Wow.

At least I almost redeemed myself this weekend. I set out with the greatest of intents to get some major writing done this weekend to get myself back on track. As you can guess from the title of this post, it didn't quite happen.

I did get 2542 words written on Harbinger on Saturday, but that was mostly transcribing what I'd put together over a few lunches during the week. I took the computer with me to go out and write on Chronicles twice on Saturday, but both times, things came up and nothing actually got done. I think I wrote a whole three paragraphs on Saturday and didn't bother trying to count them toward the weekend total. I just managed to stay ahead of my yearly goal.

Today was wishweaver's and my anniversary. Yep, she's put up with me for seventeen years so far and believe me, I appreciate it. We took the daughter-unit out for lunch today and then I went shopping while Wish worked on her mid-term some more. I picked up a wedding present for kradical and terri_osborne, as well as picking up a couple of things for Wish. (Yeah, I know, you're supposed to shop ahead of time, but it took a while to get Wish to give me a hint what she might be interested in. I'm telling you, this girl is hard to shop for. *sigh* Well, outside of getting her iTunes gift cards, that is.)

We went out for dinner tonight to our favorite Japanese steakhouse and had a nice conversation with the couple who were sitting next to us at the hibachi grill. Yeah, we splurged a bit, but the meal was nice and it was good to just relax and not worry about school, house or work for a bit. She liked her presents (huzzah!), so I guess she'll keep me around for another year. *wink*

Came home and started work on the sekrit project. I'm a little nervous about getting started without the contract, but I'm going to take the editor at her word until events prove me wrong. The first chapter is kind of short, (1063 words), but there was a great stopping place and it feels like adding any more is simply just padding. I'd rather save the words for the end of the book since I usually run over my word count anyway on the first draft.

I would say, "Hey, Glen Cook gets away with two page chapters in his latest book", but then again, he's Glen Cook and I'm not.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. The sekrit project is officially kicked off as of tonight.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Yesterday

2542 / 1000 words. 254% done!

Words for Today

1063 / 1000 words. 106% done!

Progress on Harbinger of Darkness

7697 / 120000 words. 6% done!

Progress on Unnamed Project:(SotH)

1063 / 100000 words. 1% done!

Words for 2008

153792 / 366000 words. 42%

After my daughter's appointments this morning, we hit the Apple store where she fell in love with the 20" iMac. We picked it up with some writing software (iWorks) and a Manga drawing software suite. She finished downloading all of her stuff from the old dying laptop after we got home and then after dinner tonight, we pulled the iMac out of the box, uploaded all of her stuff and started having fun with it. We're going to have to track down her WACOM drawing pad software to see if there's a Mac version or if it's universal software. Worst comes to worst, we'll just have to try and contact WACOM and have them send her a new CD. She's still having too much fun with her new "shiny" to worry about the drawing pad for the moment.

Of course, wishweaver fell in love with it too, but that's a purchase for another day . . . way far away. I never saw her as a Mac user, but Microsoft Vista is definitely pushing her toward it. Let's just say, its unreliabiliity is only exceeded by its memory-hogging slowness. I have a feeling we'll be blowing Vista off of her desktop soon and replacing it with XP. Hell, I'm thinking about doing the same with this laptop. Vista was NOT a better idea, Bill.

After all that, I uploaded my Bach collection into iTunes and prepared to write. That's where I hit a wall. I don't know why, but I just couldn't get into writing tonight. Maybe I'm already looking ahead to starting the sekrit project or maybe I was having too much fun visiting my old novel yesterday, but it was tough getting into the Chronicles tonight. So, after about two and a half hours, (most spent doing stuff other than writing), I finally logged 1,187 words. They're not bad words, and they were starting to come faster and better toward the end, so I'm encouraged by that.

Perhaps things will feel better after a good night's sleep.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1187 / 1000 words. 119%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

92550 / 120000 words. 77%


Words for 2008

144156 / 366000 words. 39%

Wow, with the two major projects put to bed, I was happy to go back to work today. I didn't exactly skip up the sidewalk to the building, but I will admit to whistling the tune to Willie and the Poorboys from CCR as I walked from the parking lot.

Now, yes, I do have other projects at work, but none of them seem to be quite as dire as the one's I just discharged and hopefully, we'll stay ahead of the game this time (provided people give me deadlines before they're crisis deadlines).

wishweaver has been drawn over to the dark side . . . yes, we caught it when Nicktoons began rerunning Avatar, so we've been spending every day from 7-8pm watching back-to-back episodes of the show. I know it's not "anime", but it's probably the most grown-up cartoon I've seen produced by an American team in forever. It feels anime-ish because it's plot driven not episodic like most cartoons and the characters have depth. No one is completely good and no one is completely evil. OK, well, maybe Azula's completely evil, but then she's a psychopathic witch with serious daddy issues.

Worked on Childhood's Tears again tonight, adding 1511 words to the story. I know I'm going to have to make a decision here soon as the editor with the sekrit project told me I could go ahead and start writing on it while we're waiting for the contract to come back from the licensor. The editor told me they're notoriously slow, but she's almost never had them reject a story she passed on to them.

So, I have to decide, which of my current writing projects do I push to the side to work on the sekrit project? To be honest, I"m thinking I'm going to drive on (bad pun there) with the military SF story Steel on Target and set Childhood's Tears and Chronicles of the Sea Dragon to the side. I really enjoy writing fantasy, but I think, given my military background as well as my experience in the 3rd ACR, this might be the strongest of the three. Plus, I'll need to set some time aside to work on Shattered Mirror and my college proposal, Black Satin Nights, which will need editing/rewriting between now and January.

So, I will keep working on my current schedule until Balticon and starting in June, I'll shift my schedule to Sekrit Project on Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, Steel on Target on Wed/Thurs, and Fridays will either be down days to recharge/read/play some PS2 or else work on Shattered Mirror when it's my turn to write.

