Something Awful Happened This Week....

My laptop died almost a week ago, and I've been jonesing for an electrical fix.  I don't know where I would be if I didn't have the use of the local library computers.  I just got off one of their computers that is only set up with Microsoft Word because I added more stuff to a couple of my manuscripts.

Another thing that happened is I wrote my first poem in a year, so I get to share that with my readers, too.  Here it is:

The Caged Bird Set Free

 

(In Memory of Dr. Maya Angelou)

 

What a life she had led

Before being confined to her death bed.

The world has been forever changed

since Maya Angelou claimed,

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

She didn't care much for earthly things.

 

The sufferance of life is yours no more,

and the caged bird finds an open door.

It stands on the perch awaiting

Its owner to appear to close it again, debating

whether she should follow her instincts.

Then she's gone in a blink.

 

The caged bird is set free,

And she is too happy to be melancholy.

There is a whole new world to explore

That she has never experienced before.



Other Writing...

I added a scene to the second book in my Shepherdess series, but I didn't get to add any new yet to Noble Beginnings because I grabbed the wrong notebook from home.  For those who might not know, Noble Beginnings is actually the third book in my series.

I can only use the library computer once a day, so I'll have to come back tomorrow with the correct notebook to add the new stuff to that manuscript.

More Stuff That's Driving Me Up The Wall...

I mentioned the sequels to The Shepherdess Princess that I have planned in my cover letter to the publisher, so they would know that I plan to turn the one book into a series of four novels.  I assume that they would want me to churn out the sequels right away if they accept my novel for publication.  I know I’m counting my chickens before they hatch, but I find myself thinking about it just the same because it could be a possibility in the future.

I also wonder if I’m being biased because I think my novel is going to be one of those “hard to put down” scenarios for any future readers, and the story line is better than some of the smut that’s mass produced already.

I have my insecure moments to where I end up asking my brother questions like “Do you really think it is good enough for publication?  Do you think they will like it?” because he was my beta reader to which he replies, “They would be crazy not to like it.  I know I couldn’t put it down.  I read the whole thing from start to finish in a couple of hours.”

My Problem Lately Though…

My problem lately though is that I’m steadily losing some steam as I try to write the sequel.  I’m not necessarily having writer’s block, but I get ideas for other novels I have on the back burner at the moment.  I’ve been getting the urge to work on those novels instead, but I’ve been holding myself back so far.

There is a life experience to add to my autobiography manuscript I’ve had on my mind to write about that has newspaper clippings to coincide with the story.  I may start working on that soon by looking up the old clippings from the newspaper.  One of the libraries a town over from where I live has the microfilm I could use to look up the articles I want, and get copies made.  I just need to woman up, get on the bus, and go there.  Before I do that, I’m going to see if I could find any of the old articles online by using a search engine first.

My autobiography isn’t the only book I’ve wanted to work on either.  There is another romance novel I have an outline for that is totally unrelated to my Shepherdess series that has been making its presence known to me.  It’s very frustrating because my instinct tells me to work on whatever it is that I have inspiration striking at, but I get a headache when I think about what the publisher might prefer that I work on!

A Writing Update Finally...

My brother keeps getting asked by some of my my blog readers, "How is the book coming?  When is your sister going to update her blog?"  So here I am.  I haven't had much new to say for a while, so I've been a silent presence online.

What's New With The Shepherdess Princess?

I have the manuscript printed out, and almost ready to mail to a publisher.  I have cover letters printed out to send with it, and am currently working on my synopsis.  I have two possible publishers I'm going to be sending my manuscript to, but one of them only wants the first three chapters of the novel to begin with.  However, the publisher that only wants the three chapters also wants a 5 page synopsis.  I have three pages written so far.

I plan on mailing everything out next week.  Both of the publishers take three months to make a decision, so I wouldn't be expecting to hear from them until September.

Meanwhile...

My other writing projects have been put on the back burner until I get the manuscript mailed off.  I will continue working on the other novels in the series that I started to keep me sane while I wait to hear the verdict on The Shepherdess Princess.

What's been happening...

The Shepherdess Princess

I sent the manuscript to a friend of my sister's to edit it for me, and he contacted me to let me know that he doesn't have time to read it because he's busy.  In the next week or so, I'll be printing out another copy of the manuscript and pick someone else to proofread the novel for me.  I edited the manuscript myself several times along the way, but I would like some fresh eyes to read it.

