Beverly Jenness's Blog: Daily Struggles of an Unknown Author - Posts Tagged "stone-city"

Finished the writing of book two last night, 'From Earth to Terra, Stone City'. Now come the 'fun' part. The editing and polishing. Looks like I'm still on track for a December release. Would LOVE to make it my Cyber Monday but I think that is a touch aggressive, maybe not. Only time will tell.
Book two picks up the morning after the exodus, with our clan trying to figure out. "What next?" With no play book, they struggle to figure out what and how to do everything. With the threat of winter looming on the horizon, the pressure is on to amass food stores to make it through until spring.
Watch for my giveaway of 'From Earth to Terra, Stone City' some time around Halloween.

I was up early this morning, before the sun, thanks to my four legged alarm that does not have a snooze button( my 13 year old rat terrier).
So, with my cup of tea ( prefer coffee but I don't like it without my coffeemate, which isn't on my diet) and my laptop, I snuggled down into my rocker/recliner and picked up editing 'From Earth to Terra: Stone City'. Things were going well. So well I actually felt the earth move.
Wait, we felt the earth quake that centered in Pawnee, OK ( and I'm in Wichita, KS) 5.6 or .7 I've heard both. Put a damper on my editing. I keep checking Facebook for up dates.
On a side note, my son was fishing and sent me a text. Apparently the fish were confused or frightened and started jumping out of the water. Is that normal?

My husband wants to do the final edit on my book ( bless his little pea pickin' heart!) OK, no problem, except he wants a hard copy. OK, I can do that, I have a printer and a case of paper I just bought ( on sale because of back to school time) Lets fire it up! I start printing the first 90 pages ( first two chapters) I leave and come back. It has stopped printing, out of ink. Replace the ink and fire it up again. Cool , all done. Oops, the page numbers didn't print. No problem, I can write the numbers on the pages. As I'm numbering the pages by hand, I notice about three lines of text, per page, can't be reads very well and not the same three lines either. They bounce around all over the pages. If you knew my husband, you would know this is totally unexceptable. So I go into "printers" and then "printer properties" to diagnose the problem, misaligned and dirty. Get everything back in order and start printing again, this time, only one chapter at a time. Walk away to do something else and when I get back, it has stpped printing, "out of paper" message. Nope plenty of paper. Pull the paper out, put it back and off we go again. Prints a couple of pages then same message, "out of paper" I take the paper out and replace it again, start printing again. I go through this three more times. Finally everything seems to be working correctly, leave and come back. It has stopped printing again. "Out of paper" error. Get it printing again and I notice a few sheets of paper on the floor. My printer has spit a couple of pages onto the floor. Remember, they're not numbered. So I have to figure out where they go. I finally get the first chapter printed, manage to get the orphaned pages back where they belong and get the pages all numbered. It's been a long afternoon. Not sure I even want to try chapter two!

I have changed shifts at my regular paying job. From mornings to nights. The hope is to have more "morning time" to write. I find I'm much more creative in the mornings than after a full day of work and the drama that entails. However, My body is vehemently protesting the change.

Working with my husband on the final edit of "Stone City" ( I love my husband and appreciate his help BUT he is a bit anal retentive at times) and my graphic artist on the cover ( whom I adore but as with all artist, myself included, she's a bit flighty and overly critical of her own work).

I am making plans for a short writing trip to Missouri (escaping out into the boondocks). I'm looking for peace and quiet, with few distractions, to connect better with the life and times on Terra. The plans just to get there, ugh! Rent a car, dog sitter and all the food, treats and medications ( she's an old dog) bedding and comfort toys, and then all the things for me to do; hold on paper and mail, making sure I have no deliveries scheduled during that time, taking care of laundry so I have plenty of clothes I can pack and making sure prescriptions are refilled, wouldn't want to run out of my meds. it's enough to make your head swim!

I will be signing and selling my book at the Authorpalooza Oct. 20 At the Hyatt Regency (Wichita, Kansas from 1-5) as part of the Kansas Library Associations annual conference. Had to get a card reader so I can take plastic. Simple enough task until you get into the research and set up options etc.

