Sunday, September 6, 2020

Something in the Air Besides Pollen



I have a stack of five, count ‘em, FIVE unread Nora Roberts books sitting in my office. I have been reading the sixth one over the course of last week and I might even get it to stretch to the end of this week.

But wait, there’s more! Not only has my reading slowed down, my mindless gaming has too. I don’t dare tempt fate by saying I appear to be straightening out of my slump, but there’s something in the air besides the pollen.

Oddly enough, I don’t feel like I’m getting more accomplished, but I was early with my posts last week. And I mean way early, as in I wrote most of them on the weekend, including the prompt story. I was smart enough to pick a prompt I thought I could do something with, and then I proceeded to do so on Sunday.

I have to say, it made for a much more relaxing week. And because I wasn’t scrambling to get blog posts done I made some real progress on Blood Ties, including two difficult scenes featuring Howard. Is that a light at the end of the tunnel I see? I sure hope so!

However, as I said before, I don’t want to get my hopes up that I’m out of my slump. The new television season is starting with all its shiny distractions. For instance, I was timing my lunch to coincide with one of the channels rerun of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We were just getting into the good part of the final season, right before Nathan Fillion shows up, and all of a sudden it starts showing Riverdale in its place. I was a little ticked . . . until I watched the first episode. Now I’m hooked.

And let’s not forget the new shows starting, like Raised by Wolves. This is a strange show with runaway androids and religious fanatics and other worlds airing on the Sy Fy channel via HBO. First I was rooting for one side, then the other, now I don’t like either side and I hope the kids are able to rise above the adults/androids.

The hubby and I are both looking forward to Skinwalker Ranch. It’s by the creators of the Curse of Oak Island – hopefully it won’t be as disappointing. There’s also Brave New World that looks pretty interesting. And have you seen the previews for Why Women Kill?

Of course we can’t forget old favourites that are coming back, like Star Trek: Discovery, due to start in October. And there’s also all of the NCISs, and don’t forget Stumptown.

Other than that, I won’t be watching much TV at all. LOL

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Wordage Report

Editing – 0 hours, 0 pages
I think the universe is trying to tell me something.

Blood Ties – 2,157 words
Woot! Best week in a long time!

Blog Posts – includes the post for my regular blog, but not the prompt story.
466 (regular blog)+ 913 + 337 = 1,716 words total

Weekly Prompt – 629 words

Total Words – 4,502

New Prompt
Write a 1,000 word story in the fairy tale genre. It’s about a penniless writer and should include expired food. Also, use the sentence ‘Life was better on the other side.’ Bonus prompt: Your character is shipwrecked.

Goals From Last Week:
I already talked about getting my blog posts done and how less stressful it made the rest of the week. I think it also helped (mentally) that the weather was decent all week.

I’m really happy with the progress I made on Blood Ties last week. Sometimes I feel like I’m just writing filler so I can have something to show for my week, but not this time. This time the story moved forward and I’m actually looking forward to moving it some more.

Not only was I not late with my prompt story last week, I actually had the bulk of it written last Sunday. This gave me time to kind of spiff it up before Friday. The trick was, I picked a prompt I was sure I could work with – it really paid off!

I’m almost ready to call it quits on the whole inclusion of my editing thing, but once I’m done the draft of Blood Ties I’ll be letting it cool and while it’s doing that I’ll be editing An Elemental Spirit. So, the editing stays. If I can’t edit a flash story a week, how am I supposed to edit a whole novel?

Goals For This Week:
1. Keep picking up steam on Blood Ties. If I start back sliding now the book will never get done.
2. New prompt story. I’m applying the same method I had last week – I’m picking a prompt I’m sure I can work with and hopefully I’ll get the story done early.
3. Give the editing thing a good old college try. It’s gotta be done sooner or later, right?
4. Research. We’re into September now, only a few more weeks until NaNo. I’m going to have to get serious on my research if I’m going to have a prayer of reaching my 50,000 word goal.

And there’s what I’ll be up to this week. How about you?

2 comments:

Suescribbler said...

Sounds like a productive week. I’m impressed. Your blog is a great way to be accountable for your writing, think I’ll have to try something similar. At the mo I log my daily word count but nobody sees it but me. So, no consequence if I don’t pony up. I’m working on a novel that takes place in Russia during the revolution and 1920’s Paris. Just figured out how to go back and forth between the two time periods. I’m drafting a YA fantasy to write during NaNoWriMo and writing a memoir. So plenty to keep me busy.
I’m enjoying your prompt stories. Especially looking forward to the next one.
Happy writing.

C R Ward said...

Thanks Sue!

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I do the wordage report - to keep me honest about my progress (or lack thereof). :-D

That's quite the jump, from the Russian revolution and 1920s Paris - sounds fascinating!

Glad you're enjoying the prompt stories. Sometimes I even enjoy writing them. LOL