From the Writer's Desk - October Already!

I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that not only is October already - an

d the 2nd week at that - but my kid, R, turns 19 today. S/he was born two days late during Typhoon Zeb and has become an amazing young adult. Compassionate, kind, spirited, resilient, strong, considerate, courageous, and beautiful.

S/he also shares, which means s/he gave me  her/his two-day cold.  That combined with some sort of office ick, tried very very hard to turn into bronchitis. I'm over the coughing for the most part - love antibiotics - but my lungs haven't completely recovered. So, I'll head back to the doctor this week to see what's going on.

My friends Brynn and Dakota ran the Pumpkin run this year, and while talking to Brynn later I committed to walking the Color Run next summer. The surgeon who replaced my torn ACL, said no running. But walking is good. So is the elliptical. And maybe as I lose weight, I can start running. If not, that's okay. I'll walk. So, I'm walking the Color Run in the summer, and next fall, R and I plan on walking the VA's Suicide Awareness 5K.

In addition to my weekly goals, which don't really seem to vary a whole lot right now, I decided to set some monthly goals. I really really want to finish Behind the Masque this month - I've been wanting to finish it for most of the year.  In an ideal world, I could get it done in a week if I write 8 hours a day, or 2 weeks if I write  4 hours a day - which is probably more realistic of the two options. However, I do have a day job, so, hopefully by the end of the month.

As long as I make some progress on Marked, I'll be happy. I write that long hand at lunch and on my breaks at work. The notebook stays in my bag and goes everywhere with me, so I can either write or read depending on where I am and what I'm doing/waiting for.

Last year, a friend of mine did what she called a "New Year Purge" as Samhain marks the beginning of the Pagan New Year. This year my goal is to tackle every room in my house and declutter and purge everything that I don't need or doesn't have a valid reason for remaining. It does a couple of different things for me - cuts ties with my past, frees me from stuff, and will make moving easier when that happens. Which, could be sooner rather than later as the park has started to tear down the trailers on my street.  Rumor has it's either to bring new trailers in or because the airport wants the property - but there is a freight rail line between us and the  airport without any sort of natural hill or valley, so probably not. Either way, eventually I want to move. Into a real house.

I'm reading The Write Type by Karen Peterson and Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. The first is the second writing craft book Ms. Peterson has written, and I have found it insightful. The second is dark fantasy, and very interesting.  I'm hoping to finish both of these this month.

So, my weekly goals this week are to spend  7 hours writing or on writing related tasks and tackle one decluttering task everyday.

Accountability --

The week of September 18th -- I wrote 5 1/2 hours and spent 4 hours on research and 1 on character development.

The week of September 25th -- I wrote 1 1/2 hours and spent 7 hours researching.

The week of October 3rd -- I wrote for 1 hour. -- I got sick on the 29th.

I have today - Federal Holiday. My city renamed it Indigenous American day - I'm good with that.

Blessings,
Simone.

From the Writer's Desk - Where did January Go?

The month is almost gone.  I swear that adage that time goes faster as you get older is true. Sort of. Honestly, I think that time flies, because we live for the weekend.  As in "I can't wait until the weekend so I can..." - go fishing, watch a movie, see my friends, stitch, sew, write, read, bake.  It's the weekend where we live. Many of us. But I don't want to live just on the weekend.  I want every day to be like that. For me, that comes with writing. I would rather be writing.  If I write for a living, which is my goal, then my non-writing hours are filled with other things I enjoy. None of it includes working in cube-farm. My best friend, she loves her day job, which is very linear and in a cube-farm.

I've spent most of January so far trying to find that balance between writing, the day job, and what I need to decompress. Some days, it's just finding time to write. Using the Bullet Journal has been a big help.

Everyone writes different, they have different rituals, different comforts, different environmental needs, different habits. And those change over time.

Sometimes what I need in the way of environment changes - one day it may be my desk, another at Barnes and Noble or a coffee shop. I always need something to drink, but sometimes eating doesn't happen at all, or I'll need chocolate or crunchy, or everything in sight. But, I've found while I like writing with people around - like during write-ins, or finding a corner during a conference to write with whoever sits down, I like my space. I don't like to be too crowded. And I write best in fifteen minute increments. So, even if I'm do a 1k in 1hr challenge, I still break it up into 15-minute increments. My friend Brynn Paulin shared this story about a prolific writer named Anthony Trollope who wrote in 15-minute increments for 3 hours before going to a day job. I find I can waste a lot of time if I have an hour to write. But, 15 minutes - I'm less likely to procrastinate. So, I may write for an hour, but I've done in 15-minute spurts.

