All right, someone tell me where January went. It seems to have gone missing...or run away or something of the sort.

While the search parties go out, shall I brief you all on what has happened around here in that time?

(do forgive me for the crappy intro, it's too much to bear heheehe).




3. We've been going through our family's Christmas DVD haul: Star Trek Next Gen, A-Team, Animaniacs, as well as a few Don Knotts movies and G-Force comics. Definitely like Next Gen better than the original Star Trek, and A-Team is a blast (literally in some episodes).

4. I am now the proud owner of a LAPTOP. Can't tell you how freeing it is to scoot off to the bedroom, lounge on my bed and just TYPE ON IT. I can move, I can take my work with me, I can DO ALL THE THINGS. I may or may not have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. And it's all thanks to my dearly beloved sis :).




For Working by Candlelight, I published 2 posts: Baa Baa Gray Sheep, Have You Any Wool and Christian Persistence and Roe v. Wade.

For The Rebelling Muse, I wrote 2 posts: My Alpha/Beta Process, and Awkward and Awesome: Editing a Novel with Two Competing Premises. I've been heavily focused on edits and prepping for betas, so it may not be a surprise that this blog may go quiet next month.

For The Cat in the Barnyard, I wrote 1 post: Introducing Jefferson Under a Little Known Title. In which, I kinda introduce my latest research project on Thomas Jefferson's farming activities.

For Rebellious Writing, I wrote no posts, but I did contribute to the 2019 Wrap-Up. I will be writing a book review for RW next month, so stay tuned for that.

For Maidens for Mary, I wrote no posts. 




Because my 2019 tracker worked pretty well, I decided to carry over the tradition into the new decade.

However, I was unhappy with how messy and long my 2019 tracker list became. The addition of monthly goals really didn't help matters. So instead, I'm going to give a brief summary of the progress made on the yearly goals each month, and any other personal goals that I have done. I've also made a more shorthanded title for clarity's sake.

Goal #1 (TWR): Continued editing, have reached 62k words. A lot of people have been asking for her, and now that I have the laptop, I think progress is going to go much quicker. At least, that's the plan, anyway.

Goal #2 (Platform): No progress.

Goal #3 (April NaNo): No progress. To be expected.

Goal #4 (NaNo): No progress. To be expected.

Goal #5 (Movies): No progress. To be expected.

Goal #6 (Library): Finished the leftover stack from 2019, no new trip yet.

Goal #7 (Vlogs): No progress.

Well that's just horrid, especially considering that I was so productive on the other set of goals on WbC. But then again, half of my goals have to be done at a certain time, so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised.



How about you, my dear friends? How has January treated you? 

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine

I come from the cave to give you this gem of a post, the recipe of which I have stolen from my alpha MK *shhhh, don't tell her*.

Please enjoy as I go to wrestle further with the bear...I mean, The White Rose....



Awkward: 

- The plotlines snarl tremendously.

- Character development is nil

- Plot threads are picked up and dropped without any rhyme or reason whatsoever

- Did I mention that character development is NIL?

- You write 61k words of a story that goes absolutely NO WHERE.

- You leave yourself exceptionally confused and constantly consulting the roadmap of the plot (the snarled one, in case you've forgotten).

- You have meaningful world-building that cannot be used except if you keep that 2k thread that means absolutely nothing to the story.

- Your word count keeps racking up and racking up to the point where you wonder what kind of a monster have you unleashed.

- Editing at the pace of a turtle....because your muse is so done with the project that she's ready to explode.


Awesome: 

- The scenes are not nearly as choppy as they were before.

- There is a lot more action rather than just a load of talking

- I still catch myself laughing at Karsten's antics

- Janina is getting more "screen time", which is a dreadful relief considering the fact that she is the protagonist after all.

- That you readers have such an interest. If it wasn't for that, this draft would have been thrown out weeks ago.


Seriously - that last line is heartfelt. As Lia and MK know, I've been pulling my hair out with this draft and have long since wanted to dump it in the nearest pond never to be seen again.

As of right now, the story is at the halfway mark. I think. However, there are more scenes written in this second half so we shall see if it will go faster now that there isn't as much to draft...

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine

Hello all!

Today's post is a spontaneous production, born out of a desire to start of the new year with fresh, exciting content.

Or I could be that I was bored. You decide.

As alpha/betaing seems to be the buzzword for me this year, I decided to write a post on my alpha/beta process.

I developed this process from two different influences. One was the peer-reviews in both Creative Writing courses that I took during my secondary/post-secondary education. The other is from my own cadre of alpha readers (who are currently trying to keep my sane as I muddle through TWR's first round of edits).

And now, allow me to draw aside the curtain to reveal the first stop on our tour....


1. The First Read - The Glance-Through

This First Read is to familiarize myself with the plot, the characters, the setting and the writing style. I'll look at pacing and organization too - I call it the "plot hole patrol".

I may find some glaring errors during this read, but I mostly look for the "good stuff" in the WIP during this round. I try to answer the question, "what works in this novel?".

I almost never comment during this read. Which is why if someone has me beta for them in Google Docs that I have almost no activity on it for a long period of time. It's not that I'm not doing anything, quite the contrary. I'm absorbing the story. 


And now, I suggest that you hide the children's eyes for this second stage, it's a rather gruesome site...


2. The Second Read - The Shredder

This Second Read is really intense and comment-ridden. This is when I will shred the WIP to pieces, sometimes quite literally. Anything that I find wrong, I'll point out. Anything that I find right, I'll point that out too. All those mental notes that I made during the first read, are put to paper here.

I'm a firm believer in giving clear direction and telling where the problems and the strengths are. Comments that are just a bunch of flailing go to my head and don't help me become a better author. I'd much rather shred these works now when they're in production than have them published and be shredded by people who paid for the book and were disappointed.

Though I must admit, sometimes I feel bad that I'm shredding it so badly. My poor fellow authors....

And now let's hurry onto the third stage...


3. The Third Read - Revising the Opinion

This is the same intensity as the First Read, in which I glance over everything, make sure I didn't miss any of the big stuff, and make final comments. I revise some of my comments if I'm too blunt or I find that I missed something which makes my comment irrelevant.

Sometimes I skip this reading if I'm on a time crunch. Which hopefully will be kept at a minimum this year...

And that concludes the tour!

And now, I'd like to hear from you! What is your process of alpha/betaing? Any tips to share before I sit in the author hotseat?? 

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine