Guess I'm Not As Finished As I Thought

Yesterday was a good day. I wrote 3,339 words in my new story. I thought it was finished, but after reading it last night, I see it needs more. The ending is too abrupt. So, I'll be working on that for today's Wednesday Writing Sprints.

I had Josiah back here for about an hour yesterday. We watched music videos on my laptop. He fell asleep toward the end and his mom and dad took him back out to the other room. :)

Jeff and I had dinner at Burger King before he took me to sweet Bay. That was fun. Then I got a decaf spiced chai latte at Sweet Bay.

Not much else is going on here. Just a lot of writing. And I have to call about jury duty tonight. I have a list of things I need to do, so it won't be a boring day...just not much to "write home about." ;)

Have a good one.

Lois

January 20 Wednesday Writing Sprints

I added 2,821 words to my story yesterday. And I wrote feedback for one of my students. I've been revising that feedback, and I'm hoping to be able to post it this morning.

And for today's Wednesday Writing Sprints, I want to work on my story some more. I may work on some character journals, too.

I went to Sweet Bay last night and came up with loglines for two of the books I wrote last winter/ spring. Predators and The Guardian were the books, and I wrote them both at the same time...quite a feat, I know, and difficult to do, since they shared some characters, which made it hard to keep them straight. ;)

It's mostly sunny here right now. I hope it stays that way, but I doubt it will. I guess we'll see. The high today is supposed to be around 70°. It's already 62°.

Another short post, I know, but I've got a lot to do and I want to get started.

Have a great day! :D

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints!

I only wrote two character journal entries yesterday, but they were pretty good, I think. My word count was 1,856.

I went to Sweet Bay last night, but all I managed to do was sign up for another MySpace account. This one will be different from my other two, which I don't even go to anymore. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up, but I'm going to try. ;)

I need to upload my stuff to Box.net. I haven't done that in a while.

Today is Wednesday Writing Sprints, and I'll be working on brainstorming, then character journal entries for my new characters. I need to get really serious about the story and come up with the major conflict, as well as the secondary conflicts. I'm hoping to get a good start on that today.

I have to call about jury duty tonight. I hope I don't have to go in tomorrow. I'd like to participate in 10K Day.

Have an awesome day! :D

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints!

I'll be participating in Wednesday Writing Sprints today over at the forum. I'll be working on character journal entries. I'm going to write an entry for each "villain," then if I can squeeze in any more, I'll write some for my heroes and/ or secondary characters. I'm eager to get started, but I've got to finish up online first.

My Firefox browser kept messing up last night. Three times I closed the browser, and every time I opened it I found out it didn't save my tabs. I had to open them manually all three times. :/ But then along came Eric to the rescue. He told me about the Flock browser. I downloaded it and I love it so far. It even has a photo stream near the top of the window where I can view thumbnails of all my photos on Photobucket! :D

So I can just copy and paste the code into an entry, like this:

Cool, huh? :)

I never went to Sweet Bay last night. I wasn't able to get my laundry done in time, and I decided to wait until next week to start going on a regular basis, anyway.

OH! I don't think I mentioned this here, but I'll be taking an online course at the Cherokee Nation Web site! :D The classes are Mondays and Wednesdays, I believe, with archived classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If I can't view the videos from home, I'll view them in the archives on Tuesdays. I need to see about getting there early. Maybe Chelsey can run me in some afternoons. :)

We have a wind chill advisory and a winter weather advisory. I haven't been watching the weather at all. I'm just hoping we'll be able to get to Little Rock safely on Saturday. We have to take my mom to the airport.

I've got to run. Have a great day! :D

Lois

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

We had thunder this morning. This is simply not the time of year for freaky weather. I heard they were expecting us to have a ton of rain and even possibly tornadoes! O_O Weatherwise, this just does not feel like Christmas. :( So far, we've just had some distant thunder and rain. Hopefully the weird weather is about over.

I'm cold. My fingers feel like they're frozen to the bone. It's hard to type.

I never went to Sweet Bay last night. I just didn't feel like it. Jeff will be going shopping tonight or tomorrow night. I'm not sure which. Whichever night he stays home, that's the night I'll try to make Divinity and Cardamom Fudge. :)

Today's Wednesday Writing Sprints! I'll be working on character journal entries...for my new characters and old ones, alike. Been chatting with P. and M. and have come up with some names for some supporting characters. YAY! :D

Josiah's got his first tooth coming in. I can't believe he's that old already. :)

I'm behind this morning because I was catching up on Twitter. I even added some new Tweets. Howie Mandel is hilarious! Also added some writers, directors and producers (like Steven J. Cannell). Not so many that I'd be more overwhelmed by the added traffic, though (I'm already overwhelmed, after all).

