Celebrate the Small Things-August 12, 2016

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain! Tonja Drecker and are her co-hosts.

I've spent a fair bit of time watching the Rio Olympics this week.  While I typically don't watch sports often, there's something exciting about the Olympics.  I've mostly watched the women's gymnastics and both men's and women's swimming events.  All I can say is that these athletes can do some amazing things.  It's amazing to watch them.

I finished a first round of edits for Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People.  Now I'm going to set it aside for a week or two to work on other projects.  Then I'll do another edit and work on getting it ready for release.

Both of my boys spent a lot of time riding their bikes this week.  Now they can both ride without training wheels, though there have been a few bumps and scrapes as a result. It's all part of being a kid, though, and they've had a great time!

What would you like to celebrate?

Nick Wilford, Freelance Editor

It's always exciting when a blogging buddy tackles a new project, and it's nice when you can help them out in some small way.  That's why today, I'm helping the awesome Nick Wilford with the launch of his newest endeavor.  He'll be hijacking the rest of this post, which is just fine by me!

Take it away, Nick!

With the unstoppable rise of self-publishing, it’s easier than ever to put your words and stories out there in the world. This is a great thing, and I’m all for it. However, it’s not just about the story - although of course, that is the most important part - but the way it’s presented. After spending months or years on a novel, building an incredible world and honing your characters and storylines to perfection, the last thing you want is to be let down by a lack of editing. It’s just as important as an arresting cover image.

Nick Wilford, Freelance Editor is a one-stop shop for affordable editing, proofreading and formatting services. With professional training and ten years of experience as a journalist and editor, the time has come to transfer these skills in order to help out the fellow authors I have come to love.

But it doesn’t stop there. I’m ready to edit anything; from a crucial term paper, to memoirs and other non-fiction books, short stories, articles or job application letters. Let me put that finishing touch on your masterpiece.

Feel free to take a look at my website for further details of my services and prices.

Bio

Nick Wilford is a writer, freelance editor and stay-at-home dad. Fascinated by words from a young age, he trained as a journalist before embracing the calling of fiction. When not writing he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. He has four short stories published in Writer’s Muse magazine. Nick is also co-running a campaign to get a dedicated specialist college built in Scotland.

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The Power of Distraction

Here we are at the start of a brand new week.  And within the bookends of this newest week lies the possibility to achieve great things.  At least, this is what I need to tell myself.  This is the kind of thinking that will power me through my edits as I spiral dangerously close to the clutches of tedium.

My main issue for the last week has been maintaining the level of concentration I need.  The lure of future projects tries to pull me off course, tempting me with the new while I try to improve the old.  

Pleiades:  You're not disciplined enough.

Me:  Normally I'd argue with you, but sometimes I think you're right.

Pleiades:  Wait . . . what did you say?  Did you just agree with me?

Me:  After a fashion.

Pleiades:  Maybe I should start recording our conversations.  An admission like that doesn't come around too often.

My muse is far too confrontational sometimes.  I'm also starting to think I might secretly be harboring a muse of distraction somewhere deep inside my brain. Maybe I should set Pleiades loose on that one so I can get some peace and quiet for a little while.

In analyzing my progress thus far, I can confidently say this much.  Out of the 7 stories I plan to use in this compilation, only 3 of them still need major work. The rest just need a few minor adjustments.  Looking at it that way, life seems more manageable.  I can, and I will, do this.

Finishing this project, after all, is the only way I'll get to move on to the other projects that are trying to lure me away.

Musing About My Long Term Plans

My muse is probably going to be twiddling her thumbs in boredom this week as I embark on the revision process for some of my stories.  I still have a couple more stories for Prices Paid that are in the writing stage, but everything else is ready for revision.  Don't ask me why, but I'm itching to get started on the revisions for a couple of them.  It's probably best to go where the inspiration is. If I hit a dead end on the revisions, then I can return to writing drafts for the stories that still don't have a completed 1st draft.

Pleiades:  Who wants to do revisions?  You're crazy!  New ideas are the only exciting ones.  Revisions are something you have to do, not something you should want to do.

Me:  Normally the process of revising a story isn't something that I look forward to, but I have some ideas that have gotten me excited about it.  Just because I'm editing and expanding something that's already been written doesn't mean it can't involve fresh new ideas.  If all I was doing was correcting punctuation and grammar, I don't think I would be nearly as anxious to start.

Pleiades:  I just want something really new!  There are so many stories to write! I get impatient waiting around for you to rewrite a story for what seems like the 80th time!

Me:  You're exaggerating.

Pleiades:  I said it seems like that, not that you actually rewrite things that many times.  Geez, it seems like you never listen to me!

Me:  Hmmm.  (Words laced with sarcasm.)  I wonder why that is.

Anyway, Pleiades does have a point.  It seems like I have too many ideas in my head at any given time.  It can make it difficult to focus on my current projects, but I sat down and wrote out a timeline for what I want to write and when.  I also wrote out a road map of my current WIP and came up with a reasonable timeline.  I should be able to complete and finish most of the edits for Prices Paid in about six weeks.  Then I'll work on everything else I need to do to self-publish this book.  Given everything I have done and have yet to do, I feel confident I should be able to self-publish it sometime in November.  I'll let you all know when I have a specific date picked out.

The rest of my writing plan, which includes finishing and editing another book I have in progress and revising three others I have already written, covers the next 5 years.  I've heard goal oriented people say you need to have a 5 year plan.  Well, I have one.  I can't promise that I'll adhere to it to the letter, but writing it out on paper has given me direction and a renewed sense of optimism. Right now, I feel like I can do anything.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Pleiades:  Only if you listen to me!

These next few years are certainly going to be interesting.

Be Inspired

Thanks so much to Suzanne Furness over at The Word Is . . . for passing this tag on to me!  It's such an honor to be chosen for these things!  To complete my responsibilities regarding this tag, I must answer some questions about my current writing project.

What is the name of your book?

For now, the working title of my current WIP is Prices Paid.  I know I've mentioned the project on this blog before. It's a short story collection, and my basic idea is to examine the prices that certain people pay when technology or knowledge changes the way we live our lives.

I'm open to new ideas regarding the title, but that's what it is for now. 

Where did the idea for your book come from?

Each story had its own inspiration. One story was done for a blogfest, and I got the idea for another when I realized that, though I love time travel stories, I almost never wrote them.  That seemed like a good enough reason to give one a try.  The other stories largely arose out of my determination to continue producing new work.

In what genre would you classify your book?  

Science fiction.

If you had to pick actors to play your characters in a movie rendition who would you choose?

That's a tough question.  Since it's a short story collection, I have to choose one story in particular.  My characters don't appear in multiple stories (though now that I think of it, it might be fun to write a collection where all the stories take place in the same world and the same people come and go-I'll file that away for future reference).  As it is, I'll choose the Dream Reader from "The Absurdity."  Though the physical specs aren't quite the same, I keep picturing Wayne Alexander's voice when the Dream Reader speaks.  For those who don't know who that is, he played multiple roles for one of my all time favorite TV shows, Babylon 5.  That voice of his has always stuck with me for some weird reason, and I like his presence.

Give us a one sentence synopsis of your book?

With each change in society that benefits people, there are always the others who pay the price for those benefits.

Is your book already published?

Unfortunately not, but I hope to change that as soon as I can.  For the time being, I'm still writing it.  

How long did it take you to write your book?

So far, I've been working on it since May.  The first story I wrote that I want to include is titled "Nuance."  I wrote this for Cherie Reich's Flash Fiction Blogfest.  This was the first piece of flash fiction I ever wrote, and this experience inspired me to write more.  Another story I want to include in Prices Paid is "The Absurdity."  This was written as a series of flash pieces.  All in all, participating in that one blogfest is what motivated me to keep writing short fiction.  I'm hoping that it doesn't take much more than a couple of months to at least have the rough drafts done and well on the way through the editorial process.  I guess I'll see how it goes from here.

What other books within your genre would you compare it to? Or readers of which books would enjoy yours?

That's a difficult question to answer.  Maybe that's because I don't have quite enough confidence in my writing to compare my short stories to some of the authors I admire most.  I'll say this: if you like science fiction and you enjoy a short story, it wouldn't hurt to give my book a try.

Which authors inspired you to write this book?

Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors, and he's written a few books of short stories.  I had the idea years ago that I might be able to do something like this, because he does it so well.  I also found inspiration from fellow bloggers Christine Rains and Cherie Reich.  They have been awesome about producing great writing and putting it out there for the world to see, and that's what I want to do.  It's my goal to self-publish my book and see how well I can do with it, and I made that decision because I've seen what my fellow writers have been able to do.

Tell us anything that might pique our interest in your book?

My book is full of variety.  It will take you on a philosophical journey that will question the nature of reality itself, explore the depths of human greed as well as our capacity for compassion, and it will even challenge you to ask what it means to be human.

I know.  The fact that I was a philosophy major in college is showing.  I can't help that.

Now I's supposed to tag 5 more people.  I have no idea who has this and who doesn't.  I'm also lazy, though I try not to appear that way.  Instead of taking too much more time, I will choose 5 of the many bloggers who inspire me most.  This tag is my way of saying your blog inspires me. Whether you choose to pass it on or not is up to you.  Life is busy, after all.

1. Karen Elizabeth Brown
2. Cherie Reich
3. Christine Rains
4. Cassie Mae
5. Michael Offutt

There are many others who inspire me everyday, but I need to get back to my stories.  They're crying out for completion.  (Hopefully my strange phrasing there didn't offend everyone!)

