Meilo Zaborowski: Author

Goal Update 5/23

Going a little crazy here. Probably eating too much. School semester’s over (has been for a couple of weeks, but I never mentioned it… and yes, all A’s again). I finally got to see my orthodontist again yesterday, so my mouth hurts. I paid for a whole month of World of Warcraft back in the middle of April and I let it run out a few days ago, really really really hoping I got called back into work. Gave up last night and bought another month. Don’t get me wrong, I’m making bank off unemployment right now (seriously, what is even happening in this country right now?), but I am… so bored. I want to go back to work. Says the guy who loves being at home…

Sure, I could go get another job right now. (Retail… blech.) But I really like working at Enterprise. I like (most of) my coworkers. I know it’s not saying much, considering the other places I’ve worked, but it’s literally the best job I’ve ever had. I want to go back to work there.

GOAL 1) PUBLISH SKOS

My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
Where I am: Let’s be real, I easily spend hours on these covers on any given day
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Been fooling around with different tricks to basically do the same thing.

Fun times.

GOAL 2) REVISE SYCU

My Goal: 2 Lessons per month/ 1 Lesson every 2 weeks; 3 chapters/13 scenes per day
Where I planned to be: Lesson 11, somewhere; this one’s hard to track
Where I am: Lesson 11, staring really hard at index cards
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Lesson 11 is all about reworking the plot and subplots.

Unfortunately, this is where about 50% of my problems with this story are. Even more unfortunately, this lesson leaves a lot to be desired on HOW to rework these things. At best, I’ve realized that the middle of the main plot is completely absent from my Focus Outline. Just. Poof, not there. It’s all subplots. Magic.

However, I also have HTWAN at my disposal, which has a bonus lesson at the end: Interweaving Multiple Story Threads in Big, Complex Novels. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily call this a big OR a complex novel (…yet), but I do have multiple characters with their own little conflicts and I need to figure out how to weave them all together. Without forgetting about anyone. Or cheating. Or handwaving. Trying to use this lesson has proven complicated in more ways than one, but hopefully I can figure SOMETHING out. (I did post my issues on the forum, hoping someone else might have some insight.)

Only, I was getting low on colored index cards and had to order some more. Because everything is easier with index cards. So I tried to get as much done with what I had as I could before they got here. (Because like hell am I going to Walmart right now. Although I think I got the ones I have at Office Depot, but idek if they’re open right now.) They were supposed to be here yesterday, but USPS is doing something weird with my packages and idk what is happening or where they are right now. I’m hoping they show up soon.

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
Where I planned to be: 12000 words
Where I am: 12053 words
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Fun fact, looking back at the Interweaving lesson, I realized that it would be good for coming up with ideas for this story while I’m writing it. Imagine that. Using a HTWAN lesson for actually writing a novel. Hm.

Only, again, index cards. (And I’m lazy and didn’t want to make my own out of notebook paper.)

So I think I’ll work that into what I’ve already planned for next week. Or… whenever those cards get here. They couldn’t come soon enough, cause this week’s been kinda hit or miss.

Goal Update 5/16

GOAL 1) PUBLISH SKOS

My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
Where I am: Hiding and unhiding layers, effects, and masks in Photoshop
On Target or Behind: Hmmm…

How’s It Going:
Got another cover done. Maybe. Or I may look at it again tomorrow and realize something’s off. We’ll see.

I really didn’t want to spend this much time working on mockups. But I guess if I end up with something close, if not on the nose, all the hard work will already be done.

GOAL 2) REVISE SYCU

My Goal: 2 Lessons per month/ 1 Lesson every 2 weeks; 3 chapters/13 scenes per day
Where I planned to be: Lesson 10, wandering through the Monastery
Where I am: Lesson 10, out of the Monastery, finished
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
I’m out of the Monastery! I came up with 43 SFRs (significantly less than my 75 scenes in the current manuscript), but I added a lot of new scenes that either fix or fill plot holes, make the story more twisty and interesting, and make the characters make more sense. And a few characters got cut completely. Not because they were bad (I genuinely love one by the name of Suki, who is loosely based on a friend of mine with a similar name), but because they were bad for this story. They don’t do anything important, and I can’t think of anything they could do that a more important character couldn’t. Nothing worse than a redundant stand-in for someone you actually have a reason to care about.

I also decided that using the real villain’s point of view was too revealing, so I’ll be tweaking them to a different POV or removing those, and adding scenes from a different character’s POV. Which will add a few things I tried to get across in first draft (poorly) in a much more interesting manner.

Most importantly, the reveal of the supposed villain doesn’t happen in the seventh freaking scene, and the real villain’s reveal is… actually a surprise. (He definitely wouldn’t have gotten away with it, meddling kids or not.)

The rest of this lesson involved making new cards for these SFRs, going through my old cards, and starting to work out what will be used and what will be cut. I decided to cut quite a few of the old cards, and everything else I’m hanging on to until I work through a couple more lessons. There’s bits and pieces in there that might be useful, but I’m not sure exactly what or how.

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
Where I planned to be: 10500 words
Where I am: 10706 words
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Welp, I finally hit my “what am I doing with this, where is this going, how can I possibly write an entire novel of this?” phase this week, which is usually about 5-10k words in. So I dragged out Lesson 10 of HTWAN, which helps with idea creation for what happens next. I sketched out a few things to keep me running for the week, but I’m gonna have to sit down and get out everything I can think of to keep me going for at least a couple more weeks. Then I can run through Lesson 17, which should generate enough to get me to the midpoint, or at least close.

