Now THIS Is Progress!

Words from sprints:
Wandering Wizards – 1,071
Magic II -1,457

Untimed words added:
Wandering Wizards – 441
Magic II - 3,348

Total New words:
Wandering Wizards – 1,512
Magic II – 4,805

Editing:
Wandering Wizards - 8:53 hours
Magic II - 0:40 hours

For anyone who’s interested, the word counts go from Sunday through Saturday. Since I’ve been trying to at least do a 30 minute word sprint once a day, I’m keeping track of the daily numbers for them as well as which WIP I wrote them for. The extra words are from untimed writing sessions as well as words added during editing. Magic II got a big boost last Sunday when I sat down and wrote a 2,000 word scene, and then I had another untimed session during my writer’s group on Thursday night.

If you’re doing some mental math (and more power to you if you are) and trying to figure out how the progress bar for Wandering Wizards can jump from 6% to 23% when I only added 1,500 new words, I might remind you that I mentioned last week I was trying to use as much of the old version as possible along with the new words.

Man, oh, man, what have I gotten myself into? I think I've added two or three chapters worth of new words to WW, and I think it makes for a better book, but integrating the old and the new is taking some creative editing. God bless the person who invented the computer and cut and paste!

This week I want to kick up the pace editing WW – the total editing hours looks good, but not so great when you spread it out over seven days. Less gaming, more editing at night. And I’d like to see if I can add in a couple of extra word sprints through the week.

Gotta keep those progress bars moving!

Baby Steps

Wow, I wasn’t kidding a couple of weeks ago when I said it was going to be hard to break the solitaire addiction and do more writing. It’s been really hard.

I’ve made a little bit of progress in the addiction part of it – I’m only at risk if I already have my lap top open. I won’t boot it up just to play solitaire (like I was before). Now if I need to relax my mind and the computer is shut down I’ll pick up a book and read a chapter instead. However, it’s still really hard to avoid solitaire when I have my lap top open, I still just naturally default to it.

It would be nice if I could just close the lid of the lap top and pick up a book when I feel the urge to play (kind of like drinking a glass of water when you feel the urge to snack), but if I do that with the new lap top I have to wait for it to boot up and then sign in again. My old lap top I could just close it, it would go to sleep, then I’d open it and it’d wake up at the exact spot I left it.

You might think that reading isn’t much better than playing games – it’s still not writing – but I’m able to control my reading (mostly) and oftentimes it seems to inspire me to pick up a pen or turn on the Neo.

The good news is, the site I go to for solitaire has a bunch of different games but I’ve played them so much they don’t present much of a challenge anymore. Would it be too much to hope that this particular addiction has just about run its course?

As for getting back into the writing habit…you might recall I mentioned my whirlwind visit to New Brunswick a few weeks ago. I adjusted so easily to New Brunswick time when I was there that I kept to those hours once I came home again – I’m going to bed earlier and getting up earlier.

This means extra time in the morning for writing – theoretically at least. But it also means less time at night. Nine times out of ten you’d find me typing away between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., getting a blog post or two finished to be scheduled for the following day. Now that I’m going to bed around 11, I don’t get that 2 hours so I end up using my early morning writing time for blog posts and email, etc.

I have managed some writing in the afternoons, a few (very bad) poems and I’ve been working on a couple of short stories. But even when I do make it to my office after babysitting I’d rather read than write. And forget sitting outside – outside is just too distracting what with its trees, and birds, and nature and all.

So this week’s focus will be to get my blog posts done earlier in the day (afternoons) so that I can do other writing in my big chunk of time in the mornings (usually at least two hours). And I think one of the ways to do this will be to spend more time in my office or at the dining room table, and less time in the recliner.

Wish me luck – I think I’m going to need it.

State of the Stuff Address

I thought that sounded cooler than “Progress Report.” Hey, what do you want from me? It’s early and I’ve only had one coffee so far. LOL

There’s really only two things I want to report on – the progress of my office, and the progress of Wandering Wizards (the 3rd Moonstone Chronicle). If you’re a regular reader of this blog then you already know I seem to be back on track with Passion For Poetry Wednesdays and Fiction Fridays.

So first, the office. When I get my office finished (if that ever happens) I will create a new page at the top to chronicle my journey. However, that day is not even close yet. I’ve run into a bit of a snag when it comes to clearing out the pile of “stuff” in the corner where I want to put a comfy reading chair.

