Sunday Summary: Focus Found

On Wednesday I mentioned that I’d been feeling a bit scattered. Well, I also had a revelation on something that was going to happen in Not Meant to Be. I felt a lot more focused on Thursday and wrote that scene and things seem to be flowing a lot better. I’m still planning to rework how I work on things, though. I’m going to try working on a different story each day again. That way even if I’m struggling with one, I can make progress on another. I’m going to work on one for an hour, then do other stuff on the list, then I’ll edit for an hour, more chores, then side projects for an hour, and so on. Then, if I get everything done, I’ll start over again. We’ll see how this goes for the rest of the month and maybe even through June.

Busy weekend. Saturday we worked a poker run, a ride that benefits Make a Wish. We worked it last year, too. Also on Saturday we had niece’s birthday party and a friend’s kids birthday party. So, Friday we were out getting groceries and birthday presents. Husband dropped me and the kids at the park where niece’s party was and we hung out there until my sister-in-law showed up. Then, I joined him at the VFW to work the stop. Of course, most of the riders had already gone through by then. After niece’s party, we went to the school since friend’s son had a pool party there. Then, we finally went home and the kids played outside some more. Tonight we have our monthly meeting with the club we ride with. This was all after going to the boy’s spring concert at school on Thursday. I may need a whole week to recover from all this people time.

Plotting

• Still Burning – finish Story Toolkit, Outline –
• Jayla & Carisa(Gilbert, Co #7) – brainstorm, character back stories, plot summary, get through Story Toolkit: Supporting Characters – finished GMCs, Jayla’s back story(754 words), Carisa’s(who happens to be Carlos’ baby sister) back story(924 words),  Kaden’s back story(714 words), & Boden’s back story(195 words – he didn’t have a lot to tell me). This is going onto the backburner for the moment. I’ll pick it back up once I finish Not Meant to Be.

Writing

• Not Meant to Be – Add 53000 words/28 scenes to finish 1st draft – 19204 words/21 scenes finished this month, 8121 words/8 scenes this week
  • Toby didn’t have a clue how that made anything better. As far as he could see, it only put her in more danger.
    But, he’d do anything to make sure that never reached her.
• Side Projects – Add 4400 words between all projects – 6625/4400 words, 1628 words this week
  • Preggers – 194 words – It didn’t work. She couldn’t stop the memories of Darren that almost played like old videos through her head. The times he’d sat next to her when she’d been so homesick, even with him there. How he’d known she got more comfort from that than a hug. Marika had somehow seemed to sense that as well. Or she just hadn’t thought they knew each other well enough for more than that.
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 130 words – “There ye go, lad,” he said, patting the horse’s neck. “Ye’ll be feeling better soon.”
  • Patrick & Sarah – 109 words – His boss stepped out of one of the other stalls and nodded at Patrick. “You’ve been working hard lately, Bailey. If the plowing’s all done, why don’t you take off tomorrow? I’m sure there’s something waiting for you in town.”
  • Jacob & Matthew – 102 words – Jacob shook his head, though, smiling a little bit to himself. He had only played a couple hands of cards before making his way up to the room Matthew had rented, hoping no one would connect the two of them going into the same room. “Pa was expecting me back in town today. And I wouldn’t want to miss the wedding. Those friends of Adam’s show yet?”
  • Midas’ Daughter – 143 words – She nearly screamed as she spun around. Then, put a hand over her chest when she saw Flip. His face was fuzzed with that reddish-blond hair that fell slightly into his eyes. She had the urge to run her palm over the scruff, but she quickly squashed it. Not that he’d appreciate it. He’d made that clear years ago. “Don’t tell me you don’t do the same,” she said. “I’ve heard you.” *You might be surprised by what he wants, Calla. 😉
  • Dougal & Shae – 191 words – “What the bloody hell does that have to do with anything?” Dougal didn’t know where Donovan was heading with this. Or what any of it had to do with him.
  • Hawk – 217 words – Still I’d take it while I could get it. Just like I’d take Devil for as long as he still wanted me.*Oh, don’t worry, Hawk, I’m sure that’s going to be for a good long time.
  • Hang On – 143 words – He turned his head to look at me, and I thought I saw something flash through his eyes. Then, he was stepping away. I must have imagined it. I really needed to stop doing that.
  • Roman – 138 words – “He saw his sister murdered. It might be his way of grieving.”
  • Mason & Lila – 148 words – Mason glanced over at his father who was holding one end of the wire as Mason unwound it from the spool, attaching some to the next post. They should have replaced this section of the fence last year, before it ever fell down. At least the cows had been in a different section when it did collapse, so they hadn’t lost any.
  • Mike & Fadil – 113 words – “Of course,” Fadil said. His voice sounded rough, like it was being dragged over rocks. Mike shook himself. What was his problem? He was like any other man. And he was a customer. One who was only here for his mother, so didn’t need Mike hitting on him.  *but he might like that, Mike. 😉

