Tag: WIP

When to send to beta readers?

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 22 Comments

Question

I’ve just finished my first round of editing my novel.  I’m wondering when would be the best time to send it out to beta readers (who I’ve yet to find!)?

Do I go over it myself as many times as possible before I get to that point?  Or is it better to send it out now and get the feedback I so desperately need as soon as possible?

There’s a certain element to my novel I’m not sure about.  Not going to say what it is but I definitely need some guidance.

So I’m asking all of you who’ve written a book (admittedly this is my second novel but I’m still unsure about this) what you’ve found to be the best time to send your novel out to be beta read and get those all important second opinions?

I must confess I’m not great at making decisions.  Also, if you all tell me a million different things, that’s going to be even more confusing!  But I’m willing to take the risk with this cos I really need to know.  And even if you don’t have a definitive answer, I’d be interested to hear your stories about editing and how it all went for you.

It’s definitely an exciting time for me having the publication of my second book on the horizon less than a year after the first one was published. 🙂

I’ll keep you all posted on my progress.  Book number three is in the planning stages… (BTW it’s not a series!!)

 

 

 

Flashback

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 34 Comments

Welcome to a very wet and windy WIPpet Wednesday.  Well it is here in the UK anyway! 😦  Or at least the sun is shining now but it’s been horrible all day until now.  Anyway for this week’s WIPpet Wednesday I thought I’d share with you one of the many  flashbacks that my MC Anna has in Reunion of the Heart.  For the 12th February I’m sharing 12 lines from chapter 2.

In the present, Anna is at her school reunion and she and best friend Melissa have just been reunited with their school friends Lizzie and Rachel who they haven’t seen since school.

In this excerpt, in the flashback, you can catch a glimpse of why they fell out at school and hadn’t made up until now, many years later. I’m not going to say too much more than that.  So without further ado, here’s my contribution to this week’s WIPpet Wednesday:

‘What the hell do you think you’re playing at?’ Melissa had demanded of Lizzie, marching up to where she was sitting eating her lunch at the edge of the school playing fields and tapping her on the shoulder.  Anna was trailing in her wake.

‘I’m sorry, but when did you become the boss of my life?’ Lizzie had replied.  ‘Oh yeah, that’s right, you’re not!’

‘You know what Matt’s like, you know he’s a nasty bastard who’s given our friend hell and yet you still choose to start seeing him.’

‘It’s my life; I can do what I want!’  Lizzie retorted.  ‘And anyway, when are you ever going to let Anna speak for herself?  There she is, cowering behind you…’

‘I’m not cowering,’ Anna said in a quiet voice.  ‘But Melissa’s right, I do have a problem with you dating Matt.  He’s made my life miserable for five years of secondary school.’ 

And if you aren’t taking part but would like to, just post on your blog whatever you’re working on with your writing and add it here, where all the other wonderful WIPpets for this week can be found too.

Thanks goes to the most gracious hostess of them all K. L. Schwengel.

Meeting her new agent

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 18 Comments

Hello and welcome to my contribution to this week’s WIPpet Wednesday.

Thank you so much to all of you who gave me suggestions for the title of my novel.  In case you didn’t catch my earlier post, some weeks ago I did an Amazon search for Reunion just to double check that there wasn’t too similar a book with the same title. Unfortunately there was so I needed to come up with another title.

I was  stumped but Xina Marie Uhl and Kate Frost separately came up with the title Reunion of the Heart.  I really like it.  Seeing as it’s a romance I think it’s a great title as I want to ground it in the romance genre if that makes sense.  I needed a title that people who were wanting to read in that genre would be able to find and recognise it as being a romance.

So a big thank you to Xina Marie and Kate!

Back to the main event.  Continuing my spate of generosity in terms of length of excerpts I share, here’s two paragraphs from chapter five of my novel for the 5th February.  I’m hopping about a bit with my excerpts.  This one is a bit further on from last week’s.  My MC Anna, who’s an author, has just walked in to her new agent’s office.

She glanced surreptitiously around her.  It was the same office his predecessor Geoffrey had used but it was a lot different now.  It looked a little as though World War Three had hit it.  There were half emptied boxes on the floor with their contents spewing out.  The books on the shelves which lined three walls of the room were arranged haphazardly, some standing vertically, others lying horizontally in piles waiting to be arranged properly. And Peter’s desk.  That was a work of art in itself – a work in disorderliness.  Anna couldn’t even see the desk through all of the papers and books that covered it.  She smothered a smile as he rooted around his desk trying to find something.

‘Ah ha.  Here we are,’ he said brandishing the piece of paper in his hand like a sword.  ‘Before we start I should reassure you that I’ve read all your books and thoroughly enjoyed them.’  Anna felt her face flush with pleasure.  Peter went on, ‘These are some of the notes that Geoffrey gave me which relate to you and to how things are with your work.  But in all honesty, I’d rather hear from you.  What stage are you at with your current work in progress?’

Hope you enjoyed that. 🙂 If you don’t already take part in WIPpet Wednesday and would like to, simply post on your blog an excerpt of whatever you’ve written lately which relates to the date.  Then add your details here.

