So my new "realistic" writing goal is 800 words/week day for 4k words per week. This gives me the weekend to catch up if i get behind or relax if I have managed to get my goal accomplished. In the 2 days I've been trying this, i've hit over 1k and over 900. I guess its working well?

Anyway--for November, I am at 12,770 words. that puts me at over 53% of my Indywrimo goal and 76% of my 4k/week goal.

I'll post november graphics next Monday. :)

Side note--since I started the Tuesday-to-Done back on 9-15-09, I have written 21,596 words. Still not a IndyWriMo total and far from a Nano total, though most are in November.

There has also been a noticeable positive trend for my word count since i started working 2nd shift too.

anyways--off to bed w/ me!

Just going to make this quick. Just got home and typed up the words I wrote at lunch (which most would call dinner as it was at ~20:00). The 15:15 to 23:45 shift is going to take a smidget of adjustment.

I'm woefully behind in my 30k goal for the month. I'm at just under 50% of where i should be (46.45%) but I'm really hoping to start pulling that around soon.

I have repaired my tower so now i'll have more structure to where I work (no more parking in front of the DVR) and less people at home also does make the writing easier (and I can blare the play-lists). Here's hoping for some strong 1k+ days!

I'll post tomorrow where the IndyWriMo people are currently too ^^

Night all!

--Axi

Hi everyone who is interested in my Status updates. If you noticed I'm a bit behind.... well I have several excuses (mostly work being busy ad having barely any time between it and the one time I get to go to that particular social engagement until after the gods of employment choose to remove me from 2nd shift (which I start next week)).

I'm at 6377 words for the month of November (suffering a major decline over the last couple of days as I start to fight to figure out where I am in the plot and how to get to the next section as well as converting a story from 1st person to 3rd person (not as easy as one might imagine)).

<-IndyWri
<-NaNoWriMo

I am really hoping to boost that wordcount starting next week when I work 2nd shift and will be able to write before my QC jobs zaps all my creativity from me. I will also be home alone (with the 2 cats) so I won't suddenly get called to do something else at home or feel obligated to be social.

( For Indy Wri Mo Folks )

This is going to be quick. I'm just going to report my November Progress for this month as I'm doing a mini-NaNoWriMo (30K words instead of 50k) with IndyWriMo (where I'm also going to keep track of everyone's progress there as I did the last 6 weeks for me).

So since Sunday, I have managed to write 2191 words. I need to pick up the pace though because if I keep my current rate I'll only get 73.03% of my goal... and that's not counting the disruption the holidays will bring.

Alright--Time to make the file and send if off to lilifae

If more people want to join, I'll be happy to add more rows to the spreadsheet :)

This is the last week of my 6 week challenge and I've managed to keep up with posting my progress, even if it wasn't always great. I guess its time to see about getting a bloggerspace blog (or something of that ilk. Anyone have any recommendations?)

On to the status updates"

Wordcount		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total
Powers Novel		0	-394	0	0	654	1,406	1,666
Landshaker's Tale		0	-34	3,722	82	0	0	3,770
Sito's Story		0	0	0	0	586	63	649
Mirror		1,070	161	236	0	566	708	2,741
Total		1,070	-267	3,958	82	1,806	2,177	8,826

Considering I flew to AZ this past weekend for my grandma's funeral (she will be greatly missed) and had to work at finding peace with her death--as well as some work issues--I think i preformed spectacularly (even it it still wasn't as well as I hoped) in this last week.

The breakdown:
Total Word count for 6 weeks: 8826 words
Average per Week: 1471 words
Average per story per week: 367.75 words (would be higher if i hadn't started a new story during week 5)

( Now for the graphics... )

Well, time to head to bed and get ready for another long day at work with attempts to write somethings during my breaks scattered about. My powers novel has taken a sudden and interesting turn and I've opted to switch my mirror's story from 1st POV to 3rd POV... which I believe will provide a challenge, but also a lunch-break activity.

