I Haz Planz – wc 13/02

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Raven ShadowHawk

Much better week. I need to do a better job of finding the balance between challenging myself and taking it too easy. So far I’m not there yet. Ho hum.

No rants this week or angry fist shaking monologues. Nope. Just a calm, gentle post about what I’ve been up to.

Last week
~Complete deep edits on ‘Bill’. No excuses now; just get it done.
Finished! At last! Feels like it’s taken ages to get to this point, but done. Setting the release date has really woken me up, so now I need to keep moving.

~Start collecting betas for ‘Bill’. I need at least four folk happy to read erotica. I have one for sure and two maybes. Any takers? 😉
Got my four. Sent it out earlier today which was only a day later than I hoped. Feeling quite positive about the experience. Looking forward to getting the comments back.

~Start reading February’s indie review book
Yep. And, funnily enough, since Ileandra ended up in a conversation about romance I almost want to stick my oar in. But… the book is one I’ll be reviewing, so I just have to hold fire until then. Don’t worry; you won’t have to wait long. If you’re curious about what Ileandra thinks (*snerk*) then check out that comment stream in the link above.:

Can you believe how quickly February has gone? Already half way through. And it’s such a short month, it will be March before you know it. Not sure how I feel about that. The year is already racing by, I’m not sure that I’m going to get everything done that I want to get done.

-_- Work harder, Raven. That’s the answer.

CAMERA from openclip art

Credit: warszawianka

In other news, we had our photo shoot last week. OMFG it was amazing. And fun. Appeals to the conceited side of me to see so many stills of my face. I should be getting my half of the edited images back in the near future, at which point I can present you with some new images. That will be fun, right? You guys kinda know what I look like, but not exactly what I look like. This should change that.

I love these pictures so much that I’ll even say that if you’re in the Leicester area (or not too far away), and in need of photos, you should give Grace a call. Totally pro, understanding and creative. A lot of the shots were her idea; all I had to do was make faces.

This week I need to start pulling together loose threads of this month’s goals.

Let’s see:

This Week

  • Continue reading my indie review book.

  • Start deep edits on ‘Eric & Morgan’

  • Make final decision on image for ‘Bill’ cover (on that note, this is a special project I’m working on with the folk on my mailing list. If you want to be involved in that there’s still time. Just join up now and become part of the behind-the-scenes fun).

Aaaaaaand, lastly, the poll for ‘Slippers & Chains.’ It’s still running and will close on 23 February 2014. After that I’ll tally up the votes and get to work. SO! If you have a strong opinion on how you’d like to receive that story, you’d better vote before then.
Go:

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Mah Goals – wc 10/02

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Ileandra Young

Crap, we’re a third of the way into February already. How the hell did that happen?! -_- My life… my life is running away from me so fast; that’s kinda depressing. *sigh* So much to do and soooooooo little time.

Hope you all had a good week? I had a surprise visit from my mum yesterday and it was freaking awesome! Something as simple as popping down to a coffee shop while the boys had a nap was ten times better with her around. Is that cheesy? …nah.

Not skating yesterday and no game on Saturday (*sob*) but even if my social life when phut (!) my writing left went wheeeeeee!

I finished the deep edits on SORB. ^_^

print off from SORB edits

Hand written notes, coloured papers n junk… ROAR!

*cue fanfare, banners and merry dancing*

Very, very pleased about that and thrilled that the edits seem to have made a significant difference to word count. Looks like by the time I’m done with this draft, I’ll drop from something like 106k to 99k, which would be wonderful. Maybe more. Who knows?

What I do know, however, is that the story is a hell of a lot stronger as a result of these changes and I can keep making little tweaks as I switch it back to digital. By the time the file is back in Scivener I’ll be in a much better position to do a final read before sending it out to betas. SQUEE!

So yeah… that happened.

