I hate it when I want something that I can't have

I want this poster, and I want to be in London on June 29th. Since they are selling it there at the festival, and it is limited, I won't get either desire fulfilled.   Bummer. My life is incomplete.

The Last Day of Freedom

Today is the last day of school for the kids. Since this is my last day of freedom, I contemplated what I wanted to do with my last few  of precious hours. I realized what I most wanted to do was write. I want to write with pure silence in my house. I know there will be no distractions, no fighting, no whining. 

So, I am off to immerse myself in my latest plot.  I will surface at 3:00 to go pick up son #1 from school.

Families are handy for reading through manuscripts

My kind husband has been reading my latest manuscript out loud to the family every night.  Though I sometimes want to pull my hair out in frustration over the obnoxious teenage comments and the silliness during dramatic scenes, overall it is a useful tool for editing. Here are a few reasons why:

1.                  Having the manuscript read out loud by someone else helps me to notice the errors.  Sometimes, no matter how many times I read the pages, my eyes will slip over little mistakes.

2.                  You hear any awkward dialogue. What I read and what I hear are completely different. I especially notice when I haven’t thrown in a contraction that would be used when speaking.

3.                  My MC is a teenage boy. This is where the obnoxious teenage comments actually help. Since I’m the only girl in the family, it is obvious when I have written something out of character for a boy. In my first book I had a teenage boy giggle. I will never make that mistake again. The ridicule was unbearable.

I recommend if you can, having somebody read out loud at least the dialogue parts of your manuscript. It can be both an entertaining and a learning experience.