From the Writer's Desk - Wrapping Up August

In about an hour I'm taking R to get her/his books for school. S/he starts college on the 5th. Where has the time gone? Not just summer, but the last 18, almost 19 years. Today also marks 12 years since my dad passed away.  One week ago R's father passed away. Time has a way of dulling the sharp edges of sorrow.

Last week, my goal was to write for 7 hours. Working on any type of writing or pre-writing task for a total of 7 hours during the week.
Great goal. I know I managed to write - actual in the seat, putting new sentences to story - writing for 2 hours.  The rest of it - I don't know, because I didn't track it. I didn't sit down at the end of the day and write down what I actually accomplished that day. So, poor planning on my part, means I have no way of knowing definitely if I made my goal or not. So, today I need to start tracking what I work on.

I also was going to read 30 minutes a day. This is in addition to the 10 minutes I read first thing in the morning as part of my Miracle Morning routine. I stitched this week more than I read. Again, that lack of tracking accurately is coming back to bite me. I didn't read every day. I need to.

So, my goals for this week are the same as last week.
Write 7 hours - equals 1 hour a day.
Read 30 minutes a day.
TRACK WHAT I WORK ON!!

I have a Bullet Journal, it's easy enough to create a log - maybe incorporate it into a weekly or daily spread - where I can track/log what I work on, what tasks, and what I read. I'll share what I come up with.

Blessings,
Simone.

From the Writer's Desk - Solar Eclipse and Update

Hard to believe we are entering the last half of August. The summer and this year have really flown by. School will be starting in a couple of weeks and for the first time in four years I didn't have to worry about marching band, I can make plans without having to worry about a band conflict. I do need to write down the home games, because I still plan on attending the games and competitions that I can.  R will be starting college, but aside from helping here and there, I don't have a lot to do. Which is kind of nice. Very weird. I'll learn to live with it. :)  It does make me want to attend a writing retreat - I attended some fantastic ones in the past, but haven't in a few years.

The solar eclipse occurs today - I hope I can see at least part of it.

I have new glasses finally! It took a couple of days to get used to them, but I love them. I can sit at my computer for more than five minutes. I can do a lot of things now. I still like writing long hand and enjoyed reading more. I'm still battling with myself over sitting my butt down and writing, while giving myself permission to do non-writing things like read or research. Or if none of the non-writing writing related tasks work - a free day. Guilt free.

I've spent more days not writing this month than I have writing. However, I've managed to write about 2 hours this past week, so I'm feeling good about that. My goal for this week - Monday through next Sunday - is to write 7 hours. I like the time better than the numbers. Because some times I can write 1000+ words in an hour (15-minutes at a time) and others I struggle to get 250 in that same hour. But, if I'm there for an hour, I have the reward of trying without the guilt of failing to hit a word count. It definitely helps to go to Barnes and Noble for a couple of hours, especially since there is usually people - teenagers - R and R's friends- at my house.

I finished the special project my brother asked for:

Goals this week:
7 hours of writing as defined here
Read 30 minutes a day.

Blessings,
Simone.

From The Writer's Desk - Seven Days In and No Writing Yet

Technically, we are 7 days into August, today. It's arguable that there have only been 6 days of writing/work so far, because it's early Monday morning. Except, I'm supposed to be getting up at 4. I haven't done that in a couple of weeks, and I haven't written anything story related since last Monday.

I know some of the issues.

I still don't have new glasses, but I haven't been writing by hand either. There is a lawn mower in my office area along with an assortment of boxes, because I don't have a shed to store them in. And I don't know when that is going to happen. There is a guest over every day. They are here when I get home and until 30 minutes before I'm supposed to be in bed. Until a few days ago there was also a smaller guest who thought they needed to be entertained by me all day/evening long.  Then there are a variety of doctors appointments for the last two weeks and the next two along with college orientation.  Then to add to the mix, my hot water heater died. It's under warranty. Shipping for the parts is not. The labor and service call. Also not under warranty. All of which means, I haven't felt like writing. I haven't felt like dealing with anything else.

But, I want the book done, so I have to figure something out. Because really, the guest will probably be around for a while. Although, school starts soon. Thankfully. There is a write-in tonight for the group that was formed during NaNoWriMo one year and continues to grow and adjust with new and leaving members. But, I may just go to Barnes and Noble, where I can have a whole table to myself.

It's interesting, the quirks you uncover as a writer. It sounds nit-picky. I need this and this and this. The book I'm reading put some reason to it. Some writers need absolutely no distractions, others need everything exactly so, and for some others we need to FEEL safe. That's where I fall. I need to feel safe, to feel in control of things. I have certain idiosyncrasies when it comes to writing - I need the book's playlist going in either iTunes or YouTube. A new project always needs a title before I can start writing it - no matter how developed the story and characters are - and place holders like Untitled Fantasy won't work. But, the other part is feeling like I have some control, some balance, some safety in my life.

So, I will probably take myself to Barnes and Noble for a while tonight and see if I can get rid of this stagnation and get back on track. I want the book finished by August 31st. It's doable.

My goal this week is to write 7 hours - at least one hour every day. Long hand or on the computer. But to write at least 1 hour every day.

