The Starting Point

So I didn't write much this past week. 1398 words on Thursday was about it.

Still, that means my starting point is:

20,900 words

I think that's a pretty good spot to be. So far this morning I've only written 1,466 words, but I do have a very needy puppy to pay attention to as well. D comes home from work shortly and I'll have the rest of the day to write by myself.

Much luck to everyone writing their hearts out this weekend. I'm eating lunch and diving back into it.

Cheers,

Tina

3 Day Novel

So the three day novel contest has arrived. Kick off is tomorrow at midnight.

And I won't be partaking in the fun this year... not as a contestant anyway.

I will be locking myself in a room for three days. I will be writing feverishly. I will probably go insane by the end of it (just like last year). But I will be working on my novel, not a new project that I will submit to the contest.

For those of you partaking, I'm right there with you. Feeling your pain, rubbing the same blood shot, exhausted eyes.

For those of you not partaking, why they heck not? Ok, fine. I realize not everyone is up to the challenge of writing a novel in three days.

My goal is not really a word count goal. My goal is to get as much done as humanly possible in three days. Last year I wrote 20,000 words, so I know that amount is humanly possible... maybe more is too.

I'll give you all a word count update tomorrow on the words I've done up until Friday at midnight. Then we'll know what I'm going into the weekend with.

I wish all participants the best of luck... please wish me luck too.

Tina

Word Count: Aug 18-24

Here's an update on my word count last week.

Word Count:

Tuesday: 1,350 words
Wednesday: Research
Thursday: 614 words
Friday: Editing

Total for the week (Mon - Sun): 3,287 words on Ice Debt

Not bad. I'd say it's a pretty good increase from last week at 194 words.

I'll be in touch soon.

Tina

Over the weekend

This weekend wasn't the greatest for productivity, as much as I may have hoped for it, but it is starting to pick up.

Word Count:
Saturday - 194 words on Ice Debt
Monday - 1,328 words on Ice Debt

Not bad all things considered. It was a stressful weekend with our puppy having complications from having his dew claws removed on Aug 8. He's better now, but we didn't sleep much.

I also went to a wedding this weekend. A friend of mine from Jr. High invited me to her beautiful wedding. It was great to see her again, and so happy.

My office is coming closer to completion. Only shelves to put up on the walls and a drawer unit left to purchase and install. These two things might take some time, but the space is working better than ever before already.

I'll keep you posted.

Tina

PS: To those of you living in the Edmonton Area... Wow, talk about the heat. I'm actually glad that its going to rain for the next couple of days. I love the heat, but plus 36 is a little too hot even for me.

Productivity?

I haven't been very good at updating you since I got my website up and running. Here's an update:

Last week I only wrote 592 works on Ice Debt. I've been distracted with our new puppy (who requires lots of attention, but is otherwise a happy guy) and the hope of starting work on my Graphic Novel Project.

This project may not be a go. Unfortunately, the artist I was supposed to meet with hasn't gotten back to me in three weeks. That's normally a sign of either a) he's too busy, so how much time would he really have to work on this project? or b) he's not really interested.

Oh well. I have other contacts I haven't bugged to see if they know of any graphic artists, maybe I should go back to doing that?

On a happier note, I picked up a beautiful desk the other day and we set it up last night. I've cleared a bunch of junk out of the spare bedroom and it's starting to look like a real office. It's strange how psychological writing can be. Now that I have a space almost ready for me to work in, I feel like I could write more and better.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a boost in my productivity?

New Website

So after months of me promising a new website, it's done... kind of.

http://www.tinahunter.ca/ is live on the net. You can check it out whenever you'd like. I warn you though, there are still some glitches that need to be worked out and some pages that aren't finished yet.

For example, I'm having trouble right now when people want to join my forum. Because the page on my website that you see the forum on isn't the source site, you have to open any of the links in a new page in order to post or log in. However, you can see the forum, and read any of the pages without leaving my site.

I also don't have the contact me page finished yet, nor has the blogging feature been uploaded onto my site yet (not my fault, that's the hosting companies problem). Once the feature is there, I'll be transferring this blog over to my website.

So, take a look and tell me what you think. I am flexible, and would love to know what your thoughts are.

Cheers,

Tina

Puppy Mommy

It official... I'm a puppy mommy.

River is a wonderful addition to our family, even if he is incredibly timid and shy.

River is a Border Collie cross, although he looks like a larger version of a pure bred Collie. He was found at the Westlock Vet clinic as a stray and they took him in, feed him, and waited for someone to claim him. No one did. The vet clinic can only keep dogs for so long before they have to put them down. Luckily, Second Chance Animal Rescue (SCARS) picked him up and took him to a foster home while they waited for someone to adopt him. This was July12. One week later, on July 19, D and I went to a meet and greet with some of the animals up for adoption with SCARS. River (formerly Mario) was quiet, hanging back from everyone else. He didn't even catch our attention until one of the ladies pointed him out.

