#ROW80 Final Check-in

So here we are at the end of the round! It went by so fast! Yikes!

I think I did very well, despite having issues with fatigue. That really screwed me up for awhile, but I am feeling much better so that’s good.

Here’s the rundown. Goals for the round were:

~Finish revision of Pirouette for submission to publisher (currently on page 203 of 243, but don’t let that fool you. I have a few plot holes to fill.) ~DONE! Still waiting to hear back, so fingers crossed!
~Write synopsis (first time doing that!) ~DONE! And got some very valuable feedback and knowledge for next time.
~Submit to publisher by 1/31 ~DONE! Submitted 1/25
~Finish Fireborn first draft (Reaper Girl novella, 19k of 25k currently) ~DONE! Finished at 23k.
~Make progress on Covenant, secondary WIP ~DONE! It is up to 18k now.
~Log in planner goals + to dos every day/every month (trying something new!) ~DONE for the most part. Struggled with remembering to write everything down b/c I do most of my planning in my head. Toward the end of this round, I managed to fill in at least two weeks in a row.
~Physical activity: 15 mins 3x a week (anything that gets me moving counts!) ~HIT OR MISS HERE. Mostly done, at least twice, but some weeks were tough getting it in.
~After Pirouette revision is finished, 8 minutes of focused writing per day on a first draft of my choice (another new thing).~MOSTLY DONE, except that I struggled with exhaustion issues toward the end of this round. I added at least 5k to Covenant, so I call that a win.
~Develop test roll of b&w film ~NOT DONE. I am almost ready! I am waiting for a specific chemical to be delivered (I had to special order it). But once I get it, it’s developing time!

Other notable accomplishments:

~Added drinking 1 glass of water per day to my routine
~Added walking to my routine, weather and health permitting
~Started inputting Survivor re-outline to Scrivener
~New idea for horror novel, Elysium
~About to start experimenting with plotting
~Ever Touched up to 54k
~Got darkroom ready to go for developing/printing

That’s it! Very happy with my progress and I will see you in Round 2!

#ROW80 Check-in #12.5

I’m superstitious about the number 13. 😉

This has been a pretty productive week, I think. No writing, though, because I’ve been copyediting part 2 of our May release. What a great book! I’m about 30 pages from the end and I am DYING to find out what happens next!

I’ve still been tired but not as tired as before, so that’s a good thing.

Here’s the rundown:

Ever Touched/Covenant/8 minutes a day – Nada, but Thoughts Have Occurred.

Planner – Yes! And I even filled in this week! I’ll need to adjust as I go, as things come up, but it’s at least started.

Water – Every day except two. (Usually, if I get home late from wherever I am, I skip the water so I’m not getting up to use the bathroom at night).

Darkroom – As I mentioned last week, I got all the old chemicals dumped and ready for disposal in September. These past few days I have been researching dilutions and my particular developer to see if my grand plan is going to work (using old developer, one of the chemicals for film development. I’m reading that it keeps forever if kept in a concentrated form, which I’ve done). I need one more chemical to come — I had to special order it. And then it’s developing time! (As it is, I really need to finish copyediting first, so it’s just as well.) I also bought 2 rolls of b&w infrared film which I am itching to try! I need really good sunlight, though.

Physical activity – 3 times, 2 of which were walking! Yay!

New project idea – Yeah, they’re coming fast and furious! I have an idea for a horror novel that involves a drug to resurrect people (but not as zombies!) and a limbo place between life and death, and people who are addicted to going there. And naturally, Bad Things Happen. So that’s been gnawing on my brain for about two weeks. I am going to experiment with actual plotting (ye Gods) to see if maybe I can somehow get it written faster. When, no clue! I have a lot on my plate already. I’m calling it Elysium for now.

I think that’s it! Here’s to another (hopefully) productive week!

#ROW80 Check-in #12

Annnnd I am back. I have been copyediting all week, and finished part 1 of the book and sent it back last night. Part 2 is due to hit within the next few days.

No writing. Although I may be able to do some today and tomorrow!

