Happy May Day!

Just a real quick word count update on Twilight's embrace. It's moving along at a pretty good clip and I'm pleased with where the story is going. However, yesterday I was writing sex scenes...so it was slow going. Today, I have another sex scene to slog through, so it'll be another slow word count day. After that, I have a few action and death scenes, so I'm really looking forward to tackling them! LOL. I'm hoping to have a library day tomorrow afternoon, too. Assuming I can get a sitter for the boys.

Anyway...I'm off to write. Here's my starting word count for the morning.



AND my final word count for the night.



Unfortunately, my sitter is going camping tomorrow (darn it), but I'm going to carve out some time to write after everyone goes to bed. Then, I'm off to Panera Bread on Saturday to write some more.

Have I ever told you how much I hate deadlines????

It's Friday night and although I had hoped to write tonight, but I'm dead tired and heading to bed instead. Without a sitter, I got very little done today, writing wise. However, I did finally fill out my RWA PRO application and mail it off as well as updating my website, which was on a time-sensitive timeline that hopefully I'll be able to share with everyone in a couple of weeks.



And honestly...am I the only one posting over here these days????

My early Saturday writing session was great. Now I just have to keep up the pace (snicker)

A new week, a new word count

Thanks to Jackie, I pushed through the 12K mark today and accrording to my plot outline, I hit the 1/3'ish mark. I figure if I can keep up this pace (snicker) I could be done with the book by the end of the week (can you see my muse doubled up with laughter?). If only she hadn't insisted that I finish Phone Calls first, damn her anyway.

Baby Steps

After my huge finish with Phone Calls from the Dead, it's taken me a few days to get back into the swing of writing. Today, in between the phone ringing off the wall, the boys being petit monstres and thanks to a couple of write-offs with Jackie, I managed to get words written. Phew. Baby steps. But it sure is nice to see the word count increase.

A new week, an old story...and a new idea

Well, I'm back to working on Twilight's Embrace...it's contracted to Tease and I have to finish the darn thing tout suite. I've got it all plotted but I've been dragging my feet. However, I jumped in today and wrote 600 or so words to bring the total word count to:



And as it always happens, another story is now flapping around in my brain. Although I said I probably wouldn't write another WICKED...this one would FIT. It'd be short, very sexy, and the beginning and end are clear in my mind. So, I'm going to drag out my trusty notebook and start plotting my snowflake for it. Writing it will be my reward for finishing Twilight's Embrace.

It has such a pretty cover, don't you think so?

Holy Word Count, Batman!

I had a MONSTER day today. Unfortunately, I'm not writing what I'm SUPPOSED to be writing (the second Ever After novella). Instead, I'm pounding away like a madwoman on what I shall hereafter have to refer to as my SuperSecret Sci-Fi/Futuristic (SSFF). This is a story idea I had years ago, but while I was traveling the other day, the first few chapters arrived in my head fully-formed like never before and THEY WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE.

So I'm writing the darned thing in a desperate attempt to get this future first person voice out of my head so I can write Jack and Callie's Regency story again. I just hope I get the voices out instead of making them louder and more insistent!

SSFF


And yeah, that's all in one day. I'm stunned.

I did manage to get a bit of the Ever After novella written while I was flying to Memphis. Which means I'm not really behind...yet!

Second Ever After Novella

The first draft is...

... done!



Have an awesome weekend!

The phone...the phone is ringing.....

If you have small kids, you might recognize that as part of the Wonderpets song...I'm including it to herald the fact that I AM DONE with the first draft of Phone Calls from the Dead.

Oh my...when I originally started plotting this one back in January, I was using First Draft in 30 Days -- unfortunately, the book's methods didn't work for me. So, when Deanna said she was starting to read Octoberfest entries, I decided I'd better get my butt in gear and start my snowflake (Randy Ingermanson's method for plotting). Three disasters later and I still wasn't quite happy with the story progression. There wasn't enough character conflict, it was all external. I needed a different "ghost"...once I got the identity of the ghost figured out, the story snowballed from there.

Not every word has been easy, but here at the end, I've been writing fast and furious -- one day I wrote over 3K! And it's finally DONE. The first draft came in at 23096 words...and with all the notes I've left for myself, I can tell I'll be adding an additional 1 to 2K in the second draft.

So yippee for me!

Day Three of the BIAW

I'm really tired now, but at least the whole story's falling into place. :)

Am I there yet?

Nope...looks like I'm going to top 20K for the first draft. I'm not complaining...the story is shaping up to be really exciting here at the end...the pieces are coming together and a very dark ending is looming on the horizon. I will be glad to get the first draft done though...I have so many notes to myself about things to add and to check, but I'm determined not to stop the forward progress until I type THE END.



Thank goodness there was nothing on the boob tube tonight and I was able to get another stint of writing done. I'm on the last love scene...but it's too late to finish it tonight. I figure it will be 22500 but I'm keeping the target word count where it's at for now (I like seeing the over 100 percent finished)

Day Two of the BIAW

Moving along okay. Not as quickly as the tale I wrote last week, but with my daughter home for the school holidays, I only get one writing session at night. After she's gone to bed. So I suppose I'm lucky I'm able to get this much done. :)

So close and yet so far....

The mystery is all starting to fall into place...shouldn't be long now until the HEA.

Okay, so I started another one...

... because I'm taking part in the latest Cobblestone Main Street BIAW.



:)

Good News/Bad News

The good news is, I have a contract (or will in a few days). The bad news is, I have a contract. With like, actual deadlines. Eep!

Well, no time like the present to get started...