Last Week

Complete ‘deep edits’ on at least seven chapters of SORB text
As I mentioned above *points* it’s done. All the remaining chapters. Now just to get it back into a digital form. ^_^

Continue reading my indie book for January (The Last Dragon Slayer by Martyn Stanley)
Done. Review written. That will be up for your viewing pleasure this Saturday. ^_^

Choose next indie book for my year of peer reviews
Done. In fact I’ve read it too (I told you it was a good week!). That review should be out on 1 March, so sit tight. If you’re curious about the book, then it was Fat Vampire by Johnny B Truant. That’s all I’m telling you at this point. :p

Start putting out the word for beta readers
I’ve made a list of people I’m going to ask, however I’m concious of how busy people are. Part of me feels guilty. The rest of me (probably the bit where Raven lives) just want sto shake me and say; ‘they’ll say no, if they can’t do it; just freakin ask!’ So… yeah… I guess I should be sending out emails this week. I want to be sending this file to folk by the end of the month so I can start the first draft of WTRE in March. Gotta keep the ball rolling!

Knowing all that, I guess I need to focus on the actual goals for February which involves preparing for betas. So…

This Week

  • Email/text/jump on the people in my ‘potential beta’ list and get some firm commitments
  • Continue to transfer SORB back to digital (at least half)

Tougher than it looks. The chapters I rewrote will need to be typed up into the Scrivener file and all the crappy sections taken out. And I’ll have to do some fact checking back along the way to double-check myself. o.O Yep. That will keep me busy.

Oh, of course, and don’t forget Valentine’s Day – ew.
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Raven’s January Indie eBook Review: Literal Fantasies

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Raven ShadowHawk

Book cover for Literal Fantasies

Credit: Alexandra Amalova

Author: Alexandra Amalova
Title: Literal Fantasies
Genre: Erotica
ASIN: B00FP85TXU
‘One lonely writer. Four unique women. Twelve incredible hours….’

I’ll say it was 12 incredible hours! Harry must be the luckiest man alive!

Okay, this is the first of my indie book reviews for 2014. As you know (read here if not), Ileandra and I will be randomly selecting books on which to write reviews,  as part of our 2014 Book Challenge. Since I’m first to post mine (she’s such a slow-mo) I’ll give you a quick run down of how it’s going to work.

Each book will get a review on the site we bought it from; Smashwords, Amazon, Kobo, whatever. Each book will also get a fuller review here. Spoilers will be clearly marked before the event (though obviously we’ll try not to do that) and we’ll review each book as readers, not as writers in the genre (mainly because that seems a bit arrogant). We’ll also use the star system Ileandra used in her reviews on lemon cakes. Yes, I know cake is a bit (a lot) different to books, but the stars are pretty and I can’t be arsed to make my own scale. If I ever get round to it I’ll do something to make the wait worth while like… I dunno… a dildo rating or something. -_-

I haven’t had much sleep. Leave me alone.

ANYWAY…

Cover:

three stars

Tis nice. Clean. You know immediately what sort of book you’re looking at, which is key. There was no confusion for me. The tagline text could stand to be a little clearer (maybe it was just a fraction too small for that particular font) but it sits well on the image.
I would have liked the cover to be more related to the text or the characters rather a than generic sexy photo, as one sees a lot these days, but that’s a personal thing. *shrugs*

Story:

five stars

Harry, recently single, writes naughty stories on line and has garnered a bunch of fans (lucky devil). Four in particular, a group of four women, write to him regularly (a writer’s dream!) and eventually arrange for him to join them at one of their ‘literal fantasy’ evenings; get togethers in which they read naughty stories, share their fantasies and take naughty pictures. Oo-eer. ^_^
This appeals to me because, as a premise, it doesn’t feel forced. Some of the sub plot/smaller detail within the piece seems, at times, slightly over done, but I’m over that. It actually worked well, but I make the observation because I noticed it.

Characters:

four stars

Took a bit of getting into. The first person style leads nicely into going along for the ride with Harry though I did have the occasional moment of ‘Really? Are you sure…?’ This happens to me a lot though, mainly because I’m not a dude. *gasp* I hang out with a lot of men (being a geek tends to nudge you that way, at least in the circles I run in) and not many of them think/talk like that. Then again, not many of them are faced with the situation that Harry is either (though I bet they’d bloody love it!). I certainly fell in love with Martha and Sue (despite myself) and just wanted to give Vicky a slap. That says to me there’s a good healthy mix.
Every now and then a character reaction didn’t quite ring true to me and there seemed to be occasional inconsistency with dialogue style. An accent that comes and goes, sometimes with explanations, sometimes without.

