Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today: Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, Lee Lowery, and Rachna Chhabria, and myself!
June 2 question - For how long do you shelve your first draft, before reading it and re-drafting? Is this dependent on your writing experience and the number of stories/books under your belt?
Fractions of Existence sat in the proverbial drawer for several months. It came out for editing multiple times. I rewrote the opening dozens of times. (Ultimately scraping what I consider to be a paragraph that would tie the whole series together.) Eventually, I self-published because I had an Urban Fantasy that wasn't like the other Urban Fantasy books. (There's no detective, for example.) It's also sort of a Paranormal Romance, though it isn't about shifters and the romance isn't actually the primary focus of the book and certainly not of the series. It fell into the New Adult category because a main character is in college -- but, unlike other New Adult books, it isn't full of smut or focused on lusty scenes. (And no matter what Amazon says, it isn't a fairy tale.) I hired a professional editor, a university English professor, and two friends to help me get the book as perfect as possible.
The sequel, Proof of Existence, I started writing in 2017. I've been rewriting since 2018. I used a different writing method to start the book, and the result was a stall in my process and holes I couldn't figure out how to fix. I think I've finally figured out what's been bugging me so much. So I'm going to try again. 🤞 My summer plan is to work on that.
Lumber Of The Kuweakunks originally only sat for a week. I entered it into a contest, but it didn't exactly fit the type of story they wanted. A few months later, I added a little to it and published soon after.
Preparing to Write Settings That Feel Like Characters went straight to the editing service I used for FoE, but a different person got the project. She found exactly one typo and thus gave me a discount on the service. Writing Book Reviews As An Author: Inspiration To Make It Easier sat for a week and then had two beta readers before being published. Both of those books were on my previous blog, broken down for the A to Z Challenge. Meaning I had a deadline.
Preparing to Write Settings That Feel Like Characters went straight to the editing service I used for FoE, but a different person got the project. She found exactly one typo and thus gave me a discount on the service. Writing Book Reviews As An Author: Inspiration To Make It Easier sat for a week and then had two beta readers before being published. Both of those books were on my previous blog, broken down for the A to Z Challenge. Meaning I had a deadline.
I guess nonfiction/ reference and short stories I write and edit much faster and with far more confidence. But the big fiction stories that are part of a series, those I let sit longer because I'm trying to be more of a perfectionist. (Not that people actually agree on the English language enough for there to ever be perfection in publication.)
TL;DR = A week to several years.
I can't get pictures to upload to Blogger while using Chrome. I found a very annoying and time consuming work-around, but I'd much prefer a fix. A solution that doesn't include deleting 546 images on this blog, 711 images on the Operation Awesome blog, and 217 images from the A to Z Challenge blog. (I deleted a handful, just to see if that would free up space. No, it changed nothing.) My cache and history are clear. Anyone? Bueller, Bueller?
On Facebook, a friend shared a cute comic that reminded her of a scene in my Fractions of Existence book. 💗 If we're Facebook friends, you can check it out. 🌼 https://www.facebook.com/j.lennidorner/posts/3883435955106104
Also going on in my world right now:
Does anyone know how to actually fix the #Blogger
— J Lenni Dorner (@JLenniDorner) May 18, 2021
problem that doesn't allow images to be uploaded to blogs while using Chrome?
(jpeg, png, I tried a dozen images- including ones that worked before - cleared history and cache- nothing)@ChromiumDev @Google pic.twitter.com/ELGgfmJ1tw
I can't get pictures to upload to Blogger while using Chrome. I found a very annoying and time consuming work-around, but I'd much prefer a fix. A solution that doesn't include deleting 546 images on this blog, 711 images on the Operation Awesome blog, and 217 images from the A to Z Challenge blog. (I deleted a handful, just to see if that would free up space. No, it changed nothing.) My cache and history are clear. Anyone? Bueller, Bueller?
On Facebook, a friend shared a cute comic that reminded her of a scene in my Fractions of Existence book. 💗 If we're Facebook friends, you can check it out. 🌼 https://www.facebook.com/j.lennidorner/posts/3883435955106104
WEP has the "Great Wave" flash fiction coming up this month, so there's that to look forward to. https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/
The June PassOrPages query contest annoucement is posted! Adult Fantasy. It'd be great if you'd like / share to spread the word:
Finally there are GIVEAWAYS!
Wednesday, June 2 (today) is the last day to enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of a new book! https://operationawesome6.blogspot.com/2021/05/spotlight-on-new-book-debut-author_19.html (USA only.)
Over at Operation Awesome
The June PassOrPages query contest annoucement is posted! Adult Fantasy. It'd be great if you'd like / share to spread the word:
June Pass or Pages Genre Reveal! https://t.co/SMCm2kbeQE#Fantasy is a genre of #specfic, often set in a fictional universe, sometimes inspired by myths and folklore. The query should feature features magical or supernatural elements.#query Contest!#writingcommunity #amwriting pic.twitter.com/u8rzNEXkc8
— Operation Awesome (@OpAwesome6) May 26, 2021
Finally there are GIVEAWAYS!
