State of the Snarkology: Writing Goals 2014

Forgive me while I ramble...

Amidst the never-ending chaos of housing renos and preparing the Snark kids to return to school, I've spent the last week struggling with the final scene in Battle Cry. Oh, the absolute irony of hosting a guest series on writer's block while dealing with it. 

It's difficult to summarize the exact nature of my block because I know what the characters want and need to say and how they should say it. It's a goodbye scene between two lovers so it does carry a lot of emotional punch.  It's not a new scene, but rather a revision to an existing scene. Ultimately, it came down to one fundamental factor--setting.

State of the Snarkology: Writing Goals 2014

Back on January 5th, I wrote up a set of writing goals for 2014. Now that it's June, I find myself wanting to revisit my list to see how I'm doing. I'm curious whether I'm on track or not to achieving any of them.


Original goal in blue. 
Commentary in red.

1.   See THE MATING GAME published and promoted. (This one is a gimme since all the real work is done. My Wild Rose editor says we're ready to wrap up editing soon.)

I'm gonna call this one accomplished. Paperback THE MATING GAME is available on Amazon and at The Wild Rose Press site. Ebook release date is June 20th. Check.

2.   BATTLE CRY, book 3 in my Loki's Wolves series, is complete. The next step is to polish, obtain feedback from beta readers, polish again, editing, editing, and more editing. Publish and promote. 

I'm almost done with the second draft of BATTLE CRY. Everything is going smoothly. I believe most of the plot holes are hammered out this time and I may be ready for professional editing soon. Projected release date is September 2014.

3.   Write and submit three short erotica stories to become part of THE MATING GAME series.

I've revised this goal slightly. I still want to write and submit three erotica short stories but I'm going to aim to finish just one for the series by the end of the calendar year. I've decided to write a couple for erotic anthologies for reasoning that has to do with how Amazon's recommendation engine works. I think it would broaden my reach in the software algorithms. So my new goal is to write and submit to at least two erotic anthologies this year. 

These two appeal to me:

• In Vikings' Arms
• Paid by the Weird Anthology call

4.  Complete the first draft of TRICKSTER, book 4 of my Loki's Wolves series.


On hold until BATTLE CRY is complete.

5.  Finish HELL ON HIGH HEELS and submit to an agent.


On hold until BATTLE CRY is complete.

State of the Snarkology: April Blahs

I've been flying under the radar for the last month or so, and especially for the last couple weeks. Aside from my April 1st post, I haven't been feeling particularly funny even though Mr. Snark and the Snarklets haven't ceased being their hilarious selves.

So why so quiet, you ask?

Revisions suck my soul dry.

In March and the first week of April, THE MATING GAME underwent three intense rounds of galley edits. I completed the last bout in five days and returned what should be the final revisions to my Wild Rose editor, Angela. With a bit of luck, I'll have the release date soon. I'm planning on showing off my new cover to celebrate.

****

Miss Bear and the boys had the first week of April off. Naturally, California's perfect, sunshiny weather chose last week to finally rain. Miss Bear and I typically spend an hour or two at the park every day but last week drove us indoors, seeking refuge in surrealistically nightmarish places such as Chuck E. Cheese.  Thank God, spring break ends tomorrow.

I hear the sun will be back tomorrow too. 

****

Throughout all this, we're been having our master bathroom renovated, which means workmen coming through the house all day long. Jacks. Saws. Insanity. Mr. Snark and I are at wit's end. We got into it at a hardware store today over which bathroom faucet to order.

Mrs. Snark: We agree on oil-rubbed bronze fixtures that require three holes be drilled in the new counter top. We like the same styles and the same brand names but we need to make a decision soon. Once the new counter tops and sinks go in, we won't have running water unless we pick faucets.

Mr. Snark (stamping his feet):  I want cross-handles!

Mrs. Snark:  But the ones you like online aren't in stock and won't be available until May.

Mr. Snark:  But I want them!

Sales guy:  I can order that faucet you were looking at with cross-handles.

Mrs. Snark:  Yeah!  Sold!

An hour later...

Mrs Snark to Mr. Snark:  Why are you pouting? You got your blasted cross-handles.

Mr. Snark:  I wanted smooth barrels! Not tapered!

Mrs. Snark: They had some really nice dog houses.

Mr. Snark:  At least then I could choose my own fixtures!

****

Also on the editing front, there have been some interesting developments with my  current work-in-progress, BATTLE CRY, the next book in my Loki's Wolves series. I finished the first draft back in January and passed it off to a new friend, Jennifer, who I met through my long-time friend, Sheryl Hayes.

One of the troubles with being an Indie author is finding Beta readers who are willing to rip your manuscript to shreds with the same degree of brutality as a half-starved lion (or a professional editor).

Jennifer is a professional editor for lawyers who works on fantasy manuscripts for recreation. She surprised me by requesting an actual HARD COPY of the manuscript. Bewildered, I fired up the old HP laser printer and printed almost 200 pages that I bound in rubber bands and forked over.  

Jennifer took the manuscript with her on vacation to the Amazon and the Galapagos Islands. As I told Mr. Snark, my story is now more well-traveled than me. I'm actually awed by my manuscript's adventures. It was somewhere in the vicinity of giant tortoises and sea iguanas. How cool is that? I plan on saving it as a keepsake.

When the story returned from its travels, the front page had a short, handwritten glossary: 

• BW:  Bad Word
• Red: Redundant
• WC: Word Choice
• IM: Inner Monolog
• WW: Wrong Word

 Even more interesting, the entire manuscript contained handwritten editorial marks and remarks similar to this:

Not the best photo, but you can get the basic idea. As I'm making revisions, it's really fascinating working with a hard copy. In the past, I've only worked with editorial changes and comments in electronic documents. A paper copy is an entirely different experience and I find it's actually influencing how I go about implementing changes. It has definitely affected how I perceive story structure. In some ways it's better than digital revisions, in other ways it's more frustrating. I'm not weighing in with a final opinion yet.

