In the Dark

Electricity is the power that causes all natural phenomena not known to be caused by something else.
— Ambrose Bierce

With great power comes great electricity bills.
— unknown

So many power outages lately
No one wants to shed light on the matter
—upjoke

It’s Friday night and I’m sitting here writing this in the dark. It’s evening time and our power went out about 45 minutes ago. But one of the reasons I went with Lenovo the last time I bought a new laptop is the awesome battery life. Because I have no access to the internet (which sucks up energy), I have just over 7 hours of battery life. This is the perfect opportunity to get some writing done, don’t you think?

The thing is, I had already planned on working on my Sunday post tonight, because tomorrow (Saturday) we have a barbeque to go to that’s going to cut a big chunk out of my day, and I really wanted to get at least the first half of the post done instead of leaving it for the last minute like I usually do. So here I am, rambling away in the dark.

If I had any games on this computer, I’d probably play them instead of trying to get something constructive done (like this blog post), but this is supposed to be my working computer and the only games I have access to are through the internet. Which, of course, is down because of the power outage.

Okay, that’s a lie. I do have one game saved on my laptop. It’s called Nethack, and it’s old as dirt. It’s a single player game and the object is to work your way from room to room, fighting monsters and collecting loot, looking for the stairs that will take you down to the next level in search of the Amulet of Yendor which is somewhere around the 20th level. The graphics are really basic, but it’s still kind of fun.

The daughter’s been texting me as I type this. She doesn’t live too far away so her power is out too. She was complaining, whining, pointing out that they hadn’t had dinner yet – she’d been planning to do frozen pizza. So I told her to get it delivered, to which she replied that the data on her phone was glitchy and she was having trouble getting to the website to order.

My suggestion that she use her phone as a, you know, phone and call for delivery was met with derision. Apparently, that’s not what a phone is for these days. Anyway, she got through and got her pizza ordered. Looks like the outage is only at our end of town.

Wow, it’s really dark out there now. It was pretty overcast today, so the solar lights didn’t get to build up much of a charge. I’ve had to turn the brightness of my laptop way down – it’s the only light I’ve got right now and I can’t see anything beyond the screen. I should really go light some candles so it’s not pitch dark in here.

One of the cats is cuddled to my legs; I have no idea where the other cat is. She’s mostly dark in a dark room. If she’s smart, she’ll take advantage of the cover of darkness and she’ll be sleeping on the dining room table, where she’s not allowed to be. See? There are advantages to a power outage . . . if you’re a cat.

At least this isn’t the dead of winter, where it would be starting to get a mite chilly by now. And thanks to the storm front rolling through last night and the high winds we have now (which probably helped with the power outage) we’re not suffering from the heat. We haven’t needed the air conditioning on all day, and the wind coming in the deck door is nice and cool.

AND when I replaced my Kindle a year or two ago, I was smart enough to get a Paperwhite. Its lit up screen makes for easy reading, even in the dark.

Now, if the power would come on long enough for me to make a cup of tea, things would be perfect.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The word for last week would have to be surprising.

It was surprising in that although it was another week of babysitting, I got my blog posts done super early. Even this one. Mostly. The installment for Winter’s Child wasn’t early, but I didn’t stay up as late finishing it as I did the week before.

The week actually went by fairly quickly and though I did spend a fair amount of time reading, I found that I spent way less time on games. This bodes well for the week ahead, don’t you think? And I spent a little time in my office, so hopefully that’ll carry through to next week too.

No company to distract me last week, but I did have a couple of social obligations – one was the stitchery luncheon, and the other was lunch out with a poetry friend. I was gone for most of the time the granddaughter was here the day of the stitchery thing, but apparently she and Grappy really enjoyed their one on one time.

It’s so hard to believe there’s only a couple of weeks left in August!

NEW WORDS:
2214+720+244+904=4,082
DOWN 108 – words from last week

I’ve been pretty consistent with my words the last couple of weeks. It seems like I’m staying within about a hundred words, either up or down. I think consistency is a good thing though, don’t you?

Yes, it really did help that I turned off the upstairs air conditioner when I went to bed last week. It wasn’t really cool enough (until Friday night) to sleep with the window open, but at least keeping it shut it took longer for the bedroom to warm up.

I forgot one night, and left it on, but that’s a mistake I won’t be making again. The quality of sleep I got that night was terrible. I was tired and had low energy (and motivation) for the rest of the day. Lesson learned.

I finally realized the secret to getting this Sunday post done a little earlier, so I’m not staying up super late Saturday night or scrambling to get it done Sunday morning, is to come up with a topic for the first part earlier in the week. Normally I do the wordage report first, and hope something comes to me. Some times it works, most times it doesn’t.

Maybe if I started working on some of those exercises I keep saying I’m going to work on, I’d have something legitimate to talk about.

Goals For Next Week:
Work on some exercises, get blog posts done early.

EDITING:
Two pages!

Okay, maybe two pages isn’t exactly exclamation mark worthy, but it’s better than I’ve been doing the last few months. Having the manuscript printed out and keeping it in the living room instead of in a pile of stuff on my typewriter really did seem to help. I managed to mark up those two pages pretty good while the granddaughter was focused on the exploits of Captain Underpants.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep marking up Elemental Spirit.

POETRY:
Another pretty easy form for the week. But trust me when I say it wasn’t a deliberate choice. I have a list, in no particular order, of forms with brief descriptions, and that one was the first one to catch my eye.

I almost went to the monthly poetry reading, but I wasn’t sure I could handle that many people. I’d already had one people-y event under my belt for the week, with two more coming up. I can only take so many of these things before they adversely affect me, and I’ve been doing pretty well lately so I didn’t want to take the chance.

In any case, I should have more time for writing this week, so maybe I can finally start updating that big book ‘o poems I have and start cherry picking them for the anthology I keep talking about. I’ve got to start somewhere, right?

Goal For Next Week:
Get a new form ready to share, update my big book ‘o poems.

CRAFTING:
I was all set to try the papier mâché on Monday, but it was kind of a slow day and the granddaughter wasn’t so keen.

Tuesday I had a potluck garden party with the stitchery group. I have to say, we’re a fun bunch of ladies. Of course there was a lot more socializing than actual stitching, but the rain that was forecast held off until much later. We had some guests from another couple of guilds and there were a pair of ladies who have a mobile stitchery supply trailer and did some brisk business during the afternoon.

I finished the floral kit I was working on, and started the next one (it’s a series of four). When I started the first one, I figured I’d offer the whole series up for sale at the Christmas craft sale. However, I learned at the luncheon that the group isn’t participating in the sale this year. So now what will I do with them?

Thursday I had everything ready for granddaughter and I to give the papier mâché a try. We squeezed as much water as we could out of the paper (that had been soaking in water for several days by now) and added the glue, and had fun squishing it around. However, the consistency wasn’t good and it was very clumpy. In other words, it was a bust.

But Gramie had a contingency plan. I’d bought some air clay, which was more like soft modeling foam, and we had a lot of fun making stuff out of it. She even convinced Grappy to give it a try. :-)

Goal For Next Week:
Organize my jewelry supplies, figure out what’s next with the zentangle sampler.

WHAT I’M READING:
I’m still reading Stories With Bite, a collection of vampire stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s really slow going, because honestly I have to be in the mood for something like this and I haven’t been.

I finished Pushin’ Buttons, the first in the Boot Knocker Ranch series by Em Petrova, and followed up with Body Language, Reining Men, and Ropin’ Hearts, also by Em Petrova. Now I’m about halfway through the fifth in the Boot Knocker Ranch series, Rope Burn.

Goal For Next Week:
Work a little harder at reading Stories With Bite so I can move on to something else.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

This week I no longer have babysitting as an excuse for not writing more. The granddaughter has day camp, so I only have to worry about picking her up when it’s done. And considering I’ve been doing better than I expected while looking after her, I have high expectations of what I can achieve this week.

I do want to organize myself a little better for crafts for us to do together our last week of the summer. Since we had so much fun with the foamy clay, I might try finding some regular modeling clay for us to play with. I already have another tie dye kit – this one using regular dye – and I’ve ordered some items online for us to dye. Hopefully they arrive by then.

