Moving Along....

Happy Sunday everyone!

It's been a crazy ride since I last posted. My lifelong condition went crazy again, and between that and not sleeping, I didn't do a lot of writing until this past week.

The current WIP is over halfway finished now, and a lot has happened between the mains. I'm really making progress, and I hope to continue the momentum. I want this one finished, so I can finally set it aside to perk while I get another story going. I'm in limbo right now, waiting for some awesome folk to answer a question about something I'm unfamiliar with... Gotta love the research part of the job!

I am not sure if this one will ever be published or not. Either way, it wasn't a waste of time. I think if it isn't up to my publisher's high standards, it's still a practice story, one to get my feet wet with the writing again. I've been writing it a certain way so I don't have as much work to do if I send it to them either. It helps to know what's expected of you before you submit future stories. 

This week was close to a 5K week. I'm hoping with everything going on that I can squeeze in enough time to get another 1500 words added to it this coming week. If I get more, so be it. At least I'm writing, and loving it, right? ;) 

Nothing new on the local metal music scene, but WGD has mentioned they will be at a few live shows this year. I hope I can go, to show my support for the guys and the rest of the gang in the local metal scene. There's a lot of wonderful and talented people in it, and I am proud to support every one of them. 

Have a great week everyone, I'll update when I can. Things are really getting crazy here, for a good reason. I'll fill you in when I am allowed to.

I leave you with Amber in "Supurrvisor Kitteh" mode from Thursday morning (02/02/17). I had a writing day and this was my view when I opened Word.... I adopted a goofball. Seriously!

The Final Countdown...

It's the final countdown...

Countdown to summer - two days away - countdown to Father's Day - Tomorrow, and lastly, the countdown to Son's last day in Grade Five....

Which also means his last day in Elementary school.

Thursday. Thursday, June 23rd is the last day Son will be an elementary school student, he will be graduating from the little school into Junior High and the "Big School" on June 29th. 

The countdown to saying goodbye to his elementary school autism team has begun too.

Some members like Cathy from the Autism Centre will be traveling with us to the next level, so will Barb from Assistive Technology, but we will leave his current Resource Teacher, the Vice Principal, and lastly his Teacher's Aide behind as he takes a giant leap from one level to the next. 

I had my first Transition Meeting with the Grade Six team on June 7th... They all seem like great people and some of them can not wait to get Son in their class! The Junior High Resource Teacher is very excited to be teaching Son this coming fall, and can't wait for summer to get over. She's already making plans for his time with her, and even has ideas on ways to help him if he's in the middle of a "stuck" episode (where he can't move on to the next activity), and get him even more interested in scholar pursuits. She's high energy, which is what Son needs. 

I hadn't met the Grade Six teachers yet but I like them. One even asked me if we can get some instrumental heavy metal songs for his reading time, because she puts "yoga music" to help the kids concentrate on their reading... Which would set Son off. He HATES anything other than heavy metal and rock - yes, that is MY influence, OOPS! (NOT!) -  so we're now looking at instrumental pieces by Disturbed and other bands he likes so he can listen to it on his school tablet with the ear phones and not have to worry about him taking a meltdown.

What really made me happy was meeting one of the TA's for Grade Six. She's a former school mate of mine! She was a year ahead of me in school, but her brother and I were in the same grade from Primary upwards... And BOTH of her parents taught me. Her mom was my grade 4 teacher, and her dad was my grade 5 teacher. I loved both of them, and they are two of my favorite all time teachers to this day. I wish either or both of them were still teaching now, so there was a chance Son would be lucky enough to be in one of their classes........... It was a relief knowing I already know one of the TAs somewhat (it's been years since I saw her, but we did recognize each other!).... That reassures me Son is in AWESOME hands, even though Mrs. T won't be with him next year - she helps out with Elementary students only (poo! :( )... However, he's allowed visiting her once in a while at the Little School, same goes for all of his old teachers over there. 

