Michelle's Notebook @shellyscribbles - Tumblr Blog

I should be washing dishes....but I am putting my Vale Calendar into Google sheets so I can update it from my phone as important fictional events occur to me.

#muttering about writing #the shadow of vale #I am a little bit obsessed with this non shifting calendar.

oh fun! The calendar in Vale doesn't shift. The same days will land on the same days of the week in the same months each year. There are no odd days that cause it to shift constantly.

I think that's fun.

That could play in well with some of the other world building elements...

I am doing more worldbuilding I will probably need to weave into book 1 because I needed the calendar lined up for book 2 in order to keep tabs on what happens when in relation to other events that have a set time frame.

Now I have to ground the calender and I have celebration ideas that didn't come up at all in book 1.

I might be able to get away with it, but maybe not.

Most of this will never make it into the books, but I will know and it makes me happy to make a calendar for Vale.

#muttering about writing #the shadow of vale #writing

Messing around with a possible opening scene for book 2 today.

I am itching to get drafting on it.

But I probably have to scribble out ideas for another week or so before I have a clear enough idea of the plot to actually dive into it.

I think I usually start drafting too quickly and then I end up stuck or needing massive structural changes that make the whole process slower.

Given that book 1 is going to end on a cliff hanger, I would like book 2 to come out on it's heels.

#muttering about writing

A little stuck in plotting, so today I am just free writing any ideas that come into my head. This is working much better.

Reading through my old manuscript since the plot line I tried to cut and I end up putting back worked, I am seeing if there is anything else in here that I could/should use.

I have grown a lot as a writer.

This draft is painful. There are things I really like, for example, this version of Halvar is fire, love him. Some of the ideas are solid, but the execution is trash. The pacing is horrific. Truly. Like, the section of the story that is going to be the heart of book 2 is like 40 pages in this draft and it covers an entire year.

There are things I feel like I have over corrected in my writing, but overall, I have come a long way.

I sent it off for the first round of professional edits.

I am so excited.

Now I am diving into all the ideas I have for book 2 and trying to work out what the plot is going to be.

#muttering about writing #the shadow of vale

I am in a horrible mood so naturally my computer deletes all the revisions I did yesterday.

cool. cool.

#muttering about writing #I am so close to done #pissed doesn't begin to describe my irritation right now

I do not want to edit right now and that is extremely inconvenient as I am supposed to send my draft off to my first editor next week and I have a whole 50 pages to get through before circling back to make the suggested edits to chapter one from the sample edit.

#muttering about writing #and I have line editors breathing down my neck asking if I want to sign a contract with them and now I kinda don't #I just want to see what a mess I am going to get back #I don't like these deadlines #I think that's why I don't want to touch it right now

Oh cool. My inability to spell basic words has nearly thwarted me.

I have been calling Zuriel the Dueling of Vale not realizing that the word I was looking for was Dual, not Duel.

Watching sword fighting videos made me realize that Dueling is an actual thing and I was like, "Where does dual come into it?" Not realizing it was a different spelling for the meaning I was aiming for.

As a positive note, I didn't send it off to anyone professionally yet and the term has a cool added meaning of being a term used when expanding a road from one lane to two which kinda of adds to the way it works in the story.

#muttering about writing #The fact that I can't spell strikes again #reinforces why I will be spending most of my money to get this book edited before publishing

I am noticing so many weird things I do when I write a first draft.

No one looks at anyone for some reason everyone looks to everyone else.

Also I inject these random little facts that have nothing to do with the scene that follows. Like, I am sure I meant for them to, but it didn't happen...so....

For some reason I never put "for a moment" it's always "a moment"

And I say that way too much.

And semicolons. Why? Why did I choose a semicolon any time it was maybe an option? Like, just make it two sentences.

#muttering about writing #muttering about editing #I intend to pay my editors well #and I intend to do all of the editing because good heavens #this is a mess

Working on revisions/edits and I am pretty sure I wrote this part with a migraine 'cause, what?

lol there are so many parts where I am like, "What in the world was I trying to say here."

#muttering about writing #We won't talk about this being my second pass and apparently I was good at not line reading last time #I was aiming for the big picture but dang #I just pretended that string of words meant anything

Writing was a little wild for me today.

I could hardly do any new revisions because I was working in a really sad scene, and then I realized something about one of the characters and did emotional damage to myself that no one else will know about until years from now when and if I finish publishing this story and then get to the connected story.

Then I got my sample edit back from my editor and got real feedback for the first time ever and I am so excited to get feedback and keep improving it.

I think I am going to try to do more revisions because I just want to send it off and get feedback.

I am the tiniest bit overwhelmed by all the things I have to do to get ready to actually publish a book.

What do you mean I have to know what I want the cover to look like?

And why is there a back cover!

God bless the sweet artists who I have been having conversations with about what I might want my cover to look like.

It feels weird to be doing this stuff when I still need to finish cleaning up my revisions and getting it edited.

It feels so far away, but also I know this stuff takes time and if I want to get it published next year, I need to get going on it.

#muttering about writing #muttering about publishing #Also new artists keep messaging me #I don't mind but it's exhausting me

I sent off my first chapter for a sample edit with my potential editor and I am both excited and terrified to see what feedback I get.

It's one of the weakest points of the draft.

I struggled with the opening of the book for so long.

#muttering about writing #I am so excited that it's getting so real though #finding a cover designer and editor #because to publish next year I need these things now #There is a lot to do before you even finish writing the book #it's kind of wild #Self publishing

I have alpha readers set up for August. :D

Now I have to get through the revisions so it's ready.

It's getting real.

#muttering about writing #the shadow of vale

I finished my first round of revisions! Yay!

Now I am going to make another pass to settle on one of the plot lines I left in and see how the new scenes feel together with the rest. Then I think I'll be ready to pass it off to my few alpha readers.

Given that it took me 3 months to do my first round, I think this could be a few weeks or a month.

#muttering about writing

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