And I really do want to prioritize my crafting, keeping in mind that Christmas is coming. I’m kind of scattered when it comes to crafts, which is why none of them get done. I’ve learned it’st not enough to be organized, I need to pick a craft or two and stick with it.

Winter’s Child isn’t exactly turning into a whole different story than it started out to be, but the focus has changed. It’s surprising me, to be honest, but in a good way. But I’m coming to a part of the story where I have a decision to make, which will have an impact on the rest of the story.

My idea of keeping my mark-up copy of An Elemental Spirit in the living room was obviously a good one, even if I only marked up two pages of it. I think for the first run-through I’ll continue showing my progress in pages, and with the second run-through I’ll switch to hours. In any case, I want to see a minimum 10 pages marked up this week.

It’s pretty obvious that I’m enjoying the Boot Knocker Ranch series on the Kindle. But I’ve halfway through the fifth book and there are only six in the series. Pretty easy to guess that I’ll be looking for a new e-book early in the week. So maybe it might be a good idea if I keep the e-reading strictly to the exercise bike so I can make some progress on reading Tales With Bite.

I feel like I made better use of my time last week, so let’s see if I can do even better this week. With the granddaughter in day camp for the week, I’m once again faced with a lot of time on my hands. Let’s see how many days it takes before I’m back to my old habits.

Bets anyone?

Spreading the Love

Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it all into words is all that is necessary.
— Margaret Cousins

Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.
— Mary Kay Ash

You get a good review, and it’s like crack. You need another hit. And another. And another. I know authors are like Tinkerbell and generally need applause to survive, but it’s a slippery slope.
― Alexandra Bracken

When was the last time you showed appreciation to someone for something they did? Of course, we do it all the time. When someone does something for us we thank them. Not just because it’s common courtesy, but because we appreciate that they took the time and trouble to do it.

Now, when was the last time you told a writer how much you appreciate the book they wrote?

I thought as much. Don’t worry, I’m guilty of the same thing. And this is something I’ve regretted over the years because I keep saying I’m going to, but I don’t. And now it’s too late to show my appreciation to a couple of my favorite authors – they died without knowing how much their books meant to me.

I don’t know what it is about showing appreciation to an author that’s so difficult. We’ll tell a friend or family member how much we loved a book, but rarely tell the author themselves. It’s a wonder any of us keep writing.

In the old days you could write your favorite author fan mail. These days it would be email, so much quicker and easier and you don’t have to make a trip to the post office. Some people show their appreciation by writing fan fiction, where they like a story so much that they never want it to end, so they continue it on their own. A prime example of this is the Shades of Grey series, that started out as fan fiction for the Twilight series.

Of course the sales help. When those sales figures go up an author knows they’re doing something right. Nothing says I love you like someone paying full price for the book you slaved over. I have to wonder though how Stephanie Myers felt about those sales figures from the Shades of Grey series creeping up towards those of Twilight.

Have you ever written a book review? I used to do that on a regular basis on a different blog (which is long gone now), and one of the perks of that was when publicists started sending me books to review. So many free books! But I only accepted books I intended to read, figuring it unethical to do otherwise.

Reviews are another way to show appreciation. I keep track of the books I read on the Goodreads site, and I’ll usually leave a quick little review when I add a book to my “read” list, but I never think to add the review to Amazon, where ratings are everything. And there’s no reason for me not to, other than sheer laziness.

So next time you read a book you really enjoy, let the author know. Send them some fan mail, or better yet, leave a review. I know I’m going to start trying to do so.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
I’m starting to see a pattern here. My weeks start out strong, and then somewhere in the middle they just seem to get away from me. Or they kind of peter right out. It’s a little bit frustrating!

Monday was a really good day – a nice balance between writing and stitching and reading. But Tuesday I had some medical stuff going on, and then I figured since the day was pretty much a write-off anyway, I might as well drive up to Peterborough to drop off the car load of donations I had.

Wednesday there was some unexpected socializing, which really threw what was left of my schedule off. Thursday I had a coffee date with a friend, which I might not have made if I’d known Wednesday afternoon was going to be a write-off.

By Friday my ambition had kind of deserted me. I worked in my office, but didn’t get much done. I fixed the poem I’d done for my “poemwork” . . . yeah, that was about it. In my defense, though. I’d like to point out that we’re deep into allergy season and my head has been hurting on a daily basis.

But also Friday, I had the final installment of The Pond up. I probably could have split it into two, but I really wanted to end at part 40. And I was getting a little tired of it. And despite the fact that it seems a little rushed, it did end the way I’d always intended it to.

And the really good news is, I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out what my next serial is going to be. It’s a strange story I had the idea for many, many years ago, loosely based on a poem I did that personified winter.

Should be something a little different.

NEW WORDS:
2205+633+427+1099=4,364
DOWN – 85 words from last week

Down a little bit from last week, despite the rather lengthy post on Friday. But I’m still not tempted to include my morning pages (which I’ve been doing faithfully) because first, they’re hand written and I’d have to either count the words myself or type them out, which seems a little redundant, and second, I don’t know how creative they are really, they’re more just angsty, whiny, rants. :-D

But I have to admit, sometimes my morning pages are a bit of a struggle. Not because I don’t have anything to write about, but because I’ve been getting distracted lately. I come downstairs and sit in my recliner to do them before I go to the gym, but the kittens lately have decided to start going after my plants, breaking my train of thought when I have to chase them away from them. Maybe I need to sit at the dining room table, or go into my office to do them.

I did spend more time in my office last week, but I forgot the advice from one of the workshops where the instructor said to take a 5 minute break every 25 minutes or so. My office chair is not as comfortable as my recliner, so sitting in it for long stretches at a time becomes really uncomfortable.

Goals For Next Week:
Find a workable routine to generate more words.

EDITING:
0 hours

One of these days I’m going to surprise the heck out of everyone and actually have something to report here. And no, I’m not going to remove it from my wordage report due to lack of updating like I did the marketing and tech. This is something I really want to get done, I just keep getting . . . distracted.

I know I said I wasn’t going to split my master list into sub-lists, but maybe I need to at least make a list of all the writing projects I want to do. A lot of the time with me it’s “out of sight, out of mind,” but if I have a list to consult then I won’t forget. And maybe I won’t waste as much time on games and surfing – I can work on something from that list instead.

Goal For Next Week:
Figure out the prophecy; get editing Elemental Spirit.

POETRY:
I found last week’s form, the Octo, kind of interesting, despite the lack of information about it and the fact there is another form with the same name. And I liked the two examples I wrote for it.

There was supposed to a poetry gathering last Wednesday, but it ended up being cancelled at the last minute. I’ll spare you the details of the miscommunication revolving around it, but in the end I was just as happy I had more time to work on my “poemwork.” I really had to scramble to get my poem finished, and it certainly wasn’t my best work, but I was able to fix it now, and while it’s not perfect, it’s a lot better.

I was inspired to start a new poem that was neither a form nor poemwork yesterday. The bones of it are there, but whether or not I flesh it out remains to be seen. It’s a little morbid. I may finish writing it anyway, just for me.

Goal For Next Week:
Find another new poetry form to share. Expand on the other poems I started.

CRAFTING:
I finished the first square of my zentangle sampler and I’m debating what to do with the second one. I don’t want them all to look the same, so I’m thinking of doing an actual picture in the next square instead of a true zentangle.

To be honest, I didn’t really give much thought to the overall design/theme when I started, which I’m beginning to see I should have. The first square is fine, but it was a bit of a pain to figure out what stitch to use next each time I finished a section. But if I do 9 squares altogether, I can do one square in each row something other than a zentangle design.

Like, this row I can do just a scene of some kind. The next row I can do an appliqué, and the third row I could do stumpwork or something like that. Or maybe just to keep the look of it even, I could do two appliqués, one on each side, in the middle row and then the stumpwork in the center of the bottom row.

Lots of things to consider, I guess. But I need to consider them soon because I don’t want to lose my momentum.

My baker’s rack is all trussed up and ready to go, but getting it here is turning out to be a bigger issue than we counted on. My father-in-law has not been able to get a hold of the neighbor who’s got the truck, and I’m pretty sure we’re going to need a couple of extra bodies to help move it. It doesn’t look like much all trussed up, but trust me, that sucker is heavy! As well it should be considering it’s made of wrought iron and wood.

