General Updates – Page 3 – From The Mists of the Northwoods

I’m Baaaack!

July 17, 2013 J.I. Soucie

Okay, so I have been on hiatus here for far too long. This summer has turned out to be far busier than I had expected. My family and I will be moving shortly and I have been tending to matters regarding home buying and packing.

I have been writing on and off, in my spare moments. When things calm down a bit (after the move, unpacking, and settling in), I know writing will become more a part of my life. At least that is what I foresee right now. God has a funny way of changing things, just when you think you’ve got things figured out. One way to keep life interesting!

It is late now, so I’ll make this post short. Just wanted to let everyone know I am here, just busy with matters outside of writing at the moment. I’ll try to be back tomorrow with more of an update.

God bless!

Voice4Society Article & General Update

May 17, 2013 J.I. Soucie

It has been a while since I have posted any updates. It is hard keeping up with blog posts and getting to write due to the chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. But today is one of my “wired-but-tired” days. Funny how your body can feel so revved up, but yet still feel so exhausted.

Anyway, I have finished an article earlier this week “The Story of Esther” for the Voice4Society blog. It has not been posted yet but when it is I will be sharing the link with you.

I have several articles I am planning to write but I am struggling to decide whether to publish them through the Yahoo Contributor Network, or go through magazines instead. My husband says I keep putting “the cart before the horse” , or worrying about where I am going to publish before I even have an article done. He says I should write first and then think about where I am going to publish and I know he says that because he is looking out for me. I am often so exhausted that thinking about publishing zaps what energy I have and then I am unable to write.

I am learning that with CFS/Fibromyalgia, I must think of things and do things a little differently if I am going to accomplish anything, let alone writing. There are many days I wish I had someone to manage the whole marketing and publicity thing for me. Just let me write and “here, you mange the rest”. But, I have no extra money to pay anyone so, I must spread things out do some writing here, and marketing/social networking there. It’s a lot to take for an Indie Author and you don’t have to have CFS/Fibro or a medical condition to feel how overwhelming it can be.

I am not giving up, however. I am not the kind of person to give in or give up. Life itself is full of challenges and facing them with God by my side is how I manage. Learning my limitations and sticking with them has been tough, but I am getting there and finding that when I work within the limitations I can do efficient work on my “good” days. I am learning it is not all about the quantity of what you can get done in a day, but the quality of what you finish and that you feel good about it.

Funny how you go on and talking about something you hadn’t intended to. Guess I felt, for some reason, I should. I know I am not the only author out there who has CFS and/or Fibromyalgia. Laura Hillenbrand has CFS too. (She is the author of Seabiscuit and Unbroken.) She has inspired me to keep on trying, and perhaps, as I started writing and all this CFS/Fibro stuff came out, I felt I could inspire someone too.

So now I am off to venture in some writing. Where the path may lead, we shall see!

General Updates

What’s Your Favorite Email Client/Host?

May 2, 2013 J.I. Soucie

Okay so I have tried AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, Excite, and Hotmail and out of them all I like Gmail the best and then Yahoo. But if are an Indie author, musician, artist, etc. which email client do you choose out of those listed above, or do you use something completely different, for your professional email?

If you use a client listed above, what do you like best and least about the ones you’ve tried?

I am currently using a hotmail address for my professional email, but to be honest I really don’t care for it too much. I am thinking of maybe going back to Gmail, which I tend to like best anyway.

Now another question… when creating your professional email, do you prefer your name@email.com, or do you use something other than your name? If you use something other than your name, does it make you feel less professional, or just more creative? I like to use my name, but then sometimes wonder if it really matters.

I am really curious to hear what you think, so please feel free to share your thoughts with me on this!

I look forward to hearing from you. :) Have a great day!

General Updates

New Audiobooks Available!

May 1, 2013 J.I. Soucie

On April 29, 2013, The History of Sackets Harbor, New York became available as an audiobook on audible.com.

On May 1, 2013, Day & Night: A Collection of Nature Poetry became available on audible.com.

Both audiobooks will be available on Amazon and on iTunes within the next few days!

This is so exciting for me. When I started out writing it was for the pure enjoyment of creating something from my imagination and then later did I decide to publish. At the time, there was only traditional publishing available, or should I say that was all I knew of since I didn’t, yet, own a computer. But now there are so many avenues to publishing and in so many different formats it is unbelievable! It is so exciting to be an author at this day in age where the world of publishing is open to all formats of writing as well as many formats to publish your work in, allowing you to reach your audience in a shorter amount of time than by way of a traditional publisher. I am not trying to come down on traditional publishers here. I am just in awe…reflecting on the extent of changes in the publishing industry.

Well, I am off now. I have an article to work on and dinner to make!

God bless!

General Updates

Recovery

March 6, 2013 J.I. Soucie

I sit here in a quiet house, everyone asleep, and the clock is about to tick midnight, Ah and so it did, On February 28th, I had surgery on my left hand for severe carpal tunnel syndrome. My hand is healing nicely and only have pain once in a while or if I accidently stretch my hand and pull the stitches.

On Thursday I get the stitches removed and then I’ll find out what comes after that.

It has been a challenge typing one-handed and things take longer to get done. It was frustrating at first, but I have learned to be patient with myself, as well as reminding myself that this is temporary.

Not sure when I’ll be back to writing regularly, but I will keep you all updated! So thankful God made me ambidextrous. I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t.

My best to all and God bless!

