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Post by Phalon on Jun 3, 2011 21:25:13 GMT -6
Ok, Joxie. This is long overdue. It's for me, you, and anyone who 'will get around to it....eventually', 'think it to death' or waits until the absolute last minute.
My latest confession - I was asked to write an article; I had nine months before it was due. Nine months! I did my research, gathered my information, put it in a file, and it sat there for seven months untouched. It's due July 1. The topic was one I was not particularly interested in, but something I have enough knowledge in that they thought I'd be a good one to write it.
Yesterday, the editor from the same magazine asked if I could get the other article to her by July 1st also. The other article? Oh, yeah - the one I suggested....over a year ago. I read books, gathered information, put it in file, and then Mom got so bad in the nursing home, and when she died, frankly, I forgot all about the article. Or maybe it was in the waaaay back of my mind, but since a firm due date was never discussed, I left it back there, gathering dust.
So....a decision to make. Could I get both articles done in a month? There's a 1,500 word limit on both, in addition to a couple of sidebars. I have 5,000 words of pertinent information on one, and 9,000 on the other. I not only have to whittle that down to 1,500, I have to make a dry subject seem interesting, and not ramble on and on about another topic I love.
They work an editorial calendar six months in advance; the articles would come out in print in December....right after I get laid off for the season, and right before Christmas. It'd be nice to have the extra money at that time.
So I said yes.
And I'm sitting here typing this instead of typing that.
I think a little intervention is in order. What do you have in the way of a whip, and ball and chain?
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Post by stepper on Jun 4, 2011 20:11:05 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Jun 6, 2011 4:01:17 GMT -6
Harder, harder! Don't stop!
I made progress yesterday, though not as much as I would have liked, but I just might make it and finish....one article by the end of the month.
I'm thinking maybe skip the whip, and bring out the cattle prod.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 6, 2011 16:55:39 GMT -6
Sorry, Phalon. I've been unable to get onto the internet since last Thursday ... seems my router bit the dust. I called the phone company on Friday, but they never got back to me, so I had to call them again today. Yeah, they got here after 4PM ... but at least I'm back online!
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Post by Phalon on Jun 7, 2011 6:26:48 GMT -6
I was wondering where you went off to; glad it wasn't another power loss from storms.
June 6 - no progress due extreme pain: a heat and humidity-induced major headache, and a pain-in-the-ass teenager.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 7, 2011 17:50:55 GMT -6
Yeah. I keep putting off working on two projects I hope to indie-publish whenever I get them done and have figured out how to set up the docs for uploading ... and figured out a cover image. The cover will most likely be the hardest part. (I'm hoping to have them out before the year is up. If I'd get off my butt, I could probably have them out in about ... 3 months? 4? Possibly less if I really got my lazy, procrastinating butt into gear. )
They're just silly pieces that make me cackle, and I'm hoping others get a laugh out of them too. Parents, babysitters, & childcare providers should find them comical. The first drafts were written in early 1989. (Feb. maybe) They were kind of tame, but if you read between the lines there was adult content alluded to. I got a bit more jaded after my parents' divorce and I found out my dad was a 'W' ... so I am editing in more 'in your face' stuff. [Think: "Married with Children" (1987) & "The Simpsons" (1989).]
I'm almost halfway through both MSs. I work on one and then the other. They'll both be under 30/40 pages. I haven't decided if I'll put them in one book or two. I'm leaning towards two: Book I & Book II. They're written by a 10-year-old boy named Hubert, who is using my pseudonym to protect his identity and that of his family. Only he uses actual names in the MSs, so he ain't hiding nothing.
So, I guess I need zapping as much as you.
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Post by Phalon on Jun 8, 2011 10:46:48 GMT -6
Zap!!!!
(Is it working?)
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 8, 2011 15:31:06 GMT -6
Well, yes & no. I was thinking today that I should also work out the images and the 'printing' format as I'm rewriting the MSs. But that's thinking, and not doing.
I'm bad with deadlines. They seem to make me procrastinate even more. I'm wondering if updates will motivate me instead? If I do do something, maybe I'll report it and hopefully that will encourage me.
