Thank the Lord! It is Finished!... Okay almost finished!

Thank You LORD!!

I have just completed the process of turning my word doc into a kindle book, which is now ready to be purchased at www.amazon.com. Ties of Fate: The Lost Continent is here! I am so excited!! I feel as if I am smiling like an idiot. Not that this isn't a big accomplishment for me, but seriously, get it together girl!

I am still reviewing the printed version, which I hope to have up for sale in a few days. I ordered a proof so I can double check the formatting. Digital reviews are great, but they aren't the same as holding it in my hands.

The process was a lot harder than I thought. Formatting documents and  files sizes aside, I was surprised at how much goes into royalties, taxes, and the what not. I guess I forgot about all that. For something that is almost free to publish, it takes a lot of time and effort to get it out there.

I am currently on Go Fund Me, under Amelia M. Brown: Publishing My First Book. Technically, Ties of Fate is my very first book, but not the one for my Go fund Me account. Ties of Fate has been sitting on the back burning, getting worked on sporadically for almost 15 years. What I am working on now is something more recent. I am trying to get the start to my series, The Chronicles of Ode published. Book One: The Beast of The Ruin is undergoing some serious editing. I had a proof printed, but I wasn't quite done with my editing, so the formatting of the novel was a little off. I hope, with the help of GO Fund Me, to be able to afford to get The Beast of the Ruin out to bookstores, and have it professionally marketed. I am taking care of my grandmother and not able to leave the house very often. I am hoping that this will also provide us with some much needed income.

Thank the Lord that is done! One thing I can mark off my bucket list!

To My fellow writers, it is a long and slow process, but it is worth it! Write ON!!

Formatting: the Bane of My Existence

     Formatting. It is the bane of my existence! Not just paragraph alignment and page numbers, it's so much more than that. From your body font to the space between your chapter headings to the first line of your first paragraph, formatting is literally cover to cover. Fonts and style have to match from chapter to chapter and it's so very easy to mess stuff up, especially with multiple drafts and converting your work from one size to another. As a artist there are so many options that it boggles the mind to think of them all. The question is, what do I want my novel to look like? It is amazing how generalized my ideas are. I want my book to look "professional," to fit into my genre and to be "trendy," especially where my cover is concerned. None of that tells me what font my title should be in, or how far down my chapter title should be on the page or how big my name should be on the cover. I almost want to pull out my hair or scream. I think I'll settle for an Aleve, or two (liquid gel, extra strength of course).
    I have a draft that I have been working on for years and it never behaves as I change the size of the paper I am working with. Taking my standard 8x11 and trying to refit it to a paperback 4x6 produces problems. Every time! I finally found a way to delete all preexisting formatting, but now I have to start from scratch and I already have a headache.
     The Problem you ask? Several pages had paragraphs that were disappearing in to nothingness as if text wrap had suddenly stopped working on my word doc. I have no idea how that happened, so now I am starting over. The annoying thing is that I am not sure about this book size. The publisher provided a template for the size and I am thinking about going bigger. I seriously hope I will not have to do this again.

There is only one thing I hate more than formatting and that is having to re-type something because the file is lost or corrupted. I have learned my lesson there. Save often and store well. I send drafts to my self, my friends and family in case something happens and my work is lost forever.

Do you have any formatting horror stories? Some problems? Some advice? Please share! I'm always up for learning something new.

To my fellow writers, as ever, WRITE ON!

Word A Day

     My word today was askance (courtesy of Merriam-Webster via my inbox). I like this word, because as soon as I read it I had a mini movie playing in my head. I could clearly see the main male character looking at my heroine out of the corner of his eye. It was a kind of hungry look. The image was very clear and lasted only a moment, but even now I can still see it though it is not as clear as it once was. I thought in that moment, I must use this word in my novel. Today! Right now!
     As a writer we often forget how important words are, mostly because we are wading through them by the hundreds in a day or even an hour. Meaning carries weight with experience. We each bring our own interpretations to the work, even as a writer we are building worlds from our own vast imaginations and limited experience. And sometimes we can become stuck on finding just the right word, searching through dictionaries, thesauruses and coming up short. How many times have I looked for a word that was on the tip of my tongue and only found a pale comparison? Too many. There was a time when words were new, and every one I learned was like a gold star beside my name.
     I remember learning to read in my early teens, that is not to say that I couldn't read at all, I just did it very poorly and I hated it because I was so bad at it. Eight grade was when I found my love for reading and devoured book after book. I started my own dictionary. As I read there were words that I didn't understand, or wasn't sure if I was getting the meaning right with the context and so I would look them up and write down the definitions. After a while I had to write down less and less words until I no longer needed to look something up. I am not a walking dictionary, but in daily life and reading I can say with confidence that I am a very proficient reader and yet some words still strike me.
     I know some one may think it's silly, but I have a few favorite words. Pugnacious which is an adjective and means to show a willingness or desire to fight or argue (definitions thanks to Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, www.m-w.com). My family doesn't swear, like ever, and so my favorite swear word is Fustian. While the definition dose not conjure the meaning I have for the word, I enjoy a Victorian blue-stocking sort of heroine that often utters this phrase under her breath. (I'' leave you to look up the definition for yourself!)
    So what is your favorite word? Is it old-fashioned? Modern slang? Something you read or something you heard? What does it mean to you?

