self publishing

Work in Progress Wednesday

June 3, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

Good news!! I finished editing book for (this time around anyway) and got a few proof copies ordered for my proofreaders. With that project set aside, I also was able to submit chapter one of Entertaining Angels (first book in my new series) to my critique group. Yay! I’m looking forward to getting some good feedback from the group.

Keep in mind, this is one of my first drafts and they tend to change a lot, but I thought I’d share the first few paragraphs from the new book with you.

One word still struck fear into her whenever it lit up on her cell phone. It had been eight years. But all it took was one phone call. One unavailable number could bring up all of the pain she’d clawed her way out of.

Parker’s fingers rested on the scar under her left clavicle. The physical reminder was altered but there none the less. Despite the knot in her stomach, she needed to take this call. She was waiting to hear from two potential clients.

“Parker St. John. How may I help you?”

A slight delay preceded the voice on the other end of the line. “Parker? It’s me.” The words were rushed. Charlie would understand her concern. “Sorry to call without warning, but I need a favor.”

Work in Progress Wednesday

May 27, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

Another week has flown by, and since I spent the long weekend camping, I got zilch done on editing. On the bright side, if I work on two chapters a day this week, I’ll be through book four by June 1. Woo Hoo!! Once the entire book has been edited, I’ll order some proof copies, hand a couple of them out to beta readers, and set one copy aside to go through myself in another month. This will not only give me little break from this book, I will be through this project enough that I can focus on the next project. Book number five. The first one in my second series.

And here’s what I’m excited about with the new series. First of all, the first book, whose working title is currently Entertaining Angels, placed in the top 10 in a writing contest I entered. Man, that was so encouraging. Second, the focus I’ll be placing on book five right now will be sending it through a new critique group. This group is new to me but I’m very excited to have some published authors in the group who I know will offer great insight and opinions. Also, this series deals with some very difficult but very real subjects. Each of the titles for the books (and I’ve written three so far with plans for at least one more) has come from song titles. In case you’re wondering, book and song titles cannot be copyrighted. Because of this, I’m considering naming the series The Rhythm of Love (which is also a song).

So here’s an interesting (maybe only to me) tidbit about my fifth book. The title of the book actually came to me first. I was out walking one day with my iPod. I have some old school music on there (music from my college years), including some old Newsboys stuff. I mean like the Newsboys that was fronted by Peter Furler and had Phil Joel on the guitar. The song “Entertaining Angels” came on and I thought about the Bible verse about entertaining angels unaware. And then I decided it would be a great name for a book. But what about that book could relate to the title that had started to take root. Okay, my main character was somehow going to take care of children (because what better to draw an audience in that kids or puppies). Once I had that general concept, the rest of the story started flowing. I am excited about this one. I’ve learned so much about writing over the past couple of years, I hope mine is getting stronger. Spending time in critique groups is really challenging me to explain things better (show not tell, point of view, dialogue vs. backstory, etc.).

Let me leave you with the inspiration that started my second series.

Work in Progress Wednesday

May 20, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

Guess what? I’m still slugging away on edits for my fourth book. I made some pretty good progress this weekend while I was watching a friend’s dog. Her husky doesn’t try and sit on my lap like my little rat terrier does. Roxy does not like me working on my laptop because it means she doesn’t get lap time. Oh well, we all have to sacrifice.

So anyway, I’m up to chapter 41 in edits and have a little more than 100 pages to go. I’m hoping to get it under 100 before Friday since I’m going camping over Memorial Day weekend and won’t be able to work much there (although I may still take a hard copy to write over). Speaking of which, here’s a page of my edits from last week.

By the way, when I was writing this series, I did have an idea for a fifth book, but as I came to the end of Beauty from Ashes, I felt like it was a nice wrap up to the series. Readers who have read the other three books will get to catch up with all of the couples they’ve gotten to know as they read Libby’s story (if you read Pursued, you know that Libby is Callie’s sister).

No spoilers for you this week, though. Sorry, I’m in the middle of a pivotal scene and I don’t want to give anything away. Perhaps next week I’ll have a snippet for you.

Work in Progress Wednesday

May 13, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

I’m happy to report that I have made some decent progress on editing book four. Slow progress is still progress. Since last Wednesday, I’ve edited an additional ten chapters of Beauty from Ashes (and even written two more chapters into the book because of comments from my critique group). Today I thought I’d give you a peak into my editing process but before I do that, I promised an early look at the cover of book four (which is my favorite cover thus far). This photo is of the entire cover (back, spine, and front).

