#ROW80 Round 2 Final Check-in

Well, here we are at the end of the round, and I have to say, I think I did pretty well. I was fighting some things, exhaustion and other commitments, and at times it was tough. But I am happy with what I accomplished.

Here were my goals:

~Finish rough draft of Ever Touched. <–NOT DONE. Close, but I got sidetracked by an editing job, a query letter, and a longish short story with a tight deadline. My #1 plan is to finish this next round. I’m at 88k (of 120k) so far!

~If there’s time, start planning Fireborn revision.<–NOT DONE, because Ever Touched isn’t done, but I am planning on doing a read through of the completed draft ASAP.

~Continue logging outline for Survivor into Scrivener.<–NOT DONE. Just not enough time. This will be carried over to next round, b/c my next primary project will be Survivor.

~Reinstate 8 minutes a day of a first draft again/make progress on Covenant <–DONE once. I was fighting exhaustion mostly, and wrist tendonitis, so this was just not working for me. 😦

~Make prints of the film I developed yesterday (my test roll). <–NOT DONE. Same song, second verse. I had to order in chemicals and a new safelight. Not enough energy. It’s happening SOON though!

~Experiment with digital infrared <–DONE! Check it out here!

~Plot Elysium <–DONE!

~Clean office <–Started, but not completed

~Continue #AprilLove2016 when possible <–DONE! 14 out of 30 days. Did not complete due to wrist tendonitis.  Dear Courage, Dear Inspiration, Dear Younger Me, Dear Future Me (the rest were written in a journal offline).

~Exercise 2x a week <–MOSTLY DONE, 2x and sometimes more!

~Drink 1 glass of water every day.<–MOSTLY DONE, every day except 2 every week. 

Looking forward to next round! Who’s participating?

#ROW80 Check-in June 19th

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there!

This round is almost done, and it feels like it went by SO FAST.

I’ve mostly been working on my short story for Turtleduck Press. I got stuck, started over (!), realized that wasn’t working, and continued on in the original document. Kind of roundabout, but it made me realize that what I had was working. It will most definitely be longer than 10k (which was the wordcount limit. Last time we did this, Reaper Girl was supposed to be 10k, too, but it came in at 22k. I write long) which is okay, but I am going to try to keep it close if possible.

Here’s how I’ve done on the rest:

Ever Touched – Nada, but I have definite plans to restart this soon.

Covenant – Also a nada, also plans to restart.

Water – Almost every day.

Query letter – Haven’t done much with it this week, although I am pondering.

Elysium – On hold for now.

Exercise – 1 time this week. Kinda fell off the program here this week. Plans to get more in this week for sure!

Darkroom – Yesterday was my tentative day to print, but I had too much other stuff going on and not enough energy. Next weekend is another camping trip, so maybe the following weekend might work, provided I’m not bogged down with other things and exhausted. 😉

Chocolate consumption: A lot. WW chocolate sandwiches, WW sundaes, WW chocolate-caramel thingies, chocolate pudding. Also red velvet-flavored chocolate chip cookies (except cream cheese-flavored chips), which don’t really count, but were cool and were yummy.

 

#ROW80 Check-in June 15th

I have been so busy, I haven’t had time to do a proper ROW80 post in awhile. So I finished an editing job and have started my short story for Turtleduck Press. It’s about 5k now.

Here is the rundown of the rest:

Query letter – Still working on this. Getting closer.

Covenant – Nada, but seriously thinking of starting this back up soon.

Water – Almost every day!

Ever Touched – Nada, but am thinking on it, which is good.

Elysium  – Still waiting to do something with this.

Exercise – Did my 2 times last week, and did 1 time this week so far.

Darkroom – Tentatively planning on doing some printing this Saturday.

Chocolate consumption: A lot! WW Chocolate ice cream sandwiches, WW Sundaes, WW Twix bars, WW Chocolate Caramel thingies….

And that’s it for now, I think. 🙂

#ROW80 Check-in June 5th – I returneth

It’s been a CRAZY couple of weeks. Hubby and I went camping last weekend, then we had the holiday, then a bunch of other things happened, and here I am. 🙂

I’m finished with my query letter. Now, I just need to find the courage to actually, you know, send the dang thing. I still need to work on my synopsis for one agent. I have a 3-page one, but she wants a one-pager, so that’s still got to happen soonish.

