Welcome
to Update Thursday, my own personal meme of sorts where I post an
update of the goings on at my blog, with reading, with writing, and
beyond. Feel free to borrow the idea from me for your own bookish
musings.
~*~
On the Blog this week:
- The indie author panel tackles Book Blog Tours in the tenth installment of my blog post series, The Journey of Self Publishing.
- Want to ask our Indie Author Panel a question about self publishing? Please ask away and they will answer!
- I review Don't Breathe A Word by Holly Cupala. AND...
- I interview Holly Cupala about her book. AND...
- You can enter a giveaway to win a copy of Don't Breathe A Word (US only).
- See the awesome books I received in my July Edition of Stacking The Shelves.
- My review of Diana Peterfreund's gorgeous novel For Darkness Shows The Stars.
~*~
Reading...
Books I finished this week:
Books I'm reading now (and some still):
~Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty~
~Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers~
~Brightest Kind Of Darkness by P.T. Michelle~
626 of 1026 E.E. Cummings poems finished (35 this week)
~Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers~
~Brightest Kind Of Darkness by P.T. Michelle~
626 of 1026 E.E. Cummings poems finished (35 this week)
~*~
Writing...
~ If Only We ~ 30,010 ~
~ Before We Knew ~ 11, 449 ~
~ Whatever This Is ~ outlining ~
~ Under Enchanted Skies ~ 1,550/plotting ~
~ Beyond The Horizon ~ plotting ~
~ So I Thought ~ plotting ~
~ Hold Your Breath ~ plotting ~
~ Under Enchanted Skies ~ 1,550/plotting ~
~ Beyond The Horizon ~ plotting ~
~ So I Thought ~ plotting ~
~ Hold Your Breath ~ plotting ~
I started writing in order rather than scatter scenes all over the place. Some of the scene ideas I had my heart set on are not going to work as well as I wanted them to. While it is hard and I haven't gotten far, I was able to develop the plot a whole lot better. Once I leap over this hurdle (of boring connecting scenes) I'll be able to get to some important scenes. Those will come out a lot easier. When I break my current word count above while writing in order, I'll update it. Until then, I'm not changing it. A lot of what I already have written is valid and being adjusted to fit into the now plotted out much better version.
With all the time I've spent writing and rewriting, I won't be in the mood to go through it for revisions right away. I will probably do a spelling and grammar check to clean it up a little bit... but I think I want to have a couple people read it for me to critique it. I need to know if I'm heading in a wrong direction or need to develop things differently. Then I'll revise. Then get beta readers.
~*~
Otherwise...
This is semi-writing but not really writing related. I have this, well, problem with putting the cart before the horse when it comes to my writing. I have spent literally hours on stock photo sites (mostly Dreamstime) searching for a picture that captures the essence of If Only We. I could NEVER find anything. Anyhow. I was trying to see what other avenues there were because I don't want to settle on a cover. I came across a cover art designer who used pictures from Deviant Art to create book covers. She would ask the artist for permission to use the picture and then adjust it in different ways and add in text. I thought to myself, "That's a perfect idea!" I had a Deviant Art account set up years ago (which I didn't do much on since I couldn't afford to upgrade my account for more access until now). I logged in and started browsing. OMG. There were SOOO many great photos.
It also got me to thinking about how I want to do more photography. I have some art prints up for sale in my Etsy shop (plus 6 more I need to list this weekend). It's hard to get attention for them, since my shop is currently FULL of craft supplies for sale. I dabble in so many artsy crafty things, I never seem to focus on one thing. Anyways. MY POINT (lol). The sellers on Etsy that get the attention for art prints are the ones who have MANY pictures available. I want to have many prints available. But it will take two things... 1). taking more pictures worthy of printing/framing, and 2). saving up enough to invest in more prints.
I really should dedicate a post about my artsy endeavors. Not to get attention for my Etsy shop (because too much self-promotion is lame, lol), but just so you guys can see all the things I dabble in. The 'Jessica' outside the writing, blogging, and reading world. ^_^
Until next time!
~Jessica
I'd LOVE to learn more about your artsy endeavors! You may not want to self-promote, but I'll happily promote for you. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you've made some headway with finding cover art. I searched for hours too. I had something very specific in mind for BSD but couldn't find it. I wanted to take the picture myself but had no 'models'. When I found the image I actually used I was happy with it and thought it would work even though it was VERY different from what I'd originally envisioned. Now I'm having trouble with the cover for book #2 although I found the image for book #3 before I even started writing it lol...go figure!
Aw! You're a doll Marie!
DeleteI'm glad too, it was taking so long! Lol. Same here--I wanted to take pictures too, but didn't have models. I've gotten to the point of not looking for specific scenes, more of a feeling attached to the picture. Like "hope" or "discovery". It's harder to find those on stock photo sites.
I can't wait to see what your new covers look like! ^_^
Haha, Deviant Art is awesome. It's especially useful to me as a graphic art student. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is awesome! I'd almost forgotten how cool it was. :)
DeleteI look forward to your review of The Princess Bride. I read it ages ago but really enjoyed it. I always write in order...maybe I should try writing out of order like you. ;)
ReplyDeleteI actually just finished writing the review today. It will be up within a couple weeks, probably sooner on Goodreads. As long as it gets the writing done, I'll do whatever works. :P
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