Distracted by the Internet

New Digs

2011-03-17T00:38:00.000-07:00

The time has come for me to split myself into two =) When I first started the Distracted blog, I had dipped my toe into the writing waters and wanted to keep myself open to what I intended my blog to do. At first, my writing life was so intricately intwined in all the rest of my life, it seemed easier to mush everything together and let it all ride out. Today, I'm a bit better at compartmentalizing (if not staving off procrastination) and it's time to separate myself into writer Kelly and everything else Kelly.

The Distracted blog is staying up and will likely start to focus more on random and myriad things I happen to notice on this twisted ride of life. But for anyone looking for writer Kelly, the fun continues here > http://kellyrmorgan.wordpress.com

Thanks for following, hope to see you continuing along for the ride.

Kelly

November blusters in...

2010-11-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce you to my sunlamp. It's not even remotely as bright or as hot as the sun. In fact, I think my iMac gets hotter in about a quarter of the time, but that's for another day. Back to the sunlamp. It's pretty bright. Bright enough that I have it angled slightly away so it isn't right in my eyes or I see spots for a long time. Bright enough to make me forget (until I turn it off) that I've entered the land of murk and there I will reside for long enough to make me think once or twice about leaving.

Not seriously, of course. Well, maybe to parts south for a long weekend. But I promise to come back.

I'm pretty surprised no one has compiled one of those "You know it when..." deals for the Puget Sound/Cascade mountain foothills. Like, "You Know it's November in the Cascade foothills when the sun gets dramatically sucked out of the sky and is replaced by a layer of clouds so thick you begin to doubt there ever was a sun to begin with." Oh, wait. That might be part of my sci-fi for NaNo breaking through. See, the brain melt starts.

The problem is, I like the sun. I don't like sunburn, or heat waves in the consistent 100s (so glad not to have been part of the East Coast Bakedown this past summer). But I like seeing it through the window. I like knowing it's out there. And it always makes me feel guilty when it leaves and I haven't appreciated it enough. But I doubt I'll do better next year.

So I feel like hibernating but I can't. Because today is Day One of NaNoWriMo and I'm finding my novel writing groove. 900 words into scene one and I changed my mind already on a bit character I wanted to be a little more smug, a little more thoughtless toward the "lesser people". Eh, the little darlings run away from me as quickly as I can set their little feet on the paper. Which reminds me, time to crank the lamp up another notch, pretend it's really only September out there, and wrap the leash around my wrist as my characters drag me down the block.

Words and Jazz

2010-10-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to be really good at playing the piano. Good. Like, throw out a few bars of Beethoven-good. The keyboard above has been in my possession more than eleven years now. My husband bought it for me a couple of days after we married; he still loves to indulge me in my creative endeavors.

My keyboard sits downstairs on a table, played somewhat by my husband and tinkered with by my kids. The three year old loves hitting the demo button and dancing to all the snippets of music thrown about. But I don't play. I want to be good. Immediately. Unrealistically.

This problem with realism hasn't filtered through to my writing. Instead, I'm a little too ruthless when it comes to getting it right. I'm homicidal when something's not working to my liking and the trunk novels are piling up. They aren't "there" yet. But I'm not putting my laptop on a desk somewhere and leaving it sit for eleven years. I'm not expecting to write like yet. I'm not even going to write like some of the talented and rising soon-to-be authors I've encountered over the last couple of years. I'm going to write like me. And keep going until I can stand up with the rest of them.

NaNoWriMo is days away from starting and my outline is done, character's are a little less blob like. I'm excited to be working on a more sci-fi oriented idea.

I've got my cool NaNo tote to protect my laptop when I slosh through late autumn in Western Washington. I've got Scrivener 2.0 downloaded and already being the efficient organizing and writing program it is. (Only used for free by me until Literature and Latte give me a buy button to clicky) I've got at least 2 boxes of K-cups in various flavors so I can avoid a distracting run to the local espresso stand. Well, some of them anyway.

Ending my post with another piano mention: tonight is Word Jazz in the Snoqualmie Valley and I'm eager to cheer on my fellow peeps in our terrific writer's group. They've got a million times more guts than I do for getting behind a mic and reading 2,000 words. Out loud. In public. *Thud*

Distracted by summer...

2010-10-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

I had no idea I’d be distracted by summer. And yet, that’s exactly what happened. I squeaked out one post right around when summer began and then… nothing.

That’s not to say I haven’t been writing. I have. Several different things, in fact. A short story, I’m still not-so-patiently waiting to hear the results of, is one thing I spent the month of July working on. Another short story, the shortest I’ve written, is being included in a journal my awesome local writing group is producing.

But I’ve been taking the time to think. To plot. To read more in areas I’m not usually interested in. To research.

And I went on vacation. A much needed one.

Here it is, somehow Octoberish. I’ve decided to do NaNoWriMo again, making this my third year. I love the goal, the camaraderie, the planning. And that I will have something to say.

High Maintenance

2010-06-25T11:32:00.000-07:00

I hate nail polish.

I love the way nail polish smells, fresh from the bottle. I love watching the lively color glide from the brush to a bisque nail, empty and ready for some pizazz. Some oomph. Everything looks wonderful for the first 6 hours. Maybe, if I've got a great top coat, my nails might last a day or so.

It's all over when the first chip happens. Then they look like exhibit A.

That's 24 hours later. All that hard work of getting the polish on perfectly for such a temporary pleasure. Now they look terrible and I can either leave them plain or do it all over again.

As I sat here looking at my ruined manicure, I realized I'd probably have longer lasting results if I went to an expert. They do something that makes the polish stick better or stays chip resistant longer. But, if I did that, I wouldn't have the satisfaction I get when I do decide to paint my nails. That first second when everything is new and shiny and it's because I did it myself. Even if a couple of hours later I have a flaw in the works and the frustration of not being good enough sets in.

My approach to writing is just like that. When I read published books, sometimes I wonder if I'm going to get there, if I'm just throwing away the words on paper, deleting them when I find the inevitable flaws. Whole sections started chipping and needed to be wiped clean. When I look at books written by those who've broken through, I wonder if I should leave it up to them and simply enjoy their perseverance. It's far easier to read an enjoyable novel than it is to write one. But then I wouldn't have that moment. And I write for that moment above anything else.

Writing is high maintenance. Lots of chipping. Lots of effort swept away in a moment to make room for a better polish. One of these days, I'll be able to make the words last longer. And all shiny. Red optional.

Hi June, Bye June...

2010-06-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

Kelly's Great Big Distraction List!

June is nearly over and I needed to get a post on the map. I can't leave a gaping hole in the sidebar - even if mother nature has decided not to bring any summer to Seattle until nearly July. I'd obsess about my missing month of June for the rest of the year and we can't be having that.

In terms of actual writing, I edited up to and some of Chapter 3 in Wishful Thinking. Passed it to my beta/husband/amazing guy and he gave me some great feedback. I'm waiting until the next chapter to see if he still thinks the same way about one of the characters. In the meantime, I've been writing new ideas in the "idea file" for future use. How fun it would be if I could mix the ideas up.

I've also dabbled with writing by the seat of my pants - no outline, no plan. Just a story I've started and will keep going until I see where it wants to go. If nothing else, it's consistent writing and flexing the spontaneous muscle I let stiffen up most of the time.

But enough of the stuff I've done that counts as productivity - the fun stuff was, well, fun. And needed. Started the month off with a good dose of camping fun. This year, I've learned that late spring/early summer is just too volatile for tent camping out here. So off I went to a heated cabin with a futon bed and table/chair set. Oh, and electricity. That's a must.

Dance recitals, end of school year activities, planting/gardening, Alan Wake for the XBox 360, way too many blogs to follow, IronMan2, Green Day:Rock Band.... it's been a fun month. A nice break.

Now, bring on the summer. I'll be writing out in the sun.

Oh my, I think I've got a novel...