Overall experience:

4.5 stars

A pleasant good read. Considering how short my time is, I completed the piece in about five days and enjoyed it a great deal. The ending was satisfying and rounded off the story in a way that ensured I didn’t feel cheated. A few typos through the file and a couple of missed words, but those are the sorts of things that are easily fixed with a fresh upload. And, frankly put, I probably only noticed them because I can’t get out of my editing head right now. Ho hum.
This ties in which what I mentioned about accents too; writing dialects into dialogue is bloody hard and I always applaud people who try it. But, for me, it’s a (very) fine line between just right and too much. The blend was right in this book, but the inconsistency irked me just a bit.
So that leads me to knock off half a star.

Final score:

four stars

Four stars. *nods* Yep. The maths agrees with my initial, knee-jerk assessment when I put the book down. I’ll certainly be checking out more of Alexandra’s books when I have a moment spare.

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I Haz Planz – wc 06/02

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Raven ShadowHawk

Well, looks like I’m doing better this week. I’ve actually been able to do some of my work in a balance with Ileandra that keeps us both happy. In fact, she’ll probably be finished the deep edits on her novel by the time it gets to Monday. Lucky.

It’s a new month now, so I need to look back as well as ahead. Let’s start with last week first, however.

Last week
~Complete deep edits on ‘Bill’ and get it ready to send out to betas.
Not complete, but progress has been made. When I was reading through my notes on the first half I realised that the female character just didn’t make sense. Not only was Bill pissed off with her, but I was too; she was dumb. And confusing. o.O So I’ve re-written the first section so it makes more sense (and better reflects how people actually behave!). It’s put me behind, but the story is better for it. Now to keep going.

~Choose February’s indie book to review (and start reading)
Yep. Picked a book from Smashwords this time and it should be on my Kindle. Ready to start reading! On another note, January’s review will be published on Saturday, so if you’re interested, keep an eye out for that.

~Draft outline of next in Slippers & Chains series (Second Base)
No. Not sure why. I seem to have an aversion to starting this for reasons I really don’t understand. *sigh* I need to pull my finger out and get the hell on with it because the ‘Meeting Each Other’ series will be out in full well before my original estimate. Which means I need something new in the pipeline.
On that note, don’t forget to vote on the first part of Slippers & Chains, by the way. Video files on YouTube or downloadable audio files that you can get from this blog. You’ve got another two weeks to vote on what you prefer. Do so here:

Right. That’s that.

January, in so far as getting stuff done has been good over all, but I still feel the need to push that little bit harder. Guess that’s just what I’m like.

Last Month’s Goals
Ensure ‘Carol, Niall & Lin’ is ready for publication and hit ‘go’
~Yep. It’s done! Available to buy over at Amazon UK, Smashwords, Amazon US and while Kobo is dragging its heels it will be there soon too.

Ready at least four sections of Slippers & Chain for reading… then read them
~This goal is moot since I changed my plans in that regard, but I do still need to do some work towards this novella. It’s stagnating. 😦

Start building static solo site
~Started. Progress is slow, but I knew it would be since the focus is on writing and editing. I’m learning more about spending my time wisely and this is just another example of that. But it will happen.

February 2014 Goals

  • Get ‘Bill’ edited and sent to betas

  • Start initial editing notes on ‘Eric & Morgan’

  • Read and review one erotic indie book

  • On completion of the poll (see above) make a start on recording Slippers & Chains (pt1)

I reckon that should be enough to get on with for a month far shorter than the others.

This Week

  • Complete deep edits on ‘Bill’. No excuses now; just get it done.

  • Start collecting betas for ‘Bill’. I need at least four folk happy to read erotica. I have one for sure and two maybes. Any takers? 😉

  • Start reading February’s indie review book

Done. Now… my computer is giving me grief with repeated instances of the BLUE SCREEN OF DEEEEEEEEEEEEEATH so I’m gonna look at it.
You lot have a good week and try to behave yourselves. 😉

Oh… and if you haven’t yet, why not sign up for my mailing list? If you’re interested in what’s going on with me, new releases and freebies that you won’t get on this blog then that’s what you need to do. Follow through on this link to get updates from me (without Ileandra interrupting all the time). And don’t panic, the link will take you away from this blog (to Aweber who hosts my list for me) but then it will bring you straight back here. No funny stuff. Promise.

