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Posts Tagged ‘writing’

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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ROW80 Update 3/22/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 22, 2015| 10 Comments »

I almost didn’t post because I didn’t have a whole lot to say. I already talked about my sub-plot issue on my Friday post.I haven’t been writing because 1) I’m proofreading for a client and 2) I’m still plotting another book. I feel like plotting, planning, etc. is still part of writing, so I’m okay with that. I have a novella written under my other pen name almost ready to publish. The cover is almost done, and I have just a few corrections to make. But I can’t think of a TITLE!!! I have the title for the series this starts, but not the actual book. Titles are so hard for me unless the title comes to me, and I write the story around the title. That’s happened a couple of times, once with Soul of a Vampire and again with Fire Wizard. But most of the time, I’m struggling with that title. And since it’s my first mystery, it’s more of a challenge than my paranormal romances. It’ll come to me. I must have patience!

And since this post is pretty boring, for your viewing pleasure, here’s Willow. 🙂

willow 3-22-15

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ROW80 Update and Southern Stuff

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on March 18, 2015| 17 Comments »

I’ve written a few words here and there, but I’m behind my goal for the year. I like to get my proofreading jobs behind me first. Sometimes I can write some words during that time, but I don’t want to take away from my client’s time. I should be done in about a week, then I’m going to try to catch up on word count until the next job.

I’ve gotten feedback from my five beta readers and editor on my mystery written under the other pen name. I’ve gotten everything from “I LOVED it!” to “Mystery isn’t my thing, but I liked the romance in it”. The feedback was mostly good with very few changes suggested. I’m waiting mostly on the cover.

About the Southern stuff. I’ve noticed from time to time that my editor makes changes in my manuscript that I don’t quite understand. And, occasionally, so will a beta reader. And I try to figure out WHY it’s wrong. And it finally occurred to me that some of the words and phrases I write are used a lot here in my area but probably aren’t where they’re from. I’ve tried to take some of the southern stuff out of my speech and writing, but some of it I refuse to let go of. I’m Southern, and I’m proud of that heritage. But when it’s REALLY local, I have to decide whether to keep it or ditch it. One such phrase I remember writing is “sick at my stomach”. My editor changed it to “sick to my stomach”. I fixed this one because I assumed the way I say it is probably localized in this area. But I have NEVER said “sick to my stomach”. I’ve always used “at”. So then, hubby and I talked and decided if you were physically ill, “at” is used, but if you were appalled at something, “to” is used. “I’m sick at my stomach.” “That just makes me sick to my stomach.” So what do you think? Which way do you say it? And are there things that are local to your area or your region that editors or betas call you on? I’d love to hear them!

By the way, when I proofread, there are sometimes things that must be local to where those authors are from since I’ve never heard some of the phrases, or they sound wrong to me. So it’s not just the South. 🙂

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ROW80 Update 3/8/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on March 8, 2015| 11 Comments »

You know, I used to blog all the time. Fun posts. Interesting posts. Now, it seems all I do is ROW80 updates. Not that those aren’t important! They are. But if that’s all I blog about, then I’m reaching only authors and not non-author readers. I need to change that. I don’t know what happened along the way to make me stop. Probably just too much stuff to do and not enough time. Hopefully, the full time job will slow down a bit in the next week or two.

Now…about that ROW80 update. I haven’t written any words yet, except for edits on my mystery. I just finished that, and I need to get it to beta readers. (I haven’t asked any of them yet.) I had a name picked out for my little town, but unfortunately, Kait found a series by the same name (Pine Hollow). And I want this to be a series about this town. I would LOVE to hear some ideas for a small town name. Throw some at me! Even if you want to be silly and give me goofy names, it will still be fun. 🙂 I should have had this name decided before I started writing, but it just wouldn’t come to me, and I didn’t want my zeal for the story to run out while I was piddling around thinking of a name.

Hopefully, when I get the proofreading jobs done, I can get back to some serious word count on my WIP.

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ROW80 Update – A Day Late

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on March 2, 2015| 8 Comments »

forge badgeThings have been going along smoothly, but I’ve suddenly found myself with three proofreading jobs coming up (already working on one). I always sort of have a dilemma with this as pertains to my actual writing, but I have to look at my client jobs first because that brings in more money that my writing at the moment. That might change someday, but right now I have to be practical. I can easily work on 2-3 proofreading jobs simultaneously (or back to back depending on their deadlines), but to do that AND write is tricky. However, I have a goal of 150,000 words for this year, which averages out to 12,500 per month, and I intend to make that goal. I made the January goal, but fell a little short (by about 1100 words) on February. I can still make that up later. In order to make the goal of 150K, I have to write 411 words per day. I usually write more than that, and I take a couple days a week off. So my plan is to just try to make the 411 (15-30 minutes) a day while I’m proofing for others, then when I have no proofing jobs, I can write more and try to get ahead. That’s the plan right now.

So…my lunch hours and my after work hours will be spent proofreading. I’ll be a busy bee. 🙂 And I’m very thankful for the jobs.

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ROW80 Update 2/18/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 18, 2015| 14 Comments »

It’s snowing! It’s very powdery, so I don’t know if it will stick to the roads or not. I’m keeping an eye on it so I’ll know if I need to leave work.

I’ve been very productive the last few days. After I finally faced the fact that my story wanted to be a novella instead of a novel made things easier for me. As I said on Facebook the other day, I’m tired of trying to force a story to be longer when it doesn’t want to be. So when my stories want to be novellas, they will be, and when they want to be novels, they will be. It feels so liberating!

I’ve also been dealing with sadness. My fifteen-year-old dog died yesterday. One day, he just walked into the garage, lay down, and didn’t get back up. We’ve been cleaning him up every day since he couldn’t walk anymore to go do his business, but he was eating okay. Then he stopped eating, but kept drinking water. Day before yesterday, he couldn’t even lift his head. He was very old, deaf, and arthritic. It was time for him to stop hurting. I’m going to miss him very much, but his misery is over.

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