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the Writing Process

The Writing Process – Preptopber 13, 2021

 

Also known as a habit, whether you develop the practice of writing ten pages a day or continue with the speed of NaNoWriMo at One thousand six hundred sixty seven words a day, the key to being an accomplished writer in my point of view is to continue with one story until it is finished. 

If you can not finish the story, and you constantly go on to the next story idea you have, oftentimes you will find other authors no longer take you seriously in the craft of writing. 

Consistency with word count – Five hundred words consistently written each day will produce a One hundred eighty-five thousand five hundred word tomb by the end of the year.

Regularity with page counts – two pages written each day will produce a seven hundred thirty page epic saga by the end of the year.

Viscosity – using a flow of time to create words of fifteen minutes a day, will produce at least a novel by the end of the year. 

Bullet points to strive for: 

  • Consistency – word count, page count, allotted time
  • Consistency – page count, allotted time, word count
  • Consistency – allotted time, word count, page count
  • Follow through and type “The End” or “The End for Now”

 

Write for the story. Do not get attached to the outcome of your story. Let me explain, if your goal is two pages a day or five hundred words, sometimes dialogue will fall short of that five hundred, yet you have a full two pages.

So open up your document, set it to your favorite font or use one of mine (Merriweather, Book Antique, Crimson Text) and 12 px font.

Have fun writing and building a new habit.

Books, Books, Books

September brings another chance for my east coast readers to meet me in person.  This event, originally scheduled for Harrisburg, PA has moved to Carlisle, PA.  I hope to see you there.

RV challenges

Life is challenging, whether you are in an apartment, house, or RV motorhome. I, finally, found a shop that had the knowledge to fix Lucy the Shark. The suspension is being repaired, she is getting an alignment and new brakes. According to Paul at Acme Springs in Dayton, Ohio, she will be returned to me sometime this week. He has been super about keeping me updated.

The riverfront campsite I rented for the year, I won’t be renting next year. Jim, successfully sold the campground last Friday and the new owners will take full possession on October 11. Tonya, the new owner informed me last night they wanted to ‘rent’ my site, that I have a yearly contract and paid a year in advance, to overnighters since I was not using it.  Excuse me? After explaining my rig was in the shop, she got even more snippy about why I wouldn’t allow her to rent my spot to temporary overnighters. Needless to say, I won’t renew my contract with these folks.

While that sounds icky and sour, I am not. I was taken aback by her attitude, but in my world, something better is coming along.  Originally I wanted closer to my girls during the summer and will begin looking in the one-hour travel time area today.

The improvements with Lucy are beyond groovy. The fifty-five-inch television is totally hidden within the cabinet that still needs painting. Then the living room will be totally done except for a throw rug. Joe and Cleo love the couch.

Remember the wobbly driver’s seat? Well, the new pedestal arrived and is ready for install when Acme Springs is done with Lucy’s new suspension and brakes. I decided to wait on actual new captain chairs for now.

Moving into the bedroom area, all curtains and decor have arrived. I’ll paint the walls, but not the woodwork.

Oh, you may or may not know, Jeeps have Easter Eggs. For example, my #2 daughter’s C-7 has a spider embossed in the gas tank door and a lizard someplace else.  This gave me the idea to put USN and Shark-themed puffy stickers in out-of-the-way, fun places for the grandchildren to discover on their visits with Grammy. Oh yeah, the four-year-old sings Grammy Shark when she visits.

Will I repaint the Shark? Yes. She is fun and draws attention, but the paint is flaking and I will need to repaint her next year. My focus this year was getting her upgraded for me to travel in. I’m thinking cream and blue for the exterior. Although, I did consider a vinyl wrap, except they only last about seven years.

Let me know your thoughts about future improvements.  Photos of the interior will arrive when she is returned to me and we get settled at the river.

Successful wishes to you!

 

My new-to-me RV

These last couple of exciting months have provided me with the sale of my old class C RV and a new-to-me RV. As some of you know from my meanderings, in 2017 I was suppose to purchase a Class A Rexall that my friend had renovated and that fell through when she decided to keep it.  It had the floor plan I dreamed of and zero slide-ins to have anything go wrong. Then 2021 came along and another buddy had a lifestyle change and decided to sell her RV.  I hired Vagabond RV Solutions to do an inspection and bought my airline ticket to go retrieve my new to me RV with slide outs. My old class C sold in less than two days after I put it on Facebook Marketplace. I had my license plates in hand and ready to get my new home. Well, my luck did not hold out and she reneged on the sale two days before my scheduled flight making me houseless.

