It's Got Potential! Brag About it!

Today we finally had the first writer's group meeting in probably about five or six weeks. We have been having problems meeting and such but today me, Kelly and Jaci managed it and it was one of the most rewarding things for me. We looked at the "edited" first chapter of my story. It's a lot better from the previous two edits but there is still a lot of work to do. It has incredible potential and with editing and polishing and tons of feedback it is going to be the best it can possibly be. I have quite a bit of fixing to do. Here is just some of it.

1. While I have fixed my over use of adverbs by drastically cutting them out, I now have problems with my usage of semi-colons. How I love the semi-colon!
2. Fragmented sentences. While they aren't all bad (many of them are used as thoughts and really made my writing believable), there are far too many of them in my dialogue and that is confusing.
3. I have great details. I have an overload of details.
4. Need to find more wolfy verbs instead of human ones.
5. Point of view. Who the heck are we looking at now????
6. How many times can I say "topaz golden eyes" in one chapter? About 18.

There are more but I am a little overwhelmed. I'll find more. It's just going to take a lot of editing and loving of my chapter.

It doesn't help that Mrs. Caloutus has forever scarred me and my confidence as a writer. I still see that woman's face in my dreams. While she taught me a lot and my writing improved, she has also hindered me as a writer. I have to learn to embrace and love what I write. I can do it.

I also am now a library card holder again! I haven't had one for over four years! I got books for research on my story. And got hit on by the guy helping me. Sorry, bud, but this gal is taken!

The other big thing I did today was go over to Jocelyn's house and work on the etsy page and all of the items we have for sale. Today she used me as a model and we took pictures of scarves (some that I did and some that she did) to go on the page for sale. It was so cool to be used as a model! And let's just say Jocelyn is a natural with her amazing camera, tripod, and plethora of other accessories that she used to get the pictures. Her use of lighting is amazing. Especially when she used candles to make her jewelry and doilies stand out. We are hoping to get more people aware of our site and spread the news on to others. We have some incredible stuff and have sold orders around the U.S., Canada and even Italy! It's a lot of fun! Jocelyn's boyfriend is working on an ad for us and I am going to stick it on my blog and see if I can get my friend Abby to put something on hers. The more people know about us the more we can spread our handmade stuff around!

My first scarf got uploaded to the site tonight and I am really proud of it! I can't want to work on more stuff and I plan to do a Harry Potter scarf and hat theme for the winter time! But for now I will include the website so others can take a look!

Stitching Trails is the name of the site. http://www.etsy.com/shop/stitchingtrails


Well, I am off to knit and edit my story and talk to the boyfriend!

~Dragon Eyes~