Well, the two week hiatus was a welcome time. Caught up on some reading, did some gaming, visited with friends and family and just did whatever I wanted to (within reason).

Still, all lazy times must come to an end eventually. So, based on a suggestion from a friend from Twitter, I've dusted off Childhood's Tears and decided it's going to be my next big project. Yes, I know I had multiple projects going last year this time and I haven't given up on any of them. Still, I think it'll be better to concentrate on one for a while and then work on one of the others when I need a break.

That, and I may be working on the Harbinger re-write on my lunch hours . . . we'll see how that shapes up.

My goal would be to try and get two novels ready to start shopping around by the end of the year. My goal is to have an agent by the end of 2010 and to do that, I need agent bait (aka a completed, non-media tie-in, book). So, Childhood's Tears, Harbinger need to be in the bag and Steel on Target well under way.

Yeah, I don't have delusions of grandeur, do I? *grin*

Speaking of delusions (grand or otherwise), I do have short story to share.

Last Monday, I moved into a new building at work . . .same assignment, but the govies decided they want our spaces, so we're moving to a contractor site. It was raining cats and dogs that morning, so I'm wearing my rain jacket with the hood up. Even with the limited vision, I can see a series of cones stretched across the walkway and I guess they're doing some construction there. I approach and then skirt around them, trying to avoid the wet grass and water puddles.

That's when it happens.

The next thing I know, I've got a Canadian Goose in my face, flapping its wings and hissing at me. Now, remember I had my hood up and I never saw it until it was right there. I shifted out of range but managed to restrain myself from whapping it with my binder or kicking it. Once I cleared the area, with him still in pursuit, I realized he had a mate who'd made her nest in the flower bed next to the walkway.

Needless to say, ever since that day, Mr. Goose and I have had a love/hate relationship. I try to give him a wide berth, but he seems insistent on keeping an eye on me and bristling any time he thinks I'm encroaching on his space.

He and the missus are on week three of six or so weeks before the eggs hatch, so we're going to have to work out an uneasy truce one of these days. *sigh*

But, then again, how many people can say they were mugged by a goose? *grin*
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Words for Today

1075 / 1000 words. 108%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

44059 / 90000 words. 49%

Words for 2009

81982 / 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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

O.K., today wasn't the most exciting time to be had by your local friendly tech writer. No swinging from buildings, righting wrongs or even splitting the occasional infinitive. Nope, today was "let's write a software requirements document".

X 1: The system will . . .

X 2: The system will . . .

and then spend the rest of the day translating developerese into pseudo-English.

Can you say, "I want to pull my hair out"? Sure you can.

Once I get this darn document done, it'll be a breeze to maintain, but as the first full-time tech writer on this project, I've got a LOT of catch-up to do on basic documentation. I'm collating sources, trying to read notes on Excel spreadsheets and tracking down people who used to be on the project to make sure I know exactly what these darn requirements actually mean and did we/will we meet them.

Needless to say, even though the typing is not exciting, trying to put this to bed on time may become so.

Luckily for me, I think the conversation I was worrying about writing last night for Shadows went pretty well. I need to go back over it tomorrow and pump up Samantha's part, but I think I nailed the other character pretty well. *keeps fingers crossed* I added 1667 words to the chapter tonight and I think I brought it to a natural stopping point. It might be a little short though, so I'm going to try and add a little more conversation before we get to the "main event". A little more description might work well too, although sitting in a lean-to at night with no light source doesn't give me a lot to work with there. *grin*

Had a nice little conversation with Yasmine Galenorn on Twitter tonight. Along with being a pretty cool writer, she's got a gorgeous set of kitties; one that looks it could be my cat's twin sister. I wasn't exactly a "cat person" when I was growing up, but given our lifestyle and where we live, cats are definitely the better option than a dog right now. Now, when I can get that piece of property with about four or five acres for a dog to roam, then we'll talk.