I hate to leave Rowena and Asheera in the lurch, but there's only so much time and a whole lot of writing to do. I may see if I can slip in a little work on them during my lunch hours, but they'll just have to be patient with me.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1511 / 1000 words. 151%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

39727 / 90000 words. 44%

Words for 2008

138182 / 366000 words. 38%

Met with our contractor today and picked out the bathroom fixtures for the master bath and the upstairs bathroom as well as the faucets for the bar in the new family room and the new half-bath in the basement. We discussed different options and one thing I'm looking forward to is putting a deep tub with the jets in it. Nothing like a whirlpool bath after a long aggravating day.

It also appears that they're hoping to get started on the kitchen renovations sometime next week. wishweaver and I will be busy hauling stuff downstairs into the new pantry once they give us a definite start date. It's tough . . . I want to have most of it done now, but we still need the food, dishes, glasses, etc. until they're ready to gut it.

Oh, the joys of home renovation.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

As mentioned in the entry subject, the NFL held its draft today. Personally, I think the Chiefs made out like bandits, picking up Glenn Dorsey (DT), Brandon Albert (OT), and Brandon Flowers (DB) with their first three picks. I would have loved for them to have tried to trade into the 2nd round again to pick up a defensive end, but given all the holes in the Chiefs' line-up, it's going to take a couple of drafts to fill everything we need.

Still, this is, by far, the best first day draft I've seen for the Chiefs in almost twenty years. I can't wait to see how things go tomorrow.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

I need to finish my slides for the Maryland Writer's Conference for Saturday. It's my second time representing Writer Beware at a convention, but the first time was presenting the annual report at the SFWA meeting at NASFIC. This is my actual first time as a presenter/representative.

Yes, I am nervous, thanks for asking.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Did some work on Childhood's Tears while my daughter had an appointment this morning, but since I didn't transcribe those words onto the computer, they'll have to wait for tomorrow's word total. I did work on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon tonight after I finished listening to the draft and the myriad discussions about who did well and who fell on their swords. I added 1010 words to the list.

Not sure how much I'll accomplish tomorrow. We're going down to visit with my collaborator, April, and her family tomorrow. We'll be going over my first pass at Chapter Eight for Shattered Mirror while we're down there. Depending on when we get home afterwards will determine whether I stay up and write or just crawl in the sack.

Which I'm getting ready to do now.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1010 / 1000 words. 101%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

91343 / 120000 words. 76%

Words for 2008

129239 / 366000 words. 35%

Went out this afternoon with wishweaver for lunch and then writing. We hit Mad City Coffee and while Wish worked on her take-home final for college, I got some serious writing time in.

It's strange but somehow getting out of the house seems to help free up the ol' writing process and words appear. Now, it could be because our house is still topsy-turvy from the remodeling, (I am so looking forward to getting the office done down stairs so we can get the desks moved in and the writing books and reference books moved down into the basement), or it could be simply because there are too many distractions at the house. But whatever it is, I seem to be able to concentrate and really crank out the words when I'm outside the house.

While Wish was out taking another final that had to be proctored, I got a little gaming time in, but I've managed to get myself stuck in one section of Xenosaga II. For some reason, I just can't figure out how to beat this one boss, so I guess I'm going to have to go back to some earlier sections and do some grinding until I can just outlast him rather than finesse it. *Sigh*

It's weird, but I almost prefer the combat system of the first game over the second. You'd think each version would look slicker and they'd streamline stuff based on feedback from the first game, but this combat system is actually klugier than the original games. Luckily, even with the aggravation that comes with the combat system, I still love the storyline to the game.

Came back to Chronicles of the Sea Dragon after everyone headed to bed and finished up Chapter 20. Between the two writing sessions, I finished with 2439 words. I probably could have gone further, but I was at the end of the chapter, so it was time to quit.

I can see though, I'm going to have to up my estimated total. I was shooting for 100K, but it's beginning to feel like a 120K story. I'm sure the first draft is going to go well beyond that, but I think I can combine a few chapters at the first to get it down to a manageable level.

Not quite ready for the weekend to be over, but like Garfield, I have to face Mondays whether I want to or not. *grin*
____________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

2439 / 1000 words. 244%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

90333 / 120000 words. 75%

Words for 2008

116733 / 366000 words. 32%

After struggling with my writing on Thursday, I decided to take a night off from writing and read and do some other stuff. Went to the mall with wishweaver and bought some cool teas at Teavana. Wish had gotten some of their tea for her birthday and wanted to talk to them about brewing times and such and I spotted a few that looked rather interesting, so I indulged myself a little bit.

Today however, I got to deal with a different issue. Some idiot nearly rear-ended me when they merged onto the street I was on at a higher than necessary speed. (Driving like a bat out of hell) I had to punch the accelerator in my old 91 Toyota pickup to avoid being creamed. Luckily for me, the engine still has some pep in it and I barely managed to avoid the idiot. However, as I did, I heard a loud pop and then the noise started.

I was hoping I had just ruptured my muffler, but then the truck started staggering and I was really afraid I had done something bad to the truck. Yes, I do want to replace it, but no, I don't want to do it in an emergency (more or less) situation. I managed to limp the beast to Menike for service and they did their inspection. The guy came in and told me there was nothing wrong with the muffler. Let me tell you, my heart dropped because I was thinking I'd blown the engine somehow. Then he tells me, the O2 converter had blown out . . . literally. That's where all the engine noise was coming from, plus because it was gone, the engine couldn't regulate how much gas it needed, so it was alternating between too much and too lean. That's why it was running so rough. Whew. It wound up costing me about half what I was expecting and a whole lot less than I was afraid of.

Went to Ellicott City to pick up some t-shirts I had ordered from one of the shops there. I love "The Mountain" T-shirts. I have gotten several compliments for their "Fallen Angel" shirt I picked up a couple of years ago, so I picked up a few more for this year's convention season. Plus the shop I bought them in makes some of the best fudge in the state. Their "Tiger Butter" fudge is outstanding. *nom, nom, nom.*

I did get some writing in today. Spent some time with the Chronicles of the Sea Dragon, adding 1312 words. I had two of my protagonists nearly come to blows tonight. It'll be interesting to see how much pride was bruised over their exchange of words. (*evil writer, evil writer*)

Might have gotten some more done, but I wound up visiting with a good friend that I hadn't talked to for a while. Sometimes, you have to step away from the keyboard for life, and that's O.K., too.
________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1312 / 1000 words. 131%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

87894 / 100000 words. 88%

Words for 2008

114294 / 366000 words. 31%

If you read wishweaver's blog, you are probably familiar with the fact that she and the daughter-unit are big fans of NUMB3RS. I am enjoying the show, but like many things, I find some moderation is good, so I'm way behind where they are.

