Anna Aden Writes

Another update, yay! I hope everyone is keeping well. Novel In Progress It seems I write an average of 10,000 words a month so I'm estimating another 40,000 words. This means I'm looking at an October finish. Let's make that November. It's going okay and a bit slow because I'm also doing some research so that slows down the pace. Saying this, I'm glad I'm past the midpoint and heading to the first crisis point.  Photography and Photoshop I had no real time for this.  Books I'm doing a YA Fantasy reading tour and up to now have read about five. They all tend to have the same baseline story and characters. I have plenty of books-in-the-pipeline and it is only after finishing the current one will I review the others.  A lot time ago, I did a children writing course so maybe this might be something I could do.  The curious case of Mister Big Man This is messy it is what it is. Mister Big Man knows everything but really knows nothing and opines at lot about s...

Last Week's Goal  A1.1 Write a synopsis for the novella. Done A1.2 Work through Writing Tools by Clark - Part Three. Ideally it's one chapter a day but some chapters are non-applicable or offer me little value at this stage of editing. So 16 chapters will give me 16 days and I'm aiming for 7 chapters - note it could be less. Completed A1.2 Read HL's next editing lesson  week 14.   Completed How did last week  (of  28th April 2019)  goals go  The synopsis has spoilers in it so that's why I'm not posting it. After I'd posted it, I recalled I was doing a shorter synopsis before but those were more like blurbs. This time I did a synopsis from both character's viewpoint  and storylines. Mostly because though Angelica has the main story driving this book, Leyton's story is the overarching story for the serie, since it's more or less to do with the series. Writing Tools by Clark was good so I'll have to look at what parts ...

Novel/novella:  Thomas brother #1 (working title - basically Leyton & Angelica's story) Last Week's Goal  A1.1 Need to decide if handwritten pages are typed or edited on paper  Done - so it's all on typed up and ready to be edited.  A1.1.1   smoothen transitions to make it fit the rest of the manuscript Not done. A1.2 Outline a plan for practicing grammar - this is mainly to polish the draft. Done A1.3 Outline a plan to revise plotting and setting lessons so I can apply Done A1.4 Read HL's next editing lesson. Done A2.1 Write a difficult reveal scene, I'll probably need to write this from two different view points. Done How did last week  (of  21th April 2019)  goals go  It went rather well though I didn't manage to smoothen the transitions in the manuscript. The Holly Lisle lesson was great on paper but rather complex to apply so I struggled with that. It was to do with conflict and action so th...

Last week, I was tasked with writing a synopsis which I did. Nothing much to discuss to be honest. This week is  IN LESSON NINE: You will discover how manuscript surgery works. Editing versus Revision versus The Complete Rewrite, WHY they're not the same, and when and WHY you use each.The step-by-step process for changing "what is” in your story to "what needs to be." And how to refine your revision needs and musts into usable form...what I call The Block Revision process. I'm finding during this process that I am a pretty organised writer because more often than not, I've completed the lessons before time, or decided they were applicable to me at the time. This week isn't going to take me too long. Anyway, it is what it is. Not much to say.

 2019 Blog Schedule! I did it. I made a rough schedule. It's not pretty like in a planner with nice washi tape but I did it! So this is what I'm proposing.  Note there was a bit of time lag with most posts, because it had my timezone as Pacific Standard Time. I do GMT - so that has been corrected.   Regulars Monday - show me your desk! This is where I show you my desk and describe or give information on one thing. It might even inspire me to keep a clean desk policy.  Wednesday Film, Movie 0r Boxset Night Any movie - DVD, cinema, on demand, new or old stuff. This is where I write about a movie  or box I  recently watched.  Saturday - My London Hood This just forces me go out and take a picture of the magical city that is London. So it will be random. Very random. I'm not promising. Sunday - Novel editing progress update This is when I get the new lessons delivered so I'd be doing this. I'm still going to be doing this wh...

YES! Completed stage one of reviewing my urban lit African American romance  - Leyton and Angelica Photo by  bruce mars  from  Pexels I'm so excited! So far so good and I completed before schedule so now I just need to wait for the second lesson - I get them weekly. From her site this was what lesson one was suppose to do When you work your way through this first lesson, the most important thing you are learning is how to recognize and save every bit of wonderful you put into your book. I really liked the story I read. There is plenty to be worked on. Lots and lots but overall I enjoyed reading it so I hope readers will find it good, provided it stays. I'm so excited about this! Because of the way the lessons were structured, I enjoyed doing the lesson as well. However I don't drill into lessons that deeply, like she gave a full length demo but nah, I wasn't going to read all that before starting on mine. I gave it a brief glance to get the gi...