So, editing. I try to do this several times when writing a book (especially after learning how much a paid copy editor misses AFTER my first book was printed). I prefer to write the first draft of my book longhand. When I type it into a document, I do a little editing. As I mentioned before, this book is the first to have gone through a critique group. We could send two submissions a week, up to 2500 words. At first I was only submitting a chapter at a time, but when I realized how long it would take, I would do a chapter and a half to try to max out my word count. Before I sent each chapter in, I would read through it one more time and make changes (and my critique partners still catch things I’ve missed). Another lesson I’ve learned because I’m going through all of my critiques at once now that I’ve submitted the entire book is not to wait. With comments from anywhere from two to five people each week, there is a lot to go through. Once I’ve gone through the comments and corrections, I read through the chapter and make more corrections. When I’m finished with this next edit of the book, I will order proof copies, pass them out to a couple of beta readers, and set it aside for a month. During that time, I’ll be sending book five (the first book in my second series) through a critique group.

So, anyway, here’s a glimpse of Beauty from Ashes when it was submitted to the critique group:

“You should hold those meetings here,” Libby said.
Emily laughed. “I don’t think we’ll have enough privacy in the front room, Lib.”
Jack was mesmerized by Libby’s shining eyes. Was it just him, or did the gold in her eyes stand out a little more when she was excited?
“Not the front room,” she said and grinned at him. “Do you have anything else to go over?” Because it was difficult to form words, he shook his head. She didn’t break eye contact with him but addressed the group. “I finished the large conference room ahead of schedule. It’s ready for use.”
“Already?” He found his voice.
“Ty finished all of the framing early. I was waiting on the pictures. I’ll complete the other room by Friday and start on Kevin’s office next week.”

And here’s the same section after comments, suggestions, and edits from all parties:

“You should hold those consultations here,” Libby said.
Emily laughed. “I don’t think we’ll have enough privacy in the front room, Lib.”
Jack was mesmerized by Libby’s shining eyes. Was it his imagination, or did the gold in her eyes stand out a little more when she was excited?
“Not the lobby.” Her smile was radiant, and she looked at him. “Do you have anything else to go over?”
Because it was difficult to form words with her gaze on him, he shook his head.
She didn’t break eye contact with him but addressed the entire group. “I finished the large conference room ahead of schedule. It’s ready for use.”
He found his voice. “Already?”
Libby nodded. “I was only waiting on the artwork, and the framing was finished sooner than expected. The small conference room should be done by Friday, so I can start on Kevin’s office next week.”

Not a huge difference in the two, but tighter writing and better clarification of what’s going on.

And with this, I leave you to return to (you guessed it) edits.

Work in Progress Wednesday

May 6, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

In addition to my Silly Saturday blogs, I’m going to use this blog to try to keep my handful of readers updated on what I’m working on with my own writing. So, welcome to work in progress Wednesday.

Right now I’m working on edits for the fourth book in my Remembrance series. With this being the fourth book I’ve edited, I should not still be surprised by how long this process takes. Still, here I am, wondering if I’ll ever finish with the edits. I’m about 1/4 of the way through right now. The writing comes easy for me but the edits take a good amount of time. This book is the first one I submitted to a critique group. It’s been an interesting (and mostly enjoyable) experience. I’ve gotten some great feedback and met a few new friends who are part of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). I’m really looking forward to the conference in Dallas in September and maybe meeting a few of these people.

While most comments about my book were helpful, there were times I found it amusing to get some differing opinions on sections. I’ll give you an example:

He rounded the corner into the small café the youth group ran. Emily stood near the front alone, eyeing a group of guys who were sitting at one of the tables. When he drew a little closer, he noticed a young woman with them. Her light brown, chin-length hair had a lot of texture. What did his mom call that? Layers? Man, she would be disappointed if she found out he hadn’t paid that much attention to her stories about her salon clients.

The above paragraph is from the second chapter in Beauty from Ashes. One critiquer commented “This doesn’t sound like something a guy would think.” Another commented “Nice male thought.” I kept it in and tried to clear it up by showing his mother is a hair dresser.

So the editing continues. Hopefully by next Wednesday I’ll make some good progress on it and be further along. And next week I’ll give everyone a sneak peak at the cover. Until then, I am editing.