I finished Changeling 5 and sent it off for approvals.

I have a longish short story to write for Turtleduck Press. That’s all I’m saying about that. 😉 So that’s been the priority. Deadline is July 15th.

Here’s the rundown:

Covenant – Nada.

Water – Mostly every day. Missed a few days here and there.

Exercise – Got lots of it last weekend and last week (2x). This week’s been slow. I did get on the bike yesterday though.

Elysium – Finished the outline! Yay!

Darkroom – Tentatively planning on getting in there next weekend.

Ever Touched – Outlined the ending. Now trying to find the time to work on it. Wrist is still slightly wonky, so I’ve been watching my wordcounts. Hopefully I can do something with it soon. It’s so close to being done!

Chocolate consumption: Ye Gods. Lots of those chocolate sandwich thingies, chocolate caramel thingies, Twix bars…yeah, lots of chocolate. No s’mores at camping because rain. Boo. But we can still make them at home, which we have done on occasion. 🙂

#ROW80 Check-in May 22nd

This week I’ve been mostly working on my query letter. It’s coming along. I hope to have it finished very soon.

I started Changeling 5 and have been working on that as well. I don’t think I even touched Ever Touched, which sucks because I need to keep moving on it. But Changeling 5 is due for approvals on June 1st, and I need time to revise, so that was the priority.

Here’s the rundown:

Covenant – Nada

Water – Every day but 2.

Exercise – 3 times, all walks.

Elysium – Another nada. 😦

Darkroom – Nada. Trying to figure out what a good day would be for printing. Still fighting exhaustion, so I honestly don’t know when it will be. Hopefully soon. I may shoot more b&w on our camping trip this coming weekend if I can fit all my equipment into one bag. We shall see. 😉

I’ve also been thinking a lot about Survivor, and I am considering starting that as my new main project after Ever Touched and the Fireborn revision. It’s going to be a huge challenge, but I absolutely love the story and NEED to get it out there. The first step is rewriting it.

Chocolate consumption: WW sundaes, WW chocolate caramel things, ice cream Twix bars, and a new thing, Skinny Cow brand chocolate ice cream sandwiches. But it’s not the normal sandwich. There’s chocolate ice cream sandwiched between two thin layers of chocolate cake and then covered in chocolate. OMG I thought I was in heaven last night when I tried one! (I am craving another RIGHT NOW.)

So that’s it for me. How are you doing?

#ROW80 Check-in May 15th

I’m still making glacier-slow progress on Ever Touched dictating. I guess it’s just going to be slow while my wrist heals. Very frustrating, but it is what it is.

Also I’ve been fighting exhaustion again, so there’s so much I wanted to do that didn’t get done. Apparently I’m not anemic, so it must be the fibromyalgia. I’ve been meaning to get back into my darkroom to print, but I’ve had to put it off for the past few weeks. Hopefully, I can soon.

I also participated in #PitDark on Thursday (a twitter pitch thing where you pitch a book in a tweet to agents and publishers). I got two really good agents who are interested in my book (Pirouette/Death Dancer – the same one I sent off to a different publisher in January) so for the past few days I’ve been working on a query letter. Distilling a 121k novel down into what feels like haiku is not only really hard, but exhausting. I’ve been getting good feedback on a forum I’m on, so I think I’m on the right track. One of today’s tasks is to do another revision. Cross your fingers and toes that this works! I would love to get an agent out of this. If anything else, it’s great practice for the future.

Okay, on to the rundown:

Ever Touched – up to 87k (approximately 4,000 words written since the last check-in. More than I thought, actually! Maybe it just feels like it’s going slow?)

Covenant – Nada. I really feel awful about this. 😦

Water – Every day except two.

Exercise – 3 times – 2 walks, 1 bike (up to 6 minutes now!)

Elysium – Nada. Wanted to do something on it yesterday but the wrist wasn’t cooperating. Does planning on doing it, even if it doesn’t get done, count? (Just kidding!)

Darkroom – As mentioned above, this has been put off due to exhaustion.

