Writing Wednesday: WIPpet & ROW80

I’ve been thinking about joining the WIPpet group for a couple months now. And keep…well, not doing it. So, I figured, why not finally take the plunge on the last day of the month. Part of that is I know if I put it off this week, I’m more likely to put it off for the next month too. I’m not actively writing on a project(since I just finished a first draft last week), but I thought I would share from the WiP I’m currently editing, the second in my series, Healing the Heart.

This is from Chapter 7. Since it’s the 31st, I did 4 paragraphs(3+1=4) . After refusing her offer of help, Melanie follows her patient home from the clinic because she wants to make sure he’ll be okay and unknowingly puts herself right in the middle of some danger.

The boys climbed out of the car and she saw one of them help Mica from the backseat. Then, the three of them walked into the rundown house. Melanie saw at least one broken window. The front door had certainly seen better days. Siding was falling off the house in a few different places. The yard wasn’t taken care of, but she could see a couple small kids playing outside in it.

She couldn’t go up to that house. No matter how much she wanted to convince Mica she could help him, she didn’t think it would be smart to go up there on her own. She just hoped he would be okay here. And she wouldn’t see him again. At least not at the clinic.

She turned her car around and headed back toward the other side of town, her side of town. As she drove back up the street, she saw another car parked on the other side of the street. And someone sitting behind the wheel. She kept her gaze forward, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw him lift a hand as she drove by. And felt a chill go down her spine. Who had that been? Even with a quick glance, she hadn’t recognized him. Had they followed her here from the clinic? Or had they been watching for Mica? Either way, she didn’t feel good about it.

She tried to shake off the uneasy feeling, but it clung with her all the way back to her apartment. She looked over her shoulder as she unlocked her door, but could not see anyone obviously watching her. Still, she didn’t take an easy breath until she was inside and had locked the door behind her again. “What have I got myself into?”

Ok, so that is my first shot at this. Now, for my ROW80 update:

As I said on Sunday, I’ve been spending this week finishing up this month’s goals. On Sunday, I wrote up my to-do lists for each day. And since Monday afternoon have been working on at least the next day’s list. I work my way through each one and if I get through the stuff on it, I move on to the next one. Usually, I end up taking things from one day and moving them to the next. I like when I’m ahead instead.

• Finish edits on western novella, Stained Snow – Finished these yesterday. It’s still about 3.5k too long for a novella, but I’m going to sit it aside for a while then go at it again.
• Finish scene cards for Guarding the Heart – still working on these. I’m through Chapter 11 right now(out of a planned 30). I’ll work more on it today and hopefully get through at least chapter 15.
• Read: Finish Descension, Not Until You Love(the last part of the serial!), and Soulstice(Diana Murdock) – I finished Descension and Not Until You Love. But, I’m only 15% through Soulstice.
• Crochet: Finish Teeny Beanie and family of Monster amigurumi – I finished the Teeny Beanie, but not the monsters. I have the bodies of each done, but need to get some white felt and plastic safety eyes before I can completely finish them.

Since it’s the end of the month,  it’s time to evaluate the last month’s goals and make new ones for next month. So, July’s goals were:

Demons Rising: finish 1st draft (about 30k probably) – I did this and it ended up being 37,404 words for the month.
Send out Slow Revenge – Accomplished
Stained Snow: 1st round of edits – Done
Guarding the Heart: finish plotting – not there quite yet.
Read: Finish Not Until You serial by Roni Loren (5 more parts) – Done(loved it! can’t wait for her next book in I think 2 weeks)
Read 6 other books – at least.
Knit: Broken Rib Toque, newborn cardigan, ribbed cable purse – finished all of these
Crochet: Toddler Owl Hat, Teeny Beanie, Baby Monster Amigurimi – finished all except for the monsters

I did pretty good with July’s goals, so not onto August’s:

• Healing the Heart – 2nd round of edits
• Slow Revenge – start editing(if I get it back from CP)
• Finish plotting Guarding the Heart
• Start back stories for next in my series(still title-less)
• Read 8 books
• Knit: Soft Ribs in Green(kid sweater), Boo Baby Cloth, Boo Baby bib
• Crochet: Baby Monster Family, Simple Earflap Hat, Easy Scarf(which I attempted when first learning, and didn’t find that easy)

