Showing posts with label Forever Young. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forever Young. Show all posts

Friday, March 04, 2011

Back in the Groove

After struggling with the income taxes since February 25, my brain was wasted. When I sat down to pick up where I left off on my paranormal thriller, Forever Young, I wasn't sure if I could do it.

I took baby steps, cheating and going back to the first chapter, fixing and condensing sentences. Then, I got brave enough to hit Control, End, and skip to the bottom to pick up where the story had left off. I kept at it and the flow began.

I'm happy to say I made my daily goal of 1,000 words, actually 3 words more!

Now, I'll relax, maybe play on the Internet or read the book I tore myself away from at lunch. It's good to be back in the groove again. Once I slip out if it, I'm always afraid I can't make it back in. This time I did, and I intend to stay there!

Morgan Mandel



Come visit on Facebook as well at -
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel

Sunday, February 06, 2011

Forever Young - My New Facebook Page

Even with extra time at my disposal due to my recent state of unemployment, it's not always easy to discipline myself to write a certain amount of words on my manuscript each day. Although I love writing, inspiration doesn't strike as often as I'd wish.

To keep myself motivated and encouraged, I've set up a Facebook page for my work in progress, a paranormal thriller, tentatively titled Forever Young, which seems to fit. Also, I've put up a stock photo profile pic, which is an accurate depiction of the heroine. The cover may be changed if needs be, but this will suffice for now.

I'd appreciate your coming over and do the Like thing at my new page. Once I get a certain amount of followers, I can then get a fancy url to make it easier to get there. Here's the link for now:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Forever-Young/187944944561645

Come on over when you can and share the progress of my book.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Time Flies

I've learned that time flies even when I'm not working, per se. I still don't have a day job, but it's amazing how fast the days are going by. I expected to be bored at least some of the time, but actually I'm too busy to be bored. I also expected to get more of the house cleaning projects done, but I'm lucky to get something small done each day.

I've discovered it takes me a while to reach my self-made quota of 1,000 words per day on my Forever Young manuscript. I wish I were a faster writer, but that doesn't seem to be happening either. Still, I am accomplishing something, but won't feel fully accomplished until writing The End on the last page of my manuscript.



Morgan Mandel
Killer Career 99 cents on
Kindle and Smashwords

Thursday, January 27, 2011

My Brain is Toast

My brain is toast lately. That's because I can't keep too many things in it at one time. So, since I've been concentrating a lot on writing my thriller, Forever Young, other stuff kind of slips through.

What about you? Do you have trouble concentrating on other things when you've been trying to get a manuscript written?


Morgan Mandel
Killer Career 99 cents on
Kindle and Smashwords

Monday, January 24, 2011

Working on Forever Young Again

Working on Forever Young again today. Accomplished 1038 words yesterday, despite the hoopla of the Bears/Packers game.

In the meantime, you're welcome to tell us how you're feeling today at Spill It Here:
http://spillithere.blogspot.com/2011/01/monday-mix.html

Morgan

Saturday, January 22, 2011

In The Flow

Since I decided to go forward again with Forever Young, I've been creeping up with the page count. It's now up to 33,862, from 31,815 yesterday, making 2,047 up, but who's counting? (G)

At first I wasn't sure I could think of things to say. Once I got started, magic happened. The other night I'd just pulled the covers over me in bed when inspiration struck, gifting me with plot leads and twists. I was so excited, I jumped up, turned on the light. grabbed a pen and scrap of paper from my purse, and wrote down what had sprung into my mind before I could forget it all. (Good thing the DH was still downstairs, having fallen asleep on the easy chair, while watching TV, or that light turning on wouldn't have gone over too well.)

Today, I experienced something which hadn't happened in a while. I finally got into the flow. The words came out as fast as I could type them. They even made sense.

Right now, I'm tired from inhabiting my character's mind and body for a few hours. It's almost like physical labor.

Am I the only one who gets worn out from a good day of writing?


Morgan Mandel
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel
Killer Career on Kindle for 99 cents

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

My baby isn't perfect

Okay, I knew it probably wasn't, but since I'm it's mother I still hoped it was. I brought in my first 20 pages of Forever Young to be critiqued at our meeting Monday night.

The result is now I see areas I can make better. I've discovered new ways I can go with my story. Finding these things out before my manuscript goes to an editor is a good thing. So, for the rest of the night, actually maybe 45 minutes, I spent looking over the comments on the written critiques.I'll be going over them more tonight.I'm excited about  trying out the changes and making the story stronger.

What about you? Do you rely only on your own judgment, or do you let your baby be examined by others? Do you pay attention if someone says it's not perfect?

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Looking for one thing and finding another

This morning, I noticed one of my pens had fallen apart in my purse. I figured I'd look for the missing parts later.

Then, I decided to write checks for some credit card bills with my other pen. I finished that, but I wanted a paper clip to keep the bills together, since I planned on going to the bank and paying them on the way to work. So, I dug on the bottom of my very crowded purse to see if any paper clips could be had.

Instead of a paper clip, I came up with the top of the pen, in a spot unexpected, since it was on the other side of the purse, separated by lots of other items. I dug in again and found a spring, still no paper clip. I was happy to put the pen back in shape to be used later, and decided I really didn't need a paper clip after all.

This happened to me while writing Forever Young, which is still under construction. I needed a fix to get the story moving, but it eluded me. Originally I intended to include a slew of characters. Still, the ones I thought I'd include didn't quite fit. I couldn't figure out where they belonged.

I expanded the role of a confidante who had been barely skimmed over and buried in the story. By doing that, I discovered an entirely new direction for the novel. Now, the story will be more cohesive. I don't need those other characters, but they won't go to waste. I plan on using them later, perhaps in an anthology, or novels of their own.

What about you? Have you looked for one thing and found another, either in life or in writing?

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Forever Young

I'm working on Forever Young, my Boomer thriller about a widow who takes pills which take her back from age 55 to age 25. I've put aside my children's book about Rascal, because I don't have time for both. Spring Fling Conference is on April 23 and my manuscript is only half done.

So, I'll be posting here and there when I can. I invite you to mention your work in progress in the comment section, if you wish.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Back to the Books Plus Book Signing Wednesday

I'm having a book signing for Killer Career Wednesday at Barnes & Noble DePaul Center, 1 East Jackson (Jackson & State) in Downtown Chicago, from 12-2pm

If you can stop by and say hi, I'd appreciate it.

Speaking of books - One of my resolutions for 2010 is to spend more time on my works in progress, Our Little Rascal, and Forever Young, because I want to get them finished this year. Some days I may not be blogging, but I will do so as often as time permits.

My other resolution is to lose weight. That's as tough as finding extra time to write.

We'll see how successful I am at keeping my resolutions.