Endurance Training

Another week and more progress, both in real life and the story idea I've dubbed "Thirteen".

Bowling Saturday night was a blast. I did really well despite being rusty, it was the first time I went to any alley in about six or so months. Hubby and I bowled three strings each - Son was at his grandmother's so we could have "date night" - and although I was sore, it was worth it.

We do the "Candlepin" style of bowling, which is more prominent than the "duckpin" in my area. Candlepin is played mostly in the northern New England States and the Canadian Maritime Provinces, mostly in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The pins are straight sided, the balls are smaller, and from what I understand, it's a somewhat more difficult game. No record of a perfect score of 300 has been recorded to my knowledge to this day in the game.

I have never played the duckpin version. We do not have an alley that has it in my county, and as far as I know, there is only ONE alley that has it in the entire province.

Anyway...................................................................................

Evidence I'm losing weight was really prominent that night. I shook my hand to alleviate some numbness from carpal tunnel syndrome, and my hematite ring flew off of my finger. Thankfully it didn't go far, and the alley wasn't crowded - Hubby and I were the only ones in there at the time.

My jeans kept wanting to slide down over my hips too. Yeah, that was really fun, trying to bowl and trying to keep the jeans up at the same time.

And what was my tightest pair of jeans that still fit me are now getting looser too... They were trying to fall down during Wednesday's walk.

I think it's time to invest in a belt...

My wedding ring is starting to get really loose too. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to wear that on the middle finger and get another ring for the ring finger. *blink*

Maybe it's all of the walking I'm doing, the healthier eating and the fact I do not each much processed food and NO fast food these days??? :)

Whatever. It's working so far, and I'm determined to keep rolling with this. Not too fast, because it'll come back a lot easier then.

In the last week, my energy level has improved by 100%. I feel like doing more and more each day, like heavy stuff around the house and lots of it, and I tend to be more "awake" now, on less sleep than I was getting before I snapped out of the fog I was in all summer.

Yeah, the walks are helping, a lot.

I am still going to the stream and back, and will continue to do just that short route until I'm so used to it that I'm barely winded when I reach my driveway. I did it three times this week, and even added a little extra to the route, so I am slowly getting there.

I just want to build up my endurance before going nuts with the walking.

I'm also retraining for writing endurance. I had three days this week and it was rough getting into the swing of things.

That said, I managed to get a full scene written in two days, after fighting not to write it up. It's a scene that happens later on in the story, and one I hadn't planned on writing up yet. I wanted to get more added to the main file before I did anything else.

Oh well, at least I was writing, right? ;)

My best friend helped me brainstorm that scene once she and I clued in that it was NOT going to leave me alone until I wrote it up. Thanks to her, I managed to figure out a lot of dynamics, and how to lead into it, as well as exactly *what* happens, etc.

She and I plan on brainstorming more when the time is right, and when Son isn't looking over my shoulder. He's getting more and more curious about what I'm writing about, and well, it's not fit for youngsters, if y'all know what I mean. ;)

The scene itself is about 1800 words, over 1000 of that was added today in only an hour.

Wish I would have been able to settle into it earlier than I had, I would have hit the 2K mark for today alone had my brain wanted to stop running around like a bloody squirrel on crack.... *SIGH*

Anyway, I hope all of my fellow Canadians had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving...

It's hard to believe that Halloween, Samhain and the rest of the days of the dead are almost upon us. This summer went by so darn fast.

Have a great weekend everyone. :) 

"Ch-Ch-Changes"

As the title suggests, there have been a lot changes in the last while.

Before I start, I would like to publicly congratulate ALL students who participated in the Mental Math Challenges and all other challenges held at the regional Knowledge Festival. All of you are winners just for being asked to represent your schools in my opinion.

Son did it again. He was in the Grade 4 division this year and cleaned house with getting first place, another perfect score of 40 correct answers for 40 questions! We were proud of the honor bestowed on him by his school by being asked to be a representative of his grade, and now even more so for his win. :) Congrats, Son!

CHANGES........

It's like someone flipped a switch... Things are FINALLY warming up here in my end of the province, and the amount of snow has went from over 2 feet in spots to barely a couple of inches in the last two weeks. The temperature is now going well above freezing too, and it's nice to open the windows or just go outside into the sunshine without freezing the toes off!

Our driveway, finally clear of snow and ice.

That photo was taken three days ago, and even more snow has disappeared in that short amount of time. I think the melt so far has been a record setting one, just like the amount of snow we got in February of this year!

Another change that's happening is related to something that happened in December.

After 45 years as a physician, our family doctor had to retire due to deteriorating health. We were sad to see him go. He was my son's doctor for Son's entire life, and mine since before I was born - he even delivered me.

He retired so unexpectedly that he didn't have time to get someone to take over his practice for him before he hung up his stethoscope.

Son wasn't happy going over to the one ER to get refills on his meds, which was what we've been doing for the last three months with him. It was at four hour wait at best, and he would get antsy and bored even if we brought snacks, books and toys with us for him.

I was hoping to get on with a doctor - local or otherwise - just for his sake. I didn't care if they didnt' take me on, as long as they took him on.

Well, we hit the jackpot. Back in March, I got a call that we had a new family doctor. She's a brand new one, just establishing her own practice, and started this month. All three of us were taken on.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO relieved. There is a shortage of doctors - family docs and specialists alike - in the province and to get a new family doctor after only a three month wait is almost unheard of these days. I know people who were waiting for *years* to get someone else. Either the doctors were retiring or settling in another spot.

Her clinic is about an hour away by car, but that's okay. We have a family doctor again.

We love her. She's young, with a sunny personality and is very open to a lot of things.

It's one heck of a huge weight lifted off my mind.

It's also a darn good thing we found her. Our old doctor passed away in March.

Someone said what would have happened if he had died suddenly without retiring first?

That was something a lot of us do not want to think about.

I'm glad I don't have to now.

WRITING:

"Hearts Remembering" has been edited and gone over, and is now back into another perk cycle.

It may not be in there for long though.

I'm considering adding a couple of extra key scenes because it seems choppy and skips somewhat in spots. I'm hoping it'll smooth things out.

My best friend and I will probably be brainstorming those parts sometime soon. I'd like to get this one sent out to the rest of the gang ASAP, so I can get a move on with other things related to it and Away to Me, as well as get moving on a new story. I'm not sure if I'll be working on Ten or not. Gotta see how things go I guess!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Winter: GO AWAY!

It's been another one of those months where we seem to be getting clobbered with a major storm every week, sometimes two times or more in a single week. The last month saw at least four snow days for kids in my son's district, as well as days when the buses were going to be late or not going back the dirt roads. Son wasn't too happy about school being canceled on those days but what can you do? It IS winter and my province is in one of the years that we seem to be getting snow over the fence. I guess it's our payback for having such a warm December? Hard to say.