And for the rest of the week(then I’ll be back to my normal week long goals):

• Guarding the Heart – scene cards
• Healing the Heart – read through
• Read: Finish Soulstice and start Storm Rising(Kenneth Hoss)
• Knit: Body of Soft Ribs sweater
• Crochet: Simple Earflap Hat

Sunday Summary: The End Has Come

I did it again. Wrote those two words: “The End” Okay, technically I didn’t actually write that. But, I did finish another WiP. Or at least the first draft of one. Ended up with 88006 for this one. Just a little shorter than the first one if the series. The one in between was about 13000 shorter. It took me 56 days from start to finish, 45 days of actual writing. Most of it was written during JuNoWriMo and this month’s Camp NaNoWriMo. If only every month could be a WriMo month. I’m not really one to just dump words on a page to get them there, but something about these challenges helps drive the words up. I think it’s more to do with having more of a deadline than the challenge itself. I know how many words I need to write a day/week to finish on time. So I have something to work toward. So, I may continue to do that just for myself every month. Or every other month, since I plan to focus on drafting one month and editing one of my projects the next month. If I can. We’ll see if this works for me or not.

• Write 12,500 words(or finish 1st draft) – I wrote 11409 words from Monday to Thursday. But, I did finish the first draft.
• Guarding the Heart: scene cards – major scenes/turning points – I got the major scenes set up in Scrivener 
• Read: Not Until You Believe & Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down(Lisa Olsen) – Done and Done. I also read Forged by Magic: Origins(Angela Orlowski-Peart), The Banshee’s Embrace(Victoria Richards), and The Billionaire Bargain(Barb Han). I’m reading Descension(B.C. Burgess). Felt like it had a slow start, but I’m 40% through it right now.
• Knit: Ribbed Cable Purse – Finished this on Friday. 

• Crochet: Teeny Beanie – still haven’t finished this, but I did get the ribbon for it yesterday. So, now I just have to do that part.

I’m just going to put my goals for the rest of the month up now. Then, on Wednesday, I’ll evaluate the last month and figure out my goals for the next month plus the rest of the week.

• Finish edits on western novella, Stained Snow
• Finish scene cards for Guarding the Heart
• Read: Finish Descension, Not Until You Love(the last part of the serial!), and Soulstice(Diana Murdock)
• Crochet: Finish Teeny Beanie and family of Monster amigurumi

 

Fitness Friday: Two in a Row

I actually posted for Fitness Friday two weeks in a row. First time for that. Not a whole lot to report. Last weekend there was a good bit of eating out. I worked at one of the gates for a local track on Saturday ripping tickets. Since I had to be there early afternoon, we stopped and got lunch from Burger King on the way up. I grabbed a hot dog and drink from the concession stand after my shift, although I didn’t eat all of the bun because the bottom half was moldy. May just skip that the next time I work there. Then, we stopped at McDonald’s on the way home(at like midnight). I don’t remember what we did for lunch Sunday, but we went and got ice cream for dinner. Not exactly healthy meals. I’ve been sticking with mostly sandwiches for lunch(would do salads if we weren’t out of lettuce) and something small for dinner. And I’ve done something exercise-wise each day(except for today). Tomorrow we have a family reunion to go to. It’s at a private campground and there’s a little water park there too. I’m going to try to control how much I eat, but my will power tends to be weak when all that food is sitting out there. And there will be a lot of running around after the kids. And we have another family reunion to go to on Sunday.

Stats:

Starting weight: 165.2

Last week’s weight: 166.8

Today’s weight: 166.4

Weekly Loss: .4 lbs

Total Loss: still up just over 1 pound. But, it’s coming down at least.

Writing Wednesday: The End is Nigh

Of another first draft, that is. I’ve already hit my initial estimate for how long it will be. Which means I won Campnanowrimo. Except that I decided to raise my word count goal for the month to 35000 instead of 30000. I should have that by the end of the week if I can keep this pace up. I actually wrote just over 4k on Monday. Not nearly as much yesterday, but still averaged out to 2500 for two days. I slept in today and got off to a slow start. And had some other things to do at nap time today, so didn’t get more writing in. I did get a little over 1000 done throughout the morning though. I still think I should have the first draft finished by the end of the month.

