Category Archives: Daily Update
Daily Update: I can do so much better.
I keep having this nagging sensation that I’m letting myself down during this entire Lent season. Yes, I set a goal of 2000 words per day. Even though I did 3500 words yesterday, I still don’t fell like it was enough. Between distractions and other commitments it’s tough to start and stop. I’m getting better at it though.
Having your flow interrupted is painful. It’s like cruising down the freeway and having a tire blow out. It’s not a matter of getting back on the road, but how fast you can get back on the road. After getting three or four flats in a row, it gets harder and harder to get back on that road.
That being said, it should also be getting easier each time, right? I feel like each time I stop writing I should be able to hop back into it faster. Unfortunately it’s just the opposite. I get frustrated, I get upset, I lose focus, and after several interruptions it’s over. I can’t focus or get any more words out. I’m trying to correct this as I know things will happen. I need to be able to focus on those 5, 10, and 15 minutes of downtime to produce words. If I’m going to have a successful JuNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo I need to work at short busts.
I also need to start typing faster. My last speed test was ~60 words pre minute. That’s pretty good, and I know I’m capable of better. I’m looking at what’s slowing me down while I write and taking steps to overcome those or find ways around them. It’ll take time and practice, but that’s what this entire year is about, right? Practice, getting my writing chops back, getting my work out there, getting myself out there. Proving to myself that I have what it takes to be an author, not just a writer.
In other news, my favorite daughter had a couple of awesome practices the past couple of days. I’m SUPER proud of how she did. I told her last night “You don’t realize how high you’re jumping, do you?” She didn’t. There’s an archway in front of our complex and she jumps to try and touch it each night. When she’s not thinking about it and just jumps she can touch the numbers on the plaque. When she’s thinking too hard, she can just touch the arch. I keep telling her to stop thinking about it and just do it.
Getting back to me (this is a blog about me, isn’t it?) I’ve been telling myself the same thing. Stop thinking about it and just do it. I need to quit distracting myself and take those few minutes here and few minutes there and when I have a chance, type furiously. This is how I wrote 100 short stories in a year. This is how I wrote a 60,000 book in a week. By taking advantage of every minute I could and just typing without thought and just letting the words happen.
Of course, I didn’t have some of the personal things in my life happening that I do now. It’s a matter of finding that clear moment in my thoughts and just letting it all go. Realizing that I don’t need a 1, 2, or 3 hour block to pound out a large number of words. All those 5, 10, 15 minute segments will add up and I’ll get more words done. It’s amazing when you really think about how much free time you really have in a day.
Oh, in other happy news. I have this belt. Let’s call it belty. It’s a BIG belt (as in goes around my waist big) and long ago in a house far, far away I had to put a new notch in it. Well, that notch hasn’t seen much action lately as I hadn’t needed a belt to hold up my pants. Recently that notch got some use down around my hips. Yesterday it got some us up around my waist. I’ve always said a waist is a terrible thing to mind, but gee, shedding a few pounds and seeing my clothes fit better (or just plain fit) has done wonders for my outlook. I may get a little grumpy at times, but I’m getting over that. I think more of that stems from putting pressure on myself to produce words.
Walking the past few days (did I mention I’m walking again?) has helped clear some cobwebs. It’s nice to get out there and just let the old mind wader, get some fresh air, and get the old heart pumping. Not shin splints yet, and hopefully I’ll be able to avoid them this time around by going VERY slow and building up even slower. It’ll take time, I know, and I don’t want to hurt myself again. That really sucked.
On even happier news, I demoed what I’d been working on (actual work) to my boss’s boss and she was very happy with what she saw. I’ll have a very relaxing weekend knowing that I still have a week of development and the project is pretty much complete. I’ll be doing a lot of tweaking of code, fine tuning queries, and just making it a happier application.
