Editing is not my favorite part of writing. But I am learning it is like doing dishes. Not my favorite part of eating a meal, ya know? So one way to look at that instead of an awful chore, it is the result of actually having something to eat. That is worthy of gratitude, you know? Editing means a whole lot of story came out and was a lot of fun watching the show in my head. The muse can’t help it if I can’t type it right the first time. That said my CampNaNo editing number is now 11,323. Enough of that. Pandamapocalypse is exciting for me. My chosen cover page below.
Energy was not my best friend today. I had another doctor’s appointment. That was fun. It’s sad when fun is going to the doctor. Everything was fine, just getting the yearly check-up tests done. My walk was a little later but that was extra difficult. It felt like I was pushing EVERY step of the way. Made a little over a mile. So another excellent ‘atta girl’ to me from me!
I’m so tired right now I can’t think of another E-word to save myself or even an elephant so I best go. I’m rewarding myself with a game of Return to Ravenhearst. I already found all the eyeballs, isn’t that gory? Not as awful as the spider that comes out of the doll’s ear. Take that! Two more e-words. I know another: Exhausted!
Who knows which prompt I am to grab today? Following the Stream, Who Am I? Yeah, those who know me will sing it out: 24601! I know. Campie! And to others, You’re Welcome!
Speaking of Camp-NaNo, I cannot quantify how much editing I got done as I mostly transferred the corrections from yesterday to the other programs that hold my stories: Scrivener, WriteItNow4, and yWriter7. I know it seems like quadruple the work, but I like aspects of each program, and I find if I do the first Grammarly or other types of edit in Word first, I see other things I need to fix with the ‘new eyes’ I find working it into the other processors.
CampNaNo was where I started to work on Pandamapocalypse. That was last year as we were all put in lock-down. And the story starts with three college women taking a final day together to celebrate one of their birthdays while doing a bit of target practice. The first takes aim and shoots. She hears Ouch! and that’s how they met a dragon. Much happens and soon they are meeting the virus up close and personal, Chatting with the virus they learn that viruses have feelings, too. But not before all chaos breaks out. Since there are nearly 74K words and I am only near the beginning of the editing, I’m finding the fun I had writing about a fictional world I could escape to as things in real life got scary. As my story progressed I found that I could include the science broadcasted at that time to our newsfeeds.
I’m looking forward to adding to the end of this book the vaccine and the slowdown of the virus. As in real life my virus, named ZOTci, adapts, we are seeing the COVID19 changing, too. What will I find when I get to that point and how will Haven (sentient planet, core of most of my novels) help?
Can’t leave without mentioning that Kali and I walked a mile today. I got to finish listening to JCS. Happy Easter or Eostre if you prefer.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is โstart with who/whomโ Begin your post with either โwhoโ or โwhomโ and go from there. Have fun!
According to my goal I am to write something that reflects what I did for CampNaNo. The editing is hard to quantify I worked on twenty pages. I added no words. Yet when I copied and pasted the number of pages I worked on to a blank sheet it said I had 2,041 words that I wandered and did edits to some.
And on another note, I am trying to get back into taking my daily walks. Today I walked .86 whatever that amounts to. I think it might be over 3/4 of a mile? That’s what the app told me. So that is now added as part of my 16/8 keto-ish/fast-ish eating/not eating program. I’m still learning, adjusting as I learn. Adding the walking makes Kali happy. She wants me to run, but not yet, sweetie!
Anyone watching American Gods? I read it a few years ago. I remember being quite lost as I read but it all came together in the end. I am following this better, or maybe it is because I know what to expect? It isn’t even PG rated so if you are under 18 or don’t like sex or violence this might not be for you. I don’t like the violence and find the sexy parts hard to watch if my brother or son are in the room. But the overall story is pretty good.
Another goal I have in mind to integrate into April is practicing my piano or singing or both. On my walks of the last two days I have been singing with my Spotify-ed songs. So–check!
