Football has started

Yes it's that time of the year again, football season. It's almost like a holiday for me every Sunday. lol.

Anyway this year I joined a fantasy football league with friends from my poker group and after the first week, I'm in 7th out of 8. Still early, but not a fan of being so low so early.

Also, I have rejoined the PFOA, the (Portland Football Officials Association) so I will once again be officiating some youth and high school football games. Due to my work schedule change I'm missing all of September games except for weekends. Hopefully that will change once I get out of training and get a new schedule. This is my 5th year officiating, but after a two year break, I'm honestly a bit rusty.

So besides writing, what are some of your other hobbies? I'm curious.

WiP Wednesday

I have been working feverishly on getting my book ready for querying this fall. It's nearly polished, but will be seeking some beta readers again in the near future.

I am really enjoying the rewrite process because I can see it getting clearer, cohesive and just a more complete story arc. It's pretty fun.

I have started a new process for this book and that is to read it out loud, which is helpful to get a sense of run on sentences, sentence fragments and just the flow of the words. I have a tendency to read out loud very fast, which  annoys my listeners at times, and they have to tell me to slow down. It helps to slow down to really enunciate the words and has helped me catch a few places where things needed to be clarified.

So what are some of your techniques during the rewriting process?

I'm back!

Well the previous 5 weeks have been crazy. Going through rewrites on my current project and trying to develop the query have been very taxing.

As well as my kids going to school again. My middle daughter just started kindergarten and I have to be honest, I got choked up. She's very smart and so far enjoys it.

The biggest thing that has proved to be an obstacle to my writing is the new schedule I have at work. I work 3pm to 11:30pm for the past two weeks, and for another week. Then it will change 12pm to 9pm, which isn't as bad, but this has been trying to get my writing back on track. I usually write at nights and getting home at midnight isn't conducive to that. So I have adapted and started to write during the day while my wife is out picking up the kids. I still get about an hour to an hour and a half, which is my usual time frame.

So while I have been gone, what have you been up to, and how are your writing goals coming along?

I have started to get feedback on my query and am almost done with a reading of my novel where I read it out loud, so then I will be looking for Beta's again for a final polish. I hope to have my book ready to query in December, and that is my current goal.

Taking a break, but for a good cause

So the rewrites of my current project are under way. They are going well, so well in fact, that I don't have time to spare to the blog for the time being. I will be back when I'm back. (Not setting a deadline right now), but I hope to be back sooner rather than later.

Everyone have some great writing related fun while I'm gone, and maybe I'll come back with some fresh ideas on revisions, and some good news from my blogging friends.

The busy schedule of a writer

This week has been hectic as I've been trying to work through my Beta feedback. I've had to adjust my schedule to get up earlier and stay up later to get time to fit writing around the life of my summer-enjoying kids.

It's going pretty well, but I'm starting to get exhausted being up late and getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night. Now I'm not complaining, because when I get that time with my WiP it is peaceful, and I accomplish a lot. About two chapters a day at this rate. I should be done with the notes from my Beta's by the middle of the month, which gives me another chance to polish and get it ready for a Fall query.

What is one thing that you have had to sacrifice during your writing journey? I've read a lot of people neglect cleaning, or do less things with the kids (Having 3 kids makes this nearly impossible)?

I give up sleep and hope that its worth it in the long haul.

Receiving feedback

I have recently received feedback and I did the normal stuff, I read it, let it sink in then put it aside until I'm ready to actually do the edits.

This allows me two things, it allows me to get perspective away from the immediate emotion of receiving the feedback. It also allows me to think about the advice for a while and decide what is useful and what isn't.

I have done this with most of my feedback for my life and it has worked out. My current project is still in a very early draft so the comments such as grammar and sentence structure is helpful because I know it's needed, but having examples pointed out help a lot. The one good thing is that my plot, which is what I was worried about, is still solid and works.

So what are your techniques for handling feedback from your readers?

WiP Update

So after getting my feedback from beta readers, I get to start the next draft of my book. So far most of the comments have been some technical issues that I will work out easily, but the ones about plot and characters will take time. So as I usually do, I will start with the technical issues that I missed and I have a Twenty five chapter book, so my goal is to be done with my next draft by the end of August.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to review my beta feedback and use it for my book? What seems to be the major hiccup in your first drafts?