Jennifer the editorial lion pretty much disemboweled my story. At first I was a little bit down but I transitioned to thoroughly psyched pretty fast. I'm confident that the story that emerges from the ashes will be stronger for it.

So, that's where I'm currently at.

1. Waiting for my release date on THE MATING GAME.
2. Trying to finish the bathroom remodel without throttling Mr. Snark.
3. Revising BATTLE CRY.
4. Oh, and heading to Arizona in May with Miss Bear to see my new niece.

State of the Snarkology: Writing Goals for 2014

My family suffered the loss of a beloved grandmother recently and I've grown quiet over the last couple months. I come from a line of women who externalize emotions onto other people. So I tend to get quiet when I'm going through a stressful time to avoid making others sad, angry or miserable. However, I realized recently that The Snarkology becomes more about other people than me when I internalize.

My New Year's Resolution is to get chatty again.

Like most writers, I only want to be adored.

My friends can testify that I'm quite a bit snarkier in real life than on my blog. I blunt my sarcasm for fear of alienating and/or angering readers. Humor is one of my outlets but even there I self-censor.

Last year, I visited with a fellow Rose on her blog and talked about how difficult sharing my written humor is for me for fear of being misunderstood, angering or offending. I want to make people laugh, not hurt feelings. Or worse--that secret fear of being that goofball over in the corner chortling over my own jokes.

Naturally, a commenter threw in their two cents: 

"OMG, writing humor is hard? Nobody told me. I’ve probably been doing it wrong all this time. Hold on, if it hard, then I wouldn’t be having any fun..and if I’m not having fun, how can I possibly be funny. I want a second source and an official accreditation that this source is qualified to judge funny. And it can’t me my imaginary cat. That’s who I use."

I bit clean through my tongue being polite. My real reaction went more along the lines of: SERIOUSLY? WTF! What a self-involved person. Because, YES! I was totally writing about YOU! YOU! YOU!

Thank you!

* * * *

Last week I talked about what I accomplished in 2013, so this week I'm putting down some writing goals for 2014.

1.       See THE MATING GAME published and promoted. (This one is a gimme since all the real work is done. My Wild Rose editor says we're ready to wrap up editing soon.)

2.       BATTLE CRY, book 3 in my Loki's Wolves series, is complete. The next step is to polish, obtain feedback from beta readers, polish again, editing, editing, and more editing. Publish and promote. 

>>> I said that I'd do a cover reveal to celebrate so I'm going to schedule that soon. Just need to finish pounding out a blurb to go with it.

3.       Write and submit three short erotica stories to become part of THE MATING GAME series.

4.       Complete the first draft of TRICKSTER, book 4 of my Loki's Wolves series.

5.       Finish HELL ON HIGH HEELS and submit to an agent.

This is a lot. I hope I'm not being too ambitious but I'd rather try and fail than not try and fail anyway. Wish me luck!

Happy New Years!

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The State of the Snarkology, Year End Edition

My friend, Sheryl R. Hayes, commented yesterday that the Snarkology was going like gang busters during the 25 Days of Christmas Stories event but then she hasn't seen much from me since then. I was like: "Yeah. I'm tired. Christmas always wears me out." (Technically, it's more correct to say that I wear myself out.)

However, her observation prompted me to post something personal. And--by way of explanation--to mention that the three Snark children are out of school for the next week, so my online activities are bound to be restricted. I have plans to get back to active blogging in January but for the next seven days, I plan to coast.

I've seen a couple mentions of New Year Resolutions. I'm not big on resolutions, especially since I never keep them. Every year, I do write down some writing goals for the coming year. But before I do that for 2014, I thought I should look up my goals for 2013 and see how I did.

I've actually forgotten what they are, but I know I posted them over on Accentuate Writer's forum. So bear with me for a moment while I go locate that post...

<<Drum roll>>

And, I either can't find them because: A) they're not in my journal, or B) they never existed in the first place. Perhaps my 2013 writing goals were merely a product of my fertile imagination.

Eh. Let's look at what I did accomplish in 2013 as opposed to what I forgot to write down.

• In March, I published the first part of my Loki's Wolves series, THE CHILD THIEF.
  
  
  
  
  

• In May, I published the ebook edition of HUNGER MOON. A few
  
  
  
  months later, I came out with the paperback version via Createspace. (#2 in the Loki's Wolves series.)

• In summer, I signed a contract with The Wild Rose Press for a 80k erotic paranormal novel that is currently in revision. THE MATING GAME should release in the first half of 2014.

• If I haul some serious writing butt over the next couple days, then I can claim to have completed the first full draft for BATTLE CRY, which will be #3 in the Loki's Wolves series. If/when I do so, then I'm going to celebrate by dong a cover reveal.

• Worth mentioning: I did spend several months working on the manuscript for HELL ON HIGH HEELS, a contemporary romance novel, which has undergone various revisions and incarnations over the last couple years. Originally conceived as a sequel to LEARNING TO FLY, I find myself dissatisfied with how that choice restricts my options. In all likelihood, I'll return to HOHH in 2014 and the novel will once again undergo extensive revisions.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'll be updating more soon but I'm due to go shower so that I can fetch the Middle Child from his friend's house and then take Miss Bear to the park so she can ride her new Minnie Mouse bike.

Look! Look! Isn't it cute?

Miss Bear has wheels!

Finally, here's a chance to enter my Rafflecopter giveaway:

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