General Updates

On Vacation — Well Recovery

February 24, 2013 J.I. Soucie

I just wanted to write and let everyone know that tomorrow I will be having surgery on my left wrist for carpal tunnel issues and so may not be posting anything for a while. I didn’t want anyone to think I just disappeared or forgotten my readers. Nope! Still here, just will be in recovery phase for a few weeks and then back to writing which will be great. Maybe I’ll actually be able to feel the pen in my hand and the keys of the keyboard under my fingers a little better. lol.

Well, off to get a snack and then do what I can today because after surgery tomorrow morning, I won’t be able to do much for the next few weeks. Good time to get some reading done!

God bless!

General Updates

Organizing Writing Projects: What Is Your Favorite Software?

February 3, 2013 J.I. Soucie

So the past couple of days I have been sifting through files some paper, some digital, and trying to figure out how to categorized and put together all my writing ideas. Some of these ideas have generated beginnings of stories, while others are still ideas. I am trying to decided how I want to organize everything and I am thinking of using Microsoft OneNote. I love the program, but I am hesitant to use it because it doesn’t syn up with the Microsoft OneNote app on my iPad. Now if I use EverNote, I can sync from my computer to my iPad no problem. The only with that is if there is no Internet, you can’t get your files. Ugh! The frustration.

In light of this, I have created the following poll. Let me know what your favorite software is to use when organizing your writing projects. Thanks for your votes!

General Updates

Book Formatting & Entry Into Contest

January 23, 2013 J.I. Soucie

Tonight I am working on re-formatting a book for my friend (Phyllis Georgina Rose) who wants to put her book (The Rose Garden) into the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards contest this year. When I am finished with her book, I will be making some minor adjustments to my book, The History of Sackets Harbor, New York, which I will be entering into the same contest. I am so excited about entering my book. I don’t usually enter into contests, but I found I wanted to try something different and exciting.

I’ll probably be spending the next several days working on these books, but I’d rather spend time and make them look as professional as I can. I know how professionalism make an impression on people and how they can tell if you really care about your work by how much time you spend tending to even the smallest detail. i

With that said, I best be off and get back to work. Have a good night!

General Updates

Busy Brain

January 19, 2013 J.I. Soucie

I’m sitting here in my living room with my four year old playing with her toys on the floor and my husband reading on his Nexus 7 tablet. I am honestly trying to relax, but the creative and imaginative spirit in me is too anxious and exited to let me sit still. My brain is running in zips and zings with ideas of manuscripts almost to their first draft stage. These manuscripts are:

A Daughter’s Reflection and The History of Watertown, NY

Then I am in the process of reformatting my book The History of Sackets Harbor, New York, so I can add it to the Smashwords.com library. I am also going to add it to Kobo. I have also lowered the price of the Kindle ebook from $6.99 down to $4.99. The more I thought about it, would I really be willing to buy an ebook at $6.99? Not so much. At $4.99, yeah. I would.

I also have some notes I need to work on for Voice4Society. So much is flaring in this brain of mine. I try to relax but knowing I have so much work to do it makes it hard. Being a homemaker and stay at home mom, plus a writer has its challenges. Oh, and then there is school work!

So my task for today….prioritize! And then set a schedule. Ha! (Sorry. An ALF moment there!) I do pretty well prioritizing, it is schedules I find hard to keep because I take my time doing things so I do them right and to enjoy what I. I don’t like rushing anything unless absolutely necessary. Guess we shall see what happens. I know what I really WANT to work on and then what MUST be worked on. It is so hard to put the WANT behind and do what SHOULD be done and what I have committed myself to doing for another. I must do what is right. I shall work on an article for Voice4Society during the day today and then tonight, perhaps that is when I’ll work on my books.

So with that, I am off. To drink some Yerba Mate tea and do some research and study in the Bible. have a great day!

General Updates

Editing

January 18, 2013 J.I. Soucie

Tonight I am working on editing some posts for my husband’s blog. He has decided to develop apps for Android and is starting…well…more like continuing a blog on developing that he started several years ago. The blog doesn’t have much on it yet, but there will be plenty more to come. If you’d like to check out the blog, you can view it here. New posts will be arriving shortly.

While I am on the subject of editing, I bought this book a short while ago titled Revision and Self-Editing for Publication, by James Scott Bell. I am an Indie author and though I know I can do a fair job at editing, it wouldn’t hurt to work on tightening those editing skills. Both writing and editing go together and in order to have a well written piece, you have to keep flexing those writing and editing muscles.

Here is the Table Of Contents:

Introduction to the 2nd Edition

On Becoming a Writer

PART I: SELF-EDITING

Chapter 1: A Philosophy of Self-Editing

Chapter 2: Characters

Chapter 3: Plot and Structure

Chapter 4: Point of View

Chapter 5: Scenes

Chapter 6: Dialogue

Chapter 7: Beginnings, Middles, Ends

Chapter 8: Show Vs. Tell

Chapter 9: Voice and Style

Chapter 10: Setting and Description

Chapter 11: Exposition

Chapter 12: Theme

PART II: REVISION

Chapter 13: A Philosophy of Revision

Chapter 14: Before You Revise

Chapter 15: The First Read-Through

Chapter 16: Deepening

Chapter 17: The Ultimate Revision Checklist

Epilogue: The Trick That Cannot Be Explained

Appendix

Index

Whew! Sure seems like there is a lot to that book, but I cannot wait to start reading it. I may write a review of the book when I am finished.

An article written by WritersDigest.com’s Brian A. Klems titled, “HOW TO REVISE YOUR WRITING (& AWESOME EDITING SYMBOLS YOU SHOULD KNOW)” is pretty good and also gave me a laugh!

Well, I must get back to work! Night all!