So a week ago I was so excited. I was making progress typing away feeling pretty good. I was happily ensconced in my little writer's world then BLAM! Life came at me from every possible angle, and none of it good. So needless to say I got a little off from my project and haven't gotten back on track.
I have the house to myself starting Friday for about a week so I plan on taking some me time and hitting the ground running. Lots to do before that fateful day that is coming up waaay too fast for my liking.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Over the Hump
I'm feeling rather technological today so I come to you from my phone. (So please ignore any typos as these buttons are rather small and my fingers aren't) I had all intentions of posting last night but I got a little wrapped up amd lost track of time. Guess what I was doing. Go on, guess. I'll even give you three chances and the first two won't count.
...
I was writing!!! (Excuse the exclamation point overkill but I'm super excited) I seem to have gotten over my slump. It felt good to get moving yesterday. I had hit a wall during my lunch writing section so I didn't go into my night feeling too positive. I had to force myself to type up what I had written but when I was all caught up it just kept coming out of me. So I have almost finished my revision of chapter 2 (I had to go to sleep at some point) and now I need to hit up 3 and 4 to see how I can mash it into one big Chapter 2 instead of three little chapters.
I still haven't gotten my feedback from my Chapter 1 revision but I'm fully aware of my editor's time restraints. I'm thinking I might find an impartial party to critique it. So if anyone knows of someone who would be willing to do it (and preferably someone who doesn't know me so they wouldn't be afraid of hurting my feelings) let me know. Until tjen I'm going to keep trucking along. That fateful day is coming quickly and at the rate I'm going its going to be a rough road.
...
I was writing!!! (Excuse the exclamation point overkill but I'm super excited) I seem to have gotten over my slump. It felt good to get moving yesterday. I had hit a wall during my lunch writing section so I didn't go into my night feeling too positive. I had to force myself to type up what I had written but when I was all caught up it just kept coming out of me. So I have almost finished my revision of chapter 2 (I had to go to sleep at some point) and now I need to hit up 3 and 4 to see how I can mash it into one big Chapter 2 instead of three little chapters.
I still haven't gotten my feedback from my Chapter 1 revision but I'm fully aware of my editor's time restraints. I'm thinking I might find an impartial party to critique it. So if anyone knows of someone who would be willing to do it (and preferably someone who doesn't know me so they wouldn't be afraid of hurting my feelings) let me know. Until tjen I'm going to keep trucking along. That fateful day is coming quickly and at the rate I'm going its going to be a rough road.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Almost
So I had an entire day on Saturday to do some work and guess what... I hardly did a thing!!! I don't know what is going on with me, but damn it I need to get motivated. There has just been so much crap going on. I really just need a break from life. Can anyone stop the world for just a little bit? I don't want to get off long, just for a day or two so that I can catch up with everything. I'm trying really hard to be negative but right now I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed.
I have about 1/3 of Chapter 2 revised and I was planning on combining original 2,3, and 4. Working only during my lunch hour is not getting me anywhere. Guess I need to actually do some organizing and cleaning so that I have my work space back. I have to get this done. I just don't feel like I'm going to be able to do it sometimes. I'm feeling a little defeated. My muse has left and I don't know if she is ever going to come back. Life keeps getting in my way. But I guess that's kinda what its there for. So I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and do something. Maybe if I say it enough I'll actually start believing it. Gah!
I have about 1/3 of Chapter 2 revised and I was planning on combining original 2,3, and 4. Working only during my lunch hour is not getting me anywhere. Guess I need to actually do some organizing and cleaning so that I have my work space back. I have to get this done. I just don't feel like I'm going to be able to do it sometimes. I'm feeling a little defeated. My muse has left and I don't know if she is ever going to come back. Life keeps getting in my way. But I guess that's kinda what its there for. So I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and do something. Maybe if I say it enough I'll actually start believing it. Gah!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
I Will Get Back on Track
It has been a hectic couple of days. Spend all day shopping on Sunday (which was not planned), big sis's birthday on Monday (it was excellent), then an unplanned family thing yesterday. Three days gone, and as Nancy felt the need to mention only 69 days left til I need to be done. AHHHHHH!!!
Ok I feel better now. And after today I am back to work. I'm almost done with the book I started the other day so I'm going to start working on my revision at lunch. It's going to be a pain to hand write and then re-type but it seems to be the best way for me to get work done. It will probably take twice as much time so hopefully I'll get motivated to work at home. It just gets so difficult to get up off the couch (where my tush is comfortably resting right now) and do something productive. Why not be comfortable and write? you may ask. Well I will answer with a simple "because I tend to be a lazy piece of [fill in your favorite description here] when I'm on the couch." Productive stuff must be done at the desk which is currently covered in papers and nonsense that has nothing to do with my writing. So the desk need to gets cleaned off as well. This really is starting to sound like excuse after excuse. So no more excuses!
