Frustrating Week

Still working on The Sin Bin. It's a long, tedious editing process making the manuscript as professional as can be. I'm using a trial software program which catches adverbs, grammatical errors, writing styles, sticky sentences, cliches, sentence length, overused words, etc, etc. The downside is when I write, it's my voice. I never realized I spoke so poorly.

However, a program isn't all you need. You still need to have a human being (who hasn't read the darn thing over one hundred times) read it so it makes sense. I have my mentor looking over what I've corrected and has thankfully pointed out where I can still keep my voice and have it grammatically correct. Darn. Too many adverbs.

On another topic, what has happened to customer service? If you're a professional and have clients who depend on your services, shouldn't they be treated with respect? If you say you're going to do something but don't, would it be too hard to say, "Sorry, I can't do it." Or if an emergency came up and you had to cancel an appointment, is it so hard to either text or call your client that the appointment has to be cancelled? And not leave the client sitting there waiting for you, wondering what happened?

MIlestones

There have been a couple of accomplishments this week. They are small, but I'll take what I can get!
Editing is a slow process. I'm using software which has found tons of errors. I need to be careful as to not lose my voice. There are just things we say which can't be corrected by a program. A good example is a round of golf.  If you end the sentence with the word round, the program picks it up as error because you've ended the sentence with a preposition. There are other examples where I have to say (and I talk to myself), I don't agree! But I'm getting there. I'm also using a mentor to review my changes...a human being.

Second, my walking is getting so much better. It's been over two weeks since the boot came off, but I'm forcing myself to take walks every day, going a further than I did the day before. The muscles still look like a bowl of jello and thank goodness for jeans to hide it. Because I'm a short person, I wear heels all the time. The doctor advised me to put a hold on that until I get my full strength back. I own only two pairs of sneakers versus thirty pairs of heels.....I feel so short!

On a sad note, I hope you will say a prayer for an online friend. When we lived in Reading, PA, we joined the Chicago Bears Fan Club in Lancaster. For fourteen years, every Sunday during football season, we would drive to Lancaster to watch the Bears' games. These people became our family. We all still keep in touch. This young man, Sean Powell, joined the group after we moved. He made it to the game when the Bears played Dallas and our Lancaster family asked us to take care of him. I chatted with him on FB, but we never connected at the game. He got lost and then texted back, he would meet us the next time the Bears played Dallas in Arlington.

This week, on his way to the Daytona races, he was in a horrible car accident. He was unresponsive and air lifted to the ER. His mother came out okay, but the prognosis is not good for Sean. He's in his upper twenties and has so much more of life to live.  Prayers!

Deliveries and Editing

Stay warm to my friends in Chicago, Toronto and the East Coast!

This has been a crazy week. Every day, it's been one thing or another. Car repair, car registration renewal and waiting for deliveries. I need a day where nothing is going on. Ha!

We belong to two wine clubs; one in Williamsburg, VA and the other in Fredricksburg, TX. Both had deliveries scheduled for last Monday. One used UPS and the other used Fed Ex. In the seven years I've lived here, not once has the delivery been before five in the evening.

On Monday, after an intensive morning at the library working on The Sin Bin, I got home at noon to find a note on the door saying that I had missed the UPS delivery. I couldn't believe it. Before noon? The note said they would deliver it the next day. That's fine.

Tuesday, I'm working again on editing upstairs in my office when the door bell rings. Now, you remember, I'm recovering from a broken ankle building my muscles back up in my leg. Stairs take some time. By the time I got downstairs, the driver had taken off. Now I'm angry.

I called UPS to complain and also to tell them I wouldn't be home on Wednesday because I have an appointment with the car dealership and I don't know how long it would take. Could I please have the delivery moved to Thursday instead of Wednesday. It will cost me six dollars. She suggested they could deliver it to their distribution center in downtown Dallas. Not an option. Also, if I didn't receive it by the end of the business day on Thursday, it would be returned to the sender. Pressure!

Fed Ex came at 11:30 and UPS came at noon. Note to self; you are at the mercy of others.

Writing or should I say editing. I am determined to get this book published if it kills me. I have painstakingly taken apart each sentence to make sure it's grammatically correct. I have found some free software to help me along. It's not perfect and I don't mind another set of eyes to look at the chapters I've done. It's taken me a week to do three chapters. There are twenty-four chapters.

The houses want perfect manuscripts and that's what I plan to deliver to them!

Fiction Writing Lessons Better Late than Never

Is everyone ready for the Super Bowl? In this house of sports, we are. Our favorite teams are not playing but we like both the Broncos and the Panthers. We are just hoping for an exciting games and the commercials. We have friends who are having parties, but they are in Illinois and Pennsylvania and it would be too expensive to fly out there for only a day. We'll just watch it from our couch.

Good news is I'm somewhat back to normal. The boot came off Wednesday and the doctor said the bone has healed as it should. I have to ease my way back into my exercise routine; no power walking outside, but at a reasonable pace. As far as the treadmill, nothing higher than one. The biggest hurdle to overcome is my core. For the last three months, I've relied on my left leg and now my right leg is available. It will come.

I drove for the first time yesterday and now I understand what the doctor meant by the reaction time. At first, I felt I had a brick attached to my foot each time I'd go from the accelerator to the brake pedal. But being the experienced driver I am, I adjusted. I just drove around the neighborhood at fifteen miles an hour. Didn't knock out any parked cars are houses, so we're good.

Setback with The Sin Bin. Back to the drawing board. I didn't realize the extent I overuse adverbs. When I write, it's my voice, the way I talk. I talk from what I read. After this was pointed out to me, I paged through fictions books written by best selling authors and lo and behold, their stories are filled with adverbs. How come they can get away with it? Life is not fair!

After a mild attitude adjustment, I did some research. Writer's Digest had a great article about how to overcome using too many adverbs. It's the verb. A good example is the verb, knock. He knocked softly. The better verb to use is tap. You know a tap is a light knock. He tapped on her door.

Another tip from a great editor is in fiction, you show, not tell.

There is also software you can use to help you clean up your manuscript. It's expensive though, but in the long run, it might be worth it. I feel, as an author, I am concerned with my character development, the plot and making sure the reader knows where I'm headed with the story. I have had people read through my manuscripts looking for errors. I, myself, have poured over it time after time, but I don't catch everything.

I felt with six published books under my belt, I could work with anyone. I'm willing to revise and revamp my manuscript to make it a better story. Welcome to the real world. Not everyone is willing to do so.