Posts Tagged ‘Progress’

January 22, 2010

Meg & Matt, Progress, Stories

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I couldn’t check in last night because the Internet stopped working. Unlike “the dog ate my homework,” this is no excuse. I was happily blogging away and couldn’t publish my post. Sometime between the time I started writing it and finished it to hit “publish,” I lost the Internet connection.

That said, I did get some writing done last night — a little more than 600 words on Meg & Matt’s story, which still needs a title.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I should do what I did during NaNo: Not waste time looking back at what I’d written before. If I let myself, I can spend a lot of time rereading and then not write anything new.

January 18, 2010

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I’d call Day 1 of “Operation Treat Writing Like a Day Job” an unqualified success.

I spent about 2 1/2 hours finishing the read-through on my rough draft of “Blind Date Bride” and revised my query for “Operation Snag Mike Brad.”

So even though I didn’t get many actual words written, I did accomplish quite a bit. Lucky me, I’m done with work early … so it’s time to head home for more computer time. I may actually even write a few words so I can say I have a word count for the day.

I think I’ll try to write a couple of pages on Meg & Matt’s story tonight. Hmm. Maybe I need a title for that one. Can’t keep calling it “Meg & Matt’s Story” for the rest of my life! 😀

But first, I need some dinner. I started work at 3:45, and by the time I hit a breaking point, we were so close to finished with the Monday paper that I didn’t want to leave for an hour. That means now, I’m starved!

* * *

I’m back. Had a surprisingly filling baked potato topped with cheese, veggies, bacon bits and reduced-fat sour cream for dinner, then wrote some more.

Added a Word Count Countdown ticker from writertopia.com to my sidebar. That’s right: 307 down, 99,693 to go! (I’m stepping up for the NARWA Word Count Club challenge — 100K words in 2010.)

December 27, 2009

Progress, Query Letters

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With the holidays looming, I took a brief hiatus from the blog. Even though I didn’t blog about a darn thing, I continued writing — or at least thinking about writing.

That’s half the battle, isn’t it? By thinking about that darn query letter, I’m getting that much closer to getting it written.

Okay, maybe not. Right now I feel like my query letter has dragged me behind the building and is pushing my face into a snowbank while it kicks my a$$. But I feel certain I’m about to turn the tables and whip that bad boy into shape.

Even though I haven’t accomplished much on my query letter yet, I did manage to get more editing done on Cassie & Dustin’s story (the second in the series that also contains my 2009 GH entry). I think the head-hopping is now a thing of the past. (Of course, so are about 5,000 more words. I think the MS now sits at about 43K … so there’s more rewriting to be done.)

It never ends, does it? I certainly hope not.

P.S.: I also spent some time putting together the newest issue of High Country Highlights, the newsletter for Northern Arizona RWA. I’m looking to zap it out to members very soon now.

December 8, 2009

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I only went to bed three hours ago, but when the Boyfriend called this morning on his way to work, I was too excited to go back to sleep.

Why? I finished “Blind Date Bride” early this morning. It was about 5 a.m. After an early night at work (due to the blizzard, we cleared the paper by 9 p.m. — why can’t we do that EVERY night?), I headed back to the house to write.

At first, I sat with the laptop on my lap while I watched TV. Then, at 11 p.m., the satellite dish went out. It was just me, the laptop and iTunes on the computer.

I was on a roll. Since Kelly helped me talk through my Black Moment, and I already knew exactly how I wanted it to end (with a wedding — a real one, to contrast with the TV-network-hosted one at the book’s start), I just kept going … and going … and going.

Like the Energizer Bunny, I wrote, until — at a little before 5 a.m., I thought the momentous words “The End.” 90,300 words, 334 pages double-spaced in Times New Roman.

My question? What do I do now? I’ve  been so focused on finishing this thing that I’m at a bit of a loss.

I think I’m going to set it aside for a few days at least, and then give it a good read-through so I can start editing.

Today, since I’m not driving anywhere, I bake! I have several batches of WW-friendly cookies planned. (Originally I’d planned to bake AND write. Maybe I’ll work on one of the other two WIPs on my computer … or start working on that query letter for my GH entry, “Operation Snag Mike Brad.”

So many options … and the rest of the week stretches before me, a “staycation” on my schedule. I’m off through the weekend. Woo-hoo!