The worse thing that could happen to a writer when they are working on a manuscript is losing the file that you were working on. This is what just happened to me....70 something pages gone. Oh yes, I thought I had everything saved before my computer was revamped. However, the file that I saved was the wrong one. I almost flipped my lid, but I did have to pick my face up off the floor. After a few minutes of losing my mine, I got myself together and started thinking that I had a copy in my sent files on Yahoo. Presto, there it was. However, the copy that was there only went to chapter 5; I had also written chapter 6, so that's what was missing of all my hard work. Imagine if I had completed the entire book?????? Oh now, I would really be sitting here upset and probably kicking myself where it would hurt the most. And to think I was going to work on chapter 7 today, well that's not happening because I have to go back and retype chapter 6. I am so glad I have my handwritten draft. It is always good to have a backup somewhere, even if it isn't on your computer, because you never know when you may need it. It's good to have several backup plans or files. So you see, I just learned a valuable lesson today......writer's should keep or save everything! And you know what else.....I will continue handwriting my drafts in my handy little story notebooks. It may sound old fashion, but it works for me, especially when files can get lost and/ or floating around in cyberspace somewhere or in the internet trash can, never to be seen again. Always have a back up, even if it is just a draft.
Yes it is time to get my writing on again. I've been flying around here doing stuff like there is no tomorrow. Like I have to hurry and get "this" done before it is too late. Too late for what?
For the last 24 hours or so, I have been headstrong on doing some book promoting, all because I found an awesome app on my tablet that I discovered could be ideal for an author to promote their books. I was having great fun with this picture audio thingy. At first, I started out putting a voice audio on my "selfies" and then I posted them up on Facebook. I was not being vain or anything like that, it's just that I found something different and it worked. Well, when I saw that, a light bulb flashed in my head.....book promoting. I gathered up all the books that I have on hand. You already know that is ten books. Well, I had nine because I am all out of "Broken Voices," which means I have to order more. I mean I have a supply of books, so in reality it is more than ten; I'm just talking about how many books I have published. So, after thinking over my cup of coffee this morning, I started taking pictures of my book covers and then added a voice recording to it. Now isn't that clever?
The recordings aren't long, but you do have enough time to say what you want as you introduce the book. I went crazy with the idea! I was trying to send them everywhere I hang out. One at a time, I was sending to Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, and now my Weebly website/blog. Actually, this is my last stop for the day. I will have to continue the rest of my book promoting journey tomorrow. Yes, promoting wears me out, but it is so much fun. I had a few bumps in the road too while I was trying to get this accomplished, because my tablet was acting up and I haven't figured out how I can upload all this to my computer. I mean I done that and it always ends up as a file on the media player, which is good, but I don;t know how to send files from there to other places, which would have made this entire promoting thing much easier. Sometimes, when I was finish uploading and clicking send to such and such a place, by the time the file got to where it was going....everything was messed up. I finally had to copy and paste the URL from Facebook to put it on Twitter. I tell you, sometimes I felt like I was running around in circles, because you already know that once you comment on Twitter, it automatically goes to Facebook, which meant I was making double postings on my Facebook page. I bet my "friends" were wondering what the heck I call myself doing. All I can say is....practice makes perfect, I am going to get the hang of this thing because to me.....it is essential. Okay, so let me see if I can post one of the audio images here so you can see what I am talking about.....bare with me. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203075271465964&l=3211053943799363040 Okay, I am now keeping my fingers crossed.
Okay, I said I wasn't going to blog today, instead I was going to work on my book. Well, I did work on my new book; as a matter of fact I did it the hard way, handwritten content in my handy little composition book. Trust me, pages of pages of handwriting took place today. It literally wore me out. Now all I have to do is transfer those words to my computer, where I will edit, refine and doctor the 5th chapter up...but at ;east it's written and ready for me to work on Chapter 6 in a few days. Yes indeed, this story is coming right along. It is so vivid. I am impressing myself. Imagine how you will feel when it is published and you read it yourself. Oh guess what I did yesterday....an author interview. And it turned out great. I will be posting it sometime tomorrow, if not in my blog, then on my page that says "Ive Got News". Well, I am cutting this short for I am tired, I believe I strained my eyes because I did all that work without my glasses on....shame on me. I should have known better than that. But, when I sat at the kitchen table and everything was sitting there before me, including my cup of coffee this morning, I was ready to roll, so I just began without thinking about getting up and finding what I did with my glasses. I didn't stop until my eyes started doing some funny stuff. So I am giving them a rest. Maybe I will take an evening nap because I did work one up. And oh yeah, thank goodness for left overs chilli from yesterday. I don't even have to cook.....my evening is free.