Still, the episode we watched today was a lot of fun. Called Graphic, it dealt with an "ashcan" comic book that would be worth millions, a really obnoxious comic artist turned businessman (hmm, wonder who that could have been), a former comic legend who's trying to get the book returned to him (sounds damn familiar) and it's set in what could have passed as the San Diego ComiCon. Story aside, I loved the detail they invested in making it really feel like the scenes were taking place at a convention. Also, the fact that Wil Wheaton and Christopher Lloyd were the two main guest stars just capped the enjoyibliity. (Plus, getting to watch Christopher Lloyd and Judd Hirsch at the end of the episode was a nice touch.) If you haven't checked it out and are a comic geek, (like me), I recommend catching it on "On Demand" or downloading it from some place like iTunes.

Went out again this afternoon to write. Spent some quality time on Shattered Mirror, finally making some of the changes April and I had discussed for this chapter. I was really getting into the story and I hope to devote some extra time to it over the next few weekends. Wasn't able to spend as much time on it as I had hoped, but still knocked out 2,837 words. After dinner tonight, I returned to the Endless and worked on Chronicles, adding another 1,483 words to Chapter Twenty. All in all, I wrote 4,320 words today and 10,490 words for the weekend.

Go me! *grin*

Who knows, maybe some of them will even survive the first set of edits.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

4320 / 1000 words. 432%

Progress on Shattered Mirror

2837 / 1000 words. 284%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

86582 / 100000 words. 87%

Words for 2008

105983 / 366000 words. 29%

Actually, considering how many days in March I missed, I'm not as disappointed as I thought I would be.

Still, I'm resolving to be a little more faithful to my writing than I was last month. (So says the man who's already missed three days in April. Hey, I was sick! Excuses, excuses.)

*grrr*

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Progress on Childhood's Tears

7201 / 8000 words. 90%

Progress on Steel on Target

8746 / 8000 words. 109%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

10815 / 10000 words. 108%

Words written on Shattered Mirror

1116 / 1000 words. 112%

Words written on Writer Beware projects

3023 / 1000 words. 302%

Words for March

30901 / 31000 words. 100%

Total words to date

94455 / 91000 words. 104%

Well, I wound up getting sick Wednesday night. I have come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to write pizza off of the list of things I can eat. Period. At first I thought it was just the pepperoni that were getting to me, but now, I think it's the grease that comes with most delivery pizzas. Either way, I can't afford to miss much more work and this time, I was out both Thursday and Friday.

As you can imagine, no words were written Wed night, Thursday or Friday. By Friday evening, I was starting to get back to feeling like myself, but when my regular writing time came, I curled up with a book, read for a few minutes and passed out.

Which brings us to today.

The daughter-unit and a couple of her friends decided they wanted to go shopping at the local mall today. By themselves. Well, I agreed to this up to a point. The daughter-unit had X amount of money to spend (mostly birthday money she'd saved) and I agreed to this jaunt as long as I was "at the mall". They had their cell phones and agreed to contact me every so often, but Dad wouldn't embarrass them by hanging over their shoulder.

So, at 1330, they took off and I checked myself into the local Starbucks, plugged in my computer and got to writing. Four and a half hours later, I had added 4,319 words to Steel on Target, starting to get that story back on schedule. After a quick dinner and folding some laundry, I started working on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon and added 1851 words to that one also in the regular writing session.

Yep, that's right.

6,170 words, which I believe is a personal best for me for one day's worth of writing.

Over dinner, the daughter-unit informed me that her friends were discussing getting together like this next Saturday also and maybe every other weekend after that. Sort of a girl's afternoon out.

Hmmm, 4-6,000 words every other Saturday? I could get used to that. Course, next week, I'll park myself at Panera's. No sense in wearing out my welcome at any one restaurant at the mall too quickly. Just give me a plug and a cup of hot tea and I'm ready to write.

Who knew being a (semi-)chaperon could be so productive?

*grin*
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

6170 / 1000 words. 617%

Progress on Steel on Target

35813 / 90000 words. 40%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

85099 / 100000 words. 85%

Words for 2008

101663 / 366000 words. 28%

Today was pretty relaxing for a while. Slept in late, watched TV with the family, found a few restaurants open to pick from for lunch and then played some computer games. Then it was time to get started on the laundry.

That normally isn't much of an adventure for me. Between living at the dorm in college and being in the barracks in the Army, I think I've got this laundry thing down, even if it's a different system than the one that wishweaver uses. However, as usual, pride goes before the fall. I came downstairs, emptied out the dryer, moved the wet clothes into the dryer and put on the next load. All well and good so far. Next trip, I came downstairs and found a dryer full of wet clothes.

Yep.

I forgot to turn on the dryer.

Well, that put me behind schedule and when all is said and done, there's still ONE small load of clothes waiting to be done tomorrow. One that would have been done if I hadn't messed up with the dryer.

*sigh*

I did get some writing done on Chronicles tonight, adding 1771 words to the story and moving things back off the rabbit trail and onto the main path of my outline. Yeah, it was a bit of a deviation from where I thought I was going with this, but it opens up the depth of the conspiracy against my poor privateers in a way I hadn't thought of when I wrote the initial outline all those years ago.

Or, to quote a famous philosopher and cigar affectionado . . .

"I love it when a plan comes together."
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1771 / 1000 words. 177%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

83248 / 100000 words. 83%

Words for 2008

89281 / 366000 words. 24%

Went out for a nice afternoon with the family. After braving the mob at Costco to get gas, we decided to try a new place for lunch today. It was nicely decorated, the service was attentive, and the food was good. The prices are a bit steep, so it's likely to become an "occasional" place, but it was certainly worth the effort to try it out. We've known it was there for years, but it was one of those things we were "going to get around to trying". Well, now we have and it was worth the effort.

