September Results, October Goals

Life has taken over, and my completed goals are not what I had hoped for September. Considering however I spent half the month sick, and the other half playing catch-up at work, and I'm making the final preparations in the house for baby #2's arrival, it's no wonder my writing has slipped. I knew it would. I planned for it to do so. I'm also planning to not kill myself in October, and to get it back after recovering from childbirth/newborn feedings. :)

September Results

• Nighthunter's Bite - progressed but not complete
• Think Sideways Classes - 2 completed
• Novels - 2 read

October Goals

• Think Sideways Classes: 2
• Adv Fiction (UM): 1
• Reading

Update

I'm allowing my writing to slip to the side, it's getting to be that time, I think. I've had to reprioritize home/family/health stuff, and I'm okay with that. However, I'm not abandoning writing entirely. No, I know better than that. :)

First off, I'm focusing on the classes I've signed up for. I can do those with short periods of time without a lot of prep before hand. And not having fifty thousand things to do afterward, the material seems to stick better in my mind, and I find myself reflecting back to what the coursework entailed.

Also, I'm reading. I've added George R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones" to my bookshelf at my husband's request. We don't read the same authors, so when he raves about one, I really do need to check it out. I've read the prologue, and am intrigued by the characters and how quickly Martin has presented them to me in such distinct identities with only a few pages. I'm going to try and read this one slowly, and absorb what I can.

And finally, I'm focusing on one writing project at a time. Nighthunter's Bite needs to get written, crappy first draft acceptable. I've got images of the chase haunting me, and Maura's strange power is haunting her, and I've got to get her some resolution. She's been running for two years now, you know. I owe her a rest.

My daily list format worked when I was writing daily. I've temporarily dropped my list to a monthly points of what needs my attention. I'm adapting, and that's good. I know I'll get my time back in some fashion in the coming months.

I Remember

September 11, 2001 . . . we all know what happened, we all know people who were affected by it. I am fortunate enough not to have lost anyone that day, but New York is my home. I grew up there, I worked there. I lived and breathed New York until about ten years ago when I moved away, so when that second plane hit and we realized it was intentinal, it made me angry. I felt violated.

Seven years later, our lives have changed enough for us to point back to that fateful day. Seven years later, justice really hasn't been served, has it? Sure, a few higher-ups have been captured and imprisoned, but what has that accomplished? As Americans, we're still hated by the people that formed those groups, and while I don't live in fear that they will take action again, I am saddened that their beliefs are so strict that we cannot live in tolerance of one another.

Such is the allure of science fiction novels that depict a future in which a united Earth goes forth to explore the universe. These problems were resolved, tolerance and unity became the standard, and most people are happy. Life is not science fiction, not will it ever be, not from that angle. But it's sure nice to daydream about it.

While daydreaming, I will not forget those who lost their lives on September 11th. I will not forget our armed forces who have tried and tried to bring order to the Middle East. I will not forget their families who live without them on a daily basis while tackling the normal challenges of everyday life. I will not hate those who can't understand sharing and tolerance.

I can hope that change will come, that people will come. I don't think my generation will be the one to do it. Perhaps my children's generation. All I can do, beyond hoping, is teach my childen right and wrong, while hopefully, some other woman in the Middle East is teaching her children about right and wrong, about sharing and tolerance, and about the responsibility of change.

I will remember. And my children will learn.

Update

It's been an interesting week. I've been going to bed at 8:30 several nights in a row, which isn't even enough time to check on laundry progress after the two year old goes nighty-night. I need it, so no complaints. I feel more clear headed, and I'm using my lunches at work for various writing tasks. I've been reading, too. In the evenings, I read a bit of Hunting the Hunter before bed, and I've also started Neil Gaiman's American Gods at a doctor's appointment. The Think-Sideways assignments are waiting for me, but I just haven't had a spare ten minutes times three or four to work on the freewriting.

Today's task is to work more on Nighthunter's Bite. I'd like to complete the story soon, and get back to editing. I'm really in edit-mode which is making the writing difficult. Sunguard needs my attention. Someone's been hinting to me that it could be more than just a short story, but I need the short story done before I think any further on it. There are two anthologies I think Sunguard will fit fairly well, but deadlines swoop in when the work's not getting done.

So many things to write and edit, and so little time . . .

Update

There hasn't been a lot going on writing-wise, but I've been busy. Treischan Strength was rejected, and I've resubmitted it to an anthology. I signed up for Holly Lisle's Think Sideways course, which runs a year long, so the child issues that are due to come up soon shouldn't affect it. And, I read S.L. Viehl's Omega Games, and am slightly afraid of what she intends for the end of the series. The main character received some advice from a new friend on how to handle her current family issue, which is pretty much an issue that's run the course of the series. If she follows his advice, the series is going to end on a sad note, and I hope it doesn't. I can only wait and see, now.

Evenings have been useless for writing, so I'm back to lunch break writing for a few weeks. Progress will be slow, but if there IS any progress, I will be happy!

August Results, September Goals

My primary goal this year has been of a dual nature: Consistency, and short stories. While August was not a phenomenal month, I did maintain this basis of my goal formation.

