Thursday, June 11, 2009
Comments are Welcome
Just in case anyone was wondering, comments are welcome on the blog. They help keep me going. :)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Edit Hell
Dear Shell,
Every so often, a writer gets the idea in their head that they really need to make a change to their current work before they get any further into the story because the story Just Isn't Working. Is this always a good idea? Well, not really. It could make the current work worse than before. It could make the writer say to themselves "what the Hell were you thinking??" But it could also take an "eh, it's okay, I'll try to finish it" story into a "Wow, I'm really enjoying writing this" story.
That's what is happening with my current novel, Crystalvein. I got to a certain point, kept crossing things out, changing things, just about pulling my hair out trying to write certain scenes. In my head, I am my main character. I'm thinking in first person, then writing it as third person. But in writing third person, I had to then change wording or thoughts. I didn't like that, it got to be confusing at times.
So, I have decided to change Crystalvein into first person instead of third person. This means doing a rewrite on what I had written already, which has meant some minor changes to most of it and a couple major changes, which have helped the story out tremendously in my opinion.
I'm still working on Dragon Eye as well, fitting in edits when I run out of steam on Crystalvein. Dragon Eye needs a major overhaul. Right now I'm working on filling in some plot holes, checking spelling and grammar. Once that is done, I'll go through again for a third draft and try to overhaul the story. Will it ever be publish-ready? Right now I'm thinking No. But I learned a lot from writing Dragon Eye. And I hope I'm not making the same mistakes again on Crystalvein that I know I made on Dragon Eye. We'll see once I get the first draft finished and start the process of editing.
Hoping to put the red pen away for awhile,
Shell
Every so often, a writer gets the idea in their head that they really need to make a change to their current work before they get any further into the story because the story Just Isn't Working. Is this always a good idea? Well, not really. It could make the current work worse than before. It could make the writer say to themselves "what the Hell were you thinking??" But it could also take an "eh, it's okay, I'll try to finish it" story into a "Wow, I'm really enjoying writing this" story.
That's what is happening with my current novel, Crystalvein. I got to a certain point, kept crossing things out, changing things, just about pulling my hair out trying to write certain scenes. In my head, I am my main character. I'm thinking in first person, then writing it as third person. But in writing third person, I had to then change wording or thoughts. I didn't like that, it got to be confusing at times.
So, I have decided to change Crystalvein into first person instead of third person. This means doing a rewrite on what I had written already, which has meant some minor changes to most of it and a couple major changes, which have helped the story out tremendously in my opinion.
I'm still working on Dragon Eye as well, fitting in edits when I run out of steam on Crystalvein. Dragon Eye needs a major overhaul. Right now I'm working on filling in some plot holes, checking spelling and grammar. Once that is done, I'll go through again for a third draft and try to overhaul the story. Will it ever be publish-ready? Right now I'm thinking No. But I learned a lot from writing Dragon Eye. And I hope I'm not making the same mistakes again on Crystalvein that I know I made on Dragon Eye. We'll see once I get the first draft finished and start the process of editing.
Hoping to put the red pen away for awhile,
Shell
Friday, June 5, 2009
Stop Raising Prices!!
Dear Shell,
As you can see by my coupon tracker to the right on this blog, coupon savings have been decreasing each month. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm doing bad though. The coupon tracker is only tracking what is saved with coupons, and coupons are only for brand name items. It's not showing the savings made by buying store brand instead of brand name and it doesn't show store sales (i.e. item is normally 3.19 each, on sale 2 for $4. that's a savings of $2.38 that doesn't show in the coupons).
I just got back from grocery shopping. And the bill was huge compared to the past couple months. But we were also out of just about everything. I stocked up on some items so those should be good for the next couple months. I also had to buy some high priced items that I don't normally buy every grocery shopping trip (razor blades are so expensive).
After shopping at both Krogers and Walmart over the past few months and tracking prices, Walmart has cheaper prices on almost everything, sometimes up to a couple dollars cheaper on some items. Krogers still has cheaper store brand canned veggies and they taste better. BUT, Walmart does not double coupons and Krogers does (coupons up to .50 will be doubled). So on items that are close in price between the two stores, if I have a coupon for the item it would be better to go to Krogers. If I do not have a coupon, Walmart is the better choice.
Walmart has raised prices again since last month. Some items went up about 4 cents, some went up 40 cents. Knorr's flavored rice went from .98 to 1.38 at Walmart, but it's still 1.68 at Krogers.
