The Binge: Cooking Shows

Three Cooking-Related Shows I've Binged on Recently

A year or two ago, I started watching The Great British Baking Show on Netflix. I may have started with the holiday edition and then found the series. I tend to only watch this show, even the non-Christmas ones, during the October-December holiday season because baking just seems to be something that is a Christmas thing. Any other time of the year, I can take doughnuts to work and be hissed at by coworkers.

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The Book Two Posts Ep. 7 AND About Writing Ep. 3

Because, sometimes, it's hard to talk about progress without talking about process. 

I spent a good bit of time today rewriting the climax. There are things I forgot to add to it, and there are things I have to go back into the earlier parts of the book to add. I recently removed a chapter that was several pages long, and, even so, it's  over 96K words now. I'm not too worried about the length. I know that I will be polishing in the third draft, and, as long as it makes the best use of the words, I'm happy with it. That's what the third draft will be all about.

The Book Two Posts Ep. 6: Friday Eve and Climaxes

A lot of the time, I come up with thoughts for blog posts while I'm in the midst of doing other things. Then, they slip my mind because I'm doing other things. Life has been pretty hectic for the last, I don't know, five years? I sometimes feel like I don't even have time to day dream, which is just plain wrong.

Anyway, back to writing updates. :)

The Book Two Posts Ep. 5: Chapter Breaks

In case anyone wondered, the book is definitely a book. The word count is inching its way toward 100K, but I have plans to remove a chapter that may become a standalone short story or novelette, possibly a give-away. That's actually a good thing because, inserted into the book, it seems out of place. I've spent a good while working on the timeline and calendar, rearranging some chapters, and trying to decide if I should put my chapter breaks in different places or merge chapters.

The Book Two Posts: The Rewrite Ep. 4 and Life

I'm in the process of working on the rewrite of Book Two, and I'm at least 29 Chapters into it, which is over halfway. The good news is that I've figured out how to address an issue that I've been wrestling with.

I won't really call it a block. It's one of those things that I've been asking myself how far down this rabbit trail do I go, and is this something I should do? I was trying to figure out the best way to look at the plot. Situations like this one are where I'm faced with those thoughts I had put on the back burner to deal with later. Then it's time to, as my mother would say, fish or cut bait. You have to decide which one you want to do. Nobody can help me with those decisions. They don't know enough about where I'm coming from or where I'm going to help.

About Writing Ep. 2: My Main Character: The Flaws and Is She Me?

Nearly two decades ago, there wasn't a book like the one I wrote. Pickings were slim on the modern fantasy/paranormal romance book shelf, and I wanted to write the type of story that I would want to read. My premise at that time was that, as an adult, a girl returned to the place where she was born, a place full of magic. That was really all I knew that I wanted it to be at the moment, and it took a really long time to go from that simple idea to actually crafting a story that executed that idea in a way I liked.

Fast-forward to a few days ago when I was talking to another writer about how amazing it is to go from something that doesn't exist and turning this thought into something tangible that you can hold in your hands.

The Book Two Posts: The Rewrite Ep. 3 & The Value of Staring into Space

During the past few weeks, I've spent more time trying to distance myself from the books. My sister is my first beta reader, and she understands that this is a draft and that nothing is set in stone at this point. She said she was enjoying it so far, and I think I had sent her about fourteen chapters at that point. Then she asked for the whole thing, and, although I cringed at the thought--I had not rewritten ANY of the last chapters, and there were so many broken threads--I sent them. Since then, I have been decompressing and binge-watching videos. :)

The Book Two Posts: The Rewrite Ep. 2

First of all.... I got some feedback on the first 30 pages, and it was good. 😁 She wants to know what happens next, which I think is the desired reaction. That's when I told her I can't send her the next pages right now because I'm editing them and adding a new scene.😅

About Writing Ep. 1: Things I Use for Writing

This isn't intended to be a how-to post. It's more of a discussion of craft and to give you a look at my process. There isn't a right or wrong. Just a matter of preference. I watched videos where writers discussed their favorite resources, and mine were a little different, so I thought I would throw them out there for your consideration.

The Book Two Posts: The Rewrite Ep. 1

 
I recall being filled with excitement when I had about two chapters left to write in my rough draft. I was really pleased. I had lots of stuff going on, and things were interesting. After finishing, I had planned to shelve it for a while, but I just couldn't leave it alone.

I Couldn't Wait - Listening to the First Draft

Omigosh, you guys! I figured out how to convert my first draft to Mobi and upload it to my Kindle Fire so I could listen to it. This is exciting! What was a messy pile of words and notes that were half finished around Thanksgiving is now officially a whole book--minus the edits and some parts that need to be more fully fleshed out.

It's Done - First Draft

I've just completed the rough draft of my third novel--which totaled to just over 80K words--although the word "complete" doesn't really seem correct here. Some of the chapters, especially the denouement ones, are just kind of thrown down. Extremely coarse, gritty, rough drafts.

The End Is Near

I am two chapters away from being finished with the first draft of my third novel. Some of the chapters are very skeletal, and I'm alright with that for now. With over 280 pages so far, I am securely in novel-length territory, and I know that it will be the perfect size after I've written those two chapters and fleshed out the rest.

Why I didn't Finish NaNoWriMo

I was doing great the first week. I wrote 10,000 words and earned a badge. This was my first attempt at NaNoWriMo, and I was already ahead of schedule. But then, I stopped. I was robbed of time. My book wasn't cooperating. I was realizing that the stress of meeting a daily, weekly, or monthly word count had little to do with actually writing my book.

Good Writing

It's been a very productive weekend so far. Yesterday, I put in about 4000 words, and I'm only about 14 chapters away from finishing my rough draft, which will be about 53 chapters long.

I always have an outline, but my outline is not set in stone. Sometimes there are issues that I didn't see, or an idea may be a bit too complicated to fit in. My favorite part are the ones I didn't see coming, the things that become solutions to problems and fit so nicely while adding layers to the story I never dreamed of. After weeks of trying to force a plot and struggling to add words to the page, it's kind of a miracle how it all starts to come together.

Hopefully, this will be finished soon.

Changes to Websites

To help simplify my life, I'm making a few changes to the websites. My Emily Night and Tara Sharp websites will remain up, but I will only be blogging here on Bunny Rose Books. This way I can keep readers up to date on everything I am working on and not have one blog remain dormant while I'm working on a book for a different blog. It seems like the most logical solution at the moment. :)

So, what have I been doing?

I started Nanowrimo in November, intending to finish my second Gnome novel. Unfortunately, that was about the time the holiday season kicked up and demands on my personal time made it nearly impossible to write. I don't think it's wise for me to attempt to finish any books during a holiday period, so I won't be signing up for Nanowrimo in the future.

I'm over halfway finished with the rough drafts for each of my books, the second book in the Gnome Sweet Gnome Series and a standalone YA novel. Each one has its own set of challenges.

I've been writing mostly on the YA novel this month and working on plotting and moving things around. I am looking forward to finishing the rough draft and starting work on the rewrite.

This book started out life as a short story. I like to write a story for Halloween each year, and that was how this book began. My one issue with writing short stories is fitting everything I want to tell into the parameters of a short story. I eventually discover that my ideas are novel ideas, not short story ideas. The story grew from short story to novelette to novella. I'm pretty certain that it will be novel length before I'm finished.

Also, when I started this story, I had intended that it would be a middle grade story. However, I've since decided to raise the age of my narrator to fifteen, and some of the material in it is scary enough that I think young adult age group is justifiable.

I'll keep you posted on progress on each of the books. I'm hoping that writing goes well and that I can finish these drafts soon!