Writing

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Translations: THE TWO

For anyone curious about the translations of the Irish dialogue in THE TWO, keep reading. If THE TWO (or THE ALIGNMENT) is on your TBR, you might want to stop here to avoid spoilers.

Here’s a photo of autumn in Missouri as a protective buffer.

Content warning: explicit language

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Translation of Irish dialogue from THE TWO

Imeacht gan teacht ort.
Go and never return. (This is a harsh insult, comparable to “Fuck off” in English. There’s an element of wishing the person dead in it.)

Tá mé i ngrá leat.
I am in love with you.

Cén t-am é?
What time is it?

Tá sé deich nóiméad tar éis a seacht.
It is ten minutes after seven.

Ceangailte go brách
Eternally bound

Bailigh as
Fuck off

Mo ghrá thú.
I love you. (Literal translation: You are my love.)

Bréagadóir
Liar

Diúl mo bhod.
Suck my cock. (This is used as an insult in the book. I’m not sure if it’s always an insult when said this way, so be careful. LOL)

Tá tú go hálainn.
You are beautiful.

Is mian liom thú.
I want you.

Tá mé ag iarraidh craiceann a bhualadh leat.
I want to have sex with you. (A very impolite way to say it. The literal translation is something like “I want to bang skin with you.”)

Tá grá agam duit.
I love you.

Beidh muid in ann a dhul amú oraibh go héasca ar an mbóthar.
We can easily lose them on the road.

Níl spraoi ar bith ansin.
There is no fun there (in that).

Feicfidh mé ar an mbóthar thú, a dheartháir.
I’ll see you on the road, brother.

A Fhearghuis, a leanbh na páirte,
Bí láidir; ná tarraing céim siar.
Is treascairt na tragóide é an crann greamaithe.
Tá grá agam duit,
Fearghus, my dear child,
Be strong; do not retreat.
A destiny embraced is a tragedy overcome.
I love you,
(His name changes from Fearghus to Fhearghuis when someone is addressing him in Irish. Weird, I know. And awesome.)

A chroí
My dear

Mo bheannacht ar do leanbh.
My blessing on your child.

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TOATM Update – October 18

I just reached page 100 of 366 in my first revision of the first 75% of THE OAK AND THE MOON. I lost a few hours of work this week to a couple book-related things I had to do, which were:

    – draw a floor plan of all three levels of the Moore estate
    – research total lunar eclipses from 1964 through 1984

The floor plan was necessary to make sure these people weren’t walking around in an architecturally impossible house. The lunar eclipses…well, you’ll see.

I just woke up to an entire page of “ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd” inserted in the middle of a sentence, with my finger on the D key still pressing away. I’d say it’s time to call it a night!

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So, Where’s Book Three?

THE OAK AND THE MOON is a hefty book. There’s a lot of story to tell, and a lot of ground to cover. I started the first draft years ago, plowed right into it after finishing the first draft of THE TWO. After over 100,000 words, I put it on pause–right in the middle of a poignant scene–to revise and publish THE ALIGNMENT, followed by THE TWO. I haven’t touched it since. I’m thrilled to return to book 3. It’s my favorite so far. It’s become something I never expected. This book is the third in the series but it’s…different. In a good way.

Book three is about 75% complete, but there’s quite a bit of work to do on that current 75%. I started (restarted) on it yesterday, at page one, reading and revising as I go. When I reach the end of what’s already written, I start writing new stuff. There will be no breaks until it’s done. Then I do a full revision. Then it goes to my editor. When, you say? I hope to give it to my editor in early 2015. Februaryish. Yes, I might be slow. But this book will be worth it. :)

Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: In progress, about 75% complete
My revisions: Not started
Professional editing: Not started
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Not started

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Final Draft of the THE TWO is Here

August is here, and so is the final draft of THE TWO. I start proofreading it on my Kindle tomorrow. Give me (and my editor who’s also doing a final read) a week or two on that, then everything goes to the cover artist/formatter.

‘Cause guess what else is here. Photos for the cover. Stunning photos, I should say. My photographer is a wizard.

And we all love wizards, don’t we? Yes we do.

Final word count is 121,336. Here’s the progress report.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (121,006 words)
My revisions: Complete
Professional editing: Complete
Formatting: Starting very soon
Cover art: Photographs for cover art delivered, cover art starting very soon

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Book Two Progress as of July 14

Can I say I’m feeling a bit excited about releasing this book? Maybe. Just maybe…

That final polishing I said would take a week ended up taking three. But it’s worth it. Some of these changes have really made this book what I hoped it would be.

We’ll see what my editor thinks. It’s in her hands now, for her final pass. And I’m going to take a much needed break à la a little Burn Notice or Orphan Black before my real vacation begins next week.

Because we all know taking two little kids to the beach for the first time ain’t gonna be no vacation.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (121,006 words)
My revisions: Complete
Professional editing: Editor’s final pass in progress
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Photography for cover art in progress

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Book Two Progress as of June 24

I cut 8,276 words. You can thank me later, because it was a lot of crap NO ONE SHOULD EVER READ.

And that’s after I added a whole new scene of about 500 words. So I actually cut more than that. Like, closer to 9,000. WHAT. Just what.

I’m doing some final polishing. Easy stuff. I should be done with it in less than a week and be able to send this thing off to my editor for her final pass. Yep, you heard that right. We’re almost there.

