So Far, So Good

Okay... I've been writing every day this week -- not a lot, but something. I'm only about 2000 words into my story, but I really do like it. The best part is that I can't stop thinking about it and have come up with some really fun ideas for scenes.

The "write every day" goal is a good one for me. If I had a word count goal (say ... 1000 words) and I only had a spare 10 minutes, I wouldn't bother to open the document and write, because I'd know I wouldn't make it. But, giving myself permission to write 5 words or 5,000 -- well, that works for me.

How's everyone else doing?

Miles to go

(Also posted on my personal blog.)

I have one thing to say today:

It. Is. Finished!!!!!

Okay, what is actually finished is this round of revisions. Unfortunately, “It is revised!” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

I still have miles to go before I sleep--or rather, before it’s ready to go. But I think/hope I have the main restructuring slog out of the way. This is really a “my reach may exceed my grasp” kind of story. So for now, I’ll let The Fine Art of Holding Your Breath compost.

Even with the all the work ahead of me, I can’t help feeling a little bit like this:



This leaves me free to revisit Dating on the Dork Side, which I’m also very excited about. Although, I accidently opened one of its files yesterday. As I told Darcy: it reads like I downed half a bottle of NyQuil before I sat down to write.

So. Miles to go there as well.

Think I’ll go list to Ode to Joy one more time.

Because really, when you finish any draft of a manuscript, the skies should open, light should pour down, and all the animals of the forest should burst into song.

And the Berlin Philharmonic should personally come to your house.

I am a failure

I haven't written in two days. Sob. I just can't get into it some days. sorry.

What They Said

Everyone is talking (well, a few people are talking) about their February goals. Here we are, ten days into the month and I don't think I've posted mine. Of course, I could be wrong, but I'm not going to go back to find out.

I think I'll join Marianne's goal and just write. Every day. Edit when I can (because Forever Home is in the place right now where I can't edit every day) but otherwise work on some of my unfinished projects, starting with my wip Going Going Gone (which I hope will be HQ Blaze worthy).

There, that's simple, concise. To the point.

Everyone have a great and productive month!

Learning what I already know

You know, I always wonder why we (and when I say “we” I’m actually talking about myself) need to learn the same lessons over and over again.

Marianne’s new goal mirrors the conclusion I came to in early January. I need to work on my fiction projects every day. I need to give my writing the respect it deserves as a second career.

Writing is also very much like exercise for me. No matter what other outcomes, it always makes me feel better. I’ve removed the drama from getting my exercise in. I simply pull on my shoes and get it done. Same for writing. I’m making it something I do every single day--no drama, no fuss.

That said, my goals this month. I’m in the home stretch of The Fine Art of Holding Your Breath. But … I’ve done so much writing on it, so it’s not something that’s ready to go out the door. Once it’s complete (maybe by next week), I’m going to let it compost for a bit.

Then I’ll switch gears and work on the proposal for Dating on the Dork Side.
And that’s it. So for now, my February looks to be filled with words and snow--lots and lots of snow.

New Goal

My goal for February is somewhat ambiguous but I think it will work for me:

WRITE.

Every day.

I don't care how MUCH or how LONG or ON WHAT.

But I must do some fiction writing every day.

..........

What about you? What goals do YOU have for this month? Let me know so I can add them to the sidebar.

Yoo hooo...?

Anybody here?

January's over, but anybody still hanging around? Hmm?

Me? I started a new book yesterday. February first, you know...

Hope everyone feels good about January, and that you all had as much fun as I did. Happy February!

Wait...January's OVER??!!

I thought it just started! Oh well.

I am in a stage of my life where I seem to be out straight all the time. This month including emergency farm sitting, 2 search and rescue training classes, much grandchild babysitting, and endless errands with GrammaJ - all in addition to the usual housework, homeschool, 4-H, biology (I teach!), and nursing home ministry.

I confess that I got very little writing done. However, I did start a new habit that will serve me well from now on. I keep paper and pen with me at all times and when an idea barges into my head, I immediately jot it down. (Though sometimes I do wait until I've stopped the car first.)

Because of that I have outlined a goodly portion of the ending of Molasses Swamp and gotten starts on two other stories, Gramma Wars and Split.

It's not what I'd aimed for, but it's more than I would have done sans JaNoWriMo.