Listen, I don’t know how I managed to write anything over 10,000 words before HTWAN came out. Holly’s a freaking genius. I can see why SYCU is such a mess…

Goal Update 5/9

GOAL 1) PUBLISH SKOS

My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
Where I am: I don’t even know anymore.
On Target or Behind: ????

How’s It Going:
I’ve probably spent way too much time on one cover, but I think it looks really good. Of course, I thought that about some of the previous ones.

We’ll see.

GOAL 2) REVISE SYCU

My Goal: 2 Lessons per month/ 1 Lesson every 2 weeks; 3 chapters/13 scenes per day
Where I planned to be: Lesson 10, somewhere in the Monastery
Where I am: Lesson 10, 21 line for scenes (LFS) done
On Target or Behind: On Target.

How’s It Going:
No, I don’t know how many LFS I need to do. I just write them down as they come to me. This lesson takes as long as it needs to.

Onward.

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
Where I planned to be: 9000 words
Where I am: 9156 words
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Now we’re getting into the thick of it. Everything’s falling down around them, and soon I get to see just who these people really are.

Goal Update 5/2

How is it already May?

In unrelated news, I’ve finished one class, and I’ll be taking my last final for the other on Tuesday. Then I will have unlimited time to work on all this until I get called back into work. And when that will be, I don’t know.

GOAL 1) PUBLISH SKOS

My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
Where I am: At home, where else?
On Target or Behind: On top, or underneath?

How’s It Going:
You wanna know what the worst part is about Photoshop tutorials on YouTube? I’m using an ancient version of Photoshop, and everyone else is using Creative Cloud. Seriously, I’m probably the only person left on the planet still using CS2. Which means I don’t have a lot of the fancy shit in newer versions.

But I make do. (Because fuck Creative Cloud.)

I’m really taking my time on these covers, tweaking them, leaving them alone for a while, then coming back to tweak some more. Trying to get the feel right. I’m pretty happy with what I’m getting so far.

GOAL 2) REVISE SYCU

My Goal: 2 Lessons per month/ 1 Lesson every 2 weeks; 3 chapters/13 scenes per day
Where I planned to be: Lesson 8 finished
Where I am: Lesson 8 finished, Lesson 9 finished
On Target or Behind: On Target (and now way ahead, woo!)

How’s It Going:
The last half of Lesson 8 is always fun. Pretending to be an angry reader and intelligently ripping the book to shreds in a 1-star review? Freeing, I’m telling you. And I forgot how simple Lesson 9 is. Which is good, I like forward movement.

I also think metal music is stimulating to my creative brain or some shit because that’s what I was listening to when I did Lesson 9. I wrote a LOT about what I wanted this book to be, what I learned, and what I want the reader to take away from it. Thank you, Periphery. I love all their stuff, but I was specifically listening to Juggernaut: Alpha, Juggernaut: Omega, and Periphery II. (Links go to YouTube playlists, for anyone interested.)

Fun fact: The lyrics to Periphery’s Scarlet (link to YT, lyrics in the description) weirdly fit this story. I promise it’s not intentional. Ignore the video, though… Actually, you know what. Don’t.

On to Lesson 10… and the dreaded Monastery. Yes, you read that right. And it’s just about as much fun as it sounds. (I still prefer it to Lesson 7, though!) As it is the Monastery, the next post or two will be sparse until I’m done.

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
Where I planned to be: 7500 words
Where I am: 7629 words
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Got a little carried away, but I just can’t stop myself some days. It’s so much fun! And I love these characters already. In fact, I just introduced one during my Friday stint, and she is interesting. I’m excited to see where it all goes.

I think I’ll give y’all a snippet of this new character, whose name right now is Carly.

NOTE: The following material is a copyrighted excerpt from raw, unedited first draft, which may contain typos and spelling or grammar errors. Please do not point out corrections or make suggestions as I will not see them during revision. Please do not quote this material, as it may not survive to final draft.

When the checker had finally scanned and bagged the last can, he tallied up her total. Carly pulled out some cash, quickly counting what she had left. It would be enough for one more store.

Once she was free from the checker, cart now full of double bagged cans, she shoved the cart away and out the door to her car. The trunk and backseat of her Passat were already full, a piece of cardboard shoved behind the seats to prevent the mountain of cans from flying forward over the center console.

She unloaded the cart into the floorboard of the front passenger seat, stacking them until they were level with the seat, then stacking them across.

One more store was probably about all her car would be able to handle too.

Goal Update 4/25

Goal 1) Publish SKoS

My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
Where I am: Somewhere in the void
On Target or Behind: -shrug emoji-

How’s It Going:
Taking my time working on covers. That’s pretty much it at the moment. This thing’s kinda on the backburner right now until I can get my hands on a printer. (I’m also patiently waiting on the friendly forum-mate who offered to read it to finish. He did check in to let me know he’d read the first couple of chapters and loved it so far, and apologized for taking so long. I knew he was busy with his own revision and family right now, so it was a nice surprise to hear from him.)

Goal 2) Revise SYCU

My Goal: 2 Lessons per month/ 1 Lesson every 2 weeks; 3 chapters/13 scenes per day
Where I planned to be: Lesson 8, finished with Themes worksheet, Triage Synopsis, and maybe the Triage Theme
Where I am: Lesson 8, finished Themes worksheet and halfway through Triage Synopsis
On Target or Behind: I’m actually a little ahead already, so On Target

How’s It Going:
This lesson is pretty straight-forward, but involves some thinking. The synopsis is taking longer than I thought, but I’m getting some ideas on how I can change things for the better.

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
Where I planned to be: 6000 words
Where I am: 6049 words
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going: