes together. It's slow going, but it'll be worth it in the end. At the moment I'm trying to work out a better way to keep things organized in each file... I want each story file to be more uniform. So I can find things more easily when looking for information. I'm thinking the excel files are the best way and then the character files with their picture.

If I Was Smarter

 

I woke up this morning and could have slapped my own head. Why you ask? Because it hit me at 34K into my NaNoWriMo, if I was smarter, I would have started writing a story that actually had something to do with one of the four series I plan on writing next year. It would have at least gotten one of the books off of my list. But, did I? No, not me. I'm writing the first book in a completely different series.

I'm just going to blame it on the fact that I was excited to be writing again that I didn't even think through my plans all that well. And, this isn't even a series I can incorporate into next year's lot, because all of those ones will eventually cross paths.

My ears are still out of whack, but I'm headed to the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some antibiotics & drops to clear everything up. At least they're not hurting, they just feel weird... but I'm used to it as I've had bad ears my whole life.

My mum is 89 and she got a bee in her bonnet yesterday, and I had to put up our Christmas decorations for her. Not that we have a lot because we have two cats (Oliver and Robson) who would just shred anything too elaborate. Especially, Robson, he's my devil cat.

Okay, I'm off now to get some more writing done.

Just When I thought...

 

Just when it looked like we were at the end of unloading all the topsoil. My sister-in-law and I decided to start on the next project. Which has us unloading ute loads more until we are once more done... By the time 2022 gets here our yard is going to look completely different (in a good way).

I'm at 10K on my NaNoWriMo project> Misty River 1: Calm in the Storm. I'm happy that I am a little ahead of schedule there. It's getting me back into the swing of writing. So I know if I can get this done, then I can definitely finish The Connelly Chronicles 3: Because of You by December 31st

I have to duck downtown this morning and pick up a few groceries for both parts of our household. I want to get there before it gets too hot for walking. I enjoy my time as I walk downtown as it gives me a chance to sort through some of the issues my characters are having in their stories and trust me right now they have some issues...LOL.

I'm still getting myself organised to begin writing fully in 2022. I'm trying to set everything up so that it's easier on me. I really want to reach all of my writing goals in 2022. Not that I know what they are as yet. I'll let you know as soon as I do. When I do I'll once more use my WordPress blog purely as my writing blog.

I Just Can't Win (Part 2)

 

Sometimes I just suck at adulting. Last week I went grocery shopping and lost my car keys, and had to backtrack through all the shops until I found where I'd left them.

This week I went grocery shopping and lost my damn phone. Luckily, either the cleaner found it or someone handed it into the cleaner and I managed to get it back. I fricken hate that with my headaches, my mind seems to be all over the place.

What the hell am I going to lose next week? They say it always happens in threes. The question is how long will it take me to find it?

Other than that I have been working on my schedule for  2022. As in making up a working calendar, so I can mark everything off and try and keep myself on track.

Also been doing a bit of yard work with my brother & sister-in-law, trying to get it all done before the summer heat hits us full-on. Summer would have to be my least favourite season of the year. I much prefer the cooler months of the year.

I'm finally getting my car serviced on Tuesday. My poor baby needs it. Not that she's sounding tired or anything, but I have neglected her of late, and it's her time to get pampered.

Okay, I'm off, as I have to get back to work on some more of my new story ideas... meaning I have to type up the notes and work on the synopsis... find character inspirational pictures. I'll talk to you all again on a whole other day.

Need I say more?

I borrowed this from someone on Facebook. Not that I'm dissing Ross in any way, cause he was kind of my favourite friend... but all you authors out there know what I'm talking about. Seriously though, most of us would be happy if one of our stories even read like an episode of friends.

Crap!

Okay, so I've already fallen behind, but it's not my fault... no excuses... and I'm not really behind. I'll still be all caught up by the end of January...

I spent all of last Saturday sitting at the hospital with my daughter. She had bad cramps... she is 16 weeks pregnant (it's okay to tell everyone now, Julie). Everything is going to be okay... so no need to panic just yet. Tomorrow, I'll be back at the doctor and god knows how long I'll be sitting in the waiting room there before I get to see a doctor.