I hit my writing goal early and I may actually get to bed on time for once. Go me!
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Words for Today

1667 / 1000 words. 167%

Progress on Stargate SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

24075 / 100000 words. 24%


Words for 2009

16521 / 365000 words. 5%

Actually, it's going to be a very busy next few weeks. I have four documents at work I need to have finished by 06 April and then the first draft of Shadows of the Heart is due at Fandemonium on 12 April. So, I predict a LOT OF WRITING in my future over the next six weeks. I am anticipating my stress level going through the roof during this time, but hey, the tech writing pays the bills so I can afford to actually write for myself.

At least, I have a new vice to go along with the stress. There's a store at the mall called Teavanna, and I found a very nice tea mixture that they were giving away samples of. It's a mixture of Samurai Chai Mate and White Ayurvedic Chai. It's a white tea with 100% the caffeine equivalent of coffee. So, now I can supplement the coffee IV with this stuff. Whoo hoo!!!!

Just got back from the auto body shop. The insurance adjuster agreed with the estimate so, in a week or so, my car goes into the shop for a few days. Here's hoping they don't spot any more damage while they're in there.

Of course, I nearly got creamed again today. I was turning left at a different intersection, but still two lanes go left here also. I was in the outside lane and as I made my turn, I noticed the car next to me was swinging INTO MY LANE from the interior lane. Luckily, there was a small shoulder, so I was able to duck and brake to get away from them. I caught up to them at the next light and the (insert curse word of choice) person was talking on her cell phone, completely oblivious to the fact she damn near took the front end off of my car.

GAAAAAHHH!!!!!

When I have the car in the shop, I'm going to ask them to see if they can find the idiot magnets in it and get rid of them.

We had company parts of the holiday weekend, so I didn't get as much writing done as I had hoped. The majority came in a trek to B&N on Sunday and then tonight. Still, I'm happy with the 5492 words and since there are no more three-day weekends between now and then, I'm hoping we can keep the distractions down to a minimum. The operative word is "hoping".

Oh, and if I didn't need another time sink, I've finally gone to the dark side and picked up a Twitter account. We'll see how long that lasts or if it becomes too much of a distraction. Still, if you're vaguely interested, you can either search for me or @nightwolfwriter.
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Words for Today (2 day total)

5492 / 2000 words. 275%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

21078 / 100000 words. 21%

Words for 2009

13524 / 365000 words. 4%

I survived one of those endless meeting days at work. I was never so glad that I had leftovers from the night before either, because my technical lead decided to pass his changes to one of my documents an hour before I had to present it to our customers. So, I was busy making corrections, printing and stapling while I was snarfing bites where I could. However, the customers approved my proposed changes to one of our deliverables, so I guess in the end it was worth it.

Like I mentioned last entry, as I get back into Shadows of the Heart, the story is starting to re-coalesce in my mind. Today's writing came a lot easier and I'm recapturing Jack O'Neil's patented snarkiness. As wishweaver likes to point out, I do enjoy writing the smart-aleck types. Course, she claims I'm just channeling my inner curmudgeon, but I have no clue what she's referring to.

I hit 1759 words tonight, which makes me a little more comfortable about meeting my deadline. While I expect to get big chunks done on the weekend, I would love to average 1500 words during the week. That would let me finish this story with enough time to give it a good scrub before I have to submit it. Probably won't have time for a major rewrite, but every edit helps.

And now, it's time for bed.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1759 / 1000 words. 176%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

10494 / 100000 words. 10%

Words for 2009

2940 / 365000 words. 1%

Wow.

Even though the team I was rooting for failed to win the game, it was without a doubt one of the more intense games I have watched years. I have to admit, with the Chiefs latest run of futility, I haven't been big into the post-season as I was earlier in my life, but hey, I used to be a huge St. Louis Cardinal fan also before they ducked out on us and slithered off to Phoenix. Still, I had to root for them tonight for nostalgia's sake at least (plus, the Pittsburgh fans around here are obnoxious enough as is).

I did get some writing in this afternoon, which is good, since it's been very hit or miss lately. Still, I now have a hard deadline for my Stargate SG-1 novel, so it's time to get back to work. It's going to be a sprint more than a leisurely plod, but we have all the contract stuff straightened out (inshallah) and I am going to make sure I hit this deadline. I'll post some word counts tomorrow.

