Stargate SG-1: Shadows of the Heart is gone.

I finished edits, ran spell check, fixed a whole bunch of dumb mistakes I'd made and gave it a good look over today. Typed up a nice letter to the publisher, attached the Word document to the letter and shipped it off.

Now we start the "hope the licensor likes it" voodoo rituals.

Book came in at 89,411. Just didn't have time to find that 589 extra words to get it to a nice round number.

At this point . . . who cares. It's done and I never want to back myself into that kind of deadline crunch again. I guess it's good to know I can do it. I just don't want to do it.

I'm going to take a short break and then get back to work on something. I may go back to rewriting Harbinger or maybe I'll jump on Childhood's Tears. Plus, I do have this Star Trek idea I need to have worked out so I can pitch it later this year.

Ah, a writer's life. Get one out the door, start working on the next.
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Words for Today

830 / 1000 words. 83%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

89411 / 80000 words. 112%

Words for 2009

80907 / 365000 words. 22%

Wow, I guess it's a good thing I took off Friday and Monday because the universe conspired against me about getting much done this weekend. Now, what happened over the weekend was mostly good stuff, but getting more than a couple of hours at a shot to work on Shadows was just a hassle.

Still, I won't bore you with the whining. Let it be known that going into D-Day, I have completed 23 of 25 chapters for rewrite and added 1324 new words. I've rewritten big chunks of Chapters 22 and 23 and I think they now tie all the earlier ones together rather nicely.

I also met with April over the weekend and we hashed out the next chapter of Shattered Mirror as well as starting to tighten up exactly what we want to happen in this book. We've be building this book one chapter at a time, but now we're at a point where we need to stop talking in large generalities about the book and really pick our focus. We've come up with a lot of good thematic stuff as well as the who's doing what to whom stuff, but now we have to decide what EXACTLY happens in the book and what would go into later books, if we sell the first one.

It's interesting trying to work in the YA universe since complete YA novels tend to be 20-40K shorter than what I normally write. It's going to be good to help me focus and really ensure any rabbit trails we follow must lead to something specific in the book. No just "seeing what happens" as I tend to do in first drafts.

Still, even with all the distractions, I did get 4 chapters done between Fri and tonight. The end (of this project) is in sight.
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Words for Fri-Sun

1324 / 3000 words. 44%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

88581 / 80000 words. 111%

Progress on Shadows of the Heart's Revisions

23 / 25 chapters. 92%

Words for 2009

80077 / 365000 words. 22%

wishweaver did not have a good day today, so I wound up taking off at lunchtime from work and coming home. She felt well enough not to go to the doctor, but she was either fighting off a bad virus or she got some bad food yesterday. Much unfun was had by all.

I decided to go ahead and take all day off tomorrow also. We are supposed to have some company coming by tomorrow, so I'll want to use tomorrow morning to get as much done as I can. I did push on today and wound up adding 995 words to Shadows. I also completed the edits on Chapters 17-19. That leaves six chapters to edit between now and Monday. Still going to be close, but we'll keep plugging away. I'm a little less concerned than I was Monday night.

I'm already plotting out things to do once this is done. None of them has anything to do with writing, unless you consider the work I'm going to do on getting my web site back operational as writing. I have a stack of anime that needs to be watched, a stack of older and newer movies I need to watch, an entirely too tall pile of books to be read and some serious video gaming I need to get back on. (If nothing else, I need to finish up Xenosaga II. I've been ready to move onto the last big section in that one since last summer. Just got distracted and never sat down and finished.)

In some ways, Monday can NOT get here soon enough.
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Words for Today

995 / 1000 words. 100%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

87257 / 80000 words. 109%

Progress on Shadows of the Heart's revisions

19 / 25 chapters. 76%

Words for 2009

78753 / 365000 words. 22%

O.K., wishweaver has been pushing me to ask for an extension on the delivery of this book, but I'm so damn close to being done, I just hate to do it. Of course, to make the deadline, I'm really pushing myself in the editing and rewriting stages. I made it through Chapter 12 last night and then Chapters 13-16 tonight. I can see the finish line (nine chapters to go), but I'm exhausted in the mornings. Luckily, I've turned in my latest deliverables at work today, so I've got a few days before anything else is going to be due. I'll try to balance doing some work at work and doing some editing at work.

At least, I'll be off from Friday noon until COB on Monday. As long as I get this en route to Fandemonium by 2359 on Monday, I'll be on time. They'll get it first thing Tuesday morning, which is when they would have gotten it whether I quit working on it at 1700 EST or 2359 EST.

It's weird, I went through four chapters today and the word count meter barely budged, even though there was a whole lot of typing going on. I added 692 words for all my efforts on Shadows. Even though the word meter isn't moving, I caught some conflicting information between Chapter 2 and 14, which would have annoyed the editor if it had slipped through. So, I guess, yeah me?

I could probably make it another hour or so, but I'm thinking the body is telling me to go to sleep and it usually knows better than my mind does in situations like this.

Night!
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Words for Today

692 / 1000 words. 69%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

86262 / 80000 words. 108%

Progress on Shadows of the Heart's revisions

16 / 25 chapters. 64%

Words for 2009

77758 / 365000 words. 21%

Survived another Monday at work, actually got some stuff done, received my first set of edits by the development team and now am busy correcting my misconceptions of how this system works and making new pictures to help me demonstrate my new-found knowledge.

There are times I wish I could just make the developers write some of this stuff and let me clean it up. They probably spend more time trying to explain stuff to me than they would just breaking down and typing up a few paragraphs.