2010-05-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

I've been hard at work trying to get Chapter One into a decent enough shape to be finally beta read. I let the earlier incarnation out to a few folks and I admit, I cringe at the words on the paper. The gist of the story was there, I suppose, but it was in a very rough shape. The latest draft reads much better; not quite diamond, more like cubic zirconia. It's getting there. I can say that now after a couple of frustrating days.

It's been two weeks since I got down into no holds barred editing. I'm somewhat surprised at how long one scene took me to get right but I suppose it's because it was further than the others at getting my character's point across. I have to keep in mind, when I'm trying to rush through, that the process takes as long as it takes. Good practice for when I'm looking at a nth revision I've been asked to do.

What I'm loving is getting all the details in the right place, something I wasn't so great at the first pass through. I know it's because I didn't have all the details to begin with (you'd think these characters would clue me in or what not) but it's still fun making things click - even for the author!

So, yeay, Chapter One is done and I'll be foisting it on my unsuspecting victims betas soon. Unfortunately for the husband, he's really good at being a beta and has no idea about 8,300 words are heading his way. He also doesn't spare my feelings at all and has no qualms about telling me when something doesn't work without needing to use the sandwich method. I think that makes me lucky :)

I've also been paying attention to the music I listen to (either in my head or through my speakers) when I edit a chapter. Chapter One has been brought to you by the oh, so appropriate song Redundant by Green Day.

Photo of ruins by Free Stock Photos

Plucking from obscurity

2010-05-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

While trying to accumulate as much gold as possible in a video game I'm playing, I started wondering about some of the characters I'd passed along the journey. Some tragic things had happened to my main playable character and one event in particular had me thinking. See, while my main character's storyline is mostly set in the lore of the game, there is very little mentioned about what happens to the lesser known characters I've encountered. I'm not all that interested in the main events because (while somewhat flimsy), I get to find out plenty.

What I'm more interested in is what happened to the obscure characters, the ones who seemed to have more of a story than what was told, if any of their story was told at all. I want to know about what affects the main story has on them, what happens to them. Of course, it occurred to me that I could find out. I could craft the obscure character and let him tell me what happened. So far, he's quite interesting. I want to know more, I need to see what makes him work, what makes him run. Along the way, I'll lob some more defeating events his way and see how he deals. If he can manage to get to adolescence after being taking away from his mother who was off saving the world, I think he's got something going.

The same goes for Wishful Thinking. My need to delve into the obscure led me to wonder about lesser known mythological beings. I hear over and over how Greek mythology stories are overdone. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Maybe it's because the major players got too much air time. I don't care all that much about the Olympians, in my novel they are peripheral. I care about the overshadowed immortals, the ones whose stories weren't deemed all that important to focus on.

So many people work magic behind the scenes, overshadowed but content to be doing what they love. They have important stories to share, they are interesting people...we just need to be willing to listen to what they have to say. In our world, or someone else's. I'm going to hop on and go along on this boy's ride; I think he has something special to say.

Break time is over...

2010-05-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

...let the hard work begin! The read through of Wishful Thinking is complete. This go-round is much better than the last (when I couldn't even read through the whole way). This means I can begin editing with more of a shape rather than an unassuming blob of a novel.

Ah, editing. Some people love the first draft of a novel; the heady, breathless rush to put words on paper (metaphorically speaking for me) and see thoughts become form. Not me. My favorite part is planning with extensive outlines and offshoots and what ifs. Since I can't spend all my life just planning things...well, I could, but part of the fun in life is finishing those projects too...editing a novel is my second favorite part.

For me, editing is where I prove to myself I know what I'm doing, I know what I'm trying to say. The first draft of Wishful Thinking had promise but it wasn't until I re-wrote most of it that I could see the direction I needed to go in. I consider my re-write the first editing pass I took since I reshaped the plot and basically made it make sense. (If it doesn't make sense, it's worthless - going on a sticky note push pinned in my drywall) In editing, I'm starting to look at the individual scenes and their role in the whole package. And I'm ruthless. Forward the story or GTFO. I'd push pin that into my wall too but my eight year old is very interested in colorful language and I'm not talking aubergine.

So far, I've noticed a flat scene, a scene that needs a follow-up scene, a scene I chickened out on, etc.... I can't wait to get back in to those scenes and let the characters tell you what they really think. No holding back. Time to make the story better, give it a fresh coat of paint.

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos.

Almost...but not quite.

2010-04-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

Right now, I am looking at a sky similar to the one in this picture. The missing objects are the beautiful sunflowers at ground level. Instead, I get blown over brand new patio furniture and gratitude at not purchasing mulch yesterday at the home improvement store. Otherwise, my neighbor's yards would be looking fantastic and I'd be out some $200 easy. Ah, fickle mother nature. Spring here in the Pacific Northwest can take you on an interesting ride. After five plus years though, I've proven I can be taught - no mulching and no patio umbrellas until after the 15th of May.

Another interesting tidbit about greenery out here in the Cascade foothills - yup, we've got plenty of it but if you want the edible kind, you have to be patient. A handful of 65 degree days does not mean it's a good idea to get a jump start on the peppers (learned that last year). I am tempting fate by putting in two tester cherry tomato plants (not even going to try the full size and pull the rest of my hair out). Just two days ago, we were treated to a nice hailstorm which would've crushed my seedlings flat. So I wait. I like fresh beans far too much to risk them.

Speaking of waiting, still doing that with Wishful Thinking. Letting a novel sit for a little while before diving back in to edit is just like waiting for the last little bit of foothills weather to clear on out before risking tender plants. Too soon, you might have to start all over again and waste whatever time you might have gained. Far too inefficient a plan for me, so as much as my impatience is beginning to take over, I'm holding out.

May Day is right around the corner.

Distractions:
~ Found a card game for the iPad which not only has my best scores, but registers daily best scores against other players as well as weekly and monthly. The uber competitive soul in me has been trying to crack the top 50 all weekend. Getting 2nd place right after server reset doesn't count.

Accomplishments:
~ Even though it's too early for beans, peppers, cucumbers; it's not too early for lettuce, broccoli, and dill so those went into the ground yesterday. I am so glad I went with a raised bed garden. For one, there is no way I can get anything as sensitive as vegetables to grow in the rock that is my yard. For two, heat tends to get trapped earlier in a raised bed and I can fudge the sowing dates for some herbs. I've had parsley growing since January :)

Tackling the reading backlog...

2010-04-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

I've decided May Day is the perfect day to start editing Wishful Thinking and I'm excited to get there. In the meantime, I've been working through my "pile" of books. Couple hardcovers, handful through Kindle, a paperback or two. Now, I realize I can't get through all of them before May. I'm speedy, but not that speedy. *shrug* A dent is better than nothing.

Currently reading: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand - my inspiration for today's picture. Howard Roark is a fascinating, intriguing character who is unlike most protagonists I've ever read and I'm hoping Keating gets stuffed. The little sympathy I had for him is dwindling with every impulsive move he makes. I'm not surprised at my liking this book; the author and the protagonist are both INTJs. Different.

What I've noticed from a writing perspective is, after writing third person limited, the omniscient point of view is strange to me. It never used to be. I also never used to read and study setting, narrative, or internal dialogue either. Sometimes, reading as a writer is distracting and I have to work at it. Frustrating because first and foremost, I read for pleasure. Could be a sign I'm not as enmeshed in the book as I should be, could be I need to take off the writing hat when I'm not working on critiques or writing related work. Whatever the cause, once I figure out a flow, I hope to be able to switch in and out at will. A necessity because there are some great books coming out over the summer.

Distractions:
~ Why yes, I'm looking forward to the teen getting her driver's license. It's inevitable anyway and then I can send her out for the dinner ingredient I seem to always forget to order....

Accomplishments:
~ New short story in progress: 836 words written about three teenage mages who think they know more than they do and their insistence gets them into trouble. Sub out mages and this story is about every teenager who ever lived. I only wish I had magic back then, think of how fun that could've been.

The alternate reality where I am not a wuss...

2010-04-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

In my quest to not peek at my cooling novel (sitting there so nicely on my iPad I might add), I've been keeping myself relatively busy.

