#ROW80 Check-in 5/14/14

I was doing really well until my wrist started bothering me. I think I may need more time to rest it, so I’m not sure how much writing I’ll get done between now and Sunday. I won’t push it.

So, Awaken Me is almost to 5k. It’s going pretty well, and I’m happy with it so far. I think adding the cat shifters was a good move. I wanted to try to write something I would be intrigued by — while still keeping it erotica. Hopefully, this is a good thing and my muse isn’t messing with me. 😉 (She does that sometimes).

On the HDR front, I have pics! Beautiful pics, actually! And I’ve been playing with them digitally, but unfortunately I don’t have enough bracketed ones to make a good practice set for this method. So I need to take more bracketed pictures. (I didn’t want to get too bogged down in method while I was shooting on Saturday — I wanted to be carefree and not worry much, but still have a few possibilities for HDR.) I’m not very happy with the HDR results, but I suppose I just need practice. It will come. But either way, I love the pictures I got and enjoyed shooting them immensely. They are of a beautiful Catholic church near us that’s always lit up at night. I’d tried, unsuccessfully, to do night shots of it before, but that’s when I was using a manual 35mm camera. Many, many moons ago. Now it’s a ton easier, although in some ways I miss the old days of having to figure it all out on my own.

I started photography in 1996 or so. (This isn’t counting my childhood, where I took a ton of pictures just for fun using one of those cassette cameras – god, I feel old!) And I’ve done so much since then, it’s not even funny. But every shoot is a new experience, and I learn so much. And it has never lost its magic. Need to do more. The muse is begging me.

So, stats!

Words written: 2,090 on Awaken Me / 4,600 words total
Words remaining: 30,400 words
What’s happening: The MC, Beth, is in major shock.
What’s next: Her initiation, I believe
Feeling: Crappy. Wrist + migraine no worky
Eye report: Ugh, not good!
Chocolate consumption: A lot. I stopped counting.
Mood music: Within Temptation – Hydra album

#ROW80 Check-in 5/11/14

First of all, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! Especially my own Mother and my Mother-in-Law. Two amazing, wonderful women that I’m so lucky to have in my life.

I’ve got some more words on Awaken Me but I’ve had to slow down to due to my wrist. I also am finding myself stuck on where to go next. That’s one of the issues with pantsing. Sometimes, the road ahead isn’t always clear.

I also wrote a few poems this week to get myself into the rhythm again. And I did my first photo shoot in forever! I even got a few potential HDR pictures (High Dynamic Range — a really neat effect that makes the pictures look otherworldly) – I’m dying to play with them digitally but today is too jam-packed to do anything. Soon. Very soon.

And that’s it for today.

Stats!

Words written: 2,510 on Awaken Me
Words remaining: 32,490 words
What’s happening: The MC has agreed to join the club.
What’s next: Something. I don’t know yet.
Feeling: Would like to write but can’t because wrists. 😦
Eye report: Twinge-y.
Chocolate consumption: Too much. Way to much. And donut holes, but those don’t count.
Mood music: Mostly Adam Lambert these days. Oh, and Def Leppard.

Year of No Fear – 2014 Manifesto – March Progress Report

This has been a very slow month for me because my back is still a problem, so most of what I wanted to do had to be put off. 😦 Makes me sad, but the year is still young and I need to take care of myself.

So here’s the rundown of what I’ve accomplished:

~Poetry: I’ve looked over some poem drafts. Still waiting for something to gel. Got everything set up on my HDX so if something hits me on the go, I can jump on it.
~Self-portraits: I’ve started, as an experiment, taking selfies on my new Kindle Fire HDX. Totally not serious, completely goofy, just to get used to doing it again. I’m going to try to take a pic a day for 30 days, and see how that goes. It’s something.
~Photography: Got plans. Need to execute them as soon as my back is better (HDR photos and park photos are planned, so far).
~Ice skating: On hold till back is better. But hey, I got new ice skates from the hubby for my birthday! Can’t wait to try them out!
~Revision: It’s coming along pretty darned well. Just hit 40k in draft, and I’m excited about it again. This month however is devoted to my TDP anthology story “Reaper Girl” which is due May 1st.
~Erotica: Ideas are happening. No real time to tinker, unfortunately.
~Diet: Lost 7 pounds! Trying really hard to watch what I eat and how much.
~Optimism: Been sorta tough with health things happening, but I am trying.

And that’s basically it. Still progressing which is good, right?

#ROW80 Check-in the Eighteenth

Doing much, much better with the Rewrite. I finally got to the scene where everything blows up. So now everything goes downhill from there (*evil grin*). I’m feeling pretty good about it. I’ve hit 31k, just 4k shy of my 35k goal. I can do this!

On the photography front, I’ve taken a look at both my cameras (one is a high-end digital point & shoot and the other is a DSLR which cost a fortune) and both are capable of doing what I need them to do for HDR photos. The DSLR would be ideal because it can do something called auto bracketing (taking several different exposures of the same picture) whereas with the other one, I’d have to manually set it up. So that’s good news. I wanted to do a few test shots, but alas, I just didn’t have the time.

Overall, I’m feeling better. My back is still a problem, but I took some meds last night and they helped. I’m not as exhausted, but with the time change, I do feel a bit off kilter as I do every year. It’s funny — a lot of people say there’s no such thing as feeling poopy after the time change, but I do, even when I go to bed an hour early to compensate. Then again, I have fibromyalgia which makes me more prone to issues with sleep anyway. But, I’m glad to be feeling better.

Soulfire hasn’t happened yet. Got too deeply involved in the Rewrite, and that is the priority. Le sigh.

Onward to stats!

Running total: 31,526 words
Words remaining: 3,474 words (!!)
Body count: 1 possession down, many more to go! *evil grin*
Feeling: Okay. Better than I have lately.
Eye report: Still some pain issues, but not too bad.
Back report: Calm for now. But once the meds wear off, I might be hurting again.

#ROW80 Check-in the Seventeenth – Moving along

Working still a bit slowly, but I’ve been working hard at it and I have a plan for the next few scenes. Getting up to the first big thing and frankly, I can’t wait. This is where the crap hits the fan.

I’ve been fighting back issues, eye issues, and fatigue these past few days. I’ve been working at less the 100% and it shows in my progress. I’ve decided to try harder. Because this book needs to written. (And I am so damn close to 35k I can taste it!)

(I’ve also discovered HDR photography — stay tuned for updates on that. I want to start shooting immediately, but need to check both my main cameras to see if they’ll work. But the images are stunning. You’ll see.)

Running total: 28,518 words
Words remaining: 6,482 words (SO CLOSE!)
Body count: Possession is imminent. La, la, la.
Feeling: Yucky.
Eye report: Hurting, but no loopy pills are required tonight.
Back report: Twinge-y. Took motrin with dinner, hoping it does the trick.