Life's been a roller coaster. I've been working officially a week. I had lots of family stuff this last week, and there will be more this week--between babysitting and my grandma taking a downward turn. Any prayers or positive thoughts on that part would be appreciated, but I think I've accepted that this will be another one of those unpleasant life lessons.

So here are the numbers from the past week:

Wordcount		1	2	3	4	5	Total
Powers Novel		0	-394	0	0	654	260
Landshaker's Tale		0	-34	3,722	82	0	3,770
Sito's Story		0	0	0	0	586	586
Mirror		1,070	161	236	0	566	2,033
Total		1,070	-267	3,958	82	1,806	6,649
						Average per Week	1329.8
						Average per story per week	332.45

I try to at least write on my lunch breaks at work and some when I get home at night, though when I was on swing shift that was really tricky and now that I'm on first shift, I've been super busy when I get home. I hope a routine will settle in before I end up switching to 2nd shift in 3 to 5 weeks. I also hope the headaches and migraines stop soon, because that is really making writing when I get home difficult.

It's pretty pathetic this week. I will say I have driven over 1000 miles from Thursday to Monday, and helped a friend get married during that time. I also spent most of Wednesday running around doing paperwork for the job I started today... though I'm not sure i fully accept those excuses myself for the horrible word count I'm about to report but I realistically couldn't find any more time to sit at my computer and write.

Week			1		2		3		4
		9/22/2009		9/29/2009		10/6/2009		10/13/2009		Total
Powers Novel		48,343	0	47,949	-394	47,949	0	47,949	0	-394
Chaos Entwined: The Landshaker's Tale		11,679	0	11,645	-34	15,367	3,722	15,449	82	3770
Mirror		5,561	1,070	5,722	161	5,958	236	5,958	0	1467
Total			1,070		-267		3,958		82	4843

I have done some other writing when I could grab a few minutes--like during the reception when I needed a break and during lunch today. I have a couple of pages handwritten for the next Short Story in the Chaos Entwined "series" of short works and i have some little bits done on the Mirror story that I need to type up too. I'm just too tired to type them up tonight.

I will get those written up for next week and seriously hope to get a routine of typing before work (which goes from 11am to 7:30pm tomorrow and Thursday) and then when I get home from work on Friday (7 to 3:30pm). I'll keep that Friday First Shift schedule for a few weeks before i get to be a full time 2nd shift (3:00 to 11:30pm) employee. Then writing in the morning before work will become a necessity.

So that's my pitiful progress report. Here's hoping next weeks numbers will be better.

It has been a week of blood, sweat, and tears. Well, mostly tears and minimal blood but not as much sweat as I was hoping for. I got a new deadline for my Short Story project... My grandma that was the initial big push to write it for the Writers of the Future Contest, well she announced that she wanted to enter hospice last Thursday for the following Monday. I really want her to be able to read something of my writing. I had hoped to present it to her finished and published.

This weekend I scrambled to implement as many changes/suggestions/flashing neon arrows that I received on it from Toni Andrews's BookRx. There's a death of an old woman in this story that is very moving, and I kept shying away from it for what I hope are obvious reasons.

I got it done though. Here are the numbers:

Week			1		2		3
		9/22/2009		9/29/2009		10/6/2009		Overall
Powers Novel		48,343	0	47,949	-394	47,949	0	-394
Chaos Entwined		11,679	0	11,645	-34	15,367	3,722	3,688
Mirror		5,561	1,070	5,722	161	5,958	236	1,467
Total			1,070		-267		3,958	4,761

I predict next weeks numbers will fall off again. I'm traveling to a friend's wedding in WI starting on Thursday and won't return until the following Monday. I also might fly off to AZ at a moments notice.

Also:

For anyone looking for some good blog topics here are a few titles I'd love to read:

Dealing with Burnout: Re-hydrating Crispy Motivations
Best Route: Contests or Dive in?
Frustrating your  Frustrations

PS--it looks like we're going to have to cancel any  "Unemployment" celebration plans... and next Tuesday's report will probably be less progress as I'm traveling from Thursday to Monday (with a wedding of a friend in the middle) and start a new job on that Tuesday.

