Patricia Stoltey

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The Saturday Report

May 9, 2015 By: Patricia

This will be a writing, blogging, reading, and state of the foot report.

I didn’t do much writing or writing related activity this week. I’m in the revision stage of my newest suspense novel and really need to print out a whole manuscript and spread the pages all over a big table with a couple of legal pads and a few pens close by. Digging into and cleaning up the timeline is at the top of the list. Two or three new scenes need to be added. And then the whole thing requires a paragraph by paragraph rewrite. I stalled, first because I couldn’t get to the dining room table because of the clutter I’ve accumulated while being housebound with the foot in a cast, and second because it turned all rainy this week and I suddenly became more interested in napping and reading and drinking tea than being creative.

The new website/blog is progressing although I still need to add Statcounter or Google Analytics, figure out why the photos in my posts don’t transfer properly to my Facebook updates and other little glitches, and create a couple of lists for the sidebar. As far as posting to the blog more often, I’m working on that. My guest of the week will get Thursday and Friday (Richard Keller next week), and I hope to post four times a week even if some of the posts are little ones.

Reading is where I excelled this week. I finished The Nightingale, read The Girl on the Train, just finished Robert Spiller’s fifth Bonnie Pinkwater mystery Napier’s Bones, and already started The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Women’s fiction/mainstream, suspense, cozy mystery, and sci fi/war novel. Yes, I am an eclectic reader.

I’m happy to announce the crutches and I are getting along a little better although I’m still terribly clumsy. It doesn’t help that the walking boot weighs about two pounds. However, I’m making progress and putting more weight on the foot now. By the end of this month I should be walking normally in my own shoes. I guess that means I have to start doing the grocery shopping again. I’ll admit, it was very nice having my husband do all that errand running for me the last couple of months. But it will also be nice to get my independence back.

What are you reading these days? Anything I should add to my list?

More from my site

  • What do I do when I’m not writing? … by Karen C. WhalenWhat do I do when I’m not writing? … by Karen C. Whalen
  • Sometimes We Need to Walk Away from the To Do List and ChillSometimes We Need to Walk Away from the To Do List and Chill
  • Self-Editing One Step at a Time: How to Identify Dragging NarrativeSelf-Editing One Step at a Time: How to Identify Dragging Narrative
  • I’ve Only Broken Two Things on this Site So FarI’ve Only Broken Two Things on this Site So Far
  • Reading is Fun; Reading is Exciting; Reading is a Great Escape from RealityReading is Fun; Reading is Exciting; Reading is a Great Escape from Reality
  • Conferences for Writers — Colorado Has the Best of the BestConferences for Writers — Colorado Has the Best of the Best

Category: Books and Authors, The Writing Life, Writing Tag: reading, Revisions, website/blog

Comments

  1. M. K. Theodoratus says

    May 9, 2015 at 9:07 pm

    Hey, be thankful that writing comes to an end………………..eventually.

    Cleaning is never done.

    • Patricia says

      May 10, 2015 at 9:27 am

      I don’t even want to think about how long it will take to catch up on the cleaning. Forever and a day?

  2. Allan Emerson says

    May 9, 2015 at 9:21 am

    Happy to hear “Dead Wrong” will have a sequel. I enjoyed the characters and will enjoy meeting them again in another story.

    • Patricia says

      May 9, 2015 at 9:57 am

      Thanks, Allan. It takes place five years later just as Maggie Gutierrez makes police detective. It was interesting because I had the killer, the crime, and the setting in my mind but no intention of writing a sequel. The characters just kind of showed up on their own. i love it when that happens.

  3. Alex J. Cavanaugh says

    May 9, 2015 at 6:59 am

    Enjoy being spoiled a few more weeks. Although I imagine the joy of it wears off rather fast.
    Now, start spreading stuff out on that table!

    • Patricia says

      May 9, 2015 at 9:10 am

      Yes, it’s definitely time to get back to work, Alex. Right now, though, I’m drinking coffee and watching it rain and rain and waiting for it to turn to snow. Looks like Mother’s Day is going to be a cold one in Northern Colorado.

  4. Margot Kinberg says

    May 9, 2015 at 6:38 am

    Pat – So glad to hear that you’re getting around a little better, even if a bit clumsily at the moment. I hope you continue to heal up and make progress.

    It’s also good to hear that you’re getting through the revisions on your manuscript. You really do make a good point about looking for wide-scale revisions (like timelines and the like) and paragraph-level revisions. I think it’s easy to see those as the same sort of revising, but they’re not. Can’t wait to read the final product!

    • Patricia says

      May 9, 2015 at 9:11 am

      I’m very pleased with the story on this one, Margot. It unexpectedly turned into a sequel for Dead Wrong, but it’s more suspense and less thriller….at least so far.

Meet Patricia

I read, I write, I blog, and sometimes I do the laundry and cook. My 2014 novel, Dead Wrong, was a finalist in the thriller category of the 2015 Colorado Book Awards. Wishing Caswell Dead (Five Star/Cengage, December 20, 2017) is a historical mystery set in 1830s Illinois in the fictitious Village of Sangamon. The novel was a finalist for the 2018 Colorado Book Awards for General Fiction. My most recent release, In Defense of Delia (Five Star/Cengage, November 2022), is available in hardcover and will soon be available in ebook and trade paperback. Read More…

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