First Edits Complete.....

I can't figure out if I'm an editor's worst nightmare or a teacher's pet?

Sorry been MIA - we moved from the house to the flat and it was pretty nightmarish. Squeezing a four bedroom house's contents to fit into a small three bedroom flat has not been fun and the car still has boxes shoved in it whilst my bedroom is a bit of an obstacle course of suitcases and boxes.

Last weekend we celebrated my Dad's birthday which was really cool - sat around and ate and talked for hours - but of course it meant we didn't spend enough time unpacking/cleaning that we should have, and everyone has been back to school this week so, yeah, it's all a bit of a mess.

My back is playing up, as are my hips and knees - all that time on my hands and knees scrubbing carpets at the old house - but all worth it as we are getting our full deposit back. (Round of applause and sigh of relief as it means I can repay some of the money we used to move). All of this means I'm not sleeping very well - 6.42 a.m and I haven't been to bed yet!

LM is being - well, difficult is probably the best word. She's just being really defiant and rude about everything, doing silly things that she knows will get her in trouble, that sort of thing. It's difficult as MD is as tired as I am and trying not to react but it's hard.

However, we finally managed to book MD in for her last Christmas present - a makeover, pamper and photography session. Four hours of being pampered and treated, followed by playing dress up and having photos taken - hopefully it will make her feel good, and of course it never hurts to have yet more pictures of my babies to put up on the wall.

And onward to editing news. Received my first set of edits for '2 weeks 6 days 2 long' today and sort of girded myself to want to cry, etc. I was offered some how-to sheets to make sure I knew what not to do with track changes, etc on Word which was really nice as it's all been self-taught up until now. Of course, me being me and pretty much awake, I decided to see what edits there were to do. It was actually quite painless - some were my use of formatting, some were Britishisms I use; some were me running sentences on. So I finished them and sent them back. Hence the starter question: teacher's pet or worst nightmare?

Because now I'm worried I did them too quickly and should have thought about them longer? And should I have made more comments about why I agreed/disagreed? Gah, sometimes being in a different time-zone is a real pain in the butt!  Of course, I can't take credit for how well edited the story was - that was all Silk-Labyrinth who went through it with her fine-tooth comb before I even submitted it last year. So I shall ensure I send my thanks her way instead of just preening and pretending I somehow managed to achieve that myself!!

So yeah, first edits complete and I agreed the blurb. As soon as I'm allowed, I'll put the proper blurb and picture up but you guys already know it cos I did the mini banner of the two guys on the poppies way back to last year.

And now that the first edits are over, maybe I should stop writing that Teen Wolf/BtVS crossover and try to write something original?! Ooh look, 6.50 a.m., time for bed!

Dreamspinner said yes!

Dreamspinner want to publish my short story in their anthology. It's called '2 Weeks 6 Days 2 Long' and it's going to be in their Juicy Bits anthology later this year!

I'm very, very happy - I must admit, with Alien Christmas receiving a lukewarm reception (at best), I was beginning to think I didn't have what it takes. But this means being accepted the first time wasn't a fluke - this is another publisher saying yes, they like my work and want to publish it.

As it's a short story, it's not huge amounts of cash but that's not really the point. It's January and I've achieved one of my aims for the year already - another story has been accepted. This was the banner I made to give me an 'image' in my head of the MCs:

Now I guess I need to stop hiding in fanfiction and start finishing off some of the WiPs cluttering up my Ninja USB!!

Fanfic vs Original

Why is it easier to write fanfic than it is original stuff? Or maybe, easier to get motivated to write fanfic? I have the shapeshifter fic I still want to do some work on - as in, get past the first chapter - but 7 a.m. finds me writing Teen Wolf Sterek fanfic instead of sleeping or writing something original.

It's like, the muse is perfectly happy to throw out ideas but won't let me concentrate and get down to anything else. Probably a willpower thing? I need to be more disciplined I guess - right, tomorrow (or rather later today) I am going to write at least 500 words of 'Taming of Bren'.

I better get some sleep I guess...

Potential Fubar...

Potentially good: we're still on track to be offered a flat. Number one on the list and the closing date is midnight Monday.

Potentially complete crap: today we received back our updated housing application from the post office with a 'failure to deliver' notice on it. We originally sent this in back at the beginning of November, well in time for the deadline. It's taken nearly two months for them not to deliver it and it could mean that our application for the flat is denied as they didn't receive the updated form.

I don't know whether to curl into a ball and cry or merely resign my position as an adult - there is no way I could have prevented this but it could mean we lose out through no fault of our own.

I'm trying to be all zen - what is for us will not pass us by - but man, all in want to do is have an epic tantrum.

Grown up time: Monday after the school run, I'll call the housing department and explain what's happened, see what they say. Until then, I shall stay away from sharp objects.

Review of 2013

Actually, not so much of a review as a bit of a ramble.

