Writing – Page 4 – Eileen Troemel

Time for Bed

September 7, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

The story is right there but my brain is saying no. It’s been a week of little sleep. Today was an in person day for work so my pain level is up. This all adds up to me calling a halt. I’m trying to write a scene which gives hints to what happens next and also set up who the bad guy might be… but I think that will stretch out until we get to book three.

Between my daughter and husband staying out with me longer and the complete lack of sleep I’ve had this week, I’m done. I know what I want and I know where to go. But I’m just wiped out. Tonight I wrote 1400 words taking me to not quite 21K for total.

Tomorrow is another in person day for work. I have three or four meetings throughout the day. Two I have to take minutes so that’s involved. The other one or two I’m training. It will be a heavy lift day between all the meetings and being at the office but I’ll get through it.

At this point, I’ve got about a third of the book done. I have to finish my security scene. Next up will likely be a sex scene. Then a trip to medical to make sure she’s heeled. Then the kidnapping. I have so many decisions in those scenes. Will they torture her? Him? Will he break or will she? Then the escape. Then readying for battle. Then the climax where he realizes he’s a dick and needs to make up for his stupidity. Maybe another 40K I hope.

Too Tired…. maybe

September 7, 2022September 7, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Last night I was irritated with my eyes. I thought what the hell is going on. I packed up my computer and tried to decide if I could write out a chapter in one of my Rocket books. I reached to take my glasses off and realized…. I wasn’t wearing my reading glasses. This is why everything was so blurry.

So I thought I’d just do an early night but I grabbed my computer and didn’t stop writing until I’d written 10,600 words. It was a good writing day!

Today I returned to my day job after the long weekend. I wanted to do nothing more than pull out my computer to work on my story. I didn’t. I worked and made a lot of progress with a bunch of things.

Tonight I wrote. I picked up exactly where I left off and KNEW what was coming. I managed to get almost 3,600 words written tonight. I’d keep writing but I have to be up early to go into work.

I’ve gotten my characters through one life jarring moment. I have a few more in mind – we’ll see how they want it to go. I’m at a little over 19K for word count and I might be about a third of the way through the book.

Back to Work tomorrow

September 5, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

It’s been a busy weekend. Yesterday I started a new series. The covers called to me and I’m able to fit an aspect I was toying with into the story. I started writing yesterday. I hoped today would be a good day for writing all day but I’ve had some distractions.

I had other things to get done this morning. While I hoped to get them done in an hour, they took up most of my morning. Ironically, as I was trying to focus on one task, several others came up. I made some decisions on things I was considering.

I sound all mysterious but it’s not. I made some decisions about some books and how they’re distributed. While it was fresh in my mind, I took some steps to change how they are distributed.

Finally I got back to writing. I’ve added more than a chapter today so I’m pleased with my progress. Today I wrote about 6400 taking my total for the book to a little over 10,600. It’s a good start to the book. It might also mean I’m doing one of two things – adding too much detail or the story will be longer than I usually write.

It’s early for me to stop and frankly the words are flowing but I’ve got a headache and my vision is blurry so I think I’ll try for an early night. We stirred up a lot of dust and crud yesterday when we organized the craft room. My eyes have been itchy and sore all day so it might be two fold – overuse and allergies.

New Story

September 5, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Well it’s been a busy weekend. We did some canning and freezing. I can’t even remember what all we did but tomato juice, applesauce, and freezing bananas was part of my weekend. I know there was more but my brain is too tired to remember.

We worked in the craft room with organizing it. Six large boxes of yarn finally got put away and organized how I wanted them. I also helped Vicki organize some of her supplies.

Poor little Bash got a lot freaked out when we started moving things around. He got so upset, Vicki had to step into the bathroom with him and snuggle him for a number of minutes. She calmed him down and he was slightly better when they came out.

Today I started a new Ava M story. I’ve had these gorgeous covers – trilogy – and I’ve had this character running through my head for the last few weeks. It finally came together over night. I woke up with the plot for the first book outlined in my head. I also have a rough idea of the second book. The third one is still a blur for me but I am pretty sure I’ll figure it out as I go.

With all we did today, I didn’t think I’d have time to write but I’ve managed to get 4200 words written today. Tomorrow I have a list of tasks but I hope to add to it. I’d love to have rough drafts done on all three of these by end of year but we’ll see how cooperative the characters will be.

This story arc is alien mate scifi romance. I’m excited to write this project.

Editing

August 29, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Last night I edited the short story for the anthology and got that off my plate. I don’t have to think about that now – well except for promoting the anthology.

Over the weekend the family did a bunch of freezing and canning. Vicki also baked a few things. We canned beets and carrots. We froze watermelon, pineapple, and nectarines.

Tonight I have to read my daughter’s master’s paper and then work on my client’s editing. I’ll enjoy both in different ways.

As for writing, now comes the task of picking my next project. What will it be? I’d like to work on an Ava M book. I’ve looked at some of them I have started and there are two which stand out to me. Avian Allure and the third Sexy Sinivites. Either of them are interesting enough. The question is which will call to me. Which characters will tell me their story?