And all the filmy wisps of ideas for book three are starting to congeal as I begin the next addition in the "From Earth to Terra" saga.

Not to mention( but I will) on the last leg of my weight loss program (lost 73 pounds , have a dozen more to go).

I believe I'm on the tipping point. If I have one more thing added to my 'to do' list my brain WILL explode, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Cyber Monday is getting closer and I am starting to get anxious. I really want to have 'Stone City' ready for publishing by then but my graphic artist is going out of country on a vacation the first of November. I do not begrudge her the vacation, everyone should vacation when they have the opportunity. It just adds to the pressure of my self inflicted deadline.
My husband/ editor has dropped the ball as well. We took a mini vacation to Missouri. The guys camped in the woods, ate meat cooked on open fires or in smokers, didn't bathe unless it was in the river, fished, told stories around the campfire, and drank too much. If he had down time, he was going to work on editing the last chapters of 'Stone City', didn't happen and that didn't surprise me.
I stayed with one of the wives. They live 10 miles from the nearest town which is a wide spot in the road with a post office and a convienance store. 15 miles from there to the next larger town boasting a Walmart and a couple of hotels, another 15 -20 miles is a city of nearly 175,000 people. The point being, when it was dark outside, it was freakin' DARK! Not much light pollution out in the boondocks. This is what I wanted. The dark of night to see and enjoy the stars, the daytime quiet where you could hear the leaves falling in the forest. I wanted to re-connect with the primitivness, to feel the solitude my colonist would experience on their new, uninhabited planet. To re-experience the since of wonder which comes from looking into the star-filled night sky as you contemplate the mind boggling size of the universe and its millions upon millions of stars and their orbiting planets.

My giveaway for 'Stone City' is complete and copies have been mailed out to the winners.
Congratulations to those who were lucky enough to win one of the ten signed, first addition copies and happy reading!
With that hurdle crossed, I am concentrating on book three. I have yet to come up with a title for the newest installment to the 'From Earth to Terra' series. I am not going to even begin to guess at a completion date as it is still in the early stages.
I am greatly hampered in my writing due to an auto accident my husband and I were involved in New Year's Day. The other car ran a red light and I receive a crushed vertebrae requiring surgery and the installation of titanium rods and screws to the tune of 30 grand. It is painfully for me to sit at my desk and I have been looking for alternate ways to write. The first draft is done long hand and I can do that most anywhere but when I transpose the manuscript into the computer is where the trouble comes in. I tried standing at our pub table with my laptop but that was a no go. I'm too short to do that comfortably especially since I lost an inch and a half with the accident. I have managed to do some work sitting on the couch with my laptop but I am only comfortably in a modified fetal passion; simi reclined with my feet braced on the edge of the couch. Difficult to write in that position. But not to worry.
I will persevere, overcome and succeed!

We are not even half way through the year and I have had all the negatives I can take. I ALWAYS attempt to put a positive spin on everything.
When we had our car wreck and I had to have back surgery to stabilize a crushed vertebrae, I used the time off to get the cover for book 2 done and publish "Stone City". I knew too, that late in the year or earlier next year, I would receive a small monetary settlement. A month after the wreck, our sewer backed up in the basement. I was able to use what funds the insurance company gave us to upgrade the entire basement. (Something we had been wanting to do for years!) If I had still been working, it would have been a logistical nightmare dealing with the insurance company, the restoration company and the contractors.
But now, I have no positive spin. I had to put my dog, Missy, to sleep May 1, 2017 at 3:47 am.
It was her birthday, she was 14 years old. We had been through a lot together. When I came home from the hospital, from the car wreck, she wouldn't leave my side. I am still emotionally raw and I know, in time, the pain will ease. I hope, in time I can find a positive spin, for me, in her loss. I know it was best for her, her heart was failing, and her lungs were filling with fluids. She had cateracts and couldn't see very well, plus arthritis. She took pain meds daily for it. I know it was the right thing for her. I know she is better off now. She isn't suffering any longer, but the hole in my heart will be along time in healing.
Thanks for letting me share her story.