Orientation night for ALL parents and students entering the junior high - grade six for our school, grade 7 for the other feeder schools - was on June 13th. We didn't go on the tour because Son already knows where most things are over at the big school - he takes Music, sometimes Gym class, and eats lunch in the Cafeteria there - and we will be getting a personalized tour the day before school opens in September. It was the Resource Teacher's idea, and I'm glad she asked about it, because if she hadn't, I was going to. LOL 

As for Son, he's pretty excited about moving forward... Although I don't think it's really sunk in to his brain what's really going on this coming fall just yet. I don't think it will until he's actually *there* in the classroom on the first day of school, in a new building with new teachers, a new TA, and new faces from the Grade 7 wing staring back at him. I think it'll sink in then and we'll have a few really rough spots.

I hope not. I want him to enjoy his school years. I hated mine, because I was the fat girl and bullied from Primary to my graduating year.

I'm just grateful he's only moving from one building to another on the same campus. When I started junior high - ironically at the same school complex, but another building, the current building was built in 1997, I graduated into high school in the late 80s - I had been at one of the feeder schools, and my class was only 30 students, compared to the 50 plus that had come from the elementary end of the complex. 

He already knows the majority of students that will be in Junior High this coming fall, thank heavens.... Our neighbor's daughter will be there, she's in Grade 8 this coming year, she and her friends were always good with Son, probably because they knew he needed help with some things, and they are great kids. I thank my lucky star that she's still there, and will be for Son's first two years of Junior high.

Yeah, busy times. I hope things go smoothly. Wish us luck! :) 

So........ I've been doing more work on an older manuscript that was started a couple of years ago, but never finished. "Away to Me" kind of took over the brain halfway through writing this one manuscript, so it was set aside. 

Although it's been on my mind a LOT, I really didn't think I'd ever finish it. Well, I've looked at it, did a lot of revisions, and I'm considering MORE once school starts up again in the fall. I may rewrite it - or the premise of it at least - or I may leave it as is but just edit and do a LOT of revisions and polishing to get it "just right". 

Peapod and I have been discussing things in regard to it, and although I'm not "overcome" by this one again, just looking at it is good enough for me. It goes to show I'm not dead in the water with the writing, and it shows that maybe "Away to Me" and "Hearts Remembering" will not be the only stories I write. I hope I can write again anyway..... If not, I may wind up shooting someone..... 

It's also countdown to "TWO YEARS SMOKE FREE"... Today marks ONE YEAR, ELEVEN MONTHS SMOKE FREE! :) My reward is going to see LIVE MUSIC thanks to Troubled Waters, they are holding an event in town again on the 24th. It's a release party for Flesh Cauldron's album "Lightening Leather", and it features them, WHOM GODS DESTROY and other local metal bands. 

Come on, y'all KNOW I can't resist live metal music, especially if Whom Gods Destroy is playing! LOL 

Can't wait!

Have a great weekend everyone! I leave you with photos of Amber, lazying in the sunlight on top of my monitor. 

*waves* 

A Night of Pure Talent

Troubled Waters hosted another live music event... It was last night, at the MSAC again. 

First we were treated to some of (Prosthetic) Friends' instrumental riffs.... They're currently looking for a lead singer, but so far, no one has gotten lucky enough to fit the bill yet. No, I didn't try out for it... I can't carry a tune to save my soul, and I think most bands would prefer a lead singer who can actually SING...

Their instrumentals were awesome. It was my first time seeing this group as a whole (I have seen Bill the drummer with another band), and really enjoyed their performance.

(Prosthetic) Friends

Next, we were pleasantly surprised when Dirt Stache make an appearance. They even had - in my opinion - the funniest intro to a song for the night. "Here's something I'd rather  have than watch a Fast and Furious Movie," says Bill, the drummer. "CATHETER!" he yells into the mic.

My husband, who attended the show with me, cracked up on the spot.

I don't think Hubby realized just how silly the guys in Dirt Stache truly are... I always look forward to seeing them because they bring a lot of laughs along with some great instrumental tunes.

Dirt Stache

Flesh Cauldron was next, and their set even included a recording of backup lyrics for one of their songs. Almost the entire crowd - about 20 people, our MSAC's bar is a VERY tiny venue - participated in screaming "FIGHT!" for the guys.

I didn't participate. Like I said to a friend of mine, I don't want the album committing suicide because I was on it.

And as always, Flesh Cauldron kicked ass... Even with a joke about the "f**king drummer" - which happens to be an iPod with the drum tracks recorded on to it. No, they haven't gotten another drummer yet... So it's kind of turned into a running joke about an "invisible drummer".

