Tag Archives: the unknown scourge

RoW80 Check-In: Snakes and Ladders.

“‘Your pouch of coins may be as large and hefty as my nutsack, and it still wouldn’t be enough to pay me to work for you.’”

Yup, we’re back on Serpent in a Cage excerpts to start out my check-ins. Gilferen really does get all the best lines.

It’s been an interesting few days for me, as I try to grapple with my goals and projects and figure out exactly what it is the Muse seems to want from me at this point in my life. Everything got all jumbled and disorganized, chaotic and disjointed, and I’ve been wrestling with it all to force it into submission and into some semblance of something that can be focused and accomplished. I’ve booted all my various projects to the desk drawer while carefully selecting a chosen few to occupy my time. Of the things that I need to accomplish, there is but one, and that’s finishing a book soon so I can get started on editing and formatting to have another book published by the end of 2012.

After the encouragement offered in yesterday’s post, the task falls into the lap of Serpent in a Cage. I think I’m finally going to do it. I’m finally going to bust that story out, I’m going to publish it independently, and I’m going to get the whole Aryneth epic started, not with a roar, but with a trickle, that will hopefully start drifting down the mountainside until it becomes a vast river and an impressive waterfall in the world of great fantasy literature. I think the push I needed came from my own two hands: “It’s the beginning of so many other things that will be even better,” I said to the ever-inspiring Lauralynn Elliott, “and I’ll never get to those things if I don’t do this one first…“

So I will now be working rigorously on completing the current draft for SiaC, while still picking at a few other projects here and there. Today is the deadline for The First Line, and I was really disliking what I had put together. I’m restructuring it a little, making it more of a flash fiction, and submitting that rather than the original story. I want to submit something, and they’ll accept anything from 300 to 3000 words, so I’ll just hoover closer to the lower end of that scale. The reading is going well: I’m on the cusp of finishing several books, so there’s likely to be a slew of reviews coming. I find it interesting that I also seem to finish books in groups. I want to get started on a submission for next seasons’s The First Line, as well as dig out To Cross a River of Blood and the Auferrix book that follows Serpent in a Cage so that I’ve got some work done there, too.

It feels really good to have direction again, and, already, my mind is spinning with ideas on how to start promoting SiaC a little more. If anything, if I start promoting it and talking about it, I put a little more pressure on myself not to veer from the path, and that’s usually the pressure I need to succeed. Plus, hopefully, in an ideal world, it will get my readers as pumped up about these characters and this story, as I’ve been pumped up about them for nearly ten years now. So, if you’ll excuse me, I have some scribbling to do, but feel free to check out my fellow RoWers here when you get the chance.

Happy writing!

A Cage-y Question.

Anyone who follows my A Round of Words in 80 Days posts (and thank you, those who do!) will know that I’ve been struggling to figure out what book I want to strive to finish to be the second book I promised myself I’d publish this year. I know I’m itching to get to it, too; I sort of blotched my approach with Bowlful of Bunnies, and I’m looking forward to a chance to do a better job marketing Book No. 0002. The problem is that I’m not sure what it’s going to be, and I’m still flailing about the same issue I was flailing about a month ago.

Battarack Girls has lost its spark for now; I’ve returned to trying to start a new novel every month to have a treasure trove of potential pieces available to me. And, right now, I’m seriously considering focusing solely on Serpent in a Cage.

There are a few problems with this. In a nutshell, you could say that I’m not feeling ready for it to be published. On the other hand, though, this is a story I’ve been crafting for nearly ten years now. I’m sort of having a “shit or get off the pot” moment. It’s the closest thing I have to being finished right now. It’s the start of a whole slew of books I’ve been itching to write as well. I’ve always wanted it to be traditionally published, but I’ve been more keep on the idea of bringing it up by its charming indie bootstraps lately, too.

