2017, Day 4: What I’m Working On Now, Winter 2017

01-04-what-im-working-on-now

New year… new plans…

So what’s coming from me, book wise, this year? I have some seriously ambitious plans, but we’ll see if they come to pass. Here’s what the plan is though. It is kind of novella heavy, but those are quicker and easier to write (usually!), and I have some I’ve been itching to get to.

A big chunk of this depends on how quickly I can get this current WIP done and into a writing-full-time-from-home groove. I’m also in the process of learning how to use dictation and transcription (both via DragonDictation) to improve my speed and am also looking at one of those pens you write on paper with and then it flips it to your computer in digital format. Somehow. I don’t understand how it works, just that it does. 😉 I’m hoping with all of those, I can speed up production. If so… who knows?! It could all come faster :D.

I do have a friend who dictated (via Dragon) FOUR. FULL. FIRST. DRAFTS in November. FOUR! Like three more than one. Full 70-75K drafts (which is about what my first drafts are though I shoot for 85Kish for my final drafts – the rest comes in edits). So yeah. Dictation. Working on it. 😉

Anyway… the tentative plan…

  • January or February: Glimpsing Hope (Christopher Bayfield) – look for a newsletter with release information later this month!
  • February or (early) March: Beauty and the Beast with a twist! (novella set in a BRAND NEW fictional country)
  • March or April (or even May, sigh): Reclaiming Hearts (Prince William of Mevendia)
  • April: Dare You (novella set in Serenity Landing with connections to Montevaro and the new royalty series coming later; this one is done and should release regardless of Reclaiming Hearts )
  • May: Lifeguard novella
  • June: Historical novella set in Mevendia and Ravenzario
  • July: Historical novella set partially in Mevendia
  • August: Grace to… (untitled full length sequel to Grace to Save; also opens on 9/11)
  • September: Novella to complete Mevendia novella collection
  • October: Christmas novella (I already have the cover! Oh. My. Lands. I love it!)
  • November/December: Heart of a Prince (full length first in the new royalty series! Picks up with Jordan from Dare You as soon as it ends – I already have this cover, too, and LOVE IT! And the prologue makes me cry – Every. Time. I read it.)

So there we go. Ambitious, but hey – if you shoot for the stars and miss, you could still hit the moon ;). Yeah. That’s it :D.

What I'm Working on Now

#ACFW2019 Mix and Mingle

If you want to check out the hostess with the mostess for this year – check out Janine Rosche’s Mix & Mingle host post! Plus links to everyone else!

Name: Carol Moncado

Location: Southwest Missouri

What you write/tagline/trademark: Romantic Dramedy in the Ozarks and Beyond, mostly contemporary romance with royals (or royalty adjacent)

Place in the book world: I’m an indie author with book 33 releasing October 1.

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

Something VERY serious: How do you take your Starbucks? Um… does Starbucks serve Dr Pepper?

The unique talking points that will get you going for hours: Indie publishing! Books! BAND! #IDidntChooseTheBandMomLife #TheBandMomLifeChoseMe

Loved ones at home you’ll be missing: My husband, three high school girls, one middle school boy, and two puppers who weigh a combined 12 pounds. Also 150 band kids who will have a football game and their first competition without me. Also other booster parents who will serve 175 people food in a parking lot without me. Twice. At least I hope they’ll miss me!

Conference goals we can pray for? I’m not pitching or anything, but praying that I can be an encouragement to others and make the connections God has for me. Also that this book is completely done and uploaded before I leave.

Anything we can celebrate with you? Book 33 will be ready before then! YAY!

One or two ways we can help you build your platform? Join us in the Serenity Landing Book Club where we learn all kinds of things about each other and talk books. Also my newsletter.

Reviews

#NaNoWriMo2018, Day 2 or Plans Change – Go With It

My phone rang this morning while I was sleeping, but I missed answering it (it was almost 9am… but I wrote until like 2am…)

I asked Siri to call the person back and my hubby said something about two feet away from me.

Made me jump.

I forgot he was taking the day off today ;).

So instead of writing all day, we went to Bass Pro Shops (the original one), discovered they don’t carry the coat I want in the right size (I wasn’t sure I was going to get it – and no online searches have showed it on sale anyway), went to lunch, then home.

Went to pick up Kid #2. Took Jett with me. He loves to “go bye-bye” and spins in circles when you ask him (part of where he got his name from). When we get there, he stands and watches for any of his kids (band kids stop and say hi to him – and me – all the time) to walk by. Pretty sure he’s sniffing their lunch leftovers as they walk by, too.

I’ve been hanging out with my family since, but everyone’s headed out to evening plans so I’m planning to write.

Yesterday’s Stats:

The Spare and the Heir
Yesterday: 3304
Total: 21315

NaNoWriMo 2018
Yesterday: 3304
Total: 4344

Words Per Day Needed: 1575
Anticipated Completion: 11/24

NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo 2018, Day 1 or It’s a Start

That’s Jett. We’ve had him 2 years and 2 days :). He was mad at me this morning for making him go outside to do his business ;). It was cold and more than drizzly but less than rainy. He hates cold and rain.

