LMJustus Author Page

Social networking

LMJustus — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:01:46 +0000

Forgot to add a post on Wednesday, but I entered the edits for chapter 6 from my critique group, and started getting chapter 7 ready for them. I’m going to try to sneak two chapters in this month because chapter 6 is a shorty at just barely over 6 pages. Which brings us to today… where I wrote the first half of chapter 23. It’s always more fun to do the actual writing, and I can’t wait to finish the chapter. I’m currently reading “Fair Game” by Patricia Briggs, which is part of a spin-off series, mostly about werewolves. I’m quite liking the spin-off series, possibly more than the original series in fact. On a completely different subject, I’ve heard that joining Twitter is a good idea for authors to network and get good info from other authors, but I’m a bit wary. I’m not sure I want to add another time consuming, social networking thing to my life at this point.

Crappy cover art

LMJustus — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:16:48 +0000

I just finished up chapter 22 today. There’s only a month and a half left until the kids are out of school for the summer, so I’ll have to come up with a new writing schedule other than every Wednesday and Friday morning. I’m currently reading the latest book from Lara Adrian, whose series I really enjoy. I’m not a huge fan of the latest cover art because it looks like a smarmy romance novel, and it’s a lot more than that (and yes of course, it has vampires in it!). Speaking of bad cover art, I recently purchased the lastest book by D. B. Reynolds, called “Duncan”. I’ve really enjoyed the rest of the series – I think this author is definitely under rated. Anyway, the cover art on her books has been pretty bad, but the latest one is complete crap. I would be embarrassed to death if I ended up with a cover like that on my book. If I ever get my book published, I hope that doesn’t happen!

Long time no write

LMJustus — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:57:28 +0000

I’m back from my vacation and finally doing some real writing again. I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since I last wrote anything. First I had to input my edits from the critique group and then prepare the next chapter for them, and then there was my vacation. I only finished about a quarter of chapter 22 today, but I feel like I’m getting back into the swing of things. I read the book “Voiceless” by Caroline Wissing while I was on vacation, and gave it a well-deserved 5-star rating on Amazon.ca and the Chapters website. I’m currently reading a book by Lynsay Sands, which is a kind of fluffly romance novel with vampires in it. Makes for good pool-side reading anyway.

Editing, editing, and more editing

LMJustus — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:48:52 +0000

Spent this morning incorporating the edits from the group for chapters 4 and 5. It’s getting even more confusing going back so far in the story now that I’m working on chapter 22. Anyway, with every word I deleted or modified, I felt like my chapters were getting stronger, so it’s all been worth it. There were a LOT less edits than with my first chapter too, so that has to be a good sign. I started preparing chapter 6 for the group, and it definitely needs a lot of fixing up. It’s more like a rough outline, now that I’m revisiting it. I’m almost finished reading “In Shade and Shadow” which I’ve struggled through. I really enjoyed the other books in the series, but this is the first in a second series by the same authors, with only one of the same characters, and I hate to say it, but this one character is just kind of boring as is the entire book. I think I will give up on this series and move onto other things.

Closing in on 2/3 of the way through

LMJustus — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:06:50 +0000

Finished up chapter 21 today, so I’m on track to be about 2/3 of the way through my book after another two chapters. I’m currently reading the next book in the Noble Dead series called “In Shade and Shadow”. I have to admit though, it’s been taking me a lot longer to read books lately because I’m getting sucked into all the games on my new iPhone! Anyhoooo… when I finish reading my current book, the next one on my reading list is definitely “Voiceless”! Got my autographed copy last night, woo hoo!

Vacation coming up soon

LMJustus — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:08:38 +0000

Finished the first half of chapter 21 today after spending a bit of time writing up my second anecdote in honour of my late friend Heather. My birthday is coming up soon, which coincides with what would have been her 11th wedding anniversary, so I felt like writing a little something. Anyway, I want to work on my novel as much as I can over the next week and a half, because then we’re off on our once-in-a-lifetime vacation to Florida! I’ll be shocked if I do any writing while we’re away. Tomorrow is Caroline’s book launch for her first published novel, “Voiceless”!

April Fools

LMJustus — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:49:49 +0000

I had considered adding a post saying I’d given up on my novel as an April Fool’s Day joke, but with only one or two people reading my blog at the moment, that would probably be a super lame joke. I just finished chapter 20, which sounds like a nice round number. Page 171 if anyone cares. Of course that will change as I incorporate edits, and 90% of my edits are deletions, not additions. I’m planning to attend my friend’s book launch this coming Thursday, so that should be interesting. She’s an inspiration for sure. I can’t wait to read her book at long last as well! I’m just finishing a book she let me borrow, called “Bedtime Story” by Robert J Wiersema. She’s an acquaintance of the author, and this is the second book of his I’ve read. Anyway, I really like this one a lot, yes, even though there are NO vampires in it, ha ha. I’m kind of wondering what it means if you’re an author, and you’ve published two books, and in both completely separate stories the main character is having marital problems and his only child is in a coma… does this mean anything?

Lack of confidence

LMJustus — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:55:39 +0000

I can honestly say I’ve never once experienced “writer’s block”. I can’t even imagine what that would be like. I have more of the opposite problem – I have so many stories floating around in my head I have to concentrate on finishing the one I’m working on. I can’t get the words written down fast enough! However . . . I do have one persistent problem, and that is staying motivated and not losing confidence. I often wonder why I’m wasting so much time writing something that isn’t really important. It’s not meant to be life-changing or earth-shatteringly profound. It’s just a silly, entertaining story that I enjoy writing. I think I’ve mentioned that sometimes I dream about making it big, just like some people dream about winning the lottery. I should probably lower my expectations so I’m not so disappointed when my book doesn’t get published, and not a single person from my target market even ends up reading it. It’s like my DH says – what’s important is that I take time for myself to do something I enjoy, that’s all.

Fiction vs. Reality

LMJustus — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:01:20 +0000

I probably come off as a bit of a space case sometimes because I’m thinking about my book. My book is silly enough that it’s obviously fictitious. However, I do pull things into the story that are occasionally based on reality. Sometimes I’ll hear an interesting fact, or someone relates an interesting event, or maybe it’s even a single word that sparks an “aha” moment for me. Lately I’ve been experiencing a really weird phenomenon which I think is on the verge of lucid dreaming. It started out that I’d be having a dream similar to one I’d had before, and within the dream I’d actually realize this and say, “Hey, I’ve had a dream like this before.” Last night I was dreaming and I realized my environment was quite odd, and I started to think, “Hey, is this a dream?” In the dream, I was with someone else who came up with a reasonable explanation for the oddness, and thus my own self conscious convinced me that it wasn’t a dream. Then I woke up and realized it had been a dream after all! Anyway, the whole lucid dreaming thing seems kind of cool, which made me wonder if it’s yet another one of those ideas that ends up being in my book.

Great feedback

LMJustus — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:13:10 +0000

Attended my third writer’s group meeting two nights ago, and it went really well. It’s so great to have found this group of people who all enjoy writing as much as I do! I don’t really talk about writing with anyone else, and in fact I think most people I know have no idea that I spend my spare time writing. On the rare occasion it comes up in conversation, most people seem thoroughly unimpressed and disinterested. So you can understand why I don’t exactly advertise the fact. Anyway, once again I received amazing feedback, and a unanimous agreement that my writing has gotten a lot cleaner since my first chapter. I spent today inputting their edits for chapter 3, and preparing chapters 4 and 5 for their perusal. Our next meeting is set for April 16th chez moi.