Busy Life = Empty Blog

Life has been rife with change over the past few months, which has left me with no time to blog.  But I'm back!  This week has brought me time to go back to writing.  My new small goal is one sentence a day, but I'm adding in revisions and soon I will hopefully be organized enough for a paragraph a day and then a whole page, up to the recommended 1000 words a day (so many professional writers quote this as their number that it has to be right...).

Here is today's sentence.  It comes from the middle of a story so likely it won't make much sense.  But where does it go from here?

She could easily slit his throat, she supposed, as the boy was little more than bone and skin that looked more like leather than flesh, but she needed more than he carried.

It's Up!

I actually put it up over a week ago, but I haven't found the time to blog about it until now.  But finally there is a new piece by J.E.Hunter out there in the world for you all to read for pure enjoyment.  You can find the first chapter of my novel-in-progress, Testers, at the following link:

http://www.wattpad.com/story/4175311-testers

This is a science-fiction thriller, set in the present day with just a bit of romance.

Go.

Read.
Review.
And let me know what you think!

Coming Soon to WattPad

So, as the waiting, and working continues, I sometimes find myself experimenting with new characters and new worlds, hence, the WattPad trial.  In the next few days I'm going to post the first chapter of something.  This something doesn't have a plan, and I'm not sure where it is going, but I'm hoping to get some feedback from WattPad readers that will help me with my writing.  Check back in a few days and I will post a link to my newest work, which will slowly appear in WattPad format bit by bit.

Things to do while you wait

Trying to get published is like waiting in line for a new ride at a theme park in the middle of summer vacation on a planet with over 10 billion people who are all in line for the new ride and you were the last one to cue up.

Yes, I am waiting.

So I thought I would make a list of things to do while you are waiting, and not just waiting to be published but waiting in general: at the doctors office, in traffic, at the grocery store, for the phone to ring, for your future favorite movie to appear in theaters, for the last book in the trilogy to finally be published - you get the idea.  Here are 25 ideas:

1.  Read a Book
2. Tap your toes
3. Count the freckles on the backs of your hands.
4.  Sing a song (silently or outloud).
5. Knit
6. Sew
7. Play Sudoku.
8. Count the number of tiles on the floor.
9.  Count the number of tiles in the ceiling.
10.  Count how many people you see talking or playing on a cell phone.
11.  Count to a hundred in another language.
12.  Learn another language.
13.  Try to name all of the heads of state in order from first to last.
14.  Try to name all of the heads of state in order from last to first.
15.  Make lists of things to do while you're waiting.
16.  Bake.
17.  Eat (something healthy would probably be the wiser choice).
18.  Think of something to add to your bucket list.
19.  Debate where you would travel to if you could go somewhere tomorrow.
20.  Draw a face on your hand and talk to it.
21.  Write a poem or compose a haiku in your head.
22.  Find out how to write a haiku if you don't know how.
23.  Click the "Random Article" button on the Wikipedia website and read about it.
24.  Sketch something.
25.  Spy on the people around you and covertly listen to their conversations, storing the information for later use.

What do you do when you're waiting?

Amazement

Magic.  Mystery.  Mysticism.

What does it mean to you?

In our magicless world, ordinary objects often seem magical.  I'm constantly amazed by technology - cell phones, tablets, computers - when I sit and think about them.  I'm also amazed by clear blue skies, the smell of incense, that tingling feeling I get on the back of my skull sometimes that I've never been able to figure out.

I am amazed by bright colours, ancient stories, and what can come out of my own mind.

What amazes you?

New Run-ins with Old Frenemies

Yesterday I ran into someone I hadn't seen in a long time, some one I may have once considered myself friends with, but now would be more of acquaintance/frenemy territory.  This made me wonder about life paths.  Would life be different if we were still friends?  Would life be the same and we would have fallen out over something else?  In other words, is our life path truly variable?

I've always thought the biggest test of this is my own inability to go back in time and actually end up on a different path.  I can't time travel and I can't change the past.  That has to be proof that I'm on the path I'm meant to be on, right?  That's what I like to think.  It sounds better when i've made no mistakes.

But, what if I'm living the wrong life?  Or, in terms of my penchant for creative writing, what if I have a character who is living the wrong life?  What is a wrong life?  Is it working the wrong job, living in the wrong house, marrying the wrong person?

I love my house and my husband, but as for my day job, let's just say it's not the best fit.  Which is why I'm still working so hard on being a writer.  Why I will edit Tales again and again in the hopes that it one days finds a publisher.  And, well, if it doesn't, there's always SW.

Not the news I was looking for....

Some moments in life are destined to remind me of Star Wars.  "These are not the droids you're looking for."  Yesterday I received not the news I was looking for.

Agent X said Tales is still not ready.

Big Sigh.

Heading into the holidays this isn't what I wanted to hear.  Part of me wished the agent would have waited until January to share the news.  Another part is glad that I at least know and I can now spend a few extra days off in deep contemplation of what to do.  Do I keep editing the same work?  Do I get a professional to provide more feedback (maybe at a cost?)? Do I move on?

Seems to me like I have some thinking ahead.  Each of the options has it's light.  Editing the same work means I'm not giving up on it.  Getting a professional editor to provide more feedback means that I will be improving my skills.  Moving on  means I can focus more clearly on new projects.

Each of the options also has it's darkness.  Editing the same work can be tiresome and irritating and keeps me from working on new projects - some of which I believe to be much stronger.  Getting a professional editor to provide more feedback will cost me money and I may get a result that I don't agree with.  Moving on means giving up - or does it?  I could always self-publish, I suppose, and see where I go from there.

What do you think I should do?