Ah well.

I’m a NaNo Purist. That means I think real NaNo is starting a new project on November 1 (often at midnight) and writing 50K words on it.

This year?

Yeah.

Notsomuch.

I’m in the middle of The Spare and the Heir (releasing December 21) and it HAS to get finished.

Because.

Well.

It’s releasing December 21…

And later this month – 16 days – I’m headed to NYC with my oldest daughter and a friend of mine. My daughter gets to march in Macy’s Great American Marching Band and I can’t send her across the country all by herself!

Of course not!

What does that mean for TSATH? It HAS to be done before I leave. In fact, I probably need to take a paper copy with me to edit while I’m there, though I doubt I’ll make it through, but we’ll have some down time.

So…

Last night, I was writing. I started a new scene right at midnight so I counted those words toward NaNo. I’ve already done some writing today, but also had lunch/brainstormed with a friend and did some mathy/businessy stuff. Plus a kid to the doc and hanging out with the fam. Now back to work.

(“Yesterday” is any time before I go to bed. So “today” won’t actually end until sometime early tomorrow morning.)

I didn’t say it was a great start… but it’s  a start!

Yesterday’s Stats:

The Spare and the Heir
Yesterday: 1653
Total: 18011

NaNoWriMo 2018
Yesterday: 1040
Total: 1040

Words Per Day Needed: 1632
Anticipated Completion: 12/19

NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo

2017, Day 341: This Happened

It started with a phone call Tuesday morning.

“I think my car is dead.”

And was confirmed later Tuesday with another phone call.

“Hey. This is Brent. (aka our mechanic) I’ve got news…”

Yep. Dead. 2004 Toyota Corolla with about 209,000 miles on it. It served its purpose for many years, but no longer.

So we needed something new. With four kids and running 87 different directions, we needed something new, fast.

Fortunately, this little beauty was waiting on us.

Matt went to a dealer about twenty miles away last night and worked out a deal on it. It’s fancy. In fact, it has heated seats, dual climate controls, multiple CD player, keyless start, backup camera in the rearview mirror, etc. WAY nicer than anything we’ve ever had before.

In fact, at just under 70,000 miles, we think it may be the lowest mileage vehicle we’ve ever owned.

That means my minivan (the one in the back) is now relegated to the driveway while the RAV4 goes in the garage. Because it’s far nicer and, let’s face it, most days it’s cold and gross enough to need to clean the windshield, I don’t go anywhere anyway. 😉

I did get some writing done last night after we got this all settled!

Recent Stats

Inadvertent Princess
12/1: 626
12/2: 403
12/3: 0
12/4: 1752
12/5: 125
12/6: 2079
Total: 31504

December 2017
Total: 4985

 

Update, Writing

#NaNoWrapUp2017, December 1

Because I’m cold and that picture looks like a nice warm place to be… 😉

NaNoWriMo 2017 is over.

I didn’t hit my goal of 100K words, but that’s okay. I did finish the book for my cousin which was my top priority. I didn’t get as much done on The Inadvertent Princess  as I wanted, but that’s all right. I’ve got several weeks before I need to have the draft finished.

I’m still pleased with my progress though. The screenshot is from when I passed 70K for the month.

Today, I’m working on Inadvertent some more. Because that’s what I’m working on all the time these days ;).

I doubt I’ll be posting blogs daily now that NaNo is over, but I am going to try to post a couple times a week. 🙂

Yesterday’s Stats:

In Concert With the King
Yesterday: 0
Total: 76852

Inadvertent Princess
Yesterday: 1286
Total: 26519

NaNoWriMo 2017
Yesterday: 1286
Total: 71130

NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo, Writing

#NaNoWriMo2017, Day 30 or And Begun!

Last night’s sunset was absolutely gorgeous – and this picture does NOT do it justice at all. I think I got some on my actual camera that turned out better, but I haven’t pulled them yet. It was much more pastel-y than this.

I did get some writing done on Inadvertent Princess last night. I also did some brainstorming with my first reader. Some of it finally all came together (Prince Isaiah is sleazier than we all thought but that shouldn’t surprise anyone).

Today, I’m uploading the retitled In Concert with the King to Createspace so I can order a paper copy to send to my cousin. Then back to work on Inadvertent :). I’d hoped to be further into it by now but… Hey – I’ll pass 70K words for the month! Nothing to sneeze at!

Yesterday’s Stats:

Inadvertent Princess
Yesterday: 1224
Total: 25233

NaNoWriMo 2017
Yesterday: 1224
Total: 69844

NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo, Writing

#NaNoWriMo2017, Day 29 or Finished!

YAY!

I finished the first draft of In Concert with the King (which is getting a new title before it releases :p)!!!!

WOOHOO!!

