Reading Update and Starting Over

It’s never a good feeling to start over. At least, not for me.

I realized I messed up something in Ghostly Protector when the ending was happening too soon and I hadn’t even really gotten started on the romance! Luckily my friends gave me some suggestions, but it still comes down to starting over. It’s not like I haven’t done that before. In fact, that’s what I did with the last ghost book, Ghostly Interlude.

Oh hell. Am I doomed to do that with all the books in this series? Gosh, I hope not!! Not fun. Not fun at all!

Here’s what I read since my last update:

Book #48

Dates read: October 30-November 12
Title: Demons Will Be Demons
Year of publication: 2018
Author: AE Jones
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series:  The Realm Book 1
# of Pages: 223
Paper or plastic: Trade paperback
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from book: When hotel inspector, Tallulah Thompson, is called in along with her pug, Franny, to investigate renovation delays, she meets an extremely annoyed and dapper turn-of-the-century innkeeper. The only problem is he’s in limbo, neither dead nor alive, and Tallulah and the pug are the first to see him in a hundred years. Cursed by a medicine woman, “Love ‘em and Leave ‘em Lucius” Stewart is stuck between worlds until he finds his true love and gives her his heart. When he first sees Tallulah, he doesn’t know what he’s feeling. Yet, her stunning beauty, and feisty attitude pull him in. With the fate of Hotel LaBelle on the line, Tallulah with the help of a powerful medicine woman turns Lucius back into a flesh and blood man. She and Lucius team up to save the hotel, but Tallulah can't help but wonder if he will ever let go of his past love and learn to love again. Misha Sokolov is one frustrated demon. While his professional life with the Bureau of Supernatural Relations is rewarding, his personal life is woefully lacking. His teammates Kyle and Jean Luc have found their mates (with his help, he might add). Was it too much to ask for his happy ever after?
    When Misha finally meets an amazing demon female who could be THE ONE, Fate conspires against him. With the escalating tensions between the earth and realm demons, and his newest case involving supernatural seven-year-old twins, he’s too busy for romance.
    Callie, a human female, can’t seem to convince her half-demon sons that using their powers in front of humans is a bad thing. The more time Misha spends with her, the more he realizes she’s keeping secrets. When these secrets jeopardize both her and her sons, Misha will stop at nothing to keep them safe.. Because instead of conspiring against him, Fate may have put a spunky, green-eyed woman and her incorrigible sons in his path for a reason.
My thoughts: This was cute and I enjoyed reading it. It’s a spinoff of another one of her series, but I wasn’t confused or anything, so a nice way to become introduced to this author. Although I purchased this series from the author when I met her a couple of months ago, I’m really glad I liked her writing and will have no problems reading the other two next.

So … when you discover you’ve messed up, are you gung ho in fixing it or do you get depressed looking at all the work laying ahead? I wish I was gung ho, but I will fix my story. After I’ve had time to sulk about it. The snow on the ground ain’t helping my mood any, either.

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Writing and Getting Stuck and Starting Over

For those who celebrate, Happy Good Friday and Happy Easter.

My husband has the day off today, which will probably mean I won’t get much writing done.

I don’t know why that is, either. It’s like when he’s here, I feel guilty writing! I shouldn’t. Especially when he expects me to.

Now, when we’re on a cruise, I have NO PROBLEM writing with him sitting beside me. Of course, he’s usually reading or playing a game (on his phone or iPad), so I shouldn’t have any problem writing at home when he’s here. But I do. Call me strange. I know I am.

As for writing my current project…I got tired of being stuck. I’m taking a class on adding conflict, because I though that might be the problem with my book. Well… it is! I don’t have enough conflict to sustain the story (duh! That’s why I’m stuck!). It’s kind of funny, though, because I’ve never had this problem before. Not like this, anyway.

So, based on another article I read (it’s like my muse has thrown all these articles and classes on conflict in my face, telling me to get with it!), I’m going to re-draft my book. What is re-drafting? Basically starting from scratch. I printed out what I’ve written already (210 pages worth!!!) and I’m taking that and writing it into a fresh document. As I re-write the book, I will determine where to add more conflict. I’m already getting lots of ideas, and made some minor changes so far (I’ve only re-written the first two chapters), so apparently this process has some merit after all. Which is good. I really want to finish the first draft of this thing.

So since I’m basically just typing from my old manuscript, I should be able to write if my husband is sitting nearby. Of course, I could always take my work to another room. Except there isn’t another room where I could comfortably write. Maybe I should just kick him to another room.

Yeah, like that would work—not!

In other news… My hubby has finished formatting Blind Temptation for mobi and epub. Yay! Hope to get that sucker uploaded and for sale really soon. In fact, I’m hoping Monday’s post will tell you where you can buy it. I hope a lot, don’t I?

Tomorrow my hubby, my daughter, and I will be going to Columbus to see the Pittsburgh Penguins play the Columbus Blue Jackets. I expect to see a huge Pittsburgh turnout, since that’s usually the case. It’s the first game I’ve gone to all season (and most likely the only) and it’s the first game I get to wear my new black & gold jersey (#87 Crosby). Can’t wait. Let’s go Pens!!

So… have you ever had to start over from scratch? Did it feel pointless or invigorating? I’m happy to say I’m feeling invigorated. Yay!

Have a good weekend!

Stacy

$6 Movie Night and Other Stuff

Last night I was in a blur. I completely forgot I told my daughter that we'd go to the movies after work. Thank goodness the flick didn't start until 7:00pm. No disastrous finagling of time at work (like last week), because I would have failed again – miserably!

We went to see Woman in Black. Sufficiently creepy, I'll tell you. And that's about all I'll say. If you like your horror movies on the "cleaner" side (meaning, not gross), then this is the movie for you. Had enough to make me jerk in my seat numerous times (and I fought the urge to cover my eyes). I think I even screamed a little at one scene.

Now, the reason the day was in a blur? I accepted a new job and quit the old. Yep. That's right. In two weeks I'll be driving to a new place of employment. A place closer to home. I couldn't believe how fast it all went. It wasn't all that long ago that I sent in my resume!

I look forward to the shorter drive into work. And I look forward to the change, but dread starting over. Because that's what I'm doing. If the drive wasn't killing me, I don't know if I would have quit the old – that's how much I hate starting over. Oh, sure, I would have bitched and groaned (just ask my husband), but starting over scares me more. I hope this is the last job I ever have to take.