Finding my spot

Posted on October 19, 2014 by Melanie Eden

The boyfriend and I moved to a new place two years ago, and I’ve been looking for a spot since then.  I spent time at the kitchen table, and tried working outside both on my patio and on our cute balcony, but those places didn’t feel quite right somehow.  I sort of found a spot when I moved my chaise to my front living room window, but it really wasn’t the best place.  It was warm and comfy in the winter last year, with my heated blanket on my toes and lappy at the ready, but I found too many problems with being there all the time.

Firstly, it was in the main room of our row house condo.  If I lived alone, this would not have been a problem, but since I share space, sometimes this means that there will be other people over when I need some me time.  This was made clear to me last November when I was participating in NaNoWriMo for the very first time, and we had a house full of people.  Its really hard to explain to people that your not really trying to ignore them to be rude, but that you really have stuff to do.

Secondly, there isn’t really a good way to set myself up so that I can have papers and things around me for reference while I’m busy.  I’ve never realized before how important that extra space is to me, and how much I need to be able to spread out when I’m trying to get thoughts strait in my head.

There were other things that made that first spot challenging on occasion, but it really was my best option at the time, and I did get a lot done there over the past year or so.  But I wanted a better place, some place that I could sit down and be comfortable, and have all of my stuff.

Over the past few months, with some help, I’ve finally converted our second bedroom into my own little office space with a view.  Its been my project, and while I’m not completely finished getting everything put together, its usable, and I already feel more comfortable.  Hell, for the first time ever, I bought myself a real office chair for home.  Up until now I’ve made due with whatever I could find around, just sort of dragging it to where I need it in the house, not really thinking about getting anything more suited to my needs.

This is the first time since I was a child that I’ve had a dedicated working space at home, and so far I’m in love with it.  I honestly didn’t know what I was missing in my life until now.

To make matters even better:  I have a view.  The second bedroom has four windows, two of them facing the same direction out the front of our condo as our living room.  One thing I love (Especially in the winter because we have such sort days) is seeing the sun pop over the horizon as I’m working.  Its a happy moment for me in the morning, and I’m glad that in moving myself upstairs and away from my chaise, I don’t have to sacrifice my morning sunshine.

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The ultimate revision quest

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Melanie Eden

I’m more then half way through writing the rough draft of my story, and last week I realized that I have a whole lot of fixing I need to do.  Like start at the beginning and re-work the whole story fixing.  Mostly characterization things to do with my main character, but those are things that will affect the overall feeling and some specifics of what I’ve already done.

Its going to take a while to get them sorted out, and while I was thinking about it I fond myself wondering what was the best way to go about it.  Should I continue to write from where I am, and worry about the massive re-writes until I’m finished with my first draft, or is it a better idea to go back and sort out all of my problems now before I go on?  I’m not sure there is one good answer to that question, I need to figure out which one works the best for me.  Maybe I’ll use a pro / con chart to help me decide, or maybe I should stick to my goal:  Have my rough draft done by the end of October so that I can start the second part in November.

It seems likely that I’ll go that route, because I’m really keen to keep going with this story.  This bit of fiction that I’ve been dreaming about on and off for years, but only this last year managed to get the lions share of it put done in any semblance of order.  Its always been a trilogy for me, always been a progression for my characters to work through and discover themselves.

Re-writes and editing for me normally go hand in hand.  I have a weird system, in which I basically sit down with a copy of what I’ve written, that has been read by a third party and notations have been added regarding flow, clarity, spelling, and grammar.  I use this copy and re-type the whole thing, and make all of the corrections I find on my own, as well as taking in to account the other things that have been noted.

Its a long process, but I think I like it better then some others I’ve tried.  Editing is a necessary evil, and I despise it with a passion.  I’m always looking for something I can do to make it more bearable.

On another note, September wasn’t a very productive month for me, as shown by not only my lack of writing, but my lack of weekly blogs.  I’ve tried the weekly update thing in the past, and I’m not always very good with it.  This is something I’m really trying to stick to this time, because I think it helps keep me on track, and get something significant done each week.  I always struggle with this, but when I do manage to reach my goals, I feel so much better about where I’m headed.

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Not comfortable

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Melanie Eden

photo (6)Its one of those days. I’ve gotten up early, and come downstairs to my trusty chaise. Opened up my front window curtain to let in the morning sunshine, and booted up the lappy.

After spending the obligatory time on social media, I’m good to go mentally, and I know that I’m ready to work on getting some words down.

I get down a few sentences and have to stop. I move the lappy and adjust where I’m sitting, re-fluff the pillows at the small of my back, and re-settle myself to try again.