I think that kind of stuff might should go on the Oz board? Well, that is if anything gets divulged in the reporting.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 8, 2011 16:44:24 GMT -6
BTW: Phalon, would your writing fit in with this blog? If so, submit here.
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Post by stepper on Jun 8, 2011 19:32:29 GMT -6
ZAP ZAP both of you!! {pointing at calendar} Time's a-wasting!
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 8, 2011 22:29:24 GMT -6
I've been playing around with the book formatting. I used Publisher, but I don't think it is going to work out. I'll have to play with Word instead. And I don't think each page will have a background like I had envisioned. I've been creating images for it and it doesn't appear it will work out. Although I might think of something else to try later on.
I probably should read those books before I play around with the formatting, as what I'm doing may not be what I will even be able to use in the end. I did take screencaps of the two pages that I worked on. May not be what it will look like when finished though.
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Post by Phalon on Jun 11, 2011 6:25:24 GMT -6
I’m the opposite – looming deadlines are what finally gets me going instead of procrastinating, (of course, it's also a reason I'm feeling the stress right now). That’s one reason I like the writing groups. They’re both run by the same woman, but one meets on Saturdays, and one on Wednesdays; during the work season, I attend the Wednesday group because I work Saturdays, then add in the Saturday group during my off season. They’re both fun groups – very encouraging; only positive reinforcement is allowed. It forces me to write something to share each month. I think without them, I’d never get anything written.
It’s also a support system; people talk about what they’re writing, what they’re having difficulties with, and they receive encouragement in return. So report here what you’re doing! I bet it’ll encourage you to continue!
I love that site! I think you and Siren both have posted links to various articles there in the past. Though I have no intention of trying to write for them, I saved the link so I can read what’s going on in ‘Bettyverse’. Thanks!
How about now? Like Stepper prodded:
And dang, he’s right! I can hear the clock ticking.
I made pretty good progress last night after two days of having my efforts thwarted by a volunteer project, and then storms when I finally had time to get on the computer. I’m down to about 2,600 words on the first article, and it’s taken shape as an actual article instead of a bunch of notes only I can understand. I’m hoping to cut that last 1,000 or so words tonight (which isn’t going to be easy), and do all the fine tuning tomorrow. That’ll give me 3 days to get the two sidebars written. My goal is to get that one to the editor on Wednesday; Thursday at the latest. That leaves me half a month to get the other article written.
Now where’s that cattle prod gone off to?
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 11, 2011 15:07:18 GMT -6
You're very welcome.
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Post by Phalon on Jun 12, 2011 9:11:20 GMT -6
First article written, fine tuned, exactly the way I want it....and exactly 450 words over the limit. ARGH! Back to the editing room...(if I had such a thing).
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 12, 2011 17:48:55 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Jun 15, 2011 21:33:53 GMT -6
Done! Signed, sealed, and delivered. One down, one to go.
This month can't be over too soon for me.
Wait! Stop the presses! Let me rephrase that lest some Monkey's Paw-like thing happen, and I wake up tomorrow to find it's July 1st, I've missed the deadline, and some deranged editor is pounding on my door demanding copy.
I am looking forward to the day I get the second article completed on time, and in the editor's hand on time. (Whew! Crisis averted.)
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Post by stepper on Jun 16, 2011 17:33:42 GMT -6
Way to go! Once you get everything submitted, you'll have to let us know about publication dates.
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Post by Phalon on Jun 24, 2011 6:18:52 GMT -6
I think they're both scheduled for publication late this year, or early next year, Stepper...of course, they can get bumped for other time sensitive articles, or pushed up to an earlier date if there are holes in the editorial calendar. I never know exactly which issue they'll be in until I find the check in the mailbox.
Exactly one week to go, and I'm way behind where I'd like to be with this second article. Too much other stuff going on this week and the next for me to find much time to write. I did make quite a bit of progress last night though, at of all places, the laundromat; I had to wash sleeping bags for BP's birthday sleepover in the tent. Maybe I ought to do all our laundry in the next week there instead of at home.
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Post by stepper on Jun 25, 2011 11:34:37 GMT -6
We have faith that you will rearrange your priorities (meaning visiting with us) to allow sufficient time to complete the piece which we anticipate to rival War and Peace, and Green Eggs and Ham!