I’m still pretty tired, but I seem to be coming out of it. Of course daylight saving time happened last night, so that’s another goofy week for me. Oh, well.

Here’s the actual rundown:

Ever Touched – Nada, due to the copyedit. But have been having Thoughts.

Covenant/8 mins a day – Same, but Thinking about where to go next with it.

Water – Every day except two.

Planner – I fell off the wagon toward the end of the week, but today I filled in every day this coming week with something. It seems to be working better.

Darkroom – I finally decided to JUST DO IT after I wrote my ROW80 post last Sunday. It’s done! The chemicals need to be taken to the city in September for disposal, but they are ready to go! I just ordered fresh ones which should be coming in the next week or so. Also, I ordered two rolls of B&W infrared film too! Expensive, but I’m DYING to try it again! It’s a new brand for me, so it will be a total experiment, but hey, I love it and NEED to do more. So that’s covered.

Physical activity – FINALLY hit 3 times this week! And I walked a bit yesterday! Hubby and I try to walk every day when the weather’s nice, so that should be happening more often now that we’re heading into spring.

Old project/Darkweaver – This is a really old novel idea I’ve been wanting to write FOREVER but the timing hasn’t been right. I got hit on the head with a way to handle some things yesterday and I’m wondering if I should try to make time in this year’s schedule for it. I don’t know. I’d need to outline this one, and find my old notes, but it might be worth it. This proves that some books NEED to be written regardless of how long it takes. I’ve been mulling it over for 10 years. Actually, now 11. It’s supposed to be a trilogy. And it’s pretty unique, I think. I’ve always thought it’d be good for e-pub or traditional publishing. We will see!

I hope I can do more this week. 🙂

#ROW80 Check-in #11

I have been sleeping better, but I’m still exhausted, so I’ve had some issues getting things done this week (again!). I think some of it is the fibromyalgia messing with me again.

Here is the run down:

Ever Touched – Broke 50k yesterday! I wrote over 2k yesterday which is awesome! I wish I could do that every day! I wanted to hit 50k before my copyediting started. I’m supposed to get the manuscript today, so that will take priority for the rest of the month. But I still plan on working on Ever Touched when I can.

Covenant/8 minutes a day – Big fat fail on this one. No energy. Yesterday I wanted to work on it, but Real Life intruded, and by the time I had the time to do it, it was too late at night and I was ready for bed! Gah! Going to try to get back into the swing again this week.

Planner – Going better than last week! I filled in the entire week except today.

Water – Every day except one.

Physical activity – Another fail. Although today I have some cleaning to do, so that will count.

Darkroom – Another fail. Low energy + Real Life intruding. I hope that things calm down. It’s funny. All I need to do is transfer chemicals into other containers for disposal.I need to do that before I can develop the test roll. Not too difficult, but finding the time and/or energy? Not happening.

Sooooo I hope to be more productive this week. Wish me luck!

 

#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 11/4/15

So we’re 4 days into Nanowrimo, and I’m doing okay, averaging 1,000 words a day which is my minimum. I haven’t done my words for today, but I imagine it’ll be around there. (I am wondering where to go next, even with my loose outline. Oops?)

So, here’s the rundown:

Physical activity: 3 times X 15 minutes
Covenant: 0 words, but simmering
Fireborn: 905 new words, broke 20k
Ever Touched: 3,000 words so far for Nano
Test roll: FINISHED. Just need to find the time to mix the chemicals and develop it! It felt good to be shooting b&w again

Chocolate consumption: Not too much, actually. Well within the limits of my diet. Kind of scary, but good for me.