The art supplies I got from my father-in-law are just going to have to join the rest of my stash for now. I want to get my routine with the writing and crafting well established before I add art into the mix. Once I get my baker’s rack in place I want to get back into my jewelry making and bead work, something I can’t really do right now, especially with a pair of nosy kittens around (I can close the door to my craft room to work).

Goal For Next Week:
Figure out a layout for my sampler; start thinking about the granddaugher’s dress for this year’s father/daughter ball.

WHAT I’M READING:
I haven’t been doing as much reading lately. I’m still reading The Little Flower Shop, by Lori Foster – I’m about halfway through it.

And I’m ashamed to admit that I slacked off a bit on the bike riding, but I still managed to read Glacial Eyes, by J.K. Walker, and I’ve started Rule of Three, by Kelly Jamieson.

I did figure out how to upload new books to my Paperwhite, but I have no idea which ones are new and which were already on there. My old Kindle was having issues updating, so even though I was downloading books, they weren’t being uploaded. And I have no idea how many books, or what date, I stopped updating to the old device.

And there’s no option (at least not one I could see) for “update all new books” so I have no idea where I’m at as far as being up to date. Does that make any sense?

Goal For Next Week:
See if I can figure out how to put books in folders on the Paperwhite.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

I have my stitch-in at the library on Tuesday and a blood test on Thursday next week, and that’s it. Hopefully there won’t be any unexpected visitors and I have no coffee plans. However, as I’ve seen in the past, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to have a more productive week.

For one thing, I need to get my garden in. Yes, that’s right, I still haven’t done that. I don’t even have bedding plants in the front garden. That’s because we were still getting frost warnings. It’s almost June, for crying out loud!

But while the long-range forecast isn’t exactly promising summer temperatures, at least the temperature isn’t supposed to drop so drastically at night. So at the very least I’ll be putting in some gardening time.

I need to make a little more time for crafting this week. You know, once I settle on the overall design for the sampler. I’m actually starting to wonder how it would look if I alternated sampler squares with picture squares. Might be a little more cohesive looking. *sigh* Decisions, decisions.

I’d like to get a little more creative with my writing. I’m not sure yet if this is going to be the meditative writing, or maybe a prompt a week, or maybe a combination of the two. Or maybe it can even be following the lessons in some of the writing books I have. Or, heaven forbid, accessing some of those courses I’ve paid for.

Here, again, is another reason to keep a writing specific list. I write down all these ideas for progress here, but then I promptly forget about them.

I can see the track and it’s getting closer, but there are still a lot of weeds to cut through before I’m able to step back on it.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

Turning a manuscript into a book is easy; getting the manuscript ready to become a book is hard.
― A.P. Fuchs

An unedited manuscript is a first draft of story; but is not a finished product. Too many writers study the craft of writing but do not acquire the skills of an editor.
― Michael J. Kannengieser

When you print out your manuscript and read it, marking up with a pen, it sometimes feels like a criminal returning to the scene of a crime.
― Don Roff

I think I might have mentioned that some of the workshops I took part of were more sharing friendly than others. The next workshop I took after the Inner Critic was actually one on dialogue. However, the instructor zipped so quickly through her presentation that I have exactly four paragraphs of notes, incomplete notes at that.

She had us doing a lot of exercises, most of which involved recalling conversations. I don’t know about you, but I tend to avoid people and their conversations so I had a hard time recalling one to use, or one involving two children having a conversation, or one where I overheard an important conversation. And she was a screenwriter, so a lot of her advice didn’t really apply to fiction writing.

So today we’re skipping ahead to Workshop #4, Measure Twice, Cut Once, presented by Tanis MacDonald. This was all about getting your manuscript ready for publication.

How do you know if your manuscript is ready for a publisher?

You’ve finished writing your novel and you think you’re ready for a publisher. Not so fast. First, put it away for six to eight weeks. Then you’ll need to edit it. It very likely isn’t the story you thought it was and this cooling off period will show you that.

Often we’re writing more than one thing at the same time and these are the pages that need to be cut. So write to the end of what you know, put it away for six weeks, and then trim it down, or add to it if that’s the case. You need to develop an appetite for revision and for loving the process. Develop strategies for spending time with your manuscript.

Sometimes what you’re revising, or trimming, are your impulses, things that seemed like a good idea at the time. You need to know what you’re writing about. Sometimes, this isn’t clear until near the end. You make discoveries as you write.

Develop a manuscript community. Have a peer read it – someone you can do a story/chapter exchange with is ideal. It’s an exchange of time. Have a beta reader from your demographic read it. Consider hiring a developmental editor, but you don’t want to do this when you’re still feeling tender about your work. Send it to a beta reader instead. Learn to take criticism graciously.

If you are publishing through traditional channels, you will probably be assigned an editor. So why should you hire a developmental editor? It will help make sure your manuscript is polished, and shows you’re serious. You can even mention it in your submission letter.

There are only four big presses, but there are many small presses and independent publishers. It’s easier to get published with a small press. Look for one that publishes your kind of book. Small presses are more willing to take a chance on unknown writers. You won’t feel like a number with them, you’ll feel like a person.

Independent small presses are less demanding. They’re a small organization, but they have a big reach. They’re gaining momentum and popularity. You don’t need an agent to submit your manuscript. You’ll get pulled into a publishing family.

Vanity presses are not evil people, but they do take advantage of new authors. They do a minimal amount of editing and no promotion. They’re basically fancy printers, not publishers and they’re very limiting. You’ll probably only sell locally to family and friends.

When making a pitch to a traditional press, make sure you check out the other authors they publish. They’re going to want to know whether they can sell a book like yours. You’ll also want to compile a literary CV – publications, readings, work in the community.

In your cover letter, tell them what the book does and does not do, the reality of your book, what it is – a light-hearted romp, mystery, historical, science fiction . . . Be confident. Tell them who you are, what you’ve published before. Include a synopsis, why you wrote it, why you chose them. Read three books they’ve published that you liked. Get to know their backlist. Be honest, especially if this is your first manuscript.

Have patience, the wait time is usually six months or better. Publishing is slow. If you’re accepted, remember you’re all working towards the same goal – getting your book out there. The publisher runs the show. An editor will be assigned to you, as will a cover designer. You probably won’t be getting a say in the cover design unless you’re working with a small press.

The copy-editor will check for consistency and double-check style choices. They’ll also fact check and catch every little error. You may also be assigned sensitivity readers when you’re writing about things not your own – a black community, aboriginal, LGBT. . . You need someone sensitive to that life style to read what you’ve written to make sure you’re not being offensive.

You want to maximize the first six months. New books get the lion’s share of promotion and reviewers are usually very generous with their reviews. The publisher will also probably arrange for other authors to do review blurbs. And then comes the best part, your book will be released into the wild.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
You would think, with the hubby being gone for five days, I would have got all kinds of writing done. But alas, such was not the case.

The problem with having too much time on your hands is that it’s way too easy to put things off. I could sit in my office and write, but my recliner is so much more comfy, and I’ve got all day to write. I’ll just play a few more rounds of solitaire and write later. Oops! I was just about to get up and do something constructive, but one of the kittens decided to curl up on my lap and I really hate to move them. I’ve got all the time in the world, I can afford to sit here for a few hours.

Discipline folks, it’s all about discipline. Something which apparently I’m sadly lacking.

That being said, I did get all my posts up on time, most of them written early. I just didn’t get a whole lot of extra writing done.

NEW WORDS:
1674+807+366+640=3,487
UP – 686 words from last week

I was really hoping I’d have a bunch of new words to share, but alas, it was not to be. Disappointing, but it is what it is.

One thing I did do was some experimentation with translators. In one of the workshops last fall, it was suggested that we take a short piece we’d written and run it through several translators in succession, using a different language each time.

The one I tried was limited to the amount of text I could use, so I right off the bat I lost text. For the next one, I decided to use a poem, and that worked out really well. So then I dug around until I found those weekly prompt stories I was doing a couple of years ago. They were super short, so I tried a couple of them and found the results really interesting.

Goals For Next Week:
Get some words written besides my blog posts.

EDITING:
6 hours
Fooled you! I got some editing done. :-) It was spread out over a few days, but even a little bit every day adds up.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep working on An Elemental Spirit.

