Tag: Writing

As I’m working on editing “The Secret Slipper,” I’m getting more and more excited about it!!! I absolutely cannot wait to predict a release date for y’all!!

Just last week, I was facing the end of the story. Praise the Lord, He gave me what I needed! (rough draft form) It was one of those writing times when I could sit down and write. So… I moved from writing to editing. If you follow me on Instagram, you already saw this. 😉

I really and truly don’t mind editing all that much. It’s kind of fun. As I edited, here is one thing I reminded myself of…

As I’ve been editing, I’ve been thinking about ways to summarize my story to easily explain it to others (isn’t it just easier to say, “It’s… a story… read it for yourself!” ? ;). 

When I first started writing Raoul’s part, it was so that I could get to Lia’s part. I’ll admit. I liked Lia better. However, with some wonderful advice from friends, I completely rewrote Raoul’s part. And now, I really like his side of the story just as much as Lia’s. One of the things I like best is the big “what if…”

I’m writing again! I know that seems funny to say, because to some people, it probably looks like I write all of the time. However, I’m in the middle of a busy season — my oldest brother is getting married in less than two weeks, Lord willing! And, we are finishing out bedrooms upstairs so we can rearrange bedrooms.

Anyway, I was able to do some writing in the car over the weekend (8-hour round trip) and in that time, the Lord helped me to reach a “moving forward” point in “The Secret Slippers” rewrite. Then, I had time yesterday to actually sit down and WRITE (not just “try to get a few words as I am taking a break from something.”). I am now excitedly eager to see the end of Raoul’s journey. I have rewritten up to the point I had, but the story has to go further… I’m not 100% sure what to do there. Praying for answers! Then, I have to go through Lia’s part (which, I’m hoping and praying is just editing and tweaking, not a full rewrite like Raoul’s).

Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 19… I can’t give too much, cause I don’t want to give away any important information. 😉

And these six are now making their entrance into the world via their own short story…

If you’re like me, you’ve probably looked into a few writing conferences just dreaming…because you knew that it really wouldn’t work into your schedule (or budget) to attend one quite yet. Well! A fellow author is putting together an e-conference! That’s right… a writing conference that you can attend from your computer!

I will be participating in this conference a day or two. It won’t be until March 20-24, but let’s get excited already, can’t we? 🙂 Find our more details here.

Today’s writing update will be short (and I warn you beforehand that I may not get to one next week…I know, no big excuses or anything; just an upcoming weekend trip, a sister moving, and being back into teaching 25-30 lessons a week…).

After getting some great feedback from my first (wonderful, amazing, patient!) readers for “The Secret Slipper” and much prayer, I have decided to add a prologue to the story. Of course, adding a prologue like what I have added also changes a whole strand of Raoul’s story…so I’m basically having to rewrite half of the novella. I’m actually totally fine with that, because when I was originally writing Raoul’s part, I found myself “getting through it” so I could return to Lia. 😉 I’m sorry… a peasant girl with a deformity is a little more alluring than a rich lord…

Before I share the first paragraph of my prologue, what have you been working on this week? (writing or not) Have you made good progress?

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Well, the new year has dawned, and I *think* that the holiday craze is over. 🙂 Things were quite hectic for a while there.

Needless to say, I left you wonderful people hanging a little with my last writing update. I fully intended to come back here and share more, but life got in the way. 😉

So… my secret project has “secret” in the title. 😉

You have already met Raoul (aka, Lord Kiralyn in Befriending the Beast). *spoiler alert* The story starts the day he returns from Belle’s castle only to discover that *end of spoiler* the daughter he lost ten years before is very likely still living. He teams up with two trusted servants, Reynold and Gale, to track down the daughter he thought dead.

Lia is living under the vice of her step-mother, Bioti, and tries desperately to prove that, though her hateful limp slows her down, she is just as much a person as the rest of the world. Life gets difficult for her as Bioti uses her to appease the workload that Sheriff Feroci has placed upon them. 

This is all I’ll give you for now. 😉 I just started thinking about the edits (or, rewrite it’s looking like). As always, there are a lot of changes to be made. Some of them, I’m still trying to figure out, so prayers are greatly appreciated!

Before I give you an excerpt from “The Secret Slipper,” I have to mention Nat (Journey of Choice). He’s still in my prayers and thoughts. I am reading through a super helpful book about novel structure (what do you know, writing a novel is a whole lot different that writing a novella!) and then, I now have a few more cool Civil War books on my shelves, thanks to my parents. 😉 It may be fall before he emerges again, but I’m not putting him aside quite yet. 🙂

Now, for a little about Lia…

(please note, this is still rough-draft; I realize that there is a lot to be edited and clarified even in this excerpt)

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Excerpt from Chapter Two