Chocolate consumption – Oreos. Lots of Oreos. WW Sundaes. WW chocolate caramels.. Ice cream Twix bars. Did I mention Oreos? 😉

Annnnd that’s it for me. How about you?

 

 

 

2010 in Review and 2011 goals

This year just flew by.  I don’t even know what happened to it.  It felt as if I were making no progess anywhere, but I did accomplish a few key things.  I also had to adjust my goals to accomodate Alpha Female, which wasn’t planned.  All in all, this was a pretty productive year.

What I accomplished:

~I finished the 3rd draft of Pirouette in May and am gearing up for the final revision (which is my #1 goal for 2011)
~I started the Flamebound revision using HTRYN.  Got to lesson 8 of 22.  Yeah, that was one of the things that got adjusted. 
~I wrote and rewrote and completed Alpha Female.  My original goal was to submit it to an anthology by the November 1st deadline.  After getting it back from a wonderful beta, I realized that it wasn’t going to work for the antho.  I decided to expand it, as most of the issues were due to trying to keep the wordcount within the limits (25k) and then decided to try to finish it up by the end of the year.  Which I pretty much did, if you don’t count the tweaks I’m currently working on.
~I started Broken and got it up to 12k.  Broken was a personal challenge to myself, as it’s got a bit of BDSM in it and I’d never written that before. It’s also a different genre for me. I am very pleased with how it’s going.
~I critiqued 3 novels for writer friends.  While this isn’t a huge thing, I made my deadlines for the most part and got the honor of reading some really good books.
~I joined up with a few writer friends and started Turtleduck Press, which is our publishing endeavor which will hopefully change the world, muhaaaa.
~I self-pubbed Life as a Moving Target through them, which has been a dream of mine since December 2002 when I wrote the very first poem in that collection.  After trying traditional publishing, I decided to go ahead and self-publish it.  I’ve gotten some great feedback so far.  And it’s so dear to my heart.
~I wrote approximately 100k this year.  Not bad considering I did mostly revising and editing.  Some writing, too.  I’m glad to have hit 100k.  It certainly didn’t feel like 100k.
~I wrote and rewrote my query letter for Pirouette.  I think I have it nailed.  We’ll see.

So, yep, not a bad year at all.

Goals for 2011:

~SUBMIT something.  This is HUGE.  This year was supposed to be the year for that, but I got a bit derailed.  I will submit something if it kills me.  Most likely either Alpha Female or Pirouette.
~Finish up Alpha Female and get it critted
~Do the final revision on Pirouette and get it to critters.
~Submit something!
~Continue Flamebound revision, hopefully finish (I see a rewrite in my future…)
~Finish Without Wings, my second poetry chapbook with Turtleduck Press, and get it to approvals by Feb. 1st.  This is a biggie because it still needs some work and time is ticking.
~Write (hopefully) Darkweaver.
~Work on Don’t Close Your Eyes, chapbook #3.
~Do not get derailed this time.  Stay to the goals.
~Get an agent

Will I accomplish all of that?  Perhaps.  But I will try for sure.  It feels like 2011 will be a good year.

Fragmented.

Alot has been going on.  First, hubby and I are finally moving.  It’s been exciting and tiring.  This week is our official “move week” but we actually started two weeks early.  So the work has been pretty light.  But alas, I’m still friggin tired.  I am on vacay this week from work with the exception of Wednesday so that’s been nice.

The other thing is my ankle.  I have a bone fragment in my ankle joint, and almost needed surgery.  Oddly enough, the pain isn’t where the fragment is, but where the ligaments and tendons are.  It has to do with my ultra-high arches.  Yay. So my foot doc gave me a shot and some new meds.  I see him in 3 weeks to assess.  For quite awhile I was hobbling around (with a cane no less!) but this week it’s been feeling much, much better.  Except when I’m not wearing my brace.  Then I feel it.  It’s still a bit swollen, and when the meds wear off I can tell, but it’s far better than struggling to walk.  Hopefully, it’ll heal and get back to normal again.  I hate not being able to walk properly.

Third, the Pirouette notetaking is almost done, which means I can start on the notecarding and re-reading the manuscript.  *rubs hands together* I can’t wait to dive in and make this book better.  I had an idea of some backstory hit me in the shower, and I have  few ideas for Alisia and Lucien’s scenes.  I also wrote another query letter draft just for shits and giggles.  It brought to light an element that I should ramp up and make even darker.  I love the way my mind works sometimes.