On the upside of things, I have an RV site on the river for my spring/summer time in Ohio. I love my spot on river.  When it rains on the river and floods, I will then move to my home in the hollow or travel. So far, I haven’t spent any time on the river due to decorating and making the RV I did purchase mine.

Things really looked sad in June when things were falling apart left and right. I’m so glad I took the set backs in stride and began looking again.  My eldest says, “Mom, let’s go look at this one.” I told her I was looking for a condo and not a quan set hut. Then we went to see what this offered.

Ignoring the custom paint job, I viewed the interior.  It is not the Rexall, but it is a close runner up.  The floor is wood plank.

The front seats swivel for additional seating. The fold out table against the wall at one time had a chair beside it. The TV is the Panasonic in the cockpit dash. The walls and upholstery were denim blue-gray. I felt as if I had stepped on to a USN ship once again.

Fast forward. I bought it after I had my mechanic check it over.  Now, unlike the Class C, he can not work on it because it is 34 feet long and a tri-axle. It has a Chevy workhorse chassie and a 454 engine, plus an aluminum frame and roof. It is a 1990 Holiday Rambler Imperial, that sports a custom paint job in a classic rendition of the WW2, Bomber aircraft.

Say hello to Lucy Shark, and her theme song is the verse: Grammy Shark, doo doo doo doo doo.

Next Blog post will be a tour inside of her since I have made her mine.

Update.

Life is looking up for me. I sold my home to my grandson. He is the sixth generation to live there. Not many grandkids can say they knew five generations of those six, either.
As I move on with selling my Class C and purchasing a Class A, my work in

Cynthia Carver, paranormal suspense author, mystic realism, Small Bit of Justice, the Missing Locket, Renee D. Pellegrino
        Tracy and Cady’s mud slide adventure                                                  Title TBA. 

progress is coming along and appears to be a serial crime spree with lots of humor mixed in. I recently visited my sister and we reminisced about all the things we had done and wah lah I decided to include them into the story. I may revise Small Bit of Justice and add more of Sis’s and my experiences into it as things Tracy and her sidekick Lehana get into.

Have a great adventure today, whether it is going to get ice cream or hiking around the block.

Online Book Signings

May 2020, consisted of two online book signings.  It was a pleasure to meet with readers virtually though the webcasts. Books were signed and mailed the day after each event.

The CABIN FEVER ANTHOLOGY is coming along. It is comprised of six authors, romance, and having cabin fever.  Look for it to arrive on Amazon in July.

 

What is an anthology?

Sunny Abernathy, A Lie in the Cabin, Renee Pellegrino, Rewrite, Stephanie Spicer, Kristy Lynde, Roxie St. James, Family Matters, Cynthia Carver,Halloween Masquerade. Author, romance, paranormal suspense, indie author, authors, contemporary romanceWith the pandemic and negative news articles spreading around, I stuck my head in the sand with five other women and began working on an anthology.  You might ask, “What is an anthology?” Well, let me tell you, it is a fantastic project to be involved in.

An anthology is a collection of writings by various authors in the same genre, time period, or subject. Another type is a collection of selected writing by one author. I will be a part of the first type.

Cabin Fever is what many people experienced while under the stay-at-home order or lockdown during the Covid-19 outbreak, and that inspired the name of our collection of writings.

This is my first attempt into the romance genre. The heat range on this anthology is fade-to-black. While I write erotic short stories, they aren’t formula romance.  Halloween Masquerade is my first published attempt in the romance genre.

In fact, we consider each author in this collection a new author. Sunny Abernathy writes A Lie in the Cabin, Renee Pellegrino writes Rewrite, Stephanie Spicer writes Untitled At this Time, Kristy Lynde writes Untitled At this Time, Roxie St. James writes Family Matters, and I wrote Halloween Masquerade.

All proceeds from this book go to sponsor the NaNoWriMo Support Sisters real life writing retreat in November of each year.