Tomorrow is a new day and it will be a new beginning for me! I will work HARD, I will work WELL, and I WILL get this done. By my deadline.
Ok I feel better now. And after today I am back to work. I'm almost done with the book I started the other day so I'm going to start working on my revision at lunch. It's going to be a pain to hand write and then re-type but it seems to be the best way for me to get work done. It will probably take twice as much time so hopefully I'll get motivated to work at home. It just gets so difficult to get up off the couch (where my tush is comfortably resting right now) and do something productive. Why not be comfortable and write? you may ask. Well I will answer with a simple "because I tend to be a lazy piece of [fill in your favorite description here] when I'm on the couch." Productive stuff must be done at the desk which is currently covered in papers and nonsense that has nothing to do with my writing. So the desk need to gets cleaned off as well. This really is starting to sound like excuse after excuse. So no more excuses!
Tomorrow is a new day and it will be a new beginning for me! I will work HARD, I will work WELL, and I WILL get this done. By my deadline.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Two Steps Forward
And one giant step back.
I had the house to myself yesterday so I had plenty of time and no distractions to work. So I plugged in my flash drive, opened up a couple of documents, and got to typing. Knowing the propensity for me to lose documents (especially the important ones) I saved as often as I could remember, which gets a little difficult when I'm in a zone. So there I was cruising along fairly happy with the out put when out of nowhere...
BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!
I was one VERY unhappy camper. But I thought I had saved fairly recently so I wouldn't have lost much of what I was working on. And was I ever wrong. I apparently hadn't saved in at least an hour. Time flies when you're flowing well, I guess. So thanks to that random blue screen I lost about a third of what I had written. Today I was too discouraged to work on it again. I'll try picking it up tomorrow after the proper mourning period has passed.
On the plus side, it did seem to be just a random blue screen. I ran a virus scan and, two hours later, came up empty. The hubs ran another one just to be safe and that came up clean too. All I can blame this hiccup on is the fact that my computer is going to be 5 this summer. I know they don't last forever but I just need this one to get me through revision 1. So please give a little thought to my poor baby and hopefully he'll last me as long as he is needed!
I had the house to myself yesterday so I had plenty of time and no distractions to work. So I plugged in my flash drive, opened up a couple of documents, and got to typing. Knowing the propensity for me to lose documents (especially the important ones) I saved as often as I could remember, which gets a little difficult when I'm in a zone. So there I was cruising along fairly happy with the out put when out of nowhere...
BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!
I was one VERY unhappy camper. But I thought I had saved fairly recently so I wouldn't have lost much of what I was working on. And was I ever wrong. I apparently hadn't saved in at least an hour. Time flies when you're flowing well, I guess. So thanks to that random blue screen I lost about a third of what I had written. Today I was too discouraged to work on it again. I'll try picking it up tomorrow after the proper mourning period has passed.
On the plus side, it did seem to be just a random blue screen. I ran a virus scan and, two hours later, came up empty. The hubs ran another one just to be safe and that came up clean too. All I can blame this hiccup on is the fact that my computer is going to be 5 this summer. I know they don't last forever but I just need this one to get me through revision 1. So please give a little thought to my poor baby and hopefully he'll last me as long as he is needed!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
A Step in the Right Direction
So yesterday I decided that my first chapter revision has been completed. So I enlisted the help of my (free) editor and sent off a copy for critique. Unfortunately, she works crazy hours so I'm not sure when I'm going to hear back from her. The deal was I'd pick up her written feedback this weekend. I'm excited to hear what she has to say, but I have to admit I'm really nervous too. This marks the first time that I've let someone read something that I've written and asked for feedback. If all goes well I may look to find someone that I don't know to take a look at it.
Now I just need to find the time to start on Chapter 2. And if my memory serves me correctly it is actually 2, 3, and 4 that I'm going to have to look at and do some combining. At some point I am going to have to turn off the TV and get to work if I am going to finish this draft in 75 days. I'm pretty sure that is how many days left until that magical age of 20-10.