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Post by Phalon on Jul 1, 2011 20:24:00 GMT -6
Whew! I was really sweating it last night. I knew there was a reason never to wait until the absolute last minute to do anything.
It wasn't completely my fault though. I had another project going on, and although I never mind volunteering, this couldn't have come at a worse time, and somehow I found myself "heading up" the project. Those aren't my words; I read "Phalon is heading up the project" in a mass e-mail and thought, "Huh. Really? When did that happen?"
I didn't get home last night until around 9, after heading to the project site (it's a school garden/nature path thingie) straight from work. I still had the sidebar to write, and a few typos to correct that Hubs noticed in the main article, and other sidebar. I figured I could whip out the sidebar pretty quickly, then e-mail everything to the editor.
Storms took out our Internet service. I reset everything, and still no Internet. No problem - I didn't need the Internet to write, just to e-mail. I probably shouldn't have been on the computer - thunder rumbling and lightning flashing kept reminding me I should have got this done much earlier. The lights flickered and my computer went black. Sh!t, sh!t, sh!t! A moment of panic when I wondered if I'd saved everything I'd just written. A bigger panic when I couldn't get my computer to even turn on! (Writing this reminds me I should probably save everything to a memory stick soon; I have a bad habit of never doing that.)
Ok, calm down. The cat, who was sitting in my lap, jumped during the last lightning strike, and disconnected the power-pack cord. Computer back on, document had been saved before it shut off. Sidebar finished; everything ready to go, but still no Internet.
Still out this morning too, but I tried resetting once more right before I left for work, and thankfully service had been restored.
Never again will I procrastinate.
Until I do it the next time.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 1, 2011 20:40:40 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Jul 1, 2011 20:41:55 GMT -6
HA! I should do a lot of things!!!
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 1, 2011 21:02:37 GMT -6
Me too.
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Post by stepper on Jul 2, 2011 10:40:32 GMT -6
Phalon!! Why do you do this to yourself?? OMG!! Yes, you should get a battery back up so you can keep your system from crashing - especially if A) you are a writer, and B) you are going to write when it suits you even if that is during a lightening storm, and C) what you are writing matters to you at all. They aren't all that expensive - some are only slightly larger than a power strip. And...get yourself an external hard drive and a program that automatically backs everything up for you! Save yourself all the stress you can. With teenage daughters you have enough to worry about! I'm glad you got the articles done and sent in on time - I just wish you wouldn't do the last second thingie. I've done both; last second and way early. Early is much easier on my nerves. Of course, maybe you are a pressure person and write better that way. Maybe it gets the creative juices flowing for you - gets you all juiced up. But for me, finishing at the last second only leaves me feeling juiced. I wonder what Erma would say about a husband who got his wife an external hard drive and computer backup program for her birthday, or anniversary.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 21, 2011 23:01:25 GMT -6
OMG, Stepper!!! I don't know!!!
I did it again last week. Saturday evening was our Art in the Arboretum program at the nursery. I was supposed to write something to read. Luckily, I had the day off because I hadn't started a thing. Off and on throughout the day, I'd write a sentence here, a paragraph there between doing other things around the house. I finished the piece at 5:20pm. I left the house to help set up the event at 5:30pm. I knew about the event a year in advance.
I have a surprise birthday party to go to this weekend; it's a big one for my friend, the writers group leader. Someone suggested we all make our own personal heartfelt cards with personal heartfelt messages in them. Like I have time for such a thing! I have my whole family coming in tomorrow, I haven't finished cleaning the house yet, or started the heartfelt message, and have no idea how I'm going to slide out of here with an entire houseload of people to attend a party somewhere else. LX did the artwork for the card today; I asked her two weeks ago if she'd do it. Of course, I could have started the heartfelt message two weeks ago too. I'm sensing a pattern here within the family.
Not that I'm a great writer, but it does matter. I'd have some type of breakdown if if I lost it all, (most likely of melodramatic proportions). I can't imagine the trauma Scrappy went through, losing all her writing and poetry. I've got stuff I've written for the girls, which someday I mean to give to them. I've got gobs of files containing nothing but research for future pieces; there are dozens of half written things, files with ideas, sentences, or paragraphs that may one day turn into something more than a single thought, and complete nonfiction articles and fiction stories I've written that I'd someday like to do something with....even if it's just to use it on my blog, (shhhh...that last blog entry was written three years ago).