TECH & TRAINING:
Ummm, no. I got nothing here.

Goal For Next Week:
Learn something new. Figure out Dropbox.

POETRY WEDNESDAY:
Last week’s poem was kind of weird, and I wasn’t 100% happy with either of the examples I wrote.

I ran my linking pin sonnet through the translators, and while the poem I ended up with wasn’t true to form, it was still interesting.

Goal For Next Week:
Find another new poetry form to share.

CRAFTING:
I took some cross-stich to the library for my guild’s stitch-in, but it was so long since I’ve worked on it I was kind of lost. I need to un-stitch part of it before I can move forward again. But fortunately, I had some embroidery with me as well, so I worked on it instead. Unfortunately, that’s about the only time I worked on it.

But more good news, I found a work table for my craft room. It’s actually this tall baker’s rack, but not only will it fit in the space I have, it has extra shelf space for my works in progress. The only problem is, it’s probably going to be a couple of months before I can take possession.

Goal For Next Week:
Organize my sewing bag, work on some jewelry I’ve been meaning to make.

WHAT I’M READING:
I finished Devil in the Details, by Shelley Dorey and I’m still pecking away at The Knockoff Eclipse by Melissa Bull. I also started reading The Writing Retreat, by Julia Bartz.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep up the slow and steady reading pace.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

I have to admit to being disappointed in my lack of writing last week. All that time, and so little to show for it. But I also have to say that I work better with deadlines – maybe I should set some. Easy to do, not so easy to follow through with.

One of the goals I should set for myself is to edit for an hour each day. In the grand scheme of things and hour isn’t all that much time, and even an hour a day adds up.

I really need to start making daily to-do lists again. Maybe write the master list on Sunday night, and then each night a short list for the next day.

There’s a regular meeting of the stitchery guild this week, and that same day I have a dentist appointment. So I’ll lots of time to start becoming productive again.

Wish me luck.

The Write Way

A trilogy is a huge investment on the part of author, publisher, and reader, and I'm grateful that so many people were willing to invest along with me.
— Rae Carson

I love the trilogy form. I like the idea that you can establish a character in book one. And then in the second part, you can take the characters down to their darkest point. And then in the third part, you have total freedom either to give them redemption - or just to kill them.
— Adrian McKinty

In writing a series of stories about the same characters, plan the whole series in advance in some detail, to avoid contradictions and inconsistences.
— L. Sprague de Camp

So . . . last week I talked a bit about how I’ve been writing a series but doing it wrong, this week I’d like to explore how I should have been doing it.

Okay, I’m going to assume you have a brilliant idea that you can sustain across a multi-volume series. But to make sure, you need to plot it out. This is the hard part, if you’re a pantser like me. It’s not that you can’t write a series without plotting it out first, but you need to know how the whole thing is going to end so that all roads lead to that resolution. And even a sketchy, point form outline will keep you on track.

If you’re a plotter, you need to have a basic plan for the entire series, and then you can plot the individual books one at a time. This let’s you understand not just how each book fits together, but how it fits into the series as well so you can tie it all together in the end. An organized structure will help you keep track of what happens and when, especially important when the action is spread across multiple books

Don’t be afraid to include subplots. Subplots can be fun and liven things up for your readers. The ups and downs of one (or more) subplot can provide a rise and fall in the overall action to help keep the reader interested.

While all four of my Elemental books can almost stand on their own, they’re basically subplots to the larger story that makes them part of the whole. Now the Moonstone Chronicles on the other hand, are all a continuation of the same story, but also have subplots – sort of a story within a story.

Plotting it out ahead of time will also help you figure out how many volumes your series is going to be – don’t drag it out just because you think you can sell more books. It weakens the overall story.

Next you need to think about setting and characters. Are you using the same setting for the whole series? A different setting for each book? Whichever you decide, your setting needs to be vivid and intriguing enough that your readers aren’t going to get bored.

Characters need to be interesting, likeable, and multifaceted. They’re the reason your readers will keep coming back – to see what happens next to their favorite character. It’s important to introduce your character’s desires and goals early, so your reader will become attached to them. But reveal their details slowly, so there’s something new to learn with each volume.

Make your secondary characters count, don’t just have them pop in and out for no good reason. They should have purpose. Maybe they help your main character, or maybe they’re there to get in their way. They could even trigger a subplot.

One thing that’s really helpful is a story bible. I wish I’d done this with my series, and I fully intend to do them going forward. This is a dedicated notebook that contains everything you ever wanted to know about your book series – characters, actions, subplots, settings, maps (if you’ve got them).

The story bible is something you can refer back to when you’re not sure if a character’s eyes are blue or green, or if he’s left-handed or right-handed. Or you’ve forgotten what time of year it is, or what city they were headed for. Maybe you’ve used a particular subplot already.

Your final book should offer a resolution to the minor conflicts as well as the big one, otherwise your readers are going to feel cheated. Perhaps your story needs to come full circle, ending where it began, or maybe your hero(s) ride off into the sunset. But one way or another, if the series is done, the story should be done.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

This has been a week, I tell you what.

There were a lot of outside influences, all converging from keeping me from getting ahead with my writing, but that which does not kill us makes us stronger, right?

My stitchery group had their Christmas luncheon last week, I had a poetry group meeting, the pleasure of the granddaughter’s company due to a snow day, and there was a death in the family.

Sadly, the only one that didn’t really affect my time was the death in the family. My mother-in-law passed away, but this was not unexpected as she was in a nursing home for a number of years and her health wasn’t good. The husband’s family is large, and somewhat dysfunctional, and the real drama won’t be happening until next week when all the drama llamas begin converging for the funeral.

The good news is, despite the big chunks of my time being sucked up by social obligations, I still managed to tread water with the writing. And, of course, this being the time of year it is I’ve being doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on what lies ahead and what I want out of the year to come. I haven’t come to any conclusions, but I’m working on it.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 1756+292+259+841=3,148
Extra poem – 123 words Total words = 3271
UP 141 words from last week

Goals For Next Week:
Get my blog posts done early.

EDITING:
0 pages
Due to time constraints and social obligations, it never even occurred to me to try and do some editing, although I do have a folder with the files for Elemental Spirit on my desktop now. So maybe that counts as progress?

Goal For Next Week:
Start work on An Elemental Spirit.

MARKETING:
Well, hell. Maybe I was a little premature putting marketing back on the table.

I made no inroads in making an Amazon page, and I’m sure it’s easier than I think it is. Nor did I start filling out the paperwork to be included in the book promotion site. I’m starting to think this is going to be something to attempt in the New Year.

Goal For Next Week:
Look into developing an author page on Amazon, work on the book promotion form.

TECH & TRAINING:
Incentive or no, I did not look into doing anything with Dropbox. It keeps getting lost in the shuffle of the minutiae of life.

Goal For Next Week:
Start backing up files to Dropbox. Set up external hard drive.

POETRY WEDNESDAY:
I did the last of the Chazz Combs forms last week, the Jay’s Way form. Which was kind of fun in an annoying, on drugs kind of way. I read all three of the forms to my poetry group Wednesday night and there was some lively discussion on whether Mr. Combs picked the syllable counts he did on purpose, or if he just arbitrarily picked them out of a hat.

I also wrote a bonus poem last week that I shared with my poetry group (but not on line). It was created from the prompt we were given for the month of December. At last month’s meeting the four of us who showed up were asked to write the beginning of a sentence. These sentence fragments were then to be incorporated into a poem for this month. It was a fun exercise.

Goal For Next Week:
Share a new poetry form.

CRAFTING:
Looks like I’m on my own as far as crafting goes. I can’t compete with kitten cuteness. LOL

I was really hoping to include home made crafts in my Christmas packages this year, and thanks to the return of the crafts I made that didn’t get sold at the craft sale, I was able to include a small sampling in my two outgoing parcels, but it’ll be up to me to make them myself if I want to include any more.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep going on the Christmas crafts for gifting.

WHAT I’M READING:
Last week I didn’t have a lot of time to read, but I did manage the 2-in-1 volume, A Wish For the Season, which included A Season For Grace by Linda Goodnight, and Heart of the Family by Margaret Daley. Once again I didn’t realize until after I’d bought it that it was a Love Inspired book. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, it’s just usually I like something with a little more bite to it.