I think I might give it a try. I’m happy to announce that the past two days, I’ve been successful in meeting my page-a-day goals on my various projects that I’m still working on, so I’m definitely moving into a good head space to get some work done, methinks. I’m typing and editing my submission for The First Line tomorrow, too. I’m not entirely happy with how it turned out, but I think it’s still better to submit it than just letting it fall to the wayside, and then I can get started on the next one. My focus will mostly be shifted toward Serpent in a Cage, or whatever other story presents itself.

And now, I turn my attention onto you, dear readers. Have you ever stood on that precipice, on the edge of fear, when something you’ve been working on for a very long time presents itself to be coming into fruition? Did you close your eyes and leap blindly into it, or did you timidly try to ease your way down the steep side of the mountain? What ultimately lead you to taking the plunge? I know a certain sense of fear and worry is holding me back with SiaC, but I’m building myself up to finally confront it…and swiftly demolish it, as well. What are your thoughts?

RoW80 Update: July 29th.

“‘I know,’ he said, and his acceptance earned him a kiss. She swooped in like a fresh breeze, the curtain of her dark hair falling over his as her lips touch his. It was a slow, meaningful kiss, all pressure and longing and hunger, and Silver slid his arm around her slender waist because it seemed she could not get close enough. He hand spread across her shoulder blades, and she moaned, part objection, part eagerness, and her fingers splayed across his naked chest. He wasn’t sure who started it, but their hips began to move in familiar patters, and he almost had his hands under her shirt again before she pulled back breathless.”

Today’s offering of a Round of Words in 80 Days update isn’t very much of one; there is very little to report, and a significant dilemma of needing to reassess my goals, for the most part. Battarack Girls has entirely slipped away from me right now, so I’m shelving it for the time being and turning my focus back onto Serpent in a Cage and The Unknown Scourge. It won’t be shelved indefinitely; I know I want to tell these girls’ stories, I know it’ll make a great and powerful YA book, but I think other things are going to come first. I’m still getting some reading done, and I think I might can this current issue of the first line, though if I can manage to steal some time today or tomorrow to whip something up, I think it would be worth it. It’s one of those things where there’s really nothing to lose, I just have to be better about sticking to a deadline and forcing something out despite my mood.

Today’s excerpt, by the way, is from The Unknown Scourge. Just a nice little slice of steam to brighten up your Sunday a little.

I’ve been giving some more contemplation on what book to finish for my second book, though I know I should be focusing more on making Bowlful of Bunnies available on other platforms. I’ve hit kind of a dead spot with the marketing, so I really need to get on those guest posts, too. Basically, I just need to focus and get back to work, but my motivation has been pathetically lacking.

Ah, well. I’m giving some significant thought to publishing Serpent in a Cage next; I’ve had my reluctance, which might make a good post one of these days, but right now it seems like the most appealing option. Of course, that could change entirely by next month, so who knows? The thing right now is to just keep working, and I’ll get to my destination eventually, wherever it may be.

If you get the chance, check out my fellow RoWers here and, until then, happy writing!

Music That Inspires: Light Up My Room.

I’m not much of a musical writer. I wish I could be more of a musical writer, but, quite frankly, I love music an awful lot, so when I try to both listen to music and write, I usually get too distracted by the nuances of lyric in my favorite song and forget about the nuance of lyric in my words. However, now that I’ve cashed in on my replacement Kindle Fire (I will forever be buying a warranty on these things, not because the product is bad, but just because I’m pretty sure I used the hell out of the thing in the past seven months and that’s why I wore the poor battery out to death…side note to the side note, we got to keep the old Fire and Dad’s taking a look at it to see if he can fix it himself. I told him he should rig it to look like a Steampunk Kindle)….anyway, where was I? Right. Music. Now that I have my Kindle Fire, I listen to Pandora while I read (although that’s sometimes too distracting, too!), and I write a little while I read, too, and, though I am not much of a music writer, I love when one of those few songs that really get me excited about a connection I have with a character shows up…while I’m working on that particular book.