Wednesday, June 2 (today) is the last day to enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of a new book! https://operationawesome6.blogspot.com/2021/05/spotlight-on-new-book-debut-author_19.html (USA only.)
And https://operationawesome6.blogspot.com/2021/06/spotlight-on-new-book-debut-author-anya.html a giveaway for a fantasy book just started. 🏳🌈
Thank you for visiting my blog today. 😊 I appreciate your time.
Sorry about the Chrome issue. I use Firefox. Still makes images an issue though.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about perfectionism. I can get stuck in a loop of re-writing, trying to get it perfect, not getting to the next bit and then giving up. It's taken a lot of guts for me to take the plunge and just go for it. I hope you got your Blogger issue resolved. I don't have a Blogger Blog myself but you can find me at irevive.online
ReplyDeleteI understand your frustration. It seems images should load...such a basic function. BTW, I love your turning globe showing your visitors & sun shinning on the planet. Best of luck with your many wonderful writing projects.
ReplyDeleteLynn La Vita @ http://la-vita.us/write/
Hmmm...I used to have Safari and that browser was giving me problems with blogger so I switched to google chrome. I don't have a problem uploading pictures thought. With that said, try switching browsers?
ReplyDeleteThank you for co-hosting.
I am a contract writer and write articles for attorney websites. I so agree that the articles are much easier to edit than fiction. I never have a problem putting my pictures into my post. I use Google. I download them first and pick the option of uploading them from my computer. Then I just go to my downloads and click on what I want to add. I hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteI always find non-fiction easier to write. I use Firefox and haven't had an issue. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks for co-hosting this month, J! I can commiserate with your website issues. It used to be so simple . . . Yes, nonfiction is an easy edit - just the facts, while pesky fiction is so subjective in every word and nuance. But I still love the challenge!
ReplyDeleteI had so many problems with blogspot that I finally switched to wordpress. So far so good. But I feel for you. It's frustrating. Thanks for co-hosting.
ReplyDeleteBlogspot is currently driving me crazy in about a dozen different ways, too. Considering making a leap to another platform this summer, but dreading the time sink. @samanthabwriter from
ReplyDeleteBalancing Act
Thanks for co-hosting this month. You do so many great things to support authors around the web. The fact that you find time to write too is awesome. However the piece needs, seems like you have your methods down :)
ReplyDeleteNon-fiction has always been much easier for me to write and edit in a timely manner. Maybe because I control the narrative? In my fiction, the characters always seem to hijack the process. Sounds like you've got a good plan for the summer.
ReplyDeleteI'm not tech savvy enough to help with the images problem, but like some others have suggested, would definitely try a different browser. Blogger problems is why I moved to Wordpress, but that's not without its own issues.
Thanks for co-hosting today!!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, most of my manuscript have a long shelf-life.
About Blogger, for some months you couldn't preview your post before scheduling them. It was working this month and that made me happy.
Thank you for co-hosting and have a lovely month of June.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
My first novel went in and out of the drawer for years before finally being published.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the image issue. I'm to focused on dealing with the Feedburner issue.
Thanks for co-hosting.
too. LOL
ReplyDeleteI know there's a Wizard behind a curtain constantly fiddling and making changes so that just when you think you have that tool called a computer under control, you don't. I switch browsers a lot and for the reason you mention. If one won't do what I ask, go to the next. And they said this would save us time. :-(
ReplyDeleteThanks for cohosting today Jenni! I haven't used Blogger in years so I don't have any advice. I was a part of OA for awhile, years ago. Glad to see you guys still around! Sounds like an excellent query op!!
ReplyDeleteAnd ooops! Lenni, not Jenni. You polly get that a lot. :p
ReplyDeleteOnly online. No one that has ever physically met me has ever thought, "Yeah, that dude is probably named Jenni." The Internet is a very bizarre place.
DeleteTHANK YOU for making the correction though.
J is my name.
Lenni-Lenape is my tribe.
Thanks for co-hosting!
ReplyDeleteSome of my books have been unedited for up to a decade, since they were trapped on obsolete file formats on disks. The ones written in MacWriteII also needed extensive formatting fixes before I could even begin editing, since a lot of bizarre data migration happened while they were on those disks for so many years.
Interesting backstory to your publication journeys. Each seems a bit different. As for the Chrome-Blogger issue: I'm a tech teacher and one of my go-to solutions for my students if something doesn't work in a browser is 'switch browsers'. I have three on my computer, usually use Chrome but regularly end up on Edge or Firefox for quirky reasons. Glad you found the work-around!