And I started reading Unnatural Creatures, which is an anthology of stories not written by Neil Gaiman, but selected by him.

Goal For Next Week:
Start paying better attention to what kind of book I’m buying.

GOAL REVIEW:

Some of them may have been late, but I got all my posts done last week, and considering the week I had, that’s saying something.

It’s not surprising that I did no editing and no marketing, because that’s just the way things have been rolling lately.

I did a new poetry form, plus an extra poem for my poetry group meeting. Seven members showed up, which is almost twice what it’s been the last few months, so that was nice.

The crafting was a big, fat bust. I’d bought all this pasta so the granddaughter and I could make pasta snowflakes, and then she opted to play with the kittens instead of crafting. I did make a half-hearted attempt to make them myself, but all I had to go by was a picture, and I’m not sure what they used to stick the pasta together. Obviously not a glue gun. So . . . we’ll be eating a lot of pasta in the new year. LOL

The mother-in-law passed quietly last week, without fanfare or drama. The real drama will begin when the hypocritical drama llamas all gather for the funeral this coming week.

This will obviously make for a stressful week, but I’m still hoping to at least get my blog posts done.

Where’d That Track Go?

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
— Will Rogers

There are no wrong turnings. Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk.
— Guy Gavriel Kay

We're not lost. We're just headed somewhere different.
— Emily X.R. Pan

Look for chances to take the less-traveled roads. There are no wrong turns.
— Susan Magsamen

You know, it’s really hard to get back on track when you can’t find the track. It got buried somehow, or it’s covered in weeds, or maybe it was taken out by a rock slide.

I think the train is missing too.

It doesn’t take much to throw me off my game, and last week it was a lot of little things.

There was a change in my son-in-law’s work schedule, which meant there was a change in the babysitting schedule. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with my granddaughter. But I had my week planned around the old schedule.

And I have to I admit I was a little pre-occupied. I had car problems, it was extremely hot and humid, and I had to do some planning for a stitchery thing that’s happening today. Sounds kind of pathetic as excuses go when I lay them out like that, but it’s all I’ve got.

So here I sit on Saturday night, struggling with this post because I need to get it finished. I won’t have time to work on it in the morning (like I have in the past when I'm struggling), because I have someplace else to be.

And when I say struggling, I really mean it. I started this earlier in the day, so I had plenty of time to work on it, but I keep deleting the words as fast as I write them. I keep segueing into these whiny, angsty side stories that serve no purpose other than to let me vent and fill up the space with words.

So I have no sage-like words of wisdom for you today. No pithy comments or helpful hints. Just the observation that life is like that sometimes, and all we can do is carry on.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

Still don’t have a lot to report, but at least I got all my blog posts done last week.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 1,551+844+347+655=3,397
Poetry – 0

Total words: 3,397

Goals For Next Week:
Bring that total up – maybe try to add some bonus words.

EDITING:
0 pages
Due to time constraints, I did not get any editing done.

Goal For Next Week:
Get back to work on Magickal Mayhem.

MARKETING:
*sigh* No Marketing, unless you count the second poem I sent to be immortalized on a picnic table, but it’s a non-paying thing.

Goal For Next Week:
Submit two flash stories and one poem.

TECH & TRAINING:
No training, but there was a bit of tech. The granddaughter wore me down and I signed up for Disney+. After spending a couple of frustrating hours trying to get it to stream on my Toshiba FireTV, I turned to my good friend Google and learned that only Toshiba TVs made after 2018 have whatever it needs to stream it directly. Mine is a year, maybe two, older than that.

So I bought a Roku streaming device, but I haven’t had a chance to install it yet. Maybe it’s the annoyance factor that’s holding me back.

Oh! I forgot, I leaned how to customize the cut/paste in Word so it’s less annoying. And I finally got the document settings to stay when I open a new document.

Goal For Next Week:
Set up my Roku. Keep customizing Word.

POETRY WEDNESDAY:
Totally cheated by offering a poem/form I’d done previously, but it was so long ago that probably no one remembers.

Goal For Next Week:
Find a new form to share on my Wednesday blog post.

CRAFTING:
The granddaughter and I made hedgehogs out of pinecones and felt. Hers had a pink face, but I wanted mine to look more realistic so I gave it a black face. Hers looks better. LOL

I worked a bit on the cross stitch tablecloth I picked up at the stash sale, but only a little. The rest of my crafting time was spent getting myself organized for today – I’m joining five other ladies from my stitchery guild in a sewing circle at Lang Pioneer Village as part of a living display showcasing trousseaus. I bought a pair of pillowcases to embroider.

Goal For Next Week:
Work on the cancer afghan I started before my break. Get the sewing machine working and finish my skirt and blouse.

WHAT I’M READING:
I seem to have my reading under control, only one book last week. The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, by Phaedra Patrick, was a delightful (I was going to say charming) story of a widower who, on the anniversary of his wife’s death, decided it was finally time to deal with her belongings. Hidden in her closet he finds a gold charm bracelet he can’t recall her ever wearing. He becomes intrigued with it, and sets out to learn more about the individual charms. In the process he learns his wife had an entire life he knew nothing about.

I liked the way he forced himself to keep moving forward, even when he didn’t think he wanted to know the truth. And I loved his own personal growth. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Goal For Next Week:
Update my Goodreads account!

GOAL REVIEW:

Once again I didn’t get as much writing done as I’d hoped to, and I got no editing done. My desk needs cleaning off again because I kept printing stuff and then leaving it there instead of whatever I was supposed to do with it.

Kind of slacked off on the crafting and gardening too. I should really post a picture of how sad and pathetic my garden looks, and I have no idea why.

I have to admit, I’ve been pretty pre-occupied with the stitchery thing at Lang. I don’t know why it’s making me so nervous. I guess it’s just I’ve never done anything like it before. If you want more details about it, check tomorrow’s post on my Other Blog.

Happy writing.

Re-charging the Batteries

Sometimes the best solution is to rest, relax and recharge. It’s hard to be your best on empty.
― Sam Glenn

If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race.
― Oprah Winfrey

Life is all about balance. You don’t always need to be getting stuff done. Sometimes it’s perfectly okay, and absolutely necessary, to shut down, kick back, and do nothing.
― Lori Deschene

Well. That didn’t exactly go as planned.

My plan was, I’d take July off and not worry about blogging. I had some sort of vision of using all that free time for other writerly things – finish the edits on Magickal Mayhem and maybe start the ones on Elemental Spirit, get a few blog posts written ahead of time so I don’t always feel like I’m having to catch up, get a few installments ahead in my serial story – and maybe do some non-writerly things – clean up my office and get things organized (again!), get some sewing done, get some gardening done . . .

Turns out I don’t spend all that much time blogging after all. I just feel the crunch a lot of the time because I’m a big ‘ole procrastinator who tends to leave things for the last minute. Even when I start working on a blog post the night before, it’s usually late at night so not only am I feeling the pressure, I’m feeling super tired as well.

The other part of the plan that did not go as intended, I didn’t just take a break from blogging, I ended up taking a break from all things writing-related. I wrote one poem (because I had to for the poetry group) and a few notes for the serial story, and that was it.

I think it’s important to take a break once in awhile to recharge and renew your spirit, and even though my off time didn’t go as planned, I think I needed it. I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the pressure of all these expectations, mostly my own, and I needed to just step back for a bit and let go.

Last time the pressure started to build up I escaped into books. This time, in the beginning at least, I escaped into my needlework. Not exactly doing all the writing I’d planned on, but still creative in its own way. And while I did read a lot, I was able to take it at a slower pace and – be still my heart – none of the books I read were by Nora Roberts!

So. I got some sewing done, it’s been way too hot to do any gardening (not that my garden is doing well anyway), and I did get some organizing done in my office. And I came back from my hiatus with my batteries charged and I’m ready to get back to work.

Going forward, I think I’m going to start looking for ways to relieve the pressure I put myself under so it doesn’t build up again. I was going to say I’d take one day a week for this, but I think scheduling time to relax would be kind of counterproductive. Instead, maybe I’ll try one guilt-free thing every day, where I indulge myself without feeling guilty – a couple of hours of reading, coffee with a friend, a walk along the waterfront . . .

Relaxing without guilt – what better way to recharge your batteries?

