January Wrap-Up

It’s the end of the month, so time to go through the detritus it’s left me with(ha, yes, I did use that word to fit in the final Just Jot It prompt for the month). It’s been a pretty good month progress-wise. I was able to finish up 2 first drafts, one I’d been working on since May. The other I started halfway through October(and it was just a novella). And I think I’ve found the best way for me to get to everything. I have my main project that I work on every day from 5-7 a.m. Then, I work on a different secondary project from 8-9 a.m. And I have a half hour set aside each for plotting & editing. It seems to be working for now.

And now to look at how I’ve done so far! The month isn’t quite over yet, I will still be reading and working on side projects later this afternoon, but I’ve gotten to the main things for today, so I’m going to write this up for now instead of waiting for tomorrow since my Wednesday posts tend to be long anyway.

Plotting:

• Loving the Devil – Outline – I set this aside. It just wasn’t coming together and the characters weren’t really talking to me. May pick it back up some other time
• Playing with Fire – Outline – Still working my way through the Story Toolkit on this. Excited to get started on it.

Writing:

• In the Moonlight – 1st draft – finished this one with 14964 words this month
• Crash and Burn – 1st draft – finished this with 16098 words this month
• Defending the Heart – 4000 words – 5582/4000 words
• Stay a Little Longer – 4000 words – 2231/4000 words
• Not Meant to Be – 4000 words – 2543/4000 words
• Added: Buried Secrets – 1500 words – 1322/1500 words

Revising:

• Stained Blood – re-plot & start re-write – still going through the Story Toolkit for this.
• Demons Rising – revisions – didn’t even touch this one yet.

Side Projects:

• Midas’ Daughter – get to 8500 words
• Dance with the Devil – get to 28500 words/finish 1st draft – at 28149 right now, but may reach before end of the day. Still have at least 2-3 scenes to finish
• Patrick & Sarah – get to 4275 words – at 4244/4275 words. Could still reach this today.
• Tavin & Haiwee – get to 3550 words – at 3442/3550 words. Could still reach this today.
• Roman – get to 4680 words – at 4930/4680 words. What can I say, he’s a lawyer, he’s got a lot of words. 😉
• Dougal & Shae – get to 2800 words – at 2876/2800 words.

Blogging:

• Just Jot It January – 30 posts – I know I didn’t do 30. I did all but day 1 and some of the one-liner Wednesday prompts. When I finish this one though, I’ll have 28 post. So, I got pretty close to that initial goal.
• A-Z Challenge – plot posts – these are all plotted. Now, to start drafting them.
• RoW80 – stay up to date – pretty much, though I have slacked off a bit on commenting. There’s a handful I almost always comment on, but I need to do better at leaving comments for the others too.

Reading:

• Listen: 8 books – 12/8 books. I’ve apparently gone on a listening binge again. 🙂
• Read: 31 books – If I finish today’s book(and I don’t think I’ll have any trouble doing that), I’ll have 29/31. I set aside 2 that didn’t pull me in.

Crafting:

• Knit: Craigiecatt Hat – finished this
• Crochet: Giraffe Hat – finished this
• Loom: Meadow Moss Headband – started and ripped this out several times and finally just gave up. I’ll try a different loom pattern next month.

Plotting:

• Playing with Fire – finish outline
• Heart of Christmas(BC Security novella) – Brainstorm

Writing:

• Defending the Heart – add 40000 words/finish 1st draft
• Stay a Little Longer – add 4000 words
• Not Meant to Be – add 4000 words
• Buried Secrets – add 4000 words
• Playing with Fire – add 4000 words
• Midas’ Daughter – add 4000 words

Editing:

• Stained Blood – re-plot & re-write
• Snow White Twist – fill in [xx] throughout

Side Projects:

• Dance with the Devil – get to 30000 words/finish 1st draft
• Fade Away – get to 1300 words
• Patrick & Sarah – get to 4750 words
• Tavin & Haiwee – get to 3950 words
• Roman – get to 5450 words
• Dougal & Shae – get to 3400 words

Blogging:

• A-Z posts: draft
• RoW80: Stay up to date

Reading:

• Listen: 5 books
• Read: 28 books

Crafting:

• Knitting: Clean Slate hat
• Crochet: Flower Coaster
• Loom: Ambrosia Love Scarf

Just Jot It January: Day 30 – “Blue”

“I think I like the blue one better.”

