Saturday, April 23, 2016

Short Writing Sessions and New Book Covers

I've been working in multiple, shorter writing sessions to get the work done lately. They look something like this:

4:30 a.m. (before work) 300-500 words
Break time at work 150 words
Evening (after supper) another 300-500 words

There's always a way to get writing done.

Books Two (Darkness Coming) and Three (World on Fire) of the Gray Men Trilogy are being proofread. Here's the covers I worked up for them:



Saturday, April 02, 2016

How I Edit

Back when I sold my first three books to Kensington, all the editing was done on paper. I remember receiving my manuscript in the mail loaded with copyeditor's marks.

At that time (and up until recently), I printed all my manuscripts and edited them on paper.

The process has changed. I edit everything in Word, and recently started using Track Changes. It has the advantage of being able to add notes and questions as you edit.

My current editing routine involves:

Writing a chapter number down.

Writing down the first line of that chapter (so I can use the "Find" feature to quickly go there).
Jotting notes about each scene under the chapter name.

Making any notes regarding things that need to be addressed.

As I'm going, I clean up typos, inconsistencies, grammar, etc.

I shift and/or delete scenes as needed.  I don't write a second, third, fourth draft, etc.

I've also taken to writing notes as I draft the story, taking note of character names, weapons, what vehicles they're driving, etc.

When I write my first draft, I circle back to the previous day's writing and clean up the writing. I find this makes for less editing later on.

Saw A Quiet Place II This Weekend

Jenn and I went for lunch yesterday, then saw A Quiet Place II at the Aurora Theater. The Aurora is a great little theater. One screen, and...