Action Plans and Deadlines

A strategy is an action plan of what you want to achieve and how. It defines where you want to see yourself in the long-term and how you are going to use your resources, skills and competencies to achieve that.
― Pooja Agnihotri

Your action plan is your roadmap. It helps you get the wheels in motion, and it steers you toward long-term success: consistent, intentional practice. This is your path to creating and sustaining healthy habits that fuel you to keep going.
― Melissa Steginus

Dreams without deadlines are dead in the water. Deadlines are really lifelines to achieving our goals.
― Mark Batterson

A few weeks ago I talked about setting goals to “stay in the light” and I think it’s about time I came up with my plan of action for this. An action plan outlines precisely how you’re going to accomplish your goals. And as I’m figuring out my plan of action, I’m realizing that first I’ll need to better define my goals.

Simply put, a goal is a dream with a deadline. Not only is it a vision of the future, it’s a vision that is time-sensitive. And this is one of the things I fall short on. I have all kinds of lists of things I want to accomplish, but none of them have deadlines.

Without a deadline, your work is never over. The power of deadlines leads your work to completion.
― Thomas Vato

I find this is true. I tell myself that I want to edit An Elemental Spirit and get it out there, but because I haven’t set a deadline for it, nothing’s getting done. Look how long it took me to finish Magical Mayhem. There was no deadline, so there was no rush to do it.

Frankly, I’ve always worked better under a deadline, and you’d think I’d know this by now. Have to get my poetry post finished for Wednesday? No problem. Having that deadline helps me make it a priority. The granddaughter’s ball dress needs to be done by Wednesday so she can try it on? All it takes is working at it in stages and it gets done on time.

You know what folks? I think I’m having a epiphany here.

An action plan is useful for anyone who needs a step-by-step planning process. When you create one, you’re detailing exactly what actions you need to take to reach your goal.

Action plan for granddaughter’s dress: 1. Buy fabric. 2. Figure out pattern. 3. Cut material. 4. Sew bodice first. 5. Sew in invisible zipper. 6. Sew skirt. 7. Have granddaughter try on bodice to check fit. 8. Make adjustments. 9. Sew skirt to bodice. Done.

By breaking it down into these steps, I reached my goal. But do all goals need an action plan to accomplish them? I think it depends on the goal. Something like, “Write new poem by Wednesday” can’t be broken down into steps. I just need to sit down and write. But something like, “Edit Elemental Spirit” could, theoretically at least, be broken down into steps: create Ilezie prophecy; figure out journal entries from archival records; re-write beginning; edit the body of the book.

Maybe the steps aren’t as impressive as the action plan for sewing the dress, but they’re steps that need to be taken, and in that order. I’ve just been flitting from one step to another and back again, getting nothing done. I need to sit down with a calendar and figure out my deadlines. For instance, if I want the book finished to be released in the new year, then I have a six month deadline over all, which can be broken up into two month step-by-step deadlines.

While an action plan seems more conducive to big goals than little ones, I still need to start setting deadlines for my smaller goals. And I need to make a weekly writing “to do” list when I write this post because half of the stuff I say I’ll do on here doesn’t get done because I simply forget I was going to do it. Out of sight, out of mind. But a list, especially a list taped to my lap desk, would help me considerably.

So goals, deadlines, and plans of action. Guess we know what I’ll be working on this week.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
I don’t really have a word that describes last week. Roller coaster maybe? It was certainly up and down.

Even though I didn’t get much accomplished writing-wise other than blog posts, it was a fairly busy week. I caught up on a few things and made not one, but two batches of jam – haskap berries that I bought, and raspberries that I picked myself.

I squeezed my poetry post in between a road trip with my stitchery group and an outing with the hubby to go see the new Indiana Jones movie – excellent movie, by the way. And a most satisfying wrap-up to the series.

I spent an entire afternoon deciding which pioneer woman costume to buy from Amazon for another stitchery event at Lang Pioneer Village at the end of August. So many to choose from! My top two favorites were both made from 100% polyester. I wouldn’t have lasted half a day in either of them, what with synthetic, non-breathable fabric and my aversion to heat. But my third choice was a more reasonable 100% cotton and comes with a matching bonnet.

So . . . lots of stuff to keep me busy, but very little of it had to do with writing. Although I did spend an entire day in my office. I guess that’s progress.

NEW WORDS:
1600+879+229+835=3,543
DOWN 176 – words from last week

Still down a bit, but not as much as last week. The only time I felt rushed was for my poetry post because I had to squeeze it into a relatively short space of time.

I’ve been keeping up with my morning pages, but other than getting me into the habit of starting my day with 15 minutes of writing, I’m not sure they’re helping any. I’ve never actually read the book the idea came from, but I think I’m going to. Flipping through it, I see that there are other exercises as well. Couldn’t hurt, could it?

Goals For Next Week:
Get my blog posts written and maybe a few other words as well.

EDITING:
0 hours

So . . . I don’t know what it is with me and the whole editing thing, but I’m not taking it off my list because I will get to it eventually.

Goal For Next Week:
Get to work on Elemental Spirit or some other piece that’s collecting dust.

POETRY:
I did actually have my form picked out early last week, but it was a combination of two other forms I hadn’t done yet, so I wanted to do them first to use as a reference. So I started one of the other two forms, but I was taking too long with the example poem so I switched to the simpler of the two forms. Not only was I able to get it done with time to spare, I really liked my example poem.

Goal For Next Week:
Get the other form ready to share.

CRAFTING:
Getting the baker’s rack set up does not seem to be a priority with me because I never even gave it a thought last week.

My stitchery group met up at a home based needlework supply store last Tuesday where we spent the day sitting around a long table stitching and gossiping. I started working on one of the stitchery kits and ended up quite pleased with my work. I also managed to do a bit more of it during the week.

I left my sewing machine out after finishing the granddaughter’s dress, and I actually have the urge to do a little sewing for myself. Namely, a couple of skirts for the fall. I thought briefly about making my costume for the trip to Lang Pioneer Village, but I don’t think it would have been any cheaper than buying one. For sure it would be less frustrating.

Goal For Next Week:
Continue on my sampler and the kit I started. Maybe check out my patterns and material stash for possibilities.

WHAT I’M READING:
I finally updated my Goodreads and I’m 8 books ahead on my pledge to read a book a week this year. It would have been 10 books ahead, but two of the books I read I read previously – I knew they sounded familiar. ;-)

In tree books I read Legacy, by Nora Roberts, and I’ve made a good start on The Boy in the Rain, by Stephanie Cowell.

On the Kindle, I finished Black List, by Lynn Raye Harris, and I’m halfway through A Hacker, Vampire, and Chimera Walk Into a Bar, by R.K. Munin.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep up the good reading habits.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

I refuse to let myself be ruled by the weather any longer. So no matter what the weather is like in the week ahead, I’m determined to get some writing done. The day I spent in my office last week? It was pouring rain all day. So I’ve proved I can ignore the negative influence of the weather.

As well, I’d really like to at least get a start on some editing. I’ve been dragging my heels over it way too long, but it’s kind of out of sight, out of mind. I don’t have it right in front of me, so my mind just moves on to other things. Maybe I should try printing out at least a section of Elemental Spirit so I can’t ignore it.

