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Half Way Mark

Well, here I am, sitting in my bed on a Sunday morning, on day 15 of Nano. My word count is sitting on 12k. These past fifteen days have been hard in terms of my writing. There is a clear reason, and I should feel grateful that, worrying about a word count,  is the only problem I have! But it is a problem, and mine whether it is big or not.

See, the thing is, I am writing the third Settler Series book, A Settlers Love, and I have always been scared to touch this book. I told myself coming up to nano, that I had to remember whos story it is, Ashleigh's, and not be tempted to put ABSOLUTLY EVERYONE FROM THE PAST TWO BOOKS IN IT! But guess what, the opening scene only excludes two people, Bree and Nash. I broke my own rule in the first chapter,  and it has set the pace for the rest of my writing thus far.

I hate to say it, but I don't know how to overcome this problem. Perhaps I have had this story, and problem for so long now, that it had all muddled in my head.

How do I make Ashliegh be heart broken and not sound winey?

How do I make Nash appear dissconnected, but not heartless?

What is my conflict?

Is being heart broken, and not know what to do with your life conflict enough?

There have been moments during the last two weeks that I haven't felt quite up to the task to writing this book. But, just as I wrote that sentence, I remembered that this IS my story. I created the world of the Townshends and Martins. I should be able to get over myself! Right?

Thinking that I should be able to do this doesn't help, though. It doesn't help the fact that the first two books in this series have been so well recieved, that I don't want this books to be, just a filler, 50 thousand words if tieing up lose ends. Or worse yet, a failure. 

I told my husband yesterday, who took the whole family out for the day so that I could write (yes he is great and knows my nanoisms now as it's my third year), that I just don't have a clear picture of what's happening.  Every other story I have written, I could close my eyes and see the whole thing laid out before me. The only thing I would have to do is write it, and fill in a few blanks (which is hard but not like what I feel right now). But with Ash and Nash, I see snippets.

In a nut shell, I am awake at 6am on a Sunday morning, with three hours of church waiting, five kids to get prettied up, and a husband to pack for a two week away work trip, and I am freaking out about my nano. I either must be really shallow to feel so worried about a project of my own that I cant see that it can be set aside for a day, or i take this seriously and am really worried about bringing the best of these two wonderful characters to life. Sunday should be my day of rest, but my mind won't rest.

So, at 12,293 words, I am going to do something I have never done before, and write out of order. Sure, I have perhaps jotted down a scene or two that has played in my mind, before. But the only way I feel I can fix this, and reach my word count, is to write the scenes out of order, the ones I have had in my head for years, and see what happens.

And finally, this is the reason I am not posting my nano story on any sites this year. I figure,  that even if I did post this story to wattpad or Tablo, I won't be posting my best work, even as a rough, rough draft. The past two years I have been able to bang out a story, have it flow and not feel too worried about the changes that need to be made, to publish the book. But this one is going to need major doctoring. Skills I am affraid I do not possess right now.

So, I will stop my rambling right there, and let you all enjoy the rest of your day.

Make it count...

Mel xx

This Month!

Hi, I have had a million thoughts and topics run through my head from my last post, till now... it's sad really. But here we go, a little update on my month to come. What I should do, is at the start of each month, plan, and write my plan here, and then, at end of the month, review it. It could be very interesting to see how I do from month to month!

Anyway, today is the first of November, the day, which for the past two years (this is my third) I have participated in the NANOWRIMO month which is here, and I have managed to get out two great novels from it. Actually, I am finishing up Treasured Land this month too, which was my nano story last year. I only have a few things to tweak, and then, I am sending it off to my beta readers. I am not sure how I am going to manage to get through nano AND finish Treasured Land, but its worth a shot. and hey, I have five children, I should be able to multitask.

So drum roll please.......the story I have chosen to write during nano month is...... A Settlers Love. This name sort of sounds familiar, I hear you saying. Well, that is because it might just be, a little. I need to write the Third Settler Series book. I have been plotting this story for three years now, and quite frankly, I have been too scared to touch it. Reasons...

1. It's a whole new book. Right there is a reason to be scared.
2. It has been playing in my mind for so long now I am scared to touch it.
3. Its about Ashleigh.
4. There are two other books before it that I need incorporate!

So there you go. Number four is probably my crutch at the moment. I constantly remind myself that its not everyone else's story. Payton and Charlie had their moment, William and Eliza had theirs, and now it's time for Ashleigh and Nash. Although, I am not sure they will end up together, that will be up to them. If I remember correctly, there was a Lord whom accompanied Eliza' mother over to Van Dieman's Land at the end of book two. SOOO, Ashleigh might have a play with him for a time. WHO KNOWS!!

