Category: Writing

Today has been a rough day. Our weather has gone from hot and humid of summer to gray and gloomy with thunderstorms. I love thunderstorms but my joints don’t. Now I don’t know if it’s because I got cold while I worked in the kitchen or if I was going to have a flare no matter what but mid-morning, I realized I was done.

I couldn’t get warm. My pain level skyrocketed which meant I had a headache and was nauseous on top of the pain. It was a rough day.

Ken took over peeling and slicing apples. Vicki basically tucked me into my recliner with three blankets and I took naps. Short and often interrupted with pain. It took several hours before I felt warm. My pain level is still pretty high but not as high.

I managed to writing for a couple hours. I got 3K written and the story is up to 47K. I’ve got 1 or 2 chapters left to write and then I’ll be done.

Tomorrow, I need to go through emails (I’m weeks behind) and do a bunch of book related tasks. Once those are done, I’ll be writing. My hope is to finish the last two chapters but I’ll see how my pain level is and how the day goes.

I feel like I got stuff done today at my day job. That’s always a good thing. Now tomorrow will be a day full of meetings and training. It will be a lot of busyness but not a lot of accomplishing things. These are the hardest days. I like to tick off the boxes on my to do list.

Tonight, I finished introducing one of my alien races. Janine got propositioned by the leader of a new world. I got quite a bit done tonight – a little over 3K written taking me to about 45K (just under) for the overall story. I want to ramp up the danger…. but the characters aren’t telling it that way.

So I’ll stay true to my characters. I know there is big danger coming. I’ve got a couple of things cooking but I think this lull needs to happen because I think the ending will be fast paced. I also want some extended writing time. The story is right there in reach.

One thing I want to do is go back through and read it all again. I have a spreadsheet so I can keep track of characters and words and so on. But I know I’ve missed some secondary characters. I think they’re going to be important. So I want to make sure I capture them on my spreadsheet for later.

The weekend was super busy with canning, freezing, and so on. We got a lot done in two short days but it left me exhausted. I didn’t write a lot. I got a bit done here and there but not a lot.

Tonight, we ended up having a late dinner. So people hung out with me longer than normal but I still managed to get a couple hours of writing in.

I’m at almost 42K in the book and tonight I wrote a little over 2700 words. I finished two scenes and started a new chapter. I think this chapter will be them being chased from one planet to the next. But I’m not sure because it just depends on what the characters tell me.

I feel like it might be a bunch of short scenes with them being in danger of capture until they get back to T’mbar. I’ll see where the characters take me. But it’s shaping up nicely. I like the two characters.

Hopefully this week is a bit less crazy and I’ll get some good writing time in. I’m not holding my breath but I am hopeful.

I don’t like mornings on a good day. Today – Saturday! – I was up at 6 am to shower and dress. I do not like 6 am. It is too light to be last night and too early to be today. But we went west to visit the apple orchard my parents went to near Gays Mills.

I drove. Vicki shopped. Alicia and her friend followed in Alicia’s car. We went to the orchard where Vicki got a bushel and half of apples. We went to Rural Route 1, our favorite popcorn place. Then we went to Peck’s – a road side stand for fresh produce. Now that sounds like a little truck or wagon with produce on it. That’s not what this is.

It’s an open market with a ton of produce, games and activities for kids, and more. Vicki picked up tomatoes and sweet corn. My car was full but not packed in.

Today when we got home, we cut up most of the apples and made applesauce which is all in the fridge. Tomorrow we’ll work on canning it. We’ll also be dicing the tomatoes to can. Ken will take the corn off the cob so we can freeze it.

After Ken and Vicki went to bed, I wanted to write. So I pulled up my computer and wrote a scene. Now I’ve got all these dynamic ideas for my story but I’m so tired my head hurts. I did manage to write a couple of scenes (about 1800 words) but I’m too tired to think of all the details of aliens and so on that I need to create. I think it will be an early night for me.

I hope tomorrow I can make some good progress with this story. I have a bunch of things to get done though so we’ll see.

Well I’ve kidnapped and tortured my characters. They’re in the process of escaping. It was a hard chapter to write. But I think it fits the story well and I hope it will lead to a better understanding between the two.

I’m not sure what time I started writing as I was busy finishing a takeover, talking to authors, and taking care of other book stuff. I think I wrote for about 4 hours! I got 5600 words written and the manuscript is 35K long!

It will be a short night but it was worth it. Next step is for them to escape and then figure out how to get back to his world. This is where I hope to create some wonderful places for them to stop and make some connections. Janine – she’s key at that. Or at least I think she will be.

Now, I’m off to bed because I have the day job tomorrow and an early morning meeting.

Yesterday I was too tired to write. I did a few chores around the house but spent my morning working on graphics. It was hours of work with only three graphics to show for it. I turned it all over to Vicki. I’ll let her fuss with it.

Today, I went back to my day job and felt behind all day. I also spent an hour working on client editing. Then I spent almost three hours writing.

My characters have been through an emotional wringer while being lost in the forest and pursued by bad guys. I’ve managed almost 3200 words tonight but it’s time for bed.

I’ve got two grumpy characters who are tired of being in the forest and in danger… I can’t wait to see what happens next…

Tomorrow – another chapter for the client and more writing for me – I hope.

It’s the weekend! It’s been a long week and the hardest part for me – finding the energy to write. I want to write but my mind shuts down after a long day of work and then family and then having an hour or so to write.

Tonight, my family stuck around later than I expected but I still added about 1600 words to my story. I love where the story is going. I love what’s going on. I can see the next several chapters and I want to just write all day and all night.

My hope is after I pay bills, set up a takeover, and do several tasks on my book to do list, I’ll have the energy and time to work on this story.

Right now, I know what the next chapter will be. I can see the scenes in my head like a movie playing – I just need to write them. Unfortunately it’s almost midnight and my eyes are saying no more. I’m off to bed with the hopes I get more done than I expect.

Tonight I finished two scenes and started a third. I’m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. I wrote only 822 words putting me about 21,500 words for the book.

I’m super tired. I woke up late and rushed through my morning routine. I had five meetings today. It’s exhausting. I have all these meetings and then in between I try to do the tasks I need to do but I fall short.

I cut one meeting short today. Basically showed her how to do it and said, okay get that data entered and then we’ll meet early next week to go over the rest of the details. I think I was at my limit for meetings.

The bright spot of my day – someone sent me flowers. A faculty sent me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. It brightened my whole day and lifted my spirits.

Now I’m headed to bed. I hope tomorrow I’m in less pain and less tired so I can work on this story.