Category: real life

Nothing To See Here; Move Along

I don’t have any startling revelations to report this week, sadly. The writing is going well. The revisions on Tempest are still going, although this week is kind of a slog through murky waters dealing with setting details. I’m getting the final things in order to begin the actual revision pass through the werewolf story, which starts next week. I’m a little nervous about that. I hope I can actually get the vision I have for this story, the vision that’s grown stronger with this class, down on paper and do it justice.

Let’s see, what else has been going on? I went to the Fairgrounds racetrack on Saturday to see 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra race. There were an estimated 12,000 people there, and it was a beautiful spring day, if a little bit windy. Sadly, Rachel got beaten, although it was a good race, and fun to watch. It was an interesting experience. I’ve never seen people holding up signs at a horse race before, and the track is always a good place to go for people watching. People will wear anything out there, and it cracks me up. Seriously, would you wear 4-inch stilettos if you knew you were going to be tramping around on concrete for 5 hours? Not me. I’d trip and break my neck. But it proved quite entertaining.

And…that’s pretty much it for me for now. I’ve two crits to work on for my crit group, along with various other odds and ends to keep me on-track for my goals for the year. Other than that, it’s all good.

Spinning My Wheels

Do you ever feel like you’re at a constant, frenetic pace, but you’re not actually going anywhere? Well, that’s the way my life’s been going this week. (Please tell me I’m not the only one who feels like this!) Busy, busy. I’ve gotten a bit of writing done, but I haven’t hit my goals consistently (or even written a single word today). However, I’m making huge progress–at least I feel like it–in my revisions.

I broke down the angel story into plot and subplots, and wrote The Sentence for the whole book AND the individual threads. Wow. That was quite an eye-opening experience. I discovered that my plot has less scenes (by a nice margin, too) than one of my subplots, so that’s going to require some changes, whether or not I switch the subplot to be the main plot or not. And I can see there are some other scenes that I need to write, although I’m not quite sure what they are yet.

In the werewolf story, I’m currently dealing with time. I had to sit down and figure out when each scene took place (Day one, day three, etc.). Which would have been MUCH easier if I’d kept the scratch calendar I made when I was outlining the second half of the story, complete with the scenes penciled in on their respective dates. (NOTE TO SELF: Do not throw any story notes away. AT ALL. No matter how trivial they seem at the time.) I’ve figured out that my scenes are heavily skewed towards the beginning and ending time-wise, of my story (which stretches over a 3-month period), so I’ll be looking at changing that a little bit as well.

Other than that, one of my brothers got to town yesterday, and the other will be here tomorrow, so this weekend is family time!

Swamped

And not in a good way, either. I had a busy weekend, and I’m still struggling to get caught up. My to-do list is staring at me threateningly. My brain (or possibly my Muse) woke me up WAY early yesterday and today with a list of things I needed to be working on. And I have a lingering sense of guilt. All this means I haven’t been getting done what I need to get done.

The only thing going really well–and that I’m not behind on–is the writing. The “new” story is flying along pretty well, and I’m about 22k in, so it’s over a quarter of the way finished. This draft, anyway. Other than that…I’m behind.

Off to get some work done. I hope everyone else is being much more productive than I am lately.

Advantages Of Living In The South

When the forecast calls for the potential for snow (Or sleet, or a “wintry mix”), things shut down. Everything shuts down. The best part about that? My job actually cares about the safety of its employees, so they closed those of us in the “affected” area down for Friday. Which meant I had an unexpected–but very much welcome–day off. So I stayed home, and watched the record-breaking snowfall back home (the DFW area). It was beautiful, but I was glad I missed it. Meanwhile, all we got was rain. LOTS of rain. To the point that when I had to go outside, I was immensely grateful for my new rain boots, because there was at least three inches of water standing. Which would have been horrific if the temperature had dropped to the expected low and everything had actually frozen over (A lot of people said that was bound to happen, what with the Saints winning the Superbowl and all).

So instead of working on Friday, I got a lot of stuff done. I’m actually writing on the HTTS story. It’s going well so far. I’m working on revisions for the other three stories. The zombie story is coming along slowly, but surely. The werewolf story…Wow. The actual revision itself should be interesting. And the angel story…I find I’m very unhappy with the POV, but I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do to fix it. For now, it’s enough for me to know that it IS an issue, and I CAN fix it. And I will. No matter how much work it entails.

I Think My Muse Is Out To Get Me

I’ll admit I’m something of an overachiever. Well, maybe it would be better to say that I try to do too much, and when I don’t have 17 things going on, I feel sort of lost. I also feel like I do my best work when I’m on the verge of being overwhelmed. That’s a pretty accurate statement. (And if you’ve seen my goals for the year, you know it’s true.) So, this month my focus was supposed to be on three things:

1) Revise the werewolf story (one lesson per week)
2) Revise the zombie story (one lesson per month)
3) Do four lessons in HTTS and start writing that story.

