Blog Hop: Jumping Over Hurdles Like A Good Girl

Yeah, right! LOL

Welcome to my response to this week’s author blog hop!
QUESTION: Becoming an author, being a new author, and aspiring to be one is a confusing time.  What is the most “difficult” hurdle you’ve encountered on your journey to fame and fortune.  *laughing at fortune.* How did you resolve the problem and what do you recommend to avoid it? Or are you still in need of help? Perhaps someone here can assist you!
Question provided by the delightful affiliate author Ginger Simpson.

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How to play: Your host: Sassy Brit of Alternative-Read.com invites all writers (published and unpublished) to:

1. Grab the above AUTHOR BLOG HOP logo

2. Write your blog post in answer to the weekly “writing related” question and publish on your own blog

3. Go back to the CURRENT blog hop  and leave your link in the Linky Tools (or comments if you have trouble)

4. Hop from blog to blog meeting and greeting the other participants on the list.

HINT #1: It’s helpful to leave your link in comments you leave on other blogs if you are also participating in the blog hop for quick and easy reciprocal comments.

HINT #2: The questions are uploaded to the Blog Hop Guidelines page in advance, so you can plan and write your answer ahead of time and publish your blog post on Thursday.

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My most difficult hurdle I’ve encountered has to be finishing my debut book under a very tight deadline – and I mean tight.

This may sound weird to some, but I don’t think I really believed I was going to be published. So I wrote the book, Black Ice at my leisure. Then my publisher said he’d booked the print run, so I agreed it would be ready. Well it had to be, not making the print run would have lost the publisher money and made me look terrible as a writer who wants to be taken seriously.

The most horrifying part of this whole situation was the book (Black Ice) was still in bits and I knew I had major scenes still to write. In 15 days. (Can’t quite remember the exact number, but it wasn’t much).

What could I do? I took stock of the situation and worked out what had to be done and created a system for actually knuckling down and getting on with it, until Black Ice was eventually all put together and finished AND sent to the publisher on time.

The author Holly Lisle helped me tremendously. I’m a huge fan and used her tips and some of her coursework to help me get through this.

How did I do it? I put a number for each day I had left to write leaving a few at the end for me to edit on note cards then stuck them all up in order on the wall in one column and when each day passed I moved that card across into the ‘done’ column on the wall. I’ve even got a photo of this somewhere. :)

Roughly days 15 to 8 where writing and fitting it all together and days 7 to 1 – deadline day – was a mixture of writing and edits. I was like a buzz full of coffee and late nights, but I was also determined to get it done and full of energy and happy to see that my work was finally going to be published.

I could also see the days counting down and the long line I had of days to work shortening, whilst at the same time the ‘done’ line was growing nicely, both were very encouraging and a big motivator to get my bum moving. Well, apart from the fact I’d be letting my publisher down if i didn’t get the ms to him in time. Nothing like a tight deadline to get you moving and make you pull your silly white schoolgirl socks up! LOL

What happened to you? What was your most biggest and worst hurdle and what did you do about it? Do you still need some help or advice?  Maybe the authors and writers on this blog hop can help.

Blog Hopping Bunnies! It’s nearly Easter!

THIS WEEK’S AUTHOR BLOG HOP QUESTION IS: 

Do you write in logical order?

Question provided by Amy Romine.

Oh, I had to laugh out loud at this question because how I write is anything but logical, although it has logic, just of a different “Angelika” kind. Probably not normal in the usual sense of what most people believe to be logical.

When in my pre-planning stage, there is usually nothing to plan – just a vague idea I need to write a story. So I have a secret formula for this.

Vague notion  +  words  +  some magical thing called ideas, which seem to spring from my subconscious from nowhere at just the right time = scenes = chapters = Finished Book.  

I can’t get from my vague notion to the finished book without stringing some words together. So I start small, and if something springs to mind I write that scene, and that scene only. I don’t worry I don’t know how the book starts, or even how it ends — although once I get into the 1st draft planning stage I would rather know how it ends, over how it starts any day! I just write a scene as I think it up until eventually I have the basis for a story. Even though there’s a heck of a lot missing in between, it’s usually enough for me to start plotting. And I’m a big evil plotter once I have a rough idea where I want the story to go. I don’t have to stick to it, and quite often I usually find something better as I write, but it’s the foundation of keeping me under that hazy, kind of delirious stage many writers go through, when they write and complete a book.  You know, like when you read back your work and think, ‘Goodness! Where did THAT just spring from?’  Who knows how it happened, but it did.

So, no, I do not write in logical order, but it works for me. If I get enough scenes down, I can move them around to see in which order they sound better before I commit to anything – although there are always edits – waaaaay down the line. This, for me, is only my planning, pre-first draft stage – and I do most of it by hand – until there looks too much to have to try to go back to decipher (I have trouble reading my own writing when I write very fast!) in which case the scenes are then transferred into a some sort of order onto my computer (using Scrivener – see last week’s post: The Love of my Life) in the form of scene cards. And all I have to do then (ha!) is fill in the gaps with just a little bit of imagination (okay a lot!) and the determination to see it through to the very end. Logical, right?

