Tag Archives: drafting

Back to Writing

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I don’t want to jinx it, but it’s been almost a week since I had any severe morning sickness. YAY! I’m still really tired and take naps any chance I get, but at least I don’t feel sick all the time.

I’m getting back into writing. I still write a lot in my journal about my pregnancy, and I’m looking into a couple contests that are coming up. I’m going to ATTEMP Camp Nanowrimo again, so fingers crossed on that. There’s a challenge community at Livejournal that has some prompts that I’m hoping will jumpstart some original fires.

I’m hoping to post some snippets here.

Also, my short story “Mod Fury” about the Greek Furies in modern times seems to be growing into a series. I might release the #0 prequel origin story mid-April. That’s my goal anyway.

“Killer Orange” is still in edit-mode, when I want to look at it! Ha.

I’m trying to just roll with things. We’re still extremely busy with the house and making it ours. I hope everyone is have a good Spring so far. I can’t wait until it gets warm and STAYS warm in the Chicagoland area!

Cheers!

H.K. Rowe

NaNoWriMo – Character Change

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So I’ve been struggling for the past two weeks to connect with my female protagonist in my head and emotionally. I’ve struggled defining her and giving her depth, like a real relate-able person, but trying to come up with scenes and actually formulate her as a person.

I can’t even picture her. I mean I CAN, just that she can’t come off as real to me.

So before bed, my mind was racing as the night was winding down, and I was panicking a little bit that I couldn’t grasp an overall feel to my story idea.

I began thinking that red-headed antisocial and kind Dori was just too boring. She was not interesting enough to be my protagonist. I couldn’t even picture her to DRAW her, and that’s when I really knew I was in trouble.

Ultimately… I changed her. Dori is now no longer a white redhead with long hair. She’s now a Mexican-American with short shoulder length, soft brown hair and deep dark brown yes. She smiles and engages openly with people with sarcastic quips, but she’s still guarded. She doesn’t commit to relationships, but she’s open about her sexuality- an independent and free-thinking woman. She has friends, but she doesn’t consider them close, just fun acquaintances. She’s even coming out more fleshed out in my head, and I can’t wait to draw her!

So… I think I have my character. I’m going to take a few character tests I’ve seen floating around online and flesh her out. But it’s amazing how she became more fleshed out in one night of pondering rather than two weeks of pulling my hair out, trying to make Dori Version 1.0 fit!

Cheers.

H.K. Rowe

NaNoWriMo – Beginnings

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I’m almost ready to go to work, but I thought I’d share this quickly. A NaNoWriMo link passed on my Facebook feed today, so I logged into my account and started filling out the details for the November 2014.

I’ve already written character bios for my two main characters, and now I have a title. So here it is.

Autumn Fire

Dori and Sam have always had a strange bond; they’ve both lost someone special in a car accident: Dori’s older brother Jon and Sam’s best friend. After Sam loses his job, he becomes homeless, prompting Dori to take him into her home. Dori is ready to help Sam heal from his demons, but is she ready to fall in love with an older man?

It’s probably going to be Jodi Piccoult type angst. No magic, no vampires, just a slow and cautious relationship.

It’s in the beginning stages, so there’s still time to figure out what “thing” might challenge the protagonists beyond, you know, the obvious as the age difference.

And I think I’ll start sketching out the characters. That might be one of the next things I post about the story.

Cheers.

HK Rowe

A Learning Experience

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I’m getting more of my drafts back from my beta readers, and I feel like I still have a lot to learn about self-publishing, about deadlines and about editing and how much this process takes.

Editing is CRUCIAL, but what I’ve found that is also crucial is not to subscribe to tight deadlines UNTIL someone has read your draft. Someone other than your mother or your best friend, but someone else that you can trust tell you exactly how they feel about the story because they are experienced writers and readers.

I got a line edit back for Killer Orange and it looks like it’ll need more polish and TLC before my original release date. Am I sad? Not really. I’m cautious and thankful, and I feel a little foolish.

Am I going to make my self-imposed release on August 31st? Probably not – not with the scorch and burn editing I want to do, the submission back to a few beta readers AGAIN, and then the final polish. It’s going to take more loving care, as mentioned.

To make up for it, I’m going to do something for Unbridled. I think I’m going to do a promo during that first week of September at a lower price.

I thought it would be smooth sailing with this book, and I envy authors that can pump out three to four books a year. It boggles my mind. Of course they are probably full time writers, or at least have part time jobs. I can’t wrap my brain around it; I can only work on what works best for ME as an author.

I’ve learned a lot this past summer. I read at another blog that your first couple of books are going to suck. That your fifth book’s draft is going to suck, but it’s a journey and maybe someday I’ll learn and get to a point where I’ve hit my stride. Success for things like this do not happen over night (for those who do have such success, please tell me your secrets!). The original writing business is so SO much different than writing a mere drabble or one-shot of fanfiction for your favorite manga or TV series. There IS blood, sweat, tears, and feelings of complete self-loathing to this process.

The good thing is… I abhor self-loathing and I never dwell in such dark places within myself for too long. I’m ready pour myself a glass of wine, fire up the computer, hook up my dual monitor screens, and start slashing this baby.

But before I do that I have to finish my day job, go to my part job tonight, and attend a funeral tomorrow.

I’ll keep you posted on those upcoming promotions!

Cheers,

HK Rowe

Author Hibernation

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Hello, real world! I hardly see you anymore…

My first beta draft came in last night and I’ve heard mutterings of more coming in at the end of this week. I’m excited to finally slash through this story and then work with the final edits. I’m going to make this release deadline for Killer Orange even if I lose sleep over it. Though lately it hasn’t been necessary. I just need to be dilegent in my free time to work on my book and only my book. Sorry but TV time and housework has to suffer!