I do have the weekend free for the most part so I'm going to try and block out a couple hours to dedicate directly to the working. I know that to get this done it is going to take discipline and I'm most likely going to have to schedule time to write. When I started the challenge in November there was an excitement pushing me. Was it really possible to write 50,000 words in just 30 days? And I proved to myself that it was! Now is when the real work sets in along with the dread. I've always been good at starting things but have always struggled with that whole finishing aspect of it. But the only way to cross "Publish a Novel" off my to do list I have to just suck it up.
PS - I want this computer!
Now I just need to find the time to start on Chapter 2. And if my memory serves me correctly it is actually 2, 3, and 4 that I'm going to have to look at and do some combining. At some point I am going to have to turn off the TV and get to work if I am going to finish this draft in 75 days. I'm pretty sure that is how many days left until that magical age of 20-10.
I do have the weekend free for the most part so I'm going to try and block out a couple hours to dedicate directly to the working. I know that to get this done it is going to take discipline and I'm most likely going to have to schedule time to write. When I started the challenge in November there was an excitement pushing me. Was it really possible to write 50,000 words in just 30 days? And I proved to myself that it was! Now is when the real work sets in along with the dread. I've always been good at starting things but have always struggled with that whole finishing aspect of it. But the only way to cross "Publish a Novel" off my to do list I have to just suck it up.
PS - I want this computer!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Moving Forward
Well after a less than productive weekend I finally started to get some work done. I had been rewriting the first chapter by hand while on breaks and lunches at work. During some downtime today I finally got it all typed up. And while it is still quite rough I'm definitely fleshing out the scene a bit more.
I've opened up a few lines of thought that have already come into play in later parts of what was already written. Not so much of a foreshadowing, but more like later information won't be quite so "wow, where did this come from?" type of stuff. Plus it's now all in Word format so my poor hand won't be as tired. I'll be able to go a little bit faster too since I can type much quicker than I can write.
There is something to be said about hand writing a manuscript. There seems to be more of a connection with what I am doing. I've always been a fan of writing out essays and such before a final draft. People in college thought I was nuts, but I am a little bit older than the "tech" generation I took classes with. Maybe someday I'll be able to buy that AWESOME HP laptop with the swivel screen that has handwriting recognition software so I can write it long hand and not have to re-write it (type it) at a later date. Sigh. A girl can dream!
So yeah, that's where I am. Feeling pretty good about the start of the revision. I have quite a long ways to go if the second draft is to be ready be ready by the time I turn 20-10. Scary scary thought. I'll have to ask Nancy how many days I have left til that fateful time.
I've opened up a few lines of thought that have already come into play in later parts of what was already written. Not so much of a foreshadowing, but more like later information won't be quite so "wow, where did this come from?" type of stuff. Plus it's now all in Word format so my poor hand won't be as tired. I'll be able to go a little bit faster too since I can type much quicker than I can write.
There is something to be said about hand writing a manuscript. There seems to be more of a connection with what I am doing. I've always been a fan of writing out essays and such before a final draft. People in college thought I was nuts, but I am a little bit older than the "tech" generation I took classes with. Maybe someday I'll be able to buy that AWESOME HP laptop with the swivel screen that has handwriting recognition software so I can write it long hand and not have to re-write it (type it) at a later date. Sigh. A girl can dream!
So yeah, that's where I am. Feeling pretty good about the start of the revision. I have quite a long ways to go if the second draft is to be ready be ready by the time I turn 20-10. Scary scary thought. I'll have to ask Nancy how many days I have left til that fateful time.
Friday, January 1, 2010
And so it begins...
I have it set in my mind that 2010 is going to be MY year! There are many things that I want to accomplish and finishing my first novel is one of them. And it is here that you will be able to share in that journey with me.
I've wanted to be a writer for a long time, so I finally stopped talking about it and started doing it back in November when I was a first time participant in NaNoWriMo. I now have a very rough first draft on what has the potential to be a real novel. I have been lacking the motivation to get moving on rewriting and revising. So I'm putting myself out there and inviting you to come along with me as I get to work.
I'll be posting my progress, my complaints, my excitements, and, if you're lucky, excerpts from my novel. Only time will tell what will happen but I am optimistic.
I've wanted to be a writer for a long time, so I finally stopped talking about it and started doing it back in November when I was a first time participant in NaNoWriMo. I now have a very rough first draft on what has the potential to be a real novel. I have been lacking the motivation to get moving on rewriting and revising. So I'm putting myself out there and inviting you to come along with me as I get to work.
I'll be posting my progress, my complaints, my excitements, and, if you're lucky, excerpts from my novel. Only time will tell what will happen but I am optimistic.
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