What about you? Do you write in logical order?

Happy Easter everyone!

How to play: Your host: Sassy Brit invites you to:

1. Grab the above AUTHOR BLOG HOP logo -
2. Write your blog post in answer to the question and publish on your own blog -
3. Leave your link in the Linky Tools spot below – (or comments if you have trouble!)
4. Hop from blog to blog meeting and greeting!
5. HINT: It’s helpful to leave your link in comments you leave on other blogs if you are also participating in the blog hop for quick and easy reciprocal comments!

Meet the love of my life: Scrivener!

Author blog hop: 

How to play: Your host: Sassy Brit invites you to:

1. Grab the above AUTHOR BLOG HOP logo -
2. Write your blog post in answer to the question and publish on your own blog -
3. Leave your link in the Linky Tools spot below – (or comments if you have trouble!)
4. Hop from blog to blog meeting and greeting!
5. HINT: It’s helpful to leave your link in comments you leave on other blogs if you are also participating in the blog hop for quick and easy reciprocal comments!

TODAY’S QUESTION: What software and applications help you write your masterpieces?  What do you wish you could afford?  What do you regret buying?

Question provided by Tracy Cooper-Posey our Yahoo chat guest this week (14th April)

My answer is:

I have to admit to trying quite a few programmes promising me to get my work done and published, like some miracle grow cure for words, but alas nothing felt right for me. That is, until Scrivener and I met. Now I only have eyes for Scrivener and his beautiful interface, friendly features and his way with words. My words, admittedly, but it’s what he does with them I love.

Image via Wikipedia

He held my hand through my first novel by-

• keeping  two separate record of my daily word count, and my overall word count, on screen for me to see all the time, which I found very encouraging
• displaying my novel split into chapters and scenes, just a glance away
• keeping all my world building rules, (creatures, magic, weapons, books and food and drink etc.)  along with my research and character information all in one handy place in the sidebar underneath my WIP.
• ensuring that any words in this research section were not counted in my actual WIP
• allowing me to upload pics to view as I worked
• being so thoughtful of my needs he supplied me with the option to work with all this information around me or to turn it off and just have a page on the full screen and nothing else around to distract me
• adding each scene I write to a proper looking index card for me, each with a short summary automatically added from my words (and this looks so cool as it’s like a real pinboard with index cards – easily moved around, which I love as I’m a very visual person ;)
• letting me add key words to a pad I could have on screen by my side for quick reference for those magical names and places I made up and spell them correctly the second time round
• he also helped me remember lots of other things, like how many towers I had in the Black Ice Training Ground and what they were called, and how to spell those tricky magical words in an instant!
• even keeping this all readily available for book two! No need to dig out my notes, it’s all here, just where he left it.
• You should see what he does with my edits! Your mind would boggle!
• If only he could write it for me, too!

Yes we went everywhere together. Scrivener is my hero. My dream come true.  I’d be brokenhearted if I lost him. Fancy giving him a go? You can check him out over here: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

PANTS to that! I’m an evil plotter …

Image via Wikipedia

Today’s author blog hop question posed by author Tracy Cooper-Posey, (next week’s chat guest) is:

Are you a plotter or a panster?  Do you plot your stories ahead of writing?  Or do you write and see what happens? (Writing “by the seat of your pants”.)  Why do you work that way?  What are the benefits …and drawbacks?

My answer is complicated! I suppose the short version is that my writing usually starts as free for all to a certain degree, but because I love building fantasy worlds – much of the ‘unplotted’ story starts to arrange itself according to how the characters live and react to the world and the other characters within – often dictating where the plot should go.

I’m currently working on the second in the series and this is slightly different in a way where I am writing like a panster – but with limits – according to the world I have already created in book one!

The drawback of working both ways is that there does come a time where my writing branches off into the unlimited world of my imagination and clashes with the world I have written in book one and I have to wag my finger at it, tell it off and rein it back in to fit. All this whilst attempting to provide a completely new story!

In addition, I did introduce many (many) characters in book one as much of the book, although erotic, is based on a fantasy style collective group of people (Destaurian Guards) all working together to train their new Child of Destiny to fight the Pandora Witches and their mind-sucking minions. Of course, the girl being trained, is not happy about these freaks trying to make her into something she feels she isn’t. At first…  (Sorry I digress!) So it’s taking all my effort not to find another character ‘pop up’ out of nowhere and make an beeline for the main story. :)

See, I told you my answer to this question was complicated LOL  Over all, I’m an evil plotter and proud of it.

By the way, the writers expression of being a ‘panster’ conjures of the images of a me wearing a huge pair of pants – Y front style. Not an image I (or I suspect you) want to dwell on!