“Light Up My Room” by the Barenaked Ladies, from their Stunt album, is one of those songs:

Every time I listen to this song, I get a little emotional, because it’s always embodied my character Adah MacKlout from The Unknown Scourge so perfectly. When I listen to this song, I marvel at how Adah almost got cut from The Unknown Scourge entirely. Because this song reflects so perfectly for me all the desperation in this character and the feelings of hope she gets when Tobias Gainswellow enters her life and starts to “light up her room” with his presence. I love how this song so perfectly paints the picture of the run-down slum from which Adah has grown, the “foam on the creek…like pop and ice cream,” and how she dreams of dancing “to the radio station…that plays in our teeth” with the mysterious and beautiful Tobias. She’s such a tragic character and the song’s hopeful melancholy just brings her to life every single time I listen to it.

“If you question what I would do
To get over and be with you
Lift you up over everything
To light up my room.”

Excuse me for a moment. I’m going to go sit over there and wibble a bit.

But not until after I thank my latest subscribers, Vergielyn Cubol and Mrs. Bongle! Thanks for following, guys; good to have you aboard.

RoW80 Check-In: L.S. Engler’s Mini-Writer Workshop.

“Time is truly a strange thing. The Ana’aek believe it to be a completely unless thing (more or less), a complete construction of Human minds to make their lives more stressful. Most people believe that time in linear, that it moves forward, marches on, steady to the tick of a clock, but the Ana’aek claim that time in ephemeral, that moves not just forwards, but also backwards, up and down and sideways, and it’s all a matter of perception. Time is irrelevant; it’s only significance is the significance that we give it. It’s a pretty heady concept, one that can be difficult to wrap your mind around, but, on the trip down to the port, I was starting to understand it a little better. After all, how could a trip that should only take a handful of hours seem to be lasting forever?“

Life, as usual, has been pretty interesting. I’ve been bad at managing my time (nothing new there), a little brain-dead about work, and incredibly, horribly, magnificently distracted by something that I kind of want to bubble and shout about but I’m holding myself back in the event that things do not go the way I’m feeling they will on that particular venture. All these things have been mingling and marinating into a great big feast of unproductiveness, but today is the day this should all change. I actively took three days off with the intention of using them to go back to Michigan to visit with my family, who I hadn’t seen since Christmas, but, as frequent readers of the blog know, I managed to get four days off earlier this month and used those to go to Michigan instead, and it ended up being incredibly serendipitous. By the time, the schedule had already been made for this week (a freak turn of events at my job, trust me), so now I have three days off, and I hope to use them to write, write, write, write, and then write some more.

And clean up our nasty ass kitchen.

Anyway, you’re not here to read about my nasty ass kitchen. You’re here to read about my writing, so let’s take a moment and see how I’m restructuring my Round of Words in 80 Days goals for the next three days:

Serpent in a Cage: I haven’t been able to touch the old golden WIP very much in the past few days, but if I consider that I started on page 100 at the start of the month, I should be reaching page 125 by the end of the day. Twenty five pages in three days is not impossible, but it is unlikely, so I’m just going to keep plodding along and get as close as I can.

The Unknown Scourge: Most of my writing attention has been going to this one, since this is my monthly new novel, and it’s easiest to keep track of the page count on it. I’m on page 13 right now, so my goal is to get to page 25 by the end of the day. 12 pages. Should be interesting to see how close I’m able to get!

Battarack Girls: I’ve also been plugging away at Battarack Girls, sticking with a word count rather than a page count since I’m working on this one on the computer rather than a notebook. I’ve got about 10,000 words right now; I should be at 37,500 words. So it’s going to be a lot of type, type, type, type these next few days!

The 100 Books Project: A few books are getting close to being finished, plus I can read books on my Kindle again! Somehow, the reading goals never seem to suffer much. There’s apparently always time for reading!

First Lines: The August 1st deadline for the next First Line magazine is quickly approaching, so I’m hoping to finish the draft of my submission for it by the end of these next three days, if not completely have it ready and sent by then. The problem is that I’m not entirely sure where I’m going with it, but submitting something and then perhaps altering it later if need be when it gets rejected is better than nothing at all. And then it’s on to thinking about the next one. I just love the concept of this magazine so much, I want to be a part of it!

