What I did on my summer vacation

What have I done lately, to put off writing?

1. Gardening - always a demanding chore. Those pesky weeds will not stop growing. On June 11th, I was doing a no-no and bending over to pull up weeds instead of using my foam kneeling pad. I stood up and said, "Oh, that didn't feel too good." But, I continued weeding and then went in and on the computer for a good half hour. At which point, I needed to use the facilities (bathroom - water pills you know). Only, I found out I could not get up without intense pain. It was like the Rocky Horror Picture Show (to definitely date my age.) I "moved to the right," "moved to the left," one arm over leg, one leg over leg, the mixtures are endless.
2. I did finally get up, and went to the ER. Something about a swelling pressing on a nerve. I opted for Ibuprofen, rather than steroids, and Hydrocodone. Four days later, all I wanted to do was throw up, but my back hurt too much to move. I went to my G.P. Turns out that sixteen ibuprofen a day can do that to your stomach. I was sent home with steroids (could have done that to begin with) , a leg x-ray (he felt I was favoring one leg and hurting my back), and an appointment to see a stomach doctor and a bone doctor
3. Took mom to the ER on the 23rd. She has congestive heart failure and this is her third trip this year.
4. 29th, had my stomach scoped and now am on the worse pills in the world. Fourteen days of H-Pylori medicine: four amoxicillin capsules, two clarithromycin tables and two prevacid a day. It's a great diet; if you don't mind being nauseous.
5. Then there was the fourth of July. I was to take mom to a parade, a festival, a picnic and the fireworks. South Central Indiana had its own plans - RAIN! The parade must have consisted of six guys on motorcycles, but we didn't see it. All the rest was rained out and we drove to Indy and she found three recliners she has been wanting to buy.

If anyone wants to know how my book is coming, that explains the slow final edit.

However, in my never-ending quest of what works and what doesn't, I have found that listening to it is great. I write in Word, so I am highlighting portions and listening to the "convert text to speech." I would much rather hear Jim Dale read my book but guess I will have to wait until it is published. In the meantime, it is amazing how much you can catch with a computer voice reading your work.

Life goes on and so does editing

As much as I would like to hibernate in a room and just write, life keeps on moving around me and requiring my attention. So, this week, I took the dog to the vet for some unexpected surgery and then was up all night with her, was at the ER till 1:00am with my EMT boy the next day (he keeps passing out), and the next day I took my mom to the ER for her Congestive Heart Failure. It's like a central Indiana ER tour, without sleep.

My body is still trying to recharge, so I spent the day surfing, the internet, not the waves. There are not a lot of waves in Indiana, and I found an interesting blog at BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency: How Long to Query.

BookEnds, and I hope they will forgive me for quoting, but BookEnds states: "Hands down one of the biggest mistakes I see authors making is spending all their time and energy revising, rewriting and reworking that first book. I know from experience that over time you can do more damage than good with all of that revising."

This is something I have wondered about as far as the book I am writing. I am actually working on my third book, none published though, so I tend to worry about everything a bit. But, I found one way to resolve that issue.

Never, ever, ever throw out or delete anything. I have printed this book out twice in full and I have CD backups for over three years now. I back up a minimum of once a month, and I do a flashdrive backup every night. And, I will say, that any time I thought to myself that I was not improving the book, I have been able to go back and so far the improvements have been improvements. That said, I will add that for my picture book, I still favor my original version and am very glad I kept a copy of it.

I did, however, reach a point with this book where I felt I had gone as far as I could and that is when I called in my Super-Hero .....Master's Daughter, to the rescue. Originally, it was for grammar and punctuation but it turned into so much more.

Master's Daughter is a sixth grade teacher, a writer, a worker with electron microscopes and now for her summer will be working with an Atomic Force Microscope. Her heros are Einstein and Yoda. She is bright and funny, knows today's kids, and we work so well together.

My book has been a family project: inspired by grandsons/sons, ideas from them and husband and now a massive tweaking with daughter. Her ideas have really added that touch I was searching for. And, no matter how much I wanted to get it out to agents and editors by June, the extra months will be worth it.

So, the lesson is, always keep backups at every step and try to stay out of the ER.