friday recap

My list of what I did this week will be short. I didn't do much writing or editing. In fact, I tried not to do much on purpose. I let my brain rest a bit and did some cleaning around the house to prepare myself for cleaning up the WIP.

Washed and detailed two cars...they needed it.
Cleaned out and reorganized three kitchen drawers.
Finished "Saturnalia" and started "People of the Nightland."
Kept the kids fed, clothed, entertained and hauled about to their assorted activities.
Found out the bookstore doors will be installed the second week of July.



That last fact alone has my stomach in knots as it means the store will open this fall. I figure September. I need to finish the edits/revisions on Maddy and start to query. Yikes. Nothing like a looming volunteer job to kick my butt in gear.

crafty thursday

In an effort to remind myself of certain writing tools, I'm going to try and post a 'lesson' every Thursday.

Check action clauses for 'ing' and 'as.' Both indicate parallel action. Make sure the two actions connected by these words can be done at the same time. In example:

Walking under the bridge, I put on my shoes.

Okay, now that is pretty obvious...but you get the point.

compromise

A successful negotiation means both parties leave the table unhappy. I think I've reached that point with my need to enjoy summer with the kids and still work on Maddy.

Of course, having my crit bud throw down a challenge helped.

Today I worked through yet another round of nuts and bolts edits. Tomorrow starts the big challenge. I'm going to outline this damn thing. The real revisions will start after the fourth of July. It's going to be a mad dash to August, but I think I'm up for it.

summer time

I'm not sure what I expected. Since I left my position at the library, I rededicated myself to completing the Maddy story. Some days I wrote more than others, but I worked on the manuscript and finished the story. Then summer arrived. Since then I've not done much of anything. Yes, I did edit last week. Those edits, while painful, were the easy ones. Now that I'm facing true revisions, I've stalled.

Is summer not conducive to writing? Granted, it is more difficult with a full house. Can't say it is exactly quiet around here. Or is that just an excuse? My level of motivation has fallen.

If I wait until school resumes, I've lost a good two months worth of work time. Wasteful.

I'm just not sure which way to go. Do I bag it for now? Do I try to start revising? Do I work on something different? I have loads of questions, but if my muse is giving me an answer, I'm deaf to her at the moment.

foggy

The laundry is spinning, but my brain is not. I'm stuck in the leftovers of the weekend fog. Busy day Saturday at our book sale, the Friends cleared over $4400. Yeah! Exhaustion set in on Sunday and I didn't do a darn thing other than cook dinner and sit on the couch. The lazy, drained, foggy feeling is haunting me today.

No revisions for me. I'm just not feeling sharp enough to tackle Maddy. I think I need some Tylenol.

recap

Seems the week flew by, busy days, lots going on.

Began edits on Maddy Blue
Spent some time on ning.com
Reading a few books this week, the third Berrybender and one of the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries.
Watched a couple movies, The Fountain and Catch and Release.
Hauled kids around town.
Made a floral arrangement for my front door...it looks pretty good.
Lost more weight:) I'm less than 10 pounds from the pre-preg weight. Wow.
Got my Friends website article in the local paper.
Worked more on the website.

That's it for me.....going to be a busy weekend as I'm at the library all day Saturday helping with the sale.

almost ready

I have about half the WIP finished on my final search/find/replace edit. Then the fun begins. I will start the line by line revisions next week. My eyesight and sanity may fail, but that is the plan as of today.

onward

Ran errands in record time today then home for a very early lunch and now I'm set to start editing.

Nothing else big to report other than I got two books yesterday at the library, an ancient Rome mystery series and a prehistoric saga from the husband/wife writing team of the O'Neal/Gears.

slow going

I edited again yesterday. Wow, I've forgotten how slow going and tedious that process can be. I should be able to work again today and I still hope to finish the basic edits by month end.

When my eyes started to feel like they were going to explode, I took a break and finished the latest Colleeen Gleason book, "Rises the Night." This is the second in her Gardella Vampire Chronicles. Fun read, think Buffy goes Regency. She also does the tortured hero very well and her bad boy character makes you want to know one. I'm looking forward to the next book.

When my eyes start to explode today, I'll be back to reading the McMurtry Berrybender saga. I'm usually not a big western historical fan, but these are excellent lessons in character development. Such a voice, guess maybe that is why he has a Pulitzer.

really?

I'm still in the throes of editing Maddy. I've done the first run by searching out all of my 'ly' words and discovered I overuse the word "really." Guess we all have our crutches.

I have a few more search/find/replace things to work out and then I'm going to start at the beginning and read my way through. I've jotted down a few plot threads I know need fixing. I also think I'm going to do a chapter by chapter outline. I wrote this one without any outline, quite a new experience for me. I feel the urge to do one now though to help in this editing process.

I have two weeks before month end. I'd targeted June as the month of editing...can I get it done? I don't know at this point, but I'm going to try.

friday recap

Going to be quick one....hang on to your horses!

Started edits on Maddy Blue.
Didn't work on Lani.
Still losing weight, only ten to go until I am back to pre-kid size. Yeah!
Walked every day 2-3 miles.
Took two offspring out to lunch and shopping.
Read Hamilton's latest and now half way through McMurtry's second Berrybender book.
Kept the flowers alive with steady and dedicated watering.
Survived another week of driving hither and yon hauling the offspring.
Opened up one more place to post and keep track of, I think I have a blog addiction.