Editing Update my urban lit African American romance  - Leyton and Angelica I'm pleased with my progress but though I have a schedule with writing, I work in a storm, a zone, I just get lost. This is because  its my escapism and pretty my the only thing I have control over - sometimes. So more often than not I do a little more. However I do have a timer to tell me when its timeout. I'm probably not following the Holly Lisle How to Edit Your Novel lesson one as strictly as I should, like I'm not heading for perfections but note I've been on a lot of courses so I do what I can.  I'm doing with broad strokes but her tasks instilled me with confidence. So far, I've rediscovered a lot of good things and treasures about my story which I hope the reader will enjoy - if I get to keep them. Not there are also a lot of bits that suck!  Remember this is only lesson one. There are also parts that suck. There is a fair bit of emotion. And using Holly Lisle's m...

Bad Cold, stayed in bed My second cold in two weeks. I took time off last week because I was trying to shrug off a cold, only to feel worse for wear. Yesterday, I finally got to the work but came back home. Now, I'm self medicating with lemsips,  pastilles and home-made remedy. Two people suggested hot toddies but I'm not sure whisky is a good idea. Anyway, I'm drinking lemon, honey and hot water. Then the pastilles and lemsip. Not a good time to be ill since I'm rounding up at work, but I've been run down for various reasons - yes writing a blog and my novel is escapism.  Editing my urban lit African American romance - Leyton and Angelica Nothing as yet. Still doing the course but I reckon an hour everyday with a bit on weekends will help. The great thing about the assignments is that with my hour slot, I can time how much I can do then then estimate how long it will take me. For example reading my manuscript with the tasks outlined in Holl...

Excited about starting the course! So you all know I was pretty desperate and couldn't see where I was going, so basically I went looking for a course and decided on Holly Lisle course. Mainly because I've seen it knocking about online for a while. I know she's a reliable brand because I bought some of her ebooks back in the day, I know someone on my online writing workshop who spoke highly of course so all in all it's good to go. My commitment will be trying to do as much as I can.  So I've got the first lesson and have printed off the instructions, and I plan to work on it an hour a day. I'm excited about it. I'm not affiliated so I'll  let you know what I think as I go along. So far, it's made me optimistic, when I did the Curtis Brown Creative Edit and Pitch Your Novel and first saw the editing material I was unimpressed (the pitching part is excellent). It was something I could get out of a book. Looking though Holly Lisle's first we...

Day Seven of writing a journal, not bad. At least I'm writing. Yesterday, I managed to write. I did about 800 words or so but still not the cute meet. Then I thought, I've been writing for a very long time, so what is the problem? It beggars belief that I'm stalling on this. Silly really. I guess it's down the self-criticism and that can have a crippling effect on anything. Thinking that nothing I wrote will meet the standard. Whose standard? I don't know. It's like I expect things to be perfect, flow perfectly from the pen and that expectation can be crippling. And make me procrastinate but it's really just getting down to it.  Okay good words of wisedom but will it make writing any easier? Now for synopsis time. I've taken a different approach this time and focused on Leyton rather than Angelica. Synopsis Time The  Forechester Thomas boys keep the blogs in news with their antics. From childhood to adulthood, these boys have been the best of f...

Not much going. Well, it's Christmas! I went shopping yesterday after work to get some presents. I still have plenty more. House of Fraser is a good place to go. I feel it misses a lot of traffic because it's in between John Lewis and Debenhams.  I'm talking about departmental stores on Oxford Street, London. Okay let's talk about writing. Or maybe not. It's the festive season. In John Lewis , they also had the Elton John Experience. That was nice. I feel compelled to show some pictures but that means downloading all the pictures in my phone. I'll get more organised about this as I go along. Then again this is just a journal of my writing. So writing, well I said I'd skip that but I did manage to write another synopsis. What do you think? Synopsis Angelica Washington is a strong woman takes family responsibility seriously, but things aren't always as perfect as they seem .  A bad family ordeal and an impulsive urge leads her to the arms of a h...