Here’s a little snippet of Ever Touched. Background: Brianna is the MC, and she is at a Fey bar to gather intel. But she gets sidetracked by a drink and the dance floor…

A pounding began behind my eyelids. Lovely. With a whispered cheers, I took my first sip.
And nearly choked.
He wasn’t kidding when he said it was “very hot.” It felt as if a fire seared its way down my throat and spread through my body. It jacked me up in an odd kind of way. I wanted to dance, to move to the music, let the fire pulse inside me with the music…
I found myself headed toward the dance floor without any conscious thought of doing so. I dodged the mass of bodies writhing, gyrating, twisting, and turning until I found a reasonably empty spot.
And…started to move.
As the fire spread through me, I let the music take hold of me. I moved with it, and within it, spinning, forgetting everything — the episodes, my loneliness… I moved like an ethereal being between strobes, flitting across the floor like a wraith, spinning like a ballerina. I was everything; I was nothing in the pulse of the strobe lights.
And then it happened.
I was in that room again. A pinch of an injection. A face, blurry to my eyes, a mouth moving, forming words I couldn’t understand or hear. My spine bowed with the force of energy slamming into me, and I started to speak.
Words, disconnected sounds. Nothing made sense. I wasn’t dancing anymore. I was standing there, all alone, and trapped in the vision-thing and —
“Brianna?”

Annnd that’s it for now! How are you doing?

Stay tuned.

#ROW80 Check-in 10/21/15

My beautiful cover for Reaper Girl, created by the awesome and wonderful Dannika Dark. 🙂

I’ve been a bit busy, which is a good thing, and I’ve done some writing, but not as much as I wanted to! Things keep popping up. This week has been the week of the migraine, and I *think* — hope — it’s gone for good. I think we have a storm front coming through or something. And, naturally, the TN pain had to get in on the action, so that’s been hurting quite a lot despite being on an intermediate dose between the lower dosage and the new prescribed dosage. Being that this is all new still, I’m not really sure what’s going on. But today it has been tolerable, so that’s a good thing.

The BIG news is that I have a cover for Reaper Girl, my novella that was published originally in the Under Her Protection anthology. I am going to be giving away a free copy to anyone who signs up for my newsletter. I sat down to work on the cover and showed it (a very rough draft) to some writer friends and I learned that just because I’m a photographer, doesn’t mean I am good at cover design (and Grave Touched doesn’t count. I was just following what the original designer, SM Reine, did with it). I am in the process of learning, and I learned a great deal with that one. Along with lots of great advice, one of the writers took my awful cover and turned it into the beautiful cover on the left. (Her name is Dannika Dark, and she rocks, both with writing and cover design). So that’s my cover. All I need to do is format the novella for Kindle/Nook/etc and I’m there. 🙂 The big challenge will be to make Fireborn match this lovely cover. I want to do it myself. *twitches*

Okay, on to the rundown! Here’s what I have done:

Physical activity: 2 days, approximately 15 minutes each
Test roll: Couldn’t do it this past weekend because silly me, I didn’t check the batteries! They’re like, at least 10 years old, and deader than dead. So my husband bought some from his work. So…this will be happening soonish.
Fieborn: Hit a bit of a snag that had me stumped, and I believe I may (maybe!) be over the hump. 672 new words.
Covenant: Nothing, although ideas are simmering.
Nano/Ever Touched: Going to be outlining at least some of it (at least enough to start me off) this week sometime.

Chocolate consumption: birthday cake! WW Sundaes! Still trying to diet, and that’s been going alright, I guess. Eating out at restaurants is the toughest, especially when the chosen restaurant has little-to-no options for health-conscious or dieting customers. So I haven’t been doing awesome, but I am trying at home as much as possible.

#ROW80 Check-in 10/7/15

Today is the 9-year anniversary of he day I met my hubby. 🙂 Boy, how time flies!

Here’s my update:

I haven’t written anything, due to the freelance project I’m working on. Things are percolating, and the first sentence of Before the Stars Fall revealed itself to me. Thank you, muse! Like I need any more WIPs…

Physical activity: walked for 15 minutes yesterday and today. One more day to go!

I’m tentatively planning on shooting my test roll this weekend, if things aren’t too nuts. I missed the window for summer flowers (boo!) but since I have the automatic I should be good to go for indoors stuff. We have two animals, a cat and a dog, that always are good for pictures. (If the roll turns out and the pictures are really good, they can be made into Christmas presents).

That’s really about it.

Oh! Chocolate consumption! Everyone’s favorite part! How could I forget? I…haven’t had much chocolate in the past few days. I think I’m slipping! Must remedy that immediately! (she says as she eats a piece of chocolate….)