Tag Archives: personal organization

Pot Shots. . . And So We Begin

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I have gone out and invested in a new spiral to keep notes for my next Daisy mystery–Pot Shots.  As you may know, I try to title my books with a symbol of the first victim and how they were killed.  Not sure if you knew that I tend to come up with a general topic to think about and the title of the book, even before I create my first new characters.

Right now, Colorado is enjoying the limelight that comes with being one of the first states in the union to legalize recreational pot.  It makes for a natural overarching topic to explore. And the legalization brings up all sorts of interesting challenges for citizens and law enforcement alike. I’m watching from the sidelines.

Pot Shots Notes

“The Game’s Afoot!”

Getting teased about the kind of research I need to do for this next story is a lot of fun too.  I mean after all, without proper research, how can I truly describe a Rocky Mountain High?  Could I write about someone who literally goes up in smoke? And playing with a cash-based business (banks are closely tied with federal government and can’t risk losing the FDIC connection) is just too much opportunity for trouble.

I don’t want to give away where exactly I’m going with the story, but for those who have read Faith on the Rocks, I’ll just let you know that I’m going to give Chip McPherson a mom who comes from California and has the most seductive brownie recipe you could imagine. Or is this too trite a thought? Hmm.

As for writing a novel, each author has his or her own style and process.  I’m trying to share mine with you in hopes that if you’re just starting your own novel-writing adventure, you might be able to take away some ideas for your work process.

Currently, I’m in the brainstorming phase.  This is the hardest, but most fun part of writing.  I have no plot yet, not even an opening scene.  I know very little about the topic of legalized marijuana, but am well aware of my personal biases on the topic.  So, here’s the plan …

  • February and March – research.  Jot down trivia about marijuana and the debate occurring across the country right now.  Visit a dispensary. Talk to people who I know use this drug. Get a feel for the topic and the type of characters I’ll want to experience the story.
  • March and April – put together a list of characters and a few murderous scenarios.  Unlike some other authors I’ve met, I need to know who killed whom and why before I even start a story.  Others like to write their tale, then go back and plant clues.  I like to plant clues along the way. It’s kind of like a game of hide-and-seek to me. Both writing styles work.
  • By May I want to have an outline complete.  Thanks to Scrivener, a large writing project toolkit, this should be easier than my 3×5 card system I’ve used in the past.  We’ll see.
  • June and for the next weeks and months beyond I’ll write the story out. It would be great to have a quicker first draft than in my other two efforts. It took from 2007 to 2012 to get Faith written, rewritten, and published.  I worked from 2012 through the end of 2013 to write Sliced Vegetarian, and I don’t know yet if it will be accepted for publication. My goal for Pot Shots is to be done by the end of 2014.  Did you know that Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was researched in seven weeks and published the following year in a newspaper series?  If you have suggestions on how to be more productive in writing, I’d love to hear from you.
  • That’s it.  Simple–like chess.

If you have strong feelings about the marijuana debate, please do contact me.  Right now, my mind is a blank slate waiting for thoughts and feelings to form my opinion–and next story.

Beta Reads are Done – On to Rewriting

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Whoo Hoo!  I have received the last of my beta readers’ feedback for the second Daisy Arthur novel, Sliced Vegetarian.  Now its on to another rewrite.  This is where some of the more detailed work begins in developing a novel.

What are “beta readers” and how do you go about “rewriting” a novel?  Good questions!

Writing and Editing

The work begins again!

While I’ve read a ton of books on writing, there are few out there that go through the entire writing-to-publishing-to-selling process.  I suspect this is because writing is an art form, and for some reason, either artists were excused the day they taught Documentation-of-Process at school, or artists are subversive rebels who strive so much for unique vision that nobody wants to hurt their feelings by saying there is a standard way of completing this kind of work. Art and efficiency seem to be diametrically opposed.  Hmm.  More on that another time.

For now, let’s explore the beta reader.

I chose my three readers with care.  I chose three because of the ancient custom that says three is a perfect number (I am not too proud to go by a little who-do-voo-do occasionally).

Anyway, my first reader is a sister of mine, Winnie.  She’d read Faith on the Rocks, and noticed some challenges with word choice and character development, and let me know.  When someone reads your published work with such care, how can you pass the opportunity to tap them on the shoulder before you go to print again?  Winnie reads in the mystery genre, although she likes more of the soft-boiled or even harsher mysteries, rather than cozy.  Her comments on Sliced Veggie (my nickname for the next book) were insightful and detailed.  I will have some fun going through rewrites from her notes.

My second reader, Melissa, gave back great detailed work and helped tremendously with the sensitive areas self-esteem.  Did I tell you that Sliced Veggie is a tale of too much?  Feelings can get trampled in such a story.  Melissa helped keep me on track with a focus on maintaining Daisy’s friendly voice and sensitivity to others.  As a software testing and documentation expert, you know that Melissa caught several of my typos as well.

Then Kathy, my third reader, gave me a birds’ eye view of the story from a reader’s perspective.  She let me know where the storyline was weak, and how the mystery part of it needs a bit of shoring up.  Kathy reads in my genre, and is herself an aspiring cozy mystery novelist.

There isn’t a way to thank my beta readers enough.  They may not be professional editors, but their comments from a reader’s perspective are like gold to a writer who is interested in improving her skills.  Thank goodness Thanksgiving is next week, because I have a mountain of gratitude to talk about when thinking of Winnie, Melissa, and Kathy. If you’re reading this, my friends, thank you, thank you!

Now it’s time to roll up my sleeves and dig in once more.  This will be the second rewrite of my novel.  So how does the process work?

First, I’ll re-read comments from my betas, and make note of their over-arching concerns.  Then I’ll do a quick read through of the story and change the biggest issues.  There’s one chapter, for example, that takes place in a restaurant–well, I don’t want to spoil it for you.  Anyway, I’ll hit the most troubling chapters and make the biggest changes there.

Next comes a detailed look at each chapter.  I may go from chapter one straight through to the end, or I may jump around (you never know how the creative Muse will strike).  Usually, to make sure I touch every chapter, I’ll write the chapter numbers on my white board and X them out when I feel the work is once again, complete.  For me, this is one of the few ways I truly “see” progress, and putting those Xs up is a real motivator. This is why I hate the electronic to-do lists that come on computers. One click and you’re done crossing off.  No flair or joie-de-vivre there!

When I’ve polished every chapter once more, I’ll set the project aside for a day or two (not weeks on end), read the book through once more, and send my project out to the editor who’s expecting it.  From there, it’s cross-my-fingers time for a few months while the gods of the publishing industry decide the book’s fate.  While I’m waiting on that, it will be time to outline novel number three.  But that, my friend, is a tale for another time.

Are you an author or aspiring writer?  Do you have tips on rewriting your work?  Please share here.