With my Bullet Journal, I created a couple of different spreads - one is my Sprint Log

I use my Sprint Log to track the date I work on a specific project, the starting and ending word count of each round, and the difference. My goal is 250 words each round. I use the timer feature on my laptop to keep track. I like it, because it interrupts the music - either from iTunes or YouTube - I'm listening to.

Set up - top of Spread

 Both pages. I write the abbreviation for each title at the bottom.

 The other spread I have is a word count tracker. Coloring in the boxes feels like an accomplishment - that I'm one step closer to my Goal. Each of my active WIPS has a layout. Each square is 1,000 words, and each of the smaller squares inside it are 250 words.

Goals -

So, my goals the last time I posted them were 500 words per session, writing 5 times a week. Or 2,500 words in a week.  Carrying that from the week of the 9th over to the week of the 16th, that would be 5,000 words total. Now, I didn't write 5 times a week. I wrote 5 times total, BUT I did manage to write 7,018 words since the 9th.

My other goal was 2 hours of research and world building. Carrying that over from the 9th to the 16th, that would 4 hours. I totally didn't make that one. At all.

Goals this week are the same.
1. Write 500 words per session, 5 days a week.
2. 2 hours of Research/world building - Forbidden

It's always when I need to be doing something else that I feel the drive to write. I need to sit down and write even when I don't have the drive.

Blessings,
Simone.

Author's After Dark - Thursday Recap

Yesterday was the first day of Authors After Dark and it was amazing! Just before the Welcome Event, I met William Cooper, who turned out to be a lot of fun. The workshops were fun and informative. I went to one titled "You Don't Know Dick" - a GLBT panel about keeping sex fresh through out a series with Mia Watts, James Buchanan, William Neale, Arial Tachna, and Ally Blue, which was informative and absolutely hilarious. There was lunch and hanging out in the ARe Digital Cafe with Carol Lynne and Ethan Day and everyone who wandered through. My roomie went on the Scavenger Hunt and had an absolute blast.

The ARe Reception was a great chance to meet people and talk with them and see the vendors and publishers. Spent several minutes talking with Andrew Grey and Arial Tachna from Dreamspinner Press. It was great being able to put faces to names of people I 'see' and talk to online.

Dinner was at the Second Floor Restaurant in the Hotel - had a burger, fries and a Coke because there was no way I could eat a whole Philly Cheesesteak.

After a short rest, there was Resplendence Publishing's Karaoke Party - which was an absolute blast. They gave away an i-Pad and books and stuff. There was alcohol, but not everyone was drinking, but everyone there was having fun. The hosts - Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Greene, Jen Armintrout/Abigail Barnett, Jess Jarman, Gwendolyn Cease, and Mia Watts - sang and did back up dancing. And over the half time everyone was singing along with the people who were brave enough to sing in front of everyone. I did not sing, I can't sing. I did however, pull ticket duty.

Talked with Mia, Brynn, and Bronwyn and others until way late into the night. The night ended on a higher note with some cool emails.

On the phone with Sister By Another Mother because my niece is in labor. I can't wait to see pictures of her. Either way, my brain is now engaged with other thoughts.

Author's After Dark - Wednesday Recap

We left Michigan at 1am in order to make it to the hotel by 3pm. It's a 12 1/2 hour drive and well, you have to stop and eat, walk around and do the restroom thing.

There are workshops, panels, and editor/agent interviews, but it's also pretty much a big party for readers. This is my first conference as an author, and I'm super geeked.

For the record - the Appalachians or whatever mountain range we crossed was absolutely beautiful and I'm freaking thrilled to death I did not have to make that trip on horseback, foot, or covered wagon before 'civilization' crawled through. Beautiful though, stunning. Camera was safely in the trunk - not a smart place for it to be.

After walking through Philly for about an hour, we ended up having dinner at Tavern On Broad - I had the Philly Cheesesteak - was good - huge - good price too. I live in a city, not a big city by any means, what I've seen in Philly would never happen in either of the cities I've lived in Michigan. Right next to upscale restaurants, Starbucks and miscellaneous stores are adult 'gift' stores and a BDSM Leather shop. I counted 3 adult stores within a two block walk from the hotel. The traffic sucks though. Couldn't drive in a city like this, I'd probably develop road rage. :)

I haven't seen a lot of Philly, but I LOVE the old architecture of the buildings. The majority of the streets I've seen so far are narrow and one way with bike lanes.

I've met some great people and had dinner with Crymsyn Hart, Shannan Albright, Laura from Topaz Promotions, a wonderful reader named Jill, Bronwyn Green, and Brynn Paulin. I'm looking forward to meeting more great people today.