Okay, so I am sitting here dreaming of June, July , August and September, I tend to do that in the middle of winter as I try to rush it. I am so ready for my flip flop and tank top days. Loving the idea of being outside and messing with my plants. Speaking of plants, I wonder how they are doing because right now in all this snow and cold, they look rather dead to me. As a matter of fact, they look like weeds that need to be pulled up. I hope that is not the case by the time spring gets here. I would be so hurt, especially with my little lilac bush, that looks like it is struggling through these winter months, poor baby. Momma just may have to nurse it back to good health when winter is over. We still have a couple of months to get through yet, so meantime, just keep on dreaming like me. Look ahead to warmer days and take a little piece of this dream with you.
Okay, so I am not doing too much celebrating today. However, I do recognize and appreciate the occasion and what it signifies. But, at the same time, I can't help but sit here and wonder with things the way they are today, what happened to this man's dream? He made it to the mountain top, but in 2014 it seems that most of humanity is standing at the bottom of that mountain after falling off. It is a crazy and not so peaceful world we live in. But yet, we are not actually at the point of where it used to be during the days of marching, lynching, the KKK and protesting. Alrighty, didn't mean to get off into all of that, because one can take this in all kinds of directions. I am not trying to write a book here, just a little blog talk. Guess what, I think I am finished with my new author website. It hasn't went live yet, but I am thinking it will be making it's debut this evening or tomorrow. Why did I create another author website? Because I wanted something different. Why didn't I just change the look of my old website instead of creating a brand spanking new one? Because I like being creative and trying something new. It has taken me 2 or 3 days with this creation and putting it all together turned out to be easier to do than the first one I did. I am hoping because of the links, photos and the new pages it will bring in new followers too. You know authors need followers and feedback. As it turns out, my new website makes it easier for readers to click on and buy my books....now that is always good. Will I keep my old website up and running? You bet I will because it is already established and live. Plus it has a blog. My new one has a blog too...you can never have too many blogs when you love to chat. Keeping up with both will make me look busy on those days when writer's block hit....just saying. So now this is what my author/writer world will be dabbling in. I call it the 4 W's.....Winona, Wix, Word Press and Weebly. Considering it is now 1 o'clock and I still have my jammies on. I better get to snappin around here. I tell you, when I sit down at this computer desk the time just goes by in a flash. But, I am getting stuff done, making headway and making accomplishments on my projects. With that being said.....I'm out of here for today.
Okay, this blog content is a tad bit off my usual topic of writing and telling what it is like being an author. However, it just goes to show that my mind is not all one sided. But hey, I'm doing a little bit of writing before 10 in the morning. I was just sitting at my breakfast table, thinking over my cup of coffee. I do that each and every morning. That's how I get my day started. I did not intend to write a blog today, I planned on being domestic and catch up on a few things that were neglected when the writing bug nabbed me the other day. But anyway, things change and this is what happened to make me write in my blog this morning before noon. I live on a busy neighborhood street, mainly because my street is right off one of the major avenues in DC. I think drivers use this road as a "shortcut" to get to where they are going and to avoid traffic jams and stop lights. Why do people always have to be in a hurry, They show no sign of patience or courtesy what so ever. With that being said, let me tell you what I just saw. This is what happened outside my front door. I stood at my front door and watched this deplorable scene take place. A van was coming up the street and in the opposite direction, an ambulance with flashing lights and siren blaring was headed for the hospital, which isn't far from where I live. I knew it must be going to the hospital because I saw the ambulance when it first come down the street in route to pick up somebody who was having an emergency. Well, the guy in the van must not know the rules of driving that pertain to emergency vehicles; that or he is just an idiot who didn't care because he too was in a hurry. Here they are, coming towards each other with cars parked on both sides of the street. I know the ambulance has the right away, don't you? But, the guy in the van refused to move out of the way. He had the nerve to throw both his hands in the air as if to say to the ambulance driver, "back up sucker!", which made the ambulance driver blow his horn over top the siren and flashing lights. Needless to say, I was in shock. The ambulance couldn't go anywhere and the idiot van driver seemed to be hot under the collar because he was forced to back up out of the way. (He should have done that anyway) All I could think about was the patient in the back of the ambulance, hoping that this wasn't a life and death situation. To me, this was a criminal act on part of the idiot van driver and should have been arrested immediately. Eventually, after about 3 or 4 minutes the van driver slowly backed up and found a space on the side of the street to pull into. However, by that time, there were two cars behind the ambulance coming the the street too. The ambulance went through ( I know they were mad, I hope they got the van driver's license plate number because the idiot was dead wrong). I could also tell the can driver was very upset because he had to wait on the ambulance and the two cars before he could proceed. He didn't win that driving battle and it showed when he sped on down the street. Did he stop at the stop sign ahead? No, he just turned right and kept on going because he was peeved/ticked off. Only in DC, see why
Well, I finally made it to my web page and my blog. I've been trying to get here for several weeks now. Guess what, my car just pulled into the drive way. I tell you, the reason I wasn't here is because I couldn't think of anything to write about. Imagine that! Me, a writer and at a loss for words. Well all I can say is...it happens sometimes.