Flesh Cauldron

And finally, last but not least, Whom Gods Destroy were on for their set. They didn't play "Sea of Tears", "The Traveller" or "Whom Gods Destroy", but they did play "Higher Planes", so they live once again. (Tee hee)

It was the first time Hubby had seen his brothers and Tim play at a live gig, and he liked it.

Their set included "Devil on Your Shoulder", "Higher Planes", "Ready for the Bite", "Tears of My Immortal Soul", "She May Be Evil", and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich".

Whom Gods Destroy

All in all, it was a great night.

Whom Gods Destroy and Dirt Stache will be playing a set each at RiverFest - Rock the Bush in Pine Grove next month, but I will not be attending. I'm just going to wait until they play at another Troubled Waters event, or somewhere else, that's easier to get to for me.

Have a great week everyone!

A Wild Writing Day, and "Spring Into Metal"....

I look at the clock and see Friday has turned into Saturday without me realizing it...

Writing wise, things are progressing in Eleven faster than I could have hoped for this early on in the writing process. It's been only six weeks since the full idea for the story came to me, and already I'm seeing myself getting deeper and deeper into this new WIP.

This is the first time I've gone from zero to ninety in less than two months and it's a weird feeling... It took me almost 2 years to get really deep into writing what used to be "No Regrets" (Now Vols. 1 and 2 of the Legacies series) and almost 4 months between the initial idea for Family Portraits and getting into writing that one.

I look at Eleven's main file and am shocked at my progress to date. Even with the craziness of a snow day, my son having the flu and being home two additional days, being so tired and other things, I still managed to get another 3100 words added to it today.. Sorry, I mean yesterday... It's past midnight in Atlantic Canada now... Anyway, I met all of my writing goals for the week and then some, so I'm happy. I got over 1000 words, managed to get a few scene ideas for it added to the Ideas file, marked a few ideas off as "DONE" and wrapped up Chapter 5, and started Chapter 6.. Rough draft, of course.

Eleven's main file now is now close to 20K word wise - without me being overly wordy! *BLINK* It needs a lot of editing, but I'm doing my best to wait until after Draft One is finished before I attack it full force. I know, the more I do now, the less I'll have to do later on, but I've been having problems just writing and not going into "edit mode" while I have my writing time.

If I keep going like this, I'm going to be finished draft one of this one long before my self imposed deadline of February 17, 2015... The "full" conception date of this one. I'd like to have it perking before that IF I can do it....

And today was another milestone. For the last week or so, I've been trying to come up with the right title for this one, and it's been driving me nuts... I finally asked some trusted friends, along with my Alpha and Beta readers for suggestions and we may have struck gold, thanks to one of my longtime best pals who is also one of my Beta Readers. I'm not posting it publicly right now, because I'm not sure if it's the working title or will become the permanent one. It's great and fits the story, but if something else comes to mind, I may change it.

Once I know for sure what the final/permanent title of Eleven is, I'll say it on my real name profile... Sometime.

"SPRING INTO METAL"

Last night was Troubled Waters' second event of the year in Bridgewater, NS. I went and had a lot of fun. They had a fantastic lineup of bands - again! - and although there wasn't a lot of people there for the first two sets, the place filled up a little more for the last two.

Flesh Cauldron started off the night. Ovie and Chris rocked the house with their awesome sound and got everyone wanting more.

Whom Gods Destroy played their set second... Eli, Adam and Tim showed off their original classic metal tunes starting off with a medley of "Signs of Life", "Tears of My Immortal Soul" and "The Traveller" and rounded up their set with "Beyond Redemption".

I had threatened to "clock" them if they took "Sea of Tears" out of their set list and well... They did, the goofy buggers. *Rolling eyes* However, I did not do a darn thing to them other than threaten them with retaliation if they didn't play at least one of my other favorite songs by them instead.

They did, they played two... "The Traveller" and "Beyond Redemption", both of which are on their 2011 album, "Signs of Life".

I'm going to let the guys live... For now! *Cackling!*

Try Dying was up third. They were a band I had never seen before and I was pleased with their performance. Normally I don't care for any Rolling Stones songs (sorry to all of their fans but I can't tolerate them at all!), but they did a cover of "Paint it Black" that even I liked! They were good, their sound is more death metal.