I didn't get any work done on the book yesterday. wishweaver and I went out for a "short" trip to Tyson's Corner, VA. I had intended to get home around 6pm and get back to work. Instead we wound up meeting friends for dinner and I got home after 9pm. Had a great time, but really didn't have the time to spare. Still, it was nice to meet up with mollymorrison, sorerutenshi and April (my co-author on Shattered Mirror) and much good Japanese food was eaten by all.

Came home from work tonight ready to make up for lost time.

That was, until Chapter 11 reared its ugly head. I spent three hours tonight working on the one chapter. I wrote, re-wrote, added, shifted, deleted . . . In general, this chapter looks only vaguely like it did at the start. Officially, I've added 373 words to Shadows, but there was probably a couple of thousand words written tonight all told.

I'm hoping I get the corrections made on the document at work tomorrow early. I'll be taking in a few chapters with me to try and edit in any slack time I can get. Just need to ask Wish where she's hiding the "Red Pen of Doom" (pat. pend.)
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Words for Today (officially)

373 / 1000 words. 37%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

85570 / 80000 words. 107%

Progress on Shadows of the Heart's revisions

11 / 25 chapters. 44%

Words for 2009

77066 / 365000 words. 21%

Wow, where did the day go. Somehow, writing doesn't seem to take anywhere near as long as editing does. I finished creating the new Chapter 7 today and then edited Chapters 8-10. I've been sitting here at the computer off and on since 1100 today. *sigh* Still, we added 1760 words to Shadows, and finished 4 chapters so life is good.

Part of the problem was I added in some new stuff at the start of the new Chap 7 and wanted to end the chapter on a bit of whimsy, without loosing the flow of the events or making it too silly. I think I spent over an hour working and reworking the last page of the chapter this afternoon. The problem is, it was something that would have easily worked on the TV show, but it just didn't seem like it was working in the prose. I like the compromise I worked out with myself, but we'll see what the editor thinks when she gets it.

I am happier with the flow of the story now and I did catch some errors (had characters changing name in mid-event for one thing). While I'm sure I'm going to have lots of "editorial changes", especially since this is the first time I've worked with this editor, but I'm glad I'm catching the blatant boo-boos now.

We didn't get into the city after all, mores the pity. I'm going to have to make sure my schedule is clear for next year, come hell or high water. This is getting ridiculous.

OK. Have to go into work for a bit tomorrow and then back on the story.

Talk to you later, LJ.
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Words for Today

1760 / 1000 words. 176%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

85197 / 80000 words. 106%

Progress on Shadows of the Heart's revisions

10 / 25 chapters. 40%

Words for 2009

76693 / 365000 words. 21%

This is it. The next-to-last weekend before I have to turn Shadows in to the editor. Trouble is, I was really unfocused tonight. Not necessarily unproductive, but unfocused. Just took longer to get what I did accomplished. I added 2021 words tonight in the new Chapter Seven. I'll try to finish it up tomorrow morning and then edit it on the metro if we wind up going to the Cherry Blossom festival tomorrow afternoon in D.C.

I haven't been to one for years and I'm thinking, if the weather holds out, it might be a lot of fun and a good way to recharge the ol' batteries for the last big push.

Also, I found a new web comic that I really enjoyed tonight. It's called The Dreamland Chronicles. It's a lot of fun and I really enjoy what the creator is doing with this one. I know some people are not fond of 3-D rendering in their comics, but for some reason, this one really works for me. Check it out and see what you think.

Not really much else to say outside of iTunes being stupid tonight. I'm not sure if it and Twitter don't play well together but I'm getting spikes on the CPU which are making iTunes really stutter and drag. Very odd. Didn't do this on the old laptop which had way less RAM. I'm thinking I may need to reload iTunes and see if it clears it out.

*sigh*
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Words for Today

2021 / 1000 words. 202%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

83437 / 80000 words. 104%

Progress on Shadows of the Heart's revisons

6.67 / 25 chapters. 27%

Words for 2009

74933 / 365000 words. 21%

First surprise of the day was I didn't go to work.

Daughter-unit injured her hand last night (shut in a door). Nothing too serious, but it was definitely painful. She and wishweaver didn't think it was a good idea to go to school where it would probably get bumped into repeatedly over the day, but Wish had something due at work, so I stayed home in case the daughter's hand got worse and she needed to go to the doc.

We used the opportunity to finish an assignment she was late on, but the teacher said she'd accept it up to Friday. We sat down, discussed what needed to be done and hammered it out in a few hours. Course, if she'd done it when she was supposed to, we could have spread the pain out a bit, but what's done is done. I know when her next assignment like this is due, so we'll start on it a tad earlier next time.

Along with her typing, I did get some of my own typing done today and tonight. I revised Chapters 4-6 of Shadows, adding another 2093 words to the story. I almost completely rewrote Chapter 6 and tomorrow, I have to add in a new Chapter 7. This should be the last major revision until I reach Chapter 23. Should be. Will keep fingers crossed.

So, if I mentioned a first surprise, that implies a second one, no?

Well, here it is. The Balticon Program Participant's page. What's so surprising about a standard convention page listing who's attending. Well, I always assumed one would know they were a participant at a convention before it appeared on the Internet.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the thought. Given everything else, I probably will attend it since it's about 40 miles from my house as the beltway turns. Still, either someone was "watching out for me" after the last few times of not knowing whether I was an attendee until the last minute or else there's another Richard White out there who'll be fighting me for the badge.

