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

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

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....

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

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

J K Rowling and What People Want

On Monday the Passionate Eye aired a documentary called "A Year in the Life of J K Rowling".

Of course, I watched it. What writer doesn't wish for the success that she has had? However, she said something during the show that kind of shocked me. When asked about being famous and if she enjoyed it (or something to that effect) she mentioned that old school friends of her were contacted and offered money to tell stories about her when she was young.

Is the media that desperate for material? Or have we reached an age where people want writers to expand the pool of Hollywood stars, to have new faces with a completely different flavour?

Do people want to know writers today on the in-depth yet superficial media level, or is J K Rowling the exception?

If the answer to the last one is 'Yes they do', it changes the game for a writer quite a bit. We'd have to learn to have more "Ta Da" personalities, and how to deal with the public scrutiny of our private lives.

Writers becoming celebrities? Is it possible?

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