All I know is that I am ultra sick of this, and I'm ready for spring....

View of our road after the most recent major snowstorm last week.

Son has another reason to be ticked when school is canceled on certain days. This year, he's on the grade 4 & 5 basketball team, and it just happens to be that a couple of their practice days were canceled due to schools dismissing early or being canceled due to the weather being so rotten. He loves playing basketball - odd considering neither Hubby nor myself are fans of that sport, we are hockey fans - and when the team coach asked him if he wanted to participate this year, he jumped on it. So far they have only played two games - against the same team from another school - but they have won both of them. Hubby and I were able to make it to the most recent game last week, and we had fun. Son made two legal steals, forced two legal turn arounds, and even scored a two point basket for his team! The team they were facing is a good team too but had a bit of bad luck both times they faced Son's school. Hopefully this teaches all boys on all teams good sportsmanship, and that even if you do lose, you still did a great job and it's an honor to be chosen to be on the team.

Twelve is progressing nicely. I've been writing a lot when schools are open, and I'm slowly starting to see the story finally come together in its correct, original configuration. I had a part to splice in written up, and it was put into the main file two weeks ago. I've made more progress in the main file, and have started another file to splice in as well. It's been slow but steady by times.

As of right now, there are about 48K into the main file, along with another 2K in the file to be spliced in.

That means I'm about halfway to the goal of about 100K. That said, I'm probably about 5/8 finished this story. So it's probably going to be under 100K, which is the limit for most publishers.

As for other projects, I'm still unsure of what's going to nab me next. I'd like to write the sequel to Twelve before that one is sent out, but I'd also like to finish Ten too. I'll just have to see how things go after Twelve's first draft is done, that's all.

Have a great week everyone!

A-Rocking, A-Rolling, and A-Writing....

I've hit the three month smoke free mark in my quit smoking journey, and I am feeling great! I've been off the Champix for about two weeks and so far so good. No major cravings, none that I couldn't handle anyway.

The worst time for me wanting a cigarette these days is when I have a manuscript open and I'm writing new stuff into its file(s)... So... to keep the cravings there to a minimum, I now use a nicotine free vapor stick to help me transition writing as a non smoker. I'm liking either mint/menthol or blueberry flavor by a certain brand for those days.

LIVE MUSIC

It just happened to be that my 3 month anniversary as a non smoker fell on the same day that a friend of my brothers in law was holding a charity event, to raise money for a local fire department. I wasn't sure until about a week or so ago if I was going or not... It all depended on if my husband was working during the time my favorite local band Whom Gods Destroy had their set.

Luckily the guys were playing in the evening and my husband worked the day shift. So I was able to go.

Talk about a great lineup! It was an all day event, from noon on the 18th to 1 a.m. this morning (it's after midnight here on the 19th), and the musicians' genres ranged from soft rock to country, and alternative to heavy metal.

I can't remember the name of the band that was on before WGD, but they were good.

Whom Gods Destroy performed their set... They started off with "Signs of Life" and "Tears of My Immortal Soul", "Ready for the Bite", "The Traveller", "She May Be Evil", "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", and "Higher Planes".

And like I said on my video blog on Facebook, I was going to shoot them for not playing "Sea of Tears" but I can forgive them for it since they did play "The Traveller" and "Higher Planes".

Whom Gods Destroy:
Adam Bondarenko, Drums and Lead Vocals
Eli Bondarenko, Bass
Tim Gaudet, Guitar and Backup Vocals

Now anyone who follows the local metal scene in Nova Scotia that says they have never heard of the band VICIOUS is either lying or has been living under a rock for the last few years. They are a hard rock/heavy metal band originally from Kingston, NS that is now calling the city of Halifax their home. Known as "The Beast from Canada's East", these four talented guys brought a lot of attention to yesterday's charity event, just by being on the roster. I swear some of the people there last evening were only there to see this particular quartet rock the house and strut their stuff.

I have seen them before, during "The Heart of the Metal" this past February, and knew they'd put on another great show. Watching lead singer/drummer Jake Gracie's ultra high energy with both his vocals and amazing percussion skills was more than worth the admission price. Yes, the band may have had a few lineup changes since I first saw them live last winter, but they can still kick ass and rock any venue they play.

Vicious:
Jake Gracie: Drums, Lead Vocals
Garth Potter: Bass, Vocals
Connor Riley: Guitar
Brandon Colborne: Guitar

Let's just say I hope Rockzilla Seven hosts another all day gig like this again sometime soon.... That man always winds up getting the best of the best of the local musicians in all genres!

WRITING UPDATE

"Away to Me":

The latest draft of it has been sent to the now final two members of my reading team, as of earlier today. It's a husband and wife team, so I will also get a male perspective on this one. I wasn't expecting G to see it until after it was sent out to various publishers. No complaints, he and his wife A are professionals and will let me know if I mess up or anything else. Nothing that I put into my stuff these days bothers them either, as in they don't projectile vomit at even the distant mention of "something"...

I'd like to have this one sent out by spring at the latest.

Other projects:

I'm still continuing to work in a WIP, the same one I've been working with the last few weeks... And although it is slow going by times, it's still going.

The nitty gritty? It's one I started a long time ago and am finally getting the original idea back for it... So I'm writing it, in my style, with my ideas, and what I can tolerate in the love scenes - and maybe more.

It won't be for the prudes with the ultra sensitive gag reflex that goes into overdrive at even a distant reference to oral sex, that's for sure..... Or anything I write period, for that matter...

I also have a possible name for another older story if I ever write that idea.....

And the original idea for another one is starting to come back to me as well.

So I have lots of ideas to keep me busy for a while.

I'm just glad I have a near photographic memory and I'm so darn meticulous about backups... Else the original ideas for all of the above may not have come back to me.

Lesson learned, Uni. Do things MY way and TO GENRE GUIDELINES, ETC.

Have a great night everyone... Keep rocking! :)

Yours truly, the ultra crazy rocker chick aspiring author.

Prelims

Wow has it been over a week since my last update? I've been so crazy lately with things it's a wonder I remember to catch a few hours of sleep every night.
As the title suggests, yes I have been doing more preliminary work for another possible manuscript. As I posted in the last blog entry from September 29th, 2014, I have done a few character bios for this one, as well as some ideas. I have added to that list, with a list of key scenes and their approximate location in the story itself. The timeline is done and has been tweaked, the scene ideas files are now on the go with a few ideas in each one, and I have a lot of the research for it out of the way - and filed in the appropriate spots.

I've even started playing around with writing a bit... Not saying how much is written up but yes, I have tried writing a scene or two... Or, do I mean more? *looks innocent*

And just what is this story about? It's a contemporary romance. Nope, I don't care to say any more than that outside of certain trusted people who know better than to go telling tales out of school, and of course, my fellow Divas and Dudes in my favorite writing forum. *wink*

I know there are some out there who will read this and think I'm only pretending to have another possible story in the works... Well, I have news for them. I actually DO have a potential new WIP in the works. It would NOT be on the blog if I wasn't doing it. Said someones know I'm telling the truth about it too.

