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.

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

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

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

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

Jan 28- Feb 3 Word Count

This past week was almost a write off in regards to writing.

Word Count:
Tuesday - 1,062 words on a new short story
Wednesday - 680 words on Ice Debt

I was sick on Monday and Tuesday again. I guess I hadn't healed completely from the week before.

Thursday and Friday were stressful days at work. By the time I go home all I wanted to do was relax. And over the weekend, D and I spent our time looking at houses again (and hanging out with friends).

Still... having said all of that, I started writing Chapter three on Wednesday. Not bad for a month's work on this no-plot-project.

Looks like my 'day job' work will calm down this week, so I should be able to get in some good writing days.

Hope you're having a good one,

Tina

Jan 24-27 Word Count

Well, this will be short. Just an update on how many words I've written since Wednesday.

Word Count:

Saturday - 902 words

I didn't write on Thursday like I thought I would, but I still got three weekdays and one weekend in. I also finished Chapter 2 of my No-Plot-Project, so things are going pretty good.

It's a little confusing for me to update you on my word counts whenever I feel like writing an entry, so I think I'll only update you on word counts on Mondays. That way it's easier for me to keep track of my writing (hence the new title format).

Hope you are having a good writing day on this chilly (more like freezing) Monday.

Tina

Good Rejection from OnSpec

Yesterday was a Library day. Normally a very good day, and it was in more ways than one.

First off, let's get the word count out of the way....

Word Count:

Tuesday - 497 words (not bad for being sick)
Wednesday - 1,181 words

Yesterday was a very good day for writing, however I also got a rejection letter from OnSpec in the mail (I've had quite a few of those recently).

This one, however, was very good. No they didn't say that I was a fantastic writer but regrettably they could not publish my master piece (I'm not that delusional). They did, however, give me two lines of 'to-the-point' comments that really made me think. They asked me a question that showed me one of two things. 1) I had a serious flaw in my logic, or 2) I wasn't showing my audience what was really going on and so it came across like a had a major flaw in my logic.

Either way, I will have to go back into this story and take a good hard look at it. I am very grateful that they took a few moments out of their day to tell me what they really thought of my story. I don't think I'm very thick skinned, but I know that I need these comments to grow as a writer. Thus, the more comments I get the better writer I will become.

Thanks again to the OnSpec staff who wrote that comment.

Tonight I write some more on Ice Debt. Wow, four days in a row. Do you think I can do it?

Tina

Sick, But On Track

I think I've been keeping to my new schedule pretty good. I cheated a bit on Wednesday and Thursday, and I didn't write over the weekend (don't I get a break on my Birthday?), but I still think I'm doing good.

Word Count:

Wednesday - 25 words, then worked on layout and content for my writing website revamp
Thursday - More layout and content work
Monday - 851 words

At least I did something writing related on those days.

I'm home sick today, so I'll keep this short and sweet. Besides, my stomach hurts... stupid stomach flu.

I'll be trying to write this afternoon, but no guarantees. It's not a scheduled writing day and I'm sick, so we'll see.

Cheers,

Tina

PS: No time line yet on when the website revamp will be done, but I'll keep you posted.

Mondays

Did I mention that I hate Mondays?

I know today is Tuesday, but I have news from yesterday.

Got home from work and there was a form rejection letter from Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, waiting for me in the mail. I guess they didn't like "Broadcasting Live" (that's the short story that was once called "Pain and Blood"). This is its second rejection so I think I will have a few of my writer friends look at it and tell me what they think. I had a few people read through it before, but maybe it needs a little more work before I send it out a third time.

After reading the paper mail, I checked my email. There was a lovely email from the 3 Day Novel contest, announcing the winners. I wasn't one of them. I didn't even make the short list, or get an honorable mention. Oh well. I was thinking about turning my submission "Beloved Child" into a comic book script to see what happens. Now, I can go ahead and give it a try.

I had dinner after checking my emails, and then locked myself in my office (aka the spare bedroom) to write. It was one of my new writing days, so I tried to forget all the other stuff and just wrote.

Word Count:
Monday - 1,329 words

Not bad for 1.5 hours on a Monday night. It's actually really good.

Ok, so it wasn't the best Monday in the world but at least I got a good bit of writing done and I know what I'm going to do with the rejected stories that have come home.

Tuesday should be better.

Tina

Schedule and Birthday

Monday! I hate Mondays!

This past week I started working on my No-Plot project. So far so good.

Word count:

Wednesday - 1,271 words
Thursday - 359 words

I didn't write on Saturday which was my intention but two out of three days isn't bad.

This week I'm aiming for the full four days; Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. My new writing schedule. Here I go, wish me luck.

On a completely different (and probably irrelevant) note... my Birthday is this weekend. I'm looking forward to the dinner with family and friends, and of course the breakfast in bed. The gifts are fun and all, but I prefer the "make-me-feel-important" stuff.

Hey it only happens once a year, I deserve to enjoy it.

Cheers,

Tina

Week Three

You're wondering what happened to week two, right?

Well, My friend Rox calls everything before week two PPC: Pre-Pincher-Creek.

D has been looking at getting into a new trade, wind turbine technician. This would take him to southern Alberta, most likely to Pincher Creek. This of course sent my head into nowhere land, because I deal with change so well (that's sarcasm).

Anyway, since September 19th until now, I've written just under 1000 words. Ouch!

So, I have 11 days until the PureSpec conference. I think I may have to settle for my very first goal... having one or two chapters done. I have finished chapter one, so I've already hit that goal.

I think goals and me just don't work. I have to write because I want to, not because I have to.

I'm going to work on cleaning up chapter one a little more and then I'll be sending it to my tutor and see what he has to say about this change in direction.

On a side note: Pincher Creek is quite pretty, however unless I can find a job there I don't think we'll be moving anytime soon.

Have a great thanksgiving long weekend. We'll chat before the conference.

C

Week One

*NOTICE: I've changed my 30 day novel into a 40 day novel. This is because doing a chapter every three days sounded nicer to me than one every 2 and half days. I came up with this on Friday morning so I'm not trying to soften the pain of the word counts you will see below.*

I wanted to do weekly updates on my novel progress, but Tuesday's are such good days for me to blog, I think I'll cheat this week and update you on only 5 days of work (Thursday to Monday). I'll let you know right now, my word count is not were I want it to be.

Goal word count on Monday - 12,500 words

Actual words on Monday - 2,634 words (ouch)

To be fair, that is a lot of words to write in 5 days. Here is the word count break down:
Thursday - 1,001
Friday - 0
Saturday - 497 (and edited the 1,001 words from Thursday)
Sunday - 0
Monday - 1,136

You can tell which day's I freaked out. Doubts filled my head and would not leave. I sat down in front of the computer on both of those 0 word count days, but my brain was so frozen in fear of what I was trying to do that nothing coherent come out.

Even Saturday was a lost day. I tried to write, but all I could think of was how awful that first paragraph sounded. And, you know how it is. Once you go back to edit one paragraph the next one could use just a little bit of tweaking too.

I'm no where near my goal.... but I'm almost done my first chapter and that is something to be proud of. And it's something to keep me going. I can't keep freaking out because I'm trying something new, so I've told myself that I'm just going to try. There will be no consequence if I don't finish on time, because this is just an experiment.

Surprise, surprise. Once my subconscious believed me, I was able to write out over a thousand words in less than two hours yesterday. I'm slowly getting back up to my 1000 words an hour, and that is also something that will make this 40 day novel adventure worth it.

"Put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walking across the floor". One week down, five weeks to go.

C