Other than that I'm doing okay... I'm 12K behind, but like I said that is nothing as I have plenty of extra days where I can nake that loss up. The hardest part is for me to try and remember where the hell I was headed with Experimentals 3: Messages from the Dead. I need to find where the hell I put my story synopsis... though I did note 4 chapters in I had already named one of the main characters by the wong fricken name. So I had to change it to what it should be. Now that just annoyed the crap out of me. Seriously how could I mix up the names Syndey Morrison and Giles McManus and for some strange reason I had added an e to Delany's  (Delaney) name that I had to take out...

Up & Running...

The new Year has begun and I currently have 3 projects on the go. I will be this rushed for the first 2 months and then things will slow down because I will have caught up and be where I am supposed to be at in my writing schedule.

The Connelly Chronicles 3: Because of You I started the year off at 50K only another 50 to go.

Lancaster's Way 3: Pre-loved I started off at just over 5K so I still have 35K to go.

Experimentals 3: Messages from the Dead I started off at 1.5K mainly because I lost all my long-handed version and have to start again...go me. so that leaves me with 38.5K to go. 

Even with all of this I still say I will be caught up by the end of February. I will keep you all informed of my progress as I go along wish me luck.

Did I make it???

My writing Plan...

That would be a big fat no... I would have if I didn't get sick for the last part of November and the first half of December I'm still not feeling 100% but I can't wait for 2020 to get here so I can put this year behind me.

I know by February I should have caught up on what I've missed out on while sick for the past month and a half. I know I can do it because I have faith in myself. Yes, it might sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but someone has to and mose well be me.

For the end of 2019 by my calculations, I'll have still have about 45,000 words to do to catch up on, but it's doable to be caught up by the end of February before The Connelly Chronicles 3: Because of You is finished. I want to start off 2020 right. So playing a little catch up is okay. Luckily for me, I'd only allotted 2 K a day for actual writing and 2 K a day for other things like editing or catch up. 

So I need you all out there to keep me on track over the next year. Drop me a line. Ask me questions. Anything to keep me motivated.

All the best 

See you all in 2020

NJ & Vlad

Cotter's Girls

Someone sent me this picture a few years ago now, and it always made me think of my story TASH. Even though the two main characters in my story are a little older than this pair.

Really, they don't even look like the mains, but a couple of the secondaries who'll eventually get their own story.

I don't even know what it was about this story that made me want to keep it, but I have for years now. The truth is I don't even remember who sent it to me, but I'll be forever thankful to them.

This is one of the series in my next years writing plan... fair warning it is M/F. But I don't mind, and if you don't like that, then don't read it. I need to get these stories out of my head to make room for the gazillion others... so there you go. Vlad thinks the story is awesome... but he could be a tad bias when it comes to my writing.

The Name Game

Character's names are sometimes the hardest things to come by in any given story... It's sometimes even harder trying to find their perfect counter match in the love interest.

I've taken to every time I think of a name I'd like to use on a character or future character. I write them in down in a book. and then when I'm stuck for a name I can always come back to my name book and see if I have anything that fits the situation. Usually, I do.

I think the name has to really suit the character... Or be so opposite their nature that it's ironic in a way. But It's not just character names that have to be perfect. it could be anything in the story... The name of a bar... The name of the corner store... The name of a country inn... the name of a space station... Or maybe even just a beloved pet. I like to keep lots of possibilities marked down for such occasions as they might be needed.

The inspiration can come from anywhere things going on in my life... E.G: Louella's Family Restuarant in the Toowoomba Boys series is named after one of my nieces. I've named a lot of my characters after my family members. But that's okay, they don't seem to mind.

Insomnia

Sometimes it sucks not being able to sleep, but other times it's when I get all my best story ideas.

I usually have to keep a spiral notebook handy, so I can jot down anything I think of. When I get up the next morning I have to try and make sense of all my notes. Sometimes it isn't always possible. Other times I'm thinking I'm the most brilliant person in the world. Until I realise how many WIPS I already have in the works and then grumble a bit and type up the notes and put them safely away in my back-burner file.

The weird thing is the longer I go without sleep the less tired I seem to be. And the more intricate my story ideas become. Hence the reason I have been keeping better records of all my characters. Keeping track of all the important things in the stories. 

The bad thing about insomnia is, eventually I'm going to have to crash. And when I do, it's going to be ugly. I'll end up with the mother of all headaches. Damn, I'm really not looking forward to this, but as a famous bushranger (Ned Kelly) once said━such  is life.

Looking into the future

Okay, so maybe it's just the future inside my head or cleaning up the clutter in there. Since being sick, the abundance of new story ideas has multiplied. I really think Vlad is trying to lead me down the garden path where they are concerned and hiding the series I should be busy working on. He thinks he's hilarious when he does crap like that to me.

This year I meant to finish two more stories:

• The Connelly Chronicles 3: Because of You
• Wardens of the Guild 3: Heartstrings

The next couple of weeks will be telling of how much I can catch up as I think I actually have 87, 474 words left to write. If I crackdown I could probably still make it I'd at least 5.4K a day until the end of the month. That's with taking Christmas day off to spend with family. I think I'll give it a shot. If I don't make it then I'll let you know on December 31st and tell you how much time I'll need to play catch up next year. Because I'm due to start edits on The Lines of Marsden 4: The Trail of Red Roses soon.

I've got questions...

Okay, this is what's been playing on my mind.

1> I had a book published once already━The Freedomers 1: Zephania's Chance━and before I find a new home for it. I'm wondering a couple of things.

Q> Is it okay to change the sex of some of the key players (at least 3). I would like to change the three female siblings to male.

2> In The Connelly Chronicles 3: Because of You, I've hit a roadblock. This is my problem.

Q> How badly would you freak out if you found out you were kidnapped as a baby?

3> In Wardens of the Guild 3: Heartstrings I actually have two questions I need answered.

Q1> Is Heartstrings meant to be one word or two (Heart Strings)?

Q2> Daven is old and set in his ways━I mean he really likes things done his way because Eric used to pander to his needs when Eric was his day warden. now Gabe has the job. Gabe has just spent a couple of centuries trying to kill his first two charges. he and Dav clash often because in Dav's eyes Gabe is nothing like Eric. What one good thing Gabe could do (not sexual━even though he and DAV end up as mates) to change Dav's mind?

Example Character Profile

Series Title: The Lines of Marsden.

Books: Fist line.

Name: Michael Alexander Marsden.

Age: 22 (at time of turning).

Species: Vampire (King).

Realm: SE Queensland, Australia.

Hair Colour/Type/Length: Dark brown almost black (in book one it is just past his shoulders in book 2 onward it is cropped short like in this picture except the fringe is a lot shorter like he has it shorn close to his scalp).

Eye Colour/Shape: Purple (shade varies depending on his moods).

Skin colour Type Pale, never was prone to tanning.

Scars/Blemishes: Facial scars - small one between the nose and the top lip and one that runs the length of his jaw on his left side, (due to his cousin Geoffrey tripping him into a barbwire fence when in high School – they hate each other).

Height: 5 feet 9.

Weight: 90 Kg.

Clothing preferred: Jeans, dress shirts. Though after meeting pack and the English vampires he does start wearing t-shirts.  He does have a lot of clothing with Dragons on (bought by Gypsy mostly black).

Mannerisms: At first Michael’s kind of shy and unsure of himself. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Michael once comfortable, with who he is, makes the best damn leader (He’s destined to be king). Michael’s a jump in there all or nothing type of person. Not really an over-thinker, and gets frustrated when the others need to talk and think through everything. Probably why he ends up in trouble so much of the time. Once he sets his mind to something there’s no way he’ll give up until he has completed/mastered what he has set out to do. He’s compassionate up to a point. Hurt him, or who he claims as his, and your life isn’t worth living.

Favourite Colour: All shades of blue.

Favourite Food: Chicken Kiev and Salad

Favourite Drink: Coke/ Bourbon (even though Booze really has no effect on them—he just likes the taste)/ and Christian gets him hooked on green tea.

Favourite Band: He likes it all he’s pretty eclectic in his tastes

Favourite Book: David Eddings the Elenium series

Favourite Movie: Chronicles of Riddick.

NOTES: Siblings are Gypsy his twin sister in this lifetime and Benj from their original lifetime. He has three children with Doyle who was originally known by another name (Carleah)—children are Raphael who has been kidnapped by Venetia, and still missing, or rather hidden away are Michaela and Vladimir who will be introduced in future books. Michael always only ever wanted to live his life. But soon realised that words said in haste to piss someone off often have a way of coming back to bite him in the arse, and turning him into the king of a whole legion of beings, all looking to him for the answers.