I need to go fix myself a hot tea or cocoa and something to eat.

Have a great day, everyone...and I do mean everyone! :)

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints

Today is Wednesday Writing Sprints over at the writing forum, and I plan to use the day to work more on my new characters. I actually have four I'm working on this month. I haven't participated in Wednesday Writing Sprints for a while, so I'm eager to get started!

I'll also be working on my Xander Greywolf novel some more. I work on it a little each day, first reading some of the stories in the Mi'kmaq Stories books, then reading my novel and making changes, corrections, etc.

My To Do List:

Must Do:

• Continue going through Mi'kmaq books in search of stories I can integrate into my novel
• Go through some more of the novel making changes and additions, small edits
• Work on character development for four new characters
• Library

Would Like To Do:

• Brainstorm new short story
• Drawing and sketching
• Read from new screenwriting book, taking notes
• Other reading

I did some research last night, but I have more to do today...for my new characters. I'm really excited about them, and I'm keeping a journal about them (not a character journal yet, but I'm thinking of creating new categories over at Native Heroes for them...once I have enough to go on).

I'm still excited about Xander's story, too, but I'm anxious to finish the first draft so I can set it aside for a while, and revise it later.

I'll be babysitting for a while today (four hours or so), so character development seems a good fit. I can research and make notes, but I don't have to give it my full concentration like I do with my noveling. And it'll be good to spend some time with Josiah! :D

Have a great day!

Lois

Halfway to 50 & Beyond!

Well, I've got a feedback to write this morning, but the rest of the day seems to be free for writing.

Last night I reached 25K...exactly! I checked my word count and I was one word short, so added the word "supportive" to the last sentence and I reached my goal (which I'd changed from a daily goal of 10K to an overall goal of 25K by the end of the day). I wrote 8,644 words yesterday! :D

The next scene will be hard for Zane and Xander and I'm looking forward to writing it. There will be a lot of emotion in it.

Today, I'm shooting for a reasonable 5K, but if I get more, I'll be happy. :)

There hasn't really been much going on here. The sun's been shining and there have been a lot of wasps and spiders outside my studio window. Yuck! At least they're outside. LOL!

And I've been participating in a lot of sprints...on and offline. That's helped my word count a lot!

Someone on Twitter (nanomojo) told me I'm his hero. LOL! That's quite a compliment!

Anyway, I'd better hurry up on here so I can get to that feedback!

Have a great day! :D

Lois

Now this is a beautiful song:

Another 10K Day!

The write-in went well last night. I never got a chance to work on my novel until I got there, so I didn't get to reach my goal of 3K-5K, but I managed 2,051. I'm devoting much of today to my noveling. I plan on reaching 10K today, which would bring my novel to over 28K. :)

I managed to get all my feedbacks written and posted yesterday, so that is a definite plus! :D I'm expecting three more this week, but for today, I'll be working exclusively on my novel.

Patti, M_, and I will be having some writing sprints over the internet (fitting for Wednesday Writing Sprints, don't you think?). This ought to be a great day! :)

I need to finish answering the more urgent e-mails. I'll check the rest later. And I'm hoping to get caught up what's happening with everyone someday soon!

Have a great day!

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints

Today, I'll be working on my Zane Greywolf outline. If I have time after that, I'll work on my short story. I'm hoping to finish both of these before November 1, so I need to get busy!

Today is Wednesday Writing Sprints. As always, anyone working on their own writing today is welcome to join us. We set goals for ourselves, then update periodically throughout the day. It's fun and we get work done on our own projects. :)

I had a lot of fun at Sweet Bay last night. It's always good to get together with other writers. I didn't get any writing done, but I got to talk to some writing friends. That's always a bonus. Next week is the Nanowrimo Kick-Off party. I am so looking forward to that!

So far this morning, I've checked my email and sent out two e-mails to my Nano mentees. I'm about to catch up on the Int'l Scribe's Support Group, then I'll start work on the outline.

Have an awesome Wednesday!

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints

Today is Wednesday Writing Sprints! I plan to work on Cottage. Between today and tomorrow, which is 10K Day, I'm hoping to have Cottage finished. Then I'll work on some short story outlines and tweaking of other outlines...especially Zane Greywolf's. I want this to be the last rewrite. ;)

I went to Sweet Bay last night and my goody bag contributions have been delivered. I don't do very well in crowds, so I didn't talk much. Get me one-on-one and I'm good. Get me on a conference call, apparently I'm good. But get me in a room full of people I don't know very well and I clam up. It must be the face-to-face, crowd of people thing I'm no good at. Anyway, we worked on a fellow writer's story (and some of us did other stuff on our laptops at the same time). I was told that next week we'll write more and the week after that is the Kick-Off Party.