So even though I’m a little down about missing my Lent goal (by around 20,000 words) I can’t be too disappointed that I only wrote (67,876 as of this writing). My goal was 88,000 for the entire Lent period. I missed, but I got nearly 80% of my goal over the forty some odd days of Lent. I have a lot of gaps in fiction output, but still have a running streak of blog posts and Unorthodox Writing Tips. I won’t be breaking that streak. I’ve got 3 UWT in the can (scheduled) so I won’t miss. They’re now coming out on Friday. If all goes well we’ll see the first UWT ebook released in the coming days. I’ve asked Dan Dan the Art Man for another cover. I’m sure it’ll look awesome! He’s good like that.
There is a lot to do and only a little time to do it. So…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Trying not to be overwhelmed.
It’s easy to have a lot going on. When it comes to my writing I have a lot going on. There’s also a lot going on with my work life and my home life as well. It’s easy to say “Oh, I’ll just keep track of that in my head” but it’s so easy to lose track of something. I have been getting better about writing things down to keep track and it does help.
Even so, I still feel overwhelmed. I feel like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. I almost would rather not be so busy, but I know the rewards waiting for me at the end far outweigh the crushing feel of everything I’ve piled on myself. I’ve got lofty goals, and I’m getting them done. I really am.
That’s what I keep telling myself and looking at my word count spread sheet I can see the results. I’m on a diet and losing weight. Putting on clothes and seeing them hang on me versus forcing the fabric to extremes is a visual confirmation that I’m doing the right thing. Tracking my walking progress (walked yesterday, slowly, but I walked) helps me see how much time and distance I’m putting in. I’m a very visual person apparently.
This helps me keep track of what I’m doing and how well I’m doing, but I still have moments of when I sit down and my brain wants to play Angry Birds (even though I’ve solved all the current levels) or play Plants vs Zombies (even though I’ve solved all the levels). Sometimes my brain just isn’t into the task at hand. I’m working on a better way to get into the groove and be as ambitious as I was at the beginning of the year. I’ve been derailed a couple of times and I’ve done my own fair share of self-sabotage in getting started again. The only constant I’ve had has been getting these daily blog posts out. I’ve got that steady stream unbroken since the start of the year and I’ll keep it going.
The other goal I’ve kept going is Unorthodox Writing Tips. I’ve managed one a week since I started. I’m proud of that. I’ll be assembling them all together in an ebook when I hit 25. I’ll let you know when I drop that one out there. I’ve also gotten out a good number of short stories. I need to get more out. I’m having a blast watching the number of them that go out. I’ve gotten a few good reviews which always makes a writer happy.
Even so, it’s easy to ask “Why?” which is what I’m doing lately. Not sure what my brain is going though. I know the overall goal is to see a book published by a major publisher and it’s difficult waiting game. I think that might be what’s getting to me. Waiting. It weighs on your mind, pushes all other thoughts aside. I should push it aside.
Right. That’s what I’m going to do. Put the waiting aside and out of my head for now and press onward. I’ve got a lot of other projects that require my attention. I’ll distract myself so the waiting stops killing my brain J
Thank you for listening. I just had to get that off my chest. Now to make that word count meter go in the right direction a little more.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Hey!
Last night I didn’t do any writing. Darn it. I did, however, have a couple great skype chats and got a little bit of audio edited. Okay, I got a lot of audio edited. Well, the same audio multiple times really. If you’ve ever done a podcast you know that it’s not just record and post (unless it’s a chat/interview) and requires multiple takes, editing, processing, and listening through for errors. Usually it’s 3-4 times it takes to record.
So what did I edit? Well, I had recorded my part of the Action Pack Podcast the night previous and last night I got the audio edited and prepared, then I spent the next three hours producing the podcast. OH! Hey!
THE LATEST EPISODE OF THE ACTION PACK PODCAST IT OUT! GO GET IT NOW NOW NOW! http://actionpackpodcast.com
Enough with the yelling.
Also head on over here (http://www.ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com/)to Tee and Pip’s site for the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. You’ll see their latest announcement of the upcoming Tales of the Archives coming over the next few weeks. Hop on over there. Buy a book, but a short story, check out the first volume of short stories. Trust me, it’s worth it.
