Sunday, April 20, 2014

First line/last line

Well it's been a long month of writing. Life was so busy that I'm a little surprised I was able to write the ending lines of The Witch's Web today. It currently sits as 61K words, which puts it in the 60K-70K that I was aiming for. After I get done editing things, I foresee it being at least 64K. I've made lots of notes where I plan on expanding on what I've written. As things develop as I write, that always tends to happen.

I don't know the twists before they jump out on the page, and there are some twists I love and have to go back through and add hints that they are happening so they don't come out of nowhere. Sometimes it's fun if they do, but I like to have moments of revelation where a reader can piece together things and say that something actually made sense.

The two things I know are set in stone are the first and last lines. The first line is - "Shh. I promise life with me won't be that bad." A bunch of stuff happens in the middle, and then someone says - "How do you expect it to end, Jason? I see it turning out like all my favorite stories do, happily ever after." - and the story's over. I will say that it isn't the same person talking in both instances, and that sharing the last one might actually spoil something now that I think about it, but I haven't written a really depressing book yet, so we can assume the male lead isn't going to die.

And now that I say that, I feel the need to go kill him. See this is what happens when I start thinking about things. I'm going to go pretend we never had this conversation.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Good-bye to an old friend

So, I felt it coming last night and sure enough this morning my netbook, which has been with me at least five years, finally died. I've written part of every book I've wrote on my little buddy and am sad to see it go. Thankfully, I realized it was short-lived and transferred my files to my network. I had been working on The Witch's Web solely on the netbook, so I didn't have a copy anywhere else until the file transfer - yes, it would appear I like to live life dangerously.

As far as The Witch's Web goes, I'm down to the last two chapters and am hoping to wrap it up this weekend. It will be exciting to read through it next week and see how things all come together. I'm still going back and forth whether I submit it to a publisher. I've written it to the length required for the one I'm thinking about, which makes it shorter than my last seven books. I think the story is still interesting, though.

One thing I'm really happy about is I was able to work the title I came up with even better into the plot than I originally thought possible. We'll have to see exactly how the web ends up working out for everyone involved. I'm going to be looking for beta readers, so if your interested in reading my latest tale, email me at amberlynnbooks@gmail.com. After I finish the initial edit, which will most likely be done by Tuesday, I'll be ready to share it with anyone that wants to be a beta.

Well, I'm still getting used to this new laptop that has replaced my beloved Nettie, so I better get back to it. Windows 8 has taken some getting used to, but I think I've finally got things figured out.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The web is weaving itself nicely

So as a heads up I'm constructing this post via my phone which means you should be prepared for auto correct and maybe a few less punctuations. I've been meaning to post for the last four days and have failed miserably and now I'm resorting to trying to get something together during a break in work.

The Witch's Web is going along pretty smoothly. I'm to the halfway point, even though I've had issues being able to sit down and write. The breakthroughs in the plot have all come while I've been working out on the exercise bike over this last weekend which tells me exercise really does get the mind moving.

It's to the point where I know what's going to happen and I really want to get to the end so I can work out the big drama. Since I'm not exactly sure what the lead up will be, I've held off on writing the last chapter, but it's hard not to write something and cross my fingers that it will all make sense in the end. We'll have to see how long that lasts and for now I'll get back to work before I throw my phone at the wall. This was not the brightest plan I had since it doesn't want to let me move around and change things. Ugh.