Developmental Edits and Perspective

February 17, 2012

Developmental Edits <- Before

One of the first things I do when I receive developmental edits from my editor is read them through, then set them aside.

You see, developmental edits are different from the line edits or copy edits. They come from a different perspective and address the larger scope of my manuscript. My editor is incredibly thorough about looking at my main character(s) (MCs) and my key supporting characters (SCs), making notes on how they develop through the course of my story and giving suggestions for where they could be developed more or potentially, where things might have been overstated.  She also does a thorough overview of my plot, pointing out any potential holes and alerting me to places where something might not have come through clearly. My beta readers do a great job of finding the places in my story with awkward plot development, so my editor usually only has minor notes on those.

Best of all, she clearly points out places for improvement and provides suggestions for what she means, but she never tells me HOW to fix it. She leaves it up to me, as the writer, to take her comments and fly with them. I never feel as if my manuscript has been hijacked or that she didn’t “get” my story.

With such a positive working relationship with my editor, is it any wonder that I can receive those developmental edits in a calm manner? (Okay, confession: I get the email and *squee*, read through them the first time with big blinky eyes and nod wisely, THEN put them aside to let the concepts percolate.)

And then I step away from the technology and print them out.

Developmental Edits <- After

Yup. I save them for the plane ride or the quiet hour at Barnes & Noble. Trusty sticky notes and pen in hand, I go through them again and start making notes, brainstorming and doodling. The doodling part is important for the creative process, trust me.

I decide how I’m going to tweak the plot. Maybe I’ll insert a scene or two to strengthen the development of a particular character, go into a bit more backstory to give the reader insight. Or maybe I’ll go through an existing scene and run an undercurrent of tension through it to build up to a later plot reveal. Maybe I’ll rewrite a scene altogether because it’s just plain blah and didn’t work. >_<

Regardless, this part of my process is risky. What if I forget my Important Folder somewhere? Lost it? Spill water all over it? OMG. So, I’m very eager to incorporate those notes in a revision round. Thus, I get to my revisions with a fire under my butt in order to have them safely worked into my story while they’re fresh in my head and still in hand.

Insane? Probably. Effective? For me, definitely. :P

 

Eating Challenges

February 13, 2012

I’ve always hated diets. Seriously. But I can’t argue with what this one has done for me.

Results? I’ve lost 8.6 pounds since last week for a total loss of 13.6 pounds (1.3% body fat)

We all go through cycles of eating healthy, clean and light and then maybe hit a phase of junk foods, fast meals, and binges. Sometimes it’s a chocolate craving that we satisfy in one delicious splurge and other times it’s this “I’ve been feeling pasta” for several days in a row. It could sneak up on you too. You might have a treat one day, then a day or two later think, I’ve been pretty good and have a big dinner plus dessert. Then another couple of days later you’re craving a huge bowl of ice cream.

The next thing you know, having those extras, the treats and those special meals becomes a part of your dietary habits. They’re not special anymore. Not every day, but every other day or every couple of days, you go over board and you start to lose that ingrained knowledge of portions and what ratio of protein to veggies to carbs you’re maintaining.

The first thing Michael had me do when we started my training program was change my diet completely. Not just eat a little healthier, but drastically cut my calorie intake and change my food choices. This isn’t the way I’ll be eating for the rest of my life.

The result was to clean out my system. I sort of went cold turkey on all those treats and snacks, big dinners with sauces and carbs, and indulgent desserts.

Not gonna lie, it wasn’t fun for the first couple of days.

But luckily for me, I also love a lot of the things he wanted me to increase in my diet. I like broccoli, asparagus, baby spinach and zucchini. I love chicken and fish. I enjoy rice (white or brown) and think quinoa is tasty. The Ezekiel bread he introduced me to is pretty good for sandwiches or with a bit of organic peanut butter spread on it, but you won’t catch me nomming on it plain.

I figure he’s going to keep me on this nutrition plan for a bit longer then he’s going to change it up. I’m looking forward to seeing what that will be. But in the meantime, I’ll look at the positives.

- Since I don’t eat lots of sweets every day, the gorgeous strawberries I had over the weekend were heaven. Seriously. That scene in Firefly when Kaylee takes one out of the box from Shepherd Book? Yeah. That kind of wonderful. Plus, just one sliced up into salad was enough. I had another after one of my meals as a light, sweet end. I didn’t gobble up the whole box of them.

- We’ve seriously gotten me in the habit of eating a lot more vegetables with every meal. Even though I liked veggies before, I wasn’t in the habit of having them with every meal. Now that I am, it’ll be easier to maintain a healthier set of eating habits moving forward.