Kayla smiled at her brother’s girlfriend. “Adrian said you’d say that. We don’t even know what we’re having yet. What if it’s a girl?”

Corrin grinned at her. “Does it really matter? Whoever made the rule girls couldn’t like blue and boys can’t like pink? It’s bullshit. They’re colors.”

Kayla laughed. “I knew I liked you for a reason, Corrin. And I think you’re right. We’ll go with that light blue,” she told the guy behind the paint counter. “Jace told me he already had ideas for how to decorate the room. I think it’s going to be perfect.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today is Day 30 of Just Jot It January and the prompt was “blue”. This will likely come after the end of Playing with Fire.

Sunday Summary: Another One Down

I feel a little weird acting like business as usual when there’s so much going on out there. And I’m having trouble ordering any of my thoughts on all of it. But, it’s definitely keeping my anxiety up almost constantly. Part of me just wants to shut myself away in fictional worlds, my own and others. But, I know that won’t do a lot of good either. Just my unhealthy coping mechanism at work again.

And along that line, I finished the first draft of Crash and Burn on Friday. It ended up being just a little over 40K. Pretty happy with that since it was supposed to be a novella anyway. I was hoping to have Playing with Fire ready to start writing, but I’m not quite there yet. Hopefully sometime this week, even if it isn’t completely outlined.

I’ve got a good bit done this week:

