Today, I Write!

I feel like writing today. I feel like writing a lot! I haven't worked on my stories in two or three days, and I've got ideas for my new character, Harshad, so I want to get on it and write them down. I also want to work on my Immortal Watchdogs: Kalaghata outline, my screenplay, and anything else that inspires me today (may only be Harshad who inspires me at the moment, but you never know). I still need to brainstorm the rest of the storm story, too.

I also want to draw, but probably won't get to it today. I'll likely wait until tomorrow for that.

The party went well, for the most part. There was a little drama, but I didn't experience it first hand, so don't know exactly what was said or done. I have piccies from the party, though! :D I just need to get them off the camera, edit, then upload them. I'll do that some time this week.

We have our aquarium now! :D The aquariums would be more accurate. It's a stand that has two 55-gallon aquariums, but we're only filling one with water and fish. I'm not sure what, if anything, we'll do with the bottom one. I'd like to have frogs, but we'll see. We still need to set up the filters and everything before we can get any fish or other animals.

Also, Cliff helped me get some Genealogy software onto my computer so I can see just about everything he has in the Eighmy family tree. It's very comprehensive and very cool! :) I need to get some pictures to send him that can go into some of the files.

Jeff and I need to do our grocery shopping tonight. I have to make a list.

It's been very hot and humid here. I'm not sure how hot it was yesterday, but the air conditioner couldn't keep up. Today, it's supposed to get up around 91°. It's already 85° and feels like 93°. The humidity and dew point are very high. I'm glad I'm back in the bedroom today. It seems to be the coolest room in the house.

Niki did well yesterday. I moved the kennel into our room (surprisingly, I was able to make room for it and have a small fan aimed at her) and she stayed in it for most of the afternoon. We took her out a few times throughout the day so she could go potty, and we made sure that only people she knew would use our bathroom to minimize her watchdogging, so the day went fairly smoothly in that regard. :) She also spent the night in our room (in the kennel). Today, she's loose in the bedroom. The kennel is folded up and leaning against our dresser because three of Eric's friends spent the night in our living room and I don't want to disturb them.

Anyway, I've got a lot I want to accomplish today, so I'd better hurry up so I can get to it!

Have a great Sunday!

Lois

To Do List Day

Yesterday, my To Do List was short: research family tree, print out as much as possible, then cancel my free trial membership. I did that easily enough, even though we went grocery shopping and I fixed dinner and did the dishes, too. But I think I can still get those "hints" that I've been going on. I've been using those to build up a rudimentary family tree. If I can actually still get those in the free membership, that'll be a huge help. It'll give me something to go on. I have to check that today and see for sure if I'll still get those.

Today, on the other hand, is all about the writing:

1. Consolidate my journal entries into one
2. Work on Sons of the Wild Frontier Timeline and outlines for second and third books
3. Work on project with Patti
4. Read CP Manual
5. Write another entry (or more) for Jack Hunter
6. Brainstorm ideas for western fantasy

It's a lot of work, but some of it will carry into tomorrow, I've no doubt, so it's all good...as long as I accomplish some of what's on my list, at least.

Instead of watching Unforgiven with Jeff last night, I read some more of William C. Johnstone's Blood Bond: Texas Gundown. I just made it past a really funny part. J.A. Johnstone, the writer, who's going by William W. Johnstone's outline for the book, has a great sense of humor in his writing. It's a very entertaining book with it's main characters seeming larger than life. It's a very fun read! :D

Speaking of books, I need to check the library's Web site and find out when my books are due back. I don't remember if they're due this weekend or next. I need to renew some of them and I want to put some more books on hold.

I've started Phase One of the South Beach Diet. I don't know if it will be satisfying enough, but I really want to get over my cravings for popcorn and ice cream and bread! This plan should do it! :P

And that's pretty much what's happening here. It's Jeff's late day (one of them, anyway), so he's still here, but I have to push onward if I want to get anything done.

Have a great day!

Lois

Genealogy Day

I didn't do anything on my To Do List yesterday. It was a slow day. I did look through some of the Nano forums to get ideas for titles for my novels. I got some good ones for future use, too. That was the extent of my writing related accomplishments.

And today, I'll be devoting my online time to the family tree. I have to cancel my free trial membership by some time tonight because it expires tomorrow. I've got several pages I need to print out. I'm thinking I may be able to afford a membership to World Vital Records. That's only about $40 a year. If I do that, I'm going to wait until I get some extra money. In the meantime, I can try to get a hold of my cousin and my aunt to see about getting what information they have.

So, today is Genealogy Day.

Tomorrow is To Do List Day. :P

We've also got to go grocery shopping later, so I don't have as much time as I'd like. I'd better hurry up and finish so I can get started on the family tree work!

Have a great day!

Lois

My Writing Plans for Today:

Yesterday was a good day, even if I didn't get a high word count. I didn't even reach 2,000 words, but it wasn't a word count day. I still put a lot of time into my writing in the form of research and working on the important SotWF Timeline. I've got a lot of the major events on there, but I still need to add national events, too, so I know when different things happened (like the Removal [Cherokee Trail of Tears]) and the Battle at Little Bighorn.