So, that’s about it, I think. These next few days are going to be like a little mini-writer-workshop for me, when I’m not being distracted by the “Big Damn Event” (BDE) over at Fandom High. Hopefully, I’ll get to check in on a few of my fellow RoWers (you can find them here), too! Either way, I’m pretty sure I’ve got a really good group of days in front of me right now.

Happy Writing!

Brothers & Sisters.

As I was writing along in the first chapter of The Unknown Scourge yesterday, I realized something interesting. The story was originally conceived as a science fiction revolution type of story, heavily inspired by Final Fantasy VII, which I was playing heavily at the time I thought of the story. It was a tale about corruption in government, about the tragedy that can occur when we try to play gods and bastardize the potentials of science, and about the consequences of economic ruin and losing touch with the earth from which we sprang. Very typical post-apocalyptic sci fi themes. But I realized that underneath all that techno-sciencey-destruction babble, the story is really about family, especially brothers and sisters.

Spare with me for a little bit as I spend a post talking about characters you don’t know about yet (well, those of you who have read Bowlful of Bunnies might recognize a couple of these names). However, hopefully, this will make you want to know them.

So we have a lot of sets of siblings in The Unknown Scourge, both actual and from circumstance, and the first chapter actually has Tobias Gainswellow (you may know him from “Swing”) ruminating about how the relationship between twins Wolfe and Silver MacKlout (there’s another familiar one) reminds him of his brother, Trevor. Then I realized John Jacksonox was in that scene, too, and John also has a brother, but his relationship with Robb is estranged, and the two are actually working against each other. The next chapter introduces us to Maria, though we don’t discover that she’s the little sister of Vice President Redd Scarlett (she still hates me for that name) until a few chapters on, and theirs is another complex relationship between siblings.

And then there’s the more unconventional relationships: Adah (who is actually Wolfe and Silver’s sister) finding sisterhood with Aelah (the name thing was not intentional); Phantalia and the other creations of Dr. Yetomini’s laboratory, and the main focus around four individuals who wind up being genetically tied together and not even realizing it until a big secret is revealed. The more I thought about all these intricacies and relationships (especially when you start getting into how these groups interact with each other in a great big messy web), it really kind of blew my mind.

Maybe this was that key I was searching for to finally unlock the struggle between this book and myself since 1997, when I first started to develop it. Perhaps the sibling relationship, the idea of brothers and sisters and families, is that one theme that I’ve been waiting to realize to elevate beyond just a complex story about technology and science.

It should definitely be interesting to see if this really sparks things, having this new anchor of an angle to explore. Thanks for letting me muse.

I Have So Much Work To Do.

I have so much work to do today, and my coffee maker isn’t even working. I promised myself I would never do this, but I think a keysmash is in order:

dsfkhsdlfkhsdklfhsldkfhsdklfhklsdhflskdhfklsdfhskdlfhlsdkf.

There. I feel better. And the coffee machine might be working now, too, at least I hope so, and that it will work past just spitting out half a cup and then stopping. This is another reason why I should really switch over to tea. Barring a broken stove or a cracked teapot, I don’t have to depend on a machine to get it. Nothing quite satisfies that like coffee kick, though. Tea is for later!

My beverage preferences should be for later, too, because I have a problem, dear readers. I am behind…way behind…on all my goals. There has been a cacophony of things getting in my way, things I could probably call excuses, but I think the real heart of the matter has just been a certain laziness and general ennui. I haven’t been posting in the blog much, either, because I feel that what I’ve been saying hasn’t had the same oomph as what it has in the past. The other day, though, I went ahead and finished up a little rant I had bad book covers, and I got the best response I’ve had in a while. So I just have to remember to keep it fresh, keep it interesting, and most importantly, keep it honest.