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

Well, really. I feel like a bit of a fraud, filling out this writing report. I’m still just getting back into the swing of things, so I don’t have all that much to report.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 553+650+182+696=2,081
Poetry – 85 (included in blog post)

Total words: 2,081

Goals For Next Week:
Bring that total up – maybe try to add some bonus words.

EDITING:
? pages
Here’s the thing. I did get some editing done on Magickal Mayhem, but it was a swath of pages, mostly done in one day, and I didn’t think to keep track of just how many. But let me assure you, progress has been made.

Goal For Next Week:
Get back to work on Magickal Mayhem.

MARKETING MONDAY:
When last I posted I’d talked about removing this from the report. I think my problem is limiting myself to one day. So maybe instead of Marketing Monday, this will just be Marketing, so I don’t feel like Mondays are the only days I can submit anything.

Goal For Next Week:
Submit two flash stories and one poem.

TECHNO TUESDAY:
Again, limiting myself to one day a week for all things technical may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but in practice it just doesn’t make sense. So this one will be changed to Tech & Training, because going forward I’d like to try learning something new every week.

That being said, I actually did spend time doing techy stuff while I was off, and I was forced to learn a few things. Like, Staples sucks (don’t get me started on what they put me through when I took my lap top to them to make sure it was virus free). I learned that when Lenovo pre-loads programs onto the computers you buy from them, they don’t give you product key for those products. However, it is possible to download them again. Of course re-downloading MS Office also meant I have to personalize it all over again.

Also, I’m not too thrilled McAfee right now either. My paid-for version was replaced with a trial version, and I was not able to make the stupid thing understand I was paying for it already. So when the trial ran out I ended going with a different program.

Goal For Next Week:
Learn something new. Keep customizing Word.

POETRY WEDNESDAY:
How fortunate that I had a gathering with my poet friends a couple of weeks ago. I had my poem all ready to go, I just needed to write the post about it. No, I do not consider it cheating. LOL

Goal For Next Week:
Find a new form to share on my Wednesday blog post.

CRAFTING:
Okay, it would be cheating if I went over all the crafting I did during my break, so I’ll stick to the past week. Which means I can’t talk about the sundress I took apart, made a skirt out of the bottom, and started a sleeveless blouse (which I embroidered) to go with it. And then my sewing machine broke down. *sigh*

At the end of June, my stitchery guild had a stash sale and I picked up several stitchery kits. One of them was a square tablecloth with a stamped cross stitch pattern. It had already been started, but just a small portion, so I took it with me to World Embroidery Day – an event my guild celebrated by stitching in the park. I realized that whoever started it had not followed the colour guide, so I spent most of my time picking the stitches out. That’s been an ongoing thing since, but yesterday I finished the picking and I’m ready to start stitching.

Goal For Next Week:
Work on the cancer afghan I started before my break. Get the sewing machine working and finish my skirt and blouse.

WHAT I’M READING:
OMG You have got to be kidding me! I read a bunch of books. And the worst part is, I haven’t been keeping my Goodreads account updated, so I’m going to be a couple of hours making a huge dump of books on it. Those that I can remember.

I kind of divided my time between tree books and my Kindle, and while the tree books have a physical presence for my list, I didn’t always remember to write down what I was reading on my Kindle. Oops!

Goal For Next Week:
Keep better track of books, going forward.

GOAL REVIEW:

Well, I guess the only goals I can refer back to are my expectations of what I was going to do during my hiatus. So that would be all the stuff from the beginning of this post.

While I didn’t get the writing done I’d hoped to, I did get some editing done, so there’s that at least. I got my office cleaned and kind of organized again, and I got some crafting done. Didn’t do a lot of gardening because it was too hot and there wasn’t much to do – pulled the spinach that went to seed before I could use any of it, and I’ve picked the beans twice.

All things considered . . . I’ve done worse on my goals. And I have a whole week to do better.

Happy writing.

Lesson Learned

We all have challenges and battles in our life. Sometimes the lesson is less about defeating them and more about learning not to defeat ourselves.
― Brittany Burgunder

The Universe is one great kindergarten for man. Everything that exists has brought with it its own peculiar lesson.
— Orison Swett Marden

I believe that there's a lesson in almost everything that you do and every experience, and getting the lesson is how you move forward.
— Oprah Winfrey

I have a story to tell, one that does not leave me in a good light, but it contains a valuable lesson.

Last Sunday I spent the afternoon working on a cross stitch project that makes my eyes buggy. Using my reading glasses helps some, but it takes a long time for my eyes to re-adjust to normal again. Or as normal as my eyes get without glasses. This is an important thing to note because it impacts what happened later.

It was after dinner. I was sitting in my recliner and seeing as there hadn’t been a whole lot going on during the previous week I decided to skip my Monday blog post and work on my three-minute words instead because I was a couple of words behind. So I had my writing journal open on my lap, because that’s where I write my three-minute words.

Anyway, I as I was contemplating my next word I was sipping my mug of tea - not an 8 ounce mug, or even a 10 ounce mug. No, it was my 16 ounce mug. I guess my eyes were more tired that I realized and I closed them for just a second. Next thing I know I have a flood of tea covering me. Good thing it was drinking temperature and I didn't get burned.

My chair was soaked. My jeans were soaked. The floor was soaked. The tea ran right over the top page of my writing journal. What a mess! And I should also mention that when I do the three-minute words in my journal I like to use coloured pens, to set them apart from the other stuff in there. And unlike last year's journal where I used coloured ball point pens for prompts, etc., this year I splurged on a set of coloured fountain pens. Which means, as you've probably guessed already, the scene I was writing got washed away.

By the time I got everything cleaned up – which included having to go upstairs and change out of my jeans because they were the hardest hit by the tea – I had no idea what I’d written for that scene. Which means, of course, it was probably the best scene of the whole story. LOL

I can be grateful for two things: that my journal is wire bound and I had it folded so only the top page was facing up, and the journal pages are extra thick. So I only lost that one scene. It did, however, take the rest of the evening to dry out. But you can be sure when I did finally rewrite that scene, it was with a ballpoint pen.

Anyone need a set of coloured fountain pens?

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

I have six journal entries for Elemental Spirit and I was lucky to get those done because I spent most of my time working on my stitchery. If I could be as single minded about my writing as I am about other things, I’d have a stack of books to my credit by now.

I skipped the Monday post on my other blog last Monday because I just didn’t have anything interesting to say. Some weeks are like that.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 1014+1058=2,072
Elemental Spirit – 669 words
Total words: 2,741 words

Three minute words – 121+149+151+121+126+116+125=909

Goals For Next Week:
Finish Christmas story, keep working on journal entries, maybe write a poem.

EDITING:
Do the journal entries I did for Elemental Spirit count for editing? No, I didn’t think so. *sigh*

Goal For Next Week:
Actually do some edits on Elemental Spirit

MARKETING MONDAY:
I had an appointment with the optometrist on Monday. As I might have mentioned, I broke my glasses a few weeks ago and for the record, Gorilla Glue does not work on everything. So I was mostly going without glasses, but for driving I used my prescription glasses from about ten years ago. The optometrist put three different kinds of drops in my eyes – I was lucky I made it home in one piece, even with my old glasses. Anyway, that pretty much took care of anything that required me to see clearly the rest of the day. In other words, no marketing last Monday.

Goal For Next Week:
Submit two stories and one poem.

TECHNO TUESDAY:
I finally got the charger for my Paperwhite, so the only excuse I have for not setting it up during was that I made my stitchery a priority.

Goal For Next Week:
Set up Paperwhite

CRAFTING:
We’re having the first in-person meeting of the stitchery guild in two years, and I really don’t want to show up with nothing for “stitch and tell” so I spent most of last week working on the cross stitch challenge we were given. I could have had it finished Saturday morning, but I thought it would look better with lace around the edge. So I checked out my stash and found some lace. After spending several hours attaching said lace, I realized it did not look better and ended up ripping it off again and refinishing it with just a felt backing.

Goal For Next Week:
Work on embroidery on granddaughter’s dress.

WHAT I’M READING:
No Noras last week! I’d say it was a miracle, but the truth is I just didn’t have time for extra reading because I was so intent on my cross stitch.