Good Night my fellow writers and WRITE ON!

Tools of the Trade

     Sure, a pad of paper and a pen (or pencil) is all you really need to be a writer but in this day and age there is so much more to play with. I've talked in the past about some of the things I use to help me write. Well, these items include things you might not think about as tools, like file folders, labels, or poly zip envelopes (pictured below). Some might use shoeboxes or vanilla envelopes to organize paper, but I have just spent a lot of time and a bit of money organizing my household files and my story files. (And I am impressed with the outcome!)
     A few months ago I bought a large, four drawer metal filing cabinet at a thrift store for about $10. With some hard word and creativity, I cleaned it up, painted it and stuck some wall decals and new handles on it and it looks brand new, better really. I don't have enough files to fill all the drawers so I use some for storage. They hold extra supplies and what not. I found some cool project files at the dollar store that you can write down the description of what you are working on, start and stop dates, etc. I like color coding, though I admit that I am still working on it. Five colors never seem to be enough. Perhaps my categories are too detailed...?
     One of my most useful purchases are the clear poly zip envelopes from staples. They are just zip bags made of heavy plastic with colorful zippers. I use them to coral the papers I am currently working on in my "story basket." The basket is a medium sized plastic bin from Big Lots that I use to keep all of my paperwork in, including the printed spiral bound drafts that I am working on. Inside is also the envelops which contain my brainstorms; things like illustrations, blueprints of buildings, timelines, maps, character sheets, and outlines. I've labeled them with name tag stickers, the cheep 99 cent store kind. I can just peel off the sticker and re-label or put a new one over the top. I've had to purchase more envelopes as I started a new story and need somewhere to stash my notes. It's organized chaos and I love it.

Envelopes range in price from 1.99-5.99. The ones that I bought were 3.99 and just plain envelopes but they have some with pockets on the outside for notecards and smaller pieces of paper. They have expandable ones and smaller sizes, almost a half or a third of the standard letter size, for who knows what. They were all very cool.

Do you have any tools or tricks of the trade? Anything you've found or made work for you? With pinterest and the web you can find thousands of craft ideas for people on a budget or if you just want to glam out your everyday items.

That's all for tonight! To all my readers: Write On!

Priorities

     My Aunt has always said... well, she has a lot of good advice, but she often says that if something is a priority then you would make time for it. And if you say it's a priority but don't make time to do it, then what dose that really say about you. I'm paraphrasing of course. Her saying is much more to the point but you get the idea. As I look at what I am prioritizing at the moment, there isn't a lot of stuff that I want to do. It's mostly what has to be done.

     I don't talk a lot about myself here, and I do that on purpose. The internet is an amazing and terrible thing. We know this, but I'm sure anyone reading this blog can glean some basics from in between the lines. I have decided to change and tell you a bit more about what is going on in my life.  

    I am a thirty year old woman. I don not have a career, but I have a few very small jobs. I live with my sister and together we take care of my Grandmother whose health has declined rapidly in the last year and a half. I pray that we will be heading toward recovery some time soon. The day-to-day is often a struggle for us all, more so in the last month and mostly from our own doing. In the wake of the Purge and day-to-day of caring for another person I have been trying to get some control of a life that has become focused on putting out fires, instead of actively planning for the future. I am trying to take control of the only thing I can, my surroundings. Organizing our home has become a goal that I can attain, but one I am mismanaging.

      I realized something last night as my sister and I sat down to plan out what we were doing today and to brainstorm a schedule for my grandmother. We have been winging it for the last few weeks since she returned from the hospital. Deep in the middle of the Purge she spent a week in the hospital and then we had several days where family visited and took over some of her care. It was enough to get us through the yard sale but this minimal effort is not helping anyone. A schedule will help us as much as it will help her. Anyway, I realized that we were prioritizing the wrong things, or in fact not prioritizing anything at all. I was making plans and making lists and not really getting anywhere because I felt I had to get all of it done right now or as soon as possible. So as my sister and I added even more to-do items to the already long list, I realized that we needed to focus on one thing, or one area at a time. The obvious choice being the front yard and the growing pile of garbage that needed to be taken to the dump.