This week’s poetry form is actually done, except for the example poem. And oh, gee, the example poem will also double as my poemwork for an upcoming poetry group meeting. Funny how things like that just work out.

But something else I’d like to start thinking about again, as far as poetry goes, is a poetry book. When I was at one of the poetry workshops at Writersfest, I made some notes about themes for a poetry book or two, and I need to look them up and maybe start going through my poems. And I just realized I forgot all about sending my invented form off for consideration. Guess that goes on the list for this week as well.

I tried to limit my Kindle reading to riding the stationary bike, and it mostly worked, but I got impatient to finish the book I’d been plugging away at all week. Then yesterday I wasn’t feeling well, so I started a new book on my Kindle and I was halfway through before I realized it. This week I’d like to slow it down a bit and focus on the tree book I started.

I may not be close to being back on track, but I think I’m at least moving in the right direction.

Nothing But Time

Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once, and its string might sail out of your hands forever.
― Anthony Doerr

How tragic it is to find that an entire lifetime is wasted in pursuit of distractions while purpose is neglected.
― Sunday Adelaj

Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.
— Harvey Mackay

Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.
― Haruki Murakami

Sometimes I lie awake before getting up in the morning, and I have to try to remember what day it is. Don’t worry, it’s not a sign of dementia or Alzheimer’s. It’s just really easy to lose track of time when all you have is nothing BUT time.

It sounds like a strange thing to be complaining about, doesn’t it? Having too much free time on one’s hands. But sometimes it can be a real problem for me.

And no, I don’t want suggestions of what I could be doing with my time. I know all the things I could be doing, but when the depression gets bad I don’t want to do any of them. At least I’ve learned not to beat myself up over my lack of accomplishment on these days, because that just leads to a downward spiral.

This is where making lists comes in handy. They help keep me focused on keeping busy, which helps stave off the depression. Too bad it doesn’t work for writing though. And I sort of fell behind in my list making the last couple of weeks, so I haven’t really accomplished all that much. Or at least that’s the way it feels.

Fortunately, I bit the bullet and made myself a new list. Now I just have to generate enough get-up-and-go to start working my way through it.

And that, apparently is the key – keeping busy.

Research has shown that free time makes a person feel better, but this feeling levels off after two hours, and begins to decline after five. Less than two hours of free time will stress you out, but more than five will lower your sense of well being.

A study made in 2016 showed that having too much free time can lead to boredom, anxiety, procrastination, and depression. The lack of focus and discipline it engenders can cause you to adopt bad habits.

Experts agree that when faced with large blocks of free time you should deal with it by considering it an opportunity. You can learn a new skill, or take on a new hobby. Scheduling activities to do each day will not only activate you, it will give you a sense of accomplishment.

Just like I said – you need to keep busy or you’ll end up in that downward spiral. Like I am right now. And let me tell you, once you’re on the spiral it’s really hard to get off it again. So use your free time wisely.

What would you do if you had nothing but time?

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
In describing last week in one word, it would have to either be distracted or disappointing.

Disappointing in that once again I didn’t get any writing done aside from my blog posts. It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t have made time, but the distractions were many and towards the end of the week the black dog of depression sank its teeth into me and ate my ambition.

The distractions were, as I said, many. First up was a doctor’s appointment on Monday that was rather disappointing, especially when you consider how long I had to wait for it. This was one of those doctors who don’t listen and does not take into consideration that everyone is an individual and they may not respond to treatment in the same way as others do. We disagreed (strongly) about my treatment, and I came away feeling very discouraged. But I was also filled with determination to prove him wrong.

Another big distraction were the fires burning all around us. I live in a (no longer) small town on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Though Canada gets its fair share of forest fires, we have never been bothered by them before. This season, however, our air quality was severely impacted.

The first half of the week the mornings especially had a sepia tone to them because of the smoke. People were advised to stay in as much as possible and if they had to go out to wear a mask. School children were kept in at recess. When I went out in the car I had to wash the front and rear windows to get the powder fine ash off of them.

I gotta tell you, the colour of the light outside was kind of cool the first day or so, but then it devolved into creepy rather quickly. The fires in Quebec and northern Ontario weren’t very close to us, but there was still talk about what people should take with them if they needed to be evacuated.

Other distractions included a stitch-in at the library, a walk along the board walk with a couple of former gym buddies (the air was okay that day), taking my father-in-law shopping (twice), and a PA Day on Friday.

Of all the distractions though, I liked the last one best. I always love spending time with the granddaughter. She’s a really great kid. A little mercenary when it comes to helping out, but she’s got a really good heart.

NEW WORDS:
2128+582+344+882=3,936
DOWN 733 – words from last week

No surprise I was down on words. I didn’t have any problem writing my blog posts, I just didn’t have as much to say I guess. This week’s installment of Winter’s Child was 400 words less than the first installment, but the first one contained a 500 word introduction so I actually did better.

I think I only managed to start one day in my office, and my list making fell right off the map. At least I’m still keeping up with my morning pages though. They might be full of gibberish, but I’m doing them. Now, if I could just start writing a little bit more.

I did pull out a book of prompts I was given a few years ago. There are still plenty of prompts left in the book – maybe they can give my creativity a jump start.

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

EDITING:
0 hours

I am still stubbornly clinging to the hope that one of these days I’ll actually start editing something. Will this be the week? Maybe. I’ll have some extra time to do so.

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

POETRY:
This time I actually had an idea for the poem to go with my form of the week before I picked out the form. I’m just happy I was able to get them to work together. Just because you get an idea for a poem doesn’t always mean it’s suited to a particular form.

My poetry group has been trying to have a business meeting over the last couple of weeks, last week it was canceled because we’ve finally reached the time of year where we can meet outside but we were still under the air quality warning. I’m pretty sure we’re going to try again this week on Tuesday, and then there’s a poetry reading on Thursday.

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

CRAFTING:
I started the picture square on my sampler while at the stitch-in at the library, and then I didn’t like the satin stitch I was using on the stem of the flowers I was working on, so I had to pain-stakingly pick it all out again. One step forward, two steps back. *sigh*

I was supposed to get my baker’s rack on Wednesday – the father-in-law hired some movers to move it because he wasn’t having much luck pinning down his neighbor – but the job they had first thing in the morning ran longer than expected, so they didn’t have time.

They gave us a new day/time of Monday morning, so cross your fingers for me. Meanwhile, the father-in-law gave my four pairs of pants to him for him. I’m planning to hold them hostage for the safe delivery of my baker’s rack. :-)

When the granddaughter was here Friday I took her measurements so I could start her dress. And I double checked to make sure she wanted the sequins (she does). I’ve never sewn with sequins before, but from what I’ve seen, garments using the stretchy sequin material are usually pull on. I’m not going to be able to do that with this particular dress, and I have no idea how I’m going to get a zipper into it. Well, I do have an idea, but it’s going to be a pain in the butt.

Goal For Next Week:
Continue with my sampler; go to Fabricland for the netting for the granddaughter’s dress.