All of this while trying to get healthier through my finally decent medical insurance. All this tests and appointment after a year of sitting in the recliner awaiting the end of this darned pandemic.
Anyway, that’s all I got for A!
By the way, I don’t like practical jokes or April Fools and I love laughing and puns of all kinds. I just don’t like making fun of people in any way.
Join a lot of us as we play with the alphabetical prompts of the A to Z Challenge. Click on the blue underlined link under the big A above or this one:
My goal is to edit the rest of Pandamapocalypse then actually end the book. I will try to use the A-Z prompt to write something that will fit into the book.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is โstarts with cal.โ Use a word starting with the letters โcalโ as your prompt word. Have fun!
In fact, I don’t know how to show this in picture form.
I spent most of the day working on my NaNo novel from November. Camp NaNo is coming up, and I either want to write more on this story or get another outlined to write. I mostly edited and got q few scenes checked. I can see there are some big picture things to get right, but I have a hard time if the grammar and spelling are messed up. So I clean the smaller messes to see the big picture. Does that make any sense? The trees are getting in the way of the forest! So If I can get most of the trees out of the way within a week, I will rearrange the forest. That will help me know where to go next.
Meanwhile, I found a station on Pandora called Classical study time or some such that plays politely in the background. Although I get irritated when I hear Claire De Lune, Moonlight Sonata, and Fรผr Elise played repeatedly. I like them all, just need to hear other things. And since they used to be in my piano repertory, I get distracted and want to play the piano. Music for a background is always more distracting than television. Good old reruns of favorite shows can go on for hours without my getting involved. Do other musicians or music majors have this problem?
I did start a mohair hat. It is a soft pinkish-orange. When I finished the socks, I couldn’t leave the Flexee looms sitting there without something on themโanother obsession.
Per Linda G. Hill: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is โday/week/month/year.โ Use one, use them all, use them any way youโd like. Enjoy!
A year ago when we locked down, someone suggested that we should all keep physical journals. The idea was to treat this time in history of interest to future archeologists.
That was enough for me to try.
The above became my contribution to the future information diggers.
I was faithful filling in my descendants with all I knew and how it was affecting me and mine.
I touch on emotions and politics. And the thought hit me, ‘What if technology of today no longer exists in the future for whatever reason. So I wrote so far as my knowledge went to explain television, internet, computers, etc.
Don’t ask why I got so into that issue. But it was fun. How would you explain this stuff to, say your ancestors who still only had candlelight, maybe even no books yet? I was thinking about that as I wrote.
Well, I was dedicated daily until August. That’s a lot of months of journaling. No diary in my life had me writing by hand past a week at most. So I was proud of this little tablet that was nearly half full when I made this entry.
I guess I owe my historical- epidemiologists more entries. If they found the book as it is, they’d probably think the author succumbed. I’m sure they would shed a tear, shake their heads, and move to the next historical site. ‘Poor thing didn’t last the year.’
So for their sakes, I will write an entry as soon as this is posted.
In this handwritten masterpiece I will state the facts of actual cases and deaths. How they were loved and treated by overworked health workers and how they had to die without family or friends in horrid pain.
But keeping with my original idea I will show my gratitude that most of my loved ones managed this difficult year.
I will include that two of my three besties have had their first vaccine. That two of us are still waiting.
Fears of future possibilities will be expressed while sharing gratitude and happiness that we may all see each other by the summer.๐ค Hopefully an Independence Day is coming like none other! ๐บ๐ธ
Sunday is a special day of the week for me, thanks to technology. A 3 AM bedtime means my day starts at 10ish. I turn on the laptop and run and get my toast and coffee (or tea). By the time I’ve taken out the dog and set up my bubble sitting, I am ready to place the laptop on the footrest of the recliner and the plate on my lap. No, I don’t stick my feet out. I sit in a chair, in half-lotus, as that is far more comfortable and keeps my stocking feet warmer. On frigid mornings, I throw my electric lap warmer (Thank you, Rizza ๐) over me before setting up the computer and breakfast.
