It’s March and I’m declaring WAR…on my Manuscript!

→  Posted 1 week, 1 day ago  →  Revisions

Did you know that March was named after Mars, the Roman god of war? Well, this month I’m declaring war…on my manuscript! After going through a few drafts, there are a couple of things I need to revise:
1) The overall story needs to be consistent and a lot more simplified so that it can stand [...]

Revisions Update and a Look at 2010

→  January 8th, 2010  →  News & New Releases  Revisions  Writing Process

Hi folks,
In December, I focused on the revisions for ARGENTUM through a December Writing Marathon that I had come up with. December was an extraordinarily busy month for several reasons, including a few additional projects that I did not expect to come up. Even though I didn’t get as much done as I wanted to, [...]

Dear Monica: Why Are The Revisions Taking So Long?

→  September 29th, 2009  →  Writing Process

When I started working on revisions for the novel back in the Spring, I knew I was going to have to make some adjustments in my schedule.
Before I started ARGENTUM, I often worked on a contract basis, which meant that someone handed me a contract and I said, “Okay, I’ll write for you.” Then, [...]

Goodbye Chapter One, I’ll Miss You

→  July 16th, 2009  →  Writing Process

I feel like I turned a corner this past weekend, because the last two weeks have been…painful. I knew I needed to change the verb tense of my exposition from present to past, but I wasn’t sure how that was going to work for the beginning of the story.
Instead of opening the novel with [...]

Knee-Deep in the Second Draft

→  July 5th, 2009  →  Writing Process

So part of what I talked about before, when I mentioned a little bit about the revision process for Argentum, was the idea that I should change the story’s verb tense. Writing in first person with a present tense is somewhat challenging because the main character can have that “deer in headlights” perspective. At some [...]

Was Posting my First Draft a Bad idea? One Reader Didn’t Think So…

→  June 19th, 2009  →  Writing Process

I’m working on my revisions to the second draft of Argentum, but I wanted to share with you a comment I received in email this past week.
I’m sorry to see that you feel the experiment failed. I disagree. I found it very interesting. I never got around to finishing the whole thing so [...]

First Drafts and the Evolution of Argentum

→  April 27th, 2009  →  Writing Process

So if you’ve been following how Argentum has been developing, you’ve probably read a post or two where I describe a little bit about my writing process. Well, this past weekend at OddCon, there were a lot of conversations that I had with other writers about their writing process. When I mentioned I was offering [...]

What’s Going on Behind-the-Scenes at Violet War?

→  February 28th, 2009  →  Writing Process

Over the past two months, I’ve been really working hard behind-the-scenes to ensure that I can offer you a full draft of the first novel, Argentum, by the end of April. From clearing up old projects off my plate to getting organized, I’ve got a full plate through September. Here’s a little bit about what [...]

An Open Letter to My Readers

→  January 11th, 2009  →  News & New Releases

Dear Reader,
First and foremost, I would like to thank you for stopping by to read Argentum. As the first book in this series, this is a crucial book to set the tone for all of the characters and the pending “Violet War” which is slowly being revealed as I go.
In November, I mentioned why I [...]

Why I’m Providing my First Draft and New Chapters!

→  November 16th, 2008  →  Writing Process

A friend of mine told me the other day that I was very brave. When I asked “Why?” he had mentioned that it was because I was posting my rough draft of Argentum.
There are a lot of things that are scary: fires, accidents, hurricanes, death. Is my posting of a draft scary? Well, sure [...]