I completely missed Wednesday’s RoW80 Check-In because I thought it was Friday. That’s how off my days have been feeling. But today’s the day it changes, especially since I’ve been poking at this post for about an hour now, have had some coffee in me, and already got a great start on Battarack Girls for the day. I want to catch up with my page count for The Unknown Scourge, too, and the deadline for The First Line is approaching quickly, so I want to get that done today, if not tomorrow, so I can start editing it. I’ve been stressing out about money once again (big surprise), and struggling with the guilt that if I’m not working so much right now since summer is kind of our slow time, then I really need to be bolstering it with more and more writing. So time to stop feeling back and worrying and get to work! Wish me luck!

RoW80 Check-In and Return to the World.

“In the purple dawn, my body is transcendent. It moves with the unconscious grace of a lotus on the water. Though the morning is cool and the breeze quite sweet, my body is cover in a fine sheen of glistening sweat. Every movements is a smooth extension of myself, each step pushes me one bit closer to the edge of my physical and mental limitation. I am a leaf in the wind, a bud on a branch, a petal unfurling from the stem of a flower to greet the morning sun.”

So, this last week has been an interesting one. I was granted an unexpected four days off from work, and, wanting to seize the opportunity, I planned a very last-minute trip back home to see my family, which worked out nicely because my step-sister and her kids were up from Florida and my cousin was on leave before her army deployment. The timing was practically serendipitous. The trip did, however, completely screw up my writing schedule….

So I haven’t managed to get much done at all, my goals are all out of whack and in need of reassessing just so I can get back on the path again, and I don’t really have much of a report. I am excited to finally get things going again; I’ve been desperate to get some writing done, but there just hasn’t been the time between the trip, followed by working all weekend. So, today, instead of my normal check-in, I’m going to take a moment or two and decide what I need to get done and what will be done from there.

So what have we got?

Serpent in a Cage: I haven’t had much of a chance to even touch SiaC, and this needs to change. I want to get back in gear with writing at least one page a day on this project. I’m on page 94 right now, and will use that as my “base” from here on in.

Battarack Girls: As things stand, BG is definitely shaping up to be the next book I finish. Though I’m not sure how I feel about basically publishing a YA “companion” to SiaC that takes place about twenty years after the events in SiaC (which is supposed to start out the Aryneth series…), I’ve had so much great feedback from it that it just seems right. And, hey, the Narnia books weren’t written in order. Neither were the Star Wars books. I could probably dig up some other examples, too, so I’m just going to go with it. So my goal from here on in is to write at least 1500 words a day. As of writing this, I’m at 2012. I think that’s a sign. The quotes introducing my RoW check-ins from here on in will be from Battarack Girls now, too, as little previews and whatnot, instead of from Serpent in a Cage, as they previously were.

The New Novel Project: Since the monthly novel project is one of the easiest projects to keep track of, I’ve been working as consistently as I can on this one. I’m a little behind, but I’m plugging away at this draft of The Unknown Scourge all the same. By the end of the day, I hope to be as close to page 15 as I can get…As of writing this, I’m on page 9, so I’m not too far behind.

The 100 Books Project: I’ve said it once, I’ll probably say it a gazillion times more. I never have trouble finding time to read. Never have, never will, barring someone attacks me and stabs out my eyes with sewing needles (…sorry, a little inspired by the current BG scene…). I read about half of a book on the trains to and from Chicago, got home, read some more of the gazillion other books that I was missing because I limited myself to just two books for the trip. I have one review I need to get to writing, too. So I’m 24/100 (4/30 for this Round).

Other Things: And then there’s a plethora of miscellaneous things I need to get back on the task of completing this week:

–I still owe Elizabeth and Grace stuff for guest posts, which they have graciously offered to let me do. If you’re reading this, ladies, I’ll shoot you off an email sometime within the next few days!
–The deadline for The First Line is approaching swiftly, so I’m hoping to get that finished and sent out soon!
–Write up a copy letter (uuughhhh) to accompany “Dragon Rising” on its quest to discover if it has a chance to become a traditionally published storybook, or if I should start breaking out the pencils and sketching out my own pictures to make it an indie published storybook. This idea is all thanks to Morgan, whose granddaughter gave me the best compliment I could ever imagine by asking where the actual “book” was after the story was read to her. Seriously, that story still makes me glow with happiness.
–Take a moment to really get into all the wonderful things people have been sending me to help promote Bowlful of Bunnies and get it back up to the rank I want to try to keep it at. I’ve been so busy I’ve been utterly failing at building my promotion.
–Focus on getting Bowlful of Bunnies out on other formats: Smashwords, Nook, Apple, as well as poke around CreateSpace for help with a potential physical copy.