I'm still reading Rebecca, but my brother asked me for a favor before his wedding next month, so I will be working on that for a while this week. It's stitching up fast, it's just a pain in the butt.

Blessings,

Simone.

From the Writer's Desk - Into August

Tomorrow is the 1st of August. This year feels as though it has flown by.  A lot of the people I know have said the same thing. Some of it, I think, is that too many of us are always looking forward to the weekends, towards some future date or event. Some, I think, may be that age thing.

I have finally finished transcribing all of my handwritten pages. I revised as I added them, changing things or catching an inconsistency. I wrote further after I finished transcribing. My spreadsheet deal says I'm about 67% finished and I need to write 768 to finish Behind the Masque by August 31st. That is my deadline. Self-imposed, but a deadline all the same. There is a slight hiccup with those numbers though. When I entered the original word count goal - I figured 75,000 words should give me enough room to tell a story - it's contemporary, fairly straight forward.

Then my characters got involved.

I'm just over 50,000 words into it. I'm fairly certain this will hit 100,000 words. Or close to it. At least the first draft. Then I'll sit on it for a bit before revising it again - and submit it. It started out intended for one thing, but took a duck walk early on. So, I'll submit it. Hopefully it's liked and accepted.  I have more details to add when I start revising. Questions that I wrote in the margin of my manuscript that may or may not require research or rewriting depending on what happened at the end of the story.

My goals are time based instead of word count based. My focus WIP is Behind the Masque. My goal is to write at least 1 hour every day. To spend at least half of that actually writing sentences that belong in the story. But part of writing is also research, it's also character development and set design. There is a lot more to writing, then simply sitting down to the computer or notebook and writing. I had to give myself permission to do that. If you're writing a paranormal, sci-fi, or fantasy then there is a lot more that has to be done. Because worlds and cultures must be explored and created in addition to figure out where the characters are heading now, because they don't care what you as the writer wants. Not really. They don't even fake it.

In reading news, I'm reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, which was not listed on the books (here) I was going to choose from.

So,7 hours of writing - 1 hour per day this week. My 30-day Writing Challenge is also supposed to kick off tomorrow, which is 1 hour of actually story writing, not any part of the writing process.

Happy Reading.

Blessings,
Simone.

From the Writer's Desk - Mid-July is Here

Mid-July is officially here and this year is flying, which means one of my favorite stitching fabric stores - Picture This Plus will have their annual Christmas in July sale on their hand-dyed fabrics and fall feels like it's about 3 weeks away.

I've lost weight since I've started exercising regularly. I don't know how much since I still haven't bought a scale, but I know I've lost about a 1/2 inch overall in the last month. Which makes me over the moon happy, since I started exercising ONLY 10 minutes a day. I'm up to 30 minutes a day and plan on starting walking at night in addition to what I do in the morning. 

My new computer battery arrived and that seemed to do the job nicely. Which is good. Now, I need to transcribe what I wrote long hand and fill in the missing details. My new glasses aren't here yet so my time on the computer is still limited (as well as anything close up), but hopefully this week or next week. 

I put my 30 day writing challenge on hold and plan to re-start on August 1st. That should give me enough time to get used to the new glasses.

I did finish the book I was reading last night - Story Trumps Structure - excellent writing book. It illustrates the benefits of writing - pantser style. In other words - by the seat of your pants - without an outline. Really making it up as you go along. :)

I've started Write by Karen Peterson and I think I need to end July with a Mystery or two and will be starting with Rick R. Reed's IM. 

Writing wise, I plan on transcribing my long-hand pages and filling in the blanks, so I can continue writing. I won't finish Behind the Masque by the end of July, but I absolutely need to finish it by the end of August, preferably the middle of August, because I want to get Between Classes and Divided Loyalty finished also this year.

From the Writer's Desk - Closing in on Mid-July

It's almost mid-July, that doesn't seem to be possible to be honest. R is back from Orlando. Early. That was unplanned. And something I'm not completely happy about. For a multitude of reasons, but it is what it is.

32 days ago I began this Miracle Morning deal after starting to read the book, the Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. 4 days later, 28 days ago, I recommitted to writing daily and since then I have written nearly every day and written more than I have in a long time. The last few days between R leaving and returning and being way more tired than anticipated, as well as eye strain (this is apparently cured by the use of bi-focals, which are now on their way. Insert dramatic sigh here.), I have written less than I have not written. So, time to change that.

I write in 15-minute  blocks. This is a good thing because that's about how long I can write before my eyes start doing this weird double vision/blurry vision deal. But, I'm challenging myself to write at least 1 hour every day. The 15-minute blocks will be good, but also, because I'm writing long-hand for the moment, I don't have to worry about bringing my laptop (which is still not doing real well).  So, the goal is to write at least 1 hour every day for the next 30 days. At the end of which, if I've made it, I get to buy a book or two. I need to establish a new habit, this will help. I also want to make it positive with something to look forward too.

I'm still working on Behind the Masque. I still want to finish it before the end of the month.

30 days of writing.
Finish Behind the Masque.

I can do this.

Blessing,
Simone.