On the Kindle. I finished Her Cowboy Prince, by Trish Milburn. Now I’m back to the dragons with Becoming Dragon by Eve Langlais. It’s a definite twist on the whole shifter thing. The hero starts out as a gator shifter, who’s genetically altered with dragon DNA.

GOAL REVIW:
Well look at that. I reached one of my goals – I finished one of my stitchery projects. Too bad it was at the expense of pretty much everything else. *sigh*

But I didn’t get my Christmas story done, and didn’t get around to checking out any other contests. Hopefully I'll do better on the week ahead.

Have a happy writing week.

Facing Facts

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
— Mark Twain

Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.
— Soren Kierkegaard

People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe.
— Andy Rooney

It’s a funny thing. When I first came up with the title for this post, I was facing the fact that I was in a writing slump. However, since then I kinda pulled myself out of it. Go figure, eh?

It wasn’t that I was lacking in ideas, I was just lacking in the motivation to do anything with them. One of the reasons for that was that I was in another of my reading binges. While a writer should do a certain amount of reading, I was doing an excessive amount. Not quite as bad as last year where I spent the first couple of months doing nothing but read, but bad enough.

And once again I put the blame squarely at the feet of Nora Roberts. I don’t know what it is about her books, but there are about a dozen of them that I have read and reread and I still can’t seem to put them down once I pick them up. But I’ve been trying to force myself to slow the reading down. The books aren’t going anywhere and I have all the time in the world to read them.

I actually made it three whole days without picking up a Nora Roberts book. Of course I made up for it by spending a little more time with my Kindle, but it was easier to pull myself away from. One thing for sure, I will be staying away from the Nora Roberts trilogies for now. My binging resistance is pretty low as it is, I’d never be able to resist binging on the trilogies.

The other reason for the writing slump is that I was fighting off some kind of bug that was making me super tired and head-achy. It was really hard to focus. It didn’t matter if I was writing long hand or on the computer, I just couldn’t seem to concentrate on what I was doing.

So, thinking the tiredness might be a blood sugar thing, I paid better attention to what I was eating (ie, controlling the snacking). I also cut out coffee, not that I take sugar in my coffee, but I’ve had issues with it in the past.

I don’t know if it was that or the bug just ran its course, but whatever it was, I’m finally feeling a little more alert – less tired and better able to focus. So while the first half of the week was a write-off (no pun intended), I did much better for the last half of the week.

Of course maybe it was all just mind over matter. :-)

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

I probably still did more reading than anything else, but the good news is that I did get other things accomplished. And this included a time-consuming family obligation and dealing with a sick cat.

I got Monday’s post done, but still nothing on Wednesday yet. To be honest, I didn’t even give Wednesday a passing thought. And if you look at the word counts on my three minute words you’ll notice one of them is more like a ten minute word. I really wanted to end Friday’s post on a cliff hanger so I just kept going.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 878+506+1024=2,408

Three minute words – 121+106+100+262+101+119+118=927
Total words: 2,408 words

EDITING:
Be still my heart. I actually took a long look at An Elemental Spirit, and I was surprised to see that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. I guess I must have done a bit of editing on it after it was done. And I included lots of notes in the folder as well. The only downside is that I forgot this is one of the books where I was going to start each chapter with a journal entry. Or maybe I didn’t forget, maybe I just blocked it out.

At any rate, that’s where I’m going to start, with the journal entries. Both An Elemental Fire and An Elemental Water start each chapter with journal entries, and I remember spending as much time on them as I was on the actual chapters, just so they’d fit. But these will be a little different because they’re not journal entries per se, but excerpts from historical documents.

MARKETING MONDAY:
I received numerous links through my email from groups I belong to or newsletters I’ve signed up for and I checked out several only to find that for one reason or another, my work does not suit their publications. I might be able to tweek one or two of them to fit, but that’s still no guarantee.

In any case, one of the markets was a call for stories about monsters. I recalled one of my NaNo stories was about a were-alligator, but unfortunately I had no idea which one. My stories all had titles like: Story 1, Story 2, Story 3, etc. So I spent considerable time making a list of what these stories were about, which will be helpful going forward.

TECHNO TUESDAY:
Tuesday I checked out some online courses. Does that count? That was also the day I had to deal with the sick cat. Hopefully, next Tuesday will be more technically successful.

WHAT I’M READING:
I read Sacred Sins and Brazen Virtue, by Nora Roberts, and just started Carnal Innocence, also by Nora Roberts. See? Slowing down.

On the Kindle I finished Wings of Stone, by J.D. Monroe, and started A Mate For the Christmas Dragon, by Zoe Chant.

GOALS
Last Week’s Results:
For crafting I got about a foot done on my afghan, and I’m ready to start the second set of stripes. I actually did take a look at my Christmas story and moved a few things around so I can start expanding, but that’s as far as I got. Still no Wednesday post. While I didn’t get any of the edits/rewrites done on Elemental Spirit, I did get things organized so I can dive right in.

Goals For the Week Ahead:
1. Spend time crafting every day.
2. Work on the Christmas story
3. Come up with a Wednesday post
4. Start the edits/rewrites on Elemental Spirit

Have a happy writing week.

Done!

Finishing something will give you satisfaction. Finishing something important to you will give you meaning. A meaningful life is a good life.
— Maxime Lagace

Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.
— Theodore Isaac Rubin

To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.
— Samuel Beckett

Apparently, having a new chair was all the impetus I needed to get that final push on to finish my office. My office is finally cleaned and organized. Woot! I guess there was just something about that brand new chair behind that messy desk, sitting on a floor covered in paper shreds and junk.

So, just to jog your memory, here’s what my desk looked like before:

And here’s what it looks like now:

I thinned out the keepsakes on the back of the desk, and dealt with all the papers, etc. on the desk. There’s only one of the cloth baskets on top of the printer, but once I get it emptied again it should look a little neater.

And here’s the view from the other side of the desk before:

And here’s what it looks like now:

Quite the difference, eh? You can actually see the floor now. LOL

And finally, we have my reading area before:

And after:

So much more appealing!

I’d like to say now that my office is livable again I’ve been going to town on the writing, but that would be a lie. While I have been spending more time in there, I haven’t been doing a lot of writing, at least not the creative kind. I’ve been doing letters and emails and catching up on my journals, and a lot of puttering around.

I’ve been fighting off a bug that’s making me super tired and head-achy, which makes it really hard to focus.

Hopefully, this week I’ll do better.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

Once again I did more crocheting and reading than writing, but like I said above, I’ve been tired and head-achy. I don’t know if it’s the weather, a bad sinus cold, or heck, maybe it’s COVID. But whatever it is, I’m getting tired of it.

I got Monday’s post done, but nothing on Wednesday so far. I’ve had a couple of ideas, but nothing I want to commit myself to yet.

I had an epiphany regarding a series I started many years ago and then kind of got stuck and abandoned. It’s science fiction romance and bodes to span multiple volumes. In fact, my elemental series is an offshoot from it, as is one of my NaNo novels. So at least my mind is headed in the right direction.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 1043+492+962=2,497

Three minute words – 121+140+131+137+109+114+117=869
Total words: 2,497 words

EDITING:
*sigh*

Once again the only editing I did was the story for Friday’s post. I have been thinking about Elemental Spirit though, as in considering ways to start it and who the main focus is going to be.

WHAT I’M READING:
I finished Shelter in Place, by Nora Roberts, and then picked up Growl (Feral Passions #1), by Eve Langlais, Kate Douglas, and A.C. Arthur. I love me some alpha shifters! Then I read the Liar, also by Nora Roberts.

On the Kindle I finished The Dragon Prince of Alaska by Elva Birch and started Wings of Stone, by J.D. Monroe, which is also about dragon shifters.

GOALS
Last Week’s Results:
Well, I think the three-minute-words are a given, considering I’m serializing them on my blog. And for crafting I started a new afghan. And that’s pretty much it, but the upside of the crocheting is that it keeps me from wasting my time gaming.

New Ones For the Week Ahead:
The whole “hour a day” thing I mentioned at the beginning of the year sounded good in theory, but it’s just not happening. Instead, I’m going to create Marketing Mondays, where I spend part of the day, probably the afternoon, investigating markets and/or submitting my work.