PSS I have discovered the "time delay" posting function does not actually work for me w/ith LJ

It has been a week of blood, sweat, and tears. Well, mostly tears and minimal blood but not as much sweat as I was hoping for. I got a new deadline for my Short Story project... My grandma that was the initial big push to write it for the Writers of the Future Contest, well she announced that she wanted to enter hospice last Thursday for the following Monday. I really want her to be able to read something of my writing. I had hoped to present it to her finished and published.

This weekend I scrambled to implement as many changes/suggestions/flashing neon arrows that I received on it from Toni Andrews's BookRx. There's a death of an old woman in this story that is very moving, and I kept shying away from it for what I hope are obvious reasons.

I got it done though. Here are the numbers:

Week			1		2		3
		9/22/2009		9/29/2009		10/6/2009		Overall
Powers Novel		48,343	0	47,949	-394	47,949	0	-394
Chaos Entwined		11,679	0	11,645	-34	15,367	3,722	3,688
Mirror		5,561	1,070	5,722	161	5,958	236	1,467
Total			1,070		-267		3,958	4,761

I predict next weeks numbers will fall off again. I'm traveling to a friend's wedding in WI starting on Thursday and won't return until the following Monday. I also might fly off to AZ at a moments notice.

Also:

For anyone looking for some good blog topics here are a few titles I'd love to read:

Dealing with Burnout: Re-hydrating Crispy Motivations
Best Route: Contests or Dive in?
Frustrating your  Frustrations

PS--it looks like we're going to have to cancel any  "Unemployment" celebration plans... and next Tuesday's report will probably be less progress as I'm traveling from Thursday to Monday (with a wedding of a friend in the middle) and start a new job on that Tuesday.

Week			1		2	Overall
		9/22/2009		9/29/2009
Powers Novel		48,343	0	47,949	-394	-394
Entwined Chaos		11,679	0	11,645	-34	-34
Mirror		5,561	1,070	5,722	161	1231
Total			1,070		-267	803

So as you can see by my numbers... its more like a Tuesday-To-Undone.

Definitely did not meet the 1K per story goal.
( Details of what exactly happened )

Has been suggested that I use the Mirror story, with all its plotting and world building and such for the NaNo "competition." I am considering it, though the story really wants to be written now... and to be honest I'm not sure who's driving.

Goal for next week: at least 1K on Powers and 1K on SS. Outline for Mirror and make it novel-worthy. I've also started working out--which is helping with the depression thing (see excuses) but I'm also hoping it will help with the idea flowing.
( Contest info too )

I guess that's it. Time to clean house and keep on plopping in notes into software and tracking down reference images for characters, ect.

How are your projects going?</div>

I was hunting for a clip today--the library scene in FLIGHT OF DRAGONS (www.imdb.com/title/tt0083951/) when I found the following clip. I watched it and realized that this is probably the source of most of my Magic vs Science plot elements that I have in almost all my serious writing (though you might not necessarily see the science in it all the time. I do and love when I can hide it).

So I wanted to share. Hopefully I'll be able to find the clip before Tuesday's To-Done.



PS Is there anyway I could count World Building in my word counts? :-D

First, the Numbers:

		9/15/2009	9/22/2009	Progress
Powers Novel		48,343	48,343	0
Chaos Entwined		11,679	11,679	0
Mirror		4,491	5,561	1,070
Total				1,070

Now the "Excuses":

1) Just got the feed back on Chaos Entwined/Entwined Chaos (the name keeps flipping) from Toni Andrews yesterday
2) Finished sewing my quilt
3) Made spreadsheet to track progress
4) Friend got married and got to be "headless chicken assistant"
5) I had a job interview sprung on me

New Goals:

At least 1K on each story.... Hopefully more than that.

Favorite Quotes:
"She called us pushover and... I really couldn't argue with her." or something like that from a reality show

I’ve wanted to be a writer for longer than I can remember. My grandma used to tell me stories where I would walk around with a notebook and pen, making squiggly lines in it and then “read” what I had written to family members.

