Coffee Please

A new day dawns, but the sun stays hidden behind a heavy bank of clouds. Oh how I miss the sun. The feel of its warmth on my face as I bask in its glory, but no, there is no sun. Only an endless sky of grey. I can almost feel their giddy anticipation as they wait to expel their watery contents on the already flooded ground.

But the rain stirs my mind and I have a chance to produce. With yesterdays rain I had a chance to finish the second stage of the Mermaid Collection. First stage was the pencil sketches I posted before. The second stage was the line art done in ink. A painstakingly long task using various widths of ink. I think I used up at least four pens drawing the lines.

As much as I would like to begin stage three, adding color, I think I will spend majority of the day revising Soul of the Lost, and writing a paper for school. Stage three of the Mermaid Collection may begin this evening or tomorrow. Either way I have high expectations for the day. Lots of coffee and tons accomplished.

Stage 2 of Mermaid Collection:

Deadline

So I have set my deadline to have my editing done by January 23rd so I can enter Soul of the Lost in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest (ABNAC). Now that I am full into revisions I honestly don't know if I will be done by then!

Class is beginning again on Saturday. I have a article summary due that same day. My first day of first grade observations is on Thursday and I have some mermaid sketches to do for a friend who wants to purchase some line drawings for her daughter's birthday by the end of the month.

Revisions are going slow. As soon as I think I have one chapter done I realize there was something I missed. First time I read through I am looking at the content. Does everything add up. Does the chapter make sense. Is there a plot point I need to add. Dialogue I need to fix. After I have read through I make note of words I have used again and again. "Slowly, and quickly" seemed to be my favorites in chapter 1 & 2. Not to mention my love of adverbs. So many have already been cut or changed to stronger verbs. Then I get to the dreaded passive voice.... UGH!

I know all this hard work will pay off, especially when I go to write the sequel and I remember not to use so many adverbs and to avoid passive voice like the plague! No matter what this is a learning experience. If I make my deadline that is great and I can enter Soul of the Lost in the competition. As much as I want to enter it into the competition I worry about it too. Once it is entered you can't submit it for representation anywhere else. So from January 24 till the end of June (if it were to go that far in the competition) I could do nothing else with it.

For now I will just keep plugging along and we will see where the chips fall.