I have also been struggling to sketch out what I want to do for the cover but this morning I had a moment of clarity and I jumped on iStock and found THE PERFECT stock photo to use. I will be doing some illustration on the background and style but it’s nice to have an image to work with that I don’t have to outright draw. My background maybe illustration but sometimes it’s hard to get back in the saddle when I haven’t been doing it for awhile. I’ve been doing a lot more UX design than actual traditional design and art, and therefore I’d be wary of drawing anything that I’d want to sell. And there really isn’t time to brush up on my drawing…

And I also kept feeling it wasn’t something that was appropriate for book covers. I’ll keep my illustration skills for commissions on Livejournal for now. 🙂

Anyway, I’m excited to sit down and use that perfect image. Fingers crossed my day job won’t be too draining and I will have motivation to do so.

I have my schedule cleared for outright author hibernation! I will have to decline a few social invitiations this months, and I will have to be adamant when people judge me for being an antisocial hermit, but hey, it’s book release time!

Do or die!

Cheers,

HK Rowe

Beta Time!

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My romantic comedy Killer Orange is off to my beta readers and I’m wondering just where the night went. I didn’t think reworking one scene would take me so long, but with another half hour or so of polish, I sent it off to my beta readers. I know my deadline is in a rush, so I hope it works for them.

I’m beat. I also brought work home and did a little of that, and I’m pretty much running on fumes. Writing is hard work. I feel like I have two full time jobs and one part time job, and the part time job is the most relaxing, which isn’t writing!

This novel has sucked up my summer and I know it’ll continue doing so. I have to catch up with other “life” things but soon I’ll be working on the cover for this book. That takes time too, especially on how particular I am.

Well, this day is done. I’m going to read until my eye balls hurt and then get some much needed sleep.

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Cheers,

H.K. Rowe

A last minute diddy

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So my submission for a short story anthology called Athena’s Daughters II is off! I’m happy to be able to put something together for it.

Whee! Fingers crossed!

Storms are coming through the Chicagoland area, and as scary as they seem, I rather like them. It’s been a rough Monday for me so I feel relaxed at chilling in bed with my Macbook on my lap while I write and catch up with my blogs.

We got the dogs back this morning too from the kennel. We were gone for vacation this last weekend and they haven’t been home. I missed them, and they were obviously mad because they’ve been vocal terrors all night. Whiskey decided to steal a pork sandwich right off my husband’s plate. But…that’s a beagle for you!

Looking forward to the 4th of July weekend. I hope for lots of writing! I was thinking of Camp Nanowrimo, but I’m too busy with other things. I have to start drafting Killer Orange this month, plus finish my short story Blazing Heat! I also have stories to read and submit feedback for other writers.

Good thing I’m so busy. It’s a broke month! LOL.

Cheers,

H.K. Rowe

 

Update, Dedication Pages and Thanks

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First off, thank you to everyone who has followed this blog and liked my posts! I really appreciate it, and I look forward to blog-stalking everyone who followed me. 🙂

I will be officially releasing the cover of my “Unbridled” novel this Friday. I’m super excited to show you all and pretty much show the world when it’s done!

And just one last thing… I was thinking the other day that I really wanted to have a dedication page in my novel, but have not seen a lot of them in Indie books. What do you guys think? If you’ve published indie books before, have you had a dedication page or other beginning pages? I’d love to just hear other people’s experiences!

I’d love to dedicate this book to my late father. He was a huge supporter of my creativity, whether it was art or writing. Our family lost him last October to pancreatic cancer, and I believe that even though he’s gone, he still supports me from the beyond. I don’t think I would have gotten this far without his wisdom and guidance.

A dedication in my first book seems small in comparison to the gratitude I feel for him, but it’s something, right?

Also, I hope you like my new header image on top of the blog! 🙂

Let the final revision begin!

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SO EXCITED!

I received my feedback from my editor this morning, and starting tonight, I am good to go to start the final revision for my novel “Unbridled”! Whooohoo!

I’m getting closer to that release date. Here’s to tight deadlines and extreme editing! It’s going to be a crazy, dedicated week!

I’m a little scared and I’m a little excited, but I’m ready for this. I’m hoping for positive results!

Behind Unbridled – Character Sketches

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With the upcoming release of my novel “Unbridled”, I wanted to share some of the processes I went through to breathe life into my story. One of my favorite things to do, and most essential, is to sketch the characters that come alive in my mind. I did a variety of character sketches, doodles, and even a colored work of my characters and the personalities I wanted to convey.

By sketching them out, I find I can come closer to their nature, learn about them, and solidify their true personality by putting pencil to paper without words.

Here are a variety of artworks created for “Unbridled” which helped satisfy my muse as well as shape these characters.

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I seem to be lacking in Brian sketches. I felt that after sketching him once within the group picture, I was satisfied with his personality. My favorite of the mix is Staisha, with her calculated resolve as her hair draws back a little to reveal the scar on her neck.

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I had fun making a color “manga cover” out of this at one point. Another one of my obsessions come to life.

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At one point “Unbridled” had its own website with the first “un-drafted” eight chapters up for consumption. This was the header. Website building is another passion of mine that was partnered with this story. It was known as “Unbridled Aria” then and Howin was actually Hay Lin, named after one of the characters in the Disney W.I.T.C.H. show. Through the drafting process though,the title and that character name changed.

I hope you enjoyed some little treats from the process of making this story. More to come soon, such as a cover reveal! Thanks for stopping by!

 

– H.K. Rowe