Writing from my Wyoming Easy-Chair

Terrific read about writers and the west posted today by, Lex Anteinternet – take a look.

Meanwhile here from writing central, in my easy-chair, I am tapping along on my keyboard. I have two books with the first draft finished, but instead of working on those find myself writing new stuff. Not sure why, but it might be I am not in the mood to edit right now.

We had a bad storm move through yesterday.  Nothing much at our place, but a few miles north, softball-size hail and a tornado, glad we are safe, but sad for those who had much destruction.

Well, back to writing, maybe a bit of editing, perhaps not.

Photos of elk and Bighorn sheep from our drive to Laramie last Sunday.

“To err is human to edit divine” – from my Grammarly site.

I call this last photo - kids at play.

Have a terrific rest of the week. 

See all of my books here 

Oh - What a Couple of Weeks

To say the last two weeks have been a bummer would be the ultimate understatement. 

1. Tooth Extraction
2. Root Canal
3. Flu
4. Arthritis Flair up

There you have it, and a fun ride it has not been - but, the good news is I am on the mend. Seems as I get older bad things seems to come in groups, I only hope this group of ailments has ended for a few years - not fun. Finally up and around - some - the past few days, even managed a half hour speaking engagement yesterday. 

A few weeks ago standing behind the - one of a kind - CCC Cap House in
Guernsey State Park

All of the above means that I have not got around to much writing or editing. I did get a second proof copy for my newest book. I wasn't happy with some of my headings and spacing in the first. After a bit, okay quite a bit, of editing,  Happy Days, at first look, this one seems to be fine and should be available soon, but I will need to take a more careful look first - Just to be sure.

My light-hearted look at gardening - available in a few days.

The first Iris are starting to open - always look great

On the good news side, my yard and garden look quite nice for this time of year, and with no frost, in the two-week forecast, it looks like I will be able to continue planting in our gardens the next few days.

I am continuing the research and rough draft, on what I have found to be both a challenging and energizing new nonfiction book. This one I cannot wait to publish but it will be winter at best before it is ready for the big edit. 

On the grounds of Fort Laramie
 Setting for the new nonfiction book I am working on

Meanwhile, keep on writing and keep on reading.

The famous Iron Bridge at Fort Laramie - What stories it could tell

Edit or Write?

I read many author blog sites, likely too many. One thing interested me a couple of years ago, and that was keeping better track of what I was writing. So, in 2016, I kept track, noted the number of words and where I wrote them, blog, book, contract work, etc. I did a good job, for me, faithfully writing down numbers each day, adding them up each month, and totaling at the end of the year.

Did it Help? I’m not sure, for some, it might, but I think it may also hurt. I worried about the days I didn't write, and on the days my word count was low. At one point I reassessed my goal and adjusted it down a bit. The problem I had was editing. I would spend hours and days, editing for the second, third and yes, fourth time and those days the word count was low or nonexistent. One day I spent six hours working and wrote 17 words, which I duly noted in my journal. Some days, as is often the norm in editing, I subtracted words, maybe hundreds. No, I didn’t subtract words from my count for those days, but I had no new words either – entered zero.

Prarie Dog Enjoying the Snow

The Problem – Often on editing days I would quit and go to work on a WIP just to get my word count up. If my words for the week were short, I would quit editing to make sure I got my thousand words for the day or whatever goal I had set in my mind. Why is this a problem? Because I can't publish anything if I never complete the edit.

New in 2017 – I am still keeping track of words, but only to note them, not on what project and instead of keeping a running total I may, or may not, add them up at the end of the month.

Travelers on the Trail Called this Stream, in the Laramie Range, the Bitter Cottonwood

Meanwhile – As you may have guessed I am spending most of my days lately editing. Today is a cold, 14 right now, and snowy day, a good day for writing, or editing.

Keep Reading, Keep Writing, and if you live in four season country, stay warm.

Self-Editing, What I Have Learned

I have always believed that editing is hard work, for me harder than writing. For many, to self-edit is almost impossible, but I think it can be done. I recently had my eyes opened by a simple fact – if you are self-editing, order a proof of the book and edit from it. Editing from my computer screen is the most difficult for me. Printing a hard copy and editing from that is a bit better but still not as good as looking at the book.

Talking about my CCC book

Which brings me to publishing eBooks, not sure that I could self-edit and publish eBooks without an editor. I have my readers, and I self-edit, but most of what I find are in the book proof.

 So what have I learned from this? Read the work in another form to finish the self-edit. This helps in finding, too long paragraphs, and too long sentences and misused words. I also read my novels and nonfiction works out of order, random chapters, last chapter first, and then skip around and read, and I read the chapters slowly. Some suggest reading the entire work backwards, this works, and for many works well, but not for me.

One of my chapter books for kids - fun read

From my self-editing experience, I have found two tips to be the best. First, know when to stop, sometimes I put in a comma or hyphenate a word then re-edit and take them out – Stop already!

Second, read aloud, hear yourself. And now I have a third, look over a proof of the book.

 If I were to put a fourth here it would be, now you are finished, send it off to an editor.

This is the proof of my western, still finishing final self-edit

I am not like writers that believe all works must be professionally edited. There are so many editors selling services it is important and hard to find a good one, and one who charges a fee that is affordable.  It takes quite a few sales to make back a thousand or more dollars in editing costs. Everyone that writes expects or hopes to have a best seller, but if you believe that the book will sell only a hundred or fewer copies stick with a good self-edit and get on to your next book.

So far my best selling book - several hundred copies

Rewrite or Leave as Is

I've been doing some editing the past two weeks, everything I do keeps bringing me back to this quote.

“I have been correcting the proofs of my poems. In the morning, after hard work, I took a comma out of one sentence…. In the afternoon I put it back again.” ~Oscar Wilde

Sometimes it might be best to walk away

I am surprised at how many times I have rewrote something in the margin and later scratch that out and write in bold red  - LEAVE AS IS

The good news is the weather is great in Wyoming and my golf game is already getting to mid-season form. Almost time to plant the garden and do some more editing.

Formatting and Editing

This week I spent all my writing time, editing and formatting my nonfiction book. Formatting a 270 page book with more than 100 photos can be a pain, and it is. Word does not always like to put photos or captions where I want or need them, but I am learning more about how it works. Not sure I will be doing another book with so many pictures anytime soon. I might be reaching a bit with that as I have a finished, children’s book, with 20, or so, pictures.

I am eager to finish up these two books and get on with the two westerns that I have ready for final formatting and editing. I work at a rate of only about four or five pages an hour right now, hope to double that production soon. Who knows? Maybe for an old retired history teacher, four or five pages an hour is the new record.

Back at it in the morning. Hope to finish both of these projects by the end of the months, not a new year’s resolution, but a goal.

Meanwhile I will leave with a photo of my little town from Roundtop Mountain, about three miles away.