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.

Moving Forward

Since I don't have a lot of time for writing, I decided to focus on just one thing -- the writing class. It's going well, I'm up to lesson five and I'm tweaking concepts I knew and used, but it's nice to see how far it can go without taking the next ten years to figure it all out myself. The biggest thing I'm learning is how not to kill myself before it matters. I'm leary to discuss actual class details, as Ms. Lisle has worked hard on this course, but suffice to say I'm learning some self control, which may go a long way toward using my writing time more effeciently.

So far I've gotten three really cool novel ideas straight from the assignments and can't wait till the writing can begin. :)

Planning

So I signed up for Holly Lisle's How To Think Sideways writing course, and dropped it when time constraints became too much. I've picked it up again, and have been working on the course material. I'm working through lessons three and four simultaneously (they work well that way, at least in my head they do), and I've got two solid thriller ideas. (Although I can't decide if thriller or suspence is the right word, I'll work that out later).

It looks like my brain was ready to start this up again. I just hope I can hold onto it this time!

She's Been Patient, But It's All Over Now

Life's been crazed, but I can't ignore the muse. She's been quiet, yet I can feel her watching me. And when I picked up a Dean Koontz novel this weekend, the first fun reading I've done in a very long time, she grabbed me by the neck. "You can write like this," she told me, "you just need to make the time." And before she could strangle me, I promised her a half hour a night.

So I'm going to take another look at Holly's writing class. I'm also thinking about skipping the short story angle and diving into a novel. Something new, something different. If I'm going to start this off right, different could very well cement me into the committment.

January Goals

I'm slowly moving back into Sanity thanks to the little one granting me more sleep these days. :) To that end, I've made some January goals and gotten started on them.

Originally, my January goal went like this: "My January goal is to get myself and my family on a schedule to allow myself some writing time. Any writing time. "

I've specified some items to get done before the end of the month.

* Review coursework completed for my two writing classes
* Identify and reread my priority projects (short stories in progress and editing)
* Resubmit marketable short stories [DONE - Treischan Strength went out today!]

2008 Accomplishments / 2009 Goals

2008 In Summary


Consistency was my goal, and for a while, I did well. Life jumped aboard and broke that down, but Life required my attention and I could not divide myself between these responsibilities.


Accomplishments:

* 3 Stories Edited (multiple times)

* 4 Stories Written

* 1 New Short Story Submission

* 5 Short Story Submissions

* 6 Novels Read

* 4 Critiques Completed



2009 Goals


My 2009 goal will be Balance. With an infant and a two and a half year old, and dealing with recovery from surgery, I've got my hands full. I've got two writing classes in progress, and a few short stories in the editing-for-submission phase. I need to clean this up, reorganize, and move forward. My January goal is to get myself and my family on a schedule to allow myself some writing time. Any writing time. February through April will be to solidify that and get some editing done, with at least one new submission. May will be devoted to the Story A Day challenge. June through December will bring a return to editing and hopefully one more new submission.



2009 Goals In Summary:

* 2 New Short Story Submissions

* 5 Short Stories Edited

* 5 Short Stories Written

* 2 Writing Courses Completed (Adv Fiction / Think Sideways)

* Novel Reading - 6

* Crits - 6 to 12



Here's to Balance. May she play nicely with my Muse.