Just saying........................................................................

Anyway, as for "Away to Me" I am still waiting for more edits from the rest of the crew. Hoping to get those soon so I can get that one ready for publishers.

Have a great week everyone! :)

Dropping By for a Second...

Hi everyone, just dropping by with another ultra quick update. Things have been nuts here, between Son and I both having colds (he got over his, I'm still feeling horrid), homework and other school related stuff, going out with friends, and me trying to get another story on the go.

Last week, D and I went to Mahone Bay, and we did some walking and shopping, notably in two shops she adores and that I adore now too. Tea isn't my normal hot drink but I do like it and I admit I kind of splurged on a large bag of cinnamon tea. It's good, or I think it is, I can't taste much with my senses dulled due to this *f-bomb* cold.

We also popped down to our favorite place to purchase stones and other related items... I kinda went nuts in there and got a gorgeous pair of dreamcatcher style rawhide earrings and a few other goodies.

And yes, we discussed what direction I'm taking with my writing. It's not one that D was recommending... I was kind of expecting her to whomp me in the arse a few times, but she is leaving me alone on one condition: I do it to my genre's standards but in my style, and my style only.

This idea was my original idea, so it's "legal" to use as a story, in all aspects for me as an aspiring author. I spent my writing time on Wednesday doing detailed character bios/profiles - from their physical appearance right down to the jewelery they wear - and jotting ideas down for it as they came to me.

I'm still in the early stages of that one, although I am close to getting its "hook" - the first line that gets the reader interested and keeps them reading to see what happens next.

Not saying what idea it is or anything else right now. That's between me, my readers/editors and my writing pals. Heck I'm not sure if it's going to stick or not, so I'm not saying anything publicly. I don't want to jinx myself.

I'm not sure if this one is going to work out or not... We'll just have to see. *wink*

Lazy Days of Summer? Get Real!

This past week has been crazy. Our internet finally went back to normal on Monday, and I've been going nuts catching up and other things... Including working on Ten, and getting "Away to Me" cleaned up even more for the Alpha Readers. 

I had a little writing time earlier this week, only 2 hours worth, and I managed to get 800 words added to Ten, in between some edits on it. Chapter 6 was finished, and Chapter 7 was started. It's not progressing as fast as I would like it to, but I'm lucky it's progressing at all between everything happening in real life and my writing life... It's crazy right now, and it's supposed to be my summer break/recharge time!

"Away to Me" came out of another stasis cycle this past week, so I could highlight any possible problem areas for the Alphas, and do another round of editing on it. I removed a lot of the repetitive stuff, compressed a few of the wordier areas, and if there was a missing word, added it.

I also did a word count on it last night, and it was shortened by almost 2K. It now stands at just under 76K words, for the record.

My three Alpha Readers got it in PDF form last night at 8 p.m. my time (Atlantic Time zone), and one of my two Beta Readers got it this morning. The only one who hasn't gotten a copy of it yet is my best friend, and she'll get it the instant she says she's ready for it! The Alphas have until August 19th to read it and give me their list of necessary edits, etc, and the one Beta reader is allowed to take her time with it... She has until the same deadline my best friend has, whenever that will be. Bestie isn't ready for it by a long shot, so at least the other Beta has lots of time to go over the story with a fine toothed comb....

I'm pretty darn nervous right now. It's the first time anyone other than me has seen the story in its entirety. I know it's better than "No Regrets" was when I sent it out to publishers last year, but I still know there are mistakes in it.... I just hope between the six of us, we can get it perfected enough for publishers' eyes sometime!

I just hope they like it......

So, now that "Away to Me" has been sent out to the helpers, I have more time to worry about Ten, and getting that one going again. I hope to get moving with it more now that I have more time, and don't have the edits/rereads of "Away to Me" at the back of my mind.... With a little luck, that one will be zooming along come fall, and I'll be going nuts trying to finish that one while my best friend is absorbed in writing up the loooooooooooong list of edits that "Away to Me" will need before it's perfected enough for publishers.

I just hope I have more than three stories in me, and hope I can finish a fourth manuscript before next year this time....

Have a great weekend everyone!

And a Cup of Salad Dressing For Me Please...

I need it so my words taste better. *SIGH*

Remember how a couple of weeks ago, I said I would "not" have a manuscript nagging at me this summer? Well, I'm eating my words... Again. I should know better than to say I'm "not" doing something or "don't have any current WIPs waiting to be finished for a while", because the universe always seems to find the perfect way to made me realize that sometimes, things cannot be controlled.

My writing is one of those things. I had planned not to get into another manuscript this late in the school year, especially since my past experiences showed it takes me a few months to come out of one manuscript's story enough to get into a new one. "Away to Me" was finished less than a month ago, and here I am, deep into writing another first draft.

Ten is progressing better than I hoped it would this soon after wrapping up another story that had me by the throat, like "Away to Me" did for only a couple of short months. It's picking up speed, and the story itself is starting to really take over my mind, just like the other finished first drafts had when I was deep into writing them.

I thought I had three writing days this week, but due to a change in Hubby's schedule, it was only two, Wednesday and yesterday. I'm glad I set only daily goals this week, just to be safe.

Either way, I beat both day's goal of 1500 words each. I went low, I know, but I didn't think I'd be setting fire to the keyboard with this one so soon.

Wednesday was almost 3600 words and the majority of Chapter 5 was written up.

Yesterday was over 3800 words... I wasn't expecting things to go the way they did in the main file for a very pivotal scene, but geez... Once the idea hit me, I ran with it and I think it's better this way than the original way. It fits in more with the characters' personalities and experiences too. Chapter 5 was finished, and the majority of Chapter 6 was written yesterday too.

I'm also now officially on "Summer Writing Time", and anyone who has been following me for a while knows what that means. With summer vacation just about here, I don't have any days that I will be alone for hours on end, setting fire to the keyboard. This means that for the next two months, I will be nabbing whatever writing time I can get, whether it's an hour or so here and there while Son is being quiet or gone to run errands with his father, or the late nights - which wind up resulting in a rewrite the majority of the time.

I'm not feeling the effects of not having at least one day per week of writing time yet. My last official writing day of the 2013-2014 school year was only yesterday, so the "gnawing on the monitor" feeling won't hit me until either next week or after the final report cards come out on June 30th.

I'm not looking forward to going through that for the third summer in a row. 2012, it was "No Regrets", last year it was "Family Portraits", and now this year, it's "Ten" or whatever its title will finally be.

