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Posts Tagged ‘ROW80’

ROW80 Update 5/13/15 – With Some Whining

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on May 13, 2015| 13 Comments »

Writing is still going pretty good. I’m still on target for my monthly word count goal.

Here’s the whining part, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

We are so far behind at work. Farther behind than I realized. We had an employee die about three weeks ago, and now they’ve taken away my assistant and put him in that position. It’s better for him but awful for me. Now I’m even more overworked. I went into the other office and found just HOW far behind stuff is. And I’m the only one who is available to do it except our truck driver who SOMETIMES comes into the office and helps me. I’ve had a headache all week by the time I get home in the evenings. My acid reflux has been acting up the past two days, even though I’m on medication for it. I’ve been on the verge of tears for days. Part of it is because I’m missing the employee, a good friend, who died. But part of it is the frustration of trying to do the work of about three people. I hope all this stress doesn’t seriously impact my writing.

/end of whining

On a more positive note, I’ve joined a FB group started by a friend who is a coach for Beach Body. I signed up for a free membership on the website. I’m seriously thinking about using their meal replacement shakes (Shakeology) for one meal a day. There’s stuff in this shake that’s not in any other, including a BUNCH of super foods. It’s expensive, but if it replaces lunch AND my vitamins/minerals, then it’s actually saving me money. I bought a sample pack with one of each flavor to see if I like it. It’s got so much good for you stuff in it, it can’t taste THAT good. LOL

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ROW80 Update 5/10/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on May 10, 2015| 8 Comments »

Writing is still going well. I finished the novella for the anthology under the Catherine pen name. It’s not due until late summer, so I’m going to set that aside a little while, then go back to it for editing later. I might add a scene or two at that time, depending how I feel about it after letting it simmer.

I’ve written a couple of scenes in the second Hemlock Ridge Mysteries series under the Catherine name. I actually started that novella with pen and paper since I was at a diner with no laptop with me. Wow, now I remember why I love my computer.

I’m going to try to write the Hemlock Ridge novella and the sequel to Soul of a Vampire simultaneously. I’ve tried to write books that way before and have never been able to. But I love a challenge, so I’ll try once more. I really need a book for both pen names.

I have FOUR proofreading jobs coming to me soon. It’s going to be challenging to write every day while that’s going on. My deadlines on these jobs are going to be tighter than I’ve had to deal with before. What I’m going to try to do is, during the time I’m proofreading, only write about 500 words per day. That will take me 20-30 minutes, and I’m going to take that time if I can. I can’t put my writing completely aside while proofreading like I’ve done in the past. I have an hour at lunch and somewhere around three hours at home (unless my eyes give out sooner). That will leave me about an hour to spend time with my husband. As long as I use my time wisely, I think I can pull all this off. You probably won’t see me online at night for awhile. And housework? Forget it!

That’s about it. I’ll be overwhelmed for the next month and a half, but I’ll get through it. This might just be good for me. 🙂

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ROW80 Update 5/6/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on May 6, 2015| 4 Comments »

ROW80Logocopy

I feel like I’m really accomplishing things this month. 19% of the month has gone, but I’m at 29% of my monthly goal, so that’s good. I’ve written 3653 words in the past three days. Also good. I’m almost done with the novella I’m writing for an anthology, so it will be off to editors/beta readers soon. Then I can concentrate on the other two books in the queue. I really think it’s possible I’ll make my 150,000 word count goal for 2015!

By the way, I broke a rule in one of the sentences in that first paragraph. Who can tell me what it was? 😉

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ROW80 Update 5/3/1

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on May 3, 2015| 7 Comments »

Just a really quick check-in before I get ready for church this morning.

I finished April off with about 4,000 words over my goal for the month. So that’s good. I took the last two days off from writing to do other stuff. Yesterday, I walked over 4 miles in the Juvenile Diabetes walk. Then I went to a Mother’s Day banquet yesterday afternoon hosted by my mom’s church. Sometimes there are other things we have to do besides write.

I’m kind of stuck in the plotting for my second Hemlock Ridge Mysteries series written under my Catherine Lynn pen name. I have the basic plot, but there’s some important stuff I’m not getting. I’ll probably go ahead and start writing, because a lot of my ideas come WHEN I’m writing instead of before. That’s why I like pantsing better. I think better during the process of writing than the process of plotting. I’m trying kind of a combination of both. I know the basic things I need to know for the plot, just not all the details. Does that make me a “plantser”? Hmm, a new word.

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ROW80 Update 4/29/15 – Looking Ahead

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on April 29, 2015| 11 Comments »

I want to look again at my long-term goals for this check-in and see where I am.

This year, I want to have published four things under my Catherine Lynn pen name and one under Lauralynn. I’ve accomplished two of these so far. I have one novella in a two book anthology with Ruth Ann Nordin (writing as Barbara Joan Russell) which is through Parchment & Plume Publishing, and I published Brewing Up Murder (which is doing surprisingly well right now), the first in the Hemlock Ridge Mysteries. I’m about 2/3 into a novella I’m doing for an anthology, so that will be done soon. My next projects will be writing the second Hemlock Ridge novella and writing the sequel to Soul of a Vampire. SoaV was a little complicated to write, and I think the sequel will be equally so. I’m going to give myself plenty of time to write that one. We’re only four months into the year, so I think I’ll be able to write it.