Good weekend to all!

expectations

Damn it, I hate when I have to adjust my expectations. I'm not sure if it is a character flaw or personality quirk, but when I decide on a course of action and then have to adjust, it just ticks me off.

I really expected that I'd be able to write and edit this summer. Now, granted, summer is far from over, but the last three weeks have been filled with everything but writing and editing. The offspring are older and more involved. This means I spend way more time in the van than I do at my desk. I'm also one of those people who is not good at carving our a few minutes here and there. I'm greedy. If I can't have two hours at the computer, just forget it.

I've tried to adjust my expectations, to bend, to make concessions. It isn't working.

Yes, I'm bitching. Maybe I'm even being selfish. Maybe I need more coffee. Maybe I need to lock myself in the attic and put on some loud music so I can't hear my kids hollering for me to solve world war three.

The Harlequin

Oh, thank the lord and pass the chocolate...Laurell K. Hamilton's latest is finally worthy of a loud, "Hell yes!"

Although I've read every single one of her Anita books, of late I felt the books lacked quite a bit in the plot department. The action seemed to revolve around Anita and her men and their love lives. If she had big bads to kill and evil doers to vanquish, that conflict was lost in the bedsheets. I'm all for exploring the internal motivations of characters and Hamilton uses sex to achieve this. But when she is juggling so many characters, that exploration can be mind numbing. I felt the stories were suffering.

The Harlequin seems to get her back on track with a plot outside the bedroom and more external conflict than internal, or maybe the conflict is better balanced. Whatever it is, it works.

Plus, Edward is back and Richard gets a kick in the ass!

search find replace

You might be able to tell from the title of this post I've started editing Maddy Blue. I'm 100 pages into getting rid of my 'ly' words. Next up, all those other weak word choices. Everyone has their favorites. I've learned so far the word 'really' pops up a lot in my writing.

I didn't work on my new WIP. Perhaps today, if I can get the house cleaned in record time. First things, first. The dust bunnies are threatening a coup.

effort

Effort is going to be the word for the week. I need to get back on track in regards to eating, writing, editing and running this house. The last two weeks were a bit of a boondoggle as we all adjusted to the summer time routine. It is going to take some effort, but anything worth doing usually does.

a different recap

I didn't even think about doing my usual Friday recap yesterday. This week was a nonstarter for either WIP. Instead today, inspired by my friend Leary's blog, I'm going to recap some of my better writing moments. Consider this my indulgent trip down 'atta girl' lane.

Learned after my graduation, my high school English teacher read my analysis paper on Wuthering Heights to his classes as an example of how to write such a beast.

Met with my first J-school prof for a research update and he stopped mid sentence and said, "You really enjoy writing, don't you?"

Sold my first article to Leading the Artful Life and was paid a whopping $75. The real payment came from the encouragement the editor gave me. We still email every so often to this day.

Proposing the idea of the biweekly newspaper column to promote the library and getting the go ahead. Published the column with two different papers for over two years. I've stopped for now as I'm taking on the new bookstore challenge.

These are the small moments that have stuck with me and encourage me to keep going. Make a list of yours.

atta girl

I haven't opened either WIP, but I did write text for our library Friends' website. Is that cheating on my promise to avoid writing this week and resume my efforts next week? I'd say no. Writing for the website, the library, the Friends is easy. No brainer. No gnawed fingernails. No trips to the kitchen. Lots of compliments, thanks, gratitude from the tech savvy but writing impaired website gurus.

Easy.

Sometimes working with the WIPs is easy like that, but more often it isn't. It is, however, like most things that require great effort, more rewarding. Even though I'm not getting 'atta-girls' from anyone when I churn out a few thousand words.

I think we all need periodic pats on the back for our efforts. We like to be recognized. We like to be acknowledged. It is important to get some validation for what we work on each day.

I guess the trick is to be able to do that for yourself. Have you given yourself an 'atta-girl' today? You should, you know.

pantries and plants

After two days of grocery shopping, the pantry is stocked, as are the freezer and fridge. Something comforting about having lots of food in the house.

Wish I could stock my imagination in the same way. I'm in a bit of a writing drought right now and I need something to come along and give me a sprinkle or two or three. Can you tell I've been watering my plants daily? The garden/muse metaphor is really working for me.

The thing is, I want to write. I really do. I just seem to find so many other things that need doing. Like my toenails, like reading, like just about anything other than writing or editing.

So, rather than beat myself up over this, I'm giving myself the rest of the week off. Yep, I'm not going to open either WIP file. Then next week I'm going to get back to work. Promise.

clean slate

Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't blogged since last Wednesday. Guess that reinforces how nutty it has been since then. Our company came and left. Swimming lessons are over. Music recital is over. Pool party is over. Soccer camp starts today.

On the writing front, of course, I haven't even opened either the YA file or the Maddy file. Now that it is June, I should start edits on Maddy. Plus, I'd hoped to keep writing the YA story. I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Life seems a bit 'loose' right now. I've got a clean slate in front of me in many ways and I'm excited to start some new things, but I don't have a clear direction in mind. It has been a while since I've tried to work on my writing while the kids are all home. Right now I'm not concerned about it and I'm rather excited about the freedom of summer. Everything will fall into place in some fashion.