Busy, being in the eye of the beholder, means my Tauren Druid is level 74.5 (as of 11:00pm last night), all my various iGadgets are sync'ed with the mothership (just learned I can't library share my iTunes when the mothership is napping though...), and I stopped waiting for my husband to downgrade our cable. Which leads to the wuss part.

I have the pleasure of being the negotiator in the house. Call it a personality quirk, if you will. Just about everything that needs to happen gets processed through my brain first. No, this doesn't bother the husband - he likes not having to be responsible for all the nuances and I geek out hard core being said responsible person. Usually.

Which brings me to my call with the cable company. The only time I've not had cable was a brief 2 or 3 year stint with a satellite company. I liked the sat. co. but with our move out west and a swank deal on the cable + equipment, well, there it is. We started with a decent package and I knew right away we had "too much" cable. The only ones who watch TV here are the ones who shouldn't be - the kidlets. Couple years later and for some reason we decided the problem with our package (for non-TV watchers) - not enough cable. Yeah, I know.

Today, I called to downgrade. And I wussed out. The intention was to get rid of all movie channels and drop to just above the basic so we retained several essential kidlet channels. The problem is, the cable company would only honor the "new customer" price for one step down, not hitting the bottom down. I guess HBO and Starz is worth $10/month, but I still feel mission unaccomplished.

I will be hearing about this when the husband gets home. And he will file it away for future use. This tarnish is unlikely to become a patina.

Distractions:
~ It's all a distraction, baby!

Accomplishments:
~ I did manage to outline a short story I've been kicking at around. Itching to get back to work.

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos

I have to wait how long?

2010-04-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I finished the first rewrite of Wishful Thinking. Five minutes after, a funny thought occurred to me: I couldn't wait to go back and reread it from the beginning. And I wanted to do that right then.

I wrote this for the first time during the 2009 NaNoWriMo, the idea one I'd been kicking around for months before. I wrote somewhat faithfully to the first outline I drafted in October and breezed through the first draft. I even hit my 50k words well before the November 30th deadline. Still, I worked on, reaching The End in December at 63k.

Took the draft with me on the plane heading east for the holidays. Read the first chapter and realized it all sucked. Really bad. The climax scene was anything but. I know the common rule is to read from page one until the last without editing but I couldn't imagine wasting several hours on something I was going to rip to shreds.

So I didn't. I put the manuscript away for almost all of January. When I came back to it, I grabbed the first chapter and pulled out what I liked. The plot had changed dramatically so chapter two was a goner. Unfortunately, so was chapter three, most of four, all of... well the rest. I think out of the first edition, I've kept about 20k words. Even that might be a stretch.

At the least, I've learned I'm fairly detached from my work. I've learned lots more stuff too and will chat about it in the coming days when I'm trying not to go back in and peek. I'm not sure what my reaction is going to be when I reread in a couple of weeks, but I know this plot is stronger and more interesting the way I've rewritten it. Lasting a couple of weeks is going to be the hard part.

Distractions:
~ I was a laser-guided missile the last several days. The three loads of washed and dried laundry in piles on my bed can attest to it. As can the receipts scattered on the counter from a take-out/eat-out frenzy. As can children who look at me and say, mommy? Well, not really, they all still remember me, but I holed up as much as I could and cranked out the last 4k words.

Accomplishments:
~ 75,471 words, the majority fresh. Which means for Wishful Thinking, I've written at least 130k words. Letting that sink in.

Photo courtesy of Francesco Marino

First Page Blogfest

2010-04-02T12:18:00.001-07:00

Kelly Lyman at Kelly's Compositions is hosting a First Page Blogfest and I'd hoped to squeeze in right at the deadline. This entry is from my wip, Wishful Thinking, which has three scenes to go.

# # # #

Aurelie scanned the sides of the road stretching before her, seeking the perfect tree. Only the best would do. A stout tree for hand-crafted Aston Martins weren't made of fiberglass and spit. She needed elegant. Evergreen. She wrapped her slender fingers around the leather steering wheel, feeling the powerful engine purr as she accelerated. The DB9 handled like no other car. A pity it needed to be sacrificed.

The swick-flick of windshield wipers brushing away steady raindrops did not distract from her task. Her focus rested entirely on her mission. She wondered, when the end came, if it would hurt, if she would feel any pain. That was partly why she wanted a big tree. Aurelie didn't want to linger in agony, hovering between life and death for a minute longer than necessary. Just get it over with.

A glance at the speedometer showed her cruising at forty miles per hour. A little slow for that stretch of road if anyone else joined her. So far, Aurelie had encountered only oncoming traffic and even those instances had been sporadic. Rush hour and its relentless traffic had been long gone, those worker bees tucked into bed with their night lights on. Where Aurelie drove, closer to the mountains, the road wound through miles of pine trees interspersed with open plats. Two lanes of meandering asphalt ferrying the souls who desired gainful employment in the bigger cities without sacrificing aesthetics. She wondered whether they realized how much of their souls had been traded long ago, how much informed consent they had given.

Not so fast, romance...

2010-03-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

The last several days, I've been writing until my fingertips cramp. Partly to make up for the tiny funk from two weeks ago, and partly because I am almost finished with the 2nd pass/rewrite of Wishful Thinking. It looks amazing to see that typed out. Almost finished.

This means for a self-imposed three weeks off from the novel, my husband won't look over in concern at me every time I gasp, or glare furiously at my screen because the antagonist pulled a rather %^&$# move. I think he wants to ignore most of them but doesn't want to get stuck if my expressions are reality related.

It also means I can take a break from the emotions of my characters. Throwing rocks at them takes a toll on even the most wonderful days; when the words are hard to come by, every pebble becomes a boulder and I kick and scream more than my darling main characters.

In the meantime, the last five scenes are the hardest ones to write. My protagonist is elevated, hopeful, like the couple in the picture above. She has no idea what's coming. But I do, and it isn't pretty. It's sad, it's messy, and it's the way it has to be. And it's almost over. For now.

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~ Trying to work through what the Health Care Act means for me. Lots of text to slog through.

~ Reserved my iPad and raring to pick it up on 4/3. I am even going to brave the crowds of people to get it. This is no small deal for me since any group larger than 5 people is a crowd to me.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Dragon Age: Awakenings conquered. Hats off to the writing team on this franchise, the lore is well done.

Accomplishments:

~ Did I mention around 5 scenes to go? Granted they are the longer ones because they are ramping up to climax but I'm in the last 2 or 3 chapters. Woot!

Image above courtesy of Dynamite Imagery/Free Digital Photos

What do you call spring cleaning if it isn't spring?

2010-03-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

I am convinced writer's funk is worse than writer's block.

I can blame the sun for daring to shine for days before slipping behind the clouds again where it belongs this time of year. I can blame having to rewrite several scenes (ok, the whole end of the book...) because the plot works better this way. I can blame my house for being dirty.

What I ended up doing - moped for three days, scrubbed the master bathroom, rearranged middle daughter's room (and bought her a tv).

The whole time I complained I wasn't writing.

Before I left for a weekend break and some fun, I sat down and pumped out 1800 words of a scene that had been bugging me for a bit. Of course I break the funk right before swearing to leave the laptop home. Part of me feared I might not get back into it when I returned. Irrational thinking that turned out to be - over 3500 words over the course of the day yesterday.

The funk has faded, I'm energized and ready to get this novel done. I learned two important lessons over the last week though. 1. Writing can be a bitch. 2. I don't feel right anymore without doing it. I am clearly an insane typist (Thanks @alta03).

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~ More research on setting I needed for a scene between brothers. Decided to bookmark it but wasn't worth adding too much description.

~ I had fallen way behind in my blog reading and I wanted to peruse the expert websites. There were too many good updates to list but my Distracting Writers and Agents blogs are starts.

Non-internet distractions:

~ EA Games and Blizzard helped pass the rest of the time when I wasn't scrubbing my house. And indoor waterparks are pretty awesome. Running up and down five flights of stairs, not so much.