Watch Those Sizes!
Watch out when you run into the store brand and brand name that are same price for what looks to be same size can. You have a coupon for brand name so you're saying to yourself 'cool, im saving money'. Look again at the sizes. The store brand can is 2.54 for 7 ounces (.36 per ounce). The brand name can is 2.54 for 5 ounces (.51 per ounce). Unless you have a coupon that can get that brand name can under 1.80 for 5 ounces (.36 per ounce), you're really not saving anything.
Watch Those Sizes Again!
Smaller is better, right? Not always. Again, look at those per ounce/per unit prices. Add up what you'd spend on the smaller size to equal the amount you'd get on the larger size. Example: All Laundry detergent. 4.97 for 50 ounces. 8.97 for 100 ounces. You have 2 coupons for .40 off one and you know this is an item you use a lot of. Do you buy 2 bottles of 50 ounce All or 1 bottle of 100 ounce All? (Remember, we're at Walmart that doesn't double the coupons).
2 bottles of 50 ounces = 9.94
2 coupons @ .40 off = .80
total price for 2 bottles = 9.14
Right away you can see that even with the coupons, you're still paying more for 2 bottles of 50 ounce each than if you were to just buy the 1 bottle of 100 ounce. And if you buy the 100 ounce... guess what you can use that coupon on it! So you're getting 100 ounce bottle for 8.57. (I know what you're saying, well just buy 1 bottle of the 50 ounce, then buy another bottle next month when you run low. Okay...you're still paying more overall in the end, and you might not have any coupons at all for that product next month!)
Cutting the coupons again,
Shell
As you can see by my coupon tracker to the right on this blog, coupon savings have been decreasing each month. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm doing bad though. The coupon tracker is only tracking what is saved with coupons, and coupons are only for brand name items. It's not showing the savings made by buying store brand instead of brand name and it doesn't show store sales (i.e. item is normally 3.19 each, on sale 2 for $4. that's a savings of $2.38 that doesn't show in the coupons).
I just got back from grocery shopping. And the bill was huge compared to the past couple months. But we were also out of just about everything. I stocked up on some items so those should be good for the next couple months. I also had to buy some high priced items that I don't normally buy every grocery shopping trip (razor blades are so expensive).
After shopping at both Krogers and Walmart over the past few months and tracking prices, Walmart has cheaper prices on almost everything, sometimes up to a couple dollars cheaper on some items. Krogers still has cheaper store brand canned veggies and they taste better. BUT, Walmart does not double coupons and Krogers does (coupons up to .50 will be doubled). So on items that are close in price between the two stores, if I have a coupon for the item it would be better to go to Krogers. If I do not have a coupon, Walmart is the better choice.
Walmart has raised prices again since last month. Some items went up about 4 cents, some went up 40 cents. Knorr's flavored rice went from .98 to 1.38 at Walmart, but it's still 1.68 at Krogers.
Watch Those Sizes!
Watch out when you run into the store brand and brand name that are same price for what looks to be same size can. You have a coupon for brand name so you're saying to yourself 'cool, im saving money'. Look again at the sizes. The store brand can is 2.54 for 7 ounces (.36 per ounce). The brand name can is 2.54 for 5 ounces (.51 per ounce). Unless you have a coupon that can get that brand name can under 1.80 for 5 ounces (.36 per ounce), you're really not saving anything.
Watch Those Sizes Again!
Smaller is better, right? Not always. Again, look at those per ounce/per unit prices. Add up what you'd spend on the smaller size to equal the amount you'd get on the larger size. Example: All Laundry detergent. 4.97 for 50 ounces. 8.97 for 100 ounces. You have 2 coupons for .40 off one and you know this is an item you use a lot of. Do you buy 2 bottles of 50 ounce All or 1 bottle of 100 ounce All? (Remember, we're at Walmart that doesn't double the coupons).
2 bottles of 50 ounces = 9.94
2 coupons @ .40 off = .80
total price for 2 bottles = 9.14
Right away you can see that even with the coupons, you're still paying more for 2 bottles of 50 ounce each than if you were to just buy the 1 bottle of 100 ounce. And if you buy the 100 ounce... guess what you can use that coupon on it! So you're getting 100 ounce bottle for 8.57. (I know what you're saying, well just buy 1 bottle of the 50 ounce, then buy another bottle next month when you run low. Okay...you're still paying more overall in the end, and you might not have any coupons at all for that product next month!)
Cutting the coupons again,
Shell
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