Word of the Week: Catch-Up!

 

 

 

 

 

I'm planning for a catch-up week that might stretch to more like a month. LOL 

 

My desk "pile" (overflowing into a box now...) has gotten a bit "unruly" as of late. LOL In particular, a backlog of books and also some products to review, over at: My Real Life Reviews .

 

I'm also waiting on several book reviews pending for my two new poetry books and more review copies coming in the mail right now, so I know how frustrating it can be to wait. My apologies to anyone who's sent me a book that I haven't reviewed yet. It is NOT forgotten.

 

I'm also working on my novel. Still going great but every time I think I'm almost done, the plot "takes off" in another direction! I'll take it though. So much better than the blank screen/page/mind syndrome. ;<) We've all been there, right?

 

I have a gazillion projects on the go but I know so well that focusing and finishing one at a time, is always the best course of action, if at all possible. Or alternately, having a goal of a portion to complete, on any given day. That works too, especially for larger projects.

 

So, it's catch-up week here. I hope I've inspired you to work on your own pile of projects too. It's soooo satisfying to get them completed!

 

Happy Week, G :<)

Word of the Week: Inspiration!

That's how I've been feeling lately: truly inspired!

You may remember this previous post about my current novel project. Well, my little journal has been filled since that post was written. I have been writing my novel, on my computer since then.

 For the most part, it's been going very well. I did come to a point where I felt a "stuck" and I could no longer continue to just write the story, without taking the time to create several, detailed reference pages to work from. Too much information about characters, locations etc... to try to remember.

I did a lot of research and trial and error at that point, trying out various novel writing software programs and suggestions, looking for something that would help, not hinder my progress. And to help me get organized in a way that would make writing the rest of my book easier.

I've come full-circle now on this after trying out the "bells and whistles" of  many of the choices of novel writing software currently available.

For me, working with a typed and printed outline, character and location pages, in a binder to refer to, seems best. It's not distracting as I found some of the software programs to be, with the various windows and files/folders to open, when looking for the information I need.

When it all comes down to it, if it's not making the story move forward, why use it?

Having an outline and scene ideas typed out for the whole book has been very helpful. It's like filling in a puzzle. Instead of being unwieldy and overwhelming, to move forward and type a couple of hundred more pages to complete my novel, now I look forward to my writing time each day.

And speaking of writing time. I've decided to take the month of January to complete the first draft of my novel. Complete! Yes, I think it's possible but only if I make my novel top-priority for a while.

So, I've decided to take the month of January off from blogging entirely. Maybe do some visiting now and then, at my fav blogs but no posting. As you all know, blogging can take up a lot of time, if you factor in writing posts, visiting, taking photos for posts, research etc... And if I'm ever going to finish this book, I need as few distractions and diversions as possible.

I'll be back here at Happy Break with a Christmas post on December 25th as I couldn't resist the OSI prompt for that day; it's such a good one. Thanks for the great prompt suggestion: Sandy C !

                      

Here's to a creative and inspiring new year, for all of us!

Some Blogging News x 4!

I've been trying to find more time to work on my novel which I previously posted about here. It seems that the time online gets taken up quickly when I am writing posts, browsing blogs, Googling...and at the end of 4-5 hours most days, it's hard to really give my novel writing the attention that I think it warrants. So, for now, I am reducing my blogging significantly.

Here at  Happy Break, I plan to continue with my "Word of the Week" posts, early each week on Sunday or Monday. I like the idea of having a "word" to focus on, contemplate...during each week and it seems that many readers are enjoying these posts too. So, I will still be sharing some happiness here each week but only one post a week for now. I hope you'll enjoy what's upcoming for WOTW's and I hope they've been helpful and inspiring to you, so far!

At My Real Life Reviews, I will continue to post reviews on a regular basis. I'm planning for 2-3 reviews a week. I have a lot of those in the works already. Response over at MRLR has been great, from readers all over the world and from companies too. It's something I always wanted to do and I'm really enjoying the process of trying out products of all kinds and then sharing my thoughts about them over at MRLR. I hope you'll stop in soon and often.

At Veggies, Yarns & Tails and My Poetic Path, my two WordPress blogs, I am putting posting on hold for now. I'm not deleting these blogs and I may get back to them in the future. And the archives for recipes etc...is rather extensive after all these years. Just a break from both, for now.

As for my novel, it is going very well! I really can't believe the progress I'm making or the fun it's been. I'm going to get to the finish line, this time. I just know it! But it takes time and concentration and it needs to be a priority now. I only wish I could give up sleep and cram some more hours into every day!!!

So that's the plan...Not that I won't be visiting my fav blogs, of course I will! It just won't be quite as often for now.

Happy Autumn and Lots of Hugs, G :<)

My (Happy) Novel Update and a ?? too

You may remember this previous post from July about my long-time wish/goal to write a novel. And the progress I had made up to that point, working on this book every week day.

I am happy to share that I now have over 120 pages completed! And what's even better, since I started typing the hand-written pages I have so far, it appears that the typed page counts are more than I had anticipated they would be. I had been guesstimating  about 2 written pages would equal 1 typed page. Well, the reality is, the pages are almost equal, given margins and double-spacing in the manuscript format I am using. I am thrilled with the amount (and not to brag, quality) of work I've accomplished so far! And oh what fun it's been...with the story is unfolding in unexpected ways (don't they always) as I continue to write. The process of working on this long-time book goal is even more gratifying, now that I have decided to continue on the computer instead of writing in long hand.

My question: I am using Word 2010 for the manuscript right now. I have chosen a book manuscript template, which has margins set appropriately etc. What I don't know how to do (and haven't been able to find out) is how to put each chapter into a separate folder?

The first chapter came up after the title page but beyond that, I don't know how to go about setting up each chapter of my book so that I can access them by clicking on a particular chapter/sub folder tab. The first chapter automatically showed up as a sub folder on the left side of the screen. I'm fairly well versed in all things Word, but I can't seem to figure this one out.

Any ideas/suggestions? I have searched online and on Microsoft help and tutorial pages, to no avail. If you can help, it would be most appreciated.

Happy Writing! :<)

I AM GOING FOR IT!

              

My novel/journal notebook (1st in a series) and Seven Year Pen

                                           

Isn't it wonderful when a post or comment that you read at one of your favorite blogs (in this case it was actually one of my blogs!) ends up inspiring/motivating you to do something you've always wanted to do? This has happily happened for me recently.

I wrote a book review post over at My Real Life Reviews about the book: Writing Fiction for Dummies, a few weeks ago. In the post, I mentioned my long-time dream/wish/aspiration to write and COMPLETE a novel.

A couple of my blog friends made the suggestion via comments to check out Julia Cameron's books, which I did. I actually read several of her books including: The Right to Write (my favorite so far) after that. A writing suggestion that Julia Cameron made again and again, jumped out at me. It was, to have a "writing time" every day and complete 3 pages. More is fine, less is not. Since the novel I am working on is a journal of sorts, this seemed to be something in terms of a plan for me that could actually work.

Well it is working, beautifully! I have been working on my novel, in small 3-5 page sessions (writing not typing) every week day (slight modification but I usually end up writing more than 3 pages each day) for about a month now. I am LOVING it! Inspired but not overwhelmed and progressing slowly but surely towards finally achieving my goal to complete a novel. I have over 60 pages written already! A rough draft of course but the "bones" of the story will be there. The polishing to follow.

This approach probably wouldn't be workable for every kind of book  but it seems to be a perfect fit for me and my current book project. When I have written short stories in the past, I have enjoyed it. When I write articles and posts, poetry etc, I enjoy those too. But when it came to facing the daunting task of a complete novel, I was always overwhelmed and it was so easy to give up. Not this time.

Perhaps this suggestion will be something that might also work for you. I hope I've passed along some novel-writing inspiration, if that happens to be one of your long-sought after goals too!


PS: Some other recent posts....

 If you have been searching for a really good natural lipstick for a long time (as I have been) you won't want to miss my new review of Just Pure Mineral lipsticks over at my review blog.

I've also been out and about taking photos of some of the gorgeous flowers now in full bloom in our area. With all the rain we've had recently, Mother Nature is once again looking so fine!

To celebrate some of that (fragrant) beauty, I wrote this Tau-Ku poem about the scent of the unmistakeable honeysuckle: Sweet Honeysuckle: A Tau-Ku Poem