Support for Indie Authors discussion

I'm trying to return to my natural night-owl author instincts by staying up late and working. Anyone else awake and chatty?

I can definitely connect with you on that level, Ann. Stealing those quiet moments after the kids have gone to bed is when I can get most of my brainstorming done. :)

I've got my "chill" Pandora radio station on and I'm having to finish up some marketing work for my husband, then it's on to Hollow Towns! But I like mini breaks to talk to people :)

"James Horner" on pandora for me. Literally finished the editing process on one of my books. Happy to get back into writing!

I'm so anxious to start something new! I've been working on Hollow Towns for far too long. After finishing my first draft, I realized the entire first half of the book needed to be rewritten from a different perspective. I may cry from relief when I finally hand it over to my editor!

And mine is "Emancipator" radio.

Good luck. I get to jump back into The Lonely Shadow, book three of my fantasy series, Masters of the Elements.

I like the title! What's the series about?

I'm getting myself in trouble with the outline for this 3rd act. Running out of room for a resolution.

Oo. Self imposed room? Or just exceeding your original expectations?

both :\

the protagonist from the first book becomes the big bad in the second and isn't even a PoV, but I was hoping for a conflict resolution that would bring her back as a pov in the 3rd act and I don't know if that's going to happen now. i can't leave the main out in the cold for an entire 2nd book, that's author suicide :\

The books revolve around a group of friends who discover a way to control different elements. Book 1 is the book about a boy who imbues himself with lightning, book 2 switches to his girlfriend who can manipulate water, book 3 is about the element of dark, and the books continue, each focusing on a different element and from a different perspective.
10 books are planned, one for each of the elements.

Ouch. . .I'm intrigued by the dilemma! Do you find yourself putting your creative authority in a box? I do that all the time. I forget that I'm the creator of my writing universe and I self impose "realistic plot points" on myself that aren't necessary.

Paul, those sound awesome!!

Hi Victoria!! Sorry about the taxes :( We handed ours over to our accountants a couple of weeks ago. They make Spring way more stressful than it needs to be!

Thanks, Ann! It's been a three year project so far, but the more I dive deeper into the story, the more excited I become to continue. I should see my first draft of book three done by July.

Luckily, my father-in-law takes care of he taxes for our family. He's an accountant. So yeah...

Ooo Lucky!!

Do ya'all find that you think more clearly at night? My husband and I are opposites. He works best before noon and I work best after 8PM.

Good luck, Victoria!

After midnight its like a switch goes on and I'm wide awake until 5 am. The rest of the time I'm total garbage.

I remember those days. . .my policy in college was that if I was up until 4, I didn't go to bed since I had a 7:00 class. I did that at least once a week. I just can't rebound as easily now. Fortunately my 2 year old son is not an early riser.

Congratulations!! That's exciting Victoria!!

I have you beat, Victoria. My job starts at 2 AM. It's disgusting, but I've got to feed my three boys. I have tomorrow off, so I'm able to stay up later tonight.
That sounds like a great plan to get more writing time!

Oh my goodness Paul!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hurt for you!!

Aww Victoria, that's so great!

Haha! It's not so bad once your body gets used to it. I just have to make sure I'm in bed by 8 if I work the next day.

You people and your normal jobs...
Must be nice! :)

I did really well at my 8-4:45 job before I met my husband. I was usually at work by 7:00 to appease my micro-managing boss.
But I don't think I could handle it now!

Paul, now I'm curious -- what do you do??

Oh my goodness Victoria, tell me about it! We had planned on me staying home with my son when he was born, but he ended up being two months premature and had to be on a heart monitor for a month, so a daycare wouldn't have accepted him anyway!

Yep! Full time mom now. I love it. We've just had to make a lot of adjustments bill wise.

I work for a Northwest bakery. My job is to pick up the bread after it's shipped to the warehouse, load it onto my truck, and deliver it the grocery stores. I put 1800 loaves of bread onto the shelves in 6 different grocery stores today.

Wow! That must be kind of cool though -- interesting at least! Aaaand I'm guessing it smells delicious?

Sadly, I've forgotten the smell of fresh baked bread.

We were very lucky Victoria. Three weeks in the NICU just to get his weight up a bit. We took him home at 4 LBS! Never had to have help breathing or anything. To look at him now, you'd never know he was a preemie :) We are very blessed.

That sounds like my wife. She stays at home while I work about 12 hours, then she goes to work as a server at a high-end restaurant while I watch the boys. She's amazing.

Sounds like both of you are focused on what's most important. I respect anyone who raises their children instead of paying someone else to do it for them. Parenting is so rewarding. It reminds you that giving your time to others makes your life more meaningful.

No kids here. :D

I'm sorry to hear that Victoria :(

Ah freedom Charles :) Enjoy it :)

And Paul, I agree. Plus, they're just so awesome! Every day my son does something that is just so amazing or hilarious or that gives me glimpse at his personality and I can't imagine missing out on it. I feel bad for my husband. He works from home on Fridays, so at least he gets one extra day with him.

I'm off to bed. It was a pleasure to meet you all!

I do. Made a conscious decision when I was younger to not have them and I've managed to stick by that.

They're soooooooooooo much responsibility. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Night Paul!

Aaaaaand now I have that song stuck in my head. Thanks Charles!

which one of your books should i buy ann

Night Victoria!

Well Charles. . .that depends. If you want to start with the superheroes, Crimson Mistress is the first in the series, but it's also my weakest story and needs to be rewritten. You won't miss much if you start with Jack instead. But seriously, more than happy to email you pdfs.

Charles wrote: "which one of your books should i buy ann"

I've read the first three superhero stories of Ann's. I would recommend them, especially the third. I bought the latest, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

Seriously need to find more time to read.

I was up most of the night, but unfortunately not writing. I was taking tests for the other job on rights of disabled individuals. Snoozy stuff. I don't know how I kept awake.

I finished the outline for my next book last night! 59 chapters and 6 PoVs!

woot woot