This is the exciting part of writing a book, especially during NANO month. Who knows, where your characters are going to take you. I am looking forward to the journey, though.

Anyway, I am off to the markets now.

have a great day, and watch this space.

Make it count, Mel. xx

Everyday Distractions

Everyday Distractions

Good evening,
                       I didn't mean to come back to the blog as soon as I have, but I found I had a few thoughts swirling in my mind, all day. An inner monologue of things that I want to share. It's all a bit random, but that's how I work, take it as you may. You see, I started my day like any other Sunday, with a wee bit of a lay in, and then up and getting ready for church. Yes I am a church goer, every Sunday as a matter of a fact, except for Sundays like this...

It was a about 5 am when I got the dreaded knock on the bedroom door. I am always awake at this time mind you, and on a normal week day I actually get out of bed at 5:30 am to write, before the rest of the house gets up. When we get the dreaded knock on the door, it's always one of my five children coming in from one of two things, waking from a bad dream, or they are sick. Today, it was sickness.

Once it was established that my daughter was, in fact,  too sick to sit through the Sunday meeting, and this was of course after I had showered and straightened my hair; because sometimes the sick child actually gets a little better after a drink and a toilet run, my thoughts turned to the day ahead. Which was now a day at home for me, and was looking more and more like one filled with, writing. YAY.

Firstly, though, I want to mention something else; something I get the urge to do every year about this time, and that is, planting. Didn't see that one coming did you?!? But yep, every spring I feel this overwhelming need to plant veggies. I grew up with home grown veggies, and when I moved out of home, I had always had a garden. Whether it be a container garden or a patch of land I have turned; I like to grow my own veggies.

Last year, I found a great spot for a veggie patch in the back yard of the house we were living in, (we have since moved house) and dragged my husband (kicking and screaming) with his shovel in hand and made had him dig a garden. Well, I chose a really stupid spot for a veggie patch, and no kidding, two weeks after sowing all my veggie seeds it was over run with weeds. So over the last month, I have siphoned money from my grocery allowance and bought big, colourful (they were cheap and looked hardy) plastic buckets to plant my veggies in. In my way of thinking, I don't care if the pots aren't pretty, as long as they do the job, and will allow me to grow more then something I can't eat.

So, guess what I did as soon as the front door shut with my husband and sons filing into the van? That's right, I made sure my daughter was comfortably watching Pride and Prejudice, and then....nooooo I didn't turn on my computer as I longed to, wanted to. I turned to the seedlings I bought yesterday, and marched myself outside to pot some plants.

You see, this is one of the things I was talking of yesterday. Life gets in the way of my writing all the time. And it's not always the big things that block the road, it's the everyday things like planning and wanting to plant a veggie patch that get in the way.

If I had it my way, I would sit down all day, with my herbal teas, some chocolate sliced fruit, and write every scene that floods my mind for every book I want to write. This way things up in my head would feel a little less crowded. But from day to day, I find myself always either wanting to, or needing to do things that distract me from my writing goals.

I call them everyday distractions. Because even though planting a veggie patch, or bucket patch isn't a necessity, it's something that I want to have happen so that I can save money for a decent editor  rainy day. I didn't have to do it at all. There are loads of things that I have to do every day, like dishes and vacuum, and yes, I do do these things every day, five kids... I have literally just eaten away at another five minutes of my already overloaded everyday life, because I have planted a garden that needs watering, for five minutes a day, distracting me from writing.

Today, I also scrubbed the showers, bathed the dog, made potato and leek soup just because I felt like it, put together a shelf for my pantry, and painted the old shelf. But all that is another story. Starting and writing this blog is an everyday distraction. But like my garden, I feel it is a necessity. For now, I am off to edit the chapter I just wrote for Treasured Land. My readers on wattpad have been waiting for this chapter.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is this, I think it's alright to be distracted by everyday things. As long as we accomplish something worthwhile and our work is getting done, then whats the harm in planting a veggie patch?

Make it count
Mel xx

One Page At A Time

One Page At A Time.

Hi,
     It's been a while between posts, I'm sorry for that. Lots has happened in the life of Mel lately, including moving house and catching the retched flu. But all is well now, and I have been working on Treasured Land. I didn't get as much time as hoped to promote my new release, A Love of Conviction, so with the very little I do with it (and I believe it deserve a whole lot more love then I am showing it), I am going to let this book do its thing while I concentrate on the next.