This week is all about getting back on track with things, reconnecting with everyone again, and charging forward with the same energy that I had before the unexpected (but much needed) journey threw things a little off course. Since I’ve been out, I’m really behind on how everyone else is doing, so I hope everyone’s doing well! Be sure to check out my fellow RoWers here, and I’ll end with a question, too: What do you do to help you get back on track after a break?

Happy writing, everyone!

RoW80 Check-In: Sunday, July 8th.

“     The details of last night reformed themselves, building the scene again for him. Each dull pain reawakened as he revisited every blow, every smash, pain imbued into each muscle and bone in his body. It all started with an argument, a slammed door, Awngel’s dagger glare. And then there was Hederrick, the man from the book cart, with the glistening spiked rings on his fingers that dug into Locke’s cheek. The blonde-haired woman with eyes like pools. Knolan had said she was a Battarack, and another word lingered.
    ’Asyentai.’
     He had not intended to speak the word, but it came out as a faint whisper when he struggled to open his eyes….”

I’m quite fond of blaming the heat lately, but I’m afraid I must do it once more, as I’ve spent a good portion of last week since the previous check-in for A Round of Words in 80 Days contemplating my goals. Of course, the heat has cooled a little bit in the last day; we have the windows open this morning instead of the AC on, and it’s absolutely lovely. The 70 degree range is the perfect temperature for me, especially when there’s a breeze. I don’t even care that it threatens to scatter all my papers. The breeze is lovely and I know the cats are content because they love few things as much as being able to sit in an open window and breathe in the fresh air.

It definitely had me recharged this morning, but I’m still wondering about the goals I set for A Round of Words in 80 Days. I knew that working simultaneously on several novels until one stood out was going to be a little challenging, but I never really bothered thinking about what if none of them really stand out and I don’t have to keep up with page-per-day goals I set? So I’ve mostly decided not to stress out about it, to just follow the muse, and so long as I’m writing, that’s all that matters, until a better idea of what I really want to hanker down on and get finished starts to develop. Either way, here’s what I’ve been working on and how I’ve been doing with it:

Serpent in a Cage: I thought I had made a stupid mistake and so I tore out a few pages to rewrite, only to realize that I hadn’t made a mistake at all. So I’ve been rewriting the pages I thought I was going to rewrite as something different as exactly the same. Which is to say that there’s been no progress, but that particular scene (the opening to the second part and where the excerpt above is derived) has got a little extra polish on it.

Western with Dragons: I would love thoughts on the prospective title of Wanted: Dread or Alive. I haven’t worked much on this one because I thought I lost the notebook, but it turns out I had just used a different part of it to scribble down an idea for a short story and then forgot. Lulz.

Soulless: I hit a little bit of a snag, but I think I got past it an now I’m just focusing on pushing the plot along. Usually, when I do that, my snags take care of itself, but, other than that, nothing too exciting about this one.

Battarack Girls: I haven’t had much of a chance to even glance at Battarack Girls lately, but the sample still stands as my Featured Story in celebration of Bowlful of Bunnies selling 25 copies (and it’s recently dipped below the ranking number I wanted to keep it at, so I’d like ot try to push a few more copies if anyone wants to help with that). I’ve had lots of scenes playing out in my head for it lately, though, so it’s almost a shame that I haven’t gotten a chance to peck at it much.