So, again, I didn’t get any writing done. Darn it. Yes, that Lent goal is slipping away. I’m sure I’ll be smitten (smited? Smithed? Smythed? Smothered? Whatever) due to my lack of commitment. I’m still days ahead of my annual goal and I’m not slipping there, but I’m not getting ahead of the game either. This is kind of when I wanted to punch out a lot of words during the Lent season. This weekend will see light updates from me. Sorry about that. I will update. I will get words out. Just very few.
All of my projects have my with high excitement levels. This makes it very painful to not be writing fiction. Watching the word count slip is one thing. Not fulfilling my need to produce fiction is difficult. How will I get over that? I’ll have to take a day and do some binge writing. See just how many words I can crank out in a day. This week it’s not likely to happen. My favorite daughter has a BBQ today, practice tonight, practice tomorrow, we have dinner with friends on Thursday evening, and we’ll be up at 5am Friday to head of to Lemoore to spend Easter weekend with family up there.
There’s a lot going, so I just need to find a few minutes here, a few minutes there and write what I can during this week. It’ll be challenging. I won’t have a block of an hour or two to sit. I’ll have to make use of whatever time I do have available.
On the non-writing side, I saw a clip for Space Battleship Yamato 2199. http://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/scifi/watch-10-minutes-space-battleship-yamato-2199-battle-footage.html. I LOVED this show as a kid. I didn’t get to watch the entire thing until I was an adult (just a few years ago) and I can’t wait to see the remake. From the looks of it, they’re sticking true to the original story/theme. It’s in Japanese so I can’t understand what they’re saying. Darn it. I’m hopeful a translation/subtitled version will be forthcoming. I will purchase this collection!
Watching it got me to thinking if this was what Battlestar Galactica used as a basis. That got me to thinking of Battlestar Galactica and Almos. That got me thinking of a story my dad told me of being at a dental convention and seeing someone that looked exactly like Almos. He introduced me to the man and it turned out he was actually Almos’s cousin. It’s such a small world. Then I missed my dad and thought about him for a little while.
You never really think about the influence some people have had on your life until they’re gone. I miss my dad. Some days more than others.
I should post another story about Uncle Bob. As long as I’m thinking about it.
Uncle Bob’s motto in life is why stand when you can sit (he used to carry a folding chair around with his) and why sit when you can lay down. When at home he will lay down instead of sitting in a chair.
My dad and Uncle Bob were roommates for a while. My dad had given Bob money to go buy groceries while my dad went to work. Bob found a great deal so when my dad got home there was a wedding cake sitting on the table. Bob had two forks (one in each hand) and was eating like there was no tomorrow.
There were other times my dad would come home and Bob, a great artist, would have drawn something like a wrench. My dad said he saw two wrenches sitting on the table holding down a piece of paper. When he tried to pick up the two wenches, he only got one. The other Bob had drawn.
Unfortunately Uncle Bob is quite insane (paranoid schizophrenic) and cannot function normally. He had joined the Navy and gotten a section 8 discharge (also called a Psyche discharge). During his testing he was dressed in a hospital gown and not one of the modern ones that cover you all up but one that’s open in the back, and he decided that he didn’t want to be there so he ran away. Down the street. And it took them a couple hours to catch him and bring him back.
Oh, I’ve got more little stories about Uncle Bob. I’ll share them at a later time. He’s a fun and colorful character. I guess I should get to getting…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Ever have one of those days?
It hasn’t been one of those days. At least not yet. It’s been one of those weeks. Every time I think I’ll have a little time for sit and write, or record, or get something done on a project, the time evaporates and whoops, nothing got done. Not just nothing, but less than nothing. Sure I got my blog posts out (almost missed a day) but my production this week has lacked severely.
This week isn’t looking much better. With Easter weekend coming, my favorite daughter out of school for the week, and traveling up to Lemoore (a few hours north of LA) on Friday morning. This will also be a light week. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some meaningful writing done between now and them.