Accomplishments:

~ Will cross the 50k barrier today. The rest of the book is a rewrite and I am determined to be 3/4 of the way done before April 1st.

Hot dogs that snap when you bite into them...

2010-03-05T15:43:00.000-08:00

Now that I've gotten my sun fix for the day... .

In all seriousness, I bow to our weather overlords for giving us in the greater Seattle area the second best winter I've experienced here. The first time around, I hadn't realized how atypical a winter it was. This is the first year since then I haven't needed to fly to LA and parts south for a break.

Just as the rain usually doesn't let up here, I've tried writing every day including the weekends, including when I didn't feel it, when the scenes had to be ripped screaming from my brain. And each time I've forced myself, I wind up deleting or archiving what I've written. If there is one thing I can't stand (besides from hot dogs that snap when you bite into them...), it's inefficiency. Writing subpar is bad enough but writing subpar just to hit a number of words on a spreadsheet is a waste of time.

So, I'm ready to try something revolutionary. Something atypical. At the end of the day, I'm going to go through what I've written and take words off the total for various insults to the English language. Something like a net return on decent words. I'll give myself a break if the sentence could be written a little better. No, the words I'm talking about are most adverbs that I throw in lazily (:P I'm talking about the word 'just', the word 'that', the filler words padding my word count.

I'll post next week how I did. Now, excuse me while I play hooky and get my pasty self some more vitamin D from the primary source before mother nature tells me she didn't mean to give us an early spring.

Things that distracted me on the internet:
~ The teen needs a driving school to get her one step closer to her license. I'm trying not to fall over how expensive it is to drive when you are <18 years old.
~ The teen also needs a college and has given me a short list to peruse. Somehow, I'm not experiencing sticker shock there. I am experiencing information way overload.

Non-internet distractions:
~ Pulled my level 66 druid out of languishment and have been fast leveling her. My server went down unexpectedly and I played around on my Alliance priest (1st character). So strange not to fly to Thrallmar :)

Accomplishments:
~ Passed the halfway point on rewrites/1st round of edits. Have made peace with tossing more than 25k words from manuscript. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Oh well. Also made it through a difficult scene emotionally and the family is only singed. :D

Cool Chick and Procrastination

2010-02-26T12:28:00.000-08:00

A lovely award arrived for me the other day, called a Cool Chick, thanks to Carolina Valdez Miller (go check out her talented self).

I'm passing along the rules: Before you take him home, you have to tell me how you like your eggs cooked. Feel free to hand over the award to other Cool Chicks if you wish, but please advise those recipients to keep his hutch clean and tidy at all times. Oh, and make sure he has plenty of grain and water. And love....

I only eat my eggs scrambled or in an omlette (which counts as scrambled). I'll add cheese, mushroom, shredded zucchini, but that's about it.
I will be passing along my Cool Chick in another post, when my unsuspecting victims delighted recipients will love him too :)

Procrastination....
Only a few more days left of Pen Olympics and I'm feeling the crunch. I may have been a tad overeager with my goals. Not anticipating needed several new scenes in my editing has put me behind and I'm pushing to catch up. No matter where I end up, I will have at least 3 chapters more revised/rewritten and I can only count them as a win. I may have had a little more done had I not caved and commenced leveling a druid in WoW but that was whispered and no one heard.

Things that distracted me on the internet:
~ Still following the 2010 Olympics when I can catch them and at this point, I can only catch them online. Going for highlights.
~ Today is TwitterTattoo day and I've been considering more ink for a while. Motivated to find something close to an idea I've had which incorporates the triquetra; I discovered Celtic Trinity Knot Swirl as designed by Captain Bret in Rhode Island. It's perfect (middle of page from the link) and I want.

Non-internet distractions:
~ The Kodak ink commercial interests me but for some reason the sound of the ink splatting on the paper is my nails on a chalkboard moment. Included in that moment is the sound of chewing food with mouth partially open. It's not you, it's totally me.

Accomplishments:
~ The toddler nap strike goes on but I am rising to the challenge and cranking out 2k + words a day. I have no idea why but it's not like I'm putting a stopper on this bottle.

Sleep Writing

2010-02-23T00:03:00.000-08:00

The other day, I was having a bit of a laugh with someone about sleepwriting and how funny some of the output is when reading it the next morning. Naturally, I got to thinking about whether writing anything while too tired to form coherent sentences is a waste of time.

My unscientific conclusion is: no writing is ever a waste of time.

I can think of plenty I would consider a waste of time. Putting down a fresh layer of mulch a week before the windy season - waste of time (and money, but I've already kicked myself and learned from that mishap). Steam cleaning the carpet with three kids and a dog (needs to be done anyway). Going to the mailbox (has the level of junk mail tripled in the last year or so?).

No matter what gibberish lays on the screen in the morning after two cups or so of coffee, I find I can always salvage something. A thought, a phrase, an emotion needing to be expanded on. After I finish erasing the embarrassing prose I wouldn't even let my husband read (and he likes most of my stuff), I look at the potentials left and get back to work.

I find, however, all of the above does not apply when writing intoxicated. I bow to the myriad authors out there who are/were slaves to the drink and produce masterpieces. I'm not even sure I can get a noun/verb thing going together.

Things that distracted me on the internet:
~ Wealth, and I mean potential to be distracted for days wealth, of information to read on agents, the publishing industry, and more with tons of links thanks to Teresa Nielsen Hayden, courtesy of Neil Gaiman. I'm in research obsessed heaven right now. Here's the linky. It's from 2005 but hey, it's new to me :) It might be new to you.
~ Revising my novel means putting my characters in something other than white space. While I can visualize a house layout, sometimes it's nice to look at a picture of something while I write. Home plans on the internet rock. Home plans (in microscopic print) for 10k + sq ft homes are drool worthy.

Non-internet distractions:
~ Two of my three kidlets are back in school after a mid-winter break. 'Cause two weeks off around the Christmas holiday and a week in April isn't enough. I believe this may qualify for accomplishment rather than distraction.

Accomplishments:
~ Three days this week/end of 3k plus words written. A two scene chapter has morphed into four when realization struck me that I was leaving a lot of stuff out. All good things have gone in. Very pleased.

Award from @EisleyJacobs

2010-02-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

So, here I am, waking up from a decent length sleep, and grab my Blackberry off the side table. (More about my obsession with having my phone near me at all times later) A cute little icon shows up at the top, letting me know I've been mentioned in Twitter.

And, looky what I got!

@EisleyJacobs from Twitter awarded me Lesa’s Bald Faced Liar “Creative Writer” Blog Award.

I rub my eyes and wonder why my tweeples are calling me a liar. I'm always honest about their prose! Oh man, I might have used up a truth that could've gone below...

After really waking up, it all becomes clearer. ~~The answer is really 42~~ This is a good award, as Eisley put it - Lying for a good cause :)

Here are the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth.
5. Nominate seven “Creative Writers” who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.
6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

Now on to my balderdash…and true statements. But which is which? (hint, I have 2 of either lies or the truth)
1. I have 3 daughters and each were born in a different state.
2. I have an eidetic memory that I conceal most of the time so I don't scare people.
3. I have no first cousins at all.
4. I had to have someone come set up my computers and networking.
5. I have a BBA in management.
6. I once sold cheap knockoff perfume in parking lots and I was terrible at it.
7. I have blue eyes.

So, which ones are true… and which is the bold faced lie? Comment if you know! Or if you want to take a guess.

Now to tag my unsuspecting friends with blogs you should go read. They are my latest #amwritingparty and writing followers.

Courtney Reese (@CourtneyReese86)
Carolina Valdez Miller (@cvaldezmiller)
Kimberly Gonzalez (@kimberlycreates)
Tina Marie Frawley (@TinaFrawley)
Clair Devers (@clairdevers)
Dustin Hansen (@DustHansen)
Riley Carney (@RileyCarney)

In honor of this post (and I have to rush to the dentist without my hair up in a towel) I will put my distractions in later :)

The Olympics are coming

2010-02-11T23:13:00.000-08:00

I can't wait for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC to start tomorrow. For one thing, live sporting events are occurring in my time zone. I never realized how New York centric we are until moving from there to the west coast. I will not complain (in this post at least) about 10am Sunday football.