WHAT I’M READING:
I haven’t made much progress in One Dark Window, by Rachel Gillig. My interest waned a bit when I discovered the story is continue in a second (and probably a third) volume in the Shepherd King series. But I got distracted when I was writing about heat levels last week with Hot Spell, a paranormal romance anthology, and read that from cover to cover.

On my Kindle I ready Montana SEAL, by Elle James, and I’ve just started Bride Protector SEAL, which is book #2 in the Brotherhood Protector series.

There’s a big difference between a serial type series and a regular series. I usually try and avoid the serial type, unless I can buy all the books in the series at once. Otherwise, you’re left hanging with an incomplete story. The Shepherd King series is the serial type. The Brotherhood Protector series is a proper series, whereby the books are connected by the story thread, but each book can stand alone.

Goal For Next Week:
Maybe spend a little more time reading.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

With any luck (*knock on wood*), my baker’s rack will be delivered on Monday and I can get it all nicely set up in my craft room.

Tuesday I have the Annual General Meeting with the stitchery guild. This includes lunch at the golf course followed by a stash sale.

Then, starting Wednesday, I’ll be house sitting for the daughter while she and her family are in Halifax. Their dog is young enough he still needs to be crated when no one’s home, which means I’ll be feeling majorly guilty every time I have to go out – which shouldn’t be too often. It’s going to be weird though. She only lives a couple of blocks away, so it’s not like I’ll be going away for a week. And it would certainly be easier if I could sleep in my own bed, but even though the dog will be in his crate while I’m asleep, that wouldn’t feel right either.

On the other hand, my house is full of all my stuff, which is distracting. Maybe I’ll get more writing done at the daughter’s. Yeah, and maybe pigs will fly. LOL

I’ll still be able to do my morning pages though, and I can take my hand weights to work out with. Not sure what I’ll do about riding the bike though. I had thought I’d be walking the dog a couple of times a day, but apparently he’s a couch potato and I just need to take him out in the back yard a few times.

My list kind of went out the window, and I’m not sure that this week will be the time to try and get it back on track, but we’ll see.

The daughter doesn’t have network TV, only streaming services, so maybe I’ll be able to get a little more stitchery done. And by stitchery, I mean my sampler of course. I don’t want to be schlepping a bunch of stitchery supplies back and forth between houses.

So next week will be interesting, if nothing else. But I can’t help feeling that the track I’m supposed to be getting back on is slipping further away.

Writing the Rom-Com

Romantic comedies seem to take over where the fairytales of childhood left off, feeding our dreams of a soulmate; though, sadly, the Hollywood endings prove quite elusive in the real world.
— Mariella Frostrup

I think that romantic comedies have a special place in most people's hearts, especially the younger demographic.
— Noah Centineo

I love romantic comedies. I have a deep respect for them. I think they're really difficult to write and write well.
— Rashida Jones

Workshop #9 was on writing romantic comedies, or Rom-Coms, presented by Farah Heron. While I took lots of notes in this one, once again I apologize if they seem a little choppy. It’s hard to write both fast and legibly.

Romantic comedy is a sub-genre of romance. It’s a comedic work where the main plot follows two people falling in love. To be a true romantic comedy, romance must be central to the story and it must come to an emotionally satisfying ending. It’s not just a funny romance, the humor is built into the plot/premise.

Elements in your rom-com that you need to consider before you start to write:

1. Subgenre/age
Though it’s usually contemporary, the rom-come can be historical, paranormal, or even sci-fi. As well, the age category can be adult or young adult. But it must reflect the values of the day – for example, if it’s historical you need to follow the morals of that time period. The reader must respect the character and be able to relate to them.

2. Rom Com tropes
Common tropes include (but are not limited to) fake dating, enemies to lovers (banter and conflicting goals), forced confinement (tight spaces, frayed nerves), grumpy one soft on the sunshiny one, forbidden love, best friend’s sibling, never been kissed, love at first sight, love triangle, and secret identity. Use a trope in a fresh, new way

3. High concept logline
A logline is a one sentence summary that distills the story elements down so they can be easily digested. A logline formula: When X happens, your protagonist tries to get Y but gets Z instead. Rom Com is not really a high concept, it’s actually more character driven.

4. Setting
Consider where it’s taking place and when it’s taking place – now, in the future, in the past (historical). Where do most scenes take place – indoors, outdoors, in an exotic location? What are the defining characteristics of the setting? Some settings are well suited to comedy such as the circus, a county fair, the zoo. If you’re going for dark humor, try a funeral home. Think about the atmosphere you want to generate – mysterious, cute, happy, heartwarming, sunny.

5. Characters
Rom Com is the most character driven of all the romances. The characters come from the premise or trope, but you need to bring the readers close to the characters so they feel the feelings of love, hope, redemption, etc. Archetypes can be used to help create character. Sorting people into categories is human nature – it’s a shortcut to characterization. The reader needs to fall in love with your characters.

Romantic Archetypes: Alpha (hero), Beta (hero), Virgin, Girl Next Door, Awkward Nerd, Bad Girl/Boy, Wisecracker, Hot Mess, The Charmer, The Square, the Every Person/Pollyanna, and the Cinnamon Roll (someone who is perceived as gentle and kind – gruff on the outside, soft and squishy on the inside).

Rom-Com characters often have strong personalities. When these personalities come in conflict with each other, as in an enemies-to-lovers story, the tension generated between the two might cause you to write an unlikeable character. You can fix this by having them do something heroic early in the story. Make sure their actions are justified and the justification is sympathetic.

Don’t prevent your reader from falling in love with your characters. Funny things can happen to your character, but don’t humiliate them. If there’s no getting around their humiliation, make sure to keep them likeable.

The compatibility gap is the thing that stops your characters from being together right now. It might be confliction goals or personalities, or something in their back stories.

And unless they’re stranded on a deserted island, there are bound to be other people around. The BFF and friend groups are an important part of the story, and can add humor in their own way.

6. Intimacy Level
The Rom-Com has varying levels of explicit sex. It can be sweet, clean, and wholesome, or take place behind closed doors. Or it can be steamy, spicy, hot (1 to 3 sex scenes), or erotic (more than 3 sex scenes – sex is a big part of the story).

7. Comedy Types: 

Situational – sit-com type comedy, comedic situations that are awkward, inescapable, and lighthearted
Banter – dialogue based, the playful and friendly exchange of good-humored, teasing remarks.
Observational – humor that revolves around the ordinary and commonplace aspects of everyday life. Often used by stand-up comics.
Physical – relies on the use of the body to convey humor – slapstick, clowning, mime, pratfalls, making faces.
Satire and surreal comedy do not work well in the Rom-Com.

Three things to keep in mind:
1. It’s okay if the first draft isn’t funny. Comedy is easier to do in rewrites
2. Let go of your inhibitions. Turn off your inner critic and write with abandon
3. Never forget this is a romance

Farah’s Tips:
Lower your inhibitions – be weird.
Check early with beta readers to see if it’s working.
Take risks.
Read romances.
Read rom-coms.
Watch Rom-Com movies.
Practice – write lots

If you’re thinking of writing a Rom-Com of your own, Farah has some work sheets to help get you started. You can find them HERE

And for further reading, you can check out the following books:

The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes, by Caro Lafever, Tami D. Cowden, and Sue Viders, or Romancing The Beat: Story Structure For Romance Novels, by Gwen Hayes

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
I had a strong start to my week last week, but too many grey days in a row tanked me towards the end.