I wonder what panels I signed up for? *grin*
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Words for Today

2093 / 1000 words. 209%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

81416 / 80000 words. 102%

Progress on Shadows of the Heart's revisons

6 / 25 chapters. 24%

Words for 2009

72912 / 365000 words. 20%

The editing/re-write of Shadows kicked off tonight. I only made my way through three of the 24 chapters tonight, but with the adding details, deleting superfluous dialog and reorganizing some of my thoughts (as well as some of those of my characters), I wound up adding 984 words. I'm hoping I can devote more time to this tomorrow night. I'd like to get through at least five chapters worth of revisions going into the weekend.

I finished two of my quarterly reports today at work, so they're out of my hair until late June/early July. Huzzah! I have one more deliverable that's due on Friday, but it's short and mostly done already. Now, if I can just get going on a couple of major deliverables I have that aren't tied to production cycles. Ah, the joys of tech writing.

I'm sure I had more things to say earlier, but the brain tends to get fuzzy this time of the morning.

Night, LJ.
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Words for Today

984 / 1000 words. 98%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

79323 / 80000 words. 99%

Words for 2009

70819 / 365000 words. 19%

Been a bit since I posted. Sorry to disappear like that.

a) UCM lost in the NCAA Div II Final Four to the eventual national champions Findley (OH) University 67-65. Congrats to Findley for going 36-0 on the season. Well done.

b) Survived the daughter-unit's 16th birthday party over the weekend. Good part - everyone enjoyed themselves. Best part - over until next year.

c) Found out I did not get accepted into University of Baltimore's MFA program by logging into my student page and finding the message waiting there. Official word is supposed to come sometime this week. Will try and schedule a meeting with the Dept. Chair to see what I can do to improve my chances for next year. If I don't get in then, I'll just pass on the MFA. I'd be 55 if I get in next year. Any older than that and it shifts from being useful to vanity.

Yeah, that one stings a bit. Esp. since I have more pro credits than most of the instructors at the school, but I can't teach at the local JuCo without the Masters. Maybe I'll look into getting a straight MA in English instead.

d) I lost Monday because my old computer was just not enjoying life, so I have a new baby in the house. It's a cute little HP Pavillion dv7-1245dx Entertainment Computer. Let me tell you, that extra 2G of RAM is making this baby scream loading programs compared to the old Toshiba. The Toshiba would have probably been fine with XP on the machine, but Vista and it were NOT friends. Took a little bit to figure out how to move all the stuff from one machine to the other (esp. setting up Thunderbird as my mail client and getting it to talk to a recalcitrant mail server).

e) And speaking of pro cred, as you might note from the title of this blog entry, I have officially hit the end of Shadows this evening. Yes, I know I need to add another chapter and yes, I know it needs editing/rewriting and yes, I know the 13th is still right around the corner.

But, the first draft is done.

I finished Chapter 22 and then wrote a bridge chapter (currently Chapter 13b) which explains some of what happens in Chapter 21. Now to add in the new chapter and modify the chapters I've already identified to accommodate all the rest of the stuff I added in 20, 21 and 22. I'm quite convinced, the new stuff I have to add will push me well over what I needed for this book.

But still, it's nice to say, I'm in editing mode, not writing mode.

Note to self, never get this far behind on a project again or else push for a more reasonable delivery date.

And now, it's off to bed.
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Words for the day

3810 / 1000 words. 381%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

78399 / 80000 words. 98% done!

Words for 2009

69835 / 365000 words. 19%

I thought I was working on the last chapter of the book. (Yes, I did say I want to go back in and add a couple of chapters, but they're in the middle of the book. Work with me here.)

Ahem, let me start that again. I thought i was working on the last chapter of the book. Until one of the characters sprung a last plot twist on me. I swear they're doing this to me on purpose. Oh sure, we'll meander around and do what you want us to do in the early part of the book. Now that you're trying to wrap it up for editing/rewrites, now we're going to take over and write the story for you.

*sigh*

I did manage to survive another day of making screen shots and editing the user's manual at work. Got my first set of edits back, so I'm hoping I can put the manual mostly to rest by the middle of next week. Of course, they'll do something to make me re-write a section before this is all over. No code is ever permanently frozen.
Then I can get back to the other systemic documents I need to finish writing/re-writing.

Even with the distractions by my characters, I added another 2087 words to Shadows tonight. I'm about halfway through what's now Chapter 22. Hopefully, I'll finish up soon. If anything else comes up, I'm saving it for the sequel. No more new ideas, you guys!
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Words for Today

2087 / 1000 words. 209%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

74589 / 80000 words. 93%

Words for 2009

66025 / 365000 words. 18%

Things went a little better at work today. Mainly because I got left alone for a lot of it to work, but I'll take my victories where I can get them. I did identify a large bug in the system though as I was trying to take my screen shots, so I got an attaboy for that.

Went out to the mailbox and my signed contract with Fandemonium was there. Huzzah! Took the family out to dinner at one of the local Japanese restaurants and enjoyed some new dishes. Along with various rolls, I tried Toro Tartare, which is basically uncooked tuna in a special sauce with some tempura flakes to give it shape. Very interesting dish. Not necessarily something I'd like to order every time but definitely worth trying. Finished off the meal with a dish of Green Tea ice cream. Nom.

Came home and started working on the last chapter of Shadows. Well, actually, I started working on it this morning. As you may recall, I mentioned two people appeared in the last chapter who hadn't been in the book earlier? Well, I was going over some stuff while getting ready for work and all of a sudden I realized why a couple of sections earlier in the book just didn't seem "right". It was something I was going to go back over in the edits, but although it was O.K., it just felt like there was something I was missing.