Over the last couple days, I compiled a list of possible publishers to contact that accepts unagented manuscripts.  My list dwindled down from 23 to 10 possible publishers once I scratched companies off because:

• They only took manuscripts solicited through an agent,
• They don't accept the genre of my novel,
• The word count they ask for is too high for my novel, or
• They aren't taking any new authors right now.

When I have The Shepherdess Princess completely edited, and polished to my liking then I'll be going through the list of contacts for the publishing companies I compiled.  Several of the companies have a 3 month waiting period before an aspiring author may be contacted about their novel.  There is one I came across that I would like to try first because it only takes 4-8 weeks for a reply.

Noble Beginnings

That's right!  While I've been taking a break from The Shepherdess Princess, I started writing one of it's sequels.  I still have pretty far to go because I only started working on it last weekend, and I've already had to do a rewrite on the first page.  I realized I was starting the novel similarly to the way I started The Shepherdess Princess, and I didn't want to do that.  Noble Beginnings is the title for book two, and it will cover how Jazelle's parents met, and I would like to end the novel with her birth since she is the main female character in The Shepherdess Princess.

On the Back Burner...

I ended up putting "Magic In Their Blood" on the back burner for now because I noticed I was already halfway through finishing the novel.  I ended up outlining another story idea called "Letters to Jesus" before deciding to continue writing the Shepherdess Quartet as I've begun calling it.

Decisions, decisions...

The last time I updated this blog I was planning on my next writing project to be "Magic In Their Blood."  After a couple weeks of no writing, I can't decide if I do want to write that one next.  I've been thinking about four different story ideas I might want to work on next: "Magic In Their Blood" being one of them.  After some time deliberating, I still have no clue where I'm going to embark on my next writing journey.  I may end up working on "Magic In Their Blood" anyway because I went so far as to edit what I had in the manuscript so far, and finished printing out research I had previously gathered for it.

With my splice file for MITB, I have most of the story already written.  It will only take a lot of copying & pasting and filling in the gaps before I would be finished with the novel itself.  I had started on the story itself November 2011 for the last NaNoWriMo I had participated in, and decided to stop because the story was progressing faster than I would've liked, and I was bent on finishing "The Shepherdess Princess."

As for "The Shepherdess Princess"...

I will be mailing off the manuscript to a possible publisher next week.

5 years, 2 months, and 27 days later...

It's been two days since I finished writing "The Shepherdess Princess," and I still find myself tweaking it a little bit.  There was a couple things I remembered I left out that I added to it yesterday, and this morning I remembered to correct a misspelled word I knew about.

I posted on Facebook that I had only the author's note left to work on.  When I get home, I'll be finishing working on that, and adding a couple more people to my acknowledgments before I print the whole manuscript out.

In the process of writing "The Shepherdess Princess," I ended up with three more story ideas for sequels.  Each book could be read by itself.  It doesn't have to be read in order, but the sequels will have connecting characters to the first book.

Instead of working on book 2 right away, another character I had in a book I put on the backburner to finish this one came to me in a dream a couple weeks ago and said "I'm next!"  Meaning, the character wanted her story to be told after I finished TSP.  So after a little break, I'll be starting back on "Magic In Their Blood."

Still chugging along...

I haven't done much writing over the past couples weeks because I've been distracted by the holidays, and I was starting to feel like Jack Torrance in "The Shining."  I decided it was a good idea to take a small writing break because I was on the verge of writing "All work and no play makes Mandy a dull girl" thousands of times over.

Last night I went to sleep close to 4 AM because I was busy adding the last couple chapters I wrote a couple weeks ago into the manuscript finally.  Around 4 AM is also when my coffee buzz finally wore off.

Earlier today I was talking with my brother about what I wanted to do for the next chapter.  The brainstorming session with him helped immensely because I was able to demolish the writer's block that was on the horizon.  It was frustrating for me because I kept thinking about how I wanted the story to go after this chapter, but I couldn't get the next chapter completely thought out in my head until earlier.

I had a dream that helped somewhat last night, and sharing that with my brother helped me to work out the entire next chapter instituting some of his ideas as well.  I outline the chapter with a rewrite in an earlier chapter before I came to the library tonight.  I'll be working adding that chapter sometime this week.

I was hoping to have "The Shepherdess Princess" finished by the end of 2013 at the latest, but now it might take another week or two.  I'm on the home stretch with it!

Happy New Year to all my readers!