As well as getting my blog posts done early, I also wrote a rather lengthy snail mail letter to my sister and did a bunch of reading and stitchery. Then I decided that what the big bookcase behind my desk needed was an extra shelf so I could get the books off of my desk and the floor of my office.

So following my stitchery meeting on Tuesday, I went to Home Depot and they had the perfect shelf for me. My plan was get the bookcase squared away in the afternoon, finish my sister’s letter in the evening, and then I could start Wednesday out right – in my office.

However, things never work out that well for me. The shelf was perfect, but the pre-drilled holes in the bookcase weren’t. I needed more drilled, and the hubby was off helping a friend and he’d taken his drill with him. By the time he came back and drilled the holes for me, it was dinner time. So I finished the letter in the afternoon (while I waited) and I read in the evening.

Wednesday I got my bookcase squared away in the morning, and for good measure got my desk cleaned up properly (as in found homes for all the papers and notebooks on it instead of just moving them around) in the afternoon. Then Thursday, while I was sitting in my office working on the installment for The Pond, it occurred to me that the little two shelf bookcase I use for my tea station would be more efficient if it had an extra shelf too. I didn’t have the same good luck with that one, but after the hubby cut down the shelf I found to size, it worked fine. And yesterday I got my CDs moved over and all is right with the world in my office now.

NEW WORDS:
2194+523+456+814=3,987
DOWN 354 – words from last week

While I’m not displeased with the words I wrote last week, I would have liked to see more of them. And by more I mean words on things other than blog posts. If I can write 5,000 words to my sister, surely I can write a couple of thousand on a story of some kind.

But like I said, I had a strong start to the week, but then between bookcase reorganization and cleaning off my desk, and then one day too many of grey dismal weather . . . so what should have been extra words turned into extra gaming and reading.

Goals For Next Week:
Get all my blog posts done and maybe a few extra words besides.

EDITING:
0 hours
I keep thinking about those historic records I want to cite at the beginning of each chapter of Elemental Spirit. Seeing as this book is supposed to tie all the others together, it might be a good idea to figure out what the actual prophecy was that started the whole thing.

Goal For Next Week:
Get back to work on An Elemental Spirit.

POETRY:
Well, I found a new form to share and it was neither too short, nor too long – it was just right. Not as easy as some of the ones I’ve been doing lately, but not as hard as a coded Welsh form. :-)

I did not work on expanding the poems I started in the Duende workshop, but I have a very good reason for that. I, uh, kind of lost them. Not lost as in gone forever, just . . . I don’t know where they are. They’re in a notebook somewhere, but part of cleaning off my desk and organizing my bookcase involved putting away the notebooks I had laying around, so it’s just a matter of figuring out which notebook they’re in and where I put it.

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

CRAFTING:
I joined an embroidery group on Facebook and have been getting a lot of posts from another one in my feed. So I may have spent a little more time than I should have admiring other peoples work last week. But they did inspire me to think beyond samplers or bags. I’m not saying I want to start stitching on sneakers or hats, but I do have a number of plain shirts that could use a little spiffing up.

I did spend some time on my zentangle sampler, but again, not as much as I would have liked. And there was stitch-in at the library that I went to where I actually got some stitching done, not just talking.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep working on my sampler; decide which shirt I want to enhance.

WHAT I’M READING:
I’m still reading The Book of Magic, by Alice Hoffman. And as I predicted, I zipped through Croc’s Return, Panther’s Claim, Python’s Embrace, and Gator’s Challenge by Eve Langlais.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep reading.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

I followed my lists last week, and I gotta tell you it feels really good when I can cross things off of it. Too bad most of them were mundane things like water plants, clean kitty litter, do laundry. LOL So this week my goal is to be able to cross off things like edit Elemental Spirit and update writing journal.

And I’m looking at another week where the only thing in my day planner is my stitchery guild’s regular meeting. Unless the dentist’s office calls with an appointment with their periodontist. *sigh*

The weather is supposed to be a little sunnier, but I’ll believe it when I see it. But my office is all squared away, so there’s nothing stopping me spending more time in there this week. The possibilities are endless.

I can see that track clearly from here, maybe this will be the week I step back on it.

Unshackling the Bonds

I don't start a novel until I have lived with the story for awhile to the point of actually writing an outline and after a number of books I've learned that the more time I spend on the outline the easier the book is to write. And if I cheat on the outline I get in trouble with the book.
— John Grisham

I always have a basic plot outline, but I like to leave some things to be decided while I write.
—J.K. Rowling

Some writers are plotters… I, on the other hand, have the curse and rabid delight of being a pantser. I sit down at my computer every day praying for a lightning strike. Common symptoms include pacing, an abnormally clean house, frantic cups of joe, and middle-of-the-night writing breakdowns.
— Pierce Brown

Workshop number eight was Unshackling the Bonds, presented by Dennis Bock. Enough time has passed that it’s a little hard to remember what all we discussed, and I’ll apologize ahead of time if this post is a little scattered, but my notes were a little uncomprehensive. Hence, once again thinking ahead to the next Writersfest and the possibility of recording these workshops.

He began by weighing in on the “plotters vs. pantsers” debate.

The real magic of writing happens when you write with the idea to discover instead of planning each and every step. Get rid of the idea that you need to plan, or create a plot outline. Plot is for writers who want to know their story. Narrative is for writers who want to discover their story.

You don’t have to know what you’re going to write about. It’s perfectly fine to start with a character or an image and then just go from there. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and it may take a couple of attempts, but that’s okay too. Give yourself permission to fail.

Show don’t tell is the worst advice for a new writer. It’s a cliché. Show and tell, but don’t explain. When the writer wants to be sure the reader “gets” what they mean, they’ll explain way too much, spoon feeding them what they want them to know. They’re not dramatizing the scene as it unfolds, allowing the reader to discover the story on their own, connecting to it in their own way. They’re bashing them over the head with facts.

Showing focuses on the character, articulating their emotions. Make your characters real without using cliches. Leave it to the character to discover and unveil what’s going on.

Go into the character and discover their key emotion and then explore it. Don’t just skim the surface, dig down deep. “I hope. I wish. I want.” Feel what the character is feeling.

Dialogue is showing. What does your character want? How is he going to achieve this? Want is a dynamic rolling of emotion. To show this, use a dynamic shift (significant internal change) in your character. This can be done by conversion of regular everyday emotions to extreme emotion.

Literary conversion is when a narrator lands on a moment so private that even though the rest of the world carries on, it must be commented on. It takes an otherwise invisible moment and raises it with extreme emotion.

Telling can deepen our characters. It can explain what they’re doing, what they’re feeling, and can articulate emotion that might not be obvious. You can tell by having the character interpret and be aware of their emotional landscape. But keep to a single point of view – you’re only allowed to head hop (jump from one point of view to another) if you’re aware of it and have a good reason to do so.

