While writing is slowing to a crawl, which is a typical symptom for most challenges like 70 Days of Sweat, as my muse bucks against the traces, I am doing better at the exercise routine I started last week ( Read more... )

One page. Baby steps through the foothills of the Himalayas.

Following an "every other day" pattern so far. Doesn't help that Tuesday's and the night shift at work throw me off schedule. Writing is a six-day work week -- and Tuesday seems to be my day off ( Read more... )

The Sun Also Sets proceeds apace, though I'm finding the idea of logging progress for the next 67 days daunting. The first days of a novel are similar to the first steps you take on the ascent of Everest. You lose sight of where you're at and can only see where you're going--and how far away that summit seems. It's not easy taking those first steps ( Read more... )

Same word count, nada progress; Sunday was a family day that included catching a showing of The Spiderwick Chronicles.I've got to say that while it was quite intense near the end and touched on serious material about families without offering any easy answers there weren't any scared children in the audience. And there were lots of younger children ( Read more... )

Finished the outline and first pages earlier today. Following the Tarot-reading structure I proposed in the last entry, I'm looking at a prologue (my significator) and ten chapters. Knocked out 11 pages, so the word count for this first day of 70 is 2,750. I don't have a firm goal in mind; it will be as along as necessary.

Today's goal is to write a synopsis for the book so I know where I'm headed. I'm starting off with a prologue that's a scene from later in the book. 70 Days of Sweat officially starts tomorrow. I'm getting a leg up today because of the aforementioned anniversary of my nephew's death four years ago ( Read more... )

Quick response from Fantasy, about three weeks, so "Sacrifices" is off to another venue this morning.

Still working on the last few tweaks to Only The Dead before starting The Sun Also Sets. I may not make the March 1 start date for 70 Days of Sweat. The family had the week off for winter break. I don't seem to get as much written during these ( Read more... )

Some cleaning is necessary now that I've made the decision to tackle The Sun Also Sets as the next big project ( Read more... )

All the talk about identity in the previous post and about being true to who I am as a person and a writer was my way of approaching the next big project. Because I don't want to take as long to write and rewrite the next novel since I'm still writing for me at this point ( Read more... )