Eureka moments are cool.

All of a sudden, I knew why those guys were there. I also knew I needed to add in another chapter and a bridge chapter and two chapters needed X re-written . . . so I was scrambling around, bouncing ideas off of wishweaver and as soon as I got to work, I scribbled all my ideas down so I wouldn't forget them. Then tonight, on Shadows, I decided to go ahead and finish the last chapter before going back to add in the other stuff (I'll just tie it in with the regular re-write) and WOW, some other stuff popped up in a conversation between two characters that ties in so well with the stuff from this morning. I've added that to the notes too.

It's strange. Now that I've reached the end of the story, I now know what the story is I'm trying to tell.

Yes, I had an outline.

Yes, I had a pitch I had to give to the publisher.

None of that has been superseded. What's happened is I now know how to best focus the story to meet the approved plot points.

Writing is a bizarre little business.

I added another 1734 words to Shadows tonight. Might have gotten some more in, but ran into daytonward on Twitter. He was trying to test his new Skype account, so I buzzed him as soon as he'd finished downloading everything. We visited a bit about his Star Trek projects, his other projects, writing in general, our military experiences, especially in basic training (or boot camp for the Marines out there), watching old PBS shows, Doctor Who, Stargate, The Unit, the 4400, and god knows what else.

Two hours later, we decided his Skype system was working. And, the germ of a Star Trek proposal is percolating in the back of my brain. Definitely need to work on the idea and I may have to pigeon-hole kradical at Shore Leave. I'm thinking copious amounts of scotch might help.

It's amazing. Get two writers together and all of a sudden story ideas just appear out of thin air. *grin*
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Words for Today

1753 / 1000 words. 175%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

72502 / 80000 words. 91%

Words for 2009

63938 / 365000 words. 18%

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but it was just tough getting going tonight. I've been fighting a document at work (not computer-related this time, more stylistic issues). The problem is, they sorta know what they want in the document, but not really and it's becoming a "I'll know it when I see it" issue. Plus, my supervisor and I are disagreeing on the screen shots I'm using and I have a feeling I'm going to be re-shooting about 75 of them between now and Thursday.

(Notes the divot in the desk seems to get a little deeper every day from the head pounding.)

So, I'm a little grumpy when I get home, I mess around a bit with the interwebs, watch a little TV with the daughter-unit and finally set down to write . . .

. . . and I just don't wanna do it.

The conversation in my head has been like this most of the evening:

Rich: But you have to do it. The deadline's coming and we need all the time we can get for edits.
Motivation: Screw you.
Rich: That's all well and good, but we have to do it.
Motivation: No, I want to goof off and not have to concentrate.
Greed: But, we don't get paid if we don't finish.
Motivation: Rassenfrassen, all right, but I'm not going out of my way to help.
Concentration: Huh? Were you guys talking? I was watching sparkly things.
Rich: *sigh*

So, with Greed holding the business end of the cat-o-nine-tails, we finally beat Motivation and Concentration into doing some work tonight. I wound up adding 1550 words to Shadows, leaving me a bit over a third of the way done with this chapter. Of course, two characters who hadn't been in the book up to now decided to invite themselves for the last chapter. Gee thanks guys.

Still, given the day, I shouldn't complain. When I go back through for the edits, I may have to add a few more scenes in, depending on the feedback I get from wishweaver. But, I hope tomorrow goes a little better. I want to spend some time on Wednesday listening to the UCM Mules playing in the Div II Elite Eight. Keeping the ol' fingers crossed.

Think I'll call it a little early tonight.
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Words for Today

1550 / 1000 words. 155%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

70768 / 80000 words. 88%

Words for 2009

62204 / 365000 words. 17%

Well, we got off to a slightly later start today, but part of that was intentional. I let myself sleep in until after 10 and took my time getting ready. Went out for Indian for lunch with the family and then set sail to find a good place to type.

Panera's? Nope, line out the door and all the outside tables taken.
Starbucks? Nope, too crowded, all the electrical plugs taken. (My Toshiba's battery might last a couple of hours on a good day. No sense taking chances with it today.)
Orinoco Coffee House? Out of business.
B&N? Nope, I was there yesterday, don't want to wear out my welcome.
Books-a-Million? Success!

There was one electrical plug left open and I snagged it and a nearby table. Luckily, unlike B&N, B-A-M doesn't make you pay for the WiFi, so I was able to do a little twittering as well as looking up some SG-1 terminology. I finally was ready to write at 1430 and the next time I looked up it was 1730. I was sitting just over 3300 words. I took a break there and went out with a friend for dinner. We lounged about there and then came home and lounged some more before restarting at 2130. Finally at 2300, I finished my next-to-last chapter and decided enough was enough for the weekend.

Final count for today was 4401 words. Final count for the weekend? 13166 words.

I think that's my highest two and a quarter day total yet. Just shows what a deadline can do for your motivation.

This weekend's experiments with going outside the house to write were interesting. I didn't take my headphones with me for space/weight reasons, so I was writing without my music which is unusual for me. However I did seem to get more work done in less time outside the house than inside. Don't know if it's because I have internet here and not there (usually), so there's less visual distractions or if it's really just the change in scenery.

I may be wandering down in the weeds, but I'm as interested in the writing process as I am in the writing itself. Tis the curse of being an analyst for so long in the Army. I'm almost more interested in the "why" than I am the "who", "what", and "where".

