Christmas Is Coming!

Yesterday morning, I bought X Christmas, a Christmas CD by the artists from Tooth And Nail Records. Thousand Foot Krutch, Seventh Day Slumber, Jars Of Clay, Capital Lights, Project 86, Hawk Nelson, The Almost, Anberlin, Kutless, FM Static, Sanctus Real, August Burns Red, Kj-52, Jaymes Reunion, Corey Crowder, David Crowder Band and Switchfoot all have Christmas songs on this CD. I actually found it accidentally. I was searching for a video by Spoken, also from Tooth And Nail Records (but sadly not on this CD) and I happened to find the video advertising the CD. I found I had to check Amazon Digital Downloads to see if they had it and they did, so I bought and downloaded it! And I have to say that I really, really love it! My favorite song at the moment is "His Favorite Christmas Story," by Capital Lights. It's a sad song with a catchy tune. Air 1 has been playing it a lot, but Jeff keeps missing it, so I'm going to play it for him later. :)

Anyway, that was my "big purchase" yesterday, and now I'm going to be careful about downloading more music. I don't want to use up all my money and bandwidth. ;)

I was actually able to sleep most of the night last night. I didn't keep waking up with coughing fits like I did the night before. Thank God for that!

I never attended the screenwriting conference call last night, but they're having it again tonight, so I'm hoping to join in tonight.

I finished going through my novel and writing down all the scenes and important points for each one. I also added more chapter breaks, bringing the current total to 31 mostly smaller chapters. I'll be adding a few more, of course, but at least I'm working on it. It was great to reconnect with Zane and Xander Greywolf. I even made a small, but important, change...and this change ensures that there will be at least one sequel. I love how things work out sometimes! :D

For today, I plan on working on the novel some more...figuring out which scenes I want to add and then looking through the Mi'kmaq stories I've got and seeing if any of them will fit into the story. I may just need to search for more stories, but I'd prefer to work with what I've already got. I have two books that are full of Mi'kmaq stories, plus others I've found online. Hopefully, those will be enough!

Speaking of my novel, once I took the original ending out, my word count went from 71K+ to about 59,593. That's actually higher than I thought it would be, so I'm okay with that. And once I add the new scenes, Mi'kmaq stories and other changes, it will be a bit more than that. I should easily be able to bring my word count up around 80K or more. I'm excited! :D

I never did any sketching yesterday. I'm not going to push it, though. When I find time, I'll sketch. I don't want to make it a chore. And I am still looking forward to picking up the pencil and sketchbook again. :)

I found out the TGIO Party is on Saturday. We're having pizza and Jeff is more than welcome to come, so that'll be fun! :D

I'm thinking about adding a character journal entry on here (LiveJournal). It will be F-locked, because I don't want just anyone having access to it. It's a Fox Redman entry and I wrote it for Halloween. It's loosely based on the verse(s) from the Bible about "inasmuch as you've done it to the least of these, you've done it unto Me," and if you're looking for it, you'll definitely see it. It's really a short story told from Fox's point of view in the way only he can tell it. So be watching for a Fox Redman short entitled "Mysteries." ;)

And now I need to hurry up and finish on here so I can get to work on the novel. It's so good to be working again, even if I haven't resumed the actual writing. Who knows? I may actually do a little of that today, too! :)

Have a great day!

Lois

Not Ready To Do Cartwheels Yet, But...

Today I'm back to work. I don't plan on doing anything too physically demanding, but I have a couple of feedbacks to write. Then I want to go through my novel some more and make note of the scenes I've got so I know where to add new ones.

I'm feeling a lot better. Obviously, my cold/ flu isn't completely gone, but I'm coughing a lot less, sneezing a lot less and generally I'm a lot less miserable. :) And, as far as I know, my mom's not getting it. Staying back in the studio most of the time was a good thing!

And I ordered some Ginger Tussin yesterday. It'll likely be too late to use it with this cold/ flu, but when the next one hits, I'll be ready! It's for cough relief, and I've heard it really works great! Two notes I have to keep in mind (thanks dream_mancer) are to use a plastic spoon (as opposed to metal, which makes it taste nasty) and to try not to drink water right after taking it (even though it'll burn all the way down to my toes). I can't wait to try this stuff! :P

I may do some sketching later. I've been itching to take up paper and pencil again. I just hope I can have a balance. I don't want to concentrate on one thing (drawing) to the exclusion of the other (writing). We'll see...

I won't be going to Sweet Bay tonight, but I'm hoping I'll feel well enough by Saturday to go to the TGIO (Thank God It's Over) Party. I plan to join everyone online tonight, though.

And now I need to hurry up and finish what I need to finish (blogging, writing forum) so I can begin what I've got to begin (feedback, go over novel scenes). ;)

Have a great day!

Lois

To Write or To Draw?

I'm getting a very late start on here, I know, but it couldn't be helped. I had some things that needed my attention first.

It's been rainy here today. Nice for writing rainy day stories, but I don't know if I'll do that. I'd like to get started on the drawing I mentioned in an earlier entry. It'll depend on how long I spend online.

Speaking of the drawing, we bought another table, like the one I've been using my laptop on. The TV's on it, and so are my most frequently used art supplies. Now they're out and mostly ready when I want to get to work. :)

I also have a Skype conference call that's all set up for Saturday, but my microphone isn't working very good. The sound's really choppy. It's a really old one, so I'm not surprised by this. I'm going to check Walmart's Web site and see if I can get an idea of what I'll have to pay for a new one.

Actually, since it's so late, I think I'll do some writing. I'll work on the drawing tomorrow. I'm thinking of working on Cottage or From the Ashes. :)

Have a good one!

Lois