About to Attack the Demon!

This is where, contrary to popular belief, writing starts to suck...the editing phase.  I technically started last night on the sequel and my structure or framework for the story worked out really well since I used the snowflake method I discussed a week ago, so now I get to rip apart my dialogue and fill in those plot holes, yeah!!!  Yes, that was sarcasm.  Another reason why this is so hard for me is that I am so new at this still that I am still unclear if I'm doing it right.  All I can really do is the best I can and when I feel its as good as it gets move on to the next project.

I recently attended a meeting for a local chapter of the RWA or Romance Writers Association to see about getting a critique partner, but I am not joining until January so I guess until then my edits will have to do.

I also plan on going to Spring Fling! in April.  It's a writer's conference where I can get tips and tricks on how to write better.  Also one of my new favorite author's Simone Elkeles will be there, so I can get my books signed as well.

My focus for this edit is to fix, fix, and fix some more the Ariel and Luca sex and lovey dovey scenes.  I am totally horrible at this since I am so new and it needs some major help.  Also it seems that Luca has gotten a bit sensitive which I don't like.  He needs to be strong enough to tackle the beast known as Ariel Richmond my heroine!  {Oh and I meant figuratively not literally, when it comes to the sex Luca's got some major game ;)}  So wish me luck, more on this later.

-V

Thought I Post my first Winner's Badge!

So, it's official...I am a NaNoWriMo Winner!  Since I completely my word count I got this fancy badge!  I am so excited it's been a great experience and if I happen to be starting another book around next November I will definitely do it again.  Good luck to all who are still doing it, the finish line is definitely in sight for you all!

-V

I finished!

So the sequel is DONE!  I finished it last night and almost cried the whole time, mostly because the whole process was over.  The end results ended up being about 94,000 words so not bad for the first draft and not bad for my first NaNoWriMo experience!  I can't wait to submit the bad boy to the contest :)  I am going to wait until I edit the sucker a bit before I start on the final book of the series which I have a working title so hopefully the ending with be epic for Ariel and Luca are two star-crossed lovers.

Oh, NaNoWriMo.  I guess I never really went into detail about that.  Well, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month which is all of November.  The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel, which is I guess considered a novella, starting on November 1 and finishing by November 30.  You can write more which I did or just stop at the 50,000 words which is what most people do.  So I finished and its been an excellent ride and might I just add the ending was just a tiny bit EPIC if I do say so myself.

By the end, I finally got my characters to keep their hands off each other enough to focus on the task at hand and that is to fight the evil that has been coming after them so thank you to my characters for their focus and determination!  I also created a surprising love twist between a couple different sets of couples this time and I am happy it ended up working out for all of them in the end as well.  As for what's next, a full read through for enjoyment and then the edits begin!  After that I plan on going back to The Crimson Hunt and doing another edit.  Eventually I shall get to the third book, but it's going to take so much research that its going to be put on the back burner for at least a couple of months.

Other than finishing the novel I just joined Romance Diva's forum  which is an excellent community and I very happy I found it.  The people there offer a lot of advice on publishing and writing so if you're writing a romance I recommend checking it out.

Well, that's all for today folks.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a plentiful Black Friday.  I plan on blogging about both.

Laterz!

-V