We walked him around the store, pet him, and generally hung out. River just let us do what we wanted. He listened to our commands, even if he only understood half of them, and was very well behaved. When other dogs were aggressive against him, he just turned and walked away as if he was no longer interested in where he was sitting. We think he may have been abused before he became a stray. One of the ladies was feeding him treats raised her hand too quickly and River dropped to the floor and shook like a leaf for a few moments until we all reassured him that everything was fine. He was an interesting dog.

We put in an application and slept on it. It is a big decision. By morning, we both knew that we needed to give this dog a forever home. We picked River up from the foster home on July 20 at 6:30pm. He is just as timid and shy as we saw at the meet and greet, but I'm confident that he will open up when he realizes that this is his house and that no one will hurt him here.

I may give you updates as things go on but I'm thinking of starting a second blog just for my adventures with River. I'll let you know.

PS: I haven't got the contact information for the graphic artist yet, he was on vacation last week but is coming in tonight. I'll try and book a meeting this week or next, and I'll let you know how it all turns out.

Connections

You never know when the people you meet, in the most normal circumstances, will aid you in something you want.

There is a new gentleman who started on my floor, Mike. He doesn't work in my area, or with us at all. In most cases, we would never have spoken. But he is a very outgoing person who likes to laugh with people, chat and say hi. I liked him right away.

After a couple weeks he asked me a question. "So what are your career goals, or do you really like where you are?". I told him the truth. The end goal was to quit my day job and become a writer full time. He didn't laugh.

It took a week (the week before I left) but we finally meet up in the lunch room at the same time, and he asked me all about my writing, what I was doing, how it was going. He was genuinely interested. I was impressed.

I got back from vacation, and poked my head into his office today to say hello. He told me that after our conversation about my writing he had to share it with someone, someone who might understand. He told his friend who just happens to be a graphic artist. I had told Mike that one of my stories, "Beloved Child", I wanted to turn into a graphic novel. His friend is interested, and mentioned that if it was something he couldn't do he has two graphic artist friends ( one already in the comic book industry) who might be interested.

You never know who someone is, or who they know, until it has already worked for or against you.

Moral of the Story: Everyone is valuable. Treat them that way.

A Writers Mind

On the long 16 hour drive home from Victoria to Edmonton, I noticed a u-haul trailer left on the side of the road. Now to most people, this would be something to note and then forget, but I will take this example to explain the difference between normal people and writers.

I saw the trailer and immediately asked myself, why would someone leave a trailer on the side of the highway? I saw that the blinking hazard lights were on, and wondering why someone wouldn't be worried about the batteries dying? They must be coming back right away. But why would they leave?

I looked around. The trailer was left at the bottom of a dip in the road. Ahead and behind were hills and a large truck pulling a trailer may have trouble climbing with any speed. So the person probably needed to leave in a hurry. In steps my imagination.

I closed my eyes for a moment and saw a man trying to run from someone and ditched the trailer to get away, but that didn't work with my theory on leaving the lights on, so I scraped it. I then saw a couple, the wife a pregnant woman who had gone into labour early. Yes that worked.

You see in my mind I saw that the man and woman were traveling away from Kamloops, north. They were about twenty minutes away when she went into labour. The man pulled over to the side of the road, and when they realized it would make the best sense to turn around and go back to a Kamloops hospital, the man had lost any momentum needed to climb the hill they just came down. If he wanted to get his wife to the hospital quickly, they would have to ditch the trailer. But my mind wouldn't let it be so easy.

The trailer had to have something important in it. Perhaps they were moving? No, it is was too small of a trailer. Maybe he was selling something? Vegetables? No you would need something with ventilation. It would have to be something stacked. Woodwork? Yes. The man was a master wood carver and inside the trailer was his finest pieces. He was going north to try and sell them. Would he be traveling far north? Yes, perhaps all the way to Jasper where he would have the most luck selling his work for top dollar. His wife was only 8 months pregnant and so they should have been fine for a week in Jasper.

So he must leave his master carvings on the side of the road and travel back to the Kamloops to ensure his wife has a safe delivery. He speeds like a mad man. Half because he wants his wife to be safe within the hospital walls, and half because he wants to get back to the trailer.

They reached the hospital within 20 minutes, and the doctors said that the baby boy was on his way. It would be a fast delivery. Now the man had to make another choice. Go back and get the trailer, or stay and watch the birth of his first born....

D broke into my thoughts and asked me how far away the next town was. I took out the map and told him as if I hadn't just create an impossible story in my mind over the last few minutes. Sometimes I wonder how accurate I am (or not) when I create stories like this.