Space Cowboys: I’m really digging this one a lot, too. I think The Unknown Scourge (see below) has a good chance of being my next book, but this one’s got a good chance in the running, too, if I can just get past the part that kind of stopped me up last time I tried to write it. (I need to write with better outlines, lol).

New Novel Project: One thing about the New Novel project that I love is that, since the page count goal is based on the days of the month, it’s really easy to figure out where I should be. I’m a little behind, but this latest version of The Unknown Scourge is coming along nicely, I think. I just finished up with the prologue, and it’s onto the first chapter. It’s usually around chapters three and four that I get stuck on this one, so we shall see how things turn out this time. I’m on page 6 out of 8.

Short Stories: I’ve been working on short stories a bit more again, since I want to start sending them out to magazines and I used up all my short stories for Bowlful of Bunnies. I’m mostly working on one that’s my take on Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Hell is other people” quote and another one for a really interesting magazine called The First Line, where every issue includes stories starting with the same line. The upcoming issue (due August 1st) will feature stories starting with “A light snow was falling as Charlie Reardon left the diner and made his way down Madison Street.” So I’m trying to get that finished by then, and, if not, there’s always the next issue to work on (“Sometimes, when it’s quiet, I can remember what my life was like before moving to Cedar Springs.”) Needless to say, because I’m working on the other short stories, we can say good-bye to

750 Words: 750 Words is a really good resource…when I’m stuck. When I haven’t got any other projects to work on. When I’ve got fifty billion projects to work on, I just think about how I “have” to log on and type up 750 words that are distracting me from my other WIPs, and I say forget it. There’s a time and a place for this challenge and right now (like last Round) is not one of either.

The 100 Books Project: Since my last review, I’ve finished two (that’s right, two!) more books, with another one close behind them, so I’m off to a great start this round. We’ll see if the pace keeps up, since a lot of those books were close to being finished anyway, and now I’ve started in on a bunch of new stuff. Either way, I’m standing at 25/100 with 4/30 for this round.

Exercise: Exercise has kind of fallen off, mostly because of the heat. Weather has cooled down a little and maybe I can still swing in some yoga while visiting my parents. It would be nice to return to this one (especially since I barely got it started), but we shall see. Frankly, when given the choice between writing or working out, I’d much rather be writing!

On another note, the blog might be a little quiet in the next few days. An unexpected string of days off showed up on the schedule, so I’m taking an impromtu trip back home for a few days. I know I’ll have internet access, but whether or not I’m really up to posting will be another matter. It’ll be so nice to see family and friends for a few days, especially since my stepsister and her family happen to be visiting this week, too! I hit up the train station this afternoon, and I can’t wait.

Happy writing, everyone!

RoW80 Check-In: July 4th/5th.

Hooray! It’s here! It’s the new Round of A Round of Words in 80 Days! Oh, yesterday was also Independence Day, but….new Round!! (lol, priorities) I posted my goals a little bit ago, and I got an early start on them because my orderly brain demanded that starting on the 2nd would throw everything off, so I’ve been picking at them a little bit and have already questioned if I’ve made them too lofty. Whoops.

Then again, Tuesday was a truly odd day on several accounts. While I managed to finish another book, I missed a whole slew of my writing goals. Then there was the moment when I thought to myself, “Oh, I’ll organize the pantry” and “Oh, I think I’ll super-clean the cat box.” Five hours later…

I was feeling a pretty good mojo yesterday and got a lot of work done, despite the Day Job interrupting. I didn’t manage to finish my check-in, though, so I’m posting it today so I don’t fall into the habit of skipping it entirely. So let’s have a peek at what I’ve been working on:

Serpent in a Cage: After a brief set of scenes that were taken from the original manuscript, I’m back to welding together the intersecting storylines and writing from the new approach. I’ve also played around with the idea of dividing the story into parts (as I’ve thought of before), where each part basically represents a different day (since the course of events only happens over three days). I need to sit down and figure out the exact page count goals for this one (and my others, as well).