Work is being work. Trying to decipher developer's notes so I can turn them into standards documents is not my first choice of "fun stuff", but hey, that's why they pay me the (semi-)big bucks. I just hope all the writing at work doesn't burn me out and keep me from writing on the Stargate stuff in the evening.

And speaking of other worlds, I read jimhines's book The Stepsister Scheme. If you haven't already you haven't already picked this up, I highly recommend that you do. I picked it up at the local bookstore and thought I'd just read a few chapters yesterday to get a feel for the book. A few hours later, I found myself finishing the book. It takes a lot of what you think you know about fairy tales and turns them on their head. I definitely am looking forward to the sequel. Good job, Jim!

And speaking of fractured fairy tales, I also recommend the web comic, No Rest for the Wicked. Another look at the realm of fairy tales and a surprisingly quick read considering the number of strips he has out. I've been scanning around and adding a few new web comics to my list of things to read, so if you have any favorites, feel free to make a few recommendations here.

And with that, I think it's time I go to bed.

I was down Thursday-Sunday with some annoying bug so no writing done. We've had a death flu going through the office, but luckily I've managed to miss that so far. I just got run down and all I really wanted to do was sleep. So, all that wonderful time not at work and I didn't even get to enjoy it. Shazzbat.

I did manage to watch the Iron Man DVD with the family on Saturday though. We watched the extended/deleted scenes afterward and for once, I really didn't feel they made a mistake editing the movie. Sometimes, like say with the Harry Potter movies, I think some of the deleted scenes might have explained some things for non-fans better. However, with Iron Man, I think the deleted scenes would have changed the entire mood of the movie and not for the better. It's amazing what a few judicious edits/cuts can do to tighten the entire feel of a movie and make it flow . . . and why some movies desperately needed more/better editing.

I am seriously looking forward to the second one. *grin*

No real changes at work. Still hoping my job can get me placed on a new contract before Thanksgiving. I'm not worried about being unemployed (we have lots of work) but I hate being "on the bench". For tech writers, that tends to translate to "Hey, you're not doing anything, why don't you help us write this proposal?" O.K., it's an important thing for a business, but it's just not my cuppa.

However, now that I'm feeling better, I got some writing in this evening. I added 1106 words to Shadows of the Heart. I actually would have had more, but as I started working on the writing tonight, something was bugging me about a scene I wrote on Wednesday. So, I dug out Chapter Two and sure enough, I had re-hashed a scene I'd already written. *grrrrr* So, I had to burn up some writing time deciding how to edit the scene. Luckily, I think what I came up with works better, but I'd have rather added those words to the new stuff, not to replacing what I'd already written.

Oh, the joys of picking up a document five months later and trying to remember what you'd covered or not. Of course, my laptop is having problems connecting to the wireless printer, so I'm going to have to drop what I've written so far onto the thumb drive and take it to one of the other computers and print it from there. Have I mentioned I really hate Vista? Ever since I downloaded SP2, I've had nothing but problems with this laptop when it comes to wireless peripheral devices, Firefox 3 and other non-Windows programs. I think wishweaver and the daughter-unit had the right ideas going to Mac. Trouble is, I haven't finished paying this off yet, so it's not cost-effective for me to dump this quite yet.

When they said we had to suffer for our art, they failed to mention having to put up with Windows and Vista would be the main antagonist. *sigh*

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1106 / 1000 words. 111%

Progress on </i>SG-1: Shadows of the Heart</i>

7534 / 100000 words. 8%

Words for 2008

164329 / 366000 words. 45%

Ever have one of those evenings when you were going to get stuff done, kept getting interrupted and by the end of the day, you'd actually accomplished stuff anyway?