Your narrative does the heavy lifting. It’s like stage directions. It introduces the reader to the main character, the point of view, the setting, and the situation the character finds themselves in. You can tell by supplying information, a little more removed from the immediate experience, and you can show by employing the senses and the emotions.

Finally, we were given a prompt, to write a piece encompassing the following emotions:

Dread, fear, confusion, and optimism.

But we ran out of time to write anything.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Another mixed bag last week, but though I didn’t get any more writing done than I’ve been doing lately, it was still a pretty good week. And you don’t get to hear me say that very often, so you’d better take note! LOL

First of all, I got all of my blog posts, with the exception of my serial installment, written and scheduled on the weekend. That has never happened to me before, and it was a good feeling, let me tell you.

This was offset by Monday, when I had a couple of appointments, including an opening at the dentist for my root canal. And you know you’re in for trouble when the dentist gives you a prescription to have filled on your way home.

To be honest, once the freezing wore off the pain wasn’t all that bad. The drug he prescribed, however, a combination antibiotic and pain killer, was a little hard on the system. So yeah, that kind of took the wind out of my sails.

I spent more time than I probably should have on stitchery stuff, which is probably why when I was on Amazon I succumbed to another stitchery book and a couple of kits. Meeting with the guild every week (one week a regular meeting, the opposing week at the library) keeps the interest high.

I also ordered myself a couple of new books, but believe it or not I didn’t have much time to read. Thursday I spent a good chunk of the day baking – cookies for a kids event on Saturday – and Friday was a P.A. day, which meant we had the pleasure of the granddaughter’s company.

So it was just as well I got all those posts done early, because they might not have got done otherwise.

NEW WORDS:
2401+800+348+792=4,341
UP 648 – words from last week

I don’t know where all those extra words came from, but don’t expect the same this week.

Not a lot of gaming to distract me last week, but a lot of other stuff. And I did spend a little more time in my office, not that it did me any good.

Despite all my good intentions to get my serial post done early, I found myself waiting until Thursday to write it. I started out in my office, thinking I’d do better without any distractions, but I didn’t really get anywhere.

Then I re-located to the living room and my recliner, and next thing I know I’m getting ‘er done. This despite the handicap of a sleeping cat draped across my arms, forcing me to type one-handed. Maybe Dinsdale is my muse (or maybe that should be mews).

Goals For Next Week:
Get all my blog posts done and maybe a few extra words besides.

EDITING:
0 hours
Believe it or not, I was so busy working on other things that I forgot I was supposed to use some of my time for editing. Duh!

Goal For Next Week:
Get back to work on An Elemental Spirit.

POETRY:
I admit I kind of cheated on my poetry form last week. I used the form we were assigned as the monthly “poemwork” for the poetry group. Once I got the hang of the Poiku, it was a fun little verse. I did five of them for the blog post, then added three more for the poetry meeting that night (because that’s what it took to fill the page LOL).

I still seem to be stuck in the mindset of doing the poetry posts and no more. I don’t know why that is – I get a line here and a line there flit through my mind at odd times, but never when I’m in a position to write them down. And of course when I do make it to a pen and paper they’re long gone.

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

CRAFTING:
I spent a fair chunk of Monday going through bins of stitchery in my craft room, organizing them a little better so I could take stock of what I have. Apparently I have a really good supply of everything. Except material that’s easy to embroider on. *sigh*

There was a piece of a cream coloured canvas that I thought would do for my zentangle sampler so I cut off a fair chunk of it and spent considerable time debating on what size to make my squares – I settled on 4 ½ inches. Then I decided that I’d stitch the outline of each one in black, which is where I realized that canvas wasn’t all that much fun to stitch on.

I had one square outlined when I went to the stitchery meeting and my fellow stitchers agreed it wasn’t the best material for a sampler, but it was perfect if I wanted to use it for one side of a tote bag to carry my stitchery stuff in.

The next day I did end up going to a Michael’s craft store, but it was for supplies for a craft the granddaughter and I were going to do on Friday, I didn’t even think to look for anything else. However, I did order myself a book on crewel embroidery, a set of stitchery kits, and some plastic beading canvas from Amazon. :-)

Goal For Next Week:
Decide which is the project I’m going to keep doing and stick to it.

WHAT I’M READING:
I’m still reading The Book of Magic, by Alice Hoffman. To be honest, I didn’t get all that much reading time in last week. But I did order a set of Eve Langlais books and I’m sure once I start reading them I’ll zip right through them.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep reading.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

I was a couple of days late, but I got a list made last week. And as soon as I had it started in my brand new list making notepad, I found my old one. Isn’t that the way it goes? *sigh* But rather than make a master list and then divide it into sublists, I just made one list to rule them all, crossing things off as I completed them and adding new things as they occur to me. Works for me.

And other than my stitch-in at the library on Tuesday morning, I don’t think I have any appointments until Saturday, when I get a temporary filling replaced with a permanent one. But the weather is supposed to be really crappy for the whole week, so I’m making no promises where my productivity is concerned.

The hour a day thing for editing hasn’t been working out so great, so now I’m wondering if I should try working on it a couple of different afternoons a week. I’m not sure if that’ll work any better, but it’s something to try. But I do think I should put TraxTime on the good laptop as an incentive to, you know, use it.

Ideally I’d to get my writing projects done during the day so I can craft in front of the TV in the evenings. Yesterday would have been the perfect day for The Witcher and some stitching because it was rainy and miserable, but I was working on this post instead and it was taking me far longer than it should have, mainly because I was working in the living room. It took me until late afternoon to smarten up and move to my office.

As well as my sampler-come-tote-bag, I’d like to use the flowers in the kits I bought as a guide to embellish a dress I bought the granddaughter for Easter. I may not get it done before she outgrows it, but maybe I can get it done for back to school. So lots of stitching to do in the evenings.

I’d still like to see myself spending a little more time in my office, but I have to admit that the desk and area around it are getting a little cluttered. It’s really just a matter of putting papers and junk where they belong, or finding a home for things in some cases, so it might be worth taking a couple of hours, or a whole afternoon, to just do it.

The track is getting closer, I just need a weed-whacker to clear the way.

Seriously, Series

One of the traps or pitfalls of writing a trilogy – or a triptych, or whatever term you want to use – is that the second book can be a long second act to get you from book one to book three, which borrows all of its energy from the first book.
— Justin Cronin

There is one final point, the point that separates a true multivolume work from a short story, a novel, or a series. The ending of the final volume should leave the reader with the feeling that he has gone through the defining circumstances of Main Character's life. The leading character in a series can wander off into another book and a new adventure better even than this one. Main Character cannot, at the end of your multivolume work. (Or at least, it should seem so.) His life may continue, and in most cases it will. He may or may not live happily ever after. But the problems he will face in the future will not be as important to him or to us, nor the summers as golden.
― Gene Wolfe

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

This is really frustrating. I know there are some great quotes out there about writing a book series, but I could only find a couple of them.

With the release of the third, and final, book in my Moonstone Chronicles series, I find myself wanting to go back and change things. Does this ever happen to you? If not, then you probably have a better handle on writing a series than I do.

