This week

Monday's lunch break was spent editing Fading Light (1 page).

Tuesday evening's writing time was spent with the hubby.

Wednesday evening is going to be serious-clean-up-the-house night. Grrr.

Silence

The posting silence means Family took over this weekend, and I had neither the energy nor will to write, but I read. I've been reading Think Sideways lessons, and I've been reading Game of Thrones.

And I've been thinking about my outline, trying to fit my bad guy in, but I realize too that I know who my bad guy was up until the point he committed this particular crime, and he's angry now, losing control, but who is he when he isn't this criminal? And yes, this is important because he and his victim know each other. Poor Audrey can't look at this guys and say it's him because he looks and acts like a criminal. What fun would that be to read? Besides, even criminals have their own lives and schedules and likes and dislikes. It's not like they live for each moment they commit these crimes. They grocery shop. They go to the mall. They read the newspaper while sipping their coffee. Ooooh.. and there it is. Thanks for the help. ;-)

Aha!

It's the outline. I spent some time with Audrey today, my main character, and we went through her story together and while her discoveries and her courageous reactions to them are exciting, and the things she stands to lose is heartbreaking, it isn't nearly fearsome enough. We need Stalker scenes. We need to see Him watching her. We need to feel his rage when she defies him.

So no words, but the outline is moving forward.

Tuesday July 21st Daily Progress

I'm building the habbit again, building the routine. To that end, I chose to work on the short story edit and redlined 6 more pages. Tomorrow I'll review the crit I have on hand, and start inputting my changes.

Stalker has some issues, namely its worldbuilding is far from satisfactory, and I'm uncomfortable with that. I understand Holly's lesson in overplanning, but I'm going to outline just a bit more tonight, on paper, and see where that takes me. Something is holding me back, and it isn't laziness. I'm missing something, and that something should be obvious to me.

Monday July 20th Daily Progress

I completed the first part of my assignment for lesson 10, but I did not write on the novel, and I could not even keep my eyes open long enough to read a paragraph on the short story. I knew Mondays would be miserable for writing, and that's why I planned to take them off. Now I'm also fighting the "I used to have time and energy to write" but that was before I had kids. I chose to take my daughter for a bike ride this evening, and while the walk was good for me and we had a wonderful time, it wasn't good for the writing. And so I have to choose on a daily basis.

My goal of writing 5 days a week might not be as realisitic as I thought with my principle goal of "Balance" in my life. Or, it might simply be I have not written in such a long time, especially on an intensive project like a novel, and I just need a week or two to get back into the swing of things. I also normally do not start novels in the middle of summer. That was brilliant (insert sarcasm here).

The balance thing may help though, as I did my workout over lunch and that extra walk in the evening and I slept better than I have in months... of course my head hit the pillow at 9:30 so I finally slept for almost 8 hours. What a difference. I feel awake, I feel conscious... and just maybe I'll get to some writing tonight. :)

Sunday July 19th

Busy day with friends and the kids, so I'm taking tonight as a night off the novel. I managed to redline 3 more pages on Fading Light earlier today, and will make another attempt before bed.

I start my writing week on Sunday, so this is my first of two nights off the novel. I know, wonderful way to start the week. It'll balance out, and the writing tomorrow will be all the better for it.

Addendum: Read Think Sideways lesson number 10 before bed, but didn't hit Fading Light again.

Saturday July 18th

Despite sheer exhaustion and frustration at children who refuse to go to sleep and stay asleep when I have writing goals, :-) I started my novel. And this is a repeat of last night which resulted in 0, yes zero, words written. Tonight's work was shorter than I hoped for, but openings are difficult for me and the fact that I wrote nearly 300 words that I don't hate is really good.

My goal is to work on the novel 5 days a week, an hour or two at a time. Fridays are probably impossible, so I'm planning on no writing Fridays unless I'm in the mood. Mondays will probably suck also, as they tend to be the toughest work day and by the time the kids are in ZZzz-land, my brains are friend, scrambled, poached. Done.

Stalker's opening: Audrey danced into the photography studio, her closing packet under one arm, and a grin to shame the Cheshire cat. The running ended today, ended about an hour ago when she purchased her rented home under her birth name, her real name, a name she hadn't used in seven years.

On other fronts... Treischan Strength is back in submissions again, sent out this evening via email. Fading Light and my favorite red pen are waiting for me, so now I'm off. Ta-ta!

Addendum: Fading Light - redlined 1 page for editing.

Beginnings Anew

Lots happening on the writing front. Time is short, so I might stop posting to the FM boards and just post here for a while. The past few days and weeks have brought me to the point of:

* selecting my short story project: Fading Light needs one more edit, then I'm pushing it out for submission.

* located orphan submission: Treischan Strength was supposed to be resubmitted to a new market, but somehow I missed it. I'll be setting that up this weekend.

* novel project associate with Think Sideways course has been renamed to Stalker, simply because Haven is not a very exciting title. The writing begins tonight.

Starting a new project is exciting and scary and I'm to the point of bouncing out of my seat with all my fidgeting at work today. I can't wait to get the kids to sleep, and the bills paid, and the laundry started tonight. Then it's Writing Time.

Updates will be forthcoming, they may not be exciting, but part of the purpose of this blog is to keep track of my writing.

Novel Planning

I'm at it again. The project is in conjunction with the writing course (How To Think Sideways) by Holly Lisle. I'm in the planning stages of that suspense novel, and should be able to start writing within the next few weeks. I've got a temporary title of "Haven" which could of course, change at my next whim. But it's something. A thing without a name is empty to me. The wrong name is not as bad, but everything needs a name.