Good Week

It's been a good week. I have a friend who's been helping me with a line by line edit of Forever Home and she's helped me knock out 1150 words in 9 chapters. The story is getting nice and tight. And of course all the feedback from the Getting It Write forum is excellent! I'm feeling pretty good about this manuscript.

Now whether or not it'll be done by... um... tomorrow, well that's unlikely. But I still have to be happy for what has been accomplished.

Now, out of curiosity, I'm rereading the story I attempted to do for NaNo. I like it. Wish I had gotten further into it though.

Here's to February!

L to Forehead

Yep.. I'm a "Loser"! LOL

I got almost nothing done on my JaNo project. I hate real life... there are days...

In any case, I'm moving forward into Feburary with the same goal. I'm determined, dang it.

Anyone else?

Done!

Just finished One Grand Season, and boy am I thrilled to be done! Whew!
I had my doubts a couple of times this week about whether or not I’d find my way to the end of the book before the calendar page turned to February. When push came to shove, I just stubbornly put my head down and kept writing. Early mornings, late nights and sore fingers have marked this week but it’s paid off.

I’m done!

Now, to find a bowl of ice cream to celebrate…

I Missed You!

I've spent the past few minutes catching up on blog posts. I didn't comment on all of them but you all rock! I love the way everyone has been pressing on these past weeks, and I love hearing about all the progress being made. January is a very productive month!

Me? I've spent the last two weeks elsewhere but I'm back now. I hope to begin working on One Grand Season again today. Honestly, I hope I can recall just what I was thinking when I put it aside. That is a problem for me, finding my way back into my characters' heads after being separated from them. I do eventually find the threads...it's just that it sometimes takes a bit. The good side to that is that I generally get to read through what I've written previously, and fiddle with some silly errors while I read. Makes the final reads much simpler, so it's all good!

I've got to dash. The book calls and the end of January is right around the corner, isn't it?

Have a nice day! And I'm glad to be back--I missed you all!

Here I am....

I've finished rereading my manuscript. Honestly, I can't find any place to cut out a substantial number or words. I've looked. Got rid of 2k+ but that's about it.

So, it'll have to be for someone else. I think I'll send it out to Kensington first (even if they don't send rejections if they don't want it). But not until the crit group has its way with it.

I'm beginning to look at a wip in my files for a possible HQ Blaze. I was working on it last summer but I think if I finish it off it would easily be within the word count and it's spicy enough.

So, thems my plans.

Now off to make manicotti.

Ahhhhh....

Today is slated (God willing) as "just a quiet day at home". I'm hoping to get in a couple of hours of solid writing. It is time that Jason and the girl next door get to know each other better. I'm envisioning another goat catastrophe and a daring rescue! Tee-hee-hee!

Revisions Off

I met the first part of my JaNoWriMo goals! I emailed my revised manuscript last night so it would be in my editor's inbox when she got in this morning. She's in London so I use midnight as my deadline!

Now to get busy on the second part...a new proposal. Just wanting to hear back from my editor on which idea she wants to see or if I need to send her new ones.

Have a great Monday!

I Am Working... s-l-o-w-l-y

I've been working on edits.. I HAVE. I'm not going to make it through the end of my book by the end of Jan, but I am making progress, which is something.

I also posted my first chapter to my newly organizaed crit group.

Forward movement of any kind is good. :-)

Slow Progress

Although I'm editing on a daily basis, I'm not getting as much done as I'd like. Seems like every day something is happening to keep me away from my editing. Yesterday my DH was home sick from work. His computer (the newest in our bunch) died so I was in an online chat with a rep from Dell to get it fixed. That took nearly an hour and ended in defeat. They're sending us a new graphics card (thank goodness we still had the warranty-last 10 days of it).

This morning I had an alarm clock malfunction (my cat sometimes walks on it and changes the time) so I was an hour late getting up.

And now it's time to get ready for work.

Today after work I have to grocery shop.

Will it ever end??

But the good news is that I like the story just as much as I did before (thus far) and I don't understand why the editor at Samhain didn't feel the connection between the hero and heroine.

Okay, off I go. Everyone have a great day!

I am really trying

I am writing, but slowly. I have a lot of catch up to do. This afternoon I am devoting entirely to writing until I have caught up. How are you all doing?

Inspiration Comes From the Strangest Places

I spent most of the day Saturday in a boring meeting and then FREEZING training session for a local Search and Rescue group. So while we're on the way to church on Sunday I was just zoning out (my hubby was driving) when *BAMMO* I suddenly got this total search and rescue training scene for the novel I'm working on.