Finally, Doom Machine wrapped up the evening with a kick ass performance. I had met the guitarist earlier that night and he is a down to earth and friendly guy... All of the guys in Doom Machine are really nice, as well as great musicians.

I had a lot of fun... Between getting out of the house and listening to a lineup of great metal bands with some wonderful family and friends, it was a great way to wrap up a productive day and to relax.

I'd like to thank Troubled Waters for putting on another great show at the Bridgewater MSAC. They always seem to get the creme de la creme of local metal talent in their lineups. Their Facebook page is in my links area, to the left of my blog entries.

Flesh Cauldron's Facebook Fan Page...

Whom Gods Destroy Facebook Fan Page...

Try Dying Facebook Fan Page...

Doom Machine Facebook Fan Page...

Have a great weekend everyone! I leave you with photos from Spring Into Metal.

Flesh Cauldron:

Whom Gods Destroy:

Try Dying:

Doom Machine:

Chalkboard with the night's lineup... That's Eli from Whom Gods Destroy... His hand anyway...

Splicing and Extras, Eleven Style...

Last week was one of those weeks. Despite real life and "unrealities" flying at my head, I ducked all of it and got some work out of the way on Eleven.

I had two writing days this past week and I made the most of them. Wednesday, I finally got over that *censored* speed bump in Chapter 1, spliced in the part I had written up the Friday before, and continued on. Chapter 2 has been started.

However, something else for the story had been niggling at my mind the next day, and on Friday, I started a new file. It's a scene that will be spliced in later on in the story, it happens about halfway through or so. It's been in the mind for a while and I wanted to get it down before I forgot it, so I attacked it.

I managed to get all but one of my writing goals for the week accomplished... They included getting 500 words of new stuff added to one of the WIPs and a few other things. I got over 3000 words added in various spots in Eleven, so I more than surpassed that goal. 

Because I have been doing so well with this new one so far, I've upped this week's writing goal of new material to 750 words. Let's see if I can make it or even surpass it, shall we?

We also had a little "fun" here over the weekend. Son had a project that was due today for school and he and I spent most of the day working on it yesterday... I knew sponges could absorb glue, but not THAT much! *BLINK* The problem has been fixed and things seemed fine this morning before he left. I just hope it all goes well for him...

By the way, Troubled Waters' next event in Bridgewater happens next month... It's on Saturday, April 5th, and I hope to go. It all hinges on Hubby's schedule. If he works daytime that day, I'll be going and if he works the evening, I won't be able to attend. The members of Whom Gods Destroy understand and know if I'm not able to be "there", I will be with them in spirit! It's a great lineup... As of this date, it's Doom Machine, Inviting End, Try Dying, and of course, my brothers and Tim in Whom Gods Destroy (bands subject to change). 

Of course, a huge thank you to Troubled Waters for putting on the event, as always. 

I hope everyone has a fabulous week.. I'll be posting again if I get anything written up in either Ten or Eleven. Keep rocking everyone! 

"The Heart of the Metal" and More...

The Heart of the Metal, February 21, 2014...

Last night was the first Troubled Waters event of the year and they kicked off their 2014 round of shows with a bang.

Michelin Social Club, Bridgewater, NS... It's only a small venue that has less than a 100 person capacity, but it's large enough to host an awesome lineup of bands that rock the place! 

There were four bands in the lineup last night, two of which I had seen before, one that I have wanted to see live for a while, and one that I hadn't seen or heard of at all until Troubled Waters released last night's full lineup.

I've seen Dirt Stache before. This power duo may only be a guitar and drums, but they have the energy of a five member band, and they are very talented guys. The fact they are goofy in nature only adds to their appeal in my opinion. I laughed more at their descriptions of what each song was about than one would do at another live show, and really enjoyed watching them strut their stuff.

Flesh Cauldron is one I have wanted to see for a while but wasn't lucky enough to until last night. They are great! Their material borderlines on death metal and although they didn't have a live drummer last night, they did quite well with an "electronic" one that was programmed with all of the drums for their set.