Another few sentences. Shuffle over to rest more in the corner of the back, and slant my legs diagonally across the foot rest.

Re-reading what I’ve written, and shift to the other corner, this time trying something different, and hanging a single leg off of the side of the chaise.

This is not working, and I’m beginning to sense a pattern. I’m just not comfortable in my spot today. It happens occasionally, and man is it annoying.

I’ve gotten up entirly and gotten something to drink, sat back down, and now I’m sitting cross legged, lappy leaning against my knees and slanting into the cushions beneath it.

This might work for a while.

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Darkness Falls – Erin Kellison

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Melanie Eden

I bought another anthogy of books, and again I’ve found a few gems I’ve fallen in love with.

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Darkness Falls takes us into a alternate reality where dreams -or Reve’s – are lucidly controlled by individuals who have the talent to do so. They are no longer just a place you go when you are asleep, but a highly coveted place to live out your fantasy’s, with little or no repercussions in the waking world.

Like most pleasure-based industries, its been highly regulated and mediated, and with all of the added security, it also comes with a high price tag. Supply and demand at its finest. There are always underground ways to gain access to the wonders of the Reve’s, but they come with risks you might not find with the higher end providers – Faulty equipment, questionable venues ect.

The Reve’s are policed by a security company – Chimera. Individuals who also are always on the look out to recruit the best and most promising Revers, with high aptitudes in the dreamscape: able to manipulate the visages to their liking, maneuver between multiple dreamscapes, and transverse across the barriers into other Reve’s with little or no extra effort.

The overall premise of this book had me hooked from the cover description. Getting used to some of the book’s lingo took a few chapters, but was well worth the time spent. Romance is easy to find, romance with fabulous world building is worth its weight in gold.

I loved the main characters, Jordan – a feisty business woman, who while sweet and strait-laced on the outside, has a wild and playful side you enjoy getting to know, and Rook – a chimera marshal with a sordid past. Their chemistry was magnificent, and definitely made me want to see more of them.

These two characters are thrown together when Jordan gains the notice of both Chimera – for her incredible aptitude in the Reve’s, and by an underground organization who only has an inkling of what she might be capable of should she ever set foot inside one – the first time she enters a Reve at the insistence of her younger sister. We immediately learn more about the dark side of Reve’s, outside of the glitz and glamour of the commercially available and regulated ones coveted by the masses.

This book was written as the first part of a serial series – short almost half-books that are released quickly as part of an ongoing arc (and if there is a better name for those, I really like to know) but despite the shortness, it didn’t disappoint. The plot was satisfying, and didn’t feel like the author tried to end it half way, or before coming to a natural conclusion of the particular story.

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Goals for 2014 – Family Reunion

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Melanie Eden

New inspiration for old projects is something that happens to me on  a regular basis.  I write because there are things that I want to read, and no one has written what I’ve thought of yet.   I’ve started projects and found myself getting stuck on more then one occasion, and have moved on to another project before resolving the problem that I had.  Because of this, I have in total about 4 projects I’ve been working on forever.

Recently, I’ve gotten very serious about Touch of Destiny and Eternal Promises, and I’ve resolved to get some good progress done with each of them before the year is out.  I’ve mostly succeeded with this goal so far, almost writing 40k words for Touch of Destiny, and adding at least another 10k, plus some major editing to Eternal Promises.  This while still maintaining a regular job, working sometimes 200 + hours a month.

I’m happy with myself and my progress, but I would like to see myself get more done.  I think my goal for Eternal Promises is to get at least 2 new chapters done before the end of this year, and for Touch of Destiny:  I would really love to finish the first draft of it in its entirety, and I’m looking at that being about 60-80k words.  This might be a little bit ambitious, but I think I really have a chance of getting at least one of them accomplished.

I spent a little bit of time this weekend while I was at a family reunion, getting some thoughts strait in my head about another project, but I think I’m just going to keep them penned for further review at a later time for now.  I’m not so sure its a great idea for me to get distracted with too many things, when I have two on the go now.

On a completely different  note, the family reunion was a nice change for the weekend.  The weather itself was good, but it was so muggy that it felt 10 degrees warmer then it really was.  It was fun to spend some time with, and talk to family that I rarely get a chance to see, but on the other hand, it really emphasized how much difference there is with all of us now as we get older.

Things were much simpler when we were children, playing scary monster hide and seek games in my cousin’s basement in the dark.