- What cravings? I don’t crave sweets anymore, or pasta. Pizza still smells damned good, but I’m pretty okay with not having it. Once I’m where I want to be in terms of body composition, I will be able to have it once in a while. As a treat, not as a staple of my weekly diet.

- Desserts have to be absolutely exquisite to tempt me anymore. That mass-catered dodgy looking chocolate mousse? Or those cheesecake bites that’ve been sitting out for several hours? No thanks. If I’m going to have a dessert, it’s going to be incredibly well made and fresh. If I’m gonna splurge, it had better be the best of the best. The rest, I can leave on the catering table without a regret.

I’m making a huge difference in my fitness level and body fat composition in a short amount of time. Once I hit my goal of slimming down, the next goal will be to maintain myself, feeling healthy and being fit. A lot of you have paid me the great compliment of calling me Kick @$$ and I plan to live up to it. ;)

Personal Trainer and Ifbb Pro Michael Stuart, photo by Luis Rafael

Quote from a recent article by Michael:

One thing that almost every person will answer differently is how they personally measure success. Success to me means, reaching goals that I have set whether its a short term goal or long term goal. Your success also depends on where YOU set the bar.

Interested in training with Michael Stuart?

Find him on Facebook  or Twitter (@MaxfitTraining1) and tell him I sent you, he’ll hook you up with a great training package. ;)

Hunting Down Details

February 10, 2012

~ self-portrait project by PJ Schnyder

Authors go hunting for details in a wide range of places. Some research, a reader might think perfectly logical, and other research…

Well, that might earn an author a red flag from one government intelligence agency or another. :P

But really, there are levels of detail I go after that might never make it into a book. Still, I needed to know in order to have the feel of the scene right. What does it feel like to hold a hand gun? How hard is it to find the safety on a gun I’m not familiar with and how hard is it to flip off the safety one handed? I asked these questions. Luckily, I had the opportunity to find out. In fact, I had several Air Force soldiers take me out and show me how to shoot hand guns, semi-automatics, rifles and shotguns. Now I know and it gives me a clearer idea of what my character will feel as she’s learning to shoot (she tends to prefer sharp edged weapons).

Another pet peeve of mine is setting. I write urban fantasy. Often I find my story set in a real city, layering supernatural elements over the reality and tucking mystical places in with real locations. I love to get the feel of a city if I can and am lucky enough to travel and do so (mostly in a few hours nabbed during a business trip for the day job). But sometimes authors can’t, so what do they do?

In this day and age, there’s plenty of online resources. Delving into maps, tourist sites and yes, even satellite pictures, help supplement the information I have.

Blogs are hit or miss but can give some insight. Believe it or not, shows on the Food Channel introduce me to hidden gems in a city or even better, outside the city and harder to find.

As a reader, I love to check out places in a particular book. I want to try it out, know if it’s real. For example, Patricia Briggs describes this incredibly comfortable hotel that puts a goldfish in the room so you’re not alone. I’d love that on my business trips. You’ve no idea. She also describes an awesome place to eat ribs and I’m thinking I could fall in love with a place like that.

But how to remember what I’ve seen? And how the heck do I capture the plot bunny I find in my travels? Well, aside from my self-portrait projects, I also take photos of places that inspire me. For example, the photos I took below are for another story. I found the plot bunny during a special weekend and since it IS the Year of the Dragon and I am a Dragon, how could I let those moments get away?

Moar Cardio

February 6, 2012

And trust me, I’m feeling the burn.

Two key changes Michael had me make this week:

- Take every set to failure. Instead of my former practice of doing enough repetitions of a particular exercise  to burn in the last 2 or 3 reps of each set, I try to choose a weight  that takes me to failure somewhere between 12 and 15 reps. Going to failure for every set of every exercise leaves me destroyed.

- Up each cardio session to 40 min.

Results? I’ve lost 3 pounds (1.2% body fat) since last week for a total loss of 5 pounds (2.6% body fat)

 

Not gonna lie though, my friends. Cardio is not my favorite thing to do, especially not for as long as 40 min twice a day. Time seems to go incredibly slow as I’m running/jogging into infinity and I personally don’t like to read as I burn the calories on the machines. Cardio is about getting your heart rate up and I’ve taken a few different approaches to driving it to my target range.

  • Manual mode on the cardio machine. I set my own speeds and resistance every two minutes, keeping my heart rate around 140-145 and driving up to 150 in occasional intervals. Since I’m messing with my workout and changing it up every two minutes, I’m doing something and it keeps me entertained. Generally, I like to set my intervals to coincide with the music I’m listening to at the moment.
  • Music! A great playlist can take me a long way on a cardio machine.
  • Different kinds of cardio. I try to hop on different machines for my cardio, like the elliptical and then the cross trainer or the treadmill or stair master. When you work out in a gym that has a 20 min limit on the machines, this makes sense anyway.
  • In room cardio workouts. I mess around with zumba and P90X on a regular basis, especially during times when the gym is packed.
Bottom line: variety is good. :P

Personal Trainer and Ifbb Pro Michael Stuart, photo by Luis Rafael

And what does Michael listen to when he works out?

