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2009 is almost over. Many people are thinking about goals for 2010. One person is my friend and fellow author Jennifer Walker. She has created LAFFN. What the heck is LAFFN? Click on her name and you can read her blog post about. (While you’re there check out her Bubba Goes National book available for pre-sale now. It is a perfect book for a little girl).
So LAFFN stands for Lets All Finally Finish a Novel. Unlike NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), the goal isn’t to write a novel in a month. This goal is to finish one you have been working on. Some people need that extra push to get finished with their projects. and I supposed it’s better than boring their blog readers with constant “I wrote another 1500 words” posts. ahem. Sorry dear readers.
So rather than write even more boring posts about how many pages I edited that day, I have decided to join up. My goal is to finish the second round of edits for my Novel. I wish I could say it will be done then- but it won’t.
I take in 2 chapters every 2 weeks to my writing critique group where it is pulled apart with a fine-toothed comb. I then take all their edits and suggestions, keep what I agree with and then rewrite those chapters. What’s left from all this editing is a much stronger manuscript. Once I get through with those edits I will send it to a Beta reader who hasn’t seen it before and any of my other Betas who want to re-read it. Then once it is perfect I will send out the query letter I have been working on for a few months to agents.
My goal for the year, land an agent and then sell the book. My goal for January’s LAFFN, to finish second round edits.
What are your goals?
P.S. I haven’t forgotten the drawing for the Elements of the Soul second giveaway- I am waiting to have the book in hand from the publisher first. Then I will send it out right away. I think Donna had hers in hand in a week, during Christmas time! Very impressed USPS.
sigh. I am going to blame this on vacation brain. I was checking over the list of comments against the picture I posted and I realized I left off 2 names. One I did on purpose thinking Jennifer was one of the authors in the book and poor EDNY I missed altogether. darn it.
I am really sorry about that! So, in all fairness, I am going to put all the names except Donna’s-back into a hat and pick another winner. Now this giveaway won’t be until I get more books back from the publisher- they are on order so I should be getting them soon.
I am really sorry about messing it up. I doubled checked it and everything. I am happy that I posted pics so I could find my error though.
Good news is this is a bonus round for a book for everyone!
I promised to post pics once I returned home from vacation. Here I am, safe and sound and here are the pictures…
Here is the list of names
A rather old-fashioned way of picking a winner. I know there are computer programs that do this sort of thing for you, but heck, it worked for me.
The lovely hat purchased at Disneyland. Not sure what it was supposed to be, but it kept the MIL's ears warm in the rain.
Ignore the mess. This was taken at the hotel on the counter. The hat is a rather ugly misshapen thing the MIL bought to keep the rain off her head and keep her ears warm. It worked.
I crumbled all the names into a ball and after shaking off one over eager entry that was clinging to the freshly drawn winner, I discovered who the winner of my first blog give away was…Donna Thacker. I shall be mailing her book out today. I hope she likes it.
I do have an order for bookmarks and some more books coming in a few weeks. Once those come in I plan on sending out some bookmarks to those who entered.
Have a great day everyone!
I had this whole picture montage I was going to post, maybe even do a Vlog but no, I forgot my cable to download pics onto the trusty old laptop and I am on vacation. So pics to come when I get back home.
I did the tried and true “put everyone’s name in a hat and pick one” method. Jim @ Groovy Mystery had 3 entries for leaving a comment and tweeting it twice. Thanks for spreading the love, Jim!
So, I am happy to announce the prize winner of my very first win a book blog contest is…
Donna Thacker!
Donna, if I have your email I will send you a message shortly.
Thank you all for entering. I believe bookmarks are on order. Once I have those I will be sending them out as a thank you as well. Stay tuned for more details.
Enjoy your book, Donna and please stop by and tell me what you think of my story Fly.
Today is the last day to enter to win a copy of Elements of the Soul. This is my first story in print and I am very excited. Did I mention it will be autographed?
Enter here by leaving a comment. Bonus entries if you tweet or post on your blog. Please leave a link if you do.
Good luck!
I know what you are thinking, Thanksgiving is over so why bring up turkey now? Well, because I had a thought while I was making my little turkey about how editing is very similar to my turkeys. You see, I make very ugly turkeys but they taste really good. I have learned to doctor up the look of my turkeys to make them a little browner and more pleasing to the eye.
See exhibit A. This turkey is done as you can tell by the two red pop up thingies the turkey people felt I needed and my thermometer. But it is awfully white looking…
Now I could serve it just like this if I wanted. It would taste fine even if it looks kinda blechy. Or I can take the time to brush on some melted butter mixed with some soy sauce, honey and hoisin sauce, turn up the oven a wee bit to let it bake and have a much prettier turkey. See exhibit B…
While I know it isn’t a Martha Stewart looking turkey, the bottom one is much prettier. *please note the dark squares you see are green onions or ginger* You might be thinking I only wanted to post pics of my turkey but you are wrong. I have a point.
Editing is like my turkeys because the first draft of my book, while palatable, isn’t pretty. But if I edit it and take some extra time before sending it to an agent, the novel will be polished and look much better.
While I don’t like the editing process, I am holding the visual of my two turkey pics in my head to remind me how much it is needed. So, don’t be a turkey, take as much time as you need to edit your book. Happy Editing.
about 60,000 or so.
At least if the old publishing stand by of 250 words per page is correct. Wondering what I am babbling on about? Check out the pic of me holding my very own copy of Elements of the Soul. As you can see I am delighted to hold the book with my short story in it in my hot little hand. If you look very closely you will see my name on the cover.
What, can’t see it? You may just have to look at the actual book to notice it. To that end- I am giving away an autographed copy to a lucky reader. To enter, comment on this post. Be sure to leave an email address if I can’t find you by clicking on your name- or if you are loathe to leave it. I will announce it on the blog on December 8th and will ask the winner to email me.
Bonus entries if you blog, twitter or link on facebook about the contest. Please include links with your comment. If you absolutely can’t wait to have one, you can purchase one now on Amazon or email me and I will sell you an autographed copy for $11 plus shipping.
Sorry. This is why I didn’t do NaNoWriMo this year. I chug along pretty good but if I hit a bump- like getting sick and not posting for a few days- I tend to wander off and do other things rather than getting back on the horse.
While I don’t plan on the everyday post thing anymore, I do want to post frequently.
I am in productive state of mind. I haven’t been writing any articles in a while. Instead I focused on the book. Once the book was written, I am not sure what I did. 
I plan on writing articles every day again. Need money for Christmas and to pay the bills. But I still want to stay on target for the novel. I need to keep editing so I can submit to an agent.
Discipline is what I need. I wonder if I can rent a severe looking nun to crack a ruler over my knuckles when I goof off like I am in Catholic school? I wouldn’t wear the plaid skirt though. My uniform tends to be grubby shorts during the day. The scary thing is I probably could hire someone to do that and there is probably some clubs devoted to ruler wielding severe nuns. So not googling it!
Happy Monday everyone! I hope you have a happy and productive day.
I have read some very good books lately. Since I have been sick I have been sleeping a lot and reading a lot. The husband picked out some very good books for me from the library.
One series is The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. How did I miss these little gems? I finished reading City of Bones and devoured City of Ash. Now I need to get City of Glass and the next is due out in March. I love books like this. It is YA urban fantasy at it’s best. It’s clever, with some romance and kick butt fantasy elements. These are the books I want to write.
This is what I hope someday someone will feel like when they read my book.
What good books have you read lately?
