Thoughts On My Writing

"Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go." - E.L. Doctorow

I was contemplating the writing I want to get done this year. It's not *that* much, really, and if I apply myself, I should be able to.

*Queen and Assassin (my fantasy): Finish by 1/31 -- it's at 30k words right now, and nearly finished (maybe another 5 - 10k to go), so I should make it.

*Now and Forever ("Kitchen Matches" sequel): Finish by 4/30 -- it's about 18k words right now. I'd planned for it to be around 20k, but that's not going to happen! There's a lot more to go, storywise, so I think I'm more like about half done.

*A Jewel for Geoff ("One Love for Liv" sequel): Finish by 12/31 -- this will be at least 55k, and since I have to redo the entire thing, this is the "iffy-est" goal on my list.

*Drive Me Crazy (another "Kitchen Matches" story -- technically the sequel to "Now and Forever" even though I started it first): Finish by 8/31 -- it's at about 15k and more than half done, so I should be good.

At least two "short" short stories (15k words or fewer) -- possibly "Perilous Love" or "Beautiful Blossom", both of which are started and *sort of* outlined.

If I have time, I'd like to complete "A Change of Tune" (the sequel to "A Change of Heart"), also started, but not outlined.

Since all of those except "Geoff" are novellas, I don't think that's unreasonable.

I wish I was like Dru -- who mentioned yesterday that she prefers to get around 5 hours of sleep a day ... that would give me 3 extra hours of up-time daily!!

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You Are Easygoing

Your friends would all agree that you have a pleasant personality. You're easy to get along with. You appreciate people from all walks of life. You especially like colorful, quirky folks. You are mostly a flexible person, but you can be unpredictably stubborn at times. You always need to stick to your routine. If you end up deviating from your plan, you aren't as dependable as you'd like to be.

The Pasta Test

About 50/50 -- I'm neither flexible nor particularly easy-going but otherwise it pretty well fits.

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I <3 Eureka

The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for five seconds and think for ten minutes. ~William Davis

Woo Hoo! Eureka was back last night and I watched it this a.m. (under orders from Judy who said she'd bust if she couldn't talk about it). I LOVE Eureka.





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Started working on my new veggie garden plans yesterday... dug out about 12 inches from the front in order to plant various deer resistant plants. I was sweaty and exhausted and only got about half done.

I did find the usual pests in the dirt: wire worms, grubs, cutworms. And... I saw and killed a squash borer moth. Unfortunately, I'm sure it wasn't the only one which means... my squash plants are probably toast. I'm going to start looking for eggs -- something that will become a daily ritual -- because you can't catch the larvae on these. Immediately upon hatching, they bore into the stalk of the plant and begin to feed, eventually killing the entire plant.

I have never lived somewhere with as many pests (both four- and six-legged) as here. Most of the bugs that exist here do NOT exist west of the Mississippi. Is it any wonder I want to move? *sigh*

Today, I hope to finish digging up around the garden and then tomorrow I plant on moving the plants I have. Monday will be spent buying a few new plants: day lilies, coreopsis, and perhaps some herbs. I have chives, rosemary and marjoram but may spring for some sage and thyme to go with.

BTW -- in case you think I've forgotten to say anything... we still have no butterflies in Pillar Place: Swallowtail. My luck, they will all be overwinterers.

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I did do some writing yesterday. I had to run an errand for my DH to get the seat stitched in his new-to-us car. While I sat in the waiting area, I wrote nearly 1000 words on one of my stories. It was good. Fun. I'd been thinking about the conflict and the characters over the past several days and had to go back and weave in a little different characterization for the heroine and then moved forward from there.

I love to write. I really need to make time to do it every single day.

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For Hours of Entertainment...

Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art. ~Izaak Walton

I've been having squirrel problems at the bird feeders... more squirrels than I've ever had before. I have chipmunks, too, but they don't eat as much AND they typically eat what falls on the ground, which is fine with me. But the SQUIRRELS. DH is always saying he could "take care of them" for me... yes, a loosely disguised offer to kill them.

I'm a big believer in letting things live if they aren't a threat to my safety, or my plants safety (I say this, because I am pretty mean to the red lily leaf beetles, Japanese beetles, wireworms, tomato worms and the great number of other insect pests that strip my plants -- those assassinate without pity and without mercy), so I'm not going to entice the little rodents to my feeders and then kill them. That's just wrong.

Instead... I splurged and bought a new bird feeder: The Yankee Flipper.

Aside from (hopefully) keeping the squirrels off my feeder, I have great hope that it will provide hours of entertainment. Here's a YouTube video I found (keep the volume down unless you like the song "You Spin Me Round" by Dead or Alive:



And, my lovely local Agway (I really, really love them) assured me I can bring it back if it doesn't work. They're the best people ever -- I can even bring back OPENED pet food, or used bug spray or whatever if it doesn't work or I'm dissatisfied in any way. They're such great folks...

