It was time to take a long, hard, critical look at what I've written so far. I realized that my main heroine; is too perfect. When I think about books I like, one thing is apparent, the hero's journey from untried to veteran.

Angela, as I've written her so far, is just too damned competent. So after this mornings writing session, I meditated on it a little. Some things are gonna change:

- Angela is now a small-town Lousiana Sherrif

- The basic premise is staying the same; but I'm moving some of the characters around in space and time.

- Something needed to be at stake; so the kidnapped girl is now Angela's Niece.

There are other aspects of how the story is going that I love:

- Shiloh Cole is a terrible Villian, but I also think I've done of a good job of humanizing him. Heck at some point I even feel sorry for him.

- The general cast of characters I have seem believable and likeable.

- The basic outline of the book is great and stories premise is fun.

My fingers are crossed that I've given the whole thing a facelift that will work for it. The hard part is finishing it all. Getting it formatted; and uploading the damn thing to Kindle.

What do they say? "Getting pregnant is easy; its birthing the little muthafuka thats a literal pain in the ass"?

I've decided that dammit I'm finishing my books! So, to really get things going I've changed my schedule. Its now early-to-bed early-to-rise. I'm in bed by 9am and up at 4am. From 4am to 7am I write in short 30 minute bursts with 5 minute breaks in-between. So far I averaged about 1k words an hour. For example between 4 am and 5:30am; my manuscript grew from 7k to almost 9k! Almost halfway to my 20,000 word count. Now I realize that I'm throwing down a lot of raw words. But getting the rough draft down, is the first step. After that its all tweaking, polishing, and re-writing. Which is all so much easier to do, if you have something to work with.

From reading other writer's advice the best way to really get your fiction done is:

1. Outline
2. Use your outline to free-write a really fast first draft.
3. Fine tune and edit that rough draft into something readable!
4. Polish & Edit the second draft for grammar, plot, etc..
5. Have someone else edit if possible. If not, edit yourself. But do EDIT.

I have a whole folder of writerly advice on my computer...I've been pouring over lately. Ok 5 minute break is over back to writing!

Night Hunt by *TommieD on deviantART

I worked really hard this weekend and clocked over 7k words. I think what started off as a short story is turning into a full book. This weekend was a breakthrough. Anyway below is an excerpt. I already know it needs editing. What I wouldn't give for a really good editor: ( Read more...Collapse )

Angie pulled her jacket collar up. Shoved her hands into her pockets and walked faster. A shortcut through the park had seemed like a good idea.( Click to continue reading...Collapse )

My writing muse is apparently an insomniac.( Read more...Collapse )

Right now I’m getting my short story collection ready for e-publication. It's tentatively titled Venomous Vixens. Each Story is about a different type of paranormal woman. So far my favorite story-in-progress features a Djinn. Her name is Jezebeth. She brings luck to the deserving and misfortune to evildoers. ( Read more...Collapse )

I wrote this three years ago. I just re-read it and figured I'd repost it here.
- T

Madonna turns fifty this Saturday, a fact that reminds me I'm getting older too. I believe I still have her debut album in a musty box somewhere, packed securely with a pair of parachute pants. Like many gay men at the time, I admired her chutzpah. Her rise to stardom proved anyone could be special no matter where they came from.( Read more...Collapse )

Last weekend thousands of people descended on San Francisco's Moscone Center for WonderCon, California's largest gathering of comic book writers and fans after San Diego's mammoth Comic-Con. While WonderCon provides a great way for writers and readers to connect, it also allows attendees to mingle with everyone from Chewbacca to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.( Read more...Collapse )