    Our wonderful neighbors have been a true blessing since my grandfather died, and one often takes loads to the dump for us and offered to drop off his trailer again today. (You would be surprised how much garbage we make. Especially while cleaning things out. We donate and recycle and still have at least a truck load a month.) So getting the garbage bagged and ready to go was a major priority. But first was the container garden that my sister had started instead of our usual garden which we have yet to make produce since my grandfather passed. She had decided to plant things right in the middle of the driveway where we would need to move to load the stuff for the dump. (Melli enjoys gardening and I keep an eye on her so that she doesn't spend to much money on it.) Moving the pots to a graveled area meant opening room for us to move out the garbage from the house and garage. We emptied the many cans we have around the house, getting any boxes and collecting the items from the numerous house project that needed to go but where too large to fit in the garbage can and put them in the driveway to be loaded this afternoon. All of which took less than twenty minutes.

     Our other main priority is the garage, which we worked on again today. It is looking really good. As my sister keeps saying, if we work only one hour a day it will get done. We spent more than an hour out there and I feel as if we can finally see daylight. As the day progressed and the major items were marked off my list, I added in this or that as I was doing it already. But making something my priority and realizing that I can't and don't need to do it all at once has taken a lot of stress off. I still have my list, which includes house chores, errands, personal projects and even a bit of my writing to dos, but I am okay with just doing a little at a time.

     Heck I even spent time writing today, which is what I really want to do.

      I hope to get back to writing about writing, or even review some books and tools to help writers, but right now I am happy to get back in the habit of posting at least twice a week. Yes, it's about whatever is on my mind, but it writing and I enjoy it. Now, to Prioritize my to-dos for tomorrow. So Goodnight!

    To my fellow writers: WRITE ON!

The Aftermath

     The Purge is complete and somehow still not over. Tubs line one side of my rather large drive way waiting to be sorted through for those items that will not be given to the Salvation Army, but sold on-line or through a friend. The SA truck pick up is scheduled and I only plan to pull out a few large ticket items in hopes of selling them very soon; emphasis on very. There was talk of another yard sale, but I think I might have a mental breakdown before then. The aftermath of sorting through almost everything we own (about 90%) means there was a lot of things that we didn't want to go, but didn't know where to put them. We played musical chairs with some furniture, moving things into the garage to act as storage and put up lots of modular shelves, most of which we already owned. Now is the task of finding homes for all of the displaced items. Sorting, organizing, and labeling is happening at a slow pace, but I can finally see some progress. For the past week it's felt like I was just moving things from one stop to another, with no real cleaning getting done.
     I am too tired to work on my own writing, but have devoured some new books in the last few days. My sleep has been troubled and I wonder if some serious scheduling is in order. Our plans are little more than a to-do list for the day, usually consisting of two major projects and some basic house chores, most prominent is the laundry.
     A daily check list or schedule might make me feel better, but I am not sure how long it will last. Hopefully long enough to release some of the stress we are under. Some routine would be nice.

How do you handle big projects? Are you like us and tend to bite off more than you can chew? Or do you plan, execute and admire your handy work? Do you ever look around in the middle and ask yourself what in the world were you thinking? I know I do!

I hope to post more about writing in the future, but this organizing kick has gotten a hold of me right now. Spring Fever or something. I must admit, looking out at the rows of plastic tubs almost ready to be picked up, I feel a large weight being lifted from my shoulders. I no longer have to worry about that stuff. It is a good feeling!

The Things We Carry With Us

     We are counting down the hours until the yard sale begins. A few days ago we were running behind, but now we are nearing the finish line. Looking out over a sea of tables and stuff, I wonder about the things we label as important. Why have we kept all of this stuff? There are still more tubs and boxes out there of things that we didn't want to get rid of.
     These are boxes full of memories, but they have been sitting, forgotten in the dark. My memories are no less vivid. Even if I had the room to house all of these things, I don't want to. There is no place for them, but how to keep the memories? So I will take pictures of things before they sell, put them on facebook, and add them to my box of keepsakes that have yet to be organized. Someday, someone might find them, the jumbled pieced of my life and wonder at their significance.
     We keep so much, either because it meant something to us, or was too expensive to replace or get rid of. I am thinking a lot about what we leave behind. For someone who will have to box my processions and hand over those important items to friends and family there is no way to tell what is significant, and what is not. For someone on the outside, nothing and everything is full of potential meaning. My sister said she had read something that said just that; because they didn't know what was important, everything was.
     We carry so much with us that it can become a burden. It is the life style to which we wish to become accustomed and yet it is a constant trial. We acquire more; we need to maintain it, clean it, care for it. It takes our time and money and yet we are happy for more. There is never enough.
    Anyway, though my mind is contemplating the lightness of a minimalistic life, I know myself. I will continue to collect what I like, what I love. The need for balance between what I have and what I want, and what I need is apparent. Because the truth is simple; in the end, we can't take it with us.