• Write 12,500 words(or finish 1st draft) – 6050/12500 words done. Still on track, definitely if I get more words in today.
• Guarding the Heart: scene cards – major scenes/turning points – I have 4 done. Have 4 more major ones to do then I’ll start working on the connecting scenes. 
• Read: Not Until You Believe & Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down(Lisa Olsen) – finished both of these yesterday. And read Forged by Magic: Origins(Angela Orlowski-Peart) this morning. 
• Knit: Ribbed Cable Purse – I’m about halfway through the body of the purse. Still hoping to finish it this week.
• Crochet: Teeny Beanie – I got the hat finished. But, I don’t have ribbon to weave through the eyelet row. Once I get that, I can finished this.

I also read the first 5 chapters of my CP’s Wip. And sent her an email on my thoughts. I hadn’t added it to my goals for this week because she hadn’t sent it yet when I posted on Sunday.

So far this week is going pretty well. We have two family reunions this weekend, one out of state on Saturday, the other closer on Sunday. So, I’m hoping to get everything done during the week.

Sunday Summary: Cooling Down

The weather that is. I feel like my writing is heating up on the other hand. I finished a scene I’d been dreading because of what happens. But, it plays an important part not just in this story but also to set up another character’s story. I already know a good bit of her story even though it’s a couple down the line in this series. And I have another dreaded scene coming up as I head toward the climax. I’ll probably get to it tomorrow, or at least start it tomorrow.

I’m glad for the cool down. I got a text from my husband Friday wanting to know if I wanted to work the gate up at the racetrack yesterday. It’s a local track and he works for the rescue and clean up crew on race nights. They needed someone to work the gate for the pit, and I didn’t really have any excuse not to.  It wasn’t too bad really. There were a few boring moments, particularly the last hour before I clocked out. I basically just sat there, tearing off stubs for the pit passes and making sure the people who tried to go through had the right wristband and ticket. But, it gave me a chance to do some people watching(and character sketching in my head) and block out some upcoming scenes for my WiP. And it got me out of the house. Plus I was able to watch the last couple races and even got to see a fight.

·Demons Rising: write 10000 words – Done! Actually managed 10552 for the week. I’ve written through chapter 23(of 30 planned) and have at least 10 more scenes to go. I may finish this week, but should certainly be done by the end of the month.
·find readers for Slow Revenge – I’ve found one and have sent her the first five chapters.
·Guarding the Heart: novel notebook – finished this on Thursday.
·Read: Not Until You Surrender (Roni Loren) – read this on Tuesday then read The Selkie Enchantress by Sophie Moss and The Disappearing Girl by Heather Topham Wood. I may have my goal of 100 books for the year finished by the end of the month. Shouldn’t be difficult as I only have 1 more book to read to reach this goal. So, I’ll probably be raising it.
·Knit: finish newborn cardigan: Done!

·Crochet: finish toddler owl hat: Done!

I actually met all of my goals this week. So for next week’s goals:

• Write 12,500 words(or finish 1st draft)
• Guarding the Heart: scene cards – major scenes/turning points
• Read: Not Until You Believe & Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down(Lisa Olsen)
• Knit: Ribbed Cable Purse
• Crochet: Teeny Beanie

Fitness Friday: Back and Forth

I haven’t posted an update in three weeks. I always mean to, then for one reason or another, I don’t. I do really need to get better at that. Our month of picnics is finally over. Hoping that means I can do better at keeping on track. I had gone back up last week. I think at least part of that was a monthly issue. I’ve been curbing my urge to snack, drinking more water, and doing at least some exercise every day. Some days that’s working out with DVD and walking on the treadmill or sometimes just walking on the treadmill. Yesterday I didn’t do either, but it was the kids’ last day for vacation bible school, so they were putting on a show at the end of it. My MIL has been taking them in, but I rode in with them last night(my husband came when he got out of work). And since I had about 2 hours to waste, I walked around town for about half an hour.