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Time keeps on slippin’

Posted on August 10, 2014 by Melanie Eden

Life is funny.  I always feel like there are so many things going on, and despite having time to do the things I want to do, I always feel like there isn’t quite enough time to all of the things I want to do.  There is always another show I want to finish watching, another few books I want to finish reading, or more editing / writing I want to do on both of my stories.

The last few weeks have been mostly about reading.  I’ve read more than a few of the books I bought over the last few months and simply forgot I had them.  I’ve enjoyed most of them so much that I wonder how I could have put off reading them for so long.  Silly crow girl, getting forever distracted by shiny objects.

I managed to finish editing a rewrite of one of my chapters from Eternal Promises earlier this week, and I’m just waiting for an independent read through to make sure I caught everything, and that it reads clearly.  Revamping old work is difficult, but oh so satisfying.

Next week I have some more edits to do for a more recent chapter that I’ve only recently finished writing, and then I’ll hand it over for another independent review.  I would like to sit down and start the next chapter as well, and maybe I’ll get the chance.

The only thing coming up this weekend is a family reunion that might throw some of my plans out the window.  Luckily, it’s not far from home, but I never seem to get as much done when I’m not in a relatively private spot, and left alone to my thoughts.

All I can do is try 😀

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Once Bitten – Trina M. Lee

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Melanie Eden

Once Bitten - Trina M. Lee

I adore this series.  I downloaded the first book a few months back, and it sat in my Kindle until a few weeks ago when I decided it was time to try it out.

If you like paranormal action and romance at all, this will appeal to you.  Its another smaller world that takes place under the surface of our own, but its real, messy, and deadly.  Alexa O’brian is the protagonist, and she is very strong and capable, not needing anyone to hold her hand while she takes care of business as a hunter for hire.  She is a werewolf with an extra kick of power that makes her excellent at her job.

The first book in the series shows her a little bit confused romantically, but it only leads to interesting plot development later on in the book.

We meet her at an interesting point in her life, she is happy where she is, in both her job and her acceptance of her werewolf condition.  She has strong and capable friends as a reliable support network, and she’s not in the middle of any particular crisis.  She gets drawn into trouble by her pack Alpha, and former lover, when he calls her one night to bail him out of jail after one of his old conquests ends up dead, and he is the prime suspect.

I think one of the things I enjoy the most about these books is that there seems to be all sorts of things going on at the same time as the main plot piece.  We’re learning about where Alexa lives, what she dose during her regular time when she’s not being a kick ass huntress, and about her regular work days as well.  The main story is important, and enjoyable, but the side plots don’t take away from the overall enjoyment of the story in the slightest, but enhance it.

The other thing that’s interesting and exciting for me, is the fact that the author is not only Canadian, but an Alberta resident.  A story that takes place so close to where I live myself makes me incredibly giddy, and anxious to read as many of the books in this series as possible.

I’ve finished the first four books, and I’m still enjoying them.

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Switching gears

Posted on July 26, 2014 by Melanie Eden

Being up and awake early is always the way I like to start my day when I want to get writing done.  I like the silence and stillness of the morning before the chaos and rushing of the afternoon hits.

This morning as I got my breakfast ready, I thought about what I wanted to spend my time with this morning, and decided almost immediately that I wanted to spend the day making corrections / edits to an Eternal Promises chapter, and then move forward and work on completing the new chapter for it as well.  I’ve been spending a lot of time with Touch of Destiny these past few weeks, tweaking things that I’ve previously written, and moving forward with adding new chapters / scenes.  I’ve been feeling really good about it, and I’ve been able to slowly make it feel like it has a voice of its own rather then a monotone telling of events.  This is excitement.

As excited as I am by ToD, I’m still deeply in love with EP.  I’ve spent so much time and energy on it, and I refuse to let it go.  I always come back to it, and one day I’m going to finish it completely and when that time comes, I’m going to be happy with it.

I’ve been working on some major overhauls of the previous chapters.  They are so old, and when they were written originally I was more in a rush to get them down on paper then to actually stop and look at them objectively to see if they could be better.  I also didn’t know then what I know now, and even things like the grammar and the word choices make me cringe.  Its a long arduous project to get this story up to snuff, but its so worth it.  I feel like I’m fixing something magical every time I get a chance to step back look at the improvements.

The newer chapters for the EP are getting difficult for me because I’m nearing the point where I need to make a decision about the ending.  There are a few directions that I’ve toyed with over the years, but none of them have ever really jumped out at me as being the one and only possibility.  I suspect that I already know what is going to happen, but I’ve been writing this story for so long that maybe I’m a little sad to see it end.