• Write: Target of 10000 between all projects – 12715/10000 words. A really great week for words.
  • Crash and Burn – 9440 words – That had him perking up slightly. Jaya was here? He’d extended the invitation, but he wasn’t sure if she’d come or not. He’d thought maybe she decided being with him wasn’t what she wanted after all. That she’d realized it might be too dangerous.
  • Defending the Heart – 1072 words – Xavier muttered something in Spanish that Piers wasn’t quite able to make out. He was pretty sure it wasn’t too complimentary to him, though. “You don’t bleed like that from a scratch. Come on, my car’s right here.”
  • Stay a Little Longer – 576 words – No one had ever had that kind of faith in him off the football field. But, he didn’t know how to voice how that had always made him feel. Why it had made him act like an asshole so often. It felt too much like a cop-out. And he didn’t want to use it anymore.
  • Not Meant to Be – 838 words – “Get your head back on your shoulders and out of your pants,” he muttered as he filled the mug with coffee. *oh, Toby.
  • Buried Secrets – 789 words – “A few times a week.” Why was he having so much trouble with this? He was known to have a pretty decent bedside manner. He could talk to an ill or injured patient, help put them at ease. Yet he couldn’t even carry on a casual conversation with a pretty woman.
• Edit: Stained Blood – finish Story Toolkit & outline new scenes – still working through Toolkit. Finished up the romance arc
• Plot: Playing with Fire – Work through Story Toolkit & explore characters with Just Jot It prompts. Outline if I get that far. – got through the romance arc for this one as well. and have kept up with the prompts:
  • Compromise – Corrin & Silas try to find middle ground
  • Elusive – Jeremiah tries to balance school & work
  • Extraordinary – Jeremiah & Corrin get a little steamy
  • Incomplete – Silas & Corrin spend some time together
  • Wood/Would – A little slice of after the HEA
  • History – Jeremiah tries to convince Corrin she won’t get between him & Silas
• Side Projects: Add another 2000 words – 1616/2000 words
  • Midas’ Daughter – 516 words – Put her away, like she was just some prized toy to place on a shelf then forget about. Big surprise some spoiled rich girl would think that way. “Okay, Dad. I’ll get it done.” *oh, you’ll figure it out, Flip. 😉
  • Dance with the Devil – 514 words – “We had absolutely nothing to do with that.” I knew they’d never believe it. But, I had to keep them talking. Keep him from putting a bullet in Hawk’s head right in front of me. *things aren’t looking too good for these two right now.
  • Fade Away – 78 words – Once I had paid for my groceries, I hurried out to my car, a bag in each hand. And, of course, almost as soon as I stepped outside, it started pouring down rain. Just my luck. I dropped the groceries into my trunk and slammed the lid. By the time I climbed into my car, there was no wringing my clothes out. *I have only a very vague idea where this one is going.
  • Patrick & Sarah – 67 words – His eyes twinkled as she looked back up at him. “I guess you will have to open it to find out.”
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 61 words – The other men riding with Tavin made a strange sound, but her attention was still on Tavin. “I am just standing here.”
  • Roman – 209 words – “They may have let worse than that happen. If she knows she’s secure here, it will stop being an issue. We just have to let her be for a while.”
  • Dougal & Shae – 171 words – Her sister was right. That fight at the bar could have been a lot worse. A lot worse than having a man make her feel something she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
• Listen: It Had to Be Them(Tamra Baumann) & Midnight Betrayal(Melinda Leigh) – finished both of these, listened to He Can Fall(Melinda Leigh) and enjoyed and almost through with Changeless(Gail Carriger) which I’m really enjoying.
• Read: Loud is How I Love You(Mercy Brown), Love Ignites(Jaci Burton), Just a Girl(Ellie Cahill), Star Seers(Lindsay Buroker), Lucky Streak(Carly Phillips), All I Want(Jill Shalvis), & Idol(Kristen Callihan) – I really enjoyed Love is How I Love You, Love Ignites, and Just a Girl. Loved Star Seers, liked Lucky Streak better than the first book in the trilogy, but the climax felt kind of, well, anti-climatic. And I really enjoyed All I Want. Will be starting Idol today.
• Crochet: Giraffe Hat – finished this
• Loom: Meadow Moss Headband – started and ripped this out a couple times. Need to restart it again.
• A to Z Challenge: Plot – N-Z posts – finished plotting all of these. Now to start drafting them.

Mostly blue and green. I always like to see that. Now, for next week’s goals. At least for the rest of January. Will be adding more at the mid-week check-in for the beginning of February(the top ones won’t be affected by that).

• Write: Shoot for 10000 between all projects
• Edit: Stained Blood – finish Story Toolkit & outline new scenes
• Plot: Playing with Fire – finish Story Toolkit, the last 2 Just Jot It January prompts, and outline if I can
• Side Projects: Add 1500 words(since I’m moving Midas’ Daughter up under the other writing for now)
• Listen: Changeless(Gail Carriger), Be Mine Forever(Marina Adair), The Sapphire Brooch(Katherine Lowry Logan)
• Read: Finish Idol(Kristen Callihan), Mixed Signals(Alyssa Cole), Act Like It(Lucy Parker), & Engaging the Bachelor(Cathryn Fox)
• Loom: Meadow Moss Headband
• A to Z Challenge: Draft – Posts A-Z

Just Jot It January: Day 29 – “History”

“The two of you have so much history together. I don’t want to come between any of that.”

Jeremiah reached out and cupped Corrin’s cheek. “You aren’t coming between anything. We both want you here.”

She wasn’t convinced. “I’ve seen the way you two are together. And I love being a part of it. But, I don’t-”

He stepped even closer to her. “You do,” he said softly. “You keep thinking about our past, but that’s not what’s important to any of us. Our future is. We want that to include you being with us. Why can’t you see that?”

Because it had been too much to hope for. But, she thought just maybe she could start doing that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today is Day 29 of Just Jot It January, and the prompt was “History”. This will probably come near the end of Playing with Fire. I won’t know exactly how that goes until I start writing. Even with all the plotting I do, the characters tend to have a mind of their own and don’t always go along with what I plan.

