I’ll try to keep things short this week because I’ve still got a lot of editing left to do and I want to be ready for beta readers next week 😉
The edit is going well. I’m nearly halfway there and I’m hoping to finish it this weekend, or Monday at the latest. Then all I’ll need to do is the eBook conversion I’ve heard so many horror stories about, and we’re set!! K. J. Chapman has given me the great piece of advice that it helps to change the font, font size and colour when editing, so I changed everything. I can’t tell whether it’s helping to be honest, but it’s pretty so I don’t care, it stays 😛
If you think you’d like to be a beta reader for Rise of the Sparrows, keep an eye out for news around Thursday/Friday next week, and know that I love you already.
I have mostly lived on tea this week which keeps me bouncing off the walls. I’m also getting very close to the point where I don’t want to part with my book. It’s my first one and I know me, I’ll keep editing until I’m over-editing so next week I will start the beta read – don’t you let me back out!! You people make me, you hear? I know what I’m like, and this draft is ready. I don’t want to edit for the sake of editing and make it worse in the process, but I know I’ve started over-editing already so I’m trying to be good. It’s hard but sometimes it works.
But I’m rambling now (and I’m blaming this energy drink, it’s not meant as breakfast I don’t think) so let’s move on!
Thank you so much to everyone who’s read the short Immortal serial this week – you’ll be happy to hear that I am wanting to turn it into something more, but that’s all I’ll see on that for now 🙂 If you haven’t read it yet but want to or if you missed it altogether, you can start here if you’d like to.
The mascot has been quiet this week so I had to find an old picture for you! I know there’d be mutiny if I didn’t give you anything, so…
… here she is, pretending to be a human and hogging my writing space.
I’m really behind on my usual blog catch-up. Once this edit is done early next week I’ll go over everything I’ve missed. I’ve started already but I know I’m behind, so I’ll catch up next week hopefully. I’ve got some comments to reply to here as well – I haven’t forgotten you, I’ve just been editing myself into madness.
Since I’m so close to finishing my edit this may well be the last excerpt for a while! It’s a short one but sometimes that’s all that’s needed 🙂
Enjoy!
As much as she tried Rachael couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going on. That something was shifting. Something out of her control, but involving her nonetheless. That she couldn’t figure out the details was as frustrating as her situation in the nightmare had been.
—————-
All content belongs to the author, Sarina Langer.
The gifs came from Giphy
For all previous updates on Rise of the Sparrow‘s progress, click me!
For Cookie Break’s front page, take a look here.
Cookie Break 
February 5, 2016 at 10:04 am
Glad to hear it’s going well. You can do it! Nearly there 🙂
Keep drinking the tea. It’s like writer rocket fuel 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 5, 2016 at 10:05 am
Oh God it really is. I had four teas yesterday before 11.30!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
February 5, 2016 at 3:50 pm
Coffee for me. Eyes wide open 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 12:11 pm
I hate coffee, but tea does the job just fine! After four cups I tend to be pretty awake 😛
LikeLike
February 5, 2016 at 10:06 am
The changing of font and colour really works for me. I think my eyes skirt over things when I’m staring at black and white all day. Glad the editing is going well- keep it up!
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 5, 2016 at 10:11 am
I have found a lot of things I didn’t find before, but then I was changing every other sentence in the last edit 😛 Honestly it’s hard to tell since I didn’t try it without changing the colour. If nothing else it looks pretty 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 5, 2016 at 3:01 pm
Nearly there. Another cup of tea. Deep breath. Another cup of tea, and say to yourself ‘OK. Here, we go then!’
Or….
Time to fly.
Best wishes.
Roger
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 12:12 pm
Another cup of tea is a given, but I need that deep breath!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 5, 2016 at 8:17 pm
Congrats on your progress! Tea is great rocket fuel for editing. I’ve been drinking an inordinate amount of it myself. 🙂 I’ll have to try the change the font color thing. I used to change the background color based on the mood of the scene, worked well when I was writing, but I haven’t changed the font. What do the colors mean in your draft?
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 12:18 pm
It really is, it does a beautiful job of waking me up in the morning 🙂
Changing the background colour based on the scene sounds like a great idea! I’ll have to try that one 🙂
The yellow doesn’t mean anything – it’s a nice pale colour so it sits nicely in the background without disturbing the writing. The majority of the text is turquoise, because it stands out nicely from the yellow. Everything that’s orange will need another check before I call it done, and everything in dark blue/purple marks sentences I’m not sure about. I’ll go over those again, too.It also marks where I left off, just in case I hit a wrong button and close the document by accident. Bold sections mark parts I won’t change, and serve as a reminder that I mustn’t touch them!! It’s to keep me from over-editing parts which don’t need more editing, far as I can see 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 7, 2016 at 9:55 am
I need to drink tea more often in the mornings. Too often it’s a nighttime drink and keeps me up. Nice color organization. 🙂 That’s funny because I use bold sections for the opposite effect. I bold the sentences I don’t feel like fixing right away. That way I can go back and spot them easily. And I turn my untouchable sentences gray. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 7, 2016 at 1:57 pm
It’s an incomplete system 😛 I expect I’ll change a few things for future edits – turning parts you’ll leave be grey sounds like a good way to do it! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 5, 2016 at 11:00 pm
You’re really moving along! 🙂 I was wondering, when did you start writing this book? I haven’t tried changing the font before. Maybe I’ll give it a try.