I know that part of the reason why I’m having difficulty with the newer chapters is because I’m writing things I’ve never had a lot of experience with writing.  I’m always ready for a challenge, but sometimes its easier to see something done by others then to try and figure out how to do it yourself.  I’ve spent a lot of time researching and I’ve tried my hand at this one technique in the past for personal entertainment only, but I’ve never done the sorts of scenes that I’m working on now with the intention of someone else reading them.  Its intimidating to say the least.

I read an interview, or maybe it was just an article, about Stephen King last week.  In it he said something along the lines of: one of the things that writers need to do to be better at writing is to force themselves to be uncomfortable, and write about the subject matter that you know isn’t light and fluffy.  People are not perfect, and as a writer its your job to show that about your characters.  You need to make them real, and then your audience can identify with them, and bond with them.

I’m going to try and keep that in mind today as I tackle things that aren’t my strong suit as a writer.  I’m not going for a word count today, and that in itself makes the day feel different, but sometimes different is okay.

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Finding the time

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Melanie Eden

The hardest thing for me when it comes to writing, is finding the time.  I’ve been working a lot lately, and when I finally do get home, its in time to head to bed.  The last thing on my mind is staying up later then I can handle in order to get a word count or a page count done.

I’ve read a few articles and watched a few interviews with some fairly major authors recently, and its made me start to realize that if I want to get anything done, all that the focus should be on is starting.  Even 300 words, is 300 words more then I had the night before, and over the course of the week that could end up being a few thousand.  300 words a night for a whole year is over 100k, which is a book.

Normally I’ll wait until I have a block of uninterrupted time and pound out a few thousand words, but then not be able to look at anything for a week or so.  It might actually make my process harder because I spend more and more time away from my characters and plot that I need time to refresh myself when I go back finally.

So I’ve been trying something new starting from today.  I’ve gotten 800 words in today so far, but as its a non work day, I’m hoping for more.  I have a weekend to get some respectable work done, and then starting Monday I’m going to test my resolve and get 300 words down.  Might as well start small.  When I have 2 major projects that I’ve been working on, and all I want to do is finish them, every little bit counts.

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Focus on Creating

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Melanie Eden

Everyone has a different technique, a unique set of steps that they follow to get themselves into the right mindset to begin creating.  In art, this can be scribbling a few lines on a piece of blank paper, and in writing it might be establishing a time or a place that you feel drawn to.

We are so easily distracted now, by social media, the internet, and general day to day things that sometimes getting that focus, to let those extraneous things go can be very hard.  Finding that space in our minds that allows us to create new worlds and adventures is even harder when we know where to find mindless entertainment without much effort.  Creating things is easy, but making them tangible both to ourselves and others is hard.

Until only last year, I would physically wait for inspiration to find me before I would attempt to sit down and get anything done on a project.That is not the way if you are serious about about wanting to make something wonderful.  Every serious author or artist will tell you that you need to fail sometimes before you can succeed, and that means sitting down and forcing yourself to create even when you don’t feel like you can.

Nothing in life is easy, and the best things in life require more then just a little effort.  The most wonderful masterpieces sometimes take years to perfect, and those are the things where you literally stand in awe of the finished product, soaking in the intricate details of everything that makes it simply breath taking, not just beautiful.

I feel like the tone of this post is aimed more at art then writing, and that might be because last weekend I spent a few days at the Edmonton Art Walk enjoying the beautiful weather and loving that for a few days, there was a chance to view a good sampling of the multitudes of artists in and around my own city during a single event.  It was glorious, and even though I don’t make art in the typical sense, I found myself spending more time appreciating the art for the level of detail and time you could see was put into each and every piece displayed.

Is that not what writers do as well?  Our work can be just as easily broken down into time spent perfecting what it is that we’ve penciled out, refining the wording, cutting away the extraneous parts that take away from the bigger picture.  Every book or story looks the same at a glance, but it takes someone to spend a little bit of time with a piece of written art to see the true beauty that lies within.

This is why we don’t have writers walks, they would take too long to get through.

And that brings me back to the point, and the place where I started today: Focus.  I’m going to take that little bit of child-like awe I got last weekend while I was letting my eyes and heart delight in the beautiful colors and visages of someones’s hard work drift past, almost in a blur as I catch sight of another wonder just around the bend, and I’m going to remember how long a masterpiece takes to create.  I’m going to poke away at it slowly and surly, and gradually smooth out the rough parts until I know that what I have in front of me, be it on a screen or on paper, has been scoured and picked at so many times that it can’t help to be perfect in its own right.  Because this is what we do.  We create, and nothing that has been created was ever perfect the first time it came off of a drawing board.

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