I am thinking the winter months just drain me, I think that is part of it too. Cold weather just isn't my cup of tea, or my cup of coffee. These mood swings also puts a damper on my writing too. It stops the creative juices from flowing and keeps Ella Rose hanging in the wings. However, when all this is happening, I like to say Ella Rose is on vacation when I am not in my writing mode; however, she needs to stop taking these unplanned trips. But, guess what, my writing inspiration resurfaced two days ago...yeah! Oh yes, I've been at it. When it strikes, I get carried away with this keyboard and my characters. When I am in my writing frame of mind, everything else gets put on hold. I only break to go to the bathroom, fix a drink or two, three or four and I somehow manage to throw in a meal or two. That's how serious it gets. The house is neglected....ahh, did I say that? So don't come around when I have my writing cap on, not unless you want to see a writer at work and a messy house. It was almost 2 am when I shut this computer off this morning. I did not realize how late it was until my hubby said I must have had a nap earlier in the day. And to think I wasn't even sleepy when I stopped writing. I could have stayed up until at least 4 because I was on a roll with chapter 4. However, after looking over what I had written for hours this morning, I've decided that chapter 4 isn't quite right. I decided that somewhere along line, the story flow is a bit boring and perhaps the chapter a tad bit too long. It was dragging, giving the ho-hum effect. So guess what I have to do now, go back and tweak it, add a little oomph in there so that the reader will not become bored and put the book down because of what the chapter is lacking. Oh yes, I am following my synopsis....a little bit. I even got up this morning thinking that maybe one of my main characters, the antagonist may need to be sharpened up too. I tell you, I have my work cut out for me and I am enjoying it. So, guess what I will be doing today......working on chapter 4, this may take a day or two as I get it write, I mean right. Yeah, gotta check that spelling and grammar too. What can I say? After all, this is just a draft. It's not the final piece that will make it "Book Ready," and besides, Rome wasn't built in a day either. I just love being a writer/author because it keeps you busy, especially when the inspiration is flowing and the characters are dancing around in your head again. It makes a writer feel accomplished when something is written....even when it is all wrong and you have to do it all over again.....it gives you a challenge, telling you to work it out, even if you have to take a character or two and go in another direction. Oh I just love it, plotting and planning! When I woke up this morning, I was also telling myself that I really need to update my website blog, It is turning out that Wednesday is good, because my blog is written and updated. I had success with my writing for today, even if I haven't started work on that chapter 4 edit and revision, but I will get there. See you soon and I hope you enjoyed this little blog read.
Get ready for some great reading around that Christmas tree. Books make great stocking stuffers for young readers and I believe a good book will last a life time and not just through the holiday season. After all, remember some of your favorite childhood storybooks? I bet the characters still dance around in your head. Well, it is time to get some new story ideas going on in your child's head, after all, it is almost 2014. Books not only come in paperback, but also electronic reading is very popular. Does your child have one of those electronic gadgets? So remember, when it comes to filling those stockings, or putting something special under that tree for the kiddies, remember books. Remember my titles while you are at it. Good books aren't hard to find on Amazon.com