FRIDAY STIR FRY - New Directions; Editing; Freelance Writer; Social Media Manager

https://morguefile.com

So, there were a couple of incidents at my day job in the last few weeks that have me contemplating my future. First, the powers that be, fired two people in our office. Snap, just like that. One had been here over 30 years and was the office manager and the other was my best friend. We started here around the same time, sixteen years ago. She worked as the receptionist this whole time. And let me tell you from experience, that is not an easy job. They hadn't done anything wrong. They were scapegoats. Changes are being made, and they were perceived to be in the way of those changes. 

Second, I lost my mind over coffee. You see, the office manager, who is no longer here, always purchased the coffee. Last Thursday, you guessed it, no coffee. I pretty much threw a fit. Apparently, some people didn't appreciate my outburst. Long story short, I got wrote up. Over coffee. I'm drinking tea now, even though they bought coffee. 

What these incidents have told me - no job is safe here anymore. I spent the long weekend trying to figure out how I would live if I got the ax. Of course, I would apply for unemployment, but there are no guarantees I would get that. I would have to withdraw my pension for sure. But what else could I do to try and produce income? 

I really enjoy helping my writer friends edit and proofread their books. I love the idea of helping them make their novels something a reader doesn't want to put down. And they've said I'm good at it. Perhaps freelance writing? I can write, after all. I just need to find paying customers. I wore out You Tube watching people tell me how to do that. Also, the last month, I've been helping a realtor friend of mine with his social media networks. You know, posting on his Twitter and Facebook pages interesting content and working on building his audience. I could do that for others. 

I'll keep my day job, for now, I hope anyway. I don't feel I have any control over that decision any more. But, I also plan on building my path to this new and exciting chapter in my work life. 

If you're interested in my services, contact me at wandafittro@att.net

FRIDAY STIR FRY - Plans and Such

http://www.morguefile.com

I'm starting to plan for my retirement from the work place I like to call Hell. I won't be able to draw benefits for a couple more years, but you can never plan too early, right. Plus it's the carrot dangling off the end of the stick to keep this old mule kicking.

One of those plans kinda came out of nowhere. I have done some Beta reading for a few writer friends, with suggestions on improvements. One of them told me I'm really good at it and should start doing it professionally.

I must admit, I like the editing process. Most authors hate it. I, on the other hand, find coming up with the story and first draft hard. Fixing stuff is more fun. I'd really never thought of doing it for money. Hmmm, could I? Should I?

If I could get an editing business going, it would help out when I retire since Social Security isn't all that secure. I'm doing some research now and coming up with ideas for a business name. The first one I thought of is a take off this blog - An Editor Called Wanda.  Some others - Need Edits? - Novel Edits -  An Editor And A Novel  -  Red Pencil, Will Edit.

What do you think about these or do you have any suggestions?

FRIDAY STIR FRY - Where Is My Muse?

What happened to my muse? Did somebody come into my head in the middle of the night and whisk her away? Then tied her up and put a gag in her mouth? Because she has not been talking to me lately.  No middle of the night wake-ups screaming a story idea to my sleepy self. No mid-shower inspirations. No middle of traffic "oh no, I need to write this down" moments. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.




   
 

There are plenty of writer's who claim there is no such thing as a muse.  You just need to sit your butt in a chair and write. Well, that's fine and dandy and does get words on a page. But, for me anyway, forcing the writing brings dull, colorless words. Stuff that ends up on the editing room floor. True inspiration usually comes other times, when I least expect it, when I'm not at my desk, My muse brings me morsels of delicious words dripping with eloquent prose.

If you see Ethyl (yes that's her name) please tell her to come home. Her writing buddy needs her.
 
P.S. Tell her I have chocolate.












 

FRIDAY STIR FRY - Missing For The Next 30 Days

Yep, it's almost here. November or as I like to call it Insaneber. Because anyone who thinks they can write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days has to be insane right?

Believe it or not it is possible but it takes a lot of energy, courage and caffeine. Here are a few tricks and treats I've learned over the last 6 years I've participated. (notice how I referenced Halloween there?) Happy Halloween/Samhain! Now to my tips.

• Absolutely no editing. This is the first rule of NaNo. Lock that editor in the basement. You have no time for his nonsense this month. 
• Do not use contractions. Don't is one word - do not is two. You can fix it later with find and replace. 
• Everyone has at least two, three or more names. And they repeat their names a lot. Not only does this up your word count but it helps your brain remember all your characters. Again, you can fix later. 
• Have a music play list. This not only sets the mood for your story, but, at least in my case, the words flow easier if there is music in the background. 
• Lots of caffeine and chocolate. Self explanatory. 
• Set a timer for 10, 15 or 30 minutes. Write non-stop until that sucker goes off. You'll be surprised how many words you will get.
• Finally - and this is very important. BACK UP YOUR NOVEL AT LEAST EVERY DAY. I can't tell you how many horror stories I've heard of people losing all their hard work. Don't be that person.

 
I hope you join in, but if not please understand if you don't see or hear from me, I'm probably okay, just busy trying to wrestle a novel out of my brain. You can track my progress by coming by and checking the word count widget to the right.

FRIDAY STIR FRY - Happy?

http://www.morguefile.com



What does it take to make you happy?

                                                       I think it's different for everyone. 

For me?

1. Time off. Being away from my day job makes me happy.

2. Writing and editing. Being creative and using parts of my brain that get neglected during the week. 

3.  Spending time with my writer groups. They really get my inspiration going. 

4. Spending time with my son. He lives far away now, so it doesn't occur very often. When I get to hug him, it's the best. 