Now I go to church. No camera on, I may or may not have brushed my hair yet. And who wants to watch me eat? The church is a Zoom meeting of Unitarian Universalist is in Reno, Nevada. When I lived there, I only went a handful of times. I used to be into the weekly get up, get dressed up, especially when my children were small. But now that I can go in comfort in my own time and clothing. I can sing with the congregation as I choose. No stand up, sit down, thank you very much, my coffee is great.
The last few weekends, I have been enjoying different stars showing up for Galaxycon.com.
The above was one of my favorites. Though I am double or triple her age, I relate to her life story a lot. And she is a writer. I picked up her latest book:
Today I got to meet Michael Biehn of the Mandalorian and this afternoon Jessica Jones’ stars:
Krysten Ritter “Jessica Jones”
Wil Traval “Will Simpson”
Both cons were fun. By the way, many of these are free live. You only have to give your email address to send the confirmation and URL to get to the interview. If like me, life gets in the way, your computer glitches, you can still click on the confirmation within 24-48 hours to watch a taped version. And many can be found later on the YouTubes. Here’s an example of what I am going to watch later on tonight:
Once again. Going to a con is something I don’t think I would do. I know this is going to sound weird, but I can’t deal with costumes and masks. One of my best friends LOVES this kind of thing. I certainly enjoy it through her. And the mask issue is still an issue during COVID19. I wear one if I need to. I love it when you wear one around me. It shows you care. But I need to see lips and gesticulations to understand people talking to me. And Halloween scares me. Haunted houses scare me. I always worry that a real crazy person with real weapons will be there. And I HATE when folks jump out to scare me.
When the lockdown ends, and all things go back to live events, I will be, once again, the fair-weather friend that probably won’t be there. When the pains started, I had to bow out of writer’s meetings and board games meetings, or, yeah, the church; I’d ask to be Skyped in, but everything virtual was still new and uncomfortable. I hope that people will still do things like this. My eyes can’t drive nights, I can’t take flu shots for being allergic to the base (nearly died), and pain often keeps me from doing things I want to do. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be a part of the meets. I’m sure I am not alone in hoping the zooming continues.
And the Tubes have great bits of help for people like me who are learning to edit their novels:
Oh, I forgot to say the other Sunday thing, and I think you all know what I’m going to say CBS Sunday Morning. My favorite part is the moment of zen at the end. By the way, YouTube has the full lineup of the show. Happy Birthday to my friend Yve and to PBS. And now:
Listen, since NaNoWriMo, my life is nothing but lists. I am editing using Word’s Editor and now Grammarly. The list in the editor is punctuation, spelling, concise, readability, grammar, etc. I don’t remember the exact list, but I spent the day yesterday and today going through Pandamapocalypse tick by tick. I finished Word’s editor, finally reaching zero mistakes. And now I have started Grammarly’s checklist. I can’t believe that having no mistakes on Word shows as 1,773 mistakes to remedy in Grammarly. As I get that done tomorrow, I will be copying and pasting from the Word version into my Scrivener, yWriter, and WriteItNow. Once that is done, I will reread the whole thing listening to the text-to-speech to catch the weird or uncomfortable turn of phrase that the editors don’t catch. And I still have a couple chapters to write, then send those chapters through the editorial lists. Gah!
I’ll bet most of those doing this exercise are speaking of Clause and naughty or nice. But this year was punishment enough! My happiness will be checking my list of books out of the library of novels in the raw and getting them into the real library someday. Goals take lists.
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
Hi! my name is Sebastian (You can call me Seb!) ...welcome to my Blog. I'm a photographer from Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Thanks for dropping by! I hope you enjoy my work.
Books, games, music, and life โ filtered through the mind of a writer, drummer, and philosopher who thinks too deeply about all of it. If it moves something in your chest, I'm interested.
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