Character Inspiration

Wardens of the Guild 3: Heartstrings

Gabriel Gillis━Human/Day Warden

Daven Banks━Vampire/Guild Member

Artemis Kohen━Fey 

The Connelly Chronicles 3: Because of You

Nathan 'Nate' Burkhart━Girly's brother

Daniel Marshal━Viv's brother

Sons of Evenmore 3: Fear the Scarlet Moon

Phoenix Lunos━Vampire/Challus Coven Leader

Linkin━Arctic Wolf/Ollun

Cooper Norton━Human

It's all in the details...

Eye Colour & Shape

Advice>

Choose your eye colour for characters and make a note of what it is. I can't count the number of times I've chosen one colour and then forgotten and had to fix it up in edits... Or worse had a reader tell me I'd switch halfway through a story. Nothing more embarrassing I can tell you. But, at least I'm getting better. I also remember to take the same time to take write out the shape of the eyes... so when I'm describing family traits I can look back at my notes for reference.

Lip Shape

Choose the lips your character is likely to have. Because the shape of the lips determines the way they smile. The way they kiss. I think the Lips on some people are extremely beautiful. Especially, when a character is described as having kissable lips. But honestly, what's kissable to me, might be completely different to someone else. My character Grayson from Admetus Gaea has Wide lips━because that is how I have always seen him. There was never a doubt in my mind.  I'll have to find the picture my niece and I drew of Grayson when we were younger and you'll be able to see what I mean.

Face Shape

The shape of your face will determine the shape of some of their other facial features. I'm a bad one for forgetting the shape of a person's face when I write a book. Even when I do take notes. I just really suck at the face shape part of it. I'll quite often change the jawline. I must admit that once I did forget one of my characters had a beard until I got right to the end of the story and had to go back through and put it in. A little snippet here, and a little snippet there. A lot harder than you would think.

Nose Shape

A character's nose is probably one of their defining qualities. Is it straight, is it broken? Is it long, short, bent, flat? My nose has never been broken, so it's pretty straight. Though in saying that my family has a tendency to have rounder bottom. My daughter has the same nose. Where we differ is she has had her nose broken at birth, so she has the tell-tale bump in her nose. My son-in-law has a hooked nose so my poor granddaughter has a mixture of both of them. I think she's beautiful anyway.

Hand Shape

I love a person's hands. because most often than not they tell how a person lives their lives. People with roughened hands, you could surmise might work outdoors. Like cowboys, construction, landscaping. They say people with long thing fingers are usually artistic. I don't know whether that's true or not. But it makes you wonder. I have large hands... but I have long fingers and I'm pretty talented.

Body Shape

Everything all needs to go together and that's where you need the body shape. I don't know why the same shapes are different for men and women but they are. I must admit this is the hardest thing for me to choose. Because I don't tink all the people in my books have to be necessarily perfect. I don't mind if they have a bit of extra weight around the middle. I know the pain of a woman having big boobs. I can relate. I'm also a big believer the characters should dress comfortably, and for their body shape. I've read  one too many books where the character's just dress like sluts because their skinny, twinkish, and gay. Though I have had character's change dress styles during a book series. Chris does that in The Lines of Marsden, but it was done intentionally━but I digress.  We are talking about body shape... My best advice is to take notes. Notes will save your arse in the long run.

Little Things...

It's the little things in life I use that make it easier for me to write my stories. Here are a couple of my little things... tips if you will to what makes it easier for me to work.

First> I start with an idea. It might just be two people and I think to myself they look like they'd make great main characters in my next book.

Second> I might make a list of stuff I want to happen in the story. It might not all make it into the story, but I have the list as a guideline (they don't call me the list lady for nothing).

Third> I find pictures of people who closely resemble my characters in my head. That way I have a visual to fall back on. And I always make files to keep all the relevant information in. Just so it's always on hand when needed.

Forth> Figure out all the close bonds and family support for each main character, and who's the one person you can explain things to so the reader knows exactly what's happening (I read that little tidbit in a Stephen King book on writing). 