I knew, from the beginning, that this was going to be a trilogy. In fact, I had planned it to be an Ennealogy, which is a nine-book series. There were going to be three written about Jessica’s father, as well as six written about . . . what comes after, I guess. I never really thought it out that well.

I made lots of notes, but the notes consisted mainly of character sketches. I wrote the same (short) twelve chapters over and over again, never really going anywhere because I had no idea where I was going.

And that, right there, was part of the problem. Being a pantser (someone who writes by the seat of their pants), I didn’t take the time to think it through. I just went off willy nilly and sent Jessica off on her adventures.

My Elemental series is suffering from the same problems, only more so (I think). It’s not just because I’m a perfectionist that I want to go back and change things, it’s that I see some serious flaws in this series too. I wrote An Elemental Wind on a whim. It wasn’t until I finished it and it was released that I thought, “Oh, this was kind of fun. And you know, there are three more elements I can write about.”

I was about half way through the second book when I figured out the connection between it, and the first one. And then it was during the fourth one that I figured out a way to tie them all together. Trust me, this is not the way to go about doing a series.

As a die-hard pantser it pains me to admit this, but pantsing is not the way to go if you’re planning to write a series. You at least need to have some kind of an idea what the end game will be so that your stories can consistently move towards that end.

In this respect, the Moonstone Chronicles were somewhat easier to write than the Elemental series, because I knew what the end game was. But the Elemental series . . . if I had known ahead of time that this was going to be a multi-volume series, I could have found my purpose right from the beginning and there are things I could have included that would make my reader’s sit up and say, “Oh, so that’s why that happened in the first book. Cool!”

So in other words, my friends. If you’re contemplating writing a multi-volume series, don’t do it the way I did. In fact, maybe next week I’ll explore how you should do it.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

Wednesday I released my seventh book into the world, Magical Mayhem finishing my Moonstone Chronicles trilogy. It had been about five years since my last book release, and since things refuse to remain static, the process has changed somewhat. So uploading my book I was nervous, and in a rush, and so you might notice it doesn’t quite match the way the other two appear on Amazon. I’m sure it's something I can go back and fix, but I need a breather first.

I did the first 53,000 words (a little less than half the total word count) of Magical Mayham, formerly titled Wandering Wizards, for my 2013 NaNo. But I was still working on the second book of the trilogy, Lucky Dog, at the time and it’s kind of hard to move forward on a book when you don’t know what happened before.

I was in a weird frame of mind for most of the week. One of those times where I seem kind of removed (mentally speaking) from what’s going on around me. It happens some times, and I think it’s usually brought on by an abundance of grey weather.

I had a lot of stuff I was hoping to accomplish, both writing and otherwise, but none of it got done. It happens, and I’m not going to beat myself up about it because I’m sure it’ll happen again. All I can do is move forward and hope I do better in the week ahead.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 1907+234+989=3,130
DOWN 378 words from last week

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

EDITING:
0 pages
Nope. No editing. Didn’t even look for a copy of Elemental Spirit.

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

MARKETING:
Okay. Marketing is officially back on the table. And I don’t just mean submitting new stuff, it also means promoting current stuff. Wednesday saw the launch of my seventh book, plus I have stories included in four anthologies.

I received an email recently, inviting me to participate in a new website geared to promoting books and reading. There’s a rather long, complicated form to fill out, but I have until January 15th to do so.

The other thing I was thinking about was creating an author’s page on Amazon. I have no idea how to go about this, but it’s something to think about.

TECH & TRAINING:
I had a dream the other night that there was a fire in my house, and I only had time to grab the kittens and get out. All my files, computers, and USB sticks were lost, which meant my life’s accumulation of writing was lost. It gives me new incentive to start backing up to Dropbox.

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

POETRY WEDNESDAY:
I do simultaneous poetry posts on both blogs on Wednesdays, but this past Wednesday I delayed the one over here until noon because I ran a post about my book launch earlier. But the poetry post was a new one, the Chazz Effect form, which wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

Goal For Next Week:
Share a new poetry form.

CRAFTING:
When I arranged for the granddaughter to come over to do crafts with me, I did not expect to have to repair a bunch of the ones her mother and I had made previously. So that left us a little short of time for our own crafts. But we managed to do half a dozen snowmen and several penguins for their Christmas tree. Her penguins were uniquely her own. :-)

Today we’re going to try snowflakes out of pasta, and maybe pasta angels. And maybe I’ll even remember to take a picture this time.

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

WHAT I’M READING:
I finished reading The Cabin in the Woods, by Sarah Alderson. Then I read Juniper Wiles and the Ghost Girls, by Charles de Lint, and My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey.

Goal For Next Week:
Maybe slow down the reading a bit.

GOAL REVIEW:

Well, I missed Monday’s post completely, but I did the others, plus there was a bonus post on Wednesday for the release of Magical Mayhem. But I didn’t count it in my wordage report because most of it was a rather lengthy quote from the book itself.

No editing – no surprise there. See, this is where it would be handy if I had everything stored in Dropbox, then I wouldn’t have to keep switching back and forth between computers, or USB sticks or whatever.

Marketing and Tech were more thought than action, but hope springs eternal that they’ll see more action in the week ahead. But I did manage to do a poetry post with a brand new form, so there’s that.

The granddaughter and I did do some Christmas crafts last weekend, and we’ll be doing more later today. I really wish I’d taken a picture of them, especially her penguins. She opted for evil penguins, so they all have red eyes. What a kid!

Did I say this past week was supposed to be less stressful? Boy was I wrong. Any week that includes an abundance of shopping (Christmas shopping) is bound to be stressful. Add to that we’re on death watch for the mother-in-law . . . unless she rallies, which happened the last time we were on death watch for her.

To be honest, I don’t see the week ahead being much less stressful, or productive, it being the time of year it is. But I guess we’ll see.

There’s More Than One Way to Get Unstuck

The primary relationship between my poetry and fiction is that I wrote both of them. And there have been times when I have published the exact same piece as poetry and as fiction, so there is definitely a blur.
— Stuart Ross

What I want to do in my workshops — and my mentoring — is to expand the possibilities for writers I’m working with: introduce them to new writers and works and ideas and writing strategies, shake them out of their habits and assumptions and complacencies. I want to introduce them to new experiences, help to expand their palettes, dare them to do something in their writing that they are resistant to or uncomfortable with. I like when they write something and say, “Holy shit, did I write that?”
— Stuart Ross

  I don’t see my writing as a way to discover myself, but instead as a way to explore my interests, to amuse myself, to connect in some way to people outside of myself (however few those people will be), and hopefully provide some amusement for them, or get them to think in ways they find interesting.
— Stuart Ross

This was the 10th masterclass, and probably my favorite class of all of them. It was run by Stuart Ross, who is a poet and author, and actually lives in my small town. He may have even been part of my poetry group at one time, but that would have been many years ago. Anyway, we did more writing in this masterclass than in any of the other classes, and it was fun!

First, he had us use “I remember” to start writing a list. An author by the name of Joe Brainard wrote an entire book of things he remembered – it’s called, I Remember, and is available in both tree and e formats.