Here's the thing - this scene will wrap up one of the conflicts that has not been fully developed yet. Sooooo. Do I continue to develop my story and add this in later, or should I go ahead and write this all out, then back track to fit it in?

Either way, I'll sketch it out today so I don't forget it.

Thanks for your expert advice!

*******************
Edit:
*******************

As usually happens, just by typing out my plea, I developed an idea of what I needed to do. I went ahead and typed up all my ideas regarding this particular character - and as I wrote I got MORE ideas! Now I'm so excited about Sarah's resolution I don't want to stop writing!

Where I'm At

Utter insanity has been the definition of life the past week or so. The LASR/WC reviewer Yahoo groups somehow picked up a really nasty virus, and after having one of my reviewers computers get fried, I decided we had to move.

So I spent three days moving our groups and getting an entire new system set up. Needless to say, this cut into my writing time a bit. It cut into my EVERYTHING time, actually, and put me well behind on nearly everything.

BUT...

I did get some editing done. Only a few pages, but I was determined to do something. I'm on page 54 of about 150 pages in Stiller Creek. The further in I get, the harder the changes become, and the slower the editing goes ... but slow is okay. It's the dead stop, big zip-zilch-nada that I have to worry about.

This week, with any luck at all, I should have at least a FEW moments to work. I want to get this done so I can work on one of my other pieces, "The Possibility of Forever" (formerly Camilla's Critters) has been calling to me. What's more, I think if I'm careful and really polish that thing until it shines, it'll fit Dorchester.

::::fingers crossed::::

Anyway, that's my week. How are YOU doing?

Increasing Word Count

Yeah yeah yeah.... I'm supposed to be LOPPING OFF words on Forever Home. But today I added nearly 2500 back in. Don't get excited, they weren't new words. I added back in the two scenes I cut out originally (modified a bit).

I have a feeling I won't be able to remove 30k from the story, so I'll just have to look in other directions for a home for the story.

Of course I still have the critique phase to go through. Maybe there'll be suggestions to lose those words.

Now I'm off to the in-laws for the day.

Wow, Late AND MIA... sorry

I know, I've been completely missing lately. And I apologize. Between the holidays, the boys in adn out of school and illnesses that run rampant this time of year (even though we all got the flu shot... can you imagine how bad it would be otherwise? :::shudder:::) and now my own issues, it's been rather difficult to do anything but the bare minimum online. I didn't get much writing done, per se. I've been fighting a pretty nasty migraine for the past three days, it comes and goes but when it comes it hits like a freight train and I'm fighting just to keep my lunch down with each loud noise... and in a house full of boys you can imagine how noisy it gets.

Okay, so I did some writing of ideas which usually include at least a scene or two that I want to at least get fleshed out so they stop tormenting me until I can get to them later. That was only a couple hundred words though. Then last night when I couldn't get my brain to shut down past the pain I pulled out my notebook (in the dark) and wrote down what I wanted to fix and edit on my Cowboy story and on my "Appearances" story (which still needs a better title... just saying). I think I got some good ideas down and that will take care of what I think I need to get Cowboy done and submitted somewhere else.

I swear, I'm to the point of hiring a sitter just to come and watch my kids while I write... the only problem with that is that I'd then have to explain to their parent WHAT I write... may not be a good idea if I want to keep my sitters. LOL

So, at least I got something done this week, when it's been pretty barren for the last month or two. I'm not crossing my fingers for the time to finish... cuz that just seems to jinx me. So... I'll... put it into my calendar to remind me to do it and hope THAT works... maybe if y'all cross YOUR fingers it won't jinx me. LOL

I hope everyone hits their goals, and that I'll at least get closer to mine. Have a great weekend and see y'all next week.

Thanks for asking...

...but I'm not sure you really want to know. Really? Are you certain? Okay, but remember you asked...

My butt feels like it's growing into the chair.

See? I told you it might be TMI. But it's the truth; I've been hard at work on One Grand Season and I feel like I'm part of the chair. Thank goodness, it's a comfortable chair!

That's about to come to an end because I am about to begin two weeks when I won't hardly write at all. I've got a commitment coming up so I'll be mostly away from my desk which means--you guessed it!--my tush might forget about being part of the chair. See? A silver lining to everything.

Anyhow, One Grand Season is coming along just as I hoped it might. Word count is 21,684. As I said, that won't change much for about fourteen days. Then I'll have to become part of the chair again if I hope to finish the book. I'm a little behind where I wanted to be but I think I'll be able to finish by the 31st.

