Celebrate the Small Things 29-8-14

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?





I've made some real progress on my revisions.  I feel like I'm almost on track to finish by my deadline.  Assuming I actually get all the writing time I plan to have.  Fingers crossed I don't have to pick up any extra shifts at work the next two weeks.

I saw the amazing Kristin Hersh play last night.  What a fantastic show!  I just love her.

I'm going away for the weekend.  It's my bestie's 40th and I'm so looking forward to spending some time with her. It's been far too long!

What are you celebrating this week?

Weekly goals 25-8-14

I don't have a lot of free time this week, so I'm going to have to do my best to be productive in what I have.  I have 15 more chapters to revise, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to add at least one more in there somewhere - possibly two.

So my goal for this week is to revise up to the point where I need to add new words.  I'm not going to have time to write them, so I'll stop there.  I'm going away for the weekend, so I'll leave the new writing until next week when I will have a more solid block of writing time.

And I plan to have an amazing weekend away with my bestie who I rarely see.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the small things 22-8-14

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?




I've made some real progress on my revisions (yes, you can clap and cheer here).  I'm just over halfway through the book now, and while I don't feel like I've made any really big changes to it, I think the prose is smoother and I've clarified a few things.  The bigger changes come from here on out, so I'm hoping I can work them in smoothly.  I'm aiming to be finished by September 15th, so keep me focused guys!

It's my best friend's 40th next week so I'm going up to Auckland for the weekend to celebrate with her.  I'm pretty excited because I don't get to see her very often.

There's a children's book festival happening here on Sunday, and I volunteered to work at it.  I'm hoping it will be a good chance to promote by book a little bit, even though the festival is more for little kids than teens.  I'm not sure what I'm going to be asked to do, exactly, but I know I'm going to be doing some reading aloud.  Hope I don't get stage fright!

What are you celebrating this week?

Reading and writing

As I work on my revisions, I'm finding it really hard to figure out what to read when I'm not writing.  The book I'm working on is a romance, but it's not a typical romance.  I've tried reading romance novels to get myself in the mood, but they're all too happy-ever-after to capture the emotional tone I'm going for.

So then I went back to the serious, issue driven books I usually read, yet they don't get me to the right headspace either.  And I'm struggling a little to figure out where I need to make changes, and where I don't, so being in the right frame of mind is important.

Maybe I need to go and find a nice juicy horror...  Something so far away from my own work it won't bleed into it.

When you're writing, how do you choose what to read?  Do you go for something similar to your own work?

Weekly goals 18-8-14

My goal for this week is to get through revising another 10 chapters of my book.  More if I can.  I've already been through this section once, so I figure any changes I make now are going to be stylistic and wording changes, not big plot ones.  So it's entirely possible I can do more than 10.  But if I keep my goals low and realistic, I won't be too disappointed if life gets in my way again and I don't achieve everything I want to.

I feel like the pacing in this book may be off.  I spend about 4 chapters on one night because that one night is very significant and sets up everything that comes afterward.  Yet from that one night, the pace speeds up and the entire book takes place over a year.  Is this normal?  I can't even tell anymore.

What are your goals for the week?  Are you keeping them manageable or shooting for the stars?

Celebrate the Small Things 15-8-14

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?





I got some writing done.  I'm pretty happy with the first two chapters of my revisions, and my CPs agree that they're good.  So now I can move on to the parts of the book that need the most changes.  I hope to see some significant progress by the end of the week.  I have 4 nights in a row free this week, and nothing is going to get between me and my laptop.  At least, that's the plan.

I had two nice lunches with friends/colleagues this week.  Oddly, both at the same restaurant!  Luckily I love the food there...  Is there anything better than  grilled haloumi?

What are you celebrating this week?

International Potluck Blogfest!

My wonderful CP, Lexa Cain is hosting this bloghop with two other authors,  Beth Fred, Media Sharif.  It's really simple to join!  Just put the bloghop badge on your post and share the cover of a book you love (it can be your own) along with a recipe for a food in that book or from the region the book takes place.  Then link back to Lexa, Beth and Media!  It's easy, right?  You can even win prizes like copies of Finding Hope by Beth Fred, Soul Cutter by Lexa Cain and Snip, Snip Revenge by Media Sharif.  There's also an Amazon gift card up for grabs.  So get in there and join in the delicious fun!

There isn't a lot of exciting food mentioned in my book, although early on Livvie and her best friends run off to make pancakes.  Since pancakes were the first thing I learned to cook on my own, I'll share my favorite recipe for them here.

SUPER SPECIAL SUNDAY PANCAKES

1 1/2 cups flour

1Tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup melted butter

3 eggs, separated

2 cups milk

Sift the flour and mix in the salt, sugar and baking powder.

Add the egg yolks, melted butter and milk.  Mix well.

Whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

Fold egg whites into the other mixture until just combined.

Heat a heavy iron fry-pan or skillet.

Pour in enough mixture to thickly cover the bottom and let cook until the small air bubbles that form pop and don't close up again.

Flip the pancake over and cook the other side briefly - until golden brown.

Serve piping hot with your favorite topping.  I like lashings of butter and maple syrup or lemon juice and a sprinkling of caster sugar.  YUM!

Now, pop along to see what recipes everyone else has chosen to share.  I can't wait to see what other people are up to!

Weekly goals

I don't have a lot of 'em this week.  In fact, it's only one: get back into my revisions.

I'm working a bunch of extra night shifts this week, so I only have 3 nights of writing time. So I hope to get three chapters revised.  If I'm lucky, I may get through 4.

Next week I'm hoping to take a couple of extra days off and get in some long days at the library.  Then I should be able to get through some serious chunks of book.  My goal is to have finished this revision and had it critiqued by my CPs by the middle of September.  That's not too far off, so I need to get cracking!

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 8-8-14

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?





The Film Festival is almost over!  Usually I'm sad about it, but this year I really want it to be done so I can stop working the stupidly long hours I've been working and actually get some writing done.

I got notes from my agent to help with my revising and they're really helpful.  I'm itching to get back into the book, but I know I'm not going to have time until next week.  So rather than trying to do some work, and doing a half-assed job, I'm holding off on it until Tuesday.  Then I'm going to blitz it.

And that's about it for the week.  What are you celebrating?

Weekly Goals

I've been terrible about this for the last few weeks.  Sorry!

This week I really have only one goal: to survive.

We're into the final stretch of the Film Festival and we're all getting worn out by the long hours and constant crowds.  I just want it to be over now so I can get back to doing regular hours at work and having time to write and revise again.

What are your goals for the week?