As of this moment, I don't have any feedback, so I'm going to hurry up on here and post to the writer's forum and Blogspot. Then, if I still don't have any feedback to do, I'll start working on Cottage

Have a great day!

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints

I'll be participating in Wednesday Writing Sprints today and, as usual, all are welcome to join us.

As is the norm, I'll be working on my character journal entries. It's been a couple of weeks, I think, since I worked on them, so I'm looking forward to reconnecting with Lucky, Zane, Fox, Sawyer and all the rest. :)

That's pretty much all I have planned, although some business stuff may come up. I never know.

And I may have to babysit for an hour or two this afternoon.

Otherwise, my day is free to write to my heart's content! :D

Hope your day is great!

Lois

My Wednesday Writing Sprints Results:

Well, I've written a total of 6,375 words in the character journals today, plus another 301 in a letter I wrote, bringing the grand total to 6,676! :D

Here's the breakdown, in case you're interested (and because I want to have a record online of it):

* Lucky Raven: 483
* Zane Greywolf: 488
* Fox Redman: 1,365
* Sawyer Redman: 488
* Jack Hunter: 369
* Katie Cavanaugh: 661
* Vaughn Cutter: 704
* Weston Cutter: 1,224
* Xander Greywolf: 593

I think my top three favorites for today were Fox Redman, Weston Cutter and Xander Greywolf. They had a lot of feeling in them, some action, and some really emotional stuff. Stuff that helped me stretch and grow as a writer. I loved writing them! :)

Tomorrow, as I said earlier this morning, is 10K Day. I can't wait!  :D

Wish me luck! I'm actually going to shoot for 10K! ;)

Have a great afternoon,

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints for Today:

Today, I want to work on the character journal entries, as usual, for Wednesday Writing Sprints, but first I've got a couple of business things I need to attend to. (The link above is open to the public. If anyone wants to join us, we'd love to have you! You just set a goal for the day to work on your own stuff, then you post every once in a while with your progress. We also love to encourage each other as we go.)

I've also got a load of laundry in the dryer and another waiting to go into the dryer.

It's raining again this morning. Our swamp around the pear tree is slowly growing...

Tomorrow is 10K Day for Writers (also open to the public and pretty much the same as Wednesday Writing Sprints) and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to try to reach 10K. I haven't really been striving for that the past couple of times. This time, I'm going to push for it.

I also need to come up with something for my contribution to the Nano Goody Bag for this year. I have something in mind, just need to get pricing for it.

And I need to check my library account.

I want to go to Coffee & A Good Book soon. I need to get a book or two for research...

And I think that's it. :)

So, today and tomorrow will be days of writing, writing and more writing! :D

What are y'all doin'? ;)

Have a good one!

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints Results

I've finished writing and posting my latest character journal entries.

Jack Hunter: 295
Lucky Raven: 282
Zane Greywolf: 649
Fox Redman: 1,621
Sawyer Redman: 649
Xander Greywolf: 963

Grand Total: 3,859

It's been a good day. I accomplished the main things I wanted to accomplish. I'm currently printing them out, but I also have a document in two different formats for each character and I add each new entry to them.

Tomorrow's another day and I need to figure out what things I want to work on. One of them will be the project I've been working on with Patti. I haven't been able to find the time to work on it, so I plan to do that first thing tomorrow.

Have a great evening! :D

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints, September 2, 2009:

I've already begun Wednesday Writing Sprints for today.

I've written character journal entries for Jack Hunter and Lucky Raven. I wanted to start the day working on a couple of the character journals so I'd be motivated to go back to writing after I finish online. So far, it's working. I can't wait to write more! :D

I still have to write up Zane Greywolf's entry, as well as Fox and Sawyer's entries. Then I want to work on Xander Greywolf's first entry.

After that, who knows? :)

Have a great day!

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints, August 19, 2009:

Today, I'll be working on my character journal entries. I really feel a need to connect with my characters right now, so that's what I'm going to do!

Then I might start work on the screenplay for "Mira." I'm going to outline the major events and dialog I want to add to it. My friend, Pat Rushing, who wrote the story, wants me to just write the first page, but I don't think I can stop there...unless, of course, I write my own screenplay from one of my own stories...or from an original idea I'm coming up with. ;)

Jeff and I went to the library last night. I forgot to ask them if they found Listening Woman. I'll check online...Yes! It's no longer showing that I still have it out. They must have finally found it! :D

We also went to Walmart so Jeff could pick up some Drano. I looked to see if they still had an 8-cup French press, but they didn't! :/ I saw it a couple of weeks ago. They had several. Now they have none. I'll have to see if they have it on their web site.