My favorite local band, Whom Gods Destroy, was up third. As always, the guys KICKED IT and kept their promise of keeping "Sea of Tears" in their shorter set list. (I'm going to let them live - FOR NOW! Muwahahahahahaha....) I do have videos of their performance, but it's ultra dark and you can't see much... Plus I had a lot of interruptions, thanks to a couple of people that refused to listen to proper etiquette for any live show....I did get a couple of photos and I did share them on my personal profile and author's page, so if anyone wants to check them out, the link to my FB author's page is in the links area to the left of my blog posts.

Vicious was the one band in last night's lineup I wasn't familiar with. I had never met any of the guys, seen them live, or even heard any of their music before last night. That said, they now have another fan in this aspiring author! Their energy and showmanship are reminiscent of bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica and Def Leppard, to name only a few. I was blown away by their talent and performance, and I can see why they're popular in the Nova Scotian music circuit. I would not be surprised to see this group win a Juno, ECMA, or even a Grammy in the future, they are that good!

I would like to thank all of the bands in last night's lineup for their outstanding performances, and a special thank you to Troubled Waters for putting on events like The Heart of the Metal, and the Michelin Social Club for hosting the event.

For anyone who likes metal music, I highly recommend you check out all of the bands featured last night...

Dirt Stache Official Facebook Fan Page

Flesh Cauldron Official Facebook Fan Page

Whom Gods Destroy Official Fan Page

Vicious (band) Official Facebook Fan Page

And lastly...

Troubled Waters Official Facebook Page

Whom Gods Destroy at "The Heart of the Metal", February 21, 2014. 

And on a side note... 

If you're at a live show, whether it's a large venue like the Metro Centre or a tiny venue like the Bridgewater Michelin Social Club, PLEASE respect the bands and other patrons! Pushing your way onto the "stage" area to get into the bands' "personal" space, touching their equipment at all, taking the microphones and screaming into them even though you're not a member of any bands, and a lot of other things are just NOT COOL AT ALL.

If you can't behave at something like this, please do the rest of us a favor and STAY THE HELL HOME!

Sheesh. *SIGH*

I'm Out of My Cotton Picking Mind..... (Writing Update!)

A couple of weeks ago, I was trying to get Ten off the ground when an idea for another story hit me. Of course, I wrote it down into my ideas for future stories file and thought I'd get to it sometime after I had finished Ten's first draft.

Wrong!

The darn idea would not leave me alone, no matter what I tried. I would try to think of ideas for Ten and something for the new idea kept popping into my brain! I'd be doing dishes, talking with Peapod about general stuff, and whammo, a scene for that new idea would pop into my head. This has been happening for a couple of weeks, ever since I got the new idea.

This past week, I finally gave in and set up a file for what is now nicknamed "Eleven".

Yes, you read that right. I have another WIP on the go. *SIGH*

The original idea for it was ultra complicated, and it had more than one possible ending, so I streamlined it to make it simpler. Yes, it was another one of the ultra complicated plots with a zillion twists and turns that I seem to love writing. That said, after I trimmed "the fat" into yet another possible future idea, it's still a complicated story, but less so than something like the Legacies series.

So far, an ideas file, character profiles, a rough timeline, and an "Over 18" scene ideas file has been started, as well as the main file itself... And I have a few scenes written up that will be spliced in shortly, after I get past that *censored!* speed bump I hit in the main file, it happens after the initial "blast" and everyone's reaction to it.

At the moment, that's two WIPs I have on the go and I do hope I can get into one of them soon. I haven't had a story that was in the brain 24/7 since I finished draft one of "Legacies: Family Portraits" (book 2) last October, and I'm really feeling it. I'm grumpy and it's really showing sometimes. My apologies to my family and friends, and thank you for putting up with me when I'm like this....

I hope either Ten or Eleven turn out to be my next completed manuscript. I'm going nuts here.....

And the cleanup of the Legacies series continues. No Regrets (Book 1) now has a lot of areas that are color coded highlights so I know where there are passive scenes, where I was too wordy and after a while, I'll be going through to see where I've been repetitive, etc. If I can do it, I'd like to send it off to a beta reader from one of my writing forums by the end of the year so I can get some extra help in finishing its revamp.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back with another update on the writing, hopefully soon!