Sometimes I wonder if writers are sane at all....

A month again?

Wow. I am horrible at posting right now.

We'll it's been a month....

I've written a bit, not a huge amount, but then again work has been stressful... very stressful. But I won't get into it here because I'm still in the middle of it and you never know who might be reading. :)

Word Count Update:
As of May 21 = 10,837 words (my last post)
As of Today = 14, 164 words (not bad)

Needless to say I am SOOOOOO looking forward to my vacation. D and I are going to BC for two weeks of camping. Just to get away from it all. No worries, no yard work, no renovations, no job. Just relaxing and enjoying the great outdoors.

I'm also buying a car plug in for my laptop so I can write on the road.

I leave on Friday, so it'll be a few weeks until I post again. Hopefully by then I can fill you in more on what's been going on.

Til next time.

Tina

May Flowers

It's been exactly a month. April 21 to May 21.

I haven't done much of anything in it. Done some writing, some unpacking.

Started my weekly Wednesday Library days again. Last Wednesday I wrote 203 words, today I wrote 833. Not bad for getting back into the swing of things.

D and I bought a new car to go with the new house, and I applied for a new job but I don't think I want it any more. I think I've had enough of change and I just want to get back to one thing... writing.

I hope to find more time to write (here and otherwise) soon!

Tina

Hard at Work?

Hello all,

This past week we got the keys to our house and proceeded to rip apart the bathroom in renovation. It's about 5 days away from completion now, so we plan on moving in this weekend.

Who knew renovations (even when you aren't the one doing them) could be so stressful? I guess it's mostly the fact that we have so much to do before we can move into the house on Saturday.

On a side note, no writing this week. I feel the itch to write starting to get under my skin so I know it won't be long now before packing, painting, and moving will just have to take the back seat for an hour or two so I can write. I'll be SOOOOOO happy when we are in the house and I can start focusing on the things I want to.

I don't have too much else in the way of an update, so I'll end this here. Hope you are having a fantastic week.

PS: For anyone who lives in Alberta... WHAT HAPPENED TO SPRING? I had to bring out my big winter boots and trudge to work this morning in over a foot of snow. I really hope it warms up by this weekend. I don't want to move in a blizzard.

Tina

I Get Keys Tomorrow!

OK. The count down is now:

1 Day, 3 Hours, and 10 Minutes... till I get the Keys to my house.

Can you tell I'm a little excited?

Have I written anything in the last week? No.

Have I packed like a mad woman, given up almost all relaxing time, and I'm now exhausted but will still have to pack tonight? Yes

Hopefully, I'll post pictures of our house and the dreaded bathroom renovation this weekend.

I hope you had a fantastic week (and that you wrote a lot for those of you who do). SMILE! It's Spring!

Tina

Being Distracted

It's been two weeks. I'm so bad at keeping you all updated.

I've written all of... Wait for it... 50 words in the last two weeks.

I've been distracted. Thinking about doing some freelance writing on the side. Thinking of doing a lot of things on the side.

In the end I did none of it, mostly because D asked me why I felt the need to spread myself so thin that nothing would get finished. And the answer to that is, I have no idea.

Maybe it's a subconscious thing. Maybe I don't want to finish anything. Or maybe I have such a curious mind I latch on to new ideas and delve as deep as I can into them given a short amount of time. What ever the reason, I come up with crazy schemes or ideas a lot.

So what now? Well, I get the keys to my very first home in exactly 7 days, 3 hours, and 45 minutes, so I'm not thinking about anything else for a while. We have to renovate the bathroom before we can move in so that will be stressful. And when I do have some down time, I will work on my No-Plot Project and that's it. I really should stop getting so distracted, it makes life very complicated.

Anyway, that's the last two weeks of my life. I hope you are having a simpler time.

Cheers,

Tina

Positive Attitude

OK well I don't have much of an update for you.

I haven't written in the last week. D and I have been spending some time "discussing" how we want the bathroom in our new house to look like (we have to completely renovate it before we move in). That and trying to buy a new used car seems to have taken up most of my time.

Still, I feel optimistic about the coming week. It's another short week for me (the joys of working for government) but I think I can get a lot done.

It's all about being positive. A positive attitude attracts positive energy, or so I'm told.

So... I hope you have a positive week too.

Tina

The Ides of March

It's been two weeks since I last wrote. A lot has happened.

As you know from the last post, we bought a house. Last week we finalized the purchase after the home inspection (which was nerve wracking).

The other thing is work (day job) related. Alberta held a general election which resulted in a cabinet shuffle and a new break down of the ministries. Boring stuff to you outside folk, right? Well to us who have to work inside, it's cause for confusion. The end result being that my unit is being moved to another ministry. Joyful Stress!