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Mah Goals – wc 03/02

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Ileandra Young

Oops. Hehee, not to make a habit of being late, but apologies. Wasn’t ready this morning but I’m here now.

Hope you’ve all had a good week! Mine has been a bit in and out and in and out, finishing up yesterday with me quivering on the sofa muttering ‘So frail… so frail….‘ in my most pathetic voice.

I’ve learned that I’ve been working just that little bit too hard and that my body, as well as my head can’t take it. I’m glad that I’ve noticed this before becoming ill or before breaking down like I did a few years back. It means I can make a few adjustments to my schedule (and my expectations of myself) to fit what I’m capable of.

I even went out on Saturday night. Without my notes, without my papers and just watched two films with a good buddy of mine. It made me realise how much I’ve neglected folk around me recently and that’s another reason why I’m slowing down. I spent the day with the boys today, actually with them, rather than just around them, and had such a wonderful time. They’re learning so much and demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of so many things. They recognise numbers now and can name them! How awesome is that… they’re not quite 21 months yet!

Anyway… that’s enough gushing about them.

Last Week

Complete ‘deep edits’ on at least 150 pages of SORB text
I haven’t counted it, but it’s certainly more than 150. I might have cracked the 200 pages mark but for the fact that I’m nearing the end now and this section gave me problems while I was drafting it. So it needs more care. Continuity, remaining true to character and holding onto my time line is even harder now so I’ve slowed right down. A shame, because I’m so keen to finish, but great, because with each page I do work on, I can feel the whole story grow stronger and tighter. By the time I transfer this back into a digital form I won’t be so scared of sending it to betas. And that is exciting.

Continue reading my indie book for January (The Last Dragon Slayer by Martyn Stanley)
Yep. Nearly done actually; I’m at something like 84%. I won’t say anything else, because the temptation to start talking about it now is quite strong and that isn’t fair. You’ll need to sit tight and wait for my review when I post it some time this month.

Enter two of the competitions that close on 31 January (I haven’t talked about these with you guys, but meeting with my Subs Group has given me a nudge; I need to get back on that horse)
I entered one. The other… I thought about it then decided I’d prefer to enter that story elsewhere. Particularly since my focus isn’t on short story writing at the moment. I don’t want to tie it up in one competition when I know it has a better chance elsewhere. So that one is half done.

Start populating solo site with bare content to test functionality and layout
Nope. I just realised that this site has tied up the user name I was going to use, so I need to do some thinking. I have, however, chosen what I want it to look like and what I want the features to be. I guess I need to work harder on the detail.

In terms of what I wanted to achieve for the whole of January, I guess that means I’m working ahead of the game though:

Last Month Goals

Start building static solo site
Not really. But at least I know what I’ll be doing now.

Start read through of SORB, not to edit, but to make notes about what should be edited when the time comes
I finished the read through in good time. And started the edits that were meant to be in February. It seemed silly to wait when I was ready to keep going. So I’m well through that and again, almost done.

So that’s that. Now we’re in a new month and I need to think about where I want to be, adjusting to my new take-it-slightly-easier stance while still being realistic about where I want to be.

February 2014 Goals

  • Complete ‘deep edits’ on SORB and transfer back to digital. Have ready to send to betas by February 28
  • Obtain secure commitment of at least four betas
  • Read one indie novel, review it and post it to the blog

Right. That means, knowing what I have to do, I can say that this week I would like to do the following:

This Week

  • Complete ‘deep edits’ on at least seven chapters of SORB text
  • Continue reading my indie book for January (The Last Dragon Slayer by Martyn Stanley)
  • Choose next indie book for my year of peer reviews
  • Start putting out the word for beta readers

^_^

Lovely jubbly. That should keep me busy for the week.

How are you guys getting on? I hope the verve and get-up-and-go of the new year is still with you and pushing you forward. Have you made any plans for the rest of year to meet your long term goals? Are you on track? If not, hey, do you have plans to put you back there? I’ll bet you’re all doing fine; I’d love to hear about it. 🙂
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