Swung by Borders to let the daughter-unit pick up the newest Black Cat manga collection. I saw a few things that looked interesting, but just couldn't pull the trigger. I guess I'm feeling guilty about all the other books on my shelf waiting to be read.

Ran some errands with wishweaver after that and then settled in to watch some TV with the family. Caught an episode of Numbers from the 1st season DVD and then I watched Avatar, the Last Airbender before relinquishing the channel changer so Wish and the daughter-unit could watch Forensic Files and Body of Evidence.

After that, I headed up here, read several agent's blogs that I'm way behind on, responded to a few posts on Absolute Write, checked the responses to the latest Writer Beware blog post and contemplated my next blog entry before settling down to write.

I was thinking I was going to have to rip out part of what I wrote last weekend for Chronicles of the Sea Dragon because I was afraid I'd started down a rabbit trail that was going nowhere. But, I figured, let's wait until I get to the rewrite stage first. No editing during the first draft is one of my rules. Get to the end before letting the inner editor out of his cage. And, 1578 words later, I think I've taken what I thought was going to be an unproductive change to the story outline and have tied it back into where I thought I was going originally. See, I have to keep reminding myself, let the story go and I'll surprise myself how much better the story gets when I'm "writing" it rather than "outlining" it.

Don't get that last statement wrong. I still believe in the initial outline to make sure there IS a story somewhere in there, but I'm not a slave to it. If something better comes along, I'd be stupid to ignore it because I didn't think about it when I wrote the first outline. Like stories, outlines come in many drafts also.

Tomorrow is looking like a laundry and writing day, so I better get some sleep tonight. Night, LJ.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1578 / 1000 words. 158%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

81477 / 100000 words. 81%

Words for 2008

87510 / 366000 words. 24%♠

Boy, I wish I could blame this on Daylight Savings Time.

I wish I could blame it on work.

I wish I could blame it on stress.

And, while all three of those things may have been contributing factors, I've been highly unproductive this past week. To wit, Monday through Saturday there were no words . . . period.

Unfortunately, taking a day off to de-stress makes it easy to take another evening off and then inertia starts to set in. It becomes too easy to say, "I'm tired, maybe I'll just watch a little TV and then call it a night," or "I'll just play this video game until I get to the next save point, then I'll go write," or even "Screw it, I don't feel like writing tonight."

Either way, the excuses are just that, excuses.

Time for me to get focused again and get back to work. I was so proud of myself having a 10,000 word cushion for my goal of writing 366,000 words this year (That's four 90,000 word novels and a couple of short stories, now that I look at that total. Not bad production for someone with a full time job.) Now, I look at my log sheet and see my cushion has been cut in half.

**growls angrily at self**

You've had your vacation for the year, White. Back to the keyboard with you.

(And yes, I am still keeping to the schedule, even with the break. Tonight I finished Chapter 18 and started Chapter 19 on the Chronicles of the Sea Dragon, adding 1436 words to my totals for the year. I think we're getting ready to make the turn toward the climax here. Everything from this point on should be building up to the big confrontation. I can't think of anything else I need to do to set the stage, (although I'm sure I will once I begin my edits).

Tomorrow night, back to Childhood's Tears, where we last saw our intrepid heroine . . .
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for today

1436 / 1000 words. 144%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

79899 / 100000 words. 80%

Words for 2008

80964 / 366000 words. 22%

Like most holidays, the day afterward is sometimes a bit of a let-down. wishweaver and I went out for lunch only to find one of our favorite restaurants had gone out of business. *bleah* We went to another restaurant that had the same style of food, but it was, shall we say, disappointing. Apparently, now that their main competition isn't around, they're not as concerned with prices or with the quality of the steaks. Let's just say, I don't anticipate going there again anytime soon.

Spent some time today on the ol' PS2, playing Xenosaga again. Hey, it's no Final Fantasy, but I do like the combat system and the cut scenes are pretty good. They're probably the longest cut scenes I've ever run into in a video game. There was one section where they did three cut scenes from three different points of view that set up the next several hours of play. Yeah, they're long, but there are clues both for solving the immediate problems as well as hints of what's to come if you listen closely.

Got together with dzeytoun for dinner and spent a good portion of the evening discussing movies we've seen as well as the ones that are coming out. He'd caught 10,000 B.C. earlier today but didn't recommend it at all. However, he was impressed with The Bank Job, so I may have to put that on the list of things to see soon.

I did manage to get some writing in, even with all this. I added 1303 words to Chronicles, almost reaching the end of Chapter Eighteen. I really was hoping I could wrap this chapter up tonight, but I have a feeling 0645 is going to come awfully early this morning . . . an hour earlier than it did last week, come to think of it.

Did I mention, I hate Daylight Savings Time?"
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for today

1303 / 1000 words. 130%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

78463 / 100000 words. 78%

Words for 2008

79478 / 366000 words. 22%

We had a great time celebrating wishweaver's birthday today. After we took care of some errands we had to run this morning, the daughter-unit and I took her out to one of our favorite Japanese restaurants for lunch. After that, we swung by the mall and went on a small shopping spree for her. I think she enjoyed picking out her gifts as much as she enjoyed getting them. *grin*

Afterward, we came home and she and the daughter-unit watched a couple of disks worth of Numb3rs, which the daughter-unit had picked up while we were out today. I watched a few episodes, but I can't watch the same series over and over for hours at a shot like they can. I will watch all the episodes eventually, but two or three eps at a time.

Been trying to get some writing done, but I'm not "feeling" it tonight. It took me until almost midnight to get going and I'm only 566 words into the story tonight. I think I'm going to hit the sack and hopefully I'll get going tomorrow.

Maybe I'm as birthday-ed out as Wish was before she went to bed. *grin*
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for today

566 / 1000 words. 57%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

77160 / 100000 words. 77%

Words for 2008

78175 / 366000 words. 21%

I went out this afternoon and took the computer with me to the Atlanta Bread Company. Bought a bowl of soup and a large tea and found a place to plug the computer in and settled in for an afternoon of writing. Wound up staying there for two and a half hours working on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon. Got a long way into Chapter Eighteen and added 2569 words to the story. Snagged a drink for wishweaver and a big slice of cheesecake for the daughter-unit on the way out (which they both enjoyed). I was hoping Wish could join me at the ABC, but she's working on a mid-term and she has a term paper due in a few weeks, so she needed to stick around the house to work on the desktop. *sigh* Maybe next time.