The more I learn about the reality of the situation–of the pay, the lack of benefits, the limited glory, the more I ask myself why I want to keep doing it. I can’t come up with a reason–but I can’t shake the need to write and the yearning to share it with the world.

Makes me wonder if “Authorly Compulsions” will ever be part of a DSM diagnosis, but I think that’s definitely what I have.

Now I'm working towards my own publications with a more concerted effort.  I'm going to try and report each week how many words I've written on each story, any revision count I might have done, any feedback... anything of that nature.  I will also post anything about real life accomplishments--painting, sewing, job hunting--as well as failures.  While I know all of this should be "duh," I'm working on being held accountable.

I just wonder who is going to read this and hold me accountable.....

Goal: post stats at least once a week--probably Tuesdays as that is today. (could be a Tuesday To-Done list)

Reward: If I post every Tuesday for a month and a half, I will get myself a real blog for writing and contesting and that sort of thing.... and really hope to find some sort of "fan" base.

As the provoking blog post "Wanting isn't enough" says.  I need to do more than talk about being a writer, I need to suck it up and start doing the things I'm not looking forward to too--which includes the blogging i love to read and hate to write. http://magicalwords.net/misty-massey/wanting-isnt-enough/


 

So lately, when I'm snuggled deep into my blankets with a purring cat heating my lower spine I find my mind wandering off on random tangents and occasionally, I'm forced to get up and type them down.  Here's one such piece of drivel that I don't mind sharing (as I don't think it will ever go anywhere):

I always thought the best person to sleep with would be a one armed man.  Then there wouldn't be the messy mechanics of figuring out how to rest your head on his shoulder without someone's arm going numb... and I am not about to sacrifice my arm.  I need my arm to wield my broad sword, to don my power gauntlets, and to ward off some demonic creatures.

 

Still. I guess it does seem like a silly and selfish reason to cut off someone's arm... and a really crazy thing to have it in your search criteria.

 

Question: What are you looking for in your potential life partner(s)?

 

Answer: I'd like him to have only one arm--Preferably the left arm, as I would rather sleep on the right side of the bed.

While I'm custom ordering a husband, can he also be a miracle worker in the kitchen, have eternal patience and wield one hell of a good wooden stake?

I hope this brought some laughs and smiles.  If not--I hope it at least made you wonder what special brand of crack I'm on and where you can get your very own chunk of the brick. :)

So I have moved to the Dungeon. Here are some lessons I have learned during the process:

1) Friends will say they will help you. Good friends will actually show up to help you move. Great friends will help you pack--and sadly all mine don't live in the same town I was moving out of.

2) Turning off the internet early may save money, but when most of your friends are not in your apartment, it can make packing an extra lonely job.

3) Writing while moving.... next to impossible, rewriting slightly more possible and reading only possible when your body is too exhausted to lift more than a trade paperback.

4) I don't mind cleaning, as long as everything is packed and out of my way.

5) There's no point in mopping a floor if you have a bloody toe.

6) Don't let the first aid kit go on the first truck of stuff if you have to come back and pack the kitchen and clean.

7) When you don't have a band-aid, a napkin and sandals can be made to do enough to keep the blood of the floor so you can clean.

8) Packing a car has this strange sine wave pattern between everything fitting and not everything being able to get in.
8a) You don't need that silly rear-view mirror to drive 100 miles.  Its a luxury Item.

9) I think unpacking is more frustrating than packing... (but I'm sure I'll reverse that the next time I have to move)

10) Keeping track of bills is important to do during the moving process.  If you don't, act really innocent, apologetic, and slightly scatter-brained, promise to have the it in the mail ASAP and the late fees get waved.
10a) if you change you mailing address while taking care of this bill thing, the great online reference center won't know about it soon enough to let you change the billing address on most places that same night.

I'm sure I learned more, but there's the highlights...

OH yeah!

