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Post by charlie on Mar 4, 2013 13:23:47 GMT -5
I am dedicating March as my personal writing revival month. Ideas swirling around in my head are going down on paper - or typed onto my computer screen. This is the month for a renewal of commitment. Back to getting things done. Readjusting my focus. Not spending hours on the internet. Not being just plain lazy. I've fired up the creative juices and now it is time to get started. ... I hope.
And this is the month to get in touch. I hope we all have some time this month to stop by-if only to say hello and let each other know how we're doing.
I'm doing fine. Still the finance clerk in my ward. I bear witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior, our Redeemer. And I hope everyone is having a great day.
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Post by paulwest on Mar 5, 2013 10:28:24 GMT -5
Hi Charlie. Good to see you're back here and that you're getting back to writing.
I'm still working on my three novels. I just discovered that when I translated my Bridge to Destiny novel from WordPerfect to MS Word, many of the special characters, such as quotation marks, hyphens, and a few others didn't translate. They show up in MS Word as they should, but when I cut and paste to an internet site they get all scrambled. So, I'm in a long-term edit to weed these characters out and replace them with acceptable characters.
And, I have to do that with the two other novels as well.
UGH!
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Post by charlie on Mar 12, 2013 15:56:46 GMT -5
I have actually been writing. I wrote approx 5000 to 6000 words over the last week or so. I'm not quite done with my initial draft of Destination Zion (Samuel W. Brown's story), but I'm close. I am thinking two maybe three more chapters will wrap it up. Then I will look at way to improve it through editing. Remember this is a story of my ancestor's life and I want it to be authentic. Many of the things that happened are worth telling. This one I'll probably self-publish for sure if no one shows interest.
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Post by paulwest on Mar 12, 2013 18:22:08 GMT -5
Sounds great Gary. I love church history, which this kind of is. Even if it's not, I love historical fiction/memoirs as well. Glad to hear it's coming along. Good luck with it.
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Post by charlie on Mar 12, 2013 20:47:37 GMT -5
Thanks Paul. Like I said it is a personal story. Sam Brown was an early LDS pioneer so church history is a major part of the story.
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Post by paulwest on Mar 13, 2013 13:45:34 GMT -5
So... Where is everyone?
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Post by charlie on Mar 18, 2013 11:47:32 GMT -5
I've been working, Paul. But I'm off today. Wrote another 700 or so words this morning. I'm happy to say Destination Zion is nearly complete. This has been a labor of love that may not sell many copies, but personally is important to me. I feel I'm honoring a man who I've never met, but with whom I have an intimate personal relationship. Not just because he's my GG grandfather, but also we share the same believes and I hope my commitment to the church and the gospel are as strong as his seemed to be.
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Post by paulwest on Mar 19, 2013 17:50:01 GMT -5
I'm anxious to read your Destiny Zion. It sounds fascinating.
I've been busy too, but not much actual writing. Writing related, yes. I've been critiquing the chapters posted by my critique group. Now I'm finally finished and can get back to editing my Bridge to Destiny. When I translated it from WordPerfect to MS Word, a lot of the special characters did not copy over completely. My quotation marks especially.
I've also been busy trying to get new members for our critique group. We lost 3 members over the past month and to keep it going I've had to advertize for new members on several sites. I've found 3 new members, so I think our group is OK for now. I just hope the new members work out.
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Post by charlie on Mar 25, 2013 22:55:39 GMT -5
I believe I'm starting what should be the final chapter of Destination Zion. Looks like it will come in close to 55,000 words.
Just Paul and I visiting for now. Hope everyone else is doing well.
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Post by paulwest on Mar 26, 2013 16:46:45 GMT -5
Yeah. Where is everyone?
I've decided to come up with a different query direction. In my previous query I was emphasizing the rivalry between Mark, the MC, and Jeff the antagonist. I didn't get very much response to that one, so I'm going to try another idea, emphasizing Mark's dilemma when he falls for two beautiful girls, one a prima-donna and the other a sweet girl who comes with strings attached - deadly strings.
We'll see if that works any better.
What do you think?
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Post by charlie on Apr 1, 2013 16:31:51 GMT -5
Well, this is the first of April. I am happy to say I've finished the first draft of Destination Zion, the story of Samuel Brown's life. I now need to go back to correct all my mistakes. I suspect there are a few.
Paul, your idea to highlight your characters love triangle should garner interest. I think with agents it will depend upon your presentation. What I hear is you've got to gain their attention in the first paragraph. It is key for them to want to read further. At least that is what I'm told.
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Post by paulwest on Apr 3, 2013 18:07:48 GMT -5
Maybe we need a new string?
To respond, I think you're right that I have to do something to garner the agents attention. I'm working on a new approach. We'll see if it works.
Good luck proofing your book. I know from experience that you'll never find all the glitches. It may help to join a good critique group or hire a book editor.
I wish you the best,
Paul
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