Thank you K. L. Schwengel for hosting.

Something for WIPpet Wednesday

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 22 Comments

Wednesday

Is it just me or does WIPpet Wednesday come around faster and faster? Lol. Anyway I’m being kind again this week.  I’m sharing a whole 30 lines from chapter 4 of my current WIP, which is tentatively titled Reunion, though I’m working to change it.  One idea I had was ‘Reunion’s Meeting’.  Any thoughts?

OK, on with the main event.  I would have shared 29 lines (for the 29th January) but the excerpt makes more sense with the extra line.  This week’s WIPpet takes place a while before last week’s just to confuse you.  Anna is out jogging when she sees someone she’d much rather not…

Feeling unnerved she turned around.  When she saw who it was she had an unpleasant surprise. 

‘Will!  What on earth are you doing here?’ she demanded before she could help herself, pulling out her earphones.  She’d barely looked him in the eye at the reunion; now she saw him as if for the first time.  He was tall, taller than she remembered, with dark eyes and short hair that curled gently around his temples.  He would have been attractive, but his expression was conceited and smug.

‘I live here,’ he said in a matter-of-fact tone.  ‘Well not here in this park,’ he added jokily, seeming to register her dumb-struck face.

‘You mean you live here, in Warston?’ Anna was unable to hide her incredulity.  This was all she needed.

‘Yes, as I just said.’  He had an odd expression on his face, somewhere between a self-satisfied smile and a genuinely interested look.  ‘Warston is a big city, Anna,’ he went on.  ‘It’s not that surprising that we’ve never bumped into each other before.’

‘No thank goodness we never have,’ Anna blurted out unable to stop herself.  She knew she shouldn’t be rude, but this was Will.  After the way he’d treated her he didn’t deserve to be spoken to politely.

‘Well it’s nice to know that I’m still in your good books.’

Anna was surprised that underneath his sarcastic tone he sounded hurt.  But she mentally shrugged off this thought.  Will had put her through hell during her school years and the scars were still there.  His hurt feelings weren’t worth worrying about.

‘Well I didn’t expect to see you here,’ she said, hearing her voice sound abrupt and cold. ‘But I doubt we’ll meet again.  Like you say, Warston’s a big city.’ She turned to jog back down the hill.

‘Good luck then.  You must have a lot of work to do on your novel.  See you around.’

WIPpet Wednesday is open to anyone who has a piece of writing they’d like to share.  If you want to join in, just post a bit of your writing that relates in some way to the date.  Then add your name here.  Thanks goes to K. L. Schwengel for hosting. 🙂

How I write

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 6 Comments

Writing

Just a quick post to update you a little on how I’m getting on with writing every day this month.

Not bad so far. I’ve written properly, working on my WIP Reunion, most days. The days I don’t have given me the opportunity to start planning my next story – which to me counts as work on my writing.

That’s been really nice, to get back to planning which I always enjoy. But doing work every day on my writing has made me compare how I’m doing now writing/working on writing every day with my usual ‘method’ of working on it most days but not every single day.

The highest word count I’ve managed in one day, writing this way, is about 600 which for me isn’t bad. However a few times before this month, when I wasn’t working on my WIP every day, I could do well over 1000.

So the question I’m pondering is this: is it better to write every day and do less each time, but have the total add up to quite a lot, or is it better to write a bit more sporadically but write in heftier chunks?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! 🙂

A WIPpet for Wednesday

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 25 Comments

OK, so not the most fantastic of titles but it’s the best I could do. I hope this WIPpet finds you well and getting into the swing of 2014.

For this week’s WIPpet Wednesday I thought I’d share with you 15 words from chapter 1 of my current WIP Reunion. Like many of my fellow WIPpeteers, I’m finding it hard to… well find parts to share that don’t give away half the plot.

So this week I’m keeping it short but sweet. This line is further on in the same chapter from last week’s excerpt. Anna is thinking about the people she might see at the school reunion.

It would be good to see Lizzie and Rachel again, but they wouldn’t necessarily go.

I will try and be less stingy with the excerpt next week! Looking forward to reading yours.

Wanna join in the WIPpet Wednesday fun? No problem – just share an excerpt from your current WIP on your blog. Make sure it relates to the date somehow. Then go here to add your details to the list. And you’re off!

Thank you K. L. Schwengel for hosting! 🙂

Writing every day in January

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 11 Comments

I’m not sure I’ll be able to stick to this, but my aim is to write every single day this month, even if it’s only for 20 minutes or less. I’ve been inspired by this article that suggests making a realistic New Year’s resolution regarding writing – to write for 20 minutes a day every day in January or less if you can’t manage it.

I think it’s such a fantastic idea and I’ll explain why. In recent years I’ve been writing more and more, particularly in the past year or so since I’ve joined Twitter, started a WordPress blog and have been in contact with, and even met some, other writers.

But I still struggle to write every day. I’m not an especially busy person, so in many ways I have it really good and there’s not much excuse not to write. I find that life takes over, working, walking the dog and looking after him, housework etc. And as I was saying to my husband today, as much as I enjoy writing it’s work – it is hard work and it’s not always easy as I’ve been finding lately as I work on my current WIP. I don’t know if you guys ever feel like that about it, but that’s how it is for me.

