I'm still here, just working and writing my life away! (The working part doesn't thrill me, but the writing part does!)
I've made a ton of progress on my book, and I'm definitely going to publish it. Right now, I'm just working on fleshing out some scenes that were already written and expanding upon some of the character relationships. I know what these relationships are supposed to be like and how they developed, but in re-reading through the book from start to finish, I've realized that the relationships haven't been explained or developed as fully as they should be, so I'm writing more scenes between certain characters so that events that happen toward the end of the book and in the next book don't just jump out at you out of nowhere. As I was reading, trying to imagine myself reading it for the first time, I ended up going "Whoa, wait, where did that come from? I mean, I know where it came from, but I didn't back that up at all earlier." So I'm fixing those things, and then sending it off to a very small, diverse group of trusted friends to read, edit, and give suggestions. After all of that is fixed and loose ends are neatly tied up, I have a very good book blogger friend who has agreed to read and review it for me. :D I'm working on covers, but as my graphic design skills aren't excellent, I may resort to asking someone else I know to design the cover for the book. Once all of that is stowed away, I can publish it as a Kindle book. If all goes well, I may even make it paperback and publish it for Nook as well.
All of this is in the works, but the fact that I actually have a plan for it for the first time ever and I'm this close to finishing it has me really excited and ready to just go for it. I want to publish it now, but I have to keep reminding myself that to make it the best version it can be, I need to take the time to make sure everything is done properly.
Eeeeeeeek! There. Some of my excitement is out. Hehe.
Another thing that I'm looking into as I'm writing this is the possibility of editing/proofreading things for people and getting paid to do it. I recently read about a site called Fiverr where you can promote certain business skills and get paid to do things, like graphic design (not for me!), proofreading, editing, researching topics...even things like painting pictures, singing, voice-overs, or creating company logos. I read about this in a book by Gerry Marrs called "How to Make $800 Per Month: Starting Tonight! A "no-hype" realistic plan you can implement...". Yeah, sounds crazy, but it was only $0.99. Plus, I also bought his book "How to Write, Edit, and Self-Publish Your First eBook: Make Money Writing Instant International Bestsellers!" first, and it turned out to be pretty good and an informative read for what I want to do. So, for $0.99, I figured why not? It was an interesting read as well, and I won't lose anything by signing up for this site if no one is interested in having me edit/proofread their stuff, but if I can make a little bit of money that can towards paying off my student loans, especially if it's by doing something that I actually enjoy, I'm all in.
I'll leave you all with this picture of my cat, who has finally decided that snuggling with me isn't such a bad thing and ended up curling up on the couch with me last night while I wrote and binged on watching House.
ALSO: We have kittens at the house! One of the skittish, wild cats from outside went from looking like she'd swallowed a basketball yesterday morning to being slim and fit yesterday afternoon, and when Grandpa and I went looking for the kittens, we found them. Here. In the oldest, dirtiest box she could find, apparently. The boxes haven't been refurbished in forever because the two cats that are left outside almost never use them, but the second of the two is much nicer than this. So excuse the nasty bedding, but mama cat chose it, not us! If she lets me near her babies without fussing or trying to move them, I might try to change out the bedding for some cleaner newspaper. But for now, this is what they've got, and the babies really don't seem to mind. They have more important things to think about - like sleeping and snuggling and hissing at anything they sense nearby that isn't their mom. The one at the bottom of the picture was hissing at me the whole time I had the box open and was taking this picture. Sooooooo scary. lol
So, that's what I've been up to lately. What have you all been doing? Comment below with your thoughts on Fiverr, writing, exciting things (or not exciting things - I just like reading comments and knowing that someone out there is interested in and getting something from my writing! lol)...