Decided to relax a bit afterward, watched some TV with the two ladies of the house and then started working on Chapter Eight of Shattered Mirror. It's going to be interesting, because I've started Chapter Eight well before April has finished Chapter Seven, so I may be describing some things that she hadn't planned on doing in her chapter, but we'll negotiate that out next Tuesday on our usual Skype session. There's a good chance April and her husband will be visiting with us next weekend to help celebrate Wish's birthday. We're wanting to swing through Elicott City, which has a lot of antique/second-hand stores to pick up a few things (or at least look at them) for the new office downstairs and the library as well as getting a chance to work on Shattered Mirror face-to-face.

Still, even knowing I may have to revise what I wrote tonight, I still added 1116 words to that story also. So, all in all, it was a heck of a writing day.

Plus, the expanded proposal for the sekrit project is out the door. Now, all I can do is wait.

Unfortunately, I have to go to work tomorrow. *bleah*
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

3675 / 1000 words. 368%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

76594 / 100000 words. 77%

Progress on Shattered Mirror

1116 / 1000 words. 112%

Words for 2008

68802 / 366000 words. 19%

Got an invite from my old partner on the help desk to hit the coin show at the Baltimore Convention Center today. Seemed like a nice way to enjoy a Saturday, so I caught the light rail into Baltimore and spent the afternoon wandering around lots of really interesting stuff.

I splurged a bit and picked up a few things I needed for a set I'm working on as well as a few things I probably didn't need, but they were still cool. However, I was really proud of myself when I talked myself out of buying some things that I wanted. It was close . . . not unlike my latest blog post on Writer Beware, when you're in the buying mood, it's really hard to say no. But, that's where common sense and discipline has to come in and you have to be able to say "No, not right now" or "No, that's really nice, but I don't think that's a price I'm comfortable paying".

Still, there were some very pretty things there. *sigh*

It appears going to Dragon*Con can be profitable. I was there a few years ago, working a table in Artist's Alley, when some guy came up and asked if I could make change for a $20. I said, "Sure" and he gave me a bill he had just gotten out of the ATM. I thought it looked a little odd, but then I realized it was a Federal Reserve Note from 1928. I was "happy" to give him the change after that.

Well, I had the note appraised at the convention today. It's in really good shape and based on their appraisal, I found out it's currently worth $125 and will probably continue going up in value over the next few years. The people at the appraising company enjoyed the story and suggested I make change for people at conventions more often. Let's just say, I intend to keep my eyes open the next time I'm handling money at a show. *grin*

We had some company this evening and then went out for Mongolian BBQ for dinner. Yep, it's tough having to go through a build your own meal setting where the cook fixes your food right in front of you. As a registered carnivore, let's just say, I get my quota of protein and more on the first trip through, much less the subsequent visits.

Still managed to get March's writing off to a good start. Added 1592 words to the Chronicles and probably could have kept going easily. I'm hoping I can get in a few extra hours of writing tomorrow just to make up for February's undershot.

Time to grab a book, get a little reading in before bed.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1592 / 1000 words. 159%

Progress on CSD:Dragon Couchant

74025 / 100000 words. 74%

Words for 2008

65127 / 366000 words. 18%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

6202 / 6000 words. 103%

Progress on Steel on Target

4768 / 5000 words. 95%

Progress on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon

10583 / 8000 words. 132%

Other assorted writing (Pitches for tie-in novel/Writer Beware Blog entry)

5615 / 5615 words. 100%

Total Words for February

27468 / 29000 words. 95%

Total Words for Year-to-date

63535 / 60000 words. 106%
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Well, as we can see, between sick days and working on the proposal for the tie-in novel, I came in a tad behind on my word count for February. Luckily, I built up a bit of a cushion in January and it's keeping me on the plus side for the year, so far.

However, this tells me that I need to kick it up a notch and get back to producing on a regular basis. I saw too many nights with zero words to make myself comfortable. Hopefully, with the proposal almost out the door, I'll get back into my writing rhythm. Besides, I need to get to work on Chapter Seven/Eight for Shattered Mirror this month as well as trying to work on a new short story.

31,000 words or bust in March! Huzzah!

Yep, it's amazing how much writing you can get done if you turn off the TV and just go someplace quiet. Also, staring to write before 2200 hours is probably a good thing also. Now, normally, I don't do a lot of writing before 2130-2200 because I'm waiting for the family to go to sleep before I get started. However, since wishweaver has a cold, she decided to call it an early evening. I snagged my laptop and made a makeshift computer work station upstairs (old shelf and a desk chair), curled up in bed and started typing away.

(Yes, the upstairs is still in a state of flux with the remodeling, so all proper flat surfaces are currently covered with books waiting for the library to be built downstairs. MacGyver would be proud of my set up in here. *grin*)

Worked on Childhood's Tears tonight and hammered out 1132 words. I'm starting to drift back to my original outline for this story with this chapter, so we'll see what happens. Maybe it's because I'm working on four stories right now, but I'm noticing all of my stories are tending to drift away from the original plots. Not hideously so, but there's definite story creep going on. Well, except for Steel on Target, there never was an outline for that one.

Still, I'm making progress (or April and I are) and each story is shaping up pretty well so far. Course, we'll see how well they shape up once I start trying to get an agent for one of them. As soon as I finish one of them, probably Chronicles: Dragon Couchant, I'll start the rewrite to Harbinger. I should finish up one of the others about the time I'm done with that and start the CSD rewrites. This way I'll have stuff being written and rewritten/edited through the rest of the year. This way, I should have several different stories ready when I start querying.

But, right now, I need to get a good night's sleep. Running on four to five hours a night on average these past four weeks is starting to catch up with me. That's why I'm starting a little earlier on the writing - so I can finish earlier and sleep longer.

