Week Two–Still Writing

Two weeks in.  Happy Easter, happy Passover, happy April 16th, however you may be inclined. I’ve been doing well on my goals, so I’m in a pretty good mood. Last night, I wrote 2916 words on a set of blog posts for next year’s A-Z challenge.  Yes, I know that’s a year away, but I find I should write things when I want to write them.  Well, I write every day, but I sometimes let inspiration guide what I write.  I also wrote 643 words yesterday on a different blog post that should go up reasonably soon, and last Wednesday I wrote about 300 words for a Mother’s Day post (handwritten, so harder to count) and spent a lively few hours discussing my characters in the World War II novella with Eden.  It was good to discuss and share on such a bittersweet day–Wednesday was the third anniversary of my mother’s passing, as well as my youngest son’s 24th birthday.  It was also very good to write.  

I am clearly still awash with blog post ideas, but hope to dust off my story toolkit/outline/coloring book even further after the discussion of the characters and their respective backgrounds. I took notes like mad as we talked, but I know I can refine some things when I type them in. I’m glad to be back writing and thinking about writing on a regular basis

Oh, and because I saw an interest in writing spaces mentioned on Facebook, here’s the writing space I had in the last house (we moved in July 2016).

Left side of the writing desk

As for my goals, which I will probably start monkeying with now that they seem attainable:

One blog post per week. Nothing posted this week except for this one.  I do have seven more in draft that I hope to post soon.

Five sentences of fiction every day. Yes, most of it on Wednesday, but I’ll definitely take it.

Half an hour of editing the non-fiction book every day. Four days this week.

I hope everyone has a great week.

One Week In–Skimming the Wave

So, one week in, how am I doing on my goals?

One blog post per week. I posted a funny video on elizabethannemitchell.com this past Friday, but I don’t consider that a blog post. This one counts, though! 

Five sentences of fiction every day. On the whole, this was a win. Sometimes, it was more than five sentences, especially when I was writing character backgrounds or planning ideas for further scenes.

Half an hour of editing the non-fiction book every day. Only two days this past week.

Perhaps because it has been one of those weeks at the day job, I have been inundated with ideas for blog posts. I am swept away by ideas that I want to explore. Not having time to draft anything, I have been packing these ideas into drafts or making lists of things to pursue.  Crazily enough, I am even thinking of things to write for next year’s A-Z challenge. The fiction has been coming along slowly, but that is better than stalled, so I am comfortable with that. The non-fiction has stalled, because I made the mistake of planning to do it during breaks at the day job, which vanished like fog in sunlight. I didn’t get away from the veal-fattening pen for lunch or coffee, much less writing. I will carve out more of my “before day job morning” to dedicate to the non-fiction as well as the fiction.

The months of this Round are tough for me, containing my brother’s birthday, Mother’s and Father’s Day, and the anniversaries of both my parents’ deaths. I have often hidden away in depression and silence, but I feel I can write this year. I am glad to be back this Round, and hope to begin visiting participants’ blogs more regularly.

Round Two 2017 Goals

I’m amazed (and saddened) to see how long it has been since I have posted on this blog.  I didn’t meet all my goals in the Round of Words challenge, but I did get a lot more words down when I participated than in the past many moons.  So here I am with my modest goals for the upcoming Round.

One blog post per week. Some weeks this will probably be my account of how I progressed on my goals, but I hope to expand to other posts.

Five sentences of fiction every day. More will be cherished and coddled, but five is required.

Half an hour of editing the non-fiction book every day. Yes, it’s not always pretty or fun, but necessary.

I have some life goals as well, which are not yet measurable, but will be added when they begin to hold a shape and be measurable.

If you’re interested in joining the Round of Words in 80 Days challenge, this FAQ will give you all the details. Feel free to jump in anytime.

 

 

 

 

Back from the tired

A rare Wednesday check-in from me, totally due to meeting Eden who (kindly) informed me I was going to write and post tonight.  I needed that accountability, and here I am.

RoW80

Until today, I hadn’t written anything outside of the day job.  I have been exhausted and needing to fill the well for over a month.  I now understand on a cellular level that good stress is as debilitating as bad stress, because moving into this lovely new house and neighborhood has beaten me to a pulp. I come home from the day job exhausted, and do nothing but play computer games and read.  

The good part?  I do spend a lot of weekend time going through boxes in the garage.  It will be a nice, efficient, welcoming house when I am done. The bad part? I’m not writing. I have yet to find the correct configuration for my office that allows me to retreat without guilt. It doesn’t help that it has been one of the hottest few weeks I’ve weathered here in the past four years. I wake up thinking I’m back in north central Florida.  Well, I’m tough, and I will persevere!

Please visit the other RoWers here if you have a chance–the accountability is a key piece of the challenge. If you are interested in joining the RoW80 challenge, this FAQ will give you all the details. Feel free to jump in anytime.