But I honestly don't know what battery backups, external hard drives, and all that other gobbledy-gook computer techno-stuff does. Heck, I don't even know how to spell gobbledy-gook computer techno-stuff. I just put a lot of my recent stuff on a memory stick. Is that good enough?
And now, I must go to bed. I've procrastinated cleaning long enough....too long, actually, and I'll have to get up early to finish last minute!
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Post by Phalon on Jul 21, 2011 23:06:28 GMT -6
Oh, and speaking of waiting until the last minute...how are things coming along for you, Joxie, My Sister in Procrastination?
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 21, 2011 23:59:47 GMT -6
Oh, the Procrastination is coming along fine. And the year is already half over.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 22, 2011 0:10:27 GMT -6
BTW: You should also save the stuff to a couple of CDs and put them in safe places. Some outside of the home. Maybe even in a bank box. You should also print out any majorly rewritten stuff and put the pages in envelops, and the envelops in (plastic) storage boxes, and the storage boxes in dry, safe places. Or you can put the printouts in an old refrigerator or freezer to help protect it in case of a fire.
(I say this, and some of my work is only on my desktop computer and no where else. Although, most of what I've written has been printed out and in envelops in storage boxes and drawers all over the house. It would be a major pain to have to retype it all, but at least I have it. Shoot, I have printouts from my Apple II GS days that I haven't retyped into a word doc yet.)
You could also create your own private message board and post it all online for safe keeping. There are sites online that back up your works for you, but they charge a fee for their services.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 25, 2011 17:39:52 GMT -6
Ya got me going for a bit. 8 pages added to, (in longhand, not typed out), and now Books I & II are both half done. 26 pages left to add to. Did most of it during the weekend 'Twilight Saga' Marathons. And when the movies were no where in sight, I popped in an 'Eclipse' DVD to finish a couple more pages.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 28, 2011 17:24:08 GMT -6
I'm hoping to get at least 8 pages done this weekend. If so, I should have it done in about 4 or 5 weekends, hopefully. So, the end of the year deadline should work out fine. As I've got to read my books on how to set up the word docs to be able to upload them to the various publishing sites. No date on when, at the moment, but the closer I come to being ready for publication, I'll give a heads up as to about when to expect to be able to buy them. Should anyone be interested enough in buying them, that is. And if so, which would you prefer: eBook or POD? Print On Demand will most likely take longer, as I'll have to buy one copy of each book to make sure there are no mistakes in the set up before allowing them to be sold to the public. Plus I'll have to create a front cover & back cover (a cover jacket) for each book, and that will no doubt take a lot of time on my part. So, as I said, who knows when these will be ready. Which is why I say hopefully by the end of the year. It could be the beginning of next year. But I'll play it by ear and let everyone know when I'm really, really, _really_ close to being ready for a publication date.
I've been taking pictures of the kittens and cats on my back porch, and am thinking of creating a photo book, and am hoping that any money the book might make will help me feed & care for the critters. That will make 4 books I hope to have out by this winter, or by next summer. One MS is pretty much done, and is waiting for me to learn how to format it for publication. These two MSs I'm working on right now won't take long to complete, if I don't procrastinate too much, and could be ready soon. The photo book will most likely take the longest to get ready, so I won't even begin on it until I get the 3 ready for uploading.
When I have these two MSs done, I'll print them out and stick them in a drawer for a few weeks, and then go over them again with fresh eyes. I'm trying to decide if I really need other eyes to go over the 3 before I publish, or just go with my own eyes alone. They're small works, and they're not stories, so I may not need beta-readers. I really don't know how to explain what they are. Books I & II are somewhat like a diary/journal/memoir, a tell-all on the goings on in Hubert's family. (The Simpsons/Married With Children) The 3rd book is a conversation between two sisters, one sister is driving the other sister crazy with her misguided viewpoint. And the 4th book is mostly photos, but I may add comments. And I may even add the wildlife photos I have on MySpace ... the fox, raccoons, deer. I haven't thought the photo book out yet, as the idea for it only just recently popped into my head.
Thoughts, anyone?
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