Western with Dragons: I’m thinking of tentatively titling this one Wanted: Dread or Alive. Any thoughts on the title would be helpful, but the “western with dragons” concept is turning out to be the most popular one out of the list of potential next books, so I’m charging forward with it. It’s got a little bit of a Sherlock Holmesy vibe to it, too, Victorian mystery, and I’m definitely feeling like I want to dig up The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. with this one, too. So it’s a little bit of a wild-carriage ride for me at the moment, but it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out. I’m about halfway through a second chapter at the moment, developing the world and the characters and the plot as I go along.

Battarack Girls: I’m writing this one with a different approach than I write my other books. I’m basically writing a page of each girl’s voice, leaving it unfinished like a prompt for later, and then moving on. This way, I think I’m going to get a better perception of tone, voice, and timeline as I scribble things down. It’s sort of working like an elaborate outline this way. Also, since I’ve finally sold 25 copies of Bowlful of Bunnies, I’ll be releasing a little sample of Battarack Girls on the blog tomorrow, as per contest, so be sure to stop on by for that!

Space Cowboys: I know I’ve attempted this one a few times, so I’ve taken up the task of rewriting the beginning I like best, because, reading it, I sort of forgot which direction I was taking it, and so now it can adopt a new organic direction. It’s definitely coming along nicely.

Soulless: I’ve decided to keep going with Soulless, too, even if I think I’ll need to change the title on account of a lot of other books having that title, too. But it, like the others, is coming along nicely, though I thought I was in a little bit of a block with it. It’s coming along great now!

New Novel Project: This month’s novel is The Unknown Scourge, a science fiction, government conspiracy, blah blah blah book that takes place in the future of the same world as Serpent in a Cage. I have tried to write this book so many times, I’ve lost count, but I will always keep trying until I hit the right angle. Maybe this is the one? Who knows? Either way, the odd days (and probably this killer heat!) have me a little bit behind. I’m on page 3 out of 5 for the day, hoping to play some catch-up today.

The 100 Books Project: Just finished both Soul Music and another book due for a review, with a third and fourth book not far behind. So that’s a good swing of getting some of the ones that have been on my reading list out of the way, and onto other ones! I think I might be able to finally get some of that catch up done this Round. Books read: 22/100 (2/30 for this round).

750 Words: I have decided to utilize the 750 Words website, although I’ve already missed two days. That’s okay, though, I’m definitely not allowing myself to stress out about it. Right now, I’m using it just to push me on getting more of my Grimm stories done. “Just Right,” one of the stories in Bowlful of Bunnies, was written using 750words, and I think it would be really neat if the other stories in the series were crafted via the same challenge.

Exercise: I’m glad to say that this one? I have been keeping up on. I haven’t pushed myself too much. I’m not going to deny that I am definitely out of shape right now (round is a shape, though, right? har har), so I don’t want to over-exert myself too soon. I’m easing into it. This means a few minutes of stretching and toning and yoga, increasing the time a little bit longer each day. I’m trying to limber my body and get it ready to take on some workout videos on Netflix recommended by my friend Nikki, who recently lost around 75 pounds. I’m shooting for just about 30 myself, so I’m definitely taking her advice. Girl looks incredible. But I’ve got to get my body ready to push for it as hard as my mind wants to.

Also pretty sweet? I managed to clear out my email a great deal last night. When I woke up this morning, I actually had an inbox that was less than 4000 unread messages! Go me! (And, yes, that’s 4000 messages, so if I’ve been quiet or have missed something or haven’t gotten back to you on something yet…hi, Elizabeth! Hi, Grace!…this is why. But I’m slowly but surely battling down the mountain).

….I think that’s everything. Biiiiig update, because I’m juggling a lot of projects. I’m sure this’ll whittle itself down once I get a clearer picture of what book I want to try to get done for publishing next, but, as it is, I’m going to place a whole bunch of eggs in a whole bunch of baskets.

How’s your Round shaping up so far? Have you had a chance to check-in with any other participants here? RoW80 just keeps getting bigger and better, and I’m so glad to be a part of it, even if I’m not as good at making the rounds as I used to be!