So why the blog post title? Well the Ides of March is the Roman term for the 15th of March (or thereabouts since it was according to the Roman calendar). The house purchase was finalized on the 13th, the confirmation of our ministry move was on March14th, and...

Word Count:

Saturday (March 15) - 1,496 words on Ice Debt (in 2 1/2 hours)

Ice Debt is coming along really good. I'm really enjoying not having to follow a previously developed plot line. It's taking longer than I thought it would, if only because I'm not writing as much as I should, but I like what's coming together. I broke the 10,000 word barrier, which means a lot for someone who has a hard time getting past chapter 2 or 3 (I'm on chapter 4).

All in all, the Ides of March or the middle of March has been good to me. It's thrown a lot of changes my way, but they say that this time of year is good for that.

Maybe I should aim for next years Ides of March to try and get my novel published. It's always worth a shot, right?

I hope the winter months haven't been too hard on you, but you can be glad they're over. Tomorrow is the first day of Spring.

Tina

Bought a House

Well it's done.

We finally found a house... here's the funny thing, it's the same house that I talked about in the last two posts.

Turns out they were tired of having to wait on the market for so long. Their realtor called ours and said they'd be willing to take our last counter offer. $15,000 under the original asking price (they reduced the price twice since we walked away).

It's still the best house we've seen with the cheapest price tag. So of course we jumped on the opportunity.

Last night we put in a formal offer, and they accepted (minus one small date change we were willing to accept). Now comes the Home Inspection, getting the Finances and getting Possession of the home on April 15th. That's only 5 weeks away. Wow.

I'm still not as excited as I think I should be. Perhaps it will all sink in when the Mortgage comes through and I actually have to pay for the house. :)

As for my writing, well you could say that it's suffered. The Week of February 18 -24 I wrote no words. Last week (February 25 - March 2) had the following:

Word Count:
Wednesday - 1,108 words on Ice Debt

This week I give no guarantees on my productivity, at least not until the final conditions come off the home offer (March 13). After that, I should finally be able to get back into writing.

Hope you have a great day, and for you writers out there... Have a Fantastic Writing Day!

Tina

House Update

So the house I mentioned in the last post.... It was not meant to be.

Counter offers and Counter-Counter Offers flew back and forth throughout the day, but in the end we couldn't get it for what we wanted to pay. So, we walked away.

I'm fine with it. Really :)

There are a ton of homes on the market right now, so we are sure to find a house we want to buy and for the price we want to pay.

I haven't written at all this week. I was so stressed out from putting an offer in, that I couldn't even remember what my story was supposed to be about. That's pretty bad.

Any way, things should calm down soon. We're looking at houses today and Saturday. I'll let you know if anything interesting happens.

Tina

Buying a House

Remember how last week I said that D and I were looking at houses again? Well we found one... and we are putting an offer on it tonight.

We spent the majority of the last week looking at homes. Thursday we met with a realtor to help us see inside the homes we've been interested in. Saturday we viewed 5 homes and on Sunday we drove by some more homes on our own. Monday (Family Day in Alberta) we viewed 2 more homes and found the one we're putting an offer on.

Seems a bit fast, even for me, but I think it's the right thing to do. It has everything we wanted in it (except that it's not a semi-bungalow but that wasn't really on the list... it was more my secret wish). It has a huge backyard which will be great for dogs, and it has an unfinished basement that we can develop into more living space. It also has a small room I can turn into an actual writing office, which is awesome. After looking for a couple months last year during peak times and almost a month this year, D and I have seen well over 30 properties. While it still needs some work, this is the best home we've seen.

Now that I've let you all know what's new in my world I will give you the pathetic word count for the week (remember, I was looking for a home):

Word Count (Feb 11th - Feb 18th)

Wednesday - 760 words on Ice Debt

Hope you all have a fantastic writing day. I will keep you posted as things develop.

Cheers,

Tina

Feb 4 -10 Word Count

If last week was a write off... this week is abysmal....

Word Count:
Wednesday - 641 words on a new short story

That's it. I didn't work on Ice Debt (my No-Plot-Project). I didn't do much of anything really.

It's all because we are starting to look at houses again. The market in Edmonton seems to have slowed down a bit in the last couple of months. Enough at least to have a few more homes in our price range. I'll keep you posted if anything interesting happens.

One last update; I am registered to attend the World Fantasy Convention 2008, which is coming to Calgary Alberta from October 30 - November 2. I'm really excited. If you're interested in going you should book your hotel room soon. When we (my writing friend Rox and I) booked last week, Wednesday was already booked up.

That's all I've got right now. Hope you had a fantastic writing week.

Tina