Writer's Paradise discussion

I have to admit, right off, I write more than Regency-set novels. That is just what I am known for under this particular pseudonym. I have been known to dabble in mild horror and fantasy.

Start date: August 21, 2009
Minimum daily word count: 200 words (Believe it or not, this will be a challenge. I have two small kids and a billion projects.)


So did I do my first post right and put it in the right folder?? :o)

Yes you did! welcome!! How are you I won't be here long I have to edit some more

Thank you for the super quick welcome and have fun with the edits. (I hate edits.) :o)

their evil but it took me a year to finish the story and it's like a Nanowrimo draft (how sad) so I have to make it awesome and have flow and what not

I have three manuscripts in need of edits and I'm procrastinating. One is on its (hopefully) last edit, one is on its (hopefully) second to last edit and the third is only going through its first edit. I need to force myself to do it since I want to publish two of them this year...

Instead, I'm working on a WIP that will not see the light of day until late next year (again, hopefully). Go figure. :o)

Jaimey Grant - is this you?

Welcome, welcome, welcome. Come in, sit right down. You'll feel right at home here. We'll all help you move in, furnish your cubicle, decorate - all that schtick.

I'm worried you're stalking me - but I can live with it :)

Hi, Paul! It is indeed Jaimey Grant. By the time you'd friended me at myspace, bragging that you'd found me there too, I was beginning to wonder the same thing about you. :o)

Maybe we're subconsciously stalking each other...

Damn the woman, he raged. What right did she have to come into his house, to upset him this way. He adjusted his cravat. One more glance in the mirror assuring him that he was suitably attired to meet the Frobishers. This errant governess, with her blonde tresses and sly eyes and direct way of talking would have to be dealt with later.

Hello. We'll write some horror or supernatural stuff, possibly starting in the Regency era (Hellfire club?) sometime. Maybe.

Ooo, I have been far too interested in writing something based around the Hellfire Club. They were mostly "disbanded" by the true Regency era, from what I understand, but the reverberations of their actions were still being felt.

Great paragraph, by the way. Are you secretly writing a Regency romance, Paul?

Not yet. Should I start, do you think?

Maybe. You seem to already have the basic idea down. I suspect you are a "closet" Regency reader. ;o)

Don't know - I'm liking your's so far.

True!

Welcome Jaimey! Enjoy the group.

Thanx, Annie. I'm really enjoying it already and I've only been a member for a few hours. :o)

Day 1

Today I worked on my Regency WIP, Retribution.

Words written: 438

Yay! Reached my goal for day 1. I may even write more before I head off to bed...

Hooray! *pat pat*

Thanx! I'm pretty proud of myself, actually. I've let too many distractions take away from my writing lately.

I really like this group... :o)

Day 2

Yay! I have already reached my goal for today. This is good. I have a super busy day ahead and tomorrow promises to be worse...

The MS of choice was my Regency WIP Retribution again.
Words written today: 553
To date: 991

hi Jaimey! Just stopped by to check in, great job

Howdy Jaimey. So you actually admit to knowing that smooth talking Englishman? Me too. Paul's a load of fun eh?

I'm wendy, I live on a farm in Idaho. Here in the group I've extended my farmland a bit. I'm unpublished but will try to remedy that this winter after I'm done farming. What else... oh, 5 kids too.

That's me. Nice to meet you and I lookforward to seeing more of you.

Wendy wrote: "Howdy Jaimey. So you actually admit to knowing that smooth talking Englishman? Me too. Paul's a load of fun eh?

I'm wendy, I live on a farm in Idaho. Here in the group I've extended my farmland ..."

You live in Idaho Wendy?So do I.

*sings the 'I'm going to work and I got Writing done song' *

GreenDaisy BlackStem wrote: "hi Jaimey! Just stopped by to check in, great job"

Thanx for stopping in! :o)

Wendy wrote: "Howdy Jaimey. So you actually admit to knowing that smooth talking Englishman? Me too. Paul's a load of fun eh?"

Hi, Wendy. Thanx for stopping by. I really love this group. I think it is exactly what I needed to get back on track with my writing.

I've never been to Idaho. I lived in Colorado once upon a time, about 20 miles from Colorado Springs. Farthest west I've ever been, actually. Beautiful country out there. I miss it. I live in Michigan right now, which has a charm all its own. I really do miss mountains, though...

Paul and I stalk each other around the web. He is very entertaining. :o)

"One tries," he said modestly.

Hi again, Paul. ;o)


Day 2 (still)
More words today for Retribution: 257
Today's total: 810
To date: 1248

Day 2 (still)
More words today for Retribution: 173
Today's total: 983
To date: 1421

I'm doing much better than I expected. I hope tomorrow yields another such opportunity...

:o)

Cool, keep it up. :D
My word goal is 2,000 a day. So I don't usually spend much time reaching it. (; I usually write 300 words and forget to post. I probably should bother to put it up, but...

You're much better at recording than me. :D

Nice going, Jaimey. Keep it up!

Paul wrote: "Nice going, Jaimey. Keep it up!"

Thanx, Paul! :o)

Kai wrote: "Cool, keep it up. :D
My word goal is 2,000 a day. So I don't usually spend much time reaching it. (; I usually write 300 words and forget to post. I probably should bother to put it up, but...

