#ROW80 Check-in 12/6/15

Annnnd I am back. The time between the last check-in and today seems to have been a whirlwind, but a good one, because I got some good work done.

I finished NanoWriMo with 32,169 words on Ever Touched, which is wonderful. Now I have a good start for when I pick it back up again (probably sometime next year). The story is just starting to take shape, and I’m excited about the possibilities.

On December 1st I began the revision for Pirouette. I brainstormed my little head off and figured out a better opening scene. I am still a bit wibbly on parts of it, but it will do for now. I need to get the new stuff (re)written before I do anything else, because that will take the longest. Alisia, my MC, is trying her best to be snarky, but I am working on making it less for this draft. I LOVED her snarkiness, but it was too much, according to the majority of my beta readers. But I won’t take it all out.

I’m up to page 16 and 8,214 words so far — some of it is words that existed prior, but the bulk of it is new or revised material. So, I’m finally on my way. The good news is that my plot was pretty solid, so not much of that is being changed. I do have one element I’d like to add in if I can. So most of the work is on the characters and their interactions.

I forgot how hard it is to write 3rd person formal speech. I keep slipping into first person (which is my preference) and/or contemporary speech/though patterns and I have to remind myself that it isn’t going to work with this book. I remember waaaaaaay back when I was writing the first draft (10 years ago!) I lamented writing 3rd person for the male lead because I did not, at that time, know how to write 3rd person well. Now I chuckle because I’m pretty good at it now, and I should be okay, but still..little things trip me up.

As for physical activity, I’ve kind of fallen off the wagon there. I will be starting it again this week. Too little time, so damn much to do!

So from now until the end of the round, my priorities are the Pirouette revision and physical activity.

On the chocolate front, not too bad? I finished off our pumpkin-pecan strusel pie which was so yummy, and I’ve been eating mostly WW snacks. We have custard-filled donuts for dessert tonight (topped with chocolate), yum!

How have you all been doing?

#ROW80 Check-in 10/14/15

Here we are with ROW80 again!

I’ve made some decent progress. I hurt my back recently, so physical activity has been minimal.

Here’s the rundown:

Fireborn: 1,700 new words for a total of 18,500 in draft. The end is soooo close!
Covenant: 376 words, for a total of 11,898 words in draft. (4,624 words to meet my goal).
Nano: Yes, as of today, barring any craziness. I believe I will be writing Ever Touched, FT book#3, and I may switch between that and Survivor. (Still wibbling!)
Physical activity: I managed two times last week and two times this week until my back got screwy so I call that a win.
Test roll: Did not manage it last week. Tentatively planning on doing it this Saturday if the light is good. 🙂

Chocolate consumption: You guys won’t believe it, but I’ve had very little chocolate since the last check-in. I’m watching my calories now and the bit of chocolate I did have fit into my daily allocation.Yikes! I’m actually *gulp* dieting!

#ROW80 Round 4 Goals

Round 4 2015 starts today, and I have goals!

Last round went pretty well, but there were some unexpected snags. This go-around, I’d like to finish the year strong.

Here they are:

~Finish Fireborn (I’m within 5k-10k to the end)
~5k more on Covenant
~Barring unforeseen craziness, I’d like to participate in NaNoWriMo with a modified goal of 30k (because my wrists can’t take 50k). Need to decide on a project, Survivor Rewrite or Ever Touched. Both need to be written, and there are compelling reasons for working on both but…just. can’t. decide!

Non-writing goals:

~Shoot test roll of 35mm film and develop
~15 minutes of physical activity (anything that gets me out of my chair counts: cleaning, walking, straightening, breaks from writing, etc) 3 times per week

I’m going to stop there, because I don’t want to overwhelm myself. My brain tends to lock up and refuse to do anything if I do that. I may add to these if I find things are going well, or subtract/modify them.

Now, if i get any freelance editing jobs within this time period, those are the priority. I hope to be able to juggle writing and freelance work better, though. Let the madness begin!