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 12:21 pm
You wouldn’t believe the amount of editing I’ve done over the past two weeks. In hindsight I shouldn’t have set a publishing date so far in advance, but it IS a good motivator! Lesson learned, though, I’ll wait a little longer with Book 2.
Well. I started while I was at uni some years ago but I only wrote a couple of chapters then and had to leave it, because I had more important deadlines. I picked it up again properly last year, around June I think 🙂 CookieBreak was created around the same time, so the very first post is a good indication! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 6:40 pm
It sure is a good motivator. Its neat to look back and see how far you’ve come. When you first start writing a book you wonder where it will be in a few months or a year. Then that time comes and you can’t believe how far you’ve come along with it. I did the same as you. I wrote a few chapters a few years ago but set it aside. Then I started writing actively early 2015. Its been almost year and its exciting. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 9, 2016 at 1:52 pm
It really is! I can’t believe how much I’ve done over the past 12 months, how much my novel’s story has changed, or just how much editing I’ve squeezed into the last two weeks!
Setting it aside for a couple of years probably helped. I’m glad I didn’t write it back then, what I already had needed so much work and barely made it into the final version! Then again, I might well look back onto Book 1 in five years and wish I had waited. I tend to be very critical of my own work, but blame having been an art student for that.
LikeLike
February 6, 2016 at 12:06 am
It’s just amazing that you’re so close 🙂 I hope that the conversion goes well. The need to always edit is a terrible one, that feeling that it will never be ready. It’s a good decision to take that out of your hands and give it to others to read so they can tell you how amazing it is 😉
Best of luck with the rest of your edits! I’m so excited for you 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 12:24 pm
Me, too. I’ve looked at and read through several guides on how to do it, and I’m probably going to regret saying this but it doesn’t sound so bad. The main parts which make it difficult seem to be things I don’t have, like charts, pictures or text boxes. Mine should be about as straight forward as eBook conversion can be. *ahem* Fingers crossed.
We’ll see about that ^^ If that’s all they tell me it won’t be very useful! 😛
Thank you!! I love that we’re excited together!! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 3:20 am
Good luck! You’ll be there next week and I’m sure no one hear will let you over edit!
I’ve never heard of changing the font size, color, etc helping before but I’ll keep that in mind for later. Thanks for sharing!
Hey, tea has the opposite effect on me. It calms me down a lot.
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 12:25 pm
Thank you!! I’m starting to feel like I’m going to need it!
It probably depends on the tea you’re drinking 🙂 My usual writing companion is a strong Earl Grey with only a small amount of milk and a bit of sugar, and that wakes me up very nicely!
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 2:53 pm
I think sometimes all writers need it 🙂
I normally drink an herbal hibiscus tea, however I do enjoy a nice Earl Grey every once in a while with a bit of sugar minus the milk. It still doesn’t seem to energize me though, it relaxes me and wakes me up. Nice when you work in a call center.
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 2:57 pm
If you had as many cups in a day as I do it would energize you 😛 If it wakes you up it’s doing its job, that’s exactly what it’s meant to do 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 6, 2016 at 3:13 pm
That’s true, I’m not sure how many you have in a day, but I normally only make it through one cup of Earl Grey a day. 3 cups of herbal tea a day though.
Although…the amount of sugar I put in my herbal tea should energize me lol
A nice up of tea a day keeps the doctor away :p
LikeLike
February 8, 2016 at 12:43 am
Great to hear that you are almost ready for the Beta Reads!
Tea is one of the greatest things ever and there is nothing wrong with too many!
I enjoyed the short except and I will continue to wait for the whole story, patiently of course *taps fingers repeatedly*
Keep going, you are almost there 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 9, 2016 at 1:54 pm
I’m so nearly there, Al!! So very nearly there! Give me another two days and there’ll be news 😉
Since I started writing last year my love for tea has slowly turned into the beginning of a beautiful addiction. It’s such a wonderful thing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 9, 2016 at 3:07 pm
I shall look forward to the news 😀
LikeLike
February 9, 2016 at 3:07 pm
Ah the addiction of tea….sounds pleasant 🙂
LikeLike