Updates and things.
Dirty Coast t-shirt
Personal Log 20230726
Distractions! Well, partly. The other part is that I tend to use my Chromebook to write on this website, and other work had me working on the “real” laptop. Yeah, I know, that sounds lame, but hey, it’s one of those things. So, the bag with the Chromebook sat as I used the Ubuntu laptop, and Personal Log 20230726 had to wait.
Trivial Tacos
One of the reasons this smaller laptop stayed in the bag was the romance novel, Trivial Tacos. My authoring software, Scrivener, requires Windows or MacOS. So, that means I have to run it in a virtual machine. That’s not exactly something the Chromebook can handle. There are times when I get a writing idea when I’m on the smaller computer. I get it down in the word processor, then copy/paste into Scrivener. Extra steps are distractions!
More on the Chromebooks coming when I write something for the Linux blog. Back to the novel. The first draft is done. Finished. Hit the save button. It’s twelve chapters, a bit over 50K words. That’s short in comparison to the Talents novels, but it’s romance. I had so much fun with it, and my writers group got a kick out of my takes on the genre. Next steps: I set up a Trello board for editing and production. I started on the first chapter on Monday. Went back through it, made some small changes, and followed my checklist. I’ve relied on Dara for character continuity, etc., for other works. I start a character as Anne, and by the third chapter, she’s Susan. Usually this is minor characters, so it’s easy to clean up.
Ethnicity decisions
This story presented a challenge. One of the main characters told me she’s a Navy brat, and her mother is brown (therefore so is she). I was four chapters into the story before it was clear she’s Indian. That’s required a lot more continuity checking, and I’m sure Lady Duchess of the Red Pen will find the stuff I haven’t.
Cancer
Yeah, the wife has breast cancer. It’s an extreme distraction. Still, not going to hear much about all that online.
Back to the editing…Personal Log 20230726 out.