I suppose the silver lining in this breaking for two months thing is that I managed to get one full manuscript written without having to take more than a week or a few days off from writing it during a school break. I am glad that I finished "Away to Me" in record time, and I think my keyboard is still smoking somewhat from how fast I went through that one's first draft. If I hadn't gotten it done before now, I would have gone completely bananas this summer. Bad enough Ten is going to drive me a little crazy, and I'm not fully into this one - YET. I'm almost there though, and when it fully takes over my mind, watch out everyone.

"Away to Me" is still in stasis, but it may come out once over the summer, for a full read through and edit. Things are changing on one end, and it may be sent out to the Alpha and Beta Teams early, depending on what's happening over the summer in a certain area. We'll see how things go, and I'll keep everyone on both teams updated if anything changes.

Both teams can't say I didn't warn them... Buwahahahahahaha!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, and HELLO SUMMER! A very happy Litha to all of my friends who celebrate it in the northern hemisphere, and a very happy winter solstice to all in the southern hemisphere. Enjoy the season, whatever it may be, everyone!

I'll post updates over the summer as things progress.

Closing in on Summer Writing Time...

Progress in Ten is starting to pick up speed a little, even with idiots abound in certain spots that allow trolls and jerks to flourish. (NOT saying where though, just glad it's not any forums I frequent!)

This week had two writing days... Wednesday and of course, today. I didn't set a goal for the entire week, I wound up setting a goal of 1500 for each day, just to change things up a bit. I'm still not fully absorbed by this story yet, so I'm playing it safe and keeping the daily/weekly goals sort of minimized for now.

Wednesday was over 2200 words, and I was happy to get it. I was running into more speed bumps with some of it than I can count, but determinedly pushed myself over each of them and kept going.

Today's word count was slightly higher, at 2445 words, which isn't bad considering it's Friday the 13th combined with a full moon, and Mercury Retrograde on top of it. Idiots galore is an understatement! (GEEZ!)

So if anyone was hoping to deliberately throw me off the writing curve, or hoping to see me not write for some stupid and nasty reason, they're going to be sorely disappointed. *SMUG GRIN*

I'm now partway into Chapter 5, and getting into stuff that's making me think it's probably time to put password protection onto the file - Son knows how to use the computer, probably better than I do, and I'm the family's computer tech! *THUD!*

For the record, the main characters haven't gotten to "that" point yet, but this story seems to be flowing more toward the "adult" stuff being in it from the very start, unlike my other manuscripts. What it is and other things are "top secret" until this one's published. *NYAH*

Oh well, gotta change it up to keep my writing fresh and exciting, right? *WINK!*

And in other news, I found out when schools start in my district this coming fall. It's September 4th, so it looks like "Away to Me" will be coming out of stasis on that day - unless I'm so deep into Ten that I don't want to set it aside for a day or so.

We'll just have to see how it goes, I guess. I will have a month to get it ready for the Alpha and Betas when it comes out of stasis, so I'll have plenty of time to get moving on that round of edits.

Speaking of summer........

Yesterday, Hubby and I took a drive along the shore, to one of our favorite spots.

It's a 1.7 km (one mile) long beach named Crescent Beach. I am not sure, but I think it was named after its shape. It's like a half moon, or crescent, and loops northward from west to southward on the eastern end, poking out into the Atlantic, and the road between it and the salt water marsh to the north is used to connect the LaHave Islands to the mainland.

It's one of my old childhood haunts. My family and I were at that beach a lot when I was a child, and I still love it down there to this day.

Hubby and I parked in one of the spots for that purpose on the back side of the dunes, climbed over a lot of boulders, and hit the beach. I took over 200 photos, a few videos and wound up uploading almost 150 of them to Facebook, along with five of the videos.

Here's a sample of some of the photos:

Facing eastward, toward the LaHave Islands.

Facing west, toward Petite Riviere and West Dublin.

Periwinkles on rocks at the east end of the beach.

At the east end of the beach, facing the open ocean.

East end of Crescent Beach.

Here's a video from down there, just waves hitting the shore. So peaceful!

And another one, while facing the LaHave Islands, eastward.

And look, there's a beach bum!

((Yes, this is really me!))

I hope you enjoyed the photos and videos of one of my favorite spots in the world.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Pray for Moncton and an Update

Before I bore my readers with one of my writing updates, I'd like to say something regarding the events of this week.

I ask that no one mentions the name of the Moncton NB suspect/perpetrator anywhere on my areas, out of respect for the RCMP and their families. This is for my Facebook page, my author's profile, my Twitter posts and shares/retweets, my real name profile, and in the comments section here on my blog.

I have a lot of respect for the men and women in every tier of the RCMP, and I do not tolerate any disrespect for the Mounties. Mentioning his name at all is disrespecting them in my opinion. He's had his 15 seconds, and didn't deserve any of it, nor does he deserve to be remembered.

Remember those who serve to protect our nation and its citizens, not those who coldly and deliberately hurt or kill others. Simple as that.

My thoughts and prayers are with all RCMP officers across Canada, no matter where they are stationed, and their families. I'd also like to thank ALL of our Mounties, still commissioned or retired, in every detachment across the country, for making sure the civilians in our beautiful and vast nation are safe, and for putting their lives on the line daily.

Thanks to all Mounties, from an aspiring author in southwest Nova Scotia. 

My author's page will continue to have the #PrayForMoncton banner for the rest of the month, to show my support for the city of Moncton New Brunswick, and respect for all RCMP officers and their families. 

#PrayforMoncton #RCMP #RCMPNB

*********************

Writing Update:

Some progress has been made in my writing world.

"Away to Me" went into stasis for the summer on Monday, June 2, 2014 at 6:28 p.m. ADT. It will remain there until September 5th or 6th, depending on when my first writing day of the 2014-2015 school year is. It will be coming out for another read-through and round of massive editing before my alpha reader and beta team get it. Due date to send it off to them is October 13, which is the Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day in the US. My best friend is on the beta team, and won't be ready to sit down and enjoy it while she's covering it with red marks until then, hence the long stasis period and four month wait.

The "squirrel on speed" feeling I normally get was bad on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I had to do something to stop it. I know what I did was bad, but it was either do it or lose it!

I know I'm supposed to be recharging my writing batteries over the summer, and was going to set things aside until September so I wouldn't have a story driving me nuts during July and August, but I am writing again. I know, it's been just over a week since the first draft of "Away to Me" was finished and I should take a short break, but I'm still fired up writing wise, and hate leaving an unfinished work on my desktop.

So, I'm back to working on Ten for the time being. I had two full days this week, and although it was slow going, managed to get Chapter 2 finished and Chapter 3 almost there in the rough draft. I've made a few modifications to the timeline and storyline to make it more plausible and to get things moving faster. I'm slowly getting into the habit of having a story happen over the course of three to nine months, tops, instead of over the course of years or decades.