In the meantime, I wish good writing mojo to every JaNo-er! Have fun, and write on!

Is It The Middle Of The Week Already?

Well, I've knocked out just over 4000 words from Forever Home. I've been trying to figure out where I can cut all these words out (30K) and realize that's a whole sub plot. Problem is that I like all the subplots. I really don't want to cut any of them.

Of course there's a lot of narrative I can get rid of to tighten it up. But 30K? Yikes!

So this makes me wonder where else I could send this baby. It doesn't have to go to Harlequin. I'd love love love love to see it in print. I'd love for it to go to a NYC publisher. There must be plenty out there who want more than just 60K stories.

I won't totally give up on the idea of HQ but I don't want to sacrafice the story just for the sake of making it HQ length.

Now back to edits.

Wednesday, Week 1

Ah, it is Wednesday, isn't it? It feels like Tuesday but I'm pretty sure it's...yep. Wednesday. I hardly ever know what day it is anymore. Snow brain, probably.

Anyhow, happy Wednesday. I hope you're enjoying the day. Me? I crept out of bed at 3am because One Grand Season just wouldn't shut up. That's right, there were people talking and doing things in my head and since they wouldn't quit I figured I'd best work with their schedule.

One of the only jobs in the world where you don't get locked up for admitting you hear voices. Not bad, eh?

Right. One Grand Season. Well, Chapter 4 was written in time to watch Good Morning America. So far, it's 16,297 words. Funny, isn't it, how a book just grows word by word? I love seeing it happen, every single time. It never gets old, and I always feel good about what I'm doing.

Hope everyone else is having fun, too!

Finally...

I finally managed to sit down and work on edits for "Return to Stiller Creek". I only got through about 8 pages, and then realized it was going to be tougher than I thought.

See... I'm changing the hero from the police chief to the lawyer who handles the heroine's parents' estate (such as it is), but there comes a point where he MUST be the police chief and not a lawyer, and it's a turning point in the emotional relationship between the H/H, so I don't want to cut that scene.

What to do... what to do?

I have several ideas on how to handle it, but it's very important, so I don't want to mess it up... unless....

Oooh.... got another idea!!

::::runs off to work::::

Up and Down

Had cute, adorable, noisy and demanding grandkids all day Sunday and yesterday. I could barely remember anyone's name, let alone write. Today shall be better. MUCH better. I'm looking to type for a good, strong 2 hour stretch starting..........NOW~!

Telling On Myself

see more dog and puppy pictures

Oy vey... I figured I should post, but I haven't much to say except so far my JaNo is a failure. I HAVE opened the document, I have NOT done any editing!

Today, though, DD is supposed to go to her friend's house after school for a few hours, so I'm going to hunker down then. Yes I am.

Things Looking Up?

I'm not going to get my hopes up too high, but I just received a request for a partial on my manuscript, That Kind Of Magic from TWRP.

Yee haw!

But again, not going to get my hopes up too high.

Still....

Well... It's A Start

I lopped about 3800 or so words from Forever Home this morning before I had to allow my "regular" day take over. It was a good start and I'm looking forward to an even more productive day tomorrow. We're still not completely back to our regular schedule. My DH took an extra day off (though he's been off since the Wednesday before Christmas the lucky dude).

Tomorrow... will get back into the full swing of things tomorrow.

A Big Whew!

I revised the two chapters I wanted to get done. I started on the next chapter. Somewhere in the mix of the three I need a new scene, but it's not yet clear where it should go. That's not good. No matter, I'll figure it out tonight! A new scene is my goal today. I have so much going on though I won't have time to write until tonight after everyone is asleep!

Enjoy your Monday!

Monday, Monday

Oh, I do like Mondays. Even Mondays when I spend two hours blowing snow and another hour shoveling snow. I even love a Monday when I blow, shovel and then haul firewood into the house(after dumping all the snow off the top of the tarp that covers it).

I'm serious. I really do love Mondays. Today I got so much done I could just sit here and grin.

Wait...that's exactly what I'm doing. Oh boy, I think I might've done too much today. Brain seems a bit on the mushy side...

No matter. One Grand Season made its way to 10,649 words today. Yay!

I'm into chapter 3, where the heroine makes her biggest faux pas thus far. Oh, the poor girl! She's really going to step in it before she finds her happily-ever-after.