Yeah, even writers need sleep now and then. Go figure.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1132 / 1000 words. 113%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

20172 / 90000 words. 22%

Words for 2008

60361 / 366000 words. 16%

Normally, a wandering thread is associated with a bulletin board, but in this case, it's probably the best way to describe what's going on with my latest work on the Chronicles of the Sea Dragon. I still know where I want this story to end, especially since it's designed to be the opening book of a trilogy. However, the twist I mentioned last evening has opened up a whole new can of worms that I need to deal with.

Yeah, I foresee this book is going to go way over the 100K that I anticipated it would be. Now, I figure I'll be back close to the 100K when I get done with the edits and rewrites, but it's going to take a little while to incorporate this new path the story's wandering down.

I don't think it's a rabbit trail. I define those as scenes that are "fun to write" but they don't really push the plot forward. Occasionally, they're not a bad thing since they give me a chance to do some character development, but they can be sacrificed if I feel it's dragging down the flow of the story. This is different. I've actually introduced something into the story that is going to change the dynamic of how the main characters deal with the antagonists as well as how they interact with each other from now on.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I really know the characters backward and forward, but I hadn't fleshed out the villains of this piece. OK, let me take that back. I've fleshed out the MAIN villain characters and know why they're doing what they're doing. However, there's also a religious war going on in the world of the Chronicles that is important also and I hadn't developed the second religion as much as I should have.

Still, I have to admit, this round of discovery has been interesting. Is it possible to humanize the antagonists too much?

My blog entry, "Buddy, do I have a deal for you", was also posted on the Writer Beware. Hope you enjoy it.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1186 / 1000 words. 119%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

72433 / 100000 words. 72%

Words for 2008

59225 / 366000 words. 16%

Well, it was a slow day around Casa Blanca today. wishweaver is bit under the weather, which is never any fun, and she really needs to get started on some of her labs for class. So, I'll be living downstairs tomorrow doing the laundry. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a pretty good rhythm going between laundry and writing. I still have a 4000+ word cushion on my 1000 words a day for 2008 going, but I'd like to keep building up that cushion against being sick or visiting friends.

I have been trying to work on a blog entry for Writer Beware on what media tie-in writing is like and discussing work for hire. One thing I'm trying to do is contact some of the people I know who do tie-in writing to get some anecdotes (both good and bad), and this is taking a bit longer than I expected. I think it's a good subject for Writer Beware to discuss, but it's apparently going to be down the line.

However, I ran into something late last night that I think will make a very interesting entry. I worked on it today and then fired it off to Victoria to review. Hopefully, I'll hear from her tomorrow and then get it posted.

That's the way it works sometimes. Just like in journalism, sometimes you have to burn shoe leather to get a story and sometimes they just drop into your lap.

I still had time to get some personal writing done today also. I added another 1155 words to Chronicles of the Sea Dragon although the story did just take a certain twist that I hadn't seen coming. It'll be interesting to see what this does with the story. I guess I'll just run with it and work it out on the rewrite.

Ah, the wild life of a writer . . . *grin*
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1823 / 1000 words. 182%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

71427 / 100000 words. 71%

Progress on Writer Beware blog

668 / 668 words. 100%

Words for 2008

58043 / 366000 words. 16%

I'm not quite sure what's going on with me these days. Maybe I'm over-extending myself during the weekdays, but I really crashed this weekend.

Now, Friday night, I intentionally did not write. I took off from work early to enjoy the beautiful day, got wishweaver and went and did "stuff". Just "stuff", got the oil changed in my old truck, visited the bank, hit the local Costco and picked up some really good Teriyaki Chicken Fillets that we had for dinner and then threw on a new (to me) video game (Xenogenesis 1). Yes, I can tell it's a little older and the voices don't match up with the mouth movements very well, (sorta gave me an old Hong Kong movie vibe), but the story looks interesting and if I can get past this current section, I think the game may be pretty fun. (lots of back story and set-up to get through at first.)

Saturday was another thing all together. It was a day of nothing quite going right and for some reason, I was tired and cranky. We did stuff though. Went to the local mall so the daughter-unit could get some new clothes, looked at a few things for wishweaver and took in the local video store so I could get some ideas what I wanted to pick up with the next paycheck. However, while I was waiting for them on a bench, I started falling asleep. I hadn't been up that late Friday evening, so I couldn't explain it. But, by the time we got home, I was really tired. I walked in, sat down on the couch and fell asleep at 3:45. I didn't wake up until 11:45 and then went back to sleep at 1:30 and slept in until 10 this morning.

I don't know if I had a bug or what, but I certainly felt better this morning than I had all day Saturday. Sigh. So, today was spent folding laundry, watching Emergency with Wish or working on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon. It was a relaxing day but still pretty productive. I typed 3098 words today to make up for the lack of production on Friday and Saturday.

I need to finish working on my next blog entry for Writer Beware's blog. I'm working on doing something on tie-in writng/work for hire and discussing the pros and cons of this particular writing model. I'm going to try and bounce a few ideas off of some of my other tie-in writers to get their takes on the article before I post it.

Speaking of tie-in writing, I think I have a pretty good grasp on what I want to write now. It's just a matter of finishing up my research and trying to tie everything up into a neat little one-page proposal. Which of course, is my bane, being naturally long-winded. *grin*

But, I need to get a load out of the dryer and get it upstairs before I go to bed. Night, LJ.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

3098 / 1000 words. 310%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

69592 / 100000 words. 70%

Words for 2008

48439 / 366000 words. 13%

Well, it's a good kind of problem, I guess.

I guess I was on more of a roll on Chronicles last night than I thought. Tonight was supposed to be dedicated to Childhood's Tears, but without even thinking, I opened up Chronicles and by the time I realized I'd screwed up the schedule, it was a tad too late.

Now, I'm pretty happy with where I reached tonight and the word count was pretty good (although I do admit a certain amount of distraction made the writing take longer than I had hoped). I'll just have to try and write a little more tomorrow on CT to make up for it.

