That Important Last Read

How many times have you read your novel-in-progress from start to finish? Can you read your novel without wanting to change every other sentence you read?

I have a hard time with this! I've read individual chapters...oh, I would say about 100+ times and I've read the complete manuscript four times. It's time to read my novel again and today is that day.

It's a rainy, grey morning in West Virginia.  A perfect day for writing and reading; tomorrow promises to be as gloomy a day as today. Strange, right? Well, I always write well and am able to stay in my seat longer when the weather is nasty outside. I figure no one is doing anything fun outside, so I'm not missing anything! 

The temperature outside is right around 66*, so I feel cozy and warm inside with my sweats, sweater, socks and fuzzy boots--my favorite writing outfit. Actually, that's my favorite Fall outfit when I'm home! I've made necessary phone calls, emailed two friends and yes, I checked Facebook. I have a personal FB page and an author page which I keep up-to-date. I even tweeted a few lines to keep current and refer readers back to my blog. All necessary!

This morning, I've decided to read the novel-length manuscript of my historical novel, A Decent Woman, like a new reader would. I'm putting all markers, pens and pencils away and I'm turning off the cell phone. I will make a pot of tea, draw the curtains closed and sit on my couch with my fuzzy blue blanket over me to read my full manuscript...before I make any changes. That's a tough call for me at this point in the life of my book. I immediately see things that I could reword, improve on and explain more clearly! Argh! But, I'm holding back this morning.

I've hired the editor, done the rewrites and then, rewrote some more. I've taken out chapters that weren't helping with story momentum and fleshed out my protagonist even more. I've done all I can humanly do at this point, so all that's left is to reread my story from beginning to end.

Stay warm out there! I'm headed to 1900 Ponce, Puerto Rico in my mind and mind's eye...see ya on the flip side :-)

Ellie

Fact or Fiction? You Decide.

** This blog is written tongue in cheek, but it's like the Enquirer, there are elements of truth throughout. I'll allow you to decide which parts are fact or fiction. **

After blogging nearly every day, for forever and a day, I went through withdrawals last week as I waited for a new laptop charger to arrive. I was not a happy camper. It was the second time I'd had to order a charger for this Dell laptop. One solid week of no computer.

By Saturday afternoon, I couldn't take it. I needed to check my emails and write a blog. Enough was enough. I also realized how addicted I was to my laptop and being connected to the world. I walked (huffed and puffed is more like it) three city blocks in 90* weather with 95% humidity to my local library to use their computers. That's pretty bad. I know for a fact that I sweated off a dress size.

I climbed the library steps with one thing on my mind, blogging and checking my emails. I was one sweaty mess, but I had a huge grin on my face. A computer was within my reach! As I entered the library, I saw an old gent entering the elevator. The only thing upstairs was the computer lab and I seriously doubted he was going down to the children's library, so I sprinted up the stairs two steps at a time. I was going to beat the old guy to the punch! By the time, the elevator doors opened and he shuffled into the computer lab, I had my Golden Ticket--I had a computer for an hour's time.

I felt a little smug as I sat down in the air conditioned room in front of my computer. I'm not proud of that, okay? But an addiction is an addiction. I had things to take care of. The gentleman ended up sitting next to me and immediately started playing Solitaire on his computer. I smiled at him and he gave me a weak smile with an arched eyebrow. He knew my agenda, who was I fooling? I certainly wasn't fooling him. I would have pushed this cute retiree aside to get to a computer at this very busy computer lab and we both knew it.

I checked my emails for any news on the agent who has my full manuscript as we speak and found no emails from him. I logged onto my Face Book page and checked up on my children and 'Liked' a page so that they would know I was alive, and began to write a blog, but I got nowhere. I could write a blog on my home laptop, but here at the library, I had the World Wide Web! Instead, I read the news online, did a bit of research for my second book, Finding Gracia on El Camino, and answered some emails. It was a very satisfying Saturday even though I hadn't earned brownie points with the octogenarian. He left after one hour and I was able to remain at the same computer for a couple of hours as most 'normal' people were at home, lounging by the pool, and at parks, enjoying family BBQs.

When I got home, I called the computer store to check on the status of my order and got the same reply, "Nothing yet, Ms. Parker. We'll call you the minute it comes in." 

So here I am on a much cooler Tuesday morning at my local library researching new laptops. I spent yesterday at home, writing this blog on Word. I remained indoors as the temps soared and the humidity reached what seemed like an all-time high.

The best part of this past week without my laptop? Reading. I finished reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain which I LOVED and finished Receive Me Falling by Erika Robuck which I liked, not loved. Last night, I began Our Lady of the Night by Mayra Santos-Febres. I've waited to read Santos-Febres' novel until I finished my own novel, set in the same town (my hometown), of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

It is amazing to me how much more I read when I don't have Internet...

Peace and love,
Ellie