APPARENTLY, that wasn’t enough for my Muse. Nope. He decided that I ALSO needed to start revising the angel story, because it’s been burning a hole in the back of our brains for a while now, and I haven’t even looked at it since I finished it on November 30th 2008. Clearly, Muse thinks it’s been simmering back there long enough, and it’s time to bring it out, make it look all appetizing, and put it on the menu. (Perhaps I should go eat breakfast. This is making me hungry.) Plus, I’ve seen a lot of angel stuff lately, and that’s got me itching to work on the story even more. So. Here I go. Revising three stories simultaneously (though not all at the same level of frenetic intensity) while writing another one. The goal is to have a complete first draft from HTTS as well as two revised manuscripts by May–when I go on vacation. And boy, am I going to need it…

On The Other Side of the Looking Glass

So, if you haven’t heard, the New Orleans Saints are going to the Super Bowl. (And really, if you haven’t heard, what rock have you been hiding under?) First of all, let me say this: I’M GLAD THE SAINTS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL. There. That’s out of the way. Really, I’m glad. However…I don’t watch football. I don’t know anything about football. And I’m fairly new to the NOLA area, so I… don’t quite get the whole level of excitement that has invaded this area. I mean, I get that people have been waiting for this to happen for like 40 years, but to me, in my football-neutral mind, I’m thinking “So? It’s just a game.” Um, apparently not, to a LOT of people around here. At work, total strangers have been asking “Wasn’t that a great game?” (To which the reply “What game?” apparently isn’t an acceptable answer. Oops.) When they won the game Sunday night, there were fireworks going off outside. People driving down the street were honking their horns. People ran around outside screaming. And–and this part is kind of scary–people were shooting guns up into the air. It’s CRAZY. The newspaper sold out on Monday, so they had to re-print it yesterday, and everyone you see is wearing black and gold. Bourbon Street looked like Mardi Gras. It was just mind-blowing for me. That level of excitement I’d have to reserve for winning the lottery or getting a publishing contract.

In other, non-football-related news, my HTTS lessons are going much better this time. So far, anyway. The lesson I’m at now is outlining, one sentence per scene, on index cards. I’m not an index card person. I prefer to do a phase outline, with a paragraph or two (or sometimes a page) per chapter. But I promised myself I’d do these lessons like Holly says, so I sat down yesterday and started working on my cards. Counting the four scenes I already had sentences for (from previous worksheets), and the sentences I got from the 8k I already have written on the story, I had nine cards done. My goal was to do five more.

However, my Muse started pitching ideas at me, and when I finally stopped working on the cards, I had 30 cards done! 30! Woot! Go, Muse! Now I just need 5 cards today. I’m starting to get really excited about this story, too. Love the characters, and can’t wait to work on them again. Sam has some really mean things in store for her…

The werewolf revisions are going pretty well. I think I’m about to get into the really heavy-duty stuff, so I’m actually looking forward to that. And I saw Legion this weekend. SCARY–to me, anyway, I’m a chicken (Have you SEEN the preview where the old lady crawls on the ceiling? Bleh. TOO CREEPY!) –but it has me anxious to start revising Tempest.

And… that’s all for now.

Blessings

Do you ever have one of those days where you think your life sucks, that the Universe is out to get you, that you just can’t catch a break? Where everything that can go wrong, does, and you spend the rest of the day sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, muttering Oh, woe is me! and practically wearing sackcloth and ashes? Those days suck. I hate those days.

I’m usually an optimistic person. I do tend to worry about some things, but I am also firmly of the belief that What Is Meant To Be, Will Be (without any worrying from me), and that God has everything under control (and He clearly doesn’t need my help in running things). So. I try not to worry about stuff. Sometimes, though, sometimes I get a little overwhelmed. I start thinking how I wish I made more money ’cause it seems like I’m always broke, and hey, I’d really, really like to be able to buy any random book that catches my eye on Amazon, or a cute pair of boots, or maybe a CD (The soundtrack to Book of Eli HAS to be an awesome writing CD, ’cause the music was fabulous.). Or how much I miss my best friend (still back home in Texas) and her two kids, and how it sucks that all my super close friends live at least 600 miles away. Or that I wish my two brothers and I lived closer together. I start thinking all this, and then I get a little bit down.