So this is my second post today, for some reason the blogger had problem so it got deleted. Charming. Oh well, so I've saved a screen shot of the synopsis from the preview. I didn't even know the previews were pictures and not text. I was going to copy and past but realised I couldn't. So writing has stalled yet again. I'm not doing very well on this 1000 word count again. I think I may need a different approach. I'm also trying to apply a few techniques I learnt at my writing course but that isn't going too well either. So what is going well you ask? Don't know. I'm just going to have to alter my approach. Maybe go back to my old way of writing and see how I can slowly introduce this new way. Who knows.. -----------------------------------------------------------  Check out Bigga Day's books on Smashwords.com https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/bigga Apple iBooks https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/bigga-day/id595585425?mt=11 B...

I need to be  little more organised. I wrote a bit and wasn't happy. Then I wrote some more and thought, nah. You know the chapter I scrapped?  I read it again and decided to leave it in. How do go organised people write? Anyway now I'm moving on to the cute meet.  Yes when they finally meet. I'm sure I'll have plenty drafts of this scene. It needs to sizzle. Anyway here is my next synopsis... So this is my next synopsis written but it isn't going to be a Christmas story though so elements may change. It's the winter is affecting my setting elements. It's cold and lonesome in Forechester city. I've planned a 1000 words a day but that is clearly not happening. I was supposed to finish in March, hmmm we shall see. I may change the elements to summer... Synopsis  ANGELICA WASHINGON has plenty of problems and she's not about to make a man one of them! But a steamy night of passion  with the blue-eyed LEYTON THOMAS may change that all. It's...

So the scene in my urban love story isn't not working. It really isn't. I just can't seem to get it right. It seems dull. I'm supposed to be writing 1000 words. Then I got distracted thinking about key words. So African American romance, people of colour romance, urban lit love story but no street characters per se. Yes, I'm also fiddling around with my layout... new #3 synopsis for my urban love story or African American romance.  ANGELICA WASHINGTON'S rare partying on a cold winter's night turns into a steamy intimate encounter with a dark blue-eyed stranger. Letting go of her normal cautious nature, ANGELICA submits her impulses thinking she'll never meet the handsome sexy stranger again. Circumstances bring them together and they continue their hot passionate affair. One rule. Sex only. But the handsome blue-eyed stranger,  LEYTON THOMAS finds out he wants more, and his lust is slowly turning to love. The prospect of things turning serious i...

I didn't manage any new word count yesterday. Bo! This morning I work up ready to write but found myself on Facebook writing comments, and then on Scribophile answering another post. PROCRASTINATE AT IT'S WORSE. I'm in a fix. My character is upset but I don't know where to locate the scene. In the park?  A cafe? Her friend's beauty shop? Where? Where? On this is where inspiration leaves me. I need to know....Should I just guess? Oh where is my inspiration? Okay let's roll with synopsis #2 Cautious  ANGELICA WASHINGTON  was her family’s go-to strong woman, had a successful career and played mother to her brother’s children– until drama struck a family therapy session. From that moment everything went wrong. A night at the club, leads  ANGELICA  to overcome her cautious ways and spend a night of intimacy with a dark blue-eyed stranger. It was supposed to be for one night only but circumstances lead them back to each other, and many passionate nigh...

Dear Internet Family and Friends, I've written two posts abut decided not to post them. They didn't seem appropriate. One was about my experience of parts of the novel writing. I was a bit disillusioned with the process and at a cross roads. Another was commenting on the sexual harassment and Oxfam.  I also wanted to cover Mo'Nique but you know what guys? I don't really know what to say. I have opinions but it's not my things. It's stuff I share off line over a lunch with my colleagues or with real life family. Social commentary isn't my thing especially when my opinion is based on some various reports from others. The above is an image I made, I still need more practice. This graphic designs thing is hard. There is a lot of work to do with fonts types and being precise. I found myself using a calculator to get the measurements right. I also can't seem to find the right pictures or images of models facing the right way. I understand why many do ph...

Went for a Kaplan Connects networking event at the City Hall. Well that is the London City Hall and listened to  the inspiring Richard Huntingford give an excellent speech on mastering our careers. It was very insightful and motivating and left me in high spirits all nights. Then met my former tutor who’d put in a lot to make a dry subject interesting. Especially given the class were after work. So yeah, Kaplan rocks and I’ll highly recommend going. Now I’ve just got to put my professional record forward for admission and membership of my professional body. That is also hard. Work was fine, had a lasagne for lunch, and someone gave us biscuits so I munched into that. I’ve forgotten about my obesity drive. Actually I didn’t. I was queuing for a Whooper meal at Burger King but the services was very slow.  My local branch is chaotic at times but this time I wasn’t impressed because there was no reason to be. This is because the bugers were on the oven tray, ...