August Results

• Short Stories Edited: 1 (Sunguard)
• Short Stories Written: 0 (Nighthunter's Bite is still in progress)
• Crits: 1
• Novels Read: 2 (Plague of Memory and Wolf Who Rules)

What I didn't get done was based on time constraints, the physical need to not be on a computer 12 hours a day, and changes in my family. I know these things will balance out.

September Goals

• Story Edits: 1 (Sunguard!)
• Story Writing: 1 ('Bite, preferably)
• New Submission: 1 (if Sunguard is ready)
• Adv. Fiction Class: 0/1 (low priority, I have a year to complete 5 more lessons)

Update

I'm not going to whine, I'm not going to make excuses. I'm going to understand what's wrong and deal with it. Unfortunately, what's wrong with my writing and my writing time is really beyond my control and just requires patience from me to get through it all.

I've had the luxury of working a pretty terrific dayjob that allows me thinking time for my writing, usually at the expense of speed getting through my never ending workflow. If I didn't get enough done before lunch, I'd make it up after lunch. If I didn't get enough done after lunch, I'd make up for it the next day. Don't misunderstand - I don't steal company time to write, it's just that I'm usually thinking about two different things at once anyway, so why can't one of them be something I love? :) Having my mind in two places was okay before, but not now. I'm entering the third trimester of my pregnancy, and I cannot play with my workflow anymore. I cannot chance handing my workload over to my co-workers without it being 100% up to date. Totally not fair. So with the super-focus on getting stuff done at work (and taking on -voluntarily- a scanning project that will help those gals while I'm out) means my lunch break writing time is being compromised. I have a hard time switching tracks in my brain from patent workings and data entry to the creative output I need for writing.

Also creating an obstacle is the combination of my two year old needing a later bedtime and my own need for an earlier bedtime, shrinking that precious time to a mere hour to an hour and a half, which needs to be divded between writing, household stuff, and oh I don't know, ME time? It took us a few days of fighting the 7 - 7:30 bedtime routine for the little girl, and she wouldn't actually go to sleep until 8 or after. We pushed that up, so our routine with her starts at 7:20/30 (playing, reading with her in her room, singing bedtime songs) and ends quite smoothly by 8pm. Sound asleep, she's freed me to do my own thing.

Which means finishing up the dinner cleanup, putting away whatever toys we never got her to do, dealing with the day's mail, starting a load of laundry, and then am I free to write. Or try, anyway. My bedtime has dropped to between 9 and 10pm, mostly because of the Nighttime Joys of pregnancy (leg cramps, bathroom needs), I'm only getting an hour and a half to two hours of sleep at a time. Between that 10pm and 6am, I'm up and out of bed at least 3 times every night.

So faced with all this, my creative energy is dwindling. My time available to stir up that energy is fading, right along with my desire to put out stories. It's the sleep, it's the strain on my body, it's the demands of keeping my day job going strong. Heck, even sitting at the computer is getting more difficult with the big baby belly in the way.

I'm dropping my weekly goals to one item from here on out, which will be geared toward completing projects, but focused more on paying any level of attention to the writing. Reading is included in that, especially if it's my own. Marking up manuscripts now for editing later might work. My monthly goals are going to change, and I don't think I'm going to make my submission goals for the year. And considering the baby is due the end of November (and will likely show up via c-section), my recovery and his well being are going to take precedence over the writing. Not to mention, my computer room is in the basement of my house and stairs after a c-section are quite limited, I won't even be at my computer all that much.

I knew this was coming, and it still makes me sad. I feared with my first pregnancy that I'd forget how to write, and while some things needed practice to get back into, my muse was still there. I just had to rework some of the technicalities of the writing. I can do it again. I just didn't want to give it up this soon. Comparing again with my last pregnancy, I wrote a little bit, but gave up very early on. This time, I wrote nearly every week right through week 26 (that's about 6.5 months). So really, I did better. I'm glad for that.

I'll just have to take it one little bit at a time from here on out.

And Something Bit . . .

I needed to be more comfortable with Celtic rituals and sacrifice before I could put this story together, so that's what I did over lunch. There are some interesting websites you can find if you just Google the right combination of words, and let me tell you, those Celts were damned interesting.

Nighthunter's Bite now has some backbone, and a basic outline is set. All I need now are the words.

Plotting

Sometimes plotting is easy, and sometimes it irritates me to no one because I know the story is there, I know it needs to be written, but something is evading me, and I can't figure the 'why' of the story. I remember now why I had stopped working on Nighthunter's Bite. Gutsy character with enough spunk to challenge her goddess, and a nice confrontation scene between the two. But why is there this confrontation? And what the hell does it have to do with the moon bracelet I'm fixated on? Time for some celtic research, maybe something there will coax some answers out of my muse, not that I know where SHE went to. Probably took a nap after all the editing I've been doing . . .

Edit: Sunguard

The Sunguard edit is complete and off to critters. The story doubled in size and some plot layers were added. I have a feeling the resolution isn't what it should be, so I need to give it one more pass for sure. But my time has paid off, I think it's a good story. It just needs a little more editing love. ;)