But, I'll worry about that another evening. It's time for bed.
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Words for Today

4401 / 1000 words. 440%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

69218 / 80000 words. 87%

Words for 2009

60654 / 365000 words. 17%

I took today to seriously work on Shadows. Now, that's not to say I haven't been serious about my writing, but I've been fitting it in around everything else, to include the full-time job. However, I decided to make this weekend the big push to get this finished.

So, after taking the Daughter-unit to her vision therapy, I grabbed my car and hit the nearest B&N. Three hours and two iced teas later, I hit 3400 words. Came home and did some shopping/errands with wishweaver and then got back to writing after dinner. Added another 2,300+ this evening for a grand total of 5749 words for the day.

Go me!

With a little bit of luck, I'll try that again tomorrow and see if I can't knock out these last couple of chapters.

While I will admit, it was every bit as much work or more than my regular job, it didn't feel like it. I was really into the story and was surprised how much better the words flowed when I knew I didn't have to "cram" it in around everything else.

Now, if writing only paid as well as tech-writing. *grin*

But now, it's off to play a little Guild Wars and enjoy myself.
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Words for Today

5749 / 1000 words. 575%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

64817 / 80000 words. 81%

Words for 2009

56253 / 365000 words. 15%

That's what I feel like right now.

Between working on a User's Manual at work (to include all the accompanying screen shots) and then adding 3016 words to Shadows tonight after dinner (to include having the computer crash twice), I am wore out brain-wise.

(Yes, I know I left myself open. Feel free to drive Mack truck through opening.)

I have one more scene left in this chapter and then two or three chapters to go to until I type -30- on this one. Then it's go back in with a fine tooth comb to try and catch all the nit-noid stuff and spend a little more time with descriptions and story flow. I'm so close though, I can taste it and believe me, with all the starts and stops and other stuff, this one is going to be especially sweet.

Which is, of course, why I've already started putting together my next pitch for this franchise. *sigh*

At least the horde of teenagers will NOT be descending on the house tomorrow. I intend to get up, take daughter-unit to her vision therapy class, drop her off here for wishweaver to take to her group appointment while I hie unto B&N or maybe Mad City Coffee and find a corner and type until I can't see straight. (I started to say a quiet corner, but who's kidding who there.)

But now, check e-mail and go to bed.

Tomorrow, writing day from hell.
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Words for Today

3016 / 1000 words. 302%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

59068 / 80000 words. 74%

Words for 2009

50514 / 365000 words. 14%

Wow.

Having that weight lifted off of my shoulders has made the writing start flowing again. Heck, it even flowed well at work today . . . that is, when they weren't pulling me away to work on other stuff . . . or attend meetings . . . or do excel spreadsheets for requirements . . . aauugh! Oh well, keep telling yourself it's paying the bills.

I picked up a couple of new CDs after work at Borders while the daughter-unit was buying her supply of Pocky. I snagged a Keiko Matsui CD I didn't have, a CD by Gary Stadler called Fairy of the Woods, which looks like it'll be good to write to and the D-U pointed out a Best of Glenn Miller CD. She knows as a former trombonist as well as a former jazz trombonist, I'm a huge Glenn Miller fan, so I snagged it also. She enjoyed In the Mood and String of Pearls but Moonlight Serenade was a little too laid back for her.

Hey, I've got an almost 16 year old listening to Glenn Miller. I'm not going to complain that she doesn't like all of them. *grin*

But, as I said, the writing came together well tonight. I added 1953 words to Shadows tonight and finished Chapter 17. The novel feels like it's a little light at the moment in the word count department, but I expect it'll grow during the editing part before I submit it. I've thought of a few things I want to expand on earlier in the book, but I want to get to the end before I start changing stuff up earlier. Better to be a little short on words than to miss the deadline.

Thank goodness the weekend is almost here.
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Words for Today

1953 / 1000 words. 195%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

56052 / 80000 words. 70%

Words for 2009

47498 / 365000 words. 13%

I woke up sick this morning. Something I ate yesterday did NOT agree with me, so I spent most of the day in bed. Got up, thought I might try writing since I was home.

Did not happen.

Thought I might do some writing after dinner.

Almost didn't happen.

*sigh*

I did manage to get 1192 words written on Shadows, but it was like pulling hen's teeth. I was just highly distractable today. Everything just seemed to be more interesting than writing. I'm hoping I'm not burning out on this project, but I'm really starting to feel the pressure of my deadline coming up.

But, it's coming whether I want it or not, so hopefully I can make up for today's anemic production.

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Words for Today

1192 / 1000 words. 119%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

52443 / 80000 words. 66%

Words for 2009

43889 / 365000 words. 12%

Survived the usual gauntlet of idiots on the highways of Maryland and put in my time at work.

Came home, hit the accountant's office and payed for our tax returns. Then ran by the mall to get a new watchband. While I was waiting for them to finish with my watch, we went into the Borders Express next door. I picked up one book and ordered two. I snagged The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, which looks pretty good. Actually, the cover to his second book really caught my eye, but once I saw it was #2, I decided I probably ought to read the first one so as not to confuse myself. *grin*

I've been twittering with Yasmine Galenorn for a bit, so I thought since I was here I should sample one of her books. Of course, they had #2 through #5 of her current series, but not the first one in stock. So, I went ahead and put in an order for Witchling and hope to get it soon.

While I was there, I went ahead and pre-ordered jimhines's upcoming The Mermaid's Madness through Borders too. What can I say, I really liked the first one of his Princess series. This series is a keeper (and yes, Jim, you can quote me. *grin*).

