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Posts Tagged ‘WIP’

ROW80 Update – Regrouping

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 25, 2013| 25 Comments »

Yesterday, I spent several hours with Susan Bischoff. This is always fun, not to mention that she always inspires me to write. We talked about a lot of things. First, she helped me expand on the plotting I was trying to do, giving me lots of good advice about plot points and where they should be in my story. And I finally admitted to someone (Susan!) that I had been finding excuses not to write because every time I thought of my WIP, I got this scared feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’m AFRAID of my manuscript. (And Susan GETS this.) There, I admitted it to all of you. Honestly, this is very new to me. I used to be able to churn out words with no problem, they all made sense, and I wasn’t afraid to publish them. This fear of my own work is SO not me. But I guess it IS me, isn’t it? I’ve never understood writers that were afraid. Now I get it. You know what, though? I’m not going to let myself be held back by that fear any longer. I’m tired of it, and I’m stronger than this. So there! *blows raspberry at the fear*

So my goals for this week (baby steps, no long term goals):

1) Write at least three hours this week
2) Do at least 15 minutes of housework per day using the FlyLady challenges
3) Get back to my healthy eating habits. (I’ve been doing great on exercise, but my old eating habits are sliding back into my life.)

After this week, we’ll see what needs to be done next.

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Fitness Friday…And Other Stuff

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on June 21, 2013| 14 Comments »

Weight loss can be so frustrating. I’m continuing to work out with weights four days a week. I added an extra five lbs. to some of the machines yesterday, so that was cool. I’ve been walking on the treadmill for 15 minutes in the mornings. I WAS walking about 45 minutes in the evenings, too, but my foot has been acting up again. It’s usually better in the mornings, but by the afternoon, it’s hurting too much to walk. This is a chronic problem and usually goes away on it’s own in about three days. I’m also eating less and TRYING to eat better, although eating better is a slow going thing. But I’m STILL not losing weight, even with all these changes I’m making. I sticking right at the 172 mark. The scale goes up and down all week, only to settle at 172 on Fridays. Maybe I’ve just hit a natural plateau since I lost so steadily for the first 21 lbs. I saw this happen a lot at Weight Watchers when I worked there. I’m not giving up. I know it has to come off eventually. If you expend more calories than you take it, you have to lose weight, right? I just need to make sure I’m eating ENOUGH. If you don’t eat enough calories, you body thinks you’re starving it and hangs on to fat. I’ve seen this happen, so I know it’s true.

Some pretty good news. Most of you know I was upset because hubby got disqualified from a great paying position in the company he works for due to some *#&$*&#$’s who have a beef with him. And then they put him on second shift on an entry level job with low pay. Well, apparently, human resources (I expect there was some help from the union) said they couldn’t do that. So, even though he couldn’t have the premium job back, they had to let him choose from three different jobs in the plant. Now here’s where I can show you what a decent human being my husband is. There was one day shift job he could have taken, but he would have bumped several people out of their jobs into other jobs, which would have made them unhappy. So my husband took a job where there was actually an opening. He’s going to be back on third shift (YAY!) and making about the same as he was before he got that better job. Thanks to all of you who sent good thoughts and prayers our way. 🙂

I actually wrote on my WIP last night…the first time in over a month.

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Writing Plans for This Week

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on June 17, 2013| 8 Comments »

Well, it’s time to jump back in the saddle and start treating writing like a job again. My plan for this week is Monday – reread what I’ve written so far on my WIP and take notes. Tuesday – outline a little (I’m a pantser, but this story is so complicated, it needs a little outlining). Thursday-Saturday – write!

Do you all ever plan your week, or do you just fly by the seat of your pants and try to wedge in some writing time between everything else?

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Sunday Update 6/16/13 and Words of Thanks

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on June 16, 2013| 14 Comments »

Finally, Vacation Bible School is over! Whew, I was exhausted every night. It’s amazing how dealing with 6 and 7 year old boys can wear you out. But it was also a very rewarding time. I was the “cool” teacher who let them sit ON the table instead of AT the table. Except the last night, which was punishment for being rowdy the night before. I know, I’m so mean. Imagine punishing first and second graders by NOT letting them sit on the table. LOL. It was a fun week, but I’m glad it’s over.

