Sadie Jay

     I survived November, but I didn't make the NaNo goal of 50K. I didn't even make my personal goal of 40K. My actual November word total was 30256. Not great, but I'm not unhappy with it. If I wasn't working full time, I would be disappointed, but considering I usually only get between one and two hours a day to write, I'm okay with it. Somehow, I thought revising Headphones would be mainly changing the tense, without making many changes to the original writing. Wrong! I'm changing the order of the daily snapshots and adding/subtracting more than I thought I would. That's not a bad thing. Headphones was the first thing I'd written since college--at least, anything of any length. There has been quite a lot that needed tightened and trimmed.      So what did I accomplish in November? Well, I got through the first half of the first novel. My goal now is to finish the second half by the end of December. From the beginning, I've wanted each book in t...

Chapter 9-- Things are rarely what they appear to be, and there is something about February; gloomy, overcast days that get longer but at such a snail's pace as to be barely noticeable.  Nerves fray and misunderstanding become commonplace. That’s true even among the intermingled group from The House and Blue Mick. If any of them were mind readers, it might have been more clear. But instead, everyone kept their thoughts zipped inside, tight and hidden. But there was one for whom the inner turmoil was deafening. It pummelled Elinor as she sat quietly with Lenny, holding tightly onto his hand. The bar was full and the college kids were rowdy, bored with the weather and with their studies. Jay scurried as he mixed drinks, doing his best to keep up. He smiled with relief when Scoey first slid behind the bar to help. But his eyebrows drew together and his lips tightened as the hours passed. He was confused, that much was clear, but it wasn’t until Scoey casually ran his hand down Ja...

       Ever since I finished Headphones at the end of 2015 I've thought I would like to revise it into book form--most probably as a 3 book series. At its core, Headphones is a study in relationships, with five very different couples working their way to a happy ending. I have debated endlessly with myself whether I should leave it as is, with the stories intertwined, or if I should attempt to deconstruct it and focus each book on a different couple. If a publishing house was the only way for it to ever see the light of day, I would consider it a must. But I have the option of self-publishing, so there is some leeway available.      As much as I tried to break the story apart, I couldn't do it and keep the plotted story-line. Quite honestly, the reader needs to know something about Honey and Mark, Bets and Richard, and Elinor and Lenny, to understand why Headphones does what she does, and even why Scoey does what he does. I just don't fe...

     I wasn't sure, even on the morning of November 1 if I was going to do the challenge this year. But I told myself "just start and see where it goes." I'm having a difficult time sticking with it, but even on my worst day, I did 700+ words, so even if I don't make the 50K goal, I'll have a good chunk of the book written by the end of the month. If I'm happy with the first one, hopefully, the other two will fall into place. I ended at 8110 last night, which means I'm a little short of my goal of 8333. I probably would have made it except I had a horrid headache that cut into everything I had planned for the day.      I'm happy with it, though. I have found, oddly, that I've put more of Mark in the first chapter than I did in the original. When I first started writing Headphones in high school, he was meant to be the main character partnered with Jessie, but I somehow lost that when I was writing the serial. Not sure what'll happen this...

I was completely unmotivated last week. Yes, I continued working on my edits; no, I didn't get very far. I find them almost impossible to stick with. I need to find a different system. Maybe write for 3/4 of my allotted time, edits for the other fourth. We'll see.   So what I did was read. Naturally. I read Santino Hassell's Third Rail that is a leadup to Citywide , his collection of Five Boroughs shorts coming out November 13. If I've never mentioned that I love the 5B books, I'm mentioning it now. Never read them? Do it! I also read Sleigh Ride by Heidi Cullinan. She offered it free a few days ago, and I tend to grab free offerings. It's the second in the Minnesota Christmas series and now I really want to read the other three!  And, I read Briefs by Anyta Sunday. It's a collection of happy-ending shorts. I read the first two, and maybe it was just my mood, but I found them a bit lack-luster. But I continued reading and really enjoyed ...

Not much to report this week. Still editing. Having a very hard time staying focused, but I think I'm getting close to being done with Blind Ante . I've done some editing on Embers and Flame , also. I went ahead and got into that bit that was messed up in the middle. It wasn't as bad as I thought. A few paragraph revisions and I think it's back on track. Fingers crossed, I'll have them both ready for beta readers by the end of the month. Then the challenge will simply be finding them! Excerpt from Blind Ante , Chapter 8-- Jordan woke with his nose buried in a sandalwood scented pillow and he moaned in pleasure as he inhaled deeply. It was such a comfortable smell and he rubbed his face into the cotton. His alarm clock was beeping, but it was far away and he considered closing his eyes and ignoring it. He drifted in the scent and the warmth of the body by his side with an arm thrown over his back as he came more fully awake. It was too dark to see who was next...

I didn't update last week simply because I've been editing and really, there isn't much to update when editing. The plan this week is to finish the edit on Blind Ante and then find some willing Beta readers. I really had hoped to be done by Wednesday, but considering I'm only to page 13, this might be moving slower than I'd hoped. Major sigh. But it is moving, so I do have that thought to comfort me, I suppose! The plan (at this point) is to finish this, then hit Embers and Flame really hard. There's a bit in the middle that's messed up and I'll probably have to completely rewrite it. Another major sigh. I spent this morning organizing  Headphones  (pictured above). The outline is by month, so that's how I'm going to work the revision. It's going to be my NaNo challenge next month, so whatever doesn't get finished this month will get set aside for 30 days. I'm staying zen about it, though. I'm having one of my more positive...