On the plus side, I spent a great deal of time with the Millicans, watched my favorite daughter have a couple awesome practices, took a great walk and will walk more from now on, and had some quality family time. I also got to see the Three Musketeers (awesome, go see it). So I don’t count the missed writing time as a loss.
What have I discovered about myself this week? That I’ve gotten into a writing groove. That it pains me when I cannot write. I get antsy. I tap my fingers on any surface thinking about what I’d be writing. I translate scenes in my head and try to add humor to them and how I would include it into a story. No matter how hard I try, I need to write, not just want to write.
I really do love writing. I love all aspects about it. Watching my word count pass me by is difficult at best. I struggle to get up early and write, and it has been a struggle lately. When I was walking I found it easier to get up. Now that the wife and I are walking, I’m hoping that I’ll sleep better and wake up more refreshed. As it stands, waking up is difficult.
Some of the funny things I did the past week. Yesterday, April Fool’s Day, The Millican and I took his son shoe shopping. His son joked “My two dads are taking me shopping.” So when we went into one store and a sales clerked came over and offered assistance I said “Oh, we’re just looking for shoes for our son.” She smiled, The Millican and his son both had to turn away because they were laughing. The girl looked a little puzzled and left. I went into the corner and burst out laughing. I’m not sure how I managed to say it with a straight face.
Second funny thing: I’ve got annoying neighbor dogs. One is blind and loves to bark. She’ll bark at the wind blowing through the trees, cars honking, the sound of a door opening. She’ll bark at darned near anything. The other dog isn’t blind and doesn’t bark nearly as much. One day I decided to remove the doggie door (there was a draft) and when I leaned it against the fence and peeked over at the two dogs, the sighted of the two dogs barked at me. I hid behind the glass of the doggie door and she cocked her head to the side. I peeked out, bark. Hid, cocked head. I was pretty sure she could see me and for some reason found this a game to play and did so several times during the day with the same result each time. Well, I was amused.
Even though it’s been a tough and low productivity week I’ve kept my humor level high and just had fun with it. I know I can’t stress out about goals. I’m ahead of my annual goal. I know I’ll make that one. So I missed on the Lent goal. I’m not even going to try and fight it at this point. I will still put down as many words as possible, but I’m not going to fight it. I will post my final Lent numbers next Monday. I’m still happy with the result even if I don’t produce another word. Speaking of producing words.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Had a great time yesterday.
You may have noticed from my extremely short post yesterday that I wasn’t around much at all. Let me give you a quick rundown.
Got up somewhat early and started doing a couple of errands and getting ready for the beach day my favorite daughter had planned. She had a friend stay over so we went to Starbucks, went to 7-11 to check our lottery tickets (I was a WINNER! $7 back in my pocket baby), got some gas, went back to the house and had breakfast.
Because we had cleaned the house there weren’t any laptops lying around and I hadn’t charged my tablet so no post happened. I figured I’d get to it later. I thought about starting one on my phone, but by the time I thought about it I figured I should start packing things into the Tahoe.
My favorite daughter had a volleyball clinic at her school held by the Varsity coach. She had an outstanding session and the coach even made several comments about how well she was doing. She didn’t want to go saying her hand hurt, but you’d never know that once she got going.
While I was there the wife went and did shopping to get snacks and whatnot for the beach. Since I had loaded the LARGE cooler into the Tahoe it was filled with a multitude of snacks and drinks. Then it was a matter of going and picking up all the kids and heading to the beach.
The Millicans joined us as their daughter was part of the semi-reunion my favorite daughter had planned and heck, let’s be honest, it just fun to have the Millicans around. There was eating of snacks, feeding of seagulls, a foot race that I started laughing during and nearly went face first into the sand, more snacks, more seagulls ,chasing of birds, poker…oh yeah, my favorite daughter and her friends spent as little time as possible around the grown ups. They had a volleyball, the water, and a lot of fun.