I don't know if I'll finish this one before another one comes to me. We'll just have to see how it goes. I'd love to finish it sometime, preferably before 2015 rings in, but if I don't and another story gets written in the meantime, fine with me. I'll just plug away at it when I can, and as long as the story is there in my brain somewhere, it will get done somehow.

I know I no longer feel like a squirrel on speed, so that's good. I'm not driving myself and so many others crazy with me bouncing off the walls because I don't know what to work on next!

In other writing news... My local beta reader, D, the one with the dog leashes, now has Family Portraits waiting for her to read, along with a bunch of frying pans to hit me with. It's filled with mistakes, passive areas and so much JUNK. I'm going to be lucky if I'm still able to write when she's done clocking me for sending her such a horribly edited manuscript!

I have a couple of writing days ahead of me this coming week, and I hope to make more progress in Ten. I'm now starting to build up a relationship between the two main characters, and a key event will be happening sometime soon. I just have to find the right balance between not boring the reader and not making things move too fast. I'm still learning how to do that, and wind up going to one extreme to the other. Hopefully I can get it right in this story without a million rewrites.

Have a great weekend everyone. Namaste.

A Look Ahead to Summer 2014...

Even though it doesn't feel like it in my area, summer vacation will soon be upon us, and that means the writing will be put on the back burner until school starts again in September.

For the first time in two years, since 2011, I will not have a manuscript waiting to be finished over summer vacation.

It's official: Eleven's first draft will be done before June 20, just as I had hoped.

I'm not sure if it will be finished this week or next week though. It all depends on various factors - like if I can get my brain to concentrate on just writing instead of editing while writing, and real life stuff - and if I can get Chapters 16 and 17 to go the way I want them to. I'm at the most intense part of the story at the moment and sometimes those take me a little longer to write and get up to par for a rough draft or first draft.

When Eleven's first draft is finished, I will be taking at least one or two days that would have been "writing days" to go over it with a fine toothed comb, to check for errors, compress a few things and to add in anything I may have missed.

After that's done, it will go into the first round of stasis, and will stay there all summer. I will reopen it on my first "writing day" after school starts in September and do another round of edits before it goes into stasis, round two. When round two is over, Sandra and my betas get their paws on it.

So, I need a few projects to keep me busy over the summer, once Eleven is in stasis and the full blown "I have finished my latest manuscript and have nothing to work on/write! squirrel on speed mode" settles in.

One project that's been driving me nuts is Ten. It was started before I even had Eleven's idea, and I would like to try to finish it. I'm probably going to go over all of its parts, try to see what's wrong with it and correct it, if I have to because I can't get back into it. I wasn't really "in" to that story anyway, so that could be why Eleven happened to take over once I got its initial idea. If I have to, I will do a complete revamp on how the two mains meet and get to know each other. It's something I'd rather not do, but it could be necessary for me to finish its first draft. Not sure if this one will be published sometime even if it is finished, but we'll see.

Another thing I'm planning on doing is more photography. I suck at it, but practice makes better, right? I want some new, original photographs for my sites, and for a friend of mine, if she wants me to do some more for her.

I've also been thinking about looking through my "dead manuscripts" and seeing if any of them may be salvageable. If they're not at this time (that can change as I hone the writing skills), I may "steal" ideas from their ideas files for another project, like Ten for example. I've already stolen one from one in that folder for Eleven, and it works pretty darn good in that manuscript. I was going to use the idea for Ten, but went in another direction instead with those characters and their personalities. This idea fits Eleven a lot better.

I have an idea for a new story waiting in the wings... It's one I thought of two weeks ago, and although I haven't done anything other than jot down the initial idea for it, I may start mapping it out over the summer... Searching for character names, figuring out their ages, their personalities, where the bulk of the story is going to take place, and all of the "fun stuff" one has to do in order to prepare to write a story. I can do that easily with both guys home. All I have to do is plug in the earbuds and crank up the music, and I will be set. It's not like actual writing so it doesn't need my full concentration or complete silence, thank the stars!

The question is, will I get into that one or not? I honestly don't know. I never know if a story is going to consume my mind like "No Regrets", "Family Portraits" and Eleven had when I was writing them. It's hit or miss with me, and I guess I just got lucky with those three particular manuscripts. What story I'll finish next is anyone's guess, and it could be another year or more before I find the right one, or the right one finds me. I hope I have at least one more in me, because I want to continue writing, even if I never get published.

And if any of those projects do not keep me busy, there's always going over "No Regrets" and getting that story's revamp going full tilt. That is going to take me a long time to do, because I will be working on it only until I get into a new story, whenever that will be, and when Eleven isn't in stasis or being looked at by the betas.

I also have to consult with my best friend on that one about certain things, and hopefully we'll be able to start talking about it sometime this coming fall or winter. She knows my style, knows what I want to keep in that manuscript, and is one heck of a tough taskmaster when it comes to getting everything perfect. She and I will probably clean up Eleven first so that's ready for publishers' eyes (read: to reject!) sometime early next year, then get cracking on "No Regrets" and eventually, "Family Portraits" in between me writing other stories and the pair of us along with the rest of my betas cleaning up anything else I write.

It looks like I'll have plenty to keep me busy and AWAY from Eleven's file this summer once it goes into stasis for the first time. I just hope that when this story's first draft is finished and finally put away for those two months, that I don't completely lose it like I did when No Regrets was in its first stasis cycle. Oh, I was sooooooooooooooo bad............ Maybe the fact that Eleven took only a few months between its conception date and putting "THE END" into its first draft file will help. I had the characters from No Regrets living in my brain for over 2 years after its idea came to me, and for another full year after that, while I was writing its sequel (Family Portraits)... That could be a factor to why I went so loopy-doopy after the duology was finished, after all.

I just hope I don't chomp on the monitor TOO much this summer... Of course, not having a manuscript waiting to be finished may turn out to be a good thing in that respect!

Have a great week everyone!

Scam Warning for Windows Users and A Writing Update

WARNING TO ALL WINDOWS USERS:

There's a new scam happening, and boy does it sound legit.

It's so good I was almost taken in by it.

What happened was I got a phone call from this gentleman with a Middle Eastern accent. He asked for me, and said he was from Microsoft Tech Support.

Now I've had calls like this in the past... But without being asked for by name, so I thought I may as well see how legit this guy really is. I let him ramble on about how hackers had gotten into my computer and email, and my computer could crash at any second. He even mentioned the date that my computer sent in a "report" about it, which was about right... I had a Trojan Horse on the computer which has since been removed, thanks to some help from a few of my tech buddies. (Love ya L!)

I interrupted him (rude, I know, but better safe than sorry!) and asked him what version of Windows I was using, and warned him I'm a tech person. I admit I kind of let him think I have certification for it, just to see what he'd say next. Bad... Yes. Safety over sorry? Definitely.

He said the correct version of Windows and I started thinking maybe this guy is legit. So, I let him ramble on a little more, asked him a few tech questions, and he gave me the right replies for everything...