Now it’s time to get back to writing. I have NO excuses not to do it now. Hubby is back at work and doing well. VBS is over. Work is slowing down, and I’m caught up from being on vacation. NO excuses. Plus, the two good reviews I posted about yesterday has upped my motivation a bit. So I look forward to start back on my WIP. It’s a complicated plot, and it’s going to be hard and slow going, but I can DO this.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who contributed to the fund for me that Kait set up when my husband was in the hospital and then out of work. I keep trying to find words that are adequate to express my feelings, but they all just fall flat. Many of you contributed. Some of you bought my books. And so many of you sent me prayers and/or good wishes, and that means so much to me. I just can’t say enough. I don’t know HOW to say enough. Hospital bills have started coming in, and the $1800+ that was raised really helped. The writing community is made up of good-hearted people. And the readers are awesome, too. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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Sunday Update 5/19/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on May 19, 2013| 14 Comments »

Happy Sunday, everyone!

As many of you know, I’ve been having problems figuring out what to do about my hero. There’s a horrible secret in the town where he is sheriff, and I’ve been trying to decide whether or not he could be forgiven if he knew about this secret. Could we forgive him? Could the herione forgive him? But I was sitting down for a session of writing Thursday evening, and instead of jumping into the story, I took out some paper and started jotting down notes about the town’s secret and why it happened, etc. And I realized the hero didn’t HAVE to know what was happening. He suspects some things, but they are so unbelievable that he denies to himself what’s going on. It’s going to work this way, I think! I didn’t exactly do an outline, but I wrote down some major points of things that were going on. Next, I’m going to write down some things that need to happen. My biggest problem now is how to explain to the reader what has happened in the past without an info dump. In this case, it’s going to be hard. I think part of it will be explained in dialogue where someone has to tell the story. Doing that is close to an info dump, so I’m going to have to be careful. There are just some things that can’t be revealed any other way than to tell the story.

Well, I wrote three days last week, but not the three days I originally planned to write. Instead of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I wrote Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. But it was still three days! I wanted to post a word count, but I can’t get Microsoft Excel to work this morning. I’m going to reboot my computer and see what happens. I’ve never had trouble with this program before. 😦

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Wednesday Update 5/1/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on May 1, 2013| 10 Comments »

Actually, I don’t really have a lot to update. I hope to get back to my Thursday-Saturday writing schedule this week. My WIP has been on my mind, so I guess that’s a good sign. I almost have my office arranged the way I want it, so the writing might be easier.

Hubby is still improving. He had a really rough night a couple of days ago, his chest hurting so badly, I thought I was going to have to take him to the emergency room. We were afraid another clot from his leg had detached and went to his lung. However, when he went to the dr. the next morning for his biweekly blood test, his lung x-ray was actually better. The dr. said he thought hubby had a rib out of whack and did an adjustment. He felt much better after that. Plus, he still has pleurisy from the whole lung ordeal. He REALLY wants to get back to work.

Speaking of back to work…that’s where I am, so I better get to it so I won’t get any further behind.

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Sunday Update 4/7/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on April 7, 2013| 16 Comments »

Last week was so much better on the writing front. My goal is to write three days a week. Well, I was lazy Friday, so I did some things I wanted to do instead of actually, you know, WORKING. But, even though I only wrote two days, I churned out 3,822 words. If I was averaging 500 words a day, seven days a week…it would be better than that. LOL. I wrote about 2900 words on Saturday. I just sat down and words started flowing. I was by myself, there was silence, and I was in the mood. It’s really hard for me to write that many words in one sitting, but I did it. 🙂

My WIP is evolving into something totally different than I originally planned. It was going to be a paranormal romance, but it looks like it’s going to be a mystery/horror. I started out with a ghost. Then I suddenly had a “not quite human” murderer. So I had to figure out how the ghost was relevant now. But I finally figured that out. Now there’s a mine. There wasn’t originally a plan for a mine to be in this story, but it really helps explain some other things in the story. This story is starting to write itself and surprise me at every turn. That’s usually when I start loving it. 🙂

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Sunday Update 3/3/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 3, 2013| 15 Comments »

There’s not too much going on. I only wrote 2 days last week for total of 1745. That’s about half of what I would like to see on word count, but I’m still all about time instead of word count. So I was three days short of what I should have been writing. I’m still trying to get into the good habits again. I feel good about this week, though. I’m feeling more into to my WIP.

If you keep up with my blog, you know my husband cracked a bone in his ankle, so he’s on crutches. That’s caused me a little extra work, but I don’t mind at all. He’s always taking care of me. 🙂

I ordered the Flylady’s Office in a Bag with Control Journal. I’m trying to get my life under control. You know, the cleaning house part? Flylady is all about organization in all areas, but house cleaning is her main focus. We’ll see how that goes.