Came home and started working on Chapter 16 in Shadows. I didn't have quite the momentum I'd had this past weekend, but I still managed a respectable (for me) 1598 words tonight. Still on target to make the deadline, which is the important thing.

And now, time for bed.

Night!
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Words for Today

1598 / 1000 words. 160%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

51251 / 80000 words. 64%

Words for 2009

42697 / 365000 words. 12%

First and foremost, "Happy Birthday" to wishweaver!!!

We both had to go into work today to make up some hours, so we took advantage of it by stopping at Eggspectations in Ellicott City. Nice leisurely breakfast and then on to work.

When we pulled in, Wish noticed the motorcycle beside us had its blinkers going. She got out and noticed not only were the blinkers still on, so was the headlight and the keys were still in the ignition. We quickly notified security and they secured the keys until the owner realized he didn't have them on him. *grin*

We put in four hours and then I took Wish out shopping for her birthday. We took advantage of some sales and she got a new winter coat for next year as well as some new body washes and perfumes from Bath and Body Shop. I tried to pick up the Coraline soundtrack, but everyone was out. I did pick up Deep Purple: The Greatest Hits, so it wasn't a total wash.

Came home to find the daughter-unit had baked her first cake unsupervised. She was worried because she had overbeatten the batter, but personally, the cake was the fluffiest one I had ever had and I highly recommended that she overbeat all of her cakes from now on. She was so nervous about it, but it turned out great! What a nice present to give her mom.

I did get some writing in this evening while she tried to help a friend of hers who had gotten something on her computer. I added 2111 words to Shadows, bringing my weekend total to 6964 words. I can't guarantee I'll match that output every weekend, but it's nice to know I "can" do it if I have to. Wrapped up Chapter 15 and now moving on to Chapter 16 tomorrow night. We're heading into the homestretch now.
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Words for Today

2111 / 1000 words. 211%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

49655 / 80000 words. 62%

Words for 2009

41099 / 365000 words. 11%

wishweaver had plans for today, so I took over getting the daughter-unit around to her appointments. Took over is the correct word. She let me sleep in a bit this morning and took D-U to her vision therapy session. I met them there and she went to learn how to do beading with some friends from work.

After D-U's session, we went over to a local coffee house and snagged warm drinks and a good apple crisp. We picked up our anime discussion from last night over breakfast before I took her to her weekly group session.

Here's where the fun begins.

See, they meet once a week, so they try to schedule something every so often to do and this week, they were coming over to our house.

O.K., me . . . in a house . . . full of teenagers. *shudder*

It actually went well. They worked on a story they've been developing while I ordered pizza then they watched Spaceballs while said pizza disappeared like sand in a wind tunnel. They did some more writing and plotting on their project and it all wrapped up about 1600. By the time I ran them all home, Wish was home and things slowly began to settle back to normal.

I had hoped to get some of my own writing done earlier today, but *sigh* that didn't happen. I didn't get started on it until 1930, but I made up for lost time. I finished at 2230 tonight adding 2802 words to Shadows. I got on a roll and the words and descriptions just appeared on the page. Oh, if I could only bottle nights like this.

I do have to go into work tomorrow, and with the DST thing kicking off, it's going to hurt worse when I wake up in the morning than usual. So, with that, good night, LJ.
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Words for Today

2802 / 1000 words. 280%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

47542 / 80000 words. 59%

Words for 2009

38988 / 365000 words. 11% done!

Well, I'm definitely going to have to go into work this Sunday to finish a project that's due Monday morning. *bleah* But as far as Shadows is coming along, I'm pretty pleased with my efforts for the evening. I added 2051 words and now all the different groups are starting to come together on the stage, whether they want to or not.

Took wishweaver out for dinner tonight as a pre-birthday dinner. The daughter-unit wants to make waffles and bacon for Wish's actual birthday (and I say, more power to her). Plus, Wish and her will be baking the cake the daughter picked out tomorrow night for Sunday's festivities.

Tried a new roll combo at dinner that was very tasty. Crab and Asparagus on the inside of the roll and then, salmon and avocado draped in alternating sequence across the top of the roll. I love going out for sushi. One of these days I really need to learn how to make some of the basic rolls.

No word back from Fandemonium on my questions, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

And beyond that, not much to say, except . . .

Night, LJ.
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Words for Today

2051 / 1000 words. 205%

Words for SG-1: Shadows of the Heart,

44740 / 80000 words. 56%

Words for 2009

36186 / 365000 words. 10%

It was a day of many ups and downs.

Our oldest cat had to go into the vet today. He'd been listless and we found bloody stools last night, which scared me to no end. wishweaver stayed home to take him to the vet, so I had to wait until late this afternoon to hear from her. Luckily, the big goofball was all right, the vet believes he was just constipated. They're going to run tests on the stools, but we've been giving him his medicine and Jim seems to be a lot perkier than he was.

Wish tells me he didn't hiss or growl at the vet like usual, so that tells me he didn't feel very good. Poor guy.

I was supposed to get my Miata back today. When 1300 came and no calls, I buzzed the auto body shop and the receptionist told me they'd get back to me as soon as the guy came back in from talking to a customer. So, of course he called me back about 1530. They had found a small other problem (tail light had a crack in it, so they fixed it also) and I could pick up the car before 1700. I had to wrap stuff up at work pretty quick after that and hustle over to the shop (mainly because I only had the rental for three days), but Alita is back home and she's looking as good as the day I got her. Huzzah!