Broken is also coming along.  I was a bit stuck for a bit, but today some things came to me.  So that’s good.  Might try to write a bit soon.  I’m definitely feeling odd not writing much.  And I don’t like that feeling.

Lastly, I have some news.  There’s a possibility I might be self-publishing Life as a Moving Target, my poetry chapbook.  Nothing is final yet and I hate to jinx it, but it’s very exciting to me because I’ve wanted to get it published since I wrote it back in 2004.  Want to get the word out about fibromyalgia and vertigo.  And it’s such a niche market that I’m not surprised no one’s wanted to publish it.  Self-pubbing has been on my mind for quite some time, and I’ve been seriously considering it.  So stay tuned.

2009 in review and 2010 goals

This year hasn’t been the best as far as emotional stuff is concerned.  The family drama that started in mid-October is still ongoing, and kind of derailed me a bit.  But, I persevere!

As far as productivity goes, I did very well.  I started and finished Pirouette’s five One-Pass Revision, got it out to critters, and have been rewriting the draft, implementing suggestions, cutting, adding, and hopefully making it better.  I’m almost halfway through the draft.  I hope to be done with it early next year.

It’s taken me longer than anticipated, which is okay, but sort of screwed up my schedule.  But it is really okay, b/c I’ll take however long it takes to make it submission-worthy.  As such, no query letters were sent.  I’ve decided to wait till the draft is done and critted.  The story, while essentially the same, has been morphing in interesting ways.  Hopefully in good ways.

Flamebound is on its way towards being totally revised, using Holly Lisle’s How to Revise Your Novel class.  I have high hopes for this.  I want to get Flamebound revised, critted, and submitted somewhere next year.  I can do this.

I planned on participating in Nanowrimo and writing a new novel.  Unfortunately, life had different plans.  Two days in I ended up quitting.  The book was to be Soulfire.  I’ve come to the conclusion that the timing just wasn’t right on this one.

I finished Survivor, which was a HUGE goal.   I hope to rewrite it in the next few years (depending on if I sell something, etc).

I don’t think I broke 100k on new words, but that, too, is okay.  Because I said I’d do some serious editing and finishing unfinished projects, which I accomplished.

I submitted my poetry chapbook, Life as a Moving Target, to a publisher.  Did not bite, but that’s okay.  I might try again next year.

For next year, I have a few more projects besides Pirouette the Third and Flamebound.  I have Unforgiven, which is a personal challenge to myself for various reasons.  I also have MindBound, the next book set in the Flamebound world.  And I’m seriously considering pulling out Darkweaver and starting work on it.  And then there’s Pirouette book 2 (Blood Dance). Ambitious, I know, but want to aim high.

I think the biggest goal for 2010 is to get something submitted somewhere, be it Flamebound, Pirouette the Third, or something else entirely.  I need to start moving forward with my goal of getting published.  I’ve been working like a madwoman, but I need to focus on that more.  So, hopefully I can do something about that next year.

So, to all, Happy New Year (a few days early!) and reach for the stars.

496 pages!

91% finished.  It feels great.  Of course, while doing my pages last night, I realized that I’d  left out one very important part of the story towards the end.  So that will need to be seeded in.

Also, I’ve been getting lax in my determining what scenes stay and what scenes go.  I was going to take this one out, then decided not to upon re-reading.  Then, last night in the shower, I had an epiphany: the scene in question doesn’t relate to the main plot at all.  I’d only included it because I felt soe follow-up was required.  But no — the other character in the scene doesn’t reappear at all after the scene in question.  I’m also considering changing the way this character and the protagonist, Alisia, relate to each other.  Trying to wrap my head around that one.

Gonna cut some more scenes.  Being brutal.  I also need the wordcount to go down, so if there are any more scenes that aren’t pulling their weight, they go.   I’m reading that now 120k, which was my target length, might still be too long.  Not good.  But hey, at least it’ll be tighter for it.

So that’s where we stand today.  Few more days and I’ll be wrapping it up.  Soooo exciting.  Still struggling with the query, though.