Until I asked him WHICH email address sent the "report". He said "Your gmail account sent it to us."

That sent up a few red flags... I asked him WHICH gmail address and he sputtered a bit.

You see, I don't have just this one, I have another one for backup in case this account ever gets hacked.

He finally came up with "I can't confirm that, it's not in my records" and more red flags went up.

I don't use either of my gmails as a contact email address for Windows. I use another free email provider.

I listened to him go on and on again for a while and finally asked him exactly "what" exactly I had to do to "clean" the computer. He said to minimize everything on my desktop, look by the Ctrl key and hit the four paned Windows key on the keyboard while holding down the Ctrl and R keys.

I didn't do it. That sounded pretty darn odd. You would think if Microsoft itself was really calling you, they'd tell you to go to their legit site instead of doing that.

I finally had enough of his crap and said, "I don't trust this, it smells too damn much like a scam, sorry!" and hung up on him.

I did a reverse number check and it said the number was "Unavailable".

You'd think if it really was Microsoft calling, they'd show the number from which they were calling.

I did download a security/malware checker from Microsoft's legit site and contacted their digital crimes unit. Nothing appeared on the scan. My computer is clean.

The digital crimes unit replied to me without delays and told me I did the right thing.

Yup, it was definitely a scammer, and one hell of a convincing one. Rotten jerk. *SIGH*

I'm so glad I listened to my gut instead of believing that. If I hadn't, hackers would have had the rest of my personal information and I would have lost a lot of money or other stuff.

So, to all of you Windows users, BE CAREFUL. Windows does NOT call you for anything other than reasons specified on their site. Only scammers call for things like "your computer was hacked" for example.

For more information, and to help you understand the difference between a scam and the real thing, visit the Microsoft Safety and Security Center.

WRITING UPDATE, ELEVEN'S PROGRESS:

This week was productive writing wise. I had two hours to work on each Monday and Wednesday, and things are moving fast in Eleven, faster than I could have dreamed...

Monday wasn't an overly great day writing wise, only 1200 words. I had a few problems and wound up coming up with the right way to get things rolling. I spent most of the writing time jotting down ideas instead.

Wednesday was a huge day for me... Only 2080 words of new stuff was added, BUT I finally spliced in a scene that had been waiting in the wings since the end of February! That was over 3000 words, even with compressions (some stuff had already been mentioned earlier in the manuscript, didn't want to repeat it!).

Today, however, was the biggest day of all... I was in the middle of Chapter 15, and an intense scene was on the way... So I was at it pretty much as soon as the bus went around the corner this morning!

The next thing I knew, it was 2 p.m. and time to stop. I had just gotten into a very intense part of the story and it was either stop or keep going, even though Son was getting off the bus in a few minutes and I have plans for the evening.

Today's word count was over 5600 words... Chapter 15 was finished and I'm now in the middle of Chapter 16.

If I had another four or five hours to write... Well... Y'all know I would have kept going!

Maybe later tonight... I know exactly how things are going to play out, so I may get moving again once things settle down here.

I'm so close to the "finishing line" of this one I can smell it. WOOT!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Catching Up...

Ever have one of those weeks when you did something and don't really remember how you got from Point A to Point B?

*waves* I had one this past week, and I'm shaking my head at how fast things progressed, yet I don't remember doing all of it!

My husband worked a couple of evening shifts this week, so while he was upstairs napping each morning, I dove into the writing. Although it wasn't easy, I managed to get Chapter 12 on the go, clean up bits of Chapter 1 that were bugging me, and keep going.

Friday was the best day this week, it was a full day and I just wrote.

4800 words later, I came out of the fog long enough to get my son off the bus and went back to it. Chapter 13 was done in completion that day and I still can't believe how easy it was once I got into it... And the content of it. I know some of you out there are not going to believe I wrote this stuff when you finally get to read it, but I did... Yes, this seemingly sweet and innocent, vertically challenged rocker chick with a hidden geeky side knows how to write "that" kind of thing.

Y'all will find out what I mean when it finally comes out, whenever that happens.

I also did a word count on Eleven this past week, the first one since March. I was blown away by the progress in the last two months... I knew I was progressing quickly, but not this quickly with it!

As you can see in the photo (screenshot of MS Excel XP Pro, which is what I use to keep track of things like this), I had almost 53K on Thursday, before Friday's big addition. Combine that with Friday's work and it's almost 58K.

I'm over halfway to the maximum of 100K that most publishers in my genre prefer.

The thing is, I may not come close to hitting that. Eleven is over halfway finished, plot wise, and depending on how things go in Chapter 14, I may be splicing in a huge key event that takes place not long before the lead-in to the final scenes of the story.

Yes, I am that close everyone.

It feels weird to be seeing the light at the end of the writing tunnel with a WIP barely three months after the initial idea was conceived... I'm sure my longtime readers and friends remember the four month drought I had between the initial idea of Family Portraits and when I finally got into writing that story... It was over three months. No Regrets (both books/parts) took well over a year for me to really get moving in it (close to two years in reality).

I don't know... Maybe the simpler, shorter and lighter stories aren't that hard for me to write, now that I know how to do it. I am still learning though, and Eleven has been quite a learning experience for me so far.

I'm not going to say that Eleven is "the one" that will see me finally published somehow, but even if only me and my beta team are the only ones who ever read it, at least I tried and will keep trying with different stories and projects until I hit the jackpot.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Moving Along--Wait! Was That a Speed Bump or a Bloody Mountain?

It's been one of those weeks where real life, the writing life and everything else just seemed to throw whatever it wanted at a lot of people I know.

I am keeping all who lost loved ones this week in my thoughts and prayers.

Canada's literary world lost one of its greats this past week also. Mr. Farley Mowat, author of "Never Cry Wolf" and "Lost in the Barrens", among so many other great books, passed away this week, only days before his 93rd birthday. I remember reading "Lost in the Barrens" and its sequel, "Curse of the Viking Grave", in elementary school, and loved both books.

My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Mowat's family and loved ones. He is going to be missed.

My Writing World...

I managed to get in a little writing time earlier this week, but after that, not much was going on until today. I'm not saying why publicly either.

Hubby didn't work a full daytime shift this week, not even today. His schedule got changed around, which meant I had only a couple of hours to work, with an hour break in between things today.

That said, between 2 two-hour writing sprees, I managed to get 2400 words added to Eleven, even with a rewrite of the last part of the scene I was working on last week and on Monday. (The scene was going down the exact road that a scene from another manuscript some publishers saw prematurely and I do NOT want to get stuck in a rut writing wise, so I changed it!) Things look better now and I'm "finally" into the full blown over 18 stuff.

It's a relief to finally get there. I wasn't sure on how things in this one would progress in that particular arena other than there would be at least one or two graphic ones in the story. Not knowing kind of annoyed me too, because I like to have the majority of a story "mapped out" in regards to scene ideas by the time I'm halfway through it.