Still haven't heard anything about my MFA application. They were supposed to send out acceptance letters at the end of February, but so far, nothing. I'm trying to be patient and not call them, but I'd love to get this over with one way or the other.

I finally got my contract from Fandemonium last night, but I had a few questions that I'd like to have answered before I sign it. I was hoping when I got home from work they would have responded, but no such luck. I did go ahead and work on the story though, adding 1681 words to Shadows. I do hope they respond soon as I'd like to get that worry off of my mind.

Oh, yeah, I have a project due at work on Monday and with all this other stuff on my mind, I got bumpkiss done on that. Like it or not, I'll have to put in some time this weekend to make up for all the personal stuff that's popped up this week. *bleah*

Just one of those days.
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Words for Today

1681 / 1000 words. 168%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

42689 / 80000 words. 53%

Words for 2009

34135 / 365000 words. 9%

Got the car to the repair shop and picked up the rental car. Minimal amount of pain involved there, although I have to take a bit of umbrage at the insurance company. They said I'd get an equivalent car for a rental. I'm afraid their concept of equivalent and mine are somewhat different. I have a Miata, and while I certainly wasn't expecting them to shell out for a Corvette or anything like that, I expected a sub-compact, maybe a compact.

I got a Chevy Malibu.

There's nothing wrong with the car, it's a 2008 and it's in great condition, but it's huge compared to what I've been driving the past year. I do not have a good feel for the right and left boundaries on the car and the sight patterns are all wrong.

Oh, by the way, it's an automatic. I haven't owned an automatic since 1984. Trying to remember to leave the left foot on the floor when braking is not easy. *grin*

Still, it's only for three days (hopefully) and I'm riding into work with wishweaver tomorrow. I suspect the car may not move until I have to go get my car from the shop. Still, it's good to have the spare in case something comes up.

Took some time away from the house tonight. Ran a few errands and went out to dinner with Wish (daughter-unit decided her leftover pizza was good enough tonight) and just relaxed and talked about stuff. She's been very patient with my writing, but I thought it might be good for her to see I don't automatically gravitate to the computer as soon as I get home from work.

Still, I did get in some writing. (What? You thought I forgot about my deadline?) I added 1507 words to Shadows and I've now got the plot and the three subplots percolating nicely now. It'll be fun how things cascade to the finale from this point.

Have to go to a meeting with the daughter-unit's new school in the morning, so I better call it here.

Night, LJ-land.
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Words for Today

1507 / 1000 words. 151%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

41008 / 80000 words. 51%

Words for 2009

32454 / 365000 words. 9%

Well, there are good things and bad things about being snowed in. The good thing is I had time to spend with my family and get a good days writing in. The bad thing is I have to make up the eight hours I didn't work today sometime over the course of the month. Not too bad a deal, but it would have been nice to get the admin leave wishweaver gets from her work. *mutter mutter*

I didn't get as many "words" as I had hoped for today, but I think I have good words. This was one of the other pivotal scenes in the book and I went back and forth on how I was going to set it up. I may have erased as many words as I wrote today. Here's hoping the editor agrees with me.

Shadows may not reach the 100K goal I've originally set, but the publisher is looking for stories between 80 and 100K. I'm thinking this thing may run just a little over 80K (which would probably be the shortest novel I've ever written. Therefore I am going to be adjusting my counter to show this.

And, speaking of word count, I did add 2714 words today. I finished Chapter 12 and have started on Chapter 13. Not my best days work, but a good solid one.

I'll be so happy when this whole remodeling thing is done and I have a place other than the living room to work in. It's weird, I can sit in a Starbucks or a B&N and write even with the noise, but somehow I can't block out stuff at home unless I'm away from the TV or the family. I can't explain it, just the way I'm wired I guess.

Well, off to bed. I have to take the car in to the repair shop and pick up the rental in the morning, so I can't stay up too late. (So he says at three minutes to one.)
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Words for Today

2714 / 1000 words. 271%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

39501 / 80000 words. 49%

Words for 2009

31947 / 365000 words. 9%

There is something to be said for just sitting down and writing until you're done writing.

I was working on Shadows today. Sat down, picked up where I left off on Chapter 11 and just buzzed through to the end of the chapter. Really pumped, good characterization (or at least I thought so *grin*), and the hardest part was actually getting the chapter to a stopping point.

So, I finished the chapter and decided to snag some dinner. I grabbed the leftover Chicken Rigatoni from lunch today, tossed it in the microwave, fixed a big glass of iced tea, enjoyed my meal, sat down at the computer

And I had nothing.

Everything seemed to be more interesting than writing. What I did write sounded flat and I fought with Chapter 12 for a good three hours.

AAAUUGGHH!

Now, I did manage a small recovery right about 2200, and all told, I hit 2206 words for the day, but I had hoped to get almost double that. Rassenfrassen sassenfrassen. But that was above the goal I need to hit and with a little extra tomorrow, I'll be right on track. Still, the monthly totals look pretty good. I'd love to keep this momentum up when Shadows is done and I get back to my "own" WiPs. We'll see.

And in other news: Central Missouri won their season finale in basketball, raising their record to 23-4 (16-4 in conference). They will be the #2 seed in the Conference tournament and barring something very strange, they should be in the NCAA tournament for Div II. Final Four two years ago, can they do it again?

Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel.
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Words for Today

2206 / 1000 words. 221%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

36787 / 100000 words. 37%

Words for 2009

29233 / 365000 words. 8%

Referring back to last night's post, (technically the day after yesterday's blog since it's just past midnight here, but I digress), I thought about the question about the plot twist and the proposal a lot before dropping off last night. I was debating whether I should run it past Sally, but the question was would we have to run it past the property owners also?