Editing

• Flames of Renewal – CP Edits
• In the Moonlight – Transfer from OneNote(on my Surface) to Scrivener(on my laptop) – 27 chapters(there’s actually 32, counting the epilogue, but I’d already started it before) – 17/27 chapters typed up.
• Snow White Twist – Beta edits, rename, & submit – compiled notes from 1 beta reader to the main document(so I can put them all in one place when I get them back from other reader) for 5/8 chapters(1st 2 chapters done last month). Have a potential title for it as well. Still simmering on that, though.
• Dance with the Devil – read through, make revisions, & polish – Applied 81/81 comments(not counting areas I highlighted, though those will be fixed as I go through, too). Polished Chapter 1.
• Beta Read – Read 58 chapters(total of 73, but that’s what I have left) & return to author – 41/58,

Blogging

• Story a Day – Write 31 stories – 21/31 stories written, 8 this week
  • Nightmare – a bit with Jayla for her & Carisa’s story
  • Not So Dead – rewrote Day 1’s The Dead Friend, from Ian’s POV this time.
  • Turning Point – Did some back story for Jayla. It takes place during Healing the Heart.
  • Day 17 – Didn’t give this one a title, but it’s Carisa & Carlos.
  • Refusal – rewrote a bit of Shed Some Light, instead of facing confrontation with her father and defending Carlos, Carisa walks away.
  • Secondary Meeting – Carisa meets Jayla’s little sister
  • All or Nothing – Carisa asks Carlos about when he opened the restaurant
  • Visitation – Morgan gets some bad news in custody case

Reading

• Listen: 5 books – 5/5 for the month, 1 this week
  • Ten Thousand Skies Above You(Claudia Gray) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Tuesday evening. Really liked it. But that ending. Oof. I’ll just say there’s lots to make right in book 3, or I’m going to be really disappointed.
  • Conspiracy(Lindsay Buroker) – this is book 4 in her Emperor’s Edge series.
• Read: 31 books – 21/31, 8 this week
  • All Fired Up(Elle Kennedy & Vivian Arend) – Started this Sunday night(5/7). It was in my ‘free’ collection, so will be my ‘read after everything for the week is done’ book(I choose from my free & unlimited collections for this). Finished it this past Sunday night(5/14). Enjoyed it. Added the next book in the series to my wish list.
  • Missed Connections(Tamara Mataya) – Started this Saturday night. Finished it Sunday afternoon. Really enjoyed it.
  • One Night Charmer/Hometown Heartbreaker(Maisey Yates) – I started One Night Charmer Monday morning. There’s also a novella included in the back of the book. Finished ONC Monday night and enjoyed it, but didn’t get to Hometown Heartbreaker. I read 7 chapters of Hometown Heartbreaker Saturday night.
  • Nightsong(A.M. Leibowitz) – started this Tuesday evening. Finished it Tuesday night. Stayed up an hour later than usual because I just didn’t want to stop reading. I loved it so much.
  • A Fool’s Gold Christmas(Susan Mallery) – started this Wednesday afternoon. Finished it Saturday night.
  • Checking Him Out(Debbie McGowan) – read this one Thursday. Really enjoyed it.
  • Baked Fresh(Annabeth Albert) – Read this Friday. Liked it.
  • Simon Says(Lori Foster) – started this Friday evening. Finished it Saturday evening. Enjoyed it.

Crafting

• Knit: Duo Cable Hat – finally got more yarn for this on Sunday. Finished 2 decrease rounds