11) Moving + Interviews = BAD  COMBINATION

Why are people so mean?

I just want to tweet a simple message...

"One of the Final 2 for the job, but might have shot myself in the foot admitting to wanting to go to my friend's wedding in Oct.... "

and I can't tweet at all.

Stupid MEANIES! I HOPE YOU ALL GET VIRUSES--STUPID HACKERS!

Sincerely , Axi

EDIT: no job for me. other guy barely eeked out ahead.

Read a blog today on a whim. It asked "Who do you write like?"  www.brandischmidt.com/2009/07/who-do-you-write-like/

My response (elaborated here):

I like to say I write like me.

I like to use clever turns of phrases, and make people think.

I like to invite other to dance with me in the forest that is the English Language, not just hang out on the well marked paths.  Roll in a field of nouns.  Splash in the racing river of verbs.  Brave the cobwebs and climb a tree of obscure adjectives.  Don't fear the adverbs, they won't bite hard.

COME! Lets tame this language together!

So, to me that means that if I write a story, I really want to write a world where other people can play and let their imaginations run loose in.

I've discovered I can't seem to write Urban Fantasy (as much as I do love reading it).  Maybe someday I'll attempt to tackle it, but for for now I'm having fun playing in worlds were I can bend the gravity or the elemental forces to my will (MWAHAHAHAHAHAHHA I AM GOD).

( Warning Rambling thoughts.... )

My current world has 3 different types of  "magic," if you would call it that.  You'd think with all that fun I could find more plot lines to wiggle in and explore, but I can only come up with "THE WORLD IS ENDING" scenerios... or scenerio's where there's some oppression that needs to be overcome.  I feel like I'e losts my skills. 

So that's my rambling about my writing and the quote I selected today.  What's your opinion?

PS

I guess I could also see how that could that could refer to text book writing, too but... nah ;)

Alright... So I gave in and am joining the First Line trends:

( In alphabetical Order )

So hopefully that cut works.  I'll fix it if it doesn't.  I plan to overhaul all of those in the next year or so (or finish the WIP).  I feel... Ambitious.

Also, for those interested.  My fantastic recruiter might have another interview for me later this week.  Here's hoping.  So any votes on what to work on after my untitled WIPs are done?

--Axi

PS - Will need CP's not related to the Novel in a couple weeks for that short story (Goal: finish SS by Friday!)  While danne_cole is awesome, I need someone without a clue what is going on for "Phase 2" reviews... and I need to keep her ignorant as to what's to come in the novel :)

First off: I'm a contest Junkie so here's one that Bitten by Books is tweeting about:
Plz RT @Bittenbybooks Author Candace Havens and Jake are LIVE and smoking hot today here: http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=9067

Book looks interesting.  Its on my "to get when employed" list.... which keeps getting longer....

Second off:  Playlists

Each of my narrators is requiring a different type of Music to allow my to write them:

Zanna, my main narrator for my novel--Big fan of New Age and Folk music.  Specifically likes David Arkenstone's "Echoes of light and Shadow" ST  and 3 Pints Gone's ST: The beaches of St. Valory

Aidyn: the 2ndary (and never planned but appeared and is trying to take over) narrator to my novel:
Fireflies by Chris Garneau
4 Leaf Clover by Billy Boy on Poison
Time of your LIfe by Green Day
"She F*ing hates me" and "Bring Me Down" by Puddle of Mudd
Jenny by the Killers
Skater Boy and Kiss me by Avril Lavigne
Kiss on my List by Fleming Pie
Do What you want by OK Go
"Particle Man" and "Alphabet Lost and Found" by  They might be Giants (the last is really diffictult to type to)
I think he'd probably like Cake and Boxcar Racer but....

As unyet named SS Narrator
Cake, Boxcar Racer, Dido, and "Invincible" by OK Go

Sometimes I wonder why I have such aeclectic music.... Now I have my answer.  I also realize how much music affects a mood but how does particle man mix with bring me down?

Anyone else have really strange demands from their Muses?