8/2 Progress

Forgotten Star: made some decisions about Korin and his role, and will be making some subtle changes. (However I really need to get working on chapter 2 already.)

Winter Warrior: worldbuilding went really well. The extensive mapping has led me to nation relations issues (yay conflict) as well as some history. I've planned the species that habitat each nation with the intent of not filling the world up with humans who rule over everyone else, and I think I've done it. Now, for the nitty gritty of each nation and their people who have to appear in this novel.

I also wrote the first line for WW, giving my MC a voice, but strangely it was in the first person. I don't know if I really want to write an entire novel in first person. So, that's something else I have to decide in the next few weeks. The line:

No matter what the healers claim, some wounds do not fade with time--they fester. Yet despite knowing this, I step once more into the arena, very much like the one that destroyed my life.

8/1 Progress

Winter Warrior: Worldbuilding via Mapping. I now have five nations in my world and basic geography that'll affect their cultures/economies. The world is called "Roka", meaning 'rock'.

July Writing Update / August Goals

July Writing Accomplished:

* Forgotten Star: New Chapters - 1
* Forgotten Star: Edit Chapters - 1
* The Dragon's Bard: Short Story Edited
* The Lonely Orchard: Short Story Edited
* Winter Warrior Worldbuilding - casual
* Critiques - 1

Not too bad considering one week I was off on vacation and I had computer problems the following week.

August Goals:
* Forgotten Star: Edit 4 Chapters
* Critiques: 8
* Winter Warrior: Worldbuilding in four phases:
--characters
--races & culture
--maps & drawings
--outline
The intent here is to be ready to start the first draft by the end of August

7/27 - 7/28 No Progress

Life took over for a few days, took a break. Unfortunately, I didn't accomplish any of my goals for the week but lots of fun was had. [1 birthday, 1 anniversary, 1 new neice]

7/26 Progress

MS Word file has been fixed, thanks to some help. (waves at Zette). Reworked some formatting in chapters one and two, and adjusted headers. Started on Mar's crit of "Innocents". One more night should do it.

7/25 Progress

Forgotten Star: realized chapter 2 was off, because I started it at the end of an argument between Korin and his father. I'm going to add the argument, I think that'll show their issues better than Korin's running off and sulking (even though he's right).

MS Word: still stinky. Managed to convert the unstable document to a .txt, and then break it up into three .doc files. Now I've got to reformat 560 pages of text, including line breaks and indentations that were lost in the original document. At least the haunted page breaks disappeared.

Whispers (the collaboration/for fun project): added to a scene my partner wrote. Wanted to work on the next scene, but I had to resolve the Word issues.

7/24 Progress

Worked on the web page a bit, getting closer to my desired content.

Analyzing Chapter 2 of FS, something is missing, but I don't yet know what. I'm introducing Korin and his story question, but it doesn't feel like a complete scene. I need something more compelling? We'll see. I'll reread it one more time tonight and see what hits me.

7/23 Progress

Started the crit, with markups in the text.

Read Forgotten Star Ch 2, and started marking up where changes need to be made.

Dealing with some technical issues with MS Word, too... Stinky.

7/22 Progress & Vacation

Vacation: read some short stories, and came up with a few ideas for Winter Warrior.

7/22: Reviewed my July writing goals and came up with a plan for this week. Selected a story to crit.

7/14 - 7/21 Absence

Vacation prep, and departure for sunnier climes will leave me out of contact, and off writing during this time. I'm taking along some small projects to work on, should the desire hit me, but it's supposed to be a vacation, so no pressure.