WeWriWa: “Good Boy”

Welcome back for another visit with the Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop for anyone who loves to write. Last week, I left Devil refusing to take any pain medication after he’d been beat up pretty bad. A lot were wondering why he wouldn’t just take them, so here’s a little look into what’s going on his head. This picks up right after last week’s:

I started to laugh, but it ended in a groan, and I fell back against the bed.

“Take the damn pills,” she said, repeating Bull’s words. “I’ll dole them out to you on a schedule if it makes you feel better, but either way, you aren’t your brother. Taking them when needed isn’t what turns you into an addict.”

I still hesitated. I might not be my brother, but there was no way to know that I didn’t have that same thing in me that had made him an addict. Since the first time Andy had gone down that path, I’d avoided taking anything I didn’t have to.

But, Medusa held the pills out until I finally took them from her hand. I still hesitated, but when she didn’t move away, I set them in my mouth and downed them with the water she held out to me, too.

“That’s a good boy.”

I’m getting really close to finishing this story. On the final battle, so just need to get through that and the end. But, I’ll keep posting from this one at least through March, since I’ll be writing the next one for the A-Z Challenge in April.

SOCS/Just Jot It: Day 28 – “Wood/Would”

“Would you come over here?”

Corrin looked over at Jeremiah. “What?”

“Just come here.”

She stood up and moved over toward him. When she reached him, he pulled her right up against him. “I thought we were taking a vacation,” he said. “And yet, you’re still up early working. Silas claims you have a dictionary in your head. Doesn’t it have the definition of vacation?”

She laughed and smacked lightly at his shoulder. “I just wanted to get a little work done. You and Silas were still sleeping when I came out here.” She glanced around. “Where is Silas? Still sleeping?”

Jeremiah shook his head. “He’s outside.” He pressed his mouth to hers, his hands sliding up her back. Neither moved even when the door swung open.

“if you two want to stop making out, I could use some help with this wood so we can get a fire started.”

They’d been together for several months, so Silas’ teasing shouldn’t still make her blush. But, she moved away to save what she’d been working on as Jeremiah moved toward the door. He paused by Silas for a moment, their mouths meeting for a brief kiss, before Jeremiah shrugged on his coat and went out to haul in the rest of the wood.

Silas looked over at her and smiled. She knew people, particularly her family, didn’t understand how they could work together. But, they just did. And she was very happy for that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday and Day 28 of Just Jot It January. Today’s prompt was to use wood/would, one or both, in any way we want. This would take place after the end of Playing with Fire. Just a little look into where they might go after the “happy ever after”.

Just Jot It January: Day 27 – “Incomplete”

Corrin felt a hand brush over her shoulder then lips pressed to the back of her neck. She closed her eyes and smiled. “Silas,” she murmured.

He moved around in front of her and held out his hand to pull her up from her chair. “You’ve been working for a solid two hours. I think it’s time for a break.”

She just blinked at him. “It couldn’t have been that long.”

He just kept smiling at her. “It was. Come on, I’ve got a movie ready to go and was just about to get the popcorn.”

She turned back to the computer, saved her document then closed it and headed into the living room. Apparently he had been right, it had been a little more than two hours since she’d started.

He settled onto the couch beside her a couple minutes later, a large bowl of popcorn in his hands. He slid one arm around her as she hit play for the movie. she liked the way they could just sit together and watch a movie, but it felt incomplete. It never felt quite right when it wasn’t all three of them there together.

“Jeremiah should be here,” she said.

Silas kissed her cheek then the corner of her mouth. “Pretty sure he’d like to be here, too. Tomorrow night he should be.”

She settled more into him, enjoying his touch. She’d enjoy it even more when Jeremiah was back with them, completing what the three had become to each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today is Day 27 of Just Jot It January and the prompt is “incomplete”. I think this one will actually take place after the end of the story, but I know what I’m working toward in this one.