Second Ever After Novella


My "schedule" says I have to do 1,000 words per day five days per week to finish everything up within the time frame I'm aiming for. Obviously I haven't done that yet, but these two weekend days didn't count, so I'm actually a little "ahead."

Wish me luck!

Black Moment

My news isn't all that exciting -- no finished first draft nor sale -- but I'm just entering the "Black Moment" and it's going to be a doozy!

OMG! SOLD SOLD SOLD!!!!

To Kensington. Details at http://manuscriptmavens.blogspot.com/.

Okay...

I did it! I got the little story finished today:



Yay. I'm really excited to have met my self-imposed deadline. I'm really tough on myself, but it feels so good when I can meet it. :)

So, another first draft is done. And hello to a new one next week.

Have an awesome weekend!

Moved forward

I'm now up to:



I stopped when my heroine was heading into a very sticky situation. Yikes! Wouldn't want to be her at the moment. Will the hero save the day? ;)

Fingers crossed for getting it finished by tomorrow. It sure would be a nice way to end the week.

Just because I wanted to...

I started a new story. It's going to be a short story, but I really got into the groove of it today. I wrote the first 600 words last night, just to see if it worked and yeah, I like it so far.

Here's my progress bar at the end of today's session:



Happy writing!

Blogging from Banff

Yep...I'm finally getting my long-awaited honeymoon! We're here in Banff, Canada. I came with my husband for the ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest) World Finals. Lucky for me, he's been busy for a few hours each day...so we've got to hang out, sightsee, and mix business with pleasure.

I've done a bit of writing...not as much as I had hoped. Although tomorrow promises to be a "husband-free" day, as it's the big contest day. I had a rewrite request for one of my stories, so I got that done and resubmitted this morning. Then, I launced into Phone Calls from the Dead. Here's my current word count, but it comprises several days of writing. I'm hoping to finish the first draft by the end of this week.

Wow, it's been a while...

It's me. You all remember me, right? ;)

I haven't checked in for a while, but I've been busy doing a bunch of writing stuff. The main thing I just got through is the second draft of the novel I wrote during February this year. As of right now, it's done. The new word count is 86,032.

I printed the whole thing and by the time I was done, ouch! I had lots of stuff to change. The cool thing is that because I put in all the changes as I went, even the type-in is done. Yay. Now, I'm going to put it aside for a week or two before doing the final draft.

Maybe next week I'll write a new short story. I've had an idea inside my head for a few weeks. After the hard work I put in this week, I deserve a reward tale. Lol.

ytd word count: 143,826

March Madness and Spring Fever

The weather is horrible, the kids are home, and the youngest (and whiniest) is sick. Despite that, I've managed to get in a respectable word count over the past couple of days (yay, me!)



After a marathon writing stint Friday night until the wee hours of the morning on Saturday (I know, I'm a slow writer)



I have to keep reminding myself to push forward....especially as I keep wanting to go back and add in layers (you know, the second draft stuff)... so, although I did make some forward progress, much of these new words were added in the first couple of chapters. As a result, I've reassessed my final estimated word count.

A little more written...

There'd be a lot more if I could find the time. Darn it, what are school's thinking when they give children a whole week off for Spring Break! Bleh~

Progress and worry

So, I had a spurt of creativity yesterday and managed to add quite a lot of words, although I'm not completely convinced what I wrote "works." Also, I skipped over a love scene I didn't feel ready to write to get to the black moment, so I'll have to go back and build it in.

According to Matthew


I feel better about finishing by the end of the month now, but I'm not 100% sure I'm going to be happy enough with it to submit it. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess!

A New Week, A New Story

Rosalie's story (a sequel to Postcards from the Dead) has been clamouring to be written for quite some time...and she's decided I need to write her story NOW! And of course, my muse is just chuckling in glee. Luckily, the entire story is in my head, I just have to get it out through my fingers!

If I'm lucky, I can get the first draft finished by the end of the week and then be able to concentrate on what I'm SUPPOSED to be writing!

Phone Calls from the Dead

I need to see it...

According to Matthew


I need to finish by March 31 (preferably sooner so I can actually have someone read it before I submit it).

We now interrupt this post for a moment of panic...

AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog

I did it!

You know, I was starting to think that I wouldn't make my self-imposed deadline for the BIAM, but I did. Just now, about ten minutes ago.

Here's where I ended up:



Pretty cool. I want the word count to end up a little closer to 50k by the time the revision process is done... but for now, I'm good. ;)

ytd word count: 141,928

glitter-graphics.com

Off to a good start

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know, it's Tuesday already. But today is one of my prime writing days as the boys go to preschool. I didn't add as many words as I had hoped, but the meter is moving in the right direction -- and I should be able to write this afternoon as well, so be looking for another update later.

Twilight's Embrace

I knew I was hanging on to those spare Vampire Oracle proposals for a reason! I reworked one of my favorites and submitted it on spec to Tease Dark Tarot. It was accepted for the Temperance card.

But as a result, I have a heck of a lot to write between now and the end of the month -- especially since next week is going to be a struggle to find time to write as it's Spring Break for all my kids. I think I'm going to ask the Easter Bunny for a babysitter at least two days that week.

Haven't popped in for a while...

Hey! I thought it might be a cool idea to post again. :)

This month, I'm taking part in the Cobblestone Main Street BIAM. And so far, this is how my progress is going:



Not bad, I'm pretty happy with the pace I'm writing this story, as well as the story itself. I mean, I've gotten other things done along the way too.

Happy writing!

Just to encourage myself...

According to Matthew


Man, seeing that meter move is a major motivator! Off to add more!