Carol Moncado

Hey out there in reader land! I’m supposed to be working on Prince from her Past but words aren’t flowing easily tonight. :p

I did write 1725 on a NEW book this morning, one I’ll likely send to my agent to pitch for traditional publication. I then spent hours staring at the file for PFHP. Sigh. Not sure if I’ll be able to keep up with both, but I don’t think it had much to do with my lack progress on PFHP…

Today

New WIP: 1725
Total: 1725

Prince from her Past: 401 (so far, still trying…)
Total: 28492

The fabulous Kaye Dacus is hosting a #FirstDraft60 challenge over on her blog. I’m sort of shadowing, in that I’m not following the game plan she’s using because of what I need to get done in the next 60 days. But I am using it for accountability ;). (The pics are all from they day 2 thoughts.)

So…here’s the day 1 questions to think about:

1. Why do you want to write?
   Because I have to. I can’t not tell stories – even if it’s just to myself when I’m bored. And now that I’ve gone indie I have readers waiting for the next book! How cool is that?!
2. What will finishing this project in sixty days mean to you? Do you think that completing this challenge will change you? How?
   It will be a lot of stress off. I want to get two more novels out this year. One won’t be a problem because it needs edits, but is pretty well done. I’d like to have it out by the end of October, which means edits need to be done by the end of September.
3. 

   Front of the interior. Eventually, those lines will have notes about what goes where. I think.

   If this is your first attempt at completing a manuscript, how do you think finishing it will impact your life?
   OR, If you’ve completed multiple manuscripts, what will finishing another one mean to you?
   The full manuscript I want to work on will be my 14th (I think – plus two novellas). It will be good because I NEED it done by the end of October so I can do NaNoWriMo!

4. What will happen if the people closest to you don’t understand, support, and encourage you during this challenge?
   Fortunately, now that I’m an indie, my family is much more understanding about my writing time (and they were pretty understanding before). But now, I’m making money with it which helps pay for things they want/need. (Mostly need…)
5. Imagine how you will feel on October 31 knowing that you’ve completed this challenge. How can you use that to motivate you during the next sixty days?
   

   A yet-to-be-used name sheet – includes first book appears in and subsequent appearances.

   I think “elated” will be one way I’ll feel. This will be the first novel I’ve written start to finish while doing this indie thing. I’m still trying to work out how this is going to work with new manuscripts and not ones that were already partially or nearly complete when I put the first one out last November.

6. What is the ONE thing you think you’re going to need the most to help you accomplish your goal for this challenge?
   Focus. I need focus. I’m perfectly CAPABLE of getting done what I need to. I just need to do it ;).

From Kaye’s blog:

FirstDraft60 Day 2 Assignment:

Your project for today is to figure out how you’re going to keep track of your revisions, style info, and research—and to go ahead and set them up. Then come back and let us know how you are planning to do it and how you’ve set yours up. Links to images would be great (e.g., Instagram, your blog, photos on Facebook shared publicly so we can see them even if we aren’t connected, etc.).

My answer:

I have a big binder (see pics) that I’m working on organizing all the stuff she mentions into. I have calendars for each book, which helps make sure we don’t have 52 weeks of “spring.” (Yep. Happened once.) Because everything is in the same universe, I have sheets for names (first and last) which will, eventually, let me know what names I’ve used and what books they appear in. I’m also debating a master list from each book along with brief description of who the person is (heroine’s best friend, school principal, etc). In theory, Mrs. Brown will be in the name list with 2.1 as the first book she shows up in. If I look at the master list for book 2.1 (Good Enough for a Princess), it’ll tell me she’s the principal of Lindsey’s school.

At least that’s how I think it’ll work :p.

I’m still debating the best way to do this. I think I’ll just keep all the master-ish stuff for each series together, including the calendars. It’s going to take some doing to get it all done – the style sheets and all that stuff.

Fortunately – I have a couple of fabulous friends who are helping me as they read through the books. They rock! I just need to KEEP doing it as I go forward ;).

Name: Carol Moncado

Location: Southwest Missouri

What you write/tagline/trademark: Romantic Dramedy in the Ozarks…and the Alps!

Place in the book world: Indie published with my own company, CANDID Publications. Still pursuing traditional publication with at least one manuscript and represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

On a scale of hugger to 10-foot-pole, please rate your personal space: Hugs! Hugs! More hugs!

The unique talking point that will get you going for hours: Books, Dr. Who, NCIS, Big Bang Theory, my kids, indie publishing, American Government (I teach it, but let’s just not go there, m’kay? ;))

Loved ones at home you’ll be missing: Husband of 18 years, 4 kids (girls: 13, 11, 10; boy: 8), 5.3lb Shorkie who is my snuggle buddy, 48 students who will probably prefer watching the movie ;).

Conference goals we can pray for? My goal is to chill this year. (This is where I get really real.) I’m not pitching, but I’m also a bit worried about not being considered/accepted as a “real author” since I “went indie” instead of waiting for a traditional publisher. Now, my bank account, while begging me not to quit the day job, tends to say “you’re making money now – that makes you a real author!” ACFW, like most writing organizations, has a procedure to qualify authors who are strictly indie so they can enter things like contests, etc. I am THIS CLOSE to reaching that mark by the end of this month. If I do, I may be able to get qualified to be a “real author” at conference (more a question of timing than whether or not I’m qualified – it takes time to get approved). Most of the time, I’m pretty secure in my indie-ness. I’m trying hard not to be worried that others (mostly people I barely know, I’m sure) will think I went indie because I couldn’t hack it and wasn’t good enough for traditional publication. That’s not it (though I won’t get into the whys here), but it still bothers me…

Anything we can celebrate with you? I have had a GREAT first indie year. I’m THIS CLOSE to qualifying as an indie publisher with ACFW. I have six novels out, one releasing this weekend, a novella out, two more novellas coming by Thanksgiving, one more novel by Thanksgiving, and possibly one more by the end of the year. I’m not making the kind of cash where I can quit my day job, but it’s very likely I’ll double my non-writing income (which, given how part time I work, isn’t insanely hard), and I can dream about the day where I can write full time.

One or two ways we can help you build your platform? You can “follow” my Facebook profile (it’s my friend page, too, but following it means you won’t get all the local stuff like weather updates and snow days ;).) Plus you can sign up for my newsletter. I promise not to spam or give away emails, but will only send them out when there’s news – like sales, preorder special pricing, or a FREE novella coming this fall for newsletter subscribers! (And it’s a LONG novella too – nearly Heartsong length! Book 2.5 in the the Brides of Belles Montagnes series!)

So now what? Copy and paste the questions (or some subset thereof) into your own blog, paste the direct link in the comments here, then go to Laurie’s page and click the “An InLinkz Link-up” link to share it there – it’ll pop up with everyone else who’s participating!