Fiction Friday: Dougal & Shae

It’s the end of January which means it’s time to share the beginning of the last of my back story novellas. I’m not sure I’ll be sharing more of these, at least not here. I do have other ideas for them, though. I may talk more about that another time, as I firm up those plans. But for now, here’s the first scene of Dougal & Shae’s story(Flames).

Dougal Magaldi scanned the room around him from behind the bar. He’d only been in town a couple weeks now. He was just glad he’d been able to find a job so quickly. His father hadn’t wanted to leave home, and the pub they’d been running together the last two years. But, it hadn’t taken him long to realize he couldn’t work for his father.

He loved the stubborn old bastard, but he couldn’t work for the man. And he really didn’t want to have to go crawling back, saying he’d failed just as his father had predicted. But, he’d landed this job, so he wouldn’t have to think about that. At least not yet, not as long as he could hold onto the job and his apartment.

The clientele here was definitely different from what he was used to at the family pub. A bit rougher. Not nearly as many couple and families. A lot more men, and women, on the prowl. And more troublemakers among them.

He looked at a couple of them right now. They hadn’t done anything just yet, but they were throwing back the drinks quite hard. But, even though he’d only worked behind the bar the last couple years, he’d spent most of his life in the pub. He’d gotten good at pinpointing the riffraff from those just out to have a good time.

These two definitely fell into that first group. Nothing he could do unless they actually started causing a problem, though. And from what he’d seen so far, his boss wouldn’t take action until it went almost too far. Nothing he could do about that either. All he could do was his job.

Two men came up and leaned against the bar. These didn’t seem so much like troublemakers, and Dougal offered a smile as one held up two fingers and said, “Guinness.”

His smile widened. “Ah, a couple Irish lads,” he said, a burr in his voice as he reached into the cooler for the bottles. He always seemed to pick it up when he visited his mother’s family. But, he’d been back from Scotland for a few weeks now. He would have thought it would’ve faded again by now.

”And you’re a Scottish one,” one of the men said, grinning at him.

“Born there,” he admitted. “Came over when I was three. Just went back to visit family recently, though.”

“Our father came over from the Old Country when he was a teen,” the other man said.

Our father. Brothers, then. He supposed he could see it now. One of them went rigid at a commotion down the bar. Dougal glanced that way and saw the men he’d pinned as troublemakers. And that’s just what they were doing now…making trouble.

The taller of the two men in front of him sighed. “And here I thought we were off duty.”

“Donny,” the other man said, “it’s not our fight. Maybe they’ll…”

A beer bottle went flying before he could even finish the sentence. “Sure, Dev, maybe they will. Come on.”

Dougal watched as they started to wade in to the fight and debated whether he should step in or call the cops. His boss would hate that second option, but when he saw the flash of a knife, his debate was over.

Just Jot It January: Day 26 – “Extraordinary”

“That was extraordinary,” Corrin said, licking some of the sauce from her finger.

Jeremiah groaned at her side, and she turned to look at him. his gaze was riveted on her mouth, and she licked her finger again. His gaze finally moved back up to her eyes. And even though they’d just eaten, she saw hunger there.

And it kindled heat inside her.

Jeremiah kissed her shoulder, still bare from earlier. She set the plate they’d been sharing aside then tugged on his arm. He sprawled over her, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him. She thought this might be even more extraordinary than the food Silas had left for them in the fridge before heading out to the lab.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today is Day 26 of Just Jot It January and the prompt is “extraordinary”. Did it get a little warm in here? 😀 This one was short, but I’m pretty sure you can tell where it’s heading.

Writing Wednesday: Good Start

It’s been a pretty good week for me so far. Getting a good bit of writing done. If things continue this way, I should have Crash and Burn finished this week. The boy’s ear infection from the weekend seems to be clearing up. I’m staying caught up with my reading goal and even getting some of my side goal done. But, I’ll have more of that in a little bit.