I hope everyone else is enjoying JaNo. Write on! :-)

A Sad thing

I was so excited. I wrote 7 pages yesterday, then when I went back to read and possibly edit, they were GONE. Vanished. My save button didn't save them. I am very sad. I won't be able to re-do any of it until later. Hope I can remember what I wrote. sob, sob.

See the Smile?

I wish you could all see the smile of relief on my face. Why is it there? It's not because of the gazillion feet of snow that's piled in our driveway, I'll tell you that much! No, I'm smiling because I stopped procrastinating and just began writing.

Now that I'm off to a good start, I'll let you in on a little secret: I was seriously dragging my feet about beginning this January book. Why? I don't know. All I know is that I would have rather curled up with the new Stephen King and read my way into the New Year.

But I didn't. Yesterday I made myself put fingers to keyboard. The first few pages came hard, but then the magic began. The story began to unwind, characters came to life and I lost myself in the pleasure of writing. I'm home again, and it feels fabulous.

So, One Grand Season is shaping up. I've got the first 8,286 words down, and now that they're there I know I'll just keep rolling along. My goal for the month is to finish the novel, which I figure for approximately 50,000 words. I've counted the actual number of days I'll be available to work on the book and calculated the word count I'll need to produce to keep to the schedule. It's going to be tough but I'm pretty sure I can handle it. I'm good at being disciplined and while I'm not crazy about chilly winter mornings, I'll write before the day officially begins if I need to do so.

The first line of the book, now that it's actually written, is enough motivation to keep my fingers on the keyboard. I realize it isn't a line that might make anyone else's heart race but it works for me. The line?

Vivian Fox detested being the family's poorest relation.

I love it that everyone else has also begun. It looks like we're off to a great start, doesn't it? Yay for us!

Happy New Year! And Happy JaNo!

A Few Days Late...As Usual

Okay, as soon as the kids go back to school and the DH goes back to work I think I'll finally be able to concentrate on getting back to work. I hope.

My goal for the month of January is revising Forever Home which currently is a 91K novel. I need to chop about 30K from it so I can sub it to HQ (not sure which line). This includes a brand new opening (which is good because it'll cut out around 10K right there).

I'd like to be able to work through AT LEAST 1000 words a day, hopefully much much more.

Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things!

I did it

Yep, I'm keeping up. I promised 5 pages a day and so far so good. It's more difficult than I expected. I am used to writing until I feel like quitting and now I have to keep my goal.

In which I post my intentions

My goal, which is pretty aggressive, is to have a revised manuscript I can email my agent by month’s end. I guess it wouldn’t be that aggressive if I didn’t work a day job, but since I do … I’m hoping JaNo will help keep me on track.

I have a pretty good start. I was off work all last week and built up some momentum and words. So, for the week, I’m up about 10,000 words, some new, some revised, and some blended. I’m working to integrate a new subplot, remove a few other plot threads, and I’ve combined a few characters, which means the relationship vibe between many of the characters has change.

If you’re thinking, wow, she must be crazy, then you might be right.

An Excellent Start

I hope yesterday was a sign of how will I'll do with JaNoWriMo. I finished my revising session with 94 pages on paper revised. I won't type it in until I get through the first pass of the manuscript.

These pages are from the first four chapters though and really didn't need a lot of work. The biggest thing, and what took me the longest as well as phone calls to my critique partner, was giving my hero more of a conflict. I think I have it. Fingers crossed.

Today I want to tackle chapter 5 and 6. It's going to be a lot of work so I'll be happy to get through just one of the chapters today. The night I was emailing the manuscript to my editor I realized my original chapter 5 was 31 pages so split into two chapters. I cut it in half and put different chapters on the remaining part of the book. But now that I have the time I need to go back in and fix the two chapters. I think each needs more and somewhere in there a point my editor suggested should work well.

Happy New Year!

A Good Start!

Even though my husband was home all day and staring over my shoulder ;-) , I blocked out a full hour and made some good progress on "Through the Molasses Swamp". I'm still working through Jason's feelings about his mom's new boyfriend...

What Are Your Goals?

Hey all... I've updated that box on the sidebar with goals to include those of us participing this month, but I don't know specific goals (if you have them). Would you post a comment or post a POST about what you specifically intend to achieve this month? Then I'll add those to the bar.

I've decided to work on editing Stiller Creek, as much as new pieces are calling to me.

Happy New Year and Happy JaNo-ing!!