I posted a couple of pictures in twitter. It was cold, windy, and cold. The sun did make an appearance shortly before sunset and made its brilliance known. Knowing it was about to get cold we started packing things in. Our intention had been to have a bonfire on the beach, but all the fire rings had been removed. So much for roasting wieners over an open fire.
We dropped of one child and headed back to the Millican’s house. There we managed to clear the deck (literally) get the grill going, fire up the Jacuzzi and before you could say ‘it’s ready’ the Jacuzzi was full of kids, the hot dogs were ready, and we were a eatin. Because of the silly temporal shift that happens around this time of the year, it was nearly 9PM as we sat down to eat.
At this point I became a little twitchy that I hadn’t written ANYTHING the entire day. Hey, life happens. Roll with it, right?
So hot dogs were had. One of the Millican’s friends showed up and we had some great conversation. He hadn’t been around in quite a while and had some stories to tell. Some good, some bad, some fascinating. He shared with us a music video he did with some footage shot while he performed on stage before Solja Boy Tell’em (or however he spells it.). He goes by the stage name of Tempmuzik and you can find him on youtube. The kids got talent. Check out his video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USKavfoLioY&feature=bf_next&list=UU0f6HUXtOnku7GAMrzwMEZA&lf=plcp
Now I’m not a big fan of hip hop, but this song is really cool. He even had a video online of how he made some of his beats and the layers he needed to do for putting it all together. It’s a lot of hard work. He said he submitted an audition video for the x-factor and got accepted. Hopefully this will do wonders for him. He’s got mad skills.
Eventually 11:30pm showed up and it was time to take the kids home. Will a full car, I had to leave the wife and my favorite daughter. The rain started and really picked up once I started dropping them off. Everyone made it home safely and I got to say ‘hi’ so a couple of the parents (still good friends) that I don’t see too often anymore. I got home around 12:30AM and finally to bed just before 1AM. A very long day, but a lot of fun.
Today I need to take my favorite daughter to a private volleyball lesson and then she’ll have two hours of practice. After that it’s recoding the Action Pack Podcast, editing, posting. Then I need to record one more little piece and finally I’ll be getting my butt in chair and doing some serious writing. I’m falling behind on my Lent goal. Ah well. These things happen.
I’ve got a busy day ahead of me. The house is clean, the projects are laid out before me. I just need to make the time to sit and type a lot today. I’ll see you on the other side.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Went to the beach
Went to the beach today. Bbq’D some hot dogs.
Very short post today. Lots more tomorrow.
Daily Update: Another long day.
Today blew by! I mean I really lost track of time today. I got a lot of work done. You know that day job stuff. I demoed my progress for the client again. I’ll do the same next week. I’m happy with the progress. Fixed a few errors, corrected a couple odd and slow queries. It was one of those good days to be a geek.
My favorite daughter decided to have a friend over. She’s going to have a beach day tomorrow. If you’re not from San Diego you think every day in San Diego is a beach day. I’m from Minnesota. I used to think that. Sure, it’s warmer here than in Minnesota this time of year, but that doesn’t mean it’s beach weather. The currents come from the north to feed us very cold water. The water temps are very cold year round and when you get that wind whipping up off that cold water. Brrrr!
Yes, I wear shorts nearly all year. I also wear flip flops as often as I can. But when you’re sitting on a beach chair with the damp, cold wind steadily blowing up off the cold water. Let’s just say it’s chilly.
The kids enjoy it though and, hey, that’s what this is all about. I’m sure they’ll have fun playing beach volleyball, rolling in the sand, things like that. Me, I’ll likely lock myself in the car at some point and record my Action Pack Segment. Our first episode dropped on March 1st, so it only makes sense to drop the 2nd episode on April 1st.
April 1st. Hmm, now I need to think of a good joke to play on that day.