I don’t think we were required to write them in a linear format, but mine was, harking back to my childhood. I’m not sharing the whole thing because it’s too long, but I’ll give you the gist of it because it’s pertinent to the next part. I “remembered” when I was little and our cat killed the canary that used to belong to my grandfather. This was back when we had a milkman and a breadman come to our door, and I remembered my mother yelling at one of them for letting the cat out. We never saw the cat again. Then my sister told me my dad had buried Rickie (the canary) in the big communal sandbox and I naturally started digging in it to look for him.

The next thing he had us doing was to take one “I remember” and expand on it, but in the present tense. I don’t care for writing in the present tense so I don’t usually, but I did for this exercise.

You go into the kitchen looking for a snack and see the empty bird cage. The family cat, Fluffy, killed Rickie, the canary that had come from your grandfather’s house. You mope around, trying to figure out where Rickie had gone (you’re only 4). Finally, your sister tells you that he’s dead, and that your father buried him in the sandbox. You get the big spoon from the drawer in the kitchen and go out to the sandbox in the middle of the greenspace and begin to dig.

Now I can’t be 100% sure of the next exercise, because I didn’t jot down, just the results. I think this is one where we wrote a line on a page, then exchanged pages with several different people, and continued writing about someone else’s first line. Mine was in the form of a poem (I don’t know if that’s what we were supposed to do or not).

“When I do grow up”
I’m going to stop being confused
I am going to have all the answers to life’s questions
and I’m going to know what my path is
instead of floundering around
like I’m doing now.
When I do grow up
I’m going to travel
to all the places I dream of.
I’m going to immerse myself in other cultures
and come away stronger
better.
When I do grow up
I’m going to have it all.
Dream big, right?

For the next exercise, he had us listen to a couple of poems he wrote, and while we did so, we were to pluck out any words or phrases that jumped out at us, add some words of our own, and create something of our own.

Paper bags, skating in the wind.
The night sky filled with stars
like flashbulbs popping.
Things are getting out of hand as
a great, horizontal wind
drifted over the horizon,
a flock of balloons
fleeing before it.
The sound of a piano
spirals to the horizon.

And our final exercise was to write down a couple of words, pass the paper to your neighbor and they’d write the next couple, then back to you, etc. This was kind of fun, and made for some hilarious results. Ours wasn’t one of them. LOL

Stuart had a few other suggestions for getting unstuck in your writing. There’s a site called UbuWeb and one called Pennysound where you can apparently go to hear poetry spoken aloud, and try to find inspiration from someone else’s work.

For inspiration, watch experimental films without the sound on. Listen to poetry in foreign languages, it’s all about the rhythm and not the words. Take a story, pick the seventh word, and replace it with a random word and make a new story.

And the two I’m itching to try, take a short story of your own and go to Google translate. Translate it into a different language. Then translate that version into a different language. Do that six times to see what you end up with.

Finally, take two 1-page stories. Print them out. Tear the pages in half vertically and paste the opposite sides of the stories together to make a whole new story (or two).

I really hope Mr. Ross is participating in Writersfest next year – I can’t wait to see what he comes up with!

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

I’d say this was a pretty good week, writing wise, especially when you add in my NaNo words, which I am not including in my wordage totals because I feel that it’s not a regular thing, just a one month a year thing, and that’s going to throw my whole word count off.

My best day of writing took place in my office, after I evicted the kittens. This was after I spent two hours moving plants and various other stuff off the window ledge and the bookcase under it, and shelved the books and blank journals that were stacked on my printer. Man, they were being pesky!

Good news! I got the blurb and the tag line done for Magical Mayhem (sort of) and bought the pictures for my cover which my lovely daughter melded together for me. I think she thought I was a little crazy when I told her what I wanted, but if you read the book, you’ll find out just how perfect the cover is.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 1,805+596+242+813=3,478
DOWN 858 words from last week

Goals For Next Week:
Get my blog posts done on time and stay on track with NaNo.

NANO
Seeing as NaNo didn’t officially start until Tuesday, I’ve only got five days to show for my effort – Tuesday through Saturday. Next week it’ll be Sunday through Saturday.

If you have a NaNo account, you’ll see that I changed the cover of my project. That’s because I went with the SNI (shiny new idea). It’s a strange science fiction/paranormal mash up. But obviously it’s working because I’m right on track with it.

I gotta admit though, I’m not feeling the NaNo buzz this year. I’m getting the words done, but I’m just not feeling that rush of excitement. That being said, I’m enjoying working on something new for a change. It’s been a while since I wrote a whole novel (last year’s NaNo was 30 short stories)

I’m starting with back story. Pages and pages of backstory. At first I figured I was writing it because it was stuff I needed to know, but I probably wasn’t going to keep any of it. However, there’s so much of it that I’ll probably keep at least some of it, albeit in a much abbreviated form.

1415+2097+1526+1677+1694=8,409
Total NaNo words – 8,409

Expected Goal – 8,335

EDITING:
X pages
In going over Magical Mayhem one last time before sending it off for formatting, and aside from finding a few more typos, I found many places where the space between words was missing. I have no idea how this happened. Is it because I saved it to a USB stick? Is it because I was working in two different versions of Word? I have no clue.

I ended up spending a good portion of my Saturday adding the spaces and changing the name of the animals they were riding to something more elvish. For some reason, the “find and replace” didn’t work the way it was supposed to. And also, my even page numbers disappeared. Not the pages, just the numbers.

Goal For Next Week:
No promises on the editing – we’ll see how it goes with NaNo first.

MARKETING:
On suspension until after Christmas

TECH & TRAINING:
I’d still like to figure out Dropbox. At the very least I want to be able to backup to it automatically like I did before Staples got a hold of my laptop. Man, I’m still mad at Staples. Never again! And for extra back up protection, I’d like to unbox my external hard drive and start backing up to it as well.

Goal For Next Week:
Figure out how to set up the automatic back up for Dropbox. Set up external hard drive.

POETRY WEDNESDAY:
I have to confess, I fully intended to just recycle some old poetry posts for this month, but I got the post for the form I shared done on Monday. I did this because I figured I’d be doing well to get my NaNo words in, let alone anything else, so I did it super early.

Goal For Next Week:
Share a new poetry form. Or an old one – we’ll see how NaNo’s going

CRAFTING:
No crafts, not even a thought about crafts, but I have a guild meeting this week so I’ll at least do something there.

Goal For Next Week:
Figure out dragon pillow for granddaughter.

WHAT I’M READING:
I finished reading The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris, by Daisy Wood, and I liked it enough that I bought another book by that author, The Clockmaker’s Wife.

Goal For Next Week:
Spend a little time each day reading.

GOAL REVIEW:

The blog posts were all up, and on time, even my serial installment (which kind of surprised me). And, wonder of wonders, I’m right on track with NaNo. By George, I think she’s finally getting the hang of it!

The extra editing on Magical Mayhem was a little unexpected. I opened it up to make a few extra changes and there were spaces missing between some of the words, which my editor had dinged me on before and I’d already fixed. I have no idea what was going on with that, but it was very frustrating because I had to go over all 300+ pages again.

