My July Goals

It's getting more complicated. I have so many projects in the works, I've decided to concentrate on a few this month.

1) Revise my anthology story. This is the one I've titled Angel of My Dreams. It's a Civil War ghost story.

I finished the first draft mid-June and decided to take a break away from it before I start revisions. It shouldn't be too hard because I used an outline and it's a short story. So, I'm going to get the revisions finished by the end of the month.

2) Proofread Confederate Rose.
I actually started on this, but ended up doing more editing. I really want to get this story done and send out a query. I already have a synopsis written, since I'd been entering it in contests that required one.

So, I want to get the proofreading and query written by month's end.

3) Complete edits for Cassidy's War.
This is my young adult out-of-print book formerly called Under the Guns. I decided to re-title it before approaching another publisher. I'm about halfway through edits and am really getting caught up in the story. I haven't read it in a long time.

I want to get the book completely self-edited by month's end.

So, there are my writing goals for July.

Goals for June

Since we're nearing the end of June, I thought I should review the goals I made at the beginning of the month.

My only goal was to complete the first draft of my Civil War anthology story, Angel of My Dreams. That's finished and waiting for revision.


Despite all my computer problems, I'm pleased that I've also kept up with the edits for Erin's Rebel. I have until July 14 to complete those. And I also finally started self-editing my young adult out-0f-print book, Under the Guns. I've retitled it Cassidy's War and am almost halfway through editing the manuscript.


I'm also getting ready to proofread Confederate Rose. My critique group still has few more chapters to go over, but I thought I could at least start on the proofreading.


I'll be back next with my goals for July.

Been Neglecting the Blog

I've been neglecting my blog lately, but I had a good reason. I spent last weekend camping on a Amish farm in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.


I had nothing to do but socialize and read, just for enjoyment. No computer, TV, mail or my three sons and their endless laundry. Just me, my husband and two great books.

The one I finished while there was Nicole McCaffrey's The Model Man, from The Wild Rose Press. I don't usually read contemporary romance, but Nic is a friend of mine and who can resist a romance between a romance writer and a male cover model? Yum.


And Nic didn't disappoint.


The other book I started is science fiction by Elizabeth Moon. It's called Marque and Reprisal. I read and loved the first book in this series. There was no romance in the first one, but I loved Moon's lead character, Kylara Vatta. She's such a strong female and captain of her own ship.


I'm not quite halfway through this one, but enjoying it immensely.


Beside the books, I had such a relaxing three days in the heart of Amish farmland with Amish children and young people constantly going past our campsite, and nothing to do but relax.


Ahh!


Now, I just have to get myself back in gear.

What's In a Title?

I've just changed the title of my new Civil War novel again. This is the one about the woman Confederate soldier and the Yankee spy.


When I first started entering it in contests, I titled it Irish Rose, and won a contest under that title. But then I found out Nora Roberts had a book by that title and decided I needed to change it.


I settled on Katie Rose, because that's the main character's name and stuck with that, but now I'm at the point where the manuscript is nearly complete. My critique group is still reading chapters, but I want to start proofreading the opening chapters to get it ready for sale.

But, I went online and discovered a couple of young adult novels have the exact same title and a few romance novels have similar titles.


So, I've decided to make another change. I made a list of possible titles and sent them to my critique group. After all, they've read a great deal of the story and know what it's about.

And the vote was unanimous. My new title is Confederate Rose.


My next announcement for this story will be the completion, which hopefully will be soon.

Yay! Computer Problems Fixed!

After three very long weeks, I finally have my computer back in working order. I'm still in the process of putting all my files back in, but have the ones I'm currently working on installed.

It feels so good to have my own computer back, after doing all my work on my husband's.

How do all of you deal with the inevitable challenges of computer glitches and breakdowns?

What's Up For June?

Haven't worked out my goals for June yet. Computer problems are still hanging around. Hopefully, they'll be worked out soon.

But I do have one project I want to complete this month. I'm writing the first draft of a new short story for an anthology of Civil War romances. I've just started and have already completed over 2000 words.

My goal is to complete the first draft by the end of June.

I also have to start the next round of edits for Erin's Rebel, but I have until July 14th to complete those.