ReplyDeleteThe work around is to set up a dummy account. Log in to another instance of Chrome using that and then upload the pictures to the dummy blogger. Then copy the url and paste it on the original blogger.
DeleteI used Blogger on Chrome for nearly a decade. And then it just stopped working one day.
They are making some 'updates' to Chrome. That could have put something in there Blogger didn't agree with, even though they're both Google. who knows but thank goodness for work-arounds! Yours is particularly clever.
DeleteThose big blogging platforms are always trying to improve, but sometimes their failures are glaring. One example: I use WP, and it recently introduced a new editor. 'IMPROVED' they say with lots of fanfares. I don't see any improvement, just a headache. And Blogger is no better. :((
ReplyDeleteMy old blog was on WP. The update made HTML more difficult to use. That's among the reasons I switched.
DeleteHi J!
ReplyDeleteMy first book sat scratching in a drawer for nearly seven years. I do think timelines differ between fiction and non-fiction. Deadlines are terrific motivators, but I can't imagine writing fiction that way.
Thank you for co-hosting!
I've never run into that image issue with Chrome, but the only thing I can see is that maybe your storage space is getting full? No idea otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI also tend to write stories that don't neatly fit into one genre or another. It seems weird to me that people want to read something that fits a genre so formulaically, but obviously people like what they like so who am I to argue?
Storage space was my thought too. But I deleted a bunch of pictures and it didn't change anything. Logically, if space were the issue, deleting some would have made more space.
DeleteI'm the same. I let my manuscript sit on the shelf for several months to years. And few of them tidily fit into a genre too.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the Chrome issue and hope it gets fixed quickly.
Thanks for co-hosting today!
Thank you for co-hosting! I've switched to Firefox from Chrome for my browser and haven't had any issues with Blogger this way.
ReplyDeleteI feel you with the rewrites, as I am currently in the rewrite-spiral-of-despair. Hope you figure the picture issues and thanks for co-hosting!
ReplyDeleteI had similar issues with my blog. My last blogspot redirects to my website now. It's my new home is for IWSG posts. I simply applied a link. When it comes to the English language, agreed! It's an ever morphing glob of words and phrases. Bless all beta readers. If I can communicate 60% of what's in my head onto the page I'm pleased. Thank you for co-hosting today!
ReplyDeleteI'm not having that problem with Chrome, but I suddenly can't attach .docs to any outgoing emails when using Chrome/Gmail. I see there's an update on my computer, so hoping it fixes the issue. What's with the weird technical issues lately?
ReplyDeleteI could see how non-fiction might be more straight forward. The story structure is certainly the hardest task for me. Good luck on finishing the project this summer!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insights. The TL;DR made me laugh! It will definitely help me remember that one size does not fit all-even for the same writer!
ReplyDeleteI haven't encountered your specific problem, J Lenni, but there's lots of funny stuff going on with no reason. Just gotta persevere!
ReplyDeleteMy current biggie is how to transport email contacts from feedburner before it closes in July :_(
J, how interesting that your process finally led up to you deleting what you'd previously consider the key paragraph. No doubt when I get to writing more and regularly, I'll be better placed to consider these questions more fully.
ReplyDeleteI can see advantages to sitting on a manuscript as well as getting right to finishing it. Not much personal experience for me to really come up with any real conclusion though.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about those problems that you are experiencing on Blogger, but for my own part since Blogger changed the composition format I've found it to be a bigger hassle to use. I wish they'd just go back to the way things used to be--it worked much better a couple years ago. Strange how "improvements" often make things worse.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Thank you for co-hosting IWSG this month! I have re-written the opening paragraphs and first chapter of my college memoir loads of times. It's so easy to get lost in revision. I'm thinking to transferring my blogspot blog to wordpress. I'm tech-challenged, so I'm very nervous. All the luck with this issue!
ReplyDeleteIs your Blogger working okay now? Last week while I was trying to write my photo post the ability to load photos was down for most of a day--so your problem might not have been you. Though your error message isn't the same as I got. This kind of problem has me looking seriously at migrating my blog to Wordpress or similar, as Blogger just doesn't seem to do what I need.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember how Blogger worked when I had my sailing blog on it from 2007 to 2015. I do know that I happily changed to WordPress for my current blog (since 2015) and have no regrets. I hope someone can help you out. And, wow, you have many projects to keep you busy - great to have such an awesome team behind you as well. Thanks for co-hosting this month, J.!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for cohosting this month. My books sit for different periods of time. Mostly, it depends on life intrusions. LOL Good luck with your revisions.
ReplyDeleteThanks for co-hosting! I wait a few weeks after I finish the whole thing to look back at it. Hope you were able to get your pictures uploaded again!
ReplyDeleteThank you for co-hosting! Yeah, each book is not created equal! Each has its own challenges and lifelines and life. :)
ReplyDelete♥.•*¨Elizabeth Mueller¨*•.♥