I really need to get my Dropbox backup set up again, or at the very least the external hard drive. I’m not sure I trust the USB sticks for backup anymore.

I surprised myself by sharing a new form of poetry last week, but I was not surprised to get no crafts done. If I can get myself organized I’d like to get started on some Christmas crafts, but I’ve put the craft room organization on hold for now so who knows.

It seems every year there’s some kind of impediment to my NaNo plans. This year it’s a strike by CUPE, the support staff for the schools. Without them, the schools can’t stay open, which means I get the pleasure of my granddaughter’s company on a (week) daily basis.

Still, that wouldn’t be so bad, except it’s not just a matter of keeping her entertained. The school board has decided to instigate online learning like they did during the pandemic. To make matters worse, she’s in French immersion, so all her instruction is in French. Yikes!

It’s going to be an interesting week ahead!

Chocolate Thief

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
― Willie Nelson

When the mouse laughs at the cat, there's a hole nearby.
― Nigerian Proverb

If you build a better mousetrap, you will catch better mice.
— George Gobel

Last week was another one of those weeks where I had a plan. Last weekend was the Labor Day weekend, which meant the kids went back to Tuesday, which meant no more babysitting. I spent the holiday Monday back and forth between my current office and my former office (across the hall) de-junking both spaces and ferreting out stuff to donate to a big thrift store.

I actually loaded up the car Monday night, so I could drive to the thrift store first thing Tuesday morning. Everything went as planned, and on the drive home I started thinking about the bit of work I had left to do in my office – dealing with a couple of left over bins and the stacks of books on the floor.

But when I got home a wave of apple scented air hit me – I had a bag of apples given to me by my neighbor and I needed to deal with them. That took me the rest of the day and cleaning my office was put off until the following day.

I won’t bore you with the details but my office was looking pretty good when I happened to notice that the opened chocolate bar I’d tossed into a bin with a bunch of other stuff to be dealt with later, looked like it had been nibbled on. So I looked in the small bookcase I’d pulled it from, and sure enough I spotted some mouse droppings. Eww!

This was a game changer. My office now needed a thorough cleaning. Which is how I spent my Thursday. In the process, I also discovered that one of the Kinder eggs (chocolate, foil-wrapped eggs that have a plastic bulb with a prize inside, not available in the U.S.) I’d left on my desk about a month ago had been broken into. There were a couple of holes in it, right through the foil wrapper.

Double ewww!

The irony of this is that I used to keep a stash of snacks in the bottom drawer of my desk, but stopped months ago. And those snacks had never been touched. All that was left in that drawer was a jar of Planters Peanuts from well before Christmas, about a 1/4 full. A jar that now had a chewed up lid (although they hadn’t made it through the plastic yet).

The open jar full of Werther’s caramels on my desk was untouched, as was my baggy of dark chocolate squares. Since the caramels were individually wrapped I just closed the air-tight lid, but the baggy I tossed.

I guess the mice only liked the milk chocolate of the Kinder eggs. In fact, when I was moving stuff away from one of the book cases to vacuum, I found the yellow plastic bulb from the center of an egg which had been opened to reveal the toy inside, and a few flecks of foil from the wrapping. Could the mice have really carried an egg off my desk to chew on at their leisure?

I have never had any sign of a mouse in my office before, not even when I habitually stashed snacks in my desk drawer. Of course I used to have a cat and I find it interesting that this has taken place about a month after we had to have him put to sleep.

You can be sure when I replenish my stash of dark chocolate I’ll be putting it in a vacuum sealed jar, like my caramels. As for the Kinder eggs, I’ll still buy them for my granddaughter and I to enjoy when she comes to visit, but I’ll be keeping them in the fridge from now on.

At least until I get a replacement for my cat.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

I totalled about 300 more words last week than the week before, and I’m kind of surprised I managed that, what with all the time lost to apple peeling/slicing and the thorough cleaning of my office.

Most of the extra words were in the serial story. It ran a little long, but it couldn’t be helped – there was a lot going on. My only problem with it is that I wrote it late at night so I wasn’t feeling the most coherent and I think the installment suffered for it.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 1,548+816+610+928=3,602
Poetry – Poetry – 68 (included in blog post)

Total words: 3,602

Goals For Next Week:
Try write words other than blog posts.

EDITING:
11 pages
It may not seem like a lot of work, but first, see the above story about my cleaning binge. And second, I’m taking a little more time. I’ve been working with the marked up version my editor sent me, most of which are just little changes. When there’s been a big change I’ve pretty much been highlighting it to come back to later. There hasn’t been a lot of them, but there’s a few.

But now I’ve been making the lengthy changes as I go along. Like, rewriting a scene where it seems like there’s a narrator that appears out of nowhere. So, the editing is taking a little more time. The good news is, I only have about 50 pages left.

Goal For Next Week:
Step up the editing pace on Magickal Mayhem.

MARKETING:
*sigh* No Marketing. I was gonna, but I didn’t.

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

TECH & TRAINING:
I didn’t get around to figuring out what I’m going to do with my new and improved subscription to Dropbox, but I did straighten out my virus protection. Avast was bugging the crap out of me with all its popups, so I decided to go with McAfee (seeing as my original subscription automatically renewed itself). I even managed to get rid of the trial version Staples installed – no more annoying popups telling me my free version was expired.

Goal For Next Week:
Figure out what I’m doing with Dropbox.

POETRY WEDNESDAY:
Last week’s form was the Descort. It wasn’t a difficult form, but I find I prefer ones that are a little more structured. The whole point of the Descort is that it is totally unstructured.

Goal For Next Week:
Find a new form to share and give some more thought to the anthology.

CRAFTING:
Didn’t work on the pillowcase at all last week, but I did get another stripe done. Each stripe is 10 rows.

I actually did get my sewing machine working again and finally sewed my sleeveless blouse together. Unfortunately, it needs some altering. By hook or by crook I will make it fit!

Goal For Next Week:
Work the pillowcase. Work on the cancer afghan. Get the alterations done to the sleeveless blouse and finish the skirt.

WHAT I’M READING:
Still haven’t updated my Goodreads account – I’m really going to hate myself when I finally get around to it.

Finished reading Book Lovers by Emily Henry and started reading Small Town Big Magic by Hazel Beck. I’m only a couple of chapters in, but I like what I’ve read so far. And I have incentive to read faster – I had four books delivered last week, including the new Stephen King book, Fairy Tale.

Goal For Next Week:
Suck it up and update my Goodreads account!

GOAL REVIEW:

My total word count was a little higher than last week’s, which was good considering my week was even busier than the week before. I’m not sure that straightening out my virus protection counts as tech or training, but it’s all I got. :-)

I’m happy to report that I didn’t spend as much time on the games. And for all my office has never been cleaner, I didn’t get around to doing my shredding.

Did take my car load of donations to the thrift store, but the only room that really impacted was my office. Did I mention how clean it is now?

I actually did make a couple of lists last week, long lists that lasted a couple of days each. It did actually help me be more productive, so you can be sure I’ll be keeping up with that.

Happy writing.