First, it’s Wednesday, so it’s WiPPet time again! Crash and Burn is still in my main project slot, at least for this week. This will probably be the last snippet I share from it, though. Unless I am actually still working on it next Wednesday, but I don’t think that happens. of course, this means next up will be Defending the Heart, so you’ll get more snippets of Piers and Xavier. 🙂 But, for now, here’s 8 paragraphs(1+2+5) of Brann and Jaya starting to make up(and he’d brought a pizza for them to share, to put the final exchange here in context):

“You don’t need to apologize for that, Jaya. I’m the one who was in the wrong. I was out of line. You didn’t do anything wrong, and I went off on you. I’m so sorry. I want you to be safe, but it’s not my right to dictate what you do. I was an idiot, and I’m sorry that pushed you away.”
She finally turned to him. “You’re not an idiot, Brann.”
“Not for long anyway,” he said, smiling a little as he remembered Luisa’s words. “But, I was yesterday. I probably will be again where you’re concerned. Does it help if I apologize in advance?”
Jaya laughed and took a step toward him. “I don’t see how it could hurt. But, you do understand I don’t need to be put in some bubble to be kept safe? That I won’t let you do that?”
He couldn’t stop himself now. He had to reach out and touch her. He ran the back of her hand across her cheek. She closed her eyes and seemed to lean into the touch. He couldn’t even describe what that did to him. “I know,” he said softly. “I’ll do my best to keep that in check, but if I think you’re in danger, I don’t know how well I’ll be able to do that.”
“How do you feel about cold pizza?”
Her question took him by surprise since it had nothing to do with what they were discussing. “What does that have to do…”
But, before he could finish his question, her mouth was on his. Oh. “I’m perfectly fine with cold pizza,” he said as she pushed him back until they were in her living room.

I’m not even going to ask what you think happens next, because I think it’s pretty obvious. 😉 Of course, this isn’t the end of their problems. But, I’m getting close to resolving that for them.

Now, as for that progress I’m making this week:

 

• Write: Target of 10000 between all projects – 7139/10000 words. Almost 4500 5500 of that is from Crash and Burn. At this moment, I still have an hour of writing time left on that for today. just finished my writing time on this with a total of 1500 for today.
• Edit: Stained Blood – finish Story Toolkit & outline new scenes – working through this. Up to the romance arc worksheet now.
• Plot: Playing with Fire – Work through Story Toolkit & explore characters with Just Jot It prompts. Outline if I get that far. – still working through this, too. On the final character arc worksheet(I’m doing 3 for this one, usually only have 2). And keeping up with the prompts. So far this week, I have:
  • Compromise
  • Elusive
• Side Projects: Add another 2000 words – 877/2000 words. I made the goal on Midas’ Daughter and got a good bit on Dance with the Devil. Getting intense on that one as I get through the climax. May not finish it this month as I’d hoped but definitely getting close.
• Listen: It Had to Be Them(Tamra Baumann) & Midnight Betrayal(Melinda Leigh) – I finished listening to It Had to Be Them(which I loved) and started Midnight Betrayal(which I’m enjoying).
• Read: Finish Last Seen Leaving(Caleb Roehrig), Burned(Sarah Morgan), Loud is How I Love You(Mercy Brown), Love Ignites(Jaci Burton), Just a Girl(Ellie Cahill), Star Seers(Lindsay Buroker), Lucky Streak(Carly Phillips), All I Want(Jill Shalvis), & Idol(Kristen Callihan) – I finished Last Seen Leaving(absolutely LOVED!), Burned(liked), Loud is How I Love You(really enjoyed), and Love Ignites(enjoyed). I’ll be starting Just a Girl later today.
• Crochet: Giraffe Hat – finished this on Monday
• Loom: Meadow Moss Headband – started this yesterday, though the directions were a little confusing at first. Think I may have gotten the hang of it now.
• A to Z Challenge: Plot – N-Z posts – I got through R plotted yesterday.

Not too much blue but a good bit of green. And hopefully a lot of that will turn blue by the end of the week.