Having said that, I love it and I have more and more incentives to keep writing, not least all my online writer friends. You keep me going and I really appreciate it! And as I said that’s inspired me to write more.

So far in these first few days of January I’ve managed to write every day, although not for that long each time. But I should add that in recent months on a number of occasions I’ve managed over 1000 words in one day, which is good for me, so it’s not like I’m constantly slacking!

What are your thoughts on writing every day? Do you struggle to do it or is it something that comes naturally? I’d love to hear from you. 🙂

A brief WIPpet Wednesday

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 23 Comments

Hi all.

This is going to have to be quick as I haven’t got a huge amount of time today. But I hope you’re all well and not too stressed out by the pre-Christmas rush.

My WIPpet this week is a tease (again!). I’m sharing 21 words from chapter 12 of my work in progress.  My maths works like this: 18 for the 18th + 2 + 1 (from 2013) = 21 I’ll let you figure out the rest!!

The scene I’m sharing is from Reunion and it follows directly on from last week’s.  Anna is trying not to think about her experience with Will a week ago.

Anyway she should try and forget about Will and think about Peter instead.  He was coming down to see her tomorrow.

I’m guessing we’re not doing WIPpet Wednesday next week seeing as it’ll be Christmas Day.  Yay!  (for Christmas Day, not because I don’t want to connect with you guys via WIPpet Wednesday!!)  I hope you all have a wonderful time.

To be a part of WIPpet Wednesday just post on your blog an excerpt of whatever you’re working on writing-wise. Just make sure it relates in some way to the date. Then add your name to this linky.  Thanks goes to K. L. Schwengel for hosting.

All that’s left to say is Merry Christmas to you all!! And I just realised that this is my 100th post on my blog!! So yay for that too. 😀

WIPpet Wednesday once again

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 32 Comments

I hope you’ve all had a good week.  I’ve been doing some Christmas shopping, some online some in regular shops.  Thankfully I don’t have too many people to buy for so that’s good for me!

Anyway on to the main event on my blog today: WIPpet Wednesday.  Seeing as it’s the eleventh of December today, I thought I’d share with you 10 lines from chapter 12 of my current WIP Reunion.

Only 10 lines?  I hear you ask.  OK 11-1 = 10 and I just felt the extract works better without the extra line.  It follows directly on from last week’s WIPpet post.  A week has passed since Anna’s run in with Will and she’s sitting comfortably on the sofa in her best friend’s new house, thinking about what happened.

Anna closed her eyes as she was sitting on the sofa of Melissa’s front room, basking in the warmth of the new house.  It was now Friday evening.  In less than a week Melissa had managed to get most of her belongings packed away.  Although she’d told Anna she wanted to do some decorating, to make her mark on it, the house was pretty much up together now. 

Anna was unsurprised.  Melissa always had been organised.  She’d been in her new house for a week now.  And almost a week had passed since Anna’s run-in with Will yet she couldn’t stop thinking about it, trying to make sense of it.  Why was he stalking her?  Was he obsessed with her? 

So if you want to take part in WIPpet Wednesday just post on your blog an excerpt of whatever you’re currently working on writing-wise that relates in some way to the date.  Then hop along to this linky and add your name.

Thanks goes to K. L. Schwengel for hosting. 🙂

Neglecting herself – WIPpet Wednesday

~ Elaine Jeremiah ~ 18 Comments

I’m being kind to myself again by not having an image with this post and therefore not having to scour Google images for ages looking for a suitable photo!!

Anyway onto the task at hand: For this week’s WIPpet Wednesday I’m being kind to you too (slightly kinder than last week anyway) by sharing with you 11 lines from chapter 13 of my current WIP Reunion.

The maths is simple: 11 for the month, 13 for the year. There you go easy peasy.  Moving swiftly on, at this point in the story… I might give too much of the plot away by telling you what I was going to tell you!

All I will say is that my MC Anna has been neglecting herself.  She’s been brooding about stressful things that have happened to her and she’s really low physically and run down.

A few paragraphs ago from this excerpt she fainted.  (Gosh I think I tell people more about myself than about this WIP!!)

And here you have it:

Anna nodded obediently and closed her eyes, sinking back down onto the softness of the pillow.  She thought about her eating habits over the past few weeks.  When Melissa had been here they’d eaten well every night.  Melissa was a great cook.  And before that Elliot had prepared her delicious meals.  Cooking had never been Anna’s strong point.  Since Melissa had left, she’d mainly lived on simple pasta dishes or oven food.  Sometimes, especially when stressed, she’d forget to eat. 

And she had been stressed lately.  What with her run in with Will which had thrown her and made her anxious, Melissa moving out and the pressures of her book needing to be finished, things had been difficult.  Anna realised that she’d been neglecting herself and not really eating properly.

To take part in WIPpet Wednesday just post on your blog your recent writing work.  Then add your name to this linky.  Rule: the amount of your excerpt you share must relate in some way to the date.

Big thanks to K. L. Schwengel for being lovely and hosting all us crazy WIPpeteers. 🙂