Fifth> Figure out where the hell they live and what's around them. Become familiar with the area. Hence the reason I love writing books in made-up realities because you can be anywhere and not have to be at all accurate. My hardest series is Lancaster's Way, which is set in Texas. the town might be made up, but the county and surrounding area are very real. Lucky for me I have great friends I can call on for hell when needed for accuracy.

Sixth> Decide if you are writing in first person or third person. I've tried both. I mainly do third, but lately, something has been scratching at my soul to do another first-person story. I'm not sure how that will work out for me.

Seventh> Remember while writing to periodically save your work and have a backup copy that's not just on your computer. After having lost a manuscript or two. I've learnt the hard way to save... save ... save...

Eighth> Take notes as you write the story... it'll make doing the synopsis way easier━trust me. I've learnt now to do my synopsis as I go along. Don't think I'm perfect at them because I can tell you now I do them wrong, but at least I do them. 

Nineth> If you suck at writing blurbs like I do. Write a couple of different versions to send in and then ask your editor to help turn it into the perfect one. If you self publish. You could always ask your beta reading team to do the same thing.

Tenth> Lastly━A rejection letter isn't a no way━now fuck off. It's simply you need to try elsewhere to find a home for your work. Because in the end, you'll definitely find the right fit for you. sometimes it's a long comfy stay and other times you might find yourself moving to a new and better home, but at least your work is out there for the world to see.

I've Been Busy...

▷Yesterday I spent the day making up a calendar template that I can use each year to set out my writing for the year. I worked out that if I work on 2K a day I can write 2 (100K) novels and 15 (40K) novellas a year. that still leaves time for doing edits. I'm happy with that. Now it just means sticking to it. I'll try it out for the end of this year. 

▷This is what I'll be working on:

The Connelly Chronicles 3: Because of You

Cotter's Girls 1: Tash (M/F)

Sons of Evenmore 3: Fear the Scarlet Moon (NaNoWriMo)

Wardens of the Guild 3: Heart Strings (NaNoWriMo-partly)

Lancaster's Way 3: Pre-loved

Experimentals 3: Messages from the Dead (just the start as it continues into 2020)

▷So Far I've been keeping up with my word count along with doing my edits on other books. The big test will be when I get first edits back on The Lines of Marsden 4: The Trail of Red Roses. I'll let you all know.

Working On...

I've been working on The Lines of Marsden 4: The Trail of Red Roses. I just finished re-reading, reworking and have started on finishing the story plot line. I'm even kind of following the synopsis I wrote out━GO ME... I know where I need the story to finish so that the next instalment can start so I hope I don't get too sidetracked along the way.

NEW IDEA... or old... depending on how you look at it. I had a dream and it changed the way I'm going to write the Outside The Safety Zone series. I have been working on book 1: Hiding in Plain Sight. It's kind of an end of humanity... or rebuilding of humanity type story. I'm still trying to figure it all out. I guess you will all know when I know.

Taking Breaks From The Computer.

I don't know about other authors, but I'm a bad one for forgetting to take breaks from the computer. I always end up with sore eyes because of this. so I'm trying to train myself this year to take breaks at reasonable times.

I'm also going to limit my social media time so that I don't get sidetracked and find hours have passed and no writing has gotten done. this was one of my worst traps last year. and I'm determined not to relapse this year. I need to meet my quota each week and I'll never get it done if I keep getting sidetracked. so I will get on the first thing in the morning and check my messages and then I will turn off social media so I can fully concentrate fully on my writing. By the end of this week, I want to at least say that I have reached 40+ K on The Lines of Marsden 4: The Trail of Red Roses.

While on these breaks I need to get up and walk around and do some exercises, or a bit of housework. just to keep my body moving so that I'm not constantly sitting in my chair because that can't be good. I always feel stiff and sore if I've sat for too long. 

Also if I type for too long my fingers ache. I think it may take me a little while to get back into the swing of things again. I miss being able to write the way I used to. I find I now need to rub arthritis cream into my hands each night and sometimes each morning━It sucks getting old. Yeah, I know I'm only turning 49 (in what is it? About 26 days━shit that came around fast)... but some days I feel 89. I think I need to rethink my diet again and eat better to get my brain energy going to help me write more efficiently. Well, at least to keep me focussed.