I've been living inside my own head for a few days. The reviews for 'Alien Christmas' really upset me - like, unable to write upset me.  There's no point in going on a long diatribe as to why they've upset me - I'm pretty sure that anyone who's created anything and had to read/listen to other people's views on it will get it - the need to defend and explain that in the end won't make any difference to the reviews you've already got and could prejudice anything for the future. So, suffice it to say that I've had to promise Stripelessz that I won't go off into a fit of depression over every negative review or consider it the end of my writing career as I know it.

I write because I need to. I write what I like, what I enjoy, what I would want to read. And there are going to be people who like it and people who don't. I'm loving writing fanfic at the moment but I also have about four different original stories that I would like to finish and maybe send off to be considered and I won't do that if I keep living in my head.

On a private note, we might be getting a flat which means packing up a four bedroom Victorian house and moving to a small three bedroom flat. Better for us financially and security-wise, but still going to make the next couple of months busy, full of hassle and financially draining in the first instance. I want to make sure I keep writing but I need to start weeding through my stuff - dvds, books, clothes, etc - and deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. I did it 18 months ago but there is still so much stuff there. I need to let go of the past - anything not used/worn in the last 18 months needs to go - gulp!

Christmas was lovely as I spent it surrounded by various members of family. I've not been as sick either - at the moment, it's just a slight throat infection, lightheadedness and a temperature so for me, pretty darn good.

I have an idea for my first taming the muse for this week - the prompt is Cox swain which I must admit made my head spin in several directions as I debated dropping out of the entire thing as I tried to figure out how I was going to shoe-horn that into anything I'm in the middle of writing. The first one is going to be a complete one-shot because getting coxswain into any of my current stories may be above my capabilities!!

It's back to being me, Striplessz and Gidget at home which is good - school starts next week, and there are hospital appointments at the end of this week. I think we're all going through variations of coming down from Christmas so we're living in jimjams and trying to be nice to each other. Can't ask for a better start to the year than that.

Resolutions:
* prove that getting a story published wasn't a fluke;
* stop melting down at every negative review - a work in slow progress;
* finish 'Parental Units' and accept that it may well be one of the last bits of Spander fanfic that I write. I need to finish 'Refuge' with The Lady and I signed up for 'Spangel Rekindled' at the end of January but I think that's pretty much it.
* get back into Atkins and lose some weight.

Hmm, they may be a tad weighted in the writing department - can I consider them as personal growth or do I need to look at other areas of my life too? If you've made it to the end of this, well done on wading through my crap!

I wish you a lovely end to 2013 and hope your 2014 brings you everything you truly need and desire.

S x

Merry freakin' Christmas aka...

...don't visit your book on Amazon unless you've prepared yourself! Very quiet day as no kids and this evening ended up on Amazon. I didn't even realise 'Alien Christmas' would be on there - yes, I really am that unaware. Unfortunately for me, the first review is a bad one - like, they found the story laughable type of bad. I read the review a couple of times and let it sit with me. Then, once I'd got over the urge to submerge my face in a vat of ice cream, I decided it was one person's view. And everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

 I won't say it didn't hurt because heck yeah, to have your first ever published story described as laughable is a hit to the ego, but I knew there would be bad reviews - you can't please everyone. And it's the first story so it isn't going to be perfect. I have to trust in the friends who give me their (direct) honest opinion that it's a good story - it can't be that bad otherwise no publisher would have picked it up! So, big girl pants on and move along.

 On other news, I got some money as a Christmas present so I think I will hit the shops when I get the kids back. Treat myself to something nice, although since my idea of a nice self-present is an Arc writing book from Staples and I already have one in every colour they have, I may have to broaden my range a little.

 I've finished one Taming for the week but still have 500 words to write by Saturday. And that werewolf story isn't going to write itself, so enough celebrating and time to knuckle down and write something. After all, I promised myself 2013 was the year I would send something off to be published - 2014 is the year I try to prove that getting published wasn't a fluke!

 P.s. Still kinda want that vat of ice cream though...

Should you review your own work?

Stripelessz and I are sat discussing my first bad review and whether or not I should review my own book. I thought it might be a good idea because I don't think it's perfect and it might give insight into where my squirrelly brain was going with everything. However, she made me see that it would either look like I was tooting my horn and people wouldn't trust the review anyway OR it would look like I hate the story and people wouldn't buy it because if I didn't like it, why would they?! So, no review from me on Alien a Christmas.

 Interestingly enough, the 'bad' review I got encompasses some of the things I personally think of the story. Because it's a short story, something had to be missing - in this case it was background on the characters, bringing other people into it, and the Sci Fi elements. It was never meant to be a science fiction story but because it has an alien in it, it kinda has to have that tag. Part of me wonders if I could actually write more on Stoly and Ramsay - how they met and got together, the ceremony, what happens next. But my muse isn't being forthcoming with that at the moment.

 Positives I got from the review: they finished reading it so they didn't hate it entirely, lol!! They thought it was too short which means they wanted more - yay! The sex was hot - phew!

I liked the fact that Goodreads talks to you about the review and what you shouldn't do - I imagine some people have ignored that advice and regretted it when it looked like an author tantrum. And hey, look, I got my first negative and I'm not curled up under the duvet crying - yay me!

 Happy Christmas! Xx