This week was a bust on writing and decluttering. Between my stomach and my asthma, I haven’t been able to do too much. These sinus headaches make it hard to focus or think
On the good side, I did get back my Short story for another round. The comments weren’t all that bad though I did a little cutting and sifting. Now I am waiting for a new Beta reader to get it back to me. So I guess I did do something.
I had planned on going through my files and rearranging and organizing them better. I guess I will try to do that this week but now I have a new project I need to get ready. I have joined a new group called Romance in thirty days. It is a group of authors that post a tentative cover and come back and update the story as we go. When we are done we will have a complete summary. I have never done this before and may not get a story ready until next month. I kinda want to read the others and see what I am supposed to be doing.
I have an idea for a story I may use. It actually came from one of those deleted files. A few years ago I started a story I tentatively called The Buyout. It was supposed to be an MF contemporary western or cowboy. I had a good premise but as I was writing the story quite evolved into something else entirely so I cut the bits I needed and moved to another story page. This one is called A Country Girl at Heart. I didn’t want to totally trash some of the things I left in the other story and I liked the title so I just moved it to story Ideas folder. I am glad I did because last week when the muses had their intervention they whispered that The Buyout could be a good M/M and gave me a bit of an idea on that. It needs a bit of plotting and the characters developed, but I am glad I didn’t delete all of that idea. That’s why I keep all my ideas… good or bad just in case they can be reused or made better.
So my Book Files look a little like this MY BOOKS Is a file in Docs. Under that file are several others. All of the books I have started and finished such as a nano story are in a folder by name. I have a folder for. each of those with character files, settings, my Scrivener file, research. I like to have a page for the research I do with links. Sometimes I have a page dedicated to one certain topic.I keep a folder for the degree of the manuscript such as completed, sent to Beta etc. I also have a deleted scenes or dialogues etc that didn’t make the story or were cut. maybe it’s an extra sex scene or a conversation or just a too detailed description, but instead of throwing out I save for reference or who knows when they could come in handy.
I have a folder for titles that came to me but no real story. I have a list of names n that list I mark off names I use and what story they are in. This way I don’t have a bunch of story with the same names. I update this one a lot as I keep notes on my phone as I see or hear names I like r town names, roads etc I have folders for all of that.
I have some short stories that I have either submitted or used on a blog and have them in a short story folder. someday I may revise them or make them into books for newsletter giveaways or something.
I have a folder for ideas. these could be a line or two, some descriptions, people I saw that were cool and would make a good story. Anything that is a spark.
I also have one for each series Idea I have.
Now I just need to pick a story or series and get with it. Of course, after I finish the self-edits on BaseBall Bats and Cowboy Hats. I have a self-imposed deadline for that I am pretty sure I have decided to self-publish that series. It is hard to find a publisher that takes both M/F and MM and I would want both published So it seems Self-publishing is the way to go on that one.
On to treasure making.
Now not only do I save files that could be ones person’s trash. I save trash. Yes, I keep too many things. I did come up with a way to control my obsession. I use kitty little in the plastic tubs so I reuse them in the craft room. I have one for cans, jars, bottles, etc. once my container is full I cant save any more of that item until I use some out of the tub. This reuses the tubs, keeps the craft room neat and my hoarding under control.
I have found some really cool ideas on Pinterest to use some. I am painting some food cans and putting labels on them with my Silhouette. They will hold my Cooking utensils and make it easy for my daughter and daughter in law when they put away dishes for me.
This is similar to what I am making. I started two in Yellow and in Peach but decided to do Mine in Copper. I have the paint but now am waiting for a warmer dry day so I can paint this batch. I am going to use it for cooking utensils such as spatulas and whisks instead though.
There are so many cool things you can do with tin cans. Here are some cute ideas. Tin Can Crafts. I saw some cute things like the tin man that would be cool in the garden and some bird feeders.
These are things you can do with glass bottles or wine bottles. Mason Jars and food jars Plastic bottles Even rocks I could go on and on. So ones man’s trash truly another ones teasure.
Do you recyle trash into treasures? What do you make?
https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?rs=ac&len=2&q=tin%20cans%20crafts&eq=tin%20cans&etslf=8572&term_meta[]=tin%7Cautocomplete%7Cundefined&term_meta[]=cans%7Cautocomplete%7Cundefined&term_meta[]=crafts%7Cautocomplete%7Cundefined