Stats:
Starting weight: 165.2
Last week’s weight: 170
Today’s weight: 166.8
Weekly loss: 3.2 pounds
Total loss(gain): 1.6 up from my starting weight, but getting closer.

Writing Wednesday: Hot, Hot, Hot

We’ve been having a bit of a heat wave around here this week. It’s been in the 90s every day this week. I ventured outside with the kids Monday afternoon for about half an hour. That was almost more than I could handle, and I didn’t do much more than sit on the porch(which has no shade) while they played. I know, I’m a wimp when it comes to heat. I can handle being outside when it’s below freezing, but if it goes much above 80, I’m done. Have our two air conditioner window units(big one in living room and smaller one in our bedroom) going right now. And it’s still about 80 in the house. Even in the winter, we tend to keep it around 70. It’s supposed to cool down this weekend and stay that way into next week. Thank goodness. I can handle 70s. I like 70s. And I keep reminding myself, at least I’m not pregnant this summer(since both times I was pregnant, I was due end of summer and was very miserable in the heat).

Despite the heat, I’ve been making progress on my goals.

·Demons Rising: write 10000 words – 6051/10000 words. Got through a dreaded scene today. Glad that one is over, but there’s another one coming up in several more scenes.
·find readers for Slow Revenge – This may be done. At least one anyways. 🙂
·Guarding the Heart: novel notebook – working my way through this. 4/10 sections filled out. May have this finished this week.
·Read: Not Until You Surrender (Roni Loren) – read this yesterday. Now, reading Release by M.R. Merrick. Not caring for this one as much as the first two. Not sure why, it just feels like it’s dragging for me. I’m 37% through it now, so I’ll probably finish it.
·Knit: finish newborn cardigan – I finished this yesterday morning. Glad to have it done.
·Crochet: finish toddler owl hat – 4/6 sections finished. Have the inner eyes and beak left to crochet. Then, stitch it all together.

Making good progress on my goals so far. The girl has been enjoying bible school, and we realized the boy isn’t too young to go. They have a 2-3 year old class as well. So, he got to go last night. He was so excited. He had a fit the first two nights when his sister got to go with grandma and he didn’t. So, last night when she showed up he ran right out to the car and climbed in. And I had about 3 hours all to myself. That doesn’t happen very often. Just 2 more days of it then we have the rest of summer vacation.

Sunday Summary: A Gathering Time

watching the helicopter land

This weekend was our town’s annual festival, or ‘the gathering’. Usually it starts on Friday and runs through Sunday, with a church service and usually some music on Sunday to wrap it up. They also have reenactors come in and a small area with activities for the kids. Our local fire department always had their chicken barbeque at it. Sunday is usually the better day for that as everyone walks past the tent after the outdoor church service and can smell the chicken cooking. Well this year they decided to just do two days and didn’t even advertise the chicken dinner in the program, so they decided it want even worth it to take the stuff done. Instead they took the bingo machine and only made about $50 for the weekend. Hopefully next year they’ll go back to 3 days since that chicken dinner is our big fundraiser for the year. As a rural volunteer fire department, those fundraisers are pretty important. But, they did have a bigger area for the kids to play in.and even bright in the Medevac helicopter for the kids to sit in.

My girl standing on the helicopter

my boy sitting in the helicopter. He was in heaven.

As for my progress this week:

• Demons Rising: 7500 words Done! Passed this pretty easily on Friday. Thinking about changing this a bit. Focusing just on writing until the Wip is finished then focus on editing. I know I’ve tried the whole ‘work on one thing at a time’ before without any goods results, but sometimes I feel like I spread myself too thin with having all these different projects going on at once. So I’m going to try it again. Which means I’ll be raising my weekly word count goal.
• Find beta readers/critique partners still working on this.
• Send out Slow Revenge n/a
• Stained Snow: Edit Chapters 1-5 I did finish this on Friday. But like I said, I think I’ll be setting it aside until the 1st draft of Demons Rising is finished
• Guarding the Heart: blueprint I finished this Friday night. I think I’ll keep plugging away at plotting while drafting and editing. As long as I have time.
• Read: Divergent, Not Until You Beg(Roni Loren), & City of Bones(Cassandra Clare) Done, done, and done. Now I’m working on going through my list of free books I’ve downloaded. There have been a couple I enjoyed, but mostly I’ve deleted them after reading just a little bit. Not all of them were “bad”, more that something didn’t connect for me and I didn’t want to continue.
• Knit: newborn cardigan still working on this. As of right now, I just have to finish the sleeves and sew on the buttons. And of course the usual finishing tasks(like weaving in the ends). I might finish it today even.
• Crochet: Toddler Owl Hat Sill working on this. Got the ear flaps done yesterday. So I just have to do the owl features now.