Another goal for the year is to write 150,000 words. This might not seem much to you, but with what little writing time I actually have, it’s a lot for me. So far, here’s what I’ve done. My nifty spreadsheet (you can find them HERE) divides the 150K into monthly goals based on how many days are in the month.

January – Goal: 12,740, Written: 12,890
February – Goal: 11,507, Written: 10,454
March – Goal: 12,739, Written: 1,779
April (so far) – Goal: 12,329, Written: 14,776

As you can see, I got way behind in March. But I’m at 120% of goal for April, so I’m slowly making that up. I’m still 9,416 words behind for the year. If I can just keep up my momentum, I can reach my yearly goal. Can you tell I love spreadsheets?

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ROW80 Update 4/26/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on April 26, 2015| 9 Comments »

Last week was a good week and a bad week.

The good. I managed to write 5544 words last week. And I only wrote three days, so that averaged 1848 per day. The biggest chunk was on Saturday when I sat down and wrote 2705 words.

The bad, and the reason I didn’t write Thursday. Those of you who keep up with my blog, other than the ROW80 check ins, already know I lost a very good friend Thursday morning. We still don’t know what happened, and the autopsy results won’t be in for awhile. This man and I have been friends for 34 years. He was a co-worker, and it’s going to be hard going to work every day and not seeing him there. His funeral was today, and it was hard.

The novella I wrote under my other pen name is doing really well, but I can’t sell a thing under Lauralynn. I haven’t figured that one out yet.

That’s all I have today.

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ROW80 Update 4/19/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on April 19, 2015| 12 Comments »

This has been a good week. I only wrote four days last week, but I managed to churn out 4,077 words. So I’m happy with that. My Supernatural (love Sam and Dean) spreadsheet says I’m on track to make my monthly word count goal. This is a novella for an anthology under my other pen name. I still have some plotting to do for my next in a series under that pen name, plus writing a sequel to Soul of a Vampire under Lauralynn.

I still haven’t figured out quite how to write multiple books at the same time. I wanted to this round, but I seem to still be focusing on one at a time. I think part of that is because I figured out some stuff that would make a better plot than the one I originally had planned out. A lot of the basics are the same, but some of the reasons for the conflict have changed. So then I got all excited about writing this. I don’t really want to lose the momentum, so it’s hard to work on something else. We’ll see how that goes.

I’m looking forward to this week because I’m so in love with my current WIP right now. I’m just barely into the second act, so I hope I don’t stall somewhere in the middle!

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ROW80 Update 4/12/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on April 12, 2015| 16 Comments »

This wasn’t the best week until yesterday when I kicked butt. 🙂 I wrote 2379 words on my WIP under my other pen name (for an anthology). I had a sudden epiphany concerning the plot. I realized the why of the conflict between the hero and shero, so I was fired up. Now you might not think 2379 words is a lot in one sitting, but it is for me. I might have gotten more in, but I started getting antsy about the time because I knew I had to go to a funeral later. (Not anyone close.) That’s why I like to write when I know I have nothing else going on later in the day.

I’m getting ready to plot the second novella in my new mystery series under my other pen name. A co-worker suggested a great murder weapon that would leave no clues, so that’s going to make it more interesting. 🙂

I’m going to try to work on three different WIPs at a time this round, so that’s totally different for me. I don’t know if I can pull it off, but we’ll see. The anthology story will be my first priority, but I want to work on the other two from time to time, maybe just a few words at a time. I love a challenge, and this will definitely be one!

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ROW80 Round Two 2015 Goals

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on April 6, 2015| 9 Comments »

I’ve pondered about this round’s goals. I see a lot of people list a LOT of goals. Sometimes it makes me feel inadequate. Then I realized, I have a full time job, a writing job, and a proofreading job. So I’m cutting myself some slack. I’m only going to list goals I think I can accomplish.

So here goes.

1) Write anthology novella

2) Write at least a quarter of the Soul of a Vampire sequel (I already have it plotted out).

3) Plot out the 2nd novella in the series I’m writing under the other pen name.

4) Continue to lose weight toward my “Operation Kick the Insulin” goal for 2015. (I’m not giving specific weight loss goals because some of that isn’t under my control.)

I think that’s enough. Not overwhelming, but enough to keep me on my toes.

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End of ROW80 Round 1 2015

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 25, 2015| 16 Comments »

When I stated my goals in January, I had two goals I wanted to accomplish during the round and one I wanted to accomplish sometime in 2015. Here is a recap and the outcome.

1) Finish and publish the novella written under my other pen name for the anthology I’m doing with another author. Goal to finish: January 31 Finished this January 20

2) Finish the mystery I’ve started and publish under that same pen name. Goal to finish: Mid to Late March Finished this in early March

3) Write and publish at least one title under my Lauralynn name. I have three ideas and don’t yet know which one I’m going with. Goal: Sometime this year. I’ve chosen the story (sequel to Soul of a Vampire) and have started some plotting with some help from Susan Bischoff This one wasn’t a round goal, but a 2015 goal, so I think I’m doing fine. 🙂

I know I didn’t have MAJOR goals this round, but I honestly think I did really well considering I have a full time job and a proofreading business.

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