As I had mentioned, I'm doing a little writing on Harbinger at lunch. It's amazing how much fifteen minutes here, twenty minutes there adds up. I typed in all the stuff I'd put together at work today and discovered I'd added 2183 words and finished off the second chapter. I'm noticing the chapters I'm writing for new version of the story are longer than my normal 3-4,000 word chapters. This is good, I think. They're a little more meaty, but there's stuff going on that's setting up the rest of the book. As I may have mentioned before, my "throw-away" character from the old first chapter has now morphed into a major character and second only to the "main villain" in importance to the story. His thread in the original Harbinger was there to be a catalyst, but after rethinking what I had done in the story and how I wanted to change it, I think he's going to be the main sub-plot that will bedevil our young heroine as she negotiates the rest of the story.

(cue evil laughter and rubbing of hands here)

Still, as I started transcribing, I spotted someone I needed to speak to on Skype and buzzed them. It turns out they won't be able to go to Archon this year, which is too bad. I haven't seen Thyla since the time I shared the table with the Sluggy Freelance people at Dragon*Con and it would have been cool to get to visit again. I still have good memories of hanging out with them and I think I actually sold more Sluggy stuff at the table than joesunday, Pete and Thyla did combined. I know I sold more of their stuff than I did my own. *sigh*

It was a good talk, but that took almost an hour from my writing. I jumped back into the transcribing and then I got a phone call from a friend. Definitely needed to take this call and we visited for about a half-hour before she had to call someone else. So, I jumped back onto Harbinger one more time. Finished the transcription, saved it, opened the unnamed project and glanced at my clock. Aauugh. I had to think. I had met my quota already with what I'd typed, but that was stuff I'd written earlier and it wasn't the unnamed project which does have a rough deadline.

So, I grabbed my notebook, checked the chapter breakdowns and completed Chapter Two and got started on Chapter Three. Ran a quick word count and lo and behold, I had 1073 words on the Unnamed project done. Don't know where they came from, they just sort of flowed out of my fingers and they all made reasonably good sense. Sure, some may not survive the rewrite, but they're not full of the stink, so I'll take solace there.

Oh, and I completed one of the two big writing projects at work today also. So, I guess this should go down as a "good writing day". I need to see if I can find a Snoopy dancing near his typewriter pic so I can add that for a "good writing day" icon.

That's it for now. Time to finish my glass of water and hit the sack. Tomorrow, I get to wrestle with the monthly financials. My favorite pasttime . . . not.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

3256 / 1000 words. 326%

Progress on Harbinger of Darkness

9880 / 120000 words. 8%

Progress on Unnamed Project: SotH

4796 / 100000 words. 5%

Words for 2008

160508 / 366000 words. 44%

Three big projects coming up at work and for once, I think I'm actually holding my own. Of course, 90% of my time is still spent fighting Microsoft Word's inability to format the same thing the same way twice. *Fhtagn* (The Lovecraftians will recognize that word . . . and run.) Still, things are going well and I'm still managing to get in some writing at lunch. I'll probably have more to add to Harbinger this weekend.

Got a copy of The Sky's the Limit and The Quality of Leadership off to my folks tonight. Thanks to the gang at mikescomics who went above and beyond getting me some copies of TQoL. I know Dad loves showing off the books to everyone . . . just hope he enjoys reading them also.

BTW, If you're wanting to pick up the Doctor Who book, don't wait for Amazon to get around to bringing it over here, Mike's is the way to go. (This was a completely unpaid and heartfelt plug. I like supporting people who take care of their customers.)

Had to take the Matrix in for an oil change, so while wishweaver was playing with her new shiny (see this entry for more raving about her new iMac. Well, almost new . . . it's refurbished, but it's definitely new to her and it's frappin' HUGE! It's got a bigger screen than our small flat-screen TV. I can't wait to see how it handles a DVD.

Anyway, while I was at the Jiffy Lube, I snagged one of my writing notebooks out of the trunk and spent some quality time writing. Yeah, I guess all that Army training is coming in handy. Not only can I sleep damn near anywhere now, but it seems I can write almost anywhere, background noise notwithstanding. Oh, and by the way , I was not trying to sell books while I was there, for those who follow the NEPAT or the Never-Ending Publish America Thread over at Absolute Write.