First of all, my (spoiled) 18-year-old cat discovered the shag carpet in the bottom of the storage closet and has taken to sleeping in there during the day. Which means I can’t rearrange the stuff on the shelves to make room for the stuff in the corner because I don’t want to disturb him.

And I don’t want to hear from any of you non-cat/animal lovers telling me to just move the cat or shut the door or whatever. He’s 18, and the other two cats kind of pick on him, and he doesn’t ask for much except a comfy place to sleep. Not only am I keeping the closet door open for him, I’m keeping the office door open for him, despite the fact that one of the other cats got his nose out of joint and sprayed the canvas board I had leaning up in front of the small bookcase. Twice. Which is why the pile of stuff is now safely tucked under a plastic cover and access to the rest of the room is limited.

At some point I’m going to get a baby gate for the door (no worries about anyone jumping the gate, they’re too old and fat) so I can have the door open but don’t have to worry about anyone’s indiscretions in there. It’s a southern exposure so there’s no way I can keep the door shut in the summer. But…I can’t do that until Taz finds a new favourite place to sleep. Which he will eventually, he likes to move around.

I’m at the point where I can use my desk, although I need a new desk chair because the space is a little cramped with the big one from my old office and I keep knocking stuff over on my desk and the bookcase behind me every time I move. Loving my new computer, although the delete key is in a different spot which kind of throws me off and I’m still not happy with Windows 10. I know, suck it buttercup, it had to happen sooner or later.

On the weekend I set up the new laser printer and now I can connect wirelessly to it and the inkjet in the other room. Go me! And in the process of trying to install it onto the hubby’s lap top I inadvertently fixed whatever the problem was he was having to connect wirelessly to the ink jet printer. Which was really weird because I couldn’t install the laser – for some reason his autorun isn’t working and I couldn’t find the DVD drive (he has Windows 10 too).

As you know, I’ve been struggling with the second half of Wandering Wizards for some time now. There was something off about it and I just couldn’t figure out what. Well, I finally figured it out. And I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. It’s good because I figured it out, but it’s bad because it’s going to take a lot of work to fix it.

To put it simply, it’s still Jessica’s story, but there’s very little Jessica in it. Until she meets up with her friends again on page 129, she only appears twice, and only for about a page each time. So yeah, she needs to have a bigger presence – keep adjusting to her powers, come to terms with her new life, maybe have a fight or two with Dominic, whatever.

So there we have it. The state of the “stuff” I’ve been working on and will be working on this week. Wednesday’s class is Inspiration From Dreams, so be sure to check back Friday to see what I came up with.

For that matter, check back Wednesday too to see what my poem for National Poetry month is. :-D

All Kidding Aside...

Short Fiction - LOL
Long Fiction - LOL
Poetry - LOL
Total Words - Hahahaha
Paragraphs of Notes - None

Oh, come on now. Did you really believe I was going to make good on my vague pledge to get at least a few words in every day? Seriously, you should know by now that I’m the chief paver of good intentions leading to the road to Hell.

To be honest, last week is a bit of a blur. I remember my stomach being off for a few days which may, or may not, have been a brush with E. Coli. We finally got some snow. It got super cold and I got some cool pictures of the lake...

That’s the view from the pier from where my writing buddy and I parked in the summer time.

And I’m going to honest and tell you not to expect any words from me this week either. I do have a Christmas poem for Wednesday, which will be repeated on my other blog on Friday, but Friday will be Christmas videos, as will next Monday.

It took three trips to the post office, but I got all my Christmas parcels sent last week, and no, it was not as matter-of-fact as it sounds, but I’ll spare you the gruesome details. LOL And we knocked off just about all the remaining Christmas shopping on the weekend. I also managed to get all my baking supplies - well, all except green maraschino cherries.

Not shown are the extra dozen eggs, four bricks of margarine, and brick of butter. The boxes of cereal at the back are actually the hubby’s, for making nuts and bolts. And that big white bag? That’s flour. I had a brain fart in Costco and was seduced by their low price. Damn you Costco! That bag is 10 kg (about 20 lbs to you Americans). Any guesses what I’ll be doing this week instead of writing? Well, that and making the grandbaby her Christmas dress.

Here’s wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas. And don’t forget, you have just one more week to get that Birdy Story finished. :-D