I'm also thinking of consolidating my character journals into one and just using a userpic or two for each main character. After all, it would be easier to post to one journal, instead of three. ;)

Today, I don't want to be online a lot. I want to spend some "off computer" time with my work, so I've come up with several things I want to do:

• Jot down some ideas for the western/ fantasy story
• Work on an offline journal entry (or two) for Jack Hunter (new MC)
• Work on The Gift, a project I'm working on with Patti
• Read CP Manual

If I decide to consolidate my character journals, I'll probably do that today or sometime over the weekend. I've got to work on the family tree, too, and finish printing it out so I'll have it. I've got until the 9th to work on it, but by the evening of the 9th, I need to cancel my membership.

So, those are my plans for today. :)

We had storms last night. I hadn't been watching the sat/rad, so I was surprised when the clouds started moving in and began getting dark. Early on, there was a lot of lightning. We lost the satellite signal a few times and the electricity flickered a lot later on. We all played Apples To Apples and it was fun! Even Chelsey and Jeff had a blast! :D I'm hoping we'll play it more often. :)

Well, that's about it for now. Have a great day! :D

Lois

Family Tree Research

If I write, I'll write later this afternoon. While Eric's at work, I plan on researching the family tree. I've got some information to check out that an Ancestry.com customer service representative e-mailed me, so I'll be doing that right after I add Chelsey's information to the family tree.

Of course, now storms are moving in. :/ I hope they don't last too long. I just unplugged the laptop. I can only go so long before having to plug in or shut down.

Wish me luck! :)

Have a great day,

Lois

It'll Be A Writing Day Today

I never wrote anything yesterday, so I plan to do that today. I'm going to work on the Zane Greywolf novel. If I have time, I also want to work on the Sons of the Wild Frontier novel and the other, newer one I recently outlined.

I also have ideas for an alternate reality (well, I guess it's more of an alternate history) story in mind. I need to jot down the ideas I have so I don't forget them. Jeff and I were talking a little bit about it this morning and I think it's a cool idea, so I'm going to go for it!

I'm thinking that if I get over eager and start working on the Lucky Raven rewrite early, I can write the alternate history story during Nano. ;)

Much of yesterday was spent on Family Tree research. I traced one part of my grandfather's (on my mom's side) line back to someone named Radulfus DeSandford, born 1104 A.D. in Sandford, England. He died in Parish, England, but I don't know the date. I can still go back further, too. I chose to stop because I was online for a very long time and it was past time to shower and fix dinner. :P

Anyway, today and tomorrow will be taken up by writing. I plan to do more family tree research on Thursday.

Oh! One last thing: I want to ask for prayer again. Eric and Chelsey went to the emergency room again last night. This time it was for a problem Chelsey's having. I don't want to say what it is, but it's serious...at least that's what they said when Eric talked to them before they went out. Please pray that this issue would be completely healed and that both mother and son would do well from here on out. Thank you!

Have a great day! :D

Lois

Genealogy Trumped Writing

I ended up researching all day. :P I didn't do any writing, but I did trace my grandpa's (on my mom's side) tree back quite a ways. Of course, I haven't verified everything yet. Right now, I'm just trying to get as much information as I can. I'll check for accuracy later.

Tomorrow, I'll begin with writing so I can be sure I'll actually write! LOL!

Have a good evening!

Lois

Note: The above photo is of my new grandbaby, Josiah, just after he was born.

Another Busy Day Today:

Today, I get to work on my own writing, which feels great! I haven't worked on it much since Thursday (10K Day) and I'm anxious to get started.

The problem is I've got so many ideas rattling around that I'm not sure where to begin! I still have outlining to do, research, stuff like that. But I'm thinking I should finish that scene I was writing when I finished 10K Day. I left the scene hanging so it would be more fun to go back to.

And I need to write down some ideas I have for another story, an interesting story with drama, romance, family feuding, etc. It'll be a modern story, but I won't say any more than that right now. I look forward to working on it more!

I also have to work on a drawing. It's a paid job, so it needs to be done.

And I have a couple of family tree phone calls to make. I've decided to go for it! I'm going to research my dad's side of the family tree.

So, those are my plans for the day.

Lois

Note: I found the above photo of Jay Tavare online. I do not hold the copyright and I don't know who does.

Small Steps Are Good Steps When You're Heading In the Right Direction:

Note: The photo to the left is of my mother's father, Robert O'Dell Williams, taken in June, 1963.

I'm not working on my own writing today. I'm working on editing a friend's short story, instead.

I'm excited today. It's a small thing, really, but it's helped me get over the "blah" feelings I was experiencing yesterday. I got an e-mail newsletter from a geneology Web site and it had a link for "Maine Marriage Records." Well, on a whim, I decided to do a search for my grandma and grandpa on my dad's side of the family. I found them! :D From there, I did a death record search for my grandma and found that, too!

See, my dad told me that we have Northeastern Indian heritage from his mother's side of the family...this is in addition to the Cherokee from my mother's father's side of the family. My cousin is working on that side of the family tree, so I'm thinking of trying to trace my dad's side of the family tree. I have a couple of aunts and a great aunt I'd like to contact about it first. If they can give me some information, that would help me in my research. I'm really looking forward to the hunt!

And this could give me some good writing material, too! :D

Well, I'd better get to work on the edit.

Have a great afternoon!

Lois