(Wow, tonight's theme really seems to be parenthetical asides and inside jokes.)

Somewhere in all this, I did get work done on the unnamed project. I added 1376 words and have completely confused at least one of the main characters. I may need to go back and flesh this scene out a bit more tomorrow night before pushing on (lots of talking, not so much description). I may want to readdress how I build up some of the tension here before I get to one of the early reveals. It's still early, but I'm already having fun with this book and once we get out of the "recap and reintroduce characters phase, it's going to pick up steam in a hurry."

But for now, I'm running out of steam, so it's off to bed.

Night, LJ.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1376 / 1000 words. 138%

Progress on Unnamed Project: SotH

3723 / 100000 words. 4%

Words for 2008

157252 / 366000 words. 43%

I won't go too far out on a limb, but given May's lack of production, the fact that I've strung three straight days of writing together is encouraging. Looks like things are going to get a little busy at work too, so we'll see how well we can separate out work writing from project writing.

I think this project will start picking up some speed when I can quit looking stuff up. That's the problem with some projects, even when you know what you want to say and you know exactly what it is you are describing, it's the fine details that make or break a project. Yeah, I know, good writing trumps everything, but I'm a historian and getting things wrong, whether it's calling a pole arm by the wrong name or forgetting what level sickbay is on the Enterprise, annoys me.

I feel comfortable with the characters and I feel very confident about the plot. It's those little niggly details that can really add something to a story if they're used right that are slowing me up for the moment. Especially since I'm hoping to use a few of these things later. Sort of a "see, there was a reason for this level of granularity, guys."

Contacted Register.com - still trying to move richardcwhite.com from Register to Sitelutions (my web host). Hopefully, we can get this fixed before I have to pay Register another year's worth of registration fees. Yes, I know my poor web site needs a face lift and I hope to get to that one of these days once I get the other six hundred other things that seem to need dealing with handled.

Also fired off a few e-mails to Archon. I'm hoping to get a small hall table to promote the two new books while I'm there. I like Archon, but I like having a table rather than just wandering around a con. Must be all those years doing comic conventions. I find if you have a table and a half-way decent display, it's a great opportunity to meet new people, pitch your work and meet interesting people. Of course, there's always a few who take a "Hi, how's it going?" as an invitation to hang around your table for hours at a shot, but that's the risks you take by being out in public.

I got started on Chapter Two of SotH tonight, adding 1284 words. Like I said, a tad under what I had hoped for, but after May, I'll take it.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1284 / 1000 words. 128%

Progress on Project: "SotH"

2347 / 100000 words. 2%

Words for 2008

155076 / 366000 words. 42%

Work went well today, all things considered. I finished my proposed revisions for the users manual and hope to get started on that (as well as some other documentation) next week. The funny thing is, now that I'm not working on that other project . . . now, they're coming out of the woodwork needing assistance with their web site.

*sigh*

Still, until they get their own tech writer/web person, my management has asked me to still help out now and then, so I guess that'll me one of my projects tomorrow.

And, I still found some time to work on Harbinger.

In fact, I wound up spending most of my time tonight transcribing all the stuff I did at work tonight. I was fully intending to copy that stuff in and work on Steel on Target, but it just took a little longer to get the writing going this evening. Once I got going, it went well, though. I added 2783 words tonight, finishing up the first chapter of the revised work. Yeah, I know, I wasn't going to start this rewrite until I finished one of my other projects, but I wanted to capture the new first chapter before I forgot all the stuff I thought of the other day.

I'm planning on taking Friday off from work. Hopefully, I can get some decent writing in, since I'm going to probably lose some writing this weekend with the convention. Still not sure if I'm going up to Balticon Friday evening for the Meet the Guests shindig. Not sure it's worth the price of gas for that, but I'll make that decision closer to time. If I can catch up with perivayne, we'll discuss doing a reading or a signing and when.

At least tomorrow is my last day at work until next Tuesday. We'll be happy for what we can get.

(Oh, and I thought I'd break out the new Raven avatar for my girl Raven, the star of Harbinger of Darkness.)
____________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

2783 / 1000 words. 278%

Progress on Harbinger of Darkness

5155 / 120000 words. 4%

Words for 2008

148555 / 366000 words. 41%

When I got into work this morning, I was informed that I was being transferred to one of my projects full time instead of splitting my time across two of them. Now, some people might have taken it the wrong way, but I think this is much better for all concerned. The project I'm on now is good at giving me specific deadlines and not worrying about things as long as I hit those deadlines. Plus, the manager I'm supporting is good at giving me very specific feedback to what he wants and doesn't want.

The other project, while interesting, was depending on me being more "self-motivating", which would be really cool if I was one of the developers or if I had been with the project from the beginning. However, as the tech writer, I have to work with the SMEs to develop the papers and I sorta need to know when they expect me to have them done. Otherwise, projects with no deadlines tend to slip so I can meet projects with clear deadlines. We were just a bad fit and while I'm pleased about the work I did for them, I can't say I'm heartbroken that "they don't have any work for me in the foreseeable future".

So, hopefully, with only having to answer to one manager, my stress level will go down and I can get back into the "I want to write when I get home" mode again.

And, in honor of this, I did write another 1000+ words on Harbinger of Darkness on my lunch break. I just didn't get a chance to type it in at home, so I can't officially count it on my word production for the day. I did, however, add 1616 words to Childhood's Tears tonight. I know I need to get started on the sekrit project soon, but after nights like this, it's going to be hard to put this one away to concentrate on the one that hopefully has real money attached to it.

In non-work/non-writing talk, I enjoyed going to see Prince Caspian with the family and dzeytoun. I enjoyed the story and some of the symbolism behind the various events. wishweaver and I have been discussing some of the different themes we saw in the movie and even if it's not "haute-cuisine" as far as movies go, if you're still talking about it a couple of days later, it's done it's job in my opinion.

Also, Daughter-unit is still geeking on her new computer and the manga drawing software she got, so we're counting this as "Mom and Dad did good." *grin*
____________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1616 / 1000 words. 162%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

41343 / 90000 words. 46%

Words for 2008

145772 / 366000 words. 40%

Not a lot to report about tonight.

First off, congratulations to Rich Berlew who's fine web comic, Order of the Stick, won an Eagle Award for best web comic of 2007. He didn't win the best Graphic Novel of 2007, but somehow he didn't mind losing to Alan Moore. Huzzah, Rich and hopefully we'll get a chance to hang out at another convention here in the near future!

Worked with one of the developer leads at work and created a template for his team to use to do all their reports. That took about half the day to get everything "just right". But, it was a nice change of pace from the other assignments I've been dealing with lately. No frantic deadlines, no fate of the world rests on this, just a "hey, if you have a bit, could you work on this?"

While I was getting ready for work this morning, I had one of those blinding revelations regarding Harbinger of Darkness. I understand now where I need to go with its rewrite. Chapter 7 is really Chapter 1, Chapter 1 is probably around Chapter 4, the sub-villain is actually one of the more important villains, the whole church thing needs to come out and be saved for the second book and we can't kill off one of the characters until much later in the book, and he MUST be introduced in Chapter One, not Chapter Four like he is now.

(Yeah, I know, this doesn't mean anything to you guys because I think the only person who's read this thing and my blog is wishweaver, but work with me. I'm on a roll.)

Of course, I'm already stretched for time to write on the various projects I have going, so what the heck am I doing even considering another writing project? Heck if I know. Still, when the answers just reach up and slap you in the face, you have to pay attention. So, I'm going to stick to my current strategy about writing for the rest of the year, but I'm taking copious notes on what I want to do with Harbinger and working on the new Chapter One in my spare time at work.

*sigh*

Have I mentioned I'm a glutton for punishment.

And speaking of projects and stuff, I added another 1,152 words to Steel on Target tonight. I was a bit distracted tonight and it took me a long time to get into the flow of the story. I don't know if it's the changing weather, the rather uncomfortable chair I'm sitting in or what, but I need to figure out a way to try and get more focused on my writing when I'm at the house. If I can do 4,000+ at a coffeehouse, I should be able to do better than just over 1000 when I have two hours plus to write at home.

*grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter*

I think it's time to go to bed.

______________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1152 / 1000 words. 115%

Progress on Steel on Target

50703 / 95000 words. 53%

Words for 2008

140597 / 366000 words. 38%

Nothing too exciting to report today. Work went pretty well, got a couple of small assignments. Which in their own way was good since they'll help prevent there being humongous assignments toward the end of this build on the project. I'm also helping format a document that'll become a template for a different team.

None of these are going to take a lot of my time, so I may be able to work in a little writing here in the near future.

Came home to fight with my current web provider (Sitelutions.com) and the owner of the domain name I really want to use (Register.com). See, I bought richardcwhite.com in an auction last year. I'm trying to transfer it from Register to Sitelutions. Actually, I've been trying to transfer it for a couple of weeks now but it keeps failing. I've already been on the phone with Register.com and if I have to call them back I'm not going to be happy. It seems the "transfer number" they issued me keeps coming back as invalid when Sitelutions tries to secure my address.

I came home, read through everything on both sites, re-watched the tutorial that Sitelutions provided on how to get stuff from Register.com to them, copied down pertinent notes, had one in one tab and one in the other so I could verify the fact that I can copy stuff down on paper, typed in the number the lady had given me on the phone (which did match the e-mail Register sent me) and now we wait. If I get a failed message again in the morning, I'm going to be a very unhappy camper when I get Register's help desk on the phone again.

This should NOT be that hard.

*sigh*

Oh, and I did do some writing this evening. Added another 1263 words to Steel on Target, which has taken another turn I wasn't suspecting. This could be good or it might be a prime target for the cutting block when we do the rewrite, but I figure I might as well see where it's going to lead.

And with that, I'm going to read another couple of chapters in Cruel Zinc Melodies and call it a night.
________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1263 / 1000 words. 126%

Progress on Steel on Target

49551 / 95000 words. 52%

Words for 2008

139445 / 366000 words. 38%

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%

Wow, to those of you who stuck with this blog in my absence, thank you.

Like the song says, "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making plans."

When last we saw our intrepid writer, I was preparing for the Maryland Writer's Association's Annual Conference on 3 May. It was my first time representing Writer Beware at a con and I think everything went well, even in spite of the audio-visual glitches. One of the people who attended my talk said if he got nothing else out of the conference, my talk was worth the price of admission (and folks, this wasn't a cheap conference *grin*). Needless to say, that made the day for me right there.

I left the conference all fired up myself and ready to get right back to work.

Unfortunately, I hadn't counted on my real work getting in the way. I had two major deadlines last week and I was putting in some hours. Basically, I was coming home, eating dinner, reading my blog and then passing out. There was no staying up until midnight working on stories. I was so burnt out from writing all day that the last thing I wanted to do was write at home. So I read my wife's For Better or For Worse collections, a few web comics and otherwise accomplished nothing last week.

Oh, and enjoyed going out to see Iron Man (4+/5 stars) and Speed Racer (2.5/5 stars). Iron Man was an outstanding time and I look forward to adding that one to my DVD collection when it becomes available. I was impressed by how true they were to the origins of Iron Man and still managed to move it forward into time. Although to tell you the truth, I thought the two robots assisting Tony Stark stole the show, and wishweaver wants his holographic interface with Jarvis. Hell, I think she'd take Jarvis also. Plus the easter egg at the end made sitting through the credits worth the wait. *grin*

Speed was an enjoyable romp and I thought once we got past Speed's childhood, the movie really got back into the stuff that made watching Speed the cartoon fun (family and the cars). Plus, you had the GRX, the Monster Car, the Inspector, the Acrobatic Racing Team (in a cameo unfortunately), over the top villains, Segways, ninjas, and all the other strangeness that made the Speed Racer cartoon fun.