Back to the Olympics... Another thing, these are the winter games and I vastly prefer the winter games to the summer ones. Sorry track and field, your javelins may be fun, and your runners may be lightning fast, but come on! No way you are beating out alpine skiing, speed skating (Woot Apolo!), and yes, even curling oh you strange sport you. Need I even mention hockey? (Why doesn't Washington have a professional hockey league?)

Now, I am psyched to be watching the Olympics, but a little disappointed that they are happening 3 hours from home and I won't be there in person. I'll get over it in the next decade or so.

This year, the two weeks surrounding the Olympics are also playing host to the Pen Olympics, an event happening by the fantastic advice givers Alicia and Theresa over at Edittorent. Since I am distracted by the internet more often than not, I plan on giving the friendly competition my all. These chapters don't edit themselves after all.

Go, USA! USA! USA!

Things that distracted me on the internet:
~ Reading about the Kubler-Ross model. Since this is technically research for a short story I'm working on, does this count as distraction or accomplishment?
~ Believe it or not, I have another possible accomplishment distraction (can I use those together like that?) - body language descriptions. Sometimes a shrug can mean different things depending on what body part is doing it. That's all I'm saying on that, here.

Non-internet distractions:
~ My darling two year old came downstairs with a sliver of paper wadded in her adorable hands, quite proud of herself. So was I until I saw she had shredded a 1/4 of my working outline for my short story. The outline I had handwritten and chose not to type because the story would be done in the time it took. Or not. Many thanks to scotch tape and my middle daughter for not decimating that roll hidden in the back of the drawer.

Accomplishments:
~ Come on, the distracted has to count today. Okay, 500+ words on the short. With last night that makes it half done.

And the underdog takes it...

2010-02-08T09:15:00.000-08:00

I'll admit, I was cheering on the Colts. I like Peyton Manning, so boyish, out there doing his thing. Blue clashing against gold, the heartland versus the big easy. And, as far as football goes, the game was pretty exciting. Good thing since the commercials weren't anywhere close this year.

The first half of the game went predictably, at least for me. The Saints made some headway but it was the Colts' game. I sat through a decent halftime show (I do like the Who, think the halftime show needs to be a little less "safe") and browsed a few writing blogs while watching from the corner of my eye.

A funny thing happened in my complacency. The Saints started to win. No, I didn't jinx the Colts through my tv, but I had counted them out. Counted them as trying hard but not hard enough. Oh well, maybe next year or something. The onside kick first took me by surprise. When Tracy Porter ran that ball for nearly 75 yards for that touchdown that put the Saints up into untouchable lead, I sat up and paid attention. What I really wanted to know was what coach Payton said to those boys in that locker room.

So - how does this tie into writing? Well, I could go all metaphor on you. But I won't. Some writers identify with the Colts; strong, sure, polish gets the job done. Some of us identify with the Saints; the underdogs, flounder a little in front then get it together in the back end when it matters. Because all of our hard work on our writing boils down to what we send out into the world. How we get it done in the end.

Winning as an underdog is still a win. Congratulations Saints and writers who are getting the job done.

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~ Twitter. Great group of talented writers hanging out at #amwritingparty and #amwriting

~ The Amazon/MacMillan kerfluffle. The only dog I have in this fight at the moment is my love for my Kindle. Better minds than mine have already weighed in and I spent days sorting out the what from the what. I think the buy buttons are back.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Super Bowl 44. Next up Olympics 2010.

Accomplishments:

~ 6 critiques done for writing group. No writing/revising for me on Sun, but another 1500 words done on Wishful Thinking.

When it Clicks

2010-01-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

I'm one of those people who find it difficult to hate a book. Even the books I struggled to get through have some great qualities or I wouldn't have bothered to struggle. Exception to this is Dune. Apologies to Frank Herbert and fans of the novel but I just can't do it. I've tried, oh how I've tried. It nearly kills me that I've left a book unfinished.

Favorite books - now that's a different story. I have lots of favorite books and I still get tingles when I find others who love certain books as much as I do. The knowledge that someone finds a book as thrilling as I do creates an instant bond for me, a thread of commonality that we can fall back on even when we disagree on other things.

I've recently read two books, both non-fiction, and both considered guides to help writers. (FTC statement: All books listed or implied have been purchased by me - I'm too possessive to borrow.)

I call these two books, my clickers.

The first one clicked for me when I was editing a short story. This gem of a book is Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. I have a couple other self-editing books on my shelf and they are great resources. This book resonated. As I read through the chapters, I would bolt straight up if I was lounging, or furiously scribble a note down if I was highlighting. I've yet to hear if my short story passes muster out in the real world but I'm certain this book helped give it a better chance.

The second book I've had sitting as a sample on my Kindle for months. I've watched recommendation after recommendation go by. Yesterday, as I was waiting for my darling girl child to settle for a nap, I downloaded the full book and opened my notepad. I was 65% of the way through before realizing I hadn't jotted one note and I wouldn't need to. This book is On Writing by Stephen King. This book isn't going to tell you how to be a better writer. There aren't bullet points to commit to memory. What happened was encouragement. Even through the very brief sections on the "rules", which King defers to Strunk & White quite a bit, the vibe I got was perseverance.

