March 22nd Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Guess what? This is my 300^th Blog post. Holy cow!

I forgot to say it Thursday, so I’ll say it now… HAPPY SPRING! So did you go and get your free Rita’s on Thursday? I forgot completely, and Dani didn’t say anything. I guess it’s not as big a deal o high school kids as it was for the middle school kids. Dani and her friends would walk to Rita’s on the first day of spring, and then I’d have to fight the traffic to pick them up. I’ll admit, I’m not overly sad the tradition has been broken. Lol

It’s Saturday morning, and every flat surface in my house is not covered with sleeping teenagers; and guess what, it won’t be tonight either. Amazing, right? The pack of kids slept at Adam’s last night, and tonight they are all sleeping at Shauna’s. A whole weekend without teenagers… man is it quiet around here! Now, please don’t get me wrong, there aren’t five to seven kids sleeping here every weekend, but one or two is more the rule than the exception.

I did receive my proof copy of Corporate Blues in the mail yesterday, and it proved to me I’m an…idiot! When writing, and then editing, you have your work double spaced because it is easier to read and review. However, when you format the book for print, it’s supposed to be single spaced. Wanna take a guess what this dummy forgot to do? Now Corporate Blues is a hundred pages shorter, which means the alignment and font of the writing on the spine of the book is off. I had to shoot Matt an email this morning to tell him of my mistake, and to begggggg his forgiveness. I so hate making mistakes which cause more work for others! On a positive note, since the book is smaller, I was able to reduce the price to $10.95 from $14.95, so that makes me happy.

I figure I have two and a half to three hours where I can work this morning before I have to go and pick up Dani, but after I get her, we have running around to do, so that means the rest of my day is shot. I have made a lot of progress. Do I think I’ll finish all three edits and the review in eight days? No, but I should have two finished. Other than my blog and a few hours this morning fixing my print file, I have been doing nothing but editing; six to seven hours straight, every day, of nothing but editing.

Now you might say, “So what? I work at my job for eight hours a day, every day.” I usually do three, or at the most four, hours in a row because, other than my eyes usually start to cross after three hours, I find I get more and more witchy with my comments, and I don’t like to do that, it’s counterproductive. I may have had to highlight the exact same mistake sixty-eight times, but the author has not been made aware of, nor been given the opportunity to correct, said mistake. However, since I’m under a deadline, I am pushing on and making a conscious effort to quell my poison pen, so the comments will be helpful and not a reflection of me getting cranky. I’ve only had to backspace and correct one so far, so it’s working.

Now, that’s not to say I won’t make the occasional tongue and cheek comment like “So how did that desert taste?” when the author wrote desert instead of dessert, but that’s just my style of editing. We all do silly stuff like that, it doesn’t mean we are a bad writers, it means we are human, and that’s what editors are for anyway, right? (Remember I told you in one of my books I inadvertently had “piece” of mind instead of “peace” of mind, and since my character was not berating someone, nor offering a chunk of grey matter, it was the wrong word.)

Okay, it’s time for me to put my nose to the grindstone. I hope y’all have a great day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

The tunnel stretched on and on…

Charlie clutched his side, bent over, and took in gulps of air. He needed a minute to catch his breath, but he wasn’t sure he had a minute to spare. They were close, he knew it. He knew his only chance at escape was at the other end of this never ending tunnel. With one final breath, he straightened and forged on. His legs and lungs burned, but he couldn’t stop until he reached the highway.

It can’t be much further, can it? How the hell did I get myself into this kind of mess? This shit only happens in the movies, not to real people, not to a nobody like me.

As he ran, he replayed the events of the past forty-eight hours in his mind. The strange email, the encrypted message, the scrolling list of figures and coordinates. It hadn’t made any sense. It had obviously been sent to him in error, an error someone has now realized, and was now trying to remedy.

Your Next Challenge is:

Write a story containing the following three elements: An Amusement Park, A Monkey, A Flat Tire

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.