What’s up with ya’ll?

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ROW80 and Going Natural

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on February 20, 2013| 15 Comments »

I’m not going to link this in the ROW80 linky tool today because the majority of this post doesn’t pertain to ROW80. And there have been SOME people who get annoyed if you link to the linky and post other stuff that day. Some people do it anyway, but I would hate to annoy anyone. 🙂

Short ROW80 update. WIP is going pretty well. I’m getting a feel for what’s happening in the small Florida town, although I still don’t have a name for the town.

What I want to talk about now is what I did last night. I got all my ingredients for the natural stuff I wanted to make. I like buying from Mountain Rose Herbs, but they were out of some stuff I needed, plus they are slow shipping stuff out (because they are so popular and busy) so I got the rest of what I needed from our local health food store. Anyway, I had coconut oil, sweet almond oil, baking soda, arrowroot powder, emulsifying wax. beeswax, and a couple of essential oils. I was going to buy some more essential oils from my local store, but when I saw the prices, I decided to buy those later from Mountain Rose Herbs. Anyway, I set out to make three things…moisturizer, deodorant, and solid perfume. Now, normally, when one decides to make these kinds of things, SOMETHING is going to go wrong or won’t turn out right. I hate to disappoint you, but I have no funny story to tell. Everything came out AMAZING. The moisturizer is just the right texture. The deodorant felt wonderful. And the solid perfume…well, it turned out right, I just wish I had different essential oils. I mixed lemon with cedarwood. It was okay, but not my favorite scent. That’s just all I had.

So, the moisturizer felt great on my face this morning. I’ll probably use it for hand lotion, too, because I have way too much to just use on my face, and natural products have no preservatives. The deodorant felt so good going on this morning. I wish I hadn’t put any cedarwood scent in it just because I love the smell of the coconut oil by itself. I think if I do the solid perfume again, I’ll put it in something flatter or maybe one of those tubes like lip balm is in. This perfume is REALLY solid, and it’s hard for me to get enough on my finger to rub on my skin. It would be better to rub it directly on my skin.

So, is anyone else experimenting with any of this? If not, are you thinking about it? I’ll have to let everyone know how the deodorant works. LOL

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Making Plotters Cringe-My Writing Process

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on February 19, 2013| 13 Comments »

Hello, my name is Lauralynn Elliott, and I’m a pantser. Kait and Susan have given me a good talking to about plotting and why I should. I understand the concept. I understand the reasons for plotting. I sort of plot in my head. But, alas, I’m still a pantser. And there’s a very good reason why. Here’s the story:

I don’t know what’s going to happen. Seriously, I don’t. I get an idea. A GENERAL idea. And I know the MAJOR points I need to hit. I almost always know the ending. I know certain things must happen. But if I sit down to write an outline for the book I’m about to write, I have no idea what’s going to happen in the book. So I can’t write the outline. This is going to sound strange, but there’s something almost magical about my hands typing out words. That’s the only way I can make the story happen. I don’t even think I could dictate the story. I HAVE to be typing it out, and the story unfolds as I do. I’m very surprised sometimes by things that happen in the book. Characters do things that I don’t expect. An example: I just wrote a character in my WIP who was going to be this older, snobby, stuffy woman who owned an antique store. As I was writing the interaction between her and the main character, she suddenly became a woman who seemed stuffy on the outside, but really had a good heart and a sense of humor. I had no idea. Now, sometimes, I’ll be sitting at my desk or somewhere, and I suddenly know what needs to happen in the next scene. But even that ends up changing as I write. I’ve never been able to do it any other way.

So maybe I need another weekend with Kait and Susan. Maybe they can beat me into submission. Is it possible for me to change? Maybe. I think if I could quit my day job, my mind would settle down and be more open to plotting. If I want to eventually get into writing mysteries that have very complicated plots, I will probably HAVE to change my method. Although, some of my beta readers tell me they like the twists that have been in the books I’ve already written. One said, “You think up the best twists and creatures.” But, honestly, for something a lot more complicated, plotting is probably necessary. Stephen King is a pantser. But I’m not Stephen King. I don’t have his experience. I think I’m going to start a WIP at some point during the summer and maybe work on plotting on my vacation when I’m relaxed and my mind uncluttered. We’ll see what happens.

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