The above userpic is from the book I've just started reading. :)

Well, I've eaten and done the dishes. I'm just getting (somewhat) caught up online, then I'm off to do some writing! :)

Oh! I also signed up on Blurb.com and downloaded their BookSmart software. I've been playing around with it. I've imported Lucky Raven's old journal into it and have begun making a book for it. I'm also working on one for Native Heroes. I'm hoping to add photos and / or artwork for that one. :)

Anyway, have an awesome day! :D

Lois

Today's Wednesday Writing Sprints

I'm looking forward to getting a start on the day today. I'm a little late this morning because I wanted to eat first (I'm eating now, in fact).


My To Do List for Today:

1. Post five more entries to Native Heroes
2. Write at least one more entry for each of the characters for Native Heroes
3. Finish adding Sawyer's details to the Sons of the Wild Frontier: Crimson Land (Book 3) outline
4. Work on project with Patti
5. Read CP Manual (I plan to do this over the weekend, but I want to keep it on here so I don't forget)
6. Brainstorm more ideas for western fantasy
7. Work on a novel or two (this will mostly be done tomorrow, but if I should happen to find the time today, I'll work on it some)

So, that's pretty much what my day entails. I've got a couple of meals thawed out in the fridge to fix for Jeff and me. Eric and Chelsey have their own food for the next day or two.

Well, I'd better get to work on that list! I want to get as much done as I can today.

Have a good one!

Lois

The Next Three Days Will Be Busy

We had storms last night. We have a pond around the Bradford Pear again. And part of our bird flock is back and hunting for worms. It's very cloudy and we have a chance of storms again for today. It's a good atmosphere for working on a cozy piece of writing...or something involving rain.

Before I work on any writing related stuff today, I need to get something to eat. I keep skipping breakfast because I want to get all my online stuff finished first. Not this morning. As soon as I post this, I'm going to go fix breakfast, then finish the rest of what I need to do online before hitting the To Do List.

Speaking of my To Do List, it should be shrinking, but it's not. :P

1. Post five more entries to the character journal
2. Finish outlining Sons of the Wild Frontier: Book Three
3. Transcribe both Sons of the Wild Frontier outlines onto the computer
4. Work on project with Patti
5. Read CP Manual
6. Brainstorm more ideas for western fantasy

Eric's back at work this morning so I should be able to get quite a bit of stuff done. He mostly leaves me alone to work, but yesterday he wanted me to spend some time with Josiah. I held the baby for a good hour and a half to two hours. He cooed and talked to me, even almost smiled. After a few minutes, he fell asleep and I did some brainstorming for the western fantasy while he slept. :)

Jeff got home around two to two-thirty yesterday and I'm expecting them to get home a little early today, too. Tomorrow is Wednesday Writing Sprints. I'll be working on new character journal entries for all the characters, then I might work on Cottage or Zane Greywolf. I plan to work on Sons of the Wild Frontier: Phoenix Rising (Book One) on Thursday during 10K Day for Writers. The next three days will be busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Have a great day!

Lois

Wednesday Writing Sprints

I think yesterday was Tuesday Writing Sprints Day! :P Well, today I'm going to work on my character journals. I'm going to start with Zane Greywolf's entry, then take it from there.

Chelsey seems to be doing better. Thanks for all the prayers!

I just ordered a used copy of Return to Fairyopolis (Flower Fairies), by Cicely Mary Barker. I love her artwork! I got it for $2.50 plus shipping for a total of $6.49! :D

Our flock of birds seems to be coming back. I'm not sure what all the birds are called, but I know some of them are Common Grackles. There's also another type of bird in there that looks a lot like the Common Grackle, only it's head is more of a reddish brown. We've also had some kind of blackbird mixed in there.

And the Barn Swallows have built a new nest outside our front door again. The babies are already getting big. :)

I've also been seeing a lot of Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers this year. :D

Anyway, that's about all that's going on here.

Have a great day!

Lois

One Down, At Least One To Go:

Note: The above photo of Billy Wirth is a screenshot I

took from American Gladiators. I do not hold the copy-
right to the picture in any way.

I've finished the Lucky Raven outline...for now. I've completed it, but I may make changes to it by the time November rolls around. It's nice to have it finished, though. Now if I could just have someone read it and look for holes or inconsistencies or anything else that doesn't feel right...

Now I'm getting ready to start work on the outline for Fox and Sawyer Redman's story. I want to have a good start to it so I can begin writing it on Thursday for 10K day. I want to put the whole day into their story. I'll work on the "Cottage" and Zane Greywolf novels tomorrow during Wednesday Writing Sprints day.

But first I've got to check my e-mail and post this entry to LiveJournal, as well. I've also got to see about getting a character journal started for Fox and Sawyer. :)

Have a great day! :D

Lois