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I wrote -- not yesterday, unfortunately, but I did write the day before! Just over 1000 words on a short romantic comedy based on the short I did for Womans World that was rejected some months ago. It's so much fun to write -- because they are getting into one predicament after another. Do you think they're cursed? LOL.... Anyway, I don't know how long it will be (I'm aiming for at least 12k words), or where I'll send it (I'm torn between Samhain or a particular publisher that is looking for short stories for a print anthology... I'd sure like to see it in print), but I love it and I know how it ends, so should actually be able to GET THERE.

I also worked some more on Stiller Creek... this one is harder since I have to go back and add in a character and make it look seamless, as though he'd been there from the beginning. But, it's giving me a chance to work on some things I didn't love, and I might go ahead and resubmit it to Samhain once it's done (since she did offer to look at it again). We'll see...

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Rain is expected for most of the weekend, so fun will be had by all here... NOT. DH and DD can't go boating, Dd will be cooped up... ugh. Please, please let the sun come out tomorrow... and, wow, that was an inadvertant earworm, for which I apologize profusely.

Any plans for the weekend?

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Jazzed!

"Anyone can dabble, but once you've made that commitment, your blood has that particular thing in it, and it's very hard for people to stop you." — Bill Cosby

"The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire." — Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch

Last night I started thinking--really thinking--about the story WW rejected that I wanted to lengthen into a novel. I opened up my Character Interview and started... I didn't get far with my heroine, Lynette. But my hero, Calvin? He was gabby. He talked and talked and talked. He's a HOOT. I love him. I suppose I should love all of my heroes, but I really think Cal is going to weasel his way into first place in my heart.

And then, scene ideas started pouring in. And I got both of them gainfully employed (the heroine's job really surprised me!) and decided that my wobbly kitty from yesterday deserved a spot in the story. So, Cal now has a kitty named Weeble. The ideas wouldn't stop, so I grabbed a notepad and sat in bed writing, and writing, and writing. I even got the Darkest Moment (for me, this is always the cause of The Break-Up).

The short story was entitled "Perilous Love", and I'll keep that as a working title, but I don't love it for the story itself. I'm going to do more brainstorming -- I want to get a rough outline (dear heavens... I never outline, but for some reason this story is asking me to make one). I want to make sure I have plenty of scenes (I usually only start with 15 or so... I'd like to have at least twice that) before I start. Because, when I start writing, I don't want to stop.

Yes, I'm excited.

Woot.

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RE: All the questions about Dakota from yesterday...

I have my fingers crossed that the probiotics are working. I kept her on the icky food and the meds for a few days, then starting introducing new, better food to her (1/3 new food to 2/3 old food). It didn't seem to upset her tummy. So, I gave her what was left of her treat ball (I LOVE THESE -- They keep her busy for hours), and that didn't seem to give her the runs (as an aside, I had an IM to Judy yesterday that read: Is it wrong to get so excited that my dog has solid poop?).

Unfortunately, I'd only purchased a small bag of the new food, and when I went to buy more, I found that it's a really hard line to find. It's Wellness, which I love and recommend to anyone who will listen, but this particular kind -- I'm using venison and brown rice--tough. So, I've opted to switch to something I can find almost anywhere: Nutro Natural choice Venison and Brown Rice. She started on it yesterday (still mixed with her old, icky food), and is tolerating it so far.

Bored yet?

Amy asked if Dakota is quieting down at all. Not really. We're just making sure we keep her as active as possible. DD takes the dog outside at least 2 times a day to go sledding for 30 mins or more. And, considering Dakota runs the trail twice for DD's once, she gets a lot of running in. BUT, on the days where she doesn't get that kind of activity? She still knows how to get into plenty of trouble. My darling dog, Bailey, didn't really start to calm down until she was three, so I'm pinning my hopes on 9/22/10.

RE: Agility Class. If you want to see some dogs who are really good at agility, Animal Planet is showing the AKC Agility Championships tonight at 8 p.m. On my TiVo, it just showed up as "dog show". I tried searching by name, but ended up browsing by channel to find it. It's so much fun to watch. I recommend it.

Hopefully, someday Dd will be that good. We have plans to invest in agility equipment for spring/summer/fall. I think it will be good for all of us -- I'm as tired as she is when we're done with class!

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You Are a Calculator

No matter what someone tells you, you're likely to focus on facts and data. You're a highly analytic person. You are only concerned with what you can know for sure. You look at situations objectively, and you have no problem approaching problems from multiple angles. You would make a good analyst or investment banker. You are confident enough to make tough calls and hard decisions.

What Office Supply Are You?

AnalyticAL, yes. Any job requiring math? No...

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