I bought my lottery tickets for tonight. Heck, as I’m writing this I could be worth half a billion dollars. Who knows? Not me. I’ll find out later. I’m a realist. It’d be very cool to win, but I’m not going to be chomping at the bit to see if I won. I have a better chance of a shark riding lighting into my house and biting me on the bum.
Speaking of lightning sharks. I’ve been watching Frozen Planet. Very cool (pun intended) show. Ever since I was a kid watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom I’ve had a fascination with nature shows. Not just nature shows, but things that have a great narration. Marlin Perkins always did a great job with narration and Frozen Planet has Alec Baldwin. I loved him when he did Thomas the Tank Engine (my favorite daughter used to watch that) and there’s something about his voice that just draws you in.
Speaking of long days, I should get some fiction written. I’ll have a longer post for you tomorrow.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Hitting my goal.
As the month plods on (and Lent is coming closer to a close) the ability to hit my writing goal of an average of 2000 words a day during Lent looks like it’ll be harder and harder to achieve. That being said I did hit 2000 words yesterday. I’m not going to stress out about not hitting the overall goal because I know if I start to worry about it I’ll never make the goal at all. Instead I’m content to just keep typing away and seeing where I am at the end of it all. Why stress out over what I cannot control, right?
One thing I have noticed over the past couple of months of typing each and every day; I type faster. Sure, this makes sense to you, but for me it’s bordering on amazing. I mean, I knew I typed quickly before. I’m one of those annoying people in IM that will type three or four things before a person has a chance to type up on. I usually have to wait for a person to respond.
So typing up these daily blog posts has been cathartic and useful. It’s getting my brain in sync with my fingers. I’m not sure how quickly I can type. If the backspace key counted I’m sure I’d type a lot faster. More often than not I’m sitting here waiting for my brain to think of something to say and once it’s got that figured out BAM! It’s typed up and ready to go. One of these days I’ll an online typing test and see what kind of speed I’m clocking in at. In fact, hold on one moment.
Well that was fun. I took a quick test over at http://www.typingtest.com and according to it I’m typing at 59 words per minute. It was quick, but a couple of the words in the test either threw me off or there were symbols I don’t normally type and had to pause and think about what to hit. I’m sure I can improve on that, but I just need a little more practice. I’ll check again in a couple of months and see where I’m at.
I should write up an unorthodox writing tips on the three Ts of writing, typing, tracking, spelling. Hmm, ok, I’ll work on that last one. I’m not very good at spelling to begin with. I’m so thankful for Word (and Scrivener) to correct many of my mistakes. Now if I could get word usage down better and learn some more rules of grammar I might be able to be a writer some day. Some day. J
Last night I went to The Millican’s son’s Lacrosse game. It was great to see him playing against one of his buddies from the club them they were on. I didn’t think he was going to ‘poke check’ his friend as they were on the same side of the field, but apparently there are no friends on the field. That game on the surface looks like an easy enough game, but wow is it physical. I’m going to do an Unorthodox Writing Tips on watching a high school sporting event. I have a blast.
Tonight I’ll be going to see The Millican’s other Freshman kid (the daughter) in a track meet. I used to run track (and cross country) oh so many years ago. I love track and field. She does the hurdles and they’ve said she’s done really well. I’m excited to go and watch.
We’ll see how much writing I can get done while I’m there. I think I’ll bring along my netbook because afterwards it’ll be time for my favorite daughter to go to volleyball practice. Today is going to be another long, long day. I should probably get started on it. So…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Side Note: Someone asked what I’m using to track my words counts on the side there. Here’s the URL. http://www.critiquecircle.com/wordmeterbuilder.asp. It allows you to customize your own tracker look and feel. Got questions on how it works, feel free to ask me.
Daily Update: Good writing day.
I had a good writing day. I clocked just under 2500 words. I may miss my Lent goal, but I’ll get darned close. I’m still hoping for a couple really good evenings of writing to try and get there. If they happen, they happen. If not, I’ll do the best I can. Life will always present obstacles. I just need to keep pressing forward and not be disappointed. After all, I’m now 14 days ahead of my annual goal. Still on target for 500,000 on the year if I keep going at the pace I’ve set. We’ll see how it goes.