Today, I smile. And I write.

~~~~

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~ Some great blogs being updated this morning and my feed reader is exploding in new posts. It's been hard getting mine done :)

~ Oh how I adore Crayola crayons and their list of colors from inception to now. For when brown as a descriptor just doesn't cut it. Personal favorite: Lapis Lazuli from the 1994 Gem Tones collection. Will figure out a way to use it.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Reading! When I needed a break, I created my characters in Darkspell as Sims in Sims 3: World Adventures. I was amused.

Accomplishments:

~ Almost 1100 fresh words on Darkspell. Still trying to hit 1500 a day new but finding it hard to get anywhere near NaNo pace. My family only puts up with no clean laundry for so long.

The Dreaded Plot Hole

2010-01-14T16:03:00.000-08:00

I nitpick. There, it's out in the open. If I see something that looks off to me, I worry at it until it's fixed. Interviewers love to ask about weaknesses. Mine happens to be ~~high~~ impossible standards. The declaration one has high standards is immediately followed by the misuse of punctuation, typos, grammar issues, etc.... Fortunately, I also have reasonable expectations when it comes to my ability to meet my own standards.

I blame it all on being an INTJ.

What I also blame on being an INTJ is when I'm revising my work and realize that I have a plot hole. I almost never write myself into large ones because I am a compulsive planner and before I even write about a dark and stormy night, I have a rudimentary outline saved. No, these are the tiny plot holes that might go unnoticed by others but drive me to want to delete the whole blasted story and start over.

So, I worry at it for a couple of days and make sure I have copies saved in places I can't delete from. When the crisis passes or lessens, I implement my plot hole fix and move along. Good thing for reasonable standards. And if you see a typo, I don't mind at all if you point it out.

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~ Think Geek has an uber cool remote for kids too young to remember what channel Dora the Explorer comes on (via the number). Press a logo button and voila! Also keeps their grubby mitts off the remote and saves me from having to crawl on my hands and knees to look under the sofa.

~ Quite a number of agents are having an #agentsday on Twitter and I am enraptured with what goes on. Mostly that the activities sound like those of any other type of business office. Where's the glamour, the hand-wringing, the catty fighting? My fave snarky agent is Lauren E. MacLeod @BostonBookGirl and I only write YA by accident.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Teeth are still on the painful side since it's time to close some spaces. It's all worth it in the end, blah, blah, blah. Also, the toddler is being quite the demanding soul today, all snuggly and cute.

Accomplishments:

~ Good Intentions: re-outlined and ready for character creation/adjustment. Fantasy - High/Quest.
~ Darkspell: Working on outline, building from short story. YA Fantasy - Magic
~ Rel. Pro. 101: Short story submitted, waiting on response.

Some Amazing Validation

2010-01-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

In the middle of my second round of revisions on a short story I've been working on since early December, a tweet goes out from Nathan Bransford regarding THE SECRET YEAR from Jennifer Hubbard. I'll be picking this one up and my teenager will likely swipe it before I get it out of its streamlined Amazon.com packaging.

In honor of Hubbard's success and to celebrate, Mr. Bransford launched a small contest to see who could write the most compelling fictional teen diary entry. Had to be a diary entry or letter to someone, less than 500 words, and fictional. Pretty simple guidelines which left a whole host of ideas to be explored.

I have no idea why I immediately thought to head for a sci fi-ish entry. I'm still discovering how I write (I don't know that ever stops), but I know that fantastical elements pull me in every time. My husband and I joke that I have so many gadgets I would turn into one if it was possible. Well, how interesting that would be if it was possible. When I told him my idea, he said, "huh?" The anti-gadget.

I wrote, revised, entered, and waited for the text message to tell me judging was done. I actually read through the entire blog post without skipping to the names (masochistic or patient, you tell me). My mouth dropped open to see that my entry had made an honorable mention.

This is already a long post, but here is my entry:

EJ Post #8452

Not sure when the next time I'll be writing is. Yeah, I know. How melodramatic. Could be worse.

Turns out, Mom's not real thrilled my fingernails are turning into microchips. Not sure I want to write out what Dad said as he caught me drying my mesh wraps off. All because I hate slipping my fingers into wet mesh. Point is, I'm bonked. Now it's good bye StarFaller 24, hello Aunt and Uncle Terrified-of-technology-so-I-stayed-on-Earth Griffon. Wonderful.

The worst part? My mom thinks the microchips will disappear once I'm dropped off on that wasteland of a planet. I've showed her information proving they won't but she doesn't listen. As long as it doesn't get worse were her words. I figure, why not go all the way? Tried rationalizing. Asked her, wouldn't it be helpful to have a full nanotechpath daughter on the ship? Pointed out uses where a person like me would be needed, embraced. I even tried appealing to her emotions ('cause she has enough of them) reassuring her I wanted my microchips. That they weren't a curse.

Her mind is closed off. She'd eradicate all gadgets if she could. Bit overboard in the drama department there. Dad just nods and says Mom knows best. She thinks Earth will be a better fit. She doesn't know me. Down there, they don't even allow jet propulsion packs without a license. I've got shots of the place. Trust me this is bad.

I'd try to sneak you with me, EJ, but it's dubious anyone there knows what you are. I start pulling you out willy nilly and we'd have what Mom would call a disturbance. No, the only way out of this situation is to keep my head down and act compliant. Besides, I can always start the process again when I return. When she thinks she's won. All I lose is some time. Even that's fixable.

Mom can delude herself all she wants. She's getting much needed help for her tech obsessed daughter. When I'm back, I'll be more careful. At least, I will be until the chips spread to my face. Then, I'm showing it all off. Exposed.

Until later, EJ. Keep yourself safe for me. For when I need you again.

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~ Staring at my name and clicking the linky to my entry. Less than 1000 times I think.

Non-internet distractions:

~ I colored a decent picture of Beauty and the Beast. My two year old appreciated it.

Accomplishments:

~ I did finish revisions on my short story. One more read through tomorrow and I'm letting it fly.

Obligatory Goal Post

2010-01-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

Hello 2010!

Back when I was a more youthful version of myself, my friends and I would sit around and talk about how we pictured our life in 2000. We'd gasp at how old we'd be and race off to play again before we blinked and stared into our mid twenty selves. Ten years later we are now mid thirty selves, way old when you are ten and still have someone telling you what time to go to bed.

When I was ten, I didn't picture my life being the way it is today. I think I was still in astronaut phase back then, not stay at home writer mom throwing words on a screen in between naps, lunch, and crashing objects. That's okay though. This fits now.

The obligatory new year's goal: polish my shiny new novel and send it out into the world.

Will still be making room though for Cataclysm

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~ Twitter goofed up and my # aren't showing in the feeds. A little difficult to have a conversation that way. I can either wait for tech support to fix it or start a new account just to "chat".
~ Some fantastic blogs I've been reading lately. Some are pure comedy from The Oatmeal and another is a really useful site for writers on Twitter at InkyGirl.com

Non-internet distractions:

~ My Keurig busted some time ago and it took me a while (and microwaving water for tea) to replace it. UPS kindly dropped me off a nice, new one with blue lights and three cup sizes for my brewing pleasure. I had to play with it for a little while.

Accomplishments:

~ In the middle of my 2nd revision on a short story needing to go out by end of month. Started revisions on Wishful Thinking which amounts to the entire prologue being revised to include stuff I thought of at the climax.

Zoom Zoom

2009-12-15T11:41:00.000-08:00

I've learned over the course of the last year or so a thing or two about what motivates me. I'm convinced I'm a great ball of rolling momentum the second I get started. Push me down the hill and I will zoom away gathering ideas, completing tasks, creating my brains out. If I am stopped by anything; a tree, a small child, a barfing dog - it takes me a while to get back on track. The internet, to my surprise, is not a momentum killer for me. Sure, it takes me away from what I was working on at that moment, but most of the time I return to my work recharged with a different idea of direction.

I don't recommend this path for everyone, just as I've had to disregard fantastic advice to others about working in quiet places. The trick has always been to find what works for you. It's not a bad idea at all though to experiment with ideas and try a few on just to see what you get. Even the crazy ones that couldn't possibly work.

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~ Massive distraction this morning. Even my cup of tea is only half consumed. Watched the brand spanking new Boeing 787 Dreamliner take off from Paine Field right here in Everett, Washington. It's supposed to be landing after several hours of testing, likely at Boeing Field just to the south. What a beautiful thing to witness. My youngest daughter sat on my lap waving as it left the runway.

~ Spent lots of time on Chaotic Shiny creating characters for a novel I'm starting over. I may salvage some of the previous work but it was one of my first attempts. Even the plot is redone.

Non-internet distractions:

~ The day is still early and I have a mound of laundry needing to be washed for the two outfits I am restricting my family to bringing on our trip East. Those two outfits are headed for serious negotiations with the teenager.

Accomplishments:

~ Finished rough draft of short story and revised major plot points for starting over again novel. Sticking to my promise not to look at newly drafted Wishful Thinking until I am settled in my coach 737-800 Alaska Air seat. Then I can white knuckle the paper until we are cruising.

2009-12-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