5. The Cardinals in first place in September.

6. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes with cream gravy and green beans. 

That's my short list. Let me know one or two of your happy places. 

FRIDAY STIR FRY - 50,000 or Bust

Yes, I'm still attempting to do NaNo. I'm behind in word count, but I'm trying not to stress over it. In fact I'm not paying any attention to where my count should be each day. That could be a mistake, but I'm trying it.

My story is not moving along very well, but I am flushing out some of my characters a little more, finding out what makes them tick, what their motivations are. Yes, there will be a lot of editing when this month is done. But, as I've said before I like the revision process.

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/976087

 

This is a three day weekend for me because of Veteran's Day. Thank you all veterans out there for your service by the way. Any way, I have no plans except for our Sleuths' Ink writers meeting Saturday. So, I'm planning to write, write, write. Who knows maybe I'll get caught up.

 

When is your best time of day to write? Are you a morning, night or weekend writer?

 

FRIDAY STIR FRY - Madness, I tell you, madness

Yep, that's pretty much how I feel. A couple of posts ago I mentioned we are getting a new computer operating system at work and how crazy the training had been. Well, this week we were supposed to validate transferred content and go live. Has that happened yet? Of course not. Do they bother to keep us peons informed of progress? Of course not.

I spent all day Tuesday in a big room with co-workers hunched over reports, highlighting missing or wrong info. We were supposed to do that again Wednesday. We didn't. And Thursday I spent the day twiddling my thumbs cause I'll be damned if I'm going to enter info into the old system just to do it all over again in the new.

Breathe.

On the writing front - nothing. I've submitted BTH to a publisher and an agent and so far no word, which isn't a big shock. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time getting back into the book I want to finish writing. I know I'm just supposed to put 'butt in chair hands on keyboard'. I look at my laptop laying there on the table, its power off and lid closed and sigh. Some people love the creative process. It bogs me down. I would much prefer a first draft just drop from the heavens into my laptop because I enjoy the re-writing part much more.

Wouldn't it be cool if there was a first draft fairy godmother! She could wave her wand and I would have 100,000 words to work with and mold into something worth reading. Does anybody have a fairy they could lend me? Please.

FRIDAY STIR FRY - Houston We Have A Problem

As some of you know, I've been in computer training all week. We are getting a new operating system at work. It has been a most exasperating experience. Not only is my old, tiny brain trying to re-boot but there has been all sorts of problems with the training software. Really doesn't give me much confidence in the new system. I mean if you have this much trouble with your training modules, how much trouble are we going to run into when it goes live in a few weeks?

The trainer has been nice and very patient with us though. She even went out for drinks with me last night (too many drinks). I'm surprised we are both functioning today. But that's a whole other problem.

Anyway, I've been so tired when I get home no editing has been going on. Again. My ex never understood how a desk job can wear you out so much. After all it's not physical labor. But, I'm tellin' ya, brain labor can be just as tiring. My neck hurts from hunching over a laptop and my eyes are dry from staring at the screen. I know, wa, wa, wa. At least I have a job.

Maybe this weekend I can recover enough to finish edits, and send out some queries. Fingers crossed.

FRIDAY STIR FRY - Living Among Us

Sorry there was no post last week. I was deathly ill. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. A summer cold attacked me. We are still in a battle. Sometimes I have the upper hand, sometimes not. Anyway, I stayed in bed most of last Friday.

I had every intention to do more edits on BTH all last weekend. Yeah, that didn't happen. Between the nose blowing, the runny eyes, the sneezing and the coughing there was no way I could concentrate. And I've been so tired after work this week, there was a few nights I was in bed before 8:00. So no progress has been made. Excuses, excuses, excuses.

I spent much of my time sitting in my recliner and watching the strange people across the street. Mind you, it's not unusual to see strange people on my street. I live in the hood less than a block away from a liquor store and a Dollar General. Remind me to tell you sometime about coming home one night to find a man laying on my front porch.

Back to my neighbor. There were two men and one woman and I don't know how many dogs and cats. And one riding lawn mower. It seems that mower was their only means of transportation. At one point they attached a small trailer behind and two of them rode in it to the store. Yep, pretty entertaining. You know what though? They more than likely will end up as characters in one of my future books. I don't even have to leave my house to get inspiration!

If you don't live in the hood, where do you go to find interesting characters?

Friday Stir Fry - Ramblings

No theme this week, just a bunch of stuff floating around in my little head.

I don't think we're going to have much of a Spring. Seems to be going from snow the first week of May to Summer the last week. Does one month count as a Spring?

My little desk printer died last week. It had a good life, but man I hate to fork over the money for a new one. Bit the bullet today and went to Staples. Actually got a pretty nice one for less than eighty dollars. It scans and copies, too. I've been wanting a scanner for a while to use with my scrap booking. So maybe I should've thanked my little printer before delivering him into the hands of the recycle guy.

Memorial Day is this coming Monday. I usually have flowers bought by now. I go down to the little cemetery in Douglas County east of Mansfield to my mom's family graves. Then a trip to Greenlawn for my dad's family and my mom and dad. Then White Chapel for my ex in-laws. Not sure I'm gonna do any of it this year. Gas prices the way they are pretty much keeps me from driving to Douglas County. And my knees make it hard to walk in a cemetery. I feel a little guilty though, cause I'm the only one left to pay respect.

For the last couple of weeks I've been editing BTH again! I swear this is it. It's either gonna get published after this or go in a drawer. I'm ready to move on.

Okay, my brains empty. Time for a nap. Everybody have a good week!