One thing I’m going to do is step up the amount of fiction I’m writing. I’ve written a lot of blog posts (and some lengthy ones) but I need to really get more fiction written. Either way I’m pushing 120,000 words on the year and I’m quite happy about that.
Dan Dan the Art man has provided me with a couple new covers for short stories. Once I have edits done on Don’t Eat the Bread and Moving at the Speed of Though I will get those out there. The covers are awesome!
I’m currently working on My Teacher is a Werewolf. Again I’m having fun with this one. There are lots of little bits that make me laugh and when I tell my daughter what I’m doing she also laughs. I’m hoping that’s a plus. It’ll be a little scarier than My Teacher is a Zombie, but then it must. Werewolves are scary, right? I’m not going to make it too intense. There’ll still be a lot of funny moments. The way this one is looking it’ll end up longer than the first. I’m still trying to name this series and I’m thinking about going with Unnatural Learnings. Let me know what you think.
On a plus note: I’ve been doing a little dieting. I’m down a few pounds. Quite happy about that. The better diet is helping me keep my head clear so when I do sit down to write the words seem to be coming easier. I think that plus the combination of sitting down every day and writing is helping me get words out in a more efficient fashion.
I’m still a slave to my word count spreadsheet. I love to toy around with it. I don’t modify what I’ve done as far as numbers. Those are written in stone as far as I’m concerned. I just have fun with the formatting, graphs, percentages, adding new columns to show progress and the like. I think I spent an hour yesterday goofing around with it. Then inspiration struck and BAM! Knocked out some words. I won’t be doing that tonight. Tonight it’s all about word count and I’ll be hammering on the keyboard as quickly as I can.
Speaking of hammering on the keyboard…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Going strong
Yesterday was a good day to write with over 2500 words achieved. I’m still behind on my Lent goal, but I’m getting there. I’ve go two weeks to get caught up, I just need to stop dragging my feet. Felt good to get words down. If you couldn’t tell by yesterday’s post I’m super excited to get cracking on Of Gnomes and Dwarves.
But first must come the finishing of works in progress, right? RIGHT! I need to finish up To Fall From the Sky. I need to finish My Teacher is a Werewolf. Those are the most important writing tasks at hand. I also have a bunch of recording to do this week. I’ll be getting on that tonight and do some editing work tomorrow.
Speaking of editing I need to get back into Jack Kane and do the edits in there. This writing stuff isn’t easy and isn’t for the easily distracted. I’m usually easily distracted. Take last night as an example. My favorite daughter was working on a mask and bow and arrow for a project and she also had to write up a script. That for the most part she did on her own.
Once I stopped writing to read what she’d written (it was really good and very funny) I lost track of where my head was at. I had ended a sentence with “and Stanley went to” and I totally forgot where he was going, what he went to go do. I drew a total blank.
My favorite daughter is really coming along with her writing. Her piece was intended to be funny, and it was. It’s about Artemis and Apollo and Artemis’s affair with Orion. She made up ‘Laugh’, ‘Awww’, and ‘Applause’ cards to be held up at certain times during the skit she’ll be doing with a classmate. I so want to be there when she presents it. She read through it and I gave little advice on inflection and timing, but 99% of it was her. This is one of those parenting moments where you know your kid will turn out alright.
Today needs to see another word count boost. It won’t be easy. I’ve got the day job, then I’ll be home for a bit where there’s house stuff to do then I need to write like a madman until I need to take my favorite daughter to volleyball practice. That’ll be a two hour chunk that I won’t be getting any writing done, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens. The coach wasn’t too happy after the last tournament because a couple of girls just gave up on the court and lost a game they were easily winning. It’d be nice to see if they can change their attitude and actually show up to play instead of just showing up. That’s enough said about that.
Well, speaking of being busy, I’d better get busy. So…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
J.R. Murdock 