I'm about halfway through Eleven now, if not more than that with the scenes that need to be spliced in. Not bad for less than three months of writing part time.

I still wish I was one of the lucky ones that can write more than one book a year. Maybe someday....

Chapter 11's first draft is finished, and so far it looks okay for a first draft. I know it needs to be edited by someone other than me, and boy am I expecting a lot of creative/constructive criticism from my betas once they get it!

That's okay with me. My editing STINKS to high heaven!

I'm not sure what's happening next week, but I hope to have at least one full day... Or if that doesn't happen, Hubby being a sweetie pie and leaving the house for a couple of hours one or two days this week so I can work. I tend to get ultra grumpy if I don't work on things here and there after all... *whistling innocently!*

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Setting Fire to the Keyboard and Word Processor....

I look at my most recent blog entry before this one and I'm amazed at my progress since I posted that (April 25th).

Was it only a bare week ago that I was in the middle of Chapter 8? It feels like more time has gone by since then... I must have had a bigger writing fog encompass my brain than I thought. Sheesh.

Well, things have been ultra nuts here this week. Hubby worked Monday, Wednesday and Friday daytimes, and was gone most of the day on Tuesday... So y'all know what I was doing. Ha.

I can't remember my word counts from Monday through Wednesday without checking my writing thread in one of my forums and I'm too out of it to go back in there now, but I know before today, I had a 6400 word week, which isn't that bad.

General synopsis for the week:

Monday: 2200 words added.

Tuesday: Finished Chapter 8, started Chapter 9.

Wednesday: Chapter 9 done, started Chapter 10.

Thursday: Rest and regroup day. Didn't do much other than chat with the local beta reader, play a few games in Facebook and mulled over the latest speed bump in the writing.

Friday: Figured out how to get past it, but thanks to some technical difficulties with my computer, got thrown off the curve and had only an 1800 word day before afternoon bus time. Wrote a short scene in main file and started a scene that would be spliced into the main file pretty soon. Wanted to get the basics of the start of it down before I forgot it!!!

After school total: 8K for the week.

Friday evening: Son had an activity evening and Hubby went with him. I stayed home and wrote. Chapter 10 finished and started Chapter 11. Now heavily into the "over 18" stuff finally. Word count total for the entire day: over 4800 words.

Those extra hours put me up to an 11K word week. Pretty darn good considering all of the problems I've been having hitting speed bumps and the stupid computer going ballistic on me by times!

I'm so foggy right now that a bomb could go off in my face and I probably wouldn't notice it. I've been going faster than the speed of light with this one, much faster than I was writing Family Portraits last year.

This is nuts. When the writing bug bites and a story gets you in its grip, you're a goner.

It's a great feeling, knowing you're creating something, and the high I get from a great writing day or week has no comparison. If the side effects didn't include walking into walls or the brain getting confused at everything, I'd love it even more...

It's worth it though. :)

Backups were done at 10 p.m. ADT on external drive for the record. After this week's amount of words added, I'm NOT going to risk losing all of it!

Next on the agenda: Finish that scene I started and spliced in today and figure out how to get from the end of that one to another one I started a while back!

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm relaxing tomorrow, and we'll be watching Doctor Who reruns tomorrow afternoon. Gotta get my man in the blue box fix! Hehehehehehee!

It's Only Been Two Months... "I'm THAT Far Along Already???"

This week has been another wild ride, writing wise.

Monday was a school holiday, so I spent most of it relaxing in between housework and helping my son with different things.

Tuesday was spent researching, talking with a beta reader and planning what to write next in Eleven.

Wednesday was a writing day, and that didn't go as I had hoped. I kept hitting speed bumps along the way and wasn't impressed with my overall progress. It was only a 1500 word day, which is one of the worst ones yet for having the entire day to myself.

Today was different. I had a little problem getting into it, because although I knew what was going to happen after where I left off on Wednesday, I wasn't sure "how" to lead into it yet. I played around with different ways and finally got going.

After that, it was like my fingers were flying across the keyboard. The words were coming faster than I could get them down and I had to go back and fill in a few missing words here and there once in a while.

The next thing I knew it was just after 4 p.m. and time to stop. The guys were on their way home (Son had after school fun time today and Hubby picked him up on his way home from work) and I had only another ten minutes, tops, before they arrived. I had just started a scene when they arrived home, but that's okay. I know exactly how it's going to play out so I will be able to get right back into it the instant I get my duff offline and dive into it on my next writing day.

Chapter 7 has been finished and Chapter 8 is about halfway done at the moment.

I just fell short of adding 5K words today. *BLINK!*

I haven't written up any love scenes for this one yet - normally I have at least the first one done long before I hit chapter 3 in the main file! - but that's okay. I'm closing in on the over 18 stuff starting pretty soon anyway... So I may as well leave things alone until I get to those points in the main file. I already know how the teaser is going to go and the lead in to it. Now getting between there and love scene #1 may take a lot of thinking... I have NO CLUE what's going to happen in it, the only thing I know right now is the circumstances that allow for it to happen. That's it.

I've done a word count on the main file ONLY today, and I'm shocked at my progress. Eleven's original idea came to me just under 3 months ago, and I've only been working on it for two months part time, and it's over 30K already! *THUD!*

Yeah, progress has been THAT good, folks.. And that number does NOT include all of the other scenes/files that I've written up and need to splice in!

I'm amazed at the progress so far. This one has taken over my mind even more than the Legacies series did when I was writing it, and all of my long time readers know how crazy I was going with writing both of them, notably "Family Portraits"!

Remember how I said a local friend (who is also one of my beta team) suggested a title for Eleven a couple of weeks ago and I wasn't sure if it was going to be the "final" title or not?

I've come to a decision on that too... And the title my longtime friend suggested is IT, folks! (Thank you D!) It's perfect for the story for various reasons I don't want to get into publicly right now.

I'm not ready to make the official announcement, that's coming sometime later this year, and I'm not sure if I'll do it before or after Eleven's first draft is finished. I may be one third of the way finished its first draft, but I still have a long, long way to go before I see the light at the end of Eleven's first draft tunnel.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Moving Along...

It's only Thursday and my writing goals have been met and surpassed for the week already. I'm glad I was able to do something, because I wasn't sure if I would get any writing time this week. Friday is a statutory holiday here in Canada, and although my husband is working, schools are closed so Son is going to be home. That means if I tried to get anything done writing wise, it would take me an hour to do one short paragraph, because Son would be asking for help with different things and I wouldn't be able to think because of that dratted TV being on anyway.

Monday afternoon, Hubby took Son shopping with him after school, so I sneaked in a little addition to Chapter 6, finished it, and started Chapter 7, all in just over 2 hours. 