I’ve done pretty good on my goals for this week. I try to get as much done during the week as I can since weekends tend to be so busy. This week my MIL is taking the girl to vacation Bible school at our church each night (tonight through Thursday), so I’ll have a semi-break (only one kid & he’ll go to bed part way through it)
So, goals for this week:
·Demons Rising: write 10000 words
·find readers for Slow Revenge
·Guarding the Heart: novel notebook
·Read: Not Until You Surrender (Roni Loren)
·Knit: finish newborn cardigan
·Crochet: finish toddler owl hat

Writing Wednesday: Staying on Track

Not too much to report on since Sunday. Monday and Tuesday I woke up early enough to get my 1500 words in before the kids woke up. Wasn’t quite as productive today. I managed over 600 in half an hour. Then, decided to do some research. And then the kids were up. But, I picked at the words through the morning and had my goal met by 10 a.m. I’ve been able to get just about everything crossed off my list the last 2 days. I don’t know if today will be as good. Have a thing to go to at the fire hall tonight. Wednesday is usually meeting/drill night for the fire department. Tonight they’re doing a “family drill”, basically a picnic for the families of the firefighters. So, I won’t have that time in the evening after dinner like I usually do. Hopefully I can get a lot done before we leave for that. If not, I can probably make up for it the next two days.

• Demons Rising: 7500 words – 4709/7500 So more than halfway there. According to campnanowrimo, at this rate I’ll finish by July 25. Of course, that’s if it doesn’t run much over 80k. I may end up raising my target count for the month. 
• Find beta readers/critique partners – I wrote up a post on Monday about my search. No response to it yet. 
• Send out Slow Revenge – not yet
• Stained Snow: Edit Chapters 1-5 – 2/5 done. I cut the whole first scene of Chapter 1. Everything else has been mostly small changes so far. Haven’t gotten to today’s chapter yet. 
• Guarding the Heart: blueprint -8/16 sections filled in. Haven’t started on this today yet either. 
• Read: Divergent, Not Until You Beg(Roni Loren), & City of Bones(Cassandra Clare) – finished Divergent on Sunday. Read Not Until You and the first 9 chapters of City of Bones yesterday. 
• Knit: newborn cardigan – finished the first section(chest) yesterday. Still working on the body. Then, I’ll have to do the edging and sleeves. Still hoping to have it finished this week(which may be a lofty goal with as long as the beginning is taken)
• Crochet: Toddler Owl Hat – I finished the body of the hat, but haven’t worked on it anymore. Still have to do the earflaps and the owl features

Once again, my writing and reading goals are going well. The crafting ones are falling behind. But, that’s okay since they are a lower priority for me.

Crafty Corner – Long Time

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted about my crafting. It’s not because I haven’t been doing anything. But, more because I get lazy with getting pictures on the computer and writing up posts. The pictures is the biggest part of the problem, which is probably why most of my other posts don’t include any pictures. But, here are some pictures of some of the projects I’ve finished recently.

GAPtastic Cowl

cowl worn long

cowl worn wrapped around

cowl worn wrapped around and as a hood

crochet newborn hat with flower

cables & lace hat

Ruffled skinny scarf

crochet penguin hat

Hairpin Lace Skinny Scarf

shimmer by night bag

broken rib toque

my daughter modeling her new hat

I have two more projects I’m working on right now, but will get pictures up of them later. I’m thinking this may become a once or twice monthly post.