Now I’ve narrowed it to those two but the reality is, when I go to write, if the story flows. I could read through what I already have written and come to the end and have nothing. The characters are just like – nope, not today.

This week will probably be spent editing and promoting books. I’ll see if I stick to the editing all week. I’m in the mood to write so writing will probably occur.

Heavy black plume of smoke streams southeast from Sendai, Japan

Eighteen Chapters

August 26, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Last night sucked. I was all geared up to write and my energy just bottomed out. Tonight, tonight has been sooo good. I wrote over 5400 words and finished Sacrificed to the Sea Monster!

Oh the ending is good – I like it a lot. It’s not a cliffhanger but it lets the reader know there’s more coming. I’m really pleased to be done with this one.

The story dropped onto the page like it was meant to. I like my characters and I like the plot. It’s a rough draft and I need to edit the heck out of this thing but I like this one.

It’s done and I’ve sent the rough draft off to my beta readers. I hope they like it. Oh, I’m happy with this one.

I’ve got takeovers to do for the next two days and I’ve got a short story to edit by the 2nd of September. I also have client work. So not a lot of writing for me in the next week. I say that and I’m laughing at myself because I know I’ll go looking for something. I have a couple more Ava books started which need to be finished. The question is – which characters will talk to me the loudest.

So Close!

August 25, 2022August 29, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

All I thought about all day was I wanted to come home and write. I got through my day and got my day job tasks organized. I spent time with the family. Now, I’ve written the next part of the Sea Monster book.

I’ve spent the last hour writing and adding details and thinking more about the story. I find my energy lagging and all I want to do is go to sleep. I know there’s more there. I can feel it but my brain is only doing this… blah blah blah blah…

So I wrote 1200 words tonight. It’s small but it’s progress. I think I’ll take some tylenol and my evening meds and try to sleep.

It isn’t often I get this worn down but day job has been SUPER stressful over the last couple weeks. Today I worked on campus and by the time I left work, my joints were screaming.

Two More Chapters

August 25, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Today was supposed to be a writing day so I could finish my Sea Monster story. That didn’t happen. I spent most of the day working on promotions and organization stuff. Oh and let’s not forget the fun task of working on budget.

So no fun writing for me during my day off. My people hung out with me later than normal so I didn’t get to start writing until later. Now it’s 12:30 (oy) and I’ve just started the second to last chapter of my story.

Tonight, I wrote 4300 words and the whole book hit 50K plus a bit more. I think the last two chapters will be shorter than the others – at least that is my sense of them. I could be very very wrong.

I’m excited and happy with what was written tonight. I may need to expand one section or explain one thing when I start in tomorrow. I’ll reread and decide. For now, it’s good.

Maybe tomorrow night I can finish the story but it depends on how long people stick around. I’m excited to finish this. I cannot wait to hear what my beta readers think of it.

One Down, Three to Go

August 24, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

It’s been a bad day for me. I woke up at 3:30 this morning with my joints all screaming. Moving was a matter of balancing the pain in my body. I got cold. It’s not like it’s zero degrees but my blanket was tangled around me rather than covering me.

I attempted to go back to sleep. That didn’t work until like 6:00 and of course I had to get up for work. My day job is busy busy busy right now. Also we’ve had a lot of turn over in people so it means we’re juggling other people’s work as well as our own. I’m sure this will ease soon but for right now, it’s not great at my day job.

To make matters worse, late afternoon I got too hot and a migraine started. My ears are still ringing. I’m hoping this is lack of sleep. But mostly a craptastic day.

Tonight though, I wrote. I had four chapters to write. Well 4,000 words later, I’m down to only 3 chapters to write.

I have tomorrow off and I hope I’ll be able to knock out more chapters but we’ll see. I have appointments to go to in the afternoon.

Another Chapter

August 22, 2022 by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Monday at the day job was involved. Answering questions, getting tasks done, and just getting back into the swing of work.

The day went quick enough. All day I kept having flashes of things I wanted to write about in the novel I’m working on. I have so many good ideas. I cannot wait to get them all down.

Now I write off the cuff. I don’t plan out my plots. I let the characters reveal their stories to me. But occasionally, I’ll know what the next few steps are and I’ll jot them down. I did that tonight because as of right now, I see four more chapters. One of the chapters, I’m not sure whether it goes next or if it’s part of the ending… I think it might be the ending.

Tonight I was distracted by so many things. I finally put my phone on do not disturb because of so many notifications. Once I did that, I got down to work and wrote almost 3700 words! It puts me at about 42,300 words.

With four more chapters and if I keep to right around 3500, I’ll have a book about 56K when I’m done. This would be perfect for novel length.

Now I have editing to do but I also have an extra day off this week. I hope to finish the story this week.

If I can, I’ll switch to editing the short story due by Sept 2 and my client work. I need to go back to doing a couple hours of client work. If I were at the beginning of the novel, I’d probably do that but as is I’m writing a chapter a night. I want the flow to keep going so I’ll finish this story and then focus on the editing.

Really if I had a full day to write, I’d probably finish it in a day. I know what each scene will involve in a big picture way. I know who the bad guy is…. I also know how it will play out. I need to figure out details but I can’t wait to see how it plays out.