The draft is wrapped up though it still needs about 3 chapters in the middle (maybe a bit more and will likely include some Prince Harry/Meghan Markel stuff since it’s established that Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge are friendly with my fictional royals). Part of it will depend on when the wedding is and where that falls in what I’ve got going on already on the fictional calendar.

The end needs some tweaks too, but it’s basically done as far as a first draft goes, so I sent it to my cousin last night.

And with that, I also reread Inadvertent Princess and started working on it last night too! YAY!

I’ve got a lot going on today, but I should be able to get some words in tonight, so more yay there!

Yesterday’s Stats:

In Concert With the King
Yesterday: 1094
Total: 75758

Inadvertent Princess
Yesterday: 1055
Total: 24009

NaNoWriMo 2017
Yesterday: 2149
Total: 68620

NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo, Writing

#NaNoWriMo2017, Day 28 or Almost Done!

Yes. That’s a giant unicorn. And now that it’s /sob/ been given to it’s intended recipient, I can post a picture. Of course I didn’t take a better picture, but… :p I wanted to keep it. The kid that bought it for a friend refused to let me. Sigh.

But on bookish things… SO. CLOSE. TO. DONE! I have just the epilogue to write, then about 3 chapters left in the middle, but I’ll do those later on.

I’m going to try to get the epilogue done in the next hour or so then start my readthrough of The Inadvertent Princess so I can start writing on it again tonight. Or so the plan goes.

Did I mention I’m changing the title of In Concert with the King? The perfect title for it came to me the other day. Way more perfect. Because the piano playing didn’t play as big a role in the book as I thought it would. And this title really is better. But I’m not quite ready to reveal it yet. In case it changes again :p.

I’m not going to hit my 100K goal for the month, but that’s okay. Maybe 70-75K. I’ll take it.

So…

Yesterday’s Stats:

In Concert With the King
Yesterday: 2712
Total: 75758

NaNoWriMo 2017
Yesterday: 2712
Total: 66471

NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo, Writing

#NaNoWriMo2017, Day 27 or Take a Hike

DID Y’ALL SEE THE NEWS?!?!?! Prince Harry is engaged! I’m so looking forward to this royal wedding – I may even have to wake up early enough to watch it live ;). For research, of course!

I also need to figure out some sort of celebration – perhaps a royal romance sale…

Speaking of… Dare You is free for another day or so. Heart of a Prince (a Canadian, not an American, but still a NORTH American ;)) is 1.99 through today and then 2.99 through 11/30.

After church yesterday, we went down to my in-law’s new house about 45 min away. They don’t actually have a lake view, but the houses behind them are kind of across the street. Their community has a little park area on the lake and we went down there to make S’mores. My stepmother-in-law and I went for a hike through the woods nearby. It wasn’t tough, though there were a couple of fairly steep spots. My hip didn’t love it though :/.

The views were gorgeous, and she showed us this old building that we think used to be a smokehouse. It was pretty cool! There’s some other ruins (that I didn’t get a pic of :p) that we’re not sure what it was. It’s on a hillside, but the rock wall remnants aren’t wide enough to be rooms. We wondered if it might be stalls for a barn or perhaps “floor joists” type things to sort of level out the hillside (but not all of them are as tall as they use to be so it’s not obvious?), but we’re not sure.

When we got back to the house, we celebrated my father-in-law’s birthday. And deer showed up ;). There’s only four, though there’s a total of five in the pics (one in there twice). Photo cred to Vicki! The first time I was at their house, I saw a buck in the backyard. Super cool! They see all kinds of wildlife!

We came home, and I picked my Andy Griffith Show marathon back up (started after the death of Ron Howard’s father the other day). Slept through about 6-8 episodes, but the headache finally started to go away.

Got some writing done after that and finally one spot I need done – finally. It was harder than I thought, but finally done. Only two partial scenes left then the epilogue. Maybe one more before the epilogue depending on how long it takes to wrap it up. Fingers crossed for today.

Yesterday’s Stats:

In Concert With the King
Yesterday: 918
Total: 73046

NaNoWriMo 2017
Yesterday: 918
Total: 63759

NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo, Writing

#NaNoWriMo2017, Day 26 or So Close!!!

I. Am. So. Close. to finishing this book!

ALMOST! THERE!

I have three partial scenes to write. Two I wrote parts of back in May or so when I was at a workshop of some kind and was doing an exercise. One I started last night but didn’t finish. There might be one more scene after that, but not sure.

And the epilogue.

That’s it.

Here’s hoping I can get it done today! We’ll see though. First, church. Then we’re going to my in-law’s for my father-in-law’s birthday. But I write best late, so there should be time tonight to get to “the end.” I do have about 5-8K worth to fill in in the middle, but that’ll be done later most likely.

Time to head out :).

Yesterday’s Stats:

In Concert With the King
Yesterday: 3105
Total: 72128

NaNoWriMo 2017
Yesterday: 3105
Total: 62841

 

NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo, Writing
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