On Saturday, I did finally get motivated and hit one of the local coffee shops. I added 4029 words to Steel on Target, nearly finishing the next chapter. I followed that up with tonight's return to Childhood's Tears adding 1138 words. Hopefully, with things settling down at work for a bit, I expect to get back on track here soon. I may have a few lapses (especially with the new Garrett, P.I. book from Glen Cook (Cruel Zinc Melodies) sitting here waiting for me to read it.), but I'm feeling better, the clients like the end results of the last week's projects and the world has continued to spin.

Now, if the squirrels would stop lining up by twos, practicing getting onto a boat.

____________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1138 / 1000 words. 114%

Progress on Steel on Target

48288 / 95000 words. 51%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

38216 / 90000 words. 42%

Words for 2008

136671 / 366000 words. 37%

Long day today.

Spent today either finishing up the web site at work, going to meetings or working on a user's manual for the other project I support. Of course, my meeting was at noon and I can't even complain because I'm the one who scheduled it. (Only time the conference room with the projector was available.) I was pretty brain-dead when I got home, but there was no rest for the weary . . .

I needed to finish up my slides for my presentation to the Maryland Writer's Association Annual Conference this upcoming Saturday. As usual, I've probably gone overboard (I'm sitting on 19 slides, although several of them have only two bullets on them), so I'll be spending some time tomorrow evening winnowing through everything, photocopying some handouts and finishing all my notes to myself. I think it'll be a lot of fun.

And, against my better judgment (and the bed whispering sweet nothings to me), I still managed to get some writing in. I added 1027 words to Steel on Target, getting May off to a good start. I'll post my April totals tomorrow, but I think they'll look a lot better than March's did.

And with that . . . it's off to bed.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1027 / 1000 words. 103%

Progress on Steel on Target

44259 / 90000 words. 49%

Words for 2008

131504 / 366000 words. 36%

Fixed the damn problem with the HTML I was fighting yesterday. Well, I didn't exactly fix it. I just decided to delete it and use a different solution to the problem. Sure, I could have spent a couple of hours and eventually figured it out, but right now, I just want to get the furshenlinger thing done.

Finally got some feedback on the updated site also and spent the rest of the day making the corrections or adding in the new data that I wish I had gotten last week. Still, the site looks good and tomorrow, it goes live at work and I can move on to other projects I need to get done.

I have to say, I hope the weather gets and stays steady here soon. I've been sicker this past January through April than I have in three years. I have burned through leave and I really need to start building it back up. *sigh*

But, when the day was done at work, I caught the light rail and headed into Charm City to attend the University of Baltimore's Open House for graduate students wanting to pursue a degree in Liberal Arts. Talked to the admissions people and they seem to think that the 4.0 and the Phi Theta Kappa membership I earned at Howard Community College back in 2007 should easily outweigh the *mumbles incoherently* grade point I earned at Central Missouri State (now University of Central Missouri) back in 1982, so it's highly unlikely I'll have to enter school as a conditional student. Huz-frickin-zah!

OH, and the good thing about attending the Open House? They're going to be e-mailing us a code to enter in the on-line admissions application which will waive the application fee. *grin*

After the Dean and the Admissions/Financial Aid people talked to the group, they had break-out sessions with various faculty members. I recognized the person who was there to speak to the Creative Writing group since he and I had talked extensively at the poetry reading a couple of weeks ago. So, for the most part, I sat back and listened to the others asking him questions.

Talked to some of my potential classmates for a bit and then hiked back to the light rail station to find I had missed the train by 3 minutes. So, I had to wait for 45 until the next train that was going to my station arrived, which got me back to my truck at 9:40 and then it was another 20 minute drive home from the station. I can tell, if I have late classes and use the train, I'll be getting home around midnight, but somehow that beats driving IN Baltimore.

What can I say? I learned to drive in a town of 490 people. One stop light, people, . . . one.

I know it's early, but based on my experiences at the school these two visits, I think I could fit in pretty easily. Yeah, we're talking about 4 years of my life, (48 hours of grad school, 6 hours a semester with summers to recover), but it'll be worth it.