Brrr. I'd like my typical wet western Washington weather back now please. I promise to not complain about nine inches of rainfall in one month again if you, weather maker, promise not to blanket us with temps in the teens again this year. Deal?

I'd been procrastinating putting the outside summer things away. *Looks up from December calendar* So far this winter, we've gotten off lucky with few howling winds so I really didn't think much about it. Funny how that works when things are flying around your backyard threatening your rather large window panes.

My youngest daughter's water play table was one of the items not yet stored and it was full of water from prior rainy days. Temps in the teens means frozen water in the table. That motivated me to get out there and dump the thing. I took off a sheet of ice about half an inch thick and threw it to the ground. It broke into a handful of pieces in the grass and I thought nothing of it.

Four days later...those pieces of ice are still sitting on top of the grass where they broke. They haven't changed in size at all and we've even been sunny. It's cold. Real cold. So cold, my family back East calls me to taunt me with their balmy 40 degree weather.

So, I'd like our balmy 40 degree weather back. I might even feel a twinge of guilt when I'm looking up hotels in Coronado in February to get away from the rain.

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~ Done with holiday shopping. I keep finding fantastic deals that I ultimately resist but keep sucking my time away as I browse and agonize.
~ Add ons for World of Warcraft needed updating today and I've been dissatisfied with my current unit frames. (I know, it's like a different language if you aren't familiar). Suffice to say, I got sucked into the vortex of updating mods.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Beat Dragon Age as an elf mage. Got as happy an ending as possible with that character. Now working on a human noble just to be Queen at the end. After that, I'm so going good mage gone very very bad. Very bad.

Accomplishments:

~ About 20% to go until I declare the first draft of Wishful Thinking finished. I'm still on goal to finish in December.

2009-12-01T10:31:00.000-08:00

Happy December! That's what my middle daughter greeted me with this morning. I think she's just happy to be counting down the days to the biggest loot of the year, but I'm fairly cynical.

I successfully avoided both Black Friday and the new, more dangerous, Cyber Monday this year. Black Friday is never a worry on my rainy horizon; it would take an unbelievable deal to get me anywhere near a store the day after Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday is a whole 'nother issue.

I believe my biggest defense to this new shopping lure is that I had no idea it existed. I didn't see any hype until a day or two before and I was so busy furiously writing down the new climax and resolution to my wip, I missed the signs. I have to give a giant shout out of thanks to Absolute Write and the NaNoWriMo site for keeping me sufficiently distracted. My bank account thanks you as well.

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~ Checking on my writing buddies and cheering when they crossed the 50k mark. Go awesome valley go!

~ Following the sad case of the shooting deaths of four police officers in the Tacoma area. May their families find peace in the coming months.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Holiday decorations are up. Not playing with the wind this year - everything is inside where we can enjoy it and not stress about searching for the head of whatever decoration went flying.

Accomplishments:

~ New scenes for Wishful Thinking outlined. One written. Back on track for 75 - 80K first draft. Will be done in December and ready to revise for 2010. Have to start writing down goals.

2009-11-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

2009 NaNoWriMo is completed. Technically, I was done on the 19th but see non-internet distractions below.

I haven't read my 50k+ words yet. There are still many more to set down before I'm ready to look over the whole thing but I'm feeling pretty good about this one. It will need some work when the whole draft is finished. Surprisingly, I'm not dreading the next stage. I'm looking forward to it - that's when the novel might start to resemble something readable. That's going to be one fantastic day.

It's turkey day here today. Not going to get too much work done even though we are celebrating with our small, immediate family. Still making a whole turkey and all the tasty trimmings. The pie is done. If nothing else, we will have pie and that is what makes Thanksgiving.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ Catching up with blogs. Never slows down.
~ Reading writer sites and agent sites. Following the publishing chaos as it unfolds and hopefully shakes out into something we can recognize.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Dragon Age: Origins was released on Xbox360 early November. I held out until I wrote at least 50K words. Then I took a week off. Recharged and ready to crank out the end.

Accomplishments:

~ 50,236 words for my novel. Last scenes outlined and ready to go. If I'm not stuffed later, I'll crank out another 2k today.

2009-11-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

My character walked off the page again the other day and I've been letting her have her way. I like the direction she's headed in though; it may even be better than what I'd planned for her. Still, had a moment of wtf is she doing when the deviation popped in my head.

Now halfway through November and so far NaNo has taught me that I really have no excuses not to sit down and write 2k words a day. None. Zip. 4 sittings of 500 words will get it done and I can get 500 words in nearly 15 minutes of pure focused writing. 15 minutes. They won't be the prettiest words I can find, and I still have a problem with not describing the scenery in my head but all of that is fixable.

The muse tap must have been turned on full this month because not only can I get a pretty cool sequel out of the novel I'm working on, but I came across another plot idea that would incorporate a previous wip perfectly. I think 2010 is going to be one busy year.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ 800 unread blog posts. I managed to knock out about 100 of the more interesting ones over the last couple of days. Some very interesting things happening in the publishing world that I am keeping an eye on.

~ Official NaNoWriMo website. It's compulsive to check your position in word count more than 3 times a day. I think I've done it at least 10 times most days.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Went in for round two of braces. Wore them for too many years as a teenager and enjoyed straight teeth for a while. Unfortunately, they chose not to stay that way and now I'm back in wires and brackets to fix them. They hurt. A lot.

Accomplishments:

~ Little over 36k as of today. Will make 50k easily and revised to between 75 and 80k before going in for edit. Nearly halfway to goal.

2009-11-09T15:23:00.000-08:00

I am flying right along now. Last year at 20k, I hit the wall of middle pretty hard. The wall of middle is the part where the beginning of a story is done, shaped, left behind and the rest of what happens looms in front of you. Now, I'm not totally enthused about beginnings except for planning them but I did think they were easier to write than the middle and even the end.

Most of my stories don't even have a finished end.

This year, my new mindset has allowed me to cruise right along, ignoring the fact that I am in the middle of the story. To me there is no middle, there is just unwritten words that need to be put down in a coherent order. Now, I haven't allowed myself to go back and read anything I've written from Nov. 1 until today. If I did, I might realize that I suck and then I'd give up. I do know that I am a minimalist in my description and settings. Right now my characters basically move and function in white space. The good news about that is it's easily fixed.

Keeping on going. Have to hit 24,594 today.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ The NaNoWriMo site went down for some maintenance today. My refresh button got a work out waiting for it to come back up. I wrote words, I wanted to put the count in!

~ Had a great idea to send my character to Alexandria, Egypt in a flashback. Somewhere around the time of the French Revolution. Pretty much exactly when the Siege of Alexandria happened. Wikipedia to the rescue and it makes a great scene.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Picked up a new keyboard today. Nothing ergonomic, can't stand those. This one has lots and lots of buttons. One touch mail, one touch mute, and some customizable favorites buttons for programs I use all the time. I played. It had to be done.

Accomplishments:

~ 23,092 written. Amazing that I am going into week number 2 and am nearly halfway through on my way to 50k. I've promised myself some fun distractions when I get there. Very excited.

2009-11-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

I think I've figured out my groove. 8,068 words so far (aiming for 80k) and just flying through.

The not-so-secrets of my success are:

~ Allowing myself to write crap. First and foremost (see, this is the kind of sentence opener that wouldn't be allowed to stay in the final edit), do not go back and fix anything. The only time I will go back is if my sentence is really, truly gibberish. My brain still thinks faster than my hands can type and it's worse when I am playing beat the clock. Instead of OCDing about my manuscript though, I'm finding the permission to write crap is freeing. It's certainly working.

~ 15 min. word wars. 30 minutes, unless I am alone, is just too long for me to write in. On most days of my life I'm lucky to have 10 minutes without someone speaking to me, calling me, or messaging me so 15 minutes is as much as I can handle. Whatever. It's working. I'm averaging about 28 words per minute.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ My mother in law arrives today for a muchly anticipated week long visit and I, of course, had to track her flight. If anyone's interested, Flight Aware.com has the best tracking that I've seen. All free.

~ Election Day. Had to check the status of returns. None posted. Was a pretty quick distraction.

Non-internet distractions:

~ See above mother in law visit meant I was sweeping and mopping the floors. Gets it done for hopefully most of the month too. My house looks fantastic. This is good because I'm hoping that it can withstand the near total neglect I plan to give it until 11/30.

Accomplishments:

~ 8,068 words so far. 10% done. Doing very well. Have about 300 more words for tonight to reach just over my quota for the day.

2009-11-01T20:25:00.000-08:00

Day 1 of NaNoWriMo is going well. Started at exactly midnight and only managed to crank out 450 words in one hour before going to bed. Woke up feeling very refreshed; thank you extra hour and that glorious sun shining through my window at 7:45 am. Cranked out another 720 while everyone in the house wanted my attention. That's going to be interesting to edit later on. 322 words during a 15 min war - come on, can totally do better.