You..."

At one time, my goal was 1000 words per day. I had no problem reaching that for the first few days. Then the weekend hit and I was lucky to get ten. At 200 words/day, I'll still be challenged some days but have no trouble on others.

Sometimes, I'm OCD about recording details. I have a journal for my writing that I use to keep track of word counts, odd ideas relating to my Regency series, and things I really don't want to forget. I have (I think) 17 WIPs right now so taking notes is essential if I want to keep the stories straight.

Thanx for stopping by!!

Day 3

I have a family reunion today so I wanted to get some more written on Retribution.

Words written so far today: 299
To date: 1720

I got more marketing done for my currently released titles, too. I hope the rest of the day goes as smoothly...

Retribution got a little more work.

I have a question. Do any of you find yourselves skipping around when writing? You know, tapping away at one scene and then realizing the story has kind of jumped forward in your mind so that you HAVE to work on the new scene even though it takes place a lot later in the book? I keep doing this on Retribution and it's starting to drive me nuts!

Day 3

Additional words on Retribution: 232
Today's total: 531
To date: 1952

Not usually. Sometimes I switch to a different story for a bit of relief, or make plot notes for a new idea, but generally I plug away on what's currently at hand.

Hello Jaimey! Hope you'll have a good start to the new week! What you do sounds very interesting indeed, I look forward to hearing more about it!

Skipping makes things more complicated for me, but that may be because it usually ends up on millions of scraps of paper. Maybe a skipping document would remedy that?

Jaimey wrote: "Retribution got a little more work.

I have a question. Do any of you find yourselves skipping around when writing? You know, tapping away at one scene and then realizing the story has kind of jump..."

Yes. In my first story I was cronological all the way, but with this next one, I find my self writing scenes that won't happen for quite a while. I think the first story was more straight forward, and this second will be more twisty. I too wish I could just sit and put it out in order, but my brain has other ideas.

One other of my WIPs did this and I tied the scenes together, successfully, I think. I need to write the end to that novel but when I reached the end, I realized I was wrong about who the murderer was. I wrote the whole story thinking it was one person only to discover it was someone else all along. Now I have to rewrite a few minor details to make it all fit together seamlessly.

With Retribution I have managed to tie in one of the future scenes so now it is a little less insane for me. I think it will be ok.

Day 4

Retribution again: 234
To date: 2186

I hope to reach my goal the rest of this week. I know I won't this weekend. Well, maybe. I may be able to sneak a notebook on our trip this weekend...

Day 5

Ok, today I worked on Longing, yet another Regency WIP. This one is a sequel to my currently available title, Spellbound. I have to do some additional research on falconry for this one.

Today's word count: 239
To date: 2425

I enjoyed Spellbound, Jaimey. I got a little confused with the villainous Count - no spoilers here - but otherwise, I was quite hooked - will they, won't they do all sorts of things throughout the book.

Nice one!

Thanx so much, Paul! Will you be leaving a review anywhere, by any chance...? hint, hint ;oP

The count...yeah, it was pointed out to me recently I have a habit of assuming readers are in my head and know who all the characters are beforehand. I'm working on that.

I'm thrilled you enjoyed it. If you have any in-depth constructive criticism for me, I'd really appreciate an email.

jaimeygrant(at)yahoo(dot)com

Jaimey wrote: "Day 5

Ok, today I worked on Longing, yet another Regency WIP. This one is a sequel to my currently available title, Spellbound. I have to do some additional research on falconry for..."


ooh,I should put that on my to-read list

Today I finally found out how people act towards wait staff when they are TOTALLY wasted

GreenDaisy BlackStem wrote: "Today I finally found out how people act towards wait staff when they are TOTALLY wasted"

Not from personal experience, I hope...

no I mean I had to serve a crazy drunk lady. And then I got yelleld at by an incompetent casheir for it

Oh my, Daisy. Hopefully today is a better day. :o)

today i'm workin the slow shift

So Daisy:

Remembeeerrrr. Tooooo. Mooove. Veeerrry. Slooowly

lol I'll probably just be spritzing churros,traying scones, and serving drinks

Well enjoy. Any leftovers, air mail to me in a doggy bag. And anything with chilli peppers in it. I like spicy food. :)

Have a good day.

lol

Ok, I have a bit of a dilemma with Longing.

Here's the deal: If a character who is usually very calm and composed were to get pregnant (a happy event) and then miscarried, how would she react?

I have two theories here.

Either she would be calm and composed as usual with little indication that anything had happened, essentially "bottling up" her feelings, eventually exploding at a critical moment.

OR

She would become a teensy bit unpredictable, having bouts of her usual calm interspersed with bouts of weeping and anger at her husband.

What do you think? I am truly perplexed by my own character and am beginning to doubt I knew her very well at all...

I think the second. I imagine a regular person coping the best she could, mingled with moments of dispair and rage at her loss.

When my nephew died of SIDS, I clearly remember my dad (big strong, tough as nails and all that) weeping when he thought he was alone. He looked up and said, "the dissapointment is so strong, I can taste it."


He was mourning the loss of all the moments he'd never have with that grandbaby. (he babysat on weekends)

Anyway. I think you do the best you can, and then at the most innoportune moments- it just hits you all over again and you cry- or rage.