#ROW80 Check-in 1/15/17

And here we are again with another #ROW80 Check-in. I’m still not sleeping well, and as a result I’ve been pretty unmotivated, to be honest. Edits on Ever Touched are progressing slowly, although today I believe I will be able to get a lot done.

I’m up to page 100 of 238. So far, it’s been pretty easy, but I know I’ll have to rewrite the climax because I know (and my editor mentioned it) that it’s not as good as it can be. I’ve been simmering that one.

I am also addicted to Guild Wars (it’s a massive multi-player online roleplaying game similar to World of Warcraft) again. Le sigh.

As for other things….

Water – 5 times.

Exercise – Nothing, bad girl!

FYFB class – Still very behind. Haven’t even touched it.

Weight  – Haven’t actually weighed myself lately so I’m not sure how that’s going.

Chocolate consumption: dark chocolate truffles, chocolate caramel thingies, ultimate chocolate sandwiches, and hot chocolate. Also more Twizzlers.

That’s it for me! How about you?

2016 Year-in-Review and 2017 Goals

Here we are with my 2016 Year-in-Review and 2017 Goals. This year FLEW by, and I had a lot of health stuff crop up, so things did not go as smoothly, and some things had to be put on the back burner. All in all, I think I did pretty damn well considering. I wrote around 130,000 words for the year, which is excellent. I did a lot of editing and revising, and that’s not counted in the total.

The two major accomplishments for this year were submitting Pirouette/Death Dancer to a publisher and one agent. I got frustrated by the process, and realized that my ability to meet deadlines due to my health is compromised, and besides that, I like having control over things, so I decided to stop trying with traditional publishing and try to publish Pirouette independently. That’s not to say I’m done with traditional publishing; it just means that Pirouette will probably at some point be a Turtleduck Press release.

The second one is Ever Touched. I finished it and submitted it to my editor by my deadline of December 1st. Due to life craziness and a computer in the shop for 11 days, it was a struggle, but I’m glad to say that I made it. I’ve already received my edits back, and have started the 2nd round.

Also, Turtleduck Press published To Rule the Stars, an anthology of space princess stories. My story, Bound, is part of it (and a sneak peek of Ever Touched!). Check it out here.

What about everything else?

~Release one novel – <–DONE, technically. I released Reaper Girl as a perk of signing up for my newsletter. I am working on releasing it everywhere.
~Finish and release Fireborn <–NOT DONE. I am close, though. I was never able to get it done to my satisfaction. It’s my #1 goal in 2017 after Ever Touched edits are done.
~Finish Pirouette revision and submit to publisher. If rejected, make a ruling as to what to do with it (trad or indie)<–DONE. Was rejected by both publisher and agent. Have decided to publish it with TDP.
~Begin Flamebound rewrite <–NOT DONE. Would love to do something with it in 2017.
~Begin Survivor rewrite <–NOT DONE. Definitely going to be a project for 2017. I am DYING to get this one out there.
~Make progress on Awaken Me <–NOT DONE, unless thinking about it counts!
~Finish Ever Touched <–DONE and turned in on time. Slated for May 2017 release.
~Get back into darkroom <–DONE. Processed a test roll of film, but have not been able to do any printing. And b/c of my skin issues, it’s not looking likely for awhile. 😦 
~Try not to stress so much <–NOT DONE. LOL. It feels like all I did was stress out about things.
~Experiment with plotting techniques <–DONE! “Plotting from the Middle” and Monica Leonelle’s techniques.
~Finish up Changeling serial <–DONE! And as of Feb. 1st, I am starting a new one in the Fey Touched world.
~Get back on diet/eat healthy/exercise<–KINDA SORTA. I’ve been trying to get better with exercise, but a sprained knee screwed me up. Likewise with the diet. Been trying, but have been losing and gaining the SAME FIVE POUNDS. Ugh.
~My word for this year is NURTURE: nurture myself, nurture my creativity, nurture my dreams.

So, all in all, not too shabby. Here are my goals for 2017:

~Release 1 book (besides Ever Touched)
~Publish Ever Touched (set for May release)
~Start revision of Pirouette/Death Dancer
~Finish Covenant
~Start Elysium
~Finish and release Fireborn
~Outline book #1 in Fey Touched spin-off series
~Get on a consistent, simple exercise plan and STICK WITH IT
~Eat healthier/Gluten-free
~Get back into darkroom when hands are better
~Add in a second writing session twice a week (8 minutes)
~Try to write more short fiction
~Continue with FYFB class (so behind right now!)
~Start working on Survivor Rewrite outline again

I think that’s enough for now. What are your goals for 2017?

#ROW80 Check-in Dec.11th

I’m baaaack!

I’ve had a rough couple of weeks. First, I finished the Ever Touched revision on time, but it was a struggle. I also got a freelance editing job in the midst of that, which was great, but needed to be done, so I wasn’t able to do much else (but the extra money was worth it!). And I have another one coming in tomorrow, which is great. 🙂

Then…I started getting these odd, itchy blisters on my hands and feet. The itching was miserable. I couldn’t sleep for at least a week. I finally got the brilliant idea of taking Benadryl before bed so I could sleep, except that really made me groggy in the morning. I couldn’t take hot showers b/c the heat would make the itching exponentially worse. All in all, I was miserable and a bit freaked out.

Long story short — I saw my doctor on Friday and he said it is vesicular eczema, which only affects the hands and feet. Apparently it could have started due to an allergy, but maybe not (we’ve racked our brains and can’t come up with anything). My dad had atopic eczema, and I guess there’s a genetic component to all of this. He gave me a shot of steroids (which I’m not sure helped), a prescription strength anti-itch cream, and told me to make sure I put moisturizer on myself every day indefinitely, as my skin is too dry (always in the winter). If I’m not better in one week, I’ll need to call him and probably come in again.

I can’t even tell you how miserable this is. Besides being itchy all the time, I have to constantly be aware of how warm I get b/c that affects it. I don’t sleep with many covers, so most of the time I’m freezing. I’m also swollen from the steroids, so I can’t wear my wedding rings or my anniversary ring, which I know is not huge and is temporary, but I have never not worn them and my hands feel naked. All my scratching can lead to a skin infection, so I’m worried about that as well. The funny thing? I figured this out myself. I did some research and saw pictures, and they looked just like my hands. But of course I needed confirmation of that, so I saw the doctor.I just want this to go away! I’m afraid it’s going to linger, and I’ll have to battle this for awhile and I really don’t want to.

But I guess of all the things that could be happening, this is relatively minor. Just a nuisance. But still…

So I haven’t done much of anything. But here’s the rundown:

Ever Touched revision – DONE and turned in 12/1. I get it back January 1st for the first round of revisions.

FYFB class – SO behind, not even funny. But I will be working on it today a bit.

Reviews – Somewhat caught up, but I have a few that need to be done like right now…

Exercise – Are you kidding me? Nope.

Water – Pretty much 5x a week, yay!

Weight – Lost 3 pounds, yay!

Chocolate consumption – Not a lot, really. WW Sundaes, chocolate-caramel thingies, hot chocolate. Lots of Twizzlers and Snickerdoodles.