Then, just as I was waking up this morning, it came to me. Go back in, use the scenario from the proposal now and save the scene for a spot two chapters from now where it would be perfect. Voila! Initial crisis averted.

Yep, sometimes, you just need to walk away from an issue to realize it's not an issue after all.

Came home from an appointment with the daughter-unit and my back was killing me. I did the basic stuff I have to do on the computer, (time card, work e-mail, personal e-mail, web comics, UCM basketball web site) and decided to call it a night. Went upstairs, got out the heat pad, and laid in bed waiting for something to happen. Maybe I didn't have a good angle on the heating pad, but it never seemed to get hot enough to do any good. Course, it's not exactly new either.

I finally gave up at 2220 and said the hell with it. If I'm going to be awake, I might as well write. So I did. I wrapped up at 0014 tonight, adding 2539 words. I finished Chapter 10 and am well into Chapter 11. Chapter 11 is giving me lots of chances to do snarky Jack, so it's flowing a tad easier than earlier ones did.

(Wow, I've been following the market too much lately. I wrote Chapter 11 and immediately thought I needed to explain that was the book not the legal situation. *sigh*)

I don't recommend hurting your back to improve your writing regimen, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. As I mentioned to ghostbearmw on Twitter, "It's amazing what pain, panic and a deadline will do for you."

And with that, I think I'll see if the Advil will finally kick in and see if I can get to sleep.
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Words for Today

2539 / 1000 words. 254%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

34581 / 100000 words. 35%

Words for 2009

27027 / 365000 words. 7%

It's always fun when you get really into the groove in a story and then you realize you've completely wandered away from the pitch you sold the story with. That brings up an interesting dilemma, do I stay with the last couple of chapters which are working real well (considering I'm up against a time crunch), OR do I go back in and revise at least one chapter to get this back on track with the original proposal that the editor approved.

Yes, I know stories wander all the time, but this is a serious wander. Now, it's a good wander and it opens up an interesting side plot that I only thought of once I started writing this thing. If I put some thought to it, I can probably find a way to curve the rabbit path and bring this section of the story mostly back onto the original path.

The question is, how much of my writing time is it going to take to rewrite this chapter.

AAUUGGHH!

Lesson learned? Don't trust your memory when trying to remember what you put in the proposal, White. Go back, read it and refresh your memory.

Tomorrow night is likely to be very busy.
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Words for Today

1564 / 1000 words. 156%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

32042 / 100000 words. 32%

Words for 2009

24488 / 365000 words. 7%

Didn't get any writing done last night. We had to go visit the accountant for tax time and then just stuff kept coming up.

*sigh*

So, I sat down and did some figuring. If Shadows is going to be 80,000 words, I have to do 1400+ a day between now and 31 March or 1100 a day until 12 April. If it's going to be 100,000 words, I have to do 1900+ a day until 31 March or 1500+ a day until the 12th.

Now, it's due the 12th, so I'd really like to get this done by the 31st so I have time to do some edits and rewrites if need be done before I have to turn it in.

Those aren't encouraging numbers given my productivity lately (and my abysmal typing speed). But, there it is and that's where we're at. However, the goal isn't going to be met by staring at it, so as soon as I finished dinner this evening I went to it.

I added 2058 words tonight and Chapter 10 is coming along nicely. I'm projecting 24-27 chapters, so the story's about on schedule at least. Sometimes, I find I've blown through my projected word count because I chase rabbits and I have to go back in and weed them out. Sometimes the rabbit trails become new story lines in themselves though, so I seldom waste them. There's a little folder on my computer where I store them to be recycled and it's growing at a nice clip. However, I've been able to stay mostly on the trail with Shadows. I think it's the time crunch that's keeping me true.

And now, I think I shall enjoy myself, finish up my glass of Scotch and call it a night.
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Words for Today

2058 / 1000 words. 206%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

30478 / 100000 words. 30%

Words for 2009

22924 / 365000 words. 6%

I had to go into work today to make up some time I've missed this month. 2008 slammed me for leave - I went from over 160 hours to just a little over 14. So, all the time I've taken off with my car and family appointments the past couple of weeks has got to be made up before the end of the month. It was pretty productive, but five hours later, I'm discovering my back is a lot stiffer today than it was yesterday.

Not. Fun.

Luckily, the chair in front of my computer is a lot more comfortable than the chairs at work. I was able to get some good writing in today and added 2621 words to the story. Finished up the edits to Chapter 8 and *almost* finished Chapter 9. I did get to the reveal of one of the villains of the piece though before stopping for the night. Plus, since Twitter was all awash in Oscar commentary, that helped me focus on the writing instead of the tweets since I really don't pay attention to stuff like award shows. Now if it had been the NFL draft, that could have been a problem.

I'm finding on days like Saturday and today I'm writing in fits and spurts rather than just grinding it out like I do on weeknights. I wonder if it's because I know I have "time"? I'm hoping I can restore the discipline I had the first half of last year, but all things considered, I can't complain. I've almost caught up to my goal for February, then (maybe) I can start working off the deficit that January left me.

(Hey, living this close to Washington, it's hard not to get sucked into deficit thinking *grin*)

However, it's time to take another dose of aspirin and get some sleep. wishweaver is wanting to go in to work a little early tomorrow, so if I want to ride in with her, I better be ready.
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Words for Today

2621 / 1000 words. 262%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

28420 / 100000 words. 28%

Words for 2009

20866 / 365000 words. 6%