And I admitted to my best bud Jamie the number of electronic devices I have that are just sitting around collecting dust, and she advised me to suck it up and learn how to use them. LOL Realizing she has a point, I’m also going to initiate Techno Tuesdays, where I learn a new skill or how something works. Last week it was Zoom – I met online with my stitchery group and not only was it easier than I expected, it was kind of fun.

1. Crochet in moderation.
2. Expand Christmas story
3. Come up with a Wednesday post
4. Start the edits/rewrites on Elemental Spirit

Wish me luck.

Taking Note

Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.
— Will Self

I keep threatening to keep a formal journal, but whenever I start one it instantly becomes an exercise in self-consciousness. Instead of a journal I manage to have dozens of notebooks with bits and pieces of stories, poems, and notes. Almost every thing I do has its beginning in a notebook of some sort, usually written on a bus or train.
— Walter Dean Myers

Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter. And lead pencil markings endure longer than memory.
— Jack London

While one of the previous weeks was all about getting my filing system organized, this past week was all about notebooks.

So . . . at the beginning of my organization blitz one of the things I did was gather up the various notebooks I had laying around my office and throw them in a bin. Some of these notebooks were untouched, but a lot of them were in various stages of being used.

I started my writing career using notebooks, writing in long hand, and I’ll still use a notebook to work out an idea or a poem, or to play around with writing prompts. Once the idea (or whatever) is used, I just put a line through the page (or pages) so I don’t accidentally re-use it.

Unfortunately, I don’t always use the same notebook, hence the stack of partially used ones. So if there were only a couple of pages used, I ripped them out (filing them in the appropriate folder) and then saved the rest of the notebook. But some of the notebooks had too many pages to do this with, so these ones I put in one of the drawers in the wire cart to be used up.

The little notebooks/notepads at the front are blank. They’re intended for quick notes of stuff I want to keep track of/remember but they’re not important enough to go into one of the larger notebooks – names, phone numbers, book titles to look for, etc.

But I still had a bunch of empty notebooks/notepads of various sizes that I didn't know what to do with. I had a box of unused notebooks in my closet so I figured I'd start by seeing if I could just add them to it.

So I take the box out of the closet and see behind it a large plastic bin with the word "Notebooks" taped to it. No ... tell me it ain’t so!

From left to right we have: Cambridge top wire bound 8 X 11 lined pads, Hilroy 8 X 11 single subject notebooks, lined notepads (to be used in a clip board), extra thick steno pads (top), hard bound 6 x 9 notebooks, and the bottom has a couple more hard bound notebooks and some 5 x 8 lined notepads. Beside that bin is the original box of notebooks I had in the closet.

There was no room in either box or bin for the extra, partially used notebooks I’d collected, so I generously stashed them in the black cabinet we use for more supplies in the hubby’s office across the hall. They go nicely with all the plastic report covers, stack of wire bound single subject notebooks, and 8 x 11 notepads I’d already stashed in there.

Mental note: I am not allowed to buy another notepad or notebook ever again. Well, you know, unless I really, really can’t resist. But it’s comforting to know that if we ever get hit by that solar storm that’s supposed to wipe out all electronics, I’ll be set for life with writing supplies, because I also have a drawer full of pens. :-D

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

Last week’s excuse for not getting any writing done was spending so much time duplicating Pillow Cat for the grandbaby (see that story HERE), this week it was working on an afghan for my mother-in-law’s birthday. But I still managed to do my three-minute words every day, so I guess that’s something.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 829+781+928=2,538
Three minute words – 111+119+111+127+129+110+115=822
Total words: 2,538 words

EDITING:
*sigh*

Once again the only editing I did was the story for Friday’s post.

WHAT I’M READING:
Despite the fact I tried to read slowly, I finished Stop the World, Snapshots From A Pandemic, edited by Lise McClendon. This was a combination of personal essays, anecdotes, and fiction, all centered on the pandemic. It’s a powerful book and I think in the years to come it, and books like it, are going to be an important reminder of what life was like during the pandemic.

On the Kindle I’m reading Ember’s Curse, by Gena D. Lutz. This is a yummy book with both werewolves and vampires, and the only reason I haven’t finished it already is because it’s the book I’m reading while riding the exercise bike and I’m exerting a great deal of self-control by limiting my reading to bike time only.

It’s a double edged sword, reading the Kindle while biking. The more I’m enjoying the book, the more likely I am not to skip my workout. But if I enjoy the book too much, I’ll keep reading the book (after my workout) until it’s done and then I’m stuck having to find another interesting book.

LAST WEEK’S GOALS
I nailed the first two goals from last week: I aced the three-minute words and I worked diligently on my mother-in-law’s afghan. But alas, once again that’s as good as it gets.

THIS WEEK’S GOALS
1. Continue with the three minute word, and continue the cave story.
2. Finish my mother-in-law’s afghan.
3. Start the edits/rewrites on Elemental Spirit.
4. Look into online courses.
5. Work on expanding my Christmas story.

Happy writing.

The Organization Blues

For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.
— Benjamin Franklin

A good system shortens the road to the goal.
— Orison Swett Marden

Being organized isn’t about getting rid of everything you own or trying to become a different person: it’s about living the way you want to live, but better.
— Andrew Mellen

Once again I’m on that road that’s paved by good intentions. *sigh*

The organizing of my office is going much slower than I counted on.

Part of the blame lies with the weather. It’s been grey and rainy, grey and cold, and grey and windy. It sucked all my energy away. I didn’t even get any snow to brighten things up a bit. So my heart hasn’t really been in it. In fact, Wednesday, even though my new cart, the proper cart, arrived, I spent the day reading.

The rest of the blame lies solely with me. I want to get this right so I’m doing a major overhaul of my filing system, as well finding homes for various papers and notebooks, and “stuff” that’s scattered around. It is painstaking and time consuming, and yesterday I thought I was making good progress and then discovered two bins of “stuff” on the other side of my desk.

One thing about taking my time and going through all my files, I’m finding things I’d forgotten about. Granted some of them are stories so terrible they’re best left forgotten, but still. I also found a couple of folders of ideas I’d forgotten about, and some of them weren’t so bad.

So needless to say, I’m not doing all that great on my daily goals, spending an hour a day writing, editing, leaning, reading, and crafting. I probably spend, on average, at least an hour a day reading and crafting, and I’ve been writing for three minutes a day to a one word prompt, but editing and learning have kind of fallen by the way side.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

While the only new words I have to show for my week are the ones I did for the one word prompts, a funny thing happened halfway through the week. I’m not sure if I mentioned it in my goals post, but one of the things I want to do is write a flash story each week. Why not kill two birds with one stone and do the story using my three-minute word exercises? I can continue the story each day.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 876+483+324=1,683
Three minute words = 72+98+95+82+76+102+94=919
Total words: 2,602 words

As you may have noticed, I haven’t started a new Wednesday blog series yet. And I probably won’t for a while yet. And while I haven’t been burning up the keyboard with new words, I’ve at least been getting my daily word exercise done.

EDITING:
I’m actually looking forward to finishing the organizing so I can dive into my editing, although I’m thinking it’s more re-writing than editing proper. An Elemental Spirit is an elemental mess, and I really want to rewrite my little Christmas romance story to turn it into the story it was meant to be. Also, I’m not sure how to chart my editing – hours spent? Pages done? I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

WHAT I’M READING:
The book I read on Wednesday was The Obsession, by Nora Roberts. It’s one of my favorites and I just had the urge to read it again. I also read The Cat Who Saved Books, by Sosuke Natsukawa. This was my book flood present to myself. Every once in awhile I like to step out of my reading comfort zone, and this was a pleasant change of pace.

On the Kindle I’ve been reading Touch A Dark Wolf, by Jennifer St. Giles. It’s a paranormal suspense, with a little romance thrown in. To be honest, I find it a little confusing because there’s so much backstory going on.

LAST WEEK’S GOALS
I guess I’ve already touched on the goals from last week. While I didn’t do any editing or learning, I did a little writing and a lot of reading and crafting, working on the afghan I started when we first got Amazon Prime. With any luck, I’ll have it done this week.

THIS WEEK’S GOALS
1. Continue with the three minute word, maybe even expand it to five minutes.
2. Keep up the good work reading and crafting.
3. Start the edits/rewrites on Elemental Spirit.
4. Look into online courses.

Happy writing.