I also have an invite to pitch for a new tie-in line. Time to borrow a few DVDs from a friend and get to researching. I have a pretty good idea what I want to pitch, but I want to do a little more research to ensure I have back-story continuity as well as a good pitch. I'm excited to get this opportunity but I'm not holding my breath. There are some other darn good writers pitching for the same property and if I lose out, I know I'm losing out to some people I'd enjoy reading.

Time to call it a night though. Keep your fingers crossed, LJ-land.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for tonight

1103 / 1000 words. 110%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

67597 / 100000 words. 68%

Words for 2008

41024 / 366000 words. 11%

Wow.

I had forgotten how many books we had in the library.

I didn't move ALL of them today. The contractor said his men will shift the movable bookshelves into the center of the room for us, but I did need to get all the general stuff up and moved, to include all the books on the two walls. They're going to take down the shelves and the old track shelving system and get rid of them (or use them or whatever they want to do with them) and then patch the nail holes paint the room.

I think I spent about five hours just hauling stuff from one room to another. Once it's done, I'll be hauling them books back into the room and just setting them in piles on the floor so they can paint the other room, but at least they're all boxed up now and easier to transport. Well, that is, except for the one box that has about 1/3 of my hardbacks. That one is still a bear to move, boxed or not.

wishweaver and the daughter-unit worked on getting her room ready while I was evac'ing the library. They got a big chunk done and while they were in there, they took the opportunity to weed through some of the daughter-unit's stuff. It's amazing some of the stuff she's hung on to over the years, but Wish managed to pry some of it from her. We hope to have her room ready to be painted next and that'll give me time to get the stuff out of the guest bedroom and back into the old library. Our room will probably be the last one painted. Well the master bathroom will probably be the last painted but that's because they're not ready to install the new vanity or shower yet.

dzyetoun came over to watch the game. We will not discuss the Super Bowl beyond the following statement - Good game, wrong team won.

As soon as the game was over, I turned off the TV, turned on the iTunes and got back to work on Chronicles. Finished Chapter 15 and got a good chunk of Chapter 16 done. Added 1732 words tonight and set up one of the pivotal events of the book (I hope). I have the distinct feeling I'm overwriting the story again. (100,000 words is a floating target . . . may not be what the first draft comes in at but hopefully the final will.)

Hopefully, I'll continue going over 1500 words this week so I don't lose ground this weekend. I'll be taking the laptop to Farpoint, but I don't know how much writing I'll get done there. We'll play it by ear.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1732 / 1000 words. 173%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

66494 / 100000 words. 66%

Words for 2008

39921 / 366000 words. 11%

Well, didn't get much writing done on Friday (read: none), but I did get all my information turned in to be a guest at Balticon finally. Apparently, the e-mail address I had to send my info to was a tad outdated. *le sigh* Still, all's in order now and hopefully we're past the bumps.

I know kradical was talking about a possible Dr. Who panel at Farpoint next weekend, but no official word yet. I know I'm not a "guest", but I'm still going up to hang out with some of my friends there at the bar if nothing else.

Had a small disappointment this afternoon. We had to swing by the mall to pick up some DVD's we'd ordered and found out one of my favorite stores in the mall had closed due to the mall management raising rent drastically. I asked if they were moving to another mall, but the shop owner next door said the owner of "Bun Penny" had decided it was more hassle than it was worth and just shut the doors. It was a great place to pick up a bottle of wine from a vintner I wasn't familiar with and they sold a wider (and cheaper)selection of coffees and hot chocolates than the average Starbucks. *le double sigh*

We've put two of our rooms back together after the paint crews got done. I need to deconstruct the old library upstairs tomorrow though so I can transfer the books downstairs to put in the new library. They'll be taking the old track shelving down up there so wishweaver can convert it into her craft room. She's needed a dedicated spot to keep her knitting, cross stitching and sewing away from los gatos here at Casa Blanca. We're looking for some nice cabinets to put her stuff in where inquiring noses won't be able to reach them. That's down the road a bit, but at least she'll have "her own space" here.

Did get back to writing tonight. Added 1819 words to the Chronicles and have almost wrapped up Chapter 15. With a little luck, I should get some writing in tomorrow, (or should I say, today), even with the cleaning/packing and the Super Bowl. I definitely want this chapter wrapped up and the next started before going back to work.

Ah, the fancy filled and carefree life of a writer . . . or so I'm told.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1819 / 1000 words. 182%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

64762 / 100000 words. 65%

Words for 2008

38089 / 366000 words. 10%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

8233 / 9000 words. 91%

Progress on Steel on Target

13096 / 11000 words. 119% done!

Progress on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon

9132 / 7000 words. 130% done!


Progress on Shattered Mirror

5071 / 2000 words. 254%


Other assorted writing

783 / 783 words. 100%

Total Words for January

36270 / 31000 words. 117% done!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All in all, not a bad start to the month. Took a few days off (like last night when I came home from work and fell asleep. Woke up only long enough to eat and go from the couch to the bed.), but I'm happy with the progress on all the stories. Now, it's time to hit February running.

It seemed like a simple task. We found a really cool vanity for the master bathroom. It was perfect dimension wise (our bathroom is very long and narrow) but it was in this god-awful shade of green. All we needed to know was, did it come in another color (preferably blue)? That's it, a simple question.

We must have spent close to an hour trying to flag down someone to help us in the store on Saturday but everyone was apparently way to busy to take money from me. So, we left and hit several other stores, but nobody had anything quite like what we were looking for. That meant, today, we were back there, but this time we stopped at the main desk and insisted they find someone to help us.

Then we heard the even better news . . .that particular vanity has been discontinued. The green one was the only one they had in stock.

Aauuggh!

So, we sat down with the sales clerk, looked through some catalogs, looked at a few vanities they had in the back and now we have a few more to choose from. We're going to contact our contractor to meet us out at the store and go over our options for the vanity and the new shower for the master bedroom.

If you saw wishweaver's blog, you've seen some of the changes to the house as far as painting goes. We're still hung up waiting for the guy to do the walk-out for our basement, but the contractor is trying to get ahead on some of the other sections of the house where he can. But, without being able to move stuff into the basement, it's going to be hard to clear out rooms for painting, flooring, carpeting, etc., and we really need the walk-out to move big stuff downstairs.

