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

Writing Progress for Today

The character journals came to 2,673 words.

The writing I did in the Zane Greywolf novel came to 2,185 words.

Grand total for today: 4,858! :D

I haven't written quite as much as yesterday, but I had several distractions and have been dealing with a slow connection off and on today.

Speaking of distractions, I had an unexpected phone call from Ancestry.com! :D She wasn't trying to sell me anything. She just wanted to know how things were going with the search and if she could help me with anything. I explained to her the situation with trying to find information about my Cherokee ancestor, John Raven, and about my difficulty finding anything out about my dad's father, the adopted Finnish boy. She's sent me some links to where I can find out how to research them both! :) Boy, with service like this, I really wish I could afford to keep the membership! I still can't believe I've tentatively traced part of it back to 1104 (and I can still go farther back with that particular part)!

Anyway, those are my results for today's Wednesday Writing Sprints. I'm happy with the results of the past two days and I plan on putting a lot more time and effort into my stories, but tomorrow will be mostly a day of research. I may do a little writing in the morning, but the afternoon will definitely be for genealogy research. :)

I got discs 1-3 of Into the West, but we won't watch them until tomorrow night, since tonight is Ghost Hunters: International night.

Have a great afternoon and evening!

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.