Oh! And I saw some shots from the photographer and they are gorgeous. He’s going to reshoot with a slightly different setup and some updated props I made. If the new shots are better than the initial ones I think I just might die. The cover is going to be amazing.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (121,006 words)
My revisions: Complete
Professional editing: Prepping for editor’s final pass
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Photography for cover art in progress

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Four Q&As about my WIP

Janna G. Noelle has requested I participate in her four-question quiz about my current work-in-progress, THE TWO, which will be published in a couple months. Like most of her blog, these questions require a degree of thought my poor brain might not be suited for right now after being abused by revisions for the past few months. But it’s worth a shot. Let’s hope what comes isn’t pure gibberish, or words crossed out and replaced by synonyms then crossed out and replaced by another synonym then crossed out and replaced by the original word. What? Yeah. Exactly.

1. What are you currently working on?

THE TWO, the second book in The Alignment Series. I wrote the first draft in 2009 and it’s had little attention since then. I knew it would be rough going in, but it’s proven me wrong. It’s not rough. It’s downright terrifying. Come-out-of-the-mirror-Carol-Anne terrifying. Someone please get me out of this mirror.

2. How does your work differ from others in its genre?

Well, for a fantasy, it’s very real. Approachable. Easy to digest. I think a lot of people stay away from fantasy because the entry into the world is jarring. Too many strange names, strange places…you won’t find anyone with an unpronounceable name in my books. Sometimes I think it falls closer to magical realism for this reason. And for a romance? It doesn’t follow the formula. I usually call it a love story to save my fragile human bones from sledgehammers wielded by hardcore romance readers. There’s no sugary sweet happily ever after here. Strap yourselves in, people. There are twists in this road and lots of bodies to roll over. And be sure to duck when the gunner takes aim.

3. Why do you write what you do?

I have no idea. It’s like taking in a stray animal. I didn’t choose this book. It chose me. And then it had kittens under my porch. (This happened to me with real kittens, too. Real kittens and metaphorical kittens seem to agree that my brain and my house are nice places to live.)

4. How does your writing process work?

I’m a pantser who has a hard time keeping up with the seat of her pants. So I take a lot of notes. Pages and pages of notes in files I review periodically to refresh them in my head. I email myself things when I can’t get to my manuscript. Lines of dialogue, scenes, ideas, anything. It’s all clear in my head but very unorganized outside of it. That dichotomy has me feeling a bit crazy sometimes. A bit unglued.

Many thanks to Janna, for prompting me to do this Q&A. Every time I do something like this I learn more about my books. She’s working on her own fantasy(ish) novel, set in 13th century England. You can read her Q&A here. I wish she’d hurry up and publish. I feel like I’ve been waiting for it since the Middle Ages.

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On My Birthday

I had the day off work. My three-year-old let me sleep past nine. We didn’t get dressed ’til 10:30. We watched almost an entire season of Adventure Time then wrestled on the floor. He did a cannonball off the couch, straight onto my shin. Tomorrow, I’ll have the bruise to prove it.

After picking my kindergartner up from school, we sat outside on the patio under billowing cumulonimbus and ate barbecue chips and drank lemonade. A hawk circled above. I told my son it wanted to eat his brain.

“Mom, would you be sad if it ate my brain?”

“What do you think?”

“I think yes.”

“Would you be sad if it ate my brain?”

Big smile. “Yes.”

Oh, the love between mother and child.

At some point, I got a call on our land line, from THE LAND LINE’S OWN NUMBER. No one on the other end. Thank god for that.

Because I was afraid it was going to be my future self, telling me I have a lot of editing to do. And it’s sitting on the kitchen table, waiting for me, and I shouldn’t be watching so much Adventure Time.
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I knew book two would need a ton of editing but I wasn’t prepared for the depth of hell I’ve descended to. I’ve switched to editing hard copy by hand, if that’s any indication. I can’t estimate my progress at this point. I can’t even see an end ahead.

I’m still aiming for summer publication, but it’s going to be late summer. To those of you waiting, yeah, I feel rotten this is taking so long. But be VERY GLAD for my red pen. I wouldn’t wish this draft on my worst enemy.

Oh, and I got a great review today. Thank you, Morgan.

I couldn’t have planned a better birthday.

Tonight, I edit until the witching hour.

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Book Two Progress as of May 5

First the good news: I think the editing process for this book is only going to consist of three rounds. In an earlier post I’d guessed five. The first half of round 2 is complete, so we’re halfway there.

The bad news is this round will take the longest. I have a bunch of line edits from my editor to approve. It’s also when I read the entire book aloud to catch all the things that jump out when only read aloud. It’s time-consuming (and a bit nerve-racking to read my work out loud), but I make good progress every day. It’s not like my early revisions where I can spend three hours revising one sentence.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (129,282 words)
My revisions: Complete
Professional editing: Currently in 2nd Half of Round 2
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Photography for cover art in progress

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Draft of THE TWO Finished, Off to Editor

After a vacation day from work which had my butt in a chair writing from 8:00 AM until 4:42 PM (only stopping to do one load of laundry and eat an apple and a microwave burrito) this draft of THE TWO is finished. I’m not sure which draft it is—somewhere between 5 and 10,000. I lost count along the way.

It’s in my editor’s inbox now. Yes, that inhuman squealing you hear just possibly could be me.

The word count has changed, so I’ll update that in the status.

The editing stage is a multi-step process. My editor will go through the whole thing, then I’ll get it back and do another revision based on her edits, then she goes through it again, etc. I’ll try to keep the status updated with which step we’re in.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (129,282 words)
My revisions: Complete!
Professional editing: Starting soon (less than a week)
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Not started

EDIT: And I almost forgot! THE ALIGNMENT is today’s Book of the Day on Indie Author News!

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