Double AARRGGGHHH!

Anyway, we are making progress. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

Speaking of making progress, the Chronicles of the Sea Dragon grew again tonight by 1139 words. I need to dig out my old outline because I think I'm way off where I was planning on going with this story. I'm pleased with what I have written, but I need to remember where I was going with Dragon Couchant, so I can set up Dragon Statent and Dragon Rampant, (the two follow-on novels).

But unfortunately, I'm out of weekend. Back to work tomorrow. Oh yeah!
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1139 / 1000 words. 114%

Progress on Dragon Couchant

62943 / 100000 words. 63%

Words for 2008

33699 / 366000 words. 9%

Got the Writer Beware blog post up, did family stuff most of the afternoon and evening and then settled in to do some writing. Started Chapter Fifteen for the Chronicles of the Sea Dragon tonight, slapped on Jethro Tull's Songs from the Wood, which is strangely appropriate for this story and got to work.

2116 words later, I think it's time to go to bed. With a little bit of luck tomorrow, I should be able to get this chapter finished as well as taking care of some housekeeping I need to do for Writer Beware. Heck, I might even treat myself to a little time on the ol' Playstation if I keep this up.

Oh, and on a personal note, I've officially exceeded January's projected words for the month and we've still got five days to go. Go me!
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

2116 / 1000 words. 212%

Progress on Dragon Couchant

61804 / 100000 words. 62%

Words for 2008

32560 / 366000 words. 9%

Didn't do a whole lot today, but we did get the dining room ready for the contractor to paint in there when he's ready. Moved the old small entertainment center upstairs for wishweaver to put her old stereo back together. I don't know if she's going to want to keep it in our bedroom or if she's going to want to put it in what will become her craft room when the contractor's done, but either way it's going to live upstairs, so we hauled it up there.

Still, we filled several boxes of stuff we had been keeping in the entertainment center and Wish packed up some more stuff in the kitchen in the anticipation of them starting on the new cabinets and such there. It feels like we're getting ready to move with all the shuffling of furniture and packing, but I guess, given the extent of the renovations we're doing, it's almost like moving to a new place.

Worked on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon tonight and added another 1565 words to bring Chapter 14 to a close. Definitely left the crew in a "oh crap" situation, but we'll get back to them next Saturday. It's Rowena's turn to have some fun tomorrow night.

I'm not really looking forward to work tomorrow, but that (as they say) is another story.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1565 / 1000 words. 157%

Progress on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon

59688 / 100000 words. 60%

Words for 2008

16396 / 366000 words. 4%

Friday was a tad stressful. However, by the end of the day, I sorta, kinda know what's going on at work. According to the latest, I start on the new job on Wednesday - sorta. What that means is, starting on the 16th, I work 8-12 on my current job and 1-5 on the new assignment. Not exactly what I had hoped for, but at least, I'm getting started on the new assignment. With any luck, I'll only be working this split-shift for a couple of weeks and then I can drop the current assignment for good.

Still, even with that bit of news, I was still stressed by the time I got home. So, wishweaver and I went out for a nice dinner and then came home and watched some of the original Dragnet on DVD. I decided I needed to do something other than write for an evening and actually enjoyed my time off.

Today, we met with the contractor and picked out the tiles we're going to be using for the remodeling. Since we had the accident with the refrigerator leaking, we're going to have to have the hardwood floors on the first floor replaced. We've decided to tile the kitchen and the entryway and just have the library and dining room done with hardwood. Even though we're still waiting on the guy to do the dig so we can have the walk-out put in our basement, we've definitely turned the corner on the house. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

So, I decided that since I didn't write Friday, I'd put in a double-shift tonight. Tonight it was time to revisit the Chronicles and I nearly finished Chapter 14, adding 2138 words to it. I hated to quit where I did in the middle of a sword fight, but I'm starting to get fuzzy around the edges and I'm getting distracted by the TV. Yeah, I know, it's easier to write with the TV off, but they're showing The Longest Day, which was one of my favorite books when I was a kid (along with Invasion, They're Coming, which tells the story of D-Day from the German point of view). Yeah, I know how the movie is going to end, but for me, this one has rewatchability. So, I'll finish the chapter tomorrow and maybe get started on Chapter 15.

Still ahead of target for the year so far.

So far.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

2138 / 1000 words. 214%

Progress on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon

58123 / 100000 words. 58%

Words for 2008

14831 / 366000 words. 4%

Well, I decided I'd rather hang around the house today and just goof off rather than going in to work. I'll have to spend some time this week making up for being lazy this weekend, but right now I'm not feeling too guilty. I guess you can tell that I'm ready to move on to the new position, eh? Still, I do need to update the Help Desk SOP, so I'll have to put in a few more hours at work this week.

I added another 1173 words to the Chronicles tonight and am moving into one of the major scenes in the book. If I do this right, it should set up all the events for the rest of the book. If I screw it up . . . well, let's not go there. I'll be doing and redoing Chapter 14 until it's right. *sigh*

So far, the schedule seems to be working well on getting stuff done in 2008. I'm making progress on Steel on Target and Chronicles and tomorrow night, I get started back on Childhood's Tears. I've added 5222 words to Steel and 2,179 words to Chronicles, putting me 1401 words ahead for the year. With any luck, I'll be able to build up a comfortable buffer so I won't have to worry about attending Farpoint in February.

Course, I don't have an invite to Farpoint and may not get one this year since they never responded to my request. It's weird. I get invites to Arisia, Lunacon, Marcon, etc., but to go to the local conventions is like pulling hen's teeth. Farpoint is pretty good about inviting me, Ravencon is not inviting me this year because I attended the first two (?!), and Shore Leave has never invited me as a guest. Only Balticon has invited me this year to be a panelist. I have no clue what's up with that, but considering I've been thinking about taking times off from conventions this year, it's probably for the best. I just hate not getting to spend time with friends and fellow writers - that's the drag about not going.

*shrugs*


__________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1173 / 1000 words. 117%

Progress on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon

55987 / 100000 words. 56%

Words for 2008

7401 / 366000 words. 2%