And then I see something on the news about the earthquake victims in Haiti, and how they don’t have food or water or shelter and a lot of them are still trapped in the rubble, and I realize something: You know, I have a GREAT life. A really great life. I may not have a lot of extra cash (or any, sometimes), but I have food and water and a place to live and a job that pays my bills (mostly). I don’t have to walk around naked (Thank God!) or in rags. I’m not trapped somewhere, suffering and in pain. Yeah, I miss my friends, but we still keep in touch all the time. And I’ve made some great new friends here. I do miss my brothers, but again, we keep in touch, and I should be seeing them soon. And then I start thinking about how crappy it was of me to complain about my life when so many people have it SO MUCH WORSE! (This is usually followed by me mentally beating myself up for being an ungrateful wench, but that’s a story for another day.)

Yes, I did have this major epiphany a couple of days ago. But epiphanies don’t always have to be huge and life-encompassing. Last night, I was working on the newest lesson of HTRYN. I struggled majorly with last week’s lesson, but finally got through it. This week… looks to be another struggle, although hopefully not as large. But I was reading through the message boards, feeling sorry for myself about how much work the werewolf story needs when I came across a post from a person whose first draft was 758,000 words. Wow. Can you imagine? I can’t. And Witches came in at 300k at the end of the first draft (Down to 180k now, thank you very much!). But 758,000 words? My blood ran cold at the very thought. The amount of effort it took to write that takes my breath away. And when I think of how much work it will be to edit…

I am SO blessed.

Momentum…Fading…

I’ve been doing pretty well so far this year, keeping up with the lessons in the HTRYN course, and starting over with HTTS. But this week…Not so much. It’s been hard this week, and I haven’t had much “free” time to work. Nowhere near as much as I’d like, anyway. Not by a long shot. I should be finishing up lesson seven in HTRYN tomorrow. Instead, I haven’t even really started it, apart from printing out the worksheets, and reading the lesson about three times to try and grasp the information. It’s about Setting, and this lesson, for me, is DEEP. And very much needed… Hopefully I’ll get a chance to do some work on it later tonight.

On the up side, I did wake up two mornings ago with a complete story idea dancing before my eyes, so I grabbed a notebook and scribbled down the high points, as well as any details I could remember. Interesting story. And not like anything I’ve written. Epic fantasy with a heavy war element, which is totally not like me at all. Intriguing idea, though….(*staring at notebook with story notes longingly* No. Can’t work on that now. Have other darlings to worry about right now…But later, My Precious. Later.)

That’s about all I’ve got going on for now. How’s everyone else’s week going?

Is It Hot In Here?

We’re already a week and a half (more or less) into January, and I’ve only read—Gasp!—one book. Yes. Just one. Wow. I know, right? I’m also re-reading Gone With The Wind for like the 25th time. Last year is the only year in recent memory that I haven’t read it. I started it, but didn’t finish. So now I’m trying to do that, I just haven’t had time lately! Besides, I’m in the middle of being annoyed at Scarlett (Yes, again! What? You thought that just because I’ve read it so many times I wouldn’t get mad at her? Not to mention Rhett. I’d like to knock their heads together, or shake some sense into them. Okay. Rant over.)

Anyway, the only book I’ve read so far this year is Jill Myles‘ Gentlemen Prefer Succubi. Great title, right? And fantastic cover art! Hello, Mr. Fallen Angel. (On a side note, clearly, my life is not fiction. Men like this do not exist in my world. Sadly. Sigh.) So, back to the book. It’s about Jackie, who wakes up in a dumpster to discover she’s not only hooked up with a fallen angel, but to top off the night-she-doesn’t-really-remember, got bitten by another guy and turned into a succubus. Yeah. One of those nights. She ends up in the middle of a battle between the vampires and the angels, torn between the two sides: the sexy fallen angel and the hot vampire. (We should all have problems like this, no?)

This book…was a highly entertaining read. I laughed out loud several times, especially when Jackie was trying to resist the Itch (the, ah, driving force for a succubus). Ms. Myles has a deft touch with humor, as well as making the book smokin’ hot! (Again, check out the cover art!) If you like hot heroes, bad boys, and humor, you should definitely read this book!

Goals for 2010

Okay, so you knew this was coming. I can’t help it. I’m OCD about some things. Making lists, especially To-Do Lists, is one of them, and goals for an entire year are like the mother of all To-Do Lists, so here’s mine for the year. Well, some of them. I have a lot of personal goals that aren’t really relevant, and are more like things I want to get done this year (upgrade my computers’ memories, for example), so this is mainly just my writing-related goals.

Write, using HTTS:
2YN 2
Ash’s story

Revise, using HTRYN:
Werewolf story (already in progress)
Tempest
Chasing Shadows
Atlantis
TSS
Zombie story

Other goals:
Go back to school
Start learning Irish
Read 150 books
Blog twice a week
Run a half marathon

Looking back over this list, which is NOT the complete list by any means, I feel I should probably add another one: Learn to function without sleep. So, how about you? What are your goals for the year?