White Egret leaving our pond 1

Nothing like seeing a white egret in the middle of the desert.

I’m so excited!

Instead of ghostwriting something I’m not fond of, I get to ghostwrite a historical romance. Yea! This is my genre. To get to work on something I really love is great. This one is going to be set in northern California and will be a series of three.

I just finished most of my research for it, and I should be starting it either tonight or tomorrow morning. For some reason I had a Swedish/American heroine as the main character, but I don’t know why. We’ll see if I keep that or not.

Anyway, I just thought I’d write a little blurb while I had a minute.

Hope everybody has a good week.

Brown Canyon
Sierra Vista, AZ

What a long day to get to my ghostwriting today!

After hiking in Brown Canyon with my husband John and son-in-law Chris, I ran some errands with Chris. By the time I got home today, it was about 3:30. Then came the housecleaning I didn’t have time for this morning. Finally, I sat down to finish editing last week’s ghostwriting project.

By 5 p.m. I was at last on this week’s ghostwriting project. I finished it about 7:30. Now tomorrow I can do all I want to do and still get my project in on time.

Now it’s 8:30, and I’m just finishing watching The Amazing Race. I’m so ready for bed.

My hope is that I don’t have to push it next week for the last ghostwriting project in this series.

Double Rainbow
Sierra Vista, AZ

I must say that this week has been more non-productive than past weeks.

I got a lot of ghostwriting done, but it was crazy because of WiFi issues. Now that my son-in-law installed a new router for me, things are working nicely. I need to thank Chris again.

This project is trying for me. Usually, my ghostwriting stays in the historical or suspense romance genre, but I’ve spread my wings into a new sub-genre. I would tell everybody what it is, but I signed a confidentiality agreement and can’t. Let’s just say that it’s been a difficult project for me. At least, it keeps my mind active.

Without a doubt, I love ghostwriting (well, writing of any kind). The pay is low, but I’m doing something I truly like. Isn’t that a motivating part of any job? Besides, I’m making a little “fun money” in the process. I’m just glad I don’t need to support a family on the pay. We wouldn’t make it.

Maybe one of these days I’ll have time to work on my own book to get it ready for Kindle Direct Publishing. Right now, though, there’s barely enough time to blog. I’m kind of just squeezing it in here.

Sunset after the Rain
9-18-15

We get the most amazing sunsets here in southern Arizona, especially when it’s been raining. I can’t get enough of them because they are all so different.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoy doing these ghostwriting projects. This past week was a busy one with my latest one. I had to write 8,000 words in about four days. That’s a lot for those of you who wouldn’t know. It was actually kind of fun this little book because it was a new genre for me and completely out of my comfort zone. Now I’m waiting for it to be proofread. When it is, I’ll make any necessary changes then send it back to my client.

When he approves it, he’ll be sending me yet another short book synopsis for me to ghostwrite. Nice.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to work on my own books so I can get another one online. Oh, well. I guess I’ll just have to work on one until I get another project. I just don’t like having to stop then restart my editing. It throws me off.

On top of that one of the cats got sick and had to go to the vet. Thank goodness, the grumpy old man just had an absessed tooth, which actually fell out when the vet was examining his mouth. For the first few days, he let me give him his medicine. This  morning, I got the claw swipe. Glad he’s feeling better, but OUCH!

A Rock Outcrop
in Brown Canyon

This past couple of weeks I haven’t done much except research. After finishing my ghostwriting project, I needed to see if I could come up with a synopsis for a follow-up series, which I did. Now I’m just waiting to hear if it’s been accepted to write.

In the meantime I’ll be working on one of my own books to prepare for publication on Kindle Direct Publishing. I might try to put this new book on other sites as well, such as Nook or Smashwords. I really look forward to working on my own project, but I’m still putting feelers out for ghostwriting projects, too.

Today, my husband John and I went hiking on Brown Canyon, which isn’t far from our home. I got several nice pictures there. I swear, my phone takes better pictures than my camera does.

The rest of the day today I’ll be picking out my book to work on while I watch an Amazon Prime TV show called The White Queen. I started watching it the other day and was surprised by how interesting I found it. Now I need to finish it.

I don’t really have a lot to say, which is why I didn’t post anything last week. Hopefully, this week will be more productive.

As you can see, I said Independence Day, not Fourth of July. That’s because nobody I know says Merry Twenty-Fifth of December or Happy First of January. Just as those are Christmas and New Year official holidays, Independence Day is the official title of this holiday. As far back as July 4, 1777, the United States of America citizens have been celebrating its declaration of independence from Britain with parades, parties, fireworks and more.

Daughters of the American Revolution & US Flag

I am a proud member of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. When I realized this, I couldn’t wait to become a member. My direct biological ancestors fought for our independence, and that means a great deal to me. On my adoptive side of the family, I am also a descendant of Revolutionary War soldiers, at least two of whom wintered at Valley Forge with Gen. George Washington. That’s why Independence Day is my preferred greeting.

US Flag & Liberty Bell

We all remember stories of Betsy Ross and the first US flag, but do we remember much about the Liberty Bell? Below are two short quotes from ushistory.org/libertybell/.

“Tradition tells of a chime that changed the world on July 8, 1776, with the Liberty Bell ringing out from the tower of Independence Hall summoning the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon.”

“There is widespread disagreement about when the first crack appeared on the Bell. Hair-line cracks on bells were bored out to prevent expansion. However, it is agreed that the final expansion of the crack which rendered the Bell unringable was on Washington’s Birthday in 1846.”

And the first paragraph from the Declaration of Independence (from archives.gov):

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

Again, Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Today I’m learning my SEO plugin. Because I want to work on  building my book editing services, I want to make sure that my information shows up in the search engines. The better I do at showing that I offer book editing services, the more likely I am to get my information on the search engines. Supposedly, this plugin will help me succeed in my goal.

I have been in the book editing for 35+ years, working on all genres of books. For the most part, I have edited nonfiction books, but I have also worked on autobiographical works, fiction, children’s, young adult, and even erotica. Magazine articles have come to me from time to time, but I rarely edit those. I can also edit your work on my computer as long as it is a Word document. This give me a little more room for explaining any editorial changes.

In my book editing process, I make notes in the margins to explain my changes. I also offer a one- to two-page synopsis of where I think the book should be heading and/or improvements that can be made. I also explain some of my notes in greater detail if I feel it’s beneficial to the writer.

My fees for book editing vary depending upon the difficulty of the work. Most of the time, however, I charge $3 per page. If an author wants to send me a sample of his/her work, I will edit up to 30 pages at the $3 price before I quote a price for the entire book. I have even lowered the per-page price for my editing if the book comes in installments and editing changes I’ve made previously have already been made later in the book.

since I put up my website. Okay, it’s from my daughter and I’m not charging her, but it’s a job.

I’m working to upgrade my site, but it’s taking a lot of figuring out on my part. But I’m enjoying it. I like learning new things, and I can’t wait until I can get things moving along.

Books by Liz is my site to promote my editing and ghostwriting services, as well as my books, is up and running. Have a glance at it and let me know if you think it looks okay. I’m always open to opinions.

I have also decided to promote my daughter’s work. She is a writer and artist who has designed covers for various books. Here is a sample of her cover art: