Finished, now what?

Two little words that just sum up such a long time in my life. The End!

At least it is the end of the first draft, so the beginning of a whole new episode of editing work for me. In the meantime I will take a step away from that project before I start the editing, let my brain relax so I can begin with fresh, more critical eyes.

When I typed those two little words I did not expect to feel physically exhausted, I even said to my husband that I felt as if I had run a marathon. He looked at me as if I was crazy, then just said that I must be really unfit if I thought sitting and writing could make me that tired. After I had finished rolling my eyes at him, there was no way to really explain how much mental energy it has taken for me to write that many words. There were more than a few times when I thought I would never actually finish the story.

In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that I had been procrastinating finishing my story for the last year. The only reasons that I can think as to why on earth I would do that is because I was afraid. It is a really scary thing to put yourself out into the world. No, the characters are not based on myself or people that I know, but they are still a part of me. Like the mummy bear that I can be with my boys, I feel protective of what I have created.

For a long time I put off finishing my WIP to protect myself from the criticism that may come my way when I do release my work to the public. If it wasn’t finished then there was nothing to pick apart. But that would also mean I would not be able to happily abandon my story and start another, I feel I would be disappointed with myself for doing that.

So, it was time to pull on my ‘big girl pants’ and get it done.

Only problem was that after I had recovered from the exhaustion, I then went into a slight panic attack. Now I had nothing to do!

I have been watching advice from other writers on YouTube, they all agreed that before you totally finish the first draft of one WIP, you need to spend some time thinking and planning you next. This will then stop the sudden panic of “now what!” It will help to change your focus if you keep moving forward with the next story.

Luckily, I have managed to pull out one of my many, many notebooks I have lying around our house, the start of a story I jotted down while sat waiting for music lessons to end. I looked back over what I had written on those few pages and felt the familiar excitement to develop the next leading characters and to tell their story. It will be another paranormal romance novel and I am super excited about it.

I will be updating on how the new story progresses and also how the editing will go on the next draft.

E-A Jones

Back to School, Back to work

So after six long months of having the kids off school, my attempts to keep them on the straight and narrow of their education with home learning via the internet and Google, they have all gone back to school. Yay!

They hot sticky days of the heatwave have disappeared and the nights have already started to draw in. Autumn is just on the horizon.

This is the time of year that I suddenly find myself motivated to get things done, probably a result of the children being home and nothing being accomplished in that time.

So as the days are cooler and the cosy blankets call my name, I also hear my WIP calling frantically to me – ‘Finish me, finish me!’

I have had some time away from my novel, in the hope that I would be able to think the ending through more clearly for when it came time to start tapping away at the keyboard. But the truth of it is that, I’m just not sure how I wanted the ending to pan out.

As my husband is not one for reading fiction I asked a neighbour to read through my work up to a certain point. She was more than happy to oblige me and her feedback was very positive. It was really interesting how she saw it finishing. It was an eye-opener, that she would want to read another book with the characters and story developing further than I had originally planned.

This has given me the clarity that I needed to move forward. These few simple words of encouragement were just what I needed to hear and at the right time. My brain is no longer swinging like a pendulum in a clock. I will be tackling the ending during September and I hope to then share my characters, Lily and Adam with some Beta readers for a proper critique, then the editing process can begin.

If there are any thoughts on the Beta reader process please drop a comment, I would love to hear your experiences.

    Starting the editing process

    Well, where to start. The all important words that will mark the end of the blood, sweat and tears that you poured onto each page, have been typed – “THE END”.

    Then after I went on to celebrate with a few glasses of wine, I have put it away for at least a couple of months to marinate and so that I can let my mind have a break from it. When I re-open it, my eyes will then come back to it afresh when the editing starts.

    Now that I am ready to tackle it, I sit in front of my computer, note book and pen poised at my side, a fresh cup of steaming coffee on my other side. Only problem is that when I open up the document I can’t seem to focus and don’t know where to start with the editing.

    There a few points that I have already jotted down to revise, as I was writing the ending my mind had wandered back to the beginning and I was not happy with how the first few chapters flowed (or didn’t as the case may be). But the problem is that I feel a little bit like I’m paralysed to start pulling it apart.

    It seems to be true what people say about it, “Don’t be afraid to kill your darlings”. But at the moment I still feel too attached to each darling word, to be so merciless to cut and slash at all my hard work. So in a bid to stay motivated I will be taking ‘baby steps’ in the whole editing process.

    I will start by tackling the spelling and punctuation as I read through the story as a whole. Then I am hoping that by the end, I will be able to start with the bigger editing plan and that I will find it easier to make the necessary changes to improve the story as a whole.

    In the meantime I have also started work on two more stories, each one in a different genre. I know, I know. Everyone has advised me that I should pick one genre and stick to writing in just that one. But I am finding it more motivating to keep writing in both, paranormal romance and now a contemporary murder. Each time I come to a natural break on one, I swap to the other and carry on. This way I have overcome the natural writers block I seem to get when I sink all of my efforts into the one piece of work.

    If anyone out there has any hints and tips on how to make this editing any easier to deal with, please, please let me know.

    Likewise if you have any tips on how to juggle two very different genres successfully, I would love to hear about it.

    In the meantime, wish me luck.

    E-A Jones

    Inner dialogue- who doesn’t have it?

    I am interested to know what people experience with the inner workings of the mind.

    I read the other day that not everyone has an ‘inner dialog’ in their head, you know that little voice that is your very own narrator. Your internal monologue which will form words inside your head, that you can hear without actually speaking them out loud. I’m not saying that I have multiple voices or anything, before anyone calls for the men in white coats. But as a writer I have learned that, to a certain point, I do need to be many different characters all at once. if not then my characters in the story would all sound the same and be very boring to then read.

    So what do the people without the voice in their head have?

    I can only guess that some people experience images that pop in and out of their head, just like a slide show. Other people must just speak the words straight out of their mouth, without the inner voice having a lively debate before hand. I’m sure that we have all met that one person like this in our lifetime, one that seems to speak without any sort of filter.

    Sometimes when I am writing and really getting into the “zone”, when the fingers seem to fly over the keyboard of their own accord. At these times, words can’t form quickly enough for me to type and my brain kicks into overdrive. It seems to switch modes, to watching the scenes as if I am watching a film.

    Although these times are few and far between, you can bet that is the perfect time for someone to come in, interrupting me or the phone rings. But when these inspirational times hit, it is perfect for the ‘show, don’t tell’ aspect of any good story. It is when you go back to re-read these parts of pure imagery, that you then need to make sure that it is well balanced with the narrative, kept in the correct point of view and generally makes the scene and story progress in the right way. Not just all flowery, descriptive words and settings that readers will end up skimming past, as they don’t help the story to move forward with any sort of purpose.

    Just like my internal voice that narrates my own mind and decides what comes out of my mouth, sometimes my mind wanders off course and ends up someplace very random. At least with writing you can go back and edit these bits, but it is much harder when you are speaking to another person and you find yourself being stared at strangely. You find yourself lost in your daydream, imagination in full swing. Maybe this is what make the best story tellers? Anyway, I digress!

    If anyone who reads this, slightly off subject and a bit random blog post, has any experience with something other than an inner narrative voice, then I would love to know what you do experience instead.

    E-A Jones

    2021

    Happy New Year, one and all!

    Photo by Julia Larson on Pexels.com

    Most people all around the world are happy to see 2020 out the door, slam it and barricade it shut. It has been a year even a seasoned horror writer, like Steven King could not have predicted. From forest fires, to floods, to Covid, BLM and not to forget Brexit. Lets all hope that 2021 will be a kinder year.

    I am not in the agreement that a New Year should mean a New You. Every woman I know will start her new diet on January 1st, I know very few who have managed to keep this resolution and see it through to the end, I know I never have. All I am going to be making as a resolution, is to keep doing what I have been doing.

    I Think that this is the hardest resolution, to keep going. It is so much easier at the start, the beginning. Whether that is the new year or a project, at the beginning you have all the motivation and energy in the world to put into your endeavours. But after a while the motivation starts to wear off, life gets in the way and it seems like such hard work.

    It is at this point that many give up. I have felt the same myself throughout this last year, but here I am again with renewed hope and motivation at the beginning of 2021 to make my voice heard. I am recommitted to finishing my Work In Progress and to sharing it with the world.

    So when motivation is not your friend, then you have to turn to your determination to see things through and reach the end. Set yourself mini goals to get things back on track and moving in the direction your work needs to take. Luckily I have a supportive husband who reminds me every now and then, that I need to get my work finished, to stop scrolling through social media on my phone and just start writing.

    So here I am on January 1st at my computer raring and ready to go.

    Happy New Year to you all, and good luck with your own personal resolutions for 2021.

    E-A Jones

    Where has the time gone?

    Now that we have made it half way through 2020, I realised I have not posted for a little while. Unfortunately like so many other people, I have had to change and adapt to the changes to our everyday life. With lockdown, came many changes, three boys to homeschool, furloughed employees, parents unable to leave their house and shopping for food is like going into battle.

    All over the world there has been a level of general anxiety and panic (bulk buying loo-rolls and flour!). I found I needed to concentrate on getting the boys into a school routine first and foremost. Without them feeling anxious about the state of things in the outside world, our everyday home life could continue and find a new normality. All I can say, is that I am forever grateful that we live in a rural part of England and have been able to enjoy the countryside as we had always done so before. In fact, through all this I have noticed that people in our village have gotten to be more friendly, willing to help and to just have more time to stop and chat, then ever before.

    I really hope that when things start to fully open up, that we all remember to carry on with this. Our daily walks outside, where people will stop and chat happily (whilst keeping 2 meters distance, of course) and the sense of kindness to others.

    With things starting to re-open, I have had a bit more time to concentrate on my WIP (Work In Progress) and have broken through a mental barrier, where I had been stuck for quite some time. In between Math and English questions, I hope to be cracking on with the final scenes and finishing the first draft. One thing for sure, is that I will not be thinking of a change of career into teaching, I will leave that for the professionals at the boys school.

    So even if 2020 has not gone to plan, it doesn’t mean that the goal has changed, only that I continue to make progress, however slowly.

    Almost

    shallow focus photography of green leaves
    Photo by Matthias Cooper on Pexels.com

     

    The glint of gold on the muddy, waters surface

    The buds of vibrant green on stark tree branches

    All hope of things to come

    The day is growing longer with each passing night

    But winter is not done

    Each day brings a new surprise, as to what the weather holds

    Wind, snow, hail and sun, sometimes all at once

    How I long for the sun to shine bright, with warmth to its embrace

    Instead this savage wind with an icy bite, blasts deep into my skin

    The ground cannot take any more rain

    The grass almost forgotten under the rushing burst river banks

    But spring is waiting patiently for winter to pass

    Then the buds will explode in their leafy splendour

    Flowers blooming and grass emerging, where mud once was

    Golden warmth and gentle breezes

    Winter long forgotten, when spring is in full force.

    By

    E-A Jones

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Not a morning person, after all.

     

    brown and green grass field during sunset
    Photo by Jonathan Petersson on Pexels.com

     

    As I said in my last post, I would try and get up early (5am) to get into a daily habit of writing, before the rest of the house is up and noisy.  Well, I am afraid that I have come to the conclusion that I am not a morning writer, or much of a morning person for that matter.

    There was a time, when I was a child that I could tell you that I needed very little sleep, my parents would also agree with that statement.  But as I am now a parent myself and I will put my hands up and say, I need all the sleep that I can get.  Plus, I also need a bit of waking up time in the morning before I can fully function, who will not bite off peoples heads, this is also helped along now by coffee.

    I managed to have two children and never drink coffee, I didn’t think I liked it.  I always liked the smell of it, but the actual taste was too bitter for me.  But as you become an adult people expect you to be able to drink tea or coffee, it is part of growing up in our modern day culture.  My boys have even said that there is a Costa Coffee machine in their school cafeteria, of all places.

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    Photo by Mateusz Dach on Pexels.com

    But one day, my friend made me a cup of coffee, after a particularly sleepless night up with my youngest.  I drank it and like heaven had opened up, shone a light down on me, I LIKED it!  Ever since then it has become part of my morning routine.

    So, with the dark mornings and a hectic family life, I have found that 5am is hard to function at.  I know when the days start stretching out and the light mornings have my husband jumping out of bed at before 5am, he is strange that way, then I will try to drag my sleepy butt out of bed and get some words written.  For now though I will endeavour to fit my writing in during snatched chunks of the day and at the weekends.

    I attended the Writer’s Cafe again this week and was encouraged by the people there, as always, to crack on with my WIP.  With now reaching over 70,000 words and over three quarters of the way through my story, I feel as though I can achieve finishing it.  Many writers don’t even manage this, so I am feeling proud that I have made it this far.  The homework assigned was more personalised than a picture, or words to include in a short story, I am putting together a 300 word synopsis for my story and hopefully one to send out to publishers.

    I am hoping that by doing this, I will also break though any last blockage with my WIP, this will make the story more of a road map to follow.  Rather than each time I sit down to write, it veers off in a different direction to the one I had planned.

    Also the creative juices have hit hard, whilst sitting waiting for music lessons to finish.  I also have a few sketched out ideas for my next projects.  As the lessons are only half an hour ,I have spent that time with a note book to plan characters and scenes, but no deeper than that at the moment.  I will make finishing the first draft of my WIP my priority and then set it aside to concentrate on the next project for a little while.  When I come back to do my first draft edit, I am hoping to look at it then with fresh eyes and enthusiasm to read it all through as a complete story.

     

     

     

    Happy 2020!

    Happy New Year!

    I hope that your Christmas and New Year were all you hoped it to be.

    I had hoped to be able to get loads of writing done, unfortunately my time was spent on family, friends and food, lots and lots of food!  With the last of the turkey now finished, everyone gearing up to go back to school and work, I am looking forward to the everyday routine and getting back into writing and work.

    I have enjoyed a small break from social media and most technology, being in an area with little wifi reception.  But for 2020 I will be trying to find my writing groove.

    I read a post about the 5am Writers Club, getting up early to fit writing into your day before everyone else is awake.  I did try this with exercise for a while but I soon found out that early morning is not the ideal time for me.  While I love the idea of being a morning bird, catching its worm – I’m not sure how much of a morning person I really am.  But I will be willing to give it a go and see if I can convert myself into a morning person, with the help f a lot of coffee.  It seems to be the ideal solution if you find that you are not a night owl.

    The start of the New Year always prompts resolutions to be made, while I don’t make them myself, I do try to think of goals to achieve through the year.  Last year I had just started this blog, had just started working on my novel and children story.  I never thought I would enjoy writing as much as I am and I am looking forward to finishing these projects in 2020, also eager to start some new projects that have been brewing.

    Here’s to a productive and prosperous 2020!

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    Photo by Prateek Katyal on Pexels.com

     

    #writephoto – Light – Breakfast

    I had walked this path through the woods every day lately, but it was today that I stopped. The sun still early in its rise up into the wintery, clear blue sky. The way the sun beams shot out from behind the dark evergreen of the trees branches, like shafts of diamonds.

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