Tuesday was my only full writing day this week, and even though it was slow going, I managed to get a short scene that happens later on in the book written up and moved on a little in Chapter 7. I'm in the middle of a scene in the main file right now, and I hope to finish it sometime between now and the 23rd if I can do it. 

Next week is another short school week, but I think I have a writing day during one of the three days Son will be in school... And I plan on making the most of it. I have only a few writing days left in the 8 weeks between now and the end of the school year, and I want as much added to Eleven's rough draft that I can before I wind up writing late at night again... And my longtime readers and friends know what happens a lot of the time I write late at night - I write something that seems like a brilliant idea at the time, and wind up taking it out after seeing it in the light of day. For example: Summer of 2012, I write up what used to be Chapter 31 of the manuscripts that were "No Regrets" during a late night run, and after rereading it, decided it wouldn't work right - and it was also a situation that had been used a zillion times in my genre. So I chucked it and rewrote almost the entire chapter.

That was NOT fun, and I'd prefer to keep rewrites to a minimum in Eleven if I can. Compressing things, fleshing out scenes a little more and keeping things on track is one thing, rewriting something because of my "bright ideas" late at night is another. It frustrates me, and makes me wonder what I was thinking.

I guess the lack of caffeinated coffee on those late nights made the brain go off in silly directions....

The weekend is going to consist of me going over Eleven's main file with a fine toothed comb to see where the biggest problem areas are, and using color coded highlights to show which areas are passive, repetitive, wordy, etc, so I don't have to do that later... And so my Alpha reader (Sandra) doesn't have to point things like that out to me when she finally gets her copy of Draft One of it. A few typos were caught too, which means less for her and my Betas to catch. 

I'm learning so much this time around... And I can't stress it enough: Have someone else check your work BEFORE you send it out... Don't make the same mistake I did with the first manuscript!

Have a great long weekend everyone!

A Great End to a Crazy Week....

This week has been one of the craziest I've had in ages... Both in real life and my writing world. 

Writing wise, it wasn't my best week yet. Wednesday saw me get another 3100 words added to Eleven, and progress a little more in Chapter 6. I'm almost done that chapter, once I get over a speed bump. It's normal, they happen and I will find a way over it... Somehow! Some spots are too wordy, others need to be added to, and I'm seeing mistakes all over the place. I have orders to just WRITE and worry about that later, like after its first draft is finished!

I started prepping for Friday's run, by thinking if I couldn't progress in the main file, I'd work on something else... Like start a new scene to splice in later or continue on in another scene idea I've already started.

Life does love to throw curve balls once in a while...

Friday was a dud writing wise. I guess Uni decided I needed a break and made me take one by making me sick on Thursday. I spent all of Friday recovering from it... I slept most of the day, and although I tried to work, I could not get my brain to work right.

All of my readers know that when I say I'm "too sick" to work, I'm knocked flat. Yeah, Thursday and yesterday were not good days. I'm glad my husband was around on Thursday so I could spend the rest of the day in bed with the cat, in between bouts of sipping ginger ale (gross!) and praying I'd be fine for Saturday morning's adventure at this year's Knowledge Festival, held at my old high school.

I'm now back to my old self, things went beyond my imagination and expectations for my son today (update on that is HERE on my Autism Blog - ALL students who represented their schools are winners in my opinion!) and I'm a little ticked off at myself for not getting more than 3100 words added to Eleven. I know, I should be easier on myself, but with the way things have been really smoking in the writing department, I can't help but be a little tee'd off for not getting more done in it. I want its first draft done as soon as I can do it, that way I can get it into draft 2 and off to my alpha and beta teams... And so I'm not going so crazy not being able to write a lot during the summer months!

It seems I'm going to get one writing day this week after all, and I plan on burning up Word to make up for missing out on writing time on Friday... Blasted germs. *SIGH* If I can't get over that speed bump in Chapter 6 this coming week, I'll work on another scene to splice in later on.

Hey, it's still progress even if it's not in the main file, right? *wink!*

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Looking Ahead...

Another spring is here and for the third year in a row, I'm getting into a story just as we see the end of the school year less than three months away. In the spring of 2012, the first installments of the Legacies series was well underway, 2013 saw me going nuts with getting as much of the final installment of the series out of the way before summer vacation, and this year, I'm starting to get deep into Eleven just as the third term of the school year is starting.

Just my luck, but that's the way things have been rolling for me writing wise since I've actually had the time to sit down, write and keep a story in my head.

Last week was phenomenal writing wise, despite not being able to get settled into it right away on the one writing day I had. As I mentioned in this past Wednesday's entry, Tuesday was a 1000 word day and I was pleased to add that much to Eleven's main file.

Friday, schools were finally open again - the local DOT did a fantastic job clearing the roads of snow and ice - and after a settling in period, I dove into getting more added to the main file.

It was a 3000 word day even with the initial problems of getting into it. Once I figured out how to get moving again, I was lost in my own little world and didn't emerge until about half an hour before afternoon bus time and then I continued for a few extra minutes. I had written a small scene a few weeks ago and finally reached the point in the main file where it would go, so I spliced it in.

With the splice, I'm now up to the middle of Chapter 5 and the main file has almost 17,000 words. That number is subject to change over time, as I flesh out, compress or remove some areas.

I've also started a possible dedication, acknowledgements and excerpts file just for this story, if it ever gets published somehow. Since I've had a lot of input and support from so many people for Eleven, notably one special local friend on a subject I wasn't overly familiar with, I thought it was a good idea to have a rough draft of that done as well, that way I won't be scrambling if a publisher wants it. I give credit where it is due, and I want to make sure I acknowledge and thank everyone who has helped me with this story, from the research end of it, to the people who critique excerpts, my supporters and of course, my Alpha and Beta Readers.

Once again, it's only one full writing day for me this week if the weather cooperates, so I have a lot planned in my writing world for that day. I'd like to wrap up Chapter 5 if I can do it and toss in one more "teaser" before the leading couple actually gets around to acknowledging a few things.

This coming Friday (April 4th) is Troubled Waters' next event at the MSAC in Bridgewater, NS, called "Spring Into Metal". The lineup is going to be a fantastic one again - Try Dying, Doom Machine, Flesh Cauldron and of course, my favorite local band, Whom Gods Destroy, will be there. There's a $5 cover charge for non members of the MSAC, but it's worth it. The bands playing are so talented, and there is always a great group of people there to watch the bands and enjoy the music. I've met a few wonderful people at these events, ones who are there to listen to our local talent, support our musicians and keep in touch with like minded people and friends. I always have a great time, even if there are a few rotten apples in the room.

The link to Troubled Waters' Facebook fan page is in my links area to the left of my blog entries if anyone wants to check their page for updates, upcoming events and other news related to the Nova Scotia music scene.

Have a great week everyone! Hopefully I'll have a photo or two from "Spring Into Metal" to share with all of you sometime this weekend.

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!