WIPpet Wednesday 

After a long absence, Eden made me write this scene this afternoon (thank you, Eden).  I added the 8 + 10 + 2 +1 + 6 for 27 sentences, and one more that had to be there for sense.

 

Carol leaned across the table. “So, how are things with Johnny?”

Linda sighed. “Even from across the room, he’s cute. Strong and silent.  Just my type.” She smiled at Helen.  “So, give! When is his platoon coming back?”

Helen sighed as well, not wanting to talk about it. “It’s called a flight in the Army Air Forces.”

“You say tom-ah-to, I say, well, to-mah-to.  When are you going to see him?”

“I’m not sure I’m going to see him again.”

“What?” Carol gaped at her.

Linda asked, “Did he dump you?”

“No, things were just going a bit fast.”

“I like fast.” Carol grinned.

Linda swatted her arm. “This isn’t about you.” Turning to Helen, she asked, “Did he pull that ‘I could die tomorrow, so sleep with me tonight’?”

Helen shook her head. “No, nothing like that. He was just getting too serious.”

Carol asked, “But isn’t serious good?”

Linda laid her hand on Carol’s arm. “Not always.”

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where writers share part of their WIP here. The only requirement is that the length have something to do with the date, hence the maths above.  Feel free to read, comment, or join in!

Prodded and Posed

Well, I fell off the map last Wednesday again.  I was in the big city from Sunday through Tuesday, getting poked, prodded, and posed.  Why is it that x-rays require impossible ways of holding oneself? I remember several years ago being asked to move my broken arm into some sort of origami, which took all my early lessons of politeness to weather.

On the plus side, I did get a chance to do some window shopping for furniture, especially for something to give us more counter space in our original 1960 kitchen. I am unpacking slowly and deliberately, and still getting rid of a lot of stuff, which continues to feel liberating.

I have also done some thinking and scribbling down of those thoughts, but have spent a lot of the last week trying to stay cool, relaxing and reading. I have some added incentive to finish a scholarly article for a new journal that asked for submissions by the end of August, so I plan to pull something together by that time. I also have to update Pacemaker, which fell off my radar, since I do have some progress on the projects.

Please visit the other RoWers here if you have a chance–the accountability is a key piece of the challenge. If you are interested in joining the RoW80 challenge, this FAQ will give you all the details. Feel free to jump in anytime.

 

Trains and tests and doctors, oh my!

Last Wednesday’s check-in came and went without a post from me, partially because one of my doctors called at 4pm on Tuesday with a last-minute cancellation for Wednesday. It was a bit of a scramble to get the trains set up to get there and back, but it finally worked out. Although I have more tests in the next few days, I did well not to wait another month for my original appointment to see this doctor, as I seem to have done more damage than I thought when I fell in April.

I managed to get some writing done on Friday, thanks to a writing sprint (thank you again, Eden) and got my minimum goals on Saturday and today, but concentrated on unpacking and cleaning on Saturday.

Also, I was reminded by Karen in a comment that it’s okay to be tired (and thank you for the reminder). I tend to think I should be able to get things done more quickly than I can, but doing this move correctly means getting rid of things I don’t need, and finding a place for things I do need. I am making progress, and need to work on my patience–not my strong suit by a long shot!

If you are interested in joining the RoW80 challenge, this FAQ will give you all the details. Feel free to jump in anytime.

RoW80 Check-in Ahead and Behind

Illumination from Morgan Library MS 775

It continued to be a crazy week, but that is starting to feel normal. DH and I spent yesterday planting flowers in the brick planter by the front door, and in a couple of concrete urns in the back yard, as well as putting up some hanging baskets.  It helped greatly to make it feel more like home.

Settling into the house is taking a fair amount of time and energy, but it feels good.  I have been keeping up with some of the writing I planned to do, but not all.  I plan to work more on it this week, and have some inter-library loan books awaiting me tomorrow. I realize several of you have more than five projects going at one time, but I encourage you to check out Pacemaker (https://pacemaker.press/).  I really like it.

I spent five hours on the train to and from New York City on Friday, and despite best intentions to be productive, I slept most of the trip.  I can only accept that I must have needed the sleep.

So far, I have rather spotty progress on my goals, but I’m settling into the rhythm, and am not terribly worried yet. I am behind on my fiction, which should be at 960 words, and is at 0.  I have thought about it every day, teasing apart some of the conflict to see if it is strong enough. I wish the book could be delivered like the one in the illumination above, but I haven’t figured out how to tap into that delivery service.

I am ahead on my blog posts, since I am at 2,198 words, and am supposed to be at 1,250. I am behind on my article, which is supposed to be at 385, and is at 0, but I can catch up tonight and tomorrow.  I have read through what I have written, and targeted some holes in the argument.

I have some doctors’ appointments to make pursuant to the doctor’s visit I had Friday, and must call tomorrow.

Check out the goals of other ROWers, which you can find here. If you’re interested in joining ROW80 challenge, the FAQ will give you all the details. Feel free to jump in anytime.