Setting up for an hour of wars broken into 15 min chunks, break, then another hour. Trying to hit 3000 today and give myself some wiggle room.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ Nothing! I cleared anything time sensitive on my facebook. Take that Cafe World - not sucking me in until I'm good and ready to get back to you.
~

Non-internet distractions:

~ I did need to load up the house with groceries, especially the kind that can be cooked in under 15 minutes. This will, hopefully but not likely, keep the fam from bugging me for food.

~ I also learned that hard plastic cosmetic containers can shatter just as badly as glass does. Bronzer all over the floor and then I needed to pick up a new one. Scored a new lipstick though so it was all good in the end.

Accomplishments:

~ 1502 words at 9:08pm PDT. Still have another 2 - 3 hours left in me.

EDITED to add: Finished the evening at 2780 words. It's past midnight so no more 15 min chunks for me. If I can get my 15 minutes up to 500 words per, I will be a happy girl.

2009-10-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

Today, after finally uploading the rest of the scenes to my writing software, I went back to analyze the plot and subplots for a work in progress I've been on for a while. This wip started as a short story that really wasn't a short story and has fleshed its way to a bona fide YA novel. I've had the critical nagging voice, I've dubbed - well - Ned (for no particular reason), pestering me about some plot points in the middle of the novel. Since my re-analyzed NaNoWriMo novel passes muster for today, I gave my wip a look. I'm glad I did.

This time around I separated, in outline form, the main plot from the subplots in detail and showed no mercy to anything dangling outside the lines, or as a nice to have. I know plenty of writers don't like to do this until they have the scene written out all the way but I just can't bring myself to do it. It has to mostly work from the beginning. The result feels tighter to me. On a previous wip (shelved for now), I knew the plot wasn't working for me when I dreaded writing a couple scenes that bored me. A scene that bores me while writing is guaranteed to do the same to a reader and is worthless. Live and learn....and learn, and learn, and....

The best thing about all my analyzing and reanalyzing (I'm an INTJ, what can I say, the compulsion is irresistible), is that I am confident in two stories that are going somewhere. Less than three days to go until NaNo. I'm ready.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ Pumpkin carving stencils. Time to carve the pumpkins tomorrow and I'm torn between Ariel, the mermaid Disney princess, or Thomas the Tank Engine. Hmmm... wonder if I can have Ariel riding in Thomas the Tank Engine....

~ Twitter. It's an compulsive's nightmare. I finally turned off the notifications because every other second I was looking up at the right corner of my screen waiting for the shiny to appear. Started following Hugh Grant (I hope that's him anyway) today because, duh, he's Hugh Grant and perfection in the male form.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Last soccer practice of the season; too cold and more importantly, too dark. With PDT turning back into PST, our night comes at 4:51pm. Fun times. Only 3 more games to go for 2009.

Accomplishments:

~ Plot analysis, scene upload, laptop software installed and kinda verified - looking at you Windows.

2009-10-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

Only a handful of days left until NaNoWriMo kicks off and I am pretty psyched about this year. I've already adjusted my word count meter to 80k instead of 50k which means I need to write 2,667 words per day. Thanksgiving is catered again this year so I can reheat/minimally prep and not have to worry about cooking/cleaning. Small benefit, I suppose, of not being near family to start off the holiday season.

My plot is done, my subplots are nicely threaded, and I have a good feel as to how each scene is supposed to go. November is going to be a good month.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ Everything. :) Absolute Write had me spinning off on a tangent whilst (love this word) I perused the mass of links for urban/contemporary fantasy writers.
~ MSN. Couple too many good articles up this morning. I think I looked at the whole Wonderwall today.
~ Zynga keeps beta'ing nifty games for Facebook users. This morning brought up a theme park adventure game. I fully blame the Sims for all these very cool simulation games we are bombarded with now.

Non-internet distractions:

~ I have company in a week. There is one room on my first floor that I keep the doors closed and the curtains drawn so I don't have to look at the clutter bomb that dropped. Today, I had to make the dent. Bonus - I finally dragged the DVD chest back to the family room where it belongs.

Accomplishments:

~ Nada on the writing front up until now. Tonight I will finish typing my scenes into WriteItNow and put a copy on my laptop.

2009-10-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

"Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life." – Lawrence Kasdan

This.

I will say that I am terrible at backing up my hard drive. I know that I should do it more often than I do and one day I will be sobbing on the floor in frustration when I have to recreate documents lost to a failure. I do have a couple DVDs backed up in September but I operate on an - as remember - basis. Gmail's been getting my bits and pieces of story lately. Still, I really just need to get better at execution. My homework, in addition to writing, will be to throw a RW CD in the drive and just set it off for my writing folder every night.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ #writing on twitter. TweetDeck goes off every 2 - 3 seconds and it's a great big shiny that sends me off in a hundred different directions. It also gave me the above quote which is just fab.
~ Amazon Fresh. Being in the Seattle area has its perks and inexpensive grocery delivery is about as good as it gets. Since the husband is unmotivated to pick up the grocery shopping duties again (and frankly, blows the budget every.time.), I kneel at the feet of the person who made this happen.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Confession: I am a world of warcraft player and I just finished my year long quest for a sweet looking purple drake to fly around on (super fast I might add). With that achievement out of the way, I can focus on others that I put on the back burner and that's what I've been doing. Instead of scene outlining. Bad. But fun.

Accomplishments:

~ Re-entered character bios for the NaNo novel coming up. Not only do I need to remember to back up, hitting the save button before a power failure happens is wise.

2009-10-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today I'm writing a query letter for a novel that is still outlining. It makes more sense to do that now before I get 60,000 words in and realize my plot fell apart back around the 40k mark. While I don't consider anything written down a waste, I do like to make it count when I can. Being perpetually distracted doesn't help much. Yesterday was a completely non-productive writing day and I need to make up for it. Looking to go well beyond the 50k mark next month so that writing the end of the first draft doesn't become yet another unfinished project.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ Clothes shopping. At least three sales notifications hit my inbox before 9am this morning
~ Leveling up Cafe World on Facebook. My neighbor passed my score and now I have to work double time to close the gap.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Yesterday I got the first hints of the cold that plagued my husband and kids. I'm not quite as bad as they were but it's still distracting.
~ Power failure. This should have made me more productive by shutting down the internet distractions. Alas, my Blackberry is unaffected by power failures and chugged right along.

Accomplishments:

~ I'm not even going to count the partial query letter. Moving along.

2009-10-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

Today I was glad to be writing the old fashioned way (pen and paper) because my APC kept clicking and the lights wavered several times. There is still quite a bit of wind out there banging on my shutters; still possible to lose power yet. Spent most of my time this afternoon contemplating motivation. In order to identify with the characters I read about, I need to believe that s/he might really be motivated by - fill in the blank - . I've already discarded some fun motives to the unbelievable factor. Was fun thinking them up though.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ Looking for the text of the health care bill that made it through the Senate Finance Committee.
~ Facebook/Twitter
~ Looking for/downloading apps for my iPod Touch again. The aSleep app was a must get.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Husband still home sick. Not as bad today.
~ Moved my computer closer to the window to try and grab what passes for daylight heading into winter. This puts the howling of the wind right in my ear and it's even more distracting than a blank tab in a browser.

Accomplishments:

~ 3 scenes fully outlined and ready to go into WriteItNow.

2009-10-12T14:37:00.001-07:00

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo again this year. I had so much fun last year I couldn't imagine not going for another round. This meant that I needed to take a break from WIP novel to plot and outline a new novel. As if that's a hardship or something... I'm planning on going for more than 50k words if possible. I'd love to have the whole first draft done.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ My iTouch arrived and I had to load all the fun apps that I didn't know existed. (I'm a Blackberry user still resisting the iPhone).
~ Facebook. I'm trying to reduce my checking to break times. If I need a drink, grab a 5 minute check. These farms don't take care of themselves, you know.

Non-internet distractions:

~ My husband is home sick. He isn't all that distracting just laying in the recliner sleeping but I did have to make him soup.

Accomplishments:

~ 2 scenes completely outlined and ready to go into WriteItNow.

2009-09-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

Everyone starts from somewhere. Some people like beginnings. Not me. There is more pressure to start then there is to continue. I don't mind continuing so much as I do trying to figure out where I should enter. Sometimes I come in too early or, even worse, too late. Being the last one to arrive at a party is embarrassing, too much attention from people trying to find something interesting to talk about. It's good to come in at the middle, just a little after the forerunners who blaze through, leaving promise for others in their wake.