Getting a book publish ready, for any author is quite a trial, one that I am still learning to navigate even with two books out. First, we need to write the book. This can take a while for some of us. While I watch author after author release book after book (well so it seems), here am I still writing one. And while I did publish this year as well, I didn't write that book this year. A Love of Conviction took three to get ready.

So, what are some of the things which can stall an author from completing a manuscript as fast as others can? Well I can't speak for others, but I will say that the dreaded words, writers block gets tossed around quite a bit. I personally, don't believe in this. For me, it's more, that I don't want to write a particular scene, or I need to research something to complete a scene, or the thing I am most famous for, not having enough time to sit my butt in a chair, at my desk, to write, period.

Time for me is a hard one to juggle, raising five children from the ages of sixteen to four, is hard. Raising one is hard. So there is that; toss in a casual job, extracurricular activities, extended family, day to day living, a husband, and I have little time left for most things, let alone writing a novel. But like most people who want something badly enough, I make time.

I have been pondering over this blog, and what content I want to send out to the world, for a long time. There is a whole bunch of stuff out there telling authors how and why they should blog. I have thrown around a myriad of topics to share with whoever reads this, including, reviews, author do's and don'ts, to submit or not to submit, things like this. But today I actually met a lady at work, who loves to read blogs. She gave me some great insight on what she finds interesting in a blogger.
She told me it's the little, everyday things that keeps her coming back day after day to read what someone else is doing in their life.

After my conversation with her, my thoughts were again troubled because now I was faced with the dilemma of, how do I make my day to day life entwine with my struggles to write all these stories swimming in my head? Well, like I always say about my books, It's one page at a time. So that's what I will do. I am not a great photographer, nor the best writer, or have any idea what I am doing from day to day, but I do know this, I love to write, I love my family, and my days are full from sun up to sun down. That is it. So we will take it from there and see where it all leads. But for now, it is back to Chapter twenty two of, Treasured Land.

Make every day count,
Mel xx

Treasured Land

For the years 2012 and 2013 I participated in NANOWRIMO. And boy it is fun, challenging and just plain crazy!! Anyway, for the year 2012 I managed to meet the 50k word deadline, just in time to become a nano winner (completing a 50 thousand word story in the month of November) That story is called Desert Wondering. Desert Wondering was much longer than 50 thousand words and I finished it just after Christmas that same year. In 2013 I entered that story into the watty awards and it made it to the finals. unfortunately it didn't win, but hey! I can't believe it made it to the finals so that was a sure bonus.

Anyway, in 2013 I started this story, Treasured Land, and I'm sad to say that it has taken me much, much longer to write it. Not because I was stuck, on the contrary. This story to me is like a puzzle more so then the others, because all the pieces have to fit. And truth be known, It intimidated me for the longest time. BUT as always I push through that barrier and I am happy to announce, I have the writing bug back. I will be consistently uploading this story until it's done. I would like to publish this story this year ready for our Aussie summer, so it has to be done.

I add a lot of content and take a lot out when I polish these stories, and just to warn you, unlike A Friendships Love that was formally published on 26th of August 2013, I will be taking the rough draft of Treasured Land down from wattpad. BOOO HISSSS. It has to be done. I will be giving the world The Settler Series, to be forever available on wattpad, AND ALL my rough copies of everything I write. Bar maybe one or two that I will surprise the world with ;) Anyway, that's a long way off. and for right now, please go ahead and enjoy the first draft of, Treasured Land!


Mel
xx

A Love of Conviction

So in just over a week the second book in The Settler Series will be published, by me, because I am an indie author...and proud! AND I am so excited about it. Today is cover reveal day and this beautiful cover brings my Eliza to life, like a dream. I can't say how grateful I am to Shoutlines (and its proprieter, R.A. Mizer) for designing it for me. She is a very patient lady to say the least. But from my frustratingly awful description, she made magic happen.

I am happy to say that the release day for this book will be 30th June 2014. If you have read the first one, I will give you a hint...this book happens simultaneously with the first, plus a few weeks as well. Mind you, this book also stands alone and so will the third one (which will also overlap a little, which is what I set out to do with this series). PSSST there is a really rough sneak peek of the third Settler Series book, A Settlers Love, right on this site in the New Book Teasers part. So when you get done with A Love of Conviction, you can have a taste of whats to come. I haven't, as yet, started that book, but these piles of notes have to become something at some stage...right?!?

Anyway, I hope you love A Love of Convictions cover as much as I do. So until later...when I post all my links (yeah baby) to buy this book, stay well, be kind, and make every moment COUNT.

xx