Now that I am finished with this, I will return to my Thursday Tea Time!

Accomplishments, Goals, and Distractions

Does anyone else ever feel like you're working and working but nothing seems any closer to being done?  It can be a discouraging feeling, to say the least.  That's how I feel right now about a lot of things, but maybe concentrating on what I have accomplished will make me feel better.  

At least I know what my end goal is, and I know what I need to get done for this week. I'm on track with my blog posts this week too.  I put together my Tuesday post before I even started on this one for Monday.  Maybe you shouldn't be too impressed though. The post for Tuesday is a piece of flash fiction I wrote a couple of months ago, so it took a minimum of effort to put that one together.  I already wrote and posted my flash piece, which I called Dynamic Duo, for Flash Fiction Flourish.  I plan to expand on that story for my flash piece on Friday, and I already have some ideas for that in the works.  The only post I'm not sure of is the one I have scheduled for Wednesday, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

As for the rest of my writing, I know how I need to prioritize the week.  My story "The Dream Factory" still needs work, and that's high on my priority list.  I also have a time travel story I've been considering for awhile, so I hope to get a start on that.  I'll try to focus most of my energy on those, working on each one as inspiration allows.  

If I hit a roadblock with both stories, I'll move on to my edits on my story "The Absurdity."  Some of you may remember that I did that one as a serialized story.  For those of you who don't know it, you can check out the first installment HERE.  I inserted links to lead you on to the following installments.  Or, if you prefer, I have the whole thing on its own PAGE.  My plan for this story is to edit the parts together as smoothly as I can, insert some ideas that I think would work well, and polish it up as best I can.  I think it would make a good addition to the book I'm planning on self-publishing.

Pleiades:  I don't know why you're making plans for this week at all.

Me:  Wow.  Just as I'm really getting going with things you know I need to do, you just have to add in your two cents.  I thought muses were supposed to be inspirational.

Pleiades:  I've heard that tough love can be a good motivator.

Me:  Well, I think there's a difference between tough love and plain bitchiness.

Pleiades:  Hmmm.  It seems you're the one who's in a bad mood.  Besides, isn't one of your husband's friends supposed to be staying at your house for the next week?

Me:  Yeah.  So?

Pleiades:  Don't you think that might throw off your normal schedule just a little?

Me:  Maybe, but I'll do the best I can to get things done.  Writers need to be adaptable.

Pleiades:  In my experience, writers tend to be picky and high maintenance.  

Me:  I think it's time for you to go now, Pleiades.

All right, so the week is going to be kind of weird.  So what?  I can still set my goals and do my best to meet them, right?

Musing About My Month

In the blogging world, I accomplished a fair bit in the last month.  Let's take a quick look at my stats.


By the end of May, I had 75 followers.
At the end of June, I reached the incredible milestone of 100 followers.  Yay!

In May, I had 1,015 page views.
In June, I had 1,432 page views.


I also stuck to my schedule, and it seems to have worked out well enough.  I'll adhere to it for awhile longer and see how it goes.


Thank you to those of you who loyally follow me.  It's always incredible to see that people actually do care about what you have to say.  My blogging has opened me to the world of flash fiction, and posting a serialized short story has been a positive experience.  I'm no expert on the writing craft by any means, but I feel like I've learned plenty.


If only I got this much accomplished in the world of books.  My goal for the next month is to get as much editing of my novel done as I can, and whittle past my writer's block on another novel I've been trying to finish.  Being 63,000 words into this other project, it wouldn't take a whole lot to finish the first draft.  The inspiration just needs to be there.


Are you listening to me Pleiades?


I think my muse is ignoring me altogether this week, which I find discouraging.  I do understand why, though.  Being the week of a major holiday, there are going to be activities that disrupt my normal routine.  My husband is also on vacation this week, so our family routine is going to be completely off.


I don't think Pleiades likes my husband very much.  She sees him as a threat.  He demands attention that could otherwise be dedicated to her and our work.  She also sees the kids as a nusiance in the same way.


I try to tell her it's all about balance.  If I had no family and only her, I would get lonely. She probably resents that.  She's very needy.


When I last talked to her, she said I could page her if I wanted to work on anything this week.  I promised her I'd do my best.  I have to write the final installment of my serialized story this week.  I also want to work out how to get rid of my prologue in my WIP.  Not easy to do when you have such a complex world to create.  I may still have to have a timeline written out at the beginning, even if it's only for me to use as a point of reference when I write.


Problem is, my muse likes prologues.  I don't mind them at all, but I know a lot of people do.  It's hard to weave all that info into a story that's already been written. Hopefully I can figure it out.  And if Pleiades refuses to help me with it, it will be even more difficult.