Michael: Pantera, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Killswitch Engage, Godsmack, Slipknot, 5 Finger Death Punch

Interested in training with Michael Stuart?

Find him on Facebook  or Twitter (@MaxfitTraining1) and tell him I sent you, he’ll hook you up with a great training package. ;)

Don’t Stuff It in a Goodie Bag!

February 3, 2012

Let’s face it, most author budgets for promotional material are tight. We work hard to get the biggest bang for our hard earned bucks as we invest in promotional material to get ourselves out there.

Some of the least expensive promo can be bookmarks and cover flats. It’s easy to print them, fairly easy to design them to look sharp and pleasing to the eye, and easy to have them in sufficient quantity to drop in every Welcome bag at a given con.

Things I’ve observed:

  • My first year at RT, when faced with having to pack all of my loot to get it home, the first things I trashed were paper bookmarks and cover flats. They were in every bag, every goodie sack and on every table. Right into the trash can they went.
  • My first year at AAD, I witnessed entire table fulls and box loads of similar paper bookmarks and cover flats go into the trash. Readers didn’t take them and took them out of their Welcome bags to lighten the load as they packed their loot to go home.

So one might think bookmarks and cover flats aren’t good promotional material. Well, I’d disagree there too.

When does a reader keep that bookmark or want that cover flat?

  • Cover flats are a great way to have a autographed keepsake from your favorite author. I’ve had a lot of readers ask for them at con.
  • Bookmarks are a handy way to look up an author you intend to check out later. I’ve had a lot of newly met readers take my bookmark and tuck it into a safe place in their bag or purse so they could find it easily to look up my books when they got home.

It’s about how you, as an author, use your bookmarks and cover flats. Given anonymously in a big bag full of other paper promo, it’s likely to get trashed. But if you’re talking with someone and have made a connection, they’re likely to tuck your bookmark or cover flat away someplace safe as a way to remember to look you up again later.

They are a great value and strong promotional aid when used at the right time.

And for my readers, ask me for them any time. ;)

Making Changes

January 30, 2012

It’s been a little over a week since I started training with Michael. The biggest changes for me were the addition of a 2nd cardio workout every day and a big change to my diet.

Michael had me kick off every morning with at least 30 minutes of cardio. It wasn’t too hard for me to adjust my schedule to accommodate this, and I work out before breakfast. I immediately noticed I was more awake throughout the day and hungrier. At the same time, the first couple of days left me exhausted. It’s a big change to double your cardio each day, but I’m making it happen: two 30 min cardio sessions per day.

Results? I’ve lost 2 pounds (or approx 1% body fat). :D

Michael also stressed the importance of strength training. Fun facts:

Lean muscle is much more compact than fat. Appearance is significantly slimmer.

More lean muscle increases your metabolic rate, meaning you burn more calories even at rest throughout the day.

More lean muscle mass protects you from injuries.

Personally, I enjoy strength training in addition to cardio training. I prefer free weights, but then I’m fairly familiar with a lot of the common free weight exercises. Less experienced people might feel more comfortable with the machines.  Plus, I do go back to the machines every once in a while because they really do feel different from free weights and change is good to keep confusing the body. Some interesting strength training options I plan to explore in the future are tension bands (much easier for travel and hotel room workouts – I do some already but want to learn more) and kettle bells.

Plenty of workouts can be found with an easy search online at sites like Shape.com or similar sites, or you can consult a trainer like Michael.  Personally, I love P90X. Those workouts still have what it takes to completely devastate my muscles. LOL.

Personal Trainer and Ifbb Pro Michael Stuart, photo by Luis Rafael

And here’s Michael’s tip for the week:

 Michael: “ABS TIP….If you want abs then you need to realize doing unlimited amounts of crunches or any other ab exercise will not make your abs show, you must first shed the FAT that is around them! Abs are made in the kitchen therefor if your not eating correctly then your abs will not show, and remember women who constantly use the weighted ab machines, stick with more functional core exercises instead of that machine, you will burn more fat and build a stronger core while maintaining a flatter stomach and less blocky stomach.”

Interested in training with Michael Stuart?

Find him on Facebook  or Twitter (@MaxfitTraining1) and tell him I sent you, he’ll hook you up with a great training package. ;)

Shameless Blog Hop Winner

January 27, 2012

Grats to Ashley A for winning my Hunting Kat prize pack on the Shameless Giveaway Hop!