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!

Not writing because...

I'm too busy biting my nails. I might have really, REALLY exciting news soon or a really crushing disappointment to deal with.

Either way, I haven't a creative juice in my body at the moment...

To everyone who IS writing--yay! Keep it up. Woot, woot!

Why I'm NOT a pantster...

I have lots of great ideas, they crowd onto the pages of my story notebook...but I can't just sit down and write.

Case in point is my current WIP...I thought I could just wing it with the premise. Um....well, my heroine is a spunky, sassy, sexy woman who never in a million years would contemplate suicide. Hmmm.... I have another cool idea for what to do with her...but I'll be sitting down with my notebook today and doing a bit of plotting...I need that roadmap to see where I'm going.

Sigh...Back to square one...

I forgot to say...

Last week, one day ahead of my self-imposed deadline, I finished the first draft of my novel.

This is the final word count:



I know, I went over the 80k mark. How cool is that?

And check this out ---> ytd word count: 101,869

Starting Over

This story was conceived as a companion to my WICKED submission Losing It. It too has an older heroine wanting to change her life.

All Meredith really wanted to do was to get away from it all. Literally. On the eve of her 40th birthday, she's decided to commit suicide. However, her dead husband is determined to have some say in the matter. So, Meredith is visited by three hunky mediums her husband hopes will show her that she has a future with the living...whether she wants it or not.

I nearly scrapped this story. I actually plotted out a different story to write for the same title. I opened the file and started reading...and realized I really liked Meredith's voice and the story. So, the day I spent plotting will have to be saved for another day.

Here's the word count...

Sa-weet!

I did it--I wrote an almost 7,000 word story in a little more than two days!

Comrades in Arms


Now, it's off to Loose Id, and we'll see whether it makes it into the Sweet Sixteen or not. I'm nervous but excited. Either way, I think it's a great story and am very pleased with it. And I know now for sure I can write m/m romance, lol.

Taking the rest of the day off from fiction writing to do some "paying" work and write a blog post. Tomorrow, I'd better get back to Matthew. He's pining...

Checking in again

I haven't popped in here for a while. Just been busy writing and doing a thousand other things too. Here's how my progress meter looks at the moment:



Not bad. I'm hoping to get this first draft done by the end of the week. I'll check back in then.

Have a great week! :)

Sick, but wrote anyway...

First, I was afraid I was going to die. Now, I'm afraid I'm not.

Only half-joking there. I felt better most of the day, but the fever came back tonight with a vengeance. As soon as the hubby gets home, I'm for bed!

I did, however, write quite a bit today, as I finally got an idea for the Loose Id March Madness short story contest, and I only have until March 1 to get it written and submitted. Fortunately, it's short!

Comrades in Arms


By the way, I have made some progress on Matthew since I last posted:

According to Matthew


I wil get back on that baby after I finish up CiM tomorrow!