Sleep. Finally. I had to skip writing totally yesterday which made 1000 words missed. I wrote 1013 today though (just finished actually. ugh! I was using sleep as my reward). So, if I wrote another 1k tomorrow, then I'll be on track again. My scene ended up about 600 words short though. I only made it to 1400 and change with the second scene (I was shooting for 2k), but that's still a nice improvement over my usual one. Maybe I'll hit 2k with the hospital scene I'm working on now. Rather late in the word count I had to switch over to writing long hand because my eyes were crossing at the monitor...ahh, well...

Real Life (tm). I wrote a little over 100 words yesterday. A bunch of stuff conspired against me and I couldn't get back to the computer. I ended up not getting home until 1 am, and by then my contacts were in rebellion. I'll just have to make up that ground at some point.

By The Hair On The Skin Of My Chinny Chin Chin. I made my goal tonight. Rough writing though, but I persevered and got 576 words. For the record, I actually made it an inch before midnight (not that it matters, my night's not over until I go to sleep, well, until I take out my contacts at least). And tomorrow is my day off. I can write, but if I do it's not planned, it's just bonus. That's a nice feeling.

New Keyboard. I probably just spilled water on it, so it should dry out shortly and work fine. Al loaned me a keyboard (the joys of having family in computers): A Microsoft Natural! w00t! I'm in love with it already. I still have to get my writing done for the day, but I'm about to start working on it right now.

Slow And Steady. Wrote 513 words today (had it done before I reached home on the bus). I re-wrote the beginning of the second scene in HLB (what I was thinking about starting yesterday). I came home intent on typing it up and getting everything all squared away, but my keyboard to my computer is on the fritz. Something must have spilled in it or something because it is acting really oddly. So, I'm typing on Skip's computer. Trying to get my work done. I wrote long-handed, but I want to get it saved to disk. I'm writing 500 words a day; consistency is the ticket. I'd eventually like to be able to write fast and steady, but until I can increase my wordcount and still write every day, I"m gonna stick with slow but steady.

P.S. It's hard writing on another keyboard. Skip's is a bit smaller than mine which makes it hard to adapt to.

Made my goal. I ended up with a solid first scene for HLB of 521 words. I might try to start my re-write of the second scene (what I wrote on Sunday was pretty dismal), but I haven't decided yet. Baby steps is the ticket, I've learned. So, I'll shoot for 500 solid words on a scene that will end up being a little over 2k long. That is if I decide to work on it tonight. I probably will.

Apprehensive. HLB's first scene scares me a little. It's not graphic at all, Di gets knocked unconscious before anything actually happens and she wakes up after it's all over, but still...The first line is "Thought you said we was gonna get a white girl this time."...I can't think of any other way to start it and I don't really want to soften that. I've been working really hard to say what I mean and not weasel my way out of it, but still...*sigh*...

Random Fact. The fingerprints of koala bears are very similar to human fingerprints, so similar that they've actually been confused at crime scenes...I wonder if one day I'll be able to work that into a novel. I've always wanted to do a mystery series one day. I also joined a professional writer's group run by S.L. Viehl; I'm very excited about that. I'm rewriting the first HLB scene, going to try to develop it to 500 words. That's all on my end. Back to work.

Oops. I fell asleep at the keyboard. I started the scene I was having trouble with (got 235 words in, just over a ms formatted page long) and next thing I know Mom's asking me if I want to lay down in the bedroom. :-) I don't think I've ever done that before...

Jumpstarting The Muse. Having a little trouble getting the fingers going today. I wrote the first scene of Hush Little Baby, only 386 words, but I wasn't trying to do ten pages yet. That scene was supposed to be short, there's really no getting around it. Now, I have to use Mark's (Dad's)) P.O.V. to show him waiting for Diana to get home (his over-bearing protective skills kicking), the family dynamics involved, and his reaction to her showing up on the doorstep bruised and dirty. A lot to cover. And I can't figure out how to get started. And I'm at home (the parents' house) and Mom's got the TV blaring and so much is going on. Guess I've gotten used to working in my own space...Well, back to work.

It Works! I had a great session with Kay last night! She thinks that Diana could be declared incapable of making that decision. Her only issue was whether the doctor would willingly perform the procedure on an unwilling patient. However, we discussed it and realized that Di is only 14. Her father took her to court because he was worried about what decision she was making, all the adults in her life are telling her to think about the future, the judge orders it over her nay-say. The doctor says "Sweetie...you're not even responsible for the decision", she goes along with it, because of the medical complications, the procedure is performed immediately. She regrets it after it's done, but it's already done. w00t! I'm so excited. I'm going to try to finish up all my other plotting (one-line scene descriptions) today, so I can start writing. And there's a monthly marathon over at FM this weekend, so maybe I'll be able to break in the new novel with a bang. :-) :-)

Something For Me To Work On. The length of my scenes. They always seem to be about 500 words or two pages. I need to work on developing them more (not just having two heads talking). Well, developing without padding (I learned to pad at NaNoWriMo last November). I'd like to be able to write a ten page scene, but we'll see...I think one of the main issues is that I focus on something too little to write for awhile on.

You are a narrative writer. Usually a writer of
stories rather than poetry, you grew up reading
Shakespeare's less popular and heard of plays--
like King Lear or the Henry series. Your
writing contains a certain order and
organization--be it chronological or otherwise.
If you are to write poetry, it has to convey a
logical (or perhaps unreal) story with some
sort of order behind it.


What's YOUR Writing Style?
brought to you by Quizilla

Brainstorming Appointment. I e-mailed Kay this morning and just got her reply when I got home. We're going to meet in FM chat at seven o'clock this evening. Look at me being proactive about plotting.

And Congratulations... To Robert and Nonny who, on Monday, finally got to drop the "long-distance" phrase out of their relationship. I'm thrilled for you two.

Switched Projects. I decided to shelve Four More Exits for a little while. I love the seed idea still, but I think I need to let it grow on its own for a little while. I've been pouring water on it, shouting "Grow! Grow!" and all I've succeeded in doing is drowning the poor thing. So, time to let all that water absorb is the prescription I've decided one. I moved on to an idea I had years ago (Hush Little Baby) about a girl who gets raped, gets pregnant, and refuses to have an abortion. It's one of those ideas that haunts me at night: interesting, twisted, morally stretching ("how far would you go to "protect" the ones you love?" sits right at the center of the novel). I used one of Sheila's plotting templates and that worked really nicely for this novel. However, now I really need to catch Kay (an FM associate and a lawyer) in chat so I can see if my ending is plausible. I have to build a very specific set of details into the entire story to support it and I'm reluctant to start writing until I know whether I can make it work. If not, it's still a good idea, but a separate set of details has to be built in to support the other direction it could go in. All in all, I'm rather excited {{shiver}}.