words to move forward by

Day Clear - 1,300 Words

Sent request material from FTOD to super agent!








So, yet again I'm feeling pretty pathetic. In the last two weeks I have only managed to write about 1300 words in one of my projects. In my defense, we did spend a lot of time cleaning up flood damage in the basement. Then I had even more time go towards catching up laundry from the mess. All in all, these are just excuses.

Since accountability here on this blog is not working as well as expected, I have developed a schedule for the next two weeks to get more done. (After that I will have to make a new schedule because James will be officially done with public school.) I swore this blog would solve my procrastination issues. When I had my wonderful friend Marie begging for a new chapter each week, I could deliver. Now that we no longer live ten minutes from each other, or even the same state, I am struggling to find motivation for my self. Again I say, as I have before in my blog, feel free to harass me to keep writing.

I love to write but rarely allow myself 'me' time to do it. Since I am not a paid author, it is still a pleasure in my life instead of a job. One day I will be able to write guilt free. Until that day, I will simply do it anyway. The guilt is self imposed and I plan to eliminate it. Through sheer will, if necessary. This is my guilty pleasure, and I plan on making it more pleasure and less guilt.

Anyone else deal with this? I would gladly take suggestions on how to deal with it.

words to move forward by

Day Clear - Approximately 500 Words

What an insanely crazy week! I don't even really know where to begin.

Overall, school is getting a little tiring. May 11 is my last day and I have 4 assignments left to go. It's not really that much, it just seems to be taking a lot of time. May 27 is James' last day. I cannot wait for him to be done. It is a blessing to be allowed in his classroom everyday. I will just be able to get more done when four hours a day is not spent out. I'll try to explain. I am a person strictly dictated by how I start my day. If I get up early and start working I get a ton done. If I get up early and leave, when I get home I get nothing done. And finally, if I get up and start reading a book, my day is gone before I realize that I have not left the couch. I try hard to not allow myself that last one. Long story short, Monday, Tuesday, and part of Friday were all devoted to me completing this degree.

Wednesday...I thought this was going to be my miserable day for the week. I was wrong. On Wednesday, I had that one yearly doctor checkup that all women know they need, but spend the entire year hoping there was a way to avoid. After volunteering all morning and three hours spent between the doctor's office and pharmacy, I still managed to come home and write a couple pages. Sadly, this is the only 'writing' I completed this week.

That just leaves Thursday, the rest of Friday, and this weekend. I'll put it out there now that Thursday is my one night a week to indulge in TV. I love Bones, Supernatural, and Vampire Diaries. Sadly, I'm always one week behind on VD because it and Bones are on at the same time. Friday night is also family night. We eat pizza in the living room while watching movies. This week James helped make homemade pizza and we watched Where the Wild Thing Are. It should have stayed only a book.

And now for my bad day(s)...Just thinking about it is disgusting. I live in Tennessee. My basement started flooding Saturday. My wonderful husband and I have been working almost nonstop to minimize damage. Right now, it looks like our efforts have paid off, but we will not know for sure until Monday night when trash has been hauled off and the flooring is up. We were lucky, though, and I send my prayers to the families dealing with so much more.

Any unaccounted for time was surely spent wrangling my monkey or trying, and failing, to keep my house clean. As always, feel free to harass me for whatever it is next week that tries to keep me from writing. I need it after the travesty that was last week.

words to move forward by

First Touch of Dark - Words=79,315 Pages=253 - In Editing

Second Stroke of Shade - Fully Outlined

Day Clear - Words=8,249 Pages=30

Other Projects -
General Outline for Alyce's Story Series
2 Book Ideas on back burner



Between the decision to go back to school and volunteer time with James' school, my writing time has severely suffered. In an effort to keep me moving forward, I will now be posting exactly what I have completed each week actually writing. This is not including any so called research. Reading a million YA books will never get my own written, although I wish it could sometimes. Buried in a book is a great place to be! This also does not include the time I spend over obsessing about the agent I do not have...yet!

Here's where I stand at this moment. I am working on Day Clear (a running title I like, but am still unsure of). It is a lot of fun and pays great tribute to the five years I lived in Germany. First Touch of Dark is currently with Amy, otherwise known as Superwoman, who makes everything look effortless. Hopefully she has completely ripped it apart. I love brutal honesty. It has done nothing but improve the book so far. The other projects are just waiting to be picked up. Finishing book two is priority one right now. Which really means I should get done with chapter 3. (LOL) I am also debating the idea of submitting some shorter work to journals. Any thoughts on this?

In other words, feel free to harass me about playing on Facebook or any of my other outlandish addiction that keep me distracted from actually writing. I also want to give a shout out to Literary Agent Jennifer Jackson for her 'letters from the query war', which gave me the idea of accountability in my writing. Thanks!